Strikes my fancy

Korean Pancakes! Our house was so very nicely gifted this packet of Korean Pancake mix: The bad thing is the directions aren't in English! I knew I could figure out the water to mix ratio, but what do you put into a Korean pancake? (it's not a breakfast pancake). One visit to our closest Hmart on a day they were sampling said pancake solved the problem! We got veggies and some seafood variety (I didn't ask because I wasn't sure I wanted to know all that was in it!) and put it all together. Cook it up: Delish! *Next time we will chop up the seafood a bit more so everything can cook a little more uniform. The pancakes were a bit too doughy. And maybe add kimchi!

Spicy Pasta with Sweet Potatoes: 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4" cubes (2 cups) 1/2 tsp EACH sugar, chili powder and cinnamon 8oz dried rigatoni 1/3 cup peanut butter 1 3oz pkg. cream cheese, cut up 2tsp Asian chili sauce (Sriracha) 1 Tbl soy sauce 6 green onions, thinly sliced Preheat oven to 450F. Oil a rimmed baking pan; set aside. Place sweet potato cubes in bowl. Toss with 1 Tbl olive oil, the sugar, chili powder and cinnamon. Spread in prepared pan; bake 20 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water. In saucepan combine peanut butter, cream cheese, chili sauce and soy sauce; whisk in 3/4 cup of the hot pasta water. Stir over medium heat until heated through. If too thick, stir in additional water. Stir in most of the green onions. Serve sauce over pasta with sweet potatoes and remaining onion. I didn't have sweet potatoes, so I made this with regular potatoes. I liked the po...

So in perusing blogs today I read about a system called Wally. It's all about making a wall of living plants. I think this library wall is kinda cool. Or as and entry to your house (or maybe that's a porch). Interesting concept - you can read more about it here (all the pictures are also from this site.) I've been thinking about an indoor herb garden for the winter, but am worried about the light - so this project intrigues me ;-)

for now ;-) When we moved in I liked the size of our pantry, but even looking at it I knew I'd make some changes. Within the first month I hated the shelves. They're so deep that things get lost in the back! So after a few months I had enough in the budget to buy some brackets and pull out the drill. I'm currently loving the change. I might mirror these shelves on the left side if we start to stockpile more. I do have room for a few more shelves on the right side. **believe it or not NONE of that pop is mine! ;-)

I've been thinking about my friend Will this week as Tuesday would have been his 39th birthday. I'm sure it would have involved karaoke and a night that went toooooo late for me! Then today I ran across this video: This song will always remind me of Will - he was always singing it to me! I miss you buddy!

I loved Light Brite when I was a kid. One year someone even brought one to a white elephant exchange and I really hoped I'd get it (I didn't). But this video reminds me of the good old days of light brite....

My commute to work takes me through (what I consider) the southern border to downtown ATL. Normally I cruise to work - other fly past me - and laugh at everyone headed north. Sitting still, moving at 5 miles per hour. Sometimes there is payback (like my trips home on baseball game days), but rarely in the morning. Today was different...I had to call in to say I would be late (I'm normally around 10 minutes early). From what I could tell someone flipped their car on our ramp onto "the connector" (learning the lingo). Usually I drive this thinking about breakfast. Why? Because every morning I see people waking up from sleeping under the bridges. This is new - they weren't there over the summer. Seriously it's like Labor Day happened and a whole community sprang up. I wonder where they were before. I see them clumped together like neighbors or families or small communitites. I think about bringing bags of breakfast foods or sandwiches. Today I chuckled as...

I made grilled chicken pitas the other night for dinner. Just a little of this: (Thanks Julia!) on some chicken that I cooked on the George Foreman. Then we stuffed it with lettuce, cucumbers & tomatoes (bought from a guy on the side of the road and GOOD), feta cheese and onion. Some of us also put sour cream on it.

