Me at 3 Years Old

Thanks to Leah at Amused By Books who shared this meme.

Age: 51
Bed Size: Queen
Chore that you hate: Dusting and cleaning the bathroom – ugh.
Dogs: Are you kidding me? Of course! My current dog is the rascal Raven – almost 3 years old and full of the devil!
Essential start to your day: Coffee
Favorite colors: Orange, Purple and Turquoise
Gold or Silver: Silver
Height: 5’8″
Instruments you play: Piano (badly)
Job Title: Physical Therapist
Kids: Sadly, no.
Live: Northern California in the mountains (Shasta County)
Mother-in-Law’s name: Kathleen
Nicknames: Wenchie
Overnight hospital stays: My freshman year of college found me hospitalized for the complications of Mononucleosis
Pet Peeves: People who don’t do their jobs and get annoyed when you expect them to; and slow drivers.
Quote from a movie: “In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.” (Calo from The Godfather)
Right or Left handed: Right
Siblings: Youngest of three girls
Time you wake up: Varies. Raven and the cats start bugging me to get up around 7:00 am – but if I can, I sleep until 8:00
Underwear: Um, yes.
Vegetable you hate: Are olives vegetables? If so – Olives.
What makes you run late: Distracted by email, FB, blogs…really, almost everything.
X-Rays you’ve had: Dental, Chest, Knee, Spine…I think that’s it (that’s enough).
Yummy food that you make: Shepherd’s Pie. Yum.
Zoo animal: Giraffes

…because it was so dang accurate (thank you to Cathy at Kittling Books for the link to the quiz).

Your Dark Element is Earth

You are well grounded. You nurture and comfort everyone that you know.You are naturally diplomatic, but it isn’t easy. You can be indecisive and contradictory at times. You work hard, but you also get discouraged. You can be withdrawn and moody.You tend to give so much to others that you forget to take care of yourself.

Cathy at Kittling Books asks: What Field of Science are you?

You Are Biology

You are a warm and connected person. You are interested in all living things – plants, animals, and humans. Beyond just being curious about how creatures work, you’re driven to make the world a better place. You would love to help cure diseases, or even just save a species from extinction. If you can make anyone’s life a little more comfortable, you feel like you’ve done your job.

Sheri at A Novel Menagerie has presented me with the Honest Scrap Award:

This award apparently means that I blog straight from the heart.   I am supposed to share this award with 7 other bloggers as well as share 10 things about myself.

Ten things? Really? You want to know that much about me? Okay…if you twist my arm just a little…

1. I am an organization freak. I like to have folders and notebooks for everything. I organize my bookshelves alphabetically, by subject, by challenge, and by priority (it gets a little complicated sometimes because I am always changing things). Despite this obsessive-compulsive behavior, I am also a clutter bug. My counter-tops always need neatening. My house always needs dusting. I tend to pile my clothes up on chairs rather than hang them in the closet. A bit schizophrenic, isn’t it?
2. My favorite food used to be lobster, followed closely by clam chowder and shrimp. Then one day, shortly after I passed my 40th birthday, I ate a lobster and blew up like a balloon. I now have a fatal allergy to all seafood. If I ever end up on death row, my last meal will be lobster and a shrimp cocktail.
3. I drive like a crazy woman. It must be all those years living in Boston. When Kip drives, Raven sleeps like a lamb. When I drive she retches and gets car sick. The last time we took a road trip and I got behind the wheel, Kip cautioned Raven: “Watch out, Mommy’s driving.” I like to refer to my driving style as “assertive.”
4. I love garbage television (bring on The Bachelor and America’s Next Top Model) almost as much as I love People Magazine. Don’t let all that literary fiction fool you!
5. I hate olives.
6. I am deathly afraid of spiders (and bees too). Everyone says they are friendly little creatures which help our gardens. All I know is that once a wolf spider reared up on his legs and made me run screaming down the hall, and another time a teeny (but hairy) little spider sprang off the wall to attack me. On more occasions than I can count a bee has stung me for no good reason.
7. Deep down, past the painted toenails and nice clothes, I am really a tomboy who always preferred running around the neighborhood with the wild boys than playing with dolls. I am really happiest in ratty jeans, a t-shirt and bare feet.
8. There is no animal I don’t relate to (except maybe skunks who insist on spraying my dogs). Strays are always showing up on my doorstep. I am helpless to turn them away. It is amazing I have not turned into a crazy cat woman yet. Luckily, I still have commonsense – I find homes for them instead of keeping them.
9. I am the eternal optimist. I prefer to see potential in people rather than their weaknesses. I can’t seem to say no to anyone. If someone is in need, I want to take them home and fix their problems. This is not always a good thing. There are times I believe there is a neon sign tattooed across my forehead which reads “Sucker.” Despite this, I would rather believe in the good in people than see the bad in them.
10. When people meet me they automatically think I am an extrovert. Perhaps it is because I talk so much (if you’ve met me, this is not an invitation to agree with me!).  But I am actually a person who is energized by alone time spent reading or being creative…so that technically makes me an introvert.

