The other night in Clintondale

My parents got back from their trip up north on friday afternoon. They covered a lot of ground in 3 days, driving up to Lake Placid, then over to Lake Champlain, VT and crossing it - first by ferry then by bridge. They spent one night outside of Burlington and the day after visited Ben & Jerry's and Stowe. After that, a slow drive through Vermont on the smaller roads. Sounds like a trip we will have to do some day.


I had an interesting week on my movie and worked till 5.30 friday morning after which I rudely awakened James and we got in the car and drove straight up. I fell asleep somewhere on the George Washington bridge and woke up  in Clintondale. We got a few more hours of sleep although I really wanted to get right out in the yard and water plants and fill up bird feeders. Just look at our grass!!!

This was a giant bald spot not too long ago. HAHA - triumph. And the dappled willows are liking their placement too.

Lots of happy new white and pink shoots.

I bought Andouille sausage last week with no plan in particular but we're getting adventurous with our cooking and I decided to make Jambalaya. 

Jambalaya

1 red pepper

1 onion

2 celery stalks

1 garlic clove

Dice and fry.

When soft add 3 tablespoons of parsley and 4 diced Andouille sausages.

Continue to fry.

Add 2 cans (28 ounces) of diced tomatoes and 1 small can (8 ounces) of tomato sauce and let it simmer for 5 mins.

Then add 3/4 cup of rice and let it boil until the rice is soft.

Finally add 1 pound of raw, peeled shrimp. When they are pink the Jambalaya is done!

We like a little bit of heat as long as you can taste the food, and I added a little bit of cayenne somewhere in the middle of cooking, but the Andouille adds it's own heat as well.

It's been an interesting May so far weather wise. When I told my friend Susanne who is visiting from Sweden to pack everything between a bikini and a winter parka I wasn't kidding. But more about weather AND WIND in my next post. This is friday night, when it was still spring, and we sat outside and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.