fun family maryland

15 minute salmon recipie

2010-03-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

Bought some salmon at the grocery store today; but wasn't sure how I wanted to prepare it. I remembered my mom had a recipie for leeky salmon. Not being the most orgainzed person; I just googled it and found this recipie:WHFoods: Braised Salmon with Leeks. It was quick and delicious.

Curry!

2010-03-07T20:22:00.001-05:00

I'm turning into a food blog!
Made this yummy Chicken Curry soup for dinner saturday night. Very quick and easy. I did leave out the jalepeno (kids) but added asian chili sauce for a spicy kick to the adult bowls. Sorry I can't figure out how to paste the photo. Hope you give it a try.This Week for Dinner – Weekly Meal Plans, Dinner Ideas, Recipes and More!: Guest Blogger Katie Goodman: Coconut Chicken Curry Soup

2010-02-28T19:29:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in a long time now; but thought you'd enjoy tonights dinner-one pan only! It was delicious!

Shrimp and Orzo

8 oz. large uncooked shrimp
1 Tb. vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
1/8 tsp sugar
8 oz. orzo pasta
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup clam juice (you can find it with the canned seafood-don't skip this!)
1 lemon ( you'll need to zest abut 1 Tb. and use 1 Tb. juice)
1 cup frozen peas
1 Tb. butter

Peel and devein shrimp. Combine with salt,pepper and sugar to coat. Add oil to large skillet; heat over medium high heat for a couple of minutes. Add shrimp in a single layer. Cook 1 minute then turn over and cook additional 30 sec to 1 minute to cook through. Remove to plate, set aside.
In the same skillet add orzo,garlic, broth and clam juice. Bring to a boil;cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 10-12 minutes until orzo is cooked through.
Remove skillet from heat and stir in peas, butter and squeeze half of the lemon over the top. Arrange shrimp over the top; cover and let stand 5 minutes until shrimp is heated through.
Zest lemon over top of dish.
Serves 4.

stale bread

2009-07-06T13:30:00.002-04:00

I had a leftover half loaf of italian bread from the bakery ; it was way too stale to eat (crouton like state). So instead of tossing it I made:

Caramelized Banana Bread Pudding

1/3 cup craisins (or raisins)
3 Tb. dark rum
1 Tb. unsalted butter
3 med. bananas, halved lengthwise then sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
4 Tb. dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
3 Tb. granulated sugar
1/3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups cuped french bread

In a small bowl, combine craisins and rum. Let stand 10 min. Drain, reserving rum and craisins separately.
In lg. bowl whisk milk,eggs, granulated sugar, cinnamon ,vanilla and reserved craisins. Stir in bread cubes let stand 15 min.
Preheat oven to 350.
In med. skillet, melt butter over med-high heat. When frothy, add banana slices and cook, stirring frequently until lightly browned, 3 minutes or so. Remove skillet from heat and add brown sugar and rum. Return skillet to heat and cook until rum evaporates about 30 sec.
In large baking dish sprayed with pam, spoon in 1/2 the bread mixture, then 1/2 banana mixture. Repeat to use all. Bake until puffed and golden; bout 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temp.

The Sweetest Place on Earth

2009-07-05T09:28:00.000-04:00

D and I had the day off Friday for the holiday weekend, so we decided to head up to Hersheypark. They offer a "preview" evening-if you present your ticket for the next day you can enter the park after 7:30 pm and enjoy the park for free. So we headed up Thurs. evening after work. We had a great time, despite the rainstorm that happened. We did several inside rides that we may not have normally chosen. We took the Kissing tower ride which is a several hundred feet elevator type ride which rotates giving a birds-eye view of Hershey and the amusement park; it was neat to ride in the dark. The coasters all shut down with the rain but started running again in the last hour. S took her first big roller coaster ride on the superdooper looper- in the dark. As the name implies it has a loop. She loved it-and a rollercoaster monster was created.

