Happy Birthday, My Son (2014)

Happy Birthday to my son, who turns 24 today.

He is super busy these days, since he has become Project Manager for the new EcoCar3 Competition.

If he is not at a competition, he is flying out to a competition or coming home from a competition...in other words, it just never stops.

He is slowly making the team his and at last count, there were 70 students who signed up to work on the Chevy Camaro (due to be delivered in 2016).

At least this time around, they have a car to work with, as they wait. The EcoCar2 is able to go out on the road and visit schools and events around the LA area. So he is busy with that, too.

I am so proud of him and wish him all the best, moving forward.

Have a great day.

To the rest of you, Happy Halloween!

No Corn This Year?

I didn't go to Lombardi Ranch this October and now that they are finished with their Fall festivities, an article comes out which addresses the subject of the drought. It speaks of how bad the drought has made Mr. Lombardi's Ranch this year.

The bottom line is that he had to make a decision and so he stopped watering the corn (and thus lost 95 percent of it) in order to save the pumpkin crop. He knew that the local children wouldn't care about the corn, but they came for the pumpkins and would be expecting to see them.

I went searching for photos of Lombardi Ranch and I found a photo of the Farm Stand stocked with corn, from 2 years ago. After seeing this photo, I am now doubly sad to hear this. Look at all that corn!

You can read the entire article about the situation, with quotes from Mr. Lombardi, HERE.

My Dad Would Have Been 90 Today

He ended up sharing a birth month with my only son. For this daughter, it was the icing on the cake.

I loved my Dad so much...and today would have been his 90th Birthday.

We lost him almost a decade ago and I think of him every year, but yesterday I realized this is the big one, the big 90.

I wish he was still around and I wish his health had been better, toward the end. It was just a matter of time and I think we all knew that.

Thankfully, according to my brother, he was in good spirits on the day he passed. So many are not.

He spent so much time giving my son the presence of a grandparent. My son was born with 3 and promptly lost his 2 grandmother's within 4 years. He has no memory of either of them. So for him, it was always grandpa.

We used his timeshare to visit locations and to vacation, of course.

He came out here, too. He was no stranger in our lives.

My son was 15 when he died and I was so glad he has those memories.

He was the best.

Happy Birthday in heaven, Dad. Love always, your daughter.

My 6th Order From Abundant Harvest Organics

Well, my box came and it was the weirdest one yet.

I am looking forward to making something wonderful (cookies, bread, cake or pudding) with the persimmons. Their problem is that they are baking persimmons and you have to wait for them to get ripe, before you can bake with them. Your other option is to freeze them and then thaw them. According to Uncle Vern, they will be fine, after they thaw out.

Without further adieu, here is the list of what I got.

3 Granny Smith Apples

1 bunch of Bok Choi

1 bunch of Collard Greens

9 Hachiya Persimmons

1 Mini Pumpkin

Purple Basil

A huge amount of Spinach

6 Summer Squash

2 large Sweet Potatoes

3 Tomatoes

I have already used half the bok choi in a chinese stir fry I made and I have half of everything left and will make a second batch, next week. Spinich will go into my salad, as will the tomatoes. The apples go into our fruit salad and somewhere I will cook the summer squash...probably next week.

The collard greens were made in my crock post on Sunday evening and a recipe will post sometime this week.

That's it!

Glimmerglass Lagoon: Fall

My Water Post For Today.

I took several photos that I shared with you all last year. To the best of my knowledge, this one has never been seen.

I could probably get you the exact date that I took this photo, but basically, it was exactly a year ago.

I love the bushes that turned red, almost as soon as I arrived on campus. They bring color to the shore and stand out against the green of the grass.

I also love the clouds that were almost always making their way from the west to the east. Can you tell I miss it there. :-)

I hope you enjoy.

Time For A Little Soft Serve

I grew up on soft serve. We had Carvel Ice Cream stores in Hicksville and surrounding towns. Definitely a Sunday evening treat in the summer.

We had the ice cream trucks that drove through our neighborhood, especially Mister Softee. So I am well acquainted with that type of ice cream.

We get trucks that come to our workplace and just recently a little truck showed up with "Soft Serve" ice cream. I read the menu for their truck and they said they grew up in New York and saw a need for a west coast version of things like Mister Softee.

