Blog Archives

Fur Trading

6/27/2012

So Tim and I went back to one of our favorite haunts last weekend...
Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin
This particular weekend was their Villa Rendezvous...
a fur trapping era re-enactment thingie....

Look at these cute re-enactors...adorable!

Oh gosh look! They even had a flea market at this festival! Shoooooocccckkkiiiing!! Hehehe.
This is our third year here...

This year, there were lots of cute doggies hanging out with the 1800's era fur trappers and the 2000's era flea market dealers too...

NO!
THOSE weren't the cute doggies! Duh.

THESE are the cute doggies....

Double doggies...love these cuties!!

Thirsty doggies.

Sweet brown doggie who was strolling with his human in a motorized scooter.

Cutie DOGGIES in strollers.

Cute little poodle doggie.

Doggie on the move.

Doggie I wanted to take home CUZ HE'S ADORABLE!

And cuties with lots of spots.

Hey!
I bought a boat!

This was a cool boat for sale at the flea market. The dude wanted $5000.

NO! Not that boat.
Too small. DUH.

THIS boat!

Okay, this barge was just kind of parked in the middle of a field outside of Prairie Du Chien.
Does this boat,
or does it not, look spooky!!??
(Scroll back up and look at it. Spooky, yes????)

Anyway,

the flea market was fun this year.

More interesting stuff.

The lower right hand guy is actually Stud Muffin aka Tim, for those of you new to this blog.

I wanted to buy that good looking guy in the lower right hand corner, but I already have one just like him at home. And work.

There was all kinds of stuff there...tent after tent..but not too huge where it takes ALL DAY to get through everything.

Shutters and trays and plants and pails and bikes and tools and just plain old weird stuff was abundant.

Does anyone need a cute green cupboard dry sink thing?

Or gas and oil signs?

How about Volkswagon hoods and doors?

Well, after purchasing a few things and grabbing some lunch,
we walked through the fur trading re-enactment area...

We saw lots of hanging furs...

I was dying to know what was in that pot. Beans? Bacon? Buffalo? Tain't matter, I'd eat it.

And
campfires...

There were Native
re-enactors...

Trading shops..

Hey! By the way, when you're stooopid like me and you have a brand new camera and don't know how to use it,
you will discover that several pictures you thought you were taking were actually VIDEOS,
hence those big black strips around those still pictures above. *sigh* Whatever.

OH! This was my favorite fur trading shop!!!
Not a fur in sight. Just bright, shiny HANDMADE glass beads!!

Besides glass beads, they sold beautiful colored glass frames...

And bright, shiny Christmas ornaments!

Hohohohoho.
Crap, isn't it time for Christmas yet??!!

Well, we finally left Lucky Park after blowing a wad of money.
(Probably $45)
(HEY! that's a lot to SOME of us :)

And went to downtown Prairie du Chien to check out Pete's Hamburger stand.

This stand has been here for 100 years.
100 years!!!
The line is long all the time when they're open. They are definitely a beloved institution in this town.

Look at this retro sports shop right next to it!
Cute!

A lot of stores have closed in historic downtown here.

Sad.

This boat shop is still operating though,
with lots of shiny boats inside!

Well, after rounding out the day with a quick trip over to Marquette to visit our favorite store...the old Marquette Hardware Store...

...we decided to go somewhere to grab a healthy dinner....

We failed miserably.

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHEHEHE!!!
Okay kids, thanks so much for reading today's post.
It took me fo-ever to write!!!
I appreciate it!
I seriously can't wait to show you the craptastic and some cool stuff we bought at this flea market!!

Okay, so have a good Thursday ya'll!!!
Talk at ya soon!!!
P.S. Just so ya know...probably a million typos in this post...my apologies :) My proofreader is on vacation. HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR!
See ya next time!

Chunky Vegetable Quinoa Chili and A Chunky Little Superboy

6/21/2012

Chunky Vegetable Quinoa Chili
Are you asking yourself if Angie has finally lost it cuz she's making a delicious hearty soup in the heat of summer?

Oh honey.

I lost my marbles YEARS AGO.

Speaking of marbles though...(nice segueway huh??)

marblesgalore.com

OH OH OH!

Look at all the pretty marbles.

You know how I'm a sucker for bright, shiny things.

Hence, my propensity for tacky vintage Christmas ornaments, yes?

ehow.com

Remember this one from when you were a kid?

I ALWAYS wanted this one!

Or one of these...

the smaller ones with the swirls!

According to the neatorama.com website...
Did you know marbles go back 5,000 years?
And that they were made out of stone, bone or clay...whatever material was at hand?

