Soup's On!

Thought for the day:  The lore has not died out of the world, and you will still find people who believe that soup will cure any hurt or illness and is no bad thing to have for the funeral either. [John Steinbeck, East of Eden]

Who doesn't like soup? A dainty little bowl before an entree is swell, but I enjoy a good hearty soup as the main course, too. (I'm not positive, but I think February is National Soup Month, so talk about perfect timing...)

Anyhow, I'm pleased to be participating in the Souper Blog Hop today, which Chrys Fey is running in support of the release of her mother's first book Pea Soup Disaster. (That's right! Another author in the family!)

First, I'll share a spiffy soup recipe with you, and then I'll share info about the book, okay? (For those of you who don't give a diddle about preparing soup from scratch, don't worry. I'm gonna tell you about a terrific CANNED soup, too.)

SUSAN'S YUMMY SPINACH SOUP

This soup is my own concoction, so I've never had a recipe for it. But this week, I made a point of writing down how much of everything I was using so I could translate my wing-it style of cooking into something you guys could use. I made a smallish pot, enough for Smarticus and me to enjoy at two meals... with biscuits. So you can adjust the amounts accordingly.

INGREDIENTS
2 bone-in country style pork ribs
32 oz. chicken broth or stock
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1/3 c. chopped onion
heaping 1/2 c. instant barley
2 5-oz. bags of triple-washed baby spinach
splash of milk

1. Place ribs in pot, salt and pepper to taste, and cover with chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until meat is tender. (~1 hour) (If you use regular barley instead of instant, add it to the pot after about 40 minutes)
2. Remove meat from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Return to pot and add chopped onions and cubed potatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes. If using instant barley, add that now, then simmer another 10 minutes.
3. Add spinach and stir until limp and cooked to your taste. Add a drizzle of milk (or half and half, whatever you have on hand) and season to taste.
NOTE: I usually prepare soup and then refrigerate a couple days to let the flavors "marry." Not necessary, though. It's already plenty yummy at this point. Enjoy!

Don't want to go to all of that trouble? How about the best-tasting canned clam chowder you've ever tasted? That would be Tony's.

We first tasted this award-winning chowder at Tony's restaurant in Cedar Key, Florida. their chowder is a three-time winner of international clam chowder competitions, so ya KNOW it's gotta be good. We enjoyed it so much, we bought a case of it from the restaurant to bring back home with us. Natch, the canned isn't as good as the nectar they serve fresh in the restaurant, but it is reeeeeeally good. Add a blob of butter and some half and half to this concentrate, and your tummy will thank you. If you want to fancy it up a bit, add some chopped chives or chopped onions and a bit of crumbled cooked bacon. Either way, it is a soup that'll make you say, "Mmmm! Mmmm! Gooooood!" Some grocery stores around the country sell it, and you can also order it from the restaurant via the internet.  Just look up Tony's clam chowder.

            So what's YOUR favorite soup?

Okay, I've done my easy-peasy part for this blog hop. Now it's time to move on to check out Elaine Kay's new book... featuring PEA soup.

BLURB: Gregory Green loves his mom’s pea soup, but when he eats it at school, all of his friends make fun of how it looks. He doesn’t think it looks like bugs, and it tastes good! Then at recess, his friends run from him, screaming, “He’s a monster!” Gregory doesn’t know why his friends are being mean until he sees his skin is green. The teasing gets worse until an unlikely friend comes to the rescue—his teddy bear, Sammy. Sammy usually only comes to life for Gregory and his family, but Sammy has an important lesson to teach Gregory and his classmates.

Available in Print:

AMAZON

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elaine Kaye got the idea for Pea Soup Disaster from her son who loved to eat her homemade pea soup. Pea Soup Disaster is the first of many fun stories featuring Gregory Green and his teddy bear, Sammy, as part of the Gregory Green Adventure series.

Kaye has worked as a library assistant and teacher's assistant in elementary schools in the Sunshine State. She currently lives in Florida, but she has called Michigan; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan home. She is a grandmother of three boys.

