tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63645871209861607152024-02-07T04:22:49.560-08:00Pineapple and the CrabA girl's hippy tendencies come to life!Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-78918935735173715532017-03-15T15:45:00.000-07:002017-03-15T16:13:19.468-07:00So, I went to Ireland back in 2000, here's the story.It all started with a simple invitation. My Aunt, who really isn't my aunt but is the closest thing I've ever had to one, asked me to go to Ireland with her and her daughter. Being the world traveler that I am, I instantly said an automatic "yes."<br />
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They had expressed and interest in going in the spring when Elizabeth (the daughter) would be on spring break. I thought this was a fantastic idea, I had been to France the year before in April and it was perfect, the weather was mild, and there weren't too many tourists. (Always a good thing when traveling.)<br />
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Ireland had always been a dream for both my Aunt Patty, and Elizabeth. They are very proud of their Irish heritage, and know the family name and county where they come from. I had heard for years that they were going to go "this summer," so when I agreed, I didn't think that it would really come true. Well it did come true and that's what this story is all about.<br />
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As I said, they had suggested going in the spring which, I thought, was a perfect idea. Well that idea didn't last too long. After plans got started, they realized that they wanted to stay longer than the one week they would be allowed for spring break. Since I was just along for the ride, I really didn't care when we went, as long as we were able to actually go.<br />
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It was finally decided that we would go right after Elizabeth got out of school, which was a problem for me. I had an event I had to be at for my work in mid-June, so I wouldn't be able to go until after that. After some cajoling and a strong "It just ain't gonna happen," Elizabeth was finally convinced that a couple weeks wait wasn't going to kill her for her trip of a lifetime.<br />
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The dates were set, and a travel plan was being determined. They wanted to see everything and I only had two weeks of vacation. I had to limit myself and determine how far we could go through the county before I had to get back since they were staying for four weeks. We spent many nights with the travel books and magazines deciding what we wanted to see, where we wanted to go, and finding "cute" Bed & Breakfasts where we were going to stay. We pinned a map of Ireland on the living room wall and put pushpins into the places we wanted to see. This strategy did not work; the whole lower half of Ireland was pushpins. We did, however, decide that a southern route would be taken.<br />
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Several weeks before departure, Patty informed me that she had invited her Aunt Pam and Uncle Marty. I had met Pam before and remembered what a nice person she was so I didn't care about that, but I had never met Marty. Patty assured me that everyone in the family loved Marty since he was Pam's second husband and that he would be a lot of fun on the trip. Being the easy going, fun-loving person that I am, I said sure. Never mind the fact that this was their trip and I was along for the ride, I figured they could invite the devil himself, and I wouldn't have too much of a say in it.<br />
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The plans were now set: Five people fly into Dublin, stay there for three days, rent a car, and start driving south. I was told that I would be the designated driver for the group since I was the youngest of the drivers, and could drive a stick shift without any difficulty. Being the driver was fine with me, I'm an Aries, and always have to be in control so this was the perfect setup for me. I also thought it would be a fun adventure, you know, driving from the right side of the car on the left side of the road.<br />
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June comes, and everyone is getting more excited. Patty and Elizabeth now have their first passports, and are ready for their first overseas adventure. Pam and Marty have been packing for weeks, and I'm just trying to get through the Sonoma golf tournament at work without too many catastrophes. <br />
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The day finally comes for us to leave. I have never been a fan of the flight from California to Europe. Its long, tiring, and I get airsick. I love to travel, but I hate the travelling part of it. Patty and Liz are not great flyers as it is. For some reason, they always seem to have bad flights with lots of turbulence or something else goes wrong. I just know that it's going to be one hell of a long day, and by the end of it I'm going to want a shower, and a great meal, given I don't eat on airplanes.<br />
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I stayed the night at my parent's house because they live in the same town as Patty, and everyone wanted to leave around 9:30am for an afternoon flight. I had reservations about leaving that early, but all I got was that Marty wanted to get there early. So I arrived at Patty's about 8:30 and was greeted by a group of excited travelers who hadn't had too much sleep the night before.<br />
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As expected, we got to the airport way too early. We had to wait about an hour just for the check-in desk to open up then ended up wondering around the airport for what seemed like forever. My high point of the day was when I saw Gary Marshall walking through the airport but that didn't last too long, when all I had to look forward to was a very long day of travel.<br />
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Finally we made it onto the plane, and I could just go to sleep. I find that sleeping on a nine-hour flight makes it a little more livable. So after nine or so hours, we land in London. As everyone files off of the plane, we group back up together and figure out where our gate is for our transfer to Dublin. We end up walking about two miles to get to the terminal where our Dublin flight was supposed to take off from. After a nine-hour flight and the walk of the damned we were exhausted.<br />
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Luckily, the flight from London to Dublin wasn't that long, and we were finally at our destination. All we had to do now was get to the hotel. <br />
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I had found out from my discussions with the Bed & Breakfast that I booked I could take the number forty-four bus and it would drop us off on O'Connell Street, which was real close to the hotel. So, after obtaining our luggage from the pit of despair, we filed outside to find the buses that go into the city.<br />
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This is when my realization that Ireland is the nicest country comes into play. You know how you always hear about the Irish as very open and nice people; well I'm here to tell you it's true. In my short years on this planet I have managed to put some miles under my belt. I've been to France, London, Belgium, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and not to mention a few places here in the states (very few). On all of my travels I have met wonderfuly nice people, but not the type of openness, and genuine caring that I felt from the people in Ireland.<br />
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As the five of us file out of the airport looking like the lost tourists that we were, we managed to find the busses. In retrospect, how can a person miss large busses parked on the curb outside of the airport exit? Anyway, we are standing around trying to figure out which is the correct bus, what it costs, and do we have the money, when a man comes up to us and asks which bus we're looking for. Since I have the most stamps in my passport, I'm looked to for the answers. I tell the gentleman what bus we want. He directs us over to the correct bus and asks us if we have the correct change for the bus, after he figures out the total in his head. All we have is a fifty pound note and that just won't do, it's far too much. He quickly grabs the fifty and walks away saying he'll get us the proper change. As I stand there watching this man walk away I'm thinking to myself that we just lost fifty pounds to an Irish crook. Just as I'm about to come up with our next move since we've obviously lost our money, the man comes back and counts out our change, starts loading our bags onto the correct bus, and tells the bus driver where we need to get off.<br />
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This act of pure courtesy had me stunned for the next fifteen minutes until we were well on our way into the City. When we reached O'Connell Street, the bus driver let me know we had arrived at our destination and it was time to get off the bus. We gathered our luggage, stepped off the bus, looked around, and knew this was a bad idea. We had no idea where we were, or how to get to the hotel. All I knew was the street for our B&B was just off of O'Connell Street, and about a five minute walk. To five tired tourists, this was not good news.<br />
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I guessed at the general direction we should go and started everyone walking. After several "are you sure you're going in the right direction?" I stopped everyone left them on the corner, and went into a nearby mini mart. I asked the person at the counter where the street we were looking for was and, as fate would have it, we were right on the corner of the street we had to turn on. I went back to my pack of unhappy travelers and informed them of our happy occurrence. This seemed to brighten everyone up a bit, and we were off once again with suitcases in tow.<br />
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More minutes later and more tired complaints, I spotted the B&B. This would be our home for the next two nights and we couldn't be any happier to see a place than we were at that time. After an exhaustive check-in process, we walked up the three flights of stairs, dragging our suitcases behind us, and found our rooms.<br />
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After I took a shower and got cleaned up a bit, I realized I needed to have some food - fast. Next thing I knew, Liz was knocking on my door with a very important question.<br />
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"How do you turn the shower on?"<br />
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Granted, these showers are not the ones we're used to here in the States, but still, it's only a shower. After some gentle ribbing, I found out they wouldn't be ready for awhile, and I knew that if I stayed in my room much longer I would be asleep. I decided to go for a walk and see if I could find some place close for dinner and what the lay of the land was like.<br />
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I took a short walk up the block, found a much-needed ATM and got some cash. When I returned to the hotel, I stopped and chatted with the lady who was working the front desk for the evening. I asked her for a good place to eat dinner that was very close. She gave me some suggestions, then proceeded to have a great conversation with me. I was once again introduced to the open friendliness of Ireland.<br />
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After about twenty minutes of story swapping with the lady at the desk, I made my way back upstairs to find out if everyone was ready yet. I told them what I had found out for dinner, and we decided to eat at a nearby hotel in their restaurant. Everyone gathered their gear, and we walked the block and a half to dinner.<br />
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Following the first of many wonderful meals we were to discover in Ireland, we all went back to the hotel for some much needed rest so we could begin our adventure the next day.After a night of restless jet-lagged sleep, and a good breakfast, complements of the hotel, we began our trip in earnest. We decided to make our way back up to O'Connell Street since it is the "main drag" of the city and see what we could find.<br />
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We all had ideas of what we wanted to see, and decided that we wanted to see it all. When we got to O'Connell Street we saw a bus go by that said Dublin Tours on it. Well, what better way to see a city than from a bus with a driver that knows where everything is?<br />
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We found the tourist office, which wasn't too much of a walk, bought our tickets, and started on our journey. The concept of this bus tour is simple; it does a ring around the city and stops at all of the hot spots. You are free to get off of the bus, discover whichever tourist attraction you want, and then get back on another bus when it comes around. Our decision was made to do a full circle with the bus, see where it stops, and then start over and pick the sights we want to get off at.<br />
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Dublin is a major metropolitan city and everything is sort of spread out, but with all big cities, once you get the "lay-of-the-land" you pretty much know where everything is. Once we completed our ring-around-the-city, we decided we wanted to see Trinity College with the Book of Kells, Christchurch, St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Stephen's Green, and the Guinness Brewery. We got off the bus at Trinity College, and walked to our first "Dublin attraction."The five of us together cannot be determined as anything other than American tourists. We range in age from 16 to 70, and dress accordingly. With this being the case, I decided I was not going to try to fit in, and do as the locals do. I decided it was time to flaunt the tourist card. I brought out the camera, started snapping photos, and did the requisite "oooh" and "aaaahhh." <br />
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We roamed around the college for awhile, then tried to find the library where the Book of Kells is kept. Finding it, after getting lost and asking for directions from a kindly security guard was an adventure in itself. The Book of Kells is a whole exhibit with gift shop and everything. When Patty and Liz told me they wanted to see this "book"; I thought "OK, sure", I was thinking some old book in a cold room, not the informational overload that it was.<br />
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The exhibit lists the different parts of the book, how it and other books like it are made, and the history of it. The book of Kells is a very old Celtic text of the gospels. What I figured would be a 10-15 minute quick look at a book ended up being a 45-minute lesson on bookmaking, history of Ireland and the gospels themselves.<br />
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Finishing our tour with the college, we walked across the street to Grafton Street. This is the big tourist shopping area. It's a long street that is cut off from traffic, and is just shops and restaurants. We did some browsing, bought some essentials at a pharmacy then decided that we were hungry and it was time for lunch.<br />