Also, marbles were first mass-produced by the Akron Toy company in Akron, Ohio in 1884. They were made of clay.

By 1890, the first handmade glass marbles were being made by Samuel Dyke. In Akron.

Eventually, Dyke’s factory was turning out a million marbles a day. When it burned in 1904, so many children rummaged through the ruins for marbles that, for safety’s sake, the remains of the building were buried.

In the mid-1990s, the site of theat burned American Marble factory was a parking lot. The city decided to replace it with a park, and as the ground was dug up, thousands of very old marbles were uncovered. So a portion of the park became home to the American toy Marble Museum which opened to the public in 2002. Many of the unearthed marbles are on display at the museum in Akron.

Cool, huh??!!

Okay, let's get back to this Chunky Vegetable Quinoa Chili from the picky-palate.com website.

Here's the fixins...

By the way, this soup is simply fantastic, full of flavor...don't let all the ingredients
scare you. The prep time is worth it.
Also did you know quinoa is pronounced KEEN-WA. Seriously, don't even get me started on that one!

So anyway,
we start by cutting up the cute little sweet peppers....
aren't they cute??

So cut up all your other vegetables.....

And then come over to my house and clean my kitchen please.

After cleaning my kitchen, saute the vegetables in olive oil until softened.....

Make sure you spill a lot of the vegetables on your craptastic 1990's stove.

Oh, look at that peacock blue Fiesta spoon rest though. Love it!

OH! In the meantime, cook up your quinoa...so easy!!!!

Add the garlic to the vegetables...by the way, the aroma is super fantastic!!!

Then add the beans....

Then add the chicken broth...

And the tomatoes.....

I used some home made broth I had in the freezer too...

Get your spices together and throw them in the pot....

Yummy!!! Add in the HEAT!!!! Can you say YOWZA?

And the lime juice....

And this is how it all looks all together with the quinoa added in...the aroma will sweep you off your feet.

Plate up, or rather bowl up that soup now.

Ahhhh, so delicious.

So spicy.

But not too spicy!

So many layered flavors.

Man, if this soup doesn't rev up your metabolism and put a smile on your face, I don't know what will.
Well, besides New York Style cheescake.

And of course yittle
tiny babee
SUPERBOY!!!!

Superboy is FLYING through the air.

He's flying, flying high and freeeeee.

Superboy's ride has now been grounded.

"Hey Gramps.
Why you land me?
I was having fun in the air.
Is it cause it's 90 degrees and you've worked all day and your arms are tired? Do it again Gramps.
Again!
Again!
Oh okay, I'll just sit here and play with your nose and mouth instead."

Click RIGHT HERE to get the full recipe for this awesome Chunky Vegetable Quinoa Chili from picky-palate.com!!

Okay guys, that's it for today! Have a great Thursday and stay nice and cool!!!

Talk at ya soon!

Bridges, Bookstores, and Bread

6/18/2012

Okay,
so I talked about our long weekend in Stillwater, Minnesota HERE and HERE a month or so ago.

But I didn't bore you with a thousand pictures of the bridge, the bookstores, and the bread yet.
(Okay, I couldn't think of a restaurant food word that starts with "B" except for bread.)

So here goes....get
your pillow ready, cuz you're gonna be sinking your head in it real soon.

I mean cuz you'll be falling asleep from the boredom of this post!!!

Not because you're smothering yourself to stop the pain!! Geez.

So first let me show you pictures of the lift bridge in action.
Side note: If you have heart issues, get your nitro out cuz these bridge pictures are gonna knock your socks off. REAL exciting. Yah.
Oh, oh! Watch the boat to the left go underneath the bridge.

Now, wasn't that exciting?!
See,
all the cars have to stop so the bridge can be lifted.....and this backs up traffic for miles sometimes.

And the bridge is actually lifted via counterweights....

yes, I said COUNTERWEIGHTS!!!

Counterweights!!!

What the heck??!!

Look up lift bridges sometime.
How they work is fascinating, even for a mechanical idiot like me.

The Stillwater Lift Bridge spans the St. Croix river and there is an attached walking bridge all the way across the river.

I didn't take better pictures cuz I was a scaredy cat (meooow) and already wetting my pants by taking THIS picture.

Okay, let's move on to bookstores and such. Stillwater is host to many used bookstores, really nice ones.
Art galleries too.

Each used bookstore is lovingly maintained inside and honors what old and newer books bring to nurturing the spirit and soul.

Aisle after aisle after aisle of organized, clean used books in these bookstores.

Many old and antique,
some new.

And of course every bookshop has a Poetry section. Tim and I have a soft spot for poets and romance writers.
Both kinds of writers are in our little family.

