Apron Emergency

Yesterday afternoon at about 4pm, my doorbell rang. Standing at the door was one of my neighbors in a bit of a panic. It seems she had volunteered to find a retirement gift, specifically an ABU-style apron, for a base retiree. Could I help? Sure. Could I have it done tomorrow by 11:30? Why not! Never mind that I had no pattern for a men’s apron (for some reason my neighbor didn’t think ruffles would be a hit). After a brief discussion, my neighbor left me with a few old ABU blouses and a “good luck!”

Thankfully, one of my other neighbors had a plain men’s apron I was able to borrow to use as a pattern.

It turns out the back of an ABU blouse is exactly the right size!

After a few hours of cutting, sewing, un-sewing and re-sewing the apron was complete.

I even added a couple pockets because you can’t have an apron with no pockets! If anyone out there wants a stylish ABU apron, give me a few months to recover from my marathon sewing night and we’ll talk!

Right Brain Exercise

I spent most of my day today studying, joined a couple girl friends for a movie (Crazy, stupid, love), came home and felt like talking to you all. Maybe all this studying is making the right side of my brain feel like it needs some exercise to keep things even. I wouldn’t want to walk around with a lop-sided head.
Fortunately, I have undertaken two of my favorite activities in the last couple of day so I actually have something to write about… sort of.

Activity #1 – Harvest time on the front porch

One of the downfalls of living in base housing is that growing produce in the ground is not allowed. The only place you can attempt a garden is in a pot. In July, after much procrastination, I finally planted a few wayward tomato and flower seeds along with a potato and an onion (both of which had grown legs in my pantry). As you can see, the flowers are doing quite well.

The leaves of the potato plant have been slowly dying off, so I decided it was harvest time. I wasn’t expecting anything big. I was growing things in a pot after all. I did however expect something a little bigger than this.

Now that’s what I call a bumper crop. Like my harvesting implement?

Activity #2 – Lasagna cooking

In honor of, well really nothing, we decided Friday would be ladies night at Jacki’s house. Italian food was on the menu and I was charged with making lasagna. Lasagna is one of the few recipes I copied from my mom’s recipe cards when I moved into my first apartment, so I had a good place to start. However, I’m always on the lookout for ways to spice things up a bit. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com (great website!) and made a few modifications. Here’s the final version.

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
dash of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 medium zuchnini, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
10 mushrooms, diced
12 lasagna noodles
16 ounces cottage cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
In a large sauce pan, cook turkey, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce. Season with honey, basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add diced zucchini, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Simmer for another ½ hour, stirring occasionally.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese with egg, garlic powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.   To assemble, spread 2 cups of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the cottage cheese mixture. Top with a third of the mozzarella cheese. Spoon 2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Here’s the rundown on some of the changes I made from the original: I replaced half the meat with assorted veggies because you can always use more veggies! I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese because that’s how my mom does it. Cottage cheese is also about 1/3 the price and 1/3 the calories of ricotta. Guess Mom was on to something good. I also messed with the spices to match what I had on hand and because I felt like it.

Lasagna assembly is always fun, but it was extra fun this time because of my awesome Microplane. I could grate cheese all day with that thing. I don’t know how I cooked without a Microplane and a garlic press. Credit goes to the fabulous Lindsey for both of these additions to my kitchen.

Okay, I think I’ve about got the sides of my brain evened out again. I’ll go play with my next photo book on Shutterfly and I’ll be right as rain in an hour. Until next time…

Love from Afar

I am sure now that I have the most wonderful husband in the world.  These arrived at my door this morning via my neighbors. 

 

I love you sweetheart!  Only 8,000,000 seconds (plus or minus 2,500,000) to go.  Not that I'm counting or anything.

Portrait Photography

I’ve taken tens of thousands of pictures this year, but very few of them have included people for the sake of photographing people. This weekend, at the request of my friend Jacki, I gave portrait photography a try. It was a low-key event with no promises of success from my end. I figured, worst case, we’d delete all the pictures when we got done!  Not surprisingly, when you take over 200 pictures, a few are bound to turn out okay. It also helped that I had great models.

Very nice, B; very nice.  I think the best part was getting to play with Photoshop for dummies, aka: Picnik. Here’s a few of the best shots in all their post-processed glory!

No wedding photography sessions in my future, but Christmas cards might be a possibility.