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Full with trendy sandwiches from a bistro we headed back to the bus stop for our next destination, which was Christchurch Cathedral. When we got there it was packed with groups of teenage tourists from Italy and France. There was also a service going on so we didn't get to see inside of the church right away. Patty, Pam and Marty left Liz and I there. They didn't want to hang around all of the tourists and wait to get into this church. <br />
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We were able to get into the church after waiting for about 20 minutes but it was well worth the wait. When we walked in the church, it wasn't any different than many of the other churches I have been to all over Europe, but this one has some catacombs that we were able to wonder around in. The other neat thing was the church was having a reception in the catacombs for those who attended the service earlier. They had tables and chairs set up and were serving tea and cakes in these old catacombs.<br />
Liz and I walked around the catacombs for awhile with her directing me to take a picture of this, and that, and don't forget that one over there. When we had our fill of the catacombs, we went back up to the street to find everyone else. We met up with Patty, Pam and Marty who were looking pretty tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. It was only about 4:30 and Liz and I still wanted to see St. Patrick's Cathedral since we were going to be leaving the next day.<br />
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We made a deal, I would watch Liz as if my life depended on it, and we could go off on our own to see St. Patrick's, and the adults would go back to the hotel to get the rest they desired. So off we went to find St. Patrick's Cathedral not bothering with the bus, because we remembered that on our first ring-around-the-city St. Patrick's is fairly close to Christchurch. <br />
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As we thought, it was only a short walk to St. Patrick's so we wandered around the gardens for awhile, then made our way inside. Once inside we made our way around the church with me taking pictures of everything I could and Liz directing me to take even more pictures.<br />
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We knew the last bus left at 5:30 so we were sure to get outside at the bus stop in plenty of time so as not to miss the bus. Well, we ended up standing outside in the rain for about 10-20 minutes waiting for the bus to come and get us back to our hotel. We arrived back at the hotel, met up with everyone else, and went to dinner. We made it a early night because the next day was going to be the beginning of a very long day.<br />
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We woke up early the next day, had our breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and Patty called to confirm on the car reservation. The rental agency had no record of her confirmed reservation, nor who she was. This little bit of news sent everyone into a frenzy. Everyone was offering their opinion and making suggestions as to what to do next. Liz and I did the smart thing, and stayed out of the way. After many phone calls, much frustration and several sighs of despair, Patty found us a car. It wasn't what we had reserved, but we really didn't care. The company was sending someone to pick us up and take us to get the car. It was decided that Patty, Liz and I would go to pick up the car, and Pam and Marty would stay at the hotel with the luggage.<br />
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We were finally given a car after more waiting around and going through an enormous amount of paperwork. We ended up with a Toyota Avensis, which I figured out that it is the European version of the Avalon. We were told that it would fit 5 people with their luggage. Well it did, barely. We had to stuff, crunch and physically force our luggage in the trunk, and were able to get it all in there save for one suitcase, which the trio in the back got to hold. The trio was Pam, Patty and Marty. As I stated before, I was the driver and I had Elizabeth be my navigator.<br />
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We had a lot of frustration that day. Beginning with actually deciding where to go. The only straight answer I ever got was "I just want to go to the coast." With these directions in hand, Liz found us some roads to drive on, and a general destination of where we were going. The roads were small and winding at times, and I think we did get lost once, but the way I figure things, we had no set plans, and we were exploring a foreign country. How bad can it be?As we were driving, it was decided that we would go to Wicklow for our first night in the country. Wicklow is a small village on the coast, and isn't too far from Dublin. The drive to Wicklow is amazing. It was on this drive that we discovered the true Ireland. This is the Ireland that you see in movies, and photos. We drove through the Wicklow Gap, and had our breath taken away by all the different shades of green.<br />
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When we got to Wicklow we easily found a B&B to stay at and began our trip in earnest. We checked in at the B&B, got ourselves settled, and did what would then become a ritual; asked the proprietor of the house where we could get dinner and what are some of the attractions?<br />
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The lady of the house told us of a great Italian restaurant to have dinner at. We decided we would walk to the restaurant for dinner and see what else there was to see. We had been cramped up in the car all day, so a nice evening walk sounded perfect for everyone.<br />
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After dinner we strolled around town and found out there was to be a regatta around Ireland the next day. We couldn't believe our luck, this regatta happens every other year, and we just chanced to show up on the day that before it was to happen. We also saw some old castle ruins that would need exploring in the morning. When we got back to our room, Patty broke out the travel book and discovered the castle is an old Viking ruin called the Black Castle.<br />
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The next morning started with breakfast at the B&B. We found out that two crew members from one of the boats in the race were staying there. We had a nice chat with them, and found out what time the race started. With this information we were ready to start our day. We knew that we wanted to be in Waterford by the end of the day, but still had much to see and do in Wicklow.<br />
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I was nominated to go down the road to the payphone with B&B book in hand, and find us a room for the night. After a couple phone calls, I found us a couple rooms to stay in Tramore which is just outside of Waterford. When I got back to the B&B I was told to cancel the reservation I had just made because Marty had taken it upon himself to get us a room for the night. Knowing that we were going to be checking out and heading out on our way to sight see, I decided I'd call later.<br />
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When we got everything packed up and ready to go, we decided our first stop would be the town's Gaol. This is one of the many prisons that was used from about the 1500's up until the 1800's. The tour there is really informative, and gives the visitor a glimps of what life as a prisoner back then. Let me just say that we treat our unwanted animals better than those prisoners were treated. There was very little food, no personal space, and many prisoners were shipped to Australia to try to make a living out of nothing.<br />
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Following our uplifiting tour of the Gaol, we drove down to the harbor to check out the boats, and go roam around the Black Castle. The crew members of the boats were just starting to get everything together for the race. It was only about 11am and the race didn't take off until 2pm. We knew that we had a while before they took off so we made our way up the hill to the Black Castle.<br />
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The Black Castle is only a bunch of ruins, but the view from the cliffs is amazing. We roamed around there for awhile, and then decided to go see what else what going on at the regatta.<br />
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Getting our fill of boat watching, Liz and I decided we were in dire need of a restroom. Looking around, we noticed there were none to be found at the docks, so we made our way into town. We found a restaurant right on the water, and begged for the bathroom. When we met up with everyone after our deed was done, they told us they were hungry and wanted lunch. Instead of trying to figure out someplace to eat, I just said "Follow me" and we took off to the restroom restaurant. Luckily, the restaurant was very good, and everyone enjoyed their meal. Unfortunately, by the time we finished lunch we missed the start of the regatta so we piled back into the car and took off for Waterford.<br />
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On our drive to Waterford, we discovered a traditional cemetery with an old castle ruin. Considering we had been driving for a while I made the executive decision that a rest stop and Kodak moment was needed.<br />
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We roamed around the cemetery for about 20 minutes, and I took many a picture of all of the old head stones and the castle ruins. When we had all stretched our legs, we got back in the car, decided that we had found a wonderful "side trip" and went back to counting the strawberry and potato stands that we passed.<br />
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We reached Tramore in the evening, ready for dinner and a good night's sleep. We asked the hostess for some local info, and she told us of a pub nearby that has good food. We drove into town and discovered that Tramore is a very quaint seaside town. The downtown area of Tramore has many pubs and shops all over the place. The only problem we discovered was parking. I circled the town a couple times before frustration made me park at an apartment complex.<br />
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We made the short walk to the pub, and found some seats for some grub. Liz and I sat seperate from the adults because seating was sparse. Also, being in a car for the whole day didn't help us to get along any better, so nerves were wearing thin. Liz and I finished dinner before everyone else, so we decided to take a walk around the town and get some fresh, non-smoky air. We did a turn around the town, which didn't take too long, and went back to meet up with the adults. We declared that was the end of the day, and went back to the room for a good night's sleep.<br />
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The next day found us traveling to Waterford to the famous crystal factory. We did the tour there and learned a lot about how crystal is made, and cut. The tour was fascinating, and then, of course, they drop you off at the gift shop/showroom and challenge you not to spend any money. Luckily, I was able to get out of there without too much damage done to my wallet.<br />
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After we left Waterford we headed North to Kilkenney. This was the place we had been looking for but didn't know it.<br />
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When we got to Kilkenney, we dropped Pam and Marty off at the tourist office to find us a B&B to stay at. Patty, Liz and I went to find parking. We ended up parking in front of a B&B, so we went ahead and asked if they had any rooms. Well, they didn't, but the gentleman did call a friend that runs another B&B right up the road, and they had 2 rooms for us. We got directions and headed off to take a look at the place.<br />
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The house was perfect. Not too close to downtown, but close enough to be within walking distance. We said we would have to check with our other travellers, but we wanted the rooms and would be back in a few minutes to formally check in.<br />
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We went to pick up Pam and Marty from the tourist office, and told them of our luck. They hadn't really found anything at the tourist office, so agreed to stay at the place we had found.<br />
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After everyone was settled, the decision was made to split up for the night. Pam and Marty wanted to eat early, and go to bed, while Patty, Liz and I wanted a good dinner and, maybe, check out the pub scene. After we freshened up a bit we asked for a good restaurant in the area. The son, who was in charge for the afternoon at the B&B, told us of a nice restaurant just up the road called Langston's. "O.K." we said, and headed down the road with our directions.<br />
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It was still a little too early for us to eat, so we found a nearby pub and went inside for a pint (or two). Given the early hour of the day, we were the only ones at the Pub so we were able to monopolize the bartenders time. We told him of our travels so far, and what we were up to next. Liz, being the flirty 16 year old she is, decided she had a small crush on this guy, and was doing everything she could to impress him with her ways of the world.<br />
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We had a good time, and ended up wasting enough time until we were hungry for dinner. We said goodbye to the bartender and told him we may be back later for the live music. We walked over to Langston's and got seated promptly for dinner. Langston's is a huge pub/restaurant/hotel. The restaurant portion is very large in its own right. The dining area is spread out, and has high ceilings. In the center of the room the ceiling opens up to a skylight that has the most beautiful stained glass in it. The glass is patterns of red flowers and lets in all kinds of light and airyness.<br />
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After dinner we were stuffed, and decided that we would head back over to the pub to listen to the music and check out the "scene." The band played the good old moldy oldies that everyone likes, and we had a fun, toe-tapping night. Even Elizabeth, who was quite well known of being embarassed by us, had a good time.<br />
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When we got back to the B&B we were greeted by the lady of the house, Angela, and had a wonderfully long conversation with her. We found out that Angela would be travelling to the States in the fall, and she was very excited. She also confirmed our suspicions that Kilkenney is an amazing place. It offers everything a person could want: history, charm, shopping, night life, and it comes in a nice small package.<br />
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The next morning we went to do the tour of Kilkenney castle which sits on the river Knor in the middle of town. Since the castle is in town, we walked there and took the back way in. The walk there is so peaceful, you can't even hear the sounds of the city because you are engulfed in the beauty and the trees.<br />
