Back in the Saddle

LEFTOVERS:  The blog went into a mini slumber as we celebrated Thanksgiving. Thursday evening we enjoyed a houseful of company and a Seahawks victory. It was a good day. :)

In preparation for the feast, the kids helped me decorate cookies (above). They also helped me make a 'turkey' platter.

We also had a real live dead turkey (sorry, PETA/vegans), and amazing pastrami overnighted from Katz's world famous delicatessen in New York city!

RINGER:  Saturday evening, we watched the Apple Cup - pitting the University of Washington v. Washington State University. 

It was a blowout, with the UW Huskies dominating (insert "Bow Down to Washington" soundtrack here). As an Apple Cup snack, I made some delicious apple rings (think onion rings, but sweet, with apples inside). Fun, tasty, and pretty easy. 

Recipe: 

FRIED CINNAMON APPLE RINGS
4 large apples (I used Pink Lady)
1 cup flour 
¼ teaspoon baking powder 
2 tablespoons sugar 
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon 
1 large egg, beaten 
1 cup buttermilk 
vegetable oil for frying

For topping 

⅓ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

 Instructions:

In bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside. In a small bowl combine the egg and buttermilk. In a third dish, make your cinnamon-sugar topping by combining the ⅓ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Set that aside, too.

Next, slice apples into ¼-inch thick slices. Cut them into circles - I used a large circle shaped cookie cutter I had on hand, and then a smaller circle to cut out the middle.  

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat to 350°F. Combine the contents of the first and second dishes as the oil warms up. This will be your batter. Dip the apple rings in and out of the batter one at a time, removing any dripping excess by tapping the rings against the side of the bowl. Fry the rings in small batches, turning them to ensure browning on both sides. Once the rings are golden and crispy, transfer them to a plate lined with paper towel for a few seconds. Quickly transfer the apple rings, one by one, into the cinnamon-sugar mixture and coat evenly. 

People were eating them as fast as I could make them. :)

AUSPICIOUS EXIT:  For a full month now, a group of fun loving dinosaurs have been making merry 'round our place. Every morning in November, the kids have gotten out of bed with the first thing on their agenda being tracking down the dinos to see what they're up to. 

Naturally, they feasted on the turkey carcass on Thanksgiving night.

Friday night, they explored the horns of a taxidermied 'monster' we have here at the house (sorry, no photo). And Saturday night, knowing November was fading, they seemed to be plotting an exit strategy. 

This morning, the first of December, the kids woke up to a postcard from the dinos. 

ICY SURPRISE: Much to the kids' delight, Seattle has received its first snowfall for the season already. It came overnight Friday. We woke up to a dusting of white. That was enough to prompt the kids to go out and do snow angels and build a 6-inch snowman!

ON THE DOCKET: Check out the behemoth that's on the pad down at Cape Canaveral right now. It's a United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy stack, the world's biggest rocket. And it's scheduled to blast off early Thursday morning for a test flight, with NASA's new Orion spacecraft on board.

                          Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

We've been watching Orion for years now. In fact, it was three years ago this Thanksgiving that I saw a mock up of it at Kennedy Space Center (in the food court, LOL) when I was there for the Mars Science Laboratory launch.

The kids and I have read about Orion's progress, watched its splash tests, and eagerly awaited its first flight test, which is FINALLY going down this week.

Orion is NASA's new crew capsule. Per a press release today, they said, "In the not-too-distant future, astronauts destined to be the first people to walk on Mars will leave Earth aboard an Orion spacecraft. Carried aloft by the tremendous power of a Space Launch System rocket, our explorers will begin their Journey to Mars from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the spirit of humanity with them to the Red Planet.

The first future human mission to Mars and those that follow will require the ingenuity and dedication of an entire generation. It's a journey worth the risks. We take the next step on that journey this Thursday, Dec. 4, with the uncrewed first flight test of Orion."

Test flight plans call for the spacecraft to orbit Earth twice, reaching a max height of 3,600 miles above the planet - that's 15 times higher than the International Space Station. It's above the Van Allen belts - and through some significant radiation.

Radiation is a big damn deal, because, frankly, unless we don't find a way to shield astronauts from radiation, we're not going any further than the moon anytime soon.

Check out the Orion "Trial by Fire" promo video here: http://youtu.be/KyZqSWWKmHQ

Wild to think that as Orion reenters the atmosphere, it will be enduring heat twice as hot as molten lava. Yikes!