Funky Bananas

From the same message board (and the same thread) as my wonderful full meal from last week, I got a recipe for fried bananas. I made them. Double yumm (they'd be really great with ice cream after Easter). So when I was shopping yesterday for vegetables and I saw some plantains I thought they were related to bananas, maybe I could make something just as yummy.

I know enough to know plantains are not the same. So I found a recipe to fry plantains. they're cooked. And bland and blah!

Anyone want some fried plantains?

Sometimes there are no words

Every year, to celebrate spring, my husband shaves his beard. He continues to shave until autumn, then grows it back. There was one exception to this - he grew a beard over the course of two or three years in hopes of entering a contest - unfortunately we decided we would not be able to afford the trip. So last fall he shaved then grew it back again over winter, as usual.

At the top is what he looked like six months ago. Then I heard him shaving his beard yesterday. When I turned around I saw this.

I have no words.

Ti-i-i-imbe-e-e-er!

We are preparing to build a house (hopefully sometime this summer) and need some trees removed from our property. So a friend (a professional tree-feller) and his son came today.

Enough said?

Confessions of a neophyte foodie

I post regularly on a message board which has a resident chef. (Hard to believe isn't it, but check it out!) Recently I asked for some ideas on what to make for dinner. Here is what I did:

He suggested I peel the asparagus stalks before cooking. I'm not sure if I was supposed to leave the peels attached. Well, they tasted good.

I definitely wasn't supposed to leave the peels attached to the orange. I have a whole bag of them on hand and was running out of ideas. The recipe he gave me was for glazed pork chops and involved about a tablespoon of orange juice. So the rest of the orange was supposed to become garnish. I changed my mind halfway through cooking and instead I added some pineapple chunks and banana and bluberries. (the bananas and blueberries were leftover from banana-blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Double yumm!) It felt so elegant. Any time I use blueberries and don't cook them I feel avant garde. The juice from the pineapple chunks was added to chicken broth for steaming the asparagus. I find steaming my vegetables over broth makes them taste a lot better. After I was done with the asparagus, it seemed a shame to waste the broth. So I added a few mushrooms and a little onion and made a sauce.

Instead of mashed potatoes, I mashed sweet potatoes with yams.

Since I was going to such trouble over dinner (I cook over a woodstove. That means I really do slave in a hot kitchen!) I decided I would really go all out. I got out the fine china - okay, I don't own any fine china, instead I got out the champagne glasses and the bottle of sparkling pear juice. I actually set the table. In fact, I moved the dining room table back into the dining room (it's been used as a bedside table a while now).

And below you see the results:

Bon appetit!

Not walkin' in a winter wonderland

It snowed again today. It actually stuck until the rain came and washed it all away. Right now it's a little stormy. But it snowed! Why, in an area that normally gets snow once every few years have we had snow from November to March? Granted it doesn't stay the whole time, but I do not understand it. It's just plain weird.

Well, since it's snowy and stormy and just plain not great weather, I'm not going out for another walk today. Well, that and the fact that I've been not doing too well this week. I think I have a mild case of the flu. My poor husband has it worse.

I almost think I won't post this. After all, my world is awfully boring today. But I will. So my family knows what's up with me.

Walked and walked and walked and walked

I may not be a pioneer child, but I walked and walked today.

There is a walking club in Olympia, WA called the Capitol Volkssport Club. They sponsor walks in several areas and sponsored one over here on the coast, called the Seabreeze Weekend. I live less than two miles from one of their routes, so I went.

The sign up was in Ocean Shores, so I stopped on my way to church this morning and signed up. After church I walked. It was nice. Mostly peaceful. Lots of beautiful scenery






I looked up . . .

. . . I looked down . . .

. . . and I looked around.

And then I went home and crashed. I'm popped out.