The Minnesota Wild

How is the Titanic like the Minnesota Wild?

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They're both great until they hit the ice.

Kevin thinks the team would be better if Kate Winslet (Rose on the Titanic) was playing center for the Minnesota Wild this year.

Sandbaggers Among Us

Monday morning the call came: Kevin asked if I would mind if he left. Because he wanted to go to the Red River to help sandbag. So he tromped off and has spent this week working really hard and I have been left all alone and lonely.

Can you find him in this video from the 6:00 news yesterday? (Look at minute 2 if you are having trouble)

Mushroom Sage Gnocchi

The fridge is a mysterious place. There are treasures hidden inside that badly want to be eaten. Such was the case with a pound of mushrooms and a package of gnocchi. Once I made gnocchi with a recipe from "The New Whole Grains Cookbook" and it was so time consuming that I am still exhausted just thinking about it. And it made a huge mess.

But, for some reason, we had a package in the fridge. I tried to find a recipe for a mushroom and sage sauce, but came up empty handed, so ended up throwing a few things together. Don't you hate it when people say that? Uggg...just tell me what you did so I don't have to guess when I try to recreate it.

Basically, I chopped the mushrooms, put them in the skillet with a little oil and 1/2 t of sage, then let them cook. When they looked done, I added a cup of beef broth and a flour paste to thicken it up a little. It never did thicken, so I pretended that it wasn't supposed to. Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi in salted boiling water until it floats. Then combine the sauce and the gnocchi and sit down for a hearty meal.

Gnocchi with Mushroom Sage Sauce

1 pound mushrooms, chopped

1 T oil

1/2 t sage

1 C beef broth

1 package gnocchi

Heat a skillet with 1 T oil. When it is hot, add the mushrooms and sage and let them cook until the mushrooms have released their juices. Then add the beef broth, and a paste of flour and water if you would like it to be a thicker sauce. Heat a pot of salted water to boiling. When it reaches a rolling boil, add the gnocchi and cook for 2 minutes after they rise to the top of the water. Drain them and put them in the mushroom sauce. Serve with a leafy green salad.

Popcorn S'mores

The first 3 years of our marriage left our popcorn air popper sad and lonely. Kevin didn't like air popped popcorn, and I never thought about using it. Then, one fateful day, I decided to make some popcorn and really loaded it up on butter and salt. Do you know how they say that people are mostly water, and if you took all of it away you would be just a little dirt? That doesn't hold true for Kevin. He is 80% salt, and the only thing keeping the salt in one piece is the little bit of water. When food is so salty that I can't even eat it, he will add extra salt to his plate. Eeek.

That was when Kevin discovered that he liked air popped popcorn. In fact, he liked it enough to ask for some more the next weekend. It has progressed to the point that if the word "popcorn" is mentioned in conversation, Kevin will automatically stand up, go to the kitchen, and start popping popcorn. It is almost like he has been hypnotized to respond to that word.

Then 101cookbooks.com had a recipe for chili lime popcorn, and we made it and it was excellent. We got the book and now we need to start trying new recipes for popcorn.

Of course, my first recipe is a sweet one. I have been salivating over the popcorn smores for several weeks. Every day I would remind myself to buy some Golden Grahams on the way home, and every day I would forget. On Friday night I finally got some, and immediately upon entering the house, I started to make the smores. Of course, Kevin edged in first (because I had said the P word) and made a batch of buttery popcorn to go with the sweet bars.

I was planning to drizzle chocolate on top of the bars, but there is already chocolate inside, so I left it off of the top.

Popcorn S'Mores

4 quarts air popped popcorn

1/2 stick butter

1/2 t vanilla

5 cups mini marshmallows

1 cup Golden Grahams

1 cup chocolate chips

Melt the butter and then mix in the marshmallows and melt them. Stir it up with 1/2 t of vanilla. Mix in the popcorn and Golden Grahams, and then the chocolate chips. Press into a 9X13 pan and let cool before cutting into bars.

