Drinking Problem....

For the past couple years, I have saved the drink canisters we have used. Then at Christmas, I have decorated them and put treats in them for our neighbors. This year, I decided I was tired of doing that and I wouldn't save the drink canisters any more. A few months into 2009, I started saving them again because I couldn't stand to throw them away--it seems like such a waste. The other day I was cleaning out the cupboard where I keep these--I didn't realize I had so many--whoops! I can't believe there's 23 empty canisters! And there's two more that are half empty. That's a lot of drinking by our family. I'm not sure if it's better or worse than Kool-Aid or soda pop.

Anyway...I guess I had better figure out something to do with these canisters again this year for Christmas--I would hate to waste them.

I'll keep you posted...

Chicken Marbella

Sunday Dinner this week. This recipe is from a cookbook named The Silver Palate Cookbook which celebrated its 25th anniversary a couple years ago. Its a pretty famous cookbook with recipes from a deli/food store back East. Many recipes from this book are well known--this recipe, in fact, is supposedly one of people's favorites. I tried it for the first time this past Sunday. It did turn out pretty yummy and very easy. Another recipe from that book is the tomatoes and pasta recipe that I posted last summer. I LOVE that recipe.

The reason I made this dish is because the woman who co-wrote the cookbook, Sheila Lukins, died of brain cancer a couple weeks ago. Lots of people have written about her or posted comments to different websites about how influential she was to novice cooks everywhere. I thought it would be a fun tribute to her to make one of her most famous dishes and post it here. Thanks, Sheila!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/CHICKEN-MARBELLA-SILVER-PALATE-COOKBOOK-1277030

Because Dale is out of town...

Three days ago, this is what the kids discovered in the tree in front of our house. It was well hidden in the tree, so we never noticed it until now. You can't really tell from the picture, but it was about the size of a basketball...maybe a little larger.
And this is what was swarming around the nest and crawling in and out....

Very Scary!! And of course this is the week that Dale is out of town backpacking. Every once in a while a job comes along that is just meant for husbands to take care of. This was one of them. (Another one was when a large bird crashed and died in our yard a couple years ago when Dale was backpacking---gross!)

I thought about just calling a pest control service, but my dad told me that could be quite expensive. So we did some research on the internet, got brave, and took care of it ourselves. There was only a little screaming and running. It only took us three days to get rid of it, but it's gone now...unless of course they all come back to life in the garbage bag sealed inside the garbage can. Poor garbage collectors!!!

I think Dale owes me one for taking care of this.