A Little Bit of Everything!

I Blame Sherlock Homes for Fostering Anti-Mormon Information!

2012-09-02T11:59:00.001-07:00

I have never read “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” before. I have read different stories here and there, and have read “The Hound of the Baskervilles” twice. I have even done a review on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a book club when we read “…Baskerville…” Since I really enjoyed as much “Holmes” as I had read so far, I decided to start at the beginning and read all of the stories. However, since I was leaving to go on a road trip, I decided to download an audio book instead.

The first story in the audio book was entitled “A Study in Scarlet. I was happily going along and enjoying the story when all of the sudden there was a drastic change in the story itself. I thought at first that I had accidently hit a button and changed to a new story because the narrator was talking about completely different characters and they were in the United States heading West with a wagon train. It was so bizarre. I kept going back and trying to find the end of the Holmes’ story I thought I had been listening to and couldn’t figure out what this new story was. Not only was the story in a completely different country but they were talking about 2 characters whose wagon train had been lost and everyone had died except these two, a gentleman and a young girl.

The gentleman and young girl were eventually saved by a passing wagon train of Mormon pioneers, who were headed west also. The Mormons nursed these two survivors back to health and asked if they wanted to continue on with them to Utah. The man agreed to their offer and he adopted the little girl as his own.

Well, since I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (the Mormons), I began to be intrigued and I thought, oh well, something crazy happened when I down loaded the audio for Sherlock but I will finish this story and then figure it out later when I got home and I could contact the book audio book company. However, as the story got further along, and the little girl grew up to marriageable age, the story started taking on a disturbing twist. It started describing the Mormons as an evil group or church who would not let people who didn’t agree with their precepts live peacefully among them. It started to assert that church members who didn’t follow everything their leaders said could be killed.

The story also distorted and INCORRECTLY described the practice of Polygamy that the early LDS church practiced. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stopped the practice of polygamous marriage in 1890. Any church member found practicing polygamy today is removed from the church records and is no longer a member. (Click here to read the Official Declaration from the church 122 years ago: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng ).

I realize that I am not an expert on all church history but I do know enough church history and have learned about the history of polygamy in the church, and most certainly it was not at all as Doyle described it in this story! I could not believe it! I was shocked and sickened when I thought of all the people who had read this story over the decades, believing the falsehoods. I had never read anything so insane in my life. It was so offensive to me that I turned off the audio and listened to something else.

Almost immediately after returning from this road trip, I pulled my copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes off the shelf and went searching for the ending to A Study in Scarlet, thinking I had been listening to something else. I thought there had to be some mistake! What I found surprised me more than anything I have ever read in a book. The story, A Study in Scarlet is divided into two parts. The first part was the story that I had been listening to, and then later it switched to the second part which apparently a background story on a couple of the characters who were in part one of the story. It just takes a long time before the two story lines are tied together, and the murders are solved.

Well, I was surprised and somewhat upset at this… When I thought of all the people around the world who had been reading this story since 1892 and thinking that the lies describing the Mormons were true, it almost made me sick! I personally don’t have any ancestors who were asked to live the law of polygamy back in the 1800’s. A small percentage of the early pioneer church members were asked to do this. However, I know and have read stories about some of my husband’s early ancestors who were in polygamous marriages back then.

It is my understanding that those men who were asked to take more than one wife at the time were men who could financially handle the responsibility. Many men had been killed or murdered in the early days of the church, and there were more female converts than males. This meant that there were many single women and women who were widows having families in the harsh frontier areas who needed someone to help support them. If one was asked to take another mate, his first wife would need to give her consent to the arrangement or it would not take place.

No man was supposed to take another wife without the prior consent of the first wife. My husband’s family history records a great story about church leader Brigham Young coming to visit one of the family heads to ask him if he would be willing to take another wife. Brigham Young found the man working out in the field, and asked him the question. This man responded to Brigham Young that he should be the one to go and ask his wife about the possible arrangement. So, Brigham went to the house and asked her. The wife’s immediate response was to throw her hot coffee on him. At this, Brigham Young left the home and went back into the field to find the husband. He told the man that he should not worry about taking another mate, for he already had “enough wife” to handle and certainly didn’t need another…!

My point of all this is the fact that so many people have misconceptions about my church and it is often because of lies like the ones told in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story that have persisted and have been spread for well over one hundred years. Such stories are believed to be true even though they are in a work of fiction and the premise was based on falsehoods at the time they were written.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When I told my friend Kim about this incident, she found this quote in Wikipedia about this particular Sherlock Holmes story:

According to a 1994 Salt Lake City newspaper article, when Conan Doyle was asked about his depiction of the Latter-day Saints' organization as being steeped in kidnapping, murder and enslavement, he said: "all I said about the Danite Band and the murders is historical so I cannot withdraw that, though it is likely that in a work of fiction it is stated more luridly than in a work of history. It's best to let the matter rest". However, Conan Doyle's daughter has stated: "You know, father would be the first to admit that his first Sherlock Holmes novel was full of errors about the Mormons." Years after Conan Doyle's death, Levi Edgar Young, a descendant of Brigham Young and a Mormon general authority, claimed that Conan Doyle had privately apologised, saying that "He [Conan Doyle] said he had been misled by writings of the time about the Church. However, in a preface to Volume II of The Complete Novels and Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Loren D. Estleman noted the implied criticism of the Mormon Church. He states that the story was not controversial at the time of the story's release, probably due to the recent memory of the Mountain Meadows massacre and the small membership of the church.

In August 2011, the Albemarle County, Virginia School Board removed A Study in Scarlet from the district's sixth-grade reading lists following complaints from students and parents that the book was derogatory toward Mormons. It was therefore moved to the reading lists for the tenth-graders, and remains in use in the school media centres for all grades. (Wikipedia)

My message to those who think they know about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, (or sometimes called “the Mormons”), PLEASE look for an accurate source to learn the truth about the Church. If you know someone who is LDS, for example, you could go to them and ask them the questions you have, or check out the Church’s web site www.lds.org . You can write in questions and someone will answer them. Or, you could also talk to missionaries of the church; not to be preached to, but to get answers to questions so that completely false narratives will not be perpetuated.

P.S., I still love the Sherlock Holmes stories!

Yes, I Can Cook a Turkish Meal!

2012-08-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

This past June, my friend Kim and I visited Istanbul. We were going to England to take a class and we always try to tack an extra week on to that trip and go somewhere we have never been. While in Istanbul we saw amazing historical sites, got a taste of the interesting culture, and did a LOT of shopping! One of the most interesting things Kim’s arranged for us to do was to take a cooking class.

At the class we were going to be taught how to make an authentic Turkish meal. I am game for pretty much anything Kim suggests and I was really looking forward to this. Kim has blogged about the actual class and you can read about it and see the pictures on her blog here.

As Paul Harvey used to say; “and now the rest of the story…”

I have been looking forward to share what I learned in this class with my family. We get together every Sunday night for a family dinner. I usually plan VERY easy meals because Sunday’s are so busy and there are around 18-20 of us each week for the dinner. But I really wanted to prepare this Turkish meal for them. First, to practice what I had learned and second, for them to get a small taste of what we had experienced in Istanbul.

In preparing for the meal, I learned that it was easier to prepare it when there were 10 of us acting as a prep team compared to just me. I also learned that ground lamb is VERY expensive!

