my new favorite tradition. :)

Last year, we somehow made a habit of baking and eating lemon squares nearly every Sunday in Lent, because we get to break our fast of sweets on Sundays (each Sunday is a day of celebration...a 'mini-Easter' of sorts. If you count 40 days of Lent on the calendar, you'll find that Sundays aren't included. :D)...and for some reason we had this addiction to lemon squares. :P

This year I'm trying to keep the tradition. :D So I thought I'd post the recipe (that I altered a little) for lemon squares...'cause we love them so much. ;)

I'll try not to drool on my laptop. :P

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LEMON SQUARES

2 cups of flour

1 cup of confectioners sugar

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

4 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups (regular) sugar

1/4 a cup of flower

5/8 a cup of lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 inch pan

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 2 cups of flour and confectioners sugar. Cut the butter into the mixture. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Combine the sugar, baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour so there will be no flour lumps. Stir the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven.

4. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until bars are set. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

And then, of course, you have to put extra powdered sugar on top. Or it doesn't look as good. :)

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I like this recipe, because you don't *have* to have fresh lemons to do it. So it's easier to make without making Mom run to the store. Of course, it's always nice to have the fresh stuff, and if you do have it, feel free to juice your own lemons or add a little zest.

Anyway. Just had to post these, 'cause I love them so much. :D

Happy Sunday!

oh, the troubles of lent...

Come lent and it finds me on my iPod mournfully looking at dessert backgrounds.

Isn't it awful how as soon as you can't have something, you realize how much you love it?

Well...happy lent! Have fun looking at dessert! :D

only in the coulter family do...

...people (that will remain unnamed :P) make 'caramel popcorn' so that there's so much caramel that it's nearly inedible and will take quite some time to get it out of your teeth...

...you and your mother make up the following limericks to demonstrate how easy and fun they can be to your sister:

my mom is the best in the world

i like it best when her hair is curled

sometimes it is straight

i guess that's her fate

i hate it so much that i hurled

i once knew a boy named bug-bug

who wouldn't give me a hug-hug

i asked for a kiss

he said, 'no, little miss!'

so i had to go kiss my pug-pug

(gross? yes. fun? amazingly. :D)

...you flip through a Weight Watchers magazine to look at hair styles (believe it or not, they actually do have some nice hair in those...sometimes)...

...2-year-olds go around the house saying stuff like 'youtube', 'iPad', and 'massages', and then go and laugh their heads of at a stupid joke that really isn't at all funny. :D

...people fall asleep on the couch after school and not get up till the next morning...

...you look up after nearly an hour of writing an outline, only to realize that you only have 1 roman numeral so far...and it goes on for over 2 and 1/2 pages...*sigh*...

...you realize that you're more tired after sitting through a 1 and 1/2 hour chat than after a 2 hour swim practice...

...you get breakfast at McDonalds and order like 6 apple pies and 8 hashbrowns...(shhh, don't tell anyone. :P)

So...is it just me or are we really the only family weird enough to do these things? :D

~Vivi~

happy valentine's day!

"...this night is sparkling, don't you let it go

I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home

I'll spend forever wondering if you knew

I was enchanted to meet you..."

(sorry if the format got really messed up :P)

This is for you guys...'cause I love you. <3 Happy Valentine's Day!

come on, guys...

...really?!?

What am I supposed to do now? :P

it's the superbowl!!

I don't have a huge opinion this year on who I want to win. (we kinda mostly watch the SB for the commercials. :P) But...

Since we don't like Tom Brady (we tend to judge people on their morality--or immorality, in this case--, unfortunately. It's a bad habit of mine) on the Patriots, and since Dad supposedly likes the Giants' coach, we've switched who we want...and...

GO GIANTS!

money ball - review

About a week ago we watched the new movie Moneyball.

It's a truly fascinating story about a baseball team that has to run on such a small amount of money that it's nearly impossible to get the really great players. The General Manager, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), has to figure out how their going to take their team to the top, when they're probably the poorest team out there.

And that's where Peter Brand, a graduate of Yale, comes into the picture. (gotta love Jonah Hill. :P He's the perfect nerd--glasses, hair, and all)

He has this theory about pro baseball. According to him, "It's about getting things down to one number. Using the stats the way we read them, we'll find value in players that no one else can see. People are overlooked for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality...I believe that there is a championship team of twenty-five people that we can afford, because everyone else in baseball undervalues them."

And by using the concept of 'Moneyball', Billy Beane and co. come up with a baseball team that may be "an island of misfit toys", but may still have a chance.

It's a wonderful story.

You may have to watch it a couple times to get it, especially if you're like us where, while we know the basic baseball concepts, our Dad's still explaining nearly the entire movie afterwards. And if you're not a baseball fan, it's still an interesting movie to watch, I think.

But then it was rated PG-13 for a reason.

The language really isn't that great. And it's kind of sad because, if it didn't have the language, it would appeal to a lot more families, probably.

If you want to know the specifics, you can check out here, and if you scroll down to the language section, it'll tell you exactly. Fortunately most of the "15 s-words" are mumbled and such, so it's not really as bad as a looks. But then all the language is scattered, so you really can't skip it all at once.

But other than that, this movie's really interesting. And other than the fact that we never got why the girl was calling her Dad a 'loser' at the end, it *is* possible to understand most of it. And when you do, you can appreciate how truly brilliant the concept of 'Moneyball' was.

It's worth watching if you have the time. I enjoyed it. Made me appreciate baseball more. (but then, of course, still totally prefer swimming. :P)

I give it...**** and 1/2 out of ***** stars. :)

Very cool movie. :D

the three little pigs - shakespeare style :P

It's one of those rare moments that I feel I learned something useful in Literature chat. :P Just kidding...

Watch it, if you have 8 minutes. And if you don't...watch it anyway. :D