saturday craft show

Aunt Sue and I went to eat lunch in P'cola in the historic district on Saturday and we saw a craft show going on across the street. After we ate, we walked over there. Here are some the sights and items that we saw over there. Tomorrow, I'll show where we ate and what I bought at the craft show.

This is the craft show set up. It's right next to a marina.

These kids were playing beside the water.

This boat was on its way somewhere.

These are little replicas on the pelican statues that are popular here. The big originals were decorated by artist and displayed around the city. They were auctioned off and now you will find them in places when you are not expecting to. Here are small replicas that are for sale.

The pelican with the red bandana on is a replica of the one I show in a Front Door Friday post week ago. It is in front of a house at the beach.

This is a pretty one with lighthouses on it!

This necklace is so pretty. The big round pieces are made of glass. I touched the big bead in the middle and it was heavy. I imagine the whole necklace was pretty heavy. It is so pretty. I didn't check the price.

This is the setup of the lady that made that blue bead necklace. She had all her things there so she could make some glass beads while she was there. Girlville, check out those cigar boxes!

This pottery piece is so pretty.

I think I'd like to have one of these.

This bowl was very pretty. All the prices were reasonable at this craft show.

Front Door Friday AKA Friday Mailbox

Today's FDF is a mailbox. I have run out of doors for the moment but plan on getting more pictures of doors soon.

This mailbox is on my walk up to the post office. I think it's cute. I wonder if the mail carrier likes the variety of mailboxes they see on their route.

Tiny was sleeping yesterday and I got this picture!

Then right as I took this picture, she woke up!


I think we have a record low in the temperature this morning...It's 59 degrees and feels so good compared to the higher temps we've been having.

dangerous places

Aunt Sue and I were out and about one Saturday not too long ago. We were driving along scenic hwy that runs along the bay over in P'cola. I saw a place to pull over to get a picture of the railroad track that runs along the bay. As I stepped up the hill where the tracks were, I saw these two boys with their fishing poles going down the trail to the waterfront. I told Aunt Sue I was going to go down the trail to see what the waterfront looked like there, so she came with me. It was not a pretty waterfront there.

There is a story about this area of the hwy. This is the part called chimney something...I can't remember. But there is an old chimney that still stands as a monument to something way back. This is a place where they have arrests for sicko men who do sicko things out in the woods there. As Aunt Sue and I made our way along the trail we passed one man by himself and then on the way back to the car, we passed another man by himself. There were two vehicles parked where we were and they both had Alabama tags. I wonder if this is where these kind of men know to meet each other.

If those boys were mine, I would not let them go fishing in that area knowing what happens out there. I wonder if their parents knew where they were.

This is the tracks along the bayfront. I put the camera right close to the ground to get this picture. I can hear the train whistle all the way across the bay in the middle of the night if I go outside to let the pugs go potty. As we drove away from this spot, a train came by. If I had known it was coming up, I could have gotten a picture of it coming down the track!

Here are the boys going to the fishing spot.

Just as we start down the trail to the water.

Q&A

Another MEME that's going around and Shannon sent it to me in an e-mail.

