Tahiti Cruise - Ocean Princess

This blog post shows you the cruise ship (Ocean Princess) we were on and our cabin.  I don't have any good close up pictures of the ship.  On most of the islands, we had to "park" out in deeper water and take the small tender boats to the islands.   Our cabin was on Deck 6 which is the same one that the you see the tenders hanging from in the second picture.

The rest are pictures of our cabin.  We had a balcony which was really nice.  Most days we would be coming in to a new island about the time we were getting up so it was nice to open up the sliding door and go in and out to see the new island and scenery as we were arriving while getting ready for the day.  Same way in the evenings, we left islands around 5:00 so we were leaving as we were getting ready for dinner.  Our seating was at 6:00. 

desk with mirror

balcony with 2 chairs & table

door to hallway with bathroom on right and closet, refrig., safe on left

Back to Beautiful Tahiti

It's just been super cold and windy here lately so not alot to blog about.  Thought I could go back to showing pictures of beautiful Tahiti until things warm up a little here!

I started going to our church's Bible Study on Tues. mornings and am enjoying that.  While I did that this morning, Bill and Tim met with a farm manager in Spencer re: cash rent for some of our fields for this next year.  Tonight Bill and other firemen went to Emmetsburg for more training.  Tomorrow Bill, Tim and a couple other guys are headed to Des Moines to the anuual Iowa Power Farming Show.  It's huge with 1840 booths on 7 acres (indoor).

Here are a few more pictures of the Intercontinental Hotel in Papeete, Tahiti where we stayed two nights before boarding the cruise ship.  Our room was very nice.

view from our balcony

 

the open lobby with chandeliers made of shells

 

the pool area

night view - so pretty

It's a Cold & Windy Sunday in Iowa

I've mentioned before that I love Our Iowa magazine.   I was awake too early this morning reading and came across these Church Chuckles in Our Iowa and thought you'd enjoy a couple of them for today. 

One Sunday my husband and I gave our 3 year old son, Ron, some small change to put in the collection plate along with our offering.  Shortly after that, communion was passed around the pews at which time Ron started to reach for the tiny glass of grape juice.  I gently but firmly took his hand and shook my head "no".  In a loud clear voice that all could hear, Ron said, "Why can't I have some?  I paid for it!"

One Sunday when our daughter was young, the pastor announced that the congregation would sing the hymn Love Lifted Me.  When it came to the chorus, I heard this little voice beside me heartily singing, "Love Lipton Tea".  I think maybe even God had to smile over that version.  

And another funny one I have to include:

As my sister and her husband and two daughters walked to church one Sunday morning, my sister spotted a beer can lying along the road.  They stopped to pick it up, and she stuck it in her fairly big coat pocket, forgetting all about it.

At church, they walked down the aisle to the front pew where they regularly sat.  During the service, the 6 year old daughter reached into her mom's coat pocket and pulled out the beer can.  In view of the entire congregation, she lifted it high and shook it to determine if there was any beer in it.  Red-faced, my sister quickly grabbed the can and stuffed it back in her pocket . . . wondering for the rest of the service how many parishioners saw the incident.

Recipe - Symphony Brownies

I don't know about you, but I definitely like to cook and bake more in the winter than the summer.  I always get in the mood to try new recipes and get out of the food rut.  Right now, I have about a 3 inch stack of recipes waiting to be tried plus a new Miss Kay of Duck Dynasty's cookbook, Pioneer Woman's new Holiday cookbook and one of Trisha Yearwood's.  All of them have good "home cooking" recipes plus lots of their fun to read comments.  

Tonight I'm trying Symphony Brownies that I saw at MyBakingAddiction.com.  I've had Symphony Brownies before and they were very good.  The Symphony candy bars have bits of toffee and almonds so these brownies are super chocolatey (?) and rich.  Here is the recipe:

SYMPHONY BROWNIES

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate; coarsely chopped
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 (4.5 ounce) Symphony Chocolate bars; broken into squares

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Microwave chocolate and butter or margarine in large bowl at medium (50% power) for 3-4 minutes or until butter is melted.
3. Whisk until chocolate is melted. Stir in sugar and add in eggs, extract and salt. Gradually add in flour and stir until just combined.
4. Spread 1/2 the batter into prepared pan. Add an even layer of Symphony Chocolate squares and cover with remaining 1/2 of brownie batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes; do not over bake.
5. Remove to cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Inspired by Paula Deen and adapted from allrecipes.com

   

  Now that the Colts are out of the running for the Super Bowl, I'm looking forward to the games tomorrow and hoping for a Denver Broncos win!

