Thai Soup

Saturday, March 7th
Thai Chicken-Basil Soup; a new recipe I wanted to try. I read the ingredients: chicken, basil, onion, ginger, lime juice. . . fish sauce? I'd never heard of fish sauce but coincidentally found it at the grocery store while I was looking for the rice noodles. I began to combine the ingredients, the sauteing onions, poblano chili, fresh ginger and garlic smelled unearthly it was so satisfying. Add fish sauce and cook one minute read the recipe. I opened the foreign substance and poured out the appropriate measurement. As I drained the contents into the pot gradual wafts of its scent reached my nose and my hairs stood on end. Few things in all this world smell as that fish sauce did; the bodily fluid that seeps from the liver to the neighboring duct, the dark secret places of an unkempt woman, perhaps rotting flesh also smells as rancid as this liquid I was emptying into my pot of heavenly aroma. "Noooo!" I thought after the deed had been done. What was I thinking?! A rush of anxiety passed through my person and I realized what evil had contaminated our meal. I quickly continued the recipe puring in chicken broth, water, spices, anything to dilute the repugnance of the stench. The smell had reached Chase and he too was in a panic for our fit-for-a-king meal. Turn up the unit, boil, boil, boil! In time it passed and after I had added the other ingredients I tested the broth for quality. Success! It was heavenly, it was perfect. How ridiculous I felt looking on my moment of distress . . .but funny too.






METHOD
1. In 6-quart Dutch oven (pot), heat oil on medium until hot. Add onion and poblano, and cook 10 minutes or until lightly browned and tender, stirring occasionally. Add ginger, garlic, crushed red pepper, and 1 tbsp. fish sauce; cook 1 minute.

2. Add broth, water and half of basil; heat to boiling on high. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 20 minutes. Uncover; increase heat to medium-high. Stir in chicken and uncooked noodles; heat to boiling. Boil 1 minute.

3. Remove Dutch oven from heat. Skim off fat. To serve, stir in lime juice and remaining fish sauce and basil. Garnish each serving with basil sprigs. Serve with additional fish sauce if you like. (YEA RIGHT!). Makes 15 cups.


VERMONT PETERSENS

A Dream Come True

Christmas was fun in Vermont, I'd like to take this time to promote the possibility of a "Christmas in Vermont" year where you all come to OUR house for Christmas...iiiit wooouuuld beee fuuun(encouraging tone).

We went to New York City last weekend so I wanted to put a post up about it. I'm going to take excerpts from my journal for the full explanation.

"We left at noon Friday, frantically tromping through the house to tie up loose ends before we ran out the door. I should have packed the night before to avoid the fear of materials forgotten. Eventually we had every bag in the car and Enoch strapped in. We were off on our adventure..."

"We took the ferry across the lake to get to the train station. The apparent wind was bitter cold as we stood on the observation deck of the boat. Light flecks of snow fell more fiercely with the wind blowing the way it was. The lake looked tired and moody, it's gray water lapping against the port side. Great heaps of ice clung to the steeply rising shores and hung mercilessly with jagged points..."

"The train station(built in 186?) was something from a story book or a charming country painting. A broad platform stretched out from the building with lampposts lining the side, bowing their illuminated heads in an antiqued arch...The wood floor creaked with each step and rolled with the rock of the foot. A dusty gray cat, flecked with random patches of orange, lay self-absorbed on the well-used couch..."

"Enoch hesitantly took a liking to the thing and knelt on the floor in front of the couch and looked at the cat. 'Her name's Choochoo,' said the station manager, 'she does pretty well with kids.' Enoch and Choochoo exchanged stares as if communicating by some other means than words..."