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When we reached the castle, we roamed around the grounds for a bit before the tour began. We took the standard castle tour and afterwards we walked across the street to the Design Center to do more shopping and have some lunch.<br />
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With gifts and food out of our way, we were ready to begin touring the city. Outside of the Design Center we saw a Kilkenney City tour bus and decided to go on it. We mentioned to the driver that we had taken a similar bus in Dublin and he told us if we still had our tickets from that tour then we could get a discount on the trip. Everyone else had tossed their tickets, but I knew mine was in my backpack. After some frantic searching around, I was still unable to find the ticket, but the driver gave me the discount anyway. So with tickets in hand we boarded the bus and were off to discover Kilkenney.<br />
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We did the same thing with the Kilkenney tour bus as we had with the Dublin bus, we made the loop and decided what we would want to see later. After the tour of the city, Pam and Marty wanted to go back to the B&B for a rest, and Liz wanted to do some shopping. We decided to take the car when we got back to the hotel so we could go exploring when we got done with the requisite clothes shopping.<br />
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We searched shop after shop after shop for the "perfect" outfit that Liz was looking for. She was tired of looking like an American tourist, and wanted to blend in. We finally found a shop that had some clothes she liked, and that Patty and I approved of. Once finished with the shopping we went to check out a church that we saw on the tour.<br />
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We had parked in a parking garage in the middle of town when we were shopping and hadn't noticed the sign that you have to pay before you get to the gates. When we got to the gates, you are supposed to have a code or token, I forget what, and insert it into the machine. Well, as cars pile up behind me, I'm at a loss as to what to do. I finally press the button to speak to the attendant. He tells me to insert my code/token and I say to him: "We're stupid tourists and didn't read the sign to pay before we leave. What should we do." I could just imagine the look on the guys face. He let us through without paying and we were on our way with a laugh that we were so oblivious.<br />
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When we got to the church, Liz wanted to climb the tower there and check out the view. I gave her the camera and said, "knock yourself out." While we were waiting, Patty and I started talking to a lady who was sitting on a bench in the cemetary. She had a beautiful Springer Spaniel with her, and we started swapping pet stories. It turned out that her and her husband were over from England on holiday, and their dog is a show dog, and has entered many competitions.<br />
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Once the lady, her dog, and her husband were on their way, Patty and I went inside the church to look around. Liz finally made her way down from the tower and joined us. I took the camera and started snapping photos. We didn't stay too long at the church, so we headed back to the B&B to freshen up before dinner.<br />
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Not having any other information, we ended up going back to Langston's for dinner. Patty told us that Pam and Marty were going to join us later at the pub at Langston's because there was going to be a traditional Irish band playing. As this was our last night in Kilkenney, and I had been such a good girl the whole trip, I decided it was time to tie one on. I started ordering the Guinness, and didn't stop until much later. Luckily, Guinness is such a wonderful brew that even though I was sporting a nice buzz all night, I had no hangover the next day. Everyone had a great evening, and enjoyed the music wich was good because we didn't need unhappy travelers for our day of driving to come.<br />
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The next day we set out for the city of Cork. Patty was very excited. She had read all sorts of material on how wonderful a city it is, and how nice people are there.<br />
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The drive from Kilkenney to Cork is a very long one, and when we arrived in this big metropolitan city it was the last place we wanted to be so we left. We were not ready for a big city after spending the last 5 days in small towns. We found out that Blarney is just a stone's throw away from Cork, and decided that would be our next stop.<br />
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We got to Blarney after a short drive and found paradise, otherwise known as "The Blarney Woolen Mills. This is a huge department-type store with everything Irish in it. The tourist office is next door, so we stopped there to find a place to stay for the night.<br />
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Pam and Marty found a very nice B&B located just outside of town, so we hopped back into the car and went to find our home for the night. When we arrived, we were offered a cup of tea, and some nourishment for our travel-weary bones. After tea, we headed upstairs to do some freshing up, and a little relaxing before deciding on dinner.<br />
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Dinner that night was a great place in town that served us some amazing food. After we ate ourselves sick, we went outside to the town square where a local football (soccer) match was going on. We watched that for a while, and then headed across the street to one of the pubs there for some music and beer. Given our long day of travel, we didn't last too long at the pub, and were quickly asleep when our heads hit the pillows.<br />
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The next morning found us a the famous Blarney castle to kiss the stone. I was not feeling up to climbing the ump-teen thousand steps to the top, so I handed my camera off to Patty and told her to take a bunch of pictures.<br />
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When they finally made it down from the tower, we decided it was time for some serious shopping. We headed off to the Woolen Mills to get lost in the rows upon rows of souvenirs. Spending too much money and having a great time, we finally met back up outside, and took a vote on what was to be done next.<br />
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It was decided that we would stay another night in Blarney, because no one was ready to get back on the road yet, and it was getting late in the day. We spent the evening at the pub we had been at the night before, and enjoyed a nice dinner, even though Patty's soup was too peppery for her. After the music and Guinness, we did more shopping at a small gift shop next door, then headed back to the B&B for some rest.<br />
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The next morning we headed off for Killarney, and the ring of Kerry. When we arrived in the city of Killarney, we were totally lost. Driving into the city was extremely confusing for us because it was so busy, and the streets were very narrow. I had four people telling me what to do, where to go, and to look out for that guy crossing the street. In all of this confusion, I sort of, hit someone's car.<br />
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Ok, I didn't hit the car hard, just knicked the mirror a bit. Well, this sent everyone off into a frenzy, and they all wanted me to pull over, but there was nowhere to pull over at. I finally circled a block, and found a place to pull over at. Marty automatically jumped out of the car, and went to talk to the guy I hit. When he came back, he said that this kind of thing happens all of the time, and that he wasn't upset. He said he sounded more upset about being delayed from his task by Marty asking if everything was alright then about the car.<br />
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Back on track after the hit-and-run incident, we resumed our search for the tourist office. We found it without too much difficulty and no other major collisions. This was the largest tourist office we had encountered yet. It had an actual department for reservations, and all sorts of souvenirs throughout the place. We wondered around doing some shopping while the hunt for some rooms was taking place.<br />
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With reservations made, we headed, with map in hand to the next place we would stay. When we arrived at the B&B, we noticed that it was more like a mini-hotel than an actual B&B like we had become accustomed to. We made our way up the stairs to the rooms, and decided then, that this was not the place for us.<br />
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We pissed off the owner by sitting on the beds, declaring that we didn't want to stay and leaving. We headed back into town to the tourist office for another go at it. This time a home run was hit. We found a place that was on the outskirts of town, up a hill, and secluded.<br />
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When we arrived, Mrs. O'Niel greeted us with a very warm welcome, and showed us to our rooms. After we decided who was sleeping where, Patty and I went back downstairs for a nice cup of tea in the garden. Mrs. O'Niel set out a proper tea, and we enjoyed a nice quiet moment after our adventures of the morning. It was exactly what we needed to soothe our severed nerves. After tea, we had a couple hours before dinner, and all of us were a little tired. Liz was up in our room resting, because she had come down with a cold, and Pam and Marty decided to do the same. Patty and I wandered around the property, I went to the back of the house, and discovered the two horses Mr. & Mrs. O'Niel kept. Mrs. O'Niel gave me some bread to feed them, so I stayed back there for awhile and talked to the horses, and watched the feral cats chase rodents, all in all having a wonderfully calm day. I ended my afternoon by going into the parlor with my book and finding a comfy chair to read in. By that time everyone was starting to stir and come together.<br />
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I spoke to Mr. O'Niel to find a good place to eat for dinner, and he recommended a place in town that we could try, so once everyone was rested and ready, we headed off for another amazing dinner in Ireland. The restaurant was located on the main drag in Killarney, but Mr. O'Niel had told us we could park by the tourist office, so we did. We found a mall that you could walk through to get to the street, and found the restaurant with out too much difficulty.<br />
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The rest of the night was spent with us just going back to the B&B for some much needed rest and preparing for our big trip in the morning. We had made reservations on a tour bus for a trip on the Ring of Kerry. Everyone was pretty excited, because the drive is supposed to be one of the most beautiful drives in Ireland. And given it's a narrow winding road, I was happy I didn't have to drive it with my nervous passengers.<br />
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The next morning we had our breakfast, and headed down the hill to where the bus would meet us. After a few stops to pick up more passengers, we were on our way.<br />
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The bus ride wasn't too bad. Elizabeth was still feeling like a truck had hit her, but she sucked it up and kept going just to see everything she could. I was just happy I wasn't driving, and could actually look at all of the scenery. The drive is filled with all these mountains and valleys, with so much green that a girl who has grown up in California, could not believe what she was seeing was real.<br />
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We made a couple stops on our way down the ring. Our first stop was at the Red Fox Inn. It's just your standard inn/pub, but next door is an old farm with Thatched roof houses. You have to pay to get in, and me being the cheap skate that I am, decided not to serve up my money for the cause. Our next stop was a real fun one.<br />
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We stopped at a place alongside of the road where a local sheep farmer gives shows with some of his sheep and two of his dogs. He has rented a small strip of land on a hillside, and has about 4 sheep up on the top grazing, he then sends the dogs up the hill using only whistle commands, and has them bring the sheep down. It was very impressive, and entertaining.<br />
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When we reached the bottom of the peninsula we stopped at a hotel, and had an over priced lunch then headed back up the ring to make a couple more stops before getting back to Kilarney.<br />
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One of the stops we made was just a vista point, but there were these two Irish Gentlemen there playing music, with their own traveling pet shop. They had rabbits, cats, and all other sorts of animals for sale so, of course, they were a big hit with many doing the "awwww" and "ooohhhh" statements.<br />
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When we made it back to Kilarny, Liz was not feeling well at all, so she went to take a bath and relax, and Patty and I headed into town to find a phone to check on things at home. I checked my messages and Patty found out that the dog, cats and horses were all fine, but missed everyone and her husband, Larry, was making daily trips to the barn to make sure the horses got their daily dose of carrots and treats.<br />
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We got back to the B&B had a rest, and decided on where to have dinner. Yet another fantastic restaurant was suggested to us, and we ate all we could stand.<br />
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With Elizabeth still not feeling too well, and the rest of us just tuckered out from traveling, we decided to take the next day off, and relax. Patty and I took some clothes to a nearby laundry mat, and had our clothes done.<br />
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While we were waiting for the clothes to be done, we went and got some sandwitches for everyone, checked with the homeland again, and then went back to the laundry mat for our clothes. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing and sitting around. The next day we would head back out onto the road, and pick up our journey where we left off.<br />
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We left the next morning saying goodbye to Mr. & Mrs. O'Niel and Killarney and headed for the Rock of Cashel. Had we known that the drive there was going to be the long traffic-laden one it was, we might have changed our plans.<br />
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We followed a line of cars to Cashel that were not out for your normal Sunday drive. These were sports fans. Every town we went through were flying their colors of some team we didn't know. We didn't even know what the sport was that was being played. All we knew was that the three hour drive we were expecting turned out to be about 5 hours.<br />
