Ernstrom Family Chatter header image 1

Crepes-ala-Jared

April 11th, 2008 · a day in the life, food

This is our friend Jared.

He went to High School with us.  In High School he was pretty good friends with Dave and his brother. I knew his younger sister better. He was snoopy in a play once. He was Dave’s roommate for awhile. In fact, he used to live in Bridget’s room – that’s kind of weird to think about. Oh, and now he works with Dave at DuPont.

But one of the coolest things about Jared are these crepes that he makes. They are pretty yummy. . .

It’s become kind of a conference weekend tradition to dine on Jared’s crepes. It usually doesn’t take too much convincing to get Jared to come over and cook them up – but there have been a couple of conferences where we’ve had to make “crepes-ala-Jared” without Jared. But Jared always does a better job.

This past weekend we were privileged to get the crepe master himself. And he was kind enough to agree to be featured on this blog (if only for a place on the Sweet Pork tasters panel).  In any case, I now give you “crepes-ala-Jared”:

Crepes-ala-Jared

1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 Tbsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Mix dry ingredients and eggs. Gradually add milk.

Add butter and vanilla, mix until smooth.

Let sit 1 hour.

Heat crepe pan. Coat with butter. Pour about 1/4 c. batter onto the pan and rotate the pan to distribute evenly. Turn crepe at desired done-ness.

It should be noted that a frying pan will work if there is no crepe pan available, but it does make things more difficult. You can fill crepes with just about anything. Jared’s favorite is ham and swiss. Last weekend we also did chicken and cheese, sweet pork, and strawberries with cool whip. I even had icecream filled crepes once, with hot fudge over the top. The sky is the limit, get creative.

Just for fun, here is one more picture of Jared cooking the crepes. Both of the pans being used are crepe pans, in case you were wondering. There are all kinds of crepe pans available out there – including some crepe makers where you actually dip a heated ‘pan’ into the batter and flip it over to cook – my roommate had one of those. I’m sure Jared would have some firm opinions on the type of pan to use. I think his was cast iron. Mine is the cheap-o version.

In any case, make some crepes. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.

→ 3 CommentsTags:

My New Hair

April 10th, 2008 · a day in the life, family, tina

I changed my hair.

I’ve never really changed my hair before. So, for me at least, this was pretty drastic.

I got highlights (Just subtle ones), I’ve never colored my hair before.

And layers. I’ve never had layers either.

And its above my shoulders. Its been a long time since it was that short.

What do you think?

Yea, okay… so I got a little silly in some of those. Sorry. Dave wouldn’t stop taking pictures, so I had to entertain myself. lol. Besides, if I didn’t post some of the hideous ones, I’m sure he would. At least this way I get some level of vetoing power.

Can you see the highlights? They are really really subtle.

It was really weird at first. Because it wasn’t [the me I was used to] looking back at me in the mirror. But I think I’m starting to get used to it. And I really am still somewhat uncertain whether I like my regular hair or my new hair better. I guess we’ll see in a week or so how I am feeling about things.

→ 7 CommentsTags:

For Sale by Owner

April 9th, 2008 · a day in the life

We are selling our home.

So far its listed on Craigslist, KSL, Facebook, Owners.com and Yahoo Real Estate. I also plan to post it up at campus (Utah State)
We looked into ForSaleByOwner.com and our local newspaper (Harold Journal). Both are a bit pricey. So, I think we’ll see how well it sells with the places its currently listed – and if needed we’ll explore other options in a month or so.

Hopefully it sells fast.

Now, for the “why” part of things. We’ve already gotten a number of people asking us why we are moving. The answer is that we are going to build. We found a lot we really like up by Smithfield canyon, and we’ve had a builder and floor plan in mind for some time. I guess you could say that we are just finally taking that step.

For those of you interested, we are going to build with Kartchner Homes, and we’ve decided on their Teton plan. We are pretty excited to get things going with this. We’ve been talking about doing it for the past 2 years, but for one reason or another we haven’t.

Here is the floor plan:

Take a look at a couple of these pictures from their model home (same floor plan, but more upgrades than we’ll get):


This is the family room. We won’t have the fireplace. And maybe not the archway either.

