Weekend Forecast/You Have Got to Try This Salad!

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
A really nice day shaping up for most of the eastern seaboard...New York will get into the 40s. Trough (almost a cutoff low) is digging deep over southern California/northwest Mexico. Unfortunately for Lake Tahoe ski resorts, it looks like most of the action will slide by to the south. And in fact, many of the winter storm watches/advisories are very far south...see diagram from the Storm Prediction Center (at right). Northern Plains, Great Lakes and northern New England will be the cool spots with highs in the 20s. There will be a spotty snow shower around the Great Lakes, but most of the snow will be over the southern Rockies and southern mountains of California.

Sunday, cool air will shift further southward so that it will be chillier in places like New York and DC. There will also be more widespread snow showers around the Great Lakes.

Houston will enjoy more spring-like days on Saturday and Sunday. Lows will be in the 50s and then 60s respectively. Highs will be in the upper 70s. Next best chance for rain is Wednesday although it probably won't be much. Looking way ahead, might have a very busy, wet day on the 15th. More to come on that.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do salad or ensalada, pronounced ehn-sah-lah-DAH. I love all kinds of ensalada. And check the And More section for a yummy salad I tried for the first time over the holidays.

Tomorrow from 9 am to 2 pm, Frank, Paco, and I will be at Pancakes and Pajamas being held at the Honor Roll school (in the gym), visiting with all the youngsters and teaching them some Spanish. The event benefits the Fort Bend Community Partners Rainbow Room--helping give children from traumatic situations the things that can help make them more comfortable. Children are encouraged to wear their pajamas while enjoying all the fun.

If you can't make Pancakes and Pajamas, you can always catch them on our web site and of course you can order our award winning DVD from there as well. Check out Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco at www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. If you are more interested in a full immersion type product, go to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
Okay...so have I been totally under a rock? When I went home at Christmas, my in-laws made this awesomely delicious salad called Ramen noodle salad. It is a twist on regular old cole slaw. Let me just say that I don't even like cole slaw. But this salad is amazing!!! I am making it for a party on Sunday. I'll let you know how my version turns out.

There are several variations but I am going with this one from GAgirl's Recipes:
Slaw:
Two 1 pound bags of cole slaw (I didn't even know until tonight that you could buy the bags of pre-shredded slaw--my mom always painstakingly shredded up the cabbage)
1 bunch of chopped green onions (this is optional)

Dressing:
2 packages of Ramen noodle seasoning--I don't have this so I can going to add seasonings to taste
1/3 cup cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar (more or less to taste)--I like less personally--never liked the sweetness of cole slaw
1/2 cup oil

Crunchies:
2 packages Ramen noodles, broken up (Oriental flavor or 1 oriental, 1 chicken)--I am doing the 1 and 1 version
4 oz package of almond slivers
4 oz package of sunflower seeds (shelled)

Add the dressing and crunchies right before serving--otherwise the crunchies will become soggies. In my opinion, it's the crunchiness of the ramen noodles that makes it taste so incredible.

Enjoy!

Have a great weekend everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman