An updated version of the classic green bean casserole, which was never a favorite of mine anyway. Mushy, grayish-green, onions?!, gloppy? No thanks, from the kids' corner.
Of course, use a stick of butter and add a cup of heavy cream to any vegetable recipe and it should turn out okay!
I'll ponder this one. I think steamed green beans with a squirt of lemon, a pat of butter and maybe some toasted almonds is just as good.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Are these really necessary?
Really? (she said haughtily). I think that perhaps the kitchen is not the place for you if eye protection from onions is on your list.
Ed: How does the punctuation work for that parenthetical phrase?!
Ed: How does the punctuation work for that parenthetical phrase?!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Pizza dough is not a good substitute
If this onion/apple recipe sounds good to you, be sure to use the puff pastry.
I substituted goat cheese for the blue cheese and I think that was successful, but the pizza dough for the puff pastry..not good. And no fresh thyme twigs, I used dried, but again, that wasn't critical.
I am going to try the pumpkin bread pudding for Thanksgiving this year. At least it will have a bit more color than the traditional stuffing which is really ugly, but I'll still make it too.
I substituted goat cheese for the blue cheese and I think that was successful, but the pizza dough for the puff pastry..not good. And no fresh thyme twigs, I used dried, but again, that wasn't critical.
I am going to try the pumpkin bread pudding for Thanksgiving this year. At least it will have a bit more color than the traditional stuffing which is really ugly, but I'll still make it too.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Serious potato skins
Doesn't just reading this recipe make you want to host a lively loud party?
4 baking potatoes
olive oil
8 ozs. bacon, diced
6 ozs. cheddar cheese
1 bunch scallions
kosher salt & ground black pepper
1 cup sour cream
1. Preheat the oven to 400. Rub the potatoes lightly with olive oil (really? I think regular plain old oil would work too. Jeez, so pretentious.) and bake them until their skins are crisp and a fork easily slides into their flesh, about 1 hour. Transfer the potatoes to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, assemble the toppings. Cook the bacon until crisp, then transfer the bacon to a small bowl, reserving the fat. Grate cheese, trim & chop scallions. Optional: carmelize some onions.
3. Cut each potato into quarters lengthwise to create 4 wedges. Using a small spoon, scoop the flesh (maybe it's the proximity to Halloween, but the use of "flesh" is starting to sound creepy.)from each wedge, leaving a 1/4 inch or more of the flesh. (Save the scooped potatoes for another use, like potato pancakes or soup.) (Yeah, let's be realistic. Save them and throw them away in a week, or just throw them away right now.)
4.Turn oven to broil Return the wedges to a foil-lined baking sheet. Paint a bit of bacon fat on each, then top with cheese and bacon. Place under the broiler until the cheese is bubbling.
Season wedges with salt and pepper. Spoon a teaspoon or so of sour cream on each and scatter scallions on top.
Serves 4. (That's all?! A whole potato each?)
Worcestershire Sauce
Here's another recipe that has Peter Viechnicki's name all over it. I think every family should have a quirky, kind of old-fashioned eater like Peter - the gift options are quite varied and fun to contemplate. One year I gave him some homemade ketchup.
3-4 large shallots, chopped
2 1/2 T. allspice
1 T. mace
2 tsps. cayenne
1/4 fresh nutmeg, grated
3 3/4 tsps. salt (yikes)
2 ozs. anchovies, drained of oil
3 ozs. (abt. 1/3 cup) soy sauce
3 cups apple-cider vinegar
Combine all the ingredients in a sterilized 1-quart jar and screw the lid on tightly. Refrigerate for 1 month, shaking the jar every other day or so. Strain into a sterilized jar, and it's ready to use. Keep refrigerated. Makes 3 1/2 cups. (Oh dear, who has ever used a cup of worcestershire sauce in a lifetime?! Maybe halve this.)
3-4 large shallots, chopped
2 1/2 T. allspice
1 T. mace
2 tsps. cayenne
1/4 fresh nutmeg, grated
3 3/4 tsps. salt (yikes)
2 ozs. anchovies, drained of oil
3 ozs. (abt. 1/3 cup) soy sauce
3 cups apple-cider vinegar
Combine all the ingredients in a sterilized 1-quart jar and screw the lid on tightly. Refrigerate for 1 month, shaking the jar every other day or so. Strain into a sterilized jar, and it's ready to use. Keep refrigerated. Makes 3 1/2 cups. (Oh dear, who has ever used a cup of worcestershire sauce in a lifetime?! Maybe halve this.)
