Sweet Potato Love II

I'll admit it--I'm horrible at following exact directions. The first time I noticed, was way back in high school during Home Economics. I did fine when it came to sewing the apron and the drawstring bag, but when it was time to use an honest to goodness pattern to create a skirt with all of the tabs, darts, pleats, seams to clip and press and those dots that needed to be marked and carefully lined up I created something grade-able but nothing I ever wanted to wear. At least not where anyone could see me. I think that's why I nearly gave up on sweet potato hashbrowns.

The first time I made the two recipes I shared here, the experience was tasty and worth putting on the rotating weekend breakfast roster. Alas, the next time I made them for breakfast is when I learned--following their directions exactly was the only way to recreate that tasty experience. So this morning I decided to try my own version. One that made sense for me and I could easily remember.

• I preheated the oven to 425 degrees. Then diced (1/2" - 1") two medium sweet potatoes/yams, dropped them into a gallon storage bag with a tablespoon of water and microwaved them, using the auto baked potato button on the less cooked setting. Without that option, I would microwave them on high for approximately 4-5 minutes or until they've just begun to get tender. 
• When done cooking, I poked a hole in the bottom of the bag to drain the water and scattered the diced potatoes onto a SilPat covered cookie sheet drizzled with olive oil, several small pinches of rosemary, a dash of ginger, salt and pepper. 
• And then used a spatula or turner to toss well.
• Placed the cookie sheet into the preheated oven for ten to twelve minutes.
• Remove, carefully toss again and continue cooking for another ten to twelve minutes.
• At the end, I put them under the broiler for a minute or two to get little more browning.
• Serve (hopefully with a lovely cheese omelet with bacon and raspberry jam slathered toast on the side) and enjoy! 

A Capella always reminds me of this song . .

Not because I've heard it done A Capella, but I can imagine it would work quite well.

Mustache Harbor -- Oh yeah!

Band-aid Cheese aka American Cheese

Sorry American Cheese.
You've never been my favorite.
I tried, really I did.
People told me you were the best as a grilled cheese sandwich.
Nope.
Then during a visit to Canada, there you were calling yourself Canadian Cheese.
You have no shame.
You'd probably rename a family member for a sale, wouldn't you?

So when a co-worker shared with me that her husband calls you Band-aid Cheese?
I had hysterics at your expense.
No, really. I laughed pretty danged hard.

You call yourself cheese?
You ought to be ashamed!

Come on down, to downtown Salem!

Countless times I've driven on Mission, S Commercial, or off one of the other I-5 exits to Salem, and wished we (the collective Salem resident we) had a way of ushering interested traffic to our downtown.

Perhaps an attractive billboard series, with a different historic landmark on each version? And perhaps with a  url to an informative, well designed website or a GPS type app for their phone? An app that would highlight where necessary locations were: parking, bathrooms, gas stations, restaurants. The rest (walking tours, bike paths, parks, events, galleries, shops, museums) would also be included, but farther down the list.


When our family first moved here in 1991, I didn't embrace the area. I'm a small town girl and 4 lanes heading in one direction, or arterials going in directions other than north, south, east or west, were foreign and daunting to me. There were many things I appreciated, though this list changed in tune with the ages of our girls.

But now? Now I love this town. I've discovered a welcoming community, beautiful sights and I think we ought to be willing to admit it and share it.