My sister and I and our collective four kids were canning beans this weekend. Seems crazy, as you can get green beans for $1 per can from the store, but for some reason we hate the taste of those beans and can our own.

It was hot and beautiful outside, the kids played in the pool, ran in and out wondering what we were up to as we snapped 60 pounds of beans with our mother, their grandmother. Canning beans is a big job and it took us all day Sunday and Monday afternoon, and we ran out of jars before beans. But we had good snacks, drinks, and company to make the time go by.

It may seem crazy, but it was one of the best Sundays on record for me. Not only do we get the joy of producing our own food to feed our famlies the rest of the year and the joy of spending time with each other shooting the breeze, I know our children will remember this, just as we remember from our childhood with our mother, who would grow her own garden and can everything. Our children will remember, and there will never be anything like the flavor of home canned green beans.

It seems so many families have forgotten these things, our society now mainly creates memories by spending money - movies, cars, trips. But it is all these homegrown things - food, quilts, crafts, talk, play - that bind us to our roots and our children in a way that can’t be explained. And every time we open a jar of home canned green beans for dinner, we taste the memory.

Robbi Blessin is a certified public accountant and stay-at-home mom of one son, Jonah. Robbi, her husband Barry, and her son Jonah live in Nampa, ID.

Got a special story of family life, community life, or local interest? Send it via news@kunachronicle.com. We would love to publish you!

White Salsa

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a white onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4-6 packages of regular cream cheese
• Sliced “nacho” jalepenos to taste (heat of jalepenos and amount)
• 4 tomatoes
• Butter to saute onion and garlic in
• Tortilla chips

Directions:

1. While the cream cheese is melting, saute the onion and garlic over medium heat until the onion is brown but not burned!
2. Add the cooked onion and garlic to the melting cream cheese in the crockpot
3. Chop the tomatoes and add them to the crock pot after the cream cheese is melted, add in the jalepenos to the melted chream cheese mixture, mix well
4. Set the crockpot to low and serve warm with tortilla chips

The jalepenos are to taste according to what you or your guests would prefer (or can stand), and the longer the jalepenos sit in the salsa the spicier they get!

Soda Cracker Goodies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, lay 48 crackers (or to fill sheet) flat
2. Bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil, boil for three minutes
3. Pour the mixture over the crackers, spread to cover
4. Bake in the oven for five minutes, or until the crackers float
5. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool
6. Melt the chocolate chips and spread the chocolate over the crackers
7. Top with nuts
8. Cool the candy (still on the baking sheet) in the refrigerator, then break them into pieces. to serve

A simple yet delicious candy to serve at any holiday gathering.

Do you have a family recipe you’d like to share? Kuna Chronicle would love to publish it! Send recipe submissions via news@kunachronicle.com with “recipe” in the subject line. Don’t forget to add a short history or bio with the recipe explaining where it came from and why your family loves it and, if at all possible, a digital picture of the finished dish. Submissions will be credited to your name unless you prefer to remain anonymous.

Here is one of my personal favorite vegetable recipes. It is real easy and has always been a hit around the camp or cooked at home. Enjoy!

Ozark Baked Corn

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cream style corn
• 1 cup whole kernel corn
• 1/2 cup corn meal
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 4 oz can green chilies
• 1/2 cup chopped bell peppers

Combine corn, corn meal, garlic salt, cheese, baking powder, and oil in a 12″ Dutch Oven. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add to the mixture. Add chilies and peppers. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until lightly browned. Use six pieces of charcoal on the bottom of the oven, fourteen on top–serves twelve to fifteen people.

Kamper’s Kettle Dutch Oven Supply
phone/fax: 208-377-0344 or kettlekeeper@kamperskettle.com

Do you have a family recipe you’d like to share? Kuna Chronicle would love to publish it! Send recipe submissions via news@kunachronicle.com with “recipe” in the subject line. Don’t forget to add a short history or bio with the recipe explaining where it came from and why your family loves it and, if at all possible, a digital picture of the finished dish. Submissions will be credited to your name unless you prefer to remain anonymous.

