In order to bring some order to our lives and variety to our meals, I try to plan a weekly menu and shop accordingly each week at my local Kroger (affectionately known by me as the Krogie). This menu is adhered to loosely some weeks and strictly on others. This is also a good way for me to try new recipes out of my MANY wonderful cookbooks!

Menu planning is always on my Monday "to do" list, although it should probably go on my weekend list, but rarely gets done on the weekend. And it's one of those things that takes me a long time. I usually make a stack of cookbooks and then flip through the pages, subsequently becoming paralyzed with indecision as the overwhelming possibilities of culinary adventure unfold before me...

So I have decided I'm not gonna copycat Julie Powell and cook my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking...at least not at this point in my life. I would have serious problems with that anyway, since I don't eat a lot of the meat Julia Child cooked. But I am trying to cook my way through my own cookbooks by cooking something different each week. Last night was the first night of my real plan to do so. I pulled two recipes from My French Kitchen, a cookbook by Joanne Harris, the author of Chocolat. I literally started at the beginning with salads, except that I'd already made the first salad which was a warm goat cheese salad. Next on the list was a Wild Mushroom Salad, so that went on to Monday's menu. Along with the second soup under the Soup section which was Butternut Soup. I would have made the first soup, but it was Gascony Tomato Soup, of which the biggest ingredient was mushrooms. I wasn't sure I would want TOO many mushrooms at the table, although on second thought, there may not be such a thing as too many mushrooms. Gascony Tomato Soup to be made at a later date. Tune in.

I added a whole wheat baguette just for dipping in the soup, plus you were supposed to put toasted baguette rounds underneath the salad and mushrooms.

So the salad was great! Sauteed mushrooms simmered with white wine, balsamic vinegar, garlic, paprika and then served over olive oil-tossed salad greens under which you hide the baguette toasts. The recipe called for slab bacon, sliced. However, I really don't do pork. Plus, even if I did, I confess I have never ventured into a local butcher, and you really have to do that to buy slab bacon, or so the cookbook pointed out to me. I may attempt to do this at some point, because so many recipes in this book call for slab bacon. I just really have issues with PORK THOUGH! I'm torn. Anyway, I left that out and I'm sure it was missing something, but it still tasted dad-gum yummy to us! Believe it or not, even Brooklyn ate the salad and mushrooms.

The soup was also really good, but next time I make it, I'll add more butternut squash. I happened to have some frozen in my freezer, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the quantity specified by the recipe (3 pounds), so to compensate, I reduced the amount of chicken stock used. Even so, I think the ratio of chicken stock to squash was a little high, but it still turned out very tasty. It had a surprise ingredient- curry powder - which made it especially good. I love curry powder, mostly cause of the different Indian spices that compose curry powder. Turmeric, for instance...that lovely thing which stains all white utensils or dishes. I love Indian food, so my love of curry powder will not surprise anyone, really.

And let me tell you, my Kitchen Aid immersion blender is just about my favorite kitchen device, second only to my Kitchen Aid mixer and just above my Kitchen Aid food processor. I'm a big fan of Kitchen Aid products. The immersion blender does wonderful things to soup, and it's also really fun to use! So, day one of my cooking was a success. And it all happened even after Kyle and I did our Monday night Total Body Conditioning (TBC) class which means we didn't get home until 7:30. The whole dinner came together in about 40 minutes...not TOO late.

Brooklyn has a response for us whenever we tell her no. She says, "I DO! I DO!" Not, yes or please, just an emphatic I DO! To let us know that in spite of what we don't want her to do, she does! Or on the flip side, she also says, I DON'T, I DON'T! For example, "Brooklyn, you can't have that book." Her response, "I DO! I DO!" It's amusing ...until you want to pull your hair out. And in case you think my little girl is perfect, she isn't. Just today, she had a meltdown of monumental proportions. I finally couldn't take it any more. I took her by the hand, led her into the foyer and then pointed to the line formed by the hardwood floors meeting our breakfast room tile floor and said, "See this line? DO NOT CROSS IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE UNLESS YOU HAVE STOPPED CRYING." I was sure this would be a command issued in futility, but she seemed to get it. She stood just on the other side of the line and bawled and wailed (no, not for any good reason) while I calmly walked away to finish making her macaroni and cheese. After several minutes of my ignoring her and her continued squalling, I heard some loud snuffling noises and hiccups, followed by the pattering of little feet and the scrape of chair legs against the tile as she pulled out a chair for herself in the breakfast room. I couldn't believe it worked. I was about to lose my mind.

