All About Me And A Bag Of Chips!

The Spices of Life.....

How excited was I when I opened my weekly FAKTA (Danish Supermarket) sales paper and saw that they had a bunch of very cool spices/spice mixes on sale this week! I love me some cool spices and I have actually over 60 different whole and ground spices stashed all over my kitchen. I skipped my little ample butt down there and bought all six they had available, smoked paprika, orange pepper, pasta basillico, cocoa chili, wasabi sesame and chili and lime. I am not sure what I will use all of them for yet, but I am sure I will find something!

In other news we have to head off to my daughters after school place today because they are putting on a fashion show. Sophia has been sewing her clothes all week, so this should be interesting! lol Tomorrow is a school holiday and DH only has to work a half day, we will then do grocery shopping and I think go eat dinner down on the water front. Have I mentioned how awesome this neighborhood is?? Love the people, love the fact that I am literally one minute away from the water, one minute away from my library, one minute away to shops, restaurants, cafes. I just adore it here!

We enough rambling for today, I actually have to make my grocery list up and do some lovely domestic duties, so until next time..TATA!!

Decisions...Decisions...

We've been toying with the idea of placing my son into the børnehave/fritidshjem that my daughter is currently going to. They have kids from 3-10 in there (3-6 year old are there full time 6-10 year old come after school). We have been really impressed with the place, they do so many cool activities and trips, my daughter loves it. I had planned on keeping my son home with me until he started school (at 6 years og age), but truth be told, the little guy is bored. Sure we do a lot of things, visit friends, parks etc, but he is bored. He said to me the other day "Sophia has 100 friends and I have 0" :( Now he DOES have friends, but he sees Sophia being invited over to peoples homes and them coming here and well I think this will be good for him.

So I rang the place this morning to see how long the waiting list to get in was, you usually have an easier time if you have a sibling in the same place and you get a discount also. As luck would have it the director had JUST emailed the kommune to let them know she had two places available for August 1st. She told me to call the lady in charge and tell her I have a son and just spoke to the director and I would like one of those places for August. So I called and the lady is on vacation, but I got a bunch of paper work t fill out, so I am on my way.

I am a little bit sad, but know this will be a great thing for him, plus the place is pretty good about coming and going at what time suits you. So another step on the ladder of life! Until next time..TATA!!

Book Reviews!!

Good morning everyone! I am back on this somewhat drab Tuesday here to beguile you with more reviews of some books I have finished reading lately! A nice little mix of genres in this latest batch and have I mentioned how much I am enjoying being able to borrow all the books I can read from the library??!! I can't believe I went so long not knowing about bibliotek.dk...I feel like such a dork! LOL

OK, onto the reviews...

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I seriously just LOVE these books! I really liked the change of scenery for this one, these books are without a doubt one of the best series I have ever read. I can't wait to read the last two in this series and the two in Jasper FForde's Nursery series!! Just another cracking read....

1st to Die by James Patterson

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have been watching the very short lived TV series based on these novels and have been really enjoying it, so I thought I'd check out the books it was based on. I have to say that I really enjoyed this book, it was an easy read with a nice twist at the end. The characters were likable and well developed and the plot is fast passed and has some of the shortest chapters I have ever seen in a book! lol I'll definitely be checking out the others in this series....

Map of Bones by James Rollins

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Oh man I really like this one! Dan Brown meets Clive Cussler, great action, great plot, well developed characters. I've forgotten how much I enjoy books like this. I will definitely be looking to read more from this author!

The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I didn't know what to expect from this book going into it since it has gotten such mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed it a lot! It was sort of The DaVinci Code meets a romance novel! Also kudos to whomever was in charge of marketing for this book, it came in a really nice box with the book and 17 cards with the puzzles the characters have to solve in the book, so you can try solving them before hand or along with the characters. A very cool hook! Overall a really fun and enjoyable read. I look forward to more from this author.

So with that I will wrap things up for today. I hope you have a good one and until next time..TATA!! (no idea why this is underlined and I can't seem to get it to remove the underline, oh well LOL)

Weekend update in pictures!!

Good Monday morning peeps! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. Ours was really great and the weather just gorgeous! We decided to go out to the park and have a long walk and picnic yesterday and I snapped a few (ok a lot) of photos that I will be sharing with you shortly! I haven't taken some photos is so long (shame on me) so this was nice to get back to another hobby that I really enjoy. If you'll notice also I cut my daughters hair, it ended up about an inch shorter then I wanted, but I still think it looks cute! So with out further ado, here are a whole lot of photos for you to enjoy! ;)

























Whew, a lot of photos huh?? lol With that I will wrap things up for this Monday. I will be back tomorrow with some more book reviews..until then...TATA!!

Foodie Friday!!

Yay, another Friday has arrived and I am looking forward to this weekend and hopefully getting to relax a bit!

So lets gets right to it then, instead of a kitchen gadget this week I want to feature a very cool website I stumbled upon a few days ago and which in that short time has already became a favorite!

