BAA!

No, that's not baa-aaah, as in the sound that the sheep makes, it's BAA - Blog Aversion Anonymous, as apparently I have the tendency to find excuses why not to blog, so need therapy to steer me in the right direction and have me blogging on a more frequent basis. Two months blogless is unacceptable behavior in this day and age. HA!

DH & DS Cuddling

So what has this lil ol me been doing for the past 2 months? Umm... can't recall the tail end of May, other than that DS started his summer vacation on May 22. He went to his grandma's house for 2 weeks in June/July. See him pretending to sleep (aka ignoring me) on the way to meet with my mom and drop him off.


While DS was away I updated the shop with combed tops/rovings, handspuns, and bunny fluff (from my mom's bunny)



... and we started packing up the house for a move, and then I went to LV for a few days. (PS a lot of this stuff overlaps, so forgive me if I jump-jump jump jump-around).

I decided on the spur of the moment to go to LV to visit some family there. So I drove to Jacksonville, FL, had lunch with a few of the lovely knitsters there at Ruby Tuesdays. Of course my monthly friend was running a week or so late, and JUST SO HAPPENED to come right smack in the middle of lunch before my vacation. Luckily I had put on a pad just in case. After lunch, I hopped on a plane got to LV on a Friday night. I was promptly fed by my aunty Rie (though it's weird saying "aunty" cause she's only a couple years older than I am, so more like a sister) some freshly cooked, good comfort food, Pinakbet (not sure if that's spelled correctly), which is a Filipino dish that has ginger, green beans, eggplant, bits of pork, and shrimp (and usually bitter melon, but I don't like that so she didn't put it in). It was soooooo very good!

Saturday, they celebrated my little cousin's 2nd birthday, this was also 4th of July. I met some of their friends, again had some Filipino food - pancit, left over pinakbet, and guissantes, as well as bbq chicken, beef, and a shrimp dish. We also drank this great drink that is a mix of vodka ice tea, lemonade, and strawberries. I had 4 of them, LOL! Let's just say that the others got very sloshed, and it was hilarious :) and good fun.

Sunday, Rie & I went to a sushi place for lunch, it was all you can eat, where you just pay a flat fee and can choose anything from the menu, as much as you want, as long as you eat it all. Let me just say that they need to have more of these types of restaurants! Especially where ever I live, LOL, since anytime I order sushi it usually costs us $50+, so at $22ish and as much as you can eat, it's a bargain!

(I borrowed a camera from ContinentalKim's DD :), thanks so much!)




After that we went to the strip and walked down and up, in and out of the casinos and shops.







For our last stop we were going to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dessert and drinks, but found out they were closed and boarded up, so then ended up at the NYNY and had some drinks there and ate some more food. Let's just say that I probably drank too much even though I only had a Mai Tai, Mango Margarita, and a few sips of a horrible bleh god-awful Mojito (I LOVE Mojitos, but this one tasted of just plain old yucky mint flavored carbonated soda water).

I had a Starbucks Carmel Mocha Frap (which is my fav) w/o whipped cream, and we walked around a bit, played a little slots, and contemplated playing roulette, but chickened out. By the time we got back to her place it was midnight and I had to leave at 3am that morning to head to the airport to catch a flight back. I got a few zzz's then left for the airport. On the way there, ut oh, my stomach was doing flip flops, and my head was pounding. I managed to not vomit. However, those flip flops and headache stayed with me all the way to Atlanta with a few green moments, then at that airport I decided to purchase some pepto bismal thinking it might help... it didn't, in fact it made me even more green, so I held my breath and walked briskly to the bathroom where I promptly spewed whatever I ate while drinking the night before. When I got to Jacksonville, I was exhausted, tired, still hungover with a headache, but I had to do a 2 1/2 ish hour drive back home, so that was fun, struggling to stay awake whilst cradling a hangover and having had less than 3 hours of sleep.

So as not to have any dull moments, the day I got back is the day that DH had to pick up keys to the new place. So Tuesday was the first moving day. We rented a truck and over the next couple of days we moved our household from the old to the new on post. It was very tiresome, especially since we have stairs at the new place, so definitely got in a good workout. We had left all of our clothes that were on hangers in the closets, as well as cleaning and lawn maintenance equipment there at the old place with the intention of going back to pick it all up and clean the place for inspection at the end of the month. However when DH went back to pick up our clothes.... (cue music now *dun, dun, dun*...) He could get through the garage as he had a garage opener, however, the locks were changed!!! Imagine our suprise, as here it was just the 10th of July, and we were paid in full until the 31st of July, we had submitted a 30 day notice on July first, and had been there not but 2 days prior, not to mention had spoken to someone at the realtor's the day before. Yet we had been locked out!!! So yes we were very pissed off, to say the very least. DH tried calling the emergency number to the realtors, only to have to leave a message. He called back a second time after a while and spoke to someone finally, but in the end was told that he'd have to come to the office when then opened in the morning. Yeah right! I mean, come on! We had rights to that place until the end of the month and that was OUR stuff. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the only thing that was left in the garage was our hedge clippers, all of our lawn equipment and our ladder, etc were MIA. So we were very anxious about our clothing that may or may not still be in the house, including ALL of DH's military uniforms. Eventually, DH had to call the police, who met with him there at the house. Just as a precaution so that DH wasn't doing anything illegal by trying to gain access into the house by other means. He ended up using a credit card to open the door through the garage.

