My Best Bud

Dylan

 

August 10, 2007 - April 24, 2014

 

 

 

 

 

GOOGLED!

Yep, got my free internet today.  Now I know there is no such thing as free anything, there is always a trade-off, but Google pretty much knows everything about me anyway and if they get together with Amazon, why that will just fill in the empty spots.

Also got to keep the tote bag the technician used to bring in all the new equipment.  I was hoping for a Google flag to hang out in front of the house but I guess I will have to make that myself.

Yay!

Tuesday Winds

Seems to be a given anymore, Tuesday evening the winds pick up mightily and I wonder if I should roll out the trash and recycling bins or make sure to be up and out before six to do it on Wednesday morning. 

I wanted to snap a picture of the Forest Pansy Red Bud before all the blossoms were blown off and I was lucky to see this fellow:

Woo Hoo!!  A honey bee! My neighbor and I were just chatting about this because he has ordered another fruit tree.  At one point there were two bees but I couldn't get them both in one frame.

Honey bees. A very good thing.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Quote from Michael Pollan.  I am a big fan of his.

Here is a recipe I tried yesterday that fits the bill and it includes quinoa which is one of the super foods. Quinoa is thought of as a grain but is actually a seed.  In this dish you can think of it as rice.  I found the "original" here and made some modifications, most importantly, increasing the amounts of the spices.  Easy, fast, and very good!  This will be a go-to recipe for me as the ingredients are those that I always have on hand.  Well, maybe not the avocados but you could put chopped fresh tomatoes on top, green onion or even cheese.

One Pan Mexican Quinoa

    1 teaspoon olive oil

    2 cloves garlic, minced

    1 cup chopped onion

    1 cup quinoa

    1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

    1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

    1 (14.5 oz) can Italian style diced tomatoes

    1 cup frozen corn kernels

    1 (4-oz.) can green chiles

    2 teaspoons chili powder

    1 teaspoon cumin

    Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

    Optional:

    Avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced

    Juice of 1 lime

    Chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook, about 5 minutes.  Add

garlic, stirring frequently, cook about 1 minute, until fragrant.

Stir in quinoa, broth, beans, tomatoes, corn, green chiles, chili powder and cumin; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Stir in avocado, lime juice and cilantro, if desired.

Serve immediately.  Makes 5 servings of about 1 ½ cups

 

Black beans that are really black.

Artifact

Quick Oats, 9-'94

Found this up against one of the walls in the garage.  The can was upside down which explains the rust and grime on the top.  I opened the can and dumped the oats so the can can be recycled.

The oats smell a little rancid but not bad for 20 years in a can and I expect they could be eaten if necessary. Me, not at all fond of cooked oats or any cooked cereal actually. 

Ohhh Those Cats!

Another receiving blanket in very cheerful retro colors.  Such cute kitties!  This was a kit from The Cotton Shop a fairly long time ago.

As long as the kitchen table is available, I will cut out a couple more blanket set pieces so when I feel like sewing and finishing quickly, I'm ready!

Thursday Pinning

Can you believe it?  Back on our knees in the cultural hall!  MnCarol is ready to start quilting her second quilt.  The focus fabric was the dark blue with the bright green frogs and we added fabrics to it so the quilt would be bigger.  The block is the snowball, one of my favorites and the flippy corners are miscellaneous blues and greens from our stashes.

This is such a fun quilt!

Men on Poles

At least there was one good thing that happened today, the Google Guys were stringing cable on our block!  He said I will be contacted in the next couple days about the actual connecting up.  I'm so looking forward to that.
.

Our cable actually comes from this pole.

Three Bags Full

Bag #3

I had time this morning to get one more bag into the trash can before pick-up.  It seems that I do massive shredding on a semi-annual basis.  This time I was inspired by msCarol who happened on a two drawer filing cabinet.  Her goal was to get all paperwork into it and only it.  Yeah, that was my goal too and I have failed miserably at it so far.  Time to re-commit.

Because of the dearth of outlets in this house, as well as floor space, I have yet to find a convenient spot for the shredder.  I know that I could collect (and store) all the paper to be shredded and then go to a shred-a-thon location.  They have those here periodically.  Doesn't work for me.  I do occasionally shred just a small bag full and then toss into my compost bin where there is too much green in there and not enough brown.

As for the bags that went into the trash today, each one had something icky in it,  mostly mysterious stuff from the fridge.  That's just in case there is someone who wants to re-assemble information.  Bag #3 has dog poop added.  Two birds with one stone!

The Bright Light Outside the Window

I might have missed the lunar eclipse, well actually forgotten it, except that I could see how bright the moon was through the closed blinds as I was reading!  I took this picture from the deck at about 10pm.

