Fall is finally arriving in The Valley of the Sun and none too soon. This is the most pleasant time of the year to be here and the snowbirds are beginning to arrive before winter sets in .
Oak Creek
One of the really good things about the fall season is knowing that Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice is back. Never tried it? Check it out!
Pumpkin Spice Latte
Fall in Arizona is also the best time of the year to visit the many arts & crafts fairs throughout The Valley. One of the best floating arts & crafts fairs is Briar Patch Marketplace. You can visit their website at: www.briarpatchmarketplace.com
If you have ever considered creating art using the medium of watercolor, Kathy B. has written an article on Getting Started With Watercolor. You can also view some of her work at: www.Etsy.com
We have added a wonderful fall recipe forStuffed Peppers that has been handed down in our family over the years.
And as always there are a fewJokes & Storiesfrom readers and from around the web. Feel free to contribute by email at:
This takes some time and a little effort to prepare, but it is well worth it.
What you need
A nice sized stew pot and cover
4 well shaped, symmetrical peppers (green, red, yellow or a combination)
2 large eggs
1 cup of Progresso Italian Style breadcrumbs
2 Garlic cloves
1 cup of chopped spinach (frozen works great – thawed and drained)
2 cans of chicken broth
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp of salt
1tsp of black pepper
2tsp of parsley flakes
1tsp basil
Olive oil
Serves 4
First
Cut the tops off the peppers and core them. Be sure not to leave any seeds or white spines. Rinse thoroughly and set aside.
Second
Finely chop the garlic and combine with eggs, breadcrumbs, spinach, cheese, salt, pepper, parsley, parmesan and basil. Knead into a moist, well mixed mound.
Third
Stuff each pepper to about a 1/4 inch below the top. Insert a sliver of garlic in the center of each pepper and sprinkle some grated parmesan on top.
Fourth
Pour the broth into the stew pot and place the peppers upright in the pot and drizzle some olive oil over each one. Cook 30-40 minutes over medium heat until the peppers are soft but not mushy. The pot must be covered and the peppers basted frequently with the broth. Remove the peppers and let them settle for a few minutes.
This dish is very, very filling and need only be served with a salad, French or Italian bread and a nice Chianti
Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.
Divorced & Drunk
A man and his wife are at a restaurant, and the husband keeps staring at an old drunken lady swigging her gin at a nearby table.
His wife asks, “Do you know her?”
“Yes,” sighs the husband. “She’s my ex-wife. She took to drinking right after we divorced seven years ago, and I hear she hasn’t been sober since.”
“My God!” says the wife. “Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?”
My Dog Don’t Bite
A hound dog lays in the yard and an old man in overalls sits on the porch.
“Excuse me, sir, but does your dog bite?” a jogger asks.
The old man looks over his newspaper and replies, “Nope.”
As soon as the jogger enters the yard, the dog begins snarling and growling, and then attacks the jogger’s legs. As the jogger flails around in the yard, he yells, “I thought you said your dog didn’t bite!”
Well, September has finally arrived and soon things will be cooling down here in Metro Phoenix. This has been a blazing hot three months with unusually high humidity. For whatever reason, the summers seem to be getting hotter.
Hope you all had a great summer wherever you live!
Hot Summer Sun
For those of you who never met our two dogs, I will be introducing them in a brief article called Puppy Love. A little bit about them and some things we learned from them.
You can also find a nice quick and delicious recipe for Caprese Saladthat looks pretty and can stand alone as a main course.
And as always there are a fewJokes & Storiesfrom readers and from around the web. Feel free to contribute by email at:
I love this dish! It is so very easy to prepare and very satisfying as either an appetizer or entree.
What you need
A nice sized serving platter
1lb of fresh mozzarella
3 Large , ripe, firm tomatoes
A fistful of fresh basil(enough for about 12 good sized leaves)
24 black, pitted olives
A small jar of sliced roasted peppers in olive oil
12 Artichoke hearts in olive oil
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt
Ground pepper
Oregano
Serves 4-6
First
Cut the mozzarella into 12 slices about 1/4 inch thick and distribute the slices evenly around the serving platter. Sprinkle with a little salt and ground black pepper.
