Loving the "Artic Blast" and Pumpkin soup

Our recent snow storm was hailed as the Artic Blast by the news people.

The roads yesterday were miserable and 2 hours for 25 miles was pretty average across the freeways.  My hubs spent 4 + hours driving 50 miles from work. Riding the metro wasn't really a better deal, as everyone was stuck on the roads and the myriads of accidents, ice, and confusion.
Seattleites aren't really good at snow driving. It's just a fact.

Now the sun is out, and its quite beautiful but the temperatures are low.
So to warm you up, I'm going to share my Pumpkin soup recipe.  There are so many versions of this soup, and everyone has there favorite.  I put this one together a few weeks ago.

PUMPKIN SOUP

1 sugar pumpkin med size cut in half seeds removed, and roast with meat side down on foil lined baking sheet.  I cook at 450 degrees for about and hour or the meat is very tender.
1 can of light coconut milk
1 Tbsp approximately of mild red curry paste
1 16 oz can of chicken broth ( you can use more if soup is too thick)
additional, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 - 1/2 tsp coriander-ground, cayenne to taste, if you don't like ginger or coriander, not a big deal if you don't add extra.
about a quarter of finely chopped onion.
(seasoning is so up to individual, I try to not use much salt, as it is usually in the chix broth.)

Put all the ingredients into soup pan, and heat, I use and immersion blender to smooth out the pumpkin, be careful to not splash your self, or use the blender before heating the liquid. You could also put half the mixture into a regular blender and repeat with 2nd part.

Once it is all heated thru serve with some yummy whole wheat french bread, and a side salad.

Hope you enjoy it.  It warms up your kitchen as well as your table.

How time flies.

I just realized its been about a month since my last post here.  Not intentional to let so much time pass, sometimes it just happens.

I'm still waiting for my home to sell, which is nerve racking as the time gets closer to the holidays.  Between trying to keep up the appearance of constant house cleaning, and trying to keep and eye on the market if it does sell, its quite tiring both mentally and physically.   Obviously now is not a great season to sell a house, however we don't always have total control.

My daughter celebrated her 19th birthday last week, the first one away from home.  It was very weird as a parent to not share that day with your child.  We sent an edible fruit bouquet to her dance classes, with birthday balloons, and her friends went out with her for dinner and desert.  In the meantime, she has found new digs to move to after Thanksgiving.  So she'll be saying goodbye to the flop house, and hello to the challenge of moving in the city without a car.  I believe she will be much happier in the new place, she will have her own bedroom, and the girls all speak English. As you may remember her so far she's had a Korean roommate who had very little English language skills, and currently has a roommate from Turkey. This girl has better command of the language, but long conversations are still difficult.
In 2 days she will be coming homing to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Last year she was in the local Macy's parade on black Friday, and we spent all of the day downtown, this year that's not happening.

Well this is just a quickie.  I will post some more in the next day or two. 
Oh yes we have Snow!  Snow before Thanksgiving, is quite uncommon in Seattle overall, and to occur before the Thanksgiving holiday is even rarer.

Fall

I love Fall! The weather for a bit is sunny, dry and crisp while the leaves begin to change colors. In the Seattle area this can be quite short, before the rain begins to settle in but it doesn't dampen the spirit of fall.

The leaves still turn colors of red, yellow and brown. They still fall with a crunch sound underfoot.  The skies are clear but you smell the hint of wood burning from the many fireplaces in the area. What people don't often know is the rain isn't a constant happening- MOST DAYS (occasional freakish storms do happen). It's off and on throughout the day, with many dry periods.  This is a little tree in my backyard that doesn't get many flowers in the summer, but when the weather turns it becomes a beautiful red. I wanted to get one last picture before it loses it leaves.

I love the fall colors as well.  I'm very fond of yellow and reds.  When I was a teenager, my room was done in yellow and white, and my grandmother helped me make my first quilt which was done in yellow gingham, yellow solids and a print that was yellow, orange, and green.  I love color in general, but am not committed to any one color scheme. I like prints so that I can pull accent colors out that are in MY favor at the time.

Being fall, I feel the need to decorate, regardless of selling my house.  It hurts my soul to not be able to put something seasonal out .  I ran to the craft store, looking and searching for nothing to cheesy or commercial.  I found this  rustic candle holder, which I  LOVE!  I filled it with fall potpourri that has some pops of color, and then bought electric candles for the  holders.  I'm a huge fan of these battery operated candles.  I can put them on when I leave the house for a showing to set a mood and not worry that anything will catch a fire. There are so many types out, and most are set inside candle wax, so even if your into scented candles, you can still have them. 

