A couple of years ago we drove our little brood down to The City of Brotherly Love for a 4-day “mini-break”. Philadelphia truly lived up to its name; everywhere we went we encountered polite, civilized, hospitable people! The city itself was clean and felt safe to drive around in.
We “winged it” tourist wise, armed with our little guidebooks and remembering friends’ and travel show advice we were able to see as much as our little family could take.
We even met Benjamin Franklin, who recruited our youngest kids into the Continental Army.
It’s the only revolutionary war this Mama will ever let her kids join.
I think if we had known about the Trusted Travel eNewsletter we could have booked ourselves a guided tour and seen even more to love about Philly.
Choose from the list of cities from Trusted Tours and Attractions for a discounted sightseeing tour of your next vacation.
Enter between now and December 14 for a chance to win 4 guided sightseeing tickets to a destination of your choice.
AND! They’re having a special promotion for a chance to win an iPod nano when you sign up for their newsletter!
They’ll provide you with travel tips and links to travel blogs and money saving deals, plus many more!
I’m signing up to win me one for my sweetie….Hurry! Offer ends December 31st, 2007.
well what can i say? i want to win! i join every contest that comes my way. every contest!
here’s my entry for Thess’ guess what it is contest…wish me luck!
The contest rules: guess what’s the grotesquely gruesomely ugly but edible creature in thesserie’s latest photo.
Pick a recipe from her foodblog, substituting the what’s-it, then leave her a comment.
think i won?
original photo fromhere.
Thess’ Zeeland mosselen with…tadah! geoduck (pronounced goo-eeey-duck in these parts)!
“2 kilos cleaned [mussels] prepared* geoduck
a bag of mixed vegetables (chopped/julienned) such as carrots, leeks, celery and parsley.
4 pcs chopped garlic
2-3 tbsp olive oil
a cup white wine
salt and pepper
500ml – 1 liter fish stock ( I have used commercial stock)
Like I always said on my past mussel-entries, throw away any opened mussels upon purchase. Soak scrubbed mussels in fresh water for few hours before cooking.
In a deep large pan over medium heat, add oil. Stir in onions and saute until turned translucent, add garlic in. When garlic turns light brown, add mussels, half of the wine, and fish stock then just let simmer for 3-4 minutes remained covered. Add the vegetagles and rest of the wine. Give a little toss and cover the pan for another 4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
That was really it! I guess I got lucky when I found the tasty bunch.”
* To prepare geoducks after soaking, immerse in boiling water a few seconds, then drain and rinse with cold water. Pull off the skin of the siphon.
Much like abalone, geoduck steaks should be pounded or scored to tenderize them. Cook them very briefly, a few seconds per side, as they will toughen quickly. –Posted in doodles, sea creatures | 4 Comments »
Well here I am shaking in my sheepskin slippers. It’s actually not even THAT cold (yes over here if the thermometer registers 35F and up, it’s warm. Pathetic, huh?
So daydreamers like me start browsing and prowling for dream vacations. Somewhere warm and sunny, a tiny island, famous for shrimp.
Whoa! Birthplace of the modern shrimping industry? Romantic, historic? white sand beaches, Victorian mansions and cottages, ancient giant live oaks? Sounds positively dreamy.
How about getting a third night free for Lodging?
Check out the participating properties for the Lodging Special for both hotels and bed-and-breakfasts at Amelia Island, Florida’s island resort for your winter-getaway needs from now until February 29, 2008 for the special three nights for two promotion.
The island boasts of Southern charm and gentility, and offers exotic flora and fauna (sea turtles, armadilloes, bobcats and seabirds) and opportunities for adventure (horseback riding, watersports) or relaxing (hiking, biking, beachcombing). It has a truly colorful history peppered with tales of pirates, swashbuckling freedom fighters and a shotgun-wielding female tree-hugger whose beloved tree still stands today.
The book-two-days-and-get-a-third-night-free deal is truly the icing on the cake, especially if you check out the list of participating facilities.
A mini-break from the cold winter in a dreamy resort island that could accommodate all ages?
I am willfully daydreaming.
i’d never seen “Annie” in its entirety.
i know, isn’t it strange? ask me who starred in the Broadway, movie, and TV adaptations, and i’ll rattle their names off, but i think that NOT being a fan of that girl who played her in Manila at the time it was a hit, totally turned me off. she was all over the airwaves then, singing “Tomorrow”–that i got literally sickened by that word alone.
until this past weekend when #2son and i were glued to the Hallmark channel (hey it’s icy and cold over here ) and saw…
Kathy Bates singing and dancing?! with Alan Cummings and Kristin Chenoweth?! wow!
what’s-in-my-wallet? tag by thessireeeeee. bring them on thesssss!
it’s bulging yes, it’s starting to fall apart at the stitching–which i’m not too crazy about–but i had to buy this wallet in a hurry when my favorite “prada” drowned in my bag, along with my mobile, because i put in a water bottle that wasn’t tightly capped….