Saturday, October 24, 2009
And this puzzler is good, too!
Most motor vehicles sold in this country have both a manufacturer's name and model name, like Chevrolet Malibu, Toyota Corolla, where Chevrolet is the manufacturer and Malibu is the model, or Toyota is the manufacturer, and Carolla is the model.
Let's take one of those motor vehicles that has an actual model name and is currently being sold in the United States and it could be a car, a truck, an SUV, it doesn't matter, it's a model that is currently sold in the United States.
Take that model name. Remove the last letter, and the remaining letters, in order, spell a new word. Now remove the new last letter, and you have yet another new word. Do it again and you have now another new word. Do it once more and you have another new word. So you'll have done it four times, and have four different words, all of which you can find in the dictionary.
Here's the last piece of it. Now put all the pieces back, go back to the original word, and remove the first letter. And you have yet another new word.
What's the model name?
Let's take one of those motor vehicles that has an actual model name and is currently being sold in the United States and it could be a car, a truck, an SUV, it doesn't matter, it's a model that is currently sold in the United States.
Take that model name. Remove the last letter, and the remaining letters, in order, spell a new word. Now remove the new last letter, and you have yet another new word. Do it again and you have now another new word. Do it once more and you have another new word. So you'll have done it four times, and have four different words, all of which you can find in the dictionary.
Here's the last piece of it. Now put all the pieces back, go back to the original word, and remove the first letter. And you have yet another new word.
What's the model name?
I love this puzzler!
This was on CarTalk on my IPod this morning while I was out on a miserable 9-mile run in the rain. The 54 degree reading on the thermometer was misleading..it was humid and too warm for even a long-sleeved t-shirt.
Anyway.
Can you guess the answer?
An old guy is driving home. It's late at night. He's be-bopping along the highway and he's some considerable distance from home. Suddenly, he feels himself having a heart attack. He says, "Holy cow. It's the big one." Thinking quickly, he takes the first available exit.
As luck would have it, he winds up in a residential neighborhood. It's very late at night. He pulls over to the side of the road behind some parked cars. He's fading fast, but he has the presence of mind to pull out his cell phone and call 911.
He says to the dispatcher, "I need help. I'm having a heart attack."
Dispatcher: "Where are you?"
Old guy: "I don't know where I am."
"What exit did you take?"
"I don't remember."
"Were you going north or south or east?"
"I don't remember."
"Can you tell me what street you're on?"
"I'm in the middle of the block. I'm parked. I didn't see any street signs."
Dispatcher: "Start blowing the horn. Someone will come out of the house."
No one comes out. She then asks him to do one more thing. Minutes later, an ambulance is on its way there and saves his life.
What did she ask him to do?
Anyway.
Can you guess the answer?
An old guy is driving home. It's late at night. He's be-bopping along the highway and he's some considerable distance from home. Suddenly, he feels himself having a heart attack. He says, "Holy cow. It's the big one." Thinking quickly, he takes the first available exit.
As luck would have it, he winds up in a residential neighborhood. It's very late at night. He pulls over to the side of the road behind some parked cars. He's fading fast, but he has the presence of mind to pull out his cell phone and call 911.
He says to the dispatcher, "I need help. I'm having a heart attack."
Dispatcher: "Where are you?"
Old guy: "I don't know where I am."
"What exit did you take?"
"I don't remember."
"Were you going north or south or east?"
"I don't remember."
"Can you tell me what street you're on?"
"I'm in the middle of the block. I'm parked. I didn't see any street signs."
Dispatcher: "Start blowing the horn. Someone will come out of the house."
No one comes out. She then asks him to do one more thing. Minutes later, an ambulance is on its way there and saves his life.
What did she ask him to do?
Friday, October 23, 2009
One advantage
As an assortment of emergency vehicles went racing up the hill past the house tonight, I thought of an advantage to having just one child at home these days: I did not have to go through the panicky list of where teenage drivers were at that moment. Just one, in the shower, no worries.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
My book list
I've been editing it and adding to it quite frequently! I hope someone other than me really likes my "Ho-Hum" visual.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Books, etc. on my list
Comments/reviews/recommendations welcome! My updates as noted.
DVD's
Sunshine Cleaning This is a story of the lives of 2 sisters, one who is a single mother who cleans houses, and the younger sister who lives with the Dad who ends up joining her sister in a new business venture. Okay, that synopsis sounds so boring - read the review!
Waste of time. Who made this film? It is mostly just very disturbing and weird. Junebug is a film about a sophisticated art dealer from Chicago who travels with her husband to meet his family in small-town North Carolina.
