52 Haikus {#7...Ladies Room}

fifty-two haikus

three lines and seventeen beats

snippets for a year

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

#7...Ladies Room

Pepto-Bismol pink

coats the bathroom walls giving

travelers relief

   

52 Haikus {#6...Denise's Cookies}

fifty-two haikus

three lines and seventeen beats

snippets for a year

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

#6...Denise's Cookies

Dozens and dozens 

of delicious handmade gems.

What a gift of love!

52 Haikus {#5...Ghostlight Coffee}

fifty-two haikus

three lines and seventeen beats

snippets for a year

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Ghostlight Coffee

A caramel latte

from a funky urban shop

starts the day just right.

52 Haikus {#3 and #4}

fifty-two haikus

three lines and seventeen beats

snippets for a year

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

#3..."Happy Birthday to You!"

Blue cake with Trix and
Frosted Flakes to celebrate
57 years!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

#4..."Namaste"

For one calm hour

Let go of the outside world

Yoga. Namaste.

52 Haikus {#2...First Snowfall}

fifty-two haikus,

three lines and seventeen beats

snippets for a year

*********************************************************************

First Snowfall

November 18

First snowfall of the season

Brrrrrrr...it's 12 degrees!

52 Haikus {#1...Hills & Dales}

fifty-two haikus,

three lines and seventeen beats

snippets for a year

******************************************************************

Hills & Dales

Mother Nature's light
illuminates the maples.
And this is real gold.

I Have a 30-Year Old Kid {Milestone}

As a middle aged parent, milestones happen, but they become fewer and farther between. October 29 was a milestone. A big one. My first born child turned 30. 

And what did I do to mark this momentous occasion?

I wrote a birthday poem and posted it on Facebook!

It's October 29 and oh my wordy,

Today my first-born celebrates birthday #30!

The year was 1984 and in the morning wee hours at 3:46

A nurse place a baby boy in my arms, ahhh motherhood bliss.

Your favorite stuffed animal was Doggie the bear

And with you he went everywhere!

As a little boy your food tastes were a little bit picky

You really loved fish sticks and thought Grandpa's steak was icky.

Soccer was your sport, starting at the Y when you were 5

And playing through the days at Fairmont High.

Miles and miles we put on the cars

Driving to practices, tournaments and games...some were really far!

From your first day on the school bus to your move to Columbus,

You've made Dad and me proud, but I'm not going to gush.

Yes, your 20s are gone but 30 has begun

This is the start of plenty of new fun!

Thirty years ago
You forever changed my life
First born baby son

Wordless Wednesday {Fall Colors}

Roasted Butternut Squash

It's Fall and I love this time of year...the crisp days, the bright blue sky, and the colors: the oranges and the golds, both in the landscape and on my plate.

And I am a sucker for pumpkins, especially these warty pumpkins. These bumps add so much personality to these autumn squashes!

Speaking of squash, 'tis the season for butternut squash. (An FYI tidbit: butternut squash is known as butternut pumpkin in Australia and New Zealand). Anyway, it's in abundance right now and so is the sage in my garden. These two fall flavors make a great combination. Sage pesto has now taken the place of basil pesto and it's just as tasty as the summer basil version.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage Pesto

1 butternut squash
1 bunch of sage
1/3 c. olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted
big pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Peel and slice squash into 1/2 inch slices, removing seeds. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease with oil. Place the squash on the baking sheet in a single layer. 

Prepare the pesto: Put the sage, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and salt in a food processor and process until fairly smooth. 

Coat the squash slices with the pesto. Bake for 30 minutes or until tender.

Fregola Sarda

I love pasta. I love the names. I love the shapes. I love pasta's versatility. My pantry is full of pasta. There's ditalini, mini penne, mini wheels, stellette, fettucine, rigatoni, paccheri, orecchiete, folie di ulivo, and fregola sarda. Yep, that's a lot.

It's a rainy October day, one where it's damp and chilly, and a pot of soup sounds warm and comforting. And I made a pot of soup, Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup. The recipe calls for orzo and I usually have orzo, except not today. And my goal is to use a lot of this pasta before I buy anymore and plus I just didn't want to make a trip to the grocery store in the rain.

In place of the orzo, I used fregola sarda. What is fregola sarda? First of all it's pronounced FREG-o-lah or FRAY-go-lah. 

Fregola is made from course semolina which gives it a rustic character. The pasta is rolled into tiny bits, dried, and then toasted, which changes the color and gives it a nutty flavor. 

The fregola worked very well in the soup. It got soft but not mushy. Orzo gets mushy.

