White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Tart

Top Ten Recipe Update 

 I am able to view daily which recipes are sought. I find it fulfilling to follow all but especially the top ten recipes. The previous check I did was March 7, 2024. Today I have a 4 month and nine day update with the number of recipe posts sought.

Tony Roma Coleslaw  6115 + 48 = 6191

Lazarus Chicken Salad  3725 + 195 = 4033

Kale Salad  3781 + 26 = 3807

White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Tart  3101 + 54 = 3188

Raclette Party  2235 + 31 = 2266

Lazarus Bread Pudding  1874 + 33  = 1907

Tuscan Soup  1435 + 55  = 1490

Martha Stewart  Lemon Meringue Pie  1371 + 22 = 1393

Boursin Polenta  1274 + 57 = 2191

Stratacella Semiffredo  1308 +13 = 1321

Sage

Sage

 On a visit to Sicily I found a Sage Leaf on my pillow and a card with this explanation.  Its name comes from the Latin word"salvus", meaning healthy, because of its many virtues.  Sage gives us incredibly fragrant leaves with a relaxing effect, ideal for anxiety and mental fatigue.

May 1st, 2024

 May 1st, 2024

May is to many the beginning of summer.  People are celebrating religious achievements or celebrations, Mothers Day, bridal showers, graduations, weddings, summer vacations, outdoor activities, and all of the reasons cooking requires easy or quick meals and dining with friends.  

Maintaining a blog requires much time in a day and usually I can count on 2 to 3 hours daily.  While I do not have names, I have the number of visitors each day and which recipes or posts are sought.  I do know when old posts of my family are sought I am aware who finds that of interest.  

In March I had 20,006 visitors for the month.  On the last day of April  readership for the month was at 13,124.  June 2024 had a readership of 2,014.

I will not be posting daily while readership is low.  I too will be planning and attending the activities the same as you.

Thank you for your past support and I hope you will continue to follow and use the recipes on: Dine With Donna.

Your Navel

                                              Your Navel

The Navel (aka: The Belly button):

Did you know why to put different oils in and on the belly button?

Our Navel (Nabhi), is an amazing gift that our Creator has given us. According to science, the first part created after conception is the navel. After it is created, it joins the mother's placenta through the umbilical cord.

Our Navel is surely an amazing thing! All our veins are connected to our navel, which makes it the focal point of our body. The belly button is life itself!

The "Pechoti" is behind the navel, which has more than 72,000 veins. The total amount of blood vessels we have in our body is equal to double the circumference of the earth.

We knew that to lower the temperature to the babies, we put a cotton swab with alcohol in the navel, now we know that with oil, it's better.

Applying oil in the navel heals the dryness of the eyes, poor view, the pancreas, the heels, and chapped lips, keeps the face bright, the hair healthier, for knee pain, the chills, lethargy, pain in the joints and dry skin.

Apply Neem Oil in your belly button - to get rid of stubborn pimples and acne

Apply Almond Oil in your belly button- to help achieve a glowing face

Apply Mustard Oil in your belly button - to get rid of dry, chapped lips. Will also keep your intestines moving to remove harmful bacteria but keep the good. Actually works as a mild detox.

Apply olive oil or coconut oil - to improve your fertility

Keep alcohol dipped cotton on your belly button - to cure a cold, flu and a running nose. When a baby has stomach pain, we put a few drops directly in the navel and we give the massage around the naval a few minutes, the pain is cured. Oil works the same way.

Keep brandy-soaked cotton ball on your belly button - to ease menstrual pain and cramps

Sesame Oil is used for all types of joint pains. It is also known to strengthen bones. Many parents use in their children every night at bedtime.

Use an equal amount of Mustard Oil And Ginger Oil For Upset Stomach, Bloating, Nausea and digestive problems.

Using Warm Ghee improves blood flow to the nervous system and also enhances the immunity system. It cures constipation and builds a strong digestive system. It gives relief from joint pain.

Thyme oil is anti-spasmodic, it helps relax your arteries and veins, lowering blood pressure and stress to your heart. It may also help strengthen and tone your heart muscles.

As a diuretic, Thyme oil may help your body to remove excess water, salt and toxins from your body, helping with weight, blood pressure, digestion, and more.

Thyme oil is an expectorant, which means it can help remove mucus from your airways and lungs. Thyme oil is approved by Germany’s Commission E in the treatment of bronchitis, whooping cough, and upper respiratory inflammation.

