Tuesday in the Swamp

Muggy day, temperatures rising, heading towards ninety.  Can't believe we'll be flying off to where the highs will be in the 30's and 40's.  Had to dig out winter clothes to pack.  Ordered myself a rain poncho as I don't really have any rain/snow gear.  Extra shoes, extra jeans.
And then we got to thinking about driving in bad weather and we upgraded our rental car to a SUV.  We usually rent the smallest car we can get away with, but decided something heftier might be in order.
We have a beautiful cabin rented, we're bringing things to do while it snows and hopefully we'll have some decent weather too.  I'm bringing a teeny, tiny cross-stitch and yarn to crochet some veggies that I saw on Gillian's blog Tales From a Happy House .
This is the book the veggies are in, I ordered a copy for my Kindle.

You don't usually expect snow in mid-May no matter where you're going, but we'll have a good time regardless of the weather.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers, the Nuturers and all those who care for others.
My Mom has been gone for many years, but I carry her memory with me always.  The skinny little girl from a poor Okie family who grew up to be my Mom, Lorraine Strader.

To my Mother-in-law Pazquela Hernandez Gutierrez known to everyone as Patty.  I was blessed with the best Mother-in-law in the world.  Wherever we lived she came to visit us, be it Texas, Colorado, Georgia or Germany.  We became very close, closer than I was with my own Mom.  

Here she is with our daughter.  She came to see us in Germany and we took her to Spain where her family was from.


To my Sister-in-law Laura, who though hurting herself (bad shoulder) takes such good care of Mac's brother George.

To Isabel Mac's 86 year old cousin who still travels the world, she is an inspiration to us all.

Happy Mother's Day one and all

Rainy Saturday

It's raining, started late last night and has been an on again off again event.  Right now there's even a bit of thunder.  We need it, we've had a really dry spring.
I've nicked another recipe from The Low Carb Diabetic, they post such wonderful recipes.  This one was for Leek and Chorizo Frittata.  I changed it a bit, used Linguica instead of Chorizo, we like Chorizo, after all Mac's Spanish.  But we love Linguica, a Portuguese sausage.  I also added potatoes to it, we hadn't had any all week and my Irish soul (the only country where I was served potatoes with potatoes with potatoes) was crying out for some.
It turned out delicious, it makes it into the summertime meal rotation.

You will need these ingredients:

Serves 4 - 6
1 tbsp. of oil
2 leeks, washed and thinly sliced
50g chorizo, thinly sliced
6 medium eggs
a large handful of basil, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
salt and pepper
a handful of rocket* leaves to garnish

Here is what you do:

1. Pre-heat the grill to high.
2. Heat a medium sized non-stick ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Add the oil followed by the leeks and chorizo. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, basil, chilli flakes and seasoning. Add the egg mix to the sautéed leeks and chorizo in the pan; cook for 1 minute without stirring.
4. Place the pan under the grill and cook the frittata for 3 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Remove the frittata from the frying pan onto a serving plate using a spatula. Slice into wedges and garnish with a handful of rocket

From an original Sainsbury's recipe here

Five on Friday

It's here too soon, I'll have to scramble to find five this week.  But do join the other bloggers at FastBlog for this week's posts.

First and Foremost.  I finished my cross-stitch.  I started it last August, it was supposed to be a Christmas present, it will be a birthday present, but I can't show it for a while.  It was really an ambitious project for a first project and I learned a lot.  It was really slow going in the beginning, but by the end it really moved along.

My second is my table ready for the rest of spring, no more bunnies just flowers

Had to change the picture, my lemons and limes came in so it's flowers and citrus.

My third one is my new cutting board made of glass.

My fourth is the third bird puzzle I've finished and the next one I started.

My fifth is my new suitcase, it has 4 wheels so you can wheel it any way.  Won't  say where we're going, but they're  predicting snow for one of the days we/re going to be there and we're not going to Alaska.

  Well that's my five, please excuse the brevity but my cat objects to me typing and was attacking my hands the whole time I was typing.  Hope you have a good weekend.

Is It Really Thursday?

