leafing through

Yesterday night, we had big plans! Plans to go out to dinner, see a comedy show, stay up late and maybe even meet up with pals. Alas the convivial evening out was not to be. The chinchillas wore us out and we had our convivial evening in. I did taxes (a first try), and made granola (a second try). Then off to sleep where I dreamed about, wouldn’t you know it, food.

This morning we headed off to the Kettler Iceplex to watch the Capitals practice before their game against the NY Rangers. Incidentally, it’s playing right now. The rink looks a lot smaller than on TV and so do the guys. Without all that gear, they’re pretty skinny. It kinda’ gave me a nice feel for what a live game would be like, especially if you had front row seating. You can feel the cool air as they skate by and the puck thuds pretty loudly against the walls. After they finished, you could see Coach Boudreau giving a television interview. He wasn’t actually on the ice coaching, that was left to the assistant coaches.

Then it was off to Raaga for all you can eat Indian food. And believe me, I ate all I could, and then some. Still feeling full. Raaga’s naan is so good. They don’t leave it in the buffet line, rather they bring it out to you as you’re eating. It’s one of the few naan’s I feel like are good enough to eat alone. Crispy on the bottom, chewy on top. All the dishes pictured here were tasty enough to end up on my round two plate.

After that, it was off to go grocery shopping. I can skip one week, but there’s no way I’m going to go 3 weeks without grocery shopping.

Look what I made!! Hamantaschen! They’re little triangular cookies with fillings in them. I made two kinds, almond, and prune. Baking for me is a bit challenging because it’s so labor intensive and requires attention to detail and some amount of precision. You actually have to measure!! I whipped out the measuring cups and spoons for this one. The cookies came out well though. Crumbly and still triangle shaped after baking. They go well with wine. As do many other foods.

Yesterday, my friend’s 4 year old son randomly asked, “Mommy, what’s a slow day?” Kids ask such random questions. She made something up off the cuff, it’s a day where you can relax. You don’t have to do anything. There’s no school.
Today would be my slow day. Very slow day. I had a list of get-to-do’s I wanted to tackle but decided to just leave them. Aside from the necessaries like laundry, the floors don’t have to be cleaned. The taxes can wait. And so can the filing. I’m just going to enjoy my slow day.

Left the house today at 9:30 AM and returned at 7:30 PM. It’s now close to 12:30 and I am plumb worn out. Started the day with brunch at a friend’s house to meet her family and have lunch with them. We had bagels and cream cheese, something she made called “Christmas Bake” (bacon, eggs, cheese… need I continue?) and spinach kugel. They have a mean cat, a super affectionate dog, and 2 cute little boys, 4 and 1. The 1 year old is a cuddlebug and couldn’t care less if you were a stranger or not, he’ll come up and cuddle or hug you. After that, it was shopping from one store to another. Balducci’s. Costco. An Asian market. Dinner at Cava (delicious!). Home Depot. Office Depot. Then after I returned it was Olympics and cooking. I have to shorten the description of my shopping because reliving it is tiring. As much as I enjoy cooking and shopping most of the time, doing these marathon shopping trips can be tiring. Especially the part about Costco on Saturday.

I wanted to make a few dishes tonight so they could marinade in the sauce over night. I’m hoping the flavors will have a chance to absorb and blend better.

The first was a bean salad. Canned beans (any kinds you like), chopped red onion, lime juice, salt & pepper, Adobo (optional), cilantro, olive oil. The recipe had called for edamame but all the ones sold at the Asian market were from China and you know I’m not gonna eat that.

The next dish was this curry which started out small and wound up being a potful as most of my dishes generally turn out. This came from desultory thoughts.
In a blender: ginger, onion, coconut milk, garlic, lime juice, salt, and curry powder. Or food processor. Add cayenne too if you want a bit of spicy.
Cook the chicken until it’s just done, set it aside, saute some onions, add curry sauce and more curry powder, then add carrots and peas, any other vegetables then chicken. Simmer.

Being the lazy cook that I am, I didn’t set aside the meat. I just pan fried it in oil. Then added onions, then the vegetables, then poured in the food processor sauce.*

Oh, look. From Home Depot. Them chinchillas are chewing on the wood around their room! But it was either the painter’s tape or …
This! Do I hear a collective “Awww…”? The wooden house chew toy has cut down on the chewing a bit but Marco is unstoppable, as shown here.

*Update on the curry: Veggies in the curry will add a natural sweetness to the sauce. Add some cayenne to balance it out. I like a bit of spicyness to my curries anyway. If you like a thicker sauce like I do, use some corn starch. Also, next time I might add lemongrass. And go ahead and make a ton of curry for extra leftovers. It seems to get better the next day, and the next day, and the day after that. The flavors just meld and absorb more.

Happy Lunar New Year! I come back from Florida and what do I see? More snow! Not enough to keep me from going to work tomorrow though. Durnnit. Ah well. I guess 10 days off was a good run.

Where do I start with this trip?
Food.

Manatees.

Food.

Olympics.

Cruise. (This is Thomas Edison’s house, tucked in the trees with the red roof.)

Parade.

Food.

The amazing view.

Wonderful!

There was tons more food but these were all I captured. The rest flew into my belly before the shutter even had a chance.

No car = no shopping! (Well, no money can generate that same effect too.) Who knew it could be so simple? I miss shopping though. Very, very much. Thankfully, I make up for it on the weekends and so far, it’s mostly just groceries and basic necessities. Yes, I needed 500 lbs of oatmeal. Thanks Costco. That place can be so counter productive sometimes (I have no space to keep this crap!), yet I keep going back. Why is that? I would like to meet their marketing genius. What is it with largeness and excess that makes it so appealing?  So this weekend, being snowed in, there was no shopping.  Just a lot of browsing online and pretending like I’m gonna get something.  And today, no work!  Yay!  I guess I’ll be staying home and eat, eat, eating some more!  I can’t even remember what I did all day yesterday aside from watching TV and eating.

