A little of this, a little of that

I'm here today with a meandering post of pictures taken with my phone.



Here we have Oscar. He is an at-least-6-year-old dachshund (we got him from a shelter and couldn't be sure of his age then and people are always saying he looks older, so maybe he is). Here is Oscar's morning routine:

-Get out of little dog bed beside people bed
-Follow Kimberly to see if food will be immediately served.
-Sit and stare at Kimberly to see if this will induce her to immediately serve food
-Give up; find the softest possible place on the couch
-Move only when food is served

When he's really full of himself he likes to make a small complaining "uhhhhh" sound just under his breath if you disturb him when he is in such a state. Like, if you ever so softly stroke his silken ears...he goes "uhhhhhhh...uhhhhhhh...." with each breath to make it clear that you are surely causing him mental and emotional, if not actual physical, pain. He is spoiled, and its a mystery to me how he got that way.

I love me some Oscar.

We saw this product in a store that was going out of business. Anything look strange to you?

How about the 4-year-old with the mustache? Maybe he's in some sort of a costume, but that isn't readily apparant to me, so I rate this picture "Weird".

My favorite colors as a little girl were pink and purple. Can you imagine the hyperventilating had I seen this car way back when? (On the right just behind The Pink and Purple Wonder you can see the front quarter panel of my beloved light blue Blazer. Aren't you glad I told you?)

This was enjoyed by Walt and me this past Saturday at the delectable Grits and Groceries. This is:

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Miss Linda's Scallops: Pan Seared in a Lemon Caper Sauce with Cheese Grits, Mushrooms and Chopped Bacon.

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Yes, all those words need to be capitalized in order to convey the delicious-ness of Miss Linda's Scallops. They were preceded by Hattie Mae's Tomato Pie and followed by a slice of chocolate chess pie. Can I please go back next Saturday and every Saturday after that??

In the Good Ole Summertime...

Ah, summer.

Time for a little bit of this...

from our local strawberry patch sliced, sugared and eaten with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream (the only vanilla I've ever wanted to eat plain).

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Perfect time for this...

Squash that hubs grew (yay, hubs!) and grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper; and fennel rice salad I made (the leftovers were great; I didn't have scallions so I left them out). What a lovely summer meal.

The other night we realized it was time for this, too...

Green tomatoes and squash from our garden fried up just right by the Mr. YUM!! Hubs, have I told you lately you're the best hubs ever?

This plate is ALL hub's doing: squash and green tomatoes he grew and then turned into fried green tomatoes (with some jarred marinara sauce), fried squash, grilled squash and squash casserole.

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Is this man good or what??!

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Summer + Hubs makes for a very lovely time indeed.

Oh, the conviction

(Photo credit: fensterbme)

So I got on the scale several weeks ago after not getting on the scale for several months because of a dead battery. The scale's dead battery, not mine. And I was NOT pleased with what I saw. And I already knew I'd been eating too much and that my clothes were feeling tight, so the number shouldn't have been a surprise, but don't we hold out hope that things will be different than we know them to be? In so many areas of life? I do. I still walk in the door after work hoping my fairy godmother has dinner all ready for us.


So I'm back to weighing in once a week, monitering my portion sizes and my calorie intake and fitting in exercise where I can. I still eat pretty much whatever I want; I just have to pay attention to how much I eat.


Several weeks ago I signed up for daily "Devotion for Dieters" emails from Crosswalk (they have all sorts of daily devotionals), and today's was REALLY good. Let me share it with you:


June 2

1 John 3:2-3
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.


Sometimes we fool ourselves into believing that to be like Jesus means to act like Him or think like Him or pray like Him, and we ignore that we should try to look like Him, too. We don't know that Jesus was thin, but we can be confident that He was not overweight, because He preached moderation and denounced gluttony. He cared for Himself, and He called others to care for themselves, also. How wonderful it would be to be able to stand face-to-face with our Lord and to mirror Him in both His spiritual and physical perfection!


Today's thought: When people look at me, I want them to see Jesus!

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Yikes! Is that clear and specific or what!

Here are some sites that I've found to be very helpful in my journey to learn about health and proper nutrition:


My Pyramid website
What Would Jesus Eat by Dr. Don Colbert


God, help me to drink my water today and savor my food and partake of the proper amount. I want people to see Jesus when they look at me!

Mother's Day 2009

Before I start this Mother's Day post I need to recognize today, May 22, as a very special day and say Happy Birthday, Mom!

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Now on to the Mother's Day Brunch 2009 recap!

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The brother, the mother, me

This past Friday saw another yummy Mother's Day brunch and a very fun day for my mom and me.

