I Like Thursday # 371 creating, cooking, flowers, a recipe, and an opinionated black poodle

 

It's time to list our likes for this week! I like my poodle son, especially sharing the frame with another fave, flamingos  (these ghosts come out every year) 

I have spent time this week, trying to do two workshops, one on painting and one on crafts...

 

 and my back got hurt from trying to do too much at the computer. I guess I need to let it go but I'm sad... when my back goes, vertebra slip and pinch nerves, so... I'll just try to prioritize the lessons and accept my limits. 

Love this big pumpkin on our porch

 the only problem with this pumpkin is a squirrel... I see it sitting on the pumpkin trying to rip off the stem... Heyyyyy leave it til Thanksgiving please, then it's all yours, all the seeds, just like last year!!!

we got an orange mum to go with the purple one

I love mums in Fall, and used to line our walkway with them in MD. They are too expensive here, but we got a new orange one to go with the purple one and it's so festive now out back!

I'm still reading the same stories, even on audio as last week. 

I'm still loving tv, with Big Brother, Amazing Race, Survivor, Dancing with the stars (Barry from Brady Bunch who I had a girlish crush on) and so many brave celebrities doing very well. Bachelor in paradise, and best yet, Golden Bachelor the first time a 72 year old bachelor (wife of 43 years passed away) finds love again with women over the age of 60, and they are all kind, polite, multifaceted, and fun to watch. 

I was glad to get some household deep cleaning done the past week, how nice that was. We live in CO now and it's dusty y'all. I noticed our paneled doors were dusty even though we open and close them daily... so we wiped ALL the carved panels clean, mopped the wood floors, cleaned webs off the porches, and got up some leaves

I love fall colors, and this tree made us very happy. It looked dead a couple years ago, and neighbors said cut it down. Well I noticed it was putting out baby trees all around the dead trunk, so we nurtured it, and eventually cut the mother tree, but the circle of babies made this! We periodically cut small saplings to the ground but I think Mother Nature is doing a fine job

saw this on a workshop this week, and liked it...

 prompt for the week:

what ethnic foods do you like? ex: most of us like Italian, but how about Vietnamese? Thai? Mexican? Cuban? German? Swedish? others?do you get take out, eat at a special place,  or have you learned to make a version at home?

  I grew up eating Cuban food at restaurants, and still make arroyo con pollo (chicken and yellow rice) at least once a month. I used to love deviled crab balls, piccadillo, Boliche, black beans and flan. 

I love Italian food, and greatly miss eating out at Amicci's in Little Italy Baltimore.  I love the flavors of Mexican food. We often make our version of fajitas, and turkey chili with lots of beans. We both love beans so often have them as a side. 

Thai is my favorite dinner out... but we now make our own, with a jar of Thai sauce plus lots of fresh vege, over rice. 

We used to go out to Pappas in Tarpon Springs for Greek food...I always got butter seared shrimp, and always their special salad. A Greek salad there had the most lush potato salad in it as well as the usual. We used to go so often, my mother once found out how to make it from our waitress. We served the potato salad at most family gatherings after that. 

Because we still need to protect ourselves from covid, we no longer eat out or even get take out... sad for me. 

Growing up, adopted into a deep south family who cooked "old school" basic foods, they  seldom used spices other than bacon grease that sat on the back of the stove. We ate a lot of basic foods but I fondly remember chicken and dumplins   boil a chicken, remove all bones, and drop dough into the boiling water, they were gooey and fluffy both, then return chicken to the pot. I have never made that myself. 

My mother found some recipe for an 18 layer strawberry shortcake and made it for all gatherings after that. I cannot find a recipe for it anywhere. She had special pans, the cakes were moist and chewy, about a half inch thick. Layer with whipped cream and strawberries.

just got a new back porch mat (from Khols)

 

It helps clean my tootsies!

I finished knitting the socks for DH, and started this cowl for me... made with wool blend yarn in a lush shade of cranberry. It's a free pattern for Moss stitch cowl,knitted in the round on odd number of stitches. Knit one, purl one, around the joined base row, and automatically a purl stitch falls on top of a knit stitch to create this lovely feeling texture!

of course I got mixed up. The designer said I could mindlessly knit while watching tv... but then I suddenly couldn't tell if I should knit or purl and uh oh... but I decided to make the best of it, keep going and just start pattern again where I was, after all the slightly unsightly part will be hidden on my neck... and it is getting easier to see what stitch I'm on.

Fine Dining... my own recipe sorry no pics

I made up my own recipe for cooking some sweet potatoes....

I had three odd sweet potatoes and it was too hot still, to run the oven to bake them. This time I peeled them, cut into 1" wide rounds, 

Melted about 1 1/2 TBSP butter in pan, placed rounds in single layer on that, salted them, garlic powder and cinnamon powder on that, melted in 1/4 cup brown sugar with some chicken broth and covered them til almost tender. Turned them over a couple times in the pan to coat them. 

took off the pan cover and continued to cook til the rounds were coated in a caramel sauce and sister, they were delicious. 4 thumbs up and two paws up ! I'll be cooking them again this way you can be sure. I always liked carmalized sweet potatoes at restaurants and never made them. 

Milo's Moment

Milo: Great! I love breakfast in bed... although I'm not sure if that face will bite me...but being the big brave poodle that I am, I risked it and had a yummy snack. You can put that cleaned plate away now mama... heh heh

Mama: as precious as you are, I think I might still just wash the plate if you don't mind...

suit yourself, I am going out back to see if the squirrel is invading my space again.

please visit these people to see what they liked this week!

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

http://littlepenguinquilts

https://www.texasquiltgal.com/

 https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/  

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/ 

https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/

 craftscaviescontras    

  pieceful thoughts

princess bubbles creates   

 http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

https://www.homesewnbyus.com/

the knitty quilter

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com  

https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/

 

 

                                                                  LINKING WITH 

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/

https://brianshomeblog.com/ 

http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/   

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

               friday smiles at a stitch in time