OH!
Just an aside... I wanted to show you these stairs.
Stillwater is built on a bluff so there's several sets of these stairs in the city...lots of people use them for cardio workouts.
They seem to go on forever.

I asked Tim if he wanted to walk up these stairs, they seemed so cool. Tim quickly diverted the conversation by suggesting we look for a wine bar. Excellent move Tim!

This is the outside of one of the many art galleries in Stillwater.
Didn't take pictures of the inside though.
Probably not very appropriate.
This was a beautiful gallery though.

Oh, here's a random picture of a house.

Ima tell you in all honesty, there is gorgeous house after gorgeous house after gorgeous house here,

course that makes sense since Stillwater is the oldest town in Minnestoa.

Let's talk about the "Bread" now...the food in Stillwater.

Here's the deal.
There are unbelievably fantastic restaurants in Stillwater putting out beautiful, creative dishes. Several restaurants are highly competitive with flavor, quality and presentation. I finally figured out why....Stillwater is located just 30 miles east of Minneapolis...so there is much high end culinary talent in this part of Minnesota.

The first night in Stillwater, we ate where all the locals do ....Phil's Tara Hideaway...it sits on an out-of-the-way dead end..a hideaway it is for sure.

So named because it was a hideaway for gangsters in the 20's, most notably Capone and Dillinger.

This restaurant is known for their Greek-Mediterranean style food.

Here's the restaurant sign, barely visible believe it or not from the road....

We knew we would love this place once we saw the tiny, unassuming entry.

Phil's Tara hideaway is rustic and intimate.

and the dishes were simply fantastic!

This was a pasta with homemade pancetta!

Tim had the filet...melt in your mouth.

The next day, we grabbed some lunch at The Dock which sits on the St. Croix river.

The setting outside was peaceful.....

And I ate this whole Southwest burger and fries...all of it!
The seasoned mayo was fantastic!
What?

I should have saved some for you?
Maybe next time huh.
Hehe :)

Friday night we ate at Marx, an upscale wine bar/restaurant, I think that's what they call it.

This is not the best picture of this cool place.

Where we were seated; it was dark and moody and I could not get a good picture of anything.

And apparently, beef was on our mind that weekend because Tim ordered a sirloin and I ordered the filet. They were prepared perfectly and beautifully presented.....

Course, I really dug on the bread and olive oil too.

duh.

BRING!
IT!
ON!

After we were done eating, we thought we would go
a-strolling (cuz we are 85 years old and this is 1910) and find an outdoor patio to relax and have a beverage in.
But immediately we saw this thing in the sky....
a lighted, red, floating thingie....one after another...

So of course we had to explore whence these floating thingies were coming from.
Turns out there was a wedding reception at one of the Irish Inns.
So of course we had to go check it out.
And immediately we noticed everyone was 25 years old.
So we just casually sauntered through and then quickly skee-daddled our old butts out of there :)

Okay, so then Saturday night came and we just knew we had to eat at
The Green Room.
However we weren't very hungry cuz we did nothing but gorge ourselves sick the last two days. Timmy and Angie no used to so much beef.

So we went to The Green Room anyway.
They are very competitive with Marx, where we ate Friday night.

The restaurant is located in a long, narrow turn of the century building with lots of beautiful exposed brick.

We were seated on the upper level and it was divine.

And because by this time in our trip, Tim and I were totally fooded out, we simply had the roast chicken...only there were two kinds...

Mine was a lavender something flavor, I can't remember.

Oh my gosh, I have been trying to recreate this aromatic flavor at home ever since, to no avail.
Yet.
I mean it was THE best roast chicken I ever had.

Tim's roast chicken was...well...I can't remember and he's not good at remembering...OH wait! It was a cayenne something, very big and bold.

The best Tim can remember is, "It was really good." But I do remember the cayenne...

Tim's chicken was pretty fantastic, but my roast chicken was much more "delicate" and "subtle."

Kinda like me.

SHUT UP!!!

NO COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY PLEASE!

Just for that, here's another boring picture of the bridge!

mixedmedia-jem.blogspot.com

Dear People who Don't think I Am Subtle or Delicate,

Whatever.

Love,
Delicate Like A Subtle Pink Peony Just Barely Opening up Before The Rain Comes Down and Pelts All The Petals Off The Delicate Flower Angie

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE....
HEY! Wake up guys!!!!
I just called myself a delicate flower...isn't that funny?
Hey, you're snoring and embarrassing yourself, wake up!!!

Photo credit: carolburnettdvd.com

Okay then... Mama, Ed, Eunice and that old delicate flower Angie say...

"Sweet dreams and talk at ya soon!!!"