Remember Thyme oil is a powerful compound and should not be used directly on your skin, as this can cause sensitization and irritation. It must first be diluted with a carrier oil (like olive oil, coconut oil, or almond oil)

Thymus Vulgaris) Essential Oil 100% Pure Therapeutic Grade is what you look for.

FOR KNEE PAIN *

At night before bed, put 3 drops of Castor oil in your navel and spread it 1 and a half inches around your navel.

FOR TREMORS AND LETHARGY, PAIN RELIEF IN YOUR JOINTS AND DRY SKIN

At night before bed, put 3 drops of mustard oil in your navel and spread it 1 and a half inches around your navel.

WHY PUT OIL IN AND AROUND YOUR BELLY BUTTON?

Your Navel can detect which veins have dried up and by putting oil, those nerves open them...

You can keep a small drip jar with the oil required next to your bed and place a few drops in your navel before going to sleep.

December 30, 2016

My Dear Friends;
I will return to posting on my blog on January 18.  Hope to have much new items of interest.  Thank you for stopping by!  Donna

The Great Wall

The Great Wall

If you noticed the blogger was MIA. The reason, I took a trip to Beijing and Shanghai.  The biggest accomplishment for me was waking the Great Wall.  I was one of two women to accomplish the feat.   Steps are uneven, irregular and built into the terrain,  coupled with altitude making them difficult to climb.

The Love Of My Life

R.I.P. Dear Husband

Born July 29, 1935

Departed July 2, 2012

*

Departed to soon but God was waiting. He was a masterpiece of what a Gentleman is. In your caring way, you went to prepare a place for me to join you.

Prevent Berries From Molding

I received this email from a friend today and couldn't wait to share this great piece of helpful information. Thank you Alice!

Berries are delicious, but they're also kind of delicate. Raspberries in particular seem like they can mold before you even get them home from the market. There's nothing more tragic than paying $4 for a pint of local raspberries, only to look in the fridge the next day and find that fuzzy mold growing on their insides. Well, with fresh berries just starting to hit farmers markets, we can tell you that how to keep them fresh! Here’s a tip I’m sharing on how to prevent them from getting there in the first place: Wash them with vinegar. When you get your berries home, prepare a mixture of one part vinegar (white or apple cider probably work best) and ten parts water. Dump the berries into the mixture and swirl around. Drain, rinse if you want (though the mixture is so diluted you can't taste the vinegar,) and pop in the fridge. The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on the surface of the fruit, and voila! Raspberries will last a week or more, and strawberries go almost two weeks without getting moldy and soft. So go forth and stock up on those pricey little gems, knowing they'll stay fresh as long as it takes you to eat them. You're so berry velcome! PS...it also removes pesticides!!

What To Do With Leftover Easter Candy

1. Donate it to homeless shelters. Wrap up candy in treat bags and donate it to children who probably didn’t get any Easter candy.

2. Use your Peeps creatively. Turn leftover Peeps into vodka-soaked Peeptinis and Peep Waldorf Salad.

3. Create jelly bean art. Kids can draw pictures, trace the lines with frosting or blue, and decorate with brightly colored jelly beans.

4. Chop up chocolate bunnies and chicks that won’t get eaten, freeze the pieces and pull out to use like chocolate chips in cookies and other goodies.

5. Any candy that is heat-resistant can be added to shoeboxes along with other needed items for our troops as part of Operation Shoe Box. If the kids are off from school this week, this might be a great project for them to choose all the nonmelting candy in their stash, shop for the rest of the items and box it up and send it off before school starts again.

6. Fondue. Make bunny fondue and dip lots of fresh fruit in it.

7. Use Peeps in a flower arrangement. If you’re doing some spring entertaining, this is a cute idea. Peeps are pressed against the inside of a short glass vase, and a smaller glass is place inside for the water and flowers.

Mountain Meadow Mushroom Farm

Mountain Meadow Mushroom Farm

Another fun thing I do is conduct tours for the Oaks North Travel Club. Conduct is explained. I choose the destination, work up a budget, advertise the trip at the Club meetings, charter a bus, collect the checks, call everyone a week prior, meet them at the Club House and away we go!

This is a clump of the growing medium which has been recently sown. The growing medium is cotton plant hulls, grape seed and skins crushed, dry wall, and sterilized straw.