The kitchen. Our counter tops probably won’t be so nice. We’ll see about the appliances. We are keeping the island, and the floors though.

Anyway, if you can’t tell, we are pretty excited to see this actually happen. Its a great time to build too. We were impressed at how low interest rates are right now. We’ve also learned that if you start building in the spring (e.g. lock in the sale price of the home) there’s a good opportunity for some instant equity when you close a few months down the road. Especially since builders tend to raise prices at the early part of the summer. Ok, I’m on a soapbox now. I’ll stop.

We are excited. And if anyone else has the building bug and wants to come be our neighbors come talk to me. 😀

→ 5 CommentsTags:

Caution

April 8th, 2008 · random

As an April Fools joke, someone drew chalk outlines on our sidewalk and draped caution tape around our yard.

At first glance, We guessed that it was probably the McKay, Marshall, and Marissa. One of the chalk outlines looked very much like it could be Marissa. But, then I had Bridget lay down on the sidewalk next to it to get a perspective.  And I thought. . . that seems a bit small for Marissa, maybe it’s Danika.

Funny, but both families deny being involved. Maybe it was a joint effort. A conspiracy.  Haha…. kidding.
But then, just a couple of days ago Marissa was over visiting, and she lay down in the chalk outline. A perfect fit. Odd, for someone not involved.

Regardless of who dunnit, we got a pretty good laugh. And I wanted to share the love and funny with all of you. Happy April Fools Day, again!

→ 1 CommentTags:

Conference & Toddlers

April 7th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget

Watching General Conference with a 2-year old is like spending 8 hours with them in Sacrament Meeting. I’m not completely convinced it is even really possible. This conference weekend we had the broadcast on our television and on radio’s throughout the house, but we weren’t very strict about sitting down to watch it. I really enjoyed the parts of conference I was able to hear, but I’m sure I’ll get more out of it when I read the Ensign next month.

It was interesting to see Bridget pause at various times during her play to watch for a few seconds. It only happened here and there, and it was somewhat fleeting, but I bet she still learned something – if only from the spirit that was brought into our home by having it on.

On a funny note:

At the beginning of the Saturday morning session I was trying to explain to Bridget what conference was (and why she couldn’t watch Corpse Bride instead), when they were about to start the opening prayer. I asked Bridget to fold her arms for the prayer. She did. But, they the following conversation ensued:

About 30-45 seconds into the prayer. . .

B: Mom.
T: Shhhh.
B: Mom, you gonna say the prayer?
T: He is saying it (pointing to the television)
B: (momentary silence)
B: Mommy. Say the prayer.
T: Shhh. Just listen.
After that, she listen to the end of the prayer, adding her “amen” to the end.
By the closing prayer for that session, she was reminding me to fold my arms and close my eyes. She recognized the start of the prayer, and keep me on my feet.

She was napping through the afternoon session.

Sunday morning, I had just gotten her out of the bathtub and we were listening to the choir sing while I combed through her hair. That’s when the prayer started. She immediately folded her arms (while standing on a stool in the bathroom). I set down the comb and followed suite. She was quiet and reverent through the entire thing. I was pretty impressed, especially considering that these are not ‘toddler-length’ prayers.

I am so grateful for my beautiful little daughter, for her energy and desire to learn. And for her sweet little example. Thanks Bridget, I’m glad you could enjoy some of conference even at such a young age.

→ 4 CommentsTags:

No Post Today

April 5th, 2008 · a day in the life, random

Ten reasons there is no post today:

  1. We are selling our house (I’ll explain in a later post)
  2. Messiah
  3. Uncle John’s project
  4. Sweet Pork
  5. Chicken Enchiladas
  6. General Conference
  7. The Office
  8. Potty Training – regression (again, another post)
  9. Laundry
  10. I need a break.

Come to think of it. I don’t think I’m going to do a post for Sunday morning either. I’ll see you all Monday. Have a great conference weekend.

