Wednesday, October 21, 2009

51...81

Donny Osmond is 51 people - five one! I have going to marry him, did you know that. Me and a gajillion other teeny boppers around the world. I have been watching him on DWTS and he's doing well. I know that the Osmonds have a place in Branson and would love to go see their show. (stop laughing!)

Last Saturday I went to see Andy Williams. He wrote a memoir and had a book reading. The man is 81 people - eight one! He looks great! He stood there for about half and hour with the mic in his hand and talked, and delivered old jokes, and even sang. And ya know what he can still sing. I remember watching his TV show and the Christmas shows were AWESOME! He has a place in Branson too The Moon River Theater.

Now I have two shows to go see and I am sure I can find others that I would be interested in seeing. So, I'm thinking I need to plan a trip before something up and happens to Andy. Did I mention he's 81?

I already went to Vegas and saw Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton and it was such a great show. The man can hardly sing anymore but what an entertainer. It was great! Plus, I knew all the songs. I sang along the whole time. It was so much fun.

I still want to go back and see Tom Jones. I was going to marry him too!
Gotta win the lotto....

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Provence

I want to travel someday and one of my dreams is France. It has been since I was a little girl. I don't even remember when it started. I just seems to have always been there this wish to go to France. It's not specific to Paris - although its a must, duh - I want to see all of France.

In that vein one thing I have always wanted to try cooking with is Herbs de Provence. A unique blend of dried herbs including savory, fennel, basil, thyme, and lavender among others. Not a list I generally use in my daily cooking. I have always found it in catalogs and online in cute little ceramic pots that just evoke French country cooking. I've never bought it. I have never bought any herbs online, the whole 'know a reputable dealer' and all. This isn't something that I have ever really pursued or researched or even intentionally sought out. It has just been there in the back of mind.

Well, the other day walking through my local grocery store I had a coupon for a latin brand of spices that was about to expire. I was glossing over their selection assuming I'd get something ordinary like onion powder and then I saw a little tag that said "NEW Gourmet Blends". They had Italian Spice Mix and wait for it Herbs de Provence! HUH?! I couldn't believe it. I had to get it. I think they new I was coming and put it out just for me. I figured how bad could this be. They are dried herbs. I am sure there are better quality dried herbs but how bad could this be? I read the ingredients. Thyme, Basil, Savory Fennel, Lavender - wow, they are all there! I could not wait to get home and open it up and smell it. When I did, I could smell them all distinctly, I was soooo happy. I laughed to myself. Such a little silly thing a plastic container of dried herbs was making me giddy. I HAD to use it that night. Dang- we were going out. Fine, the next night. I made our Sunday chicken which is just a baked chicken. Perfect. I was smiling just shaking it on. I was the only one that noted the difference as it cooked. There was a hint of flowery lavender in the air. This did make me a little nervous because typically I have not liked flowery flavors in my food. I have tried many a dessert with lavender or rose water and sorry to say had to spit it out. But I was confident that I would like the chicken. At dinner I waited for the others to try it first. They made no comment. Then I tried it. YUM! There was definitely a difference how could they not say anything. I asked them if they liked the chicken. They both said yes and asked why I was asking had I done something different to it. Yes, I told them I put different spices on it. They shrugged. They couldn't tell. URGH! No matter, I could tell and I liked it.

I have since added it to a number of dishes and they still can't tell. I even added it to salad greens but the flavors were a bit strong for me. I prefer it cooked. So, I still haven't been to France but I got a little piece of Provence in my cabinet. Comfort and Joy!

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Garbo, Sleep and other assorted non-essentials

I have been meaning to blog, really I have but I haven't had time. By the time I finish with all the daily must-do stuff it is close to midnight and I think blog or sleep and sleep has been winning in that toss up.

So, here are some quick blurbs on what's been going on.

* I recently saw the movie Grand Hotel. Yes, that ancient black and white flick starring among many others Greta Garbo. Why? Because I had never seen it and its a classic and football season has started. Lower your eyebrows! Football season and classic movies do so have something to do with each other. After many years of marriage I have learned that Sunday I cannot watch TV in the living room during football season. Over time that unwritten and much enforced rule has spilled over to Monday nights, parts of Saturday day and sometimes Thursday night. That makes for lots of me time for me and my hobbies. I don't use this time for scrapping because that is set up to do while watching TV in the living room so this is either sewing time or reading time or movie time. This is why its the time of year when I shuffle the queue and a few classic movies get bumped to the top of the list for my viewing pleasure. Which brings us full circle and is why I recently saw Grand Hotel. It was so much fun to watch Barrymore, Garbo and a young Crawford! They don't make movies like that anymore. Seriously, the way the scenes are shot, the close-ups, the dramatic hugs. I also love watching all the special features with all the old stories of how this and that were done. Fun!

* I made Peanut Butter Bread. What? Never heard of it? No worries, I hadn't either but I saw it on a cooking show and made it on Saturday. We had it for lunch with wait for it, you guessed it - jelly! We didn't make sandwiches. We just sliced the bread and spread jelly on it and ate it. It was good. I wouldn't say it's my favorite or anything to write home about (just the world wide web) but it was something different. Hubby loved it. He's been having it for dessert every night with a glass of milk.

* I want to paint my guest bathroom. It's very small. The floor and half way up the walls are tiled in small black tiles. The fixtures are all gold and it has a white pedestal sink. I want to paint it a jewel tone color. I am really thinking about purple. Not a lavender or mauvy color a true jewel tone purple. My family thinks I'm nuts. It's such a small amount of wall space that it will only take a gallon. So, I figure if we hate it we could always paint over it. We'll see. I am still trying to convince hubby.

* The remote to the TV died. Over 2 weeks was spent banging the thing against the sofa or your thigh to make it work. I did not do this. It would work sometimes and sometimes not. When it didn't work, I didn't watch that TV. I told hubby to call our satellite company and order a new one. Did you call? I didn't think so. After 2 weeks of this it finally died for real. It wouldn't do anything. So, I went online and ordered a new remote. Ta-dah! It was at house in three days. I know, magic!

You're not all caught up but hopefully I will have time later to pass on all these life-altering tidbits.