One More Week Until Awake!

Ladies, only ONE MORE week until Josh Groban's Awake comes out! Can you wait that long?

More on Josh and the cd here.

Plus, lots more from his website:

• Catch Josh on TV! Tune into NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, November 16th and Entertainment Tonight on Oct. 31st to see a special segment on Josh. Check your local listings for time and channel.

• Josh performed Live in London tonight from the Mermaid Theatre! You can stream his performance online at BBC Radio 2 ...Josh’s performance is approximately 1 hour into the show. Below is the set-list:You Are Loved, February Song, Un Dia Llegara, Smile, So She Dances, Not While I’m Around, Broken Vow, Machine,

• Catch Josh on TV! Tune into ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday, November 8th to see Josh perform two songs! He will also be a guest and perform one song on Regis and Kelly on Friday, November 10th!

Lots of great appearances!

Technorati Tags: Josh Groban, Awake, Music, CD,

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Season 6 Trailer!

24 fans: you can see Sneak Peek Season 6 trailer here. Exciting!!!

More related to 24 here, here, here, here, and here.

Plus, hilarious Jack Bauer facts here.

Season 6 of 24 premieres next January 2007 with a 2 Nights, 4 Hours: Sunday, January 14 at 8pm and Monday, January 15 at 8pm.

Technorati Tags: 24, Jack Bauer,

Breakfast For Dinner

Tonight for dinner we had breakfast: eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and . . . Gingerbread Waffles! Of course, the waffles are a Rachael Ray recipe.

I LOVE gingerbread, so these were fantastic. The recipe made a ton of waffles, so I plan to freeze some for later. I think this would be a perfect recipe for a Christmas Morning Breakfast. Heat up the syrup for a perfect accompaniment.

I look forward to making them again! The whole house smells like Christmas!

What are your favorite kinds of waffles and what do you eat with them?

Technorati Tags: Rachael Ray, Gingerbread Waffles,

Very Diverting!

Jane Austen fans will enjoy this crossword at ExcessivelyDiverted.com.

I love Jane Austen and have a ton of books, but I still had to look up some of the answers. It is a lovely challenge.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Jane Austen, Crossword,

St. Hedwig

Most people know the name "Hedwig" from the Harry Potter novels (Harry's owl is named Hedwig), but there was a Saint Hedwig.

Today, 16 October, is the Feast Day of Saint Hedwig.

Saint Hedwig was the

Daughter of the Duke of Croatia. Aunt of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. Married Prince Henry I of Silesia and Poland in 1186 at age 12. Mother of seven. Cared for the sick both personally and by founding hospitals. Widow. Upon her husband's death, she gave away her fortune and entered the monastery at Trebnitz.

She is the Patron Saint of:

Bavaria; Berlin, Germany; brides; duchesses; death of children; difficult marriages; diocese of Görlitz, Germany; Silesia; victims of jealousy; widows

More on St. Hedwig:
-Catholic Encyclopedia -Catholic Online -St. Hedwig -EWTN


(Crossposted at A Lady's Ruminations)
Technorati Tags: St. Hedwig, Catholic Saints, Feast Day,

Banana Bread and Shepherd's Pie

Goodness, I've just been in a cooking mood lately. It feels like I have been in the kitchen all day.

This morning I made two loaves of former Seattle Mariner Jay Buhner's Banana Nut Bread (I didn't put the nuts in). The recipe comes from one of the Mariners Wives charity projects in 2000, a cookbook titled Home Plates- Favorite Recipes of Mariners Players and Staff.

I usually double the recipe to make 2 loaves.

Jay Buhner's Banana Nut Bread

1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 teas baking powder
1/2 teaspoon
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teas salt
1/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 Tbs milk
1 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup nuts, chopped (pecans or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat the sugar and shortening until light. Add eggs-one at a time. Add milk. Beat until smooth. Add flour mixture and bananas, alternating, to a creamed mixture. Beat until smooth. Fold in nuts. Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8x4x2 loaf pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until tester inserted in comes out clean. Melt 2 Tbs butter all over the top. Cool on a rack.

For dinner tonight, I made Rachael Ray's Ground Turkey Shepherd's Pie. This tastes even better the next day. I love it with chicken, but it is also good with ground beef. You'll also find the Shepherd's Pie recipe in Rach's Cooking 'Round the Clock, along with a 5 Minute Bread Pudding Recipe (it is her "UK Comforts" meal). If you haven't had Shepherd's Pie, it is traditionally made with lamb. You cook the meat with carrots and onions and then make a gravy and add it, along with peas. Mashed potatoes cover the top. Yum-o!

Technorati Tags: Jay Buhner, Banana Nut Bread, Rachael Ray, Shepherd's Pie, Recipes,

What kind of Intelligence do you have?

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Southwest Casserole

I haven't made this in awhile, but I made it for dinner tonight. Yummy!

Southwest Casserole

olive oil
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, in bite-size pieces
package taco seasoning mix (or mix up your own)
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup (or more) corn
1/4-1/2 cup salsa
1 can diced tomatoes (with chiles would be great)
water
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups crunched up tortilla chips

Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add some olive oil and then the chicken. Cook until the chicken is cooked through. (You could add onions, bell peppers, etc. with the chicken). Add the taco seasoning, beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa, and some water. Mix it all up and cover for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. After the chicken mixture has simmered, transfer it to a 9x13 dish. Cover the top with the cheese and the crushed tortilla chips. Bake for about 15 minutes.

I like to serve it over rice.

Tonight I added a few dashes of chipotle sauce. You can add whatever sort of heat you like and additional vegetables, as well. I imagine crushed Doritos would taste great too.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Recipes, Southwest Casserole,

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere

Most people are excited when Pumpkin season comes around, but sometimes, one can only make so many pumpkin pies or pumpkin bread (which I am currently eating, toasted warm and buttery).


