Center City 2020 Vision Plan Community Workshop No.2

Tonight, I will attend the Charlotte Center City Vision Plan workshop.  The goal is to assist MIG with their development of a vision plan to include a vibrant urban core extending out to our region’s residents.  Your invited too and your vision for Charlotte’s future development is important. This is the 2nd Center City 2020 Vision Plan Community Workshop held at the convention center uptown.  MIG Consulting will present the DRAFT Vision, Goals and Concepts exploring the possibilities for Center City’s growth over the next decade.

When: Wednesday, March 31. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

Where: Charlotte Convention Center 501 South College Street Map

Transit: Take the LYNX Light Rail to 3rd Street Station

Parking: Free Parking in ‘The Green’ parking garage on College St. across from the Convention Center Check out other transit and parking options at www.findyourcenter.com. To learn more, log onto www.CenterCity2020.com or call 704-332-2227.

See you there and if not I will post more on this later.

CSI PRODUCT EXPO AND SEMINARS

Tomorrow, March 29th from 1:00 PM to 7:30 PM I will attend the CSI Product Expo and a few of the Education Seminars too.  It’s held at the Marriott SouthPark (2200 Rexford Road, Charlotte). See you there!  If you’re a member of the CSI you are welcome to bring a guest for free.  The following is the schedule:

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (2 AIA Sustainable Learning Units)
A First Look At The New IBC Sustainability Code And ASTM Sustainability Standard presented by Chris Mathis, National Energy Policy Consultant

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM (1 AIA Sustainable Learning Units)
LEED Gold Office Development With Photovoltaics
Presented by Keith Pehl, PE, Optima Engineering

3:15 PM – 4:15 PM (1 AIA Sustainable Learning Units)
Sustainability, Water Conservation and LEED Projects
Presented by Mike Hoffman, Bradley Corporation

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM (1 AIA Sustainable Learning Units)
Life Cycle Analysis for Sustainable Materials
Presented by Lisa Feldman, LEED AP. IIDA

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM (1 AIA Sustainable Learning Units)
Solutions for Floor Moisture Control
Presented by Ray Hicks, Koster America

4:00 PM – 7:00 PM Product Expo

5:00 PM – 7:30 PM Refreshments Served

6:00 PM – 6:45 PM Door Prize Drawings
Ten $100 gift cards. Must be present to win.

 

I’ll bring my camera and take lots of notes to fill you in on all that is new in the wonderful world of construction materials and products. ~ Suze

Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

 

I’ve been working on this recipe for some time now and think I have perfected it.  It’s a basic recipe but one of my favorites.  I’ve been using a spoon to dole out blobs of dough and just today I went out to find a 2 oz ice cream scoop to make production go a bit faster only to find that these gadgets are not cheap.  My quest is not over.  I’ll be checking into the grocery store since the usual suspects (Target, Marshalls, etc) were of no use, well, no economy.  I just want what I want and I want to pay $3.00 for it.

 

So on with the recipe.  You can substitute where ever you like.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar (the kind doesn’t matter as long as you cream the butter and sugar first)
1 large egg ( a second egg may be necessary)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup quick-cooking (1 minute) oats (I use the packets of instant organic oats I seem to pass up for the other flavored packets…they may not be appealing as a bowl of oatmeal but they rock as cookies…and the dried blueberries are an added surprise)
1 cup raisins or cranberries (I use Craisins made by Ocean Spray)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup flax seeds (adds that omega 3 so needed in our diets)
dark chocolate chips are good too….more antioxidants and falvonoids…and you thought these cookies were just a snack.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl (I use a kitchen aid mixer), cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and spices. Slowly add in thirds of the dry goods with the mixer in low. You will have to scrape the sides with a spatula, however, this is a pretty dry mix.

Once no streaks of flour remain, stir in the goodies: oats, Craisins, flax seeds, chocolate,and even shredded carrots for a moister cake like cookie.

Drop tablespoonfuls of batter onto prepared baking sheets and flatten slightly (I use the 1/4c measuring spoon but you might have an ice-cream scoop that will work too…and if you do I am sooo jealous).

Bake for 11-13 minutes, until cookies are set and lightly browned on the edges. Cool for 3 or 4 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

TIP: Half way through baking, mash the cookies down with a spatula or bottom of a glass. This will give you a crunchy flat cookie and not the puffed lump that I ended up with the first time. Also, let them cool on the sheet. The sugar is molten when it comes out and will harden up on the sheet before transferring to a rack. I find they make it just fine into my mouth after they have cooled on the sheet. But go ahead and rack ’em.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Wine…Wine…WINE!!!!

No I’m not complaining.  Little joke.  I have always enjoyed a glass of wine with a great meal, but now I can honestly say I can enjoy that glass so much more after having attended a few of Craig Brown’s classes at Arthur’s Wine Shop at Belk’s Southpark  (http://www.arthurs-wine.com/ ). 

I have been taking notes, not the best, while tasting several varieties over the past months and would love to share with you wines that we tasted and the ones that I liked the most.  Look for more posts coming up on wine tastings and the fun that is had.  I’ll bring my camera too so check out SuzanneLambertLive in the next couple of months for more on wine. Cheers! ~ Suzanne

PlaciDON’T No. 3

PlaciDON’T pick up a neighbor’s puppy when your Newfoundland is bouncing about wanting to play with it. It is the best set up for a Newfy vs. Human Head Smack Down. Word to the wise: The one with the bigger skull wins. Now that he is nine months old he weighs in at 100 pounds. I got a shiner from Mr. P.

PlaciDON’T No. 2

Now that Placido has discovered that water comes our of the faucet he spends most of his time at night in the tub. I thought this was cute until he stood in his drinking bowl today. This may seem cute to some of you out there and it was for me too until……DUN DUN DUH….he hopped up and down to splash it about as if he was wading in a very very very small splashing pool. This dog loves water.

PlaciDON’T leave the water bowl on the floor. Go out and buy one of those silly bowl stands so you can put the mop away…and yes…he loves the mop too. “Placido, get out of that bowl!!!!”

So far the PlaciDON’Ts are leading……

PlaciDON’T No.1

“I’m in the tub…NOW BATHE ME!!!”

When at the Dog Park, always check for large mud puddle as Newfoundland’s adore water no mater how deep or how thick with goopy mud they may be. A Newf is like a divining rod. Take them camping with you. You never know when you might need a drink. I cannot promise the cleanliness of your drink but Newfies have an insatiable desire to roll and splash in as much of this stuff we call water. To a Newf, it is manna from heaven.

PlaciDON’T take a water dog to the Dog Park the day after a good rain unless you are interested in bathing a very dirty dog later that afternoon.

Still working on this page…

Wow!!!  What I thought would take a few minutes has resulted in a few hours.  I am, however, having a lot of fun “trying on” a few of the themes that WordPress has to offer and I think I like this one the best.  Too bad it’s not a three-column format but this will be fine.  After all, there isn’t anything for anyone to read just yet so I should focus on content and not appearance.  I can’t leave my fans in suspense.

While I will be working on my entries, just know that my intent is to stimulate my own knowledge of many subjects and to take that “if you want to learn something then teach it” mentality to learning a few new things too.

So far I’ve learned a great deal about blogging and what doors it can open.  This should be a very interesting little experiment of mine.   Hope you enjoy it as much as I do putting it together.

Suzanne

My blog is under construction. Please stay tuned. More soon.