Queenies, Baked Tomatoes with Mint, and learning Kung Fu from the "master"

“Hope has two beautiful daughters – their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.”

- St. Augustine-

Yesterday started out horribly. My head was pounding! I got up to let the dogs out and found that they had pooped all in their blankets. Ugh. I had to throw them in the washing machine. By the time I took the TWO minutes to do that, I walked downstairs, and Frog had left me a "present" on the floor. Great. More to clean up. I also cleaned all 3 bathrooms while I was at it because I've been sick and don't want Steve to catch it. I finally finished and decided to turn on the Christmas tree for some cheeriness. I flipped the switch to turn on the outlet. Nothing? Really? The Christmas tree was dead. Steve said, "This is really sad."

"I know."

That outlet has fried everything we've plugged into it including: 1 XBox power source. 1 transformer. 1 brand new XBox (yep... it killed the whole thing, which luckily was still under warranty so we were able to get a new one), and now... our Christmas tree.

While Steve took the plug apart to check out the fuse, I sat down to check my e-mail. I had a note from my cousin, Patrick, telling me that my great grandma had passed away. This was all way too much for one day. I had a melt down.

Things got better though.

We got a shipment from my mom yesterday. She sent some great things... her notes on the cards were so funny:

Angel got a blue stuffed lion. Mom's note, "King of the jungle for the Queen of Scotland."

Frog got a frog toy. Mom's note, "Frog needs a cuddly frog dog of his own."

She got Steve and I the Kung Fu Panda movies. Mom's note, "Thought you could learn a few new Kung Fu moves from the Master."

We also got the Kung Fu Panda kinect game! Mom's note, "This looks like a fun way to enjoy your new Kung Fu moves."

HAHA. She is so fun. We tried the Kung Fu Panda game. Steve and I kept trying to block as we would in Kung Fu and kept getting hit! LOL. I told Steve, "You have to put your arms out more like you are making a box-shaped 'U' with your arms." He turned with a confused look and said, "That's stupid." I told him, "Hey, I don't make the rules. The kinect has to be able to see your arms." haha. I'm sure it would have been funny to be a fly on the wall during that.

I got a necklace and bracelet made by my friend Tasha.

Last night I decided to use the cookbook Randi bought me. I made baked tomatoes with mint and Queenies with smoked bacon. "Queenies" are small scallops. It was really good. Here are a few pictures of us cooking!

You core the tomatoes, cut a cross on the bottom, and then boil them for 10 seconds. You purge them immediately into cold water and then the peel will come right off!

Double cream with mint

Steve cutting the bacon into strips

Baked tomatoes with mint! Yum!

Queenies cooking in bacon grease and turmeric with thyme and bay leaf.

Queenies with smoked bacon.

It was all fantastic, and I had a wonderful time cooking. Cooking fills my stomach and comforts my soul.