Daily Musings, page 8

Happy Birthday, Andy!!!!!!! Wish you could smell this orchid for your birthday. Give Sarah a bone from Boojum.

That's beautiful Boojum.

I used to go to a meditation retreat (Vipassana) in Shelburne Falls. It's a beautiful place.

Harper

Cool. I love this area. I live about 2 miles away from the meditation center.

Happy Birthday, Andy!

Happy Birthday Andy!! Wishing you and Sarah a wonderful year with lots of great subjects to photograph.
Dave

Happy Belated Birthday Andy!!! I hope you had a super day. Did you do anything special?

Thanks everyone for such nice pics and greetings.
Anita, I didn't do anything special. I am taking today off but that's because of a Dr. appointment.
Andy P

What did one fly say to another fly?
"Hey fly, your dude is down".

Sorry, I can't think of anything else.
Andy P

Too much birthday????

Yea, that extra beer did me in.
Andy P

Andy, it made me laugh anyway!

I'm getting real tired of this COLD weather. It's too cold to do anything outdoors that takes more than 5 or 10 minutes. Sarah is getting lethargic and fat.
Andy P

I'm getting lethargic and fat too Andy. I'm so bad, that I don't want to even go to the grocery store.... the food will run out sometime. Maybe just then the weather will warm up.

Stay away from that 'fast food', it's bad for ya.
I made a nice breakfast today. Multi-Grain French Toast with baked apple topping.
Andy P

Speaking of fat . I'ts me lol .Hi andy and happy birthday.

Hi there Mr. Steve. I recognize those dogs, lol. How's Kobi doing since the snip snip?
Yea, we gotta get you off that 'fast food'.
Andy P

Looks yummy Andy!

Thanks Harper.
Hey, it warmed up to 31 f today. Sidekick Sarah got her walk, she was excited. We might do it again tomorrow, too.
Here is another way to spruce up French toasts.
Andy P

Mmmmmmm!!

Hey everyone - Andy's making breakfast!

Andy, did you bring enough for everyone? I made french toast yesterday...sadly, no fruit.

Sadly gram, I can tell you from last winter that Andy is a breakfast tease.

I think it's this cold weather, it makes me want to cook. I made cranberry-orange nut muffins on Friday morning, made caribbean jerk chicken breast in the evening. Got up sat morning and put on a pot of venision stew, while that was cooking I made banana bread. Last night before I went to bed I turned on a croc-pot full of homemade baked beans, and made cole slaw when I got up this morning. Now i'm sitting here thinking of bacon, eggs and home fries, with Apple-Pear Coffee Cake!
Geez, is there a diet forum? I need to go look.....BBL.

I could be cooking when I get up in the morning, but one has to have priorities. I still have wintersowing to do LOL it's pixie's fault...she sent me more seeds ;0)

You have to make reservations so I know how much to prepare. lol.
Pixie, I'm getting hungry just reading your post.

Sidekick Sarah had her first experience with a car wash yesterday. She didn't like it one bit, lol. It's been so cold I feared washing it then leaving it parked so we washed first then did errands. I usually wash the car at home but not when it's this cold.
Andy P

My car is so dirty but I haven't timed the carwash right. I've also wanted to spray it down, but then it would be covered in ice!!

We're cooking and eating up a storm here, too. We're making a recipe from a Northern Italian cookbook tonight and we're going to try to make fresh spelt pasta since I can't eat wheat. Wish us luck! The house is filled with blooming amaryllis, new clivia, seedlings, and orchids in bloom so why leave? Stay and cook!

Andy, no fair!!! I had Cheerios for breakfast.

My car's cruddy too. Maybe today would be a good day to wash it. It's balmy at 32º. Sorry to hear Sarah didn't like the carwash.

Boojum, have you tried quinoa? Wait... does that have wheat in it? Can't remember...

I think I'll just drop in at everyone's house for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My cooking is awful.

Quinoa is gluten free. It is technically a fruit! It is the one grain with all eight amino acids. It cooks in about 12 minutes and has a unique texture and taste. (I like it) Here is a link to more information on quinoa. http://chetday.com/quinoa.html Trader Joe's sells it in a box.

Funny thing is I was looking for red quinoa seeds on the internet to buy and came across them at Salt Spring Seeds and came back to DG to look them up on Watchdog.

Thanks for the info. I'll hafta try it!

Could all this cooking have a subliminal meaning? Like a big storm is coming or something. I wonder about that sort of thing.
Harper, surely you can make French toast?
Andy P

True. Even I can make french toast!

We used brown rice pasta when my daughter couldn't eat wheat. Some brands were good.

I haven't liked any brands of brown rice pasta we tried, but I'm fussy. However, the homemade spelt pasta with italian tuna and little peas was wonderful!! I had two big helpings and now for some dark chocolate (my only dessert besides fruit). Not a bad illness after all!

I really, really like millet. The trick is to toast the grain before you cook it. It is my very favorite although spelt and quinoa are not far behind. I gave armaranth a try - but didn't do a good job of cooking it - so I am going to try it again. It is very "spicy" tasting. There is a wonderful book on cooking grains with almost every grain in the world in it - Greene on Grains. Greene also has a book on cooking greens titled - what else - Greene on Greens and it has a lot of recipes with alternate grains. I bought my sister the combined cookbook for Christmas - Green on Greens and Grains. If you live near a Trader Joe's they have spelt in a mix with fixins that is really, really, really good when cooked with beef broth.

Yum. There's a Trader Joe's in Amherst 40 minutes away. I will check it out. Also those cookbooks. Thanks, Yankeecat!

Yes, Andy. I can cook french toast. Haven't in ages. Cereal is easier!

Deer Andy,

Happy Belated Birthday!

Thanks Billy.
Friends took me out for lunch yesterday. A nice place that we had been to before but their lunch Fejitas stayed with me until this morning. UGH. Greasy....
Andy P

And they sounded so good. We've been eating ''Vegetable Medley'' for a couple days now.

Our big snow storm fizzled out. It's still snowing and sort of blowing, but we only got about 3'' so far. I know I know, it's better than 100''.

We are getting ready for our first nor'easter of the winter, tomorrow. It's quite cold now and cloudy but not windy. Just barely acceptable for Sarah's walk, if it's going to be bad tomorrow she needs it today.
One forecaster mentioned the term 'bombogenesis'. The last time we had that, things got intense with thunder and white-out conditions. I have the day off so let 'er rip. It should be snow to rain to snow here.
Andy P