Dutch Happenings: Grocery Store

Just to prove that Ripon is very Dutch, I took pictures of some Dutch things I stumbled upon at the only grocery store in town.

Windmills, Tulips, Blue/White Motifs: Very Dutch

I'm hoping a certain someone will get me this
 large Dutch Lady for my birthday.

To emulate the Dutch,
wear clog slippers while lounging about the house.

Made in China

Dutch towels are very absorbent.
I am the proud owner of a Dutch Towel.

No home is complete without a Dutch cheese spreader.

Amongst the various impulse buy sweets
are bags of Dutch Licorice called "Cats"

Cats are "purrfectly" delicious....
is there a Dutch feline fascination that I am unaware of?

Orange Zest Lamb Chops

If you are like me, or like anybody whose dinner focus usually revolves around some kind of meat, you get tired of chicken, pork, fish, and beef. I must clarify that I am never tired of bacon or steak. When feeling overwhelmed with what to make for dinner, you should definitely consider lamb. Lamb is decadent in taste, but easy to prepare and if the lamb is raised right, (free roaming/frolicking little lamb) it is pretty healthy too.

Last year this little household bought a whole lamb from a local lamb farm in Tracy and we've been enjoying lamb ever since. Frank's Basque Family Farm delivered the meat to our house as part of it's wonderful service. If you aren't sure about purchasing a whole lamb, they have smaller packages available. Here's the website for more information http://franksbasquefamilyfarm.com/Home_Page.html .

My lamb chop recipe came about because these were the ingredients I had in my pantry. It just happened to turn out amazing. Often lemon, mint, rosemary, or thyme are used when making lamb, to cut the very rich flavor of the meat. I did not have lemon so I gave orange a try. You can use orange or lemon in this recipe and your results will be magnificent.

Ingredients:

• 8 lamb rib chops or 4 lamb loin chops- I used rib chops which are not as easy to find as loin chops. Either will work just fine.

• The zest of 1 orange and it's juice

• 1-1.5 tablespoons of fresh rosemary

• 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil

• salt

• pepper

Directions:

• Set oven to broil

• Zest the orange using a microplane. This is the fun part, I feel very Ina Garten-esque when I use my microplane.

• Chop up a tablespoon or so of rosemary. Rosemary can be very strong so be careful not to go hog wild (or lamb wild?), but it's fresh taste helps to balance the richness of the lamb... so a little rosemary crazy with lamb is okay.

• Place chops on a shallow baking sheet.

• Drizzle each side of chops with olive oil.

• Sprinkle both sides of chops with rosemary. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the little bits of orange zesty goodness on each side. Squeeze the juice of the orange over the top of the chops.

• Place on top rack of oven. Broil each side of lamb rib chops for approx 5 minutes each. For regular lamb chops up the time to 6-7 minutes per side. This will result in a browned outside and a slightly pink middle.

Lamb Rib Chops

Rosemary

Zesty

Ignore my dirty oven.

mmm

Serve your amazing Orange Zest Lamb Chops with a crisp side salad

Dinner is served!

On December

Favorite Dress: Red Christmas Dress

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the dress is sweet in real life.


I bought this dress almost a year and a half ago. I had plans on wearing it to Thanksgiving or Christmas last year, but I wasn't feeling it then. This Christmas had to be it, otherwise it was just going to be another article of clothing in my closet that I have bought but never worn. I bought this dress at Forever 21 ( I know I know), but I have seen it featured on Modcloth as well. The dress is made of a red cotton blend fabric and has brass buttons on the faux flaps along the waist and neckline. It is medium in length with short sleeves making it a good option for a nice family Christmas dinner. I paired the dress with thick black tights and my pointy black flats. I put a sparkly headband with some brassy colors in it, in my hair and called it a night. The dress is comfortable enough that I didn't feel restricted in my Christmas cooking endeavours, but nice enough that I got a compliment from my mom on how nice I looked. Thanks Mom!


Favorite Activity: Making Gingerbread Houses

Lindsey's on the left...Jessica's on the right

Lindsey is my childhood best friend. We have been friends since the rip old age of 3. We still see each other a couple times a month to catch up and play with her adorable twins Greyson and Connor. This month we discovered that throughout our lifelong friendship, we have never made gingerbread houses. We decided to do just that. Now Lindsey and I are modern women, so we didn't feel the need to physically bake the gingerbread. Instead of baking, we bought some gingerbread house kits at the grocery store and went to town with icing, fondant, and various candies that came in the package. It was a mess. Icing was everywhere and our houses looked nothing like the picture on the box. However big of a mess it was, it was fun:  Fun to giggle like little kids again and fun to reminisce about our days of eating frosting out of a jar.



