My newest guilty pleasure: The Taste, Tuesday at 8|7c on ABC

I have found a new guilty pleasure reality show to watch.  It's called The Taste and can be seen on Tuesday nights on ABC.  It began with chefs, professional and amateur, competing for 16 spots.  They all had to make a dish they felt would "wow" the 4 judges and get them on one of the teams of 4 and they had to do it with one spoonful....one taste.  The judges, Nigella Lawson, Anthony Bourdain, Brian Malarkey and Ludo Lefebvre, get to leave any preconceived notions and expectations they might have about a person's experience, or lack thereof, because they know nothing about the contestants except for the food put in front of them.

It was fun to watch them in the audition episodes as they tried to guess whether it was a professional chef or an amateur that just cooks really well.  They would then cast a yes or no vote based only on what they tasted.  More often than not they could pick the professionals from the amateurs, but that didn't mean the professionals had it easy and were an automatic shoe-in.  In fact in the first audition episode I think more amateurs went through than professionals.  Often times the judges would regret the "no" vote that they cast, realizing that the more they thought about the taste the more they liked it.  Unfortunately, that isn't much of a consolation if you weren't chosen for a team.  When all the auditions were done, they were left with 16 chefs.....4 for each judge.

As the competition goes on they will compete, both as teams and individuals, in different challenges.  As always the tastes are blind tastes.  As the viewer, we know who is making what dish, but the judges never do and it is fun to watch the judges banter back and forth with each other over why they like or don't like a dish and hoping that the dish they don't like, and ultimately send home, doesn't belong to one of their own team members.  So it's not only a competition among the 16 contestants, it's also a competition between the judges.

Another part I find funny, and this is probably just me, is watching them doing the taste.  All the dishes are served on the same size spoon, which looks about the size of a tablespoon, a fancy looking one.  Sometimes those "tastes" are quite the mouthful not only for the guys, but also for the only woman judge, Nigella.  But you can always tell when Nigella likes a dish because she will lick the spoon, like she is wanting more.

If you haven't had a chance to catch an episode go to http://abc.tv/Z3jimp to catch the latest episode and I'll think you'll find you will make it one of your guilty pleasures as well.  Don't forget to tune in every Tuesday night on ABC at 8/7c pm.

Casualties of War

As I've posted before I have a problem with rats here in Arizona.  They've gotten the wires on my car twice, my husbands once and now my son's car once as well just in the past year alone.  So we bit the bullet and got a pest service to help "control" the situation as best as possible.   The main problem we have is that we have 3 strikes against us:

     1)We live next to a vacant lot

     

     2) We live across from a wash(where the water goes during a monsoon to avoid flooding, but is filled with trees and bushes and critters!)

     

     3) We have an unpaved driveway

So, it's almost like fighting a losing battle.  I'm more than willing to leave the critters be....as long as they leave our stuff alone.  But after two airconditioning units and three cars, the gloves have come off and it's now war.  There is no more Mrs. Nice Guy or would that be Gal? Anyway.......

The last time the pest guy came out (last week) he gave us a rat trap, only one as that is all he had at the time.  So last night I put some peanut butter in the little hole, place the trap under my car and hoped to find a warning sign for other the varmints in the area the next day.  When I checked the trap this morning I saw that is had been tripped, but there was nothing in it. So I left it there when I had to leave this morning figuring I would take care of it when I came back.  But as I backed out of the driveway I noticed that I in fact had "gotten" something......but it wasn't a rat or a mouse....it was a bunny!!!  I killed a bunny!!!  I'm a bunny-killer!!!   The bunny looked so peaceful just lying there, which gave me hope that it didn't suffer.  Needless to say this time I put the trap back, but put it in my engine, so as long as the bunnies stay away from my engine they should be okay. 

Oh and before you say anything, we are keeping mothballs in our engines, alternating with drying sheets. I'll also be investing in some Peppermint oils and rubber snakes.  Yes, I said rubber snakes...rats don't like snakes and will stay away or so they say.  I'll also get a couple more traps for the other cars.  The only step after that is to some how rig my car so they get "shocked" if they touch it or hire a hit man!  I tried to play nice with them, but no more.

I am sorry my bunny friend that you had to be a casualty of war.  Blame the rats, they started it, I just have to finish it.