Find Elaine:

Website / Instagram / Litsy - @ElaineKaye

Goodreads / Amazon

Sounds good, huh? Here's wishing Elaine much success with her new series. Like daughter, like mother...

                           Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

P.S. The other participants will be doing their Souper posts on Monday. (Chrys was nice enough to let me post mine on my usual blogging day.) You can find a link to a list of other Monday-posting participants HERE

Some of Our Favorite Minions

Thought for the day:  The reason we grandparents get along so well with our grandchildren is we have so much in common. The kids are enjoying their first childhood, and we're enjoying our second. 

L to R: Jaiden, Devyn, Aaron, their cousin McKenzie, and Kymber

As always, we had a super-duper time with our grandchildren this past weekend. Among other things, we share a common appreciation for the very best in sophisticated potty humor, general silliness, and... the Despicable Me movies. We especially love the minions. So, natch, we all piled into two cars on Saturday, and ventured out to see the Minions Movie. 

In addition to the five cuties in the picture, our group also included our son, daughter-in-law, and her thirteen-year-old sister. Oh, and Smarticus and me. To tell the truth, Smarticus and I were somewhat dubious about the wisdom of trying to see this movie the day after its release... and on a Saturday, yet. I had visions of what Saturday matinees looked like back in the fifties... you know, with hordes of rowdy kids making lots of rude noises, while throwing candy and popcorn at each other. (Wet root beer barrel candies reeeeeally stick well in hair... or (ahem) so I've heard...) But no. Our son was right, and we were wrong. The theater wasn't even all that crowded. And I must say, the kids who were there were very well behaved. So we really enjoyed ourselves. It's a super fun movie, and when I asked Aaron afterwards what his favorite part was, he said, "The whole movie!" So there ya have it. A two thumbs up from the Swiderski clan.

And now, while I continue in catch-up mode, how about a re-run?  The following post originally ran in October of 2012 under the title, Never Too Old to Play.

***********************

Thought for the day:  It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age.  [Margaret Mead]

We can never be young again, but doggone it, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy our second childhood. As many a psychiatrist has said, it's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to us.

Even the ol' pessimist Fredrich Nietzsche said, In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.

And Plato said, Life must be lived as play.

Jeez Louise, who are we to argue with those guys? I mean, they were two seriously smart dudes.

So play we must.

Let's investigate our capacity for fun, shall we? Do you have any toys left from your childhood? I only have a few.

It was pretty much the standard in our extended family to pass toys around. Whatever toys I received from my older cousins, I'd later pass on to the younger ones, so I was really surprised to come across this little china tea cup in my parents' house when we were cleaning it out after my father died. As far as I know, it's the only piece remaining from the tea set I played with as a little girl. I don't exactly play with it anymore, but it makes me smile every time I look at it.

This is the only original toy I've kept in my possession since childhood. My aunt made the pouch in about 1954 or so, and my ball and jacks have resided in it ever since. At one time, some of the jacks were brightly colored, others were shiny, and the ball actually bounced. (Now the ball kinda goes THUD.)

These little China dolls were sent to me in the late '50s by military friends who were stationed in Japan. The dolls sat on display  in my mother's china cabinet for years, and over time, the elastic bands holding the arms and legs gave up the ghost. About twenty-five years ago, my father replaced the bands, and my parents sent the dolls to me as a Christmas surprise.














Okay, second question: Since you've been an adult, have you ever bought a toy for yourself?

I did.

What can I say?

I fell in love with Alf.








Okay, here's another one for you. Have you ever bought a toy for your child or grandchild because you wanted to play with it? Boy, oh, boy, have I ever! I could hardly wait for my kids to be old enough to play Stratego, to build models, and to create magic with an erector set. Reading my favorite children's books to my kids and grandkids is even more enjoyable than it was when I read them for the first time as a child.

Does anybody still buy you toys?

Smarticus and I usually give each other fun little gadgets to play with, because we're both overgrown kids at heart. But my favorite... my absolute favorite toy he ever got me is this:

Can you believe it???? It's a genuine original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Bubble Bomber!!! Woo HOO!

Every time I saw the commercial for this toy on TV, I went nuts for it. Kept telling my hubby how I wished our kids were younger so we could buy it for them. (Right.) And ta-DA, he gave it to me for my birthday! (Can that man take a hint, or what???)