Thank goodness all of our clothes were still there. There was still the issue of our other stuff, however.

So the next morning, which was the morning we needed to drive to Florence, SC to pick up DS, and then to Aiken, to pick up our new Jack Russell Terrier puppy, DH had to go to the realtor office to hash this out.

Side-tracking...

I ended up going on that long drive by myself. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive to Florence, SC, where I met with DS, my mom, and grandma at Crackle Barrel for an early lunch, then DS and I headed to Aiken, which was another 2 1/2 hours. We picked out our JRT puppy! They were soooo cute! Smaller that I had thought, just little tiny things, being that they're only 6 weeks 2 days old at that time. DS carried ours in his lap on the 3 hour drive back home.


The breeder named him Gandolph, which we had liked initially, but DH thought it was Gandoff, so when he heard that it had an l in it he no longer liked it, LOL. So we're now calling him Achilles, or Killies for short.




We've had him for 5 days now and he's starting to emerge from his shy self. Very much a rascal, and very much like a newborn as he only sleeps 1-3 hours at a time, which means that DH and I have to get up several times during the night to take him outside. The first night I did this, I ended up slipping on the stairs, landing on my back and neck with an instant headache. fun. not. And I fell again yesterday morning, as I missed the last 1-2 steps, ouch.

Anyhow, so back to the old house fiasco. DH went into the office that morning and found out that it was not the realtor's fault, it was the owner of the house's fault. The bank had foreclosed and they owner kept that information from the realtors, so the bank took our lawn equipment stuff thinking it was the owners. Not only that, but the owner took our July rent, knowing full well that the bank was foreclosing on the property. So now, the realtor is going to give us our deposit back, however, July rent is in question as they have to fight to get it back from the owner to give it back to us AND they have to inquire as to where the hell our stuff is. We better get our July rent and our stuff back! I'd hate to have to file a lawsuit, but who would we go after, if not the realtor as that is who we make the checks out to.

Can you imagine though? What if I had left my car there? What if we hadn't had been moving and/or had been on vacation? We'd be left in the cold and/or all of our stuff would have been erroneously confiscated by the bank like our lawn equipment stuff was.

So that's that, and now we have to wait and see.

This week has been very busy. I've been like a chicken running around with it's head cut off. Yesterday DS had had an eye appointment, but DH accidentally made the dental appointment around the same time, so I had to reschedule the eye appointment. While DS & DH were at the dentist, I went to his old school to try to get his school records to transfer him to a school on post, but they were closed for lunch or something, so I had to drive back home. Was going to stop at his new school to pick up paperwork, but they were only open until 12, so didn't have time to do that. After DS got back, I took him to get his shots. I was going to get mind done as well, but I didn't bring my immunization record, sigh. Then we went back to his old school and got the records.

SO then this morning, we got up early just so we could get to his new school when they first opened and get his registration out of the way. I had compiled everything he needed, but then was told that DH needed to sign some papers, AARGH! Of course, they are only doing registration from 8-12 Tues through Thurs, so that means that I now have to wait until Tuesday to get this done because DH won't be back home until later tonight. SIGH YET AGAIN. We got back home, and the maintenance guy showed up a little later to fix the dish washer and the upstairs tub. And this afternoon, I have to go back to the hospital to get my immunizations done. Apparently I haven't had a shot since 1992! Which is really strange because I thought that I at least had some shots done after DS was born, but nothing is written on my report, so who knows. I HATE shots! I might have to get 2-3, eek! I remember as a child when I had to get shots, I'd run away, all over the doctor's office just to avoid getting one, of course they'd catch me and I'd cry like a baby all the way home. I'd do that ;) for old times sake, but don't think the nurse would appreciate it very much.

No rest for the weary, as tomorrow DS has that rescheduled eye appointment, and then this weekend we need to go school clothes and supplies shopping. Then next week Tuesday got to reattempt registering him for school, also reattempt making an appointment for the pup w/the vets and reschedule my pap for next month.

