Short Attention Span Girl: random fun Archives

Beans and Things

By Marcella on September 1, 2010 4:03 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The more you eat, the more you toot

The more you toot, the better you feel

So eat your beans at every meal!

I can't help it, sometimes I revert to a 10 year old.

Busy days call for easy and quick dinners. This is one of the few vegetarian meals that I made that doesn't elicit the comment "this is really good, but you know what would make it better? Sausage!" What can I say? The men around here love meat. They also love these tacos, so why not make some for your favorite carnivore?

The tacos that we had for dinner last night were made with garbanzo, black and pinto beans. All from cans; just open, drain and rinse. I've been known to use three cans of beans, a regular size can of tomato sauce and nudge up the spices a bit for a big batch. I just freeze the extra and have an even quicker dinner another night.

Oh, and while the recipe says simmer for 20 minutes, I doubt I've ever let things simmer that long.

I fry up taco shells from store bought corn tortillas but you could certainly make soft tacos with either flour or corn tortillas or buy the crunchy taco shells in a box.

Set out your favorite taco toppings and dinner is ready.

Easy Bean Tacos

Adapted from Bon Appetite magazine. Use your favorite homemade or canned beans to make these. I've even frozen leftovers and they re-heat just fine.

1 t oil

1 C diced onion

1 C diced bell pepper

1 T chili powder

2 t dried oregano

1 t ground cumin

1 minced garlic clove

1 - 8oz can tomato sauce

2 cans beans, drained and rinsed (pinto, black, garbanzo, kidney, etc)

12 taco shells

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add next 6 ingredients (onion through garlic) and sauté 2 minutes. Add beans and tomato sauce and simmer for 20 minutes or until thick.

Fill taco shells with bean mixture and top with your favorite things.

printable version - bean_tacos.pdf

Did you know that September is National Yoga month? Me neither. But even in my ignorance I signed up to take a yoga class today. I've been working out to a variety of DVD's lately and have really been enjoying a very basic beginner yoga workout. I've checked a few others out from the library and finally decided that I enjoyed yoga enough that I should try and find a class.

I don't know about you, but for me to show up regularly, an exercise class needs to be convenient. Close to home and classes at just the right time are a must. I found a place that fit the bill with one scary thing. It's Bikram yoga.

Nothing I write can describe how it felt to walk into a 105 degree room this morning. Yikes. It was HOT and I actually like to be hot. People were whining in Phoenix last weekend, but I thought it felt great. Maybe there's something to that dry heat thing. Maybe it was because standing outside in the desert is a whole different thing than facing down and hour and a half of yoga in a hot room with strangers.

I found a back row spot (yes, I am a coward) and lay out my spiffy new yoga mat and took a seat. All the experienced people were doing various warm up poses. Seriously, the room is warm enough that all my muscles were jelly so what was there to warm up? I just sat and sweated. And can I just say that I've never been a big sweaty exerciser? Really. Even when I taught crazy aerobics in the 1980's I never left class drippy wet.

By the time the breathing exercises were done I was wet.

Soon after I was drippy wet.

Then, the compressor kicked in. My brain expected a cool breeze. My body got the heater blasting. Seriously, it wasn't hot enough? The lady next to me tried to fan herself with her hand. It didn't appear to be very effective.

By the end of class I fully understood the expression "feeling like a wet noodle".

It was a good workout though. I am terrible at Bikram and not bendy at all, but it felt good to do. Or maybe it just felt good to be done. At any rate, my drippy towels have been washed and I'll let you know if I drag my lazy self out of bed tomorrow for another morning of stretching, balancing and sweating.

-- marcella

On the Hunt, Day 2

By Marcella on August 4, 2010 9:17 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

We decided to stick close to home for our second day of hunting. We started right at the entrance to Bear Valley. Under a rock we found this little tube.

Rolled inside was some paper to sign. Too small for trinkets.

