Frightful Friday 5

1. How many trick or treaters came to your door this year?
2. What treats did you hand out?
3. What was your favorite 'treat' when you were a youngster?
4. Tell about your most memorable costume or Halloween event.
5. Did you dress up this year? What as or what would you dress up as if you had occasion to?

Buckeye Bean Soup & Refrigerator Rolls & Chunky Applesauce (Cake)

Bean soup mix from a friend and apples from the barber plus my standby refrigerator rolls combine to make a hearty fall meal. To make Applesauce Cake (see Everyday Food, October 2003), you first need to make applesauce. See recipe below.

Bean Soup
12 oz pkg Buckeye Bean Soup mix
1 onion
1 T olive oil
4 small carrots
1 stalk celery
4 cups chicken broth
1 lb bone in ham steak
2 cups water
-Soak the beans for 8 hours or more. Rinse several times and drain.
-Chop the onion and saute in the oil. Chop the celery, peel and chop the carrots and add to the onion. Cook until softened.
-Trim the fat from the ham and chop. Add it, plus the broth and the water and the beans to the vegetable mix. Bring to a boil, simmer for a while. Add the seasoning packet and keep cooking until the beans are soft - at least another hour or two.

Refrigerator Rolls
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 t yeast
2 T sugar
2 T olive oil
1 egg
1 t salt
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup white flour
-Put the warm water in a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit for 5 minutes while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
-Add sugar, oil, egg and salt to the bowl and whisk well. Add flour and mix. Use your hands to incorporate all the flour and knead a few times.
-Put the dough (it will be sticky) in a greased bowl, cover with oiled waxed paper or plastic wrap and proof in a warm place for an hour - until doubled in bulk.
-Place the dough on a floured board and form into 18 rolls. Put the rolls in a oiled 11 x 7 baking dish, cover with oiled plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator. The rolls can rest in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
-Take the rolls out about 45 minutes before you want to eat them and start preheating your oven to 400. Bake for 25 minutes.
-Best eaten very warm from the oven. Adapted from Everyday Food, December 2007.

Chunky Applesauce (made in the microwave)

4 apples - peeled, cored and cut into 3/4 inch chunks
1/4 cup sugar
1 T lemon juice
1/4 t cinnamon
pinch of salt
-Put the apples in a 2 quart casserole, cover and microwave on high for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Firmer apples may require more cooking. Mash to desired consistency. From Everyday Food, October 2007.

Material Monday: Kiss My Face Liquid Rock

While others at the conference headed to the casino or a night club or a show during our free evenings, I headed to Whole Foods Market. I found wandering the aisles looking at all the healthy and innovative and natural food and health care products to be just the refreshment I needed after the glitz of the Strip.

On my first trip there I found this wonderful deodorant to replace the stuff I had brought with me which smelled like baby powder mixed with burned cotton candy. The travel size only cost 99 cents which made it a bargain, too.

I gave up on natural deodorants years ago because they just didn't seem up to the job. But I've given Kiss My Face Fragrance Free Liquid Rock quite a workout over the past week and it hasn't failed me yet. Plus it doesn't leave skid marks on dark sweaters and is Paraben free. I'm not sure what Parabens are, but I learned from a fellow cancer survivor the other day that I should avoid them. Switching over to Liquid Rock is a good first step.

The Wow Factor

I must have said "Wow" a hundred times yesterday, starting with our first stop and accelerating from there.
Outside the park - Little Colorado River.Prickly pear everywhere.View from Dessert View. Two photos inside the Watchtower.Wow.Mule deer in the village.All wowed out.

Our Vacation in Aruba, or Aruba Myths Exposed

As we planned our vacation, we were told by everyone we talked to and every website we visited that it never rains in Aruba and that Aruba is outside of "hurricane alley". Unfortunately, we proved them wrong, as Hurricane Omar hit with 7 inches of rain, 70 mph winds, and beach-eating waves. Still, we had some opportunities for sun and fun, as you will see by clicking the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lorraine.antieau/DaveAndLorraineSVacationInArubaOctober2008?authkey=rgfkDukOGQw#

Visiting Edmund

I skipped the last couple sessions of the conference this morning because I was so anxious to leave Las Vegas behind. It was really giving me the creeps.
I had been looking forward to driving through the desert and had a perfect day for it. The character changed as I drove east, from the gravelly barren hills and plains around Vegas to the thick stands of Ponderosa pines outside of Flagstaff. I hung out at the Hoover Dam for a little while but didn't take the tour offered. Look at the new road that they're building to bypass the actual dam.
I realized as I was driving that I hadn't seen an animal or a bird since I left the Twin Cities. And the drive didn't change that much - I counted fewer than a dozen birds as I drove and though there were plenty of bighorn sheep and elk crossing signs, none crossed my path.
But what's more important than what I didn't see is what I did see when I drove into the Travelodge in Flagstaff - Edmund's smiling face. Seems like a long time since we've seen each other. I'm going to drive him home after his shift tonight and we're going up to the Canyon tomorrow. It will be a treat to spend the day with him.

