Gadding About With A Blind Date

Yesterday was Valentine's and I thought what could be more romantic than a blind date.  I was to meet my blind date at the Cameron Village Public Library. I was so excited!  When I told my younger son, he expressed a bit of concern.  I assured him it was quite okay.

The Librarians had created a novel activity called a Blind Date with a Book.

I love books, so I thought how romantic!

Sure enough just in the entrance to the Library was a collection of gift-wrapped books, in colorful Valentine's Day paper.  Each book had a little synopsis, but no title.  You had to unwrap the gift to see who or what your blind date was.

I notice that many of the books that the Librarians had selected seemed to have a theme of love, marriage, or relationships.  How appropriate!

This is the "date" that I chose. 

I'm heading out of town for the weekend, and I'm taking my blind date with me.  I may even fall a sleep with my blind date beside me.  Thank you Librarians for a clever activity for Valentine's Day. And friends I hope you are not a bit disappointed, because you may have expected a different "blind date" for me.  : )

Gadding About with Friends Making Pierogies

Boguska's pierogies filled with cabbage or potatoes and cheese. 

My friend Boguska (aka Marta) is a whiz at making pierogies, and two of my other friends Jen and Assunta had asked if we could get together and have her make some pierogies for us.  We had a wonderful time, and we are impressed with Boguska's expertise in cooking.   For lunch we had some of these and the rest we divided and bought them from her.  She sells her homemade fresh pierogies at $20. for a package of 15.

She set up shop in my kitchen and we all pitched in to help..

Getting prepared. 

Potatoes with cheese, cabbage, and onions for fillings.  

Check out this video showing some of the steps in making these delicious dumplings.

Stuffing the dough. 

The next video shows the pierogies being cooked.

They float to the top when they are done. 

Ready to serve.  Yummy!

We spent most of a Saturday making and eating the pierogies, and the three of us are now on her list to make more for us as needed (I think I'll need at least a package once a month.)  Fun! Fun! Fun!

My only contribution was providing the kitchen, setting the table, and making a salad.  The others did all the work. 

p.s. We had so much fun that we decided to form our own little Cooking Club where we will get together once a month and one of us will prepare the meal while introducing the others to a new recipe. We are a diverse group (Australian, Polish, Italian, and Southern US) so we hope to experience some different cuisines.  I may even introduce them to a West African dish, Groundnut Stew became a favorite of mine the summer I was in Ghana.

Gadding About With Georgia O'Keeffe

My favorite of her work exhibited at the NCMA.

Georgia O'Keeffe is one of my favorite artists, and earlier in January I enjoyed the O'Keeffe exhibit at the NCAM in Raleigh.  I'll share some of her work with you.

Photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe

We are fortunate in Raleigh to have such a wonderful art museum that brings exhibits like this to our area.

Gadding About at Honey Baked Ham

This Thanksgiving I will be taking the ham for the family dinner.  Days ago I reserved a Honey Baked Ham to pick up the day before Thanksgiving.  I had heard about long lines in years past, but I thought if I got there when they opened at 7:00 am I would beat the crowd.  Not so.  When I arrived there was a line out the door and down the street. I was glad I had taken Dan's walker because that made in easier to stand in line for an hour and a half. 

Already there had been a fender bender because of the stalled traffic.

The line was out the door. 

Shadows of the line down the street. 

I was prepared with my vest and my walker. 

Actually everyone in line was in a Happy Thanksgiving Mood, and I chatted with a number of folks while waiting.  Once we were in the door, the line snaked around in front of the counters so that we were tempted with all the extra dishes they offer.  I spied the Chocolate Rum Cake in the case with their desserts, and it was mighty tempting but I did not succumb. 

Chocolate rum cake. 

Finally out the door and with my ham on the walker I headed to my car.  A nice policeman helped put the walker and the ham into my car.  Happy Thanksgiving all!

The walker was useful to carry the ham. 

A nice  police officer put my walker and ham into the van. 

p.s. Next year I will offer to roast the turkey or make the pies. 

Gadding About with Mice on Halloween

Chocolate Mice.  

There are lots of kids in our neighborhood now, and I love it.  So I'm always prepared for trick or treaters.  This year I decided to make a few chocolate mice as treats (mainly for the parents who accompanied the kids).  This is such an easy recipe, and the mice are so cute.

Click here for the recipe.

1.  Melt the chocolate.

Melted chocolate. 

2.  Drain the Maraschino cheeries and dry thoroughly.  Be sure to keep stems intact. 

3.  Holding to the stem coat the cheeries in chocolate.

4.  While the chocolate is still warm, attach a candy kiss to the end opposite the stem.  Between the kiss and the coating cherry place two sliced almonds for the ears.

5.  I used a red gel to make the eyes. 

6.  Place in refrigerator until firm and ready to serve.

Ready to serve or to eat.  

I think the chocolate mice were a hit this year!