Maple Syruping in March

Marla brought me on a maple syrup tour in Shakopee at Murphy's Landing today. It was 5 minutes from Marla's house, and she brought her niece, Chloe, and nephew, Jacob.


Here is Chloe, telling everyone she is 2. I think they had asked, "Does anyone know how to make maple syrup?" and this was her answer. Jacob is right behind her, scowling for the world to see. I have always thought it odd that Marla only shows crabby pictures of her nieces and nephews, but as I reviewed my pictures, I, too, only had crabby ones to show. It was amazing. The kids had a great time until the camera came out, and then the scowls came out right along with the camera.

They had a 1800's style village set up. Apparently, they have tours all summer and at Christmas time, too. They brought us to the village in a horse drawn trolley and the whole time I sang The Trolley Song by Judy Garland:

Clang ,clang, clang went the trolley

Ding, ding, ding went the bell

Zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings.....that's all I could remember. If my memory is correct, I only sang it in my head. I am too scared to ask Marla if any of my singing was out loud.

Here they have taken the maple sap that has been boiled down, and they are cooking the rest of the water out of it. Then they gave it to us and we ate the sugar straight. It was yum-o-licious.

Chloe was much happier when we got a cup of maple sugar. Here, Marla and I have her cornered - our cameras ready on each side of her. We tried to get a picture of Chloe pouring the cup of sugar into her mouth. I failed, so all I am left with is a picture of her studiously studying the cup. Right after this we were given glasses of maple syrup to chug.

Yep. We got these kids sugared up and then gave them back to their parents. Hey - that's the way it goes. Did I mention that it was around 1:00PM when we got home and nobody had eaten lunch yet?

Of course, the sign of truly having a good time is a purse dripping with maple syrup. By the time I took the picture it had mostly soaked in. I'll write more later about why I love this purse, and why I hate it.

Maple Syrup in March?? Apparently, maple syrup comes out twice a year - in the spring and in the fall. You have to have freezing nights and warm, sunny days to collect sap from trees. And they said that any maple tree will produce maple syrup. Has anyone tried to make it at home??

Great Way to Lose Weight

The sticker I got after donating blood said "I burned 650 calories and all I had to do was sit."

It got me thinking.....if I donated blood every day............

Two days after donating I was incredibly tired and spent the entire weekend sleeping it off. Ugg... I suppose I was going to get sick anyways, but then after donating blood it really knocked me down hard. This donating blood thing to lose weight - it isn't such a good idea after all.

Pan Seared Mushroom Omelet

We have 2 pounds of mushrooms in the fridge and no leftovers. I am starving and don't want to wait to eat. What can be done? An omelet, of course. There is no such thing as an omelet recipe, so just put whatever you want in there.

First cook any vegetables you want in the omelet. This picture was taken a few minutes before the mushrooms were done.




Start with 2 eggs and mix it with 2 T of water, a dash of sage, dill, salt, and pepper. Let it cook in a pan on medium until it is almost set.

Put all the toppings on the partially cooked eggs. I used mushrooms, green peppers, barley, and zucchini.

And, of course, cheese.

The most important step in any omelet is to call Kevin over and have him flip it for you. I skipped that step, and my omelet tore. Dang!

But then I put cheese on it and it was perfect again. Yum-O.


Pan Seared Mushroom Omelet

2 eggs

2 T water

dash pepper

dash salt

dash sage

dash dill

handful mushrooms, chopped

handful green peppers, chopped
handful zucchini, chopped or shredded

Heat a pan to medium and spritz it with oil. When it is hot, cook the vegetables. Alternately, microwave the vegetables until they are soft.

Spritz more oil in the pan, pour in the egg mixture and let the mixture partially cook. Sprinkle the vegetables and cheese on top. Let the eggs finish cooking and fold the eggs over themselves to form a half circle. Top with cheese and devour on the spot.

Inside the Mind of a Minnesotan Fisherman

Kevin was very agitated in the garage yesterday. He was grumbling and looking around. He said it was because he couldn't find his fishing pole. That's a big problem because he was getting up at 4:30 AM this morning to go fishing.


