Posted by terrepruitt on November 30, 2018
I have explained before, I think, that I take selfies with my cats to send to my husband sometimes. Yeah I did, because I remember explaining how bad I am at selfies. Well, this is further proof! This is Nessa in her tower and I managed to get my eye! I am sharing this picture of our cute little girl for today’s Friday Photo!
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: cat tower, Friday Photo, Nessa, selfies, selfies with cats | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 28, 2018
I love burning candles. I love the flicker of the flame. I actually like to SEE the flame. I have not been impressed with the electronic candles. The “flames” “flicker” was not very good. I had purchased tea lights but I don’t think I have used them but once because they don’t really give me the atmosphere of a real candle. Then there are the ones, I’ve seen them mostly as pillars, where you don’t even see any type of fake flame. It is just a glow within the “wax”/candle. Those are even less of what I want when I light a candle. For my birthday I received a large set of electronic candles. I looked at them and thought, “Hmmm. I don’t really like electronic candles.” But I took them out of the box to give them a try. Usually I keep the box for everything, but this one I put in the recycle right away and I am wishing I would have kept it. At least I have the instruction booklet. I like these ones.
The candles I received are Mirage electronic candles. Since I threw my box away this is a picture from the internet.
These electronic candles have a fake “flame” on the top of each pillar. It is just plastic in the “shape” of a flame. But there is a little bobble in the candle that moves and it makes the light flicker. To me it is much more like a real flame. Plus, the little bobble make a noise and while it is not exactly like the noise from a flame it reminds me of it.
Also these are controlled by a remote control. So instead of me having to pick up each candle and flip a switch on the bottom to turn them on and off, I just press a button. They don’t always ALL go on at once, but that is ok, I just keep pressing the button until the go on. The same with off. They also have a programmable timer which I didn’t pay attention to the first time I used them and my husband said, “Your candles are broken. I came in and they were on in the middle of the night.” They can be programmed to turn on every day at the same time. That happened the first couple of times actually, because I had activated the timer using the button on the bottom of the candle.
There is also just a timer on the remote control where you can turn the candles on for 5 hours or 10 hours.
The one issue I have with them is the fact that each candle takes four double A batteries. That just seems like a lot to me, but . . . . the batteries came in the box with the candles, so that is nice. And we have been using them pretty consistently for about two and half months and they are still working.
I realize these might not be new to some since they have probably been around for some time . . . but I like to share things that I think are cool even if I am “late to the party”.
I was thinking the these might be a great Christmas gift. As I consider them a great birthday gift that I received.
I love burning candles, but when it is hot I don’t like to have the flame add to the heat in the house. And I had not liked any of the electronic candles I had seen before. So I am really enjoying these candles. Since it is winter we turn them on PLUS light a real candle so we have a lot of hygge. But with these candles we can have a sense of hygge in the summer, too!
Do you like electronic candles? Do you have any?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: amosphere, burning candles, electronic candles, flame flicker, flickering flame, hygge, Mirage candles, remote controlled candles | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 26, 2018
Last week I decided to make pumpkin soup for Thanksgiving. Ever since our dads died we don’t really do Thanksgiving. My husband’s siblings are off with their kids and I don’t have any siblings. So we do our breakfast in Capitola – although we might have to actually eat breakfast somewhere else before going to Capitola as this year nothing was really open for full breakfast – and then we just eat whatever for dinner. Last year I didn’t even think to plan anything for dinner and I think we ended up going to Chavez market to get burritos. This year I decided to make pumpkin soup. The problem with that is pumpkins are gone from the stores by Thanksgiving. I sort of expected that, but I was HOPING there would be some, but there was not. I am very thankful for cellular service and Google – while standing in the store I decided to try something else. I was thinking any type of winter squash would work, it would just be squash soup. There was this not-so-attractive-green-pumpkiny looking thing and I looked it up and it is actually called a Japanese pumpkin. So cool. I decided to try the Kabocha squash.
As I said the Kabocha squash is also called a Japanese pumpkin. Wiki also said that it is even sweeter than butternut squash. I thought this was great as it would help cut down on the bitterness (although the Roasted Pumpkin Soup 2.0 recipe took care of that). The store also didn’t have any heavy cream so I got half and half. I thought that would be good too, since the kabocha squash is said to be sweeter. The half and half would be less sweet than the heavy cream so I was confident it would all work out fine.
Well . . . let me tell you, that Kabocha squash is SUPER difficult to cut. The skin is very thin, but it is super tough. It was a challenge. Not impossible, but way more time consuming than I had planned. I had planned to hop in the kitchen cut up the Japanese pumpkin and throw it in the oven then have time to do other things, but no, it was tough.
I roasted it with Milanese Gremolata olive oil, salt, and marjoram and it came out lovely. It is a very good squash.
Using it for the pumpkin soup was fantastic. It worked out great. I used the skin and all in the soup. I just roast it and then put the chunks in the blender. Now I know that I can get two sugar pie pumpkins and a Japanese pumpkin over the Fall Season. So that means one or two stuffed pumpkin dinners and/or making pumpkin soup one or two times.
We ate pumpkin soup for four days and we were actually sad last night to finish it. It was very good. Oh . . . . I did add a cup or two of broth each night when I heated it up. It got VERY, VERY thick. So I mixed in a cup or two (depending on how much I was heating up) to help thin it out.
