caring for orchids, t-day menu

Ever wonder how to care for orchids?  Well, I'm gonna give a little mini class.  Which is ludicrous when you think about it.  I have such a black thumb.  The fact these orchids have lived this long is amazing.  But when you hear how low maintenance they are...  Let's just see if this method really works in the long term.

Now, I've been told by the nurseries that you should water them lightly every 3 days and fertilize them every 3 months.  But my mom told me a different watering method.  Check it out, it's so easy:

Let the pot sit in a tub of water for 15 minutes once a week. 

I'm watering mine right now.  The pictures above were taken today.  I love, love, love my white orchid.  I got it during the trip to Chinatown.  It looks so good in our bedroom, which has a Japanese feel to it.  The purple one was a get well gift from Gary's office.  I got another purple orchid as a get well gift, but my mom left it in a windy area and it broke!

Keep your orchid inside, it doesn't need direct sunlight.

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I went grocery shopping today and picked up my Turkey day food stuffs.  I'm excited.  I'm going to grill the turkey (a little 3 pound boneless turkey breast) using a recipe from my Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Grilling cookbook.  Plus I'm going to make a corn and bacon recipe I got off of the current season of Top Chef.  It looks too easy.  But the judge Padma said it was cravable.  I can't resist that!  It was done on the TGIF challenge.  And for dessert I've got an apple pie recipe that uses mini snickers.  I got it from the M&M's website (I get their monthly mailings).  They all seemed like yummy fun recipes.  I like trying new easy things.

So here's my T-day menu:

Cinnamon-Spiced Turkey Breast with Cranberry-Orange Sauce

rice

gravy

green bean casserole

Ilan's corn n'bacon

stovetop stuffing (I hate stuffing, so this is the best I can do)

jellied cranberry sauce out of the can

Hawaiian sweet rolls

sweet iced tea

sugar cookies (which may morph into snickerdoodles)

Pilgrim Pie

It's not too much, but it's a lot for just the 4 of us.  Yes, the sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie are glaringly missing.  The cook doesn't like these, so the cook isn't going to bother...  The troops aren't complaining.  :-)