arts/craft, Family

Ratuki Card Game – Family Fun

I try to visit my daughter and her family every Sunday.  My daughter is on maternity bed rest until February and with 2 kids in the house, it can be a lot of stress.  After I go to the supermarket and do her extreme couponing thing, I usually play with the kids. Sometimes we color or watch a movie,  read a story or they try to teach me a game on the iPad.  I grew up playing cards for hours in the park with Merci and our sisters and friends,  We like cards games. Ratuki is a fun card game. Easy and fast moving.  You have to match cards and the part I like is that you  can steal the other guys bundle. You gotta be fast.   My daughter and my granddaughter and I played for about a hour.  Liam was not interested, he wanted to play his electronic games.  After I won the first couple of games, my daughter gave me the look and so I let Natalie win the last couple of games.Natalie kept wanting me to shuffle again and again.   Love to fancy shuffle.   Promised I would show her how to shuffle cards next week.  🙂

 

Did You Know

Coffee And The Caffeine

Are you worried about that morning cup of Joe (coffee) you are drinking?  Worried that it may be  harmful to your health.

Well worry no more.  You can have a cup ,or two, and maybe even three cups of coffee a day!  You have no GROUNDS to be concerned about your health.   GROUNDS…LOL!

How do I know this?  I know this because  the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) say so…

Caffeine  is not harmful!  Yes they said,” Not harmful.”              

How happy am I to have read this.   For I, along with million of other coffee drinkers  need CAFFEINE , especially first thing in the morning.Really, at times I think I need to literally swim in a cup of coffee to feel awake,  at times.

AICR reports that caffeine is not likely to affect any risk of cancer, i.e kidney and pancreatic cancer, and recent studies have now shown that caffeine  cannot be even  linked to heart disease. 

But the real question is, how much caffeine can one consume as a healthy person?  I know if I drink too much coffee I become jittery and have heart palpitations, and if I drink it too late in the evening it will most definitely cause me to have difficulty in sleeping ( I love my sleep so this is not good )   I only drink about  2 cups of coffee in the morning and call it a day…Of course I drink coffee after I have my cup of tea…so back to the question.

How much caffeine can one consume?

AICR says that a moderate amount of caffeine is good (for a healthy person).  Moderate is  defined as  250-300 milligrams (mg) per day,  this equals:

  • three 8 ounces cups of coffee ( now that falls within my limit)
  • five cups of tea ( see tea does not have more caffeine than coffee)
  • five (12 oz) cans of cola (we won’t talk about the sugar in cola right now)

And guess what?  Caffeinated drinks are not dehydrating …YIPPEE!  I have always thought they were…see the caffeine’s diuretic effect is counter balanced by the fluid we get as we drink coffee or tea. However, it is still a very good idea to drink water during the day, but drinking extra, because you are drinking coffee, is not necessary…I don’t know about you but when I drink coffee I need extra water…but that is just me.

So Perk up, Coffee and the Caffeine is a good mix…now excuse me while I pour me another cup of Joe…

mb

Home

You’re Having A Holiday Party!

  • You don’t have to spend alot of money to decorate and host a holiday party this year.  Use what you have around you to decorate  and whats around your neightborhood for your bash.

String lights around the doors, windows or the  buffet table.

Fill same/like  colored ornaments in a large glass bowls and vases

Find large serving platters at the Dollar Stores or borrow from your family and friends. (I like to buy solid colors  or clear platters, they go with every season all year round).

Suggest that your  guests each  bring their  favorite bottle of wine to the party for everyone to sample

Almost every  supermarket offer whole dinner packages (including dessert)  for 10 people. Pick up the dinner,  place bowls of nuts and olives for when your guests arrive – go put on your party best and enjoy your guests and your party. Have a wonderful time  🙂

 

Play a board game and pretty soon everyone will be  talking , laughing and having a great time!

Family, recipe

Big Ass Shrimp

 

Yes, I said, “Big Ass Shrimp”.  Raw, Cleaned Jumbo ShrimpI was given this recipe by a friend a few years ago, like about 10 years age.  Well, just like I do with most of the great recipes I get, I whip them up a few hundred times then, POOF!  The recipe is forgotten. Or more likely played out.

Then few  weeks ago I was invited to my girlfriends house for dinner and  for some crazy reason I wanted to bring  something different to the dinner table… what did I remember…I remembered that BAS recipe.  Now I began to search for it.  I am so happy that I had placed the recipe in a binder.  About 10 years ago I did manage to create a binder for all my favorite recipes, and was able to remember where the binder was, now this was truly amazing.

So I prepared the dish and brought it over to my friends house and guess what…BAS was a great hit…so go ahead prepare this dish for guests or better yet just for yourself…

 

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

1 pound of clean jumbo shrimp

4 medium scallions

3 garlic cloves

plum tomatoes, about 4 medium diced – long  skinny tomatoes is best to use

2 medium Jalapeno peppers – clean seeds out, if using fresh

1 teaspoon anise seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon oregano

salt and pepper to taste

In a nonstick skillet, toast anise and cumin seeds.  Remove from pan and set aside.  In olive oil, saute garlic and chopped scallions for about 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and peppers and all seasonings.  Cook until tomatoes are soft.  Add in shrimp, stirring occasionally  until shrimp turn pink: just a few minutes will do it…Serve over rice cooked with cilantro in the water and lime wedges on the side.

I did not serve over rice…just placed shrimp in a nice bowl and placed lime around the dish and served it as an appetizer…it was sooooo good…choice is yours…Hope you enjoy this BIG ASS SHRIMP dish.

mb