I has been a busy, busy past few days for M. and I! We took a road trip to visit friends this weekend. M. got to go golfing Saturday afternoon and I hung out with M.'s best friend's wife and her kiddos. Sunday evening M. and I went to see Radiohead - live - in person - up close! We were only about eight rows back from the stage. Thom York singing, dancing and giving the audience 'the eye,' Jonny Greenwood rocking out on all sorts of instruments, Ed O'Brien strumming his guitar, Colin and Phil were there too - they were just heard more than seen. It was M.'s dream and I was fortunate enough to be the one with him when that dream was realized.
Radiohead respectfully asked fans to 'keep the show live' and to not take videos or photos so M. and I left all our cameras at home or in the car. Of course, there are bootleg videos all over YouTube. None of the videos are especially good. It was an outdoor concert, it was dark, and the LED light displays don't video well on the type of camera people would have had to smuggle in - lots of cell phone cameras, I am guessing. Here is one video showing Thom dancing. The crowd goes wild! This one is pretty good too. In the videos you can see the pit peoples' heads (they had to stand mushed together the entire time). M. and I were off to the left side in the seated area, but not so far we couldn't make out facial features of the band! I would so follow M. to any Radiohead concert anywhere! Don't tell M., but I totally have a crush on Thom! ;)
The opening band was Grizzly Bear. I am now awaiting one of their CDs to arrive from Amazon.com.
We took Monday off so we could rest up before venturing back into real life. We slept in, I made a delectable chicken tortilla soup, and then treated ourselves to the new X Files movie and dinner out. Not extremely X Files-ish, but a good movie anyway.
So now we are coming down off our concert high and getting back into the grind at work. Not fun - I'm going to quit and become a Radiohead groupie. M., your welcome to tag along too... We are shorthanded at work this week, particularly in the front office. I am helping out, but I have to say there are some aspects of helping out up there that I cannot stand. For instance, when we have two people out on vacation, another calls in sick, and the remaining person up front comes in late then has to go get some water before she can help out and that takes another 15-20 minutes. And this is after she has clocked in. Ok, didn't know your water was in Timbuktu.
And, if you read this blog, you know Wednesday is meeting day at the office. RR. had a snarky moment when asking that the front office not send calls back when she has clearly marked herself unavailable on our OfficeView program. Someone has to comment that sometimes the caller says they were just contacted, blah, blah, blah. I could see the daggers shooting from RR's eyes. And then, I offer to do some front office coverage so others can go to lunch. Well, this same particular person logs herself out for lunch, then spends about 30-45 minutes checking personal email and Facebook. Then she leaves the office for over an hour. Granted, I have taken long lunches and do check my personal email at work, but not when we are shorthanded and have to have everyone pitching in.
Oh, I am going back to my concert-induced high and Radiohead fog. I hear some Radioheaddrifting out of M.'s room now...
PS - M. and I now have a cute little Flip video camera, so I will need to try out some video skills and post them to my little piece of the world wide web. Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label Snarky Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snarky Kitchen. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Birthday Bonanza and Monday Morning Snark
Before I get into any snarkiness this morning, I would like to update all my wonderful, faithful readers (I know I have at least 4) on what I did this weekend.
Wordiness about the Weekend: Most of my readers know it was my birthday Saturday. Because age means nothing to me, I don't mind putting it out there that I am now 29 years old and I do not fear the approaching 30. So for my birthday M. and I went out to lunch and to a movie.
But before we went on birthday fun we made a stop at Lowes so M. could get a mother's day present (way to wait until nearly the last minute!!). He picked out a very nice bamboo wind chime. But guess what? We have to take it back because when his mom opened it yesterday one of the ceramic butterflies and bamboo thingys was missing. It figures we would get the defective one! After Lowes, it was off to lunch...
I got to choose where we ate, and instead of the old standby sit down restaurant (Applebees) I decided we'd venture to TGIFridays - even though it is attached to the mall, the most evil, evil shopping place. I also made M. drive so I didn't have to get stressed out by the last minute Mother's Day shopping traffic.
