more food

My nose is useless now, necessitating the need to breathe out of my mouth. Yech. Intermittently I'm permitted to breathe all right but far and few between.

However, I did manage to do the potatoes with a sort of buerre manie in stock, then reduced it till thick. (I looked the spelling up) For once, it didn't get too salty. Yay for manie! I'm also considering tackling the beast that is pate brisee. Well, beast for me, considering I'm not a make your piecrust kind of person, much less a make your own pie one. I'm a storebought mass consumer kind of person. I might attempt to make a tart size amount, but in a bit. Maybe monday...

Elsewhere on the food front, I finally organized my spice drawer which contains pretty much everything I use to cook with and discovered almond extract as well as suspiciously old cumin which I'll prolly use anyways since it can't be that bad, and cayenne pepper! I'm thinking almond biscotti, and some kind of spicy sauce in the future...

sick sick sick

I apologize for the kitchen sinks comment. I was in an unforgivably cutesy mood. Today I am much more sane due to the fact that I have been sick for the past week. It's allergies or a cold. All I know is that my eyes are constantly watering, and I can only breathe out of one nostril at a time. Not conducive to sleeping, or anything really. I'm hoping once I have some Benedryl it'll all go away. I hope...

I also apologize for the YouTube thing I added showing all about Tiger. Personally, I could care less. 'Nough said. I'm hoping to make potatoes with some kind of buerre manee (sp?). It sounds interesting but only if I'm up to it.

Chili-Cheese Corn Goodness

Okay, I thought that since the weather is bad, and because it was just President's Day, I would put a picture that suited. I finally got to see it last summer. Yes, I took this picture, it isn't from the internet. There's a great spot where you can put your head in place of one of the president's which makes a great picture. So, I saw a question that said: Which is the most popular president?
A:Abraham Lincoln
B:Franklin Roosevelt
C:George Washington
Answer further down.

Cooking... Yesterday I made a chili-cheese corn dish from an old Bon Appetit book. It's delicious, but I think I would make a few changes to it. Here it is:
4 cups corn fresh or thawed
1 cup grated cheese
1 8 ounce package cream cheese room temperature
1 7 ounce can diced green chilies
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin

Mix all the ingredients together after preheating your oven to 350°. Grease a 1 1/2 quart dish. Transfer ingredients and bake until bubbling, about 30 minutes. Cool and refrigerate up to one day. Makes 8 servings, but is easily halved (I did).
It's really good, but I made it with red pepper and a tiny bit of tabasco sauce instead of the chilies and cumin, since I didn't have those. I also added chopped onions and some garlic powder. I would probably add more cheese and less cream cheese since it didn't bubble much, and was kind of thick. By the way, Abraham Lincoln was the most popular president. I also saw a commercial for this yummy crispy taco thing from Taco Time. I really wanted to eat that but I didn't want to go buy it so I decided to make it instead.

All I did was microwave a tortilla for 15 seconds to make it soft enough to fold. Fill it with meat and cheese, roll it up tightly and then brush the outside of the tortilla with veggie oil. Toast it until brown and crispy. It tastes like fried but it's healthier. Yum...

Yours till the kitchen sinks

Oh Canada, and Lent

Arghhh! No, I have not poached an egg. I did, however, watch Julie&Julia again before it needed to be returned. But, got a new movie to watch: Sunshine Cleaning. Amy Adams again, but I'm excited. It was produced by the person who did Little Miss Sunshine, which I loved the moment I saw the commercial for it, so much so that as soon as it was out, I went out and bought it without ever seeing it. Believe me, this is completely unusual for me. I'm the one picking through the dollar videos at Half Price, but I got it and loved it.

Anyways, I watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony last night. Absolutely fantastic, I envied all those people in the audience. Well, not the athletes. I don't even pretend to think I'd have the patience to do what they do, certainly not I, who avoids all sports like the plague. I don't remember being picked last, I think the P.E. teachers in elementary school split us up, but I'm sure I would have been. I don't think, with my physical prowess, that I would have cared.

But I digress. So, I discovered that it's not only Mardi Gras on Tuesday, but that Lent starts on Wednesday. Ash Wednesday to be exact. I decided to give something up this year. I've always thought it would be a good practice, but I always realized it was Lent after it had already started. And, honestly, I always felt if you were going to do the thing, that you might as well do it right, and not just butt into Lent, saying "Excuse me, mind if I join for the last 10 days?". It doesn't have the same meaning. So, I decided to give up swearing. I'm not a huge swearer at all, but I do tend to think it a lot, so I decided to not even think it. Plus, I say crap a lot. I know, it's not one of the major words, but it's a habit and I think it'll be a challenge. I wonder what other people are giving up. I know of one crazy person who one time gave up chocolate. No way. That is all I have to say. No way.