I didn't know where else to look, so I went upstairs where I was greeted by a bunch of fishing poles. Horray! Kevin must have taken them out and forgotten about it. I rushed downstairs to tell Kevin that his poles were upstairs.

But he didn't want any of those poles. He wanted his nice pole that he couldn't find. WHAT?? There were 4 fishing poles upstairs, 2 more in the garage and he was upset that he couldn't find his pole?

That's when I learned about the intricacies of fishing. You need one pole for crappies, one for walleyes, some medium weights, some light weights, some ultra lights. Then we got into the line. It starts at 2 pound line and goes up to 10. Walleye is the biggest fish he fishes, so he is lucky because he can keep his fishing gear to a minimum. (HAH!)Hang on a minute while my head stops spinning.

It was still too icy to fish on the river, but, luckily the boys were headed to Red Wing. The river is warmer there, but Kevin said that they still got hit with a bunch of big ice chunks. Why is the river warmer you ask? Because it is just downstream from the nuclear power plant that releases hot........water?......into the river. Which has absolutely no contaminants in it. At all. But it still gets me thinking about....

Blinky from the Simpsons!! He is the product of a nuclear leak. Ain't he cute? Just for the record, we always eat the fish Kevin brings home from Red Wing.

Oriental Chicken Salad

Geri brought this salad to a church activity 6 years ago when I first moved to Minneapolis. It was tasty, so I asked for the recipe. She gave it to me and I stared in amazement. Raw red peppers?? Raw cabbage? Did she give me the WRONG recipe? The salad I remembered was tasty - and it certainly couldn't have contained those retched ingredients. This was back before I went wild and started eating vegetables.

But, alas, this time I ate my words - and a hearty portion of the cabbage salad. It contains all the 'bad' healthy ingredients and it is still good enough to chomp as a snack.

If you slice the peppers very thinly they will be less of a shock to picky taste buds. The soy sauce dressing really helps make it savory, and let's be honest: the Ramen seasoning makes it much, much tastier.

On a final note of caution, be careful when eating this in crowds. I brought a container of this to work for lunch about 3 years ago. I had made a bunch of it, so I ate it two days in a row. On the second day, I was halfway through the container when Dan walked in, sniffed the air, and loudly exclaimed, "WHAT IS THAT SMELL!??!" Nobody moved and there was absolutely no eye contact. As the silence stretched on and on, somebody finally pointed to my cube.

Surprised at this turn of events, I looked around the room at every one of my coworkers. Uh.....can the smell of cabbage be offensive? I wanted to crawl under my desk and hide. This is the first time I have made the recipe since that fateful day, and I just took a big whiff and positively think Dan must have been exaggerating.

Cabbage smells yummy to a room full of people who spend the day together but wish they didn't have to.

This is very adaptable. I didn't have green onions or bean sprouts, so I used chopped celery and put a few chopped onions in the dressing. Also, I left out the chicken to make it a side dish instead of a main dish.

Oriental Chicken Salad

1 small head cabbage, chopped

8 ounces bean sprouts

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

6 green onions, chopped

1 small package slivered almonds

4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped

1 package Ramen noodles, crumbled (chicken or oriental flavored)

Dressing

6 T oil

2 T vinegar

2 T soy sauce

1 t sugar

1 Ramen seasoning pack

Mix the dressing and toss it with the cabbage just before serving. Relish this at home - some people are so picky about smells. Smell this and then tell me that you would rather smell a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Life Begins at 30

I have been looking forward to turning 30 for about 5 years. Did that sounds strange to anyone? For the past 5 year, about 6 months before my birthday I started saying I was a year older. Why would I do that? It wasn't planned - it just happened. I was ALMOST one year older, so I would just end up saying the older age when someone asked.

Another not so surprising tradition of mine is to buy myself a couple of birthday presents. For the entire month of October. It was my 'blow the budget and celebrate myself' month. Since this is the Year of Embracing Simplicity, that month long shop-a-thon isn't going to cut it. So what could be a good present for myself?

