Cooking like a madwoman!

In general, I don't cook.  I bake.  I'll make a loaf of bread every day if I have someone to share it with.  I bake cookies in batches of 12 dozen.  But I don't like to cook. This weekend, though, I went shopping and got stuff together to make dinner.  Lots of dinner.

It all started with this post I saw on Pinterest.  It's a woman who did a whole pile of prep work in one two-hour period, and froze everything for a bunch of slow-cooked meals.  I love my Crock Pot.  I love it so much that I have two of them, actually.  I can have a good meal that's ready when I get home from work, and it doesn't heat up the whole kitchen like the oven will.  I used a couple of her recipes, and then went through my three slow-cooker cookbooks and grabbed some more.  In all, I made 9 different meals, which broke down into 17 batches that are now taking up the bottom of my deep freeze.

It was a LOT of food: 18 chicken breasts, 4 lb stewing beef, 2 lb kielbasa, 8 italian sausages, 9 onions, peppers, carrots, celery, potatoes, spices, soups... that shopping trip included more food than I normally buy over the course of a full month!  But I worked it out, and with leftovers, I should have enough for 20-30 meals, maybe more, depending on whether I make rice or pasta or potatoes to go along with the main dish.  So I'm thinking it'll work out well.

Even following the recipes, though, I ended up with some extra food, mostly because of the way it was packaged.  So last night, I made up alfredo noodles with grilled chicken and grilled orange peppers, and tonight was meatballs and bowtie pasta with tomato sauce.  I've got to say, I'm looking forward to just microwaving or slow-cooking my meals for a few weeks...

Also, it took three showers, a gajillion hand washings, and multiple scrubbings with my stainless-steel smell-remover thingy to get the scent of 9 chopped onions out of my hands.  Just saying.

Anyways, my point here is, I'm going to try all these recipes now, and the ones that I really like, I'll be repeating at the end of October, so that when NaNo rolls around, I don't have to worry about cooking.  I can just use my time to write.  Yay!

Yeah, totally missed Friday

But I have a perfectly valid excuse - I have a baby at my house!  My sister and her fiance and their 3-month-old baby girl arrived on Friday night, and it's been a whirlwind weekend.  Any time that I've managed to sit down for more than a few minutes at a time, I've had a baby in my arms.  Not that I'm complaining!  But it's not so easy to type...

Today we had our big Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie.  Followed by a hockey game.  Well, watching a hockey game, not playing one.  Tonight was the Jets' season opener, the first Jets game in 15 years, and it was against the Canadiens.  Back in the day, when the Jets were still in Winnipeg, I was a Jets girl, through and through.  These days, though, I'm a Habs fan, which made it interesting to watch tonight's game.  Either way, I was going to be happy, but I was also going to be disappointed.  I found an article online though, that really describes it well: Loren Roberts is another Jets-fan-turned-Habs-fan.

But now that the hockey adrenaline has worn off, and the turkey tryptophan is kicking in, I think I'm going to go pass out for a few hours.  And then I might get up for a midnight snack of lemon meringue pie.

Mmm... food...

Went shopping with Zoe at the Fresh Market today. WOW. The food there was just beautiful! There was so much there... it all looked and smelled wonderful. There was so much variety, and there were so many specialty items.

We ended up getting some vanilla tart filling and brown sugar whipped cream for dessert tomorrow (I've got pastry shells already), and we're going to have vanilla cream tartlettes. Yum! We also got some caramel machiatto coffee - freshly ground! I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I had a cup tonight with some of the brown sugar whipped cream on top, and it was delicious. I may end up becoming a coffee girl.

Now I'm totally up for food preparation - also picked up some phyllo shells to make chicken salad appetizers for tomorrow, and Zoe is baking up a storm as I type (puppy chow and haystacks, I believe). There is much fooding. It is good.

Moose!

I made a moose cake! Unfortunately, I did not take a photo with my phone, so you'll have to wait until I find the right cords to hook up my camera and download pictures. But I made a moose cake!

Why a moose cake? Well, I'll tell you!