Have a good Tuesday ya'll!!!

Super Blurry Don't Even Get Me Started Blackened Fish Taco Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing.

6/17/2012

Hi Guys!

I broke my craptastic camera.
It sucked for an hour until I could run out and buy a new one.
And with my new cool, fantastic camera, I took a ton of food pictures.
A ton!
A ton, a ton, a ton.

And I went to download the pictures.

Guess what.

Every

single

picture

came
out
blurry.
Every.
One!

See this blurry picture? It's supposed to be of the fixins for the Blackened Fish Taco Salad.
But can you even read "Cajun Seasoning" on that orange spice shaker to the left?

So today's post will still be about the super healthy, tasty Blackened Fish Taco Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing
except you will want to read quickly cuz these pictures will make you dizzy!

So this is the end result of lots of chopping but very little cooking.

And really the steps are
so easy to get here.
You just have to get through the next few
Twilight Zone pictures.

Now I used fresh corn off the cob and roasted it in a pan and canola oil to get a good smoky flavor.

And then I chopped up all my vegetables. Chop, chop, chop. Still chopping, just a minute. Chop, chop.

Hello crappy, blurry chopped up veggies!
You guys look so.......fuzzy.
All that chopping and this is the best picture I can come up with???
By the way, did I mention I returned that ##&$%**# camera? After googling it of course and seeing the reviews from users that stated it takes "blurry close-up pictures." *sigh*

So anyway, moving on from my blurry picture depression, here's the fixins for the super easy Cilantro Lime Dressing that you can use over the salad and fish.

And it is fantastic!

Chop up a garlic clove and some cilantro and mix everything together with some honey, white vinegar, olive oil. and lime juice....that easy!

That is the Cilantro Lime Dressing by the way.

Didn't want ya to think it's the garbage bowl or something.

So anyway, take your fish...I used tilapia...and season it with Cajun Seasoning or Blackened Seasoning and cook it in a pan for 4-5 minutes each side until done.

Looking yummy, yes?

So set everything out so each person can assemble their own salad.

Put your salad fixins on your plate.....

Add your fish....

Take what you think is a beautiful close-up picture...

And then take a really close-up one and hope your readers can taste the deliciousness of this Cilantro Lime Dressing through the lens...

And then eat it.
The end.

Seriously, I'd show you more pictures but I don't want to torture you.
Quite honestly though, this Blackened Fish Taco Salad with that Cilantro Lime Dressing was extremely refreshing and tasty.
That dressing drizzled over the fish and salad was the real kicker here. The X-Factor so-to-speak.

Blackened Fish Taco Salad With Cilantro Lime Dressing
Recipe from Aggie's Kitchen www.aggieskitchen.com
Check out her website, it’s fabulous.
Courtesy www.turnkeyqualitycars.com

Ingredients
any firm white fish (mahi, tilapia, grouper)

Chef Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Magic seasoning

romaine, torn

tomatoes, chopped

red onion, sliced or chopped

jalapeno, sliced

avocado, chopped

corn

Heat nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Pat fish fillet with dry paper towel, then season liberally with seasoning. Add a teaspoon or two of light oil to skillet (or nonstick spray), then gently add fish to pan. Cook for approximately 3-4 minutes, until bottom layer of fish is cooked and looks "white". Gently turn fish and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until fish is completely cooked through and flaky. Assemble salad, top with fish and Cilantro Lime Dressing and enjoy.

Cilantro Lime Dressing
1/4 cup of lime juice and white vinegar combined (1-2 limes, juiced plus white vinegar)

1/2 -3/4 cup light oil (I use grapeseed oil, but light olive oil, vegetable oil or canola oil would be great)

1 garlic clove

1 tablespoon of honey

1 bunch of cilantro

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor. Store in airtight container or jar in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

salt and pepper to taste

So anyway, I hope you kind-of, sort-of got the deliciousness of this
Fish Salad.

You know, browsing through all those blurry pictures on my computer, it suddenly occurred to me all those blurry pictures started looking like this...

tasteofhome.com

LEMON CAKE!!!

SERIOUSLY!!!!

Bet THAT just made you hungry :):):)!!!!

Okay, catch ya'll later!!
Have a great Sunday!!

Roast Chicken Pieces with a Parsley Lemon Juice Oil and Basil Chive Potato Mash

6/11/2012

Well, this isn't Roast Chicken Pieces or a Potato Mash...

But isn't it gorgeous??!!
A gourmet cupcake display at a family wedding reception we went to!!!

There must have been ten different flavors...at least that!!!

OH, they were stunning to look at....

....but they were even better to eat.