bulging with “virtual” money! credit cards, supermarket loyalty cards, pharmacy loyalty cards (you earn cashback or coupons), insurance and library cards, video store card, and no receipts. yippee, i’ve been dumping them into my handbag instead! so of course i will never do a what’s-in-your-handbag? tag!
i never carry cash anymore, not even coins because they’re so heavy and my shoulder is a bit banged up but it can get me into embarrassing little situations. like at the public library when i couldn’t pay a half dollar fine because well i couldn’t have paid them with a credit card right? so i sheepishly told the stern librarian, can you just get me next time??? before i bolted for the door. heehee and now it can be revealed (hello husband!) i carry your old driver’s license in my purse because you’re cuter than me. much much cuter. by the by, what’s in your wallet?
The weather has turned freaky, by turns freezing up and melting, snowing and raining. I’m not too crazy about driving in slush and ice, thank you very much ! So internet shopping is making more and more sense to me. And the fun part of it is hunting down bargains without having to step outside and wasting gasoline–you don’t need me to tell you how expensive it has gotten.
A popular site for shoppers is having promotions and discount offers…so click the link to get yourself an Overstock coupon. From categories like jewelry, beddings, electronics, cookware, and on and on, you’re sure to find something for all those special someone’s.
Really, the fun part is never having to pay full price for anything! There’s always a special promotion going on so have look and search for that Overstock coupon now.
“hare in red wine sauce”…it is not!
it would have been unforgiveable! so i used chicken and pork instead (chicken quarters and a little strip of pork belly).
i was going to make adobo, but lately the children have not been too enthusiastic about it. so it being a chilly day, in need of heating up the kitchen, and crazy me wanting to make something new, i pulled out the voluminous “Saveur Cooks Authentic French.” the ingredient list is scary-daunting! i have to make a rich chicken stock first! it’s going to take hours and hours! 3 &1/3 cups of dry red wine?!
these thoughts i stifled and pushed to the back of the old brain and set to work.
so 1 stockpot, 1 casserole, 1 skillet and counters full of chopped-up vegetables later (i always measure the difficulty and repeat-performance possibility of a dish by how many pots i have to wash)….i ended up with a richly-hued (purplish) and saucy dish of complex and delectable quality. thumbs up ! pity i couldn’t utilize the ehem ehem meat and so i had skip the heart, kidney and liver required for the sauce (the original calls for bunny blood!) but it tasted great anyway.
not-bunny stew in red wine sauce, with caramelized shallots and mushrooms and crispy pork cubes.
am certain it’s not authentic French.
so i’m in the basement a lot, digging out my kitchen equipment that we have to store down there for lack of kitchen cabinet space.
and i think i’m going to be using my pressure cooker more this winter, to save on gas fuel and time as well, and maybe lock in the flavors better???
first up:
ham hock bone, fresh pork hocks (browned first), rib roast bones, and Great Northern beans, with onions, tomatoes (will omit this next time!) and thyme and peppercorns and bay leaf, cooked in pressure cooker with broth and water. in 30 minutes instead of hours and hours.
it was really comforting.
first in a series of hot comfort food for the cold spell–yes, we are back in the tundra .
it’s supposed to be apple.
i was supposed to go out and buy some Golden Delicious.
but it’s 25F out, and i was just having such a hard time pushing myself to go out.
then i remembered the pineapple i bought for juicing.
i know, how can i forget that fruit sitting in the fruit bowl? after all, a pineapple is all showy and splendid and huge, it stands out in a crowded fruit bowl, right?
it’s the testament to my good-housekeeping-Not! skills that i overlooked it, all this time.
luckily, it was just right–ripe and sweet and juicy.
you need a pudding mold with a tight lid for this recipe, the kind that has a tube in the middle. (or you can use a kugel mold and fashion a lid out of foil and string or one of those new silicon heat-proof rubber bands.)
saute pineapple cubes in golden syrup and butter…
make a spongecake batter… (butter, flour, lemon zest, eggs, milk and more Lyle’s golden syrup)…
pour spongecake batter over fruit in floured and buttered pudding mold…
steam for about 1 & 1/2 hours until set;
let stand 5 minutes, loosen sides and around tube with a thin sharp knife, then tip onto a platter.
i have the original song recorded when she was 15??? or so, newly discovered, and you can hear the fresh unpolished but powerful voice. i knew when i first saw her on TV that she would be a diva.
this version is THE one to beat. in my humble opinion.
no one disagree! or i’ll you!!!!
) and saw…
! So internet shopping is making more and more sense to me. And the fun part of it is hunting down bargains without having to step outside and wasting gasoline–you don’t need me to tell you how expensive it has gotten.
! pity i couldn’t utilize the ehem ehem meat and so i had skip the heart, kidney and liver required for the sauce (the original calls for bunny blood!) but it tasted great anyway.
you!!!! 
