The Munchkin's Notebook

For Christmas I got the meat grinder and sausage stuffing attachments for my Kitchen Aid mixer (I love that mixer). Before you go and say that is a horrible gift, I actually asked for them due to the sausage making class I took earlier in the year at  Sur la Table . Also making sausage is not that hard if you have mechanical help.  I would not be making sausage if I had to use a hand grinder, because that would be too much like work.  Meat grinder attachment grinding up the pork So today I made my first batch of sausage. I made one pound of sage breakfast sausage.  The recipe called for pork butt (I used pork stew meat), fat back (I got rid of that since the stew meat had plenty of fat), sage, parsley, black pepper, thyme and salt. I also added some garlic and some cayenne pepper it to give it some kick.  I cut the meat up into 1 -2 inch cubes mixed the meat and the spices together then ran it through the grinder twice, the first time through the cour...

My Grandparent the foundation of many of our family Christmas traditions. The Holidays a time to gather with family and friends and be filled with Holiday cheer. So as I do my final preparations for Christmas, I realized nobody I know ever has a Norman Rockwell painting type Christmas, they are more like the Griswold family Christmas, without cousin Eddy.  Everyone has their family traditions, and quirks but those are what make the holidays special.   Family traditions are steeped in history, and can come from the old country, can be passed down from generation to generation or just ingrained into your psyche as the only proper way to do things because “they have always been done that way” thus shape your view of the world. The traditions are what makes things feel like home or the occasion is complete.  So as we gather with family we should all take a step back and reminisce about the good times, and realize people grow up/old, traditions morph as the family ch...

I looked at the TODAY show’s Christmas Movie bracket and have to disagree with the selection of the best Christmas movie of all time. I’m sorry the best Christmas movie of all time is not “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  I know it is a well-loved Christmas classic, and people adore it, but it just not the best. I would of preferred to see a “Bishop’s Wife” with Carry Grant with that has many of the same themes, but it couldn’t of one because it wasn’t even on the bracket.  I also believe their bracket was flawed since they were missing numerous Christmas movies.  They were missing many of the great classics such as:          “The Bishop’s Wife” with Carry Grant           “Santa Clause is Coming to Town”           “The Year Without Santa Clause”           “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”           “Frosty the Snowman”       ...

Capital Building at Botanic Gardens' Holiday Display Every year the National Botanical Gardens put on a holiday display made of all natural/organic materials. In the main area they have scale models of important Washington DC landmarks including the Capital building, the White House and the Washington Monument all surrounded by poinsettias.  Then they set up a model train display in one of the wings of the building. This year’s theme was the “World’s Fair” which showcased the many of the architectural achievements from each of the fairs such as the Eiffel Tower and the Space Needle.  My husband and I went to see the display last Sunday when it was snowing in DC. Actually one of the best times to go to some of the museums and exhibits is when it is snowing since locals don’t go out in the snow and the city seams almost deserted.  As little as an inch of snow seems to throw people around here into a panic. I'm from the north, so snow doesn't bother me, plus we have th...

Our little Christmas Tree On Saturday we hosted our annual holiday party. While this is a small party in size it still does not diminish the amount of work one must put into the preparations, since I do the cooking.  None of that catering for use everything is homemade from the ham to the cookies, except the chips (I have to draw the line somewhere).  This year we made ham soaked in orange rum (it was one drunken pig) with cloves and dried Valencia orange peel.  I also made Swedish meatballs with ground beef and pork sausage for the sauce I use the McCormick seasoning package in conjunction with the scratch recipe it makes for a more flavorful dish.   In addition to the two main dishes we had the traditional vegetable tray with ranch dip, a summer sausage with cheese tray which included a goat cheese wrapped in cranberries, pita chips, warm artichoke dip and cheese puff biscuits. I was surprised at the flavor and texture of the goat cheese, which was simil...

