Thrifty Treasure

This evening the hubby and I tried a new eatery in town.  It's not new to the area, it's actually been around for 36 years.  We had never been there. It looks like it will be a so-so place to eat on the outside and honestly inside, it was okay.  They had the place decorated in sort of Grecian decor. The menu has Greek food, burgers, salads, steaks, fish, etc.  Quite the spread! We started with dolmades. I had these for the very first time in Minnesota at my dear cousin Kyla's bachelorette party happenings. I really liked them and it has taken me almost 5 years to find some here! I have had some in other towns, but none within a few miles of our home. They were the best dolmades I have ever had! For dinner I had a spaghetti dish that was pretty good and J had a feta burger.  We finished with some amazing banana cream pie. The amazing part was the crust. I am usually not a crust person, but this was not too flaky, not too dense, just perfection.  After our dinner we went by the thrift store to find some goods for my 80's party.  We found an 80's Trivial Pursuit game and a crimper...well something that will work as a crimper anyway.  While these were some fun finds, the best find was a wall hanging.

Now imagine your all grown up. You move out of your parents house and you are in your shopping one day at a thrift store. You look up and see this wall hanging.  You take a second look and realize the image is an actual portrait! What if that was your portrait?  I am thankful the portrait was not of me, but I feel terrible for whomever decided it was okay to send a picture of their child to the thrift store! Sure, there are a dozen explanations, but still...I am ever amazed that someone has their picture hanging for sale in a thrift store.

It's HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!

Today I stalked my UPS tracking number online. That is until it said, "delivered".  I knew that sitting at home on my front porch was my new tool...the Bodybugg! I am now patiently...okay, maybe not so patiently, waiting for the battery to charge! The Bodybugg monitors your temperature, sweat, steps, etc. to calculate your calorie burn.  I am incredibly excited to use it!

I also got a package in the mail on Tuesday from my sister! My birthday gift came and I am so curious what it is, but have safely tucked it away for another week! I love getting mail and packages. My mom sent me a card this week too!

On Tuesday I got another sort of special delivery. My youngest sister's airplane was delayed at the nearby airport for a full day! I was able to meet up with her and go shopping for a couple hours. It was so very nice to see her.  I also talked to every single one of my immediate family members on Tuesday, I thought that was quite a blessing.

This week at work we finalized event assignments for the upcoming year. My load got a little lighter which is really nice. My drive time also got shorter. My longest drive now is just an hour and a half. My closest drive is 45 minutes. I am hopeful that a lighter event load will really help me go through this year.  We also got a gift card at the staff meeting from one of the executives, I was really impressed! It was a personal gift (we can't buy and give gift cards for IRS reasons) to all the staff!!! In addition, my supervisor gave his team gift bags with drink mix and a margarita glass inside! Between those gifts and my packages this week, I feel like quite a princess!

We're going loco...loco moco

When we visit Hawaii, I MUST have one of my all time favorite dishes, loco moco.  We usually go to this place that use to be called Tex's, but now is Pahala Town Cafe.  They serve white steamed rice under a patty of ground beef or spam steak, a sunny side up egg, and ladels of brown gravy.  I think it is the ultimate comfort food.  It reminds me of the beach, the sun, my dad, and even Montana.  Growing up our school would occasionaly serve rice with ground beef and gravy.  For the past several years I have meant to make this dish at home, but it never seems to work out for breakfast. I finally, put it on our menu for dinner.  We steamed the rice, cooked our eggs, mixed up some gravy from a packet, and used the George Foreman to grill some hamburger patties.  It was delicious! I am not sure why I don't put yummy comfort food on my menu all the time! I should start thinking of some old favorites to bring back out, like tater tot casserole. Any ideas? What are your favorite comfort foods?

From the farmers market to our table...

