Winter Love

LOVE this peacoat by Amai Unmei

Marriage

If the idea of someone else, anyone else, getting married, threatens your own marriage, you need to re-evaluate the foundation on which your own marriage sits. Stat.

Beliefs

If you need to convince me, in order to believe (something), find another path because your footing is unsure for a reason.

mmmmm

Earlier today, I noted an article posted by a friend on Facebook, 51 great burger joints. I've wanted to try The Country Cat for a while now and the article gave me incentive. We hopped in the car and headed across the river.

There was about a 1/2 hour wait for a table so they took down my cell number and suggested we head down the block to the Montavilla Farmer's Market. The market was great and had I not been so excited about trying out The Country Cat, we would have eaten there. Among other things, there were fresh tamales, barbeque and one vendor had salted caramel ice cream. It's open from 10-2pm on Sundays and many vendors offer tastes. We tried some amazing peaches, some cheese and Pãobread (I purchased a bag because they'll be great additions to my daughter's school lunch on occasion and yum!). We easily could have stayed longer but the market had so many yummy looking desserts, we knew we had to leave before we filled up on treats and had no room for lunch!

The timing was perfect. Just as I was loading my market loot into the car, my cell rang and our table was ready. The Country Cat serves brunch from 9-2pm every day and there were plenty of options on the menu.

I started with a great looking bloody mary called the Proud Mary, garnished with homemade beef jerky, served in a beer mug. My husband ordered the Heritage burger. He's a barbeque fan and they brought him a side of bbq sauce on the side -- delicious, made with homemade ketchup. I stole a bite of the burger and it was divine. Accompanying the burger were fabulous skinny onion rings. Neither my husband nor our daughter are fans of onion rings but the whole family couldn't keep our hands off of them.

Our daughter had pancakes. I didn't try them because I had more than enough food on my plate, in addition to the onion rings I kept stealing off of my husband's plate.

I ordered the skillet fried chicken with pecan spoon bread. It was amazing. The chicken was moist inside and the crunch on the outside was just perfect. And oh, the spoonbread. The combination had to have been 10,000 calories and I just couldn't stop eating.

I can't wait to go back to both The Country Cat AND the Montavilla Farmer's Market!

For the man/woman/child who has everything...

Unfortunately, PrivateAirDaily.com no longer exists on the Web and I can't get the article large enough to be readable. I'm not sure why I saved it; it's not like I am or will ever be, in the market for a blimp. Nevertheless, I'm cleaning out old files and found this article in my file of misc scans. The important details, I'll regurgitate... it seems there is a personal blimp now available. Yes, because everyone needs a blimp, right?

SkyYacht makes these personal blimps, along with a number of other spaceship-like air vehicles; I encourage you to check out their site.

Above is a picture of what your personal blimp could look like. According to the article, it will cost you anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000. I know, it's quite a spread but I suppose, if you're in the market for a personal blimp, a price spread of $100,000 isn't that much to you. Of course, I could be wrong. I've yet to meet anyone who was in the market for a blimp of any kind.

Besides the price and size (unless you have a garage large enough to house a regular blimp), another benefit of a personal blimp is that the company is working with the FAA to obtain special licensing requirements for personal blimps. Unlike traditional blimps, personal blimps are powered by hot air and that may mean easier licensing requirement.

Traditional blimps require a fair amount of training and there are no schools for blimp flying. A lighter-than-air pilot certification isn't easy to come by and yes, during the practical portion of the exam, you DO need to parallel park your blimp. And you thought the DMV was hard on you at 16.

Dinner!

Before tonight, I'd never made spaghetti squash before. I'd heard that it is easy to make and how great it is but I was afraid a) I wouldn't like it and b) it wouldn't be easy and I'd mess it up.

I bought a spaghetti squash last week and finally got around to making it. Husband loved it and it WAS easy!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Stab the squash a number of times to prevent any explosive oven mishaps. This is also a great way to get rid of any pent-up aggression.

Place in an oven-proof dish.

Set the timer. Every recipe I found said an hour but I think a bit longer wouldn't hurt.

Using hot pads, carefully cut in half.

After scooping out pulp and seeds, use a fork to scrape out "spaghetti".

I used a jarred sauce but thought it tasted pretty good with just a bit of salt, as well. It has a bit of a crunchy texture that pasta doesn't have. Nutritionally, it's got fiber and vitamin C.

Our daughter liked it well enough to finish her dinner, with a bribe. I toasted the squash seeds and she loved them and if she wanted more, she had to finish her dinner.

From the Air

Over the Cascades

Everytime I'm above the clouds, I'm struck with how much the surface looks like that of the North Pole. Perhaps a bit rounder, softer but solid, white expanse looks so similar...