We had:
Half and Half with Lemonade Ice Cubes
Blueberry Maple Breakfast Bake
Cardamom Citrus Fruit Salad
Kale with Pinto Beans and Roasted Red Peppers
Sage-Mustard Breakfast Sausage
Ricotta-Mascarpone Mousse with Balsamic Strawberries


It was all delicious! My notes for next time:

--The lemonade tea was a bit tart for me, so I would increase the simple syrup by another 1/4 to 1/2 cup. I didn't leave enough time for the ice cubes to freeze, so they were a bit liquidy. Next time I will make the lemonade and the ice cubes a day ahead.

--The blueberry maple bake was SO easy, SO delicious and looked very impressive; I assembled it the night before and put it straight into the oven an hour before lunch. I want to try it with whole wheat bread next time.




--Instead of cutting up all the fruit for the citrus salad I took a shortcut and mostly used drained canned fruit: citrus salad, red grapefruit and mandarin oranges. I did actually section one navel orange myself. The salad was great; yay, canned fruit! Next time I would make the salad the day before.



--This kale dish is SO good. I made it for dinner a couple weeks ago and both hubs and I liked it. I am always looking for ways to make our vegetables interesting and yummy, and this recipe is GREAT. Mom likes veggies, so I thought she might like this (she did!).




--Sausage was easy and yummy. I used powdered sage as my local store didn't have fresh sage. Next time I will either make the meat mixture a day ahead and cook the sausage right before lunch, or cook the sausages a day ahead and heat them up before lunch.

--OH MY GOSH...ricotta-mascarpone mousse + balsamic strawberries = HEAVEN. Absolute heaven. I had some of the left over strawberries and mousse for breakfast Saturday AND Sunday...so ridiculously good. This is a simple dish, and it looks all frou frou and impressive. And in case I didn't say, its delicious.





--Each time I host a dinner I see myself improving. From absolutely wigging out and darting around getting not much of anything done to this time working steadily without wigging out, I'm getting closer and closer to having the food on the table when I want to with an absolute minimum of stress. This time I made a timeline detailing when to do each step in the whole process, but I didn't plan enough time in for prep work (chopping things, etc...I chop really slowly), so I will give myself more wiggle room in my next timeline. I also left myself too much to prepare the day of the brunch. Next time I will prepare as much of the food as possible the day before, so that the day of I have very little to do and can spend more time on the details (presentation, table decoration etc).
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The little brother ("little" as in he turned 22 this year) came a bit early and hung out as he had to race back to work. Sadly Dad had to work, so he didn't make it to lunch. Hubs, mom and I had a relaxed time over our lunch talking about all sorts of things. Hubs took mom on a tour of our two vegetable gardens. Mom and I talked and looked at my blog; I let her read the entire first page before I told her no more, she could read my blog at her house, we had to go have fun now :) I presented her with a little gift bag containing a Mother's Day treat, and she wanted me to take a picture before she opened it, so we ended up outside on the front stoop. She wanted one of the pots of begonias I had planted to be in the picture, too (I swear, she's just about the cutest woman you will ever meet...she really takes delight in the small things like a pot of begonias her daughter managed not to kill), so she ended up sitting on the front stoop next to the pot. After a couple pictures I came and sat down as she opened her little treat (chocolate covered cherries from Italy! she loves choc covered cherries).


There we were sitting on the stoop looking out over the yard that is luxuriously shaded with not 1, not 2, but 3 of the cutest trees you'll ever see. The sky was blue with a few puffy white clouds, the birds were singing and a breeze was blowing. Cue another one of those moments where you just have to feel grateful for all God has given you.
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After we tore ourselves away from admiring the lovely day, I introduced her to Schwartzentruber's Bakery here in Abbeville; we left with danish for dad, wheat bread and slices of homemade cake (I got pound cake with lemon icing...it was soooo good). Then we trolled through our local video place and after much consideration we came away with Twilight (she hadn't seen it and wanted to). After a short drive around Abbeville we made one last very important stop: the ice cream shop. Can it really be girls' day without ice cream present? Ice creams in hand we headed home and settled in for the movie before she headed home. It was a lovely, lovely day! I don't remember the last time we spent time doing whatever we wanted without much of a deadline. I think she really enjoyed herself, and hopefully she felt very loved and celebrated.
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Here we are; and the begonias, too :)

Mother's Day 2008

This will be the 3rd year that I will have a Mother's Day brunch to honor my mom. I say "will have" because this year it hasn't happened yet. We spent Sunday with the hub's mom, and Mother's Day Part Deux will be this Friday.

Two years ago I made all the food, packed it in an elaborate system of insulated bags with cold packs and hoped it would make it through church (I was helping with the children's service, so I couldn't skip it) and the 35 minute drive to my parents' house. It did! And it was delicious. I took much of the menu from Food Network's suggested Mother's Day Menu 2007: Strawberry Bellinis, Fresh Fruit and Mint Salad, Orange Glazed Blueberry Scones, Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Frittata, green salad using lettuce hubs grew, maybe roasted asparagus (can't remember...) and I think there was a dessert, but I don't remember what it was...in any case Mom felt very special which was the point of the whole thing.

