Maggie is giving away 2 $25 G.C. to the Red Lobster!!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Balsamic-Baked Onions and Potatoes with Roast Pork
Last night I made a delicious meal.
These recipes are from Jamie Oliver. I saw him make this on his Jamie At Home show on the Cooking Channel the other day. He said that this dish will fulfill every mans dream! It did not fail. PJ loved this meal. I served it with spinach on the side. It calls for 1 1/2 CUPS of Balsamic Vinegar but don't be afraid to use all of it! It ends up caramelized and just delicious! He recommends using CHEAP balsamic vinegar. The recipes can be found on my cooking blog.... www.mamazukecooks.blogspot.com
These recipes are from Jamie Oliver. I saw him make this on his Jamie At Home show on the Cooking Channel the other day. He said that this dish will fulfill every mans dream! It did not fail. PJ loved this meal. I served it with spinach on the side. It calls for 1 1/2 CUPS of Balsamic Vinegar but don't be afraid to use all of it! It ends up caramelized and just delicious! He recommends using CHEAP balsamic vinegar. The recipes can be found on my cooking blog.... www.mamazukecooks.blogspot.com
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny crisp fall day. After working in the yard, PJ and I decided to go for a spin in the MGB. I got my pocketbook and went outside to wait for him. The MGB key is on PJ's regular key chain so I didn't have to take a set with me. PJ came out the door, took a few steps and proceeded to say " OH SH*T"!!!! He asked if I took my house key and I said that I didn't. I said "no problem, we'll go through the door in the garage". With that he replied "I locked it"! Now why would you go and do that if it's been unlocked for the last 25 YEARS? He didn't kike that I asked but his reply was that he didn't want Alyssa's cat to get out! Is Huckleberry so talented that he can turn the doorknob to open the door to get out????? OMG!
Everything was locked except the 2 bedroom windows. He went and got a ladder to be able to get above the hedge and into the window. BUT there was an obstacle... the windows were both broke where they don't stay up. The pulleys or whatever they are were both broken. We never bothered to do anything about it because we don't open the bottom, just the top. So he had to pry the window up a bit with a screw driver and then put a brick in to hold it open a little.
Now in the meantime, our neighbor pulled up in his car, said hi and gave us a funny look like what the heck are you doing but then went into the house. Another neighbor was having a party and a lot of people noticed that something was going on. Plus the mailman stopped to watch!
PJ asked me to hold the ladder tight so he could 'push off' and propel himself over the window box and into the bedroom, head first. I did just that but couldn't miss this adventure so I snapped a picture of him! As he landed on the floor he yelled out to me "Did you get your picture"? It wasn't meant to be nice though. He was making fun of me. He ended up having a nice cut on his leg but all ended well. He got the house key and off we went to Robert Moses State Park to look at the beautiful beach, deer and light house. While we were driving I made a point of sending the picture to the kids. They all got a huge laugh out of it!
That's my finger in the picture in case you didn't know!
Everything was locked except the 2 bedroom windows. He went and got a ladder to be able to get above the hedge and into the window. BUT there was an obstacle... the windows were both broke where they don't stay up. The pulleys or whatever they are were both broken. We never bothered to do anything about it because we don't open the bottom, just the top. So he had to pry the window up a bit with a screw driver and then put a brick in to hold it open a little.
Now in the meantime, our neighbor pulled up in his car, said hi and gave us a funny look like what the heck are you doing but then went into the house. Another neighbor was having a party and a lot of people noticed that something was going on. Plus the mailman stopped to watch!
PJ asked me to hold the ladder tight so he could 'push off' and propel himself over the window box and into the bedroom, head first. I did just that but couldn't miss this adventure so I snapped a picture of him! As he landed on the floor he yelled out to me "Did you get your picture"? It wasn't meant to be nice though. He was making fun of me. He ended up having a nice cut on his leg but all ended well. He got the house key and off we went to Robert Moses State Park to look at the beautiful beach, deer and light house. While we were driving I made a point of sending the picture to the kids. They all got a huge laugh out of it!
That's my finger in the picture in case you didn't know!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
BLOOM DAY SCAN
This is my entry to the Bloom Day Scan contest on Gardening Gone Wildhttp://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=12809
These are so much fun to make. My problem is that I was lacking foliage and flowers that weren't scorched or totally brown from the lack of water here. Also, my photo editing software is NOT working so it is what it is! I think I may do these monthly next year to have a month by month view of what was growing in my gardens.