Personally, I’ve never had a problem eating my veggies. My mom often served us broccoli simply boiled in salted water and I loved it. As an adult I learned how to steam the broccoli and prefer it that way, but I certainly don’t need anything extra–cheese or otherwise.

But, I know that is not the case with all people. So here’s a recipe that can make kids of all ages excited to eat their veggies.

Cheesy Vegetable Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 can condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup (I’m a Campbell’s fan, but by all means use a brand you feel comfortable with)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 bag (16 oz) frozen vegetable comination, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot mix (if you’re on a time crunch, use thawed veggies or fresh veggies steamed crisp-tender, not over-cooked or the veggies could end up mushy)
• 1 1/2 cups french fried onions (I use less because the richness of the dish can be over-powering–use fried onions “to taste”)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine soup, 1 cup cheese, sour cream and milk in 2-qt baking dish
3. Stir in veggies and 1/2 cup onions (again to taste!)
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until hot, stir
5. Top with remaining cheese and onions, bake five more minutes or until golden

That’s it! Simple though it is, it is quite delicious. I brought it to my mother’s Christmas dinner one year and my brother-in-law (who is not an enthusiatic cooked vegetable eater) loved it and told my sister to get the recipe from me. She (reluctantly) got the recipe, though I’m not sure she ever got around to making it for him. She’s a bit of a vegetable purist. Point being, this is one casserole that may make a cooked vegetable eater out of the staunchest critics.

Do you have a family recipe you’d like to share? Kuna Chronicle would love to publish it! Send recipe submissions via news@kunachronicle.com with “recipe” in the subject line. Don’t forget to add a short history or bio with the recipe explaining where it came from and why your family loves it and, if at all possible, a digital picture of the finished dish. Submissions will be credited to your name unless you prefer to remain anonymous.

The group is comprised of five members, four of whom take turns covering vocals as lead singers.

Don Sutton, who covers vocals (some lead and backing), synthesizer, brass and bass said though the group has been together less than a year, they are all accomplished musicians in their own right.

Sutton said “Something for Alice” plays new and classic Country, Classic Rock, Blues and pop hits from the 70s and 80s. “Really whatever we feel like and what we enjoyed listening to during our misspent youths.”

According to Sutton, the name “Something for Alice” originated from a snippet of conversation overheard in an airport. “Actually, that’s all of the conversation that was heard–but it was enough to make history.”

Sutton, and his wife and band mate Cynthia, have recorded one CD together. Cynthia covers keyboard, lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar and bass for “Something for Alice.” Both Don and Cynthia have day jobs, Cynthia as choral music director at Lewis and Clark Middle School and Don as a member of the 25th Army Band and full-time budget analyst with the Idaho Army National Guard.

JD Stefan (guitar, lead and backing vocals, bass, and keyboard) has been invovled in the music scene in the Bay area. He has recorded five original CDs–two with a band named “Overcurve,” one with the Indy band “Dart” and two solo projects. Sutton said Stefan is “the director of 1,512 Overachievers Anonymous chapters [but] works for Microsoft as a software tester in his spare time.”

Jerry Smith (guitar, lead and backing vocals, harmonica) has been in several cover bands, most notably “The Sweaty Fish.” Smith has a day job with Simplot as a safety engineer.

Chris Casteel (drums and percussion) has been in several bands in the Boise area. He has a day job as an accountant.

There will be no cover charge at the door to see “Something for Alice”–a rarity for patrons at a live show. “We have a lot of fun,” Sutton said. “We play for enjoyment as we all have good day jobs.”

For more information about the band or planned shows visit their website: www.somethingforalice.com.

Cuaron (director of “Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban” and “Great Expectations”) takes hopelessness to a whole new level in “Children of Men.” The bleak feel of “Children of Men” echoes that of other science fiction dystopias like “Blade Runner” or “12 Monkeys” but carefully avoids selling too many futuristic and possibly incorrect props like flying cars and digital communicators.