I ate at a TGIFridays a looong time ago during my first year of college. M. had never ate at one, so it was like a whole new experience for us. Matt had a 'petite sirloin' with a side of very yummy white cheddar jalapeno macaroni. (Kudos to M. for not getting chicken fingers!) I am typically not a big red meat eater, but I decided to try something different and went with the week 3 winner from the Ultimate Recipe Showdown on Food Network - the Chipotle Grilled Steak Sandwich. I was a little weary of this dish since it was steak and plantains, but decided to go for it anyway and it was delicious! (I had mine with fries instead of the onion rings, but M. and I really shared his macaroni as a side to both our lunches.)
We then stopped at the theater to see Baby Mama. Now M. was not thrilled about seeing this movie, but again, my birthday, my choice. He ended up liking it much more than he thought he would. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler = very funny movie. Romany Malco was also in the movie (and has the lines from which the movie gets it's title). M. and I have enjoyed Romany's acting since seeing him in The 40 Year Old Virgin. We didn't know Romany was in the movie, so that was a nice surprise. If you enjoy comedy movies and don't get hung up on un-PC comments made in the movie, go see this one!
When we got home Clyde had decided to leave a nice present in the middle of the living
room - a hairball. Since it was my birthday that present was for M. Then it was present time for me. M. got me a new set of knives - he almost got me a new mixer, but fortunately he is a devoted Snark Chronicle reader and found out that a mixer wouldn't really help me out all that much. M. even consulted with his mom to make sure he got some good knives (OXO Good-Grips). I've not had a chance to use them yet, but they sure do look nice on my counter! I also have a pair of kitchen shears coming for the slot in the front and another knife to fill out all the slots. (M. ordered in plenty of time, but these two pieces were shipped by the ultra slow USPS.)
M.'s mom got me a Xyron adhesive runner. This will come in very handy so I'm not gluing my fingers together or getting glue all over my craft table when working on traditional paperart crafts. My parents sent me some cash.
After all the birthday fun I made a flan to take to M.'s parents on Sunday for Mother's Day. I even got the caramelized topping to work out this time! I am becoming a flan expert!
About 5am Sunday morning I woke up with very itchy eyes, so after about half an hour of trying to sleep I decided to take some Benadryl. Ended up sleeping most of Sunday except for the brief trip to M.'s parents where everyone loved my flan, and then I stay up for the Survivor finale.
So I guess that brings us up to today...
Monday Morning Snark: This won't be much of a snark for those who enjoy coming here mainly for the snarkiness. The only thing I have to snark about at this moment is a coworker's new tops. Last week we were dazzled (fancy word for blinded) by some big floral concoction and today it's zebra-like swirly stripes. This particular coworker must have been told by someone that her old wardrobe was too blah, so now we are subjected to loud patterns and bright colors. I personally preferred the blah...
Wordiness about the Weekend: Most of my readers know it was my birthday Saturday. Because age means nothing to me, I don't mind putting it out there that I am now 29 years old and I do not fear the approaching 30. So for my birthday M. and I went out to lunch and to a movie.
But before we went on birthday fun we made a stop at Lowes so M. could get a mother's day present (way to wait until nearly the last minute!!). He picked out a very nice bamboo wind chime. But guess what? We have to take it back because when his mom opened it yesterday one of the ceramic butterflies and bamboo thingys was missing. It figures we would get the defective one! After Lowes, it was off to lunch...
I got to choose where we ate, and instead of the old standby sit down restaurant (Applebees) I decided we'd venture to TGIFridays - even though it is attached to the mall, the most evil, evil shopping place. I also made M. drive so I didn't have to get stressed out by the last minute Mother's Day shopping traffic.
I ate at a TGIFridays a looong time ago during my first year of college. M. had never ate at one, so it was like a whole new experience for us. Matt had a 'petite sirloin' with a side of very yummy white cheddar jalapeno macaroni. (Kudos to M. for not getting chicken fingers!) I am typically not a big red meat eater, but I decided to try something different and went with the week 3 winner from the Ultimate Recipe Showdown on Food Network - the Chipotle Grilled Steak Sandwich. I was a little weary of this dish since it was steak and plantains, but decided to go for it anyway and it was delicious! (I had mine with fries instead of the onion rings, but M. and I really shared his macaroni as a side to both our lunches.)
