I love to cook. I think I'm rather good at it, so I like to eat too.
Cooking on a budget in these economic times is cause for some creativity. I believe that doing my cooking simply is the best way to achieve a wonderful result.
Recently my sister gave me some potato salad that her sister-in-law made for a Sunday family gathering. It was wonderful! I'm not even a fan of potato salad, but this one was great. It changed the way I look at salads that are prepared similarly.
What was so unique about this salad? It's freshness. There were crisp onions, celery and fresh potatoes that were cooked just right.
Ever since then I have made my salads with fresh onions and celery to give it a bit of crunch that is a wonderful layer of texture in the experience of eating something made with love.
When I am feeling down and want to feel better, I cook. If I want to feel better, I cook. I don't have to worry about who's going to eat it because I have the children home to get it gone.
Next food blog will be about cinnamon bun loaf!
Stay tuned! More to come.
About Me
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
My life in a Drum!
Living in an apartment has its pros and cons.
Relatively speaking, I've been fortunate in that my neighbors have pretty much been cool people that I don't mind sharing a wall with. Some of my neighbors of the past have not been so lucky. Having children there is a certain noise level that is to be expected. Often this noise level is higher than is polite when living in a multi-family dwelling.
I've lived in my current location for a little over a year now. It's nice. I believe my neighbors are good people that do good work and come home to the piece and quiet of our little borrowed piece on the planet.
Since I moved away from Raleigh, NC I have consistently lived in places that had no one living below me. I have children and they don't often pay attention to how hard they stomp their way around. I often felt sorry for the family that lived below me in Raleigh because my children were in Kindergarten and second grade at the time. Every step they took sounded like they had bricks for feet.
When we moved to where we are now I specifically asked for an apartment that was on the ground and that no one live below us. I thought that was a good idea. My sons were 1 and 2 at the time and I just didn't want to put anyone through that kind of torture.
The building in my complex has experienced some movement lately and for about six months the apartment above me has been empty. About a month ago a family moved in above me that sounds like a herd of elephants every time they move around. I keep odd hours and apparently so do the adults though the children sound like they are up much later than this mother would tolerate EVER! To top is all off they have a dog, a puppy no less. I can only assume that they are crazy or horribly inconsiderate though I suspect both are true. Why? You might wonder.
Well, my dear reader, the list is thus:
-They have small children, and these children are on the balcony unsupervised, though I suspect the adult in inside sitting on the couch.
-These children, when I saw them last, were outside with out clothes on! I saw one in a diaper and tee shirt the other shirtless and wearing pants when the temperature was 60 degrees F outside. I know it was warm for the general temperatures around that time, but you cannot like your children very much if you let them run around like that.
-At night I hear the sliding glass door open and close five or six times in a short period of time. I don't know if they are arguing over whether or not to keep it closed or open, but it's like they don't know how the darn thing works.
-The dog is yelping late at night and they seem not to know or don't care to do anything about it.
I could go on, but it would only serve to aggravate me.
One night there were about ten loud booming sounds and I finally went up there to tell them that I have children that are trying to sleep. It is by the grace of the good Lord that the noise didn't wake one of them up or there would have been a national news report about a crazy woman throwing a family out of their second story balcony in North Carolina. I rang the door bell as they are screaming and laughing. I hear, "Uh oh." and an adult opens the door. I simply state that "I have children that are trying to sleep." and she turns to the two children and tells them "I guess we have to stop."
Guess?!?!
Yeah, you need to stop or there won't be enough therapy to fix the trauma. An angry mother who wants to make sure her young children get the sleep is not to be trifled with. Especially when she tosses your inconsiderate tail out the window for disturbing her.
I was ticked off that an adult answered the door and that said adult would allow children to JUMP OFF OF THE FURNITURE in an apartment above one that was obviously occupied! I guess there's no accounting for poor home training.
I was thinking about gathering my whole clan up and going up there to knock on the door to introduce ourselves. "Hi, my name is Nicole and these are my children. When you walk around like slue footed monkeys you are disturbing us." More as a show of potential force than a polite introduction. You don't mess with this family. We are not nice people when our rest and peace are interrupted.
I'm just waiting for the day that a piece of plaster drops on my head as I'm composing a blog entry and then I will completely snap. An angry bang on the door and the rhetorical question, "Do you know what this is?" as I display the piece of plaster in my hand and dust on my head. Knocking out the person as the confusion sweeps over their being. "It's plaster from my ceiling you turd! Learn to walk like a higher mammal and not some stupid monkey!"
As I type this I can hear the little ones thumping around happily unaware of the storm that coming.
I give a pass on the noise between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm, that is when you are supposed to be awake and moving around. From the looks of the family they can use all the exercise they can get. This pot is calling that kettle. Honey, it takes one to know one.
