Gimme 5 for February

Quite a while back, I did a blog post called “Gimme 5” and I think I said something like it was the first of what I hoped would be a series….I don’t even remember what the 5 things were that I wrote about. Going through my files, I found a page with some ideas for this that I obviously never followed through with. So once again, I hope this will be an occasional post in a series.

5 Foods I Will Never Eat

Scrapple –

I watched Mike Rowe make this stuff. I have never liked organ meat from any animal, and the thought of some of the other parts used in this “food” is truly revolting. And it’s a breakfast food! Can you imagine waking up to a plate of this stuff in front of you at the table and pouring syrup, gravy, ketchup or jelly on it? And eating it?
I’m glad I’m not Pennsylvania Dutch.

Escargot –

Snails. ‘nuf said.
I’m glad I’m not French.

Squid/Octopus –

Almost the same as the above. I hope to never be in the same circumstances that led someone many, many years ago to look at one of these creatures and say, “Mmmm. Looks tasty to me!”
I’m glad I’m not Asian.

Haggis –

As far as I’m concerned, this is in the same category as scrapple, except with sheep parts instead of pig.
I’m glad I’m not Scottish.

Tripe –

Wikipedia says this is “edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.” I guess I have a vastly different idea of what is edible and what isn’t. I saw Jeff Smith (the Frugal Gourmet on PBS) prepare this many years ago. No thanks.

Offal = intestines
Intestines = guts
Once again, ‘nuf said.

Apparently many nationalities “appreciate” this type of food. I’m glad I’m not a part of any of them.

And before any particular race or nationality gets their shorts in a twist: I am proud to be of German stock…and I HATE German food as well…

Give me a hamburger or hot dog of questionable content any day of the week!

Good ol’ American food! (Cue theme music “Stars and Stripes Forever”)

Stephanie Plum's Peanut Butter Sandwiches

I enjoy a series of books by Janet Evanovich that involve a bounty hunter named Stephanie Plum. The books are a lot of fun, with humor, suspense, murder, mayhem and the thought of Ranger without his clothes on….but I digress…

Stephanie eats a lot of peanut butter sandwiches. Peanut butter with different additives. Like bananas, potato chips, olives, jelly and marshmallow goo. Not all at the same time, of course.

I grew up not particularly liking the mixture of peanut butter and jelly. I preferred the two things to go solo on my bread. At Girl Scout camp, we would get two sandwiches in our lunch bags: one was peanut butter and jelly, the other was “meat paste” that the girls referred to as “hamster meat”. I would trade my hamster sandwich for a peanut butter and jelly with anyone who was willing. And there was always someone willing. I would take the two sandwiches apart, putting jelly with jelly and peanut butter with peanut butter. Later on, I discovered the joy of peanut butter and honey. Add some butter to that one and you’ve got a really fantastic sandwich. Combines lunch and dessert all in one neat package. The last couple of day trips Marv and I have made, we’ve taken peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I premix the PB + J together before spreading it on the bread. I like it better that may. I also add raisins to my sandwich. Once again, lunch and dessert combined.

I was reading a new Stephanie Plum book and it again mentioned all the PB sandwiches she makes and the various ingredients she adds to the PB. I got to thinking about the various pairings. I’ve had PB + J. I’ve had PB + bananas (thanks to the old sitcom, Pete & Gladys). I’ve had PB + black olives (try it before you condemn it). I’d never had the pairings of PB + marshmallow or PB + potato chips. So in the interest of doing a good book report, I tried those combos. I usually prefer my marshmallows surrounded by chocolate and graham crackers, but PB and marshmallow fluff is pretty darn good. Much better than the PB and potato chips. There are only so many chips you can smash into the PB and about all I could taste was the PB. With added crunch. Ho-hum. Then I was reading a bit further in the book and came to the realization that the olives Stephanie put in her sandwich were GREEN! OMG! Totally unappealing! But good reporter that I am, I knew I had to try that. I LOVE green olives with pimento, but as a side goody, not in a sandwich. The idea of an entire sandwich of PB + green olives was not acceptable, so I tried just one olive with a glob of peanut butter. I was surprised. Not bad at all. So I tried another one, just to make sure. It’s still not something I would want to have an entire sandwich of, but I will admit its viability.

