Cooking with a Passion

Any one who knows me has the knowledge that I love to cook. I began cooking when I was about nine helping my mom cook dinner. By the time I was thirteen I was preparing whole meals for my family when my mom was away. She spend most of 1975-76 away as part of the "Peanut Brigade".

I actually got my love of cooking from my mom which is kind of ironic. By the time I was thirteen, she actually hated to cook. She had been cooking since she was thirteen and just didn't enjoy cooking any longer. I remember on Saturday afternoons, when I was seven or eight watching Julia Child and a few other cooking shows on PBS with my mother. Of course, back in the day we only had four stations to choose from and our family only had two televison sets all black and white. We were forced to watch whatever our parents wanted to watch most of the time.

Although at the time I felt like I was being tortured by watching these cooking shows instead of a cartoon show or a comedy, I guess it began my love of cooking. Now a days with the advent of cable and the internet, there are so many sources to look for inspiration. I love to watching cooking shows, try new reciepes and improvise on the ones I like.

My husband, Paul, has tried to loose weight since I have known him but has had a hard time as many of us do. He has now discovered the secret for himself. It is salads. He does not snack but has a huge salad for dinner. I smoke turkey breasts or venison roasts every couple of weekends to give him something to put on the salads. I try to mix up the veggies we include on the salad so it doesn't become to boring. To this date he has lost almost forty pounds.

Earlier this week I watched an episode of Grill It with Bobby Flay. In this episode, he had a guest cook who did a grilled strawberry shortcake. Bobby had a corn salad with a green onion vineratte. I tried both last night and they were delicious. It never ceases to amaze me what you can cook on a grill. Grilling gives a whole another flavor to many fruits and vegetables.

What a week

I had a busy week this week. It was our Vacation Bible School which we call "Go Orange". Here is a video wrap-up.



I helped out four days and then worked Thursday night. On Friday, I went to a retirement party for a woman who has worked at my library system for 22 years. She has been a librarian for close to forty years. When I called my husband to tell him I was running late that evening, he answered this is Who? I don't have a wife, I haven't seen her in days! Although I know he was kidding, I know that I need to make sure that I spend time with the person I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with. It was a good week but I need to make sure that I make the time to spend with him. He is the most important person in my life beside my Lord and Savior.

Adventures with Paul

Well I have been working so much I haven't had an opportunity to spend time with Paul. We were both off on Sunday so I suggested a drive to the woods. I wish I had a camera that would have captured this adventure!! Paul had a stand way back in the woods that needed some repair to it. He suggested that we drive down to the stand.

Well, what we didn't anticipate was that the old logging road leading to the stand had that much weeds etc that had grown. The dog fennel had grown to at least six feet. As we approached the old logging road you couldn't see anything ahead of you except the dog fennel for what seemed like forever. We went about five feet when I noticed a smaller tree down. I offered to get out, twist it and remove it. Paul insisted in getting out and with his hand saw to cut it. After that was accomplished, he got back in to the truck. Now I must tell about this truck. It is an 1988 Iszu 4x4 purple truck that has dents all over it. Paul then backed up and veered to the left. I thought that the road went straight but Paul insisted that he knew where it was. As he went to the left, we went over a log. The problem was we were stuck. I thought for sure that we would be walking for miles until we could get a cell tower to call our friend to come pick us up.

Paul had another plan... he went back to his truck tool box and pulled out a come along. Thank God for his bag of tricks. It took us only about fifteen minutes and a nice size sweet gum tree. Of course after we got unstuck, we had to repeat the trip at least three times to open up the trail. I can't wait for two weeks from now when I am off to see what our next adventure will be!!

What have I been doing on vacation

O.k., today is day three of my vacation. Monday night, Paul and I went to the woods to roost a turkey. Unfortunately for me, we got back late and I woofed down dinner. It made me sick so I didn't go turkey hunting. Paul and one of his hunting buddies went back to where we roosted a turkey but did not have any success.

Tuesday afternoon, we went fishing. It has been cold so the water temperature was very cold. The clouds had lifted by 3:30 p.m. but alas, the fishing was not great. I caught a little bream but nothing else.

Today, we got up at 5:30 a.m.! That's earlier than I get up to go to work. (Am I crazy or what!) We hooted a couple of times and heard a turkey way back in the woods. We began to walk and as we got closer we discovered that there were two gobblers. Paul got so excited he wanted to walk faster. Just like a little boy on Christmas morning. We continued to walk deeper into the woods, but alas they went over the ridge following the several hens we heard. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

I got back home to take a shower. Leon decided to come in while I showered. After finishing washing, I opened the shower curtain. Leon came bounding over and landed in the bathtub. He was soaked by the time he climbed back out.