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? I need to brush my hair.
2. How much cash do you have on you? $2. I had more but husband must have raided my purse and didn't tell me.
3. What word rhymes with "DOOR"? Bore!
4. Favorite Planet: Hollywood! Just kidding. I don't have a favorite planet.
5. Who is the 4th person on the missed call list on your cellphone? I'm so bad about turning on my cell phone and I didn't even know there was a missed call list. I went and got my cell phone and it took me five minutes to figure out where to find the recent calls. It was my mama's number at No. 4.
6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? The only ring tone I have is the jazzology that sounds stupid.
7. What shirt are you wearing? blue, green, white, purple flowered number from Wal-mart from several years ago!
8. Do you "label" yourself? sometimes
9. Name the brand of shoes you are currently wearing? worn out sandals from Target...my favorite sandals...but they are not flippies
10. Bright or dark room? right now I'm in my office room and it usually stays light in here but there are dark clouds outside so I turned the light on
11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? She is very funny and sweet
12. What does your watch look like? I have not worn a watch in years.
13. What were you doing at midnight last night? Reading a book
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say? I don't know how to text message
15. Where is your nearest 7-11? It's not a 7-11 but it is a gas station store...about half a mile
16. What's a word you say a lot? What?
17. Who told you s/he loved you last? Mama
18. Last furry thing you touched? Sugar
19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days? one every day
20. How many rolls of film do you need developed? I'm hoping there are none in the camera because we have not used it in so long.
21. Favorite age you have been so far? 30
22. Your worst enemy? Roaches are enemy no. 1 and anxiety is no. 2
23. What is your current desktop picture? T & W up in New Hampshire...Lisa's girls.
24. What was the last thing you said to someone? Talk to you later bye -- my sister
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be? Money
26. Do you like someone? I like a lot of people.
27. The last song you listened to? something by Tom Petty that was in the car but I can't remember the name of the song
28. What time of day were you born? middle of the night, I think
29. What is your favorite number? It changes
30. Where did you live in 1987? In 1987 I lived in Montgomery, Al for 2 months and then moved to Gulf Breeze, Fl and been here ever since
31. Are you jealous of anyone? I can't think of anyone that I'm jealous of. I think that comes from being happy with what I have in my life.
32. Is anyone jealous of you? I hope not.
33. Where were you when 9/11 happened? At my desk at work
34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Bang on the machine
35. Do you consider yourself kind? Most of the time
36. If you had to get a tattoo where would it be? I think I will never get a tattoo but if I had to I think it would be for medical reasons...like if had a serious medical condition and it would be in my armpit. I think that child moslesters should have a tattoo on their forehead that identifies them as a child molester because I think there is no rehabilitation for them and people need to know what they are dealing with.
37. If you could be fluent in any other language what would it be? I think it would be Spanish since there are so many people around now that speak it.
38. Would you move for the person you loved? Yes
39. Are you touchy feely? not at all
40. What's your life motto? I don't have one.
41. Name three things you have on at all times? underwear, some type of shoes, dog hair
42. What is your favorite city/town? I really like San Francisco and have been there three times for vacation. But now that I don't fly, I think I may not be going back. There is so much to see there and the surroundings areas. But New Orleans is always somewhere that I will go back to because of the beauty and the food and it's closeby.
43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? McDonald's!
44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? I think when I sent Magnolia Sun a Birthday card...but I am working on thank you notes now.
45. Can you change the oil on a car? no way
46. Your first love: What is the last thing you heard about him/her? I seriously don't know who to consider my first love. There was a boy named Bubba, MS...you remember him...he was my first boyfriend but not a love. I don't have any idea where he is.
47. How far back do you know about your ancestry? On my daddy's side there is native Americans. But I don't know the rest.
48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy? I'm thinking it was 10, 11 years ago on the Alaskan cruise we dressed up fancy.
49. Does anything hurt on your body right now? no
50. Have you been burned by love? Yes definitely...my heart was broken badly due to my own stupidity.
51. Do you read in the bathroom? NO NO NO
52. Do you sing in the shower? or the car? I sing both places my voice sounds especially good in the shower.
53. If you stumbled upon your ex's blog, would you read it? I don't think either of my exes is smart enough to have a blog, but if they did I'd read it.
54. Is there one food you have never eaten and refuse to try? I am not going to eat caviar, sweet breads, eyes, tongue, gizzards, hearts, you know what I'm talking about.
55. Can you change a flat tire on your car? no...I call Triple A

BBQ grill and cheetos

Saturday, Aunt Sue and I went to the seafood market to get the shrimp and crabmeat for the Sunday's lunch. This guy was cooking different meats on this grill. We didn't get anything but I'm thinking I might see if he's back there sometime and get one of the hamburgers. A little boy, looked like about 6 years old, got in the car next to us with one of the hamburgers. It looked like it weighed 2 pounds...I am not kidding. It was so big he could figure out how to hold it. It was good and charred on the outside...yummy. I would have taken a picture but I didn't want to scare the kid.

The husband bought some baked cheetos at the store and I got some out and put them on plate and went to watch TV. I noticed my fingers were getting a green color on them. I went to get some more cheetos and I noticed the bag had Shrek on the front and these cheetos turn your tongue green like Shrek's. I imagine they stain your teeth, too.

School is now out for the summer around here.

more birthday greetings and goodies and mother's day lunch photos

I wanted to thank all of you that left me a birthday greeting in the comments yesterday. I enjoyed hearing from y'all.

I had a nice, quiet birthday yesterday. I ate the leftovers from Mother's Day lunch we had here so I didn't go anywhere on my birthday. I got to talk to Lisa and T on the phone and Magnolia Sun on the phone. It's always nice to hear their voices.