Wordless Wednesday: Lance Armstrong speaks at Partners 2008

Count how many times the white team passes the ball

The keynote speaker showed this video at the General Session this morning, instructing us to watch the team in the white T-shirts closely and count how many times they pass the ball.



Post your count as a comment, if you like. There's more to this clip than meets the eye - don't spoil it if you figure it out. I'll reveal all in a couple days.

One mighty full day

I'm not sure where to begin telling about the day. It was packed full of excellent learning, starting with the worship service at Grace Valley Church. Pastor Steve Wunderink took the Ephesian Prayer apart word for word, revealing its riches. I especially liked what he said about the Spirit making us bigger on the inside - like a balloon being inflated so that Christ could dwell in our hearts (verse 6). He also traced the Greek words the wind through the prayer: dunamis (power), pneuma (spirit), agape (love), gnoska & gnosis (to know & knowledge), huper (more). And how the word 'Amen' has come down to us unchanged from Hebrew, to Greek, to Latin, to many modern languages. This was excellent grounding for the rest of my day.

I stayed after the service only long enough to chat with the pastor's wife Frankie for a bit and pass on greetings from our church in Baldwin. Then it was back to Mandalay Bay for the lunch buffet where I met up with my colleague Chris. We chatted with several attendees from RealNetworks (the folks who bring us RealPlayer.

The first session I attended after lunch was a panel discussion hosted by Lund Food Holdings, which owns and operates a chain of upscale grocery stores in the Twin Cities. I used to shop at Lund's years ago when I lived in a trendy neighborhood in Mineapolis. It was the one place that reliably stocked Haagen Dasz chocolate chocolate mint. So even though the particular topic under discussion (their 15 week fast launch of Teradata) didn't overlap much with what I'm working on, there was still a connection on a gut level, so to speak.
The next presentation, from 2 data architects from Cisco on 'ELT and Push Down Optimization', landed much closer to home and I'm going to schedule some time with one of the presenters to really pick his brain.
The last event for the day was a cocktail reception for customers and account managers: free drinks and yummy snacks and great giveaways. I would have loved to have won the Lance Armstrong autographed jersey or the Bose outdoor speakers or one of the $100 gift cards but I walked away empty handed. That was the only disapointment of this great day.

The $13.01 Breakfast

This picture is proof - if you needed any - that there are no bargains to be had from the room service menu. Plus they didn't salt the oatmeal, so it wasn't all that good. Breakfast from here on out is included with the conferencePlus they didn't salt the oatmeal, so it wasn't all that good. Breakfast from here on out is included with the conference but I was on my own this morning and ordering in seemed like the best option.
While I was driving around last night, I checked out the church I plan to attend this morning.
Some of the young people from our local church worked on a service project at Grace Valley Church, which is in a residential neighborhood close to the airport and not too far from my hotel. The church has two services, an 8:30 'Contemplative' service (which is the one I'll attend) and an 11:00 'Celebrative' service. But first, I have to stop by the registration table for my conference badge, so it's time to get moving.

Live from Las Vegas

I'm on the top floor of the tower at Mandalay Bay and trying to take it all in. Or maybe trying not to take it all in. And certainly not being taken in by it all.
One thing I like is my room - it's the nicest I've ever stayed in, though I can't believe they charge an additional $13.99 per day for wireless internet. Even Holiday Inn Express gives it to you free.
The room has two queensized beds, a very large bathroom, with a tub seperate from the shower, all done up in tasteful jungle decor. Very slick flat screen TV in the bathroom, too, and another large one on the wall above the mini bar. I haven't turned either on yet; I wonder if they charge for that, too.
My rental car is a charcoal Nissan Altima. What I'm losing on the internet charge, I gained by using a coupon code for the rental, that included free loss damage waiver coverage.
It's easy to drive around here, though traffic crawled on the Strip. There are no trees, it's flat and the streets are well marked. I still got lost, but I could always see where I wanted to be since the hotel is bright gold and 34 stories tall. Gaudy would be one word for it.
Aiyeeeeee! I just noticed that the elevators at the other hotel at Mandalay Bay Resort (called The Hotel so I went there first) which is on the left side of the picture has elevators running outside the building. I'm glad to not be staying there.
Time to get my shoes back on and go for a drive. I noticed there was a Whole Foods Market between here and the airport so I think I'll go there for supper. Plus I have to get some new deodarant to replace the ghastly stuff I brought. Smells like those pine tree car fresheners. Ugh.

Wordless Wednesday: Helene Von Stein Lambs Ear & Wood's Blue Aster