Chinese "Chicken" Noodle Salad

• 1 pkg 16 oz spaghetti
• 8 oz fresh snow pea pods, sliced diagonally
• (4 cups shredded cooked chicken) we used 2 scrambled eggs, would prefer seitan, diced and fried (being a meatless family)
• 1 cup bite size red bell pepper strips
• 1/2 cup green onions, sliced
• 3/4 cup teriyaki sauce
• 2 tbsp dark sesame oil
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili oil, if desired

In 5 qt Dutch ove, cook spaghtetti as directed, adding pea pods during last minute of cooking time; drain. Rince with cold water too cool, drain well.

In a large bowl, stir together spaghetti with pea pods, (chicken), seitan, bell pepper and green onions.

In small bowl, mix teriyaki sauce, sesame oil, sesame seed, salt pepper and chili oil. Pour over spaghetti mixture; toss til coated. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate til chilled.

Sand Sculpting Contest

We got up bright and early to head to Hunting Island for a sand sculpting contest today (wanted to make sure we didn't have an issue with parking). We brought breakfast (donut holes:D) and we brought lunch (black olive hummus, sesame sticks, cheese, and juices).


Jumping ahead a little, just giving you a sneak peak of some of the sculptures--I love this one!

I thought my dad would get a kick out of this one!

And in case you haven't caught it from past blog entries, I have a daughter who's obsessed with mermaids, especially in 2009. No, this is not hers.

So, here my girls are, anxiously awaiting for the judges to announce that the sculptors may commence. My girls are in the Sand Flea category--ages 8 and under, parents' help is optional. We opted to let the girls make their own creations. I feel very strongly that any art projects and creativity should be their own achievements.

Little Angel, hard at work!

Fairy Girl, making very important water runs. (I should note, they took a couple of well-deserved breaks to jump the waves:)

And here they are, their masterpiece complete!!! They created an entire village, all in the course of about 2 hours! So many very nice grownups came up to them and talked to them about their village and paid them lots of wonderful compliments! The only issue I had was the group next to us--a mix of teens and adults, they kept stepping into my girls' grid not paying attention. At least four times they stepped on some of my girls' works. I had to talk to them twice about it! And these were the grownups! They weren't being mean, they just were so involved in their own project they weren't paying attention (and the grids were roped off). So, I made the decision that if they upset my four year old one more time, I was going to cave in their mote (from our side of course:)

And here are my girls receiving their prizes for their age division--they won second place!! And they were the only kids to have no adult help out of all the contestents--it was obvious people all over the beach loved that and told them how good their village was. I was so happy for my girls, they had a wonderful time!!!

Black Bean Mexicali Salad

• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen corn
• 6 oz. roasted red bell peppers, cut into think strips or coursely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped red or yellow onion, divided
• 1/3 cup thick and chunky salsa
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 4 tbsp diced green chiles
• 2 oz part-skim mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

Place all ingredients except cheese and 1 tbsp onion in a medium mixing bowl. Toss gently to blend well. Let stand 15 minutes to blend flavors.

Fold in all but 2 tbsp cheese just before serviing. Sprinkle remaining cheese and reserved tbsp onion on top.

(I served with a bed of wild rice)

Breakfast in the Park

This is the bridge that leads to the island where we now reside:D

This is what life is all about!! (ok, maybe not McDonald's:)

The Lollipop Shop

http://thelollipopshop.net/beaufort.htm

Isn't this place fun??? I'm not sure what is more fun, The Chocolate Tree or The Lollipop Shop. But they are BOTH right in our new town!! Take a look at the website if you have a chance, there's some fun information about our new hometown----hoping people may want to actually come visit us once we get more settled. There's a lot to do here (besides candy shops:)---we can go hang out at the beach and collect seashells, or laze around our own pool, go boating, kayaking, or take a carriage ride through old Beaufort and enjoy the rich southern history, visit military museums (not my cup of tea either, but this IS a major military area), visit very old churches (ok, not like Europe old, but, old for the U.S.), have breakfast, lunch, or just a piece of pie at the Magnolia Bakery, go to Hilton Head, Charleston, Savannah--HECK, we're only about 4-5 hours from Disney World---all within an hour or less of us:D:D Now we need to sell our house, so we can buy a larger home where we will be able to comfortably host visitors!!!!

The Story of the Cameos

This cameo belonged to my Grandma Marcie. I've always loved and admired it, ever since I was a little girl, and believed it was probably worth something as well, being so old. When she transitioned in 1994, the cameo became mine, and I wore it close to my heart, often!!

This jewelry box belonged to my Grandma Ruth. When I was a little girl, I often went to her bedroom to open this most beautiful jewelry box and play with the precious treasures inside. I LOVED doing this with my grandma and have very fond memories. My grandma transitioned on July 4th, 2003 when I was pregnant with my Little Angel. (as a side note, she told us long before she passed, that she wanted to die on July 4th, so she could go out with a bang:D)

When I was all grown up, every once in awhile, I'd leave work and join my grandparents at their house for a planned luncheon. It just so happens that one day, I wore the green cameo that I had inherited from my Grandma Marcie. My Grandma Ruth took a look at it and said she has one JUST like it, and proceeded to go to the beautiful flower jewelry box above (apparently I forgot about this) to show it to me. And yes, it was identical in everyway, only the other was green, hers was brown. I was flabbergasted!! Both my grandmas had these precious, antique and valuable cameos, identical in almost every way! This just didn't seem possible! And my Grandma Ruth started laughing. She said they got these "cameos" together, in the early 1970's; and there was nothing monitarily valuable or "antique" about these---they came free with a purchase of "oleo" (the old word for margarine, which was at one time illegal to sell in Wisconsin, the Dairy State:)

So, I did share the story with my mom one day--who was cracking up--and soon after my Grandma Ruth passed (her mom), when I was pregnant with my Little Angel, my mom presented me with these genuine cameo earrings--to help treasure my grandmas and to preserve this precious story.

