Walnut Grove Pioneer Village

A Visit to Galena, Illinois

We finally celebrated our 3rd year anniversary today at Galena, Illinois (Our anniversary is June 22). Galena is a quaint historical town full of little boutiques, little restaurants, and it has a charming feel to it. We went to an old ice cream parlor, a bakery, several gift stores, several canning stores, and specialty stores. It was a lot of fun - definitely a different pace from a big city scene. Wish we took more pictures, but there was just so much to see, to do, and our hands were full from the purchases. Nonetheless, we had a great time.

{ A colorful blown glass at one of the specialty boutique. }

{ We also visited and toured Ulysses S. Grant's house. }

{ A preserved General Store circa early 1900's beside Ulysses S. Gran'ts house. }
{ Don't mind the glare. The store was behind a glass wall. }

{ The other view of the store. It's really interesting. Very circa Anne of Green Gables. }

{ The oldest house in Galena, built 1926, located in the business district. }
{ The people are waiting for a tour of the house. }

Lunch On The Veranda #12 Absolut Spaghetti

We had a simple home cooked Italian lunch on the veranda today. On the menu lists the house salad (not pictured), my famous Absolut Spaghetti (yes it has vodka in it) Sauce, Pasta, Pan Toasted Garlic Bread, and Apple Kiwi Strawberry drink. Every time I cook it, I get compliments on how excellent it is. One of our friends said it was one of the best spaghetti sauces she had ever tasted. I'm sharing the recipe to the world. I added hot dogs to it to give it a Filipino recipe flare. The meat can easily be substituted with veggie meat (veggie crumbles and veggie hot dogs).

INGREDIENTS

Or you can purchase this all in one
Spaghetti Vodka Sauce

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion chopped
• Package of Nathan's Hotdogs (6 hotdogs) sliced
• 1 pound lean ground beef 
• 25 oz. spaghetti sauce of your choice
• 1/2 cup of vodka
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 2 drops of tabasco sauce
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• Pasta (spaghetti, rotini, or penne)
• Parmesan Cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Saute and caramelize the onions in a pot. 
2. Add ground beef and cook until brown. Add the hotdogs, mix and cover until cooked.
3. Add the spaghetti sauce and the vodka, and then mix (You can buy spaghetti sauce with vodka all in one, but it's not the same)..
4. Add sugar, Tabasco sauce, oregano, garlic salt, and pepper. Mix to a boil then simmer. Add extra ingredients as needed.
5. Pour on top of pasta. 

* HEALTH TIP - Use low carbohydrate pastas such as the Dream Fields line of pasta. We also used a low carbohydrate bread: Sara Lee 45 calorie bread, 9g carb, 5g dietary fiber per slice.

ENJOY!!! It's pretty awesome. :-)

Challenge 12: Cook 100 New Recipe Dishes

Recipe: Absolut Spaghetti

(Recipe: 9/100)

Backyard Fun

Yesterday was a beautiful day to do some garden and yard work. Dre trimmed the trees and I finally started my herb garden with my favorite herbs: cilantro, sage, basil, and chives. In the future I plan to plant thyme, mint, rosemary, and dill. I got great deals on the yellow and purple pot at Walaces for 70% off which now contain some natural treats for Jean-the-Cat: Cat Oats, and Catnip. I caught him nibbling on my single one house plant (see plant in red pot). Cat almost took it to its death a week ago. Now it's on the verge of dying. I'm very sad about it since it was a gift from Auntie Melanie when we first moved in this house two years ago. I'm thinking of what to plant in it once it fully dies. Not giving up on it yet.

Below are pictures of Dre trimming the trees in the backyard. I think we have the most trees in our property in the neighborhood. It was such a pain, but he actually enjoyed it. It took him the whole day to cut down the dying cherry tree, trim the branches off of two trees in the backyard, trim off the branches of one tree in the front yard, and then to chop it all off. Our yard was one huge mess... and it still is. We'll have to drive to the compost area after the holidays.

Below are some pictures of the bugs eating away the leaves of the tree by the porch. I'll have to find a way to get rid of them (they're mating and multiplying) since they're perhaps the responsible ones for our half dead cherry tree.

Happy Fourth of July Weekend

It's amazing what nature and the outdoors can do to a person. While taking photos with the company of Dre and Izzy, I forgot that I was sick. It was a beautiful day by the Mississippi.

As I write this blog, I see fireworks in the distance over the neighbor's roof top. It's beautiful. I'm not exactly sure when the parade and fireworks will be but hopefully I will be able to make it this year to take more photos.

Exotic Drinks

I hate being sick with a sore throat and a cold. The sore throat is gone but the cold remains. *sigh* I'm blogging from my phone so I'm not sure how this will turn out.

Anyway, last week we postponed our anniversary trip because Dre had a toothache, this week I had to postpone it because I'm sick. I was planning to stay in bed the whole day until my mother called early this morning. Apparently Binky Lou (see picture below) had the runs all night long. Then she started to vomit. We called the Animal Emergency Hospital but they were closing. Good thing Binky got an appointment at her vet this morning.

I've been drinking all these exotic natural drinks to take care of my cold but we didn't know that Binky got on the table and ate the fruits of my hot eastern european drink called kamput (see pics below). The other drinks is from a citrus fruit called calamansi, a Filipino drink. But we really gotta watch out for Binky since she thinks she's human.

I'm sick and exhausted, but I'm out and about. No rest...

Randomness

{ Was laying in bed when I saw this leaf glowing outside our window.
I had to take a picture of how gorgeous it looked. }

{ The theme of our house is genuine exotic imports from all over the world.
This was a gift from the Rankin's. It's a Japanese Shadow Box Frame that contains a beautiful Japanese scenery. }

{ Went a little crazy at Bath & Body Works. Hand soap and classic scents were only $3 each.
The shop girl also gave me a coupon so my 10 item purchase only cost $20 + tax. Score! }