Weather ~ Dude ~ So Cal Storm ~ Breakfast ~ Pictures of the Day ~ Smallest House in Toronto Canada ~ Perfect Pumpkin Cobbler ~ Dash's Birthday ~ Dinner ~ TV ~ National Dessert Day

Good 30º icy clear morning. 

 

Yesterday our weather was pretty much the same as it's been.... clear and warming to 84º.

 

Dude happy camper laying in the grass keeping an eye on the gate!

 

 

Down in So. Cal they have had quite the storm with lightening and thunder Friday and all night rain and rain continuing into Saturday.

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/10/13/thunderstorms-bring-rain-and-a-light-show-to-southern-california/

 

 

Yesterday's breakfast was my oatmeal, plain non fat yogurt, with fruit. Dessert with my coffee was pumpkin roll. YUMMMMMM........

 

 

No radio code for 10-14

 

 

Pictures of the Day.....

Three people whose names match their professions!

 

 

 

Interesting about the smallest house in Toronto Canada.....

 

Next time you complain your home/apartment/condo is too small, think about the occupants of 128 Day Avenue, a property near Dufferin and Rogers Road. With a footprint of just 312 square feet , the house is officially the smallest in the city.

According to its official site (yep, it's that famous), the home was shoehorned into the space between two existing properties by Arthur Weeden, a contractor involved with a series of west end building projects, in 1912. The tiny parcel of land was originally marked out for laneway access but somehow the curb stones were never lowered to allow vehicular access, rendering the gap useless.

Weeden pounced, building a pint-sized home, barely an arm's span wide, for him and his wife. They lived there together for 20 years, content in the tiny space, tending to their vegetable garden and bunking down for the night in the single rear bedroom behind the kitchen.

When Weeden died, the house passed through several owners. In 2010, the last time it was on the market, owners asked $180,000 - $1968 a square metre (1 square meter = 10 square feet) - for the smallest house in the city, well below the $400,000 average for the city. The publicity surrounding the sale reached its height when talk show host Ellen DeGeneres featured the property on her show.

The main floor of the bungalow features a living room, kitchen, and sleeping quarters with Murphy bed (the room is too small to accommodate a normal bed and furniture.) A hatch in the kitchen leads down to a small basement. The diminutive house has also inspired a song, "Come Back To Me" by Maria Lee Carta.

 

 

Everyone loves a tasty fall cobbler recipe! This Perfect Pumpkin Cobbler is the best of the best and is sure to put a smile on all the faces gathered around your holiday table. Topped with a scoop of ice cream and a dash of festive seasonal flair, this is a fall dessert recipe you won't want to miss.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  
• TOPPING
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups hot water

 

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Coat a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt until combined. Add pumpkin, oil, and vanilla; mix well. Spread into baking dish. 
3. To make Topping, in a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, walnuts, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; mix well. Sprinkle nut mixture over batter. Pour hot water evenly over top. 
4. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until center of cake is set. Serve warm with sauce from bottom of baking dish.

 

 

 

Special birthday today, Brian's little Dash is 1 year old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DASHIE!!! ♥♥♥

 

 

 

Historically this date....

 

1908 – The Chicago Cubs defeat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, clinching the World Series. It would be their last one to date.

1912 – While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech.

1967 – The Vietnam War: The folk singer Joan Baez is arrested concerning a physical blockade of the U.S. Army's induction center in Oakland, California.

1968 – Jim Hines of the United States of America becomes the first man ever to break the so-called "ten-second barrier" in the 100-meter sprint in the Summer Olympic Gamesheld in Mexico City with a time of 9.95 seconds.

2003 – Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman becomes infamously known as the scapegoat for the Cubs losing game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series to the Florida Marlins. This has become known as the Steve Bartman incident.

 

And births this date include....

1790 – Thursday October Christian (d. 1831)

OMG, so interesting!

1890 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general and 34th President of the United States(d. 1969)

 

 

Our Senior Leadership class in high school went to Pepperdine University to see President Eisenhower receive an honorary degree. I got to shake his hand. OMG, he seemed larger than life and his hands were HUGE! He was very pleasant.

1927 – Roger Moore, English actor (d.2017)

Dinner was GOOD. I cooked an Omaha filet mignon in the air fryer, heated some roasted sweet potatoes and had a baby spinach/tomato salad.... and a piece of Schwans NY Cheesecake for dessert! 

 

 

 

Later it was the usual... chair, Bruiser in my lap, wine, and TV. I watched that New Amstedam TV show that got a lot of high ratings. The first time I wasn't impressed. The second time I didn't even watch the whole show. Lousy! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7817340/

Blue Bloods and Hawaii 5-0 were much better! 

 

 

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Happy Sunday. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

 

Celebrated annually on October 14th, National Dessert Day is a day for people to satisfy their sweet tooth and to go ahead and enjoy the dessert of their choice. It’s a holiday that is celebrated in the United States and shouldn’t be confused with Eat an Extra Dessert Day, which falls on September 4th each year. However, it is a dessert in which you can go ahead and bake one of your favorite desserts or perhaps, take advantage of one of the sweet freebies which are offered on this day.