It is the coolest thing ever! You put in soap solution and a little bit of cooking oil, which warms up, so when you release a bubble bomb, it's filled with smoke. The bubble hits the ground, goes POP, and out comes the smoke. It's probably been close to thirty years since he gave it to me, and I still love it. It is still the coolest toy ever. (One of these days, I suppose I should let the grandchildren play with it...)

                                                    Okay, one last one to show you.

Isn't he adorable? When you squeeze his belly, he wolf whistles, and says, "I go bananas over you."

                                              Your turn. Tell me about your toys.

A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who doesn't play has lost forever the child who lived in him and who he will miss terribly.  [Pablo Neruda]

[source: seniorark.com]

Oh yeah, I've got a really neat jump rope, too, and a couple hula hoops. Last time I jumped rope with some of the grandkids, I fell on my arse. I thought it was hysterical, but my son and husband were mortified. Said I couldn't play anymore.

Think that'll stop me from playing next time ...?


Oh, no, no, no. I'll just be more cautious.

                                    Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

                                                I will not play tug o' war.
                                                I'd rather play hug o' war.
                                               Where everyone hugs instead of tugs,
                                               Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,
                                               Where everyone kisses and everyone grins,
                                               And everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.
                                                             [Shel Silverstein]

******************

One last thing. I thought you might like a simple summer recipe. I used to cook and cut up chicken breasts to make this salad, but this time, I picked up a rotisserie chicken on sale. Smarticus and I ate the wings and legs so it couldn't get away, and then I cut up the white meat. (Reserving some, of course, for our resident felines.)

To the cut-up chicken, add cooked pasta. Small shells, elbows, whatever. Add chopped celery, chopped onions, and halved grapes, both red and green, as well as canned mandarin oranges, mayo, and curry powder to taste. It's simple to make, and reeeeeeeally good. It's also tasty when made with shrimp instead of chicken. Heck, I'll bet it's even good without any meat at all...

(If you're interested in the actual recipe with actual measurements, let me know. I'm sure I must have the original recipe around here somewhere...)

                                      Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Here's to the Irish!

Thought for the day:  Never borrow money from a leprechaun. They're always a little short.

[Wikipedia]

Yep, it seems like everybody wants to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day, doesn't it? Doesn't matter a shillelagh what your actual lineage is, either, for 'tis a grand day for dusting off that "Kiss me; I'm Irish" button, and pinning it to your shirt.

Know what's kinda funny about that? (shhhh) St. Patrick... wasn't Irish!

[Wikipedia]

Aye, and that's the truth, it is. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, wasn't born in Ireland at all... and neither were his ancestors. However, he is credited with introducing Christianity to the Emerald Isle, where he evangelized for thirty years.

[Wikipedia]

He used the shamrock... the three-leaf clover... as a visual prop to teach the concept of the Trinity. We talk about the luck o' the Irish, and associate the shamrock with the Irish, but it's the four-leaf clover that's considered the lucky pick, simply because of its rarity.

[seniorark]

Even though many people use St. Patrick's Day as an excuse to guzzle even more beer than usual these days, from 1903 until 1970, it was a religious holiday in Ireland, and thus...a dry day. No booze. It converted to a national holiday in 1970, and the taps have been flowing freely ever since. (Obviously, the guy in that picture is a purist... his beer isn't green.)

[Wikipedia]

St. Patrick's Day, as celebrated worldwide, is marked with parades, festivals, shamrocks, wearing o' the green, drinking Irish whiskey and green beer, and sometimes... eating corned beef and cabbage. Many buildings of the world use decorative green lighting, and rivers, lakes, and ponds galore are dyed green. Even the fountain in front of the White House glistens emerald.

[Wikipedia]

Heck, what am I saying? The celebration of St. Patrick's Day is even outta this world. Dare ye to doubt me? Check out this picture of astronaut Chris Hadfield in the International Space Station, wearing his spiffy green bow tie while orbiting the planet last St. Patrick's Day. (Kinda looks like he's doing an Irish dance, too, doesn't it?)


