Dinner at Jeanette's

I thought I'd post a few photos from dinner at Jeanette's.  Mackenzie, Zach, and Jamie have actually been to her house years ago and swam in the pool with Jeanette's boys, Stewart and Miles. 

Jeanette's "boys" are on both ends of this photo.  Miles is in the dark shirt and Stewart in the grey shirt.  Stewart's wife, Vanessa, his daughter Tigan, and son Parker are in the middle.

Stewart had to work (he is a prison guard in AZ), so only Miles was there but the "boys" (gay couple) came from across the street and also Jeanette's friend, Pat, whose husband had to work.

Jeanette's kitchen.  Her husband, Gary, remodeled it a few years ago.

Gordon (from across the street) and Jeanette

The red jello mold (same one that you used to make Mom) prompted Jeanette to haul out one of her mother's cookbooks.  It was dated 1948--I flipped through it and laughed.  Desserts were the biggest category.

Jeanette's husband, Gary, is in the center.  Larry and Gordon are the guys from across the street.

Jeanette

Jeanette had bought a couple hats: a live turkey and a cooked turkey, and everyone had to try them on.  Larry ended up wearing the cooked turkey for most of the evening.

Toby's Response:

The cat who ate pumpkin pie

Last night I made two pumpkin pies.  One, from the Betty Crocker cookbook, and the other a new recipe for Pumpkin-Coconut pie from Food Network magazine.  I haven't tasted either so I don't know how they came out.  Toby, however, sampled the coconut version.  Sheesh!

Pumpkin-Coconut pie--note the divot where I scooped out Toby's "taste."  (Not sure why it cracked.)

Traditional pie - Betty Crocker recipe

This was earlier in the evening.  I didn't catch him eating the pie but I know Baja would not touch it.

I'm going over to my friend's house later with the pies.  Unless he learns to open the refrigerator...

500 Channels and NOTHING ON!

Are you kidding me? Football again?

Nuthin' on.

I'm bored.                                                                       

I dare you.

King Pug

We all know who's boss.

Chasing rain drops

We had our first good rain of the year yesterday (with more predicted for today and Saturday).  I caught Toby in action trying to catch the rain drops on the window.

 

And, in other news, the cat block is finished and in the mail to Mom.

Early Christmas

My Christmas cactus is in full bloom.  I included my feet in one shot so that you can see how large it is!

Making a quilt block for Mom

Mom won a block-making contest at Sisters this past summer.  The prize was a group of the finished blocks as well as materials to finish the quilt.  I volunteered to make a block and Mom gave me a "kit" of five fabrics. 

Mom, in front of the quilt blocks.  Her block (a vase with flowers on green background) has a white ribbon on it.

This is the "kit."

And two seconds after the fabric was on the floor...

I looked at a few cat patterns and finally settled on this pieced block but to get it to 9 1/2 inches, I had to draft it.  Last night I cut out the pieces and sewed it together.

Now that sounds simple.  It was NOT.  For one thing, I had all kinds of unwanted help.

Then I couldn't figure out how to piece the face.  And of course, when I finally decided on a method, I did it wrong and had to rip it apart.  Then I ran out of fabric and had to piece the scraps together.  Meanwhile, Baja had fallen asleep on the chair.

So finally I got the face sort of together...

Then I decided that the ears were too small and ripped them off.  The brown fabric was gone, so the ears became grey.

And you can see how much of the fabric was left.  Baja had totally claimed the chair and I was sewing sitting on the edge of the chair while she hogged the rest of it.  Sheesh!  I ended up paper-piecing the lower part of the face.  I used the wrong side of the fabric for the lower face and eyes.

This is the finished block.  Well, sort of.  I will add a nose and some whiskers.  Actually, I got out the embroidery stuff last night but Toby thought it was some sort of new game.  I gave up and went to bed...

Sometimes They Make Me Laugh

There are only 4 weeks left in the semester at Miami University. I can't believe it. My students are ready for it to end, which they are making apparent through their behavior and attitudes lately. They're ready to move on.

While they've been a pain in the a** lately, I videotaped them doing mock interviews yesterday, and they made me laugh so hard. I have 4 boys in my class (and I intentionally typed 'boys' instead of 'men', for even though they're all around 20, they still act very much like 3rd grade boys).

I can't share about them on my Ohio blog, for their privacy and all, but I figured I could share a little about them on this blog.

Below is a video of Nick and Albert. Nick is so funny, which is becoming apparent as he learns more English. His favorite phrase is "Oh my god!" said after every assignment is announced, in a way that says, "Oh my god! How are we ever going to get this done?!" It doesn't matter if the assignment is 1 page or 10 pages.

Albert is by far my favorite. He is thoughtful and quiet - the oldest guy in the class, so a little more mature. He also has the worst speaking and listening skills and will probably have to repeat Level 1 with me next semester. You can see in the video that his pronunciation is still very affected by his Chinese. But he is just so darn cute.

Anyway, I don't know if you'll find them as funny as I did while I was filming yesterday (Nick was ad libbing a lot), but I thought I'd give you a glimpse into my Mondays and Wednesdays here in Ohio. If you turn up the volume after the opening theme song, you'll be able to hear them better.

*By the way, the assignment was to pick a celebrity they'd like to interview and write 5 questions (we're working on question format in Grammar class). They also wrote the answers for their interviewee to say.

UPDATE: I'm adding one more video because this is the one where Nick was really hamming it up, though it's very hard to understand them in this one!

Chasing coyotes

Well, I walked yesterday and the surf has been flat for days, so I went for a bike ride today. 

My favorite bike route goes through San Clemente, past the Trestles surf break, past San Onofre power plant, and then through the state park.  At the end of the state park, you can ride through an opening in the fence and then you're on Camp Pendleton.  The trail continues along old Route 101 (the only road to San Diego before the freeway was built).  It's overgrown on both sides of the old road with weeds and small trees that are head high.  Over the years, I have seen rattlesnakes, plenty of squirrels, and once even a Marine running around wearing green greasepaint and a net covered with leaves.  It's a nice ride as you can sometimes see the ocean over to your right and there is no car traffic.

The route continues for about four miles after you leave the state park, it goes under the freeway, and then follows an old landing strip (which is super smooth and fun).  Today when I emerged from the freeway tunnel and turned right onto the old landing strip, I spotted a coyote in front of me and chased him for several hundred yards before he bounded into the bunches!  Too bad I didn't have my camera.

Lemon-Chicken Soup with Orzo

I tried an new recipe tonight (from Wednesday's food section of the paper) and it was YUMMY, and easy, and quick.  Thought you might be interested, so here it is:

1 T olive oil
2 small leeks, white and light green parts, halved and cut into 1/4 inch slices (rinse well)
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 large carrots, halved and sliced
2 C cooked chicken (I got a rotisserie chicken from Costco, which Toby LOVED)
6 C chicken broth
1/4 C fresh lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons, I found)
1/2 C orzo pasta
1 T butter
1/4 C fresh dill, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
Lemon wedges for serving

1.  Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Add leeks, celery, and carrots.  Cook 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start to soften and leeks just start to brown.

2.  Add the chicken, broth, and lemon juice, bring to a boil.

3.  After broth is boiling, add orzo and cook until done about 9 minutes.

4.  Stir in butter and dill.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve with extra lemon wedges.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Source:  Jill L. Reed (Orange County Register)

She says if you make a double batch of this to serve later, cook the orzo separately and add it later just before serving.  When left in the pot, orzo will soak up a lot of the liquid making the soup thicker and closer to the consistency of a stew.

Toby, always helpful.