What every well dressed data monkey should be wearing this year.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Betty's Ham Chowder
Back in 1995 the school where I was working decided to sell cookbooks as a fund raiser for the PTA. Everyone was invited to contribute their favorite recipes. The PTA would type them up and send them off to a publisher and we would sell them and make money for the playground or whatever else the PTA deemed worthy. My mom contributed this recipe and I make it every winter. Bon Appetit!
Ham Chowder
4 lg carrots
4 stalks celery
1 sm onion
4 lg potatoes
5 c. water
2-3 c. diced ham
2 T btr
6 T flour
2 1/2 c. milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
Garnish: Paprika, Parsley
In stock pot cook carrots, celery, onion and potatoes in 5 c. water until tender. 20 min. Add ham, butter, salt & pepper. Blend flour into milk smoothly and stir into soup. Heat, stirring constantly until boils. Turn heat down and allow to simmer partially covered 10 -20 min. Sprinkle with paprika and chopped parsley. Serve with hot garlic bread and a tossed green salad for a complete meal.
( I usually serve with corn bread, but you know, whatever is handy)
Ham Chowder
4 lg carrots
4 stalks celery
1 sm onion
4 lg potatoes
5 c. water
2-3 c. diced ham
2 T btr
6 T flour
2 1/2 c. milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
Garnish: Paprika, Parsley
In stock pot cook carrots, celery, onion and potatoes in 5 c. water until tender. 20 min. Add ham, butter, salt & pepper. Blend flour into milk smoothly and stir into soup. Heat, stirring constantly until boils. Turn heat down and allow to simmer partially covered 10 -20 min. Sprinkle with paprika and chopped parsley. Serve with hot garlic bread and a tossed green salad for a complete meal.
( I usually serve with corn bread, but you know, whatever is handy)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Wheel of Fortune
Click on the title of this post to find the #1 song in the country on the day you were born. For me it was Wheel of Fortune by Kay Star.
Find yours and leave it as a comment to this post.
Find yours and leave it as a comment to this post.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Storytime
Here are some books you must read aloud to your children, emphasis on MUST and ALOUD. They are in no particular order and some of them are appropriate for preschoolers and some are not. They are mostly for children of school age since I read them to children in grades K-4 primarly. You may add your own favorites as comments if you like and I will also add more as I remember them. I must confess that it has been at least 8 years since I've read aloud to a group of children on a regular basis, so the new books are not on my list.
* Hester in the Wild by Sandra Boynton - It's funny.
*Max's Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells - It teaches you to not take yourself too seriously by being funny.
*The Talking Eggs by Robert San Souci - you get to say "You got a spirit of "do right in your soul" , "trail train dresses" and "she took her head off to comb her hair." A classic fairy tale set in the deep American South.
* Brave Irene by William Stieg - Irene qualifies for a heroine by any standards and Stieg can make you weep with pathos while he's making you groan at his melodrama.
* Dr. DeSoto by William Steig. The small mouse dentist, out of compasion, treats a fox with a bad toothache. You get to say "mmmmm how good they would be sauted with a dry, white wine" , "permeate the dentine" and "frank u berry mush." Steig's books celebrate the power of the small and powerless to overcome evil by being armed with their innocence and their native wit.
*Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" ditto on the pathos and melodrama. I swear one little boy was near tears over the plight of Sylvester, a donkey who had turned into a rock by wishing on a magic pebble. I had to rush to finish so he would know it had a happy ending. (Stieig's style is simple and eloquent)
*CDB by Willam Steig - read this one as soon as your child learns his/her alphabet so s/he can read a book by him/herself.
*Redwall by Brian Jacques. The first two chapters are a study of style by describing ultimate innocence and ulitmate evil . Also read the chapters about the hero living with the sparras. I can still remember the battle and I haven't read the book for 15 years.
*Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli - Huck Finn channels Ulysses. Afer running away from a loveless foster home, Maniac looks for a home of his own. You get to say " Maniac, Maniac, he's so cool, Maniac Maniac kissed a bull."
*Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman. I have no idea why the kids liked this book. I hated it. They would listen spellbound, I was internally yawning.
*BFG by Roald Dahl. You get to talk funny because the big, friendly giant says things backwards and he drinks fizzy lifting drinks. The bubbles in the drink go from top to bottom, so instead of making you burp, they make you . . . . .
*Witches by Roald Dahl. You get to talk with a Swedish accent as the grandmother and then do some really nasty, evil accent as the Witch. Plus the little boy in the story is brave and clever and a good role model.
* Hester in the Wild by Sandra Boynton - It's funny.
*Max's Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells - It teaches you to not take yourself too seriously by being funny.
*The Talking Eggs by Robert San Souci - you get to say "You got a spirit of "do right in your soul" , "trail train dresses" and "she took her head off to comb her hair." A classic fairy tale set in the deep American South.
* Brave Irene by William Stieg - Irene qualifies for a heroine by any standards and Stieg can make you weep with pathos while he's making you groan at his melodrama.
