When you fall for someones’s personality everything about them becomes beautiful
With Personality comes love – HaliPawz
Monthly Archives: June 2015
Cheese, it’s not just for plain snacking anymore – HaliPawz
Do you like a nice protein filled snack throughout the day? Tired of snacking on just a plain cube of cheese? Here is a great recipe to take your cheese cubes to a whole new level.
Ingredients:
Cheese Cubes – I prefer Colby Jack cubes and Sharp Cheddar cubes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Rosemary
Thyme
In a container with a lid, drop your Cheese cubes in. I tend to only put in the number of cubes I want to eat within a 24 – 48 hour time period
Drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle with some Rosemary and Thyme
Put the lid on it and shake shake shake
Remove the lid and enjoy!
Colby Jack Cheese Cubes with Olive Oil, Rosemary, and Thyme
Makes an attractive, unique appetizer when hosting a gathering as well.
Enjoy!
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Capitalizing on fame to pick the party to sue; Caitlyn Jenner gets the odds this week – Paula Halifax
A second lawsuit was filed against Caitlyn Jenner for an accident she was involved in back in February before she transitioned and was Bruce Jenner.
Talent Manager, Jessica Marie Steindorff, claims Caitlyn, when she was Bruce, operated her vehicle “negligently, carelessly, recklessly, and wontonly” and caused the collision.
This is where I have to pause from sharing the story to sharing my thoughts. According to all counts of the story, Steindorff was in a 2010 Toyota Prius, stopped in traffic (Car #1) when she was rear ended by a white Lexus (Car #2). So far, I would say the white Lexus CAUSED the collision.
The Lexus was rear ended by Jenner’s Black Caddilac Escalade SUV (Car 3) TOWING a trailer with an all-terrain vehicle on it. This impact propelled the Lexus into traffic where it collided with a black Hummer H2(Car 4). Sadly, the driver of the white Lexus, Kim Howe (69 Calabasas, California) died on the scene.
Five children and two other adults were hospitalized for injuries from the accident as well.
It was a horrible accident. I feel bad for all parties involved. Here’s what I don’t understand…why go after Jenner? Howe’s family has also filed a civil lawsuit against her seeking unspecified damages but she was the one who REAR ENDED Steindorff, not Jenner.
Photo from KABC showing accident involving Jenner Feb 2015
The accident took place on California’s Pacific Coast Highway, which is always heavily filled with traffic. Jenner was pulling a trailer, so it would have been MORE difficult to stop suddenly. It also would have more weight. An object in motion….. Even if she had been maintaining a safe distance, given the fact the Lexus rear ended the Prius, it would be safe to assume the Lexus didn’t give fair warning of stopping (brake lights) in order for Jenner to sufficiently be alerted to slow down / stop.
So it comes down to this…in a chain reaction of four cars, WHO gets sued? Is it the guilty party or is the one who is the most famous? Has the deepest pockets?
Not to mention, Steindorff wasn’t even supposed to be driving! Her license had been suspended for an unpaid ticket. Had she been following the law, she wouldn’t have been on the road, therefore NONE of this would have happened. Why aren’t all parties suing her?
According to another report, Howe was driving on an expired license that expired back in 2007! Same theory applies as the suspended license.
Photo from CNN Shows accident scene involving Jenner Feb 2015
All reports show Jenner passed a sobriety test, turned over her cell phone records to prove she wasn’t texting, and was not evading the paparazzi, even though they were closely following her.
As we live in a litigious society, where lawyers meet with lawyers to bargain down a claim to avoid more unwanted publicity and court time, I hope Jenner, if truly innocent, stands her ground and fights. When accidents and tragedies occur because of others failing to follow the law, the one with the deepest pockets should not have to foot the bill.
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I am fascinated by drones and their technology – HaliPawz
I am fascinated by drones and their technology. Technically, a drone is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs). They come in various shapes, sizes, technology, and functions. The original concept behind a drone was for them to do something unmanned that could potentially be too risky to do with a manned unit. The drone can be controlled remotely or can fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems working in conjunction with GPS. The military has been using them for years. Some of them will amaze you on their size and capabilities.
