Good Morning!

I, too, have my cup of coffee this morning, as I listen to the rain come down... it did stop for a bit, so the Handyman and I could go for a walk this morning.  We were late getting out---5:15 a.m.  (I blame that on my husband.  He has to be at work at 7:00).   We are not used to so much rain out here in Nevada.  I say, so much.. but it's only rained off and on for the past 3 1/2 days, that's it.  Some of these Nevadans are fed up, they want sunshine, but I LOVE IT.
We do have a mystery that plagues me tho....Nevadans have never got the hang of umbrellas, so we don't use them.  I think it's because it rains so little, we just dont' "own" any umbrellas, and then when it does rain, it usually only lasts a short while, so what's the use?  

I am writing this random post because I wanted to remind you again that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month...In Canada too!  And I linked to BeanTown Baker's  Power of Pink Challenge a few days ago, so I wanted to remind you.... make something pink and post about it this month.

A few more random pictures from my 3day-60mile walk.

There were medical tents at every pit-stop. There were pit stops every few miles.

Tent city again--you had to remember your street letter and tent number, because they all looked alike.

My sister in law and my friend.  Pretty much passed out after walking on day #2.

A few mintues earlier, you would have found me lying there too.

There  was a whole litte "city" at the end of the day.  We had 'crew' who cooked for us and cleaned for us. Shower trailers and even a "rememberance tent" (that was very emotional)

There was also a tent decorating contest!

The Wife's Tale

The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens.  I read this book for my on-line bookclub "Word Shakers" hosted by Sheila at "One Person's Journey Through a World of Books."
What can I say about this book? First off, let me remind you that I am NOT a book reviewer...I could never write with such expression and articulation as most book bloggers do.  I, however, do have the gift of gab, and I can talk about books forever and not get tired.
I read The Wife's Tale in 2 days.  I was running late, but didnt' want to miss out on the discussion and being a part of the group.  At first, I was disappointed and  wasn't sure I liked the book well enough to read it in 2 days.  I did not like Mary, the main character very well.
For a bit of background, Mary was morbidly obese and reclusive and dependant on her husband for everything.  My reason for not liking Mary was not because she was obese or  introverted (which later turned to reclusivness), but because she was such an unhappy, unconfident, miserable person.  It's hard to like someone when they feel sorry for themselves all the time, which Mary did.  Her life was all about self-pity and eating.
But as the book progressed, and Mary began to emerge as a stronger person, a person who had thoughts and ideas and opinions, she became much more interesting and I began to want to know what was going to happen to her.  She lost some weight during the course of the book, but she was still a big woman...and that's okay, because she grew in other ways...opened herself to others and let them in to her life.
My favorite minor character might have been her husband Jimmy, who was never actually in the book, except in memories.  Jimmy abandoned her on the eve of their 25th wedding anniversary.  In real life, abandonment is a cruel, cruel thing to do, and it was in the book too, but  Mary  could never have had her life changing adventures if that crisis hadn't taken place in her life.   She had kind memories of Jimmy and how  he treated her during their marriage, and by looking back, she could see that there were things she could have done different.   She was just filled with so much guilt over an incident that took place the day before her wedding that she let it fill her whole life and it took over in the way of food and inertia, and eventually ruined her marriage and could have ruined her life.  Until Jimmy left her and forced her to  life.
So, Jimmy was a great minor character, whom we never met.

I liked the book.  I had read "The Girls" by Lansens a couple of years ago and really enjoyed that one.  One other minor thing that Lansens did in this book, was to have the characters Mary, Jimmy and their families/friends, live in the same town as the characters in her novel "The Girls".   It's mentioned in passing a couple of  times--the conjoined twins who lived in the town, but were dead now.
I always like a connection that.

It's Monday

and what am I reading?

This weekly recap is hosted by Shelia of One Persons Journey Through a World of Books. Each week we recap what we’ve read and look at what’s coming up this week. If you’re interested head over to Shelia’s site and get involved!




THIS........This is what I'm reading this week. 

And I only have till tomorrow to finish it!   I'm doing Sheila's  on-line bookclub "Word Shakers".  We have to have our posts up by October 6th.
I must get to reading....

