Postcards I received today and yesterday

Recipe: Chicken Fajitas

I made this last week. The recipe is from the Williams Sonoma Library Stir Fry cookbook.

Ingredients:
3 TBSP vegetable or olive oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 red (spanish) onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded, deribbed and thinly sliced
2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tomato, peeled and diced
3 TBSP fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
salt and pepper

For Serving:
warmed flour or corn tortillas
1 c sour cream
1 c fresh tomato salsa
1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and diced
1 c cheddar cheese

In a wok or frying pan over medium-high heat, warm 2 TBSP of the oil, swirling to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. When the oil is hot, add the chicken strips and stir and toss every 15-20 seconds until lightly brown and just cooked through, 3-4 minutes. Be sure to distribute the chicken evenly in the pan so it comes into maximum contact with the heat and cooks evenly. Transfer to a dish and set aside.

Add the remaining 1 TBSP of oil to the pan, again swirling to coat the pan. Add the onion and stir and toss for 1 minute. Add the bell pepper and jalapenos and stir and toss every 15-20 seconds until the onion has softened, 4-6 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato and stir and toss for 1 minute longer. Add the lime juice, cumin and the 2 TBSP cilantro and the reserved chicken. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with cilantro leaves. Serve immediately with a basket of warmed tortillas and small bowls of sour cream, salsa and avocado on the side.


This turned out good but next time I would add more jalapenos.

Dinner: Clamato Shrimp Saute

I made this a few weeks ago. I even took pictures but of course they are still on my camera. I'll get those up soon.

Ingredients

* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 oz. chorizo
* ½ medium onion, diced
* 2 garlic cloves, sliced
* 1 lb. large shrimps, peeled, divined and raw
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 cup Clamato® Tomato Cocktail
* ½ cup evaporated milk
* ½ bunch basil, chopped fine
* ½ cup Spanish olives, stuffed with peppers

Directions

1. In a large skillet, over medium-high heat; heat olive oil, add chorizo, cook for 3-4 minutes, browning and crumbling.
2. Add shrimp, cook half way, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Sprinkle shrimp mixture with flour, cook 2 more minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add Clamato and evaporated milk, cook 2-3 more minutes, until sauce thickens.
5. Reduce heat to low, add olives and basil; cook for 5 minutes.
6. Serve immediately.

This turned out good and the kids even liked it.

Book Review: Heart in the Right Place

My sister read this book first and said I should read it too.

Its a memoir of a woman who goes home to Tennessee to help out her dad with his medical practice when her mother is in the hospital after having a heart attack. Her dad is the only medical provider within 100 miles. Many of his clients don't have insurance and don't pay money either in most cases but pay with other goods.

The woman leaves a pretty high powered job in Washington DC on capital hill. So she tries to keep up with that job and trying to figure out how to fill in for her mother who was the receptionist/medical assistant/ cleaner of spills. Its a pretty heartwarming book filled with stories about patients that are seen at the practice. I especially like the one's involving Michael. She tells humorous stories about the patients and especially about an addict who is trying to get percocet from the Doctor. But she does it in such a way that you know that these people are people she cares about.

Postcards from Hungary & Portugal

Here's a postcard from Hungary.

Next is one from Portugal that the sender took themselves.

Movie Review: Under the Same Moon

I watched this movie over the weekend. It is the story of a illegal aliens in the United States. Rosario is working illegally in the U.S. to provide a better life for her son Carlitos who remains in Mexico living with his grandmother. After his grandmother dies and missing his Mother, Carlitos crosses the border and begins his search for his mother in the U.S. Starring, Kate del Castillo, Adrian Alonso, Jesse Garcia and America Ferrera.

I enjoyed this movie and got to work on my Spanish at the same time.

Movie Review: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

I watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day earlier this week. Starring Frances McDormand, Amy Adams and others. Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) loses her last nanny position due to her demeanor. She lands an assignment as the assistant of an American Actress (Amy Adams) she gets swept up in the glamorous world of high society of London, set in the 1940's. Miss Pettigrew helps the american actress and her friend with their love lives and falls in love herself. I really enjoyed the movie and it was only an hour and half but felt just the right amount of time.

Postcard I received today

This postcard is of the Maymont Home in Richmond, VA. This bedroom suite was created for the owner Mrs. James Dooley and the Tiffany and Company silver and ivory dressing table are of special note in the Swan room.

Would you want to sleep in a Swan Bed?

Postcards I received today and yesterday

Can you guess which postcard is from Arkansas, Japan and Spain?

Its not too hard!

I still need to post my pictures from this chorizo and shrimp thing I made on Sunday.