Thanks for tagging me, Sheri! This was fun. Although I am now supposed to tag seven people, I am feeling rather lazy today…instead, if you are reading this, feel free to play along…but make sure you come back and leave me a comment with a link to your post so I can get to know you a little better!

I love when another blogger recognizes my blog for an award, but I am sad to say I am really bad sometimes about posting my thank yous (my mother would be appalled!). Here’s what came my way lately in the form of blogger awards:

The Happy Award came to me from Home Girl’s Book Blog who is the new owner of J. Kaye’s blog. Have you been over to visit her lately? She is fantastic – terrific reviews, wonderful writing, and a good sense of humor. Although I miss J. Kaye, I am SO HAPPY to have Home Girl filling my Reader these days with her awesome posts!

The Crowded Leaf also awarded me The Happy Award (wow, I had no idea I made so many people happy!). Have you been to visit Alayne’s blog yet? She reads and reviews some great books and her blog is warm and friendly. I recommend you stopping in…and tell her I sent you!

This award asks that we list ten things which make us happy. Here are mine:

1. My wonderful, wonderful spouse whose thoughtfulness and quiet presence in my life not only makes me happy, but keeps me grounded.
2. My animals – Raven, Maia and Gizmo. They keep me smiling and give me unconditional love.
3. My stacks upon stacks of books – I love them.
4. A warm, spring day with the flowers in bloom and the snow capped mountains in the distance.
5. A walk in the woods – preferably with my husband and Raven.
6. Sleeping in on the weekends.
7. Discovering new places.
8. Cooking – especially when I have the time to play, experiment and try something new.
9. My new closet – now everything has a place and I am SO happy to be able to find things in there now.
10. Blogging – yup, it still makes me happy!

One Lovely Blog Award came to me from Too Many Books, Too Little Time who made me blush with her very kind comments about my blog! I have discovered she and I share many similarities, including the books we like (and don’t like!). If you haven’t already discovered this terrific blogger, make sure you pop over there and give her a read…I think you’ll find, as I did, that she’ll add something special to your blog reading!

The I Like and I Don’t Like Meme

Lisa from Books on the Brain tagged me for this fun meme. The Rules: Fill in the blanks after each bold word and tag 3 friends. Easy peasy….

I like going to bed on clean sheets.
I like starting a new book.
I like sitting in front of the woodstove on a cold day.
I like a hot shower.
I like an unexpected day off of work.
I like learning a new craft.
I like when books arrive at my house.
I like seeing the tulips poke their heads through the soil.
I like walks in the woods.
I like taking photos.
I like cooking something new.
I like hanging out in my sweats all day.
I love being married to my soulmate.
Today was a lazy day.
I hate pettiness.
I hate gossip.
I hate commercials on television.
I hate paying bills.
I hate olives.
I hate dishonesty.
I hate intolerance.
I hate irresponsibility.
I (secretly) like spending time all alone.
I love the potential in life.

