The Tank

Being that I live in a condo that is rather on the small side and that one of my very good friends bought me a fish tank as a Christmas present a few years ago….I decided it was time to set up the tank and have pets to call my own.

I set it all up and put in the appropriate chemicals to neutralize the water. Waited a week and then I added some fish… 2 have since died, one from being attacked by another fish and the other for absolutely no foreseeable reason.

Our fish tank now holds – including the clean up crew we added this past week-end:

• 1 red brick swordtail “Rudder”
• 1 Mickey mouse platy ”Meanie”
• Two Cardinal Tertras “Huey” and “Lewis”
• 2 Ghost Shrimp
• 1 Common Pleco
• 2 Oto Catfish

We are pretty happy with our fish and they seem to have adapted nicely. We added some live plants with the first round of fish and they are looking really great in the tank.

The shrimp are pretty hard to find as they are actually see through. But we got the cheapest kind to see how they do, if they do well we will obviously keep them, but if not we will get a more durable kind of shrimp – the almond shrimp which changes colours depending on what it consumes.

 

Filed under: Pets , aquariums, fish tank, platy, shrimp, swordtails

Country Vegetable Soup

It was chilly out last night and I was in the mood for something comforting to have for supper and healthy as well! Up for the task I scoured through the fridge and pantry and found

• half an onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 medium size celery stalks
• 1 large carrot
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 2 variety of noodles
• 5 tsps of this concentrated broth paste, mixed with 5 cups of boiling hot water. I added a bit more water as well to cover everything in the pot.

I chopped the onion and garlic and added it to the already hot large pot with 2 tbsps of olive oil. I then added the celery and carrot and let them sweat while I got my broth ready and opened the can of kidney beans. I added the broth and kidney beans and gave it a stir. Then I added a handful of noodles – not recommended…. way too many noodles, but the soup is good for a first try of country vegetable soup no recipe… I added a little salt and pepper.

I will post the name of the vegetable broth concentrate that I used. It tasted a lot better than some of the boxed broth you can get in the grocery store.

Filed under: Food, Uncategorized , cooking, Easy Recipes, Food, Soups, Vegetable

Frank Lloyd Wright

Having just finished Nancy Horan’s first novel Loving Frank, I felt in the mood to write a little about it as it kept me well entertained for a few days.

The story is told from the point of view of Mamah Cheney then Borthwick… a client of Mr. Wright’s at the beginning of the 20th century. He built a prairie style home for the Cheney’s and while the house was being built Mamah and Frank had an affair. The story is particularly interesting because of the time period and the controversial relationship the two shared together.  Mamah left her children at home with her husband and left for Europe with Frank for quite a long time before returning home.  The book discusses a great deal about women’s rights etc and centres on Ellen Key, a feminist from Sweden.

For more information on this book check out this  website !

Filed under: Books and Reading , Architecture, Books, Loving Frank, reading

Here’s the good news…

I made an apple cranberry crumble pie and it has the perfect balance between sweet and sour. It is devilishly (I am in the Halloween spirit but not ready to let go of the flavors of thanksgiving) good.  I say it’s the good news because the sad news is, last Friday someone stole my lunch bag ( a reusable bag from the Strand, that fit everything perfectly and wouldn’t allow for my tea to fall over and spill all over me, my lunch bag and the unfortunate person on the subway next to me). I thought that it had been thrown out by the cleaning crew at 3:30pm but was informed that they had not seen the bag either. BOO.

Now for great food….

APPLE CRANBERRY CRUMBLE PIE

Find it here on the whole living website affiliated with BODY + SOUL magazine.

Ingredients

FILLING

Juice of 1 orange

Zest of 1/2 orange

5 cups of peeled, sliced apples (approximately 5 medium apples) I used a mix of golden delicous and empire apples.

1/2 cup  brown sugar

1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped (if frozen, do not thaw)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

TOPPING

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons oats

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

To make crust, follow directions for a traditional pie crust. Preheat oven to 400. Roll pie dough out into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place dough in the pie pan and refrigerate while you make the filling and topping. Or use a frozen pie shell….

Mix together all the filling ingredients in a medium bowl.Use a small bowl to mix together the topping. The topping mixture should clump when pressed together.

Pour and level filling into pie crust. Scatter the crumble topping evenly. Bake for an hour or until the center of the pie is bubbling. If the crust or topping becomes too dark, cover the pie loosely with foil.

Cool completely before serving.

Was awesome and fairly easy to make. Next time I’ll be making my own crust!

Filed under: Food , apple-cranberry, Baking, crumble pies, Easy Recipes, Food, pie, small comforts

Adventures in New York – Part 2

We woke up on Saturday morning to find it rather windy and overcast with a good chance of rain……… but we found a great walking plan and headed out by subway to the South Sea Port. We visited the old printing press, Browne and Co. Stationary and got ourselves postcards and cards and posters. It was a really fantastic gift store and things were really reasonably priced.

We then walked out to the end of the pier and took a picture of ourselves. This is the best of them.

We then walked out to Canal St and enjoyed a BBQ pork bun while walking through Little Italy and then we promptly sat down to enjoy rice pudding at Rice to Riches. When I first heard of this place I was wondering how they could make an eatery with just rice pudding. But I was willing to check it out anyways because our good friend Bryan had recommended it. We tried the Milk chocolate only rings twice with graham cracker crumble as well as a french toast flavored variety. Both were excellent and come in cute take away bowls.