I'll keep you posted. Whoosaa!
Relatively speaking, I've been fortunate in that my neighbors have pretty much been cool people that I don't mind sharing a wall with. Some of my neighbors of the past have not been so lucky. Having children there is a certain noise level that is to be expected. Often this noise level is higher than is polite when living in a multi-family dwelling.
I've lived in my current location for a little over a year now. It's nice. I believe my neighbors are good people that do good work and come home to the piece and quiet of our little borrowed piece on the planet.
Since I moved away from Raleigh, NC I have consistently lived in places that had no one living below me. I have children and they don't often pay attention to how hard they stomp their way around. I often felt sorry for the family that lived below me in Raleigh because my children were in Kindergarten and second grade at the time. Every step they took sounded like they had bricks for feet.
When we moved to where we are now I specifically asked for an apartment that was on the ground and that no one live below us. I thought that was a good idea. My sons were 1 and 2 at the time and I just didn't want to put anyone through that kind of torture.
The building in my complex has experienced some movement lately and for about six months the apartment above me has been empty. About a month ago a family moved in above me that sounds like a herd of elephants every time they move around. I keep odd hours and apparently so do the adults though the children sound like they are up much later than this mother would tolerate EVER! To top is all off they have a dog, a puppy no less. I can only assume that they are crazy or horribly inconsiderate though I suspect both are true. Why? You might wonder.
Well, my dear reader, the list is thus:
-They have small children, and these children are on the balcony unsupervised, though I suspect the adult in inside sitting on the couch.
-These children, when I saw them last, were outside with out clothes on! I saw one in a diaper and tee shirt the other shirtless and wearing pants when the temperature was 60 degrees F outside. I know it was warm for the general temperatures around that time, but you cannot like your children very much if you let them run around like that.
-At night I hear the sliding glass door open and close five or six times in a short period of time. I don't know if they are arguing over whether or not to keep it closed or open, but it's like they don't know how the darn thing works.
-The dog is yelping late at night and they seem not to know or don't care to do anything about it.
I could go on, but it would only serve to aggravate me.
One night there were about ten loud booming sounds and I finally went up there to tell them that I have children that are trying to sleep. It is by the grace of the good Lord that the noise didn't wake one of them up or there would have been a national news report about a crazy woman throwing a family out of their second story balcony in North Carolina. I rang the door bell as they are screaming and laughing. I hear, "Uh oh." and an adult opens the door. I simply state that "I have children that are trying to sleep." and she turns to the two children and tells them "I guess we have to stop."
Guess?!?!
Yeah, you need to stop or there won't be enough therapy to fix the trauma. An angry mother who wants to make sure her young children get the sleep is not to be trifled with. Especially when she tosses your inconsiderate tail out the window for disturbing her.
I was ticked off that an adult answered the door and that said adult would allow children to JUMP OFF OF THE FURNITURE in an apartment above one that was obviously occupied! I guess there's no accounting for poor home training.
I was thinking about gathering my whole clan up and going up there to knock on the door to introduce ourselves. "Hi, my name is Nicole and these are my children. When you walk around like slue footed monkeys you are disturbing us." More as a show of potential force than a polite introduction. You don't mess with this family. We are not nice people when our rest and peace are interrupted.
I'm just waiting for the day that a piece of plaster drops on my head as I'm composing a blog entry and then I will completely snap. An angry bang on the door and the rhetorical question, "Do you know what this is?" as I display the piece of plaster in my hand and dust on my head. Knocking out the person as the confusion sweeps over their being. "It's plaster from my ceiling you turd! Learn to walk like a higher mammal and not some stupid monkey!"
As I type this I can hear the little ones thumping around happily unaware of the storm that coming.
I give a pass on the noise between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm, that is when you are supposed to be awake and moving around. From the looks of the family they can use all the exercise they can get. This pot is calling that kettle. Honey, it takes one to know one.
I'll keep you posted. Whoosaa!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Travel Tales
Well, I'm back from California. 10 wonderful days of great weather, loving family, new friends and wonderful food!
There was so much interesting that happened, I don't know where to start so I will start at the beginning.
My flight out to California by way of Texas left North Carolina at 5:50 am Friday morning. I have not flown since before 9/11 so I had not experienced travel in it's current configuration. Concerned about missing a damn o'clock flight, I arrived 2 hours before boarding. There was no one in the terminal! Hmm, ok. I needed to get a lock for my bag so we went to Wal-Mart. Wandered around there for a little bit and took the long way back to the airport.
I was so excited about getting on the plane that I didn't want to sleep. So I didn't! I drank an entire pot of very strong, very tasty coffee and kept it moving.