Just up the road at the next turn out and tucked between two large rocks was this:

From the top of a boulder my son spotted a stream so we wandered over to take a peek. It was so pretty.

Back in the car and up the hill to a small campground.

We parked where it was clearly labeled "Parking" only to be told that it wasn't for us. When we told the campground person why we were there and that we wouldn't be long she relented and let us stay in the parking spot. She also said she knew where we were headed but had never in her 6 years living there actually walked up the hill to look for it. I have to wonder at someone with so little curiosity.

The hike was short but rather steep. The view over the valley was beautiful. Six years and never took the walk? Amazing.

Worth a 5 minute walk, wouldn't you say?

After a short hunt we found this under some rocks.

The trinkets always amuse me. I'm amazed at all the little toys and things that either remind me of my childhood or are something I have never even seen before. Apparently the idea is that you take a trinket to remember the site by and leave a trinket in exchange. We have yet to come up with the perfect trinket to leave so we never take anything. It looks like people leave things more often then they take them, because some boxes get quite full.

Down the road and at the edge of the lake we found a really nice bike trail. If you looked up you could see the very tall sign that labeled it as a cross country ski trail in the winter. For us, it was a nice, flat easy hiking trail.

In the hollowed out stump of a tree we found this one.

It was getting hot and we were getting hungry so we headed back home for some lunch.

After lunch we decided to venture out to one more place.

This spot was actually in the lodge area. We drove through the cabins as high as we could to the end of the road. Seriously, I cannot imagine staying way up there. The roads were steep and in the winter aren't plowed so snowmobiles are used. We walked across a lot for sale. If a home gets built there that may be the end of this spot or the owners will have to be happy about random people walking through their yard to get to the trail.

Maybe trail is too nice a word. Footpath? Narrow, rocky and really slippery whatever it was it hugged the edge of a steep hill. Oddly there was a cable that crossed our path and headed up to the top of the hill. Seriously, what could that be?

Up, up and up we went. There was a warning on the clue to stay away from the edge of the cliff. They should really skip those warnings. Why? Because people like me would never dream of getting near the edge of a cliff even without a warning and the daredevils seem to take it as a challenge. Like this one.

A few feet to his right is a drop off designed to terrify mothers who watch their child slip and slide near the edge. See how happy it makes him look? He had to scramble back on hands and feet across all those slippery stones that kept rolling off the cliff edge. First mosquitoes, then thinking you are going to watch your child plunge to his death. This is why I love camping.

Once everyone was back on reasonable ground we found this tucked in some tree branches.

The men also went up the rest of the way to the top to try and solve the cable mystery. It was attached to nothing. It looked like it could have been hooked up to a nice antenna for someone who likes ham radio. It sure was a long cable just hanging out up there. Glad I didn't have to haul it up there.

One last look out and we headed back home.

-- marcella

Vacation!

By Marcella on July 28, 2010 3:34 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

We also went high tech with our geocaching and instead of juggling papers and note cards we sported an ipad with gps. Except for the part where polarized sunglasses don't work too well for screen viewing, it worked perfectly.

The first day we drove down to Lake Alpine and started hunting. The first site we wanted to hunt turned out to be an island and since we were boatless and not looking for a swim we went for the next one on the list. We found this right next to a pretty little stream across the road from the lake.

Inside, we found something we hadn't found before.

Hello? July? Clearly not the best hiking shoes for the weather. Did not expect snow.

Under a bridge we found this little cache.

So glad I could be useful.

We think we found the right spot but in spite of our best hunting efforts could not find the cache in the pine trees.

At this point it was getting past lunch time and we were hungry. We drove to a nice picnic area beside Lake Alpine and gathered up our lunch things. On our way to the table the rain began to fall. We decided maybe lunch indoors would be better.

A very good decision.

By the time we were in the car, the rain started falling in buckets. It was a wild ride back to the condo. So nice to be dry indoors - with heat!

More soon!

