Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Oriole In The Bath

Posted by terrepruitt on June 19, 2019

Once a month after stretch class, on the last Thursday of the month, a group of us meets for coffee. Sometimes it is a very small group and sometimes it is much bigger, but it is a way for us to keep in touch and for us to check in with each other. Sometimes after yoga on Tuesdays we go for lunch. At a recent lunch the conversation came around to birds – it was a very windy, crazy, fun-filled path that got us to birds, and I was telling them about our bird bath. A couple of us stated that we love to watch the birds bathe. If you have seen any of my bathing bird posts you know I love to watch them. Because how the conversation started I wanted to show them a picture of our bird bath. Then I remembered I had a video of an oriole bathing. Then I was kind of sad because none of my students had seen it, then I realized I had tweeted it and not posted it on my blog. So . . . I decided to post it here to share.

You know how I love to watch birds bathe. They just seem to enjoy it with all that fluttering and hopping around. Since the orioles are so cautious I was super happy to catch one in the bath. It is a quick bath, but still pretty cool. I do actually have another video of an oriole bathing, but I will post this one first.

Such a gorgeous color.  So very yellow.  Perhaps they are feeling a little more comfortable since they’ve come back for a few years now . . . if, in fact, these are the same birds.

We keep the bird bath bath clean and full.  I don’t do either (clean it or fill it) as much as my hubby.  We love to have birds visit so we make it as inviting as possible.

Do you like to watch birds bathe?  And drink?

Posted in Birds, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Interesting Statistics

Posted by terrepruitt on June 17, 2019

So recently I was looking up things about Twitter and I came across some statistics and things I thought were interesting. First from Hootsuite’s 28 Twitter Statistics All Marketers Need to Know in 2019:

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–The most popular emoji on Twitter in 2018 was the laugh-cry face
–326 million people use Twitter every month
–80% of Twitter’s users aren’t American
–40% of users say they’ve made a purchase because of an influencer’s tweet
–The best time to tweet is 3 p.m. on weekdays
–Tweets with a GIF get 55% more engagement
–93% of Twitter videos are viewed on mobile

I need to remember that 3 pm on weekdays is the best time to tweet. Also I need to remember the GIF stat, I don’t like them so I have never tweeted one.

And Market.us has a lot of information in Twitter Statistics and Facts 2019 including these tidbits that interested me:

–In 2019, in a minute on the Internet, 87,500 individuals are on Twitter.
–#barcamp: The first hashtag ever used on Twitter.
–125M: Average number of hashtags Tweeted per day.
–#TheWalkingDead: Most Tweeted about TV hashtag of all time.
–Total of 1.3 billion accounts have been created
–80% of active users access the site via mobile.
–Katy Perry has the most followers at over 106m, followed by Justin Bieber and then Barack Obama
–Taylor Swift and Liam Payne are the most influential women and men on Twitter
–83% of the world’s leaders are on Twitter.
–During the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final, 618,725 tweets were sent in a single minute.
–92% of companies Tweet more than once a day, 42% Tweet 1–5 times a day, and 19% Tweet 6–10 times a day

I found these things interesting. You may want to know more about Twitter’s history and finances and so do look at the articles.

Having noticed a loss of followers I had found some information on the internet stating that Twitter was deactivating and deleting a lot of accounts. They were going after fake accounts and underage people having accounts, also some that were inactive. I recently had a “suggested follow” of an account that hadn’t tweeted since 2016. I think suggested follows are annoying in the first place and that really confirmed my thoughts.

I liked Twitter better when it was just a stream of tweets, but now the stream is broken up by the suggested follows, as I already mentioned, and promoted tweets.

Well, as I said, I was looking up some information and came across this stuff that I found interesting. I always like to share stuff that interests me. I like to see if it interests anyone else.

Are you on Twitter? Do you tweet? What tidbit do you find most interesting from the ones above?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Karl Cuts Off One Of The Golden Gate Towers

Posted by terrepruitt on June 14, 2019

Today we went to San Francisco and played tourist with a guest we have visiting from another country. It was a nice day.

