Photos of Vay May
Vayden Days
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Volume 29
SUNDAY NEWS
October 18, 2009
We have been enjoying cooler fall evenings watching a lot of scary movies at night. Our fall project has been working on a puzzle. We have set up a long folding table in the living room down stairs dedicated to the puzzle. We have been working on it for weeks and finally finished it yesterday. Originally it began with Christian in mind, but it has become Karl and Lori’s obsession. Lori has been known to leave Karl sleeping on the couch while she sneaks down and work on it at 11 o’clock at night. Lori is very good at puzzles. Karl shares the obsession, just not the talent.
Where is Vayden?
Very Vayden
Vayden is becoming a more competent walker. She attempts a little run now and then. She likes to eat cereal with milk. She got constipated and would cry when she had to go. Karl felt really bad for her, so the other day when he was watching her all day he thought it would be a good idea to feed her Raisin Bran cereal all day long. Big mistake. She didn’t stay constipated for long.
We have been dressing her in lots of Halloween related outfits. She is very cute. Vayden likes to play fetch the remote with Karl. She brings it back and hands it to Karl. Karl says “Thank You.” and she gets all tickled. Sometimes she repeats her version of “thank you”. Lori taught her to say ‘light’. She actually says ‘dite’ and points to the nearest light. Vayden can eat anything now and pretty much does. She is not a finicky eater at all She has even been with us to eat sushi.
October 18, 2009
We have been enjoying cooler fall evenings watching a lot of scary movies at night. Our fall project has been working on a puzzle. We have set up a long folding table in the living room down stairs dedicated to the puzzle. We have been working on it for weeks and finally finished it yesterday. Originally it began with Christian in mind, but it has become Karl and Lori’s obsession. Lori has been known to leave Karl sleeping on the couch while she sneaks down and work on it at 11 o’clock at night. Lori is very good at puzzles. Karl shares the obsession, just not the talent.
Where is Vayden?
Very VaydenVayden is becoming a more competent walker. She attempts a little run now and then. She likes to eat cereal with milk. She got constipated and would cry when she had to go. Karl felt really bad for her, so the other day when he was watching her all day he thought it would be a good idea to feed her Raisin Bran cereal all day long. Big mistake. She didn’t stay constipated for long.
We have been dressing her in lots of Halloween related outfits. She is very cute. Vayden likes to play fetch the remote with Karl. She brings it back and hands it to Karl. Karl says “Thank You.” and she gets all tickled. Sometimes she repeats her version of “thank you”. Lori taught her to say ‘light’. She actually says ‘dite’ and points to the nearest light. Vayden can eat anything now and pretty much does. She is not a finicky eater at all She has even been with us to eat sushi.
Completely Christian
Christian has been enjoying fall break and is off in Indiana now having fun there. Christian’s team has been winning their football games and made it to the play-offs. Their first play-off was yesterday. We are sure they felt Christian’s absence.
Sooooo Shelby
Shelby sent us some pictures of homecoming. They blocked of the main road for the event. The La Porte Slicers did go on to win the game. Shelby also told us she sold almost $200 worth of port pit chickens.
Family Stories
The Scorpion
One night Lori and Karl were watching a scary movie upstairs. Vayden was already asleep and Christian was watching his own movie in his room. During a scary part of the movie Lori started screaming; “Look at the floor!” over and over. Karl who was dosing off, thought she was talking about the movie. Lori kept yelling and Karl finally looked at the floor in the room as opposed to the movie and there crawling across the carpet straight towards where we were sitting was a scorpion. For a second it was a little hard to believe. Now scorpions are pretty creepy looking in pictures and at the zoo, but they take on a whole new level of creepy when they are several feet away from you in your house crawling straight for you.
Karl jumped down off the couch and grabbed Vayden’s plastic changing pad and put it on top of the scorpion before it could make it under the couch. Karl knew that if he did not kill the scorpion, Lori would be probably be insisting on sleeping in a hotel. With the scorpion under the pad, Karl pounded the pad with a box of Vayden’s wipes and called for Christian to come see. When Christian was in the room, Karl lifted the pad, expecting to see a dead or at least severely wounded scorpion. When Karl lifted the pad, the now very mad scorpion ran straight for Karl. By the way, a surprising fact that is good to know . . SCORPIONS ARE FAST! Karl stopped the scorpion just short of reaching his leg, using the pad again. Additional pounding did not kill the scorpion and Karl had Christian go in the bathroom and get a glass to trap the resilient creature. The scorpion was finally captured and measured at over 3 inches.
