Sagas

Saga of Christian for lunch.

Christian came over for lunch. It was fun, we went to Patty's Egg Nest for chicken fried steak and pancakes. In the course of our breakfast I whined about Roger and Stephanie not putting enough pictures of Connor out there for my viewing pleasure. My direct, no nonsense Christian said, "Take your own damn pictures. You see Connor every week, you have two hands, you have a camera. What is stopping you from having all the pictures of Connor you want?"

Saga of technology.

It has taken me at least 25 years to fully master VCR machines, and that technology is at least as old as Ian. I am semi competent on a DVD or cordless phone, and what is that, 15/20 year old technology? I can use a cell phone but I wouldn't call me competent. PDA's and Blackberries flew right past me, they were passe' before I even learned of their existence. I barely can recognize an IPod, IPhone, or IPad. Any and all of that other technological geeky techno aide and toys I don't even know the names of. Well I saw Stephanie's Zoom once, but I don't think that counts as part of my technology education.

Carol demonstrated her new Sony Reader and it gave me a headache it does so much. I mean fantastic stuff, dictionary, notation ability, font size for reading comfort, vertical or horizontal and like HAL, it remembers stuff about you. Is that comforting or creepy?

And Christian wants me to take digital photos of Connor. Ian gave me a 3 minute lesson, handed me a camera and expected results. When people say they are computer illiterates I am the poster child. But I have now taken three wobbly pictures of Connor, although no one has shown me how to download and transfer over to the computer yet. I think I need another lesson or two before I can foster them off on you.

That is quite a saga of obsolete technology I saved myself from.

Saga of the Spinach Muffins.

I answered the phone, "This is Jan at Onlineshoes.com. How may I help you?"

The customer asked, "Do you like to cook?"

Jan answered rather cautiously, "Well, yes I do."

The customer said, "We made the best Spinach Muffins. There were three of us and we all really liked them. The recipe is in Bon Appetit Magazine, you must try them."

I said, "Well one good recipe deserves another. Go to the December issue of Bon Appetit Magazine and get the recipe for Giant Apricot Walnut Scones."

I did try and they are good.

Savory Spinach, Feta, and Peppadew Muffins

nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 3/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
2 teasp baking powder
1 teasp paprika
3/4 teasp salt
3/4 c whole milk
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 c thinly sliced spinach leaves
3/4 c crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c chopped drained mild Peppadew peppers
or roasted red peppers from a jar.

Mix dry
Whisk liquids
Combine just until blended
Add spinach feta and peppers

12 standard or 6 large muffin cups sprayed with nonstick spray
the muffin cups will be full
bake 375
25 to 28 minutes standard
33 to 35 minutes large

Saga of Crab Bisque.

My friend Jo-Anne went crabbing with her new fellow. She doesn't eat seafood so she called and asked if I wanted one. My heart skipped a beat and I said sure, I could manage to do something with a local fresh Dungeness crab already caught cleaned cooked bagged tagged and delivered.

All I have ever done with crab is eat it in restaurants, so I decided to be adventurous and went searching for a particularly nice crab recipe and decided on bisque. Doesn't that sound lovely, Crab Bisque. It turned out delicious even though I had to make a few substitutions.

Crab Bisque

1 pound crab, I had about one half a pound
1/2 c butter, I might have used a bit more
1/2 c celery, I used celery seed
1/2 c onion, I used 2 small
green onion, I forgot to write down how much,
so I used all I had 3, 4, 5, 6 can't remember now
1/4 c green pepper, I didn't have any so to hell with it
2 cans potato soup, I didn't have any canned potato soup
Do they make such a thing?
I didn't have any potatoes either,
but remembered I had some instant mashed potatoes
again I figured what the hell
1 can creamed corn, I used 1 can whole kernel
sort of mashed up a bit
1/2 teasp garlic, 4 or 5 cloves ought to work
2 bay leaves, I used 2 bay leaves
1 teasp thyme, I used 1 teasp thyme
plus a little corriander just because I like corriander
Hot sauce, a few drops.
I have NEVER used less than ten drops of tobasco in my life
salt and white pepper to taste
I don't salt and I figured I had the pepper covered
1 1/2 c half and half, I used milk with a little extra butter
1 1/2 c water, I used water
and a little chicken broth for richness

Serve with fresh chopped parsley and lemon wedges. I put the dried parsley in the bisque and didn't have any lemons.

I don't know how it turned out delicious, but it did.

Life isn't always a two ticket saga.