The website is FOOD.COM (<-- LINK) and what it essentially is is a database of food/recipe sites from around the web. This is actually a quote from the site so you can get a better idea "Food.com is a handy little application that lets you search for, and store, recipes from all over the web in one place. And there is more: when you are on your other favorite food sites, you can add recipes to your food.com universal recipe box with a simple click using the food.com toolbar. You can even upload your own recipes to the mix."

Basically you can type in any ingredient, tuna steaks, lemon verbena (Hi! Laura!), carrots, well anything and it will search out recipes with that ingredient. You can also narrow your search by choosing sub categories, like courses, cuisines, main ingredient, methods, recipes from, special diets and total time. After you search you will see a list of recipes with links to the main recipe pages, like a recipe, you can just drag it down into your recipe box to save for another time!!

Anther feature that is pretty nifty is you can choose to search "out on the web" or "in your recipe box". I like this option a lot because I tend to run across recipes I think would be good and now I can stash them in the recipe box and at a later date when I have an ingredient to use up search my recipe box and find something that caught my eye! Inside your recipe box you can also apply a little "heart" to a recipe and mark it as a  "favorite" to make it easier to find later. You can also upload recipes and create collections. Lastly they have a pretty nifty tool bar (I haven't installed this yet) and it looks pretty cool. You can read more about that at the following link TOOLBAR (<--LINK)

So what do you think? Pretty dang cool huh? I already used it to find two great new dishes to try out this week! Oh and I should mention the site seems to be very well put together, has a great "look" to it and it simple and easy to navigate!

OK, OK, I am done pimping the site for now. LOL Next up is my menu for next week! With all the little visits of my daughters school friends last week we had to make some changes to the menu, so I carried over the home made pizzas to Saturday this week and have two pretty tasty sounding new dishes to try (I'll link to the recipes). I nabbed some frozen tuna steaks at FAKTA (Danish supermarket) last week where they had them onsale for a STEAL, so I can't wait to make them on Sunday!

Menu for the week of April 25th until May 1st.

• Sat- Home made Pizza.
• Sun- Seared Tuna with Avocado and Salsa Verde (<--LINK) over linguine - Garlic Bread.
• Mon- Tacos.
• Tues- Frozen Pizza. (Ballet Night)
• Wed- Vegetarian Biryani (<--LINK).
• Thurs- Chicken Fingers - Rosti Potatoes - Cut Up Veggies.
• Fri- Take Out.

So that will wrap things up for yet another week here, I hope you have a fabulous weekend and until next week..TATA!!

Not that scintillating lately??

I guess my blog hasn't been very scintillating lately if the comments are anything to go by..where is everyone anyways? On vacation and forgot to let me know?? LOL

Anyways, how excited am I!!?? I just received an email from Amazon that Dan Brown's new novel THE LOST SYMBOL (finally, been waiting FOREVER) is available for pre order!! You know I am all over that like white on rice. LOL

I also made a new layout today, you can see the full credits HERE The journaling is an Oscar Wilde poem that I just adore...



That is it for today, have a good one and until next time..TATA!!

Earth Day 2009!!

Today is Earth Day 2009, the conservation of our Earth is something that I am very passionate about, so today will be spent planting some trees with a few friends, enjoying a picnic outdoors and learning new ways that I can help keep our planet beautiful for our many generations to come!

You can check out the following site for tons of information http://www.earthday.net/ I think that site is more US based, but feel free to look up Earth Day sites for your country. I am sure (and hope) that there are many different activities going on around the world today!

Vegetarian Times is also giving away a free digital copy of it's April issue in honor of Earth Day. It's a great magazine, so be sure to nab that one! I actually made the quiche on the cover of the magazine last week and it was DELISH! Here is the link... FREE DIGITAL ISSUE OF VEGETARIAN TIMES.

So with that I will wrap things up for today, have a great Earth Day and until next time..TATA!!

Thoughts of the day....

My thought of the day today....adult women who act catty and like they are still in high school should be taken out back, slapped around a little and locked away together, forced to endure each other for all eternity. I wonder how long it would take before they turned on each other?? Not long I wager! LOL

In other news I had the worst indigestion attack last night! Ever since I had that bad stomach bug over the Easter holidays I have been having problems with my stomach. Last night was the worst though, felt like steel bands where being tightened around my ribs. I wonder if this is connected to the stomach bug or something else??

Lastly for today, I have a new layout to show off! I used the new cool The Birds And The Bees kit from Robin and Manda over at Sweet Shoppe Designs. I love the way it turned out!



That will wrap things up for this Tuesday, I hope you have a good one and until next time..TATA!!

Recipe recomendation...Rent a book...and a weekend update!!

Good morning peeps! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Ours was busy, but lovely nonetheless. I have a bit of a mixed bag for you today, so sit back and enjoy the show. lol

First up, I have a recipe recommendation. I don't usually cook these types of dishes that often because I find them pretty heavy and carby, but this one sounded yummy and indeed it WAS really yummy, so I thought I would share it on here with you all!