Dog Day at the Beach

Sam and Roxie had their very first trip to the beach today (it took us a while to find one that allowed dogs).  They were joined by their friends Mason, Shilo and Hurley.   

Sam thought the water was great – especially to lie in.  Roxie didn’t want to get so much as her paws wet (I put her in the water anyway). 

Hurley spent most of the time playing fetch. 

Even Mason got his paws wet.  But just his paws.  More than that would be just plain crazy.  Shilo doesn't like my camera, so you'll just have to pretend.  Her day looked pretty much like Mason's.

Here's a couple of video clips of the pups enjoying the water and the beach.

Thanks for watching.  Until next time...

I Remember

I remember doing a project about the 1960’s during one of my freshman English classes. Our assignment was to create a newspaper that showcased the top news stories of the decade. I remember talking to my mom about all the events I was researching and commenting to her that, “It must have been so cool to be around for all of this history.” Her response to me, “Don’t wish for too much history. Not all of it was good.”

I remember sitting in my senior English class three years later thinking about how right she was. I didn’t know it at the time, but I watched my life change right before my eyes on a tiny, old TV as one plane and then another hit the World Trade Center towers. At first, my life continued on much as I had always thought it would. I went to college, I traveled abroad, and I executed the plan I had for my life. Then, one day, a tall guy in a sharp blue uniform walked into my life. If I had not met, fell in love with, and eventually married that man, I would have never realized just how much life really had changed that September morning.

My husband signed up for Air Force ROTC in a post-9/11 world… sort of. In the spring of 2002, no one really knew what was going on or where we, as a country, were headed. He joined the Air Force in a world where deployments were rare and short, where going “outside the wire” was for the Army and the Marines, and where the Air Force was in the sky, not on the ground. At least that’s what we were told.

Now, ten years later, my husband is on his third six-month deployment in four years. He is armed at all times and sleeps in a tent. He enjoys the work he does while he’s deployed. “Real, hands-on engineering,” he calls it. Some days I don’t mind having the bed or the house or the couch to myself. But, the reality is, we both get tired sometimes. We get tired of being apart, tired of never knowing when the rug will be pulled out from under us, tired of living two separate lives. Every day apart is a reminder that nothing is the same – everything has changed.

While the events of that morning ten years ago come to the forefront of most Americans' minds once a year, we live every day with the altered reality they created. When someone asks me where I was, I can answer in perfect detail, but what really matters now is where I am. Today, I, along with thousands of other American military families around the world, am thinking not only of the events of ten years ago, but the events of last year and last month, of yesterday.  All the while, hoping that the events of tomorrow bring nothing but good to be recorded by history.

Sao Miguel

I have been mentioning a trip to the island of Sao Miguel and promising you pictures in nearly every post for the last three weeks. My study plan finally gave me a break today when the four-day lesson on surveying only took four hours. Thank goodness!  Now, for your reading and viewing pleasure… Sao Miguel.

Our trip started on Friday evening after those with jobs got off work. A quick 30-minute plane ride over the open ocean and we were in Sao Miguel (check out the “About Terceira” tab if you want see a map of all the islands). We got our rental car, piled in the luggage, and took off towards our hotel. Turns out downtown Ponta Delgada has a lot of one way streets, so it took us quite a while to find the correct combination of turns to reach our hotel. Thankfully, Jacki’s husband B is very patient and tolerated his three back-seat drivers quite well. We did eventually find our hotel. Once we were settled in, we walked a few blocks to the nearby cruise ship port. The port was lined with shops and restaurants. We found one that served pizza and the BEST sangria ever - seriously, ever – and ordered ourselves some much needed dinner.

The next morning, our touring really began. As you can see from the map below, we had lots of ground to cover in only a day and a half.

We started by traveling west from Ponta Delgada toward Sete Cidades and the Blue and Green Lagoons (Lagoas Azul y Verde). The road was long and winding, not unlike all the roads on our island. B quickly learned the true meaning of the phrase, “Oooh, that’s pretty!” After just a few repetitions, he was pulling over for picture stops on command. Way to go B!

Many, many pictures later, we found ourselves at Lagoa de Santiago. All of the lagoons on the island were created when a previously active volcano blew its top, leaving a large crater that eventually filled with water. My friend S and I thought hiking to the bottom of the crater sounded like a great idea. After all, we had all worn our swimming suits with the hope that we’d get to go in the water somewhere. Jacki and B followed dutifully down the trail until we reached the edge of the lagoon. I found a somewhat treacherous path into the water and went for a little swim with S.

