Garbanzo Bean, Sweet Potato & Spinach Soup

It's Sunday, snow is falling and Gopher game it on.  The right mix to get creative in the kitchen.

While the roast is in the crock pot, I am trying to recreate a yummy soup we had at Brewed Awakenings.  A rich bowl full of complexity.  Pretty sure there was ginger, coconut milk and red pepper.  So, that is what I added plus a few others.

1. Roast potatoes
2. Saute onions and garlic, add pepper flakes and ginger (other spices)
3. Add stock and coconut milk
4. Blend *bzzt* *bzzt* (sound of hand held blender wand)
5. Add beans and potatoes
6. Bring to slow boil
7. Add fresh spinach
8. Simmer, cover and hope she tastes good

Tastes delicious.  Next time adding more ginger.

Simple decorating outside

ICE LUMINARIES

It is time, now that we have freezing weather, to make the ice luminaries.  And what better time than early morning before the house is awake and the work day starts.

STAGE 1

Punch balloon from Oriental Trading & Rubbermaid lid

I was introduced to Oriental Trading by my brother.  He knew just where to go for large punch balloons.

Molly Makers is all about using what you have.  The balloons cost only pennies and the "tray" is the lid of a large Rubbermaid (#5, 22 cup) container.

Here is the water balloon while Mother Nature is at work changing it to ice.

Now, while the water balloon is freezing I snip tree trimmings and create a bed.  There are extra bare branches on the bottom to help support the ice luminary and create space for air flow.

STAGE 2 - will be back when the ball is frozen - light to come

Don Julio Ornament

There is something fun about the Don Julio wooden screw cap that makes me smile. I knew I wanted to incorporate these happy caps in something. So, I saved some up knowing that inspiration would come to me.

And it came..

The Blanco Snowman

It is made of three Don Julio Blanco wooden caps, pipe cleaner with shimmer, jeweled eyes, mouth and buttons, felt hat with sparkles, and felt carrot nose.

The back has an additional cut of pipe cleaner to use as a hanger for on the tree. He also stands easily on the screw cap.

I left the Don Julio seals on each cap. The snowman needs to know where he came from and the drinking it took to make him.

More projects to share

Created some cool ice luminaries. They look so beautiful in the snow.

I had been using a bucket to make these and I then thought of balloons. Just bought large punch balloons online (inexpensive; thanks for suggestion Tom) and large plastic container lid to rest on while freezing. Need to make sure it does not freeze all the way through.

Inside is a tamolly's candle http://tamollys.blogspot.com/

Pictures, pictures always taking pictures. Here's our first snowfall in Minnesota.

tamolly's candles

Just in time for the holidays.

Need to sand the cut bottles before filling with soy wax. Production begins Saturday!

tamolly's candles

No Milk, No Eggs? No Problem Pancakes

I want that blue ribbon maple syrup but don't have eggs and milk for pancakes. What to do?

Those darn carb cravings. I really wanted pancakes with yummy Caribou Cream maple syrup but fridge had no eggs or milk.

What I like to do best is making something without the standard components. Let's see what can be done with what is on hand.

I remember my mom often using apple cider vinegar to make the pancakes more sour than sweet. So, I thought I would use up the leftover Thanksgiving apple cider.

Here's what I had and used:

1 1/4 c flour

1 T sugar

1T baking powder

1T vegetable oil

1/2 c apple cider

3/4 c water

Mix all ingredients gently together. Don't over mix.

Let the batter sit a bit until you see the little bubbles.

To get 6 - 4" pancakes I used a 1/2 c measuring cup to scoop each cake.

Add vegetable oil and butter to the pan and heat. Scoop batter and pour into pan. Wait for those little bubbles again before flipping.

These were good size pancakes.

So good I couldn't wait to eat one. Those are crumbs from the first pancake. Yummm.

It tasted even better with the local cider and syrup.

How to Cut Glass Bottles

I searched "how to cut glass bottles" and found a few sites but none got me exactly what I needed. WHAT IS EASY & WORKS BEST FOR CUTTING?






Good, Fair or Poor Rating - based on my own research

Bottle cutter - fair; research suggested it is not worth the money especially if you are going to cut a lot of bottles.

Manual glass cutter (you know that old school metal cutter) - poor; what a mistake this was. I found it was impossible to score a bottle with what should be use for thin glass i.e. windows. And when I tried to fill the bottle with hot water then cold to break the line of course it did not work because the scoring was nonexistent.

Flaming Cloth soaked in Acetone - fair; if you only have 1 bottle, time and like fire, go for it.

Wet Tile Saw - good; cuts lots of bottles, easy to do and took under 20 seconds per bottle. I got the 7" table saw.