Funny Face (1957). A fashion magazine editor sets out to find a beautiful, brainy new model, eventually finding her shelving books in a dusty Greenwich Village bookstore. I think this is a musical, so I might not really want to watch this.
The Ice Storm takes place during Thanksgiving week, 1973 and looks at the lives of a very dysfunctional family. Actually, I just read the longer review of this movie and it looks pretty depressing. Oy vey.
While You Were Sleeping (1995). This movie stars Sandra Bullock who I mostly dislike but I'll try again with this Cinderella remake set in Chicago. Ouch, I just read a review that it "should appeal to the unoriginal Sleepless in Seattle crowd who doesn't want to be challenged." But this from another critic: "This is the first romantic comedy I've seen in a long time that, by the third act, doesn't forget about being funny."
_______________________________________
The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James. When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. She then finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond, who, beneath his veneer of charm and cultivation, is cruelty itself. (lifted from Amazon.com)
Naked Emperors, Scot M. Faulkner. A memoir of 1990's government service and trying to implement efficient business practices on a dysfunctional House of Representatives.
Fatal Journey: The final expedition of Henry Hudson, Peter C. Mancall. The story of why Henry Hudson's search for the Northwest Passage was doomed - he lost the trust of his crew.
Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. Released 20 years ago as a companion to a 2-hour PBS special. It's a kind of Cliff Notes to the techniques and recipes of Julia Child.
This was pretty amusing. Yeah, and depressing, because now I know: I Am Old. How Not to Act Old: 185 Ways to Pass for Phat, Sick, Hot, Dope, Awesome or at Least Not Totally Lame, Pamela Satran. Arranged as a series of rules to overcome the generation gap. Not sure about this one - sounds like the idea could be better than the execution.
A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary, Alain de Botton. This philosopher/author will spend a week at Heathrow interviewing agents, passengers, airline executives, and then will compile his findings into a book which will be distributed free to 10,000 Heathrow travelers.
An Absolute Scandal, Penny Vincenzi. Set in London during the 1980's when the scandal at Lloyd's of London was unfolding, the book follows a set of families whose fortunes are entangled in this financial drama - kind of a Madoff-like setting.
Terrible. Don't bother. Horrible writing. None of the characters were likable or believable. (Full disclosure: I was stuck without a book at Salisbury for about 8 hours so did have to suffer through it.) All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, Janelle Brown. “A withering Silicon Valley satire . . . From the ashes of their California dreams, the three [women] must learn to talk to each other instead of past each other, and build a new, slightly more realistic existence—but not without doses of revenge and hilarity. Brown's hip narrative reads like a sharp, contemporary twist on The Corrections.”—Publishers Weekly
Eh, could've been better. Cute set-up but the text could have been expanded to simply explain the true origins of the idioms, but maybe I'm expecting too much. Birds of a Feather: A Book of Idioms and Silly Pictures. No explanation needed. This book's subject is a natural!
City Chicks: Keeping Microflocks of Laying Hens as Garden Helpers.
Doesn't this book jacket just make you want to read the book?
I didn't even get past the first chapter. Eh. Not a fan. A Change in Altitude, Anita Shreve. This novel takes place in Africa in the 1970's when a couple moves there for a year and an accident takes place that changes their lives.
Precious: A Novel, Sandra Novack. Another novel set in the 1970's in rural PA.
Random article: Paint, Easel, Bug Spray, Gun... I never have been drawn to the Art section of any newspaper or magazine - my eyes glaze over no matter how hard I try to stay interested - but this article was interesting and humanized the very-lofty experience of landscape painting.
I really wanted to read this book, but it was too much thinking for 10:45 p.m. I hope someone tackles it. The Age of Wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science, Richard Holmes. I heard an interview with this author and maybe it is just a British accent, but he made this book sound like a must-read, even though I am usually mystified by philosophers and early science; I think the topic makes me feel not well-educated and there you go...a terrible sentence to demonstrate my less well-educationalism. :)
House of Cards: Love, Faith and Other Social Expressions, David Ellis Dickerson A memoir by an ex-greeting card writer. How can you not want to at least skim this?
The Jungle Grapevine, Alex Beard. The game of "telephone" transported to the African grassland and played by Turtle, Bird, Elephant & Snake.
Faith, Hope & Ivy, Phyllis Naylor. The mountain girl Ivy June is chosen for a program where she goes to live with a girl from the bustling city of Lexington, KY.
