Mariannes Motifs

Sesame-Crusted Teriyaki Salmon Coming Up

Tonight's dinner is going to be salmon, brown rice friend rice, and steamed broccoli.

I bought frozen wild salmon fillets from Publix (in the freezer case by the seafood counter) and have them defrosting in a honey teryaki marinade.  (I added some stuff to a prepared hibachi style sauce)

The brown rice is soaking in water.  The secret to tender non-crunchy brown rice is to soak the rice in water for about 2 hours, then rinse and cook in the rice cooker.  For the friend rice part - who knows what I will do. 

I just learned that In New Zealand, what they call a "hot dog" is what Americans call a "corn dog". They call a regular hot dog an American hot dog.

Dear Mom - sorry my stupid Sprint cell phone hasn't been working all night. It's me, not you. My internet has been up and down all evening too. I am getting a tin foil hat ready, just in case the aliens are coming.

Craft Alert - Yarn Baskets

yarn baskets kids craft

I realized in the middle of the night last night that I have something I have to get in for work before Monday morning. So in a fit of procrastination, I decided that we needed to do YARN CRAFTS.

This one was easy - cut lengths of yarn, soak in watery glue, and lay over a yogurt container an a chinese soup container until they look sort of like birds nests. They are drying out on the front steps, I will post pics after they dry.

The kids know I am making them little knitted amigarumi birds - Chubby Chirps by Rebecca Danger. http://www.rebeccadanger.typepad.com/ so these are going to be nests for their birds.

Braves Opening Weekend

So today's Spring Break fun was going to an Atlanta Braves game.  We got some awesome seats on Stubhub, right along the foul line so we were watching for stray balls.  The Braves lost, but we had fun in the sun.  It got quite hot out there, and by the time we walked back to the car we were TIRED.  It was worth it to take in a game, thoug.  And it's nice that the boys are old enough to chill at the game and they behaved so well.

There's a couple more pics on my Facebook, if you're looking for more.

Spring Break Nature Walk

We had a very nice Spring Break.  I took Wed, Thrs and Friday off of work.  On Wed. we went on a walk on the Alpharetta Greenway, a linear park that goes along Killer Creek.  It was a cool walk, perfect weather, and we even saw a deer in the woods.  (plus a duck swimming in the creek overflow, which I thought was pretty funny)

Here are some pics from the walk: we took the dog with us, as you can see by just his little ears showing in our group pic.

Newsreel Site has Hundreds of Video Gems from the Past

H.G. WELLS INTERVIEW - British Pathe

Back tracking to find out the original publication date of a video loaded on Youtube, I found a treasure trove of old newsreel videos from the British Pathe company.

H.G. WELLS INTERVIEW

This one is a never used interview between HG Wells and Nelson Doubleday where they discuss the economic situation during the Depression. Ths is great stuff! Interesting how Wells says the failure of the credit system is partly to blame for the economy of the time. Sound familiar? He suggests disarmament as one solution, world action on currencies and public employment to solve unemployment. Sounds good to me! We need to remember the past to understand the present.

Pollen is Eating my Brain!

I have a headache today.  I woke up and made breakfast (scrambled egges, sausage, and hash browns) and then went and got a pedicure.  The foot rub was awesome and did make my head feel better, but it still hurts.

There is just too much pollen out there.  I took the dog for a walk and I feel like my head is stuffed with tiny mace shaped gack.  Wost part - it is!  We need some rain.  No outdoor ceiling fans are going to help with this stuff.

I just put a pot of rice on in the rice cooker, so hopefully we can make something for dinner.  I have some frozen salmon that might be good.

Adam has a stomach ache - sounds like a tummy bug.  Good thing he's on spring break anyway.  I have to work Monday and Tuesday and then I will have the rest of the week off.  Hubster wanted to drive up to Columbus to visit his family but I really want to get some rest this week, not to mention we don't have any extra money right now.  Boo. 

Monday night I have to work in the evening, as there is a piece of equipment that needs to be swapped out outside of business hours.   Then if I cruise through Tuesday I will have some much deserved time off.  I had to take these three days which were rolled over from last year!

 

Text CCFA to 90999 to donate $5.00 to Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America

April is Crohn’s Disease Awareness Month. You can now text CCFA to 90999 to donate $5.00 to the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America.

Many of you probaby already know I have Crohn's Disease.  It may not be the world's most glamorous disease, but no one asked me which one I wanted, I just got stuck with it.  There's no cure yet, and for some people this disease is debilitating, painful, and life destroying.  Please consider taking a moment to give to the CCFA.  For more information see the CCFA.org web site.

Want to see what one person is doing to make a difference?  Then read bout Ashley Hasty who is wearing the same purple dress each day this month to raise awareness and raise money for Crohn's Disease.   See what she is doing on thepurpledressproject.com.

Homemade Cold Sesame Noodles

I am pretty sure the cold sesame noodles you get at New York City Chinese restaurants aren't authentic to China.  They are, however, a delicious dish full of peanut buttery, sesame goodness.  One of those great New York Chinatown inventions like fortune cookies, and chow mein.

You cannot get these at any of our local Chinese joints here in the made up town of John's Creek Georgia, so I decided to make my own today.

I used speghetti, since that's what I had.  I used a coule of different recipes as a guide.  Basically I used this one from Sack Lunch Cold Sesame Noodles, except I sauteed the sauce in a saucepan instead of using the blender.  That way I cooked the garlic and ginger first, to mellow their taste.  I used really good Korean dark sesame oil and roasted sesame seeds.  I juilienned carrots, cucumber, and scallions to put on top.  This came out so delicious.  The kids wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft. pole, however.  So its probably going to be all mine and make me gain 5 pounds.