I would love to watch a cooking show that shopped only at farmer's markets! I guess it'd be pretty seasonal in some areas on what they could make, but they could include tips for shopping at markets.  For example, our market had tons of produce this week.  I saw blueberries for a dollar, which was an outstanding deal.  I walked over and noticed they looked like someone had purchased them from the store and was reselling them.  I believe Alton Brown had pointed out on one of his shows that people would do this and to watch for it. Sure enough, I asked the lady about them and she didn't even know where they were from! The guy helping her started to read the container to me to figure it out! I tried to politely bow out from their booth. As I was moving away the lady said, "they are organic!" I'm not sure how she knew that, because organic was not anywhere on the container.  The best part was that she didn't say the word like most people I know, instead she said, "organ-ick". She was a cute old lady. Do you have any tips for farmer's markets? Do you go to any?

As soon as we got there the aroma of green chili being roasted filled our car.  We walked past, did our normal loop through the small market, and started our final loop to make purchases.  We found these cool fishing lures made out of bottle caps.  We bought one, then I saw a cute gift for a friend at the same booth.  I love buying off the beaten path treasures! Finally, we purchased our mild green chili peppers. They roasted them for us right there.  We plopped them in the fridge over night and went fishing the rest of the day. (I caught my biggest fish of the year, a great, big sucker!)

Today I decided to make my own Colorado green chili! Here is the recipe and the results...

2.5 pounds roasted green chili peppers
20 oz. chicken stock
1 Walla Walla sweet onion, diced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 C. flour
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 1/3 pound chopped pork
2 limes
1 10 oz. jar tomatillo salsa
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 C. V8 or vegetable blend tomato juice

Pour the olive oil in to the bottom of a large pot. Add diced onion and salt, stir.  Let the onion sweat a little, then add garlic, stir.  When onion is starting to soften, add pork.  Add pepper.  Pork will turn white on all sides, add flour and stir.  Let pork brown a little more.  Add chicken stock and stir.  Add jar of salsa, green chili, tomatoes, and vegetable juice. Stir and add in juice from the two limes.  Bring entire mixture to a simmer.  Turn heat off and use a ladle to take out about half of the mixture, omitting any pork.  Carefully, put chunky mixture into the food processor to puree.  Pour pureed mixture back into pot and stir all together.  Makes 8 generous portions.

Now, when we tasted our green chili it was very spicy! Even though we bought mild peppers, it turned out very hot.  We steamed some white rice and made a base in our bowl to pour the green chili over. We scooped our chili on and added some finely shredded colby jack cheese and a dollop of sour cream.  It was delicious!!

The butterflies and the bees...

Friday afternoon I walked out back to our garden to admire all the new growth. I was delighted to see butterflies and bees fluttering from flower to flower.  I was even so lucky as to get a few decent photos.  I decided to share, because they bring such a warm feeling to my heart! Anyway, enjoy!

Have you seen the tooth fairy?

So, I had my wisdom teeth removed yesterday. I only had two, which was interesting...until I talked to my Grandma Lu. She had zero. I am guessing somewhere in my genes I inherited a lack of wisdom teeth on the bottom from her. Anyway, they were only partially impacted and surgery took like 20-30 minutes.  It was fast and I haven't really been swollen.  I used ice packs yesterday and took some two pain pills, but today I haven't needed any of that.  My jaw is sore, I can't yawn, and my cheeks hurt to smile, but those are minimal in pain compared to my gall bladder removal and cyst removal! This really has been a piece of cake in comparison. However, the tooth fairy still has not come to visit! I am hoping they read my blog and remember.

My friend Tricia was in town this week too!!! She was only going to be here like a day and a half, but her car broke down.  Usually, I'd be sad her car broke down, but it was the company car and they knew it didn't run well when they sent her on a 5 hour road trip! Anyway, it meant we got to spend lots more time together! Yay!!!! We made cards, went out to eat, watched TV, and did some wedding planning! We even went to David's Bridal and I tried on dresses. We found one that I loved and she loved it too. I hope the other bridesmaids are just as in love!  I felt all dressed up and cute like a cupcake. We had so much fun and we both agreed it was God's way of letting us spend more time together!!!