So there ya go, Gladys. Something to consider if you’re feeling adventurous at lunchtime…

January Book Report

5 books read

“Before the Sun Goes Down” by Elizabeth Metzger Howard
Delightful little book about a one year period in the small town of Willowspring, PA in 1880. Electricity was the “new” fad coming to the towns, people still went about in horse and buggy or actual walking. The doctor still made house calls. Just a nice little slice of Americana.

“Magic Flutes” by Eva Ibbotson
Takes place in Vienna after WWII. A lot of the formerly wealthy Austrian nobility now have to seriously down-size. As in selling their castles, property, titles. This book is about an impoverished princess who has the chance to marry money and save the castle, but she’d prefer to *gasp* WORK for a living as a costume girl in a local opera company. Her life’s blood is in opera. Nice little romance that has a very satisfying happy ending.

“Nurse Into Woman” by Marguerite Mooers Marshall
A few chapters into the book, I thought this was going to be a soap-opera with tons of schmaltzy drama. I had almost decided to skim it, but it got better and became a real story. Nurse Grant is young and beautiful, and the best nurse there is. Because of past hurts, though, she decides she will never marry or have children. That way, she can’t be hurt again. But a handsome young sea captain, under her care for pneumonia, changes her mind.

“The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure” by Robert Arthur
This was one of the Three Investigators juvenile mystery series written with “co-operation” of Alfred Hitchcock in the 60’s. I used to read them and loved them. They’re still good little books. Easy on the adult brain, but I still find them enjoyable. In this one, the 3 boys solve the theft of a rare Japanese belt encrusted with jewels.

“So Far…” by Kelsey Grammer
I loved the TV show “Frasier” because it was so well written and clever. The pretentious Mr. Grammer sounds just like Frasier and a bit full of himself. It was an easy read.

When the Muse Strikes..."Duck!"

Or, “You can run, but you cannot hide!”

I enjoy making altered books as an art form. I make them and then give them away. They’re for anniversaries, birthdays, whatevers. Some are amusing, some are spiritual, some a mixture. With each one I learn something different to do or a different way to do it. I grow with each one. And each one takes a piece of my soul with it when I give it away.

The usual method is this: there is an upcoming special date or reason for making a book for a specific person. I ponder about that person or reason for the book. I do research for just the right sayings, graphics, art work, stamps etc. Whatever I feel should go into that book. I assemble the elements and then alter the book. From idea to completion takes many, many hours. Assembling the elements may take days. I might have a certain piece of ephemera in mind and will have to hunt through my craft room to find it. Or a specific stamp set that I KNOW used to be RIGHT THERE on the shelf, but was moved and now I have to go through ALL the sets to find that certain one. Once I actually start on the book, I can complete it in 2-3 days if I have the free time to work solely on the book. When it’s finished, I take pictures of the pages for my file.

The last two books I’ve done have been a bit different. For these books, the muse has been the Holy Spirit. I was working on a friendship book, and the whole time I was working on it I was getting the almost overwhelming feeling that I should be doing a book for someone else. Since the book I was working on was for a specific person, I couldn’t just finish it and give it to someone else. I continued with the current book, fighting the Holy Spirit, and felt awful. I usually take a big break after altering a book, because I put so much of myself into it and need to refuel. Not this time. I was so strongly led that I finished the book and sent it off, and immediately started on the next one. It was one of the best I’ve ever done. A HUGE part of me went into that one.

A couple of months went by before I started getting that nudge from the Holy Spirit for another book. This one was completely different. It came, giving me only 3 days to do it. It was like, “Do a book for this person, NOW!” I had one idea for it, and just barely started the process before it was changed for me. I went in an entirely different direction. I have never altered a book so quickly before. And again, I feel it was one of the best I’ve ever done.

I have a list of people I want to do books for, and hope to get another one started soon. I find it an amazing art form. I look at some of the altered book blogs and galleries, and get so inspired. I feel like such an amateur next to some of these artists, but since it’s MY soul that goes into my books, I know it’s the best I have to give. And I’m content with that.

Gingerbread French Toast

Gingerbread French Toast…OMG!

And yes, the “g” stands for “gosh” so calm down!

