If You Could Eat the Box

Good morning all.  Getting ready to grab my granddaughter from pre-K and head to the mall for a very quick look at shoes.  Yes, I need a pair of comfortable sight-seeing shoes.  Going on several fall trips...we hope.


Anyway, yesterday for lunch the hubby and I couldn't quite find the perfect thing to eat.  Searched high and low and without peeling potatoes and dirtying up the kitchen.  Viola, I found a delicious looking TV dinner in the freezer.  It was a big one although the package serving size was one so we decided we could split it.  And then I found a couple of pork ribs that I had frozen from another meal so we definitely will have a filling lunch (why I don't date things for the freezer, I'll never know).


Well, I have to tell you, the meal was less than stellar.  In fact, inedible.  The beef pot roast was horrible despite the fact that it was a rather more expensive, name brand.  And the ribs...........they had been in the freezer too long.  So we had our couple of bites, and decided that we'd save our appetite for our evening meal.


Then he says this "If you could eat the box, we'd be full now." 


Get it???  I won't try to explain.


I love you.  Have a great day.


 

I Need to Go Shopping

I need to go shopping.  I have now gone through my clothes for fall and realize that the fall/winter things I got just this last spring on sale are not what I want to wear this fall.  Maybe I need to rethink all those great end-of-season sales.  What I wanted to wear just six months ago is now exactly what I don't want to wear.


Anyway, this morning as I was chatting/texting with my sisters someone mentioned that fall will be upon us this Saturday...............oh my.............don't tell me..........I could have been wearing my white pants another week????  Let me explain.  This year I put my white pants away the day after Labor Day...reverting back to the old rule "no white after Labor Day".  Who made up that rule, anyway?  For the last few years I totally ignored that rule thinking that if it is 90 degrees outside, surely it would be okay for me to wear white pants.  Surely!  And besides summer isn't even over on Labor Day.  BUT this year I started reassessing my age and decided maybe I should adhere by the rule.  After all, I don't want to spend the rest of my life in Fashion Police jail.  So I put the white jeans away.  (See you next spring.)


Then this morning after working outside for 10 minutes, I got hot!!!  So later today when I head for my yearly mammogram, I am going to rock my white jeans one more time.  (Hello again white jeans.)  If you see the Fashion Police, don't tell them please. 


Have a great day everyone.  I still need to go shopping. 


I love you fellow Fashion Police law breakers.

I Found His Stash

I've found his stash............


Tonight as I was browsing (otherwise known as snooping) around my hubby's computer room looking for my Trader Joe's Chocolate Coconut Almonds which I gave to him yesterday to hide them from me.  I even told him to flush down the toilet, one at a time, if he didn't want them.  "I never want to see these again."  You, friends, know I did NOT mean that.  That came out of the mouth of a crazed woman who had realized that she'd just eaten two dozen of these little nuts.  Yes, she hadn't even realized that she'd been chewing. 


So......what do I do?  ........I go searching for my candy........a day later.  I knew that he knew that I knew he wasn't really going to eat them or flush them.  No, he knew that my frantic immediate quest for a smaller waistline was only temporary.  He knew that I'd be searching for them eventually.  So, he put them back in the pantry.  Tonight I thought they'd still be in the computer room somewhere so I quietly began my search.  I sure didn't want him to know that I wanted them back.  I was just going to get a few, put them right back where I'd found them, him being none the wiser. 


BUT......pulling open the first drawer, I found his stash.  Yes, I opened that drawer and found a container of Sour Cream Pringels, two boxes of Chocolate Covered Raisins, and a can of cashews.  And.............on the desk was a jar of Nutella with a spoon beside it.  I had no idea of his stashes.  I had no idea that while I was beating myself up because I was having a love fest with my chocolate almonds, he was in there with enough goodies to fill a grocery aisle having his own food fest.


Well, he's sitting here on the couch with me, none the wiser that I found the almonds, that I ate six, and that I know that he has his stash.  Nope, not saying a word.  I think it's sweet that he has his stash.  I think it's sweet that he has his computer room with a drawer of goodies.  He's just sweet.  And I think it is REALLY SWEET that I got to sneak a few almonds.


Here's a link to my new favorite TJ treat.  http://www.traderjoesreviews.com/product/trader-joes-chocolate-coconut-almonds-reviews/


Yes, I found his stash.


I love you. 

I Give You Basil Pesto

I GIVE YOU BASIL PESTO

It's BASIL time!

Look at that beauty with its shiny green leaves.

It needs a trim; its second one this year.

And what do you do with the trimmings?

You make Basil Pesto, of course.