Karl and Christian have since purchased scorpion lights and gone hunting for them at night outside. They make these little flashlights with black light. For some reason scorpions glow under black light making them very easy to spot even when they are hiding. Karl and Christian were only able to find one dead one, but could not find a single scorpion outside. They even went into the neighbor’s back yard and all over out front. No scorpions. The bug people came and sprayed again for free. Nothing lives out there anymore. Lori is still having nightmares involving scorpions however and always turns on the light before she walks anywhere. Karl did wear flip flops the night it happened in the house but has since been convinced it was a fluke.
Heart Attack Grill
Karl finally talked Lori into going to the Heart Attack Grill. The restaurant is set up like and emergency room complete with and ambulance parked outside and everything. You are greeted by nurses who admit you by dressing you in a hospital gown and placing a band on your arm. The menu consists of big burgers and an instead of a salad bar there is and all you can eat french fry bar. The burgers and the fries are fried in lard. By the way french fries fried in lard are unbelievably delicious. The biggest burger they have is called the quadruple bypass burger. The quadruple bypass burger is 8,000 calories. They will wheel you out in a wheel chair if you eat it all. Our nurse said only a few of them are ordered every day. Karl did of course get a quadruple bypass burger and ate it with no problem. He even ate some more fries after finishing it.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Volume 28
SUNDAY NEWS
October 4, 2009
Fall has arrived in Arizona. Fall is a big deal in Arizona because when you go through a summer of Arizona heat, the fall is a very welcome season. We have already planted the winter grass and gotten out all the fall decorations. We are all happy to be enjoying the cooler temperatures. We broke down and had some professional pest control people come out and treat the house to combat our ant problem. It seems to have worked. We haven’t seen a single ant since they came.
It has been over a month since Lori’s surgery and she is doing well. Lori went back to see the surgeon this past week who lifted her restrictions. Lori can now do whatever she wants as long as she uses common sense and it doesn’t hurt her back. Lori is going to remain off work for one more week and then go back to work with half shifts the week after that before returning to a full day. The doctor said it is not good to wait too long before going back to semi-normal activities. The doctor also said that Lori is not going to be able to go back to lifting heavy things or doing any very back stressing activities for the rest of her life.
Lori took a trip to Target all by herself yesterday and drove for the first time in a long time. She said it was weird to be able to drive and to go some where all by herself.
Very Vayden
HAPPY BIRTHDAY VAYDEN!!
Our little Vayden has been with us for a whole year. It is hard to believe. It is also hard to remember life without her in our family. She is now a little one year old. Vayden is settling back into her normal routines. She had a couple of really clingy days with Karl and would not let him even set her down. She is walking all over now. She often plays in her own little world moving things around and talking to them. She now gets scared by some loud sounds. For instance both Lori and Karl have called out for Christian when he was in another room and she was startled and ran crying to the nearest parent. A sudden sneeze or other unexpected noise can startle her too. We have started using the DVD player in the Sequoia as means to keep Vayden happy in the car. She seems to really like watching her videos while driving. This is evidenced by her screaming when we have to park and the DVD player goes off. It came in real handy on Friday night when we were returning from going to dinner and doing some Halloween shopping and go stuck on the freeway for over an hour do to a “police situation” up a head of us. That most likely would have been an hour of crying but not for the DVD player since Vayden does not like to hold still in the car. Her father can relate. After an hour of standing still on the freeway, Karl wanted to throw a tantrum too.
Our little Vayden is going to be a bee for Halloween. Vayden shoplifted a refrigerator magnet this week. We were looking at them and Vayden must have pulled one off and it fell into her stroller. We found it the next day in the back of the Sequoia where it must have fallen out of the stroller. We bought her a bunch of animal refrigerator magnets to go on the upstairs refrigerator in the loft. She loves pulling them off an even putting them back sometimes.
Vayden still enjoys going to Chase field. Karl, Christian and Vayden went to a Saturday game to collect some Mark Reynolds bobble head and Vayden went with so Lori could rest. She is a hot dog loving, hand clapping, loud little fan who seems to enjoy and feed off the crowd’s excitement.
