Beautiful Blogging Party--Why I Love Blogging

It's here! The Beautiful Blogging Party hosted by Joy of Cupids Charm. Joy has asked us to share why we love blogging, so.........................

I love blogging, because it is a way to connect and share with wonderful people all over the world that I would otherwise never get to meet or come to know. It's a creative outlet and sometimes it's even a motivator to get a project finished—just so it can be shared with others. I've met many other bloggers, made new friends, swapped wonderful handmades, participated in a PIF (Pay It Forward), helped others with a couple of tutorials, inspired others—they tell me anyway, there a wonderful tours to take, soirees and parties to attend, recipes to share. I've learned so much from reading other bloggers shares of their lives and creations. It's a way to travel the world while sitting right here in my own home. It has opened new avenues for me and has truly been inspirational and immensely enjoyable. So here's to more blogging—both writing and reading!

As a little party favor and thank for you visiting my blog I would like to share with you a few vintage images that you are welcome to save to your computer and use however you'd like. (Be sure to click on them, so you can save them larger). And don't forget to hop on over and check out all of the other wonderful blogs participating in the party too.

Happy Blogging!

2007 Vintage From Francois Chidaine (Written For The Wine Country's Spring Newsletter)

Anyone that has been shopping at The Wine Country for any time is aware of our nearly fanatic adoration for the wines from the Loire Valley, these are the wines we drink the most often, the wines we find pair the best with the foods we eat and the wines that inspire our customers to utter phrases like, “I have never tasted anything like that before!” one winemaker in particular has converted more non wine drinkers to aficionados, red wine drinkers to white wine worshipers and pulled more domestic wine drinkers into the French department, that winemaker is, Francois Chidaine.

I remember standing in Francois freezing cold cellar, tasting wines that were as close to perfection as I had ever had and looking over at this wide eyed, horribly shy, soft spoken, humble man thinking, “He, he made these?” I could not get over how gentle he was, how softly he moved and how he seemed to be trying to read our faces, like he was wondering if we approved of his offerings. I just remember thinking, “He has no idea, no idea how unbelievably perfect these wines are” and each year when the new releases are presented to me I look at the prices and think, “He still has no idea”.

Hands-down the most undervalued wines we have in the store, these are some of the most concentrated, precise, focused wines I have ever tasted and all of them are under $30.00 a bottle?!

Francois is masterful in his ability to coax Chenin Blanc into revealing its truly noble expression of place and vintage. His Montlouis and Vouvray offerings are wildly diverse and with each vintage we are stunned by his ability to let each wine show what the weather, the vines and the soils gave him. Once considered the “man to watch” in Montlouis his wines now sell out immediately upon release and grace the lists of the finest restaurants the world over.

2006 was a warmer vintage and the wines displayed a richness and slight to high level of sweetness but the 2007s are much drier, more mineral driven but still retain that rich, full texture and sexy, lush mouth feel. If you have yet to taste the wines from Francois Chidaine this is the perfect vintage to start with, they are some of the best I have ever had from the estate and I don’t think you can call yourself a wine lover and not experience these wines.

2007 Francois Chidaine Vouvray Clos Baudoin $26.99
Quite floral with green pear, herbs and tart tangerine rind flavors. Extremely supple on the palate with a smack of cold wet stones in the middle and a crisp bone dry finish.

2007 Francois Chidaine Vouvray Les Argiles $23.99
Stony and nutty with orange blossom, minerals and a green herby note. Quite dry with a lovely mouth feel and long but fruit driven finish.

2007 Francois Chidaine Vouvray Le Bouchet $23.99
Super ripe pears, warm baking spices and peaches. Long, ripe, powerful almost chewy in the mouth with a stunning crisp, dry finish.

2007 Francois Chidaine Montlouis Les Tuffeaux $24.99
Ripe mango aromatics with just a kiss of herbs and white flowers. Ripe pears on the palate with just a touch of that signature baking spice flavor in the plushy mouth feel. The finish is remarkably balanced, just enough acidity to leave your palate tingly but still tasting this stunning wine.