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When we finally made it to Cashel we found our B&B's. We had reserved our rooms in advance with Mrs. O'Niel because her friend ran one of the B&B's. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for us at the inn, so to speak, so we were split up between the two Bed & Breakfasts. Pam and Marty ended up just up the road from us, which was more than fine for us because we had pretty much had our Marty overload by the end of this day. Patty, Liz and I took a nice break and sat outside at our B&B and played cards for a little while before it started to sprinkle, and we were forced inside.<br />
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Once again, I took the initiative and asked the keeper of the inn where would be a good place to eat for the evening. He informed me that because of the "hurling" match (the reason for the slow traffic and decorated towns) every place we went to that night would be packed. I told him I understood, but we still had to eat so he suggested a pub up the road.<br />
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After everyone had enough time to rest and psyche themselves up to get back into the car we were off to the pub for dinner. The pub wasn't too packed when we got there, so it seemed. We were seated right away, and our drinks were ordered. Then the wait started. We managed to flag down the waitress to give her our orders, and she did tell us that it may be a while before we would get our food because a large order was placed just before ours. Knowing that anywhere else we would go to would be just as packed, I said "no problem."<br />
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Patty took this opportunity to call home and check on things while Liz and I stayed with Pam and Marty. After about 15 minutes Marty started whining about the service and how much better the service was when we were in Killarney. I tried to be the diplomatic one and remind him that there was a big sports event in the area, and everywhere we could go would be packed, so we would just have to deal with it. That kept him quiet for a few minutes, but he started up again.<br />
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I knew that it was not my place to say anything. I was given a great opportunity by Patty to join them on this trip, but I was tired, hungry, and had had it by then so I just snapped. I said "If you liked the service so much back in Killarney, then why don't you just go, and we'll stay here. Anyplace we go tonight is going to be just like this so all we can do is sit and wait, and try to enjoy ourselves." Luckily he stopped his whining, and Liz just sat there looking at me with a mix of shock, dismay, and gratefulness in her eyes.<br />
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When Patty had finally came back to the table she was surprised to find us in fairly good spirits, and our food had arrived. We ate our dinner which turned out to be pretty good, despite the wait, and headed home.<br />
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We woke up the next morning and headed for the Rock of Cashel. We took the tour of the old Cathedral there and walked around for awhile before getting back into the car and heading East for Dublin.<br />
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We made the drive in relatively good time, however, when we got back into Dublin, my nerves were shot, and the traffic was plentiful.<br />
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We ended up coming into town from a different direction than from where we left, and everyone was talking at once causing me to get even more confused as to where we needed to go. Needless to say, we got lost, stopped to consult maps, and I snapped at Marty, but after all of the trauma, we managed to find the hotel we were staying at for the next couple days.<br />
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After we made it to the hotel and dropped the bags, along with Pam & Marty, Patty, Liz and I went to return the car. Again, it can't be too simple for the three of us. We knew the place was right across the river and over a couple blocks. What we didn't know was that we would have to drive around the ring of death to get there. You see, there is this road that circles Trinity College, and many streets shoot off of this main road. Well, we couldn't find our street that we had to turn off on, and ended up going around Trinity College about 12 times. By the time we made it to the car rental place my nerves were fried, and I just needed some quiet Jenny time.<br />
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We managed to walk back to the hotel, and I quickly made a bee line for the bar. We had a bite to eat, then Patty & Liz went up to their room while I stayed down at the bar for a couple pints. When I finally got up to my room, I was ready for a nice long nap and some quiet. I was able to get a little bit of sleep before Liz came to my door wanting to hang out with me because she was tired of the adults. We stayed in my room for a while longer, then went down to meet everyone for the night's entertainment. Knowing that I was going to have to get up about 3am to make it to the airport, I made it an early evening and didn't stay too long.<br />
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I bid everyone a good night, and wished them well for the rest of their trip and headed up to bed. The next morning, at the crack before dawn, I got up, showered, and went downstairs to meet my taxi to head on home.<br />
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Despite all of the tension, and arguments, I loved my trip to Ireland, and I can't wait to go again. Patty, Liz and I are planning our second trip to Ireland for Summer 2002 to County Galway, and County Mayo. We decided to cut the traveling down to just two hotels, and not live out of a suitcase so much. Hopefully, with it being just the three of us, we will have an even more amazing time than the last trip. Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-57890404637046256402015-06-26T10:21:00.002-07:002015-06-26T10:22:30.693-07:00Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;">GREEN CHILI </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;">CHICKEN ENCHILADAS WITH</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;">SOUR CREAM SAUCE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">During my hours of surfing through Pinterest for ideas, inspirations and just for fun, I finally came upon a recipe for green chili chicken enchiladas that didn't use that dreaded cream of something crappy soup. I had been looking for one for a while and was always discouraged by my search results.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks to <a href="http://recipesfoodandcooking.com/2012/01/04/chicken-enchiladas-with-green-chili-sour-cream-sauce/" target="_blank">Recipies, Food & Cooking</a> for posting this great recipe, but I did have to make some alterations to it to make it my own.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXAn_BRASwx49X6SjKIomuhlmO37pQTjPNFTle6jV3jzZY8DTze4YeP-PhLqk8bqYNo6AURfzaOiywXL3barZFrbYEW0yf9XRISFPdH7LnXs2xjp_l3EwINaAGjm5n20yx1_sY5VcftTD/s1600/Green-Chile-Enchiladas-1024x682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXAn_BRASwx49X6SjKIomuhlmO37pQTjPNFTle6jV3jzZY8DTze4YeP-PhLqk8bqYNo6AURfzaOiywXL3barZFrbYEW0yf9XRISFPdH7LnXs2xjp_l3EwINaAGjm5n20yx1_sY5VcftTD/s320/Green-Chile-Enchiladas-1024x682.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">INGREDIENTS</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">10 flour tortillas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 cups cooked, shredded chicken </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">3 charred and peeled, diced green </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">chilies</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1-2 jalapenos, chopped</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 onion, diced</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4 cloves garlic, minced</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 Tbsp. butter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 Tbsp. flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 cups chicken broth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5 oz. cream cheese</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">½ cup sour cream</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 14oz. can sweet corn kernels, drained and rinsed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 14oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">INSTRUCTIONS</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 pan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a sauce pan, add a couple tablespoons of oil and saute onion, green chilies, garlic and jalapeno until onion has softened. Remove from pan and add to a large bowl with the shredded chicken, corn and black beans. In the same sauce pan you used for the veggies, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute to make a light roux. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Add cream cheese and stir until melted then remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour over chicken and veggie mixture and add 1 1/2 cups of the Monterey Jack cheese.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Roll chicken and veggie mixture into tortillas and place in greased pan. Pour any additional sauce mixture over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Bake 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly and the cheese is browned. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">These came out so good I want to make them again tonight!</span>Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-44181923749181047292013-10-22T11:39:00.000-07:002013-10-22T11:39:45.515-07:00Sometimes You Just Gotta Whine and Get it OutI woke up this morning after a very restless night only to find out that my phone had died overnight and I was already an hour and a half late for waking up. (GREAT!) Well, nothing to do about it, but just get up and start the day, right? I suppose so. Just another hill to climb in this life of mine. And that's what it has been feeling like lately, nothing but hills. Normally I trudge up them and try not to complain too much, but this time I just felt like sitting back and giving that hill in front of me the bird. I didn't want to try to figure a way to make up for the time I am losing at work today being late, I didn't want to jury-rig something to make it fit or use whatever meager resources I have to fill in the holes. I'm tired.<br />
<br />
I'm tired of having to do things the hard way. I miss the days when I was ignorant and could just pop something from a box into the microwave and not have to worry about what sort of chemicals I was about to eat or how much extra sugar and salt is in that food or even what the microwave was doing to this processed food. Now even heating up something involves pots and pans that then have to be washed by hand because we don't own a dishwasher and takes more time to do. Dishes now stack up faster than I can keep up. Cooking everything from scratch means that if you want something to eat, you have to make it, all of it. If there is no bread for toast or a sandwich it means that no one made that bread. If you want something to put on that toast, you better hope there is another jar of jam in the pantry from what you canned in the summer. Pizza night involves waiting for the dough to rise instead of the pizza guy to show up. Having chicken for dinner? Save those bones in the freezer with your vegetable cuttings because you're going to have to make chicken stock to have soup another day. The hard way sucks. It's what it is... hard. But it also saves a ton of money and we know what goes into our food so we do it.<br />
<br />
I'm tired of being poor all the time. It is a week until payday and I have $6.00 to my name. Yes, you read that right, I have $6.00 in my checking account. There is no savings because when you get down to this amount twice a month it makes it harder to cut expenses. Could I cut more? Yes. Do I want to? Not really. Am I going to have to? You bet! What makes this even worse is now I legally have to get health insurance for my husband or be fined for not doing so. So, I will choose to add him to my insurance and have it deducted from my paycheck and we will make due. I now say good bye to date nights with the husband going out to restaurants we love and memberships to wine clubs we enjoy. These may sound extravagant to others, but it's all we really have. I don't spend money on anything else. I don't <u>have</u> money to spend on anything else. I have holes in my clothes, a crack in my windshield on my car, a crack in my bathtub, and a kitchen that is half torn up just waiting for a make over. I spent less than $40 on 100lbs of tomatoes and made 4 different types of marinara sauce over a two week period and canned approx 30 jars of sauce. All of that just so I don't have to spend $2-$4 a jar on pasta sauce.<br />
<br />
I'm tired of being "the one." You know that person. The one who everyone goes to when they have a question, or need something done because it's just easier than having to figure it out for themselves. The one that has to run the errands, figure out the solution to the problem, do the research, fix the program, build the report, make the decision, contact the people, make the reservation, pick the details, be the bad guy, be the one. I don't want to have to come home from a 9 hour work day, try to figure out what to make for dinner, start laundry, do the dishes, manage the dogs and know that I'm still neglecting my volunteer work then feel guilty for wanting some peace and quiet after everything is said and done.<br />
<br />
I think it's time to go find some cheese for all this whine I have going on and pull up my big girl panties (even though they have holes in them.) I got out what I needed to get out and now need to tackle my mountains for the day and find a way to make them seem more like the mole hills they truly are. In the end, I have a job that pays me a decent salary and all my bills are paid, I am married to a wonderful man who is my best friend, I have a pack of crazy-loveable dogs that make me smile every day, I have wonderful friends that have and will always be there for me and I get to volunteer for an organization that I feel passionate about with people that inspire me daily. Life ain't that bad, it's just how you look at it.<br />
<br />
Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-65631103610109285832013-09-20T15:01:00.003-07:002013-09-20T15:01:31.191-07:00A little ranty, but need to get it out.<span style="font-size: small;">I think I just have a love/hate relationship with technology and am
constantly amazed by how much people will spend on it to have the latest
and the greatest shiny object. I understand most technology and many of my friends often solicit help from me with their computers or different programs. I normally
have no problems figuring out a new computer or gadget, but I also live
a simple life. I don't want to live plugged into something 24/7. I
don't want to have to have my mp3 player with me all the time so I can have my "tunes" or fret because I left my phone at