They had me right there and so I went down to the street and cued up for a taste of their ice cream.

The first time I got it in a cup and it was good and it was only $3 (which was impossibly cheap for a truck).

The second time I told the man I wanted it again, and I preferred it in a cup, but wanted one in a cone. He said to me, "No Problem" and he stuck the cone on top of the ice cream, like a hat.

I was so impressed. :-)

So the big question, is it Mister Softee? Well, it has been the better part of 45 years since I had that particular treat, so I can't tell you. But I will say, it is not bad and I have had it 3 times over the course of 2 months.

Yeah, a nice treat and an East Coast tie in, too.

You can check them out, HERE.

Makenna Eating Her Dinner

It is probably the most important part of her day. When we finally give her the wet food.

She begs throughout the morning, even though she has eaten her 1/4 cup of dry food and drank her water.

Finally, around her first nap time, we get some relief. That is until around 5PM, when she comes out from wherever she has been hiding and plops herself on the ottoman or floor, staring at us, until it is finally 6PM.

A happy cat...finally.

Abundant Harvest Organics Pick-up Truck

Tomorrow is the day I get produce, once again.

This is a photo I took last time I picked up a box from Abundant Harvest Organics.

The table holds the add-ons that people choose to buy. I bought tomatoes and pickling cucumbers, so that is what was given to me, from the table.

Of course, I get a small box, too, which are stacked up on a pallet, over on the left of the table. The large boxes are stacked up on a different pallet. Makes sense to me.

We return the collapsed box onto the pallet on the right side of the table. That way, everyone is recycling their box each delivery week.

Persimmons are on the agenda for this coming Saturday...I have no idea what they taste like, but I guess I will learn.

Starting A Blog

I came across an article in a place called BlogHer. It was on the subject of Starting a Blog.

Being I have been blogging for the better part of 7 years, I think I might have an opinion on the subject. :-)

The article (which I highly recommend you read before you finish this post) mentions many subjects that I have come across, in my time blogging.

When I began, I made an agreement to attempt to post something every day. I don't care how small the post is, I feel that if a person is following me, the least I can do is show up and post. So that is my first comment. Don't make the commitment, unless you have the time to spend dealing with it.

Many people write a post of 300 words or more. I am not a professional writer and I have no clue how many words a post of mine is. Don't force yourself to write, just to fill a commitment of words. The subject matter and what needs to be said, are much more important.

Pictures! I am definitely a picture person and I really feel that a blog post is made much better, with a photo. If you do query's for photos, remember to be mindful of copyright laws. I usually go for a photo I take, since it makes me feel safer.

Your blog voice. Figure that out, before you begin. My style is very off the cuff and conversational and I got in lots of trouble, when I joined academia last year, working on Graduate courses. It is simply not done in papers for classes. So if you blog, choose your tone and try to speak like you are having a conversation with a friend.

Definitely talk to your family. I did not do this and I found out years later that my Husband noticed that I go MIA when I blog, so I try to be mindful of the time I take blogging.

How to refer to the members of your family. I generally do not mention my Husband and son by name and I don't mention the names of my "Other" sons, either. I just feel better about it...though this can get confusing to my blog readers, but we deal. I post photos, but try not to show off addresses and license plate numbers, etc. A little mystery makes it harder for stalkers.

On that subject, I go by an alias and I always have. I had problems on Steely Dan Bulletin Boards and when I decided to branch out on my own, it made total sense to me, to go this route. I have no regrets. HERE is an explanation of why I post as angel.

Public or Private? Most blogs give you the choice. I decided to go private and I have never regretted that. For a short time I made my Steely Dan blog public and I realized this was not making me happy. I moved it to private and I sleep better at night...

No matter what you do, enjoy the experience. It is very freeing to have a voice and to express it in public.

My Front Lawn

Yes, it is sad to see...My lawn in the front looks bad. Not like it has never looked bad before, but this year I did not want to grow grass in 100 plus degree heat. So I waited til the beginning of October and got a little patch going (which is located by the edge of the sidewalk, showing off its bright green color).

Since I seem to have had some sort of success, next up is another little patch, below the one I have successfully grown. I am trying to do these in small patches so I do not use too much water. Of course my ultimate hope is that nature takes over, so I don't feel guilty about planting some new stuff in a drought.