PJ planted a purple bean plant to grow up the trellis where our grape vine is. It looks pretty neat right now because the bean pods are a beautiful deep purple. They are mixed in with the green grape leaves and really stand out. Too bad my grape leaves were attacked by the Grapeleaf Blister Mite. They're look prettier had we sprayed them. Too late!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
BLOOM DAY SCANS
*** I can't get rid of the large print so please ignore it!!!
I've been busy today playing with my scanner. I've always wanted to make my own Bloom Day Scan instead of looking at the beautiful ones on Ellis Hollow's Blog.
http://remarc.com/craig/?cat=55
This month, the Gardening Gone Wild Blog ,
http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=12809
is having Octobers Picture Contest as a Bloom Day Scan theme. I don't have any excuses than to try this! I don't have much in the way of flowers or any foliage for that matter that's not brown from being dry! So I found what I could. #'s 1 & 2 look almost identical but one has a little more light peeking in. Also #4 I think, needs to be cropped. I don't know which to submit but I'm leaning towards #6. I still have time though.
These were really a lot of fun and I'm sure I'll be making quite a few of these!
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
# 6
I've been busy today playing with my scanner. I've always wanted to make my own Bloom Day Scan instead of looking at the beautiful ones on Ellis Hollow's Blog.
http://remarc.com/craig/?cat=55
This month, the Gardening Gone Wild Blog ,
http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=12809
is having Octobers Picture Contest as a Bloom Day Scan theme. I don't have any excuses than to try this! I don't have much in the way of flowers or any foliage for that matter that's not brown from being dry! So I found what I could. #'s 1 & 2 look almost identical but one has a little more light peeking in. Also #4 I think, needs to be cropped. I don't know which to submit but I'm leaning towards #6. I still have time though.
These were really a lot of fun and I'm sure I'll be making quite a few of these!
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
# 6
Monday, September 27, 2010
Yesterday PJ and I took the MG out for a spin and went out east to a Garlic Festival at The Garden of Eve Organic Farm. The traffic on Sound Ave was horrendous! We said to each other that this better be a good festival or we'd be a little upset. We're a little spoiled in having enjoyed the Garlic/Harvest Festival in Bethlehem, CT and the garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY for the last few years. The parking lots were mobbed but we found a spot.
There was a $3 admission. When you first walked in there was a bunch of pumpkins in a roped off area. These were for sale but no one was even looking at them.
There were about 15 vendors in the whole place! THAT'S IT! The JD Gourmet Balsamic Vinegars (the BEST in my opinion and we always buy a bottle in CT) http://www.jdgourmet.com/ and Sweet Melissa's Dips let you sample their products and maybe one or two more. There were 2 people selling Garlic Soup for $3 and $5 a cup but there were no samples to see if you'd even like it or not. To us, part of the fun of a festival is sampling the food! So the people selling pickles, jams and honey hardly got any business from what we could see. At the other festivals, EVERYONE has samples, even the people selling just garlic. They let you taste it before you purchase the bulbs. There were 2 vendors selling Garlic bulbs. How can they call this a Garlic Festival I'd like to know!!! There was hardly any garlic in sight and no smell of garlic!!
We walked around the rest of the property and both of us commented what a mess the ground was... not with litter but HUGE holes, rocks etc... It was a law suit waiting to happen. That was it, we were out of there. It was a waste of our time. We did buy the Balsamic Vinegar though. It's soooo good... like no other!
We decided to drive a bit more east to see if we could find a farm stand with fresh veggies but a good price. We ended getting off Sound Ave because there was just too much traffic. We went down to RT 25 and started heading west. We ended up stopping at Schmitts Farm. They had beautiful sunflowers.
Inside, they had lots of vegetables, pies and fresh breads. Years ago you could get local produce for pretty good prices. These looked no different than what was in the grocery stores and yet double the price! We laughed when we saw the loaves of Banana Bread. They were $12 a LOAF! UNBELIEVABLE! When we go up to Ithaca, every Jan there's a fair at the local Lions Club. We've hit it 3 years in a row now and the ladies actually now bake extra bread just in case we show up. The first year I bought 2 loaves and PJ came up to me when I was in a different row and showed me that he bought 3! Last year we bought everyone that they had! They are $1 per loaf and the same size as Schmitts $12 loaves! We always freeze them when we get home.