2007 Francois Chidaine Montlouis Clos Habert $26.99
Thick and luscious looking in the glass, this wine is all about texture! Warm peaches in a buttery crust, almost oily in the mouth, sexy, full and concentrated but the brilliant acidity keeps the wine perfectly balanced.

Bathroom Remodeling Ideas

These furniture ideas are design Bathroom Remodeling Ideas or makeover examples from a German company called Alape. Alape has been in the business for over 120 years doing home design for both residential and commercial installations. Whether you are seeking a remodeling or initial build, I would encourage you to research all the possibilities out there. Here is a link to their photo gallery.When

Star Trek Costumes

With the new Star Trek film id due for release on the 8th of May, to be followed by a TV series, I thought now would be a good time to take a look at what Star Trek Costumes are available as well as delve a little into what the film is going to be about.

Star Trek Film
The film will chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members. There is a new cast of fresh faced actors including Hot Fuzz's Simon Pegg taking up the role of Enterprise engineer Scotty, the revamped outer space odyssey is already generating huge buzz among film fans. Star Trek, directed by JJ Abrams (Cloverfield and Lost), is certified 12A and runs for 127 minutes.

The New Star Trek Costume from the Movie
The only place that I so far have found that sell the new Star Trek uniform is BuyCostumes.com in the USA - They can however ship to the UK and they say you will receive your order within 2 to 4 days which is really good. The have the full range of mens Star Trek uniforms - just no female ones yet! (click on the banner below to take you to their shop)





Other Star Trek Costumes
As for the other uniforms, Amazon.com have pretty much the entire range, including all colours of the Next Generation Uniforms for the retro look, Star Trek Voyager costumes as well as the Deep Space Nine Costumes including a Deep Space Nine Commander Sisko costume and a Dr. Bashir Star Trek Costume.

Star Trek Costumes on Amazon.com

If you are looking for more information on then check out this comprehensive guide to the Star Trek Costume and Uniforms

Battle of the Movie Costumes 2

Back in February, I wrote an article called Battle of the Movie Costumes, where we took a look at the popularity of films about to be released, using Google Insights and is based on the amount of people searching on the web for each film. I thought that with a few of the films having been released and a few about to be released, it would be interesting to compare them again and see if there have been any changes. In this way if you want to wear a fancy dress costume that has a current movie theme, you will know which is the most popular.

Films recently released that you can find fancy dress costumes for:

• The Pink Panther 2 (Feb 13th)
• Friday the 13th (Feb 13th)
• Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Feb 27th)

And then a few about to be released:

• X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1st)
• Star Trek (May 8th)

Google Insights - The Most Popular films of 2009
Once again I used Google Insights to compare the search terms from February until today:



What is interesting is back in February, Street Fighter and Star Trek were neck and neck as to which was the most popular, with Street Fighter just edging it.

Street Fighter
Now we can see that there was a huge spike in the number of searches for Street Fighter, just before and then just as it was released on February the 27th and even though it was released over 2 months ago it is still more popular than the Pink Panther ever was - So a Street fighter costume is definitely cool.

Wolverine & the X-Men
This film is due for release tomorrow (May 1st) and whilst there was a spike in interest in early April and the number of searches continues to increase the closer we get to the release, it is never going to match Street Fighter. So a Wolverine Costume is still cool, just not Super Cool.

Star Trek
Next in line, just behind the Wolverine is Star Trek, it still has a few days before it's release and whist it is popular, It again is never going to reach the heights of Street Fighter. Check out the Star Trek Costumes on Amazon.com

Modern Bathrooms from Toyo

Modern Bathrooms are a few of the Toyo Kitchen stainless steel modern bathroom fixtures, sinks, vanities, and bathtubs that exemplify this diverse line of eye popping products from the orient. You have to see the entire collection of offerings that include furniture, and compliments for the modern Home design kitchen and bathroom environment.

Crystals Kitchen Design by Toyo

The Crystals Kitchen Design fabulous island is at once usable and intensely sophisticated, being raised off the House design floor it acquires status.

What's It Gonna Be?

What's it gonna be? Well your guess is as good as mine. I don't know quite yet.......

