TeleCooking

In all honesty, I have to say that I am a food fanatic. I love cooking; therefore it could come as no surprise I love to watch food shows. They come in all varieties; I started out watching basic cooking shows. I learned a great recipe here and there, a new way to prepare French bread pizza, the usual. It didn’t occur to me that I could turn TV cooking shows into so much more than entertainment. Seems like common sense, but I never decided to try the recipes I was watching. Eventually I got the brilliant idea to try to cook some of the food I saw on my food shows while watching them on satellite TV with NV direct tv channels. The results were more than spectacular, they were delicious. Not only was it a blast imitating my favorite food stars on Television, but I got to enjoy a delicious new recipe afterwards. Honestly, I enjoy cooking recipes while watching them on TV so much, I do it every Sunday. It started as a hobby and has turned into something much more. My friends and family have mysteriously began to spend Sunday afternoons at home these days, coincidence – I think not. We now officially call my new hobby of cooking while watching food shows “TeleCooking”. It might sound funny but it sure is fun and nobody is complaining about the great Soufflé I just made!

Post from guest writer Genega Hite.

See How My Garden Grows – Summer Series

Well, I know I posted last week about putting shade over my garden. That has not quite happened yet. We had issues with our rental house and had to deal with them. To make a long story short we needed to get tenants in there fast and I am happy to report that we were successful.

Sooo, I was forced to use some old curtains to cover the garden during the day. I will spare you any photos, because, trust me is is not exactly pretty. Let’s just hope that is good enough for now because I do not see the cover going up before next weekend. So here are a few photos before the evil sun tried to make my garden into a crispy pile of leaves.

Beans pre-sunburn.

Still looking green.

Today the asparagus is still looking good. Must like the heavy-duty rays!

Peppers are doing well too.

But here is the best photo. Ta-da! We have corn in the house crate people! Woot! Woot! Thank you, thank you very much!

Oh, and here is a little something I harvested today.

Did I say little? Umm meant big. I see a big cucumber salad in my near future.

Oh, yes we have clouds today. Thank you Lord for the natural shade. Could you send a little rain too?

Happiness Project

My son, Cpl Honda is a US Marine. He just returned from a deployment in April. Needless to say this made me VERY happy! My best friend, Lady Red and I went to homecoming. We stayed in San Clemente, CA. I love this city. It is the perfect beach town. We had quite an adventure and you can read about homecoming part one, part two and the final installment. Overall, we had a great time exploring the city, eating in some great restuarants, shopping and spending time at the beach.

I got some amazing shots of succulants growing outside of the shops we visited.

But the best photos of all are my son finally home!

Excuse the wild hair. It was humid and I have curly, thick hair and we were out there waiting for several hours. You know, military, hurry up and wait.

See How My Garden Grows – Summer Series

I am afraid my garden has an enemy. It should be a friend but it has turned evil and must be halted. What it the enemy? The sun. Yes, it is the sun. Out here in the Desert Southwest the sun can literally cook an egg on the pavement. I have seen it.

So the plan is to provide shade for the garden. Show I went to the home improvement store and bought this.

Corvette will put it up and now my lovely little veggies might have a fighting chance. I am still learning how to garden here in this heat from Hell.

Here is a few photos from my garden.

Look at that cucumber!

Mucho corn tassles!

Check out that cucumber

This was supposed to be lettuce. Do not know what went wrong. Hopefully next week will be better. This is leaving the building. Now.

A Watch For Dad.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Voctorinox Swiss Army. All opinions are 100% mine.

I remember when I was a young child I used to play a game called Kick The Can with my sister and the neighborhood kids. Kick The Can is like Hide And Seek except the people hiding have to kick a can to be safe. The seeking person counts to a specified number and then “seeks” the other players.

I loved playing this game and we played it everyday. The best part of playing the game was when my Dad came home from work he would play with us. He would run and hide and laugh and run to kick the can when he was discovered. When he was the seeker, he would sneakily look for us. I sometimes wonder today if he let us reach the can before him sometimes. Anyway, it is a memory that has a special place in my heart.

I recently learned about a sweepstakes to help honor Dad.You can enter to win a Victorinox Swiss Army watch. Would you like a chance to win one for your Dad? 30 lucky winners will do just that over 30 days. Just become a fan of the Victorinox Swiss Army Facebook IWAW sweepstakes page and participate in the I Wear A Watch Sweepstakes.

Visit www.swissarmy.com to view the collection of Swiss Army watches. Maybe you will find the perfect gift for Dad this year or maybe your husband or brother. Good luck with the Sweepstakes and Happy Father’s Day Dad and to all you other Dads out there.

You Capture – Water

Living in the Desert Southwest, water is not all that plentiful. I did manage to capture a bit of it though. So here goes.

This is a vase containing Bamboo that grows in water.

This is a shot of my hummingbird feeder. Notice the condensation inside.

Lastly, who does not enjoy a tall glass of ice water? Specially here in the Desert Southwest where water is a commodity.

