And Away We Go.....

I've been pondering doing some kitchen/cooking things in my blog, and so here we are. I mentioned yesterday how much I am enjoying a new show I found where they review cookbooks. I thought I would do the same, and share actual recipes, with my modifications. I did learn that you can't copyright a recipe....and I'm not copying it verbatim, so I'm not worried about legal issues. I hope I peak your interest in maybe trying something new!

First up is this AWESOME book that my dear friend Jan turned me onto. http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Dishes-Across-Middle-East/dp/161519004X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297909250&sr=1-1

Jan made one of the recipes in here while we were at a quilting retreat last December, which will be the first one I share here, with my modifications. I've made this rice pilaf probably 5 times since late December, and it has never disappointed.

Rice and Zucchini Pilaf

1 lb small zucchini (they are nice a small at the store these days, I do two of them)

1/2 C (4 oz) long-grained rice, washed thoroughly under cold water and drained

I've used brown rice and had equal success.

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 TBSP (2 oz) butter (pick your chin up!)

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup currents (I've always used golden raisins)

1/2 tsp black pepper

Top and tail the zucchini and rinse them well (oops). Cut into 1/4 inch rounds. If the zucchini are quite plump, cut them in half lengthways before slicing crossways.

Bring about 2 1/2 C water to a boil in a saucepan and add 1/2 tsp of the salt, and the rice. Boil for 8-10 minutes (no lid), then drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and fry, stirring frequently, until soft and turning golden. Add the zucchini slices and fry for 2-3 minutes, occasionally turning carefully.

Add the rice, raisins, the rest of the salt and the pepper and stir carefully. Cover and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes, or until the rice and zucchini are tender. Set aside to rest for 10-15 minutes

Often I add some chopped mushrooms. I put them in after the onion and before the zucchini.

I even took a photo to show you my mise en place.....

I have learned lately to definitely get everything chopped and ready before starting to cook anything. You can see the page of this book is already well splashed upon. Sign of a much used recipe.

Let me know if you are out there. If you try the recipe and what you think!!

Following my Looking Back, Moving Forward theme, I will be doing old family recipes as well. I know everyone needs to remember how to make the famous tuna/potato chip casserole.....

New TV

I've always been a TV girl. When I was little, I even watched Lawrence Welk on Saturday nights. My parents would have people over to play cards once in a while and the kids would get the family room, close the door, watch TV.

Saturday morning cartoons, with my cereal in my plastic bowl. It was such a liberating feeling to be able to get my cereal and turn on the TV all by myself. A little later my day was planned around American Bandstand!!

Shindig, Hullabaloo, Ed Sullivan. Yes, I watched in awe as the Beatles made their appearance. I remember watching bowling for petes sake. And some Saturdays even watching some college football games. I thought I would grow up and go to Purdue, because I liked their snippets about the college during the games.

My Mom had to restrict me from watching Outer Limits and Twilight Zone because I would have scary dreams and wake her, or my older brother up to check the house because I was sure there was someone in there that didn't belong!!!

She also said I couldn't watch Peyton Place because it was too racy!!!

My younger sisters got into the Dark Shadows. Never my thing.

Once I married and had children, I fell into the soap opera abyss. Channel 4. From noon to 3. All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital. There was a short addition of Ryan's Hope, but I didn't stick with it very long. One day Jeff and Todd were napping and Kyle who was maybe 5 at the time, stood in front of the TV that I was viewing while laying on the couch, and he said "talk to me Mommy"....and I turned off the TV and never watched any of those soaps again.

When reality TV came into view, I wasn't going to bite! The first season of Survivor I refused to watch, read, hear anything to do with it! Sounded completely stupid to me. Then when the second season started I was visiting with sister Carol down in Medford and she MADE me watch the first episode. That was it. I don't think I have missed more than one or two episodes since then. I also really like So You Think You Can Dance (American AND Canadian versions), The Amazing Race, Top Chef and yes, the Bachelor/Bachelorette series.

Cooking shows have become the very new fave. And a new one has come into sight on the Oprah network, called Anna and Christina's Grocery Bag. Couple of Canadian women who review cookbooks, demonstrate their attempts to create a few recipes from them and also review kitchen tools and cookware. Love it.

The DVR has made my TV viewing much more efficient. I don't think I watch anything live anymore. And my tolerance for commercials is about zero!!!

