Baking Through the Alphabet: Letter F

We kind of went crazy with the letter F and made two different meals for it!  

Letter F Meal(s):

• Fish with French Fried Onions (this was amazing btw - no recipe, just a little salt/pepper and butter on the fish, then topped it with French Fried Onions) 
• French cut green beans (and no that's not what was pictured, but that's what it was suppose to be LOL
• Fajitas

 Baking with the Letter F:

My whole family loves anything peanut butter!  So, we loved these! They are called Furnkies (I have no idea why).  My sister-in-law has the recipe up on her blog here and I took the asked if I could use her top photo for my collage.  (I forgot to take a picture because I was, as usual, in a hurry to get these to a party that we were going to, which we were late for; also as usual.) 

Movie Musicals That Start with F:

• Fiddler On the Roof***
• Frozen**
• Follow Me, Boys**
• Finian's Rainbow**
• Flower Drum Song*
• Funny Face*
• Funny Girl*

There were surprisingly more movie musicals to choose from for F than for E.

We chose to watch Fiddler on the Roof with our kids for this.  It was a good one to watch.  A little bit of historical fiction, good music and some funny with some sad.

Of course Frozen is a musical and it's a great movie!  But we did Fiddler because I wanted them to watch something new.

Follow Me, Boys isn't technically a musical but it does have a catchy little song in it that get stuck in your head for hours.  It's basically about the scouting program and it's impact on young men and communities.  

Funny Girl and Funny Face are both ok.  I would save them for older; Funny Face because it's a little slow moving and Funny Girl because it has some innuendos.

Flower Drum Song and Finian's Rainbow are two other good ones.  Except for the talented songs and dancing by Tommy Steele and the mute girl he dances with, my kids weren't very interested in this show (Finian's Rainbow). 

Update:  I've just learned about another musical that I think I should watch soon:  The Five Pennies.  Anyone ever heard of it? 

Baking Through the Alphabet: Letter E

 Letter E Meal: 

• Enchiladas
• Eggs
• Elderberry Juice 
  

For the letter E, we made Eclairs!! I've always wanted to make eclairs but have been a little nervous to try because they seem kind of daunting!  That is a great reason to try baking through the alphabet because it let's you try things that are otherwise too nerve-wracking (or I'm to lazy) to try.  

Actually, they weren't as difficult as I had thought they would be.  We used this recipe, here. 

 This was the trickiest part only because you had to stir vigorously while putting eggs in one at a time.  At least for beginners like us, this was a two person job! 

 This was the easiest part - putting salt into the flour.  Notice how much I'm putting in!  It called for 1/4 tsp and I put in a whole tsp!  Yikes! But luckily none of us could taste it once we ate it.  Whew!

 (My son was taking pictures here, so they're a bit blurry.)   Placing the dough into a ziploc that had one corner cut so that we could pipe it out onto a cookie sheet.

  Again with the blurriness.  Piping them out. 

 The ingredients for the custard filling.  (I just loved the heavy cream from the kids' bus driver's cow.  Living in a rural community does have it's perks!)

 She is learning to "fold the heavy cream" into the pudding mixture. 

 Not too bad for a first try! 

Letter E Musicals: (* = ones that are , in my opinion, decent or fun to watch; ** = kid friendly; *** = the one we watched for our alphabet musical)

• Enchanted***
• Easter Parade**
• Evita *

We loved Enchanted!  It was witty and a bit goofy and just plain fun!  And it ends well for everyone!   

Easter Parade has so many good songs!  I don't think it was a blockbuster hit, but the most entertaining song in that show, in my opinion is Drum Crazy!  It shows off Fred Astaire's dancing and his rhythmic timing so well; and he tap dances, which I love!  

Evita is another movie musical similar to Bye Bye Birdie, in that I'm not sure you'd want you little kiddos watching, It's only rated PG, and it has amazing music, but it is perhaps something to wait on with your kids.  (I'm pretty conservative with what my kids watch though - they had a hard time with Sleeping Beauty and Sword in the Stone until they were over 6 years old.) 

 

Furniture Fridays: Folding Desk

Starting with a brand new pallete is more difficult than I thought! Since we only recently moved in to a newly built home, each room needs EVERYTHING! 

My kids' rooms are a nice size but they are not huge by any stretch of the imagination.  So, having small furniture or ways to make it small is something we really wanted. 

When I found this foldable desk at IKEA, I knew it would be perfect for my son's room!  It actually was a little tricky to install, but in the end, and with my husband's help, we were able to make it work.  

Whatever Wednesday: Baking Through the Alphabet, the Letter D

The Letter D:

Letter D Meal:

• Drumsticks
• Dried Fruit
• Dill Pickles

Baking With the Letter D:  Of course we had to make donuts (or doughnuts)! 

Letter C Musicals: (* = ones that are , in my opinion, decent or fun to watch; ** = kid friendly; *** = the one we watched for our alphabet musical)

• Darby O'Gill and the Little People ***
• Dumbo **
• Doctor Dolittle **
• Dimples **
• Duck Soup **
• Dick Tracy * (not sure if I'd let my kids watch this yet)
• (Damn Yankees is another "D" musical, but it's been so long since I've seen it that I am not recommending it and certainly not for young children.)

