caulking DONE!

You need to use your imagination when you view these pictures, because they are sideways and I"m too lazy to rotate them...

The first picture shows a portion of an uncaulked section of kitchen wall. You can see the wall part is yellow with white crown molding to it's right and the ceiling is white. The black hole is a cut-out in the wall. You can kinda see the gap in the bottom of the molding where it doesn't meet the wall and gappy areas above the molding where it doesn't meet the ceiling and paint tried to bridge the gap. Very bad looking. Painting the trim white emphasized all the flaws! So, painter beware! I finally got around to caulking the gaps. I had to do ALL the molding. Lucky it's a small kitchen. this is the before shot...



This is the after... Can you see the difference? It makes a HUGE difference. It looks like it should. Before, it screamed at you when you entered the room.



My current project is the kitchen sink. The garbage disposal finally went kaput, and the sink was a rusty nasty black pit, so I'm trying to take advantage to put in a little bling. But there's always something... We went to Lowe's and bought a sink, faucet set and disposal plus their installation. There was a great sale so we got bucks knocked off, plus a military discount (applies to retirees), plus the installation means no sales tax! Still expensive, but a bargain is a bargain. The plumber came yesterday to install. The disposal was not new because it was missing parts and had a hair in it!! Yuck! The exchange was easy in theory, but all the discounts made for tricky maneuvering by the cashier/manager. Got back home in time for the plumber to inform us of problem #2. The sink doesn't fit. We HAD a self-rimming sink and bought a drop-in. Apparantly even though these are both top mount, they are not different names for the same thing. Drop-ins use clips, therefore they need a bigger hole. (even though the basins are smaller!) Ugh. So, I'm trying to get a countertop company to call me back and get this done. All we need is a half inch off in width and 1/2 in. off in length of our granite. WHICH we found out the back piece was cracked. which may or may not cause a minor headache. Here is the hole.



Here is my sink and faucet waiting to be installed, laying on my dining room floor.

I'm learining to expect the unexpected.

On the plus side, my parents are visiting and helping to fill in the slack and dad is working like crazy. He's dug out some vine roots and has worked hard to eradicate the squeaks in our steps. He's done well! It's like having our own personal handyman. Except he's leaving tomorrow. :-( I'm trying to be his shadow and learn. I'm sure he's tired of my questions!

lots of painting done in kitchen, picture heavy...

The kitchen walls and cabinets are finished! Hooray! Well, finished is a temporary word. I'm thinking about adding a glaze to the cabinets, I dunno, something seems - off - and it doesn't seem to be jelling yet.

I painted the kitchen walls the Sherwin Williams Friendly Yellow (made using Pittsburgh Paints) that I got from mom and dad. This is the color they have over most of their house. I don't think this photo fairly shows the brightness of the yellow. It's not a creamy or golden yellow, it's a true yellow and very clear and bright. But not a bad bright. I chose to post this picture because you can see how close the family room is and how it's important that the colors at least don't clash with each other. I'm still not totally sold, but the paint was free and each color, in it's own room, is nice. At least it's not beige or tan! LOL!



I reallly need to take some good pictures after we get moved in. I had chosen this picture because it shows all the peeling paint on the windows, but it doesn't seem to be showing up so well. It peeled off when I removed the blue painters tape. Which peeled because the dodo head who caulked used silicone caulk and not paintable caulk. I think they must have gotten a boatload free because it's EVERYWHERE. I have got loads of windows to scrape paint, remove caulk, recaulk and repaint. *SIGH*


I had spent a lot of time, in the house hunting phase, looking at painted kitchen cabinets and had fallen in love with kitchens with multiple colored cabinets. When we bought this house and I hated the two toned dark wood cabinets, I knew I'd paint. I saw this large pantry cabinet and thought this would be the best place to do the alternate color, since our fridge is huge and white and I thought it'd be white overload on one wall. I think the color is great for a cabinet and would look great with some antiquing glaze, but the crown is too starkly white and I'm not so sure about the yellow next to it. The yellow is the least of my concerns at the moment, because the fridge will break most of that yellow/green connect. I'm wondering if I should go up further with the green, at least to the bottom portion of the crown molding. Or maybe it'll be better if I hang some tiles or plates up there?



This is a picture of the painted kitchen cabinets. We changed the shiney brass hinges, knobs and pulls to a matte black. (gotta get the shiney brass infestation out of here!) Excuse the mess. It's painting supplies, hardware packages, shelf liner backing, etc. etc. Eventually we want to change out the ceiling fan. The fan pull was pulled out, so it's not functional as a fan, and really, do you want such a huge fan right over the cooking space? A small personal fan would cool the cook without cooling the food. Also on my to-do list is to pretty up the interior of the glass doors. I'll get one of my artists paintbrushes and paint a nice thick line of white paint on the interior of the door glass. The paint didn't go on smoothly inside due to the caulking used to hold the glass in place. An easy fix, but it's something that I have to make time for and remember. I wish I could do something pretty and colorful with the backsplash, but that's beyond our diy skills and I think would go beyond the worth of the house and neighborhood. I might look into what I can do to those beige diamond tiles. I think you can paint them, but I've also read that it's not a good idea to do since they need to be wipe-able. (how often do you clean a backsplash?)

This is the rest of our small kitchen. Remember, the big white fridge (which I LOVE) will be blocking most of that green cabinet. We'll be replacing the microwave with a convection/microwave to give me added oven space. Eventually we'll take out the oven and put in one of those cool double oven ranges. We will need to hire someone to work on the cabinets, and probably the granite and electrical. Plus we are investigating running the propane to the oven and making the cooktop propane. I think it can be as good as gas, but I'm not quite sure on that yet. But that's well into the future.