Here is a picture of one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge being “cut off” by Karl for my Friday Photo.

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Strongly Recommended Reads – Listens, Actually

Posted by terrepruitt on June 10, 2019

In past posts I have mentioned: my husband getting Audible and listening to books and he and I discussing the books we were listening to.

Well, I wanted to post about the books we have been listening too. First we listened to a series of “Renegade” books by J.N. Chaney. Six books about a Renegade named Jace Hughes. He takes “almost any job that comes his way, no matter the situation. But that all changes when he meets a nun looking for safe passage out of the system.” It is a six book series (so far) about their adventures. It is very good made all the better by Luke Daniels performance.

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Sad to be done – for now, J.S. Morin promises

Then we moved onto a Galaxy Outlaws which is part of the Black Ocean series. I can’t tell how many books are in it. It is on Audible as an 8 part download with 138 chapters. The collection is touted as being all 16 missions with 6 stowaways. Stowaways are little breakaway stories. It totals over 80 hours. It is a very fun series of books. The characters are just like all your favorite characters – meaning you love them and you don’t. You love them, but they might do stupid and/or frustrating things . . . depends on what type of shows you usually watch and books you read. These guys are a ragtag group of characters.

After the Galaxy Outlaw series there are two more, Astral Prime, which is four “missions” that total over eight hours. It doesn’t have the same characters in it as the Galaxy Outlaws series, but it is a somewhat related story in that you hear of some of the characters from Black Ocean.  After Astral Prime there is another series called Mercy for Hire it has at least two of the original characters from Galaxy Outlaws, although both not my favorites.

It is always really hard to “let go” of characters that authors have created that you really love and enjoy. I just want J.S. Morin to keep writing about the Galaxy Outlaws. The “captain” of the Mobius and his ragtag crew. There are “cat” and “dog” people and other great races. And this set of books has yet another great narrator in Mikael Naramore. He does a great job bringing each one to life.

At the time I initially wrote this (5.27.19) I was in the middle of Astral Prime. I have since finished Astral Prime and Mercy for Hire. I loved the entire Black Ocean series. J.S. Morin really makes some lovable characters. Even though I am not a fan of the main character in Mercy for Hire Mr. Morin added a new character that I love so much I can’t even tell you – not without spoilers. You will have to read/hear for yourself.

I love that Mikael Naramore has read all of the books so far. As I said, he is great.

Both the Renegade series and the Black Ocean series are somewhat along the lines of Firefly. In fact that is what J.S. Morin was trying to do. He was trying to meet the desire of those who loved Firefly but give us something different – in space. What he managed to do was leave us just like Joss did — wanting more. But with my post on Facebook showing all the books finished he commented that there are more to come. More Astral Prime and more Mercy for Hire.  That is exciting.  I am counting on that meaning more of my favorite characters.

I know there are thousands of books to listen to on Audible and millions of books available to read, with so many it is sometimes hard to pick one. So, if you are a fan of fun, quirky science-fiction then download or pick up a copy of either of these series and you will not be disappointed. I say grab both.

If you are not a fan of science-fiction AT ALL, but want to try a new genre I say go for the Black Ocean Series.  There are times while listening that you will forget it is science fiction it is very down-to-earth and the you will love the characters.  “Two thumbs skyward, Buddy!”

What types of books do you like to read? Do you like to listen to books?

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Where Is Nessa?

Posted by terrepruitt on June 7, 2019

This is a picture of two cats. Teagan walked over Nessa to get to where she is.  It gets HOT in that window, I don’t understand why Nessa likes to be under the blanket when it is hot.

Friday Photo of two cats.  🙂

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Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 4 – Avgolemono Sauce

Posted by terrepruitt on June 5, 2019

Since my hubby loves Avgolemono Soup, I thought I would make some as sauce for the stuffed grape leaves since I recently experienced my family serving sauce with the dolmathes.  I actually didn’t make the SOUP because I didn’t add chicken or orzo. I would like it thicker as a sauce, but it was very runny. It tasted fine.

