Shepherd's Salad For Me (And You?)

Tonight Hubby Tony and I are headed to a small Super Bowl party at a friend's house. The hosting couple will provide dinner. When I asked what we could bring, I found out they wanted a salad-specifically the Greek salad with no onions I made when they came over for dinner last month.

I said I would be happy to do that if I could still find the recipe. I couldn't. Lucky, during that dinner menu planning process I had sent a couple of different versions to Tony and asked him to pick one. He forwarded me the information I needed and we were back in business.

I often use my blog as a personal journal, so I'm putting the information here for my future use. Maybe yours too?

SHEPHERD'S SALAD-NO ONIONS

 Serves 4 

1 lb Roma tomatoes, diced

1 cucumber, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons lemon juice

½ to 1 teaspoon sumac (optional. I subbed a dash more lemon juice and a shake of paprika)

Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Prepare the Vegetables: Chop vegetables into bite-sized pieces.

Combine: In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumbers, and green bell pepper. Add parsley and feta.

Make the Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, sumac, salt, and pepper.

Dress the Salad: Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss gently to combine.

Season and Serve: Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld before serving. The salad is best served fresh, as the salt and lemon juice will draw water from the vegetables over time.

Five years ago: Party For Two

Birds And Balsamic

Today Hubby Tony and I made our approximately once a year trip across the Mississippi River to Alton Illinois to replenish our supply of balsamic vinegar (which we use in dishes both savory and sweet). In 2023 I wrote this explanation about why we make the trek:

We stumbled upon the store in 2018. Even though it's a half hour from home, across the Mississippi River in Alton, Illinois, Tony and I think it's worth the drive. Their balsamic vinegar is the thickest and most flavorful I've ever found (and I've looked in a lot of places). I've been known to drizzle it on a salad straight up.

Alton is a half hour trip, and we always try to do another activity while in the area to justify the gas and time. I searched for activities in the area and came upon the Audubon Center at Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary, which is close to the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

The visitor center parking lot was almost full, and when we entered we found out that was because there was a group of schoolchildren there on a field trip. A naturalist was giving them a presentation about birds in the area. We stood in the back and listened, and met Patriot, a bald eagle who was 30 years old.

After the presentation ended Tony and I walked around the small inside display. I saw this banner that showed the wingspans of different birds. I had no idea some of them were so large!

Tony found out the center had about eight miles of trails. Unfortunately, most of them were still snow covered, but we were able to walk along a short paved trail down to a viewing area.

A lot of bald eagles migrate to Missouri in winter from Canada and the Great Lakes. The rivers rarely freeze, so there are hunting grounds for fish. There were several volunteers with telescopes trained on eagles across the river. They were really there for the students, but they let Tony and I take a peek.

From the Audubon Center it was a ten-minute drive to the Olive Oil Marketplace. I carried in the empty bottles, and carried out full bottles of Traditional, Garlic Cilantro, Strawberry, and White Pineapple balsamic vinegars.

Way More Than Sunrise And Sunset

This morning when I woke up a little before 6:30 I sensed that it was a tiny bit lighter outside than usual. Could the days be getting longer?

The answer was yes, according to my friend Google, who told me that today First Light was 6:38 am. However, they also threw in some terms that I didn't know, like Astronomical Twilight, Nautical Twilight, and Civil Twilight. Then at the end of the day they repeated the terms in backwards order (Civil, Nautical, Astronomical).

So I went down an internet rabbit hole to find out what the heck all those terms meant. This is what I found:

• Astronomical Twilight begins - when the sun's center is 18 degrees below the horizon
• Nautical Twilight begins - when the sun's center is 12 degrees below the horizon
• Civil Twilight begins - when the sun's center is 6 degrees below the horizon
• Sunrise - when the upper edge of the sun's disk appears above the horizon
• Transit - when the sun reaches it's highest point in the sky
• Sunset - when the upper limb of the sun disappears below the horizon
• Civil Twilight ends - when the sun's center is 6 degrees below the horizon
• Nautical Twilight ends - when the sun's center is 6 degrees below the horizon
• Astronomical Twilight ends - when the sun's center is 18 degrees below the horizon

Picryl

Five years ago: Writing By Witness

Incalescence

According to Google, incalescence refers to the process or state of growing warm or increasing in temperature. That's what happened in my area today.

