D & K Odds 'n Ends

IPad Test

2011-11-03T19:41:00.001-04:00

Just experimenting with this app and the iPad2.

Snow Day

2011-01-19T18:42:00.004-05:00

Time to play with some of my new kitchen toys

I was counting on my new crème brulee dishes being multi-purpose, so I put them to the test this morning. Half a bag of fresh spinach, 2 eggs, a bit of milk, garlic, feta cheese, salt, and pepper were mixed together then divided into 2 buttered dishes.

After cooking them in the microwave a few minutes, I sprinkled on some mozzarella cheese and cooked another 30 seconds. To test how well food came out of the dishes, I tipped the “quiche” onto a plate and added a garnish of “peeled” carrots. I ate one for breakfast (yummy) and plan on putting the other on “health nut” bread with some of the carrots for a sandwich for tomorrow’s lunch.

My new dutch oven (Calphalon Contemporary Stainless 8.5 quart) is also proving to be great for different types of cooking. So far I’ve made chili in it, cooked spaghetti on the stove, and baked in the oven – today I used it to soften rice papers for my lunch of spring rolls. Assembled food included more of the peeled carrots, sliced/steamed white asparagus, mung bean noodles, and cucumber strips. About one minute soaking in warm water in the perfect diameter pan and I was ready to roll.

A bit of teriyaki sauce for dipping was the final touch for a delicious light meal.
It was a fun time in the kitchen. ~~K

Gardening

2010-08-12T16:45:00.003-04:00

Joy and Woe
Intrigued by the coloring of this small sunflower, I decided to grow it in my garden for the first time this year.

Caught in the act! These horned tomato worms and their buddies did an enormous amount of damage in only three days. Obviously I plucked them, and turned them into a beautiful green mush on the cement.

Adventures in gardening continue... ~K

Organizing 101

2010-08-05T12:12:00.001-04:00

That's a start! Hopefully it works on a dailybasis. ~~K

Ketchup and Mustard Garden

2010-07-22T12:10:00.005-04:00

And many more fun kid-theme gardens were enjoyed recently at BG’s Simpson Gardens.

Hopefully the pictures tell it all: water barrels, potting shed, kayak planting, view the roots, tea, tires, veggies, etc.

Besides these whimsical gardens, Simpson has a healing garden, scultpture garden, water features, tree alley, and other areas under development.

Check it out sometime if you are in the area. ~~K

SRM Quilts

2010-06-06T19:17:00.008-04:00

Progress Report 2

Lion quilt says, "Grrreat, I'm finished." I had a lot of fun with that challenge and am pleased with the finished look provided by the pink and white stripe binding.

The “Cars” were on the back burner for about a week – I just couldn’t come up with a quilting plan. By reading every free-motion quilting library book I could get my hands on, practicing on paper and without thread, I gained confidence, inspiration, and perhaps even became a bit cocky. Free-motion script writing for the first time didn’t turn out too bad!

It’s hard to see in the small yellow squares, but there’s a simple outline of a car that I felt added to the theme. There's just a simple medium/large meandering on the book pages. It all came together in the finished product.

Baby Einstein needed some sashing material, so I bought some mottled grass green fabric at Hobby Lobby. I originally thought I would use yellow for the small square as I did on the cars quilt, but I didn’t have enough. I used a blue and white fabric that will also serve as the backing- purchased for $1 at the local Goodwill Store.

Piecing is finished, but, it’s back to the drawing board to decide how to quilt this one. Any ideas?- ~~K

SRM Quilts – Progress Report 1

2010-05-22T08:31:00.004-04:00

WOW! What a stuffed bag of goodies to use for practice quilting – and piecing.

I know the grey/hippo quilt top should have been addressed first, but the Cars book was calling my name.

For some reason the moment I saw it I knew exactly how I wanted to put it together. First there was quite a bit of trimming and squaring to end up with twelve 7” x 9-1/2” rectangles. Cutting the 3-1/2" sashing and small squares was then quite easy. It’s not finished yet, but here are the blocks as they look on my kitchen floor:

Due to the rectangle proportions this needed a landscape layout, so it is a bit non-traditional in appearance. Unfortunately these Cars haven’t told me what quilt design to use yet.

But the lions were rumbling, “work on me” – instead of calling it the hippo quilt top I call it the “lion” one since I seem to see more lions than hippos.

Free-motion quilting is what I need to practice and the lions were agreeable. It was a challenge getting the top “almost” square and laying flat. A piece of V’s quilt batting seems to be a low-loft polyester and is fine for this Quilt for Kids. Quilting isn’t finished yet, but here’s a sampling:

More projects in the SRM bag will have to wait until I finish these two – unless an inspiration for their completion hits me and can’t be quelled. ~~K

Love the Library

2010-05-18T18:58:00.002-04:00

Internet Junkie? Of course I am. But I’d have a rough time without the library. I still love the printed word that I can hold in my hand. At times, it even awakens me as a book drops to my chest when I’ve fallen asleep reading in bed.

My latest endeavor – machine quilting – has put my library system to the test. My local library has a limited selection; my county library is a bit better; but the state system of cooperating libraries is fantastic. Searching “machine quilting” let me choose from 287 books! Here are some I’m currently perusing:
As long as a book is not on the hold list and I’m first in line for the request, I usually can pick up the book at my local library in about three days. It sometimes surprises me how many other people have requested the same book before me.

I’m a visual/tactile learner and need the true feel of a book so I can “absorb” the information.
After reading until I have a good grasp of the concept, I “air” practice – you know, like air guitar playing – I even tell my students “air keyboarding” is helpful typing practice.

Next comes a simulation – such as machine quilting on paper. Then on to the REAL DEAL!

Each new pattern requires me to step back and go through my learning process again. Time consuming? Sometimes. But usually very rewarding.

Go check out a library book! ~~K

Squeaky Wheel Gets the Oil

2010-05-13T07:05:00.003-04:00

Free Motion Quilting Part 4 of ?

So it wasn’t a wheel – it was my sewing machine! I had probably used my sewing machine 6 hours this week and after 30 minutes of use the other day it started squeaking LOUDLY. I couldn’t tell exactly where it was coming from – I thought it was the hand wheel area at first, then I wasn’t sure.

I continued sewing about 10 minutes and then decided I had better check this squeak out before I caused some real damage to my old White. A good cleaning and oiling was in order and I’d take it from there.

As you know I’d been “quilting” on paper which I knew would generate some dust. I pulled a surprisingly thick wad of “dust” from under the throat plate by the feed dogs. Proper oiling in the bobbin area didn’t eliminate the squeak.

Upon opening the side panel, there was less dust than I expected (based on the throat plate area). Oiling the specified points seemed to lessen the squeak, but it was still prominent.

I don’t recall when I had last removed the top cover so I continued to that stage of maintenance. Again, not THAT much dust. But, after each point was oiled I manually turned the wheel and there was a lessening of the squeak. By the time I had finished following all steps for cleaning/oiling in the user manual, the squeak was gone!
Hopefully I’ve solved the “problem” and haven’t set myself up for a future shop repair. Online I read you should clean/oil your sewing machine after every 8-10 hours of use, and others suggest as often as every-other bobbin. I’ve been remiss! If I continue machine quilting (and I intend to) I’ll be doing this cleaning/oiling routine often. My past piecing, clothing construction, and reupholstering did not have as much continual “running” of the sewing machine as I’ve been experiencing lately while doing the “free motion” machine quilting.

Live and learn! ~~K

Third Time’s the Charm

2010-05-12T07:11:00.004-04:00

Free-Motion Quilting Part 6 of ?

Finally, I successfully machine quilted in true free motion technique that meets my standards. On the third Quilt for Kids I used a continuous curve in the four-patches and medium stippling in the larger squares and outer border – and all without any marking on the fabric! All that practice was worth it.

Final size after washing; 39.5" x 34.5"

What a time-saver by not having to pre-mark the fabric! I’ll admit there are quite a few “quilted” 8-1/2 x 11 sheets of paper in the recycle bin. Visualizing the “pattern” and then doing it on paper at the sewing machine seems to give me the confidence and necessary muscle memory. Every activity seems to need its own specialized warm-up session (running anyone?).

Now I want to start practicing some other free-motion designs – perhaps connected hearts, maybe even loops.

Anyone have a pieced top I could use for practice? I need to get busy piecing, but I just want to “quilt”! ~~K

2nd Quilt for Kids

2010-05-11T19:21:00.003-04:00

Free-Motion Quilting Part 5 of ?

Again I traced on the back, but used a larger stipple pattern. Actually I was hoping this would quilt quicker and use less thread. It did use less thread, but I ended up not saving any time.

Looking at what I thought was the finished project I realized I wasn’t careful enough with the quilting placement. I saw a puffy stripe down the middle that I eliminated by adding a squiggly line of quilting. I also added more stippling along the sides since I originally left too much empty space near the border.

I forgot to sew on the label before I made the sandwich, so I improvised the border quilting with a stylized diamond design. It’s quite a contrast to the free-motion quilting on the rest of the quilt.
Despite all of the missteps I am pleased with the end result and looking forward to the next quilt. ~~K

Fresh

2010-04-23T18:55:00.006-04:00

On the way back from picking up D’s 6-speed 2-seater (about 100 miles away from our house – and on a weeknight!) I “splurged” and stopped at a fruit and vegetable market I had seen on one of our earlier car-shopping excursions - Joe Randazzo’s in Dearborn Heights.

Fourteen “items” for $11.27! I had to keep reminding myself of how much available refrigerator/freezer space I had available. Items I didn’t purchase but was very tempted by included bulk portabella mushrooms for $2.99 a pound, bean sprouts at $0.49 a pound, etc.

Best deals I did buy were seedless grapes (I forgot to include them in the photo) for $0.89 a pound, strawberries for $0.99 a container (after getting home I realize they are from Plant City, Florida where a blogger had a great time at the Strawberry Festival), parsley only $0.34 a bunch, and so on – look at that receipt!

Having been influenced by others’ blogs I couldn’t resist buying a yucca root for $0.69 per pound (had no idea if that was a good price or not) – we enjoyed it with stuffed green peppers (made 8, ate 3, 5 in the freezer for another day) for supper this evening. Even D agreed we should have these baked fries again.

I need to check out some of the markets in west T-town. Hopefully they can match those prices! ~~K

Steep Learning Curve

2010-04-18T15:28:00.008-04:00

Free Motion Quilting Part 3 of ?

My current machine quilting is free motion only in the sense that the feed dogs are down – I’ve resorted to drawing on the fabric before sewing! I had a “design” in my head I could follow on small practice sandwiches, but now that I’m on a child size quilt I find myself getting lost.
Thanks to a new flow point on my wood-burning tool I was able to burn a puzzle-like stippling continuous line on an overhead transparency (another use for silicone baking mats). I then traced the pattern lightly onto the quilt back with a pencil, but found it too light to follow successfully. It is a soft lead so I’m going back over it in smaller sections just prior to quilting. That’s more work than I anticipated; especially since I originally thought I wouldn’t even have to “draw” a quilting line.
After finally getting a “pattern” technique developed, my next frustration is pulling the bobbin thread up to get started. I divided the quilt into 10 sections, hoping I would only have to do this ten times, but I realize now how much thread this project is taking as I frequently run out of bobbin thread. At least I preloaded the four empty ones I had available.

I started the quilting with curved safety pins for basting. After I carefully examined my first section, I’ve included many straight pins between the safety pins and just remove them upon the needle’s approach. That first section had a few puckers that I think will just have to remain as evidence of my beginner’s status.
Due to poor tension in an area that I could “hear” almost as soon as I started a section, I stopped, ripped it out and restarted. I missed an area and went back and quilted in a closed “puzzle piece”. There were also a few “puffy” areas where I left too much of a space between the quilted “lines”. That “school of hard knocks” is quite a task master!

It surprised me how difficult it is to maneuver the fabric and not let it move where it wants to go due to the small surface and the quilt’s weight. Ugly rubber coated work gloves I had never used have proven to be an invaluable help. Who needs special quilting gloves? –Not me!

On the positive side, I’m proud of my stitch length so far – if anything the majority of my stitches are probably too close together. There are a few quarter-inch gaps that have snuck in – but very few.
This quilt still needs several sessions to complete – I find I need to work in short spurts with breaks in between. I’ll keep plugging along – I have another “Quilt for Kids” top pieced and waiting. ~~K

Getting Closer

2010-04-11T17:28:00.003-04:00

Free Motion Quilting Part 2 of ?

Having completed 20 paper “quilts” I wanted to try my hand with real quilting on a sandwich. This photo is my first attempt (back side):

I think I’m ready to tackle a “Quilt for Kids” with free motion machine quilting. According to an email I received, my kit should arrive Tuesday. In the mean time I’ve used some scraps and “Goodwill” fabrics to create an “Arthur” quilt top for the charity.

About 3 hours are invested in this so far (including cutting the fabric). I don’t have a backing yet – hopefully I’ll get lucky at a thrift store sometime over the next several weeks.

Back to practice! ~~K

Free Motion Machine Quilting – Part 1 of ?

2010-04-08T16:40:00.005-04:00

First Practice –about 30 minutes before school (reading instructions, setting up machine, etc)

I was eager to start so I took an 8.5 x 11” piece of paper and “quilted” it without thread – just to see if I could get a feel for pressing consistently with my foot on the speed pedal and moving the “fabric” so I had acceptable stitch length. I only did one sheet of paper – see photo. Obviously I have a lot to work on – my goal is to keep stitches short (no longer than if I was hand quilting).

I then took a small “sandwich” that I had never completed hand quilting, and again without thread, I attempted free motion quilting on it to get a feel for moving the fabric. I couldn’t see my “stitches” but I think I should do this some more to be able to control the fabric – I think I need to get better at keeping the fabric “square” as in don’t rotate it (I wouldn’t be able to rotate a large piece of quilt) – just move it around – practicing more on paper will probably help me there.

To save money I’ll do some more practice quilting on both paper and “sandwiches” without thread. I know the paper sewing will dull the needle and perhaps get more “dust” in the bobbin area, but I planned on buying new needles anyway and a good cleaning of the machine should take place frequently. FYI I’m using my Jeans Machine by White that has served my sewing/upholstery needs well over the last few decades – when looking in my instruction manual I saw I purchased this new in 1991 – my previous two sewing machines were used Singers.

I think with some daily practice (10 minutes?) for a week I can get a handle on the technique, but I’m going to need more guidance on how to move for an acceptable “pattern” (I’m used to hand quilting over pre-drawn guide lines). I think I’ll next try some freehand drawing on paper – maybe waves.

