Let's see if we can get Grandma on a carnival ride!

I know they invited me along just to get me on a ride and then hear me squeal like a pig. I didn't care. I went along anyway. Is there anything more fun than a county fair? 

While we loved the goats and pigs and sheep and the horses, in the end it was all about the children, carnival rides, cotton candy and laughing like a kid. What a wonderful day.

Snug as a bug...or a pig?

Food Coma...yes the pig on the left
fell asleep with it's snout in the straw! 

5 Wooly Sheep in blankets on
a hot summer day!

She always wondered what a pig snout looked like
up close.

What? 

I swear she could drive one of these
even though she has no idea what it is.

Pre-ride giggles!

Pretty enough to eat...

...and more!

Just pure fun...no rides for me though. I said I had some mythical ailment. I am just plain chicken!

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

Image via Wikipedia

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!

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Vietnamese Pho Tango Restaurant, 22139 Imbrie Dr. Hillsboro, Oregon

Image via Wikipedia

Eating is possibly my favorite thing in the world...world being the key thing here.  I love ethnic food.  Authentic Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese, Thai with a little German and French thrown in here and there.  Tonight I went to one of my favorite "mall restaurants" here in our area, Pho Tango. 

My husband and I had visited this restaurant over Christmas Holidays at lunch hour.  Pho Tango, an authentic Vietnamese restaurant, was fill with Vietnamese young people that work in the area.  Intel and nail salons employ a great many of them.  We had to wait to be seated. 

The restaurant is located in a Fred Meyer mall on Imbrie Drive just across from Cornelius Pass Roadhouse (a great brewpub) in a building that used to house a pizza parlor. (map)  The new owners added paint and walled the kitchen in then decorated with pictures of Vietnam.  But all that is not important...the food is what we like.  I am stuck on the noodles served with Thai basil, hot peppers and bean sprouts on the side.  My daughter and I ordered a combination special that included two bowls of soup, an appetizer and our drink and paid less than $20.   Menu here.

I recommend  Pho Tango as a good lunch stop when you are on the Westside or at the Hillsboro Stadium for an event.  Lunch prices are very reasonable and Monday/Tuesday evening are nights that prices are reduced on noodle dishes by almost 50%.  I think you will like it.

Skype Keeping Retirees Connected or Grandpa Lives in the Computer

Image via CrunchBase

I know I have told you that our grandson aged 2 years thinks Grandpa lives in the computer.  It may just be so...who knows.

Because of a family emergency and my need to help my son as his new born gets a stronger hold on life, I will be home for three weeks.  Skype is my link to my husband who has stayed in Arizona with friends in the sunshine.  My husband and I both have Skype accounts and we own three computers.  Two are in the desert with my husband and we leave the old laptop here in Hillsboro for use during holidays and times like this when we are without the other computers.  So the Skype accounts can be used on any computer with the program...I am learning more about this wonderful FREE service all the time.

When I began trying to reach my husband I realized that his account was not only on this computer but also on his computer in Arizona.  Skype was not going to let me call...it said I could not talk to myself.  It was just a little frustrating...I talk to myself better than the average person.    I have been thinking about how to make this work for a week now.  I was looking at my Skype contact list this morning when I realized that at the top, where my husband's name was, there was a button that allowed me to choose a different account. (Where the red minus is in the picture.)  Sure enough, when I clicked the little green button there was my account.  When I signed into my account, my husband appeared in the contact list....yeah!!!  I dug out my old isight camera, connected it to the computer and I was one connected Grandma again!

So this evening while I was having my wine, we chatted as though we were in the same room.  He watched the basketball game over the top of the computer screen and I blathered on and on.  I liked it...that is my comfort zone!

Brayden could be right...Grandpa may live in the computer.  Thank heavens, when we apart, I know just where to find him.  I just thought you would want to know.

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Portland Oregon Vacation...stay in the suburbs!!!!

Yesterday's answers: Barnes and Noble, Waterfront Park, Brew Pub in St. Helens, Ore., McTarnahans Brew Pub, Countryside view near Carlton, Oregon.

I have a wonderful suggestion for you if you are heading to Portland, Oregon. Go out to one of the suburbs and stay in a bed and breakfast or hotel near the Max line. It is our life style for everyday. We live in a Hillsboro neighborhood called Orenco Station. The planned community as it's very own grocery, restaurants, Starbucks and even a store that features pet supplies. A manicurist, Oregon Hazelnut store and foreign import shop round the services out. There is a Marriot Suites hotel as well as a small hotel called Orenco Manor Hotel Suites. I walk by these browns stone homes that now house the hotel daily. I cannot imagine a more luxurious accommodations.

My son and his wife fly in from China, rent a car and drive out to Orenco Station. They can then take Max to downtown Portland and spend the day. Or they can take the drive to the Oregon Beach area in a little over an hour. Wine country surrounds the area and so a short drive can take you to very small wineries like Helvetia Winery or the small wine shop, Renaissance Wine & Cigar, on Orenco Station Parkway has outdoor seating for a late afternoon wine tasting very near your vacation accommodations. We love a drive out to the site of the old Rock Creek Tavern. McMenamim's has rebuilt an exact replica of the original tavern after it burned several years ago. The feature live music on Friday and Saturday nights. It is situated in the countryside and the outdoor seating is hard to top.

I just thought you would want to know. The adsense ads in the sidebar might have something for you or just follow the links.

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