Reading, resting, eating and more...

Life indoors still isn't quite as tranquil as it is outdoors.  Still, I have various parts of the house that are really coming together.  One of the first areas we tried to get organized was the homeschool room.  This is our new book nook.  I came across LD reading a long chapter book to DD last evening and just had to take a picture!

I thought about picking up the strewn books, but decided against it since that really how it normally looks as the kids grab handfuls of books to read throughout the day and I just don't pick up until the end of the day!  I made the red book display case last year and it fits in perfectly under the window, doesn't it?! These chairs, by the way, are the only comfortable pieces of furniture we have (well aside from 4 beds now too).  Hopefully we'll get a couch set at some point! Craigslist has been great -- so far we've gotten a dining room table, 8 chairs and a china cabinet; bar stools (for the kitchen); and a lovely entertainment system.

Changing subjects... to food...

The oven we had for the past 12 years didn't work very well (I had to rotate things halfway through or else one end of the pan would be burned and the other unbaked!).  I tried numerous times to make popovers, but they always stuck to the pan and basically failed to "pop."  This evening I tried making them again for the first time in a long time and they were a HUGE hit!  So here's our evening meal -- and I'll share the recipe below for those of you who have a reliable oven!

Half-eaten popover--so you can see the airy inside!

Popover Recipe:

2 eggs beaten well
1 cup milk
add: 1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp melted butter

Beat until smooth
Fill 12 well greased muffin cups 1/3 full (DON'T fill them too much!)  I found the little mini-sized muffin cups actually "popped" even higher.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.
Then, without opening the oven, reduce the heat to 350 and bake for 22 minutes (the recipe called for 25-30, but mine were done sooner).

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And still on the topic of food, I made my beloved Hungarian Goulash (I've shared the recipe here) and used American tomato paste.  It was YUCK-O!! :(  It's my favorite dish and it turned out wretched!  I'll definitely need to alter the ingredients!