The Unfinished Angel, Sharon Creech. In a tiny village in the Alps an angel meets an American girl who has come with her father to open a school and together they rescue a group of homeless orphans. Jeez, sounds heavy for a kids book? This could be the equivalent of the infamous Aki & the Fox which I loved, but most of my kids found depressing & sad, something I only found out much, much later. Sorry! In my defense, though, the School Library Journal calls it a "quiet, reassuring tale of friendship."
DVD's
Sunshine Cleaning This is a story of the lives of 2 sisters, one who is a single mother who cleans houses, and the younger sister who lives with the Dad who ends up joining her sister in a new business venture. Okay, that synopsis sounds so boring - read the review!
Waste of time. Who made this film? It is mostly just very disturbing and weird. Junebug is a film about a sophisticated art dealer from Chicago who travels with her husband to meet his family in small-town North Carolina.
Funny Face (1957). A fashion magazine editor sets out to find a beautiful, brainy new model, eventually finding her shelving books in a dusty Greenwich Village bookstore. I think this is a musical, so I might not really want to watch this.
The Ice Storm takes place during Thanksgiving week, 1973 and looks at the lives of a very dysfunctional family. Actually, I just read the longer review of this movie and it looks pretty depressing. Oy vey.
While You Were Sleeping (1995). This movie stars Sandra Bullock who I mostly dislike but I'll try again with this Cinderella remake set in Chicago. Ouch, I just read a review that it "should appeal to the unoriginal Sleepless in Seattle crowd who doesn't want to be challenged." But this from another critic: "This is the first romantic comedy I've seen in a long time that, by the third act, doesn't forget about being funny."
_______________________________________
The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James. When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. She then finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond, who, beneath his veneer of charm and cultivation, is cruelty itself. (lifted from Amazon.com)
Naked Emperors, Scot M. Faulkner. A memoir of 1990's government service and trying to implement efficient business practices on a dysfunctional House of Representatives.
Fatal Journey: The final expedition of Henry Hudson, Peter C. Mancall. The story of why Henry Hudson's search for the Northwest Passage was doomed - he lost the trust of his crew.
Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. Released 20 years ago as a companion to a 2-hour PBS special. It's a kind of Cliff Notes to the techniques and recipes of Julia Child.
This was pretty amusing. Yeah, and depressing, because now I know: I Am Old. How Not to Act Old: 185 Ways to Pass for Phat, Sick, Hot, Dope, Awesome or at Least Not Totally Lame, Pamela Satran. Arranged as a series of rules to overcome the generation gap. Not sure about this one - sounds like the idea could be better than the execution.A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary, Alain de Botton. This philosopher/author will spend a week at Heathrow interviewing agents, passengers, airline executives, and then will compile his findings into a book which will be distributed free to 10,000 Heathrow travelers.
An Absolute Scandal, Penny Vincenzi. Set in London during the 1980's when the scandal at Lloyd's of London was unfolding, the book follows a set of families whose fortunes are entangled in this financial drama - kind of a Madoff-like setting.
Terrible. Don't bother. Horrible writing. None of the characters were likable or believable. (Full disclosure: I was stuck without a book at Salisbury for about 8 hours so did have to suffer through it.) All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, Janelle Brown. “A withering Silicon Valley satire . . . From the ashes of their California dreams, the three [women] must learn to talk to each other instead of past each other, and build a new, slightly more realistic existence—but not without doses of revenge and hilarity. Brown's hip narrative reads like a sharp, contemporary twist on The Corrections.”—Publishers Weekly
Eh, could've been better. Cute set-up but the text could have been expanded to simply explain the true origins of the idioms, but maybe I'm expecting too much. Birds of a Feather: A Book of Idioms and Silly Pictures. No explanation needed. This book's subject is a natural!
The photos are kid-friendly (could have included more), but the text and the acrostics may be more interesting for the adult reader, especially the last few pages where he explains his compositions. African Acrostics: A Word in
Edgeways, Avis Harley. Eighteen poems written as acrostics.
Bird in Hand, Christina Kline. Author of a The Way Life Should Be: A Novel.
Paris in the Third Reich, David Pryce-Jones. Interest in this subject matter was sparked by our visit to a French historical museum and Lindsey's accompanying explanation of the content; free admission in Paris usually means the content is all in French, no English translations. The book is about daily life in Paris during the 1940's; it includes interviews with German Occupation officials, more than 100 photos with the caveat that many of the photos were taken by a propagandist photographer, commissioned to convey the idea that occupied France was a happy place.
