Feliz cumpleaños, Carmen

Happy Birthday, Carmen!

2006

Carmen, you are so precious to your "Abuela" and "Pops"! We can hardly wait to see you on your birthday... this Wednesday.

Hard to believe that you will be six years old.

Feliz cumpleaños, Carmen

"Leaving, on a jet plane" -- Adios!!

    Early tomorrow morning my husband and I will hop across the border into Mexico (we just live a few miles away) and drive to the local airport for a flight to Manzanillo, Mexico. Just the sound of Manzanillo sounds probably a little romantic (the movie "10" was filmed at Las Hadas there) but we will then drive to Tecoman, Colima about an hour's drive inland. Look on the map, find the words MEXICO in red and just slightly to the left you will see COLIMA. That is the area we will be in for the next several days.

    Our oldest son and my husband are business partners in a farming operation in the state of Colima... one of the best states in Mexico. We grow honeydew, papaya and personal size watermelons. Right now is our harvest season... and, boy, does it get hectic.

   

This is our son with his wife and two children. Carmen takes Hawaiian dancing and is shown in one of her costumes. The "county fair" is going on right now in Tecoman and her dance group will be dancing for the event. Our first "recital". Cannot wait.

    We will also celebrate Carmen's sixth birthday. She is such a sweetheart. Hopefully I will have good pictures of her party.

    Unless there is a glitch with our internet I will try to post pictures of our trip this week.

    Adios!

Monday is for Mother and "Boboti"

Rosemary

I am taking this idea from Celestial Charms  http://celestialcharms.blogspot.com/
who writes about her mother on Mondays and her father on Fridays. I really like this idea for this week, I will do the same. Thanks to "Nana" at La Table De Nana
http://latabledenana.blogspot.com/ for suggesting Celestial Charms. Nana has a wonderful photo her blog right now. Thank you so much, ladies!

Her name was "Rosemary", one of the most creative, talented and loving women I have ever known. She was very intelligent having graduated from SMU. And after all... she married my dad! (Visit me on Friday and see what a handsome fellow he was.) My mother worked in the Oceanography and Meterology Department at Texas A&M University and later the Sterling Evans Library. She loved to cook and was especially adept at preparing foods from her mother's native country, Italy. I've posted several of her recipes in the past. She and my father lived in the country of Botswana in Africa for four years and she mastered several of the local recipes. Here is one of them:

Boboti

2 lbs. ground beef

1 slice white bread

1 c. milk

2 onions, chopped

2 eggs

1 tsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. curry powder

2 Tbsp. vinegar

2 Tbsp. oil

1 grated apple

Few dried apricots

2 Tbsp. currants

     Fry onions in oil until light brown and add curry powder, salt, sugar, vinegar, ground meat, and fruit. Soak bread in milk and pour off milk which should be added to the onion and meat mixture. Add 1 beaten egg. Mix and put into casserole. Beat other egg and milk, pour over dish and bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 350 degrees. This may also be topped with mashed potatoes. Serves 4-6.

     Mother's note: This is a traditional dish of the Boer families of South Africa. This particular recipe was given to me by a South African nurse from Pretoria.

What am I supposed to do with this old lamp "top"?

This was part of a lamp from my grandmother's home. I did at one time have the whole lamp, however, we lost the rest of it in a fire. It is large and just not my "style". I am not even sure if it is a true antique or collector's item. What say you? Is this worth saving?

Hot Cereal for the "Ticker"

Hot Oat Bran Cereal

1/3 c. oat bran cereal
About 2 tbsp. dried cranberries
   Pour uncooked bran cereal into a one cup measuring cup and fill with water up to the one cup line. Add dried cranberries. Microwave until done... this morning it only took 1 1/2 minutes. Stir half-way between cooking. Watch that it does not boil over. It's a mess to clean up! Stir when done.

Add:
1/2 banana, diced
1 tbsp. or more of slivered almonds
1 tsp. Smart Balance (sometimes we use butter)
1 tbsp. sugar-free syrup
Ground cinnamon
1 packet of Splenda if you like
(Some people like to add a few fresh blueberries)

Visit Michael at Designs by Gollum for some wonderful recipes and food ideas!

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

My husband grilled some wonderful chicken tonight!

David’s BBQ Sauce

3 c. apple cider vinegar
1 c. brown sugar
    Bring vinegar and brown sugar to a boil. Add spices.

2 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. black pepper
2 ½ tsp. liquid smoke
1 ½ tsp. cayenne
1 ½ tsp. allspice
1 ½ tsp. chili powder
1 ½ tsp. onion powder
¾ tsp. garlic powder
    Simmer at low temperature for 30 minutes.

1 ½ tbsp. water
1 tbsp. cornstarch
    Mix together and add to vinegar mixture. Remove from heat and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture thickens.

Makes 1 quart