The water was really deep, and we got tired from treading water pretty quickly. By the time we had climbed all the way back up to the top, we were all ready to be seated in the car for a while! We enjoyed a quick lunch in Sete Cidades and a walk around town. Then, we continued our trip around the island.  Much to all of our delight, we found a nice, long stretch of straight road to help undo some of our collective car sickness!  The straight road ended in the city of Ribeira Grande. We walked around the downtown area before heading to Caldeira Velha.



We thought Caldeira Velha was a beautiful, secluded waterfall we had seen featured in many of the brochures. We were wrong. While there was a waterfall, it was smaller than we expected, and the pool at the bottom was crawling with people. We snapped a few pictures and took off for Lagoa do Fogo.

Driving to Lagoa do Fogo was like driving into a cloud. I actually think we did drive into a cloud. We were lucky enough to catch a quick look at one of the most photographed spots on the island before the cloud we were standing in opened up and poured out rain.  We finished our day with a quick french fry snack at McDonalds and another dinner of pizza and sangria (why mess with a good thing).

Our final morning on the island started with a drive to Logoa das Fumas. This large park was home to several tourist spots. Our favorite to see, but not to smell, was the sulfur springs. The ground water beneath these springs is so hot that the water actually boils at the surface. The locals dig holes in the hot ground for cooking food.

We checked out some of the other sites around the lagoon before heading to the Nossa Senhora da Paz Chapel. The view from the top of the steps was amazing - well worth the climb.

After dropping Jacki and B off at the airport for their afternoon flight home, S and I headed back to the Lagoa do Fogo. It looked less cloudy than the previous day, and we really wanted some better pictures. We were not disappointed. The view from the rim overlooking the lagoon was beautiful. We also discovered a path from the rim down to the water. With plenty of time before our evening flight, we decided to go for another hike. This one was much longer and much steeper (part of it had a ladder) than our hike the previous day, but the view from the beach at the bottom was breathtaking. We spent several hours exploring around the lagoon and making our way back up to the car.

On the way back to the airport, we decided to make a quick stop at the pineapple plantation. The little pineapples growing in the greenhouses were so cute!

All-in-all our trip was a great weekend escape that I plan to repeat once Chris gets home.  We also managed to talk the sangria recipe out of the bartender and have been working on getting everything just right for the last couple weekends. Taste testers are always welcome.

Grape Stomping

On Saturday I joined several friends for the Festa do Vinho dos Biscoitos (Biscoitos Wine Festival) sponsored by the Biscoitos Wine Museum. We arrived in the town at about 2:30pm, ready for some grape stomping and wine drinking action. However, we soon learned that we would have to work for our fun. A group of locals dressed in traditional outfits hooked up a pair of bulls to a cart carrying a huge barrel.

The entire group of spectators then followed in procession after the cart through the town to the vineyards.

Once at the vineyards, the ‘professionals’ picked grapes while the rest of us took pictures.

Baskets full of grapes passed through the crowd between the fields and the waiting cart. I’m not sure how any of the grapes actually managed to make it into the cart. They were delicious, and I wasn’t the only one who thought so!

Before we knew it, it was time to process back up the hill to the Wine Museum for some good old-fashion grape stomping!  The grapes were emptied into an elevated stone basin. Then, the pros got to stomping… and singing… and stomping some more.

A pair of musicians and a group of singers led the crowd in several songs that I assume were associated with the activities taking place. Unfortunately, even after a year here, my Portuguese is terrible, so the only word I could pick out of any of the songs was “saint”. It’s something, right??

Once the pros were done and the singing was over, the rest of us got our turn. I rolled up my pants, washed my feet, and stepped into the basin. I expected the squished grapes to me a sticky gooey mess. What I didn’t expect was that it would feel so weird!!

The locals insisted that trying the foot wine (really grape juice since it was no fermented yet) was an essential part of the experience. I would have thought that they were just trying to dupe the Americans, but they were all gulping down big cups of the green liquid. I took one sip, but that’s all I could manage. Visions of old-man-foot-fungus were front and center in my brain.

The final event for the day was a celebration dinner. Traditional Portuguese foods (fried sardines, boiled eggs, olives, cheese, bread, and pickled beans) were served on giant green leaves along with locally-made wine.

The best part – watermelon for dessert!