My favorite was the White-Strawberry filled. It seriously was like cupcake heaven. I could not get over the lovely flavor of these cupcakes. Yes, I sampled several. Duh.

And there were so many.
And so many flavors too!

These are the flavors I can remember other than the dreamy White - Strawberry filled:
Strawberry
Chocolate
Double chocolate
White
Red Velvet
Pink Lemonade
Cinnamon roll (cinnamon roll!!!)
Rainbow (rainbow!!!)

These were gourmet all the way...from the gorgeous decorating to the stunningly moist cake and most importantly, the exquisite flavor of each cupcake.

The gals who make these are out of the Iowa City/Lone Tree area. They should open a bakery eh!!

Okay, so my Roast Chicken and Potato Mash does not compare to those cupcakes but it was still super tasty!!!

And I rarely eat the skin of chicken but the scowwwwl on this chicken...utterly fantastic! And super moist!

So here's the fixins for Dave Lieberman's recipe "Dad's Roast Chicken--Dave's Way with a Parsley Lemon Juice Oil."
Finger lickin' good is what this turns out.

So zest your lemon...now this is the key to this recipe, so don't skimp this step. Go out and buy a $5 zester if you don't have one. It's worth it and you'll use it more than you know.

Mix your thyme and rosemary together.

Now, I wish the store would have had fresh rosemary but they have been out for three days straight.

So I just used a smaller amount of dried rosemary and it was fine.

Place the chicken in a pan without crowding.

You wanna talk about crowding?

Try having claustrophobia and being in any number of those crappy spaces at O'Hare airport with low ceilings and no windows and suffocating air and then you're supposed to take some crappy space prohibitive tiny train to the other side to locate your people? Uh, yeah, no.

Or tiny dark 1920's elevators that barely fit two people in a historic downtown Kansas City hotel with creepy, garish carpeting to boot.

Or standing in line outside an AC/DC concert in the early 80's and being 95 lbs and 5' 2" and people are pushing and shoving and you can't move and you start getting heart palpitations because you just know this is the time you're gonna finally get crushed liked a splattered tomato and they'll never be able to identify who that tiny flattened girl was cuz she was all st

Oh sorry, I digressed.
Anyway, drizzle olive oil over the non-crowded chicken pieces.
By the way, the hindquarter pieces were fabulous with this recipe.
P.S. That tiny 95 lb teenager?
Uh, not so "wispy" anymore :):):)
Uh huh.

So season up with salt and pepper and the thyme and rosemary...

And the don't forget the lemon zest!

So this is how everything should look before going into a 400 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

In the meantime, chop your parsley and set aside. Then mix up your beautiful Lemon Juice Oil.....

And this is how the Lemon Juice Oil should look all mixed up.

Now just set that aside and let's start on the Basil Chive Red Potato Mash.

So these are the fixins for this nice potato accompaniment to this Roasted Chicken recipe.

Very few ingredients here pack a nice punch.

Cook your red potatoes in water until tender, about 25 minutes.

Drain and then start adding the following goodness...

The cream!!

And the Buttah!

Don't forget the herbs; the chopped chives and basil!

Complete the process by adding the salt and pepper.

I now introduce you to Basil Chive Potato Mash.
Grab a spoon and start diggin' in!

Oh but wait! Before you do that, we need to take the chicken out of the oven.....

And get your lemon olive oil and parsley ready....

Pour your olive oil lemon mixture over the baked chicken pieces...be generous now.

Scatter the chopped parsley and
walla!!!!
You have Roast Chicken with a Parsley Lemon Juice Oil.

PLATE 'ER UP!!

Look at the scowl on that chicken!

The fresh lemon rind brings a nice layered flavor to this dish.

And being the starch freak that I am,
here's the potatoey goodness.

So sometime I hope you make these potatoes and this good chicken with a scowl on it!!

In fact,
Little Boy Blue is doing his best scowl impersonation for you.

But now he's lost his concentration.

As 7 month olds are wont to do.

And 48 year olds.

Okay kiddos, that's it for today...hope everyone has a good Monday night or Tuesday if you are reading this then!
Gotta go start prepping for a Blackened Fish Taco Salad recipe tonight. We'll see how this one goes :):) Yikes.
Thanks for checking in!!!!
See ya soon!

Dad's Roast Chicken -- Dave's Way with a Parsley Lemon Juice Oil Recipe by Dave Lieberman www.foodnetwork.com
Courtesy www.turnkeyqualitycars.com

Ingredients

For the chicken:
1 (3 1/2-pound) chicken cut in 8 serving pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
Olive oil, for drizzling
The rind of 1/2 lemon, zested

For the parsley drizzle:
1/2 bunch parsley
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.