For the past ten days the temperature has been way below freezing, which made today's high of 46 degrees Fahrenheit feel fantastic. This morning when Hubby Tony and I left for church to do our monthly volunteer money counting shift I wore a heavy winter coat, but when I went out again after lunch to run errands I switched to the lightweight one and wrapped a scarf around my neck.

It snowed eight days ago. All of the roads in my area are snow free, but the shoulders and sidewalks aren't. Thanks to the outdoor nastiness I've been unmotivated to do anything outside, and today I had a large list of places to go, all along a major thoroughfare close to my house.

I headed east, stopping by the post office, thrift store, and pet mart before turning around and heading west to come back home, hitting an antique mall, florist, and craft store along the way. There were a lot of cars on the road, and rather than pull in and out of a bunch of strip malls, several times I took advantage of connecting parking lots to walk from one place to another. By the last errand I ditched the scarf and had my coat unzipped.

Needpix

It's only the beginning of February and the temperature will be yo-yoing all over the place, so I have to keep every conceivable piece of winter gear handy. I never know what tomorrow will bring.

Five years ago: Stuck Song Syndrome

A Teeny Tiny Good Thing

 

 

Winter is sticking around, and I've been doing my darnedest to find something positive in each day, but it's hard when there's more gloom than sun and the temperatures are stuck way below freezing. 

 

In order to get exercise I've walked at the mall way too many days the past week. Today Hubby Tony and I branched out. We left early for church and drove to Menards, a big box hardware store, for two things-steps and furnace filters.  

 

I buy filters that last for three months. When we reached the correct aisle I was pleasantly surprised to find the filter type I usually buy was on sale. And on top of that there was a rebate. I normally don't bother with rebates, but this time jumping through the hoops of filling out the form and mailing it in my four filters will get me eight dollars to use on a future purchase.

Five years ago: Who Drove What?

Lick It Up

For years our pampered cats have gotten three small meals a day, and the current foster Smokey Joe is no exception. Unlike some cats who like to nibble throughout the day he immediately devours whatever food we put out for him-kibbles in the morning and evening, and a bit of canned food midday.

Some times Smokey Joe eats the wet food too fast, then regurgitates it back up. I started researching for a way to slow him down. There were a lot of ideas, but it seemed like the easiest one to implement would be a lick mat. (It has grooves designed to hold the wet food. Instead of inhaling it, Kitty has to lick up.)

Instead of immediately heading to the pet store, I figured out we already had something in the house that might work. From the far back of the plastic container cabinet I pulled out a shallow plastic bowl originally designed to hold leftovers. It had ridges to allow air to circulate underneath things when they were reheated in the microwave.

Smokey Joe's portion of wet food covers almost the entire bottom of the container, and it has really slowed him down. His lunch now takes five minutes instead of 30 seconds, and there has been no need to deal with upchuck.

Five years ago: The Slice Of Pie Is Getting Larger

Chocolate Trumps Everything

This showed up in my Facebook feed this morning:

National Day Calendar/Facebook

Although I read news articles about the Holocaust and Vietnam, out of the four "days", which one do you think Hubby Tony and I "celebrated"? If you said Chocolate Cake Day you're right!

Chocolate pudding cake from the grocery store

Five years ago today: Snow And Synchronicity

Mastering Technology

On January 1st I started a new volunteer position in a fellowship. The Communications position involves two things: getting out information to members, and putting together a newsletter.