Scalloped Turkey (or Chicken)
serves 4 - 6

3 to 4 cups cooked turkey or chicken
4 ounces butter
1/2 cup flour
salt and black pepper to taste
2 1/4 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 4-ounce tin of sliced mushrooms, drained well
(Or you can slice up some fresh mushrooms like I do, and brown them
off in a bit of butter)
For the dressing:
2 cups toasted bread cubes
2 small onions, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp dried sage, crumbled
2 ounces butter

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly butter a 2 quart casserole dish and set it aside.

Melt the 4 ounces of butter in a saucepan. Blend in the flour and cook, stirring for one minute. Slowly stir in the broth and the milk. Cook, stirring constantly until bubbly and thickened. Season to taste with some salt and pepper. Set aside.

Lightly toss the bread cubes, onion, celery, 1/2 tsp salt, crumbled sage and the 1/4 cup of melted butter together in a bowl. Add a grinding of black pepper to taste. Arrange in the prepared casserole dish.

Place the sliced turkey over top of the dressing in the casserole dish. Top with the sliced mushrooms and then pour the sauce over top, covering it completely.

Place in the heated oven and cook for about 1 hour, until nicely bubbling and well heated through. Serve hot.

I made a couple tweaks, I didn't have cooked chicken, so I marinaded some chicken breasts in chopped fresh rosemary, 3 garlic cloves sliced, some chili flakes, sea salt, pepper and olive oil for a couple of hours and then roasted them until they were almost cooked and then just sat them on top of the dressing mix. I also made a tiny bit more sauce then the recipe called for and threw in some broccoli that I had steamed, but still had some of a bite to it so it wouldn't go all mushy in the casserole. So definitely give the recipe a try!!

I also ran across a very cool website for those of you who live in the US. I really wish they had something like it here, but the library is working out pretty good, so I can't whine to much!

Anyways, the website is http://www.bookswim.com/ and it an online book rental club. Seems to be along the lines of Netflex just for books. It is a pretty cool concept and probably a really cool option for those of you that live far away from your nearest library or have long waits for new books etc. Like I said if they had it available here I would be on it like white on rice! LOL

Ok, that brings us to my weekend update. Saturday was just gorgeous and we headed off to the mall. The mall is only about a 20 or 30 minute walk from me, and as the day was gorgeous we hoofed it. I had a ton of things I need to pick up for the kids and as luck would have it a show store in the mall is going out of business and all their stock was 50% off. I picked up two pairs of running shoes and a pair of sandals for my daughter, a pair of running shoes and sandals for my son and a pair of shoes fo me, all for 400 kr (which is about 70 US dollars). Talk about a sweet deal huh!? I managed to pick up everything I had down on my list except a spring jacket for me (of course lol), H&M didn't have my size in the one I liked and the other store in the mall that carried my size clothing appears to have closed down..sigh. I will have to hit Fields next week and see if I can find one their.

We also stopped and had a nice sot down lunch and then headed back home and hung outside for the rest of the day. Sunday we had a lot of cleaning, laundry and stuff to do and some friends came over for a visit, so that was nice and here we are back to another Monday! My daughter has a friend coming over after school for a visit and she will have dinner with us, then Wednesday she has another friend coming over. The girl has a better social life then me! LOL

So with that LONG rambling post, I will say bye for now. I hope you have a great day and until next time..TATA!!

Foodie Friday has returned!

Yay, it is Friday again! Have I mentioned how much I like the weekends? Anyways. this weekend is going to be packed with stuff I need to do, so not sure how much downtime I will get, but c'est la vie, right??

So on to this weeks foodie Friday. I have a pretty cool little "gadget" that I already own and love and a pretty tasty menu planned, so I am excited about that!

First up is this week's kitchen gadget. I actually bought one of these a few months back after eying one for months and I really do LOVE it! It is perfect for steaming veggies and dumplings, fish and the different layers means you can cook a whole meal at one go!

Sur La Table Bamboo Steamers

 

"Bamboo steamers are the traditional, healthy way to cook vegetables, fish, dim sum, dumplings and more. Steaming requires no oil and preserves more nutrients than other methods. Stackable layers let you cook a variety of foods at once. Sets of three. Hand wash."

Pretty cool huh? They are pretty reasonably priced also!

So on to this week's menu. I had the menu all planned out, but now my daughter has invited two friends to come play after school on Monday and Wednesday, so I may have to switch around the menu a bit and put the "kid friendly" meals on those days, we will see...

Menu for the week of April 18th until the 24th

• Sat- Homemade Pizza.
• Sun- Turkey Stuffing Casserole - Broccoli.
• Mon- Salmon - Macaroni Salad.
• Tues- Sandwiches.
• Wed- Veggie Stuffed Baked Potatoes.
• Fri- Hamburgers - Fries - Cut up veggies.

With that I will wrap up another week. I hope you have a fabulous weekend and until next time..TATA!!