UPDATE:
Why do I always do this?  Every time I blog that I’m not going to do something, I do it right after.  I say I’m quitting coffee and right as I hit publish, I’m brewing a big pot.  And in the same breath I say I’m not shopping, I hit the Order button.  It was for the chinchillas though, so that doesn’t really count.  Gina has a leaky water bottle, and that won’t be good for being away on an extended weekend, even if the neighbors are checking up on them.  What if they forget?  So while I’m at it, if I’m gonna place an order, I might as well get some more bedding, a coupla’ toys and maybe a bunch of timothy hay for them to munch on.

For anybody who just crawled out from under a rock, this year’s Superbowl (XLIV) will be played in Miami, Florida. The teams competing are the Phoenix, AZ Colts and the New Orleans, LA Saints. That is all I know. I hope the commercials are good.

Oh and the breakage continues. This time it was the garlic press. Darned Made in PRC again! It was for a good cause though. Beef ribs. One rack, dry rubbed overnight, in the oven. One rack also dry rubbed overnight, in the slow cooker with vinegar, sugar, garlic, beer, chili peppers, and cocoa powder.

The dry rub, courtesy of texascooking.com (this will yield a ton of dry rub, save the rest in the freezer or make less):
1 Tablespoon of:

• Black pepper
• White pepper
• Sugar
• Brown sugar
• Cumin
• Garlic powder
• Oregano
• Salt

2 Tablespoons of chili powder

4 Tablespoons of paprika (sweet)

1 Teaspoon of dry mustard

2 Teaspoons of cayenne

Snowmageddon or Snowpocalypse, whatever you want to call it, landed. It didn’t exactly deliver two feet of snow (as least where I am), more like one foot, but it was all day from Friday at 10:30 AM to about 5:30 this evening. Trapped at home, tackling the “Maybe-get-to-do list” was the activity du jour. Started with laundry and then headed straight for the chinchillas. I can’t help it! I find myself thinking about them or missing them sometimes when I’m out of the house. Yikes, I’ve become one of those crazy animal people. The Chinchilla-lady!

So the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser pulled through for the wall. Black scuffs from bike tires and other unknowns came off. The Eraser wore out eventually and disintegrated.
Here’s the before:

And the after:

Without the fancy camera magnifying the after, to me, in the normal room lighting, the wall looks much cleaner. More like this:

The Orange Glo however, couldn’t quite get the stains and dirt off the kitchen cabinets so I had to go over it with some ammonia first. Tomorrow – Wash the shower? Cabin fever eating? Whip up some dishes? Pester the chinchillas? Try to take over the world!?

I went out! To listen to an 80s tribute band called The Reflex. The venue wasn’t too large but it was lively and from where I stood, the view was pretty perfect. I was part listening to and watching other people. I’m nosy. I know. To my right seemed to be a sweet spot of luuuuve. The first lucky guy standing in the sweet spot convinced his new (somewhat drunk) girlfriend to spend the night with him. Hubba hubba. When they left, another guy appeared and then I overheard a girl quickly pick him up. Then below was a sea of people dancing and making out. It was fun to watch. One lucky girl was dancing with three guys and then they all left during a break. Towards the end of the evening, I even witnessed two girls start a catfight. Their respective dancemates quickly broke up the fight, though not before one girl ended up with a bloody nose. It appeared they were just dancing into each others spaces and that must’ve set it off. The music was good, the crowd was fun. I feel like it’s always a drag to get me out but once I’m out, I have a good time.

Even though I had today off at home, there was no lounging around sipping wine going on. Nosirree. I decided today would be a good day to put a dent on my “get-to-do” list. This list is what I get to do because I have a roof over my head, running water, all the wonderful modern day amenities. Whatever makes me feel better about doing chores right? First, I cleaned the bathroom drawers. Then I ran ice cubes in the food disposal to clean it which wound up breaking it. Then I made lasagna which turned into two lasagnas. I don’t know how that happened. Then I scrubbed the kitchen cabinets and the microwave. The grease is too stubborn to get off or I’m not using the right products. Then I made dinner – jicama, marinated shrimp, and lettuce salad. They were supposed to be those Vietnamese wraps but the rice paper I got was too thick and couldn’t be rolled. The peanut sauce turned out well though. In between all that I did four loads of laundry. And in between that, I tore a fitted sheet. I am destructo-woman, it’s a superpower.

Every time I have one of these big cleaning-cooking days, I have a whole new appreciation for my desk job. What a relief there’s work tomorrow. I’m beat.

I’m such a clockwatcher on Fridays – from the minute I step into the office to the minute I sneak out just a few minutes early. The clock watching always drags out the afternoon but I can’t help it. This week has been full of long nights and I’m ready to lay broccoli-like on the couch staring into nothingness tomorrow. This job is so different from my last very cushy one, I’m still getting used to it. On one hand, it’s not difficult, but on the other, it has a lot of little itty bitty pieces and a lot of do-this and do-that’s and spinning around and around which helps make the day go by faster but also can leave me tie-erd. That, and moving out means I have stuff to do when I get home. Aside from making dinner (spicy stir fried octopi and calamari!), chores just keep piling up! I try to tackle some smaller ones on weeknights which leaves bigger ones for the weekends. But after a long week, I just can’t seem to stare down a big cleaning job. So even though I’m looking forward to this long weekend, that little part of me is not looking forward to washing kitchen cabinets, a stove, floors, and a bathroom, not to mention more laundry, even though I’ve been trying to whittle that down this week by doing some each night.

Gee-zuh I could use a pot of coffee right now.