Back In The Saddle

 Yes I am feeling much better and happy to be getting my energy back. I was up and moving by Thursday just not moving well. A virus can knock the stuffing right out of you and it certainly did me. As I sit here today looking around it is no secret that I have done next to nothing for this past week. As I looked through 159 pictures I took during that same week

 it is clear we got a lot of snow and I was just aching to be out in it.
    I spent a good deal of my time watching the birds out the front window and back door.

The little red devil snuck  up on me while I was focusing. Once I was focused he was gone. 

 With all the snow we are getting the feeders have been active. One day this past week we were inundated with robins.

 There were robins every where and my once loaded holly trees has not a berry on them. I actually popped my head out the door to get pictures.

  I am hoping a reader out there some where can help me with this question. With the bigger lens on I still struggle to hold the camera steady so I use the tripod when ever I can. It is a cheapo 10.00 baby that worked great with my little point and shoot but it wobbles just enough to blur the picture when I press the shutter button with my new camera. The quick release on the tripod seems unstable to me and I can't tighten it up any more then it is. My question is do I invest in a more expensive tripod? Will it be sturdier? Or do I need to invest in .... you know the button you hold in your hand to take the picture, I can see it and the name is on the tip of my tongue but it is not making it to the tip of my brain. I would really appreciate feed back and answers to all this. I had what looked like perfect shots in the view finder only to have the camera shake when I push the the shutter release button and the photo is trash.

You would never know I took these pictures using a tripod. Frustrating to say the least. Help!
  Madeline and I went sledding yesterday. We graduated to a bigger hill and both of us came home with bumps and bruises but we had more fun then a barrel of monkeys. We screamed we laughed we even cried but when we got to the bottom of the hill all you heard from Madeline was "Again". With the warm up expected I am glad we got the chance to pull our sleds out and play.
    " What Was Dinner"? For the most part all last week was what ever was easy and required little effort.

This was an easy dinner that took little or no effort and pretty much wowed us. Baby back ribs cooked low and slow with red wine and garlic. Something just a little different.
        On Valentines day I did sear up some sea scallops topped with pineapple salsa  and served with rice and Broccoli. I made myself a piece of chicken. I am told I did a good job of searing the scallops. It was pretty easy really. On Saturday I made the meal I wanted to make Friday but the recipe required to much standing and I wasn't ready just yet for that. This recipe comes from the show called " The Chew " and since I turned the show on half way through the recipe I don't know where he got it but I got so hungry watching him make the dish I had to try it for myself. Absolutely happy that I did. A very easy dish to make even if it is a little labor intensive. I actually found this dish very relaxing to prepare chopping and all. The aromas in my kitchen were tantalizing to say the least. I made a french dish called Coq au vin using chicken pieces. I can still taste this was hearty, rich and yummy dish. For me it was love.

You will need Chicken pieces, bacon, 2 bottles red wine 1 1/2 will work, 1 cup chicken stock, carrots, celery,a large onion, 1 or 2 TBS tomato paste mushrooms and 6 TBS of flour salt pepper and basil to taste.
Place the wine in a sauce pan and heat to reduce by half, while that is reducing place chicken in a skillet and brown evenly on all sides remove from the pan and set aside, while the chicken is browning chop up the celery, carrots, and only half of the onion, and the slice the other half in thick slices, slice the mushrooms. In a dutch oven cook bacon about 4 slices roughly diced. Remove the cooked bacon from the pan and add celery, chopped onion and carrots season with salt pepper and basil and cook until onion is translucent. add tomato paste mixing everything together add the mushroom and bacon to the pan and continue cooking.When the carrots just begin to get tender add the flour and mix together well until flour is smooth and incorporated in to the veggie mix, carefully add your wine and then the stock bring to a bubble not a boil and add the chicken to the pot place the onion slices on top of the chicken. lower the heat and simmer 30 minutes till chicken is completely cooked. Stirring often to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Taste before serving and add a squeeze of lemon juice if you feel it needs something extra.
 I served this with pasta The Chew served it over mashed potatoes. I want to make this again and serve it over mashed cauliflower maybe using beef tips instead of chicken.
 I made one faceless recipe this past week as well it was good. A spicy red devil brownie. Cake like texture and a tiny little bite to it all and all a pretty good brownie.

   I hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you for stopping by.