She Has a Pain in the Neck

What! What is that Cynthia up to now? Well, I had a tiny bit of surgery on my shoulder yesterday. It was about time too. I have been suffering from an injury to the rotator cuff since last July. I have tried lots of possible treatments, hoping to avoid surgery, but they just didn't help. I am feeling pretty "good" with the Lortab pain medication they sent home with me, so don't feel too sorry for me. However if you feel as though you need to drop over with a plate of cookies, who am I to try to stop you?

Lucky Lancome Lady

Okay, so Jordan and I signed up about a month ago for makeovers at Lancome at Dillard's. We show up last Saturday and we get all dolled up just for the fun of it. We had a blast as we always do going from cosmetic counter to cosmetic counter. We ended up at Lancome on the stage getting makeovers, we hopped over to Clinique and got the always fabulous gift bags there. Our usual sales clerk was snickering at us because it was so obvious we were flitter-fluttering from counter to counter. We found the Curious perfume by Brittney Spears 50% off. Jordan even got her hair styled. It was so curly that Christina said she looked like Captain Hook.














Then today I got a phone call that Jordan was the gift basket winner at Lancome!! I was thrilled because we didn't even know we had entered the drawing!! It was a total surprise. I guess because we are such Cosmetic Counter Junkies, they threw us a bone to keep us coming back. Well I guess it is going to work, because look at all this loot she won!! It is about 300 Dollars worth of product. I love Lancome and I ADORE DILLARD"S.

Mass...AHHH..ge!! (massage;-)

I went for a massage today. My friend Rebecca has worked on me for years and years. She has been very patient with my issues. I would like to think that I look like this lovely image of this pretty model pictured here.




Unfortunately I think I look like this horse here on this table with poor Rebecca trying to make an impact. She gets in as deep as she possibly can. Today's massage must have left her exhausted.






Maybe one of these days I will be able to look as cute and content as this cat. If you have never had a massage, or if it has been a long time since your last one, what are you waiting for? Oh my gosh... it is sublime.

I really love these two. Tiny and Dave really raked up a storm today. Our Ponderosa pines have dropped millions of needles and cones. That being said, I giggled when I saw the similarities of this picture and that classic portrait "American Gothic". Dave has never taken a better picture.

Good Company

There is an old saying that says, you can understand a person by the company they keep. Meaning your choice in friends says a lot about who you are. My friend Patti was in town today, and even though we see each other rarely it is wonderful to have her in my circle of friends. EVERYONE loves Patti. So, I hope you can see some of the influence she has had in my life, by some of the choices I make. She has the most amazing family, and she is such a great example of womanhood. Thanks Patti, for your friendship.

"Hail Provo High"

This is Christina up to bat in her first day for Provo High JV Softball. I cannot begin to relate how freezing cold it was. The wind was absolutely biting through to the marrow. These girls "cowboy'ed - up" and played an awesome game. Christina really has taken advantage of attending a larger school and is getting involved in all that the school has to offer. I appreciate her going out of her comfort zone and having fun in sports this year. I cannot wait to see where the season takes the team. I also love heckling the the umpire, It was fun giving him a hard time.

Family Fun

We went to my niece's baby shower today. We had so much fun and she received so many darling baby girl clothes for London,her new baby daughter.


There was a dress/undress the baby doll relay and we had a blast watching my mother scream louder and louder as the baby doll got closer and closer to her. I was laughing so hard I wished I had a second pair of pants!

Brooke White on Idol

I may as well continue with my American Idol obsession. I like this young woman named Brooke White. She is a LDS woman from Mesa, AZ. She has playful banter with Simon and he likes her. I do too.

Okay this Guy is My Favorite to Win

I cannot believe I am posting another American Idol Blog, but this guy from Murray, Utah is so darn cute I couldn't resist. I think he is the next winner.

American Jordan

This is the funniest thing. Jordan always loves to get up and "drop it like it's hot" when American Idol theme music comes on. She has tried to teach this move to me millions of times. I just cannot do it like she can.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai, Year of the Rat.
Yes, the RAT. Rats are very lucky in Asian cultures. They are clever and considered good to have around.

