Picture Sunday

Hello, weekend people of all types. You "get out and do active things" weekenders, and you "vegetate at home and watch TV" weekenders, and you all know on which side you stand. Or lie on the couch. Welcome to another (small) round of Picture Sunday.

Well, it may be spring in full-force, but you certainly couldn't tell it by the weather in Betland and surrounding areas. Mr M was nice enough to re-schedule his morning student till later, so I got an hour's reprieve from being kicked out of his house today, with his arm around my neck and his foot in my backside, right out the front door, and me whimpering like a puppy. (Was that good enough, Mr M? He told me to tell you all how I was kicked out today.)

And into the rain. And chilliness. I decided to lift my spirits and ignore the weather, so I went on a little shopping spree with some of my tax refund money. Bought some clothes, pants, shirts, and shoes. Then put up my hood, for it was cold enough to have to wear a jacket (sigh, how I miss my Chicago Symphony windbreaker), headed to Barnes and Noble, found nothing, then put up my hood again and headed to a craft store, where I bought some new storage boxes for my car CDs, a new hat for Mr Peabody (if you'll recall, I lost his German hat in a drunken stupor at Oktoberfest last year), and a little something else.

The last time Mr M and I were at this store we found something, and I debated buying it then. But today was the day for purchases and so it came home with me. And I worked all afternoon (along with a little red-headed boy) painting and personalizing it. And that's why there's only one picture tonight. Say hello to the crew of the SS Sherman.



Yes, he's ready to sail the Seven Seas, or at least the creek in my backyard. And by the way, never a good idea to put a blue dog in a boat. He may be smiling in that picture, but the clean-up was not pleasant, and the boat wasn't even going anywhere.

And speaking of not going anywhere, how about the recipe du jour. You know, it's getting harder and harder to find healthy things to eat. Beef clogs your arteries and gives you Mad Cow Disease, fish has mercury and fish doo in it, chicken gives you bird flu.... That's why in the interest of the health and waistlines of my readers I'm giving you a recipe made with "The Other Other White Meat." No, it's not pork, it's cork. Say hello to, from the "Low-Cal Feasts" file in recipeland, Cork Ka-bobs.



No additives, no preservatives, no fats, no sugars. No taste, either, but that's beside the point. Our main course tonight is in fact Cork Ka-bobs. You take a skewer and add your favorite ka-bob ingredients, we used green pepper, onion, little tomatoes, and bananas, and alternate those with your cork pieces. (We used extra-lean cork for this dish. Because we care.) Then you marinate them in some Italian dressing, and put them in the broiler just long enough that they don't catch fire and burn your house down. Tonight's meal is served with the side dish of Cork on the Cob (butter optional), and for dessert, Cork Cakes topped with chocolate frosting. The chocolate frosting took on a very "Beatle Wig" appearance, so for this blog our Cork Cakes are called John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

Happy week.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Only 6 days till the first Sauerkraut Band concert of the year. Woo-hoo!
* Completed the new Ingmar Bergman movie tonight. Had to make Mr M stop it midway last night because I just couldn't take the angst any longer. It was still all there waiting for me tonight.