Author: Norma

Scalloped Potatoes

It’s been a very busy week so I have a lot to blog about. I will post it all in segments.

Firstly, I made scalloped potatoes for dinner one day. It turned out rather well. I have two recipes that I use for scalloped potatoes and this one does not use cheese although it does use whole milk. It’s one of my favorites although sometimes it comes out too fluid. So, you may need to add a wee bit more flour than I do.

(Excuse the picture as my family had already “bitten” into the casserole dish before I was able to take the picture.)

Scalloped Potatoes

3 lbs white potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (adjust to taste)
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1.5 tsp salt
3 cups whole milk
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
3 tbsp butter or margarine, cut into small pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13″ baking dish with Pam or other cooking spray.
In a small bowl, stir together the garlic, flour & salt.
Arrange 1/2 of the sliced potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish.
Top with 1/2 the onion
Sprinkle 1/2 the flour mixture over the onion/potatoes & dot with 1 tbsp butter/margarine
Layer the remaining potatoes, onions and flour mixture over the top
Dot with 1 tbsp butter/margarine
Pour the milk over all
Butter one side of a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the baking dish with the last 1 tbsp of butter & place it buttered side down over the baking dish. Seal.
Place covered dish on a baking sheet & put in middle of the oven.
Bake 50 minutes
Remove foil
Continue baking approximately 45 more minutes or until top is golden brown.
When done, sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.
Special thanks to my friend Yoko for sharing this recipe with me.

Enjoy!

Tabouli Dinner


Dinner today was homemade tabouli, potato salad and beans with franks.
The recipe for the tabouli was given to me by friends who are from Lebanon.
Tabouli recipe:
1/4 – 1/2 cup fine bulgar wheat
Juice of 1/2 a large lemon
1 good sized tomato – chopped
2 bunches parsley – snapped then chopped
4 stalks of green onions – chopped
2 tbsp green mint – chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup oil
-Rinse the vegetables
-Soak the bulgar wheat in warm water for about 1/2 hour. Drain then add the lemon juice to it and let it soak for another 1/2 hour.
-Put chopped parsley, mint, green onions, salt, pepper and bulgar in a bowl
-Add chopped tomato
-Toss
-Add 1/4 cup oil, toss
-Add the rest of the oil sparingly, tasting as you go along
This can be made a day ahead by layering all the ingredients (except the oil), put the tomato on top of it all and don’t toss. Refrigerate.
When ready to use, remove from the refrigerator, toss, then add the oil.
Enjoy!

Biftec (Steak)

Tonight I made biftec, known as steak in English.  It’s really easy to make. I baked it in the oven but I’ve also made it on the stovetop.
Here’s the home recipe:
Ingredients
  • 3-12 oz packages of thin sliced beef steaks
  • Vinegar
  • 1 small can of tomato sauce
  • Salt and Pepper (to taste)
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 onion
Directions
  1. Rinse the meat under warm water and place it in a bowl.
  2. Take a couple handfuls of vinegar and toss the meat with it.
  3. Pour tomato sauce over the meat and toss.
  4. Season with the Adobo (or other seasonings of your choosing)
  5. Cut the green pepper and onion into thin slices.
  6. Toss all together.
  7. Refrigerate overnight.
On the stovetop: toss the mixture into a skillet and heat on low/medium for about one hour.
In the oven: Put mixture in an oven-proof casserole dish and heat at 300 degrees for approximate 1.5 hours. (About midway, toss the meat)
This requires no oil or greasing of any pans.
As oven/stovetop temperatures may vary, please make sure your meat is thoroughly cooked before consuming.
Enjoy!

Samsung Moment

I’m definitely have a moment with my new cell phone, the Samsung Moment.

When I first purchased it 3 weeks ago, it kept going into airplane mode. Took me awhile to figure out what it was doing. It’s as if it had it’s own brain.
Then I needed to charge the cell a couple times a day.
This morning I woke up and it died.
So, I take it back to Sprint and the young man who is there is the same one who sold me this phone.
When I first went, I was there over an hour. This second trip took me over an hour also. I would have thought it would have been easier since it was replacing the cell with a new one.
In the meantime, I found out this Representative is from Latvia. He goes to college at WSU and is only here for the summer. His brother went to St. Mary’s in California. He took Spanish as a child (he can’t be older than 20). Etc. Etc. Etc.
In other words, he’s practically family. lol
Hopefully this new cell won’t give me any more bad moments.

Stumbling-block

I’ve heard the word in the past but today I heard it in a song called Never Give Up by Yolanda Adams.

Part of the lyrics:

“Sometimes life can put a stumbling-block in your way
But you gotta keep the faith
Bring what’s deep inside your heart, to the light
And never give up, don’t ever give up on you.”

Life is so unpredictable. Just when things are going as you think they should, bam!

Stumbling-blocks, i.e. obstacles or hindrances to progress.

They can be people or things. And they don’t usually announce themselves, i.e. “Hi, I’m a stumbling-block and I’m going to mess with your life today.”

No, they come unexpectedly, unannounced and usually unwanted.

Do you go over, under, around or through stumbling-blocks?

I guess it would depend on what type it is.

If the stumbling-block is a person, you can choose not to deal with them. De-friend them as one can on Facebook. Block them from chatting with you as on Gmail chat. Use Google Voice when they call and have them automatically go into a recording that says “we’re sorry, the number you have called has been disconnected.” Or, simply ignore them as if they don’t exist.

