The health of our children...

We had an opportunity to have dinner with my husband's college friend and his wife.  She made a wonderful dinner.  She's an excellent cook.  She was a teacher in the late 60's and 70's.  She taught in Catholic schools in Philly.  I was interested in the health of the kids.  Today so many have diabetes, asthma, ADD, allergies to nuts.  I saw that when I did clinicals in elementary schools.  Anyway, because she had a broader experience, I felt she was a good resource.  When I went to school, there were 52 kids in the class, two classes, and I can't remember any sick kids.
Our hostess agreed with me.  As a teacher, she too did not see what so many are afflicted with today.  Her feeling is that our immune systems are changing.  I don't know what it is.  I do think it's interesting.
Could it be the increase of fast foods?  Global warming?  The lack of home cooked meals?  The busy schedules the children have today?  Increased immunizations?  Let me know what you think.  I will continue to explore this change in our children's health.

Vacation reading...

Yes, I'm here on vacation.  Won't bore you with the nothingness that I've been doing.  I do want to comment on an old magazine story I was reading.  Actually, my mom keeps it by her side.  It's a story about Michael J. Fox and Parkinson's disease.  My mom reads the story, carefully studying the content to see or find something that says there is a way to manage this disease.    Anyway, in his story it talks about how he copes with the illness. I see my mom and how she copes with the illness.  It's tough.  She gets around the best she can.  I think it's too bad that Fox got this disease at such a young age.  However, he will probably have excellent care.  Money will be no object.  He probably will have someone assist him to put his shoes on, to button his shirt, to assist him into bed and onto the toilet.  I felt the article was not real.  There are plenty of people with the disease, but not as fortunate as him.  Anyway, I could see my mom reading the article for some clue on the cure so she could walk better, not get freezes, be able to get herself out of a chair and into bed.  There was none.

Yea, vacation time....

So what did you do, continued.....

Finished baked goods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a clean floor!

As you can see, the baking is done.  (I had to take a taste of the banana bread.  I fooled around with the recipe and was not sure the texture was to my liking, it's OK) 
I will be constructing the cakes tomorrow.  More pictures then.  Oh, and by the way, I also cleaned the powder room floor, (why waste that water!)  and did two loads of wash.  I think now I will rest for a few minutes. 
The last wash is in the dryer.  My house  smells spic and span clean with a hint of chocolate and banana.  Not bad!

Chiffon cake, banana bread and hershey's chocolate cake.. and what did you do this morning?

So what did you do this morning?  I made a lemon chiffon cake, cleaned up a bit, worked on my blog, went to the supermarket, they had reduced bananas so I got three for banana bread.  I returned home and made clams and angel hair, shrimp and started on the banana bread.  After cleaning up that mess, I made a hershey's chocolate cake, which is in the oven right now.  It should be out by 1p.  In the meantime, I'm going to wash the kitchen floor.  When the cakes come out, I'll try to rest before work.  I leave at 3p.  Oh yeah, I would also like to watch the Bethenny episode that I taped.  I will try to take pictures of the baked goods.  Sure smells good in here, but a little hot!


Here is a good bakeware set that I have.  Nice even heat!

Bethenny was at it again last night.  Don't you love the way Jason laughs when she makes her comments?  He could have passed for a doctor when he put on the scrubs.  I think she is a hoot.  The CPR class was very entertaining.  This women really does not have a clue about kids.  But I do think she was trying to learn as much as she could.  Life does have a way of changing once a baby arrives.  They take over the house, the car and especially your life.  Those are the best days of your life.  I know most of my friends would agree.  I came from the generation of still stay at home moms.  The lazy days of taking care of kids was the best.  Now everyone is running wild, looking for others to care for their most cherished possession.  I feel like saying, "Don't you want to raise your children".  We did with less and stayed home more.  We cooked meals most nights, no fast food in our houses.  Life was nice.

Here is a reasonably priced car seat. Do you need one?

Just created a couple of nice memory books on Snapfish.  Between Picasa and Snapfish, I'm having a great time.  Can't wait to do more.  Family went on a Princess cruise.  I hope they like them.

Feel good sneakers...

I wear Skechers to work.  My knees don't bother me, my back feels good and I think they are a great buy at Amazon.com.  I've been wearing them for over a year and spent $110 for them.  I also bought the sandal.  Like that too.  I would suggest that anyone that wants a comfortable shoe, reduce leg, knee, and overall aches in lower extremities, to invest in these shoes.

After all, we only have one body and we have to take care of it.

