// May 31st, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Faith, Family
Remembering my sweet dad today, and all of the other selfless and courageous veterans who fought for our freedoms so that we may worship our God of the Universe, speak as we want, and pursue our dreams without fear.
One nation, under God.
// May 28th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Functional Foodie, Tasty Bites
Fire up the grill, clean out your vegetable bin, and try something you haven’t had before. Jump over to Ginny’s Tasty Bites for the post where I finally eat sausage….
And next week, perhaps I’ll have a post on my own blog! I’ve been crazy busy and grabbing the Iowa Spring out of fear it will turn into winter again!
// May 21st, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Functional Foodie, Tasty Bites
When my kids were growing up, “homemade spaghetti sauce” was a jar of purchased spaghetti sauce, a can of mushrooms (yes, the rubber ones), and a pound of browned ground beef. Homemade sauce is where it’s at for me these days. Swing by Ginny’s Tasty Bites where I’m sharing my marinara recipe!
// May 16th, 2010 // 12 Comments » // My Fabulous Life
I’m here to finally wrap up the Tweet-Up recap of the weekend I met Annie in Seattle (who turned out not to be an ax murderer – this time anyway). To be clear, I didn’t travel 1800 miles just to meet her. I was headed there on business, she had some frequent flier miles and lives just a puddle jump away, so it was meant to be. God’s will, I’m certain.
In case you missed any of the craziness, Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, and Part 3 is here.
We retired fairly early Saturday night, hashing over the weekend and giggling like the schoolgirl Annie is and I used to be. Sunday morning we got all packed and waited in the coffee shop at the hotel, I think we ate something but I didn’t take a picture. Those pics aren’t all entertainment; some are to jog my memory of where I’ve been and whether or not I’ve eaten that day. (Not that I forget to eat, but I’ve been know to eat two lunches in a day).
Our ride to the airport was provided by none other than Wendy, or @weightwhat to the Twitterverse. She is probably one of the funniest, snarkiest people I’ve never met. Until Seattle. To prove a point, she came bearing gifts. Yeah, don’t ask.
We hopped in Wendy’s minivan and buzzed to the Cheesecake Factory for some quick brunch. When I say “buzzed” let me tell you, Wendy knows how to pick the fast lane and she owned the streets of Seattle. It did feel about 18% safer than the ride I had in the cab on Saturday morning.
We chatted, ate, solved world hunger, and got to know each other, all in about 45 minutes. I was going to order the salmon, but it looked a little dry.
Then it was off to the airport, but not without the obligatory Wendy photo. She’s a tad bit camera-shy. And looks eerily similar to her Twitter avatar. She also has an Etsy shop. Go. Buy stuff. If you have kidlets or if your DH will let you dress him in cute frog clothes, that is.
I had a while to wait in the airport, so naturally went to find more seafood. One. Last. Taste. I wasn’t really that hungry, so chose some light fare – clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Since it was going to be my last white bread for a long time I may or may not have eaten every last bite. You just never know when a famine might hit.
The FOTTSP prop card will be sent to the next Tweeter-Uppers. The expectation is that they chronicle their journey and maintain the mission and integrity of the Fellowship of the Traveling Smarty Pants:
Tweet Often, Stay Safe, Eat Local, Sprinkle with Sarcasm, Love Much
Annie, it was such a pleasure to spend the weekend with you. Thank you for taking me around beautiful Seattle. ‘Til we meet again, friend.
And I’ll still be way taller than you.
// May 14th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Functional Foodie, Tasty Bites
It’s rare I’ll throw any leftovers away, even if there’s just a smidgen of veggies or pasta. One of my favorite things to make is “breakfast for dinner” and a frittata is perfect for that. Eggs just aren’t for breakfast anymore! Jump over to Ginny’s Tasty Bites for a yummy recipe for leftover veggies.
// May 10th, 2010 // 8 Comments » // My Fabulous Life
When I last left you in the Tweet-Up recap (Part 1 here and Part 2 here), Annie and I just had the Best. Sushi. Ever. But the night was young (as is Annie) and neither of us was quite ready to call it a night. We stepped outside the Nijo Sushi Bar and Grill and heard Puget Sound call our names. Or perhaps it was Elliott calling us from his Oyster House. Whatever. We heard the calling, so we hoofed it right down there.
Let me just interject that the bill from Elliott’s showed up on my bank statement as “Elliott’s Oyster Ho.” I may have some explainin’ to do.