Yep, very busy. And I haven't gotten to sleep in past 9 since I moved here. That may be a good thing though, if only I got a good night sleep (uninterrupted by the cries and howls of the little JRT).

7 weeks old as of today


[took me 2 1/2 hours to write this post! LOL]

Flat-lined

We'll not too much going on here lately. Saturday night while cooking dinner (lunch box pizzas), and just as I closed the door after putting in dessert (puff pastries that I would later top with something delish), the oven made this loud-enough-to-hear-in-the-livingroom pop buzzing sound, electrical buzzing... not good. I reopened the oven to take a look and there were sparks coming off of the top heating coil with a couple of little flames licking their way around. Closed the oven, reopened, the flames were gone, but the sparks were still flying. So dinner and dessert had to come out :( Dinner needed at least another 10 minutes, but what can you do? I had to put it in the microwave. However, the pastry puff had just gone in and was brushed with egg wash, so had to be thrown out. Back to oven... it continued to move around the coil, much like in the movies, but in slow motion. DH pulled the stove out and unplugged it, as I didn't want the sparking to continue moving around and end up by the wiring in the wall -- as we don't have the most reliable wiring in this house, especially the kitchen. Ugh. So here we are on Tuesday, still no fixed oven. The realtors, of course, giving us the typical runaround and drag-ass. Someone is supposed to be coming here tomorrow between 12-5 to "look" at it. I miss having an oven.

OH, under the stove we found a pacifier, a large plastic lid, and some broken dishes bits. Not to mention how filty it was under and on the sides of the stove from previous owners. I did find one of my dyeing tools though! So that was a good thing.

In the interim, I started a food blog called Belly Garnish. It's a collaborative food blog, so I won't be the only one posting there. So far so good! If you want to join us and contribute to the blog, feel free to let me know (let me know the email address you use with blogger so I can send you an invite).

On other news, mom wants me to sell her bunny angora fiber :), look how pretty it is!




and after the cut:

Wrestlemania.... Spin/Knit Style

I've decided to join the WIPs (works in progress) Wrestlemania 2009 project via Ravelry, under the Team Spin-Out. We had to come up with names and some links to name generators were given so I tried out the Rollerderby one and got the name "DeathMetal Needles" (using Jewels under "A Jammer"), which is kinda cool cause it goes with knitting... however, I'll be spinning more than knitting for this project, haha, so maybe it should have been "DeathMetal Spindles".

This is the avatar I created for it:


My goals, I'm thinking, are to:

1) finish the purse I'm knitting with the yarns I spun from Sugarbeestudio's Jordan and Zinnean batts. Though I'm not sure if I like how it's going at the moment. I've restarted it once already and may have to do so again or rethink what to make with them.

2) Novelty and Art Yarn Spinners "Spinning Twins" SAL. The Challenge: To take identical fibers in identical amounts and make 2 very different yarns. Basically, pick out a bunch of fibers to spin, divide in half and then spin using two different techniques or in two different manners.

3) Novelty and Art Yarn Spinners May SAL - Spinning Fabric. The Challenge: Fabrics incorporated into yarns or yarns made entirely from fabric. I've done this before, but I wouldn't mind doing more like this.

4) Spinner Central May SAL - Primitive Fiber - Think Socks or Mittens - Landscape inspired.

The Maybes...

>> Novelty and Art Yarn Spinners Mix-n-match along. Carding up random batts that don't necessarily match up with each other and spinning them together.

>> Spinner Central April SAL - New to you fiber - Fractal Spinning. Though I've done this before without knowing there was a specific term to it. So it's nothing new to me, other than, of course, spinning a fiber I've never spun before. I'd say I was the most "fractal" person I know, haha, very disjointed, and I totally blame it on being born on the cusp between Sagittarius and Capricorn. I'm always at odds with myself, or at least my brain is... I wonder if that sort of classifies me as having a multiple personality?

I really want to work on the bundles of fibers I have, kind of like kits (also some from fiber clubs I've gotten or MADE, haha), I've been putting them off because art yarns are so involved. At least this way I can focus and hopefully at least get a couple of them done.

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And on other things, someone posted this link, The Belly Project, on plurk, I thought it was interesting. Really gives you another perspective on "the belly", though it's in your face, it's quitely abstract, taking a step back to view it as an object rather than flesh that hangs and mocks you. For me looking at the pics made me a little thoughtful and appreciative of what I have. So now my belly is not as bad as I have been thinking, even though I still would like to have a flat one as some of those in there, hehe, and I will never get rid of those pesky stretchmarks. DS made this comment "gee mom you have a lot of stretch marks", and I said "well yeah, you gave them to me", LOL.

