HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

I'm finally here after a long time. It seems like I lost some of my blog pictures and articles. I don't know what happened.
If anybody knows how to retrieve these articles and pictures please let me know

BLESSED EASTER AND HAPPY SPRING TO ALL

RENOVATIONS

This summer along with the other neglected projects, we decided to give our dated bathroom a new face. By removing the old shower and replacing it with a corner shower unit we gained, at the least, visually more room. Here are the before and after pictures.

 

 

STUFFED VEGETABLES

 

VEGETABLES  STUFFED WITH RICE

 

I make these stuffed vegetables for summer picnics, backyard BBQ's and for pot luck dinners. They are healthy and not too difficult to make. For this recipe I used eggplants, tomatoes and peppers. You could also use, zucchini and onion (practically anything that can be hollowed out ). Choose small and tender vegetables if you can. They cook faster.

 

 

  Ingredients:

1/3 cup currents
1/4 cup pignoli nuts
1 large onion chopped
1 tsps allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp dried mint
1/3 cup of olive oil
2 cups of water
1 cup of rice
salt and pepper to taste

To prepare the vegetables:
For eggplants: Cut eggplants in half. Hollow out the centers using a scooper or a spoon (grapefruit spoon works well) .
For peppers: cut the tops off  just underneath the stems (save them for later use) rinse them under the sink to rid them from the seeds.
For tomatoes: same as above. Save the tops for caps for later use. (Chop the fleshy part of the tomato to mix in with rice).


In a pot saute chopped onions, pignoli nuts and currents in 1 cup olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add rice, spices, herbs (salt and pepper) and 1 cup of water. Cook until all the water is absorbed (rice will be half cooked). Let it cool and spoon loosely to fill the vegetables.

 



 
 


 

 

Arrange filled vegetables in a deep pot, touching  each other closely (they'll cook better) and  add  reserved water and oil. Close lid and cook for 20-25 minutes or until peppers are soft.

 



JUST STOPPING BY

I'm just popping in to say hello to all my friends.  I've been away for a long time. Let me update you without being boring. During my absence I was busy taking care of my elderly parents, working and trying to keep everybody happy. I have two elderly parents. You may remember them from my previous entry when their house was flooded during  storm Irene two years ago. Dad has a PhD degree in engineering from Purdue University, Indiana. He is an accomplished man. He is and has been a very smart businessman all his life, but his Parkinson's disease, his advanced age and Alzheimer's disease are effecting his brilliant mind. Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a petulant child yet at other times he appears to be his old brilliant self. He has not yet accepted his age and illnesses. He keeps telling me that he is capable of doing everything himself and doesn't need any help, a trait he had all his life. A few months ago his neurologist referred him for consultation with another doctor who turned out to be of no help, merely a pill pusher. He gave  my father such heavy medication that it would've killed a horse. Instead of getting better he was deteriorating. We changed doctors, medication and started afresh. It worked. He is now as lucid as he can be and enjoying his days.
While I was busy helping my father, my mother fell in her home and broke her right shoulder bone. This debilitating injury was followed by double pneumonia for which she was hospitalized twice, and entered a rehabilitation center. After returning home from rehab she then suffered a mini stroke.
My parents are doing much better now. However, my duties aren't finished yet. I'm  still going their house almost everyday before or after work or for an entire day.  They look forward to my visits.  

            These lovely butterflies have been visiting our garden this summer!

 



HAPPY PASSOVER AND HAPPY EASTER MY FRIENDS,  WISHING YOU ALL A VERY  HAPPY AND HEALTHY SPRINGTIME.   I HOPE TO START BLOGGING AGAIN SOON...
                 

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FRIENDS.

UPDATE

Mega storm "Sandy" passed through our area with great devastation. My prayers are with those who received the brunt of it. People lost power and some areas are still without power, including my parents' home. Thank God I moved my parents to my house with the fear that their house might flood again. Counting my blessings the storm didn't directly hit either of  our houses. However, there has been great devastation in the shore areas and New York City. Right now there's a shortage of gas. We are only allowed to have gas on alternate days depending on our license plate numbers.  During the storm I kept praying that I would not have to go through another clean-up. My prayers are answered for now. I say "for now"  because apparently there is another storm coming our way next week. Let's hope that it it fizzles out.......

WHITE DEER CROSSING

 

As you all know I've been very preoccupied with my parents health and well being lately and haven't been able to document my cooking. Recently, however,  I was startled to see a  young white deer in my back yard. It had ghostly appearance. I quickly grabbed my camera and was able to take some pictures of it before it vanished into the nearby woods. I hope this is a good omen for many good things to come, because I have never before seen an albino/white deer.

THANK YOU FRIENDS

JUST STOPPING IN TO THANK YOU ALL FOR CARING AND FOR YOUR GOOD WISHES. MOM IS BACK AT HOME BUT NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET. DAD IS STILL THE SAME, STRUGGLING WITH HIS PARKINSON'S DISEASE. THIS IS ALL TOO SAD TO SEE. BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL.