Anyway, I did most of the prep work on Saturday as three of the recipes stated that the food tasted better the next day. So on Saturday I began by making the Imam Bayildi (eggplant braised in olive oil with onion and tomatoes), Sekerpare (semolina sponge cakes with hazelnuts) and the soup, Ezogelin Corbasi which is a red lentil and bulgur soup with dried mint and chili pepper. I also prepared the Etli yaprak dolmasi, which is a beef and lamb meat mixture with rice and spices rolled up in grape leaves.

I refrigerated it and waited to cook it on Sunday afternoon. So the only thing I really prepared on Sunday was the second course which was the kabak mucveri; zucchini patties with herbs and cheese. This I had to do at the last minute as it was fried and serve hot from the pan. I did grate up the zucchini early in the day so the mixture took less than 5 minutes to prepare.

The family came at the usual time of 5:30, I first had all the parents give the younger kids who I knew would not be adventurous, a plate of chicken nuggets and grapes that I had baked for them.

The unadventurous group

Then I had them start with the first course, the Ezogelin Corbasi soup with flat bread. I should have warned them not to fill up too much on the soup as there would be four more courses but I forgot. Some liked it so much they went back for a second helping.

The soup was a hit all around including with some of the older grandkids. The second course was then served, which was the Kabak mucveri served with garlic yogurt.

Again, it was a hit with everyone, but I forgot to remind them that there were still three courses left. Then, I served the Imam Bayildi. This, they were a bit wary of. I promised them that I myself had been skeptical.

I have never liked eggplant and I have tried it several different ways, but this way I had loved it! The recipe explains that the name literally means “Imam fainted with joy” because that is what happened when he tasted it for the first time. So they tried it. Most of them liked it…somewhat, but probably would never want to have it again. I couldn’t get any of the grandkids to even try this one. Oh well, you can’t win them all, and this was the one I was expecting them to not to like, but I thought it was good!

We quickly moved on to the main course and this was where they realized they shouldn’t have filled up on courses one and two. The Etli yaprak dolmasi (dolma’s for short) were perfect.

Not the best picture, but I had assigned the potography to someone else, but you get the idea.

They had been cooking while all the rest was going on. Some of the adults (ummm…David) didn’t want to eat them in the grape leaves like they were suppose to, but everyone really liked them. They had them with the tomatoes and with the garlic yogurt left over from the kabak mucveri. Because they were so full, I really had a lot of dolma’s left over but I felt good that so far they liked 3 of the 4 dishes I had prepared.

For dessert we had the Sekerpare, which everyone loved, even the grandkids who didn’t try any other Turkish course. I also had purchased some pistachio baklava from the international store in Tempe AZ, called Haji Baba’s. It was a great store and had many foods and food products from all over the Mediterranean and Middle East. Baklava was sold everywhere so I felt authentic having it also. As a bonus, I opened a box of apple tea that I had purchased in Istanbul and brought home and everyone that tried it loved it!

So I completed my task. I was able to prepare all the dishes we learned to make in the class, and the family liked almost all of it! I felt it was a success. I was able to freeze the extra dolma’s for future meals. If you would like a copy of these great recipes, leave your email and I will send them to you. AND if you are ever in Istanbul, try taking a class at Cooking Alaturka. It was a fun experience. Thank you to the owner, Eveline, and her chef Feyzi. They were great instructors! The entire evening brought back happy memories of Istanbul for me.

2012-08-19T09:43:00.006-07:00

Words with friends

OK I have a huge complaint! I love playing Scrabble. It is my all time favorite game. I don’t always win, but I love words! Hearing words, learning new words and reading words! As Hamlet said…”words, words, words…” (a2s2). So when I got a Kindle, I was thrilled to find a Scrabble game on it that I could play with the computer. I hate to brag but my winning percentage is 90% against the computer. But what I want to talk about is an app I have on my phone called “words with friends”.

“Words with Friends” is much like Scrabble. The board is configured differently, and some of the acceptable words are different from Scrabble but that is about the only 2 differences. Right now I have 6 games with different friends and family going on. I love it!!! However…

I recently found out that a certain person I was playing with was using a dictionary! How unfair is that???? He…I mean “they” didn’t feel this was cheating! How I caught h…them was, the words that h…they were playing were words I had never seen or heard of! Words like: gooral (can’t even find this one on dictionary.com, but it means the same as goral: which is a type of goat antelope in the Himalayas), and yclept (verb, a past participle of clepe).

When that second word came up I asked h…them what it meant and he said he didn’t know that he had just found it in the dictionary! I was shocked! This is a highly educated person who has played Scrabble with me many times and h…they insisted it wasn’t against the “words with friends” rules. He even found their rules on line and emailed the link to me to prove it. Well he was right, it wasn’t in the rules BUT, anyone would know that if you are using a dictionary, it is unfair…right? I refused to finish the game until they promised to stop. Otherwise, I would just go back to playing with the computer on my Kindle!

Now did I overreact? I don’t think so but they felt I had. I want to see what you all think. Even if you haven’t played it before, what do you think? If you say “yes” , I will know you are one of those who are cheating and using dictionaries against their opponents! So either way you lose!

London-Madame Tussaud's!

2012-07-31T11:21:00.001-07:00

I know it is corny, but…

I recently returned home from a 3 week trip to Istanbul and England. My friend Kim and I had planned this trip for over a year. Kim planned all the Istanbul part and I took the easy part and planned some of the England part. One of the weeks in England was spent at Oxford taking a class. I will talk about that in another post. But I am going to start at the end of the trip with our stay in London. I have to go back a couple of years though to preface why our visit to Madame Tussaud’s was so exciting for me.

In the summer of 2010, Kim and I had been in London and the one place I told her that I had to visit this trip was Madame Tussaud’s. I had been there before but I had recently found out that one of my favorite Bollywood actors, Shah Rukh Khan, had had his statue added to the small group of Indian movie stars and I had to go see it! She was a good sport and went but when we got there we couldn’t find his statue anywhere and when we asked, I was informed that it was on loan to the Los Angeles CA Madame Tussaud’s. It had been sent in conjunction with the opening of his movie “My Name Is Khan” earlier that year. I was VERY disappointed...

Disapointed in 2010

...but I also remembered that my husband and I would be visiting LA a couple of months later so, my photo shoot with SRK would have to wait.

Fast forward to September and Bruce and I were in LA and went to the museum on Hollywood Blvd. and this time I checked before buying tickets to see if SRK was still there. The attendant had to check with the manager but I was sadly informed that his statue had just been sent to the NYC 2 weeks earlier. My hopes were dashed. As much as I love his movies, I was not going to make a special trip to NYC chasing down his statue!

Now 2 years later, we are on a visit again and I scheduled in advance tickets to go to Madame Tussaud’s. I am even more excited this time because 2 other of my favorite Indian actors had been added since 2010 so I had really high hopes for this time!

We arrived just as they opening and the line was already quite long but we didn’t have to wait more than fifteen minutes. We didn’t stay long in the “movie star” room because most of them were the same as last time but the two I did stop at were Colin Firth (YUM!) and Daniel Radcliff (for the grandkids…of course).

My Favorite...Shah Rukh Khan

Then we hurried on to find my Bollywood favs and find them we did! Their collection is growing. They have six in total now. I was in heaven to say the least!

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Hrithik Roshan

Madhuri Dixit

And one more of Shah Rukh Khan

Amitabh Bachchan(from 2010 trip)

Salman Khan(also 2010)

Now they need to get just a few more and here are my requests: Aamir Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Madhaven, Shahid Kapoor, and Juhi Chawla for starters...then...

