Anthony's Graduation

My husband Anthony graduated from Clemson University today with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering! Woohoo. I'm so proud of him. We began our eventful day with riding the bus with sweet little baby girl Shastya to the ME Design & Manufacturing group luncheon, followed by the graduation ceremony, which was followed by a small family graduation party at our apartment. Baby girl cried her congrats from way up in the stands to Daddy as he received his diploma.

 

 

    

 

Gourmet Hot Ham & Cauliflower Salad

I created this salad this evening for my husband and me. It reminds me of a Pennsylvania Dutch salad I grew up with that was served with hot bacon salad dressing.

 

Hot Ham & Cauliflower Salad

Spinach

Iceberg Lettuce

McIntosh Apple

Parmesan Croutons

Cauliflower

Lunch Meat Ham

Salt

Black Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Spicy Mustard

Clover Honey

Milk

 

The Fume Hood For The 3D Printer - Part 1

Anthony designed a fume hood to whisk air out the window from around our 3D printer because it is not good to breathe in the ABS molten plastic fumes. Earlier this evening he had gone to the local Lowe's and to the local Walmart for supplies instead of ordering a fume hood and all it's attachments online, which would have been much more expensive. He made the fume hood out of a large toilet paper box that he had found in a dumpster behind Walmart. Next, he covered the toilet paper box with clear vinyl sheeting and duct tape to make the fume hood airtight. Then he cut a hole in the back of the box and attached a duct to the fume hood. On the other side of the 16 ft. long aluminium duct Anthony attached a dust buster and put it out the window.

 

Christmas Soup

This evening I threw together a soup that had the colors red and green in it. Thus the name Christmas soup. The soup was similar to the classic chicken and rice soup. My ingredients were: turkey, rice, a can of diced tomatos, water, celery, salt, and black pepper. It was delicious.

Alphabet Lullabies For Baby Shastya

 

This afternoon I was holding baby Shastya and began singing to her. First, I tried singing the English alphabet song: "A, B, C, D, E, F, G . . . H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P . . . Q, R, S, T, U, V, W." And that's as far as I got. I knew the rest of the alphabet: X, Y, Z, but I couldn't remember how the rest of the song matched up with the rest of the English alphabet.

Second, I decided to sing the Russian alphabet to my darling baby girl. "A, b, v, g, d, ye, yo, zh, z, i . . . iy, k, l, m, n, o, p . . . r s, t, u, f, h ts, ch, sh, shch . . . ', ii, ", e, io, ya," I sang. Got through that one easy, so easily I surprised myself. I sang the Russian alphabet to the tune of "My Favorite Things" from Rogers and Hammerstein's The Sound Of Music. I had set the Russian alphabet to "My Favorite Things" over ten years ago when I was teaching a neighbor lady some Russian.

Third, I thought I'd sing baby Shastya the alphabet song I learned in Greek. "Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta . . . eta, theta, iota, kappa, lamda, mu, nu . . . xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma . . . tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega." Amazingly, I got through this third alphabet song from start to finish like I had done with the alphabet song of my second language, Russian. Years ago, while I was still in grade school I had learned this Greek alphabet song from a family friend.

Fourth, I thought I'd give the Hebrew alphabet a try. "Aleph, beth, gimel, dalet, hey, vav, zayin," I sang. Then I drew a blank. I could remember a few more letters in the middle of the Hebrew alphabet, and the song for those letters, but that was it. A friend had taught me this song for the Hebrew alphabet in grad school.

Baby Shastya seemed to like all four alphabet lullabies. Maybe these alphabets will come to her second nature some day. Hopefully she won't get too confused.

Open Faced Hot Turkey And Gravy Sandwiches

Who doesn't love a good ol' hot turkey and gravy sandwich after Thanksgiving? This sandwich is a great American tradition in the north and the south. I discovered this upon discussing the sandwich at lunch with my husband. He's from the south, and I am from the north. Both of us remember eating these fabulous sandwiches after the holidays. We also have memories of these sandwiches being standard fare at diners across the U.S.

Thanksgiving After Thanksgiving

We had a turkey dinner on this cold rainy day. It definitely hit the spot.  I made smashed potatoes to accompany the turkey. Anthony asked if there were any secret ingredients, I replied water. Yes, I actually put water instead of milk in my potatoes for liquid, and yogurt instead of sour cream. The potatoes were nice and fluffy. I sprinkled rosemary and thyme on the turkey, and surrounded it with celery and onions. It smelled like stuffing while it cooked.

While the meal was delicious, we both decided that having each other there was what made the meal. He was glad to have a wife that cooked him dinner. I was glad to have a husband to eat the dinner that I had cooked.

Sausage Pizza

I wanted to make something a little different or special for supper to celebrate Anthony's last day of exams before he graduates with his Master's in Mechanical Engineering. He loves pepperoni pizza, so I thought I would make that but also add sausage. He really liked the pizza.

Sausage:

Italian Sausage

Ground Ginger

Dried Basil

Chopped Onion

Soy Sauce

Revolutionary Dinner

 

Yes, I did combine pasta and grits in a single dish, and it was amazing. I sprinkled a little parmesan cheese on top. The dish tasted similar to macaroni and cheese.