A Short Getaway

The weather has been so nice it's hard to not go camping in our trailer, but instead we decided to go away for a couple of days.  Swinomish Casino had a deal on that you could get a room for Canadian dollar at par.  They also had a stay and play package for $10US per day extra, which gave us a bunch more perks, so we booked it for 2 days.

This was the breakfast we got each day.  Could have your eggs whatever way you like then, ham, sausage or bacon and choice of toast...I like the rye bread toasted. 

There was also another promotion where you buy 1 meal and get 1 free, so we ordered the "burger of the month" with sweet potato fries and you get a pickle and dipping sauce with it.  The meals are so huge there's no way we can eat it all so we got "boxes".  Good thing there was a fridge in our room!

On our way home we stopped at another casino and swiped our cards...got to spin a wheel on the computer and I won a $15 food credit, my husband won a $5 food credit.  We definitely weren't hungry so went to one of the cafes and asked if we could use the coupons for take out...they said we could and their lunch menu was $10 each so we got 2 lunches to go and brought them home.  I didn't have to cook for a couple more days!!!

Finally Getting to Use my Christmas Present

My husband and I don't usually buy Christmas presents for each other...we don't need that much and if we do want or need something we just go buy it, BUT this year he got the idea that I needed an Instant Pot....I didn't think I needed one but to appease him I started to investigate them and determined that IF I was going to get one it had to be the 8 quart, because I like to make a lot of soup and it often entails cooking down a bunch of bones...so...I need the big one!!!

Found one on sale at Canadian Tire, so decided to go out and see it.  That day was sooo windy there were branches coming down all over the place...a couple of times we just missed being hit by a flying branch, but we got there and got the pot.  A guy and his 2 daughters must have thought I knew what I was buying because he said he would buy the same one as we did.  They were getting it for Mommy and the girls were so excited!  Any way, we got home safe but the power was out and stayed out for a couple of days!

I didn't open it till Christmas, then started reading the instructions and looking up recipes.  I am not known for following recipes, so I winged it.  Put a bit of water, a chopped up onion, some pineapple/guava juice, pork cubes and some plum sauce in the pot and set it.  When it was done I thickened the sauce and added some frozen peppers.

Turned out good.  I served it over some steamed rice and some cauliflower and one of the two cherry tomatoes that were left.

I've used it several times now and so glad I didn't say "NO" to it.  Thank you for the Christmas Present!!!

The New Year of 2019....Happy....Sad

New Year's Eve we had four couples in to welcome in the New Year. Three of the couples were here last year, one of the couples had the flu so couldn't come...so glad they could come this year!  We had such a good time laughing and talking and telling stories. The island in the kitchen was filled with all kinds of goodies that I'd made plus everyone brought something to contribute, so there was lots of  fantastic food!   We'd bought a bottle of  "bubbly", some noisemakers and had the iPad counting down minutes and seconds. Everyone stayed till after midnight and had such a good time, they said, "This is becoming a tradition...are we doing it again next year?"  Our reply was "You bet!!, God willing!!!", so looks like New Years Eve 2019 is already booked!!!

Unfortunately New Years Day wasn't much fun.  A lady from our church passed away on Dec. 30 and our nephew passed away early in the morning of Dec. 31.  May they rest in peace.

Fortunately on the Saturday after New Years a friend of ours had a retirement party.  She'd been a nurse for many years, but it was time for her to retire.  A friend of hers made this "nurse's cake" for her.  Apparently everything including the pills and needle was edible.  Some people are soooo talented!!

It was good to be at a party and have fun...especially because a couple days later we got an email telling us that friends of ours lost their 11 year old Granddaughter on Jan. 3.  This little girl was so special.  She wasn't supposed to be born alive, wasn't supposed to suck, and wasn't supposed to live.   We and many people in our former church had been praying for her since before she was born and since she had to have a couple of surgeries and was very prone to life threatening colds we've continued to pray for her.  It was a hard funeral to go to, but so glad we went.  They told the story of her life and she was always so happy, despite her disabilities and brought so much joy to her parents, brothers, Grandparents, friends and the nurses that helped care for her.  When they were showing pictures of her with her family and caregivers, I recognized one of the nurses (not the nurse that just retired)...she and her husband attend the church we now attend.  It was so nice to see people from our old church and from the church we now attend.  The Grandmother called a week or so later and thanked us for being there to support them.

Not a real good way to start the New Year, but these are the facts of life and life goes on......

Christmas Eve

I work for a couple of days getting everything prepared for Christmas Eve.  This year I really mixed things up...just so everyone wouldn't be able to say, "Christmas Eve is always the same old, same old!".

Ever since we've been married it's always been our tradition to have a meatless meal on Christmas Eve and Good Friday, although in the past couple of years I've cooked a small ham to satisfy certain family members.  Neither my husband nor I will eat any meat until after midnight.  Usually I'll make fish, or a seafood dish of some sort, but this year I thought I'd go with a Chinese theme, so I made a huge pot of chow mien and added some shrimp to it, steamed some rice, did coconut shrimp and egg rolls along with a bunch of cheeses, pickles, dips etc.

Before dinner I usually read the passage from Luke about Jesus' birth but this year I read the passage from Matthew...just wanted to see who all were paying attention!  I'd hate for our life to get too predictable!

We had a great time and it was really nice to have the family all together.  Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Cookie Baking

Today my older daughter and her niece (my second granddaughter) came to bake cookies with me.  I've got double wall ovens so we were prepared to make LOTS of cookies.  Preheated the ovens and started by slicing up the refrigerator cookies my daughter had brought out.

While they were baking granddaughter and I mixed up a double batch of shortbread dough.  I put it through the cookie press, daughter placed them on the cookie sheets and granddaughter decorated them.

We finished baking the shortbread cookies and made up the Coconut Crisp recipe.  Only problem I'd forgotten how much they spread out so they baked together but we cut them apart as they came off the cookie sheets.



 Three cookies got left stuck together so granddaughter decided to decorate it like a snowman!

My older granddaughter had to work today so when she got off work she came.  By that time we'd almost finished baking all the cookies so she got the job of making pizzelles, a thin Italian wafer or if you're Swedish they're called Kromkker.

It was a long fun-filled day with lots and lots of laughter.  We divided up the goodies to take home. 

Four different kinds of cookies will be nice to serve to our guests over the holidays, and the best thing is we're planning to do it again next year, God willing!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 

Kiwi

At church this morning we were talking to some friends.  She was very excited because there was quite a frost last night and they have a kiwi vine, and after a good frost it's a good time to pick the kiwi.  They invited us over.  We'd never seen a kiwi vine or had any idea of how they grew.
The vine was humungous and looked more like a tree, and it was loaded with kiwi.  It was quite the experience and we got a bunch of kiwi but also got to spend some time with our friends.  Guess we'll be eating kiwi for the next little while!  Yum!  Yum!
 

Walking Track

A new swimming/ice rink/community center complex recently opened near where we live.  We've been going there to walk around the track that circles the upstairs of the ice rink.

When we were there today instead of hockey practice they were having a ringette tournament.  We did a couple of laps and people who had children playing in the tournament were starting to fill the bleachers.  A fellow came up the stairs, smiled at me and said, "I know you!"  It didn't take us long to figure out that he was a child I used to have when I ran a preschool in New Westminster!  I was so surprised that he could remember me after all these years.  His daughter is playing in the tournament today and his Mother was also sitting there watching her granddaughter.  I had a delightful visit with both of them!