SPAMoff

Yep, that's steam wafting off the succotash.

Still, it was not a huge success. There were only three entries. Not many daring people out there when it comes to SPAM.

Anastasia's was actually good. She hid her SPAM inside a coconut rice. It really was yummy. Mine wasn't bad but I wouldn't say it was good either.

I even bought the low sodium Spam but .... there's only so much you can do to hide that taste.

I tried to cook my entry in blocks. I had hash browns, my version of succotash (without the corn and benas) yeah, I know, that's succotash but I use tomatoes and zucchini, garlic and a few other ingredients to make my version, and then the SPAM.

So, my meal was to be multi-layered, you start on the bottom with the crispy hashbrowns, then you add the succotash and top it off with a few tidbits of SPAM.

Everyone thought I should have tried to hide the SPAM inside something.

But, I guess I've been watching too much CHOPPED - I was thinking that wouldn't be embracing the ingredient ;D

Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

DIY Sock Buns

Here's what you need to create great big buns:

1) Scissors,
2) one sock,
3) a hair tie
(and (maybe) a couple bobby pins)

 Cut the toe off your sock and start to roll it up into a thick hair tie.
 

Then pull your ponytail through the sock hair tie and start working it in and around

 Keep working the sock hair tie down to your scalp

 

 

 Smooth out your hair and if desire put another hair tie over the entire bun to hold everything in place

If there are any loose strands tuck them in with bobby pins.

WAH-LAH!!!

Back to School Blues

I remember getting ready to go back to school. I was never blue about it though. I liked the idea of wearing a new outfit to school and seeing all the friends I hadn't seen over the summer.

Of course, I didn't really like the idea of getting up early or not getting to watch my favorite shows because I wouldn't get home until fifteen minutes after Barnabus Collins hit the big screen. Yep, my favorite show back then was . . .

DARK SHADOWS...

I know, Johnny Depp played the wonderful part of my first fanpire experience: Barnabus. But that show didn't do the old series justice.

It was a spoof instead of scary. It was campy rather than creepy, it was shallow rather than...well you get my point.

I hate to put down a movie with JD in it...but oh man they could have done Barnabus so much better.

So, what does Barnabus and Dark Shadows have to do with going back to school...

Well, really not much, except for the fact that if the writers/directors and editors had put a little more thought into the remake, it might have done much better at the box office. And parents need to put a little thought into getting their kids off to a good start if they want them to "perform" well.

You might want to start now. Having the kids go to bed fifteen minutes earlier each night. I know, it's nice to stay up into the wee hours of the night, but kids won't be able to adjust in one evening...especially when you consider the excitement, nerves and anticipation keeping them up that first week.

If you think ahead and work a plan, your kids won't have to be solving for:
ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Berry" Sweet

That's Frost on the jars

 I love jam and blackberries so, in my mind, nothing goes together better than blackberry freezer jam and well, me. I could literally eat it all...and that's saying something because I make a lot of it in the summer but it never seems to last into winter.  It's so simple to make. Here's how I do it.

5 cups of blackberries
5 cups of sugar
1 package of freezer jam pectin
1/2 cup of water

Mix blackberries and sugar together and stir until VERY well blended.
Boil the water and pectin then pour over the blackberries - blend the mixture for ten minutes then pour into jars, tupperware, or anything that can go into the freezer.

WAH-LAH!!! Homemade jam in minutes. And nothing tastes this good.

The jam will stay fresh in your fridge for two weeks or up to one year in the freezer - of course mine rarely makes it past the two week mark. ;D

What the Shuck

Or maybe it should be "How to Shuck..." Oysters Rockefeller

Growing up in a family with nine kids and grandma living in the back bedroom, we didn't have much spare room in our house and we really didn't have any spare food. I grew up on some seriously cheap food. I remember having ketchup sandwiches for lunch and more than my share of SPAM . . . and that was a real treat.

Dad caught a lot of our food. I don't mean in the city. No. He went fishing...a LOT. And he hunted for deer, elk and other poor wild animals. Maybe that's why I was a vegetarian for six or seven years of my life.

Anyway, we ate things that Dad was able to dig for, fish for or hunt for. In other words, we ate lots of salmon, trout, and yes...smelt. Plus, we ate what people today think of as expensive food: crab, oysters and clams.

My Dad didn't cook very often but there are a couple things I can remember him making: oyster stew, clam chowder and hamburgers...or maybe they were elk burgers...

