Most every year I vow to make fastnachts (a Pennsylvania Dutch treat), then it ends up not happening. This year with Chloe being interested in cooking, I promised we’d make them. Due to scheduling issues, we missed the traditional date. Oh well, we don’t observe Lent anyway. Here’s the recipe we used. (Here’s a PDF you can download)

The biggest difference between a fastnacht and the donuts you’re familiar with is fastnachts are made with potatoes, giving them a different texture and flavor. Here’s Chloe making a funny face while working on the tater.

That’s Day One. Once the dough is mixed, it sits overnight to let the yeast go to work.

Day Two: We split the dough across two bowls, and it rose to the top of each! Here’s Chloe digging in. We think we left the dough a bit too sticky, next time we’ll add more flour.

Chloe shows us how it’s done.

Time to fry!

And they came out good! Pretty much like I remember. Since you can’t get Turkey Syrup off the shelf in Portland, here I’m using regular molasses. The basic idea is you slice them like a bagel and put something sweet on the yummy thing. Honey works, even maple syrup.

We got about 30 fastnachts out of this batch. We put powdered sugar on some. Chloe’s going a step further by bringing them to share with her class at school. I’m sending her off with a couple printouts of PA Dutch Hex signs and a few factoids about the Pennsylvania side of her family. I just got her after-action report. The fastnachts were well received, no leftovers!

And for some more fun, here’s how to translate from Pennsylvania Dutch English to General American English. Git aught, naw!

Here in late Feb we were hit with a sudden snowstorm. It turned out to be the second-most snow in one day in recorded Portland history!

Who’s that old guy?

Snowball fight!

Chloe’s been cooking using the clever stuff from https://www.raddishkids.com. I’d have to say everything’s been coming out great and she’s really been enjoying it!

Making chicken tacos…

Eating chicken tacos!

Soft pretzel bites!

Chloe made gumbo! Then we watched The Princess and the Frog, which opens with a father and daughter making gumbo. How about that?

It’s Christmas!!!

It snowed a bit! Actually more of an ice storm, so it goes.

Here’s Aunt Mandy with The New Dog.
His name is Lewis and he’s our new best friend.

Chloe’s been working away on animations. As of 12/26/22, this one had more than 55,000 views! (and yes, it is incomprehensible to adults)

Click here to see more of her animations on YouTube.

Chloe felted up a storm for her school’s holiday market fundraiser. Check out all the things she made, all felted!

…and more!

This was part of her classwork, which believe it or not is Business Math. About time they taught this stuff to kids early. Here’s a breakdown of what they were working on, leading up to the holiday market where they sold their products:

11/29 Business Math begins with a focus on how loans work and simple interest calculations. Students will also be working on a business plan for a small market of their own. Here’s the tentative timeline:
12/2 Decisions made regarding what students will be selling
12/5 Estimate start up costs and applications for loans due. Begin working on logo/sign
12/9 Create inventory lists with estimated units for sale and submit pricing ideas
12/15 Market opens with student stores at 12:00 for 6th grade pre-sales. 
12:45 Market opens to the general public 

How did Chloe get that black eye? She got a stilt to the face! Here she tells the story:

Chloe has been busy felting up a storm! Felting is where you take loose fibers of something like wool, and turn them into something more useful or interesting. Here she’s made breakfast: toast, egg, bacon, plate and fork! All out of loose wool.

Here she’s made a holiday cake out of wool by felting. These interesting art objects will be sold during a fundraiser for her school

Time to mash the ‘taters!

Time to eat the taters! And the turkey, stuffing, green beans and cranberry sauce!

…and now it’s time to sculpt the mashed potatoes into a HORROR BUNNY!

Chloe decided to be a TeleTubby, as you can see.

Here she is with her friend Sophia, about to hit the streets for CANDY! It turned out to be a pretty terrible night for it with cold weather and torrential downpours. Oh well, that happens. They had fun anyway.

Here’s how the jack-o-lanterns looked on my porch.

Last year we started a new tradition. I guess you could call it “The Smashing of the Pumpkins”, which we do when they’ve gotten too rotten to really use anymore.

It’s almost Halloween, and that means pumpkins! First off, the Leaf Eraser Gun cleans up the front yard.

Sugar skull!

Carve, carve, carve!

Steve’s on the left, Lisa’s on the right.

Chloe’s two pumpkins. The one on the left is “The Scariest Thing Ever: Duck With A Knife!” and the one on the right is tiki-themed.

On the side of Mt. Saint Helens, you know, the volcano you may remember from 1980? It’s right up the street, more or less, from Portland. Volcanoes throw out lava, which makes lava tubes, which result in fun caves to explore. Chloe’s 6th grade class just had an overnight camping trip to explore this very thing! The “Ape Caves” – named after the Ape climbing club who discovered them some years ago, and a neat place to visit.

Oops. These shoes were new pre-lava.

Our explorers are ready to go!

Journey To The Center Of The Earth

OOOHHHH… AHHHH….

Above is a photo of the north side of Mt. St. Helens today – looks calm, doesn’t it?
(The kids were on the south side)

Here’s a view of the mountain during the eruption which destroyed everything for miles.

This is a photo from the north side looking south. In Portland, there are days when we can see the mountain firepot steaming away…