For dinner, we had a frozen lasagna that we cooked and added cheese too with salad and wine. And there is a surprise dessert but it's being cooked as I type. Yum. I sort of saw the recipe but I know it has shredded carrot, cream cheese and pineapple. The recipe didn't have pineapple, so I'm not sure that it is what the recipe says. Well, I'm going to check on it. So in the words of Julia Child, Bon Appetite!

Headline: 20 something girl loves voting, jury duty?

I am a last minute voter. I've voted by mail for quite a while, and now they switched completely to voting by mail. So the ballot is pretty much just sitting around for a week or so until, suddenly on the news, it's election day! Or prop voting day, as the case may be. I have not missed a vote yet, since luckily the trek from wherever we currently live tends to be quite small. I guess it's what happens when you're a full zoom mapquest distance away from either a school or library.

And the sticker, oh yes, the sticker. A proud badge of American democracy, a token of participation. It says that YOU took the time to connect a few arrows together with a line (so that's why they give you connect-the-dots as a kid. Good practice for future we-the-people stuff) and whether you researched what you did or not, your vote matters.

Okay, so I might be little gung-ho on the participation thing. Oh crap, she's one of those people. You bet your ass. I even love jury duty. That's right, I'm not normal. I was disappointed that I didn't get put on a case. Of course, I didn't have a job at the time, so that may have affected me, but I don't think by much.

On an unrelated and more tasty matter, I made pizza instead of poaching an egg. Alas, I shall do that today. (I'm really hitting the italics pretty hard today, eh?) But the pizza: hand made, and therefore somewhat tough crust, leftover separated spaghetti meat sauce, onions (which I successfully made myself like, and now love), and grated cheese from a bag. Hey, it's convenient so much so, the fridge never contains blocks anymore, just grated and sliced, for sandwhiches. And, did I mention hand-made crust? Let me: hand-made crust.

Anyways, I gotta vote. Civic duty and all...

Plus it's still exciting!

Unknown craigslist poet

lamp
hose reels,
kids chair
broken dektop

Also lot mof stuff for garage sale

- found on craigslist, under 'free'. Sorta reads like poetry, huh?This is exactly the way it read.

Eggs, and Julias

Okay, so my current favorite movie? Julie&Julia. Haven't seen it? For shame. I love cooking. Let me try that again. I LOVE cooking. I LOVE Europe. Just haven't been. So a movie about a woman who cooked in France? Super Bonus! Plus it's Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. So today, using the bonus features on the movie, I am going to attempt to poach an egg. Unfortunately, I'm having visions of it dissolving into the water like it does in the movie for Julie. But I've never had a poached egg, so I'm intrigued enough to take the plunge. I'll have to let you (well, since I'm new and no one knows I exist, myself for now) know whether it works out tomorrow. Also, I am going to try to make Hollandaise sauce. (hollandaise is in red, but I checked google and I spelled it right! I'm sorta spelling obsessed- only child+love of books=me) Well, off to the adventures of the day. Anyone who ever reads this, have an (here it comes) eggscellent day! (mwah ha ha ha!)

fast note on the super bowl

Ah, the Super Bowl. For one of the few times in my life, I found myself excited for this beer commercial infused celebration of hoo-rah-ness. (that is a word; now it is at least) The commercials didn't seem as good as years past but the game, which is usually the least of my worries, was. Okay, so this was a very quick note, sorry. Time for Bachelor catching up.... later.

Night owl

I didn't used to be a night owl. Not that I've ever been a morning person; it was a struggle every day between my dad's desire to have me show manners, and me to not bite anyone's head off when I was younger. But, perhaps owing to my twenty-something-hood or tv addictions, I stay up late. Of course, this involves a nap. Usually consisting of me, passing out at 10 pm and setting an alarm for an hour. Then, sufficiently napped, I am ready to go until about 3 or 5. To be clear, not physically going anywhere, just watching tv or 'go'ing online. This typically results in checking each channel, and choosing the most interesting infomercial to zone out to. Perferably one with food involved. No, I do not purchase, because I can't afford it and because it isn't worth it. But in my head I'm chopping along and marveling in the most corny way at how fast it all is and don't you agree this will change your life? zzzz....