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Then finally... I was a the grocery store and decided to pick up some chayote squash for dinner. (the 2 pics below I borrowed from the internet, so please don't shoot me, whoever took them, thankyouverymuch) If you don't know what they are, they're those things that look like green apple fists (or at least to me they do, someone said they look like an old man missing his teeth, LOL).



Anyway, as I was picking them out, one of the ladies working there, putting veggies out, asked me what I do with those because she had always wondered and was interested in cooking them. Now this isn't the first time I've been asked how I prepare this particular squash, lol, so I decided that I'd put my recipe out there.

Chayote Squash & Chicken

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1-2 Garlic cloves, minced
2 Leeks, thoroughly washed then chopped (you can also substitute or do a combination with chopped onions, shallots, and/or scallions)
Chicken breasts or thighs, chopped into 1/2 - 1" squares (mine come out rectangles)
3 Chayote Squash, skinned and chopped into small cubes
salt (optional)
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
1 1/4 C Water
1-2 tsp Soy Sauce (lite)
1 tsp Mirin (optional)
1/2 tsp Patis (optional, I just drizzle a tiny bit)

Saute your leeks and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat in a large pan, when leeks are soft add chicken and increase the heat a little (somewhere between medium and medium-high). Add seasonings - salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and continue to saute until chicken is cooked. If adding patis, do so now, along with soy sauce and mirin. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until squash has melted a little bit and is soft.

Serve over hot rice.

Voila:



Now there are a couple of pet peeves for this dish... 1) leeks are often sandy, so make sure you clean them thoroughly and between each layer. I like to peel at least 1-2 layers off, then cut in half and rinse with water, making sure that it's clean between the layers. 2) when cutting the chayote squash, I get this flim on my hands that doesn't wash off right away, it dries to almost like a layer of glue. No worries thought, it's a minor inconvenience and will go away after a few washes.

Ooops, I did it again?

I could have sworn I've blogged since April 16th, but ah well I'm blogging now, so that's something right? ... It's the trying to remember what happened since that kind of throws me off, lol.

I got myself an ice cream maker the other week. My first batch was ok, I tried to make chocolate sorbet. When melting the sugar, I managed to melt the spoon... yeah, never use a plastic spoon when melting sugar, bad idea. SO had to toss that, and it candified (that's not a word, I know), at the bottom of the pot, so I had to let that soak and use another one. Now as I said the sorbet turned out ok, but it was on the bitter side, kind of like dark chocolate, but then again since it was bitter you can only eat so much of it.

My second batch was using chocolate with mint chips pudding. Now this one turned out good, however, because it was so thick the ice cream maker started stuttering about 15 seconds after I poured, so the middle section didn't get much stirring before I had to stop the machine and just put the container in the freezer.

I told DS that I had taken the fat out, haha, so he didn't want to eat it, said it tasted funny.

The 3rd batch was the same as the 2nd though I did add more liquids, so it turned out yummy. I still have a little bit in the fridge left. The only thing about this is that since the container is freezable, it keeps the ice cream really frozen, so it's a PITA trying to scoop stuff out when it's that solid so you have to leave it out on the counter for a while before you can dig in.

I've been trying to cook more than we eat out. Trying to eat healthy is a chore, really, as there's so many good dishes out there that are loaded with fat. Maybe if we adapt the mentality that there is really NO FAT within what we eat that it'll trick our bodies into believing that also? heh.

So anyway, this is not fat free, but it is sooooooooo very good:

Puff Pastry Pockets

I've made two versions of this, so here's #1 - Brown-Sugared Pears

store bought puff pastry
1 pear de-skinned and sliced thin
1 Tbsp + 1/4 C brown sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
egg, beaten
brie (I used the brie that comes in a circular container)

Note: You may want to poach the pear, depending on your tastes, I didn't, so the pear was slightly crunchy.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the brie in half to make 2 portions.

Open one puff pastry and cut in half. Place the brie on one side of each of the halves, leaving a little space to fold the puff pastry over and seal. Place about 3-4 or so slices of pear on top of the brie, then sprinkle pears with brown sugar (optionally, you can roll the pears in the brown sugar first then top the brie with the slices). Fold the puff pastry over the pears and brie and seal by pinching the pastry together, you may use a bit of the egg wash to seal. Brush the pastry top with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with brown sugar, then place in oven to bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

While the pastry is in the oven get a small sauce pan and melt butter (if you want a thicker sauce, before adding butter, make a paste using 1/4-1/2 tsp of cornstarch and the butter), then add 1/4 C brown sugar and remaining slices of pears. Stir and keep warm.

Once pastry is finished, take out of the oven, place on a desert dish and pour sauce over it.