I went the extra distance this week and learned how to make the rounded corners and used the photo filter effect on the first picture. I am definitely having fun playing with my photos. Even though I only have a little point and shoot camera, I have found that if you try really hard, you can end up with some nice shots.

I really want to get a DSLR!!! But, alas must save the money. Question: What camera are you all using? I have my eye on either a Canon or a Nikon. Please tell me in comments what you are using and what you like about it and/or dislike about it. This way when the time comes for me to buy one (probably in the next decade, sigh) I will have enough info to make a good choice.

Finding The Perfect Gift.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of FriendGiftr. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you sometimes find it hard to shop for people? Is it hard to find just the right gift for Uncle Joe or Grandma Bessie? Well I do believe I found the perfect solution. It is called FriendGiftr and you can find a gift card for over 120 merchants and restaurants. In addition, you do not have to go anywhere to pick up the gift cards. Just go to Friendgift’s site, pick out the merchant, pop in the recipient’s info, name, address etc and you are done! You can also use your smartphone, Blackberry, Iphone or Android to purchase a gift card and Friendgifr has a Facebook page that can be used to purchase cards too.

Now say the person you are gifting is not quite as excited about the merchant you chose. They can trade the card you sent for use on another merchant. There is no additional cost for the recipient to do so. In addition, the buyer does not know is the card in exchanged, so everyone is happy.

Did I also mention that the gift card is either digital or physical? The choice is completely up to you. The cards can be purchased in the amounts of $10, $20, $25, $35, $50, $75 and $100.

This would have come in handy for Butterfly’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. We got her shoes. She received two pairs. I could have got one pair and then given her a gift card for say Kohl’s and she could have picked out the second pair herself.

I think everyone likes to go out to eat. I was happy to see that you can get a Chili’s gift card because Chili's is a favorite restaurant of Corvette and me. I am amazed at the restaurant choices on Friendgiftr. Surely, there is a restaurant gift card that a friend or family member would love to receive.

So next time you need to find the perfect gift, why not try Friendgiftr? I think you will be pleased you did.

Happiness Project – Aunt Jessie

On June 13 my Aunt Jessie turned 100 years old. Now that really makes me happy. I wanted to share this remarkable event with my readers so I am going to link to post to a post that I wrote about her on Sunday. Please visit and leave a sweet comment for my Aunt. I will be ever so grateful.

Spreading the happiness today!

Happy 100th Birthday Aunt Jessie! You Go Girl!

I have an Aunt, her name is Jessie,  today she is 100 years old. Yes. you read that right. 100. Amazing. Really, it does not surprise me, because she was always very spunky and out there. I mean that in a good way. I remember my mom showing me a picture of her and another Aunt all decked out in Flapper attire. For those of you that are too young here is a brief explanation of Flappers. I equate it with the Hippies of my generation. Even though I was still a child in the sixties, I could see the romance of the era, as I sure my Aunt Jessie saw the romance of the Flapper era.

She raised two boys on her own in a time that it was not the norm. She did a great job. She lost one, just like Cinderella, only he was much older. I am not sure that matters though. She also lost a grandchild, just like me. Enough said.

She raised those two sons as a single mom while working at a prominent home for orphaned boys. Her two sons went on to live productive lives. One who served in the United States Air Force and one leading the faithful as a Methodist Minister.

She lived far from me, so I did not get a chance to see her much. When I was sixteen, I had a bit of trouble. I went to stay at her son’s home. She picked me up at the airport and then drove me to her son’s home. It was a long drive. She spent a lot of time speaking to me on that drive. I learned that it was ok to make mistakes as long as I learned from those mistakes. I also learned that she was a bit of a rebel in her day too.

She now spends her time reading and listening to University of Nebraska football. She is a BIG fan! Since this is where she was raised and lived, it does not surprise me. When her husband was still alive they traveled to some of Nebraska’s bowl games, primarily Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl. Also, went to many games in Lincoln.

Aunt Jessie will have a party on the 18^th of June which will include lots of friend and family. I wish I could be there, as does my mom, her baby sister.

Just know Aunt Jessie, we are all there in spirit. Also, know that I think about you often and you are an inspiration in my life. Thank you for guiding me all those years ago. That summer was one of my most memorable times in my life and even though I went on to make a few other mistakes, I eventually got it right.

So, Happy 100^th Birthday to you!

Please leave a comment and wish my Aunt Jessie a happy birthday. I will make sure they get to her.

See How My Garden Grows – A Summer Series

After so many days with 100 degree weather, I am happy to report that this weekend we are blessed with only 80 degree weather. So nice. I am sure my garden appreciates the cooler temps too. Anyway, I captured some nice photos this week. Enjoy!

This is a photo of some  of the flowers in my front yard. I can not remember what they are called, but for sure, they are beautiful. I did not edit this photo. The motion blur is natural.

Nice photo of the corn. The sky is so blue in contrast to the corn.

Here is my first beefsteak tomato. Not quite ready for harvest, but in time.

Another shot of my first tomato.

Here is a view of my garden. Through Lolly’s tree.

Another shot of Lolly’s tree.