today’s recipe 30 July, 2007

meatless monday mealtime! i don’t like mushrooms, but this works well without, if you’re like me…

pasta with sun-dried tomato sauce:

2 15-oz cans tomato sauce
1 14.5-oz can chunky italian-style tomatoes
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red or green sweet peppers
1/4 cup chopped carrot
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
1 1/2 cups water
12 oz dried linguine or farfalle (bow tie) pasta
finely shredded romano or parmesan cheese

in a 3.5-4 qt slow cooker combine tomato sauce, undrained italian-style tomatoes, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, onion, sweet pepper, carrot, bay leaves, garlic, italian seasoning, sugar, salt and red pepper. pour water over all.

cover; cook on low-heat setting for 9 or 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 1/2 to 5 hours. meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions; drain.

remove bay leaves from sauce before serving. serve over hot cooked pasta. sprinkle each serving with cheese.

Your daily dose of one-sided observations 30 July, 2007

aah, another week, another series of adventures awaiting me. i really should be straightening the house a bit, as ben’s mom will be over today to pick up molly, her corgi who’s been staying here for the past 2 weeks. but dag, it’s not even 9 yet, i haven’t had any coffee, and besides, there’s a twilight zone marathon on sci-fi today. and there’s much to reflect on.

like ingrid. i love cartoon network. a whole channel devoted to my favorite type of programming. there’s one cartoon called “my gym partner’s a monkey”…the title’s kinda silly, but the show itself is pretty cool. not as cool as “billy and mandy,” but still pretty cool. i recorded friday’s episode because lewis black was guest-voicing, and it was as entertaining as i’d hoped (maybe even a little more so…lewis black is a hoot!). but each episode is comprised of 2 12-minute stories, and it was the other cartoon in that episode that really kinda stuck with me. see, there have been times in my life when i’ve felt like the weakest member of the pack. it’s not that i’ve ever felt disliked or unloved, just, you know, bottom of the totem pole, so to speak. and that’s what this episode was about: ingrid, a giraffe and the “weakest member of the pack,” is in danger of being replaced by lola, a llama who starts hanging out with her and then slowly begins to assimilate her and try to take her place in the pack (i should probably tell you that all but one of the stars of this cartoon are animals at an animal high school). it kinda made me feel better, watching this and knowing that i’m not the only one who’s ever felt like that. i feel better for the children. or something.

this weekend was kinda busy. i worked saturday; pretty uneventful, except for when The Skulker came into the library. The Skulker is this creepy guy who lurks around in the children’s section. he’s not as big a threat as The Wanker, a guy who was caught…well, the name implies…in the junior non-fiction section. that guy, i do believe, was banned entirely from wake county libraries. no, The Skulker merely skulks; there’s some speculation that he might expose himself to the kids, but since no one’s caught him doing that, we can’t really do anything other than shoo him out of the section. his presence was really uneventful on saturday, though…not that i’m complaining, mind you, although i had hoped to catch him doing something he shouldn’t so i could publicly embarrass him and give us a reason to boot him out. after work, ben and i went with ginny, mikey, mel and steve to see doc watson on the lawn of the nc museum of art. we love their summertime concert series, and doc watson, for being a multiple-grammy-winning music legend, has never forgotten his roots and was just as informal and friendly as the folks i grew up around. and we took a picnic dinner of ham sandwiches, chips, grapes, strawberries, cookies and sodas…i gave a peace offering of a corn chip to the ants, and they left us alone for the most part. it was a beautiful concert…with the crickets singing all around us, the moon shining full above us, and the sweet, sweet sounds of bluegrass filling the spaces in between. i got kinda choked up a couple time during the concert…once when one of the opening singers, riley baugus, talked about his granny who cooked in cast iron skillets on a wood stove, piled quilts on him when he slept over, and loved nothing more than church and singing, and again when doc watson played “uncloudy day,” a hymn that’s almost as old as the hills.

sometimes, i miss grannie more than i realize. it’s been 10 years since she passed, but sometimes the pain’s just as fresh as it was a decade ago.