The 30 minute meal...

sweet potato fries

sweet potato fries, chicken and kale

Here is a picture of the sweet potato fries and a finished meal.  The chicken was OK.  Tried something different, instead of making the usual cutlets.  This  was only two potatoes, I should have used two baking sheets.  But they were still delicious.
If you are following my meals, you will notice we eat on dessert plates.  Nothing original, but you will eat less.

This is a great day...

I went to TJ Maxx to look for a bathing suit.  I dreaded going into the dressing room with the harsh florescent lighting, making me look worse than I already feel.  Anyway, I brought in 5 suits.  I couldn't believe it when I had to choose between 4.  Do you believe that I actually had 4 that looked decent and that I had to debate over.  No, this doesn't happen too often.  No, it never happens.  I ended up with a blue tankini top and bottom.  No matter how old I get, I still feel the two piece bathing suits are the most comfortable.  Even though I haven't shown my stomach in decades.  Yes, that's right, decades!
Then I came home and made chicken tenders with sesame seeds, peanut butter, teriyaki sauce, don't ask, I just made it up as I went along.  I also made oven roasted sweet potato fries.  Now that's a recipe you'll love.  And of course I made kale and a green salad.  And Rachel Ray thinks she can put a meal on in 30minutes.  I invented it, but she capitalized on it.  I will post pictures of the meal, but not the bathing suit.
Oh yea, I also picked up a fabulous cover up.  I might wear it as a dress.  Nice.
It's interesting what makes someone have a great day, isn't it!

Cake decorating supplies...

I have so many cake decorating supplies.  I have used them all at some point of cake decorating.  I especially love the rotating cake stand.   I don't think I could decorate a cake without it.  I love all the Wilton products and am looking forward to using Duffs new line of fondant and other cake decorating supplies. 

The beauty of this equipment is that you can use it for all your baking needs.  The roll and cut mat can be used for anything you need to roll out, pie crust, cookies, and of course fondant and gumpaste.  The surface is fabulous and easy to clean.  Love it!

This is a must have piece of equipment for cake decorators.  There is another one that tilts, but this one does a great job.  I have also used it to elevate my cakes for display and it works beautifully, sturdy and good size.

Day at Foxwoods...

Well the 5 of us took off for Foxwoods at about 10a.  It was a long drive, the navigator had short cuts that I didn't think were any too short.  Anyway, on arrival, we headed to the slot machines, assigning a place to meet at 1p. 
Pat, the cat lady(she has 10cats) got on a machine and didn't move.  She was up a bit, but just kept on playing.  (isn't that always the way).  I met Kathy a few times, but we were not doing too much.  We had already put in about as much as we wanted to with little success.  Sheila, the world traveler, navigator and avid casino fan, was losing.  We could tell by  her walk, just no pep and averting her frustrated eyes.  Of course, someone was lucky.  The driver, Judy, had some luck.  Kathy found me in the sea of blinking machines and said that Judy hit for $2500.  Drat, why couldn't that have been me.  What machine was she on?  How long was she playing?  How much money did she start with?  All the same questions that we all ask.  She was happy enough.  I would have been tripping out. 
We went to Hard Rock for lunch. 
Good enough food, but the prices were higher than the last time we were there.  Can you imagine how much it costs to eat out?  I did have a great drink, "Sex on the Beach", delicious, although I hadn't eaten anything until then and I got a bit woozy after drinking about half of it.  I gave it to my friend to finish, but it was good.  Anyway we designated another place to meet at 5p.  I wanted to leave, it was my day off and I wanted to relax for a bit of the night.  Also, Bethenny was on and I couldn't miss that. 
So that was a pleasant enough day.  I came home with more money than  I went with, and that made me happy.  After lunch and all the other little things I spent money on, I felt I had a good day and was ahead. 
When we got back to Kathy's (where we all met in the morning) we all headed home, but not without making a plan to do this again soon.  Nice day, nice people. 

What an absolutely great website I just posted for the WWTBAM game. I never saw it. It gives a better description than I ever could about my 15minutes!

Hope you enjoy it.

Because I mentioned it, WWTBAM...

Because I mentioned it, I will be posting the adventure of being on "Who wants to be a Millionaire" in the future. I was on in 2002. Great fun.


Click on "This WWTBAM" link below

this WWTBAM link

Have some fun and use some brain power...

Here is an educational and fun website. Even though I was on the real "who wants to be a millionaire", this is still a fun site. Of course the only thing you win is some brain power!!

this

Click on "This"

Enjoy

Cooking like a pro videos...

If you love to watch food videos and would to learn to cook like a pro, visit this Redbook link.

this! It's a really nice website for good food instructions

Just click on "This"
Hope you enjoy it.

Bethenny getting married....

