Then we went up to the Hearst Castle for the rest of the day. It is an amazing place. Very over-done; the guy had way too much money. But it was fun to see. So many antiques, and some things that are very, very old; vases, statues, ceilings from the 17th century, some older. Tapestries, Persian carpets - it was all beautiful and intriguing. They have 3 separate tours, where they show just part of the castle and other buildings, but never all of it at once. It's quite the scam (hehe). You pay $25 to see a small part of the house. We went on two tours and saw everything we wanted to see but the kitchen. Here are some of the pictures I took.
We had a good time. It was a long ride home (3hrs) but we made it, and got up at 6 this morning to help get some out-going missionaries to the airport. We said goodbye to one of the sisters we worked with closely, Sister Ikegami. She was born in Japan, but lived recently in Spokane, Washington, and that's where she was returning to. Such a sweetheart!
We have written letters to most of the grandkids, just have the youngest three left. We have been enclosing self-addressed, stamped envelopes, hoping they will write to us. So far, no luck. It's sure hard not hearing from our family at home. Sigh.....
We are doing okay; keeping busy; loving the work. We miss you all bunches and bunches. We pray for you and think of you often.
I'm sitting here eating some mac and cheese for breakfast, you're recipe, yes I'm wierd in my breakfast choices, and was thinking about you, Mom. I'm glad you guys got to get away for a couple of days. That castle looks...WOW. The Ivinson Mansion here in Laramie charges $10 for a tour. It's just a "little" mansion and I thought that was a lot, too. I doubt it would take more than an hour to go through. Anyways, I'm just trying to keep warm here. I haven't gone out of the house for 3 days because it hasn't gone much above 0, yesterday's high was -1. Dave will be exasperated with me when he gets home Friday if I don't at least go get the mail, so I'm going to try to do that today at least hahaha. Nothing much else new here. We should do a recipe exchange or something. Everybody pick a new recipe they've tried recently and post it. I made Chicken Riggies last week and it was really yummy.
ReplyDeleteIngredients:
ReplyDelete1 tablespoon olive oil
4 ounces hot Italian ground sausage meat
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 onion, sliced
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken
thighs, roughly chopped
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1 (28 ounce) can whole Italian plum
tomatoes (such as San Marzano),
crushed
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup water, or as needed
1 1/2 cups chopped hot and sweet
peppers
1/2 cup pitted and chopped kalamata
olives
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
1 pound rigatoni
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or
Romano cheese
Directions:
ReplyDelete1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir sausage, mushrooms, onions, salt, and black pepper in hot oil until vegetables are softened and sausage is browned, 6 to 7 minutes.
2. Stir chopped chicken to sausage mixture; cook and stir over medium-high heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Pour in wine and cook, stirring to remove any browned bits off the bottom of the pan, until most of the wine is evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, chicken broth, and cream; simmer for 30 minutes. If needed, add water to create a thick sauce.
3. Stir peppers, olives, and garlic into sauce. Continue to simmer until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in parsley.
4. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook rigatoni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until nearly cooked, about 11 minutes. Drain.
5. Combine sauce and cooked pasta, stir in cheese, cover and set aside until pasta has absorbed the sauce, 1 to 2 minutes.
Or if you search on Allrecipes.com for Chicken Riggies, it's the one by Chef John. He also does a video demo on his blog Foodwishes.blogspot.com. It makes about 40 servings, not 4. Seriously really about 12 servings, not 4.
ReplyDeleteK Love to you all.
T
That sounds so good, T. A recipe exchange sounds really great. I have tried a bunch of recipes from the only cookbook I brought with me, called: "Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites" by Sara Wells and Kate Jones. They are Utah women. I have really liked everything I have tried in it. You can get it at Deseret Book, and I think Amy has a copy. Meg was saying the other day she doesn't have time to plan good homemade meals anymore, so I am posting a Weeknight Chili that is easy and very yummy. I took a picture of it with my phone, so hope it works on the blog. We'll see. Great to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteHi, fam. We're just pluggin along at the Ho-Go home. Kids are working hard at school. Dave's working hard not to kill someone at work... you know, the usual. LOL They are practically tearing down the airport and it's parking structures and building new ones. Not really but close. They are making things so difficult to drive the bus. They have lost 5 drivers due to small accidents, usually hitting a cement barricade! So it's getting to the busy season and they are taking FOREVER to build the new parking lot. Dave runs around like a chicken with it's head cut off at work all night. Very stressful. Then he has to deal with the ornery customers and employees on top of it. But, he keeps coming up with fantastic ideas for them to run things smoother and it's making things a bit easier.
ReplyDeleteIt would be so wonderful to be able to say, "Let's jot down and watch the ocean for a bit today!" I'm glad you get to do that every once in a while. That castle looks beautiful!
Shalee and JJ are going to see their Dad for Christmas this year. So, we are busy making those plans. We will be driving them down to Albuquerque or however the heck you spell it. We're dropping them off Dec. 20th and picking them up Jan.2nd. They very excited because they haven't seen that side of the family in several years.
I promise the kids will be writing you this weekend. I have it in my calendar and everything! If it's in Mom's phone, it will get done. :)
We went to Abby's birthday party, which is always fun. It was good to see the Shipley's. Abby is as cute and sassy as ever.
Recipe exchange is an excellent idea. The chicken and chili sound so good. I'll post mine with the chili recipe.
Yeah we're pretty fortunate to be able to do a beach run every once in awhile. We figure we'd better take advantage of that while we're here as we don't think we'll ever get back.
ReplyDeleteDave's job sounds very stressful. Hope he is doing ok. We'll be glad to hear from the kids.