I did look at a recipe for this because I didn’t know how to reduce the ingredients to make a small portion. I bet there are several ways to make it.  I used

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Lemon-Egg Sauce / Avgolemono Sauce

2 eggs
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1 cup of broth used to cook the stuffed grape leaves
salt
pepper

Mix the eggs using a hand mixer.  Mix for about 5 minutes. Slowly – while still mixing – add the lemon juice. Then even slower – while still mixing – add the broth. The hot broth needs to be added to the eggs very slowly otherwise the eggs will cook. So the eggs get tempered by adding the hot liquid slow. Then add salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce into a pot heat it up to just BEFORE boiling. Turn down the heat and let it cook for about 5 minutes.

Place the grape leaves on a plate and spoon some sauce on top of them.

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Stuffed Grape Leaves Series:

Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 1 – The Idea

Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 2 – Prepping The Fresh Grape Leaves

Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 3 – Stuffing And Cooking The Stuffed Grape Leaves

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Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 3 – Stuffing And Cooking The Stuffed Grape Leaves

Posted by terrepruitt on June 3, 2019

Since there are so many names and so many versions of stuffed grape leaves, and while I would like to think I am cooking a Greek version of them, I think that traditionally dolmades (or whatever) don’t have lamb in them. So . . . I am calling what I made Stuffed Grape Leaves.

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Stuffed Grape Leaves – How I Made Them

30 grape leaves for stuffing – prepped, see previous post
4 or 5 grape leaves for the bottom of the pot (enough to put at least one layer on the bottom)*
1 lb of ground lamb
1 3/4 cups of rice**Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD
1/2 large onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
.66 ounces dill
six cups of broth
olive oil***

Chop the onion. Chop the dill. In a large bowl mix the lamb, rice, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and dill.***

Place a grape leaf (or put a few out) on your work surface with the smooth side down (you will be placing the stuffing on the “ribbed” side).

Depending on the size of the leaves use about a tablespoon or so of the mixture and place it on a leaf at the bottom (stem area). It is easier to roll the leaf if the mixture is sort of cigar stub shape. Fold over the sides of the leaf then the bottom (where the stem was) then roll from the bottom. Remember not to roll too tight because the rice will expand during cooking. Place the rolled grape leaf seam side down.

Cover the bottom of the pot with grape leaves. Since they won’t fit perfectly you will end up with overlapping leaves, that is perfect as you want to insulate the stuffed grape leaves from the bottom of the pot.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDWhen you are all done stuffing, place the rolled leaves in the bottom of the pot starting around the edge of the pot, not too close, but “friendly”. Continue to fill the bottom of the pot. Once the bottom is filled you can layer them. I would imagine that you might not want to go over four or five layers . . . but I don’t know.

After you have all the stuffed grape leaves in the pot, pour some olive oil on top of them splashing a little onto each roll, then you want to weight them down, not smoosh them, but weight them down. You can use a plate (or two, if need be) or a lid. Then pour in six cups of broth, I used chicken broth.

Bring the broth to a soft boil, then lower the heat and let cook for about 60 minutes. Depending on the size of the rolls, I would check them at 50 minutes. The rolls I made were HUGE so I waited to check them after 60 minutes, then I cooked them for 10 more.

Once they are thoroughly cooked serve them hot or cold.

 

*I used leaves straight off the vine for the bottom of the pot. I washed them, but I did not blanch them. The leaves I used were HUGE (one leaf pretty much covered the entire bottom) so I only used three or four to give it good insulation.

**I used more rice than this, but it was too much so I am going to try 1 3/4 cup

***I did not use any oil IN the mixture, but I am planning on putting a little in next time

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I see me making adjustments to this recipe as I go along. This was just my first time winging it. I kept saying as I was making the stuffing, “I think I used too many onions.” And my husband kept making comments about the recipe. I kept having to tell him, “There is no recipe. I am not following a recipe! The ones I saw had mint and/or cinnamon and/or pine nuts in them so I was just trying to figure something out.”

As I mentioned I did not put oil in them, but looking at a recipe after I made them I saw one person did. I think I might do that next time. I don’t know. My husband said they were fine. I never really know, though because he likes pretty much everything. I tried a tiny taste of the stuffing, but not the grape leaf.

