Welcome to another installment of What Recipe Did I Butcher This Week. This week's recipe comes courtesy of the Taste of Home Magazine. Five or so years ago, my grandma gave all the married grandkids a subscription to the magazine for Christmas and then she renews it for us every year. It's the gift that keeps giving, all year long.
2 cups penne pasta, uncooked
1/4 lb boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1/2 c chopped onions
1 T olive oil
1 pkg (6 oz) snow peas
1 small red pepper, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
2 T butter
1 T flour
1 1/2 c milk
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
1/2 c grated romano cheese
Cook pasta according to the directions. Meanwhile cook chicken and onions in olive oil in large skillet for 6-8 minutes or until chicken is done. (Omitted this step). Add snow peas, red pepper and garlic. Cook and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
Melt butter in medium saucepan. Stir in flour until well blended. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil and cook on medium heat 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Add cream cheese and grated cheese. Cook 1-2 minutes until cream cheese is completely melted and sauce is well blended, stirring constantly.
Drain pasta; place in large bowl. Add chicken mixture and sauce. Toss to coat.
This turned out really good. Wade thought the sauce was a little thick, but that was because it wasn't thickening up fast enough for me so I might've put more flour in there. And then you can probably guess what happened. I was too lazy to go find the chicken and defrost it, so I just omitted the chicken from the meal. And wal-mart was out of onions (I know!) the other day, so I didn't have one. Other than that, I stayed pretty much on course. Quick and easy meal.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Random Ramblings
- I ran a 5k on Saturday. This 5k to be exact. And I'm proud to say that I am closing the gap between the winner (14:23 this year) and myself. Last year, I came in at a respectable (I did just have a baby 3 months prior) time of 31:23. This year, 25:12 people! I cut off six minutes--which is like 2 minutes per mile. I may never reach this potential again, but man, it felt good to be so close to 25 minutes.
- We had a surprise birthday party for my mom's
60th25th birthday on Saturday. We held it at Hires--coincidently, the same place we've held EVERY surprise party for the last decade (upwards of 5, if you're counting). It's gotten to the point that if you're ever led to the restaurant around the time of a major milestone, you can bet that a bunch of people are waiting for you in the banquet area. - We inadvertently forgot to invite my mom's BFF of 30 some-odd years. The invitation got lost somewhere or sent to the wrong address. We don't know what happened. Even lamer is we didn't realize it until about 2 pm on Saturday afternoon.
- Have you ever laid in bed and thought "if we were to vanish and the authorities came in to this house at this exact moment, they'd totally think we were kidnapped and all our possessions ransacked"?
- I have an idea for a book--the first new idea I've had in months--and I'm actually really excited about it. It doesn't involve pillaging or oppressing minority groups, so don't look for me on Oprah (besides I'd have to have it out before 2011, when she goes off the air). But maybe Ellen Degeneres will start a book club about funny, quirky books and I'll be on there. Though I've never actually seen an author on her show. So maybe The Today Show. Look for me on The Today Show.
- Love This American Life on NPR. There are some people who believe that NPR is just a radio station for left wingist commie types. But they have some really interesting things. Like This American Life, which has no political agenda. I wish it would air every day and not just once a week. I've learned a lot since I've started downloading them onto my ipod and cleaning the house (see above) while listening.
- Somebody forgot to lock the Joe Biden Enclosure Tank when they started celebrating the passing of an asinine Health Care plan. Did we really vote a man into the highest office of the nation, who's right hand man has to be kept in a holding tank because he makes a stupid remark every time he's let out?
- I have the best sister-in-law, who agreed to take my kids for me so I could take my mom to a nice lunch for her birthday yesterday. Good thing too, because then we were stuck out in Salt Lake for the next four hours due to a brushfire that had closed both roads leading into Tooele County. I would've hated to have gotten a girl from the neighborhood and then had to pay for her for another four or five hours until the road opened. Although Wade did point out that I would've had a very nice afternoon in that circumstance.
- For the record, if Tooele County is ever blocked off from Salt Lake County due to a disaster, I'm just getting on the I-80 West and heading to California. There is one tiny back road that leads out of Tooele County and into Lehi and it's not exactly equipped to deal with an influx of 30,000 people. Lehi's road system isn't equipped either. They can't even adequately control their own population. Note to Lehi's Road Management Team: You're not so little anymore, so stop pretending you are.
- Also for the record, this is the 4th time in the last 10 months that Tooele County has been cut off from Salt Lake County. At least they've gotten a little better at figuring out how to close the roads BEFORE everyone is on them.
- I recently reconnected with a friend from elementary/jr high/high school on Facebook. R. deserves his own blog post in the very near future, but who knew the kid was so funny?
- Aunika is now tall enough to open all the kitchen drawers. This makes life really fun.
- Aunika is also FINALLY walking. It took her 16 months, but she has it down. That makes life fun as well.
- I'm officially old. Who is Justin Bieber?
- I'm also old because now my friends parents are getting sick and passing away.
- I was outside pulling weeds the other day and watched all these people pull up to the neighbors house across the street. She's like a social butterfly, casting her net all over the neighborhood. Which just further solidifies my status as socially inept. Sigh.
- The Wii is the spawn of the devil. It's in perma-time out.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Spiritual Thought Sunday--Simply Put
My parents have almost been married for 40 years. Just this last week, my older brother asked my mom what the best part of the last 40 years have been. She thought about it long and hard and said "the best part of the last 40 years is having babies."
She was quick to point out that it wasn't raising kids, but merely opening your heart to receive little ones into your life; The miracle of life.
My brother then asked what the worse thing has been in the last 40 years. She answered "watching my parents age and die."
The gist--40 years down the line, it's not going to matter how money you made, what kind of house you had, the vacations you took, or the car you drove. Simply put, your best and worst moments will be tied together; welcoming life and saying goodbye.
She was quick to point out that it wasn't raising kids, but merely opening your heart to receive little ones into your life; The miracle of life.
My brother then asked what the worse thing has been in the last 40 years. She answered "watching my parents age and die."
The gist--40 years down the line, it's not going to matter how money you made, what kind of house you had, the vacations you took, or the car you drove. Simply put, your best and worst moments will be tied together; welcoming life and saying goodbye.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Retraction
So, I guess I need to make a retraction:
Wade informed me that he wasn't horrible at being a state and county delegate. In fact, he did a pretty good job. He was the one to inform Rob Bishop, US Representative, that he was speaking the next day at the Tooele County Convention. He also spent some time with him on the phone discussing more important matters, including healthcare. He's weighed in on a few town hall meetings via phone and asked some poignant questions. He answered a few phone calls. Wade gave some bigwig (but, obviously not The Big Wig) his ideas for healthcare reform, and the State Legislature started implementing those ideas. Maybe not JUST because of Wade, but he did have a small hand in that.
At the county convention, Wade helped make sure they didn't instigate automatic delegates for Tooele County. He also got to have a one-on-one conversation with Governor Herbert, before he was Guv. They talked about the federal government taking away state rights.
He got to know a lot of the local leaders as well. And he knows all the people who want to run this year and what their platforms are.
Which is probably better than 95% of the voters.
So here's my public apology for saying he was horrible at it because he didn't go to the state convention last year. Or field a bazillion phone calls.
I love you honey. Despite your love affair with politics.
Wade informed me that he wasn't horrible at being a state and county delegate. In fact, he did a pretty good job. He was the one to inform Rob Bishop, US Representative, that he was speaking the next day at the Tooele County Convention. He also spent some time with him on the phone discussing more important matters, including healthcare. He's weighed in on a few town hall meetings via phone and asked some poignant questions. He answered a few phone calls. Wade gave some bigwig (but, obviously not The Big Wig) his ideas for healthcare reform, and the State Legislature started implementing those ideas. Maybe not JUST because of Wade, but he did have a small hand in that.
