Sandra Ross's Blog

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Fish N’ Chips

Edible memories in a summer break by the lake featuring an outdoor meal of fresh beer battered Walleye with warm homemade chips – best served with ice cold drinks in a family picnic. It’s the best way to renew the spice of a common restaurant menu!

There’s only one thing I could share about this recipe. A dash of summer loving makes it all the more appetizing. It’s my secret ingredient. Well, at least it was.

 

Summer dreaming,

Sandra Ross

Harbour View

I adore the view of this romantic hotel room balcony for two in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. It’s the right spot for a lovers’ getaway – just us two. He gave me flowers to celebrate our love. I gave him something even better in the bedroom that night.

 

Travel with a lover,

Sandra Ross

Best Japanese Mess

The best thing about Japanese cuisine is “raw” elegance. Word of caution – never fly outbound Japan without at least one sushi pig out session.

In Tokyo at a chic department store, there is a food court where you can buy almost anything you need for a cozy dinner “in” rather than going to a restaurant. I adore sushi! And these tuna bundles on shredded greens look delicious. And my taste buds enjoyed them as much as my eyes did!

 

Grab your chopsticks,

Sandra Ross

What You Reap is What You Sow

Gardening is not just a hobby for me, it’s a healthy obsession! My children would usually join me in that small backyard patch we now call a garden on account of what I was able to accomplish with my bare hands.

I am a meticulous worker. When I plan on something, I don’t let go but keep at it. Just like this garden. I just saw a pocket sized one in FB, and it really hit me that I have it in me to create one like it. So, I went online and researched on gardens. Do you know that there are several different gardens you can choose from?

Before you venture outside with your shovel, create and design your garden online. See how you can maintain garden views with up-to-date information as the garden plantings change from season to season. Create your own dream garden online. Let me tell you as I move on to the shed how I came to decide on a rock garden.

Actually, it’s a Japanese rock garden, I should qualify that. The composition of a Japanese garden depends chiefly upon the arrangement of its trees, boulders, paths, streams, and bridges. In general, Japanese Garden Plans may be treated under two divisions: Flat Japanese Gardens (hiraniwa) and Hill Japanese Gardens (tsukiyama-niwa), both of which may be again subdivided into three different forms called, respectively: Finished, Intermediary and Rough.

Rock gardens showcase those plants which grow their best and prove most interesting in a miniature landscape with rocky features. It is not necessary in the development of an interesting Rock Garden Design to use a large quantity of different types of plants — its success is dependent largely upon the ability of the designer to select proper types of plants which are in harmony with the spirit of the garden.

What was that I said a while ago? About the garden being a healthy obsessive idea. Well, it’s like this. Being out there in the sun gives me the vitamin D which is prescribed for my sallow skin and brittle hair on account of lack of vitamin D. Here’s the clincher, among the rocks strewn about and bonsai trees, I have interspersed small pots of herbs and fruit bearing shrubs like cherry tomatoes, herbals, and chilli peppers good enough for a salad toss up.

You know what, I really love the feel of clayey soil on my palms, it’s like going back to my roots. So, yes it’s a matter of being in the spirit of creating a garden. As I survey my project taking shape, little by little by my own hands, I can’t help but suppress a smile. I can picture myself lying bare in newly turned soil in my next book. See it all here complete with your free online garden design tool.

 

Grab your tools,                                                    

Sandra Ross

Snug as a Ladybug

Where the mountains come down to kiss the sea, and both silence and beauty dance together in harmony – this describes the small country of Montenegro.

Need I say more?

 

Pretty serenity,

Sandra Ross

Date Night Sitter

Thanks to a close friend who agreed to look after the kids for the night, Jonathan and I are finally on a romantic date – like teenagers again. Except the sensual ending is already given, and out of the question. Jonathan is in his elements tonight. As he brushes past me in his loose black Chino pants and a sleeveless cream cotton T-shirt which stretched across his torso like a second skin.

I like chinos especially chino pants and chino shorts. For chino pants, Jonathan wears them with boat shoes; they have a unique fitting good for stylish guys like him. And for chino shorts he wears them with converse shoes. He also wears chino pants with slim fit shirts and a blazer jacket, and then wears stylish dress shoes. I love dressing him up in my mind and undressing him…

My husband is not exactly young but he has a trim body due to hours of Kung Fu. His den is a mini gym, outfitted with all sorts of gadgets to keep him trim for his court cases. He loves strutting before the panel of judges, and usually wins his court cases this way. Lady Judges have a way of seeing through his coat and the slight bulge on his pants front. I specifically told him to pad it up for effect.

I like those sandals on Jonathan because they look classic as compared to other types of sandals for men. He wears chino shorts with a v-neck t-shirt and t-strap sandals by banana republic. He loves to play with colors. Sometimes, his chino short is navy blue, so I match it with a white v-neck t-shirt and his sandals have both orange and navy blue stripes which blend well with the navy blue chino pants. I also wear Chino pants but mine are khaki, topped with a shimmering grey camisole that I wear with skin toned pushup bra. So, what else could be lacking?

Well, the night air was cool as we drove past trees in our top down car. A soft music was playing and his shaving cream wafts with the pungent pine scents of the trees. This could not be happening again. He was a stranger from the past, and he came into my life as part of an arranged wedding. His family needed political stability because they were grooming him for a government position. They are old families from Pennsylvania.

Something like anger pricked at my heart, but I quickly sealed that wound again. He was saying something to me, and I turned to face him. I should have assured him, I have brought blankets to cover the ground with but I suppressed that part. Leave the best for the last. How could two people be lovers when they cannot even stand the presence of each other? Ask me that again later, when I can think more straight. But for now, the full moon is beckoning and I am reckless tonight.

 

One word – RAWR,

Sandra Ross

Breakfast in Germany

I see waffle as a national – no, global – food. People, young and old, crave for a piece first thing on a lazy Sunday morning. And it has endless possibilities for mixing and matching flavors to best suit each person’s individual food preferences. It’s an outstanding food item. I’m so glad to have found a waffle place on a random time and space.

At a small restaurant bar in Bielefeld, Germany, they serve delicious hot waffles that are famous around the area. Served with fresh fruit, whipped cream, and ice cream, this was an excellent afternoon treat.

Yes, I really mean afternoon. They serve breakfast all day long!

 

It’s waffle time,

Sandra Ross

Dark with a Spark

Those cold winter days seem so lonely because of the consistent need to stay indoors. But one winter vacation changed my perception of the outdoor’s lack of color. This empty road was a highlight when everything else was in black and white.

Cold and harsh at times, yet crystalline beauty can be discovered everywhere during a dark Minnesota winter.

 

Freezing and loving it,

Sandra Ross

Spanish Crêpe

A little irony can be very pretty – a French crêpe on a Spanish trip!

There is a small “crêperie” down a side street off the main seaside port in Marbella, Spain, that specializes in the most delicious crepes ever. Here is a chocolate banana crepe that I liked so much. I returned again and again to order it. The waiter, after the second visit, did not even need to take my order…he just went to the kitchen to get one when he saw me coming down the street. It was an appetizing initiative.

 

Hola postre,

Sandra Ross