zucchini corn pancakes

I like to cook.

More importantly, I like the creativity and intrigue of cooking. I love to peruse cookbooks, the internet, Pinterest… all for recipes that sound, well, a little odd. Kinda like, I’m either gonna LOVE it… or, perhaps, ~~epic fail~~ not-so-much. Yep. I love trying new recipes, new restaurants, new chefs, new combinations of foods… outa the box kinda stuff. Now if you knew my family (of orgin), you would get a chuckle out of this. They are a “meat and potatoes, very basic, no condiments (of ANY kind)” sorta fam. My sister won’t even TOUCH a bottle of mustard. Literally. In our home we have a minimum of at least four or five different varieties of mustard at any given time. Ya. My brothers and sisters look at me as a bit of ~~a freak~~ an odd bird. About a LOT of things, actually… but let’s keep to the subject of food for now.

So yesterday I was thinking about dindin. While researching recipes for my spring newsletter, I stumbled across a recipe for zucchini corn pancakes (click HERE). Yum. The more I thought about them, the more obsessed I got. Let me just say that I was not disappointed. Garnished with a little Peach Salsa (Trader Joe’s), a dollop of sour cream (dairy free for me!) and a little minced cilantro… Boom! It was my lucky day because shrimp has been on sale (Fresh Market) so we had grilled shrimp and springtime oven roasted asparagus (both with a little Olive Tree olive oil) and some fresh blackberries. In a word… DELISH!

So… What’s next? Found a recipe for a family fav Indian dish that is prepared in a CROCK POT?? Served with a little “twist” on the usual basmati rice. Hmmm…

Post coming soon…

Zucchini Corn Pancakes from "girl vs DOUGH" — Zucchini Corn Pancakes from “girl versus Dough” (Click on pic)

a summer sabbatical

8 / 22 / 13

A summer sabbatical. From social media. Interesting. So what does that really mean, and why do it?

Well… by definition, it just means that I took the complete summer off from participating in any form of social media. At all.

Ya, right.

I do have to say, however, that I really did try. There were a few “cheats” along the way; but for the most part I honestly tried to steer clear of the constant temptations and did my very best to avoid this love/hate relationship that I seem to have with my computer. Hmmm. Think I just stumbled across the perfect segway into the real “meat and potatoes” of this post… “Why do it?”.

A couple reasons, really. First of all to test myself. Can I possibly survive without social media? Will the world – or, perhaps more specifically, MY world, cease to exist without the constant stimulation of my daily dose of social media buzz? As it turns out, one can exist, and dare I say, thrive, WITHOUT social media. Who knew. That being said, however… What about my readers? My fellow bloggers? My Pinterest peeps? My Facebook friends… and likes… and followers…? Will THEY be able to survive the summer without my insight, my perspective, my wisdom, my knowledge, my non-stop chatter…. ???

In a word – yes.

So, there it is, friends. The summer sabbatical is complete; and I am back. I (quite sincerely) look forward to our time together going forward. There is just so much we have to learn from each other. And yes; I missed you.

live happy – Cathy

a “social media” meteor…

2 / 22 / 13

No. Contrary to popular belief, I did NOT fall off the face of the earth. I was merely sidelined for awhile; a direct hit from a “social media meteor” that came crashing down to earth and annihilated my computer. A wee bit dramatic? Maybe. Anyway; Here’s the story…

So there I was. It was the day after moving my booth out of Trendz, and it was my first day forward on my new adventure. An adventure that is rooted in promoting myself and my business, “Creations by cathy“, via the world of social media. And the thing is, I really like this world of “social media”. Ok… Correction. “Liked” this world…

I had just posted pics from my Trendz move earlier in the day on Facebook and was busy working on a blogpost. Actually two. Suddenly, and without any warning, everything went blank. And black. Hmmm… “This is not good”, she thought, pensively. She was right. Her computer had crashed. And so the nightmare began.

It was a real mess. I had no acess to my email, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Pinterest – No pictures, files, internet. I was (sniff!) all alone!! And every time we thought we had it all done, we would hit another roadblock. So blah, blah, blah. Besides a few minor issues, I think it is pretty much behind me and I have transferred everything over to my laptop from “up in the cloud”… Whew!!