...except that it's going to be a journey. A creative embroidery sampler of sorts. Years ago young girls would make samplers as part of their schooling to learn how to sew and they were prided on how well their stitching was and the samplers had order to them. Well not this one. Now that's not to say that I'm going to be sloppy with my stitching, because I do want that part of it to be particular, but the rest will be creative reckless abandon! An exercise if you will in learning to let go and create. To go with the flow! I was inspired by Teresa McFadden of My Minutia, when I saw her fabulous creative sampler and I thought, wow, what better way to get the thoughts and creativity flowing. The most fun exercise ever!

So I'm on a new little sewing adventure. I started with a piece of beautiful Irish linen and a few ideas and went from there. This first little piece I decided to applique with a tad of embroidery and as I go I plan to add some hearts, paisleys, pansies, a crown, buttons, a hand, maybe a few embroidery scribbles and who knows what. We'll see where the needle and thread lead me. Already though I can tell you that I've thoroughly enjoyed the little stolen moments I've had to work on this little piece. I wonder where my needle and I will go next. We have lots of blank space to fill up.

Happy Stitching!

Contemporary Children's Bedrooms

The Contemporary Children's Bedrooms secret is not the size of the room but how well it is furnished. The bedrooms of the furnitur Bedrooms collection have been studied to leave room for creativity, mixing style and functionality.

Interior Design & build

The Providing solutions to you not only architectural design services, unloading a house, design house or sketches of the project, but we also have solutions that can cost in the sparing, with the implementation of the system that is flexible, according to budget your financial needs.

Design Bookshelf The Best

Explanation of the design of the bookshelves below, you will be able to assess a form of goods that look simple and ordinary, into something and have the exclusive power to the livingroom beauty of bookshelves and cleanliness good. for the family.Bookshelves multi size is called Quad Bookcase, asymmetric shape that can be shown to create the perfect balance for this book shelves.Bookshelves

Proof That God, Or Whomever Is In Charge Of Crap, Wants Me To Stay Chunky

So Saturday evening I found myself with a little extra, “rawr” in my step, (to understand “rawr” you have to picture me with a saucy face, looking to do something with her pent up energy…sometimes helps if you picture me with my hands in a Cat Woman pose and an eyebrow raised, there ya go) so rather than write, clean or do something otherwise productive, I decided to hop on the treadmill, aka The World’s Most Expensive Hanger. I went for it, pulled the deposited clothes that I never wear, but never remember why until I try and put them on…”Ugh! Horrid” toss on the “hanger”….off the treadmill and plopped them on the bed, put on sweats and a t-shirt, laced up the now dusty running shoes and fired up the ipod. I so looked the part, if I had a sweat band I would have been sporting that mother f’er, I was a maniac, maniac on the floor-or.




Poured myself a deep glug of wine in my short stemmed glass, which fits beautifully in my cup holder on the “hanger”…don’t judge, some people drink those fruit flavored waters, others drink their 1500 calorie caramel coffees, I drink wine while I power walk and pretend to be Mary J. Blige. Glass of Domaine Sorin Rose, ($9.99) frosty and sitting in the holder, music blistering my ear drums and giant pile of ugly clothes sitting on the bed, I got my work out on, shifting the music to suit my mood, from Mary J to Guy, the whole time having a blast with my simple but mineral driven pink wine and baggy sweats. Just as I was getting to my, “wow I’m getting tired” moment, (which is, I mean who are we kidding, like 30 minutes in) I felt a little pang of, “ouch” in my left….hind quarter, not to worry, I was just about outta “rawr” anyway so I jumped off the hanger and bent down to untie my shoes….damn, OUCH! “Stretch it out” I told myself, you know…like the athlete that I am, stretch and bend and, Dammit…OUCH!




Spent the evening favoring my left backside, trying not to enflame the already annoyed area. I have had lower back and sciatic problems for years, ever since I had my son almost 20 years ago…it has gotten better and my bouts with back pain have been lessening over the years but I could tell that I had better take it easy. Had a bit of a restless night, my natural instinct to turn on my side was met with a teeth jarring pain and the need to flip into an unnatural position. Woke up Sunday morning feeling hazy, not that unusual but this time it was not booze induced, I hadn’t slept that well.