This is just a view of the kitchen from down in the family room. BTW, the hole on the left of the stove area is a little hallway that leads to a small pantry closet and the laundry room. Beyond that is another doorway that leads to our master bedroom. I'm going to have to remember to keep that door closed!!

This is a picture of the family room, in it's painted and carpeted glory! We really need to do something with the skimpy mantel. That's on the to-do list. It seems to be very common to have bookshelves flanking a fireplace. We'll have to see how the furniture pans out. I don't know if we want to just beef up the mantel or do a whole surround? Do we keep it white or go natural wood? I like brick but hate the shiney brass (curse the shiney brass!) I think a layered stone would be pretty, but again, I think that would be an expense better used elsewhere. Brick is not bad. At least it's not an ugly pink or beige brick. It's a good normal brick.

I thought I had taken a picture of the laundry room in the it's Dill Pickle glory, but I didn't. I'll do that. It looks good.

big reveal of the *final* paint choice

First, I have a short story to share. If anyone is reading this blog, you might have noticed that I got an actual comment!! From someone from Benjamin Moore. I was a little skeptical, because there are all kinds of kooks on the internet, but I shot an email out to her. She sent me 4 paint color suggestions. They were: 2147-50 pale sea mist , 2145-40 fernwood green, 431 central park and 430 landscape. (plus promised to send a gift card, bonus!)

I had originally tried pale sea mist at the same time I had tested the dill pickle. I thought it was very pastel-y (and also did not see yellow, I thought it looked like a mint, or old lady color - JMO!! I'm sure it's lovely) I already had a strip with the fernwood green but rejected it because it was an even paler, murkier and more yellow than the dill pickle. Note that I did not buy a paint sample, so I don't know what it would actually look like. The paint chips for the other two were not available at my store, but he did have the fan book thingy and I looked at them and selected the central park to sample. While there, I also got a sample of Sherwood Green HC-118. I have a friend on Facebook who showed me a picture of her dining room where she had Kittery Point Green HC-119 which is one lighter and I thought my room needed a darker shade.

So that puts the sample count at two, if you got lost in this long winded short story... Central Park and Sherwood Green. This time I got smart and painted my portable samples on foam core poster board - so they stood up nice and flat, better than regular poster board. I also did the usual big splotches on various walls. I loved them both. The Central Park was exciting and fresh but scared me to death. The Sherwood was nice and "safe" but not the fresh feeling I wanted.

On the second coat, I had poured much too much of the Central Park in the little bucket, so I decided to paint some in the laundry room. Yee-ikes! Can you say Kermit the Frog?! It was sooo bright! But it looked so good in the family room. I must say that test sample swayed our decision. Plus Gary preferred the Sherwood. So we chose the Sherwood Green.

Here are pictures of the results. It just got painted on today, and required only 1 coat.

It looks much greener in this last picture that what I see in real life. I would say it's got a lot of blue going on in the color. It is somewhat like a doctor's scrub - not the blue, but the blue/green. Maybe scrubs are not the right thing, but definitely reminds me of a hospital or medical related color. But we are not medical people, so it doesn't bother us. And it sometimes looks a bit pastel-y - but not minty. It's got a nice calming vibe. Not really old lady - or so I hope not. When you first paint it on and it's still wet, it's shockingly old lady pastel! Both of them were! I thought I was being punked! But it dries darker and very nice.

while my painter was doing his magic in this room (which, BTW, is done! he finished the white too, so we can get the carpet laid) I was painting the laundry room. I decided to use up the rest of the dill pickle in there. I had a tad more than a half gallon left over. It's a small room and the lighting is very different in there. I want cheery when I do drudgery work. And the dill pickle delivers! It glows! It glows green! A bright vibrant green. I love it. This simply isn't a color for my living room, but great in the laundry room. It had a yukky tan on it before, so I need a second coat to ensure that grossness doesn't seep through. I tried to take pictures, but it just doesn't justify the feel you get.

Today's progress - pictures! carpet and tile

Jake enjoying the new smartstrand carpet. It is so soft!!





(I forgot these post in reverse order, and since I'm lazy, this will be "backwards day!")


This is a shot of the final product, you can see the worker is buffing off the haze, and the green patchwork walls in the family room where the carpet has been ripped out. The stripes is really just the sun shining through the balcony spindles from our west facing room.




Close up of the tile and grout after the grout has dried. There is still a haze, and these photos were taken from my phone camera. 18X18" tiles.







A shot with the kitchen cabinets. They chipped up my new paint job in several places. this is before they replaced the quarter rounds. My painter is paid by the hour, so he won't mind fixing it. The cabinets are white, not yellow or cream like it looks here.





Tile with grout still wet. I kinda like the darker grout, but the lighter is fine with me too!





This is the dry rot they found underneath a second layer of vinyl. I knew there had been a dishwasher leak, but who knew it would be so rotten?? They took out a large rectangle of floor down to the joists and found several cracked joists. The floor had sunk and so they put in a support beam and jacks to level it out. Thankfully, the granite had seams so it did not crack when they jacked it up.





See what I meant about drama? Drama comes with a hefty price tag too!

the promised pictures...

Let's start off with photos of the offending green. The first is my favorite. I'm standing in the foyer and the chartreuse on the left and green to the right of it are the same wall, same number of coats of paint, same paint color, same room. Weird. The green is lovely, the chartreuse is not.