Desert Sunset I am little late posting this synopsis of my most recent pictures sine I have been busy. I spent November 4 – 16 out in Tucson, AZ for work.   Thankfully I did not have to work the weekend and was able to get out and enjoy the desert and get some nice pictures.  I always take my camera on two week work trips since we usually get the weekend to ourselves.    Now some people like the desert and find it fascinating, but I find it doesn’t fascinate me. Thus I struggled a bit trying to get creative shots that didn’t seem repetitive.   Seven Falls Pool On Saturday I did an eight mile (round trip) hike in BearCanyon to see Seven Falls .  Most of the hike was pretty flat, a bit rocky and sandwiched between the canyon walls.  It was about the last mile to the falls were the trail started to go up the side of the canyon wall to the falls.  When I got out to the falls, it was more like the seven trickles.  I’m...

This past weekend my husband and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary . We celebrated by going down to a little bed and breakfast in Vesuvius, VA.  Which is in the county of Rockbridge (not Rock Ridge) but there was a railroad slated to go through Rockbridge but was never completed.  We stayed at SugarTree Inn , in their small cabin. The cabin itself was nice and spacious and had a Jacuzzi tub and large stall shower. (I’m so installing a Jacuzzi tub when I get a house.) The inn was in a pretty secluded spot on very curvy windy mountain road that would probably be fun on a motorcycle or a high end sports car.  Now the driveway, which seemed like a mini road, was ‘fun’, it had a steep incline and some very tight curves.   However the down side of the location was there was very little to no cell reception thus really no internet. Also I have had better breakfasts at Hampton Inns. The breakfasts were on the boring side basically eggs, grits, ham and baked oatmeal ev...

My husband and I went to i Ricchi last night to celebrate our one year anniversary.  We had a living socia l deal for i Ricchi which gave us three course meal for two (2 appetizers, 2 main courses, and 2 deserts) which includes a glass of prosecco and a glass of wine.  My husband had the calamari for his appetizer and I had brochette for my appetizer, both were very good and the prosecco was nice and slightly sweet.   For our main course my husband had the brick roasted chicken and I had the pan roasted sea scallops, both were excellent. The chicken was roasted with skin on and was moist and juicy without being greasy; the sea scallops were perfectly cooked and firm and had a nice meaty taste.  For desert my husband had the chocolate pear tart and I had the raspberry gelato torte (like an ice-cream layer cake); what was extra special the restaurant placed little sugar happy anniversary signs and a candle on each desert (I noted in the reservation though Open T...

The male panda My husband and I went to “Breakfast at the Zoo” which is only open to FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) and Smithsonian Associates members. I happen to be members of both.  The zoo is opened at 8:00 AM for this event for those who purchased tickets to the event, and they also offer special programs and children’s activities along with a very large and nice hot breakfast buffet. This year I got VIP access tickets which gave us seating in the pavilion (general admission has seating on the lawn and the few tables set up) and access to the VIP buffet and if we had a child with us they would have gotten a gift bag. (I honestly think adults should get gift bags too or at least the person who purchased the tickets.)  The buffet this year had pastries, fresh fruit (I learned I don’t like star fruit), scrambled eggs, French toast, bacon, sausage and a hash browns.  It also included your standard breakfast beverages including mimosas for the adults....

Mount Vernon Yesterday I went to Mount Vernon with my brother and his girlfriend.  It was a beautiful sunny day and they were holding a Colonial Fair on the grounds.  There were several vendors showing traditional handmade crafts and several re-actors roaming the grounds.  We also watched the changing of the guards at George Washington’s tomb, which is done by re-actors.  I got several nice shots of the re-actors, however pictures are not allowed within the mansion.  I shot most of the using an ISO 200 on aperture priority.  You can see all the photos from the day here . 

Living History Live Fire Demonstration Yesterday my husband and I went to Fort Washington National Park , on the Maryland side of the Potomac River.   The original fort was built in the early 18 th century and was part of the overall defense of the area, but was burnt down during the War of 1812.  A new fort was built to protect Washington DC and the east coast after the War of 1812, which is the fort seen today. The fort was used in one form or another from 1872 through its deactivation in 1946 when it was turned over to the National Park system for preservation. This is a very well persevered historical structure and you can see they may upgrades the fort went through during its service life. Plus they do live fire demonstrations once a month in the spring and summer. Old Drawbridge Wheel I like this park, and the fort itself provides several unique photo opportunities, one just has to be willing to explore interesting vantage points.  Though some...

