Jamie

Lizzy and Jamie

Spring rolls... YUM

Phlorie... YUMMY

Jamie's 5th Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!

So to be honest as much as I love Jamie I almost always forget that her birthday is in April.. I dont know why I just do! So as usual when Jamie's birthday came around I completely spaced out! Usually we will take the kids to a museum or the pool or something for their birthday, instead of throwing a huge party with a bunch of kids!

So this year, I was busy trying make some Trinidadian food when our friend Arlene called and asked us if we wanted to come over and cook at her house. We would make tons of food and we could have cake and ice cream to celebrate Jamie's bday. I was totally in!

So Jared was not feeling well and decided to stay home with Jamie and make her birthday cake. I told him that I would take the other kids to church, then when I got home I would decorate the cake with Jamie and her favorite decorations.

We got home and Jamie and I sat down and decorated her cake. She wanted purple frosting with some yellow frosting too. And princess sprinkles. We did that then headed on our way to Magna for a real trini party.

We also invited some of our friends from our ward The Bingham Family to join us ( they are really interested in my culture) and they LOVED all the food and the people there. I bet they serve a mission in Trinidad in a few years.

Some of the food that we cooked was curry chicken, curry potatoes (aloo) and Garbanzo beans (channa), along with some phlorie and tamarind sauce, spring rolls, sugar cake, pone and there was homemade mango ice cream ( I didn't make that).

Jamie also got some presents too. Simple things but fun. She had a great birthday and I think that next year we will have another Trini Birthday party for her!

Dhalpurie Roti

Arlene Larsen cooking Dhalpurie Roti on my new Tawa

Dough already to be stuffed with the dhal.

Letting the dough rise some more before filling it with the dhal.

Mixing the flour and water for the dough.

Anna helping Arlene need the dough.

Anna rolling out the dhalpurie roti.. hoping to not let it tear in the process.

Christening (conditioning) the tawa with butter and oil.

Anna hard at work rolling the roti.

Making Dhalpurie Roti with Arlene and Anna.

Recently I came across some Trinidadian women on Facebook... I was sooo happy to find out that they lived in UT and that they lived close to me. So we had dinner with them and their husbands (who served missions in the West Indies) and we had a blast talking about our country and all the wonderful food there. So it was pretty much decided with the early introductions that we would soon all get together and try our hand at making some of the local dishes.

Of course I was definitely interested in learning how to cook my fav. foods so Arlene and Anna thought that they would try to make Dhalpurie Roti ( the most difficult roti to make...ever). The process was long.

Anna started the day before by soaking the split peas, patching them in a hot pot, adding seasonings and grinding it into a fine powder. The next day she and Arlene came to my home to help me Christen (condition) my new Tawa, because I didn't know how, and we started to kneed the flour. Very simple ingredients, flour, baking powder and water.

Then we waited and let the dough rise, then we stuffed dough with the dhal. That was hard, I had to stretch out the dough to the size of my hand and cup it like a bowl and fill it with the dhal before pinching the bottom and setting down to rise again a bit more.

After that long process of filling the dough to the right amount, and letting it rise. We then had to roll it out, without tearing it so that the dhal stays in the dough and doesn't fall out on the floor or the Tawa. I wasn't very good at rolling it out and for some strange reason I had the most awkward shaped roti!

So I started to cook on the Tawa and let Anna continue with the rolling. Arlene showed me how to cook the roti on the Tawa. Which included basting the Tawa with a mixture of oil and butter on the bottom, them placing the roti on top, and rubbing some of the same oil/butter mixture on the roti. Then I press the sides down and let that cook, then flip and do the same and fold it with the paddles (forgot the Indian name for those) and placing them in a bowl lined with paper towels.

I think we made almost 30 dhalpurie roti. And it only took 3 hours to do it all. This is not including the part that Anna did the night before by preparing the dhal. That probably took about 6 hours all together.

So while this is everyone's favorite type of roti... we definitely wont be making it anytime soon without another Tawa and another pair of extra hands! ... But it was fabulous!

Spring in UT

Seema was here visiting from Trinidad and she was upset because it snowed.... we got 4 inches of snow.... I told her that this IS what spring is like in UT... she said she will never visit UT when its spring time ever again!

Aubie Finds Easter Eggs.

Jamie Found the Golden Egg!!!!!!!

Golden EGG!

"Aubie do you want some Candy"??? The answer is in her expression!

Easter Bunny hides Easter Eggs at Levi and Susie's house.

Easter Sunday with Family and Friends.....

Easter Sunday was great. We spent the morning watching conference, sleeping in and making dessert for Levi and Susie's Easter Dinner and Egg hunt at their house. Seema was with us and was excited to meet my in laws and see the kids find the eggs. It was a real treat .. Dinner was amazing.... with twice baked mashed potatoes, hame, vegetables and hot buns.... yummmy.

Jared and I went out in the cold to hide the eggs while we were all waiting for dinner. There were a lot of eggs and we had a great time trying to find the perfect place to hide the GOLDEN EGG!

Once the kids were outside they knew exactly what to do. Little Jared found one egg, it had candy in it so he was pretty much done egg hunting. Radley was still too little but he had fun watching the girls run around and get the eggs.

They all got lots of eggs but in the end Jamie found the Golden Egg.... inside was a ton of candy.. which she enjoyed BEFORE dinner!

Then after a great feast... we played some video games, chatted and ate dessert... parfaits and creme' brulee... YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!

General Conference April Saturday Morning session 1.

Seema and I waiting for conference to start. We were in the Terrace section.

Seema's Day at the Conference Center!

We were so happy to have Seema visit us from Trinidad. She is like my big sister so we had tons of fun while she was here. Clearly, one of the most important thing that we did was go to conference and see the Prophet. We had great seats, but it was really difficult to get the tickets. We were really glad to get the tickets and we had a great time hanging out together like old times!

Multi-tasking Dad

So I was busy with a few things, trying to get the kids ready for bed and cleaning up at the same time... all while Jared was on the phone... yep! So while I tried to get everything done, Little Red thought that it was the perfect time to throw a temper tantrum and smack his head on the table, in his efforts to get my attention. So I asked for my husbands help to hold HIS son while I got the other kids in bed, cleaned up their room and got clothes ready for school in the morning.

When I came out of the girls room 20 minutes later I found a very content little boy. He was just soo happy that he got some attention. Jared was still on the phone so I snapped some pics.

Then Jared plops down on the couch with little one in hand, after hanging the phone up ... he turns to me and says... See I can multi-task too!