A good lesson for everyone… especially these days!

Image: http://laughs.rd.com

Seriously. This is a good point, it’s always best to diversify… meet lots of people, learn how to do many things, have interests that you would only dream of having. You only have one life… so be awake for it.

Have a great weekend… going to go get a cup of coffee now, hee hee…  (‘be awake for it’)…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
 

Artist to watch… Carol Marine!

Image: BlueCloudStudios.com

Carol Marine… I found her years and years ago while searching through different painting a day sites. Carol’s blog is amazing, a painting a day… absolutely spectacular! I try to use an image that is still for sale when I post an entry. There are so many SOLD paintings, it was tough! They’re all so good, so happy… if you get a chance, check out her website, http://www.bluecloudstudios.com … Then check out her blog ( http://carolmarine.blogspot.com/ ) you will flip! So many amazing paintings! Oh happy day!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Pomegranate Juice… Seriously good stuff!

Image: Prevention.com

Pomegranate juice. Seriously? WHO KNEW? This is some seriously good stuff! Most of us know it by the brand POM, but many brands are now available. Today’s cancer tip is from a great magazine article “Edible Healing: Food Cures for Cancer” by Prevention Magazine!

Pomegranate Juice

This juice, which tastes like raspberries, has been used in Persian medicine for thousands of years. Its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are well confirmed; studies show it can substantially reduce the development of even the most aggressive prostate cancers (among others). In addition, drinking it daily slows the spread of an established prostate cancer by more than 50%.

How to Drink It: Have 8 ounces daily with breakfast.

Well mom, today is treatment #3, nine more to go… we’re in the single digits now, woohoo!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Also… http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com !

English Pea Salad, recipe from Paula Deen’s sons…

English Pea Salad

This recipe is courtesy of Paula Deen’s son’s, (AKA “The Deen brothers”). It was featured on her Food Network show Paula’s Best Dish’s, the All in the Family episode. I didn’t see it, my mom told me she tried this recipe and got rave reviews. Everyone wanted the recipe. THAT’S the kind of thing I like to take somewhere. Once you throw it together, put it in a pretty dish and off you go! (OK, some of you may have noticed, I didn’t put it in a pretty dish, but I was taking this to a neighborhood get together on a very warm evening, so I put it in a stainless bowl and then placed the stainless bowl inside a larger stainless bowl filled with ice, I topped it with plastic wrap and a thick towel to keep the heat out. So much for my pretty dish, ugh. Might want to take printed recipes with you or a link to the online version (click HERE , easy to print), otherwise, here you go…

English Pea Salad

Ingredients

  • 4 slices bacon
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas, thawed and drained
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar
  • 2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and chopped
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Let cool.

In a medium serving bowl, combine the bacon, peas, cheese, and eggs. Stir in the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and salt and pepper, to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com !

Artist to watch… Kenn Backhaus!

Image: KennBackhaus.com

Artist Kenn Backhaus. A lovely surprise!

I seem to have a thing for sailboats lately… It all started with Ken Dewaard’s “Pink Sails”, which I love, love, love, and am happy to say have hanging where I see it all the time! I wasn’t familiar with Kenn Backhaus, but I have to say that I’m thrilled to have found his work! I recently featured artist Sue Stewart and noticed on her website that she had taken a workshop from him, so I thought I would check out his work, and whoa… have to say it was tough picking WHICH wonderful painting to feature! This painting is entitled “Make Ready for Tomorrow’s Voyage” and is at the Debra Huse Gallery. Check out Kenn’s website! Http://kennbackhaus.com . It’s full of wonderful information… Here’s a blip from his site:

In September of 2006 Kenn was filmed, painting up in Alaska as part of a PBS series entitled, “Plein Air, Painting the American Landscape”.  For more information, please visit: www.pleinairamerica.com

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Finally! A table you can dance on!

