Pioneer Woman Onion Strings

My mom served The Pioneer Woman's homemade onion strings while we were home for Christmas, and they really were too good not to share. I'd never made onion strings/rings before, but it's actually a fairly simple process! They probably aren't going to be on The Biggest Loser diet, but they are pretty darn good for a little treat!

Ingredients: 1 large onion 2 cups buttermilk 2 cups flour 1 Tbsp salt 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, depending on how much spice you like a generous amount of black pepper, to taste 1-2 quarts canola oil for frying
Directions: 1. Peel the onion and slice very thinly. Separate the onion slices and place them in a shallow dish. 2. Pour buttermilk over the top of the onions and press them down so they are submerged as much as possible. Let them soak on the counter like this for at least an hour.  3. In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, black pepper, and cayenne.  4. Pour canola oil into a large pot and heat until a pinch of flour sizzles when sprinkled over the pot.  5. Using tongs, remove a handful of onions from the buttermilk and immediately dunk into the flour mixture. Coat the onions in the flour mixture and tap them on the inside of the bowl to shake off the excess.  6. Plunge the onions into the hot oil. With a spoon, stir around a bit just to break them up. Watch them! They'll be ready to remove from the oil in under a minute. When they're golden brown, remove them from the oil and place them on a paper towel-lined plate.  7. Repeat with the remaining onion slices and serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

Planes For Days: Virginia Beach Military Aviation Museum

Parker and I woke up Saturday and decided to cross something off of our Virginia bucket list. It was a really cold day, so since we weren't going to be able to do much outside, it was a perfect day for one of the many museums my husband has on the agenda to see. If you know me, you know I'm not really a museum person. I wish I was because I think people who enjoy museums are so well rounded and intelligent, but I would usually rather play a board game or go see a movie. Parker loves history museums and anything to do with airplanes, so I adopted the "I-love-my-husband-so-I'm-going-to-suck-it-up-and-go-to-a-museum" mentality for the day. Honestly though, I ended up having the best time! It's always fun seeing your husband so excited about something, so that definitely helped, but I felt like I learned a lot and really enjoyed looking at all of the airplanes. The thing that sets this museum apart is that all of the planes are in flying condition with the exception of 4. These planes are decades old and still fly around on the weekends... how cool is that?
The guys that volunteer at this museum just genuinely love airplanes, so it was neat hearing their stories and learning where each plane came from and what its purpose was. There was a Navy hangar, an Army hangar, a WWI hangar, and an original German hangar. 

Photo opp with the Model 75 Stearman

Army Hangar

Parker in front of a TBF Avenger

The below picture of Parker was just too good not to post. Apparently this is his motivator face. Feel motivated yet?

F4U Corsair

Junkers JU52

We got to see one of the pilots take the SNJ out for a spin!

Even though I really feel like I listened and learned a few things, I still had to have Parker go through this post and identify each plane. I can listen all I want, but unfortunately I don't speak the language of plane. 
Saturday was just a fun day. We loved getting to spend the afternoon at the museum, and we capped the evening off with a little date night to go see the movie Big Eyes (we liked it!). If you are in the Norfolk/VA Beach area and like history, planes, and/or have a husband for a pilot, we highly recommend spending a day at the Aviation Museum!

In front of a combat veteran Focke-Wulf Fw 198