Last nights episode was good. It was the honeymoon. It looks like they had a wonderful time. Can you really believe how sweet Jason is. I have to say, she picked a winner when she got him. He is genuinely a nice guy. A Penna native.
I thought the episode was cute and funny. As I said, I love her sense of humor and I love Jason's reactions to her quips.
I still feel awkward seeing pregnant women in bikinis. But then I was thinking, I bet all the direct sunlight does the baby good.
The iguana part was a bit disturbing. Could that little beast be lurking in the room. I would have a hard time sleeping in there. I'm sure the camera crew and others cleared out the room before they went to sleep. St Bart's looked like a beautiful island. I couldn't believe them when they ate the scotch bonnet pepper. You mean a cook like Bethenny didn't know what it was. They are some of the hottest peppers. I enjoyed the beach scene when B was looking at the little girls. She looked genuinely happy and looking forward to the birth of her baby. I'm glad she had a girl. And what about that beautiful furniture. It must be great to have a decorator there to advise you. It looks like next week it will be the birth of the baby. I will be looking forward to that show. Let's see how she gets through the labor.

this! Here is a website to see what's going on
with Bethenny.
Click on "this"

Finally capped...

BP announced that the oil well is capped. Thank God. I hope this is a final solution.

BP is still fooling around with the leaking oil well. It's almost like an afterthought now. They are going to try to cap it. But it seems like they are going to do it in stages to see if it works. Our poor beautiful earth. Will it ever recover from this one.
On one of our trips to the seashore, when driving through Newark, I was happy that it was dark so no one could see me cry. The sky was cloudy with pollution. I could smell the refineries. I remember that smell when we drove from Philly to Jersey. It was the same smell that was heavy in the air when we passed the "oil tanks". Our poor beautiful earth.

Today I posted a tutorial on chicken prep. It's on you tube.
Anyway, I am eager to see who gets tossed on the Chefs show on Bravo. I love Bravo. I used to love Lifetime, but the programming has changed. But I am addicted to the shows on Bravo. Aren't Americans gracious, especially when they are told, "Pack your knives and go". They always say, "thank you". All the shows are the same way. You did a lousy job, "Thank you".
I must say, the show I am into right now is Bethenny getting married. I think she is fabulous. I love her sense of humor. And Jason, he is a dream. I wonder, is he too good to be true. I hope not. Tomorrow night is the honeymoon show. It's strange to see pregnant women in bikinis, or white wedding gowns, for that matter. Oh, how times have changed. Or maybe they haven't changed so much, but things were quieter. No one broadcasted the things that we see today. I want to know if others feel the same. And the way some women talk. I cringe everytime they beep them on the shows. I mean, do they have to be so crude.
I'm off to foxwoods tomorrow with a few friends. I better not lose any money. I'm not taking that much, so I won't. I told my friend that we can people watch after we spend our money. Oh yea, I don't say "lose". I say "spent". Because it is a day of entertainment and you have to pay to be entertained. But I hope the entertainment is not too expensive. I'll let you know.

I made another video for you tube.
It's called Jennifer the gymnast

Take a look

My second you tube posting....

cod and zucchini dinner prep

This is my latest endeavor. You will find my recipe and preparation.
Try it on You tube. Just type in the above description. It should come up.

At the fair...

Have you ever seen anything as large as these horns? This animal is called a Watusi and it's from Africa. An attraction at the fair we went to today. There were plenty of other animals, but this one is note worthy.

I have a wonderful cake decorator instructor. She's smart, has patience, is kind and really knows her stuff. I hope to continue with the new lineup of classes that she is now teaching. You can view some of the designs of her students and her class schedule. We all try very hard to make masterpieces of our cakes.
this!

you can view her website by clicking on the above

I hope you enjoy it

Shadow posing and other tidbits...

Here is a picture of my neighbor's cat, Shadow. I love animals. Dogs and cats. I've had 4 of my own and many acquaintances. I remember Rusty, the little tan dog with the wavy fur. and Mickey, the ferocious Doberman. Pixie, Lady Jane, Boo and Scotty were my pets. I remember the first animal I fell in love with. It was in Brigantine that I found a stray cat. I fed it, played with it. My family was none too happy with the cat. It didn't come in the house and I wonder, now, where I got the food to feed it. Anyway, there was a terrible storm, maybe a hurricane. The cat somehow drowned. I remember the stiff little body on the shovel my dad used to discard the carcass. I was the only one that seemed to care that this little bit of fur had succumbed to the storm. I remember sitting on one of the six beds in the "girls' room" and crying. My heart was broken. That was the first time my heart was broken over an animal, but certainly not the last.