Authentic Hungarian Goulash Recipe from the Budapest Tourism Website

A Classical   Hungarian Goulash Recipe           

Ingredients (for 4 persons)                       

• 600 g beef shin or shoulder, or any tender part of the beef cut into 2x2 cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons oil or lard
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 carrots, diced
• 1 parsnip, diced
• 1-2 celery leaves  
• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 tbs.  tomato paste
• 2 fresh green peppers
• 2-3 medium potatoes, sliced  
• 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway seed
• 1 bay leaf    
• ground black pepper and salt according to taste
• water

          Instructions

1. Heat up the oil or lard in a pot and braise the chopped onions in it until they get a nice golden brown color.
2. Sprinkle the braised onions with  paprika powder while stirring them to prevent the paprika from burning.
3. Add the beef cubes and and saute them till they turn white and get a bit of brownish color as well.
   
   
4. The meat will probably let out its own juice, let the beef-cubes simmer in it while adding the grated or crushed and chopped garlic (grated garlic has  stronger flavor), the ground caraway seed, some salt and ground black pepper, the bay leaf,  pour  water enough to cover  the content of the pan and let it simmer on low heat for a while.
5. When the meat is half-cooked (approx. in 1,5 hour, but it can take longer depending on the type and quality of the beef)  add the diced carrots, parsnip and the potato's, the celery leaf and some more salt if necessary (vegetables tend to call for more salt). You'll probably have to add some more (2-3 cups) water too.

When the vegetables and the meat are almost done add the tomato cubes and the sliced green peppers. Let it cook on low heat for another few minutes. You can remove the lid of the pan if you want the soup to thicken.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                      Photo by freestock.com

Ready to share with the world, my message to my son on his 3rd birthday who is now 5. I'm also unveiling the ugly side of passing time.

Lyric Jesse Ranoni...1094 days later

By Karen Ranoni on Friday, July 29, 2011 at 10:07am

 

 Nothing reminds you of how time flies by like your children's birthdays. I always get a sense of dread, sadness or maybe loss when I celebrate one of my children's birthdays. As much as I try not to take the shine out of or attention away from the joy in my children's milestones there is an undeniable mood that lingers throughout the celebration of these exciting holidays & birthdays.

It's almost as if while the day is marching on and the excitement is in the air; I can almost hear a clock ticking in the background reminding me that as happy and exciting as the birthdays and passing holidays are, realistically they are an unwelcome countdown. They are bringing me (unwillingly I might add) one step closer to "the day" when they are independent, working, adults. I know this must sound really self serving and almost depressing but if I'm being honest I have to acknowledge the things I just described. As I worry about the passing time I also feel shameful that I'm robbing the present to spend time worrying about the future. I have a really bad habit of worrying about things that are years to come or may never happen; I'm a scenario setter (yes I just made that up... purely speculative/counterproductive-scenario setter, look for it as a future trending topic LOL).

I do not know if I am (and I hope I am not) alone in this feeling or if we all feel the same and just don't speak of it. But it is an isolating feeling. I certainly would not spend my son's birthday complaining to our guests how his birthdays make me feel like I would rather be in bed with a bottle of wine watching video's of his first 3 years on repeat so I can torture myself with thoughts of how his future wife will steal him from me; as you can bet I'm already convinced there is no female alive that will be good enough for him.

Ugh, I hate that this is how I feel, it makes me feel guilty and ugly but it's my truth and I hope as he grows I will in return come to terms with my only son becoming a man...SOMEDAY, in the future...a LONGGGG time from now. hahaha.