-- marcella

Birthday Traditions

By Marcella on March 10, 2010 10:48 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I have a friend whose family birthday tradition was to celebrate with ice cream at Fentons. Now that she's all grown up she continues this tradition with her friends.

Yum! It's good to have good friends!

-- marcella

Lucky Day!

By Marcella on February 5, 2010 2:34 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I read quite a few quilter's blogs. Occasionally, one of them will have a giveaway. Generally the rule is that you post a comment and that puts your name in the hat. Sometimes you even have to write something clever.

Not long ago on the QuiltSoup blog the designer showed her new line of fabrics. We were invited to comment to get in a drawing to win some. Then I promptly forgot all about it. The next week I was browsing the blog and found out that I won! Amazing. I never win. I guess now though I cannot say that anymore.

Today a squishie arrived in the mail. A squishie is the quilters name for a package of fabric. The envelope goes "squish" and you know some soft fabric is inside. This is what was inside.

Aren't they pretty? Now I need to decide what to make with them.

-- marcella

Clean Sweep

By Marcella on February 1, 2010 8:31 AM | 5 Comments | No TrackBacks

Me and my challenges.

In surfing around the internet I often stumble upon challenges and I love to see if I can do them. Goodreads had the read 26 books, each whose title starts with a different letter of the alphabet all in a year. Flylady wants me to get my house clean in 15 minute increments (can I do it faster?). The no excuses man wants me to exercise every day for at least 10 minutes; can I do more? Can I cook every recipe in a cookbook? Can I cook the cover dish of every cooking magazine I recieve? It goes on and on. The things that amuse me. It never bothers me if I don't complete the challenge, I'm not competing against anyone else. I just like to see what I can do.

Last week I stumbled up the "Real Food Challenge"

True, there weren't a lot of details about what we'd be asked to do for the month of February, but I'm always up for eating healthier. So I signed up.

This morning the first challenge greeted me in my mailbox.

Clean Your Cupboards it boldly demanded.

The challenge is to start with a clean slate and a kitchen full of healthy ingredients. I think my kitchen is pretty good other than perhaps those two last boxes of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies from last year still hanging around. But, are they not better in the cupboard than in me?

After reading the list it is very clear that my list of healthy is much more lenient that the challengers. I knew this, her tag line is "where real food gets political" but still.

No refined oils, white flour, sugar, dairy (though interesting it's the low and skim products she specifies - could that heavy cream really be ok?), essentially nothing that comes in a box or package.

She suggests donating to a food bank - what, the poor don't deserve to "eat clean"? There are also suggestions for using up items in non-edible ways like turning that salt (yes, salt is forbidden!) and oil into a nice scrub.

I'm resisting already.

While I'm happy to toss those old cookies and the ancient package of Rice Krispies, I'm really not willing to toss the whole grain pastas, the dairy nor the whole grain, fat free crackers which sometimes just really cure the "crunch" crave.

Forget tossing the white flour, salt or the sugar. That just isn't to be considered.

True, we nearly always have 100% whole grain breads around here; there are just times when only white will do. Same with rice. It's nearly always brown in this house, but occasionally white rice is just what a dish needs. I just don't have a problem with the less then stellar foods being a "sometime" event.

I think sort of clean is good enough for me.

Those of you who are really inspired to be clean can even do the bonus rounds of removing all foods that contain more than one ingredient or removing all sweeteners, natural or not.

I'm not that dedicated.

So, how clean are you willing to eat?

-- marcella

Merry Christmas

By Marcella on December 25, 2009 8:22 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Wishing you a wonderful holiday!

-- marcella

Shopping!

By Marcella on November 30, 2009 7:37 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I am not one to go shopping at the malls the day after Thanksgiving. The crowds and craziness just have never appealed to me. I also prefer to let Christmas wait until December and to savor Thanksgiving as long as November lasts.

However, this year I made a small exception.