Rubber Duck in Balloon Never start a conversation with your husband with the sentence, “Tomorrow can you please lube up some rubber ducks for me and put them in balloons?” He will give you a very strange look then ask why. To which my response was, “so I can fill the balloons with water then drop them in the bathtub and take pictures of the resulting splash.”   Initial Burst (no rubber duck) I took my lesson learned from the last I did the rubber duck drop photos and improved upon it. This time placed a splash screen in the bathroom to collect and drain the water back into the bathtub.  The splash screen was a clear shower curtain hung slightly below the camera and a couple inches out from the bathtub with the bottom of the shower curtain in the bathtub.  This work very well. There was no big mess in the bathroom and I did not have to wear a bathing suit since it contained all the water.  For this shoot the camera was mounted on a tripod looking down...

The set up What does one do with water balloons, rubber ducks and lubricant? In my case you attempt to make photographic art .  I set up Plexiglas table in my bathtub (the bathroom works great when you don’t have a studio) and dropped water balloons onto it.  The rig consisted of two tripod stands, wood platforms, a piece of Plexiglas attached between the two, tin foil to act as a reflector and white back drop taped to the wall.  To guarantee the balloons would break a thumb tack was taped to the Plexiglas. The camera was pre-focused and set to use burst mode. I used an f/7.5 aperture, 1/650s shutter, and an ISO of 800 with an external flash. I tried using a timer but that didn't work well, the best  results I got were utilizing a shutter release. I hit and held the shutter when I released the balloon and released once the balloon hit.  I got some “ok” shots but I need to refine the setup further.  I used water balloons with and without colored water a...

On Tuesday, July 30, 2013 SmugMug change the underlying code that supports the site. This change included an updated interface, look and feel to all the webpages they support. The change updated the site pages to make them look sleeker and modern similar to what Flicker and 500px did, but way better. (I really blame Apple for this sleek and modern look everyone is going too.) Thankfully they just didn’t do a mass change overnight to everyone’s photo site but gave people time to get used to the changes and update their sites accordingly.  Since Wednesday I have been working with the new interface and bring my site up to date to make it look sleek and modern. It has the same basic feel as the old site it just looks new and shiny.  Today was big unveil day for my site.  It still may need some minor tweaks but it looks good and does what I want for the most part.  So please take a look at the new site (same web address http://munchkinphotos.smugmug.com/ ) and let m...

To shoot lightning you either have to have a whole lot of it or extremely lucky. Last night we had a fair amount of lightning (no thunder) and I must have had luck on my side because I got a decent number of shots.   I shot approximately 95 frames and got 16 good shots, while this isn't a great ratio for normal shots, for lightning it is pretty good.  I was shooting out my window with a Canon T4i with an 18 – 200mm lens mounted on a gorilla pod. The camera was set at an ISO 200 and I alternated between an aperture of f/9 and f/11 with a shutter speed between 5 – 15 seconds. It appeared that the sweet spot was f/9 at 6 seconds.  However there was still a lot of luck involved capturing lightning bolts. 

Every year there are several sunflower fields planted at McKee-Besher Wildlife Management Area , in Poolesville, MD. The reached peak bloom on July 13 and should be at peak for the next two weeks.  So every year photographers and everyone else travels to the area to see around 48 acres of sunflowers.  Since I have been hearing about these field for the past couple years, I decided it was time to go and see them for myself.   So I got up around 6:30 AM to make the hour drive over to Maryland to see the sunflowers. It was pretty easy to find the first set of fields because the parking lot was full, and there were lots of people loading and unloading camera, tri-pods and ladders. They use the ladders to be able to shoot down onto the fields, though the sunflowers are only about 3 – 5 feet tall depending on the field. I passed up this first area and headed further down River Road to Sycamore Landing Road where the other field was located.  I parked at the pa...