Thankfully, a tummy full of macaroni and cheese followed by a nap seemed to lift the cloud following her around, and by association, me. Trust me, Hurricane Gustav or Ivan or whoever has nothing on Hurricane Brooklyn. I could have watered the whole street with the tears spurting from her eyes and shaded the neighborhood with the dark look on her face. Praise God for naptime.

Josh and Zach managed to wring some fun out of an otherwise depressing task as they fought back against the rain and flooding!

Never hurt anybody. Ok, so that's totally a lie. But at least in this instance no one was hurt. As Gustav continued to pour rain down on our helpless city, my mother made a spaghetti supper for her kids and their families. After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to Zach & Anna's house planning to cozy up on the couch and watch a movie together. We were slightly waylaid in our plans when Zach ran down to their basement to see if all was well. Well, all was not well. Over 48 hours of slow and steady rain had sifted down through the saturated soil and made its way into their basement. Which was packed with furniture and unpacked boxes from their recent move. Zach bounded up the stairs with a forced calm in his voice and a definite look of panic in his eyes as he broke the news to Anna. Their laundry room had about 2 inches of standing water, the carpet in the bedroom and basement living room was soaked through. And there were tons of pieces of furniture in their garage that were also standing in water. It called for immediate action. And as the four of us (me, Kyle, Anna and Zach) looked at each other, we knew it would require fast action and more people.

We pulled out our phones and began calling in the troops. And it is times like this that make you realize large families are WONDERFUL THINGS! As my mom headed over, she was followed shortly by Chad and Melissa, Josh and Lauren and several of our good friends, including Kyle and Toby. Despite the pouring rain, we all pulled on our rainboots and began hauling boxes upstairs to safety. Melissa and Lauren handled shop-vacs sucking bucket after bucket of water out of the rooms. Once the rooms were cleared, we ripped up the carpet and carpet pads, hauled them out back and started moving furniture up and out. Zach and Josh dug a trench around the front of the house to divert the water flow, and I kept the troops full of cookies and glasses of water while alternately feeding August and making sure Brooklyn was out of the way, planted in front of a Veggie Tales video. And after an hour and a half of hard work, the basement was cleared, the water was removed and the tired and weary friends and family went their separate ways.

I then spent the next hour killing mosquitoes that had flown in with all the open doors. I apparently should have been doing this sooner, as Brooklyn's little legs are literally COVERED with bites. She even has them on her face, poor thing.

It was truly a bonding experience. And so amazing to see the brothers and their wives and our selfless wonderful friends drop everything and come to the assistance of someone in need. I praise the Lord that we were staying with Zach and Anna at the time and able to help out! God is good, even when circumstances seem to be out to get you.

Something I never thought I'd have to label myself was a refugee from a hurricane, but that's exactly what I became on Tuesday evening! As Hurricane Gustav made his way across Louisiana and moved over Arkansas, he decided that he liked it so much he'd stay awhile. So he got all nice and comfy and just relaxed, generating ferocious winds and endless rainfall. I didn't mind the wind or rain until it escalated to the point of snapping trees. I happen to live near a bunch of really big trees and a bunch of power lines. They don't mix well. In fact, when they do mix, it usually results in a loss of electricity in the general direction of my house. And oddly enough, in this case, JUST my house. Ours was literally the ONLY house on the street to lose power. But unfortunately, not the only people in the city. I heard that some 20,000 people also lost power, resulting in a delay of the electric service.

This cessation of electricity was kind enough to wait until just after I pulled my last batch of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. So at least while I waited to see if the power would come back on, I could munch on some freshly baked cookies!

God is good to us. As the rain poured around us and Kyle and I packed our bags to find another place to stay, a couple of things occurred to me. 1) Gustav lowered the temperature to a balmy 73 degrees, lower than my ac normally runs, so we were not forced to endure scorching temperatures while we gathered our supplies and figured out where to go.... 2) my brother Zach and his wife, Anna, just moved down the street from us and have a lovely guest bedroom which they made available to us! 3) I was given a marvelous suggestion by a neighbor to run an extension cord from my deep freezer to a neighbor's house - thus salvaging the contents of my freezer and fridge. 4) as I lay in Anna's spacious queen sized guest bed Tuesday night, snuggling up in some of the softest sheets I've ever felt, with August asleep in my arms, Brooklyn pressed securely up against my side and Kyle's arms around all three of us, I knew that all the things that mattered the most to me were safe and secure and all together. You can't ask for more than that.