I thought maybe I could doze in my reading chair and keep an eye on the eclipse.  This required sliding down, resting the back of my head on the back of the chair, resting my rear on the edge of the chair and resting my feet on the small step stool.  It was cozy and toasty warm because of the purple electric throw.  Unfortunately, that position was hard to maintain as my back was basically unsupported. 

So I set my phone to ring at 11:15 and went to bed.  Nothing had changed at 11:15 and I reset the phone for 12:15

The small dot might be Mars.  I could see it earlier before the eclipse started and it was higher and to my right in relationship to the moon.

I got up again at 1:15 and this is what it looked like then:

This was the best I could do mostly because of the big tree in the back yard and then I do only have a point and shoot camera.  In real life it was totally awesome.

It was fun and amazing to see how many stars show up in the early morning hours when the city sleeps.  I did take a mis-step off the deck at one shoeless point and had to grab the splintery rail.   Gratefully, no injuries, including but not limited to impaling myself on the metal flamingo lawn art.

Neil would be proud.

There's a cool astronomy link here.

Potato Salad, No Mayo

That's not some Amazonian bug sitting on the cookbook but a very handy flashlight!  He does have a snap hook on his tail so he can hook to a jump ring in a purse or to a belt loop but I keep him in the kitchen for when I need to read something very small.  His legs are bendable and can be positioned for maximum spot lighting.  On occasion I twist his back legs so I can clench them in my teeth while holding a book and turning pages.  Very handy.

Here's a fabulous recipe from the book in the picture, one that I will be making often.  MnCarol gave it a great review too.  Since I only buy one potato at a time, this is how I made it:

Ultimate Warm Potato Salad with Quinoa and Peas

    (from Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking by Beth Hensperger)

¼ cup olive oil

8 oz. russet potato

1 small onion, chopped

¾ teaspoon curry powder

¾ cup vegetable broth

6 tablespoons quinoa

A pinch of salt and pepper

½ cup frozen peas

In a deep skillet, warm oil and then over medium high heat, sauté potatoes and onions until onions are translucent, about 8 minutes.   Add curry powder and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring to coat potatoes.  Add broth and bring to a boil.  Stir in quinoa, salt and pepper, cover and reduce heat to simmer.  Simmer about 15 minutes, you don’t want to overcook the potatoes.

Turn off the heat and stir in the peas.  Let stand, covered for 5 minutes then mix gently to fluff.

Makes about 3 one cup servings.

 

Goodbye Faithful Servant

Surprisingly not much to clean out of the Jeep.  A lot of receipts and miscellaneous bits of paper under the seats and the glove department had some survival items of interest: a little first aid kit, one stainless fork, one serrated paring knife, a spark plug gapping tool, a map of Utah, a supply of paper napkins, matches, and a plastic straw.  I don't know, perhaps the straw was for an emergency tracheotomy or blood transfusion.  Also this:

a film canister filled with quarters, twenty six of them, I guess in case I had to call out of state.  There was also $1.80 in loose change under the seats and a crisp dollar bill in the pocket on the visor.

I'll admit to tearing up a bit.  I liked this car, I liked driving it and it was an absolutely great car for hauling around two big dogs.

(Donated to KUER, our National Public Radio station.)

Men with Mowers

The lawn crew came last night and that's a welcome beginning to the Spring season.  However, this morning when Dylan and I went for our walk I was saddened to see that the small patch of blooming hyacinths had been brutally beheaded.

It's an area in transition and I have been meaning to dig them out and give them away for the last two years but you know, there they are blooming every year and so I wait and enjoy them one more time and then I wait and let the leaves die back so the bulbs are replenished and then well, yes, I forget about them until the next Spring.

I guess it's a sign to get moving on digging out this part of the lawn.

Yet Another Happy Thing!

Glass recycling has come to Utah Valley (again)!  There will be a collection site in Pleasant Grove, a few towns over but at least in the same valley.  I'm not sure why it has taken so long to catch on here, probably not enough profit in it, but we were recycling glass in Illinois in the 80s so I have missed it.

You can get the detail from this morning's paper here.

I'm excited that the new car is perfectly designed for collecting glass for recycling and will approach the neighbors once the sun is up.

It feels so good to wantonly plunge into the 20th century!!

It Won't Be Long Now

This was yesterday as I was waiting to cross Center Street.  Today I passed three downtown.  Two weeks ago there were two trucks on 4th East.  I smile and wave enthusiastically at every one I can and they always wave back! 

Really, could they make those little trucks any happier?  I'm so glad our neighborhood is at the beginning of the installations.