So you may ask, why did this story from 2003 suddenly come up? Because the above box contained the green cameo from my Grandma Marcie. I used to play with the box and admire it as a child, and I would smell it---I thought it was the smell of my grandma--and to this day, it still has some distinctive odor to it, that still screams GRANDMA!!! Well, recently I opened this little box to put a few earrings into it, and for whatever reason, something that had been covering the top white area was gone--and in its place, for the first time ever, I found the beautiful inscription, for my Grandma(s). This made me very happy:)

Tortellini-Spinach Salad

--9 oz pkg refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini

--1 medium yellow bell pepper, coursely chopped

--14 cherry tomatoes, halved

--1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives (we used black)

--10 oz pkg prewashed fresh baby spinach

--3/4 cup Italian salad dressing

--1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1. cook tortellini as directed. Drain, rinse with cold water to cool; drain well

2. in a large serving bowl, combine bell pepper, tomatoes, olives and spinach

3. add cooked tortellini to vegetable mixture. Pour dressing over salad; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

The Tea Party

The girls painted their very own ceramic tea set. Following, they hosted their first tea party, with some very important guests in attendance. This is in preparation for an upcoming "field trip" we have planned to The Charleston Tea Plantation, home of the ONLY tea grown in the United States. http://www.charlestonteaplantation.com/

Some Scenes from Today: no rhyme or reason for the mix

He's my Angel!!

He's so purrttty, he's still seems more like a "she" to us:)

Laugh-try it, I dare you:D

Saw this as we were leaving Hilton Head today, on a car in front of me

I'm suddenly into the inspirational decor:)

So if SC can do this to MY fine hair, I'd LOVE to see what it does to someone who is more "known" for having LOTs of hair:D

Fun at World Market

mmmmmmmm, salt water taffey

A chair fit for a princess

On the left, you will meet Tasha, created by Fairy Girl; and on the right, please meet Ayla, created by Little Angel (please note, Ayla, was a name I considered for my first-born, as I had always thought it was so pretty since reading the Clan of the Cave Bear series:); so I was a little bit blown away when she came up with this name today, as I had never mentioned it to her:)

Pesto, Fontina and Tomato Panini

• gourmet bread of choice, such as ciabatta--we used asiago
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup basil pesto
• gourmet cheese of choice, we used fontina
• 1 medium tomato, cut into 8 thin slices
• fresh basil leaves
• seasonings of choice, such as salt and pepper--(we chose an organic home-crafted sea salt blend that I found at the craft fair at our recent Water Festival)
• Other sandwich alternatives, roasted red peppers, black olives, herbed cream cheese

Slice bread (if not presliced) at an angle. Spread pesto on oneside, drizzle olive oil and seasoning on the other. Assemble the other ingredients. Grill or press your paninis til toasted nicely. I use a cast iron grill pan and a cast iron grill press. ***please note, J was practically drooling over these---they were THAT delishh. His words, "restaurants can't even TOUCH this one:D" And here you hae it folks, a vegetarian sandwich WINNER!!

Angel's Admitted into the Hospital for the First Time:(

Two weeks ago, my six year old Little Angel had not only her first ear infection, but a triple one! Swimmer's ear in both and a middle ear infection in her left ear.

In case that wasn't enough, she was admitted into the hospital for the first time yesterday morning. Friday I decided it was time to call the doctor as we were getting no where with her on a chronic issue for her---only this time it had gone way too far--at least six weeks--she was SEVERELY backed up---and yes, I said six weeks and NO activity! This girl is unbelievable--she continued to eat and exhibited zero signs of any discomfort and continued to be in a good mood. But obviously it was way past time to deal with it--and home efforts did not work (and rarely did in the past, it's a control issue with her, and the move was a big change and hectic). So, here we are in a new state with new doctors, basically in a relatively small town--and we had to admit our little girls into the hospital:( The staff was great, took good care of a relatively minor issue (she did have to stay overnight though, her daddy stayed with her); but I will tell you, there is a MAJOR difference between a small town, small potatoes hospital, compared to the very sophisticated ones I was used to in the Milwaukee area. And of course we were always very fortunate to know that Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, noted around the entire country as being a top notch facility, was right in our own backyard. I'm sure we can still find excellent hospitals if we were ever to truly need one, in Savannah or Charleston--but Wisconsin does have excellent hospitals and doctors, and I can see the difference. Though you can't believe how beautiful the location of the hospital is--it's right on the water, with a beautiful pier--just yards from the water. We "enjoyed" dining outside on the waterfront terrace of the hospital cafe:)

Little Angel and Hello Kitty did very well; as did Fairy Girl who was a good sport about hanging out between 10 am and 9pm. And both Hello Kitty and Little Angel are doing very well, though there is a long ways to go before they are "clean and regular."

Oh, I should add, I won't go so far to say that Little Angel enjoyed her experience, but she did enjoy having her own tv, control of the remote, and popsicles!!