We then stopped at the theater to see Baby Mama. Now M. was not thrilled about seeing this movie, but again, my birthday, my choice. He ended up liking it much more than he thought he would. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler = very funny movie. Romany Malco was also in the movie (and has the lines from which the movie gets it's title). M. and I have enjoyed Romany's acting since seeing him in The 40 Year Old Virgin. We didn't know Romany was in the movie, so that was a nice surprise. If you enjoy comedy movies and don't get hung up on un-PC comments made in the movie, go see this one!
When we got home Clyde had decided to leave a nice present in the middle of the living
room - a hairball. Since it was my birthday that present was for M. Then it was present time for me. M. got me a new set of knives - he almost got me a new mixer, but fortunately he is a devoted Snark Chronicle reader and found out that a mixer wouldn't really help me out all that much. M. even consulted with his mom to make sure he got some good knives (OXO Good-Grips). I've not had a chance to use them yet, but they sure do look nice on my counter! I also have a pair of kitchen shears coming for the slot in the front and another knife to fill out all the slots. (M. ordered in plenty of time, but these two pieces were shipped by the ultra slow USPS.)
M.'s mom got me a Xyron adhesive runner. This will come in very handy so I'm not gluing my fingers together or getting glue all over my craft table when working on traditional paperart crafts. My parents sent me some cash.After all the birthday fun I made a flan to take to M.'s parents on Sunday for Mother's Day. I even got the caramelized topping to work out this time! I am becoming a flan expert!
About 5am Sunday morning I woke up with very itchy eyes, so after about half an hour of trying to sleep I decided to take some Benadryl. Ended up sleeping most of Sunday except for the brief trip to M.'s parents where everyone loved my flan, and then I stay up for the Survivor finale.
So I guess that brings us up to today...
Monday Morning Snark: This won't be much of a snark for those who enjoy coming here mainly for the snarkiness. The only thing I have to snark about at this moment is a coworker's new tops. Last week we were dazzled (fancy word for blinded) by some big floral concoction and today it's zebra-like swirly stripes. This particular coworker must have been told by someone that her old wardrobe was too blah, so now we are subjected to loud patterns and bright colors. I personally preferred the blah...
Monday, May 5, 2008
My Flan Adventure
We're having a Cinco de Mayo lunch at work today. Last week the sign-up sheet appeared in the kitchen asking "What will you bring to our lovely Cinco de Mayo lunch?" I was about to do my old staple - nothing, but then decided I wanted to try something out for this lunch. What did I decide on? FLAN! Had I ever in my life made a flan? No. Have I ever even eaten flan before? Again, no. But I was determined to make one, actually to make two - a test flan and the flan that would appear at work.
I scoured the internet looking for a good, but simple flan recipe. When I found the one I wanted I read through it a couple times to make sure I felt I could do it. Friday afternoon I went shopping for the baking utensils I would need: a tube pan and a pastry brush.
M. and I went out Saturday morning to look for bar stools (didn't find any), had some lunch, and then went grocery shopping. I made sure to get all the necessary ingredients to make two flans. That afternoon, armed with everything I thought I needed, I set to making my test flan. I caramelized some sugar, making sure to wash down the sides of my saucepan to prevent re-granulation. I poured the caramelized sugar into my brand new tube pan so it could harden while I mixed up the actual flan. Everything seemed to be coming together nicely. I prepared the hot water in a pan to place the flan-filled tube pan in, put in my tube pan and then poured the flan... and realized my mistake. My tube pan was one where the bottom pushed upward for easy release after baking. My flan mixture was the consistency of milk. I poured the mixture into the tube pan and immediately the water in the pan in which the tube pan was sitting started to become cloudy. My flan was leaking!!
Frustrated, I poured my test flan down the disposal and informed M. I had to once again venture out to get the right kind of tube pan. I set out with the intention to get the pan as well as the now missing ingredients so I could still make two flans. In my frustration at the failed first attempt I forgot to write on my shopping list that I needed two cans of sweeten condensed milk and two cans of evaporated milk. I only got one each, but didn't realize until I was already home. I was not going out again on Saturday!
