I'm Back

I am back from my annual wine trip in El Dorado County, CA. We had a wonderful time enjoying wine pairings at 12 different wineries. More later.

You're Probably Old If

You're probably old if you prefer this:


To this:


And so yes, I admit it, I'm old. Surprisingly, I also preferred Adam Lambert's singing this week. Then again, The Tracks Of My Tears is just a great song.

Grabamar

Apparently, Obama has upset some of the grammar nannies in the country. Here it is pointed out, Obama uses "I" when he should use "me" and here, Safire takes on Obama's misuse of several words. In this article, Safire implies perhaps it isn't a good idea to use big words when speaking to the American people anyway, since it just confuses us. :-)

Yummy Broccoli

I got pointed to The Best Broccoli In Your Life by freakgirl. I have to say it is yummy, yummy though I'm not going to say it is the best in my life since I really like broccoli pretty much any way. The amateur gourmet says she omits the pine nuts and the basil; do not do that, those things help make the meal. I don't always add the garlic though. Here's my version.

Preheat the oven to 425. Empty one bag of broccoli florets on an aluminum foil covered oven proof pan. Spray liberally with Trader Joe's olive oil. Toss and spray some more olive oil. Grind some TJ's lemon pepper and salt on the broccoli and mix. Put in the over (or toaster oven). Mix again after about 15 minutes. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Toss in some pine nuts and cook 5 minutes longer. Put the broccoli in a bowl and pour in about 1T olive oil. Toss in some chopped basil and grated Parmesan. Drizzle with fresh lemon juice and grate some lemon rind over the dish. Toss. Enjoy!

Moving On Up

PurpAnd had a recent entry about his favorite home and then John followed suit with more emphasis on the number of moves he'd made. I had been contemplating Andy's question about my favorite home but had only gotten as far as listing my moves until I saw John's post and decided I must copy him. Because he spent most of his life copying me (a whole other post), I figure payback time is good.

I started counting my moves and then realized I'm not sure where my first home was. I *think* it was on Reading Avenue in Los Angeles. And I *think* that is pronounced 'red-ding' but I'm not sure about either. I've sent a query to my father since he is probably the only living person who will know the answer, at least about whether that was my first home; I'm sure there are others living who could respond to the pronunciation question.

If the house on Reading was my first home, I've lived in 16 homes, counting my college dorm and sorority as one college experience; really most of my 'stuff' was at my mom's during that time. My shortest stint was probably about 6 months and my longest has been at my current home where I've lived for 23 years now. This house is probably my favorite house since it is where Deb was raised - and because I've been in it so long. My favorite childhood home would be the one in Westchester where I lived between the ages of 5 and 10. I have very fond memories of playing with my brother and neighborhood kids. I also enjoyed school at Cowen Avenue.

When I was 10 we moved from that house and had a series of moves until we settled into the Fairview house when I was between 7th and 8th grade. I liked that house, too, because of the memories with my family and friends. I lived there until I left for college.

I don't like moving and I'm glad I've lived in the same house for so long now, though I really have accumulated a lot of 'stuff' and I'm hoping to pare it down considerably before I ever move again.

So Glad I'm Not President

Most of you are probably pretty relieved I'm not the POTUS. Though I know Diva would love to be First Cat and, in fact, she may believe she is.

Today both of these news articles were on CNN. The first one: Democrats to Obama: Hurry up and fix the economy. The second one: Commentary: Slow down, Mr. President So what's a poor President supposed to do? Hurry up or slow down? Which is pretty typical for a President, I'm sure. You can't win because, no matter what you do, some people are going to think you should have done the exact opposite of what you did.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Religion

I think everyone who reads here knows I'm a proponent of choice so it won't surprise you that I'm appalled at this news about a doctor being excommunicated for performing an abortion for a nine year old rape victim.

I'm not that upset about the excommunication for the doctor. I believe in choice for the church as much as I believe in my own and every one's right of choice. The church has a right to decide who can and can't belong to their organization. What strikes me as hypocrisy is that the rapist was not excommunicated. According to the church: "A graver act than (rape) is abortion, to eliminate an innocent life." What?

First of all, I don't think it has to be a case of either or; why not both? Second, the stepfather certainly did "eliminate an innocent life," the life of a 9 year old he'd been raping since she was six. That little girl's innocent childhood has been destroyed and the church ought to acknowledge it by excommunicating that man.

Thoughts on Twitter

I have a twitter account and you're welcome to follow me although be forewarned I don't tweet much. I follow about 40 people and enjoy reading what they have to say but don't have much compulsion to tweet through the day about my activities. If I did, it would look something like this:

SueBeeLV: Awake, headed for coffee
SueBeeLV: At work, trying to get motivated to work on employee evaluations
SueBeeLV: Headed to a meeting
SueBeeLV: Time for lunch
SueBeeLV: Wishing we had siesta time in America
SueBeeLV: Off to another meeting
SueBeeLV: One more eval and I'm done
SueBeeLV: Headed home
SueBeeLV: Playing some online scrabble
SueBeeLV: Relaxing with Diva, watching TV
SueBeeLV: Bedtime

While I'm not a frequent twitter, I don't resent that others enjoy tweeting throughout their day and I do often find the comments fun and interesting. I also like reading corporate tweets like Zappos and Starbucks and also learning about promotions.

What I do find curious is opposition to Twitter. After all, no one is forced to use the site and I don't see anything to be upset about. Some people like this woman seem overly concerned. Don't like it, don't use it. Or at least parody it in a funny way.

Speaking of parody, my other thought today was about how Twitter might be fun if you tweeted the classics. How about Ishmael, tweeting from the Pequod. Or Romeo tweeting about his romance with Juliet. If I were a high school teacher I think I'd make my students twitter the classics.

Barbie Turns 50

Barbie will be 50 in a few days. I hadn't realized I am older than Barbie until I read the news. She sure has stayed in better shape than I have. But then, I've never been a plastic person.

I got my first Barbie when I was about 8 or so. I spent hours playing Barbie with the girl across the street, Kathy Root. The funny thing, is Kathy wasn't my best friend on the block, she was mainly a Barbie friend. We'd set up elaborate "homes" in her front yard, creating furniture out of boxes and using wash cloths for beds. I eventually had two Barbies and one Ken. Not like my daughter who had a Barbie for every event; Shopping Barbie, Disney Barbie, Malibu Barbie, etc. It seemed like every time we had to buy a new outfit for Barbie, we just got a whole new doll.

When I was about 12, I decided I was too old to play with dolls and I gave away one Barbie, Ken and my Barbie House. I regret that now. I do have one Barbie left - the bubble head brunette - and I've bought her some of the old outfits I used to own. She is on a shelf in my entertainment center. I don't know if she misses Ken or not.

UPDATED: Now that she is 50, Barbie is allowed to have tattoos.

Shrimp Sliders

Today I made Shrimp Sliders using ingredients from my Trader Joe's trip:

1. Frozen Argentinian Shrimp
2. Wasabe mayonnaise
3. Small hothouse tomatoes
4. Cheddar cheese
5. Mini wheat bagels

Thaw the shrimp. I use Alton Brown's method of tossing the shrimp in a bowl and filling it with lukewarm water and then let the faucet dribble into the bowl for about 15 minutes. Toss the shrimp with olive oil and salt and pepper. Heat your pan. Split the bagels (1 bagel for every 2 shrimp) and put them the toaster oven to toast. Grill the shrimp about 1 minute on each side. When the bagels are done, spread each half with mayo, add a slice of cheese and a slice of tomato. Put a shrimp on top and enjoy. I would have taken a picture but I was too hungry to wait.