Cassie-b

A bit pricey for me

If you have an extra $3,500, you can have a non-allergenic cat as early as 2007.

I know the cost is a bit high, but they are already neutered or spayed. Now that's worth a hundred or so.

I have had several cats, and they have all been rescued or adopted.
Allergies are just too expensive for me.
I'll just sneeze, thank you.

Posted by cassie-b at 08:45 AM | Comments (10)

Another Summer favorite

Each year when Don mows the lawn, he leaves an oval around our two bird feeders. The birds drop seeds, and plant a beautiful sunflower garden, which attracts lots of yellow goldfinches.

I didn't get a picture this year because we were on vacation. But it is just beautiful. I've posted a picture of last year's sunflower garden in the extended entry of this post.

Oh, and the cat in the foreground is Mister, our stray outdoor cat.

Posted by cassie-b at 08:12 AM | Comments (12)

Ready to leave the nest

One of my favorite backyard sights.

Posted by cassie-b at 06:29 AM | Comments (8)

Telephone booths

With the lack of public telephone booths, a problem seems to have surfaced.

Don asked me the other day- where does Superman change into his super hero outfit? There just aren’t many telephone booths left.

Maybe modern technology or something just
allows him be changed automatically.

Company Dinner

We’re having company for dinner tomorrow evening. And this pork chop recipe is what we'll be serving. This is the same dinner he made a couple of years ago for a New Year’s eve dinner with 11 guests.

Don created the stuffing variation and grilling method. And is it good.

Don’s Stuffed Pork Chops

1 box stove*top pork flavored stuffing, or your own stuffing
2/3 cup maple syrup (real maple syrup)
½ cup mushrooms, finely chopped
¼ cup raisins, finely chopped
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
4 or 5 1 inch thick boneless pork chops, well trimmed

Prepare stuffing. Add maple syrup, raisins and walnuts to the prepared stuffing.

Cut a deep pocket in each chop, and stuff with prepared stuffing. Don stuffed them very full.

Don then microwaves the chops about 4 minutes each to start the cooking process.

Grill: Prepare grill by coating with olive oil. Grill about 6 minutes on each side, baste with mixture of maple syrup and olive oil.

Lots of storage space

I went out and bought an external hard drive this past weekend.

I have so many pictures and graphics and would be very unhappy to lose them when my aging computer crashes.

It stores 250 Gig, and cost about $100.00.

After I moved all my “valuable” files, I still have unbelievable amounts of storage.

It makes me feel much safer with all my personally "valuable" files.

Good Food - and so easy

This weekend I bought enough scallops for a stir fry (with a few shrimp added in) and had a bit left over.

This is the recipe that I found and made (only a ½ serving, but there’s only two of us). It was unbelievably delicious. Of course, that's only if you like seafood.

Baked Scallops

1 pound Scallops
1 ounce Sherry, ( I used a little dry red wine, because I didn’t have any sherry) optional
6 talespoons melted butter
1/2 cup dry Bread Crumbs (I made bread crumbs from homemade bread)

Arrange scallops in shallow buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle with sherry. Pour half the butter over scallops. Cover with bread crumbs. Pour rest of butter over bread crumbs. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Serve hot!

The stir fry was delicious too.

Interesting question

How do you know if Grapenuts are stale?

I have spent quite a bit of time pondering this week on this question I read at Busy Mom’s blogsite and still don’t have a real answer.

I suppose you can tell that Grapenuts are stale if they’re not crunchy.

As I was trying to discover the answer to this most interesting question, I came across this recipe for “Make your own Grapenuts.” Seems like a lot of work to me. If anyone is interested, I’ve posted it in the extended entry.

And another question, How can Grape-Nuts cereal contain no grapes or nuts?

I think you can find almost anything on the internet, but I still don’t know the answer to this puzzling question.

Maybe I should consider taking up a hobby.

It's fast, easy to make and so quick to disappear. Great with milk or yogurt and fresh or frozen fruits.

Honey Maple Nuts

• 3 c. wheat flour
• 1/2 c. dry milk powder
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 t. maple flavoring
• 1/4 c. melted honey
• 6 T. water

Mix dry ingredients. Using electric mixer or rotary egg beater, add maple flavoring, honey and only enough water to moisten. Mixture should be very fine, just like commercial Grape Nuts (NOT doughy). Spread on 2 or 3 baking sheets and bake at 325° for 10 minutes. Stir to break up granules and bake 5-10 minutes longer, until golden brown. Cool and store in air-tight container.

Watch out for low flying birds.

I was leaving work today, and had almost left the business campus, when I had to put on my brakes and wait for a very low flying bird (looked a lot like this one) to get across the road.

What a strange sight here in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
We don't have an abundance of egrets in my neighborhood.
I'm glad I have good brakes!

Happy Birthday Empress!

HAVE A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMPRESS!

How lucky it is to have such a wonderful friend who also happens to be a wonderful relative.

Have a happy birthday Empress, and a happy year.
Maybe you'd like to stop over and wish her a happy birthday.

Posted by cassie-b at 08:47 AM | Comments (7)