New Addition To Our Family

What's this I'm bringing home in the car tonite? (After driving through a REALLY bad storm!)


A puppy!


This is _____ (his name given by the shelter is Beau, but we're thinking he won't keep that name - he doesn't know it yet, and it sounds too much like "No!"). He's supposed to be some sort of Border Collie mix, but they're not certain. He was found out on a highway and taken in to the rescue center.


So far he's eaten a bunch, raced around the house a lot, loved going out on a leash, pooped on the rug by the back door, pee'd on the kitchen rug, and just been super cute.


Oh, and he's had a bath. He stunk, and we found some fleas. Hopefully we got all the fleas with the flea shampoo, but realize we'll have to watch closely.


Hopefully the cats don't feel we're giving him too much attention yet. We're alternating them having free reign while he's locked up in his crate, and then he gets to come out while they're locked up in the bedroom. Wonder how long til they feel they can come out with him roaming around.


While this dog did NOT like having a bath (particularly didn't like the water running while he was in the tub), apparently dogs are SUPER happy after baths and being dried off. Talk about a happy, squirmy puppy!


So we're still considering names. The vet doesn't have any openings til next Tuesday, so that gives us plenty of time. I'm going to see if they can take him in sooner if anything opens up. While he's been wormed and given some of his shots, we still saw some worms in his stool.

If you have any name suggestions, please feel free to pass them along!

Let them eat cake...

...and they'll be walking up and down the halls praising your name!

I'm finally making some time to do some baking. When even my BOSS pulls me aside as I'm leaving work, says "Jeph, do you have a minute? There's something I wanted to talk to you about... I notice you haven't been bringing in many baked goods lately, and I was wondering what's going on. Should I put an old cigar box out for people to donate money for ingredients? Because I'll happily chip in if it'll get more baked goods in here!", I think it's a sign...

So Saturday I whipped up (ha! these recipes take FOREVER!) this cinnamon streusel coffee cake from the Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins and More book:


Mmmm...that's NICE! I didn't have the 1 1/2 cups of pecans it called for - maybe a half cup total? So I just double the rest of the streusel ingredients, and dumped in some flour and butter to beef it up a bit. GOOD STUFF! I took in 3/4 of an entire angel food cake-pan's worth today, and it was GONE by afternoon! Trust me, this is a big cake!


And since it wasn't QUITE the texture I was hoping for (I want something more dense, like Starbucks cinnamon swirl coffee cake), I figured, heck, let's try another one - so when I got home from work today I made this sour cream pound cake. It JUST came out of the oven - so I'll have to report back later.



Follow up - the pound cake is gooooood! Not much flavor to it, so I think next time I would like to add some lemon zest/extract, or almond extract maybe? HOWEVER, with my second slice (yes, I said second - get off my back), I found it was REALLY good with strawberry jam smeared on it. YUUUUM!

Don't make this at home kids!

Cindy sent me this recipe recently, asking if I thought it would work. Considering the instructions, the baking container, and the baking technique, I was too tempted NOT to try it. Plus with the NAME of the recipe? HELL YEAH!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
aka The Most Dangerous Cake Recipe


Add the following dry ingredients to coffee mug, and mix well.

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa

Ok, I can do that.


Then add one egg. Cool. Gross looking, but cool.



Then mix in 3 tablespoons milk and 3 tablespoons oil and mix well. NOW we're looking good!


Add a small splash of vanilla (yum) and 3 tablespoons of (optional) chocolate chips (I passed on these guys for the first time). Stick 'er in a 1000 watt microwave and nuke 3 minutes. Wow - what're the odds my microwave was 1000 watts? Cool. Ok, here goes...

Hm, nothing yet.


I think it took less than a minute to start getting some height on it. By 2 minutes (you can see we're counting down here) it was as tall as it was going to get. The cake is supposed to rise up over the edges of the mug, but don't worry - by then it's set enough and didn't spill out. (Plus I made sure to pick the biggest damn mug we had!)


Once the microwave stopped, it settled back down instantly. You're to let the cake cool a little first (bastard's HOT!), and then you can eat it out of the mug or tip it out on a plate.


Considering how it looked IN the mug, I had to see what the rest of it looked like!


And apparently I was too lazy to rotate this pic - sorry about that. Don't worry - it didn't fall off the plate. I would have to say this looks like fun-but-gross food. That's before I tasted it!


