Oscar Worthy NacHors d’oeuvres

Aren’t these great!  I was digging around on the internet to find some Hors d’oeuvres to serve for Oscar viewing night.  Both odd facts if you knew us:

1)      I’m not a real movie person – except for the the golden era movies from the 30’s and 40’s that they play on TCM, for those slap happy shows I’m glued to the couch, but not so much new movies  (hubby on the other hand loves movies).   

So the Oscars to us are usually about a bunch of movies we haven’t seen, but this year we traveled a lot and well, the plane provided movie entertainment and therefore we had seen many of the nominated – so we decided to watch

2)      We aren’t really Hor d’oeuvers people – sure we love to entertain as often as possible, but mostly from our lovely back yard - BBQ style, or our lovely basement bar - slow cooker style

Therefore looking for snackies was difficult – went through all the foodie pages, foodie pictures, foodie blogs and was about to give up when the Disney page popped up – yes Disney.  The first two recipes they showed were fantastic!

This one above – which are Tostito Scoops, filled with taco seasoned beef, spiced up refried beans, green sauce and a slice of avocado on top – were simply fabulous!!  I will make these again.  The other was for Asian chicken and peppers stuffed in egg roll wrappers and cooked – couldn’t find any wraps, but when I do – I will make those too!

So I guess that’s where I am in life, my palate is so refined that the only finger foods that even remotely sounded good to me were from Disney – oh my….  Suppose I’m ok with it because they were delicious!!

Also made these – which were not from Disney, but from my quest to find something good to mix with cherry vodka – you see we drink raspberry vodka and lemonade rather often, but recently have been on a cherry kick – so here they are:

Sparkling Limeade from Trader Joes and cherry vodka from Smirnoff – and these too were delicious! Hubby said we needed a catchy name for them, and they really are like little statuettes – except I got nothing – no catchy anything – Cherry Lime Oscars?  Sparkling Oscarlings?  Cherry O’s? Oscar’s a Limey? Cherry Limettes under the management of Oscar?

So Cherry Limeade Fizz it is and we promise to have the makings for this at our next shindig, it also mixes with Sprite rather well…

Funny, this was a very Mexican themed snack event – nachos and lime drinks – yeah, that’s a good thing!  

Maybe that was subconscious?  Since we don’t normally watch the Oscars and the most familiar Oscar to me is the boxer Oscar de la Hoya – it all kind of ties in – plus Hollywood is in California – which partially belonged to Mexico oh so many years ago.

Everything is tied together in some way shape or form…..maybe Oscar is a Limey? Did England ever try to take Mexico? Cherry O Mate! But I’m pretty sure the Cherry Limettes are from right here in Motown….

Regale Eagle

Last summer I walked in to the garage and for some reason thought – “Eagle”.  Just “Eagle”.   

Not a thought that pops in my head everyday and not something we have in the area.

I hadn’t figured out why "Eagle" had seemingly randomly crossed my mind until I got to the back of the garage.  Perched upon an old bikes handlebars was this beautiful big baby bird, studying me.  Can you see him? He’s against the green canvas case.

OOOhhh, that explains the screaming bird outside for the last couple of hours, you see, I had just opened the garage door before I walked in – it had been shut previously and there had been a very loud screaming bird outside the kitchen window for quite some time.  

As everything clicked slowly together I realized this big beautiful fluffy baby bird belonged to that big screaming black crow outside.  Mamma bird had been fretting and flying and screaming for a very long time trying to figure out how to get her kid out of that closed garage – one that I’m sure she told her kid not to go into in the first place (and why I think it’s a boy…) 

SQQUAAKK – I told you not to go in there – now look, see why didn’t you listen?  The humans have closed the door, its dark inside and mamma can’t get you out – no one can get you out – except one of those darned humans – SCREEECCHHH, SCREEECCHHH, SCAAREEECCHHH!!!

And so there he was, my baby “Eagle”, of course he’s a crow, but it works in this part of town and my subconscious brain thought he was an Eagle…

 I quickly got what I went in for and left baby to fly out to greet his mamma with Cawws of happiness. Except that it didn’t happen.  I’m guessing he had been hearing her yell at him for hours and hours and wanted nothing to do with a beak to beak confrontation – nope – Lady, could you just close that door again, can’t you hear my mom?  Yeah, I’m safe in here – it’s ok, really, just close it again….

As we later learned, when we felt it was time to shoo him out, he couldn’t fly yet…. Despite his size, he really was just a baby – he must have had a lucky hop up because he had no talent in the winged propulsion arena. 

You shouldn't touch a baby bird, mamma could reject it – so now that baby Eagle was on the ground in behind the bike.  It made for a dilemma. 

Hubby helped me move the stuff in the corner and we worked on getting him out of the garage.  Mamma bird followed along with him while he hopped down the driveway and then towards the lawn.  It was not looking good, a return "flight" to the nest was not going to happen – wherever that nest may have been (Hmm, crows nests – aren’t they on top of Pirate Ships? Man, if I missed a pirate ship sailing down the cul-de-sac I’m going to be bummed…..)

