Colour Me Red, Storms.

Yesterday I heard about the world’s most embarrassing dad. It started when his teenage son, Rain, didn’t want dad to wave at him when he left on the school bus. Dad decided to fix this and started to dress up in all kinds of costumes to wave to the school bus as it left every day. I am sure the youngster must have cringed in the beginning, but in the end it became funny and then news. It went on for a year and the most embarrassing of the lot, according to the son, was the Little Mermaid. I saw the picture of that, and many of the other costumes, on Good Morning America and they were hilarious. The dad didn’t rent costumes he jut rummaged around the house and then borrowed from neighbours. Says it cost him around 50 bucks for the whole year. Above you have Batgirl, he has done all the super heroes or heroines, very funny. If you want to see the rest of the costumes go to http://abcnews.go.com/gma and look for Waving Dad. It was even on the news last night.

Today I have to go to the hospital for my pre-op then tomorrow we are off to Niagara Falls to meet up with a friend from South Africa. We have never met f2f before so it will be quite a thrill. We actually plan to meet at Niagara-on-the-Lake for lunch. Not sure if I will get a blog done tomorrow. Also next week when I have to go in for my angioplasty, there may be no blog.

Ontario and Quebec had some really bad storms yesterday which, luckily, we missed. All kinds of power outages, downed trees, roofs blown off apartment buildings and injuries including at least one death. One church lost its steeple. Somehow it seems to have skirted right round us which I am not complaining about. Some of the TV pictures showed intensely black skies, quite incredible, looked like real twister weather, but although tornadoes were reported, the news actually said they weren’t twisters but down drafts, basically the same but they don’t twist I gather.

Here’s a simple little salad recipe, with asparagus, from Kraft.

Italian Style Asparagus

What You Need

1-1/2 lb.fresh asparagus spears, trimmed

1 Tbsp. water

1-1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup KRAFT Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

3/4 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Italian* Three Cheese Blend

Make It

MICROWAVE asparagus and water in 10x6-inch microwaveable dish or shallow casserole on HIGH 4 to 5 min. or until asparagus is crisp-tender; drain.

ADD tomatoes and dressing; toss to coat. Add cheese; mix lightly.

LET stand 30 min. or up to 1 hour before serving.

* Made with quality cheeses crafted in the USA.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Make Ahead

If preparing more than 1 hour in advance, store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Trimming Fresh Asparagus (not necessary if they are fresh picked that day).

Asparagus spears snap off naturally where they are tough. Simply bend the spear near the bottom end and it will break off at the right point. Or, remove an inch or so of the "woody" portion off the bottom of the stalks with a sharp knife.

Have a great day