Early Thanksgiving Cooking and "Emmie" the food processor

I know, I'm a bit attached to my little "Emmie" food processor. Teresa and I both got one for Christmas many, many, many years ago. I mean, like 25 yrs ago and they're both still going strong. It's not a large or complicated machine - it's just right for most recipes.

I was getting ready to make the fresh cranberry/jello salad for tomorrow when I realized one of the parts to Emmie was missing. Teresa will know exactly what part I'm talking about. It's the post that actually holds the blade. It's small and I've caught myself several times over the years scooping it up with a bunch of potato peelings (or what ever scraps or "cooking trash" is in the sink). So, it's almost ended up in the trash a few times. Unfortunately, I think sometime recently, that's just what happened.


Fortunately, we had the solution! There is a component for "Emmie" that I don't use very much and could be sacrificed. Duane took it and used the bandsaw to remove the disc......


And this is what it looks like all trimmed....exactly like the part I threw away.


OK, on to the pie now that Emmie is functional. Remember Lindy gave me a bunch of pumpkin? I roasted it in the oven a few months ago. A good portion of it got frozen for just this occasion. I thawed it - but it was still in chunks. Emmie to the rescue.....a few minutes later and the chunks were a velvety smooth puree.


So silky and fresh tasting!! And sooooo much better than the canned pumpkin the recipes call out.


I used the Paula Dean Pumpkin Pie Recipe.....wow is all I can say. Cream cheese and butter as ingredients - very rich!



Viola! Finished pie - hope it's good! We're flying up to Asheville tomorrow morning for dinner at my brother's. Then it's down to Greenville for Duane's family get-together on Saturday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

NC State Jazz, Fall Performance

Miranda and I went to see the NC State Fall Jazz performance last night. She is still working on reports for her UNC jazz class. I, of course, just wanted to go see Robert. They did a really nice show.

Obligatory "mom" photo.



Short video of Robert doing a brief solo with a high-pitched mute.

Boy Scout Aviation Merit Badge Completion

A few weeks ago, I did the "book-work" part of the Aviation Merit Badge with our local troop. This Saturday was supposed to be a good weather-day, so I invited them to the house to do the final steps toward earning their merit badge. They had to "do a pre-flight inspection of a light airplane" and "take a flight, record your impressions". Check and Check - I can provide both of those!

Seven of the boys ended up being able to come. I'll help some of them individually that couldn't make it on Saturday.

I'd forgotten what 13-15 yr olds in "quantity" can be like! A little loud would be a good description! But in a nice, respectful, fun kind-of way, luckily!

Here they are getting their seatbelts and headsets on.




This is in-flight. Note that in this photo, they knew that I was going to snap the picture, so they had to be silly. Note the difference in the next photo.


I snapped this one without their knowing it - and they're all intently looking down at something on the ground!



Oh, to be that young again.....



More silly-ness. Good fun though - I think they all enjoyed it. And maybe it will inspire one of them some day to fly!

Repairperson

HA! Bet you weren't expecting a toilet photo, were you???

The potty in the ladies room at the airport had been leaking (fresh water, thank goodness!) So, rather than call the plumber, I decided that I could probably fix it myself. One trip to the hardware store for the repair kit and a little bit of contorted wrench work fixed it right up. Now were all high and dry in the restroom - but it's raining cats and dogs outside!

Swiss Chard recipe

My dear friend and neighbor Lindy gave me the last of their Swiss Chard about a week ago. She also gave me a wonderful recipe and the fresh dill also!

Swiss Chard w/ Chickpeas and Feta

1/4 c. olive oil
3 lbs. Swiss chard
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 c. chopped dill
2 garlic cloves, minced
19 oz. can chickpeas, drained
salt and pepper to taste
3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled


Wilt chard in large pot about 4 minutes. Drain, squeeze dry and chop.
Toss with other ingredients except cheese (I omitted most of the olive oil and it was great anyway!)
Spoon into greased baking dish. Sprinkle feta on top. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately.


Here's the chopped veggies. The chard is steaming in the pot....



Dump it all together, top with cheese, bake - and you have a really neat dish with an "interesting blend of flavors" as Lindy wrote in her cookbook!


I served with a nice veggie burger for a hearty meal.

Spider in my coffee

I know this is really strange...but I had to share. You've probably seen the sophomoric comedy where someone spouts milk thru their nose in surprise or laughter....well, I had just such a moment. It came when I spied this little critter in my morning coffee. He was a little wet when I rescued him from the cup!

Quick trip to Myrtle Beach

We were so lazy Saturday - so Sunday, we decided to hop in the airplane and make a quick little outing to Myrtle Beach. Takes about an hour to get there and the North Myrtle Beach Airport has rental cars "by the hour". A really sweet deal!

I needed new tennis shoes - I always get my shoes there, just an excuse to go, I believe.... So we headed to Broadway on the Beach. I was going to say "mall", but it's really more of an "entertainment area". They've added some new "stuff" since we were there last. A neat Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville. We didn't go in - last one we went to in Las Vegas was so noisy we literally couldn't talk to the person beside us. (This one did seem quieter though. Might do it some other time for fun if we had a group with us.)







They have an IMAX theater - I love the big screen and wonderful sound! We saw "Polar Express"....I needed that because I'm a bit of a Scrooge.

And a real Dork!!! (the glasses are for the 3-D effects, aren't they precious??)



Had a nice quiet ride home.




Pretty sunset!!!

NC State BB game

Had a great time at the RBC last night watching the Wolfpack play basketball...we had great seats thanks to our friends John and Candler Cox. They joined us for the first half, but had to cut out early.

Robert looked like he had a good time with the Pep Band - they're a lively crew compared to the marching band.


Our team, unfortunately, needs a little help. We did win the game, but I hope it wasn't our best effort.....if it was, we're in for a rough season!! Good luck, Wolfpack! Sidney Lowe looked sharp, though! Makes me remember the early 1980's when he was a player on the team instead of the coach!



Took Robert to dinner at Tripps on Wade Ave. for some more nostalgia....(It was T.K. Tripps back then - don't know where the "T.K." went), but not much had changed there. A good evening!

Rain, Boy Scout Aviation Merit Badge and NC State BBall

So, what do those items have in common? Not much, except it's the list of photos from yesterday!

Our drainage ditch is about to capacity from all the rain. That area is actually part of the lawn and not normally underwater! Windy, cold and rainy still.


Last night, I taught the Aviation Merit Badge to our local Troop 93 Boy Scouts. It's the first meeting I've been to since Robert made Eagle Scout. Lots of new faces - but some of the same leaders. A few of the Eagle Scouts from our "era" are now part of the leadership of the Troop. A nice time - the boys were well behaved and will earn their Aviation Merit Badge if they do a few more items - Like take a free flight with your's truly!


And last - our friend and Pecan Grove Marina owner John Cox gave us some great NC State Basketball tickets for tonight. They have season tickets and we're going to use them. Robert is going to play in the Pep Band - should be a great time!! GO WOLFPACK!!

Link to a sailing post

Nothing much going on but RAIN!!!

Here's a link to a video from our trip this weekend....(it may take a while to load if you're on dialup).

http://svglorydays.blogspot.com/2009/11/sailboat-racing-motor-yacht-near.html

Veggies - probably the last time this year :-(

Yesterday Lindy called and asked if I wanted some produce before Dick plowed his "summer" garden under.....of course I did!!

Aren't these lovely?


Fresh cilantro and dill - I froze the cilantro and I've got the dill wrapped up for a recipe Lindy gave me - I'll post about it when I make it.


These little babies are wonderful!! White radishes - sweet and not hot at all.


Beautiful! I'm going to have to chop some of these and freeze them for later (that's OK with me!!)



And some greens too - this is Swiss Chard that I'll be using in the recipe with dill....pretty nice pickin's!!

Just a long sailing day, beautiful fall weather

Threw off the docklines at about 8AM bound for Vandemere. Beautiful fall day - just a tad chilly.


Absolutely calm winds....the only ripple on the water was made by our engine.


Nice to have Pat on board....we kicked back and enjoyed the ride!


About 4 hrs later - we made it to Vandemere. It's just a little fishing village. Nothing much there - we had hoped a restaurant was open at a new marina/development - but it was not.


Headed back south towards Oriental. Almost lunchtime - I served some veggies and hummus while the chili was cooking below...Pat took this photo - notice his bare feet! It had turned very warm and the winds finally found us.


I don't know why I thought this was so cute, but it was a family out on a little boat fishing with this rainbow colored beach umbrella rigged for shade.


Pat, enjoying himself as usual.....


The chili turned out great - Pat didn't mind at all that it was made with T.V.P. instead of meat.

We decided to take a look at River Dunes from the boat. It's a new, fancy development with a very nice marina. We had driven there a couple of years ago, but had never seen it from the boat.

The afternoon winds had died down - I spied this pretty boat in front of us. Thought the reflection was a neat effect.


The channel into River Dunes is cool - trimmed in pretty architectural block and very protected from winds.


A nice marina - they also have a couple of restaurants - but were closed when we got there. We'll have to make a day trip some other time for a meal here.


Long day - approaching Oriental, the sun was low on the horizon.....


Going, going, gone!

On the boat

Having a nice time on the boat this weekend.... playing rummy! Off to Vandemere first thing in the morning....Why you ask? Because we haven't been there yet!

Garden Veggies

My sis isn't the only one who is "gifted" with end-of-the-garden veggies!!

Lot's of greens from Dick and Lindy... (various- arugula, spinach and ?? maybe some weeds too since I just took some scissors up to their garden and cut whatever looked good!)



And various peppers from Ben, one of my employees. I love peppers this time of year - seems like nature is pouring in lots of flavor in a last-ditch effort before frost.



Ground up some peppers, carrots, celery, onions and bean flour for some great "burgers" tonight. Served with brown mustard for a FF, gluten free vegan main course. (I know you're all saying "yum" at this point...lol.)

Quick Visit with Mom and Frank

Mom and Frank were supposed to spend the night with us last night before an appointment in Durham today....but sickly little Richard made them decide not to come to our house for a visit.

Good choice as Richard appears to have the flu (I think Miranda is on the mend now.. I hope the rest of us don't come down with it, but I know that is frequently the case.)

So, instead, they met me for a quick lunch and (hopefully) non-contagious visit at a restaurant near Burlington.


I took a back-road that I had never been on before to get there. The drive was very pretty. I stopped a couple of times on my way back to snap some photos.


Cute sign near a rural golf club.....wonder what a "golf" crossing the road looks like.....


And lot's of pretty bucolic scenes...

Fall Photos

OK, so not much is going on around the house.

Here are a few shots of some pretty trees and the terrific rose bush at Siler City. I don't touch it - it blooms like this almost year round.

More Tie Dye.....

I know, you've got to think I'm a real dork. I know my kids do....

We've got our next out-of-the-country sailing trip coming up soon. OK, it's in 6 months, but I'm excited about it....the 4 couples (Sharon & Buddy, Pat & Diane, Dick & Lindy plus Duane & I) are going to the Leeward Islands in May 2010.

Since I did the tie dye shirts for our 2008 BVI Sailing Trip... I thought it would be cool to do it again this year. Here's the link to that tie dye experience, if you're interested Screen Print and Tie Dye T Shirts

This time, I decided that I could skip the screen print step. Diane found a good catamaran boat drawing - I cleaned it up and added the wording - uploaded it to a tee-shirt company - and viola' - we had custom tee shirts. If you ever need to do something similar - I've got to recommend Queensboro Shirt Company They will print your custom designed screen print for less than $10 per shirt - and you only have to order 4 shirts - not hundreds like some printers.

OK, enough of that.


We named the trip the Leeward Islands because we will be sailing to several of the Leeward Islands - hopefully St. Martin, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis, and St. Barts. Winds and weather will dictate where we get to go....but that's 6 months away - we're concerned now with shirts!


Here's what the shirt looks like straight out of the box. Nice quality.





The process requires soaking the shirts in soda ash to make the dye adhere to the fabric. Soda ash is just "PH-UP" for pools. So, the shirts went in the cooler for the 1/2 hour soak.


All the fixin's - dye, squirt bottles, salt, warm water, shelves from my oven over the trash cans...



Sorry, Sharon - I was antsy to get these done, so we did yours for you. Hope you like them!!

Diane hard at work -


Ditto for Lindy - looks like hard labor, doesn't it?



Yep, we're all sweating this one.




The hardest part was waiting till the next day to "unveil" the artwork...



Rinse, rinse, rinse....



Rinsed again in the washer and all dry now.



Here's a close-up of Sharon's shirt.



The next day, here's Dick with a shirt when he and Lindy came to pick us up for the ham-biscuit adventure.

I'm looking forward to wearing these in the Tropics!!!

NC State Fair and Ham Biscuits!!

Dick and Lindy "invited" us to go to the NC State Fair on Sunday....you'll see the reason for the quotes in a minute....

Beautiful fall day for the fair. It's been years since I'd been. Free tickets and close-in parking passes made it nice....


Busy day on the midway - all the usual rides and games.



Ah-ha - here is the destination.....the Pittsboro Kiwanis Club Ham Biscuit booth! Our home for the evening.....we'd been "invited" to volunteer for 8 hours of non-stop Ham Biscuit selling! All for the good cause, of course.



Duane was assigned the chief-cook position....I, of course, knew he would be great at this...


The position also included lots of cleaning duties. I'm looking forward to some help in the kitchen now that he's experienced in removing baked-on crud!!


I was the lowly sales-girl. Non-stop! I've never seen so much money change hands so quickly. The captive, hungry fair-goers are the perfect customer set. Great for the Kiwanis. This is their major funds-raiser.


Somehow didn't get a shot of my partner at the window, Lindy - but we all worked like a well-oiled machine!

Here's Dick - our ringleader and expert biscuit assembler.


Really, it was a fun time. Not something you'd want to do every day, but a good way to spend a pretty fall evening.

Sales were declining around 10PM when the fireworks finale brought us all out of the booth for a quick peek. Then a bit of clean-up and an late (early morning, actually) drive back to P-town!

Wedding Dress

Gottcha! No, not for one of the kids....

When I was looking for the previous "Chevette" picture in my old album, I ran across this photo of me that Mom took outside of my dorm room in 1982 probably a few months before our wedding.

And, in keeping with the strict diet I've been on for-ever....I thought I might be able to squeeze in....so decided to pull the dress out of the closet and see if it fit me now (it's been literally years since I've had it out).




Yep - although I must say it's snug! Teenage bodies are thinner (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) Fun to do once in a while.

And I think I look happier now! (Or maybe I was just trying to be the "demure" bride...hahaha - like I was EVER that!!)

Chevettes

Now, a few young people who read this blog (Miranda, maybe Richard or Robert, Bridget- do you drop in?????) probably haven't even heard of a Chevette........


I spied a Chevy Chevette on the road today!!! It's been a looong time since I've seen one.

A few Chevette facts:

The Chevette replaced the Vega as Chevy's subcompact in 1974

The Chevette was the last rear-wheel drive subcompact for the U.S.

In 1987, Chevette's final year, a version was offered at US $4,995

Now here's a factiod - The Chevette was the best-selling small car in America for the 1979 and 1980 model years.



There were a couple of Chevy Sub-compact's in my family history - let's see....

We had a Beige Vega when I was a freshman in high school - I don't think that was our actual "family car" at that point - but I know Teresa drove me to school in it some....

Then we got a white Vega with "orange" stripes....I think that was the one Daddy converted from a manual to a stick-shift, or was it the other way around....my memory is vague. I'm sure Mom or Teresa can help out here.

Then Sharon got a Blue Chevette - and took it to NC State. I recall a couple of 'vapor 'lock issues. Back in the day of no-cell-phones, she had to be rescued a few times. Things were certainly different back then! (I don't have a photo - but that's why I perked up when I saw the one on my way home today - looks similar)

Then Teresa got a bright red one. She had it when she lived in Durham, she had it when she lived in Apex, she had it when she lived in Jacksonville, FL, she had it when she lived in Balsam Grove.....she had that little car for a LONG time!! I remember it being stuffed with books and papers....what was it's nickname!????


I couldn't resist - I remembered this photo from long, long ago. Camping at Jordan Lake when you could just pull off onto the old roads and camp. Circa 1983.

Sexy legs, Rafe!


Somewhere in there, Duane and I acquired a gold Chevette from an IBM friend when we lived at New Hill. The engine was blown and I think he just gave us the car and title. Duane got a used engine and got the car running.

That was just a project- I think we sold it - I don't remember even driving it much.

Funny how things like that just fade from memory....and it just dawned on me that my new little Saturn is sortof a "next generation Chevy Sub-compact"....so the trend continues!