In Search of Self

Indian Dinner - Salmon and zucchini with couscous

2009-04-22T11:20:00.003-05:00

Ok, I've made these recipes a few times now and they have become a favorite, so I thought I'd share them with you all in blogland... The first is for an indian spiced salmon which is super simple to make and super yummy! The second recipe is for an indian zucchini which I've also made with eggplant, both of which are super yummy! I serve both these dishes with some tri-color couscous, made according to directions. Both the zucchini and salmon recipes come from the web, with a little tweaking of my own. Enjoy!

Indian-spiced Salmon
This recipe was originally from Everyday Food on PBS

Serves 4 | Prep Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes

This salmon recipe utilizes a combination of spices — ginger, turmeric, and coriander — for unique results that draw on the flavors of India.

1/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 skinless salmon fillets (each 6 ounces and about 1 inch thick)
Vegetable cooking spray

1. Heat broiler. In a small bowl, combine yogurt, ginger, turmeric, coriander, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
2. Spray a broiler pan or rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Place salmon on pan. Spread yogurt mixture on top of fillets, dividing evenly. Broil until fish is just opaque throughout, 12 to 14 minutes. Serve immediately.

My notes: For me this is done in more like 10 minutes and is about 6" from the broiler element in the oven. It makes a great left over salad addition too!

Indian-Style Zucchini

This recipe was originally from Earthbound Farms, the produce people...

A potpourri of Asian spices and aromatics really jazzes up zucchini, or many other vegetables for that matter, such as green beans, okra or eggplant. The dish is delicious served hot or at room temperature.

Serves 2

3 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon black or brown mustard seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 cup finely minced yellow onion
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
5 cups diced zucchini (about 5 medium, cut into 1/2-inch dice)
1 small jalapeno or serrano chile, finely minced, or to taste
Salt, to taste

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat; when it's hot, add the oil and mustard seeds to the dry skillet. Cover the pan with a lid, and cook until the seeds pop, about 1 minute. Uncover the pan and add the cumin, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, and zucchini, and stir fry until the zucchini is crisp-tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chili and cook another minute. Season to taste with salt.

My notes: I've tried this with eggplant as well as zucchini and both are delicious. The first time I made this I didn't have any turmeric or ground coriander on hand so I used yellow curry powder instead of the cumin, coriander and turmeric. It tasted great that way too. For anyone having trouble finding garam masala, check your local Cost Plus World Market. They have a great international food selection! Also, I cooked this for longer than they specify since we like our zucchini a little softer and cooking the eggplant down makes it more custardy and yummy. I also didn't have any serrano peppers on hand so used two green thai peppers instead. This is a fabulous dish and my new favorite leftover as well.

Hope you enjoy!

Curry Bread

2009-03-27T15:07:00.002-05:00

Ok, as I posted in my answers to this week's Take 5, I'm on a bread machine kick right now. I've tried a couple of recipes that were real flops, but today I've got a curry bread baked up that smells pretty darn good. I'll wait until my taster (Mike) comes home from work to report back on the results, but thought I'd post the recipe in advance anyway. This bread has coconut and peanuts in it along with curry powder. I'm thinking it might make really good PB&B sandwiches (peanut butter and banana) or be good with some kind of tropical chicken salad on it. Anyway, I'll report back after Mike tries it and let you know what he thinks :) Meanwhile, here's the recipe:

* Exported from MasterCook *

Curry Bread (1 1/2-Pound Recipe)

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Bread

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 cup water
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup flaked coconut
1/3 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons Fleischmann's® Bread Machine Yeast

Add ingredients to bread machine pan in order suggested by manufacturer, adding coconut and peanuts with flour.

Recommended cycle: Basic/white bread cycle; medium/normal color setting. Timed-bake feature can be used.

Source:
"Fleischmann's Yeast"
S(Internet address):
"http://www.breadworld.com/index.html"
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Tuesday's Take 5 Week 8

2009-03-27T13:45:00.002-05:00

My Favorites - Tuesday's Take 5 - Week 8

1. What is your favorite food scene in a movie?
Hard choice! Food fight in Animal House? Escargot scene in Pretty Woman? Or maybe the spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp :)

2. What is your favorite breakfast food?
Probably coffee cake, especially my grandmother's version!

3. What is your favorite ethnic cuisine?
Another hard choice! I swing between German, Thai and Indian. Right now I'm on a German kick cooking jager schnitzel tonight and sauerbrauten this weekend...

