Adventures in the Snow

We've been living in Mississippi since August 2010. The climate when we arrived was hotter than in San Antonio, TX, with many days over 100 degrees and humidity in the 90s. The winter climate has proved to be much colder than in San Antonio, and last Sunday we had snow - significant amounts of snow. The snow was anticipated all day, but didn't start falling out of the sky until 6 p.m. When it came, it fell fast and furious, with big flakes floating down and blanketing everything in sight. Grown-ups and kids alike headed out into the streets to experience the rare event. My daughter Emily was especailly excited, and she came in covered with snow and ice pellets, and even had a beautiful snow hairbow.

Temperatures were in the low 30's so no one knew how long the snow would stick around. The next morning I snapped some shots of the house and yard before the kids got up and started playing in it.


Snow is an infrequent enough visitor here that there are no snow ploughs or other means of dealing with accumulations. As a result, the schools and businesses closed for a day or two, and all the neighborhood kids were out playing and creating with the white stuff.



Besides the traditional snowmen, one group of kids built a snowhouse, complete with a table, chairs, and beds. Of course there were snowball fights. The young boys across the street got serious about their snowballs, teaming up to make sleds-full of then, and unloading them on some older boys. The moms had a fun time standing around chatting while the kids played. Even Will enjoyed getting out in the snow and hanging out with his friend Lauren.

With temperatures just above freezing, the snow melted slowly throughout the day, but still there was plenty for Erin & Hannah to make a snowman in the back yard and snow angels in the side yard.

We had so much snow that even with it melting all day and all night, the ground was still covered the next morning, although it seemed more like packed ice than powdery snow.

Nearly one week later, thanks to another cold snap, we still have some patches of snow on the ground. Most of the white stuff is gone, but the armies of snowmen in the neighborhood are stubbornly hanging on, although they look a little less stout each day. Hopefully our memories will last longer.

Adventures in the Kitchen

Although cooking in the Isler household is primarily my job, there are times when it truly is a family affair. Some Friday nights we have homemade pizza. I pull out my Bosch mixer and make the dough, then we divide it up and make at least 4 different kinds of pizza. Last night, I intended to make pizza, but I didn't start the dough early enough and the kids and I had to go to a meeting that went long. When we got home, my husband Chuck had put together an amazing meal, a curry-type dish with oriental noodles. He also made an apple cobbler with homemade whipped cream. This morning he was at it again, making potato cakes with his own made up recipe. We ate them with my homemade heart-shaped biscuits. Yum!

Last Saturday, Chuck made his special pancakes with mashed bananas and cinnamon. We use the batter for waffles or pancakes, and have enough for a couple more mornings. He took the opportuniuty to train our son Will (7), who hates bananas but loves the pancakes.

On New Year's Day, we got to use two new kitchen gadgets we got for Christmas. One is a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. Chuck and our vegetarian Emily experimented with different combinations, preferring the apple-orange concoction.

Erin later got out the pasta maker my mother (Granny) gave her. She and Emily spent about three tireless hours making the pasta dough and then pressing it through the pasta maker. She made fettucine and ravioli. Chuck made two fillings for the ravioli, one mushroom-based and the other with spinach and cheeses. He also made an alfredo sauce for both the fettucine and the ravioli.