Employee Spotlight for June!

This month's spotlight is on Jeff Williams!  Here are some fun tidbits about Jeff.

1.       What are you most looking forward to this summer? Air conditioning, or my awesome swamp cooler. Going to the canyon for bbqs, going to snowbird and to Oregon, (assuming I can get the time off). Watching Molly grow.

2.       Do you have any nicknames for yourself? “that guy”; they used to call me “The Wise Man” so feel free to adopt that one

3.       What is something about you that nobody here knows? I was once a regular at Highland View Middle School’s Problem Solving Room.

4.       What super power would you choose?  super metabolism and super memory

5.       What was your most unusual job? In high school, I worked at a nursing home feeding the residents; that was pretty weird. Spent the summer working at a fishing site in Alaska.

Grillin & Chillin

 

Chipotle-Mango BBQ Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups mango, peeled, pitted and roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup fresh cilantro (loose pack, not chopped, stems and all)
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
• 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice wine vinegar
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon canola oil, plus extra for grill
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 2 pounds chicken thighs and drumsticks, bone in, skin on

Directions

Put the mango, cilantro, chipotle, vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of oil and salt and pepper, in a food processor and puree until smooth. Adjust seasonings, to taste.

Add the chicken with half the mango mixture to a resealable plastic bag, and massage to coat the chicken with the sauce. Refrigerate at least 6 hours to marinate.
Put the other half of the mango mixture into a small saucepan and simmer over low heat until thick, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Set some of the simmered chipotle-mango sauce aside to serve on the side and baste the chicken every few minutes with the rest of the sauce.
Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium-high heat and brush with canola oil. Remove the chicken from the marinade and put on the grill.
Grill the chicken turning and basting about every 5 minutes until cooked through, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and serve with the reserved mango sauce.

Fun Summer Facts!

I love to throw these fun facts in each month.  Enjoy!

Mosquitoes, summer's pest, have been around for more than 30 million years.

Watermelon is summer's most popular vegetable. It is part of the cucumber, pumpkin, and squash family. The average American eats 15 pounds of watermelon a year and these juicy favorites are 92 percent water.

The Dog Days of Summer refers to the weeks between July 3rd and August 11th. They are named after the Dog Star (Sirius) in the constellation of Canis Major.

Ancient Romans and Greeks blamed Sirius for the extreme temperatures, drought, sickness, and discomfort that came in late summer.

June is named for the Roman goddess Juno (Hera).

Romans began the summer wedding tradition, choosing June for Juno's blessing. The tradition stuck.

The frequency of a cricket's chirps fluctuates with the temperature. If you count a cricket's chirps for 15 seconds and add 37, you will have the approximate outdoor temperature (in Fahrenheit).

June Birthdays

Happy birthday to:
Terri Flint June 8th
Jeff Williams June 12th

Memorial Day

Here's a yummy recipe for Memorial Day...or any fun Summer day.  Awesome for your next BBQ.
Grilled Peaches & Cream
Ingredients
4 peaches, halved and pitted
2 tablespoons clover honey
1 cup soft cream cheese with honey and nuts
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat a grill for medium-high heat.

Brush peaches with a light coating of oil. Place pit side down onto the grill. Grill for 5 minutes, or until the surfaces have nice grill marks. Turn the peaches over, and drizzle with a bit of honey. Place a dollop of the cream cheese spread in the place where the pit was. Grill for 2 to 3 more minutes, or until the filling is warm. Serve immediately.

The Pirates Are Coming!!!

In honor of next week's arrival of the newest installment of The Pirates of the Caribbean movies, I thought it would be fun to post some fun pirate stuff. Enjoy!
The Jolly Roger flag, with its black background and white skull and crossbones, was designed to be scary. This flag was not used by all pirates, usually it was only flown by those sailing in the Spanish Main.
Pirates believed that having women on board their ship was bad luck. They also believed that whistling on a ship would cause the weather to turn stormy (as in ‘to whistle up a storm’).
Almost all pirates stole their ships because they couldn’t buy ships incase they got caught and sent to jail. Once they had taken over a ship they had to convert it for pirate life, this usually meant making more room for sailors to live on board and strengthening the decks to hold the weight of the heavy cannons.
Pirate Captain’s would change out of their expensive, flashy clothes if there was a chance they might be captured. This way they could pretend they where only one of the crew, and not somebody important and hopefully escape.

Pirate’s Code Of Conduct.

No fighting on board ship.
No gambling with cards and dice on board ship.
No women on board ship.
All weapons and pirates to be ready for battle at all time.
Every pirate gets equal amounts of food and drink.
Every pirate gets equal amounts of all loot captured, except for the Captain and the Quartermaster who get twice as much, or any pirate who loses an arm or leg in a fight, he gets an extra half.
Every pirate gets to vote on where the ship goes and what the crew does.
Every pirate does what the Captain or Quartermaster says.
Aha, this be the Code of Conduct for The Pirate Ship, it maybe different on another ship, me Hearty.

Employee Spotlight for May!

This month's spotlighted employee is Diane Passey.  Here are some fun facts about Diane!

I was born in SLC and grew up in Murray. Go Spartans! Fashion Place Mall was non-existent at the time. It was a big field with a discount store where Chuck a Rama is. We used to wade through the grass, jump the ditch, and dodge the snakes to go to the store and buy penny candy.

I love to cook Mexican food. I make my corn tortillas and enchilada sauce from scratch. I learned from my mom, who learned from a lady in the neighborhood named Tilly Gomez.

Favorite holiday: Halloween, because you get to pretend to be someone or something that you’re not.  

Hidden talent: I can flip you off with my toes.

Unusual job: I used to be a “candy girl” at a mom and pop movie theater. IN between the matinee and the evening show, we would sun bathe on the roof.