TAKING A BREAK

I haven't been able to write, cook or even take pictures in the past few weeks. My 82 year old mom fell down and broke her shoulder and while she was in the hospital she was diagnosed with double pneumonia. My 92 year old dad is at home with his aide and misses his wife very much. As you can see my time is divided between their home, visiting mom in the hospital, my work and my home.  Running errands and taking dad to his doctors are also part of my daily life. Sometimes there are not enough hours during the day. Today I gave my self a brief moment to go online just to get out of the monotony of my daily chores. I  wish everyone a very safe, happy and healthy summer. See you all soon..

FRESH BOUQUETS

Lavender from my garden

  Mixed flowers

HAVE A NICE WEEK-END EVERYONE

MORE FLOWERS ...

I'm so happy that this year we are able to enjoy our flowers. Last year groundhog and deer ate most of my flowers before they got a chance to blossom.  It was disheartening that we didn't get to see our efforts and labor. The critters are still here but I'm glad that they didn't bother with our garden this year (hopefully they found a better garden) but I have a feeling that my next door neighbor's cat who's been frequenting our back yard has something to do with it.

LAMB'S EAR

DAY LILY

                                                                   ECCHINACEA

ECCHINACEA

DAY LILIES, PRIM ROSE AND LAVENDER

                                                                  YELLOW  YARROW
                                                         

ASTILBE

PRIM ROSE

 WHITE YARROW AND COREOPSIS

BALLOON FLOWER

 COREOPSIS

                              (I don't know the name of this flower, but its abundant in the back yard)

SOME SILLY PHOTOS

 The beautiful pink Peony flower is almost as big as my head.  I had planted these  years ago and enjoy them every year.  They have a faint but very  sweet scent. When they are budding they tend to attract ants partly due to the nectar that forms on the outside of the bud. With the ants activities the blossoms open up. Very symbiotic relationship isn't it?   This year they were beautiful and plentiful. The flowers were so big that I had to put them  in a bowl of water instead of a vase just  to keep them from  toppeling over.



My husband's favorite trellis. It took us a while to get the rambling roses to climb to the top.   

This fern is a transplant from my dad's yard . Few years ago he gave me a few shoots to plant. First  I planted them  at a sunny location they looked miserable, following year I planted them in the shade and their growth  was stunted. Last year I planted them at the bottom of a tree where they were partially in the sun. I think  I finally succeeded in finding them the  right spot. 

I'm not very lucky growing Iris. I must have planted variety of colors over the years, most of them didn't come up. This is the only one that came up this year.

Just look at this funny cloud formation. I took this picture from the car. ( I wasn't driving)..

MY FRIEND

We celebrated my friend's 100th birthday this month. I met her years ago when she was in her late 80's and I was younger than her youngest daughter.  Despite the age difference we  bonded immediately. I became her best friend, confidant and liaison to a younger world. She and I talked about fashion, hair,  make-up and about serious matters. She told me about her children, her husband and her life. Sometimes we cried together but mostly I made her laugh. I had a feeling that some of the stories she shared with me was not shared with anyone else.  After my bout with cancer I asked her if she had had a mammogram done. She told me she was too old for that. After one week of hounding her to see a doctor, she finally relented and went to get a  mammography. Her results were not good but it  was not too late. She was lucky enough to get diagnosed early. During her ordeal to uplift her spirits I told her that she and I'll dance at her 100th birthday to which she shrugged and said she didn't think so. I dared her and we made a pact that we would dance even if she was in a wheel chair. Since then she has travelled around the world and was on many cruises, shopped, drove her car until her arthritis stopped her. We keep in touch with each other over the phone most of the time. Her major complaint these days is her loss of hearing and she abhors hearing aids. Today she is still sharp as a tack and sweet as an apple pie.  At her birthday party we were seated with her physicians and we all agreed that  she was a very young 100 and has many more years in her. Oh, by the way I'm happy to report that  my dear friend  wasn't in a wheel chair at her birthday party and she and I  danced  amid all her children, grand children and great grandchildren. 

A VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOTHERS,  GRANDMOTHERS, MOTHER-IN-LAWS, MOTHERS' TO BE AND MOTHERS' AT HEART.

SPRING FLOWERS FROM MY GARDEN

 

This is the Wisteria I found in the back of my garden few years ago and nurtured it to become this beautiful. See how it looked then in my posting on  WISTERIA 

This is my pink Azalea bush  growing in a pot.

My eye catching scarlet red Azalea bush

The Lilly of the valley. They're all over the garden. I gathered them and made this bouquet. Their scent is delicious.

This Columbine plant disappeared from my garden for couple of years and surprisingly came back this year. Now I have four separate purple plants growing .

My ever faithful Bleeding Heart. It never fails, every year in the middle of March it starts coming up and blossoms by mid April.