"Homer's Odyssey"

Today I digress away from recipes,food and kitchen tips.

Today I just have to tell you about Homer.



"Homer's Odyssey", by Gwen Cooper is such a good read!

Sometimes the hubs and I like to dip into a book together. And it's fun...but I'm not the best at reading out loud and our schedules get busy and well, sometimes it can take several weeks to get through just one book.

But not so with Homer.

Not only did I not mind reading this book out loud, I made sure that we read some of it every day.

We usually take turns with the reading, but the writing style of this author is so good and the subject is so interesting that it was a breeze to go through. And I did all of the reading...except for one chapter...

I tried to do it, but I started to choke up and quickly handed it over, as the hubs says, "I threw him under the bus with that one".

If you read the book for yourself, you will know which chapter I'm talking about. And it's probably not what you're thinking.

I just can't sing the high praises of this story enough. We laughed out loud and we were brought to tears with this true account of a blind cat named Homer and all of the adventures he shared with his "person" Gwen Cooper.

From his initial illness which lead to his blindness, to his adoption by Gwen, to his introduction into a home with two other cats, to various moves, to 9-11, and to Gwen's marriage...well this is just one awesome story.

So run, don't walk to your nearest library or bookstore or click on the link above and get yourself a copy of this book.

Then you can make yourself something great to sip on, perhaps a skinny mocha, curl up and enjoy the journey.

And that is this gal's view for today.

Garlic!

Not only is garlic good. It's good for you!

Now I've read that raw garlic affords the most benefits, but cooked garlic has value too.

So how about roasted garlic!!

I made some last night and it was awesome. Everyone loved it and agreed that the only problem with it is that there wasn't enough of it.

Here's what I did, using my new garlic roaster.

1. Grab a head of garlic.
2. Peel off as much of the outer layers as you can.
3. Cute the top of the head off.
4. Pour olive oil over the top.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Place in the roaster, cover, and roast in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes.

You have to be careful with the roaster. It will be hot and slippery so put it on a cookie sheet so you don't have to touch it when you take it out of the oven.

Be sure to let it cool before you remove the lid.

When it is ready break it apart just squeeze the garlic out of the cloves. We used this instead of butter on our baguette. It was so good! You can also eat it straight up or use it in mashed potatoes. I think we'll try that next.

Oh, and if you don't have a garlic roaster you can just use foil instead.

And that is this gal's view for today.

"Where Is That Recipe?"

If you are anything like me you have a collection of cookbooks and cooking magazines.

I love to thumb through them on quite a regular basis. And I love to try new recipes.

What I don't love is not being able to remember where one of those recipes is when I want to make it again.

I've heard before that the average family cooks the same 10 meals over and over again. And I think I know why. It's because they can't remember which cookbook a particular recipe came from!

But I have found the solution for that.



This book is great. It allows you to record the name of the dish, the cookbook it came from, and the page number. It is categorized like a regular cookbook and it has a section in the pack to record favorite menus.

Now I will never again have to waste my time going through my stack of "Everyday Food" magazines hoping to find the instructions for the upcoming night's meal.

And that is this gal's view for today.

Simple pleasures...

It's true. Sometimes all we can do is to make the best of...

And it's those times when we have to go out of our way to find the simple pleasures.

We can choose to focus on what is not right. Or we can choose to find what is. The choice is always ours to make.

I don't know about you, but I want to choose the later rather than the former.

I don't want to be glum. I want to find the joy in the day.

One way of doing that is with favorite things. We all have our favorite things.

One of mine is a large scented candle which sits in the center of the coffee table in my living room. Right now it is green and smells like cucumber and melon. I didn't have to pay a lot for it and it lasts a long time.

I may not have the finest furniture or the nicest carpet. But my house smells delicious. And that is especially comforting after a fish dinner. Because who wants to smell fish 2 or 3 hours after the fact?

Another favorite thing of mine is the new nail polish I just tried. I usually don't bother with nail polish because it chips so easily and I don't like the look of chipped nail polish. And I'm so fussy with it. If it doesn't look just right and perfectly applied I don't like it. And it always smears when I'm waiting for it to dry. But I found one that I love! It goes on smoothly and it dries quickly and if it chips I can just go over it with a few swipes and it still looks good. It looks salon done!

So I can't afford to buy new clothes right now. And some days I'm so bored with the ones I own. But I can afford to have great looking nails. And that changes my outlook and cheers me up!

From time to time I'd like to post some of my other favorite things. And I'd also love to hear about yours!

And that is this gal's view for today.

Today's Journey

Today's journey takes us to a basketball game. April's very small high school (only 7 students in her sophomore class) has a basketball team, imagine that. We are going to drive about 40 minutes away to watch the game and so April can take pictures. She's on the yearbook staff. And then it's off to lunch to use one of my Christmas presents, a gift card to Panera.

We haven't left yet, and I'll wait to publish this so I can let you know how our trip went. I'm looking forward to it. It reminds me of our homeschooling days. We would take a day and adventure out on a pretty regular basis. Just us 3 girls hanging together.

I miss those days. And boy do I treasure those memories. I love my girls and I love our times together!

And what the adventure we had!

First I must give credit where credit is due:



My tomtom, another one of my Christmas presents really saved the day. Being that I am rather directionally challenged a tomtom makes perfect sense for me and we were all glad we had one yesterday. The area we drove to is not at all familiar so we had Mrs. tomtom chart our course for us. I call her Mrs. because of her female voice. And everything was going well and we were almost there when we ran straight into THE END OF THE ROAD and it was CLOSED! And there were no detour signs! I had know idea how to find where we needed to be. But Mrs. tomtom didn't miss a beat. Almost instantaneously our course was reconfigured and we were on our way. And she got us there.

All be it a few minutes late, but that was not her fault. Unfortunately our team didn't do too well. I think the final score was 30 to 8. But as I overheard one of the Dad's saying, "they played their little hearts out". And April got lots of pictures. So success on that end. We stayed for half of the next game (the middle school kids from her school) so she could take more pictures and then we were pretty well famished and needed to be on our way.

The only Panera I knew of was near home. Home was some 40+ minutes away and we were hungry! And I remembered, Mrs. tomtom could probably find us a closer one. And she did! It was only one and a half miles away. So off we went. But something went wrong, I made a wrong turn and Mrs. tomtom asked April (who was navigating her) if we should start over and she said yes, but Mrs. tomtom thought she meant from the previous directions and so before we really realized what was happening we went in a big circle. Okay, that's fine, we restarted her with the Panera information again and we were on our way again...except that I misunderstood a couple of her turns and she kept having to reconfigure us...and let's just say that I think I totally exasperated her. But it was funny, I literally had tears rolling down my cheeks I was laughing so hard. And we did get there. And we had an awesome lunch of broccoli cheese soup and sourdough bread. And then she was able to direct us back home. She did a great job, it was me that kind of messed her up.

So when it was all said and done it had been a fun day. And we made it back home just in time before the heavy rain started. It was, I must say, a good time had by all!

And that is this gal's view for today.