Favorite Recipe: Orange Zest Lamb Chops



Tastes as good as it looks...maybe better.



I will type out the recipe (hopefully soon) and put up a link. Delicious!

Favorite Nap: Christmas Day Nap

It was my holiday to work Christmas Eve.  After a long but fun night with the little babies, I came home, opened presents with Danny, and went to bed. It was a gloomy day...perhaps it rained a bit (I don't know I was sleeping), which helped in my quest for the ultimate day time sleep. I also took a melatonin which I thought would help to block out the sounds of Danny's ruckus making. It turns out the melatonin/rain combo was almost too much of a good thing. I slept till 3:30 and could of slept longer, but I had to work again that night. This is the longest daytime sleep I have had and definitely a good Christmas gift from Old St. Nick.

Favorite Irk: Chapped Lips

I am addicted to ChapStick. I always have a tube of the plain or medicated kind in my purse, if for some reason it goes missing, I have a small internal break down. During the winter, my lips need extra ChapStick because of the dry air. I have also taken up running (bleh!) which contributes to the lack of moisturized lips. There is nothing worse then having dry red lips and no ChapStick. Luckily, I have about four tubes of the medicated kind and Santa brought me some fancy fruit flavored Blistex for Christmas. Santa must hate chapped lips too.

Christmas Cheer

I wanted to write an elaborate post on everything I love about Christmas prior to the 25th, but that obviously didn't happen. Instead, I worked a lot, slept a  lot, and thought about how I wanted to write this blog post. I've decided that since Christmas is over, an elaborate post would be silly, so here's the short and sweet version...

Christmas comes at the perfect time of the year. Just when everyone is starting to feel depressed because of the lack of sunshine, a feel good celebration of all things wonderful steps in to save our dreary souls....and I love it.

Christmas Lights:

 

They remind me of my dad hanging them every year just to make me happy and the long drives I would go on with my mom to look at them.

Christ our Savior is born:

His birth brings an overwhelming sense of peace in my heart.

Tree:


The Lehr Christmas Tree



Ripon's Grand Christmas Tree

Whether they are lit up, decked to the nines, or plain and simple, I can't help but stare.

Mouse Decoration:

It holds a real candle too!

When I was a child, I pretended to be friends with this mouse and curl up next to him and the little candle fireplace to take a nap. Although I no longer take pretend naps with the mouse, it's still my favorite Christmas decoration.

Family:

The Gross Family

Tayler (the dog) always trying to be in the spot light

Lehr Family

Nicu work family

What's not to love?

Presents:

The butter dish lady I got my mom

I really enjoy the giving part, especially when I find the perfect one. Okay, I'll admit I like receiving them too, especially when Danny finds the perfect one.

Warriors tickets row 2!

Merry Christmas everyone. May all yours be merry and bright.

Little Jessica: Enjoying Christmas

Water Tower Power

The importance of conserving water has been a big hit with our nation lately. Record low water levels in our California rivers, lakes, and wells sweep the headlines every summer leaving many towns around the central valley in crises mode. My sweet little Dutch town of Ripon on the other hand, is prepared for a 40  year drought.

There's a few things that Ripon has got right, one being its ratio of water towers to Riponian citizens, the other being the ratio of police officers to Riponians. We are prepared for a water shortage as well as any war that may be waged over our water.

How many water towers does one town with a population of 14,738 people (two thirds of them being Dutch) need, you may ask? Four. That's right, four water towers. Two of them being the size of large cruise ships.  For comparison purposes I will throw out this little factoid: Ripon's neighboring ugly-cousin-of-a-town, Manteca ,with a population of 65,028 has one and a half water towers. I will explain the half later.

The first water tower I will mention is Ripon's "Old Water Tower." It is located near downtown Ripon, off of Main Street, near the newly renovated fire station and is visible from Highway 99. When I started writing this blog, I was going to wow you readers with water tower facts, such as how many gallons each water tower holds, the year it was built, and how many people have climbed to the top without getting caught. Unfortunately, I cannot find such information so I will provide you with my expert estimation.  The old water tower is silver and well... old. It can hold approximately 100 average sized suburban pools inside it.  It is as tall as the tallest building in Ripon...maybe even taller. I enjoy this water tower, because it is simple, no frills or fuss about it.