Trim off any excess skin or fat from the chicken. Cut off and discard the wing tips. Place the chicken pieces in an 11 by 13-inch baking pan, or any pan that that they fit in without crowding. Season the chicken pieces generously with salt, pepper, olive oil, the herbs, and the lemon zest. Toss through all the seasonings and then arrange the chicken piece skin side up in the pan. You can season the chicken pieces and set them up in the roaster up to a day before you cook them. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Roast until the skin is nicely browned and there is no pink near the thigh bone and the juices run clear, about 35 to 40 minutes. Check both white meat and dark meat. If the white meat is done before the dark meat, take it out and set it on the serving plate until the dark meat is done.

For the parsley drizzle, wash and dry the parsley. Remove the leaves from the stems and chop the leaves finely. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl and use immediately to garnish the roast chicken.

And CLICK HERE to get the recipe for the Basil Chive Potato Mash!

Just A Quick Cat One Here And Then On To Show And Tell

6/7/2012

I'm an early riser.
I typically wake up happy.

Credit: malariaworld.com

I do my best work between 5-7am every morning.
I'm clear headed, creative, productive and like to get a lot of work done during those two hours.

The cats, however, have other ideas for me...

Here we are now. Entertain us.

*Sigh*
This is 18 year old Holyfield who is always the first to jump on my work table, before the coffee's even done brewing.
We play a game every morning for 25 minutes where Holyfield tries to lay on the keyboard of the laptop and I push him away. He then tries to lay on the keyboard of the laptop. I push him away. Again the keyboard. Again pushed away. And again. And again. And again. Over and over.
Holyfield calls it "getting petted and loved on".
Angie calls it "pushing the cat away from the keyboard."

And Vinny here insists on being wherever my camera is.
All.
The.
Time.
This is no
exaggeration.

Told
ya.

Vinny's brother Pepper, enjoys attention too.

But what Pepper enjoys more is...

...corralling his brother Vinny every single morning and leading a loud, raucous meowing chorus of
FEED US OUR TREATS YOU OLD LADY!!!
NOW!!
MEOW!!!

Now I know you think I must be embellishing about these annoying cats in the morning...
magnifying the reality.
But Ima tell you,
THEY JUST WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!

Case in point!!!!!
You didn't believe me, did you?

And then after repeating the following;
five hundred times every morning...
"Get off your brother!!!"
"Get off Holyfield!!!"
"Get off my keyboard!!!"
"Get off the kitchen counter!!!"
"Stay out of the oatmeal!!!"
"Stop biting my feet!!!"
"You've had enough treats; no more!!!"
"Stop eating Holyfield's treats!!!"
"Leave the dog food alone!!!"
"Leave the dog alone!!!"
"Are you in or out? I'm tired of this Grand Central Station stuff!!!"
"Leave the ##@*&% mouse outside, that's disgusting!!!"
They finally settle down and I get some peace and quiet.

Right about 7am,

when my clear headed, productive, creative mojo is waning.

zazzle.com

But, they're all keepers. Especially Holyfield.

Who you will see has assisted me in presenting the following
Show And Tell items we picked up on a weekender in Stillwater, MN.

Let's start with this small stained glass cross we picked up at a really quirky bead and gift shop.
$20.
Not bad eh?

The craftsmanship is beautiful, the gold detailing in the corners is not visible in this picture.

Tim bought this and I almost fell on the floor cuz he NEVER spends money, well other than a pop and an occasional cigar.

This is that fun and quirky bead shop where we bought the cross.

Love it!

Moving on, this is my absolutely favorite tickle-me-pink thing I bought on the trip.

A super cute red and white french fry basket.

Ca-ute!!!

Look at that cute plastic-y basket weaving!
Don't ya just want to fry up some fries, throw them in there, slather them with salt and ketchup and GO TO TOWN??!!!

Don't ya??!!
Yes??!!

Actually, I bought this basket at an antique mall in a cute town called Cannon Falls, right outside Stillwater. This mall was a bit pricey.
However......this basket was just one buck!!! One buck!!! Doing a dollar dance here, lalalalallalala, dolardollardollardollardollar. *head spinning round*

Know what else I bought there?

This big plasticy spoon rest.

It's like a foot long.
As in inches, not sandwiches.

See, it says Betty Crocker on it!! How cool is that??

That sticky stuff above Betty there is the remnants of the sticky price tag.

Guess how much I paid for this.
It was more than a buck.

Five bucks.

Not too bad eh?

Not only is this spoon rest functional but it doesn't break the Bank-O-Angie.

Q: Hey, could my background display tablecloth be any wrinklier???!!

A: No.

