Beading, Traveling, Home Repair and Comic Books

The lay of the land

2012-01-04T12:24:00.016-07:00

London has been continuously inhabited since approximately 46A.D. The Romans settled on the north bank of the River Thames (near today's London bridge) after they invaded England. It became a thriving trading post for the Roman expansion into Roman Britain (Britannia). About 200 A.D. a defensive wall was built around the city. For well over a millennium the shape and size of London was defined by this Roman wall. The area within the wall is now "the City", London's famous financial district. Newspapers and TV reporters refer to "The City" much like we say "Wall Street" in the US. Traces of the wall can still be seen in a few places in London. The City of London is approximately one square mile while Greater London is 600 square miles (and it includes 32 other boroughs, like the City of Westminster).

One of the unique things about walking through a city as old as London is the mix of architectural styles (and the age of the buildings) - it can change from building to building and block to block. In chronological order, you might find: Anglo-Saxon (pre-Norman), Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, Jacobean, Baroque, Queen Anne, Georgian, Victorian, Jacobethan, Edwardian (up to 1915), and then all of the 20th century additions.

Two significant events, almost 300 years apart, further shaped the layout of the city. In 1666, there was a fire in London that wiped out most of the city and its wooden structures. As a result there aren't many Tudor or earlier buildings remaining. However, the Tower of London was one important survivor of the fire (the oldest part of the Tower of the London, the White Tower, was built in 1078. The White Tower now houses the Crown Jewels). Central London in 1666, with the burnt area shown in pink.

During World War II, the Blitz bombings by the Nazis (Sep 1940-May 1941), damaged or destroyed more than one million London houses. The city was bombed for 76 consecutive nights and many Londoners spent the night (for months on end) sleeping in local Underground or Tube stations set up as shelters. Most of the bombing was concentrated around St. Paul's Cathedral (rebuilt after the 1666 fire) and despite it's massive size, it was relatively undamaged by the Germans.

Mmmm, haggis, my favorite!

2011-12-20T15:26:00.005-07:00

Since Christmas is coming soon and there are plenty of goodies around, it occurred to me that you might be interested in some of the delicious foods available in England and Scotland. Scotland has a few unique dishes - like Haggis for instance - and I thought I'd share some of them with you today.
Haggis is a food strongly associated with Scotland and I can assure you, I've never eaten it nor am I going to start now. Here's the official Wikipedia description: it is comprised of sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach. Blech!!
In addition to haggis, you might find cock-a-leekie soup (chicken soup with leeks), Scotch pie (think pot pie), Neeps and Tatties (mashed turnips and potatoes), and Rumbledethumps (potatoes, cabbage and onions) on a typical Scottish restaurant menu. They don't eat as much beef as Americans do but still eat a lot of pork and lamb. In Edinburgh and other coastal cities, you will find north Atlantic seafood (salmon, in particular) on most menus.
I visited Scotland in 1988 while I was studying abroad and I remember Scotland being well-known for (or at least well-stocked) with sweets - particularly shortbread biscuits (cookies), vanilla fudge and toffee. You'll find some of the same English sweets in Scotland (like scones, McVitie's biscuits, trifle) but each region has its own idiosyncracies.

By the way, this made me think of something else worth mentioning about the differences between the English and Scottish. Over here, we tend to use the terms British and English interchangably but the United Kingdom is a sovereign state made up of the island of Great Britain (Wales, England and Scotland) and Northern Ireland. In Great Britain, a native person will probably introduce themselves as Welsh, Scottish, or English first and then identify themselves as British. Make sense? All Scots are British but not all Brits are Scottish.

They do speak English over there, don't they?

2011-12-17T13:42:00.003-07:00

England and America are two countries separated by a common language.
- George Bernard Shaw

Bangers = sausages
Loo = bathroom
Zebra crossing = crosswalk
Drawing pin = thumbtack
Fairy cake = cupcake
Hoarding = billboard
Jacket potato = Baked potato
Plaster = Band-Aid
Serviette = table napkin
Stone the crows! = Holy cow!

Mind the Gap!

2011-12-10T19:37:00.004-07:00

"Mind the gap" is a warning to train passengers to take caution while crossing the gap between the train door and the station platform on the London Underground (Tube). You'll hear pre-recorded messages as you leave the train and see it written on the station platforms. I remember when I first arrived in London, it seemed hilarious to us Americans.

London's extensive Tube system has color-coded routes, clear signage, and many connections. Trains run out into the suburbs, and all stations are marked with the London Underground circular symbol. (Do not be confused by similar-looking signs reading "subway"—in Britain, the word subway means "pedestrian underpass.") It's also the best way to get around London.

Some lines have multiple branches (Central, District, Northern, Metropolitan, and Piccadilly), so pay attention which branch is needed for your particular destination. Do this by noting the end destination on the lighted sign on the platform, which also tells you how long you'll have to wait until the train arrives. Compare that with the end destination of the branch you want. When the two match, that's your train.

For single fares paid in cash, a flat £4 price per journey now applies across all six zones, whether you're traveling one stop or 12 stops. If you're planning several trips in one day, it's much cheaper to buy a tourist Oystercard or Travelcard, which is good for unrestricted travel on the Tube, buses, and some overground railways for the day. The off-peak Oystercard fare for Zones 1-2, for example, is £1.80. The more zones included in your travel, the more the Travelcard will cost. For example, Kew is Zone 4, and Heathrow is Zone 6. If you're going to be in town for several days, buy a seven-day Travelcard (£25.80 for Zones 1-2, £47.60 for Zones 1-6).

Have fun stormin' da castle!

2011-12-04T11:52:00.015-07:00

Buckingham Palace (photo at left) is the principal residence of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth has three official residences - in addition to Buckingham Palace she also spends time at Windsor Castle (most weekends and holidays) located about 40 minutes west of London and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh (photo below).

We will definitely see two out of the three (BP and P of H) on our trip - no matter which vacation we choose and we may be able to see the third castle on an optional excursion. There are certain must-see sites included in every vacation and then there are other special offerings at an additional cost. Sometimes it's a special dinner, a local show or a special behind-the-scenes glimpse into an historical site. Windsor Castle is one of the optional excursions available. Another popular optional in dinner in London followed by an evening cruise on the River Thames. Dan and I took that optional on our trip a few years ago and I think he would agree it was one of the highlights. There will probably be 5-6 optional excursions offered - a few in London and a few in Edinburgh. It's nice because you get to pick and choose and personalize our vacation. We don't all have to do the same optionals either. We can hand-pick the excursions that appeal to each of us.

Here are a few fun facts about Buckingham Palace:

Queen Victoria was the first monarch to reside in Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace is located in the City of Westminster. There will be more fun facts about Westminster in a future post.

During the 1940 Blitz of London, the Germans bombed Buckingham Palace seven times.

Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms.

A flag always flies above each of the Queen's official residences. When The Queen is in residence, the Royal Standard flies (see below). When the Sovereign is not present, the Union Jack flag flies instead.

