The Search for Miss Direction: Hail Yes!

I grew up bleeding maize and blue blood in the heart of Buckeye country. Some of my fondest childhood memories include 'saluting' houses flying the OSU flag or those decked out in scarlet and grey and it delights me to no end to pass this skill on to Noah and Kayla. There are maize and blue flamingos standing proudly in my front yard. One of the first multiple word phrases both of my kiddos uttered was "Go Blue" The fall I was pregnant with Kayla Grant threatened to cut me off from football if I couldn't watch without yelling at the TV and pacing the floor. I could easily go quite a long stretch of never wearing the same Michigan apparel and the only reason I would have to do laundry was for clean underroos. The top five moments from my 20's include my Wedding Day, the birth of each of my children and attending my first Michigan football game. If I could max out my credit card at any one store without having to pay off the balance, it would be a heart wrenching choice between a store filled with kitchen gadgetry or M Den.

I am a true University of Michigan fan.

That being the case, even though I can honestly say basketball isn't really my thing (bring on college football or pro baseball) I have been enthralled this season watching the Wolverines journey which will culminate tonight in a fight for the NCAA Title. What started as a 17-0 season ran into a dominate Big 10 conference with a few snags. Die hard fan or not, for awhile there I was questioning if we were going to be any kind of contender at all after we got beat by the likes of Penn State. Never fear, though, my maize and blue warriors pulled it out and now we get to watch them fend for the title tonight.

Win or lose tonight, I have developed a grudging enjoyment of basketball (though I still don't understand the need for all the fouls at the end of the game. Is it really just to stop the action and attempt to set up another play?) and my admiration and respect for U of M athletics has grown leaps and bounds. I love sharing it with Noah and Kayla and Grant too, for that matter. It makes me smile to think of how his joy in Michigan and sports in general has blossomed since we moved up here. Poor guy, he probably had no choice if he was going to continue to live with me ;)

All that being the case....

GO BLUE!

In the midst of my Michigan love, I didn't forget today's celebration. Happy National Empenada Day! I made authentic Chilean empenadas to celebrate today. I made the dough from scratch and then the filling as well, which is a combination of ground beef, paprika, cumin, raisins, vinegar and hard boiled egg. Sounds strange, huh? I thought so too but they were eaten here with no fuss and a 'yes, we'd do these again' rating. Oddly enough, we'll be seeing empenadas again exactly one month from now on May 8th, as it is ALSO National Empenada Day. (Don't ask, I have no idea who's in charge of all this. But at the end of the year, I'm going to find out and suggest some serious re-haul on this system, hehehe) I think we'll try a desert style empenada then, so keep your eyes peeled for that one...

Tomorrow is Kid Kitchen where we're going to try our hand at some Chinese Almond cookies and garbage bread. Until then....

We told the kids they could stay up for part of the game provided they took a nap - Mikayla took me seriously

Showing off their new duds

Think this might be my new profile picture everywhere :)

Empenadas (I also made my very own pinto beans. Started with dry pinto beans, and then came up with my own combo of spices and had them in the crock pot all day. Yet again, seriously wish the internet had a smell option. Going to mention this to my tech savvy husband....)