Southern Grand Daughters Minus One

Abby & Erin (sans shoes) after Easter lunch at Grandma's house. Sunday was in the mid-70's and we're having snow flurries today. Go figure...

At a world brewing convention in the States, the CEOs of various brewing organizations retired to the bar at the end of the first day of the conference.
Bruce, CEO of Fosters, shouted to the Barman: "In 'Strylya, we make the best bloody beer in the world, so pour me a bloody Fosters, mate."
Bob, CEO of Budweiser, calls out next: "In the States, we brew the finest beers of the world, and I make the king of them all, gimme a Bud."
Hans steps up next: "In Germany ve invented das beer, ferdamt. Give me ein Becks, ya ist der real King of beers, danke."
Christiaan says: "Barman, a Heineken, wees zo goed.
Paddy, CEO of Guinness, steps forward: "Barman, would ya give me a diet coke with ice and lemon? Tanks."
The others stare at him in stunned silence, amazement written all over their faces.
Eventually Bruce asks: "Are you not going to have a Guinness, Pat?"
Paddy replies "Well, if you fookin' pansies aren't drinkin', then neither am I!

Happy Easter!!!

Hey Everybody,

We'll miss you guys tomorrow. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Love,

Christy

The Empire Strikes Back!!!

Nancy has upped the ante with Judy in the cute grandchildren race. Your cousins are (l-r) Kaitlin F. (17), Lindsey V. (15), Amanda F. (20), Madeline H. (14), Jordan H. (16), Kelsea F. (14), Meagan F. (22), Ashley V. (16), and Mark H. (19). A good looking Ward bunch.

This means we need a new group family picture to stay in the Final Four!

Milt

Party Favor

Debbie, what's the party favor comment all about? Was there some stomach virus passed around, or did you just have a 3 day hangover?

belated pictures

Hello!

I'm just catching up on my blog reading, and cracking up. This family is funny.

Here are some pictures of the two chefs in my house. Rob was kneading the dough, and saying, "turn, push, turn and push." Katie had her own tiny piece of dough, and she mimicked Rob's motion while she said, "toooo, pus!"

We were supposed to have an Easter egg hunt today at 10:00, but it got rained out. Hopefully, we'll get to do it on another day. Katie's been practicing, so she's ready.

In other big news, the potty training is coming along. I won't be gross with details, but lets just say we can add the #2 to Katie's successes! Whoo hooooooo! Having kids really makes me talk about weird stuff, right? Well, that's my life now, so deal with it! It's very exciting!

I sure miss all of you.

Love,

Christy

Terrapin = Big News!

Look who's on the front page of the AJC's Living section online today! What a cutie pie!!!

There's an entire gallery of pictures of the brewery if you can't make it to the tour on the 29th.

Read the article here.

Chefin' in the Nor'East

So here's the update....

I've made one really good loaf of sourdough, using a friend's starter. My starters seem to be getting going, and then they fizzle. Further reserach indicates that in this climate I will have better luck getting my starters started once the summer rolls around. Since summer only lasts 39 days here, I'm taking comfort that Fall is also supposedly a good time for the yeasties. More to come, as my compulsion will probably not allow me to wait out the spring before giving my original starter another go.

Further along the baking lines... I made a good chocolate souffle a while back. And this past weekend, I made a batch of bread using Gramma Ward's recipe. It turned out to be very good - and very plentiful. She was baking for a whole clan with that recipe. Katie helped, and Christy took some pictures which made it a slightly more sentimental culinary adventure. Still eating that batch of bread, though it's mostly through peanut butter toast at this point. What they say about getting hooked on homemade bread over store-bought is true.

I also made the Melissa recipe silken chicken tikka masala several weeks ago. Outrageously good. I made the naan with it. If I croak with that in my belly, that means there will also be a smile on my face.

We continue to try making some new stuff along with the old stand-bys. Most of the new ends up being inspired by something we've seen on Food Network, especially the Jamie at Home show. Gotta love the food porn.

Between playing Katie's favorite game - chase - and occasional trips to the gym, we're avoiding becoming as big as a house in our house. Let's hope we can keep the balance.

The Official Terrapin Grand Opening Invite

The Grand Opening of the new brewery is Saturday, March 29th...food, music, friends, and beer will abound. Come on out. I can get all family in free. Any body else, it's a whopping $8. Let me know who's attending (sorry, no poll. just call or email). Hope to see everyone there!!


And, yes, it's in Athens.

Poll

Since I don't have permissions to add a real poll on the blog, I'll use a post to start one.

What beer should Stephen make?
A. Asiago Ale (pick A, seriously)
B. Limburger Lager
C. Cheddar Barley Wine
D. Mozzarella Hefeweizen
E. Some whimpy non-cheese based beer

St. Patrick's Day

Looking forward to seeing you all there. Sorry for those of you who will miss this year. Please find a local pub, and car-bomb one for us.

A Funny Pic

Here's a funny little pic of our friend Thuan from the "Santa Pub Crawl" on the cover of Atlanta Illustrated. I thought it might be good for a laugh. As far as what's been gong on with us, not much to report. We've been trading back and forth with who will be out of town which week and who will care for the dogs. The brewery is up and running now and we started running tours about a month ago. I'm becoming quite the guide through the brewing process, and I'll be brewing my first homebrew (actually brewing it at the brewery because we're a little short on space here in our Penthouse Loft) in the next couple of weeks. I just need to actually read a little bit about what I'm gonna make (I'm thinking a Belgian Style Ale called a Saison). I'll keep you up to date on that as I move closer to actual fermentation. I'll be sans Wife at the St. Paddy's Day Party, but I will replace her that evening with an old friend. We're looking forward to it!! Anyone got extra space to stash dogs?

Current events

Spitzer, crime fighter extraordinaire, moral compass of the great state of state of New York, "linked to prostitution ring". First of all, does "linked to prostitution ring" just make a better news story than "accused of being a john"? Secondly, while faced with a potential indictment on federal charges, why does he come forth and apoalogize (which is basically an admission of guilt) but not go ahead and resign? Finally, how long before his wife seeks the Democratic nomination for president?

Sad Little Blog

This is a sad little blog. When Melissa had this idea, I thought it would be a great way for those of us who don't live directly up everybody else's butt to keep in touch with what's going on with those of us who do. Alas, we get no news unless we post news first, and that seems a little wrong. We miss you guys, and this our most efficient way to keep in touch. Please help a brotha' out and post something everyone once in a while. If not for the benefit of the rest of the family whom you see every 2 days, then do it for us. With Katie's vocbulary growing by leaps and bounds every day, I'm thinking that we should teach her only the names of family members who either visit us or post some news once in a while.