Laura is a Big Wheel!

2011-11-28T10:59:00.007-07:00

London, here we come!
So, we're thinking about taking a trip to the UK next fall with one of my sisters and a few of my cousins and and all of their respective partners. My cousin Laura's husband is not interested in going so she was worried about being a third wheel. We assured her that she wouldn't be a third wheel and then she made a joke that she would be a BIG wheel. So Laura, here's your big wheel AKA the London Eye. Dan took this photo on our trip to London in 2009.

Here are a few fun facts about the big wheel on the Thames River:

It took seven years to build and was completed in 2000 (its other nickname is the Millenium Wheel).

Each rotation takes 30 minutes - it moves slowly enough that passengers can step on and off without the wheel having to stop.

On a clear day, you can see Windsor Castle (25 miles away) from the top.

Each capsule holds 25 passengers.

More details about the trip to come - like when, how much, etc. In the meantime, I'll update this blog with more posts about England, Scotland and the trip.

My Wish Came True!

2011-01-06T19:11:00.002-07:00

Just not quite the way I expected. In my last post (in April *ahem*) I wished to complete a 5k last year. I did complete a 5K last year but it was as a team member competing in Tri for the Cure. Never. would. have. believed. it. Hmmm...just goes to show you that you shouldn't dream small.

Make a wish!

2010-04-01T12:25:00.002-06:00

My company is a sponsor of our local chapter of the Make A Wish Foundation. The MAW foundation is sponsoring a 5K in early May and I've signed up (and convinced Dan to join me) with many of my coworkers. So it gives me another incentive to keep my dates with the gym.
I was very good last summer (into early October) at working out twice a day (and my weight loss was steady) but as the days got shorter my resolve got weaker. I was still going to the gym but not working out as long and my weight loss ground to a halt. I didn't really gain anything back but yoyo'ed throughout the winter. So several weeks ago I got up at 5:30am and headed for the gym again. But then I hurt my back. And then I caught a cold (which I thought was going to turn into bronchitis) from which I'm still recovering. So this invitation to participate in this 5K came along at the right time. That's my wish - to train for and finish this 5K.

Annie and Mike are getting married!

2010-01-28T19:06:00.001-07:00

Tips from Transformers - Tip #3

2009-11-12T11:15:00.003-07:00

Looking at the big picture can often be intimidating when it comes to losing weight/getting fit. There are several of us on my Transformers team who need and want to lose a lot of weight (30 lbs or more). If you have a lot of weight to lose, realistically, it could be a long road ahead until your reach your goal weight. We have discussed breaking our goals up into more manageable pieces (three 10lbs benchmarks, for example). More than one of us had heard or read that it is important to reward yourself throughout your weight loss journey to stay motivated. First, you have to set up your short-term and long-term goals. These goals should be personal and focus on the things you need the most improvement on.

So I set my fitness goals as well as my ultimate weight loss goal (90 lbs). One of my fitness goals was to attend yoga weekly. I'm not the best "stretcher" in the world so I figured I could use the help in that area as well as for general relaxation/stress relief. I've probably attended about 60% of the time since July. Luckily the classes are included as part of my membership so I don't have to pay extra (and don't have to feel guilty if I miss a class). One of my other fitness goals was to start weight lifting again and do it consistently. I lost about 35 lbs on the Atkin's diet in 1999 but I didn't manage to keep all the weight off for more than 5 years because I didn't change any of my exercise habits. I didn't want to make that mistake again. In addition to my fitness goals, I also set weight loss goals in 15 lbs increments. That breaks my total into 6 more manageable steps and then I set up rewards for myself when I achieve each of them. I would also like to mention that I discussed these goals with my husband so we could agree on something that wouldn't strain the family finances. See below for my list.

15lbs - Manicure/Pedicure (had a gift certificate) - Achieved 10/27/09

30lbs - Massage

45lbs - Book or CD

60lbs - Massage

75lbs - Victoria's Secret Undies or Bras

90lbs - Trip to Washington, DC with Dan

I'll keep you posted as I achieve these goals!

Dan's latest project

2009-11-08T11:14:00.002-07:00

Dan's been gone for weeks....(said in a very whiny voice). His parents have helped us with lots of home projects as evidenced by this blog and it was his turn to repay the favor. There's a shed (my word) behind the house in Kentucky that Dan and his parents refer to as "The Smokehouse." It doesn't look like a smokehouse (usually a tall narrow barn with smoke vents) and to my knowledge it was never used as a smokehouse. See photo above:

He and his dad spent two and half weeks emptying this one, tearing it down, laying a cement pad and building the new one. So, it's really he and his dad's latest project.

TA DA!!

Biggest Loser Results are in!

2009-11-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

I lost 4.31% of my body weight (7 lbs) during the Biggest Loser competition (have lost 19 lbs total so far) and 1% body fat. My team (there are 6 of us) lost 2% of our body weight (not sure how many pounds total). The winning team lost 9.52% of their body weight!! The winning individual lost 17.53% of his body weight. Amazing!

Pre-Halloween Snow Storm

2009-11-02T19:15:00.002-07:00

Isn't it pretty?? "Christmas time is here, Happiness and cheer, Fun for all that children call, Their favorite time of the year" Errrttt...needle scratching record. Think again Charlie Brown! This photo was taken on October 29.

This year's Halloween costume

2009-11-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

See the Sales department in the above photo:
Morticia Addams (Nancy), Gomez Addams (Guy), Wednesday (Kathy), Pugsley (Wendy), Uncle Fester (Me!), Ophelia - Morticia's sister (Beth), Cousin It (Erika), Lurch & Thing (Tami), Grandmama (Paula), Grandma Frump (Aimie)

We even had a song...which we sang (and snapped our fingers) during the Parade at work. And we WON the team costume contest!! First. time. ever. Woo hoo!!

"The Globus Family"
(sung to the tune of The Addams Family)

"They’re loud and very brassy
Creative and quite sassy
They’re all together classy
The Globus Family

Their sales team is a treasure
Most agents say a pleasure
Go on a great Adventure with
The Globus Family

Neat (snap snap)

Sweet (snap snap)

Complete (snap snap)

Get ready for a tre-at
You’ll love the staff – they’re ne-at!
Pick up the phone to me-et
The Globus Family"

The Cookbook Challenge

2009-10-22T19:26:00.002-06:00

So, we finally unpacked all of our cookbooks a few weeks ago. They have been languishing boxes in the basement and in the garage since our move...in 2007. Dan and I both like to cook and we both had a lot of cookbooks before we were married. We've acquired a few more since we then. Three shelves full.

Dan thought we should challenge ourselves to prepare at least two recipes from EVERY cookbook in a year's time. If we couldn't find at least two recipes in any given book that we would want to prepare then we should get rid of that book (give it to someone who would use it, sell it, donate it, etc). Good idea and not an insurmountable challenge.