home. My car still has the stock CD player that came with it and if I
forget my phone at home, then, oh well, I'll just have to live without
it. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The fact that Apple stores are selling out of the new i<span style="font-size: small;">P</span>hones within 30 minutes is kind of making me sick. Do you people really need a new phone that bad? I doubt it, you just want something shiny and new. My phone is three years old, I bought it used less than a year ago and is the first smart phone I have owned. Does it do the job? Yup, sure does! Do I need a new one, not until this one totally breaks down on me. Does my life depend on it? Nope, but it is handy. I probably would still have my old phone if I wasn't involved in pet rescue. I found that trying to find someone's home in the dark and having printed maps weren't a good combination so I made the splurge. I paid $60 on ebay for my phone to have GPS so I wouldn't crash into someone's mailbox while trying to find the next street to turn on while juggling a puppy and a map in the dark.</span><br />
<br />
Now, don't get me wrong, I love my phone. I get to play all those silly games, troll Facebook when I'm out and about and post all my obnoxious food photos on Instagram. But am I constantly on it? No, and when I find myself pulling it out in boredom I make myself stop and recognize what I'm doing before doing anything else. You see, I don't want to be addicted to my phone. I don't want to have to check my phone for every update that comes through or to be one of those people that can't sit and have a conversation with someone else without their phone being on the table buzzing and beeping and checking it every two seconds. They always say they are paying attention, but then a text will come through they have to check, and BAM there they go, somewhere else instead of being there with you in that moment that you will never get back.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure what point I'm trying to get across here, but I just felt the need to get it out there. Is it my sensitivity to what I perceive as greed? There is so much waste in this world and when I see a headline like the one I saw today about the iPhone's selling out it just get's me going. I see all of those perfectly good phones being cast aside for the latest and greatest model that will be obsolete within a year when that money can be going to better things. Greed is what has put this country in the mess it is in now and the fact that people run to spend money they don't really have get a phone they don't really need just escapes my logic.<br />
<br />
I guess there was no point to this rant, other than for me to rant. I think I need to climb back into my hole and go back to living in the 40's with my canned goods, cooking from scratch and re-using and re-purposing every possible item I can before having to buy something new.<br />
<br />Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-57391815010817754112013-05-24T10:29:00.004-07:002013-05-24T10:30:19.913-07:00Re-Grow Foods from Kitchen Scraps<div style="text-align: left;">
I'm guilty of just throwing away most of my kitchen scraps when it's so easy to just have some pots ready to re-grow all these items. It's like throwing money away. Must change the bad habits and grow your food; it's good for the environment and good for your pocketbook!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRINOgr1zwCUmi8eEJdrL3sFfehppYaeNJwRnQKWjwq57u-YhKRwfhyphenhyphenTAD9GvY4d569ApwBT6Vk6rbtan8Dv6gx4aiPfD7-AstFMhpcEg3bH_En7rZlVnUASTMqXv8k8gMnXNEQrpzJLr/s1600/foodsThatReGrow.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRINOgr1zwCUmi8eEJdrL3sFfehppYaeNJwRnQKWjwq57u-YhKRwfhyphenhyphenTAD9GvY4d569ApwBT6Vk6rbtan8Dv6gx4aiPfD7-AstFMhpcEg3bH_En7rZlVnUASTMqXv8k8gMnXNEQrpzJLr/s640/foodsThatReGrow.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-39585016524867616932013-05-14T10:17:00.001-07:002013-05-14T10:19:29.176-07:00Guinness & Honey Chocolate Cake<div class="MsoNormal">
The husband found this recipe on this world wide web of ours and decided he wanted it made for his birthday this past weekend. After having the cake boil over the recommended 9-inch cake pan and make my house smell like charcoal for three days now, I made some adjustments to the recipe. </div>
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I may have burnt cake all over my oven, but this is one of the best cakes I've had in a while. I served it with the frosting dolloped on top and fresh strawberries on the side.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For cake:</b></div>
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1 cup Guinness MINUS 2 tablespoons</div>
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½ cup + 2 tablespoons butter</div>
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½ cup dark cocoa</div>
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1 cup superfine sugar</div>
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¾ cup + 1 tablespoon Local Honey</div>
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¾ cup sour cream</div>
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2 eggs</div>
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1 tablespoon vanilla extract</div>
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2 cups all‐purpose flour</div>
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2 ½ teaspoons baking soda</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For frosting:</b></div>
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8 oz cream cheese</div>
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1 ¼ cups powdered sugar</div>
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less than ½ cup heavy cream</div>
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Preheat oven to 325º. Grease a 10‐inch springform pan and
line with parchment paper.</div>
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Heat sliced butter and Guinness in a large saucepan until
butter is almost melted. Add honey and blend well until mixture is fully
combined. Remove from heat. Whisk in superfine sugar and cocoa. Beat sour cream,
eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl; add the Guinness mixture to egg mixture
gently to avoid scrambling the eggs. Be sure to keep mixing. Blend well then beat
in the flour and baking soda.</div>
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Pour batter into pan and bake for the first 20 minutes at
325º, then increase temperature to 350º for last 25‐30 minutes. Check with
toothpick (should come out clean). When done, cool completely in the pan on a
wire rack.</div>
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For frosting, beat powdered sugar and cream cheese together
until creamy. Add heavy cream a little at a time and beat until spreadable and you get the consistency you want.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMUUYucz_ok6cckmo8fZaPwBUDAzJZKvJApwf9JvqNGfHaxY0-dwVsMzbKVaqZtZIIUHpbJU4AL1tzGXQL5CaW825O6wIsNjFXUW2kR3zyrprXlYetj7b1TfmoxdW79EnuteTkZj_8m2r/s1600/IMAG0063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIMUUYucz_ok6cckmo8fZaPwBUDAzJZKvJApwf9JvqNGfHaxY0-dwVsMzbKVaqZtZIIUHpbJU4AL1tzGXQL5CaW825O6wIsNjFXUW2kR3zyrprXlYetj7b1TfmoxdW79EnuteTkZj_8m2r/s320/IMAG0063.jpg" width="253" /></a></div>
Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-58197951441009469092013-05-08T11:24:00.002-07:002013-05-08T11:24:32.552-07:00Fruit Ripening ChartThis is a great chart on the best ways to ripen fruit after you have brought it home from the store.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq6nnaUiO4D1RSYeJJKYS-VbOvkoqwrRg7FfFTBQh3skBssrsfKNFk8I-jqzpdg5UNm6ODS5zhVJHCcZMDQlr-CR1H85kq90-tdgRAVCjiFw5g7bMkqpnbmrFRWRnSPJfWfbqE99oV5IQK/s1600/infographic_ripening_blog.ashx_.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq6nnaUiO4D1RSYeJJKYS-VbOvkoqwrRg7FfFTBQh3skBssrsfKNFk8I-jqzpdg5UNm6ODS5zhVJHCcZMDQlr-CR1H85kq90-tdgRAVCjiFw5g7bMkqpnbmrFRWRnSPJfWfbqE99oV5IQK/s1600/infographic_ripening_blog.ashx_.png" /></a></div>
<br />Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-1521064315051691752013-05-07T08:59:00.002-07:002013-05-07T08:59:40.252-07:00Hot Glue Gun StandShanty to Chic has a great tutorial on making a glue gun holder. The husband has already been tasked to make one for me!<br />
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<a href="http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hot-glue-gun-stand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hot-glue-gun-stand.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2013/01/diy-hot-glue-gun-holder.html" target="_blank">http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2013/01/diy-hot-glue-gun-holder.html</a></div>
Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-55920200396740297152013-05-07T08:54:00.004-07:002013-05-07T08:54:49.901-07:00Mango CobblerThis looks so yummy, I'm going to have to try it some tropical night or maybe make it for our next South Seas Cinema event!<br />
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<a href="http://x-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/5185d345fb04d62e7f00015e._w.540._s.fit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://x-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/5185d345fb04d62e7f00015e._w.540._s.fit.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<div id="recipe">
<h3>
Mango Cobbler with Coconut Whipped Cream</h3>
<i>Serves 6</i><br />
<i>For the filling:</i><br />
4 pounds ripe mangos, <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cut-a-mango-166290" target="_blank">peeled and sliced</a> into 1/2-inch pieces<br />
1/4 cup sugar<br />
1/4 cup all-purpose flour<br />
1 tablespoon lemon juice<br />
1/4 teaspoon salt<br />
<i>For the topping:</i><br />
1 cup all-purpose flour<br />
2 tablespoons sugar<br />
1/4 teaspoon salt<br />
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes<br />
1 large egg, lightly beaten<br />
1/3 cup buttermilk<br />
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut chips<br />
Coconut Whipped Cream, for serving<br />
<br />
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place all the filling ingredients in a
large bowl and toss to coat mango slices evenly. Transfer to a 9-inch
square baking pan and bake for 15 minutes.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, make the
topping. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Use a
pastry cutter or your hands to rub butter into the mixture until it
looks like coarse meal. Add the beaten egg and buttermilk, and stir
until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Spoon the batter over the
hot mango mixture in 9 evenly-spaced clumps<br />
<br />
Bake for 25 to 30
minutes, or until the topping is golden brown. Let cool for at least 15
minutes. Meanwhile, spread coconut chips evenly on a rimmed baking sheet
and bake for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden brown. Remove immediately
from the hot pan and sprinkle over the cobbler.<br />
Serve warm or at
room temperature, with a dollop of coconut whipped cream on each
serving. (Be aware that the cream will melt quickly if the cobbler is
warm.)<br />
<h3>
Recipe Notes</h3>
<ul>
<li>I use Ataulfo mangos — also called Manila or champagne mangos —
because they are very sweet and not too fibrous. Other mango varieties
can be substituted, but if they are quite tart, you may need to add
additional sugar to the filling.</li>
<li>For a slightly less tropical
dessert, serve the cobbler with regular whipped cream or vanilla ice
cream instead of the coconut whipped cream.</li>
<li>This dessert tastes
best the day it is made, but can be made up to one day ahead, cooled,
and stored at room temperature, wrapped tightly with foil or plastic
wrap. </li>
</ul>
Thank you to <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/" target="_blank">The Kitchn</a> for this yummy recipe.</div>
Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-78477814187195530652011-10-19T10:52:00.000-07:002011-10-19T10:57:24.814-07:00Off the beaten pathI've had some thoughts rolling around in my brain the last few weeks and I think it's time I get them out. I'm not sure where they will go or what they mean, but they are there and I feel the need to share.<br />
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The Occupy Wall Street movement has grabbed not only my attention but my hope. I have hope that the change that has been needed for so very long will be acknowledged. I have hope that Americans will see that all that is shiny is not always good. Unfortunately, I don't have too much hope that our government will change for the better. For too long corporate lobbyists have used their super PACs to buy off politicians to get what they want at the expense of Main Street America.<br />
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So where does my hope lay you ask? Well, in the people. Those same people who gave all of their money to these corporate giants they now are protesting. True that laws were created giving corporations the same rights as people and there are tax loopholes a plenty that they get to take advantage of to avoid paying not only their fare share but also what I feel is their duty to pay. Let's not even go into how corporations get away with stealing retirement benefits from workers to give the executives huge bonuses and "Golden Parachutes" while those who did the actual work are laid off and told there is no money for their own retirement. No, my hope is that with this movement, people will realize what made America the great country it once was is still there. It's there on Main Street where they are having their protests. It's in the small businesses of America that are the other option for your money. It's the corner diner to take your family for that Friday night dinner instead of Denneys, it's shopping at a local supermarket or grocery store instead of at Wal-Mart or Target. My hope is for people to realize that going back to basics is what is needed not only for our government but for the citizens as well. The corporations only got so powerful because we gave them the money, we shopped at their stores, put our money in their banks and used their services.<br />
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I am proud to say that I have been a loyal credit union customer with my banking since I got my first checking account, I've shopped at Wal-Mart only a handful of times in my life, choose to eat at locally owned independent businesses instead of chains keeping my money in my town and my community. When shopping for food, we shop for ingredients, not packaged items, we make our food from scratch which is not only better for you, but costs less in the end. When buying gifts for others I usually will shop on Etsy knowing I am supporting independent crafters like myself and not paying for cheap labor in China. Yes, what I purchase may be more expensive, but I buy less than if I was shopping at Target. My purchases are more thought out and personal which in the end is more meaningful for the recipient and isn't that the point of a gift? Not just to give someone more stuff, but to give them something you worked hard to create or seek out yourself?<br />