At the county convention, Wade helped make sure they didn't instigate automatic delegates for Tooele County. He also got to have a one-on-one conversation with Governor Herbert, before he was Guv. They talked about the federal government taking away state rights.
He got to know a lot of the local leaders as well. And he knows all the people who want to run this year and what their platforms are.
Which is probably better than 95% of the voters.
So here's my public apology for saying he was horrible at it because he didn't go to the state convention last year. Or field a bazillion phone calls.
I love you honey. Despite your love affair with politics.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
How to Derail a Budding Political Career--Both Ethically and Legally (and without dyeing my hair a funky shade of blue)
Two years ago, Wade visited the Republican Caucus and was inadvertently nominated and voted in as both a county delegate and a state delegate. And that's all cool. Maybe not my cup of tea, but I have my things, Wade has his.
However, the last three or so months have been bordering on intolerable. See, once you're a delegate, your phone line gets inundated with calls from representatives and people hoping to be governor/senator/congressman/city council member. You have surveys and annoying recorded messages about different laws that may or may not be passed based on how you respond to the following three/10/"short survey" questions.
And they only call between 11 am and 3 pm. Which, coincidently, is when Wade is at WORK. And when I am at HOME. But that doesn't matter to the call center because they are only paid to make the phone call. They aren't calling because they're fired up about a particular issue or candidate. They're calling because it's their job. And so the fact that I DON'T CARE about 90% of what they're trying to sell me doesn't mean diddly squat to them because it's a live person and therefore they can cross the Hadlock home off their handy little list.
(Why don't I just hang up? BECAUSE THEY KEEP CALLING!)
(Clearly, I'm still a little pent up about this.)
So, I politely answer their little questions, but I almost always have a 15 month old hanging on my legs and a 4 year old who can hear the phone ring from a thousand miles away and thinks that NOW is the time to ask for a glass of kool-aid/a piece of bread/to play the Wii. And so, my answers are a little skewed. Like "on a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rate {I want Kool-aid. Mom. Kool-aid. Now. Mom. Mom.}". "Uh, a seven." In other words, I'm not sure what I'm rating or why so I'm just throwing out numbers that sound good. In fact, one time I was actually transferred to the House of Representatives main line and I was suppose to ask for {Mom, I'm hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry}. To talk about what, I don't know, but I'm fairly certain he (she?) wasn't in the market to chat up a desperate housewife.
This has been going on for 3 months. Maybe more. And after they analyze the data and send it back to it's respective people, I'm sure they're wondering how Wade ever got voted in as a delegate, he's so all over the map.
Monday was the end of my rope. I fielded 10 (yes 10!) phone calls from various organizations and campaigns reminding us about the Caucus on Tuesday and to lament the recent health care directive that had been passed on Sunday. Hello, newsflash: Monday is AFTER Sunday, so technically aren't we too late to voice our displeasure in an arena to be heard concerning the health care bill?
Anyways, I'd just about had it, with being caretaker of the neighbor's children, and an ornery 16ish month old who is teething, and Lego fights. When Wade walked in at 6:45 on Tuesday night and announced he was headed to the Caucus meeting, I spun around and blurted out:
"Don't you dare come back as a delegate."
I mean, he was horrible at it. He didn't even go to the convention this last year and I've been fielding most of the calls. And really I have only two--maybe three--major political hot buttons; cigarette taxes and public knowledge of who's donating more than 50k to your public university are not them.
So, Wade went. And he was nominated to be state delegate. And he stood up and said something to the affect of: "I won't say no if you vote me in but my wife really doesn't want you to vote for me."
It should be noted that even after that impassioned pleading, out of 12 nominees and 3 open seats to fill, Wade came in 4th. And only because he didn't vote for himself.
However, this might come back to haunt him when he runs for office. Like how his wife hates fielding phone calls and knows next to nothing about politics and refuses to cut her hair into a poli-wife hairdo or wear power suits. She might not even vote for him.
Kidding. Maybe.
But, I'm sure people from Tuesday night will remember the guy who was okay with being state delegate but who's wife wasn't so much on board with the idea.
I think my work here is done.
However, the last three or so months have been bordering on intolerable. See, once you're a delegate, your phone line gets inundated with calls from representatives and people hoping to be governor/senator/congressman/city council member. You have surveys and annoying recorded messages about different laws that may or may not be passed based on how you respond to the following three/10/"short survey" questions.
And they only call between 11 am and 3 pm. Which, coincidently, is when Wade is at WORK. And when I am at HOME. But that doesn't matter to the call center because they are only paid to make the phone call. They aren't calling because they're fired up about a particular issue or candidate. They're calling because it's their job. And so the fact that I DON'T CARE about 90% of what they're trying to sell me doesn't mean diddly squat to them because it's a live person and therefore they can cross the Hadlock home off their handy little list.
(Why don't I just hang up? BECAUSE THEY KEEP CALLING!)
(Clearly, I'm still a little pent up about this.)
So, I politely answer their little questions, but I almost always have a 15 month old hanging on my legs and a 4 year old who can hear the phone ring from a thousand miles away and thinks that NOW is the time to ask for a glass of kool-aid/a piece of bread/to play the Wii. And so, my answers are a little skewed. Like "on a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rate {I want Kool-aid. Mom. Kool-aid. Now. Mom. Mom.}". "Uh, a seven." In other words, I'm not sure what I'm rating or why so I'm just throwing out numbers that sound good. In fact, one time I was actually transferred to the House of Representatives main line and I was suppose to ask for {Mom, I'm hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry}. To talk about what, I don't know, but I'm fairly certain he (she?) wasn't in the market to chat up a desperate housewife.
This has been going on for 3 months. Maybe more. And after they analyze the data and send it back to it's respective people, I'm sure they're wondering how Wade ever got voted in as a delegate, he's so all over the map.
Monday was the end of my rope. I fielded 10 (yes 10!) phone calls from various organizations and campaigns reminding us about the Caucus on Tuesday and to lament the recent health care directive that had been passed on Sunday. Hello, newsflash: Monday is AFTER Sunday, so technically aren't we too late to voice our displeasure in an arena to be heard concerning the health care bill?
Anyways, I'd just about had it, with being caretaker of the neighbor's children, and an ornery 16ish month old who is teething, and Lego fights. When Wade walked in at 6:45 on Tuesday night and announced he was headed to the Caucus meeting, I spun around and blurted out:
"Don't you dare come back as a delegate."
I mean, he was horrible at it. He didn't even go to the convention this last year and I've been fielding most of the calls. And really I have only two--maybe three--major political hot buttons; cigarette taxes and public knowledge of who's donating more than 50k to your public university are not them.
So, Wade went. And he was nominated to be state delegate. And he stood up and said something to the affect of: "I won't say no if you vote me in but my wife really doesn't want you to vote for me."
It should be noted that even after that impassioned pleading, out of 12 nominees and 3 open seats to fill, Wade came in 4th. And only because he didn't vote for himself.
However, this might come back to haunt him when he runs for office. Like how his wife hates fielding phone calls and knows next to nothing about politics and refuses to cut her hair into a poli-wife hairdo or wear power suits. She might not even vote for him.
Kidding. Maybe.
But, I'm sure people from Tuesday night will remember the guy who was okay with being state delegate but who's wife wasn't so much on board with the idea.
I think my work here is done.