What a tangled web

I bet you think this is going to be a blog about deception and you would be wrong.  Actually it's about hair, my hair.  You see it's the time of year when the heater gets turned on in the house. Yes, I know I live in Arizona, but it does get chilly here.  Granted not as chilly as most other parts, but chilly none the less.  Now, Arizona is already a pretty dry state, not a lot of humidity, so when the heater runs it dries the air out in the house even more.  Have you noticed how when the heater runs in your car you tend to get shocked more?  Because it causes more static electricity being so dry, more friction.  Something like that, I just know in the winter with the heater I tend to get shocked more.

I have long, THICK hair that can tangle if you look at if funny.  Usually those tangles are "manageable", but when you add in the dryness from the heater and the static electricity those tangles tend to get a mind of their own, usually at the base of my neck and especially when I take a day off from brushing my hair.  What?  You've never done that??  Well, it was the holidays and there was noone to see, noone to come over, and nowhere to go.  Jammies all day long, I don't think I even brushed my teeth(don't tell my dentist), but that's a whole different blog.

Anyway! So this morning I realized I hadn't brushed/combed my hair in a couple of days.  DON'T JUDGE ME!!!  I got out my brush and began the strokes.  It started out well, the right side was done in a matter of seconds, then I started on the other side.  That was a whole different story.  Immediately I ran into resistance.  20 minutes later I finally had smooth hair, albeit a little bit less of it.   Mind you this was not the worst it's been.  While visiting back in Colorado at the beginning of the month, I got one that spanned the whole back of my head.....just by the end of the day.  I had to have my husband brush it out for me, because I just couldn't do it.

So, the lesson I've taken from this, one I hope to heed, is that I need to brush my hair EVERYDAY in the winter and I need to find a better conditioner....one for daily use to keep those tangles at bay. Anyone know a good one??   I'm not usually a tender headed sort of person, but those "rat's nests" as I call them sure do hurt.

FYI, I've already finger-combed several tangles out my hair that happened just while typing this out.  I told you it tangled easily!

A Garden For Daily Living

I received the following poem in a Christmas card this year and wanted to share it with you.  

I hope you enjoy it as I did.

A Garden For Daily Living

 by Imel Timberlake and Mary Helen Looney

 Plant three rows of peas

Peace of mind

Peace of heart 

Peace of soul

 Plant four rows of squash

Squash gossip

Squash indifference

Squash grumbling

Squash selfishness

 Plant four rows of lettuce

Lettuce be faithful

Lettuce be kind

Lettuce be happy

Lettuce really love one another

 No garden should be without turnips

Turnip for service when needed

Turnip to help one another

Turnip the music and dance

 

To conclude our garden we must have thyme

Thyme for fun

Thyme for rest

Thyme for ourselves

 

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.

There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

It's really not about blame, about who's right and who's wrong.

It's really not about blame, about who's right and who's wrong....

I heard that line in the Christmas movie, "An Accidental Christmas", last night while trying to think of what I was going to write.  The movie isn't anything special, but that line jumped out at me.  In this day and age we are always so quick to find blame, rather than take responsibility.  We are quick to point a finger, quick to tell someone they are wrong or it's all their fault.  But do we ever stop and think about what our part was?  It's so much easier to cast the blame on someone or something else than to take any responsibility upon ourselves.  Because lets face it, if we admit any responsibility then that means we would have to do something about it and it's so much easier to let someone else fix it and then complain when they don't.

After the devastating tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary the immediate reaction was to find a cause, a reason, someone, something....anything to blame so we could fix it and keep it from happening again.  We are saddened and outraged that it happened and demanding change.  It doesn't matter if the change will really help, we just know we need to change something, anything so that we can feel like our outrage has accomplished something, so we can feel better.

When we can blame someone or something else we don't have to personally do anything about fixing it.  It no longer becomes our problem, our responsibility.  It sure makes things easier doesn't it....or does it?  The problem is that when you think you aren't responsible then you don't think you need to do anything, change anything.  It becomes someone else's job to do that.