"...Enoch busied himself on the train benches, climbing over handle bars and hissing like a snake. He called himself Kah from The Jungle Book...The rocking of the train was comforting, hypnotizing. The sun began to sink behind the hills and the small snowy villages were dressed in the pink light...Six hours passed and we were at Penn Station in NYC. The song, "One Short Day in the Emerald City" rang in glorious melody through my head. The stirring movement of busy people getting from one point to the next was thrilling and confusing..."
>
"We hopped on the subway and emerged in the city where lights were flashing, people passing and taxis flying by...It was 10:00 when we got settled in [to our hotel room]...By 11:00 we were in bed...ALL of us. Enoch slept the whole night on the mattress on the floor and didn't wake up until 8 the next morning..." We dropped Enoch off at the baby-sitters then,

"We were off to see...the wizard, in WICKED!"
"As we walked against the wind, our eyes squinting, unavoidably catching random flakes in our lashes, the bright flashing lights of a restless city jumped against the gray sky. Time Square, Macy's, the Empire State building stood as beacons of the 'great city.' I couldn't help but compare it to Gregory Maguire's description of Oz, 'A city of insistence, of blanket declaration.' I began looking at the people and not the places, considering their life. 'Look, the poor - I mean are they the poor? The hungry of Oz?...Or is it just the - the surplus? The expendable human selvage?(pg 170)' But I was there on vacation, for pleasure, so like any heartless human I shrugged off the serious issue and saw the city for its' surface, for it's dazzle and awe..."

"We approached the theatre and signs for the musical rose from the concrete..."

"My excitement overwhelmed me, I was dancing, shuffling, singing while watching Chase's face for a reaction. They all chuckled which made me feel juvenile, but not enough to stop my welling excitement. The forum to the theatre was flooded...Gentlemen wearing ties held up souvenir booklets, CD's, t-shirts and more. My heart felt like it would ooze out of my chest, it was swelling, not beating fast, just swelling. The stage was perfect, it captured the mood of the book. Primitive wheels with cogs interlocking, twisting roots agitating the side walls with their coarseness. A winding stair case and there, looming above the stage and peering into the audience, was the dragon which sat atop the 'Clock of the Time Dragon' in the book. It made us part of the story, we became the crowded flocks surrounding the prophetical clockwork, watching as lives unfolded before us. I settled into my seat desperately trying to conceal my excitement which had turned into emotion by then. Chase turned to me and asked if I was excited,...I could feel my face flush and my eyes well up with tears...yes, I was. The first act was glorious, funny, entertaining and dramatically finished with the song Defying Gravity. I cried through it...It's a song of liberation...I watched in joy, in jealousy, in passion as the green character broke free from the shackles of judgment and remained true to herself..."

"When the curtain fell I felt as though I was shaken from a coma. The lights rose and suddenly I was brought back into reality and for a moment I understood why those who've experienced the after-life and return are ready to go back at any time. I walked out dazed, reluctant."

"Our fleight home left at 10:40pm...Enoch had his own seat on the airplane, thank goodness for that. As soon as the engines began to rattle the poor tired boy was asleep, finally at 11:00pm. That was that, a quick, magical night in NYC to see WICKED. I loved it!"

We love you all.

After we came back from Utah...

Things took off quickly as soon as we got home. Chase started school the very next day and I had to start figuring out fun things to do to keep Enoch entertained again (a task gratefully relinquished to family members while in Utah). Before we get much more into it I wanted to post this cute picture of Enoch at his first swimming pool...yeah, he's pretty happy. One day while Chase was mudding the entrance to the kitchen it got very quiet except for a few giddy squeaks here or there. We looked over and found Enoch up to his elbows in the sheetrocking mud, VERY proud too. That was after we'd stripped him down from getting into the bowl of mudding water. As we've been remodeling I've discovered a more convenient and aerobic way to paint the walls.

Among the work we've found time to play. We took Enoch to the beach of Lake Champlain where Chase taught him how to go under water. We went as a ward so Enoch got the opportunity to terrorize the little girls a year older than him. He chased the brunette around the beach for a while eliciting tears from the girl but snickers from the parents. Later that week I took the Booger to Shelburne Farms where he chased chickens around for HOURS quickly learning he could dominate in the relationship. Through it all Enoch has developed DRASTICALLY in his verbal skills (over-dramatized wink). He's learning his colors while expressing his artistic side through a variety of mediums.


The Champlain Valley Fair opened August 25th and we were ready and waiting! The boy was thrilled to be able to experience his first rides (Enoch was pretty excited too)...



...I think. He was sad to get off the Mary-Go-Round but only because he didn't know we were going on... the "Spinning Dragons" next!

Followed by the KKK sheep and...















CARNIES!!!!!













