Thank goodness for ceramic!

In my Total Health Breakthroughs e-newsletter a couple weeks ago they gave a great recipe for Blackberry Souffle. It was great as it uses xylitol and stevia, both natural sugar substitutes.

We had guests coming over last Sunday to watch the Oscars so I wanted to try out the recipe as it seemed easy enough. So we took a trip to Williams-Sonoma (great store!) and picked up six ceramic ramekins - what the recipe called for.

I cooked the blackberries and Jeff helped with the lemon zest and juice. Mixing everything together, I spooned out the ricotta and egg mixture into the ramekins. They were quite full! Ok. Well, we'll see how they turn out.

They nearly overflowed after the first 15 min. baking. I had to spoon out some of the mixture so I could top them with the blackberry compote and bake another 15 minutes.

And then - well, let's just say I'm glad they were on a cookie sheet in the oven or I'd have to buy an oven over cleaning the thing.

Ta-Da! Exploded Blackberry Souffle.

But they tasted wonderful.
And were very filling with 15 grams protein and 3 grams fiber but with only 6 grams of sugar.

Thank goodness the ramekins were ceramic as I worried how many hours I'd have to soak and scrub them to get them clean. They actually cleaned up quite quickly.

Another Re-enacting Season Underway

My 2009 Civil War season started off with a living history event at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. There were no mock battles but plenty of drill and demonstration, which gave us a greater chance to interact with the public. Even though the battles are fun and well-watched, it's the history that really keeps us in the hobby. There's only so much history that can be taught in scho0l, and much of it is wrong anyway. So it's our job to educate the public and show them things that a textbook never will.

Jennifer's civilian group decided not to come this time, because it had been raining on Friday, and it's really hard to set up when everything is wet. But to my surprise and delight, the weather on Saturday was clear and beautiful, and Sunday had just a few clouds with temperatures low enough to make us all glad we have so many layers of wool. Even though the initial forecast was for a wet and rainy weekend, we could not have had better weather.

Both days had a parade through the park. For the first day, I carried Vermont's regimental colors. For Sunday, I carried the National flag and led the whole Union brigade. Only Mr. Lincoln marched ahead of me (and you know that nobody was going to march in front of him). It was rather a proud moment.

All in all, it was a great start to the season and I look forward to another good year.

Thoughts from a (New) Sergeant

I am now in my sixth season of re-enacting. (Has it been that long already?) I spent the first three years as a private, then I served two more years as a corporal. Now I will spend the next season as a sergeant. It's both exciting and a little scary.

For many groups, promotion can be slow in coming, so those of us who aspire to higher rank (like me) often have to wait, then take the opportunity when we can. The hobby has lots of members who have been in it for many years (even longer than me) and have never wanted to be anything above a private, which suits them just fine. Not everyone wants to be an officer, of course, which is also good, because someone has to do the actual fighting. Also, privates (and most corporals) have less responsibility and therefore often have more fun, because they just do what they're told.

Then there is the middle management position known as sergeant. The NCO (non-commissioned officer) has several duties, not the least of which is taking care of the troops and seeing that they do what the senior officers tell them. Having now spent my first event as a sergeant, I must say that I like the position very much. The stripes definitely mean something, and I find myself noticing rank on others' uniforms that much more now that I have "extra stuff" on my own. (Jennifer keeps making popping noises when I mention it, just so my head doesn't get too big.)

I still have a lot to learn about the position, but I know it will come, just like everything else I've learned. We all started out as privates, green and clueless. But now that I'm teaching others the ins and outs, I only hope I do as well as I was taught.

Pretty Clouds

Gorgeous clouds at sunset after a hard day's rain. The system yesterday (2-13) cleared out and left the eastern hills covered white. I'm sure the higher mountains received a full blanket of snow.