I thought they were coyotes!

Andy was at the door the other day and I saw behind him up on the hill was what I thought were coyotes frolicking on the top. I said to him "Look at the coyotes playing up there, wow they are pretty big for me to see them up there". Andy turned around and looked and said "They are not coyotes, they are jack rabbits!" OMG these were huge! I went and grabbed my binoculars and looked and he was right. They were huge!!! I grabbed my camera which I didn't have the correct lens on it but took pictures anyway. Well I didn't get any shots of these HUGE animals but I wanted to post the hill where they were.

I said to Andy I want to take a walk up there and see if I can see and capture these animals. They look like they are out of National Geographic mutant animals! Here I am at a dinner party and telling people about it and they laughed at me! I'll show them, I know they are real because a time or two I have seen them lurk across my property which I thought they were dogs, I am talking HUGE!

So, off I go and let's see what I can find, just really need to be careful, rattlesnakes are abundant this year, we see on an average 6 or 7 a year and end up killing 3 or 4. The timber rattlers are the ones that freak me out!

So here is a picture of our hill across from us. I didn't get the mutants!

THE best lemon curd recipe!

I love lemon curd! I have to tell you the first time I ever heard of lemon curd, the name grossed me out! Curd? Too close to the name curdle, YUCK! When looking at recipes that had the lemon curd in its ingredients I finally broke down and bought it, and thought "This is incredible!"

My friends ask "OK, what do you do with it? Well, many things, my favorite, which I made the other night for a dinner party at my house, was to take the angel food cups you buy at the store in packs of four, sliced strawberries with sugar over them to sweat out the juice of the strawberries (did that a few hours before), then layer it, first the cup, then the curd, strawberries over it and a large spoonful of Cool Whip over it, what a great summer recipe! You have the sweet and sour taste which has summer written all over it! YUM!

I put it on my bagel, add it to the filling of cakes, use it with scones, and use it as a dip for fruit, just to name a few.

So, off I went to try as many lemon curds as possible to find the best one. I went from very expensive to cheap (from $9.00 down to $2.25) trying to find the best one. I have really wanted to make a recipe but scared to because of the possibility that the eggs will cook and have bits of eggs in it, I don't think so EWWWWE!

Looking and looking I saw one that I FINALLY decided to try it, what the heck, if I don't like it I will just throw it away.

Wow! Was it fun to make, and boy is it fabulous!

So here are the instructions. Let me what you think....

These are the tools you will need:
Mixing with the hand mixer: Don't get scared, it is supposed to curdle.
Putting the mixture into the saucepan, but NOT on the....
Stove! See what happens when I try to take pictures and pour at the same time!
This is low heat, just keep stirring, MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT HAVE IT BOIL, or you will be eating eggs in it, YUCK!
After 15 minutes, the curd will turn beautiful yellow and thicken up so you can see the separation on the back of the spoon.
It will thicken up once it cools down and I almost immediately put it into a canning car, wow isn't it gorgeous!
The recipe is as follows:

3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.

In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 min. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don't let the mixture boil.

Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.

Variations
For lime curd, substitute fresh lime juice and zest for lemon.
From Fine Cooking 26, pp. 52-54
April 1, 1998

Man, I love the internet!

I finally figured out how to play with photoshop!

I posted a while back, and it was a while, that I took lessons on who to use my camera and photoshop. The instructor was WONDERFUL, even came out to my house and was patient and very knowledgeable. He was with me for about 4 hours and told me we just hit the tip of photoshop (I am using Elements 6, he said it is all that I need for what I am doing with it.

Well, as soon as the lesson was over, instead of sitting down like a good student and studying my lessons, I took off and left for Vegas for three days. That went that. Everything I learned went out the window. Why didn't I learn this hard lesson when I was in high school 30 years ago, it still does not work.

So now I am fumbling with the haphazard notes I wrote down, another flaw in my school years thinking (I got it, these scribblies will be good enough).

Here we are, not understanding a thing when I open the program up. "Get going", I say to myself and I did actually figure out the ONE thing I wanted to do.

I love black and whites that have a ting of color on it. The Pioneer Woman did it on her blog and a lot of people put on flickr what they did and I said "I want to do that" that is really the one reason for my lesson.

I took a picture of Woody with his Frisbee and played with it and it worked! Don't ask me how I did it right now, I have to go back and write down the instructions for myself. I am going to get this printed and put it into a frame TODAY!

Give me your thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

Woody's first adventure at the beach

I have so much to share with everyone today, Wow, between picking the winner and getting my pictures on my computer, there are a lot of posts I want to do today.

Let's start with this weekend. We took for for Rosarito Mexico for a long weekend, Friday through Monday. We only live 3 1/2 hours from door to door. and we haven't been there for eight months I know, a lot of people are telling us we are absolutely crazy for going down there and taking chances that could be seen as stupid. That is why I really didn't tell too many people.

Between the swine flu and the drug lords it is a very scary place in thinking of visiting. We are very cautious when we are there. We don't travel at night, we are always on either the toll road or the free road where they are a lot of people. We leave for lunch, then go to the fish market for dinner and are home within a few hours, it gives us time to play on the beach and hit our appetizers and enjoy the sunset with great music in the background. ( I LOVE my IPOD).

It was a blast bring the puppy to the beach for the first time, I took over 400 pictures of him, and no I won't bore you with all of them, just his first reaction to the water, I laughed so hard I fell!

