Monday, November 10, 2008
The First Snow Fall of the Winter
Actually, our first snow fell on Monday, 10/27/08, but melted quickly. Two days later I took the photos you see posted here. It was quite beautiful and very soothing to the soul. Today, November 10th, we've had our REALLY FIRST SNOW, which means that the parking area had to be plowed and access to the mail box carved out for our postal delivery person.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
I'm BACK !!
A lot (and I mean A LOT) has gone on in Findley Lake since my last post in July. I'll try and tackle various topic updates in separate posts.
In my life, emotional and physical well-being are tied to my desire to cook. No cookie, no feel well.
After a very social and congenial two hour breakfast with friends at the Blue Heron Inn this morning, I was inspired to cook. Part of our morning discussion concerned comfort food. My straight forward husband goes right for the ice cream. One friend chose Asian food. My choice was whole hominy with butter, salt and pepper. When I was growing up, my Mother served us sausage patties and whole hominy. It was just in the past few years that I found out my youngest brother also opens a can of hominy on occasion as emotional and nutritional sustenance. It's funny how those totally simple foods can soothe the soul.
So starting at 3:30 pm, I started cooking up a storm. Microwaved a small pumpkin (1/2 at a time) and froze most of it for the dog's suppers. Put on a pot of 15 bean soup. Took a spiral sliced ham that we'd been working on and removed the meat. Put the bone into the simmering soup and froze most of the meat. We had frizzled ham and broccoli for supper. The extra broccoli and left over pumpkin are in a bowl ready for the dog's supper tomorrow night.
One recipe ended up a little modified due to my slip of not including sugar in the bowl. I was making two pumpkin pies using the Lakeshore Pumpkin recipe (best pumpkin pie, dense and tasty. The pies were within 15 minutes of being finished when I realized my error. OOOPS ! However, I'm into the glass half full/lemons into lemonade life so this might work out better. The Lakeshore recipe called for 1 1/2 cups sugar. I have taken to using half sugar and half Splenda, which has been OK. Tonight, realizing that I'd completely omitted both, I decided to try caramelizing brown sugar on top. Right now, I'm not sure that I performed the caramelizing process properly but, if we like the pie with a light sugar and whipped cream topping, it will end up actually less sweet than the original recipe. For any of you diabetics out there, I'll let you know if it's good this way. If it ends up that we like it, my glass will be overflowing.
I still have one more recipe to make tonight (beside completing the 15 bean soup). I make a quiche with bacon, onions, eggs, cream, nutmeg, and graham cracker crust. I find it delicious while my husband finds the sweet flavor of the crust too different from regular crust to really enjoy. It's a sweet/savory quiche. I'll post the recipe later.
Now that we've eaten supper and I've got my second wind, it's time to finish up the seasoning in the soup and put the quiche in to bake. Nice to be back.
In my life, emotional and physical well-being are tied to my desire to cook. No cookie, no feel well.
After a very social and congenial two hour breakfast with friends at the Blue Heron Inn this morning, I was inspired to cook. Part of our morning discussion concerned comfort food. My straight forward husband goes right for the ice cream. One friend chose Asian food. My choice was whole hominy with butter, salt and pepper. When I was growing up, my Mother served us sausage patties and whole hominy. It was just in the past few years that I found out my youngest brother also opens a can of hominy on occasion as emotional and nutritional sustenance. It's funny how those totally simple foods can soothe the soul.
So starting at 3:30 pm, I started cooking up a storm. Microwaved a small pumpkin (1/2 at a time) and froze most of it for the dog's suppers. Put on a pot of 15 bean soup. Took a spiral sliced ham that we'd been working on and removed the meat. Put the bone into the simmering soup and froze most of the meat. We had frizzled ham and broccoli for supper. The extra broccoli and left over pumpkin are in a bowl ready for the dog's supper tomorrow night.
One recipe ended up a little modified due to my slip of not including sugar in the bowl. I was making two pumpkin pies using the Lakeshore Pumpkin recipe (best pumpkin pie, dense and tasty. The pies were within 15 minutes of being finished when I realized my error. OOOPS ! However, I'm into the glass half full/lemons into lemonade life so this might work out better. The Lakeshore recipe called for 1 1/2 cups sugar. I have taken to using half sugar and half Splenda, which has been OK. Tonight, realizing that I'd completely omitted both, I decided to try caramelizing brown sugar on top. Right now, I'm not sure that I performed the caramelizing process properly but, if we like the pie with a light sugar and whipped cream topping, it will end up actually less sweet than the original recipe. For any of you diabetics out there, I'll let you know if it's good this way. If it ends up that we like it, my glass will be overflowing.
