Arroz con Leche*
Arroz con Leche was one of my favorite dishes in Spain. The family I stayed with added grated orange peel, which I highly recommend. I’ve tried it without, and it’s just not the same!
3 cups milk
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup rice, short or medium grain
2 cinnamon sticks
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 to 1/3 of a 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk** (from the health food store so it doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup)
2 tsp. vanilla
grated orange peel (I used the zest of one mandarin orange. Adjust to taste.)
Bring milk and water to a slow simmer in a large pot over medium-low heat. (This takes a while.) Stir in rice and cinnamon sticks. Barely simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When rice is soft, remove cinnamon sticks and stir in sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, salt and orange peel. If necessary, return to a low simmer for 10 – 15 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice has a pudding-like consistency. Serve hot with a sprinkle of cinnamon if desired.
*Adapted from this recipe: http://mexicanfood.about.com/od/sweetsanddesserts/r/arrozconleche.htm
**The recipe I originally used called for a whole can of sweetened condensed milk. I definitely recommend cutting it back to more like 1/3 of the can. It would be way to sweet with a whole can. The remaining condensed milk can be refrigerated for up to two weeks.
Recently Aaron and I unpacked my wedding dress. It had been preserved after the wedding, and we were planning to take it out this year for our ten-year anniversary. During the move, however, two boxes got wet. It’s a good thing I spent the money to preserve it, because the box holding my dress was soaked. We opened it and found layer upon layer of boxes with a perfectly white dress inside.
As soon as Madeline saw it (on moving day), she wanted to try it on. We waited a couple weeks until we had time to fully appreciate such a magical moment. So here is Madeline, the beautiful bride.
Here she is again with her daddy walking her down the aisle and her bridesmaid fixing her train.
One of the new friends I’ve made here in Grand Rapids has two daughters, and they invited us over for a little girls tea party yesterday! We had also sorts of delicious finger foods and various beverages, and we all had a delightful time.
On March 24, I took the girls to the Blandford Nature Center to learn about the making of maple syrup. Having learned about sugar making in the Little House books, the girls were very excited to see it with their own eyes.
Since we have the audio version of “Little House in the Big Woods,” we listened to a refresher while having breakfast that morning. Kayla knew exactly which chapter to go to—”The Sugar Snow.”
It was a cool but sunny day, perfect for a walk along the sugarbush trail. Here are some photos from the day. We learned a lot, especially from the “sugar maker.” We were the only ones in the sugar house at the time, and he explained things so the girls could understand and also answered our questions.