We LOVE Darby O'Gill and the Little People!  I mean Sean Connery even sings, and he's a good singer!  And Janet Munro does a great job as an Irish girl taking' care of her father (she was in Swiss Family Robinson too).  But the Leprechaun King and Darby are really the fantastic part of this show.  

Dumbo is melancholy.  Have you watched it recently? But there are parts where the kiddos laughed and even if you just watched to see the song "Baby Mine", it would be worth it.

Doctor Dolittle is a bit different, but it is fun.

And watch Duck Soup if you like slap-stick comedy (and black and white movies). 

Baking Through the Alphabet, Letter C

The Letter C:

Letter C Meal:

• Cabbage Rolls
• Carrots, fresh
• Celery, fresh
• Creamed Peas

 Baking the letter C consisted of my dad's recipe for crepes.  I mentioned before that he lived in France for a while.  He claims that the key with any crepe recipe you find (even if it doesn't say it) is to let it set for 4 hours or overnight.  Because you don't want to beat it too much, this allows the milk to soften any clumps of flour that didn't dissolve.  

She's really concentrating to get the 4 tbsp exact!

Letter C Musicals: (* = ones that are , in my opinion, decent or fun to watch; ** = kid friendly; *** = the one we watched for our alphabet musical)

• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ***
•  Disney's Cartoon Cinderella **
• Charlotte's Web **
•  Roger's and Hamerstein's Cinderella **
• Curly Top **
• Captain January **
• Carousel *
• Camelot *

 It had been some time since my kids had seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang so we chose that one to watch for our C musical.  

Of course the Disney cartoon Cinderella is wonderful and funny for young children; as is Charlotte's Web.  

Have you ever seen the Cinderella with Leslie Ann Warren?  She is not my favorite actress. Like Gene Kelly, in most movies that I watch with her, her acting is so over-the-top, that I get embarrassed watching her.  BUT, this movie is great!  The Queen is played by Ginger Rogers (yes, the one who danced opposite of Fred Astaire for so many years), and the step-sisters are a hoot!  My sister and I used to laugh and laugh with each other in our bedroom after watching those two with their batty eyes and creaky knees!  

Carousel and Camelot are probably both more suitable for teens and older.  

Furniture Fridays: Dresser with No Drawers

While visiting my brother, Jon, not long ago, I was driving behind his apartment complex and by the dumpster was this amazing, solid, wood dresser!  It didn't have any drawers, which is probably why  someone got rid of it.  But I remembered that Jon's TV was sitting on his living room floor because he didn't have a surface on which to place it. 

So, I hurried inside to grab him, and we carried it up the steep flights of stairs to his 1970s apartment. (It's awesome place...really!) 

It didn't take long to cut two pieces of wood and place them onto the existing side and center slats in the dresser (the little things on which the drawer would slide in and out). 
After placing them in, I caulked it all over. Then primed it and painted it. 

It's looking good and sleek, like his TV, in his new space - at least he and his roommate like having the TV off the floor!

Whatever Wednesday: Baking Through the Alphabet, Letter B

If you read our Monday post, you will have seen that my daughter missed out on some childhood memories that my son and nieces took part of because she was too young to remember it. So she wanted to replicate that childhood memory as a tween.

So for the next 13 Mondays and Wednesdays, we will be focusing on each letter of the alphabet.

Today is the letter B.

 Letter B Meal: 

• Black bean Burritos
• Broccoli
• Blackberries
• Blueberries (not pictured)  

Baking with the letter B was suppose to begin and end with Beinets (for my dad who loves all things French) but we were in between houses at the time and it just didn't happen.  So my daughter, Elise chose to learn how to make blueberry pancakes, which technically isn't baking I suppose, but she learned a skill and a recipe that she can make any time.  Sadly, I don't have any pictures of this.  :-(  But we used the recipe below, from the Betty Crocker Junior Cookbook (with a few changes). 

  
We poured the batter into the skillet and placed the blueberries in one at a time.  

Maybe we'll get to those Beinets now that we're moved into our new house.  If we do, I'll insert them in on this post.  

Letter B Musicals: (* = ones that are , in my opinion, decent or fun to watch; ** = kid friendly; *** = the one we watched for our alphabet musical)

•  Bedknobs and Broomsticks***
• Bambi**
• Beauty and the Beast**
• Babes in Toyland**
• Blame It On the Samba**
• Bye, Bye Birdie*

 If you've never seen Bedknobs and Broomsticks, it is a must, especially if you have young kids!  My 11 and 13 year old laughed out loud on many parts of it and my daughter was super excited about the magical fighting that takes place at the end.  It's set in England during WWII with a spinster woman who just wants to be a witch and is learning to be one via a correspondence course.  Three children come to live with her to be out of the city during air raids.  When they arrive, the fun begins!  

 Bambi of course is a classic.  

And Beauty and the Beast is one of my most favorite Disney full-length animated features because of the music and because Belle is such a good, good person who looks on the inside of a person.  If you read the original version of Beauty and Beast, that is my favorite fairy tale.  

Babes in Toyland is really a Christmas movie, at least we always have watched it at Christmas time. Most of the characters are from Mother Goose nursery rhymes.  

Blame it on the Samba is not really a full musical, but it is a song with a cartoon/show attached, so I included it - and it's fun, my kids still enjoy watching it!

Last, Bye Bye Birdie.  It is probably for a little bit older audience, maybe not really young children, but it's still rated G, so you can decide.