Just For You, Sarah :)

My Kindle Is In The House!!!

Of course, yesterday, while chopping and dicing away in the kitchen, my doorbell rang. I dried my hands, picked up Stella and opened the door. There stood my mailman with my Kindle in his hands!! And wouldn't you know that I didn't even have the time to open the box!! I finally had to put it in the other room so that I wouldn't be tempted to toss dinner plans to the wind and play with it.

Today it's supposed to be below zero with 30 below zero windchills. I have nothing planned until 6:00PM. Guess what I'll be doing??? :)

Mission Accomplished!

I went to the grocery store THREE times yesterday. An initial gathering, then a stop at another store to get what the first one didn't carry and then a third visit to pick up what I forgot the first time around. As it was, I didn't get into the kitchen until around 2:00PM. I made the apple pie bars first and then methodically worked my way through the prep for the rest of the meal. I served the appetizers at 7:30 and looking back, it was an ambitious menu but I got everything, including the dishes done before my guests arrived. (just barely!)
The lettuce wraps were great, however, if (and that's a big if) I ever make them again, it's all I'll be making! They're lots of work. Everyone loved them, especially Clancy :)

P. F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe #15865
This recipe is from Todd Wilbur and Top Secret Recipes
25 min 10 min pre
SERVES 2 -3
3 tablespoons oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnut
2/3 cup mushroom
3 tablespoons chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce
Special Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard
2 teaspoons water
1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste
Stir Fry Sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.
Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.
Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.
Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.
Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.
Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.
Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.
Remove chicken from the pan and cool.
Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.
As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.
Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.
With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.
Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.
Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".
Top with"Special Sauce".

Chinese

I've invited Jane, Marty, Clancy and Bridget over tonight for Chinese. I'm making P.F. Chang's chicken lettuce wraps (Clancy's request), sweet & sour pork (Bridget's favorite), stir fried fresh green beans with teriyaki sauce (Jane loves stir fried green beans), steamed rice and apple pie bars for dessert. Yeah, I know, apple pie bars don't seem to go but I have a hankering for them and I know Marty will like them. Plus, they'll be easy to send home with him to take to work tomorrow. He likes that :)

Mom's Out, Stella's In!!

And yes, she does have her own blanket that coordinates with the decor of my bedroom ;)

Dingo Driven??

Stella wakes me up every morning between 5:45 and 6:00AM. There's absolutely no reason for either of us to be up this early but evidently, she doesn't know that. And it's not because she desperately needs to go outside. She bugs me until I get out of bed and then lays by the stairs and watches me start my morning. She may or may not ring her bells to go outside, she really takes her time on that one. I cook my breakfast and when it's done, if she hasn't gone out yet, I make her go. Then, I sit at the table and leisurely eat breakfast and read the paper. She gets a Dingo and as soon as she's done with it, she goes back to bed and sleeps for at least another hour.

If I try to crawl back in bed with her, she bugs me until I get out. Now, c'mon, I have a king size bed and I only use about a third of it! She weighs 11 pounds so she doesn't need more than 2/3 of a king sized bed. And she's gotten so independent, that if I haven't gone to bed early enough in the evening to suit her, she trots off and goes to bed alone, where I'll find her all snuggled in when go to bed.

I wonder if I cut out the Dingo in the mornings if she'd sleep in later? Or maybe there's really something to the fact that she has Jim's eyes... he was an early riser too. And independent... and loved treats.......makes you go, "hmmmmmm......"

Yippppeeee!!

My Kindle has shipped and it's due to be here Monday :) I'm so excited! I was browsing the book selection last night and already have two that I plan to buy. I'm so thrilled that I will no longer have to wait for books to come out in paperback form before I can buy them at a reasonable price. I noticed that the price is the same at the Kindle store regardless of whether the book is out in paperback or not :)