Here it is on the downhill side of the summer into fall...

Haven't posted in awhile. I've been pretty busy, but Ryan (who was sitting in my living room when he said it) said, "How am I supposed to know what's going on with you guys if you don't post?" I told him I was waiting for good news. But, that may be a long wait. Not that there's any really BAD news, just annoying stuff and too much of it. But, we keep chugging on.

We've had my parents and youngest sister here for a few weeks, they'll be here until the end of the summer. Meggie is really good with my little nephew Tanner, so she's been entertaining him. We've been on a couple of little touristy trips, once on a Glass Bottom boat in Monterey Harbor and the other day to a "tall ship" that was parked in our harbor for a couple of days. You can see pictures here, here and here. I only had my camera on one of those trips...so that's Keri's blog.

Ryan and Sue have been here for the last three weeks, they'll be going home next week. It's been fun having them. As always, Sue and I have managed to mostly maintain our "Hand and Foot" lead over them, over many card games. I've decided that the guys just think too much about it. It takes us about 5 seconds to decide what to do, Sam and Ryan agonize for five or ten minutes making decisions. It's just a game, guys! :0) Of course, since we usually win, I can say that. I"m not sure what happened in the last couple of years, the first year they were here the guys stomped us pretty regularly, but now they only win once in a while.

We also went shopping a couple of times and spent Sue's "fat money" or "skinny money", whichever you wanna call it. She bought some cute clothes and Grandma Elsberry wants a fashion show, so when we do that, I'll take pics and make a slide show.

And, I wanna shout out to my nieces Amanda and Emily, who had great posts about being thankful for stuff that made me shut up and think about the good things, and not dwell on the frustrating things. It didn't hurt that my sister Julie commisserated with me for about five minutes and then told me to "get over it and get on with it". She's a smart lady and she makes me laugh, even when I don't feel like it.

Ok, I know I promised some recipes, so here's one of our favorites. We make this with fish, but Liz borrowed my recipe and made it with chicken for Molly's reception.

Pistachio Crusted Fish (be sure and see the notes at the end)

1 lb fish fillets
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
honey mustard

Chop pistachios with thyme in a food processor or blender and spead out in a wide bowl or plate. Pat a fillet dry, "paint" with honey mustard, then press both sides into the nuts. I usually paint one side, put it mustard side down, then paint the other side and turn it over. Place fillet on a baking sheet coated with Pam. Continue with remaining fillets. When all fillets are on the baking sheet, spray them lightly with Pam.

Bake at 425. Length of time depends on the type and thickness of fish that you use.

Notes: We make this with Mahi Mahi, that I buy at Costco in the freezer department. It's wild caught, frozen on the boat and individually wrapped. We do two fillets for the three of us and serve with a vegetable and rice pilaf. You can buy roasted, salted pistachios already shelled at Trader Joes. When I use those, I leave out the added salt. I usually chop up two or three recipes of the nuts and then put them in the freezer, so they're handy when I want them. I don't buy honey mustard, I just mix honey and mustard, about 1/2 and 1/2, little heavier on the mustard side. The friend that gave me the recipe uses Tilapia. The mahi-mahi only takes about 10 minutes. I imagine the talapia would take only 4-5 minutes, as it's usually much thinner filets.