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Now before my arm gets tired patting itself on the back, I'm not perfect and know that I have contributed my own amounts to large corporations. I admit to having a cell phone account with Verizon for more years than I can count, but that plan is the most basic plan I can get and neither my husband's or my phone are the newest or greatest. We have no aps, no GPS, no Facebook or anything like that for our phones, we can make phone calls, text, and take some photos and that's about it. I also am far more in debt that I would like to and am working on paying my way out and getting to the other side. How did I let myself get so far in debt? I fell prey to corporate advertisers and peer pressure in wanting to have the latest and greatest stuff. I wanted to live like I had no worries when in fact I did and they have now caught up to me, but I have happily changed my ways and learned that life is good even when you seem to have nothing.<br />
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I am also not fully guiltless because I have to say I have, myself, profited from the current economic conditions. If it wasn't for the housing crash in 2008 I wouldn't have been able to afford the home I now have. For about what we paid in rent for a 1 bedroom apartment I have a huge 1,615 square foot house with a large backyard. I was smart and made sure I could afford the mortgage payments and got a fixed rate mortgage. It's because of this crash that I have also learned how to do more with less. For $28 my husband and I were able to purchase 80lbs of tomatoes and can them for the rest of the year. Spending a couple days canning will save us probably double that amount for the rest of the year and that's just the beginning. You may say, "but is it worth all the work?" Yes it is. When you think of the sodium and preservatives that go into most canned food along with not sure where that food is coming from, it's worth it. Most people say they don't have the time to can, preserve, or cook from scratch and that's only because they are not willing to take the time. The time spent with your family in jointly creating a meal from scratch is worth far more than the 30 minute meal you threw together and your family ate in front of the tv. My hope with this movement is that more people out there become aware of small changes they can make to their everyday lives to not only save money but also make sure the money they spend stays in their community and out of corporate hands. When there is no more money on Wall Street and Main Street is prosperous then, we will have our America back. This is my hope. So go out, skip getting your morning coffee from Starbucks and try that local coffee shop, they just might surprise you.<br />
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<br />Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-76476811645023746832011-08-30T18:45:00.000-07:002011-08-30T18:45:22.316-07:00Making that food dollar go all the way.I've been thinking lately how we will make some awesome meals then live off of the left overs for a week or until we are sick to death of them. Well, this week we're doing things differently. Last night I did the traditional roasted chicken using chicken quarters husband had got on sale with some staples we keep in the house of potatoes, carrots and onions. It came out fabulous, but not something I wanted to eat all week long for lunch and dinner. Tonight is the beginning of the re-purpose, re-use and re-design of that which was made first.<br />
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<b>I now present to you, the chicken tostada!</b><br />
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I took one of the quarters and shredded it, added garlic powder, red chili powder and cumin and sauteed it while I fried up some left over tortillas from Saturday. I heated up some beans, chopped some onions added some cilantro and busted out the tomatillo salsa that husband had made that day. They turned out fabulous and were a quick Tuesday night meal that even Rachel Ray and her 30 minute timer would be proud of.<br />
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Huzzah for leftovers of another color!Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-72940801139262050152011-08-24T20:48:00.000-07:002011-08-24T20:48:01.490-07:00Baker's first timeThose who know me know that I'm not a huge baker but I do enjoy the occasional cookie baking session. Husband has been begging for a Kitchenaid mixer for a couple years now and since he makes many loaves of bread in a month so I figured he kind of deserved it and Christmas came early to the Peterson house.<br />
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After noticing a sale at Kohl's where the $399 mixer was on sale for $299 and I had a 30% coupon giving me an extra $90 off plus free shipping, a $30 rebate and ordering through ebates.com getting me another $8.40 cash back, I figured I couldn't pass it up. Also, I think husband was happy.<br />
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Not to mention the pretty pistachio green color couldn't be passed up!<br />
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Once I broke it in with a batch of cookies, husband has made banana bread, white bread and a batch of tortillas so I felt it necessary to put my baking skills to the test tonight. Husband had bought a big bag of limes last week and I didn't want them to go to waste so I figured it was time to do a key lime pie. I whipped up a graham cracker crust and found a recipe for a key lime pie. Now the tricky part was that having egg whites left over I figured I would make a meringue for the top. I have never beat egg whites to a stiff peak before and I hope I did it correctly, but I think the pie at least turned out pretty. Just going to have to give it a try.<br />
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Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-88460668918715006382011-08-12T07:13:00.000-07:002011-08-12T07:13:10.849-07:00To the rabbit holeThe parking lot where I work is located in an alley and therefore is not the "shiny" side of the street. Several months ago, I noticed some interesting graffiti on the back of the building that is behind our parking lot. A cute little bunny. He just sat there on the corner of the building like he was meant to watch over the alley.<br />
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This morning, as I looked over to make sure our little friend was still there and doing his duty, I noticed something new. He now had a home to go to at night. A small door was placed on the side of the building and you could see his little rabbit foot prints make their way from the door to his place of vigil where he stands during the day.<br />
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This little bit of "vandalism" or artistic creativity made my morning and brought a ray of sunshine into an otherwise gloomy day. So, thank you to who ever you are that decided to add some whimsy to our world. We need more of it in these dark times and it sure does help.Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-62252235803839390022011-08-10T10:17:00.000-07:002011-08-10T10:17:29.482-07:00Mexican chicken on the flyIn my effort to update this blog a bit more often, I'll share what I made for dinner last night. Husband was gracious enough to thaw out a little roasting chicken during the day, so I rubbed it with some olive oil, garlic, salt, cumin and cayenne then set it in a 400 degree oven for a little over an hour and served it with some great corn he had picked up earlier in the week.<br />
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Topped with some left over salsa and a sprinkle of green onions it was quiet tasty and not a whole lot of work.Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-26154671888465481132011-08-09T17:02:00.000-07:002011-08-09T17:02:58.331-07:00Dark and Stormy - Yes Please!Not sure if I've ever mentioned my new found love for the beverage known as a dark and stormy. If I haven't well, let me introduce you. A dark and stormy is a lovely rum drink simply made with Gosling's black seal rum and the spiciest ginger beer you can get. You poor the ginger beer into your glass, then float the rum on top to add the "dark and stormy" look. Garnish with a lime and that's it! You're done, enjoy!<br />
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In my quest to find a suitably spicy ginger beer, I came across a recipe online to <a href="http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2008/how-to-make-your-own-ginger-beer/">make your own</a>. As the home making freak that I am I, of course, had to try this recipe and since I was planning on having a luau party, I figured this would be the ultimate time to make it. The recipe is simple, grated ginger, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, yeast and time. That's it, nothing too special. When done, I had a wonderfully spicy ginger brew that made my dark and stormys to die for. Also, on hot summer days, it's wonderful on it's own served over ice.<br />
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The recipe needs some tweaking, a little more ginger, a little less lemon, but all in all, it's a great cheap beverage for cocktails or on its own. Enjoy!<br />
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Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-11220351821806451652011-08-08T14:38:00.000-07:002011-08-08T14:38:05.007-07:00Dog Whispering and Dead BatteriesIt all started with the thought to do some good for a friend. A girlfriend of mine recently decided to foster a little yorkie but has never owned a dog in her life and was starting to have some problems. The dog had started to bite her and her family and also basically anyone who went to touch him and she didn't know what to do. As a dog lover and an avid fan/student of Cesar Milan's I wanted to help. I figured she was doing her part by giving a homeless dog a home, it was up to me to help her with how to provide a happy home for the dog.<br />
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You'd think this is the face of an angel? Sweet little yorkie can do no wrong. Right? Um, no. From what my friend had told me, Leo was found on the streets and it seems he's had no "formal" training in his life and has just been able to run wild and take over whatever he wants. Well, I show up and basically tell him that things are going to change. After 40 minutes of trying to get the dog to submit to me I finally am able to get the leash on him. The whole time I have to control my emotions and stay calm while this dog is trying to attack my feet, the broom I am holding and whatever else he can get his teeth on him. Needless to say I was emotionally spent but had only just begun. One good thing is that Leo is wonderful on a leash and is taken on walks daily by the family which is the best thing they were doing for him so when we went out for a quick walk to re-balance ourselves I didn't have to fight him or show him how to walk properly because they were already doing it all correctly. Yay!<br />
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Getting back into the house we decided the first thing to work on was his biting. (Oh joy!) I went to sit on the couch and brought Leo with me and let the fun begin. Once again, he did not want to submit and knew that he had all this power by being able to bite and snap at people, but I was determined not to let him win. Needless to say, after several frustration fits that made it sound like he was being murdered, laying him down to submit and several small bites to my left hand, he finally began to calm down and realize I wasn't there to kill him. The poor pup had even peed and pooped himself because he had so much pent up frustration and just released everything he had on me, but we had success! This whole time my wonderful husband was with me and he knew exactly what I was doing so he could talk to the family and let them know what was going on, what I'm trying to accomplish and answer their questions leaving me to purely focus on the dog, and trust me, I needed it. After the fit-o-rama that Leo put on, their next big request was to get him to go into his crate because that's where they want him to sleep at night. Phew... no problem! It took a bit to show Leo what I wanted and for him to trust me enough to move forward, but in the end it was only about 30-40 seconds of me giving him a gentle tug of the leash into the crate until he moved forward, then he was in with no problem. We did it several times with the mom, kids and me and each time was easier and easier, just like I knew it was going to be. There were a couple other small issues and lots of questions, but by the end of the evening, Leo was going into his crate all by himself and the family was very grateful to have had us come over. Myself; I was emotionally exhausted from staying calm with a temper tantrum dog biting my hand over and over again and also fairly proud of myself for what I had accomplished. I had never done anything like this before, but kept my head and knew I was doing what was right for the dog and the family.<br />
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That was Friday, this is Saturday or Day of the Dead as I call it. All started well with thoughts of going to the farmer's market for whatever goodies we could find, a quick stop at the grocery store was all that stood in our way. We stopped at the store for the much needed cat food, got our cash for the market and were back in the car when... click, click, click... dead battery. CRAP! How could it be dead? We've had no problems!?! So I go to call roadside assistance and notice 1 bar left on my phone. Double crap! Well, here's to hoping that the battery will hold for my rescue call, which it did, then once I received the confirmation text, it went ahead and died it's battery death. There we sat with 2 dead batteries and waiting for a jump. Luckily there was shade and it was a pleasant morning, so other than being pissed that this was happening and frustrated that I hadn't charged my phone, all was well. Except... husband decides to play music from his phone to make the time go faster and his phone which has been having issues lately decides to lock up and we can't get it to turn back on. WTH??? Well, within the described time the guy shows up to jump our car and I guess our battery was extra dead because he had to use his car plus the portable jump compressor. Just as he is driving away and we are going to pull out, the car dies again! TRIPLE CRAP!!! <br />
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There we sat, no car battery, no cell phone and no idea what we were going to do. Luckily the kind people at the bank inside the grocery store were wonderful enough to let me use their phone to call, once again, for a jump, which turned into a tow. After more frustration and waiting and not knowing what we're going to do with this stinking car because now we don't know if it's the battery or the alternator, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst, the tow truck shows up to take us home. At this point all we want to do is go back to bed and start the day over, but we know there are problems that need fixing and batteries that need to be attended to so we got to work. Husband got his tools and dealt with the car battery while I put my phone on the charger and went on the hunt for my old phone to transfer to the husband. Much later with more frustrations and hard work we both finished. A day that started around 10:30am with a "quick trip to the store" ended at 4pm exhausted and all we had to show for it was a bag of catfood and a lighter wallet. We were glad we survived however husband did say "no good deed goes unpunished." Meaning the good we did the night before helping a friend in need was punished with what we went through that day. I'm not sure if I agree, but it certainly had great timing if it's true.<br />
