Let it Slow!

Isn't this a pretty gift?

I'm late, I know. But the good news is, things have slowed down a little and I can take a breath and look around to see all the minutia that needs my attention. How is it that I have two escrows that closed (one a week ago Friday and one today) and as I map out my bills, I'm broke again? Really?! Laughing! I know, I know, it's the American way! Hopefully though, as I pay off our bills from our move and the months I went without a paycheck, I will open and close some more transactions and start to rebuild our savings. So one of my favorite parts of my job is giving my buyers the keys to their new home, but sometimes it doesn't work out for me to do it. I would never make them wait for me so when I can't the listing agent will meet them. This happened with my buyers a week ago Friday and I was bummed. As it goes with life, I got to give keys to the buyers of my last listing, so that made up for it...a little. 

"Zoodles" or zucchini noodles made with the spiralizer.

In other news, make sure you are wearing your sunscreen! I have been very diligent about wearing it and I even took a 10 year hiatus from intentional tanning for 10 years (between 30 and 40). I have hounded Dave and Mason to wear it and Mason has been far more receptive than Dave through the years. Dave has been better of late, but this week he gets to go get a painful treatment for pre-cancerous melanoma. As much as we all like to be outside, it is so important to protect our skin, not only with the hope of growing old gracefully, but to prolong our lives and stay healthy.

In other news, Mason has his sauces back in stock and we are prepping some ready-made gifts for the holidays. I'm thinking two bottle sets with a recipe or two and a big bow. He also has a handful of spiralizers (turns vegetables into noodles) in stock, $45 out the door, they make great Christmas gifts! I I need to ship to you, we can work something out. I'll post pictures on his Facebook page as we put them together. 

So now I'm off to wrap up my file and look at all the stuff that needs doing, and there's plenty!

Curly Food

You all know us Partaks like to play with our food, but the spiralizer has taken that concept to new heights. We are having so much fun making our food curly that Mason is including the spiralizer in all his cooking demos this year. Oh, what's a spiralizer? you ask. It's a kitchen tool that makes zucchini, yellow squash, potatoes, yams, apples, pears and the like into noodles! Some people call them veggie noodles, or because zucchini is a popular vegetable to spiralize, Zoodles!

I don't know what it is, but making zucchini and squash into noodles really does make them taste better. Don't get me wrong, I liked them before, but I am eating way more now that they are curly and fun. I spiralize several at once and store them in a Gladware container in the fridge. It's good because then I can add them to my salad, have them ready if toss a quick stir fry and you can even add them to top ramen or soup you've made. The picture here is of zucchini and yellow squash zoodles with a chicken stir fry over the top. I don't cook my zoodles as whatever it is I am topping them with is usually enough to heat them through. I've found that cooking them makes them break down and they lose their al dente mouth feel. This recipe is super easy and all it calls for for seasoning is 2 TBS of Mason Made Asian Fusion Goodness marinade. It's so good!

I'm not a big gadget person, in fact, if I can do it with my knife I'd rather not have gadgets taking up space. This on is different and since it has me eating way more veggies, it's a good one!

If you are interested in a spiralizer, Mason will have them for sale through the summer and the proceeds from all sales will go toward his 8th grade field trip to Washington DC. He has to raise in the ballpark of $3,000 so it's not too early to start saving. They are $45 each and a little more if you need me to ship it to you. He and I have created several recipes and I'm sure we'll have more as he does more demos through the year.