I entered the National Wildlife Federation photo contest.  I chose to enter seven of what I consider my best photos that fit the theme, two of which were actual wildlife, two zoo animals and three are landscapes.  However I never  have high hopes when I enter photo contests because I never seem to win, but I keep trying.  Now with some of the contests I’m not surprised by the winners, but sometimes I wonder what the judges are thinking.  But photography is an art, and everyone’s tastes differ. So if you have a chance please go and vote for my photos on the National Wildlife Federation contest site .  Thanks. I’ll let you know how it turns out. 

The Fourth of July was a pretty normal day for me, even though I live in our Nation’s Capital.  After you have lived here a few years it starts becoming a bit mundane and you start to get tired of fighting the tourists out on the National Mall.   This year my husband and I went over to a friend of ours for a backyard barbecue in the early afternoon.  It was nice, and we left around 5 o’clock to make it back into the city, so I could watch the fireworks.  Surprisingly, there was hardly any traffic.  The one thing that I do like about living here is watching the fireworks on the Fourth. Viewing Angel from Air Force Memorial I originally planned to go into DC proper to watch fireworks from the National Mall or over to Rosslyn to watch them from the Marine Corps Monument, but metro put a crimp in my plans.  The DC metro system was only going to run till its normal weekday time of midnight. While they would be running rush hour service...

Example of Hungarian Woodwork Every year right around the 4 th of July the Smithsonian hosts the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall for two weeks. Each year they pick three different topics based on a nation, region, state or theme. The event is free to the public and host seminars, cooking demonstrations, music, food and other activities.  In previous years I learned how to dress a camel, make instruments from gourds, how the National Forest Service fights forest fires and how NASA made it to space.   This year focused on Hungarian heritage, endangered language and cultural heritage and the African American diversity, style and identity.   I went for the Hungarian heritage part of the festival since I’m part Hungarian. Traditional Headdresses While I have been to Hungary, Budapest to be specific, this festival was focused more on the traditions and cultural aspects Hungary.  I am still impressed with their woodworking skil...

Grand Teton Mountain Range I have completed editing my photos from my Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park Vacation .  (You can see them on my SmugMug sight under vacation – Yellowstone ) After reviewing and editing the little over 1000 photos from the trip I ended up with a little over 500 good photos which I posted.  Usually I divide my photos by city or landmark; however I did not have that option on this trip. Thus the photos were divided by Yellowstone geyser basin, Yellowstone landscapes, Grand Teton, wildlife, and Jackson Hole.  A few of the pictures in Jackson Hole are from my mom’s video camera; they look like they were painted.   At this point I’m waiting to receive the pictures my mom took with her camera.  Once I receive those I’ll add select ones  reduce any repeats.  Based on the quality of the pictures I took, I like my Cannon Rebel T4i. It works well and appears to have decent low light capabilities. However I’m not...

We left the bed and breakfast at 0430 AM this morning to head to the airport to catch our flights home. The flight home was horrible. The flight from Jackson, WY to Salt Lake City, UT was fine; however the flight from Salt Lake City, UT to Washington, DC was awful. We were delayed 30 minutes, then when we were about 45 minutes out we had to circle for an hour due to a storm at Reagan, at which point we had to divert to Richmond, VA to get gas. We were on the ground at Richmond International for about an hour then flew tower to tower to Reagan National which meant we had to stay at 10,000 feet thus the flight was very bumpy. We finally landed about 3 hours after we were supposed to. Discounting the flights, it was a good vacation and I enjoyed spending some girl time with my mom. The Alpine House , was the bed and breakfast we stayed at in Jackson, WY. It was a very nice bed and breakfast. The rooms were very clean, the beds were comfy and the staff was friendly. The only minor com...

 Prong Horns (from video camera) For our last day in Jackson, WY we attempted to find moose one last time. We had breakfast and head back into Grand Teton National Park through the back entrance towards the moose habitat.   Sadly there were no moose in the area. However as we drove further into the park we were lucky enough to see some prong horns and actually get pictures of them.   Usually prong horns are very hard to photograph because they are skittish and can run up to 70 mph.   We also saw more mule deer before leaving the park.      After we left the park we stopped at the Wildlife Art Museum. The museum was nice, from the outside it looks like a stone fort built into the side of the mountain. Inside the museum was quite spacious and the art was nice. I liked the two large mountain lion sculptures.   From there we headed to our last event of the day horseback riding.  Horseback Riding (from video camera)  We went for an h...