Talking about Irish dances, have you seen this video?

                                                      See? Even the chimps wanta be Irish.

[one of my favorite pins]

* Think there's any truth to the theory that the Irish dance was born because there weren't enough urinals in the pub? (Think about it...)

* Know why you should never iron a four-leaf clover? It's never a good idea to press your luck.

*  Know how to tell if an Irishman is having a good time? Easy. He's Dublin over with laughter.


Okay, I'll stop.

Since St. Patrick's Day is coming up on Monday, it's too late to try this corned beef  recipe this time around, but you might want to give it a whirl next year. It isn't that much work, and I guarantee you, it'll be the best corned beef you ever ate. There are no nitrites in it, so the meat doesn't turn that unnatural red color, but it is gooooooooood.

For the salt and spice mix, you'll need 1 1/3 cups of Kosher (or coarse) salt, 3 T sugar, 1 T cracked peppercorns, 2 t allspice, 2 t thyme, 1 t sage, 1 t paprika, 1 large bay leaf, and 2 large cloves of garlic, minced.

Cut of meat - brisket, chuck, eye round roast, or bottom round, about 4-5 pounds

To Cure- Trim excess fat. Blend salt and spices, and rub the mixture into the meat. Liberally. Place meat into a large plastic bag and toss in the remaining salt/spice mixture. If you'd like, you can add a sliced onion and sliced carrot, too. Squeeze out as much air as you can, and then seal the bag. Put it into a a large bowl, cover it with a plate or pan, and weigh it down. (Put something on top of it that's heavy enough to keep the plate firmly pressed against the meat.) Place in the bottom of your fridge. Turn and knead the bag at least once a day until the curing process is completed. You should cure for at least two weeks, and up to a full month.

After curing: Wash the meat in cold water, and then soak it in a large bowl of cold water for about 24 hours to get rid of excess salt. If you'd like, you can tie it with butcher's twine, but it isn't necessary.

To Cook: Put meat in a large pot, and cover with water. Add an onion stuck with four cloves, a large carrot, and two celery stalks. Bring to a simmer, and skim off the scum for several minutes. (And I mean "scum" in the nicest way ...) Cover, leaving lid askew to allow for circulation, and simmer for 3- 3 1/2 hours, or until the meat is deliciously fork tender. Enjoy!

****************

I won't be responding to comments or visiting blogs for a few days. Gonna be enjoying some of our  O'Swiderski grandchildren. Just thinking about it makes me want to dance a jig! (If a chimp can do it, surely this chump can, too...)  Oops, change in plans. A couple of the kiddies are sick, so we'll be postponing the sharing of our germs for another week. 

 Until next time, bless your little Irish heart, and every other Irish part.

May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head always be strong. And may you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead.

With a Horn and a Gun

Thought for the day:  Jokes about German sausage are the absolute wurst.

Okay, so this post isn't about German sausage, but it IS about kielbasa... Polish sausage. How'd ya like to learn how to make it?

And as a bonus, you can also see how my old-fashioned vs. new-fangled competition went.

 That chunk of cow horn is what I've used to stuff sausage casings for more than forty years. We'll call it Davey, okay? And the modern sausage-making tool, a nifty gift from my brother, is our Goliath. This was my first time using it.

Just for kicks, I decided to use Davey to make the first ring of sausage, and Goliath for the other, and compare the times. Yeah, I know. Kinda like comparing a modern text messenger with an old guy sending Morse code, right?

Still, let's see how it went, shall we?

First, to make any sausage, you need ground meat. For kielbasa, I use pork butt, and have the butcher grind it for me, including all its fat. To make good juicy sausage, you MUST have some fat. Pork is so much leaner than it used to be, some people add additional ground fat to their sausage. Not my choice to do that, though. Just try to find meats with some marbling and fat around the edges, and you'll be fine, as long as you don't overcook it.

These are the four simple ingredients I use. Of the four, I consider marjoram to be the most important. If you make kielbasa, don't use a dusty ol' bottle of marjoram that's been sitting on your pantry shelf for God only knows how long, okay? Spring for a fresh bottle. You'll notice the salt, pepper and garlic are all coarse ground.