I have two friends who don't own, or watch TV. I admire them both for their ability to keep busy and informed without it!!! We have a TV in every room of our house, except for the bathrooms. Yes there are days I don't turn it on at all. Kind of refreshing. I will put my iPod in the dock and listen to music, or get my headset for it and listen to a current audio book. Hardly ever do I have no audio stimulation. I wonder why that is......

Out Of Shape

Holey Moley......I put in my Biggest Loser game into the Wii today and barely made it through the very beginner 18 minute workout. When is the last time any of you did jumping jacks? How many did you do? How many can you do right now? Go ahead, I'll wait.....

Okay I did 15. There is just no excuse for me to be this out of shape. And it was certainly a shocker when that nice Wii balance board let me know my current weight.

I think my obsession with Farming on FB is waning, so that is good. I need to be spending that time doing something active. I know I can do it.

Off to work tonight again for my 4+ hour shift. Covering for someone the first part of her 12 hour shift. Tomorrow I have a staff meeting at 5:30 pm. And I'm happy to be heading south for the weekend to spend some Carter, Henry, Genie and Kyle time. And some time with sister Carol. Maybe we can get Sister Nancy to join us for something.

Going to do 15 more jumping jacks and then get into the shower.

It's What I Love to Do

This was a photo I was able to put my hands on fairly easily as I thought about this post. It was probably taken about 12+ years ago. My goodness a perm and GIANT glasses....

I worked this past weekend. Three nights in a row - don't feel too bad for me, they were only 4 1/2 hour shifts. The first two nights I was actually blessed to be the primary nurse for birthing women. For those of you who don't know me well, this is what I do in my professional life. I am an OB RN. Have been for almost 21 years. For the first 10 years I worked 9 of them in a major hospital. I learned so much there. I also had the opportunity to begin working with expecting couples teaching classes on the birthing process. That developed into a fabulous job where I worked for a Doc who built and opened a free standing birthing center and basically had my own business. Best Beginnings. It was glorious.

When Lynn was recruited to move to Whatcom County and be the county CEO for the Boy's and Girl's Clubs it was a great opportunity for him, and I figured since we had been married over 25 years I probably should go with him. But it was back to an in hospital birthing environment. So I decided to just work very part time....keep my hand in. It has been a stressful 10 years. Technology continues to be the order of the day. Women are no longer encouraged, educated or expected to give birth without a multitude of medical intervention. Nurses are taught to monitor and maintain equipment, rather than working with women.

Many, many, many days I have wanted to just say "thanks, but no thanks" to the hospital. But then I have an experience like I did this weekend.

My assignment was for a wonderful couple, having their first baby. It had been a very long exhausting day already for them. Even though she had an epidural in place, it never gave her relief from the incredible pressure she felt. When I entered the room, introduced myself, and actually placed my hands on her as I coached her through a contraction everything just felt right with the world. She and her husband were willing to try some different positions and comfort techniques and we made good progress. Soon we were working on pushing this baby out. She was amazing. Strong, dedicated, powerful. And sure enough she soon had her precious baby boy in her arms. Lots of tears. After 20 years I still cry, mostly when the Dad's cry. It's always a miracle. It's always a blessing. It's a belief in a future that can still happen.

The family was wonderfully thankful for my input and involvement. It's so nice to be appreciated. The next night, when I came back to work again with another patient, they sought me out, offered me a slice of birthday cake and again told me how much they appreciated all I did. I told them it was all the Mom.....she was a warrior and I was so proud of her. I told them they are the reason I still come to work, once in a while! She will always remember her first birthing experience as being very positive and powerful.

If only every night I worked could be so rewarding. I love what I do. I'm very good at what I do. But I get so darned frustrated working in an environment that focus's all the attention on the medical, technical, legal possibilities rather than the life changing, positive, personal experience childbirth truly is.

The Vegas Getaway

It always seems odd to me to do a post without a photo. I haven't yet figured out how to find "clipart" that might work and get it here. Can anyone help me with that?

For Christmas Lynn arranged a weekend trip to Vegas for us. This was amazing on many levels, most being that he HATES to travel and has no interest at all in gaming, okay gambling. But he had seen an interview with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the spouses of George Harrison and John Lennon talking about the Cirque de Solelil show "Love". We are both big Beatles fans so that was the basis of the trip.

It was my first time flying on Allegiant out of Bellingham. Was a very nice experience. And what a treat to fly direct from here and not have to stop in Seattle. I was only sorry that a woman I work with at the hospital wasn't flying that day, as she is an attendant for Allegiant part time. We left on time and arrived on time. And for the first time ever, our luggage was actually already on the carousel when we got to the baggage claim area!!