A nearby quilt shop is offering a 2-hour evening machine quilting class May 6. It mentions using a walking (or even feed) foot – I used a darning foot for my practice. I need to contact them for more information to see if I have what I need to be accepted into the class and if it's “free motion” or straight lines. A quilt shop I visited in Michigan last week also offers a class, but I’m not sure I want to drive over 2 hours each way for a 5-hour class that might not meet my needs.

Back to practice – hopefully part 2 will show some improvement! Any tips would be appreciated. ~~K

Puzzling

2010-01-10T15:34:00.003-05:00

After several days of “puzzling” we have a border (minus a few pieces we haven’t located, even though those straight edges should be obvious)!

A few other sections of the scattered matches design have also been pieced together.

I’m so glad we have such nice puzzle boards that can be quickly stowed away in their own carrying case. Hopefully these puzzling activites will help to ward off “senior moments” as well as be a diversion from our “overuse” of computers. ~~K

Cheese Freak

2009-08-07T16:41:00.004-04:00

Most of you know how much I love potatoes, and CHEESE ranks right up there as one of my favorite foods. I was craving Irish farmhouse cheese, but besides being hard to find it costs more than I care to pay. Since Kroger had milk on sale this week I thought it was the time to make it myself.

I have used George’s mom’s recipe before and thought it was great and simple - both in the ingredients and technique. Ever watch “Ham on the Street”? That’s the George I’m talking about. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/george-duran/georges-moms-homemade-herb-cheese-recipe/index.html

Two summers ago I gathered or made my cheese-making supplies. For one gallon of milk, a whipped topping container is perfect. I used the electric drill to get drainage holes in the bottom (if you do this, be sure to remove all the plastic particles - you might have to use a very sharp knife to do this).

I purchased a package of cheesecloth, cut off about a 36” long tube and tied one end closed. That might seem very long, but I found that length necessary to completely cover my colander so I wouldn’t have to worry about it slipping as I poured in the curds and whey.

On my electric stove, using milk and half and half directly from the refrigerator it took slightly over an hour to reach 195 degrees. I tend to be impatient and those last 15 degrees seemed to take forever. I wish I had an “instant read” cooking thermometer - I use a meat thermometer that I have to hold in place until the needle stops moving.

Curdling takes place quickly. I’ve learned to add my ingredients (today I used fresh basil from the garden and one freshly minced clove of garlic) while it it still easy to stir.

Then I slightly squeezed it.

After flipping it around in the cheesecloth tube so the “knot” wouldn’t leave a lasting impression, I placed it in my “cheese press“. I have a small bowl that is slightly smaller than the container and then put something heavy on it. After about an hour of draining, it “ages” overnight in the refrigerator.

Finished product; DELICIOUS! ~~K

Craic Agus Ceol

2009-08-04T11:49:00.009-04:00

Fun and Music

Our annual trek to Ohio’s capitol region isn’t complete without enjoying hours upon hours at the Dublin Irish Festival, and a more recent “tradition” of taking advantage of family hospitality (thanks SMS&R).

What’s a fest without food and drink?
Unfortunately due to a contract with Coors, a true Irish brew is not to be imbibed – but they have come up with a “Guinness-like” beer called Dublin Stout – supposedly brewed in Colorado just for the fest and available in a few local taverns in the days surrounding the festivities (last year they ran out even before the fest was concluded). We enjoyed this stout with traditional fish and chips from the Old Bag of Nails.

Killians Irish Red went well with very tasty Irish Salted Potatoes swimming in garlic and butter!
Last year at the end of a our meal at Schmidt’s in Columbus’ German Village there was no room for dessert, so we had their delicious cream puff as a “shared snack” with iced tea.
Oh, the games people play!
Besides “people-watching” there are so many events available it is impossible to catch them all and even hard to decide which ones to commit to attending.

Gaelic Games has been a recent addition to the fest and we found it fascinating to watch the Caber Toss and Sheaf Toss.
“Caber” is gaelic for “tree”, so as you may imagine it looks like men in kilts throwing telephone poles. After picking up the tree trunk (many contenders don’t even get this far), they have to balance it vertically in front of them before attempting to flip it so the end not in their hands lands first on the ground in what should again be vertically straight up and down as the tree had grown. These are strong men!

What appears to be a combination of gleaning and pole vaulting? Sheaf Toss! Using a pitch fork, contestants throw a burlap bag stuffed with straw over a bar. Each man had three chances at each height and was eliminated if none of the attempts threw the sheaf over the bar.
On the unorganized spontaneous side, in a frat party atmosphere, the competition ran “high” in the beer glass stacking tent late Saturday night.
Irish music, be it traditional or rock, reigns at the fest!
Bagpipers are entertaining to me in limited doses.
Old favorites like the Clancy Legacy and the Hooligans are “must sees”.
We always make it a point to watch the champion step dancers. The price of some of the girls’ costumes is exorbitant! After seeing some of the girls’ hair “au naturel” I realize how much I dislike those crazy curly wigs. That withstanding, the dances are so intricate and entertaining. Talk about being fit!
A new twist to entertainment included a short comedy about that Catholic Irish tradition known as Bingo. Of course the main characters were a priest and nuns!
Another unexpected favorite this year was “Salsa Celtica”. They described their act as a “Colombian-Irish Shotgun Wedding” - what fun! Bagpipes with salsa music, and trombones and saxophone with Irish jigs – most entertaining and international.

The Irish rockers cause me to protect my ears – I enjoy them, but find earplugs necessary if we are sitting too close. The “Prodigals” were a great final act (I’m still partial to Gaelic Storm).

We’re already looking forward to next year! – August 6, 7 & 8, 2010 --K

Little Shutterbug

2009-07-30T19:25:00.009-04:00

Toledo Zoo as photographed by Z

I was quite impressed by the shots Z took at the zoo last Friday!

While watching the polar bears I realized she was quite adept using the zoom feature as well as framing a shot.

Her patience let her get this photo of the bear lifting an “ice block” (Styrofoam) he had been playing with for a long time.

She was quite observant and caught the camels from another area of the zoo.Even though the outdoor penguin exhibit was being renovated she found the hanging plants above the moat interesting enough to want to capture its beauty.
Within the indoor portion of the new children’s area she took some more pictures.

The “closeup” below (it's the acutal photo she took - it is not cropped or photoshopped in any way) reminds me of something you might see in National Geographic. Do you know what it is? (place your answer in the comments and later I’ll post the distance shot Z took of this object)

It's a mushroom top inside Nature's Neighborhood Forest at the zoo.
It reminded me of the fairy forest area of Splash Village in Frankenmouth.

I think she has a good eye for design with potential as a photographer! ~~K

Bear’s Bounty

2009-07-22T07:14:00.003-04:00

Thanks for the fresh produce!

Zucchini Herb Whole Wheat Bread made in the Toastmaster Bread Box 1142 I’ve borrowed from my sister (recipe in the manual) was a nice change from so many zucchini breads I’ve eaten that seem like a banana bread exchanged with the squash.

It’s a bit misshapen but its texture and taste are smooth, mild, and subtle. I’m sure the honey, basil, and sesame seeds were key ingredients. Sliced thin I even think it would make a nice sandwich. Of course I had a slice for breakfast; and BEB took a slice to have with soup for lunch.

What a refreshing change to have pickle cucumbers rather than the large green ones usually found at market! I’ve been hungry for bread and butter pickles…and found the easiest, quickest small batch recipe ever: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Microwave-Pickles/Detail.aspx Thankfully, all necessary ingredients were already in my pantry!

Even right out of the microwave (yes, it’s a microwave recipe) they had the correct “smell”.
When they were cool enough to put in the jar I had a most delicious slice - crispy, tasty - yummy!

They’re supposed to chill for 4 hours when they’ll be even better - I doubt if there will be any left in a week which is the minimum “setting time” for most bread and butter traditional pickle recipes.
~~K

Fairy Garden

2009-07-21T15:01:00.003-04:00

After looking at several fairy gardens - various nurseries, online, and one at the A2 Art Fair, I decided I had to make one! Scouting around for necessary materials proved that the project could become more expensive than I thought. So, I had to put my ingenuity to work!

Scrounging in the garage I came up with a terra cotta container I had purchased at a garage sale several years ago, but never used. (With “W. Germany” etched in its bottom I couldn’t resist thinking D might appreciate it.)

I still had some potting soil on hand leftover from the containers I prepared for the front steps earlier this summer.

I broke down and bought some wooly thyme on sale for 99 cents at Gedert’s Nursery - most places still have not reduced prices for herbs and small perennials - are they on to the popularity of those plants for fairy gardens?! After looking at Hoen’s fairies, plants, and completed gardens ranging in prices from $50 to $150 I’m sure demand is keeping the prices from being reduced.

Miniature plants are less plentiful (and more expensive) than I imagined, but I did find out that if you keep Creeping Jenny clipped it can be a nice addition to a fairy garden. After all of these years of trying to unsuccessfully eradicate this prolific creeper, I had a difficult time locating any - thankfully there were some small starts near the pond that were a great size for a miniature garden.

Finding a fairy at the Dollar Tree was a compromise. I only liked the upper 2/3 of it since it was too tall and sitting on a mushroom with a flower, but the “perfect” sitting fairy at Hoen’s was $6. Creativity was needed, but with some clear caulk and tiny pebbles, you wouldn’t recognize her as the same fairy! She’s even very secure in the planter since I had to bury the bottom third after attaching pebbles to hide the mushroom and her legs. A pebble path (glued onto a piece of roof shingle) seemed to complete that portion of the garden.

Height was added by inserting some grapevine twigs I clipped from the edge of the yard by the bocce court. A “bare” spot needed an accessory so I cut a twig as a base and glued on a marble so the fairy had a “gazing” ball in her yard. A spider plant “baby” completed the greenery.

All things considered, I’m quite pleased with this fairy garden. Hopefully, it will only get better and better with love and care. ~~K

Heidelberg

2009-07-20T08:09:00.003-04:00

http://heidelbergannarbor.com/index.html
(Note: prices are higher [entrees about $4 more) than indicated on the online menu)

Talk of Oktoberfest and HofBrau last weekend whetted our appetite for some authentic German hospitality. We had heard favorably of A2’s Heidelberg but didn’t recall ever walking past it. Now we know why - it is outside of the Art Fair boundaries, closer to Kerrytown. Since we always park at St. Thomas on the north side of town it was doubly fitting that we end our great day eating and imbibing in the Alpine Dining Room.

Bsides the authenticity of the décor, the entire wait staff (not just our waiter) were among the most attentive to our table that we’ve ever encountered - water glasses never empty, polite comments and smiles at each passing, empty plates promptly removed, etc. Quite obviously this is a tightly-run, family-owned restaurant; this was restated by the manager as we complimented her on the food and service.

Spaten Premium Lager and Warsteiner Dunkel were our brews of choice.

Tradition ruled - we have a hard time going to a German restaurant and not ordering Weiner Schnitzel! Accompanied by potato pancakes and spaetzle, we again ended the meal quite satisfied if not slightly over-stuffed.

A pleasant walk by Kerrytown on the way back to our car has given us another new “plan” for next year’s Art Fair visit - we’ll start in Kerrytown and perhaps eat at Zingerman’s (you’ve probably heard of their great bread used in many local deli’s) before getting caught up within the confines of the exhibits.

A great end to a great day in Ann Arbor. ~~K

Blue Tractor

2009-07-19T15:53:00.004-04:00

http://www.bluetractor.net/annarbor/

(Note: prices are a bit more than indicated on the online menu)

Change is good - we decided to break tradition in A2 this year. Instead of heading east in the morning and eating lunch at Ashley’s we started walking west with no idea where we would eat - it just had to be a “never eaten there” watering hole with food.

What better choice than a micro-brewery? Of course we like to try different beer, but instead of their sampler we had them draw two different pints for us: Bearded Pig Pilsner (a crisp lager with a perfect balance of malt and hops)and Red Barn Ale (a smooth, malty amber ale). D preferred the RBA, but I couldn’t choose - they were both a great treat with our lunch.
Even though BBQ is in its name, we both chose “fish”!

D’s Fried Catfish Po’ Boy with shredded lettuce and green tomato chowchow on a fresh hoagie roll met his approval since it was “greaseless” - too often pub fish sandwiches have too much grease for his palate.

I opted for the Half Sandwich Combo (a specially created half sandwich, with your choice of a market salad or bowl of soup). Today’s special sandwich was a chunky salmon salad on multi-grain bread with lettuce and tomato; soup was a hearty smoked chicken and sweet corn chowder. Both meals were delicious and more filling than anticipated.

Now we just needed to keep walking off that wonderful food so we could try another new eating establishment for supper. Stay tuned…..~~K

A2 in A2 during AF

2009-07-18T10:02:00.015-04:00

Annual Adventure in Ann Arbor during Art Fair

Architecture, art, adventure, etc. - pictures rather than paragraphs today!

Pleasant residential areas with eccentric yet colorful co-op houses - some very inviting.

Look up - it’s a nice view complete with “onion tops“, “Oxford-esque-ness”, enemy flags, beauty, etc.

College of Law Courtyard - complete with gargoyles

Q. Which is real?

A. Gray man! And A2 is also real.

The perfect BIKE bike rack?

Tattoos, hair, and ribbons that just keep going; nuns and metal

Another enjoyable day in A2! ~~K

Bring it On!

2009-05-21T16:38:00.001-04:00

…”It” being the summer heat!

We’re ready! After our new windows were installed, we knew we didn’t want to mar the sills by installing framework for window air conditioners. I was also concerned about the expense and mess of having either a unit installed in the attic or mounted in an outside wall. Since we have electric baseboard heat, we don’t have any ductwork, and we don’t have a basement – whole house air conditioning is NOT an option. The solution?

A portable air conditioner!
Now we just need some sweltering heat to give it a good test. Late last summer, after our energy-efficient windows were installed, we already noticed our house didn’t heat up as much as past summers. I’m hoping this works out well for us. ~~K

Busy Weekend

2009-05-11T18:26:00.002-04:00

…I guess I was too "busy" for pictures - I never touched the camera all weekend

Saturday started with a lazy morning, followed by a 4th Birthday party in Rossford. We hung out there (hoping for nicer weather) until it was time to leave for a Mud Hens game.

