This mural, on the side of a roadside service station in Saskatchewan, Canada – although weathered, depicts some history of the pioneers and farming in our province.
Author: Terry
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Winter Staples – Everything Chopped
Each winter, we eat far more salads than in the summer.
Why? It’s because prepared salads are abundant here in south Texas.
Taylor Farms makes a variety of single serving and double serving salads.
The part we enjoy the most, is that we can enjoy a variety of salads without having to buy all of the ingredients separately and then risk them going to waste if not used in a timely manner.
For the next few “foodie Friday” posts, I’ll feature and review different pre-made salads that we enjoy.
My feature photo is of the single serving Everything Chopped Salad from Taylor Farms.
Ingredients: Romaine lettuce, grilled white meat chicken, carrot, red cabbage, sharp white cheddar cheese, cheese and garlic seasoned crouton crumbles, everything bagel seasoning, and ranch dressing. *No synthetic colours or high fructose corn syrup*
These salads, available at WalMart, come in a disposable plastic bowl, but I prefer to plate them.
My review: I love that all of the ingredients are separated in the packaging, so nothing is soggy. This one had great flavour and crunch. Although they contain some cooked chicken, don’t expect more than a tablespoon or so of small cubes of meat in the single serving size. The cheese adds extra protein.
At under $3 USD, it’s good bang for your buck.
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Confusion in the Plant World
This past summer saw an unusual amount of rain here in the Rio Grande Valley.
As a result, some plants are confused as to when to bloom.
This hedgehog cactus is an example.
Whereas it usually would bloom in the spring here (March and April), it was in full bloom last week.
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Cats and Colours
We’ve been stopping in Llano, TX every year on our way south since 2019.
I found the subject for my feature photo during a walkabout on our first visit there.
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Ahhh … Back to Mexico
This week, we’ve been going over to Mexico for dental appointments.
It’s only a 20 minute drive from our home.
My favourite part of this is that we can once more enjoy authentic Mexican food. We didn’t get across once last winter, so now we’re making up for lost time.
I had some problems with my feature photo because of the shadows cast on the plate. I’ll be sure to avoid that next time.
Each of us ordered our fave dish : enchiladas for hubs and chile relleno for me.
We forgot that we could order one dish, split it, and easily have enough food for lunch.
Practise makes better.
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2016 – The Wrap Up
What started out as an incredible year of long distance travel from January, to and including July, ended up with shorter trips from August to December that focused on weddings of family and friends, my Dad’s 85th birthday party, and lots of quality time with our own small family.
Each part of the year held its own memories and treasures, and the best part was that hubs and I were both now fully retired, so neither of us had to miss a minute of it because of work schedules.
We kicked off our retirement with a year packed with everything imaginable. It’s almost as though we were compensating for all of the things we had to cut short or miss entirely in our working careers.
It was a good year.
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Chicago 2004
For many years, Chicago has been home to giant murals.
It’s pretty easy to capture decent shots of them “on the way by” if you’re passing through during rush hour.
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When in Texas (2) …
Because the price of avocados and the variability of their freshness at home in Canada is more than a bit prohibitive, I look forward to our winters in South Texas.
We live close enough to Mexico that the avocados are reasonably priced, fresh, and don’t spoil in a day.
And … I can make guacamole… my favourite dip.
Easy Guac Recipe:
2 ripe avocados
2 TBSP Salsa
1 Small Red Onion (or 1/2 medium), chopped fine
Juice of 1 Lime
1 TBSP sour cream
Salt and Pepper, as desired
If you like it a bit more spicy, seed, finely chop, and add one small jalapeño pepper.
Mash avocados and salsa together in a medium bowl, then stir in all other ingredients until well blended. Store in tightly covered container in fridge for at least an hour (this will keep up to 1 day in fridge)
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2016 – Gal Pal Road Trip
Carrying on with the incredible travel year that was 2016:
After hubs and I returned from the all-expenses paid vacay to the Mayan Riviera, things calmed down for a couple of months, and then I headed out on a road trip to Salt Lake City with two long time friends who had joined my MLM team.
The purpose of the trip was to attend the annual conference of the MLM company I had signed up with.
In addition to being a learning and team-building experience in SLC, the road trip itself both to and from the conference was fun and interesting.
Even though none of us belonged to the Mormon faith, Temple Square in Salt Lake City provides a great history lesson about the settlement of the state of Utah.
Lenna and I just “had” to pose with this fun sign 
The parent company to our MLM company Sherry, Lenna, and Me 
I tasted French Macarons for the first time 
Temple Square is always an interesting visit 
The famous Mormon Tabernacle 
The amazing pipe organ inside the Tabernacle 
How the Mormon Temple was constructed is a fascinating history lesson 
I spied these “on the way by” and commented about the skinny horses 
An unusual way to make a topiary 
Idaho Falls was a great stop on the way home 
My pals, Lenna and Sherry, hamming it up – “posing” like models 
The falls are in the middle of the city My dear friend, Lenna passed suddenly and unexpectedly just four years after this trip.
I’m so happy I have this trip in photos and in memories.
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A Timely Message
Now that we’ve finally settled in to our winter home, I’m able to resume some of my normal routine for blog posts.
I still have several murals to contribute to my Monday Murals theme, and a couple of other travel posts to add to my 2016 theme.
The M/W/F posting schedule seems to be working out, so my plan is to continue with those days.
I’ll also continue with Foodie Friday posts.
The mural in my feature photo is in Weslaco, Tx (a town a few miles from here that we visit often).
The mural’s message is a good reminder.
Radically Retired 