Sylvia's Scenario

This is another lighter version of a popular dish, macaroni and cheese.  It's adapted from Weight Watcher's again where 1 cup of this dish will provide 6 points.  I made this dish for our latest visitors who were here from Minnesota for three days.  Bruce's nephew, his wife and three kids were here taking in our local sights after visiting the San Juan Islands and the Olympic Peninsula.   We had so much fun with them here and especially with their children.  Children bring a whole new dimension into the household and I loved it.   We babysat on Saturday night while mom and dad went to Depeche Mode concert.  Babysitting meant popcorn and movies... During their visit, we had lots of ping pong tournaments  family dinners sightseeing visiting Farmer's Markets spending time at playgrounds riding the water taxi and the monorail and just enjoying this marvelous time of year. ...

This is the salad we had with our dinner on Friday when I made the  baked pasta with turkey sausage .  It's also a Weight Watcher recipe that is 3 points.  I forget how much I like bibb lettuce and wonder why I don't make more salads like this using bibb lettuce.  You can actually use Boston or butter lettuce, which are all used interchangeably.  I also really like the dressing in this recipe. I know it's October but we had a summer-type day today so this salad sounded really good for dinner again tonight.  We spent the afternoon down at Alki beach hanging out and watching all the activity. There is always so much to watch on the beach, one our favorite places to go. It was a beautiful day and Mt. Baker was crystal clear.  The tide was high and the seagulls were friendly. After walking along the beach for awhile I was ready for a rest and wouldn't you know it, there was a couch right on the beach today so ...

It's been over a week since Nick returned to Japan and I've been fasting...not really. (ha ha)  After all the eating we did, I should be fasting.  I have been conscientious of my eating, however, and last night I made this delicious Weight Watchers recipe.  Lauren and Ari came over for dinner and this time they were not full and bloated afterwards. (Like we have been lately)   We just ate so much when Nick was here with decadent desserts, etc. that this time I wanted to stay more on the healthful side.  This recipe is actually pretty filling without eating that much.  The sausage gives it a bit of zing, along with the funnel seed and there are lots of vegetables in it. I used whole wheat pasta, again more filling, plus the extra fiber.  On Weight Watchers, it is 8 points.  I've made enough of these Weight Watchers recipes to know that their portions are small, but I believe this recipe is pretty close to a normal size.  For...

Last night was Nick's last evening before he headed back to Japan. We had some of his friends over for one last fun-filled evening before we all had to say goodbye once again.  Nick has been spending this week cramming in all his favorite things since returning from Portland on Sunday. He immediately went to the Seahawks game as soon as he got back into town from his alumni baseball game where he pitched three innings with six strikeouts and had a double and single at the plate.  He had a great reunion with his college baseball teammates.  He pitched with four of the same guys behind him and his same catcher. He said his catcher had a huge grin on his face the whole time and just giggled with delight after every pitch. It was like deja vu all over again. 2009/ 2017 Nick's team won by one run with Nick getting the insurance run RBI in the 8th.  He said it was definitely worth making the trip from Japan and hopes to return for future alum...