Anyway, he made it to the corner of the yard, between the fences, mamma was back there with him, I checked on them from time to time, but really after night fell they were on their own against the neighborhood kitties.  I’d like to think my Eagle grew up to be big and strong and now hangs out with the other crows that watch over our house in the summer.  Maybe if we leave the garage door open sometime next summer he’ll pop in for a little break from what will surely be a nagging wifey bird by that time…. 

You’re not going in there again are you?  So help me, I’ll go get your mother!  Eagle, Eagle?  I’m warning you, there is a nest to be built, straw to be found, twigs to be gathered, mud to be packed, my bellies getting full with our first egg -  I can’t fly so well – you’re the one who wanted a family our first year – Eagle, EEAAGGLLEE?!?!

Frosty Inside and Outside - Brrrr!

Is this the grocery stores way of hinting – hey, its winter – aren’t you supposed to be on a diet?

Or maybe it’s a sign that no one buys ice cream when it’s freezing outside – which isn’t true, I downed a pint of Baskin Robbins in about four days just two weeks ago.  

I just want to point out that this is more than one cooler – and the staff has went though the effort to put the sale tags up on the sale items of the week  – so they are fully aware of the extra deep freeze happening in the store.  

Aren’t most of the stores stocked by the distributors if the good is a name brand?  If you worked for a distribution company and went into a big grocer and saw your stuff was frozen literally to the freezer – would you not say something?

So that’s two failures – the distributors who stock the freezers and the store employees who hung the sale tags.  It makes me wonder if the quality of the food is of equal disconcern in other areas?   You remember my watermelon post a few months back – that was totally gross and that was a different large grocery store chain altogether!

As you know, I love, love, love the grocery store – it carries all the yummy stuff we can eat and apparently it carries all the not so yummy stuff too – look at the one container with the orange lid – it is literally encased in ice, as is the stuff behind the M&M box.

I don’t know what to make of this – oh, maybe it’s part of the new Obama Care Plan– you know – to help us eat healthier by making it OUR decision NOT to eat ice cream, instead of the government forcing this decision on you.

Maybe they get a stipend from the government to have freezer failure in certain areas of “bad for you foods”, you know – like they pay farmers NOT to grow crops?   I should check the frozen pie and cookie area next time and see if it looks the same.  Don’t really ever buy frozen pies and thankfully I only buy Baskin Robbins ice cream at their shop (I’ve finally learned – I’m always so disappointed when I buy another brand and wish it was Baskin Robbins – hey if I’m going to eat a thousand calories – I want to love what it is I’m eating when I do).

Oh – maybe the person in charge of the frozen food area at this store is lactose intolerant and this is their way of feeling better – Hey if I can’t have this stuff – you can’t either, ha! 

Anyway – it worked, I walked right on by – of course I was going to anyway – but it looks like some people have foraged through looking for something decent to purchase.  Personally I think the freezer burn would translate through into the flavor of the product – so none of it can be any good.

Ah – the grocery store – what an exciting place, cup holders in carts, people with check books, one hit wonder music tracks, rotten watermelons and bonded to the cooler by frost ice cream – what fascinating thing will I find next?  Oh what fun the world is!   

Fly Spy Something Out Of Season

Guh, icckk, eeeewww, booo, yuck!

Yeah – that’s the stream of sounds still running through my head and I can’t wash my hands enough.

Maybe a bit of an overreaction, but as far as I’m concerned flies are the dirtiest creatures out there... Booo – yuck!

Ok, now I can get on with it.  So I was walking by the dog’s water bowl and on the edge was something black.  She just shared Chef Boyardee Raviolis with me for lunch – so I figured it was a piece of meat or something from that most healthy of canned lunches.

I swoop my finger along the side of the bowl to pick the black thing up and as I’m walking over to the sink to rinse it off – IT MOVES!  Gahh – what? Ewwww….It’s a fly!!! 

Wait - A FLY???? 

The winds are blowing gale force, there is snow blustering about, it’s the middle of February and it is nine degrees Fahrenheit outside (-13c).  Where in God’s good earth did a fly come from???? Boo – yuck!

I keep wiping my finger – I can’t get the fly-iness off of it.  Funny because I can pick an earthworm up off the sidewalk and move it to a “safe” grassy place with no problems at all – but touch a fly?  No one touches flies – they well – fly, and they land on everything – food, pop cans, poop, rotted garbage, infected outdoor animal wounds.  Plus they give birth to/lay eggs to breed maggots.   Ugghhhh.

The fly is now safely washed down the sink – the garbage disposal has been turned on and ran, with full force water – to make sure that the winter wonderland fly creature does not return. 

Hmmm, do you think he was a spy?  You know – like a secret camera and microphone spy fly robot sent in to see what we do all day?  And because the house is so clean it had to think – quick - where would a fly land in such a beautiful spotless house (haha) – oh good – there’s a dog bowl, that’ll work!  No, couldn’t have been, you could just ask what we do all day and I’d tell you…

Oh the picture above, that’s a re-enactment, the “Fly” is a little black shirt button – yeah, that would have been so much better.   

Boo – yuck – plagh!

Must go wash my hands again…..

 This cool fly picture was found in the internet - uck...