Happy 4th of July!

This is our first 4th of July in Tallahassee and it has been a stormy one for most of the day. The internet has informed me that this is not unusual for Tallahassee.


Our power went out for a little more than an hour this afternoon, while I was preparing food for a festive tea time. Luckily, I had everything cooked already, except for melting the cheddar cheese on top of the little twice-baked potatoes. I used the brulee torch for that.

We listened to Blaze's little wind-up radio and had a very nice meal. We had lemonade instead of tea, though, since we couldn't heat water.







After we ate, Blaze and I went outside and threw Snap'n Pops at each others feet in the rain.

 Blaze played with sparklers on our flooded back porch. This is probably the safest way to use sparklers, since all the sparks fall into water.



It finally stopped raining, just before the scheduled time for the city's fireworks show. We didn't go to the park where the fireworks show was being held, because we figured that would be too muddy. Instead we went to the Costco parking lot. Quite a few other people had the same idea.

We took these with us:



The lollipops themselves were flavorless, but Blaze had fun playing with the glowing sticks.

I hope everyone else had a safe and fun holiday, too!

Happy Independence Day!

We went to "Fanfare and Fireworks" on the University of Florida campus last night. It was a beautiful night, even without the live band music and the fireworks.



The fireworks made Blaze very happy, though. He sat next to me on the grass in Flavet Field, pointing out his favorite fireworks and ooohing and ahhhing.

Small Town 4th of July

Gainesville did not have their usual 3rd of July fireworks show this year, mostly due to lack of funds, although a burn ban was also in effect until 2 or 3 days ago. The smaller communities in the area are still celebrating, though.



We went out this morning to the nearby small town of Micanopy to see their 4th of July parade. It was the kind of old fashioned parade that fit in perfectly with the quaint, old fashioned atmosphere of Micanopy.

Waiting for the parade to start:







The parade begins:

























Blaze had never been to a parade where so much candy was thrown out. He insisted on putting it all in one pocket, so that by the end of the parade, that pocket had become so heavy that it threatened to pull down his pants.

Raised Doughnuts

For a 4th of July treat, I made yeast risen doughnuts, using a recipe from the 1887 White House Cookbook. The recipes are not written using modern standard measurements, so I had to change it a little.

Here is the original:



My version:

2 Cups of warm milk

2 Tablespoons of yeast

1/2 Cup (one stick) of melted butter

1 Cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

a pinch of nutmeg

2 eggs, well beaten

6-8 Cups of unbleached white flour

vegetable oil (to replace the lard when frying)


Add yeast to warm milk and gently stir together. Let sit until the yeast is activated and forms a light "sponge". Add butter, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir. Add eggs and stir well. Add flour until a bread-like dough is formed. knead on a floured board. Cover and let rise for one hour. Punch down, Roll out dough to about an inch thick and cut into desired shapes ( since it is the 4th of July, I cut mine into stars, but a standard doughnut shape will fry more quickly). Let the doughnuts rise for about 15 minutes before frying. Deep fat fry in hot vegetable oil. Sprinkle with powered sugar soon after removing from the oil or cool completely before adding a glaze to the tops.

Happy 4th of July

I'm not sure why, but Gainesville always has 4th of July fireworks on July 3rd. This year, the fireworks were scheduled to begin at 9:40 last night, but around 9:20 it started to rain really hard. By 9:40 the local radio station made the announcement that the rain was moving out of our area and the fireworks would be delayed until 10:00, but would still happen.

It drizzled throughout the fireworks display, but it was fun walking to the show with our umbrellas and it wasn't at all crowded.

















After the fireworks show ended last night, Blaze asked me how they get the different colors in the fireworks, but I didn't know the answer until I found this video this morning.

How fireworks are made:

Little Patriotic Cheesecakes

Noah's Endeavor is hosting a dance tomorrow night at the Boys and Girls Club and everyone attending has been asked to bring a finger food. We're taking little cheesecakes, decorated for the 4th of July. It's the same recipe that I used in this long ago post:

Tie Dye Cheesecake



I baked the little cheesecakes in silicon muffin cups and cut the baking time down to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F., followed by 15-20 degrees at 275 degrees.


The mighty mountain of cheesecakes:



This is the first dance Blaze has agreed to go to. He's even asked one of the little girls from swimming class to dance with him there, and she said yes.

Patriotic Pizza and Fake Fireworks

When I went to the bank yesterday, I was given a free pair of rainbow glasses, for enhanced fireworks viewing, but since Gainesville isn't having any fireworks this year, blaze has been having fun wearing the glasses and looking at every light.



I even used the glasses to take some pictures of Blaze.



The starbursts that look like fireworks are the moon and a streetlight.

Independence Day

The city is not having any fireworks this year and our apartment complex has announced that sparklers will not be permitted, so I guess we'll just be celebrating with festive food this year.

DH made this eggless cheesecake and I decorated it (there are not the right number of stripes, but there are 50 blueberries).




No-Bake Cheesecake

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 Cup sugar
2 Cups boiling water
4 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk
a little lime zest
the juice of two limes
1 teaspoon of vanilla

graham cracker crust

1. In a large bowl, mix together gelatin and sugar. Add boiling water and stir until sugar and gelatin are dissolved (about 5 minutes).

2. In a blender, combine the softened cream cheese, lime juice, lime zest, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. Blend until smooth. Slowly pour the cheese mixture into the bowl with the gelatin mixture, Stirring constantly.

3. Pour into prepared crust in large rectangular glass baking pan.

4. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Decorate.

Last Year's 4th of July

Homeschool Blogger, where I had my blog last year at this time, is getting ready to move their entire site, and since I don't know if they'll move the contents of an obviously inactive blog like mine, I figured I rescue a few more of my old entries. So, here is what we did last 4th of July:

7/4/08

Happy 4th of July everyone!
We had our fourth of July picnic last night, because Gainesville always has their fireworks show on the 3rd.
The fireworks almost didn't happen this year, because the University and the City were having trouble coming up with enough money to pay for the event, but after they had already announced that it was canceled, an anonymous private donor came through with the money they needed.
We didn't want to go join the crowds, so we sat out in our little garden house and had a picnic dinner and played with sparklers.

DH drinking the Moxie soda his friend brought him back from Boston

Death lights a sparkler
(o.k., it's really Nika in her hoodie, but it looks like Death)

For a while we had a family of tourists join us. They stopped by to look at the bamboo house and talk about gardening and stayed for quite awhile. Having guests scared off Nika, because she was feeling crowded and doesn't like talking to new people.
The tourists left when the bugs started biting, so DH, Ula, Blaze, and I had the the whole student garden area to ourselves for the fireworks.