I am always looking for something different to fix for a meal.  Found this recipe in Taste of Home.  Going to give it a try this coming week.  A person could cook some fresh green beans and use instead of frozen.

Green Bean Quiche

• 1 package (9 ounces) frozen cut green beans
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/4 cup diced green pepper
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup crushed saltines (about 8 crackers)
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
• 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

• Place beans in a saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain and set aside.
• In a small skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. Add mushrooms and green pepper; saute until tender.
• In a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream and salt; stir in the beans, mushroom mixture and cracker crumbs. Gradually stir in eggs. Pour into a greased deep-dish 9-in. pie plate. Sprinkle with tomato and cheese.
• Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Yield: 6 servings.

Last summer, Wal-Mart released knock-off Tagalongs & Thin Mints that are a) cheaper than the Girl Scouts and b) available year-round. In the case of the Tagalongs, they are better than the Girl Scout versions. For Thin Mints, they are definitely close.

I read earlier that there’s now a Keebler knock-off of Samoas, and I spotted some on the shelves marked down last night. (I also saw some Thin Mint knock-offs, but we didn’t want two boxes of cookies sitting around the house.) I’ve now had a few, and I’m ready to dispense with the comparisons for all of those who are like me – happily willing to buy cheaper cookies than anything the Girl Scouts can sell.

The Samoa knock-offs are not nearly as good as the original Girl Scout cookies. I hate saying that, but it’s true. I like the price point, and I like the availability all year on any grocery shelf. The grocery store is more reliable than the Girl Scouts.

The caramel is more like just caramel flavoring with no real texture. With the real Samoas, there’s actually caramel that pulls away from the cookie just a little bit when you take a bite. There’s not much of a coconut flavor to them. They disappoint. I guess if you have a desperate need for a fix and don’t want to make your own, they can work in a pinch.

I definitely look forward to trying the Keebler version of Thin Mints sometime. I’d be curious to know how they stack up to the Wal-Mart version. Being able to choose from a selection of deliciousness on things like price and quantity is so very nice.

Somewhere I found a link to a NY Times piece published back in June with 20 rosés worth trying. That’s great. I went through the first 5, and none of them are available to Pennsylvania residents. We can’t pick them up on the way home, nor can we special order them. We can’t order them at a restaurant or (legally) serve them at a dinner party. I can’t exactly say I was looking for any rosés during our most recent liquor & wine runs, but I’m still irritated by the principle of the matter. I should have the option to pick up any one of these selections. Instead, I’m only allowed to have what the bureaucrats want to serve.

The same thing happened when looking for some decent boxed wines recently. We found one that wasn’t too bad, and wanted to explore more since it gives you so much more flexibility with how much wine you want to enjoy with your meal or after dinner. When we found a list of recommendations for reasonable reds in a box, only one was found in Pennsylvania. The others were all off limits. Even the one that is allowed is only found in the really nice premium stores about 45 minutes away.

Is it any wonder that more than half of the license plates in the Joe Canal’s parking lot in Princeton, NJ are from Pennsylvania?

Great recipes I’ve had recently:

Caramelized Shallot & Sage Mac & Cheese
Pesto-Stuffed Shells
Balsamic & Rosemary-Marinated Florentine Steak

Recipes to come soon, along with my plan to start going native before our big trip. More fruit in creative ways is my goal. And possibly unhealthy amounts of haupia. Because I cannot freakin’ wait to have some delicious haupia cake again. I may not be allowed to carry a gun in Hawaii, but if anyone dares get between me and a slice of delicious haupia cake, there will be bloodshed. I cannot be held responsible for my actions if someone tries to stop me. I’m just warning you now.

I’m happy to report that we’ll be flying Hawaiian Airlines between the islands and eating more fish to celebrate PETA’s failures.

Those wacky People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) people are up to their usual tricks, and now they’re dragging airlines into it. This time, they’ve sent a letter to Hawaiian Airlines asking them become the official airline of Sea Kittens. What the heck is a sea kitten? That’s how they want to brand fish in order to stop people from fishing. Seriously. Is there any way I could make up something so dumb?

PETA’s pitch is to have Hawaiian wrap an airplane to promote saving sea kittens, and in exchange, the PETA folks will sing the praises of Hawaiian to their fellow members. They’ve even mocked up the plane, but in doing so, they’ve proven that they have worse Photoshop skills (at left) than even the United/Continental merger team. You’d think they could have at least mocked it up on an aircraft type that Hawaiian operates and not a 737.

Maybe I’ll take pictures of all the sea kittens we enjoy on our trip and do a report when we return.

If an oppressed people need to revolt against a tyrannical force anywhere in the world, I strongly suggest they recruit Michael Maguire to their cause. I think he can provide the right soundtrack for their movement.

I thought of this after Wendy posted her favorite version with Anthony Warlow on Wednesday. I just didn’t think his Enjolras was as strong as Maguire. When I listen to Maguire, I feel inspired to go out and do something patriotic. If I heard Warlow’s version on stage, I would certainly give due applause. But Maguire’s would have me on my feet. (Okay, you got me. If I were to see Les Mis on stage again with just about anyone singing any role, I would be on my feet clapping. It is hands down my favorite show and leaves me in tears every time I see it.)

