Food Friday

As a good southern gal (regardless that I currently live in OH), I have been a faithful subscriber to Southern Living Magazine since 1985.  I’m proud to say I have every one of their annual cookbooks dating back to that year and they’re all nicely lined up on my bookcase in the kitchen with the other tons of cookbooks.

As my friend Michele will agree, a girl’s best friend is a cookbook.  I have always collected them – I have hundreds from antique cookbooks to the modern ones; they are stored in kitchen and basement.  Recently, I’ve had to divest myself of a few since I’m running out of shelf room.

Yesterday I received two pleasant surprises; one of which I can’t divulge yet — it will be in a future post so you will just have to wait but I will tease you with the fact that it is fabulous.  The other surprise I received yesterday came in the mail in the form of the 2009 Southern Living Annual Recipes cookbook!  Woo-Hoo!  Another to add to the collection.

Now I love going through this cookbook, but the difference between my friend Michele and me is she actually uses and adapts recipes from her cookbooks.  I pretty much just like to read mine.  I might make a couple of the easier recipes but mostly my enjoyment comes from reading the recipes and looking at the pictures.  Ridiculous, I know.  Maybe this time will be different and I’ll actually go back to cooking for Devoted Spouse instead of just throwing something together.

That would make him so happy.

And because I’m dedicating this posting to Food – here’s an easy peasy recipe from the 2009 book for one of Devoted Spouse’s favorite foods — corn.  That boy would eat corn at every meal if I let him!

Corn Pudding

Makes 6 servings.  Prep time:  10 Min.  Cook time:  20 Min.

2 cups milk

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1 (16 oz.) package frozen whole kernel corn, thawed

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. whipping cream

Bring milk to a boil in a heavy saucepan; gradually add cornmeal, stirring until blended after each addition.  Cook, stirring constantly, just until mixture begins to boil.  Reduce heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Add corn, stirring until mixture is the consistency of whipped potatoes.  Stir in salt and whipping cream.  Serve and enjoy!

So because Devoted Spouse has been taking such good care of me this entire year through one ailment after another, I’m gonna whip up a batch of corn pudding for him.   I’m sure it will go well with that tv dinner I had planned to serve…

Nothin’ Says Lovin’ Like Somethin’ From the Oven…or the Store; Whatever

Most people treat a cold or the flu with aspirin, hot tea, and chicken soup.  Devoted Spouse treats colds and flu with sugar cookies that have sprinkles on them.  He knows I LOVE sprinkles — okay the cookies aren’t too shabby either.

The problem in this house is Devoted Spouse, myself, AND EmmaLou, the Golden Destroyer are all cookie hounds.  We love ‘em.  In fact the above container of cookies (and an additional container of oatmeal raisin cookies he brought home) were decimated in a little over 24 hours.  And THAT’S why I try not to buy cookies — we can’t stop at just one.

I used to bake them – mmmmm the smell of cookies baking would fill the house with the yummiest aromas, until Devoted Spouse got wise and started hanging around the kitchen — he would scarf down the raw cookie dough.  So I stopped making cookies.

Chicken soup is good for my cold. And I’m good with the hot tea and lemon/honey.   But nothin’ compares to bringing me cookies with sprinkles.

EmmaLou!!! Gimme back that cookie…..

 

Wordless Wednesday

Heard of The Foo Fighters? Meet The Flu Fighters!

NyQuil is a Girl’s Best Friend

Almost every year I get sick around Thanksgiving and stay sick until after New Years.  It seems to be a bad routine in my life and it has been this way for years.  Why?  I dunno…karma?  Last year I actually was healthy throughout the holidays and then two weeks later had the infamous accident so no cold, but 10 months of recovery — I would have rather had a cold believe me!

It isn’t Thanksgiving yet, but two days ago I noticed I was getting a sore throat — OH NO – - off to gargle with salt water (which btw is one of the nastiest things a human can endure short of those gawdawful neti pots – ugh).  Yesterday had sniffles and sneezes.