Drones aren’t just for military use though. Back in 2013, Amazon introduced us to their concept of Amazon Prime Air where they would have drones deliver packages to customers within 30 minutes of purchase in some markets. Their goal was to have this feature up and running by 2015.
Here is it, 2015, and Amazon was hit with a lot of concerns over the last couple of years. U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) considers anything flying under 400 feet and in an operator’s line of sight to be a model airplane and you do not need a license to operate them. Since Amazon’s drones would not be within the line of site of an operator, FAA has been reluctant to allow this to move forward. Other concerns Amazon faced were the drones getting caught in trees or poles, not being able to sense objects in their way quick enough, the drones being hacked into, and even theft of the package or the drone as it was in flight.
These are all very valid concerns considering the drones would not be watched. Another problem Amazon faces is the fact that, since FAA is so slow to make decisions regarding the drones, by the time anything is approved to move forward, the drone they had under consideration is already obsolete and the new one has to be considered.
Just recently, there were considerable new advancements regarding Amazon Prime Air. The FAA granted Amazon an experimental certificate where they can conduct some tests and experiments with certain drones. Is it a win for Amazon? Not quite. The certificate comes with a lot of rules attached. The flights must be done during daylight hours, must stay under 400 feet, and has to remain in the line of sight of an operator. What I find interesting about these rules is that it sounds like they are saying, hey, it’s ok to go ahead and operate a drone as a model airplane, which is not what Amazon wants. But, that’s not all! The FAA takes it one step further and has said the operator must possess a private pilot license and recent medical certification! Amazon must also provide monthly updates to the FAA, breaking down the number of flights and any pertinent information regarding hardware or software failure. Another policy, which I found to be very restricting, is that they drone is not allowed to fly over anyone who is not in control of it. So not only do these LICENSED PILOTS have to stay within sight of the drone, be in complete control of the drone, they also have to make sure it doesn’t go over anyone’s head as it’s flying to its destination! It seems like a feature Amazon hoped to be able to offer to their customers just got extremely complicated. Amazon admits it is already offering drone delivery in some countries where the regulations are not so restricted. It would seem to me the FAA would take some of those test studies into account, but it doesn’t appear that they are.
Amazon isn’t the only company experimenting with Drones for delivery. Dominos tested drones in the London area to deliver pizzas with some great success. The pizza’s arrived quickly and were still hot.
While I admire the technology of companies using them for delivery, I am even more fascinated with the advancing technology in drones available to the average person, well, based on the price, maybe not the average person, but still available for the private consumer. The one I am currently in love with is the Airdog auto follow action sports drone. This drone tracks you where you are. You set the angle and height you want it to be and then take off doing whatever action you are doing and it stays with you! It has built-in stabilizers to keep the video clear and crisp. All I can think about is the number of ways this technology could be used. To be able to get a bird’s eye view of any activity or event you are doing would be pretty exciting. Even a simple trail ride on horseback, you would be able to have a complete video from the day. Here is a video of it in action.
Of course, the $1300 price tag is a little difficult to swallow!
A close second favorite of mine is the AscTec Firefly with Intel Real Sense Technology. Being safety conscience, I think I like it for its ability to avoid any obstacle, including humans. German designed, it uses 6 Real Sense cameras to create a 360 degree view to provide autonomy and more safety. This one is more fascinating to me because of the technology aspect, not necessarily as one for the average person to purchase.
The technology of drones continues to improve every year and I am sure we will continue to be amazed by them.
The FAA estimates private drones will be a $90 Billion industry within the next ten years. Guess I’m not the only one fascinated by them!
This was originally posted on Randomocity Podcast Network’s Site March 26, 2015
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Are the clouds checking us out? – HaliPawz
Do you ever wonder if clouds look down on us
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Crouton Cups gone awry, sorta – HaliPawz
I am not one of those beautiful hostess types. You know, the ones whom, when you walk in their house, you ooh and ahh over the splendor of everything? Yeah, I’m lucky if I get the house cleaned and food prepared before the guests arrive. I love to host gatherings in my home though. My friends know the house might not be picture perfect but they will get enough to eat and drink…isn’t that all that really matters?