LOOKS like cake! DENSE, and a bit (sorry Sharon and Finny) moist, but cake nevertheless...
(It seems many girls don't like the word "moist". Moist. MOIST MOIST MOIST. I don't see anything wrong with it. MOIST)

Annnnnyhow - if you ask me, this recipe maybe needs the addition of some sort of leavening agent (do eggs count?) - something to lift it up a bit more. And maybe the chocolate chips (perhaps mini chips?) would've greatly improved it. I guess DO try this (you're really not using much of any one type of ingredient), and dabble with it and let me know how it turns out for you. I don't know that I'll be making it again, but it WAS fun!

Greatest American Shaved Ice

So did anyone recognize the skeezy reporter chasing after what appears to be Nikki's latest personality on Heroes last nite? Here, I'll give you a hint:

(And it helps if you saw the episode)

Still don't get it? Here's another hint...

Monday Night Smackdown

We just finished watching a buttload of Monday night TV - Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and TWO HOURS of Heroes! We still have tonite's Sarah Connor Chronicles to watch. And then, sometime during the airing of Heroes - we saw the preview that put me to panic. Next Monday night starts the new season of Chuck. During the same time slot as Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother and Sarah Connor Chronicles. WTH!?

Greeeeat, so now it looks like we're going to have to find some online source (Hulu?) to watch at least one of these shows after the fact. And I'm sure something'll come along to mess up the 9-10pm slot, which right now has Heroes vs Two & A Half Men and the new Worst Week, or something like that. I've been saying we need to give up some shows, and I'm willing to break up with T&AHMen, but the lead in Worst Week looks cute. (It's not our fault they lure us in with him basically naked, wrapped up in a towel or plastic or something)

So we'll just have to see how this plays out. TV's getting rough!

PS - What'd you think of tonite's Heroes? Pretty good, eh!?

Gonna soak up the sun...

Last nite we drove out to Legend's Bar & Grille for dinner with Brett's family before Brett's brother Blake's girlfriend Laura and her band, The Power Company, sang. Dinner was pretty good, and the music, after some initial technical difficulties in their first set, really rocked! We didn't have a camera with us, but Brett took some pictures in the poor lighting... Here's me:


Laura and Brett's mom, Linda:


Laura singing with the band... Seriously, this girl has a set of pipes on her! I guess she was awarded a scholarship to study opera some years back. Based on the song order, at first we heard her really powerful, deeper notes, and then she surprises you with hitting some really high notes as well, like during her cover of Faith Hill's "Breathe", which was beautiful.


And here's Laura and Blake. We look forward to seeing them again in just a couple weeks when they'll be over with Brett's folks for a combined birthday cookout for Brett and Blake.


And unfortunately the video quality is even worse than the picture quality, but here's a bit of Laura's performance, captured on Brett's cell phone:

Let's Salsa!

Went out and did some veggie picking this morning...with the goal of making sure I came back with enough tomatoes to make at least cups once seeded, chopped and very-well drained. This sure looks like it'd be enough, right? (No, the squash, yard-long beans and okra didn't go in the salsa)


After all was said and done, including a few tomatoes that could've ripened a bit more, I BARELY had the 10 cups required for the recipe. I was surprised (but grateful!) it didn't call for peeling them as well - that's never any fun. I was actually able to strip the tough skins off've some of them during the seeding and chopping stage, and after seeing the end results, I'm glad I did!


And a few hours after starting the whole process (and taking a lunch break)? Voila....salsa!


This is much chunkier than my Aunt Nadine's recipe - I hope we like it. I did hit it very briefly with the immersion blender, just to get rid of some of the chunk. I LOVE a freshly made chunky raw salsa, but not so sure about the homemade COOKED stuff... Brett said this batch smells too much of cilantro and parsley, but I think he just needs to give it time. He was griping while I boiled the 1 1/2 cups onions, 1 Tbsp garlic, and 1 cup of cider vinegar at the very beginning, and then later when I dumped in the cup of mixed cilantro and parsley, you could REALLY smell it. But once these have sat for at least 3 or 4 weeks, I'm sure the flavors will have mellowed and mingled...

Jamaican Me Crazy!

I decided to jerk some chicken tonite! (Ok, there's a dirty joke in there somewhere...although I'm jerkin' and not chokin'!) I ended out combining the Jamaican Jerk recipes from the Closet Cooking site I recently found, and the Dinosaur BBQ book my folks got me last year. It was just an issue of not having all of the ingredients either recipe had, and/or wanting to use up more stuff... So here's how it went down...

As soon as I got in the door I tracked down the two recipes that seemed to meld together (a number of recipes from other books got dropped right away). While I started thawing out four boneless skinless chicken breasts in a bowl of hot water (still in their zip-lock baggies), I tossed together the spices/seasoning in a bowl.