4. What is your favorite thing to snack on?
Usually something salty like popcorn

5. What is your favorite kitchen gadget?
Probably my food processor, although I'm on a bread machine kick right now too

A bit o' the green!

2009-03-17T15:38:00.003-05:00

In honor of my grandmother who would always make us some green food for dinner when we were eating at her house when we were kids, I'm posting a few of my favorite "green" foods for your enjoyment. Below you will find the recipes for "Luck o' the Irish" salad, Pistachio Cake and her potato bread, which she would make into rolls and dye green for St. Pats (along with the mashed potatoes occasionally!) Enjoy!

* Exported from MasterCook *

Luck O' the Irish Salad

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 package lime gelatin powder -- 4 serving package
1/2 cup celery -- chopped fine
1 cup hot water
1/4 cup pecans -- chopped
3 ounces cream cheese -- softened
8 ounces Cool Whip® -- thawed
2/3 cup crushed pineapple -- with juice

Dissolve the lime gelatin in the hot water. Add softened cream cheese and beat a medium speed with a hand-held mixer until well blended. Chill to soft-set consistency, then add crushed pineapple, celery and chopped nuts. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into a 3 cup mold or other container and refrigerate to set. Serve cold.

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* Exported from MasterCook *

Pistachio Cake

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 package white cake mix
3 eggs
1 package instant pistachio pudding mix -- 4 serving size
1 cup 7-up®
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped nuts -- pistachios or walnuts
***Frosting***
1 package instant pistachio pudding mix -- 4 serving size
16 ounces Cool Whip® -- thawed
1/4 cup milk -- if needed to thin icing

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x12" pan (can also use a bundt pan) and flour with a small amount of cake mix or plain flour. Mix cake ingredients and pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 40 min. or until lightly golden and springs back when touched. Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then put on wire rack to finish cooling. When cool, mix frosting ingredients together, using milk if needed to thin. Frost and garnish with extra chopped pistachios if desired. Keep refrigerated until serving. Freezes well.

Description:
"Very refreshing"
Yield:
"12 pieces"
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* Exported from MasterCook *

Old Fashioned Potato Bread

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 package instant mashed potato flakes -- 2 servings
1 tablespoon salt
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup butter
2 cups Warm water (105-115)
7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour -- sifted and divided
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter -- melted

Make 2 servings of potatoes, minus butter and seasonings. Measure one cup of potatoes. In large bowl, sprinkle yeast over water; stir until dissolved. Stir in sugar and salt until dissolved. Add 1 cup potatoes, 1/2 cup butter, 3 1/2 cups flour. With electric mixer at medium speed, beat until smooth - 2 minutes. Gradually add 4 cups flour, mixing with hands until smooth and stiff enough to leave bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup flour if needed. Turn onto lightly floured board. Knead until smooth and elastic (small blisters will appear on the surface) 10 minutes. Place in greased large bowl; turn over. Cover with towel and let rise in warm place (85) until double - 1 hr. Turn out dough onto lightly floured pastry cloth or board. Divide in half. Roll out one half into a 16 by 8 in rectangle and roll from one end. Press ends even, pinch to seal, and tuck under loaf. Place, seam side down, in greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Brush surface lightly with some of the melted butter. Repeat with the other half of dough. Let loaves rise in warm place, until tops are rounded - 1 hr. Set oven rack at lowest level. Preheat oven to 400. Bake 30-40 minutes, or until deep golden brown and cover with brown paper. Turn out onto wire racks, brush tops with remaining butter. Cool. Makes 2 loaves.

From Betty Wood Calvert

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NOTES : Can be made into potato rolls easily. Just pinch off a lump of the finished dough about the size of a walnut. Take three such dough balls and place them together in a regular-sized muffin cup and allow to rise as with loaves. When risen, bake until golden brown as directed, usually 20-25 minutes.

