Who was I visiting? IDK, my BFF Rachel!

Well I am now back, not really ready to be, but I am back nonetheless. I had the most wonderful time visiting Rachel. I headed out Thursday morning on my trek to Michigan. It has been almost 2 years since i've seen Rachel and in that time she went and had herself a baby! So of course when I made it to the airport, there was Rach holding her baby boy Seth and I started to cry. Tears of joy of course, and happiness... I have known Rach for so long and her desire to be a mother has been evident the first time i met her, and now here she is a wife and mother! My complete and utter happiness for her cannot be contained. We spent our time doing what we do best and that is just relaxing and enjoying each others company. I have great friends, but there is no one like Rach, where I can just show up and no matter how much time or distance has taken place, we start right where we left off, as if there was no lapse in time. We shared memories of our time in New Hampshire, including laughing over the whole "triangle incident" when we liked the same boy!! Along with all our other adventures of memories over the past 10 years!
Part of our time together included cooking and enjoying good food and conversation. The other part of the time was watching re-runs of our favorite show, Felicity. Rachel is a Noel person and I am so for Ben... and if you watched the show too, you will know what that means! Rachel made me a delicious Talapia dish one night and then on the another night I made her some artichoke chicken pasta. The best part was that her mom was just in Italy and she sent Rach a chunk of fresh Parmasiano-Reggiano cheese! That was amazing!! We also indulged in some yummy drinks, including our traditional Grasshopper, or as Rach calls them; "Butterflies".

I loved spending time with Seth, he is such a warm and bright and sweet little boy. I instantly fell in love with him, and I can safely say that his affections to me were matched! Seth is now 9 months old, and rach says he hasn't always been the easiest baby, with having colic and other medical issues, but now he is becoming quite the charmer. He wears this "cool space helmet" to get a flat spot evened out, but I think he looks adorable with it on! And he is growing and growing and soon he won't even need to wear the cool helmet!


I also got to visit with an old friend from years back, sweet Beth. She is probably the sweetest, gentlest person I've ever known, and it was fun visiting with her too!


Time went by way too quickly with this visit. I would've loved just one more day with Rachel. But I was blessed by our time, and happy that i am so lucky and privileged to gain such a perfect friend! I hope that it won't be another 2 years until we see each other. But I know that even if we went 10 years without seeing each other, we would always be able to pick up right where we left off!

"What a miracle of fate that we could live our lives at the same time on earth. How incredible God's plan." ~Falvia Weedn

In My Backyard?

****I posted this about 2 years ago and I thought it would be fun to post it again. Especially in light of the death of Michael Jackson.****

QUESTION:
If you could have any three bands\performers, alive or dead, over to play in your backyard who would you choose?

Who would i choose? I love such a variety of music from my past to my present. My choices? This is not going to be easy... But these are my 3 picks:

The Grateful Dead w\ Jerry Garcia, For Beaner and Tweaker and the hippy days!!! Steal your face forever!!!! The Dead can jam on and on and they have the best sing along songs.

Johnny Cash, cause who wouldn't want to dance to a rousing version of Ring of Fire and Folsom Prison Blues? I would die to hear A Boy Named Sue live!!!

Micheal Jackson (post Jackson 5, pre-nose job)... couldn't you just see him with the glove bringing down the house with Thriller, Beat It and Billy Jean! Throw in the Moon Walk and girls (and guys) are gonna swoon! Totally Sick!

Runner up: GN'R original 87' line-up.
So... what bands would make your backyard list?

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

By this time tomorrow morning i will be on a plane to Michigan. I will be visiting my BFF Rachel, and some other friends from long ago. This month will mark 10 years since I left everything that was familiar and moved across he country to New Hampshire. It's hard to imagine that this much time has passed, some days it feels like I just left. My time in NH was difficult and wonderful all in one year. The best part of moving there was meeting Rachel. I knew the moment I saw her that we would be best friends. We have seriously gone through so much together, loss and birth, boyfriends and marriage and moves criss-crossing the country. Yet here we are, still as close as the day we met, probably closer, because we have shared so much history. I am looking forward to just chillin' and doing what we do best, just being our goofy selves. I will report back with an update of my travels probably Monday night next week, when I return. peace.