Oh don't even get me started on these appetizer plates!

You know how I loves me the dishes!!!

We bought these at a store named appropriately enough "The Dining Room Shop" or something like that.

The label on the front tells you they are appetizer plates for the top of your glass.

The plates are safe to place on the top of glasses because of this foam thing on the bottom.

Myself, I just love the colors in these plates.

So soothing.

I even used them already for the Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms.

OH!

At this antique shop I paid a buck for the following item....

Gulf Oil paraffin wax!!!

Now I collect oil and gas related stuff but I never thought I would see Gulf Oil on a paraffin wax box!

Hilarious!

Aren't the colors great though!

And here's the instructions on the back.

Love it!

Again, only paid a buck.

Now we went to this antique shop...it was humongous, never-ending, super busy, full of life, and fun!!!

It had three floors!!

The third floor was nothing but furniture. Furniture everywhere!!!

Hundreds and hundreds of pieces, big and small.
It was kind of creepy and gothic up there.

All I bought was a $2.99 vintage Christmas bulb though.

Yes, I paid $2.99 for this tackmeister, tackthousand, tackiest-ever bulb.

I know you want it.
You can't have it.
It's mine.

I saw it first.

Okay, last thing to show you...Tim picked this up...again, oddly hilarious.

Readylite Emergency Battery Candles.

Candles that look like batteries.

And size "D" batteries to boot according to the box.

Crazy!!!

And they really are candles.

This is the side of the box.

And the back with the candle instructions...
remove paper before lighting.

Um, okay.

So, that was the extent of our shopping excursion,
that didn't include food anyway. :)

Hope everyone has a good Thursday!!!
This IS Thursday, isn't it?
Yes. Yes, it is. Just looked at the calender.
It's Tim's Dad's birthday!...Happy Birthday Richard! Don't party too much today, cuz you know, no one's gonna come bail you outta jail :)

Have a good one guys,
talk at ya soon!

Sweet Potato Hash With Bacon

6/5/2012

Okay.

Who's hungry now???!!!

Sweet Potato Hash With Bacon...
a yummy breakfast dish!
The kids were back this weekend and they LOVED it!

SO EASY TO MAKE!
5 ingredients!

LOOKY LOO....

Sweet Potato Hash With Bacon
Gourmet/October 2007
www.epicurious.com
Ian Knauer
Courtesy of www.turnkeyqualitycars.com

Ingredients
    1/2 pound sliced bacon, cut into 1/4-inch strips
    2 medium onions, chopped
   1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
    2 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
    1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Preparation
Cook bacon in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels, reserving fat in skillet.

Add onions, bell pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened. Stir in potatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender and starting to brown, 10 to 14 minutes. Stir in thyme, bacon, and salt and pepper to taste.

Okay,
so here are the fixins for this savory AND sweet breakfast casserole.

Not a lot of ingredients, eh?

Let's start by peeling and chopping the sweet potatoes into cubes.

By the way, isn't this vintage FireKing tulip bowl cool???
These bowls came in a set of three or four, I forget.

I only have this size, but I think it's the largest size of the set.

So anyhoo,

cut up your red peppers and onions.

Fry up my boyfriend Bacon.

Hi Bacon, you sexy little........porker you.

Drain my boyfriend on paper towels.

By the way, don't be concerned, Tim is aware of my affair with Bacon. I informed him in this post; he was pretty broken up about it as you can read.

Leave the bacon grease in the pan (really, why throw out all that low fat, healthy goodness??) and throw in the red peppers and onions and a little salt and pepper....

Stir the vegetables occasionally, until softened.
By the way, this begins to create a very enticing aroma in the kitchen.
Beware, your kids will start coming in the kitchen and bugging you and asking when it will be done.
Even if your kids are 22 and 28.

Stir in the sweet potatoes and cook, covered, until potatoes are tender and just starting to brown...about 10-14 minutes.

Then add your thyme and salt and pepper..

********** BRING ON THE BACON!!!
************

And voila!

You're ready to plate up this terrific breakfast dish!

Yeah Baby!!!!

I don't want your food Grandma, I want that shiny metal thing you keep sticking in my face.

And a Big Yeah to this baby too!!!Except this yittle baby is still a yittle too small for the savoriness of this dish.
No Little Boy Blue, you can not have my bacony, red pepper, sweet potatoey goodness.

This dish was a tad addictive.
The flavors of the red peppers and sweet potatoes brought the sweetness. And the bacon, thyme and onions brought on the savory.

I plated mine up with an egg and it was delicious.

Well, I hope you make this recipe sometime. Five ingredients is all!
And so tasty!

Even Little Chunkmeister here hopes everyone will make this dish too.