So once again I caramelized some sugar, poured it into my even newer, water-tight tube pan, mixed me up some flan, and poured it in. An hour after baking in my oven I had what looked to be a good flan (at least the bottom looked nice). I cooled the thing over night and Sunday morning popped it out of the pan. The flan came out, but the caramelized sugar topping decided it loved my new tube pan and it stayed in there. Oh well, so no caramelized sugar topping on the flan. It still looked pretty good and I had bought strawberries to decorate it with.
I don't know how it will taste, but it looks pretty enough!
I scoured the internet looking for a good, but simple flan recipe. When I found the one I wanted I read through it a couple times to make sure I felt I could do it. Friday afternoon I went shopping for the baking utensils I would need: a tube pan and a pastry brush.
M. and I went out Saturday morning to look for bar stools (didn't find any), had some lunch, and then went grocery shopping. I made sure to get all the necessary ingredients to make two flans. That afternoon, armed with everything I thought I needed, I set to making my test flan. I caramelized some sugar, making sure to wash down the sides of my saucepan to prevent re-granulation. I poured the caramelized sugar into my brand new tube pan so it could harden while I mixed up the actual flan. Everything seemed to be coming together nicely. I prepared the hot water in a pan to place the flan-filled tube pan in, put in my tube pan and then poured the flan... and realized my mistake. My tube pan was one where the bottom pushed upward for easy release after baking. My flan mixture was the consistency of milk. I poured the mixture into the tube pan and immediately the water in the pan in which the tube pan was sitting started to become cloudy. My flan was leaking!!
Frustrated, I poured my test flan down the disposal and informed M. I had to once again venture out to get the right kind of tube pan. I set out with the intention to get the pan as well as the now missing ingredients so I could still make two flans. In my frustration at the failed first attempt I forgot to write on my shopping list that I needed two cans of sweeten condensed milk and two cans of evaporated milk. I only got one each, but didn't realize until I was already home. I was not going out again on Saturday!
So once again I caramelized some sugar, poured it into my even newer, water-tight tube pan, mixed me up some flan, and poured it in. An hour after baking in my oven I had what looked to be a good flan (at least the bottom looked nice). I cooled the thing over night and Sunday morning popped it out of the pan. The flan came out, but the caramelized sugar topping decided it loved my new tube pan and it stayed in there. Oh well, so no caramelized sugar topping on the flan. It still looked pretty good and I had bought strawberries to decorate it with.
I don't know how it will taste, but it looks pretty enough!
Monday, April 28, 2008
New Post Category
Due to my lasagna disaster last weekend and my quest for a recipe book/binder in which to keep my recipes grouped together, I have decided that I need a cooking-type label for my blog. Welcome 'Snarky Kitchen.' (By the way, I like the single quotation mark better than the double, even if I'm not using it correctly!)
I used to cook a lot when I lived with my parents because mom is a nurse and used to work 3rd shift at a hospital on the surgical recovery floor. She had left for work by the time we got home from school and wouldn't arrive home until after we'd gone to bed. I never appreciated how well-stocked mom's kitchen was until I moved out and had to buy my own kitchen supplies. My cooking and kitchen experimentation kind of went to the wayside for several years because I never seemed to have the right stuff.
M. gets 'burnt out' on foods we have several times, at least the pre-cooked freezer to oven boxes and fast food dinners. Perhaps my cooking will survive the M. burn out? We'll have to wait and see. Because of M.'s burn out on many of the dinners we were having and because I had discovered on of my now favorite websites - Pioneer Woman Cooks - I decided to start using my kitchen (since we built a house a couple years ago I have a pretty nice kitchen) and cooking again. One major downfall to this is that we actually have to do grocery shopping on a fairly regular basis, but because I love to be praised and hear how wonderful I am, the reactions from M. when I make a good meal are a good trade-off. And M. does come grocery shopping with me, so there's that too. If you've been a fan of my blog long enough you know I get the social anxiety and do not like to go shopping by myself.