The next morning we were in the park at opening and stayed until closing. We only had one brief rain shower and the weather was otherwise wonderful with partly sunny skies and temps in the upper 70's. The kids enjoyed going on the coasters repeatedly as the lines were not long 15-20 minute wait at most. As always, the people watching was interesting and quite amusing at times! We went to Chocolate World which smells deliciously chocolate-y and took the factory tour ride which completes with a piece of chocolate. Longest line of the day was for the cars, which took almost an hour. As we stood there D and I both recalled this type of ride always moves slow in every theme park. Last few rides of the day were spent on the Comet a huge classic wooden coaster and the infamous superdooper looper-5 times in a row. We left happy and worn out! We made our drive home and colapsed into bed a little after midnight. A fun time was had by all.

new door

2009-06-28T19:01:00.000-04:00

Better pic of completed project:

New Door

2009-06-28T18:59:00.000-04:00

We decided it would be nice to have a roof over our heads coming in the house and a new front door was long overdue. As with all home improvement projects, it seemed to take a long time to get done. Construction is completed, now comes the re-landscaping work!

Yummy Snack

2009-05-23T19:53:00.000-04:00

Got this recipie from a co worker. It is an easy "dump" recipie with one surprise ingredient.

Yummy Black Bean Salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
2 cans shoepeg/white corn, drained
2 cans ro-tel diced tomatoes with cilantro
3 green onions chopped
1 8 oz. bottle zesty italian dressing

Combine all in a very large bowl. Serve with chips. I couldn't find the tomatoes with cilantro so I used tomatoes with green chiles and chopped up some cilantro from the garden and added it in.
D even put this on top of his grilled chicken burger and loved it.
You know it must be good if I actually ate the black eyed peas.

1st Hickey?

2009-04-12T20:16:00.000-04:00

12 year old boy +ziploc suction device:

And this is my contribution to the gene pool.

Sign of Spring

2009-03-09T17:50:00.000-04:00

This weekend we had beautiful weather. Saturday was 73; which led to a flurry of activity in the gardens. The front beds got a much needed raking and lo and behold a treasure was found-crocus popping up through the leaves! Sunday was 63 but overcast; today is in the low 60's with 30 mile/hr gusts of wind. Raking was just not an option. Two of my small roses had new green growth and leaf buds; and the japanese maples also are budding at the tips. Especially since it is light later in the evening ( with the time change )we all have spring fever.

It's Twins!

2009-02-01T21:30:00.002-05:00

Bugsy (left) and Dopey (right).

Our 2 1/2 year old hampster, Shadow, died overnight; the kids immediately decided they wanted a new one. We packed up Shadow (who is awaiting a thaw to be buried); cleaned out the cage and headed out to our pet store. The kids saw Bugsy 1st; he is a friendly white dwarf hampster and his eyes are, well, buggy. Dopey kept hiding under the water bottle holder (don't pick me!!). After discussion with our very nice and knowlegdable employee, it was decided to get two hampsters who will live happily together (we hope). They have been very busy today checking out their new home.

From Surf to Snow

2009-01-28T13:19:00.000-05:00

We took a long weekend trip to Florida to see D's parents. Temps were in the mid to upper 70's during the day, which beats the heck out of the 20's we were having at home. We took full advantage of the wonderful temperature and sunshine; walking to the beach, fishing, swimming in the pool, flying kites. We went to the beach every afternoon; only the crazy northerners (us) were in the freezing cold ocean! The kids had a lot of fun building sand castles and collecting lots of shells to bring home.

We flew home to a couple of inches of snow with the threat of winter weather advisory overnight. This morning, we have another layer of snow with a crunchy coating of ice over the top. The kids predicted correctly, no school today. Unfortunately, the coating of ice on top of the snow made it impossible to sled, much to the kids dismay. Luckily D left his car at the top of the driveway or he would not have made it out to work. He had a time just getting to the car and slid trying to walk uphill on the driveway and ended up having to crunch through the grass until he was close enough to the car to grab onto it.

