Let the celebration begin!

I had a very nice surprise waiting for me at work this morning. Sharon & Sara had a little birthday surprise for me! It was so sweet. Sharon made some of her very yummy Three Berry Crisp with Cinnamon Whipped Cream and they each got me a nice gift. I was so surprised! My birthday isn't until Saturday, but with the holiday this week and the fact that I'm off Wed-Fri, they had a little celebration for me this morning. A very nice start to my week.

Semi-homemade

I was given a cookbook the other day at work. We had featured it on our morning talk show and had an interview with the author. The producer was nice enough to let me keep the cookbook. (Another very nice perk of my job!) Well, I absolutely love this cookbook. It's called "Semi-Homemade 20-Minute Meals 2" By Sandra Lee. One of my pre-requisites for cookbooks is one that has lots (and I mean lots) of pretty colorful photographs. Being a visual person, I really like to know what things are supposed to look like. This book has a full page photo of each and every recipe. The recipes are great! Every page has something on it that I would cook and eat. The fact that they're quick and super easy makes it even better.


Last night I made the "Black Bean & Spinach Couscous". I probably would not have made this dish if it weren't for the very pretty photograph of the finished product. Not only was it delicious, it was very healthy as well. And it made for my entire meal. For dinner last night and lunch today. And I still have more for later that I will set out as a side dish for our Sunday dinner. Sandra Lee claims that it takes 10 minutes to make from start to finish. And she was right on. And that included time to do the dishes.


I have just now decided that as I make some of the recipes, I will post my opinions here on my blog. As well as posting the recipes and photos too. Enjoy!



Black Bean & Spinach Couscous

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup couscous, Near East
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach
3/4 cup black beans, drained
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt & pepper

1. In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring chicken broth to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in couscous. Cover and let sit for 5 min.

2. Squeeze excess water out of thawed spinach. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine spinach and black beans. Heat in microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir spinach and black beans mixture into couscous. Add lemon juice and season to taste with salt & pepper.

I am a germophobe.

I am a germophobe. There. I said it. I am a germophobe. I went to 2 different shopping malls today. And it was a Saturday during the Christmas shopping season. Did I also mention that I'm not very bright sometimes? That's another blog for another day though. For now, I'm just going to discuss my fear of germs.

I wasn't always this way. I think it started after I had my son. Not immediately, but soon after. I don't like touching things in public. Especially escalators or door handles. I don't like using public restrooms. I don't like when people sneeze or cough near me. I keep antibacterial hand gel in my car. And on my desk at work. And I use it often.

Today when I was at Mall #1, Eric & I had lunch at the food court. Eric got chinese and I opted for a nice sub at Quiznos. A woman put my turkey and cheese sub together, then placed it on the heater. It came out the other side to a gentleman wearing rubber type gloves. I thought that was very good that he wore gloves when handling food items. Especially my food items. After he retrieved my sub and placed it with his gloved fingers onto the paper, he then took one of his gloved hands and grabbed a fist of shredded lettuce and placed it on my sandwich. Then he wrapped up my sandwich and put it on a tray. Immediately after that, he told me how much my order was, and I handed him the money. With his gloved hand, he took my dirty money, and made change for me from the cash register. A few pennies, a nickel, a quarter and a few dollar bills. Then the phone rang. He picked up the phone with his other gloved hand and began speaking. Then with his other gloved hand, he handed me an empty cup for my soda that I was to fill myself. At this point I was pretty grossed out. I'm not sure how long he had been wearing the rubber gloves, but I could only imagine what all he had done while they were on his hands. And it made me a little queasy. I ate my sandwich anyway. I was hungry.

After lunch, I had to use the restroom. Which was the typical Christmas-shopping- season-public-mall-restroom disaster area. I found an empty stall, did my usual cleaning routine of the seat, and didn't sit on it anyway. Finished my business and as I was washing my hands with the hottest water I could stand, I saw a woman with 2 young children exit a stall and depart the bathroom. Bypassing the sink area completely. I walked out behind them as they went on to stand in line at Burger King. With their filthy hands. I met back up with Eric and we went to pick up Alex, who was attending a birthday party at the Laser Tag facility in the Mall. The one with the hundreds of germ ridden kids running around playing video games and touching everything in site.

We left Mall #1. I went to Mall #2 on my own later in the evening. It was much the same as mall #1, only bigger. Much bigger. And much more crowded. Which meant many more germs. After I quickly did all that was on my list, I vowed not to return there again. At least not until well after the holidays. And well after cold & flu season.

Yellow Snow

What is this white stuff in my bathroom??

A Boy & His Dog and Other Random Stuff

Alex & Jenny posed for a nice photo this evening. It was a nice (rare) quiet moment for them. Usually they're chasing each other around the house. Jenny originally had evil green eyes, but I fixed them in post. I love Photoshop.




I was at A.C. Moore today buying some picture frames and I came across this fun display. I thought it was picture worthy. Alex got a kick out if it too.

Oh and the 2008 Boston Red Sox schedule came out today. The week we're going to be at the Cape, the Sox are in town every day. They're even playing the Yankees for a few games. Maybe we'll be able to get to a game that week... We're looking at other possibilities too. Maybe Baltimore in May? Toronto in September? We're determined to see a game next season!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow. Where did the year go??

Big Foot

I was gently encouraged to buy new shoes this weekend. I know my tastes aren't as "hip" as they could be in some areas. Ok, in many areas. I've always had issues with shoes. I appreciate Eric's input and his style, so I took his advice and bought these shoes. For the last few days, I have been wearing them, trying to break them in. They're the first Skechers I have ever owned. The biggest thing I have noticed with the shoes is that they are very big. VERY big. Much bigger than I am used to. I'm sure that's normal to other people, but to me they just seem very big. I've been tripping over invisible things a lot more. And today while I was using the bathroom at work, I lifted one of my big feet to flush the toilet, the big shoe slipped off the flusher thingy, I lost my balance and I ended up falling onto the stall divider.

I'll keep wearing them. They're comfortable at least, in a big roomy sort of way.

Pizza and Snowmobile Cake

Today we went to Eric's niece Laura's 5th Birthday party at Pizza Hut. Her grandma made her a very yummy and very fun snowmobile cake at Laura's request. It was REALLY good. I could have eaten a few more pieces. But after all the pizza, breadsticks and soda I indulged in, that probably wouldn't have been a very good idea. Happy Birthday, Laura!