WHAT?! REALLY?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

So, the other day I was looking high and low for my bluetooth device to use with my cellphone in the car. I have a hands-free set that plugs into my phone, but in some ways it is a bigger pain than it's worth. Besides that, Kent had told me that he picked it up off the ground outside the passenger door of the van that day and put it on the recycle bin since I'd apparently caught it when I got out of the van and dropped it. Well, so, I kind of keep looking for the bluetooth, but don't find it. Today, as I'm leaving work I realize it would be good to charge my phone, so I figure, "Fine, I'll plug it in while I'm in meeting and all will be good later." Um...the charger is missing. So, now I'm thinking that maybe Kent or Tiana, for some odd reason, has removed all of this stuff from the car. Oddly, the other night we went in Kent's truck and he got into his center console to get his sunglasses and realizes that all 3 or 4 pair that were in there are missing. So, comparing notes on the way to and from meeting (we were in separate cars), we realize that we've been burgled! Apparently we hadn't gotten the vehicles locked and so some kids got into the car, took our car charger for the van (but not the truck), both bluetooths, a bunch of cheap sunglasses (emphasis on the cheap!), a Brookstone multi-tool/knife thingy, and a library book! Other than the library book we're looking at less than $10 worth of stuff! And why the library book? It was a "teen" book at that -- not even a "best seller", although it has been made into a fairly popular movie! Crazy!! Anyway, we'll be more careful about locking up. It'd been a crazy day and so well... But the stuff they chose to take is just silly! Not a bit of it is worth anything and they left some CDs and a CD player! Must be dumb kids is all I can think!

THIS makes me smile!

I can only say to this woman -- YOU GO GIRL!


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/garden/24cottage.html?no_interstitial

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Kent and Tiana on the lanai of our hotel in Vancouver, B.C. overlooking the river.
Happy Father's Day! to all the dads!

To see all of the photos from our time, click on the photo of Kent and Tiana!

Weekend away

For the first time in a long time we've found ourselves in the land of maple!  Kent loves Cockney King's Fish and Chips, so here we are for Father's Day!  Today we also shopped in an area we've never been to before.  It was most interesting and at one point more than a little creepy!  I'd had Kent pull over so that I could really study the map and not have to make decisions on the fly.  Well, I look up from the map when I was done and there was an old man (over 60 for sure!) in his shorts, just staring at me and then he lifted his one short leg a bit to show me more skin.  CREEPY!!!  But yet quite funny because, well, he was old, hadn't aged well, and I could've taken him with my pinky finger!  Nonetheless -- GROSS!!  Otherwise, the weather and the day has been GREAT!  The fish and chips were great, the ketchup chips are oh so delicious and Mom will be very happy to get her Red River cereal.

Check out some of what we've seen here: Photos

Oh HAPPY, SUNNY day!!!

Ahhh....what a way to start the day! It's sunny and warm and blue-skied for the first time in a LONG time and I got to enjoy it as I jogged the Waterfront Festival 5K!!! It actually got quite hot when the sun was on my face. I met a most beautiful young golden/lab Canine Companions for Independence puppy who is down to the last 2 months with his "first" family. He ran the whole 3.1 miles and seemed more than rarin' to go even further! Seeing him and talking to his "mom" planted some senior-project-options in my mind. Never know where it might lead! What are your Saturday plans? This is what I just finished the other day before the big rains:

My Columbine and daisy-things had just completely overgrown the area and the sidewalk, so I dug them up and planted another hydrangea and these little color-spots. It looks so nice, although you can't really see it so much. The little color-spots are still very small, but they are already responding to the sun and the rain we've had! Hopefully we'll be able to keep the cats out!

Oh, and since I've already been very remiss in remembering -- HAPPY BELATED ANNIVERSARY TO MY PARENTS!

Memorial Day Barbeque -- a day early!!

Ok, so we were hoping for some sunshine today and so we planned to do our Memorial Day barbeque today instead of Monday. Well, this being the Pacific Northwest and all, we had to settle with a bit of rain to go with our ribs! I received this recipe from myrecipes.com in my email inbox earlier this week and so we decided to give 'em a go. ALL of us -- Kent, Tiana, Gordon, Ivona, Mark, Meredith and I give them a double thumbs up! Emily and Jonathan not so much, but they might have if they'd tried them! And Coda says, Paws Down they are truly the best! So we recommend, "Shay's Fall-off-the-Bone-Baby-Back-Ribs" with roasted corn on the cob and a dessert of "Double Chocolate Cream Pie"!! Sorry I didn't get any photos of any of it, but trust me -- you want to try these!

