Ze Giant (somewhat thin) Recap
Been just a tad busy lately.
Went to visit one grandmother last month and did a whirlwind tour of a goodly amount of Texas crap food that I adore (Whataburger, Taco Cabana, Pappadeaux (Pappadeaux is not crap, but it was in an airport – a bonus food thing as I didn't have time to hit the good food places.))
My grandmother's definitely feeling better, she had some sort of crud in her lungs that was bringing her down, man. But she seemed perky enough for the weekend. I fixed her DVD player and told her to call me when her smart-ass sons didn't explain things well enough (and her smart-ass granddaughter would give it a go.)Then close on the heel's of that whirlwind trip was the cube decorating contest at work I did my cube up as an In-N-Out Burger joint (won 1st prize-putting my art degree to good use.)
In N Out Cube The cube almost didn't happen since the the Bay Bridge decided it wanted to drop pieces of itself on top of cars and they closed it down… which meant that all the thousands and thousands of people who normally go over that bridge had to overflow elsewhere… my bridge as well as public transport (if they had that option.) I left at 6:30 each morning to get to work on time.. and then I left work later to avoid the traffic going home. Made for some long days and I'm lucky I managed to get the materials I needed to do this from Target (red wrapping paper, a red dish towel) and stuff I already had (an old poster frame and cardstock for letters in my printer). But it all came together in a few hours while I was doing a release to the web site anyway.
..and then I slept.
When I woke up it was just about time to visit my other grandmother, but his time we all met up in Vegas.
Meme and Lily
Lovely weekend; we spent the gross national income on shows (the Cirque du Soleil was freakin' awesome – I was all psyched to drop another $150 on another version right then (and you know what a money grubbing fiend I am.) but I got vetoed for Bette Midler. She was good too, but she isn't as flexible as they are… but then again they don't dress up as mermaids and move around the stage in motorized wheelchairs. So there you have it.
We also did our standard practice when I meet up with mom and my cousin of effectively dumping out the contents of the suitcases and rearranging all belongings between the three of us. They ended up with some purses, some stuff I set aside for them anyway and ebooks. I got a rockin' set of skull jammies and a new pouch purse. Excellent haul.
I gambled $2 of my dollars and a atypically increased some that my grandmother had won; Vegas math: $25 in on a nickel video poker game + royal flush=$60 total -me gambling more=$40. Then I stopped.
..and then I needed sleep but I haven't had any since.
Mama shootin' craps (her war cry was "Little Red needs a new coat of paint!"
(Little Red Riding Hood is her little red Grumman Traveler ) Prepping for turkey day now… I might remember to food blog it but don't hold your breath.
Daily Bun:Bunny’s Morning Sprawl
Radiator is on again and the house is feeling like the tropics. Bunny is very happy.
1-2-3 Beer Bread Recipe
1 can (12 oz.) beer – I use Shiner
2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups self rising flour
Place in cold oven and turn on oven 350 degrees.
Bake 50 minutes or until bread is lightly browned.
Remove from pan. Bread is done if it sounds hollow when tapped on bottom.
Cool on wire rack.
I’ll need to build one for my Honda Fit
"MINI-FINI and their Teardrop Trailer"
Zombie Cake
Yes. Yes. …and Yes.
(and it was red velvet cake, too!)
Travel Nano Stand
with Turbulence Control/Anti-Slip Device(TM) engaged.
Allows for hands-free video viewing on airplanes to facilitate the knitting arts.
(Yes, this is a Nano rubber banded to a monster binder clip boosted from work. The rubber band is from Whole Foods takeout though…)
Oh-oh at the late night, double feature, picture show.
(well, it was a matinee really.)
At the risk of jinxing things, Bunny has been doing really well since that one bad weekend. I built her a half-assed tent since she didn't seem particularly interested in going back into the oven as it was on the bed. I took a pop up laundry hamper (not the vertical version, the horizontal version) , my ever present polar fleece swatch, a set of #15 wooden knitting needles and then just pulled it around one half of her bed. The knitting needles help with a bit more clearance.She walked right in and got comfy.
I didn't know how much it would help, but apparently it does a good job as her ears remain warm now that the house is a bit colder.
Other than Bunny maintenance, I have been planning trips (short necessary trips) and working.
There was a series of days where Bunny would wake me up every 2-3 hours to eat, which kicked my ass, but lately she's let me sleep (either that or she hasn't been able to wake me up). There's also some sort of flu crud going around which I touched on but didn't let take hold; unfortunately, I think Tex did get it… and of course, when men get sick the world ends. Sigh.
Some knitting going on, but not a whole lot, I think I have developed tennis elbow from having to carry my 7 pound stinkpad home from work every night in case Beast's fuel pump decides to die (and now if I stop taking the behemoth home, then the fuel pump will choose that moment to give up the ghost.) Micheal, my pet mechanic, says that "dropping the fuel tank and replacing the pump" won't be a big deal… but it SOUNDS like a friggin' big deal. So, my arm hurts and knitting isn't terribly comfortable. Lifting a can of soda with my left hand is excruciating.
