Help me......

I have reached the top 5, and asking you to vote for me for the Group Finalist, which ends Thursday, January 4th at 7pm PST.  Click here to go to the link to vote!

So lets say I make it to the finals.  I will have to bake something for judging.  I have some really amazing recipes of desserts I've made in the past.  Why don't you vote for one of them?  

 

Blueberry Lemon Meringue Pie...

Outrageous Coconut-Cream Meringue Cake

This is a terrible photo, I guess I didn't take one of my own.  Lemon Lavender Sandwich Cookies, which were so popular, I had a handful of people who wanted these every year at Christmas.  Don't be turned off by the lavender, it's very subtle and only in the sugar that you roll them in before baking.

 And of course!  Sourdough.  I like them all, but the lemon-blueberry is really dreamy.  

So, please comment and let me know what you think!

Love, 365

Not quite done with Christmas......

 

Christmas is not done yet.....Orthodox Christians have 12 days of Christmas that will be over on January 6th.  When I have a tree ~ which we didn't put up this year because of Zoē ~ I don't take it down until 1/6.  Next year we'll have a tree, with hopes that both dogs will, for the most part, leave it alone.  Haha

I found a copycat recipe for the Honey Baked Ham, which have become seriously expensive!  The last time I bought one it was around $60, now it's around $80+.  Nope.  But it turned out pretty darn good, and it was not that hard to do.  Just google it if you are interested in trying it.

The doggies had a little taste, which was a mistake, because they begged until we put it away.  We also have lots of left overs.  For some reason, I don't mind left over ham, but I really can't eat turkey after 2 dinners.  Ugh.

Zoē has decided that snoozing right below my chair in the breakfast area.  There's a sunbeam with her name on it, apparently.  She is doing well, doing better in house training, but still having "accidents".  Only really they aren't accidents so much as "I have to pee and this looks like a fabulous spot!".  We have a whole basket of supplies to clean up with.  All she does with the pee pads is rip them up, but they make great cleanup supplies because they're so absorbent.  So, they won't go to waste.  

Not much else going on around here, thankfully!  May you all have a wonderful New Years, and of course we hope 2024 will bring prosperity, health & happiness, and an end to the wars going on in the world.

Love, 365

 

World's Greatest Baker competition....

 

I subscribe to Bake From Scratch...it's a really fun magazine if you enjoy baking bread and desserts.  One day I received an invitation to fill out an application for The Greatest Baker competition.  For some crazy reason I filled it out, thinking "no way".  But it doesn't hurt to try, right?  Right. 

To my surprise they accepted my application.  And then the voting began ~ winners are 90% chosen by your friends, family....basically anyone you can convince to vote for you.  I have made it through to the top 10...that was today....and now the voting starts for the top 5.  I really doubt I will win this thing, but so far so good.  If you feel so inclined to vote for me go here....

Now for some cute photos of Zoē:

One of her favorite sleeping positions.  I call this one little-slut-bunny  :-)

 

Sunbeams make a wonderful snoozing place...

Zoē and Demitri do like napping together.  They keep each other company, but not in the morning.  Demitri is very grumpy in the morning, and is prone to snapping and growling.  Once he's up and around, he is ok for the rest of the day.  😀

I have been baking for the last week, and I'm glad I'm done with it.  Cookies, breads.....it's been quite exhausting!  Other than my Grandkids, everyone else is getting stuff I've baked.  My sourdough starter really liked all the attention, haha.

Enjoy your holiday!  I'm still cooking but it will be easy ~ ham, salad, etc.  I can't wait!

Love, 365

Heaven and hell........

 

 

 

Youngest grandson
 

Son #1

My beautiful daughter-in-law
 

 We drove to Texas and enjoyed Thanksgiving with the family, and it was great!  What was not great?  Well, they adopted a dog 4 days before we came, and surprisingly Demitri hated that dog.  The kids we always loud.  Especially the 4 year old and 7 year old.  Holy cow, I was wishing for ear plugs. Does that make me sound like an old codger?  I suppose it does, and I suppose I am!  Haha

We had a nice hotel, Tru by Hilton.  They don't put storage in these new hotels though.  They supposedly had storage under the bed, but we couldn't get it to open.  So all our crap was stacked around the room like some kind of Jackson Pollock painting.  It was cold too, windy and with some sprinkles on Thanksgiving.  The next day was pretty nice, so we went for a hike with the younger son...

 

                                                                          Son #2

 

All of this part was Heaven, to be with family during my favorite holiday!  