An Easy, Cool, and Delicious Summer Treat

2012-07-24T16:13:00.001-07:00

I’m home!!!!

I recently got home from a trip to Europe. Well I guess I could include Asia in that because we went to Istanbul and it is technically on two continents so… I digress. When my friend Kim (one of the best travel partners next to besides husband), and I visited Chatsworth. I had wanted to visit here for years and we finally got it on the trip itinerary. We traveled up from Stoke on Trent to get there and arrived right at lunch time.

Me, outside Chatsworth. The home that was Jane Austen's inspiration for Pemberely

We decided to have lunch before heading into tour the house and grounds. Our lunch was delicious but I can’t remember what it was. What I DO remember is the dessert. Kim had always wanted to try Eton Mess so she got some to try. I had heard of it but didn’t know what it was. Well she thought it was wonderful and asked me to try it and I did and it was heavenly! It was a cool, sweet, and refreshing treat!

This picture dose not do this yummy treat justice. You are just going to have to trust me on this one.

Since we have got home, we have both tested it out on our families at dinners and it has been a hit. Especially when it is hot in Arizona, a cool dessert is wonderful! Here is the recipe I used. I don’t know the one Kim used but I will compare it sometime and let you know.

Eton Mess (Serves 6)

6 oz (175 g) golden granulated sugar

3 large egg whites

(*note- the above ingredients are to make the meringue. I just used store bought meringues already made. They came in 7 ounce containers holding approximately 28 cookies. For this recipe you would need about 4 oz. or about 20 cookies.)

1 lb (450 g) fresh strawberries, hulled

1 rounded T powdered sugar

1 pint (570 ml) heavy whipping cream

To make meringue:

First, have the caster sugar measured out ready, then place the egg whites in a clean bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks. Add the caster sugar, about a tablespoon at a time and continue to whisk (beat) until each T of sugar has been thoroughly whisked in. Now take rounded dessertspoonfuls of the mixture and place them in rows on a lined baking tray (sheet) (I use either parchment or brown paper). Place the tray in the 250-275 degree oven on the centre shelf, and leave the meringues there for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues in the oven to dry out overnight, or until the oven is completely cold.

Begin here if using store bought meringues:

When you’re ready to make the pudding, chop half the strawberries and place them in a blender together with the powdered sugar. Whiz the whole lot to a puree, then pass it through a nylon sieve to remove the seeds (I don’t do this). Now chop the rest of the strawberries and whip up the double cream to the floppy stage.

All the above can be done in advance, but when you are ready to serve, break up the meringues into roughly 1 inch pieces (I actually do this ahead of time, also). Place them in a large mixing bowl, add the chopped strawberries, then fold the cream in and around them. After that, gently fold in all but about 2 T of the puree to give a marbled effect. Finally, pile the whole lot into a serving dish, spoon the rest of the puree over the surface and serve as soon as possible.

P.S. Everyone I’ve served this to has loved it.

A Hectic Summer

2012-05-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

I just wanted my faithful readers to know that I probably will not be posting for the next couple of months as I am going to be quite busy with family "stuff". It is all good but it will be consuming all my time. I hope to start up again in mid July. Have a great summer!
ps- If I do find a few extra minutes, and I have something major on my mind, don't be surprised if you hear from me after all!

Happy 448th Birthday William Shakespeare!!!

2012-04-23T08:11:00.002-07:00

Well, it is finally here. Today is William Shakespeare’s 448^th Birthday. Each year I have a fun Elizabethan dinner party for my family to commemorate Shakespeare’s work and I wanted to share the menu, recipe’s, and a few pictures of this years with you!

We always have it outside so the party will have a more pastoral feel to it. However, here in Arizona, Mother Nature decided to have our first 100°+ days this weekend and on Saturday, when we had the dinner, the temps reached 104°! Did this deter us? NO! By the time we began at 6 pm it was actually quite a pleasant 94°. I had everything pretty much set up in the morning and had been cooking most of Friday and finished up on Saturday morning so I was ready to party.

Various activity stations

Anyway, the set up is always fun. I have one display table with books and posters so the family can learn about Shakespeare and his career as a playwright. Then I have several activities prepared for the kids to keep them occupied between the seven courses of the dinner.

This year I added a large castle and a life size cutout of the birthday boy that they could have their picture taken with him if they chose to. Some of these activities are; ink and quill pen to write their own poems, making a family or personal coat of arms, creating a sentence using Elizabethan words, putting on a puppet show, but the favorite activity is always the sword fighting.

Grace performing a puppet show for our jester Charlie

James working on his award winning sentence "Methinks that vile wench doth envy thy bawdy codpiece"

Emma and Bella composing a sonnet

Preston, Harrison, and Charlie having a sword fight and Evelyn coming out of the castle.

For the meal, I love to dress up in my “wench” costume and serve it to my guests. Here is the menu we had this year:

Cheese curds, sliced apples and grapes

Shepherd’s Loaf

Mushy Pea soup

Boiled Artichokes in butter

Jello Aurantia

Onion Stuffed Cornish Games Hens

Smoked Turkey legs

Broiled Herbed Potatoes

Sticky Toffee Pudding with fresh cream

Ale (carbonated apple juice) or Whyte Grape Juice

The great thing about this menu is that, as I mentioned above, all of it can be prepped in advance.

My "Sisters" Kim, Ellen and Tammy

Cooper and Jackson crossing swords

Kim drinking a toast to the birthday boy!

My great assistant serving wench Bella

Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal but I really got raves about the Smoked Turkey legs which was a new recipe I found online by one of my favorite chefs, Bobby Flay. Here is the recipe:

Smoked Turkey Legs

Recipe courtesy Cheryl and Bill Jamison

Prep Time: 30 min

Inactive Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 4 hr 0 min

Serves: 6 servings (I had 24 drum sticks so I 4 x’s the recipe)

Ingredients

6 turkey legs
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Dry Rub, recipe follows
Mop, recipe follows
Your favorite BBQ Sauce, as needed, (recommended: North of the Border Chipotle BBQ Sauce)

Directions:

Several hours before planning on barbecuing, loosen the skin on the turkey legs by running your fingers under it as far as possible without tearing the skin.

Combine the Worcestershire sauce and the oil. Coat your fingers with the mixture and rub really well into the turkey legs, getting as much as you can under the skin. Sprinkle the dry rub over the skin, liberally rubbing into the turkey legs and under the skin. Place the legs in plastic bags and refrigerate.

Prepare the smoker for barbecuing, bringing the temperature to 200 to 220 degrees F. Remove the turkey legs from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Re-warm the mop mixture over low heat.

Transfer the turkey legs to the smoker. Cook until the legs are very tender and the juices run clear, about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Mop the legs at 45-minute intervals in a wood-burning pit, or as appropriate for your style of smoker. Serve the legs hot, to be eaten with your fingers, with a side of barbecue sauce.

Dry Rub:

1/4 cup chipotle seasoning, ( I used ground chipotle pepper)

1 to 2 tablespoons mild dried ground red chili or paprika
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

Mix ingredients together in a small bowl.
*Mop:

1 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon BBQ Sauce, (recommended: North of the Border Chipotle Barbecue Sauce)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Combine the mop ingredients in a small saucepan and warm the mixture over low heat.
*(to simplify, I just used a plain chipotle BQ sauce from the store, and it was wonderful!)

Sticky Toffee Pudding with butterscotch syrup and cream...YUM!!!!!