When you break open the pastry the brie should be all liquidy and/or gooey goodness.

Version #2 - Smooshed Cherries

store bought puff pastry
3/4 bag of frozen sweet cherries
1/4 C brown sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
egg, beaten
brie (for this one I used the same circular brie, but that came in 8 mini pre-cut slices)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Get a small sauce pan and melt butter (if you want a thicker sauce, before adding butter, make a paste using 1/4-1/2 tsp of cornstarch and the butter), then add 1/4 C brown sugar and all of the cherries. While stirring, smash the cherries with the back of the spoon. Keep stirring over medium heat until cherries are a bit softer and sauce is incorporated.

Open one puff pastry and cut into 6 pieces. Place the brie on one side of each of the halves, leaving a little space to fold the puff pastry over and seal. With a slotted spoon place about 3-4 of the smooshed cherries on top of the brie, only adding a tiny bit of the sauce on top (not too much or it'll make for a soggy pastry). Fold the puff pastry over the cherries and brie and seal by pinching the pastry together, you may use a bit of the egg wash to seal. Brush the pastry top with the egg wash, then place in oven to bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Once pastry is finished, take out of the oven, place on a desert dish and pour sauce over it.

Sorry, no pics for those! They should be eaten hot and well... there's not much time between taking them out of the oven and the eyes connecting to them and sending signals to your stomach that it must be eaten straight-aways. So no time to get the camera and take some shots. haha.

I came across a link for a blog called "Jenny Mac's Lip Smack" via a post on plurk, and thought I'd share it with you all. Her dishes all look so scrumptious and I've made a few of them with my own variations. Enjoy!

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I drove down to Jacksonville this past Friday night and spent the night at Sugarbeestudio's house. Then Saturday morning we got up and Picnicknits met up with us. The three of us and Sugarbee's daughter went to a little diner and had some waffles. YES, I finally got the waffles I've been craving this past week. I still want to get me a waffle iron thingie one of these days. I had plain waffles that they had sprinkled a bit with powdered sugar, and I poured on some maple syrup. It was very good! We were sitting outside to eat, so we had a time figuring out how to shade ourselves with just one umbrella, haha. I'm sure we each managed to get a small bit of ourselves burned just a tad. Toward the end of breakfast a black/brownish cat wandered close, but we had to try to shooo it away - or rather Sugarbee's tried to have a conversation with it trying to convince it to go away, lol, since Picnicknits is allergic.

After that we went Yarn Crawling. I had never heard of a "Yarn Crawl" before this, so if you don't know what it is, it's basically going yarn store hopping :). We went to A Stitch in Time first. I found a few skeins that I wanted. I had never yet owned a skein of Noro, so got enough to make a purse or something. And another skein of Araucania (spl?) because the colors were just so pretty.


The store is nice, the front of it is mostly needlepoint then there's the yarn at the back.

After that we dropped off Sugarbee's daughter and headed to the other yarn store, Mckinnley (or Mckinney? something like that). That one was nice! There was a few skeins that caught my eye, but I had already spent so much at the last one, I decided not to get anything. They had a nice selection of yarns.

So Yarn Crawling turned out to be a fun experience :) Will have to do it again!

We headed back to Picnicknits' house for a birthday party for TrishTheDish, and had cupcakes, hotdogs, and at least for me, sweet tea... no booze for this girl as I had to drive home that night, lol.

I'm loving Jacksonville more and more, and especially since there are those fabulous people, with whom I'm loving more and more too - like Sugarbeestudio and Picnicknits and Knitkimberknit and... +++ So hopefully, once DH retires from the military, moving there can be a viable option for us. The only thing that I think would be a deterrent would be the friggen heat. Ugh - me + heat = melty and miserable. I would be nice, however, to settle down somewhere finally and to have that kind of bond with people that other people have regularly because they've lived somewhere for a long time, so have had had that chance to get close and be close to others.

Speaking of moving, we're thinking about it. Or at least getting on post housing. Right now the housing community we want to get has a 6 month waiting list, :(, so that's likely not going to happen. We going for the alternative, which is still nice, but doesn't come with a 2 car garage. The plus is that we can possibly get a 4 bedroom, which would be great. BUT the 4 bedroom units are in the middle of the unit complex. The wait for that is 30-60 days, hopefully, we get in there sooner rather than later, esp since summer is upon us and DS's last day of school is in 10 days or so.

