Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Z for Zenyatta

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This is an incredible horse. Zenyatta is currently undefeated in her 15 lifetime starts. And she happens to know she's pretty special. Before the $250,000 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap on March 13, 2010, she posed for the hundreds of spectators before the call came for "Jockeys up!"

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And she started the race at the very back of the pack, as is her signature style.

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Zenyatta looks pretty sporty with Mike Smith wearing Jerry and Ann Moss's green and pink jockey silks. She even has the pink number "8" saddle blanket to match. But it's probably her
enormous stride and heart that really makes her the competitor she is.

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She seems so calm, so at ease, as Mike Smith guides her along the track. Though he is quoted as saying, "I wish I could say I contributed...I might have done a little steering, but that was about it."

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Ears perked, Zenyatta eyes her competition.

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The horses pass by in a flash of thundering hooves. Smith and Zenyatta seem to just be biding their time.

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This mare is unconcerned by the fact that she is trailing the field by several lengths at this point.

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Check out how wide her footfall is behind. Zenyatta remained last in a field of eight until the final turn. She had to negotiate through some heavy traffic, and there was some amazing maneuvering before she was able to extend her stride and take over the race leader, Dance to My Tune. If you'd like to watch the video of the race on YouTube, click here.

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But this is where, so far, she has always ended up: in front. And check out those ears; this girl still has some go left in the monstrous tank of hers. The comments on the results chart for this race read that Zenyatta had "split, surge[d], inhale[d] foe" for a victory margin of 1 1/4 lengths.

I have been lucky enough to see her last two wins. I hope I can see more.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Three Girls Cook: Baked Brie

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Last weekend I met up with two friends and we made Paula Dean's Brie en Croute #2. Oh, should I say, I took pictures and they made this treat for us. It all looked pretty simple though.

I'm going to list the recipe here as

Ingredients:

  • 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (package comes with 2 sheets)
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
  • 1 small (8 oz.) wheel Brie
  • 1/2 cup raspberry jam
  • 2 eggs, beaten

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Defrost 1 sheet of puff pastry for approximately 15 to 20 minutes and unfold (place remaining sheet in freezer for later use).
  3. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute nuts in butter until golden brown, approximately 5 minutes.
  4. Spread the jam on top of the Brie and place the nuts on top of the jam.
  5. Gently roll pastry with a rolling pin to increase the size of the sheet 1 to 2 inches in each direction. Brush both sides of the sheet with beaten egg.
  6. Center the wheel of Brie on top of the pastry sheet. Bring all four corners of the sheet together above Brie and twist slightly to form a "bundle."
  7. Tie gathered pastry with kitchen/cooking string (tie string in the form of a bow), arranging pastry until you are satisfied with the "bundle" shape.
  8. Place "bundle" on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Serve with top-quality crackers.


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So the original directions say to put the jam on top of the nuts, but I guess the video on the site shows it being done with the nuts on top of the jam. At any rate, we did the latter here obviously, and the recipe I copied reflects that. Oh, and we chose walnuts.

The key to making sure the dough is going to fit around the cheese seems to be to roll it out pretty well and get it to stretch as much as possible.

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That way, when you fold it over the cheese, all the cheese will be covered will stay contained within the pouch. Or "bundle" as Paula calls it.

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The folding was actually a little bit tricky, as the dough was prone to tearing.

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One of the things we realized that if the dough did tear a little bit, you can use some pieces from the ends to repair the tears, or use some of the dough from the extra sheet.

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The folding continues until...

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the brie is finally contained in a nice little bundle! Into the oven on a baking sheet you go, bundle of brie.

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Finally, about 25 minutes later, we brought out the now golden brown bundle. And then we dug in to the deliciousness. I don't think I even really waited for the gooey cheese to cool. It doesn't get much better than this!

Bees in Flowers

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Just for the record, I do love all insects. It never ceases to amaze me how all creatures play such an important role in maintaining our ecosystem.

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But I prefer they stay outside and help pollinate the flowers that have sprung up the past few weeks, like this bee is getting ready to do.


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I hoping some of these guys make it over to the apricot tree, and the to-be-determined flowering tree. I'm crossing my fingers for a plum tree. Because plum jam is so good on homemade waffles. With whipped cream.

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All this talk about food is making me hungry. I think it's time for a snack. Maybe some toast with some honey?

Friday, March 19, 2010

Apricot Blooms

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Okay, in case I scarred any of you with that picture of that very gross insect, I present some pretty flowers for your weekend viewing pleasure.

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I really, really hope that there will be a spectacular apricot harvest. Because I really, really want to make jam.

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Only time will tell.

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Because I'm kinda getting weary of all these bugs in my personal space.

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Have a lovely weekend!

My Experience with Customer Service

So here is how I imagined the call going with the customer service department of the previously-mentioned salad maker.

Me: Um. Hi. I found a bee in my salad.

Customer Service: OMG we are so sorry about that! How can we make it up to you?

Me: You can give me free salads for life!

CS: Oh, we would be glad to!

Me: YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

But in reality, the conversation would probably go more like this:

CS: We're very sorry that you had a non-conforming product. Can you give us the [blah, blah, blah boring stuff about the lot number and whatever]?