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Luckily, Sunday was capped off with an evening of fun having Mark, Selina and their boys over for pizza and a movie. Laughter and fun was all we had to deal with and we survived that with flying colors!<br />
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Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-58324545105865627682011-07-17T12:31:00.000-07:002011-09-09T15:07:34.480-07:00Goofing off makes for a fun weekendNot much has been accomplished this weekend around our house other than lots of fun. There's housework to be done, a kitchen to be cleaned, laundry to be laundered and a guinea pig cage to be cleaned. But what have we done? Goofed off, plain and simple. Saturday we slept in then decided a breakfast at Eggies was needed. After breakfast, we came home to "rest up" for our big outing of the day which was to go to the mermaid parade held in Old Sacramento.<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Click <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150387074069008.430621.826224007&l=495285d42a">here</a> to view photos from the event.</b></span><br />
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Lots of great costumes and a fun little time in Old Sac.<br />
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After all of the action of watching mermaids go by, husband was ready for lunch and since is was past 2p, I agreed and off to Flaming Grill we went. One of our favorite places to go for some of the best burgers in town! We enjoyed our jalapeno jack burgers (he had boar, I had the ostrich) then went to our friend's house to drop off some mango bread husband had made to share. We visited for a while then decided we had had quite the busy day and needed to go home. Nothing better than getting absolutely nothing done, but having a great time doing it.<br />
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This morning we got up, got our act together and headed downtown for a custom bike show. Lots of fun and very cool bikes to look at and of course take <span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150388064894008.430892.826224007&l=42b0983656">pictures</a></b></span> of. <br />
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It's still early and the last day of the weekend, so I suppose I should get going and get some stuff done. Kitchen, here I come! Happy weekend everyone!Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-4964308653367629952011-07-14T10:55:00.000-07:002011-07-14T10:55:41.937-07:00The crafty side of JulyJuly is now half over and I'm thinking back to what I have got accomplished. Well, there are a few things and let me share them with you all. First off, for the 4th of July weekend we found sweet white corn on sale at a local supermarket and bought 30 ears. I made the decision that I was going to can corn for the first time since I have a pressure canner and it needs to be used more often. The work involved in shucking and de-cobbing 30 ears of corn is not too bad, but still takes a while, but the payoff is worth it. My house smelled so awesome when the canner was going and for many hours later. Here's the bounty that I was able to obtain from those 30 ears. Six quarts of corny goodness!<br />
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Next, I decided I'd take on one of my arch nemesis: pork tenderloin. People that know me know that I have a mixed history with pork. I've never really liked bacon, but will eat sausage (sometimes) but haven't really liked pork chops or pork tenderloin. I went for many years and didn't eat any pork or beef and was just fine, but since I got together with this crazy man that I married he has me wanting to try all sorts of things because he loves it so much. Well, pork tenderloin here I am. Cruising recipes I found one for a grilled pork tenderloin in a hoisin and honey glaze that sounded awesome, and I'll tell you what, it was! I was so shocked at myself for not only making this awesome dinner which included grilled pineapple, but for liking the pork so much. My next task is going to be pork chops so we'll see how that goes. :)<br />
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My next project was to finally embroider on some great flour sack towels I found at our local thrift store still in the package! I love that I found these brand new towels which at any regular store would be about $12 for the pack of 4 I got, but at Thrift Town they were only $1.99!! I love thrifting! I have finished 2 of the towels and have 2 more to go. The first towel I did a camping theme with a cute trailer and the second is in a tiki theme. The one I'm currently working on is a bicycle theme with a boy and a girl next to their bikes with trees in the background. It should be real cute when finished.<br />
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Cooking and crafting are all fun and rewarding, but sometimes you still need a little something to bring a happy ending to your day. When that is needed I have some wonderful friends that invite husband and I on their pontoon boat for a cruise on the river. It's always fun and always very relaxing. This is the way every day should end in my book.<br />
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Happy crafting my friends!Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-69763183129030734942011-07-14T10:29:00.000-07:002011-07-14T10:29:29.169-07:00Life really is like a roller coasterWOW, more than a month has gone by since I last updated this thing. I really need to do better and keep up on it. Since my last post we've had ups, downs, spin arounds and everything else in between. June was scheduled to be vacation month with family fun. Husband's parents were scheduled to come out in late June for a nice long visit and both he and I had put in vacation days for a much needed break. Well, Sunday before they are due to show up we receive a phone call from Tate's mom telling us they can't make the trip because she has broken her foot and needs to stay off of it for several weeks. None the less, we were devastated. Of course we felt bad for his mom having to deal with a broken foot, but we were also selfish and sad that our vacation was now kaput. We hadn't seen them since our wedding and with our finances the way they are we don't know when we will be able to go to Chicago to see them. Putting a brave face on we decided to keep our vacation days as scheduled and just have a nice stay-cation at home and have some much needed playtime.<br />
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The day before our vacation is to start I get a call from Tate telling me he just got laid off. No reason was given and, in fact, his manager said he disagreed with the owner on this decision saying he's doing a great job but the owner wants "to go in a different direction." BOOM, another slap in the face! Needless to say, my vacation started a few hours early so I could go pick him and his stuff up at work since he had ridden that day. <br />
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We made the decision that since we had planned to go on vacation to stick with that and deal with "the real world" when our vacation was up. I decided this was the perfect time for an over night up at Apple Hill like we always wanted to and booked us a night at The Camino Hotel so the next morning we got up and started our vacation heading up the hill for some fun times.<br />
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We stopped at our favorite deli in downtown Sac for some sandwiches and then hit the road. Our first stop as always was Jodar. We love that place and they love us. (at least that's what they tell us. LOL!) We left Lisa (the manager) with a jar of my blueberry jam as a thank you for yummy wines and headed over to Jack Russell for lunch. The day was perfect for sandwiches and beers on the grass.<br />
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After a nice long relaxing lunch basking in the sun and enjoying ourselves we headed out for more wine tasting and visiting with our Apple Hill friends. We had another pause in the day when we decided to share a bottle of wine at Lava Cap and the people next to us even gave us cookies!<br />
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As the day wore on we decided it was time to check into the hotel for a bit of a rest and maybe some water after all that drinking and wine tasting we had been doing. LOL! We headed to the hotel to find the cutest B&B I have been to since I was in Ireland. Since it was mid-week, we had the place to ourselves and the owner had actually driven from the bay area to open the place for us since her innkeeper was on vacation. We got a tour of the hotel and a pick of any room we wanted. The room we chose was cramped with a tall king size bed, but had a nice spacious bathroom with a claw foot tub. Once settled in our room, we freshened up and walked across the street to the Forrester Grill and had some dinner with the best onion rings I've had in a very long time.<br />
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After dinner we went back up to Jack Russell to hang out in the sunshine on the grass one more time and watch people play corn hole. Talk about a relaxing day that ended with me falling asleep back at our hotel around 8pm. The next morning we were treated with a wonderful breakfast of fruit, toast, eggs, sausage and a potato and cheese creation that was yum-tastic! We slowly got our act into gear and checked out of the hotel to make our way back home.<br />
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The rest of our vacation was spent having fun around the house, going to the Friday night concert in the park where I ran into an old friend who we grew up across the street from each other. Went to our first roller derby bout in a very long time with some friends that we met there when we first started dating and ran into more friends at the bout making for a very fun night. Not to mention our team kicked some serious roller derby butt! We spent a day in the pool with the bestie and I came home with a nice bright red back to show for it. All in all it was a great vacation even though it started off filled with disappointments.Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-59976968061706258652011-06-03T08:04:00.000-07:002011-06-03T08:04:01.278-07:00It's only a scratchThis has been some week and I am very glad it's Friday. We had a bit of an event Wednesday evening when I went to do dishes and noticed that the water was running low on pressure. I went to the backyard thinking that the husband had left a hose on to water one of the fruit trees only to find a fountain where our water spout used to be, the backyard flooded and happy wet dogs everywhere. Not knowing what to do, I got the dogs inside, put on my garden shoes and went tromping out into the wet and the mud. Nothing could be fixed out there, the pipe had snapped from being so rusted since it was so old. The only shut off valve I knew of was at the front of the house and would turn off the water to the whole house, so I turned it off and left dishes in the sink un-done hoping husband would be home soon. He was riding his 12 mile ride home on his bike and I knew there was no way to get in touch. Luckily when he got home, he knew of a hidden valve in the laundry room that cuts the water to the backyard so we were able to restore water to the house and the dishes got clean! Hazzah!! Of course, we're still left with the broken pipe in the backyard, but that's a project for the weekend and we'll take care of that soon.<br />
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Let's continue our journey to Thursday night. I'm at home happily waiting for husband to call me to say he's leaving work and on his way home when the phone rings and instead of Tate on the other end it's his manager, Eric calling to say that Tate has a pretty good cut on his head, they can't get the bleeding to stop to see how bad it is and they don't want him driving home. Oh boy. I get my stuff together to go fetch him when Tate calls me back saying it's not that bad, but his boss is going to take him to the doctor's office to have it checked out since it's a workman's comp issue. Now I am left at home waiting for a phone call to find out where he's going to end up, how bad things are and what is going on. About an hour later he calls and tells me where he is and I'm off to fetch him out in Citrus Heights.<br />
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I arrive at the doc-in-a-box to find Tate sitting in the waiting room, a bloody paper towel from the bathroom in the shop on his head covered in dried blood. Other than the mess, he actually looked pretty good and just irritated he was there and had to go through the hassle. The bleeding had stopped by that time and I could see that it really wasn't too bad of a cut, but since it's a head would it bled like a mother! I finally got around to asking him how it happened and he said just what I had suspected, banged his head on a bike hanging in the warehouse. So finally after about another half an hour wait they call him in to see the doctor and I'm left in the waiting room. Luckily I remember that I had my knitting bag in the car so have craft will travel got her knit on while she was waiting for Tate to get out of the doctor's office.<br />
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An hour later, he comes out finally cleaned up with a couple little steri-strips on his head and we are free to go. We both are in bad need of a beer and I'm starving at this point because I hadn't eaten dinner so we decide to go to our favorite sushi place since it was 99cent saki night. Luckily, the day ended well with yummy sushi, beers and saki, great conversation and husband only left with a little scratch. Let's hope tonight is just a quiet night at the homestead.<br />
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Tate's bandaged head. All that worry and waiting for a couple little bandaids.Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-28957491678456787492011-05-16T10:05:00.000-07:002011-05-16T10:05:22.441-07:00I'm getting too old for this sh!tOh the weekend I have had. Too much fun with too much alcohol makes for two days of recovery. First the fun. Thursday night my bestie took me to the Zac Brown Band concert for my birthday. It was amazing! I love this band and they are even better live, not to mention the fact that we had field seats getting us super close to the stage. <br />
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We thought we were being smart. "Hey, let's take a cab so we don't have to drive and can drink and not worry about anything." Sounds smart doesn't it? Well, one fatal flaw is that it leaves the door open to drink too much. At our age we really should know better, but we didn't. We were there to party! We hadn't been to a concert with just the two of us since our Jimmy Buffett days and we partied like we were 24 again. We stumbled home around midnight just as my husband was going to bed and chatted with him in our drunken ways eating our drunken snacks of chili cheese fritos, cheddar munchies, potato chips, Jelly Belly Belly Flops, M&M's and sour apple candy. The best snacks when you're drunk! <br />
