Hayes House: The Gourmet 5 Course Meal

As I mentioned in the April: A Whirlwind, my wife and I has the privilege of staying at the historic Hayes House B&B.  One of the greatest features, and something I won't soon forget, was the gourmet 5 course meal our host Jim prepared for us.  It was the most amazing meal I have ever eaten!!!

Here's the breakdown:

The Appetizer

 Lovely shrimp cocktail

The Salad

Spinach Strawberry Salad with Citrus Poppyseed Vinaigrette and edible flower garnish

The Palette Cleanser

Grape Chamboury Ice 

The Main Course

Chateau Brianne with Green Peppercorn Sauce, Carrot Souffle, Fried Green Beans and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

 

The Dessert

White Chocolate Cour Ala Creme set in Brandied Apricot Sauce with Raspberries, Strawberries, and Caramel Sauce

***UPDATED***

Forgot to put what Torie had:

Chicken Breast Wrapped in Phyllo with Dijon Mustard Sauce, Carrot Souffle, Fried Green Beans and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

It was absolutely amazing!!!

April: A Whirlwind

It was a whirlwind of an April for us, both figuratively and literally (see tornadic weather).  I am finally sitting down to write about it.

New Addition:

 We had a new addition to our family...meet "Bodie" our new blue merle Australian Shepherd.  We all have fallen in love with him, and who can blame us, look how cute he is:

Anniversary:

Torie and I celebrated 13 years on April 10th.  We were extremely blessed to get to have a 3 day get away (something fairly rare with young children) thanks to some generous people.  My mom's friend, Joy, knew a guy who ran a B&B in Muskogee, OK - The Historic Hayes House.   She got us in touch with Jim, who allowed us a nights stay at no charge, and Joy paid for us to receive the 5 course gourmet meal (more on that in a moment).  Then my mom and dad wanted it to be special for us and paid for an additional night, what a blessing!  Not to mention that mom drove from the Dallas area to our small part of Oklahoma to watch the boys for us.  So the day before we were to head to Muskogee, we stayed a night in OKC, to spend some more time together and cut down the length of the drive to Muskogee.  We had a wonderful evening, eating at one of our favorite Italian restaurants and then went to see The Hunger Games.  The next day we arrived at the Hayes House:

Frontage Picture

Backyard (included Koi Pond, Tree Swing, Deck, Pool, etc.)

My B-E-A-utiful Bride on the swing

Jim, our host, was very friendly and welcoming and a very good cook.  I mentioned the 5 course gourmet meal, but want to do it justice so I am going to do a separate post concerning the most amazing meal I have ever eaten in my life.

Upon returning from Muskogee, my wife immediately left the next day for OKC again to attend  the Women of Joy Conference.  The boys and I, thinking we would have a fun guys weekend, got to endure tornadic weather through which we spent an adventurous 3 hours in our storm shelter.  The day after Torie returned home, we left for a week long trip in Dallas....wheeww...

Baby Gets Older:

Braeden, our youngest son, turned 7 on April 15.  With my sister's 31st birthday being the 16th, we made a trip to Dallas to have a dual birthday celebration (which means my sister gets a little boys birthday party, but she doesn't mind). Braeden is BIG into pirates and requested a "pirate treasure" birthday cake, to which "Gammaw" was happy to oblige:

The Cake

The Boy

Did I mention he likes pirates - LEGO Black Pearl

Odds and Ends:

Well, those were some of the major things that kept us busy.  The boys continue to excel in their music lesson, Braeden (piano) and Joshua (violin), and we have also changed our Homeschool Curriculum to My Father's World, which Torie and the boys are loving!!!  Other than that, I continue to be blessed as, through the Lord's strength, I preach and lead our church.  What a blessed busy life I have, thank you Lord!!!

A Nature Journal

One of the great joys my wife and I have is homeschooling our children!  We are so very blessed to have this opportunity to invest in the education of our boys and to give them a strong God-centered Worldview as a foundation.  There is also the fact that we get to do neat activities that reinforce what they are learning.  Such an activity, like that of a nature journal, allows them to be hands-on with the nature they are studying in books, and gives them a greater appreciation for God's creation.  They have recently been studying about the century plant and thought they had found one in the wooded creek bed behind our house:

While I don't think we have century plants in our part of Oklahoma, it certainly has similar features, and was a good find by an eight and six year old.  Shows they are paying attention!

Here is Joshua (8) drawing a picture of it and noting it in his nature journal:

While out exploring, I came across an ol' timey harrow that has long been abandoned in the wheat field behind us.  One of it's blades was off, so I took the opportunity to take a couple of photos:

What an adventure to be a homeschool family!!!

All in a Days Work - My Wife's Garden

My wife decided she wanted to again do a garden this year.  We had one about 3 yrs ago, then we attempted to build some raised bed gardens (that didn't work).  So here we are, needing to till the earth to make ready for a new garden plot.  Thankfully we had just received a snow storm, that promptly melted in two days, making the ground moist and a little softer.  Of course softer is relative, as it was only softer than concrete.  At any rate, I was able to get the allotted space tilled and ready to receive seed. 

We have still yet to determine what that seed will be, but stay tuned as I post pics of the, Lord willing, bounty to come!

Day After Tomorrow

More pics from our Oklahoma Snow Storm:

"Day After Tomorrow"

"Splash of Color"

"Igloo"

Fun Snowy Day

We had some wintery weather move in today in SW Oklahoma.  Due to the cold day we had yesterday, ice and snow have blanketed the roads leading to the need to cancel our Sunday night bible study.  So the boys took advantage of the time...