Me: Sure! So can I get free salads for life?

[long, long pause]

CS: No, I'm sorry we cannot do that. We are happy to refund you your money and send you a coupon for a free salad.

Me: But what if I contract a bee disease? Will you pay my medical bills?

[silence]

Me: Hello?

CS: Please just tell me your address so we can send you a refund and a coupon.

Me: Will you also send me a letter guaranteeing you will pay my medical bills should I contract a bee disease?

[crickets chirping]

Me: I mean, I have a blog! I will expose your inadequacies!

CS: How many readers do you have?

Me: Um, 3. I think.

CS: [laughing maniacally] Good luck with that!

[click]

The End.

(Note: I am actually playing phone tag with the Customer Service Department. Apparently, they don't have a full-time staff to answer consumer phone calls. Jeez. But I will let you know how it goes because I'm sure there is nothing more important than finding out the end of this epic tale.)

What. The. Heck.

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True story.

Yesterday, I found a bee (I think it is a bee, but it was covered with salad dressing so who knows?) in my prepackaged salad from the grocery store. And at first I was all like, "Ewwwwwwwwww. Gross!" But then I ate the rest of the salad anyway because I was so hungry and at that point the bee had already contaminated my salad so I didn't think there was any harm in finishing it.

I'm totally contacting the salad maker because as far as I'm concerned I should get free salads for the rest of my life because I've probably contracted some sort of bee disease that I don't even know exists and I'm probably going to die soon, in which case they won't be out much money for the free salad they will be providing me with for the remainder of my very short life.

What do you think? Is it a bee? Please tell me it's a bee and not some other insect that's going to give me a disease that will even further shorten my life span.

Thank you,
Little Miss This and That

P.S. In the event that I don't die, I will let you know what happens with my complaint to the salad maker, who I won't name, unless they do not give me free salads for life.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Le Ranas

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It seems that we have gone from winter to summer in just a few short days. I do hope that spring will find it's way back to us, at least for more than a few days. Because it's HOT now. And I'm just not ready for hot yet, Mother Nature!

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At any rate, the plethora of rain that we have received over the past few months has brought many of these visitors (le ranas) to the garden. At night, it's a veritable symphony of frogs, just croaking away.

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You wouldn't think that something this small (we're talking matchbox size) could make so much noise. But they can, and there are a lot of them so it gets loud; like so loud I can barely think. And so I have to yell at them, "Can you please keep the party down out there?"

And then they are quiet. And I feel sort of bad for being all that girl, you know, the never-has-any-fun-and-just-rains-on-everyone's-parade girl.

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And then the frogs start up again, and I'm all, so it's like that, huh? And I pick up the phone to call the cops, because that's what that girl would do in that situation, and then I realize the cops might think I'm crazy if I called them about some frogs and either arrest me or haul me off to a nuthouse because I hear all these frogs, but yet when the cops are there it's totally silent. Because it always works out like that, at least in the movies.

So I leave the frogs be, except for my occasional pleading to keep it down. But really, deep down, I love the sound they make, and I even love their slimy skin.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

And The Day Came

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“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
–Anais Nin

Thursday, March 11, 2010

New to Me

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This isn't a sign you'll see on the shores of California. It's really too bad, because I really want to see some little penguins. Maybe not the breeding so much though. I think I can do without that, thankyouverymuch.

* Note: This is another photo from Sis's trip to Australia.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Great Ocean Road; Melbourne, Australia

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"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us or we find it not."
-Emerson
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My sister recently snapped these photos on her trip to Australia. I'm not jealous at all. Not. One. Bit.

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It's summertime down under. Oh, how I miss warmth and sunshine.

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Though according to Sis, the sun is pretty brutal and can thwart any efforts you put forth trying to keep from getting burned.

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But I don't think anything could deter me from this drive along the Great Ocean Road.

Did I mention that I wasn't jealous? 'Cause that was pretty much a lie.

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This last shot is of Southern Beach, which according to Sis, is "P.S. COLD."

*Note: All pictures in this post were taken by cath, who like the lovely that she is, posts comments on a regular basis.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

A Sunset Says What?

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"Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you're drunk."
-Jack Handy

Okay, so this is a little bit of a different take from the quotes I usually post, but I needed a laugh today, and this was one of the first quotes I came across. And I realize that this blog needs a little dose of humor sometimes.

I don't have a flamingo in all his glory (you know, with the rose and the painting) flying across the sky of this photo, and I thought about putting one in, and then I realized I don't have a picture of a flamingo, let alone one holding all that stuff, so I'm just going to leave the picture as is. So if you do see a flamingo with a rose and a painting, then you might just be drunk. I'm just sayin'.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Is It Spring Yet?

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Seeing this daffodil makes me want to believe so, even if Punxsutawney Phil predicted otherwise on Groundhog Day.

Happy almost Friday!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Hello, Charley

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Today's greetings are brought to you by Charley. I think he could set the Guinness Book of World Records for having the softest ears on the planet.

He has recently joined the household and become Lucy's new best friend.

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Oh, I think my heart has melted.