Sunday's Child

You'll want to bronze the ladle.

Last weekend, I went up to Conroe to help out after my Mom's foot surgery, and one of the things she requested was chicken noodle soup.  I don't know how to make that from a whole chicken, so I did a quick internet search.  I found a Tyler Florence recipe that matched the ingredients we had on hand and figured it would be hard to go wrong with a Tyler recipe.  It turned out AWESOME!  I came home with a quart of it, and enjoyed it so much that I decided to make a whole pot for myself this weekend.

It's this recipe.  I never have a turnip laying around, so I omit that, and I substituted dried thyme and parsley where he calls for fresh.  Do the chicken stock a day ahead and let it chill overnight so you can skim the fat off all at once the next day.  (I know, gross.)

I somehow managed to smash one finger with the silverware drawer, and splash a drop of cold chicken stock in my eye as I was pouring, but I have a whole pot of soup cooling on the stove waiting to be portioned into freezer containers.  (Why can't I ever get the "oops, cut my finger a little bit" normal kind of kitchen injuries??)

Sometimes there is such a thing as free lunch

This totally sets a bad precedent - yesterday I was rewarded for complaining.  I guess our facilities managers have been getting a lot of feedback about the vending machines, and the vending company hasn't been getting a lot of sales, so they decided to have a little "taste test".  It's all about who you know - I got invited to participate.  The vendor brought a variety of product and about a dozen folks got to sample little bits of everything and provide comments. 

I wrote all over my comment card, front and back, up the side margins, etc.  I was pleasantly surprised by some of the things I tried.  Here's my breakdown:

• Tuna sandwich - surprisingly good.  The bread was fresh, and it tasted mostly like sweet pickle relish, not "tuna gone bad" at all.
• Bean burrito - only so/so.  Too beany for me.
• Turkey and roast beef sandwich - also surprisingly good.
• Chef salad - good.  The lettuce was fresh, and they got the crouton ratio just right.  We provided a LOT of feedback about the dressing though.  They include a packet of fat free ranch because a salad is one of their "balanced choices" and they don't want to go over the calorie limit.  Fat free ranch tastes like liquified plastic.  We asked if they could compromise and give us low fat instead of fat free, and the vendor seemed doubtful.
• Blueberry muffin - too sugary.  I don't think I have ever called anything too sugary in my whole life!
• Cinnamon roll - not sugary enough.
• Strawberry shortcake - I didn't want to like it because it had that strawberry gel on top, but it was really tasty.

We complained about the high prices and the vendor gave us a lecture about capitalism.  The taste test convinced me that the food is good, but the high prices will still probably keep me from buying anything unless I have some sort of "no food from home, supplies in my desk drawer depleted, tornado warning outside" kind of food emergency one day.

At the end of the meeting, the vendor casually mentioned we would also be getting an ice cream machine.  Forget parfait, that's yesterday's news.  We're getting an ice cream machine!!  I hope they understand about the siren call of the Blue Bell ice cream sandwich.

I thought it was pretty funny that they will give us an ice cream machine, but they won't switch to real salad dressing in the salads...

Somebody Call the Guinness People...

... because I found the world's most over-packaged apple in our new vending machine.  It's hard to make out in this picture, but this is a red apple in a plastic tray, encased in cellophane.

Come ON!!  Apples have skin, and it's not like you aren't going to wash it before eating it!  Also, when you think of "parfait", is this what you think of?

 

I was thinking "fruit and yogurt" not "Jell-O with ReddiWip".  I'm not complaining though.  When they restocked the machine on October 27, it was with sandwiches that expired on October 26.  Today at least all the sandwiches are in date.

Halloween at the office

The annual Halloween Costume Contest at work is today.  This is my entry.  I discovered that it's much more challenging to have an effective business discussion when your smile is drawn on.  "Withering Look of Death" just doesn't have the same effect, you know?

Here are a few of the others that I thought were good.  This is Jay Pandya as Michael Jackson.

 

Tim Bergin as "The Love Guru":

Frank Dunbar as Michael Myers from the movie "Halloween".  I heard him scare the crap out of somebody at the coffee station this morning by just standing there behind her until she turned around.

Halloween humor, Gibson style

I still have a few steps to accomplish before it's complete, but here's a preliminary look at the Halloween costume for my 1 month old niece, Bacon... er, Kaylee.  The egg will be sewn to a white hat, as soon as I figure out what store those come from.

We were promised parfait...

Yesterday at work, an email went out announcing that our office is getting new enhanced vending machines, with more food choices.  A ripple of excitement went through the office.  The note included the word "parfait".  When people read that part, the excitement neared fever pitch.  We have long been promised a cafeteria, and it keeps getting pushed to the next budget year.  Vending machines with parfaits sound like a pretty good alternative, right?  Who doesn't like parfait?

I've been stalking Vending Machine Alley all day, waiting for these new magical machines to arrive.  They're plugged in to temporary locations right now - some complicated machine switching must go on to install them in their rightful places.  The fancy refrigerated carousel style one is not fully stocked yet, but I must say, my initial reaction to the selection in there is disappointment.

 

I thought the "Balanced Choices" nutritional propaganda sticker was funny.  So far our choices are cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, chocolate milk, state-fair size pickles, and Red Bull.  I would die of starvation before eating one of those tiny hamburgers.  There's about a 10% chance I would eat the chicken sandwiches, but I would have to REALLY believe death was imminent.

I'm not so sure Red Bull is a good idea for this place either - it's not like we need people to be more on edge.  We're smack in the middle of Open Enrollment season!  Application Development (my group) is mostly powered by caffeine though, so I guess it's good to know there is a readily available power source close at hand!

