SkyWatch Friday

This week's photos were taken near Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, California, back in October.

Thank you Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia for hosting SkyWatch Friday.

If you want to join in you can click right here.

Nature Notes

When we were on vacation several weeks ago we were trying to find the home we lived in 25 years ago in the navy housing at Monterey. At first we had difficulty finding our bearings and we got a little lost, but in doing so my husband Gregg spotted this beautiful hawk sitting on a fence, obviously on the look out for its next meal. I got out of the car and took several shots. He wasn't worried about me and after one glance to see what I was doing and finding that I was no threat, he continued to focus on finding lunch. I have a moderate zoom lens and wasn't that close.

I don't know too much about hawks so am not sure what kind he is. Maybe someone will be able to help me positively identify him. I checked in my National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, and the closest I could find was the Red-Shouldered Hawk.

I have wanted to join in Nature Notes for quite a while now and today I decided to jump in again

If you want to see posts about nature and the changing seasons, please click right here.

Watery Wednesday

These were taken at the Monterey Aquarium a few weeks ago.

There is a wonderful seahorse exhibit and the one in the photo above is called a Leafy Sea Dragon. Great camouflage don't you think? They are found off the coast of southern and western Australia. If I could have pulled a comfortable chair up next to the exhibit I would have stayed there studying them for a couple of hours or more, just fascinating.

The red shrimp above is called a Pacific Cleaner Shrimp.

All the seahorses I saw were just the most graceful and beautiful things. I can see why they say people who have fish tanks have low blood pressure. You look at these wonderful creatures for any length of time, you become totally relaxed. Maybe that's why they don't supply easy chairs at aquariums. We'd all be taking a nap.

This is a video of the Weedy Sea Dragon, not quite as showy as the other but still very beautiful. They are also found off the coast of southern Australia. You can find more about them here.

This is a horseshoe crab. He was pretty small. I found an article about them on Wikipedia too, which you can read about here.

There are some wonderful creatures under the sea.

Thank you 2sweetnsaxy for hosting this great meme.

You can get there by clicking here.

Chicken Noodle Soup

You have probably noticed the cooking blogs in my sidebar. All the ones there are favorites and when I am in the mood and want to spend some time in the kitchen, I will browse through them and find a good recipe. I thought I was coming down with a cold this week as I was super tired and had a hint of the sniffles, and when I happened upon one word in the post describing it as 'medicinal' and that it was her grandmother's recipe, I looked no further. It sounded delicious and I wanted to make it before the cold took hold so that we would have something nourishing and wholesome to eat for a couple of days or so, just in case. My cold didn't actually get any worse and maybe this soup helped, I like to think so. It surely was very comforting and I can honestly say it is one of the best soups I have ever made, and I would like to thank Snooty Primadona for sharing her grandmother's recipe.

You can see her actual recipe here over at "Snooty Primadona's Guide to Cooking Like a Diva....'

Here it is, Grandmother Mimi's Medicinal Home-Made Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

For the broth:

3 to 4 stalks of celery (with the leaves), coarsely chopped

1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered

4 to 5 green onions

8 to 10 cloves of garlic, halved

1 whole bay leaf

1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns

2 teaspoons salt

1 whole chicken

8 cups water

Directions:

In the morning start the broth by filling a large stockpot with water. Add all the broth ingredients.

Bring it almost to a boil but reduce heat to a simmer before it does. It needs to simmer very slowly without boiling. Three to four hours should be enough but a little extra time doesn't hurt. I left it on the stove top for five hours because I had a whole lot of other things to do that day.

When the stock is ready, carefully remove the chicken and put it on a large plate. You can put it in the fridge until it is cool enough to handle. Tear the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and put back in the fridge until you are ready to add it back to the broth. At this point I put the pot of broth in the fridge too. Once the broth is cold enough for the fat to solidify on the surface, you can scrape it off with a large slotted spoon.

Next I get a big empty bowl and place a large strainer over the top - I have one that hooks over the top of my bowl. Pour the broth through the strainer. Snooty PrimaDona suggests that you can add the veggies to your compost pile. If I had one I would have. Rinse the stockpot and return the broth to the pot.

Now you're ready to make the actual soup.