This is one of the things in my mailbox Monday. It's from Girlville! Wrapped up very nice.

It's a painting that she created for me using the colors in my bedroom. It turned out great. I have put it on my night table. It's perfect for my room. Thank you Girlville!

I held it up against my curtains in the room but I don't know if you can tell how perfectly it matches in this picture. I also have a new yellow coverlet for my bed that it matches perfectly, too. My old quilt finally had to be replaced.

This was a birthday card I got in the mail on Monday, too. It's from Alfredsmom. I love it. Thank you!!

This came to the house today!! A wonderful surprise from Lisa and T&W. It is so pretty and smells good, too. Thank you girls!

This is the food we had on Mother's Day here at our house. Aunt Sue made the tomato, avocado, corn salad and it was so very yummy. I'll get that recipe from her to post here in the future. There are some boiled shrimp and sour dough bread.

In this picture you can see the whole shrimp and crabmeat cheese cake and some marinated green beans that he husband really likes. My mama made those.

Here is the shrimp and crabmeat cheesecake up close. It was even better today than it was yesterday. The recipe follows the pictures.





SAVORY CRAB AND SHRIMP CHEESECAKE

Taste of the South

Crust:
60 saltine crackers, finely crushed (approximately 2 sleeves)
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Filling:

1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
12 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
One and ½ pounds marscarpone cheese
5 eggs ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ pound lump crabmeat cleaned of any shell bits
2 green onion tops, thinly sliced
1 recipe white-wine butter sauce (you’ll have to get one off the internet)

To prepare crust, grease a 10-inch springform pan with Pam cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine crackers, butter and white pepper, stirring well. Press evenly into bottom of springform pan and one inch up sides of pan. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees


For filling, rub shrimp evenly with sal and cayenne pepper.
In saute pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat on stovetop. Add shrimp and cook for 1 to three minutes, or until curled and pink. Transfer shrimp to a bowl and refrigerate.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with mixer at medium high speeed until fluffy. Add marscarpone cheese beating at medium speed one minute (do not over beat marscarpone cheese or it may curdle) Add eggs one at a time, beating at medium-high speed for 30 seconds after each addition. Add flour, beating at medium speed for approximately 1 minute or until mixture is creamy and thickens slightly.

Coarsely chop shrimp reserving a few for garnish.
Fold chopped shrimp, crab and green onions into the cheese mixture. Pour into crust.

Place springform pan on a baking sheet. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until browned and well set. (Nudge the pan and if the cheesecake jiggles, continue backing until firm.) Cool for 1 hour on a wire rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature with white-wine butter sauce.

***MY NOTES: I made the white-wine butter sauce recipe that came with this recipe and it was not good to me. My mom said it was okay to her but I would rather use one that I find on the Internet.

I cleaned and boiled the shrimp earlier instead of cooking them in a pan like this recipe calls for and they were just fine. I really had to pick through the crab meat to get the shells out. I would recommend doing that because it’s no fun to get a crab shell bit while you’re eating.

This was even better the second day!

Big Weekend Around Here

Every few years the dates line up where I have my anniversary and then Mother's Day and then my birthday...one right after the other. This weekend was that type of line-up. The husband and I had our anniversary on the 12th. Then Mother's Day, we had my parents and his mom over for lunch...which I'll show in tomorrow's post. And today is MY BIRTHDAY...which I'm not much for celebrating but I do like a good cake! So here are some pictures from what's been going on around here. Tune in tomorrow for food pictures and a recipe.

This is my cake. A friend of my sister's who works in the bakery at the grocery down the street made this cake. She knows how much we like icing so she really piled the icing on this cake. It was so heavy that I weighed it on my scales. It weighed SIX POUNDS...of cake and icing...my dream come true. When we cut a few pieces out of it, it was so heavy that the cake started to collapse from the weight. I LOVE IT.

Here is my slice. That blue color is really purple. The camera made it look blue.

Magnolia Sun sent me a something!! She has them wrapped so pretty. She told me I could not open them until my birthday so I waited until after midnight to open these and then took the picture to post...execept for the chocolate, I ate it right away.

