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Archive for the ‘Photo Friday’ Category

The Photo Friday challenge topic this week is City Life. I took this photo when we were visiting my brother Brad and his wife and family in Oak Park, Il., near Chicago. This is the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park, which is on the water in downtown Chicago. Very cool place to wander.

Josi Schroder, the setter (on the right) for the Churchland High School volleyball team in 2006-07, was an exchange student from Germany living with us that year. She had a great time with the team, and they loved having her, with her years of experience. Cool

In 2005, Dan and Barbara and I took a long-weekend trip to the Grand Canyon. While we were there, we stayed in Sedona, Arizona, and went hiking on a trail to Cathedral Rock. We didn’t know this would be there, too, but we came upon Buddha Beach, a place where people pile up river rocks so they resemble a Buddhist temple. We sat on a large rock on the opposite side of the river, ate a snack and took pictures.

I took this photo in May at James River State Park at sunset. I love the way it came out.

I’ve lived in Virginia for years now, driven around the country roads here and in North Carolina, and I still can’t get over how many dead and dying buildings there are out there. Maybe I just didn’t notice them growing up in Michigan, or maybe Michiganders are more likely to tear them down, but it always amazes me to see these poor, collapsing buildings along the side of the road.

This one is near James River State Park in Nelson County, Va., where we have been a few times in the last couple of years, for kayaking/canoeing races and last year, Dan and I went for a long weekend of biking in September.

This photo is from when we were on a sailboat race on the Elizabeth River with Laura and Steve, and probably Dan B. and Paul. The clouds were so cool that night. This is for Photo Friday, the weekly photo challenge. The topic this week is Dusk.

Wow, look at that – I know last week was a very busy one at work, but I didn’t post anything all week! Amazing.

So, this week’s Photo Friday challenge topic is Food – kinda funny, since this has turned into primarily a food blog I have lots of pictures of food. This one is some absolutely fabulous macaroni and cheese that Dan made not too long ago. This is the real stuff, too – made from real roux with real cheddar cheese. Major delicious comfort food for the cold nights we’ve been having lately.

This week’s Photo Friday photo challenge topic is Sharp. I took the photo below from the Oak Park train station, outside Chicago, where my brother and sister-in-law live with their children. I’ve always liked German-style half-timber architecture. Of course in Germany, there would be colorful window boxes lining the windows.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Photo Friday image, but here’s a good one. We have bok choy growing in the garden right now. So far, I’ve made fried rice and a chicken stir-fry with it. Both were great. We still have quite a bit, so maybe I’ll use some in the potluck dish I need to make for the Fall Festival at work Friday.

I still have some basil and a few green tomatoes in the garden, but a couple of weeks ago, we started our fall garden, including onions, a variety of lettuces and bok choy.

On Saturday, Dan came in from the garden and asked me what I had planned for dinner. I hadn’t really planned it out, but when he told me some of the bok choy we planted was ready to use, I decided to make fried rice with some leftover white rice I had in the freezer; I thought, this would be great with crispy baked chicken and a Chinese-inspired dipping sauce. We also have a few pimento peppers left, so I added those in, too. I looked at a few recipes and then got going. It turned out really well.

Fried Rice with Bok Choy

2 tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil
1 small red and 1 small green pimento or bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups leftover cooked white rice (leftover works better than fresh, because it’s more dry, so it browns better)
5 large leaves and stems of bok choy, leaves julienned and stems sliced crosswise

1 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil

Heat oil in saute pan or hot wok over medium-high heat till it shimmers. Add onions, peppers and garlic and stir-fry 4-5 minutes or until softened. Sprinkle with oyster sauce and soy sauce and stir well. Add sliced bok choy stems and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add bok choy leaves and rice and stir-fry 3 minutes. Drizzle with sesame oil and serve. Makes 4 servings.

This is my entry in the food blogging event Grow Your Own, which celebrates growing or raising fresh ingredients. It was originated by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes and is hosted this time by A Laboratory in the Kitchen.