I was having a wine tasting in my home this past Saturday. I’ve never been much of a wine drinker, but went to a wine tasting at a friend’s house a few years ago and fell in love with a couple of PRP International wines! I went from not drinking wine EVER to ordering a case of red wine. I still can’t go to a restaurant and order a glass, I won’t like it, but I do love some of theirs. I will have friends and family say they aren’t much of a wine drinker, I tell them my story, they try it, like it, and we laugh about it. I should probably start selling it as it is the only wine I buy.
As I was planning my menu, I decided I wanted cheese of course, but I wanted appetizer type food. I had considered meatballs, but decided I wanted cooler foods. It is June after all! Pasta Salad!
Simple, Fresh, Pasta Salad with Bacon, Cucumber, and Cheese
I really wanted pasta salad. Wait, pasta salad isn’t exactly “finger food”. My thoughts start spinning. I know! What if I made an edible cup to put them in? I had made Parmesan cups for Caesar Salad before but they were pretty time consuming. They were good. I was thinking about putting in the recipe I used, went to look for it, and came across this one! I HAVE NOT tried this, but it makes sense and is a LOT easier than the ones I made, so try it. Let me know if you like it or not. If I try it, I’ll update this post.
Back to my edible cup dilemma. I’m racking my brain and it comes to me, crouton cups! What a great idea. Except I have no idea how to even make regular croutons, let alone a cup. Would it be big enough? Would it even work? I’m patting myself on the back for such a great idea. Off to Google to look for crouton recipes. I put in “crouton cups” and site after site pops up. I realize I’m not so inventive after all. Cooks, real cooks, have already thought of them. I decided to not to reinvent the wheel, so I read through a few to find one I think I can manage. This is the one I chose to work make, never planning on making any changes. Now I had no expectation of mine turning out as pretty as hers did in the photo. She recommended to use a firm bread, nothing airy. Off to Google again to find out which bread is densest. The problem with that search is I kept finding out how to make bread less dense instead of which bread would be the densest. I wasn’t going to bake my bread, so I had to make do with what I picked up.
I settled on Sara Lee Honey Wheat Bread. I wish I could tell you why, but no clue. It just sounded the best for my pasta salad.
I get home and as I’m about to start making it, I’m trying to think of what seasonings to use to complement my pasta salad…and then it hits me. The olive oil or butter from the recipe are both liquids. The Italian dressing is a liquid. Why not change the recipe a little! It made sense to me until I put the pan in the oven. Then I panicked as I started smelling the Italian dressing. Can you cook dressing? Will it start on fire?!?! Am I ruining my oven?!?? All these thoughts! Now you see why I say I’m a messy cook, I normally follow recipes to avoid scares like this!
They were done!
Baked Italian Dressing Crouton Cups
And they looked croutonish! Success! Well, at least in appearance.
They didn’t look anything like the beautiful picture In the original recipe I used for a base. They looked edible, which is a start.
I let them cool while I finished preparing my other items.
I ended up serving gourmet cheese,
Gourmet Cheeses on Michigan Chalkboard Serving Tray
my pasta salad with crouton cups, deli spiral sandwiches, assorted melons, strawberries, and for my chocolate; brownie bites with cream cheese frosting available and peanut butter / Hershey kiss cookies. As you can see, I rely on Sam’s Club for many of my hostessing items! It’s easier and less time consuming.
Now, full disclosure, my guests opted for putting my Italian Crouton Cups on their plate and then putting the pasta salad over top, they didn’t really use them in the finger food style I had imagined….but they would have worked and they tasted great!
Great food, great wine, great friends….roll it up and you have success!
For the recipe for the Pasta Salad, click here
For the recipe for the Italian Crouton Cups, click here
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Crouton Cups for Pasta Salad – HaliPawz
I shared my crazy steps to get to this recipe here, but I figured I would make it easy to navigate by putting it in simple form for those interested in JUST the recipe and not the story!