 

9 Volt Battery Fire Danger - Important

One of my Facebook friends shared this this morning.  It's definitely something I didn't know.   I wonder how many fires have been caused by this.   Please watch the video.  In case you don't like to click on things, it's saying that 9 volt batteries stored close together or near other batteries, can touch and short causing a fire.  He says to not store batteries in a drawer where they can touch and if you recycle old ones, be sure and put electrical tape over them securely before putting them in a bag or wherever.  He had a house fire caused by this.

We've worked on taxes this week.  Bill has been to two classes.  One in Storm Lake to keep updated for his insurance license and the other in Emmetsburg on marketing.   I had a P.E.O. meeting on Tues. and a friend and I tried a new place in downtown West Bend called Addy Mae's for lunch.  Every day she has a special coffee flavor like chocolate hazelnut (today), snickerdoodle, or cinnabun to name a few.  She has a panini special every day or you can make your own and she has a different homemade soup every day.  She bakes scones, cupcakes and decorates cakes and has ice cream.   I hope people will support her.  We need places like this!

It's 32 degrees today with wind at about 20 mph.  We're supposed to have 50 mph gusts.  We only have dirty snow in the ditches, otherwise it's brown this winter.

Speaking of lunch, I better get busy!  We have our main meal at lunch time.  I'm making meatloaf today which is Plan B since the morning has flown by. 

Beautiful Mornings

Friday and Saturday this week, we had especially pretty days.  We had hoar frost for the first time this winter I think.

Yesterday, I was babysitting and we went to Family Table for breakfast and then drove around Pocahontas looking at the trees.  The girls got a little tired of my picture taking, but they thought it was a pretty morning too.

It was 39 today - really warm compared to all the mostly frigid temps we've had all winter so far.

the Pocahontas County court house

Very sad that the Colts lost last night, but at least Denver won today.  It would be fun to watch them in the Super Bowl.

It's time to work on paperwork for taxes.  We got a real good start on that today.  

 

Dangerous Job

My brother and two of my nephews are trucking these days out of the Indianapolis area.  The roads there this week have been bad enough that the schools have remained closed after Christmas break all of this time.

Glenn was driving his semi south yesterday and saw all of these wrecks that this trucker took pictures of and made a YouTube video of.  My nephews were back on the icy roads yesterday too after some days off due to the weather in Indiana.

Last winter I went to Iowa City a day after weather like this and saw lots of trucks and vehicles still in the ditches like this.  After seeing something like this in person, it really makes you think twice before going any place during bad weather.   And makes me worry more about our guys out there every day.

Shed Progress

Bill says I've just mentioned that he's working in the shed a lot and he figures people might be wondering what he's doing out there so I finally went out to look myself and take some pictures.  He and Tim have worked on the two lofts and are now putting up the steel walls.  Bill put in the sink.  Next will be a work bench.  Then he says he's going to actually have to start working on equipment out there.  Doesn't seem like it yet, but Spring will be here before we know it!

You can see both lofts in this picture.

This one has an air compressor up there and you can see the white steel walls.

the sink

 

 

 

 

putting the double J channel in the corner

the west wall almost done

this area is going to be fun to cut steel to fit around

 

January 2014

Like much of the country, we have record cold here in NW Iowa.  Unlike much of the country, we just have a little skiff of snow on the ground.  Today it's been very sunny but the temperature at 4:30 is -5, -27 wind chill and the wind is about 15 mph out of the west.

Last night most of us around here, including all of town, lost power for 2 1/2 3 hours at about 7:00 6:15 (corrections by Bill).  We hear that people's houses got down to around 50 degrees by the time the power came back on with the wind chill being so bad.

