Category Archives: cooking

Jul27

Boom!

Posted on Monday, July 27, 2009 by Dianne

Seems we are in for a week of heat and humidity with pop-up thunder and lighting storms like Friday and Sunday nights! Of course last night we lost power for almost five hours from around 8 pm to 1 am. We were sitting around listening to ‘Delilah’ on the radio (she has the most soothing voice) and doing a round robin playing the ‘ABC’ game with people’s names. Some of the names I picked were ‘too hard to remember’ like Tawny and Wentworth-lol.
I had made a yummy veggie stir fry for dinner before the storm hit. It called for Bird’s*Eye frozen veggies and I used all fresh-a few had to be precooked.

Then I mixed up a Cinna*bon coffee cake we bought at B*Js-we enjoyed that in the dark. I had just cleaned my kitchen floor and one of the counters before the power went. At least I didn’t totally waste my evening.

A new gazing ball on a stand.
And the Crocusmia:

~Update-Zoey wanted to know how long I’ve had the Crocusmia-they have only bloomed twice, so I think I planted them in the fall of 2007. The leaves flicker in the breeze and I think the flowers are neat the way they open.

Jun6

Photo Hunt-Advertisement

Posted on Saturday, June 6, 2009 by Dianne

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Baking pages of Karin’s book, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I made a little booklet for my friend Karin’s Culinary School graduation back in Dec, 2007. I found these ads for Hershey’s (I have that cookbook), Baker’s chocolate and Royal baking powder. I think she enjoyed this! I added a little cake cookbook from about 1917 to this gift too.

Mar24

Happy Birthday Brian-Down Memory Lane

Posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 by Dianne

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Happy Birthday Brian-Down Memory Lane, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

It’s hard to believe that three of these photos were taken almost 25 years ago on our honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico. The other was taken 8.5 yrs ago in New Hope, Pa.
We celebrated his birthday in 1983 as an engaged couple. I remember using most of my pay that week to buy him a Walkman. Seems like such an old concept now with the MP3 players and Ipods around now. I wanted to get him a MP3 player this year, but wasn’t sure if he’d use it.
I thought he’d enjoy seeing these photos again. Didn’t he look hunky in those earlier photos? He’s still my hunk. ; )
I baked some yellow cupcakes with dark fudge icing for him and placed them on the ‘special’ plate:

FYI-I didn’t have vegetable oil and read where you can substitute apple sauce for the same amount of oil needed. I did this and they are light and tasty. This will be good for my brother to know as the veggie oil bothers him when mixed in waffles.
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My mom sent Bri a bouquet:

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I also finished this to be made into an egg shape for my niece T as her birthday is the day before Easter:

The Prairie Schooler

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All the Kosher food is on sale at the store, so I bought some toasted coconut marshmallows and potato pancake mix which I made last night:

They were good with meatloaf. I will say I should have used a bigger pan and I had to get the hang out of making sure they were solid and brown before turning. Be sure to check out your Kosher stuff-there’s some good eats there that you may not try that much!
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Sean is enjoying seeing the sights of Vegas-he saw some of the fancy hotels like The Mirage and Treasure Island last night and said they were huge! He is all dressed up in these clothes for the job fair:

FYI, the suit coat is from the Goodwill and only cost $6.50. We bought the shirt and tie in Macy’s to match the jacket. If we had purchased a new suit coat, it would have been approx.-$150-$200. This assemble cost $83.50. So we saved a lot! He may not even have to wear a suit if he works in the field, so this was a wise thing to do in these hard times. He wore a used jacket in his high school portrait too-who knew?

Mar17

St. Paddy’s Day

Posted on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by Dianne

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Being married to a man with an Irish first and last name and naming our son Sean Matthew, you know we like to at least eat corned beef and cabbage today! Sean just called and didn’t even wear anything green today! Shame on him! I have this cutest green tam that I haven’t posed in yet-neither would the guys!

(Had to take my own photo!)

Missed posting yesterday as I had to go down to my hometown and drop my van off so my brother Ken, the mechanic could inspect it. There are a few things I asked him to check out. It’s 13 yrs old and I don’t trust other places with it. Sean’s car was just inspected down the road from here and he said it was giving him a little trouble starting. He tried it this morning and it turned over right away. He needs to make sure it’s fine as he is driving 3 hours to the Pittsburgh airport on Sunday to go to Las Vegas with his Geography group for a conference.

My sister-in-law did my hair yesterday and then I went to my mom’s. My second brother is getting ready to move in and he and my other brother’s family were cleaning out rooms over the weekend. They had quite a task and I wish my basement looked like mom’s-they did a good job. Of course she is complaining about not being able to find things that she hasn’t been interested in for years.

