ARG!

I think I may have had a hand in killing the oven on Thanksgiving.

Apparently tin foil is not a friend of the heating element in the oven. Especially when the element is working. My job on turkey day was to check on the bird and ensure that it was heating up to the appropriate temperature. I think that it's very possible that during one of the temperature checks I may have lifted the tin foil an eensy bit too high. Long story short: yes, we have no oven (that works). This is frustrating to me because one of the few domestic things I enjoy doing is baking. It's sorta hard to bake without an oven.

In other news, I hope this letter I'm planning on sending out sometime next week doesn't screw me over. I was taught that almost everything is negotiable. Hopefully this is one of them and by my asking to negotiate it won't leave a proverbial sour taste in anyones proverbial mouth.

Overheard:

"I adversely hate it."

Does that mean you actually quite like it?

Happiness is:

Holding the hand of the person you feel most comfortable with.

Knowing how to make the other person laugh after years apart.

Something I think I've missed for a few years.

RTFM!

I'm trying to get my music library from the ipod to the Mac (poor thing needs a name...). I've downloaded a recommened program and am now going through the instructions trying to decide which of the situations apply to me.

I'm gonna be screwed come tax time.

I am my parents.

I just made sure that the kid's mom knew about and approved of her myspace account. Mom didn't know, mom didn't approve of the existence of the account and so hopefully there will be no account. Thank Bob for typos and me being the interweb savvy adult. So, I feel like I have ruined the social opportunties of a tween at the expense of their safety. I'll take that trade-off, even if it's not my kid.

content.

Look who decided to spend some time with me.

This picture was taken by/with the new laptop, btw.

Fudgemonkey.

Things I suggest against:

Going on a roof to fix something metallic during the wind and lightening part of a monsoon.

Trying to figure out a budget before you've had any coffee.

Driving 15 miles to a gym that you assume is open on a holiday weekend.

Happiness is:

Calabacitas with warm homemade flour tortillas.

FanFreakingTastic

"Her favorite band is Slayer, she plays hockey and she will kick the ass of anyone who hits on ...."

That was how I was described to the girls that the BF works with; by the BF's male buddies.

I have to laugh. I really don't care if they hit on him.

Chupa-thingy, how 'bout that?

I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but I'll say it one more time (probably more than once actually): Red vs. Blue season one is guaranteed to cheer me up. I think it's my new sick movie. Sorry Princess Buttercup.

I'm not quite right.

Bruise earned playing hockey, day one:


Same bruise, day seven:

Maybe it's the...

Great SOUTHWEST Umbrella Bird

I wish I had a picture of the nest of the Northwest Umbrella Bird. Damn.

Can ya blame me?

Here a few reasons I did not want to return to the Desert:



If you look closely you can see the NEW Narrows behind the old bridge, the new bridge has only one cross bar whereas the old one has two.


This is a view of Mt. Rainier from Owens beach. How great is that?


A night out with Austin will always include mischief. That night it was pull-tabs and tequila.


Who can say no to a guy like this? C'mon now!

Time for a change.

I know I'm itching for a something different when I start looking at piercings and tatts. Industrial and dragons if you were curious.

It's not always where you hang your hat.

In three days I will be going home. What seems like home anyway. My friends and many memories are here. Returning here always brings a smile to my face and butterflies to my stomach. There are many days I wish for the ability to pack up and move back. I don't know if I ever will go back for good, my family is here and even though I don't see them as often as I should, I feel good knowing I'm close to them. No matter what, I think that Tacoma will always be home for me.

Not sleepy music--

Slipknot
Slayer
The Clash
Outkast
Nine Inch Nails

That's what my ipod will give ya when placed on random. Sweet Dreams.

Slayer and Marylin Manson will be touring together this concert season (bonus bogus points if you catch the really bad attempt at a segue). I recall that Mr. Manson and Co. put on a good show, while Slayer is pretty bare-bones but their fans do provide plenty of entertainment. The Manson fans AND the Slayer fans in an outdoor venue in the Valley of Sun in the middle of Summer? That will be some good people-watching times. You know what I'm talking about if you've ever been to Ozzfest. That's another fun concert/people watching event, even Metalheads can't out bad-ass the heat.

SMB

Yeah, I know, you don't care. :)

You are Betty Grable

The ulitmate girl next door You're the perfect girl for most guys Pretty yet approachable. Beautiful yet real.

What Famous Pinup Are You?

Yummy!

Chilaquiles.

Pedro, a wonderful co-worker of mine, had me try some of this. It was incredibly good. I don't think there were any eggs in the dish his wife made. She served hers with lettuce, I think I might try some cabbage. His wife also makes her own sauce. Looks like in addition to frying tortillas, I'm gonna finally learn how to make a red sauce from scratch (I think I'll try making it with dried chilies). This is way too good to not learn how to make.

Hooray for food.

PS: I'm still boycotting the dishes.

*Photo from Too Many Chefs dot com

Dinner and Dishes

I don't want to do them, either of them. I haven't for the last week. Boyfriend did 'em last week, I'm not complaining, I'm boycotting. Tonight's dinner consisted of eggs and potatoes. For one. He didn't want any, I asked. Call me an a*sh0le, but that's that.