But we kids learned how to clean fish at a very young age. But nowadays, I have my hubby help me in the kitchen when it comes to shucking corn...or oysters.

Here's how my husband does it. First he put on some gloves (but even one would do the trick)...just in case he slipped. Then he pulled out a long screwdriver and went to work. We had the oysters sitting in a cold bath...just to wash away some sand and grit.



He slipped the screwdriver into the opening end of the shell and slowly twisted it until it opened. Then he used a butter knife to scrape the oyster out of the shell.

We rinsed the oysters off and chose the best half of the oyster shell to display.

Then we put the oyster back on the half-shell

And then I poured my prepared mixture over the top of the oysters.

I sprinkled some breadcrumbs over the top and baked them at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes. If you cook them too long, they become rubbery.

 Here's how they turned out.

And we had some corn on the cob for a few carbs. Plus we had smelt on the side and of course some wine to wash it all down.


RECIPE FOR OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER:

4 T butter (melted)
1/4 c onions sauteed on the stove until carmelized
2 cloves of fresh garlic (minced)
1 cup of cooked spinach
2 T parsley (chopped)
1/4 cup red wine

I poured this mixture over the oysters then I sprinkled breadcrumbs over the top and baked on a foil-lined cookie sheet at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Beading

"Sew" I'm not an organized beader. I simply lay my beads out on an old cookie sheet that has a lip around the edge to keep all my beads contained.

They don't look so pretty inside an old stained pan . . . but it works.

And then I take a strand of fire wire and just start stringing them up.

It's sew simple and I always end up with something useful. This is my version of a croakie and I can even wear it to work.

Plus, I never lose my glasses with this strand of beads keeping them hanging around ;D

Passionflower

Passionflower has been used as a calming herb for anxiety, insomnia, seizures, and hysteria. 

My husband and I were on a walk this weekend when we saw this vine that had exploded all over the chain link fence. We had to stop and look at it. It was sooooo beautiful. I snapped a few photos and when we stopped at Portland Nursery, I asked what flower it was.

"Passionflower," the clerk said pointing to his shirt.

Yep, a passionflower was printed on the front of his jersey.

Serendipitous.

Pictures from our Trip

Driving into a Forest Fire

Have you ever driven into a forest fire? Well we sort of did. Just last week. We were heading over to Leavenworth, Washington via Goldendale when I looked up and saw

At first I wasn't sure what it was but then I noticed the helicopter

Carrying what looked like a giant bucket.

I turned to my hubby and said, "It looks like we driving into a forest fire."

He said, "No, if it was a forest fire, they'd be turning us around."

Well, I whipped out my camera and snapped a few shots as quickly as I could--which wasn't too fast because I was looking around for someone flagging us down to tell us to turn around...or something.

But no one did and so we drove past this frightening looking site. It wasn't until later that we heard it was a major forest fire that involved over 17,000 acres. The fires were so bad on Sunday, we had to drive up to Seattle and around to come down on I-5 because both passes were closed.

It's a scarey thing to think we came that close to a fire and didn't even realize it until we were driving past it.

Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

While we were in Leavenworth, Washington we went to see a musical. Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat was loosely based on the bible story of Jacob and Joseph. Joseph's brothers are jealous of him and conspire to kill him but in the end they decide to sell him into slavery.

Because Joseph can predict what dreams mean the Pharaoh promotes him to an adviser and Joseph's life is changed.

In the end, his brothers have to come to him for food and beg his forgiveness.

In the musical, the story is performed with a lot of humor, dance and songs. The songs vary in theme going from Elvis style to Western to rock and roll.

All-in-all it is a fun family way to spend an evening outside under the stars listening and watching a lot of talented people perform.

PaddleBoarding

I tried paddleboarding this weekend. I expected it to be like kneeboarding...difficult but it wasn't. It was actually really easy.

I started out on my knees on the paddleboard. Then I floated around a little bit until I felt comfortable. After I felt comfortable, I stood up...carefully. That was the hardest part. Then I simply paddled around the pond...or man-made lake. I paddled around for about an hour. I did fall in once, when I was paddling into the wind and trying to turn around real fast. Then I swam for the board and pulled myself back on top. Then I had to stand up all over again. And I paddled around until my swimsuit dried off.

Paddle Boarding

So tomorrow I'm going to try it. I've never done it before. I've spent many years doing watersports: kneeboarding, wakeboarding, waterskiing and innertubing but never paddleboarding. It looks relaxing ... if you have a good center of gravity and balance but I've always been more of a strength type athlete not a flexibility and balance type gal :( so we'll see how this goes. Has anyone ever done it? Have any tips for me?