The plant is beginning to develop.

The fruit of the plant is the mushroom. Three pickings or growths will occur from each planting. This shows the area where a "picker" cut mushrooms today.

This photo shows the 8,000. lbs. of mushrooms picked today and waiting to be sorted, graded and packaged for distribution. The State of California does not allow retailing at the plant. Mushrooms are sold to distributors.

***

Mountain Meadow Mushroom Farm

What could entertain a "Foodie" more than a trip to a food source. I was always told that I should be so careful about the specks on mushrooms as the mushrooms are grown in manure. I have always made a very laborious task of cleaning my mushrooms. I now know they are grown in sterilized straw from the Del Mar Race Track. Compounding the growing medium is a real science as the many components contribute to a vital balance of the chemistry. After three cuttings the growing medium is placed on a compost pile and given to local gardeners. The next sowing requires new growing medium. The tour was very interesting.

Happy Birthday Oreo

Happy Birthday Oreo

I confess that not every lunch I packed for our children years ago had a home baked cookie in the sack. Oreos made it to one hundred because of mothers like me. Today I still say a glass of milk for dunking and a plate of oreos, now that is comfort food. Right children?

Meet #23 Phil M.

Meet Grandson Phil

Today we attended the freshman basketball game of our grandson Phil. Good job Phil. Love those three shot throws!

A Day In The Sun and Surf

Click On Photos To Enlarge

Don, Barbara and Ron

The Pink Sand

The Pounding Surf

Rock Carved By The Surf

The Fifty Mile View From The Nepenthe Restaurant

***

Yesterday we spent a part of the day hiking at The Julia Phieffer State Beach. The scenic drive along Highway 1 lured many to the outdoors to create those last memories of 2011. The weather was perfect for that walk on the beach. Children couldn't resist getting close to the water's edge and unable to swiftly scramble beating the rushing tide and wet feet. It is always entertaining to watch when the children are not yours! The final reward was lunch at the Nepenthe Restaurant with a fifty mile coastline view.

Solar Lights

Solar Lights

One of the newer items available at www.environmental lights.com are these solar lights. Available in the clear lights or multi-color, these lights require stringing no electrical cords. The brilliance of these lights is amazing and can be set with several different modes. The solar collector is a very sturdy built receptacle and with an attached stake can be placed in the ground. We are using our lights strung across the patio during the summer months. These lights are a boon to the folks who love to decorate out of doors during the Christmas holiday season. Technology can replace a stressful life!

Knotthole Bed & Breakfast

click to enlarge photo

Our Guest Room, "The Moose Room"

Knotthole Bed and Breakfast

High atop a hill in the Snoqualmie Valley just east of Seattle in Easton WA. is the Knotthole Bed and Breakfast. Host and Hostess Howard and Laurie Knott graciously await your arrival. The home site view is breath taking but inside the lovely home these two visionaries dreamed, planned, designed and built. One is just captivated by the detail and carefully appointed features of this warm and welcoming home.

One awakens mornings to the gentle breeze whispering through the pines in unison with the melodic chirping of the birds. Hummingbirds can be seen flitting to and fro from the feeders or gleaning nectar from the blooms of the many flowers. It is natures best show only topped by the fine meals prepared by hostess Laurie! I will be posting some of Laurie's recipes, so do return to the blog for the recipes and my photos.

The guest rooms are so cleverly named and decorated in theme. Our room was the Moose Room. We were greeted by a large moose resting on our bed with clever moose decor thoughout. One can most appreciate the clever mind of the couple after viewing the Bed and Breakfast!

Out of doors the beautiful rock garden at the end of the inviting patio is landscaped with colorful endemic plantings and is the visiting spot of large monarch butterflies. A waterfall incorporated in the rock garden flows along the length of the back of the home. An outdoor fire pit is cleverly accompanied by three chain saw art bear cubs "roasting marshmallows".

The interior of the home displays the beautiful art chosen as a compliment to the harmony of the couple's exquisite taste. All in all when you are greeted by Laurie and Howard Knott, you will immediately feel you have found your home away from home. Visit the site www.KnottholeBandB.com

Please check back as I will be posting several of my photos along with more postings.