Labor Day weekend we took off for a camping/sailing adventure. We took our little sailboat out for her maiden voyage (as far as WE were concerned). We motored to an island in Lake Champlain, set up camp and wallowed in the joys of S'mores! Enoch is an awesome little camper. The next day was six hours of windless sailing. It was a beautiful day, turned out to be the last day that warm this year. Mmm-mmm-mmm! Noth'n like sitting on a boat with nowhere to go, relaxing reggae in the background and a toddler who loves to stay in the cabin! Last night as we were about to take Enoch upstairs to go to bed we asked for our usual "Goodnight Kiss." Enoch puckered his lips and held out his chin walking first to Chase, then to me and immediately to the banister at the bottom of the stares. To which he promptly gave a kiss and headed up the stairs for bed. Apparently there is a secret love between him and the banister. Here is the Boog playing you some songs as we bid you all farewell.

Family Fun

Here are the pictrures from dinner last week. It was so fun to get us all together before Chase had to leave us all once again. Sorry Jake--but you were at Disneyland, thats fun too!!! Love you all!!

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DEMO!

We've been demolishing our house. It took me a minute to figure out how to do demo, it probably sounds like a such an obvious thing to all of you, but it wasn't natural for me. After Chase showed me how to "wail" on the walls, demo went a little faster.
This one is me giving it my best effort.
We were in the middle of building a porch before Chase hurt his shoulder. It was exciting, but now we can't use our front door until it's finished (it's been two weeks now).
Things are moving along, pretty fast if you consider the fact that Chase is only 3/4 of a person right now and I don't know what I'm doing. We're enjoying other aspects of summer too. Enoch discovered the blackberry bushes in the backyard a couple weeks ago. Now, every time we go in the backyard, he B-lines for the bushes.
We had the very fortunate opportunity to go to NYC for the fourth of July. This is our little family watching the Macy's firework show...in the rain.
That day we had gone to central park where we found street performers, jazz music, lots of bicyclists and...a WATER FOUNTAIN! Enoch spent the rest of the day drying off. Before we came home we went to see the statue of liberty and walked through the Ellis Island immigration center. Very cool.
We are all doing well. This week Chase is out-of-town counseling at a summer camp for students interested in medicine. Enoch and I are alone in our broken home, but have lots of fun stuff planned to keep us busy. We're excited to see everyone. We love you.

Finally

So I finally took new videos that would actually download. The other one after 14 hours I gave up--dumb internet ya know!! Besides now the garden looks better than before--amazing what a little fertilizer will do for plants!! Thanks mommy for instilling in me the desire to do this!!

Here is a video of our garden You guys get the video cause i think i sound like an idiot, and i am only willing to share with those of you who love me no matter what!!! love ya all!!!

While it is uploading i will explain my garden k--
we have 3 yes 3 packages of beets, 2 packages of carrots, i package of radishes, 1 onion, 1/2 green onion, like 10 plants of peppers, Anahaeim, Jalapeno, green( 6 plants), and Serrano i think, i think 24 tomato plants and 2 cherry tomatoes, Honeydew, watermelon, and catalope, 2 rows of beans, 6 rows of peas, 20lb of planted potatoes--LOTS!! and 4 rows of corn. We just planted lettuce and swiss chard, and then we have pumpkins, zuchinne, yellow squash, banana squash, butternut squash, and i think that is finally it. Way to go into gardening on my own without children for slaves huh!!! Love you mom!! : ) PS i need you to come thin out everything!

Some Pictures For You To See

I'm tired and want to go to bed, but I thought I should put a couple pictures on the blog of what we've been up to the last little while.

Sometime in February or March we went to a "sugaring" farm, that's where they make maple syrup.


It was freak'n cold outside but really really warm inside where they were boiling the maple sap, that was nice.

In May we celebrated Cinco de Mayo at some friends' house where Enoch gently tapped a pinata with a plastic baseball bat.

This was an improvement from the last couple times we've introduced him to pinata's where he screams and crys for "Mamamamama!"

One day Chase and I were downstairs doing grown-up things while Enoch was busily playing with toys and wondering around the house. We noticed he had gone upstairs and became quiet. Suddenly we heard something heavy falling down the stairs, Enoch's step stool. He scooted back downstairs, picked up his step stool and set it in front of his chair. He promptly sat down and set his feet up on his stool and grinned from ear to ear.

Chase started an illegal fire in our backyard to get rid of all the dead brush we had.