500 Posts!

Yay!!  500 posts!  That's a lot.  I did not do a give-away, I did not interview any wonderful writer or chef to mark this occasion.
I could have interviewed all 50 of my "Friday"  Friends  (whom were the inspiration for the blog, but who all remain silent for reasons unknown), I could have talked about my wonderful, beautiful, brilliant grandchildren.

I could have done a lot of things for my 500th post, but I decided to do this:

I am linking to Beantown Baker's  3rd Annual 'The Power of Pink' challenge.  The challenge is to make something (edible) that is pink and then post about it and link back to her original post.  The link will take you there, so you can read about it and take up the challenge.  It's really pretty easy, and Jen is doing it to raise awareness of breast cancer.
October is national (in the United States) breast cancer awareness month, and Jen wanted you all to be aware!  What a great 500th post for me to have this chance to pass on that information to you.

It's a gift to me....and you...and your mothers, and your sisters, and your daughters and your friends.  Being aware of breast cancer and the great strides that are being made in diagnosis and prevention  and treatment.
Hopefully in my lifetime, a  cure will be found.

I do not always wear the pink ribbon.  I do not always give myself self examinations like I should, and sometimes I get annoyed that Campbell's soup turns itself pink,   (because I'm never sure if manufacturers truly buy into wanting to eradicate cancer or they know it's just politically correct to get on the band wagon) but I do share the fear and the hope and yearning of all women everywhere. The fear that breast cancer could strike anyone, anytime, anywhere.  The hope that it won't be me, nor anyone I know.  The Yearning that a cure will be found and no one will have to be afraid anymore.

Cancer's a scary thing.  We all know someone who has been affected by cancer.  It's a horrible disease.
Let's help to wipe it out!
Let's make something pink this month!

Last year in September,  the year I turned 50,  I walked with my sister-in-law in the Seattle area, for the Susan G. Komen  3day-60mile walk.  It was  one of the greatest experiences I've ever had.  If you ever have the chance, and  are so inclined to walk 20 miles a day for 3 days, I suggest you sign up.
Honestly, I had never been so inclined, but I wanted to mark my 50th birthday with something special.  It was amazing.

A few pictures of my 20 mile a day, for 3 days walk........
(I took 300 pictures over those 3 days, so I'll do a few a day all month long.  And remind you to make something pink and link to Beantown Baker  and help her get the message out.)

We stayed in a pink tent camp,  our luggage was trucked in, we had a boob camp and a tit stop, and a thousand walkers.   Great evenings in our camp...music, a wedding one-night (cancer survivors),  lots and lots of healthy food and encouragement.
Our team was the "Random Racks of kindness"

Cookbook Sunday and Potluck Sunday

Traditional Waldorf salad with blue cheese added makes a great filling for crisp celery sticks.

Today is Sunday and I'm linking these stuffed celery sticks to Cookbook Sundays at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen and  Potluck Sunday at Mommy's Kitchen.  As well, as adding it to a growing list in my own cookbook countdown.  (Just 200 more to go and this will be #35 in my countdown)

Stuffed celery isn't any grand find, or any "new" thing, but I am counting down my cookbooks, so I'm always looking for something ... dare I say it ... easy, in a cookbook (this isn't always the case, but I won't lie to you, it is in most cases for my cookbook countdown), and something that will serve a purpose.

My purpose this time was to find an appetizer to take to a party.  I found this "Waldorf, blue cheese" spread to stuff in celery.  It sounded good.  I like Waldorf salad.  No one in my family does, so I make it once a year just to get my fix.  Who wouldn't like  crispy apples and walnuts and raisins and celery?  Oh, and blue cheese?
Okay, so a lot of you wouldn't like that combination.  But I do.  So I made it.
I took spicy hot wings* and placed the stuffed celery around them.  My thought was they always serve blue cheese with buffalo wings--to cut the spice, I think, so I was going with the same theory.   My celery sticks just had an addition of apples and nuts, sans the raisins  (we put raisins in our Waldorf salad, do you?).
I think they were well liked, because all but 2 of them were eaten. I doubled the recipe so there were closer to 24 celery sticks.