What's For Dinner Wednesday--Swiss Steak
(Aha! But it's Thursday. And I had every intention of writing this up yesterday, but I was (a) trying to beat the Biggest Loser competitors in a race to bike 26.2 miles (I won by 21 minutes, but no one gave ME $10,000) and (b) when I went to write it up, the man who's political career I may have sank was using the computer and since I had done enough damage for one day, I opted to just read instead.
There's a story there. And it's coming right up. But first, Swiss Steak.)
A few Christmas' ago, I took my mom's yellow cookbook--the one that had all the family favorite recipes in it--and painstakingly typed up each recipe, printed them off on index cards, put them in an album of sorts and presented them to my brothers, my mom and to myself. That way we all had mom's recipes at our disposal. I was surprised to find a few recipes from my grandma. They seemed benign enough, but as I ventured into this week's recipe, I found that wasn't the case. Here is the recipe in all it's glory. I'll interpret it below, and then I'll tell you what I did.
Recipe
Season round steak with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Score steak with a dish before adding flour. Score flour in good. Do this with both sides of steak. Sprinkle paprika on both sides when browning meat. After meat is browned, take from pan. Cut onion fine and sauté in oil. Put steak back in pan. Add water. Do not cover with water. You can add water as you need it. Use one or two bouillon cubes. Mix one at a time in hot water. Taste before you add the second one. These are salty and you could get the gravy too salty. When meat is done, add flour that is mixed with water to juice until you get the thickness you want. Add two or three capfuls of Kitchen Bouquet while cooking steak. Cook in electric frying pan at 230 degrees for 3 hours.
Interpretation
Seasoning the steak is pretty self-explanatory. However, I struggled with the next line: score steak with a dish. For the life of me I could not figure it out and my mom wasn't home to help me. Turning to my trusty internet, I googled scoring meat, and found that it's taking a knife and putting slices in the top of the meat one way and then slicing it the other way so there's a diamond pattern on top. How you do that with a dish I don't know. Scoring the flour in??
Browning the meat was a no brainer. Either was the onion part. I got a little confused with the water and dissolving the bouillon cubes in hot water. Should I dissolve the bouillon cube first and then put in water so it doesn't reach the top of the steaks, or do I add water and then dissolve the bouillon cube in the pan.
Next, when do I add the flour. Is it after the 3 hours or before. When is the meat considered "done"? Where do I find Kitchen Bouquet? Oh...the questions.
What I Did/What I Should've Done
I sprinkled both sides of the steak with the seasonings and then I proceeded to cut my diamond shapes in and shook the steaks in a ziploc bag of flour. However, after talking with my mom (after-the-fact), what grandma meant by scoring the meat with a dish (a presumed typo that was not a typo afterall) is that I should've hammered the meat using my meat tenderizer hammer thingie (I'm sure it has a name). Grandma used a dish to do this. Don't ask, because I'm not sure how either. Then she'd press the flour into the meat with the dish. A hammer thingie would've been useful.
I browned both sides and removed the meat from the pan. Then I chopped up an onion (a REAL onion this time) and sautéed it. However, I should've cut it into rings and not into little pieces. There was a lot of onion.
I added the meat back to the pan and then added water until it was covering just the bottoms of the steaks. I added a bouillon cube right to the pan. After it dissolved, I tasted the gravy and decided to add a second one. Tuesday at the store, I found the Kitchen Bouquet, but now I can't remember exactly where. So I added a few capfuls of that.
I don't own an electric frying pan (though sometimes I wish I did), so I just turned my frying pan on low and covered it with a lid. I didn't cook it for the whole 3 hours either. Maybe an hour and a half.
Overall, it was REALLY good. A little tough since I was suppose to hammer it, but pretty good nonetheless. Next time, I'll take my new interpretations and see if I can get it to look like how my mom use to make it.
There's a story there. And it's coming right up. But first, Swiss Steak.)
A few Christmas' ago, I took my mom's yellow cookbook--the one that had all the family favorite recipes in it--and painstakingly typed up each recipe, printed them off on index cards, put them in an album of sorts and presented them to my brothers, my mom and to myself. That way we all had mom's recipes at our disposal. I was surprised to find a few recipes from my grandma. They seemed benign enough, but as I ventured into this week's recipe, I found that wasn't the case. Here is the recipe in all it's glory. I'll interpret it below, and then I'll tell you what I did.
Recipe
Season round steak with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Score steak with a dish before adding flour. Score flour in good. Do this with both sides of steak. Sprinkle paprika on both sides when browning meat. After meat is browned, take from pan. Cut onion fine and sauté in oil. Put steak back in pan. Add water. Do not cover with water. You can add water as you need it. Use one or two bouillon cubes. Mix one at a time in hot water. Taste before you add the second one. These are salty and you could get the gravy too salty. When meat is done, add flour that is mixed with water to juice until you get the thickness you want. Add two or three capfuls of Kitchen Bouquet while cooking steak. Cook in electric frying pan at 230 degrees for 3 hours.
Interpretation
Seasoning the steak is pretty self-explanatory. However, I struggled with the next line: score steak with a dish. For the life of me I could not figure it out and my mom wasn't home to help me. Turning to my trusty internet, I googled scoring meat, and found that it's taking a knife and putting slices in the top of the meat one way and then slicing it the other way so there's a diamond pattern on top. How you do that with a dish I don't know. Scoring the flour in??
Browning the meat was a no brainer. Either was the onion part. I got a little confused with the water and dissolving the bouillon cubes in hot water. Should I dissolve the bouillon cube first and then put in water so it doesn't reach the top of the steaks, or do I add water and then dissolve the bouillon cube in the pan.
Next, when do I add the flour. Is it after the 3 hours or before. When is the meat considered "done"? Where do I find Kitchen Bouquet? Oh...the questions.
What I Did/What I Should've Done
I sprinkled both sides of the steak with the seasonings and then I proceeded to cut my diamond shapes in and shook the steaks in a ziploc bag of flour. However, after talking with my mom (after-the-fact), what grandma meant by scoring the meat with a dish (a presumed typo that was not a typo afterall) is that I should've hammered the meat using my meat tenderizer hammer thingie (I'm sure it has a name). Grandma used a dish to do this. Don't ask, because I'm not sure how either. Then she'd press the flour into the meat with the dish. A hammer thingie would've been useful.
I browned both sides and removed the meat from the pan. Then I chopped up an onion (a REAL onion this time) and sautéed it. However, I should've cut it into rings and not into little pieces. There was a lot of onion.
I added the meat back to the pan and then added water until it was covering just the bottoms of the steaks. I added a bouillon cube right to the pan. After it dissolved, I tasted the gravy and decided to add a second one. Tuesday at the store, I found the Kitchen Bouquet, but now I can't remember exactly where. So I added a few capfuls of that.
I don't own an electric frying pan (though sometimes I wish I did), so I just turned my frying pan on low and covered it with a lid. I didn't cook it for the whole 3 hours either. Maybe an hour and a half.
Overall, it was REALLY good. A little tough since I was suppose to hammer it, but pretty good nonetheless. Next time, I'll take my new interpretations and see if I can get it to look like how my mom use to make it.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
What's For Dinner Wednesday--Meatball Chowder
This recipe comes from my mom's cookbook, though I don't actually recall ever eating it growing up. However, she remembers making it, so I'll go with her word. It turned out to be a great, hearty soup, but perhaps better served on a day that wasn't the warmest of the year thus far. Nonetheless, we ate it anyways and we ate it with bread I had gotten from The Mediterranean Market, which produced a story for another day (and a wish for a camera phone because it would've come in handy. Now you're going to have to rely on my adjectives to paint the picture for you).