We got our new AARP cards the other day, and as I was peeling them off the paper, I noticed some of the places you can use the cards for discounts. One of them was for Denny’s. Your AARP card will get you a 20% discount there. Now, I know a lot of people have “issues” with Denny’s, but I’ve always loved the place. I love getting breakfast food there. I love breakfast any time of day, for that matter. Their prices seem a tad high, though, compared to some of the other restaurants around here. But that 20% discount made it a bit more acceptable. When I mentioned the discount factor to Marv, he suggested we go there for dinner that night.

They were still doing some of the holiday specials at Denny’s, and one of them was their Holiday Slam. It offered Gingerbread French Toast instead of pancakes. So I went for it. I ate the eggs, ham and hash browns first, saving the French toast for dessert. I poured the syrup over the toast and cut off the first bite with my fork.

wow.

Yes, no capital, just a stunned, quiet “wow”. It was more like eating gingerbread cake. It was so moist and crumbly that it would’ve been better to have served it in a bowl and eaten it with a spoon. Since I like to think of myself as a lady, I did NOT lick the plate afterward…but I did save a tiny bit of toast to mash up and try to get the last vestiges of syrup. wow.

No more can be said, so I’ll stop. wow.

Friday's Feast - January

Friday’s Feast - January

Some time back, I discovered a blog where a woman would do a posting on Fridays, calling it Friday’s Feast, and likening it to a meal with appetizer, soup, salad, main course and dessert. I thought it was a neat way to take a topic and divide it up. So here’s my “meal” for your enjoyment. Maybe I’ll do more, maybe not.

*Appetizer – “How do you usually celebrate on New Year’s Eve?”

We usually get together with friends for an evening of fellowship and fun. We eat, drink, play games and wait for midnight. Favorite games are Boggle, Scattergories, Pictionary, Rummikub, Dominoes.

*Soup – “Name one thing unexpected that happened to you in 2010.”

There were actually three things that had great impact on me.

Dealing with the aftermath of my mother-in-law’s stroke made a huge change in the dynamics of the family. It wasn’t necessarily all negative, though, and in fact brought about changes there were beneficial for all concerned.

Paul moving out and the circumstances that led to that were difficult, but as usual, God knows what He’s doing and I just needed to step away and let God take over.

Our pastor left our church to take a call in Kenya. LOTS of changes there, and good bit of chaos, but I think it will be good once the dust settles.

*Salad – “Where was your favorite place that you visited in 2010?”

I never thought that Fresno, CA would become a favorite place, but since that’s where Lia is, there ya go…

I got to spend a week there at the end of summer and had a chance for some REAL 1-on-1 with Lia. Exhausting, but I loved it!

*Main Course – “What resolution is your top priority for 2011?”

The resolution for 2011 is a continuation of the one I made in the middle of 2010: get medical help for the depression, and ONCE AND FOR ALL hand over my concerns to God and let Him take over. I’d handed them over many, many times, but always grabbed them right back. Not a good idea…

*Dessert – “Using just three words, describe 2010.”

Unexpected

Changes

Renewal

3 (count 'em!) blogs in 1

3 blogs in 1!

Yes, I cover 3 topics in this posting, so PAY ATTENTION people!

I’ve made a New Year’s resolution of trying to talk even MORE than I usually do! Weird, I know. I’m going to see if I can post a new blog every Friday. If there’s ANYone still paying attention to this blog, (other than my loyal Gladys—God bless you, dear!) feel free to hold me to this resolution….and for Heaven’s sake, leave a comment! 50 extra ‘brownie’ points to any new subscribers!

My December book report comprises of only one book: “Life Blood” by Caroline Llewellyn.

This was a nice little mystery/romance taking place in the English countryside, set in modern times. One theme was dealing with the aftermath of a loved one’s suicide, which was very interesting, considering the author took her own life about 10 years after she wrote this book. I enjoyed the book immensely and will keep this one in my library.

Book wrap-up for 2010:

Since I’m now giving a report for each month’s books, I no longer break things down into categories. The total number of books I read was 28.

That topic was short, I’ll grant you. Hope you’re not too disappointed….I’ll try and make up for it next week.

Stay tuned!