The temperature is supposed to get up into the 40's and it is now drizzling as predicted. Everyone should be back to work and school tomorrow, much to their disappointment.

Weekend Update

2009-01-19T14:39:00.002-05:00

Saturday at noon we said, wow, it's 5 times warmer now than when we woke up this morning. Not often you can say that. It was 3 when we woke up; 15 at noon. I know compared to others, that's warm. BRRRR.

Sunday we took the kids skiing for the first time. Everyone took a beginner lesson which was a scheduled 1 1/2 hours (to get the hang of things and stay safe). Usually MLK holiday weekend is packed, but according to the ski patrol it was a very low attendance day (maybe cold temps or the ravens/steelers game was responsible). A. had a really hard time getting the hang of it and was down more than up. He ended up continuing on to a second lesson and finally had success. Everyone was famished by lunch. After lunch we hit the beginner slope for some confidence and then the boys were off to the next level slope. D. cut across to a more advanced slope, but joined back up for the ride to the top. S. and I stayed on the beginner slope all afternoon. S. was proud to say she made six trips down without a fall!

The resort we were at had snowboarders on the same slopes with the skiiers and we had a great time watching them (especially from the ski lift). There were some spectacular wipe outs! Lots of people laying in the snow laughing.

Everyone was wiped out by the time we made it home and A. is covered in bruises; but everyone is looking forward to going again this season.

Today we are off from school because of the holiday and we are enjoying watching our first accumulative snowfall. So far, about an inch. The kids are thrilled and out sliding down the hills!

Out of the closet

2009-01-06T19:18:00.000-05:00

Linen closet, that is! Sunday I cleaned out the overflowing linen closet and removed two large trash bags of items to be donated to charity. Then I neatly folded all the towels and matched up the sheet sets with their corresponding pillowcases and loaded everything back in to the closet. It looks so pretty-I wonder how long we can keep it this way?

Monkey Bread

2009-01-04T18:17:00.000-05:00

This mornings special treat was monkey bread (pictured at left). Thanks for the bread baker, Grammy! Even the chief food snob, D, had to admit it was very tasty.
We had a very nice holiday break. Santa ( and all his many helpers) were good to all of us this year. The big hit this year was the Wii. Dance, Dance Revolution has been quite fun and aerobic for all!
Tomorrow back to school and work for all of us. Today we finished taking out the real tree and getting the multiple boxes of decorations packed and ready to go back to the attic until next year.

Y?

2008-11-14T19:11:00.002-05:00

A. left for a scouting trip to New Jersey before I arrived home from work. All the lights in the upstairs were left on-not particularly unusual for him. His clothing was left in a pile in the kitchen (not where I would change my clothes) and had not flushed the toilet (use your imagination).
This is the child who rails against our giving him specific step by step instructions "because I know what to do!" "you don't have to tell me everything". Hmmmmm
Y?

A tissue please

2008-11-03T20:53:00.002-05:00

I watched a couple of movies this weekend while my husband was away visiting his grandmother. Romantic comedy was on the agenda.
I watched 27 Dresses, which my sister reviewed and didn't love. I liked it. It was predictable, but I don't want any crazy surprises like the heroine getting offed in the last minute of the movie.
Movie # 2 was P.S. I love you. It was not what I had anticipated based on the jacket cover. It was about a couple who had been married 10 years, and the husband dies (in the first 10 minutes, we don't see this, we join in at the wake). Not so much comedy. 3 weeks after the funeral is the wife's birthday and her husband had arranged a cake and letter to be delivered to her. He tells her to go out and do certain things and that there will be other letters to come. So the movie is her remembering their love, mourning him, and learning she must go on . I would alternately laugh and then cry. It was a tissue box movie. Good thing I was alone.

vagaries of the weather

2008-11-02T15:23:00.001-05:00

Yesterday 76 and bright sunshine. Today 50 and overcast. Blah. Welcome to November!

