Friday, March 30, 2012

Duke's 8th Birthday Dinner . . . woof, woof

Our adorable cockapoo Duke celebrated his 8th birthday yesterday!  He told us that he just wanted a family dinner, no big party.  When we suggested Wendy's he woofed and sat pretty at the suggestion, he was so excited!  As you can see (poor camera phone pic) in the photo he was one happy puppy!  Duke ordered a small cheese burger with tomato's and pickles (no onion or lettuce).  For dessert he had a Greenie!  He was in 7th Puppy Heaven last night!  

Friday, March 23, 2012

My Designer Pie!

My freehand shamrock!

My pie crust design above, I'm starting to get creative!
Below, is my "masterpiece" out of the oven!

My home smelled wonderful!

So I baked a strawberry rhubarb pie for St. Patricks Day weekend!  I got a little adventurous and did a little design on my pie crust!   I thought it came out pretty cute!  I even free-hand cut the shamrock!  What do you think?  I love how golden this crust looks too, all I did was an egg wash, maybe it was because I used farm fresh eggs.

The strawberries were from California, the rhubarb was from my garden.  I couldn't use the rhubarb fast enough over the summer so I froze it!  I have to tell you, it freezes nicely.  I need to make room in my freezer too, so this may be on the Easter dessert table!  Yes, I have that much rhubarb in my freezer!

Hope you can stop by for a slice!

Recipe
1 pie crust - home made or store bought
4 cups of rhubarb
2 cups of strawberries
2/3 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons flour (sprinkle around the top)
2 pats of butter (broken up and sprinkled around the top)

Place bottom crust in the pie plate
Add the above ingredients
Place top crust
Add a decoration (I made a shamrock, but it's optional)
slit to vent

Bake at 400 degrees for 60 minutes in a pre-heated oven!


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I'm A Lighthouse!!!

These photos are final peeks at some of my favorite spots. I took these photos this past Winter, fortunately I was lucky enough to capture them with a little snow, we didn't have much at all this year! Now I'm looking forward to posting some Spring photos!   I hope you enjoy "my" lighthouses as much as I do!

Portland Head Light

The Bug Light (look familiar?)


Spring Point Light

Two Lights


I'm a Lighthouse!


Dead ahead, through the pitch-black night, the captain sees a light on a collision course with his ship. 

He sends a signal: "Change your course ten degrees east."

"Change yours ten degrees west," comes the reply.
The captain responds, "I'm a United States Navy captain! Change your course, sir!"
"I'm a seaman second class," the next message reads. "Change your course, sir."
The captain is furious. "I'm a battleship! I'm not changing course!"
"I'm a lighthouse. Your call."



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Free Range Scallops



My husband and I LOVE scallops! Our favorite place to buy them is in Portland, Maine. We are fortunate enough to spend most of our free time in Maine - we just love it. We also like to purchase our scallops on the waterfront.  The scallops in this dish were purchased from Free Range Fish & Lobster, 450 Commercial Street Portland, ME 04101, (866) 700-8469. We buy most of our seafood from them!

These scallops are dry, local, sea scallops (see explanation below)- they are on the pricy side, but so worth it!  I usually buy about 2 pounds at a time and freeze the rest.  Check out their website (above) when you have a moment, I think they ship!

Our new motto is "eat fresh, eat local, eat better, eat less and live longer!"

Recipe
12 ounces of pan seared scallops in small amount of olive oil
12 - 16 ounces of baby organic arugula (or spinach)
1 - 14 ounce can of fire roasted organic diced tomatoes
2 diced garlic cloves
Angel hair pasta for 2

Directions
Cook and drain the pasta ahead of time
Pan sear the scallops and set aside when cooked (keeping them warm)
in a large sauce pan add the olive oil, add the garlic, about 30 seconds later add the diced tomatoes to stop the garlic from cooking.
Bring the tomatoes to a simmer
Add the arugula in small batches tossing in the tomato sauce and incorporating and you mix it.  (Remember, the arugula will shrink, so be generous with it!)

Serve
Pour a glass of nice white, cold vino. Plate the pasta, add the tomato sauce, add the scallops, then top with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and enjoy!

Satisfies 2 adults!  Yum!



Dry vs. Wet Scallops
Wet scallops are commonly treated with Phosphates which is a preservative. When scallops are soaked in phosphates, they absorb water making them weigh more and thereby costing you more. (Take in mind, that you are paying for added water.) The absorbed water evaporates during cooking and, in turn, shrinks your scallops leaving them smaller, dry and somewhat tasteless. Furthermore, the added water does not let scallops brown properly during cooking. It is generally easy to discern treated scallops as they will usually appear snow-white in color.

Dry scallops are all wild and natural. They are not treated with any chemicals whatsoever. They are harvested directly from the ocean, shucked on deck, then immediately frozen on the boat to capture their quality. Dry scallops caramelize naturally during cooking to a golden brown color that is very attractive when serving. And, as you might have guessed, there is no cost-added water weight with dry scallops. Dry scallops generally have a natural vanilla color.




Friday, March 9, 2012

This Made Me Giggle!


Thankfully this hasn't happened to me - the Internet being down that is!!!!