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Can He Make You Thin?
I’ll confess that I’m hooked thus far on the short term TLC show, I Can Make You Thin. We watched the first episode last week, and it all seemed like good, rational, common sense advice to me. The guy’s name is Paul McKenna, and he’s a Brit who claims he can help you to lose weight without dieting. I’m suspicious of people who say no diets, and then proceed to put you on a diet, ever since Dr. Phil said he was anti-diet, and then put out a whole money making line of products to make money off of people dieting. I don’t like that AT ALL. And this guy…
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Happy Easter
Doesn’t Gen have a pretty Easter Bonnet? Happy Easter, everyone!
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Mediocre Peanut Noodles with Shredded Chicken and Vegetables
Monday, I was working and trying to figure out what to cook for dinner, when Yahoo came to my rescue with their weeknight menu. Thanks, Yahoo! This one looked yummy, especially since I was kind of craving pasta, but wanted something a bit different. Peanut Noodles with Shredded Chicken and Vegetables Ingredients: 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce 2 teaspoons minced garlic 1 1/2 teaspoons chile-garlic sauce, or to taste (see Ingredient note) 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 8 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti 1 (12 ounce) bag fresh vegetable medley, such as carrots, broccoli, snow peas Cooking directions: Put a…
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With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
If nothing else, I learned from Spider-Man that power comes at a price. And the price to be paid depends on the power given. So, we’ve been given the power of acting as a target TV family. (They asked us not to tell folks that we are doing this, because they don’t want us to be plied by network people trying to get us to watch their shows, so I’m not using the name of the company, but it rhymes with “Gielson”) They have installed a little device on our TV, which records all of the shows we watch, and categorizes them demographically. (There are separate buttons for me, for…
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Wordless Wednesday
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How to Use Your Apostrophe Correctly
(Photo found here.) OK, time for another grammar lesson kids. I know, it probably bugs the crap out of you when I do these posts, but it’s not often, so suck it up. Here’s the gist of it: I’m tired of seeing apostrophes used for plurals! Tired of it, I tell you! But I haven’t said much about it, except that I suspect that plurals don’t appreciate being used as possessives. It occurs to me that perhaps, some readers might make good use of more information. So, here goes. The correct uses of an apostrophe are: 1. To indicate the possessive form of a noun. For example, “Genevieve’s new bed…
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Double Meme Monday
Because it’s St. Patrick’s Day, so green is the “IT” color of the day, and because I saw this over at Beenzzz’s place, and couldn’t resist. Even if I am boring and reliable. I do like olive green, though. 😉 You Are Olive Green You are the most real of all the green shades. You’re always true to yourself. For you, authenticity and honesty are very important… both in others and yourself. You are grounded and secure. It takes a lot to shake you. People see you as dependable, probably the most dependable person they know. What Color Green Are You?
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Meme Monday
Just when you’re not sure what the heck you’re going to write about, along comes a pal like Theresa and tags you for a meme. WHEW! 1) What book are you reading right now? I just started Middlesex. Like, I’m only a few pages in. So far, I’m enjoying it. 2) What was the last book you read on a plane? Usually I save plane trips for my guilty pleasure, People Magazine. But flying from Anchorage to Oakland is a long flight, with a long layover in Seattle, so People doesn’t really cut it. So I read People first (with Tori Spelling on the front cover…I’m a sucker for any…
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Beware the Ides of March!
20 Especially if you are 5, and you feel like getting in a fight with me. Because apparently, I can take out 20 of the kindergarten set. I found this over at Greeblemonkey. I know, I’m a bad person, but if they’re attacking me, I’m not going to hold back, and they’re going down. Consider yourself warned. You know, if you’re 5.
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Salmon in Potato Case
Did anyone else catch this wonderful series when it was on PBS, Jacques and Julia, Cooking at Home? I saw several episodes, and I must have contributed to our local station, because I have the beautiful cookbook. One recipe I especially enjoy making is Jacques’ recipe for Salmon in Potato Case. It’s basically a piece of salmon, seasoned with salt, pepper, and dill, between two layers of crispy fried potato slices. Mmmm. Salmon may well be my favorite fish, though I love good tuna as well. And potatoes, fried in butter and olive oil, with a touch of dill to set them off? What’s not to love about that? Yummy.…
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Good News Update
On Mom, found here. On Steve, yesterday he had a pin put in to hold his collar bone so it will grow straight and strong, and the surgery went well, and he’s doing much better already. Yay! Now for world peace and a cure for cancer…
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Pyongyang
Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, by Guy Delisle is a graphic novel that tells the story of the author’s trip to the capital of North Korea in 2001. Delisle is a French cartoonist, and was in Pyongyang working with Korean cartoonists at the time. Delisle does a wonderful job of capturing the bizarreness of life in a totalitarian country, one that lives almost outside of the world, shut off from the west, and especially its sworn enemy, the United States. He describes a bleak, strangled society where the people live in such poverty that up to 1/3 of the population receive food from foreign aid, the average person works…
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Book Shopping
Ted and I went in to Berkeley on Saturday afternoon, and stopped off at Cody’s books on 4th street. Cody’s is constantly changing, trying to stay in business in this world of Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. They closed their flagship store on Telegraph Ave a few years ago, which saddened me a great deal. I was born in Berkeley, and though we left before I was old enough to remember living there, all of our visits during my childhood seemed to make a stop at Cody’s. Then I became an adult, and again, most visits to Berkeley included a stop at Cody’s, one of the best bookstores around. But…
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Maya’s Granny Update
One of mom’s bloggy friends requested an update, which reminded me that I’ve been remiss in my duties. Pretending that all is normal with books and movies and recipes, when in reality life has been mighty stressful as of late. If you’re so inclined, there’s an update here. Oh, and Maya finally got her ‘phase 2‘ braces today. Ouch. I treated her with a book from the bookstore, and a donut from Safeway. Plus Advil. Poor kid. Oh again, Ted’s brother is doing much better after his bicycle accident, but needs to have a pin inserted to keep his collar bone aligned so it will heal correctly. He’s pretty upbeat…
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Apple Spring Rolls
Maya and I were watching Take Home Chef the other afternoon, when he came up with a truly yummy looking dessert…Apple spring rolls…wow, does that sound good. She was all for making them right that minute, but we don’t keep filo dough in our freezer at all times, so it had to wait. Sunday seemed like a good day to give it a shot, though, so we tried the recipe. Here it is, copied and pasted from the Take Home Chef site: Apple and Vanilla Spring Rolls with Natural Yogurt Serves 4 Ingredients: 3 Gala apples, cored, each cut into 8 wedges 3/4 cup/150 g sugar 3 whole cloves 1…