Viva el X-Boxeo!

I have a new addiction. It's not one you would ever expect me to have. I've been introduced to Viva Pinata. I took a break after playing for at least two hours so that I could eat a green bean casserole sammich. If you don't hear from me for awhile, Viva Pinata could be the reason.

Err...

This makes me laugh. In a happy way.

Tasty.

That's how I would describe the Baklava bars. They were pretty easy to make, other than fact that I had to butter the phyllo dough myself. You should make some.

Home.

Yup, not sure that I'm proud of this. I guess it could be worse. This is the town/city that I consider home.

I wonder if Tacoma will get it's own Fark tag? This is at least it's second or third article I've seen there in the last month or so.

Domesticity.

That's what I should have named this blog.

Today's adventure will be the making of Baklava Bars. We'll see how this one goes since the grocery store didn't have any mini-phyllo shells, only the entire sheets. Hopefully it will work out okay and I can give some to my dad tonight when he comes to my hockey game.

Newb.

In case you were wondering, your standard freon gauges will indeed work with that 208/230 3 phase unit you're working on.

Mmm...polysorbate 60.

I haven't even read the book and I'm already thinking ick.

I'm not going veggie or vegan, but I do think that what you eat has an impact on how you feel. Did you watch Supersize Me? While not too many people go to that extreme, a steady diet of processed foods can't be that good for you.

With that said, I had Arby's for dinner.

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's a fushia basket for my mommy. This one won't wilt in the Oceanside heat and she can look it as long as the almighty server keeps it 'alive'.

Love ya!

My kitchen skillz have improved.

Or maybe not.

The boyfriend complemented my cooking the other night, he said that he's always liked my cooking but it has improved in the last year that we've lived together. I had to laugh. I've always enjoyed cooking but living with Matchu I never really had to cook. I think in the two years that I lived with him, I cooked twice. Both times on Cinco de Mayo. And he made the El Pato Beans o' Death (soo yummy!) while I made the chicken enchiladas.

At any rate, I have tried very hard to keep boxed food (i.e. hamburger helper) out of our diet. I feel that, for the most part, I have succeeded. The closest to boxed food that gets in my grocery cart is perogies, pizza, and hot pockets. Not bad. I cook alot of chicken, ground turkey and have incorporated some pork into the diet. Red meat graces the gullet in the form of stir-fry meat in the Valerie concoction (stir-fry steak, soy sauce, onions, garlic, chili flakes, sugar, spaghetti, and pesto sauce). Trust me, it's good.

Tonight's dinner was marinaded chicken and a spinach salad. I put the chicken in the 'fridge yesterday afternoon so it could defrost safely (?). I poured on the marinade and let it sit in the 'fridge whilst the oven did its preheat thing. Chicken goes into the oven for about half an hour, I figure it's done, don't check the meat like I usually do. I go to town and eat at least half the damn thing congratulating myself on how moist the chicken is. Hmm, it's pretty damn moist and chewy, even for some Damn Good Chicken. Right before the boyfriend sits down to eat I turn on one more light and tell him to check his dinner. Yeah, it's rather pink.

I'm sitting here an hour later, my stomach doing flip-flops, telling myself it's all in my head (Mmm...samonella.). I eat sushi, I order my steaks medium rare (not rare Uncle Buck style which was "wipe-the-snot-and-shit-off-and-throw-it-on-the-plate" but still rather pink). I can handle this. I threw his serving and what was left of mine back in the oven to complete cooking/germ-killing. He ate his after double-checking that all was cooked. I left my serving in the pan.

Maybe that compliment came a little too soon.

Annoying:

Having a really bad head cold and running out of the nice soft tissues after you've changed into your jammies.

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

I guess tipping over a Tahoe is out of the question.


:)

In case you were wondering...

The Calgary Flames have a player named Phaneuf; The Boyfriend and I have decided that the next animal that comes our way will be named Phaneuf. Phaneuf and Munch. How great is that?

I made another loaf of bread today. I like baking, if you haven't noticed. The pizza stone seems to work well. The loaf of no-knead reminds me of the bread that my mamma would make. I'm hoping the other loaf that I made today will be similar in taste and texture. I'm going to have to figure out how to shape the bread rather than letting it do it's second-rise-thing in the bowl. The dough spreads out on the stone, kinda like Sweet Pea did after laying in the same spot for longer than five minutes. I want the dough to rise more than spread.

I have a hockey game tomorrow night at 2100. Hurrah. I'll be missing 24 and game seven of the Stars/Canucks series. We definitly need to get the Tivo hooked back up.

Bread bandwagon

I'm attempting to make a successful No-Knead Bread. I started it this afternoon and I think I added a bit too much water. Seeing as I've not made this bread before, I guess I'll find out when I bake it tommorrow morning on my brand new Albertson's pizza stone. So if this bread goes completely south, I'll have wasted 3 cups of flour and not much time but will have gained experience with the recipe and how to remove bread from a pizza stone with out using a peel.