Day 1 Return

Day 1 Return

Today it is unpacking, laundry, restocking the refrigerator, and above all collecting my thoughts of such a wonderful vacation with all of our children and the grandchildren. Stop by tomorrow as I begin a recap of our time away beginning with the Knotthole Bed & Breakfast and then on to Alaska. This photo was taken from the site www.Knotthole Bed & Breakfast. Do check it out!

Cellphone Dropped In Water?

Did You Ever Drop

Your Cellphone In Water?

This happens to everyone at least once!

Did you just drop your cellphone in water? Or maybe you'd like to know what to do if that happens! This week on Upgrade Your Life, Yahoo! News' Becky Worley shows us first aid techniques for rescuing a drowned smartphone.

To test them out, Becky took a BlackBerry, a Droid, and an iPhone, and dropped all three into room temperature water for 60 seconds. Then she went through the following steps:

Step 1: Do NOT turn on the phone

Why do water and smartphones not mix? Because the water shorts out your smartphone's electrical circuits. So whatever you do, don't turn it on to check to see if it still works.

Step 2: Pull out the battery and SIM card

You want to remove anything removeable: Pull out the battery, the SIM card and the memory card, if your phone has one. As long as that battery's in there it's providing power to your phone, and that's what you need to stop immediately.

Some phones, like the iPhone, don't have a removable battery. Unfortunately, you'll just have to skip this step and hope for the best if you dunk one of them.

Step 3: Freshwater rinse

Did you drop your phone in salt water? The salt can corrode your device. So after you pull out the battery and SIM card, immerse your phone in fresh water to rinse out the salt.

Step 4: Dry your phone using compressed air

If you have a compressed air can handy -- the kind that's used to clean computers or keyboards -- run it full-blast all over your phone, with the back cover taken off if you can. A vacuum cleaner also works, even though it's pulling the air in the other direction. As long as it's blowing cool air over those circuits to dry them out, it's all good.

Don't stick your phone in the oven, even on low. The heat can warp your phone's circuits, and melt its internal components. You shouldn't use a blow dryer either, unless it has a heatless setting. A fan might help, but a microwave is out of the question.

Step 5: Cover your phone with uncooked rice

The premise of our experiment was to test if putting a wet phone into a sealed container of rice would actually dry it out, and bring it back form the dead. See, the idea behind the rice is that the dry grains will absorb moisture. So get a sealable plastic container, and fill it with enough rice to cover your smartphone. (A plastic zipper bag will work too, in a pinch.) Then bury your phone in the rice, along with its battery and other parts. You'll want to wait at least 24 hours for the rice to do its job -- Becky waited for 48 hours, in her test.

What would work better than rice? Silica gel, the stuff in those packets that keep new clothes or shoes dry. But most of us don't have a shoebox full of the stuff laying around, so rice will probably have to do. It may get pieces of rice into the crevices and cavities in your smartphone, but this is an emergency, and time is of the essence.

Should you use white or brown rice? It doesn't matter, so long as it's hard and dry and uncooked. You can even use rice from boxed meals like Rice-a-Roni. Just don't add in the seasoning packet, unless you want your phone to smell like mixed vegetables.

Step 6: Turn your phone back on

After you've waited at least 24 hours, it's time for the moment of truth. Reassemble your phone, charge it and try to power it on.

The results of our experiment weren't encouraging: the BlackBerry that Becky tested did restart, with no seeming long-term damage. But the iPhone and the Droid were dead. After two days in the rice and a full battery charge, neither phone came back to life.

One in three may be slim odds. But since water damage isn't covered by most warranties, it can't hurt to try.

Grandma's Bragging Rite

Grandma's Bragging Rites

Tuesday was "Promotion" of the 5Th Grade at Chaparral Elementary School in Poway CA. Our granddaughter Olivia was President of the Student Body which gave her the distinguished honor of presenting the class speech. She also received a medal for Citizenship. Well done, Olivia! You have made us proud!

Our Graduate

Meet Our Graduate

Today Philip graduates from 8th Grade. His future academic plans are attending Sacred Heart Prep School in Atherton CA. Philip received the class award for Most Improved in English Studies. Congrats Phil!

Meet Grandson Philip

Meet Grandson Philip

Philip is our youngest grandson. This photo was taken following his Confirmation on May 13. We celebrated with a dinner at Carpaccio's Restaurant in Menlo Park, CA. The ceremony was made very special with the request that his Grandmother be his sponsor.