Happy Valentine's Day

My wonderful husband gave me a card and two boxes of my favorite candy. He woke me up this morning to let me know that he made a mistake on the card. He explained that he had looked at what each card meant and was looking for the perfect card that spoke his heart. The only problem with that was... he paid attention to the message, which was sweet and touched my heart, but he didn't really pay attention to the rest of the card. The card was addressed to my husband and was actually a Christmas card. He fixed the "mistake" by marking through the my husband and merry Christmas words replacing the words with to my wife and have a merry Christmas in 2008.

He was very embarrased but I was rather touched. The sentiments that the card spoke to were very touching. It showed the sensitive side of a very macho man. I love the card and the man even more today than I did yesterday. Happy Valentine's day my dear sweetheart!

Check You For Ticks

Yesterday Paul and I went to the woods. He had a ladder stand that he had built and wanted to take it to his favorite spot. It was in pieces and needed to be reassembled when we got to his spot. The only challenge was that his spot is a 1 1/4 mile in the woods. The path is up hill and through many gullies. I thought that I could haul the rails and seat up the hill. To my surprise all of the wood weighed over 25 pounds. I settled for his backpack full of tools and the platform. We left at 11:30 a.m. and didn't finish the task until almost 5:00 p.m.

It was nice getting out in the woods. It was rather warm for a winter day. You can tell that we have gotten some rain over the last month or so. Many of the grasses are starting to get green. We saw a couple of rubs that bucks had made in October and November. By the end of the day, I was very tired and ready for a long rest!!

Family

The last two weeks have been about family. Last Wednesday, was my nephew Michael's birthday. He turned 17 years old. He is almost a grown man. (He is the one in the Georgia hat.) I still remember when he was born 17 years ago. My sister was in Germany by herself because her husband was in the army and had been sent to the Gulf War. I went over to give her a spell since she had two kids under the age of two.

Yesterday was my husband Paul's birthday. Unfortunately, I was unable to spend anytime with him. I had to work last night. He did get to see some snow!! It snowed about an inch here in Covington before turning to rain. Thanks to the "big cheese" for letting me go home forty-five minutes early. Luckily, it started to turn to rain as I was driving. It was only freezing rain as I got closer to home. The snow did not stick around long, but we might see a little more Saturday morning.

As I am writing this Leon, the cat, has crawled up in my lap. He is fascinated by my hand on the keyboard and the words going up on the screen. Last night he was so intrigued by the fire in the fireplace that he almost put his nose on the screen to watch the fire!!

Long Live X-mas Trees and Pets

Well I promised the story of the animals and the Christmas tree. This is how it looks in all red lights. Paul loves it and says it looks like the tree's on fire. This year, Paul decided to have the lights on timer so that sometimes all of them are on (red and blue) and then sometimes just one color. Leon our curious cat one evening was just staring at the tree. As he was staring, the lights flicked to one color lights. Leon was fascinated with how that happened. He kept walking around the tree and staring up.

Paul has the lights set to come at 6:00 p.m. and go off at 10:00 p.m. We, however, often go to bed around 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. The first night the lights were on the timer, it drove Seamus crazy. We were in bed but the lights were still on!! Seamus continued to walk towards the tree and back towards our bedroom. I finally sat up and he was sitting in the threshold of our bedroom. He was moving his head from us in our bed to the Christmas tree lights that were still on. He took him several days to accept that it was all right and the lights would eventually turn off by themselves.

White Christmas Tree

So here's the story of the white Christmas Tree. My husband Paul has always liked a white Christmas tree with red lights. He says it looks like the tree is on fire. The white tree is not my favorite tree, I prefer green.

The year after we were married, we agreed that we would trade off years between the white and green tree. His white tree was still at his mother's house. He drove over there loaded the tree onto his pickup truck and preceded home. As he was turning from North Druid Hills Road onto Highway 78 the tree bounced out of the truck. (Apparently he had not secured it as well as he thought he had.) He reported later that night that he did not see the tree fly out. He had looked in his rear view mirror and saw cars weaving every which way behind him. When he arrived home he was so bummed out about the tree not being in the back of his truck.

