Ooooo! Don’t you love it? I do! It is an art tile that we bought in Napa, but it was made in China. It can be hung, propped up, and/or used as a trivet. Guess what I am doing with it?
My flower tile for today’s Friday Photo.
Flower Tile
Posted by terrepruitt on November 16, 2018
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: art piece, art tile, decorative tile, flower, flower tile, made in China, Napa, trivet, wall hanging | Leave a Comment »
Milanese Gremolata Olive Oil
Posted by terrepruitt on November 14, 2018
We recently went on a trip to Napa. Napa is famous for producing wine. It is amazing because it is one of the smallest wine producing areas in the world. We like to go every once in a while and do some wine tasting. It had been about three years since we last were there. The plan was to visit wineries a couple of days and downtown a couple of days. We had a driver so that we could both do the wine tasting at various wineries. We had a good time. When we go, we like to stay close to downtown so that we can walk to it and visit all the shops and also do some wine tasting at the wine shops and tasting rooms. But, I don’t know that we will do that the next time we go because it seems like the quaint little shops are gone and it basically is a bunch of expensive boutiques now. We didn’t even go into any of the stores, except for the one that is a part of the Square One Tasting Bar. There is a counter in the store and you can sip and shop at the same time. In addition to wine and stuff Napa Valley Olive Oil is in there. They have flavored olive oil and flavored vinegar. Ooooooo! So yummy.
We took our time drinking our tastings and so I was popping over to the olive oil/vinegar side and grabbing some bread and oil and vinegar. There were so many, I can’t even tell you. I tasted probably about seven or eight and I didn’t even scratch the surface it seemed. I did find a new oil that I am in love with.
It is Milanese Gremolata Olive Oil. It is so good. I had Milanese Gremolata before at Italian Restaurants. They bring a dish with olive oil and Italian flat leaf parsley, minced garlic, fresh lemon zest in it. When I dip the bread in I try to get some of the Milanese Gremolata on the bread. But this olive oil is infused with the flavors. There is nothing floating in it, but it is so flavorful I just can’t get over it. I have been using it on everything.
I put it on our pasta and used it in my pumpkin soup. I think I am going to have to get a subscription for it. It is so good.
I also got two vinegars from them. It was difficult to decide, but I kept it down to just two. One was one that the wine shop person recommended I try. She was right, it is so yummy. I got Tangerine and Cranberry Pear.
These three things are going to be working their way into all of my cooking.
Do you like flavored oil? Do you like flavored vinegar? Do you have a favorite?
Posted in Food | Tagged: Cranberry Pear White Balsamic Vinegar, downtown Napa, Milanese Gremolata Infused Olive Oil, Napa Valley Olive Oil, pumpkin soup, Tangerine Balsamic Vinegar, wine country | Leave a Comment »
Roasted Pumpkin Soup 2.0
Posted by terrepruitt on November 12, 2018
As you may know, if you read my blog, we get an organic box of produce delivered. The service we use allows us to actually pick what comes in the box. It somewhat defeats my whole idea of getting a box delivered, but it is also nice. When I get the e-mail, sometimes I forget to log in and pick what I want in the allotted time so I end up getting what they send. I would not have gotten a sugar pie pumpkin two deliveries in a row, but, my fault, I didn’t stop it. I felt as if we had just had stuffed pumpkin so I didn’t want to do that again so I decided to make pumpkin soup. I looked up my post of Roast Pumpkin Soup and I read what I wrote, so I didn’t want to follow that recipe exactly. And since I was going to just make a few minor tweaks I didn’t think I would be posting about it. Well, my husband and I loved it so much I wanted to make sure I made note of it. I will not be using the other pumpkin soup recipe again. Although, this one is VERY similar, I liked the tweaks I made so this one is much better. It didn’t have any of the bitter that I spoke about with the last recipe.
But, as usual, I didn’t plan on posting about it, so I didn’t think to take a picture the night I made it. We had enough to eat on it for three days. So the pictures are of the leftovers.