When I came to enough to climb out of bed, I took it easy, shifting a bit under the covers to test the ol’ back waters…..things seemed okay so I sat up and placed my feet on the ground, scrunching the carpet fibers between my toes and stood….dammit OUCH, clearly worse. I made my old lady walk to the living room and tried to ready myself for a day full of social obligations, lunch with my buddy Nancy and her husband and dinner with Merritt, her family and her new boyfriend, I would be playing the part of parent “buffer” for that event, no time to be all wounded, I had things to do. Hurt at home or hurt out with friends, friends that might be willing to get me a drink to help dull the ache that was creeping up my entire back and down my leg…gotta go with the friends on this one.

I swear I must have looked like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings in the shower that morning, hunched over, shivering and clearly in ugly pain. Got ready and met with Nancy and Johan for noodles and beer, I passed on beer and had a couple glasses of Albarino with my noodles…that I ate on the backless bench the restaurant had as seats…whimper. After lunch the group wanted to take a little walk around 4th street…”why do you all hate me?” I thought, but walk I did…for a bit before having to admit that I was done and needed to lay down, (shaking fists in the air) “damn you weak back…damn you”. Came home, sprawled on the bed, on my tummy, which for busty girls…not so comfy, and drifted off for a much needed 30 minute nap. Played around on the interwebs for a bit, touched up my sleepy face and headed out for dinner.



Couple of glasses of double IPA and some marginal BBQ later, I was talking with Merritt and the group in front of the restaurant, talking led to laughter, which led to me being bent over like a jackass on Main Street in Seal Beach, trying to quiet the screaming in my back. I needed bed and I needed it then, so what did I do? Yeah, I sat up drinking a bottle of 2007 La Cabotte Cotes du Rhone, ($10.99) letting myself get lost in the plumy fruit and sexy spice, enjoying the upfront roundness of the wine and diggin’ the wicked sharp acidity that kept the wine from clunking up my pouty palate, bed schmed…this was wicked tasty.



Woke up at like 3 something in the morning, hobbled to the bedroom, brushed my wine covered teeth and flopped into bed. Monday morning I was hoping that things would have loosened up but my little couch nap did nothing but piss off the pain in my ass…awesome. Had nowhere to go so spent the day puttering around the house trying to take it super easy on the lower back/bum. This morning I woke to find that I had a splitting pain in the freaking center of my back…wtf?! Turns out all the favoring of my “ouchie” had created another, the center of my back, right between my shoulder blades was swollen and too sensitive to touch…rad.

Now the shower, when you are a gimp…well, it just blows, I know all my bits aren’t as clean as they should be but that reaching and bending was more than I could bare today…at one point my left leg went a bit numb and I felt like it was about to slip out from under me…”That’s it, I have to see someone. NOW” Sent a text to work letting them know I might be a bit late and made my way to the back fixer guy. “Well you’ve done a number on yourself here. Wow, that must feel like someone took your legs and your shoulders and twisted you in two opposite directions” the doctor dude chuckled. Now I don’t know if it was the pain or lack of sleep but it took everything I had not to rip his stoopid doctor head off, “Oh really asshole, you think that is funny or useful in some way? You went to school for this?” my “rawr” was back but not in the fun Cat Woman hand pose way….I was about to go all Pitbull on his ass.




“I’m going to start you on steroids and I recommend taking 3-5 days off, just to be off your feet and let the swelling go down. After that I think physical therapy might be in order” my back felt tighter than ever, I can’t take that much time off, not to mention I would go batshit laying on my back for three days, seems worse than the dagger plunging pain in my left haunch. I made it to work only to find after a few hours that I was done for, I had to have at least one, flat on my back day so tomorrow it is…shit.

The moral of the story is the powers that be have punished me for trying to work out…I think whomever is in charge rather likes having us chunky girls around, maybe he/she is a chubby chaser, maybe he/she needs us here to remind those barfing girls not to eat too much…dunno, but the powers that be are not playin’ and this girl has heard the word….for now. Thankfully I have killed enough of my brain cells that I will likely forget all about this and attempt a work out again, someday soon, let’s just hope it is with better results!