Then I found these Chinese lanterns, which are the coolest plant when you see them in a garden.  They grow these lovely papery lantern shaped flowers that dried are so beautiful.  I've even seen these used for making cute pumpkin decorations. But I've put them currently, they may not stay, inside my cake keeper, along with one of those lovely buttery colored battery candles.  I just had to bring this pop of color to my dining room table.


you don't see the wire where its placed.



Lastly I found a twig pumkin that I filled with mini lights that were orange and yellow colored, added a spray of fall flowers to it for color.  It's not much but now I feel that I have some seasonal decorations which will last me until Christmas and with Luck we will hopefully be in a new home. 

weekend round up.

Last week a very dear woman in my family passed away.  She was born in 1910 she passed one month and one day prior to turning one hundred.  My aunt never married, and was the oldest of six children.  When my grand parents were aging, she took care of them both until they passed away themselves. She loved everyone, and treated everyone the same.  When I think of all the things that she saw happen during her life- automobiles and there changing styles, flying, man going to space, among so many other things.  She loved sports, and treated herself to big screen this last year to watch sports.  She was and extremely devout woman and loved her church and the community she lived in for the last 50+ years.
Her funeral was Thursday and the services were attended my the majority of the family, as well as some extended family and friends.  There must have been over a 100 people there. Immediate family went to the cemetery meaning her two surviving siblings, (one is 95, and one 78), one sister in law, nieces and nephews and their children too.  We then went to the church hall to celebrate her life. 

Many of us don't see each other except for weddings and funerals. My brothers were here as well and its the first time I've seen them in about 8 -10 years.  I had forgotten I was so short compared to the two them. The tallest one has 3 children  between 12 and 3, and the shorter one has a daughter who is about 17 months older than my own daughter.  Our children were not present. It's not a great photo but probably the first one of the 3 of us since about 1981.  And I can't stand my hair looks so bad, it was so HOT there, and we had been outside at the cemetery just frying. I kept running my hands through my hair and it totally messed.  Meanwhile I look at many of my girl cousins my age, and they must have a love affair with hair products, because some of those women didn't have hair that budged, not a hair misplaced.  OH well, and so it goes.

I made a quick trip from the funeral to visit my daughter.  Its only 120 miles or so, and once in the area it would be a crime to not see her.  So she and I had dinner at a little Greek restaurant called Mycos? I think down on Polk st. Then I took her grocery shopping for some things she might not be buying usually.  It was a very quick visit but one I was glad to have.  I would have stayed another day, but her BF was coming into town for the weekend and 3 in this case is definitely a crowd.  She'll be home for a week in November though to celebrate her birthday and Thanksgiving.

I finally sold my car this weekend.  Yeah! is all I can say, and goodbye sweet little KIA.  I have enjoyed my Spectra 5.  It was a fun car, and I wish my daughter had been able to get the hang of it.
Now if my house would sell things would be even better. 
We checked out a couple houses today.  One was not great but had pretty gardens and yard. One was ok, but needed some work, and one we liked the outside, but it ended up not being open.  Then we went and looked at the new houses we looked at several months ago by Inglemoor high.  They are still are so pretty and for the price, to have a new house vs one with issues.    I don't know, its not all about location, but a big part.

catching up

Hubs is out of town this week.  On sunday we had a birthday dinner for his dad.  While we were eating our daughter called in a "help" moment.  Her computer had crashed and things weren't coming back like they should.  She was able to talk with her grandad, and wish him a happy birthday.  Then got jealous when her dad said we were having a Corned Beef.  I promised when she came home for Thanksgiving, I would make it for her as her birthday dinner which is the week before she comes home.  This will be her first birthday not being home.  OH how times change.

To fill in the emptiness this week I made it to the movies and saw "CASE 39".  Its very intense and very much a thriller.  It had a couple of really creepy scary moments.  Its not like Halloween series or Carrie, or those other gross movies.  Tomorrow off with a girl friend to see "Men in Dance" at the Broadway hall in Seattle.  It's looking to be quite interesting program, including Peter Boal the director of Pacific Northwest Ballet will be performing a piece choreographed for him by Donald Byrd. Our friend Eva Stone who is the director of Stone Dance Collective is providing a piece done in the past by my daughter and some other girls in the company, but this time will be all boys, and obviously have a bit of a twist on it.  Both my friend and I have children in dance. Her son is Germany dancing for Stuttgart ballet, and my daughter is studying dance in San Francisco this year.

