Balloon Rockets

While cleaning out some large storage baskets we usually use for backpacks and school stuff (prepping for the new school year to start), we found a bag of unused party balloons.  I had seen something on pinterest about making balloons into rockets with just a few items like string and tape and thought this might be a good day to get "science-y".  Not only did we learn about action, reaction, force, and propulsion, we also had a ton of fun.  

Balloon Rockets!

 Here's what you will need to make your own:

String or yarn
Straws
Balloons
Tape ($1 store duct tape worked best)
Large-eyed needle
Bamboo skewer
Two chairs or two places to tie string between 

First, cut off the bendy end of the straw so you have just a straight piece left

Take your string or yarn and thread the large-eyed needle.  Place the needle in the tip of the straw.  Use the bamboo skewer to push the needle down the straw until it comes out the other end.

The bamboo skewer is the KEY to getting this floppy yarn through the straw.  It will save you much frustration.

Take a wide piece of $1 store duct tape about 5 inches long and place it over the middle of the straw.

Now you want to tie your yarn off in two place and make sure the string is very taut between the two points.  We used our stairs and a door knob.

You can also use two chairs, or two objects outside if the weather is nice.  The two points we selected also had different elevations.  The stairs connection was higher than the door knob finish line.

Now came the part where we blow up our first balloon

It's important to color coordinate your balloon with your current outfit, right?

Now the trickiest part comes (and it helps to have two sets of hands here) but while squeezing the end of the balloon and not letting any air escape, gently attach the wide duct tape to the top of the balloon. 

Make sure the balloon is facing the direction you want to launch it, with the "exhaust" blower in the back and the round part of the balloon facing forward.  After that... you are ready to activate the launch sequence.... 3...2...1...

"Huston, we are a GO for blast off"

 PShhhzooom....

When it reaches the end of it's ride, it will look floppy and sad.  But the nice thing is the $1 store duct tape holds onto the balloon in the right place and you are ready to launch again

Well you can't have three kids and only one balloon rocket.  So we set up another launching path

We made track #2 at a lower elevation so we could have rocket RACES!

Again.  It is important to color coordinate your attire and balloon color...

My middle child thought that a larger balloon would travel faster. We found out that a larger balloon would have traveled farther (if our string had been longer) but it launched at the same speed as the purple balloon.  The only bonus was that the pink balloon would reach the end of the track and still have some air left over.  It would spin around and make that satisfying raspberry sound, which spurned on even more giggles.  After that we had an afternoon of zipping and racing.  It was a rocket balloon extravaganza!

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Ready, set, GO!

Zooooom!!

Oh and P.S., by the way, here's a bonus tip: Don't forget to cut down your strings if you have them precariously strung through your house as we did.  Otherwise, it turns into one of those laser security gymnastics "mission impossible" limbo games just to open the front door...

I picture Catherine Zeta Jones in a skin tight leotard leaping over and under the laser wires....

This was a fun and easy game, the girls just loved it.  I've also heard you can use those longer oblong balloons if you want to try for something a little more aerodynamic.  We might just attempt those next time. I also saw some bonus plans for a rocket balloon car made out of a water bottle.  I'll keep you posted.  Hey, let us know if you make some balloon rockets for your kids or grandkids and how they turned out.

Tres Leches Cake

So we were invited to a family taco feed a few weeks back and I kindly offered to bring dessert.  I was trying to think what might go with Mexican food when it hit me: Tres Leche Cake!  I had just seen  an episode where Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) had made one of these cakes.  Of course she had made it from scratch (which is an eventual goal of mine), but I didn't want to subject my friends to something as crazy as a first time attempt of a scratch cake, just in case it went horribly awry.  It was also so last minute when I decided to make this, I thought let's just use a regular yellow cake mix for now and see how it will turn out.  Well, I must say, I'm so glad I did, because it really turned out AWESOME.

Tres Leches Cake - Amazing creamy goodness on a plate!

By the way, our main camera is on the fritz so I quickly took the following pictures with my cell phone.  I apologize the quality is not as good as normal, but you will get the general gist of things.  First, make a yellow cake in a 9x13 pan according to package directions.

 Once it is baked, let it cool a bit on the counter

While it is cooling you can make the "Tres Leches" part of this cake.  If you remember anything from your high school Spanish class, tres means "three", and leche means "milk".  So this cake literally means "three milks".  The three milks you will need are:

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk
1/4 cup heavy cream

Pour the three milks into a bowl and stir gently to combine

When your cake is mostly cooled (you can still do this if it is slightly warm) poke holes in the top with a fork

Once the entire top of the cake is covered in holes, pour half of the milk mixture on top of the cake.  Be sure to pour slowly and cover the entire cake.  This, will feel wrong.

My gosh... what have I done!!!

