BEAUTIFUL BIRDS & WONDERFUL MEMORIES

    I would like to express special thanks to The Belly Dancer who has 2 wonderful Blogs, My Life Through Pictures and Happy Accidents, for sharing this beautiful peacock mosaic with me.  I am a big bird enthusiast and was so happy to see it on my Facebook Page. It brought back wonderful memories of the day when my twin and I went to Portland on a birthday celebration and saw some  peacocks on the hotel's lawn.   

WE WERE SO CLOSE

      Thanksgiving Day was not celebrated as a national holiday in Jamaica but it turned out to be a special day for me.  I got a chance to talk to some relatives living in the U.S.A. and saw some wonderful Thanksgiving Blog Posts as well as interacted with Bloggers.
      At one point I went to one of my email accounts and a particular email caught my eye as the subject area had the name of someone whom I recalled was one of Janine's pen-pals.  I got connected to the internet after Janine's death so we did not have an email address at the time.  Janine and I were very close and had the same friends but only shared a few pen-pals. Nevertheless we would tell each other about our pen-pals and their countries so I knew about her pals. Happily I now communicate with several of her pen-pals and I am so pleased that I have linked up with yet another, Allyson from Wisconsin.
      I know that Janine would be so happy about this.  She is no longer physically here but things keep happening to make me always remember that I am not left alone in the world.
      This is my message to everyone:

Myspace Thank You Comments

CREATIVE THURSDAY BLOG HOP

Welcome to Creative Thursday, a hop where you can add all of your creative posts.Hosted by Clairejustineoxox and JUDY H-J'S THOUGHTS we invite you to share some fun things you have been doing.


This week I came up with a great idea that we could share pictures of decorations, recipes, and anything to do with Thanksgiving.Also you can link anything else that has gotten you creative this week.The hop is open till next Wednesday so plenty of time to come back and link up and we always welcome new theme ideas.

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     I am sending Happy Thanksgiving greetings all the way from Jamaica to everyone in the U.S.A.  I have many relatives, friends and pen-pals living there. Over the years Janine and I learnt how  special this holiday is. I have also been seeing a wide range of wonderful posts about it on Blogs.  Turkey is a very important part of the meal for many and some Jamaicans have turkey at Christmas time. Well, I had a look in the book Caribbean Cookery by Winifred Grey and saw this recipe:


                                                    TURKEY  A LA KING
1/4 cup mushrooms
2 tablespoons fat
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
1 cup milk
1 small green pepper
1/4 cup stuffed olives
1 cup diced cooked turkey
3 slices hot toast
flour to thicken
Cook the mushrooms in fat for 5 minutes and add the flour, salt and Worcester sauce; blend and add the milk and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.  Chop the green pepper, slice the stuffed olives and add with the turkey to the hot sauce.  Heat up and serve on hot toast. ( Serves 3)

Over the next few weeks the theme is Christmas so share all your Creative Christmas posts with us...

WE LOVE PLANTAINS!

      Janine and I have always been big fans of plantains.  Our mom loves them even more. Plantains belong to the banana family and are palatable when cooked. Over the years my family and I have enjoyed them roasted, boiled, baked and fried. However these days we have them fried on most weekdays  and baked on Sundays along with our lunch. They are also a must as part of every holiday meal.

BAKED PLANTAINS

FRIED PLANTAINS

        When we bake or fry our plantains we do not add sugar but some recipes include it. We use coconut oil for baking and frying them.          

GOT TO BE STRONG!

     

         At times life dishes up all sorts of challenges and the future does not look bright but we must never give up. I  love this quotation:-"YOU NEVER KNOW HOW STRONG YOU ARE UNTIL BEING STRONG IS THE ONLY CHOICE YOU HAVE."   Fight on and work towards having a brighter day.

  

EXPOSURE 99% WEEKDAY BLOG HOP

Welcome to Exposure 99% Weekday Hop. Thank you for joining us again this week. This blog hop gives you the chance to link up your Blogs, Reviews, Giveaways, Twitter, Facebook pages and many more. Exposure 99% hop linky opens every Monday (CST) and closes every Friday. It is a hop that helps you make new bloggy friends, get more blog Followers, blog Readers, People entering your awesome giveaways, People reading your reviews and many more on your family friendly activities in your blogs. If this is your first time of linking up in Exposure 99% hop, we hope you find great blogs to follow and be followed. Big thanks to each of you who writes a blog post about this hop. We really appreciate it and keep up the good work. Finally it will be of great help if you can grab the hop button and place it anywhere in your blog to help us get the word out which you will also benefit. Interested in getting featured in Exposure 99% hop? Fill out this form HERE.

Exposure 99% Hop has few and simple rules which you have to abide with before you link up.

* Kindly follow the hostesses--- ONE MOMENT IN TIME,  BOBS AND BITS and the co-host JUDYH-JSTHOUGHTS to participate, and let us know you are following so that we can return the love to you. If you're already a GFC follower of our blogs you can follow us another way ( don't forget to notify us).

* Link up your Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Giveaways, Reviews and many more in the linky list.

* If you linked up any other thing apart from your blogs, kindly specify if possible so that it will be easier for others to find what they are looking for.

