Eating Alfresco

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We've suddenly switched into warm weather mode. The last couple of weekends the temperature here in Northern California climbed into the high 80's. So it's time to break out the patio furniture, BBQ and twinkle lights.

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I am looking around for a fire pit this year. I found a few nice ones offered at a very low price (in the $70.00 range) at Lowes.

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Elephant Paints Self Portrait

This is incredible. I've researched a bit about elephant paintings and believe it or not it's completely legit.

Simple Supper

This looks so yummy. I'm always on the look out for recipes with ginger. Not only is it good for you but the flavor is wonderful. There is a video how-to link as well - just click on the picture below.
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Broiled Yogurt-Ginger Chicken Breasts
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Ingredients
Serves 4
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3 cups plain yogurt
1 piece (5 inches) peeled fresh ginger, grated (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Coarse salt
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 8 ounces each), tenderloin removed
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Juice of 1 lime
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Directions
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Stir together the yogurt, ginger, cumin, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
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Starting on one long side, cut each chicken breast almost in half horizontally, stopping about 1/2 inch before reaching the opposite side. Open each breast like a book.
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Add chicken to marinade and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 8 hours.
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Preheat broiler. In a small bowl, toss together red onion, cucumber, cilantro, lime juice, remaining 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, and pinch of salt.
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Transfer chicken to a broiler pan. Discard marinade. Broil chicken, rotating pan once, until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Top with cucumber mixture.
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(Courtesy of Martha Stewart)

Bloggers Unite Heads Up

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I love this idea. Please spread the word.

Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries.

Upcoming - Human Rights 5-15-08

While the words might change from country to country and are sometimes taken for granted, human rights represent one of the universally agreed upon ideas — that all people are born with basic rights and freedoms that include life, liberty, and justice. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations.

Veggie Garden

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I dream of a garden like this!!

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Haute Veggie Garden

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Elements of this high-design garden can be tailored to the humblest backyard patch.
Fashion legend Oscar de la Renta dresses up his Connecticut kitchen garden by applying the principles of a formal flower garden: strong structure, strict geometry, and color-blocking of plants.

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(Courtesy Of Domino Magazine)

April 22, 2008

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Happy Earth Day!!!

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Plant A Billion Trees

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Earth Day is tomorrow!! To celebrate, learn how your dollar can help plant a billion trees in Brazil's endangered Atlantic Forest.

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$10.00 is the minimum donation but that buys ten trees!! What a simple way to give back to this beautiful planet we call home.

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Click on above picture or highlighted text.

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The Circus - Charlie Chaplin

I finally caught the cold everyone in my house has had - so it's chicken soup and Charlie Chaplin today.

Colors That Flatter Everyone

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I was reading an article from the on-line site and magazine "Real Simple" and came across this statement - "Some colors work for all skin tones and hair colors, because they fall into the middle of the color spectrum, meaning they're not too warm or too cool," says Leatrice Eiseman, author of The Color Answer Book and director of the Pantone Color Institute. Is this true? I know that your face and skin are suppose to glow in colors that flatter. I will check out this theory the next time I go clothes shopping - which will be very soon since we experienced high 80's last weekend and I was totally unprepared. Here is the rest of the article (The 4 Universally Flattering Clothing Colors By Yolanda Wikie) courtesy of Real Simple - one of my favorite online sources! :)

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Mellow Rose

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More sophisticated than bubble-gum pink, mellow rose is that wonderful shade between light pink and peach. Kashuk says it's more of a neutral color than it is a pastel and highlights skin tone's natural flush so it almost appears to make you glow when you wear it.

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Eggplant

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While there are dozens of shades of purple, this one is "the perfect purple," according to Eiseman. Like black, dark brown or navy, it's very versatile but more interesting than these colors and should be a wardrobe staple.

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True Red_

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New York City makeup artist Sonia Kashuk told Real Simple that it flatters everyone because it "resides in the center of the color spectrum, in between a cool, cherry red and a warm, orangey tomato red."

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Indian Teal

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This shade of teal is the exact opposite of pink. Remember, opposite colors look beautiful together. (Think red and green.) So when women wear teal, it enhances the healthy flush of the skin. Teal can be worn year round, making it more versatile than lighter, more summery shades of turquoise. It also pairs beautifully with black and brown.

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(Info courtesy of Real Simple)

Decor

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An interesting concept I saw in Domino this month.
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Outfit to Room

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Use the elements of your favorite outfit to transform a dull room.
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Statuesque, monochromatic gowns inspire a Grecian motif.
Identical marble-top metal tables rest in front of a deep, lounge-about sofa. Striped pillows echo the vertical lines of columns, while the pillar-edged bureau nestled between the windows recalls a neoclassical monument.
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Polished and fairly conservative, this style has an edge with its sassy scarf and bold-patterned tunic. Like the outfit, the room is organized around one really strong piece—the large rug—and embellished with classic, can't-miss accents.

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At gray winter's end, an exuberant trench coat bursts on the scene like a tossed bouquet. In the bedroom, crisp white sheets and a yellow duvet cover used as a lightweight blanket offer an easy, affordable way to welcome the season.

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Layered beneath a boyish, white cotton henley pullover and paired with a straight chino skirt, a blue-and-white floral blouse is fresh and casual, not girly. It inspires a crisp, tailored bedroom with a romantic streak.