The one thing that I thought was a good price was their Mums. They were large plants in 8" pots and they were 4/$20.
This was just sitting amongst the gourds!
All in all we had a nice day, even though we were disappointed in the festival. We came home, made a nice dinner and had a bottle of wine. A great way to end the day!
There was a $3 admission. When you first walked in there was a bunch of pumpkins in a roped off area. These were for sale but no one was even looking at them.
There were about 15 vendors in the whole place! THAT'S IT! The JD Gourmet Balsamic Vinegars (the BEST in my opinion and we always buy a bottle in CT) http://www.jdgourmet.com/ and Sweet Melissa's Dips let you sample their products and maybe one or two more. There were 2 people selling Garlic Soup for $3 and $5 a cup but there were no samples to see if you'd even like it or not. To us, part of the fun of a festival is sampling the food! So the people selling pickles, jams and honey hardly got any business from what we could see. At the other festivals, EVERYONE has samples, even the people selling just garlic. They let you taste it before you purchase the bulbs. There were 2 vendors selling Garlic bulbs. How can they call this a Garlic Festival I'd like to know!!! There was hardly any garlic in sight and no smell of garlic!!We walked around the rest of the property and both of us commented what a mess the ground was... not with litter but HUGE holes, rocks etc... It was a law suit waiting to happen. That was it, we were out of there. It was a waste of our time. We did buy the Balsamic Vinegar though. It's soooo good... like no other!
We decided to drive a bit more east to see if we could find a farm stand with fresh veggies but a good price. We ended getting off Sound Ave because there was just too much traffic. We went down to RT 25 and started heading west. We ended up stopping at Schmitts Farm. They had beautiful sunflowers.
Inside, they had lots of vegetables, pies and fresh breads. Years ago you could get local produce for pretty good prices. These looked no different than what was in the grocery stores and yet double the price! We laughed when we saw the loaves of Banana Bread. They were $12 a LOAF! UNBELIEVABLE! When we go up to Ithaca, every Jan there's a fair at the local Lions Club. We've hit it 3 years in a row now and the ladies actually now bake extra bread just in case we show up. The first year I bought 2 loaves and PJ came up to me when I was in a different row and showed me that he bought 3! Last year we bought everyone that they had! They are $1 per loaf and the same size as Schmitts $12 loaves! We always freeze them when we get home.
The one thing that I thought was a good price was their Mums. They were large plants in 8" pots and they were 4/$20.
This was just sitting amongst the gourds!
All in all we had a nice day, even though we were disappointed in the festival. We came home, made a nice dinner and had a bottle of wine. A great way to end the day!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
I got bored with being home today so I decided to some garage sales. Our town is having a big garage sale but I will avoid it for various reasons. I decided to go to a bunch of other sales that were in our area plus one 2 towns over that advertised an annual BLOCK sale. The first 6 sales that i went to in my area were horrible. I didn't get a thing. Then I headed to the block sale... HORRIBLE! I couldn't believe how high their prices were... $5 for their books!!!
I decided to save my money and just go home. I got stuck at the light on Wantagh Ave and sat through 3 of them to make a turn! I noticed a sign for a sale to go to Harold St. I decided to make a left instead of a right and head there.
WHA-HOO. I hit a GREAT sale! I first spotted a big wicker basket. My thought was that this is just what I've been looking for to put all of PJ's millions of pairs of sneakers and shoes in that he just leaves on the living room floor. $1.
That was all I was going to get but decided to ask about the Lia Sophia jewelry. I never go to Lia Sophia parties because I refuse to pay their price for their jewelry. I like some of their items but mostly I don't. Alyssa just went to a party and said she liked the items but it was way past what her budget allows but bought a pair of earrings anyway. So when I asked about the jewelry, I expected her to say ridicules prices and I'd spend my one dollar and leave. She said she is selling it cheap and just wants to get rid of it. She used to sell them but is out of it now. I'm sure the items that she had were a few years old. Who cares!
