And the Winner IS

And my winning prize at the Raffle . . .
I'll store this with the utmost of pride. Make sure it hangs flat sandwiched between other shirts. Never iron it. And most of all, boldly keep it a secret.

After class today, I rolled by the Electrical Engineering building on campus and smelled - smelled the sweet odor of grill food. Turns out that the EE department was having a fund raising barbecue today. A pleasant surprise on my part. For two bucks, I got a hamburger, chips, and can soda. And . . . . . a raffle ticket. I WON! Other prizes that I missed was another shirt (oh darn), two 2-gig thumb drives, and a 2-gig Ipod. Oh well, maybe next time.

My favorite beverage:

Iced Tea
3 quarts water
3 tea bags

Bring one quart water to boil. Add tea bags. Boil one minute, steep 8 minutes. Pour in pitcher with other two quarts water. Chill. Indulge!

Wedding Bells

Was out for a work related trip Thursday around lunch, and ran across this little treasure. The business is nestled in a housing area. This was at one of the residence.



Ah, a little piece of New Mexico for you. Very popular symbolism for those Christian Hispanics in the area.

Anyways, today has been a study day. Not too exciting I tell you. I will tell you that today was Wedding Day at the Duck Pond on campus. I stepped out of the library for a bite, and three different groups showed up at around the same time. They all picked a different spot around the pond. Well I guess they sort of had too. Then, when I left the library around 5, there was another group at the pond. Is this part of a late summer / early fall rush or something? The world will never know.

Supper, if your interested, well, I guess you don't have a choice, was Sloppy Joe's. Haven't had those in a while. Recipes are a dime a dozen, so your on your own. Ya gotta make it from scratch, GOT IT !! Non of this pre-mix package crap.

Tid-bits

Tonight's Tid-bits !!!

1) Late night snack - Don't even ask where the inspiration for this concoction came from. (All quantities ROUGH)

1 cup spaghetti
1/4 cup ground beef
1/8 cup diced onion
dash sage, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1 tbsp pure maple syrup

Cook spaghetti til done. Cook beef till done. Drain. Add next four rows of stuff. Simmer about 10 minutes. Combine spaghetti, meat, cottage cheese and syrup. Eat.

2) I figured the hidden song on Kelly Clarkson's My December disc. Song number 13 is just supper long song with about a 1 minute break of silence after the "posted" song. Just be patient!

3) Dishes? Dear God.

4) I'm finally getting some rain in my neck of the woods. Smells nice.

5) Rant! It frustrates me when I say I would like to do something, but get wrapped up in something else that I'd rather NOT have spent as much time dealing with. Time for a L.Y.R. (say it now - like "lurr." Like it's a LYR moment! Know what I mean? OK - Late Years Resolution - Focus more on what I'd rather be doing. Yeah right! We'll see how long that last.

IBS
Spend time with your preferred joys.
Other stuff will simply weigh you down in dissatisfaction.
Making your time feel wasted.

Bear Food

A change of plans ensued for today's adventure. Instead of the Sandia Mountains, we did the Wildlife West Nature Park. An outdoor Zoo if you will of animals that are injured or for some other reason cannot be released back into the wild. The folks learned of it through a short blurb in the newspaper. Today's special special treat was the park staff gave tours in the back yard to get a much closer look at a bear.

I think I'll pass on a hand shake, but nice to meet you. They were feeding him grapes to keep him in line. This guy was salivating all over the place! Just a big teddy bear in the end.

There were other animals at the park, but the only other item of interest was this butterfly. If only I could get better focus on a close up. Oh well, I'll just have to do with this . . .

I've been trying to get a photo of a butterfly for quite some time now. By far, this is the best I've been able to do.

After our adventure, we flew home for SUPPER - spaghetti with:

Pray for Taste Spaghetti Sauce
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup minced onion
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste.

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to boil, then lower to simmer for 20 minutes. Top on cooked spaghetti and chicken, beef, whatever.