We had fun with the Activity Day girls here last week. We sang I Am a Child of God in Mandarin, learned about lucky red and yellow. We also made cards to send to our old branch in Penang. Hopefully we will become penpals. The best part was eating rice and potstickers with only chopsticks. The girls also got to take home a red lantern and an Ang Pow envelope.

Pedicure Perfection

Can you tell what the Gaddis Girls like to do most? Something we all have in common? Something every girl deserves?
It is one of the luxuries that we took advantage of in Asia because it was so affordable. It is a luxury we refuse to compromise with Dave.
We have yet to find a Nail Salon that can compare to Hansen Nails in Penang. We would get the most wonderful massages and scrubs and the nail art was beyond compare. Alas. We pay double the price for 1/2 the service.... Woe, woe woe to us.

WHY DIET'S DON'T WORK!!!

This is probably the best cookbook of 2007. Reserve it from the library, or Amazon.com.

Sherry Yard is Wolfgang Puck' s executive pastry chef. She grew up in Brooklyn and this is as much a biography as it is a cookbook. It has great recipes from her fabulous childhood such as pretzels and bagels. It even playfully makes fun of her mother's lack of culinary skills. Sherry includes a recipe for "Mom's Cuisinart Chocolate Mousse" that her mother inspired and she refers to it as "the most exciting culinary event that had ever occurred in our kitchen."


Okay, so here is the most exciting culinary event that is occurring in my kitchen. It ain't low fat , but it is loaded with vitamin A.

Pumpkin Bread

• 3 cups canned pumpkin puree (one large can)
  
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 4 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 9x5 inch loaf pans. Or one Bundt pan and 1 large loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together by hand, the pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.
4. Can add chocolate chips. I like the Ghiridelli 60 % Cocoa chips from Sam's Club.
   

Green Dreams

I am busy ordering and planning my first garden in 3 summers. I am so happy. I cannot wait to get my hands dirty! I am going to try Biker Billy Peppers, a stunningly hot jalapeno, and Thai Dragon Hybrid, an extra hot chile that can be dried. I will be planting many herbs also. My family cannot get enough fresh basil, and I buy it in bulk at Albertson's ,but, at a premium price. I cannot wait to get that to grow.

We have fallen in love with Sugar peas too, and those great little green beans that are referred to as haricot verts. I am going to build a tee-pee for the vines to grow on.

I always plant way too much for my own family and I love giving and sharing the bounty of the garden with my neighbors. There is something really satisfying about growing and eating your own food. I really get enjoyment out of making jams and salsas too. I found a great recipe for a red hot pepper jam that my next door neighbor Brad cannot get enough of. It is so fun to garden. I am not the greatest gardener but I try.

A Recipe Collector from a Different Era

My Mother-in-law lost her mother Rae a few years ago, when she and her sister were cleaning out her home she found several old books. Included in these treasures were hundreds of hand written recipes. It was fun to pull these out recently and leaf through them. While many recipes would be considered unappealing to us today, there were several that were keepers. One keeper was called "Egg White Pie Crust".


I even found one that was labeled "1908 My Wedding Cake." What a great piece of history ! My kids had fun going through them and looking at the vernacular of the day, such as " Mother Etz's" cake. Or "Mrs. Holden's" Nut Bread. I don't think we will be having the Aspic with Salmon anytime soon!

Farewell Old Friend

Yes, about a month ago, an old abused friend couldn't take the strain anymore of the icy sleet. She buckled under the pressure. Actually, this old Russian Olive is an invasive species that overtakes native Utah species and it was probably a good thing that it came down. The picture above where the men are working is my garden area, and the tree was way too shady for this spot. We don't actually know who really owns this tree, us or the neighbors to the back, but since it fell on us, we took care of it.

Dave just had to make a few calls and we had several men from the ward show up with chainsaws and gloves. They had the whole thing cleared in about an hour and a half. Our next door neighbor provided the dumpster and they even took care of a fallen tree in his yard too.

