Astranoir

Last Monday was food club. Our theme was casseroles:

Brandon made an eggy, spinachy bread bake:

Maggie made Paula Deen’s chocolate bread pudding (recipe here):

Marisa made a white lasagna (recipe here):

Maggie S. and Karla made a casserole with brown rice, muenster and greens:

Max and Jenna made a ratatouille with fennel sauce on the side:

Tyler made a red lasagna with quinoa:

I made a tuna noodle casserole (let me know if you want the recipe):

Yesterday, Maggie and Marisa invited me to a guided tour of a tropical fish hatchery in Rogers.  It was really impressive.  The pictures don’t really give a good idea of the huge scale of the operation, but it encompassed about 20,000 square feet.  Every time we turned a corner, I was amazed by how much space was devoted to the fish.  We toured two main buildings.  The first building was devoted to angel fish.  When we first walked in, the humidity hit us, steaming glasses and enveloping us in the unique environment of the fish hatchery.  We got to see how they get the fish to spawn, and lay eggs on pvc pipe to be removed and hatched in a clean, fresh environment.  Interestingly, they only use purified well water.  The types of fish they breed and raise require relatively hard water in the first place.  By using well water instead of distilled or tap water allows them to have the quality of water they require without needing to add hardening chemicals.

The second building was devoted to the larger fish, the cleaner fish/snails, and the guppies.  We got to observe the breeding tanks/troughs as well as look at all the colorful varieties of fish in their tanks.  Sadly, the owners of the hatchery are retiring in the near future, so they are dispersing their fish to other breeders and tropical fish enthusiasts before selling their equipment to a facility in Louisiana.  I’m really glad I got to tour the hatchery before they closed it.

The slideshow below includes the majority of the pictures I took on the tour.  If you have any questions about a specific picture, just let me know, and I’ll try to clarify what’s occurring.