Meatballs
1 lb Hamburger
1 tsp Season Salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 egg beaten
1/8 C dried parsley
1/6 C cracker crumbs
1 T milk
I once mentioned that we have switched completely over to ground turkey. However, 100% ground turkey meatballs are kinda gross. Also, I was at my mom's house and decided to make the meatballs earlier so I could just throw them into the soup pot when I got home and she didn't have any ground turkey. So I went with ground beef. Next time, I'm going to try a mixture of both.
Form into balls (about 15. These are BIG meatballs). Roll in flour, brown in 1 T oil.
Note: I baked mine for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. A tad bit healthier and not so greasy. Though I would imagine the fried meatballs would've been tastier. (But the baked ones were still good anyways).
Soup
2-3 Onions
3 C tomato juice
3 beef bouillions
3 C water
1 bay leaf
3-4 carrots
1/2 C diced celery
2-3 C potatoes
1 tsp salt
1 T sugar
Cook for 1 1/4 hours on simmer. Last 10 minutes add mexicorn. (Oops forgot to add the corn. And regular corn is fine). Can cook in a crockpot all day.
Meatballs
1 lb Hamburger
1 tsp Season Salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 egg beaten
1/8 C dried parsley
1/6 C cracker crumbs
1 T milk
I once mentioned that we have switched completely over to ground turkey. However, 100% ground turkey meatballs are kinda gross. Also, I was at my mom's house and decided to make the meatballs earlier so I could just throw them into the soup pot when I got home and she didn't have any ground turkey. So I went with ground beef. Next time, I'm going to try a mixture of both.
Form into balls (about 15. These are BIG meatballs). Roll in flour, brown in 1 T oil.
Note: I baked mine for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. A tad bit healthier and not so greasy. Though I would imagine the fried meatballs would've been tastier. (But the baked ones were still good anyways).
Soup
2-3 Onions
3 C tomato juice
3 beef bouillions
3 C water
1 bay leaf
3-4 carrots
1/2 C diced celery
2-3 C potatoes
1 tsp salt
1 T sugar
Cook for 1 1/4 hours on simmer. Last 10 minutes add mexicorn. (Oops forgot to add the corn. And regular corn is fine). Can cook in a crockpot all day.
Monday, March 15, 2010
The International Speech Contest Take One
There are two contests a year in Toastmasters--International Speech and Humorous Speech. I did a humorous speech for the last contest. One about my in-laws and football. And the guy who won was light years better, though I didn't actually think I'd win in the first place.
This last Thursday it was time for the International Speech Contest. And lo and behold it was the same three people competing. However, there was no added pressure of being funny, so it would seem this contest is slightly easier. And I thought maybe I'd have a chance, now that I'm a Competent Communicator.
And, by all accounts, you can choose whatever topic you want to for the International Speech Contest. Or that was my impression, but apparently, I was misled. I'll discuss that later.
So, I hummed and hawed about what subject to speak on. I was going to do it on the Spelling Bee, but it wasn't flowing as nicely as I wanted it to. (Though mark my words, The Salty Tongues Toastmasters Club will be hearing a speech on the Spelling Bee in the very near future). But I settled on my grandparents' neighbors. Just obscure enough to be interesting.
How many speeches have you heard in the last decade of your life about someone's grandparent's neighbors as opposed to speeches about overcoming fear and being a team player? Maybe something to shake up things is nice once in a while.
My original intent was to orate the speech somewhat like an episode of "This American Life" from NPR. It's a radio segment that speaks about interesting off-beat topics, but seems to flow very nicely, making even the most mundane thing sound so fascinating. It's a little hard to describe. You'd need to download an episode to understand what I'm saying. But, in the end, it's how the speech was written.
How it was presented is a completely different story. They should probably make you take a test to become a Competent Communicator. The minute I started speaking I realized that I am STILL so awkward in front of groups. Like, painfully awkward. Funny how it wasn't until a year after joining the club that it finally dawned on me what my biggest hang up is.
And the entire time during the speech, I'm thinking "Goll, this is really dumb. I should've picked a different topic. No one cares about my grandparents' neighbors."
In short, I was lacking a lot of self-confidence in my speaking abilities and why it chose that moment to present itself, I'm not sure.
Which doesn't lend itself to an overall great speech.
I mean, it was there on paper but it wasn't there in person. And so I lost...again. To someone speaking about being a team player. But he could've been reading the phone book, he was that mesmerizing.
I asked my dad afterwards what the deal was, clarifying that I KNOW I'm awkward and I KNOW that B. is a much better speaker, but I really thought word-for-word, my speech was better. My dad said it was a good speech, but that the speeches that win at the higher levels are about self-improvement.
Hence the speeches on overcoming fear and being a team player by the two more senior members.
So maybe they should rename the contest from International Speech Contest, where you can choose any topic you want, to Self-Improvement Speech Contest, where you must talk about improving yourself, if they expect you to write a speech about self-improvement.
And while we're at it, maybe a division for speech writers.
I'm just sayin'.
This last Thursday it was time for the International Speech Contest. And lo and behold it was the same three people competing. However, there was no added pressure of being funny, so it would seem this contest is slightly easier. And I thought maybe I'd have a chance, now that I'm a Competent Communicator.
And, by all accounts, you can choose whatever topic you want to for the International Speech Contest. Or that was my impression, but apparently, I was misled. I'll discuss that later.
So, I hummed and hawed about what subject to speak on. I was going to do it on the Spelling Bee, but it wasn't flowing as nicely as I wanted it to. (Though mark my words, The Salty Tongues Toastmasters Club will be hearing a speech on the Spelling Bee in the very near future). But I settled on my grandparents' neighbors. Just obscure enough to be interesting.
How many speeches have you heard in the last decade of your life about someone's grandparent's neighbors as opposed to speeches about overcoming fear and being a team player? Maybe something to shake up things is nice once in a while.
My original intent was to orate the speech somewhat like an episode of "This American Life" from NPR. It's a radio segment that speaks about interesting off-beat topics, but seems to flow very nicely, making even the most mundane thing sound so fascinating. It's a little hard to describe. You'd need to download an episode to understand what I'm saying. But, in the end, it's how the speech was written.
How it was presented is a completely different story. They should probably make you take a test to become a Competent Communicator. The minute I started speaking I realized that I am STILL so awkward in front of groups. Like, painfully awkward. Funny how it wasn't until a year after joining the club that it finally dawned on me what my biggest hang up is.
And the entire time during the speech, I'm thinking "Goll, this is really dumb. I should've picked a different topic. No one cares about my grandparents' neighbors."
In short, I was lacking a lot of self-confidence in my speaking abilities and why it chose that moment to present itself, I'm not sure.
Which doesn't lend itself to an overall great speech.
I mean, it was there on paper but it wasn't there in person. And so I lost...again. To someone speaking about being a team player. But he could've been reading the phone book, he was that mesmerizing.
I asked my dad afterwards what the deal was, clarifying that I KNOW I'm awkward and I KNOW that B. is a much better speaker, but I really thought word-for-word, my speech was better. My dad said it was a good speech, but that the speeches that win at the higher levels are about self-improvement.
Hence the speeches on overcoming fear and being a team player by the two more senior members.
So maybe they should rename the contest from International Speech Contest, where you can choose any topic you want, to Self-Improvement Speech Contest, where you must talk about improving yourself, if they expect you to write a speech about self-improvement.
And while we're at it, maybe a division for speech writers.
I'm just sayin'.
Friday, March 12, 2010
The Spelling Bee of Salt Lake County
Last weekend, I went to see my niece compete in the regional spelling bee. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I am a recovering spelling addict former spelling bee champ and I thought it would be kind of interesting to be on the other side at a spelling bee--the audience.