Unfortunately, there is the hell part.  We had a long travel day to Joplin on Sunday, and we were really worried that going through Dallas would be awful, but it wasn't too bad at all.  I hate driving through Dallas.....it's a lot easier with gps instead of a paper map though!  

I always thought Demitri enjoyed car rides, but the longer rides made him so anxious.  He panted and whined and couldn't figure out that if he would just sleep it would be better.  He wandered and tried to jump in the front, but couldn't because he was leashed into the back seat.  Thankfully!  It drove me nuts.

The next day we drove for 12 hours.  Oh, wait I drove 12 hours.  Romeo prefers I drive because sometimes I will get car sick.  But I can't do 12 hours like I did 5 years ago.  My entire body ached.  My back, my neck, even my hands from gripping the steering wheel.  I sort of screwed up that leg of the trip.  

Making matters worse, Demitri had become a bit constipated ~ gee so it's not just people, lol ~ and he took a crap on the dog bed we had in the back seat (and smeared it around a bit, like frosting).  That got tossed.  I cleaned up as well as I could with baby wipes, and we went on.  The next day was the beginning of the 12 hour drive, and I insisted we put Demitri in the crate, which was much better.  We picked up Zòi and began the long 10 hour drive to Amarillo.  Poor things, I think she was a little car sick and threw up two or three times.  

So, the scent of dog poop, the scent of dog vomit, and everything else.  Ugh.  

We did get home from Amarillo about 10:30 am, and Romeo did unpack and washed his clothes.  I just took care of the dog and took some ibuprophen and hoped my back would feel better soon.  I slept like the dead.  But my back is still a little sore.  And I have  UTI on top of everything else.  

It was great to pick up the puppy though!  Of course, like all puppies, she is so cute.  

Well, I better go see what she"s doing now!

Love, 365

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!.....

Bad time to be a tasty bird, indeed  :-)

I am posting this a little early, as we will be having Thanksgiving with quite a bit of family...we are excited to all be together.  It has been many years since we've all gathered for this ~ my favorite holiday, mostly because it's about eating together and games played.  Dominoes and cards and yahtzee and scrabble.  The football game will be going on for those that don't like games, and Demitri will be in heaven with all the scents and treats.

Of course, lots to do in preparation.  Luckily I only need to do bread, and the rest have divided up the bird and the sides.  

This is the time of year I really miss my Mom, she loved Thanksgiving...although she would have probably enjoyed more help in the kitchen, haha.

Our Priest's wife came over this morning for a lesson in sourdough baking.  She is a really wonderful person.  A wee bit frazzled over having to manage 5 kids in the morning though ~ and no wonder.  The youngest are twin girls, and I think that's where most of the drama comes from :-)  We went through all the steps of making the dough, and since I had dough in the fridge ready to bake, she took home a loaf of still very warm sourdough.  Luckily, we had great oven spring and esthetics (which I was quick to point out is not the end all and be all, since in the end will be eaten anyway, haha).  It was fun.  

We've had lovely weather, in the 60s and sunny.  Although I would like something more around the low 70s, it's still nice outside.  I wish I still had my garden going, but my herbs are still going ok except for the basil.  Basil just doesn't like cooler weather.

I have been experimenting with water bath canning which I find pleasurable.   So far I've made the basil jelly, spiced jelly (with strawberries and cranberries), the prickly pear jelly and the newest was roasted pear-garlic preserves.  It can be an addicting hobby.  But I'm no end of the world prepper.  If the world comes apart (which it seems to be on it's way) I'll just quietly die with most everyone else.  People are mean.  If they know you have a huge stash of something, I have no doubt they would happily kill to have it.  I know The Walking Dead was just a tv series, but I think humans would act very much like they did on that show.  

 

Roasted pear-garlic preserves...

Spiced Christmas jelly.......

Basil jelly, which is what started it all.  I had a huge amount of basil and I didn't want to make a lot of pesto, so I made the jelly too.

It's time to do some laundry, I still have a lot to do!  I hope you find plenty of things to feel thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Love, 365

Why can't we talk to people anymore?....

 

3 years ago, we switched from Verizon to Xfinity for our cell service.  It was so great, we were paying about $25-30 a month.  My last bill was $86 ~ they recently changed the way the service works.  In the meantime, Verizon offers an unlimited plan for $25 per month.  So, I still need to figure out if I want to switch, which is such a pain.  

