Wrap You Up in My Love

Ok, so I'm not Madonna. You can't even hear me singing, so I don't see why you need to be snarky about it.

Oh well. I've been on a bit of a wrap kick. I'd almost say I've been on a roll, but like I said they are wraps, so the roll thing doesn't quite compute.

Saturday night was left-over night. Sort of. I had to go out to buy tomatillos so I could make Roasted Tomatillo Salsa, but it was to go onto left over chicken. But, I cooked a big chicken, so I would have left overs for other things.
So, I roasted the tomatillos on the grill, I think about 1 - 1 1/2 lbs, along with a head of garlic & 3 serrano chili's. While that was roasting I chopped about 1/2 cup of cilantro, about the same amount of red onion (ok, maybe a little heavier on the onion) and squoze a lime. (yes, I said "squoze" & I don't care what spell check thinks!) I mixed those in a bowl, added the roasted tomatillos, some of the roasted garlic (3 or 4 heads, who can remember these things) and the serrano after peeling & chopping and ridding them of some of their seeds. (if ya want a little heat, leave more in; less seeds, less heat). I then mushed it all together with my handy stick blender, and poof, I had salsa.

I took some of the aforementioned chicken, warmed it up in the skillet with a little oil. Then mixed the chicken with a little sour cream, and some cheese (ok, just regular kraft "Mexican Shredded" cheese) added some of the salsa. I grabbed a flour tortilla, warmed it slightly on the skillet then filled it with the chick-mix and wrapped it all snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug, and put it in the hot skillet with a little oil and "fried" it closed. I put the done one in a warm oven & made a couple more. Next I put it on a plate, put a little more salsa on top, crumbled some cojita on top threw a salad next to it and poof called it dinner.

Monday's wrap was all together different. I made some of the-best-dip-ever to take over to a neighbor's to watch the Memorial Day parade. (Luckily this year, I didn't sneeze or blink when it passed by, so I was able to see the whole thing). Our parade watching is more about sitting on the porch, talking to neighbors and eating. My dip is goat cheese & cream cheese, whipped together with some herbs then baked and topped with caramelized onions. Yesterday's version also had the bonus of some of Trader Joe's Artichoke Antipasti thrown in for the chunks of artichoke. Quick, easy & way tasty! So for dinner I grilled some eggplant, then I smeared my wrap with leftover dip, added the eggplant and some greens and such. There may have been other things in there, but I did this after having a couple glasses of wine (a slightly fizzed pinot grigio picked up at Trader Joe's also for $4 0r $5, yum) so I'm not sure what else went into the wrap, but it was pretty easy & light and nice for an early summer dinner.

And finally, today's late-mid-day-ish wrap that was thrown together so HP would have something to eat before he went to class, was another flavory bundle of food that included some grilled shrimp, black beans, cheese (yeah, more of that Kraft stuff), some green onions and it was all held together with a yumtastick avocado dressing. The dressing was made with an avocado, about 1/4 cup each mayo, light sour cream & olive oil, a little lemon juice, a splash of tabasco, some of the roasted garlic from the other day, a sprinkling of cumin and a dash of salt. A quite tasty smear if I do say so myself.

So I'll wrap this up & let you off to your own wrapped up yummies.

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Some pictures to go along with yesterday’s post

Somehow I thought I had more pictures from our journey to Glick's, but, my only access to camera was when I could pry HP's crackberry from his hands. I was not able to capture the playground atmosphere or the acres of plants, begging to be chosen, but I did get a couple images.

I get a fuchsia every year. I love the deep colors of the traditional fuchsia.

But, to truly suit the Flamingo (and you know I must) I repeated the lighter pink like last year's.

I'm sure I'll get the deeper fuchsia when Glick's big sale starts in June.

I probably would have gotten more pictures, but HP was impatiens

We filled the buggy, as full as the little buggy gets. It is probably a good thing we don't have a bigger car, since we don't have a big enough yard to handle it!

Here is a sample of our shopping excursion A few tomatoes, some thai and serrano peppers , some parsley, the tall grass stuff that HP likes to put in the planter with his impatiens, a bleeding heart to replace the one HP heartlessly killed, some lemon balm.