My sister and I enjoy going to Filoli for their holiday boutique. This year the most convenient day for us to attend was Saturday after Thanksgiving. Not as crazy as Friday at the shopping mall but still a Christmas thing in December. For this event, I was willing to make an exception.

We arrived a bit early and took a few pictures of the beautiful grounds and then got in line. Though you can't see it, there was quite a long line of shoppers waiting in front of the entrance. As we stood in line, we mapped out our plan of attack. Which way to head after the doors open and how we'd loop through the house to be sure we saw everything.

The doors opened and the crush began. The mansion is filled with holiday decorations and there are glorious trees in every room. Garlands were looped down the staircase banister, a birdcage surrounded with poinsettia plants filled a corner. Every nook and cranny has wonderful things tucked in and most can be purchased.

Also, there are a few food vendors there handing out samples of chocolates and caramel, scones and nuts, jams and fruit spreads. All the samples nearly made up for their being no buffet and closing the cafe on Saturday. Nearly.

The walkways were jammed with shoppers at times and periodically we just stood in place with our bags held close to our bodies waiting for someone to move and unstop the people-jam.

The volunteers are very smart too. They look for shoppers with filled shopping bags. Then they will gladly put your name on your full bags and whisk them away to the holding area near check-out. You are given an empty bag and can carry on without a heavy bag to deal with. It's lovely and it also helps you forget just how many things you have already picked up to purchase!

As you can see. We were rather successful with our shopping. No, we didn't need the cart to actually haul our purchases back to the car, but we couldn't resist setting our bags in one and snapping this picture.

Soon some of these treasures will be decorating our home for the holidays and others will be wrapped up for gifts! I'm feeling ready for December.

-- marcella

Eating our way home

By Marcella on November 17, 2009 6:15 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Most quilters would plan their route to and from a quilting event by stopping at as many fabric shops as possible.

My friend and I are not most quilters.

We planned our trip by food stops. In fact, on the way home we only made one fabric stop - well two, if you are generous and count the french linen shop as buying fabric - and four food stops.

But first, distracted as we were by the thought of pastry, we had to sew the morning away.

While we were getting ready for the day in our room my friend went out onto the balcony. She came back in and told me there were drummers and it sounded like it was coming from the beach. We decided to take a walk and see if we could find out what it was before breakfast.

Turns out much heartier souls than we were out running the Big Sur half marathon. The drumming we heard was a group of women Taiko drummers who played all during the race.

The race goes up and back along the same course so runners were passing by us from both directions. Speedy runners were already headed back at 7:30 - not a bad distance traveled in only half an hour! We had a lot of fun listening to the drummers and cheering on the runners who passed by.

After breakfast we quilted and by noon were packed up and on our way.

First stop was Back Porch fabrics. I don't think I was ten feet inside the door when a new book leapt into my hands. Also, a bonus for me! After stopping in during shop hops and trips to Asilomar I finally had spent enough to earn a $25 gift certificate. Now, I must remember to take it in February when I'll be back again.

Next was our first food stop of our adventure. We pulled off the freeway at a little produce stand that was plunked down in the middle of a field of artichoke bushes.

I did get some artichokes. What we really were there for though was brussel sprouts. Have you seen them growing? Most people have only seen them in plastic bags at the grocery store. My friend's husband likes them a lot so we just had to get him some on a stalk so he could see how they grow.

We had also been told that this was the place to eat deep fried artichoke hearts. While my friend did buy a bag of frozen ones to take to a neighbor who loves them, we got distracted by the $1 tacos.

Seriously, could you resist this? It was awesome. Sitting on the curb in the sunshine in the middle of an artichoke field eating delicious tacos. Heaven!

Fortified by our quick lunch, we were off for smoked meats.

I still can't remember how my family heard about this place, but they really have the very best smoked bacon. Thick, meaty and smoky porkiness. Naturally a few other things jumped into the grocery basket, but really we were there for the bacon and bought plenty to keep us happy until we are in the neighborhood again.