Ripon's Old Water Tower

The second water tower is the City of Ripon Water Tower. It is the second largest water tower in Ripon. It is located on Jacktone Road and can be seen for miles away. The City of Ripon Water Tower can hold approximately 200 average sized suburban pools of water in it. The City of Ripon Tower is an off white color, says "City of Ripon" on the top portion, and has the city's logo on it. It is big and splashy. It is Ripon's way of flaunting it's money and power to all those who pass by.

City of Ripon Water Tower

The third water tower is the newest and biggest. Mistlin Sports Park Water Tower is big and bold. It is located inside of Ripon's highly acclaimed Mistlin Sports Park. The tower has a two level walkway around it near the base, which I don't quite see the excitement in, perhaps they are trying to avoid those crazy Ripon bungee jumpers from having too much fun. The tower can hold 500 average sized suburban pools of water with no problem. The side of the tower says "Mistlin Sports Park" and has pictures of various athletic equipment on it. The roof of the water tower is painted to look like a soccer ball, so for all of us flying our private helicopters, we won't miss it.  There is a water fountain park located within Mistlin Sports Park. It runs year round. It is Ripon's way of smacking California's water shortage in the face. It is also a fun place to take little kids. I will let you be the judge of it.

 

 Mistlin Sports Park Water Tower with adjoining water park

View from the top

The fourth water tower is the Kat Country Water Tower. The Kat Country Water Tower is halfway between Ripon and Manteca. It is on private property and surrounded by random palm trees. The water tower is an older style and serves as a billboard for the radio station Kat Country. The sign has a picture of a creepy jaguar or perhaps a panther, lurking beyond the words Kat Country 103. The tower holds approximately 80 moderately sized suburban pools of water. I am going to assume that because the water tower is halfway between Manteca and Ripon that if either city would need to utilize the tower, they would have to split the water or pay an outrageous water usage tax. We all know that Manteca would be the first to use up the precious water, seeing as Ripon has plenty of water to go around. This is probably one of Ripon's Dutch money making schemes that might actually work... and I applaud them for it.

Kat Country Water Tower

Creepy Cat

There's those palm trees...

While researching water towers, I have learned that there are people who travel the world in search of various water tower locations. They post a picture and the exact location using latitude and longitude coordinates then post their "find" online. If I were to enter a water tower waymarking challenge, I would have an unfair advantage seeing as our water tower per capita ratio is out of control.

However silly Ripon may be with its water hoarding, I rest assured that during the driest of days, my mouth will be quenched with the sweet taste of Ripon's finest water tower water. Thank you Ripon. Thank you for your water tower power.

On November

November's long gone and I still haven't told you what I loved about it. Between the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving and crazy Christmas shoppers, blogging has been put on the back burner. Better late than never....or so "they" say.

Favorite Dress: The Airplanes and Roses Dress

At the Chicago Field Museum with an earth worm

I purchased this dress on a random trip to Long Beach/ Disneyland with my dress loving friend, Melisa. This store was great, full of cheaply made clothing that cost less than a super sized lunch at your local fast food restaurant. Sometimes I'm a quality kind of girl and other times I'm a quantity kind of girl. On this particular day I was in the mood to shop, but not over spend. Everything in the store was $15 or less including my awesome airplanes and roses dress. When I first saw this dress, I noticed how when wearing it, it cleverly looked like it was a dress with a three quarter length shirt underneath. However, the "shirt" is actually part of the dress. I then looked a little closer and found the pattern was not roses with thorns as I had originally thought, it was roses with airplanes! "How magnificent," I thought to myself. I instantly felt funky/hip while wearing it. I wore my funky hip airplanes and roses dress to Thanksgiving dinner and got many, "Hey, there are airplanes on your dress," type comments.  I wore grey tights underneath to keep warm (Daisy the dog owes me a new pair for puncturing a hole in them), a pair of black flats with metallic roses on the sides, and my feather headband to tie it all together. I am thankful for the comfort, trendiness, and conversation that this dress brings to my fashion table.

