Retirement...a day in the life! Free steak, recipes and a good rant!

FREE BEEF CONTEST!!

Chefdruck Musings....I love beef...especially if it is free. Do you love beef, especially if it is free? Go to the link I have provided, follow the instructions, and wait to see if you might win a gift certificate for Omaha steaks. I did.

Chefdruck Musings also features a Foodie Blogroll in the sidebar with lists of giveaway contests for food, books, etc. I have applied for this list for this blog but I am not sure I will be allowed to post it. In the mean time go to the chef's blog to enter other contests.

Free beef...nummanum!

THINGS THAT BOTHER ME...A LOT!!

I am home in Portland (Hillsboro, Oregon). I live in a neighborhood designed for living without a car. I can walk to a grocery store, Starbucks, a kitchen store (Kitchen Kaboodle) and several restaurants. They are very social places, not quiet nor boring! They are like our home away from home...living rooms of sorts. I love that!

So why do people (women in particular) think that places that we consider to be our living rooms are a good location for an interview? Interviewing a prospective employee within earshot of everyone in the neighborhood is not an acceptable thing to do. Go to an office or even a private room in the library, which incidentally also has a coffee shop. We don't want to listen to a prospective employee bare their soul. PLEASE DON'T DO THAT! DON'T DO THAT!

FOOD CHOICES...fresh salmon!

I walked to our New Season's grocery store yesterday and picked up a couple of salmon fillets for dinner for my son's family. The fillets cost me around $8.00 a pound. The fillets were frozen but they were also wild caught...in Alaska I suppose. I thought it was a very good price for the best salmon around. (New Season's is a gourmet grocery chain comparable to Whole Foods but smaller and owned locally.)    For my son I placed the salmon in foil pouches, seasoned with the Montreal Seasoning and topped with sliced lemon. They will bake the salmon at 350 degrees about 20 minutes or until the salmon is done.The lemon is even wonderful when I create this simple, simple recipe.

I like to cook my salmon in a small toaster oven. Remember I am retired and I only cook for my husband and myself. I squeeze lemon over the top, season with Montreal Seasoning (excellent stuff) and bake on a rack for about 20 minutes...until the fish flakes.

We are spoiled here in the northwest...the fish is always so fresh.

Incidentally, if you are retired and there are only two or one of you, BUY A GOOD TOASTER OVEN! It well be the best purchase you ever make. Cooking small is no reason to give up wonderful recipes!

COME BACK AND SEE ME SOMETIME!

If you are interested in something you don't see on the blog, let me know. There is nothing like hearing the information from the "horses mouth". I live in Oregon and have all my life. I am retired and live in an award winning neighborhood with condos, cottages and brownstone/work-live homes. I also am a snowbird that spends 6 mo. in Tucson AZ. in a RV resort. I live very "small" in the desert. Maybe I know something that might help you make retirement decisions. I would like to write without guessing what you want to know.

Have a wonderful day!

b

Five Little Ducks...stories played out!

The children's song about the little ducks leaving the nest to fly away has always been one of my favorites. Every mother has seen their babies fly away and rejoiced. Life comes full circle. Animals live that same cycle. Babies grow up. Birds leave the nest. Life goes on. So when the three ducks show up every year near my patio I am not surprised. But I am puzzled that it always seems to be the same three. Something just doesn't seem right. It appears the one did not fly away at all. Five little ducks Went out to play Over the hills and far away. The mommy duck went "quack, quack quack," Four little ducks came swimming back... And then Three Two and One. A drake, a female duck (a hen) and a not quite a drake but still not a hen gather here on the 5th green of the golf course. She leads and the other two follow along obediently. They eat, sleep, and guard each other. Each and every day this time of year they come. I have not named them. Jinxing them would be very pos...

How to be a 12 Month Snow Bird

Vacation Rental in Mexico I live around snowbirds 6 months of the year. I have heard those people say that they all want to live the "snowbird" lifestyle when they go home. But it just is not possible. They are isolated and cold. Social activities with friends and beautiful weather are greatly missed when they return to the realities of their "real" life. One couple I visited with lately returned to Florida this morning where they own a home. The woman is a nurse and works in the summer. They are not going home until May this year. It is too cold in Michigan in the spring so they are hoping to extend their good weather season by simply staying away. Besides that they love their Florida lifestyle a lot. Last week I visited with a woman that lives the snowbird lifestyle year around. No going home to the Midwest in the spring. They essentially vacation 12 month out of the year. And I thought their solution for avoiding unpleasant weather and keeping their lifestyle in...

If You Build It, They Will Come...Maybe!

It all began with a antique window in front of a local shop. It had been painted yellow, the glass was loose and all of the hinges and latches were gone. My old friend Betty would have approved...she would tell me it was just broken enough and damaged enough for me to drag it home. When my dear husband saw it, he wondered what he was meant to do with it. Imagine his surprise when he was presented with the plan to build a small neighborhood library exchange. It wasn't the first time he had heard me ask "How hard could it be?" Now it is six weeks later and we mounted the darling little library exchange on two posts in our front yard. I love it. Now the question is, will they come or has the time passed when people actually read something made of paper? Our association president stopped by and admired the box but left after telling me that he only read books on his Kindle. We will see. Would you bring a book and take a book? b+

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