Plus, I had the pleasure of spending bonus time with Zach and Anna. We were so grateful to them for their hospitality, especially considering it was like their second week in their new house. Thank you, Zach and Anna! We love you so much!

And now, after a couple of days of displacement, the electric company has restored our power and we are back in our house. Grateful to be home and to have safely weathered the storm.

My good friend, Lynn, is without a doubt the world's most incredible gift-giver. She should write a book about it! She is also a fellow cook and food fanatic. She not only shares my love of it, she encourages me in it by providing me with the necessary ingredients! She recently gave me the most awesome gift - all the ingredients necessary to make cold sesame noodles, including the dish to serve it in! This happens to be a recipe found within a cookbook she also provided me with - Tyler's Ultimate.

I began this dish on Tuesday, but due to Hurricane Gustav and a little thing I like to call a power outage, I was forced to postpone completion and tasting of the cold sesame noodles until last night! And it was well worth the wait - they were delicious! Tasted exactly like my favorite dish at Lily's Dim Sum and Then Some. Thank you so much, Lynn! It was a raving success!!!!

Here is Brooklyn at 2 months. Below is August at 6 weeks. Do they look alike to you? The eyes, nose and mouth...man, they are definitely cut out of the same mold! Sometimes I look at August and see a mini-B!

Bank Consultant by Day....Trail-Blazer by Weekend

As I mentioned before, when my Dad gets to the Farm, he escapes from his every day self. Some people relieve stress by working out (me), others by painting and creating art (Kyle), others by riding their motorcycles (Josh) and some by mowing and taming the wild landscape. The latter is my Dad. He gets out there in his grubby polos and grubby jeans and even grubbier tennis shoes, climbs aboard Big Blue and takes off. From the farmhouse door, he can be seen in the distance hauling brush, burning bonfires of said brush, clearing trails, mowing the meadows...he comes in only to eat and kill fire ants (his other hobby). I love seeing him cruise by the door with the wind in his hair, his cheeks slightly burnt from the sun with a look on his face that's a perfect blend of contentment and something a little more barbaric...a little William Wallace, the guardian of his land.

It occurred to me that other men take to the road on their Hogs to escape the rat race on the weekends. My Dad is also a weekend warrior, but from the back of Big Blue.

I couldn't resist setting his hat on at a jaunty angle.

I realized I hadn't shown any pictures of August's bathtime! I love it when their baths only require enough water to fill a baby tub. And fortunately, August loves getting a bath. The warm water seems to throw him into a daze and he sort of zones out. Plus, he smells divine after it's all said and done and it's all I can do to stop kissing his little face and neck! And Brooklyn's usually close by to supervise my handiwork.

Over Labor Day weekend at the Farm, Hurricane Gustav began blowing into Arkansas. It was evident in the cooling of the temperatures on Saturday and Sunday and by Monday, the WIND was something to behold. It was amazing. I watched from my seat on the porch swing as my family lunged and lurched about the badminton court, cursing Gustav for blowing the birdie out of their reach. Gustav became a running joke, in fact, and the general scapegoat for anything that went awry...from the fire ants and errant birdies to burnt toast.

So as Brooklyn sat on top of the 4 wheeler and Kyle photographed her pretty little face, she threw her head about wildly to keep Gustav from whipping her eyes and cheeks with her fine, blond hair. A sight to behold, indeed.

This tractor has been a resident of the Farm for as long as I can remember. And every time we are at the Farm, my dad can be found perched on its lofty seat, blazing trails through the long grass. It is his peace. His escape from the fast and furious pace of life as a businessman. He almost adopts another persona. But that's a story for another entry.

He often tries to coax Brooklyn to blaze trails with him, but the general size and noisiness of Big Blue scares her away. I was surprised to see her seated on the big blue seat with Uncles Chad and Josh. I should have known they could get her up there. They convinced her she was driving it as they rotated the wheels and coaxed Big Blue forward about six inches. She thought she was on top of the world.

Games are another past-time at the Farm. And for those who know me, you know I do not like games. I have found an exception: Bananagrams. It's kind of like scrabble and cross-word puzzles, sort of, and it is a race against your own brain and the speed of everyone else's. I really like it. Especially when I win. Tee hee.