I know. It was a weird thought. And somewhat misguided. In fact, it wasn't until the morning of the bee that I wondered what I was doing. Unfortunately, I was expected at the bee (though I'm sure my sister-in-law (here on out known as SIL) would not have held it against me had I chosen not to drive the 45 minutes out there) and so I geared up and went.
And I was glad to be there. Not only to support my niece, but more importantly, to people watch.
(It's a skill that's taken years to master, but I LOVE to people watch).
The first thing that struck me was that there seemed to be a lot more girls than boys competing. Secondly, some people are always late, no matter what. I mean, your kid won the spelling bee held at their school and now they have the chance to compete to go to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. but you can't bother to make it there on time at 9 am? I know it's nerdy and weird and all sorts of other not-so-nice adjectives, but your kid is the best kid in their school at something. And good spellers are hard to come by, but studies have shown (maybe) that they get paid the more as adults as compared to a Jr. Jazz basketball player or whatever your excuse is for being late. Perhaps you could put forth a little effort.
I'm just sayin'.
So my niece went totally against my advise and got seated in the #1 spot.
(Actually, they picked it for her and I laughed at the probability of that happening).
(There were roughly 63 people in my bee and 42 in hers. The probability of us both picking #1 is something like 2%. Hello. Welcome to my brain.)
However, she spent a lot of timetaunting asking me why being #1 was so bad. Like every time between rounds. And it dawned on me that I wasn't exactly forthcoming in my advice. It should be noted that in Elementary School, I was SO shy that I peed my pants during the Kindergarten class picture. And I didn't even have to stand up in front of the entire school and spell words from my memory. It was because I was too shy to interrupt the teacher and the photographer to ask if I could use the restroom. This shyness actually extended into high school, though I had learned to control my bladder by then. But, in sixth grade, when I was standing up in front of a large group of strangers at the district spelling bee, I was still very shy. And being #1 brought attention to my being that I didn't really appreciate, nor want.
My niece, A., is more like the exact opposite. She welcomes the attention and #1 suited her fine.
As the bee got underway, it was obvious that these particular organizers have never actually been to a Spelling Bee before. Ironically, A. stood up for the first word--interrupt--and they had to stop the Bee because no one thought to check the microphone beforehand. Then 10 minutes later, she stood again to spell the word. This has both it's advantages and it's disadvantages. Advantages because you have A LOT of time to think about this word. Disadvantage because you have A LOT of time to think to think about the word.
I looked over at my SIL and thought I heard her chanting (quietly of course. This is a spelling bee.) "please don't get out on the first round. Please don't get out on the first round." Ha. No one gets out on the first word at this level.
Eight kids were sent packing that first round. Well, seven because there was an "issue"--the first of many "issues" to follow. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to listen to the kids misspell the words, knowing how much time they put into studying, and walking away after the first round to go sit with their parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, neighbors, Primary teachers, bishops.
So the "issue"--Speller #37 stood up and the pronouncer gave him his word: Harmonica. However, the pronouncer may have pronounced it as "Hermonica" though that's still up for debate. The speller spelled it as H-E-R-M-O-N-I-C-A, which is obviously incorrect. However, after the round, the parents went to contest the decision, saying the pronouncer had mispronounced it. In the same round was another speller who got the word "Postmortem". He heard "Postpartum" and spelled it correctly. Since that wasn't the word, he was out. I believe his parents were out in the hall contesting that as well. So the kicker? Speller #37 was allowed back into the Bee because the pronouncer supposedly mispronounced the word even though "Hermonica" is not a word, but the Postmortem/Postpartum kid wasn't allowed back in because "Postpartum" was not on the official list and had he asked for a definition, he would've realized he was mishearing the word.
But would he?
While I DID NOT agree with this decision, it's a Spelling Bee, not the Olympics. Speller #37 obviously isn't going to make it to the final round. He, in fact, didn't even make it out of round 2. He had no clue that "Hermonica" was not a word. The other speller would've had a chance I think and it's a shame that they kicked him out in the first round. He clearly spent a lot of time studying words and for some mix-up like that to kill your chances, that's a shame.
But again it's life. You spend a few minutes in disappointment and then you move on.
Unless you were the family in front of us. In which case, it was the end. of. the. world. Grandma was shouting how unfair it was. Mom was holding up the rule book. They were making snide comments loud enough for the auditorium to hear.
Unbelievable.
But play continued. It was kind of nice having A. first because that meant we got to sit back and enjoy the rest of the round. A. correctly spelled "gondola" and "salmonella" before we went to break. My SIL showed me the list of words the kids were expected to know. I can't come up with any off the top of my head, but I'd venture to say that 90% of them were words you wouldn't use in everyday conversation as adults let alone as 4th to 8th graders. And the words "borrowed" from other languages were amazing.
Beautiful, beautiful words. But I'm glad I wasn't up there trying to spell them.
Yet my SIL knew them all. And then it dawned on me that during my tenure as Spelling Bee Champ, I had to memorize the definitions because I was 11 and couldn't pronounce 95% of them correctly and my mom wasn't sitting down with me every night to review them. I might have asked 2 or 3 times, but I did it basically by myself. And so I memorized the definition so that if I got a word that I had been mispronouncing for the last 3 months, and I asked for the definition because it was so unfamiliar, I'd remember what the word was I needed to spell.
Have I mentioned I'm pretty good at crosswords?
Which seems kind of strange now that I think about it. And not that my mom wouldn't have quizzed me every night. She says she's thinks she didn't know about the spelling bee until the day I was in it and I think I was just doing the spelling bee as something to do, and it wasn't until the second to last round of the school bee that I actually thought I could win.
But I digress...
It was at this point in the bee that I jotted down the numbers of the top competitors. I had the competition short listed down to 12 competitors. I even had A.'s love match.
So, they started the process up again, and A. went on to spell "Iguana" and "Poltergeist". It was in the "Poltergeist" round that the kid of the Soccer Mom/Grandma misspelled "aristocracy" by starting it with an "e" instead of an "a".
Ha. Karma, baby.
There were some more "issues", but nothing noteworthy. A. correctly spelled "periphery", "allegro", "pasteurize", and my favorite "algorithm".
Math meets Spelling. Utopia.
"Zephyr", "mercerize" and "charlatan" later, we were down to the top six. My competitor list was holding up, and I shortened that list down to the top three. Somewhere in there was the biggest mispronunciation of the morning. "Hyperbole", pronounced as "hyper bowl".
Seriously, you were the best they could find?
Round 13 started with "anachronism" (last year's champion word), then 14 was "surveillance". If I was up there, this is the word I would've lost on. A. finished the official word list with "Salaam" and "rottweiler". There were still six competitors and they moved on to a random list they had dredged up from somewhere. A. started off round 17 with "opal". This round knocked someone out and they were down to the top 3. A. began round 18, almost stumbling on "uvula", but pulled it off in the end. Then in round 19, she got the word "addenda".
"Addenda" will be to A. what "haulage" is to me. A completely obscure word that is never used in normal conversation but nonetheless will be forever etched in your memory bank.
The bee continued on for 3 more rounds before the one person I thought wouldn't make it past the top six took it. I can't even remember what the word was she won on, but it was pretty impressive. I've never seen a dad--a lone dad who was probably commissioned to drive his daughter to this event but had other things he'd rather be doing--so happy. It made me happy that if A. wasn't going to win, at least it was this girl that won.
Not last year's winner--who came in second. Because, as it turns out, he failed 8th grade and had to retake it, making him eligible for the bee again. And begs the question, how is someone, who's a spelling bee champion, not pass 8th grade?
Sure there were tears and heartbreak, but A. fought a hard battle and she nearly won. Third place is nothing to snicker at. She still has three years of eligibility left to make it to the National Spelling Bee and I'm betting it's going to happen sooner rather than later.
