Last year I started swimming laps at my gym. I’d never been a swimmer-for-exercise before that. But I really enjoyed it. Several months ago, because of the drastic change in my fingernails, I stopped. The chemicals in the pool had turned my otherwise strong, long healthy nails into splitting, cracking stubby messes. I’ve tried OPI nail strengtheners of all kinds. I started taking biotin. I’ve increased calcium. I put oil on them before and after. Nothing helps. I finally gave in and decided I would rather get the exercise than have my nice nails back. Oh well. If anyone has other suggestions on how to protect my nails, I’d love to hear them.
So… I’m back to swimming again for about a month now. Lets see how long I can keep it up.
Tag: 365 project
Another weather indicator.
We’re in the midst of another blast of cold weather, sleet and ice. You can listen to weather report to get the latest. Or, you can look at googlemap’s traffic view. Yuk!
Risotto to the rescue.
Today called for a quick decision re: dinner. Tonight’s verdict: Risotto con fungi e prosciutto. Yum. (and a dash of truffle oil!)
Sunday funday.
Sandwiched between the snowpocolypse of last week and another cold front due in tomorrow night was a beautiful day with temps in the 70s and winds blowing in the 20s. We headed to the lake and Lori and Dave joined us. We sailed up and down the lake for about 4 hours and enjoyed being out in it.
Good crew!
Snow day.
This is how much snow and ice it takes to shut down Austin. No snow day for me, sadly. I can make it down the hall to my office just fine.
Pinochle at the pub.
We headed down to our nearby pub after work to grab dinner while playing a few rounds of cards with Tom and Doray. This hand was typical of most of mine all night. “I pass.”
Applebuttery goodness.
I have had a hankering for apple butter lately. My HEB has a poor selection. The only one they stock was full of multi-syllable chemical ingredients, and high fructose corn syrup. I couldn’t bring myself to put it in my cart. When I was a kid, apple butter was one of the many delicious things my mom would make and I would help her with the cooking and canning. So, i decided to make my own apple butter.
There were many different recipes online. I wasn’t looking to go the whole canning route, as I just wanted to make a small batch. Some recipes started with apple sauce. But I wanted to go as close to the good old fashioned way as possible. I found a recipe that sounded minimalistic and simple. I halved the original recipe, and it yielded 2 pint jars (i recycled some Bonne Maman 13 oz jam jars) of applebutter, which have a fridge life of about 2 weeks. Or could be frozen up to a month.
I’ll start with a picture of the result, to get your mouth watering, and follow with the recipe:
You’ll need a crock-pot and an immersion blender. Here’s the before:
You may want to use a variety of apples. I used mostly gala, which are on the sweet side, and mixed in a few red delicious which are less sweet. I also have one of these awesome contraptions, which makes peeling/coring/slicing the apples a breeze:
Crock-pot Applebutter (yields 2 pints)
3 1/4 lbs apples, peeled, cored & sliced
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 T ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 T vanilla extract
Place apple slices in crock pot. In medium bowl, mix sugars, and spices. Sprinkle dry mix over the apples and stir gently to coat apples and combine.
Cook on low, covered, for 12 hours.
Stir in vanilla extract and puree with immersion blender until smooth. For thicker applebutter, can cook on low another hour with lid ajar.
Cool and place in jars. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 2 months.
Sunday sky.
I cannot resist taking another sunset photo from a very nice Sunday.
Imitation is the finest form of flattery.
We love to make homemade pizza at the house. Monte has longed to have a wood-fired pizza oven of our own. We opted out of one when we remodeled the kitchen a few years back. For Christmas this year I got him a Kettle Pizza kit for making pizza outdoors, on the grill. It had great reviews and seemed to be worth checking out.
We also love the pizza from our local Brick Oven pizza restaurant. We like to call it the second best pizza in town – next to ours. 🙂
There is one pizza they make that is fantastic and we have always wanted to try making it ourselves: the Tuscan Truffle.
So…tonight we fired up the kettle and gave it a go. And…. We NAILED IT!
Here is a shot if our first try in the kettle:
Tuscan Truffle pizza
The “sauce” is a mushroom pesto – made out of sautéed mushrooms, parmesan cheese and truffle oil puréed in a food processor. The toppings are prosciutto and mozzarella cheese (just a little, not much of either). It only took about 5 minutes in the kettle pizza oven. After removing, add arugula and grated asiago cheese on top to wilt / melt from the heat of the pizza. Drizzle a little more truffle oil on top and VOILA! Delicious.
Framed.
I finally got around to framing a print that I bought on my last visit to Pike Place Market in Seattle. The artist is Leone Ardo.
Monte made the frame out of western red cedar. It turned out nice, I think.
You know it’s cold when…
…the neighborhood gargoyle is wearing his woolies. 🙂
Back to work.
We’ve survived the flu! We were supping on Tamiflu for two in the week since Christmas. Not what I had imagined for the end of my vacation, but…. it is what it is. And we are all better now! Just in time to get back to work. 
Temps have been dipping low again in the 20s overnight. We are keeping warm with hot cocoa, and a dose of mini marshmallows, of course. It makes the work day go by faster.
Here we go again!
I wish you a most happy, loving, and exciting 2014! I’m counting my blessings while reeling through memories from the year we just wrapped up. Here’s to the next lap ’round the sun. Cheers!
What I got for Christmas…
I have one more week of vacation left. And I get to spend it …. with the flu. Bleh.
The fever has been up to almost 104. But now am on tamiflu. Merry Christmas!
Sheila365 