Grilled Corn

Here in Central Illinois we have plenty of corn. You can't drive a mile without running into a corn field in our county. Most is seed corn, but some is sweet corn that you can eat. A few nights ago, I made one of my husband's favorite meals....Savory mesquite grilled steaks, baked potatoes, and grilled corn. Yes, I said GRILLED CORN. Corn on the cob, grilled on the gas grill. It's very easy to make and delicious! The corn is crisp and juicy. Here's how to make it...

Soak desired number of ears of corn in ice water for 30 minutes. Soak these with the husk ON. When 30 minutes is up, remove corn from the water, and wrap each ear individually in aluminum foil. The ear needs to be completely sealed in the foil. Grill on medium heat for 25-30 minutes. When 30 minutes has passed, remove ears of corn from grill. Carefully remove foil. I recommend using oven mitts to do this. After foil is removed, shuck the corn (remove the husks). Use caution as the husks and ear of corn are extremely hot when you do this. Then, just serve as you normally would serve corn on the cob.

I know this seems like a long process for making corn on the cob, but the corn shucks much easier with this method and the corn is juicier and crisper. Cooking it on the grill gives it wonderful flavor.

If you like your corn on the cob a little sweeter, add some sugar to the water while you soak the ears. Its makes a wonderful super sweet corn.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!

The Bucket List

So the past few days I've been thinking a lot about the things I want to do in life. The things that aren't necessarily "common" or "usual" or "expected" to do, but the things I want to accomplish, see, or do. I decided to come up with a list of things I want to do before I am 50. That gives me ~22 years to accomplish it. So here's the list, in no particular order.

My Bucket List

1. Visit Europe
2. Travel to Hawaii
3. Get my bachelor's degree
4. Learn how to drive a motorcycle
5. Ride in a helicopter
6. Meet a celebrity
7. Go to Ground Zero in NYC
8. Become a community leader
9. Have a second child (this one is still up in the air)
10. Make a difference in a child's life (that is not my child)
11. Trace my family roots back as far as possible
12. See my son graduate high school, college, and get married
13. Compete in a triathlon
14. Run a 5k
15. Ride a "Tour for the Cure" race
16. Teach my child about his family members that have passed before his time
17. Fly in the cockpit of an airplane
18. Sky dive
19. Swim with the dolphins
20. Buy a bigger house
21. Get my master's degree
22. Become a certified CPR instructor
23. Plant my own garden (and actually have it grow!)
24. See the Grand Canyon
25. See the Las Vegas Strip
26. Visit Australia
27. Organize a community group
28. Visit Alaska
29. Travel to the Virgin Islands
30. Take my child to Walt Disney World

I will be adding to the list as more things come along, and updating as I can cross things off also.

First Preschool Fieldtrip

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take a day off from my "real job" as a nurse, and be a chaperone for my son's preschool class to take a trip to the local zoo. Scovill Zoo is a local zoo, about 25 minutes from our little town. It's not that big, but for little 3, 4, and 5 year olds, it is the coolest thing ever. As a chaperone, I was of course supposed to watch out for a child other than my own. The hubs and I lucked out though and only had our son and his best friend J. They had a blast, and surprisingly were very well behaved. We asked what they wanted to see first and no surprise, it was the zebra. But they quickly got sidetracked to check out the alligators, prairie dogs, owls, and of course the "exotic" guinea pig.

The "exotic" guinea pig

This zoo is small, so there's not a whole lot of strange animals there. After the guinea pigs, we go to the cheetahs and of course the ZEBRA!



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Feeding the goats (EVIL GOATS that is!)

  After the zebra, as you can see, we had to feed the goats. These goats are evil, aggressive beasts! They attack you at the food dispenser and then keep jumping on you until you feed them! The boys (and the hubs) enjoyed feeding the goats. But it was so busy in there, due to 8 school buses from various schools being there, that we didnt stay in there long!

Watching Lemurs

 Toward the end of our trip, the teachers got all the children sno-cones. As they were eating, this guy below here, showed up and was showing off for a female peacock. Impressive!

I was amazed by the peacock!

After that we rode the carousel and train. Of course, my camera went dead just as we got to C's favorite part, the train :( Overall it was a great time and I was so happy that I could be there as a "mommy" today. I want to alwasy be there for my little guy.

What about you? Ever been a chaperone with 36 preschool age children? Or school age children? Do you love getting to do these things with your child or is it not your cup of tea?