Corporal Punishment

My son Landon advised me to never, ever take any pictures while I'm driving. Excellent advice. I was at a stop light awhile back though when I saw this bumper sticker on the car in front of me. Since I was stopped, I figured it was okay, so I zipped open my backpack/camera bag/purse, dug out my camera and snapped this shot. I thought it was so funny.

My mom never whacked us with a rubba slippa. She preferred a hanger or a yardstick. I preferred getting hit by the yardstick. The hanger hurt like hell and the yardstick usually broke, cutting your lickings short.

Mr. Nitta, my 6th grade teacher, possessed a huge paddle although he rarely used it. When he did use it, it would be just one loud whack on the butt in front of the whole class. And you had to sign the paddle after your punishment. No girls ever got hit, only boys.

Off the subject, but talking about Mr. Nitta's class - one of the projects we had in Mr. Nitta's class was to put together an insect collection. We each had to collect a minimum of 20 different insects. I used a cardboard cigar box to house my collection. Jason Arakawa's dad constructed a wooden display case for Jason, complete with a glass top . . . sooooo show-off. I had accumulated quite a nice collection, but on the day before the project was due I still only had 19 insects. I saw a mosquito flying around on the window screen, and although I already had a mosquito I caught it. I labeled one "male" and the other "female" . . . soooooo smart, yeah. I got a C-.

Sunday at CQ's House

I spent this past Sunday morning at CQ's house. Her home has an open and inviting feel to it, like you could just drop in at any ole time and always be welcome.

I thought I was there to take follow-up photos of Connor who is now almost 3 months old.
CQ had other plans.
She surprised me by putting together a small-kine birthday celebration for me! Here she's making a sauce to go with some steak.
It was super, super ono.
These potatoes were da bomb. She said she boils them first and them fries them in butter after seasoning with garlic salt and pepper.
This is fried salmon skin that CQ just whipped up 'cause Leslie said that it was her favorite. I think CQ said that she put garlic salt, pepper and basil in some beaten eggs, dipped the skin in the egg and panko before frying. It was super ono.
This mango came from their yard. It was soooo sweet.
Brandee came . . .
as well as Les and Marvin.
Thank you, thank you, thank you CQ. I can't find the words to express what an unreal friend you are. I feel blessed.

Cinnamon Rolls

Are you sitting down? Guess what . . . I MADE THIS!! I can hardly believe it myself. I found the recipe online. It's called Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls.

You can click on the link for the recipe, but basically this is what I did. Dissolve the yeast in 1 c. warm milk.

Add 1/2 c. granulated sugar, 1/3 c. margarine, 1 tsp. salt, 2 eggs and 4 c. flour. Mix well.

Knead dough into a large ball.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour or until it doubles in size.

This is how mine looked after 1 1/2 hours. It never doubled in size.

Roll dough until it is approximately 21" x 16 ".

Make filling with 1 c. brown sugar and 2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon.

Spread 1/3 c. softened margarine over dough and sprinkle filling.

Carefully roll dough.

Cut dough into 12 slices. Here is a neat trick I learned awhile back. Use dental floss to cut the slices. It works really well.

I use the dental floss to notch off the slices too.

Place pieces in a 9 x 13 inch pan. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I let the dough rise again for another hour.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. I thought it was a mistake . . . only 10 minutes. Didn't seem right, but after 10 minutes this is what it looked like, and it was cooked on the inside too.

Whip up the icing using 1 block of margarine, 1/2 block of cream cheese, 1/2 t. vanilla and 1/8 t. salt (I didn't even bother putting the salt).

I let the rolls cool a little bit before putting on the icing. I didn't use it all. Hard to believe it came out, yeah! You DO know that if I can do it, you can too.

Jingle and Jai

Jingle and Jai belong to Bobbi, a former co-worker of mine. They are just so cute and adorable. I had a great time shooting them . . . my first try at pet photography! Thanks Bobbi!! It was fun.

Sweet Paradise Chocolatier

Sweet Paradise Chocolatier is located next to Saku Restaurant. According to their brochure the chocolates are made in Hawaii (I think the Big Island) by a former gemologist who travelled frequently to Belgium on diamond-buying excursions. It was in Belgium that she discovered fine chocolate and after retiring, spent three years getting trained professionally in artisan chocolate making.

I went to check it out yesterday before shooting the onolicious food at Saku Restaurant.

Rieko bought a box for me!!

This is the first layer.

This is the second layer. Sooo pretty, I hate to eat it.