May 2013

A Trip Down Memory Lane

May 31, 2013 by KTgreen

As part of our big driving trip last week, I got to step into the WABAC machine. (Anybody else out there devotees of Mr. Peabody and Sherman?)

One of my best friends from high school contacted me several months about our 40th high school reunion. (And how could I have graduated from HS 40 years ago? And besides that, how did my kids get so old?)

Well, I couldn’t make it to the reunion but I just happened to be in Connecticut in May so I thought it wouldn’t be much out of the way to meet her for dinner on the way back home since we planned on driving in that direction anyhow.

So this is what we looked like 40 years ago:

A Trip Down Memory Lane — Pat Wallace and Kathy Snyder–Class of 1973

And here’s what we look like now!

It was so great catching up on each other’s lives. Our husbands were very patient and just let us chatter on. It was a great visit.

Next stop on the WABAC ride was to Greenville, PA, where I was born and lived until 1982. I was a sunlover and spent most of my summers on the beach at Pymatuming Lake, so I had to stop there. It looks exactly like it did when I was 17!

Next stop was my brother’s place. Now, I haven’t seen my brother in possibly 30 years. Zowie! I had no reason to visit Greenville and he doesn’t travel far from home, so that’s just how it was.

Here’s a photo of my brother and sisters. I’m guessing from about 1962. The quality is bad because the picture got wet. It’s actually permanently adhered to the glass from the frame it was in.

I couldn’t find many pictures of Jim and none of the two of us together. While my entire family has been big picture takers, a lot of my photographs were damaged from water leaking into the closet I stored them in way back in the 80s. After my Dad died, I discovered that many of his pictures were also water damaged from a water heater flood. Bummer.

And here we are now!

Jim lives next door to the house we were all raised in so I took a little walk to check it out.

Here’s my little sister and me standing by the front door. No idea when, while Dad took lots of pictures, no one wrote dates on them. And as I looked through my box of old photos, I see that I have continued the tradition!

I’m guessing this next one was taken back in 1983, possibly the winter before mom and dad moved to Florida.

And here’s what it looks like today! Quite an improvement.

While I was standing in front of the house taking pictures, the owner came out. So did she think that I was a crazy lady stalking her house? No, she saw our SUV at Jim’s place and assumed that I was his sister. Did I mention that this house is way out in the country with very neighbors? Everyone notices everything! So she gave me a tour of the house. She even let Maggie in (who promptly fell down the steps).

So it was a great trip and I hope I get to see everyone again before another 40 years elapses!

Wedding Celebration

May 30, 2013 by KTgreen

A few snaps from the reason we went on our big driving adventure!

More pictures from our big drive tomorrow. Then I’m back to my meanderings, photos, and DIYs next week!

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle, Good “Kool-Aid”

May 29, 2013 by KTgreen

For as long as I can remember my Mom has been a bit of a health food nut. OK, these days we call them ‘foodies’ – whatever. So, my favorite ‘foodie’ gives me this recipe for her version of ‘that kid drink that comes in a little pouch and you add water and a pound and a half of sugar’. You know the one. I’m a skeptic in this because most of her recipes have to be tweaked for the average taste bud. Which is crazy because she makes incredible baked goods – just not for her to eat. For years (way before Truvia was out) she used those drops of stevia that taste like licorice and tried and tried to convince me that it’s ‘sweet’ – NOT. Tasting is believing here, thank you!

Turns out, this is good – I mean really good. This herbal and green tea concoction is good and strong to be poured over ice. Which means it’s great as a take along in that travel cup. And because there’s fruit in it, I’m tempted to add rum and tell myself it’s a healthy cocktail ! Here, I’ll show you what I mean…

I cut the recipe in half to fit into my oh-so-sweet antique ice-lip pitcher, but I’ll give you the full monty.

Step 1: Get 9 cups (or so) of water boiling. Plus one more cup at room temp – I’ll tell you why later. (2.5L)

Meanwhile, gather up:

4 Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger, herbal hibiscus teas bags

5 Green Tea bags

1 Orange, sliced thin, seeded

Your choice of sweetener – or none at all

Step 2: When the water is done boiling, pour it into your container. Mom makes hers in a pyrex pan and later pours it into a large ice-lip pitcher (looks just like that kid-drink!). Here’s a tea tip for you: add in a cup of room temp water, then add the tea bags. This keeps the super heated water from ‘bruising’ the tea. I never knew this. Learn something new every day.

Here’s something else new – see that crazy lid, that’s a tid-bit I found at our new kitchen store (http://www.good4uproducts.com). It’s a silicon universal lid that looks like a leaf. I’m such a sucker for kitchen gadgets!!

Step 3: OK now let it steep for about 10 minutes. Neat how the red zinger pools at the bottom of the water.

Step 4: Now remove the green tea bags, or they’ll get bitter later on. Leave the red zingers in the pitcher, add the orange slices and your sweetener of choice. Today I used agave. Although before that I did pour a glass and add my lemon simple syrup (YUM…makes monster Lemon Drops!).

Finale:

That’s it! Let it all set to get to be room temp before putting it in the fridge – your fridge will thank you. Pour over ice and enjoy. This is as good for you as it is beautiful and your waistline will thank you too.

Michelle

Check out Michelle’s projects on her blog, Badzoot!