Can't believe it's Thursday already and I haven't blogged since Sunday.  My only excuse is that it's hot here, will be 97º here today and I fried my brain just cleaning the kitchen.  Walked early and got a load of laundry done because we had notice that the water company was turning off water between 10 and 3 today.  Mac had noticed that there was water sitting on the empty lot next to us and we haven't had enough rain to even form a puddle.  He checked where our meter was and the leak wasn't from there so he called the water company.  They sent someone out the next day and they looked at it and put a couple of orange cones around the puddle.  It's been a couple of weeks and they're finally back to fix the leak, so we have no water today.  Mac set up some buckets to flush toilets with and we always have bottled water so we'll be ok, but it's an inconvenience.
Earlier this week I had a fight with Express Scripts, they provide our medications  by mail.  I was down to 8 blood pressure pills and I wanted them to send more, but they said I had a 90 day prescription  at my local pharmacy so I had to get it there.  Called the local pharmacy and they said they couldn't fill it because Express Scripts had filled it the week before.  I asked how much to just pay for it myself and the pharmacist said $31.95 fro 30 days, I said ok, fill it.  He said he'd contact Tricare and get permission to fill the prescription for 30 days.  I called Express Scripts back and they admitted they hadn't filled it, not had the pharmacy, but the pharmacy could give me a 30 day supply and they'd cover the cost.  So on our way home from shopping we stopped at our pharmacy, the pharmacist called Tricare, got permission and filled it on the spot.  The local pharmacy was great, Express Scripts not so much.
I ordered a new piano book Pucini's Operas for the piano and I'm loving it, Le Boheme is just so beautiful.  I've been playing it ever since it came in and humming the arias when I'm housecleaning.
Fought with my Mp3 player all morning yesterday because I never remember how to load music on it.  GRRR!
Last night we watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  Liked it, but didn't love it.  A bit too long and too many side stories.  Liked the secondary characters better than the leads. Dan Fogler as Jacob the baker and Katherine Waterson as Tina were much more interesting than Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Morton.  The beasts of course were wonderful.
Read another Anne Tyler book, The Beginner's Goodbye.  It was short, but quite wonderful.
Aaron's wife Dorothy has died, hit by a tree that falls through their house, but she comes back.
Must read some more of hers.
Have to start thinking about Five on Friday.

Beautiful Day in the Swamp

It is a beautiful spring day here in the swamp, temps in the 70's, though they're threatening us with a 97 for later in the week.  Mac is out working in the yard, cutting back bushes and cleaning the front of the house.  I'd told him I'd be out too, but my allergies are driving me wild so I stayed in and cleaned instead.  His allergies are acting up too, but he just keeps going.
Fixed something new yesterday, The Low Carb Diabetic posted a recipe for Asparagus done with sliced almonds, butter and Manchengo cheese. They're always posting great recipes over there.  This one looked so good I had to give it a try and except for having to substitute Pecorino Romano
for the Manchego I used the same ingredients and it was fantastic.  Definitely one I'll keep in the rotation for summer meals.

To go with it I fixed Raviolis in a tomato/meat sauce.  I didn't make the Raviolis, but I did make the sauce and together they were great.




Here's their recipe for the Asparagus:
Ingredients:
Serves Six
36 asparagus spears
140g unsalted butter
100g whole blanched almonds (or toasted pine nuts if preferred)
juice of 1 lemon
50g best-quality Manchego cheese (or a vegetarian hard cheese could be used)

Method:
1. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and plunge in the asparagus. Cook for 2-3 minutes, drain, then leave them to sit somewhere warm.
2. Next, put the butter into a cold pan with the almonds. Carefully heat it up, watching that the butter doesn’t get too dark. When it just turns golden brown and is beginning to foam, remove from the heat and pour in the lemon juice to stop the cooking.
3. Arrange the asparagus onto 6 serving plates and spoon over some of the brown butter and almonds. Shave the cheese with a peeler, scatter over and serve.

From an original BBC Food recipe

The flowers are from the garden, hope the heat doesn't do them in this week.

Five On Friday

I got lazy last week and didn't post, but will try and get this one done in time to join in with Tricky over at the Fast blog.
It's been a quick week, but they all seem that way lately, it's so nice that we have no deadlines or commitments keep up with, we'd be floundering.  Today, after the kitchen is cleaned, I'm heading upstairs to finish a puzzle off and clean my craft room, that's my contribution to health and safety today.

My theme this week is Japanese in nature.  My first photo is a shelf on my desk that I've put a lot of my Japanese treasures on , 2 little scenes our daughter made for me, a Torii, Godzilla postcards, 2 Gudetama--the lazy egg--, and some Japanese mascots.

My second it a small Japanese garden my daughter made for me and a pagoda we bought in Japan to make.

My third has to do with 1,000 origami cranes.  It is an ancient Japanese legend that if you make a 1,000 tiny origami cranes and join them by string you will be granted your wish.  While on a train in Japan we saw an elderly Japanese man making these tiny cranes, he worked so quickly it was amazing to watch.  Mac has done origami and use to show his students how to do it back when he was teaching.  So we bought some origami paper for him to make some cranes with.  I don't think he'll made a 1,000.

My fourth is a jigsaw puzzle, it will be the next one I do after the birds.

And my fifth is a small notebook, I loved stationary stores and Japan has wonderful ones.

That's my Five, do join the other bloggers at Five on Friday.

Before The Storms Come

They're predicting thunderstorms for us today and tonight and I wanted to get the lawn mown before that happened as part of it were knee high.  We have a riding mower and I enjoy mowing, there's something very satisfying about seeing the grass/weeds shoot out the side.
The flowers continue to be a delight, more and more Gladiolas are blooming and the Gardenias are heavenly.
The Jim Ed Memorial Rose (named in honor of my Dad James Edward) is in bloom and has one of the sweetest smelling white roses on it.
Time to fix lunch and batten down the hatches, but I'll leave you with a few pretties.