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Roasted Pumpkin Soup 2.0
1 sugar pie pumpkin
Milanese Gremolata olive oil
garlic salt
2 large shallots
32 ounces chicken broth (Better Than Bouillon)
8 ounces of dry sherry (and then some, for splashing)
1 teaspoons salt (and then some, for sprinkling)
1/2 heaping teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 heaping teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon marjoram (and then some, for sprinkling)
sprinkle of pepper
sprinkle of nutmeg
1 pint of heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 450° F. Wash the pumpkin, then cut so that you can remove all the seeds. Then cut it into pieces. Rub the pumpkin pieces with olive oil and sprinkle both sides of each piece with garlic salt. Then place the pumpkin – skin side up – on a parchment paper lined baking pan. Bake it for 20 minutes. Take the pumpkin out of the oven – here is where you can salt it again if you would like. Turn each piece over and sprinkle with marjoram. Then bake it for about 30 minutes more. This is where you have to decide if it is done or if it needs more time in the oven. Use a fork, poking each piece to see it if is cooked to your liking. I like it to have the roasted flavor so I bake it until there are some browned spots.
While the pumpkin is roasting. Chop the shallots. Heat up some olive oil in your stock pot or soup pan. Then cook the shallots. Once the shallots are cooked, add the broth. Stir the broth and shallots. Then add the sherry. Stir the broth and sherry. While stirring add the salt and all of the spices. Bring it to a low boil.
When the pumpkin is done roasting put it in your super blender (or perhaps you have an immersion blender*) with a splash of sherry and blend it until you have a pumpkin puree. (I used the “soup” setting on my blender.)
When you have the pumpkin puree add it to the liquid in the soup pot. Stir the mixture until the puree and the liquid are incorporated. Then add the cream. Stir until the cream is incorporated into the soup. Bring it a low boil. Then serve.
*with the immersion blender add the pumpkin to the liquid then blend until smooth
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This was really good.
I am including the Milanese Gremolata olive oil as an ingredient because we just bought this magical elixir from Napa and I love it and I am using it in everything. I do think that it really helped elevate the flavor of the soup. But, regular olive oil will work, too.
The first two night we had this with some Pugliese bread from the store. It was very good dipped into the soup. The third night I made beer bread adding, a teaspoon of garlic salt, a teaspoon of garlic, and two teaspoons of marjoram. It paired REALLY well with the soup.
My husband is already pestering me to make this again! I better do it at least one more time before the sugar pie pumpkins are all gone!
Well, now I have two pumpkin soup recipes you can make. Which one will you make?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: Beer bread adding, better than bouillon, chicken broth, heavy cream, marjoram, Milanese Gremolata olive oil, organic box of produce, Pugliese bread, pumpkin soup, shallots, Stuffed pumpkin, sugar pie pumpkin | Leave a Comment »
Frittata Pic
Posted by terrepruitt on November 9, 2018
My Friday Photos as just supposed to be photos, but they ARE supposed to be pictures of things that I want to share, but really don’t need or deserve a long written post. I didn’t want to share this picture without more information. Even though this is before cooking I didn’t NOT want to share this picture because that was one GREAT Frittata. I use this basic Frittata recipe (click here) and put whatever ingredients I have on hand. This one pictured had leeks, mushroom, and sausage. Yum. I don’t have a cast iron skillet or a stove pan that can go in the oven so I just use a casserole dish.
Frittata for today’s Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Friday Photo, frittata, frittata for brunch, leeks, Sausage, yummy breakfast, yummy dinner | 2 Comments »
Sweet Little Flower Arrangement
Posted by terrepruitt on November 2, 2018
Here is a sweet little flower arrangement for today’s Friday Photo. Sunflowers are so cool. And these ones were beautiful. The yellow is stunning with that blue table cloth back drop.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: flower arrangement, Friday Photo, Sunflowers | 2 Comments »
Selective Eater
Posted by terrepruitt on October 31, 2018
A Facebook Friend posted this list recently on Facebook. She received a lot of replies. I was pretty surprised at them. For so many years I was called a picky eater so I was happily surprised to see I was not among the pickiest out of the people who replied to her query. There was one woman who answered 17. SEVENTEEN! The response to her response was, “What do you eat?” I mean, seriously. There are so many things on this list that I DO eat, and they are pretty much staples in my diet I was wondering the same thing about this woman.
The numbers from the responses were funny. There was only a handful of people who were in the 0 range. With the bulk of the people being in the 1 to 5 and 10 to 15. And only one being over 15. That was the result when I decided to count, but I am sure that it changed as I saw people had commented after I had done my quick count. I was just curious. I really just wanted to see how many people were “pickier” than me. I do understand, as I am sure so do you, there are a lot more reasons than, “I don’t like it” as to why people don’t eat some things. I am actually very grateful for all of the allergies and intolerances that are now an everyday thing because – again – most people don’t just label someone picky . . . wait staff doesn’t even blink any more when someone orders a menu item but ask for something to be removed. It is no longer really considered a “special order” it is just an order. With so many different diets and things going on it is ok to “rearrange” a menu item – as I call it.
