In My World

Tree Hugger Letterboxing Meet Up May 15, 2010 St. Thomas, Ontario Please join us for a day or two or three -- whichever works for you. We promise to keep you entertained and letterboxing in some very beautiful areas including Downtown St. Thomas, Old Talbot Street, Pinafore Park and areas further afield. We will be introducing a new series of boxes representing Heritage Trees at this meet up. TREES I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day And lifts her leafy arms to pray, A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair Upon whose blossom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems were made by fools like me But only God can make a tree. --Joyce Kilmer Schedule of Events: 11 am: Registration at Pinafore Park, swaps, goodie bags 12 pm: Pot luck lunch, group photo, and then off letterboxing 7 pm: Supper and social at a local restaurant (loc...

If you like curry I think you will love this recipe. Hal and I are only fond of curry. 2 servings 350 calories per serving 1 clove garlic, pressed 1 tsp ginger root, grated 1 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed salt to taste ground pepper to taste 1 chicken leg with back, skinless 1/2 onion, finely chopped 1 green peppers, cut into strips 1 potato, peeled and diced 2 tsp olive oil 1 tbsp curry powder 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk 1/4 cup water 1/4 tsp brown sugar 2 tsp fresh cilantro (optional) Press the garlic, grate the ginger and put them in a bowl. Pour in the lime juice, then add salt and pepper. Separate the chicken drumstick from the thigh and put the pieces in the bowl. Rub the chicken with the marinade, then cover and let stand in the refrigerator overnight. Prepare the vegetables: finely chop onion and cut the peppers into strips, peel the potatoes and cut into 1.5 cm cubes. Heat the oil in a saute pan or wok over med...

This chili recipe is quite lovely, mild and a very interesting flavour. I Served it with brown rice. I think I might enter this recipe into a chili cook off if we had one. 2 servings 390 calories per serving 1/2 onions, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 dried chili peppers, minced 1/2 green peppers, diced 1 tbsp canola oil 200 g ground beef, lean 3/4 cup canned tomatoes (diced or chopped) 1 tbsp tomato paste ground pepper to taste 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 tbsp brown sugar 1/3 cup beef broth 1 tbsp water, if necessary 1-1/2 cups red beans (canned) salt to taste 1/2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (optional) 1/2 lime (optional) Prepare the vegetables. Finely chop the onion, mince the garlic and chili pepper, and finely dice the bell pepper. Heat half of the oil in a pan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic about 3 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent, with occasional stirring, paying attention not to let them burn...

4 servings 70 calories per serving 1/2 melon or cataloupe 1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed 4 tbsp sugar 1/2 cup water Peel the melon and remove the seeds. Coarsely dice the flesh, then transfer it to the jar of a blender. Pour in the lemon juice, sugar and water, then pulse until smooth. Pour the mixture into a large glass or metal pan, large enough so that the liquid will be less than 1 cm thick. Freeze until the mixture becomes a firm slush, about 40 minutes. Scrape the surface with a fork and spoon out the shavings into transparent glasses to serve. www.soscuisine.com I have to say, neither Hal nor I were particularly happy with this recipe. I think I will try it again in the summer with local melons.

My sister Nancy made this gorgeous quilt top . . . and I did all the rest. This quilt is a present for my youngest grandson.

2 servings 210 calories per serving 2/3 cup water 1/8 tsp salt 1 tsp olive oil 2/3 cup coucous 1 tsp butter, unsalted (optional) Pour the water into a saucepan, then bring it to a rolling boil. Add the salt and oil. Remove the saucepan from heat then slowly pour in the couscous while stirring gently. cover for 2 minutes, until the couscous has swelled and all the water is absorbed. Add a little more water if the couscous looks too dry. 1-2 pats of butter can also be added, if you wish. Serve. Hal and I both love couscous. www.soscuisine.com

This was our supper Saturday night: Garden Salad, Cabbage Soup, Green Lentil Stew with a Tomato Sauce, and Apple Compote. Here's the dessert recipe: 7-1/2 apples 1/1-4 cup water 1/4 cup sugar (optional) Cut the apples into quarters without peeling the. (I peeled 8) Put them in a saucepan. Pour 1-2 cm of water in the bottom of the saucepan and add sugar. Cover and cook over low heat about 10 minutes, until the apples are softened completely. Puree the apples using a food mill. Let the puree cool down and serve cold or at room temperature. (I left the apple quarters whole; didn't puree them) A lovely light dessert; a perfect end to the meal. www.soscuisine.com