Sunday the 4th was a pleasantly unscheduled day, so we went to see the Toy Story double feature in 3D… the theater was full of kids as I expected, but they were 99% quiet for the whole thing. I was very happy about that and most of the time forgot I was surrounded by the wiggling petri dishes for 3 1/2 hours. It also helped that we were in a row that was a walkway and had room to stretch our legs (mine less so than Tex's…and oh… my little alien guys in 3D! So much fun!
My brain is food-ing again, too. After Toy Story we went to On The Border (surprisingly, consistently good Mexican food) and I had a combo platter with enchiladas and fish tacos. I normally LOVE fish tacos, but they were just ho-hum and I skipped the corn tortilla, but the enchilada was fantastic. Spinach and mushroom sauteed in a bit of butter with sour cream sauce over the top.
I'm going to try it sometime soon.
The other thing that I want to see how turns out is a roasted acorn squash with quinoa stuffing… I googled other quinoa stuffings to see how I could jazz it up (as I removed some of the exciting bits from the original recipe) and found one with crunchy bacon bits in it… hmmm. That might be an experiment for this week as well.
I also need to set up better lights for food blogging in the kitchen.. or just a good place to photograph things (I suspect this means that I will need to clear off the kitchen table, but I don't feel like it right now). The stove, while clean, has ratty looking patched (an apartment stove, you see) and the counters are not very big and I end up seeing the fake butcher block pattern under the slab of leftover marble from mom's kitchen redo years ago.
Anyhoo, busy and I am looking forward to some quiet time, though I doubt it will happen anytime soon, but I'm not really worried about that right now. I can sleep later and knitting on the plane will probably be a good diversionary tactic with my ipod playing audiobooks in the background.
Daily Bun
Bunny's numbers came back…and improvement on most things… though when she eats now, she gets pretty sluggish.
I though it was the anemia, but I don't know now. The vet just lowered her Aluminum Hydroxide dose (and gave me a script that only cost $13 rather than the $90 I was paying for an equivalent refill. Every little bit helps.)
Anyhoo, I'm still miffed at my vet for letting too many other things get in between him and his focus on Bunny, but I haven't totally decided to switch vets yet. We'll see how pissy I have to get to get his attention.
(Picture Dirty Harry in the role of Aurora in "Terms of Endearment" and you'll get an idea of how I will go after any neglect of the Bunnycat.)
Still, it was a tough weekend and Bun is definitely feeling less perky than she was a few weeks ago.
We're both tired.
My new hero
is Crazy Aunt Purl who knitted this masterpiece:
Photo copyright CrazyAuntPurl.com 2009 I found the pattern made with regular wool as well here but the Noro is so freakin' gorgeous, I might have to be a copy cat. See? Still pretty but not nearly as orgasmic:
Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash Recipe for Mabon
Happy Mabon, y'all!
In honor of the harvest festival on the Autumnal Equinox, I made a harvest-y dinner last night.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/roasted-corn-pudding-in-acorn-squash-recipe.html
original photo by Heidi Swanson 101Cookbooks.com Isn't that beautiful? I edit things to my tastes, primarily to remove things I know I don't like (star anise) or to remove things that would kind of kill me (scallions, still…sigh)…though I would love to have had scallions in mine. Here is my version: Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash Recipe for Mabon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup half & half
1 egg plus 2 egg whites
2 ears fresh corn kernels
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/3 cup grated 2yr Black Wax Cabot cheddar cheese
1 sliced apple ( I used Honeycrisp because the name reminded me of autumn. Any tart apple will do.)
1. Turn on your oven to 350 F
2. Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon
3. Drizzle olive oil and salt on the squash
4. Cook acorn squash until fork tender (~50 minutes)
5. Mix 1 egg plus 2 egg whites, 1 cup half & half, 2 ears fresh corn kernels, 1/4 teaspoon garlic, 1 cup grated parmesan cheese in a bowl (I suppose you could mix it on the counter instead of in a bowl, but it might get very messy.)
6. To keep the mixture from running out of the squash, I took a pair of tongs, turned over the squash and sliced a bit off the bottom to make a flat surface. Then set it back onto the roasting plate, filled them 3/4 full with the mixture and put them back into the oven.
I lowered the temperature to 325F at this point so that I didn't scald the mix.
It will set up in about 30-40 minutes. Test them for consistency around this point; you can pull them out earlier if you wanted more of a soup consistency or longer for a more firmly set pudding.
There was extra mix just as Ms. Swanson mentioned in her version, so I put it in a small oven safe bowl and baked it along with the rest of the squash.
7. Place on serving dish and grate white cheddar over the squash. I used a 2yr Black Wax Cabot cheddar cheese recommended to me by Jennifer… and it was spectacular in combination with the slightly sweet pudding and acorn squash mix. (I didn't brown the cheese in the broiler, but you can if that makes you happy.)
A tart white wine (not too sweet) or even a apple cider reduction drizzled on top would be really good with this… or go simply with the sliced apples that we had on the side.
Blessed be, y'all!