This week at church the preaching passage was from Hebrews chapter 4. A chapter I'm familiar with - not super familiar, but familiar. You might know this part (starting in verse 12) "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword,". That's the part I knew, but we read on "it penetrates even to dividing soul and spriit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." When we read that part I just thought "wow". The teacher went on to say that this part meant that God redefines us from the center - from the core of our being. But I literally was thinking about the Word of God. You know those times when you think the preacher is preaching just to you? When you are convicted or encouraged or simply reminded of something? When I think about the Word of God being active and judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart this totally makes sense. Of course God's word will jump out and s...

I just realized that I never posted photos of my finished picture hanging. As you might remember from here I was trying to decide where to hang some pictures. They are hung! And now I need to go somewhere so I can add more to my collection! :-D

It's Friday! And one of my co-workers has just returned from the Bahamas. So he brought us all rum coconut cake! One wiff of this stuff left no doubt that it was soaked in rum....but you couldn't taste it because of all the coconut! (I'm pretty sure that he only felt this cake was acceptable at work because he's French and feels like we should also have wine with lunch! ;-)) I ate, savored and pretended I was sitting on a beach....

First - I just found out that these are made in Chattanoga - so I guess that makes them a southern treat? When I was a kid - I LOVED moon pies. It was a toss up between chocolate and banana. All that waxy goodness...mmmmm. Since moving here I've also see strawberry (eww) and peanut butter (too scared to try that one!). This last weekend I found the one above: both crunchy AND minty...hmmm. It was yummy! More cookie and less marshmellow than the original. The package told me to "try it chilled!". So when I got home I put it in the fridge to cool it down....it's still there waiting for me to try it as a tasty treat!

My friends Sean & Sheyenne recently went to Egypt to visit her parents. I loved looking at their pictures while they were gone and reading about their adventure! A couple weeks ago Sheyenne posted this recipe that was a meal they had had in Egypt. If you know me, I was pretty excited to see rice, lentils AND pasta in the list of ingredients (with that many carbs it HAS to be delicious!) I quickly learned that Sheyenne wasn't lying when she said she used every burner on her stove to make this. Here are the pans I used! 2 cups rice 1 Tbl vegetable oil 3 cups water 2 cups elbow macaroni 1 cups dried lentils 2 onions, chopped 4 cloves garlic, chopped 1 can chickpeas 3 Tbl white vinegar 1 can diced tomato 1 can tomato sauce 2 ½ tsp cumin Dried friend onion 1. Start by stirring rice into the vegetable oil until it is all coated. Add 3 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Cook for 20 – 25 minutes. 2. Cook elbow macaroni as instructed on box. 3. Add...

So I have all these pictures from my travels - they make me happy to have them around me...so many memories. But I don't know where to put them! Here are my options: The window is in the middle of the wall - so there is more room on the right. I also expect this collection to grow (I even have a few I'm just waiting on frames for!) Thoughts? Suggestions? There is one other option: I could start filling this hallway.

So as stated in the earlier post - I found 3 black bookshelves on the side of the road on Saturday (free!). While I was waiting on the roomies to help me load them a lady pulled up. We nicely gave her one of the shelves (and helped her load - cause they were heavy!) Here is part of my inspiration for what to do. And here is the start of mine: KTL snagged the other one and did this:

Finally got some good stuffs at sales this week! Been looking for these for awhile... I'm going to make these into napkins. I also got a 12 pack of Diet Coke for $1 at this sale (crazy!) Check out one of the photos I got in the frame....this is who supplied my coffee in Brooklyn! Crazy! And my best find was free on the side of the road on my way home. I had to call for help loading. There were 3 of them total, but another woman came while I was waiting for help. So we helped her load one in her car. These are higher grade than Ikea/Wal-mart. But now I need to figure out where to put them....

Finally found some material I liked for curtains. I had been looking for dining room curtains for awhile and was amazed to find they were going to cost $70-90 to buy! The material for these was on sale: $35! The room before curtains (or a table or anything else for that matter!) And with curtains! I still have some work to do in this room...but it getting there for now.

