Food and Father's Day Cards

Hi there everyone....hope you are have a great Sunday and a Happy Mother's Day....weather was mighty fine today. We went to church, I got a little purple petunia to plant some place. Made a Blue Apron meal "Spring Chicken Fettuccine with Sauteed Asparagus, Kale & Rosemary"  (It was "ok"...but not great) Then I sat down to watch some hockey and fell asleep. I really should have been outside doing something, but never made it....took Kylie for a walk and now here I am finishing my post that I actually started last night. Maybe in a little bit I will go downstairs and do some cards. (After I make my rhubarb pie though)

The running of the Kentucky Derby was yesterday....I was watching #10 Whitmore (the jockey caught my attention, always winking at the camera) and #13 Nyquest (named after a Detroit Red Wing hockey player) Nyquest WON!!!! He was at 2-1 and paid $6.60 (guess I would have made $4.60 betting $2.00 to win...hahahahha). When I was still living at home, (in the 60's) my step-father was a gambling man and we went to lots of sulky races in Maywood and regular horse races in Arlington Heights....yep, I did a little bit of betting.) Sad to say, my step-father lost a lot of money because of his betting. Guess that is why he lives in Las Vegas now....so he can play his games)

In these two pictures are some recipes I made from Blue Apron last week....as usual, they were delicious. The above recipe is: "Zucchini & Parmesan Quiches with Red Leaf Lettuce Salad & Pink Lemon Vinaigrette"

The spinach was cooked then pressed to get all the liquid out then chopped. The zucchini, diced and cooked with garlic and seasoned with salt and pepper. Eggs mixed and crème fraiche, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of water whisked together, the zucchini and spinach whisked together and poured into the pie shells and topped with shaved Parmesan cheese. While baking at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes (these were small pie shells, a larger pie shell might be 40 minutes)

The salad was chopped and the vinaigrette is a shallot-lemon juice mixture with salt and pepper to taste and slowly whisk in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until well combined. Combine with the lettuce and top with the rest of the shaved Parmesan cheese.

This recipe is "Grains of Paradise-Crusted Steak with Mashed Plantain, Collard Greens & Ginger Peanuts" Yum the steak was pretty tender this time around....and now to find the Grains of Paradise seasoning....gosh that was good.

Something interesting about this meal was the plantain....I rather like this fruit/vegie, not really sure what to call it...looks like a banana but is more tougher and you can boil or fry them and they are so good. In this recipe, they were boiled then mashed, butter, lime zest, salt and pepper was mixed in then set aside.

The steak was seasoned with salt and pepper and the crushed grains of paradise then pan fried to your desired doneness then left to rest.

Crushed peanuts and ginger were cooked together and set aside. Collard greens were cooked down. Parsley and the juice of a lime, oil, salt and pepper mixed together and served as a sauce for the steak.  The mashed plantain was dished out, then topped with the collards and then the steak and peanut crunch and then topped with the herb sauce. My this was pretty tasty, for sure.

These next four cards are the Father's Day cards I made for Hospice. I probably will make some more of these cards to give to a few men.....I like the hot air balloon card the best and probably will make one to send to the step-father in Las Vegas. He is going to be 90 years old in July....so maybe one of these cards will be a birthday card for him also.

Someone gave me the stamp for this next card, it's been sitting around for 4-5 years and finally used it....looks like a stained glass window card, sorta.

And last but not least....my golfer....I have had him for over 10 years at least. He has been on Birthday cards and Father's Day and I always seem to pull him out every couple of years with a different idea.

So there you have it....another day in the life of Louise...just doing time till Jesus returns for his church....can't be long now what with the way things are going on in this world. Just when you think you  heard it all....something else takes the cake. Sometimes I wonder where people are getting their brains. Don't you? How in the world do we keep sane in an insane world????

Well, I am off to go bake a rhubarb pie. You all have a great day and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Just a Few Cards......

Hi there everyone. May 31st....the last day of the month, here comes JUNE!!! Thought I would post some cards I made yesterday. It was one of those days where all it did was rain off and on. I thought about going outside to plant some plants.....but I guess....just too lazy and didn't want to get rained on.

This next Friday is Hospice meeting....and I do not have any cards made....yikes I better get cuttin'. Since I had been sick (April 12th) have not made a single card...gosh talk about taking time off....this was ridiculous. So, I went down stairs to make a few.