I would say the world really doesn't need another adaptation of this story. I've never been a fan of children's books that use real objects in the illustrations; they seem creepy. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Lauren Child. The reviewer began the article by questioning whether the world really needs another adaptation of this story, but then concludes with an emphatic yes.
Parallel Play, Tim Page. This book is a memoir by a Pulitzer-prize winning music critic about growing up with Asperger's.
The Mind at Work, Mike Rose (2004). The author tries to show how mentally absorbing work can be, no matter how lowly the occupation.
The House of God: The Classic Novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital, Samuel Shem (1978). This book has been compared to M*A*S*H, similarly bawdy and irreverent, just a different medical setting.
SuperFreakonomics. The authors continue to apply economic theory to sociological issues and current events. One of the chapters looks into the economics behind carjacking.
Edgeways, Avis Harley. Eighteen poems written as acrostics.
Bird in Hand, Christina Kline. Author of a The Way Life Should Be: A Novel.
Paris in the Third Reich, David Pryce-Jones. Interest in this subject matter was sparked by our visit to a French historical museum and Lindsey's accompanying explanation of the content; free admission in Paris usually means the content is all in French, no English translations. The book is about daily life in Paris during the 1940's; it includes interviews with German Occupation officials, more than 100 photos with the caveat that many of the photos were taken by a propagandist photographer, commissioned to convey the idea that occupied France was a happy place.
I would say the world really doesn't need another adaptation of this story. I've never been a fan of children's books that use real objects in the illustrations; they seem creepy. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Lauren Child. The reviewer began the article by questioning whether the world really needs another adaptation of this story, but then concludes with an emphatic yes.Parallel Play, Tim Page. This book is a memoir by a Pulitzer-prize winning music critic about growing up with Asperger's.
The Mind at Work, Mike Rose (2004). The author tries to show how mentally absorbing work can be, no matter how lowly the occupation.
The House of God: The Classic Novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital, Samuel Shem (1978). This book has been compared to M*A*S*H, similarly bawdy and irreverent, just a different medical setting.
SuperFreakonomics. The authors continue to apply economic theory to sociological issues and current events. One of the chapters looks into the economics behind carjacking.
City Chicks: Keeping Microflocks of Laying Hens as Garden Helpers.
Doesn't this book jacket just make you want to read the book?
I didn't even get past the first chapter. Eh. Not a fan. A Change in Altitude, Anita Shreve. This novel takes place in Africa in the 1970's when a couple moves there for a year and an accident takes place that changes their lives.Precious: A Novel, Sandra Novack. Another novel set in the 1970's in rural PA.
Random article: Paint, Easel, Bug Spray, Gun... I never have been drawn to the Art section of any newspaper or magazine - my eyes glaze over no matter how hard I try to stay interested - but this article was interesting and humanized the very-lofty experience of landscape painting.
I really wanted to read this book, but it was too much thinking for 10:45 p.m. I hope someone tackles it. The Age of Wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science, Richard Holmes. I heard an interview with this author and maybe it is just a British accent, but he made this book sound like a must-read, even though I am usually mystified by philosophers and early science; I think the topic makes me feel not well-educated and there you go...a terrible sentence to demonstrate my less well-educationalism. :)
The Glass Castle: A Memoir, Jeannette Walls. Horrific childhood, insane parents, successful children. Of course.
Spoiled, Caitlin Macy Short stories of modern women, obsessed with social status.
Ick. Bad writing, didn't get past the first few pages. Who are these editors passing this stuff along? April & Oliver, Tess Callahan. I just read in a review that the author actually uses the phrase "chiseled jaw." Bad. I don't like it already. Randomness: This writer is from New Jersey
Spoiled, Caitlin Macy Short stories of modern women, obsessed with social status.
Ick. Bad writing, didn't get past the first few pages. Who are these editors passing this stuff along? April & Oliver, Tess Callahan. I just read in a review that the author actually uses the phrase "chiseled jaw." Bad. I don't like it already. Randomness: This writer is from New JerseyHouse of Cards: Love, Faith and Other Social Expressions, David Ellis Dickerson A memoir by an ex-greeting card writer. How can you not want to at least skim this?
The Jungle Grapevine, Alex Beard. The game of "telephone" transported to the African grassland and played by Turtle, Bird, Elephant & Snake.
Faith, Hope & Ivy, Phyllis Naylor. The mountain girl Ivy June is chosen for a program where she goes to live with a girl from the bustling city of Lexington, KY.