Here's the list of what we have made so far:
Cookbook -- Recipe
The Barbecue Bible -- Ginger-Plum Barbecue Sauce
Served with grilled pork, not worth the effort

The Globus Family Cookbook -- Zucchini Bread
delicious, Dan's made it twice already

Ethnic Cuisine -- Eggplant Parmigiana
Yummo!

365 Ways to Cook Chinese -- Eggplant in Spicy Garlic Meat Sauce
Good way to use up extra eggplant, wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to make it again

Pillsbury Kitchens' Cookbook -- Cranberry (Cherry) Nut Bread
Dan loved it, I only had one piece before I had to go out of town. Good but a little dry.

Stay tuned for future updates.

Luau 2009 - part I

2009-09-13T12:56:00.005-06:00

Here's Pat (Dan's mom) playing the role of Isaac, the bartender.

Hey Meg, check out our cute platters!

Big changes for my friend A

2009-09-01T20:02:00.002-06:00

A and I met each other through work almost 10 years ago. Wow! We're the same age and we served on a committee together. We've seen each other through thick and thin and I'm very proud of that. Six years ago she watched me leave my job and move out east to get married and she stood by me. She must have had mixed feelings (as I do now) watching me go. But as strange as life is, I moved back a year later and she was there to help me celebrate and readjust to life in Colorado. She even DROVE to my wedding in Iowa (with our other good friend C) - across Nebraska twice in one weekend. Now that's friendship!

So now I get to see her move to a new state, start a new job, begin a new chapter in her life. I'm very happy for her and these new things are really a blessing in her life. But I am a little bit sad for me. Love you girl!

Weight Loss Tips from the Transformers - Tip #2

2009-08-24T14:10:00.002-06:00

2. Don't eat after 6:00pm weekdays, 7:00pm weekends

This tip came from Kathy and it's a hard one for me to adhere to - especially during the week. I don't get home from the gym until 6pm and we usually eat right away but still! Once I'm done eating dinner I do try not to snack before bed. I usually fill up my water bottle and drink at least 16 oz before I go to bed. I still think it's a good tip but not always attainable.

Weight Loss Tips from the Transformers - Tip #1

2009-08-20T08:18:00.006-06:00

Every Friday my Biggest Loser team meets for 15-20 minutes to talk about our progress, our stumbling blocks, etc. We also talk about our weekend plans - especially anything revolving around food - and help each other strategize. So here's the first installment in the tips and ideas that came out of one of our meetings.

1. The book "Eat This, Not That" helps to simplify making better choices.

That tip is from Nancy - she and her husband dine out frequently - and she thinks the book has helped her make better choices at restaurants. She keeps it at her desk and we are free to browse through it at any time. I used it to look up some info on Red Lobster a few weeks ago. Here's my tip for you - avoid the Cheddar Bay Biscuits at all cost if you are dining at Red Lobster. 150 calories each (and who can eat just one??) and 350 mg of sodium EACH. I know other teammates have found a few surprises by glancing through the book (both negative and positive surprises).

Think of Rocky on the steps

2009-08-19T21:03:00.002-06:00

So today when I stepped on the scale I had lost 10 lbs. Can you believe it? Me neither...

Wish me luck!

2009-08-03T18:26:00.003-06:00

So today we started a "Biggest Loser" competition at work - the nice part is that you can compete as an individual or as part of a team. We only have two weigh-ins over the 12 weeks - at the beginning and at the end (first week of November) and we each took a "Before" photo. I'm on a team ("The Transformers") from my department. We have had one meeting so far to discuss our goals (mine is to lose 20 lbs during these 3 months) and talk about strategies and tips. Most of them I already knew but it's helpful to be reminded. I'll post some of them in future. I also think it's helpful to have fans encouraging you - I bet there are studies to prove it too. I really would like to win (Hello?!! There's a $150 gift card per person for the winning individual and winning team members) but I'm not sure how driven my teammates are. I'm continuing on my path of morning cardio workouts and afternoon weight lifting routines Monday through Friday and yoga on Sunday.

So I've got a rather big mountain to climb...

2009-07-29T18:51:00.003-06:00

Granted it's a figurative mountain - not a REAL fourteener that Colorado is famous for.

So, Internet, I've decided to lose 90 lbs. Yes, that was Nine Zero. I'm going to need some support from all of you over the next year+. I've lost 6 lbs so far (after 4 weeks) and am very happy about my progress so far. Four weeks ago I bought a BodyBugg. It's a small device that is like an armband but it tracks my steps and calories burned. I track what I eat and then enter it into a website that compares them. It helps me set goals based on my size and weight loss goal. I was already going to the gym at least five days a week to do cardio. Plus I had made a decision to go to yoga class at least once a week for a year. Once I had used the BodyBugg for about two weeks (and realized that I was burning enough calories), I had a friend meet me at the gym (she's a former trainer) and help me redesign my workout routine. For the past week and a half I've been going to the gym twice a day (before and after work). I now do my cardio in the morning and I lift weights in the evening. And I still go to yoga once a week.

Yummy summer salad - this one is a keeper

2009-07-12T09:59:00.002-06:00

Rice, Black Bean, and Corn Salad
Ingredients
1 cup cold cooked brown rice
1/2 cup cooked corn kernels
1/2 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/3 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

Dressing
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, combine rice, corn, bell pepper, celery, beans, onion, cilantro, and jalapeno.

In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar, lime juice, oil and salt. Pour over the rice mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate, covered, until the flavors are blended, at least 1 hour. Makes 4 servings.

PER SERVING: (scant 1 cup): 119 Cal, 4g fat, 1g Sat Fat, 0g Trans Fat, 0mg Chol, 197mg Sod., 19g Carb, 3g Fib, 3g Prot, 21mg Calc.

Memorial Day - Rocky Mtn Natl Park

2009-06-01T21:13:00.004-06:00

Trail Ridge Road is open for the season - see photo below.

We drove up on Memorial Day and we were able to see a lot of wildlife. Elk, deer and a black bear!! I promise that tiny black spot in the center of the photo is a black bear - very far away, just like the Park Rangers recommend.

5 new trees from Denver Digs Trees!

2009-04-25T08:33:00.004-06:00

The Denver Digs Trees program is the flagship program of The Park People. The program provides trees for planting on both public and private property. Street trees (trees that are planted in the public right of way) are available at a low cost to all residents of Denver and are free to residents in our 21 target neighborhoods. Dan and his dad planted our five trees this weekend.