Tuesday Take 5 Week 7 Answers

2009-03-17T15:26:00.003-05:00

St. Patrick's Day Tuesday Take 5 Week 7

1. have you ever made some thing a certain color for a holiday (i.e. green cookies for st. patrick's day)? Yes, sure. Especially when we were cooking for church fellowship meals
2. what is your favorite green food? Asparagus! Love it!
3. what is your favorite irish dish to make?Colcannon and Barmbrack, just not necessarily together. Also like reubens, but I guess corned beef isn't actually irish...
4. what is one irish dish that you have always wanted to try?Dublin Lawyer sounds good to me!
5. have you ever had green beer?Nope. Don't like beer...I've had several green drinks though

Take 5 Tuesdays Week #6

2009-03-14T20:27:00.004-05:00

Take 5 Tuesdays Week 6
1. What was the last meal you ate out? Lunch at the Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls on Friday for lunch on our way to Grand Prairie.
2. If your partner or friends could take you to any restaurant you wanted (their treat), which one would it be? Bohanan's Steakhouse in downtown San Antonio
3. Buffet, take-out or sit-down restaurant? Prefer sit-down most of the time, but occasionally the noise and crowds are too much and then take-out
4. What restaurant do you eat at the most? Sarika's Thai Cafe in Boerne
5. What type of restaurant is missing from your current town? German! We're a town with a German name and a German heritage and no German restaurants! Would also love to have some Indian and a good Italian place...

Dinner tip of the day - Meatloaf Muffins!

2009-03-04T17:59:00.002-06:00

Ok, so today's tip for those who are interested, is meatloaf muffins... We started doing this when we were cooking for a large group at our church on Wednesday nights. It allows the meatloaf to cook quicker and is much easier to serve. Just make your favorite meatloaf recipe but instead of making a loaf out of it, form extra-large meatballs and bake them in a muffin tin. This is also very helpful when, like us, you have several toppings you like. You don't have to choose! Just top the meatloaf muffins differently. So, in the photos, you'll see first the "unadorned" meatloaves in the tin, then the "adorned" version with my ketchup and mustard toppings. This works really well for left overs as well. Freeze them and just take out one or two for an individual meal or several for the family. And slices are perfect for a hamburger bun for a meatloaf sandwich! Hope this idea is helpful to some of you out there!

Take 5 Tuesday Week #5

2009-03-03T19:55:00.002-06:00

1. what 3 ingredients couldn't you live without? salt, butter, sugar
2. what food reminds you of your childhood? quiche, it was the first dish I cooked all by myself
3. what was your last cooking disasters? a cake I was making to decorate that just fell apart when I tried to work with it
4. what makes you a foodie? I'm interested in where my food comes from, how it's prepared and ways to make it taste better
5. what is the last meal you cooked? sloppy bbq joes with steamed vegetables

Take 5 Tuesdays Week #4 (catch-up)

2009-03-03T12:59:00.003-06:00

1. what are you currently trying to learn/master with your cooking? bread
2. where do you go for ideas for new recipes (cooking shows, cookbooks/magazines, experiment in the kitchen)? I'd say a combination of all of those plus my recipe program, MasterCook, where I collect recipes
3. what is one thing that you make, but you don't eat? rhubarb pie, hubby like it, I don't
4. what is your biggest guilty pleasure with food? definitely chocolate, the darker the better
5. what is one thing that you mom (or who ever taught you to cook) can make better than you? chicken paprikash!

Take 5 Tuesday - Week #3 (catch-up)

2009-03-03T12:55:00.002-06:00

1. what surprises you most about your cooking? how I go through spurts of ingredient use, sometimes I get on a kick for one ingredient and work with it a bunch or perhaps a technique that I'm loving, such as bread making
2. what is the one thing that you have mastered cooking (that you could not cook when you started)? cakes
3. who was your biggest inspiration to start cooking? my grandmother
4. what is your favorite thing to make? anything sweet, especially chocolate
5. what is one recipe that you are known for? my chicken salad

Take 5 Tuesday Week #2 (catch-up)

2009-03-03T12:51:00.002-06:00

1. what is one food that you refuse to try? guinea pig!
2. what is the one food that you like to eat, but won't make? sushi (but willing to try making it, just haven't yet...)
3. what is the farthest you've traveled for a meal? 45 miles
4. what is the most creative/exotic meal you've ever made? Thai food
5. what is scariest (i.e. hole in the wall) place you've eaten at? a little place over the border in Nuevo Laredo

Take 5 Tuesdays - Week 1 (catch-up)

2009-03-03T12:43:00.002-06:00

1. what is your favorite food/cooking website? Over all, http://Foodtv.com but current fav is http://crockpot365.blogspot.com
2. do you prefer to watch cooking shows or read cooking magazines? depends on my mood. I like both, but more often watch than read.
3. are you more adventuresome in what you cook or in what you eat? eat. I tend to try things that are prepared for me before trying to prepare them myself.
4. what is one ingredient that you have always wanted to cook with, but never have? Foie Gras
5. what is the one thing that you can not cook without?salt! The universal spice

Pampers 1 = 1 Ribbon Widget

2009-02-17T16:01:00.001-06:00

Spread the Word
Become part of the 1=1 Ribbon.

