Things I'll Forget By Tomorrow

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Try it, You'll like it! Tuesday

Disclaimer: I'm going to try, try, try to have a regular Tuesday post to feature recipes that I enjoy eating. This is going to take a lot of discipline and planning, and obviously, regular posting. These are not necessarily my best traits, but I'm willing to give it a shot. So, bear with me, and don't judge me too harshly, if I don't make it every Tuesday.

I do enjoy making things to eat, but the reason for going to all the trouble of making something is because I like to eat practically anything that will not eat me first!

Oh, and also, my favorite things to make usually meet two critieria--it's quick and easy. (Tasty, too, but that goes without saying!)

With that being said, here is how I make Eggplant Parmesan. This is the first recipe I ever tried for Eggplant Parmesan, and I love it! I'm not exactly sure what makes it so delicious. It may be the fresh tomato taste, or all the fresh basil. Or, possibly the fresh Parmesan cheese. All that "freshness" is just sooo good. I found this recipe in "Eat, Cheat and Melt Away the Fat" by Suzanne Somers.

Eggplant Parmesan
1 recipe Sweet Tomato Sauce (follows)

1 large eggplant, sliced thin
1-2 eggs
1-2 Tbsp. milk
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound mozzarella, thinly sliced or shredded
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh basil leaves

Mix milk and egg together in shallow dish to make an egg wash. In a seperate dish, put Parmesan cheese. (I will also mix some "canned" parmesan, just to stretch out the fresh.) Dip eggplant slices first into egg wash, then into parmesan cheese.

Heat oil in a skillet and fry eggplant slices till nicely browned.

Spoon several tablespoons of the Sweet Tomato Sauce into a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Layer eggplant over the sauce.

Add another layer of Sauce, then mozzarella cheese, more Parmesan cheese, if desired. Continue layering like you would lasagna. Top with sauce, mozzeralla cheese, and sprinkle with fresh basil.

Bake 30-40 minutes until cheese is bubbling in 375 degree oven. Let cool about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Sweet Tomato Sauce
(Make this first!)
1 large onion
8 fresh ripe tomatoes (I use Romas or plum tomatoes)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic

Chop onion in food processor until finely minced. Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add olive oil. When oil is hot, add onions and cook until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. While onions are cooking, coarsley chop tomatoes in the food processor. After onions have been cooked, add chopped tomatoes, and reduce heat. Simmer 30 - 45 minutes until sauce thickens a little.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Top 10 Television Shows

Alex J. Cavanaugh is hosting a bloghop on 10 Top Television Shows. I found this bloghop through my Amazing Daughter's blog, Cheap Therapy. So, with that said, I will give out my list, in no particular order.
(There are no pictures because my official blog instructor is not here to give me step by step instructions. I did try on my own, but as you can see, was not successful!)

1. I love Lucy - still a funny show. I just watched the "chocolate factory" episode, and it still made me laugh.

2. The Dick van Dyke Show - created by Carl Reiner. I have always loved this show. No one can cry like "Laura"......"o-o-o-h-h-h-h R-o-o-b-b-b!

3. The Andy Giffith Show - Barney with his nervous ways and bugged out eyes, and Andy and his gentle and patient ways with Barney make this a great family-friendly show.

4. Columbo - the crumpled up trench coat, and his "oh. just one more thing."

5. Magnum P.I. - What can I say, I had a crush on Tom Selleck!

6. House - the medical terms sound like jibberish to me, and House is rude, crude, arrogant, and brilliant.

7. Chuck - He's such a cute spy. His co-workers at the Buy More are creepy and funny. I love the conservative, patriot spy, "John Casey". He has pictures of Ronald Reagan on his walls, and is always cleaning his weapons. He would rather grunt than speak, and he grunts so well. (I'm sure male viewers have completely different reasons for watching the show.)

8. Monk - the most obsessive-compulsive character on TV. The worst thing about the show is that I found myself becoming "Monkish". Sometimes I would find myself saying, "That would drive Monk crazy!"

9. Everybody Loves Raymond - I didn't start watching this show until it was in reruns. No matter how many times I've seen an episode, it always makes me laugh. Of course, if that was my real life, I would want to shoot myself!

10. Arrested Development - one sane brother is trying to keep a weathly, self-absorbed family together.

That's my list. What's on your list?

Friday, September 17, 2010

Happy Constitution Day!

Have you ever heard of Constitution Day? Neither have I. I mean, I started hearing people mentioning it, but didn't realize it was an official holiday. Apparently, it's been around for quite some time in one form or another.

The purpose of Constitution Day is to celebrate the ratification of our Constitution, which was signed on September 17, 1787, by 39 men who had spent the previous three months writing, debating, hashing out differences, and finally agreeing on our Constitution. This day also recognizes all who were born in the United States, or by naturalization, have become citizens.

The celebration came about due to William Randolph Hearst working toward the creation of a holiday to celebrate citizenship in 1939. The following year, Congress designated the third Monday in May as "I am an American Day". But, on February 29, 1952, Congress renamed it "Citizenship Day", and changed the date to September 17.

So, whether you want to call it Citizenship Day or Constitution Day, celebrate your citizenship by reading the United States Constitution. You might be surprised by what it says (or doesn't say.)

"WE THE PEOPLE, of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." If you're intriqued enough to continue, click here.

And, while I'm on the subject of our Constitution, have you ever considered reading your State Constitution? I confess that I had never even thought about it until very recently, and it's on my list of things to do. There may be some interesting things in there.

