A visit last week with friends

The past several days we had company – Walt and Lil who we know from our boating days on the Chesapeake. Since we moved up here we have kept in contact by email but it was about time for a get together. They arrived Sunday and we had really GREAT weather through Wednesday. Sitting out on the middle deck was lots of fun.





We took a boat ride on Monday that was really fun. It was cool and windy but the sun was out and with jackets we were quite comfortable. We stopped for gas at Walt’s Landing, a rather appropriate place, and our Walt helped us gas up! After the boat ride we went to Cooper’s for a late lunch/early dinner. We took a ride Tuesday and went to get pizza for dinner. Wednesday was spent relaxing around the house, looking at the food channel and talking. I cooked dinner which was rather good! They left early Thursday. Really a great time!

For some reason, when I thought I posted this, I didn't... oops!! So here it is - late but not forgotten.

Pasta Fagioli

The weather has been rather icky - and B shared his cold (how kind?) so soup sounded good. This is adopted from The Soup Mix Gourmet...and was really GOOD!

2 tbl. extra virgin olive oil (EVOI)
2 strips bacon, 1/2 inch dice
1/2 to 3/4 pound lean ground been
1/2 cup chopped onion, celery and carrot
one 15 oz can diced tomatoes in tomato juice
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 envelope Knorr Tomato Beef Soup Mix
3 - 4 cups water
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (or 1/4 tsp dried)
1 16 oz can small white beans
2 cups cooked pasta (small such as elbow)
grated Pecorino Romano cheese

In pot, heat oil and brown bacon. (I used leftover bacon which worked fine - just crisped it up) Add ground beef and cook until no pink shows and drain off fat if needed.

Add onion, cleler and carrot and cook until softened - about 4 minutes over medium heat. Then add tomatoes and juice, rosemary (dried for this one) and soup mix and bring to a boil. Add water(start with 3 cups), pepper, fresh rosemary chopped well if you have it and beans(I drained them). Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes or more. This is where you judge if you need to add more water as it's supposed to be thick.

Add cooked pasta and simmer about 10 minutes. Serve with the cheese.

We each had two bowls and enough for leftovers the next day.. so it would serve 4.






diced celery and carrots - onion was next



take the rosemary off the stalk and chop well. I haven't started to chop yet - took the picture before my hands got messy!

Here it is simmering... smelled good!














The finished product!! Really good!!!! 

Cook Out Chicken

This is sooooo cool!! I’m outside using the laptop on the patio while I have some wine and the chicken cooks. Retirement is a good thing as it’s Sunday late afternoon and before we would have been on the road if not already back in Jersey getting ready for another day at work.

It’s been really nice – cool at night and warm during the day. It was in the upper 40s this morning… and didn’t get out of the 70s today. Right now there is a light breeze blowing and the sun is shining, but not on me… I’m in the shade. B is putting the sprinklers on the shrubs. We don’t have in-ground sprinklers here but rarely need to water so it’s not a problem. I’m trying a new dish… beer can chicken. We got a Perdue chicken this morning and I made a rub that I put on and in the chicken. Then I took a can of beer and drank some to empty the can about a third…hey, cooking ain’t easy J I had gotten this contraption that the chicken sits on that holds the can. So picture this, the chicken is sitting upright on a can – kinda looks like a rocket ship about to blast off. I have it in the middle of the grill where the burner is off – with two burners on high. So, we shall see how it tastes.

B is back and he brought snackies… how nice!!! Snyder’s of Hanover Home style pretzels our favorite. He also brought some Ritz Bits cheese. Yum

We really have been doing things around the house. B started washing off the house. Our house is made of cedar. What you see on the outside is really what you see on the inside. The outside of the house looked dirty – and so he decided to clean it. Using Murphy’s Oil in a bucket, he cleaned an area in the back that really looks good. The water was so dirty we dumped it several times. When you look up, you can tell what was cleaned. This is an on going project.

I’ve just started to go through our pictures. I have a tote full of pictures that I started to deal with. I have a Cannon scanner to scan the pictures and am working my way through. It is a bittersweet task… pictures of mom and dad and B’s family. But I want to scan them and then save to a CD and then give several people the CD. I’m concerned about back up in the event of a National Emergency which, it would seem, could happen.

Well, back to the chicken… it is so lovely out here. The dinner is cooking and the temps are so comfortable. It’s a good day – hope it is for you, too.

A Pocono Day

It was, for want of a better statement, a Pocono day. We had rain last night… boomers and heavy rain. We woke to cloudy skies. We went to breakfast and then home by 8 AM. B read the paper and I busied myself on cleaning stuff… put away dishes in the kitchen and so forth. I just kept busy around the house. It was in the 70’s. We had an early lunch and went out to do some yard work. B mowed the grass – mostly over the septic hill. I raked and moved more tree branches. The yard looks good. We took a break ‘cause we were really hot. After lunch I moved chairs around and wiped the tables down… The decks and patio really look good!

Went to the Library (B drove) to pick up a book I had on request – Julia Childs about her time in France. Started reading it and it is really interesting.

And now we are done dinner and it’s still really nice outside. No humidity and really going to get cool tonight. We are going to the Doctors tomorrow… just one of those “normal” visits you do every so often. At first we planned to eat breakfast home… but B just said maybe we would go early and eat at the diner. Fine with me…. I guess my coffee doesn’t compete with the Hawley Diner!!

Hope it is cooler in Jersey…. You guys would really love it here!!!!!

Maxine

Don't you just love Maxine???

Retirement Year One

Here it is August already…and I’ve been retired one year!! Hard to believe.

I was worried that I wouldn’t keep busy – but that hasn’t been a problem at all. I find that I really enjoy doing things around the house. Yes, really. The fact that we have less “stuff” now, and are reducing it further each month does help. I think it’s also that there is the time…I tend to focus on one thing and when I worked, all my energy and thought went toward my job. So much that I would wake up worrying about a problem. So cleaning was not a primary concern although I was aware the house was not super clean (I hasten to add that I was never a pig and the house was cluttered but I did vacuum and dust and clean the bathrooms – just not as often as I do now). I’m enjoying trying out new recipes as well as doing things outside. Then there is the computer, taking pictures, reading and looking at movies and TV and catching up on shows I missed. B and I go shopping or take a drive or go out on the boat. We also work outside on various projects. We are very fortunate and know it…and are very thankful we can enjoy our retirement.

It’s much cooler today… we were in the upper 90’s – it felt like we were back in Jersey. It cooled off late yesterday so we turned the air off. Right now it’s cloudy but we are supposed to have a comfortable weekend with clear skies!