I had never been at a game where an umpire reversed a call – what he had called a three-run homer, was actually a foul (after some words from the Hens manager and consulting with the two field refs)! This reversal was quickly followed by a tirade by the Iron Pigs manager resulting in his ejection from the game. Can you imagine the 3 players having to come back out of the dugout and return to the bases and the plate? Of course it didn’t sit well; and after the next pitch resulted in a strike out, the batter was ejected from the game (as he has dragged away by fellow teammates). I was beginning to wonder if this was a hockey game!

Fantastic and long lasting fireworks were a great conclusion to our first trip to the ballpark this season.

SNL with JT as host was the perfect ending for Saturday – I think he is so multi-talented and am looking forward to his fourth appearance as host.

Reading the paper and drinking coffee in the living room was not as long as some Sunday mornings – there was a lot to get done outside! BEB joined us and as D worked on a water pressure switch in the utility room and then cut grass, she and I accomplished more than I anticipated:

** Stained the upper deck, steps, and the rafters underneath
** Stained the north side of the back garage
** Took all the deck furniture out of storage and placed it on the upper deck
** Wire-brushed and touched up the lower deck furniture

We worked HARD with only one break for lunch! A little before 6 the three of us decided to go geocaching for about an hour. We needed to be back by 7 since BMA was heading out to visit for the evening.

Climbing under and around bridges between home and GR was part of our caching adventure as it was lightly sprinkling rain. We found the first micro immediately; the second was a bit tougher terrain and difficulty and took about 15 minutes around a one-lane bridge. Our third search had to be aborted due rain and time constraints (this one was proving tougher to locate) – we’ll have to go back to this bridge and complete the hunt another day.

As we ate and talked (and opened much appreciated gifts) it was a nice ending for this great Mother’s Day weekend! ~~ K

Birthday Caching

2009-05-07T06:47:00.013-04:00

...actually, the day after my birthday

Late Sunday afternoon we took advantage of the beautiful weather to do some geocaching a bit south of us. All caches were south of Route 6 located in an area bounded on the east and west by Rudolph and Wingston Roads with Greensburg Road on the north and Hammandsburg Road to the south.

Our first stop was at a “Pause Along a Road Less Traveled” (the name of the cache). We’re starting to enjoy these with a bit higher difficulty and terrain rating.

Fayler Cemetery is an old, but well-maintained small graveyard. Unfortunately many of the grave markers are nearly destroyed; the same can be said for the trees within the burial grounds. Luckily the poison ivy near the cache is just getting started for the year, so I don’t think there will be any skin consequences.
Slippery Elm Trail was busier than we anticipated; but not enough to deter us from quickly locating the stash. I was a bit surprised that they have not replaced the sign – the posts are still in place.

Another cemetery stop concluded our adventure. Driving down the long entrance I realized I had been at this cemetery before with a friend whose father’s ashes are here. The cache puzzle was quickly solved, but I think it’s terrain is over-rated – this is land as flat as a pancake! D enjoyed some of the names on tombtones and there was a Celtic cross I liked.

Arriving back home, it was time to EAT! We enjoyed ribs that had slow cooked in the oven with a dry rub, as well as birthday cake (from yesterday [thanks to B,D,&Z], so it really didn’t look like this anymore).

What a nice day! ~~K

Reconfigure

2009-05-05T12:14:00.003-04:00

…alternative uses

You already heard my “rant” about stores that are not “bring-your-own bag- friendly”! I still keep being the trout going upstream in this.

We had some T-shirts I was going to throw out until Martha Stewart provided an alternative – reusable bags! Click here for instructions.
The only drawback so far is that they are not free-standing like the bags I take to Aldi’s (see photo).
But, on the plus side, I can keep one in the glove box and at least consolidate several flimsy plastic bags to carry into the house.

Here’s another one of my reconfigured items - turn a broken mouse into a paperweight (just cut off the cable):
The curved top side of the mouse also works as a massager!

Think outside the box! ~~K

Yooper Food

2009-05-03T19:53:00.005-04:00

...and other “race weekend” meals

Even though we’re known as “trolls” in some areas, we thoroughly enjoyed the pasties B & R brought back from their latest trip to the Mackinac area. They served as our “pre-race” lunch on Saturday before the Glass City Marathon. I thought they had a nice appearance as well as a delicious taste. Even though it was a bit windy, we enjoyed eating them outside under the deck.
Our “carb-loading” pasta dinner is one of my all time favorites; of course we had salad and bread with it!
Breakfast at 5:45 Sunday morning was oatmeal, French toast, and bacon. I had too many pre-race jitters and couldn’t even finish my oatmeal – only ate about 3 spoonfuls! NO COFFEE and I’m so glad since there were no porta-potties to be seen anywhere downtown.

After the race we watched more finishers, then headed home to “picnic” fare - all beef hotdogs, potato salad and chips. Yummy! ~~K

Wedding Faux Pas

2009-05-01T08:33:00.001-04:00

…times 2, or was it times 3, or 4, or too high to count?

With several of the “next generation” celebrating Four-Year Wedding Anniversaries this year (B&D, S&M, M&K), I can’t help but reminisce about my wedding 35 years ago! Be forewarned – this has turned into another of my wordy, long posts!

As I look back, it seems our marriage started with several incidents that are so “goofy/weird/strange” they seem like fiction. But the moral of the story is: Be prepared for anything (not that you have a plan to deal with it, just know it might happen) and just go with the flow and deal with it.

The day before our wedding (Wednesday)… maybe I need to back up and say how we determined our wedding date. Two things were major factors: Darby’s pastor’s vacation and our honeymoon plans!

First, we did NOT want Father O’Brien to be the celebrant at our wedding. So, we knew when he had planned his “vacation” and we knew we wanted Father Ray Fisher (a family friend) who was at a different parish. But that added another glitch - since our pastor wasn’t available we had to get special permission from the bishop to have clergy outside our parish there. OK, we jump through the hoops and get permission. BUT, we still have to go through the pre-marriage sessions with Father O’Brien (that’s probably another blog sometime). Then we have to get another “permission” – heaven forbid that I’m marrying a “NON-CATHOLIC”! Obviously, we “played the game” and “qualified”!

Second, we wanted to go to Aruba for our honeymoon, but of course wanted the best possible deal (you all know we’ve always been frugal). After several possibilities Atlas Travel determined an early morning flight out of Toledo on Friday, April 19, 1974 was the optimum departure time for our honeymoon (based on the dates of Father O’s vacation). Book it!

Oh, I almost forgot! Since my mom and dad got married in Darby’s chapel, we also wanted to get married there – especially since we were planning such a small wedding (only 17 people including Father Ray)! We still had to make all arrangements through Father O’Brien since it was “his” church. Can you guess his response – you got it – there was no way he would give us permission to get married in the chapel, it had to be in the church proper! If you’ve seen our “wedding pictures” you know we did get married in the chapel – thanks to Father Ray whose attitude was “what O’Brien doesn’t know, we won’t tell him”.

OK, back to the day before our wedding! Our honeymoon to Aruba (which determined our actual wedding date to be a Thursday) was cancelled! While at work on Wednesday I received a phone call from the travel agent telling me she had “bad news and good news”. What?! Apparently there was “civil unrest” in Aruba causing all airports to be CLOSED, as well as most resorts’ employees ON STRIKE! There was no way were we going to Aruba for our honeymoon on Friday! We had to make a quick decision: Jamaica or Nassau? After a quick phone call to D, we decided to go with Nassau. OK, not what we planned, but OK. We would be staying at an old sugar cane plantation (doesn’t’ that sound like something with history that D might like?).

Fast forward to Thursday, our wedding day! After work (yes, we both worked the entire day of our wedding) we each went home to get ready for the 7-pm celebration. I’m not sure about everything that went on at the Colburn Street house, but the South Avenue house was CRAZY. Can’t you just see my dad alternating between tears and laughing, and all the while “primping”? It always took him longer to get ready than any of us girls!

The house was ready for the “reception”, but everything somehow ended up shoved in the kitchen, including Daddy’s 35mm camera. And where was that camera - the camera he was planning on recording his oldest daughter’s wedding? In the bottom of a bucket of mop water! – That’s right, somehow after the kitchen floor had been mopped, the camera got knocked off the kitchen table and into the bucket of nasty water. That camera was the primary mode of photography for the upcoming ceremony (you didn’t really think we would “hire” a photographer, did you?)! Now what? A quick call to the groom, of course. No problem, D would give his camera to his brother-in-law/best man who would now be “wedding photographer” as well.

Who said the bride and groom shouldn’t see each other right before the wedding? D walked over to my house to pick me up so we could ride together to church As we were walking across the alley (you all did know we were “back door” neighbors, right?) one of his friends is driving down and asks, “What are you guys doing tonight?” Can you imagine his shocked expressions as D replied, “We’re getting married!”

Oh, and as far as the groom seeing the bride’s dress – forget it! Dave even helped me pick out the material for both my dress and his suit (yes, I made his wedding suit)! And, I set up shop in his utility room in the basement so I had plenty of room to spread out the materials and work on it without having to put it away. Was it white? Was it traditional? Of course, not! It was practical and beautiful (in my opinion)! I wanted something we could both wear in the future. And we really did wear those outfits again – out to dinner during our honeymoon as well as to weddings of some of my sorority sisters over the next several years. Did I mention my dress and his suit was POLYESTER?! Is that classic 70’s or what?

Are you tired/bored reading this yet? Tough – there’s more!

All 17 of us are in the chapel and the “ceremony” is intimate and spontaneous (you knew there was no way we had a rehearsal, right?). We sang together (no musical accompaniment) and laughed together, and said our vows.
Then, it was time for the “first kiss” – well, in our case, I think it should be called the “third kiss”. After Father Ray said, “You may kiss the bride”, there was a slight pause. Imagine my surprise as I’m in the arms of the BEST MAN and HE’s KISSING me. What? But it gets better! Immediately after that I realized I’m being kissed by Father Ray! Where’s my husband? He finally stepped up to the plate – third in line. Just saving the best for last!

The reception at mom and dad’s house seemed to be going without a hitch. R (the best man) was catching it all on D’s camera -- Z’s food was delicious and plentiful, the Wixey’s cake was beautiful (and not smashed into faces), Father Ray’s “mouse” trick was well-received, the opening of gifts was seemingly unending.
At one point very late in the festivities D asked the best man how many rolls of film he had used, or if he needed another roll. Wait for it …
What? I don’t know, I guess I’m still on the first roll.
No way, let me have it! THERE’S NO FILM IN THIS CAMERA!

Thanks to Uncle J and Aunt C’s Kodak Instamatic we did end up with a few acceptable wedding photos. Who needs those stinking photos anyhow? An album? We just have great (and humorous) memories, no gorgeous, expensive wedding album!

Is this the end of a “strange” wedding? Not quite!

Did D check with his sister and her husband (best man) about their accommodations? Of course not! Guess where they not only were planning on staying but actually did? OUR HOUSE – and in the bedroom we thought we would be using on our wedding night! So, on this cold mid-April night we went upstairs to a frigid wedding bedroom (it’s only heat was from a gas fireplace, but we didn’t know anyone would be needing this room so D had not lit the fireplace). Thank goodness for body heat!

We’re off to quite a start to our wedded bliss – stay tuned for more “faux pas” as our marriage continues….~~K

First Harvest

2009-04-30T10:22:00.004-04:00

…and signs of spring

Fresh, crunchy home-grown asparagus! There’s something special about that first harvest - especially when you’re eating it within 30 minutes from it being picked.
While harvesting the asparagus after school Wednesday other sure signs of spring were a welcome sight.

Look close at that last picture – besides the sedum, violets, and coreopsis you can see the first blossom on one of the strawberry plants – it's quite promising as long as the rabbits don’t take over!

Now just give me warmer, drier weather consistently. ~~K

Glass City Marathon 2009

2009-04-29T12:38:00.012-04:00

… It’s taken me several days to finally post this, so you can take several days to read it. I broke up my wordiness into 5 “chapters” – too much verbose and ranting to read at once! Chapters include: Expo and Pick-Up, Pre-Race, 5k Race, Half Marathon, and Post Race

Expo and Pick-up
…Glass City Marathon – Part 1

Race packets which consisted or our bib, chip, map, and shirt were ready for us the day before the race and contrary to everything we had been told to date, included NO goodies – nada, nothing! There weren’t even final instructions, and the ones B picked up from a table were not very clear.
I had hoped that running clothing and accessories would abound at the expo. Boy, was I wrong! What a wimpy joke of an expo! No coupons or special offers of any kind from vendors!

The socks B was interested in were only available for men but they said they had them at their store (which was on our way home). Can you guess? By the time we arrived at their store, they had sent someone with all the women’s socks to the “expo” and had not kept any at their Pburg store!

It was a beautiful day to be out and I enjoyed our time together with B, M, & S.

Hopefully, if we do this next year, the organizers will be more efficient and detailed.

Pre-Race
…Glass City Marathon – Part 2

Low-key as in DEAD was how we found T-town 70 minutes before the start of the race! Compared to Toledo’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure – what a let-down.
That early, it was already turning into a beautiful sunny day (not as forecast). By 8 am it was in the 70’s – this was much warmer than most of us have been training in outside lately. As I watched the “early start” marathoners take off I was wondering how they would do and certainly give them credit for being willing to run more than 5 hours (I heard they would be disqualified if they finished sooner).

Maybe I’m being unfair comparing it to the SGK Race for the Cure, since one is for charity and the other isn’t, but the difference in organization and attitude toward the runner is very noticeable. Many runners seemed very confused as to where “start” was located – even people who had run the marathon before – apparently they keep changing both the course and start locations. There were no officials or volunteers in sight to even ask – it was “runner help runner”. Is it because I’m such a novice and GCM assumes you’re a “real” runner if you enter an event? I can’t say enough about the friendliness, encouragement, and great attitude I felt from all the runners (and the police along the race course).

5k Race
…Glass City Marathon – Part 3

Unlike the Half and Full Marathon, there was no starting mat for us lowly 5k runners. I realize it is only a difference in a matter of seconds time-wise, but as far as I’m concerned it isn’t true chip timing if it does not do individual timing at both the start and finish. For the record, the “early start” marathoners did not have a start mat either.

Another course change? The map I was given yesterday had a different “start” than the latest one posted online, and after we were all in place at Adams and St. Clair we had to walk down to a totally new start position! That was ok with me – it took off a few extra blocks! But really, they couldn’t have worked all this out in advance and let us know?!
Within 2 minutes of the start I realized I had started too fast and my mouth was already dry. A swish of water helped (thanks to B for letting me borrow her hand-held water bottle) and I backed off. As usual, I thought the first mile was the longest. Nervousness about the course disappeared as the police had cross street traffic stopped and the Woodruff stretch was not as “ghetto” as I had anticipated.