A few years ago, we bought a generator that will run our furnace, refrigerator, lights and more.  It was the best thing we ever did because after that, our power never went out!  Until last night.  We waited about 45 min. to see if the power would come back on quick like it does most of the time but it didn't, so Bill went out to fire up the generator.  We had our propane stove on in our living room the whole time, and it really warmed the place up.  It will run without power.  I've had it on this afternoon too.  While we waited for the power to come back on, Bill suggested we take down our Christmas tree which was a good idea.  It was down and all put away in no time. 

We are getting back to walking on the treadmill and trying to eat a little better.  Thought you all might enjoy this like I did.

What January Is For

Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house,
nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I’d nibbled, the fudge I did taste,
all the holiday parties had gone to my waist.
When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber).
I remembered the marvelous meals I’d prepared,
the gravies and sauces and beef nicely rare.
The pies and the cakes, the bread and the cheese,
and the way I never said, "No thank you please."
As I dressed myself in my husband’s old shirt,
and prepared once again to do battle with dirt--
I said to myself, as I only can
"You can’t spend the winter disguised as a man!"
So away with the last of the sour cream dip,
get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished,
‘till all the additional ounces have vanished.
I won’t have a cookie, not even a lick,
I’ll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won’t have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,
I’ll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.
I’m hungry, I’m lonesome, and life is a bore ---
But isn’t that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot ...
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!

-- Anonymous


 

They Did It!!!

COLTS WIN BY 1 !!!  What an exciting, lots of action with strange plays, high scoring, nail biting game!!  I don't get to watch them often (stupid networks out here constantly show just the Packers, Vikings & Kansas City) so this was a treat to get to see this game!  At least with all the winter cold, we have football !  

I met Lisa many years ago through stamping and like many of my customers, we became friends and have kept in touch.  Her husband goes all out for the Colts!  This is their house in a suburb of Indianapolis!  GO COLTS!!!

 

Go Colts !!!

I was starting to work on a blog post about growing vanilla on Tahiti and looking for all the pictures and info. I wanted to use which got me organizing ALL the pictures of the trip to make blogging about them easier.  One thing led to another. 

The temperature is dropping.  We were in the balmy high 20's yesterday.  It's been about 14 most of the day today and windy.   The arctic temperatures are due here too this weekend like much of the rest of the country minus the big snow Indiana is to get. 

Bill is out working in the shed.  I went out and took pictures yesterday of what's been going on out there lately for a blog post soon.

Now it's time for the Colts playoff game so will just say for now:  GO COLTS!!! 

Vanilla Extract Project

he's holding beans which are on a vine that they hang on a tree for the shade

When we were in Tahiti, we visited a couple of vanilla "farms".  To us, they weren't like any farms we know - they were very small!  More about how vanilla grows in the next post.

Vanilla beans are very expensive and now we know why!  The process takes a few years of the right weather and is labor intensive.  We were able to buy them at a much better price there and they were so fresh!  What a difference compared to ones we can buy in stores here!  

The man (above) giving us our tour at one of the farms told us to stick a bunch of beans in a bottle of vodka and you could have great vanilla extract and keep it going for years!  So I came home and Googled "making vanilla extract".  Very interesting.  I found a site, Beanilla, to buy some cute 8 oz. bottles and a few more beans because I had decided this would make great Christmas gifts!  

I bought a bunch of vodka - some people say to use the good stuff, some say to use cheap.  The bottles came and I washed and sterilized them.

The Tahitian vanilla beans are much bigger and wider with lots more "caviar" than other beans.  You can see the difference here!  The one on the right is a Madagascar Bourbon vanilla bean.

Beanilla says that the Tahitian beans are their favorite and that they have tones of ripe fruit.  I did a mix of mostly the Tahitian beans I bought there and Madagascar Bourbon beans.  Beanilla says the Madagascar beans are superior with a rich, dark and creamy flavor well suited for baking and drinks.

I split the beans, put them in the bottles and covered them with vodka.  You're supposed to keep them in a cool, dark place and shake it once a week.  I found some labels online that I could personalize a little, and made some tags with my stamping supplies. 

 I was excited about these gifts.  Hope it turns out good and everybody likes it.  There are lots of comments on the Internet from people who have made it, love it and don't buy it any more.  Lots of people put beans in a whole bottle of vodka which is what  I'm going to get started for us soon!