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Back to the weekend. Sunday, was mother's day, but since Monday was DS's birthday, we sort of did a combined thing. DS and DH surprised me with some lovely cards. I asked DS where he wanted to go and he chose Applebees, so that's where we had lunch. Then we took DS to go shopping for gifts at - where else? - walmart, of course, lol, being that we didn't want to drive all the way to Savannah, and opted to stay in Hinesville where the only place to shop is Walmart. He got a game and a couple of movies, then yesterday I picked up a Caramel Brownie Ice Cream cake. Haha, it was funny, I got those magic/trick candles and since they keep resparking, and making a whole lot of smoke, DH tried to put them out... using a papertowel. Needless to say the paper towel eventually caught on fire. Luckily we were in the kitchen and DH rushed it to the sink where the water was already running. Fun stuff! LOL Had I thought of it, I would have gotten a photo.

The pics of DS and DH are blurry as they didn't want to stay still while I was photographing because they were all hyper excited over the sparks from the candles.



Ah, 9 years old already... sigh... how time passes. DH's comment is, "half way there", haha, as in half way until DS is out of the house on his own.

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Eye candy...

Batt custom carded for me by Sugarbeestudios


Finished handspuns, I've been meaning to photograph for a while now




and silkrods to be listed soon

Mmm... mmm... good.

I forgot to post this last night, but here's what we had for dinner. It was a little bland as is, so I added some seasonings which will be indicative by italics.

Recipe: Chicken with Wild Rice Stuffed Tomatoes (my substitutions are in parenthesis)
(Link to orig recipe)

1/4 c wild rice (sub: boxed long and wild rice minus the seasoning packet)
8 lg tomatoes
3 Tbsp EVOO
1 onion, chopped
4 oz mushrooms, chopped (used: baby portabella)
1 lb ground chicken (sub: 1 lb ground turkey)
1 Tbsp sweet smoked paprika (sub: 1 Tbsp paprika + 1 Tbsp smoked chipotle tabasco sauce)
1/2 c sour cream
1 bunch dill, chopped (used: fresh baby dill)
onion powder
garlic powder
shredded parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

1. Prepare the wild rice according to the package instructions.
2. Meanwhile, cut a 1/2-inch slice off the top of each tomato (1/4" should suffice). Scoop out and discard the seeds, most of the flesh and excess juice (I saved these to use in another dish later). Place the tomato shells on a baking sheet and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350°.
3. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Add the ground chicken and cook for 6 minutes, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until crumbly. Stir in the smoked paprika (or my subs + onion and garlic powder). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cooked wild rice, sour cream and dill. Add salt (and pepper) to taste.
4. Stuff the rice mixture into the tomatoes. Brush the outside of the tomatoes with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and season lightly with salt (I used olive oil spray, for one, it's zero calories and two, it's easier). Cover loosely with foil and bake until the tomatoes are tender and the filling is hot, about 25 minutes. (about 5 minutes or before finished, I topped with parmesan).

Once you pull it out of the oven add some parmesan to the plate before putting the tomatoes on, then sprinkle a little bit more on top.

I served this with extra stuffing I had warming on the stove, and Pillsbury biscuits.

Then tonight we had chinese chicken salad, which was delicious!!! I remember when I was going to HCC, there was this restaurant across the street that had the best chinese chicken salad ever! but you had to get there early enough because they always sold out (it was that good!).

Recipe: Chinese Chicken Salad (my substitutions are in parenthesis)
(Link to orig recipe)

1/2 lb white chicken meat, cooked and shredded (sub: chicken thighs, cause that's what I thawed out, sliced thinly)
1/2 pkg won ton pi, cut into strips, deep fried until light brown (sub: too much work, so I just got a can of those crispy noodles)
1/2 lb char siu, thinly sliced (sub: no char siu around here, so I diced up and cooked some Tochino, which is similar in flavor to char siu)
1 head lettuce, broken in bite-sized pieces (sub: 50/50 baby spinach and mixed spring greens)

Dressing:
1/2 tsp white pepper (sub: black pepper, don't keep white pepper on hand)
1 tsp salt
1/4 c vinegar (didn't specify what kind, so I used what I had, which was cider vinegar)
1/4 c sugar

Boil the above dressing ingredients, cool, then add:
1/4 c sesame oil
1/4 c salad oil (sub: EVOO)

Cooking Instructions:
Toss salad ingredients (you may want to let the chicken and char siu/tochino cool a bit before adding) Mix dressing ingredients well (whisking helps). Pour dressing over salad (toss again, then serve).

Tomorrow I'll have to do chicken again because I have some raw left that I need to cook. Was also planning on doing some boiled peanuts, yum!

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Oh, and if you missed that important post from yesterday, please scroll down, it's regarding the hubby of an artist friend of mine who needs our assistance.

Be sure to check out the post below this one...

as it's an important one!

