I firmly resolve to make a perfect bowl of Sizzling Rice Soup

01/05/2015 Nichole 2 Comments

This year I made one New Year’s resolution: To finally figure out how to make Sizzling Rice Soup. I’ve tried to make it once or twice before, but I’ve never been able to get the broth to taste just right. I did some research while we were on the road for Christmas, and I started to pull together a plan.

I started my Sizzling Rice Soup 2015 challenge on Saturday. I tried miso soup for the first time last year, and I thought the flavor I was missing might be hiding in there. So I used a miso mix in my soup this time, and it turned out pretty well. The broth is still a bit too heavy, though, and I can’t quite get the rice right. I baked it to dry it out and then I fried it lightly just before adding it to the soup, but it didn’t get crisp enough and it didn’t sizzle. So basically we had Slightly Chewy Rice Soup. I think I may need to invest in a little deep fryer to get it right.

One does not live on Sizzling Rice Soup alone, however, so it’ll be a few weeks until I try it again. Here’s what we’re having this week for dinner:

Monday: Bacon, lettuce and avocado sandwiches

I didn’t get any special bread, nor did I buy the fancy bacon. But there’s still bacon and avocado involved, so it’ll still be a satisfactory sandwich.

Tuesday: Ravioli lasagna

The world’s simplest/laziest lasagna!

Wednesday: Chicken mafé

I’d planned to have a coconut curry chicken, but the sauce I normally buy wasn’t available. Poppy spotted an African peanut sauce and thought it sounded good, and I’m certainly not going to deny her the opportunity to try a new food.

Thursday: Fish sticks and mac & cheese

This was another Poppy request. It isn’t my favorite, so there’s a pretty good chance I’ll just be having a salad.

Friday: Pizza

Friday is usually pizza night, but I might switch it up this week.

I’m linking this up with OrgJunkie.com’s weekly Menu Plan Monday thing.

Bandwagons, Photos

A new picture for a new project in the new year

01/02/2015 Nichole 4 Comments

Projects I Have Started

The Photo-a-Day Project.
The presidential biographies project.
The 52 Dates project.
The terribly tardy bakers challenge.
The 100 books project.

Projects Still In Progress

The presidential-bio one.

Projects I Have Completed

…

I could let that 0% success rate get me down. Instead, I’m just going to start another new project!

I haven’t been using my camera all that much recently, and I’ve been looking for something to push me to change that. I’d also like to shake the weird, shy feeling that I get sometimes when I use my “real” camera rather than my phone’s camera. I’m hopeful that 52Frames will help on both fronts.

52Frames is a community of experienced and aspiring photographers, all working from a new theme each week. I think there’s constructive criticism and feedback involved, which is always a little scary.

The first week’s assignment was to take a self-portrait. We had a fire pit in the back yard on New Year’s Eve, and I liked the light and the shadows that were coming off of it. I tried to take a picture of myself there, but I hadn’t set up a tripod and my arms weren’t quite long enough to capture what I wanted with the lens I was using. I could’ve switched to my other lens — I have an 18-55mm and a 55mm, and I was using the 55 — but I was sick and didn’t feel like moving a whole lot. So I took one of the pictures that didn’t work so well and smashed it up with a picture of some Christmas lights I’d taken the same evening. And here’s the result:

One of my goals for the future is not to rely too heavily on Photoshop. I went with this composite, though, because I tend to try to hide or fade into the background and I thought this reflected that impulse pretty well.

I’m planning to share each week’s photo with you here, so feel free to goad me about it if I stop. Are you embarking on any new projects for 2015?

Flotsam / Jetsam

2014 in review

12/31/2014 Nichole

We had just north of 4,000 visitors this year at Butterscotch Sundae (that is, for those of you keeping track, a truly impressive decline from years past). The majority of those folks were from the the United States, Australia and Canada. And also one each was from Saudi Arabia, the Maldives and Norway, among other places.

The most-visited posts of 2014 were:

1. “Caffeinate thyself with a free cup of coffee”
2. “I fought the cat and the cat won”
3. “Meatballs & bad weather”

And here are the most popular posts from each month:

January: “This Week in Homeschooling: We Start a New US History Study”

February: “Meatballs & Bad Weather”

March: “What Do Homeschoolers Do All Day?”

April: “Caffeinated Thyself with a Free Cup of Coffee”

May: “That’s No Moon. It’s a Cheeseburger!”

June: “Three Fun Places Near Savannah to Visit with Your Kids”

July: “The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls are Worth the Effort”

August: “What Fourth Grade Looks Like at Our House”

September: “Notes from the Parking Lot”