OK, I have the saw and am ready to begin. Right?

First, collect some cool bottles. Being a newbie to this I knew I had to have "test" bottles. So, I loaded up on Pellegrino. I was drinking good for a few weeks. Because I was eager to test out cutting I did not spend a lot of time collecting before the first cuts.

Next, you need to clean the bottles and remove the labels. Easiest method is HOT and sudsy water. I prefer Dawn for all things including spot removal and making bubbles.







Fill up the bottles and submerge them in the water. Poor yourself a glass of wine from an odd shaped bottle and enjoy the rest.

If you find that some of the labels are stubborn, either refill with HOT water or use a plastic, flexible scraper. The Pellegrino labels slid right off with no hassle.

Final step in bottle preparation is drying the bottles. I believe in low maintenance. So, I set the bottles in the sink upside down at first.

Give it a couple hours then turn them right side up to finish drying.






Easy.



Now you are ready for cutting. Let the FUN begin.

The wet saw gets a bit messy with the water. Next time I plan to set up a shunt for the water so it is not left to pool on the table.

It is slow rolling back towards you.












Don't forget the other equipment. I recommend the goggles for the water spray, gloves to handle the glass shards and mask for glass dust.

Right now I am using sheets of sandpaper for finishing. Next I will try sanding tools i.e. Dremel.







Soon to be using new drinking glasses and lighting candles in fun containers.

Spring Cleaning

Need to get back here and clean out some of these old (2008) pictures.

40th mini-Birthday Parties

So I called up the captain, please bring me some wine. He said, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

Instead of having one big party to celebrate the big 40 I decided to host small parties with a few people throughout the year. Venue and invitees will change but the celebration is the same.

Friends and family have brought me through these last 40 years and I am so thankful for each and everyone of their gifts they have shared with me.

So, if you get a call from me, please bring the spirit and be ready to celebrate 1969.

(Above: 2009 birthday parties captured)

What is inflammatory breast cancer and is it worse than regular breast cancer? - The Boston Globe

What is inflammatory breast cancer and is it worse than regular breast cancer? - The Boston Globe

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Twitter

Finally it has happened to me right in front of my face and I just can't hide it... I'm no Ce Ce Peniston but I am a Tweet

@mollyclemen

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Here is Fleetwood Mac’s set list:

1. Monday Morning 2. The Chain 3. Dreams 4. I Know I’m Not Wrong 5. Gypsy 6. Go Insane 7. Rhiannon 8. Second Hand News 9. Tusk 10. Sara 11. Big Love 12. Landslide 13. Never Going Back Again 14. Storms 15. Say That You Love Me 16. Gold Dust Woman 17. Oh Well 18. I’m So Afraid 19. Stand Back 20. Go Your Own Way ENCORE 21. World Turning 22. Don’t Stop 23. Silver Springs

They played Tuesday night, March 3, 2009 at Xcel Energy Center.

Stevie Nicks got into it about 1:20 into the set. Her voice is one of a kind and she shined. Mic rocked, "thank you, we are blessed." Lindsey was amazingly great on that guitar. Good show all around.

Stroopwafels - sweet & delicious

Dutch caramel in-the-middle waffle cookies

Sister-in-law introduced me to these delightful cookies. They are so sweet and gooey good. I'm just not sure how the average Dutchman eats 20/year. Makes my tooth ache.

Recipe from stroopwafelshop.com:

Ingredients waffles (12 pieces):
- 300g caster sugar- 450g butter- 3 eggs- 3 sp milk- 600g flour- cinnamon- salt
Ingredients syrup:
- 600g cane-sugar syrup- 300g butter

PreparationMix the sugar with the eggs, milk, flower, cinnamon, salt and the butter sliced in pieces. Make 12 small balls.Preheat the waffle iron. Squeeze a paste ball in the iron. Bake the waffle in about 30 seconds. Cut the waffle in two thin waffles and spread the waffle with the mix of syrup and butter.

Pictures from Minnesota

Click here to check out pictures from Minnesota.

Enjoy...

DNC & RNC Pictures

Here are many more pictures taken at both conventions, click here.

Enjoy

DNC & RNC

Not much else eventful took place the remaining days at the convention. Saw some 'celebs' like Jon Voight, Mitt Romney, Tom Brokaw, and a few others.

Here are pictures of all days at each convention. Click here.

My RNC Trip - Monday & Tuesday, Sept. 1-2

Hurricane Gustav coverage in front of Xcel at Fox's 'big tent'; taken inside Xcel.

Well the convention has begun and the place is quiet. Hurricane Gustav has the media down in LA. Sounds like they will be heading up here today.