but i digress. the concert was a perfect end to the week, and ben and i stayed up probably later than we should have playing wow (but we’re almost level 70!).  sunday, we went over to april and josh’s for some gaming fun…april is the children’s librarian i work with, and we’ve become pretty good friends. i got to meet 2 more of her friends, ru and justin, and we played this really cool card game called elixir, which ben and i will soon be ordering from amazon (it’s way fun). april’s dog ivy was a little too hyper…she’s a black lab, but she’s only a little over a year old, so she’s this hyper little puppy trapped in a big, awkward body. it’s adorable. april’s also given me vaulable insight into life as a real, full-time librarian, and i’m starting to feel like maybe the life of an ASSISTANT librarian is for me. apparently, once you go full time and become in charge of programs and such, the coolness of the job is quickly outweighed by the bureaucratic crap. something to think about…

i had a very strange dream last night. i dreamt i was asked to write a book about david tennant, the current doctor who and object of the biggest crush i’ve had since high school (not counting ben), and so i had to try to find his house to do an interview. when i got there, i had to use the bathroom, but his bathroom was all super-huge, like department-store sized. oh, and it had stalls. i used the handicapped stall, but then all these women i didn’t know (david’s girlfriends, most likely) started banging on the door and telling me to hurry. then, stan lee barged in and started talking to damon albarn (the lead singer of blur and the gorillaz) about doing a comic based on the gorillaz. i think at that point my brain started to boggle, because then i started this whole “know how i know i’m only dreaming?” conversation with stan, damon and the onlooking girls (starting with the fact that i was even having the conversation with those people).

self-aware dreams make me giggle.

but, i’ve been working on this post for nearly an hour (taking moments to watch the twilight zone has slowed me down a bit). the house isn’t getting any cleaner. i should go do that…

And another… 26 July, 2007

i told you i like sharing recipes. this one’s for the crock pot. ^^

Taco Chili:

1 pound ground beef
1 1.2 oz package taco seasoning
2 15 oz cans chunky Mexican-style tomatoes
1 15 oz can red kidney beans
1 15 oz can whole kernal corn

In a large skillet, cook ground beef until brown. Drain fat.

In a 3.5 to 4-quart slow cooker combine the cooked ground beef, taco seasoning mix, undrained tomatoes, undrained beans, and undrained corn. Cover and cook on low heat 4-6 hours.

Love and crock pots 26 July, 2007

i read the news a lot. i like to stay informed. or maybe i just like to punish myself. whatever the case, a couple of articles today caught my eye, one for making my face melt and one for being kinda blatantly obvious. in a world where this and this, not to mention this and this are going down, cnn thinks my fatty influence on my friends and a couple of celebrity rehab tramps should be top stories?

mein gott.

so i think my crock pot might be sick. it’s taken to burning foods. like last night…i made one of those meal-in-a-bag crock pot dealies. i followed the directions precisely, even cooking at the 10-hour setting for good measure. even so, by the time it was done, it was black around the edges. ben, wonderful person that he is, jokingly declared it was creole chicken and dumplings, but the sad truth was it was scorched. i’m not sure if it’s just a case of “they don’t make em like they used to” or what, but it’s not like the crock pot is old…we got it as a wedding gift, and we’ve been married less than 4 years. part of me wonders if it isn’t the size of the crock pot…it’s a 5 quart pot, but it’s almost never more than 1/4 full when i cook with it (and usually less than that). any ideas?

ben’s being very cute with the suv. last night, with ben’s excuse that “i’ll teach you how to use the 4 wheel drive!,” we took it out for a late night cruise. we opened the sunroof, all the windows, and the back window, and just drove around the neighborhood, looking at the new houses, the stars, a little bit of everything. it was actually really nice…the night was gorgeous, and the 4runner is a very quiet ride. and, of course, it was a moonlit ride with the love of my life.

i think i could start to like the suv.

While I’m padding my new blog… 25 July, 2007

i’m gonna borrow a technique from my good friend nichole and throw in a recipe. i do love sharing recipes. i got this one from one of my coworkers. i was telling her about one of my favorite foods, a dish called masaman. i usually get it at a restaurant here in cary, but she had her own recipe. i haven’t tried it yet, but i will. oh yes, i will.

Masaman:

2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 cup potato
1 tablespoon masaman curry paste (recipe follows)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 lb beef
1 tablespoon tamarind (Optional)
1 cinnamon stick (Optional)
1/4 cup cashew (Optional)
2 pinches cardamom (Optional)
2 leaves bay leaf (Optional)

Peel and cut up potatoes into big chunks, 1″ x 1″ x 1″. Cut up beef into the same size. You can substitute chicken or lamb for beef, if you like.