This is the same green looking up to the balcony. Looks more olive green. But this is in a darker region of a room. I think the olive is fine. At least it's green! Don't mind the paneling. It's just primed. It'll be beautiful when it's done.



This is looking toward the kitchen and it's yet another green, but still green. Again, it's in a darker portion of the room. But I can't keep the room dark! I need light! And light means chartreuse. *sigh* It makes me so sad.

I'm so exhausted and the green is making it worse. But I must get the paint color pinned down this week. This week the kitchen flooring is going in (which has already started out with drama and added money) and my painter is off doing another job. So I supposedly have time to pick out a new paint. But let me talk about the BM dill pickle. It's the magical morphing color!

I made my paint sample on poster board, painted blocks on all 4 of the walls and looked at it in all kinds of light situations. When the painter first put it on, I was so excited, because it was covering blah white walls, and it was the evening (which is when it looks best). I also knew that it took me 3 coats of paint on my samples to bring it up to full color. So I was forgiving.

I walked in the next morning and it was glowing! and not in a good way. You saw the picture. 2nd coat didn't make it glow any less. I asked for a 3rd coat, due to my testing experience. Now remember, this is benjamin moore paint. It's not cheap. and it takes 1+ gallons to do 1 coat. yeah, you can add that up.

So fast forward to current day. I've got three test coats of new greens on. One is one suggested by the BM guy and two are what I picked from Sherwin Williams. I do not love or even like them. The BM guy suggested a sage. But it looks brownish gold. The SW sage I chose is bluish gray, and the other SW color is bluish green and kinda childish looking. *sigh* The BM guy felt bad for me, so that sample didn't cost, but the 2 SW samples set me back $12. Oh, and these colors did look green on the sample boards.

I went home for Thanksgiving and my parents gave me 3 gallons of the paint they use in their home. (They went all yellow, one is a yellowish cream) So I'm used to looking at an all yellow house. Yellow goes with everything. Tonight I got the big rollers out and rolled on some honkin big swatches of the two yellows. I vetoed the cream when I saw the posterboard sample I painted. Too bland. yellow is a safe choice. But is it enough color? I've had all the 70's wood paneling painted white, is there enough contrast? It is cheerful, that is for sure and that is what I want. Sage is too stately, formal and somber. But in the back of my mind I really believe that green is the color for that room. I came close with the dill pickle, when the color/lighting cooperates. *sigh*

Why does this have to be so hard??

Back to the dill pickle and all the details, and I'll never talk about it again (the story is getting so old). The painter swiped a small stroke of the paint he was using on my poster sample and when it dried, I swear you can see yellow that is not on the sample. Yes, you have to hold it in the sunlight, but it's there. The guy at the store said it's probably the difference in mixing a pint and a gallon. *sigh* How are we supposed to trust the sample if it's not the same as the gallon? This is a huge deal! I'd like answers from the powers-that-be at Benjamin Moore. And not the corporate "it's a close approximation" disclaimer. Really. How are we supposed to make a decision on false premises? Seems like a reasonable question to me.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to post about the kitchen flooring - especially since it's still in the demo mode. Maybe after it's all laid and I'm smiling again...

sneak peek on a paint problem

It's late and this thing is driving me crazy!

Anyway, I'll just give you a teaser as to my problems with green. The photo will be the tell-all. Does this look green to you? Not to me!

It's Benjamin Moore Dill Pickle. let this be a warning... I'll post more tomorrow. It's simply too late to write any more, but it involves lighting and a color challenged room...

Fast Forward...

to two days before Thanksgiving. We have bought a house, but have not moved in. I'm so stressed. This house should have come with a user's manual - we are always discovering something new. Guess what? Our sprinkler system is working off a well. That's what that odd 3 spigot thing is. Guess what? The little dog run has a disabled eletric fence. Guess what? There's a sprinkler system, but where did they plug it in and how do you make it work?? These are all things that should have been disclosed. The eletrical in the house is weird - and I'm no expert.

This house also will not let you rest. Not for a moment. There is ivy all over the back yard, and there was a vine growing all over a wall in the front. (we eradicated that, almost, need to get the roots out) I'll post pictures later. There is the pool, which naturally needs attention. The trees and bushes are wild. The man who did the landscaping put in some nice plants, but he left his wife and she just could not take care of it all on her own. He also did a lot of DIY (and it shows) and did the addition all by himself. I kinda wish I knew that little tidbit. The exterior of the house is covered in mildew, so it needs a good scrubdown. The deck was slick with mildew, which Gary powerwash. So it needs to be sanded and sealed now. Plus there are a few rotten planks that need replacing.

Well, I don't want to make this an all downer post. I think the house has potential, but it'll take a LOT of sweat equity. I also think I hugely underestimated the amount of work and money required. But the work is made more difficult because we are not living there. The driving back and forth is tough, plus not being able to work on supper throughout the day means I have to prepare quickie meals when I'm the most exhausted and hungry and cRANKY! Cleaning two places is hard, and laundry is hard too. And don't let me start on the lack of exercise.

