Random crap

Hello everyone. It is Tuesday and we all know what that means. Incomplete thoughts, right? No! It means thoughts that don't quite make up a post. Incomplete thoughts imply that I haven't finished them (that happens way too often now that I've hit menopause). The following thoughts are about as done as they are ever going to get.


Speaking of menopause. (if I have any guy readers you may want to skip this part but let's face it your wives are going to go through this so you may want to listen up. I'm just sayin'. It may save you some pain and suffering and there WILL be pain & suffering)

Dear Menopausal Body:
I can handle the 10 extra pounds you decided to heap on my body that is virtually impossible to get off. I may not like it but I can even take the insomnia, night sweats and hot flashes. While the memory loss sucks it also gives me an excuse to be a ditz which sometimes works to my advantage. The crying over VodkaMom's post about her mom, the effing TV commercial, or that the contestant on "Bobby Flay's Ultimate Throwdown" lost to that smug bastard Bobby is workable though it makes JR a bit uncomfortable.

What I really can't handle is the period that you decide to throw at me every 6 to 8 months. Could ya give me a little warning. I'm not asking for much. A cramp or two, maybe some spotting, how about a zit. I'd take any of those things over the immediate gushing that you hit me with last week. I wasn't really prepared being that I was out of town. It is really not much fun to call the hotel housekeeping staff at 3am to request femine hygene products.

Can we make a deal? I'll put up with all those other complaints without making a fuss if you'll just give me a little warning. Oh, and I'll promise not to bite JR's head off about those crazy ass statements he makes like: "Honey, are you crying? It's a Tide commercial?"

Thanks,
Michele



How pathetic is it that I spent an hour reading the AARP magazine. Worst, I learned some cool things. When the article; "Dolly Parton; How she turned rags into riches" was riveting means I really need a life.


In my personal vegetarian opinion pizza Margarita is the best pizza on the fricken planet. The simplicity is a lazy persons mecca and we all know that I'm not anything if not lazy. Here's my version (there are lots of others out there but damn they just get way too complicated, duh, too lazy here, dudes!).

1 pre-prepared pizza crust (got mine for .45 cent, Score!!)
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
a shit load of fresh basil. (shit load is a technical cooking term ) A couple of decent handfuls at least. rough chop.
Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thin or chopped or whatever gets it on the dough
a handful of Parmesan cheese
Drizzle of Olive oil
salt & pepper

Spread out the dough. Top in the following order; basil, tomato, mozzarella cheese, drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt & pepper. I really can't stress how important fresh ingredients are to making this pizza. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 12 to 14 minutes. Let set for 2 to 3 minutes. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.

Giving away a painting this week. If you want in go here.

In late October the girls and I got together to make beaded crystal things for my new office. The thought was that I needed to get rid of all the bad vibes left by the previous owner. I consulted Julie's Feng Shui book, titled "Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life, How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect, and Happiness" for any ideas on how I could make a change in my work direction and make my new office a more zen like place. Now, I'm not saying that this had anything to do with me getting my new job or anything but????????

That ought to do it for today. If you want in head over to Keely's place. You get a button and get to place you name on the Mr Linky thing. All good.

Love,
M

Painting Giveaway

For months now I've been toying with the idea of having a painting giveaway, egged on by Jen at Sprite's Keeper. With my upcoming move I've decided to give away this painting:

Since, I've never done this before I'll try to make it easy and fair for everyone though I make no guarantees.

I do have to say that I rarely give my paintings away ( it's kind of like giving away a child or letting them move out of the house. You never really trust what is going to happen to them once they leave the nest. Plus, what if someone doesn't want it later on? then what? It's not like they can move home. Jesus, am I over thinking this whole thing?). I want them to go to someone that will really enjoy them. I'm just like that fretful parent watching their child head off for college. The loss of control is terrible.

So in the words of my friend Sher: "leave a comment about a favourite artist, piece of art, if they ever dated a dude named Art, are big fans of Garfunkle, you know, what do you call a man with no arms and no legs hanging on a wall..art....." I will use a scientific method of random generation with whatever boy is in the house pulling a name out of a hat. (This will be the hardest choice since I have tons of hats).

One entry person please. Contest ends on Friday April 3rd.