Seriously.  You will start to panic when you see all the milk just sitting there on top of the cake.

It's swimming in milk... Noooooo!

But rest assured, this cake is going to absorb all this moisture.  All you need is to give it a few minutes... check this out.  Five to seven minutes later I return to find that all the milk had disappeared!

What kind of witchery is this??

I thought, oh my, I still have half a bowl of three milks left, no way will this all go in here... I was actually afraid to add the last half.  But I did it anyway.  For you.  For science. For God and country. For cake lovers everywhere.

Round two....

Now I've gone and done it.  It's for surely ruined.  I've made cake soup.

But hold the phone... I let it sit for ten minutes.  I was even afraid to go back in the kitchen mind you, and lo and behold when I did, this is what I found:

What a difference 10 minutes makes, right?

So amazingly all the liquid was absorbed yet a second time, and the cake looks no worse for wear.  Matter of fact it looks delicious, because all that wonderful sweet liquid will make for a very cool, very MOIST, very creamy cake.  I covered this with plastic wrap and stored it in the fridge for a few hours until we left for the party.  I also stored it in their fridge after we arrived, until it was time for dessert.  I waited to top this this with whipped cream until right before serving, which worked out perfectly. 

This dessert was amazing cool, sweet and creamy.  A perfect ending to a slightly spicy meal.  Here it is surrounded by some heavenly sunset light, as if God himself approved of this dessert.
 

Yum!!!

So this was just a fabulous dessert.  Everyone loved it's creamy texture and how cool and refreshing it was.  Let me know if you make it and how it turned out for you.  Enjoy!

How to Cut a Watermelon

A few years back I threw my parents a surprise 40th wedding anniversary luau.  It was a huge undertaking to plan, and though we didn't have a ton of money for a full luau dinner, we still wanted to make it extra special.  We timed the event as an after dinner party, and opted for mixed nuts, big ol' fruit platters, and three types of desserts.  We got pretty lucky in the fact that a lady that used to be a professional caterer was the one who volunteered to help me in the kitchen and cut up the massive amounts of fruit for the platters.  I learned a thing or two that day that I thought I'd pass along to you. The best part is, this really stretches how many people you can feed with just one watermelon.  First, find yourself a watermelon.

Before learning this tip, I would have just cut this bad boy up into wedges and it might have fed only 8-10 people.  Now it will fill a whole fruit tray or large party bowl with little to no waste.  Some good tools to have here is a plastic cutting board with a ridge (to catch the juice) and a very sharp knife.  Take your knife and cut the end off the watermelon

Turn it around and cut off the other end.

 
Because a watermelon is notriously round and somewhat slippery, cutting the ends off will allow you to stand it up on its end (the tall way) for a more stable cutting surface.  Following the curve of the melon, glide the sharp knife down the side of the melon, removing a thin layer of rind.

You should get a nice long piece of rind that falls off

Continue around, slicing off one strip of rind at a time.  The trick is you want to cut far enough in to remove most of the white layer, without taking off too much of the red part.

By the time you work all the way around, most of the white part should be removed.  If there are "strips" left behind, gently shave them with the knife until you can only see red.

 
Flip the watermelon over, stand it up on it's other end, and remove and remaining rind and white sections.

 
After that you will have something akin to a juicy football

 
Cut the "football" in half, longways, right down the middle

 
Now, working with one half at a time, lay the first section of watermelon with the flat side down.

 
Cut this section in half again, down the middle, lengthwise

Make some similar cuts about 1.5 inches apart

If you want large slices for a big platter you can thinly slice from this moment and have some fairly large pieces.  I tend to chop this up further for smaller pieces.  Matter of fact I will get a watermelon home, chop it up like this, put it in a big bowl, and the whole family will snack off it for days.  The above pieces are still pretty tall, so I will tip them over and cut them in half as well.

Each piece is usually about 1.5 x 1.5 inches square and I will slice them about 1/4 of an inch thick.
 

Keep slicing each section this way, and soon you will have half of a large bowl filled up. 
 

Now it's time for the other half of the watermelon.  Repeat the above steps.  Sometimes if my long "bricks" of watermelon are about the same size, I can cut them up two at a time.

 
Soon after you will have a heaping large bowl full of perfectly sliced watermelon to take to a party, serve to family and friends, take to your next picnic, or do what we do, store it in the fridge and snack off of it for days.

As soon as that juicy watermelon smell fills the air... the little ones will start to appear out of nowhere...

 
I hope you've enjoyed this way of cutting watermelon.  Before that big luau party I had never thought to do it this way, but it's the only way I do it now.  By the way, we cut almost all the fruit for the party this way.  It worked all the way from pokey pineapples to little fury kiwis.  This really did help stretch our food budget out as well.  Enjoy!