So this whole experience really got me thinking about how much we really rely on all of this “technological technology” to get us through our day. Our world. Our life….

So “what if”…??? What if our world still revolved around typewriters and adding machines and people paid cash… What if we waited by the mailbox rather than our “inbox” or a text message? What if our phones still had a (gulp!!) CORD! And what if our biggest distraction while driving was the AM radio (cassette player) being too loud…? Yes – the world would certainly be different than it is today. Better though? I dunno. In some ways… definitely yes. But we are here and there is no going back.

It’s kinda funny (??) how much more time you “find” when you aren’t able to tap into the old computer, though… During my “time away” from the social media world, I was actually able to steer off in a completely different direction. Several, actually! We finally started several “home renovation” projects that we have been putting off forever. Truth is – We are having so much fun!! We are still in the middle of everything, but I promise to share pics and stories! I have also been playing with my new camera (Christmas) and cooking (currently hooked on soups** with this “lovely” cold weather – Ugh!) AND continuing my attempts to organize (Let’s just say a long, long way to go with that! HA!)

So anyway – onward and upward. I know that I kinda, sorta, maybe implied that I was fed up with technology… but that’s only when it’s not working. You know, the old “love/hate” thingie. Besides, I just saw on Pinterest that the Mac comes in pink…??? What the heck? Are you kidding me?

Ya. I’m back.

**Check out my Facebook page today for 101 soup recipes!!

susie squirrel

10 / 8 / 12

OK. Woke up this morning (early) with an “out of control, too much to do, Help! It’s Monday!!” sort of feeling. You know the kind. Don’t even think about maybe going back to sleep. Ha! Like that’s gonna happen. But your body is just too tired to get out of the bed. And the blanket of darkness outside? Well that’s certainly not helping. I don’t feel like my feet should even touch the floor before there is sunlight. Lots of sunlight. This, however, is the stuff that fairy tales are made of.

The hubbie wanted decaf this AM; but I knew that this was not an option for Moi. Made a short pot for him, and a pot of the leaded stuff once he was out the door to work. OK. Confession. It was actually “half-caf”, but that was only so that I can drink MORE and not bounce off the walls. Let’s just say right up front that caffeine is not exactly my best friend. Sometimes, however – it is a necessity!! This morning was one of those times.

So I was sitting at the kitchen table working on a grocery list for the week, minding my own business, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye out on the deck. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was “Susie Squirrel” . Now Susie is not really a welcome visitor on our deck. She took it upon herself to “remodel” our roof in the form of a huge hole. I was instantly glad that the hubbie was already off to work. He is not Susie’s biggest fan. But as I watched her darting back and forth in her hyper, erratic sort of way, I realized that Susie had an edge on me. She had absolutely no issues with her energy level on this Monday morning. She was on her game. No caffeine necessary. A puzzling thought crossed my mind. Oh my gosh… Was I actually jealous of a squirrel? The thought was quite troubling, so I opened the porch door and (politely) asked Susie to relocate before going upstairs for a nice hot shower. I needed to clear my head, and a shower always seems to help.

It was a cold morning and the hot steamy water cascading down my back was an instant “Ahhh…” moment. Out of the blue, an image suddenly popped into my mind. It was this (squirrel) pic from my pinterest board. Ha – That’s it! I just need to think like a squirrel! Still in a towel, I grabbed my list and began writing. I suddenly felt ready to tackle the “to do’s”. The sun was up and shining brightly and the air was crisp and cool. A beautiful fall day, and a perfect night for soup. Ya – things are lookin’ up. So, thanks to Susie, I’m off and running on this Monday morning – ready to conquer this crazy list. (Task #1: Gather nuts for winter…)

live happy… laugh, love, dream, create

things that make me happy…

8 / 30 / 12

So what do you do at the end of one of the most emotionally draining months of your life? My therapy was blogging about it – and I thank you for listening. And caring.

So how about a “happy blog“. The first of many more to come! No long, drawn out explanation necessary – These are just a (very) small sampling of things off my Pinterest boards. Things that make me happy. Enough said.

live happy… laugh, love, dream, create