Happy Halloween! My Halloween will be spent at the movie theater this afternoon with a friend and in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot tea and gingerbread cookies tonight. No fear of trick or treaters in our neighborhood as we haven’t had one since 2004. That’s fine by me because I love milky way bars, which is what I happened to purchase in case we do get a trick or treater.



I don’t know if it is my drugged haze from being medicated with pain killers (due to the car accident) or if it is the Fall weather inspiring me, but I am suddenly and overwhelmingly full of desire to make French foods. I don’t quite understand why. Last night I made the most divine Ratatouille. I made it just like it looked in the movie of the same name. I had never made it before. It was absolutely mouthwatering. If you want the recipe email me and I’ll send you the link. I can't take credit for the picture as it was from the same place I found the recipe (Smitten Kitchen) but I have to say mine looked just as good. My next cooking adventure will be with Cassoulet I think, if I can find a good recipe. If anyone has a good recipe for Cassoulet please email it to me.

The moral of the story is when your hubster tells you he doesn’t feel like going to buy firewood, don’t push him to do it. You may regret it. And oh do we regret it.

On Saturday evening the hubster painted one of the bedrooms in preparation for putting our home on the market for our upcoming move to Maryland. On Sunday he wanted to finish up the room but I wasn’t having any of that. We need to get out of the house and take a drive in the country to see the Fall colors, I said. So lets drive to Noblesville and buy a rick of firewood for our woodstove/fireplace. I pushed and pushed and finally got my way (was there any doubt. So there we were… stopped in a line of traffic on Allisonville road on our way to buy firewood. We had been sitting there about a minute when all of a sudden… BAM!

A young woman in her late teens rear ended us as we were stopped. She hit us going between 50 - 60 MPH the policeman said. Her car is totaled. To look at her car you would be amazed that she wasn’t killed. She didn't get a scratch on her though. She was lucky. She had been driving her boyfriends car which he had just bought the day before! I bet he is mad. Our bumper saved our lives. Say what you will about SUVs but Nissan builds a darn good automobile which probably saved our lives. We'll need a new bumper obviously, but it could have been much worse.

The hubster and I are okay, just in alot of pain and bruised and banged up. They took me to the hospital in an ambulance but the hubster was stubborn and refused to be treated. He drove our banged up SUV to the hospital and sat in the room complaining about how bad he hurt. His back is hurting as is his neck and his ankle. My back and neck hurt too. Needless to say we'll be lying around the house for awhile. I don't think we'll be hauling any firewood anytime soon.

Like I said, things could have been much worse. I think we'll be okay in a week or so, after the soreness leaves. The hubster’s ankle isn't broken or anything, not even really sprained. Just pretty sore because I think he slammed his foot on the brake to keep us from hitting the woman in front of us when we were propelled forward. And we didn't hit the woman in front of us thanks to his quick thinking. You know what that nasty cow did though? As soon as she realized there had been a major accident right behind her she took off like a bat out of hell. What a mean nasty person. She didn't even bother to see if anyone was hurt or to call 911 or anything. Mean people! Karma is going to bite her in the ass I bet!

As I said we are sore but okay and the car is driveable. The accident was all the woman's fault so her boyfriends insurance will be fixing our car and paying for my ambulance ride. It was a disappointing ambulance ride too because they never put the lights or siren on! The hubster got to follow the ambulance though so that was neat, according to him. Frankly I wish we had just stayed home and finished painting the bedroom. See what I get for being pushy?

I’ve been too depressed to post on my blog lately. Actually I have to say, it’s been a rather shitty year. Several weeks ago we discovered that our dog, Moose, has a particularly nasty form of cancer that is terminal. He has Anal sac carcinoma. He has a few weeks to at best a couple of months. And from what we have been witnessing with him, his time is very limited. It’s so, so sad and heartbreaking. I feel so guilty. Why? Because the way a dog gets this type of cancer is due to the fact they haven’t been neutered. It happens generally to male dogs that haven’t been neutered and occurs when they are ten or eleven years old. Moose is eleven. Early in his life I was the one that fought against having him neutered. That’s why I feel so guilty. If only I had know. So if you have a male dog, make sure you get him neutered. Even if he is 8 or 9 years old it’s not too late, get him neutered today! Believe me, you don’t want to end up with the guilt and sadness I have.

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Am I the only idiot that stayed up until 4am watching Most Haunted Live for 7 straight hours as they investigated the Winchester House last night? And the only good stuff happened during the last hour at 3am (as always). I swear next time I will just get a good nights sleep and forgo the show. I did look at the live webcams online last night though and saw something on Cam #4. It scared me so bad that I turned the PC off! I didn’t watch anymore web cams after that.


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You guys certainly gave some good guesses as to where I was and what I was doing last weekend. I guess it is time to tell the tale. We were …. Drumroll please)…..tatatatatata…. in Maryland at the beach. Why were we in Maryland at the beach? Seems the hubster has been sending out resumes for the last several months because he wants to move closer to his mother. So one of the companies that responded are very interested in him and if the money is right it looks like we’ll be moving back. Sigh… In a way I am excited abut being around familiar grounds again and being near all the water again. But in another way I am concerned that I won’t be able to adjust to small town living now. There are many pros and cons about the whole situation. In the meantime we are prepping our house to put it on the market. I really hope we aren't making a mistake. sigh....

Where in the world is Daisy? This doesn't look like the Midwest! Both pictures contained in this post were taken this weekend at a top-secret location. The mystery of where Daisy is may lie in the little secret she's been keeping, which she has promised to reveal very soon. VERY soon. Patience kiddies!

In the meantime, don't you hate it when Daisy speaks in the third person? Daisy does!

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You know you’ve made it when you get hometown recognition. While Chincoteague isn’t actually my hometown, Delmarva and the Chincoteague area are certainly the area I grew up around. I can’t begin to tell you the countless times I hunted for shells (and found hundreds of them) on both Maryland and Virginias Assateague Island. And allow me to assure you, I’ve eaten more than my weight in Chincoteague oysters. They don’t come any finer than Chincoteague oysters. I could go for a few dozen of them now come to think of it. Sigh…

Check out chincoteague-island.net to read their article on my cookbook, Cooking With Friends. The folks at chincoteague-island.net did a fine job capturing the true essence of Cooking With Friends.

In addition they have also provided an easy, one click link on their site for patrons to purchase the book. Being originally from the Eastern Shore of Delmarva, where chincoteague-island.net is located, I am especially honored to have Cooking With Friends reviewed on their site. In fact, in one of the recipes in Cooking With Friends states that only fresh oysters from Chincoteague should be used in the dish. Their sister site, http://www.fresh-seafood.net/ also includes a one click link to purchase Cooking With Friends.

So head on over to http://www.chincoteague-island.net/ and http://www.fresh-seafood.net/ to not only read the article but also to check out what an awesome site they have.