All that made me want to do a little dusting and straightening up tchotchkes here and I’ll work on doing more of that since I can’t go anywhere. I’ve had some muscle spasms in my tummy that have come and gone for years-not sure why it does that, but usually a Tylenol will calm it down. But it usually spasms around 6 in the morning, so I’m wondering if I’m just hungry? I looked it up and seems it may be associated with IBS. I remember it happening way back in 1997! The doctor was no help-I saw I posted about it back in 2006. I’m not in pain, it just moves by itself like a baby kicking-I call it alien gut. My one friend said it could be scar tissue from my 6″ long gallbladder scar rubbing on the muscles. Wonder if a tummy tuck would help? : )

I’m going to toss the corned beef in the pot shortly and add cabbage too! Have a great day.

Jan5

Our tree is still up

Posted on Monday, January 5, 2009 by Dianne

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Last year I was ready for the tree to come down (it may have been too red even). This year I’m quite enjoying it. Because I had to set up my mom’s tree, it took away from me wanting mine up as I knew I’d end up taking hers down also. This year she figured it out, so I was off the hook. I took a few things off the walls and have a pile of Christmasy things to put away. My storage area looks so dishelved, I have my work cut out for me, unfortunately.

Sean and I went out for a few hours Sunday to look around a few more stores, though I am broke and shopped out. I can’t believe how many decorations and gift bags are left over at most of the stores. I am being really selective, trying to find things to use for crafting.

When we got home, Sean headed for a pal’s house to watch the Eagles football game. He missed out on a good roast beef dinner. I cooked most of it before we went out and had Bri keep it warm at 170. I only had to do a few things like cook the potatoes and warm up the peas. And how neat was it the Eagles won! Our local sports teams are in general doing great this year.

Sean and I are hoping to go to Longwood Gardens tomorrow-our second try. The kids are going back to school, so that should cut back on the crowd. Then Sean heads back to school on Saturday.

Cosmo Capers blog has been getting lots of hits because a pal added him to a cat blog. I just can’t keep up with everything!

Hopefully my next post will include pretty photos!

Dec25

Pass the cookies-Merry Christmas!

Posted on Thursday, December 25, 2008 by Dianne

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To all my pals in blogland that I call my friends-Merry Christmas. I have made some newer blog pals that I have enjoyed getting to know. I think back on my second grade teacher who taught use this little song in round-‘make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold’.

Here are my cookies for this Christmas-

7 layers cookies, Russian Tea cakes, Sour Cream Drops, Sugar cookies, Rum Raisin squares, Mini Reese’s cup cookies and peanut brittle.

And one of my favorite gifts from Brian-

Adorable little mushroom salt and pepper shakers from Anthropologie! I thought they were just mushrooms for my collection. : )

I also got a GPS for the van-which will be great if I get into going antiquing in unknown parts along with some books and music CDs. I highly recommend Sarah Brightman’s Christmas CD-it’s beautiful!

Brian and Sean got new watches-Bri a Ford Mustang one and Sean a new Penn State one. Sean got almost everything off his Amazon wishlist-a cool big book on the history of Penn State Football with removable ‘artifacts’ like old banners, etc. He looked at it for a long time.

It was nice to have my mom here this year. We took her to midnight mass at a church in Delaware. We sat off to the side instead of in the middle pews and it took away from hearing the choir as well. I saw her singing quite a few times.

We had shrimp and chicken carbonara last night:

It was good-very rich with maybe a wee bit too much garlic. The recipe wasn’t written well and I skimped on the sauce-but in retrospect, I didn’t use all the milk product it called for. I think I would do a breaded chicken next time and not put the shrimp in with the sauce as it was hard to peel.

Tonight we had ‘Surf and Turf’! I cooked the sirloins from BJ Wholesale and cut them in half as they were huge. I bought two lobster tails and cut them in chunks so we all got some. Also made the green bean casserole with fried onions in the can; Potatoes and sweet potato au gratin and asparagus. It was a great dinner and everyone enjoyed it.

The fellows took Brian’s dad some dinner and his gifts, so mom and I are hanging out relaxing.

Hope everyone had a great day!
The entire song from above:

Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.

A circle is round,
it has no end.
That’s how long,
I will be your friend.

A fire burns bright,
it warms the heart.
We’ve been friends,
from the very start.

You have one hand,
I have the other.
Put them together,
We have each other.

Silver is precious,
Gold is too.
I am precious,
and so are you.

You help me,
and I’ll help you
and together
we will see it through.

The sky is blue
The Earth is green
I can help
to keep it clean

Across the land
Across the sea
Friends forever
We will always be

Dec24

Favorite Toys

Posted on Wednesday, December 24, 2008 by Dianne

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I’m pretty sure I posted this when I first made it, but I thought you’d like to see what children of the 1960s played with:

60stoysc

I should have had more Barbies, but I actually did a Barbie collage too one time.
I also finished a cross stitched ornament I started in 2005! It had ‘one over one’ that’s one little square. I had a terrible time, even with a magnifying glass on a few parts, but alas, it’s finished and I can move on. I added it to my feather tree!

