New Years Eve at the Lake House

Not a big snow like last year. Almost there.


-- Posted from my iPhone

Location:New York 90,Cayuga,United States

Finnish Bread

The perfect braid.




-- Posted from my iPhone

Perfect Pomegranate Martini - Less Than Perfect??

5 oz Vodka  -  320 cal
1 oz  Pom Juice - 20 cal
1 oz Pom Syrup - 90 cal
1 Tbs Cointreau  31 cal / Triple Sec 51 cal

6 oz. serving =  395 - 412 cal = 8 WW points

Save up the points and Enjoy!!!

2nd Eye

Getting ready for the left eye.


No more one lens in the glasses, not that anyone ever noticed.


The left eye is marked.



Cute booties.

Almost home

It's 4:52 and we're almost home.
According to the GPS we skould be there at 5:05. It was a pretty rainy ride but better than snow or ice.





-- Posted from my iPhone

Bridge Club

Ginny took this picture of us at bridge at her house in November. This is year 42 for our bridge group and I think we all look pretty good for a bunch of oldsters. We met at Kodak, pretty much right out of college for a lot of us. It's been great having our history together and one of these days Ginny and I are going to write it up like we keep saying we will.

Front row: Beth, Karen, Barb, Ginny
Back row: Kathy, Sue, Betsy, Jackie, Joan
Missing: Kay
Then I found these pictures on my computer. I know there are other ones that we took over the years, but not digital, so I will have to do some searching.
This picture was taken at the Plum Garden in Pittsford., I think this was taken in 2007.

Sue and Kay are missing from this picture.

This was taken at Mex's but I don't remember what year.
One eye of Kay is visible in this picture. We'll need to do another group shot when we're all together again.

Going to Greta's

We just passed an accident on 490 by the Mall. A big truck hit a little one. The roads are slick.


-- Posted from my iPhone

Tire Surprise

Merry Christmas to me. I'm getting a new tire on my 6 month old car since I had a bolt in it which we discovered fell from our garage door. Good thing I drove my car before leaving to drive to Greta's for Christmas.

Chicken with Noodles and Vegetables in Ginger Broth

We had movie night last night and saw My Sisters Keeper. The ending was way different than the book.
Before the movie we had an Asian dinner. We had a variety of appetizers (non-Asian), soup, and then everyone had to make their own Spring rolls.
This is the original soup recipe which was in my latest Weight Watchers booklet - Dec 13-19.

Chicken with Noodles and Vegetables in Ginger Broth
4 oz rice noodles
2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
4 quarter-size slices peeled fresh ginger
3 star anise pods (I couldn't find this so didn't use)
4 (5 oz) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and sliced
4 oz snow peas, trimmed and halved
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Cook rice noddles according to package directions; drain.
Meanwhile, combine broth, soy sauce, honey, ginger, and star anise in large skillet; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken; return to simmer. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add yellow squash and peas. Cook until chicken is cooked throught and vegetables are crisp-tender, 5 minutes longer. Remove and discard ginger and star anise. Divide noodles among 4 bowls. Top each with chicken breast and ¼ of stock mixture. Top with cilantro. (Oops - I forgot the cilantro),

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 25 min
Serves 4
7 points per serving

Convert a File to an Audiobook

I like to listen to books on tape/CD.  I used to walk around with my walkman CD player but now that I have an iPhone I like to copy them onto that.  Here's an easy way to convert the books to audiobook format after they are copied into iTunes.
Right-click a track, or group of tracks (I do a CD's worth at a time) and select Get Info, head to the Options tab, and then select Audiobook from the Media Kind drop-down menu. The file will instantly leave your Music library and head straight for your Audiobook library. To mark multiple files at once, just select them all and go through the same process. The only remaining step is to tick the Remember Position checkbox if you haven't already, and your tracks should now have easily found their way to your Audiobooks section, and even better, they should work like an audiobook.

Cataract Surgery

Larry is having cataract surgery on his right eye now. Here he's signing his consent forms.




I took this picture before I had to leave.


-- Posted from my iPhone

We went to Cirque Dreams

-- Posted from my iPhone

The Way We Were

I created a new book that I sent to Nadine and Gerry for Christmas.

The Way We Were | BOOK INFO

Finnish Coffee Bread - breadmaker

Points for Breadmaker Finnish coffee bread

1 ¼ cups warm milk - 2 pts
2 eggs divided - 4
2 Tbls butter - 6
¼ tsp salt - 0
4 cups flour - 36
½ cup sugar - 8
1½ tsp ground cardamom
1½ teaspoon yeast - 0
1 cup raisins - 8

Total 64 points for 2 loaves
32 per loaf
16 per half loaf
8 servings (1 in) per half loaf
2 pts per serving

Almond Crescents

I'm making these to bring to Betty's cookie exchange. Before I eat any, I have to calculate the points which I'll add to the end of the recipe.

This is the picture I took after I made them.

This is the picture that came with the recipe. They used a lot more powdered sugar and better lighting. They look prettier, shape is much better, but doesn't all that sugar get caught in your throat and all over your clothes? I shook a lot of my sugar off.

I added a lot more sugar and took another pic.   There's a ton of sugar on them.  I guess that's what food photographers do.


Almond Crescents

makes about 48 cookies

Planning note: Dough must be refrigerated for at least 4 hours before baking.

1 cup butter or margarine, softened (24 pts)

1/3 cup sugar (5 pts)

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 can Solo or 1 jar Baker Almond filling (20 pts)

2 cups all-purpose flour (19 pts)

Confectioners sugar

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in almond extract and almond filling until blended. Stir in flour with wooden spoon to make stiff dough. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or until dough is no longer sticky.

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Dust hands with flour. Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into small tapered crescents about 21/2 inches apart.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets on wire racks 1 minute. Remove from baking sheets and cool on racks. Dust with confectioners sugar while cookies are still warm. Cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

Points - 1.5 per cookie when there are 48 cookies.

Added more color

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Mantle is done

I'm getting really good at bows now. All it takes is wire!


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Tree Trimming

We decorated the tree today. Mantle is next but first a little workout before we go to Barb & Bob's for lasagna dinner.





Here's a close up of the bow at the top.







-- Posted from my iPhone

Ripple Afghan

I finished the ripple afghan and set a record for me. Started and finished in the same year.



-- Posted from my iPhone

Regional Market Trip

We thought our Essence meeting was today although after we got there we were told it was tomorrow and after we got home our calendar did say it was tomorrow.  And we both looked at the calendar.  I have to admit, Larry was the one who told me it was on Tuesday, and I looked to see the address of where we were going and never noticed the date.  You can tell we are OLD!!!

So instead, we went out to the Regional Market in Henrietta and in search of rice paper to make Spring Rolls.  First we went to Lee's Asian Mkt and bought rice paper, rice vermicelli, fresh herbs and some sauces.  Then we went to Niblack Foods where they have all kinds of herbs and spices.  We got ground cardamom in a reasonable size .75 oz which will probably take a while to use since I only use it for the Finnish coffee bread.  Our next stop was to Palmer's Fish Market which is now the size of a city block, mainly warehouse I'm assuming.  In the front of the place is the store and restaurant.  We bought tuna and had lunch there.  
Even though we didn't have anything left to get, we walked over to Lori's Natural Food and took a walk through the store which is all organic and natural foods, products and health aids.
So all in all, it was good that we had the wrong day for the meeting because it got us out of the house early and we accomplished a lot.