The new penny that is. I don't now how long I was carrying it around before I realized what it was. But it's SHINY! I'm surprised that we're making pennies in the midst of a recession. A coin that costs "us" more to make than it's worth. And that no one uses... but it's here!

Once I got used to the texture, I really started liking quinoa. I like my pasta kinda crunchy and quinoa kinda seems like the pop-rocks of pasta. Last night I made this to have for lunches. One of the things I like about quinoa is that it's good hot or cold (can't say the same all the time for pasta). I like this recipe because you don't have to cook the quinoa on it's own before adding (one pot!) Quinoa and Black Beans 1 tsp vegetable oil 1 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped ¾ cup uncooked quinoa 1 ½ cups vegetable broth 1 tsp ground cumin ¼ tsp cayenne pepper 1 cup frozen corn kernels 2 (15oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and sauté until lightly browned. Mix quinoa into a saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover; reduce heat and simmer 20 minu...

So small....and do you see the St Louis Arch in that one? weird

I went to an Atlanta institution recently - Eats! Hey - when you live with 2 lifers, they know where this stuff is at! I got all that food for less than $7. (All that food = I should have had leftovers....). The food was YUMMY! The "free" corn bread should be skipped to leave room for the delicious part of the meal. The place is by Home Depot, Whole Foods, a nail place and a car wash. Yup, pretty soon I'll be making a full day of it here :-D

I plan to post more pictures as I get stuff done, but only one project is complete...and I didn't even do it! One of the things that KTL HATED about the house was the exterior color. Dwin and I were like "eh, whatever". We've had this amazing guy working on our house for about a month. His main priority was the structure of our house, but he's shored up our deck (which needed some reinforcement), added drainage to our garage (dad, I'm sure your jealous...I should've helped him and learned!), painted most of the interior, added a back splash to our kitchen and fixed Dwin's bathroom. (I'm telling you - the guy is pretty awesome). On Thursday he mentions to KTL the outside color and says, "pick a color and get back to me in a day or 2." In 10 minutes, he had picked the color (ironic for me because I"m on day 5 of staring at those little paint cards to pick a bathroom color). By the time I got home from work on Friday the first pass...

Tilapia Baked in Couscous INGREDIENTS: * One 10-ounce box couscous * 1/2 cup slivered almonds * 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped * 1 tablespoon ground cumin * Salt and pepper * 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil * 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice plus 1 lemon, thinly sliced * Four 8-ounce tilapia fillets * 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine the couscous, almonds, sun-dried tomatoes and cumin and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the 1/4 cup olive oil and the lemon juice. 2. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange the tilapia fillets in a single layer in the dish, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cover the fish with the couscous mixture and arrange the lemon slices on top. Pour 2½ cups water around the fish, cover with foil and bake until tender,...

it looks like this (I think, you can tell the boys picked it because I can't even remember!) I'm looking forward to making potatoes and chicken and grilled corn and kebobs. KTL is looking forward to inventing the best signature burger and I'm sure Dwin will cook up something that neither of us would order in a restaurant. The inagural cooking was a burger. Here it is in all it's glory: Yes, that is a portabella mushroom on the top. I think I'm gonna like the summer! :-D

I've been struggling with how to store/display my jewlery since I lived in NYC. When you have very little space you have to determine the best way to do everything! Not long ago I saw a framed jewlery option on a blog and I thought "I can do that!". So last weekend I gathered all the necessary things and put it all together: I haven't quite figured out what color I want my room to be....but it will include soft colors, so I snagged this material from my mama. I like having all my jewlery somewhere I can grab it or easily see something that matches what I'm throwing on in the morning. Not sure I like the overall look. For me it seems a bit cluttered. And yes, I do wear most of what you see...at some point.