Second
Cut the ends off of the tomatoes and put them aside. Carefully slice the tomatoes into 4 thick quarters so that you are left with 12 healthy slices.
Third
Place the sliced tomatoes on top of the mozzarella slices and sprinkle with a little salt and some oregano. Place a leaf of fresh basil on top.
Fourth
Chop up the ends that were cut from the tomatoes and use them as a base for the black olives. Place the black olives and chopped tomatoes, roasted peppers and artichoke hearts in the center of the serving platter. Coat the basil, tomatoes and mozzarella with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you are ready to serve. You’ll need steak knives and forks.
A nice crusty loaf of warm bread and a bottle of wine tops things off.
Okay, okay. In the last blog I indicated that I wouldn’t be posting again until after Labor Day. Well, as I am writing this (June 18th), the temperature in Scottsdale is 115 degrees (but it’s a dry heat, yeah, yeah, yeah) and the streets are mostly deserted. So, who wants to go outside anyway?
Old Town Scottsdale
Over the course of a few days, we decided to do a summertime sampling of some fast food joints to see what’s new, read Fast Food Fandango for the lowdown.
You can also find a great summer recipe for Baked Chickenthat’s pretty easy to make.
And as always there are a few Jokes & Storiesfrom readers and from around the web. Feel free to contribute by email at: [email protected]
I inherited this recipe from my mother a long time ago. It’s been tweaked a little bit over the years and the result is a tasty and fairly easy to prepare meal.
What you need
A broiler pan (the kind you find in most ovens)
Aluminum foil
Canola oil cooking spray
4-Good sized bone-in chicken breasts
2-Large baking potatoes
4-Cloves of finely chopped garlic
1-Can of peas
1-Large sweet onion
Olive oil
8-Thin pats of real butter
Salt and ground black pepper
Oregano
First
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Very important!
Second
Line the bottom of the broiler pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up. Spray with the cooking oil so that the breasts don’t stick.
Third
While the oven is heating up, rinse each breast under cold running water and pat the excess water off with paper towels.
Fourth
Place the breasts on the cooking spray coated pan and pour some olive oil over each breast and rub it in.
Salt and pepper to taste. Add some of the chopped garlic on top of the breasts and sprinkle with oregano.
Fifth
Cut the potatoes into quarters leaving the skin on. Slit each piece and place a small pat of butter in the slit. Distribute the potatoes among the chicken breasts.
Slice the sweet onion into rings and put the rings in with the chicken breasts and potatoes.
Place the pan in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes pour the peas and the liquid in the can over the everything and cook for another 15 minutes. Start checking the chicken breasts at this point. You don’t want them to overcook or undercook. Make a small cut at the meatiest part of one of the breasts. The chicken should be moist but, not pink.
You really don’t need a side dish with this as everything is right there in the pan.
For all of you with any money left, be aware of the next expected mergers so that you can get in on the ground floor and make some BIG bucks.
Watch for these consolidations in 2015:
Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush, and W. R. Grace Co. will merge and become: Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace
FedEx is expected to join its competitor, UPS, and become: FedUP.
Knotts Berry Farm and the National Organization of Women will become: Knott NOW
And finally…..
4. Victoria ‘s Secret and Smith & Wesson will merge under the new name: TittyTittyBangBang
From Naples, FL
A few years ago, my wife and I moved into a development on Florida’s southeast coast. We are living in the Delray/Boca area.
Our biggest retirement concern was time management. What were we going to do all day? No longer. Let me assure you, passing the time is not a problem.
Our days are eaten up by simple, daily activities. Just getting out of our car takes 15 minutes. Trying to find where we parked takes 20 minutes. It takes a half-hour in the check-out line in Wal-Mart, and 1 hour to return the item the next day.