He also hopes one day his Grandma will give him that shiny metal camera thing so he can gnaw on it.

For now though, he's content humoring his momma by letting her love on him.

Hey everybody, have a great Tuesday!
Another beautiful Iowa day huh!!!
Talk at ya soon!!!

Stillwater, Minnesota

6/3/2012

This lift bridge above is in Stillwater, Minnesota.
The bridge was built in 1931.
18,000 cars travel this bridge every day.

Stillwater is THE OLDEST town in Minnesota.
It's located 30 miles east of Minneapolis on the St. Croix river.

Stud Muffin and I visited Stillwater for three days over the Memorial Day weekend.

We stayed at this Bed and Breakfast Inn.

This B&B is called the Rivertown Inn.

This house
was built in 1882 by one of the many rich lumber barons who lived and worked here.

When you arrive at this B&B,
one parks in back, and walks by the Carriage House which houses the $395 a night suites.

No, you did not read that wrong.
I said $395 a night. Those rooms are for the rich folk. Stud Muffin and I ain't rich so we had reservations for one of the po people's rooms in the main house.

But to get inside the main house,

one had to pass through the side yard...

Where there were mermaids welcoming you.

I swear when I saw these two mermaids, I thought of my sister JoJo and how we fought all the time as kids.
Cuz it looks like they're fighting over that flower or lily pad or something.

But then there was other yard statuary that didn't remind me of us at all :)Hehehe

There was a big fountain up front welcoming guests...

And gorgeous, relaxed seating.

Is this bench to die for or what ??!!

We climbed the stairs to the beautiful front porch.

See those two rocking chairs?
Yup, ol' Tim and Angie sat there for quite a spell one evening, sipping a nice velvety beverage and greeting fellow guests arriving back late from dining.

We spied the gazebo but didn't become familiar with it as there was so much exploring to do in the town;
time flew fast.

But look at this front porch!
This is where we ate the five course
gourmet breakfasts.

Seriously, it was loverly. Lurverly. Lovely.

So our trek took us to the front door...

and we were greeted
and entered into the check-in parlor room.

And then were given a quick tour of the accommodations including one of the dining rooms.

And the Piano room....

Where they held nightly cocktail hour between 5-6pm with free wine, delectable cheeses and meats, seasonal fruit and homemade crackers.

Uh, all my cocktail hour pictures both days were taken quite a long time after cocktail hour ended when the plates had been raided pretty good :)

And because we were the first to check in,

I discreetly raced down the hallway...

to take pictures of the other bedrooms.
Cuz I knows, once a person checks in, the room doors goes closed. Shut. Locked. No peekin' or sneakin' once the doors are shut. Unfortunately.

Now this was our room, the Rosetti Bedchamber.
Doesn't that just make you want to put on a smoking jacket, grab a pipe and brandy and talk horses and hounds and 18th century British politics?

Our room was called a bedchamber
cause it was the smallest room.

At a B&B, "smallest" is language for "most affordable" :)

The room had a very pretty bathroom.

And when we left for downtown or dining,
we descended this stairwell.

Don't even get me started on how much I wanted to slide down that banister.

I'm total serious.

Because I am, after all, very mature for my 48 years of age.

Don't judge. How old do YOU act sometimes?

And this was the view of the stairwell outside our room.

Absolutely gorgeous.

The Inn is located just 2 1/2 blocks up from the St. Croix river.
Many times guests will walk the three minutes to the historic downtown district.

For breakfast though,
you just stay put at the Inn.

Because each day was a five course breakfast (served out of this gourmet kitchen), on the front porch with the engaging Chef Ray describing each course.

FIVE COURSES!!!

Saturday's Menu

Sunday's Menu

WHO IN THE WORLD EATS FIVE COURSES FOR BREAKFAST????!!!!!!!
Seriously!!!!

Uh, apparently I do.

Um, I forgot to take a picture of the Rustic Breakfast Hash from Sunday...Tim and I totally scarfed it down so fast before I could realize there was no picture...but let me describe it to you off the menu...This healthy combination of fingerling potatoes, roasted sweet peppers and fennel is topped with Chevre, ham and finished with tarragon and an organic poached egg.

Sounds terrrrible doesn't it? Heck no!!
It was awesomely breakfast hash heaven!!

And Ima tell you folks, this post does not even include pictures of the unbelievably fantastic, well presented dinners we had in Stillwater. They really have several top restaurants!
But we'll save that for another day...:):):)
Why I always gotta be blogging about food?

Okay catch ya later guys!

Thanks for humoring me through all these photos!!!

Have a good week!!!!

Talk at ya soon!!