Shopping New Home Tracts in Las Vegas

Thought the decorators among you might be interested in a new home tract that I visited on Friday.  It's in Henderson (right outside Las Vegas).

Exterior elevation is a departure from what you normally see in Las Vegas.

Everything new is old redone--my friend, Sandi, had a stairway similar to this in her house built in the early 1980's; she called the area below the stairs "the pit."  It originally was a planter in her house.

Looking from the living room toward the kitchen (all one big room really)

Master bedroom and, of course because this is Las Vegas, lots of glitter.

Master bath--more bling

Another shot of the great room

Picture inside the model--reminded me of one of Mom's quilts

This house is the Plan 2820.

Looking down the street

Toby and the gift

Mackenzie sent the book, "I Could Pee on This and other poems by cats" by Francesco Marciuliano.  I enjoyed opening it...

Thanks, Mackenzie!  I look very handsome here but I left Debbie a present in front of the dishwasher tonight and peed on the rug to boot.  That will show her not to be gone all day...whooping it up in Las Vegas...

Winter in the Midwest

You Cali people keep bragging about your 80 degree weather… Well, here's a weather update from the midwest!

The cats won't even leave the porch because the snow is too deep (several inches).

It's warming up here. This morning it was 5 degrees, as opposed to -4 yesterday, when I dropped Ted off for work. And tomorrow, we're supposed to almost get up to freezing with a toasty 30 degrees. By Saturday, it might even be warm enough to rain instead of snow!

When the sun is out it's bearable, from inside the house.

The mornings are the hardest, since the sun doesn't come up until almost 8:00, and I have to be out of bed by 6am to get to class on time.

Sunrise this morning. You can see a sliver of moon and a planet (Venus?) there on the right.

Yesterday and today classes were cancelled at the University from 5pm to 11:30am, so I don't have class this morning. The cancellations are due to the dangerous wind chill of 30-below. Local elementary schools have also been cancelled the last two days.

I heard on the radio that some kids are stuck at school in Alabama because they can't get the snow cleared out for the buses. The kids had to spend the night there last night. I seem to remember a similar story my mom told me from when she was growing up….

Anyway, I'd much rather be in California right now. I wish there were a job there for Ted!

Another Summer Day

Heading out

Big waves today.  Too bad I didn't catch any.  Water was nice though...

Forget Florets - Roast the whole cauliflower

I am going to do a Debbie and Mackenzie and show you that yes, indeed, on rare occasions my oven does get used by someone other than Sherrie.
I saw this recipe on Facebook last night - and today I went out and bought the ingredients.  Here's the finished product:

You start out with a whole head of cauliflower (I started out with 2 because I like leftovers (but there is plenty of dip for two heads so no need to double the recipe like I did).  Here are the ingredients:

•  1-1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 2 T. chili powder.  I reduced this to 1-1/2 T. and it was plenty.
• 1 T. cumin
• 1 T. garlic powder
• 1 t. curry powder
• 2 t. kosher salt.  I used regular salt.  It was fine.  With all that chili powder, you're not tasting the salt.
• 1 t. black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 and lightly grease small cookie sheet w/vegetable oil.

Trim base of the cauliflower to remove green leaves and cut the stalk flat with the head.

Combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl.  Don't waste any lime.

Dunk the cauliflower into the bowl and fill in the voids with a spoon or your hands.  You can store the excess in the refrigerator and reuse.  Sherrie and I are going to try it with brussel sprouts later this week. 

Bake the cauliflower for 30 to 40 minutes until the surface is dry and lightly browned.

It says to let cool for 10 minutes, but I would only let it cool for 5 or less, because it wasn't very hot when I ate it.

I made a cheese sauce to dip it in, but I don't think it really added to the dish, and it definitely added to the calories.  Enjoy! 

Thursday morning - 9:30am

This is why I love surfing in the winter...

Thanksgiving (OK, kinda late but I just found the camera cord)

Dagmar hid the camera cord from me. I finally found it on her desk (she was sitting on it due to her menopausal memory loss)....her words - not mine.

This is just a start - more photos to come.