Now I am supposed to pass this on to THREE people: Laura at Musings, Terri at Reading, Writing and Retirement, and Jackie at Farm Lane Books.

Welcome to Thursday Tea…a weekly meme on Thursdays hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the answers to these questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.

The Book:

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant

Set in the second half of the sixteenth century, this book revolves around the practice of sending young girls off to live in convents in Italy. Dunant’s book focuses on sixteen year old Serafina – a willful girl who arrives at the convent and immediately begins plotting her escape. I am enjoying this historical fiction book and will be finishing it today – so watch for a review soon.

The Tea:

Organic Hibiscus Zest Tea

This spicy tea is a combination of hibiscus petals, orange zest, lemon balm, lavender, licorice root and stevia. It is made by Heidi’s Plant Pep. I really like this tea – it is rich and a great “pick me up” kind of tea.

Do they Go Together?

Well, I think any herbal tea goes with historical fiction…but perhaps this book is even more appropriate for an herbal beverage since one of the main characters is the convent dispensary mistress and she uses herbs in varying degrees to treat illness within the convent.

Welcome to Weekend Cooking – a weekly meme sponsored at Beth Fish Reads which “is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.”

I have been in New Hampshire since January 7th – spending time with family, especially my older sister who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery right before Christmas (she is doing REALLY well and has an excellent prognosis for full recovery). I knew I wanted to make some good food for her and a recipe in the February edition of Every Day with Rachael Ray caught my eye.

What tastes better than homemade soup when you aren’t feeling 100%? And is there anything more yummy than than a combination of chicken, lots of vegetables and pasta? Rachael Ray’s Toasted Orzo Chicken Soup (page 89 in the February 2010 print edition) fit the bill. Although there is a bit of prep time involved, this was a quick and easy soup which uses toasted orzo, finely chopped zucchini, carrots, red bell pepper, onion and garlic, fresh lemon and parsley, and of course chicken to make a delicious, rich soup. We had ours with a loaf of garlic rosemary bread, and we also topped the hot soup with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (an edition to the original recipe) that added some saltiness. I doubled the recipe so we had leftovers…which were actually more tasty than the first day.

I just started getting Rachael Ray’s magazine which my sister gave me as a gift – and I have to say, I’m impressed so far with the number of recipes I want to try. She also has a great website, and if you are interested in soups which warm body and soul…check out this page on the website that includes numerous 30 minute soup meals.

Do you like to make homemade soups at this time of year? What are some of your favorites? Do you subscribe to a cooking magazine that you absolutely love? Please share in the comments!

Welcome to another installation of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

I am hopelessly addicted to collecting cookbooks and food related books…and then not reading them. I don’t know why they sit unread on my shelves, but they do. I do know why I buy them…I love food, I love thinking of food, I love cooking.

My cooking skills have evolved over the years and I am happy to say I no longer religiously follow recipes. I like to take a recipe and improvise it, substitute in (or out) ingredients, and make the dish my own (which is probably one reason I am also hopelessly addicted to watching Top Chef every week…I am simply amazed at what they create, especially during the Quick Fire challenges).

I digress…back to the subject at hand.

Really what I want to share with you today are some of the fantastic food related books I’ve bought in the last year or so…and which I am determined to read before the end of 2010.

Fiction/Novels:

• Bread Alone, by Judith Ryan Hendricks – Emotionally devastated thirty one year old Wynter Morrison heals from a failed marriage by baking bread.
• The Baker’s Apprentice, by Judith Ryan Hendricks – Wynter Morrison faces more challenges in Seattle.

Memoirs:

• I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti, by Giulia Melucci – A woman looking everywhere for love, and finding it on the stove.
• Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell – 365 days of cooking with Julia Child
• Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl – The coming of age of a culinary sensation
• A Thousand Days in Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure, by Marlena De Blasi – An American chef and food writer takes the reader to Tuscany…and the world’s best food.