Word Game - guess what it means

Nefarious - do you know what it means?

Take a guess.


Then scroll down to find the answer...



Further....



FURther....



FURTHER

ANSWER: Wicked or criminal: "the nefarious activities of the organized-crime syndicates".

Synonyms wicked - villainous - vile - infamous - mean - evil

Mango Sticky Rice - Super Simple and Oh So Yummy

People want to make it sound hard and I don't have time for that. I need EZ-Smeazy or forget it. I'm not going to be doing it. I have other things I want to do than spend all day in the kitchen but I still want food that tastes yummy.

So, when I looked up how to make Mango Sticky Rice I was exhausted after just reading the recipe.

That's no recipe for me. It even had a difficult name "Khao Niaow Ma Muang".

Okay, maybe it is a classic Thai dessert but I just wanted to make it for my family not learn an entirely new language.

The recipe I found gave all sorts of strange (difficult) cooking instructions. Such as:

1) Insisting on making sure I got the "right" rice for this dessert - they said "regular (savory) rice will not work; you need sweet rice"

(I JUST BOUGHT LONG GRAIN ENRICHED WHITE RICE--THE NORMAL STUFF I ALWAYS BUY)

Then the recipe I read said:

2) Soak the rice in 1 cup water for 20-30 minutes, OR up to 4 hours

(20 MINUTES TO 4 HOURS--THAT'S A DRASTIC TIME DIFFERENCE--EVEN FOR ME)

The more I read the more I thought, "Hey I don't think I can make this stuff" but then I figured, rice is cheap - what's the worst thing that could happen? So, I decided to experiment myself.

I took three cups of rice and cooked it in four cups of water (in my regular rice cooker--the way I always do)

Then I poured one can of sweetened condensed milk over the rice when it was finished cooking and about one can of coconut milk. Then I cut up a couple mangos and put it over MY MANGO STICKY RICE...It was super YUMMY! And EZ-Smeazy!

KIM'S KILLER RICE RECIPE:

My ingredient list:

1) 3 cups of cooked white rice
2) 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
3) 1/2 can of coconut milk
4) 2 mangos (sliced up) to be put over the sticky mango rice.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1)  After cooking 3 cups of rice, stir in 1 can sweetened condensed milk and 1/2 can of coconut milk.

2)  Top with slices of fresh mango.

WAH-LAH!!! You will be enjoying Mango Sticky Rice in less than a half hour.

It may not be the same exact melt in your mouth - out of this world -  Mango Sticky Rice that you get in your favorite Thai restaurant but, believe me, it's close...real close.

In fact, I served this at my Renewing of My Wedding Vows Celebration and I had people calling me and texting me for my recipe. No kidding.

Writer's Contests, Agent and Editors Wishlists, and Writers Conferences

There's a lot going on in the writerly world.

There are contests like the one over here and agents and editors listing their wishlists here (and it's not even December) and conferences galore, like the Willamette Writers Summer Conference.

So much to do, read, and write, if only we all had a little more time.

SCBWI The Great Critique

It was a wonderful morning, filled with inspiration, words of wisdom and new friendships.

It all began at 9:00 a.m. at the TaborSpace in Mt. Tabor. Over 30 writers got together to share their work and have other writers critique their pages.

Oh and it started off with donuts...of course, from VooDoo Donuts (another of course). So with coffee cup in hand and pages all around I sat down to listen to writers read their first five pages.

It was so much fun to see what other people are interested in and hear what they all had to say. It was a great time of sharing, caring and further preparing...because writers are never "finished" with their story. It goes on and on, writing, rewriting--or revising--and then reading and then going through the process all over again.

I think everyone had a good time and we all learned a thing or two.

So until the next Great Critique session...I'll be at my computer clicking away.

The Great Critique

Another chance for writers to be mentored and critiqued by a professional and their peers. We did this in January and it was so successful that attendees asked for a repeat, so here it is!
Location: The Dining Room, TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR 97215
Time: 9:00 to noon.

Never been in a critique group? Wish you could be critiqued by someone who is ahead of you in the publishing game? Want to strengthen your work? Need a fresh set of eyes and ears on that oft-revised piece? Want to have your manuscript ready for the May conference? This is your chance. A published writer will lead each small group and critique your manuscript. You'll also hear others' work and get feedback from those writers too. Plus you'll learn from the comments by the critique leader about the work of others.