Raced outside and grabbed some jalapenos from the garden, plus I had a cayenne, garlic and onion inside. Also had some green onions from the store that needed to be used up. They all went in the food processor, and then I started washing my hands after just about every step! (Hey, can you blame me?!)


After a few quick whizzes, here's what things were looking like - quite pretty actually!


Then I added the soy sauce, oil and vinegar that I'd measured out, pulsed some more, and got this ugly mess. (Hey, jerk sauce is NEVER pretty)


After a few more pulses I added in the juice from the freshly squeezed orange and limes, pulsed some more, and got this slop.


Once that was all done, I dumped it in a gallon bag, pounded the thawed chicken breasts a bit to tenderize them, added them to the bag, and they've been marinating ever since! Four hours later - and it's grillin' time!

Here we are - all nice and grilled! Even though the marinated chicken was at room temp, it took a little longer than usual to cook pounded boneless chicken breasts - I'm guessing that's because of the incredibly mooooiiiiist marinade still remaining on the meat? Anyhow - tasted GREAT! This is four chicken breast halves you see here...

And there was so much marinade left over (and tainted with chicken juices)...so I figure next time I make it, maybe I'll try saving some for use within a week, or maybe even freezing it? Hm, wonder if I could freeze chicken breasts IN the marinade? I've done stuff like this before, but not with such a busy concoction.

The chicken didn't taste spicy at all, but I did get a WHIFF of spice of it - very interesting. Definitely not a complaint.

Anyhow, in case you're interested - here's the "recipe":

Chop finely in food processor:
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 medium onion
1 cayenne pepper, seeded
2 medium jalapenos, seeds and membrane removed
4 green onions, used only the white and dark green parts

Then add and whizz some more:
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground thyme (the dry, powdery stuff - not fresh)
1 teaspoon salt (don't worry, more saltiness is coming from the soy sauce)
1 teaspoon black pepper

Then add and whizz even more:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white vinegar

And finally add and whizz yet again:
the juice of one orange
the juice of one and a half limes (because that's what I had)

I only did things in that order, and with those separate "dump in the food processor before pushing the button" breakdowns because, from experience, I knew that 1) I wanted all the solid ingredients chopped up and if I'd added EVERYTHING, they might've swum around in really fast circles before actually having much chopping happen, and 2) I figured add the liquidy stuff in stages just to ensure a good mix of stuff.

Note: I am finding the Kitchenaid food processor, while I love it, seems to splatter more stuff up to the underside of the lid than my old Cuisinart food processor did...so there's more scraping with a spatula to ensure all the ingredients get included.

This was MORE than enough marinade for 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves. Would've been great on pork tenderloin!

The measurements above are VERY flexible. If you need to use up two oranges, or 3 limes, or only have a lime and a lemon, or only have red wine vinegar, or no vinegar at all - do whatever! No soy sauce? Just double or triple the salt. I think it's such a complex mix of flavors that you won't notice some substitutions and changes in measurement. I WOULD say I think some of the primary "jerk" flavor came from the mix of all spice, nutmeg, cinnamon and thyme. Hell - I bet you could just use pumpkin pie seasoning or apple pie seasoning if you had that! One recipe called for dark rum. Didn't have any. Didn't fret. Moved on... There are so many different recipes out there for "jerk marinade", with different measurements and/or different ingredients - so I just created my own which was a blend of others...a very happy, tasty middle ground.

Have fun cooking (and creating something new!)!

Oh, and Sharon - while it would probably be REALLY full, I bet you could fit all of this in a mini-chopper like you have.

Stupid Ike

First off, let me start by saying that YES, I realize that MANY people had it WAY WORSE than we did here... I in no way intend to show disrespect for what they're going through... But thanks to Ike many of my plants (including my Brussel's sprouts) are all pointing in the wrong direction now!


And here's what things looked like inside Sunday evening.


Brett was having fun with the camera while we were without power from 630pm-1100pm.


I can't really complain - we just needed candles for a few hours (making sure they weren't too close to the window since the winds were VERY intense) - while I know other people who still don't have power back 5 days later!!

Thanks sooooo much, Mary!

So back in May I posted an entry showing some of the plants Mary gave me last summer, and how a couple of them had some unexpected MINT included with them. Well I've been turning a blind-eye to what's been going on ever since then, naively thinking if I ignored it, it'd go away. Ha! Remember that little mint popping up under some chives this past spring?



Yeah, cute, right? Well here's what I dug out this afternoon:


Everything you see in that large cart bed is that one mint plant! Well, aside from a little bit of chives that were being smothered! LOL Seriously - I KNOW there's no way I got it all - the stuff was starting to creep towards the lawn, and I do NOT want to hit it with a lawn mower. (Smells good? Sure! Helps spread it all over the place? You betchya!)