So one end of the table competed via the Settlers of Catan (which the entire Dennis family excluding me seems to have developed an addiction to). And the other end played Bananagrams.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn stole some hugs from RanDad and did some pretend 4weird racing with Uncle Michael. Always a willing accomplice to her ideas. I love him for that.

Brooklyn snuggled up to Lauren (and yes, her hand found its way to a "hungie"). Fortunately, my darling sisters-in-law are so patient with Brooklyn and her comfort-habits.








Brooklyn found some headphones used by the boys to protect their ears when mowing, etc. She thought she was the bee's knees. Even made up her own little ditty about wearing headphones. Went something like this..."Heeaaadddd phhooonnneeesss."












Meanwhile, the two Floyd boys crashed out in our bedroom. Big Mister and Little Mister.

Chad, Kyle and Michael take time out to sun and read. This is Farm-time in its purest form.












Even our dogs know how to get into it. Notice my dog, Bailey, stays by herself to the right. While my parents' dogs, Cole and Rebel, stake out the other side.










Aunt Melissa got some quality time with August while I acted as the roving photographer.



Usually, we all come with stuff to do. Kyle brought art stuff last time, and this weekend, Lauren brought her own project. I managed to address most of my birth announcement envelopes while there. Have yet to post them in the mail, but take heart! They are coming!

There is a little place we like to call the Farm. Situated out in the middle of nowhere to those who don't get that the country is just as much a somewhere as the city or anywhere else, my family has built a house that overlooks a huge meadow and contains a pond and about a thousand trails in the woods. I grew up going to this place that my mother's family owns. I talk about it frequently on this blog because it's the place my family goes to get away from it all and to just relax. Oddly enough, even when the place is packed with my entire family and spouses and dogs, it's still easy to find a quiet corner to be by yourself and read a book or work a crossword puzzle. Which is the only place I find myself doing crosswords, I might add. And there are always people in quiet corners doing just that. There are also always people out playing badminton or riding 4weirds, as B calls them. And my dad can ALWAYS be found on the back of Big Blue, the monstrous Ford tractor that he uses to blaze trails and haul trees or whatever else he thinks needs to be done from his perch on the tractor. Since he doesn't have the bulldozer that he so desperately longs for. Someday, Dad, it's yours!

It's a place where my mom doesn't have to do all the dishes and my Grandmother can fall asleep sitting up in a rocking chair after laughing hysterically at Planes, Trains and Automobiles. This past weekend, most of us convened there to enjoy Labor Day Weekend.

Turns out, we had company. In the form of a bazillion fire ants. I think I may have been the only person who was not personally assaulted by the little devils, and that is only because I rarely ventured from the house! (good books and a baby) It seriously became hilarious to hear someone yelp in pain, do the "fire ant dance" whereupon one starts leaping about with high knees, slapping furiously at ankles to dislodge any biters. Someone else would come running with the killing powder and wipe out the colony.

The Farm evokes so many memories for me. As I said, I grew up going there during the summers, on holidays, whenever we needed to get away. My Grandmother hauled as many of us as she could for her church's Bible School every summer. And boy, those weeks are just oozing memories! Of the old farmhouse which is now mainly inhabited by wasps. There were endless games of Annie, Annie Over around the little sheds...the summer the woods flooded with about 3 feet of water and we hauled my Grandfather's fishing boat down to the water and paddled our way along the trails...swimming in the pond, swatting horse flies away and sinking toes into the cold muck at the bottom of the pond (ok that wasn't me)...eating my Grandma's homemade fried pies, fried chicken and homemade ice cream...riding 4wheelers through the trails...it's a magical place.

It's always bittersweet to leave, as I told my mom today. I love to come back to my house, but I hate to leave the Farm. I'm so glad it's there and I love what it represents to my family and to me.

I have been reading a book Kyle bought me for my birthday called Julie & Julia. A story of a woman in NYC who decided to embark on a year long culinary journey - she took it upon herself to cook all 524 something recipes contained in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Kyle knew I would be drawn to this book for several reasons. One, I am a HUGE fan of Julia Child. Which is even more interesting because I have never actually ever seen one of Julia's famous cooking show episodes. During my formative years, my family did not own a television, so it isn't something I would have happened upon by accident. I discovered my love for her through a book called "My Life in France - Julia Child". I was so drawn to her that I subsequently purchased the latest edition of MtAoFC and, in typical Ashley fashion, basically read it from cover to cover. Well, not verbatim, but enough to understand that to attempt to cook every recipe is simply staggering and impressive. Secondly, I am just crazy enough to do something like that myself. Thirdly, the author kept a blog the whole year to track her life during that time. Sounds fun!