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Kiki, in the garden

We had a brief hint of sunshine this weekend. Unfortunately, it was short lived, but it was a full day of sun.
First we went to our favorite greenhouse. We drove up on a sunny Saturday only to find that there were about a zillion other people with the same idea. The grown-ups were rushing throughout like kids at opening day of Hershey Park. Couples were calling to each other like kids discovering candy. "Look at the Zinnias! Honey do we have space for these peppers or more tomatoes?"
Loading up the buggies and filling trays with young plants, there were smiles everywhere. The promise of lush gardens and fresh juicy tomatoes was like a call from above, as in the Song of Solomon:

2:12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

In our yard, the doves have returned. Last summer they raised a family, we watched as they fed the babies, and taught them to fly. We didn't have a chance to say goodbye to them as summer faded away, but we were overjoyed to see them return.

Our very small yard requires quite a bit of work to keep it presentable. While I have always favored the "natural" look (to the point my husband calls it wild or sometimes unruly) we at least try to start the spring with some trimming. I think we only buy plants as a reward for all our trimming. I'm not sure that makes sense, but it's my story.

The hedges needed attacking, the grapes & wisteria were taking over the world and there were sticks and twigs and leaves to be picked up. And then more grapes and wisteria to trim. It was a long day in the yard followed by pizzas made on the grill. (Which I have yet to have time to photograph, though I think of it each and every time.)

The trimming did reap an unexpected reward, I had lots of grape leaves and had a wonderful Sunday dinner!

Salmon grilled in Grape Leaves.

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Talk about opening a can of worms

There is not enough time in the day for that phone call!

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On the road with Kiki

I've been gone the past couple weekends. It was a nice change of scenery! First I went to see the cutest kids EVER and got to play with them for a weekend.
Their mom went away, so Auntie Kiki was in charge!

Hmmm what to dress them in?
They weren't so sure about that, until we started doing this

Tie dye is always fun and the Cute Nephew liked his so much, he is wearing both of the shirts he we Auntie Kiki made (with his "help"). Cute Niece made a sundress to wear if the weather ever warms up. She was considering wearing it along with her hat to "hippie day" at school.

The weekend also included a visit to the museum & nature center. We got to see old cars, all sorts of animals, including a very entertaining river otter and an exhibit by this artist. Let me tell ya, as cool as the pics are, the real thing blows them away!

And of course, we had to make ICE CREAM. Chocolate chip mint. It was very good! I also got to see the Cute Nephew play soccer. (football for you Euro types).
And a good time was had by ALL!

Next on the road trip was a weekend away with HP.

We went down to the DC area where The Boy has just completed his freshman year. Yay Boy! Friday night we stayed with Aunt Chirp & Uncle Pablo at "the Nut" where Sarah Louise was doing a weekend visit for Mom's day. It was a great chance to catch up with family and relax. Saturday morning, I got up and made these amazing pancakes. It has been a tradition for many years to eat blueberry pancakes with this family and I found this recipe the day before we left. Which says to me, it was meant to be!

In following the tradition, I added blueberries to the batter as well as using in the sauce, and pancake nirvana was achieved! I will be making these again, want to come by for some?

After breakfast and a self-indulgent trip to Trader Joe's, we went into the city to fetch some stuff from The Boy to put into storage. We called to be sure he was awake before the plan was formulated. We called to let him know we were on the way. We called to let him know we were there, his response was "I'm just getting up, give me a few minutes to shower." I think the only reason that boy lived through his teen years is because he went to boarding school and hid from his parents! After feeding him & stowing the stuff that was staying in the city for the summer (unlike The Boy who came home to work) we left him back at the dorm (so his mom could fetch him & the remainder of his stuff the next day) and set off on our own adventure. First on the plan was try to get out of town. DC was planned out like the spokes of a wheel. Except they threw small monuments, large monuments, one way streets, and random closed streets in the middle of it. We did not plan our route very well in advance, and there was some miscommunication involved between HP & I. (I know you are shocked)

(Sometime earlier this month)
HP: Honey, why don't you find a place for us to go for crabs when we go up from DC and a room for Saturday night in Newark (pronounced New-ARC, not new-werk)
Me: Umm, I'm really busy & really stressed trying to get Souper Bowl together. Plus my computer is acting all cranky and keeps shutting down.
HP: Uh huh.