Traffic was temporarily stopped on Monroe Street in both directions as we turned in front of the Art Museum. I must have been doing ok because the 2-mile marker came as a welcome surprise sooner than I anticipated. As the sweat was pouring I took another sip of water. I felt like I was slowing as the temperature was rising. Cars crossing a bit in front of me caused some concern but I refused to slow down more – in fact I increased my speed (just to be defiant?) and about that time the police again stopped the cross traffic and I darted forward.

Running in front of the Blarney Irish Pub gave me a sense of “good timing” since I knew the end was near. I slowed a bit on the downward slope to Water Street.

As I approached the finish I stepped up my pace. I forced myself to get ahead of at least one other woman. Success!
My official time (my husband caught the time as I passed the finish mat – see the "drawn-in" yellow arrow in the picture pointing to the top of my head) was 34:26. Good enough for 3rd place in my age group. Apparently the heat had slowed the pack – no one in my group was under 31 minutes! I was hoping for a better time (maybe even just under 30). Due to my face injury (last Saturday) I didn’t train this last week, and I’m not used to the heat yet. Can you tell I’m making excuses? I was glad my time was less than one minute off my Race for the Cure time.

D’s special “whistle” was a most welcome sound! Even though I didn’t see him right away, he had seen me (unlike at the SGK where we didn’t meet up for over 10 minutes). I have to commend him – he was the great “sports photographer” who took many “perfect” shots. I think he enjoys being our support team – that can sometimes be quite a job! Fewer spectators allowed him the ability to roam wherever he wanted without a crowd – one of the nice differences compared to the SGK.

Half Marathon
…Glass City Marathon – Part 4

Many of you know the initial reason I signed up for the 5k was because of my daughter. She wanted to run her “inaugural” half at the GCM Inaugural Half Marathon and we thought we would start the race together in downtown Toledo. Things changed!

She and my nephew (after some fun pressure) started their 13.1-mile journey in Perrysburg. Thanks to R for his support and transportation! Thanks to B for great photos and encouragement! Thanks to everyone for everything.

Both runners proved successful and I am so proud of them.

I am amazed at B persevering through pain for 3 miles! Read about their experiences first hand – B’s blog – M’s blog.

Watching the half marathon runners as they passed the finish line was insightful – the different posture, strides, sweat level, etc. I have a lot to learn and practice!

Special love and thanks to my family for sticking it out through the end for each other. Priceless!

FYI – I have no intention of ever doing a half marathon!

Post Race
…Glass City Marathon – Part 5

No “goodies” after the race either. I’m spoiled – I want to run in an event with sponsors and vendors that give back to the community via “sample” booths.

Commemorative Mugs for the Half Marathon had not arrived in time for the race. All along the way I feel this race has not done much detail work and follow through – water stops were also not as frequent as indicated in all information that had been provided prior to the race.

A friend of mine ran in the Marathon Relay and has even more constructive criticism! Her top disappointment was about the relay exchanges – no porta-potties or water! Her team finished first in their division and the 5 women have to share one plaque – not even a “token” for each individual. Advice to race director – “Don’t advertise things that aren’t going to happen!”

I’m still awaiting an answer to an email I sent the race director. I’m not holding my breath! ~~K

Cache Craft

2009-04-23T20:31:00.003-04:00

You’ve probably heard me mention Celtic stones as swag we usually leave at a cache. Creating these has become a new hobby for D.

Using the Dremel hand tool he has been carving crosses, runes, and other symbols into flat, small stones. He then accents them with a bit of permanent marker.
I purchased some Celtic rubber stamps at the last Irish Fest in Dublin and have found they work well on flat smooth stones. I’ve been using a thin coating of acrylic metallic paint on the stencil. A bit of clear spray after the stencil paint dries serves as a protectant.

We also made our own “logo” to represent our geocaching username – BradClanOH. D likes skulls and crossbones and thought it tied in since we search for "treasures" and "X marks the spot"; of course, it had to have something Irish; and then we just piled it all on Ohio!
Can you tell we’re into geocaching? ~~K geocaching, crafts

5k Redefined

2009-04-22T19:11:00.003-04:00

3.1 or 3.44

Apparently Toledo’s Glass City Marathon has decided to take “poetic license” with the 5k’s distance. As I was doing some last minute checking on the GSM website I saw the 5k on Sunday is 3.44 miles.

I know you should always give 110% to your effort, but when an automatic 10% is added to the challenge – that’s something else! Did Carty have his hand in this?!?

Wish me luck! ~~K

35th Wedding Anniversary

2009-04-21T17:02:00.006-04:00

Saturday was a day for celebration – in our own way. D and I don’t put too much weight on the “number” of our anniversary, since we have always considered ourselves to be committed to each other forever!

We started the beautiful day with our favorite weekend morning activity – reading the newspaper together in the living room while drinking coffee.

As it became warmer outside we were drawn to yard work. After about 3 hours, I was picking up 5-foot logs D had cut and I had a mishap. I stepped on the end of one of the logs and it catapulted into my face! My shocked reaction to the surprise and pain made me think I might have broken my nose and some teeth. Upon closer inspection, after clearing all the blood, I only experienced a lot of bruising with a cut above my lip and a puncture next to that. Thanks to ICE my swelling is minimal with no black and blue as I write this on Tuesday after the fact. I’m concerned about running, since the jarring is quite uncomfortable to my face now.

One of our anniversary plans had been to geocache. BEB was in town to join us, and I was feeling OK. There were three cemetery caches near Custar that I figured we could tackle (including travel time) in about 90 minutes. We were successful!

Our first stop was as St. Louis Catholic Cemetery. We found the design of many of the tombstones interesting. Etchings just about covered the markers on both sides – there were pictures of the people (many not yet dead), their homes, tractors, names of all their children, and a lot of other clutter (note I said they were” interesting”, not that we liked them).

The geocache was an easy find, but a true level 3 terrain difficulty. D joked that he needed his “Everest” climbing gear and Sherpa Guide! But at least he was glad it was as dry as it was to prevent major slipping. We took an eraser and left a Celtic stone.

We then moved on to Milton Twp Cemetery. As we approached we were intrigued by the strange pruning job on the trees along the cemetery – they were all flat-topped – they almost looked like the shape of a wine glass (sorry, no picture). This was another beautifully maintained area – all bushes had been trimmed recently; all the tombstones (no matter their age) had been weeded and dug around – we haven’t noticed many cemeteries that do this consistently. Again, the cache was a quick find by BEB – she took a plastic good luck token and left another of our Celtic stones.

Interesting OLD tombstones (some with quite a “lean” on them) and a fun, quick find met us at Richfield Cemetery. The terrain difficulty of this one was a true 2.5 with a tricky placement. Another of our Celtic stones was left as we took a poker chip.

After we got back home, I was a bit out of sorts (my face and mouth were hurting and swollen) so you’ll need to visit B’s blog to see our “food”.

Later in the evening B & Z came over – primarily to deliver a present to us. But of course we all had a great time visiting. As we sat outside the conversation was all over the place – music, movies, etc. What fun!

Look at the great paint job Z did on my toes! It’s sometimes difficult to do my own feet; and today was definitely one of those days. Z proceeded to do BEB and BMA – for some reasons D didn’t want his toes polished.

D and I were planning on going to Biagi’s in Levis Commons on Sunday for a bit of a celebration, but I didn’t feel like it – we’ll do that another day!

What a wonderful anniversary, with hopes of many more! ~~K

Good Eats

2009-04-20T18:38:00.002-04:00

...thanks to R&B

Just catching up on posting pics of some great meals we've shared!

The most tender steak!

Steak and eggs the next morning (that seems so decadent)

Jambalaya…

Creamy Cajun Chicken PastaThis is a MUST HAVE recipe (http://www.recipezaar.com/Creamy-Cajun-Chicken-Pasta-39087). Don't even look at the amount of calories per serving! I think we’re having this again this Saturday so B can do some carb-loading before the half marathon!

Yummy eating! ~~K

Monday Meanderings

2009-04-17T06:38:00.007-04:00

… geocaching

Making a short loop around Route 6 yielded four cemetery geocaches after running some errands in BG on the last day of spring break.

Our first stop was to an old off-road cemetery – its latest burial was in the late 1800’s! Apparently Potterstown was a village south of Weston that burned to the ground and was never rebuilt. The cache was a large treasure trove that included a turtle travel bug we intend to move along. (See below)
Grelton Cemetery is a large, beautifully maintained rural burial ground. Benches and labeled trees were quite inviting, but it was raining so we went on a quick hunt here.
Arachnophobia was the name of the clever cache we found in Hoy Cemetery. Can you guess what the container looked like?
As the rain intensified, we made our last stop at Olive Branch Cemetery. There we found a cache named “Barking in a Tree” – I don’t have any idea why.
It was a fun adventure despite the rain.

Thursday Tommy Travels After supper we went out to further Tommy the Turtle on his journeys. We had heard of a large cache near Haskins that had other travel bugs and geocoins. Although parking was next to impossible, the cache was a quick find and hopefully Tommy will move along soon. It is said this cache is located along the former right of way for the Lima & Toledo Traction Company.
We decided it was so nice out we would try to find one more geocache. “Welcome to Haskins” was another quick find, but a micro (our least favorite).

Geocaching is proving to be a nice hobby – it also helps to get us out walking a bit on nice evenings. ~~K

Reuse

2009-04-16T06:45:00.004-04:00

Plastic grocery bags were acting like rabbits in our pantry. It was time to get them under control, but I’ve never had (nor wanted) one of those cutesy bag dispensers.

We recently used up the last of a coffee container. It was rinsed, but not yet disposed. So, I’m sure you figured out by now what it became…
A plastic grocery bag dispenser!

I first cut a ½ diameter hole out of the center, then cut “pie slices” evenly around the lid.

NOTE: Most of the bags were NOT true grocery bags since I carry my own sturdy bags to Aldi’s. The offending bags included ones from Kroger, Meijer, WalMart, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, etc. I still don’t feel these stores are “bring-your-own bag- friendly”, even though they sell reusable bags plastered with their own logo! When I remember to carry my own bags to these vendors I first have to endure the “evil eye” of the “greeter”, then the cashier’s – most of the bagging stations can’t accommodate any bags other than their flimsy plastic ones. Can you tell this is one of my “pet peeves”? ~~K

Howell Hunting (geocaching)

2009-04-15T06:55:00.007-04:00

… more “Friday Fun”

With three geocaches under out belt in Brighton, we wanted to tackle five more challenges we knew were in the Howell area.

Hager Hill Cemetery was especially interesting to D as we approached and observed a German flag on a younger man’s grave.

Parking was a bit tricky, but the coordinates were right on target. Notice the snow!

Kid’s Cache took us to a car pool parking lot where a cache was hidden on the slope going down to I-96. This was one of the largest containers we’ve encountered, but pretty junky! It would have taken a crew of 5 all day to properly clean this trashy, muddy area – CITO made no dent! NOTE: CITO is the eco-minded geocaching slogan – Cache In, Trash Out – like a good Girl Scout, you should leave an area better than you found it.
We continued north to the very small Mount Olive Cemetery on Thompson Lake. We thought a woman walking 2 dogs was not very respectful of the location – we named her “Poop Lady”. We had to broaden our search and use our geosenses to find the micro-cache hidden here.
We then went to another edge of the lake to Lakeview Cemetery (I do mean the “edge”).

This was a multi-stage small cache called SQ Howell Remembers. It took a while before the “force” decided to help us find the “chambers” yielding the cache. We enjoyed the beautiful setting and the challenge of this hunt.

Closer to the outlets was Pioneer Cemetery, which was a quaint, small cemetery with a few unique grave markers.

As our swag we took a Euro “penny”.
It was a most successful, informative, and entertaining day of geocaching. ~~K

Shopping

2009-04-14T06:58:00.002-04:00

…more “Friday Fun”

We left home about 9 am Friday for a fun day in the Howell/Brighton, Michigan area. Of course I had to stop at Speedway in Pburg to get English toffee coffee for the road – unfortunately, mine was not up to par since it tasted more like flavored milk than any type of coffee drink.

After an uneventful drive (the best kind) we arrived at Tanger Outlets in Howell, MI about 11:15. We were surprised by the amount of snow still showing in the area, including the outlet parking lot.
We split our shopping into two segments. The first lasted until 1:15. We then “broke” for a trip to Brighton for lunch and sightseeing. Our outlet shopping resumed about 5:15, but only took about an hour to conclude.

Fossil is probably D’s favorite outlet in both Tanger and Birch Run, so it was the first store of the day for us. It was not a disappointment – he had wanted a passport case and found one he liked. As a “list-maker” you know how much I like notebooks, and found one that I “had to have” that holds a small legal size pad.
Nike+ Structure Triax 11 was the buy of the day! I paid $95 for this comfortable running shoe in October at Dave’s in Pburg. I bought a duplicate pair at the Nike outlet for $59. I couldn’t resist!

Other purchases (I don’t feel we splurged too much) included a Bass shirt for D for $5 (normally $44), an Aeropostle sweater for me for $4.50 (also normally $44), a Children’s Place shirt for Z, several slotted serving spoons and a bottle opener at Kitchen Collection, Bath & Body Works lotion for me and soaps I’ll use only when we have company, and a glasses case at Rue 21 (I love looking at all the “youthful” clothing and accessories – all for “tiny” bodies).

Whole Foods proved irresistible as we approached I-94 in Ann Arbor. I had never been there and was very reluctant to buy much due to the high cost of most anything “green” “or organic”. The concept is great, but it just doesn’t fit in my budget. I’m glad we went and had a great time browsing.
The thought of going on down the road to Trader Joe’s crossed our minds but we were just “shopped out” and tired at that point. At least we have been to TJ’s and can leave that for another day.

As we neared Dundee, D suggested we do a quick stop at Cabelas. On our last visit to R & B’s I had found a pair of shoes I wanted at Cabelas but they didn’t have them in my size and I was unwilling to pay a shipping fee to get them sent to me. Yea – they had them - just what I wanted and they are so comfortable! And thank goodness it was just a quick 10-minute stop since we were quite tired. Thank you, D.
As we continued home we saw many deer in fields – at one point a small herd of seven.