We also took a moment to check out this Cervantes statue….

We then walked back to Washington Square park to site and ogle everyone and debate who was actually from New York and to watch all the unruly dogs glad to get off the pavement and hit the park.

Filed under: Travel , Central Park, New York City, Rice to Riches, Travel

Adventures in New York – Part 1

Upon arrival to New York I was taken by car service (how fancy is that!?) to my friend’s new apartment to be greeted by my sleepy friend at 8 am. We preceded to make a grocery list and walked by Vinero’s bakery first for a cannoli.  Trader Joe’s was packed as usual, but we were out of there in good time. We headed to East Village Cheeses and the liquor store for our evening meal – of wine and cheese and pears. We got a brie wheel and some of their Gruyère with Kirsch – it was really good on toasted baguette.

Once back at home we unpacked all of our goods and headed back out to Union Square to check out DSW and The Strand. I got lots of books !

We watched Doogie Howser while devouring our cheese, crackers and pears in the evening. A good end to a long day !

Filed under: Travel , New York City, Travel

Apple Oatmeal Sour Cream Muffins

Having gone apple picking last week I have become quite the creative apple chef. Over the weekend I made apple tart and baked apples with blueberries as well as  a fruit salad. Last night I decided it was high time for muffins! I had been looking at this recipe on sparkpeople for quite a while. I did not have the recommended apple sauce – how ironic. So I used low fat sour cream instead as well as adding golden raisins and pecans.

Without further ado….

APPLE OATMEAL SOUR CREAM MUFFINS

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups instant oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup sour cream
2/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp oil
1 egg
1 cup grated peeled and cored apple

Optional – 1/3/ cup of raisins and your choice of pecans or walnuts.

Directions

Pre-heat the over to 400F. Mix together the dry ingredients, add the remaining ingredients. If using raisins and nuts fold them in the batter. Fill a muffin tray of your preference – I use a silicon texas muffin tray. Bake them for 20 minutes of until golden brown.

If you don’t feel super healthy eating these post your own version in the comments for consideration…………..

Filed under: Food , apples, Baking, Easy Recipes, Food, Healthy Recipes, sparkpeople

What to do with plums?

I figured that since my other installment starting with what to do with….was so popular (see it here) that I should continue the series. Apparently people need to know what to do with spare fruit – and fear not I am here to help all of you!

Plum Tart Recipe

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup finely chopped (half and half) macadamia nuts and almonds
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 stick), diced
• 1 egg yolk
• 8- 10 firm, ripe Italian prune plums, pitted and quartered lengthwise
• A spritz of fresh squeezed orange juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the flour, macadamia nuts/almond mix, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and the egg yolk. Mix, either by hand or with an electric mixer, until crumbly.

Press 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture in an even layer into the bottom of a 9 1/2-inch springform. Arrange the plums in the pan, skin side down, to form a flower pattern; begin at the outside and work your way in.

Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture evenly over the plums. Bake the tart for 40 to 50 minutes, or until it’s lightly browned and the plum juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and transfer the tart to a flat plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This recipe is based on the Barefoot Contessa’s Parties! 2001.

Filed under: Food , Baking, Easy Recipes

No Good Terribly Bad Movie List

Over the last couple of years I have become particularly fond of one specific type of movie, a movie that might be lacking in several departments – acting, story line, budget, etc, or loser grown-ups refuse to watch these kinds of movies. I am sure you may have seen some of these movies.  I have created a new list. You can see the old one here : a list of bad movies

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
•  Jennifer’s Body
• Zombieland
• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
• The Proposal
• Year One
• Penelope
• Invention of Lying
• The Ugly Truth
• New Moon
• High School Musical 1 
• High School Musical 2
• Love Happens
• Couples Retreat
• 500 Days of Summer
• Julie & Julia
• The Final Destination
• Aliens vs. Monsters
• I love you, man

If you have further suggestions for bad movies please leave a comment!

I will write a top ten list at the end of the year for my choices. I will also review the best of the worst. Happy watching!

Filed under: Movies and Television , Bad Movies, Film

Are you there Vodka?

These last 2 weeks have been hard times for me in bookland. My good friend Sheena, lent me a couple of Chelsea Handler books. They are kind of autobiographies that are, cough cough, I hope really embellished. And if they are not then thank goodness I decided not be a comedian.

The bulk of her stories are racist, sexual or just ridiculous. While I did find some tidbits and one liners funny I felt that her stories always died out in the end. The only one I thought made for a decent story was one where she ended up going to a costume party in an M&M costume and ended up having to walk to her friend’s place in the AM and her friend stood on his balcony laughing at her and ran back in for a camera and then she remembered she left her house keys at the party so she broke into her own apartment through the kitchen window to find her ex-boyfriend/landlord coming around the side of the building shaking his head.

They make for good travel reading because the books are broken up into short stories. Also, if you have a friend who has them, it’s not so bad to read them for free.

While I did not like the books all that much, I could tell she is a lot better at performing live and in person. Her show Chelsea, Lately is pretty funny it’s too bad it’s on so late, but it still gets great ratings.

All the same I am proud of myself for powering through her books because I was very reluctant at first, but I am considering seeing her live myself in Buffalo December 4th at the Shea venue.

Filed under: Books and Reading , Books, Chelsea Handler, Humor, reading