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Kids and Commercials

(Photos courtesy of Jupiter Images)
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I think the television is an incredible source of learning and entertainment - it's just a matter of choice. When it comes to TV and our kids my husband and I are pretty strict about what they watch. We record shows and they watch them when it's "TV Time" but there is no easy way to block out all those commercials. Of course PBS and a few others are a great non commercial sources but what about all of the rest. Since the shows we watch are for the most part pre-taped it's easy enough to skip through advertisements but they do occasionally slip in.

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I recently found a cool website called, "The New American Dream". Below is a small excerpt about commercialism and children I found.

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Facts About Marketing To Children
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Advertising directed at children is estimated at over $15 billion annually – about 2.5 times more than what it was in 1992.

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Over the past two decades, the degree to which marketers have scaled up efforts to reach children is staggering. In 1983, they spent $100 million on television advertising to kids. Today, they pour roughly 150 times that amount into a variety of mediums that seek to infiltrate every corner of children’s worlds.

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The average American child today is exposed to an estimated 40,000 television commercials a year — over 100 a day.

PBS Great Performances Presents - Peter and the Wolf

I just saw this Oscar winning film on PBS last evening. It was just amazing!! The expressions on Peter's face are the best I've ever seen with this type of ani-claymation.

One small word of warning if you do want to watch the film and there are young children in the room - the duck is eaten by the wolf.

Peter and the Wolf

Sergei Prokofiev's or should I say Suzie Templeton's - "Peter and the Wolf" is given new life in this innovative new animated interpretation, which won the 2008 Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film. It was made at Poland's award-winning Se-ma-for animation studio and took five years to complete.

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Suzie Templeton's enthusiasm for what she does is just contagious!! What an amazing artist!!

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Dinner with Nana and Papa - a.k.a. - My Parents

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Still on my Ellie Kreiger cooking jag... I am planning to cook and serve dinner for my parents tomorrow night. These opportunities are rare and I love having both my mom and dad all to myself for an evening of conversation and the inevitable old stories.
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On the menu:

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Salmon Florentine
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2 (10 ounce) packages frozen spinach, thawed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup minced shallots

2 teaspoons minced garlic

5 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese 4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, rinsed and patted dry

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Using your hands, squeeze spinach of all excess liquid.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic and cook for 3 minutes until they begin to soften. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool approximately 10 minutes. Add ricotta and stir to combine. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste.

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Using your hands, pack approximately 1/2 cup spinach mixture on top of each salmon fillet, forming mixture to the shape of the fillet. Place fillets on a rimmed baking sheet or glass baking dish and bake for 15 minutes, until salmon is cooked through.

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Per Serving:
Calories 375, Fat 18 g; (Sat Fat 4 g, Mono Fat 7 g, Poly Fat 5 g) ; Protein 44 g; Carb 12 g; Fiber 5 g; Cholesterol 103 mg; Sodium 585 mg Excellent source of: Protein, Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium Copper, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Selenium, Vitamin C, Good source of: Iron, Zinc, Fiber

Photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten

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I'm always on the lookout for unusual or creative photography. These photos by Julia Fullerton-Batten really caught my attention. This particular series entitled: Teen Stories - I completely get. The photographs are described as hypnotic, slightly unnerving, juxtaposing teenage girls at the moment of facing maturity, many of which are involved in everyday leisure activities, at home, in the garden, at the swimming pool, or at the beach. Many of her concepts in this series, are in part: fairy tale (Alice in wonderland) with surreal twists. She depicts this in a completely unique way.
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I think we women all can remember that time in our lives when we were still just little girls in our minds - going along as we had any other day - when suddenly the world began to view us differently. We seemed to become young women overnight. I can remember walking home from the pool one summer in my bikini and as I came through the front door my father told me - in a somewhat firm voice - to put something on and not to traipse all around the neighborhood like that. I was completely confused and hurt by his reaction but many years later I realized that he knew something I didn't. I wasn't being viewed the same way anymore. My girl- like mind had not caught up to my woman- like body.
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The Gift Of Pure Being

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Many, many years ago I happen to see a made for television - mini series movie. It was based on Ray Bradbury's - The Martian Chronicles. By all indications this was a low budget sci-fi re-run, but one amazing conversation stood out for me and has to this very day. It was in a scene on Mars between a Martian (ghost) and an Earthling (Rock Hudson). Suddenly this B movie said one of the most profound things I had ever heard. I thought this dialog could be found in the original text of Ray Bradburys book but I have since learned that the scene was based on a short story by Bradbury, not part of The Martian Chronicles. I hurriedly wrote down the words and have kept them close at hand all these years. I was reminded of it recently - so I thought I'd share it.

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The Earthling asks about the "secret of life".

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"Secret …. There is no secret. Anyone with eyes can see the way to live …. By watching life, observing nature, and cooperating with it. Making common cause with the process of existence …. By living life for itself, don't you see? Deriving pleasure from the gift of pure being .… Life is its own answer. Accept it and enjoy it day by day. Live as well as possible. Expect no more. Destroy nothing, humble nothing, look for fault in nothing. Leave unsullied and untouched all that is beautiful. Hold that which lives in all reverence. For life is given by the sovereign of our universe; given to be savored, to be luxuriated in, to be respected."

White Kitchens

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Here are some lovely kitchens - mine too (above) - done in white - my favorite!!

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