Due to Popular Demand, True Irish Stew

Irish Stew

3 lbs chunks of lamb (meat and bone from the neck)
8 large potatoes
3 onions
4 turnips
6 carrots
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoonful of mushroom essence
salt and pepper

1. Peel and cube potatoes. Scrape,trim and cube turnips and carrots. Skin and slice the onions. With some Celtic music playing in the background ( live is nice, live is good) prepare your stew in the following celtic seaworthy manner, and I quote:
On the bilge lay the quartered potatoes; on the potatoes lay the chunks of mutton, on the mutton sprinkle salt and pepper, on this lay the slices of onion,on the onion spread the carrot and turnicubes in a thick tarpaulin; on the cubed vegetables more salt and pepper; over all pour three full cups of cold water. Then batten down the hatches with a snug pot lid and put it on the fire.
2. Once the water comes to a boil, reduce the fire so that the stew may simmer for two and one half hours.
3. Blend one tablespoon of flour with a little water to make a thin cream. Pour this into the stew 5 minutes before the simmering is complete. Add a little mushroom essence or ketchup and you are good to go.

With Thanks To Fiona, Fellow Educator and Irishwoman

Begin the Day with Friendliness

There is a person I know who has problems with everyone they come in contact with. Everyone they meet is either too fat, too thin, too obnoxious, too something...,they always had something negative to say, for this person nothing was ever right and isn't it a shame that they had to deal with such awkwardness on a daily basis.
This person has very few friends. The individual once asked me why this was so. I told them to be more friendly.

Begin the day with friendliness
and only friends you'll find
Yes, greet the dawn with happiness
keep happy thoughts in mind

salute the day with peaceful thoughts
and peace will fill your heart
begin the day with joyful soul
and joy will be your part

begin the day with friendliness
keep friendly all day long
keep in your soul a friendly thought
your heart a friendly song

have in your mind a word of cheer
for all who come your way
and they bless you too in turn
and wish you ,"happy day."

Begin each day with friendly thoughts
and as the day goes on
keep friendly, loving good and kind
just as you were at dawn

the day will be a friendly one
and then at night you'll find
that you were happy all day long
through friendly thoughts in mind.

The Chocolate Education Cookie ( with nuts:O)

1 1/4 stick of butter 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 cup of sugar 1 egg beaten
1/2 cup of finely ground
blanched almonds 1 tablespoon of brandy

preheat oven to 300. In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in almond and egg. Blend in flour and brandy. Spray a cookie sheet with butter flavored pam. Spray a leaf cookie mold with pam as well and with a spatula add cookie dough into the mold , trim off excess and turn out on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until edges are golden, remove cool and ice.

Icing

4 ounces of dark sweet chocolate.

In the top of a double boiler melt chocolate and stir briefly with spatula. Ice cookie leaves. Use toothpick to draw lines resembling veining on a leaf. These keep for weeks. Sell at your school bake sale.

Why Can't We All Just Get Along

Sooner or later a person , if they are wise, discovers that life is a mixture of good days and bad, victory and defeat, give and take. They learn that it doesn't pay to be a sensitive soul, that one should let somethings go over ones head or slide like water off a duck's back. They learn that one who loses their temper usually loses. They learn that everyone has burnt toast for breakfast now and then and not to take the other person's grouch so seriously. They learn that carrying a chip on ones shoulder is the easiest way to get into a fight. They learn that the quickest way to become unpopular is to carry tales and gossip about others. They learn that most people are human and it doesn't hurt to smile and say "good morning," even when it is raining. They learn its okay not to make a hit every time because experience shows, if one gives one's best, the average will break pretty well. They learn that no one ever made it to first base alone and that it is only through cooperative effort that we move on to better things.
Today everyone is complaining about the economy. Moaning over what cannot be helped is a confession of futility and of fear, of emotional stagnation, of selfishness and cowardnice. The best way to break this morbid cycle is to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about other people. You can lighten your load by doing something kind for someone else. By the simple device of doing an outward unselfish act today, you can make the past recede. The present and future will again take on their true challenge and perspective. Today do a random act of kindness.

Recipe of the Day, Banana Cake

4 tablespoons of butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 cup of sifted flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3 bananas peeled and sliced lengthwise
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of fresh or dried grated coconut

Cream butter and sugar, beat until light and fluffy, add eggs and beat well. Sift flour, salt and baking soda together and add to the wet mixture, blending well. Butter an 8 inch baking pan and dust lightly with flour ( or spray with butter flavored cooking spray) Pour the batter into the plan spreading it as evenly as possible. Arrange banana slices on top. Sprinkle with the lemon juice, brown sugar and coconut. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool. Turn out carefully and serve with whipped cream.
Share with neighbors, friends, and enjoy:O)

Malama Pono
The Geek Mom

Start Your Day With Kind Words And A Smile

"If You Don't Like Yourself, You Can't Like Other People." Lazurus Long

Affirmations are a good thing. There is nothing like hearing wonderments about oneself even if you are the only one saying them. I'm in love with a wonderful guy (girl) myself:O) Getting up in the morning and starting the day saying something nice to yourself and about yourself is a good thing. Start your day with kind words to yourself and a smile.

A Smile

A smile cost nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes last forever. None is so rich or mighty that they can get along without it, and none is so poor but that they can be made rich by it. A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in business, and is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad and it is nature's best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as the one who has no more to give.
Today I wish you a cookie and a smile, recipe for cookie below:O)

Smile Cookies ( To be passed around the office, the neighborhood, the classroom etc...)

1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup of milk
1/2 tsp of vanilla
2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 ground cinnamon

Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla; beat well. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, blend well. Divide in half. Cover and chill for 1 hour or more. On lightly floured surface , roll each half to 1/8 inch thickness for thin cookies or 1/4 inch for thick. Cut in desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes for thin, or 10 to 12 minutes for thick. Smile, Share and Enjoy.

Malama Pono
The Geek Mom