And then we began tweeting from the table. Annie ordered a glass of Shiraz and I, of course wanting to stay healthy, ordered an antioxidant-laden blackberry drink that may or may not have officially been a margarita. Oh was it yummy. 
Let the tweeting begin. One of the many things Annie and I have found we have in common is our love for unconventional hashtags. And if you’re not a Twitterer or a Tweeter or whatever, this will look like Greek to you.
And you don’t know what you’re missing, Sherri.
C: RT @buzzbyannies: @Candysteele will now conquer the blueberry margarita. http://twitpic.com/1k4u2g #agirlneedsherantioxodants
A: @sarahmsalter It’s almost as good as the eel. Almost.
C: @gitzengirl And I can’t even spell “antioxidants” #Lordknowswhynot
Gitz: @CandySteele how many margaritas so far?#ispoorspellinglikeslurring? Gitz is in the running for hashtag champion also. She’s come nigh on 140 characters in some of hers 
C: @gitzengirl depends on the definition of “how many.” #perhaps(follow @buzzbyannies – she didn’t come by that name lightly)
A: @gitzengirl It’s round two for @Candysteele and the spelling is getting progressively worse. Snort!
A: An older gentleman just compimented me on my hat.#goodtasteincamo
A: @gitzengirl If there is a third round @Candysteele will be banned from twitter. #Thatswhatfriendsarefor
C: @gitzengirl Is there such thing as skyparitas? @buzzbyannies would be totally in #thirdround #onlyonestweetinghere
Gitz: @CandySteele NOW you’re speaking my language
C: @gitzengirl *cue Dionne Warwick* #thatswhatfriendsarefor
Gitz: @buzzbyannies @Candysteele #Thatswhatfriendsarefor friends don’t let friends tweet tipsy.
And then “Smarty” chimed in. He prefers incognito, has changed his online persona more than a couple of times in the past few weeks, and even his friends are confused who he actually is. He said he was at a friend’s family gathering, pretending to be on his phone to get out of ”an awkward social situation,” introduced himself as Duane (still not his real name), a journalist working on a story about the corruption found in the local sun detergent factory. Huh??
A: @”Smarty” Introduce yourself as Clark Kent because next week you might be…
S: @buzzbyannies isn’t Clark Kent a famous blogger? It’d be fun to be him. (OK, so “Smarty” is young, perhaps not well-traveled in the Superman crowd)
A: @”Smarty” He blogs while wearing tights and a cape. I can see how it would be fun for you to be him
S: @buzzbyannies really? U know him? He really wears tighty whiteys while blogging? Weird weird.
Which left @”Smarty” still young and Clueless in Seattle. And don’t hold it against Iowa that he lives here.
Annie’s mission when we arrived was to take a picture of a woman across the restaurant who apparently had hair that was formerly a home to local seagulls. She tried to be discreet, but holding her phone way above her head and snapping relentlessly was a dead giveaway. Suffice it to say the lady looked like a Bratz doll channeling Cousin Itt. No cameras were harmed, fortunately. And the only picture she got was half of the Larry the Cable Guy look-alike who was next to her. #unlikelycouple
Then Annie and I went back to the hotel by 11. #lightweights There was considerable talking going on for hours to come, however. #hardtogetawordinedgewise
Our journey is sadly coming to an end, but we had one last surprise the next day – another imaginary friend tweet-up. WENDY!!
// May 9th, 2010 // 11 Comments » // My Fabulous Life
We decided at the last minute to run up to Prairie Du Chien to visit my mom for Mother’s Day. You just never know how many more Mother’s Days one has left. (Not sure if I’m talking about her or me). Any 85 year-old woman who can single-handedly load a Jeep, haul a houseful of summer supplies in, clean, wash windows, and get groceries while putting in 14 hour days, probably has a few more Mother’s Days ahead of her. I apparently come from good stock.
We met her in the parking lot of her summer church. I use the word “summer” lightly – it was 27 degrees up there last night! RB and I got out of the car to greet her after she drove in, and instead of admiring the loving embrace they shared, I laughed hysterically because they were dressed EXACTLY ALIKE.
Seriously, RB, who dresses like their mother-in-law? Right down to the intersecting woven lines on their sweaters. I laughed all the way into church. At least he left his beaded necklace at home. And her fly was up.
I’m kidding.