You need to add enough spices to your sausage to be able to see them. I don't follow a recipe, and judge when it's just right by the smell and look of the meat. The latest batch I made was about three and a half pounds of meat, and I used about half a bottle of marjoram, maybe a tablespoon or so of garlic powder and pepper, and about a teaspoon of salt. (Sorry I can't be more specific. I don't measure.) When the mixture looks and smells good, you can pinch off a small patty's worth and fry it for a quick taste test.

A squirt of Pam makes it easier to slip the casing onto the horn. Tie a knot in the end, and start pushing the meat through the horn with your fingers and into the casing. Keep a straight pin handy so you can prick the casing if an air pocket develops. As for the casing, it's fairly easy to find in some parts of the country, but not so much in others. Here, I can get it fresh at Whole Foods. You may even be able to order it online.

The first ring, made with Davey, is almost finished here. Total time from first bit of meat shoved through the horn to the second end tie-off? Fifteen minutes. Not too shabby, huh?

Time to try the big gun. It comes with several different sizes of tubes, but this one looked about right, so I gave it a shot of Pam and pushed the casing on, easy-peasy, slick as all get-out. Time to check the clock...

Here's the gun, fully loaded with meat and ready to shoot. Doesn't it look cool?

Unfortunately, I encountered a few (ahem) ESO (Equipment Superior to Operator) problems. Those black screw-on caps at either end of the tube LOOK the same, don't they? I thought so, too. But the threading isn't the same. After I loaded the tube with meat the first time, I couldn't screw the darned thing onto the gun. Once it was switched, reloaded, casing reattached, and then hooked up correctly, squeezing the trigger emptied the tube and shot the meat into the casing lightning fast. Too fast. (Okay, so maybe I was blasting it like Al Capone with a tommy gun...) The Pam I'd stupidly put on the nozzle didn't help, either. The casing flew off the nozzle so fast, the meat packed way too loosely amid a ton of monster air pockets. So, after I used a wooden spoon handle to push the last bits of meat out of the nozzle, I had to manually squeeze the meat through the casing and eliminate all the air pockets. Bottom line: with all my screw-ups, it was well over thirty minutes before I tied the final knot in the second ring of sausage.

So, Davey beat Goliath. This time. Kinda. Next time, the gun will definitely blast my handy dandy horn outta the water. If I hadn't been so darned trigger-happy and charmed by the gun's speed this time, I could've ... I should've... been controlling the packing and air pockets as I went along.

Bottom line? It doesn't matter how ya fill the casing. (My mother-in-law had a sausage attachment on her electric mixer.) This stuff is DEE-licious. Simple to prepare, too. Barely cover it with water, bring to a slow boil, and then simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes. Drain most of the water, and add sauerkraut. Cook until heated through. Serve with mashed potatoes. And there ya have it... Polish comfort food at its finest. And if you don't want to stuff your meat into casings at all, you could always make some unique-tasting burgers.

                     I'd show you what it looked like after it was cooked... but we (erp!) ate it.

(Oh yeah, just so ya know, a pair of old-timer Morse code operators DID beat a pair of hot shot text messengers on the Jay Leno show a couple years ago... )

                                      So, what's YOUR favorite comfort food?

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four unless there are three other people.  [Orson Welles}

My mom made two dishes: Take it or Leave it.  [Stephen Wright]

                          Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

This 'n' That

Thought for the day:  If you have a drawer filled with odds and ends, and get rid of all but one thing... which is it?

Yep, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. There's even more red splashed around our house than usual, and even though it's so warm I wore shorts and a tee shirt to go shopping the other day, Dash still felt the need to curl up inside a flannel shirt she found lying on the bed. (Her head is peeking out the sleeve!) (And, um, yes, that IS a lava lamp in the background.)

Okay, this is gonna be an eclectic post today. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Like what do YOU want for Christmas? I have a pretty good idea  what my hubby would like...

                                                      (I'll have to see what I can do...)