I called Xfinity, and the automated service sent me a link to the chat.  Normally I don't mind the chat, but with them the wait is long, and sometimes ~ as with this particular time ~ the first person I was chatting with dropped and I had to wait again for someone else to pick up the ball.  I even posted "can't I just talk to someone?" and that was ignored.  We could have actually spoken to each other and resolved this issue in minutes.  Instead I had to put up with texting each other.  

Remember when you could actually speak to someone?  I guess that's no longer an option.  AI is going to take over all this soon.  I might enjoy that better than being ignored.

After we go to Texas to have Thanksgiving with our boys and grandkids (yay!) we're going to the same breeder we got Demitri from to pick up this cute little girl.  We're naming her Zói (pronounced Zoey).  I never thought Romeo would agree to another dog, but he's as excited as I am.  At least I have a clear picture of puppy hood, because I recall every minute of last year!  I know it's crazy.  But I can't wait.  Demitri will enjoy having a buddy, although he might be a bit confused at first.  We've almost always had two dogs, but with Sioux's heath issues, it just wasn't a good time.  

So get ready for more puppy antics and adorable puppy pictures.

Love, 365

Flavors of fall and other useless endeavors......

 

Before I get into the flavors thing, look at the flowers I scored at the grocery store.  Marked down from 9.99 to 2 bucks.  I bought two and put this together ~ there was only one stem of flowers that I had to throw out.  I have this huge square vase with a wide mouth that I figured I'd never use, but it's great for two bouquets.

I baked some whole wheat bread with sunflowers seeds in the dough and on the top, but those top seeds go flying off when you slice it.  Otherwise it was really good!

I broke the branch when I was installing some supports for the pepper plants, so this teeny bell pepper ended up in our salad.  It was really cute, and perfectly formed.  Unfortunately I have tons of peppers (I didn't realize they are a fall crop, I thought it would be more continuous like tomatoes) and we are due to have a freeze on Sunday night.  So, I guess I'll be inundated with green tomatoes and bell peppers.  

I'm going to miss my garden.  I enjoyed checking on it every morning with my coffee, eating the garden tomatoes, and the delicious stuffed peppers we've had.  One was with beef, the other was vegan with barley and tomatoes.  

While enjoying my pedicure (thank you Devini, the best pedicurist I've ever had!) she was telling me she made her own pumpkin butter in the crock pot, so I tried that yesterday.  It was good, but the next time I'll cut back on the sugar.  It was too sweet for my taste.  Romeo loves it though, he has quite the sweet tooth.

Well, I need to get back to a project I started 4 days ago.  Enjoy your weekend!

Love, 365

Where does the time go?????

 

I traveled to Texas to attend my 50th reunion ~ John Marshall High School ~ Go Rams!  Ha ha  It was fun, but no more of those.  Just look at all that grey hair (me included)!  And I just don't see any reason to go again.  It was great to visit my sister and brother-in-law though.  We did a little hiking... 

We went to (dis)Enchanted Rock and hiked the huge granite dome....Romeo is the one who named it disenchanted, haha.  Oh it was hot.  Mid 90s.  No breeze.  And of course no trees for a brief respite from the heat.  

We also planned to hike at Lost Maples, but it was raining too hard to go.  That didn't stop us from taking a photo by the entrance, haha

We took a different way back, and encountered Stonehenge!

Yes, there is a miniature Stonehenge in Ingram, Texas.  They were setting up to have some kind of party during the eclipse.  That would have been fun!

But wait!  There's more.....

Yes, they also had Easter Island Heads.  Weird, right?  Texas ~ it's a whole 'nother country.

Mr Head had a runny nose, so I asked my sis to help him out.... 😀

I had a good time, but as always it's great to be home.  My garden had really grown in a week.  

On a whim I picked 10 pounds of prickly pear fruit and made jelly..

I never made jelly before, and it turned out really good.   So I went and picked some more for the next batch, which is de-prickled and peeled, hanging out in the freezer.  

The Greek Festival/Balloon Fiesta is done too, so life is slowing down to a more normal pace.

Also had laundry and unpacking, and working 3 days at the Festival.  So, I guess I answered my own question, time flies when you're having fun!

Love, 365

I am tired.......

 

See all that tsoureki?  We made the dough, waited awhile for it to rise, braided it, egg washed it, put sesame seeds on it, baked them, put them on racks to cool, then put them all in bags and stuffed them in the freezer.  Sounds easy, doesn't it?  

