Cheers and heartfelt congratulations to my husband who finished his 21,569 word thesis last night! I couldn’t be happier for him or prouder of him. Mike gets a short break before and then returns to campus to defend his thesis on July 5th.
I am a huge fan of barely ripe bananas. I always look for a nice lime green bundle when I am at the store. I refuse to eat them if they have even one brown spot on them - YUCK! The only problem is I am often left with rotten bananas on my hands.
I heard a great tip one one of my favorite Saturday afternoon PBS shows: Everyday Food. One of the hosts recommended using them in one of my favorite breakfast treats - smoothies. He suggested putting the over-ripe bananas in the freezer so they add crunch to the smoothie. It’s genious really, I only use frozen fruit for my smoothies, so this fits right in! I am not sure why I didn’t think of this on my own…
Had a really great weekend! Fun lunch on Friday, Swedish Days Saturday night, crafting all weekend (more about that later) and I spent 3 glorious hours at Mario Tricoci getting a 50 min swedish masssage, mani and pedi. It was amazing and I need to do that more often!
While talking about swedish massages, I realized that I didn’t exactly know what it was. Come to find out “the term ‘Swedish Massage’ refers to a variety of techniques specifically designed to relax muscles by applying pressure to them against deeper muscles and bones, and rubbing in the same direction as the flow of blood returning to the heart”.
My search continues for the perfect deoderant . . .so far on the blog I’ve searched for and found the perfect white skirt and the perfect lipstick. To aid in my search for the perfect deorderant, I signed up to take the Dove Ultimate Clear Challenge (ie try a new deoderant fo free). We’ll see how Dove’s claim not to leave white marks on clothes and keep me dry holds up! Thanks, not Martha!
These grilled shrimp tacos are one of my favorites! I think they will go quite well with the mango peach salsa. Recipe thanks to Real Simple and Posey.
Grilled Shrimp Tacos
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large garlic cloves, minced
4 limes, cut into quarters
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 6-inch corn tortillas
2 to 3 cups finely shredded green cabbage
Bottled green tomatillo salsaMango Peach SalsaWhisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, milk, and cumin. Set aside. Skewer the shrimp. (If using wood skewers, soak them in water for 10 minutes beforehand.) In a small bowl, combine the butter and garlic.
Preheat a gas grill to high; adjust to medium after 15 minutes. (If cooking over charcoal, allow the coals to burn until they are covered with gray ash.) Brush the skewered shrimp with the garlic butter. Place them on the grill with the limes. Cook about 4 minutes on each side or until the shrimp are opaque and the limes are browned. Remove from grill. Lightly salt the shrimp.
Grill the tortillas for 30 seconds on each side, then place inside a paper bag to keep warm. To serve, pull the shrimp off the skewers and divide them evenly among the tortillas. Top with the cabbage, sour cream sauce, tomatillo salsa, and a spritz of grilled lime.Rainy-Day Method: Broil the shrimp and limes about 4 inches from the heat using the cooking times above. Wrap the tortillas in foil and heat in a 350° F oven for 15 minutes, or wrap them in a napkin and microwave for 3 minutes.
To keep the shrimp from spinning when flipped, thread them on 2 parallel skewers instead of one.
Heather bought some outstanding mango peach salsa for her party last Saturday. It was so good, that we bought some at our next trip to Costco. I was telling Alison about it explaining that I had so much and would give her some the next time I saw her. She laughed saying she had a container in her fridge. I’ve been trying to come up with creative ways to use the salsa; it would be great with any kind of white fish. I also thought it would be good with pork chops.
I have a great recipe for a pork chop marinade that I got from Laurie who got it from Cooking Light, I think.
Pork Chop Teriyaki Merinade
4 pork chops (approx ¾ in chick)
¼ c low sodium soy sauce
3 T minced onion
2 T white wine
2 T lime juice
1 T ginger
1 ½ t brown sugar
2 minced garlic cloves
Trim fat from pork. Combine pork with ingredients in large zip lock bag. Seal and Marinade in fridge for 4 hours. Remove and grill until done.
Mike and I have lived in our townhouse for 2 years now. After we closed on the house, we spent 2 - 3 weeks painting everything and making the place our own. I love how our place looks, with the exception of one room: our bedroom. I have gone into full nesting mode (as Mike says) and am redoing our bedroom.
A few weeks ago I came across this funky lamp that is SO not me but SO perfect for the room I am planning. I finally broke down yesterday and bought it. I love it! Next to the lamp is the throw pillow that goes with the new bedding I want. One of the hardest parts of the bedroom re-do is going to be painting our room and its 15 - 20 foot ceilings. I’d like to paint a shade or two lighter than the lamp to accompany khacki and white bedding.
I have a few projects up my sleeve for our bedroom. More to come on the blog!
I always check foodtv.com before I head out on a trip to a new place. Rachel Ray’s $40 a day is a great resource for restaurants in new cities. She covers a lot of territory from Coos Bay, Oregon to Amsterdam! You can find a list of the cities and her restaurant finds here.
I was on the site looking for a lobster roll shack she visited in Maine. Mike and I are headed up to the Barron family cabin in a few weeks and I was hoping we could find this tiny shack that’s known for the best lobster rolls in Maine. The current front runner for best lobster rolls (at a great price) on my list is the Grace Church on Woodlawn Ave in Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard (note: only available on Friday night) They were so good last year that Mike and I drove back for seconds just as they were closing. $12 for a lobster roll, drink and chips - you can’t beat it!
I’ll let you know if I can find the name of the shack and hopefully it will be on our way as we drive from Providence to Bar Harbor, so I can report back with pictures.
Britney “Mom of the Year” Spears, is looking into having her second child in Namibia. This is just too much! I’m not sure what’s more disturbing, that she has these plans or that it made cnn.com.
While I hate to admit it, I watched CBS’ new “reality” show Tuesday Night Bookclub last night. The show was like a Desperate Housewives wanna-be reality show; it even had it’s own moderator/voice a la Mary Alice. While the show was not quality, it was entertaining!! After an exciting, but disappointing night at City Hall, brainless tv was exactly what I needed to unwind. By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen more silicone in one picture - yikes!
I am excited that one of my favorite shows is back on HBO for its third season: Entourage (aka Sex in the City for guys). The first show was fab and I can only imagine what the rest of the season has to hold. Entourage’s leading man Adrian Grenier also makes an appearance in Devil Wears Prada which opens on June 30 - can’t wait!