Bob the Goat

Fridays Fave Five Birthday Edition

I wish I had pictures for you of all the fun things I am thankful for this week, but I am just too tired to take them. So I will try to paint some nice word pictures so you can enjoy my fun moments. I'm not that great with a camera any way ;)

1. Soft warm pajamas. But not flannel. One of the birthday gifts from my family and just in time for the cold that arrived in California this week. They are cream colored with a red and green design. Perfect for the season.

2. A feminine computer bag. My fashionista daughter picked a sleek looking brown and black animal print bag for me to carry around my computer and other hardware. Another special birthday gift.

3. Sushi at Ryoko's in San Francisco. My kids took me there, again for my birthday, and we ordered several different kinds of sushi including one with a sour plum sauce that was delicious. When you walk in, the servers greet you in Japanese and you can watch them make the sushi.

4. Visiting my friends in Newark. On Tuesday I took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to Newark and got to see my friends at a Bible study. Good times.

5. Cafe Murano. I've been spending time here getting some work done on my free mornings after radiation (when I don't have dentist appointments). Every table is painted with a scene from San Francisco and it has orange/yellow walls. I get my coffee in a large, thick ceramic mug. So cozy!

More favorites at Susanne's

Radiation Therapy-My Routine

Today marks session #10 for me, that means I am a third of the way through. I'm doing well so far, no skin problems and the fatigue is tolerable. I'm sleeping more at night and the daytime fatigue can usually be managed with a shot of expresso. I just don't nap well.

I've been walking to and from my treatments and I see some pretty interesting things as I walk:

• Tree lined streets shade me from the sun part of the way. Walking back, the sun gets in my eyes.
• Early in the morning, garbage trucks and street cleaners are so noisy that I can't even talk on my cell phone. Informal recyclers stay a step ahead of the garbage trucks, going through the trash for plastic bottles and other recyclables. They make a mess and the trash men gently scold them.

• The flower shops are out early delivering to the hotels
• One day I saw an 8 foot plastic Kung-Fu Panda being delivered to a conference room. I still wonder what that was about.
• Coffee shops in many languages. I go to an Italian one. The smells from these shops make me happy.

• I pass a Mosque. And a hooka lounge.
• I see men and women smoking outside hotels all along the way (I don't think you are allowed to smoke in buildings in SF)
• A medical marijuana shop situated exactly between a fire station and a diva lounge.

• As I approach Japantown, there are Japanese grandmas out gossiping in front of stores or taking a morning walk. If I slow down and they speak English, they will give me free advice (that I should dress warmer, or hurry from the rain, or be careful)
• Lots of people walking dogs and (yucky but thankfully) picking up their messes
• There are many signs in languages I can't read.

• And every few blocks there is a Taquería. No matter where you go in San Francisco, you can get a cup of coffee or a burrito :)

Everyday I see something new. Isn't it interesting?

Holiday Ice Rink @ Union Square/Wordful Wednesday

They set up the ice rink in Union Square, San Francisco

Not to many people using it yet, but its ready!

I love that palm trees surround the rink, so California

I love to sit in the Macy's Starbucks, right by one of these windows and watch all the happenings on the street.

We used to bring our kids here when they were little, but now they bring themselves.

I miss those days.

Chipotle Bean Soup/TMTT

When I make soup, I like to cook up a large pot to take some to my kids and freeze part of it. Lately I've been on a bean kick, and this is my latest invention.

2 lbs pinto beans, soaked overnight and rinsed well.

1 large onion, chopped fine

4 stalks celery, chopped fine

2 carrots, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 red pepper, chopped

1 ham hock

1 tablespoon cumin

2 tsp paprika

3 chipotle peppers, minced with 2 tablespoons chipotle liquid

salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Brown onion, celery, garlic, carrots and red pepper in olive oil. Add the chipotle after the onions are tender. Add beans and water to cover about an inch over the beans. Add cumin, paprika and the ham hock (but not the salt yet!). Bring the beans to a boil and simmer for about 2 hours until tender. With a potato masher, mash some of the beans in the pot to give the soup consistency. Alternately you could blend about 2 cups of the beans until smooth and then return them to the pot. Remove the ham hock and let it cool until you can pull all the meat off the bone and return it to the soup. Salt and pepper to taste and add more water if it looks like it needs it.

I added too much salt to mine the first time so I threw in a couple of chopped potatoes to absorb the extra salt and that also gave it a great flavor.

Wonderful topped with grated cheese and jalepeños if its not spicy enough for you.

More recipes at Lisa's

Flaming Fondue/SLAGI

This video perfectly illustrates why I do not fry turkeys, something like that would undoubtably happen to me. I know this to be true because I once caught the entire table on fire while trying to make fondue.

My son loves cheese fondue and requested it for his BD meal. I didn't have any sterno (or maybe could not get any in Paraguay) for the fondue pot, but I did have some kerosene handy so I decided to use that a fuel for the little heater under the pot instead.

This probably would have worked out well if I had not over filled the burner and then spilt kerosene all over the table.

Rebecca's friend was helping me set the table and, with a slightly alarmed voice, she called to me from the dining room, "Aunt Brenda, is there supposed to be a big fire on the table?"

Thinking that she was just seeing the flame under the fondue pot, I called, "Yes, we always have a big flame like that when we make fondue". Paul must have heard her alarm because he went to check on the situation and said, "mom, I've never notice this much fire before with fondue".

Thinking that everyone was over reacting, I left the kitchen to look and found the entire table top in flames. My screams brought Bob into the room but being a crazy hero, he would not put out the fire until he got a picture. Fortunately we had a thick piece of tempered glass on the table so no real harm was done.

Its a birthday meal none of us will ever forget. Using kerosene as fondue fuel Seemed Like A Good Idea, but I discovered that denatured alcohol is really the best idea ;)

Living Transparent Lives

At the end of her book, Honestly, Sheila Walsh says this:

During the course of writing this book, I was invited to speak and sing at a retreat for staff and key supporters of the ministry of my good friend Joni Eareckson Tada. In the worship service on the final morning, a man slowly made his way to the podium to read the Scripture. born with cerebral palsy, he had been through years of speech therapy and was now willing to read in public. He read from 2 Corinthians 12:7-9: "There was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

As I listened to this man read, I saw with my own eyes the truth of those verses lived out in front of me. Flying home that day I realized that we are all disabled; it is just more noticeable with some of us than others. Some of us are blind or in wheelchairs, while others of us are angry and bitter. What matters now is what we are going to do with our disabilities. If the man who had battled cerebral palsy had kept himself locked away, embarrassed by his disability, he would never have brought so much to us during the service that day. Only in surrendering ourselves to living transparent, accountable lives, can we be God's picture show to each other and to the world- a visible, tangible demonstration that God is real.