It was about 9:30 as we pulled into the driveway to conclude our fun Friday. ~~K

Brighton, Michigan

2009-04-13T08:35:00.011-04:00

…more “Friday Fun”

Our plans for “Fun Friday” included lunch at an Irish pub and geocaching. I originally thought there was a third Irish pub in Howell (one we had not yet visited), but I realized it was actually in Brighton. See note at end of post about two wonderful Irish pubs in Howell.
On our way to Brighton we took advantage of a geocache called "A Short Walk in the Woods” located at an eastbound rest stop on I-96. It was a nice secluded location for such a busy area. Our swag exchange yielded a Molson can cover.
Brighton’s beautiful downtown city park with an elaborate play area and pond was our parking location. It also held a geocache called “Crazy Quackers”. On this day I would have called it “messy honkers” due to the geese rather than ducks. There were too many muggles in the park as we arrived, so we walked over to the pub, ate, and came back; then we enjoyed observing other geocachers before logging our “find”.
As we walked to Stout Irish Pub (http://www.greatplaces4goodtimes.com/index.php?page=stout-irish-pub) we were quite impressed with this ski resort town. It reminded us a bit of Worthington, Ohio. Sometime we’d like to spend more time exploring – especially on a bit warmer day. If cars are any indication, Brighton reeks of wealth! How many Lexus and Infinities can you see on any one-block stretch?
OK, back to our primary Brighton objective – Stout Irish Pub. It was well worth traveling a few extra miles from Howell. Great service, décor, and food was as expected, and then some.
The décor included straw on some of the walls, a nice bar, and an intriguing mural of a lion and girl from the Berlin Zoo dated 1863 - check out the story and history of this http://www.intimateforest.com/lady_lion/l_l.html.
A nice selection of beer on tap (in addition to Guinness) led us to choose two English brews – Tennant for D and Botington’s for me. It would have been all too easy to have another pint, but we successfully resisted this early in the day.
Traditional “fish and chips” were enjoyed by D. I devoured a delicious bowl of the House Special soup that included champ, Irish bacon, cheddar, and scallions; I also ordered three Irish Sliders thinking they would be much smaller Reubens than they actually were – one served as my “snack” after we arrived home. Their menu is included on the web site link.
Obviously, we highly recommend this Irish pub.
After returning to the city park and finding the cache, we proceeded to St Patrick’s Cemetery in town. Another geocache was waiting to be found there. In addition to quickly finding the cache we enjoyed looking at tombstones including one of a man from Ireland buried nearby.

Pub Note: Cleary’s in downtown Howell is traditional both inside and out. Chris McGurrin’s on old US 23 at Route 59 has a modern exterior but an authentic Irish bar replicated inside (there’s even a map of County Cavan inside since the owner’s grandmother came from Cavan) – I highly recommend the liver and onions in a whiskey sauce.

Looking forward to another day in Brighton in the future. ~~K

Friday Fun

2009-04-12T20:38:00.001-04:00

It was such a fun-filled Friday with D that I’m going to have to break it down into at least 3 blog posts. I think they’ll be:

1 – Brighton, Michigan
2 – Tanger Outlet Mall
3 – Howell Hunting (geocaching)

Hope you all had a great Easter! It was an enjoyable, lazy, relaxing one for us. ~~K

Joe Wraps

2009-04-11T13:51:00.002-04:00

Our outside chores so far this bright April Saturday have caused us to work up an appetite. I had some fresh burger that needed to be cooked - sloppy joes sounded good, but I didn’t have any buns. So, I made….

Joe Wraps

Some fresh tomato for color would have been nice. I felt this meal even became a bit healthier with the lettuce on it. Shredded cheese might have been a nice addition also.

D is such a trooper – he’s willing to eat anything I pull together! It was good though – I’ll probably do this again. ~~K

Campus Caching - out of order in date list

2009-04-11T09:58:00.003-04:00

Not sure why this isn't listed properly - maybe because I saved it as a draft several days ago?!

http://dksharing.blogspot.com/2009/04/campus-caching.html

I have several more drafts I wrote this week I was off from school - they'll probably be out of order also. Boo.

Thursday’s Tasks

2009-04-09T19:26:00.012-04:00

…but they were enjoyable “labors of love” outside

Finally, a decent day to spend working outside! It was only 25 degrees at 7:30 am, but the sun looked promising. I did around in the house, then I went outside at 9:30 since the temperature had reached 44 degrees.
I washed and hung sheets outside – notice my clothespins are in an old bleach bottle I cut so it can also hang on the clothesline and slide along as I need a pin.More geocaches are needed along the nature trail out back. As I was scouting the area and recording coordinates I came across a skull, jaw bones, and neck vertebrae. I looked around but couldn’t find any other bones from the carcass. After D looked at it later we think there must have been an illegal hunter who killed a deer and field dressed it right there and left the head.

After the creek was cleaned last fall, most of the mud and dirt was piled along the top of the creek bank. Unexpectedly I heard a bulldozer working out back even before I went outside – As I was burning yard debris I proceeded to talk to “Mr. Bulldozer” when I saw he was even seeding the area by hand while walking – what a pleasant bonus!

Tree trimmers for Edison started “working” out front (I noticed their breaks are twice as long as their work time) – I talked to them a bit – hopefully they’ll leave me some wood chips next week – I won’t count on it though – the last time Edison trimmed they had told a friend of mine they would drop some wood chips off, but they never did.

The asparagus patch got its spring cleaning.

beforeafter

I gathered about 5 trailer loads of clippings, branches, and other burnable yard waste throughout the day and burned it all, plus I was able to burn much of what was already out in the burn area – right now there’s mostly log size debris.

When I came inside at 4:30 it was 61 degrees, the sun was still shining, but the wind was picking up.

After we ate supper, D got the tiller going for the first time this year. I was able to get the west side garden turned under – I never got around to it last fall. I’ll have to do it a couple more times before planting.

After coming in a little after 7, I had a tired, dirty body, and needed to call it a day. ~~K

Wednesday Wanderings

2009-04-08T16:47:00.008-04:00

It’s spring break from school and I’ve been in a strange, foul mood! I’m thinking it’s due to the horrible weather, wondering about the future of my employment, as well as concern about family member health issues. But Wednesday was a fun day!

I started the day by joining my sister R for breakfast at Scrambler Marie's in Pburg (I still think that is a STUPID name – they should have remained Café Marie). I not only enjoyed eating my meal, but was proud of myself for being healthy and reasonable:
Oatmeal with brown sugar and blueberries was tasty and filling; I didn’t even put the milk/cream on it.

My side dish of seasonal fruit was a nice addition. I had already enjoyed my cup of coffee at home with D, so I just had water.

We then drove by some old home sites – I say “sites” because there is nothing there anymore! I didn’t think it was worth taking pictures of empty lots on two of my childhood addresses – South and Leland. We also drove by the spots/houses where our grandparents had lived – I should have taken pictures there (if only in the interest of future generations – maybe that’s another blog some day).

We were down to only three good glasses, so one of the purposes of the day was to take advantage of R’s 30% discount at Libbey and restock the cupboard. Or should I say “freezer” – as most of you know, we store our “flare” glasses on the bottom rack of the freezer door.
Before arriving back home additional stops were made at Aldi, Meijer, Dollar Tree, Target, Michael's, Home Depot, Dollar General, and Black Diamond. Most of those stops were just “window shopping”. I like shopping in the CrossRoads area of Rossford/PBurg because there are so many stores close to each other.

I had been looking at rosemary plants, but the price range was $2.98-3.49 for one plant! I felt like I had hit the jackpot today at Black Diamond in Pburg. This was the first time I had been there and realized I had a false impression of their prices – I had expected them to have higher prices than Lowe’s on common plants. Was I ever wrong! Rosemary plants (and other herbs) were only 89 cents! Granted, they were a bit smaller than the $3.48 ones; but I couldn’t resist.
Italian parsley, basil, and thyme also ended up being purchased at those prices. Now I just have to keep them alive!

The other day I had purchased seeds - curly parsley, basil, snow peas, and spearmint. Today I added zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, tendergreeen beans, turnips, lima beans, Italian parsley, and butternut squash. Waiting until Memorial Day weekend to plant has to be preceeded by getting the garden ready - Mother Nature has to do her part too - she sure let me down this week of spring break!

My Wednesday wanderings have ended - what does tomorrow hold? ~~K

Looking for the Lamb

2009-04-07T16:29:00.005-04:00

...Wasn’t the March lion supposed to turn into a lamb?

It’s been snowing some the last few days and it’s April! Am I over anxious for spring to arrive? Surely these are signs that it’s getting closer--

I purchased new garden gloves and some seeds.
Tell me there is truly some green showing out in the yard. See the sprouts of day lilies and the ducks swimming?
Almost daffodil blooms, even though it’s snowing?!

There was a heron at the edge of the pond last evening, but just as I was ready to snap a shot (it took a few moments to go get my camera) it took off like a pterodactyl. As I type this, I can hear birds outside - do they know the lamb is close at hand?

Let’s skip the April showers and go right to May flowers! Oh, and less wind and more warmth!~~K

Campus Caching…

2009-04-07T09:18:00.013-04:00

and elsewhere…

OCC was a nice "empty" area Saturday morning – no muggles in sight! We went on the geocache hunt after attending a retirement conference across the street. Sitting at a picnic table let us enjoy viewing the first cache’s contents.

D had to handle this cache a bit differently (delicately and carefully) than most of our finds.

Was this one our quickest, easiest find ever? You bet!

Even though our GPS seemed a bit “jumpy”, it resulted in finding this clever hide. Saw landscapers mulching nearby, but don’t think they paid any attention to us; hope they don’t disturb the cache.

Since we were already in the parking lot, we went inside and purchased a new compass to aid in our caching. D has a fantastic WWII compass he uses, but I wanted a simpler, more clear, easier to use one!

Thursday near Tontogany

One of the more clever hiding spots; but we found it! Since it was so close to home, it seemed like a "one-cache adventure" was in order after dinner last Thursday.

We need to plan a caching adventure afternoon together! ~~K

Barbecue Times Two

2009-04-07T07:29:00.010-04:00

...in the same week

I’ve just realized, I’m a “barbecue snob”! I expect a certain flavor in a barbecue sauce, and if I don’t taste those flavors, it won’t get my stamp of approval (even if it is from a top-rated restaurant).

#1 - Montgomery Inn
On our way back from visiting K&J in KY we stopped in Cinci to say hi to L (she had to move there for her GS job). It had been years (when I worked in market research) since I had eaten at The Montgomery Inn; and we had just talked about it over the weekend as we were eating a bag of potato chips from there.

It’s more of a sports bar now than I had remembered, but nicely decorated. I couldn’t resist this dim inside shot – D & I had watched “Pete” and the Reds a lot in the 70’s.

Delicious “croutons” with the salad were crispy slices of bread – I think they did everything to make “homemade” croutons except breaking the bread into bites.

At a rib joint bibs are in order!

Obviously I got so into enjoying the food and company that I forgot to take a picture of the entrée until my plate was almost empty. The food was good, I just wouldn’t rave about their sauce – it tasted too much like an extra spicy ketchup to me.

Sorry – this outside shot was an afterthought – and it’s too dark! Montgomery is a cute town I'd like to explore - it reminds me of Worthington, OH.

#2 - Bad Bob’s
After the retirement conference at Owens on Saturday we needed to eat lunch before running errands. We decided to eat somewhere that was “new” to us, so we saw a sign we hadn’t noticed before (I’ve since been told it has been there about 9 months).
First impressions are hard to break from me – too bright, poor service – and that’s just while we’re waiting to be seated when they weren’t even busy! Its decorating has potential if they would just dim it down.

You all know I’m cheap - so I thought the prices were a bit steep. The food was good, but nothing to brag about. D had the “Big Hawg” pulled pork sandwich (it comes with NOTHING) and Pig Tails (curly fries). The flavoring of the meat was wonderful without any sauce – they cook in true Memphis barbecue style – dry rub. I didn’t like either of their liquid barbecue sauces – see what I mean about being a “barbecue snob”.

My “Brunswick Stew” was excellent! I’d never had it made with pulled pork before (chicken in my recipe), but it was a good blend of tasty flavors that worked well together.
Happy Eating! ~~K

Kentucky Ancestors

2009-03-31T22:19:00.012-04:00

While visiting cousins in KY, two of my sisters (R & B) and I also went to some of our ancestors’ burial plots.

Grandma O’s parents are in Rock Springs Cemetery.

Grandpa O’s father is in Orange Cemetery (thanks S). It is located in Butler County, KY - near & East of Davis Crossroads on Highway 629 - also known as "New Orange Cemetery" & "Newt Orange Cemetery".

Grandpa O’s brother is in the Quality Missionary Baptist Church Cementery (Forgytown, Butler County, KY).

Grandpa O’s sister and her husband are in Smith Cemetery in Logan County. It was interesting to learn than Rube's real name was William Ruby Anderson - even his tombstone is not accurate. Some of their "neighbors" are from the Revolutionary War period, including one of George Washington's guides.

Despite the rain and tornado warnings we made our “visits”. ~K

Geocaching in KY

2009-03-31T19:06:00.004-04:00

On Sunday evening R, B and I along with K & J successfully found 3 of 3 geocaches near Russellville, KY.

The first two were along trails in the Baker Natural Area: (http://nacdnet.com/resources/presentations/se_region/kentucky.ppt)

“Three Forks”

“Wild Flowers”

I’m sure this would have been more obvious in a different season – some great photos in the link above.

A nearby upscale subdivision held a third geocache entitled “Big Rock”.
Can you tell the titles are frequently great clues?

I think the “first-timers” enjoyed these hunts and might pursue geocaching as an additional hobby. ~K

For more information visit http://www.geocaching.com/; there are also some nice introductory YouTube videos I have used with 5th graders:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PBjuPko2tog&feature=related - explains GPS and then some
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nqCvcwTK37w - great intro to geocaching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeYvFEe5hIg - how to find a geocache
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3S3ntqVm_Uc&feature=related - Basics – slide show format – no narration
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KDSBXSofsck&feature=related -what does a geocache look like
GPS unit we used – Garmin Venture HC – recommended features if considering purchasing a unit: high-sensitivity receiver, color display, geocaching mode, capable of downloading coordinates from geocaching.com

Blocked Blogger

2009-03-19T06:53:00.002-04:00

…as well as Facebook and so much more

Restrictions seem to be continually tightening rather than loosening. I used to be able to sign in to my blog at school, but now blogspot is completely blocked.
Facebook has always been blocked.

Again, let’s not use the latest tools for communication that our K-12 students use so much at home! If you need to tell anything to me in a hurry while I’m at school, please use my regular email or leave a voice message on my cell. ~~K

Running Lake to Lake

2009-03-15T16:54:00.003-04:00

It was gorgeous weather up at the lake with B & R this weekend!

