beer – barefootgirl in the kitchen

friday thoughts

September 21, 2012 6 Comments

hello friends 🙂

I have a confession… I woke in quite a sour mood this morning. You see, I have a lot going on behind the scenes here… some of it I’ve eluded to, some I’m not ready to just yet… In due time, I shall share. For right now, I have moments of ups and downs and this morning was a ‘down’

After a completely ineffective pity party for myself. ( like that ever works..) I decided to go for a ‘run’ ( ok. ok.. jog/ walk) but still… it feels important to me 🙂

And I got to thinking that if I started to think of good things form this week gone by then I would be better off.. so here I present to you

my reasons to smile

1~ ( I know you are all sick of hearing this.. but years from now I will look back and want to be part of this weeks’ memories) I ran my first 5k…. you need to know that this was one of those things that I pictured that I would be sitting in a rocker with Scott ( ok.. he could have his own next tome.. but you get the idea 😉 ) when I was 72 saying, ” ya know hon.. I probably could have done that way back when I was 41 if only I tried.”

I tried

I did

success!

2~ in regards to THIS post, which I wrote as a thank you to all of those who have helped me along the way with my personal journey… I received a lot of sweet responses that quite frankly , blew me away. I love you guys.

the next day I received a series of text messages from Amanda, my daughter-in-law… I was on the phone at the time, so I didn’t get them until all at once. which turned out to be even better…

seriously…. how could this NOT make me smile???? I’m so blessed that she & Jason found each other 🙂 I love you both!

3~I met a friend at Mayflower brewing company last night. Many many many years ago we worked in the same salon together… I think it is extra-special when you can meet up with an old friend and it’s like time hasn’t passed at all.

I’m finding more and more that re-connecting with my old friends is reminding me of this path that I have taken to get to here and that I am so lucky to have had all of you in my life…

* I actually ran into another old friend yesterday that I have seen in about 15 years… to put it in perpective, Scott and I dropped Jason off at her house the night I went into labor with Ryan*

~the irony? it was at the running store.

and some people don’t believe in this whole ‘connection ‘ thing.

4~ I used to DESPISE Norah Jones… in my opinion, She stole the Grammy away from Bruce for his album ‘The Rising’..his amazingly awesome tribute ALBUM to 911( not just one song folks.. A WHOLE ALBUM ) I was bitter for years. ( I remember being in the salon the morning after the Grammys talking to my clients… ” who the hell is this Norah ( said with extreme distaste)”….

then something happened and I kinda fell in love with her :).. yup girl crush here. I’m ok with that . I listen to her on rainy days… somedays while staring out at the ocean.. I have a Pandora station of her music ( as well as her cds ) While I have heard this song and SANG this song.. I only figured out about an hour ago what it its about..

her dog ! How could THAT not make me smile??

5~ I’m making THIS for dinner.. It’s Homecoming weekend and the girls are out most of the weekend.. and Scott is actually home.. so I can have fun with these ingredients. which sent me out in search of figs and I found

…….a sale on Oregon cheese and Washington apples!!

and as silly as it sounds, it makes me feel closer to Ryan…. so I bought them… I think we will open one of the bottles of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir tonight to go with this 🙂

happy start of your weekend, friends 🙂

psst…. one more thing…. guess who signed up for another 5k this weekend??

Liam’s Run for a good laugh, come see me, or even better.. sign up Sunday morning and run with me 🙂

ps.. you have until midnight tonight to qualify to win some nuts

smooches!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: apple, beer, cheese, family, giveaway, music, Oregon, pizza, pups, running, wine

a sea of pink

October 8, 2010 6 Comments

Good morning friends!

( stayed tuned, I promise some food in this post 😉 )

For the last 3 years, my sister, Jodie & I have joined thousands of other women ( and men) to walk 40 miles over the course of 2 days participating in the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer.

It is quite the commitment to participate. Not only do you need to train for months prior to the actual walk, but EACH individual walker needs to commit to raising $1,800.

Not small change, by any means…

It is truly an amazing experience, one that really cannot be put into words.

I’ve tried to share our experience with a Video Slide show

My sister, Jodie & I had were lucky enough to have our daughters born just 1 month & a day apart from each other. My niece ( and Goddaughter), Alexis & Ali have grown up being ‘sisters’. It’s been so wonderful to watch these two grow up together

they are looking out the window on Christmas Eve for Santa 😉

The girls & Scott ( as well as my Mom & stepdad ) have spent the last 3 years showing up at cheering stations , rooting us on & pushing us (sometimes, I wish physically) and being at the finish line waiting for us at the end of this very emotional experience.

Ali & Lex have been patiently waiting until they were old enough to be able to walk with us.

This winter the girls each turn 16, meaning that they will be old enough to participate!!

My youngest niece, Mollie, still has many years until she will be able to walk with us in the Avon walk, but we found another walk this past weekend that she was able to join us in..

Making Strides against Breast Cancer..

so early Sunday morning, the 5 of us, donned in pink, headed to Beantown to participate in a 6 mile walk around The Charles River for breast cancer awareness.

at every mile marker, Mollie got a snack..

this was mile 1

like her Aunt, she loves food!
we need to find a cure….

these two walked arm & arm for most of the walk 🙂

After the walk we stopped one of my favorite restaurants, Rustic Kitchen, on the way home so that the girls could have some hot cocoa & Jodie & I could have a glass of wine… but when I saw the menu Pumpkin beer .. I just had to have my sister try it.

this is a horrible, distorted photo of us, but I wanted to share her first Pumpkin brew with all of you!!

NOW… since this is supposed to be a food blog… I give you

CHILI !!!

full disclosure… this is in no way shape or form nearly as professional as my friend Cecelia‘s award winning chili, but for a yankee girl, it didn’t come out that badly

(plus 😉 I was able to assemble it at 5 am & come home at the end of the walk to dinner waiting for me)

my recipe:

2 pounds ground chuck

2 teaspoons cumin

3 assorted peppers

2 large onions

a carrot

2 garlic cloves, peeled

2 large cans of tomatoes

fresh tomatoes

( all of my veggies came form Plato\’s Harvest Organic Farm )

1 can of white beans, rinsed & drained

1 can of kidney beacons, rinsed & drained

chili powder ( to taste)

a few banana peppers ( feel free to omit if you don’t like thigns a little bit spicy..)

I started by browning up the ground beef, seasoning with salt & pepper & cumin.

before the cooked ground beef makes it to the crock pot, I pour it into a fine mesh strainer to remove excess grease

)))grease(((

once strained, put it in the crock pot

Place the onion, peppers , garlic & carrot in a food processor. Pulse until the veggies are about the same size as the ground beef crumbles. add to the saute pan & saute for a minute, picking up any leftover browned bits from the beef.

((love hiding me some veggies in a family meal ;)))

Have the veggies jump on in the crock pot with the beef.

add the tomatoes & chili powder; Stir to combine, then place the banana peppers right on in the bathtub of chili… they’re going for a nice long steamy bath !!

( a special little treat for the spicy chef)

I cooked it on low all day long… adding the beans about an hour before we wanted to eat.

I view chili like I do oatmeal & more oatmeal

the perfect base for TOPPINGS!!

it’s all about the toppings!