The house is large, on a large lot with a pool (albeit ugly-ish, it could use a prettier liner and some more creative decking), the wood deck is amazing and there are some beautiful trees. There is an amazing large master on the main floor, a master upstairs (which we will use as a rec room because it has a pool table which we negotiated into the deal), two other bedrooms, a FROG and an office upstairs. The kitchen is disappointingly small - (why did I choose this house?) The house is in a sweet neighborhood, not the ritzy-est, and is probably one of the bigger houses in this 'hood (so probably not a smart buy). It's near the school the boys are attending, so it's good they don't have to transition again. A boy in their class lives 2 houses down, so this is a huge plus. He seems to be a good kid.

right now we are going to change the kitchen floors from vinyl to tile and the cabinets are being painted white. All the carpet is being changed to fresh carpet. So painting is happening. Painting, don't get me started on that. The living room is giving me fits. I'll make my next post about it.

I'll post pictures.

A lot is going on!

In a good way. Since I've last posted, Gary did get a job. He's still doing basically the same thing, but he's a civilian now. He retired last month from the Army, after 24+ years. We have moved to Columbia, SC, because he is working at Ft. Jackson. Which is where his Army career started through basic training. He later had his first job as a commissioned officer at Ft. Jackson - so now we are completing the circle by having his first civilian job at Ft. Jackson. Lots of firsts. Oh, one more - he was working here when we got married, so we spent our first 2 months of marriage here, then we left so he could go to law school.

Anyway, our household goods are in storage and we are living in an apartment until we buy a house. We are one step closer to that goal in that we just submitted an offer on a house. OUR FIRST HOUSE! Yes, we are property virgins. I'm shaking in my boots. We offered a bit lower than what they were asking, but I think that should be expected in this economy. Unlike what HGTV would have you believe, a house that is on the market for 60 days is still "fresh" on the market. Frankly, the housing market here is not rock bottom like it is in the Atlanta area. There are some really great houses on big plots of land in GA for dirt cheap. And no buyers! Here, they are building, for crying out loud! Ridiculous!

So, I may start posting more regular about my new house and the odyssey of making it ours. Having rented or lived in military housing for 22 years, I am SICK of off-white walls and beige carpet. I want hardwood/tile floors and COLOR on the walls! I don't know WHAT color, but it will be something. This house we made an offer on has a really dark kitchen, so I am investigating painting the cabinets. Plus I'm investigating a "whole house color scheme". I want the rooms to flow. Not necessarily be one color, but at least complimentary. I have no clue what I'm doing, but we'll get there.

I'll try to document with pictures. But let's get a house bought first!

still here in Georgia

and I haven't fallen off of the face of the internet either. I'm just not doing the blogging thing lately. I'm one of the many that has gotten caught up in Facebook! And life.

Gary had an interesting interview in January and we thought for sure he would get the job, but after several weeks we found out that he didn't get it. So it's back to the drawing board. I'm sure the right job is out there, somewhere.

My boys are going to do the Arrow of Light ceremony on Sunday. That means they will "graduate" from cubscouts (webelos II). They will still hang with the cubscout group until the end of the school year, but they do have a campout with the boyscouts next month. Very exciting. I think it may still be too cold at night for me to join. Gary can handle it without me, he's done it before.

Since I've been reporting my cholesterol, I'll update. I had a cholesterol test done in January and it was abysmal. I'm now on Crestor. I guess I've passed that "your still young, we'll wait" age. In other words, I'm old!

I've been seeing a dermatologist. This guy loves the prescriptions. I've got a foam for my hands, a different foam for my feet, a gel for my rosacea, and a gel for my lips (keratosis). He's frozen a lot of spots on my face, and has removed a mole from my back. He sees all kinds of things wrong with me!! I think he's really appalled by how dry I am (that's why the two different foams). I don't think I'm THAT dry, I guess I'm just used to it! LOL! Although, I hate that itch you get in the center of your back when you lay down at night - in the winter. Do I sound like a crusty ogre yet?

Am I doing another food related new year's resolution? No. However, I need to get a grip on my eating before my next cholesterol test. Seeing how I just ate a spoon of peanut butter, I'm not doing so hot. I do want to cook a meatless main dinner meal at least once a week. Last weeks was a nut loaf that I found on the internet. It was tolerable, but not tastey. The boys hated it. I've got a black bean burger that I found in one of my mom's cookbooks (or was it a Southern Living?) that I will try sometime this week. A rainy day, when I'm not tempted to grill.

This is a busy week and I'm trying to kick a cold. Plus, the ING marathon is in less than 2 weeks. Am I prepared, yes but I don't feel it. My feet are a mess. Brooks changed my shoes! I don't like it and it's too late to experiment with other brands. I have a toe that is crooked and it never bothered me before, but these shoes tweeks it. I'd rather find another shoe than see a doctor, but I may have to see a doctor. Or stop walking. Nah, can't do that! Pray for me. I'm nervous about the hills and the time limit. The honolulu marathon didn't have a time limit, so I always had confidence I could finish. Now I'm not so sure. *sigh* I need a boost of confidence.

I'm still here!

I'm just so rebellious about posting these stinkin' TT's! I've had some interesting ones! This past week I dubbed "the most terrifying tuesday so far".

Anyway, I'll will try to recap, at the very least after the new year when school is back in session. The boys are out of school now and I am still nowhere near done Christmas shopping. Plus I need to learn how to skype so we can talk to my brother and his kids on Christmas day. I have skype, but he uses a different software, so I don't think it'll work. AND I'm training for that ING marathon. It takes a lot of energy to talk myself into stepping outside the door every time I do it. The cold is very draining. Not to mention that I have my cholesterol looming over my head like a vulture. I go back at the end of January to get it retested. have I been working to improve it? No. But I do think about it a lot. Too bad that doesn't count.