Ingredients:
12 slices of bread (I used Sara Lee Honey Wheat Bread but any regular bread would work)
Italian Dressing
Set the oven to 375 degrees
Trim the crusts off the bread slices. You want them somewhat square in shape, but mine were definitely not even!
Flatten the slice. You can use a rolling pin for evenness if you prefer. I just used my hand.
Baste the bread on both sides with the Italian dressing, don’t over saturate! That was my mistake with my first batch. Make sure you get all the way to the edge.
Trimmed Bread Slices for Crouton Cups
Next, pick the slices up and carefully place in a muffin / cupcake tin. They will be slightly soggy, so the weight will pull them to the bottom with little help from you. Let them slide in, then position the corners so they are up, out of the tin. Be careful not to tear the bread
bread in muffin tin for crouton cups
Place in the oven 13-16 minutes, making sure not to burn them, but you want them to be crisp.
They will come out nice and brown, let them cool about 5-10 minutes, then pop then out of the tin and place in a flat surface to finish cooling.
Baked Italian Dressing Crouton Cups
When ready to serve, carefully fill cups with pasta salad and serve! Nice way to have pasta salad as an appetizer.
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My simple Pasta Salad – HaliPawz
You can read the whole story of my experience with Crouton Cups and Pasta Salad here, but I thought I would share my recipe for my favorite pasta salad. I’m not a fan of salads made with mayonnaise, so I like the freshness of this one. It’s pretty quick to make and goes quickly at every event I take it too.
Simple, Fresh, Pasta Salad with Bacon, Cucumber, and Cheese
Ingredients:
Pasta – I generally use Barilla Tri-Color Rotini but I have used Wal-Mart’s Great Value as well.
Italian Dressing – I have always used Wishbone Robusto Italian Dressing but this past one, I used Olive Garden’s Italian Dressing because that’s what Sam’s Club had and I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I liked it ok but will stick with the Wishbone in the future. If you’re a fan of Olive Garden, you’ll like either one.
Bacon – Just eliminate if you want vegetarian style
Cucumber
Colby Jack Cheese – I do the block of cheese from Sam’s Club and cut it to save some money, but you can also buy the cubes. You can mix sharp cheddar cubes and Colby Jack cubes as well.
If you use the block cheese, I highly recommend a great cheese knife. I use the wavy pampered chef one, but couldn’t find it on their site to share, so not sure if it’s still available.
Pampered Chef Cheese Knife on Michigan Cutting Board
I throw the bacon on my Pampered Chef bar pan on 350 degrees. After about 20-25 minutes, I check it. For this salad, you’ll want it more on the crispy side, so it may take a little longer or shorter depending on your oven and how crispy you want it.
While the bacon is in the oven, I start my water to boiling. Prepare your pasta to the directions on the box. Drain and rinse with cold water.
In a large bowl, add about a quarter of the dressing to the pasta.
Peel the cucumber and cut into small bite size pieces. I generally quarter it lengthwise then slice it. Add to the pasta, stir.
Next add your cheese. Again, bite size. Big enough to taste the cheese though. Stir in about another quarter of the dressing bottle at this time.
Stir well then cover and place in the refrigerator until the bacon cools and you can add it. This gives the pasta time to absorb the dressing.
Once the bacon is ready, if you went extra crispy, just crumble it into the salad. I like mine crispy, but not crumbly, so I usually tear and crumble.
Add more dressing, stir, and place back in the refrigerator.
As I have said, I am not a “pretty” cook. My dishes don’t look perfectly made, things aren’t evenly sliced, but for me, as long as it tastes great, I’m happy!
Leave in the refrigerator for at least one to two hours, giving time for the pasta to truly take on the flavor of the dressing. You can prepare it the day before, just add a little more dressing in the morning.
Before serving, add a little more dressing to keep it from tasting dry, stir it up again. Taste. If you want more flavor, add more dressing.
I usually use one whole bottle (16 oz) per box of pasta. Just remember to not add as much the day you are preparing if you are serving it the following day.
I will add, I don’t think the Olive Garden dressing sticks to the pasta as well as the Wishbone dressing does. It tasted good the first day but I could barely taste it the next night. I was surprised because, to me, the Olive Garden dressing has a little bite to it.
Either way, it is a great salad for a hot day. Fresh and, with the cucumber, nice and crisp.
Enjoy!
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The Dryer welcomed a visitor I did not invite – HaliPawz
Yesterday, as I was waiting for mom to get ready to leave the house, I remembered I had thrown some towels in the washer. Running downstairs, I opened the dryer and saw some clothes in there. No surprise. I’m horrible about emptying it. I hang all my shirts up to dry, so there is never anything in there that can’t be. With mom here, I’m always finding Kleenex remnants in the laundry. She always has a Kleenex with her and I am always missing them before I wash, no matter how hard I look. As I’m folding the clothes, I see a rubbery thing near the zipper of one of her jeans. I’m thinking….what in the world did she leave in her pocket this time? I go to pick it up and as my hand hits the rubbery thing, I scream (a small one), pull my hand away, and do the “icky” dance. It is a SNAKE!!!
Baby Snake in Dryer
Yes, I freak out. I don’t deny it. I hate snakes! Albeit, this was a very very tiny one, but still I’m freaked.
Wait, it’s not moving. Is it dead? I stare at it. Do snakes pretend to be dead when they are frightened? I stare some more. No, they slither away. Yes, conversations are running through my head rapidly. Still staring.
Ok, take a breath. You can do this. I grab my trash can and move it next to the dryer. I’ll just pick up the jeans and then dump the snake into the garbage. Simple.
I start to reach in, being careful as to not put my hands or arms anywhere where this vicious snake could come up and strike me and kill be. The snake slips a little and ends up between the zipper opening and is now touching the dryer! I jump back.
Ugh! Now what to do.
I close the dryer door. I’m done. I can’t do it.
I HAVE to do it. I can’t leave it in there. Ok, I go upstairs looking for something to help me. I shut the door on the dryer to make sure the 50 other baby snakes I can’t see don’t slither into my basement while I’m gone.
I tell mom what’s going on. She starts talking about the guy eating the snake on Naked & Afraid the night before and then she thought about snakes and now there’s one in my dryer. She hates snakes. Yup, right there with you mom.
I grab a plastic Wal-Mart bag so I can pick it up like scooping poop. I’ll lift it out and throw it away.
I open the dryer door and, for some reason, freak out all over again. I quickly run through the list of friends I could call to come help. NO! It is a DEAD baby snake. I CAN do this!
Oh wait….take a picture. No one will believe me. Plus they’ll laugh at me over how small it is. I still have to take one. Carefully…so as not to get bit…line the phone up. Turn the flash on because it’s too dark. Got it.
Now to scoop it up. I can’t tough it. My finger is still giving me phantom “icky” vibes where it touched it before, even though I’ve washed my hands three times already. I look around. I see a mitt I have for wiping the dogs paws when they are wet / muddy. I put it on. Grab the bag. I go in. Quickly reach down, scoop, squeeze, throw. I honestly couldn’t tell if I connected with anything through the thick mitt or not.
Success!!!! The snake was no longer there!
I threw the jeans on the floor, looked all over the dryer, and then threw the towels in.
The jeans immediately went into the washer along with some other dark clothes. Had to wash them. They were filthy from dead, rubbery, snake.
Phew! I did it. With limited freak outs and lots of deep breaths. Did not matter. I did it!
Went upstairs to show my mom the picture. Her first question….did you put it on Facebook? Well not yet! I was too busy trying to catch it! Well throw it away.
Of course I posted it. I had to. I still have no clue how it got there. I really don’t want to think about it. All I know is, next time my dryer wants to invite a visitor into my home, I hope it asks for permission!
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Puppy Dog Eyes – HaliPawz
Puppy Dog Eyes win Every time
It doesn’t matter what they’ve done wrong, with just one look of their eyes, all can be forgiven!
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