Part of our package was taking the shuttle to the hotel. It was prepaid, and we followed the directions, got our tickets and went to the assigned waiting area. And wait we did. And wait. And wait. I kindly explained to him that when sister Carol and I make this trip (and it was been WAY TOO LONG since the sisters have done this) we usually get a cab. It was about half an hour of waiting. Then stopping at 3 other hotels before getting to ours had Lynn threatening to just get out and walk until I reminded him our luggage was in the back somewhere.

The Mirage is HUGE. Getting in the door was like trying to part the seas. Then dragging your bag to the hotel check in was hard until then you had to drag it through the casino and past the restaurants to get to the elevators. Our room was very nice though. And the sheets!!! OMG! A friend had posted on FB about how awful the sheets were at some 5 star hotel, and I thought that was pretty funny. But these sheets were like Heaven. I kept saying that first night to Lynn, "aren't these sheets amazing?" He just shook his head and turned over. But every time I would change position I would say again to myself how awesome the sheets were.

Friday night in Vegas. The place was a madhouse. I wasn't able to get on a table game, but I found some fun slot machines and enjoyed a drink or two. People watching is part of the fun and I did plenty of that. Saturday was the show. It was overwhelming. We had seen the Blue Man group many years before and I LOVED it. This was different. Theater in the round and the floor kept rising and lowering and people were above us coming and going. Always something different to look at. The music, in my opinion, is the Star. I thought the production was an A-. The acrobatics were an A+. But the dancing was about a C+. I know these performers do this show 2 times a night 6 nights a week. But this is the only time I'll be seeing it, and we paid $300+ for the tickets so it would have been nice if it looked like they cared. Many of them seemed to be just going through the motions.

The food was really good. The first night we hate at the buffet. It was wonderful. So many choices and everything was really good. I got to have sushi and kimchee and things I liked while Lynn had his choices and really enjoyed a sugar free cherry pie for his dessert.

Second night we ate at the steak house. The steaks were done perfectly, I just wish I could have eaten more of it. The last night we went to the Italian restaurant and it was the best meal I have had in a very long time. Osso bucco.....done perfectly with some risotto on the side. Started with my fave salad of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar. Had dessert which was a scoop of ice cream with a shot of espresso poured over the top.

I was able to play some pai gow one night. I love it when people are astonished when I tell them yes, I am a Grandmother. Playing for a couple of hours at the same table, chatter often happens amongst others sitting that long. One girl playing was so cute and sweet. She was the spitting image of Kate Hudson. When I told her that, she said that yeah, she hears that from time to time. And when she left she put out her hand and asked my name. I told her and she said her name was Katie then sauntered off.

We did take a cab back to the airport. Flight home was again uneventful, though we did have to wait a little bit for our luggage.

Vegas is for younger people. It was so chaotic and crowded that I really had no interest in walking down the strip at night. I'd done that in the past, and I'd been in several of the casinos before so I didn't feel any strong desire to go visit any others. We did take a walk outside each evening to get some air and a bit of exercise, but mostly just a walk around the block. The temperature was comfortable, no need for a jacket, so that was nice.

A nice weekend over all. I really appreciate that it was a gift and we had a good time spending the time together. Next time I'd rather go to Reno, with my sisters, who like to play games, okay gamble......

Red Sky at Night

Or so the saying goes.

I do love these kinds of photo opportunities.

Happy 2011 to all my blog friends. It's the 22nd day of the first month of the year. The saying goes that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. How are you doing???

I'm doing pretty good at cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer and have done some kitchen cupboard purging. Planning to have them all done by the end of the month. Then for February it will be all the closets.

We brought the treadmill home from Jeff's house and I have been on it once, yesterday. It's amazing to me how out of shape I am. I also worked last night, 4 1/2 hour shift and I can tell there too how much I have got to get more physicalness into my day.

Moving forward on my bladder lift. Waiting to hear back about the date to have it done. Looks now like it will be early to mid March. Last night I was able to read over my scans. Some of you know how good it feels to hear that your internal organs (especially that very scary pancreas) all look "unremarkable".

Seems my coughing is indeed improved. So reflux.....interesting. I always thought of reflux as associated with heartburn which I haven't had issues with for years. The other key is not eating at night. That has been the hardest part.

I'm going to cruise through my favorite blogs now. My next post will be my Vegas review. I know you just can't wait.....

Done!

Okay, it is finished. I have it up on my design wall, that I see needs to be vacuumed. If you click on the photo you can see the bells I put on the tree and some of the other stitching detail. I certainly hope my secret sister likes it.