Ouch! We humans are afraid of confrontation.

If I had a choice, I think I’d rather go through them. That means telling them the truth about what they mean to me in my life. Why they are hindering my progress. That’s not always easy.

What if the stumbling-block is a thing as in a television, a computer, a job.

One would think (and hope) that dealing with a “thing” would be easier than dealing with a person.

It’s easier to ignore a television so you can spend quality time with your family or someone you love. You don’t have to “discuss” things with a TV.

Unfortunately, most of the time, the stumbling-block is a person.

So, I need to learn not to confront but to engage the stumbling-block.

Hey, maybe I should just do a quarterback sneak and go around them?

Naw … not my nature.

Mundane

Oatmeal with fresh-from-the garden blueberries for breakfast.

Will work on paperwork, bills and laundry today.

One might say it’s mundane but then I looked the word up at dictionary.com and found out what the word really means.

Mundane: of or pertaining to this world or earth as opposed to heaven.

Never thought it had anything spiritual associated with it.

Poem on Aging

I hate forwards. Hate them! Hate them! Hate them! Especially ones that say “forward this to 10 people and in 5 minutes” — yeah, right.

Occasionally though I read through one that has some meaning. Such is the one that my sister sent me. I checked to see if the story was true and unfortunately, it’s not.

But that doesn’t take away from the sentiment. It’s called Crabby Old Man.

Supposedly written by a man who was in a nursing home, died and the nurses found this among his belongings. I can’t find who the real author is.

Crabby Old Man

“What do you see nurses? What do you see?
What are you thinking when you’re looking at me?
A crabby old man, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice ‘I do wish you’d try!’
Who seems not to notice the things that you do.
And forever is losing a sock or a shoe?

Who, resisting or not lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding the long day to fill?
Is that what you’re thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes nurse cause you’re not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of ten with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters who love one another.

A young boy of sixteen with wings on his feet..
Dreaming that soon now a lover he’ll meet.
A groom soon at twenty my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows that I promised to keep.

At twenty-five, now I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide them and secure a happy home.
A man of thirty, my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my woman’s beside me to see I don’t mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies play ’round my knee,
Again, we know children my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me my wife is now dead.
I look at the future and shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own.
And I think of the years and the love that I’ve known.

I’m now an old man and nature is cruel.
Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles grace and vigor depart.
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass a young guy still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain.
And I’m loving and living life over again.

I think of the years, all too few gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people, open and see.
Not a crabby old man ~ Look closer ~ See ME!!”

(Author Unknown)

When I read this, it spoke to my heart. Most of my friends are “older.” I don’t know how common that is.

But I enjoy sitting with them, talking and spending time with them.

They truly appreciate having my company. Especially the ones who can’t get out of their homes or are in nursing homes or adult family homes.

I find that even if people aren’t elderly, they enjoy knowing that someone cares about them. A card, a call, a smile. It takes so little to make someone’s day.

Touching the Untouchable

I was reading an article this morning in the Adventist Review, June 27th issue, by a woman named Tara VinCross.

The article was quite intriguing. It started off with the birth of Christ.

How the untouchable God became touchable when He “put on” the flesh of human beings.
In this way He could become better known.

Then she goes on to talk about how being touched makes us vulnerable.

“To let other people touch you, to let them reach out and come in contact with you, can make you weak. You are vulnerable, and the contact is only an example of the infinite physical, spiritual and emotional vulnerabilities.”

Wow! How true that is. Most of us live in a touchless society.

We have Facebook, MySpace, Twitter — social networks. These sites barely cover the surface of getting to know people. Sure, you can get updates on people and know what’s going on in their lives. In that regard their purpose is accomplished.

But it’s not the same as taking in a ballgame with a friend. Sitting on a porch and drinking lemonade on a warm day. Going for a hike.

Getting to know the person one-on-one. Personally. Intimately. Even to the point of knowing their weaknesses ~ not just their strengths.

Tara goes on to say “Somehow we have gotten this idea that we are not supposed to share our weaknesses as Christians.”

Yes Tara. You are right. Surface friendship. Of course, that term is an oxymoron but I’ll use it for now.

And continuing: “We try to keep ourselves up on pedestals and let people believe that we have it all together. But we know that if people got close to us they would see that we have issues too.”

Really? Yes. It’s true. We all have issues.

We are all broken inside. Blame it on your father, your mother, your sister, your brother, your neighborhood, the food you ate or didn’t eat, the microwave, etc. etc. etc.

Now that we’ve acknowledged our brokenness, what are we doing about it?

Are we helping each other get through it or are we pointing the finger at each other?

Jesus came in the flesh and allowed people to touch Him. He made Himself available to be touched.

I want to be able to touch and be touched. So if you see my weaknesses, please help to lift me up because after all, I’m just like you.

Hmmm … life, as it is.

New Song on Pandora

Listening to Pandora again tonight.

A new song I like — By Your Side.

The lyrics are so powerful!

“Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I’m not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I’ll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don’t fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you”

If we could only appreciate the nail scarred hands that hold us up every day.

We can find no better friend, no one who will love us better — who truly wants what is best for us because He loves us.

I have no place to run but into His arms.

Life … He has given it to me and I shall try to live it as He sees fit for me.