She game me a little Willow Tree box that represents friendship. It's so pretty. When you open the top of the box, this is what is written on the inside. This is so special. We have know each other for a long time and it's so nice to know that we have the kind of friendship that no matter how far apart we are in distance, we will always be there for each other. Magnolia Sun...loved the card! It is so true. Thank you so much!

This is the outside of the box. Two friends listening to each other.

Magnolia Sun also sent me this flip-flop frame. I know what I'll put it in...a picture of us when she visits this summer. I think I'll put a picture from every year we go to the beach for our annual dinner.

Lots of cards from the weekend...anniversary, birthday. Lisa and the girls sent a card that got here on Friday. Thank you Girls! It always brightens my day to get cards or mail!

Aunt Sue knows what I like, too. She gave me this beautiful ceramic serving tray with the starfish handles and a cheese board with a seahorse knife and decorations. They are so pretty.

The parents gave me some money (always a good thing to get) and I bought these two books and plan to get another book about making glass beads. This is a good book for someone who wants to start making glass beads.

This book is full of pictures of beautiful cakes and it has a few recipes and tips. The lady that wrote this book owns Edgar's Bakeries in Birmingham, Alabama. We've been there and the cakes are amazing.

Now...the husband has a double whammy because of our anniversary date and my birthday being 12th and 14th. We don't really go out and celebrate or buy big gifts. But this year he was so good to get me earrings and a ring that I love...of course I got to pick them out this time. So this was my Christmas, anniversary and birthday present all rolled into one. The stone in the center of the earring and ring is a garnet.

It was such a nice weekend this year! And I don't feel any older yet.

Happy Mother's Day Mama!

Happy Mother's Day to the best Mama in my world. This picture was taken two weeks after Aunt Sue was born. April 1969. That's me on the left soaking up the sun (I guess.) My mama and Aunt Sue and my brother, who looks like he's ready for picture taking to be over with. On the back of this picture my mama has written that this was Suzy's first Sunday going to church since she was born. This picture was taken over at my grandmother's house where we'd to for dinner after church almost every Sunday after church..or she would come to our house. I'm guessing daddy is taking the picture.

That dress I have on is my kindergarten graduation dress and probably my Easter dress for that year.

Front door Friday: P'cola Beach Doors

Today's FDF shows doors from the beach. When I run out of doors, I might start showing mailboxes.

This door has a pelican statue that have become popular here. This pelican looks like a doggie!

This front door stairway has pretty pineapple posts.

This is the door to the house with the pelican/doggie statue. I like the way the shell is carved on the door.

This house is in our neighborhood and I walk by it when I go for a walk. I've shown it before and it's where all those dogs live that look like little bears. But I really like the English garden look of the front yard. I took their address and looked it up on Google maps and then hit satellite and zoomed in and it's neat to see it from above.


I am cooking lunch on Mother's day. I hope what I'm cooking turns out good. We'll see. If it does, I'll post a picture on Monday.

Magnolia Sun: Guess what's all gone? It was so very good. I'll be posting a picture this weekend or Monday....thank you!

Neighbor's tree is cut down

I took this video from my kitchen window of the neighbor's tree being cut down to make way for a garage in their backyard. I hate to see trees get cut down but they do need a garage.

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I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago. The husband like it but would not touch the sugar snap peas.


BEEF WITH SUGAR SNAP PEAS

Cooking Light Magazine

One (3 ½ ounce) bag boil-in-bag brown rice
1 (12 ounce) flank stead, trimmed (I had the butcher department slice mine thin)
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, divided
3/4 cup fat-free less sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1 cup sliced onion
1 tablespoon bottled fresh ground ginger
3 cups frozen sugar snap peas
1 cup preshredded carrot


1. Cook rice according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat.

2. Cut steak diagonally across grain into think slices. Combine steak and 1 table spoon soy sauce, toss to coat. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce, broth, hoisin, and cornstarch, stir well with a whisk.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add steak mixture, saute 1 ½ mintutes or until lightly browned. Remove steak from pan. Add onion and ginger to pan, saute 2 minutes. Stir in steak mixture, saute for 30 seconds. Add broth mixture, bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Serve immediately over rice.

Yield 4 servings (Serving size is 1 cup beef mixture and ½ cup of rice.

Calories 361
Fat 9.7g
Protein 24.3
Carb 40 g
Fiber 5.1
Chol. 30 mg
Iron 3mg
Sodium 677 mg

Good, Bad, Ugly

This is a good thing. These flowers are so pretty. I don't know what this plant is named but I wish I could get in this person's back yard to see the whole thing.