Image: SundanceCatalog.com

The Brickmaker’s coffee table… now THIS is a table you can dance on! This table is large (55″ L x 36.5″ D x 17.5″ H). It’s sturdy and it has a fabulous look. It’s the perfect marriage of old and new. The wood is old, both the wood and the metal base are recycled, so you’re doing your part to be green! You don’t have to worry about water rings or getting a scratch. You can plop your feet on it, sit on it, stand on it and yes, dance, if you’re so inclined. Like I said this table is large and we have it in a small space so it really makes a statement.

I’m sure you’ve seen this table in many places, this image is taken from Sundance catalog… my oh my, what wonderful treasures they have!
 
Enjoy your day, I’ll catch you back here tomorrow…

Artist to watch… KEVIN MACPHERSON!

Image: Kevin MacPherson.com

Kevin MacPherson. Anyone who admires art knows this man’s name. Kevin is a down to earth nice guy as well as being a brilliant artist. My husband and I first met him in Maine, when his wife Wanda was painting in Rockland, in the pouring rain; she was set up in a doorway, out of the weather, but whoa… a trooper indeed! My dad walked over to see what the artist was painting, and recognized her name, then met Kevin and introduced us. My dad has his books and a DVD I do believe… I’ve read the books (click HERE to see books and DVD’s on Kevin’s website) and they are fantastic! The painting shown here is entitled AFTERNOON SPARKLE  and is out of this world. I love the light, the water and the dash of orange’ish red on the sailboat. LOVE. IT.

 Kevin can paint anything, and he does it with a sense of humor which I so admire! He was recently in Charleston, and he painted at waterfront park in the noonday heat. I couldn’t stay the entire time, but learned a few neat things from him in that short time. I just wish I SAW things the way he does. Colors, shapes, it was amazing! Check out Kevin’s website, it’s chock full of great info.

ENJOY! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Who knew green tea did THIS MUCH?

Image: Amazon.com

This weeks cancer prevention tip… GREEN TEA. WHO KNEW IT COULD DO THIS MUCH? This information is from a fantastic article I read in Prevention magazine, “Edible Healing: Food Cures for Cancer “.  An absolutely fantastic article and one that everyone should read. If you don’t subscribe to Prevention magazine, you may want to consider it. It’s inexpensive and provides so much useful information… click HERE to subscribe (this isn’t a paid advertisement… wish it was, but they have no idea who I am).

While researching for this post I ran across this neat glass mug with infuser by TEAVANA, it’s called “JOLI”. If interested HERE is the link… also sold at Amazon.com.

A Health-Boosting Beverage

Green tea is rich in compounds called polyphenols, including catechins (and particularly EGCG), which reduce the growth of new blood vessels that feed tumors. It’s also a powerful antioxidant and detoxifier (activating enzymes in the liver that eliminate toxins from the body), and it encourages cancer cell death. In the laboratory, it has even been shown to increase the effect of radiation on cancer cells.

Japanese green tea (sencha, gyokuro, matcha, etc.) contains more EGCG than common varieties of Chinese green tea, making it the most potent source on the market; look in Asian groceries and tea shops. Black and oolong teas, commonly used to produce popular tea blends such as Earl Grey, are less effective because they’ve been fermented, which destroys a large proportion of their polyphenols. Decaffeinated green teas, which retain the polyphenols despite the process of decaffeination, are also an option if you’re sensitive to caffeine.

How to Drink It: Sip 2 to 3 cups a day within an hour of brewing. Green tea must be steeped for at least 5 to 8 minutes–ideally 10–to release its catechins, but it loses its beneficial polyphenols after an hour or two.

OK mom, 2 treatments down and 10 to go… you can do it! Whoot whoot!

Catch you back here tomorrow…

Also… http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com !

Majby… Where comfort meets style AND low price!