Completely Christian
Christian and his Badgers lost last week to the Horsemen 18 to 12, but won this week against the Jr. Devils. While on defense, Christian recovered a fumble and secured a turnover for his team. This week Christian was issued a duffle bag by his team with the team logo and his name on it. He is pretty jazzed about it and wants to take it to Indiana on his upcoming trip. Christian recently got a free puzzle at a Diamondbacks game and now has an interest in puzzles. We bought him a couple puzzles and set up a folding table in the living room to work on one of them. It seems that his parents are now addicted to trying to complete a 1000 piece puzzle and Christian has lost interest.
October 4, 2009
Fall has arrived in Arizona. Fall is a big deal in Arizona because when you go through a summer of Arizona heat, the fall is a very welcome season. We have already planted the winter grass and gotten out all the fall decorations. We are all happy to be enjoying the cooler temperatures. We broke down and had some professional pest control people come out and treat the house to combat our ant problem. It seems to have worked. We haven’t seen a single ant since they came.
It has been over a month since Lori’s surgery and she is doing well. Lori went back to see the surgeon this past week who lifted her restrictions. Lori can now do whatever she wants as long as she uses common sense and it doesn’t hurt her back. Lori is going to remain off work for one more week and then go back to work with half shifts the week after that before returning to a full day. The doctor said it is not good to wait too long before going back to semi-normal activities. The doctor also said that Lori is not going to be able to go back to lifting heavy things or doing any very back stressing activities for the rest of her life.
Lori took a trip to Target all by herself yesterday and drove for the first time in a long time. She said it was weird to be able to drive and to go some where all by herself.
Very Vayden
HAPPY BIRTHDAY VAYDEN!!
Our little Vayden has been with us for a whole year. It is hard to believe. It is also hard to remember life without her in our family. She is now a little one year old. Vayden is settling back into her normal routines. She had a couple of really clingy days with Karl and would not let him even set her down. She is walking all over now. She often plays in her own little world moving things around and talking to them. She now gets scared by some loud sounds. For instance both Lori and Karl have called out for Christian when he was in another room and she was startled and ran crying to the nearest parent. A sudden sneeze or other unexpected noise can startle her too. We have started using the DVD player in the Sequoia as means to keep Vayden happy in the car. She seems to really like watching her videos while driving. This is evidenced by her screaming when we have to park and the DVD player goes off. It came in real handy on Friday night when we were returning from going to dinner and doing some Halloween shopping and go stuck on the freeway for over an hour do to a “police situation” up a head of us. That most likely would have been an hour of crying but not for the DVD player since Vayden does not like to hold still in the car. Her father can relate. After an hour of standing still on the freeway, Karl wanted to throw a tantrum too.Our little Vayden is going to be a bee for Halloween. Vayden shoplifted a refrigerator magnet this week. We were looking at them and Vayden must have pulled one off and it fell into her stroller. We found it the next day in the back of the Sequoia where it must have fallen out of the stroller. We bought her a bunch of animal refrigerator magnets to go on the upstairs refrigerator in the loft. She loves pulling them off an even putting them back sometimes.
Vayden still enjoys going to Chase field. Karl, Christian and Vayden went to a Saturday game to collect some Mark Reynolds bobble head and Vayden went with so Lori could rest. She is a hot dog loving, hand clapping, loud little fan who seems to enjoy and feed off the crowd’s excitement.
Completely ChristianChristian and his Badgers lost last week to the Horsemen 18 to 12, but won this week against the Jr. Devils. While on defense, Christian recovered a fumble and secured a turnover for his team. This week Christian was issued a duffle bag by his team with the team logo and his name on it. He is pretty jazzed about it and wants to take it to Indiana on his upcoming trip. Christian recently got a free puzzle at a Diamondbacks game and now has an interest in puzzles. We bought him a couple puzzles and set up a folding table in the living room to work on one of them. It seems that his parents are now addicted to trying to complete a 1000 piece puzzle and Christian has lost interest.