Let me tell you about the party I took them to.  It was a wine tasting party.
This is how it goes: 
Everyone who is invited brings the same kind of wine and a dollar.  And then these wines are put in a wine bag, so you cannot see the label. 
Everyone brings an appetizer.  Thru-out the night, people mingle and visit and eat appetizers and "taste" every wine.  And then we vote.   The wine with the most votes gets to take home all the $1's.  It was about $22 or $24 this time.
It's all the same kind of wine, but it's really amazing how different the same kind can taste, given different  wine producers, different regions.
It was a fun evening.   Relaxing and nice.
And the Waldorf Celery Sticks from  the  2010 Taste of Home Annual Recipes, turned out just perfect.

Here it is:  Cookbook #35

*I must confess, I didn't make the spicy chicken wings...I opened a box.  Don't we all do that sometimes?


Waldorf Celery Sticks

1/2 cup finely chopped apple
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts
3 T. mayonnaise
2 T. crumbled blue cheese
12 celery ribs

In a bowl, combine the apples, walnuts, mayonnaise and blue cheese.  Spoon filling into celery ribs, a scant 2 T. in each.
Chill until served.

Tomorrow is my 500th post.  Or I should say my next post will be my 500th post.

Will my 500th post be about books or food? 

I'm very torn.  I feel as if it should be a special post, since I've failed in the "give-away" department.

I will have to give this some thought.

Oreo Cupcakes

Yesterday I had a day all to myself...it's been a long time since I've had one...and it will be a long time until I get one again.  It's my busy time at work.  So, since I had a day all to myself, I decided to make these Oreo Cupcakes I had found on  Beantown Baker.
(she has tons of cupcake recipes on her blog, so I plan on making more of her recipes soon.  They all look great)
Once I made them, I wasn't quite sure what to do with 24 cupcakes.  It's the Handyman and myself.  He would eat 2 or 3 and that meant there would be 22 left for me.  Not to say I couldn't eat 22 of these delicious cupcakes, but I didn't WANT to.
To rephrase ...I did WANT to, because they tasted great, but I knew I shouldn't eat 22 cupcakes.

So, I did what any self-respecting person who is trying to watch what they eat, but loves to cook would do.  I invited my grandson over.

He's making a significant dent in them.  Good thing too, because this is  a really good cupcake and I would have trouble resisting if they were left around.
I will let you get the official recipe over at  Beantown Baker since it's her's anyway.  I think that she uses a cookies and cream recipe--her original one, of course,  for the batter and adds Oreos.  The batter is very good.  And I know.  I ate spoonfuls of it.

My grandson and I were going to go on a long walk this morning, but he got distracted hunting deer in my backyard  (no we do not have deer in the backyard, but it kept him busy having fun for an hour or so).
Right after he came inside, (having seen a coyote, but not a deer)  he asked me,  "Gramma, were you ever young once?"  I started to answer  (seriously people are surprised to find out I'm 51, and I've always taken pride in that--looking a bit younger than I am), but then he said,  "oh of course you were, I just can't imagine it."

Fine.  He can imagine deer and coyote in the backyard, but not me young.   I just shoved another cupcake in his mouth.

October already

I've been missing in action for almost 2 weeks--wow--time goes by fast.  Every blog I've read this morning talks about fall and how fast it has gotten here, or where has September gone  (that one I do have to agree with, cuz it just sped by).
I  think that as we get older --not that I'm OLD, but I am 51, so that means I'm older than half the population in the United States--I think time seems to go faster.

As a young bride my grandma told me this story about how one day she was sitting enjoying a cup of coffee in her dining room.  They had great windows in their old home, huge, big, picture windows from both the dining room and the living room.  She was enjoying the view of the mountains out of her dining room window, when all of the sudden an old white-haired, stooped man came into her yard and started picking apples from her apple tree.
She was really annoyed at this old man....who could he be and what did he think he was doing, helping himself to her apples!   Then it dawned on her that it was my granddad, who had been out for a walk.  And she thought to herself,  "when did he get old?"   "Where did the time go?"

It will happen to all of us.....it goes fast.  Let's enjoy it.  With good food, good friends, family and lots of humor (we dont' want to end up as cranky old people, do we?).

I will be back later in the day with a food post.  Oreo Cupcakes.  I think they were a hit.

Early morning walk.....in the desert!