I've renamed this "Tomato Stew". Delicious. Simple. Very filling. 2 servings 190 calories per serving 7 tbsp green-brown lentils(dried), rinsed and drained 1 cup My Mother's Tomato Sauce (recipe below) salt to taste It is not necessary to soak the lentils in advance. Rinse the lentils and pick out any small stones and debris. Cook them in a saucepan of salted water, about 20-25 minutes until tender but still somewhat al dente. Drain the lentils, discard the liquid and set them aside. Heat My Mother's Tomato Sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the lentils and cook 5-7 minutes, with occasional stirring, until the lentils are fully cooked. Serve with steamed couscous, steamed basmati rice or steamed brown rice. I served it with whole wheat couscous and it was perfect. My Mother's Tomato Sauce makes 2-1/2 cups 1-2/3 cup canned tomatoes (diced or chopped) 1 clove garlic 1/2 onion, finely chopped 1/...

8 servings Preparation 10 min / Cooking 50 min 140 calories per serving Ingredients 3 onions, thinly sliced 600 g 7 cups Savoy cabbage, or green , finely chopped 550 g 2 1/2 carrots, shredded 260 g 1 1/2 tbsp canola oil 23 mL 2 1/2 tbsp butter, unsalted 35 g 3/4 tsp sugar 3 g 1 1/4 tsp salt 5 g 1/2 tsp ground pepper 2 g 5 1/2 cups chicken broth 1.38 L 2 3/4 cups milk, partly skimmed, 2% 700 mL Before you start A food processor will make chopping the vegetables easier. Method 1. Prepare the ...

As you can see from my previous post, I had already designed a 2-page layout for my half of the 30-minute Layouts class . . . LOL . . . and then last night I had a thought . . . so when I woke up this morning I used the exact same papers and created this layout and I like it even better . . . so SUBSTITUTION . . . Hope you don't mind. THERE ARE STILL A COUPLE OF OPEN SEATS. 519-631-4352

Sorry the photo isn't great.

This is my first original layout of the month although I was helped by the February sketch of the month at one of my favourite Yahoo groups . . .

Both layouts use photos from a murder mystery in June 2008. In both layouts I used crop circle kits. I love crop circles. Speaking of crop circles . . . the regulars who do this swap have decided that at the next crop circle swap (March 27 @ the Central United Crop) swap kits need to be turned in as soon as you arrive at the crop. I'm looking forward to swapping again!!! I'm getting low on kits . . .

Heritage Trees: Apricot by Big Blue Team Location: 43565 Roberts Line, Central Elgin, ON The Heritage Tree Committee of the St. Thomas Field Naturalist Club was established in 1990 to promote appreciation of the significant native and introduced tree species in Elgin County. One hundred twenty-four trees have been selected and labelled as representatives of the county's diverse flora, because of their interest, rarity and size and for their accessibility due to the generous co-operation of the landowners. These trees represent a portion of the natural heritage of the County of Elgin. Each tree has a plaque denoting the name of the tree. There is a very old apricot tree (Prunus aremeniaca) near the road at 43565 Roberts Line, Central Elgin, Ontario. This property belongs to the Ward family, who are organic farmers: Wardcrest Farms Robert & Eleanor Ward and Steven & Kimberley Ward 43565 Roberts Line, RR#1, Union Simmental Beef: Since 1972, the Ward family has farmed ...

If I've said it ONCE, I've said it a MILLION times . . . sometimes life just gets in the road of all the things you WANT to do. That has been the case for me the past couple of months. But I'm slowly getting back to NORMAL . . . okay MY normal. I even found time to do some scrapbooking this past week. Nothing amazing . . . in fact I sort of feel like I'm cheating . . . just adding photos and journaling to 2 class samples and 1 crop circle. Do you see the lovely dishcloth photo? I posted that as a mystery crochet-along a few weeks back and just finished it this weekend. I'm having a busy week again this week but it's all fun busy stuff: Tuesday is LADIES DAY OUT . I really enjoy this time to craft and connect with other women. If you use Facebook, you can check it out here . Every week we meet at the Grand Central Apartment's Community room just to get away and enjoy adult conversation. Bring an unfinished project or new project or even a c...