Family Stories
The Smell
Lori likes to tell this story and finds this one entertaining. Karl has a pretty sensitive nose. Given its size, I am sure no one finds this surprising. Karl is sometimes bothered by cleaning solutions or some of the fragrances Lori uses to make the house or her car smell good that no one else takes offense to. One particular day Karl continued to smell a foul odor that smelled like poop. It was ever so slight and he could only get a wiff of it now and then. Throughout the day Karl continued to smell it. He would smell it in different rooms and it was driving him crazy trying to locate the source. He could not determine where it was coming from. Because he continued to smell the odor wherever he went he thought to check his shoes, he washed his hands and finally took a shower. He went back to work at his desk and the foul scent returned. Because the scent was slight, no one else seemed to be smelling it and Karl though he was going crazy.
That morning Karl had taken Roxy for a walk. Roxy did what she always does on a walk, she pooped. Roxy can have just pooped right before we leave on a walk and regardless she always takes the opportunity to poop again on a walk. Karl was wearing cargo shorts that particular day and pulled out the zip lock bag and paper towel that he carries for just such and event. There was nowhere to throw the poop away at the time so he put it in the side pocket of his cargo shorts. He then carried the zip lock bag with him all day. After he showered he put back on the same pair of cargo shorts. It was not until Karl had been pestered by that slight stink the entire day that he finally realized where the smell was coming from.
Note from the Editors
Be sure to check out the photo addendums attached to this week’s edition.
Volume 28 - Photo Addendum 2
SUNDAY NEWS
Ocotber 4, 200
Our Camera-Shy Little Witch . . .
Fun with Birthday Balloons . . .
Vayden's Trip to the Zoo . . .
Post Card Perfect shot taken of a Mountian Lion by Grandma Phyllis
Ocotber 4, 200
Our Camera-Shy Little Witch . . .
Fun with Birthday Balloons . . .
Vayden's Trip to the Zoo . . .
Post Card Perfect shot taken of a Mountian Lion by Grandma Phyllis
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Volume 27
SUNDAY NEWS
September 20, 2009
Karl and Christian have been battling ants all week. Every year there is some pestilence that presents itself. First it was crickets. They crawled into the house by the dozens. They were annoying mostly because of the noise they make. They just disappeared and were replaced the following year by little black earwigs. They disappeared and were replaced the following year by moths. Our ceilings were dotted by moths. You couldn’t walk into a room without a flutter somewhere. The moths were easy to kill but always left dust smudges on the ceilings and walls.
This year it is ants. They started in the kitchen but have now found their way into both upstairs bathrooms feasting on Lori’s bath products. We have now found these little pests in every room of the house except Christian’s room and Vayden’s room. We would rather have crickets, earwigs or moths over ants. These little buggers bite. The good news is that although the war has waged for over a week now, Karl and Christian are now winning
Karl’s birthday was yesterday. For his birthday, his long
time friend Mark and his wife Julie took him to a restaurant they knew he would love. Karl is a long time supporter of the cattle industry. He is a walking me
at lover’s poster boy. When Karl orders breakfast as Denny’s he gets the Meat Lover’s Scramble. When he gets a pizza it is the Meat-Lovers Special. When Karl goes to barbeque place he is always
happy to see Just Meat by the Pound on the menu. Karl has been taken to many a restaurant by co-workers and former bosses just to see him eat a 64 ounce Prime Rib or a 72 ounce steak. Karl
has extensive conversations with butchers. When Karl is purchasing meat, Karl must look at every single cut before he selects the perfect one. Are you getting the picture? Karl especially loves beef.
Karl served his mission in Brazil where he was introduced and immediately fell in love with the Churrascaria. A Churrascaria is a Brazilian Steakhouse. You pay one All-You-Can-Eat price and several waiters bring a multitude of different cuts of meat hot off the flames to your table on wooden handled spits and carve desired pieces of the cut onto your plate.
So if you like meat, a Churrascaria is pretty close to heaven. Whether you want it or not this edition will provide you with a brief education on Brazilian Churrasco and the most common meats served at a Churrascaria along with their Portuguese names and their English pronunciations.
1.Cupim
4. Lombo
5. Filet Mignon
6. Picanha
7. Alcatra
15. Faraldinha
16. Costela
Ancho - Pronounced AN-cho (Rib Eye) Anyone who knows Karl very well knows of his love for this particular cut. He even joined a fan club on Facebook for Ribeye. Ancho is cut from the prime part of the rib eye. This cut has extensive marbling that provides it with superb flavor, texture and juiciness. The fat in a good cut of this meat is unparalleled. Although some find it disgusting, Karl will eat large bites of just fat from this cut of meat.
