Brad kindly put a movie for us and ran the controls as I got our movie snacks ready. Then he setteled down for the evening to watch the movies. When I returned to the family room I found Brad like this. . .
That's a Snoopy my mom got for my fall decor. You can't see in the pic, but Snoopy is holding a pumpkin. I think Brad would rather have a real beagle to snuggle with like this. . .
I do miss our kids too. Next weekend the SPCA is having a dog walk to raise money for the shelter and you better belive we are going to be there. Maybe it will tide us over until we can be reunited with Max and Molly.
A couple of days ago I went to a recipie exchange with the ladies at church and our theam was "Fun Freaky Halloween Food." I found this great recipe and was so excited with the way it turned out so I thought I would share it with everyone. I made the coffin out of a cereal box and duck tape. I must say the phyllo dough is not easy to work with when your eyes are so out of focus as mine are. This is a great dish just to make even if it's not a mummy. THe pork stays moist and the mustard sauce gives it a little zip. Forgive my typing, this is really long for my eyes to focus. You might like these pics because you can see how small my kitchen is now. Makes clean up easy.
My Small Kitch
The Final Product!!!!
THE RECIPE
3/4 Cup heavy whipping cream 10 sheet phyllo dough
1/4 cup Dijon mustard 6 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound) 1 med apple, peeled
2 teaspoon olive oil, salt and pepper
In a small skillet combine whipping cream and Dijon mustard and bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 15-20-min or until mixture is reduced to about 2/3 cup. Remove from heat and stir in thyme.
Meanwhile. place pork on a rack in shallow baking pan. Brush with olive oil then season with salt and pepper. Broil 6 inches from heat souce for 6-8 min. Remove from oven then cool slightly. Change oven temp to 400 degrees.
Set aside 1/2 of cup of mustard sauce for serving; spread remaining mixture over pork then set aside. Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a work surface and brush with butter. (Keep the remainig dough covered with damp towel and plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out.) Repeat layers four times (total of 5 sheets of dough). Place pork on edge of dough and roll up tight to form mummy body then tuck under the edges. ( I had to cut some off the ends of mine to make it look better.) THen set aside.
Place another sheet of dough on work surface and brush with butter repeat 3 times (totally of 4 sheets this time). Then cun into thin stips. . . Wrap these around mummy ( I just kind of tucked them under on each side) Keep 2-3 of the small stips for wrapping the head. This is what really makes it look like a mummy.
Cut remaining sheet of dough in half and sick together using butter as above. Cut a one inch cube from apple (or whatever size you need to look good a head for your mummy). Wrap apple in dough and then wrap thoes 2-3 stips around it as well to make it look really cool.
Place bundles in ungreased shallow baking pan. Bake uncovered for 15-20 min or until themometer emp is 160 degress. It took about 30 min for mine to reach this. Transfer to serving dish then let stand 10 min before slicing. Sever with reserved mustarted sauce.
Last Monday on my actual birthday I was blessed to get PRK. It's laser correction for my eye sight. Well so far I am not impressed. Everyone, including the MD, tells me it will get better and that PRK takes longer to heal than LASIK. I guess I just need a little patience. So far I see 80/20 in the left eye and 50/20 in the right, which is not well enough to drive. Brad now has his dream job of being a driver.
One thing I have learned though is how hard it is for the elderly to give up their driving privaliges. It's not fun having to wait for someone to take you every where when they are ready. And it's really not fun when that person has been working all day and just wants to sit down and relax for the evening. I have had to deal with a lot of concerned family who just don't know how to tell their loved one that they can't drive any more. More than once I have had people ask me to tell the elderly person they are not allowed to drive or ask the doctor to do so. . . well we can't really do that unless we have a medical reason and too old doesn't count. So next time I get to chance to tackle this situation at work I will have a better understanding of thoes "stubborn elderly who just don't know when to quite."
I will keep you updated with how well my eyes are doing, but for now they are a little tired.
I don't care how old I get I am always going to love my birthday when celebrated like Brad and I do. This past four days we went to Shenandoah National Park here in Virginia. What an awsome time. The weather was perfect with the crisp fall weather yet beautiful sunshine to show off the fall color. The best part was we saw our first BEARS!!!! All that time in Yellowstone and not one bear in Shenandoah we saw TWO!!! The first a comfortable distance away, the send about 10 feet and well that was a little to close for comfort. We scared him as much as he scared us. . . we didn't get a pic of the second because he ran away before we could get the camera out. . . so I am kind of glad we didn't get a pic of him. Here are some pics of the first bear and the some highlights of our wonderful weekend.
Black Bear
Our Camp
Stony Man Mountain
Dark Hallow Falls
