Catch Up

I guess it has been a while since I have posted. Life has been rather busy. I had Hermit Crab and her boyfriend and BFF home for a week from school. They were rather tired from finals, so they mostly just chilled around the house and spent 3 days at the lake with Dude's parents. They did some hiking on the trails and spent some time in the hot tub. I spent an entire day bringing them home and then driving back here. That was one long day!

Here is Hermit Crab and her boyfriend Noel

I spent an evening with my girlfriends Casey and Megan. We checked out Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge in Minneapolis. Guy visited here on one of his Triple D shows. It was rather kitschy, but we had fun out on the patio.

Myself, Megan and Casey

Some decor on the patio

Megan and Casey shared a BBQ Chicken pizza

I had a pulled pork sandwich and 'tots'

Dude has been busy working on the downstairs bathroom. The shower is now complete and he is starting on the walls and floor for the rest of the bathroom. He has the sink and mirror and light fixture put in.

We are getting ready for our trip. I have lists, and lists of lists. I'm panicking and he's like "well, they have stores in Iceland in case we forget anything". This is why I'm in charge.

First *Real* Snow of season

A Junco in the feeder

Snow on the cedar tree

One last pansy holding on (look at the sparkly snow!)

Dude loves giraffes-I bought him, but I think he looks like a horse

Put up some lights today

On the horizon

Coming up Monday and Tuesday.....pan roasted steaks and the double layer apple pie that Cathy over at Noble Pig made. I did a small variation on it. It smells incredible in the house right now. Off to work with a warm pie!

The countdown is on

In 13 days we leave to bring Hermit Crab to school. She is nowhere close to ready. There are piles and piles of clothes, blankets, towels and various other stuff that she needs to bring with-and we are not sure how to fit it all in the car! I have finally convinced Dude we need to bring two cars up. Oh, have I mentioned we have not heard from the student loan people yet? Two weeks and nothing. The form only asked for our names, birthdates and SSN numbers. I used to work in the loan business-we should have had some contact by now!

Dude and I had a nice date night last night. Dinner out followed by going to see "Julie & Julia". I really enjoyed it; it was funny and touching. And I so couldn't boil a lobster or bone a duck.

Time to get the youngest up for work......

Ah the joys of summer

It is such a nice night in Minnesota, I have to head back outside. Busy, busy here. Been making trips to Target and Kohl's getting Hermit Crab outfitted for college. Been busy playing with the cat we are not suppose to have-as he is sitting on my lap trying to type for me. Busy in the garden with the produce starting to come in. Busy working overtime trying to pay for the first part of this post! We bought a new car that should be here next week, having a major closet cleaning event and dealing with a family member who was just diagnosed with cancer. It sounds like they got it in time so we are thankful that our prayers were answered but know that she has a long road in front of her. So there hasn't been a lot of cooking here. I did make rhubarb bars for Josh when he was back at work but realized that I didn't take pictures before we left. They looked like hell, but everyone said they were good. I have zucchini bars on tap for tomorrow night, so will definitately post those. Going on a day trip with our friends who have a boat, and am so looking forward to snacking, drinking and laughing all day with Dave and Roxanne. Just finished my tossed salad and glass of Gurwertztraminer. Think I will go pick some fresh peas and green beans to bring to my Mom when I go to Wisconsin to see her tomorrow.

Peace out my blogginb buddies!

Just a quick note

to say hi and hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I have been so sporadic lately. It has been so busy here. I worked all but one day last week and then was able to take Hermit Crab up to the lake to visit my husband's parents. His line was only down for the 4th of July and couldn't get anyone to cover his spot so he couldn't go and Drama Queen has Tofu to take care and he doesn't ride very well. I wasn't going to spend 3 hours in the car with a meowing cat, so just the two of us went up. Very nice and relaxing-except for the neighbors who shot off fireworks until all hours of the morning, then the phone rang and the SIL's dogs were barking. Not much sleep was had by myself or my daughter. Today Hermit Crab had her wisdom teeth pulled, so I am on my way to town to get her some movies, deposit her paycheck and pick up her pain medication. I might need to nap myself this afternoon! I have more overtime this week-to pay for all the equipment and 'natural fiber' clothes we had to buy for her college orientation-a 5 day camping trip to introduce students to one another before classes start so they will know some people on the first day. Great. And then we had to pay for her surgery up front. Holy cow-have you had wisdom teeth pulled lately? $2000 for about 90 minutes at the office, and only 20 minutes of that was actual extraction-the other time was sedating her, waking her up, giving her ice packs and replacing her gauze packs. I think there will be more overtime in the next few weeks I will need to pick up. We'll be living on spaghetti and mac and cheese for the next couple of weeks!