I don't have a picture of the bad thing for you to see because I wouldn't want to give you all nightmares. But last night before I bed, I went to the kitchen to get the puggies a treat and Chichi's medicine. Up on the ceiling was a Cadillac Escalade...I mean a roach the size of a Cadillac Escalade. Good grief....I am thinking maybe the two that I have seen recently on the ceiling in there came through the air vent?? Anyway, I ran out of the room. The husband was already asleep and I knew if I woke him up for this he would raise his voice at me so I had to think...wake him up and hear him ya-ya at me or try to kill it myself? So I opted for the Clorox Kitchen Cleaner that was sitting closeby. It was a new bottle and was powerful enough to reach the "Escalade" without my having to get too close. I sprayed it and it scurried a few feet across the ceiling. I had to watch out because it could fly or drop at any moment. I kept spraying and spraying and it didn't move other than it's atenna. It stared me down until I just gave up. The floor and sink area in the kitchen was covered in Clorox stuff but what the heck. If that thing didn't die, it has to be 99.9 germ free now.

So I get up at 4:00 a.m. with the pugs and head to the kitchen and it is nowhere in sight. Now, what is worse than seeing a live roach? I'll tell you....knowing that there was a live roach in there when you left and not seeing it anywhere when you get back. Who knows where it will show up? I hope it shows up dead...but now I'll be paranoid until it shows up. I can imagine that I am going to open a drawer or something and there it will be. The anticipation of seeing it again is bothering me. I am hoping that when the huband wakes up, that he will be nice enough to go in there and look around to see if it dropped in the kitchen sink or is laying dead somewhere.

Here is a little something I copied off of a message board when I looked up "roach stories" just to know I'm not the only one out there telling stories of these devil things.
#32 ::: Kip T. Williams ::: (view all by) ::: June 20, 2002, 01:16 PM:

When we moved from Georgia to Texas, we left the worst roaches behind, and also knew we had avoided worse ones than we had to live with. I'd seen those waterbugs from time to time; like larger roaches, with stony shells and little pincer arms with tattoos of tiny anchors. Those were mostly things I saw outside of our home.

We got a cat, partly so she'd eat some of the roaches, when we lived in Georgia. She ate (and un-ate) them for a while, then took to ignoring them, which was probably all for the better.

Wings. I can't forget the first time I swatted at a roach on the ceiling and it flew down at me. And I still count my blessings that the ones in GA only flew down. I think the ones in FL can fly up to the ceiling, and they have a million invisible little pals, too. That sting.


Here's the UGLY thing. This picture was taken at the seafood market recently. I was pretending to take a picture of Aunt Sue so that I wouldn't look like a freak taking a picture of this sight. All I can say is JUST DON'T! Don't wear your white pants so tight out in public...save it for inside of your house. It looks like it would hurt to wear your pants this tight......and they are WHITE. I need a camera phone in the worst way so that I can take "secret squirrel" pictures. Secret Squirrel pictures are pictures that need to be shown of things that are done in public that shouldn't.

wrong turn somewhere

This little guy showed up on the front porch on Saturday. He was moving along at a good clip. The husband put him out in the ferns in the yard.

Can you see that black pug/aka/Tiny? She is very bossy as I type this. It's 2:00 a.m. here and I just finished some work and she is letting me know that she cannot tolerate staying up this late but she can't go to bed by herself and she will not stay with her daddy at bedtime anymore. Barking incessantly at this time of night is not a good thing.

earrings and beads

This is my favorite pair of earrings. I lost one of these over at the parents' house over a year ago and we could never find it. I didn't want to pay for another pair just when I needed one, so the jewelry store ordered just one earring for me and I picked it up this weekend. So glad I can wear them again.

Aunt Sue and I went to the bead society's show this weekend. I had never been to one before but I'll be sure to go back next year. There were bead artists there that made all kinds of things with beads and also made beads. I have really been interested in learning how to make glass lampwork beads and I wanted to see the variety that would be at this show. I talked to a lady there about a class here in town and she told me she teaches the class. She took my number and said she would call when she had enough people interested. She said the studio is too hot in the summer for her to work in so it might be the fall/winter before she teaches a class.

Here is what I bought at the the bead show. This is glass beads made by the woman that teaches the lampwork class.