On to what this blog is supposed to be about. Gary had a telephone interview this past week. Whether or not he gets the job is in God's hands, but in the meantime, he's getting valuable job seeking experience. We have until 2014 when the Army will get tired of him and give him the old heave ho.

The boys are doing well in school and have made a few really nice friends. We are finally getting established with doctors and dentists. And we seem to have settled on a church. So things are going well. Not perfect, but nice.

We still haven't completely unpacked. Which is a bit shocking. We have opened all the boxes. I guess we have a lot of junk that has no good place to go (except maybe Goodwill!).

Terrifying Tuesdays: thanksgiving and cauliflower and bonus!

I'm two weeks behind. So a quick round up and some bonus recipe reviews!

Last week I made Vegan Dad's Mini Pot Pies. Of course I served it with turkey, being an omnivore family and all... It was delicious!! But, the recipe goes totally against the rules of TT - in that there's no way it could have been low fat. The only thing I deviated on was that I used store bought puff pastry. And I really enjoyed buying little ramekins... it's always fun to shop for new things. Okay, so the boys weren't wild about it - because it was loaded with vegetables. Gary and I thought it was better once we put some chopped up turkey pieces in it. I think, if you were to stick with the veg. theme, it'd be better with some faux meat. I guess I just need that meaty "chew" factor.

This week I chose a roasted cauliflower recipe from "The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen" cookbook by Peter Berley. I'll post the recipe since I've seen it online with some modifications.

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower with Sweet Peppers and Cumin

3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 cauliflower, cored and separated into florets
1 lg. red bell pepper, halved, seeded and sliced into 1" strips
1 lg. yellow bell pepper, halved, seeded and sliced into 1" strips
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves


1. Preheat the oven to 450* F. 2. In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice, oil, salt, ground cumin and red pepper flakes. Whisk to combine. 3. Add the cauliflower and bell peppers and toss well. 4. Spread the vegetables in a baking dish and roast for 45 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes for even browning. 5. Transfer the vegetables to a serving dish, garnish with fresh cilantro leaves, and serve.



It's vegetables, so the boys didn't like it. I loved it and finished it off for lunch today - yum!! The peppers really took the sourness of the lemon juice, so that was the only thing I wasn't wild about. I was so paranoid roasting the peppers and cauliflower together, since they are different densities. But if you stir it every so often, it turns out fine. I will definitely be making this again, either with or without the peppers, and even if it's only for me. Gary liked the peppers but not the cauliflower. It seemed like a lot to have cumin AND cumin seeds, but it turned out fine.


Next is a picture of a bread I made last week. I'll be making it again and again until the dough is used. I had read in the newspaper about a new cookbook that has come out. It's Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Don't be mislead by the name. It takes longer than 5 minutes. What it is, you make a gigantic batch of dough that lasts 2 weeks in the fridge. You take out a hunk of dough and bake it when you want, but the catch is it has to rest for 90 minutes before baking. Still, it's easier than making fresh dough every time. It's no knead too! And healthy. Bonus!

It's pretty good, but it cries out for something to be spread on it. Makes a good sandwich bread. (note the leftover yucky halloween candy and the lovely gecko trivet my friend Jenny made for me)

I've already told y'all about my obsession with the BBCA tv show You Are What You Eat. So I finally made one of her recipes. The one for salmon with spinach and leeks. First off, I had to do some conversions from metric to regular. What on earth is gas mark 6?! I poked around on some conversion charts and poked around for other recipes and found one that said 400degrees F. One recipe said cook for 25 minutes, another said cook for 10 minutes! It took at LEAST 30 minutes for it to get done to my preference (um, that would be cooked throughout). It was easy to assemble and smelled lovely, but I just don't care for baked fish. I think it's a mental block rather than anything else. It's fine, but I'd rather eat my fish grilled and my spinach fresh or boiled (without the fish drippings). oh, another conversion was with the spinach. It called for 500gr. What? It turns out the bags of baby spinach you get at the grocery store are only 170 gr. (IIRC). That was more than plenty. No need to be wasteful.

I have 2 leftover leeks I need to do something with. I have no clue.

TT catchup

I'm behind 3. Really, we've been doing Terrifying Tuesdays at home, but I just can't motivate myself to write about it. So here we go in one fell swoop. (I'm not sure I can even remember what we've had!)

I've made Sweet Potato and apple soup when my mother in law was here visiting. She and I liked it (I loved it), but the rest didn't fancy it.

Then I made Vegan Dad's Baked Chimichangas. We've never had chimichangas before, for better or worse. I believe it helped to not have something to compare to. Thumbs up, but there was a bit of a bitter taste. I do believe it was from the refried beans, because we've eaten canned refried beans (either veg. or fat free) and I remember thinking it needed something like cheese or salsa to cut it. The kids didn't like it so much, and I think it's due to the refried beans. So, we need to tweak it. Now, I've got to say, the "meat"mixture (which uses TVP) is good, but again, Vegan Dad likes to put in unusual spices - I halved the cinnamon and left out the anise - could have done altogether without the cinnamon. If you make these, set aside a good bit of time for the assembling of the chimis. It takes a little while. This recipe makes a LOT. I had leftover stuff, so I just threw the leftover "meat", rice, beans, salsa, etc. in a bowl, heated up and it made great leftovers with corn chips.

Last week I made Cajun Tempah over Brown Rice from Tal Ronnin's new cookbook, The Conscious Cook. I won't post the recipe since the book is new. This took a bit of time to cook, and I had to search for ingredients, but it was really good. Frankly, the tempah itself was to die for! This was my first attempt at tempah that was really good. I hate that it's fried, but that crispy exterior is really nice. I may have to see if it can be oven fried to lessen amount of oil that's absorbed.

