Cassie-b

Lunchroom chatter

We got into an interesting discussion at work regarding the families of celebrities.

Here are some of the celebrity families we came up with.

Mariska Hargitay –
her mother is Jayne Mansfield

Jamie Lee Curtis –
her parents are Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis

Kate Hudson –
Her mother is Goldie Hawn

Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda –
Their father is Henry Fonda

John Ritter –
His father is Tex Ritter

Gwynneth Paltrow –
Her parents are Blythe Danner and Bruce Paltrow

Can you identify them in the picture?

There’s lots more.
Would anyone care to add to the list?

Vacation recipe

We went to dinner at this restaurant last week when we were in Duck, North Carolina, and were served this absolutely delicious appetizer dip. The recipe is listed on their website.

Asiago Artichoke Dip
• 2 cups canned artichoke hearts - canned not marinated
• 2 cups asiago cheese grated
• 1/2 cup fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup Mayo
Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients thoroughly in food processor. Place in clean towel and squeeze out excess liquid. Place in a greased porcelain dish. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until brown.

Top with tomato vinaigrette (recipe in extended entry) and serve with bread or crostinis.

Tip: For excellent crab dip top with lump crabmeat.

I'm planning to get the ingredients this weekend.
And I'll be putting some lump crab meat on the top as the chef suggested.

Tomato Vinaigrette

3 Vine ripened red tomato's - cored and diced
1/2 Sweet red pepper - diced
1/2 Vidalia or sweet onion - diced
1 Jalapeno pepper - seeded and diced
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Combine all ingredients together. Add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste.

Happy Birthdays

Today is my birthday. And I didn't remember this morning till Don wished me a Happy Birthday.

Our rescued cat, Smokey Joe doesn't know when his actual birthday is, so I decided to share mine with him.

We know he's about two years old, and everybody should have a birthday.

Happy Birthday Smokey, you handsome kitty.

family vacation

What a nice vacation.
The weather was hot, but there was an ocean, a pool, and a hot tub for cooling off.

We have lots of pictures, and I’ll post a couple here today. I have a recipe to post from the Red Sky Café and a couple of stories. But that’s all for later posts.

I’m back at work and swamped.
There isn’t a lot of free time in my agenda right now.
Have a great day!

Rarest coffee

We're just back from our vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We had a great time. More on that later.

In the meantime, I'd like to share a little information with you regarding the Rarest Coffee.

The Kopi Luwak Story
The Luwak (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) denizen of the coffee (kopi) plantations of Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi, eats only the ripest coffee cherries.

Unable to digest the coffee beans, the Luwak graciously deposits them on the jungle floor where they are eagerly collected by the locals.

The stomach acids and enzymatic action involved in this unique fermentation process produces the beans for the world’s rarest coffee beverage.

I think I'll just stick to the old favorites.
This rare coffee, no matter how tasty,
doesn't have much appeal to me.

Board Games

Remember those?

Sometimes you can even get the kids to play.

My favorite is Scrabble. And my least favorites are anything that have a lot to do with numbers.

When the tomb of the ancient Egyptian King Tut was discovered in the 1920s, among the artifacts found were a game board, dice and playing pieces. That means board games have been around for over 3000 years! Egyptians, Greeks and Romans have enjoyed playing games such as backgammon, checkers, dominos, and chess for thousands of years. Even before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, board games were being enjoyed all over the globe, by every culture except the Eskimos and the first Australian settlers.

Nice place for a business trip!

Maybe I should have gone with him.

I'm so glad he's back!

Don has been gone on a business trip for a week. And he’s back! And I’m just so happy to see him.

He bought a camera to take along, and I’m anxious to see his pictures – all 140 of them!

Have a great week, everyone.

New and Improved!

When something is "new and improved", which is it?

If it's new, then there has never been anything before it.

If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before it, so doesn't that mean it couldn't be new?

Now I'm really confused.

National Hot Dog Month

Since July is National Hot Dog Month, I thought I’d share with you a couple of facts that I just learned about hot dogs.

I recently bought this book, and it’s full of interesting facts about the foods we eat.

Frankfurter in 1937
Fat 19%
Protein – 20%
No technology to keep extra fat and extra water from separating from ground meat.

Frankfurter in 1990
Fat 28%
Protein 12%
(Technology was developed which keeps added fat and water from separating from ground meat.

And just a little fact from this same book about hamburgers:

Hamburger is the most popular meat purchased in the U.S. It contains more saturated fat per ounce than any other saleable meat.

Lucky me – I don’t like hot dogs or hamburgers.
I'll take a good piece of salmon cooked on the grill.

Happy Independence Day

Many countries celebrate an Independence Day

The United States celebrates their Independence Day on July 4th.

Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th , John Hancock and Charles Thomson.

Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

Wherever you are, Have a great day.

July - already

Happy July.

It promises to be a hot, humid summer here in my neighborhood.

I think a little extra celebrating is in order.

Of course, there's always the 4th of July, but here's a calendar to help you find another day or two to celebrate.

And don't forget to check out July 26!