It took me a minute or so to decide if I like Maguire’s version of the national anthem. By the end, he just really had me. This man knows how to inspire people with his voice.

So, yeah. Oppressed people of the world – write yourselves a theme song and hire Michael Maguire to record it. That should bring in some new recruits to your cause.

Seriously, how did it happen? How was research conducted on various hotels, resorts, attractions, and restaurants?

My grandmother is a former world traveler, and she said they wrote letters to make reservations. But how did they find those great hole-in-the-wall places to eat? How did they know what attractions where tourist traps and which ones were worth every penny? I don’t understand these things.

I’ve now got an entire spreadsheet of places worth trying for meals, happy hours, plate lunches, and wifi with snacks. One tab is made up of activities for each island. It’s based on various travel forums for the most part since my copies of Oahu & Big Island Revealed are on their way. (I’ve seen overwhelming endorsements of these books on many sites from many people who used them in addition to the forums & local advice, so I figured it was worth $11.)

I realize that most regular Hawaii travelers would probably laugh about planning so much. But, in my defense, I want Sebastian to weed down the choices to things he wants to do. I also don’t see us spending much time at the beach just chilling out. The sun and I don’t really get along since it started killing members of my family. Having plenty of things to do is a good thing in this case. But, just so you know that I’ve learned something from my research, I’m not booking anything other than inter-island flights before we arrive. Coupon books are your friend in Hawaii. A very, very good friend if you want to keep your wallet a little fatter. I remembered that even before doing research for this trip.

Back to my original point, I will add that vacations were also much easier when my grandmother planned them for me. When I was 12, she signed me up for a sailing class at the yacht club. We’ve always had a quiet evening at the Outrigger Canoe Club, which is where I had my first taste of cheesecake. My first Big Island trip was amazing, and somehow we managed to do that in just a few days. So maybe this whole reservation by written letter thing wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

While he’s been going less often than he’d like, Sebastian has typically saved Thursday for silhouette competitions. This means he usually comes home pretty late if he goes to shoot. If he doesn’t, it’s usually because work keeps him tied up a little later than usual. This relates to dinner because it means I have a window of about 3 hours where he may be home for dinner. Trying to plan for it is a pain in the neck.

I had a revelation earlier this week to try a quiche. Since it can be served hot, room temperature, or cold, it seems like the perfect solution. This week’s quiche is sausage, asparagus, and mushroom.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is desperate to avoid being privatized – a trend that may start in Virginia if Gov. Bob McDonnell gets his way – so they contracted out for $100,000 “self-serve” kiosks that eat up a massive footprint in select grocery stores favored by the bureaucrats.

After going through the process of being “inspected” by a state employee via remote camera and breathing onto a breathalyzer that can’t possibly be sanitary, two customers interviewed by NPR said they will not be repeat customers after using the system.

After buying her bottle of white wine, Yochum decides she won’t be a repeat customer.

“I’ve never gone through so much trouble for a bottle of wine before. I don’t know. I don’t know if this is going to go over or not,” she says. “It’s kind of a hassle.”

Paul Boyer agrees. He cautiously eyes the kiosk while Yochum pries open the door and reaches up to the top shelf to retrieve her bottle.

“Why don’t you just put it out on the shelves like all the other states? We always have to do something a little bizarre,” Boyer says.

Liquor Control Board officials say the kiosks are a way to modernize the state’s wine sales without getting rid of state-owned liquor stores.

If by modernize, you mean add such draconian restrictions that you can’t even use mouthwash before buying wine anymore, then I guess these kiosks meet the definition. (Forget about swinging by to pick up a bottle to have at the BYOB for your next hot date – unless you’re willing to risk forgoing the mouthwash.)

Link stolen from @PoliticsPA.

Sebastian and I booked a trip to Hawaii this week. He’s in desperate need of an extended vacation, and I’m eager for him to meet my grandmother who lives out there. We found a reasonable fare, and bit the bullet. We’ll be splitting our time on Oahu and the Big Island. I’m trying to find the best bargains available for activities, hotels (for the Big Island, we have use of a vacant condo my grandmother rents on Oahu), and food. It’s not about the absolute bottom line, but the best bargain to do the things we want to do.

With that in mind, I went to bookmark the Long’s advertisement page on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s site so I would know when it’s worth dropping by to get souvenir & “buy there instead of packing” stuff during our time there. I was stunned to see their sale prices on wine & spirits.

I’ll ‘fess up that I don’t recall Long’s selling alcohol the last time I visited. Then again, I was a young teen, so I would have had no reason to check out the selection.

But, man. Those prices. They beat the PLCB any day of the week. From the Oahu circular this week:

Hawaii vs. Pennsylvania - Liquor

Now, the Hawaii drinks are on sale, but notice that even when put side-by-side with Pennsylvania sales (*), they are cheaper.

None of those are wines I’d write home about, but several are perfectly suitable for a simple dinner at home. (We’ll probably be eating in most of the time we’re on Oahu.) Not that we would buy that much liquor, or that combination of items, but the total savings for all of those is about $77. That will pay for an evening at a bed & breakfast that I’m eyeing out on the Big Island.

Competition – just another reason to abolish the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board & privatize the system. As one of the top two wine buyers in the world – and the largest in the United States – there’s no reason in the world that PLCB shouldn’t be able to beat the prices of a drug store in Hawaii.