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Once we were satiated, we all headed to bed and passed out. Husband was up first since he had to go to work, then me since I couldn't get back to sleep. I woke up starving and had no desire to cook food because I knew I would just have to clean it up later, so I made a quick trip to Beto's for a chorizo breakfast burrito. The best thing after a night of partying. As I sat on the couch watching my morning bad tv and eating my burrito, the bestie woke up and said she had to get back home. After she left I was back on the couch and that's about where I stayed for the day. I felt drained and had no energy for anything. I had danced away the night singing at the top of my lungs and now I was left lifeless on the couch streaming Netflix movies through my Wii.<br />
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After recovering all day on Friday from Thursday's antics, I knew I needed to be in tip-top shape for Saturday because I had something big to pull off and needed everything I had to do it. My plan was to throw a surprise party for the husband for his birthday that was on Wednesday but I also had promised my girlfriend that I would watch her son for her while she worked an event that day. Saturday morning arrived and I got up with husband to make the coffee and get my act in gear. He knew that I would be babysitting that day, but that was about it. After he left the house, Zachary showed up and it was time to get in gear. There was shopping to do and decorations to get as well as food to cook so I got dressed and we were out the door.<br />
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We finished our shopping and headed back to the house to get to work. Of course Zachary was more interested in playing Mario Cart on the Wii and watching movies than helping, but what else do you expect from a 10 year old boy? I decorated the dining room and hung some tiki style lanterns in the kitchen, then got to work making my salsas for the Mexican fiesta I had planned for dinner. I also made sure to make him a chocolate on chocolate cake because you can't have a birthday party without birthday cake!<br />
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The rest of the day was spent cooking, cleaning or something in between until I had it all done and just had to cook the pastor for the tacos after everyone arrived. Lisa showed up to pick up Zachary and we were able to have a nice visit until husband came home. He walked right in the house, through the decorated dining room and into the kitchen, past the lanterns without noticing anything! I do love this man. :) I then had to just tell him: "hey honey, guess what? I've had something up my sleeve for a while, and SURPRISE, you're getting a party tonight! Now go change your shirt, I ironed one for you right there." hahahaha Needless to say, he was quite surprised and that was when he noticed all the decorations.<br />
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Lisa and Zachary took off at that point and we got ready for the guests to arrive. The party was a blast. Everyone had such a good time, my food was a hit and Tate said it was the best birthday he's had in a very long time, so I think that's a good thing. I remained a semi-good girl and didn't drink too much since I had over imbibed Thursday night, but Tate had his party-on and by the end of the night took a header in the workshop and ended up bruising his ribs. I guess the saying is right when they say it isn't a party until someone is on the floor. LOL!<br />
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Sunday was spent, once again, in recovery mode. Mostly because I was tired since I didn't sleep well the night before but truly because I'm too old for this sh!t. I did manage to can some jam I had meant to do on Friday, so I have 4 pints of strawberry jam and 4 pints of blackberry/jalapeno jam to show for my efforts. Otherwise, Sunday was spent napping on the couch and streaming more movies from Netflix. Luckily the husband had the day off so he was lazy with me and quiet sore from his fall. All in all, a great weekend not to be out done in a very long time, I hope!Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-6850441004485639502011-04-26T13:06:00.000-07:002011-04-26T13:06:59.441-07:00It's a foodie EasterWe tried so very hard. So very, very hard to make it a lazy Easter Sunday. But the food called our names. It started with my alarm going off at 7am for me to put the pork shoulder on the smoker for dinner. Waking up that early on a Sunday is not a good thing, and having to handle raw meat that early is even worse, but knowing the goodness that will come of it makes it all worth while. Once I had the smoker cleaned up and heating, I got the pork nicely seasoned down with a good rub, watered down my wood chips, and dropped that bad boy on the smoker for a nice slow cook and headed back to bed, but of course I couldn't go to sleep, so I just laid there until husband woke up and was ready to start his day.<br />
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Next business for the day was breakfast. Given this was a holiday and the only day we have off together it has to be good, but our fixin's weren't that great so I decided to dig a box of beignets from the Cafe du Monde out of the pantry that we got for Christmas one year and make those. A little more involved than I wanted it to be, but they turned out puffy, powdery and pleasant!<br />
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Now that we were satiated with sugar and fried goodness, I thought our day was going to be spent on the couch watching bad tv, but husband decided that we needed rosemary bread for the week and honey rolls to go with the pulled pork I was making. While he was baking away getting his dough ready to rise, I was playing on the internet and found a recipe for a honey chipotle bbq sauce that sounded perfect for the pulled pork. When I informed husband of my want to make said bbq sauce, he informed me that he just used up the last of the honey, so a trip to the market was in order. <br />
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We decided to go together, because that is what you do when neither of you want to go to the store, you make it a group adventure. Running to the local ghetto mart should have been in and out, get the honey and be done with it, but no, not us, we have to browse. I spotted some yummy looking avocados and tomatoes that I decided had to be made into guacamole that day and Tate found black beans that just called to be made into chili. Having our now basket full of items ready to go, and yes we did remember to get the honey, we headed back home with a whole new batch of projects for the day. "What happened to my quiet, lazy Sunday??" <br />
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Guacamole was made for lunch along side a big yummy salad and Tate made his rosemary bread, maple rolls and chili. I made the bbq sauce and the pork was removed from the smoker and pulled for an amazing sandwich for dinner served with one of Tate's home made dill pickles. It wasn't the Sunday I had planned, but it was a Sunday I won't soon forget and knowing that we will eat for a long time off of what we made that day makes it that much better.Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-82248605287042911742011-04-21T16:02:00.000-07:002011-04-21T16:03:43.801-07:00Glassy SaturdayI received an email from a good friend of mine last week asking if I would like to be her plus one at a glass blowing class she bought on Groupon. My answer was, "Would I? Of course I would!" So the plan was made to get together Saturday morning and head to a local glass studio and learn how to make a paperweight. <br />
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I showed up at Jen's house with camera in hand ready to take lots of photos and be her assistant. My main roll was to document and assist as needed. We learned the history of glass blowing, the tools of the trade and were given a demonstration on what we would be doing to make the paperweight. It was fascinating and fun at the same time. After the demonstration, it was Jen's turn to step up to the furnace and make the glass pretty. She had picked out the colors she wanted to add in the middle and was all set to go. I kept snapping photos and even got to help out a bit. We are going back to pick up the final product on the 30th since it needed time to properly cool down in a controlled environment. They are supposed to do another groupon for Christmas to make an ornament and we both can't wait to do that one too.<br />
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After our adventures in glass we thought we'd stick with the theme and check out a local pottery place called Panama Pottery where they have a huge selection of pottery and garden art, then headed to Dad's Kitchen for lunch. It was a great Saturday spent with a very good friend.<br />
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<h3><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150279972804008.385172.826224007&l=37f90ff8a5">Click here to see photos</a></h3>Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-26421517944145769192011-03-28T15:48:00.000-07:002011-04-21T15:49:32.019-07:00Beginning of the EndWell, it's finally happened, I have hit the final year of my 30's. My birthday was this last week and to say it was interesting is being subtle. I planned to take my birthday off because, who freakin' wants to work on their birthday and also because <a href="http://chako.org/">Chako</a> the pit bull rescue that I occasionally volunteer for was having an adoption event and I agreed to volunteer to help. Well, since it's been raining non-stop crazy here for what seems the last 8 months, the event was cancelled since it was in a park, so I was stuck with no plans, no money and nothing to do. I spent the day on my couch watching bad movies streamed through Netflix with my dogs and a nice fire while it poured outside.<br />
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Husband had to work all day and needed to stop at the store after work, so by the time he got home, I was bored senseless and had no idea what was going on. I was surprised with a bunch of flowers, which was my second batch of flowers I have gotten from him this year and is twice the amount of flowers I have ever received from him so it was an extra pleasant surprise. He had bought all sorts of groceries for the mystery party that was being planned between him and the bestie for Saturday, and was ready to call it a day. I asked him what the plan for dinner was and the darling that he is, had no plans because all his planning abilities were being used for the Saturday shin-dig so I think I ended up having popcorn for dinner and a fruity rum drink chaser. LOL!Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6364587120986160715.post-1017403052081858432011-03-01T14:02:00.000-08:002013-05-07T13:08:32.884-07:00Canning dayRecently I spent a day putting yummy ingredients into jars. I spent way too much money on ingredients but made some new and fun stuff. First up was bacon jam. Anyone who knows me knows I don't like bacon but husband does so this was all for him. It all starts out by slicing up a bunch of bacon and getting it nice and crispy.<br />
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It takes a while, but once crispy you remove the bacon from the pan to let it sit while you saute some onions.<br />
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After the onions are all nice and soft, you add the rest of your ingredients which include brown sugar, maple syrup, and bourbon. Add your bacon back into the mixture to bring to a boil then add to a crockpot to let it sit and simmer for about 4 hours to cook down into bacony goodness.<br />
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My next adventure was to make a hard cider jelly using Fox Barrel's Black Currant cider. I had found the recipe on another fabulous blog and thought it would be yummy.<br />
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It was a fairly standard jelly using low sugar pectin and it turned out scrumptious! It's not too sweet and has a very delicate taste. I have discovered I really enjoy eating it on toasted home made rosemary bread. Combined with your morning coffee and it makes for a great start to your day and it looks so pretty in the jar too!<br />
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Once the hard cider jelly was finished, I whipped out a batch of red wine jelly that has come in quite handy for hors d'oeurves. <br />
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Next up was something I wasn't planning on making, but thought "what the heck?" and did it anyway. I pulled some pomegranate seeds I had from the freezer and decided to do a pomegranate jelly.<br />
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A great friend of mine has a huge pomegranate tree in her backyard and every year she gives me a very large bag filled with this delectable fruit. I spend hours hunched over bowls elbow deep into shucking pomegranates to get those small morsels of ruby goodness. Having spent so much time harvesting these tasty nuggets, I felt it was only proper to make them into a jelly. Armed with my handy Ball canning book, a big bowl, strainer and a Cuisinart, I got to work. I was able to get just enough juice out of the seeds to make one batch of jelly.<br />
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Unfortunately, the jelly didn't set and had to be re-processed the next day, but it turned out awesome! A light pomegranate taste to it that is absolutely divine.<br />
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It was a long day of canning, but well worth it as my pantry now has many more jars of goodness that have been added to it. I can't wait for summer for all the fruits and veggies, I even have a good hook-up this year for free stuff. Husband and I will probably have to trade some dinners but it's well worth it. <br />
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The sum of my day...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizhrWOnjIXc8cxH22qN0_PfHCxiR6HilkJuacCep9dNhryE5VnHQdzl0D064P7JabRnQyFOZ58zHfY7b8hDJOnkzN9IXOB6LTERmHsDuVlGju71-rBQ56e2pq2RFclVflgeUf-PQJCeR8p/s1600/all+jelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizhrWOnjIXc8cxH22qN0_PfHCxiR6HilkJuacCep9dNhryE5VnHQdzl0D064P7JabRnQyFOZ58zHfY7b8hDJOnkzN9IXOB6LTERmHsDuVlGju71-rBQ56e2pq2RFclVflgeUf-PQJCeR8p/s320/all+jelly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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But wait, there's more! You didn't think I would finish with just that? I had bacon left over from the jam and I just couldn't let it go to waste, so I smothered it in brown sugar and cayenne pepper and candied it in the oven for husband to enjoy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCi7XBw_J5ZZx9CufMhW0uZsrySdlnfst2BXcwqmEMvBUCbpu8XnqKj2XGdR2udZ2rY6d-kGkMOI5qgRPPoTvT5H1mFzP5QczBFO0Y7XClg9Lsv2n8IN5JKiAk6w8DTJ-n92bsZhklzQC/s1600/candy+bacon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCi7XBw_J5ZZx9CufMhW0uZsrySdlnfst2BXcwqmEMvBUCbpu8XnqKj2XGdR2udZ2rY6d-kGkMOI5qgRPPoTvT5H1mFzP5QczBFO0Y7XClg9Lsv2n8IN5JKiAk6w8DTJ-n92bsZhklzQC/s320/candy+bacon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Until next time, happy canning!Solvighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615112227124313269noreply@blogger.com0