Non Fiction:

• American Artisanal: Finding the Country’s Best Real Food from Cheese to Chocolate, by Rebecca Gray – Discover how and where food is being made the right way.

Cookbooks:

• The Improvisational Cook, by Sally Schneider – Declare your independence from recipes and a set list of ingredients
• The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters – Eat locally and sustainably, eat seasonally, cook simply…

Have any of you read these books? They look great, don’t they?

Beth at Beth Fish Reads hosts this fun cooking meme every weekend – a time to blog about anything vaguely foodie in nature.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but about two weeks before Thanksgiving I start craving stuffing, roasted poultry, squash, yams and pie. I think it is just  thinking of Thanksgiving that starts my mouth watering.

Yesterday I decided to kick off the Thanksgiving season with some pre-Thanksgiving fare. I stuffed a 5.5 pound chicken and roasted it; made a bit of acorn squash and gave the plate a bit of green with steamed broccoli.

My very first cookbook I ever owned was Betty Crocker’s Cookbook which my mother gave me. For many years this was my sole inspiration and reference to cooking…until I became more adventuresome. But I still use this cookbook – primarily for reference. And so when I roasted my chicken yesterday, I dragged my dog-eared, food splattered copy of Betty Crocker’s Cookbook off the shelf and looked up the time-frame for roasting a chicken. What I love is that any basic food information you could want can be found inside this simple cookbook (their pie crust recipe comes out perfectly). I looked up chicken, and referenced the roasting schedule (which is conveniently divided up into the SIZE poultry and whether it is stuffed or not). For my chicken, I planned on 2.5 hours of roasting time at 325 degrees.

I don’t reference a cookbook for making stuffing because I mostly improvise when it comes to that. Stuffing is one of my favorite foodie things to make at this time of year and yesterday I pretty much used what I had on hand to create it. Here it is just in case you want to give it a try (sorry about the lack of exact measurements for some ingredients…I tend to just add a little of this and a little of that as I go):

To stuff a 4-5 pound chicken…

• 4 cups of dried, cubed bread
• diced up celery (at least 1/2 cup)
• diced up sweet onion (at least 1/2 cup)
• diced up fresh mushrooms (I used about 5 large ones)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup to 1 cup of liquid (I use canned chicken broth…but you can use water or homemade chicken broth instead)
• pepper to taste
• currants or dried cranberries to taste
• pecans – crumbled into bite sized pieces to taste
• chopped up fresh parsley to taste

Melt the butter in a fry pan, add the vegetables and saute until the celery and onions are clear or just tender. Dump the butter and vegetables into a large bowl and add the bread cubes, currants (or dried cranberries), pecans, pepper, and parsley. Mix well. Add in the liquid a little at a time until you have the right level of moisture (this is completely up to you…some people like very moist stuffing, other people like their stuffing a bit drier). Taste and adjust seasonings or ingredients as needed. Then stuff that bird and pop it in the oven. The left over stuffing I add to a buttered casserole dish and bake it for about an hour at 350 degrees or until the top of the stuffing is brown and crunchy.

To make acorn squash:

Chop your squash into halves and scoop out the seeds. Place the squash upside down in a casserole dish and then add water until it comes about 1/2 way up the sides of the squash halves. Bake in a 400 degree oven until the squash are easily pierced with a fork (about 45 minutes depending on the size of your squash). Remove from the oven; drain the water and flip the squash right side up (be careful..they are very hot!). Add a dollop of butter and brown sugar into the squash halves and place under a broiler (set on high) until the sugar and butter are bubbling (they actually begin to caramelize a bit). Remove from the oven and cut into serving sized pieces. Serve hot. These also taste great leftover – just heat them up in the microwave.

Today Kip and I are enjoying leftovers. Yum!!!

What are you making this weekend? Are you already anticipating a Thanksgiving feast? Do you have a favorite cookbook for reference or basic recipes?

To read more Weekend Cooking posts, visit Beth’s blog today and check out Mr. Linky!