Today is the day – yep, fever, chills, and I’ve been eating aspirin like candy and sucking on those nastya$$ zinc lozenges.  I absolutely hate colds because you know that you are in for at least 4 or 5 really bad days; days of not being able to breathe, coughing up your left lung, and looking like something the dog found dead in the backyard and decided to drag inside.

So, while I truly want to go wandering with my camera – I’m gonna lay low for a day or three, drink tea with lemon and honey, scarf down some NyQuil and try to kill what ails me.

Then it’s off to shoot the world – not literally mind you; with my camera!

At least Devoted Spouse is delivering ice cream for my sore throat and EmmaLou is warming my chilled feet.  What a fam!

Apologies for not being amazingly funny today – my head is too full of mucus – now I could say that’s funny, but it’snot…sorry.

I think I know where I got this cold…and I would like to return the favor…if I can just get this person to come to the house and touch my keyboard or my remote….

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus and He Arrived Early

Some of my bloggy friends know I’ve been looking around for a new camera.  I have two small digital cameras that take good pictures but are simply crap to try to get anything close-up or anything far away.  Since I love both close pics and landscapes, I knew it was time to seriously consider upgrading my camera equipment.

Both Devoted Spouse and I spent hours researching, reading, discussing and considering various makes and models.  What did I want this for?  The answer to that can mean the difference of big bucks, believe me.  I decided I didn’t need all the bells and whistles, nor did I need the capability to make a video – I wanted to be able to take clearer pics of EmmaLou and have some decent camera equipment for when I am on a barn hunt — yes I like to wander the country in search of old barns to photograph.  I have no idea why I am drawn to old architectural sites; old barns, churches, etc.  We all have our strange quirks, and those are some of mine.

Anyway…I narrowed my choices, talked to some bloggy friends, hunted the internet and then the other day as we were strolling through Target, Devoted Spouse said, “Let’s go take a look at cameras.”  Well, forgive me for being a true snob, but I’ll be danged if I’m going to buy an expensive piece of camera equipment at a store like Target — c’mon we really don’t know where Target or Wally World gets their merchandise and what’s to say these might not be very well constructed knock-offs? (no I’m not accusing either store of that, I’m just sayin one should buy appropriate merchandise at the appropriate store.)  Yes, Target had my camera but the price was really high and while I enjoyed looking at it, there was no way in you-know-where I was buying it there, or for that price!

Saturday Devoted Spouse got this great idea — let’s go on an adventure.  I had been cooped up in the house for awhile resting my back and I needed to get out and get some fresh air.  He wanted to visit a camera shop he was familiar with  in a neighboring town and I thought it would be fun to go to lunch afterwards.

Turned out I had an expensive egg salad sandwich.  Reminded me of the time years ago we went out to buy a box of broccoli (don’t go there Auntie) and came home with a new red pickup truck.

You see, the store was having a pre-holiday sale on the exact camera I wanted, a Nikon D3000, PLUS they were having a sale on the particular zoom lens I also wanted.  Holy cow – how could I refuse? The price of the camera and both lenses was far less than anywhere else we had seen, plus I was happy that this was a bonafide camera shop — a place I could return if I had issues or questions and actually talk to someone knowledgeable about photography.  I mentally did some bill re-arranging (deciding I would buy a new power cord for the laptop and baby it along for a bit longer) and looked at Devoted Spouse and said something to the effect of “Merry Christmas to me.”  He smiled and agreed.  What a guy!  I think he’s happy because he now has years of gift ideas for Christmas and my birthday — all camera gadgets and accessories!  I have no problem with that.

So now I have my new camera and I’m thrilled and a bit intimidated coz this thing has more dials than a nuclear reactor console.  I’ve read the quick instructions which made my eyes bleed – and managed to snap my first pic of guess who?

Hi Mom! I'll be your first subject!