While I'm on this cookbook, I'll tell you about what I made yesterday. His Whole Wheat Penne with San Marzano Tomatoes. Yumm! It had fennel and swiss chard. I'd never had fennel before, and it smelled awful - so much like black licorice. It also had white wine and green olives in the recipe. I told my husband that this is probably one of those things where you throw together a bunch of horrible things and it turns out brilliantly - and it did. The fennel lost it's licorice.

Let's see, I've also made a Dean Ornish (Art Smith) soup, but I think I posted that already. It's to die for. I'm doing another soup tomorrow and a vegan dad recipe on Tuesday.

Gotta run to get supper!

my next marathon...

Yep. That's my announcement. I just sent in the application for the next marathon I'm gonna do. The Atlanta ING marathon. It's in March. I'm very nervous about it because this marathon has a time limit, not like the Honolulu Marathon which has no time limit. In theory, I should be able to finish in plenty of time, but it's hilly here! That slows me down quite a bit. However, I'll be training on the hills, so hopefully I'll get faster on them. Also the cold has be worried. I dont' know what the weather will be like in March, and I don't know how to dress in this weather, and I don't know how I'll be able to consistantly train in the winter and during the holidays. Living here near family, we are obligated to visit for extended periods. So I'll have to carve in the time to walk, plus I'll have to figure out walking routes.

On my other two marathons, I've not had a doubt I could do them. Now I have doubts. i'm even unsure about my shoes. I've not been happy with my usual shoes, not cushy enough. So I just bought a new pair and I'm not sure about them. And you shouldn't be fooling around with that during training. I need to get properly fitted.

This will really bring me to my knees in prayer! It's good to challenge oneself.

nothing much...my current obsessions...

I know, I know, I'm late in posting anything. TT has been happening, but I just haven't felt like posting about it. However, I WILL, later. I've been doing a lot of interesting cooking lately. I even bought another cookbook. Can you believe it?! Just call me a sheep. I heard about Oprah's latest Best show, and saw that she had the Best Vegan Chef - so of course I had to read all about it. I went to Target and saw his (Tal Ronnen) cookbook - and against my own best judgement, I bought it. I KNOW I shouldn't have, because gourmet cooking is not my thing. I don't like to eat it or do it. But I saw 2 recipes that caught my eye and HAD to have it. I HATE that he's got recipes with alcohol in them without a substitution suggestion (curse gourmet cooks!). But now I want a Vitamix blender. gulp. I can't afford that for a blender! Although my Oster is in abysmal shape. I've been reading about Vitamix's for a couple of years now. It's on the top of my kitchen gadget want list. Anyway, he's got some interesting soup recipes that call for cashew cream. Remember my attempts at almond milk? It looks like the same thing. Very watery. But I have high hopes that the cashew will come out with some substance. (LOL! I really fool myself)

In the middle of my online surfing, I discovered that 7th day adventists are typically vegetarian or vegan. So I was trying to poke around for their cookbooks or recipes. I figure these are regular folks with families they have to cook for. Not the usual teenage to young adult crowd that only has to fend for themselves that you find online.

No, I don't know what my obsession is, but it's gotten stronger lately. I really don't think I could actually commit, but it fascinates me. Actually, cutting out a whole food group goes against the grain for me. It doesn't seem right. But I kinda think it might be best for my body.

Anyway - I can really see myself actually becoming a vegetarian - at least by the time I'm 60 I'll be ready to take the plunge. And maybe switch over to veganism by the time I'm 80. If I care about my cholesterol at that age. Maybe by the time I'm 80 I'll start drinking and smoking and frying all my food! All bacon, all the time! Woo-hoo!

I need to go to bed now, but I do have an announcement that my probably only remaining reader already knows. And I'll get those TT's in before another Tuesday rolls by.

Tah!

Terrifying Tuesday - 2 week edition...

First, I have to say I'm so bummed that Guiding Light has gone off the air. That was one of my favorite "stories".

Last week was not a thrilling TT. We tried pomegranate. I did a little demo on how to get to the seeds, a hands on demo. Gary helped. The boys are too old, they were underwhelmed. Anyway, we all deem it pretty good, but the seed - do you spit or swallow? (I'm sorry that's raunchy) I eventually decided to just swallow the things because it became too tedious to pick the seeds out of my mouth.

This week we tried Brussels Sprouts! I cannot remember where the recipe came from, I'm pretty sure it's either from someone's blog, or a cookbook of mine. I just didn't document it.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Roasted Red Peppers

2 tablespoons Grapeseed oil (use this as it is wonderful at a high heat!)
2 cups shredded Brussels Sprouts (chop or use a grater)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped purple onions
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted red peppers (homemade or from the jar)
1 tablespoon white Balsamic vinegar
Garnish: Chopped walnuts

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add Brussels sprouts, onions, and walnuts. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are tender and sprouts are bright green, about 5 minutes. Stir in peppers and vinegar. Continue cooking until heated through, about 2 minutes. Place on serving platter and garnish with chopped walnuts if desired.
Yield: 4 servings

notes:

I didn't use grapeseed oil, but I did splurge and buy the white balsamic. Um, using a grater is just ridiculous. I coarsely chopped the sprouts.