After a huge brunch at the Hungry House, we went 10 miles up the road to her trailer on the river summer home in Wisconsin and I immediately lapsed into a food coma. RB helped her with some yard work, I finally woke up and we chatted for a while, then we headed home by way of Pike’s Peak State Park. It was a beautiful spring day, and the lush foliage defied the cool temperatures.
This is where the Wisconsin and mighty Mississippi Rivers intersect. The river is very low and slow here, but the view is breathtaking. If you’re wondering whether or not heaven is Iowa, click on that picture below. Sure felt like it today.
I tried to get my usual puppy fix as we walked through the park, but only saw one. And he refused to look at me. Every time he walked up to me and I told him to sit, he did. With his back to me.
On the way home we stopped at the same Dairy Sweet in Lamont that we’ve stopped for 34 years. It wasn’t quite as sweet as the days when we had three sunburned, exhausted kids in the car, but it was still a sweet memory nobody can take away.
Happy Mother’s Day to me.
And to you, Mom. Who cannot read my blog from her Underwood manual typewriter.
And to you, Ron Burgundy, even though you dress like your mother-in-law. Because if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be a mama.
Yes, I’m still laughing.
// May 7th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Functional Foodie, Tasty Bites
Oh, do I love heat! Spicy, hot heat! This dinner is so tasty with the spicy shrimp, sweet corn, and creamy avocado. It’s a perfect light meal for a busy night. Jump over to Ginny’s Tasty Bites for some Cajun love!
// May 6th, 2010 // 7 Comments » // My Fabulous Life
If you missed the first installment of the Traveling Smarty Pants Tweet-Up in Seattle, start here.
Day 2 in Seattle brought hills. Well, the day didn’t actually bring them. They were there before we arrived. Annie and I just decided to own those hills.
My day started early, as I donned my go-to-meetin’ clothes, grabbed a cab, and headed to Swedish Hospital – Cherry Hill to do my dog and pony show. Except it was just me. No pony. I was very relieved that my PowerPoint didn’t crash on me, all went swimmingly, and the audience had some great questions. I love questions, especially ones I can answer.
Back at the hotel, Annie put on her Party Captain/Tour Guide Camo hat and started planning our day. That’s our hotel. We couldn’t quite decide if it was historically quaint, hysterically old school, or a dive. Her half of the room had a flat screen TV. My half had a bathroom. Neither had a view. The most important thing: the price was oh-so-right.
I quickly changed clothes and we were off for our first experience, on foot of course. The humid cool air lent itself to some gorgeous foliage along the way.
And art. 
And architecture.
First stop was the Seattle Underground Tour. Being the wordly traveler I am, I had no idea that there are subterranean passages that once were the main roadways and first-floor storefronts of old downtown Seattle. After the fire of 1889, some businesses quickly rebuilt with stone or masonry, then the city built retaining walls, eight feet or higher, on either side of the old streets, filled in the space between the walls, and paved over the fill to raise the streets, making them one story higher than the old sidewalks that still ran alongside them. The result is a massive 25 block web of passageways. One word describes it: awesomesauce.
The was a small museum housing the first toilet imported from England, made by the infamous Thomas Crapper. You heard me.
Look at the beautiful porcelain painted in the bowl. I’m thinking Mrs. Crapper said “Tommy Boy, aim at the pansy” and her floor was clean forever.
And then they had kids, and soon it came to this.
We left the Underground, but not without a few FOTTSP sightings in the gift shop.
A Sky-Mall worthy armadillo purse:
Some “Handerpants” just in case your Snuggie doesn’t quite cut it:
And something every home needs. Underpants for those pesky squirrels. This one’s for Steph. She hates it when squirrels streak nekkid.
We went to Pike Place Market and lo and behold, the fish monger was from Decorah, Iowa! Meet Yori. He gave me the best smoked salmon in the world.
And I drooled over the crab legs.
Dungeness crab.
And ginormous lobster tails.
I am now on their mailing list. My justification for having seafood dry-ice shipped from Seattle is that I take no medications. If you recall, food is my medicine and I’m taking advantage of is as long as I can. Life is too short to not eat Seattle seafood.
We sort of forgot about lunch – trudging up the hills for 5 hours makes you hungry only for oxygen and water. Dinner was at the Nijo Sushi Bar and Grill. We ordered a couple of um…er…, creme sodas, weren’t they, Annie?