The glue is still wet-you can see it. I may take it done and put it under some heavy books to get that pucker out of it.
I expect a busy day ahead as this is the first Christmas Eve that I cooked for years. I am doing a knock off of The Olive Gar*den’s Shrimp and Chicken Carbonara. Think I better start around 2 to make it! Sean will go get mom. I hope we can get her to go to midnight mass with us, it is such a wonderful service at the church we go to every Christmas Eve.

Nov10

Local chef on Martha!

Posted on Monday, November 10, 2008 by Dianne

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When I saw Bryan Sikora on The Martha Stewart show, I got so excited, I called the Kennett Paper (my husband works for them), so they could check it out. I took a few photos off the tv. Bryan is the chef from a really popular Kennett Square restaurant called Tallula’s Table.

Here’s what they said on Martha’s website. You can grab the recipes there too.

If you like the flavor of mouthwatering mushrooms, Martha has a treat for you! Today, chef Bryan Sikora of Talula’s Table shares two seasonal recipes inspired by the variety of local mushrooms produced in his hometown of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania: pan-grilled flatbread sandwiches and herb crepes, a lovely dish for lunch or brunch.

I took a few snaps off the tv and told the receptionist at the paper they could use some. Martha’s show isn’t in HD, so not as good as they could be.

Time for me to go up and check out the take-out goods! They do family style dinners (gourmet that is and the website said $90 a person for an eight course meal-though Bri heard it was now over $100) which are booked months in advance.

Nov7

Holiday Cooking and Show & Tell

Posted on Friday, November 7, 2008 by Dianne

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Overwhelmed with Joy asked me to submit a recipe or two this year to her annual exchange. I was a bit stumped as I think I included my favorite dessert recipes over the last few years. I didn’t want to repeat myself. I asked Brian what he liked that I make and he said ‘chili’. I don’t measure anything and I use either ground beef or turkey. I decided everyone makes their own version of chili. What I did find were a few recipes that we tried that are tasty and healthy from Martha Stewart’s Everyday magazine, which I have recommended here a number of times. The little magazine would actually make a wonderful gift for the holiday-(IMHO).

I never ate that much salmon, but I like it now:

Herb-crusted salmon with spinach salad

Ingredients
Serves 4

3 slices white sandwich bread

1 cup fresh parsley

2 tablespoons olive oil

Coarse salt and ground pepper

4 skinless salmon fillets (6 ounces each)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

5 ounces baby spinach

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil; set aside. In a food processor, combine bread, parsley, and 1 tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper. Pulse until coarse crumbs form.
Place salmon on prepared sheet; season with salt and pepper. Spread top of fillets with Dijon; top with crumb mixture, pressing gently to adhere. Roast until salmon is opaque throughout, 11 to 13 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine lemon juice and remaining oil; season with salt and pepper. Add spinach and onion; toss to combine. Serve salmon with spinach salad.

Photo from the Everyday Food website

White Bean and Tomato Salad

Ingredients

Serves 4

* 1 can (14 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
* 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
* 4 scallions, thinly sliced
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
* Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, toss together beans, tomatoes, scallions, oil, and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper.
2. To store, refrigerate up to 1 day.
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My paternal great grandmother was the author of this book:

I have read it a few times and my son read it for a book report. The book itself is in better shape that it’s cover! (It was published in 1970).

Great grandmother was a very good writer, very detailed and interesting. I love the outdoors, but I couldn’t even think of living in a tent or to go camping! I like indoor plumbing and a warm, soft bed. I guess you did what you had to do.

This is written from the diaries I kept during the years 1908-1912. Each forest man was required to keep a daily record of everything he did, but his report was strictly statistics, so I kept one to remind me of the homely everyday happenings, and to get down what went on behind the scenes. Some days were hectic, and some were peaceful and quiet. There never were two alike.

The wedding went off as planned. The only things that got a little out of line was the bride. When the minister asked if I would “take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband,” I was so tired and nervous I just gasped, “Yes” and the tears began to roll down my face. I kept it up to the end of the ceremony and Archie had to kiss me through a veil of tears.

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Update on me: I went to the GI doc (not the one I thought I was going to see-rats) and he wants some more bloodwork and I have to get a colonscopy in the new year. He mainly suggested that I eat more fiber. I tend to have wacky liver enzymes (as do two of my brothers), so he wants to check a few a bit more in depth. I may wait until the beginning of the new year for the bloodwork too as I just had some in April. I want to make sure the insurance pays for it. He didn’t act like I better do it soon anyway. The doc is like that Ned Ryerson character from ‘Groundhog Day’ (with Bill Murray) but without the big mouth. ; ) Anyway, I’ve been going to doctors about these issues since 1999-about a year after I had Lyme Disease! I’ve heard really bad to they didn’t know. Very perplexing for me!