Or rip-off.... I really wanted to see this http://www.dianaexhibition.com/home.htm while it was in Atlanta. So Sunday morning off I went! I thought I'd save money by buying my ticket there (as opposed to online from Ticketmaster). Imagine my surprise when there was a $1 surcharge added to all tickets bought at the ticket window.....? The Exhibit is 4 large rooms and 4 little (ie. 1-2 cases on display). I read everything (except 1 case of childhood "stuffs" that was causing a bottleneck)...it took me 45 minutes to get through. I'll save you $20 and tell you to read all the tabs on the above web-site. Some highlights (cause I HAVE to find something good in it!): Wedding dress - it was pretty cool to see in person. I overheard one couple discussing in the room prior to the dress. Woman: "Did you see the dress" Man: "yes" Woman: "How did it look?" Man: "old" That made me chuckle! It did look old (lets face it, 1981 style i...

Loved this article! People on the streets of Manhattan can be easily divided into two groups: New Yorkers who want to get from point A to point B as fast as possible, and tourists taking a leisurely stroll through the city. New York is overrun with out-of-towners year-round, of course, but it gets worse every spring and summer with throngs of people coming to check out the big buildings and go to M&M World. And while we want visitors to NYC to have a wonderful and comfortable time here, spend lots of money, and tell their friends to come too, we also want them to get out of our way and not make our lives a living hell. If you're planning to visit New York over the next few months, here are a few simple lessons you should keep in mind so you don't run the risk of accidentally pissing off a New Yorker. A Few Rules for Tourists Visiting New York City This Summer It's Called a Sidewalk That's right, not a side-"stand there and look at a map" or a side-"s...

I'm getting into the groove of cooking during the week and then eating the leftovers for work lunches and to get through the weekend. Tonight I'm eating this: Chicken with Israeli Couscous, Spinach, and Feta Ingredients: 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 (6 to 8 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts salt and pepper 3 Tbs. olive oil 3/4 cup Israeli couscous (or orzo) 1 shallot, minced (about 3 Tbs.) 3 garlic cloves, minced (about 3 Tbs.) 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest plus 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes 1 3/4 cups chicken broth 6 oz baby spinach (about 6 cups) 2 oz feta cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup) Directions: 1. Season chicken with salt and pepper; dredge with flour, shaking off the excess. 2. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chicken until well-browned on the first side, about 6 to 8 minutes. Flip the chicken, reduce the heat to medium, and continue to cook until the thickest part of the breast registe...

This was so yummy that I have to share even if I have no pictures (sigh). The camera is charging for the trip home to visit my 1 month old niece! Mom’s Baked Chicken & Spinach Pasta 1 lb. pasta (I used whole wheat shells) 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs.), diced 1/4 cup olive oil 8 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp. salt 5 cups fresh spinach, chopped 1/4 cup white wine 2 cups mozzarella cheese Preheat the oven to 350°. Set a large pot of water to boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil, salt it and cook the pasta until just al dente. Drain. While the pasta is cooking, set a large skillet over medium heat. Once it’s hot, heat the olive oil then add the chicken. Brown the chicken on all sides – about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and simmer with the chicken until it’s fragrant and begins to turn golden – about 3 minutes. Add the salt. spinach and white wine to the skillet and cook for an additional 3 – 5 minutes, or until the spinach begins to wilt. Toss the contents of the s...

About a week ago I got honked at and almost chased down by a Canadian goose. I was just walking to my car at work...the bird started after me at FULL SPEED. I jumped in the car and waited for it to calm down. On Monday I knew why: Can you see the little babies on this side of the fence?