Can't wait for the hubs to come home.  This is a big empty house after the first or 2nd day.  And the cat she makes a lot of noise, but is not the lovey dovey type. 

Limosuines and Laughter; Parties ever after

Sunday we found we had a little free time with no impending projects or phone calls demanding our time.  So we headed to McCormicks and Schmidts for happy hour.  Unfortunately on Sunday they have what they call Game day fare.  It's not happy hour that's for sure.  We had a couple drinks and I  tried the fish tacos while Gordon went for the Tempura shrimp.  We watched the end of the SeaHawks game and then decided we would go elsewhere.  So we went up stairs to The Parlor.  They always have a good happy hour, with a new menu coming soon.  Here we had a few more drinks. Gordon had the Sliders, while I tried the Asian beef satay.  While there we played with the phone camera.  After numerous terrible shots, like both of our Glasses reflecting the flash - you know that Stars in your eye look, or the camera would cut one of us off, or the angle was so ridiculous you would laugh hysterically, we finally came out with one sort of OK picture- seen here.

The nice thing about happy hour, you can go have a early dinner (via the happy hour bites) and a drink or two and be home by 7.

Empty Nester's

I was at dinner last night with friends and my father in law.  My father in law has launched three children of his own  on this world of ours and now is watching his 3rd grandchild head out there.  He made a great comment, about he doesn't have to worry so much he can watch the girls and make comments etc. but its not his responsibility.  Actually what really cracks up about this statement is that he probably worries more than he will ever tell.  He is always making sure the girls have what they need, but he also made the comment to me he only hears from them when they need money.  When my husband and I were newly married, he was always there for us financially.  If we asked he provided, even though it may have been a bind for him.  He never told us.  He did at one point tell us we needed to start paying for my husbands tuition on our own, but it was to be expected. 
Last night his friend made the comment that I was being such a good mother in understanding my daughter's need to go off &  follow her love of dance.  Supporting her financially and through this time.  I almost wanted to laugh.  Our daughter is our only child.  We love our daughter, and want her to succeed.  We don't always agree with her but it certainly is our desire to see her happy and grow into a responsible adult.  When your children are at home, the last few years are so crucial in teaching them responsibility, respect for others and how to take care of themselves. You hope they have learned enough independence and confidence to succeed on their own.
 I believe our world is very different than it was 30 years ago when I went off to school.  I went to college, being driven by my grandmother, mother and aunt to the dorms.  I had 3 boxes of stuff no suitcases.  They helped me carry my boxes up, looked around and said goodbye.  We had no cell phones, or computers.  You could write letters, or make a traditional phone call.  I was far enough away the call was long distance so it precluded making those kind of calls. Parents didn't hang around, decorate your rooms, or stay with you. I kind of felt like it was a sink or swim situation, BUT I was determined that I would swim. I had never paid a bill, my first job held that summer-2 months part time before going away to school. I didn't care about what I didn't have. I cared about what I would accomplish and do on my own.  Some of us seem to have more challenges than others to succeed.  I learned those challenges and how we handle them, are what make us the person we become.  Many times I've wanted to curl up in my mothers or grandmothers lap and say, I'm so done with all of this, but then I look at what my grandmother accomplished and overcame in her life and realize that self pity in short spurts can feel good, but gets us no where.
So you're wondering where is this all going?   Well I guess I miss my daughter.  We are fortunate to be able to share a few text almost every day. Do I miss her presence and her hugs. YOU BET!  Am I proud of her taking on the challenging of following her dream, living in a large city, without any real friends or family, living in a dorm that's not associated with her school, so the community feeling you get when you live in a school dorm isn't there. She is taking the bull by the horns. And I hope with all my heart she succeeds. 
As a parent, I don't feel like I deserve compliments for "allowing", or helping her to go.  I know from my own experiences, she would find a way to do it.  With our help she has a better chance at success,but certainly its all about her.  I have several friends who are all in the same boat.  We all have our own ways of handling it, but its a fact that our children grow and mature(at least we hope they do).