Here is the list with the items I won’t eat circled. I don’t really like green olives with the pimentos, but without them they are fine. I will eat raisins especially golden ones, but I don’t care for the black ones, but sometimes I will eat them. If they are in a dessert item, I will generally not eat that item because . . . it is probably something I should be avoiding anyway. I don’t eat fish raw or otherwise. I like celery soup, but I don’t like celery and I prefer it NOT be in things (chicken salad, green salads, etc.). I don’t like avocados. I don’t even like to touch the mush of them — eww. And I don’t like mustard.
What about you? How do you fair with this list? How many points did you get?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: brussels sprouts, mushrooms, picky eater, raw fish, selective eater, tofu | 8 Comments »
Henna – Again – At The Dancing Cat
Posted by terrepruitt on October 29, 2018
Snow, he looks tiny here.
If you want to interact with the cats it might be a good idea to plan a visit before meal time. When you visit a cat after a meal they tend to be sleeping. Not all of them, but most cats like to nap after a meal. I went to The Dancing Cat for another Henna Tattoo Event and most of the cats were asleep. I couldn’t even identify all of the cats because some of them were just passed out. Some cats don’t mind being bothered while they are sleeping but some do . . . and either way it is not very nice to bother them. One was looking around and I tried to get a picture and she turned her head clearly not into it so I left her alone. I managed to get a quick picture of two of the other sleeping felines. There were about four that were walking around. Currently they have nine for adoption. When I visited there were at least 10 with the tenth one on schedule to be delivered to his forever home on Sunday. He was one of the ones walking around and he was a big ol’ sweetie.
Snow, again, he has beautiful markings!
Here is a breakdown of the cats I was able to get pictures of; Snow – the boy off to his forever home (at the time of this posting), Ruby, a tiny little treasure of a black cat, Layla – who never opened her eyes, Monique, who was wandering around, and Penny, who was passed out in the Sanctuary.
I don’t even know the current exact count of how many cats The Dancing Cat has adopted out. I know it is over 300. That is a lot of cats for a thing that started out as a pop-up. It was only going to be opened for about six months. And it closed down temporarily for a few months, but it re-opened and is going strong.
Tiny Ruby.
They have all kinds of events; yoga, Mew-sic, cat photography, birthday parties, henna tattoos, cat education talks, even escape rooms!
The “I Knead My Mommy” book had “The Lap” poem in it. I found both the title of the book and the poem to be very funny!
My henna is the flowery one, I hadn’t even thought about a “Halloween themed” one, but here is one that she did.
I do hope if you are ever in the area and feel the need to visit with cats you will check it out. If you are local and you like cats and want to help support the safe housing and adoption of cats, schedule a visit with the cats or attend one of the many events The Dancing Cat hosts. With that you get the benefit of the event you decide to attend AND a visit with the cats.
Have you made it to The Dancing Cat? Do you have a cat cafe/lounge in your area?
Layla, she has a beautiful face!
Monique, she has great coloring!
Penny was passed out!
I tried to get Cary in the shot of my tattoo.
Cool Halloween Themed Tattoo.
Snow, in the egg.
A couple of the yummy treats you can buy.
Posted in Cats | Tagged: adoption lounge, cat adoption, cat cafe, events at a cat lounge, Henna Tattoos, meet before you adopt, San Jose cat lounge, sleeping cats, the dancing cat | Leave a Comment »
A Black Cat For Halloween
Posted by terrepruitt on October 26, 2018
Ha, next Friday will not be October, so here is a Halloween Friday Photo as close to Halloween as I can get since Halloween is next Wednesday. This is a black kitty pillow. It was so cute I wanted a picture. I didn’t even ask the owner if I could take a picture for posting. I am pretty sure she wouldn’t mind!