How's about this for an early Christmas present? How's about a break from wracking your brain to come up with an idea for a post this Friday? D.L. Hammons is hosting a blogfest where all you have to do is pick out your favorite post from 2012, and run it again. Um, one YOU wrote, that is. You know, maybe one that didn't get the love you think it deserved? Whatever floats your boat. If you'd like to participate, just hit that Deja Vu button in the side bar, and sign on up. Should be fun!

Kittie Howard's new book launched last Thursday, and I think this is one you might want to order right away. Really! Not only is it a really good book, but this month's sales proceeds are being funneled to the Wounded Warrior project. So, while you're giving yourself the gift of this book, your money will also be supporting a very worthy cause.

What's it about? I'm glad you asked. David, a decorated Marine who survived the horrors of Iwo Jima, doesn't expect to have to fight more battles when he returns to Louisiana after the war. But he does. You see, the local members of the KKK don't care about his war record.

Intrigued? You should be. Kittie does an excellent job of taking a part of history some of us would rather forget, those horrific days of lynchings and cross-burnings... and makes it come alive. And she breathes life into the sharecroppers and their families, too, both black and white, who were terrorized by the Klan, and demonstrates the enduring got-your-back brotherhood of the Marines. As a special added bonus, she also offers some background history and a Cajun glossary at the beginning of the book that I'm sure other history nerds will enjoy as much as I did.

And like I said, the $2.99 it'll cost you to get the e-book on Amazon or Smashwords can help make a difference for our returning soldiers. Ginormous kudos to Kittie for supporting Wounded Warriors again. (She did the same thing with her first book.)

Think I can get away with serving Smarticus THESE crabs....?

Nah, me neither.





You guys like custard? Me, I wouldn't mind finding myself in a swimming pool filled with the stuff and eating my way out. Okay, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it's definitely one of my favorite old-fashioned comfort foods. Much to my surprise, I discovered recently that none of my friends ever make it. They LIKE it... they just don't know how to MAKE it. And it is sooooo easy! This recipe comes from a circa 1945 or so cookbook, and tell ya what... I'm gonna share it with you.

Preheat your oven to 350, because you'll have the custard ready to pop in there in no time at all. Mix 3/4 c of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated... sweetened condensed) with 2 1/4 c HOT water. (not boiling, but HOT) While stirring continuously, gradually pour the milk mixture over 3 slightly beaten eggs. Add 1/4 tsp salt. (optional) That's IT. I sometimes add a splash of vanilla or rum flavoring or grated coconut, but none of those things are needed. It's super good just as is. Pour the mixture into a baking dish or individual custard cups, sprinkle with nutmeg, and set in a pan of hot water. Then bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife blade can be inserted and comes out clean. See? Easy! And oh, so good.

Okay, has this post been eclectic enough for ya? I believe I'm gonna go make some custard now... for some reason, I've suddenly developed a craving for it. And then? And then I believe I'm gonna go out and get some crabs. Who says we have to wait for Christmas? It's December. Close enough.

         
                                      Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Let Me Entertain You

Thought for the day:  I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.  [Albert Einstein]

The lovely (and irresistibly sweet) Austan of Austanspace passed this spiffy award on to yours truly, and the object is for me to tell you seven things about me that you don't already know, and then pass the award on to some of my other favorite bloggers.

Hmmm, after doing this sort of thing multiple times before, it's getting harder to come up with something new to tell you guys, but we'll give it a go.

1.  At our wedding reception, I took a teensy sip of champagne to acknowledge the toast, and then quietly traded it in for a glass of milk.

2. On our honeymoon, the man running the chair lift at the Natural Bridge (VA) thought I was my husband's youngun. 

3. When we were in third grade, a friend and I sang a sappy rendition of Over the Rainbow for an elementary school talent show.









4. For our high school drama class, two friends and I performed You Gotta Get a Gimmick. Once. When we told our teacher what we were planning, he asked us to do our routine for him after school. So our one and only audience was Mr. Adams and a small handful of fellow students. We got an enthusiastic response, but our teacher decided it wasn't appropriate for us to do. Too bad. We were reeeeeally funny. Not familiar with this song? It's from the Broadway musical Gypsy. (I was the one who "did it with a switch.")