Postcards I received this past week

The first one is from Canada and the changing of the guard.

The second is an art deco architecture card I got from someone from Florida.


The last is another Kaj card from Finland. Called "the Odipus Complex"

Enjoy!

Top 100 novels How Many Have You Read?

Found this listing of the best books written...or something like that. I have read the ones in bold. I guess i Have a lot of reading to do.

I'm a bit surprised by the books that aren't on this list.

How did you do?


On July 21, 1998, the Radcliffe Publishing Course compiled and released its own list of the century's top 100 novels, at the request of the Modern Library editorial board.
1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
41. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia by Willa Cather
52. Howards End by E.M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie's Choice by William Styron
58. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
62. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
65. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
68. Light in August by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
72. A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Tokias by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
85. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
94. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
99. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

So Who Reads My Blog?

So who reads my blog??

1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together.
It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
And if we've never met in real life, leave me a comment of your favorite post.
I wrote and why it was your favorite.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually really funny to see the responses.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Dinner Tonight

I didn't think about taking pictures of this so you'll have to imagine it and or make it yourself.

Clamato Cooked Salmon.

Ingredients

* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 medium red onion, diced
* 2 garlic cloves, sliced
* 1 fresh jalapeño, seeded, minced
* ½ bunch cilantro, chopped fine
* ½ bunch basil, chopped fine
* 2 limes, for juice
* 1½ cups Clamato® Tomato Cocktail
* Salt and pepper to taste
* 4 salmon fillets

Directions

1. In a large skillet, over medium-high heat; heat olive oil, add onions, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro; basil cook 3-5 minutes.
2. Add limes juice, Clamato; bring to boil.
3. Reduce heat, cover and simmer slowly.
4. Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper, place in Clamato® broth; cook fillets 9-12 minutes.
5. Serve with white rice and vegetables.

This turned out really good. Even the girls ate it! We didn't have any cilantro so I used parsley and then added a dash of dried cilantro.

Movie Review: Smart People

I watched Smart People last night. The movie stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page, Thomas Hayden Church, and Ashton Holmes.

The movie is about a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a widower (Quaid) who is still dealing with the loss of his wife. He gets hurt and has to depend upon his brother (Hayden Church)to get him back and forth from work.

The relationships between the father (Quaid) his daughter (Page) and his son (Holmes) are very intense and so is the relationships between the father (Quaid) and his brother, and his new love interest...Sarah Jessica Parker through these relationships Quaid's character he learns more about himself and others.

Movie Review: Grace is Gone

I watched Grace is Gone tonight as well. Starring John Cusack! Once I got past that John Cusack was playing a father of a 12 and 8 year old. (I guess John is getting older too)

John Cusack plays Stanley Phillips, father of 2 daughters, husband of a soldier in Iraq. His wife passes away and instead of telling his kids he takes them on a road trip. He calls his home answering machine to hear his wife's voice and talks to the machine hoping that she will give him some advice during this time. He does finally tell the girls and they help him with his grief.

It is a good movie. John is the best part of it.

Movie Review: Ballet Shoes

I watched the Ballet Shoes this evening. The movie is about an explorer who becomes the guardian of his niece and then proceeds to bring home 3 babies from around the world for his niece and her nurse to take care of. The babies grow up and become interested in acting, ballet and airplanes. I only recognized one of the girls in the movie she played Hermonine in the Harry Potter movies. My nieces were excited when they heard the music from Swan Lake. Over all I think the movie was good. But I wouldn't rush to see it either ;)

Career Assessments Hooey? Or Helpful?

I've been taking a career assessment class this week. So far a lot of analysis and tests to see who I am. Pretty much a contradiction with some tests. Myers Briggs not so much but this one called Holland. I am both Artistic (no rules) and opposite on the chart is Conventional (rules). My third was Enterprise (sales jobs) which I'm not sure I agree with. From this test the job titles that came up with ACE was tattoo artist and photojournalist.

After today I'm thinking about a job that would either let me do party planning or convention planning and/or events.

What do you think?

Movie Review: Griffin and Phoenix

I watched Griffin & Phoenix last night. This movie exceeded my expectations. The movie starred Amanda Peet and Dermot Mulroney. You learn early on in the movie that Griffin (Dermot) has inoperable cancer and he meets Phoenix (Amanda) while taking a class on death and dying. Well they fall in love and you learn more about Phoenix and they do a bunch of pranks together.

I don't know why I put this on my list at Netflix but it was a better movie than I thought it would be and I laughed out loud more than a few times so I think it was a successful movie ;) or at least for me last night!