I felt a little guilty - the bees LOVE the stuff now that it's in flower. But don't worry - I'm pretty confident I didn't get every last runner travelling under the mulch, so it'll be back again. In fact, as I was trying to pull it up, SHEETS of mulch were coming up, all woven together with thin hairy roots reaching out from the runners the mint had put out. The stuff is IN-VA-SIVE!

But since I really do like mint, AND I have some ugly spots behind the yard, including the big mound that is more rocks than dirt (where we shoved all the yard crap with the Bobcat) that I couldn't even get nasturtium to grow in - so I hacked away at the top of it with the shovel, made a bit of a depression, and dumped all of the mint parts on top. Then I did sort of a little dance on the whole mess, packing it in, tamping on the dirt/rocks I'd chiselled out, and ran like hell before it could take root and entwine me in it's embrace. I'm sure it'll be fine - I didn't water it or anything, didn't aim for roots pointing down, leaves pointing up, etc - it'll grow.

Trust me.

It'll grow.

With friends like these...

...who needs Santa Claus?!

So Peter sent something via USPS the other day, and I got the automated email saying something was coming.

And all that did was put me into a frenzy (remember, I'm a 12 year old girl - I'm easily excited!). You can't just let me know something's coming - I'll go apeshit bonkers trying to figure out what it was. He just clued me in that some of it would help with Christmas. Oh, and I knew he'd baked some cookies out of the new Martha Stewart cookie book, so I figured there was a strong chance I'd get to do some taste testing!

And when I got home yesterday, there it was - a box on the front doorstep.

SQUUEEEEEAL!!! (Ok, we talked about this already...get over it...)

So while I was waiting for some plum jelly to boil (more on that fiasco later), I cut into the package and then delicately pulled apart the layers of tissue paper to find...



Wow - don't those look good? And they smelled good too! But wait! There was enough height to the box, and enough shuffling of the layers of tissue paper to imply there might be MORE goodies! So I lifted up the coconut shortbreads to find...


GASP! OMG! Holy shit - chocolately cookies and...wait...hold on a sec...

(sniff sniff)

(go on, get your face in there closer (you might have to scratch the picture on your monitor to acitvate the scent))




Mmmmmmm! That's not just chocolate. That's chocolate AND GINGER! What's my weakness? GINGER! Give me some of that yum-yum!!

Ok, plus there was the mention of something being included to help with Christmas, and sure enough, under the chocolate ginger cookies was ANOTHER layer...


Yup, looks like I'm set for some Christmas cookies this year. Good thing there's a holly leaf in the mix - mine is rustin' out, and I have to admit that a holly-shaped cookie is a nice, SIMPLE thing to decorate (outline in green, draw a green vein up the middle, and pop on three red dot-berries. DONE!). And that snowflake is a nice, simpler, chunkier snowflake shape than the ones I already have - meaning it won't BREAK THE TIPS off when you take it off the cookie sheet. Eh hm. I'm just sayin' -it happens.

So thanks Peter! I LUUURVS my goodies! (And so do the coworkers I shared some of the cookies with today - rave reviews all around!)

Hi, I'm a 12-year old pre-pubescent fangirl...

...and I'm man enough to admit it!

Yes, it's true...I've gotten hooked on Miley Cyris, and I blame CINDY! Well, ok, not on Miley Cyris as a whole, but that damn catchy "See You Again" song. Here's someone's video recording from a concert, which is bound to get yanked off YouTube sooner or later. Enjoy!




(Ew - crappy audio quality!)

How you like dem carrots!?

Hey hon, look what I just pulled from the garden! (Yes Brett, they're SUPPOSED to be yellow carrots!)


Oof, they are too heavy - you can not handle my massive carrots!


Ok, yeah, I was being stupid.

And check out all the leafy debris STILL in the yard after I mowed AFTER "hurricane" Ike passed through!

I could make this in my sleep...

I'm sure you're all probably sick-to-death of me tarting it up around here, but...well...it MAKES me...


Here's pictures of the tart I made last weekend for the neighborhood cookout. Yes, I took this AND that caprese salad...while others took macaroni salads, ramen salads, boxed mix brownies, etc. I just wanted to make sure the neighborhood new I was gay, gay, gay! Plus I have a problem where I can't decide what to make, so sometimes I'll make all the options I was considering. Heh. Idiot.


I'm sorry - I can't help it - it's just so freakin' photogenic.


And this time I made it in the form of a RECTANGULAR tart - kinda fun and different. And this next picture you can see I tried slicing it in such a way where hopefully the original lattice-work was still visible, and not falling apart. That was fun. Not.