1 Gingko Biloba

Ginkgos are very large trees, normally reaching a height of 20–35 m (66-115 feet), with some specimens in China being over 50 m (164 feet). The tree has an angular crown and long, somewhat erratic branches, and is usually deep rooted and resistant to wind and snow damage. Young trees are often tall and slender, and sparsely branched; the crown becomes broader as the tree ages. During autumn, the leaves turn a bright yellow, then fall, sometimes within a short space of time (1–15 days). A combination of resistance to disease, insect-resistant wood and the ability to form aerial roots and sprouts makes ginkgos very long-lived, with some specimens claimed to be more than 2,500 years old

2 Green Maples
Some of the larger maple species have valuable timber, particularly Sugar Maple in North America, and Sycamore Maple in Europe. Sugar Maple wood, often known as "hard maple", is the wood of choice for bowling pins, bowling alley lanes, pool cue shafts, and butcher's blocks. Maple wood is also used for the production of wooden baseball bats, though less often than ash or hickory due to the tendency of maple bats to shatter when broken.
Some maple wood has a highly decorative wood grain, known as flame maple and quilt maple. This condition occurs randomly in individual trees of several species, and often cannot be detected until the wood has been sawn, though it is sometimes visible in the standing tree as a rippled pattern in the bark. Birdseye maple is another distinctive grain pattern.

2 Zelkova Serratas also known as "Green Vase" or Japanese Zelkova

'Green Vase'- This popular form is a fast grower to 70' tall with a width of 35' to 40'. It maintains a vase-shape with upright arching branches. It is taller and less broad than 'Village Green' at maturity, plus it grows more quickly. The fall color is bronze-red. It is widely considered the best selection.

Lemon Pancakes with Raspberry Sauce

2009-04-22T20:30:00.002-06:00

We bought lemons at Sam's Club recently. Nuff said.

Editor's note - this recipe leaves you with a zested lemon full of juice. I used the lemon juice to make a marinade for grilled chicken.

Pancake Ingredients
1 large egg
1 tablespoon lemon zest, grated
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, lemon zest, buttermilk, brown sugar, and butter. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Cook the pancakes as you normally would. This recipe made about 8 medium pancakes - just barely enough for 4 adults. I would suggest doubling it.

Raspberry Sauce Ingredients
Frozen Raspberries (small package 16 oz?)
1/4 - 1/2 c sugar (to taste)
cornstarch
Put the frozen raspberries in a sauce pan with a little water, the sugar and cornstarch. Simmer until raspberries are broken down. Bring to a boil and reduce heat.

Sorry I've been gone so long...

2009-04-20T20:24:00.003-06:00

I can't really say much is happening here that's been keeping me too busy to blog so I'll just chalk it up to general malaise. We are going to England, Ireland and Wales next month. I got an email from United advertising great fares to lots of spots and London was calling my name. So, I convinced Dan we had to go on another adventure with Globus (actually Cosmos this time). So we and 30 of our closest strangers will soon be tooling around the UK on a motorcoach with a lovely tour director named Nigel or Fiona or something Britishy like that. Dan's never been to the UK and I've never been to Ireland so we each get to explore something new. We both have been doing genealogical research lately and we both have British roots. Dan's mother's father's family can trace their ancester back to the early 1600s. My father's mother's family were Quakers and came over to Pennsylvania (now Delaware) with William Penn in the late 1600s.

Cupcakes for All Seasons

2009-03-06T21:26:00.006-07:00

These are my "spaghetti and meatballs" cupcakes. Remember the "Hello Cupcake" cookbook that Santa brought me? This recipe came from that book. The noodles are frosting, the spaghetti sauce is strawberry jelly, the meatballs are Ferrer Rocher chocolate/hazelnut candies and the parmesan cheese is grated white chocolate.

Vega$ Baby!

2009-02-23T20:39:00.004-07:00

This is a view of the Strip from our room at the Mirage. The volcano out front is going off (as it does hourly) and you can see the Venetian and Bally's in the background. We got a great deal on a two night package and two tickets for Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles LOVE. We HIGHLY recommend it if you're in Vegas and even just like Beatles' music. Each song is a little vignette and the Cirque performers portray the characters from each song -- Eleanor Rigby or Mr. Kite or the Octopus in her garden, for example.

Crossroads of No and Where

2009-02-18T20:04:00.003-07:00

Can you see the vast nothingness behind Dan? No kidding - that is the town of Vidal Junction, CA. From Phoenix, we rented a car to drive up to Las Vegas for two nights. On the way there, we decided to head west from Phoenix on I-10 and then turn north in California. This photo was taken during our lunch stop in Vidal Junction. Lunch, you understand, was rather loosely defined as a "ham" sandwich from the cooler, a bag of Cheetos and a diet Coke. I honestly think that the Cheetos were about the healthiest thing in the gas station.

This was our scenic view from the picnic table - the dumpster in the foreground and the abandoned cafe in the background.

Dan here--Have you ever heard it said "It's not the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from there"? Well, this is the place you see when you're in that place that's not the middle of nowhere, let me tell you. There's a bridge over from Arizona, so there's a produce inspection station, and there's the gas station. Period. It wouldn't be so god-awful if it at least had something more to look at than the chicken on top of the defunct cafe and the old wagon on top of the gas station! Phew! What was really funny though, was the folks pulling over in front of the 'cafe' and discussing whether or not to go back over to AZ for lunch, and if it was worth going through CA 'customs' again!

Wild Blue Yonder

2009-02-10T18:18:00.008-07:00

While we were in Phoenix we went to the model airplane airfield to watch my dad fly his radio controlled airplanes.

The airfield is in eastern Phoenix near Superstition Mountain.

He builds them himself and flew them very regularly when I was a little girl. He gave it up for 25 years or so (but kept all of his planes and radios) and then when he retired he started flying again. My parents live in Iowa from April to November and then winter in Arizona from December to April. My dad doesn't fly much in Iowa when he's there (he's busy with other hobbies) but he flies a couple times a week in Arizona. Here's Dad in the "hanger" at the airfield.

My parents reconnected with several of my dad's Air Force buddies in Arizona. Danny and his wife, Sylvia, came out to watch my dad fly while we were there. Here's my mom (on the left) with Sylvia.

It was a team effort...

2009-02-09T21:29:00.007-07:00

Dan and I went down to Phoenix last week to visit my snowbird parents and my aunt and uncle (Maggie and Don) and my cousin and her family (Micki, Bear and Kasey). Micki and I are only 4 months apart and we were in the same grade in school so we were very close growing up. We aren't as close as we once were but we seem to be able to pick up where we left off when we do get to talk on the phone or see each other. Facebook has also become handy for keeping us updated on each other's daily lives. We stayed with Micki and Bear during our visit and we arrived the day before the Super Bowl in which their hometown team would be playing.

Here's the cake that Micki, Dan and I made for the Super Bowl. I had much grander design plans when I started but we just ran out of time. I ended up roping them in to help with the final decorating when my hands and wrists wore out.

Here's Micki checking the crock pot and a few of her guests with ALL the food for the party.

Here's my dad talking to Micki's parents. Aunt Maggie is my dad's sister (he has six others!).
By the fourth quarter, it was a close game and it looked like the Cardinals might win but the Steelers were tough and came back at the very end. That was day one in Phoenix - more posts on our trip to follow.

How many states do you have left?