Boo to you

2008-11-01T20:26:00.002-04:00

May the force be with you. As you can see,we had a star wars themed halloween. Surprisingly, with the popularity of star wars this year, we were the only group clad as such. Usual large amount of teens in no costume or in football jerseys- I want them to put forth a little effort and dress up if they want candy!

Pet Peeves

2008-10-23T14:13:00.002-04:00

Does anyone love self check out? It seems like a good idea-usually minimal wait, scan bar codes, pay and go. It just never works out that way no matter how optimistic I am. A month or so ago, I went to the self check out in our local grocery and ended up marching away disgusted after my purchases were rejected by the oh so pleasantly voiced computer. Today I went to the hardware store and bought 1 can of spray paint. Ever hopeful, I went to the self check out, scanned then received the dreaded message on the screen "Help is needed with this item, please wait". HAH! I picked up my can, and patiently waited in line behind an elderly couple buying decorative cabbage (how bizarre). The human check out did not have any difficulty scanning my paint. Never again will I be lured by the self check out.
I also ran into the grocery store to pick up a few things we were out of and brought along 2 of my reusable bags. The checker ( a woman who appeared to be in her 50's) carried on a whole long conversation with another checker for the duration of my order. When, due to her poor packing technique, she ran out of bags I asked her for paper for my remaining items. She proceeded to put my potatoes into a plastic bag saying "Oh this will be easier to carry". For Whom? She is not coming home with me to unload my car! Then she bagged my bread into a paper bag. Grant me patience. Now I have 4 bags to carry. So I left the store and dumped out my potatoes and put the plastic bag into the recycling bin.
ALSO, if I wave you across the parking lot or road while I am driving, please do me the courtesy of crossing directly across and not on the world's longest diagonal which is impeding my driving away. No wonder no one is ever courteous-it doesn't pay!
Whew!

Clinton and Stacey would be proud

2008-09-30T19:37:00.002-04:00

Sunday I will be attending a going away brunch at the Museum of Art for a wonderful person I've worked with for the past 7 years.
In need of a new outfit; today I decided to go out shopping. We are really between seasons-all the summer strappy things are on clearance and much of the new stuff screams winter. Went to several local stores and tried on lots of stuff in the pursuit of that perfect outfit- many styles and colors I wouldn't normally try. In one store I tried on a dark brown shirtdress, which, while it fit, didn't quite do it for me. Not to throw in the towel, I channeled WNTW, took the dress and found a burgandy cami and a much wider belt than came with the dress and also tried on that combo. In the end, I still didn't love it; and unfortunately no one was around to ask. Wouldn't C +S be proud?
Several observations about today's trip- Why is the lighting so bad in changing room? Why is the changing room so small? Why does my hair look so awful ?( I'm sure it's from pulling clothes over my head) Why do dress manufacturers ignore female shape and fashion dresses the same width shoulder to hem (as if beanpole figures are the only ones buying dresses)? Why do they never have my shoe size in the perfect for fall shoes?
I ended up with several pairs of pants-and a much needed haircut.

Good intentions

2008-09-07T10:56:00.002-04:00

So the end of summer came and with it all the busyness of getting ready for school; thus blogging went by the wayside despite my best intentions.

We spent part of the week before school at our friends cottage near Caledonia State Park, then the rest of the week at Delaware Seashore state park. Both spots were wonderful with cool nights and warm days-a good end to the summer. I'm going to get my pics together and post a summer wrap up!

School started Monday after coming back from the beach. S likes her teacher (who she knows from the playground), and we know her as well as A had her a few years ago. Should be a fun year for her. A likes the diversity of middle school-especially having lots of different teachers.

Since everyone has been talking about Hanna- she was here as well. We had rain most of Saturday, everything from drizzle to gusty, pounding rain. Lots of leaves and small sticks down, but no major problems for us. By 10 last night she was gone leaving behind a beautifully clear and cool night; 68 when I got up this morning, sunny and clear skies.