Filet Mignon - Pronounced fil-AY min-YON (same name in English – well actually both languages use French) Filet mignon is cut from the tenderloin and is the tenderest of all cuts. This meat is so tender and tasty it is considered an international crime to cook it past medium rare. A crime often perpetrated by Americans. Karl cringes when he hears people order filet well done or butterflyed. Why even order filet if you are going to do that to it? There are actually chefs who refuse to do that. This is equivalent to giving someone a dozen roses with the flower portion cut off. It is no longer a dozen roses! It is stems and thorns! At a Churrascaria Filet Mignon often comes in a wrapped in bacon version also.
Picanha - Pronounced pea-CAN-ya (Top Sirloin) This is what people think of when they think of a Churrascaria. While this cut is not one of Karl’s favorites normally, the Brazilians somehow cook this just right and it jumps out in front in rank at a Churrascaria. This cut is Lori’s favorite when she visits a Churrascaria. Picanha is a prime cut of top sirloin specially carved just as the gauchos (Brazilian cowboys) have done for hundreds of years.
Alcatra - Pronounced al-CAT-ra (Top Sirloin) Alcatra is a special cut of top sirloin originating in the steakhouses of Southern Brazil. Like picanha, alcatra is a popular cut in Brazil. It is a soft cut particularly good with extra salt in Karl’s opinion.
Fraldinha - fral-DIN-ya (Bottom Sirloin) This cut has strong marbling characteristics and a distinct robust flavor. It is a delicious change of pace in the Churrascaria’s line-up. That is the beauty of a Churrascaria. You never get tired of eating the same piece of meat. You get to float between different cuts with all their wonderful different flavors keeping your taste buds alive with pleasure.
Costela - co-STELL-a (Beef Ribs) The ribs are grilled for several hours to capture their rich natural flavor. They are really good with no barbeque sauce and taste like prime rib.
Costela de Porco - co-STELL-a gee POer-co (Pork Ribs) Also called Costelinha, co-STELL-leen-ya which means little ribs, these are pork baby back pork ribs skillfully roasted with a blend of wet and dry rubs that keep the ribs tender and enhance their natural flavor. They are very good. Karl still prefers these with good old Western-American barbeque sauce.
Cordeiro - cor-DAY-roo (Lamb) These are fire roasted lamb chops. Karl & Lori both do not care for lamb this way. Karl likes it in a stew or something.
Coracao de Galinha - cor-A-sown gee Ga-LEE-na (Chicken Hearts) Don’t knock them until you try them. Karl had many an American companion who resisted the idea and ended up with these salty little guys as their absolute favorites.
Cupim - coo-PEE-ing (not sure what we call this in English) Karl was always told that in Brazil that this was part of the fatty hump on the Brahma bulls. But it seems too meaty to be a hump. It is really good. Very fatty and tasty. Similar to prime rib.
Completely Christian
Christian had an away game this week against the Buckhorns. Christian and his Badgers were victorious 31 to 12. Christian's team has played more teams and has the best winning record in his division. Christian also gave a talk in church. He did a great job.
Family Stories
Churrasco and the Church
While on his mission in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Karl visited many churrascarias. He was originally trained in the art of eating churrasco by Elder Penman (a hunter from Alaska) and Elder Shultz (the son of a cattle farmer from Oregon) While assigned to the southern-most part of Karl’s mission in Volta Redonda, Karl and his trainers often frequented an authentic gaucho churrascaria. Karl continued to visit various churracarias during the years he spent in Brazil. He became well known for both his love and knowledge of these wonderful restaurants. In fact Karl was once invited to an invitation only churrascaria in Ipanema. Karl came to the rescue of a Brazilin waiter who was being verbally abused by an ignorant American Texas tycoon type at Mario’s in Copacabana. Karl defended the waiter and his Brazilian culture and told the Texas ignoramous that he was being rude and ignorant. The manger was so thankful that he gave Karl the special invitation. That churrascaria will live in Karl’s dreams for the rest of his life.