B and I took off in Saturday morning's sunshine with temps in the high 30's. We didn't take our normal route; instead, my legs got to experience the true inclines of the Irish HILLS! Within a tenth of a mile we were climbing. There were about 6 hills - guess what the dips are in our speed on this graph!

There was more traffic than I would prefer and "off-road" was a bit mushy from all the rain with more tree debris than usual. High-stepping and careful watching was in order as we went from Lake Columbia over to Clarks Lake and back.

Considering it was our first outdoor run together this year, it was a successful run. April 26 will be here all too soon!~~K

Busy Bakers

2009-03-12T18:52:00.013-04:00

I’m thinking these pictures from today’s third grade classroom says it all.

Cooperation, measurement, science, patience, cleanliness, etc. were all required for this project that took place throughout the day. The school has never smelled better! ~~K

Seven, Eight, Lay Them Straight

2009-03-08T13:23:00.004-04:00

Since the ground is still spongy, this is the best way to move the yard debris – place it (straight) on a tarp and drag it. I was afraid the tractor and cart would do more damage than help.

It ended up this load was too heavy for D and I to take in only one trip to the burn pile. We halved it and it worked fine. Next time we did smaller loads to begin with. BD&Z were out Saturday and even Z helped “lay them straight” and transport.

Nine, Ten, Let the Burn Begin
…attempt #1
Of course, not everything is cut and hauled yet, but I was anxious to start the burning process. Even though most of the debris is dead wood, it was too damp to catch the small flame – some smoke, then nothing. To be continued…

Nine, Ten, Let the Burn Begin
…attempt #2
Success! Tiki torch fuel does wonders! Most of you know “playing with fire” is one of my favorite activities and there’s plenty of wood for more fires. I’m very glad we accomplished so much outside work on Saturday, because look what has arrived …

Lake Bradley
It’s been raining non-stop for about the last 15 hours and Lake Bradley has reappeared. (excuse the photo quality – shot through the window screens)

As well as a few new bodies of water. I don’t recall seeing standing water on the east side of the pine tree like this before.

Rain, Rain, go Away! ~~K

Pot ‘o Gold

2009-03-07T09:35:00.002-05:00

…aka Potato Soup

While searching for some Irish recipes I came across this Pot o' Gold Potato Soup that I used as a jumping off point for my own version.

My additions included one large potato (cooked and cubed), 1 chopped carrot, 2 slices of ham about 3/8” thick, and more cheese than called for in the actual recipe. I used water instead of chicken broth; I didn’t use any milk or sour cream (if I had them I would use them, but just water was fine – even D said he’d like to have this soup again). Sorry for the poor photo – it’s of the leftovers I had for lunch at school.
The instant potatoes I used were from a bag I bought at GFS to try before K&P’s Celtic wedding – these are the ones we did not like, but this was a good way to use some of them, and mixed with everything else they were fine.

Wouldn’t some of that sweet potato bread (recipe on Bake and Brew blog) be good with this? ~~K

Almost a “Jillian”

2009-03-05T06:29:00.008-05:00

...as in a hard workout

I pushed myself about the hardest ever – almost to the “puke-point” Jillian requires, but I held my own, took a few deep breaths, swallowed, and recovered. I felt I had to break the 30 minute barrier for the upcoming 5k, and that I needed to do that early this month – I did it Wednesday in 29’10”. I’m not sure when I’ll run a repeat performance and I also know it is a bit “false” since it was on the Y’s treadmill and I was holding on. But it still feels good.

I continually watched "the numbers" while listening to a 164 bpm set from Podrunner called "Electric Beach". This music kept me true to a 6.4 mph pace - it will be interesting to see if it will help me run that pace on the road. You might want to check out some of the other free podcasts here: http://www.djsteveboy.com/mixes.html

My goal is to be able to run the 5k in about the number of minutes that is half my age. Since I’ll be 58 on May 2 and the race is April 26 I think I’d be on target with that 29’. ~~K

Five, Six, Pick up Sticks

2009-03-04T18:17:00.005-05:00

...and twigs, branches, limbs, etc.
Even though it’s colder than I expect in March, the bright sunshine keeps drawing me outside. There is so much outdoor yard work to do, but dealing with “sticks” seemed the first order of business.
Windy days have broken many limbs that will require D and a chainsaw rather than me and my small clippers. I didn’t actually pick up sticks, I starting cutting sticks and making piles. I stayed outside until my face was frozen – that only took about 45 minutes – so there is still much to do around all the trees. In some ways, it looks like a bigger mess than when I started.
Some calm day we’ll enjoy a nice bonfire with all this yard debris. ~~K

Where’s my game face?

2009-03-03T15:29:00.003-05:00

I’ve got to get back into a running groove! February’s running miles were the lowest (only 12.6 miles) since I started recording them in July. Here’s my list of excuses (I know, none are acceptable): travel, rough (and late and long) days at school, sickness, bad weather, foul mood, other things to do, etc.

Looking at the calendar, I know I’ve got to run, run, run to be ready for the 5k of the Glass City Marathon in April. Unlike some younger people in our family (who are doing a tremendous job training for a fast 13.1 mile half-marathon run), I have no desire to attempt any “race” greater than 5k.

Yesterday after school I ran on a treadmill at the Y and thought I had done quite well after such a lapse -- until I looked at my running log. In October I completed a 5k in 31 minutes, 52 seconds, yesterday’s was 32’40”. I need to improve, not regress!I’m so fortunate D supports my struggles with running – in so many ways – even my Valentine - new pants and jacket! You don’t see it on the jacket, but it has reflective strips on the pockets – the hood may be concealed by stuffing and zipping it into the cowl collar – nice and light weight, yet water resistant. Now I just need better weather so I can run outside – I’m hoping outside running will pump up my motivation. ~~K

Happy Mardi Gras!

2009-02-24T07:15:00.005-05:00

King Cake Recipe from Food Network Magazine

When I saw the first several lines of the King Cake recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/king-cake-recipe2/index.html) I knew it would be another baking adventure with BEB!

** Prep Time: 45 min
** Inactive Prep Time: 11 hr 30 min
** Cook Time: 40 min
** Level: Difficult

I’m glad I recently read about multiple stages of dough preparation on the Brew and Bake blog so I wasn’t totally taken back by it; especially by dumping flour on top of a partial mix and then doing nothing (not even mixing it together) for 90 minutes.

I was surprised the recipe called for a food processor rather than the Kitchenaid mixer (I found out in the next steps that I wish I would have used the mixer rather than the processor). Adding the melted butter slowly certainly resulted in a sticky dough. It became so large and sticky the processor bogged down (while sounding strained) and some of the dough lodged under the blades and went up and over the shaft (I didn’t realize this last part until during the “clean-up” process).

After waiting 3 hours then kneading by hand I was again surprised by the recipe calling for another wait– now cover it and refrigerate for 8 hours (or overnight).
Wow! This Danish dough recipe is fantastic! I never worked with such a wonderful consistency of dough the next morning. Even though it had been in the refrigerator, it increased in size. Just from the feel of it still in the plastic wrap you could tell it would be light and easy to work with.
Aromas coming from the filling mixture were delicious even in the unbaked state. Directions from the recipe were carefully followed, but when I do this again I would be sure to leave a border at the short edges as well as the long edges when spreading the filling. The bottom seal was secure, but the side tuck was not (again, didn’t know this until the filling was oozing out during the baking) – it needed to be tucked without filling in the overlap, and then pinched.
Again, a waiting period after assembly– this time 2 hours – after doubling in size it was obvious this probably could serve 12; up until now the cake didn’t look large enough.

I know my oven runs on the hot side, but I was very surprised when I checked at 25 minutes and realized the cake was just about finished – there was no way it would stay in the oven 40 minutes. It was very brown, but not hard and crusty – it still had a great “spring” to the touch. I was concerned the center might be doughy, but it was great!
With just the glaze on top it was a beautiful shiny “cake”, but since it was a Mardi Gras King Cake (minus the baby, though) it needed the colored sugars. Even without green, it was just festive enough and more than delicious and rich enough to be the perfect way to celebrate Mardi Gras

Yummy! ~~K

Yummi Yogi

2009-02-18T16:29:00.002-05:00

(special thanks to BMA)

I think I received the Yogi tea samples at a good time. My head cold and sinuses are keeping me a bit under-par lately and I enjoy a good cup of tea for a bit of relief.

The berry detox is a very flavorful pleasant taste with a pale pink color. I'm looking forward to trying the other two. I didn't receive a sample, but I'm curious about the Mexican sweet chili also. ~K

Shoveling it in …

2009-02-15T16:37:00.017-05:00

No snow to shovel, but plenty of food and drink. Here’s what would usually be several posts wrapped up into one:

Soup’s On
This enduring winter weather called for some long-simmering hamburger soup and warm biscuits out of the oven for lunch.

It was the first time to make this soup, which will definitely be made again. I was concerned when it called for catchup and Worcestershire sauce, but the flavor was great and I won’t change anything. The recipe was from the Sentinel-Tribune.

Custom Cooking
We were hungry for a home-grilled burger and onions and I wanted some “special” buns for them. With it just being the two of us, and the fact I’m “cheap” I couldn’t bring myself to pay the price wanted for a tasty bun. Instead I bought a loaf of roasted red pepper and onion bread. After making rectangular burgers I waited until they were cooked, then sliced the bread to the correct size for each burger.

I seldom make “Zetta-style” potatoes and onions, but since it was Valentine’s Day I felt I could splurge and go the “fried” route.

It ended up being a fairly well-balanced meal; it certainly was delicious.

Delicious Drinks
A Valentine treat for us was picking out some special beverages at the liquor store. D chose Bittburger beer which is always a treat.

Several times I’ve watched the Barefoot Contessa use "limoncello” as an after dinner drink, as an ingredient in a cheesecake, and added to a fruit salad. I was tempted by it when I was at Buca di Beppo’s . Saturday was the day for me to make the purchase and try it.

It is so refreshing! I enjoyed several “limoncella martinis” with my meal and into the evening.

Busy Baking
With D not buying peanut butter cookies lately, yet needing sweets for his morning treat, I’ve been trying to bake cookies each week. The last two weeks it’s been “Margaret’s sugar cookie” recipe; this week I tried BEB’s oatmeal/raisin recipe. I prefer putting parchment paper on the cookie sheets and tend to reuse it since it doesn’t take on a taste or burn.

I’m curious how long these will last.

Poor Man’s Pecan Pie
Really, that’s the name of this non-nut pie! Apparently this recipe was developed during the depression.

It’s basically Grandma Orange’s pecan pie recipe, but instead of pecans it uses a mixture of coconut and oats. It was surprisingly good - D and I agree I’ll bake it again.

I’ve finally come up with a way to easily protect the crust edges from becoming too brown. I cut an old foil man to size and place it over the pie instead of aluminum foil. It stays in place better than flimsy sheets of foil and it is reusable. ~~K

From Russia, with …

2009-02-15T10:54:00.006-05:00

I know it’s supposed to be “Love” , but we just couldn’t “love” this beer. It is about the only beer we’ve tasted that we did not enjoy as much as expected. As you might guess, it is from Russia.

We had errands to run Tuesday evening, including Andersons. Of course, what is a stop there without perusing the beer aisles! 51 oz. for $2.99 for a beer we had never tried was nothing to be passed up. Perhaps something is lost in the translation since the label seems contradictory: it is listed as a lager in large print, but in smaller print it claims to be an ale! Did you notice the alcohol content is 8%

The better part of the venture into Maumee was stopping at Dino’s to eat. We hadn’t been there in years and our memories of great food held true. Made me think of B,D, &Z.

My liver and onions as well as D’s chili mac were delicious. ~~K

Gently Down the Stream

2009-02-13T06:31:00.005-05:00

Thankfully the rain has stopped; the wind has had a drying effect; and this high water is flowing well.

You can see the watermark on the abutment from early Thursday was about 9 inches higher. Do you believe we still have a few spots of snow around the yard?

Spring is getting closer and I know the trees are healthier because of all this wetness. ~~K

Does anybody really know what time it is?

2009-02-12T17:11:00.001-05:00

After a frightfully gusting, windy night, it was one of those mornings when the clocks were all flashing, and an old favorite Chicago song came to mind. I couldn’t resist taking a few shots of blinking clocks and merging them into this short clip.

I was very appreciative that the electricity had not remained off all night and into this morning.

This tune certainly causes one to date oneself. Ouch! ~~K

Another Dollar Spent

2009-02-11T19:50:00.002-05:00

My trips to The Dollar Tree recently have yielded great tech finds. The latest...

this retractable set of earbuds. I don’t appreciate the color, but that is outweighed by its compactness, and no tangled cords in my carry pouch! ~~K

Chicken Days

2009-02-09T17:53:00.002-05:00

After so many days of no homecooked meals, I had to make up for it. On Saturday I pulled together two chicken dishes that we ate all weekend:

Lunch: Chicken Tortilla Soup with sour cream and tortilla chips (I was a bit surprised the first time I made this how much D enjoyed it). The recipe came from the back of an Aldi’s broth carton.

Supper: Drunken Chicken – need I say more? The neck area was almost too crispy, as in almost burned, but I think it’s so much easier to bake it in the oven than on the grill since it’s such a hassle to deal with outdoor grill grates. Next time I might place foil over the top of the chicken as it nears the end of cooking (like for pie crusts).~~K

Catching Up

2009-02-08T11:56:00.002-05:00

FYI - I've written four separate posts today about my adventures in Columbus - I didn't want you to be like me and miss out on a post - I'm not observant enough to always notice any more than one post a day! LOL

Japanese Steak House

2009-02-08T11:36:00.013-05:00

Flames from a “volcano” in the midst of grilling zucchini, mushrooms, and onions proved how creative one can be with a few large onion rings!

We were seated at the longest griddle I’ve ever seen – it must have been 10 feet long. Of course most Japanese steak houses are known for flashy knife work, and we weren’t disappointed.

About 14 of us enjoyed delicious food and the “show” of preparing it after another uneventful eating day (the conference sessions were fabulous, the conference food was not). One of our teachers is allergic to shellfish and the chef prepared her entire meal in front of us, cleaned the griddle, and then began the other meals. It was like getting two “shows” in one sitting!

You can probably tell from the photos that the food was fresh and colorful. Also delicious, especially when accompanied with hot sake!