This is part 3 of 4 – Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 3 – Stuffing And Cooking The Stuffed Grape Leaves

Next . . . the lemon sauce . . . kinda like the soup.

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You can see the difference in the blanched leaves.

 

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They were bigger than the ones my husband normally eats.  His eyes lit up when we saw how large they were.

He enjoyed them for days.  He said that he did not taste a difference between the leaves.  He could tell that some were barely blanched and some were “well” blanched.

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Teagan And Her Tongue

Posted by terrepruitt on May 31, 2019

I could easily post a picture of one of the cats every single day.  Eh?  Do any of you pet owners have the same situation?  Right?  So, that I only post every few months is a huge display of control.  🙂

I am sorry that my blog does not have the ability to allow for pictures in the comments (if you can figure out how to do it, let me know.  I think it is a specific PAID plan.) but I would LOVE to post pictures of your pet(s).  If you send them to me, I will post them.  I love to see other people’s pets.  Just tonight I stood in front of my house to meet some gorgeous boxers that were walking by!  Had I thought about it I would have asked if I could have taken their pictures.

Here is Teagan and her tongue for today’s Friday Photo.

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Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 2 – Prepping The Fresh Grape Leaves

Posted by terrepruitt on May 29, 2019

IDance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDn looking up how to prepare fresh-off-the-vine grape leaves for stuffing it seemed like I should have started days before I planned on stuffing them. The first few sites I found said that stuffed grape leaves were prepared with leaves that had been soaked in brine for days. Well, DAYS of soaking was not going to happen, but I figured that they did need some soaking. I thought that they would need the flavor of salt plus a soak in brine would help tenderize them. Ha! Still just faking all of this because I have never actually eaten stuffed grape leaves.

I went outside and cut off 30 grape leaves. Ideally they would have been all the same size, but there wasn’t 30 of all the same size. I started off with ones about the size of my hand, but ended up having to get larger ones. I also tried to get ones that look fairly new. I figured the newer leaves would be more tender and tasty.

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Since I didn’t necessarily want them to be salty and I was hoping for some tenderization, I rinsed the leaves off before I blanched them.

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I didn’t notice the difference in color between the two batches until I started stuffing them. I was concerned because the ones that I believed were in the hot water longer than two minutes were that drab color green – the same color as the jarred leaves, but the ones that were in the hot water for two minutes were still bright green. I was worried that they would not be tender enough and would taste too green. I asked my husband to pay attention while he was eating so that he could report to me so that I would be able to adjust the preparation in the future.

When I pulled the first group of leaves out of the ice bath I had just set them on a towel to dry. I did not separate them or even pat them dry to help them. I was more concerned at that point with getting the whole process underway because the stuffed leaves were going to take an hour to cook and it was getting late. We often eat late and I was trying to not let that be the case. So I wasn’t even thinking about taking the time to dry the leaves. I didn’t even think about drying the leaves until I was 18 into stuffing and rolling. Then it dawned on me. So I patted the last twelve dry.
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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47960702646_a44e8757a6_o.jpgFresh-Off-The-Vine Grape Leaf Preparation

Grape Leaves
Water
Salt
Ice

Wash the leaves. Cut the stem off as close to the leaf as possible. Pour some salt into a dish/pan large enough to immerse all of the leaves. Put some water in the dish. Put half of the leaves in the dish, then pour more salt on top of the leaves. Then put the rest of the leaves in and fill the dish with water. Use another dish to keep the leaves complete submersed, if need be. Let the leaves soak for about five hours.

After a few hours at least (if not five), rinse the leaves. Rinse out the dish/pan, then put the leaves back in . . . (you can blanch all the leaves at once if you’d like or not. I didn’t because I didn’t have a dish large enough to hold water, the leaves, AND ice for the ice bath so that is why I did two batches).

Pour boiling water over the leaves. Let them set for at least 3 minutes.

Take the leaves out of the hot water and put them in an ice bath.

(Since I was blanching the leaves in two batches I left the cooling leaves in the ice bath until I was ready to put the other ones in.)