Sigh...

The End Of Sunsets, For Another Fall

Since I am on the bus every evening at approximately the same time, I have been noticing how it is getting later and later, each day. The other day, I was driving home and I got a photo I have been trying to take for the past few weeks. The sun was setting and so it actually turned out better than the original photo idea.

This is the current look of the I-5 / CA 170 (AKA Hollywood Freeway) Interchange. I have shown this to you before, when they were building the very ramp I was driving on the other day. You can see that old post HERE.

It is actually looking quite good, though we are still waiting for the final car pool lane ramp to be completed. I can't wait to get that in action, so that traffic starts easing up, a bit. As you can see, Rush Hour is brutal.

Another few days and there will be no sunsets to watch, we will be in night time, once again.

Winter is coming and so is the Time Change. Sigh...

9/11 Memorial Eisenhower Park

My Water Post For Today.

This is the 9/11 Memorial at Eisenhower Park. I stayed in the area, back in 2009 and took a few photos of the pond.

If I am not mistaken, this water was always there and they just placed the memorial on the shore. It is a very nice tribute and it couldn't have been placed at a better location, in my book.

I love that I got a bird (probably a goose) swimming by. It adds to the photo and the sun setting also helps to add to it.

I hope you enjoy.

Young Kateri

Since it is Sunday, I thought I would show off one of the three tile murals of St. Kateri. It graces the patio area, on the wall of the Church offices.

It has been so long since I thought about when we decided to put these up, that I forgot that my family donated to their cost and so we have our names under this particular one.

Amazingly, I found it with no problem, even after all this time.

I love this one and personally think it is the best of the three. That's what happens when you give money early.

If you know our names, click on the photo and check out the third column of names on the plaque.

I don't know if this is the official prayer for St. Kateri, but I thought it appropriate for today.

Lord God, You called the virgin Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, to shine among the American Indian people as an example of innocence of life. Through her intercession, may all peoples of every tribe, tongue and nation, having been gathered into Your Church, proclaim your greatness in one song of praise. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

NOHO No More?

Well, I think I am being a bit hasty with that post title, but it looks as though I may be moving my primary transportation, over to a van pool.

Seriously, I can't believe it is all coming together, but that may be what I start to do, as of somewhere mid next week.

It all started with a chance encounter at the market, with a former train commuter friend. He and I used to ride the Metrolink together for years. He has been part of a van pool for a few years and between me being on the bus and him in the van, we never see each other anymore. What I didn't know was that he was the driver of the van pool. It is a 10 person van pool and it picks up at the train station in Santa Clarita and then drops off at the 2 Disney Buildings on Alameda. I happen to work between these 2 buildings and so he mentions to me in the store, that he has room in his van for an occasional (maybe 3 or so days a week) rider. Would I be interested?

It didn't take me long to say yes to that idea and so we began the process of seeing if I could join their van pool.

I got the word on Friday afternoon (and the paperwork, of course) that it is a go. I just have to fill out all the legal stuff and then pay at the end of the month, for the days I utilize their service. Obviously, I would still drive, when I have a gym class or a doctor's appointment and on other days, take the bus that I normally take.

What that means to me, is that on van days, I would spend about a half hour less commuting each way and it would cost 85 cents less each day, than if I take the bus to the bus.

More time at home and more money in my pocket. I say win!

Crispy Baked Daikon Radish Chips

I got most of the recipe from THIS blog post. My only problem was I did not really get times from this recipe and an oven temperature. So I found them on THIS site.

So between the two, I managed to make almost flawless radish chips. Yay me!

Here is the recipe.

Crispy Baked Daikon Radish Chips

3 Tbl Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Paprika to taste

Heat oven to 375 degrees

Peel and thinly slice the Daikon Radish. I used a mandoline, that I bought recently. I set the slicer on the smallest setting, though maybe I should have increased the width of the slices a little.

Add the three ingredients to the thinly sliced radish. Mix with your hands and then lay them onto a cookie pan, like this.

Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes.

Take out pan and flip over the radishes and cook another 10 minutes until they look done.

Mine had a tendency to not crisp up enough, though they did get a bit better, when sitting for a few minutes.