Rock Lobster!

Have you ever heard the B-52's song Rock Lobster? If not, I have the video below. This is one of the coolest goofiest songs known to man. I was never a fan of the B-52's because unfortunetly I only knew them because of that dumb song Love Shack! But one night about 4 years ago, my boyfriend at the time, put this album on his record player, and he played me Rock Lobster. WE danced and danced to this song, and we laughed and laughed. This by far was craziest boyfriend i ever had, and every day was an adventure with him. The relationship was short lived, because silly boys only get you so far, but overall it was one of the funnest years of my life! Rock Lobster Forever!

Drink Du Jour

This is a take on the Bloody Mary, but with way more za za zing! I have been making this drink now, almost everyday for a week. It is deliciously spicy and fresh. And very healthy too! I don't add the alcohol, but you could add gin or vodka for a kick.

Red Snapper

5 ice cubes
6 fluid ounces of vegetable juice hot & spicy
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon brine from olive jar
1 pinch hot chili powder
1 pinch garlic powder
1 pinch ground cumin
1 pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon prepared horseradish

DIRECTIONS
Place ice cubes into a cocktail shaker, and pour in tomato juice, gin, lemon juice, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Season with chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, celery salt, pepper, and horseradish. Cover and shake until the outside of the shaker has frosted. Pour contents (including ice) into a 12 ounce highball glass. Garnish with celery, pickle, olives, and lemon wedge before serving.

A story...

I was just thinking about this little story I heard about an old married couple. The man was crotchety and gruff and completely pessimistic, and his wife was nagging but in an endearing way. One day they went on a boat cruise that also happened to have a fishing contest going at the same time. Now in order to actually win you would need to have purchased a raffle ticket. So even if you caught the biggest fish, if you had no ticket, you received no prize, which in fact was around $5000! So the man and his wife boarded the boat, and set out for a day at sea. Now the husband wanted nothing to do with raffles and the like, and told his wife, “I don’t want to buy no damn raffle ticket”, which the wife replied, “Fine, but don’t come crying to me, when you need one.” The gruff old man went fishing and low and behold he caught the largest fish of the day. When he went to show the judges, his prize fish, they said to him, “You have indeed caught the largest fish, but do you have a raffle ticket?” The man hung his head regretfully and was about to say no, when his wife came forward with a raffle ticket she had gone on to buy, regardless of what her husband had said. And as the judges handed over the money to the couple, the wife looked at her husband and said, “Eat Crow!”
And so this couple tells this story with a glimmer in their eyes, and a smidgen of a smile on the old man’s face. And you know without a doubt that this grumpy old man loves his wife, and the wife loves her husband, not despite of his crotchetiness, but because of it.

Friday night laid back...

I am finding that more and more, and maybe it is my age, but i really like to just chill on a friday night. Not that i wouldn't pass up an opportunity to shake it up on a friday, but i try purposefully to not make plans. And really, i have no problem being home alone on a friday... I mean where does it say that you HAVE to be doing something all weekend long! During the week, I get up early, work all day and almost every weeknight i have something going on! so who's to say that friday can't be a chill night? I am not ashamed! I made some delicious thai noodles with crunchy carrots, that made my heart skip a beat! Hey I even busted out a set of chopsticks I purchased in China over 5 years ago! Life is too short not to use the good kuàizi! (chopsticks)

Crunchy Thai Noodles

Serves 6, (the recipe called for snap peas, bell peppers & scallions, which i had none of, so i used carrots, which tasted just fine!)

Kosher salt

1/2 pound thin spaghetti

1 cup sliced crunchy carrots

1 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/3 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon honey

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds, toasted

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
For the dressing, whisk together the vegetable oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, peanut butter, salt, to taste, and the pepper, in a medium bowl.
Combine the spaghetti and carrots in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the spaghetti mixture. Add the parsley and mix again.