Kisses from mom <3

Tomorrow my son Lyric turns 3... In 3 years he has grown from a baby to a little boy, he went from hours spent in my arms to hours playing in his room. He was willingly mine for the 1st yr, I shared him with no one.. I was his everything. The only person he looked for in a room filled with people...The 2nd year I saw his need for me slipping away and his interest in the world around him blossom, everything was something new and worth investigating, I became more like furniture, available if he got tired or a lap that felt safe. The one seat in the world always available to him, never occupied. I’m learning quickly to hold on tight to any opportunity he gives me to rock him in the chair when everyone else is sleeping. I take as long as he'll allow me to rub lotion on him after his baths, I know I can get the best minutes of my day stealing sleepy kisses he'll only give me right before he falls asleep. The taller he gets, as each year rolls by faster than the last I’m trying my hardest to hold on for dear life. I will never stop learning him, I will never take a minute off from my search to find holes in his life that I can fill with myself...opportunities to remind him that my love is unconditional. I love you Lyric Jesse Ranoni...no matter how many times you correct me because you think your Lj and not baby Lyric, no matter how fast or smart or tall or far you go...My love is the one thing you can never outgrow.

Leaving to look at Christmas lights 2009

Lyric wearing aviators and breaking hearts

What is happening to these children? How does a child just vanish out of thin air?

In the last few years the U.S. has had some very disturbing cases of people vanishing into thin air. The ones I'd like to focus on in this post are all children, all gone & never heard from or seen again and no one has ever been held responsible.

So basically these children have been victims, of something nefarious because they are no longer in there homes with there families and the police never really have more to say than the standard line "It continues to be an ongoing investigation". Let's recount some of the cases that stick out to me the most.

Kyron Hormon-
On June 4, 2010, Kyron was brought to school by his stepmother, Terri Horman, who then stayed with him while he attended a science fair. Terri Horman states that she left the school at around 8:45am and remembered seeing Kyron walking down the hall to his first class.^[4] However, he was never seen in his first math class, instead he was marked absent for the day and has not been seen since.

Terri Horman's statements to the police indicate that after leaving the school at 8:45am, she ran errands at a local grocery store until about 10:10am. Between 10:10am and 11:39am, she states that she drove her daughter around town in an attempt to use the motion of the vehicle to soothe the toddler's earache. Terri went to a local gym at 11:39am and worked out until about 12:40pm. By 1:21pm she had arrived home and posted photos on Facebook of Kyron at the science fair earlier that morning.^[5]

At 3:30pm, Terri, her husband Kaine Horman, and their daughter, Kiara, walked to the school bus stop to meet Kyron. The school bus driver informed them that Kyron had not boarded the school bus after school. She asked the bus driver to call the school and ask where Kyron was. She was informed by the school secretary that Kyron hadn't been in school since early that day and had been marked absent. She reported to the secretary that she did not have Kyron and therefore he was missing. The secretary then called the 911 call center using a private phone number assigned to the Portland Public School district to report that Kyron was missing. The 911 call center then reported this information to the police. In late June 2010, in the midst of the investigation into Kyron's disappearance, Kyron's biological father Kaine was reportedly told by investigators that his wife, Terri Horman, had offered their landscaper "a lot of money" to kill him. Investigators convinced the landscaper to confront Terri while wearing a wire, but they were unable to obtain any hard evidence and therefore did not make an arrest. On June 28, Kaine filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order against Terri. No charges have ever been filed against Terri and the search continues.
Time Line of Terri (Stepmom last person to see Kyron Alive):

Grocery Shopping: According to multiple sources, Terri Horman says she left Skyline School at 8:45am in the morning without Kyron the day he disappeared and that between 8:45 a.m. and 10:10 a.m. she ran errands at local grocery stores and can prove it.
Driving on Rural Roads: Between 10:10 in the morning and 11:39, Terri said she drove her daughter K around on rural roads in the family’s white truck because K had an earache. She said she was trying to soothe the toddler with the motion of the vehicle because the baby had an earache.
Gym:
At 11:39 a.m., Terri checked in at a 24-hour Fitness in Beaverton on Waterhouse Avenue and worked out for about an hour until 12:40 p.m.
She went to the gym for about 45 minutes that morning and arrived home about 1 p.m. to post pictures from the science fair on her Facebook page.
Back Home: By 1:21, Terri said she'd traveled home - a distance of nearly 11 miles - and was posting photos on Facebook she'd taken that morning of Kyron standing with his science project and of his friend, K, standing with his.
Terri's emails: Home at 12:45.
Case info obtained partially by the sources listed below-
First article: http://www.katu.com/news/local/99151549.html
Second article: http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Horman...-99181214.html 