Reading through the book, I have been more inspired to blog than ever! Which has led me to evaluate all the daily anecdotes of life in terms of a blog entry. Not in an attempt to try to make mundane things sound more interesting or validate my life in particular, but I have inadvertently found myself thinking about little things as though I were writing them on a post on my blog. And it's weird to do that! Like I am editing my thoughts for posting or something!

I wonder if everyone who keeps a blog sort of subconsciously "blogs" in their mind throughout a given day...

For those of you who know me, you know how passionate I am about breastfeeding. As a woman, I feel there is no greater privilege than to be able to breastfeed your baby. Yes, it's work, but once you and baby get the hang of it, there is nothing better. It can develop the most incredible bond between mom and tot. Which is one of my favorite reasons to breastfeed. It's also one of the only things, other than carrying the baby and delivering it into the world, that I, as the baby's mother, alone can provide. It creates a precious dependency on me that is all too fleeting. From the moment they're born, our babies are moving ever closer to independence. To the day when they fly from our nests and strut around on their own. So, not to dip too deeply into morbid thoughts, I cling to those days and weeks and months when my little one NEEDS me in a very unique way.

Of course, when your baby needs to eat every two hours or so, this means you will probably be forced to figure out how to meet that need without completely exposing your heretofore private body parts to the general public. Most people are very accommodating and understanding to nursing moms, at least most people in my world. My immediate family members are so used to the concept that they barely flinch when August starts nuzzling their own "chestal" region indicating an impending howl unless something quenches his hunger. They pass him over quickly, usually just averting their eyes while my practiced hand unsnaps my nursing bra, slips up the shirt just enough for August to land his target and then slip the shirt down enough to afford him some privacy.

There are all sorts of handy gadgets out there to help ensure privacy, but sometimes none of those are on hand. Such as this past Friday night when we stopped in Monticello en route to the Farm, to grab a bite to eat at Ray's. Well, lately, August has decided my meal time signals HIS meal time, as inconvenient as that can sometimes be! So I'm sitting there, my freshly made taco salad exploding out of its paper boat, my mouth watering in anticipation, when August smells the salad and starts wailing for his own. Dern it. I have no blanket, no burp cloths on hand...just my shirt. So, I angle myself into the booth, away from any prying eyes, latch him on and do my best to keep things under cover.

Now, bear in mind we are in SOUTHERN Arkansas, and while these people are the salt of the earth for the most part, sometimes, they're just plain salty. As we sat there in our little booth, eating and minding our own business, a party of 7 or 8 people, old enough to KNOW BETTER (like grandparents or great-grandparents!), traipse past our table and give the usual smiles at cute little Brooklyn. Most of them caught the sideways position of August and just moved right along. Except this one exceptionally dull man who didn't move along. He stopped dead in his tracks. Now, August's cute little feet and chubby legs were visible as was the back of his head, but his little face was completely covered by my shirt and he was nursing away. Mr. Brilliant Passer-By moved closer to our table - Kyle and I exchanged startled glances. The guy made some inane comment about babies...and something or other about how he must make noise..I wasn't getting it. I said, Uh, yeah, the baby is EATING! He was still looking directly at August, still standing there. I was stunned. Who was this imbecile? Did he seriously not GET that I was breastfeeding? Was he a total perv or WHAT?! By this time, Kyle is seriously looking mad and about to get up and clock Mr. Doofus, as was I! Still, this man's expression registered NO comprehension or any intent to move. And I had NOTHING! No cover! My napkin certainly wasn't gonna do it, should August decide just at that moment that he was full and rear back his head, exposing Milk Central to the world!! I was starting to sweat and also get really ticked off when another member of this gentleman's party realized he wasn't moving along, and they called him. Finally, he tore his gaze away from the general direction of my chest and left us in peace. But SERIOUSLY! Get a clue, moron!

Had Kyle not been busy preventing Brooklyn from hurling herself off the bench and I just trying to maintain some dignity, Mr. Monticello would have been lying on the floor, out cold, rendered so by my right hook! It was definitely an adventure.