What a sweet deal this is! Comfort and style you would think would come at a high price, but not MAJBY…  My husband and I love furniture… We’ve bought a ton of it (probably literally) over the past years, however within the past few years we’ve decided that the more formal look wasn’t really our thing, and we’ve moved it on, we now have furniture that feels more like us, a down sofa that’s slipcovered in a natural twill, an antique pine farmhouse table, a wooden brickmakers coffee table (future post), and the list goes on… We’ve had numerous types of dining room chairs, none of them inexpensive and none of them were “just right” for the long haul… A few years ago we decided to use two Mitchell Gold wingbacks, also slipcovered in natural fabric as our dining room chairs. After all there are only two of us… Now if we have people over, a few occasional chairs would be nice… since two more wingbacks would be overpowering at this long narrow farmhouse table…  In the winter we really use that dining room alot. We build fires in the winter (nothing better than watching the fireplace!). One night we were watching our favorite designer (Sarah Richardson… is there ANY house that woman can’t make right? It amazes me how she tears down walls, digs basements, changes entryways, and WHOA the difference it makes… although she has a mighty hefty budget AND a ton of workers… she can visualize like no one I’ve ever seen!). She was renovating a dining room in the house she bought and she had rather expensive furnishings, then it came to the chairs, she needed lots of them. (Click HERE to see) ENTER… THE MAJBY chair. We’re trying to remember how we figured out the chair name… I’m sure it was with the close assistance of our friend… GOOGLE. Anyway, saw that it came from IKEA. Closest Ikea to us is in Charlotte, NC. You can’t call and pay for it and then go pick it up, you can’t put it on hold not even for a minute, so a neighbor of ours was in Charlotte and picked them up for us (THANK YOU MARGARET!). We weren’t sure what to expect not seeing them in person, but for $79.99 YOU CANNOT BEAT THEM. They’re comfortable, great looking, and did I mention affordable? We use them as desk chairs until we need them for an occaisonal/dining room chair. So if by chance you are on the lookout for a sharp looking chair that is high on style and low on cost, check it out!

If you get a chance, check out my photo blog at http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com – catch you back here tomorrow!

Morning Glory Muffins… Just what the doctor ordered!

Morning Glory Muffins

Sometimes you need a quick and satisfying breakfast, not something that takes too long… it’s nice to be able to grab something and head out the door! These muffins are good alone, or paired with a fruit smoothie or a greek yogurt, mmmmm. They are filled with good things BUT they don’t taste “healthy”. The good thing about this recipe is that you can put whatever fruit you like in it… I made it pretty much as the recipe indicated. I used greek yogurt because it’s what I had (which boosts the protein a weee bit), I didn’t have wheat germ so I just added more flax. Next time I’ll probably use dried apricots or cherries instead of pineapple since the pineapple is so sweet… fresh blueberries would also be good! We eat some and freeze some, they’re great heated in the microwave for a few seconds!

This is a recipe from Cooking Light Magazine… and it’s a winner, I’ve made it several times. If you want to get to the MyRecipes.com website click HERE where you can print it quick and easy, otherwise… here’s the recipe…

Morning Glory Muffins

 YIELD: 18 servings (serving size: 1 muffin)

Ingredients

Cooking spray

1 cup whole wheat flour (about 4 3/4 ounces)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)

1 cup regular oats

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon wheat bran

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain fat-free yogurt

1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2)

1 large egg

1 cup chopped pitted dates

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple

3 tablespoons ground flaxseed (about 2 tablespoons whole)

 Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place 18 muffin cups liners in muffin cups; coat liners with cooking spray.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flours and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine yogurt, banana, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in dates, walnuts, and pineapple. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly with flaxseed. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pans immediately; cool on a wire rack.

Charlotte Moore, Toronto, Cooking Light
JULY 2007

Check out my photo blog at http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com – catch you back here tomorrow!

Memorial Day Eve…

 

Image: uulyrics.com

Well tomorrow is Memorial Day, I guess that makes today Memorial Day Eve, doesn’t it? Whether you’re out gathering your grilling supplies, getting ready for friends or family to come over or just enjoying a nice quiet day off please take a few moments tomorrow (or any time!) to remember all men and women who have died for our freedom. If we all can fit in a few minutes of reflection to remember those who stood up for this country that would be a tremendous honor.

As Lee Greenwood said:

And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free, and I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me and I’ll proudly stand next to him to defend her still today, ‘cuz there ain’t no doubt I love this land, god bless the USA.

ENJOY your Memorial Day! Catch you back here tomorrow! If you get a chance visit my photo blog at http://almostdailypoic.wordpress.com !