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo - I made a crock pot recipe of tamale pie. Unfortunately I was so hungry that you only get to see a picture of the leftovers (it doesn't look as pretty as it actually did when I made it!). Tamale Pie Cornbread topping: -3/4 cup cornmeal -1 1/4 cup flour -1 cup milk -1/4 cup sugar -1 egg -1 t baking powder -1 chopped jalapeno pepper (optional) The Filling. -1 lbs ground & browned meat (optional) -2 can drained and rinsed black beans -1 can fire roasted tomatoes -1 can drained corn -1 T chili powder -1 t cumin -1/2 t paprika -1/4 cup diced onion -1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese The Directions. Spray your crockpot with cooking spray. Dump in the filling ingredients--cheese, too!-- and stir well to distribute the spices. You will not be able to stir this again, so please check to see that the spices aren't in a clump anywhere. In a separate bowl, mix together the cornbread topping. When finished, pour evenly over the filling, spreading with a sp...

I ran across this article in the Cincinnati paper last week: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100506/COL01/5070374/Keeping+faith+with+the+children. I don't know if I feel stronger about the article or the comments that follow. But given that I feel like I "know" the kind of folks that leave comments on sites like that, I'll focus on the article. 1st - the writer notes that out of the 130 letters that were sent out, 30 people showed up to listen to what was said. That's 23%. I know that's not great in the business world, but have to tried to start anything in a church/non-profit setting with just volunteers responding to a form letter? Not too shabby in my opinion. 2nd - "There are few formulas for helping the youth of this or any other city that do not rely on churches, temples and mosques to be part of the solution." I find this to be an interesting observation/statement. Maybe I'm just jadded from my recent city dwelling, but I rare...

Saw this video today: "Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo . Which if you haven't seen this: - it's what they copied. This is interesting to me - because who is the target audience? Do you show this in a service (and then match what you've just made fun of?) Do you show it and hope that visitors find it funny and not just downright confusing? Nice production - but this gets a "boo" and "why?" from me. (I might change those things if I find out who the audience is and that the church didn't waste budget money on making it.....)

G and I are both moved into our respective "new" houses and both have our bathrooms on a separate floor than our bedrooms (hey, that's how it was on Lockwood Hill for most of my life - we're used to that!) I'm swimming with ideas on how to decorate, what to paint, where to hang which piece of art, etc. And it doesn't help that now with the blogging world everyone can put their cute projects up for me to see! I got a sewing machine from E-bay this week, so I'm sure that will play a part in the decorating (as soon as I'm done with H's baby gift!). Struggling with "need" to fill the house and make it homey and trying not to "fill" the house...I miss the Borrow Group from Church! Need to get my driver's license (which appears to be nice and consumer friendly) and new tags (which does not...open 7:30am - 4:30pm week days). Also traveling the next 2 out of 3 weekends (so watch out NKY, Philly & NYC!) Gotta get back to actua...

A friend of mine is sick, very sick. And it's hard to be this far away and only get scattered info (although some of my friends have been EXCELLENT at keeping me in the loop). I think and pray about him constantly. His body really needs God's healing touch. But I've been hearing this song a lot lately on the radio and every time I hear it I think of my friend. W - you are in God's hands. I know that these past couple of years you have tried to live your life as a reflection of Him and now so many people are seeing Christ through you. I love you and I'm praying for you buddy! I have unanswered prayers I have trouble I wish wasn't there And I have asked a thousand ways That You would take my pain away That You would take my pain away I am trying to understand How to walk this weary land Make straight the paths that crookedly lie Oh Lord, before these feet of mine Oh Lord, before these feet of mine When my world is shaking Heaven stands When my heart is break...

I just finished this great book by Bill Hybels. (Don't worry Hulia, it's being sent to Bklyn!). There were so many things about leadership that were caused me to want to give the man an "amen!". I spent most of the book nodding my head in agreement. I read this book in less than 2 days (it does help that my boss has been out of the office for that length of time and there is nothing for me to do....). It was a good & easy read. Although it could have offered some great "stop and journal" times too. One section that really hit me follows. Hybels is talking about making sure that you are leading/work at a pace that is sustainable. "The truth that we all have to accept is that the only person who can put a sustainability program together for us is US. Month after month for 15 years I was overscheduled and my life was out of control. Deep down I kept wondering, "why aren't the elders rescuing me? why aren't my friends rescuing me?...