We headed back into the Grand Teton today, on the quest for moose. We went in the back gate, since that entrance road has the highest probability of moose sightings.   I asked the ranger at the booth if there were any moose sightings, and he told me there was a “moose jam” six miles down the road earlier in the morning.   Sadly we did not get to see the moose jam, or any moose for that matter.     We continued up to Hermitage Point on Jackson Lake.   On the way up to Jackson Lake we stopped at a few overlooks and turnouts, were we were lucky and saw mule deer and prong horns.   The prong horns were too quick for us to get a picture.   Once up we made up to the Hermitage Point Trail head we did two small 1 mile loops near the edge of the lake.   We did not see any wildlife on the hikes.   Afterwards we ate at the restaurant at Colter Bay. After lunch we headed back down the mountain and on the way we up Signal Mountain Summit Road.  ...

Today was devoted to Grand Teton National Park.   We started our adventure at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, which is a very nice visitor center, to get hiking maps and find out where the moose hangout. (Mom really wants to see a moose.) The Ranger was nice and circled the areas on the map were moose are usually sited and said he would text them shortly to make sure they were out.   Unfortunately we did not see any moose today.  Hidden Falls (taken with point and shoot) Our first hike was at Jenny Lake.   We took the shuttle boat across the lake, instead of doing the 2.5 mile hike to get half way around the lake.   From the shuttle boat drop off point we did the 1 mile hike up to Inspiration Point which passes by Hidden Falls.   The hike to the falls was moderate hike; however the hike up to Inspiration Point was a steep half mile climb up 400 feet with multiple switchbacks and a narrow trail. I ended up hugging the mountain on the last...

 Lower Falls (taken with cell phone) Today we traveled the full lower loop. Our first stop was midway geyser basin to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. We then proceeded up to Canyon Village, on the way we stopped at Gibbon Falls. We stopped in the Canyon visitor center so Mom could get her stamp and then went over to the cafeteria to get some lunch.    We drove the upper falls loop, and stopped at the first lookout point.   The path at the lookout takes you 600 feet down lower falls ridge; we walked about half-way down the path.   The path was rather steep and had several switch backs.   After that we went to the Grand View point, this point looks out over the Yellowstone Canyon and the river below. The canyon is a very light yellow color and the way the light played off the canyon walls made it breath taking. A picture just does not do this view justice.   We finished the loop road then headed down to the upper falls view point. We decided against...

Today was a very long day. We were up around 0600 because we are still on East Cost time. We had asparaguses and scrambled eggs, it was surprisingly good.   Then we headed out.   It is about an hour and half drive to the Yellowstone south gate, then another 45 minutes to an hour the Old Faithful area. As we were waiting to go through the gate, there was a squirrel sitting strait up on a rock, all he needed was a little sign saying “welcome”.   As we drove into the park the next animal we saw was a pair of mule deer. At first I only got butt shots, but then they turned around, so I got a face.   Then we continued our journey to the Old Faithful visitor center. Old Faithful from the back (point & shoot) Our first stop in the Old Faithful area was the store to pick up some water then we made our way over to the visitor center. As we were coming up the main walk, Old Faithful just started to erupt.    We watched Old Faithful erupt then made ou...

I was up at 0450 today (yes that is early in the morning) so I could catch my cab and be at the airport by 0600 for a 0730 flight.   Thankfully I checked in on line, so I only had to drop my bag off then make it through security. The security lines were a lot longer than I have seen them in a while for gates 10 – 22. I think that had to do with the very large number of families going through security, then again I’m used to going through with the business crowed during the week. My flight was mostly families with children no older than 10 and they all wanted to sit together on a full flight. Needless to say this caused a headache for the poor gate agents, who had to keep explaining there were no open seats and they couldn’t move people around.   Once everyone was settled, we were up and away. The flight was about 4.5 hours long, and bit bumpy in some areas (I hate turbulence).   I had a three hour layover in Salt Lake City; at least the airport has freed Wi-Fi. While ...