Saturday, May 25, 2013

Girls Only Award, World Wildlife, CPAP

Viveka at My Guilty Pleasures was kind enough to give me the Sisterhood Award which I am very delighted with. It was Viveka who added the flowery frame to the badge. Thanks very much.

Rules for the Sisterhood Award:
Provide a link and thank the blogger who nominated you
Nominate 10-12 blogs that you find a joy to read
Provide links to these nominated blogs and kindly let the recipients know that they have been nominated
Include the award logo within your blog post for the awardsisterhood-of-the-world-bloggers-award
So, here goes girls, hope you will accept the award.

Jenn at Scribbles from Jenn
Hilary Melton Butcher at Positive Letters
L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick
Sia McKye at Sia McKye Over Coffee
Tina at Life is Good
Elise Fallson at Elise Fallson
Cindy Dwyer at A Reason to Write
Zoe Byrd at rewritten
Lucy Adams at Lucy Adams
Laura Marcella at Wavy Lines

I am having a lot of problems with the programme I use for writing blogs, Windows Live Writer. It keeps seizing up on me. I have asked a question on a forum, lets see what kind of answer I get.

World Wildlife Fund send me regular newsletters and this morning’s included a link to some absolutely fabulous pictures including those of a Panda in it’s habitat. I thought you might enjoy these pictures as I did so I am linking you to them.Panda
I thought this one was particularly cute with the Panda sleeping on a sloping hillside. So many animals are on the endangered list these days, not least of which are the rhinos which are being slaughtered by the hundreds for their horns which in fact have no medical properties at all, but there are still a vast number of Asians who believe rhino horn to have health benefits.

I picked up my CPAP machine today, because I am tech savvy she gave me one CPAP Iconwith all kinds of features on it. Not only can I use it for breathing at night, I can set an alarm on it. It has a USB on the side which I can use on my computer to allow the Sleep Management company to make adjustments on my machine. Gonna take a bit of getting used to I think. The machine itself is totally quiet but I have to add distilled water to use it so that may make a noise. We then spent the afternoon checking on sources of distilled water, bought a gallon (4 litres) from them at $3 but she told me I could get it cheaper, turns out I can buy the same from my supermarket for less than $2. I also have to wipe the mask of my face piece every day and I now have a box of non alcoholic baby wipes. There are instructions galore for cleaning everything regularly. I cannot imagine travelling with all this, especially if you had to fly. I have started with a nose mask, but if necessary I might have to change to a full mask. Apparently our insurance covers extra masks if needed, one needs a full mask if one has a cold or something. All great fun.


Grilled Asparagus and Melon Salad

2 oz thinly sliced prosciutto634
1 lb asparagus, trimmed
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1/4 small melon (about 12 ounces), peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
4 oz fresh mozzarella or burrata cheese, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 Tbs pine nuts, toasted* see Note

1 Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2 Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the prosciutto in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until crispy. Drain on paper towels. Chop the prosciutto into 1/4-inch pieces.
3 Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. In a medium bowl, toss together the asparagus and 2 teaspoons olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes each side until crisp-tender.
4 In a medium bowl, combine the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Whisk until combined. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the melon and mozzarella cheese and toss until all ingredients are combined.
5 Arrange the asparagus on a platter. Using a slotted spoon, spoon the melon and burrata cheese on top of the asparagus. Drizzle any remaining vinaigrette over the top. Sprinkle the prosciutto and pine nuts on top and serve.

Servings: 4

Author: Giada De Laurentiis
Author Notes
To toast pine nuts, arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 8 to 12 minutes until lightly browned.

Have a great weekend and to my American readers, Happy Memorial Day.
Jo




24 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - many thanks for the award .. I'm afraid I'm a hopeless collector or displayer of awards .. but I do appreciate your thoughts. I must put a note on my blog to that effect ..

    I do hope that CPAP eases your sleeping and gives you more rest. Lovely photo of the Panda sleeping at an incline ..

    Enjoy the asparagus ... I think I should get myself some this weekend ... cheers and thanks once again for the award ... Hilary

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    1. I am sorry you don't really do awards Hilary.