After figuring out the information part of the job, I turned to the newsletter part. The newsletter hasn't been published for a couple of years, so I had a brainstorming conversation with another person about the format of the revitalized newsletter. We came up with some good ideas, but decided we also wanted to poll the people who will be reading it.

In the meantime we decided our first 'issue' would be an email that would contain short welcome notes from some of the officers and some basic information about the fellowship website. After I figured out how to update data to the website, I played around with an email newsletter template and figured out how to add text, hyperlinks, and images. The final result was super simple, but I was proud of it.

After sending the draft to several people for their input, this morning I sent the message out to everyone.

PxHere

Right after I hit Send I was afraid that something might have gone wrong, but I've received a couple of positive emails about my message....and no negative ones.

Five years ago: What A Difference A Year Makes

If You're In The Affected Area Stay Safe And Stay Warm

My area is in the path of the storm and super cold weather sweeping across much of the country. Our condo is large enough for daily living, but small enough that walking from one end to the other only takes about 30 seconds, so this morning before the snow started Hubby Tony and I went to the mall to get steps. (I am always thankful that the most convenient entrance is in the parking garage, but especially today.)

Between today and tomorrow the National Weather Service is predicting a total of six to ten inches of snow and dangerously cold temperatures, but I have no reason to go out. I have food, reading material, projects, and the memes on the Internet 😀.

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In this area people run to the store for milk, bread, eggs, and toilet paper as soon as any type of winter weather is announced. This morning's paper had photos of empty milk coolers and bare dairy shelves.

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I always have a stash of Mardi Gras beads in my closet, so I can only imagine what the people in Louisiana have.

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This explanation sounds about right

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Even the PG-13 people are taking advantage of the storm!

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A cute post from Facebook:

Authorities confirmed the "individual responsible for this incoming winter weather" has been taken into custody.

The individual in question was not identified in an initial post, but she can be seen handcuffed, and standing in a blue, glittery dress with sheer sleeves. 

An officer standing nearby can also be seen holding what appears to be a tiara with pink gemstones.

"The winter storm is still coming," police wrote. "The cold never bothered her anyway, but it will bother your commute."

Stay safe my friends!

San Jose Escapades

After Hubby Tony and I flew from San Diego back to San Jose, the last part of this California trip saw us at Son Brian and DIL Nicole's house. All of them were excited to see the treats we had brought from the specialty food trade show, which made a great after-dinner snack. 

Our time with the family was filled with games, Lego and magnet block building, book reading, outside activities, special events, and errands.

On Friday everyone was busy, so after Tony and I helped walk the grands to school we were on our own.  I had some volunteer work to do on my computer, and Tony read his ebook. When it was time for lunch we knew there were quite a few restaurants within walking distance. We ended up getting a table at Sweet Maple, a breakfast and lunch restaurant that usually has a line out the door.

There were a lot of good-looking things on the menu, but I ended up ordering a Farm Fresh egg plate that included a roasted Brussel sprout/potato medley and a large piece of ciabatta toast. I added a side order of their thick cut, sweet and spicy Millionaire's Bacon, which was featured on the United States of Bacon show. 

Yum!

On Saturday we joined the family at a Harlem Globetrotters game. The Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team, and the games are an equal combination of athleticism and theater. Their opponent was the Washington Generals, the foil to their comedy. As always, the Generals lost.

At one point during the weekend Nicole had to return some clothes, so she asked who wanted to go with her. Grands Dee and Ell were up for the trip. Tony and I also tagged along. At the store the transaction was taking longer than the boys wanted, but when Mom offered her phone things quickly quieted down. (I wish there was something like that available back when I needed to bring active youngsters on errands with me).

Later I went to the mall with Nicole and a different subset of the grands. There, I learned about the "in" things for boys, Labubus, and blind box collecting.

Time with the family is never long enough, and this trip was no exception. All too soon it was time to pack up my suitcase and head to the airport to come home. However, Tony and I have already started planning our next excursion to the area.