BTW, this painting is unframed. I'll paint the edges so if you don't want to frame it it won't look so stupid. It has also been curing for about 3 weeks so it should be good to go but I wouldn't varnish it for another 4 months. You don't have to at all but varnishing it will make it so it won't fade. Also this painting is 16" x 20" which is a nice standard frame size. You'd think I planned it that way.

Love,
M

Friday Food

I went grocery shopping last night (yawn). Thursday is not my typical day to shop because when I get home from work I'm tired. Oh all right, I'm not tired. I'm lazy and hungry. You know that you should never go shopping when you’re lazy hungry. So after dinner (which was unspectacular Sloppy Joes & tater tots. Don’t blame me for this meal the boys bought this while I was away and it needed to be used. Because the roasted red pepper pesto just didn’t sound good, jerks) I girded my loins, whatever that means, and went shopping. I bought $97 worth of groceries for $47. Not bad. Not as good as that coupon queen blogger that will buy $100 in groceries for .25 cents but respectable.

I made out so well using my patented (okay, not patented) method of grocery ad maximization and coupons. I’m not a big coupon shopper but I thought I’d throw in some to see if it would work. I’m pretty happy with the results. I got Pillsbury Pizza crusts for .45 cents each. I can’t make them from scratch for that. FYI, you will probably see a recipe or two using pizza dough soon. I’m thinking Calzones or pasties or some such thing.

This packing and moving crap is kicking my butt so my cooking (read: wine drinking) is going to suffer. Just wanted to let you know.

I haven’t made this in awhile but since tomatoes were on sale for .77 cent a pound this week and I have all the other ingredients that need to be used up (because the boys would rather have Sloppy Joes & Tater tots) I’ll be making it this weekend.

Gazacho

2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded

1 large sweet red pepper, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chives

2 tablespoons parsley

2 tablespoons basil

1 tablespoon chervil

1 tablespoon tarragon

½ cup olive oil

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3 cup canned vegetable broth

3 tablespoons tomato juice

1 medium onion, diced

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

Salt

Paprika

1 lemon, thinly sliced

Combine tomatoes, pepper, garlic, chives, parsley, basil, chervil and tarragon in a large bowl. Gradually stir in oil, lemon juice, broth, tomato juice, onion and cucumber. Season to taste with salt and paprika. Refrigerate until serving time. Garnish with lemon slices sprinkled with paprika or be lazy like me and skip this part. Sure presentation is nice but this is for guys who want Sloppy Joes.

Just to give credit where credit is due this recipe is brought to you from my wonderful Benson & Hedges presents Recipes From America's Favorite Resorts. Oh, how I love this cookbook.

On a totally different note: I've only had one comment (so far, give me time I've only been doing this for a year and have pretty low stats. Good grief you guys why are you wasting time here? No wait, don't go. I didn't mean it.) that could be considered bad/uncomfortable/cut me off at the knees. I don't think I handled it well. I was pretty quick on the delete button trigger. Not like my friend Jessica. If you don't read her stuff you must now rush right over to check out her response to a snarky comment. It is priceless.


Love,
M

I'm really not a Buddhist

You wouldn't know it by the number of posts about the Tibetan Buddhist Temple that I've posted recently but I'm really not a Buddhist. Sure, I like some of their teachings and obviously the whole vegetarian thing works for me (mac & cheese, really how could that not work?) but I really don't espouse their beliefs and would never push them on anyone. To tell you the truth I would never push my beliefs on anyone. Weird for a quasi Christian huh?

Anyhoo, the sand painting that these monks have done just freaks me out. The workmanship is fantastic. Who couldn't appreciate the detail?

There is all kinds of meaning in the painting but I didn't really pay much attention as Terry was reading. I was truly enjoying the artistry. Sorry Terry. I love you but damn how can I pay attention when I need to absorb?

This is colored sand people! Yeah, Sand! The slightest breath could have ruined the whole thing. When I paint I don't worry about making a mistake (come on it is all a mistake) because I know that I can paint over it but look at this. There is no getting it wrong.

Do you think they did it to make me feel inadequate? DONE! Thanks guys.

Love,
M

We could afford that

JR and I have this quaint little thing that we do everytime we go on a back road trip. Okay, so we have more than one quaint (read strange, unusual, quirky) thing.