Towards the end of Karl’s mission, Karl’s received a telegram to contact his Mission President about churrascarias. Karl thought he was going in big trouble. He thought the mission President had found out he had visited churrascarias out of his assigned area. Just for the record Karl only did that on the way to or from a mission meeting or transfer. A very nervous Elder Mueller made the trek to find a pay phone and called the Mission President. As it turned out, the Mission President had heard about Karl’s churracaria expertise and wanted some advice. Three apostles of the church, Neal A. Maxwell, former President of the Church Gordon B. Hinkley and current President Thomas S. Monson were scheduled to visit the Rio de Janeiro mission and the Mission President wanted Karl’s recommendation on where to take them to eat Churrasco. Karl later had the privilege of meeting all three.
September 20, 2009
Karl and Christian have been battling ants all week. Every year there is some pestilence that presents itself. First it was crickets. They crawled into the house by the dozens. They were annoying mostly because of the noise they make. They just disappeared and were replaced the following year by little black earwigs. They disappeared and were replaced the following year by moths. Our ceilings were dotted by moths. You couldn’t walk into a room without a flutter somewhere. The moths were easy to kill but always left dust smudges on the ceilings and walls.
This year it is ants. They started in the kitchen but have now found their way into both upstairs bathrooms feasting on Lori’s bath products. We have now found these little pests in every room of the house except Christian’s room and Vayden’s room. We would rather have crickets, earwigs or moths over ants. These little buggers bite. The good news is that although the war has waged for over a week now, Karl and Christian are now winning
Karl’s birthday was yesterday. For his birthday, his long
time friend Mark and his wife Julie took him to a restaurant they knew he would love. Karl is a long time supporter of the cattle industry. He is a walking me at lover’s poster boy. When Karl orders breakfast as Denny’s he gets the Meat Lover’s Scramble. When he gets a pizza it is the Meat-Lovers Special. When Karl goes to barbeque place he is always
happy to see Just Meat by the Pound on the menu. Karl has been taken to many a restaurant by co-workers and former bosses just to see him eat a 64 ounce Prime Rib or a 72 ounce steak. Karlhas extensive conversations with butchers. When Karl is purchasing meat, Karl must look at every single cut before he selects the perfect one. Are you getting the picture? Karl especially loves beef.
Karl served his mission in Brazil where he was introduced and immediately fell in love with the Churrascaria. A Churrascaria is a Brazilian Steakhouse. You pay one All-You-Can-Eat price and several waiters bring a multitude of different cuts of meat hot off the flames to your table on wooden handled spits and carve desired pieces of the cut onto your plate. 
You may request certain cuts, pass on cuts and point to the section of the cut you would like. There many, many, many different cuts of beef sometimes seasoned with things like pepper, garlic or parmesan. Most of the time however, the cuts are just rubbed in rock salt and thrown into the fire. There is also Linguica (sausage) Frango (chicken) Peru (turkey – usually wrapped in bacon), Lombo (pork loin) Cordeiro (lamb) etc. 
There are many side dishes always available also. Lori is a big fan of the fried bananas. Both Karl and Lori love Pao de Quejo (Cheese Bread) These little hot balls of bread are so good. They are absolutely a marriage made in heaven when it comes to sopping up meat juice on your plate. Lori also loves pao de quejo. This next picture is for you Lori.
So if you like meat, a Churrascaria is pretty close to heaven. Whether you want it or not this edition will provide you with a brief education on Brazilian Churrasco and the most common meats served at a Churrascaria along with their Portuguese names and their English pronunciations. 
1.Cupim4. Lombo
5. Filet Mignon
6. Picanha
7. Alcatra
15. Faraldinha
16. Costela
Ancho - Pronounced AN-cho (Rib Eye) Anyone who knows Karl very well knows of his love for this particular cut. He even joined a fan club on Facebook for Ribeye. Ancho is cut from the prime part of the rib eye. This cut has extensive marbling that provides it with superb flavor, texture and juiciness. The fat in a good cut of this meat is unparalleled. Although some find it disgusting, Karl will eat large bites of just fat from this cut of meat.
Filet Mignon - Pronounced fil-AY min-YON (same name in English – well actually both languages use French) Filet mignon is cut from the tenderloin and is the tenderest of all cuts. This meat is so tender and tasty it is considered an international crime to cook it past medium rare. A crime often perpetrated by Americans. Karl cringes when he hears people order filet well done or butterflyed. Why even order filet if you are going to do that to it? There are actually chefs who refuse to do that. This is equivalent to giving someone a dozen roses with the flower portion cut off. It is no longer a dozen roses! It is stems and thorns! At a Churrascaria Filet Mignon often comes in a wrapped in bacon version also.
