Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

I tried a new recipe last week for steak bites that was so quick and easy!  I think these were done in less than 15 minutes.  They were tender, juicy and full of flavor.  Pair it with a salad or veggies and you have a quick and tasty meal.

Garlic Butter Steak Bites

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak cut into bite size pieces or beef tips
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Add olive oil to large skillet and heat over high heat. When oil is hot, add steak pieces. You want to get a good sear on them so the oil needs to be hot. Cook for about 2 minutes, then turn over.  Cook until golden brown, being careful not to overcook and dry them out.
Transfer steak bites to a plate and in the same skillet, add butter and turn heat down to medium. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for about 30 seconds until garlic begins to brown.
Pour the garlic butter over the steak bites and toss together. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Wordless Wednesday

 

A Day in my Life - May

I know I'm late with this one, but I was busy telling you about the Smoky Mountains last week, so I'm here now to tell you about how I spent the first day of the month.

May 1 was the day after we got back from our trip.  I had that day off so we could bring our rental car back and get all the things taken care of post vacation.

It was a beautiful morning and this is how things looked when we left the house around 10am.

We had parked our car at Laura and Aarons house as it's pretty close to the rental place, so we stopped there to pick it up. We admired the plants she put in last year and how nice they were all coming up this Spring.
We had some shirts for Alaina and Ruby, but they were in school so we are waiting to give them in person.

After dropping off the rental, we stopped at Heather and Andrews place to give Cassie this Smoky Mountain sweatshirt. She was happy to see us and of course, we were happy to see her!

When we got home, I dropped Bob off and left again.  I had to pick up our stopped mail and get some groceries.

It really looked like Spring in our area.  The farmers were all out in the fields.

When I got home, Bob was finishing up mowing the lawn.

I did some laundry and got all our luggage and packing things put away.

Later Bob and I went out and walked the yard, enjoying the many things that had started blooming while we were gone.

We had an easy supper; breakfast for supper, and then a quiet evening.
It was a good day to get things done and get ready to go back to work!

Happy Mothers Day

I hope all of you had a nice Mothers Day with your kids, your moms or memories of your mom.
This was my first year without a mom to celebrate.  My mom passed away 21 years ago this week.  Bob's mom passed away 5 years ago and my stepmom Ann passed away in December. I was blessed to have each of them in my life.
Our daughters Laura and Heather, and their families came over on Saturday evening.

Cassie is showing Bob a picture of a birthday party she'd been at before coming to our house.

She is always so happy to see her cousins!

These cups are amazingly entertaining to them.

I love to see them together.

I got these sweet cards, and a keychain that Ruby made.

This necklace has my kids birthstones, and their initials on the leaves.

Laura made this beautiful flower arrangement.

She also made this yummy Lemon Raspberry cake.

I also got this, which let us know the name of the baby boy coming in August.  Connor William!  I really like that name.

Sunday was a quiet day.  We had a nice service at church and all the ladies got a carnation.
Bob's been spoiling me all day and I had a nice call from Andy in Kentucky.
I'm ever so thankful for all my kids and grandkids, and also thankful for the moms in my life!

Friday Funny

 

Smoky Mountains, last day

 When I left you yesterday, we were having lunch in a little town in North Carolina.  It was a cute town and we enjoyed walked around it a little.

I stopped and got this picture of Bob, because we were told there were a lot of bears in the area we stayed at.  We were told to lock our car doors or they would get in.  But guess what?  We saw no bears, although Andy and Nikki did while on a hike.  So this bear was the extent of what Bob and I saw.

After lunch we went to investigate something Andy had read about.  It's called The road to nowhere.  It's a road through the mountains that was started in the 1940's.  They tore down houses and dug a lake to make a community.  However, for some reason it was never completed, leaving some angry former homeowners and tax payers.
Now it's a road that only tourists drive and it ends with a tunnel.
The road itself is about 6 1/2 miles long and the tunnel is 1/4 mile long.

Can you believe they were doing construction on this road to nowhere?  Because it's on a curvy mountain road, we had to follow this car through the construction for several miles.

We parked and then started walking.

At this point, no more cars, you can only walk.

We reached the tunnel

Here we are in the middle of the tunnel

And here we are at the other side, the tunnel is ending in the woods.

Andy and Bob climbed to the top of the tunnel

And here's Andy, Nikki and Bob emerging from the tunnel!

It was so strange to see something like this; all that work and cost and now just abandoned.

We then drove back to Gatlinburg.

We stopped in this cute little shopping area.

It felt like we were in Europe with the old style buildings and the cobbled streets.

On our drive back to the cabin we saw 2 elk.  We were thrilled to see these majestic creatures!

We had a nice last evening together. Because Andy and Nikki live in another state, we don't get to spend time in person with them too often, so this time together was a joy!

The next morning we were on the road before 8 am.  Andy and Nikki had a 4 hour drive, we had a 10 hour drive.

We started the drive in rain, but it soon cleared and we had a good drive home.
We arrived safely home about 6:30, happy to be home and with good memories of our time together!

Smoky Mountains - day 3

Monday was a full day for us.  I'll share only part today so you don't have to look at too much in one day.

Just driving through Smoky Mountain National Park is amazing, seeing the mountains out the windows, and usually being able to see a stream flowing next to the road.

We stopped at Newfound Gap which is on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.

I made Andy and Nikki pose too.

At Newfound Gap, you can also get on the Appalachian Trail.

The spring flowers are so pretty!

We then drove on to Clingman's Dome.  We didn't climb to the top because I probably couldn't, and it would have taken about an hour, but even the views from the parking lot were incredible!

As we continued our drive, we stopped at this picturesque bridge.  That's Bob and Andy on it.

As I told you, there is almost always a stream running along the road as you drive and it's such a beautiful sight!

Andy then took us to Cherokee, which is an Indian Reservation in North Carolina.  They have a Bamboo Forest he wanted to show us.
Here we all are in the middle of it.

Andy took this cool photo looking up at the tops of the bamboo.  

There is a little river on the edge of the forest and Andy was goofing off and threatening to push Bob in.  We always have fun when he's around!

A wooden sculpture in Cherokee.

We stopped for lunch in Bryson, North Carolina at this small town restaurant that was in a Quonset hut.

Tomorrow I'll share what we did for the rest of the day.