Memorial Day weekend we went camping with two other couples from our ward.

We discovered that Enoch is a TOTALLY AWESOME camper/hiker. We can take him anywhere...pretty much. We hiked the highest peak in Vermont (4,195 ft.)partly in the rain and Enoch slept through most of it.

This is your retarded sister/daughter-in-law. It's actually the best picture we have of the view at the top of the mountain, so if you can look past my melodramatic heroism you'll see a beautiful view of Vermont...on a cloudy day. So these are pictures of us on hikes with friends. Enjoy!

Our Trip

Beautiful HUH!!!! Ahhh I love maddy!!!!

This is what you call a traffic jam!!!!! We laughed for a good ten muniutes after seeing this! We were on the top level of a double decker bus, which gave us a prime seat for peoples stupidity. It took them like 10 minutes to figure out how to undue this mess. Everyone had to back up and let others through then pull up to let the others through. Thank goodness for traffic lights, and wide roads in America..........I dont this i could drive in this without dieing!!! : ) This was in Paris by the way.
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So i just posted on my blog a little about our trip.....i am just tell you that on here just in case you are checking this more than my blog. Love ya all!!! Here is a pic for this blog.....

Vermont Petersens

This was Chase's Birthday celebration at school.


This is Chase playing hockey.


This is Enoch wearing his "Duck Man" cape, which is actually a towel. He parades around the house in it after bath.


After receiving the chastisement of my life I felt that I should post so people know we still care.
Yup, we were graced by the presence of our matriarchal figure a few weeks ago. It was a RAD surprise, one we'll never forget and will forever be referred to when discussing cool things Mom has done in her life.
Last week Chase and I went to a furniture store, "Buck's Furniture," a name that screams class and quality. It was a one-and-a-half hour drive to Wolcott Vermont when we finally saw the big brown warehouse-like buildings. We got out of the car and while collecting our child I locked the car with the door still open (like a often do) and promptly shut the door behind us. Being the exceptionally astute person I am I immediately gasped and covered my mouth in horror as I realized I had locked the keys in the car...in the middle of nowhere. We rolled our eyes and headed for the door of the furniture store but only after passing a man dressed in a moose costume clearly in an attempt to attract customers on the lonely stretch of highway. We opened the door to a quaint, country consignment-type shop and were greeted by an electronic wax figure of an old man dressed in overalls and a straw hat. "Welcome to Buck's Furniture!" bellowed a prerecorded voice from the mechanical creature, "It may be hard to believe that over 50 years ago this store was . . ." It seemed a bit questionable but it was a furniture sale that couldn't be beat. Following our sales person through the dizzying maze of stairs, ramps and hallways we found what we were looking for, just passed the lamps whose stems were a pair of fishnet clad legs topped with a red shade (something you'd only see in "The Christmas Story,"...and Wolcott Vermont). We had accomplished what we had come for, but still had the daunting task of getting back into our car. (If you had just picked up the story at that sentence, we'd sound like a bunch of retards). Lucky for us, if medical school doesn't work out for Chase, he'll have an excellent future in the business of auto theft. He unlocked the car with a coat hanger, apparently that's all you need to break into our car, so now you know. We finalized out purchase in the customer lounge which was great, doughnuts, nachos, juice, hot chocolate that tasted like the store smelled, etc. While we were there we got two free tickets to one of the ski resorts here in Vermont, courtesy of 92.9 "The Bee." We haven't gone yet, but now I'll have a chance to compare the Vermont snow to Utah snow (Chase says there's no comparison, Utah is by far better).
Yes Vermont is beautiful but not without it's bizarre-eties

Chase White Coat Ceremony

Hello Family,

I am really getting brave and writing on our blogspot.

Last Friday, I got to surprise Chase and Missy, and flew to Vermont to be there for Chase's white coat ceremony. It was so wonderful to be there with them and darling little Enoch, even if it was just only for 24 hours. It was well worth the flight! What a beautiful place they live in, and they have just a darling little home. It is so much like Grandma Pete's home, that it made me so homesick for her. The only thing it lacked was the smell of bacon cooking! Chase took us for a neat drive and showed off Vermont. What a beautiful place they live in. The campus has such neat old buildings. I can't wait to go back to see Chase and Missy and Enoch when the trees are all green!