I hope everyone is having a good summer and when time permits I'll be back with some more recipes. I had two great ones from the weekend at the lake, but didn't have my camera (what?!) at the lake with me (total relaxation and someone else cooked) and my phone has issues transferring pictures, so I will need to make these dishes again and post.

I don't want to turn on the TV

or my computer. 3 deaths in a week. I know the old saying that it happens in threes. I saw Dawn's little blurb on Facebook about Farrah right before I left for work, and turned to my husband and said "It happens in threes, who will be next?" On the way to work the news just said that MJ was brought to the hospital for cardiac arrest and he poked me and said "um, I bet he is number 3". I really didn't think so, but later on break we saw it on the Internet. Strange. It seems weird to me just because he was such an icon in the 80's when I was growing up. Thriller has to be one of the best albums from that era. Who didn't want to be Farrah with all that blond hair and beautiful face? I remember when I was finally old enough to understand the jokes on Johnny Carson. Goodbye Ed, Farrah and Michael. May you find peace and be free of pain on the other side. God Speed.

We survived the party

but have WAY too much food left. When the place that catered it was packing up to go they asked if we had roasters or crock pots to put the left overs in-we had about double the meat we needed. I took notes on how many plates we went through, napkins, cupcakes. When Drama Queen graduates, I will whip out that notebook and order half the tacos and nachos. Blew my budget on so many things that I realized a little too late that were unnecessary. Live and learn. Dude yelled at me on numerous occasions that I was carrying around my camera taking photos-he said that she was done, she didn't need anymore pages in her scrapbook. But my niece helped me out by taking about 500 photos and will send to me next week! It was a long day, but went so fast. I don't remember half the people that were here-feels like my wedding day! Here are some shots of the day.

Hermit Crab and her cake

Family Shot

My friend JoAnn carved a basket

One of HC's scrapbook pages-the dreaded 14 hour crop!

They say it's my birthday.....

happy birthday to me.....c'mon, you know you were singing along. Okay, I changed the words.

Yep, today I celebrate the 43rd anniversary of my birth. Or as they said at work last night, the 14th anniversary of my 29th. Either works. The cake I brought in was wiped out in 2 breaks and the hubby at least saved the last piece for me! Thanks again Donna-everyone had nothing but praise for it!

We were off today so I had lunch with a friend, mailed Hermit Crab's party invites, ordered her grad cake and went to dinner with the Dude and Hermit Crab. Drama Queen was too busy with friends to bother coming to dinner. Oh well. After our anniversary splurge last week, we went to one of my favorite places. King's in Miesville, MN. Awesome burgers; over 45 on the menu! All of them have cool names: Rook, Knight, Pawn, MVP, All-Star, Slugger. Most deal with either Chess or Baseball. Some with the usual toppings: cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato. Others have a fried egg with cheese, bacon and a hot dog on top, or the one with coleslaw and cheese, or another with cottage cheese, marinara, mozzarella and jalapenos!

For me, it is always the Pawn: bacon, BBQ sauce and Swiss cheese

excuse the toothpick-Hermit Crab is a comedian

I also tore the bun off and it ripped the cheese

Dude had a loaded burger, the Knight-and he upsized it to a half pounder:

Hermit Crab got the Pawn Chicken Sandwich sans the BBQ sauce:

After a leisurely drive home, I popped the cork on this bad boy:

Now I am headed out to the garage to paint my Mother's Day Adirondack chair I got and the rest of the cupboards for the laundry room. Hopefully tomorrow I will be ambitious enough to clean?

This person has way too much time on their hands

This morning I was trolling through all my favorite blogs and was visiting Happy Hour Sue over on http://happymealsandhappyhour.blogspot.com/ and she was, ahem, talking about some new thing with women decorating the "nether regions". While I left my comment there, I did see this today while I was shopping-don't worry, it's not what you are thinking.