This recipe was pretty good. It got a thumbs down from Jake, but a half thumb for both Gary and Ryan. I thought it was so-so at first, but the more I ate it, the more I liked it. It's pretty too. I wasn't wild about the red pepper or vinegar part. But anything with nuts is always a winner! I had a few sprouts leftover so I'm going to steal Kath's recipe of roasting them with maple syrup tonight. Or maybe something different since I'm making bbq chicken and I think that's too many sweet things on a plate...

This was the first time I've ever had brussels sprouts and I'm glad I tried them. They are supposed to be very high in lots of nutritious stuff and be good cancer fighters.

Speaking of cancer... I had my yearly mammogram and it went very well. Yay! Another year down!

Terrifying Tuesdays - we got a good one! Red Lentil Soup

I finally hit upon a recipe that I like. The boys, not so much, but they are barbarians. It has been raining cats and dogs for a whole week straight (you may have heard of the flooding in downtown Atlanta) and it's been wet and cool - perfect soup weather. Wouldn't you know, yesterday the sun came out and it was decidedly NOT soup weather any more!

Okay, first on to the lentils. Our Krogers has revamped it's store and put all the organic/health foods in it's own section. Plus they've added bulk bins. (I wish the bins had grains, but that's probably wishing for too much) So I bought a few scoops of the most interesting thing I saw - red lentils. Have you seen these things?? Here's a picture:



Aren't they beautiful? I've only made lentils one other time and wasn't wild about the bay leaf in it. I'm not a bay leaf kind of person. This recipe does not call for any bay leaves! Hooray!

I got the recipe online, I can't find the exact blog that convinced me to make it, but everyone (it seems) who does the Red Lentil Soup with Lemon online refers to the same new york times recipe that I also used. Notice that the lentils turn yellowish. The little orange specks are carrots. It said to blend half the soup, but I just stuck my immersion blender in the pot and didn't have any chunks left after that! (I would have liked chunks, but it's good this way too) I did not put any olive oil on top - there was enough oil in the soup. I did not sprinkle on more chili powder. I did stir in the cilantro (although I think the original recipe calls for mint?) The cilantro has a strong presence. (I love cilantro) I think it could have benefitted with a little more lemon. Maybe my lemon was too small or dry. But I think the soup was lovely.



I couldn't remember if you were supposed to rinse the lentils beforehand, so I did quickly, and when I went to dump them in the soup, they all stuck together! I think they were afraid! But they broke up quickly as I stirred them. Another recipe note, I opted for chicken stock. So I'm not sure how it would taste with vegetable stock.

The next picture is an experiment. I saw a bag of TVP in the same health food section of Kroger and wanted to try it. So I went to my favorite vegan blog Vegan Dad and found a hot dog chili recipe using TVP. In the picture above you can see I grilled hotdogs and asked Gary to try at least a little bit on his dog. (I went out last night so I didn't eat any hotdogs) He asked if there was any orange in it. No, no orange. But he must be thinking that because some of the spices in this stuff are the same that go into Russian Tea. Allspice, cloves, cinnamon. Yeah. Weird. Below is a picture of the end result. The texture didn't bother Gary at all. So I think if I can get a recipe that is actually similar to a chili dog sauce, then it'd be worth trying again. I'm definitely going to try other TVP recipes!

pictures

I'm just now posting pictures for last week's TT. I already have photos ready for this weeks and will post that next (actually, you'll see those first...)

The french fried rutabegas, before baking:


my cute new chicken timer and my spongebob bandaid on my cut finger:




the baked rutabegas after we've eaten a few (not too impressive):


The cookies and cream ice we made in the Donvier. I later made a peanut butter ice cream that I like so much better:

Terrifying Tuesdays: Rutabega

These TT's are taking a decidedly old-fashioned turn. I chose rutabega's thanks to my mom. You know my parents visited this weekend - my dad went to the Atlanta Falcon vs Miami Dolphins game with the men=folk. Mom sung the rutabega's praises, so I had to try it.

She said that she loves them oven -roasted. She said she used to put oil and salt on them, but likes them plain. They are a sweet vegetable. So that's what I tried. I purused the internet to get guidance on how long to cook them.

Most people on the net cubed them when they roasted them. I found one that cut them into "fries" and baked them for 15 minutes on 425 degrees. So that's what I tried. Let me give a little warning: rutabegas are a little bit firmer than potatoes, so use a little caution when cutting them. My knife slipped on the rounded surface and caught my ring finger fingernail. Just a tiny bit of blood - could have been much worse. It's going to be the dickens when that nail grows out. It's going to catch on everything before it grows out enough to cut. Ugh.

So there's the warning for you. I think it's too firm a veg to use the mandolin on. (another finger slicing machine!)

I did manage to get them roasted. I arranged them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. No oil, no Pam, no salt, nothing. They weren't bad. They just weren't as cravable and good as potatoes. They have a slightly sweetish flavor. Nothing reallly offensive. Mild. I also tried them raw, didn't taste a whole lot different when cooked. Not bad.

Anyway, the people weren't wild about it.

At least we tried it!

I also made homemade ice cream last night. I used my Donvier. Finally! Now that I've got my big freezer, I can store the cannister and made icecream when I want. The recipe is just too sweet though. It was half and half, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and you take that basic recipe and add stuff to it. I added crushed Newman's Own oreo type cookie.
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We are sick here. I'm suspecting swine flu, but just because that makes it seem more dramatic.