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: black cat, Friday Photo, Halloween | Leave a Comment »
Roasted Polenta
Posted by terrepruitt on October 24, 2018
I like polenta, but oddly enough, I am talking about the kind that is in a tube. I am not sure I have tried the mush type — oh wait, I think I had a taste of some at a restaurant and it was delicious. But I don’t make that kind. I have only cooked with the tube kind. It is very firm and a bit rubbery. It can be sliced. I imagine it can be made into the mush kind with enough liquid. But, if you’ve read more than one of my posts about food you know I love to roast things. I love to put things in the oven and then be able to do something else while it is cooking. Well, I posted once about Polenta “Fries” so my Cubed Polenta is not that different. But the “fries” were really french fry-like, whereas the polenta cubes were more like my roasted potatoes. They were very good, as least I thought so.
The same cooking method applies the only difference is the way you cut the polenta.
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Polenta Cubes
1 tube of polenta
olive oil
season salt
Preheat the oven to 450° F. Cut the polenta out of the plastic. Then cut the polenta into small even cubes. Cut the whole tube into equal sized cubes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Then spread the cubes out on the pan. Sprinkle with a little oil. Sprinkle with the season salt. Place pan in the oven. Let the polenta bake for 15 minutes. Then take the pan out of the oven and stir the cubes around. Put the pan back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Then check the polenta. If they are done to your liking, take them out and serve. If you want them cooked more, flip ’em or toss them on the pan, then put it in for 10 (or whatever) minutes.
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If you cut the cubes even then the whole pan should cook pretty much the same. When I do potatoes for some reason I end up with really small ones and big ones and they don’t all cook even so I have some that start to burn before the others are cooked. With the tube it is easier to cut them all the same size. I buy the basil garlic polenta in a tube. I like it to start off with flavor.
As I said, the cubes are more like potatoes, in fact my husband kept calling them potatoes. A little bit different texture and consistency but ok.
The problem with me typing up my blog before dinner is I end up wanting the food I am writing about. Sometimes I can make it because I have it, but presently I do not have any polenta . . . but I see a trip to the store in my future.
In my Polenta Fries post I asked for ideas for tubes of polenta, I didn’t get any . . . so hence, cubed polenta.
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: cubed polenta, easy side dish, polenta, polenta fries, tube polenta | Leave a Comment »
Working Out Or Working In
Posted by terrepruitt on October 22, 2018
Many types of certifications require continued education. Some jobs require it. In many cases even if it is the employer that requires it, the employee has to pay for it. In the fitness industry there are other expenses that the fitness professional must bear in addition to anything it cost to keep their certifications current. One is insurance and there maybe others, but another one that comes to mind is the cost of a business license. I am just bringing this up because I spent a few hours today taking classes for a required re-certification for one of my employers. Since I was busy doing that I didn’t have any time to let my “creative juices” flow in order to come up with a blog post, so I was going to share some of the things I reviewed today. One thing about fitness classes for re-certification it is often a repeat of information, but I usually pick up at least one new thing. Here I am going to just share the training entity’s general idea from one of the classes I took today.
The training was basically saying that it has now been proven and continues to be proven as science delves more into many aspects of the body – that the body needs rest. The body cannot operate efficiently without rest. The idea was “Working In” versus “Working Out”. So working out is what you may typically think of as working out; running, lifting weights, HIIT, a typical cardio dance class. To put it simply, something that gets your heart rate up, stresses the body, and is a big output of energy. The idea of working in is a more relaxed type of exercise, say, Tai Chi, walking, easy yoga, stuff that is more mellow, doesn’t actually stress the body out, and is more about energy moving in.
The thought process is that we have so much stress in our everyday life, there are times when a hard workout is NOT what the body needs. And not just the physical aspect of the body but our mind. Since the body does not know the difference between scary bad stress and exercising stress, it is good to give it a rest. And a rest could be doing nothing or doing their idea of a “work in”.
I think most people know that in order to build a muscle it needs to be stressed, but it also needs to rest. It actually grows during the rest NOT during the period of time when it is under stress. When the muscle does not get rest it will not grow and it cannot strengthen and that is when the risk of injury occurs. So . . . . it seems logical that sometimes the body needs to rest in order for it to be able to work at its best.
The body is so amazing. It can heal itself and adapt. But in order to do both it needs some time to rest.
It is so nice that studies/science are now starting to “prove” this idea because it is so very important. And so many people, cultures even, have known this for so long . . . it is nice that science is finally agreeing so maybe more people will start listening and take advantage of “working in”.
What about you? Do you take “rest days”? Do you do “mellow” workouts – things that might be deemed as “working in”?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: ACE, cardio dance, cardio workout, easy workouts, hard workouts, HIIT, HIITT, Tai Chi, working in, Working Out, Yoga | 4 Comments »