Luckily, the internet holds countless pumpkin recipes to break you out of a rut.

And, conveniently, Yahoo gathered 30 Ways To Eat A Pumpkin. Yummy! I have a great pumpkin cheesecake recipe, a delicious pumpkin gingerbread recipe, and a couple of fabulous pumpkin scones recipes. What I would love to try making is pumpkin pancakes. Delicious!

What do you like to make with pumpkin?

Technorati Tags: Pumpkin, Recipes,

"Not 'Sagna"

Don't know what to make for dinner, but want something really fast, easy, and good? This is the perfect recipe!

Not-sagna Pasta Toss

Like most of the recipes I try, this is a Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meal. Rather than spending hours putting lasagna together and then waiting for it to bake, you can make this delicious "Not 'Sagna" super fast.

My mother and I have made it 3 times, including for dinner tonight. Each time we made it in less than 30 minutes (25, 25, and 22). I think even making it alone I could do it in less than 30. The ingredients are all things we generally have on hand and are (if you use low or non-fat cheese) healthful. The flavors are delicious and the pasta toss tastes even better the next day.

I highly recommend this recipe! I love it.

Rachael also makes a Vegetable Not-sagna Pasta Toss (which I have seen her make on 30 Minute Meals).

As Rach would say, "Yum-o!"

Technorati Tags: RAchael Ray, Recipes, Not-sagna Pasta Toss, Pasta,

Penblwydd Hapus, Ioan!

Today is the 33rd birthday of one of my favorite actors, Ioan Gruffudd. He's a gorgeous Welshman with a gorgeous accent and plenty of talent to spare.



To Ioan,
Have a lovely birthday and many blessings throughout the year.
God bless you and your endeavours!


Penblwydd Hapus, Ioan!
Happy Birthday, Ioan!

Some of my favorite photos (lots more at Ioan Online):






Here are some of my favorite Ioan movies:

He is probably best known for playing Horatio Hornblower in the tv film series of the same name: Horatio Hornblower. They have made 8 films based a few of the 11 novels, so far, but Ioan has said he would love to play Hornblower through the end. From his lips to God's ears!


Last summer, Ioan played Reed Richards, aka "Mr. Fantastic," in Fantastic Four. He was excellent, though often overlooked. They are currently filming a second F4 film.


Two years ago, Ioan played Lancelot alongside Clive Owen's Arthur in King Arthur. He seems perfectly suited to the role, if one uses Tennyson's description in my favorite poem, "The Lady of Shalott":

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.

nd, in 2007, Ioan will play British abolitionist William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace.

Technorati Tags: Ioan Gruffudd,

Apart for Four Hundred Years

Curtsy to Gentleman Jay for the link and story. Thank you!

UK Telegraph: V&A brings family together after 400 years apart---

A husband, wife and their children, separated for more than 400 years, have been reunited for a spectacular exhibition on the art and culture of domestic life in Renaissance Italy.

Paulo Veronese, one of 16th century Venice's greatest artists, painted a pair of double portraits of the wealthy da Porte Thiene family, of nearby Vicenza, in 1551. They were to hang in the hallway of their new palazzo, built for them by Andrea Palladio to demonstrate their importance.

The young Veronese, a contemporary of Tintoretto, divided the family along gender lines in his portraits.

You can see a photograph of the portraits, side by side, here.

In one, he showed Count Iseppo da Porto, a knight of the Holy Roman Empire, with his eight-year-old son, Leonida.

The other was of his wife, Livia Thiene, wearing a marten's pelt with a jewelled head and gazing devoutly at her husband, standing with their daughter, Porzia, aged about four.

Though the Palazzo Iseppo da Porto still stands, the portraits disappeared from it by the end of the 16th century and scholars did not hear of them again until the early 20th century. Then one, father and son, surfaced in the collection of Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi. It now belongs to the Uffizi gallery in Florence.

The other appeared in the shop of a Florentine antiquarian and was bought by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

Don't you want to know where they were for all those years?

I do wish I could see them:

They go on show, side by side as Veronese intended, for the first time in four centuries at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington, west London, from Thursday.

Four centuries!?! Amazing.

You can visit the Victoria & Albert website here. (Fun activity from the website: design a Renaissance Room!!!)

Technorati Tags: Paulo Veronese, da Porte Thiene, Portraits, Renaissance, Victoria & Albert Museum, Italy,

I Prefer Earl Grey

Well, this is good news for those of us who love, love, love tea.

Reuters: Beat stress, drink tea ---

LONDON (Reuters) - Regular cups of tea can help speed recovery from stress, researchers from University College London (UCL) said on Wednesday.

Men who drank black tea four times a day for six weeks were found to have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than a control group who drank a fake tea substitute, the researchers said in a study published in the journal Psychopharmacology.

The tea drinkers also reported a greater feeling of relaxation after performing tasks designed to raise stress levels.

Andrew Steptoe, of UCL's department of Epidemiology and Public Health, and one of the report's authors, said the findings could have important health implications.

"Slow recovery following acute stress has been associated with a greater risk of chronic illness such as coronary heart disease.

"Although it does not appear to reduce the actual levels of stress we experience, tea does seem to have a greater effect in bringing stress hormone levels back to normal."

Of course it does. I always find tea to be a comfort when I am stressed or upset or feeling ill.

My favorite is Earl Grey, but I love tea generally. I had some English Breakfast this morning.

What kinds do you like to drink? How do you take your tea?


Technorati Tags: Tea, Research, Health, University College London,