2009-01-29T20:30:00.008-07:00

Dan and I were recently comparing notes on the US states we have not yet visited. We don't have many in common unfortunately. If memory serves, Alaska and Maine are the only states that both of us have NEVER visited...not exactly doable on a roadtrip!

Here’s my list (I don’t count a state if I’ve only changed planes there) using the following key: bold for states I’ve been to and bold and italics for states I’ve lived in.

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C.

In fact, except for Oklahoma, none of these states are really within driving distance for me. Darn! Interestingly I realized that business trips over the years have brought me to many of these states. In fact, I made my first (and only) trip to three states in the last four years thanks to my current job: Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey. How many states do you have left? Wanna meet me somewhere for a long weekend of exploring a new place?

James Lipton + Treadmill = Longer Workouts

2009-01-12T20:33:00.002-07:00

On Monday nights, the stars are aligned and when I leave work and go to the gym (essentially to get my cable TV fix - just keepin' it real) "Inside the Actors Studio" is coming on in my local market. Tonight the host, James Lipton, was interviewing Laura Linney. That was kind of cool because Dan and I had just finished watching the HBO miniseries "John Adams" on DVD (highly recommend it - you can get it from your local library)...and Laura Linney won a Golden Globe last night for her portrayal of Abigail Adams. See what I mean about the stars being aligned? On the other nights of the week I might watch "Modern Marvels" on the History Channel or the latest episode of "Food Network Challenge." We're probably the only folks left on the planet without cable so one of my motivations for going to the gym (and I need as many motivations as I can get) is to get a small dose of cable. The best part is that every cardio machine at my gym has its own monitor attached so I can watch what-EVer. I. Want! No fighting, bargaining, or pleading with my better half.

Look, Santa got my bribe...

2009-01-06T19:09:00.002-07:00

I asked for this wonderful cookbook for Christmas and Dan's parents gave it to me. I'm very happy. :-)

We are related to an Olympic champion!

2008-11-26T07:59:00.002-07:00

Our niece, Olivia, is the 2008 Iowa State Special Olympics Bowling Champion - age 8-11. Here she is with her mom (Andrea's sister) Adriene.

Big horn sheep sighting!

2008-11-26T07:32:00.005-07:00

Okay, I'm back folks. A couple of weeks ago, my buddy from Grad school, Larry, and his wife Mary came out to Colorado for a quick weekend off. They needed a break and she was way way interested in the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park (the hotel The Shining was filmed in), so they made arrangements and came out to stay a night. We picked them up the second day, and took them through Rocky Mountain National Park a bit. We did pretty well in RMNP, seeing some stray elk and one pretty big herd before leaving. We also took a nice walk around Bear Lake, where some industrious kid left us little tiny snowmen in pairs every so often along the trail, usually on the benches.

Now, I have to explain something about seeing wildlife up there. Usually, you will drive along, and you will notice 1 or more cars pulled over, their occupants apparently looking at trees on the side of the road; they're actually looking at deer or elk or whatever among the trees, and it's one of the best ways to spot wildlife. In the 4+ years we've been out here, we've stopped many times with the others, to see everything from deer and elk to voles (they're small rodents--think big mice--can't believe they stopped for them!). I've always thought it would be cool to be the one who actually was the first to spot the living animals myself.

So after we left RMNP, we were driving back down to Estes on a road that's on the side of a valley made by a creek flowing along down about 40 feet below and to the right, with houses interspersed on the hillside among the trees. I happened to see a bunch of white butts walking away along the edge of the creek. But the trees and houses kept anyone else from seeing them. Well, when I was growing up, the rule was that at least 2 people had to see the animals for them to be part of the 'official' count, so I demanded that we turn around and go back, as I needed verification. I didn't know what I'd seen exactly anyway, after all, there are a lot of animals with white butts out there. So we came back a ways, and stopped ahead of the way they had been headed, so as to meet them as they came. Larry and I got out and walked over on the side of the road to a driveway that went down to the creek. When we got there, we were face to face with a small herd of bighorn sheep coming up the drive! So I took a few pictures before any other cars came by, and some after. We tried to signal the first cars to slow down, and the very first one looked at me like I was an alien and had a sign "Will abduct you for food" or something. Well, he came pretty close to having a bighorn co-pilot after narrowly missing one in the road. I tried to tell him, didn't I?!!? I creeped closer, eventually getting within about 30 feet of them. The alpha male gave me a look and snorted at me, so I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and backed slowly away. The encounter lasted about 10 minutes, and they ended up climbing the hill on the side of the road away from the creek and slipped into the woods.

I was first to see them!!! And the several other cars who saw them stopped after I got pictures myself!! Not that I'm excited about it or anything.......... ;-)

Do you own a crockpot?

2008-11-02T20:42:00.002-07:00

We own two - medium and large. Dan and I both love using them - especially in the fall and winter when a hot homemade meal is that much better. Well, my friends, have I got a blog for you to check out. Stephanie is the author of (and chief cook for) "A Year of CrockPotting" I haven't tried any of her recipes yet but they look and sound delicious. And she does a great job of tagging her recipes so you can search by crockpot size and by recipe type/ingredient - see the index on the left side of her page. Today she featured John McCain's Crockpot rib recipe - tomorrow she will post Barack Obama's chili recipe.

Spooky Halloween Cupcakes!

2008-10-30T20:17:00.002-06:00

How do you like my Mummies?

Take it easy on a first-timer?

2008-10-30T19:56:00.005-06:00

I guess it's about time I (Dan) found out what all this blog hoo-hah is about eh? Ironic that I haven't been the major contributor, considering I'm the one with the most time on my hands!

Anyway, just thought folks might like to see what I've been occupying that time with (a little of it), rather than watching too many political attack ads and tearing my hair out because Mark Udall is apparently the anti-Christ. This is based on the number and ferocity of the attack ads of which he is a target; I think they account for better than half of all political ads here this season. Hitting the off button, like the guy recommended in Broadcast News, really is the only defense.

So you will see some pictures of the terraced beds I've been working on at the end of the landing strip (the long, two-car wide driveway that ends conspicuously at the yard without a garage). The backfill sloped down from the concrete into the yard, and I decided that I would plant some tomato plants there this year. When I watered them, it ran off really fast, so I had to water them very slowly and deliberately, which was also a giant pain in the @$$. So I considered terracing almost immediately, but it wasn't until I was over at cousin-in-law Dave's house that it finally all came together. He had removed a bunch of 4x6's of varying lengths from his own yard, and had thrown them over in a pile. I asked if he had any plans for them, and he said I could have 'em, and now they're the walls of my terraced beds!

I worked with the varied levels of the existing hill, and made the beds two different levels. The one on the right (if I've used the right pix!) is only 6 inches above the main yard level, while the bed on the left is about 12 inches higher than the yard. Since the lower one is also a little hemmed in from above, I'm thinking that it'll make a good herb garden, while the larger bed is going to be pepper or tomato or something a bit bigger--I'm open to suggestions, but I'm boycotting vining plants like cukes and squash just because they're such bedhogs. Not to mention very very THIRSTY plants! All that's left now is to add in some compost and fertilizer (cousin-in-law Sara, Dave's wife, has an in with a llama poop source...it worked for her this year!), and turn it all back over.