Picanha - Pronounced pea-CAN-ya (Top Sirloin) This is what people think of when they think of a Churrascaria. While this cut is not one of Karl’s favorites normally, the Brazilians somehow cook this just right and it jumps out in front in rank at a Churrascaria. This cut is Lori’s favorite when she visits a Churrascaria. Picanha is a prime cut of top sirloin specially carved just as the gauchos (Brazilian cowboys) have done for hundreds of years.
Alcatra - Pronounced al-CAT-ra (Top Sirloin) Alcatra is a special cut of top sirloin originating in the steakhouses of Southern Brazil. Like picanha, alcatra is a popular cut in Brazil. It is a soft cut particularly good with extra salt in Karl’s opinion.
Fraldinha - fral-DIN-ya (Bottom Sirloin) This cut has strong marbling characteristics and a distinct robust flavor. It is a delicious change of pace in the Churrascaria’s line-up. That is the beauty of a Churrascaria. You never get tired of eating the same piece of meat. You get to float between different cuts with all their wonderful different flavors keeping your taste buds alive with pleasure.
Costela - co-STELL-a (Beef Ribs) The ribs are grilled for several hours to capture their rich natural flavor. They are really good with no barbeque sauce and taste like prime rib.
Costela de Porco - co-STELL-a gee POer-co (Pork Ribs) Also called Costelinha, co-STELL-leen-ya which means little ribs, these are pork baby back pork ribs skillfully roasted with a blend of wet and dry rubs that keep the ribs tender and enhance their natural flavor. They are very good. Karl still prefers these with good old Western-American barbeque sauce.
Cordeiro - cor-DAY-roo (Lamb) These are fire roasted lamb chops. Karl & Lori both do not care for lamb this way. Karl likes it in a stew or something.
Coracao de Galinha - cor-A-sown gee Ga-LEE-na (Chicken Hearts) Don’t knock them until you try them. Karl had many an American companion who resisted the idea and ended up with these salty little guys as their absolute favorites.
Cupim - coo-PEE-ing (not sure what we call this in English) Karl was always told that in Brazil that this was part of the fatty hump on the Brahma bulls. But it seems too meaty to be a hump. It is really good. Very fatty and tasty. Similar to prime rib.Completely Christian
Christian had an away game this week against the Buckhorns. Christian and his Badgers were victorious 31 to 12. Christian's team has played more teams and has the best winning record in his division. Christian also gave a talk in church. He did a great job.
Family Stories
Churrasco and the ChurchWhile on his mission in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Karl visited many churrascarias. He was originally trained in the art of eating churrasco by Elder Penman (a hunter from Alaska) and Elder Shultz (the son of a cattle farmer from Oregon) While assigned to the southern-most part of Karl’s mission in Volta Redonda, Karl and his trainers often frequented an authentic gaucho churrascaria. Karl continued to visit various churracarias during the years he spent in Brazil. He became well known for both his love and knowledge of these wonderful restaurants. In fact Karl was once invited to an invitation only churrascaria in Ipanema. Karl came to the rescue of a Brazilin waiter who was being verbally abused by an ignorant American Texas tycoon type at Mario’s in Copacabana. Karl defended the waiter and his Brazilian culture and told the Texas ignoramous that he was being rude and ignorant. The manger was so thankful that he gave Karl the special invitation. That churrascaria will live in Karl’s dreams for the rest of his life.
Towards the end of Karl’s mission, Karl’s received a telegram to contact his Mission President about churrascarias. Karl thought he was going in big trouble. He thought the mission President had found out he had visited churrascarias out of his assigned area. Just for the record Karl only did that on the way to or from a mission meeting or transfer. A very nervous Elder Mueller made the trek to find a pay phone and called the Mission President. As it turned out, the Mission President had heard about Karl’s churracaria expertise and wanted some advice. Three apostles of the church, Neal A. Maxwell, former President of the Church Gordon B. Hinkley and current President Thomas S. Monson were scheduled to visit the Rio de Janeiro mission and the Mission President wanted Karl’s recommendation on where to take them to eat Churrasco. Karl later had the privilege of meeting all three.
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