Let me take you through a typical day: We get up at 5:00 am. After a nimble walk, avoiding irate drivers out to make us road kill, we go back home, shower and change for the next activity.
My wife goes directly to the pool for her underwater Pilates class, followed by gasping for breath and CPR. I put on my “ask me about my grandchildren” T-shirt, my plaid mid-calf shorts, my white socks and sandals and go to the clubhouse lobby for a nice nap.
Before we know it, it’s time for lunch. We go to Costco to partake of the many tasty samples dispensed by ladies in white hair nets. All free! After a filling lunch, we might go to the flea market to see if any new white belts have come in or to buy a Rolex watch for $2.00. We’re usually back home by 2:00 pm to get ready for dinner.
People start lining up for the early bird about 3:00 pm,(you might remember the Seinfeld episode about this) but we get there by 3:45 because we’re late eaters. The dinners are very popular because of the large portions they serve. We can take home enough food for the next day’s lunch and dinner, including extra bread, crackers, packets of mustard, relish, ketchup and Splenda, along with mints.
At 5:30 pm we’re home, ready to watch the news. By 6:30 pm we’re fast asleep. Then it’s time to get up and start a new day all over again.
Bob Dylan said it best” “May you stay forever young”
Never give up and never give in!
From Anonymous On The Web
There once was a farmer who was raising 3 daughters on his own. He was very concerned about their well being and always did his best to watch out for them. As they entered their late teens the girls dated, and on this particular evening all three of his girls were going out on a date. This was the first time this had occurred. As was his custom, he would greet the young suitor at the door holding his shotgun, not to menace or threaten but merely to ensure that the young man knew who was boss.
The doorbell rang and the first of the boys arrived. Father answered the door and the lad said, “Hi, my name’s Joe, I’m here for Flo. We’re going to the show, is she ready to go?” The father looked him over and sent the kids on their way.
The next lad arrived and said, “My name’s Eddie, I’m here for Betty, we’re gonna get some spaghetti, is she ready?” Father felt this one was okay too, so off the two kids went.
The final young man arrived and the farmer opened the door. The boy started off, “Hi, my name’s Chuck… –” and the farmer shot him.
A good part of the month of May was spent on Maui. Although this trip was primarily for business, we did manage to get some touring in and to check out some of the great restaurants, inns and resorts, some for the first time and some old favorites. We will be returning in October for what may turn out to be our last visit before making the final move.
Also in this month’s blog is a quick and easy recipe for broiled tilapia that is both healthy and tasty.
In ourPull My Finger post, we will be sharing jokes from around the web and jokes that you send in. Feel free to contribute by email at: [email protected]
This dish takes about 45 minutes from prep to finish. Tilapia does not have its own distinctive taste and lends itself well to whatever seasoning and flavoring you choose. This recipe is straightforward, easy to prepare and low in calories.
What you need
A broiler pan (the kind you find in most ovens)
Aluminum foil
Canola oil cooking spray
4-good sized tilapia fillets or loins (I like the frozen variety, after defrosting, they taste more fresh).
4-Cloves of finely chopped garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
8-Thin pats of real butter
Salt and ground black pepper
Parsley flakes
1-Lemon
First
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. This is a very important step.
Second
Line the bottom of the broiler pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up. Leave the top grate uncovered. Spray the top grate with the cooking oil so that the fillets don’t stick.
Third
While the oven is heating up, rinse each filet under cold running water and pat the excess water off with paper towels.
Fourth
Place the fillets on the cooking spray coated grate and drizzle some olive oil over each filet.
Salt and pepper to taste and add some of the chopped garlic on top of each filet.
Place 2 pats of butter on each fillet and then sprinkle some parsley flakes on top.
Squeeze the lemon juice over the fillets
Place the pan in the pre-heated oven and cook for 30-35 minutes.
This is nicely served over a bed of rice with cooked green veggies on the side.