View Single Post - Kyron Horman Case Review #1: Thread #1: LE Press Conference & Release: June 5 2010

So where does this leave us? Well with a lot of finger pointing that is for sure! But here are the discrepancies found with Terri's version of what happened that day. First, there was Terri's claim that between 10:10 a.m. and 11:39 a.m. she drove along rural roads to ease the inner ear pain she said her daughter was experiencing. This led police to issue a request for any video along the paths where she had said she was driving to confirm her alibi. No footage of her drive has yet turned up.
Then, there was the fact that on that particular day, Terri had requested to use Kaine's truck, instead of her own car. She wanted the truck on that day so she could more easily bring home the science fair project, which fit in a larger vehicle. Yet, she had failed to bring home the project and according to KATU News, instead emailed a teacher that day asking when she could pick it up. Kaine Horman told KATU: "I typically drive the truck and Terri drives the car. She wanted to use the truck to bring Kyron's science fair project home, easier done with the truck than the car."
And, there was the brief time period, around the same time as Terri was allegedly driving around with Kiara, when her friend DeDe Spicher went off the grid, letting calls to her phone go unanswered. According to the owner of the house where she had been working, DeDe abruptly left around 11:10 a.m. and returned around 1 p.m. These discrepancies in Terri's timeline, as well as claims against her that Kaine would later bring forth, cast Terri as the potential culprit in Kyron's disappearance.  However, there was never anything more than circumstantial evidence against her, and she would never be named as a formal suspect. Although duly noted in the court documents is the fact that Terri failed two polygraph tests regarding questions about Kyron. (Terri fired back that polygraph tests are not permissible in court and are not defacto "proof" of lying.)
All of this is such a tragedy, Kyron's mother is still hopeful that her son will be found. If you would like more information regarding this case or how you can assist in his search go to: http://www.bringkyronhome.org/

                        
                                 Last photo of taken of Kyron before he goes missing



Haleigh Cummings-
An Amber Alert was issued for five-year-old Haleigh Ann-Marie Cummings of Satsuma, Florida, on February 10, 2009, hours after the little girl vanished from the bedroom of her home in the pre-dawn hours.
On February 11, 2009, Florida authorities said they believed Cummings had been kidnapped from her home. The search continued for the child on February 12, 2009, and family members made emotional pleas for Cummings' return. Cummings father, Ronald Cummings, told NBC's Today show "I know somebody took her. I know for a fact she didn't wander off—she's afraid of the dark."
After six days of searching for Cummings, reports on February 16, 2009, said authorities were "winding down" their ground search for the girl and shifting to the investigative side of the case.

Facts:
Reported missing at 3:27 a.m. on February 10, 2009
Police believe Cummings was abducted
Height: 3'; weight: 39 lbs.
Blonde hair and brown eyes
Last seen wearing a pink shirt and underwear
Lives with her father, Ronald Cummings, and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Misty Croslin
Croslin was reportedly the last person to see Cummings before she vanished
Authorities were said to be "concerned" because several registered sex offenders live near Cummings' home.
Police questioned Ronald Cummings and Misty Croslin in connection to the case; both reportedly passed polygraph tests .
Authorities were investigating the disappearance of convicted sex offender Chad Eugene Reynolds.
Reynolds was convicted of molesting a child under the age of 12 in Putnam County in 2002.
Officials have said "they do not believe" Reynolds is connected to Cummings' disappearance.
According to reports, Haleigh Cummings' father's girlfriend, Misty Croslin, last saw the five-year-old around 10 p.m. on Monday, February 9, 2009. Croslin says she woke up around 3 a.m., realized Haleigh was gone and immediately called 911. Shortly after that, Cummings' father, Ronald Cummings, arrived home from work to find the child had vanished. Cummings says his back door was open.
The Search for Haleigh
A massive search was launched on February 10, 2009, with police using bloodhounds and helicopters in hopes of locating the child. The following day, authorities said the case had been classified as an abduction.
On February 12, 2009, reports said members of Texas EquuSearch, the group which helped in searches for Natalee Holloway and Caylee Anthony, had joined in the efforts to try and locate Cummings. According to reports, the group planned to search for Cummings on foot and on horseback; searchers were also bringing in sonar equipment.
George Anthony, the grandfather of murdered Florida toddler Caylee Anthony, has reportedly joined in the search for Cummings.
On February 16, 2009, reports said the ground search for Haleigh Cummings was winding down, after hundreds of volunteers spent the weekend scouring the miles around her home.
This is now 2013 and no arrest has been made, to the public and the people who work in the field of trying to find missing people it is beyond disturbing and ever so sad. I hope at some point we found out the truth and she can either be brought home or laid to rest.