Note: Later, they got soggy again.

As I may have mentioned, they disappeared about a half hour after dinner was over. My son snacked on the ones that were cooking, while we ate dinner. It took quite a while to make them all, by the way. Maybe 5 or six pans of radish.

It is better if you share the oven with something else, like my chicken that I had cooking. It then feels like you are not using all that energy for a radish. :-)

Lewis B. O'Donnell Media Summit

I went to school with these guys...every one of them.

When I saw this photo (taken at Canale's Italian Restaurant last night), I commented, 70's Oz Grads Represent!

Al Roker ('76), Lou Borelli and Rick Yacobush (and me) ('77) Mike Frazier and Marv Kaminsky ('78). These are the classes that I interacted with, while in college. I am proud and honored that so many are going to be at the 10th Media Summit later today.

All of these guys are radio and I was TV, but we were in the same classes together and I had a great time with them all. Well, minus Al, who was almost gone, when I was there. He had his first gig at WTVH/5. So we watched him do the weather each day, but still. He was us.

There will be "Wake up with Al" live from Oz and then the "Today Show", also live. Well, his segment will be, at least.

I think this will be the link to the live events happening today. Charlie Rose gets a Doctorate Degree, at some point in the day and I do not know if it will be televised. At 2:30PM (EDT) the Summit Begins. Check it out, HERE. When the Summit ends, Lou Borelli gets the President's Metal from Deborah Stanley and in my humble opinion, he deserves it.

Go Oz!

America

The song is called America and it was written by Simon and Garfunkel.

Especially when I am sitting on my commuter bus, driving home to Santa Clarita, the lyrics come to me. It is such a sad song and it speaks of a time that is long gone. It doesn't hurt that I identify (and always have) to the lyrics of the song. ;-)

You can watch the video, HERE, if you want. Oh and by the way, did anyone know the lyric to the song is "So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs Wagner's Pies?" I most certainly didn't. I thought it was this is Webler Pines. Oh well...another misheard lyric.

America

Let us be lovers,
We'll marry our fortunes together.
I've got some real estate
Here in my bag.

So we bought a pack of cigarettes,
And Mrs. Wagner's pies,
And walked off
To look for America.

"Kathy", I said,
As we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh,
Michigan seems like a dream to me now.
It took me four days
To hitch-hike from Saginaw.
"I've come to look for America."

Laughing on the bus,
Playing games with the faces,
She said the man in the gabardine suit
Was a spy.
I said, "Be careful,
His bow tie is really a camera."

"Toss me a cigarette,
I think there's one in my raincoat."
We smoked the last one
An hour ago.

So I looked at the scenery,
She read her magazine;
And the moon rose over an open field.

"Kathy, I'm lost", I said,
Though I know she was sleeping.
"I'm empty and aching and
I don't know why."
Counting the cars
On the New Jersey Turnpike
The've all come
To look for America,

All come to look for America,
All come to look for America.

The photo is the Ambassador Bridge in Michigan. I thought it appropriate to begin where they did...Michigan. I visited in 2006.

My 5th Order From Abundant Harvest Organics

Another Saturday, another box and yes, there were some surprises.

5 Tiny Gala Apples
1 head of Broccoli
A basket of Cherry Tomatoes (I love these)
One huge white Daikon Radish OMG!
A head of Red and Green Lettuce
2 cracked Pomegranates
A bunch of Rosemary
3 Shallots
4 Summer Squash (different colors, green and yellow and one that was green and yellow)
5 tiny Sweet Peppers
5 Sweet Potatoes (mostly small ones)

Add On's for the week:

2 Lb (6 nice sized) Tomatoes ($3.50)
1 Lb (7 perfect size) of Pickling Cucumbers ($3.00)

My first surprise was that there were no more grapes from Uncle Vernon's Farm. Oh well, I guess he is now are making raisins on his farm.

My first problem produce ended up getting eaten up by my family. The Daikon Radish, which I had no idea what to do with, I ended up cutting very small slices with my mandoline and making Baked Radish Chips. They were gone an hour after dinner. They will, of course, get their own post.

The rosemary is a slight problem, because I grow rosemary by my pond, oh well. I shall dry them, eventually.