So, I'm kind of in love with this fregola and I'm looking at all kinds of recipes to try with it. There's about 3/4 of a package left so I must choose wisely. I'm NOT going to buy anymore fregola until there's a significant dent in my pantry pasta supply. Wonder what my family will think of pasta for the next two weeks...

Ciao!

(You can find the recipe for Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup at http://housedustandwanderlust.blogspot.com/2013/01/italian-sausage-vegetable-soup_22.html)

57 Things to Do to Celebrate My 57th Birthday

Back in April, one of my posts was about doing 57 new things before I turned 57 years old. Well, the 57th birthday was the 16th and the list is now complete:

One of the things I want to do is visit all 19 of the MetroParks in Dayton and I have gone to the following:
1. Adventure Central/Wesleyan MetroPark
2. Riverscape
3. Wegerzyn
4. 2nd Street Market
5. Hills and Dales
6. Sugarcreek
7. Deeds Point (bitterly cold winter day...had cabin fever and had to get out of the house!)

In the athletic arena:
8. Ran the 10K in the Air Force Marathon
9. Signed up for the half marathon in the Air Force Marathon
10. Attended my niece's last collegiate field hockey game at MIT/Jack Berry Field. The       Engineers beat Babson College 4-2.
11. Attend the NCAA Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games in Memphis and cheered for the Cinderella bracket busting Dayton Flyers!
12. Do the bridge pose in yoga
13. Do a handstand against the wall in yoga
14. Do the yoga splits
15. Attend a Cleveland Browns pre-season game and cheer for Johnny Football

Arts:
16. Took a Zentangle class
17. Learned how to make Guatemalan worry dolls at Art Street
18. Admired beautiful photography at the Citizens of the World photo exhibit at Art Street
19. Attended the Shades of Greatness exhibit at Sinclair Community College. This exhibit celebrated the the Negro League Baseball.
20. Took at Wine and Painting class at Gallery 510
21. Attended the Bruce Munro: Light exhibit at Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus

22. Took Mom to the Ansel Adams' exhibit at the Springfield Art Museum as part of her Mother's Day gift

Academics:
23. Took a class on using the iPhone. Thanks to my kids, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I knew!
24. Class on the history of the University of Dayton

Travel:
25. Memphis, TN
26. Key West, FL
27. Going over the 7-Mile Bridge on the way to Key West
28. Watching the beautiful Key West sunsets at Mallory Square
29. Visiting the smallest post office in the United States at Ochopee, FL
30. Use the HopStop App to maneuver the NYC subways
31. Walk the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges
32. Ride the Staten Island Ferry
33. Lived in a Brooklyn apartment for a few days while dog sitting my daughter's white furball
34. Walk through the Hasidic Jewish neighborhood (Borough Park)
35. Go the the Westside Market in Ohio City and get the bacon jerky from Czuchcraj Brothers that Michael Simon raved about on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate."
36. Stay at the Millennium Hotel on the 46th floor, overlook the 9/11 Memorial Park and be up close and personal with the new Freedom Tower

Restaurants:
37. Wheat Penny Pizza (Dayton)
38. Rendezvous Ribs (Memphis)
39. Onlywood Pizzeria (Key West)
40. Antica Pesa (Brooklyn)

Family:
41. #4 and last child finished college in December. Graduation ceremony in May.
42. First child turned 29 in October. Can't believe I'm going to be the mother of a 30-year old this year.
43. First child also bought his own condo
44. Move my mom to assisted living
45.Help a dear friend plan her husband's funeral

46. Attend my niece's graduation from MIT
47. Attend my niece's wedding in Philadelphia at Tyler Arboretum

Just fun stuff:
48. Visited the Yellow Springs sunflower field
49. Visited the Caesar Creek Winery
50. Attended an ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the Eudora Brewing Company.
51. Took a photowalk in Downtown Dayton
52. St. Patrick's Day at Fifth Street Brewpub
53. Went to Warped Wing Brewery
54. Took a tour of Stivers School for the Arts (Dayton)
55. Wear my hair curly
56. Go to the Bacon Fest at Fraze Pavilion (Kettering)
57. Drink "one of each" at McSorley's Irish Pub (NYC)

Zucchini-palooza 17 and 18

The trouble is, you cannot grow just one zucchini.  Minutes after you plant a single seed, hundreds of zucchini will barge out of the ground and sprawl around the garden, menacing the other vegetables.  At night, you will be able to hear the ground quake as more and more zucchinis erupt.