                              Haleigh at the beach..being a happy child, just as she should be.

Sky Metalwala:
Two-year old Sky Metalwala went missing in WA after his mother claimed she ran out of gas, left him in the car and walked away with her daughter to get gas. When she returned her boy was gone, she claims, although her story has been unraveling ever since that Sunday morning in November.

What we know:JB (Julia Biryukova Sky's Mom) has severe OCD and has been committed 3 times.
SM (Solomon Metalwala Sky's Dad) and JB married in 2003 after 14 years together, according to JB this was only because SM was being deported back to Pakistan.
They were both caught leaving sky in Target car park for 55 minutes in Dec 09.
They were both currently divorcing, in fact sky went missing 3 days after a 12 hour mediation session involving both parents.
SM has not seen either of his children for 10 months.
Date of temporary protection order 09-27-2010.
JB told SM that she had dreams of strangling her younger child.
JB has admitted to leaving the children alone while she had her hair done, went shoe shopping and of course the 12 hour mediation session.
CPS was informed of SM had struck his daughter hard enough to cause bruises "preponderance of evidence"
They also received six referrals about the family between late 2009- and late 2010.
Lafrate people said there was no child in the car between the hours of 8am-10am.
Sky was last seen by a neighbor a couple of weeks before the day he disappeared.
No gas can near vehicle even though Julia said she went for gas.
LE say the car still had 2.2 gallons of gas in the car, also the car started straight away by the LE.
JB stated she locked the drivers door, but wasn't sure of the rest.
Dogs picked up no scent of sky outside the car.
Surveillance pictures show JB at a bank and a store hours before sky dis
appeared.
Sky was dressed in A grey hooded sweatshirt and blue and grey striped pants on the day he disappeared.
JB Refused lie detector test.

                                               Picture of Sky

There is an epidemic going on in our country and it's the blasé attitude people have developed from over exposure to shocking media that is allowing a open season on innocent woman and children. These are just 3 of hundreds, not knowing what happened to these children can not be tolerated. Please contact your local police dept of you think you have information that might help in any ongoing investigation, no lead is to small...you never know you just might hold the key and not even know it.

Day 1 of bootcamp- 1 hour of butt kicking fitness..I survived YAY!!!!

I was so worried I would fall out and embarrass myself. Luckily I made it through the entire class, and as I was leaving I realized I felt like a hundred bucks, I felt accomplished for the first time in quite awhile.

I have never been someone who has made fitness in general part of my daily life. I appreciate people who are fit and healthy and even at my thinnest I can't really say I have ever been fit. Recently my age and weight have been weighing heavily (no pun intended) on my mind. Thoughts of changing my life around have started to spend more time surfacing mostly during my moments of weakness while I'm scarfing down a chocolate covered donut or a bag of dill pickle chips. The reason I have decided to make some pretty major life changes is due to the fact I'm almost 40 and my children are so young. Today was the first step in my quest to become healthy, fit and a non-smoker which has been a battle I have been fighting for years, successful for short periods of time but I have always fell prey to my fear that I cannot manage my stress without nicotine. Somehow I have married my ability to handle stressful situations with the smoking of cigarettes. Logically I know that is not the case but for some reason I just can't seem to put them down and give it up forever. For example I quit for 6 months, but I wore the patch the entire time and actually developed an allergy to it so now whenever I put a patch on I break out in a horrible rash. I own every single nicotine replacement product known to man, yet I have convinced myself that in order to quit smoking once and for all I need to be hypnotized.