Have to say one thing, there was on one in town this weekend! We were the only Americans at Poppas and Beers and at La Fonda for Mother's Day brunch. Hurt my heart for them.

Andy and Alex played an excellent game of golf on Sunday, while I hung out at the house, taking Woody for a very long walk on the beach, then heading out for the Sunday Brunch, life is good.
I loved waking up on Monday morning, looking out the window and seeing dolphins swimming past us, incredible!

As you can see, we made it back, no problems, really look forward to getting back to where Americans visit Mexico and feel somewhat safe, their economy is really devastated.

Also, I look forward to bringing friends with me, it was nice with the family, but always a lot more fun with more friends!







He did get a lot more comfortable with the water towards the end of the weekend, but the show was worth everything!

We have a WINNER!

Yea! to my first winner, I did the drawing this morning at 8:30AM, with the help of Woody, well sort of, (He ate the paper with the winners name on it1) as it pulled it out of his mouth I was able to read the winning name. The winners name is: MEADOWLARK! YEA! CONGRATULATIONS!

Please contact me via email with your address and I will get the apron out today and thank all of you for your great answers, what am I going to do with my music?

As bad as it hurts me, I have decided to remove it, the point that drove home was from "Smart Mouth Broad" and that was being on the computer when the husband is asleep and hitting a blog that the music blares out. I get it, been there done that and he really gets angry not a good way to end the day.

Ree's Tutorial

Ok Midlife Slices, here ya go! Good thing I bookmarked it, yeah, that is funny, I bookmark EVERYTHING.

Here it is:

http://www.wepc.com/blog/view/6379/Blogging_College__Class_1__Eight_Steps_to_a_Succesful_Blog

I couldn't believe I found this, I was just playin around, I am surprised that she hasn't put it on her website yet, can't wait for the other installments!

All right I figured out my first contest!

Well. reading Ree Drummond's tutorial on doing a blog, I was reading what others wrote in response, it gave me the PERFECT idea for my giveaway contest!

So here it goes, but, first what is the giveaway?

I have decided to giveaway an apron (shown below) from my collection, I sold these and many other items at craft shows and I thought it would be a nice little gift.

Now for the contest:

I have decided to ask the question:

Do you like music on someone's blog?

I have been thinking of removing my music from my blog and I wanted to get your opinions on this matter.

The contest will run until Tuesday May 12th. Then I will randon pick the winner with the help of Woody, as long as he doesn't eat the strips of paper it will be written on!

I look forward to hearing from you and to see what you have to say!

Good luck!

My Picaboo Book arrived!

As I said yesterday, (I said a lot yesterday) I was waiting on my book that I made from our trip to San Diego. I have been wanting to do a book for forever, but let's face it, I am great at getting started but lousy at completing a lot of things, actually more than I am comfortable with, which has been a life long battle with myself.

But when I do complete something, it is usually fantastic, even if I say so myself.

I found out about these books a few years ago when we are on vacation in Cozumel. Met a really nice couple and they were telling me how they put their scuba diving adventures into a book. I thought scapbooking, but they said no, an actual book, with front cover and spine. No way! Well I got home and quickly looked up the sites they recommended. I have them all, Snapfish, Picaboo, Adorama Pix and a few others that I don't remember.

So, again, the start is good with them all, but sit after a while. I have been working and reworking on my trip to Europe for two years and there it sits.

But when The Pioneer Woman put in for a giveaway for Snapfish, I thought why not, I am going to San Diego and what a perfect opportunity to get off my butt and do this!

So, I came home and got onto Snapfish and started the book and ACTUALLY finised it! Now, comes the heartache, the server was way overloaded it and it would not accept it! For days I tried, until I got aggravated with it and went over to Picaboo and did a book over there and FINISHED it! I EVEN ordered it and paid for it, too!

I like Picaboo better than Snapfish because of the different backgrounds, cover of the book, and the different number and placement of photos.

So, here ya go, these are just a few pictures of my first book! What a priceless gift to give someone. If you need some help, I'll be more than happy to assist you anyway I can.

Mother's Day is Sunday, so it is too late, but what about Father's Day? Graduation? Fourth of July get together? A family reunion? A birthday? A girls get together? A bride's journey from her engagement to her wedding day? See what I mean, you have a camera, you have a book!

Let me know what you think, I love this!

Excuse the nails, oops! Construction NEVER ends at my house

I found the ROOSTER!

Well one anyway, how did I do it? Like I said earlier, I have 17 chickens, I am in my office outside (AKA office, Storage area, chicken feed room) and heard what could be (NOOOO) a crow, not a good crow but a crow non the less.

I stopped in my tracks and thought, there is no way we have a rooster, then when I moved some papers around I heard it again, third time and then a fourth time! CRAP! So I went over to the pen and sat their for a long while thinking I would pick out the rooster. NOPE! I even crowed a few times to see if I could get a noise out of him, NOTHING! So after about 45 minutes I left. A couple of hours later, Andy came home and he met me out there and I was telling him my story, however, when I crowed (showing him) my FAVORITE rooster stretched out his neck and crowd!

Well now what, I have to get rid of the rooster, so I stopped by some feed stores today, put an ad out for a free 4 month old rooster. I am going on Craigs List next. Poor CC, I really did love her, hum, him.

I have decided to get on the blog give away!

I have been thinking about doing a give away for some time now. I went into my office (outside) and realized I have a lot of things that I could give away in a contest.

So now I have to come up with an idea for the give away....thanks to oz girl for her help with this.

Stay tuned for my give away contest!