Downton Abbey

I just discovered Downton Abbey.  Audrey has been talking about it since the beginning but it was on at the same time as Desperate Housewives.  Late last night I tuned in to Season 1, Episode 1 using Amazon Prime where I got free streaming.  Today, by 6 PM I had seen all of Season 1.

 I'm hooked.

Now on to Season 2.

Blueberry Crunch (Dump) Cake

I was looking for some fruity recipe to make for Bridge Club and I came across a Blueberry Crumb Cake recipe I saved from Good Morning America where Justin Timberlake said it was his favorite recipe and his Grandmother made it.

I Googled Blueberry Crumb Cake to find other variations and then saw that this is really Dump Cake.  That sounded familiar to me and I looked in my old recipes and saw that I had a Cherry Dump Cake.  It's called a Dump Cake because you just dump all the ingredients into the pan that you're using to bake it in.  My kind of recipe.

Following is my version of the recipe.

Blueberry Crunch (Dump) Cake

1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple (undrained)
4 cups blueberries
3/4 cups sugar
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts chopped (can use pecans or nuts of choice)

Spray or butter bottom of 13 x 9 baking dish
Spread can of pineapple in dish
Mix sugar and blueberries and spread over pineapple
Sprinkle cake mix over blueberries
Drizzle melted butter over the dry mix
Mix 1/4 cup sugar with nuts
Sprinkle over cake mix

Bake at 350 ℉ for 1 hour or until nicely browned.

Neck Again

I have what I think is a pinched nerve in my neck but this time, at least so far, it's only impacting my shoulders and across my back between my shoulders.  Is that still considered shoulders???

I don't know it it's from playing golf or doing situps, but for now I won't be doing anything.  Too bad we don't have shuffleboard here.  Took some Aleve, used ice, then heat.  Now I have to go to work.  Hope it clears up in a few days and stays away from my neck.  I keep moving it around to make sure it stays mobile and listen to all those crunchy noises it makes.

Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese and Arugula

I went to the Farmers Market this morning and bought fresh goat cheese just for this salad.
There were so many variations of recipes I decided to just use the ingredients I wanted so here goes my adaptation.  No quantities in a lot of instances because it doesn't matter but one of the recipes said to be sure to use a lot of goat cheese.

Arugala blend and orange tomatoes

All Arugala and red tomatoes

Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese and Arugula

5-8 oz Arugula
Minced garlic (2 tsp of freshly minced)
4 oz goat cheese crumbled
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbls vinegar or lemon juice
12 oz small sized pasta (penne, rotini, elbows, etc)
Cherry tomatoes
 salt and pepper

Mix olive oil, vinegar/lemon juice and garlic, set aside
Cook pasta.
Mix goat cheese in with warm pasta.  If you make the pasta ahead, just run it under hot water and drain well.
Add the tomatoes, arugula and toss with the olive oil and garlic dressing.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Note:  For a complete meal add one can of garbanzo beans or other bean of your choice.

Update:

After making this a few times I came up with a version that we like even better.
In place of the olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice I use some Thousand Island dressing (Fat Free)
Added 3 green onions chopped.

Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad

Couldn't decide whether to make this salad or the Quick Salad to bring to dinner tonight, so I'm bringing both.

Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad

Ingredients

    •    1 ear corn (husk and silk removed; tip cut off)
    •    2 pints cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes, halved (or quartered if large)
    •    1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
    •    2 scallions, thinly sliced
    •    2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    •    1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower
    •    Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

Stand ear in a large wide bowl; with a sharp knife, carefully slice downward to release the kernels. Discard cob.
Add tomatoes, avocado, scallions, lime juice, and oil to bowl.
Season with salt and pepper, and toss gently to combine.

Serves 4

For my Doctor

~ ~ A Note for the Doctor  ~ ~
Just like every other thing in my life, I was going to start this a lot sooner.  Now I had only 4 days until my appointment so let me try to list all the things I can complain about.

Having never been a sick or achy person I am finding that having to deal with all these issues is not something I am used to.  However, I am grateful that these are what they are when I see all the things around me that are so much worse.  I have no cause for complaint but I can still list them.

Hidden files on Mac

I was looking for where the safari bookmarks were this morning and came across this helpful information about the library on the Mac using Lion here:
http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/Os-X-Lion-Is-Hiding-Your-Library-Folder.htm

A Reason to Go to Hamburg

Just saw this video, and I thought the miniature at the Ringling Museum was good.
Minuatur Wundeland
The Ringling Miniature Circus

Good going MVP Health Care!

Is this another one of those $0 bills?" I asked Larry as I started to open the envelope from MVP Health Care that was laying on the island since yesterday.
"I don't know," he replied, "I didn't open mine."

Kauai #2

Wednesday, May 30
We went to the hottub and pool this morning and were the first ones there.  Today was the first day we had almost continuous sunshine.

Later we went to the owner update and got a lot of good travel information and changed our mind about the free dinner and got 5000 points instead.  After lunch we were going to drop Mom off in some water and headed toward Hanalei but it never happened, couldn't find a good place to leave her.

We did get to stop at this overlook on the way over and get some good photos.  The beauty here is the best part.

And we added ourselves to the beauty too.