We had a great time together and my family, even though they are not huge Shakespeare fans like I am love to have this celebration each year and maybe it will convert some of them eventually!

Review of "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"...Ewan McGregor Can Fly Fish Too!

2012-04-07T20:16:00.001-07:00

Is there anything Ewan McGregor can’t do?

Let me say up front and I am not ashamed to admit it but as an actor, I love Ewan McGregor. I see pretty much everything he is in, unless it is rated “R” or has a sad ending, like Moulin Rouge! So, you have to trust me that his new movie “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is worth going to, even if you don’t like him as much as I do. It was the funniest movies I have seen in quite a while. It is based on the novel of the same name, written by Paul Torday.

It takes place in London; where Harriet (Emily Blunt), an investment professional, is assigned to help a sheikh from Yemen, find the help he needs to bring the hobby of salmon fishing to his country of Yemen.

Sheikh Muhammed, played wonderfully by Amr Waked, has a desire to help is country and he sees this project as a way to do this. He contacts his investment firm and they contact the top man in England, Dr. Alfred “Fred” Jones (McGregor), who is over all the fisheries in the country, and an expert salmon fisherman, to help with this project.

At first, Fred treats this request as a joke, knowing it is impossible to do but when his boos gets a “request” from the Prime Ministers PR person; he is forced to agree to see if it is feasible. The PM’s PR person, Patricia Maxwell, is played by the wonderful actress Kristin Scott Thomas.

As much as I love McGregor, and Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas steals every scene she is in! She is hilarious. I have seen her in a few comedies but she is always the “straight” man without the lines but she has all the zingers in this movie.

The story itself is great but the politics are the best part of this movie.

As Dr. Jones is forced into investigating the possibilities of this really happening, his weak marriage crumbles more as his wife moves to Switzerland for a job opportunity so he puts his all into having this project work and as he does, he becomes more excited about the realization of the sheikh’s dream.

There is romance, comedy, suspense, and some tender moments that even brought tears to my eyes. The scenery is also beautiful! Besides being filmed in London, it was also filmed in Scotland, and Morocco (filled in for Yemen).

It is a story of having faith in the impossible, and it delivers the entertainment 100%. Try to find it in your area, and if not, get it in your favorite movie queue asap!

How to Preserve Every Kind of Citrus Juice

2012-04-07T13:14:00.002-07:00

As a follow up to my recent blog about bottling citrus, I wanted to also share the instructions for bottling citrus juice. I did orange and grapefruit juices but the process is the same. Again, there are the instructions for this in the Ball Blue Book for canning. (You really need to have this book in your library! http://www.freshpreservingstore.com/ball-blue-book-guide-to-preserving/shop/229696/ )

Bottling Grapefruit Juice

Wash grapefruit and drain. Extract juice from fruit and strain. Combine juice with sugar to taste if desired, (*I did not add any sugar to mine. I like it a bit tart anyway.)

Heat juice for 5 minutes or until it reaches the temperature of 190°. DO NOT LET IT BOIL! Meanwhile, warm up the jars in a warm oven or dishwasher.

Ladle hot juice into warmed jars, leaving a ¼ inch head space. Adjust 2 piece caps as usual onto the jars and process pints and quarts for 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

That is it! Easy peasy! Now you will have your “fresh squeezed” juice all summer long. It has only been a month since I did mine and it tastes as fresh as the day I squeezed it and bottled it.

Lemon Juice

The best way I have found for preserving lemons is to simply clean the fruit and pop them into a freezer zip lock bag and put them in the freezer. You usually don’t need much lemon juice to use in recipes so it isn’t worth bottling it. Then anytime I need lemon juice, I pull out 1-3 lemons a couple of hours ahead of time and let them thaw. I get all the juice I need. The only thing this doesn’t work for is if you need some lemon zest. The thawed lemon peel is too mushy to get zest off of it.

Anyway, I hope you will try your hand at bottling citrus, whether you grow it or purchase it when it is on sale and it will save you a lot of money!

As Good As The Real Butter Beer

2012-03-28T15:13:00.001-07:00

Last December I went with my husband to Florida where he was attending a Business Conference. We rented a vacation home for a week and my parents joined us to keep me company while Bruce was at his meetings. One of the days we were there we visited Universal Studios and “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter”.

At the entry gates of Hogsmead

The Hogwarts Express with the Conductor.

It was the most amazing themed attraction I have ever been to! (Sorry Disney). There were only 3 rides, but the Hogwarts ride was the best and longest ride I have ever been on, it was amazing! Even though there were only 3 rides, we spent the entire day just in this section of Universal Studios, where they had recreated the village of Hogsmead as described in the books. There were so many shops and things to see that the time passed quickly. We had lunch at “The Three Broomsticks” and of course we had to have the famous butter beer!

In front of The Three Broomsticks Restaurant

Now if I had ever written a book, especially a book of fantasy, I think I would worry about someone creating an actual item that I had in my book, and I wonder if Ms. Rowling worried about what the butter beer would turn out like. Well, it is wonderful! Really, it is one of the best drinks I have ever had! ( I know I am using that phrase a lot but…). I wanted to have as much as possible because I knew it would be a while before I got to have some again! You could have it either of two ways, frozen/slushy or just cold. Bruce had it frozen and I didn’t. It was quite sweet, so it was more like a dessert than a drink to have with our lunch. I can still taste it in my memory!

About ready to taste for the first time, Butter Beer! YUM!!!

When I got home, my mom sent me a copy cat recipe that tastes almost as good as what they had at the park. She found it in an article by Heather Witherspoon (McClatchy Newspapers), along with a few other “Harry Potter” recipes in addition to the Butter Beer. I made it for my family one Sunday night when they were all over for dinner, and then I also had it for the neighbors when our street had our Christmas luminary and dessert night. Everyone that tried it LOVED it! I slightly tweaked it when I made it for my family to make it a bit easier and it was just as good. I will put her recipe here then explain the variation that I made:

Butter Beer

1 c light or dark brown sugar

            2 T water
            6 T butter
            ½ t salt
            ½ t cider vinegar
            ¾ c heavy cream, divided
            Four 12-ounce bottles of cream soda

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240° F on a candy thermometer (I just did the drops in cold water until it forms the soft ball stage). Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar, and ¼ c. of the heavy cream. Once the mixture has cooled, stir in rum extract (this is not a typo, I know it is not listed in the ingredients, so I just added 1 teaspoon and it was sufficient. You may want to add more to according to your taste).

(*see below)) In a medium bowl, combine 2 T of the sugar mixture and the remaining ½ c of cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened but not completely whipped, about 2-3 minutes. To serve, divide the sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about ¼ c per glass). Add ¼ cup cream soda to each glass and stir to combine. Then continue to fill each glass to the top with the cream soda, and then spoon some of the whipped topping on top of the soda.

*(Here is where I changed the recipe)
My alternative: Instead of following the recipe at this point, here is what I did. I had 12 ounce cups. I put 2 tablespoons of the sugar mixture into the cup, 1-2 tablespoons of un-whipped heavy cream and mix those in the cup until combined. Then pour the cream soda into the cup. It makes its own foam, just like when you make root beer floats, so you don’t need that extra step of whipping up the flavored foam.

Looking up at Hogwarts from Hogsmead

The Village of Hogsmead

The Frog Choir from Hogwarts singing "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble..." See, Shakespeare is EVERYWHERE!!!

So, try this delicious treat on your Harry Potter fans and it will tide you over until you have a chance to try the real thing when you go to “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal Studios in Orlando Florida.