Last night I felt well enough to go out for a movie. We watched Dinner for Schmucks. Hilarious.  I suppose it's hilarious if you have a similar sense of humor to me, but I laughed through the whole movie.  I think Steve Carell is such a good actor and his characters are always so doofy. I suppose there were some strange parts to the movie, but I laughed through those too.  Now I am just waiting until October 26 or 28 or something when Sex and the City 2 comes out on DVD. I missed seeing it in the theater. That will be right after our cruise too.

Speaking of our cruise and wanting to be an even cuter Bahama mama...I am considering a major purchase.  Have any of you heard of the BodyBugg?  It's a tool to track your calorie expenditure.  It's about $200.  I sold the hubby's car and took a little bit of commission.  I was thinking of using my "commission" to purchase this item.  I also bought some new work out videos I am excited to try.  I need to wait a couple days though, because I can't bend over right now, it hurts my jaw. I think it must be the pressure of blood flowing to my head or something? Anyway, I was just curious if anyone has used this product, read the reviews, etc?  I don't think I have ever purchased an item for $200 for me...just me. That's sort of intimidating! Thoughts?

Also, since it is coming up to my birthday, I have thought about a new year's resolution.  I currently have one resolution that I am doing pretty well on.  That resolution was to not buy any more scrapbooking or card making paper. I have so much that I need to use!! I have done really good with this, even though it has been challenging.  I even bought an organizer for my scraps today! Yay! I am thinking my next resolution will be to spend a certain amount of time on me per week or even daily. Perhaps I could do some yoga, deep breathing, etc.  I think if I schedule it in, literally, that would really help me.  I may need a star chart to mark my progress! I am still tossing this around, like how much time it will be and how I will make sure I take the time.

To back up even further, we had a luau last weekend. It was a lot of fun. We made Kahlua pork, mac salad, steamed cabbage, pineapple upside down cake, teriyaki beef kabobs, had fresh papaya and pineapple, sweet bread from Naalehu Bakery (the southern most bakery in the United States), steamed rice, Hawaiian punch, and other treats! It was wonderful! I also got to use my fire pit for s'mores.  I love having people over for fun dinners!!!

Speaking of having people over...if you are in the area on August 27, I am having a Made in the 80's party! I haven't figured out what I am wearing yet, but I think I may need to take a trip to the second hand store. Surely, I will find some good outfits there!  I have also been rounding up food and menus that were popular in the 80's.  For example, did you know Olive Garden came to us in the 80's?  I may just have their catering or attempt some of the copy cat recipes for their food. 

A few days earlier is a Pampered Chef party. If you need anything Pampered Chef, let me know and I will make sure you can order off the website.  They have great products and the demonstrator is someone we know through the hubby's softball team. 

Oh, and I think I have decided to officially go back to school in May. Thanks for all of your support and encouragement. It REALLY helped me make my decision!!!! I looked at the requirements and was happy to see I wouldn't have to take the GRE, my GPA from my graduate degree I'm working on now and my last credits at UNC were high enough! Yay! Now, I have until December 1 to apply. They look at all the applicants at that point.  I am not sure when you hear a decision, but I am looking forward to it!  Thanks again everyone!!!

Catch of the day...

This weekend I staffed my last event of the season. It went really well!  I came home this morning, unpacked, and around 1:00 laid down for a nap.  I had gotten 2 hours of sleep, so that was nice.  I crashed for a few hours and then went fishing with the hubby!  He had been so patient and wanted to go fishing together really bad. We drove out north of town to a fishing hole he found on Saturday.  We had so much fun! There were a couple times that there would be a fish on the line as soon as we could cast out or one time I went to reel in and cast out, only to find a fish! The real catch of the day came when I saw my bobber dip and get drug under. I thought for a minute, "I have a big fish on my line!"  When I reeled in, I found this gem on my line!  Unfortunately, the master angler program didn't have an award for catching a crawdad. So, we did a catch and release.