Night Launch

Friday November 14th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

As seen from our backyard.

The break in the trail is when I actually stopped the exposure to see if I could catch more. I thought the shuttle was already out of the frame So I put the 2 exposures together. [see it large] [see it huge!]

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If you have to get out of bed at the crack of dawn

Monday September 15th, 2008 at 8:51 am

to take your dogs out 2 hours earlier then they usually get up. I hope you get to see something like this ..

Some strange reason Daisy decided she had to pee at 6:30 am this morning. I finally gave in when she kept crying after 10 minutes of ssssshhhhhing. But I’m glad she did, because I got to see this full moon out over our back yard. Of course the photo doesn’t do it justice, but at least I have something to recall it.

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Shrimp and Scallop Fried Rice

Friday August 22nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm

After making a trip out during a tropical storm for pork fried rice other day I decided I really wanted to make some fresh seafood fried rice. I have yet to find a good shrimp and scallop fried rice at the restaurants near us, but I usually end up burning fried rice when I’ve made it in the past. This time I was determined to do it right.

(Keep reading …)

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The verdict is in …

Wednesday July 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Defrosted frozen cupcakes taste just like fresh baked cupcakes!!! You heard me right, bake up a batch tonight!! The top was perfect, not sticky at all, just like the one I ate on Monday night (fresh baked).

Updating [this post] I did not flash freeze them, all I did was let them cool completely, then wrapped them in 2 layers of plastic wrap, then put a bunch of them in a gallon freezer bag. So simple, and soooooo worth it!

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On this day: In it for the long haul ..

Cupcakes On Demand

Monday July 21st, 2008 at 5:31 pm

There’s been a box of cake mix on my counter that has been taunting me since Ella’s birthday party. I hardly ever bake for myself, since I usually end up eating the whole thing myself. So yesterday while I was having serious cupcake cravings I realized that some of the make-ahead cookbooks I have say you can freeze muffins and other baked goods. So I did a little search on the internet and low and behold, there are people out there who have frozen cupcakes, and said they were fantastic. This afternoon I whipped up the batch of dark chocolate Betty Crocker mix, and now my little goodies are cooling off.

Some tips I read about freezing cupcakes:

allow to cool completely (duh)
do not frost them
keep the paper wrap on
double wrap them in plastic wrap
unwrap before defrosting (apparently this helps minimize the sticky gooey tops)

So .. that’s how I’m going to do it. I’m going to see if my tops are sticky before wrapping them. If they are, then I will be flash freezing them first, then wrapping them up. I’ll let you know in the future how they do with defrosting. I read you could stick them on your counter for 5 - 6 hours to warm up, or stick them in your fridge to get the job done. I’m sure I’ll experiment both ways

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Time Flies

Thursday July 17th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

Its been raining for days around here, today was the first day all week that the afternoon sunshine could actually dry up the grass. The dogs are very thankful for that. Last night the frogs were louder then they had been in months (even louder then [this night]), I ended up sleeping in the guest room, convinced the sliding glass door was letting more frog noise in. I think having the TV on in the guest room is what helped me tune out the frog song. We also have a ton of baby dragonflies around our backyard. Our grass grows so fast right now, there are a ton of little perches for the guys to hang out on.

So .. what’s new here? Well .. yesterday I signed up for Image X. A photography workshop in New Orleans this October. I’m sooooo excited you have no idea. I’ve signed up for sessions with 2 photographers I know I have alot to learn from. I can’t wait. As for the photo business in general. I’m getting alot of emails and phone calls from interested people, I have a few sessions scheduled coming up, things seem to be growing. Its tough to know how things would really be in a good economy, since portraits are considered a luxury item.

And for a little health update .. its now been 4 months since my swollen glands first really started bothering me. 3 months since one Dr. diagnosed me with a ‘throat infection’ and gave me antibiotics that did nothing. 6 weeks since I switched my allergy medicine and was tested for various auto immune diseases. Yesterday I got those results back, and everything came back fine, so that’s good. That Dr. said that she still believes my problem is allergy related, but because I’ve tried 2 different oral meds and nose spray, and nothing has helped, she suggested I see an ENT just to be sure. So I called my ENT who was going to do my surgery last year and they happened to have an opening this morning. After checking out all my head openings and feeling all the glands and nodes in my throat, he decides I should have a CAT scan on my throat. He said my glands or nodes on the left side of my throat were larger then the right, and there aren’t any signs of infection (which I swear my ears were infected, they’ve been hurting for days). So after that exam, I had blood drawn because they’ll inject me with dye for the scan next week, and they want to make sure I wont have a problem with that. Sounds like a blast huh? He didn’t say what he’s looking for .. I’m pretty sure he’s just covering all the bases. Anyways, I should get the results from the CAT on the 30th.

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Cooking and Cleaning

Saturday June 14th, 2008 at 12:51 pm

Well I haven’t gotten to the cleaning part, but in less than an hour and half I’ve marinated 3 steaks (Sesame-Soy Sirloin from Fix, Freeze, Feast), put ingredients for cinnamon rolls in my breadmaker, and that’s working away and made a pizza which is now baking in the oven (dough from Publix bakery & fresh mozzarella). Still to come, Tortilla Chicken Soup and Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie s to flash freeze. I can’t wait!

I read an article in the paper today (and by reading the paper, I mean checking out the RSS feed from Florida Today, technology rocks!) that its time to start planning your fall gardens. I’ve had my garden planned since last fall! So hopefully I can start marking out my plan in the grass and start planning what I want to grow in the fall!

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Smitten Kitchen Night!

Wednesday June 11th, 2008 at 10:38 am

A few weeks ago while surfing Pioneer Woman Cooks and Smitten Kitchen Nik and I decided there were so many beautiful recipes that we should get together and try them out. Last night was our first of hopefully many more get together dinner nights. Everything that was made was FANTASTIC!! Try them yourselves! As an awesome bonus, since Nikki’s mom was in town and could watch Halle, we went out to catch a late night show of Iron Man.

On the menu, Alex’s Chicken and Mushroom Marsala

Nikki’s salad (spring mix, strawberries, parmesean cheese, pecans and a honey mustard balsamic dressing)

Justin’s wild rice (which I forgot to get a picture of).

And Icebox Cake.

My family has been making a variation of this cake forever, its in the shape of a log, but this was so much more fun! And so easy too! All the details are on the Smitten Kitchen site, but here’s a shot of the chocolate wafter box so you can find them. Publix stocks them with the ice cream cones.