Can You Do It?

Yes, you can!

I am loving my Avocado Chimichurri these days.

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10720

I am certain there is nothing that couldn't benefit from having this added to it.

Here I put it on top of a smear of roasted red pepper hummus

on a toasted baguette. 

Last Friday I had the bright idea to swap basil for the cilantro.

It was great!

I wound up with some left over and was wondering what 

to do with it when I caught this recipe from Giada.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/linguine-with-avocado-and-arugula-pesto-recipe/index.html

Pretty much everything that is in the chimichurri is in this

with the addition of arugula which I happened

to have some of getting ready to wilt away in the fridge.

So I asked myself, 

Can you do it?

YES!

You can.

Smiley does it again. 

I'm gonna have to start showing her more respect at some point.

Pork Wellington

Alton Brown style.

I love pork tenderloin and so I'm always interested in new preparations.

This one from Good Eats caught my eye.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pork-wellington-recipe/index.html

It's really quite easy. 

I thought his idea to have you cut the tenderloin in half

and then flip the two sides to create a uniform thickness was great.

He has you stuff it with dried apples, which I did, but next time

I'm going to use craisins and maybe make a cranberry sauce 

to drizzle over the slices. 

It was really quite simple and other than swapping out the fruit,

the only other change I may make would be to 

skip wrapping the tenderloin in prosciutto.

You really couldn't detect it in the final product. 

Yum!

Not quite sure what to title this one. 

It has to do with a trip to The Czech Republic, 

a lawn mower, a forsythia bush, 

flower beds, and giving birth. 

You name it. 

I mean it, you name it.

I haven't written for a while because I usually like a visual to 

go with my rantings, er, stories, 

but my camera is in The Czech Republic. 

I decided to mow the lawn so my sweet son would not 

have to come over and do it. 

 Although he told his father he would

take care of his mother while he was gone, I felt

I should man up and take care of the lawn. 

ROFLMAO!!!

I don't even want to get started on my lack of skill in working the 

self propel feature. Let's just say, the lawn mower 

dragged me across much of the yard.

And I had the bright idea to start on the front yard

so all of St. Charles could witness and enjoy 

my learning curve. 

OK, forsythia bush.

 It is, well, was, one crazy

out of control all over the place mess. 

The first year we lived here I came home one afternoon

to see my guys chopping the heck out of the poor thing.

Man did I give them what for and they have left it alone ever since. 

Um, it's kind of a real pain to mow around, under, near. 

Wish I had my camera. 

You would be impressed by the destruction I have wrecked. 

It's gonna be a breeze to mow past in the future. 

Flower beds, you know those neat amoeba shapes

that look so artsy in your yard?

Yea, well all things that are not at absolute 90 degree angles

are a PAIN to mow around. 

Know how we women like to say that if men 

had to give birth there would

be a zero population growth?

Well, 

if I had to mow there would be

squared off shrubs, 

squared off flower beds,

and perhaps, a condo in my very near future. 

Gotta Love Her

Big came to Margarita Thursday this past week. 

She's gonna come again. 

Shanna and Dirk took care of her bling. 

Lory and I are very happy to have a new playmate. 

Gotta love Big. 

KitchenAid Juicer

But I'm not done talking about this:

Where to start?

First, how cool is it to have a juicer that only takes up

this much space?

It's like the size of a cereal bowl. 

Second, I ordered it at 9 AM Thursday and 

it arrived at 1 PM Friday. 

In time for Margarita Friday. 

And I didn't even pay for expedited shipping. 

What if I had?

Would they have been ringing my bell 

before I even printed my confirmation?

Third, it works like a charm.

Some of the reviews complained that it was messy. 

Well, I found that the juice did splash a bit because the

actual juicer is so far from the bowl but a towel

spread out under the bowl solved that issue.

The other potential problem is in how you hold

the fruit against the juicing mechanism. 

Your inclination it to cup it in the palm of your hand. 

(bet Shanna is shivering)

This sends the juice down your arm. 

That is a mess. 

Holding the fruit in your fingers solves that issue.

And I believe that is all I have to say about that. 

Thank you. 

I Knew You When You Were A Zygote

How's that for a catchy title?

It's what I posted on her FB wall today.

It's her birthday. 

Her big sister was my best friend through all of Junior High

and High School.

My favorite story that involves Melanie is one that she was 

part of before she was even born. 

A group of us kids were at Marci's house (Mel's big sister) swimming.

For some reason little Jimmy Paul

 (don't ask how I can remember his name but not if I closed the garage door on my way out)

did not take kindly to my holding his head under water. 

I am fairly certain it was in retaliation for some equally awful thing he had done to me.

Seeing the look in his eyes when I finally let him up for air, 

I wisely scrambled to the side of the pool. 

Little Jimmy Paul, 

(my way of getting even with him, 

he will always be "Little Jimmy Paul") 

Grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on and chucked it at me.

It was a pair of the old fashioned dive goggles.

They used to be made of glass. 

Oh, yes they did!

And I know because they shattered all into my leg.

Yep, blood EVERYWHERE!

Faye came running out and we were pretty sure she 

was going to have that baby right there and then. 

She didn't. 

Just think Mel, you could have been a June baby!

But fast forward, hmm, 

"many" years.

Marci and I have reconnected through FB. 

(see earlier post on the marvels of FB)

And in so doing, Mel and I have connected. 

She's a total foodie!!!

I'm sure it was my early influence on her. 

In utero.

We met in Skokie a year or so ago for 

Pioneer Woman's book signing. 

And that's my Mel Story. 

I wonder what ever became of Little Jimmy Paul....

Margarita Friday

Unplugged

Unstoppable

 I'm not messing around anymore.