The space shuttle Endeavour lifted off in yesterday’s early morning hours   Photo by NASA

OK Kids~  School’s back in session and we continue with our lessons. With a little practice, you too can speak like a true native. Please feel free to use these words in a sentence. For an example click on audio button below.    

 

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Veehickle…  your car

Sairday…  last day of the week

Plasky…  highway

Click on audio   

 

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Hello Lovers~ On the Nite Lite, we give you an opportunity to let those special people in your life that you love and care about know how you feel. Here’s a chance for you to wish your sweetheart a Happy Valentine’s Day on the Nite Lite Blog. You can do so by leaving a comment below.  Love to you!   Fran~

Hello Nite Liters,   I happen to be married to an excellent cook…so I thought I would share some of his incredible recipes with you. Bon Appetit!   Fran~  

I lived in England for a few years when I was a child. While there I came to love some of their food~ Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mash, Yorkshire pudding, and of course Shepherd’s Pie. I adapted this recipe from Alton Brown. This is a great wintertime meal. Enjoy.  Tom~

For the potatoes: 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes / 1/4 cup half-and-half / 2 ounces unsalted butter / 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt / 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper / 1 egg yolk   For the meat filling:  2 tablespoons canola oil / 1 cup chopped onion / 2 carrots, peeled and diced small / 2 cloves garlic, minced / 1 1/2 pounds ground lamb / 1 teaspoon kosher salt / 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper / 2 tablespoons all purpose flour / 2 teaspoons tomato paste / 1 cup chicken broth / 1 teaspoon Worchester sauce / 2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves / 1 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves / 1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels / 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas 

Peel the potatoes (I leave the skins on) and cut into 1/2 inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Place the half-in-half and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 35 seconds. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the half-and-half, butter salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch sauté pan and set over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and sauté just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worchester, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is slightly thickened. Add the corn and peas to the lamb mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serves 8

Hello Lovers~  I’ll be playing Cupid once again this year~ surprising sweethearts all around Baltimore with roses and candy from Raimondi’s, tickets to see Harry Connick Jr. at the Lyric Opera House, gift certificates from Nelson Coleman Jewelers, and dinner from Tark’s at Greenspring Station.

If you would like me to surprise your sweetie, return to the home page and click on Valentine Visits to enter. Love to you,   Fran~

For more than a century, the makers of NECCO Sweethearts Conversation Hearts have come up with some of the sweetest ways of saying “I love you.” Every Valentine’s Day, the company presents new messages on the tiny colored hearts that have been a holiday tradition since the Civil War ♥

Some favorites among the more than one hundred Sweetheart sayings have been in circulation since the hearts were first factory-made in 1902. These classics include “Kiss Me,” “Sweet Talk,” and “Be Mine.” Sometimes a motto is discontinued for a time and then makes a reappearance; others are gone for good. 

NECCO says that creating mottoes can be tricky. The new sayings can’t be “offensive, distasteful, or too wordy,” according to Walter Marshall, retired NECCO vice president.Space is also an issue. Conversation hearts come in two sizes—the standard 1/2 inch and the larger 3/4 inch model. The small hearts generally can fit no more than two words with four letters each, while the large hearts may accommodate two words with six letters each. Fortunately, creative phrasing can help fit longer sentiments onto the tiny hearts, as in the case of “EZ 2 LOVE.” 

If you miss some of the old sayings, or would like to see some of your own, you can have them custom-made. The catch is that you’ll have to buy a full production run, or about 1.7 million candy hearts. But you’ll have plenty of time to eat them—they should stay fresh for at least five years. 

Production of Sweethearts for Valentine’s Day has already begun. There’s still a chance to submit your slogan ideas for next year, however. NECCO must produce about 100,000 pounds of the candy hearts every day in order to meet the Valentine demand, when about 8 billion hearts are sold in six weeks. 

Conversation hearts were invented in the 1860s by the brother of NECCO’s founder. These first hearts had printed paper notes tucked inside. The lengthy, old-fashioned sayings included such wistful thoughts as “Please send a lock of your hair by return mail.”

To convert the conversation hearts to your own message, check out this link~  http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/messageheartsagain

Old signs are cool! I love them in neon, porcelain, and vintage bakelite too. Baltimore still has some classics around, but unfortunately many have disappeared. Thankfully someone is rescuing and restoring these gems. Check out this link~   http://www.normanssigngarden.mysite.com./

Hello Nite Liters~   I’ve been a star gazer ever since I was a kid. Learning about planets and constellations from my dad and watching satellites and shooting stars go by as I delivered the morning paper always fascinated me. And so my fellow Night Owls, I encourage you to look up and enjoy the beauty of the night sky. Here are some things to observe this week (weather permitting)  Click play button to set the mood!     Fran~   

 

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February 8    The most beautiful of all the “connect-the-dots” constellations is in grand view on winter evenings. Orion, the hunter, is in the southeast at nightfall, and wheels high across the south later on.

February 9    The Orion Nebula is a giant stellar nursery — a cocoon of gas and dust that has given birth to thousands of stars. It is in the south on winter evenings. The nebula is a faint smudge of light just below the three bright stars that mark Orion’s Belt.

February 10    Betelgeuse, the bright orange star that marks the shoulder of Orion, the hunter, is high in the southeast at nightfall, above the band of three stars that marks Orion’s Belt. Over the past decade, Betelgeuse has shrunk by about 15 percent, but astronomers are not sure why.

February 11    Rigel, the brightest star of Orion, marks the hunter’s foot. It is to the lower right of Orion’s Belt early this evening. Rigel is a blue supergiant, so it is much bigger and heavier than the Sun. It also is thousands of degrees hotter, so it shines blue-white.

February 13    An obscure cat pads through the northern sky at this time of year. Known as Lynx, it stands high in the northeast in early to mid evening. It’s about halfway between the outer stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper and the bright “twins” of Gemini.

February 14    The Big Dipper stands straight up from the northeastern horizon a couple of hours after sunset, with the bowl above the handle. Line up the two stars at the top of the bowl and follow them to the left to Polaris, the North Star.
Check back weekly for more celestial fun!