Tonight was the official kick-off party in the Georgia::Macon region for National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo (you know, that thing you keep hearing me talk about). I'm one of the co-municipal liasons for the area, and I went to the party. With a cake.

"But that still doesn't explain the moose!" you say. Patience, grasshoppers!

Years ago, the WriMos in Macon needed a mascot and a name. I still don't quite know how they got a moose, but that's what they chose. And they voted to name him Mickey. Please note that I say "they" rather than "we" - this was all before my time in Macon. In any case, the moose is our mascot, and this year, I carved a cake in the shape of Mickey, and decorated him all moose-like.

I've got to say, for a last-minute job, he turned out pretty spiffy. Spiffy enough that no one really wanted to cut him up.

I think, however, that I've been watching too much "Ace of Cakes," because when I first thought about doing it, I started to wonder if I would have the time to learn to use fondant, because it would be much smoother and more moose-like. Perhaps I should try to watch less of the Food Network... of course, my other option is to take a cake-decorating course!

Mmmm...

...Schwann's...

I got ice cream today - Rocky Road (which is for guests only), Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Vanilla, Ice Cream Sandwiches, and Classic Schwann's Bars. Mmm... that's what happens when Daddy and Peter have a couple of beers with dinner and start thinking about dessert and forget that we still have pumpkin pie AND apple pie in the fridge! But I'm not complaining! I love the stuff, and the Schwann's guy will be back in two weeks to sell me more frozen goodies - yay!

Food?

Sweet pickled cheesecake covered in orange salsa.  That is all.

Actually, no, that's not all, but that's all I need to say on the subject tonight.

In other news, my dog has learned a new trick (mostly).  We've been working on 'touch' - she touches my hand with her nose.  She's doing it about 90% of the time now, as long as my hand is near face-level for her.  Next week, we're gonna move the hand higher and see how she does.  I'm so proud of my baby!

And in other news, an update on my resolutions:

- Blog every day.  Check! 146 days and counting!

- Finish at least two craft projects before I start on a new one.  Check!  I've finished three projects, so I started a new one... once I finish one more, I'm allowed to start another... which is good, since I need to get started on costume bits for Chicago.  I'm making my own fishnet thigh-highs ;)

- Lose 20 lb.  Check!  Down 6 so far!

- Get in better shape.  Check!  I've been exercising lately, and while I plan to stop doing aerobics for the next seven weeks, it's because I'm going to be dancing in a show, so it balances out.

- Read more.  Check!  I've read 12 books so far this year, which isn't bad, considering that I've been at the theatre almost nightly since, well, the year started.

Swiss Goodness

The crackle of the plastic wrapper breaks the silence of the room.  A soft rip follows, and it crinkles again as the protective wrapping is peeled back.  A slight aroma wafts up from the package as hasty fingers pull at the wrapper, freeing the contents.  The cardboard base falls to the floor, a soft thunk.  

"Mmmm..." A soft moan sounds as the first bite is taken.  A slight saltiness at first, then rich, luscious, chocolate-y goodness.  The creamy center is sweet and light, breaking the chocolate rush.  The first bite is savoured, but the second and third are hasty, trying to get as much sweetness as possible.  Finally, the last mouthful is allowed to slowly dissolve, the chocolate and cream melding into one sweet mixture before being swallowed.

The second Swiss Roll sits in the wrapper, taunting, teasing, tempting.  It is impossible to resist.

Two bites, and it is gone.

Blargh.

Ick.  

That's all I have to say about last night's post.  Ick.

I was trying to write a first-person account of a D&D session, but it just turned out badly.  I think that it's because I'm really not into the character that I'm playing.  We've only had two sessions, and not a lot of RP, so I suppose it's not that bad, but, well, that story attempt sucked.

So instead of sucking at more story attempts tonight, I spent the evening cooking.  I made perogies.  From scratch.  And they are AWESOME!!  I must have finally hit the right combination of onion and cheese and salt and pepper, because the filling tasted the way it's supposed to.  Last time, they were a bit on the bland side.

For future reference for myself... used 1 potful of potatoes, mashed in one block of Kroger brand medium cheddar cheese, used 1/2 onion (sauteed), about 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/4 tsp salt.  Yay!