I now have a huge amount of sweet potatoes. We had the very large one from the last box, that my Husband and I decided to have for dinner on Saturday. It was good, by the way. They also keep for a good long time, so being it is fall, I will make something with them. Maybe even a sweet potato pie. We shall see.

The cracked (this means something good with pomegranates) pomegranates, I have no idea what to do with. I am sure I will eventually figure something out.

The Broccoli was no problem, it was cooked for dinner that Saturday evening.

I am sure the other produce will get eaten, over the next 2 weeks.

Captree State Park

My Water Post For Today.

I decided to bring a little East Coast your way today. This is the Robert Moses Inlet Bridge as seen from Captree State Park.

I visited it many years ago, (2009 to be exact).

It is in the middle of the Robert Moses Causeway, just before you get to Fire Island, itself.

I love the water and they have a really nice and remote picnic area. Why have I never stopped there? I have no idea. Maybe someday I will remember it and have lunch there. :-)

For now, enjoy the view.

Shepherd Me, O God

I spent a few hours in Temple on Yom Kippur and one of the best things about the time I spend there, is listening to the music. They use the same song, during the section of the service where they would usually recite the 23rd Psalm (The Lord Is My Shepard, I shall not want). The song is "Strengthen Me, O God" and it has many of the words from the psalm in it.

What happens a few weeks later, in my Catholic Church, is that the same basic song is played. it is called "Shepherd Me, Oh God" and it has to be my favorite song, during the liturgical year.

Since it is Sunday, I thought I would link to a Youtube Video of the song..."Shepherd Me, Oh God".

I truly hope you spend the time to listen and enjoy.

The photo came up, when I did a search query for the name of the song. Obviously, it is a St. Andrew's Abbey photo and I gladly use it here.

Tomatoes!

It must be the Italian in me...

A few weeks ago I got extra tomatoes, so that I could make fresh tomato sauce. It took hours to cook down and I wondered if it was worth it. When I used the first of the bags of sauce, I realized that yes, it was worth it. I had bought lobster ravioli, for a spur of the moment dinner and being able to just toss the frozen bag of sauce into the microwave, made it a no muss, no fuss, dinner. The fact that it was such a light sauce, helped with the delicate flavor of the lobster ravioli.

All I did was peel the tomatoes (using hot water for about 30 seconds). They are then able to be peeled and after peeling, I cut them into a large dice. When diced, I then threw them into a pot of boiling water. I should have used less water, because I spent more time then they needed, trying to boil the excess water down. Eventually, the sauce did thicken...but for a while it was pretty runny.

The final step is to liquify with either an immersion blender or food processor.

If you are into cooking your own sauce I heartily recommend trying to make a fresh tomato sauce, at least once a summer.

There is nothing like them.

General Tsao's Chicken - Trader Joe's

I bought this General Tsao's Sauce from Trader Joe's recently. It works like a charm and was easy to make.

In its absolute simpliest form, you just cook some white meat chicken in oil and add the sauce. My first time, I cut up a red onion and some tiny chili's, to cook in the oil. It came out good and my son liked it.

Well this second time, I found this video and decided to try it this way. Corn meal added to Panko Breadcrumbs sounded good to me...but it may not be to taste, for others.

I did (once again) add the red onion to the final product. I had no chili's this time.

It was edible, though I am loving the ones that I did not have sauce for. they make really good chicken nuggets. :-)

Check it out and see what you think.

Video for General Tsao's Chicken

(The following ingredients are used in this tutorial video:)

2 chicken breasts chopped into 1 x 1/2 in. pieces

Oil for cooking

Flour Mixture:
1 - 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Batter: 1 - 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup corn meal

Egg wash:
3 eggs
2 tablespoons milk

6 oz. Trader Joe's GeneralTsao sauce
3 cloves chopped garlic
8 fresh chili peppers

If you make it, let me know what you think, in the comments.

By the way, the photo is of the last of the left overs. Sorry I didn't photograph it earlier.

Showering During The Drought

It has been getting nasty here, the past month or so. You can feel the tension between the haves and the have nots, the people who refuse to believe we don't have much water and those who are hyper aware of the lack of it, in the state of California.