→ No CommentsTags:

Keep out of reach of Children

April 4th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget

The other day Bridget was “helping” me clean our computer room when she found a package of manila envelopes. Apparently she decided it would be a good idea to take the envelopes out of their plastic bag. I guess the packaging had a greater purpose to serve.

The next thing I knew I heard, “Look Mom, a hat!”

I turned around to see this:

I quickly grabbed my camera and to snap a picture. I only got one before she started doing this:

Good heavens!! Honestly… As you might imagine, we had a nice conversation about what we do and don’t do with plastic bags, and why its not a good idea to wear them over your face. The offending bag also got torn apart and thrown away. And despite the fact that she seemed to agree that bags don’t belong on her head, I somehow doubt that this is the last time we’ll be having such a conversation.

Speaking of plastic bags. . .
This is what happens when Dave puts a plastic bag over his head:

I guess a graphic similar to this was found on some bags where he works. The graphic was so funny that one of his co-workers decided to pull out a little PhotoShop wizardry and change the graphic to Dave’s likeness. Don’t choke.

When will they grow out of this sort of strange behavior? Will they ever? Sometimes I wonder. I mean, I witnessed some grown adults sucking helium the other day – didn’t we all learn in Jr. High school that THAT wasn’t a good idea?? Alas! Alack!

→ 3 CommentsTags:

Music Videos: Where it all began

April 3rd, 2008 · college life, music videos, the hottest girls at USU

A few days ago I was talking to a friend about some of the weird things I did in college. Somehow, making music videos came up. . .

Anyway, I decided to dig out all of the crazy (and probably embarrassing) music videos we made in college and share them.
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll share the good, the bad, and the ugly. Including my horrid attempt at “Goodbye Earl,” a rendition of “Push,” and the most popular, “What’s Love Got to do with it?” – Also, you’ll need to have QuickTime installed to watch these. Its easy, and its free.

With that, let us begin.

Where It All Began:

It all started sometime during the 2000-2001 school year when I was living in Cobble Creek apartments. One of my roommates had borrowed her mom’s 8mm video camera, and one night (well, early morning) around 3:00am we started playing.

This was the first “music video” we made. It was my roommate Emmylou.

I don’t really know what we were thinking. You can see me and some of my other roommates waving that fabric behind her. LOL. That was actually the plastic pee sheet that came standard on our apartment mattresses. Pee sheet, random strand of Christmas lights, old High School dance dress, and video camera – the makings of a lovely music video. 🙂

A few nights later we pinned a blue/yellow bed sheet to the wall, added a few more random strands of Christmas lights, and an occasional fan or strobe light. That when things really started to get crazy. And hideous. And embarrassing. You’ll see what I mean in the next music videos post.

→ 2 CommentsTags:

Green Belt

April 2nd, 2008 · a day in the life, dave, family

How many of you have heard of Six Sigma?

Basically its a practice of improving processes by eliminating defects – usually in manufacturing related areas.
(If you want more information on what exactly it is you can visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma.)
Many large corporations encourage and support employees getting trained in the practices of Six Sigma. Not only is it a benefit to the company, but having Six Sigma training and/or certification on your resume is great. It is a highly respected program.

Last Fall, Dave finished his Green Belt project in Six Sigma at DuPont, and was recently awarded this lovely certificate.

To earn his Green Belt, Dave had to propose and implement a project at work that improved current processes by a certain margin. I believe that the project also had to help save the company money. In any case, according to wikipedia, a Green Belt is someone who takes up the Six Sigma implementation along with their other job responsibilities.

I made him let me take a picture before he took it back to work.

Good work Dave!

→ 2 CommentsTags:

Good News!!

April 1st, 2008 · random

Guess what?!???!!

I think the picture speaks for itself!!
Do I really need to say more?
.

.

.

.

Well, maybe I should say one more thing…

.

.

.

.

.

APRIL FOOLS!!
Hahaha… did I fool you?

I had to pull out the ‘ol CD of images from 2005 to dig up this pic. Yes, we were hideous and took a picture of it. Look at the bright side – at least the pee-ed on portion of the stick didn’t make it into the picture. lol. I’m sure you can all be grateful for that!

Have a Happy April Fools Day!

→ 7 CommentsTags: