Wine glass rack

I've acquired too much stuff in my kitchen cabinets....my wine glasses have been sitting on the countertop of late....





So I decided to do something I've been meaning to do for a long time. First, I ordered an unfinished wine glass rack. I know, I could have made this myself...but I'm a little too lazy for that!!

I forgot to take a photo of it just out of the box, but you get the idea - the cabinets are cherry, so I needed to stain it first.




Mostly done - a little too dark, but better than to light, I believe.





After a little bit of re-engineering (it didn't fit up under the cabinet quite correctly), it's safely installed.



Very nice use of a previously unused corner of the counter! Cheers!

It's time to get busy with growing things again!! I re-seeded my little herb garden that Mom gave ma a couple of years ago.





Cilantro
Sweet Basil
Oregano
Italian Parsley
Chives

Speaking of chives - do you notice that there appears to be chives already growing? I had these pots out on the deck all winter. The old sprigs had died and just needed pulling out to make the pots ready to reseed. But the chives were still alive!! So strange, because we had some really cold weather this winter and I would have assumed everything would have died. Cool, though. (I didn't re-seed the chives - I'll see how they progress like they are!)

Signs of Spring!!

I had spied some daffodils that were "budding" over the past few sunny, warm days. I thought I'd snap a photo for my sis in still-frozen N.D.....


Imagine my surprise when I rounded a big tree in the yard and found these babies on the sunny side???? Hurray!!! (Of course they're calling for thunderstorms on Friday.....which.....according to folklore means SNOW within 10 days!!!) Well, the lovely daffy's will look even brighter with a background of the white stuff!

Meals on Wheels

I subscribe to the local "chatlist" - which is just an online community bulletin board. A few weeks ago, there was a request from the local Council on Aging for help delivering Meals on Wheels.

I called to inquire - found that it doesn't take very much time and is a real need in the community. So, I went to the training and now I'm a certified delivery person on Wednesdays - route 3 in Siler City!!

It's really a nice, relaxing way to spent just about 30 minutes!

I go to the Council office -



Sign in and pick up two bags that the kitchen has already prepared - the red one has the hot part of the meal and the blue one has the chilled part. (How original!)


I get my list (5 people so far) for the day and head out on my route.

I knock on the door and am greeted by a friendly senior citizen each time. We chat just a bit, making sure they are doing well, then it's off to the next delivery. A lot of good for just 30 minutes a week!

Oysters from Oriental!

You may remember a couple of little boys that I've photographed around the marina, usually fishing/playing. Their family runs a small fishing operation called Endurance Seafood - their fishing trawlers tie up on the dock adjoining our marina.


This weekend, we wandered over there to buy a fish to grill....but all they had was oysters. So, oysters we purchased!!

Decided to bring them home and share with the neighbors!

Big, lovely oysters!! (I know my sis will not enjoy this story!!!)


Added some seared tuna to the menu....



Steamed until they just opened up a tiny bit...


Ready!!


Ahhhh....lovely......



A great time was had by all, I believe.....



The rare photo of Karen!! Pat took my camera and snapped this one. Thanks!


This is all that remains!!!

Off to Oriental

Off to the boat for a little work weekend - note all the bags along side the airplane and on the wing.....it's never easy!!

Speaking of not easy....it was WINDY on the way down! Tossed about something fierce on the climbout. We were kindof dreading the descent, but it turned out to be fairly gentle when we got down to New Bern. Still, the winds were gusting to 20 knots (23 mph) - but Duane handled it with ease, as usual!



Blustery at the marina - no sailing, just chores today. More later!

Weird Food

Weird in a good way!

Diane had ordered some "Miracle Noodle" and gave me a package to try.

This stuff is really cool - ZERO calories (or that's what the pkg says!!).





Some of the reviews I'd seen complained vigorously about the "smell" upon opening the package. It's made from the fiber/root of an Asian plant - and I guess it does have a small amount of "fishy" smell. But very small. Get a life, it that bothers you, you're hard up for hard-ship!!


I made a nice sauce with peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, cayenne pepper. Tossed in chicken, onions and chicken. Pretty yummy and the noodles were very nice.



Amazing to be zero calories....and great if you need to be gluten free!

Short flight

Duane surprised me right at closing time with a short flight over to Siler City....so, I quickly locked the building and without even shutting down the airplane, I hopped in for a short little joy-ride. The sky was amazingly blue and the wind was calm.....perfect!! I spotted a balloon in the distance - and knew it must be Dick. Of course, we had to fly over and investigate. Cool!

Warning - High Calorie Dessert Called "Dirt"

My Friday night card game buddies are happy with the "Dirt" that I've been throwing together lately - thought I'd document it for your enjoyment. I've made several variations based on whatever I've had in the pantry....sometimes chocolate pudding, sometimes brownies instead of yellow cake....

Click on the photo to enlarge it for the general recipe.




Just layer the cake cubes, pudding, cool whip/cream cheese...



Sprinkle the "dirt" and repeat until the ingredients are gone!



Simple and yummy - and it freezes perfectly!! So you can keep a batch in the freezer to pull out when you need to take a dish and don't have the time.

Pat and Diane need a boat!!

Pat (uhh, Diane too, hopefully!) is eying a pretty sweet little boat partnership on a boat that is just across the marina at Pecan Grove.....so we had to use that as an excuse to fly down this morning to take a peek!!

First, I have to show you the 200+ mph (178knots=204mph) that we were flying on the way down to New Bern!! Alot of that is tailwind, but it's still neat to go that fast!



Unfortunately, I knew that we would pay on the way home (tailwind going = headwind coming home, usually!)....still faster than our old plane.....134knots = 154 mph....not too shabby!!



Beautiful blue skies - just a little bit windy...


Here's the boat - Line Dancer. A pretty nice boat - we know one of the owners, Jean Claude a very nice French sailor.



Extremely clean and amazingly spacious.



Yes, I think Pat looks good on Line Dancer! Diane will too!

Dusting of the white stuff

Woke up this morning to find a little dusting of snow on the ground. Nothing, really - it's already melting away.


This is the best kind of snow - pretty for a few minutes and the gone! The worst part is that they sprayed salt brine on the roads and now my car will be covered in all that rust-provoking slime.....

Super Bowl

Aren't ya gettin' tired of me putting up silly poker photos? I thought this one was particularly appropriate....we went to our buddie's gameroom for a friendly poker game during the Super Bowl last night. The game was playing on the wall behind me - some watched it occasionally - especially Don, here with his teams trademarks all over......sad it didn't work out for him!


You can see Duane in the background at another table....he eventually "tied" for the win in the tournament. (When it gets down to two or three folks, they're usually tired of playing and just agree to split the "chips").

NC State B-Ball.....ugh

Our friend (and owner of our marina) gave us his season tickets for the NC State vs. Virginia Tech basketball game last night. Thanks, again John- great seats and love that VIP parking pass to the RBC!


I tried my best to support the home team.....I'm lucky to have gotten out of the house this way. When I modeled this outfit for him, all Duane said was "Really???"



When we were scurrying to our seats, I almost bumped into a fellow (looked like he must be a current student) with an enormous red afro wig and NC State t-shirt. I looked at him and said "I thought "I" was bad" - to which he replied - "No, you're great!!" So, there, Duane. You don't know what you're talking about!!!!



Needless to say, if you know the score, things did not go our way.....but it's always a good time. (Just would be better if we won!!) Our view:


I'm adding this for my sis - in the next row down from our seats note how the lady is occupying her time! (Knitting, for those who don't see it). And her son appears to be sitting beside her deeply engrossed in a video game....it was halftime when I took this photo, so we'll forgive them!

Book Club

I keep forgetting when I take photos with my phone! These are from our book club meeting last week....

Always a wonderful time! Lovely ladies, great conversations, great desserts and great wine!


Luan had given us each a candle on our plate - in a beautiful holder that was a family treasure. A real candle holder for use on a Christmas tree. Wow, that sounds like a house-fire waiting to happen! Luckly, ours were attached to fire-free ceramics!



See the books on the table? We actually do read and discuss them! And we eat and drink wine too, of course!! A really great group!

Tofu and bean sprouts

I hadn't posted much about cooking lately....becuase I haven't been doing anything interesting....maybe this is not interesting, but it was good!!

Spiced and fried tofu!



Lunch yesterday at the airport - fresh lentil bean sprouts, steamed with soy sauce and topped with the fried tofu....and a nice cup of Earl Grey to warm the tummy!