I personally vacillate between being hyper aware and conserving and not wanting to lose my lawn and plants (due to not having the money to replace them with anything else). It's a hard road to travel.

I am lucky, after having a talking to with my family, we have managed to bring our water usage down. All showers that happen here, must be rushed. No more standing under a stream of water and just enjoying the sensation of having water streaming over your hot, tired body. Not happening here at the angel house.

On the other hand, I water my lawn and plants every other day. This is not exactly what our water company wants us to do, since that is one extra day every second week...but nothing picky, my house will lose every plant I have, if I cut back even more. I am not yet ready to do that. Especially since the Fall is here. There is still a small chance God will give us rain in the rainy season and I want there to be plants to drink the water that comes. (Oh Please God, make it so!)

Back to the showers, or lack thereof. :-)

What I learned when I was in Upstate New York last year, is that my hair does just fine with a shampoo that is also a conditioner. It is called Herbal Essences Body Envy 2 in 1. I first found it and used it, when I traveled and I have been known to leave the half full bottle with my sister, when I have to travel by plane. Giving her orders to not use the rest, because I will be back to get it.

When I was getting toward the end of my time in Oswego, Walmart, the store that had the shampoo, stopped selling it. So when I got back to LA, I bought a large amount from Amazon.com. I still have about 8 bottles and that means I will have enough for awhile. I did just see that Walmart does now have the shampoo again. Yay team!

So this is how my shower goes, now days. I fill my bucket with water, which I talked about on an earlier post, HERE. Then I get in and get my hair wet. Put the shampoo/conditioner on and immediately begin washing down my body, while I start rinsing my hair. By the time I am finished soaping up, about half the shampoo/conditioner is out and then I finish rinsing my hair, my body and the water gets shut! Tops, 5 minutes.

Though I must admit, am definitely wishing for the old days...

What Does A Full Box Look Like?

After my off weekend, last Saturday...this coming Saturday, I will get another box of produce.

I thought I would show off the way the box comes to me.

It is always filled...as a matter of fact, slightly overfilled. Usually with the lettuce up on top and the paper folded over it.

They use little pieces of cardboard, or more paper, to separate the different produce items. Especially things that are vulnerable to squishing, like tomatoes.

The one time I got a watermelon, they handed that to us separate, so that it did not take up too much room in the box.

I think the only things I miss by getting the smaller of the two boxes, is one or two items.

I am content with the amount. It is plenty to use up.

Slow Cooker Country Ribs In Beer

This is actually my second time preparing this recipe and I decided that I liked it enough, to share with you.

I am not usually one to break out the crock pot, but country pork ribs are so fatty and it is so hard to get rid of the fat, that I gave this a try. When they are done, the fat just falls out of the meat and you can discard it, along with the fat that floats at the top of the gravy.

It is not "fall off the bone" done, but it is definitely easier to eat than a hard tough piece of pork.
(Click the name of the dish down below, to go to the original recipe.)

Slow Cooker Country Ribs In Beer

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 6 or more hours
Container: 3 quart or larger slow cooker
Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 large boneless country-style ribs
salt and pepper
2 onions
1/2 cup barbeque sauce, bottled OR

make your own sauce:

1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon molasses or honey
1 teaspoon chili powder and/or garlic powder

1/2 cup beer
1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional, for thickening sauce)

Directions

Remove any large areas of fat from meat and salt and pepper both sides. Chop onions and spread over bottom of cooker. Put meat on onions. Mix the bottled barbeque with the beer; OR mix the ketchup, mustard, molasses (or honey) and chili powder (and/or garlic powder) together and then mix with the beer.

Pour the sauce mixture over meat, cover and cook on HIGH: 4-5 hours, on LOW: 8-10 hours. (Time for your particular cooker may vary somewhat from these times, so check for doneness a little earlier.)

To serve, lift meat and onions out with spatula. Pour liquid into a narrow jar or glass, let stand 1 - 2 minutes, and spoon off the fat that rises to the top.

Pour sauce over meat. If you wish to thicken sauce to make it more gravy-like, mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch into 1 tablespoon water and add to sauce. Boil in a small saucepan for 2-3 minutes, or until clear. Spoon over meat.

This is angel, with a few more things to say.

