Oklahoma: Post One

Forgive the length. This is mostly a photo journal of Graduation Day; more of the rest of the trip to come!

The Night Before

Erik & I left LAX the day before the graduation. Thank heavens for on-time flights and good weather!! Erik got home from work in the morning and we finished getting ready before leaving. No sleep for the poor boy. I drove, but he had caught his second wind and was unable to sleep. We parked and caught an easy shuttle to the airport in plenty of time; security was faster and easier than I can remember since before all the new measures were put in place! LAX is under construction, but we found our gate fairly easily and settled in to wait . . . Erik still didn't nap. Our flights were on time, and we were so impressed by the friendliness, efficiency and overall service from Frontier Airlines! Best flight experience in years--both going and returning. We arrived in OKC less than an hour before Noelle & Andy, and were whisked off to Guthrie by April and (brother) Ben. Erik, now going on about 36 hours with no sleep, seemed glad to reach a bed.

Graduation Day

We woke to a whirlwind of activity! I think this picture captures the lives of A&B Coffin pretty well. On the morning before hosting a large graduation party, not to mention the day of the actual ceremony, you can see Ben here making a cake for a friend's birthday "real quick"; the blur in the background is the graduate.
Perfect, as usual!
And now on to the graduation cake!
Meanwhile, April (with a little help from her friends) was steaming clothes rumpled by travel.
If my hair seems frizzy in pictures, it's because she steamed me a little too!
Dad in the kitchen making bags of chile powder--he and Jackie stopped at in Hatch, NM and brought chiles and chile powder to share! We've been using our green chile powder in eggs--YUM!!
Adding the fruit between layers.
Attack of the clothing steamer!
They still managed to clean up pretty well in time for the graduation ceremony. ;-)
Uncle John
One of the few pictures I got of Dad, here with Don. I think he was too busy with his own camera!
Noelle, Mom, Shirley
Kirsten & Erik
Andy
Pei & Ben
Me & My Handsome Hubby
Jackie & Ben
John & April
Let's line up for more pictures, Ben!
Sibs & Spouses
Coffins & Meachams
Ben & April with Ben's parents, Don & Shirley

We met April's good friend from school, Debbie.

Then came The Problem of the Hat.
"How do I make this stay??"
A helpful friend from the kitchen offered trussing pins and strings.
April preferred the bobby pins another friend was able to scrounge up.
April & Debbie, all ready to graduate!!
There was a nice departmental reception before the ceremony, complete with yummy food prepared and served by Ben's co-workers in the kitchen!

April & NoelleApril & Mom
Cut from the same cloth?
Graduation!
These are a bit fuzzy . . . I discovered the switch on the lens was set to manual the following day. :-/ Here are April and Debbie making their way to their seats, while April scans the crowd to find us.
Amazingly, she eventually did spot us!
Heading up to the stage
Waiting to have her name called
The shots from across the stage were just too fuzzy to share, even with apologies.

We met at the back afterwards for a quick(ish) get-away. But not before balloon and flowers!
College Graduate
"Ok, we're done with pictures now."
"I'm getting out of this hot robe!"Congratulatory call from friends unable to make the party
I didn't take any pictures at the party. I was too busy eating yummy food, meeting people, talking to folks I hadn't seen for ages . . . needless to say it was quite a spread and a good time was had by all. I'll post more pictures from our trip in coming days.

Congratulations, April!!!!!!!

Good Stuff

Got a few minutes? Read some blog posts from the Compassion International Trip to the Philippines. You won't be sorry.

Making Lefse!

Ok, so I'm way behind on my posts again. May has been a crazy, busy month! The good news is that I have lots to post about; the bad news is that the order may be a little wonky.

Still to come: April's graduation from OSU, mini-golf with some of our favorite kiddos, the potluck we took this food to, garden updates, and our trip to Sequioa National Park (some pics of this last on Facebook if you are so inclined).

People ask me sometimes what kinds of food I miss from Wisconsin "besides cheese!" One of the (other) things you don't find around here is Scandinavian food, although we have found a place that sells lingonberries! When our small group decided to end the year with an International Potluck (good idea, Erik!) I decided to finally take the plunge and try making lefse. In a fit of inspiration some years back I had purchased the ricer, rolling pin and pad, flipper and griddle necessary, but had never given it a try. I know understand why my friend's family made a huge batch of lefse ONE TIME A YEAR with the help of all aunts, grandchildren, etc. and froze enough to last. It's not something I'd probably do again solo, but the results were almost enough to temp me.

This is the potato mixture that sat in the fridge overnight. I totally took the cheater's route and used instant mashed potatoes. Next time I'd really like to try it with the real thing and use the ricer.
Adding the flour to make the dough
More flour!
And here we go . . .
I've always wondered how these rolling pins work. It seems like the grooves would get full of gunk, but somehow they don't!Note to self: rolling the balls ahead is a good idea; setting them on the red paper you printed the recipe on . . . not so good. At least the pinkish hue seemed to disappear when they were cooked. ;-)

These thin edges were getting quite crispy, so I decided to use a different tactic.
Enter the Yellow Bowl. It added a step, and probably not necessary, but since I was standing around waiting to flip the lefse there was plenty of time. The rolling and cooking are tasks that would be nice to share--or at least have company to talk with while you do it!The smaller lefse shape allowed me to cook two at a time on the griddle. And they look prettier!
Store them between towels while cooking.
Some of them still seemed to be a bit crispy on the edges. I put some bread in the bag with them in hopes they would soften up. I have no idea if that was necessary, but by the next evening they were perfect. What a treat!
Cook's prerogative--taste testing! I spread butter on and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar.
When Erik got up, he tried one with lingonberries--definitely the better choice!!
I also made a batch of Norwegian meatballs (I'm not being anti-Swedish here, but I did get the recipe from a Sons of Norway website so it doesn't seem appropriate to change the name!)
Erik wanted something from his Irish heritage as well, and decided to make a batch of colcannon. We tried this dish on St. Patrick's Day this year and loved it!

Here are the potatoes and (floating) parsnips on the stove, ready to cook.
Washing the kale (have you ever seen anyone so excited about kale?!?)
Mmm . . . kale cooking in butter.
He put the potatoes and parsnips in the mixer to start with, but we found that the parsnips didn't get mashed properly. Next time we'll skim the parsnips off first and mash them by hand before adding them--then the mixer should work just fine!
Yummy! To quote one of the kids at the potluck, "I think these are the best mashed potatoes I've ever had in my LIFE!"
We are enjoying wonderfully cool weather with enough humidity to feel like spring is still with us. It's supposed to continue for another week--no complaints in this household!!