There is the deal we made a few years ago that states; Jr will stop at all historical markers, plaques, and signs so I can get my history fix in exchange I will happily go to any brewpub he comes across and will drive after the third.


Another little game we like to play while driving along country roads is one called: "We could afford that". The object of the game is to spot broken down old houses and be the first to say: "we could afford that".

These can't just be any old dilapidated house. No, No, No, they must be falling down, listing to the side, have no glass in the windows, and roofs falling in preferably with grass & bushes growing on what's left. A really prime specimen has birds roosting in them. OMG, there is nothing better than seeing a turkey vulture perched on the top. We swoon over that sight.

Since, JR couldn't be with me last weekend while touring around the Indiana countryside my wonderful friend Terry stepped up. She had never played this particular game before but she got right into it. Spotting broken down pieces of crap right and left. Bless her heart (and I mean that in the nicest way not that other way. Any of you Southerners will know what I mean).

This is the first of the houses we could afford:

Notice the boarded up windows and sagging roof. Isn't it lovely? Since, the roof hasn't totally caved in yet it may be a little rich for our blood but we might be able to swing it.

This is the second house in Browns county Indiana that we could afford:

You can't really tell from this picture but there are bushes growing on the roof of the little added on room. This is a definite 2 story house compared to the other one above but this one is in a little worse shape. Making it probably a little more affordable.

The third house that we found that we could afford is this one:

Terry found this one.
This is an in-town house. Yes, my friends, that is real gen-u-ine glass in them winders and curtains, mind you. Check out the metal roof peeling up on the left side. Sweet! The real show stopper of this beauty is how it is listing to the left. Yes, sirree we could afford that!

Love from your cheapskate friend,
M

Who knew what monks eat!

Well, it's that day of the week. The day we all get to be random and stuff. I'm fairly random to start with so this is a day that makes my life complete. This day and cheese. Can't forget my love of all things cheese. Mmmmmm....cheese.

• I've been gone for 5 days and the house doesn't look too bad. JR is a serious vacuuming fool. I should probably pay him real money because I just don't think that food and sex are enough for what he does around here.

• I left a ton of leftovers in the fridge for the guys to eat while I was gone. A good bit of it is still there. That means that my checking account has paid a high price for my absence.

• I have two choices about the above mentioned leftovers. 1. They become tonight’s dinner or 2. They become science experiments in my fridge. Since, I’m probably one of the cheapest people around they will be dinner.
  

• So, dinner is pasta with creamy goat cheese and sun-dried tomato sauce made from the spread I made before I left and a corn and bell pepper salad from the corn in the there that needs to be used before it gets that weird milky film on it. What is that stuff anyway?

• What do Tibetan monks eat for lunch? I'll tell you. They eat Mac & Cheese. That's right, Mac & Cheese. Had lunch with the monk at the Tibetan Monogolian Buddhist Center in Bloomington, Indiana last Sunday and that is what we ate. BTW, great mac & cheese.

• I thought the monk was going to kill himself or the strange guy next to him with his eating utensil. I mean, if monks actually killed people that is or if he was using something other than a spoon to eat his mac & cheese with.
  

• I wanted to kill the strange guy. He would not shut up about his not being able to completely hit his thoughtless meditative state. I wanted to scream; "If you shut the hell up maybe you could reach that state, you moron!" Then, poke him in the eye with my fork.
  

You all have a nice day. Play nice and play random over a Keely's place.

Love,

M

Along the less traveled road

One of the things I love is to drive along the back roads. Here in Indiana that means coming across some of my favorite things, Old houses, interesting building and old cemeteries. Here are this afternoon's wandering.

This is one of those cool old chrome and steel diners that you just don't see everywhere. I, of course, peeked in the windows. It still has the old milk shake machines. You know the ones, with the mixing wands and metal cups. OMG and the sweetest red vinyl booths and full length Formica counter.
I fell totally in love

My next favorite thing is old family cemeteries that sit along side the road. Strange, huh? Yeah, well that's me, strange.

More to come.

Love,
M

PS: I think the speech went well and I didn't even have to use my fall back plan of booze and xanax.

Change of Venue

I'm not here today (don't cha' love scheduling posts). Today, I am winging my way across the country. I'm going to spend some quality and some not so much quality time in Indiana. I'll send pics. I'll be spending the weekend with my district court judge friend. We'll have to leave the county to get into real trouble. That's doable.