And it was a great way to spend three hours on a Saturday morning.
No seriously. It was.
I know. It was a weird thought. And somewhat misguided. In fact, it wasn't until the morning of the bee that I wondered what I was doing. Unfortunately, I was expected at the bee (though I'm sure my sister-in-law (here on out known as SIL) would not have held it against me had I chosen not to drive the 45 minutes out there) and so I geared up and went.
And I was glad to be there. Not only to support my niece, but more importantly, to people watch.
(It's a skill that's taken years to master, but I LOVE to people watch).
The first thing that struck me was that there seemed to be a lot more girls than boys competing. Secondly, some people are always late, no matter what. I mean, your kid won the spelling bee held at their school and now they have the chance to compete to go to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. but you can't bother to make it there on time at 9 am? I know it's nerdy and weird and all sorts of other not-so-nice adjectives, but your kid is the best kid in their school at something. And good spellers are hard to come by, but studies have shown (maybe) that they get paid the more as adults as compared to a Jr. Jazz basketball player or whatever your excuse is for being late. Perhaps you could put forth a little effort.
I'm just sayin'.
So my niece went totally against my advise and got seated in the #1 spot.
(Actually, they picked it for her and I laughed at the probability of that happening).
(There were roughly 63 people in my bee and 42 in hers. The probability of us both picking #1 is something like 2%. Hello. Welcome to my brain.)
However, she spent a lot of time
My niece, A., is more like the exact opposite. She welcomes the attention and #1 suited her fine.
As the bee got underway, it was obvious that these particular organizers have never actually been to a Spelling Bee before. Ironically, A. stood up for the first word--interrupt--and they had to stop the Bee because no one thought to check the microphone beforehand. Then 10 minutes later, she stood again to spell the word. This has both it's advantages and it's disadvantages. Advantages because you have A LOT of time to think about this word. Disadvantage because you have A LOT of time to think to think about the word.
I looked over at my SIL and thought I heard her chanting (quietly of course. This is a spelling bee.) "please don't get out on the first round. Please don't get out on the first round." Ha. No one gets out on the first word at this level.
Eight kids were sent packing that first round. Well, seven because there was an "issue"--the first of many "issues" to follow. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to listen to the kids misspell the words, knowing how much time they put into studying, and walking away after the first round to go sit with their parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, neighbors, Primary teachers, bishops.
So the "issue"--Speller #37 stood up and the pronouncer gave him his word: Harmonica. However, the pronouncer may have pronounced it as "Hermonica" though that's still up for debate. The speller spelled it as H-E-R-M-O-N-I-C-A, which is obviously incorrect. However, after the round, the parents went to contest the decision, saying the pronouncer had mispronounced it. In the same round was another speller who got the word "Postmortem". He heard "Postpartum" and spelled it correctly. Since that wasn't the word, he was out. I believe his parents were out in the hall contesting that as well. So the kicker? Speller #37 was allowed back into the Bee because the pronouncer supposedly mispronounced the word even though "Hermonica" is not a word, but the Postmortem/Postpartum kid wasn't allowed back in because "Postpartum" was not on the official list and had he asked for a definition, he would've realized he was mishearing the word.
But would he?
While I DID NOT agree with this decision, it's a Spelling Bee, not the Olympics. Speller #37 obviously isn't going to make it to the final round. He, in fact, didn't even make it out of round 2. He had no clue that "Hermonica" was not a word. The other speller would've had a chance I think and it's a shame that they kicked him out in the first round. He clearly spent a lot of time studying words and for some mix-up like that to kill your chances, that's a shame.
But again it's life. You spend a few minutes in disappointment and then you move on.
Unless you were the family in front of us. In which case, it was the end. of. the. world. Grandma was shouting how unfair it was. Mom was holding up the rule book. They were making snide comments loud enough for the auditorium to hear.
Unbelievable.
But play continued. It was kind of nice having A. first because that meant we got to sit back and enjoy the rest of the round. A. correctly spelled "gondola" and "salmonella" before we went to break. My SIL showed me the list of words the kids were expected to know. I can't come up with any off the top of my head, but I'd venture to say that 90% of them were words you wouldn't use in everyday conversation as adults let alone as 4th to 8th graders. And the words "borrowed" from other languages were amazing.
Beautiful, beautiful words. But I'm glad I wasn't up there trying to spell them.
Yet my SIL knew them all. And then it dawned on me that during my tenure as Spelling Bee Champ, I had to memorize the definitions because I was 11 and couldn't pronounce 95% of them correctly and my mom wasn't sitting down with me every night to review them. I might have asked 2 or 3 times, but I did it basically by myself. And so I memorized the definition so that if I got a word that I had been mispronouncing for the last 3 months, and I asked for the definition because it was so unfamiliar, I'd remember what the word was I needed to spell.
Have I mentioned I'm pretty good at crosswords?
Which seems kind of strange now that I think about it. And not that my mom wouldn't have quizzed me every night. She says she's thinks she didn't know about the spelling bee until the day I was in it and I think I was just doing the spelling bee as something to do, and it wasn't until the second to last round of the school bee that I actually thought I could win.
But I digress...
It was at this point in the bee that I jotted down the numbers of the top competitors. I had the competition short listed down to 12 competitors. I even had A.'s love match.
So, they started the process up again, and A. went on to spell "Iguana" and "Poltergeist". It was in the "Poltergeist" round that the kid of the Soccer Mom/Grandma misspelled "aristocracy" by starting it with an "e" instead of an "a".
Ha. Karma, baby.
There were some more "issues", but nothing noteworthy. A. correctly spelled "periphery", "allegro", "pasteurize", and my favorite "algorithm".
Math meets Spelling. Utopia.
"Zephyr", "mercerize" and "charlatan" later, we were down to the top six. My competitor list was holding up, and I shortened that list down to the top three. Somewhere in there was the biggest mispronunciation of the morning. "Hyperbole", pronounced as "hyper bowl".
Seriously, you were the best they could find?
Round 13 started with "anachronism" (last year's champion word), then 14 was "surveillance". If I was up there, this is the word I would've lost on. A. finished the official word list with "Salaam" and "rottweiler". There were still six competitors and they moved on to a random list they had dredged up from somewhere. A. started off round 17 with "opal". This round knocked someone out and they were down to the top 3. A. began round 18, almost stumbling on "uvula", but pulled it off in the end. Then in round 19, she got the word "addenda".
"Addenda" will be to A. what "haulage" is to me. A completely obscure word that is never used in normal conversation but nonetheless will be forever etched in your memory bank.
The bee continued on for 3 more rounds before the one person I thought wouldn't make it past the top six took it. I can't even remember what the word was she won on, but it was pretty impressive. I've never seen a dad--a lone dad who was probably commissioned to drive his daughter to this event but had other things he'd rather be doing--so happy. It made me happy that if A. wasn't going to win, at least it was this girl that won.
Not last year's winner--who came in second. Because, as it turns out, he failed 8th grade and had to retake it, making him eligible for the bee again. And begs the question, how is someone, who's a spelling bee champion, not pass 8th grade?
Sure there were tears and heartbreak, but A. fought a hard battle and she nearly won. Third place is nothing to snicker at. She still has three years of eligibility left to make it to the National Spelling Bee and I'm betting it's going to happen sooner rather than later.
And it was a great way to spend three hours on a Saturday morning.
No seriously. It was.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
What's For Dinner Wednesday--Country Fried Chicken
This recipe turned out to be a fast fix on a busy night, if you minus the mashed potatoes (though really how much time does mashed potatoes take?). However, if you're of the boxed or pouched potato persuasion, then you can whip this all up pretty fast.