Need An Excuse to Watch 5 1/2 Hour of Pride and Prejudice? Bottle Citurs!

2012-03-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

We moved to Arizona in 1982 when my husband came to ASU to get a graduate degree. We loved it so much that we never left. However there is something that has bothered me throughout the many years we have been here that I couldn’t get the answer to until this year. The question was, “how do you bottle or preserve all the citrus that grows here?”

Having "fun" sectioning the Grapfruit. This is where the 5 1/2 hours of "Pride and Prejudice comes in!

Over the years I had contacted the County Extension Service, did research in recipe books and on the internet, checked in my Ball Blue Book (the Bible for home canning), but never found any instructions or ideas EXCEPT for orange marmalade (not a fan). I was lamenting out loud again last year when I saw all my citrus going to waste. Of course my husband insisted that he could find the answer and I assured him that there was no way and that I had checked every possible place for an answer and that it just wasn’t possible. He grinned and confidently told me he would find one.

Well, much to my frustration, he did find some! And not only did he find some, he found video instructions and also informed me that Ball had come out with a new version of their Ball Blue Book (mine was 20 years old), that had the instructions on how to bottle grapefruit segments and citrus juices. Don’t you just hate it when that happens! I didn’t stay mad long because I was so excited! I had to wait a few months but last week I had 4 of my daughters over (#5 lives in North Carolina), and we bottled my citrus! First we did the grapefruit sections, then orange juice and ended with grapefruit juice. Here are the directions for the segments from the Ball Blue Book:

Grapefruit Sections

            2-2 ½ lbs of grapefruit per quart
            Sugar
            Water

Wash grapefruit, drain. Peel grapefruit, cutting deep enough to remove white pith. Cut membrane away from pulp for each section; lift out the pulp without breaking the sell structure. Discard seeds. Make a light syrup; keep syrup hot pack grapefruit into hot jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Ladle hot syrup over grapefruit leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints and quarts in a boiling water canner.

Softening the lids in hot water.

I mixed the yellow and pink grapefruit because I liked the look of it in the jars.

Bruce also found a youtube video of someone canning the segments if you want to watch it. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkyl2n51ClQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I will post the juice process in a few days so stay tuned!

A few of many jars

My Birthday Tree, One Year Old Now! (should I give it a name?)

2012-03-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

Last year about this time, I went to North Carolina to visit my son, David and his wife Suzi and their kids, Abby and Tyler. When I got there, Suzi and I decided to go on an impromptu trip to Charleston SC since neither of us had been there and we know/hoped that they would only be in North Carolina for another year.

When we were in Charleston, we did a tour of the city and I found a tree there that was in bloom and I fell in love with it.

Sweet Suzi and the kids in Charleston

Lunch at Bubba Gumps

It is a flowering peppermint peach tree and it is GORGEOUS!!! The blossoms were beautiful but they also had 4-5 different colors of blossoms on one tree! I have never seen anything like it.

My first glimpes of this AMAZING tree- the flowering peppermint peach tree!

When we got back to our hotel, I did a search on the tree and found that it was “zoned” to grow in zones 6-10. Well, fantastic, Arizona is Zone 9, so I knew I had to get one. Well, I did. I ordered one for my Birthday present from my husband and son. They were relieved not to have to go shopping for me (hehehe). I had to order one since there weren’t any in the Phoenix area. I got it from Willis Orchards in Georgia. It came, I planted it, and the wait began! (http://www.willisorchards.com/product/Peppermint+Flowering+Peach?category=280 )

Well, it has been almost a year and my first blossoms are out! It was so exciting and beautiful. I have literally been out talking to my tree for the entire year, coaxing it through the long hot AZ summer (I did put a shade clothe over it for some of the hottest months), kept it company throughout the COLD winter (yes it is cold for me!) and now I have my reward! Just look at these “baby” blossoms!

so precious!

the magenta blossom

all together

My tree just starting to get it's blossom and leaves!

I hope everyone that comes by and sees it will want one and plant it so all of Mesa will have these beautiful trees everywhere!

I do know that they are prone to fungus, at least that is what I have read, but I am willing to baby this tree because it is worth it for even 3-4 weeks of these beautiful blossoms!

I found this picture on the internet and the tree is approximately 20 years old.

Spread the word about this tree!

My New Grandma Garden

2012-02-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

Last summer my husband and I rented a beach house at Capistrano beach in Califonia with space for 29 people. We had all the kids and grandkids join us for a week at the beach. I wanted to do something with the grandkids to remember the trip, so I planned a small craft project for them. What I envisioned was re-doing a corner of my yard and turning it into a “grandma garden”.

Here is what I did, I bought a stepping stone dry mix from Michael’s craft store. I tried to find some inexpensive molds but couldn’t so I ended up just using 9 inch Styrofoam plates. I also bought some “stamps” with the alphabet and numbers, and a large assortment of decorative tiles, mosaic glass, and shells for the kids to decorate their stepping stone with.

One afternoon while at the beach house when everyone was there, I mixed up enough dry mix with water for each child, one at a time to make their stone. To personalize it, I had the older kids, whose hands and feet were too big for the molds, just to decorate it and stamp in their initials. The younger kids I had them either put and handprint or foot print and decorate around it. Then we let them dry for a couple of days in the sun. By the end of the week, they were very hard and I wrapped them in bubble wrap to get them home to Arizona.

Miss "E" working on her stone

Miss "G", who resented grandma keeping the stone she made.

I had a hard time convincing Miss “G” to let me keep her stepping stone though. She felt she should get to keep it since she did all the work to make it. I finally negotiated with her that when I die, she can take it out of the garden to keep. She was finally willing to let me keep it. It was pretty funny!

Mr. "T" after making his footprint for his stone

The finished product drying

I waited a few months, until it was a bit cooler outside (you know Arizona) and then I began to plan what I was going to do with them. I had several ideas but the one I decided on was very basic. I just laid them in a row and planted flowers around them. It has been in the yard for several months (since September) and EVERY time the kids go outside they all go and check on their stepping stone. Even Miss “G” is happy that her stepping stone is part of the “grandma garden”. I want to get pictures of each of the kids laminated and put on stakes next to their stones.

Different views of finished "grandma garden"

It was quite a fun project for all of us. However, I am one stone short; we had grandchild #15, born 2 months after our beach house vacation. I am waiting for him to get just a little bigger and then we will make one for him to be added.

Everyone except grandpa who is taking the picture

My Report on my Annual Jane Austen Tea Party! (yes I know I am a month late in reporting this!)

2012-01-27T16:48:00.000-08:00

I have some events that I need to write about that happened in December. The first is, of course, my Jane Austen Birthday Tea party that was held on Dec. 14^th (her actual birthday is Dec. 16^th). So we will call this “catching up time”!

As I mentioned, we had our Jane tea party on Dec 14^th, due to the fact that Thursdays are “Grandma Day” at my house and it takes me a day to recover from that, so Wednesdays are the best day for me. I have such great friends that are Jane Austen enthusiasts, which humor me and make it fun for all.

This year I even had 2 cuties dress up with me, which is not required and is above and beyond, but they were adorable!

My adorable daughter in law, Suzi, with me. We are doing, what we now in our family affectionately call, "a Suzi pose".

Caitlin Porter, the second biggest Jane Austen fan (next to me...or maybe we are tied)!