We'll most likely head down to Browns county to party. If I met up with John Mellencamp down there I'll try to snap a pic, after I snatch his 40th cigarette out of his mouth, stomp on it like a nasty bug, and lecture him about the evils of smoking, that is. Actually, in the years that I lived there I never met up with him so my brush with semi-greatness never happened and probably won't this trip either.

I put the finishing touches on my keynote last night (while cruising all your blogs, can I multi-task or what?) so with the correct application of wine and xanax it should come off without a hitch. Would beer be better? I mean it seems like a more breakfasty beverage. My speech is at 8:30 am. I could do both. That would make it a full meal right? A grain and a fruit. Let's call it the continental breakfast of champions.

Now, for a few deets on the new job.

I've accepted a job with the University of Houston Libraries. The wonderful people at the University fell for my line of totally accurate and incredible skills set (BS) and hired me to be their Digital Projects Program Director. Good for me, maybe not so good for them (we'll see). I kid, I'm very excited about the challenges this job will bring. The job is about the same thing I'm doing now just more of it. More responsibility, more staff, more of everything.

I will have made a full circle, started out as a WSU Cougar and will now be a University of Houston Cougar. Karma? I think so.

JR seems to think that we are on a quest to change red states to blue (sounds like a country western song). It worked with Indiana, not so much with Arizona but more than they have ever voted blue. I doubt our success will bleed over into Texas. They have all those Bush characters living down there. I'll just let JR live his little dream of democrat conquest.

Last but not least, JR and I are celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary today. Yeah, I know I'm on a plane right now but we don't need to be in the same state (literally or figuratively) to celebrate. Whatever, here's my last years post about this event.

Love,
M

Ceud Mile Failte

A hundred thousand welcomes to you my friends and

a Happy St. Paddy's day to boot.

Delving deep into my Irish postcards book I've come up with the top 10 Irish stereotype cards.

Number 10
complete with Gaelic greeting.
And may you catch the spirit.

Number 9
Sentimentality


Number 8
Shamrocks


Number 7
Erin Go Bragh


Number 6
Patriotic
(keep in mind that when thee postcards were produce
Ireland was still under British rule)


Number 5
Saucy little Irish lass
Number 4
Bald Monk preaching to frogs.
This one is just a tad strange
Number 3
Possibly drunken revelry

Number 2
Rosy cheeked guy with a mug in his hand.
Hey, you do the math
And the number 1
stereotypical Irishman
expressed in postcard form

Love,
M

Know Your Prices - Frugal Tip

I’ve been thinking about posting about keeping track of what the cheapest price is for an item. It’s been quite a dilemma for me, mostly, because this is kind of a pain in the butt but really worth the effort.

Back years and years ago I made a price book per the Tightwad Gazette instructions. I used this book for like forever. Now, that I’ve been doing this for so many years I sort of have an idea of what things should cost and what is the best price for them. If you are interested in trying this out I would highly encourage it. If you can figure out an easier way to do this I’d love to pass it on.

My price book was a small 3 ring binder with dividers for each letter of the alphabet. As I went through the grocery ads I would update my book if needed. This was a great way to anticipate sales and determine the best price for those items you use everyday.

Each page looked something like this: (though hand written not typed)
I hate Blogger right now. It won't let my do tables.

Item - Safeway - Kroger - Albertsons - Costco - Date

Apples - .39/# - .44/# - .54/# - .35/# - This is the last date of the best price
Apple Sauce
Asparagus

You get the idea. This worked so well that I dropped my food bill by half. Because I never bought anything that I had gotten cheaper at another time. The reason why I waited is because prices fluctuate in a 4 month cycle or there about. If something went on sale I would buy about 6 months worth. Then when it went on sale again I still had a little left from before.

Now that I’ve been doing this so long I really know when something is at its lowest price or the price I’m willing to pay for it.

This weekend’s shopping trip reaffirmed my belief that Costco is not always the cheapest. A sale item can beat the Costco price. On non-sale items you sometimes can do better at Costco. This is why you need to know your prices. Here is an example:

In honor of St. Patty’s day (of which I’ll be posting some great St. Patty’s day historical postcards) things like red potatoes, cabbage, corned beef, and Guinness were on sale. (these are all things I keep on hand. You can’t be the wife of an Irish man and not serve corned beef and cabbage at least once every other month if not more. And we all know that Guinness is a food group all by itself.)