* Dr. DeSoto by William Steig. The small mouse dentist, out of compasion, treats a fox with a bad toothache. You get to say "mmmmm how good they would be sauted with a dry, white wine" , "permeate the dentine" and "frank u berry mush." Steig's books celebrate the power of the small and powerless to overcome evil by being armed with their innocence and their native wit.
*Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" ditto on the pathos and melodrama. I swear one little boy was near tears over the plight of Sylvester, a donkey who had turned into a rock by wishing on a magic pebble. I had to rush to finish so he would know it had a happy ending. (Stieig's style is simple and eloquent)
*CDB by Willam Steig - read this one as soon as your child learns his/her alphabet so s/he can read a book by him/herself.
*Redwall by Brian Jacques. The first two chapters are a study of style by describing ultimate innocence and ulitmate evil . Also read the chapters about the hero living with the sparras. I can still remember the battle and I haven't read the book for 15 years.
*Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli - Huck Finn channels Ulysses. Afer running away from a loveless foster home, Maniac looks for a home of his own. You get to say " Maniac, Maniac, he's so cool, Maniac Maniac kissed a bull."
*Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman. I have no idea why the kids liked this book. I hated it. They would listen spellbound, I was internally yawning.
*BFG by Roald Dahl. You get to talk funny because the big, friendly giant says things backwards and he drinks fizzy lifting drinks. The bubbles in the drink go from top to bottom, so instead of making you burp, they make you . . . . .
*Witches by Roald Dahl. You get to talk with a Swedish accent as the grandmother and then do some really nasty, evil accent as the Witch. Plus the little boy in the story is brave and clever and a good role model.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
The Night the House Didn't Burn Down
First of all, there was no fire, never was a fire. Relax.
About a week ago, the end of the Thanksgiving Weekend, we were sleeping soundly when an alarm went off in the house. Thinking that it was the alarm clock, I reached up to turn it off. I hit the button that usually turns it off and then hit a few other buttons. My husband finally said, "I think it's the smoke alarm." Then the alarm stopped. I went back to sleep. It had been a long weekend. I was tired. It went off again and again I tried to turn off the alarm clock, hitting buttons in a futile attempt to stop the noise so I could go back to sleep. Once more the noise stopped and I went back to sleep. When it happened again, my husband got up to turn off the smoke alarm. It had happened before, that the alarm went off when there was no reason for it to go off. Before it had been a big bug or dust or something like that. The alarm is plugged into the wall, so there are no batteries to change. When he came back to bed he said, " I unplugged it." "Good. Was there any smoke?" "I didn't check." So he got back up to make sure there wasn't any smoke. There wasn't. We went back to sleep until the "real" alarm went off at 6:00. I turned it off with no problem and I went back to sleep. It had been a long night. I was tired. About 6:30, my husband came in and said, "It's late, 6:30." I groaned and got out of bed, took a shower, got dressed and went to the kitchen to see if I had time for breakfast. My husband took his turn in the shower. I looked at the kitchen clock to see if I had time for breakfast and it was 5:55! What! Don't tell me the battery int he kitchen clock died ! I check several other clocks in the house and they all had variations of 5:55. It seems that in my attempts to turn off the alarm clock I had reset the time. So not only was the night's sleep broken by smoke alarms, but we were up, showered and dressed an hour early!!!!!! It was a long day.
But the house didn't burn down.
About a week ago, the end of the Thanksgiving Weekend, we were sleeping soundly when an alarm went off in the house. Thinking that it was the alarm clock, I reached up to turn it off. I hit the button that usually turns it off and then hit a few other buttons. My husband finally said, "I think it's the smoke alarm." Then the alarm stopped. I went back to sleep. It had been a long weekend. I was tired. It went off again and again I tried to turn off the alarm clock, hitting buttons in a futile attempt to stop the noise so I could go back to sleep. Once more the noise stopped and I went back to sleep. When it happened again, my husband got up to turn off the smoke alarm. It had happened before, that the alarm went off when there was no reason for it to go off. Before it had been a big bug or dust or something like that. The alarm is plugged into the wall, so there are no batteries to change. When he came back to bed he said, " I unplugged it." "Good. Was there any smoke?" "I didn't check." So he got back up to make sure there wasn't any smoke. There wasn't. We went back to sleep until the "real" alarm went off at 6:00. I turned it off with no problem and I went back to sleep. It had been a long night. I was tired. About 6:30, my husband came in and said, "It's late, 6:30." I groaned and got out of bed, took a shower, got dressed and went to the kitchen to see if I had time for breakfast. My husband took his turn in the shower. I looked at the kitchen clock to see if I had time for breakfast and it was 5:55! What! Don't tell me the battery int he kitchen clock died ! I check several other clocks in the house and they all had variations of 5:55. It seems that in my attempts to turn off the alarm clock I had reset the time. So not only was the night's sleep broken by smoke alarms, but we were up, showered and dressed an hour early!!!!!! It was a long day.
But the house didn't burn down.
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