Now you know you can make pumpkin soup with a sugar pie pumpkin or a Japanese pumpkin. Or perhaps you already knew that. Did you know about the Kabocha squash?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: beach, Capitola, Japanese Pumpkin, Kabocha squash, pumpkin soup, roasted squash, sugar pie pumpkin, Thanksgiving | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 23, 2018
We went to Capitola to have breakfast on Thanksgiving as we have done the last three years. Nothing was open for a full breakfast, but we got coffee and a burrito (John) and a bagel (me) at Mr. Toot’s. I had never been there so I was happy. It was a GORGEOUS day. We had just gotten a bit of rain and that helped wash the air of the smoke that we have been having from the fire that was almost 200 miles away.
We had a nice time. It was so beautiful I took a bunch of pictures I have to share at least one for the Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: beach, breakfast, Capitola, Friday Photo, Mr. Toot's, ocean, Thanksgiving | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 21, 2018
There are so many different ways to practice yoga. I like to try different things aside from taking classes. I have applications on my devices, I’ve moved along with Youtube videos, I have created my own routines, I have just done what comes to mind, and I have practiced other ways. I recently purchased Yoga Dice. It is a fun way to do some poses. There are so many ways you can use the dice. Each dice has five poses and their related chakra on it. There are seven dice which you can just shake in the tub then roll out.
I have been rolling out all the dice and then arranging them in the order I want to do each pose. Then I do all the poses then roll them again. I do this several times to end up with an hours worth of “routine.” When it lands on the chakra I just roll that dice again so it will be on a pose.
In addition to the poses on each dice being related to a chakra the poses are also split up into types of poses. So one dice is Sun Salutation Poses, one is standing poses, one is balancing poses, one is seated, one is forward bends, one is back bends, and one is core poses. So you could decide to just do one or two types of poses and only roll those dice. You could also decide which dice to roll uses the chakra.
Really, there are so many ways to use the dice it is quite fun. It is just another way to put together poses to get a yoga workout in, another way to practice. I like to use the dice because then I don’t really have to think about what poses to do. The way I have been doing it there is a little thinking as I need to arrange the dice that I have rolled into a sequence that makes sense for me, but you don’t even really have to do that if you want.
As I said, there are so many ways to practice yoga it is up to you if these dice would be something you would like to do. I like it as it is just another way to practice. I will probably end up posting again about how to use these dice because the possibilities just seem endless.
Can you imagine all the ways you can use this dice?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: chakra poses, roll a yoga routine, yoga dice, yoga poses, Yoga Practice | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 19, 2018
Have you ever listened to an audio book? Ha, as I was typing that I realized they used to be called “Books on Tape.” Anyway, have you ever listened to one? What do you think about “reading” like that? I like it. My husband recently decided to download an app and join the club . . . or whatever, however it works. He has been listening to audio books. He is running and walking a lot so he enjoys listening to books as he gets his run/walk in. We used to listen to books on tape. It is cool now that the book is just in the phone and there is not lugging a bunch of tapes or even CDs around. AND that we can both listen to the book at the same time. I enjoy listening to audio books, but I do need to rewind sometimes when my mind wanders. I was just remembering two stories about when we used to listen to books on tape a long time ago.
One time my husband and I were driving home from a dance competition in Fresno. It was the last day so there was a lot of us leaving the hotel at the same time. We had gotten in the car and stared listening to the book right away. A couple of weeks later we saw a friend of ours that had attended the competition and she asks us how we are doing. We say we are fine and she makes a comment something like, “Oh good, because you guys looked like you were fighting when we left Fresno a couple of weeks ago.” My husband and I didn’t know what she was talking about so we asked her to explain and she said she had seen us and waved trying to get our attention but we both had serious looks on our faces and I was staring out the passenger side window. We had to stop and think, then we realized we had been listening to a book and it was one of those serious scenes and we had both been concentrating on it and going through whatever emotion the story had elicited. It was so funny. She was relieved to hear we had just been listening to a book.
The other story I think is related to the same series. We used to listen to a book series. I was listening to it first. We would check it out from the library and then one of us would listen to it and then the other. This was before we were married – as was the Fresno incident – and I listened to the book on the way to my husband’s (well, boyfriend, at the time) house. When I arrived at his house I was at a point in the book where something important was about to be revealed so I sat in my car to finish listen to that part. Well, it was a sad part. One of the main characters we loved had been killed and the story revealed it by having his lover – the main character – find his face – not his head, just his face! – discovered in a refrigerator or cabinet (I don’t remember which). But I was so sad. I sat in my car trying to collect myself. But I couldn’t sit there all day. So when my husband (boyfriend) opened the door after I knocked he took one look at me and said, “He died, huh?” I was teary-eyed so he knew right away. That wouldn’t have happened if I would have been actually reading a book because I couldn’t have read it on the way over. And with the audio books available on phones, we don’t have to wait for the other one to be finished with the cassette tape or CD. Now-a-days we can listen to a book at the same time in different locations, we don’t even have to be together.
These to stories always make me laugh. And I always share them with people when the subject of audio books comes up.
So, have you ever listened to an audio book? Do you like to listen to books? If you do listen to books, do you ever have to rewind it because you missed a portion of it?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Amazon, audible, audio books, books on tape, dance competition, Fresno, FreZno | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 16, 2018
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.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: art piece, art tile, decorative tile, flower, flower tile, made in China, Napa, trivet, wall hanging | 2 Comments »
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 »
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
**I actually used 1/2 a pint
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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 »
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 »
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