Deep in conversation, probably about the dress

Favorite Activity: Christmas Tree Hunting

With so many November activities, it was hard to choose just one. I chose Christmas Tree Hunting, not because it was the most exciting, but it was probably the most heart warming. Danny and I are busy people. We do not get to spend that much time together, so when we do, we have to make the most of it. That includes doing things like picking out a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, because if we didn't get it then, who knows when we would be able to. We chose to spend our hard earned dollars within the town of Ripon...keeping money local and what not. We went to Park Greenhouse Nursery, which is a sweet little nursery off of West Ripon Road. We arrived to find some young lumberjack looking men setting up the trees. We quickly found a tall tree (every year Danny wants a tree that is, "So tall the tree topper is bent sideways in order to fit.") at a reasonable price. As with most Lehr shopping sprees, we were there and done within a few short minutes. Setting up the tree is always a hassle. It takes a few times for us to get it straight. Even now, from certain angles the tree looks a little crooked. Rather than let it annoy me, I just tell myself it adds character. The tree is now decorated and placed in the coveted Christmas Tree spot. We also got a free poinsettia out of the deal.

Favorite Nap: The Fall Asleep in your Clothes Nap

It was one of those very motivated days. I woke up early (for me) worked out, grocery shopped, cooked, cleaned, and probably did some other energy wasting activity. Around 3 o clock, I was certainly feeling the affects of my go get em attitude. We had plans later in the day so my choice was to either ride it out or take a quick power nap. Of course I chose the power nap. My dilemma was that I had already dressed and had my hair and make up done. I made a bold decision and decided to power nap in my clothes. I even kept my shoes on. I am usually a tosser and turner, so you can see how taking a nap might mess things up. I consciously laid down flat on my back, with no blankets on, in a mummy like position, and fell asleep for a half hour. I woke up from my power nap refreshed and ready to conquer the rest of the day without having to fix my pony tail or even put on shoes. It was splendid.

Favorite Recipe: Honey Apple Pecan Pork Chops

Delicious, nutritious, and easy. Find the recipe here: http://myslightlysillyworld.blogspot.com/2010/12/thankful-heart-and-stomach.html

Favorite Irk: The Stock Market

I really don't know why, but every day I check the stock market. With a convenient little app on my  iPhone, it makes it very easy. I then read the headlines and sometimes the articles in the business section on MSNBC.com to figure out why they went up or down. November was a particularly torturous month for those who follow, or hap hazardly look at an app on stocks. There were many ups and downs, with job reports being less than stellar and worries about Europe's financial mishandlings, my little November graph looked like a roller coaster. The ups and downs made me a little woozy. I realize that looking at stocks day to day and becoming worried with every dip or excited with every jump is foolish as it's more about long term for someone like me. Still, I can't help my emotions and while I don't ever make any financial moves based on a days stocks, I continue to check the financial roller coaster daily.

A Thankful Heart and Stomach

I just typed out a list of everyone I was thankful for family, friends, etc and quickly deleted it. Way too much mushy love for one blog. Know that I am thankful for all of you…today and every day.

Two weeks ago I was particularly thankful for pork. I had moved on to turkey last week, but because by the time this is posted, America will be all turkeyed out …. I will share my recipe for honey apple pecan pork chops. YUM.

Ingredients:

Boneless Pork Chops ( I used a Costco pack so I think there were 12 million of them in the package)

Kerrygold butter (whatever it takes)

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Allspice

Cayenne pepper

Mustard Powder

Salt

Pepper

4-5 Fuji apples

100% raw unfiltered honey

Handful of pecans


Directions:

Set oven to 375 degrees.

Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with salt, pepper, and cinnamon.

Brown both sides of pork chops in Kerrygold butter in a saute pan set at medium heat. Browning takes about 3 minutes on each side. They develop a fun little cinnamon butter crust. They should not be cooked all the way through.

While the chops are browning, slice apples into 1/6th, removing the seeds.

Spread half of the apple slices into a lightly buttered pan (whatever size you need to fit 12 million pork chops).

Place browned pork chops on top of apple slices, then take the remaining apple slices and spread out between  and on top of the chops.

Sprinkle the pecans amongst the apples and pork chops. Walnuts also work well.

Sprinkle the dish with more cinnamon, a little more salt, pepper, a few pinches of nutmeg, a few dashes of mustard powder, and a pinch of allspice. For those who like a little sweet/spicy combo, add a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper.

Take the buttery saute pan juices and pour them over the chops and apples.

Take your honey and drizzle two tablespoons over the pork chops and apples. You won’t need too much as the apples are naturally sweet.

Bake the pork chops for 45 minutes to an hour at 375 degrees.

I made about 9 pork chops with this recipe, so decrease the time if needed.

The result is a mix of savory and sweet decadence that will earn praise from your husband and your stomach.







Bon appetit!