Overcompensation

Yeah... I was a bit lax/lazy in my cooking efforts last week. Didn't help that yesterday I was feeling a bit funky, so we just had McD's for dinner. I suck, sue me.

So, the plan for today was Major Cooking Fest. We've got some hot weather coming up this week and I know at least tomorrow is going to be stupid crazy at work, so I figured some time in the kitchen today would pay off big time later in the week.

Started out with some meatballs. Changed up my usual recipe a bit... I've seen enough Molto Mario meatball recipes where he's suggested using some bread moistened in milk to make them more tender, but it never stuck. Was watching America's Test Kitchen last week and they mentioned the technique when they were making some burgers, and I figured it was worth a try.

Holy moly. Did it ever.

A pound and a half of beef, a pound and a half of mild pork sausage, spices, an egg, and four slices of bread moistened with a couple tablespoons of milk and mashed to a paste. Bestest. Meatballs. EVER. So tender.

I browned them, threw them in the crockpot, and planned to go with a jar of Prego, and a jar of the Del Fratteneli (or whatever, it's late and I'm too lazy to go get the jar outta the trash to check spelling) sauce. But I could not believe it. I was actually out of Prego. I did have a jar of Muir Glen sauce, so that is what I used, along with the Del Whateverthehelli sauce . Somewhat heartburn inducing, but not as bad as the Muir Glen stuff straight up.

I also started some bacon in the oven to use for BLTs this week, since it looks like I'll have my first massive amount of tomatoes within the next couple days. Did one batch - start bacon in a cold oven set to 400 degrees and cook until desired doneness - and started a second batch (I had an open half-pound of bacon and an unopened pound, figured I'd just make it all). That is when the hubby called. He went to stop by his folks, and they were having problems with their internet connection. I turned off the oven, took out the bacon, and headed over.

A couple hours later we finally figured out the problem.... father in law didn't follow our advice of actually running the Microsoft updates that he should - they never did them with their dial-up connection, and they were STILL running SP1. D'oh. I did have to deal with a call to customer service to see if they had any suggestions, and ended up talking to THE WORST I.T. customer service person EVER. Like, this guy couldn't understand that I had even tried connecting the modem to another PC to see if worked with that one (it worked hunky-dory with my laptop, didn't work on the in-law's desktop). And he then tried to tell me that the router was the problem.... um, no. The router was not the problem. Was a router from Old Company, and one reason I ended up installing it was that it actually tests your internet connection, and if you're connected and log on, it will pretty much tell you if the problem is the modem (and several times when we tried to connect, it was saying there was no connection and there were problems with DHCP). But, in the end, they were up and running again and happy and very grateful.

Stopped on the way home... they are right by a Trader Joes, and wanted to get some more capers. I have much love for their capers, and I downright ruined a meal last week by using some sub-par (and twice the price, grumble) capers. At first, I grabbed two jars. Then I grabbed a third. Then picked up a loaf of Italian bread and a bottle of chianti that I planned to have with dinner (but I forgot about, D'OH!). Then went back for a fourth bottle of capers. Yeah, color me slightly paniced about not finding them at my last TJ's trip.

After dinner, boiled some rice noodles and mixed up some light coconut milk and curry paste to have a cold curry noodle salad for lunch tomorrow. Hopefully, with the hot weather, that should hit the spot. I wish I had some fresh lime to add, though.

And with that.... a weekend is done... and a hellish workweek lies ahead. Ain't ya jealous???

The Cult of Tivo

I admit, I am of the Cult of Tivo.

I've always been a television person... it was something that was always on growing up. We were some of the youngest kids I knew to get our own TVs in our own rooms (sad that a 12-inch, black & white television was once something that made you the envy of your peers!). We did still watch TV together as a family, but there was the option to go to your room and watch in peace and quiet if you wanted to (and I think my parents were quite happy to never ever have to watch a episode of Full House ever again.....)

When we got our first Tivo, it was just awesome. When we moved into our townhome, we were excited to add a newer, second generation Tivo to the family.

While I am a proud member of the Cult of Tivo, I think the hubby is going for High Priest status. He decided we needed yet ANOTHER Tivo (for you math people out there... that is three Tivos for two people - and we have 6 televisions in this house). So, today, we went to the bank and the post office (see kids... this is what happens when you're like 16 and cannot WAIT to become a grown-up so you can do all the great & fun things grown-ups get to do) and then we headed to Circuit City. A new Tivo was purchased, and a wireless adapter for Tivo 2 (just easier than running a network cable to it). We also felt we needed to add something else media-centric to the cart and I plunked in a $40 DVD player that I can easily move between the bedroom and the basement.

Got home, hubby installed Newest Tivo in the living room, Tivo Number 2 moved to the computer room and got the wireless hookup, and Tivo 3 is now in the bedroom. The really nice thing is that we can transfer programs between the Newest Tivo and Tivo Number 2 now, which is nice for a lot of the wrestling-related programming that hubby takes that I could care less about.