We even had a trivia contest and the prize went to Kim although it was a hard fought battle that went into a 3 question over time, due to a tie on the quiz. Kim won the prize by answering the final question of “What was Jane’s sister’s name?” The answer is Cassandra.

Nancy, Leslie, Kim (the winner), Lori, Joan, and Teresa

(starting from the front and going clockwise),LaDawn, Sheli, Diana, Suzi, Rochelle, Bonnie, and Marie. Marie is the only "Jane Austen heathen" here that I am trying to convert.

But when she won, no one was surprised, since she had studied Jane Austen at Oxford University!!!

Carrie. Anita, Ora, Caroline, Caitlin, (Dorothy was here but had to leave before I remembered to take a group shot)

I served chicken salad, egg salad and cucumber sandwiches, berry tarts, lemon cookies, creame(no I didn't spell it wrong, this is how it is spelled in England) wafers, strawberries, scones with clotted creame and fruit preserves, a variety of teas and a pot of wassail.

Anyway, it was a fun day, with great friends, great conversation, great fun and I love my friends who like to come every year.

If you are a Jane Austen fan, I highly suggest you start this tradition!

Sourdough Any One?

2011-12-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

I grew up on sourdough. My dad had a crock of sourdough starter in our home my whole childhood and he still has it today and I am 53 years old! Usually on Saturday's, he would make breakfast and it always involved sourdough in some way.

A few years ago on my first trip to England with my husband and parents, we accidentally found a Roman Villa that was being excavated. It is the Chedworth Roman Villa in the Cotswold's. When we visited it, they had a demonstration of how the Romans used sourdough in their cooking. Well, my dad was in heaven, and really chatted up the young lady that was in charge of that demo and exhibit. It was pretty funny to watch him get so excited about sourdough and comparing notes and recipes.

Chedworth Roman Villa

Well, I am ready to take the plunge and start my own sourdough starter. My dad said it is best to get a cup of someone else's starter and build from that, but I don't know anyone that has some except him, so I am starting from scratch.
Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup water
1 T yeast
Soften yeast in water then add:
1 cup flour.
Mix well, cover and place in a warm spot for 2-3 days. It should be bubbly (is that even a word?). Then every other day, add another cup of flour and another 1/2 c water and mix it in until you have the quantity you desire.
One important things to remember, NEVER use anything that is metal when mixing or storing your starter. I don't know why. Dad didn't say why, he just said don't! He did threaten me never to let my starter die. OOOOO I am so scared!
Well, I will begin this experiment/adventure next week since I am leaving to go out of town in a couple of days, but I just wanted you all to be prepared and get ready to enjoy the ride!
I plan on documenting this with pictures!

The Perfect Journal Suggestion-easy and fun!

2011-11-04T17:05:00.000-07:00

I love catalogs! Well, not every catalog but there are a few that I love to get and look through. I am basically a sucker when there is ANYTHING dealing with Shakespeare, Jane Austen, books, gardening supplies and grandkids stuff.

One of my favorite catalogs is Bas Bleu (pronounced: bä blu͂ ). I recently found something in there last catalog that I found very intriguing. It is a 5 year journal. Now you may ask, what is so different about this? The difference is that this one has a different question on each day and all you have to do is answer the question. In answering that question, you are able to record little snippets of your life that when finished with the 5 years, you will have recorded quite a bit of information about your life!

Some of the questions are: “When did you last hold a baby”, “describe the room you are in right now”, “where do you go for good ideas”, and “how could today have been better”. Some of the questions are quite thought provoking that I have found it hard to fit the answers in the allotted room of the page.

I have tried several types of methods of journaling before but without long-term success because I feel it is important for various reasons. The first reason is that it is good for me to be able to look aback and remember things that happened to me in my life that may not have been “momentous”, but worth remembering, that I would have otherwise forgotten. Another reason is that someday, some of my posterity may be interested in what I was like or did during my life. Not that I have done anything wonderful, but I have loved ready stories left by my ancestors and wished there were more. Just reading about their everyday life is interesting because it was so different from how I live.

Click here to go to their web site if you think this is a product you may be interested in.

Let me know if you have found an easy way to journal that works for you also. So far I have been doing this for 2 weeks and that is the longest I have kept a journal regularly since I started trying to keep a journal 36 years ago! Happy journaling!

The Hunger Games-May the odds be ever in your favor!

2011-10-19T15:54:00.001-07:00

Three of my daughters (well, technically one is a daughter in-law but she is a daughter to me), had been after me for at least 2 years to read the book The Hunger Games. After hearing the premise of the story, I was surprised that they would think I would enjoy it. The thought of reading a book where, in a future world, in the country of Panem (formally the USA) and food is scarce, 12 districts (kind of like Provinces) were forced to enter 2 or their children between the ages of 12-18 years old in a competition the “Capitol” called the hunger games each year. In this competition the 24 kids would kill each other in a “themed” arena, in order to win the coveted price of extra food for their district for the next year and a few other perks and prizes. These hunger games had been going on for the past 73 years.
Now for someone who loves a happy ending and will READ the ending before starting a book to make sure it is happy, I just couldn’t see how it would be possible to have a happy ending in this book! I found out I was TOTALLY WRONG!!!!!

I have never read a more exciting book, but I will warn you, make sure you start it when you have a lot of free time because once you finish the first one you will HAVE to read the 2 sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. I am glad I finally read them after all three books were out because I couldn’t have waited 1 ½ -2 years in between the books. They are insanely exciting!

To the book- As mentioned above, the 12 districts were ruled over with an iron fist by the “Capitol” with their peacekeepers. Each district specializes in producing something the Capitol needs to survive. For example, District 3 produce general electronics, Four-fishing, Seven-Lumber, Eleven-Agriculture, and Twelve-mining, just to name a few.

There had been 13 Districts at one time but District 13 rebelled and started a Civil war and after the Capitol beat them, they were destroyed and the Capitol initiated the hunger games as a reminder to all the other Districts that they, the Capitol, are in control.

That is all background information that you find out in the first 2-3 chapters while we are also introduced to Katniss Everdeen from District 12 on the day of the reaping, which is the name of the occasion when each year the districts pick out the next 2 kids that will play in the hunger games. This year will be the 74th hunger games. Katniss has snuck out of the electric fenced in district to go to the woods to hunt, (which is forbidden), to try to calm her thoughts before the reaping begins that afternoon. Once the District inhabitants are assembled in the square for the drawing, the action of the story never lets up until the last sentence of the book.

Please read these books! They are very well written and have a lot of great lessons in them for kids! I wish I could go into more of the story but I don’t want to ruin any of the excitement for you. There are many great characters, like, Gale Hawthorne, who is Katniss’ best friend and hunting partner, Peeta Mellark, Effie Trinket, Hamish Abernathy, and many, many more. The author even is able to fit in a sweet little romance if you can imagine that in this book! Read it before the movie comes out next spring. I can hardly wait for it! Luckily, I can re-read the books to tide me over until is does. Enjoy the 74th hunger games and “May the odds be ever in your favor!"

Can We Create a New Non-Offending Hand Gesture?!?!

2011-10-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Has this ever happened to you…you are driving along and someone does something that is stupid, dangerous or just rude to you? What can you do to let them know when the usual hand signal is also offensive to you and you would NEVER consider using it? What can a person do when they are extremely frustrated by the driving skills or behavior of another person and they want to let them know by making some sort of hand gesture, HOWEVER, the usual hand gesture that is used by the more crude and uneducated of our society is also the wrong thing to do?