* Visit and follow at least 5 links or more before you, and let them know you are visiting from Exposure 99% weekday hop.

* Consider placing the hop button anywhere in your blogs.

* If you have problems linking up, do not hesitate to contact me, I will link you up by myself.

* Your twitter link should look this way when linking up : http//www.twitter.com/username.

* Show some love by Re-tweeting this post with the share button below.

* Wishing you a great week.




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SPREADING MORE BLOGGER LOVE!

      Recently I received 2 Blog awards for the second time. I am taking this opportunity to pass them on again. I love so many Blogs covering a wide range of subjects that I wish I had an award to give to everyone!
     A big thank you to corabeth who has a great Blog titled My Crazy Life for passing on the Versatile Blogger Award to me. My first post about it was IT IS GOOD TO BE VERSATILE!  

       I now pass it on to these 15 Blogs:
*My Life in Holland
*Planet Weidknecht
*Dreaming in Open Fields
*The Little Girl's How to Save Blog
*Let's Talk About People
*JamericanSpice
*melody-mae
*Judy's Handmade Creations
*All Things Important
*Home Grown Families
*Mama to 4 Blessings
*Bahamian Recipes and More
*A Gracious Home
*Life with Linda
*Keeping Up With The Rheinlanders

      
      I would also like to thank Heather Nelsen with her wonderful Blog Notes from the Nelsens for passing on the Liebster award to me. My first post about it was  WOW! MY FIRST BLOG AWARD! I am now happy to pass it on to 5 more great Blogs:
*Happy Accidents
*My Life Through Pictures
*Mamas*Little*Treasures
*All About Computers
*The New Scheherazades

SPREADING SOME SUNSHINE

      Some extra sunshine came my way recently when I received  this beautiful award from Katya Kate of  Mommy Growing up. She has a very interesting Blog and I encourage you to go over and check it out.

      I understand that this award is given to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogosphere. I am glad that you see my Blog in this light Katya Kate!


Here are the rules for accepting this award:
1. Thank the person who gave this award and write a post about it.
2. Answer the following questions below.
3. Pass the award to 10~12 fabulous bloggers, link their blogs and let them know you awarded them.


Here are my answers:
1. Favourite colour -   Definitely blue although I love some other colours.  I have worn clothes in a variety of shades of blue.
2.Favorite animal - Dog. My family and I have had several over the years. At this time I have 2 called Dobie and Waggy.
3 Favorite number - 17.  There is a game here and one of the meanings for 17 is twins!  Are you surprised that it is my favourite number?! 
4. Favorite drink - cocoa. It is delicious and rich in anti-oxidants
5. Facebook or Twitter? Facebook. I have linked up with friends, former schoolmates and even relatives whom I am yet to meet in person on Facebook. Recently I also started a Facebook Fan Page -https://www.facebook.com/judyastra. However Twitter is also great to link up with persons and share my Blog posts and other published work.
6. My passion -Writing and being born one of twins.  I have been writing for a long time and this Blog is a tribute to my twin sister Janine and the life we shared for almost 47 years. I have found writing to be a good grief management tool.
7.  Giving or getting presents - I like to give presents and help brighten up the lives of others. 
8. Favorite day - Sunday. It is a day when I can relax with my family, meditate and get even closer to my God.
9.Favorite flowers - Red Roses!


Here are 12 of the many Blogs that I love. They have helped me so much since I joined the Blogging world with their wonderful posts, comments etc. I am truly grateful to them:
*Every Day Is A Country Song
*Where Nothing Good Comes Easy
*onemomentintime
*Cheerfulnuts
*Home to 4 Kiddos
*ME AND MY TADPOLE
*the mommyhood chronicles
*Gumdrop Pass
*The Personal Blog of seriousnuts
*Clairejustine
*Katherine's Corner
*Reflexions

BRACELET WITH MY FAVOURITE COLOUR!

      As some of you may recall blue has been a favourite colour for Janine and me over the years. Well, you can just imagine how thrilled I was to get this bracelet with a blue topaz stone with white dots among my birthday gifts! My friend also included a small blue topaz stone in a birthday card! Love them! Strangely enough for years everything featuring our birthstone topaz was the one with a yellow colour and we really loved it. Then we started hearing about blue topaz and got gifts featuring this stone.  

         What is your birthstone?  There are really many beautiful birthstones. For instance my mom's  birthstone is Sapphire.  Oh, blue again!

HOT POTATO SALAD

   Janine and I have been big fans of potato salad over the years - cold and hot potato salad.  Below is a picture of our favourite hot potato salad:

     We got the recipe from Elsa Miller's book 'CARIBBEAN COOKBOOK.'
(A golden rule is that this must be made whilst potatoes are still hot)


6 boiled diced potatoes
1/2 diced onion
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
* salt, pepper
6 boiled and sliced frankfurters ( or vienna sausage)
2 tablespoons oil


Fry frankfurters with onion in some oil.  Add 1 tablespoon flour and blend.  Add sugar, vinegar, parsley, salt and pepper.  Mix together well and pour over the potatoes.  Toss lightly.