Now it’s not an award-winning photo, but it’s my first using an actual DSLR and I think the clarity is better than some of my older pics of EmmaLou.  Give me some time to practice and learn what everything means and boy will Wordless Wednesday become alot more fun!

So if you don’t see me here as often it’s because I’m out driving around the countryside looking for the perfect picture and having fun with my new toy!  It’’s beginning to look alot like Christmas…

Carbon Pawprints

It was only a matter of time until some pseudo-scientific brainiac with nothing better to do studied the ecological impact of man’s best friend.  According to an article in my daily newspaper, a study in New Zealand claims that a medium sized dog has a larger carbon footprint, I mean pawprint,  than an SUV.  Refresh my memory… New Zealand is known for what?  Oh, let’s see…nothing…except being the home to Xena Warrior Princess.

I read the article to EmmaLou, infamous medium-sized Golden Destroyer, and explained that her carbon pawprint was the equivalent of building and fueling a Toyota Land Cruiser but a cat’s carbon pawprint only equals that of a Volkswagon Golf. 

EmmaLou rolled around on the carpet, sniffed her bottom, and then grinned as only a Golden Destroyer can.  She was very proud that she equaled a Land Cruiser and the cat only a VW Golf.

I tried to explain to her that this was not something she should be proud of.  EmmaLou quickly countered with how much trash Devoted Spouse and I deposit at the curbside every week while the only thing SHE deposits is biodegradable.  It isn’t her fault Devoted Spouse actually collects this biodegradable waste and puts it in with our curbside trash.  Hmmm, maybe I needed to rethink this. 

I reminded her of all the water she wastes as she drinks from her large doggie water dish dripping tons of excess water from her doggie jowls everywhere, thus wasting another precious resource since I had to mop up the excess water with a paper towel which would then be deposited in the trash going to the curb.   EmmaLou reminded me she never asked me to put that bowl of water on the floor; she would be just as happy lapping from that lovely porcelain bowl that is attached permanently to the floor in the bathroom.  Hmmm, I needed to think about this some more.

I gently reminded EmmaLou of the manufacturing process involved in providing the lovely hypoallergenic doggie kibble she so greedily gobbles up and the amount of effort and resources that go into making her lovely meals.  She yawned and told me she’d be just as happy munching on the occasional varmint in the back yard and I could put the hypoallergenic kibble where the sun don’t shine.  Hmmm, I was not winning this argument.  I wanted her to decrease her carbon pawprint.  She wanted me to stop reading stupid articles outloud and get her toy out from under the couch. 

I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere in this discussion.  After all, EmmaLou provides constant unconditional adoration, lots of hours of doggie entertainment, and is always happy to warm my feet.  Maybe I shouldn’t be too concerned about ecological pawprints.  I went to the kitchen in search of coffee.

Returning to my comfy chair I found the paper on the floor shredded to pieces. Laying in the midst was EmmaLou, grinning, her carbon pawprint firmly planted right on a newspaper mess equivalent to a Toyota Land Cruiser.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet or My Life in 140 Characters

I’ve reluctantly joined the rest of the 21st century in signing up for various social networks.  I enjoy Twitter and of course I’m a blogaholic, but I’m not that enamored of FaceBook – I’m there but I have ALL the privacy boxes checkmarked so none of my stuff is visible to the public.  And I think I have less than 20 friends — it’s almost not worth signing in.   Even my church has a FB page now and is encouraging all the congregation to “spiritually” network.  I haven’t decided about that yet.  Sometimes I feel a bit stifled by having my pastors as FB friends – like God is looking back at me through the screen “Careful what you type, Linda, I’m watching.”    Then again these people have read my blogs and they know I”m a totally flawed human being who is nowhere near to reaching any state of holiness and they probably (and rightfully) suspect I’m slightly off kilter so to speak.  But I’m getting off subject…

While I have made tons of super bloggy friends and many of us are Tweeting away on a daily basis, I’m absolutely perplexed at the amount of people who want to follow me.  These are not your average folks – nor do the vast majority have the slightest interest in common with me except perhaps the fact we both have access to the online world.  I suspect I am just in the list of thousands of twitterers who get followed simply to allow other tweeters to load up their numbers.  Who really cares how many people follow you?  I don’t, but I guess in some circles this is important.