While no one knows for sure when National Dessert Day was started in the United States, one thing is known for sure, and that’s how the word “dessert” was invented. It comes from the French word “desservir” which literally means to remove that which had been served. It would be a meal which was served after all of the dishes had been removed the table. However, at this time, which was around the 15th century, a lot of chefs were adding a lot of sugar to their savory dishes. Which is probably why desservir, or dessert as it would eventually be called, is now associated with sweet treats.

From the 19th century on, there were a variety of desserts that would become popular in the United States. For instance, in Boston during the 19th century, a vanilla sponge cake filled with vanilla cream and topped with chocolate glaze became popular – otherwise known as Boston Creme Pie. About the same time, Key Lime Pie was introduced in Florida – probably because there was an abundance of lime trees that was planted by the Spanish during the 18th century. However, due to hurricanes destroying these lime trees all over the state, the popularity of this dessert didn’t take off until after right after World War II.

There were quite a few desserts that would become popular over the years in the United States and these included the Baked Alaska and the Banana Split. During the World’s Fair in St.Louis in 1904, the Ice Cream Cone was invented and by 1912, Cheesecake was invented in New York City. Other desserts that rose and fell in popularity include Blum’s Coffee Crunch Cake, Marionberry Pie, and Bananas Foster – although this dessert has made somewhat of a comeback over the last few years.

 

 

 

Odd Breakfast ~ 10-13 ~ Thanksgiving Dinner ~ Picture of the Day ~ Why Asparagus Makes Your Pee Smell ~ Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup ~ Mike Bastian ~ Dentist ~ Dinner ~ US Navy Birthday

Good 34º clear icy morning. 

Yesterday started cold again, stayed clear, and warmed to 84º.

I know a lot of you will probably go "ewwwwwww", but this is often a breakfast I have..... instant oatmeal cooked, moved over in the bowl and nonfat plain yogurt added. Topped with cut up egg.

In a small microwave safe bowl I put a few drops of olive oil, crack in an egg, prick the yolk with a sharp pointed knife, sprinkle on a tad of garlic salt. Then I put a saucer over the top of the bowl and cook on high in the microwave for 40 seconds. Then I cut it up and put it on the yogurt.

Along with that I have my coffee with sugar free syrup (I like Torani Peanut Butter or Salted Caramel) and non fat creamer and for "dessert" some blueberry bread.

 10-13 is radio code for 'advise road and weather conditions'.

I ordered my Thanksgiving dinner! Since Brian and family and Jean will all be in NY because Tucker and the Grants Pass High School Band will be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and I will be here puppy sitting Dash, I decided I wanted a ham. We used to have a Honey Baked Ham store in Medford, but they closed. Darn! So I went on line and ordered this....

It is a quarter boneless sliced ham (3-4 pounds) with a sweet potato soufflé (whipped with brown sugar, spices, and topped with crunchy pecans) and a green bean casserole (with mushrooms, red peppers, tossed with a cream sauce, and topped with crispy fried onions). Everything comes fully cooked and all you have to do is set the ham out and heat the side dishes.

Picture of the Day....

If I glued some eyes on Bruiser's butt... LOL

Interesting about asparagus ....

Why asparagus makes your pee smell...

The smell comes from the way certain chemical compounds in asparagus break down inside people's bodies.

This is why cooking asparagus in various ways does not result in the same smelly byproduct; the specific digestive enzymes that break down the compounds in the asparagus to produce the smell aren’t present until you eat the asparagus.

As to this specific resulting chemical compound that ends up causing the smell, it has long been thought that it is from methanethiol.  Methanethiol is a colorless gas which smells a bit like rotting cabbage. It is composed primarily of sulfur, but also includes hydrogen and carbon.

More recent research by Robert H. White from the University of California proposes an alternative theory.  White used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to try to identify the cause of the smell and he concluded that it was actually from the s-methyl thioesters- specifically s-methyl thioacrylate and s-methyl thiopropionate.  Thioesters, like methanethiol, are primarily sulfur based except are formed from sulfur bonding with an acyl group.

In either case, the ability of a particular person to produce the necessary smelly compound in their urine after digesting asparagus was thought to be a genetic trait unique to only some humans until relatively recently.  Recent research done in France, China, and Israel, all independently showed this is not the case.  Rather, all humans appear to produce the smelly compound, but only some humans can detect the smell; the ability to detect the smell or not is a genetic trait.  Further, according to the study done in Israel, only about 22% of people have that genetic ability to smell the odor from the urine of people who have recently eaten asparagus.

