Kid City happened yesterday at the fairgrounds. Painting this fence is a kid-favorite event there. The local paint store allows kids to choose and mix (with help) their own paint colors. Then, they get to paint a portion of this fence and they can take their leftover pint of paint home with them. Looks like blues and greens were big this year. I helped out at the KPC Design an Ad Booth. Fun times. Kid City is a wonderful event for families in our area. It's held each year on the first Saturday in August.

Happy 30th Anniversary to us! On August 10th, Bob and I will celebrate 30 years of "Livin' the Dream." We were married on an extremely hot day and we honeymooned in St. Louis. There we took in a Cardinal game and then toured the Anheuser Busch Brewery where we were privileged to view the back sides of several of their top Clydesdales. I don't think many young couples today would choose that locale for honeymooning. Brent and Lindsey went to Hawaii. Heck, Rob and Candace went to Hawaii to get engaged. Times change. By the way, this picture is part of the Church Directory/Obituary package.

Reading: I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets last night. Yes, yes, I know - an action-packed weekend here in the Hickory Hill Hood.

Recipe of the Week: I decided it was finally time to take on some of the recipes in the Julia Child: Mastering the Art of French Cooking book. I started with Gateau a L'orange et Aux Amandes (Orange and Almond Spongecake) because it reminded me of a couple other cakes I like - Gateau Ganache and the Orange Poppy Seed Torte. (recipes for both in the blog archives) Alas, I was not altogether pleased with the results, so I am not going to post the recipe here. The jury is still out on this one because I don't know if it's me or the cake.

This and That: A Catching Up Post. I realized last week that I did not mention to you, blog-readers, that Bob made a trip to Turkey in June. He went over to check on a paper problem and he was in Istanbul and Ankara. Bob said the food was good and the Turkish people were very accommodating. But, FYI, if you're ever over there printing textbooks for their government, you might want to know that they are very serious about the correct color of the Turkish flag.

This is a cake that I baked to celebrate Landon's half-birthday, because last December there was so much going on at the Kutscher house, the special day just didn't get the celebration it merited. For those of you who might not recognize these characters, they're Otis and Maddy from "Back to the Barnyard." Otis is a man-cow, but for some reason, he sports a nice set of udders. I don't understand why that is, so I just went with an Otis bust. (which is pretty masculine)

Sung to the tune of "I've been Workin' on the Railroad"

"Bob's been workin' on my backsplash

All the live long day."

And that's all I've got , so far.

READING: Last week, I finished up Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, which is the Book Babes' next discussion book. This week, I 'm reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Recipe of the Week:

I made these deviled eggs yesterday and, at first, I didn't think I cared for them that much, but after they had set covered in the fridge for a while, I realized that - yes, yes I did like them and so did Bob. Here's the recipe:

Savory Deviled Eggs

6 hard cooked eggs

1/4 cup mayo

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon dill weed

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

From the Old Farmer's Almanac: If you receive a bag of walnuts, your wishes will come true.