This recipe just came from a quick google search for Country-Fried Steak.
Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds round steak
2 eggs
zest and juice from one lemon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup fine cracker crumbs
vegetable oil
Trim excess fat from steak. Pound to 1/4 inch thickness. Whisk eggs with lemon zest and juice (I just squeezed the lemon and grated some of the peel into the egg), salt and pepper. Combine bread crumbs and cracker crumbs in a different bowl. Dip steak into egg mixture and then into crumb mixture. Cook steaks in a heavy skillet in hot oil until browned and cooked through. Turning once.
I thought this was a pretty good recipe for country-fried steak, though next time I'm going to add some spices to spice it up. The steaks cooked a lot faster than I had expected. I LOVE country-fried steak with mashed potatoes, so I whipped up some of those and some gravy (though I don't usually like the white gravy that comes with country-fried steak, so I made a brown gravy instead).
I wish I knew of a different way to make it that didn't involve frying the steaks in vegetable oil since that's not the *healthiest* option. I'll research that for next time as well. If you have any ideas, let me know.
This recipe just came from a quick google search for Country-Fried Steak.
Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds round steak
2 eggs
zest and juice from one lemon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup fine cracker crumbs
vegetable oil
Trim excess fat from steak. Pound to 1/4 inch thickness. Whisk eggs with lemon zest and juice (I just squeezed the lemon and grated some of the peel into the egg), salt and pepper. Combine bread crumbs and cracker crumbs in a different bowl. Dip steak into egg mixture and then into crumb mixture. Cook steaks in a heavy skillet in hot oil until browned and cooked through. Turning once.
I thought this was a pretty good recipe for country-fried steak, though next time I'm going to add some spices to spice it up. The steaks cooked a lot faster than I had expected. I LOVE country-fried steak with mashed potatoes, so I whipped up some of those and some gravy (though I don't usually like the white gravy that comes with country-fried steak, so I made a brown gravy instead).
I wish I knew of a different way to make it that didn't involve frying the steaks in vegetable oil since that's not the *healthiest* option. I'll research that for next time as well. If you have any ideas, let me know.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Acquisition of the Kitchen Aid Mixer
A few years(?) ago, Wade arrived at home with his mom's old Kitchen Aid Mixer. By old, I mean like 20 years old. Maybe more. Who knows. It's been through a lot.
I, obviously, asked him what he was doing. To which he replied, "I want to see how much we use one."
We??
A few months later, Kitchen Aid Mixers went on sale and Wade deliberated about getting one.
Really?
Usually, I'm all for new appliances regardless of how often we use them. But I just couldn't see us dropping that kind of money for something that we (a) already had sitting on our counter and (b) hadn't used yet.
And so we kept mom's old Kitchen Aid Mixer and occasionally shifted it from cabinet to counter top and then back to cabinet. We'd bring it out to mix some cookies, but not often since we're not big cookie makers over here.
So basically, it was a kitchen ornament.
But then, I started dabbling in cooking and baking and found that this thing is a freakin' life saver! Especially if you need to knead. Because, as it turns out, I don't particularly enjoy the whole kneading process. But I do enjoy the homemade taste that kneading brings.
And aside from having to hold it down to keep it from jumping off the counter when it's "kneading", I'd say it's a near-perfect machine.
Moral: Buy a Kitchen Aid. Or a Bosch. Whatever floats your boat. Or better yet, take it from your mother-in-law's house and put it to a new use. Then it's free. (Though watch out for the cord that's quickly becoming a liability.)
I, obviously, asked him what he was doing. To which he replied, "I want to see how much we use one."
We??
A few months later, Kitchen Aid Mixers went on sale and Wade deliberated about getting one.
Really?
Usually, I'm all for new appliances regardless of how often we use them. But I just couldn't see us dropping that kind of money for something that we (a) already had sitting on our counter and (b) hadn't used yet.
And so we kept mom's old Kitchen Aid Mixer and occasionally shifted it from cabinet to counter top and then back to cabinet. We'd bring it out to mix some cookies, but not often since we're not big cookie makers over here.
So basically, it was a kitchen ornament.
But then, I started dabbling in cooking and baking and found that this thing is a freakin' life saver! Especially if you need to knead. Because, as it turns out, I don't particularly enjoy the whole kneading process. But I do enjoy the homemade taste that kneading brings.
And aside from having to hold it down to keep it from jumping off the counter when it's "kneading", I'd say it's a near-perfect machine.
Moral: Buy a Kitchen Aid. Or a Bosch. Whatever floats your boat. Or better yet, take it from your mother-in-law's house and put it to a new use. Then it's free. (Though watch out for the cord that's quickly becoming a liability.)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Spiritual Thought Sunday--Be Happy
That's all folks!
Be Happy.
Big Blog plans this next week. Like how I spent three hours at a spelling bee and the promised post about my acquisition of a Kitchen Aid Mixer and a speech contest I'm entered in on Thursday, so stay tuned.
Be Happy.
Big Blog plans this next week. Like how I spent three hours at a spelling bee and the promised post about my acquisition of a Kitchen Aid Mixer and a speech contest I'm entered in on Thursday, so stay tuned.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
What's for Dinner Wednesday--Ravioli (with pictures!)
Admittedly, this recipe needs some work, but the basics were there. Just some tweaks. But my problem is, I don't know what. Maybe someone out there has an idea.
This was almost-100% homemade ravioli. I say almost because did you know you can make your own ricotta cheese? I had no idea until I started looking around. And people RAVE about homemade ricotta cheese. But seeing as I have two young children and a host of other responsibilities, the homemade ricotta cheese will have to wait.
Ravioli Dough
3 cups unbleached white flour (uh...I didn't check to see if my standard white flour was unbleached...)
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
1. Sift flour and salt together. (I think that's just a fancy way of saying stir them together)
2. Place flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center.
3. Drop eggs into the flour well.
4. Lightly beat the eggs together with a fork. (This is a lot easier said than done because said eggs want to run from the nice well you've put them in.)
5. Continue combining the eggs and flour (hands work best) while also adding the water until your dough sticks together and looks roughly like this:
6. Knead the dough until it looks like this:
(I used my Kitchen-Aid (story tomorrow about how I came in possession of said Kitchen-Aid) for about 10 minutes. It's hard to explain, but you'll know when it's done. And trust me, if I knew, then you'll know too.)
7. Let sit for 15 minutes
8. Split the dough into two equal parts and roll out the first ball into as thin as a sheet as you can get. I am apparently inept at the rolling pin and (a) could not get a uniform shape other than "amoeba-like" and (b) didn't get it thin enough. Ideally, you want it to be between 1/8" and 1/16" thick.
Yeah, uh-huh. Do your best.
9. Put 1 tsp to 1 1/2 tsp of filling about 1 1/2 inches apart on the sheet of dough.
Clearly, my eyes read tsp and my mind saw tbsp. This was WAY too much filling.
10. Roll out the second sheet of dough to match the first and lay over the top of the first sheet.
11. Press down between filling heaps to seal filling in. Cut into squares. (Shhh...that's not a pizza cutter you see on my counter.)
11. Unfold child from your legs
Note: this is not effective for cooking.
12. At this point, I trimmed up my "squares" to look more like squares.
13. Separate and let dry for an hour before cooking.
Apparently, you'll have better luck drying your ravioli if you turn them over so the other side gets dry too.
14. Cook in boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Serve with sauce.
I used ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and spinach for the filling. It's the same filling I use in a different dish and that one turned out better. The filling was very bland, but the raviolis themselves had the potential of being really good with the right filling. Sorta like American Idol this season. What to do to give it some more pizazz? My mom suggested Italian Seasoning. Any other ideas out there? We topped it with cheddar cheese and that seemed to bring out some of the taste.