Take the leaves out of the ice bath and let them dry a bit. Use a towel or paper towels if you want to dry them. I would think that if you are going to let them dry you might need to separate them first. I don’t know for sure though. I just left them wet. When I did dry the remaining 12 I had separated them and was filling each one then folding each one.
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PLEASE NOTE: In looking at the pictures I see why the second batch of leaves did not blanch well. As I mentioned, I was distracted as my hubby had just come home and I was making this up as I went along – I had put ice in the dish I used to weight the leaves down, I had been making more room in the ice bath dish and didn’t want to put it in the sink to melt because I figured I could use it for the next ice bath. When I went to use the dish as a weight, I didn’t think about the ice I had put in it. I just grabbed it and put it on top of the leaves in the boiling water. DUH! Had to have taken some of the heat out of the boiling water.

This is part 2 of 4 – Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 2 – Prepping The Fresh Grape Leaves

Here is the link to part 3 of 4 – Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 3 – Stuffing And Cooking The Stuffed Grape Leaves

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Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 1 – The Idea

Posted by terrepruitt on May 27, 2019

It has been so long I can’t even remember if the grapevines were in the yard when we moved in or if my husband planted them. Either way I do know that for as long as we have lived here (over two decades) I have said, “Oh I should make something using our grape leaves.” And by something I meant stuffed grape leaves because I don’t know of anything else that one actually uses grape leaves for. The vines are very hearty. My husband trims them back and the next thing I know I am looking outside to see the vine latching onto the lemon tree again. A couple of weeks ago I happen to look outside and see the vines with beautiful green leaves washed clean by all the rain. I decided to surprise my hubby with some stuffed grape leaves. I googled it and glanced quickly at a recipe listing dill as an ingredient. So I went to the store and bought what I thought I needed to make them. Then I got cold feet when I realized I didn’t know how to prepare the leaves. I had originally been thinking I would just cut them off the vine and roll the stuffing up in them. But then I realized they probably needed some prep. In the middle of that revelation it dawned on me that perhaps stuffed grape leaves were actually meatless? Ya see, part of the issue with this whole endeavor was – I don’t eat them myself. I have never had one. My husband loves them (LOVES THEM!), but I have never even tried one. So it was kind of a challenge to figure out how to make them.

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dolma
dolmades
dolmadaki
dolmeh
dolmates
dolmathes
dolmathakia

and that is just the words starting with D. Seems like stuffed grape leaves are like “Swedish Meatballs” and every culture has their own version with its own name (of course).

When I did look it up I found recipes with cinnamon and pine nuts. Now, I know my hubby would eat and probably like whatever I made, but I was TRYING to surprise him and make something that he actually liked and was somewhat familiar. But with every recipe I found having different ingredients I decided to just try making something that was simple and somewhat familiar (I was hoping). When I researched further – after I had gone shopping, in addition to pine nuts and nutmeg I was finding recipes with MINT. Makes sense mint and lamb, but I had already bought dill so I was going to use that.

My research on how to prepare the grape leaves had me thinking I should have started the process DAYS before I was planning on actually making the recipe. The information I was seeing was that they needed to soak in a brine solution for days. There were some sites that said they could be blanched. But, again, I started thinking that in order to make this a treat and something he likes and is used to, I should have PURCHASED grape leaves. But then again, the whole reason I wanted to do this was to use our leaves. Sigh. All of this thinking and planning was probably over the course of ten days. It took so long because of my chickening-out-period!

As usual since I planned on posting about this I decided to just fly by the seat of my pants and make it up as I went along. I always feel funny posting other people’s recipes (but I have after making them) so I mostly try to make my own version. I will need a few posts to get it all documented. I started with the leaves.

This is part 1 of 4 – Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 1 – The Idea
Next:  Part 2 of 4 – Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 2 – Prepping The Fresh Grape Leaves
Next:  Part 3 of 4 – Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 3 – Stuffing And Cooking The Stuffed Grape Leaves
Next:  Part 4 of 4 – Stuffed Grape Leaves Part 4 – Avgolemono Sauce

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