Modern Furniture Platform

modern furniture, originally uploaded by montillarafael.Related PostsBedroom * Contemporary Children's Bedrooms Picture * Interior Design Two Bedroom Furniture * Interior Design Bedroom Furniture Project * Rattan Bedroom Furniture Presidential Villa * 2008 International Furniture Show Milan Italia * Modern Bedroom Furniture * contemporary bedroom furniture california USA *

A Case For The Truly Noble Cabernet, Cabernet Franc

You know, I get that people love Cabernet Sauvignon, it is a full flavored, often densely textured wine that is high on the yummy scale, the thing that I never understood is what makes it a “noble” variety? I may have just come into wine too late to experience those great rustic, rugged, powerful Cabernets that everyone speaks about. The Cabernet Sauvignon now is often plush, juicy, chocolate laden wine with a thick body and soft-ish finish. Easy enough to suck back for sure, but what can you eat with that and what are they going to taste like with a few years in the cellar? I’ve seen professionals taste a big-in-a-juicy-fruit-way Cabernet Sauvignon and say things like, “It needs a few years”….huh? A few years to do what? Oak tannin doesn’t really soften, in fact with time I have tasted nothing but wood tannin in an aged once rich wine, no more fruit, or very little of it and harsh, bitter wood tannin, you really want your juicy wine turning into bitter wood juice? I think those juicy Cabernet Sauvignons should be consumed young and enjoyed for their lusciousness, but at the table….I think there is a better wine to accompany our meals, Cabernet Franc.

There is no better place to taste the purity of what I believe to be a truly noble variety than France’s Loire Valley. These wines are very fine, elegant, firmly structured and they just play so damn nicely with food. Something about the wines reserved textures and slightly savory flavors seem to lift even things as simple as a grilled steak to a whole other level. The acidity in the wines cut the fattiness of meat and the flavor of the meat brings out the fruit in the wines, harmonious pairings are easy to be found with a bottle of Loire Cabernet Franc on the table.

Think about the flavor of meat, it is a big, rich flavor, how do you best frame that flavor…with more big and rich? That is like drinking chocolate milk with pudding, just too much, what is needed and more balanced is a wine that is reserved, refreshing and has enough acidity, (not tannin) to lift that richness right off your palate leaving you ready for another bite.

While these wines may not hit that “sweet spot” for cocktail style consumption, (but truthfully once you have grown accustomed to the acids they become craveable) they are a far more food friendly than the more prestigious Cabernet Sauvignon, not to mention they are WAY more affordable!
Bring on the grilled steaks, spring lamb and the last of the slow cooked, richly braised foods, we have the perfect wine to showcase, (not lambast) those flavors, discover the nobility of Cabernet Franc.

2007 Domaine Bel Air Jour de Soif Bourgeuil ($15.99)
A cuvee from this estate that is meant to be consumed young, this fresh tasting little red is the perfect match for everything from beef to braised chicken. Light weight in the mouth with a lovely little Beaujolais like quality and a crisp almost crunchy finish.



2006 Domaine Bel Air Bourgueil ($16.99)
What a difference a dollar makes! Deep blue fruit with a core of rich minerals that reminds me of a freshly sharpened pencil. Medium weight in the mouth with a spicy and long floral finish.



2006 Yannick Amirault Les Quartieres Bourgueil ($26.99)
So powerful and hauntingly beautiful on the nose, cooked blueberries and wet stones with a punch of violets and black pepper on the very long but balanced finish.



2006 Philippe Alliet Chinon Vieilles Vignes ($28.99)
Such a sultry wine, tons of roasted meat and herby almost rosemary like aromas with a dark berry flavor that dominates the mid palate and an earthy finish that goes on forever. A very limited wine that deserves a spot in the very best of cellars.



2004 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny ($41.99)
One of the most sought after wines in the Loire Valley, and it is less than $50.00?! As refined a Cabernet Franc as you will ever find. This wine needs time or rigorous decanting to show all its, spice, dark, crunchy fruit and minerals but when it does show, it is a show stopper but still shines with the proper meal.

