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.