The excitement for today was a knock on the door... of course I wasn't in presentable attire - a pair of short pink sleep shorts and a t-shirt. I had DS answer the door for me, expecting that he'd tell whomever was at the door that his mom couldn't come to do the door at that time, but instead since the guy asked to speak with me, DS came to get me {insert rolling eyes emoticon here}. So I then motioned for DS to look at what I was wearing, with a "duh" look on my face. He then tells the guy "my mom's getting dressed" *facepalm*... kids. So I then have to scramble to at least get a bra on to go to the door after all. When I get to the door it's a dog catcher. Backing up a bit... Earlier in the day, DS went to go throw out the trash and he saw that the dog next door was loose in the neighborhood, barking and being generally a little bit scary-ish... back to the dog catcher... so he asks me if that dog belongs to the next door neighbor, and a series of other questions, like if I knew how to get in touch with them, etc.. I don't know our neighbors, so couldn't give him much information other than that we knew that they had three dogs (left out the part that these dogs bark ALL THE FRICKEN TIME, esp. like those times when we try to sleep), that that dog was probably theirs, that DS said that it was the dog from next door, and that DH said that he was friendly. The dog catcher said that the dog wasn't being very friendly and that it was being aggressive and he didn't want to approach it because he didn't want to get bitten. So anyway, he goes about his business watching the dog, I close the door and proceed to go take a shower. As soon as I get a towel on after stepping out of the shower, I hear the knock on the door again, so I have to scramble yet again to put something on, yet this time dripping wet. They tell me that the dog is now in our back yard and that they are going to go back there to see if they can catch it. I was like ok, that's fine. I go back into my bedroom bathroom to put the towel up and I hear a "zzzzzap zzz zzap"ping, like a tazer. Poor doggy! I didn't look outside to see it happening, but still could hear that ominous sizzle zapping. I guess they finally caught the dog.

When DH got home, I told him the story and from him I came to find out that it was not actually the dog from next door because he had seen a dog similar to the one next door out and about that morning, but it was bigger and a pitbull/mix rather than a boxer mix. So ooops!

There's some weird crap that DS told us a while back that he heard from the kid who visits, I guess his grandma, next door, something about gun powder in the dog food (I guess it makes a dog more aggressive???) and dog fighting, but who knows what to believe. It's kind of funny though, one should be careful what the do and say around kids...

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Again, please check out the post below this one. Thanks!

repost: Emergency!! for JoAnnA & Ron Pierotti

copied from Izabella's Blue:


Please see JoAnnA's blog for more information http://mosshill.blogs.com/.

Ron has a brain tumor & it is much worse than they expected, they say if he doesn't have this done immediately, they give him only a month to live! JoAnnA & Ron are beautiful souls & would take their shirts off their back for anyone...I feel it's the least we could do is...chip in a dollar or 1000 dollars, please please pass along this widget to help them in their time of need. And prayers are desperately needed to comfort them in this traumatic time~

You can also use this link to add in forwarding emails, this will take you to the page where you can pick up the embed codes for your sites. http://ronpierotti.chipin.com/ron-pierotti Please forward this to your friends~ Thank you so much!

Ooops, I let a week slip by

Ok, so I let a week + slip by, haha. Anyway, not too much to report. We didn't do anything on Easter. We did go to Savannah the day before though and had lunch at B&D Burger. The burgers were pretty good. My puter decided it wanted to blue screen and crash on me, however, so that was not fun. We figured it overheated because the cooling pad conked out and the internal fan took a vacation. Afterward, because of what happened to the desktop crashing last year, I went and ordered a new puter. Yes, ordered, cause I'm not getting another refurbished crappy laptop that only lasts a year or less cause I can't recall when exactly I got it, I'm thinking it was around the same time last year. As soon as it cooled and would let me do anything except ring-around-the-rosy with the startups and blue screens, I copied all my movable files onto my external drive. My outlook is locked up though :( so I can't copy the emails, of which I have tons. I can get email in, but can't delete junk mail. I did a virus scan and even went through trend micro, but found nothing. It's slow as heck and so can only use it limitedly now until my new puter comes in. DH needed to get a new laptop puter also, so we went to bestbuy for his. Well... since the puter only came with Vista Home Pro, we purchased the upgrade to Vista Ultimate thinking that it would be easy to install. Installing commenced, then it said that there were files missing so couldn't complete the upgrade. So we did the troubleshooting thing. Must have tried a half a dozen times, but it still gave the same message about 40-45% in. So we're thinking it's an issue with the upgrade discs, so DH drives all the way back to Savannah to return it and see if there was something they could do. Needless to say the line for the techs were too long... so DH brought the puter and the exchanged upgrade back home. Again we tried to install the upgrade and got the same results. So I tried booting from the DVD and it then said that it couldn't install because we didn't have a genuine copy of windows installed??? OK, so now we had to restore the puter from the original discs to make sure that all the files were there. During the first disc it said it was missing a file, and the only option we could take was "skip" so we did that and then it went to the 2nd disc, said it was missing the same file... "skip"... then again, "skip"... then at the end it said that there was an error and that it could not complete restoration. AARGH!! Keep in mind this is a BRAND NEW PUTER and we have not used it yet, all we were doing was trying to install an upgrade! Ok so we have to click "ok" and then the puter restarted only to black screen on us and say that the bootmgr (boot manager) was missing!!! So now DH has to go back to Savannah again for the 3rd time, and this time he turned it in and of course now we have to pay extra to have them fix the puter and install the upgrade and it is NOT cheap to do so. This sucks, big time, because well hello, it's a new friggen puter that we have NOT yet used at all. I still think that it was a factory installation issue, regarding the missing files and the fact that the upgrade discs didn't recognize the windows that was already installed as geniune and that best buy (or geek squad) shouldn't be charging us for these issues. We have never ever had this many issues with a puter before, it's crazy.