Don't use all that onion! One is plenty and as a matter of fact, I doubled the recipe and still used just the one onion and it was just fine.

I made my recipe (both times) with the make your own sauce. I liked it a lot.

If you make it, add some rice as a side dish, to sop up some of the gravy...and enjoy.

Children Playing In The Water On A Hot Day

My Water Post For Today.

It's been hot here. Hot, hot, HOT!

It's October already, cool down!

Well, unless they have turned off this fountain at Hollywood and Highland (due to our ongoing drought), I am sure that children are still cooling themselves off in this triple digit heat.

I showcased this photo in 2009, on a post you can find HERE.

This photo gives you a close-up view of children playing in the cool and the wet.

I wish I was one of them.

Enjoy.

A Hall To Where?

Since I am trying to post a bit of a religious theme on Sunday mornings, I bring you this photo.

It is a handicapped ramp to bring parishioners to the plaza level of the Church complex at St. Kateri.

For the most part, I usually use the stairs. This particular weekend, there I was, in the ramp area.

I liked the look of the area and I decided to capture it on my camera.

The mauve color is the tunnel that goes under the roadway for the main entrance of the Church. So you are not just seeing the ramp, but through the tunnel itself.

It has got to be the most unusual design for a Church complex...but we love it.

To help answer the question of where this hall is and what the property of St. Kateri looks like, I have uploaded a Google Map of the complex (click the photo to see a larger image). The road labeled Tamarack, is the entrance that has the tunnel for us to walk through. The semi-circular building is the original Church (now Slattery Hall). The little building is the Parish offices and then the very large building is the main Church. The three buildings open up onto a plaza level, which you access via a large staircase or the handicapped ramp area along the side of Slattery Hall.

It is a very hilly piece of land that has 2 parking lots, two entrances off Copperhill Drive and a huge mountain at the top of the property. If they ever decide to expand to house a Catholic School, they would have to build a parking structure in that upper parking lot. That is because it is so low compared to the main street, that they could get away with it. I don't think that is an option anymore, but they did consider it, about 15 years ago.

I hope that helps.

Chicken With Grapes

For those of Jewish faith...May you all be inscribed in the book of life, for another year.

I have had lots of grapes in the house, due to all the Autumn Royal grapes coming to me from Abundant Harvest Organics.

In order to use some of them, I found this recipe for chicken and grapes.

Chicken with Wild Rice and Grapes

Ingredients

1 cup wild rice blend
2 teaspoons olive oil
8 small bone-in, skin on chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds total)
kosher salt and black pepper
2 cups red seedless grapes
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

Heat oven to 425° F. Cook the rice according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Season the chicken with ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook the chicken, in 2 batches, skin-side down, until golden, 5 to 6 minutes, then transfer to a rimmed baking sheet; reserve the skillet drippings in the pan.
Roast the chicken, skin-side up, until cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes, or more. Check for temperature of 180 degrees.
Add the butter, grapes and thyme to the drippings in the skillet and cook, tossing occasionally, until the grapes begin to burst, 5 to 7 minutes.

A few notes from me, angel.

I added some wine and chicken broth to the drippings, to get some extra "gravy" for the rice. Cooked it for a few minutes to let the alcohol burn off.

I ended up feeling that the chicken skin had way too much salt and so next time, I will probably cut that down a bit.

I also think I will use my immersion blender on some of the grapes, because (as you can see in the photo) none of them broke and made liquid. The dish was really good the first day. It didn't present well, when taken out of the fridge, but when heated up, it was just fine.

A Tribute To Greta, 1 Year Later

A friend of my family passed away last October 3rd. I did not hear about it for a bit, but when I did, I found her page on Facebook and through it, her younger brother's page.

For some reason, that I don't totally understand, I have kept track of him and his wonderful family. I don't feel right asking to be his friend, but through his grief, maybe I too have had some healing. I almost feel bad about it, because technically she was much younger than I was. As a matter of fact, she was almost 6 years younger than me. But I mourn, because she was one of us. My brother took her to the prom and I was asked to photograph the two of them. That is the photo you see up above.

Their Mother was the journalist in our little town. She wrote for a publication called Hicksville Illustrated News. So even though I was 3,000 miles away, my Mom would send me clippings about things that were going on in my old home town.