I hope that my change in diet and my new found fondness of breaking a sweat will lead me to building up the confidence to stop smoking and set a better example for my children.

I plan to lose 40 lbs by the end of July, I will keep you posted on my progress and I would love to hear from any of you who are currently working towards the same goals, nothing feels as good as knowing your not in it alone :)

 

Day 1 I weigh a whopping 189..(I am 5'7 so it's not quite as bad as it sounds) haha..


I will also be adding new recipes and weight loss tips that I think you all might like. Feel free to share with me in return!!



Convicted Murderer Jodi Arias, Should she live or die?

Convicted Murderer Jodi Arias, Should she live or die?

Waiting those last few minutes before hearing the verdict I imagined what we would witness as Jodi learned the verdict. I imagined her flipping out and getting zapped by a deputy, I imagined her breaking down and saying no-no-no, I imagined her passing out.

What I did not expect was the solemn face of a woman more logically expected from a person who just learned she was getting fired from a part time job she worked one day a week, as opposed to a woman who just found out she was charged with first degree murder. 

What could possibly explain this woman and her lack of emotion, she was calm and relatively unfazed. Is it possible that she willed herself to remain calm? Had she already came to terms with her fate? For someone such as herself that proclaims to live a life guided by "The Secret" it would seem somewhat implausible that she was expecting the worst.  I have a nagging feeling that what we saw in that motionless face of hers was a glimpse into the soul of who she really is. Was that the same cold, emotionless face that Travis saw in his last moments of life?

When you see these trials and you watch the defendant hear the fate voted on by their peers you usually see someone who is devastated, broken. I guess maybe that's a sign of regret or remorse in the most primal example, in that moment where time must almost seem to stand still while realization sinks in and your natural emotions are unable to be contained, your response to that verdict in my opinion is a window peering straight into the soul.

I keep replaying the voice of Jodi saying "No jury will ever convict me". How those words must be a looming, constant reminder to her that her mouth is almost as deadly as her hands. She sealed her fate in my opinion when the jury heard those words and saw all the evidence then retreated to that jury room to deliberate, how those 6 words must have hung in the air like a rancid putrid smell.  Even more telling to me in many ways than her reaction to the verdict is the fact that after she heard the ruling, and everyone was crying, shocked, hugging all the things that people in that gallery were doing, she got up and walked straight out of the courtroom and never once turned back to see how her family was holding up. She had no more concern for her Mother than she had for Travis the day she left him dead in that shower stall and turned around and walked out of that house.

So back to the question posed in the title of this post...Life or Death? What does she deserve? If you default to the wishes of the Alexander family then it is clear that nothing less than death is in order. If you believe that no human person should be put to death than clearly you believe life is in order.

My heart wants to see her die, but my logic tells me that death would be a gift to someone who so yearns for attention and art and the support of strangers to boost her ego and reinforce to her that what she did was justified and excusable. So as I sit torn I leave it up to the people who have the power to make that decision, and so far their actions have renewed my faith in our justice system, I am certain they will come to a conclusion that will punish her accordingly.

On a final note, I would like to say that I have lost all respect for Jennifer Willmott and Kirk Nurmi, they have shown zero respect for the Alexander family and have conspired with Arias to slander and defame the character and name of the victim. That is something that is beyond excusable, it is in my opinion criminal.

 

Jodi Arias on the stand smiling....it's show time!

Jodi Arias whispering in Jennifer Willmott's ear

 

Jodi Arias as she hears her verdict of GUILTY