A Rose is Sweet ~ Simple Joy Saturday

I was blessed this week with roses blooming in my garden.  I love flowers of all kinds and I especially love roses. This one comes from my garden. It comes from a rose bush that was in my garden when I moved in to my apartment. It has always been a spindly plant and I'm afraid I don't tend to it well. Yet it gives off such pretty blossoms each year. Only a few blossoms though and so they are rather precious to me.


Thinking about the beautiful rose brought to mind the famous Shakespearean line about roses.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

Meaning

What matters is what something is, not what it is called.

Origin

From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600:

JULIET:
      'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
      Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
      What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
      Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
      Belonging to a man. O, be some  other name!
      What's in a name? that which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet;
      So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
      Retain that dear perfection which he owes
      Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
      And for that name which is no part of thee
      Take all myself.

 

Please drop by Jan's new meme, Simple Joy Saturday by clicking here and tell us about your simple joys.

A Beautiful Sunset, Skywatch Friday

This was the view on many nights from my hotel room in downtown Vancouver. Some of my old readers will know that I stayed in a hotel for 4 months last summer after a fire in my building. It was nice to be away but nice to get home too. After all, a hotel is only novel for so long *smile. One thing I do miss is the fantastic water views and sunsets. 

Thank you for dropping by and a big shout out to all my new readers. You make me happy and I hope you will come again soon.

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A Little Bit of Knitting and A Little Bit Italian Chicken

Well today (Wednesday) was a very busy day dashing to the medical laboratory for early morning tests, stopping at the post office, doing some thrifting, dropping in on my travel agent, stopping for a lunch of Thai food, stopping at the dollar store, then rushing home to do some laundry, boil some beans and put the dinner on.

At the thrift stores I bought a number of skeins of yarn and various sized needles. I only go for "newish" yarn and needles that are not bent and well worn. I am creating my stash for when I want to branch out with new projects. For now, I am focussing on improving my very newly learned knitting skills with a simple dishcloth pattern. So far I've made four. I finally felt like I could knit on the fourth one. I am on my way! Yeah!

Here are my four facecloths. I will probably give the green/blue ones to my mom and keep the other two for myself. A friend has already asked me to make several but I want to practice other things right now as well as get better at knitting before I try to knit for others.

Given the busyness of the day and the fact it started raining I felt like having something comforting. I don't know what to call this made up and simple recipe so am calling it A Little Bit Italian Chicken *smile.


Recipe:

- 4 medium to large chicken thighs with legs attached
- Italian seasoning
- 1 large can of diced tomatoes
- a handful of parsley.

I baked the chicken pieces with a sprinkling of Italian seasoning on top. The chicken was baked at about 350 Farenheit oven until crispy brown. Once it was browned, I drained out as much fat out of the pan as possible. I then added a large can of diced tomatoes to the chicken along with some chopped parsley and more Italian seasoning. Continue cooking at same temperature for another 20 minutes or so.

Side dishes

Brown Rice
Red Kidney Beans


I bought dried beans and soaked them overnight changing the water twice and rinsing them after the 2nd soak and just before boiling. After such a long soak it didn't take so long to cook them by bringing them to a gentle boil for about 45 minutes. Now if you decide to make your beans this way, you can cook them longer or shorter depending on how crunchy you like your beans.

I like bland foods more than some so if the rice and beans are too bland for your taste you can add other seasonings. Likewise with the chicken, if the tomatoes and Italian seasoning is too bland you can add something like crushed garlic to the "sauce" before baking.

To serve place one piece of chicken leg and thigh on plate alongside a few scoops of rice. Top the rice with your beans and the tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper as needed and a sprig of parsley to garnish.

Another Sunrise ~ My World Tuesday

All week I have had difficulties sleeping. I go to sleep but wake up all night long. I don't sleep well at the best of times but this week was the worst in awhile. I pulled an all nighter last night.  Since I was awake at sunrise I took some photos.

I never cease to be in awe of a beautiful sunrise or sunset.  I also love all of natural creation and any living or growing thing. I know that's a lot but I simply love God's creation.

Click here to share your world.  http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Big Blue Bowl of Congee

It has been awhile since I had Chinese rice congee in my big blue bowl. Rice congee is a type of rice porridge/soup eaten in many Asian countries.

In this instance, I had mixed meat congee with a sliced Chinese donut (not sweet) on top.  I had a side dish of noodles with veggies, seafood and chinese mushrooms. I got these dishes from the restaurant in my building on one recent, cold and rainy day.  The congee hit the spot and the blue bowl is always my favourite as it is just the perfect size to have a generous serving without things spilling over.

Thanks for joining me on Blue Monday. 

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