I arrived at the hall at 7:10am so that I could get things ready, like make coffee, pull out the large bowls we use for the dough, make sure we had all the spices out.  

The head baker had a baby shower for her daughter, so she couldn't come.  She would not loan me her keys to all the various closets for supplies.  Of course we forgot a few things......scales to measure out the portions of dough, fans (for cooling the bread, unless you want to wait another hour, lol), twist ties for the bags.  In the meantime, two of the ovens weren't working.  I forgot to get salad to go with the lunch one of our bakers made.  

Worst of all, the racks, which are pictured above, were stacked to the gills with cookies and other stuff.  We had to pull out the carts out, remove all the crap from the two racks and roll them out into the hall ~ made worse knowing that at the end of the day we would have to roll them back in and put all the crap back on. 

In the meantime, I washed a million dishes, swept out the closet, washed a few more dishes, tried to start the other ovens ~ that we don't use unless the "good" ones aren't working.  I know there's a lot of other things I did, and when I left a 4pm I was totally exhausted.  The worst part is that we are going to do this all over again this Saturday.  I am not looking forward to it.  

I will be glad when the baking is over.  I am really sick of doing it two afternoons a week.  And here I was so happy that I could help out after I retired.  Stupid.

In other news, I finally rented the car for when I go to the reunion, and visit with my sis.  It will be so good to go out of town.  I need a little break!!  Even if it's still hot, I will be happy to see family and hang out.  

Love, 365

The best of intentions.....

 

I made a pact with myself to write more often, but ahhhh.  I just didn't.  I don't spend much time in my office anymore.  It's unorganized, and I just can't find the umph to go do it.  I'll go in and straighten 4 or 5 things (often paperwork) and then give up.  

Today I need to bake a pie for the potluck we're having tomorrow (at church).  I've finally found a pie crust recipe that is mostly easy.  I've always been a big fan of Pillsbury crusts, since all you have to do is drop it in and go.  

If there's one thing I've noticed about myself, it's my propensity for making things complicated or difficult.  It's a gift 😉

My tomato plants look awful, but I'm waiting for a lot of tomatoes to ripen.  We had a deluge last week ~ soaked my brand new patio furniture cushions, which took 3 days to dry out.  And that's here in the land of no humidity and a lot of sunshine!  It was great to get the rain, but that was enough for 3 or 4 days worth.  It's the wind during and after the rain that did a number on my tomatoes.  One branch broke off with three ripening tomatoes on it, so I'm considering making fried green tomatoes.  And I've come to the conclusion that unless you have a 6 foot tall tomato cage, there's no point in getting a indeterminate plant.  It's a good 1 1/2 foot taller than the cage, so the wind did a number on that plant too.  Live and learn I guess!  Of course, I go out and pick off the tomato horn worms and throw them out onto the busy road we have behind us, hoping they'll be pancakes before they make an escape.

Even with all this fussing, I am enjoying having a garden again.  

My friend that I spoke about having the spinal stroke has returned to church ~ I was so surprised to see him, and happy too.  I have heard that he will chant on Sunday, probably to help the choir to get through Sunday without our main chanter.  They took out the regular pew and replaced it with a much smaller one so that we can accomodate people in wheelchairs ~ which I thought was about time.  

Well, better get started on that pie, so that if I screw it up I can make another one.😙

Enjoy your weekend, and I hope your weather is good!

Love, 365

It's a beautiful morning....

 

I'm not sure where this is, I only know it's in New Mexico.  Probably near the 4 corners area (NM, AZ, UT, CO).  When I see a stunning photo I add it to my photos, just to share.  Sadly I didn't write down the name of the person who took it ~ but enjoy!

Out of bed this morning at 5:30 am to bake the two loaves I fashioned yesterday.  And I do know which is the band aide loaf 😇

Romeo and Demitri (who had a quick trip outside) are still sleeping.  I am listening to the tick tick tick of the oven.  1:42 minutes left until I can remove the lids from the dutch ovens to see how the bread looks.  Will it rise spectacularly?  Or not?  It's always like Christmas when you remove the lid.....and here we go.

Both look great, but the "A" loaf looks wonderful.  That's good for giving away.  And the smell of sourdough bread baking ~ even despite the heat the oven puts off ~ is worth it.  At least I won't have to subsist on pita bread (Greek pita, which is a flatbread).  My baking friend gave away bags and bags of frozen Greek pita to make room for the baklava, so I still have two in the garage freezer.