A Bedazzled car. Who in the heck would do this? Do you have to replace the little mirrors every time you wash your car or scrape snow-which is a lot here in Minnesota. It was on the hood and both sides of the car. I laughed so hard (pictures in my mind from her post) so I had to whip out the cell and take some pix.

I'll be back later with food, but it is still cooking. Eating late again.

Cha-cha-changin' and an award (oh and pasta)

After 16 months, it was time for a change. After going from white (sorta) collar work to blue (literally, our uniforms are blue) collar work, I thought there was no need for style upkeep. I wear a hairnet for heaven's sake. I'll just let it go.........

My mother asked every time I talked to her or saw her "ahh, when are you going to cut your hair?". My kids loved it-my God, do they have no taste? I thought I taught them better than that. Because the shape of my face, it is hidden by all the hair. I have a lot of hair-I swear it multiplies like rabbits when I am asleep. After months of getting hair in my mouth when I eat, getting hair in my mouth when rinsing out toothpaste, after getting hot on the pillow (not that!), and getting a head ache after having it pulled into a pony so it would all fit under my hair net, I said enough.

Ta Da:

Yeah, I should have put some makeup on, but au naturale today. I have always worn my hair shorter, so I went back to it. The Dude thought I was going to do something 'different' as I have already had this hairstyle. It is a running joke in our family; I have had as many hairstyles as years we've been married. You can tell how old pictures are by not looking at the date on them but by Tami's hairstyle. Did you check out those HUGE sleeves on my wedding dress in the photo behind my head? Honestly, I had to stuff them with tissue paper so they would poof up. Between 50 sheets of tissue in my sleeves and the crinoline under the skirt, I made a rustling noise all day. Heads would turn-did you hear that? It sounds like I was scraping ice all day.

I tried a new recipe this evening. I was totally disappointed. The Dude ate it; I scraped mine in the trash. It looked so good when I saw RR make it on both 30 Minute Meals and her daytime show and she said it was her hubby's favorite. Spaghetti Alla Carbonara. Didn't ring my bell. Here is what it was-looked good, but I didn't care for it. Dude said it need 'more sauce and more meat'. Dude-that's regular spaghetti!

Adapted from Rachael Ray-was missing ingredients. That might have been the problem.....

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

4 slices bacon, cut in small pieces

1/2 pound spaghetti, cooked al dente

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock (I used stock-no white wine on hand)

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup boiling pasta water

EVOO

Cook spaghetti to al dente, depending on style used cooking time will vary. I used angel hair so I did mine for 5 minutes. Drain.

Cook bacon pieces and 3 whole cloves of garlic that have just been lightly smooshed in a drizzle of EVOO. I like garlic flavor, not so much pieces of garlic, but the recipe called for finely cut up garlic.

After the bacon has browned and garlic fragrant (about 5 minutes) stir in broth -or wine- and reduce by half. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks. While whisking eggs yolks, pour in boiling pasta water. Add pasta to the pan; stir to coat. Add egg mixture. Stir for two minutes and serve.

In RR recipe, she used pancetta. I didn't have any. She also used red pepper flakes (too hot for me and the kids-wusses I know), Parmesan cheese-somehow I was out, how I don't know, and fresh parsley. Umm, mine had turned brown so I used the dried stuff.

I had such high hopes. Oh well, live and learn-right?

And for awards.....

Katherine over at Smoky Mountain Cafe awarded me the Superior Scribbler Award. I am touched that she thought of me. I know that my posts pale in comparison to so many out there, and really appreciate her kindness. I will pass it on, but for tonight I have some laundry to finish and dishes to pick up, so I will pass it on later this week.

Peace out~

Totally Random

So, since I work evenings, I only get to watch my favorite shows every other week because of how our rotating schedules work. Got home this morning and caught up on some blogs and then remembered that I hadn't watched Grey's Anatomy on-line yet since I worked last Thursday. I just watched it. Now if you don't watch it, this won't make sense, but the whole Izzy and the Dead Denny thing was weirding me out. And they swore they were not going to make her have a brain tumor, but he said he was 'there FOR her' meaning he was there to show her the way to the light. As hunky as Denny is, I think I would rather stay on earth a little longer. But then throw in the whole man-on-death-row with organs that match the sick little boy and they have to save the convicts life and then Mere goes to watch his execution? I'm a blubbering mess right now. Do I dare go over to NBC.com and watch 'ER'? It's not easy being an emotional girl, I'll tell ya.