So this weekend I made some very yummy chicken salad (but I had made that before and knew M. enjoys it) and I made a new experimental dinner last night - beefy potato skillet. M. seemed to like that okay too. I will post my chicken salad recipe some other time since I am not home and do not have access to it at the moment. For my beefy potato skillet I used PW's basic breakfast potatoes (minus any onions or garlic since M. and I don't really like those, also no bacon grease) and added some ground beef. It was nice and easy. Plus, I've always liked those side potatoes places like Denny's or IHOP use and these were kind of like that.
I decided on Sunday that even though I had not found a beautiful fillable recipe book yet I was going to start typing up my favorite recipes on 4x6 cards. This must have led to some good luck in the book/binder quest because I also had a break through in my quest for a book to keep all my recipes. And of course I found it on Amazon.com! It's not really an Amazon product, it's through a company called Organize.com. I briefly perused their website this weekend and that is not a website I should be going to! I love organizational products and could spend thousands and thousands of $$ there. Plus they tried to entice my with all these $5 and $10 off deals, but of course if you read the fine print you needed to spend $50 to get the $5 off... M., just so you know, I only purchased the recipe binder, and I did it through Amazon. M. knows about my closeted shopping addiction - but only for online shopping. We might be rich if not for the development of online shopping since I hate to go shopping in actual real life stores.
Oh, and low and behold, Pioneer Woman is giving away a Kitchen Aid standing mixer and what have I been thinking I needed as an addition to my kitchen? Yes, yes, yes - a standing mixer! So wish me luck. PW uses random.org to chose her winners, so I have as good a chance as anyone...
I used to cook a lot when I lived with my parents because mom is a nurse and used to work 3rd shift at a hospital on the surgical recovery floor. She had left for work by the time we got home from school and wouldn't arrive home until after we'd gone to bed. I never appreciated how well-stocked mom's kitchen was until I moved out and had to buy my own kitchen supplies. My cooking and kitchen experimentation kind of went to the wayside for several years because I never seemed to have the right stuff.
M. gets 'burnt out' on foods we have several times, at least the pre-cooked freezer to oven boxes and fast food dinners. Perhaps my cooking will survive the M. burn out? We'll have to wait and see. Because of M.'s burn out on many of the dinners we were having and because I had discovered on of my now favorite websites - Pioneer Woman Cooks - I decided to start using my kitchen (since we built a house a couple years ago I have a pretty nice kitchen) and cooking again. One major downfall to this is that we actually have to do grocery shopping on a fairly regular basis, but because I love to be praised and hear how wonderful I am, the reactions from M. when I make a good meal are a good trade-off. And M. does come grocery shopping with me, so there's that too. If you've been a fan of my blog long enough you know I get the social anxiety and do not like to go shopping by myself.
So this weekend I made some very yummy chicken salad (but I had made that before and knew M. enjoys it) and I made a new experimental dinner last night - beefy potato skillet. M. seemed to like that okay too. I will post my chicken salad recipe some other time since I am not home and do not have access to it at the moment. For my beefy potato skillet I used PW's basic breakfast potatoes (minus any onions or garlic since M. and I don't really like those, also no bacon grease) and added some ground beef. It was nice and easy. Plus, I've always liked those side potatoes places like Denny's or IHOP use and these were kind of like that.
I decided on Sunday that even though I had not found a beautiful fillable recipe book yet I was going to start typing up my favorite recipes on 4x6 cards. This must have led to some good luck in the book/binder quest because I also had a break through in my quest for a book to keep all my recipes. And of course I found it on Amazon.com! It's not really an Amazon product, it's through a company called Organize.com. I briefly perused their website this weekend and that is not a website I should be going to! I love organizational products and could spend thousands and thousands of $$ there. Plus they tried to entice my with all these $5 and $10 off deals, but of course if you read the fine print you needed to spend $50 to get the $5 off... M., just so you know, I only purchased the recipe binder, and I did it through Amazon. M. knows about my closeted shopping addiction - but only for online shopping. We might be rich if not for the development of online shopping since I hate to go shopping in actual real life stores.
Oh, and low and behold, Pioneer Woman is giving away a Kitchen Aid standing mixer and what have I been thinking I needed as an addition to my kitchen? Yes, yes, yes - a standing mixer! So wish me luck. PW uses random.org to chose her winners, so I have as good a chance as anyone...
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