(Article written for The Wine Country Spring newsletter)

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Shrimp Scampi, Hock-style

The word "scampi" commonly refers to an Italian-American shrimp dish that is served with pasta, usually linguine. One can usually find some variation of this dish in most restaurants. In most popular applications, "scampi" also refers to a method of preparation and the shrimp can sometimes be substituted with chicken. I've had customers at the restaurant ask for chicken scampi instead of the regular shrimp scampi that we serve. Scampi dishes are almost always made up of ingredients like white wine, garlic butter and lemon juice.

For this shrimp scampi dish, I chose to use whole shrimp with the shell and head still intact. The shrimp that you find in most grocery stores are P&D, an industry term that stands for "peeled and de-veined." Shrimp like the ones I have here are actually more expensive but inherently more delicious! The natural flavor of the shrimp is derived mainly from the head and the shell. Leaving them on while cooking adds plenty of flavor to your dishes.

Before we start, let's cook the pasta first--we are using linguine. Bring a pot of salted water to boil and add the pasta. Keep stirring the pasta so that it would not clump up and stick together. The pasta is done when there is just a little crunch in the center when you bite on it. This is also known as "al dente."

Instead of sautéeing the shrimp like one would normally do, I poach them in garlic butter, fresh lemon juice and dry white wine. For extra flavoring, I added pureed basil to the poaching liquid. Shrimp cook quickly and don't really need high heat. A slow poaching approach will infuse a lot of the lemon, butter and garlic flavor into the shrimp and vice-versa--the succulent flavor of the shrimp will also flow into the poaching medium. When the shrimp turn bright red or orange (take your pick), they are cooked. Remove them from the pan and you can add vegetables like asparagus and carrots, which is what I did here. Cook them for a little while and then add the cooked linguine. Sauté the pasta with the vegetables and make sure that everything gets tossed properly. Add the shrimp last to heat them up and you are all set to serve. For garnishing, sprinkle some finely chopped parsley and lemon rind on top of the dish.

Blogher Ads

Wooo Hooo I got my Blogher Ad code today! I'm pretty sure I haven't installed it quite right, because it doesn't look quite right, so I've got to fiddle around with it a bit and see what I need to do. I'll also be going to a 3 column format--as soon as I A--figure out how to do that and B--find a pretty (free) 3 column blog template, so keep an eye out for a new look. I'm hoping to keep it simple, pretty and vintage and something that goes with my blog header.

In the meantime have fun clicking around the links in my Blogher Ad. It's fun and there are lots of neat things to learn. For now I'm off to fix dinner, watch Dancing With the Stars and then back here later to figure out to make it all work properly and look pretty--I hope!

Wow, Makes Me Feel Kinda Fancy And Stuff

So Friday afternoon I got an email from Tom Wark of Fermentation, (a blog about the wine industry and Tom has been a BIG supporter of wine blogs for years, even started the Wine Blog Awards) asking me if I would be willing to be Bloggerviewed, which is a series of interviews he has been doing on wine bloggers. After making one of those utterly embarrassing, high pitched, girlie sounds I fired an email back saying that I would love to, spent the rest of the day feeling really shocked, (you know that he had even really read this blog) but more than that I felt excited and a bit humbled.

It’s a constant wonder to me why people seem to enjoy my rants, reviews and stories of over indulgence, a warm fuzzy wonder, but a wonder none the less. Now the idea that a bunch of new folks might be viewing for the first time had me freaking out just a bit….sure, people that have been reading for a long time get my style and know that my blog is more about lifestyle and less about hard hitting “educational” articles or spotlights on regions or wineries. They know that Amy is my partner in crime and often the reason I feel like ass the morning after. They know that Call-o is what our almost 3 year old neighbor calls my husband, (Carl) we all love it and call him Call-o all the time now, my longtime readers know all this stuff…but new people….dammit, the more I thought about it the more I freaked out.




I really do wish I was one of those, “whatever, I don’t care what people think” people, in some ways I am….the looks thing I gave up on in high school, can’t fight Mother Nature and the lifestyle stuff, well I really do not care what people think about that, but writing, that is where my soft underbelly lies…getting swiped in that department tends to sting a bit, and now there was going to be a bunch of people that might do just that, (strapping on the armor) “I just won’t read the comments” I told myself as I sent the completed questionnaire back to Tom.