(Sometime last week)
HP: Did you find a place for us to stay?
Me: No, I told you I was busy and my computer is getting worse. I'm going to try to wipe it out & start over.
HP: ok

(Sometime last weekend while I was in CT)
HP: Did you find a place for us to stay?
Me: (sigh) No, I told you I couldn't
HP: Oh. yeah. Where should we stay when we are in Newark, do you have any ideas?
Me: No, when ever I went to that area it was with friends and we didn't stay the night.
HP: Ok, I'll find something

(Friday)
HP: Did you find a place to go for crabs?
Me: No, but if we go up the Eastern Shore we should be ok. What do you think our schedule will be?
HP: Oh, we'll meet the boy around noon, feed him, stow his stuff, and go. We should be in crab area pretty early.
Me: Ok, I'll ask at the rest area.

So I asked the helpful man at the helpful desk about good places to go for crabs. We got a lovely location that was recommend (and subsequently recommended by the Relatives). We even discussed some alternatives. HP really wanted to do a side trip to Rock Hall (I'm not sure how he heard about Rock Hall, but he thought it sounded cute) and on the road we were.

(Saturday)
HP: Well, it took a lot longer than I thought to get on the road! I think I have spent a large portion of my adulthood waiting for my kids... I guess we'll do Rock Hall another trip.
(a little while later)
Me: We are about to hit Harris, do you want to stop? I'm not real hungry yet.
HP: No, me neither, lunch was late. We'll keep going.
(a little while later)
HP: Wasn't that 213? Don't we want to take that?
Me: Uh, I thought we were taking 301 up to 896, it runs straight into Newark. Since we aren't going to Rock Hall.
HP: No, I still want to go along the Chesapeake.
Me: Ok, there is a rest area up ahead, we can turn around there or figure out a new plan.
(after our rest stop)
Me: There is 405, we can take it North to 213 & be back on our way.
HP: Ok, east or west?
Me: Oh, east to the water.
HP: Honeeyy, the Bay is West. The ocean is east, we want the bay
Me: UHHH, turn around. Sorry.

So that was how much of the trip went. We weren't at our best or most prepared. We had a false start or two getting to the crabs, but I did have plan "C" in mind for our journey and we stopped in Chesapeake City and went to the Tap Room where we ( finally) sat down for a big plate of Maryland Blue Crabs. They weren't cooked to order (maybe I should have asked for that) but they showed up quick and though they were a little scraggly, missing a claw or 2, they still tasted pretty darn good! Nothing like the Maryland Blues!

Here is where I could go into our Hotel Trauma, but I'll just give the cliff notes version.

Me: It's in Newark? The only listing I can find is Wilmington
HP: I thought it was in Newark. I left the confirmation at home let me check the crackberry. Uh, no service
Front Desk Guy: I'm sorry we are booked, and we have no reservation for you

We eventually got a room. In Wilmington. Sunday we got up and drove back to Newark (yes, we had gone there first Saturday night looking for a nonexistent hotel) and saw a performance of Squonk Opera's Newark: The Opera. We had a good time and then made our way back to our little house, where I promptly fell asleep.

And everybody lived happily ever after.

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a little joke

Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering.

Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job."

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.

They moused.

They faxed.

They e-mailed.

They e-mailed with attachments.

They downloaded.

They did spreadsheets!

They wrote reports.

They created labels and cards.

They created charts and graphs.

They did some genealogy reports

They did every job known to man.

Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.

Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off..

Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.

Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming:

"It's gone! It's all GONE! "I lost everything when the power went out!"

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work..

Satan observed this and became irate.

"Wait!" he screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?"

God just shrugged and said,

JESUS SAVES...

(Groan)





I am in the process of trying to back-up the important stuff on the computer. Right now it crashes and turns it self off on a pretty regular basis. If I try to watch a video, crash. If I worked too long on a layout for the now successfully completed Souper Bowl, crash. If I try to copy a few files on to CD, crash.

This is a slow process. Sometimes I can just reboot, other times I need to wait, and wait and wait. It is very sad. and frustrating. Hopefully I will be able to back it all up and then wipe the slate clean. And begin again.

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