The Unfinished Angel, Sharon Creech. In a tiny village in the Alps an angel meets an American girl who has come with her father to open a school and together they rescue a group of homeless orphans. Jeez, sounds heavy for a kids book? This could be the equivalent of the infamous Aki & the Fox which I loved, but most of my kids found depressing & sad, something I only found out much, much later. Sorry! In my defense, though, the School Library Journal calls it a "quiet, reassuring tale of friendship."
More clippings, part 2
Last time I was in Annapolis, I ordered Fish Tacos from Ram's Head Tavern; they were very good, though way too spicy for me. This recipe has been kitchen-, er, deck grill-tested by Chris Middleton of Charleston, SC and his verdict: "Needs avocado, or something." Which is probably a polite way of saying it's perfect for my wimpiness..jpg)
This Pan-Roasted Corn & Tomato Salad is another attempt to like Mark Bittman's recipes. I see nothing to not love here. 
Now this Upside-Down Chocolate Pudding Pies has real potential! I like how they use real heavy cream instead of Cool Whip, I like their expectation of "good-quality" chocolates though I always cheap out to Toll House chips, and I could definitely try their Mexican Chocolate or Mint Chocolate variations. Look for these appearing soon!
Cake Ice Cream doesn't really need a recipe does it? So why did I tear it out?
Cereal report
No, not even close, just a more expensive version of regular old Corn Flakes. Sigh. The wait continues.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Hopeful!
Guess what I found in the cereal aisle today? I am hopeful that it is the return of the famously discontinued (around 2001 I believe) Kellogg's Honey Crunch Cornflakes cereal.
Kellogg's has offered weak substitutes for this cereal before, but I am hopeful that this is the real thing. It is a corn flake, not an oat ring or a wheat flake, and there are no fake nut products added as far as I tell.
Report tomorrow!
Kellogg's has offered weak substitutes for this cereal before, but I am hopeful that this is the real thing. It is a corn flake, not an oat ring or a wheat flake, and there are no fake nut products added as far as I tell.
Report tomorrow!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Clippings
Kirsten's tomato starts from her final days at Mendham High have yielded quite the crop of oddly shaped and not particularly beautiful tomatoes. Were they subject to some weird genetic experiments in the classroom?
Knowing that I had about 50 or so tomatoes outside methodically inching along to an unusable state of mushy, I clipped this recipe from the Star Ledger's Food section on Wednesday, ahem, the Star Ledger's shadow of its former self Food section. (I can't even link to their website since it is virtually impossible to navigate or even find articles from the paper itself.)
The Bacon & Tomato Jam recipe was the one I read all the way through. Why? Who would ever want to eat this? But, in the back of mind I was thinking, hmm...what a great Christmas gift for Peter. He has certainly established prominence as the go-to guy for weird foodstuffs.
I've driven past signs for James River Plantations many times going back and forth to Durham and Miami, and have never been able to allot enough time to head off the exit and find it; there is question whether the historical site even exists or if it's a ploy to get vacationers to wander through some small towns searching for it.
I have had a corn pudding dish at Thelma Hartwick's once; I must have been enthusiastic about it because I have a recipe card she wrote out for me, however, hers calls for cans of creamed corn and regular corn and a box of corn muffin mix, so this one is definitely more authentic. But, like the Bacon & Tomato Jam recipe, I can think of no use for this James River Corn Pudding; Thanksgiving dinner attendees can breathe a sigh of relief.
Grilled Pork Skewers is from Mark Bittman's Minimalist column in the NY Times. I have generally never had success with any of his recipes; his description of the taste and texture rarely match my experience once the dish is done. But I continue to clip the occasional recipe, since his writing always conveys such a sense of of course, how simple, how tasty, this is a no-brainer that I am coerced once again to try.
Knowing that I had about 50 or so tomatoes outside methodically inching along to an unusable state of mushy, I clipped this recipe from the Star Ledger's Food section on Wednesday, ahem, the Star Ledger's shadow of its former self Food section. (I can't even link to their website since it is virtually impossible to navigate or even find articles from the paper itself.)
The Bacon & Tomato Jam recipe was the one I read all the way through. Why? Who would ever want to eat this? But, in the back of mind I was thinking, hmm...what a great Christmas gift for Peter. He has certainly established prominence as the go-to guy for weird foodstuffs.
I've driven past signs for James River Plantations many times going back and forth to Durham and Miami, and have never been able to allot enough time to head off the exit and find it; there is question whether the historical site even exists or if it's a ploy to get vacationers to wander through some small towns searching for it.