Newest Tivo is also pretty damned neat on its own... it can (with a big ole asterisk) record two programs on two different channels at once. I gotta hand it to the Tivo people... I'm guessing they found a way to smoosh their older technology with their newer technology together. It can record two channels at once, as long as one is a basic, non-digital signal feed that you can get on a regular TV. This will be especially exciting come the regular TV season where we tend to have some overlap on what we want to watch. For now, this means I can tape MonsterQuest and other good stuff that I usually have to try and catch on a re-run.

Wooo! I watch too much television.

From lands far away and unknown......

Ladies and Gents.... this post comes to you from lands far and unknown from my usual spot...... I'm sitting upstairs in our computer room. Supposed to be the second bedroom, but we have it turned into a 'puter room.

This is the hubby's territory. Since I got my laptop (before we moved into the townhouse) I haven't spent much time at my ole desktop PC. I throw it some love now and then, but I spend most of my time with my laptop. But, the hubby got some wrestling pay per view tonight and he's watching that, so I have banished myself to the unknown lands.

I go downstairs every once in awhile.... to get a beer and to hear the Man talk about how great this $12 Pay Per View is. I do my duty.

God, this rooms is a mess. I try not to come in here too much. And I'm trying to not pay attention to the dust bunnies.

On the more hausfrau-ish front.....

I have my fingers crossed that next week I'll have enough garden tomatoes for BLTs. I am looking forward to that moment.

After my day at work today (in the midst of a software release and my coworker overslept this morning and was very rested all day) was just hell. I don't know if it is just not being used to the pace I used to function at all the time or what... but was I ever glad to leave work today. Even if I have to find some time to do some work over the weekend.

Ok.... that's all I got in me right now. i suck. and using my split keyboard it odd, but it does feel better on my hands, which are killing me right now....

A Tomato Three Way

Pardon my grammar and typing... it's been "one of those weeks" at work. I'm a little surprised at how "out of practice" I seem to be at having, ya know, a lot of actual WORK to fill up my day. But, I guess the problem has been that it doesn't just fill the day, I've been bringing it home to get a couple more non-office hours in.

Anywho.....

Tonight's dinner featured three forms of tomato. I love summer!! At the grocery store last weekend I saw green tomatoes, so I bought those. I have been craving fried green tomatoes, but I've been unwilling to sacrifice any of my tomatoes on my plants. I'll happily overpay for grocery store green tomatoes!

I was also excited because yesterday I picked my first purple cherokee tomato. Yay! Although eating it today, it probably could have used another day or two on the vine.

So.... dinner was fried green tomatoes, and the purple cherokee and some cherry tomatoes on a salad, and Reuben sandwiches for the main. The local deli/produce mart is apparently adding homemade corned beef to their "homemade " deli selections. Wow. Was it ever good. They already do Italian roast beef and turkey and both those rock (and are half the price of the brand name stuff) and they've also recently added chicken breast. I plan to keep buying!

Not too much else happening. In for hot weather over the weekend, and I had planned on prepping/browning some meatballs this week to dump in the crockpot at some point, but when I looked at my ground beef (I usually do half ground beef, half sweet sausage) on Tuesday it was already kinda grey and scary, so I tossed it. At least it was only cheapo "ground beef" - no particular cut associated with it - so it was only a loss of a couple bucks. But, I might pull the sausage outta the freezer tomorrow and make an early trip to the store on Saturday to still do it this weekend.

Other than that.... just looking forward to the weekend and not having to deal with formatting a 280 page file or 20000 lines of HTML code. Like I said, it's been a fun week.... NOT.

A big pan full of summer.......

Isn't it pretty??

Made a recipe that has been makin' the rounds with my peeps. Adapted by Deb, posted lovingly by Carrie (who is such a good person, she is my friend despite my potty mouth). Cheese Ravioli with Bacon and Zucchini. Cheese ravioli + bacon + summer's bounty. That is actually a "double" batch since the hubby prefers meat ravioli, so I just started with a pound of each. Store-bought zucchini (I don't bother to grow it, even though I know you pretty much have to put a zucchini plant in a dark room and never water it to get it to not grow gangbusters for you... it's just so cheap to buy it in the summer that it ain't worth it to me), and some of the little bumper crop of cherry tomatoes I'm dealing with right now. I actually used romano in the recipe - partly because I am cheap, and partly because we're both not huge fans of massive amounts of parm.

I loved it. Add some more parm on top and a load of shredded basil and it was heaven - just tasted like summer. The hubby ate it but later admitted he'd have liked regular sauce (dude.... why didn't you just ask? I've still got half a dozen jars of Prego hiding downstairs). But, no matter... this will likely be made again when the rest of my 'maters start creeping up on me. He can have the Prego, I'll have this.