5. The first time I ever flew in an airplane was a long, long flight from Baltimore to Chicago to Honolulu. After we left Chicago, the plane got caught in horrific turbulence, and at times, it felt like we were on an airborne roller coaster ride or free-falling elevator. How bad was it? Even one of the stewardesses was barfing. Me? I kept crocheting. Because I had no point of reference, I didn't realize the flight was so awful.

6.  I'd been pretty sick for several days, but my appendix decided to  burst after my husband and I went to bed one night. I lay there in the dark quietly panting, as though I were in labor, but once it burst, the pain level went down dramatically, so I went to sleep. (Or passed out? Not sure.) But I didn't want to bother my husband by waking him. And didn't go to the hospital for several more days. (By then, I was turning a peculiar shade of green.) Pretty dumb, huh?

 7.  We went to the horse races once. It was at Timonium, Maryland, and the we was my husband, parents, mother-in-law, aunt, two sons, and me. Through sheer dumb luck, I won enough cash to cover food and drinks for all of us, with money to spare. I actually picked the first place horses for the trifecta, too, but didn't know enough to bet them all at once. I made each bet individually. Had I bet them all at the same time, I would've won a ton of money. Because I kept picking winners, my father bet my pick in one of the races. The horse came in dead last.


So, there ya have it.

Now, I'm supposed to pass the award on to seven other bloggers. My track record here hasn't been nearly as good as it was at Timonium. Rarely do the people I pick care to follow through. That's fine. I'm not gonna worry about it. What I'm gonna do is select blogs I haven't already tapped in the past. These are all blogs I thoroughly enjoy, so if nothing else, maybe the rest of you will check them out. And better yet, maybe these folks will participate, and I'll learn a little more about them. Here we go :

• Geo at Train Ride of the Enigmas 
• Pearl at Pearl, Why You Little ... 
• Mr. C at Termites of Sin
• Cro at Magnon's Meanderings
• Murr at Murrmurrs
• Paige at There's More Where That Came From
• Beach Bum at The Life and Times of a Carolina Parrothead

One last thing. In case looking at that picture of strawberry pie has got you craving some, here's a super good (and super easy) recipe for you to try. Guaranteed to please.


                                      Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Sum Tink Wong

Thought for the day:  Man who stand on toilet high on pot.

Have you ever noticed how twisted up translations can become from one language to another? Sometimes, they're pretty frustrating, but they can also be inadvertently funny. Manuals for electronic gadgets can make you want to pull your hair out when the manufacturer's primary language is Japanese. And my hubby bought a box of drill bits, (made in China) only to come home and notice the box declared them to be "dill bits." We thought that was so funny, we kept the box around for a while just to show our friends.


BUT ... wouldn't you think if someone wanted to open a restaurant, a place for American people to come and EAT,  they'd check, check and DOUBLE-check how the name they've selected for that restaurant might translate before hanging their sign out front? I sincerely doubt if any of the following owners gave it a second thought:

What? You say, for some strange reason, you've decided to eat at HOME tonight?

And you have the oddest craving for Chinese food? How about this simple recipe for fried rice:

Surely you have some leftover cold rice in your fridge, right? No? Well, then you'll have to cook some, and stick it in the fridge to let it chill for a while. While it's cooling, you can chop some green onions, and gather whatever veggies and/or meat you want to add to your creation. For four cups of rice, you'll want about a cup of veggie/meat combo. Or more, if you'd like. (It's YOUR dinner.) Shrimp is good, leftover pork, beef, peas, carrots, whatever you happen to have on hand. OK, now beat two eggs and stir fry in 2 T oil (peanut, lard, sesame, or whatever your little heart desires) until the eggs are dry and separated into small pieces. Remove the eggs, put 3 more T oil into the pan, and toss in your veggies, meat and rice. Stir fry for ~5 minutes or so. Add 2 T chicken broth, 3 T soy sauce. Mix well, and then stir in your eggs, 1/2 t pepper and 2 t sesame oil. Voila! Your masterpiece!

Don't feel like rice? How about this? If you're feeling a little creative, these chicken wings are guaranteed to put a smile on your face:

Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.