Now I must go call Matt and tell him that I have perogies.  He has been waiting and begging for them for almost a year.

Attention span of a gnat

I logged in to blog tonight, and was surprised to see my face. Yes, I had forgotten that I changed my avatar from my tap shoes to a photo of me. Early Alzheimer's perhaps? Or maybe just a short attention span. Or maybe just too many things on my mind!

I'm now a card-carrying member of the library system. I got signed up today, and I started off with two knitting books, and two card-making books. I've heard that a particular friend of mine doesn't approve of libraries, because people don't have to buy books, thereby not supporting authors. I understand where she's coming from - I want people to buy my books (well, my theoretical books), not just borrow them. At the same time, there are people who simply can't afford books, and should not be denied the joys of reading. And, well, I can't really justify $29.95 for a knitting book when I may or may not actually find a pattern that I like at my current skill level. Of course, if I do find a pattern in a borrowed book, chances are good that I'll go out and buy it for myself.... so libraries, for me, are more of an idea place.

My throat still hurts, and I'm starting to get froggy-sounding. This is not fun. On the bright side, I've only used about a quarter of a box of Kleenex (with Aloe and Vitamin E!) today, as opposed to the almost-full box that I used up yesterday, so my nose is getting better! I chatted a lot tonight (PRN!), and I'm wondering if I'll still have a voice in the morning. It used to be, when I got sick, that the first thing to go was my voice. I almost miss that. It was nice to have an excuse not to answer phones or deal with patients... ahh... those were the days... I had a little whiteboard that I carried around. There was one night that I lost my voice, but Kari-Ann and I still went out to the Norwood to see Schmadams playing, and boy, did he ever have fun with that whiteboard!

My phone is dying. It is dying a slow, slow death. It will now stay charged long enough for only a ten-minute phone call. After that, it will give one pathetic beep, wait about six seconds, then turn off. I have unintentionally hung up on about six phone calls this week. It's only Wednesday. I wonder who else I will hang up on?

I'm craving chocolate. I had a slice of chocolate cake for dessert, and rather than quelling the chocolate-monster that lives in my belly, it acted as an appetizer, and the monster wants more. More!

I need to get a garbage bin for my office. I keep noticing candy wrappers and such that really need to make it out of the room, but I get distracted and forget them. I'll have to write myself a note.

How was that for a random day?

Cutest Ever!

Woot! I am the "cutest video blogger ever"! (According to my sister.) I had a lot of fun with that video, actually... aside from getting it to upload! You may have noticed that the timestamp on the post says 10-something pm, but you probably didn't actually see it online until the next morning. That's because it took HOURS to get it online! First, my internet was being spotty and conked out a few times, then it was slooooooooow... and then it took forever to process! I finally had to give up and go to bed, because it was after midnight. It finally got fully posted in the morning... but I did have it recorded and posting before midnight!

Luckily, tonight, the internet is being nice to me. Yay!

I spent time in a very mulit-cultural environment tonight - it was Project Runway Night (PRN) at Blake's place. 'How is PRN multicultural?' you might be asking. I'll tell you! There were people from multiple cultures! There was an American, a Canadian, a Brit, and an American-turned-Brit. Okay, so the cultures are fairly similar... but we did have a nice little discussion about the differences we see!

Canadians and Brits butter everything. You name the sandwich, we'll butter it! I've been known to butter my bread to make a PBJ.

Canadians and Brits add extra 'u's to everything. Look at my blog - you'll see the little buggers everywhere!

Canadians and Brits say 'tap' instead of 'faucet,' but Americans use 'tap' to refer to the thing you put on a keg to get beer out (Canadians and Brits do, too).

I won't ask for that special Friday section of the paper at work (the Out & About) because I get laughed at every time I do. The American-turned-Brit gets teased for talking about wearing 'regular' clothes instead of 'normal' clothes. The Americans get laughed at in the other two countries ;).

Also, we had Shepherd's Pie, that ended up being country pie because it had beef instead of lamb. And that is a British/Irish dish.

Maybe next time, I'll make perogies!