If I'm so fricking tired, why can't I sleep?

4 hours of sleep. In the last 36 hours. Seriously, I should be drooling on this keyboard with the imprint of it on my face. Nope. Can't sleep. Been thinking of what to make for the Noble Pig's challenge of Super Bowl foods. That came to me at 1:30 this morning. Been wondering if I have thrown away one of my Christmas decoration holder-thingymabob because I recently found some random decoration sitting on my table, and I don't remember seeing the box it is suppose to be in. Been wondering if I drink a bottle of wine at 7:31 AM Central Standard Time would it help me sleep? Been wondering how my fake Christmas tree sheds-and I'm still vacuuming up the fake needles. Been wondering why the Hermit Crab insists on making cookies while I am at work, eating them in my bed, and leaves all the baking mess on the counter and in the sink. Been wondering how long it will take to peel all the disgusting caulk off of my shower so I can get it replaced. Too much thinking, not enough sleeping.

I will return later in the day. Found some awesome cupcakes over at Diary of a Fanatic Foodie that I was going to try, plus saw some cookies on Cathy's Noble Pig site, and I need some beef so I have to figure out what to do there. I was going to do my retro jello but Drama Queen drank all my 7up, so might have to send eldest to the store on her way home from work to get me more. And now she is babbling. I'm gonna try going horizontal again and see if I can stop thinking and start sleeping....................................zzzzzzz

A New Day

Never did I think I would be witness to such a day as today. Whatever your politics, whatever your beliefs, this is a day that will be like no other. God Bless America.

I thought I saw it in one of the cookbooks.....

Show of hands-how many of you own over 100 cookbooks? C'mon, I know you do! This is one of my shelves with cookbooks in my kitchen. They won't all fit on these two shelves (I knew I should have had more installed!), so some are in a bookcase in the living room. My husband just laughs when I ask for new cookbooks. 'When are you going to make something from the ones you already have?' Okay, another show of hands-how many of you read cookbooks like a novel? I do. I take them to bed with me at night (well, morning in my case) and read. Even those I have read time and time again, I always find something new. A new twist, a new prep method, a new something. Oh, and the Dude always buys me the cookbook. I think he is looking at the payoff if he gets it! Coming this week, and probably one post later tonight, I will be doing some family favorites like Cluck-n Spud casserole, Does Jello make you Mello, Feels like summer salad and Pork chops. Yah, no cool name for that dish. I'll work on that. Many people are doing light cooking with the new year, new habits, etc. I fail miserably when I make my resolution to lose weight. Instead I am taking a new approach-I'll just stay plump! Ha ha. Okay, so actually what works best for me is just moving more, watching my portions and moderation. My cholesterol is very good, my blood pressure is good, no thyroid problems, nothing showed up in my blood work, so the doctor says that there is no reason to go crazy with some diet. Just move more and don't eat every meal super sized and deep fried. Of course, she doesn't know my love affair with mashed potatoes, so we'll just keep that to ourselves. So, let me know-how many cookbooks are in your collection. My collection is about 125.

Bars are coming early tomorrow....

I overslept before work, so I didn't get a chance to get the bars up for todays post, but will do it when I get home in the morning. I brought the pan to work tonight and after 2 breaks the pan is almost empty, so I will need to flag that page to work into rotation again. I don't know if I can take one more day of the horrible weather-kids were home again today plus they will be off on Monday. They get almost a whole week off. I think they should close the plant so I can have a little vacation :)

A shout out

I just wanted to publicly thank Cathy over at Noble Pig for all the kind words and encouragement she has left on my posts. I appreciate it more than you know and am inspired by your site. I hope that I will have the honor of visiting your winery one day and indulging my senses in your Pinot and Riesling. You represent all the goodness that is out in the blogosphere and I look forward to "meeting" more people like you.

