Target shooting fun!

I just placed an order for small beachballs online, 5 inches to 9 inch diameters.

Why would I be ordering beachballs in the middle of winter, you ask?  For target shooting, of course!

Our annual cousins' reunion is coming up soon down South.  There is a pond where we gather.  Placing beachballs in slow moving water and shooting at them is a lot of fun.  If you aim just at the waterline underneath the beachball, the force of the bullet sends the intact ball flying into the air.  Or hitting the ball dead center makes it "explode."

Another fun idea - fill a plastic gallon jug with water and close the lid.  Stand back because you may get wet!  Fire a hollow point bullet into the jug and water goes flying everywhere!

To set the record straight, this is done in a safe environment with no chance of a stray bullet traveling long distances and harming an individual or animal.  The other side of the pond, across from where we shoot, has a backdrop of land sloping down to the water.

Recipe Search - Can you help?

A reader responded this week to one of my blog posts from back in 2011.  She stated she learned to cook an Asian dish in her Home-Ec class in the 1960's, had lost the recipe and asked if I might know of such a recipe.  I have a collection of cookbooks from the old "Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers" that were popular in the 1960's.  A careful search through each of them turned up a dead end!

Here are the ingredients that the reader remembers:  ground meat, sausage, rice, soy sauce, bean sprouts, topped by dry noodles.  Do any of you have such a recipe?  I remember the "dry noodles" that were popular on Asian dishes back then but don't know the proper term for them.

I even did a search on allrecipes.com because that site has a search engine for recipes with specific ingredients.  Didn't get anywhere with that either!

If you have this recipe, I will post it on my blog for the reader. . . she didn't give any contact information so I told her to check my blog in case that recipe shows up!

A lazy frigid winter day

It's too cold to run and play for long outside so we decided to take a nap while Sherry is busy reading her book.

My new bird house

When I moved here 20 years ago, there was a wooden bird house on the electric power pole right outside my kitchen window.  It was somewhat weathered so had been there awhile.  I enjoyed sitting at my kitchen table watching the birds go in and out and when the new babies hatched, I watched them learn to fly.

Several years ago, the pesky squirrels began chewing the roof off the house and the birds left.  For so many years, the squirrels were not a problem.  

I just got a brand new bird house from EvensensProductions.com.  It arrived yesterday.  Bailey and Morgan stood guard as I opened the package.  You would think they felt a need to inspect it before letting me near!  "Do you mind if I look at it and take a picture?" I asked them.  Morgan stepped aside.  But Bailey still needed to sniff it!

It is made of thick cypress wood.  That should deter the squirrels!

Finally, a garlic press that works!

I have probably had 4 or 5 garlic press tools over the years.  They were hard to clean, didn't work properly, and finally ended up being thrown out.  

I use a lot of garlic in recipes.  In recent years, I have just chopped up the cloves with a knife.  That is tedious work!

Enter the Rosle garlic press!  Yes, I was hesitant to spend over $40 for it.  Now I am pleased to tell you it is the best!

The basket where the garlic goes in, pulls away from the rest of the tool for easy cleaning, although still staying attached, so no worries about that piece getting lost.  And in the blink of an eye, 2 or 3 cloves placed in the basket turn out evenly crushed.  I love it!

It is stainless steel and goes right in the dishwasher.  No need to pick left on dried pieces of garlic with a toothpick!

I love a good deal!

Who doesn't like finding a good deal?  I have always had large wall calendars in my kitchen, almost always with pictures of Labrador Retrievers for each month!  Each year the price kept inching up until finally I was not willing to pay over $15.00 for them.  For 2016, I printed off twelve pages (one for each month) and pinned them to the bulletin board in my kitchen.  Plain, and no eye appeal, but they didn't cost anything either!

I was in Wegmans recently and thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.  There was a large selection of big picture calendars for $2.99.  They had been marked down to $4.99, and then to $2.99!

They aren't Labrador Retrievers, but they are pretty outdoor scenes of paths in the woods.

And if you come in my kitchen this year, you will likely have to put up with me bragging about what a good deal my calendar was!

Roasted Veggies and Chicken

Now this is a real winner!  If you are looking for a recipe that is quick and easy, tastes good, and highly nutritious, this one is it!

Cut up a variety of vegetables into bite size pieces.  Go for color.  I used eggplant, red bell pepper, orange bell pepper, broccoli, red onion, and brussels sprouts.  Cut up one or two chicken breasts into bite size pieces.  Combine on a foil covered baking sheet.

Add 5 or 6 chopped garlic cloves, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and paprika.  Drizzle with olive oil.  With your hands, mix up all the ingredients and spread over the sheet.

Roast in a 450 oven for 15.

MMMM-Good!

Never on Sunday rule

Like most people, I look forward to watching the Tournament of Roses Parade each New Years Day.  So, after a leisurely breakfast, a pot of coffee, taking up time with the dogs, I reached for the TV remote and turned on the channel guide to see which channel would carry the parade.

Duh!  It wasn't listed.

So I did a google search on the internet to find the right channel.  This year is it on Monday, January 2. I clicked on a "Never on Sunday" link and learned why it isn't today.  The parade goes back to the late 1800's.  It was agreed that it would never be held on a Sunday because it was feared the parade would disturb the horses tied up in front of churches along the route!!!  That rule still holds today.  I would guess it has lasted this long due to Sunday being designated as NFL coverage!  I note the college bowl games that are usually on New Years Day are also delayed until tomorrow.