Friday, October 31

2008-10-29T06:53:00.002-06:00

At my company Halloween is a BIG deal every year and even better that it falls on a Friday this year. In the morning there’s a costume contest (individual and group categories) and costume parade, at lunch most departments host a potluck and in the afternoon the company hosts trick or treating for the children and grandchildren of employees. I used to be in the Marketing department and we usually came up with a group costume – often travel destination related. Now I’m not in Marketing and I’m in a department that is very busy in the fall. So busy in fact that one third to one half of the team is on the road during October and we have a “skeleton” crew (Ba dum bum, kssshh) left to brainstorm and create our costume. This year I think our idea is rather clever and that’s mostly because we have someone in our department, Beth, who is obsessed by Halloween. I suspect she feels like she’s dragging the rest of us along, kicking and screaming.

The costume contest is very competitive – here’s an illustrative example. Two years ago Marketing decided to dress up as the members of “Guns N Roses” and their management team and roadies. It wasn’t good enough for them just to dress up – they created Ticketmaster tickets and gave a concert (lip synched) with instruments etc on the loading dock. They even convinced our COO to be their “manager” -- so he was dressed in a blazer and sunglasses with his backstage pass around his neck and a fake barbed wire tattoo on his neck. I realize you don’t know him but, trust me, he’s the LAST person you would expect to get into the spirit. OK, maybe the second to last person at GVI…Marketing had won the group costume contest for several years in a row so Product Development finally decided to give them a run for their money. The folks in Product Development decided to dress up as the characters from the Michael Jackson video “Thriller.” So we had a whole bunch of zombies with torn clothes, wild hair, zombie make up AND Michael Jackson. They somehow convinced the manager of their department to dress as Michael Jackson – face mask, red leather jacket, etc. AND they taught him the dance moves and recreated the music video. It was UNBELIEVABLE and they finally beat Marketing. Paul really was the LAST person you would expect to show up in costume demonstrating Michael Jackson’s dance moves. (I'm still sort of stunned when I think about it now.)

My department is having a potluck on Friday and I’m making some cute Halloween cupcakes (of course!). If they look as cute as I imagine they will, I will post some photos.

Happy Aniversary to us!

2008-10-18T09:40:00.008-06:00

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Wow! Time flies! Today is Dan's and my 5th wedding anniversary. We're celebrating by digging in the yard. How romantic! (And we're going out to dinner tonight.) I'm planting peony tulips in the front yard along the sidewalk and Dan is making some terraced beds off the "landing strip." If you have seen the driveway on the east side of our house, you would understand why we refer to it as the landing strip. See the illustrative photo above. We used it as a party pad/driveway during the luau this summer.

I've included a photo of how my tulips will look next spring - courtesy of the website where I bought the bulbs.

Photo Credit: Michigan Bulb Co.

Frosting Shots -- that's what I'm talking about!

2008-10-18T09:26:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite blogs to read is Cupcakes Take the Cake -it is written by three lovely ladies who report on all things cupcake (news, photos, crafts, events, recipes, etc). Before I noticed a new trend in cupcake bakeries here in town I read about it on their blog - Frosting Shots! Can you believe it? I am one of those people who prefers a high frosting to cake ratio (hence my recent rejoining of the gym :-) ) and the frosting shots are the perfect solution to that problem. See the original news story here on their blog. Lovely Confections here in town sells them as does Happy Cakes. I haven't tried them yet but it brings back memories of licking the beaters or bowls of mom's homemade goodies when I was growing up.

The first guests to stay in our guest room...

2008-10-06T14:24:00.002-06:00

Cheryl (a former coworker of Dan's), her husband, Mike, and their daughter, Munchie (OK, her real name is Lauren) stayed with us a week ago. They live in Portland, OR and came out to Colorado for a wedding up in the mountains.

Here's Lauren playing with our neighborhood stray kitty - she loves kitty cats.

Congratulations Marcia and Kathryn!

2008-10-01T19:44:00.007-06:00

I flew out to California this weekend for the wedding of my best friend, Marcia. She married her partner, Kathryn, whom she has known since 1988. Dan and I still have them beat - we met in 1986.

Here are their flowers - their colors were pink, black and white.

They met at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota and were married by another Mac alum. Hmmm...also similar to Dan and I, except we met at Grinnell and were married by a Grinnellian on campus.

Here's me, signing their marriage license. Below are their wedding cupcakes. :-)

Moth Balls, Dryer Sheets and Knee High Nylons

2008-09-23T21:03:00.008-06:00

OK, the title of this post might seem little bizarre and certainly these things must be unrelated but all three were utilized at our house this summer to defeat a common backyard pest. Did you know we have a pear tree in our backyard? Did you know pears are Dan's favorite fruit? Last summer, the squirrels STOLE all the pears from our tree!! This year we decided to take matters into our own hands, starting with the above referenced tools. I read online that squirrels don't like the smell of moth balls and the website suggested suspending a healthy supply from several branches in knee high nylons. So, we tried that, it worked fairly well. Then we heard that dryer sheets have the same effect and they smell a lot better than moth balls. So, we tried that. Eventually we bought a BB gun. That at least allowed Dan to harvest enough pears to make some jelly. Hence the photo above. The pear jelly is in the center. The peach jelly (No, we don't have a peach tree in our backyard) is on the right and the peach/rum jelly is on the left.

Once Domestic Super Hero Dan got started on the pear jelly, he decided to make peach too. So he bought a lug of peaches from Craigslist and got started. Do you know how much a lug of peaches weighs? That's a lot of blanching and peeling. Yikes!

My mom canned vegetables and made jelly when I was younger and my sister, Adriene, does it now. It does call for some special tools - none of which we owned. But DSH Dan was undeterred. He adapted and made one of the tools himself. See his cool tool below.

He adapted a funnel we already had to make a W-I-D-E mouth funnel…would you have thought of that? The peach and pear jelly recipes came from my sister. The peach/rum jelly came from Receipezaar (my favorite recipe website) and you can find it here. Or, you can figure out a way to become DSH Dan's new best friend.

Big excitement in our neighborhood!

2008-09-14T17:56:00.007-06:00

This out in front of the elementary school across the street from our house.

The Tinkerbell Room TRANSFORMED

2008-08-27T10:19:00.010-06:00

I'm sure everyone (when they move into a previously inhabited house) questions the decorating tastes and choices of the previous owners. Since we bought our house in April 2007 we've asked ourselves many times "What were they thinking?!" Our house has three bedrooms - one that was the "master" bedroom (two off white walls, two grey/green walls), one that was the "teenager's" bedroom (four dark purple walls and ceiling) and the little girl's bedroom (lavender walls, light green trim, blue sky ceiling with clouds and Tinkerbell wallpaper border and Tinkerbell stickers - hence our nickname for the room). See the before photos ABOVE.

