Thursday, August 30, 2012

Watch that watch!

 GET THAT WATCH TO MAINE......NOW!!!

  The other day I received an email indicating that I got free overnight shipping from Amazon.

So yesterday I went onto Amazon and snooped around. I've been looking for a white watch all summer, so that's what I started looking for.

I found a nice Tommy Bahama watch I had seen on other sites before, but I thought it was too expensive. For some reason, it was a lot cheaper on Amazon, so I was all set to order it.

As I was starting to order it, images of other watches appeared below this one, and there was another Tommy Bahama watch that was all yellow. For some reason it attracted my attention, and the next thing I knew, I ordered the dang yellow one! For free overnight delivery! Yessir.

I felt like a bandit. Doing something like that is out of character for me.

10:30 last night I got a text message that it was shipped.


This morning I went onto to Amazon to track my package and this is how it was shipped.

I was some impressed! Look at how quickly many men and women helped to transport my tiny watch to me overnight!






Date
Time
Location
Event Details
August 30, 2012
08:26:00 AM
So. Portland ME US
Out for delivery
August 30, 2012
08:20:00 AM
So. Portland ME US
Arrival Scan
August 30, 2012
06:32:00 AM
Manchester NH US
Departure Scan
August 30, 2012
06:09:00 AM
Manchester NH US
Arrival Scan
August 30, 2012
04:09:00 AM
Louisville KY US
Departure Scan
August 30, 2012
01:49:00 AM
Louisville KY US
Shipment received by carrier
August 29, 2012
07:06:27 PM
Campbellsville 
KY US
Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit


It was scanned in at the Manchester airport and then scanned out for departure in 23 minutes!!

And then in South Portland it was out in 6 minutes!!!!!

So here I am sitting in my p.j.'s while my new yellow watch is riding around in a UPS truck looking for me.

Ain't it wonderful?

Monday, August 6, 2012

Two Cat Day.....

Yesterday I decided to photograph the cats, every hour from 9:30am to 8:30 pm, if I could find them, to see what they're up to.

 This was the day that our Siamese, Sophie, had. I'm sure she's going to have to sleep all day today to make up for the exhausting day she had yesterday.....

In the morning, I found her on the floor in our bedroom, catnapping.

9:30 am...

10:30 am

11:30 am

12:30 pm

1:30 pm

2:30 pm.....uh...uh...is she getting up?

3:30 pm...nah.

4:30 pm

5:30 pm

6:30 pm

7:30 pm

8:30 pm....Good morning, Sophie!

Truth be told, Sophie did actually get up at least once to have a snack. I did not watch her 100% all day long, but I never had to go far to find her.


Now, Molly......

9:30 am

10:30am

11:30am

12:30 pm

1:30 pm

2:30 pm

3:30 pm

4:30 pm

5:30 pm

6:30 pm

7:30 pm

8:30 pm

So.....different strokes for different folks, is my guess.

Another purrrrrrrrrrrrfect day.           

Friday, August 3, 2012

Wine Tasting....

Every Wednesday, the Black Point Inn in Scarborough, Maine has wine tasting from 4:30 to 5:30. Mr. Downeast and I partook.




All red wines today. Wines from Australia, Fess Parker wine, Northern California vineyards and San Francisco area vineyards.

Nice selection of cracker, cheese and fruit.

The guy in the blue shirt is the wine connoisseur.





Cheers!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

I made Bagels!

I love bagels, especially Sesame Seed bagels. I like any bread.

So when I found this recipe on PINTEREST, I knew I'd be making it soon and that this recipe would not end up in the deep archives of my Pinterest boards.
And so I did.....

Here's the RECIPE.

All the dry ingredients plus the oil in my mixer.


Add the wet ingredients and mix up.


Switch to the dough hook on the mixer for kneading.

Wack away.


Forming the bagels.



Boiling the bagels.

I added Sesame Seeds to them, but ran out after two bagels. I was soooo sure I had plenty of seeds. Mr. Downeastdoingstuff must have devoured them when I was in Florida for 2 weeks.


Fresh out of the oven. 

I have to say, they taste like real bagels...even the next day!

Wow.

I've impressed myself.


Homemade bagel recipe
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsps instant yeast
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.
Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
Pre heat your oven to 425.
Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!
Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.
After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.
Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!
Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!
You can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.


UPdate: I've used this recipe many, many times. Save yourself a lot of work.....just poke your finger into the round ball, and with your fingers make the hole bigger. MUCH easier than rolling out strips and attempting to join them back together!!!