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.

Kauai #1 - 5/26 - 5/28

Saturday, May 26
While we waited for the Hertz van at the Kauai airport we were greeted by a rooster. Little did we know how popular they are here. One of the theories of why there are so many is that when hurricane Iniki hit in 1992 chicken farms and backyard chicken coops were destroyed setting the chickens free and they've been free to roam ever since.

On our way to Kauai

I'm waiting at the airport for Larry to drop off our rental car

Maui #2 - 5/23 - 5/26

May 23, Wednesday
We took a drive south along the west shore of Maui until we ran out of road.  There was a lot of lava there and black sand.  I took a few pieces of lava for souvernirs and then had a funny feeling about it so I Googled a query, found that it was bad luck and promptly put it back.
This island is so interesting.  It can be dry and desert like in one area and if you keep driving it becomes green and lush.

Maui #1 - 5/19 - 5/22

May 19, Saturday

Arrived in Maui

After sitting on a plane for over 8 hours from Chicago we arrived in Mai 34 minutes early - lucky break. I love this airport , it's small and our bags came off so quickly.

I love my new luggage - can't miss it!

Larry's getting waited on now at the Hertz counter and then we have a 45 minute drive to our resort.

Princeville

My dear friend Marney, whom I haven't seen since high school owns a vacation rental home on Kauai in Hanalei.
I didn't realize until now that it is 4 miles from where we'll be staying.

The in between weeks

We came home from Florida on Sunday, April 29th.  On Monday I went to the dentist for a crown that I lost the previous Friday.  It came off my tooth Wednesday night.  I was eating something and all of a sudden something really hard was in my mouth.  I was able to put it back on my tooth and hoped I wouldn't have any pain until I could get home and see the dentist.  I then forgot about it and it must have been while I was eating a big plump grape that I swallowed it and never knew it.
I have another appointment for June 4th.

On Tuesday I went to see Conor at Hoselton and replaced my leased red Toyota Rav4 for a silver Rav.  I love the bluetooth enabled automatic playing of my books from my iPhone. 

There were tons of blossoms on the apple tree.  Last year we didn't have a single apple so I wonder if this is the year for them.

I spent a week unpacking, packed to go to Greta's and went to Katie's birthday dinner at P.F. Chang's

Getting ready for Hawaii

After going through my clothes that were all over the bed for the last time, well it probably won't be the last time, I was able to get them into one side of the medium size suitcase.  But as I was looking at some of my new tops I thought that I could use some new jewelry to go along with them.  I went into my craft corner and whipped up two necklaces and two pairs of earrings.  I was glad to be able to do that since I had all these beads and findings that I bought over a year ago and have barely used.

Here are my creations with the blouses they are matching.

Beef and Guiness Stew

I came upstairs to print out my packing list so I wouldn't forget anything for our trip to Hawaii.  Of course, somewhere along the line I got distracted and looked at the People magazine hightlights on my Google homepage.  I saw the article about Molly Sims and her baby shower and was curious because I wasn't really sure who Molly was, even though I recognized her name.  Sorry Molly!  So I read the article and went to her website and being as curious as I usually am looked around and came across this recipe that I want to try. Good pictures of the food on Molly Sims website and it's a recipe from Gavan Murphy (I didn't know who he was either).  Guess I'm really out of touch.

Macaroni and Cheese

This is a recipe I want to try when we come back from Hawaii.  Larry saved it from the paper while I was in CT so I guess he's glad that I agree it looks good.  But oh so fattening!!!