Andie vs. The Toyota Squeaky Toy Commercial

Dear Toyota Marketing Department:

First, let me say I think you make some fine automobiles.  In particular, a certain 2000 Solara has served me very well over the years.

Now, on to business.  For my part, I need to let you know that I find the Prius commercials with the pitching, heaving, flipping, flying, costumed people forming the landscape to be extremely creepy.  Sure, the music is catchy, and the overall effect is slightly hypnotic, but ew.  You just keep an eye on those folks, okay?  I wouldn't be surprised if they joined forces with the disgruntled non-fruit member of the Fruit of the Loom guys (you know, the one that looks like he's wearing a bowl of corn flakes) and had some kind of uprising one day.

Second, I need to make an appeal on behalf of my dog.  The new commercial where the people are driving around looking for their runaway dog, squeezing squeaky toys out the window, is causing some discord in my household.  At first I thought we were alone in feeling this way.  Then I found a few other sympathizers posting videos on YouTube.  My dog is smarter than this yorkie - she knows toys don't come from behind the television.  They come from me.  Last night, when the offending commercial played during prime time, she got out of bed to come give me an accusing look.  Dogs know when they have suffered an iniquity, and believe me, she is keeping track.  It's like owing back taxes to the IRS.  I'm afraid the next trip to PetsMart might bankrupt me.

Please, if you can't pull the commercial, (we understand, you're in business to make money) could you at least mail us one of those toys?  The one the woman is holding is the more appealing one.  

 

Kind regards,

Jill and Andie

Foreign Ambassador Chili

I was in Conroe yesterday visiting my folks, and my Mom gave me a packet of New Mexico chili powder she got while they were on their trip this summer.  Can you believe I've never actually made chili?  It's 61 degrees and rainy today, not really cold enough for chili, but I'm so thankful it's no longer 81 degrees that I decided to go for it anyway. 

I think chili should be like a good foreign ambassador: "Welcome to the Southwest!  Let me show you around," not like a terrorist: "Wha-ha-ha!  Prepare to have your insides seared out!"  Here's the recipe I used today - it's a good basic foreign ambassador.  Because this new chili powder is an unknown, I erred on the side of "not spicy enough" - next time I'll add a little more.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 package ground beef (I used 85% lean ground round)
• 1 medium white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 can (same size as a can of soup) tomato sauce
• 1 can beans (I used a Kroger brand three-bean blend with kidney, pinto and black beans)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown the meat in a large pot over medium-high heat.  While the meat is cooking, mince the onion and garlic and drain and rinse the can of beans in a colander.  Drain the grease from the meat, then put it back over the heat.  Add the onion, garlic and beans.  Stir.  Add the diced tomatoes (with juice) and the tomato sauce.  Stir.  Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, and toss in the bay leaves.  Stir.  Taste to get a preliminary idea on the seasonings and add more if needed, but be cautious - the flavors really develop more as it cooks.  Reduce heat to simmer and allow to cook for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring about every thirty minutes.

Remove from heat to cool, and while it's cooling, make rice.  1 cup of dry rice and 2 cups of water makes about the right amount to go with this chili.

Serve chili over rice, topped with grated cheddar.  Goes well with Saltine crackers.  Makes about five servings.

I love the smell of wet newspaper in the morning

(not really.) 

Today is "Ready, Set, Go!" day for the Fall garden.  I got up and put on my work clothes, and drove down to the corner of 6 and W. Little York and bought a Sunday Chronicle.  (What ever happened to the Saturday Chronicle?  If they sell the Sunday one on Saturday morning, when do they sell the Saturday one?)

If you're wondering about "garden + newspaper," here's the connection - I have the little strip behind the garden boxes where weeds like to grow.  One Sunday Chronicle wadded up, plus one bag of pea gravel = weed control.  Hopefully.

After that, I spent two hours with the claw tool, a bag of peat humus and a bag of cow compost re-mixing the Mel's Mix.  All that effort, and it looks exactly the same as you remember it:

No, I'm not growing numbers.  Here's the plan for this season:
1 and 2: onion sets, once I get them from Conroe
3 and 4: vacant for now
5 and 6: one broccoli in each square
7 and 8: vacant for now
9 and 10: vacant for now, possibly salad mix rotation later
11 and 12: salad mix (1 little gem, 1 mignonette bronze, 1 tango and 1 radicchio in each square)
13 and 14: carrot rotation, vacant now
15: first square of carrots (planted today)
16: will be carrots, plant in one month

So there will be four squares of carrots, planted a month apart.  They take three months to grow.  So starting three months from now, I'll have a continuous supply of carrots.

There are also four squares set aside for salad mix.

What I learned in the Spring about broccoli is that it takes a huge plant to make one head of broccoli, so you can't put four broccoli in one square.  It also makes big shady leaves.  I left an easement of squares around the broccoli this time and just planted one in each square.  We'll see how it goes.  There aren't that many fall veggies I'm interested in, so I have squares to spare for the moment.

Hangin' with my Christmas homies

I took a break from holly leaves and started on some of the characters for the tree skirt.  (There is a second gingerbread man, but he's already attached to the skirt.)  Please note that someone at Bucilla is crazy - check out the coat trim on the back of Santa Claus.  On the BACK!  That was a separate little piece I had to cut out and applique.  This is something that's going to be sewn down - nobody will be able to see the back.  I guess when Christmas rolls around, I can sleep soundly at night knowing that if someone pries up the Santas on my tree skirt, they are properly outfitted with coat trim.