I saw a pair of earrings that I liked and asked how much? $2... OK I'LL TAKE THEM!!!!
Then I picked out this bracelet... How much? $2 !
Then I stopped asking and just picked out items that I thought Alyssa and Brooke might like before the lady next to me got her hands on them!
I had her add up everything including the basket. $14!! I felt like I hit the mother load! I hope the girls at least like SOMETHING!
*******
I had to show Alyssa these pieces. She wanted to go to the sale now so we went back and the lady put more out! She got a nice necklace and I got 2 bracelets and a necklace for $10!!
I decided to save my money and just go home. I got stuck at the light on Wantagh Ave and sat through 3 of them to make a turn! I noticed a sign for a sale to go to Harold St. I decided to make a left instead of a right and head there.
WHA-HOO. I hit a GREAT sale! I first spotted a big wicker basket. My thought was that this is just what I've been looking for to put all of PJ's millions of pairs of sneakers and shoes in that he just leaves on the living room floor. $1.
That was all I was going to get but decided to ask about the Lia Sophia jewelry. I never go to Lia Sophia parties because I refuse to pay their price for their jewelry. I like some of their items but mostly I don't. Alyssa just went to a party and said she liked the items but it was way past what her budget allows but bought a pair of earrings anyway. So when I asked about the jewelry, I expected her to say ridicules prices and I'd spend my one dollar and leave. She said she is selling it cheap and just wants to get rid of it. She used to sell them but is out of it now. I'm sure the items that she had were a few years old. Who cares!I saw a pair of earrings that I liked and asked how much? $2... OK I'LL TAKE THEM!!!!
Then I picked out this bracelet... How much? $2 !
Then I stopped asking and just picked out items that I thought Alyssa and Brooke might like before the lady next to me got her hands on them!
I had her add up everything including the basket. $14!! I felt like I hit the mother load! I hope the girls at least like SOMETHING!*******
I had to show Alyssa these pieces. She wanted to go to the sale now so we went back and the lady put more out! She got a nice necklace and I got 2 bracelets and a necklace for $10!!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
We had such a fun, relaxing 4 day weekend camping in Ithaca. When we arrived, it was cloudy and drizzling a bit. We set up our tent and decided to head towards Seneca Lake. We always buy wine from Wagner Winery because their wine tastes good and it's the best deal within the 2 lakes! The sun broke through!
For dinner, we ate at Greek Peak Resort. It reminded us of the Wilderness Lodge in Disney.
Thank goodness we had a restaurant.com gift certificate. PJ ordered the Braised Venison Pot Pie ($18.95). They came back to say that the pastry for the top "wasn't working and would he mind a biscuit topping instead". He agreed but said that the pastry was what he wanted the most! Our food arrived. His looked like dog food and the biscuit was one biscuit on the side, not on top! He said it was pretty flavorless also.
I ordered the Portobello & Spinach stack with Goat Cheese and a Smoked Tomato and Red Pepper Coulis ($14.95). Well, it was pretty but also pretty small! It was about 2" tall and 2" wide! THAT was the dinner! It tasted ok but honestly, it should have been an appetizer not a dinner! If we were there and had to pay full price, I would have been really mad!
Now that the sun came out, we had to go to Sunset Park and check out the somewhat cloudy sunset over Cayuga Lake. It started to get really cold!
It must have gone down to the upper 40's. We were FREEZING!
We decided to take a ride to see our property. It was really foggy!
I love how the weeds are different for every season. Now the golden flowers of the Golden Rod were all over! Pretty!
As we were taking pictures, a pickup truck stopped and the man asked if we were interested in the land. We said that we were the owners. We got to chatting. Him and his wife bought 2 lots on the other side of the hill that's at the top of ours. They are Barry and Midge. They invited us to come look at their house. It's nearing completion. It's a ROUNDHOUSE! I've never been in one before. I'm glad I got the chance. I'd never want one. It was really weird but interesting at the same time. The rooms are all small because of the curves. Standing on the deck was nice though. They have a beautiful view. Barry is a lawyer in PA yet they're from NJ.
They told us of their 2 neighbors, Kathleen on one side and a couple, the Duncan's, on the other side. He is also a lawyer and a photographer on the side. They have a driveway and a great big hole, the makings of a pond. With the fog, it was like looking at a landing site of a space ship!