The next day he drove to the scene of the crime, but alas he found only the very top part of the tree. His favorite tree was gone. It was several years later before he went and replaced the tree with the one we have now. I'll share next time the animals reactions to the white tree this year. It has been rather comical.

My husband's better than Garth!

Well for the past week I've been sick with a cold. I struggled Friday and Saturday to go to work. On Sunday I didn't even get out of the bed. I called in sick on Monday, I just was blowing and coughing and was exhausted.

I heard last week that Trisha Yearwood was on the cover of People Magazine. She was talking about how great a husband Garth is. That he brews her coffee even though he doesn't drink it and that he attends Pilate class with her. My husband, Paul, when I called him from the gas station last Friday on the way to the grocery store, told me to come home. He volunteered to do the grocery shopping for me the next day. He got everything on the list even the hard to find items I had put on there. He also has been making sure that we have plenty of orange juice in the fridge.

I'm still struggling with my cold so the weekend camping/hunting trip is off. I am trying to encourage Paul to go without me. He is always so attentive. We are hoping to put up our Christmas tree on Saturday. This will be the earliest I have ever put one up. Our schedules this year just don't jive for us to put it up the week before which has usually been our tradition. On the bad note- this year is the year for the white Christmas tree. I'll post later a picture and the funny story about Paul's old white tree.

Sweating and Chilling

Yesterday it was almost 80 degrees here. We still don't have air on my floor at work so it is really starting to smell with all of those body odors. Today the high was 55 at midnight and the temperature is dropping to 30 degrees tonight. The one good thing is that with the cooler air the floor should be a little more bearable. We also are dealing without phone service. ATT has said that there is either equipment failure or software failure. (This means that they will have to probably look at getting a new phone system??)

Paul had to come home yesterday at 4:00 p.m. to get some sleep. He had to be back at work at midnight to cover a shift because someone had called in sick. He will be off Friday and Saturday which will be nice for him. I have to work this weekend. The Autumn leaves have finally come out in full color and they are pretty for today. By tomorrow they probably will all be on the ground.

Beat Georgia!!- Sorry honey :-(

Don't I look a mess!! Each year Paul and I make a bet on the Auburn vs. Georgia game. For the last few years, the person's team that looses the year before must wear a hat of the other's choosing. Paul and his friend Scott have decided that this year I must wear the foam dog hat. I, on the other hand last year, let Paul slip by and didn't humiliate him. Next year,(after Auburn wins on Saturday) Paul will have to wear an obnoxious hat!!

We are taking off after work tonight to go to the woods. (Although Paul has been trying to knock some sense in to me and have us leave early tomorrow morning.) At work we have been without air all week. It is rather hot and when we got to the woods it is very cold. Paul is concerned that I will get sick. I, on the other hand, do not want to give up my time in the outdoors just because they can't seem to get the air fixed at work. This happens every six months and it usually takes several weeks for them to fix it.

Vacation!!

This is my last day of work after 11 days straight. After tonight Paul and I will be on vacation. We will be going down to the woods for 6 nights. We are taking Seamus with us. This probably will be the last time he will share the woods with us. He has really dropped the weight, and I suspect that he won't be with us come summertime. I want to make his last foray into the woods and with the family a good one. We are taking a leash this time. He has gotten a little senile and we are afraid that he might wander off and not find his way back home.

I'm not sure if it will just be Paul and I or if the other guys will be down for the week. Last Friday, I had dinner with Paul and the guys. They shared what they did the entire afternoon. They discovered that there is a cone shaped ant hill that contains ants that don't like fire ants. They continued to find fire ants and place them on the hill and watch them attack the fire ants. (Thanks Froug for giving them the idea!!) Men will be such boys, but I do love spending time with them.

I'll post next week when we get back, unless I find sometime during the week.

Baltimore

Well I got in from Atlanta. Paul let me sleep in a little later this morning. I sure needed it. I know that it made him much later to work than he wanted to. I just received an e-mail from Karen saying that she was in town. I called her and she is already on the harbor. Terrilyn and Kari are on their way to the conference center. Once we hook up we plan to head out to the harbor for the afternoon. I try and post a few more times this week. I need to run through my presentation one more time.

War Eagle!

Well Saturday night I stayed up real late watching Auburn squeak it out over Kansas State. I am enjoying my last few days off from vacation. I have not done much but it has been relaxing. Today I am going to grill one of Paul's tom turkey breast. I'm sure it will be delicious. Paul has been working on food plots for the lease so maybe we will see a few more deer. This morning he saw three does outside our side yard. Fall is coming slowly...