Living Simply
I was cleaning out the basement and found an old picture that we had inherited when we moved into our home 29 years ago.
It looks like a print but doesn’t feel like one.
I have never been able to figure out who the artist is nor find any other information about the picture.
Now that I’m cleaning out the house to move, I need to find out whether to give it away or have it appraised or ???
Alright you bloggers out there — help me out here.
Went to the dump this morning. Not a pleasant thing to do on a beautiful day like today. Have to get rid of more stuff for the eventual Midwest move.
Oh well …
Life as it is.
This is a vegetarian very-easy-to-make recipe.
I have been using it for many years and got it from a book called 1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles.
Hope you enjoy it.
12 ounces ziti (or other medium-sized pasta)
4 cups broccoli florets
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (crumbled)
Grated Parmesan cheese, optional
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Cook pasta according to package directions. Two minutes before the pasta has finished cooking, add the broccoli to the pot. Continue cooking the pasta until done. Drain pasta and broccoli.
Return pasta and broccoli to the pot and add butter and the rosemary. Cook, stirring, until butter is melted.
Serve with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.
 You can purchase the book here if you’re interested:
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As we age, the kids leave home and we are left with trying to figure out how to cook for one or two instead of large casseroles that feed 4 or more people.
Not that there’s anything wrong with leftovers but sometimes the refrigerator gets full and we just want to make a small meal.
Here’s a book that has recipes for just this purpose
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| Mt Rainier
We took this picture of Mt. Rainier as we were heading into Anacarotes on a ferry. |
We spotted this bird and its young ones as we were coming onto the mainland from a ferry boat.
We believe it is a cormorant which is in the pelican family.
Thanks to a friend for helping identify it.
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| Cormorant |
Took my car in today for new shocks/struts. Got tired of bouncing in the car and looking for a smoother ride.
We’ll be in the market for a new car soon. One that has All Wheel Drive, AWD.
I’ve test driven the Toyota Venza. It’s a nice car although a bit pricey and of course, they had me drive the one that had ALL the options with the exception of navigation.
We may wait until the beginning of January to shop — before our move to the Midwest.
I made pollo guisau for dinner tonight aka chicken stew.
It’s a Puerto Rican recipe that I received from my mother.
Very easy to make — as easy as biftec (steak).
There are 2 parts to this recipe — first is what we call sofrito. Sofrito is a blended mixture of vegetables.
To make Sofrito you will need:
2-3 garlic cloves, skin removed
1 small onion, skin removed and cut into bite-size pieces
1 green pepper, pitted and cut into bite-size pieces
1 bunch cilantro, cut the whole bottom of the bunch off (most of the stems), wash in water
Blender
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend.
Should look like this and you should get approximately 2 cups (you can freeze the leftovers)
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| Sofrito
Additional Ingredients:
Chicken, 6 drumsticks, 3 skinless and 3 boneless chicken breasts.
3 red potatoes, rinsed and diced large
green olives
8 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 Teaspoon oil
Sazon (a Puerto Rican spice – see picture below)
 In a large pot, add oil. Wait until it gets hot.
Add Sofrito (I used 1 cup but you can use less if you wish. Depends on how much taste you want)
Add 1/2 of the tomato sauce
Add 1 package Sazon
Stir
Your mixture should look like this:
 Add the clean chicken, green olives and cut potatoes
Add water to cover all
Heat to boil
Reduce heat and simmer for approximately 1 hour.
 Enjoy!
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Until they started eating my plants.
I spotted this huge one while on a walk.
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| Slug |
Yesterday I prayed for God’s protection on my family.
Last night I had a dream. Most people don’t take dreams seriously but I believe there is a direct connection sometimes.
In my dream I was visiting my sister in Chicago. We were scheduled to go out to dinner but my husband and I forgot so we decided to go swimming.
We went to an indoor pool and signed in. The pool was really deep — maybe 10-15 feet. As we were preparing to go into the pool we realized we hadn’t come prepared. No towels.
But, we jumped in anyway. We swam the length of the pool a few times.
There was a young girl there at a table and she said to us “would you like to swim in the pool a different way?” We said “sure!”
She emptied the water from the pool and left only 3 feet. When we looked down, there were alligators at the bottom. Several alligators.
When we first got in we didn’t notice them at all. But there they were.
She looked at us in utter amazement. “I didn’t know they were there!” she yelled.
Her supervisor came in and said “I signed for them and they weren’t alive so I threw them in the bottom of the pool.”
Needless to say we didn’t go back into the pool.
I believe God affirmed His protection in response to my prayer.
Coincidence? There would just be too many coincidences in my life if I were to attribute it to that.
Ask, He says, and you shall receive.
In the Bible, in the book of Daniel, Chapter 2, a man by the name of Daniel has a dream. That dream tells the history of our world from Babylon to the end of time. Prophecy has come true.
God can and does use dreams to speak to us.
How can I not believe?
www.biblica.com