I can't wait to get my new puter, this limited use stuff is driving me crazy. I have spun more yarn though because of it :)

Anyway, that's about it. DS is on spring break and goes back on Monday, then has that CRCT testing... fun.

Tonight for dinner I'm making Papaya Chicken. I was going to make Chinese Chicken Salad, but I couldn't reach a couple of the ingredients at the commissary, so will have to do that one another day.

I'm going to try to start making dishes that are healtier and smaller portions. We really need to lose weight *facepalm*. Except for DS of course, he needs to put more meat on his bones.

Sassy Lasagne

Let me just start by saying this is the best lasagne I have ever made. Mmm... I was just savoring it as a ate it off the fork. It came about because I wanted to find a recipe to use some ground sausage and some sweet potato that I had in the fridge, and well in browsing through recipes, lasagne caught my eye, and then a light bulb went off, add them together, and voila. It's good because there's a subtle sweetness from the sweet potato and a slight spiciness from the sausage.

So here goes. If you try it let me know how it tasted. There's a bit of prep work to do, so give yourself some time.

I served it with fresh greenbeans sauteed in unsalted butter and garlic/onion powder. I almost forgot about it, lol, until DH said something when we sat down to eat (he only mentioned it because he did all the hard work in cutting off the ends, haha).

Recipe: Sassy Lasagne

1 med to large sweet potato
1 lb ground pork sausage
1/2 med onion, chopped
Bottle of spaghetti sauce (I used Prego Italian Sausage & Garlic)
2 Tbsp water
Uncooked lasagne noodles
2 eggs
2 or more cups of cottage cheese or ricotta (or both)
2-3 cups of your favorite shredded cheeses (suggestions 2 or more: mozzarella, parmesan, cheddar)
1 tsp dried parsley
Pinch of dried cilantro (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Boil sweet potato (or microwave it) until soft, peel skin, and mash. Put on the side and let it cool for a bit.

Cook onions, garlic, and sausage in a skillet until browned. Drain grease, then add 3/4 of the sauce to the meat, mix well.

In a med bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheeses, ricotta/cottage cheese, eggs, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, and cilantro. Add in cooled sweet potato and mix well.

Combine remaining spaghetti sauce with water and spread on the bottom of a baking/casserole dish.

Put a layer of noodles in the dish, layer over that the meat sauce, and over that the cheese/sweet potato mixture. Repeat layering. Top with remaining noodles and meat sauce.

Cover with foil and bake for about 50-55 minutes. Remove foil, top with remaining shredded cheese and bake for another 5 minutes to melt cheese.

Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving.

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There were a couple of other recipes I needed to post and link to, but will do that another time.

OMG Another!

Yep, another blog post, and just shortly after that other (ee gads, *faint*)!

But I thought these were pretty funny, so had to share. I asked on plurk for some alternatives for "a few screws loose", because apparently I had a couple and my mind was drawing blanks, here's what they came up with:

bat shit crazy
A few cents short of a dollar
Not the brightest bulb in the box.
not the sharpest tool in the tool shed/box
not the brightest crayon in the box (which was the winner, woot!)
a few stitches short of a row. (I liked this one too, but will have to reserve for later)
6-pack with the plastic thingie missing?
lost their marbles
nutty as a fruitcake
they are co-co for cocoa puffs
off their rocker
nutty as a squirl turd
fruity as a nutcake.
a few cards short of a full deck
elevator stops a few floors short of the top floor
2 french fries short of a happy meal (hilarious!!!)
the lights are on, but no body's home

The plurk page is here (in case there's more).