I opted for scallops and was pleasantly surprised by the smothering of sakura sauce. The sauce was like a glorified hollandaise in which I could taste a sweetness, but yet a touch of garlic – its texture was that of custard. After the scallops were grilled for a bit, he covered them with the sauce (it almost looked like raw egg at that time), poured on a little sake, then covered them with a lid while other entrees continued cooking in the open.

Chopsticks were my utensil of choice and I was able to get through the entire meal – until the pineapple sherbet was served in a bowl. Now, if that would have been in an edible “dish” I would not have picked up any silverware – oh, well!

FYI - Compared to Nagoya at Levis Commons, the prices were reasonable: hot sake was $3.75 compared to $5 at Nagoya and the scallop entrée (with soup, salad, shrimp appetizer, steamed rice, and fresh vegetable) was $20 compared to $24 at Nagoya. Our meals alo included hot green tea (upon request) and a dessert; Nagoya’s does not.~~K

Buca di Beppo

2009-02-08T11:02:00.017-05:00

Having heard about this eclectic downtown Columbus restaurant for years I can confirm there really is a pope’s head in the center of one of the tables! Sorry, I didn't take this picture - I found it online, but it looked just like this except people were eating at this round table that was in a small room by itself.

After an ok breakfast (strawberry-yogurt Zone bar and coffee in the room) and a horrible lunch (more later**) at the conference, about a dozen of us walked over to Buca di Beppo’s for dinner. And yes, we had made reservations the day before – apparently many diners hadn’t – you should have seen the faces of the crowd as we were immediately let in.

Supposedly because it was so crowded, we were walked through the kitchen on the way to our table (I considered that walk-through a bonus and wish more restaurants did that). What a tight area they have to work in! It reminded me of the Bally's kitchen in Las Vegas.

I wish I would have taken more pictures to capture the atmosphere. There are many small alcoves and rooms with “junk” everywhere – even the ceiling is decoratively painted. With the red and green lights, and the checkered tablecloths you knew you were in an Italian joint.

Meals are served family style so it was an exercise in cooperation for us to finally agree on what we would order. Of course each item was “large”, and one of each except for 2 platters of lasagna (descriptions taken from the menu):

Mixed Green Salad - Our fresh lettuce blend tossed with our signature Italian vinaigrette, red onions, pepperoncini peppers and colossal black and green olives. $16.99

Mixed Green Salad with Prosciutto and Gorgonzola - Same delicious combination as the Mixed Green Salad, topped with crispy fried prosciutto and rich gorgonzola cheese. $17.99

Caesar Salad - Fresh, crisp romaine lettuce tossed with our Caesar salad dressing and croutons, topped with parmesan cheese. $16.99

Lasagna - Nine towering layers of lasagna noodles stuffed with our homemade meat sauce and a savory combination of ricotta, mozzarella, provolone and parmesan cheeses. $24.99

Penne Basilica - Tender chicken breast, broccoli and a light pesto cream sauce with imported Italian penne pasta. $26.99

Fettuccine Alfredo - Classic favorite featuring imported Italian egg fettuccine tossed in our creamy alfredo sauce.$19.99

Chicken Parmigiana - Breaded and sautéed chicken breasts topped with marinara and mozzarella, then baked to golden perfection. $27.99

I thought the food was delicious except for the Fettucine Alfredo which was bland. Favorites: lasagna and penne basilica (I think I'll try to duplicate that last one since I found a recipe online that sounds close [see below] - it's new to their menu also). Unlike at home where I add spices to the olive oil for dipping bread, the waitress poured just olive oil into the saucers; we were served plain bread as well as a very tasty heavily coated garlic bread.

A great time was had by all! As we walked back to the hotel with full bellies we thought we should have ordered one less salad. But the other platters yielded just enough so we were able to pack leftovers as you can see in picture. We kept our foil plates in the room refrigerator and ate it cold on the way home Wednesday evening (it was still delicious).

You might want to visit their website: http://www.bucadibeppo.com/locations/default.aspx?location=3501

Photo Note: I was remiss in taking photos, but it appears another conference attendee did a great job. This slideshow from flickr is a great representation. I forgot to mention the snow-covered outdoor area with cement tables and decorations - maybe D and I can stop here in warm weather.http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallyjogary/sets/72157613220577801/show/

Pesto Cream Sauce Recipe

1 cup fresh basil
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
1 cup olive oil
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
3 garlic cloves 1 cup heavy cream
Combine all dry ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend. Slowly add the cream and oil while blending. Warm gently on the stove top in a medium heavy saucepan.

**Conference lunch was pulled chicken (very dry, unevenly pulled, too spicy, cold) with ok cold slaw, yukky, right out of the can baked beans, and a cookie.~~K

Learnin’ ‘n Loot...

2009-02-08T09:52:00.012-05:00

at eTech Ohio 2009 - State Technology Conference - Columbus Convention Center

Decisions, decisions – about 20 different sessions from which to choose for each hour from 8-3:30 for 3 days! I was selfish this year and attended sessions that interested me personally, rather than thinking about what I would take back to other teachers.

Most of you know how much I enjoy geocaching – to the point I incorporated it into several lessons with my 5th graders last year. With that in mind, here are the titles of several of my favorite sessions:
**Earthquests! Teaching Earth Science, Topography, And Geography Using Google Earth
**Educaching: Integrating GPS Technology With The Curriculum

First hand viewing of students designing and creating robots and then competing was a highlight I enjoyed.

After attending several sessions, such as **Don't Fear Facebook! Using Social Networking To Communicate With Students And Parents**, I realize our schools need to rethink many of the restrictions that are currently in place about YouTube, Facebook, cell phones, iPods, and other “tools” readily, efficiently, and continually used by students (but NOT schools). The tools are already there to communicate with students but many administrations refuse to let us use them inside the classrooms.

Along the same lines, I became more comfortable with Google Docs, but forget it – it’s blocked at school. Many times as my students are so excited about PowerPoint they are disappointed upon realizing they don’t have it at home. Within Google Docs they could create presentations at home and even save them in the ppt format; or export a ppt to Google Docs. (The same is true for spreadsheets and word documents.) I was excited and even started planning a lesson on this, but as I returned to school Thursday my excitement turned to frustration as I realized GD is a restricted site. Again, we’ve cut another avenue available between school and home, and dampened student enthusiasm.

But I do encourage you to check out Google Docs at home – I’ve learned more on my own and so wish I was able to use its “forms” at school – it would be an alternative method of assessment or survey.

Wifi and laptops - almost everywhere except classrooms!

OK, enough whining! I’ll be sharing with staff some things I learned, especially **Thirty Three Tech Tips That Translate To Time (re)Trieved** and iTunesU (professional development videos and podcasts). Other topics that revitalized me were Web 2.0, Edu 2.0, wikis, blogs, ANIMOTO, wordle.net, voicethread.com – as I type this I realize there are things I’ve tried at home, but not at school – I better prepare myself for more restrictions.

What’s a conference without goodies? More pens than I’ll ever use, a fine-point mechanical pencil, earbuds, T-shirt, boomerang, magnets, bookmarks, screen-cleaners, a very nice mug, ruler, candy, etc. But the BEST – a 2 gig thumb drive that’s a bracelet!

As I typed this in Word and saw so many "red squiggles" it just reinforces my frustration at how we are not keeping up with the times! So many words that are so current for our students are not in the dictionary – iPod, earbud, Google, FaceBook, MySpace, educaching, earthquest, etc. ~~K

Sunday in Columbus ...

2009-02-08T08:56:00.004-05:00

... this is being posted a week after the fact.

As we left home around 3pm we decided to let the GPS direct us down to Columbus. It proved to be a much different route than we normally drive. Taking us down 68 from 23 proved to be slow going as we drove through towns at 25 mph. Once we reached 33 it was smooth sailing; in fact this might be the faster way to get to Dublin. From home to the Crown Plaza downtown took 2 hrs. I think it may have ended up being quicker this way in the long run since we didn’t have all of the stop and go of 23.

Valet parking and check-in was very busy, but our room was ready and several colleagues were already waiting for us. Ours was a recently remodeled room that seemed not quite finished in terms of details (no towel racks).

To save time and crowds the next morning, we walked over to the convention center to check in and pick up our materials. Unfortunately, the skywalk was partially closed and being worked on; but we continued without coats (and kept doing that the rest of the days).

Our conference bags are roomy, but not as nice as the zippered ones we’ve received in the past.

We then walked directly to Max and Erma’s (connected to the hotel) where friends were holding seats for us. Burgers were the meals of choice for all of us – I had mushroom and Swiss. With all the eating and talking I wasn’t thinking of being a photographer, but as we were getting up to leave I took this shot from the balcony where we sat. (Photo-taking was not tops on my mind the rest of the week as you’ll notice in the next several posts also.)

Then it was back to the hotel lounge to see the end of the Super Bowl. Those last few minutes became quite boisterous in the very comfortable, but crowded area.

Deciding which sessions to attend is always difficult for me with so many choices, but I wanted to at least have the 8am session determined before I went to bed. As usual, the first night in a different bed did not yield a good night’s sleep. ~~K

Soggy it’s not …

2009-01-30T07:12:00.002-05:00

Delicious it is! “Pan Bagnat” was the latest new lunch item for me. From the French, it means “soaked bread”. I enjoyed it with an apple and somewhat dry carrots.

The stuffed loaf of French bread included tuna, artichoke hearts, celery, orange pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and a bit of onion. It was in the fridge overnight before I sliced it, so the juices mingled and soaked into the bread. Yummy! ~~K

Moo!

2009-01-26T18:37:00.002-05:00

Other than “oink” and “I’m too full”, that’s the word that came to mind after over-indulging in this delicious grilled T-bone steak meal at home Saturday evening. D and I both did reserve some of the steak to eat another time since the almost one-pound cut was probably the equivalent of 3 portions excluding the bone. I’m not used to eating that much red meat at once (most of you know we eat a lot of chicken).Other grilled items included onions and green beans to accompany the salad and baked potato. It’s nice to be able to eat like this every now and then (when the steak is on sale). ~~K

Another Gadget

2009-01-22T17:58:00.001-05:00

Bought this USB cable at the Dollar Tree …
and fortunately it works great – on both the camera and the GPS! Both ends are retractable so it saves so much space. I keep it in a smaller leather case in my purse that also has the camera. Now that I know it works, I hope to pick up a few more to keep at school. ~~K

New Menu Item

2009-01-20T17:06:00.002-05:00

I had the most beautiful, delicious lunch. Of course you recognize the whole wheat tortilla, celery, carrots, red pepper, and hard-boiled egg. But the glob in the center?
It’s a beet and walnut puree. The recipe is from “Spain…On the Road Again” but I improvised a bit:

1 handful walnuts
1 can sliced beets, drained
1 drizzle olive oil
no water
1 regular small spoon of tahini
1 long squirt of lemon juice from the “fake’ lemon
1 full twist of fresh sea salt

I started by pulsing in the food processor but there must not have been enough substance, so I switched to a different container and used the immersion blender – it worked great! It made just a bit over 1 cup. I’ll definitely make this again – I’ll use it in place of hummus now and then – I can see spreading it on the tortilla, chopping everything else to sprinkle on top, then rolling it and eating it as a wrap. ~~K

Converter Magic…

2009-01-17T08:47:00.003-05:00

Instantly – more channels! Our TV that is not connected to satellite could display six channels: 11-13-24-27-30-36. I was amazed to learn that each of those channels broadcasts more than one set of programs. Now we get great reception on 16 channels! Look at a sampling of our choices
Channel 27 here in BG offers 4 sets of programming – and all ones I like. We watched an episode of “Spain…On the Road Again” – it was like eavesdropping on Gwyneth Paltrow’s private trip – classy – fresh grilling outside – lots of vegetables and wine…
Very low key, personal – a great travel show compared to the pace of most others - http://www.spainontheroadagain.com/episode_guide.shtml the web site has recipes too. ~~K

Snow in Morocco and It’s Cold Here

2009-01-16T07:12:00.007-05:00

I guess it was time for me to get a geography lesson - I didn’t realize Ifrane (where M K&Z are) was known as Little Switzerland. They recently received 14 inches of snow – quite a plus for the local ski resorts. I was also surprised to learn the coldest recorded temperature in all of Africa was a negative 23 C (around –9 F) in Ifrane in 1935! Al Akawayn University’s web site home page has a beautiful winter slide show now – check it out at http://www.aui.ma/
Ok, out of Africa and back to the Midwest USA – it’s COLD! It’s windier today so I went online to see what the temperature felt like if you factor in windchill:

Our weather hub was showing –12 at the same time; perhaps the online probe is out in the open while our probe is under the deck railing. I checked Ifrane's weather - it's 45 F there now.

Pics are really computer screen shots rather than digital photos – apologies in advance if they’re hard to view. ~~K

That’s a Negative

2009-01-15T07:22:00.002-05:00

Hope you’ve arrived safely wherever you need to be this morning!School is closed today so I’m snug at home (68 degrees in here); but look at that outside temperature –6. ~~K

Colorful Eats

2009-01-14T17:58:00.005-05:00

As I was preparing my lunch this morning I was struck by the bright colors.
Leftover teriyaki chicken wings from last night, one wheat tortilla, some red pepper, celery, carrots and an apple.

Again at supper I thought the colors were “flavorful”. Meatloaf, traditional salad, rice with garlic, green peppers and fresh orange and red peppers (I bought them the other day for 34 cents from what D calls Meijer’s “used” vegetable rack). ~~K

Where’s the Beef?

2009-01-13T17:00:00.006-05:00

In the freezer and in our tummies!
I bought a whole center cut round roast for $1.99 a pound the other day. I realize it’s a bit of a tougher cut of meat, but at that price I thought it might add some variety to our menu. I cut off two “steaks”; D grilled them in the stove’s oven since the weather is so yucky, they were tasty, but not tender.

The rest is now in the freezer.

I cut off a hunk for a crock pot roast; cut some up into chunks for a crock pot stew; and it’s been years since I’ve made Braciole so I sliced some thin, later I’ll pound those slices flatter, stuff it, roll it, and cook it in the crock pot with some spaghetti sauce. Hopefully the slow cooking in the crock pot will tenderize the meat. ~~K

Too Many If’s

2009-01-12T19:30:00.004-05:00

If it’s warmer than 30
If it’s cooler than 80
If the wind is calm
If the road isn’t snowy/icy/slippery
If it’s not during a thunder storm

I’ve tried running in the cold and wind, but it only proved I’m a fair weather outside runner. I thought my “rule” would be to run when it was no colder than 30 degrees F. I then adapted that to say the wind chill temp couldn’t be lower than 30. While running Dec 27 in 60 F with 25mph wind (in NW Ohio) it was difficult just walking into the wind much less doing a RUN (my knees really felt the extra effort). I then had to make an addendum to my rule – the wind can’t be greater than 15mph. I think this should apply even in hot weather as I recall some warm breezy runs!