Add the widget to your favorite social networking site.

http://www.pampers.com/unicef

2008-11-05T11:53:00.001-06:00

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.

28 Impressionist, 10 Islamic, 1 Ukiyo-e, -37 Cubist, -34 Abstract and 18 Renaissance!

Impressionism is a movement in French painting, sometimes called optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects. Impressionist paintings are balanced, use colored shadows, use pure color, broken brushstrokes, thick paint, and scenes from everyday life or nature.

People that like Impressionist paintings may not alway be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aestically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impresssionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Grow Your Own for May

2008-05-05T23:09:00.003-05:00

So I decided to participate in the "Grow Your Own" blog event this month after reading about it on the "Is My Blog Burning?" blog. GYO is an event held each month where bloggers post recipes, photos, etc. of things they make using ingredients they grow. This month I decided to use our dinner from tonight, which incorporated some freshly grown thyme. Actually I had planned the dinner before I decided to join the blogging, so it just worked out right. I had some sweet yellow onions that needed to be used up, so there you have it.

So, here's the recipe and a few pictures to get your appetites going :)

Christi's Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Pizza

Ingredients:
4 large sweet yellow onions
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 packets Splenda sweetener (if needed)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp (or to taste) fresh thyme leaves
8 oz crumbled goat cheese
1 premade pizza crust (we used a Boboli thin crust this time)

First, we caramelize the onions. Start with a large saute pan over medium high heat. To this add 1 stick of butter and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Now, to prep the onions. To do this, top and tail your onions, peeling off the outer dried layers. Then cut them pole to pole (from root to stem end). Now slice them into fairly thin (1/4 inch or so) slices. Separate the layers into half moon shaped pieces and add to the melted butter and oil in the pan. Allow the onions to cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to wilt down. Add the salt and, if your onions seem strong (ie. not sweet) add Splenda or a pinch of granulated sugar. Toss this through the onions and then allow them to cook, undisturbed, until you start to smell browning or see it in the pan. Don't worry that there is some fond developing on the bottom of the pan. Once you see this, stir the onions well, which will distribute the fond and clean the pan bottom. Do this three or four times, allowing the onions to cook undisturbed between stirrings. You want a caramelized color throughout the onions and for them to be very soft and almost sticky. They will form a sort of creamy sauce on themselves which is great for this pizza. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and place your pizza crust onto a pizza pan (or preheat your pizza stone if using one). Add the fresh thyme to the caramelized onions at this point and stir to incorporate. You should smell a slightly thyme-like perfume, but it should not overwhelm the onions. Turn off the heat on the onions and spread about half the onions over your pizza crust. Sprinkle the goat cheese over top and slide into your preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese gets golden brown and melted. Allow to cool for 6-8 minutes before cutting and serving. Freeze the remaining onions for your next batch!

So here is a picture of the onions after caramelizing but before use:

And here are a couple of shots of the completed pizza:

Enjoy!

Personality types?

2008-04-21T20:56:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I was reading Isela's blog (Purling Sprite) and she had this personality type quiz up so I took it. Not sure how accurate I think it is, but here's the results... So what's your personality type?

You Are An INFJ

The Protector

You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity.

Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is.

You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience.

You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them.

In love, you truly see relationships as an opportunity to connect and grow.

You enjoy relationships as long as they are improving and changing. You can't stand stagnation.

At work, you stay motivated and happy... as long as you are working toward a dream you support.

You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher.

How you see yourself: Hardworking, ethical, and helpful

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Manipulative, weak, and unstable

What's Your Personality Type?

Cakes, Cakes and more Cakes

2007-12-11T20:11:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I finally located the pictures Mike took of the cake I made for our church graduation Sunday. It's the Sunday in May when we celebrate all the seniors who are graduating and we have a little reception after church for them. So I made the cake... Four different torted cakes, two were butter cake with apricot filling, one was dark chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling and the last was dark chocolate with no filling, but covered in melted bittersweet chocolate. The flat portion of the grad cap is made from a matzo cracker, coated in bittersweet chocolate. Each of the book cakes started as a larger flat sheet which I split into two pieces for the layers. Two are wrapped with fondant (the red and yellow ones) and one is iced smooth with buttercream. It was a blast to make!

