Dear Spiralling Westward (aka Poor Neglected Blog),

Sorry I haven't been around this week. I really do have a number of things to post, but I can't seem to get my home computer straightened out, and library hours are less than convenient sometimes. Dad's having some more health adventures, so most of my library computer time is spent emailing family.

You know I'm still very fond of you and would never abandon you; you'll just have to be patient for another week or two until my computer comes home again. Then I'll tell you all about Iron Horse Park, and Pineapple Crisp, and the perfume recipe I made from The Scented Woman.

Hang in there, blog, and don't give up hope.

Love,
Nantares

Just another quick post so that i can actually make the case that I posted something this week.

*rolls eyes*

Dad's back home and doing far better than I'd dared to hope and this was sort of a normal week, so that's nice as far as it goes. Family is going to invade this weekend, though, so although I do have other stuff to post, it will be a few days before I get to it.

And right now my brain cells are tired.

Proof? I had to type "cells" three times before I got the spelling right.

Have a great weekend!
 

Just a quick post to let you know I won't be posting for awhile. :P

Dad's recuperated enough from his out-of-state medical adventures that he's ready to come home, so I'm going to be gone for the rest of the week and weekend.

Have a great week, enjoy the weather, etc., etc., etc..
 

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cups pecan halves
2 Tblsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large skillet, melt butter. Add cumin and cayenne; cook and stir for one minute. Remove from heat; stir in pecans, sugar, and salt until well-coated. Spread in a single layer on a greased 15"x10"x1" baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Cool. Store in an airtight container.

Yield: 3 cups

- Probably from a Reiman publication.

I see my entry from last week disappeared into the ether, so I thought I'd better get something else posted here before this week ends up blank, too.

Anyway, I like this recipe, but it could use just a bit of futzing with. I think it's just too salty as is. Maybe... about half the salt... cut down on the cumin, too... and up the cayenne. Cayenne spiced pecans aren't any fun if you can barely taste the cayenne.

By the way, here's a question for the grammar nerds out there: Is it more properly "cayenne spiced pecans" or "cayenne-spiced pecans"? The title on the recipe card is hyphen-free, but it doesn't feel right....
 

A couple of parks off of the Parks to Visit list to report...

Trendwood is one of those stretches of greenspace with a row of houses on either side and a little gully down the middle. It's officially at 77th and A Streets, and... well, if there's anything more to it than that, I'll be darned if I could see it.

Henry, on the other hand, is along 44th Street, along Prescott. It seems to be a nice family park, with playground equipment, picnic tables and shelters, and even a tennis court. It was empty when I was there, but I somehow got the impression that it gets a lot of use.

Well, it seems like the weather's finally going to warm back up a bit so... eh, I probably shouldn't say that. The last time I even thought that, we ended up with snow a couple of days later. I'll just say that I'd like to make a large dent in the Parks to Visit list this year, so I'd better get moving whenever I can. :P

Well, at least I think it's smaller than Dahle, Nebraska. I de-hermitted again a couple of Saturdays ago and went to another unincorporated village in Seward County: Ruby.

Ruby is north of I-80 and east of Highway 15, south of Seward. It exists on Ruby Road and, as far as I can tell, consists of one house and a farmers co-op. Okay, there is one other house sort of east of the co-op and first house... but let's just say I didn't see any signs claiming a population of forty-six, like Dahle. In fact, I didn't see any population signs at all (and Ruby has no census information online). I did notice what appears to be an RV park nearby (a quarter to a half a mile away). I had no idea anything like that was even in the area, but it's not far from the interstate, so I suppose it's a handy location.

I'd been to Ruby before, but I could have sworn there were a few houses, closer together. That was a long, long time ago, though, so either things have changed a lot or I'm misremembering (certainly possible). Either way, it was kind of fun to see that Ruby is still hanging in there...
 

1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tblsp lime juice
2 Tblsp soy sauce
1 Tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper or crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
4 cups cooked pasta noodles

In a small saucepan, mix together all of the ingredients except the cooked noodles and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes.

In a large bowl, toss the spicy peanut sauce with the noodles. Serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings

- The Humane Society of the United States' Guide to Vegetarian Eating

Finally belatedly getting this posted! I tried this last month, in honor of March being both National Peanut Month and National Noodle Month. Good, good stuff! I should have paid more attention to the "to taste" part regarding the crushed red pepper flakes, though. Will cut it down to about 1/2 Tablespoon next time, so my nose won't run.

Well, I do have more Mission 101 things to post, but I'll be heading out of state Tuesday night for several days of visiting my dad and I need every spare minute to get ready, it seems. He's finally out of the hospital, but is staying at a friend's house, getting physical therapy from home health workers. He's not quite ready to come home yet, so I thought it was time for another visit to see how things are really going.

Hope all is well with all of you. Wish me luck with Amtrak. :)