Recital!

We're in awe over Amanda's performance at her recital last evening. I was amazed how well she played. In fact, I was amazed at how well all the pianists performed. They did beautifully!

Here is her actual performance:

Bartok's Rumanian Dances


Awesome!

Recital Hall

I was able to find a picture of the Cecilia S. Cohen recital hall @ ESU. This picture looks like it's one of their more recent concerts. When the students perform, the only instruments that will be in the middle of the floor are two pianos



Being there in person is far different than looking at it in a picture. It actually seems larger in the picture :)

Daughter Practicing Her Recital Pieces

It's been a few days since I've updated my blog - busy, life, etc...

Here's my daughter, who has been practicing like crazy for her recital on Thursday. She's playing three of Bartok's Rumanian folk dances

Bartok's Rumanian Dances

She still has a little perfecting to do with number three, but overall I would say she's performed wonderfully, memorizing each piece exactly as it was written.

WTG Amanda!!!

Another Thanksgiving Favorite Video

I've always enjoyed the episodes of "Roseanne" for Thanksgiving. I especially like the first one, from 1989:



Being up at 5:00 am, stuffing the turkey, and dealing with family is what I've been used to until this year. What a wonderful slice of Americana!

Update on the GFCF Pumpkin Pies :(

Sad to say, the pies are not all that great. I think it was the change I made with the tapioca pearls, instead of the Minute tapioca. I've gone back, and changed the post to reflect not using them by removing their use.

Amanda said it was like eating pie with little lead balls inside. She's a big fan of pumpkin pie, so I know it had to be pretty bad.

On the upside, the stuffing was excellent. It actually tastes just like regular bread stuffing :)

Favorite Thanksgiving Movies

It's been a long tradition in my family to watch certain movies on Thanksgiving Day. One that began with my grandmother was "March of the Wooden Soldiers" with Laurel and Hardy. I've been watching for so long, I can't remember a year I didn't watch it. It's also a tradition we're passing on to Amanda. She even looks forward to the march at the end.



Another favorite that has always been tradition is "Miracle on 34th Street" from 1947. So far, I haven't been able to find more than a few minutes of the movie on youtube. I'm also grateful NBC has gone back to the b&w version, after the movie was colorized. March of the Wooden Soldiers has been colorized as well, but it seems so odd. I also have that movie on videotape from 1985. It's fun watching not just the movie, but the cheeky commercials of the mid 80's, LOL!

Oh, and for some trivia: the actor who portrayed Silas Barnaby was a mere 22 years old at the time! Talk about great make-up!

Peanuts Thanksgiving, Part Three

GFCF Recipes For Thanksgiving

This will be the second year we will be cooking gfcf. For those who don't know what that means, it's gluten free-casein free. While Amanda is now able to have some dairy in her diet, she must steer clear of all gluten. To play it safe, I decided to stick with these recipes we used last year. They are quite good, and even I can't tell the difference between regular and the alternates.

Two recipes I used are for GFCF Stuffing and GFCF Pumpkin Pie. I'll post pictures along with the recipes from the original authors.

Dan's Wheat Free & Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie Recipe (Parve) courtesy of Dan Swearingen

Corn based piecrust

Makes two 10-inch pie shells
2/3 cup margarine (Shedd's Willow Run Soybean Margerine)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups crushed corn flakes (Nature's Path GF CF "Honey'd Corn Flakes") – a bit over one full 10.6 oz box of cereal.
Notes: I've specified brands that, to date, have proven to be okay to use. Many brands of margarine HAVE dairy products in them. Check the ingredients carefully. Almost ALL "corn flakes" have wheat in them. Nature's Path is an exception.

Crush corn flakes to a coarse to fine meal in a food processor. A blender should be able to do this too. I suppose you could just pound at it in a sturdy bowl but this may be the real excuse to buy a food processor! I use an attachment for my blender. The finer the better but you'll find you can't really turn it into a powder (but it'd be nice if you could!).

Melt margarine and pour into a large bowl. Stir in sugar. Add crushed corn flakes.

I find mixing it all up with a pastry cutter works best but almost nobody has one of these anymore. Pastry cutters were for "cutting" big blocks of butter or margarine into flour and that kind of cooking is so non-PC these days even the tools are now hard to find.

Anyway, if you don't have a pastry cutter, use a pair of butter knives and mix the melted butter/sugar thoroughly into the corn meal. Divide all but a little bit of the mix into the two pie dishes.

I then gentle the mix into a pie-shell shape using a lid from a plastic food container. You could also use the bottom of a small bowl. Start soft and then as the shape and amount are about right start really pressing it down.

If you find any thin spots, add the bit of mix you left in the bowl to cover it. Set the pie dishes aside in the refrigerator.


Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie filling

Makes two nine inch pies
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup tapioca mix (Minute tapioca works best)
1/4 cup tapioca flour (or omit and double the Tapioca Mix above)
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Ground cinnamon
1 tsp. Ground cloves
1/2 tsp. Ground ginger
4 large whole eggs
2 large egg whites
1 can (29 oz.) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
3 cups Rice Dream rice milk (soy is OK too if you like it)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, clover, ginger, and tapioca into a small bowl.

Beat eggs in a large bowl (I use the main mixing bowl for my big mixer) and then add the canned pumpkin. Running the mixer, add the sugar/spice mix, lastly add the rice milk. Mix thoroughly.

Pour into the pie shells. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, turn down to 350 degrees (maybe open the oven door for a sec to let some heat out), turn the pies a bit if spots of the crust are burning, and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes.

The usually you say a pumpkin pie is "done" if you can stick a knife in the center and nothing sticks when you pull it out. That doesn't work with this recipe since it isn't doesn't make a pie that solid (when hot out of the oven). So, I say the pies are done if he center is not completely liquid. If you care, the pies solidify nicely when refrigerated overnight.


Here are our finished pies:


You can see the tapioca pearls in the pies, so I hope they taste as good as they look!

Thanksgiving Stuffing (Gluten-Free) courtesy of Scott Adams, Celiac.com

5-6 cups cubed and dehydrated Food For Life Rice Almond Bread
2 Tbs. olive oil
3 cups chopped celery (or 1-2 Tbs. celery seed)
2 cups chopped onions
1 tsp. salt
1-2 tsp. cilantro
1-2 tsp. thyme
1-2 tsp. sage
black pepper
1-2 Cups gluten-free Chicken Broth

Prepare 1 to 2 cups gluten-free chicken broth. Prepare Food For Life Rice Almond Bread as follows: Cut into ½ cubes and put in food dehydrator for 8 hours (or put on cookie sheet and in oven on the lowest temperature for about 2-3 hours - I've been able to increase the temperature to 300 degrees and dry for about one hour or so in the oven).



Sauté chopped celery & onions in 2 TBS oil in large frying pan over medium heat until soft. Add spices & pepper as desired to taste. Pour in chicken broth & simmer over low heat for 15-20 min.



Stir in bread until fully saturated in sauce & seasonings *note, I add the broth, onions, celery and seasonings to the pan of dried bread. It's much easier to mix*





Place in 400°F oven for 40-50 min, covering as needed with aluminum foil, until done. If you want to cook the stuffing inside the turkey add only 1 cup of Chicken broth.

I always make this recipe the day before, just to get it done. Same with the pies above. I also figured since I'm making this for Amanda, she might as well be the one to do most of the work, LOL!!

Peanuts Thanksgiving, Part Two

I like when Snoopy dishes out the "food", LOL!!

Shoes, Or Should I Call Them Bling For The Feet :)

I finally broke down and purchased organ shoes for Amanda. Yeah, I was mean, forcing her to play with bare feet. It's not easy to do, especially since she has been going through foot scales without the heel.

I spend time online at Organmaster Shoes, telling her I refuse to purchase any of the crazy colors, and that she would be getting black shoes. Well, the black shoes in her size went out of stock, don't know when they're coming back in stock, and boy was I upset! The ones they do have in stock - the Diana shoes:



So, she got the shoes she originally wanted (the silver ones)! She's going to look at lot like Diane Bish when she plays at church, LOL!!!

Thanksgiving

I always loved holiday specials, especially the Peanuts. Since their Thanksgiving special is one of my favorites, I decided to post one segment tonight and each day until Thanksgiving.

Let It Snow!

Today, we had our first snowstorm of the winter. While it was nice to watch from the sidelines, I certainly wouldn't want to have to travel in it. My dh decided to work from home today. He really would not have made it down the mountain. Instead, he would have either slid off the road in a ditch, or hit something when the van went out of control.

The downside was power in some areas was off most of the day. Fortunately for us, it was out only for an hour this morning.

What beautiful views of the snow

It Costs How Much????

I posted elsewhere today about my dd's playing on a Bosendorfer piano for her recital in two weeks. I had been told that these particular pianos cost $100,000 or more. Well, the one she will be playing on actually costs $150,000. Shocking, to say the least! Dd's attitude is she prefers her Wurlitzer to the Bosendorfer. I think if she knew how top of the line the instrument is she is playing on, she wouldn't make such a silly statement.

I'm having sticker shock, LOL!

This one is similar to the piano she will be performing on


The pedals are very smooth, compared to most pianos I've seen, although the mechanism can still make that "clunk" noise when released too quickly and with a sudden jerk.

Now if only Queen of Peace could afford such a piano...........

William Tell Overture For Moms

Even though I homeschool, and can't relate to the bus part, the rest is very funny!