I have this lovely tin that is filled with buttons.








I've been throwing buttons in there for about 15 years. I knew I had some cute stuff in there and thought I would see what might work on this piece. So I grabbed the tin out of the cupboard and reached to put it on the table and well......I missed....


I will say, I probably wouldn't have found those tiny little bells if this hadn't happened!!

Now I need to finish up my gifties for my quilting friends in my small group. Last year at Christmas time I asked them what their favorite Christmas carole's were. And if they had a loved version of it. So I took my list and spent some time on iTunes and found all these lovely songs. And now there is a CD with everyones choices on it, so we can all enjoy them. Just need to do the labels and wrap them up.

Happy Wednesday!

A New Phone!

When I was away with my BQF's for the weekend (best quilting friends) I was terribly jealous when they were all doing all kinds of cool things with their phones!! So I thought, WTF (fa la la la la), and drove into town and bought myself a new phone!!!

One of the reasons was because I could download a FREE Kindle app! Eileen had it on her phone and that was the factor that made me decide. Yes, I still had to pay just under $10 for the book, but I LOVE it! My screen is showing you the book I downloaded. I had been pondering a actual Kindle ever since they came out, and they were becoming more affordable, so this at least gives me a chance to see if I would like reading a book with this format. Will let you know.

Here is my center block for the secret sister project I have been working on for my small group. The party/exchange is day after tomorrow, and I still need to create the pieced border around it. So I probably ought to get to it!!

We did put our Christmas tree in the stand and got it watered, but it will be bare until Friday at least.....maybe even Sunday.

Tomorrow evening we have a dinner to attend and Friday we are heading south for the weekend.

I'm still feeling just about 0 "Holiday Spirit" this year.....

A Look Back - Cooperstown!!

Every time I look at these photos, I remind myself that I haven't yet posted about this part of our big New York trip that we took last spring. So here it is!!

This is the Inn where we stayed for our Cooperstown visit. Last time we were on the east coast we visited this wonderful town and were thrilled to return. The first time we stayed a bit out of town so it was great to be right in the middle of it this time around. Our room was the three windows on the top right.







These pots of tulips were outside all the big buildings in town.














So beautiful I had to take two photos....













This is the top of the staircase outside our room.
















This is the staircase heading up. The desk to the left is where we checked in.













And a view looking down!!














This is the dining area where breakfast was served.











And here is a shot of the sitting room area.













This is Doubleday Field. The place they filmed A League of Their Own.















In the stands
















I loved taking this photo....a view out onto the field of play










the score board















from the right field area












Cute, cute, cute diner where we liked to get a bite.














this is the inside of the diner....really small. But good food!!













this is the library












across the street from our Inn

















and around the corner








I spotted this house that is actually built INTO the hillside on our way into town. Had to go back and get some photos of it.
















Amazing place....I sure hope you enjoyed my little tour of Cooperstown. Yes, Lynn spent another day at the Hall of Fame, is now even more grateful to get to see Dave Niehaus honor being there. If you ever get a chance to visit this spot, we highly recommend it.

Catching Up

It is well after midnight here. So much has happened in the last couple of weeks. I will be playing some catch up here, some looking back and some planning ahead.
I just had a wonderful long weekend with my three favorite quilting friends. We went to a new place in Poulsbo and spent three days visiting, laughing, eating, sewing and planning our next few get togethers. I've been having trouble using the generic battery charger for my camera, so I didn't take my camera to get any photos, but I certainly will next time. I noticed that Sony finally charged my account today for the charger I ordered, so hopefully it will arrive soon. I have a bit of charge left and will get some current photos up here soon. In the meantime, here are two of my favorites I have on my media card.

This was taken in the summer at my Uncle Robin's place way out in the back forty! My Mom is on the left and her older sister Adele is on the right. Just a couple of sisters. This is an annual gathering for the family that has been going on for about 35 years. We used to get together the Saturday before Christmas. Some of my very best memories are of the party at Adele's every December.

These two are only about 18 months apart. It was fun at this gathering hearing them talk about being "girls" and how they would test each other on trivia at night when they shared a bed.

Those of you who share Facebook with me have seen this next photo. Thought I would share it here, it's so fun.

I took this a few Sunday's ago. Lynn had spent a lot of time in the yard, raking, mowing and puttering. After a nice shower and the sun going down, he decided to lounge on the couch for a nap. Next time I checked I found that Dutch had decided to join him!! Talk about dedication.

Hope you are all well, and enjoying the Holiday Season.