Tuesday, June 17, 2008

A Reflection on Popcorn

Of all of the snacks in the world, crunchy and salty ones are my favorite. Most snacks of this sort I can no longer eat. But the one crunchy, salty treat that I CAN have is popcorn! I often have popcorn as part of my afternoon snack. Today, as I looked into my bowl of popcorn, I was amazed that I had never paid much attention to how interesting popcorn is (to me, anyway).




I don't always eat butter on my popcorn, but it does taste delicious that way. What I find so interesting about popcorn is how each popped kernel is like a snowflake...no two kernels look alike. Some are popped so well that no part of the kernel husk (I don't know what it is actually called) is left showing. Others only pop half way, and some barely pop and are resigned to be at the bottom of the bowl hoping you'll crunch on it anyway...which I always do.


Popcorn is simply delicious. I had a friend (you know who you are) tell me last week that she had popcorn and a half bottle of wine for dinner two nights last week. This is what happens when your hubby is out of town. Popcorn is fabulous! I also like to sometimes put Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning on it for a little kick.

Today, I'm thinking we need an airpopper, so that I make my snack a bit healthier...with a bit less salt. What's your favorite popcorn topping?

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Veggies...YUMMY!

Vince and I are always looking for ways to improve the ways we live on this earth. We recycle, even when it's not always convenient. We only have compact fluorescent light bulbs in our house. I've been going to the library instead of buying books...and y'all know that's a stretch for me! We're not perfect by any stretch, but we are trying to do our part.



So we decided to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) called Growing Home Inc (http://www.growinghomeinc.org/). They are a fantastic organization that provides job training and employment opportunities for homeless and low-income people within the context of an organic agriculture business. We split a box of organic veggies every week with our friends Wes and Charlotte. And this week we got our first box of delicious veggies. This week we got asparagus, kale, cilantro, arugula, beets, and spinach.

Here's Charlotte with beautiful, HUGE asparagus.
April being silly with beets.
What will Vince choose: kale or gelato?
It's Vince...gelato, of course!


Monday, June 9, 2008

Busy Weekend

We had a very busy weekend around the McGel household. First our friends Kim & Rob came for a visit. They were in town to watch a Jesuit friend of Kim's be ordained. Then they took in all the sights and tastes that they could squeeze into such a short visit.


We also had an ordination to attend. Many of our seminary friends were ordained at this year's Northern Illinois Annual Conference. Here are a few pics:
Charlotte and Wes and their parents
Teran and his friends & family
Wes & Charlotte looking fabulous!
Proving we were present for the 3-hour-long service
These were just a couple of our deacon friends who were ordained. It gives me a great pleasure to see deacons being ordained. I hope that next year will be my turn...God/BOOM willing.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Gumbo - 1; Us - 0

So after a week of absolutely lovely behavior, Gumbo went a little crazy last night. He has been so good when we crate him at night. He usually whines for about 10 minutes and then settles down to sleep. Yes, he wakes up too early for my taste, but we can live with that.

But last night....oh my, last night...he whined with the most painful whine for at least one and a half hours!!! We did everything we were supposed to do, but nothing worked. Finally, we just let him out of the crate, shut the bedroom door, and let him wander around in the bedroom until he finally curled up and went to sleep. The good news is that he slept until 6am this morning. The bad news is that we are exhausted and aren't sure how this is going to affect future crating.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Monday, June 2, 2008

Everybody Loves Gumbo

Yes...everybody loves gumbo the soup. But the truth is everybody loves our new dog Gumbo! We adopted him on Saturday, May 24 from a shelter west of Chicago. We saw many dogs that day and had planned to get a bigger dog. But as soon as we met "Sparks" (now named Gumbo), we knew he was the one for us. We almost named him Tumbleweed because every time you pet him, he rolls over for a belly rub!



Gumbo is a Corgi/Shelti mix who is 8 months old, but he probably has more breeds than just the two. Much like the New Orleans favorite, our Gumbo is a good mix of lots of flavors...sometimes calm, sometimes hyper...but he's always a sweetie! He doesn't really know how to play, but he found the toys right away and took a couple of them right into his crate! He's still got quite a bit of puppy in him, but we like that.



Gumbo loves other dogs, loves our cats (they do not return the favor), and is good with kids.


He's also pretty curious...always sniffing around finding a discarded chicken bone or some other snack. He also has learned to squeeze between the bars on the fence and has ended up in our neighbor's yard. Our "favorite" (read sarcastically) thing about Gumbo is his penchant for waking up at 5am! I know I'm a morning person, but that's ridiculous!



Here's Gumbo with the chocolate lab, Lucy, who lives downstairs. She's huge compared to him, but he loves to play with her all the same.



Gumbo loves everyone he meets...



But he's a complete mama's boy! Wherever I go, he goes. He's always got to be near me. I often sing "Me and My Shadow" when he's following me around. He is getting to know his name pretty well, and we couldn't be more happy about having him as a part of our family.



And just so you don't think we are partial to Mr. Gumbo, here is the beautiful Pandora...lounging in a sunspot.



Is she a glamour puss or what?!



And for those who never believed that we have two cats, here's the ever-elusive Luna.



Those mesmerizing eyes!