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So this past year I thought, "Why not run that play again!" except this time I worked it out for Mom to come to me...it was a huge endeavor to transport all the food, and thankfully she didn't mind making the hour drive if it meant she didn't have to cook, wash the dishes, or wait in line for 2 hours at her favorite restaurant.

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I had recently discovered Tracy's delightful blog Notes on a Cottage Industry, and I just loved all of her tablescapes and cute banners, so I set out to do something really cute a la Tracy for my mom.

I set the table and printed the menu and place cards the night before, because I knew having the table ready would be a great comfort when I was freaking out trying to get all the food done (not to mention all the last minute house cleaning) the next day. Pretty much I dealt with the food and hubs scurried around getting the house all squared away: THANK YOU, BABE!

My inspirations were two pink scrapbook papers from the Martha Stewart collection at Michael's: a cream and light pink toile and a sparkly, deep pink. From those I pulled together a pink, white and silver table color scheme punctuated with plenty of sparkly glass. I used a plain white table cloth and white plates as the backdrop. The bouquet of gorgeous pink tulips (Mom's favorites) at the top of this post was the main attraction with candlesticks, silver Christmas ornaments (use what you got!), silver votive cups and a collection of vintage pearl and rhinestone earrings providing the rest of the table decoration. I rummaged through my jewelry to find several bracelets that fit the color scheme to serve as napkin rings and put placecards printed on that gorgeous sparkly pink paper at each place.

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Even Mom's gift had a dash of fuchsia.

The menu card was printed on the toile paper.

We had:

Champagne Lemonade

Tuscan Salad

French Toast Casserole

Chicken Sausage (although I think I used turkey instead of chicken...)

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Strawberry Salad Ring (It's actually called Strawberry Mold...and I just couldn't type that on my beautiful toile menu card. And of course I decided at the last minute to make it in a square dish instead of the ring, and no way was I reprinting that menu card :) )

Chocolate Mousse

Cause I'm mean and want to show you pictures that will make you drool, take a look at the French Toast Casserole.

Oh, yeah...it was even better than it looks. It's a Paula Deen recipe, so you can be sure it is going to be sinfully good. After it was all said and done the dish was scraped CLEAN.

The final touch on the whole shebang was this cuuuuuute (if I do say so myself) "Mother O' Mine" banner fashioned after one that Tracy made for her mom. I alternated the two inspiration papers and strung the letters on a black ribbon.

Mom loved her event! She is just about the most gracious guest you will ever find, and she oohed and aahed over everything and just made me feel so good. We two plus Dad, brother and hubs had a great time eating some great food (thank you, Food Network!) and celebrating our mom/mom-in-law/wife.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!

Fancy Hot Dogs and Duck Fat Fries

Oh yes...you read that right: strips of potato fried in duck fat.

**NOTE: I didn't take all the pictures in this post...I have labeled the pictures taken by other people and linked those pictures to each person's Flickr account.

People, I love food, I love food, I love food. I used to read Slash Food and Serious Eats religiously every day, multiple times a day. Since the list of blogs I read has gotten stupid huge something had to go, so now I use these blogs for reference purposes only, but still...I love food.

Which brings me to Hot Doug's. And the fact that I really love variety and new riffs on classics. Most of the time I would rather have 2 bites of 5 different things than one big serving of one thing, even if I like that one thing a while lot (mom's macaroni and cheese, Paula Deen's corn casserole (which we double by the way, except the butter...1 stick is plenty. AND I recently replaced the sour cream with fat free Greek yogurt to great success), etc).


I think I first read about Hot Doug's, the self-described "Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium", on the Chow message boards (GREAT resource for finding good food) while doing research for our 2008 Chicago vacation. I am absolutely driven to find the best unique food while in new places, and Hot Doug's sounded like it fit the bill.

So we went on our first day in Chicago, exhausted as we were (we tend to procrastinate on the packing until we are forced to stay up shoving things in bags the entire night before we leave). We figured out the bus map, rode the bus and walked the block with scratchy eyes and hurting feet, and we waited in the HOUR AND A HALF line. And people, it was WORTH it. We went back the day before we left town...we do NOT repeat places when in a new city because that means I miss an opportunity to try something new, so now you know Hot Doug's is truly special. Hot Doug's has great regular hotdogs that most would find pretty exotic. But then you come to Today's Specials.