Gardenias

Jim Ed Memorial Rose

Zinnias

Gladiolas

Lily

My Azaleas in the shade are just now blooming

Couches

I've hated the couch in our family room almost since we bought it.  I was feeling very lazy and bought it online and have regretted it ever since.  The brown looked awful in the room, you couldn't reverse the cushions, they became lumpy and misshapen and because we eat on the couch there are stains.
I've dithered over buying a new one, but because it really isn't worn out I hated to pay for a new one.
In the living room is a quite expensive couch that was covered with a slipcover.  Covered because a former cat scratched the upholstery.
I thought about moving the couches and putting the nicer one in the family room, but figured we'd wreck it, plus I was afraid the brown one wasn't as tall as the one in the living room and wouldn't look right with the couch table that it backs up to.
Well as I mentioned in my last blog I couldn't sleep the other night and the couches were something I pondered.
Today I took the  slipcover off the living room couch, put it on the family room couch, made some pillows to go on it and it looks so much better.
As for the living room couch with the shredded upholstery, Mac says he can cut a piece off where it doesn't show, below cushion level, and cover the bad part.
I'm happy and I didn't have to spend a cent.

Family room couch, now covered and new pillows.

Living room couch uncovered.

Grumble, Grumble

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, Oh No, Oh No, it's off to grocery shop we go.  Have I mentioned that I hate to grocery shop---probably about a million times.  I don't mean the quickie shop where we go to the lovely Publix about 5 miles down the road, no I mean the 20 mile slog over to Savannah to shop at the Army commissary.  I'm glad we have one, it saves money, but it feels like it takes forever to get there and sometimes on Tuesday, like today, they really haven't restocked the shelves well.  Plus they're remodeling the store.  Kudos to them for keeping it open during the remodeling, but they keep moving everything and it takes much longer to find what you're looking for.  Heard others grumbling about the same thing.
Poor Mac has to haul it all upstairs.  As we're on a flood plain our house is built about 12 feet above the level of the garage and he has to carry all the bags up.  I unpack it and put it away, but his is by far the harder job.
Ended up having to stop at Publix on the way home anyway to get stuff the commissary didn't have.
Lovely rain last night, we needed it and it's cooled it off a bit.  They're promising more rain for Thursday and then temperatures only in the 70's---be still my heart.
Couldn't sleep the other night, we got up had a snack and then I read for a couple of hours.  Managed to finish off another Agatha Christie--Dead Man's Folly--I'd definitely seen it on tv (with David Suchet as Poirot), but I'm pretty sure I'd never read it.  Really enjoyed it.  Now I'm onto Sad Cypress.
I can finally see the end of my cross-stitch in my near future, then I'm going to have to figure out how to frame it.  Waiting in line behind it is an afghan I started for spring, yeah I know, it will soon be summer.  But crocheting is so much quicker than cross-stitching.  Mac wants me to get back to painting and I need to.
That's my Tuesday

Me grocery shopping

Slow Sunday

We always get up early on Sunday to Skype with out daughter in Japan (that 13 or 14 hour difference always gets me).   So after about an hour Skyping the rest of the day just drags, I'm sleepy and little gets done around here as I just drift around puttering.

I'm reading a couple of good books:  Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler, a retelling of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew.  I really like it,  Kate is such a mess, outspoken, does not suffer fools and is rather sad.  I can so identify with working in a daycare with 4 year olds, I did that before I became a teacher.  Her father is trying to marry her off to his brilliant assistant Pyotr to keep him from being deported.  Will hate to see it end.

Also reading Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates a fictional biography of Marilyn Monroe.  How much is true and how much is fiction is hard to tell.  I know nothing about Marilyn except her image, so I have to keep going to other sources to see if what Oates is writing is real.  A very different style of book for me, but I quite enjoying it.

I'm  also reading or rereading a huge book of 5 Agatha Christie novels.  Finished Murder at the Vicarage and now I'm working on Dead Man's Folly, to be followed by Sad Cypress, Towards Zero and N or M.  I'm not sure which I've read before, I'm more familiar with the tv versions which tend to be a bit different.

Watched a super hero movie this week, something we almost never do.  It was Dr. Strange with Benedict Cumberbatch.  Stunning visual effects and an ok story.

Been very hot this week and we had a quickie rain shower earlier, not enough to cool things off or water the yard, but good to have.  We've had a very dry spring, less than 1/2 an inch of rain the whole month of April.

Ribs to be barbecued and German style potato salad are on the menu today.  I've really tried to cut back on eating carbohydrates and I really miss my potatoes, so today we're having some.
It's baseball this afternoon---go Braves--- and then a movie tonight, not sure which one yet, but I noticed that Amazon had a cat one called Nine Lives that I may get, it's free with Amazon Prime.

Hope you're having a good weekend.