I'll close with a quote on why our Constitution is so special..."I had a copy of the Soviet Constitution and I read it with great interest. And I saw all kinds of terms in there that sound just exactly like our own: 'freedom of assembly' and 'freedom of speech' and so forth. Of course, they don't allow them to have those things, but they're in there in the consitution. But, I began to wonder about the other constitutions--everyone has one--and our own, and why so much emphasis is on ours. And then I found out, and the answer was very simple--that's why you didn't notice it at first. But it is so great that it tells the entire difference. All those other constitutions are documents that say, "We the government, allow the people the following rights", and our Constitution says, "We the People, allow the government the following privileges and rights." We give our permission to government to do the things that it does. And that's the whole story of the difference--why we're unique in the world and why no matter what our troubles may be, we're going to overcome."--Ronald Reagan

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Time for the Fair

Fall is here, and in Wayne County, Ohio that means it's time for the fair. Once or twice in my life I've attended a fair during the summer, but it just seems so...weird. Fair time means cool, brisk weather. The aroma of french fries, Italian sausage, cotton candy, elephant ears and donuts is enhanced by the cooler weather. (In my humble opinion.)Usually, on at least one of those days it rains, which brings the unique aroma of wet straw and manure. Can't you just smell it?

Every year, we have the same conversation. It goes something like this:
Daughter: Are you going to the fair?
Me: No, it's boring. Nothing ever changes.
Daughter: Oh. I wanted to see So & So's concert. (Always a country singer-sometimes current, sometimes not.)
Me: Yeah, that might be a good show. OK. I'll go. Do you want to go to the 6:30 show?
Daughter: No. (Rolling her eyes. I don't see her do it, but I can feel it!) I don't get off work till 7:30. We'll have to go to the 8:30 show. (She's thinking, "DUH!)
Me: Oh yeah, I forgort. 8:30, huh. (Thinking to myself: that means we won't get home till 10:00- Hope I can stay awake!)

So, we bought our tickets,which have gone up considerably in price! From $6 to $10! I almost reconsidered, but relented at the last minute.

Monday night, Amazing Daughter and I went to see Luke Bryan. He's fairly new on the country music scene. One of his songs is, "rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey". Early in the show, he complained that the donut trailer was too close to the grandstand, because the smell of the donuts was driving him crazy. By the next song, someone handed him two boxes of Lerch's Donuts--a Wayne County Fair staple. He opened the box--the donuts are covered with sugar--took one, then handed one to every band member. He ate it then said, "Man, that's good". (He didn't actually say "man", but something quite close!) "Now, I need a big glass of milk!" I wondered how he would be able to sing with that greasy, sugary, (and delicious) donut going down his throat. But, it did not seem to affect him at all, and he gave a great show.

This amazing photo was stolen from my daughter, but, hey, it's on my computer! Thanks, Jennee!

The only reason to go to the fair

See all that sugar? They don't last long!

We also had tickets to see "Little Big Town", which I'm sorry to say was not nearly as good a show as Luke Bryan. I like their songs, but when you hear them all at once, they sound pretty much the same. News must have gone out about the "donut incident" because, they asked and received donuts. It just seemed more contrived and not nearly as endearing.

(My photo) Little Big Town

Also, during Fair Week, my Mom, Sis, and I get together to watch the horse races. We do the walk-through, go to the Grange Building where there is a food demonstration, for the and samples, then load ourselves down with greasy, over-priced fair food. With food in hand, we head over to the Grandstand to watch the horse races. Every year we skip buying the program, it is $2 after all! After the races, we say that next year we are going to buy a program! We have a very scientific way of picking horses--by the color of the silks. That system works good for my Mom. Her horses almost always come in first or second. My Sis's horses usually come in second or third. And more often than not, my horses are bringing up the rear. It's probably a good thing that I never bet!

Horse races--my horse isn't in the picture yet!

So much for not going to the Fair this year. I'm sure next year will be exactly the same!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Cha-cha-cha-changes

There's a new change in my life. Yesterday was my first day in a regular-part-time job. Yep, I'm going to be babysitting the nine-month daughter of some friends. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I have to be at their house by 9:00 each morning, and it's only till 1:00. She did great after the first 10 minutes of screaming her lungs out! He works at home, so they need someone to watch her so he can actually get work done. Really, it was OK. I'm just wondering how the day after day part will be. But, this will give us some much needed extra cash. And, they can work around our crazy schedule of going to see our granddaughter every three months. And, I was able to get a couple of future blogs written down on paper while she napped. (And, I know it's bad grammer to start sentences with "and", but, sometimes I like to break the rules! Shocking, I know, Jennee!) Who knows? Maybe this will actually improve my blogging!

Really, my biggest issue is that I can't piddle-diddle around in the morning, drinking coffee, in my robe, getting absolutely nothing done! So, maybe this will be a good thing, after all.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Gotta love grandkids!

Hubby (aka Pappy) and I (aka Grammy) just got back from a visit with our granddaughter and son. She is now four and a half. She loves to play in enclosed places. Sometimes we have to play "Witch". I have to be the witch and put her in the closet. This is not my favorite game! Mostly because I have to be the witch!

I'm the witch!

In the closet. She's cuter so her picture is bigger.

This week, she found the clothes dryer. She crawled in and just sat there. It brought back memories of her dad when he was a baby. He liked to crawl into small places. He would crawl into the kitchen cupboards and push out all the pots and pans so there would be plenty of room for him. He also liked to crawl into the dryer every time I did laundry. I would post his cute little picture, but it is in his scrapbook.

I told her this little story about dad. I pulled out the scrapbook so she and dad could find the picture. She found the picture of dad in the dryer, and thought it was funny. She and dad continued to look at pictures. She saw pictures of Hubby and I and asked dad, "Who are they?". Dad said, "That's Grammy and Pappy." Without missing a beat, she looked at me and said, "What happened to you?"