Check out the difference in prices:
---------------------Local Grocery Store-------Costco
Corned Beef ---------1.27 per lb.-------------3.39 per lb
Red potatoes---------.50 per lb--------------.60 per lb
Cabbage--------------.33 per lb------------------N/A
Guinness------------8.99 per 12 pk----------20.99 per 18pk
Pasta ----------------.75 per lb---------------1.17 per lb
Tomatoes-------------.88 per lb--------------2.39 per lb
Butter---------------2.99 per lb-------------1.39 per lb
Olives---------------1.39 per can-------------.99 per can

I hope this encourages you to watch your prices carefully because you can save a bundle.

Love,
M

PS: I probably will be cutting back on blogging or at least not long-winded blog posts (you can thank me later) for a little while. I accepted a job offer from the University of Houston that I couldn’t pass up. I’ll be busy packing, moving and starting a new job.

Thursday Recipe

It’s Thursday and that means one more crappy day until the weekend recipe day. This week’s offering is another curry recipe. At this house curry is a staple but I understand that not everyone goes for it.Okay, I lied. I really don't understand how anyone can not like curry.

This can be as expensive or as cheap as you want to make it. I made this very cheap, like you expected anything less. Most every thing was a leftover. How about I start right in and give you the blow by blow as I go.

Chicken & Peas in Curry Sauce

¼ cup curry powder or 2 Tablespoons of curry paste

¼ cup flour

3 chicken breasts**

¼ cup olive oil

1 small apple, cored and chopped*****

1 stalk celery, chopped***

1 medium onion

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

14 ounce can vegetable stock

1 cup heavy cream****

Salt & pepper

Rice

Drudge chicken breasts in flour, reserving flour. In a deep frypan, sauté chicken in olive oil until golden. Remove and reserve.

Sauté apple, celery and onion until tender; stir in reserved flour until smooth. Add vegetable stock, curry powder or paste. Bring to a boil; reduce hear and add chicken. Simmer, covered, 20-25 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken to a platter. Slice into strips. Reduce heat, stir in cream and peas. Cook until heated through. Season with salt & pepper.

Cook rice as usual.

Serve by stacking rice and chicken then pouring sauce over top.

Serves 4

Now, for the changes:

* I used curry paste because I had it on hand. Don’t sweat it if you don’t.

** I used some left over roasted chicken from a couple of days ago which I just warmed up in the microwave. That way I didn’t have chicken stuff in my sauce. I have some crazy food issues that I should probably see some sort professional for and nothing that we need to go into now. By using already cooked chicken I was able to cut the cooking time down to 15 minutes. Big time saver.

*** I didn’t have any celery but I did have celery seed in my spice cabinet. I tossed in about 2 tablespoons. Worked great.

**** I just happened to have heavy cream in my refrigerator because it was on a manager special. If you don’t have an ice cream junky husband so do not need to keep large quantities of heavy cream in your refrigerator than use regular milk.

***** I realize that apples sound like a weird thing to put in a curry sauce but trust me don’t skip this ingredient. The apples add a nice sweetness to the curry and the texture of the apples is delightful.

After doing a quick bit of math (because that is the only kind of math I do, a quick bit) I figure that all 4 servings cost $5.

Love,

M

Wordless Wednesday - I'm afraid of the tongue

Want to join the fun and literally phone one in today? Go to Wordless Wednesdays

Love,
M

Flavor Infuse Vodka - or a love affair begins

It's Tuesday! And, you all know what that means. Randomness! Woot!

I used to think that I was fickle but now I know that I'm random. I'm feeling better now (said in a high pitch voice with a British accent). I can thank Keely for this revelation. Her Random Tuesday Thoughts helped me re-evaluate my stance on fickleness. Thank you Keely! (and I really mean it this time).

I saw this recipe about how to make your own flavored vodka and my heart went pitter pat. Almost as much as I like red wine I like vodka. Add a splash of cranberry juice and I just lose all sense of decorum (like I had much to start with). So when I saw a recipe to make my own I was all over that. I ran out of my office to announce to JR and the Boy that I needed to make some of this QUICK. I got a less than enthusiastic reception.