There have been some exceptions: I’ve been known to run when it was 86 and B and I had an enjoyable run during a light rain (it was raining even before we walked out the door).

Notice my great Christmas presents I’m wearing to help me be safe and comfortable during my runs – snuggly fleece and a wrist heart rate monitor!

Saturday I ran 3.1 miles on our home treadmill, but slowly – it took almost 35 minutes. My warm up was .25 mile and the cool down was another .25 mile. I need more confidence and balance to not hold on.

I finally made it to the Y today after school. 3.125 miles around the track – I walked a minute after each mile, but did each mile between 10’30” and 11’00” – I used my headphones with music and tried to keep the beat so it should have been 6 mph – I’m trying to get faster, but not experiencing much success yet. ~~K

Diner Dinner

2009-01-11T12:47:00.002-05:00

Do you ever crave a greasy-spoon diner breakfast? But for supper?Well, we did and prepared it all at once (other than toast) on our cool-touch griddle. Good eats! ~~K

Now on Tap …

2009-01-10T17:22:00.003-05:00

Smoothies! Well, actually this is a frozen mango margarita – yummy!Fill lines on the container side indicate correct proportions of liquid ingredients and frozen ingredients to make three tasty servings. How convenient – it fits in the fridge and has a spigot that works well. I’m enjoying this Christmas present! ~~K

Gadgets or Necessities?

2009-01-10T09:29:00.007-05:00

Our recent visit to the appliance store yielded several “modern” purchases.

The 21st century digital world forced us to purchase converter boxes for our old-fashioned analog TV sets, none of which are flat-screen, but at least the one is 32 inches (not sure what we’re going to do with the third old set unless there’s a really good deal on a converter later). I’m glad D ordered the vouchers when he did – I hear the government did not allocate enough money for this project. I also read that Obama thinks perhaps the switchover date should be postponed – time will tell!
As our power went on and off (mostly off) over several days just before Christmas it apparently wrecked havoc on our landline’s wireless satellite phones throughout the house. We ended up getting one base unit with two handsets as a replacement system. I’m still not properly using all of its new features – almost too many “bells and whistles” on these newer gadgets.
When our not-that-old microwave recently decided to stop working; B&R’s old microwave (stored in our garage) was turned into our daily warming workhorse. I wanted a bit larger microwave and still like the convenience of the other one for warming things up on the patio as needed (remember those warm-weather days?). So, here’s another purchase:
Washer, refrigerator, now all of this -- what will we “need” next? ~~K

Great Lakes Crossing

2009-01-09T11:19:00.009-05:00

Years have passed since D and I were at Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, so we took a round-about drive up there last Saturday. I say round-about because of the construction on I-75 – thanks to our Garmin GPS Nuvi, we had a pleasant venture through residential neighborhoods, especially the Orchard Lake area. I don’t think I would be able to retrace our route, though.

I forgot that TJ Maxx and Marshall’s were anchors and had a great time looking through their deals. We spent about 5 hours shopping (picked up a few presents and stocking stuffers for next Christmas). Instead of going back to the car and unloading before continuing our trek we took advantage of the lockers (a very nice convenience item in nasty weather).

Not that many unusual shops, but still enjoyable. I did get interested in security – as I tried to get my camera out of my zipped purse, the security guard meandering on the Segway was almost out of site before I was ready to snap – I had never seen one of those people movers in action.
At the half-way point, it was time to decide where to eat. Our last meal there had been at Game Works since the RainForest Café was so busy. Today our timing was perfect since we were willing to eat sheltered under the “mushroom bar” rather than on the main floor. I thought the frog stool was a bit out of place with the other “animals”.
We had a great view looking out through the rain dripping over the edge of the mushroom.
I guess I became so engrossed in the biome and my meal (chicken-fried steak) that I forgot to take any “food” pictures.
We were there over an hour and sat through three thunder "storms" complete with lightning before continuing our indoor venture – I'm sure we walked several miles. A very enjoyable and productive “day trip”. ~~K

D’s Favorite Pie

2009-01-08T08:14:00.001-05:00

I finally got around to using the rest of the pie crust I mixed up several weeks ago.

I had intended to make D his hamburger hash pie earlier,

but it was just as delicious and appreciated now as it would have been earlier during the holidays. ~~K

Breakfast Treat

2009-01-06T11:05:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my daughters I had the best sweet breakfast

– carrot muffin with dollops of honey Greek yogurt – yummy! ~~K

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T08:58:00.003-05:00

Looking forward to seeing my "alphabet soup" family over this holiday season. As I went through our names I realize I can almost use every letter – just missing G L Q U V X Y.

Some of you will probably point out I could use L and V for great grandparents, so if you want to count them, go ahead.Merry Christmas from D & K.

“Lights Before Christmas” – NOT!

2008-12-24T12:51:00.007-05:00

Before we were even out of bed Sunday morning we knew we were in for a “powerless” day as the nightstand lamp flickered now and then. Sure enough, around 8:45am we lost our electricity. We were due at my sister’s at 9:30 for brunch. As we drove over there we watched the temperature drop (love those car thermometers that show both inside and outside degrees). We didn’t see any downed lines but the ice was thickly coating everything and many of them were swaying over 3 feet in the wind.

Since they had tickets for a 3pm performance at the Palace in Pontiac and the weather was bad, they needed to leave around noon but graciously said we could stay. Around 2 we decided to go home and pick up a few things in case we ended up staying longer at B’s. Our electricity came back on, but not for long – D called Edison again and was told they hoped to have power restored on Monday afternoon. We headed back to B’s around 5, even though they weren’t home. This time the temp went below zero. D and I spent a lazy day there together.

At 8 pm the temp was –6 F and the lights flickered a few times at B’s; they returned from Michigan around 9:30 with food from Frickers. As the night continued we even lost power there for a while. Monday morning the electricity was on, but the garage door wouldn’t open and cable tv went out.

My sister R and her friend from New Jersey had been at B’s also, so four of us headed back to our house to check it out. Mysteriously, the back passenger window went down on our way home – and D had to manually pull it up and duct tape it to keep it up (we’ll have it looked at later).

Power was on at our house at that time, but we didn’t trust it, so after taking a brisk walk around the property, we picked up a few items to take back and spend another night at B’s.

M, K, & little Z stopped by B’s. We made tacos and had other great munchies. The guys played some Wii and later we all played Taboo and MadGab. We enjoyed our little impromptu party.

Now, we’re back home and we do have our “Lights Before Christmas”.

Merry Christmas Eve! ~~K

Pie Crust

2008-12-21T20:12:00.005-05:00

What’s flour, salt, Crisco, and ice water? Home-made pie crusts like Grandma Orange used to make – really the only kind I like!

I mixed up three batches Saturday. I find it fairly labor intensive to do it properly so it stays flaky. It’s a good thing I have helpful kitchen utensils to make it easier. I had used D’s mom’s pasty tool for years, but I wore it out and I had to replace it with a new one. One of my latest additions includes the “thickness sticks” – now anything I roll out with my dowel cooks evenly because it has some quality control in it. And I love the mat I received as a Christmas present 2 years ago.

Two batches went into the refrigerator for future use, but the real reason I even made the crusts was for D. He had been talking about the way his mom would use extra piecrust and put preserves on it for D to eat instead of cutting into her freshly made pie.

I did misunderstand him though. I just cut the crust into “cookies” and baked it, thinking he would just spread the preserves over it. It turns out I should have baked them as tarts (and I even have the correct mini-muffin pans I could have used) so he could “fill” them with preserves rather than just having a light topping of it. Oh well, next time.

But I did experiment with a topping on a few of the “cookies” that was a hit. After spreading butter on the dough, there's a pinch of chopped walnuts sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, then topped with a dollop of honey. It resulted in a taste treat that in one bite reminded me of baklava and then in the next a homemade pecan pie! Yummy! ~~K

Icicles

2008-12-20T11:13:00.008-05:00

Some people buy icicles – icicle lights to hang from eaves, shimmering plastic, glass or foil icicles to hang on trees – but Mother Nature treated us to a gift of free watery icicles!

Once D broke through, I love the look of the front entrance. The top bows on the trees are solid ice and there’s probably no way I could duplicate the perfect placement of the icicles on the siding.

There is a flip side to all this beauty though. Many of our bushes and trees are bowing to the weight of the ice. And of course, the driveway was turned into a skating rink for a while.
But as we look down the road it appears our neighbor’s shrubs are in even more distress – they’re almost bent over double to the ground.
I’m hoping all the greenery recovers quickly. ~~K

‘Licious Leftovers

2008-12-17T13:25:00.003-05:00

Restaurant eating at home is great! Two meals for one price and no prep on my part. We’ve splurged several more times recently. Thursday’s gyros from South Side Six were delicious, and so economical – 2 for $5. But of course they were so stuffed we each had lunch off them the next day. I added more lettuce to mine, but D left his alone. This picture was taken before the gyro was divided into 2 meals:

After Christmas shopping Saturday we stopped at El Camino Real Sky on Woodville Road. We saw the unusual building from a flea market across the street and decided that was where we were meant to eat. It’s a converted Methodist church, with an added patio, entrance, and other non-matching rock/brick work. With my mango margarita and D’s Tecate beer we tried to tackle the “E Special Camino Real” which was a specialty fajita with chicken, beef, chorizo, ribs, and shrimp with onions and peppers, sided with rice, beans, lettuce, guacamole, but again, the amount of food resulted in this spread of leftovers on Sunday.

Sorry, no “first meal” pictures – I switched to a smaller purse for our shopping – no space for a camera! ~~K

Green Gift

2008-12-16T18:31:00.004-05:00

I think I have just received the best Christmas gift ever from a student. Today I was given this great reusable bag (from Toys ‘R Us) containing 4 oranges, 4 tangerines, and a homemade card from a 6th grade Weston boy. It reminds me of the Rain Forest Cafe's frog.
OK, I appreciate the candy canes, candles, hand lotion, and home-made candy I’ve already received also, but I’m really into today’s “green” gift - my favorite color and eco-minded! ~~K

Pasta

2008-12-11T12:16:00.003-05:00

Due to the influence of delicious looking pasta meals on other blogs (BEB), I had to make a pasta dinner last evening.

Using what was on hand – fettuccini, imitation crab, fresh parmesan cheese, garlic, and skim milk – I came up with a tasty and filling entrée. Of course, we added a salad with our “croutons” and more cheese!

I think D was looking forward to taking leftovers for lunch. ~~K

Twice is Nice

2008-12-08T14:22:00.002-05:00

It had been ages since we’d eaten prime rib, and even longer since a visit to The Whitehouse Inn. Saturday was a lazy, snowy day so we decided to venture out to eat.

We both ordered the “First Lady Cut” (8-10 oz) with twice-baked potatoes; D had the garden salad and I thoroughly enjoyed the excessive amount of cheese on French onion soup. (I was so involved in eating that I forgot to take a picture of the main course.)

Even though there were 2 larger entrees (and one smaller), neither of us could finish everything.

Sunday’s leftover dinner at home was rounded out by a simple salad and we enjoyed it almost as much as the first time around. Twice was very nice for the price (under $40 total including drinks and tip).~~K

Whose Refrigerator is This?

2008-12-04T19:16:00.003-05:00

OK, look quick – you know condiments will take over in no time!
We knew it was about time to start thinking about replacing our old refrigerator, but we were forced into it when we realized late Saturday night that the old Maytag had completely died with no notice. I was dreading the whole shopping experience and setting up delivery; so thanks to the cold weather serving as our own “natural refrigerator” we agreed we would go on a “scouting mission” Tuesday evening and take it from there. Our first stop was Lowe’s in Perrysburg – what a pleasant and successful experience! Maurice, the salesman, was very low-key, knowledgeable, and personable. We found a “bisque” refrigerator we liked -- it was in stock, and its price was a bit lower than we anticipated. (NOTE: Almond and bisque are OUT – stainless steel, satina, black, and white are IN!)

This new Whirlpool was delivered at 4:40 today – can’t say enough good about Lowe’s delivery schedules! They offer 7-day delivery of your choice and on Tues and Thurs they have 3 windows, including an evening one (after 4) – the salesman even specified delivery couldn’t take place before 4:30.

We’ve gained a bit of space – our old refrigerator was 18.5 cu ft and this one is 20.0 cu ft. It is a few inches wider than the old one so I have to keep the cutting boards on the right side by the trays. ~~K

Stepper to Treadmill

2008-12-02T15:32:00.001-05:00

Finally, a treadmill has replaced the step machine! It’s going to take some practice on my part. I want to be able to do both walking and running without holding on and hopefully not even touching the treadmill. I felt like it was going faster than what was shown on the display; also our room is warmer than I’m used to at the Y – perhaps I’ll use the fan frequently. I’m considering repeating some of the C25k weekly workouts to get up to a decent hands-free run on the treadmill.

The display is different than the ones at the Y, but I like how it keeps track of laps on the counter as well as a visual oval for a quarter mile track. It seems to read heart beats accurately when you press one of the buttons with your thumb – I’m thinking it will work even when I’m hot and sweaty since my thumbs are usually dry (the Y doesn’t read correctly when my hands are wet).I’m so happy that it doesn’t seem to bother D’s knees. Sunday he used it once in the afternoon and again in the evening with no pain and was still pain-free Monday morning. ~~K

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T12:32:00.001-05:00

Have a great day! ~~K

Squirrel and an Early Christmas Present

2008-11-23T14:04:00.002-05:00

Based on the picture I saw on BMA’s blog I think I have finally used a “squirrel”. I just realized Ft. Meigs has two PRECOR AMT 100i Adaptive Motion Trainers. After I ran 2 miles around the track I got on one of them and did another mile – it started out feeling like a step machine, but as I went faster it felt like I was running, but without the impact. It sure got my heart beating fast (?too fast) very quickly and I was burning just over 10 calories a minute! What a workout – I don’t think I could do 30 minutes on it without a lot of conditioning and building up to it, or else going quite slowly.

Thursday D gave me an early Christmas present – a remote car starter on the Suburu was installed! I’m looking forward to having a warmer car before I get in it – that station wagon doesn’t have as powerful of a heater/defroster as the others. Can you see it’s little blue lights through the windshield? ~~K