We watched a couple of movies this weekend with the yuccky weather: Nim's Island which was cute if not far fetched and not what I expected from the preview; and Mad Money which was a lot better than I expected with several laugh out loud moments.

D is off at a half Iron man in Delaware, hope he is having as beautiful a day there. I'm sure he'll blog about it later.

zoo

2008-08-12T21:24:00.005-04:00

Obviously, I have no idea how to fix the blog if I hit the wrong button.

Went to National Zoo today.

Fun at the Zoo

2008-08-12T21:19:00.000-04:00

Veggies

2008-08-10T18:16:00.003-04:00

Our dinner from Brad's produce stand. We have had the most delicious and sweet corn this year, today's variety is 'Avalon'. Green beans, white eggplant, and a mix of zucchini, yellow squash, onions and garlic. All given extra yumminess from the grill.

2008-08-10T17:40:00.004-04:00

The orioles AAA team , the Ironbirds, have a ball park nearby and last night was the school sponsored night out. It was perfect weather in the low 70's and low humidity which almost never happens during baseball season! It was a good game and the Ironbirds won, getting them out of the basement for this week.

It was a fun night out, the kids actually paid attention to the game. One unexpected fly by was amusing.

After the game, fireworks. We have a video of the fireworks but it is too big for the blog to handle. We will get it posted some other way.

Hail, Hail the storm was here

2008-08-03T13:55:00.004-04:00

Saturday started out as a beautiful, cool and sunny day. About 3 p.m. I started hearing rumbles of thunder way in the distance. D returned from a 60 mile bike ride just in the nick of time. The storm rolled in, sky turned black and the rain came down along with some hail. The picture shows the biggest of the lot, ranging in size down to pea size. If you can see it,the small white dots in the tree pic are the hail. Amazingly, no damage done to the house or cars. After the storm temp down to 68!

Me Oh My, We Love Pie!

2008-07-29T21:53:00.002-04:00

58 pounds to go!

2008-07-25T10:20:00.002-04:00

So I sat down on Wednesday evening to get my new post out and a huge storm blew through and immediately knocked out the cable. A couple of hours later the power went out. Luckily it was only out for a few hours, coming back on around 2 a.m. We had 2 1/2 inches of rain!

Back to blueberries. We have 60 pounds of the beauties. Yes, 60. No typo. We used to go out each July to pick our own. Not difficult, the bushes are generally around 5', but in hot and humid July always a sweaty endevor. Once the kids came along, we were very limited in the amount of time we could convice them to do this. Kids are not much into delayed gratification, though they could actually eat the fruit that was picked. Needless to say, we haven't picked our own for years.
D was talking to a coworker who said he bought blueberries yearly from a lady who picked for him. The first year we ordered 20 pounds. It seemed like a lot; but we went through them like wildfire. Next year, 40 pounds, thinking surely this will last all year (blueberries freeze like a charm). Nope, we ate every last one and were reduced to buying frozen wild blueberries. So this year, 60 pounds. WOW it is a lot. We have two small freezers and they are packed full. Now I need to start baking to use up what didn't fit in the freezer. A la bubba gump: Blueberry pie, Blueberry crisp, Blueberry cobbler, Blueberry sauce, Blueberry bars . . . . .

2008-07-20T19:55:00.013-04:00

A lot went on this past week. We got new carpet in the downstairs, we went to the Ironbirds baseball game (the local AAA team), (Dave's) sister decided that she and her family are coming to visit next week, and we spent the weekend at Pat and Neil's cottage near Gettysburg PA.
The carpet is GREAT (see picture)!