For some reason one morning recently I found myself reminiscing about my time at Hot Doug's and thought I'd check out the day's specials. Oh, my heart aches (because I'm sad, not because its clogged with duck fat or anything), to read the list of "encased meats" I'm missing:

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Today: February 6, 2009
The Game of the Week:
Spicy Smoked Alligator Sausage with Creole Mayonnaise and St. Pete's Blue Cheese
$8.00

The Erick Lee Purkhiser (Today's Celebrity Sausage)
Gyros Sausage with Spinach Raita, Kalamata Olives and Haloumi Cheese
$7.50

Other Specials

Saucisson Alsacienne: Bacon Sausage with Creme Fraiche, Caramelized Onions and Pepper Affinois Cheese
$7.50

Smoked Applewurst Sausage with Lime-Ancho Mayonnaise and Cotija Cheese
$7.50

Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Sauce Moutarde, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris
$8.50

The Atomic Bomb: Spicy Pork Sausage with Sweet & Spicy Curry Mustard and Jalapeno-Havarti Cheese
$7.50

Smoked Mexican Chorizo with Tomatillo Mole and Habanero-Jack Cheese
$7.00

Jack Daniels and Fennel Smoked Pork Sausage with Lemon-Pepper Dijonnaise and Marieke Fenugreek Cheese
$7.50

The Teuben: Corned Beef Sausage with Russian Dressing, Sauerkraut and Swiss Cheese
$7.50

Cherry Pork Sausage with Spicy Citrus-Apple Salsa and Chaubier Cheese
$7.50

Smoked Cajun Pork Sausage with Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise and Smoked Gouda Cheese
$7.00

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Maybe to you these sound weird or gross...to me these sound exciting and compelling and like I MUST TRY SOME OF THESE!!!

My limit is 2 hot dogs at a time, and at first I thought the Game of the Week would definitely be one of them. Words like "Smoked alligator", "creole mayo" and "blue cheese" make my heart go pitter patter. I've never had alligator, and I LOVE trying things I've never had; creole mayo fits the bill as a "riff on a classic"; and blue cheese makes everything better.

(Alligator Dog Photo credit: dwfree1967)

(Mmm, look at that St. Pete's Blue Cheese...yes, I would like some of that)

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But then I saw the Erick Lee Purkhiser (sadly found no picture of this one), the Saucisson Alsacienne...

(Saucisson Dog Photo credit: emyduck)

...the Foie Gras and Sauterne Duck Sausage (though the tree hugger in me is pretty opposed to the idea of foie gras...get ready for some gross video if you google that one)...

(Foie Gras Dog Photo credit: santheo)

(Are you kidding me...I am drooling right this very minute)

... the Jack Daniels and Fennel Smoked Pork Sausage...

(Jack Daniels Dog Photo credit: ehfisher)

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...the Teuben...

(Teuben Photo credit: ::bianca::)

and the Cherry Pork Sausage (no pic of this one either)...what is that, 7 total?!?! Oh nooooo, what to do??

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Hubs probably wouldn't be much help because he loves the Italian Sausage dog. Sometimes he'll accompany me into the food frontier and have me order 2 dishes I'm interested in so we can share them, but sometimes he's the guy who eats vanilla ice cream (as in by itself...nothing on it...*shaking head) and orders the Italian Sausage dog that you can get at any of a number of other places.

But that makes him happy which makes me happy, so I don't give him a hard time, I just silently curse the fact that 7 must be whittled down to 2.

So what'll it be? As hard as it is to leave any behind I think I'll go with the Foie Gras (if I'm gonna be party to torturing a duck just this once, I guess I'll make it part of a hot dog-nirvana experience) and the Teuben...or the Jack Daniels/Fennel Smoked Pork? Honestly I'd probably ask Doug or whoever was taking orders their favorite between those last two. Food people can largely be trusted to steer you in the right direction, so don't be afraid to ask the worker's opinion.

And speaking of, its Hot Doug himself!

(Hubs said he didn't think Doug was that hot :D ) Thanks, Doug, for taking the time to take this picture with me! There was a LINE of people at the counter, and yet he was so nice to smile for a picture. (I hadn't slept in approximately 24 hours by the time this picture was taken. And my contacts dry out when I fly so I stuck with the had-em-since-8th-grade glasses...nice.)

Care to see what we enjoyed during our two trips to Hot Doug's??

Brandy-Soaked Portuguese Chorizo with Saffron Rouille and Queso Arico Cheese

Smoked Shrimp and Pork Sausage with Cajun Tarter Sauce and Blue Cheese

Bacon-Infused Duck Sausage with Morello Cherry Mustard and Venison-Cognac Pate

Bell Pepper Wild Boar Sausage with anchovy goat's milk butter and Saint Rocco cheese

Oh, and don't forget the duck fat fries on Friday and Saturday...I don't need my usual Heinz 57 sauce for dipping, and I'll even eat the non-crispy ones. These things are WORTH EVERY CALORIE (I say that having no idea just how many of those are in these babies).