Greta had long ago moved to Tennessee and eventually her Mom went down there too. I basically lost track...until I got the news.

I will be thinking of you today, Greta and of course, I will say a prayer for you.

Welcome To Ello

I have joined Ello and you can see my profile HERE, if you too are a member.

Ever since I got into school for Integrated Media and Social Networks, I have been signed up for many social media sites.

Vine, Vimeo and Apple ID, to name a few. So when some of my Facebook friends mentioned that they could get me into Ello, I decided that I should at least check out the new kid on the block.

They say it is ad free and you can choose if you want your information used by them (I chose no). :-)

Here is what Ello has on their page.

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What is Ello?

Ello is a simple, beautiful, and ad-free social network created by a small group of artists and designers.

We originally built Ello as a private social network. Over time, so many people wanted to join Ello that we built a public version of Ello for everyone to use. Ad Free

Ello doesn't sell ads. Nor do we sell data about you to third parties.

Virtually every other social network is run by advertisers. Behind the scenes they employ armies of ad salesmen and data miners to record every move you make. Data about you is then auctioned off to advertisers and data brokers. You're the product that's being bought and sold.

Collecting and selling your personal data, reading your posts to your friends, and mapping your social connections for profit is both creepy and unethical. Under the guise of offering a "free" service, users pay a high price in intrusive advertising and lack of privacy.

We also think ads are tacky, that they insult our intelligence and that we're better without them.

Read more about our no-ad policy here.

Support Ello

Ello is completely free to use.

We occasionally offer special features to our users. If we create a special feature that you really like, you may choose to support Ello by paying a very small amount of money to add that feature to your Ello account.

You never have to pay anything, and you can keep using Ello forever, for free. By choosing to buy a feature now and then for a very small amount of money you support our work and help us make Ello better and better.

Privacy

When you use Ello we collect some information related to your visit. This information helps us understand in a general way how people are using Ello, so we can make our social network better.

Unlike virtually every other social network, on Ello you can opt out of information sharing. Read How Ello Uses Information to learn how. Join Ello

Ello is currently invitation-only. To join Ello, you need to know someone that is already on the network. Alternatively, you can request an invitation by visiting the Ello Home Page.

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What do I personally think of it? Currently, it is going nowhere. Sort of like Google +. So I would not speed over to the webpage and join right up.

If I see a use of it, I will certainly let you know, because Facebook ads s*ck big time.

My 4th Order From Abundant Harvest Organics

It was excitement day, once again. My box was coming from Abundant Harvest Organics.

Being it was a change of seasons, I expected some different things and that did indeed happen.

He is what I got in my box.

5 Bartlett Pears
8 Carrots
2 bunches of Grapes (Autumn Royal, of course)
Green Kale (A huge amount)
4 Hot Chilies (the tiny ones that they put into Chinese Food, I think)
Lemon Grass
Lettuce (Red Leaf, of course)
2 Red and 1 White Onion
9 Radishes
2 Summer Squash (Zucchini)
1 big Sweet Potato and 3 little ones
A bunch of Thyme (ooh)
6 Tomatoes

My thoughts this time around. Kale Soup. I found a really good recipe that used the kale and lots of vegetables in it. I made it on Sunday for dinner and decided after I massaged it and blended it with my immersion blender, that I would prefer adding it after. It was strained and so I got rid of the hard stuff and just the vitamins are left (I hope). Other vegetables added into the soup were the carrots, zucchini, red potatoes, a left over sweet potato, an onion and a cut up ear of corn, along with a can of black beans. I also had 2 pork chops and cut them up, fried them for a bit and added it to the soup, toward the end. I thought it came out excellent! I will post the recipe another day.

The pears and grapes go in fruit salad, as usual.

The lettuce, radishes and tomatoes, in my salad.

Not sure what to do with the Lemon Grass, but I will look around and see what you add it to.

I had chicken breasts that I needed to use up, so I made General Tsao's Chicken and used the tiny hot peppers and the red onion. It was a great idea, but next time I will bread the chicken, before stir frying with the Trader Joe's sauce. Highly recommended, by the way. Here is a video, showing one way to make the dinner entree.

So I think I made a good dent in the produce this weekend.

All in all, a good box.