JAMBALAYA

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
3 lean bacon slices, chopped
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
12 oz. (2 cups) long-grain rice, washed, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and drained. This is NOT minute rice.
1 pint (2 cups) chicken stock
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
1 large green pepper, white pith removed, seeded and roughly chopped
14 ounces canned peeled tomatoes
4 ounces cooked ham
8 ounces cooked shrimp, shelled
8 ounces cooked chicken meat, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley



In a large saucepan, heat the oil over moderate heat.
When the oil is hot, add the bacon and fry, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes or until it is crisp and golden brown.

With a slotted spoon, remove the bacon from the pan and drain on kitchen paper towels. Set the bacon aside.

Add the onions to the sauce pan and cook, stirring for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Add the celery. Then stir in the rice. Cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes or until rice is well coated with the fat. Pour in the chicken stock, stirring constantly. Add the salt, pepper, cayenne, and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the green pepper and tomatoes with the can juice and simmer, covered for another five minutes.

Add the cooked ham, cooked shrimp, cooked chicken and reserved bacon pieces and stir well. Re-cover the pan and cook another five minutes or until the meat and shrimps are heated through and the rice is tender.

Remove the pan from the heat and transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with parley and serve at once.

Have some Louisiana Hot Sauce available. Serve with a green salad and slabs of really good French or Italian bread.

CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE DANISH

I made these for breakfast this morning. As soon as they came out of the oven, I took four of the eight next door and gave them to our neighbors so we only had to deal with the temptation of four of them.

This recipe started life as a recipe from Giada De Laurentis who learned to make it during her cooking school days in Paris. I altered it as best I could so that it would be a tad safer for a diabetic to eat. It is still dangerous as all get out so be careful with the amount of these you consume.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

FILLING:

Mix together:

1/4 CUP FAT FREE CREAM CHEESE (at room temperature)
1/4 CUP MASCARPONE CHEESE (at room temperature)
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 tablespoons SPLENDA
1/2 TEASPOON PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt


Once the above is creamy and smooth, fold in 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips.

PASTRY:

ONE BOX OR 2 (9 INCH SQUARE) SHEETS FROZEN PUFF PASTRY, THAWED

1 EGG BEATEN


Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 equal sized squares. Put 4 pastry squares on each baking sheet. Spoon about 2 or 3 teaspoons of the filling into the center of each piece of pastry. Fold 1 corner of the pastry diagonally over the filling to within 1 inch of the opposite corner. You now have a triangle. Press the edges together all the way around so the chocolate and the cheese cannot escape. Using a pastry brush, brush the folded over section lightly with the beaten egg. Fold the very tip of the triangle over and seal it with your finger. Brush the whole top with the beaten egg. Cook for 15 minutes or so at 400 degrees F.

ET THESE THINGS COOL.

DO NOT TRY TO EAT THEM UNTIL THEY HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO COOL.

IF YOU DON'T LET THESE COOL, THE CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE WILL BLISTER YOUR TONGUE AND YOUR LIPS.

THE REAL HIGHLIGHT OF THE AIR SHOW

I met George Perez at the Air Show. Currently, he's the "groundsman" for the Golden Knights. He's a friendly, charming, smiling, bear of a man. A number of years ago, George was in Iraq. An IED got him. He was flown back home, got patched up, learned to walk again on his new leg, re-inlisted and headed back for Iraq for another tour of duty. Fortunately, he made it through the second tour without physical injury. Now, he serves a "groundsman" for the Golden Knights. And, he is a wonderful public relations ambassador for the ARMY. You cannot help but like George!

BLUE ANGELS ON 9/11

I went to Scott AFB on 9/11. They had advertised the BLUE ANGELS were performing. The BLUE ANGELS were nothing short of breathtaking and spectacular. Unfortunately, the shutter speed on my camera is not fast enough to capture them when they are moving. So, you'll have to settle for a picture when they were sitting still.