JR said, "Honey, I hate to tell you this but you do know you can buy it already flavored."
Me: "But, this is like cooking. With booze!"
JR: "Michele, I know how you like to cook and recipes just make you all fluttery and well, booze is an issue we'll have to explore at AA sometime but wouldn't it be just easier to buy it?
Me: "You just don't get it. It is the journey not the finish that is important. Though the finish can't be all that bad".

He just doesn't get it. (sigh)

JR and I like to go out for drinks at happy hour. We have a cheap drink and a half priced appetizer each that we call dinner. The only trouble with this plan is sometimes you can't find who has the best deals or you just don't want to go to the same old place. I found on Lifehacker (who I'm sure found it from someone else) Mappyhour . This website maps happy hours around the world or at least the United States, Canada and the U.K. How cool is that?

Cameron was nice enough to call me the Queen of frugal (yes, I'm taking this as a compliment. I'm sure that was how he meant it. Cameron, that is how you meant it, right?) Anyway, he has seen the blue light (special) of shopping cheap. I'm so proud. Now, I'm going to give him and you, of course, a great way to use the .77 cent can of spaghetti sauce, .50 cent can of crushed/stewed/diced/whatever tomatoes and the .33 cent can of evaporated milk that you bought because it was so damn cheap you couldn't resist. Yes, even I succumb to this malady.

Cream of Tomato soup
That's what I said.
Cream of Tomato soup
These 3 ingredients make the best dang soup ever.
Added bonus, for a buck and a half it serves 6.
Score!

Pour all 3 ingredients into a large sauce pan. Heat. If you want your soup smoother pull out your immersion/hand blender and give it a buzz. No need to season if you don't want to. Give it a taste just in case. I used the can of garlic & herb spaghetti sauce that I had on hand but any will work. Serve with your cheap bread and cheese, Cameron. Dinner is served!

I'm expecting an important package in the mail today that I'm so nervous about I swear I'm breaking out in spots. More info to come.

Behold my newest painting:


Some day I'll take pity on you all and stop showing these to you. Sorry, today is not that day.

My Aunt Ruth next to a cactus.

I didn't leave her standing in the desert. She's back home safe and snug in Branson, MO. Or at least as safe and snug as she can be in Branson. Have you ever been there? Holy crap! For such a little town their traffic is worse than Phoenix.

Thank you for reading my randomness (as opposed to fickleness). Have a great day today!

Love,
M

Skit Kicker Bar

A couple of weekends ago my friend Lisa and I headed for the town of Cave Creek. We had a couple of functions up there to attend. One was a retirement party for a co-worker and the other was a conference. I wasn't really invited to attend the conference but I'm more than willing to crash a conference.

The retirement party was first on the hit parade. This was a prime opportunity for me to say something completely inappropriate and I totally nailed it. Lisa ought to know by now that she can't take me anywhere.

We were standing with Michael and his partner, (I think his name was Tony but after a couple of glasses of wine I didn't pay much attention. I'm going to call him Tony. He looked like a Tony to me.), a couple that I don't know who they were, (with my luck probably some state senator and his wife), Lisa and I. I had just found out that Tony was from a small town in Eastern Washington and that we were both alumni from Washington State University. WooHoo!

Somehow, we got on the subject of the school logo. Don't ask me why or how or maybe it was just me. I pipped up with: "I love the school and the logo so much I had it tattooed to my hip" while pointing at my ass. Yep, way too much information.

Another glass of not very good wine later the I called one of the state legislators a bastard. NOT to his face. Thank God! He wasn't there or I might have. I did say it in front of the director of our agency though, right after she was thanking me for providing an answer to the bastard's trick reference question. What he really wanted was to prove that we were worthless as an information source. Proved him wrong, the bastard! Whoops! Don't mess with me when it comes to gathering information! I'm just warning.

After the party we had a couple of hours to kill. So what are two city women in a ranch town to do? Why, go to the local shit kicker bar, of course. Did you know that there are grades of shit kicker bars? Me neither. Come to find out, this bar is considered a mild form of the genre. Across the street is the REAL shit kicker bar. Lisa was taking pity on me. Or maybe on herself. God only knows what I would have said or done at a REAL shit kicker bar. Have any of you been to a REAL shit kicker bar as opposed to a less than real one? Could I have gotten into some trouble at one?