CNET article about convention facilities and attendance numbers for Xcel.

Monday was very quiet except for the protesters. They actually destroyed property late afternoon Monday. Here is Macy's broken display window.


Tuesday thus far has been pretty quiet. There has been rain in the morning and very little foot traffic.

Shuttle buses won't start until 4pm for the 6pm session. That is when we will probably see more protesters.







St. Paul Hotel, as always, looks beautiful. All the flowers up and along the driveway look and smell wonderful. There are even some elephant topiary.










Finally I saw SWAT!!! The St. Paul SWAT team were heading out from the River Centre to the outside or basement trailer area. It made my day to finally see them. Hope to see other shiny things (that is the people in blue). Still fascinated.

More to come.

My DNC Trip - Friday, August 29, 2008

Thursday, August 29, 2008

YES WE CAN!
CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE!

History was made yesterday at Invesco Field. It was the largest gathering for an acceptance speech. And I have to tell you that it was evident.


I left downtown Denver at 1:37 PM MT and walked down Larimer to what should have been the main entrance to the stadium. At this location there were police and two long lines formed on both sides of the street. A police officer told me to head down 7th and get in line.


















Two blocks down (7th and Lawrence) is where the end of the line was. And it winded along a side service road about ½ block on both sides of Lawrence. Every inch of forward progress was huge. It was moving painfully slow.

Well, I figured I was in no rush and told myself to plan on a 3 hour wait. At one point every time the progress was actually a foot or two the people in front of me and I did a mini wave and shouted “Obama.”

Shiny Object
DIA this morning is busy. What is going on? That is the third civilian looking person with a dog wearing a ‘POLICE’ sign. Perhaps these are out-of-town canine police heading home. I just don’t have the people energy to go and ask.

We succeeded in winding which actually got us across Lawrence Street..50 minutes later. Heading to the next street, Walnut moved along and it merged with a bus line of people dropped off for the event. Met a couple more fun people and lost my “Obama” wave family.

People were selling buttons, t-shirts and bumper stickers along the main drag. Oh, that damn Jesus ‘you are going to hell’ group was out on bikes with their big signs and megaphone. We were told we were all going to hell. What?

More police at the railroad crossing. Almost tripped because I was only paying attention to the team in blue and not my footing. They were my shiny objects ALL week.

This bronze statue was a real guy whom noticeably surprised me.

Credentials were checked twice. At the bottom of Invesco’s first set of stairs was the security check point. Everyone had to go through the metal detector and put any bags on the table for a search. No metal, no weapons, no problems.. I’m IN!!

Up the stairs, through the turnstile and off I go to traverse the 5 floors of Mile High stadium. Of course I took pictures of the trip. ‘Twas high up and beautiful.

OK, going to start boarding soon..

My DNC Trip - Thursday, August 28, 2008

OK, today is the day. I am off to Invesco at 1:30 PM MT.

Shuttles stop running to the field at 2 PM. The lines and wait are long due to security.

Southeast side of the stadium...see you.

My DNC Trip - Wednesday II

I heard that the protest march down Arapahoe was 5K people. Well, it certainly was huge. Didn't get a lot of pics.

The march was lead by military in their full dress yelling out, 'We are Marines, We are Marines' and the other branches of the military. Very powerful leading anti-war protesters.

One sign read, "Fund Education, Not Occupation." There were others:
War is Fu**in' Stupid
Fund Our Troops Home
Trim The Bush
No $$ for War

And there was the protest at Civic Center Park near the capitol building. It was dueling megaphones between Anti Homosexual haters and others shouting back to quit the judgement. One woman kept asking the haters why the cared and what do or did they do to you and to stop the judgement.

The same haters later appeared on 16th Street Mall near Stout St. Down the way some there was a small group wearing a few rainbow items blowing up pastel yellow, pink and blue balloons. Each balloon had three simple letters G A Y.

Picked up a couple more buttons:
United We Stand - picture of Obama facing Hilary Clinton
Obama '08 Change We Can Believe In - Obama in the foreground and JFK in background with his quote on change











(place holder for 'missile women' - on voting day go shopping, these are weapons of mass destruction paid for by your tax dollars)

Today was the busiest I've seen downtown. I imagine that tomorrow will be the peak.

No parking is allowed at Invesco Field. So, there will be people on foot, bike and public transportation making their way to the field. Can you imagine 70K+ making there way.

I still have to figure out the transfer I'll need for light rail from the field back to Englewood station. Maybe a cab from the station too.

Nice speech Bill Clinton.

Ready to leave downtown now and have a beer.

Cheers from Denver!