Balsamic Marinated Tofu

Whole Foods has a tofu dish I really love, Balsamic Roasted Tofu.  Lately however it has been hard to find and the taste isn't always consistent so I decided to try and make it myself.  All I did was buy extra firm tofu, cut it into cubes, drain the water out of it and them marinate it in Balsamic vinegar and a little garlic.  Whole Foods roasts theirs but I decided to put mine in a frying pan (no oil) and just let it simmer a bit.  Mine is so much better than the WF version even though they add rosemary and roasted red peppers.  I would have done that too but I didn't have any and it really doesn't need anything else.  I made enough for 5 lunches with one block of tofu which cost me under 5 dollars so it's a real bargin too.

Aunt Vada and Uncle Robert

One of my favorite things to do as a child was to visit my Aunt Vada and Uncle Robert in Raymondville. Aunt Vada always had lots of cats and kittens and I have always loved cats. Most were outdoor stray cats that she fed (much like I've always done) but she usually had at least one indoor cat and sometimes kittens. She also had a wonderful swingset in her backyard and lots of fruit trees so there was always plenty of fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juice. Aunt Vada also introduced me to alternative medicine, probably inadvertently, when we drove out to the country to a little shop that had the kinds of stuff you only find in health food stores now. I remember seeing a book there about treating cancer with grape seed extract and I wondered if this could help my mother who had ovarian cancer. I also loved spending time with my Uncle Robert. He was a bowler and would often take me bowling with him. He also got me interested in coin collecting. Every night he would come home with rolls of pennies from the bank and we would look through them for wheat pennies. I still to this day look for and collect wheat pennies. I can still picture him sitting in his recliner in the family room smoking his cigar or pipe. I love the smell of cigars and pipes because of him.

   Aunt Vada at age 63

                                                             Aunt Vada with Eileen
Robert Pitts

Job Creation under Obama

Happy Groundhog's Day

Here is a really, really old picture of me with the official Punxsutawney Phil statue in Punxsutawney, PA. J and I were in PA to see his family and enjoy the beautiful fall colors. We stopped for lunch at the Hotel Punxsutawney and this was taken in the park where the real PP resides.