I have had a corn pudding dish at Thelma Hartwick's once; I must have been enthusiastic about it because I have a recipe card she wrote out for me, however, hers calls for cans of creamed corn and regular corn and a box of corn muffin mix, so this one is definitely more authentic. But, like the Bacon & Tomato Jam recipe, I can think of no use for this James River Corn Pudding; Thanksgiving dinner attendees can breathe a sigh of relief.
Grilled Pork Skewers is from Mark Bittman's Minimalist column in the NY Times. I have generally never had success with any of his recipes; his description of the taste and texture rarely match my experience once the dish is done. But I continue to clip the occasional recipe, since his writing always conveys such a sense of of course, how simple, how tasty, this is a no-brainer that I am coerced once again to try.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The slow lane.
It is dark in the morning now! When did this happen? No more bike rides starting before 7:00 a.m. anymore. And runs now begin in the dark.
Today I was out running, on mile 2, the streets just beginning to get light, when I heard some steps behind me, let out a kind of dreamlike yelp, the kind that is totally ineffective in the face of a real emergency, and was passed by a guy running around me. I don't really mind the lapping but jeez, cross over to the other side of the road, or give a cough signal or something. I was very irritated to have my heart speed up like that so early in the run. And I wanted to call out to him, Big deal, see you on mile 10. But I wasn't running 10 that day and haven't in a couple of weeks, so that comeback was internally lame.
I am a bit less impressed with the CarTalk podcasts now that I've discovered the callers are pre-screened, but that is minor, so don't let it stop you from listening. There also seems to be a heavy emphasis on boring cars from the 1990's with 150,000 miles on them and nobody calling seems to have any money, but again, that is trivial. These road trip stories are hilarious, especially this one. I am working on a good question to call in to ask them, not necessarily about actually fixing cars but related to cars in general. Maybe I can work in the whole lame car thing from my teenage years; I haven't heard anyone call in and say "Pacer" yet.
Today I was out running, on mile 2, the streets just beginning to get light, when I heard some steps behind me, let out a kind of dreamlike yelp, the kind that is totally ineffective in the face of a real emergency, and was passed by a guy running around me. I don't really mind the lapping but jeez, cross over to the other side of the road, or give a cough signal or something. I was very irritated to have my heart speed up like that so early in the run. And I wanted to call out to him, Big deal, see you on mile 10. But I wasn't running 10 that day and haven't in a couple of weeks, so that comeback was internally lame.
I am a bit less impressed with the CarTalk podcasts now that I've discovered the callers are pre-screened, but that is minor, so don't let it stop you from listening. There also seems to be a heavy emphasis on boring cars from the 1990's with 150,000 miles on them and nobody calling seems to have any money, but again, that is trivial. These road trip stories are hilarious, especially this one. I am working on a good question to call in to ask them, not necessarily about actually fixing cars but related to cars in general. Maybe I can work in the whole lame car thing from my teenage years; I haven't heard anyone call in and say "Pacer" yet.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Darn, tomorrow I must go run.
I have been running for about 30 years now. I cannot say I have ever liked it. But it is a habit that is hard to break, a routine that is hard to replicate with comparable results in fitness, but really, that first mile or so is a mental killer.
About mile 4 I am not thinking anymore about turning around and heading for home. And the last 1/8 mile (uphill, in my case) is the best. It is over for another 24 hours. And tomorrow I can ride my bike.
About mile 4 I am not thinking anymore about turning around and heading for home. And the last 1/8 mile (uphill, in my case) is the best. It is over for another 24 hours. And tomorrow I can ride my bike.
Wildlife
Wildlife I like, or don't mind:
Daddy long leg spiders. They are easy to pick up and toss outside. There is some fla
iling of the legs which can feel creepy on your hand, yes, but that's about the extent of the interaction.
Domesticated wildlife that I'm not a fan of: (yeah, ugh, on that sentence structure.)
Cats, particularly ones that are sitting quietly on an upholstered piece of furniture and then suddenly, with little warning other than a disquieting gurgle, throw up copious amounts of grossness and then have the audacity to gear up for another bout without moving a muscle.
I feel moved to research the origins of domesticating wildlife - who thought this was a great idea?!
Daddy long leg spiders. They are easy to pick up and toss outside. There is some fla
iling of the legs which can feel creepy on your hand, yes, but that's about the extent of the interaction.Domesticated wildlife that I'm not a fan of: (yeah, ugh, on that sentence structure.)
Cats, particularly ones that are sitting quietly on an upholstered piece of furniture and then suddenly, with little warning other than a disquieting gurgle, throw up copious amounts of grossness and then have the audacity to gear up for another bout without moving a muscle.