I can't believe it actually turned out!!! An experiment! Mark your calenders!

Anyways the dishes are clean and I'm in chill mode. See ya.

One pot discoveries

Just because I know your just so curious . . . .

One Pot Spaghetti
8 oz ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove minced, or 1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 14-oz can chicken broth or beef broth
1 3/4 cups water
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp dried basil or marjoram, crused
1/4 tsp black pepper
6 oz dried spaghetti, broken
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook beef, onion, and garlic until beef is done. Drain. Add rest of ingredients except spaghetti. Bring to boil. Add spaghetti gradually, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to light boil and stir regularly until spaghetti is done or desired sauce consistency is reached.

In other news, my work partner made a huge discovery today troubleshooting a tool. I mean, this discovery earned his annual salary alone. This piece of equipment that was donated to us operated for years in production, but always with a little problem that could never be figured out. Even from the manufacturers techs. We have had the tool for about three years now and although it has been doing the job, there has always been a slight there's something not right feeling hovering in the background. Well today's discovery brought it all to light. WOW !!! This guy I work with is damn good and there's noooooooo fucking way I can match him.

On a lighter work note, today was good otherwise. It was a busy day and I managed to make a couple of troubleshooting repairs myself.

What's on tap tomorrow? More equipment troubleshooting, some training in the afternoon, and maybe a little design work thrown in for good measure. Otherwise, it's time to get tonight's dinner in the fridge and get ready for bed. Have a good one.

Mission Complete !!!

YES !!! Now I can rest easy. One hour to take care of business. Of course, it was last Sunday when I last did dishes. Hmmmm. So what do you do when you've got the kitchen clean? You guessed it . . .

Iced Green Tea
12 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
3 inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
12 to 16 green tea bags

In large sauce pan, combine water, sugar, and ginger. Bring to a boil. Simmer, covered for 5 minutes. Add teabags and remove from heat for 3 min. Strain liquid into a 2 gallon pitcher and cool for several hours, then chill. Serve.

Buckwheat Groats, Raw
1:3 - water : buckwheat

Bring water to boil and add buckwheat. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. (Buckwheat can be obtained at a health food store.)

There you have it. The pile is getting an early start. Regarding the Tea recipe, this is my first time trying it. Seeing how I never make standard ice tea as recommended in books, here's how I'm trying my first run:

1 green tea bag
1 inch ginger
1 tsp sugar
1/2 gallon water, split

In small sauce pan, bring about 1/4 gallon water to boil. Combine all ingredients in boiling water and remove from heat for 8 minutes. Strain in pitcher with another 1/4 gallon water. Allow to cool and chill.

I'll let ya know. The initial taste is not bad. Could have a different taste once chilled.

Hump day dinner

What's for dinner, what's for dinner? How about Roast Beef with Green Beans and . . .

Corn Bread
1 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Mix dry. Mix wet. Combine. Bake 350F for 35 - 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

All right, now that we got that out of the way. The stuff is cooling on the stove as we speak and my tummy is ready to go! Cooked roast beef the other night. Green beans from a can. Y o u know it!

Day Start

It's Sunday morning, and you know what that means . . . . Breakfast!

Sweet Sunday Waffles
2 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 egg yolks, well beaten
2 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter
3 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Mix all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients except egg whites. Combine wet and dry stuff. Fold in egg whites. Bake in waffle iron.

Mmmmmmmmmmm Gooooooooood.

Now the dishes. Mmmmmmmmmmmm BAD.

Help me choose

But first . . . Dinner!

Moroccan Chicken with Couscous
1 lb. skinned, boned chicken breast halves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp salt
Vegetable cooking spray
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 (16 oz.) can no-salt added chicken broth
1 cup frozen English peas, thawed
1 cup couscous, uncooked
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1) Cut chicken lengthwise into 1 inch wide strips. Combine the four spices and rube into the chicken.