Down the hill and around the corner took us to Glaum egg farm. Now, most people wouldn't be delighted at the thought of visiting a chicken farm. However, this place has an egg vending machine. Not only that, but after you pay a curtain rises on a window and there are chicken puppets who play and dance to "In the Mood". Seriously, you just can't miss that performance.

Put your money in the slot and out pops a flat of eggs. That is just cool all by itself. But then the music starts. Sadly, the sun was at our backs so most of my photo's have too much reflection on the glass to see well. I did get one close up of the bouncing chicks though.

And yes, they were even dressed up for the season. Truly, it makes me want to go back in December to see their costumes. It's really one of the funniest things I've seen and we did laugh in the car for quite a while as we made our way to our final food stop.

Our last food stop was Gayle's bakery. I love this place. I've eaten more than my fair share of deliciousness since I found it in 1983. Recently my sister told me she used to go even before then with an old friend of ours who used to live in Aptos. Can you believe they ate there and neither one ever told me about it?

The bakery is always crazy busy and Sunday afternoon was no exception. We bought our bread and pastry and then had to sit and eat a treat for energy for the ride home. All that food shopping was serious work you know. Let me just say that the ollalieberry turnover was a winner.

There was a bit of beach traffic, but all in all it was a nice ride home.

The best part was being greeted by my husband who had made us pot roast for dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert! I am so spoiled.

-- marcella

My Life of Crime

By Marcella on October 22, 2009 7:54 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

It all started out innocently enough. Stop laughing, I can be innocent at times.

Wednesday was guild meeting. October is our month to change jobs and turn the guild officially over to the new board. However, the past president was going to be out of town. She had asked me to open the meeting and to help out the new president by helping her close the building after the meeting. The place where we meet closes before we even arrive, so we are responsible for locking everything up.

See? I was trying to be nice and helpful.

When I got to the meeting the new president had the building open and the lights on and everything looked great. She went over the agenda with me and asked me to sit up front with them just in case. Not a problem.

Then came the problem. How did she hook up the microphone? Standard microphones come with "male" connectors on the end. Oddly, this building was built with a "male" connector in the wall. So, we have to use the centers adaptor to get our microphone to work. The center keeps this in the office entry in a desk drawer. The entry area is always kept open for us (and other groups that meet there) and it's no big deal to run and get it. I told her I'd show her where it was in the office.

The door was locked.

Locked! The door is never locked. We aren't given a key for that door. Shoot. No way could we have a meeting without a microphone. For whatever reason the hard of hearing always sit in the back and even with a working mic will often yell at people "we can't hear you!" and "speak up"

There was an unfamiliar lady who had been lowering the projector screen. Maybe she worked there?

Nope. She was with the orchid society and I'm still not sure why she was there lowering the screen when any of us could have flicked the switch but there she was. She insisted that the office door is always unlocked and even tried it herself in case we just were unable to work a doorknob. She thought she had seen the chair set up man around so we went looking for him but the man she saw was actually a guest at the meeting.

What to do, what to do?

Then I remembered that a certain member had a bit of experience with breaking in entering the locked office. After a bit of hunting, we found her and she told us how she had been successful in the past.

A certain window screen is merely duct taped in place over a window that is apparently never locked. Sure enough we were able to move the screen, open the window and in no time at all I was hauling my backside through the window and standing on the work surface. I hopped down onto the floor only to discover that the dutch door between the office and the entry area was locked. I hoisted myself over that (and am proud to say I did not end up lying on the floor) and opened the door for my partners in crime friends who were generously volunteering their time for the quilt guild.

In the end, we had the microphone, the window was closed and the screen restored to its proper duct taped spot and all was right in the world.

I just hope I didn't leave a shoe print on the desk.

-- marcella

Recently in random fun Category

Beans and Things

On the Hunt, Day 2

Vacation!

Birthday Traditions

Lucky Day!

Clean Sweep

Merry Christmas

Shopping!

Eating our way home

My Life of Crime

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