Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage for my Brother

So, my brother left me a message asking for my recipe for Red Beans & Rice with Andouille Sausage and I just had to laugh because it's one of the easiest dishes I put together.

And so Mark, (and Shelly) here it is...

1 pkg of Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice
2 links of Aidell's Cajun Style Andouille Sausage

Follow directions on Zatarain's package of rice.
Note: I usually slice the Andouille sausage and brown it a little before I add it to the rice.
One package of rice with the sausage will serve 3 or 4 people. You will have to double the amounts for 6-8 people.

And that's the recipe. Enjoy!

Dinner Last Night

Appetizer... Spinach & Mushroom Pinwheels



















Grilled Shrimp with Rice Pilaf and Grilled Vegetable Ratatouille

Saturday in the Backyard

It was such a beautiful and warm today. Frank and I spent the day in the backyard listening to KKSF and reading our books. Very relaxing and peaceful -- a perfect Saturday.

This morning we went to Summerwinds to pick up some annuals, potting mix and pots. I'm going to do container gardens again and Frank is going to transplant some plants that have become root-bound in their pots. We decided to save that "work" for tomorrow, though.

It's nice to have a backyard that we can use as an outdoor room during the warm weather season. We had our lunch out there and we are having dinner out there too.

This weekend is the Sunnyvale Art & Wine Festival downtown. I'm working in our company booth at 1 o'clock tomorrow. It will probably be a busy, warm day tomorrow...

Dinner Downtown

Ever since the weather turned nice, Frank and I have been walking to downtown for dinner. It's so nice that historic Murphy Ave with all of its restaurants and funky shops is so close to our house. Last week we had dinner at Il Postale and this week we had dinner at Dish Dash . It was so nice, that we sat at one of the outside tables. As usual, the food and service was just excellent! That place always seems to do brisk business. Even during the dot-com bust it always seemed that place was doing okay.

It's so nice having this standing "date" with my husband. I look forward to our Thursday night dinners downtown.

A New Direction

I'm trying to branch out in new directions, creatively, that is. Last summer I took a watercolor painting class. I so enjoyed that class and learned so much. I've done a few paintings since then, and I would really like to start painting again.

I've also had an idea for a book in my head for a while. I want to spend some time outlining it and getting some of my ideas on paper. Now, that I've cut back (significantly!) on my TV watching, I do have a lot more free time. TV watching is a great time waster...

As for knitting, I haven't done much since the weather has turned nice and warm. It was so much easier knitting on those cold, rainy days of winter.

Signs of Spring Everywhere

Yesterday when I was driving along Hwy 9 to Los Gatos, I was treated a beautiful sight...
California Poppies blooming along the roadside in the spring green grass. After all the rain we've had this year, just seeing those poppies made me so happy and filled with anticipation of the warm weather ahead of us. It really feels like it's been a long, gloomy winter.

Stitches West

Today I went to Stitches West Expo 2006 with my sister, Renee, and my friend, Sandi. This was my first knitting convention/show. I was completely overwhelmed by the number booths, yarns, projects, etc. It was great fun watching all of the women walking around wearing their knitted projects -- scarves, shawls, vests, sweaters, ponchos, purses, etc. I also noticed that the women easily out-numbered the men at least 50-to-1.

All of the local yarn and knitting shops were there: Yarndogs, Commuknity, Knitter's Studio, etc. I stopped by the WEBS booth and picked up some Valley Yarn Wildwood to finish my shawl and something else for a yet undetermined project (scarf? wrap?).

Afterwards, we went to Sandi's house for a meeting of our knitting group. It was the perfect winter afternoon to be inside with friends, knitting and chatting.

A quiet, cold day...

Spent the day at home on the couch watching the Winter Olympics. I woke up not feeling very well, but I decided to in to work anyway. Then, I ended up coming home after a couple of hours.

It's been cold and clear all day. I heard the windchimes last night and they've been going all day today too.

I finished reading "The Art of Mending" by Elizabeth Berg (again). I didn't realize I had read it before until I got to the second or third chapter. And now I know why. It wasn't a very memorable book. As a matter of fact, it's one of my least favorite books by Elizabeth Berg, and I've read all of her novels. I have "A Year of Pleasures" waiting for me at the library. I hope I can make it over there tomorrow to pick it up. Either that, or I'll go back to reading "The Time Traveler's Wife". I put it down a couple of months ago and haven't picked up again.

Well, I'm going back to the couch now...

Saturday, Beauty Day

This morning I had my monthly beauty appointments -- hair color touch-up, trim, shampoo, blow-dry, rinse, repeat... Then off to get my eyebrows waxed, etc.

I spent the entire morning in Los Gatos. I was early for my first appointment, so I popped into Borders to do a little browsing. I only picked up a couple of magazines. Ronnie Lott, formerly of the SF 49ers, was browsing the magazines too (Business mags and food mags). I also noticed there is a new yarn shop in Los Gatos town -- Yarndogs. I didn't stop in. That would've been unwise. I have sooooo much yarn at home right now. I'm going to start a new project tomorrow. I finally finished the shawl I've been working on for the last month and a half. I think I will start my niece's Christmas scarf. Hey, it's only a month late!

The day started out gray and gloomy, but now it's cleared up rather nicely. I thought about going for a walk, but I have a couple of loads of laundry to do, so I'm just catching up on some FoodTv shows I DVR'd this morning. I'll get Frank to go for a walk with tomorrow at my mom's -- before we start partaking in the Superbowl food fest!! It will be fun to go walking in my old neighborhood too.