2) Coat large skillet with cooking spray and add oil. Bring to med-high heat. Add garlic and chicken, Cook until browned. Add broth and peas. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook until chicken is done. Add, couscous and remove from heat. Cover for 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with cilantro. Pig-out!

3) Clean up your mess!


Okay. Now that our bellies are satisfied . . . lets get into the main event of this post - Help me choose. As mentioned in a previous post, I'd like to make some covers for my entertainment setup. I ventured into a fabric store earlier today and walked away with several pattern samples. Check them out in the photo. Click to get a larger picture.


I'd like the pattern to complement the wood stain as the parts of the entertainment stand will continue to be visible even with the covers in place. I don't want it to be tool loud, but not too boring either. We'll call the pattern on the left number 1, and move to the right from there. Note that pattern 3 does have a snippet of a pattern in the lower section. That's the best I could get out of them, but I can't complain either since they are free samples. Also, pattern 2 is a tropical layout.

Thanks. Signed - Undecided.

Lunch

Tasty Toasted Sandwiches

1 pimiento
1 small onion
1/4 point American cheese
2 hard-cooked eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
16 slices bread
Melted butter

Force pimiento, onion, cheese, and eggs through food chopper. Add spices. Mix. Spread on bread. Brush tops with melted butter and grill in pan or under broiler. Serve. Makes 8 wiches.

Mmmmmmmmmmm Gooooood!


The plan - Road Trip
Pitt stops: - in no order whatsoever

- grocery store
- post office
- bank
- crafts store
- Target
- drop off recyclables

And I thought this was suppose to be a day off. Someone, wake me from my dream. PLEASE.

Wasting Time

Topic: Food Grater

Food graters grate, well, food. So, therefore, they should do just fine grating salt pork. Right? Folks, don't try this at home. What sounded like a good idea at the time does NOT make the grade. After this grater sitting on my counter top since Thanksgiving of, OF - 2005, I finally bit the bullet and made an attempt to clean it.

Method: Hot boiling water in a sauce pan.
Results: Absolutely, positively, not happen'en Mission Control.

I thought boiling water would melt the fat off the grater. Nope!

Plan B: Now that it's soft, use a tooth pick to remove it from grates.
Results: Absolutely, positively, not happen'en folks.

Turns out that there's too much of the shit on there, and it's hard to remove it from the holes. After all this work, the funny part is that I'm trying to clean it in preparation for making a donation run to Goodwill. This item cost $2 to $3 bucks at the store and I tried to do the right thing. Outta teach me, huh.

Conclusion: Don't mix graters and salt pork. SAVE your TIME. Trash it instead.
Time wasted: 35 minutes.

And "what's for dinner?" - yeah yeah, like, real creative!

3/4 cup barley flakes (cooked) (pepper and garlic salt to taste)
3/4 cup french style green beans
Yoplait yogurt
Beverage: Ice Tea (eh yo! keep yo hands OFF the tea now)
Dessert: Surefine Fudge Mint Squares (this is brand X of Keebler product)

Cook barley flakes as directed (3:1, water:flakes, bring to boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes). Open can of green beans. Warm on stove or in microwave. Serve. Enjoy yogurt by peeling back top foil. Spoon feed.

What's for breakfast?

Waffles
Eggs
Spaghetti (with All Purpose Szechuan Hot and Spicy Sauce)
Beverage: water
Dessert: Felodipine 10mg

Waffles
2 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 egg yolks, well beaten
2 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter
3 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Mix dry ingreadents. Mix liquids together (except egg whites) in separate bowl. Pour and mix liquids with dry only until smooth. Fold in egg whites. Bake in hot waffle iron.

Eggs
Scramble eggs in bowl Cook in medium heat skillet.

Spaghetti
Place pre-cooked spaghetti in medium heat skillet. When warm, mix in hot sauce to taste.

Water
Source: Rio Grand aquifer. Filtered with Britta water filter.

Desert
Felodipine 10mg. One pill with or without meal (this is high blood pressure meds folks - don't try this at home)..