Sigh. Are those tomatoes here yet?????

Bye-bye, weekend......

I hate this moment, when you know the weekend is over and you have to go to work the next day.

Sigh.

Dinner tonight was a steak for the hubby, some fish for me. Fish was looking/tasting good until I added capers to the sauce. I bought these capers a couple weeks back at the farmer's market. Waaaay too salty for my tastes. I had them soaking in water earlier today, trying to get some of the salt out, but bleh. They just ruined it. Live and learn. And must stop at Trader Joe's to get some of their capers. I have much love for their capers.

Did some steamed potatoes as a side... chopped yukon golds, rinse them, thwap into a steamer bag and nuke. I love those steamer bags... although "carbon footprint guilt" has got me using a proper plastic microwave steamer for my veggies most nights. When they came out of the microwave, tossed them with some butter and parsley. Yum.

Got my meals planned for the week... a new dish for me tomorrow - ravioli with chopped cherry tomatoes, zucchini and bacon (which comes highly recommended, but I already suspect the hubby with not like it). Also going to do a pork stir-fry this week, possible "chicken something or other" and some reubens (they had homemade corned beef on sale at the produce/deli mart today, I couldn't resist).

Been dabbling with playing around at learning some basic blackjack lately. I'd like to get brave enough to pony up to a table next time we're in Vegas. I'm usually a "machine only" person.... I just have very litter tolerance for other people's stupidity. Me + on vacation + idiot at table.... I just see that turning into a scene where I end up going off on someone and casino security becoming involved. On our first two trips to Vegas (Luxor and the Monte Carlo) I was able to walk up to the video blackjack machines they had and use them as my own personal cash machines. That was nice. But I have a couple of games loaded on to my Palm that I usually play at lunch... and is my luck just BAD. Even on the one that prompts me when I make a "bad" play.... it's not even a "breaking even" thing, I'd be happy with that.... I just suck. I started out with $500 and I'm already $500 in the hole. This cannot bode well.

Random musings.....

While doing dishes tonight - my least favorite household task, by the way - I started to think about Americans and food, and this whole attitude that "cooking is hard". My hands are better today, I could pick up a knife without the fear of a bloodbath, so it was biscuits and gravy. Slice the sausage, chop an onion. It wasn't even hard with my crappy hands. Why are people so scared of it? My mind wandered to Rachel Ray. I like the idea of Rachel Ray and 30-minute meals. Make something that is approachable and people will be more likely to take it on (her personality is a whole other issue, that is what I just cannot stand). It's one of the things that drives me nuts about the Semi-Ho, Sandra Lee. Rather than simple cooking, she over-complicates things trying to make it fit her philosophy. There is nothing wrong with store bought stuff, when purchased and used as intended by the maker - those bags of shredded cheese are one of the greatest modern wonders, IMHO.

Typo of the day that I spent two hours correcting in 3 documents and two help systems.... "overlayed". Seriously???? Even Micro$oft's spell checkers catch this one. Sigh. And some of those misspellings have been in the docs for at least two years (that was as far as I could go back without bursting into tears). I think it's not just the fact it was misspelled, it was that it was done so many times.

I need to get a better camera. My stinkin' cell phone camera sucks in the first place, and I've started to get the blue screen of death when I connect it to my laptop. FUN.

I am way too happy to have the plan to actually head out and eat lunch outside the office tomorrow. It's been a few weeks. I can almost taste my Roly Poly Chicken Popper now....

The townhome association is actually doing a block party this year. Mind you, I'm in NO mood to socialize with the people who live on either side of us. I guess it's lucky that they are having it on the same day & time as a birthday party we have to go to. But the part of me that loves to cook is still thinking of making some guac or something and just dropping it off. I don't want people to know I'm not a joiner-type.

We really, really need to book our trip to Vegas soon. I think the Man was just waiting until our tax rebate check cleared (which it didn't, the bank is mailing it back to us so we can both sign it and have to go to a teller to deposit the darned thing... methings the gob'ment is doing their best to make sure these things are cashed in as staggered of an order as they can be, but I can be a bit suspicious....). The parents-in-law are going the first week in August, I think. We wanted to book mid/late August, but one of the hubby's close friends is getting married in August and we just got the invite... we'd been putting off booking until we knew when it was, and it's kinda late now. I did put the idea of the NFL opening weekend in the hubby's head. We actually did that for our "honeymoon" trip (hey, we got married in Vegas but it WAS a business trip, lol) and I know he loved it. And Da Bears are playing on Sunday night, which would be fun. I may even get to drag him to Bouchon for breakfast. He's also expressed an interest to go back and hit the Bubble Bar at Guy Savoy again, he loved it so much the last time. I could most certainly do that......