Since I'm sharing cake photos, I figured I'd share a couple other from this year. Next is my grandmother's birthday cake. It was a really warm April day making this one and we didn't have the window A/C units on, so the fondant was "melty" along with the buttercream... I think this would have been much prettier but it was what it was :)

Then there's the cake I made for the Women's Ministry cake auction at our spring Fiesta. I actually made two cakes, but this is the only one Mike remembered to take a photo of. It was a coconut cream cake with fresh shaved coconut on top which I made into a bonnet cake. I created the flower out of fondant using templates from my scrapbooking stash. It sold for $30! Pretty good if you ask me! :)

Next is the cake I made for the closing of our summer vacation bible school. Our theme this year was based on hot air balloons, so I created a hot air balloon cake. Anyway, I used the gel colors to fill it in and covered the board with some cloud scrapbooking paper :)

And last but not least is the birthday cakes I made for my niece Kayla's birthday in November. One is a Dora the Explorer cake made from the custom Dora pan and the other is my own version of "Backpack" (from Dora cartoons). I cut two 8x8 square cakes to make the backpack. Kayla seemed to enjoy them both so that made me happy :)

Hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I have enjoyed making them!

How fun!

2007-12-06T09:14:00.000-06:00

Get this widget!

Gad Zukes!

2007-07-25T01:31:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

What Kind of Yarn Are You? (Quiz)

2007-07-18T16:51:00.000-05:00

This was fun... Found this quiz link on another Loom Knitter's blog She's got a lot of cool patterns, including one for a "Three Crosses" dishcloth that I'm hoping to knit a few of! So take the quiz and see "What Kind of Yarn Are You"?

Duct Tape Christmas Gift Bag

2007-02-23T13:11:00.000-06:00

I also thought I'd share the fun project I did for Mike's Christmas party gift exchange in 2006. It was a white elephant type gift exchange and his group is all computer folks. And of course he didn't mention needing a gift for it until the night before Fortunately we had a book:

(Clicking on image will take you to Amazon.com)

that he was able to give as the gift, but we didn't really have any appropriate package for it. Of course he didn't find out until the next day that he was SUPPOSED to wrap it in newspaper so no one could tell one package from another, but oh well! So anyway, being that he loved his duct tape wallet that I made for him so very much, I came up with the idea to make a duct tape gift bag for his gift exchange present. J So I used a paper bag as a template and then scaled to match the book, allowing for overlap at the top to make the closure. I then created a sheet of "duct tape cloth" using the technique I learned in doing the wallets, which is basically like this...

Start by having a non-stick, cut-able surface available. I use one of the large quilter's self-healing mats for this and it works well.

Tear off a strip of duct tape the length of your finished piece plus 1". So, if you need a sheet of "cloth" that is 14" long, you'd make your first strip 15"

Tear off two more strips this same length.

Place your first strip sticky-side-up on your cutting surface.

Line up your second strip and place it, sticky-side-down, half-way onto this piece. So, if your duct tape is 2" wide, you'd place the edge of the second strip 1" onto the first strip, with 1" hanging off. So at this point you should have 1" of uncovered tape, sticky side up (the first strip) and 1" of uncovered tape, sticky side down (the second strip).

Line up your third strip, sticky-side-down, and cover the remaining sticky-side-up portion of strip 1. So now you should have two strips, sticky-side-down showing with none of strip #1 showing at all.

Flip your strips over so that strip #1 is now on top and the sticky sides of 2 & 3 are face up. Fold one of these sticky sides down onto strip #1 to form your edge strip.

Now repeat adding strips in alternate fashion (sticky-side-up, sticky-side-down, etc.) until you have a sheet that is the width you need. When measuring for your final width, don't forget to account for the extra "fold down" part of your sheet so you can have a nice clean finished edge. Once you have enough strips joined together, fold that last strip over like you did at the top of your sheet to finish it off.

Viola! You now have a sheet of "duct tape fabric" that you can do lots of things with!