On a beautiful raining Saturday night, what's better

than making a batch or two of this glorious sauce?

It takes just a little bit of time, 

a little basil, garlic, roasted nuts, olive oil,

Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper

to bring it all together.

Viola--I give you Basil Pesto,

the final product, and certainly it does

deserve this larger photo.  It worked hard for its

time in the freezer.  Those four packages are now safely

tucked away, freezing as I type, for future family

gatherings or maybe for just the hubby and me.

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe a few years back

and it is and will remain one of my top 5 recipes.

I haven't been very faithful to my blog in a few years.  I used to enjoy it so much, but haven't found much to write about in a while.  I am not sure I know why I stopped writing because I still find it immensely satisfying.  So..... I am going to write again.  It may take me a while until I get my groove back.  Until then, I give you Basil Pesto. 

Enjoy your Saturday night.  I love you.

Have you ever tried mixing tiny ribbons of basil and minced garlic in softened butter?  ..........a great steak topping. 



Blue Eyes..........

Good Sunday evening, friends.  It has been a long time since I posted and tonight I am feeling a little nostalgic so maybe I can come up with a post. 


Earlier this evening I heard the Willie Nelson version of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain".  What a haunting, beautiful song...........and the lyrics are so mesmerizing.  It makes me want to hit the repeat and try, I repeat, try to sing along.  I didn't know until a comment on Facebook that Willie didn't write this song, but, to me, his is the best.


My family did listen to country music, however, it was not the only genre.  Perry Como as well as Sonny and Cher, along with big band music and Patty Page.............we had it covered, not to mention my sisters at the piano playing and singing hymns in the back bedroom or practicing for the high school choir.  Throw in a little Mitch Miller and Lawrence Welk.  If you listened carefully you might hear my dad singing "Duke of Earl"; you see, he liked it all.


.......And dad sang along to this song so it sends me back when I felt safe and secure....to the time when we left the doors unlocked ALL the time.  Cars, too, were left unlocked and children could play outside long after dark.  You can't catch fire flies until dark.  Not going to leave our cars unlocked these days, but maybe the world would be a better place if there were more music and lyrics like this.  Maybe easy listening pop music and hymns are better for the soul.  Just thinking out loud here.  I'm beginning to sound old and out of touch, huh?


Well, this certainly isn't the post I had in mind when I sat down at the computer, but it is in the books.  Might have to go listened to "How Much is That Doggie in the Window".


I love you.  Maybe we will meet again............


(As wonderful as my childhood was, I wonder if my mom thought her childhood was even better.  Just wondering.)

Hallelujah

Hallelujah.  Hello there everyone. 


Nothing special going on tonight in suburbia OKC.  The hubby is at the end of the couch reading something on his little tablet, the lamp is low, and Pandora is streaming the best easy listening music.  Whoever came up with this play list has done it right. 


"Pachelbel For the Potomac" by Laura Sullivan.
"Lyin Eyes" by the Eagles just finished.
Michael Buble is must be a favorite because he is on every 10th song or so.
Who doesn't love "Unchained Melody" by Bobby Hatfield?
Adele--need I say more?
Jason Mraz--wish I could see him in person.
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole is beautiful.
Any song by Sam Smith.............aah.  He's got the voice.
Now here's "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles.
Ben E. King "Stand By Me".
Maroon 5--"Won't Go Home Without You".  See, the whole gamut.
Roy Orbison--"Pretty Woman".........mercy!
And it wouldn't be easy listening if not for Celine Dion.  "My Heart Will Go On"
Some guy named Boyce Avenue is singing "Thinking Out Loud".  I never heard of him, but do like that song.
John Mayer................
"Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright..........I will stop there for what song more beautiful.....hallelujah..........


Nostalgia, love, sorrow, compassion, spirituality; emotions have run the gamut tonight, but oh what a relaxing evening.  It makes me wish the whole world could be wrapped in this warm feeling. 


Hallelujah.


I love you.

Perhaps It is All of These Things

 Do you have a favorite book or magazine that you use every year?  This is mine.  1967 Farm Journal Christmas Book. Despite the fact that the cover and back page have pulled away from the book, it remains intact and readable.  Take a look at what made me happy in 1967 and every year since.

This is my favorite recipe for anything cranberry, but nothing beats the basic relish recipe which I make each year.  I made 8 pints this week; ready for Thanksgiving and beyond.  Since it freezes, thaws, and refreezes well, a jar is almost always in my freezer.  A scoop of this delicious ice cold relish is always next to the turkey on my plate....and it is so pretty and red.  Make it, you will be amazed.  (You will need a grinder, but I bet you could use a food processor--not yet invented in 1967.)