There was far more than "just" the BLUE ANGELS at this airshow. The entire day was dedicated to 9/11, all its victims, those who fought so bravely on Flight 93, and all the men and women who have served and fought with such courage and dedication and especially to all the men and women who have given all since that day. It was a powerful moving day of celebration not a day of grief.

I was struck by the incredible airshow, but I was overwhelmingly struck by what an incredibly rich, varied and hearty stew of America attended. Every conceivable nationality, race, religion, and national dress you can imagine was there. All of them were bursting with pride at what was "theirs" on the AFB. Many of them were clearly Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern and in Muslim attire, but they celebrated their American position that day.

But, back to the air base and the show. First, the base was neat, tidy and spotless and staffed by the most courteous military police I can imagine. I really felt sorry for them. Their quiet, clean, well ordered base was invaded by 30,000 civilians with strollers, corn dogs, funnel cakes, cell phones, lawn chairs, and cameras. Everyone had to be security wanded, all bags had to be searched, all strollers had to be searched, they had to make sure the cell phones were simply cell phones and had not been altered for evil use, and all cameras had to be tested to ascertain they were working cameras that had not been altered. It was an overwhelming task. They were all courteous, friendly, and respectful.

After parking and walking about one and a half miles you come to an outdoor Hall of Fame celebrating many of the accomplishments of the Air Force and airmen and airwomen over the years. There is a long curving sculpture garden with many busts of military men and women who have made major contributions. There is also two gigantic arched sections of the Berlin wall that apparently were flown back to the United States.

There's another 1/2 mile to walk to get to security once you are through the sculpture garden. After passing through security, there was a huge hanger with many "static displays" of various vehicles and video displays. I could not help but snap a picture of the Civil Air Patrol plane because a family member of mine was very active in the CAP as a teenager and I thought it might bring back some good memories for him.

There was a completely restored truck labeled "Dodgin Flak" and dedicated to Adolf Hitler that was used in WWII. I've included a picture simply to share some of the personality of my parents generation. It's rather charmingly decorated.

Finally, I reached the Flight Line where there was an incredible number of "static displays" we could tour. There were other "static displays" that we were required to stay back at least 100 yards. These seemed to be aircraft that are currently being used in the war effort. One that I really wanted to tour was a Blackhawk, but I didn't get to do so.

I did however, get to take a guided tour of a huge plane on gigantic metal skis. It's primary use right now is support of research going on in Antarctica. They shuttle huge pieces of research equipment, modular buildings, food, medical supplies, generators, and people to and from the South Pole. I was permitted an extensive, guided tour of one of the huge aeroevac plans that are used to fly the wounded from war zones to Germany for medical care and eventually home. They said the survival rate of anyone who gets put on that plane and flown from the battlefield to the hospital is much higher than if they must be treated on the battlefield. In included a picture of their banner which says we aren't the heroes, we just bring them home.

There was so much to see and so much to tell you about that I can't get it all in here. There SEALS were in a dunking tank disarming bombs. There was the TORA, TORA, TORA display. They have six completely restored Japanese Zero all painted up just like they were at Pearl Harbor. They have that exact drone anyone who saw the movie Pearl Harbor will remember. They re-enacted the attack on Pearl Harbor with smoke, fire, and explosions. Air raid sirens were going off. It was actually scary even though I knew it was not real. But, it was scary.

My absolute favorite plane of the day was the warthog, tank killer, A 10. There's a picture of one in the sky with the Hornets parked below it. Boy, watching that beauty fly I can understand why the men on the ground love that plane. That is one beautiful plane because of the countless lives it has saved! I also really liked that stealth bomber that looks just like a bat. It was only there on Saturday. They were doing some sort of training mission and they agreed to make 5 or 6 very low passes so that the crowd could get a good look at them. It's a beautiful plane. But, I think the real reason I loved it was it looks like a bat and I love bats.