I still have one more recipe to make tonight (beside completing the 15 bean soup). I make a quiche with bacon, onions, eggs, cream, nutmeg, and graham cracker crust. I find it delicious while my husband finds the sweet flavor of the crust too different from regular crust to really enjoy. It's a sweet/savory quiche. I'll post the recipe later.
Now that we've eaten supper and I've got my second wind, it's time to finish up the seasoning in the soup and put the quiche in to bake. Nice to be back.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Findley Lake gets Remodeled
There is so much to report on the remodeling front in Findley Lake, we'll just start at Shadyside and Main Street.
The former Lighthouse Point Restaurant is now Zee's on the Lake. They opened this weekend serving meals. The liquor license is still not active but hopefully will be coming soon.
Heading south on Shadyside, the remodeling at the former Pink house is almost complete. Besides the new siding and garage door, the utilities have all been run under ground, a new circular concrete drive poured along with an embossed concrete walkway, new break wall built, and the landscaping is in the process of being updated.
Continuing south, on the right side of the road at least two homes have been reworking their walks and walls along the road. One is adding a new wrap-around deck. Across the street, the house with the gingerbread trim has been resided. Further along on the lake side, the tarps have come off the former Bolt house revealing first and second floor decks that look wonderful. The trim on the house has been nicely updated. All in all, some great additions and improvements to the neighborhood.
At the south end of the lake, a new dock/boathouse? plus boardwalk has been added. It would be nice to see some more dredging take place down there to give a little more access to the docks.
Just an aside - if you need golf equipment, Steve Card is selling excess equipment (some new and some used) on the weekends at his house. Stop buy and check it out.
Turning the corner onto Sunnyside headed north, Camp Findley has completed the demolition of the former Tabernacle building. They are working on remodeling the front building with an eye towards better energy efficiency.
Mulkearns new house is still a work in progress. Further north, the new house which has been built where the skating rink used to be is eagerly waiting it's siding. The next new house on the hillside saw recent clearing of the underbrush on the side of the hill, giving it a clean new look and better view of the lake.
Nearing the north end of the lake, the two houses on the lake side are basically completely remodeled. The first one, with the natural wood siding, has added a small portico style covered porch and new door, completing the classy look. Next door, the new siding turned out to be a mossy light green with copper trim on the roof and new doors. Both houses look great.
As I've said before, you can't beat living in a town where property values keep improving.
The former Lighthouse Point Restaurant is now Zee's on the Lake. They opened this weekend serving meals. The liquor license is still not active but hopefully will be coming soon.
Heading south on Shadyside, the remodeling at the former Pink house is almost complete. Besides the new siding and garage door, the utilities have all been run under ground, a new circular concrete drive poured along with an embossed concrete walkway, new break wall built, and the landscaping is in the process of being updated.
Continuing south, on the right side of the road at least two homes have been reworking their walks and walls along the road. One is adding a new wrap-around deck. Across the street, the house with the gingerbread trim has been resided. Further along on the lake side, the tarps have come off the former Bolt house revealing first and second floor decks that look wonderful. The trim on the house has been nicely updated. All in all, some great additions and improvements to the neighborhood.
At the south end of the lake, a new dock/boathouse? plus boardwalk has been added. It would be nice to see some more dredging take place down there to give a little more access to the docks.
Just an aside - if you need golf equipment, Steve Card is selling excess equipment (some new and some used) on the weekends at his house. Stop buy and check it out.
Turning the corner onto Sunnyside headed north, Camp Findley has completed the demolition of the former Tabernacle building. They are working on remodeling the front building with an eye towards better energy efficiency.
Mulkearns new house is still a work in progress. Further north, the new house which has been built where the skating rink used to be is eagerly waiting it's siding. The next new house on the hillside saw recent clearing of the underbrush on the side of the hill, giving it a clean new look and better view of the lake.
