Friday, October 31, 2014

Surfer sculpture with 2 pumpkins on his head

Here are two photos I took today of a Surfer sculpture with two pumpkins on his head.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Persimmons Wordless Wednesday

Almost wordless: just a warning. Wait til persimmons are fully ripe, very squishy, the insides like a soft jelly. If not fully ripe the astringent taste is a dreadful experience; when ripe they are very sweet. We cut them in half, add a touch of lemon juice and whip cream and eat them with a spoon.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Bargain books, 2 memoirs, a detective novel and a book related to Downton Abbey

I bought three of these books at our local Goodwill book store. It is a small store that just sells books, dvds, and music.
My husband and I have read the whole detective mystery series about John Rebus by Ian Rankin except for this most recent one, "Saints of the Shadow Bible." "A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle" by Liza Campbell, is a memoir. Her father was heir to Cawdor Castle where she was born and a review says "wild sorry tale with an offhand wit."
My third Goodwill purchase is "Blue Nights" by Joan Didion, another memoir. I have read other memoirs by her, and she writes about the death of her beloved daughter in this one.
These hardcovers cost $3.49 each and the money goes to a good cause.
My fourth wonderful book is "Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey", which is nonfiction about the 5th Countess of Carnarvon written by the 8th and current Countess. The Carnarvon family estate is Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey is filmed. The real life Lady Almina and the fictional Lady Cora Crawley have much in common, including opening their estate to wounded soldiers in World War I, and I love this book. If you like Downton Abbey or history I recommend this book.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Apples on our George Foreman Grill

Recently I posted to y'all how I was thinking about getting a George Foreman grill. Well, we were given one, and it is fabulous.
The photo above shows apple slices prepared to be grilled. There is brown sugar, cinnamon and olive oil on them. I think they are Winesap apples.
A must have feature of this George Foreman grill is that the heating plates easily remove for cleaning, in soapy water or in the dishwasher. One night we cooked two pork chops and sliced apples at the same time.
The above photo shows the cooked sliced apples. Yummy. At the bottom of the photo is the separate grease catching plastic container that came with the grill; that makes anything cooked on the grill more healthy as the excess fat drains away. The grill makes nice black lines on the food cooked on it. The lines are not so evident on the apples but zucchini, hamburgers and pork chops had them.
The apples take about 10 minutes to cook, and that is true of everything we've done, from 5 to 12 minutes. Eggplant slices are fabulous cooked on it.
Do you have favorite foods to cook on this type of electric grill?