I made it through airport security well enough. I hopped on a small plane that made me feel that I should have worked harder to get more weight off, but I was pleased that I had lost some weight all the same. I had to change planes in Dallas and boarded a larger plane, I felt more secure that an unexpected fart would not blow us out of the sky. I don't know what the PC term for them is, but the flight attendant, or one of them was freakishly skinny! When I see people like that I think, "Eat something!" I don't advocate an unhealthy lifestyle, but come on! This woman made an average height to weight proportioned woman look like a fat cow! To top it off she was unpleasant. I could only think that the poor woman was hungry and that is why she was so ill spirited. As I departed the plane, I looked at her and thought, "Have a nice day and retire girl! Go get some steak or something!"
I walked out of the terminal and as the LA sun poured into the windows, I see my wonderful brother-in-law. I hugged him and we headed off to wait for my bag. I packed more clothes than I needed, but I wanted to be prepared for whatever and my sister told me that she was going to send some stuff back with me so my checked back was very light. He tossed my bags in to the back of his truck and we headed off to find some food. Mexican! or something like that. We got something to eat, gassed up the truck and we were off to Ft. Irwin! Even though I napped on the planes, I was still sleepy. The ride to Ft. Irwin was a blur of cars and the brown expanse of the nothing that the base is in the middle of.
I will post another entry about the food.
On the trip back the airline had to make a passenger leave because he was trying to start a fight with another passenger. I never realized how the inside of a plane dampened noise until some drunk butt hole tries to make a scene and I can't hear what he is saying from six feet away. I could only see his mouth moving and some ill-chosen profanity he decided to spew. I didn't realize that the flight included a floor show. the unfortunate person beside me did not seem amused. My attempts at polite conversation went without response. Eh, I had 9 days worth of memories to flip through while I rode.
When the plane landed in NC, I was happy to be home. I peaked out of the door to take my first breath of NC air, a snow flake passed my face! "Oh Snow!" I squealed like a child. "I hope I don't slip." I thought. It was good to be home. My daughters really rose to the challenge while I was gone. My Blessing made sure they were kept in line. I was really happy that I brought them something back.
More to come!
There was so much interesting that happened, I don't know where to start so I will start at the beginning.
My flight out to California by way of Texas left North Carolina at 5:50 am Friday morning. I have not flown since before 9/11 so I had not experienced travel in it's current configuration. Concerned about missing a damn o'clock flight, I arrived 2 hours before boarding. There was no one in the terminal! Hmm, ok. I needed to get a lock for my bag so we went to Wal-Mart. Wandered around there for a little bit and took the long way back to the airport.
I was so excited about getting on the plane that I didn't want to sleep. So I didn't! I drank an entire pot of very strong, very tasty coffee and kept it moving.
I made it through airport security well enough. I hopped on a small plane that made me feel that I should have worked harder to get more weight off, but I was pleased that I had lost some weight all the same. I had to change planes in Dallas and boarded a larger plane, I felt more secure that an unexpected fart would not blow us out of the sky. I don't know what the PC term for them is, but the flight attendant, or one of them was freakishly skinny! When I see people like that I think, "Eat something!" I don't advocate an unhealthy lifestyle, but come on! This woman made an average height to weight proportioned woman look like a fat cow! To top it off she was unpleasant. I could only think that the poor woman was hungry and that is why she was so ill spirited. As I departed the plane, I looked at her and thought, "Have a nice day and retire girl! Go get some steak or something!"
I walked out of the terminal and as the LA sun poured into the windows, I see my wonderful brother-in-law. I hugged him and we headed off to wait for my bag. I packed more clothes than I needed, but I wanted to be prepared for whatever and my sister told me that she was going to send some stuff back with me so my checked back was very light. He tossed my bags in to the back of his truck and we headed off to find some food. Mexican! or something like that. We got something to eat, gassed up the truck and we were off to Ft. Irwin! Even though I napped on the planes, I was still sleepy. The ride to Ft. Irwin was a blur of cars and the brown expanse of the nothing that the base is in the middle of.
I will post another entry about the food.
On the trip back the airline had to make a passenger leave because he was trying to start a fight with another passenger. I never realized how the inside of a plane dampened noise until some drunk butt hole tries to make a scene and I can't hear what he is saying from six feet away. I could only see his mouth moving and some ill-chosen profanity he decided to spew. I didn't realize that the flight included a floor show. the unfortunate person beside me did not seem amused. My attempts at polite conversation went without response. Eh, I had 9 days worth of memories to flip through while I rode.
When the plane landed in NC, I was happy to be home. I peaked out of the door to take my first breath of NC air, a snow flake passed my face! "Oh Snow!" I squealed like a child. "I hope I don't slip." I thought. It was good to be home. My daughters really rose to the challenge while I was gone. My Blessing made sure they were kept in line. I was really happy that I brought them something back.
More to come!
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