Yes, I know it is a bit early to be thinking about my birthday present, but I have always been a bit odd. Even Aunt Sara (Grandma Grabbert's sister) called me a "Odd Duck" when I was a toddler. Although I adamantly denied it at the time, I secretly love being strange.

So I had been pondering this birthday conundrum for a month or so, and then I read in "This is Who I Am" about a woman who lost 50 pounds for her 50th birthday present. It struck a cord and I finally decided to lose 20 pounds as a final tribute to my 20's.

How did I choose 20? I really only want to lose 13 pounds, but the tribute to my 20's had such a ring to it that I couldn't resist. Standard weight diagrams say that someone who is 5'4" should weight 120 pounds. That ain't happening. I want to be 135, but I figure I can lose 7 more pounds to make it an even 20 lost, then not feel bad about gaining a few back.

How did the weight get there? One day I woke up and nothing in my closet fit, so I got on the scale and gazed in horrified terror as it kept creeping up. Sheesh. It is amazing how the creep can be so slow that it is unnoticeable. That is another reason I want to lose it slowly - I didn't gain 2-3 pounds a week, and I don't want to lose it that fast, either. I have time to take it slow and only lose 1/2-1 pound a week.

Do you have any healthy recipes or secrets you want to share to help me? You can count it as your birthday present to me (heaven knows I don't need more stuff.) Also, if you are around Minneapolis on October 24th you can consider yourself invited to my birthday party.

That Elusive 3 Inches

Last night we cut a deal. A snowstorm was coming in, and it was supposed to be a big one. Last year we had a huge storm on a Saturday night and were already at church before we realized that it had been the perfect excuse to not go. Over half of the congregation didn't make it that day. Needless to say, we didn't want to repeat the same mistake.

So we decided that if we got 3 inches or more snow we would call the primary president and tell her the storm was keeping us from church. And THAT wouldn't have been a lie.

We woke up this morning to a beautiful clear sky and not one new flake of snow on the ground. Our primary class was especially wild today.

Catastrophe at Aldi's

Have you been to Aldi's? It is fabulous. They have only 1 choice for most canned items, most things are store brands, and everything costs about 1/3 the price of other grocery stores. We go there about twice a month. Since it is so cheap, it attracts a lot of immigrants. This story, like so many others, begins with a child.

One fateful day, a 20 year old Somalian mother rushed into Aldi's with her 3 year old daughter. She was wearing a headscarf and I can only imagine that she was extremely conservative. I smiled to myself in the checkout line as I watched her usher her daughter, who looked like she was on an incredibly short timeline, into the bathroom. Kids are so darling. I say that from a distance. When I actually have to deal with all that stuff it drives me up the wall.

Then I turned to the conveyor belt to unload my cart. Suddenly there is a bunch of yelling coming from inside the bathroom and I look up just in time to see this woman run out of the bathroom with her daughter with, "I'm so sorry," on her breath, and then make a hasty retreat into the woman's bathroom. Oops....

My heart went out to this poor woman who had rushed into the restroom only to realize, too late, that she had chosen the wrong one. Especially since she was obviously extremely embarrassed about it. But the more I think about it, it is also very funny. Hopefully she wasn't traumatized for life.

Masking Problems

Chris found what he thought was a serious software bug. He tells me about it, and it is something I have never seen, so I asked him to give me a log file that shows the bug. It takes him a month to get me a file. Every day for that entire month he has stopped by to tell me that my software needs improvement.

When he finally gives me a log file, I analyze it only to discover that the serial cable is bad and the connection is degrading. Now that the problem is starting to manifest, it is getting more and more frequent. Chris thinks the software should be able to work around the cable not having a solid connection. He harasses me until I give in and write 5 lines to try several times if it doesn't work the first time.

Steve asked me what I was working on, and I told him, loud enough for Chris to hear, that I was writing a software workaround to mask a hardware problem that Chris doesn't want to fix. Chris walks over, flips me the bird and then goes back to his desk.