Dan's mom was determined to transform the Tinkerbell room into something we would be interested in inhabiting as adults. Dan had done most of the real remodeling that had to be done - moving closets, etc. So Pat took on the patching, priming and painting. We chose pale blue with white trim. See the after photos BELOW.

Our 2nd Annual Luau

2008-08-19T21:19:00.006-06:00

Last year we hosted a luau (on Bastille Day for you Francophiles) for our housewarming party. This year we decided to do it again while we had family (i.e. unpaid assistants) in town. Pat and Jim (Dan's parents) arrived at the beginning of August and my sister, Adriene, her husband, Dwane, and their three daughters, Naomi, Olivia and Danielle, arrived a week later. Dan and I decided to serve the same menu as last year: Pineapple-glazed pork loin, Teriyaki chicken legs, Broccoli Slaw, Tropical Fruit Salad, Asian Tossed Salad, and Frozen Fruit Bars. It was a real family affair: Adriene and Pat did most of the shopping, Dan and Jim did last minute repairs to our deck, Dwane, Jim and the girls did most of the set up/decorating and Dan, Adriene and I did most of the prep/cooking.

Happy Happy this month

2008-08-19T20:56:00.002-06:00

There are lots of August celebrations I would like to note here.

Family:
My Mom, August 13 birthday
Annie, August 19 birthday
Dan's parents, August 19 anniversary

And three coworkers birthdays:
Doug, August 16 birthday
Larry, August 18 birthday
Kathy, August 19 birthday

My high school friend Angie, August 24 birthday

Why did the elk cross the road?

2008-08-17T21:01:00.000-06:00

We love visiting Rocky Mountain National Park and we decided to try out the new jeep a few weekends ago with a trip up Trail Ridge Road. See our slide show here. It's a good thing we went when we did because last weekend we had snow above 10,000 feet in Colorado and they closed Trail Ridge Road temporarily.

Trail Ridge Road is the name for the stretch of U.S. Highway 34 and is the highest continuous highway in the United States. It crosses the Continental Divide at Milner Pass (elev. 10,758 ft) and reaches a maximum elevation of 12,183 ft, near Fall River Pass (elev. 11,796 ft). It is closed during the winter, and often remains closed until late spring or early summer depending on the snowpack.

Book Review: The Big Oyster

2008-08-02T07:51:00.004-06:00

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell
by Mark Kurlansky

I read another of Mark Kurlansky’s books, “Salt: A World History”, last month for my Book Club. Though I didn’t choose the book this month, I’m a big non-fiction fan and I thought “Salt” was very interesting (though sometimes a little dry). Did you know Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt and that’s the origin of the word “salary”? Me neither.

So I looked for other food-themed history books by Kurlansky. I found “Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World” and “The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell.” The library waiting list for “Cod” was rather long so I moved on to "The Big Oyster."

Although the title and cover suggest that the book is about oysters, it's actually a history of New York City--the choices and, in particular, the mistakes (in hindsight) the city residents made in handling the environment that transformed Manhattan island and its surroundings from pastoral beauty to modern Gotham. Today, New York is the very representation of "city." This is how it got that way--through the eyes of the oyster. Here's more info if you would like to order it yourself from one of my favorite local bookstores.

Darin, Charlene and the kids come for a visit

2008-06-30T12:24:00.000-06:00

Darin and I grew up in the same small town in Iowa and he was in Adriene's class (a year behind me) but we didn't really get to know each other and become friends until we went to college. We saw each other more frequently when I lived in the midwest but since he and Charlene moved back to our home town, I hope to see them more often. They decided to vacation in Colorado this year and spent most of their time in Estes Park but they came down to Denver and had dinner at our house one night. We mostly caught up with each other and discussed all the flooding that had just happened in eastern Iowa (more on that topic later). See photos of them and Zach, Adam and Penelope below.

Dan's trip to the 2007 World Series

2008-06-25T18:10:00.002-06:00

As luck would have it, I bought 2007 Colorado Rockies season tickets for Dan for Christmas the year before. He's really a Cleveland Indians fan but he had to make do with the local team. Incredibly, the Rockies were a team on fire in September as the season wound down. So, we made it into the playoffs and then the World Series. Season tickets holders got first crack at it and we decided to buy four tickets for all the home games. On a whim, I called my sister and asked her if she and her husband would like to come out for one of the games. Considering I gave her less than a week's notice to make the plans, find some where for my nieces to stay (thanks Mom and Dad!), and drive 500 miles. They arrived late Friday night and she and worked a Craft Fair on Saturday. The guys hung out during the day and then got ready for the game which started at 7. My brother in law appears below. They had a good time even though the Rockies lost and it was a little chilly that night.

Gazpacho - one of my summertime favorites

2008-06-23T22:08:00.001-06:00

Gazpacho is a cold soup originating in the southern region of Spain called Andalusia . It descends from an ancient Andalusian concoction based on a combination of stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar — a cold breadsoup.
Today, in the United States , most gazpacho recipes include tomato, cucumber, bell (sweet) pepper, onion, garlic, and celery. Some also include olive oil, bread, vinegar or lemon juice, fresh herbs, sugar, canned tomato juice, or hot sauce. Gazpacho is sometimes pureed until smooth, and sometimes served with small or large chunks of vegetables.

Try this one:
http://www.recipezaar.com/60897

More of Chrissy's artwork

2008-06-22T10:36:00.005-06:00

Dijon Marinade for chicken or pork

2008-06-22T10:26:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago I concocted a new marinade recipe for grilled chicken. Dan, as always, had a good suggestion to make a few tweaks and here's the final result.

1/2 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
garlic powder to taste (probably 1-2 tsp)
black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and marinate your meat of choice for at least an hour.

I made the chicken version for Girl's Night and we marinated a pork loin when Dan's dad was here.

Speaking of cupcakes

2008-06-22T10:14:00.004-06:00

Lisa brought some delicious Raspberry Lemonade cupcakes to Girl's Night from a local bakery (Happy Cakes) and we all loved them. Thanks Lisa! I promptly requested 4 or 5 cupcake cookbooks from the library. For photos, my favorite cookbook was "Hello Cupcake" and for recipes, my favorite cookbook was "Crazy About Cupcakes."

Last night (good thing we have air conditioning) I decided to make and decorate some cupcakes. I used a yellow cake mix since I had it on hand and truthfully, I was more interested in the decorating than the baking. Of course, I enlisted Dan's help. He gets dragged into a lot of my little crafty projects...

The frosting recipe was a simple Vanilla Buttercream from "More from Magnolia Bakery" that we divided and colored these soothing pastel shades.

Girl's Night

2008-06-21T20:52:00.006-06:00

Dan left town a few weeks ago to fly back to Ohio and drive the jeep back to Colorado. I took the opportunity to host a Girl's Night with a few friends. Chrissy brought her henna and we all got tattoos.