We will have to consume the sourdough quickly ~ it's been so warm that mold grows on it after a week.  I may slice and freeze some if we don't gobble it down.  

I have enjoyed my garden this year, lots of summer tomatoes ripening.  I have plenty of basil to go along with it and smoked balsamic.  If you've never tried smoked balsamic, do.  It is wonderful over salads, and over tomatoes with basil and feta, it's just divine.  Hey, Peg, the balsamic is gluten free!

This is Camel Rock, just outside of Santa Fe.  Sadly it is eroding away, and in another 10 years (maybe less, maybe more!) it won't look like a camel anymore.  

Enjoy your Saturday!

Love, 365
 

Not certain where to begin............

 

Demitri does not like the heat.  After a morning walk he craps out for a few hours.  Haha, no intended pun to the next part of the story.

How did my colonoscopy go, you might ask.  Well.  It was all the fun you might guess it to be during the prep.  I followed all the instructions.  Thankful that I had thought ahead to buy depends so I didn't have to do a lot of laundry.  On Tuesday I had a rotten headache.  No ibuprofen allowed, so I just tried to take a nap to remedy it.  On the morning of the procedure I got up at 5 am to begin drinking the rest of the prep.  Making it beforehand and putting it in the fridge was a great suggestion ~ it really wasn't bad tasting.  Right around 9am I started getting a headache again.  Only this one was taking a bad turn, and by 9:30 I knew I was getting a migraine.  At 10:30 I was in so much pain, I took the ibuprofen anyway.  Called the Dr's office and told them what was going on.  They were ok with me coming in even though I took the pain meds, but I told the nurse that called that I am not getting into a car and being driven to an appointment, when all I want to do is lay down in a dark room and try to sleep it off.  

So I went through all that for nothing.  I was upset and crying on the phone ~ the thought of having to go through all this again was awful .  If (and I do mean if) I reschedule, it's not going to be for awhile.

Now, let me gross  you out.  Nah, I know you want to read it, haha

It's been a month since I've made bread, so yesterday and this morning I put the dough together for two loaves.  One sourdough recipe has an overnight proof (meaning you're waiting for the yeast do it's thing) and the other one you do what they call coil folds to develop the dough ~ which involves wetting your hands and lifting the dough in the center and let it fold over on itself.  You do this every 30 minutes for 4 or 5 times, or more until the dough is ready for the next step.  

Yesterday Demitri and I were playing ~ he likes me to throw his toys so he can bring it back, wrestle with it a bit and throw again.  He jumped to get the toy and my finger ended up being cut from those sharp teeth, so I put a band aide on it.  

You guessed, didn't you?  I was doing the coil fold, probably the 3rd time, and when I washed my hands I realized the dratted thing wasn't there anymore.  Aaaaaah!  It was not in the sink ~ it was in the dough.  It took me a few minutes to find it.  How very disgusting.  Guess we'll keep that loaf :-) and give away the other.  It's true what they say, you learn something new every day.  Not all of those things elicit the "cool!" response. 

Have an enjoyable weekend!

Love, 365

Per Peggy: My Big Fat Greek Fight Over Butter.......the aftermath...

 Neither of the ladies in question came today.  Big sigh of relief for us all, haha.  I did hear a story that #1 grabbed #2's arms and left welts.  Personally I think that's a bunch of crap.  Ugh.  

So true!

********************************************************

About a month ago, I received both a jury summons and my colonoscopy prep kit on the same day in the mail.  Seems entirely appropriate and so funny.  

I haven't had a colonoscopy in 14 years or so.  My doctor insisted.  I still don't wanna.  Everyone says the prep is the worst part.  Which would be true except I always get sick after anesthesia.  Last time I had one, I felt nauseated as usual, so I had Romeo go get the car while I went to the restroom to throw up.  As it turned out, dry heaving while bent over releases all the gas they pump into you, so I had the longest fart ever.....it just went on and on, and I stated laughing, which released even more.  Tears, y'all, I was laughing so hard, tears squirted out of my eyes.  Romeo thought I was upset until I told him what happened in that bathroom.  My only regret was there wasn't anyone else in there to share in the hilarity.  :-)

I hate jury duty too, but not quite as much as having a colonoscopy.  I've been on juries before ~ oh are they boring.  At least while in the room waiting to see if they call my name, I can read something.  

 

One of the dentists I used to work for got out of jury duty after they asked him what books he reads, and his reply: the bible.

Sadly this is too true.  

 

Love, 365