      Well, done one night with the machine, slept quite well for the first night, couple of small problems.

      Got to get more asparagus today.

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  2. Thank you Jo for passing along the award. I really hope the CPAP machine helps you sleep better. I looked it up online, and the full-mask looks difficult to sleep in, but it may just be a question of getting used to the mask. I was going to mention you can get distilled water at the grocery store. I buy it for my iron and it's pretty cheap. I enjoyed the panda link, they have some nice animal pictures to share. And another wonderful asparagus recipe, yum!

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    1. You're welcome Elise. Used the machine last night, not too bad at al. I only have a nose mask at the moment, but I have the option to have a full mask if I want. Need to get my mouth to stay closed LOL.

      I loved the WWF pix too. What colours those pheasants have. Assume asparagus is in season for you too. Bon apetit.

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  3. Congratulations on another award. And thanks for all the asparagus recipes.

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  4. SO I am hitting the blogs early today in an effort to get to the library for a decent chunk of time to edit the book. Thanks for the award! Its and will look great in the sidebar too...gotta love that! I did quite a bit of flying with my CPAP prior to 9/11 so it may have changed but I found having a written prescription from my Dr. alleviated all the bomb questions. It went through the xray machines no problem. The only other advice is remember other countries have different electrical systems so I bought a universal adapter kit. Otherwise I dont recall it being a big todo...THanks again...have a lovely saturday. I just had strawberry and asparagus with balsamic vinegar glaze last night...so good.

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    1. Library? How does that help you edit something?

      Never thought of carrying it on a plane and having a doc's letter, probably need that to cross the border too. I already have a universal adapter kit so I'm OK there

      Strawberry and asparagus sounds good. Berries are just becoming available here.

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    2. No dogs in the library. Its really just a quiet respite to concentrate.

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  5. Great line-up of ladies listed for the award. This is one award I don't think I'll have to be worried about getting--well unless it's from one of those bloggers who think I'm a woman.

    Lee
    Wrote By Rote
    An A to Z Co-host blog

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  6. I'm hungry! Can you send me an order of those asparagus with melon to go?

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    1. You can probably get better melon than we can Al. Although the best melon ever comes from Bogue Sound, North Carolina. Something about the soil there.

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  7. Jo, does the machine help? I am due for the test soon. If it helps us get a good nights sleep, I guess it is worth all the trouble.

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    1. Its a tad too soon for me to say I have only used it once and had a few problems, not with sleeping, but more with operation. I will see how it goes. I have the machine for a month to find out if I like it. I have already started my Monday blog writing about it.

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  8. Thank you, Jo. Girl power!!

    I used to be a member of the WWF. That's where I got my stuffed tiger, Eddie.

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    1. You are welcome.

      I have a tiger, an elephant and a gorilla. They are all on my PC desk.

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  9. Thank you Jo! I appreciate the award. I'll have to think on who to send it to. You snatched a couple I would have included, :-).

    Other than Wednesday, I'm not blogging this week. I'll get an article up with my selections in June.

    Can you believe it's almost June? wow.

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    1. I know the year seems to be whipping by. No big rush, whenever you can do it.

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  10. Thanks, Jo. Much appreciated! I was also diagnosed with sleep apnea recently, but do not get to meet with the sleep gods until 6/18. I don't know if they will find me tech savvy enough to get the USB version after my recent woes...
    Tina @ Life is Good

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    1. Taking you a long while? Assume you have done the sleep study part if you have a diagnosis. I am talking more about it all in my Monday blog. Let me know how it goes when you do go see the sleep gods.

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    2. Yup, had the sleep study. Really didn't think I had it since my best friend does, and I diagnosed it after over a decade of traveling together and sharing hotel rooms...I just snore in one long continuous sound. Buuuttt....apparently I stop breathing 12 times an hour which they seem to frown upon. The doc said my case was "medium". Meh. You know how I like to win...
      ~Tina

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    3. Mine was rated as medium too. Hypopnea rather than apnea I was told. However, the CPAP machine was recommended and I have been using it for a week now. Hubby says I am quiet at night. Doesn't make me feel less tired yet, but that takes a while apparently.

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