Actually, this is my husband’s version of Cobb Salad. I used to make Cobb salad, and found that several of the items were being left behind. My solution was to put items in a separate serving bowl, and let each person make their own salad.
The base of the salad is Romaine. Rinse it in cold water, and then tear it by hand into bite sized pieces. If you have a salad spinnner, spin the romain dry. Otherwise, dry it with paper towel, and then chill it until you are ready to serve dinner.
Boil a couple of eggs, and then chill them.
You could use diced chicken from the deli, but we marinate chicken and then sautee it until the merinade cooks off and the chicken is cooked through. About an hour before you wish to cook the chicken, cube it into roughly one inch cubes, and put it in a bowl. Mix 3/4 cup rice wine, 1/4 cup soy sauce, a teaspoon or more of minced garlic, and several twists of fresh black pepper, and pour it over the chicken. You can also add some Dijon mustard to this mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.
Fry six or eight slices of bacon. Drain and crumble.
Then cut any of the following into bite sized pieces:
Red cabbage
Tomatoes
Red pepper
pickle cucumbers
julienned carrots
Feta cheese
Peel and slice the hard boiled egg, or dice it if you prefer.
Put some finely shredded Cheddar cheese in a bowl.
Set everything out on the counter, and let your family create their own salads.
We served it tonight with garlic bread and slices of watermelon.
Enjly the produce that’s available now. Use any combination of veggies that your family enjoys, and create your own “Everything but the kitchen sink” salad.
I Hate Maintenence
Our house is 14 years old. In the scheme of things, that’s not very old. But…..when your house reaches ten years, things need to be repaired and replaced. I have a list of things that need to be done and a husband who is NOT interested in doing them. That wouldn’t be a problem if he was satisfied with the work that others have been hired to do.
Spooked Dog
I’ve talked about Defer, our senior-citizen Beagle/Shepherd. I have two disposable cameras floating around with a little bit of film I want to use up. I thought it might be a great idea to get some pictures of Defer. I was going to take a picture of him lying on the floor with his ears standing straight up, but as soon as I pointed the camera at him, he got up and left the room.
The same thing happened today. I was going to take a picture of him walking up the front sidewalk toward me, but as soon as I lifted the camera, he whirled around and headed away.
We’ve finally figured it out. He’s afraid of the flash. Lightening scares him. So do storms. He equates the flash on the camera with storms.
Poor baby. It’s hell to get old.
Change
Have you ever looked back over the past and realized how much has changed in your lifetime? When Dear Husband and I traveled, we used to have a conversation about how the world would change in our lifetime. My grandfather was born in the time when travel was by horse and buggy. He died shortly after the U.S. put men into space, and travel by air was commonplace. Television existed by the time I was born, and we’ve lived to see the boom in Internet communication. We think that miniaturization will be one of the major accomplishments of our generation, as in nanotechnology.
Homeland Security
By now most of you have read about ABC News importing depleted uranium from Jakarta in a test of our homeland defense. I have several thoughts on this subject.
First, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, has stated that shipments to the US are being checked in their ports of origin as our first line of defense. The idea is to make our ports the LAST line of defense. What I’d like to know is, why hasn’t the Dept. of Homeland Security tried to breach these defenses to see just how well the plan works? I can’t believe that they haven’t determined how thoroughly shipments are assessed prior to this.
Mothers-in-law
Why do Mothers-in Law have such a bad reputation? Just this week I’ve heard several jokes on the subject, and it’s been discussed on the radio. Is there really something that happens to your mother once you marry, or is this just a convenient subject for comedians?
I have no doubt that there are mothers who pester about grand children, and it’s probable there are mothers who want the best for their children, and don’t have the sense to mind their own business. But I find it difficult to believe that it’s universal.
Farewell, J.R.
Johnny Cash lives on in the hearts and minds of his fans, now. I’m of an age where the icons in my life are slipping away, and this is one icon I hate to see go.
I’m not much of a country music fan. My family didn’t listen to country music when I was a kid, but you couldn’t miss Johnny Cash in those days. He was a STAR, and you watched whether you were a fan of country music or not. He lived large and entertained well, and he became part of the fabric of our lives.
There was always the hint of danger, a bit of roughness, or a little of the unexpected about him, but he had the ablilty to be gentle, too. I liked the stability that came into his life with his love for June Carter, and I liked the fire he brought to her. They were married to others when they met, and went through hard times before they could be together. June Carter Cash wrote “Ring of Fire” for Johnny, about that time in their lives.
I liked the black he wore, and I liked the long coats. I loved the interaction on stage between Johnny and other performers, and I loved his sense of humor. Most of all I loved that I could sing along, or just sit and listen. I liked his music either way.
Both Johnny and June had been ill for the past few years. A life on the road as an entertainer is a hard one; it took a lot out of them. June died in May, and I’m not surprised that Johnny has followed her so soon. I expect that there’s beautiful music in heaven today.
Farewell, J.R. Cash, and thanks for all the good times!
Fall
I know it’s not official, but today as I was out driving I realized that the soybeans have begun to turn yellow. The fields are no longer masses of knee-high deep green plants. Now they are mottled with several shades of yellow and green.
And the goldenrod is in bloom.
So…..Fall is here. Can Indian Summer be far behind?
Guest Blogger
My friend, Buffalo, sent me two e-mails today. The first is a post that’s been making the rounds for a year or more, purported to be Robin William’s Plan for Peace. The second post was Buffalo’s plan for peace. He was willing to let me repost those e-mails here, so I have my first guest blogger.
This is the first of the two posts:
You may have seen this before, but it bears repeating. Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan…what we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and issue the following message:
1. The US will apologize to the world for our “interference” in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic and the rest of those ‘good ole boys.’ We will never “interfere” again.
2. We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea and the Philippines. They don’t want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one will ever sneak through holes in the fence again.
3. All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We’ll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are. France would surely welcome them.
4. All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit. No one from a terrorist nation would be allowed in. If you don’t like it there, change it yourself and don’t hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don’t need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.
5. No “students” over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don’t attend classes, they get an “F” and it’s back home baby.
6. The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing non-polluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will just have to cope for a while.
7. Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don’t like it, we go some place else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. About a week of the wells filling up their storage sites ought to be enough.
8. If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not “interfere.” They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.
9. Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island some place. We don’t need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.
10. All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us “Ugly Americans” any longer.
“The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying ‘ Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.’ She’s got a baseball bat and she’s yelling, ‘You want a piece of me?'”
Windows Hints
Do you have a Windows Keyboard? Perhaps, like me, you don’t know how some of the keys work. I came across a list of functions that can be performed with the keyboard rather than the mouse, and thought I’d share the list with you.