Orcas Island/Mt Constitution

Just returned from Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands.

The weather was absolutely beautiful. We went canoeing — my first time in over 30 years. Didn’t do too bad thanks to my friend Ron who glided us through the water.
Seems like the people move much slower there so it was a great way to unwind.
I’ll be attaching pictures soon so stay tuned.
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Scalloped Potatoes

It’s been a very busy week so I have a lot to blog about. I will post it all in segments.

Firstly, I made scalloped potatoes for dinner one day. It turned out rather well. I have two recipes that I use for scalloped potatoes and this one does not use cheese although it does use whole milk. It’s one of my favorites although sometimes it comes out too fluid. So, you may need to add a wee bit more flour than I do.

(Excuse the picture as my family had already “bitten” into the casserole dish before I was able to take the picture.)

Scalloped Potatoes

3 lbs white potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (adjust to taste)
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1.5 tsp salt
3 cups whole milk
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
3 tbsp butter or margarine, cut into small pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13″ baking dish with Pam or other cooking spray.
In a small bowl, stir together the garlic, flour & salt.
Arrange 1/2 of the sliced potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish.
Top with 1/2 the onion
Sprinkle 1/2 the flour mixture over the onion/potatoes & dot with 1 tbsp butter/margarine
Layer the remaining potatoes, onions and flour mixture over the top
Dot with 1 tbsp butter/margarine
Pour the milk over all
Butter one side of a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the baking dish with the last 1 tbsp of butter & place it buttered side down over the baking dish. Seal.
Place covered dish on a baking sheet & put in middle of the oven.
Bake 50 minutes
Remove foil
Continue baking approximately 45 more minutes or until top is golden brown.
When done, sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.
Special thanks to my friend Yoko for sharing this recipe with me.

Enjoy!
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Tabouli Dinner


Dinner today was homemade tabouli, potato salad and beans with franks.
The recipe for the tabouli was given to me by friends who are from Lebanon.
Tabouli recipe:
1/4 – 1/2 cup fine bulgar wheat
Juice of 1/2 a large lemon
1 good sized tomato – chopped
2 bunches parsley – snapped then chopped
4 stalks of green onions – chopped
2 tbsp green mint – chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup oil
-Rinse the vegetables
-Soak the bulgar wheat in warm water for about 1/2 hour. Drain then add the lemon juice to it and let it soak for another 1/2 hour.
-Put chopped parsley, mint, green onions, salt, pepper and bulgar in a bowl
-Add chopped tomato
-Toss
-Add 1/4 cup oil, toss
-Add the rest of the oil sparingly, tasting as you go along
This can be made a day ahead by layering all the ingredients (except the oil), put the tomato on top of it all and don’t toss. Refrigerate.
When ready to use, remove from the refrigerator, toss, then add the oil.
Enjoy!

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Biftec (Steak)

Tonight I made biftec, known as steak in English.  It’s really easy to make. I baked it in the oven but I’ve also made it on the stovetop.
Here’s the home recipe:
Ingredients
  • 3-12 oz packages of thin sliced beef steaks
  • Vinegar
  • 1 small can of tomato sauce
  • Salt and Pepper (to taste)
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 onion
Directions
  1. Rinse the meat under warm water and place it in a bowl.
  2. Take a couple handfuls of vinegar and toss the meat with it.
  3. Pour tomato sauce over the meat and toss.
  4. Season with the Adobo (or other seasonings of your choosing)
  5. Cut the green pepper and onion into thin slices.
  6. Toss all together.
  7. Refrigerate overnight.
On the stovetop: toss the mixture into a skillet and heat on low/medium for about one hour.
In the oven: Put mixture in an oven-proof casserole dish and heat at 300 degrees for approximate 1.5 hours. (About midway, toss the meat)
This requires no oil or greasing of any pans.
As oven/stovetop temperatures may vary, please make sure your meat is thoroughly cooked before consuming.
Enjoy!
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Samsung Moment

I’m definitely have a moment with my new cell phone, the Samsung Moment.

When I first purchased it 3 weeks ago, it kept going into airplane mode. Took me awhile to figure out what it was doing. It’s as if it had it’s own brain.
Then I needed to charge the cell a couple times a day.
This morning I woke up and it died.
So, I take it back to Sprint and the young man who is there is the same one who sold me this phone.
When I first went, I was there over an hour. This second trip took me over an hour also. I would have thought it would have been easier since it was replacing the cell with a new one.
In the meantime, I found out this Representative is from Latvia. He goes to college at WSU and is only here for the summer. His brother went to St. Mary’s in California. He took Spanish as a child (he can’t be older than 20). Etc. Etc. Etc.
In other words, he’s practically family. lol
Hopefully this new cell won’t give me any more bad moments.
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Stumbling-block

I’ve heard the word in the past but today I heard it in a song called Never Give Up by Yolanda Adams.

Part of the lyrics:

“Sometimes life can put a stumbling-block in your way
But you gotta keep the faith
Bring what’s deep inside your heart, to the light
And never give up, don’t ever give up on you.”

Life is so unpredictable. Just when things are going as you think they should, bam!

Stumbling-blocks, i.e. obstacles or hindrances to progress.

They can be people or things. And they don’t usually announce themselves, i.e. “Hi, I’m a stumbling-block and I’m going to mess with your life today.”

No, they come unexpectedly, unannounced and usually unwanted.

Do you go over, under, around or through stumbling-blocks?

I guess it would depend on what type it is.

If the stumbling-block is a person, you can choose not to deal with them. De-friend them as one can on Facebook. Block them from chatting with you as on Gmail chat. Use Google Voice when they call and have them automatically go into a recording that says “we’re sorry, the number you have called has been disconnected.” Or, simply ignore them as if they don’t exist.

Ouch! We humans are afraid of confrontation.

If I had a choice, I think I’d rather go through them. That means telling them the truth about what they mean to me in my life. Why they are hindering my progress. That’s not always easy.

What if the stumbling-block is a thing as in a television, a computer, a job.

One would think (and hope) that dealing with a “thing” would be easier than dealing with a person.

It’s easier to ignore a television so you can spend quality time with your family or someone you love. You don’t have to “discuss” things with a TV.

Unfortunately, most of the time, the stumbling-block is a person.

So, I need to learn not to confront but to engage the stumbling-block.

Hey, maybe I should just do a quarterback sneak and go around them?

Naw … not my nature.

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