Yummy homemade Lemon Curd

2008-05-25T13:38:00.002-06:00

Lemon curd is an English favorite and has many uses. It is a wonderfully tart, soft, thick, spread that originally was served with scones at teatime, but it now used on toast, to fill cakes between the layers or crepes, in tarts, as an ice cream or cheesecake topping. Mix it with whipped cream for a quick lemon mousse. I decided to try making it for the first time.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
3 lemons, zested
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the microwave, and pour into small sterile jars. Mine took 5 1/2 minutes at 50% power. Store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

Glass Fusing Class - look I'm an artist!

2008-04-03T20:38:00.002-06:00

In early March I took an all day workshop called "Beginning Fusing" at Bella Glass Studio here in Denver. It was an early birthday present from Dan. The class description reads: "Explore the creative designs of hot glass. In this class you will learn the fundamentals of kiln forming while creating your own exciting fused glass pieces." We made 2 pendants, a vase, 2 coasters, and a picture frame. I really love the pendants and the vase. The white, red and black pendant was "tack" fused. In other words, it was heated just enough for the glass to stick to itself. The blue pendant was "fully" fused. The blue glass is on the bottom and a slightly larger piece of clear class was placed on top. Then I added chips of iridescent dichroic glass on top of that. Then the pendant was heated enough so all the layers of glass melted together to form a smooth surface. For the vase, we each selected a flat, square piece of class. After you polish the edges and corners a little (to make them less sharp), you simply center the piece of glass over a vase form in the kiln, when the glass is fired, it melts or slumps over the form.

With the coasters, I was trying to match the colors in our living room but the execution was a little disappointing. For the picture frame, our only color choice was black and then we could add other colored glass chips. I chose pastels because they would show up against the black and it doesn't really match any color scheme in our house.

It surprised me a little that the class was mostly about the technical aspects of the craft - very little about the artistic aspects. Over all, it was enjoyable and I might go back and take more classes.

Coconut Sandwich Cookies

2008-02-16T08:59:00.002-07:00

Carroll, at the library, brought these to work a few weeks ago. I tried one (not realizing they were Coconut) and they were delicious. I got the recipe from her and made them last weekend. They were a big hit!

Coconut Sandwich Cookies
From “Everyday Food”

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 package (7 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut (about 2 ¼ cups), divided
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Creamy Vanilla Filling (see below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Place ½ cup of coconut into a small bowl; set aside. Place remaining coconut in a food processor; pulse until coarsely ground. Set aside.

Using electric mixer, beat butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and ground coconut; mix until just combined.

Drop dough by level tablespoons onto two baking sheets, 1-2 inches apart. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 10-12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make filling while cookies are cooling.

Dividing evenly, spread filling on flat side of half the cookies; sandwich with remaining cookies. Roll edges in reserved coconut, and chill until ready to serve.

Creamy Vanilla Filling
½ cup (1stick) unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
½ tsp pure vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer, beat room temperature butter until light and fluffy. With mixer on medium, beat in confectioners sugar ½ cup at a time, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add ½ teaspoon vanilla; increase mixer speed to high and beat until filling is light and fluffy, 5 minutes.

I love RECIPEZAAR

2008-01-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

For the uninitiated, Recipezaar.com is a recipe website. One of many...I don't remember how I stumbled across it but I've been using it for 4 years or so. They post monthly articles about seasonal menus or recipe collections (right now they are featuring Crock Pot recipes and Mardi Gras menus). Truth be told, I don't usually read them. I usually log on searching for something specific. One of the reasons I love it is that there are many recipe search criteria (Cooking Method, Ingredients, Occasion, Rating, etc). It's taken a bit of trial and error over the years but now I can even narrow the search using multiple elements (crock pot, chicken, low carb).

Another reason I love this site is that many of the recipes have been tried and rated by other cooks. Here's one comment I found posted recently that I love: "I served this casserole at a church brunch, everyone loved it. Men wanted seconds and women wanted the recipe. It was a big hit. I am making it again tomorrow." Once I narrow down my search, I usually sort all the qualifying recipes by rating (highest to lowest). That way I get the best recipes in any given category.

Dan's Mushroom Soup

2008-01-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yum yum! Several friends have asked for this recipe so here you go:

Mushroom Soup with Port
1 oz. dried wild mushrooms (such as shiitake or porcini)
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3/4 lb. cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced (we usually substitute portabello mushrooms)
3 Tb. all-purpose flour
salt and white pepper
2 tsp. soy sauce
5 Tb. tawny port
1 cup half and half
2 Tb. finely chopped fresh parsley for garnish

In a medium saucepan, combine dried mushrooms and broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. In a medium soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and saute, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes or until soft. Add cremini mushrooms and saute for another 3 minutes. Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper. Stir for 1 minute to cook flour and coat mushrooms. Whisk in the broth and dried mushrooms. Add the soy sauce and simmer for 15 minutes, partially covered. With a hand held blender, blend soup until roughly pureed OR transfer the soup into a regular blender in batches and roughly puree. Return to soup pot and add the port and half and half. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 2 minutes or until the alcohol has burned off. Taste for seasoning. Ladle into bowls and garnish with parsley.

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris...

2008-01-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast.”

At the Globus holiday party in December 2006, I was lucky enough to have won a set of two roundtrip tickets on Continental Airlines - anywhere in the world. We had already booked our Italy trip for March of 2007 (more posts on that later) so we had to choose another destination to travel to before December 2007. While we were in Italy we found out the offer on the house had been accepted so that put another trip off a little longer. We also figured out that we better plan to visit someone we knew so we could take advantage of their hospitality and sofa bed. :-) So we choose Paris and Eindhoven, Holland. We left for Paris in late September and arrived just in time for the Rugby World Cup being hosted by France. The photo above on the left is the jumbotron in front of the Hotel de Ville (city hall) in Paris showing World Cup matches day and night.

It turns out that the French (the whole world in fact) are pretty crazy about rugby. If you look closely at the photo on the right, you'll see an inflatable rugby ball suspended inside the Eiffel Tower!

-A

What would we do without PBS?

2008-01-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

PBS in our house means two things. It does mean Public Broadcasting Service to be sure but it also means "Pearls Before Swine" -- our favorite comic strip by Stephen Pastis. Have you read it? I know we've recommended it to a few of our friends and family members. It features a small cast of animals - the ever cynical Rat, the naive Pig, a cadre of crocodiles (Larry, JoJo, Frank) and a zebra (or Zeeba if you're a crockydile with a funny accent). Our favorite strips are the ones pitting the crocodiles against their neighbor zebra. The zebra is generally in a battle of wits with several unarmed crocs. Check it out for yourself. http://www.denverpost.com/comics

We also live without cable so the other PBS is also a lifeline - especially because we have access to two local stations (Colorado Public Broadcasting and Rocky Mountain PBS). Tonight we're tuning in to watch "The Pioneers of Television" and "The Jewish Americans."

-A