One of the high points of the day was the GOLDEN KNIGHTS. They are a crack parachute team who had been scheduled to start the show, but it was delayed because we were "socked in" and they needed a ceiling of at least 1200 feet. Finally, the clouds and the fog burned off and they could perform. By the time they performed, it was blazing hot sitting on the flight line. But, they were worth it. Those jumpers jump out of plans 1/4 to 1/2 mile up in the air and land on a tiny little X on the flight line. They are absolutely amazing!

Blogger is not cooperating and it won't let me post more pictures. I'm going to have to start a new post.

SADIE

This is a picture of Fraidy Sadie before she tried to commit suicide by eating the sewing needle. Hopefully, once the Elizabethan collar comes off and her hair grows back, she'll be pretty again. Right now, she's kind of ugly!

FRAIDY SADIE AND THE NEEDLE

As many of you already know, Fraidy Sadie consumed a sewing needle with a long piece of knotted thread on the Sunday preceding Labor Day. Of course, no regular VET was open so we had to take her to the Emergency VET Hospital. I knew for sure that she ate it. I saw her eating it. A small part was still sticking out of her mouth. We got into quite an argument with me trying to retrieve the needle before she could swallow it and she gobbled it down. So, I knew it was down there. There was not choice. I had to take her to the VET or we would have found her dead the next day.

So they X Rayed her in the hopes that it was not in her tummy. But no, I was right. She swallowed it and it was in her tummy. See pictures. They cut her open and were able to remove it without cutting her stomach. Basically, they located it by "feel" and worked it string and all out through the stomach. It would have been so very much worse if they had been forced to open the stomach itself and remove the needle. For your viewing pleasure, I've attached some pictures of Sadie before the surgery, Sadie wearing her "cone of shame", X Rays, etc.

The surgeon returned the needle and thread to us in a medicine bottle with a child proof cap in hopes that we could keep her from eating it again.

Eric keeps walking around the house saying "This is a cat we can't get to take a pill and she eats a f...c..ing needle"

SIBLING RIVALRY

Sophie has found her voice and she is Zen Dog no more. When she came to live with us she was very very sick with an upper respiratory infection that was moving into pneumonia. I took her to the VET and she was put on lots of medicine--shots, pills, and a nebulizer.

She had lost so much weight at the pound and while on the street that she was in danger from emaciation. Plus, she was so sick that she would not eat. The VET had us force feeding her with the equivalent of a small turkey baster. She was being force fed the canned food they feed dogs in the doggie ICU. They had us dumping a can of it into the blender, adding a can of water and a fish oil pill and turning everything into a slurry. Then, down the throat it went with the small turkey baster.

So, she got through that and is now eating everything she can find. We had to go through dry food mixed with canned food with a cup of water (to make gravy) and heated in the microwave for 40 seconds. After about a week of that, she went to straight dry food. She expects to be fed a minimum of three times a day. First thing in the morning, she wants to go out and pee. Then, she stands at her empty bowl until the empty bowl magically fills. Needless to say, she is gaining weight by leaps and bounds or maybe by pounds and pounds and pounds.

The quiet, contemplative, laid back Zen dog is gone. She goes in the back yard and barks to high heaven at the soccer field full of children behind our house. She seems to think it is her job to drive the evil potential invaders away. I was so shocked the first time I heard her deep baritone voice because she had not made a sound in the weeks she's been here.

She and Dakota just do not get along. They are about the same size now, but Sophie is rapidly outpacing Dakota in size. She looks smaller because her coat is short and slick, but even at her skinniest she was only about five pounds less than Dakota at her heaviest. And, Dakota is all primarily fur.

You cannot leave them alone with each other. The fights are quite showy and very loud. This morning Sophie (who had already eaten) sneaked into Dakota's area and attempt to steal her food. Needless to say, a fight ensued. Yesterday, I was gone and Eric took them out in the back yard together. A fight ensued apparently brought on my the fact that he was not petting either one of them. Right now, Sophie is sulking in the back yard and Dakota is sprawled across the French doors just in case Sophie has a key and tries to enter the house.

They are both going to need to learn who is boss and it's me---not them. We may need to go to non aggression classes. I'm just not going to tolerate this!