I basically wanted to make some "Thank You" cards to send off to "Rebuilding Together" people for all the wonderful work they did on my house and yard. There just aren't enough thank yous in this whole world to go around to thank them all for the work and all the wonderful improvements. I think, every time I use something, I ask God to Bless those that did this and that improvement. It is just amazing to me that all these strangers would take time from their busy schedules to help me and JP with our problems. I guess all these years of helping others.....the tables have turned and now we need the help. It's strange, being on the receiving end.

So here we go....a tour of my card making. In this picture (sorry for the darkness....guess there are a few light bulbs missing in the light fixture....shall have to fix that this week.) The top 3 cards are Thank you cards.....the set is from Stamping Up. The bottom 3 cards are Happy Father's Day cards.

In the above cards, the idea is from a card I saw on the Internet using the goose and washi tape. This stamp set came with the little birds....so I thought, why not make a card using them too. Makes a nice card for a man.

Now in this card I was using a technique that Frenchie used. Using wax paper and making a reflection in the water.....I always wondered how to do this. Here is the link.

These last two pictures are the Father's Day cards. Again using the "reflection technique" and wax paper. The silver side is a metal tape I got at the hardware store and ran it through my cuttle bug then smeared some Copic markers on top to POP out the flowers with color....kind of neat huh?

I have about 4 more cards to make using this technique....most likely will send one of these cards to my step-father and maybe one for JP from Kylie our dog.

So probably this next week I will be busy making cards for Hospice....funny how we go through phases in life.....after not touching or making a card in almost 7 weeks, now I am ready to make some cards. Course my house was turned upside down, so it has taken this long to get things back to a "sort of normal". Still have the basement to re-organize, as I had to move everything away from all the basement windows so "Rebuilding Together" people could install the basement windows. Needless to say that is what I have been doing this past month....moving, re-moving, packing, unpacking and uncluttering my little house. I may be doing a garage sale in July.....my neighbor will be doing a monthly sale....so I think I will join her. Geez that means the garage needs to be cleaned.....yep, I have lots of things going this summer.

Well you all have a great day and keep looking up.
Cheers ~ Louise

PS....The Hawks won Game 7!! Yay!! Now they go to the finals!
PSS..I had my Deep Cleaning at the Dentist....the appointment went well....second half will be July 7th.

????Call Me Dad????

Things are supposed to look better the next day, because isn't God's mercies new every morning???? Well, at least the problem is not as big as it was the night before. Let me tell you about my dilemma and let me know what your thoughts are with a comment.

I called my "Step-father" last night to wish him a Happy Father's Day. Sent him a handmade card, which he had not received yet. He has been my step-father since 1962 and in this relationship I have "always" called him "POP's". My real father died in 1961 of a heart attack, I loved my father very much and probably grieved many years for my dad even after my mother and Pop's got married. Pop's was the exact opposite of my dad and was very controlling in so many ways, not really letting me do alot of things I wanted but telling me what they wanted me to do.

 As my step-father talked, telling me what has been happening and that he may have an operation on Friday, but will find out today at 2pm if the Doctor was going to do it. So needless to say he was all consumed with that. And, he didn't know what he would do if the Doctor did not do the operation, casue he could not continue on the way things were....he wasen't going to committ suicide or anything, but he would do something!!! Geez, what did that mean???? At the end of our call he asked, "Can you do me a favor?" I said what? He then said, Can you just once, call me "dad"? Gosh, that through me for a loop and at that moment I said, "No, because, you are not my dad, you are POP's! You have Stacy to call you dad." (Stacy is a woman with two kids who lived next store for many years and who my mother and Pops took under their wings. Stacy took my place as their daughter I guess, only because she lived in Las Vegas and I lived here in WI)

Well, then Pops said, "I figured you would say that" well, if he figured I would say that, why did he ask??? There is just a part of me that cannot call Pops, dad. I could have called him "Pete" all these years, but no, I called him Pops. So what do you think? Was it even right that he ask that question of me or was I over reacting??? Just not sure what to do, or if I should do anything and just let it pass me by.

Well you all have a great day, and I shall keep looking up for my redemption draweth nigh, as does yours.

Cheers to you all that read this blog ~ Louise