Post Thanksgiving (post)...

This is the closest to a turkey I can get, Orville in his rooster cap. I can't believe I didn't take one picture during t-giving dinner. As usual, the dinner was out of this world delicious! I ate waaaaay too much, snacked throughout the day as I cooked roasted veggies, baked pies and made the sweet potatoes, cleaned house and kept up with doing the dirty dishes as I dirtied them.

From the turkey, rolls, perfectly baked beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, fry bread, wild rice and brownies....it was better than any restaurant.

I saved the turkey carcass and boiled it into a tasty turkey broth - it now sits in the fridge so I can skim off the fat. I plan on using the broth to cook wild rice in and if there's enough make a small pot of soup or turkey hotdish.

Last night for dinner I sauteed fresh mushrooms and onions til they were brown, then turned up the heat and added mashed potatoes and a lot of pepper and cooked til it was a little crisp, not sure what that dish would be called, probably some kind of potato patty - - but it was simple and good, I skimped on the butter so it wasn't thaaat fattening.

Orv and Gwii Video

Here they are, probably a good thing Orville was on the outside looking in - watching Gwii chow down on his food. After they left and he came in, he wouldn't touch his food for a while just sniff around his dish. But since he's part gookoosh, he did end up cleaning up the rest of the food later. He was funny though the rest of the evening, he was pretty jumpy and on guard - like he was waiting to get jumped or something.

Little Gwii.......

Here's the newest baby animal addition to the FAM!! Little Gwiiwizens (little boy), Nona just got him last night and he's already making the rounds. He was a little fussy when he first got here, but he's sooooo cute!! He has such a baby face.

After we held him and cuddled him, we let him down to explore. Didn't take him long to find Orville's food!! He ate like he was starving to death, Nona's been feeding him special puppy food - but he prefers cat chow.

I have a video I'll post later, as Orville's outside on the deck, he's watching little Gwii eat his food. So I cracked open the door a little, and Orville's such a big chicken - he took off when Gwii tried to sniff at him. Since then for the rest of the evening, he's been pretty traumatized and jumpy! Funny cat.

Roasted garlic...

This is one recipe you HAVE to try if you like garlic. It's great after it's cooled a little and eat it straight, just pop it right out of the skin. I tend to get carried away with eating it right away.


Roasted Garlic Recipe

1 Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2 Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

3 Place the garlic in foil. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Sprinkle with pepper. Close it with the aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

4 Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Eat as is (I love straight roasted garlic) or mash with a fork and use for cooking. Can be spread over warm French bread, mixed with sour cream for a topping for baked potatoes, or mixed in with Parmesan and pasta.

Tonight's dinner......Shrimp Stir Fry

Yep....this is what we had for dinner tonight right here at home! Shrimp stir fry with all the fresh veggie fixins. I put green, yellow, red pepper, baby carrots, fresh roasted garlic (did that yesterday), celery, sweet onion, and portabello mushrooms. Seasoned with sea salt, a lot of pepper, cayenne pepper, and a lot of Emeril's Asian Essence. All stir fried in virgin olive oil! As Freedom would say Waaaa-laaaa. ha ha!

Went grocery shopping Satuday night, saw this huge, nice shrimp in the freezer case there was one of those $4.00 sale signs by it and I thought OMG, what a good deal, so I put two bags in my cart. As you can see by the pic, they're huge. Anyway, the next day I looked at my receipt - 9.00 a bag!!! I splurged and didn't even realize it til the next day.

Oh well, it was worth it they are very deliciously scrumptious and plump. Don't know why I'm on a shrimp kick lately!!! I have another bag and I'm thinking about either grilling or fonduing maybe look up a recipe for tempura. That'd be different and I'm sure fun and tasty too.

Last Christmas Emma gave me this really nice electric fondue pot (the best), it's still in the box. I think it's time to break that 'mutha' in. Muaaah haaa haa, I crack myself up. If that happens, I will for sure put a pic of the fondued shrimp on my blog.

Out with friends.....Emma, April and Stephanie

Met a few friends out last Friday evening for good conversation, laughs, wine, and dinner where Emma works. The dinner was faaaaab-u-lous as usual, Stephanie and I shared the colossal shrimp dinner but we tried the broiled instead of the deep fried. The deep fried is the way to go even though it's more fattening.

One of those once-in-a-great-while dining out treats! Nice atmosphere, good company, good food and fun conversation.

Stephanie usually chef's it up @ her house, she's the ultimate gourmet. The last picture is April and Stephanie.

Friends over....Vicki and Carol

These pics were taken a few weeks ago. Two of my very very good friends, we go way back to college days....many moons ago. They both had to 'get away', they're taking care of grand children and foster children..babies.

So, they decided to pay me a visit and as usual we sat here and laughed, I mean gut wrenching laughs, you know the only way Shinaab people know how to do. We laughed at how old we're getting and all the dumb and daring things we did and said when we were so young all those years ago. We caught ourselves talking about aches and pains, medications, then we realized that we were really sounding like old women.

Especially when all three of us have beautiful daughters that are now the age we were when we became friends, I mean talk about feeling old. Carol's daughter just returned from Costa Rica, study abroad and Vicki's daughter is in college - tall and beautiful. And of course we all know Emma.

We had so much fun that night!! My dad even added to the fun that night with his stories.

Little Buck........

Well, here he is! Just happened to look out the window and there he was eating grass. Even after he spotted me at the window, he didn't run off. He's a cute little guy! A loner, typical male this one, doesn't hang out with the other two - they must be female. I hope they all live through hunting season, I would like to see them all back here again in the spring.

The video get's a little shakey in spots as I was kneeling down and standing up...it almost looks like I fell over at one point. But, no not this old lady. The knees aren't as bouncy as they use to be.

He eventually just slinked off, couldn't startle him into bounding and leaping away.

I knew it..I knew it all along!!!

'This is your victory'













I feel good today. I did know it all along though that Obama would be our next president! From the time I heard his first campaign speech, he carried himself so presidential, he's so eloquent, brilliant, self-controlled, not to mention handsome!

After we voted yesterday, Emma and I had a little pre-celebration dinner at Sparkling Waters. We shared the colossal shrimp dinner - OMG - we got three with our meal, they're the size of my fist! They are the best!!! Wish I had a picture to share. I would definetly order that dinner again.

Vote Obama!!