Check out the boots nailed to the ceiling beams. Cave Creek is a cowboy/girl (let's be PC) town. A little more red wine later (do you see a pattern here?) I convinced with the two guys singing on stage to sing something besides country songs. (leaving me at the table by myself while you go to the bathroom, Lisa, is just not a very good idea. Just an FYI) They seemed happy to comply since Lisa and I were the only ones paying them any attention. I'm pretty sure that if they had sung too many rock songs the locals would have revolted. We left before that happened.

The conference was less than stellar. Crappy martini, nasty veggie meal and boring speaker. Yawn!

This weekend was so much quieter. Did a little cooking, paperwork, shopping and painting. Hope your weekend went well.

Love,
M

Review & Recipe

As you all have witnessed I am a cookbook slut. I can't get me enough of cookbooks. I buy the damn things every chance I get. I've run out of shelf space for all my cookbooks. We are tripping on them. JR is threatening to toss some of them out. I, of course, got all librarian on his ass by saying; "I don't weed the cookbook range".

Recently, as most of you know, I acquired 24 new ones. New to me at least. Among the gems are few clunkers. One such clunker is titled, "Meatless Cooking: Celebrity Style", copyright 1975. The some contributors to this cookbook are pretty interesting. And, when I say interesting I mean "never have stepped foot in a kitchen". Such as:

• Macaroni and Cheese by Nancy and Ronald Reagan. Why is it that I just can't visualize Nancy in the kitchen making a big ole pot of mac and cheese?

• Buttermilk Soup with Oat Cakes by Victor Borge (pleeease!) and

• Soybean Casserole by Rodney Dangerfield. Was Rodney a vegetarian? This just seemed highly unlikely to me.

Not one of the recipes in this cookbook would I even try let alone pass on to you all. JR and the Boy have to suffer through some tremendous flops to get to the good ones that I pass down. None in this cookbook will I even inflict on them. Hey, maybe that should be the title of a cookbook, "Don't try these at home". I'm just looking out for the masses.

I will pass on one that is so good it should be a sin. (Matt-man, it is not a sin. It has no meat. Just looking out for you buddy.) I got this off a box of Fantastic World Foods - Arborio Rice that I picked up on a manager's special. I buy my arborio rice in the bulk bins but kept the box just for this recipe.

As you all know I'm not real good at following recipes exactly and refuse to buy ingredients that I wouldn't normally have around the house or run to the store if I've run out of something. For instance, the mushrooms, shallot and cream in this recipe.

Fantastic Tuscan Mushroom Risotto

1 1/2 cups arborio rice
5 cups vegetable broth (use chicken if you roll that way)
1/2 cup porcini mushrooms (use any ole kind you have or none like I did last night)
1 cup white mushrooms (see above)
2 Tbsp shallots, chopped (any onion will do)
1/4 cup butter (recipe calls for unsalted, are they kidding? Use regular)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup white wine (so I added a little extra, sue me. I could have drank the last couple of tablespoons)
1/4 cup heavy cream (no cream last night but I did use some non-fat evaporated milk. Worked great and saved tons of calories)
1 cup Parmesan, Romano or Asiago cheese, grated (word of caution, don't skimp on the cheese. Unless you don't like cheese. You don't like cheese? What's wrong with you?)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (skip the salt; it is already in the butter)
1 Tbsp parsley, chopped (I used dried and a tad bit more than a Tbsp. Okay, like a small palm full more.)

1. On medium heat in a large pan combine butter, garlic, shallots, mushrooms and arborio rice.
2. Heat for about 2 minutes, stirring well.
3. Add white wine and let simmer on low for 2 minutes.
4. With lid off, add broth and cream and let simmer on low until liquid is absorbed, approximately 25 minutes, stirring regularly. You can leave this alone to do other things or what I did which was sit on my butt and drink red wine. It only needs a good stir about every 5 minutes or so.
5. Add cheese of choice and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and grated cheese. Makes about 4 healthy servings. Healthy nothing, this makes like about 10 servings at our house. JR and I will be having this for lunch and I make chowder out of the left overs.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Love,
M