Heat coconut milk and masaman curry paste in a pot over medium to low heat and stir. Break up the paste and mix well with coconut milk. Stir constantly to keep the mixture from sticking. When you see the red oil bubbling up (about 5 minutes), add the meat and stir to cover the meat with curry. Add half a cup of water or enough cover all the meat. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for potatoes, onion and cashew. Stew for 1/2 hour or until beef is getting tender. Add potatoes, onion and cashews. Let simmer for 20 minutes more. The liquid should be reduced and you should be able to see some chunks. But, if the liquid is very low, add more water.

Masaman tastes great if you let it sit overnight so that the spices penetrate the meat and potatoes. I find that the tastes just don’t come together until the next day.

Masaman curry paste:

6 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh ginger
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped garlic (10 to 12 cloves)
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground mace or nutmeg
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 to 4 teaspoons ground red pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons anchovy paste or 1 minced anchovy fillet
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Place all ingredients in food processor or blender; process until mixture forms dry paste. Makes about a half cup.

Happiness is… 25 July, 2007

a lazy afternoon, a good book, and a snoring cat for a pillow.

I sure as hell don’t need a quiz to tell me that. 25 July, 2007

i have a gmail email address. a couple of them, actually…gmail gives you like 100 invites to send to friends to start their own email account, so i used a couple to establish a junk email (to use on sites that require an email address, and won’t let you use a fake one like pissoff at eatme dot com), a family email, a friends email, and a resume email (from back when i was actively job hunting). but i digress. as many other email providers do, gmail customizes little ads on the top and sides of your actual email viewing space according to keywords it picks out of your emails. so, for example, if i email a friend to congratulate her on the birth of a new baby, i can expect to have ads for such companies as babies R us, etc.

i have no idea what keyword generated this particular ad, but on the top of my inbox today was an ad that said, no lie, “Ugly? (link withheld just out of sheer spite) Take the quiz. Find out, Free!” and i have just three little words in reply to this ad:

what. the. hell.

i mean, what kind of…person…would think that’s a good idea? “hey, i’m feeling too good about myself today. i need to go take a damn internet quiz to point out all the little things wrong with me, because goddess knows society doesn’t do a good enough job reminding me of how insignificant and unattractive i am on a daily basis.” seriously, why? is it not enough that size-10-or-over women are portraying the “obese” population on television and in film, or that the current BMI standards dictate that both brad pitt and george clooney are themselves obese? am i so lacking in ms. jolie’s chiseled cheekbones and ms. hilton’s non-ass (or non-breasts, for that matter) that i need to click a link for further proof that i am undesirable?

to be fair, it’s not like i can pin all the blame directly on soulless asshats like the geniuses who brought us this quiz. if that shit didn’t sell, we wouldn’t be exposed to it so much. if real people, people who have dimples in their asscheeks and fuzz on their upper lips (or backs…) and less-than-perfect hair and who make up the majority of the american public, if those people would stand up and tell the toothpicks in the world to eat a damn sandwich and would themselves start supporting companies and magazines and media that portray and support other real people and all their glorious flaws, i wouldn’t have to look at another bony sternum staring at me from the plunging neckline of a skinny starlet with no breasts to speak of.

i am a real woman. i am fat, i am beautiful, and dammit, i don’t need some half-assed internet quiz to bring me down. i’m finally becoming comfortable with me, finally learning to love every curve, every dimple, every little jiggle. and if uglyquiz has a problem with that, uglyquiz and every other hater is welcome to kiss my curvy, dimpled ass.

thank you.

(by the way, if you’d like your own gmail address, i still have roughly 100 invites…i can totally hook you up…)

I’m sorry, Al Gore. 25 July, 2007

i didn’t want to buy an suv. i’ve never wanted one. i’ve always been staunchly opposed to them.

unfortunately, my husband loves the idea of being able to drive down to cape lookout anytime we want. and since driving on the sands of cape lookout requires a 4 wheel drive vehicle (and since i love my husband), not to mention the ridiculously good deal we got on a ‘99 4runner, i am now the reluctant owner of an suv.

to roughly quote courage, the things we do for love.