Nearing the north end of the lake, the two houses on the lake side are basically completely remodeled. The first one, with the natural wood siding, has added a small portico style covered porch and new door, completing the classy look. Next door, the new siding turned out to be a mossy light green with copper trim on the roof and new doors. Both houses look great.
As I've said before, you can't beat living in a town where property values keep improving.
July 4th, 2008 in Findley Lake
Managed to catch a quiet supper at the Blue Heron Inn. We hit the lull before the reservations start arriving for the evening. Their deck will be a prime fireworks watching spot. Sometimes we have a low-key 4th and just catch the tops of the fireworks from our front porch. Tonight we are invited to a friend's house down on the lake. Should be a great display since the weather is perfect. Took a drive around the lake after supper and were amazed at the number of cars lining the roads. Lots of parties and family get-togethers, plus beautiful weather equals a great July 4th in Findley Lake. Looking forward to the fireworks display.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Public Service Health Suggestion
If you can afford it, it's worth the effort to get the Shingles Vaccine. Having watched a person with a "mild" Shingles attack, I definitely don't want to go there. Got my vaccination today and insurance wouldn't cover it so we paid full pop.
Next on the health advice list, and more likely to be covered by insurance, is to get the whooping cough/tetanus shot. I know..... many of you are overdue for the tetanus shot but wonder why the whooping cough should be included. (drum roll ......) Because research has been showing that one third of adult colds which result in months of coughing is due to the adult form of whooping cough (Pertussis). Having watched too many friends suffer through months of coughing and disrupted sleep, it seems like a great idea to get the vaccine and avoid the cough. This is next on my list to do. Apparently my doctor is switching all his adult tetanus vaccinations over to the combined shot so getting it won't be difficult. Whether the HMO will pay for it is another question.
Next on the health advice list, and more likely to be covered by insurance, is to get the whooping cough/tetanus shot. I know..... many of you are overdue for the tetanus shot but wonder why the whooping cough should be included. (drum roll ......) Because research has been showing that one third of adult colds which result in months of coughing is due to the adult form of whooping cough (Pertussis). Having watched too many friends suffer through months of coughing and disrupted sleep, it seems like a great idea to get the vaccine and avoid the cough. This is next on my list to do. Apparently my doctor is switching all his adult tetanus vaccinations over to the combined shot so getting it won't be difficult. Whether the HMO will pay for it is another question.
Quinoa, the New Grain
I'm late coming to the Quinoa party but Thursday night I made my first recipe using this ancient Inca grain. It all started when I roasted some veggies with the idea of making a soup for part of supper. It ended up with the roasted veggies served over quinoa, along side of a small salad with tuna and ranch dressing. It was a good first meal using quinoa. The taste and texture went well with the other ingredients on the plate. Couscous would also have been good. Now I'll freeze the rest of the Quinoa in 1/2 cup portions for later use. The cook book that I used had two different sets of instructions. Under "Grains" it said to cook 1 cup quinoa in 1 3/4 cups liquid, simmer for 12 minutes. Under a recipe, it said to cook 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups of liquid for 20 - 25 minutes. I ended up using the "Grains" instructions for the proportions but had to simmer it 25 minutes to get the liquid soaked up. I had bought red quinoa, which made a visually appealing addition to the salad. While I haven't really researched it, my Brother tells me it's high in protein, low in carbs, and a good nutritional addition to your diet. One caveat - you have to wash it well to remove the saponin that is on the outer hull. I used an old, fine weave metal coffee filter. That was the perfect size for rinsing one cup of grain. The saponin is suppose to make suds when it rinses off but I didn't see any of that. One source that I did read mentioned a brand of quinoa that is already rinsed. As you can see, meals here are "evolutionary" and subject to change without notice.
Foxes In The Family
Since I hadn't seen Rennie and the rest of the fox family in several weeks, I assumed that they had headed out of the den for good. With three boisterous kits, that wasn't surprising. This morning, it was a real treat to see Rennie hunting in the back of our property. After several glimpses of something reddish which looked like a big ground hog, I had a good view of Rennie with breakfast in her mouth. About a half hour later, she was walking across our back pasture area and we had a very good look at her. She's still slim but looked good. I suspect the family has moved somewhere onto our property while they check out the buffet of small animals.
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