I think we need to come up with a new proper hand gesture or signal that will let idiots know that we all know they are idiots BUT is a cultured and proper way. I have thought long and hard about this. Some have been shown to me occasionally when I have been…let’s say, less than attentive when driving and they get the message across without being crude and offensive. So I have been trying to decide what the best “polite” hand gesture should be and start teaching the world some new manners beginning with this.

One option would be, elbows bent, both hands out to your sides, shoulders shrugged and a look of “what in the world do you think you are doing” type of expression on your face. This however could be dangerous if you are driving since it is a 2 handed gesture. This could work if you have a passenger that is the designated “signer” that would interpret what you are saying and then sign it to the perpetrator of the offense.

Another option is to try to communicate to them as to what they should have done in order to help them in the future when faced with the same situation. However, this may take longer than is necessary and if it is a person of a certain gender, they don’t take direction from ladies very well.

The next one I thought of was trying to find out from someone who knows American Sign Language how to sign, “Where are your brains”? Maybe this can be done with one hand, but usually, sign language is so beautiful when it is being done correctly that the person may think you are saying something nice, unless you are making a very angry face while signing. Here again though, it may take too much effort when you are trying to still drive correctly and responsibly while trying to improve conditions in the world around you.

The last idea I had which seems the most direct and efficient would be to do the old, twirling of the finger up by your temple, thus let them know you think they are crazy and shouldn’t be driving. This would be effective if it wasn’t used so much already to signify stupidity is almost every other area of life. No, we need something just for idiot drivers and I am still at a loss as to how best to let them know what I think of them. Until I can come up with something, I will continue to yell at them in my car where they will never hear a thing I say, and maybe that is safer for all involved.

Documentries Can Be Fun Also!

2011-10-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

I don’t seek out documentaries to watch but occasionally there is one that catches my eye, either by the content, review or word of mouth. “Exporting Raymond” was one I saw a trailer of on imdb.com after seeing that it was playing at a local theater.

I have always loved the TV show “Everybody Loves Raymond” and seeing the behind the scenes business of shows and movies are one of my favorite things so being able to see the process of a TV show being created in a different country was VERY intriguing. My husband was a harder sell until I got him to watch the trailer and he was willing to give it a try.

Phil Rosenthal was the creator of the TV show, “Everybody Loves Raymond” (ELR). After the show wrapped up production for US television, he was contacted by the Sony company about the possibility of re-creating the show in Russia. He was surprised at some of the American shows that had been successfully remade in other countries. He agreed to proceed with this opportunity and headed for Russia, after bidding goodbye to his colorful family, many who were inspirations for the story lines in ELR. Immediately in Russia, it is not the contrast of cultures that is what makes this documentary so enjoyable to watch but it is Rosenthal’s reaction to all that happens around him that is so funny. He is hilarious, not just his comments but his face registers every feeling he is experiencing without having to say a word many times. (see the trailer at the link below):

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi92380441/

The show is eventually made but that doesn’t ruin seeing the process that goes into it finally coming to fruition. If you don’t think you would like to watch a documentary, try this one. It is just fun! Even if you have never even seen an episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond”!

Don't be shocked...I am back after a 5 month spell of laziness with a movie review of "Seducing Dr. Lewis"

2011-09-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do in my free time or for entertainment is watch a good movie. I don’t care if I have seen a movie many times; I will watch it again and enjoy it as much as the first time. I recently got a movie on net flix entitled “Seducing Dr. Lewis”. It is a foreign movie, (if you call Quebec, Canada foreign), and it is in French, which is such a beautiful language to listen to.

The movie is set in a quaint little fishing village in Quebec that is experiencing the effects of the bad economy and many of the 100+ citizens are out of work, or barely getting by. A company has agreed to build a factory in the area IF the village leaders can get a full time doctor to live and practice there. The former mayor of the village, who has had to accept a job in the nearest big city, promises his friends before he leaves that he will try to help them find a doctor and get him to come. Meanwhile, the village leaders send out many requests to try to entice one to come but none have even thought twice about considering it. Then one night, while the former mayor is on duty as a policeman, he pulls over a man who has some marijuana in his car. As he is going through the arrest process he comes to find out that the driver is also a doctor. They make a deal that he (the former mayor, now policeman) will not process this arrest warrant IF the doctor will agree to visit this village and treat the people for 2 weeks. The doctor of course accepts this proposal rather than loose his license.

Now the village prepares for him to come. They learn all they can about him, his likes, dislikes, hobbies, sports, favorite food etc. They also fix up the town to make it as picturesque as possible in preparation of his coming.

They leave nothing to chance in order to keep this doctor in the village and that is where the comedy begins. Several things happened to the plan by chance and with luck, but the journey to the end of the story is a fun ride.

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this fun and different comedy. If you still aren’t convinced that you would like a foreign film due to the sub-titles, this is a fun one to try to see with. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I Now Know Who John Galt Is!!!

2011-05-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

First, let me say, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, was not a book that I would have read on my own accord. I was stressed out enough in the sixth installment of the Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Professor Umbridge took over the school and kept adding new policies and directives.

So, a book about the Government usurping power from the people of America was just too frightening and in my opinion too relevant in today’s world.

However, the book was recommended to me by my friend Kim, as a gift idea for my husband, who is impossible to buy gifts for, but he is a news junkie.

Kim, on our trip in Belgium

He is one of these people that if he wants something, he buys it(if we have the money), and so there is never a “wish list” for me when it comes to birthdays, and Christmas. It is very frustrating but…that is a topic for another blog.

Anyway, Bruce, my husband, commutes between 80-90 miles a day to work so he listens to many podcasts while in the car. So a book on CD was really a perfect gift idea. It would take weeks to listen to all 50 CD’s! Well, he still hasn’t listened to it; another gift bites the dust… (again, rants for that other blog post).

To justify the money spent on yet another ignored gift (can you tell I am bitter?), I adopted the cd’s and began listening to it. I was immediately hooked into the story of Dagny Taggart, the strong but still feminine businesswoman, and the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad Company.

The characters were very 3 dimensional for me also. Actually, the one character that was the LEAST 3 dimensional was John Galt. Maybe it was because he was in the shadows for most of the book so he wasn’t as developed as the other characters were, like, the ingenious Hank Reardon, pathetic Jim Taggart, devoted Eddie Willers, and the nauseating Wesley Mouch, and the others that we interacted with regularly. But despite that, it was the characters that got me emotionally involved in their lives.

Again, I wonder if this is because of the political climate of today and you could put real faces to the fictional names in the story, but it made the story very engrossing and I looked for opportunities to get in my car just so I could listen to it. Luckily it was before the awful jump in the gas prices.

I marveled at how, no matter what the government threw at businesses to take more power and initiative away from them, Dagny was able to find a way to work around it. I also found it ironic that it was a woman who didn’t give up when all the businessmen did.

Ayn Rand

I wonder if Ayn Rand felt she was being a bit sexist in making Dagny the last holdout in fighting against the government, or maybe just giving women more of the power she felt they deserved in the ‘50s when this was published.

SPOILER ALERT!!! I did have to borrow the book from Kim so I could read the ending a few times to reassure myself that the “people” would prevail over the government because I got very discouraged at times by all the power that the government was able to usurp from the businesses and the individuals that created and ran them.