Now I thought it might be a couple of weeks before the Bloggerview would be up, um…yeah, I clicked on Tom’s site this morning and WHAMO my big ass mug was right there…rather shocking early in the morning I really must say. I have to admit that it is unbelievably flattering to be chosen and I had a bunch of fun answering the questions, the whole thing made me feel all special and junk the whole weekend long! So I wanted to thank Tom for, well for reading my too longs posts and for finding something in my crazy ramblings that he thought was worth sharing with others….this wine slinger is truly humbled.

One more quick note to any new comers, I just moved my blog from another spot so many of my photos did not make the move....I've been working on it, (far too slowly) but many of my older posts are sans pictures right now...maybe this will light a fire under my bum!

http://fermentation.typepad.com/fermentation/

Jamaican Jerk Chicken with a Fruit Salad

Alright, cue Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds": "Don't worry about a thing....'Cause every little thing's gonna be all right."

It's sunny out and the weather's perfect for a taste of the Caribbean islands--specifically Jamaican jerk style cooking, which uses a special blend of hot spices. Typically, Jamaican jerk spice is made up of ingredients like allspice, peppers, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme and garlic. Admittedly, this is a strong blend of spices but believe me, it is absolutely delicious! Jerk seasoning can be applied to various proteins like poultry, fish, beef, pork or even vegetables, depending on one's taste and preference. The most common and popular application of jerk seasoning is on chicken and is best cooked over a charcoal grill that is flavored with pimento wood. If you are thinking about using fish, try to use it on hardier, grillable fish like mahi-mahi, swordfish or wahoo (or "ono" in Hawaiian) and not flaky white fish like haddock or flounder. Also, taste-wise, jerk seasoning is not very good on those white fish.


Anyway, you can easily obtain jerk seasoning from your local grocery store's spice rack. All you need to do after that is to marinade the chicken with some oil and jerk seasoning. Do not add salt because the seasoning is already pretty salty. Leave the marinated chicken in your refrigerator for a couple of hours in order to permeate the flavor of the seasoning into the meat. For this application, I use wooden skewers to hold the meat and vegetables in place while grilling. It also looks kinda cool when you serve it to your guests this way! One thing to note is to soak the wooden skewers in water for a few hours before using them, so that they would not catch on fire on the grill. For vegetables, I would recommend red onions, zucchini and summer squash, as they are perfect for grilling. Some people might also like grilled tomatoes and potatoes as well. Just remember to cut them thick and oil and season them before grilling. For good measure, I also grilled some fresh pineapple slices as well.

As a side dish to the jerk chicken and also in keeping with the island theme, I added a fruit salad that is made up of spring mix as the leafy vegetable, red onions, fresh pineapple, strawberries, blackberries, peaches and mandarin oranges. The sweetness of the fruits balance out the tartness of the balsamic vinaigrette that I used on this salad.

Hope you will enjoy making this easy dish as much as I did!

"'Cause every little thing's gonna be all right!"

Gosh! I just love listening to reggae while grilling!

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Christmas - Giving Is A Blessing

Christmas brings a new life to the believers. Much before Christmas comes, the mood around the world changes. It is the anticipation of lovely days ahead of giving joy, meeting friends and family and feeling the spirit in the air that changes the most negative person to positive moods. Chistmas makes a person different. The same man, who you never see smiling, laughs during Christmas. That is the festive spirit of Christmas and that is why it is a lovely festival. Read More>>

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Home Sweet Home?

Joe and I made another run through Wichita today. As it stood both our #1 and #2 homes have been sold out from underneath us. We really needed to get on the ball!! We looked through five. And the last one, ohhh the last one was FAB. Totally. In. Love. Here's some pics. We made an offer! And we met the builder. Let's hope this works out!

Keep in mind it's still "under construction". Gotta use your imagination a bit...

As you walk in the front door you see the living room with the 2-way fireplace. Ya'll know I love those big windows!
Then, pass through to the left of the living room into the dining room and kitchen.
Through the dining room you have the master.
Awesome back porch. I can't wait to order a porch swing!

To the right of the living room you have the guest rooms.
Finished basement with 4th bedroom, extra bath and family room.

Hopefully we can make this crib ours :)