That Yule Log Cake!  Need I say more.  I served this at my Christmas get-together way back in about 1978.  The room was warm even in December, but the cake was ice cold and refreshing.

 

I will admit I have never made the salad pictured here, but these type salads were the rage back in those days.  Thought I'd just throw this in for this look back.

This vegetable Christmas tree--I've made it many times over the years.  It is a pain to make, but it is quite cute.  If I make it again, I can see ways it could be improved. 

If you enlarge the photo, you will see the three dip recipes I made to have at the party when I served the cold cake. 

DIY was even popular in the 1960s.  Paper mache--remember?  1967 might have been the year my mom made a decorative item for my grandmother and herself.  I will try to describe it.  It was a pretty shaped larger vase, topped by a plate, another smaller vase, another smaller plate, and an even smaller vase--all covered by paper mache and painted.  It stood tall and majestic on the floor next to our front door.  It looked very expensive to me....back in the day.  The effect was quite nice.  Grapes and greenery adorned it.  I am still amazed at what a wonderfully talented woman my mom was.  I wonder whatever happened to it.  Probably threw it out.  Shame. 

And the candy...........safe to say I have made several of the recipes on these pages.  The Apricot Nugget was a pleasant change to all the chocolate.

I have bought many Christmas books much more elaborate than this thin little book, but none has brought me more smiles of satisfaction than this one.  Perhaps it is because the recipes were simple, perhaps it is because the pages remind me of certain parties, perhaps it is because I remember the day it arrived in the mail and my mother and me poring over it, perhaps it is all of these things.

I love you. 



Cookie Baking Questions

Good mid-day friends.  Here it is almost lunch time and the hubby is going to lunch with a friend and guess where they are going.  Chinese food!  Ask me how often the hubs has suggested Chinese food in the last year.  Zero!  Exactly zero........but I digress......


This morning I made cookies for my grandchildren.......can't say grandboys as I now have a sweet granddaughter.  I have a few questions I want to ask you about cookie baking.


Question number 1.  Why does every tray take eight minutes to cook, but one?  Yes, one takes nine.  Why?


Question number 2.  Why does that one minute take so long when one year passes so quickly (thinking Christmas....it is approaching.........I can see it looming in the distance...or at any store in town........not to mention all websites.)?  Why?


Question number 3.  Where does the oven mitt go in between batches of cookies?  I mean between EVERY batch?  Seriously!  Where?


Question number 4.  Why does the last batch ALWAYS burn even with the timer set?  Every time?  Why?


Question number 5.  Why don't my grandchildren like nuts?  Seriously.  What's wrong with them?


Well, the hubby has left and I am here contemplating cookies and eating my gruel (okay, not gruel...cottage cheese and tomatoes). 


Hope you have a wonderful cookie-filled day.


I love you.

So.....Your Dressing Never Met the Chicken Before the Plate

Hello everybody.  Just a little note to tell you about our meal last evening.  We were at our favorite local diner having some comfort food since it had been raining two days and nights.....cool and rainy = comfort food.  Nothing sounded better to me than the daily special:  ta-da  Baked chicken and dressing!! 


Let me just say..................they cannot make dressing like I do..............so my craving for Thanksgiving food is still lingering on the taste buds of my mind.  Can you say boxed dressing, boys and girls?   


On the way home, straight-faced, the hubby says, and I quote, "So.......I guess it is safe to say that your dressing never met the chicken before the plate."  He always catches me off-guard with his humor every time which makes everything he says even funnier.  I burst out laughing...............and that's the reason I love him.  He has the most fantastic sense of humor which makes a marriage so enjoyable.


So...........I guess it is safe to say that your dressing never met the chicken before the plate.


I love you.   

Pampering at the Mall

Pampering at the Mall





Good evening.  Last post, the hubby and I had gone to the mall.  Last Saturday my daughter and I also had a trip to the mall alone...a very rare trip these days.  Just the two of us like the old days. 

Nothing like visiting and catching up with my daughter.  We have so much in common....wonder why?  We spent almost the whole afternoon just browsing through Dillard's, stopping to admire the shoes, the purses........

The hubby would find no thrill in that!  We only stopped our shopping for lunch at the Mexican restaurant right outside the store.  Oh what a fun, simple time.  We didn't even spend that much, we just browsed and talked about the fashion.  When a lady pulled my daughter aside and suggested a quick makeover, she had to take advantage of a little pampering.....doesn't get that much being the mother of three.  She certainly deserves it.

Pampering at the mall............  AHH

I love you.