And then we befriended not only our waiter but the two (considerably younger and more sushi-savvy) gentlemen at the table next to us. We ordered calamari, tempura shrimp, then some basic “play-it-safe-this-is-Candy’s-first-real-sushi” rolls. Spicy tuna and Bainbridge Islander with shrimp, salmon, asparagus, cucumber and avocado. I couldn’t decide between my camera and my camera phone. It’s hard to maneuver chopsticks, cameras, and Twitter. Really.
It was then we decided to live on the edge of reason. On the advice of our new friends, who wielded chopsticks like fire batons, we ordered the Red Dragon – soft shell crab and cucumber wrapped with eel and avocado. Annie politely mixed her wasabi in the soy. I ate my wasabi in chunks.
What I don’t have photos of is the laughter. I imagine we looked something like this.
That winds up part 2. Part 3 will be fewer pictures, I promise. More like a Twittering dessert-Blackberry Margarita-Shiraz-even more crab dip bit of silliness that ended the evening.
More film at 11. This is getting to be a long movie.
// May 3rd, 2010 // 23 Comments » // Functional Foodie, My Fabulous Life
I always cautioned my kids about “stranger danger.” There are a lot of weirdos out there. Perhaps I’m one of them.
I’ve known Annie for a couple of years. We were trying to recall how we first “met” online, and think it was probably through the comments section of Jon Acuff’s Stuff Christians Like blog where it seems all things snarky, funny, and outrageous occur. I wonder if Jon has any idea of the friendships he’s fostered from his blog comments section? Compared to those, that book deal of his is small potatoes.
But I bought it anyway. And yes, it’s hysterical. And no, I didn’t get paid to say that.
A group of us bloggers, Tweeters, and chronic email forwarders formed (I use that word loosely) “The Fellowship of the Traveling Smarty Pants” or better known as FOTTSP. Katdish instigated it. If you know Katdish, that won’t surprise you. She starts everything and is always sometimes gracious about taking the blame for things gone wrong. We have a group blog that’s hit and miss, some new members, and we even let a few boys join us, as long as they subscribe to sarcastic, sometimes a bit inappropriate, and a little redneck humor. In the words of one of our most precious members, Helen: “I love Jesus but I drink a little.”
That’s the other thing we have in common. We love Jesus and know He has a great sense of humor. He’s either laughing with us, because of us, or in spite of us. As much laughing as we do, we’re also the first to drop what we’re doing and fire off a prayer request for each other. That’s just how we roll.
Annie and I met up last weekend in Seattle, where I was contracted to do a presentation. She lives an hour away, as the crow flies. Or maybe it was the plane. The next post or two will chronicle our weekend, and if you have ever seen the movie “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” you’ll understand why we shared laughs, tears, and an overall great time.
There’s a verse somewhere in Ephesians that says something like “I thank God every day I didn’t meet an ax murderer” or something like that. Annie was awesome, and I’ve lived to tell about it.
The Arrival – Seattle Airport. I saw Annie the minute I entered my gate. She looks just like her picture, except a little shorter. The first self-portrait attempt. Good thing one of us has long arms. This was after the tears.
Getting our feet wet in Seattle. We found a little shop that was calling our name. How did we know that? This was the first of many clues we’d find all over Seattle. They knew we were coming.
My inaugural oyster. I’ve never eaten a raw one before, but since we were sitting 10 feet from the water, I figured it was fresh. Elliott’s Oyster House offered a free taste for first-time oyster slurpers, so Annie ordered one for me.
Not only was this my first oyster, it was my last. The flavor was good, but the texture? Not so much. I actually had to think it was snot to get it to slide down without gagging and spitting it all over the table. That’s the nurse in me, I guess. Annie felt obliged to tweet this photo. She was quite proud of that conquest. I wasn’t unaware that as funny as she thought this was, she did not order any oysters for herself. Big talkin’ Annie.
The rest of the meal was fabulous. We shared a creamy Crab and Shrimp Dip with crusty bread….
Crab Crusted Salmon with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli…
And Crab Cakes with Jicama Slaw and Jasmine Sesame Rice…
Total. Eye-rolling. Gustatory. Heaven.
It was quite evident that none of the crab in Seattle is spelled Krab like it is in Iowa. We were even too full for dessert.
After that, we returned to our hotel where I reviewed my PowerPoint one more time (after all, I really was there on business, Mr. IRS) and she acted as FOTTSP Recreational Leader and Party Captain and planned the rest of our weekend.
Film at 11.
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