Quick trip to the Thrift..........................

On Friday after Thanksgiving we finally got to take the 4 poodles in to Brenda, the groomers. We had to put it off because of Bijou having surgery. Well we got the stitches out and dealt with the flea invasion and so she is all set. So along with surgery and grooming, there goes Christmas. That's OK. I have to...... I really do have to, get used to this. We can no longer afford to do all the splurging that we always do at Christmas. Each year has got leaner. Well this year I really will try to keep to what I said. So, here is this years plan. I am going to go through all my Christmas stuff. Oh boy!!!!!!

Just to show you the monumental task this will be........


I love Christmas decorations, almost as much as I love Christmas shopping, planning and buying gifts. Well when you put it all together and really look. I sort of over do things. I am not happy with just a few special things I have to do it all the way. Every year I have put away every ornament and picture in every room. Replacing them with Christmas stuff. When it's time to put away christmas it is my chance to do some Spring Cleaning. I have always really enjoyed that. Well.............I just can't do it anymore. It takes a whole day for Gerry to drag the stuff upstairs and then I pack up everything and he hauls it all downstairs to storage. Then all the empty boxes once I have put every out. Then in January sometime we do it all in reverse. I just don't want to do it any more.
So this next week I will go through all the boxes. I will decorate what I feel like doing and then as I go along I will select things to put aside for the girls and give Laura and Carrie a bunch of things. I will even set some aside for Tristen. He likes the little train that runs around the Christmas tree and I have his baby tree ornaments.
So this is two of the poodles after their grooming.

Bijou and Bella.

The groomers is right near my Thrift Shop so naturally I just had to go in and check it out.
They had a lot of Christmas stuff.........I picked up a couple of wreaths and a Santa and a couple of snowmen. Then I put them back. Well look above.............do I need them? NO NO NO.


What I did get, two purses that looked new. A glass candy dish. (can't resist glass) A nice Christmas can/box that I can use for treats to give away and a couple of books.

I wanted a new purse, and the yellow one was just right for me for summer. I had looked at yellow ones at Kohls and resisted so that was nice.

The Yellow one and a nice red one that I liked.



So I was very good and totally resisted the Christmas stuff.
I may have already got one of the books but hey I can pass that on no worry.

I have been doing something new, for me at least. I am using my own work and photo's to make meme's. No idea why. Maybe at some point with the idea of making cards with my own photo's. Until then, this gives me some practice with different programs that are available for editing. If only I could use my imagination. I love doing so many things. I would like to put it to good use and make some money but HOW????????
It is very frustrating.






































So there we are, I may have done more of these but it doesn't matter. I am posting these here only so that in time I may see some improvement. I am confused because I enjoy doing so many things and would like to be able to make some extra money. Thing is, I try too many things so can not get really good at anything. I should just get a job. I don't have enough followers on a blog to make money on a blog.........I do not know how to start or do an Etsy shop. Anyway, no matter. This is just another fun thing to do.

Quick Chicken Curry....................

One of my all time favourite meals is Chicken Curry. I have never had a really good curry since leaving England. Even in Canada it was not the same. I have found curry here in Traverse City that I have liked, but still not the same as when I get it in England. I do not know what the secret is. The ones I get in England we call it Chinese but it may be some other Oriental recipe like Thai. How would I know. All I know is it would be my number one favourite meal. The Chicken Curry we get here is thinner, the sauce is thinner. It's hot too, the one at home is hot but a bit milder maybe.
So I have tried myself, several types of curry by using pastes and powders and different ideas.Nothing comes up quite the same, even though each recipe is good in it's own way.
So, I have come up with a quick version that is passable good.

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What I use is this,
One can of Cream of Chicken Soup.
One can of Coconut milk.
1 teaspoon of Garlic salt
1 teaspoon of onion salt.
1 tablespoon of cumin
2 tablespoons of curry powder..........I use a lot more.
A handful of yellow raisins (Saltana's)
Green pepper sliced
A couple of carrots sliced longways.
Mushrooms
frozen peas
One large onion chopped. (I also chop one onion and add raw just before serving)
Salt and ground pepper.
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When I make my recipes I tend to just throw things in and taste test. So with this. I added more cumin and used a lot of curry powder. That will depend upon personal taste.
Method

Mix the chicken soup and coconut milk (you can double this if you want more)
whisk that and add all the spices until blended. Then add the onions. Simmer this for as long as you can to let the flavours mix. It would be a good slow cooker recipe.
Add the mushrooms 1/2 hour before you are ready to eat along with frozen peas.
Taste.... keep tasting. Get it just how you like with additional salt.
I Love tasting.
Serve with white rice

If I were to write a cook book of my own recipes I would really have a job. I tend to do things different each time. I love curry and I have to taste in order to get it right. So with that in mind, my own recipes have to be done as an experiment and make them your own by adding flavours. Sometimes it needs more or less salt, sometimes a little sugar, very little will just be the right thing to get it just so. Its all about the taste.
I didn't have the peppers or carrots so made this one with what I had on hand.