~  Dave Barry

Zucchini-palooza #17
Use-up-some-leftovers-stuffed peppers

Kielbasa, deer sausage, farro, onion, mozzarella, and you know what! Added a little Sweet Baby Ray's and some sriracha. My son took a couple to work for his dinner and his co-workers were jealous!

Zucchini-palooza #18 and FINALE!

Dug out the old family pumpkin bread recipe and added zucchini to it. 

To make all of these loaves, it took a mere 

17 eggs 

13 c. flour

 12 c. sugar

 5 c. oil

 30 c. shredded zucchini

a few Tablespoons of spices

Zucchini-palooza 13, 14, 15, 16

                           Zucchini is a 24/7 food: appetizer, main dish, side dish and snack ~

Zucchini-palooza #13

Zucchini cornbread 

Needed to find a recipe that would get hubs excited about all this zucchini that's taken over the veggie bin. Mission accomplished!

Zucchini-palooza #14

This started  out as a simple caprese salad and evolved into grilled zucchini caprese topping for bruschetta! (And FYI, Italians pronounce this broo-SKEH-tah).

Zucchini-palooza #15
Zucchini noodle lasagna

Look beneath that cheesy goodness and there are zucchini noodles layered with a meaty, vegetable-y sauce. 

   Zucchini-palooza #16
Zucchini gratin with Gruyere and salsa verde.

O. M. G. The flavors in this are fabulous! The freshness of the salsa verde, the bold Gruyere cheese, buttery bread crumbs, and oh yes, the zucchini! A BIG thank you to my Philadelphia foodie niece for suggesting this recipe. Yum-O! 

Zucchini-palooza 9, 10, 11, 12

Zucchini's terrific! 
Like bunnies, prolific!
 ~ Author Unknown

Zucchini-palooza #9

What happens when the zucchini patch doesn't get picked for a week...Yikes!

Zucchini-palooza #10

Lunch. Grilled zucchini spears.
Quick, easy, delicious ~

Zucchini-palooza #11 to the rescue! 

What to do for a last minute dinner invitation...

Grilled zucchini salad with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and pecorino cheeses, and kalamata olives with a white balsamic vinaigrette. 

Zucchini-palooza #12

Homemade V-8 (actually 11) juice

Look closely and you'll see zucchini in there, along with carrots, beets, tomatoes, spinach, cabbage, red and green peppers, celery, onion and garlic. A garden in the blender!

Zucchini-palooza 5, 6, 7, 8

Five, six, seven, eight,

Zucchini recipes are really great!

Yes, zucchini is so versatile. It pairs well with another wonderful flavor of summer, basil, and goes to the sophisticated side in ZP 5 and 6. But then in 7 and 8, it's comfort food: zucchini-carrot cake (cream cheese icing is a must) and zucchini bread. Good flavors and good feelings.

Zucchini-palooza #5

Grilled zucchini roll-ups filled with spinach and basil leaves and goat cheese. 

A little labor intensive but sooooo worth it!

Zucchini-palooza #6

Zucchini and basil soup 

Very light, very summery, very green!

Zucchini-palooza #7

Underneath that layer of cream cheese frosting is zucchini-carrot cake. 

An all-purpose cake: breakfast, afternoon snack, and dessert.

Zucchini-palooza #8

Zucchini bread twinsies!!

Zucchini-palooza 1, 2, 3 and 4

It's been one heck of a summer. A crazy, turn-your-world-up-side-down summer. But in the midst of chaos, sometimes the most unexpected thing can bring a little order to the world. For me, it turned out to be my zucchini garden. Leave it to a green squash to be my link to normalcy...

Zucchini-palooza 2014 began with the first picking...
"The Dirty Dozen"

Zucchini-palooza #1
Cream of kohlrabi soup with onions, carrots, potatoes, and of course zucchini.
(Those green flecks are the zucchini)

Zucchini-palooza #2

Zucchini-Lemon Cookies 

Very light and refreshing. They lasted two days!

Zucchini-palooza #3

A clean-out-the-veggie bin concoction. 

Cherry tomatoes, 1/2 red pepper, 1/2 green pepper, a couple Japanese eggplants, onion, a half bag of frozen corn. Sauté the veggies. Add salt and Italian herbs to season. Add mozzarella and Parm and cook until melted. 

Zucchini-palooza #4 

What to do with all the shredded zucchini left over from making the lemon zucchini cookies? Make a stir fry with onion, cabbage, carrots and of course, zucchini. Stir fry the veggies until crisp tender, add a little soy sauce and there ya go!