There were a couple of points in the book that seemed a bit implausible to me, the first was the "refractor waves". I am not a scientist so I don’t know if “refractor waves” really do what the book says they do, but either way, it was still very entertaining. The other point was who Dagny ended up “being with” in the end. I won’t name names but she had much more passion for the first two men in her life, than the one she decided to stay with at the conclusion, but at least it was a happy ending.

I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE, no matter what side of the political fence you are on. I don’t know if it would change anyone’s mind in what policies they think are right or wrong but, it did really made me think about the world we live in today and what could possibly happen in the future if we stay on the same path we are on now.

Yes, Russian's Can Be Funny!

2011-04-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

If you have been following my posts, you know I have to have happy endings. That is why I stay away from Russian novels, and movies. I have never seen or heard of one that is happy! Until now.

You don’t have to love classical music or have an interest in it, to enjoy a new Russian movie out now called, The Concert. Now, I will shock you by saying that it is a comedy and it has a very happy ending, and yes, it is Russian.

The plot is about the renowned conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra, Andrei Simoniovich Filipov, played by Alexei Guskov, who was unfairly fired during a performance, 30 years previously, and now works as a janitor in the Bolshoi Theater.

Alexei Guskov

One day, as he is working, Andrei intercepts and a fax from Paris, asking the Bolshoi Orchestra to perform in Paris in two weeks, due to a sudden cancellation of an American Orchestra.

Andrei decides immediately that instead of turning over the invitation to the current conductor of the Bolshoi, he would round up his orchestra from 30 years ago and go and do the performance in France, thus hoping to have a comeback in the classical music world.

Melanie Laurent

I don’t want to give away why he was fired because that is part of his main reason that he HAS to play in Paris, with a very particular violin soloist named Anne-Marie Jacquet (played by Melanie Laurent), that lives in Paris. The comedy starts as he begins to locate his old orchestra members and sees what they are doing in their lives today.

The details are in chaos but they pull it off due to some very ingenious conning on the part of their “manager”, who is still a closet communist.

The back story of the movie is very touching as to why Andrei was fired and the consequences to some of the Orchestra members’ lives. It all culminates at the amazing performance in Paris by the orchestra and the violin soloist, when you get all the questions answered.

You will want to give them a standing ovation at the end because it is so great! Search out this movie and if it doesn’t make it to your area, make a note and rent it when you can. It is one you should not miss!

Watch the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2727544345/

Me...Obsessive-Compulsive? Not Anymore, I've been Cured!!!!

2011-03-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

I always considered myself a very adaptable person, however, recently I had to make a change in my life that I found very difficult to do. Let me explain.

Growing up, my Mother was very good at giving me and my sibling’s responsibilities. We had jobs to do at regular times and days, but our big cleaning day was always Friday’s. It was always so nice to get all the cleaning done and then on Saturdays we would not have jobs, or we did extra jobs as needed.

I carried this schedule with me when I got married and we started having our own family. Mind you, I don’t enjoy cleaning like some people do, but I love a clean home, so I crank up the Bollywood tunes and dance my way through it, keeping my mind on the prize. Over the years, my kids wore me down as to how much, and how well they did their “jobs” but we always stuck with the “Friday was our big cleaning day” schedule.

Recently, I have taken on more “things” in my life, namely starting an in-home business, which I love and am happy to do, but all these extra things seemed to constantly prevent me from having the time to get my entire home cleaned by Friday afternoon. For several months, I was discouraged by not getting it done all at the same time, and it seemed like I was always cleaning instead of ever getting it done! I finally accepted the fact that I would never have a clean house all at once!

Then I had an epiphany!!!

I realized that since I am at home all day on Monday’s, without any set commitments, that maybe I should start to do my cleaning on Mondays! I resisted this thought for several weeks because, well, it just wasn’t “me”!

Getting more frustrated I looked at my schedule one day and realized that just for one time only, I would clean on Monday. The house is usually a bit messy on Monday’s because we have the kids and grand kids over for Sunday dinner each week, so I was “cleaning” anyway, but this time I did the thorough cleaning that I normally did on Fridays. The result was magical!!! Not only did I have time to get it done, but it was so nice to START the week with a clean house instead of END the week with a clean house.

So I learned from this experience that I need to be more adaptable when it comes to routine things in my life. I have always had a schedule with a daily list of things to tick off, but now I know I can move things around and still get to tick chores and errands off a list so that I feel I have accomplished something that day.

In other words I have “loosened up” without having to compromise things that are important to me. This was a BIG step for me!!!

"Gnomeo and Juliet"...Shakespeare for Kids!!

2011-02-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

Now I am not one of those purists that need to have her Austen or Shakespeare exactly as they were written. I think the more variations there are, the more of them there will be. Well, for the first time that I can think of, a variation has been done for children and I think that is amazing!!!

Gnomeo and Juliet is a version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that will please not only children and adults but it will especially please those of us who hate the ending of the “real” play. I was wondering how they would handle it in a kids movie and it was perfect!!!

First I must say that I am a sucker for ANYTHING James McAvoy is in.

Not that I have seen everything he has done but he is a very talented actor! But when along with him you have Emily Blunt, Maggie Smith and Michael Caine, and then the music of Elton John and you just can’t go wrong with this movie.

There are multiple “Shakespeare” references which only a real Shakespeare buff would catch but you don’t have to have ever even heard of the Bard to enjoy this movie. This is how Shakespeare should be introduced to children. In fact, he should NEVER be introduced to beginners by reading his plays. That is a sure fire way to turn them off. His plays should be seen! But don’t get me started on this! That is for my next blog!

Anyway, back to the movie. You have the red yard, or the Capulet home, and the blue yard which is the Montague home. Juliet, lives in the red yard and Gnomeo in the blue and the gnomes in these 2 yards have been feuding for so long, no one even remembers why.

One day, the two star crossed lovers meet accidently in an abandoned yard, both trying to get the same flower and it is love at first site.

There are many fun characters that are also introduced that move the story entertainingly along. The best I think is the statue of W. Shakespeare in the park that Gnomeo is explaining the problem of his love story to, and the statue tells him how his love story is going to end, but Gnomeo refuses to let it end how the play does.

I won’t tell anymore but this very fun movie is great for all ages and since we all had to READ (again, don’t get me started on how stupid it is to do this to students), Romeo and Juliet, you will recognize most of the lines and puns from the play that are used in this movie. The musical score is an A++++ bonus as Elton John is at his best with old favorites and a couple of new songs for the soundtrack. I will defiantly get it on iTunes!

Don’t wait for the DVD to go see this in the theaters. It is worth it. We didn’t see it in 3D and it was great. If you did see it in 3D, let me know if it was worth the extra $$$$. I don’t think we missed out on anything. Enjoy!!!

For The Electronic Geek in Your Life...

2011-02-17T14:57:00.000-08:00

It is impossible to get a gift for some people. Like my Husband, other than work, he has only one interest and that is electronics and I know nothing about that! Well, I found a book that is perfect for this type of person.

"It's A Book" is a very short but VERY humorous look at how eletronic geeks deal with the concept of something that can't blog, tweet, instant message, scroll, re-charge, or anything that has to do with a cord or wi-fi.

It only takes about 1 minute to read but you will be laughing by the third page and continue to laugh the end. The author, Lane Smith, REALLY got to the funny side of this topic instantly with the witty conversation between this jackass and the monkey.

A friend of mine who is a teacher, after reading it said, EVERY teacher should have this book just to have a good laugh now and then.

Check it out. It is in the "Humor" section of the bookstore where I found it, after looking for it in the children's section for a while. Enjoy it and let me know what you think of it!