THANK YOU VETERANS

THE SUN WAS UP AT 3:00 A.M.

My husband and I are taking a couple of days off this Memorial Day weekend. 

We are taking the fast ferry to the state capitol of Juneau for some shopping 

and a bit of sight seeing. It is a 4 hour trip up through some of the most beautiful 

wilderness in Alaska. My camera batteries are charged and ready!

Juneau has a glacier that you can drive right up to and a tram that takes

you up the mountain for a view of the whole city and water channel. We don't 

have malls or shopping centers here, so this will be a stocking up trip.

I am looking forward to relaxing just a little after this last week. Ballet is over,

Tae Kwon Do is over, band (3 times a week!) is over and high school is finished.

We are weary folks!

I won't be back to my computer until Monday evening--have a great Memorial Day

weekend everybody!

I THINK MY SHIP HAS COME IN

Well this town is busy, busy, busy! The stores and sidewalks are full of visitors and the water
is filling up with boats. Big boats, little boats, sailboats, charter boats, sightseeing boats--you
name it and it's probably floating by at some point. It's amazing to me that the boat traffic doesn't 
seem to be affected by diesel fuel being just shy of $5.00 a gallon here. Well, on second thought I
suppose if you are cruising on a $2 million yacht that $5.00 a gallon doesn't seem very significant.

Here is the view from one of the harbors in town. The cruise ship dwarfs the regular fishing boats.

I have no idea how they keep these vessels so clean after being in the salt water. You can see 

yourself in the hulls they are so shiny and clean. Some of these yachts are so 

huge that they have to call ahead to the harbormaster and make sure there is 

dock space for them. Paul Allen came here because it was one of the few places 

his mega yacht would fit.

2 large cruise ships in port. There 

are several days this month where there will be 4 of these monsters here on the same day. We 

have a special day this summer when one of the ships will offer lunch to the locals onboard for 

about $25-30.00 per person. We went one time and it was such fun! The lunch was amazing, 

served in one of the beautiful ballrooms and then we were free to tour the ship.

Cruise West tourist boat.

Another Cruise West ship. I believe 

they tour up from Seattle. The large fishing boat next to it looks little in comparison, doesn't it? 

Float planes are a dime a dozen right now,  flightseeing the tourists around.

My personal favorite. Yes that is a private helicopter on the back! Click the photo--you might be able to see the teeny weeny humans scurrying about tending to the millions of tasks that it takes to keep this megatron happily humming along.

Well, that concludes my big boat tour for today.
You will notice that not one of these pictures was from inside the yachts. One day maybe
I'll see the inside of one of those beauties! For right now I sure do enjoy watching them go by.

PERFECT CHICKEN SALAD

I have been hired to cater a luncheon the weekend of the 31st. The customer has
requested chicken salad, fruit, rolls and chocolate pie for 22 people. The salad, rolls
fruit and pies are a no brainer for me. But chicken salad? I think I may have had it 2
times in my life and neither time was anything memorable--chunks of cold chicken
swimming in mayonnaise and celery--pfffft.

So I did what I always do when I am in a recipe dilemma; I went to www.allrecipes.com
Their recipes are all reviewed by real life cooks that tell the nitty gritty about what they
liked, what they didn't like, what to do different, etc about the recipes.

This chicken salad recipe received 225 rave reviews so I made it last night for our dinner
to taste test it before I make it for the luncheon. Let me just say I renamed it Perfect
because it is! Delicious, colorful, easy, nutritious, and did I say delicious? My only regret
was not doubling it--we ate it all in one sitting and it's supposed to be 8 servings! The
ONLY change I made to the recipe was to use red seedless grapes instead of green. I did
that for 2 reasons: 1) the red grapes would look nicer in the salad and 2) there were no
green grapes in the store.

**I never use canned chicken, by the way. I know some people do, but trust me when I
say you want to get chicken breasts and cook them fresh for this salad. You won't regret
it one bit when you taste this.




PERFECT CHICKEN SALAD

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (fresh)
3 cups diced, cooked chicken breast meat
12/ cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts, drained & chopped
1 1/2 cups diced Swiss Cheese
1 1/2 cups halved seedless grapes

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, salt, poultry seasoning, onion
powder, garlic powder, pepper and lemon juice.

In a large bowl, toss together the chicken, celery, green onion, water chestnuts,
Swiss cheese and grapes. Add the mayonnaise mixture and stir gently to coat. Chill
until serving.

Makes 8 servings.

WITTY WEDNESDAY

Q: What do whales like to chew? 

A: Blubber gum!

EXPANSIVE AND CONTRACTIVE

I received my books from Amazon that I talked about a few posts ago. They are

even better in paperback than the hardcover I checked out of the library. (I am

such a sucker for brightly colored photos and easy to read text!) I just

started skipping through and found a fascinating article about foods we eat

having "contractive" and "expanding" properties. Certain expansive conditions

like sugar cravings and addictions can be treated with contractive foods. Isn't

that interesting?

The contractive food the article raved about was Umeboshi Plum Paste. 

The article reads: "This remarkable paste is made from a species of apricot 

and is used as a food and medicine in China, Japan and Korea. Umeboshi 

Plums are basically pickled plums. They are highly valued for their anti-

bacterial properties and as a digestive aid. Their powerful acidity has an 

alkalinizing effect on the body, neutralizing fatigue, stimulating the digestion 

and promoting elimination of toxins. Perhaps their most remarkable 

feature is their ability to dampen your desire for sugar! So get yourself a 

jar and the next time you have a serious sugar craving just dip your little 

finger in the jar, lick it off and see how fast it goes away."

I am headed to my health food store tomorrow a.m. and see if they have 

this stuff! I may have to order it, but either way I'll let you know what I think...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I saw this little metal sculpture sitting high up on a file cabinet in the 

chiropractor's office. It struck me as unique and I have an opinion what

it means. Now I have shown it to a couple of other people and they said

something completely different from what I thought. 

What do you think it means?