We really enjoyed chatting with them. We exchanged addresses and will keep in touch.
Later on we went to lunch at Viva Taqueria. We got our usuals... the Super Smothered Burritos, mine with Tomatillo Sauce and PJ's with Ranchero Sauce. YUM! We sat outside even though it was still pretty cold out.
For dinner, we grilled chicken, corn potatoes with onions and Portobello mushrooms. .. A meal fit for a King and Queen!
On Sunday we went to a festival at Six Mile Creek. We got a bottle of wine and sat and listened to a really bad duo that sang folk type music. This is the first time we were at the bottom of the big hill. We're always on the deck overlooking the vineyards and the wedding pavilion.
Back to Sunset Park!
It went down to 42 degrees! Holy cow that was a cold night! I think I shivered the whole night! When we got up there was frost on the field across from our site.
We had a really fun time with lots of laughs. I have to remember PJ and his "what the heck is Huffice Cream? I've never heard of that". He was very confused until we got closer to the truck... it was Huff Ice Cream! Sounds stupid now but was very funny when it happened. It's just the Zukowski way like Ben Jamin, Rec Liner etc.
For dinner, we ate at Greek Peak Resort. It reminded us of the Wilderness Lodge in Disney.
Thank goodness we had a restaurant.com gift certificate. PJ ordered the Braised Venison Pot Pie ($18.95). They came back to say that the pastry for the top "wasn't working and would he mind a biscuit topping instead". He agreed but said that the pastry was what he wanted the most! Our food arrived. His looked like dog food and the biscuit was one biscuit on the side, not on top! He said it was pretty flavorless also.I ordered the Portobello & Spinach stack with Goat Cheese and a Smoked Tomato and Red Pepper Coulis ($14.95). Well, it was pretty but also pretty small! It was about 2" tall and 2" wide! THAT was the dinner! It tasted ok but honestly, it should have been an appetizer not a dinner! If we were there and had to pay full price, I would have been really mad!
Now that the sun came out, we had to go to Sunset Park and check out the somewhat cloudy sunset over Cayuga Lake. It started to get really cold!
It must have gone down to the upper 40's. We were FREEZING!We decided to take a ride to see our property. It was really foggy!
I love how the weeds are different for every season. Now the golden flowers of the Golden Rod were all over! Pretty!
As we were taking pictures, a pickup truck stopped and the man asked if we were interested in the land. We said that we were the owners. We got to chatting. Him and his wife bought 2 lots on the other side of the hill that's at the top of ours. They are Barry and Midge. They invited us to come look at their house. It's nearing completion. It's a ROUNDHOUSE! I've never been in one before. I'm glad I got the chance. I'd never want one. It was really weird but interesting at the same time. The rooms are all small because of the curves. Standing on the deck was nice though. They have a beautiful view. Barry is a lawyer in PA yet they're from NJ.
They told us of their 2 neighbors, Kathleen on one side and a couple, the Duncan's, on the other side. He is also a lawyer and a photographer on the side. They have a driveway and a great big hole, the makings of a pond. With the fog, it was like looking at a landing site of a space ship!
We really enjoyed chatting with them. We exchanged addresses and will keep in touch.Later on we went to lunch at Viva Taqueria. We got our usuals... the Super Smothered Burritos, mine with Tomatillo Sauce and PJ's with Ranchero Sauce. YUM! We sat outside even though it was still pretty cold out.
For dinner, we grilled chicken, corn potatoes with onions and Portobello mushrooms. .. A meal fit for a King and Queen!
On Sunday we went to a festival at Six Mile Creek. We got a bottle of wine and sat and listened to a really bad duo that sang folk type music. This is the first time we were at the bottom of the big hill. We're always on the deck overlooking the vineyards and the wedding pavilion.
Back to Sunset Park!
It went down to 42 degrees! Holy cow that was a cold night! I think I shivered the whole night! When we got up there was frost on the field across from our site.
We had a really fun time with lots of laughs. I have to remember PJ and his "what the heck is Huffice Cream? I've never heard of that". He was very confused until we got closer to the truck... it was Huff Ice Cream! Sounds stupid now but was very funny when it happened. It's just the Zukowski way like Ben Jamin, Rec Liner etc.
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