So, I took the sheet of "fabric" and formed a "lunch sack" type bag with it, complete with folding sides and bottom. I just used extra strips of tape to create the seams. I put the book in to find where I could fold it down and then marked a spot to put holes to tie it closed. Using my eyelet hole punch (from scrapbooking) I punched holes in the top of the bag and in the body of one side of the bag for tying. Mike got some CAT-5 cable from his stash and stripped the insulation off so I was left with a bundle of twisted colored wire, which I used to make the bow tie closure. I then added a red poinsettia paper flower ornament with a glue dot because I told him the black bag just didn't look very "Christmasy" to me Anyway, he liked it and said it was a hit with those who got to see it before he had to take the book out and re-wrap it in newspaper And he gave the bag to the person who got the book (his friend Doug I think) in the end as well. It was a very sturdy bag and would probably make a really neat lunch bag for a fun-loving kid. Surface washable too! Anyway, here's a couple of pics of the finished product (click on them for larger views).

Still trying to decide where to put the poinsettia...

The finished product!

Christmas in Boerne photos

2007-02-23T10:01:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I'm finally getting some of the photos uploaded to the web from our Christmas picture taking... I've put some of the pictures Mike took of our outside decorations as well as some of the ones he took of downtown Boerne on my photobucket site if you're curious.

Click on the thumbnails to see each picture.

Side View of our front yard decorations.

The 5'x8' canvas I painted two years ago. Miniature lights are strung through it as stars. I hope to add another canvas this year...

This is a look through our front gate.

Ella Blue. A boutique clothing store in downtown Boerne. I just love the snowflake lights! They won best storefront this year I think.

The gazebo in town square.

Our historic public library building. It is so beautiful this time of year!

Another shot of the library...

A different angle shot of the library. Can you tell Mike likes the library?

Last shot of the library. This one a little closer so you can see the building sign.

Looking down the lawn of town square. The light tree in the distance is probably 2 stories tall at center.

A little closer look a that light tree.

This is my favorite shot of this past year. Looking through the gazebo down the lawn at the light tree. Beautiful shot hun!

2005-11-18T05:49:00.000-06:00

Bibliomania: Free Online Literature and Study Guides

Ok, so I'm cleaning my inbox... But where in the heck was this place when I was in school??? All those wasted $ on Cliff's Notes!!! I know, you're saying, well, you coulda just read the books... And I am... now... but there's something about being forced to read something that just goes against my grain! So I'll read the classics now when I can enjoy them!

-CC

2005-11-18T05:43:00.000-06:00

BBC - Science

Ok, so if you can't sleep, count sheep...so they say... Well I couldn't sleep and came across this link in an email in my box and decided to give it a visit... My best time was a "Bobbing Bobcat". Not bad for 3 hours sleep! But I think it might be better to shoot me with the tranquilizer and leave the sheep alone :)

-CC

2005-11-16T16:34:00.000-06:00

Have you ever read something that just stuck with you? That changed your thinking or challenged your viewpoints? I love reading books like that and purposely search out such reading. Last night I stayed up way to late to finish a book that did just that. It's called "A Skeleton in God's Closet" by Paul Maier. It is a fictional novel centering on biblical archaelogy professor Jonathan Weber, who becomes involved in a plot surrounding the discovery of the supposed bones of Jesus Christ. Now, like many mainstream Christians, I believe in the ressurection of Christ and His assention to heaven following a time here on earth in which He met with followers and instructed them in the ways to continue His ministry. Being a "moderate" Methodist by choice, I have rarely stopped to consider the implications of such a discovery on the church, our Christian belief structure and the world in general. I believe this book gives a wonderful account of the chaos that might result from such a discovery. It has caused great and deep thinking in my soul though about my own beliefs about the Resurrected Savior. Do I believe in a very physical resurrection, where no bones would be left behind, or do I believe more in a "spiritual" resurrection, whereby the physical body would have been left behind? Many people point to the fact that when Christ met with Doubting Thomas and offered to let him touch his wounds (although the Bible doesn't say that Thomas actually did so) and following this He was given a piece of fish which He ate in their presence. But with God all things are possible, so who is to say that His resurrection body was the same physical body that was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea? Does believing or not believing in a physical resurrection make the resurrection any less powerful or less important? Does it make His message any less real in today's world? Ok, so I'm not sure what I believe in this respect, although I lean toward the literal interpretation of the Bible, meaning that I lean toward belief in a physical resurrection. Obviously more study and contemplation is needed, but that's what faith is all about isn't it? Believing what is unseen, only felt. More to ponder, more to consider, more to discover...

As always...

-CC