• Jake has been sick for a few days with cough and sniffles and then suddenly came down with a high fever last night.
• Yesterday I woke up with that first feeling of a cold, full sinus on one side and my nose dripping like a faucet. So I went to CVS, bought some zycam with echinacea, cough drops with echinacea and a neti pot. Let me tell you, that neti pot experience is weird. It doesn't work so hot when your nose is stopped up. If it's blocked, it can't pour. I cleared my sinuses right before bed and was able to sleep for about an hour before my nose got completely clogged again. I went downstairs and slept in the recliner. THE recliner. (no, we haven't thrown it out yet) It's good sleeping though. Jake still had his fever, so he's here home with me. I took a nap (it's not even noon yet!) and feel like I might get a fever, but my temp is still normal.
• Gary has a cough, he's at the end of his cold. I'm calling him ground zero - the typhoid mary.
• Ryan is fine.

We've been here almost 3 months. This is my 2nd cold. Georgia is going to kill me.

Terrifying Tuesdays: Okra!

This was one of those that really terrified me. I've not had a good experience with okra, and only very limited experiences too. Plus I've been frightened by all the reports of sliminess of okra. This is the one thing my dad refuses to eat. But I've been inspired by Kath at Kath Eats Real Food - who touts that oven roasted okra is da bomb. I had checked a cookbook out of the library called "Grub" that has a grilled okra recipe, so that's what I used. I halved the marinade since I wasn't bold enough to use the full amount of okra that I bought. The marinade contains evoo, fresh squeezed lemon juice, sea salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. The recipe calls for you to kabob the okra, but I had peppers and onions to grill too, so I slapped it all on the vegetable rack I have.

I found it pretty decent. Not slimy at all. And the cayenne added a nice little bit of heat. Just a little to add interest. So I gave it a surprising thumbs up. Gary gave it a half thumb. He's not an okra fan, so he was surprised that he didn't gag (his own words). Jake gave it a thumbs down, but he only gave it a half tooth bite. Ryan gave it a half thumb. He said it was not bad, but then said it didn't have a good aftertaste. I'm not sure what he was tasting. He might not have liked the pepper since he's not fond of heat.

So, I may not make it again, but I may. If reports come out that okra has amazing health properties, then I'll gladly chow down.
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My parents are coming this weekend. Gary had bought Atlanta Falcon tickets for this weekend and I thought it'd be a good idea to give my dad my ticket. I think he would enjoy it more than me, plus I'd go out shopping with mom and we could bond a little. (not that we need more bonding!) I just think it's time I do a little inviting and not just be the invitee.

So I'm busy cleaning and getting the house in order. You know how it is when moms visit. Plus I need to get up the dust and pet hair. We don't have pets, but the people before us did. Every time I sweep, there is cat hair in the dust pan. I don't get it. Anyway, I've got to dehair as best I can because my folks are allergic.

Our dining room has been serving as a storage room, and I just can't see us finding other space for our junk. This house has a lot of wasted space. It should have room for all our stuff, but it doesn't. The upstairs has a very wide hall (wasted space) plus it's missing a big chunk because they opted for the soaring entryway. Not only is that wasted space, the light and sound from downstairs wafts upstairs, and vice versa. At least I know that this is not a feature I want in my forever house.

Anyway, the reason I bring up the dining room is because the topic of Thanksgiving has been brought up. I just don't see us hosting family get togethers, not without a dining room. We dont' have a dining room table anyway. *sigh* I think Gary has something totally different in mind for turkey day. Gonna have to break it to the folks. Well, they get us for christmas...

Birthday and Terrifying Tuesdays

Today is my boys' 10th birthdays. *sniff* I cannot believe they are 10 already. Double digits. Approaching puberty and teenagerhood and adulthood. Yikes! No way! Don't grow any more!! At least not once you finally figure out how to tie your shoes (you know who you are...)

Notice that there are two cakes. And very different cakes at that. Jake wanted a really decadent chocolate cake. He had seen one that was entitled "Death by Chocolate" that he wanted, but the store didn't have one, so I got the "1001 chocolate chip cake". Ryan requested a plain yellow or white type cake with yellow icing. I saw this fun sun one and thought it was perfect for him - but forgot that red icing is always bitter (why do they even bother with red icing??). We ate cake, now we're all feeling sick. (from overindulging) So I'm going to put half of each in the big freezer and save it until the following weekend when my parents come for a visit. I'm not sure that's a good idea since my dad was recently diagnosed with diabetes and he loves sweets.

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On to Terrifying Tuesdays. Very late. My facebook friends know what we had. FISH TACOS!!

I got the whole process/recipes from You Tube. Supposedly the original fish taco from Rubio's. Here's the link: Fish Taco You have to also view a couple other short videos to get the marinade and sauce recipes.

Recipe notes: I did what he said to do to the tortillas. It didn't work out so well for us. The top two and bottom two tortillas stuck hopelessly to each other (Gary liked it though) and the rest stuck together too but were able to be peeled apart - they were quite steamy and wet and super hot. There is probably a better way to heat the tortillas.

It was really surprisingly good. It didn't come off as a big hit though, and I think that's because the fish was fishy. I used a frozen mahi-mahi, and when I opened the thawed package, it smelled fishy. It's not supposed to smell like anything. Mahi is not a fishy tasting fish, it's really good and meaty, so this was not a good batch. Note that this is my second bad package of frozen fish. I guess you have to be really picky about what brand you use, or stick to fresh.

I want to try it again, as long as the natives don't rebel. I don't understand how they could like those nasty catfish sloppy joes, yet not like these tacos. Seriously, it's just grilled fish in a tortilla with a really good sauce.