We've become a society that no longer takes responsibility for anything: "It's not in my job description".  A society that doesn't care about the unborn: "It's a fetus not a human being".  A society concerned about "what's in it for me" or "what do I get in return".  We've become a society that calls evil good and good evil. A society that idolizes people that have done nothing (Kardashian, Hilton, etc). A society that pays more attention to the bad things/people than to the good things/people.   A society that talks about tolerance, but that is it, just talks.  We no longer have discussions, we have arguments.  We no longer have love, we have hate.  We no longer have differences of opinion, we have name calling.  We no longer have "turn the other cheek", we have "how much can I win in a lawsuit?".  Gone are the days of helping your fellow man, because now if you do you might get sued.

So what am I trying to say in all this rambling?  Simply this: What if what needs to be changed is ourselves?  It's not about assigning blame, about who's right or who's wrong.  It's about taking responsibility, ownership, of ourselves, our lives and our decisions.  Remember when you are pointing that finger at someone else, there are 3 more that at pointing at yourself.  Rather than looking for someone else to blame, let's start looking at ourselves and how we can change.  It won't be easy, but then things worth having never are.

Matthew 7:3-5  
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect

It's not Thanksgiving until.........

Do you have a Thanksgiving dish that everyone one requests?  Maybe it's your stuffing or green bean casserole....maybe it's even the turkey itself!  I know for my family there are three things I HAVE to make.  One year I didn't and I never heard the end of it.....and really, it just didn't seem like Thanksgiving without them.

The dishes I am REQUIRED to make are: my stuffing, Yorkshire Pudding and blueberry cheesecake.   The funny thing is they aren't even my recipes, but over the years I've perfected them or at least I like to think I have.   Well, to be honest I never make them the same way twice, but they are all still delicious.

I can't really share my recipes for stuffing or Yorkshire Pudding, because well those all come from memory and don't really use measurement......you just have to know how to make them. LOL  However, the blueberry cheesecake I can, so I wanted to share it with you.  It's actually a well known recipe, so you may even know it already.

Doesn't that look good!!!  Of course it got eaten before I could get a good picture of it.  I'm stuffed, but I'm thinking I might want another piece.

As you can see my family can't keep their hands off of it either!!

My son took his bite of pie this evening and promptly said, "My Thanksgiving is now complete"....this was after a piece of 2 other pies!






So here's the recipe....enjoy!

No Bake Blueberry Cheesecake

1 Extra Large Graham Cracker Pie Crust ( the one that has 2 extra servings )

1 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 8oz Sour Cream

2tsp Vanilla

1 8oz Cool Whip thawed

1 can Blueberry Pie Filling

In large bowl beat cream cheese until smooth, gradually add sugar, mix well.  Blend in sour cream and vanilla.  Mix well.  Fold in whip cream and BLEND WELL!!

Pour into pie shell and let set in refrigerator for at least a couple of hours.  Top with blueberries and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do!  You could also try cherry pie filling if you are so inclined, but my family prefers the blueberry.

What's your requested item???

Mothra Attacks!!!

So I'm laying in bed, just about to doze off when it feels like a moth dive bombs the side of my head near my ear.  So I swat it away from ear and out of my hair, but it puts up a good fight.  Finally, I think I've won, so I turn on my bedside lamp to make sure it's nowhere around.  I don't see it and the coast looks clear, so I turn the light off and lay back down.

SUDDENLY, I hear this frantic fluttering sound in my ear and I realized the reason I couldn't find the little flying critter was because it took refuge INSIDE my ear!  Yes, you read that right, inside my ear.  Of course I immediately jumped up, screaming, "It's in my ear!! The moth is in my ear!!"  Needless to say the whole house was awake at this point and I was trying not to panic too bad.

We turned on all the lights in the bedroom.   I was pulling on my earlobe trying to make a nice easy path for the moth to get out, but by the sound of the fluttering in my ear I thought for sure it was never getting out and was only fluttering it's way deeper into my ear.  Finally, my knight in shining armor husband got a flashlight hoping he would be able to see down in the ear better so he could use the tweezers to get it out.  He turned on the flashlight, poked once with the tweezers and Mothra was set free!

Now, I thought for sure that this moth in my ear was HUGE, it sure sounded like it.  I was envisioning something at least about the size of my ear canal, but no, it was this teeny-tiny little thing, something similar to this:

So, what do I take away from this experience?  Nothing, other than I'm going to have a hard time falling asleep for the next few nights or anytime a I see a moth flying around my room.  Seriously, though, it wasn't painful and I can laugh about it now.  Also, I'll make sure my bedside lamp is not the last light turned out too!

Sweet dreams everybody!!!