Nice and soft under your feet and no stains on it yet! Cathy has made the downstairs a barefoot only zone and no eating or drinking (at least for the kids).
The Ironbirds game was a lot of fun. We had box seat tickets from BD and they were front row behind home plate. We had an excellent view of the field (better than the umpire on a couple of plays that were called very poorly).
JoAnn, Greg and the boys are coming on Thursday and staying until Tuesday. They have not been here for a couple of years so it will be good to see them.
We went to Pat and Neil's cottage for the weekend, always a good time (see picture).

Becky was there with her newest motorcycle (see picture).

After lunch on Saturday we went to the local quarry to swim. We had a good time in the water and watching all the interesting local people (be glad there are no pictures). Sunday morning I (Dave) biked a little over 50 miles while the others hung out a the cottage and had pancakes. When I got back Cathy made me plate of them and then we hung out until after lunch. On the way out we stopped at a local fruit stand and bought sweet cherries, plums, peaches, and apricots. The plums are too ripe, they tingle on your tongue when you eat them.

Sunshine and Summertime

2008-07-13T20:07:00.004-04:00

I had Friday off, giving me a long weekend, which is a rarity in the summer months. We had nice, hot, sunny days which were perfect for lazing around by the pool.

Our friends came over Friday and Saturday with their new puppy, Goldie, who is a 10 week old yellow labrador retriever. He is very cute and looking at his ears and paws you can see how big he is going to get. Apparently, having a puppy is much like having a baby. He is up a lot at night, needs tons of attention, and chews on everything. I am so not going there.

After hanging out around the pool all day I fired up the grill and cooked some delicious chicken/basil/mozzerella sausages, and we had our first corn on the cob of the year. We capped things off with a succulently sweet watermelon; which the kids wore about as much as they ate. They also had a seed spitting contest (but not many seeds in a seedless watermelon). Alex went on an overnight with his friend and slept out in the backyard in a tent.

Sunday was spent doing the enevitable yard work; which is rewarding but back breaking. The pool beckoned this afternoon, and with the kids elsewhere, mom and dad had a peaceful hour floating around with a cold drink and chatting happily.

Saturday July 12; triathlon

2008-07-12T19:11:00.002-04:00

I participated in a triathlon today (1 mile swim, 27 mile bike, 5 mile run). The race went very well . I was hoping to finish in about 2.5 hours and it took me 2:32:50, so I was right on! The swim was too warm for a wet suit (84F). I finished in about 30 minutes and that is my average time for a 1 mile swim. The bike course was pretty technical (hilly) with a 1 mile 7.5% grade clime around mile 21! I averaged 19.3 MPH on the bike which is good for me. The run went well, hot, but good. I only got passed by two people on the run and I held a good pace. Overall I was 74th out of about 450 people, so I am very happy with that.
All and al l a good race.

Wednesday, July 9

2008-07-09T09:55:00.000-04:00

We had a lot of rain here on Sunday, so after Sarah’s horse show we went out to lunch and saw the movie WALL-E. It was a cute movie with a good message, don’t trash the planet and don’t be a lazy slug (although I am not sure the kids ever get the message in movies). The weather has been hot and humid, typical July weather for Maryland but it is suppose to cool off and be less humid later in the week. We will see if that happens!

Alex's week

2008-07-06T19:27:00.000-04:00

Alex returned from boy scout camp in Pennsylvania where he earned merit badges in pottery,rifle, geology and fishing. He also earned the awards "Range Rat" and for participating in daily polar bear swim. Nothing like a week away with no bathing or teeth brushing.

1st post

2008-07-06T19:21:00.000-04:00

To keep up with everyone else in the family we decided to create a blog. I will try to update often, as I enjoy checking everyone's blogs daily.

Busy week here in Maryland. Sarah participated in her first horse show with the pony she's been riding for lessons-MJ (her 1st show as well). Both did well despite 1st time jitters. They were awarded 5th place in one lead line class and 1st place, blue ribbon in lead line horsemanship. We were glad our classes were early, as the sky opened up and we were deluged with cold rain. We quickly loaded up the horses and came home, soggy but happy and proud.