My sincerest thanks!
Tami

Deliciouso

Here is our dinner from tonight (well last night since it is 3 AM). I had the Tacos de Carnitas, Debbie had a combo plate with an enchilada, burrito and what she thought was suppose to be a taco but was something else. Her husband Terry had a huge burrito and Randy had, well, he never told me what it was. It was steak on top of a tortilla with a sauce and guac and shredded lettuce. He was in a mood tonight and when I whipped out the camera he got a little cranky so I didn't ask the waiter to take our picture, although there were flashes all around us with other groups taking photos. What a poopyhead, to quote our kids. The margaritas were very good and I ordered mine with Patron. It didn't have that bitter taste that the shelf stuff does. If only I could afford it. Well, I suppose if I skipped wine for a week or two, I could sneak it onto my shelf :)

What is in your kitchen cabinets?

I bought a software program for my laptop so I could organize all those slips of paper and newspaper clippings of recipes I had found and stuffed in a drawer, never to be seen again. I have been working diligently on getting all of these into my computer for the last 3 months-I had a drawer full. As I was working through the scraps and clippings, I came across a notebook page I had written many years ago. In many of my jobs, I have worked with people much younger than me. I became like a big sister to some of them and they flattered me by asking my advice-probably since I wasn't related to them they found it easier to talk to me. Most of it was PG, but not always, and this is a family friendly blog so we won't even touch on those points (insert laugh here). However, one thing I have done for many of the young ladies I have had the good fortune to have met over the last 15 years is to assemble a list and recipes for them. They were all in their late teens-early twenties and moving out on their own. They were all very excited and couldn't wait to do things the way they felt they should be done. And then, somewhere in the middle of the "I am going to get this color curtains and I am going to buy this color towels" they realized "Oh my gosh, I will have to feed myself". I am not a chef or a professional of any kind, but a mom who worked, had kids and brought leftovers to work for break time. There were many questions of what do I need and how do I do this and how much will it cost. I came up with a list of things I thought they needed to start with so they could feed themselves and their roommates or friends that come over to hang out. I also gave them recipes for simple items that are easy and taste good and explanations of why and how; why to boil potatoes in cold water, how to create a simple tabletop with candles and mirrors that looked special and costs little. I think I have done this about a dozen times and one of the girls is now turning 30 and just bought her first home and told me that she still uses the lasagna recipe I gave her 12 years ago. That gave me great joy-something as simple as sharing some knowledge was not forgotten. I wonder if my kids will retain anything I have tried to teach them. Apparently not, as the dishwasher was full of clean dishes, there were dirty dishes scattered all over the house and pans on the stove with food still in them when we got home from work. Maybe they will find an older person to relate to and it will come full circle.
Here is my list of what I created for them. I also added on the list of what to purchase after they are more comfortable in the kitchen and also after the paychecks grow a little!
1 large stockpot
1 large skillet
2 and 3 quart saucepan
1 9x13 baking dish
1 9x9 square baking dish
4 cookie sheets (always have 2 ready to go on cool sheets so not wasting energy or time)
A slow cooker
A large roasting pan (turkey is one of the easier things to prepare)
A potato masher
A whisk
A couple wooden spoons
A couple silicone scraper/spatulas (I melted many plastic ones, high heat silicone only for me)
A pancake flipper/turner
A corkscrew
A can opener
A hand mixer
1 4-cup Pyrex glass measure
1 2-cup Pyrex glass measure
A Dry measuring cup set
A measuring spoon set
1 chef's knife
1 bread knife
2 or 3 paring knives
A potato peeler

I know lots of people will say "but what about this, or what about that". Believe me, my family calls me the gadget queen. I have drawers and cabinets full of things I use-some all the time, some once a year, but this list was what I felt that at a bare minimum, they can cook a meal and dessert and feel great that they did it on their own in their own kitchen and they were fed. I included my recipes for meatloaf, mashed potatoes, lasagna, popcorn salad and some bars. I also told them that they need to come up with a dish and make it their signature. Something they learn to make well and use that as your go-to meal when having friends over, be it a roast chicken or a marinated pork loin roast (yum, one of my favorites). People will feel welcome when they know your special meal is on the table for them to share.

I will include the above recipes in the upcoming posts. Since it is our third day on, we are stopping at the local deli and picking up sandwiches on the way to work today!