Cost:

SCBWI members - $10.00 (That's less than the price of a Friday night movie!)

Nonmembers - $15.00 (If you bought any refreshments, your movie night would cost way more!)

How it will work:

1. Sign up now with the kind of manuscript you'll be bringing. You may bring a maximum of five double-spaced pages or 1200 words. DO NOT bring more. Use standard manuscript format, which means your first page will not be a full page. For picture books, we suggest you bring no more than 750 words.
2. We will do our best to place you in a group of 5 or 6 peers who write in the same genre and with a published author who writes in that genre.
3. We'll let you know how many copies of your manuscript to bring to the meeting.
4. We'll also send you some basic critique group guidelines.
5. At the meeting each of you will have a chance to pass your work around to your group and read it aloud.
6. Each person in the group will make notes on your manuscript as you read. They'll write down what they like, mark errors they see, indicate where they are confused or what doesn't work for them.
7. The professional writer will verbally critique your work. If time, other participants may comment.
8. You'll receive your copies with written comments from each one in your group. Take them home and let the ideas simmer.
9. You might even make some new friends or find those to form a critique group.
   

"Can’t imagine sitting with a group of strangers and reading your manuscript aloud? It should be harder to imagine sending an untried, unedited, unrevised bit of your soul out on submission!" – Jenn Bailey, children's writer and social media expert

PAL AUTHORS CRITIQUING include Carolyn Conahan, Cat Winters, Emily Whitman, Mike Thaler,Susan Hill Long and Suz Blackaby.

Cork Floor

Okay, a friend sent me this picture of a super-sustainable floor. If you look closely you'll see, it's made entirely from corks. So, at first I thought WOW! That is fantastic. What a way to think outside the box...or outside the bottle ;D

But then I started to think about it. How much wine would one have to drink to have so many left over corks that they could make this floor? I don't know but that might be a sign of more than sustainability...

Still, I think it's a great way to reuse something and the floor would be so springy and comfortable.  So, if this does nothing more than simply act as inspiration, that's okay too.

Remember you don't have to throw away, save that cork for another day...or floor ;D

Nightshade

Plants have been used throughout the ages to heal, energize and even create a little magic.

Myths, magic and legends surround gardens.

Vampires are compelled to stay away by merely hanging garlic cloves at every window and werewolves can be taken down with simple wolfsbane, also known as monkshood, the Devil's helmet, or wifesbane.

Where else do gnomes, fairies and imps live but inside the flowers? Even leprechauns are known to live in the woods. Perhaps its the beauty found in the forest, garden and flowers that make people associate magic with this realm but maybe there's more to it than that.

Plants have hidden powers, for instance foxglove can be toxic and it can also be used to help people with heart disease.

Wrap it Up

We had a birthday party to go to and I wanted to make the present prettier than my usual wrap. So I took an old shoe box and laid out the paper.

I cut the paper to fit the box and used spray adhesive rather than tape to secure the paper to the box. Then I used the reverse paper (white and black rather than black and white) on the inside to make the contrast pop.

I added a couple of ribbons in contrasting colors to keep with my theme of opposites.

I think it turned out pretty and these were leftover from a previous party so it was a sustainable gift wrap.

Movie Review Monday - THE HEAT

SANDRA BULLOCK and MELISSA McCARTHY are great comedic geniuses. I laughed so hard although this FBI fun-fest is a bit predictable, well more than a bit but it's still very funny and a great way to spend a family day especially if it's a hot afternoon, what a better way to enjoy the afternoon than inside a cool theater?

Sandra Bullock plays an ex-foster kid who grew up to be an uptight agent who gets bribed by her superior to work with a rough Boston Cop to try to take down a ruthless drug lord. If Bullock wants her promotion, she's going to have to work with McCarthy - and get along - like a team.

In the end, it's so funny although there are moments of drama.

So, over all I would recommend this show for a fun afternoon - at matinee prices - because it's not a GREAT film but I would say it is definitely GOOD.

Hot Weekend

What a way to spend a weekend...in the water, floating,wrestling and laughing. It's never a hard fall, when you hit the water...well, usually it's not.

It was a leisurely afternoon on the water.

Thank You

I wanted to make my own thank-you cards. So I got some ribbon with a bit of bling to it. I used some spray-on adhesive and wha-lah!!! Home-made thank yous.

Well, almost homemade....I used notecards that I bought for a buck and then I embellished them.

They turned out pretty cutesy ;D