If you like the idea of making your own ravioli but don't have the time to go completely scratch, get the won ton wrappers in the fruits and vegetable section at the market and use those. They're even square shaped already. Bonus.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Belated Congratulations
Last night, as I was reassembling our closet (hey, look at that: a walk-in closet!) after pulling everything out in a fit of resignation over the small fact that I could not find anything I wanted in there, Wade was lying on the bed looking through my high school yearbook and making...comments.
...Like he looked all that much better or something...
I was half-listening and trying to respond to his rapid-fire questions with answers that I was dredging up from a period of my life I'd rather forget, when he said "I didn't know you won a departmental honors award in English."
"Huh?" I responded.
"You never told me about winning this honors award."
"I don't know what you're talking about. What award?"
So I put down what I was working on and went to look. And sure enough, there was a picture of all the departmental honor awardees and listed under "not pictured" was me. For English.
Which was kind of shocking since my senior year, I had this English class that was sooooooo easy and unchallenging that the teacher would tell me "you know, we'll be working on this until next Tuesday if you, you know, were late coming back from lunch or something."
Which was code for "you're making the other kids feel bad about themselves. Take the rest of the week off." Or that's how I interpreted it. And the teacher didn't bother correcting my intepretation. Halfway through the year, I switched to a College Prep class that was unbelievably retarded as well, but the teacher wasn't nearly as accomodating.
Yet, somewhere between these two ladies, I was nominated for an English award. Which might have swayed my future college plans--had I known about it.
So in the end, perhaps it's best that I'm just finding out about it a 11 years after graduating from high school and a year after receiving my math degree by the skin of my teeth. I mean, you wouldn't want to major in something that you've proven to be good at or anything.
It sure would've been nice to have it to pad my resumes though.
However, now I can fully understand my compulsion to correct people's grammar and spelling. And have a little credibility when I go and write the next Great American Novel. Look for it in my bio sketch on the back cover--graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor's in Math and also won a departmental honors award in English her senior year of high school. Sandra is a very well-rounded individual.
Mom is taking me to lunch today to celebrate my award though. And that's probably all the recognition I would've gotten 11 years ago anyways. These days, a free lunch means more than it did back then.
...Like he looked all that much better or something...
I was half-listening and trying to respond to his rapid-fire questions with answers that I was dredging up from a period of my life I'd rather forget, when he said "I didn't know you won a departmental honors award in English."
"Huh?" I responded.
"You never told me about winning this honors award."
"I don't know what you're talking about. What award?"
So I put down what I was working on and went to look. And sure enough, there was a picture of all the departmental honor awardees and listed under "not pictured" was me. For English.
Which was kind of shocking since my senior year, I had this English class that was sooooooo easy and unchallenging that the teacher would tell me "you know, we'll be working on this until next Tuesday if you, you know, were late coming back from lunch or something."
Which was code for "you're making the other kids feel bad about themselves. Take the rest of the week off." Or that's how I interpreted it. And the teacher didn't bother correcting my intepretation. Halfway through the year, I switched to a College Prep class that was unbelievably retarded as well, but the teacher wasn't nearly as accomodating.
Yet, somewhere between these two ladies, I was nominated for an English award. Which might have swayed my future college plans--had I known about it.
So in the end, perhaps it's best that I'm just finding out about it a 11 years after graduating from high school and a year after receiving my math degree by the skin of my teeth. I mean, you wouldn't want to major in something that you've proven to be good at or anything.
It sure would've been nice to have it to pad my resumes though.
However, now I can fully understand my compulsion to correct people's grammar and spelling. And have a little credibility when I go and write the next Great American Novel. Look for it in my bio sketch on the back cover--graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor's in Math and also won a departmental honors award in English her senior year of high school. Sandra is a very well-rounded individual.
Mom is taking me to lunch today to celebrate my award though. And that's probably all the recognition I would've gotten 11 years ago anyways. These days, a free lunch means more than it did back then.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Marching Along. Say HII
Yesterday, I was recovering from Olympic Fever and never did post my spiritual thought. I remembered at 10:00, but by then, we were already engrossed in a movie. So, I took the week off. Fire me.
As promised, March's (and coincidently, January and February as well) Home Improvement Ideas are slowly becoming just that--ideas. HOWEVER, I did manage to change out the front and garage door doorknobs to a pretty shade of satin nickel and replaced the entry light to match the shiny satin nickel. But, the light is a celestial white while the rest of the house bathes in yellow and now we're at an impasse. Do we return the light and find one with a yellow cast to it, or do we change the lightbulbs of the other lights to match the heavenly glow from the front entry? I'm kind of digging the celestial look, but how much are those lightbulbs?
I went to replace the hinges and realized I didn't have the right "pattern" or the right hinge pin. Sigh. So I returned those and couldn't find the right ones at Home Depot. Now, I'm going to have to drive into Salt Lake and search there. Double sigh.
BUT...it's a start.
So what now? This month, I'm going to hang drapes if it kills me. Also, we need to replace that hideous chandelier thing that hangs over the stairs. Wade's thinking track lighting. I'm a little more hesitant. And the hinges. Must. Replace. Hinges. Oh, and the eye hole in the door.
Now that winter is nearing it's end and the cold air won't be as cold as it breezes through our unsealed windows, it's probably a good time to repair the window sills as well. (sarcasm implied).
And, for my birthday, we're getting our first family portrait done. Well, technically, our third, because the first one was done in a Sears Portrait Studio about 4 years ago and I didn't like the outcome, so I never hung it up. Same result with attempt #2, done 2 1/2 years ago. But third time's a charm. We're going with an actual photographer that I'm going to choose and doing it outside somewhere, because that's really more our style than the studio. So, when that gets done, I'll hang pictures.
Hopefully, by May 1st, I will have moved on from the living room to the kitchen.
As promised, March's (and coincidently, January and February as well) Home Improvement Ideas are slowly becoming just that--ideas. HOWEVER, I did manage to change out the front and garage door doorknobs to a pretty shade of satin nickel and replaced the entry light to match the shiny satin nickel. But, the light is a celestial white while the rest of the house bathes in yellow and now we're at an impasse. Do we return the light and find one with a yellow cast to it, or do we change the lightbulbs of the other lights to match the heavenly glow from the front entry? I'm kind of digging the celestial look, but how much are those lightbulbs?
I went to replace the hinges and realized I didn't have the right "pattern" or the right hinge pin. Sigh. So I returned those and couldn't find the right ones at Home Depot. Now, I'm going to have to drive into Salt Lake and search there. Double sigh.
BUT...it's a start.
So what now? This month, I'm going to hang drapes if it kills me. Also, we need to replace that hideous chandelier thing that hangs over the stairs. Wade's thinking track lighting. I'm a little more hesitant. And the hinges. Must. Replace. Hinges. Oh, and the eye hole in the door.
Now that winter is nearing it's end and the cold air won't be as cold as it breezes through our unsealed windows, it's probably a good time to repair the window sills as well. (sarcasm implied).
And, for my birthday, we're getting our first family portrait done. Well, technically, our third, because the first one was done in a Sears Portrait Studio about 4 years ago and I didn't like the outcome, so I never hung it up. Same result with attempt #2, done 2 1/2 years ago. But third time's a charm. We're going with an actual photographer that I'm going to choose and doing it outside somewhere, because that's really more our style than the studio. So, when that gets done, I'll hang pictures.
Hopefully, by May 1st, I will have moved on from the living room to the kitchen.
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