Bonus Facts:

• The presence of methanethiol in the urine of someone who has recently eaten asparagus was first discovered by M. Nencki in 1891.
• The chemical compounds which cause the smell in urine from eating asparagus can appear as soon as fifteen minutes after a person eats asparagus.
• Asparagus belongs to the same family as lilies.  Once the asparagus buds start to open, the shoots become unpalatable and woody, so typically only young asparagus shoots are used for eating, making all asparagus eaters baby killers. 😉
• Methanethiol can commonly be found in the blood and brain of humans and various types of plant tissue.  It can also be found in various types of nuts and cheeses.
• Methanethiol is also one of the major causes of bad breath.
• Tomatoes and Asparagus are good plants to grow near one another due to the fact that tomatoes keep the asparagus beetle away and asparagus repels certain types of root nematodes that are bad for tomatoes.
• Asparagus is an extremely healthy little plant.  It contains quite a bit of calcium, zinc, magnesium, fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, rutin, niacin, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese, chromium, and selenium.  It also contains good amounts of vitamin A, B6, C, E, and K.

Quotable Asparagus Quote:

• “A few stems of asparagus eaten shall give our urine a disagreeable odor; and a pill of turpentine no bigger than a pea shall bestow upon it the pleasing smell of violets.” -Ben Franklin

A great cold weather soup..........

• 10 slices cooked bacon, diced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk or half-and-half or heavy cream
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• optional toppings: chives, extra shredded cheddar cheese and bacon

1. Add diced potatoes, diced onion, minced garlic, bacon, parsley and chicken broth to the slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 6-8 hours on low or on high for 3-4 hours, until the potatoes are fork tender.
2. Once the soup has cooked, add butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat and melt. Whisk in the flour until completely combined and gradually add in the evaporated milk or heavy cream, depends which one you are using. Whisk the flour mixture until smooth. With the heat on the lowest stove setting, let the mixture cook until it starts to simmer and is getting thicker, stir occasionally.
3. Immediately add the milk-flour mixture to the slow cooker and stir to combine.
4. Using a potato masher, mash about 3/4 of the potatoes.
5. Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. Stir well, until fully combined and creamy. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper to taste. Continue cooking the soup on low for 30 minutes or on high for 15 minutes.

1. If the soup is too thick, add more chicken broth.
2. Serve warm, garnished with bacon, cheese and sour cream.
3. The soup can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Special birthday today, Wilson High School pal Mike Bastian. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!

Back in 2013 we had a Wilsonite reunion in Grants Pass.... left to right me, Mike Bastian, Joe Terror, Ron Loynds, and Linda (Waterlond) Terror. 

Historically this date....

 

1875 – The United States Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy).

1792 – In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.

1962 – The Pacific Northwest experiences a cyclone the equal of a Cat 3 hurricane. Winds measured above 150 mph at several locations; 46 people died.

 

And births this date includes....

1915 – Cornel Wilde, American actor (d. 1989)

1921 – Yves Montand, Italian singer and actor (d. 1991)

1925 – Margaret Thatcher, English politician (d.2013)

1941 – Paul Simon, American singer and musician (Simon & Garfunkel)

  

1942 – Pamela Tiffin, American film actress

  

1959 – Marie Osmond, American entertainer (OMG, read about her "personal life"... what a mess)

1962 – Kelly Preston, American actress

  

1967 – Kate Walsh, American actress

  

1969 – Nancy Kerrigan, American figure skater

Exciting day yesterday, to the dentist for my toof cleaning!

(Urban dictionary defines "toof" as "a set of white things in your mouf"!)

Anyway, Liz is my hygienist and we always have a nice chat!

I always loved the cartoon series Family Guy, where one of the brothers called his sister, Elizabeth, Lizard Breath. So, I call Liz "Lizard Breath"! 

Here are all the gals at the office... including my Liz!

My dinner you might not turn up your nose at.... last night it was Schwans Shrimp Spring Rolls w/ sweet chile sauce and baby spinach topped with tomatoes....a drizzle of olive oil and some Lawry's Garlic Salt. YUMMMMMO! 

Then it was chair with Bruiser on my lap, wine, and TV..... Chicago Med, wanted to watch the Dodgers/Brewers game but not available and sadly the Dodgers lost 6-5.  :o(   

All I know. Nuff said. Happy Saturday. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

The United States Navy observes its birthday every year on October 13th.

The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is currently the largest, most powerful navy in the world, with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage. The service has over 340,000 personnel on active duty and more than 71,000 in the Navy Reserve. 

HISTORY

On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the first American naval force.  Thus began the long and prestigious heritage of the United States Navy. Between 1922 and 1972, the Navy’s birthday was celebrated on October 27th, the date of Theodore Roosevelt’s birth. Designated by the Navy League of the United States for Roosevelt’s foresight and vision in elevating the U.S. Navy into a premier force, the celebration of the Navy’s birthday has always been one of pride.  The change to October 13 was seen as a more relevant date in line with the first official action legislating a navy.  Since 1972, October 13 has been the officially recognized date of U.S. Navy’s birth.

My Dad was only 16 years old when he volunteered for the US Navy in WWI. He obviously lied about his age!