Chicken Noodle Soup:

Ingredients:

2 to 3 stalks of celery, diced

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1 package baby carrots, sliced and chopped (or use shredded carrots, chopped)

1 package fresh mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

5 to 6 garlic cloves, pressed

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 teaspoons butter

8 cups of the broth you previously made (or use 2 cartons of organic chicken broth)

2 teaspoons of chopped parsley

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

1/4 teaspoon of black peppercorns, ground

1/2 package of egg noodles

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan on medium heat and sauté onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms and garlic until onion is almost transparent, stirring frequently.

Add the broth and bring to a simmer. Cook the vegetables for at least 1-1/2 hours or until they are tender.

Add the chicken, chopped parsley, salt and pepper and allow to simmer a while longer.

Boil the egg noodles in another pan and set aside (Snooty Primadona suggests doing this as she said the noodles soak up too much liquid otherwise). Place the drained noodles in the bottom of the bowl and pour the soup on top.

She suggested serving it with healthy crackers or a sourdough bread. I made a cornbread because when I mentioned making some Gregg's eyes lit up. It's been a while!

She forgot to add the parsley and so did I but instead of parsley I used cilantro, only because we love the taste of it. I added it after everything was cooked and it was fine. I also forgot to buy some green onions and just used the yellow onions. I didn't have Kosher salt and used regular, bought wide egg noodles and also bought already sliced mushrooms and baby carrots which I sliced but didn't chop, because by that time I was telling myself that our grandmothers must have been saints to spend this much time in the kitchen, making everything from scratch. I was also fighting off that cold, energy level was definitely flagging and I trying to save myself a few steps. Didn't have quite as many cloves of garlic because I thought I had more but didn't. My recipe also didn't have as much broth and maybe that was due to the fact that I simmered it a little longer, not sure. I will probably add extra water when I start the process. It all tasted delicious but next time I will stick to the recipe more.

Gregg loved this soup and said it was the best I had ever made, so thank you Snooty Primadona, and your Grandmother Mimi too. She must have been an amazing cook. I'm going to be making this recipe a lot I can see. It was a big hit with both of us.

We had a visit from Ralphy today. Remember Ralphy?

I love Ralphy. We have known him for many years, ever since our own son was little more than a toddler. Each Christmas, at his mother's request, we have watched Ralphy painfully and reluctantly put on his aunt's gift on Christmas morning, the bunny suit she made for him. It has become our traditional Christmas movie.

A few weeks ago who do you think I saw hanging up in the Hallmark store with the rest of the ornaments? Ralphy! I didn't hesitate and when I left he was heading home with me.

The movie was made in 1983 but is set in the 1940's and revolves around a young boy and his family who live in a small Indiana town. One of my favorite actors Darren McGavin plays Old Man Parker, Ralphy's Dad (you've got to love that lamp scene) and Mrs. Dillon was played beautifully by Melinda Dillon. Ralphy, my little pal, was played by Peter Billingsley.

I found this video on YouTube which shows the bunny scene.

Don't go Ralphy, hang around for a while.

TODAY'S FLOWERS # 69

This is a pre-dated post as I am away from my computer this weekend.

My photos were taken of the Thanksgiving flowers from last week, chosen by Gregg who was up at the store with his Dad for a couple of last minute forgotten items. I usually buy flowers for special occasions and realized as I was setting the table that they had slipped my mind. A quick call to ask if he wouldn't mind picking up an arrangement. He knows my taste well as I couldn't have picked a better one myself.

Have a great week everyone.

TODAY’S FLOWER’S is a wonderful meme created by our good friend Luiz Santilli Jr.

You can find beautiful and unusual flowers from all over the world by clicking here.

Camera Critters

This is a pre-dated post as I will be away from my computer this weekend.

My critter photos this week were taken somewhere along the coastal road as we were making our way through Oregon. We came across this very cute scene of a little girl feeding a gaggle of geese wandering in a neighborhood near a beach. Her mother was taking photos also, and the geese looked like they were taking turns waiting for their morsel of bread that she was tossing to them. It presented a great photo opportunity for anyone passing by.

Don't you just love geese?

Camera Critters was created by Misty Dawn. Thank you Misty!

You can find other critter photos by clicking here.

SkyWatch Friday

Keeping a look-out for a place to stay the night we were driving down the Oregon coast highway. It had been pretty gray all day and we didn't expect to see such a beautiful sunset, but we were treated to a golden sky. I took these photos from the passenger side window as we were driving along.

If you want to join in and share your own photos click right here.