Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Easy-Peasy Greek Salad

Someone wrote in earlier and asked for another easy-peasy summer recipe. ……Well, here you go… Smile
Greek Salad --  I found this on the web quite some time ago and have since lost the citation to the person who posted it. If anyone knows, please do let me know. It is EASY-PEASY and simply fantastic. You just cannot go wrong and it is HEALTHY HEALTHY HEALTHY. Nicki is crazy about the black olives…….Just serve it with plain pita chips you can buy in the grocery store.

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 1/2 Tbsp Lemon Juice – fresh ONLY please

1 clove garlic-minced – the minced garlic in the jar is fine

1/2 tsp dried oregano (use same amount fresh if you have it…fresh is better!!)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper for garnish

3 tomatoes cut into wedges

1/4 onion chopped finely (can be cut into rings or slices)

1/2 cucumber sliced in to thick half moons

1/2 green pepper julienned

4 oz feta cheese cut into small cubes

16 kalamata olives

Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano in a small jar with a screw-top lid and shake-shake-shake and then dance a bit around the kitchen….any silly dance will do….. to combine.

Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine just before serving. GARNISH the Greek salad with a little freshly ground black pepper.

Ta-DA!!!! And then serve with a light wine for you and sugared lemon-water (freshly squeezed) for the little ones.

So what haunts you then?

The girls’ target bedtime is 8 pm. Mostly (95%) of the time, we make that deadline faily well as I push hard to stay on schedule each night....even weekends for the most part. Dinner and dinner-clean-up is done by 6:30; baths 630, books start at 7:00 until 8. So….no big deal. Then, I come downstairs and read books or my NY Times or hang-out on the back porch with Ed (mostly) and chat or watch Charlie Rose or cooking shows. (or the Antique Roadshow). My TV watching really is limited to about those three shows..or sometimes we'll catch Masterpiece.

I’m getting to my plot line here…

I then go upstairs to check-up on the girls around 10pm-ish. Most of the time, Nicki has crawled into Sammi’s bed and is curled up next to Sammi. Sammi’s arm is draped over Nicki’s back and sometimes her hand is lying on Nicki’s head...really a sweet scene. Nicki likes her head to be patted so I'm sure Sammi is doing so. During the daytime, Nicki is typically the de-facto leader and Sammi mostly goes along with her games and mostly takes her leadership in stride…except…..except….if there is anything at all whatsoever that makes Nicki hesitate or that spooks Nicki or scares Nicki, then Sammi is 'enguard at her side' to take over and be Nicki's 'protector".

It is one of my greatest joys the girls treat each other this way and it is my greater fear that somehow they could possibly lose each other. I do, of course, dwell on "the good" and I try hard not to think about "the bad" but it’s there and it can haunt me. How on earth do parents get through the loss of a child and how on earth do twins get through the loss of the other...?I guess one doesn't get 'through it', do they...

I thank my lucky stars about a quadrillion times a day.....

Here's to keeping us all safe and sound as can be,
Cin

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Summer Smiles

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well…we’re all going great here though it is quite hard to believe the girls are almost ready to start first grade in a few weeks. We’re in year-round school which means some families start school in the summer. Before I let months go by again without posting, I am happy to put up a few great summer pics. I hope your household is as full of smiles and giggles and silly stunts as ours is as it is quite fun. We’re crazy-tired at night but it’s a ‘good’ tired…

Nicki in pink……Sammi sitting up….Buddy in fur….

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Nicki has the pink bow….

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NIcki in these next three

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Sammi in purple…

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And Sammi once again…

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Nicki is the goof-ball…she has the very silliest streak….always hi-jinks with this one….

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And Sammi below…

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Nicki on left kissing Sammi….

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Sammi in blue…

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And that’s it for now…Whew, I feel so much better FINALLY getting some pics posted. Now I’m looking forward to looking up other blogs, too.

Hugs!

Cindy