SHAY'S FALL-OFF-THE-BONE-BABY BACK RIBS
1 large onion, sliced
3 1/2 pounds (1,5kg) (about 2 slabs) baby back ribs
1 (12-ounce/350ml) bottle beer (porter) 
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 cups Chipotle Maple Barbeque Sauce or your favorite bottled sauce (see original recipe for link to sauce recipe!)

1. Preheat oven to 275°F/135°C. Spread onion slices evenly on a rimmed baking sheet, and place ribs, bone side down, on top. Pour beer over ribs, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, and cover tightly with foil. Bake 2-1/2 hours or until tender.
2. Brush both sides of ribs with Chipotle Maple Barbecue Sauce. *Grill over medium heat, meat side down, 10 to 15 minutes or until slightly charred and crispy, basting several times with sauce. Flip ribs over, and baste cooked side liberally. Close grill lid, and cook 10 to 15 minutes more, basting often. Remove from heat; let rest 10 minutes. Cut individual ribs apart, and serve warm.
Note: You can bake the ribs (step 1) up to a day ahead, but you'll need to leave them on the grill a few minutes longer to make sure they're heated through.*Kent suggests spraying grill with non-stick spray!

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
3 tablespoons ice water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
Cooking spray

Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 425°.
To prepare the crust, lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 1/4 cup flour and water, stirring with a whisk until well-blended.
Combine 3/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl; cut in shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add slurry; mix with a fork until flour mixture is moist.
Press the mixture gently into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap; cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, into a 12-inch circle. Freeze 10 minutes.
Remove 1 sheet of plastic wrap; fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Fold edges under; flute. Line dough with a piece of foil; arrange pie weights or dried beans on foil. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes or until edge is lightly browned. Remove pie weights and foil. Reduce temperature to 350°. Bake an additional 5 minutes; cool on a wire rack.
To prepare filling, combine 3/4 cup sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and milk in a medium saucepan; stir well with a whisk. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute until mixture comes to a full boil. Gradually add 1/3 cup hot milk mixture to beaten egg; stir well. Return egg mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add grated chocolate, stirring until the chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Spoon mixture into pastry crust. Cover surface of filling with plastic wrap. Chill until set (about 2 hours). Remove plastic wrap; spread whipped topping evenly over filling.

CALORIES 301 (28% from fat); FAT 9.3g (sat 5.5g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.5g); IRON 1.5mg; CHOLESTEROL 46mg; CALCIUM 89mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.5g; SODIUM 180mg; PROTEIN 5.6g; FIBER 0.5g

And to surely mess up the nutrition facts, I cheated and used a pre-made Oreo cookie crust!! Oh YUM!!! Now Emily and Jonathan gave this two thumbs up!!

Happy Memorial Day. And THANK YOU! to all of the soldiers - past and present - who have given their lives, willingly, for freedoms - ours and in the pursuit of for others. Thank you.

Today's baking

So, it is a dreary day and I can't think of anything much better than baking! Since I LOVED the bagels I made the other day and since I also can't leave a good recipe alone, I decided to alter the recipe to include whole wheat goodness!

Today's revamped recipe is:

Whole Wheat Sunflower Bagels
3 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. white bread flour
2 tsp. yeast
1 Tbs. oil
1½ tsp. salt
2 Tbs. roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds
1¼ - 1½ c. warm water

(Mix all together to make a stiff dough. Knead about 10 minutes. Divide dough into 8 or 16 balls. Let rest 10-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 425º. Make dough balls into bagels, either by poking a hole in the middle of the ball or rolling each ball into a snake and then create a circle, being sure to pinch the ends together well! Let bagels sit another 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 1 gallon of water to boil. Add bagels to boiling water, enough so they aren't crowded. Boil 1 minute or so and then turn the bagel over, boiling another minute. Allow bagel to dry about 1 minute and then place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake bagels for 10 minutes and turn over, baking another 10 minutes.)
I again made 16 bagels so that they don't kill me so bad calorie wise!! After they came out of their water bath but before they were too dry, I also sprinkled them with some dry oats! Gotta look professional you know!
I'm also trying my hand at English muffins. They are about to hit the griddle! We'll see how THEY turn out! And then I better think about dinner! Pictures to come!

And about those English muffins!! THEY ARE A HIT!! Kent really likes them and Tiana ate a full one, too! They don't have the big holes in them like store bought muffins, but they are very tasty. Actually, if you've ever had Australian Toaster Biscuits, they are more like that. Anyway, that recipe is courtesy of Allrecipes.

English Muffins
1 c. milk
2 Tbs. white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 c. warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 c. melted shortening
6 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.
Punch down. (Do not knead or work the dough any more than necessary at this point!) Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal (make sure you use a lot!!) and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.
Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat (350º). Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. (I followed the advice of others on Allrecipes and baked my muffins for another 5 minutes in a 350º oven, just to be sure they were thoroughly baked through!)