It is for reasons and neighbors like these that we came running back to Provo!

Christina Unplugged

We were messing around with the camera while we were rolling around on the floor. I held it up and pointed it behind my head and said to Christina,

"I am going to point the camera to where I think you are and take the picture."

Well, who knew it was going to turn out so cute? I think I will take all of my pictures, from now on, with my back to the subject and the camera over my head!

Pretty in Provo

As I have contacted many of my friends during the Holiday Season, so many of them have commented on my abandoned blog. I guess I have missed posting, but I really don't think I have very many interesting things to say. At least when we were living overseas, I had a focus for my posts. I assumed that interest in my blog would die off and eventually be forgotten.

So, here I am happy to report that I will again be starting regular entries, and, I hope some of you will find interest in what I have to offer. I won't try to catch you up on events since my last post, but I will continue with my "happenings" from this point on.

The picture at right is my families most recent shot. We were at church, and we all looked very nice in all of our finery.

The Cat's Hole and Shanghai Bound

Yippee... even the cat is excited to come home. She balked at the cat carrier for about 2 days, then saw that her favorite cushions were inside. Now she never leaves the silly carrier. She gets in there and purrs and purrs, she kneads the cushions and rolls into a ball as much as her fat blubbery body will let her.







Let's see... some other things we are getting done... We have sold all of our 220 volt appliances and electronics. All of my plants are sold. I have sorted through all the goods that are going to charity. I have even cleaned out the extra fridge and sold it to my maids friend Tuna.


We are off to Shanghai this Saturday. We will stay there for 4 days then we fly toXi'An where the Terra'Cotta warriors are being excavated. I hear that is really incredible. Then we will be going to Beijing for several days, I want to ride bikes with all the other Beijinger's, climb the Great Wall and visit the Forbidden City.
One thing we are going to do that is really different is ride the overnite train from Beijing back to Shanghai where we catch the plane back to Singapore. We'll stay in Singapore for the nite then hop up to Penang. I am hoping none of us gets sick. My friend Bonny (who has a 2 month old) will be going with her husband for the Shanghai part of the trip, so we'll be hanging out shopping whilst our menfolk are at business. Sounds like fun to me...

For Malaina

My darling daughter came to Malaysia and fell in love with Indian food. This magnificent feast above here is authentic Penang Tandoori Chicken. It is like none other in the world. I mean that quite literally. In Penang the Indians make it different than Indians in India. In Penang it must be served just like this on a stainless sectioned tray, with red onions, limes and sauces. The green sauce is wonderfully minty, and the red, is dahl. This dish has garlic naan. You can get butter naan, butter-garlic naan, garlic, naan. All is equally good. The chicken is incredibly juicy because it is marinated in yogurt and spices. Real tandooi chicken for us needs to be orange in color. The Asians have a special way of cutting those limes too, for maximum juiciness and no seeds. I promise Malaina, we will get this recipe just right if it takes years!

The rice dish above is usually served on a real banana leaf. The one above is plastic... the cuisine is called Nasi Kandar. Or rice -stick. A hundred years ago the Indian-Muslims would go around and sell their wares balanced from a large stick they carried on their shoulders. Pots of rice on one end and curries on the other. Now we line up to go to their amazing shop houses. This is a typical one above. The patrons circle the food. And you don't leave hungry! Oh my gosh the curries are insanely good. Hot, sweet, chicken, beef, fish. There are wonderful veggies too. The food is Halal the Muslim equivalent of Jewish Kosher. The price is right too. We can eat stuffed to the brim for under 8 USD. Most Nasi Kandar stalls also have various other Indian foods to order like Butter Chicken, Palak Paneer, uuummmm!!

I must confess, these photos come from another blogger, but I am going to go out this week to Little India and take my own photos and eat some chicken. I will also be buying some trays like these above too. I have to stop this blog now because I am getting hungry just thinking about the food, and it's bed time, but that is not usually an issue in Penang because the Nasi Kandar stalls are open 24/7. Agghh