Today I noticed my followers had increased again and for at least the 10th time my “friend” Britney is back.  Now for all my Twitter buds, you know who I’m talking about — the broad who is holding on to what we all euphemistically refer to as “the microphone”.  I have blocked this broad over and over and still she finds me and follows my tweets – I’m not real crazy about being twitter-stalked by a porn queen I can assure you.

I also have some new friends who want to train me in various ways to get rid of my anxiety and stress.  I’ve found a great stress reliever is to block them.  Muahahahaha.  This morning a kitchen supplier, a puzzle maker and Outdoor Tent Supply also decided to follow me — what could I be tweeting that is of any possible interest to them?  Dunno.

TVOnlineforFree just showed up – from the Netherlands — why me?  I also have some folks who want to help me grow my business.  What business?  I don’t have a business and even if I did I’m not sure that’s any of their business.

Block, block, block.  Gotta expect some goofballs and porn queens to sneak in amongst the good tweeps.  Social networking is getting a little too social — but blocking is as close to a Twitter condom as I’ve found.  Dear Twitter — please work on this.  Thank you.

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Book Title Meme

My friend Sandy from It’s A Jungle Out There coaxed me into trying a Book Title Meme.  Sounded intriguing.  Here are her rules:

Using only books you have read this year (2009) answer the following questions.  Try not to repeat a book title.  It’s a lot harder than you think! (Actually, Sandy, it wasn’t hard at all — it was a blast!!)  So here are the questions with my “book title” answers.  I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed answering these questions!  And yes, every answer comes from a book on my 2009 Books Read page.

Describe yourself:  Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson

How do you feel?  Desolate Angel by Chaz McGee

Describe where you currently live:  The Winds of Dune by  Brian Herbert

If you could go anywhere where would you go?  Haunting Jordan by P. J. Alderman

Your favorite form of transportation:  The Web by Jonathan Kellerman

Your best friend is:  A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton

You and your friends are:  Old Friends from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg

What’s the weather like: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

You fear:  A Year of  the Flood by Margaret Atwood

What is the best advice you have to give?  Cut and Run by Ridley Pearson

Thought for the day:  Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett

How I would like to die:  Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg

My soul’s present condition:  Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright

That’s it!  I did it!  Now you give it a try – use the books you’ve read this year to answer the questions then link back to me here.  Have fun!

I’m So ADD I’m Driving ME Crazy With It

Didja ever have one of those days when you just weren’t satisfied with anything you were doing?  That was my day Tuesday.  No matter what I started, I couldn’t complete.  I began tidying up the kitchen, then decided to stop and have more coffee.  I sat down at the laptop and played on Twitter then felt like surfing the web for news. I even went to update my status on my FaceBook page only to tell the world I had no status.  I rapidly left FaceBook and returned to the news.  I had enough news and then I wanted to do the crossword — I started that and gave it up as soon as I hit the first snag.

It was like this all day — up and down, in this room and that room.  I began cleaning out a dresser drawer that I have been meaning to get to for the longest time — it’s one of those drawers that should hold something normal like socks, but has ended up being filled to the brim with things like receipts from purchases made at Target in 2003, old eyeglass cases, an empty wallet (darnitall), old credit cards I haven’t gotten around to cutting up yet — a junk drawer.  I even found the sales receipt and warranty for our dishwasher — what the blue blazes was that doing in my dresser drawer?