Watching “Children of Men” you feel damp, cold, miserable, and lost. To the credit of amazing cinematography you also feel on the verge of being blown-up—adding an element of threat that keeps the movie from getting stuck in the sludge of societal collapse.

“Children of Men” takes place in the year 2027 nearly 20 years after humans have become globally infertile. Clive Owen (“Closer” and “Sin City”) plays Theo Faron, a former peace activist turned British bureaucrat, who is asked by his ex-wife and terrorist group leader Julian Taylor (played by Julianne Moore) to get travel papers for a young West African refugee girl.

The refugee girl, Kee, must travel to the British coast in order meet a boat that will take her to the The Human Project, a secret group of scientists working on the global human infertility problem. Faron manages to acquire the papers from his cousin, a high-ranking British official, but must escort the girl himself—a job he is willing to do for a couple thousand more pounds.

Later Faron finds out Kee is miraculously pregnant—hence her need to get to The Human Project.

Most of the movie is filmed in such a way that it feels like a documentary. This cinematographic device adds to the immediacy of every moment giving the film a sense of urgency. The viewer doesn’t feel any safer sitting in a cushy movie theater chair than the characters on screen running from grenades and machine gun fire.

The story itself strikes at the very heart of humanity, asking us what would we live for if there were no children? How would we go on day-to-day knowing our entire species would be gone in less than 70 years? Yes there have been movies exploring the end of humanity but the end is always because of some global calamity: super-flu, nuclear war, aliens, robots. “Children of Men” shows us the world ending just as T.S. Eliot described in “The Hollow Men”—not with a bang, but a whimper.

The building is attractive and the lounge itself feels upscale when walking in. A stage is set in the corner with a spacious dance floor in front of it. The bar sits to the rear of the building on the waterfront side.

The weekend I visited a local group named B-3 was playing. B-3 is a jazz ensemble composed of one guitarist, a drummer, a pianist/organist, a saxophonist, and a trumpet player. They were professional and talented and I very much enjoyed listening to them. Unfortunately, only a handful of people were at the Creekside. Of those none were dancing and only a few were sitting at the tables listening.

John Jones, the guitarist and singer for B-3, said he doesn’t think Kuna can support the Creekside Lounge. “[The Creekside] is nice, but I don’t think they can get the crowds [that] they need in Kuna.”

The Creekside Lounge offers a much different ambience and very different entertainment from its neighbor, Cowgirls. Though business at Cowgirls seems to be booming, the Creekside will need to find a different audience—a more mature audience.

Kathy Kelley runs the Creekside Lounge with her father, Swede Godfrey. Kelley grew-up in Kuna and began tending bar as a young girl for her father when he owned the Redeye Saloon.

“We want [the Creekside] fun but not rowdy. [We] offer a different atmosphere than Cowgirls…an adult atmosphere,” said Kelley.

Kelley said the Creekside Lounge and Peregrine Steaks and Spirits is a brain-child of herself, her father, and former Kuna mayor Greg Nelson. The project, she said, has been 6 years in the making.

Kelley said she has a lot of fun weekends planned and bands booked for the next couple months. “Now is when the season starts for bars,” she said. The Creekside’s first big bash will be this weekend’s grand opening celebration. Cyndie Lee & Street Wise will be the featured band. The Creekside will also be offering drink specials all night and door prizes.

The kind of business the Creekside Lounge needs to attract is in Boise, but reaching them will be a challenge.

Kelley said the Creekside will be joining local community groups like the Boise Blues Society and Idaho Blues Society to help get the word out on the Creekside. She also said they have opened their doors to different groups to make their presence known. One such group is the Christian Coalition which will be doing their annual Hope House dinner and fundraiser at the Creekside on the 18th.

To finish off October the Creekside Lounge will be throwing a Halloween Party on Oct. 28, the featured band is The Fabulous Blue Rays.

Kelley said the Creekside will work once people know about the entertainment.

“If we make it, it’s because of the bands. Once people know about us and the music, they’ll come out.”