Pearsons Progress

Our 2 eldest granddaughters are in Loeches

We are so thankful for this opportunity to be with Jasmine and Hannah Pearson our 2 eldest granddaughters. They are the children of our kids John and Cheri and we are thankful that we have this opportunity to get to know them.

Here are a few photos:

A Visit from Mom & Sue

Here are some photos of the visit from our family. They will actually leave tomorrow morning. The Lord has blessed us with this visit.

My wee garden

It’s just been so interesting to see the climate changes here in Spain. I remember when it was said that there were about 330 sunny days in Spain. Well, for the past few years, that has been reduced to about half! We have had winters, 3 years in a row of snow and very rainy and cold days. I hope that things will go back to ‘normal’ in the years to come.

In any case, we’ve had some sun this past week, and I’m thankful! It’s a pleasure to go out a couple times a day to tend to my garden and get some fresh air and warmth from the sun.

John and I are eating lots of ‘greens’… you know, swiss chard, mustard greens and the like. I make a cream of green soup we both enjoy and I personally like to eat them raw. They taste so good and fresh! I even have enough to send to our neighbors across the street.

Video- Making Roti

Our son John asked for the recipe. So here is the video and recipe on how to make roti’s.

1/2 c flour
pinch of salt
1/2 lukewarm water
a few drops of oil

Mother’s Day

Flowers

Americans celebrate Mother Day on the 2nd Sunday of  May. In Spain it is one week earlier. As a mother myself, it’s my day to be thankful to the Lord for the privilege to be a mom..  I have already received my gift~my children.  How thankful I am! Every gift pales in comparison to that!

But as a daughter, 

Making Roti

When we arrived in the village at the beginning of the week, we forgot the box in the garage with:

John’s Letter to the President of the United States

Please read John’s letter that he sent to the sitting president of the United States of America. My blog usually doesn’t cover this kind of content, but I am enthusiastically behind this. May God have mercy on us all, Bobbie

Obamas choice…
Saturday, February 06, 2010

President B. H. Obama

United States of America White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

We see that you have appointed another member to the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.  I would like to enthusiastically support this initiative HOWEVER; I ask that you immediately remove Harry Knox, from your council.  In light of Mr. Knox’s recent comments regarding the Catholic Church, the Pope and, Mr. Knox’s unwillingness to moderate his hateful attitude and speech regarding both; we believe Mr. Knox demonstrates a clear preconceived prejudice against any kind of possible Faith-Based partnership whatsoever!

Mr. Knox’s position regarding condom use in Africa flies in the face of clear scientific evidence against his position.  Why would we possibly want someone like Mr. Knox to advise you, our president, while Mr. Knox himself refuses wise counsel?

We are told that the success of Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships and multi-sectarian cooperation by foreign nationals with our military service members in far away places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan are critical to USA future national security.  But, we at home endure bigotry and extreme prior bias in the attitudes and words of this specific appointee.  Mr. Knox is supposed to foster Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships.  How can this happen? Mr. Knox’s criticism of the Pope; (“harming people in the name of Jesus”) shows a pre-established bias against the Catholic Church.  Let me add, we are Protestants (not Catholics) and we find Mr. Knox’s intolerance of our Christian brethren unconscionable!  Mr. Knox brings division and prior prejudice to what might otherwise have been one of the more useful councils in your administration.

Mr. President, in order to keep your promises to the American People; to heal our divisions, to promote openness and transparency, and to work to reduce the highly polarized positions that prevail in our land, you MUST remove and replace this inappropriate representative with someone less biased and without prior prejudiced.

May I remind you that the Catholic Church represents about 40% of Christian America?  Mr. Knox’s prejudices establish him as an enemy to these 40%.  You should consider this in your decision.

I trust you will take definitive action to remove Mr. Knox as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

John M. Pearson

A USA citizen

Regarding the controversy about condom use in Africa, Here’s a link to a site that reports on the Africa condom research.  It’s short and refers the reader to opinions by Edward Green, a senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health, who in turn cites data in some peer-reviewed journals such as the Lancet, and Science, etc. that have confirmed that condoms have NOT worked as a primary intervention in the population-wide epidemics of Africa.

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/Daily_Reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=57748

Jalapeño Peppers

New Seeds to plant

It´s time to start my Jalapeño peppers indoor! Our friends Tom and Jeanne, sent me this fantastic seed catalog and offered to send me seeds. I chose 2: peppers and kale (see photo). These peppers are extra large and good for canning, which is my intention. Since  hot peppers and not available in Spain, I would like to can them and also can enough Mexican salsa to last 1 year.

Roasted Red Peppers

I bought 3 kilos of really nice red peppers for a good price in Madrid then roasted and canned them. Here are the results:

About 20 large red peppers rendered 16 jars of peppers.

Oranges

Well, here we are in the village, and the day we came in, our neighbor came with this bag of oranges from her tree. Boy, the way the Lord provides is just wonderful!

Now I’m in the process of looking for recipes that make  use of them. Here are a few recipes that I am planning to use to take advantage and not waste a single one of these blessings.

I’m going to make these Whoopie pies for our friends on Sunday. We are having Luis & Conchi for a meal after church and I’ll serve these for dessert. When I chatted with Conchi, we agreed to just have a simple family meal together. This can only happen in Spain with really good friends. They are a continual blessing to us and we are thankful.

Orange Almond Cream Whoopie Pies

30 min | 30 min prep

SERVES 30

• For the Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 – 2 orange, zest of (depending how orangey you want the cookies)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

For the Almond Cream Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2-3/4 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another bowl, mix the egg, oil, orange zest and sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, alternating with the buttermilk, until all the ingredients are well combined.
3. Drop the dough, a teaspoonful at a time keeping the shape as rounded as possible, onto the prepared baking sheet, taking care to leave enough space between the cookies as they expand while baking.
4. Bake about 8 minutes, until slightly golden around the edges, but do not overbake for they will get hard. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. While the cookies are cooling, prepare the filling. In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese and butter until light and well blended. Add the sifted powder sugar, in batches, until the filling is perfectly smooth. Add the almond extract, mix well.
6. To fill the cookies, use a pastry bag or spoon to spread the filling onto the the flat side of one cooking and then sandwich another cookie on top.

*It’s nice to have all the ingredients in the house already! Here is another recipe to use the oranges. These I will use when we have house guests for 3 days at the end of the month.

Blueberry and Orange Cupcakes

37 min | 10 min prep

SERVES 18 , 18 cupcakes

• 1 white cake mix (515 g)
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 orange
• 2 3/4 cups frozen blueberries

1. In a large bowl, prepare the cake mix by mixing it with water, eggs and oil (follow the instruction on the box). Finely grate the orange peel (reserve a little bit of zest to garnish, if wanted). If wanted, you can toss 3/4 cup of blueberries in a little bit of flour and incorporate delicately to the dough with the zest.
2. Distribute the dough in 18 greased muffin tins. Distribute 1/2 cup of blueberries on each cupcake. Cook in the center of a preheated oven of 325 F for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
3. Meanwhile, press the orange to obtain 1/4 cup of juice. In a small saucepan, bring to boil the orange juice and remaining of blueberries. Reduce heat and let simmer 5 minutes (add sugar if wanted, but just a little bit). Let cool. Serve the cupcakes with the blueberry syrup and garnish with orange zest if wanted.

* again, I’m looking to use the ingredient that I have on hand. Our kids, Jerusha and Nathanial brought us cake mixes

and I have blueberries in the freezer. LOVE IT!