I couldn’t sit still.  I spent an inordinate amount of time outside watching the housepainters and wondering to myself had I made the right decisions on the colors – the yellow is soft and lovely, but the blue is a little bluer than I thought it would be.  I sort of freaked out momentarily because most of the houses in our neighborhood are kind of dull and bland and ours is really going to stand out — do I want that?  The more I looked at the blue the better I liked it.  The hell with the neighbors and their boring bland beige houses – our house is gonna pop and be happy and full of sunshine.  But, just for a moment I was filled with paint buyer’s remorse and that’s not a fun feeling.  I’m okay now — the blue WILL go on.  And yes, I’ll post before and after pics when they get done – another week or so.

What else…I tried to read — good grief I must have picked up 5 different books and read pieces of each – couldn’t concentrate; I’d read the same paragraph over and over.  I started another story for my Parchment Monkey blog but got stuck and decided to file it away for a later time.  I worked on a poem – blechh.  I dragged out some craftwork.  Meh… I tried to take a nap but my mind was going a thousand miles an hour telling me things I should be doing.  I filled up my To Do list and had to start a new page.

I did online research on the camera I want to buy — I managed to narrow it down to either a Canon or a Nikon but that’s as far as I got – there’s alot of information to digest and I couldn’t concentrate.  Then I started researching new laptops because suddenly I also have developed a battery issue.  I debated with Devoted Spouse whether or not when I find the new laptop if we should take this one out to the back yard and make a video of me destroying it with a sledgehammer.  I voted for the destruction video.  I thought about chainsaws — my friend Doug could bring his humongous chainsaw out and destroy it with that but that might be dangerous with metal pieces flying everywhere.  Gah…I couldn’t concentrate on one single thing all day!  Thoughts were going through my head faster than kibble goes through EmmaLou (and that’s pretty fast).

I ordered another book online from Amazon.com.  I made a ham salad sandwich then didn’t want it and gave most of it to EmmaLou.   I went out shopping but couldn’t find anything (except another book) to buy.  I stopped at Panera’s for bagels for the morning’s breakfast.  After being out in the world only about 45 minutes, I simply drove home.

I hate days like this — there is no sense of accomplishment and there is no sense of fun or relaxation either.  I’m just all over the place today and I would like tomorrow to be better.  Oh wait – I DVRd every UFO Hunter show (the History channel was having a marathon) today so on Wednesday I will treat myself to a few of those.  That should help – nothing like a little UFOlogy to hold my attention.  Oooh look a special on Bigfoot.

Sigh..

Capital Punishment With a Capital P

Today is an important day; it is a momentous occasion, albeit sad.   Today is the execution of the D.C. Sniper, the man who convinced a child to help him kill many people.  This madman and his accomplice calmly shot people  in various areas around the D.C. metropolitan area in 2002.    I know this  because I was there at the time of the Sniper attacks.

I was on one of my usual yearly visits to northern Virginia to see my best girlfriend, Kathy.  The attacks started and we simply could not believe it – what was going on?  He shot folks as they went about their ordinary lives — out shopping.  He picked them off one by one.  We were advised to “weave” as we walked across a shopping center parking lot.  Yeah, “weave”.  To say this was frightening does not come close.  It was a terror attack plain and simple and you never knew where he was gonna hit next.  People were being shot from long range while filling their cars with gas at the local gas stations.

And of course what did I need?  Gas.  (no, Auntie, not THAT kind).  We were glued to the tv set listening to the coverage of these horrible crimes unfolding before our very eyes.  This was not a one-time thing – this was planned and it took a long time and alot of lives were lost.  B*stard.  What really bothered me was he had a child with him; a child with a gun whom he brainwashed and trained to be a killer.

I remember realizing that I simply had to put gas in my car even though I was a bit frightened.  When I got to the local gas station, the station owner had erected a tarp around the gas pumps so no one could actually see you pump your gas.  What a sad commentary.  Let me tell you I broke all speed records getting gas into that car and getting out of that station.

Today this monster is to be executed in the state of Virginia.  Today the scales of justice will balance again.  Today I believe John Allen Muhammad aka the Sniper has alot of explaining to do as he meets his Maker and I hope his Maker puts him on the express elevator going DOWN.