I feel moved to research the origins of domesticating wildlife - who thought this was a great idea?!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Uh oh, are these cars similar?!
Here on the left is a 1970's era AMC Pacer Wagon, the car we drove often as teenagers.
Is there an uncanny resemblance to my current vehicle? I have been wondering...
Cars
Here are some things to think about before purchasing a new vehicle.
Most important: what is the turning ratio? (I think that is the proper term.) This is very important to notice when taking it out for a test ride. (Full disclosure: I have never taken a car out for a test ride before buying it. Why is this? It seems we are always buying a car right before a dealership closes, or before we're on to some other event - it never is a leisurely, pondering type of thing.) This turning ratio can become a point of real dislike with a car instantly, especially if your prior vehicle's TR was amazing and could handle your individual style of quick parking decisions, intricate maneuvers in the library parking lot, and most importantly, especially if you ever need to drive in Maryland, the ease of making U-turns, without having to resort to distressing 3-point turns in the midst of moving traffic. Sigh.
Another item to notice: how high is the point where the door panel and the driver's side window meet? In other words, how easily can you reach the bank's drive-thru window? Does the height of the window/door cause you to twist your arm out through the opening and torque your body to transact business outside your driver's side window? Does this unnatural torquing sometimes cause your foot to move and accidentally rev the engine in park, scaring all occupants and causing you minor embarrassment?
And lastly, check that the sound system controls are conveniently located on the driver's side of the panel, since 99% of the time, the driver will actually be using these buttons, not the passenger.
Most important: what is the turning ratio? (I think that is the proper term.) This is very important to notice when taking it out for a test ride. (Full disclosure: I have never taken a car out for a test ride before buying it. Why is this? It seems we are always buying a car right before a dealership closes, or before we're on to some other event - it never is a leisurely, pondering type of thing.) This turning ratio can become a point of real dislike with a car instantly, especially if your prior vehicle's TR was amazing and could handle your individual style of quick parking decisions, intricate maneuvers in the library parking lot, and most importantly, especially if you ever need to drive in Maryland, the ease of making U-turns, without having to resort to distressing 3-point turns in the midst of moving traffic. Sigh.
Another item to notice: how high is the point where the door panel and the driver's side window meet? In other words, how easily can you reach the bank's drive-thru window? Does the height of the window/door cause you to twist your arm out through the opening and torque your body to transact business outside your driver's side window? Does this unnatural torquing sometimes cause your foot to move and accidentally rev the engine in park, scaring all occupants and causing you minor embarrassment?
And lastly, check that the sound system controls are conveniently located on the driver's side of the panel, since 99% of the time, the driver will actually be using these buttons, not the passenger.
Friday, August 14, 2009
New swimsuit
From RJ Mars, only $54 off $106. Too bad I couldn't find a photo of the pieces put together, so just squint and wiggle your head slightly and that's probably what I look like anyway! :)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Weird fear of electricity
Confession: I sometimes, well, okay, often. Yikes! Okay, okay, mostly always pull plugs out of sockets by the cords. I do not like getting my fingers too close to those scary dark slashes of unknown electrical power.
My vacuum, my favorite most favorite home appliance, now sports a major industrial plug installed there by the husband who sometimes wonders out loud why the last plug he put on didn't last as long as it should have. While this piece of home wiring is ongoing I have quietly slid out of the room, dashing down to the laundry room so I do not have to answer to that implied accusation of bad plug handling.
I do recall that unit of 8th grade honors science called simply "Electricity" where us overachieving Riverdale & Dolton students - soon to be glumped into the Honors track at Thornton High School, just another segregated high school in suburban Chicago in the 1970's - were expected to independently construct various electrical gadgets and test them and throw off sparks and strip wires and use batteries and the other assorted items in our labeled toolboxes. I despised this unit, though we all loved the frumpy Mr. Kriz and tried not to give him a headache before lunch.
Food I liked today
Breakfast: In a rut. Nothing.
Lunch: I tried to be enthusiastic about the leftover Indonesian spicy noodles from yesterday's lunch, but alas, I am wimpy. Too spicy.
Dinner: The reliable shrimp/artichoke/goat cheese homemade pizza. Okay, so the dough is from Shop Rite's (Ugh. I have never reconciled to that horrible "rite" spelling.) deli case. One hunk of dough can work for a dinner and 2 lunches. Home economics at its best!
Snack Partially frozen Little Debbie Swiss Cake Roll.
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