Buzziness #11 John Klein's Famous Fish Casserole

Even if you are anti-fish, trust me, you will love this casserole!  My friend John is an expert on fish as he has been a fisherman his whole life and captain of the Qualifier 105.... I say he is "qualified" in preparing fish. This is a simple, delicious crowd pleaser.

John Klein's Fish Casserole

1 large white or yellow onion

Any white fish (tuna, sole, halibut...)

1 cup or so, mayonnaise

Parmesan- lots

1 T dill

Slice onion and put in the bottom of a 9x13" pan.  Cut the fish in chunks and put on top of onions.  Mix the mayo, parmesan, and dill together. Cover the fish completely with the mixture.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until the top is light brown and bubbly. Serve with a yummy salad~ delicioso!

Buzziness #10 Reindeer Wine Cork Ornament

Wonder what to do with all those leftover wine corks?  I have seen some great ideas over the years.  Here is a simple one.

Reindeer "Wine Cork" Ornament

All you need is:

2 wiggly eyes

1 brown pipe cleaner

1 red pompom nose

small amount of brown felt for ears and tail

small ribbon

gold elastic string or something to use as a hanger

5 wine corks... out of the bottle

And of course, the infamous hot glue gun!

Stand two wine corks upright (reindeer legs!).  Glue a third cork horizontally on top of the two  legs- now you have a body.  Cut a fourth cork diagonally, to use as a neck.  Glue the flat end of the fourth cork on top of the body.  Fifth cork is the head.  Glue it to the diagonal side of the neck. (Just look at the picture!)  Add antlers, eyes, nose, ears, and tail.  Tie a cute ribbon around the neck and hot glue some type of hanger.  I chose gold elastic string.  There you have it, a great gift and good use of those leftover wine corks!

Buzziness #9 Succulent, Herb or Strawberry pots!

 My friend, Caroline, turned me onto succulents.  You can snap them off as the get big and just push them into the ground and they root!  You can also put them in a clear glass vase with water in a warm environment and they root quickly. A nice grouping of herbs works well, or strawberry's. I like to find unique containers to use, along with an old wooden spoons to add names, or garden titles.  Smooth soap stones or shells are a nice added adornment. I bought some butterflies, and made some by folding money! Be creative.  *Succulents do tend to go dormant in cold weather, so don't fret if you don't see growth for a few months, they're just sleeping.

Buzziness #8 Healthy Pea Pesto

One of my oldest friends and sorority sister~ Annie P., also a triathlete, I might add, brought this recipe to one of our reunions.  It was healthy, surprisingly yummy and a super quick appetizer to make.   Now, I always keep a package of sweet frozen peas in my freezer.

Pea Pesto 

1 pkg. frozen peas, thawed

1 clove garlic or more!

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1t salt or more!

1/4t fresh pepper

1/3c olive oil

Pulse together in a food processor the peas, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.  With the machine running slowly add the olive oil. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you want to. That's it~simple simon.

I have used pumpernickel pretzels, from Trader Joe's to scoop~ yum.  You can also toast some sliced baguettes, spread pea pesto on, and then add a shaving of parmesan on top and broil~delicioso!

Buzziness #7 A Cool "Coaster" Idea

As I was walking through Old Town, I ran across a great Mexican Pottery place, Miranda's Courtyard on Congress Street, San Diego.  Totally packed with different varieties of pottery, from fountains to wind chimes!  I picked up some unique Mexican tiles, and boy did they have a lot, and hot glued some felt to the back.  They make great coasters.  I chose 4 different tiles to make the set interesting.  When gluing down the felt, glue down one side at a time as the glue hardens quickly. Stack them, tie them with a ribbon... wahla!

Buzziness #6 How to Brine a turkey????

Here we sit trying to figure the exact amount to "brine" a turkey, in other words what stuff/crap do we put in ~ 2 cups of salt to 2 gallons of water!  Then, find a clean garbage bag and put turkey and brine (add in rosemary, thyme, whatever you want), put in large ice chest and cover with ice! Once it is in an ice chest, submerge in ice for 24 hours at the most... Let it sit--- pull it when ready to cook.  Then cook...trust us, the juiciest and moistest turkey EVER.   We have used "The Big Easy" found at Lowes for $88.00.  It cuts cooking time waaaay down, without oil,... like over half the time. Totally the best ever!!  Just takes time to convince everyone that this is the best way! Enjoy.

Buzziness #5 Driving to San Francisco!

I always looking forward to going to Northern California in the fall!  We are headed to San Francisco and then to beautiful Napa for Thanksgiving.  Every time we go into the "city" we add cool restaurants/bars/spots to a list.  Below is our most recent finds.

San Francisco Restaurants & other fun stuff

Epic Roast House on Embarcadero: right under the Bay Bridge, Outstanding view, food and service.

Water Bar- Embarcadero Izzyʼs Steakhouse in Marina District

Cliff House: historic, right on the ocean, yummy,lower restaurant is a bit fancier. We had lunch and watched the surfers.

Betelnut on 3020 Union St. Asian food, great fun atmosphere, anywhere from dim sum, Korean, Penang, Thai, Sri Lanka, Mongolian... delicious

Sodiniʼs 510 Green St.- bubbly atmosphere, cheap, lots of character, North Beach

Green & Grant Bar- music in back, didnʼt go but it was recommended

Amorenʼs bar- good martini, bossa nova music!, Green St. right down from Cafe Sport

I Fratelli- 1896 Hyde, we did not go here, Italian recommended by the Saxonʼs

Starlight Lounge- above the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, totally fun, live music dancing, great view

Ferry Building- marketplace

Rasselaʼs- great blues and jazz, 1534 Filmore St. (between Geary & OʼFarrell St)

Nob Hill Cafe- didnʼt go , but really want to.. hole in the wall , Italian food, recommended by Mom & Dad, and Powells

Perryʼs- Steuart St. did not go, heard good break, lunch , dinner

Tadich Grill- California St. old school, wooden bar with old servers, seafood, in heart of the financial district, my grandfather took my mom here... way back!

Cafe Sport- Green St., tons of stuff hanging, family style, can sit with strangers! fun.

Buena Vista- best Irish coffee, drinks, & food.  Fabulous view of bay and Alcatraz