Disorienting

Okay is it just me or is this just really disorienting? It's a slice of Roquefort topped with what looks like raspberry sorbet. Yick!

A famous kitchen appliance company was trying to advertise the dual utility of their new refrigerator/freezer. But if they're trying to get people on appeal, it sure is NOT working.

Look who I found in my cupboard

Imagine my surprise rumaging through the parent's cupboard and finding this guy tucked away in a casserole dish! After some prompting the parents finally did come running to see, "yes, really no joke, there is a lizard." They say that it's lucky to find a lizard in your house, but I think for hygiene issues, I could do without. :)

What to do with Mangos?

A recent trip to the local Chinese Market, Ranch 99, yielded two boxes of mangoes--champagne, and I think Keitt (being the more common one). Out here most of our mangos are either from Mexico or grown right here in California. Other parts of the country could be getting their's from Florida--you could even order other varietals from India. Mangos come in all different sizes: round and kidney for example. Random factoid: they are related to poison ivy! Go figure. Here's a link to a guy's run in with a mango.

So what to do with two boxes of mangos? After distributing and inhaling 3/4 th's of each box, I was left with enough for two more breakfasts--as is, and also enough for an easy fruit salad which utilized some of the lemon mint (?) that we bought yesterday at M & M Nursery (see previous 7/30/05 post).

Combine:

1 can of Fresca (yes Fresca)
16 lychee nuts peeled, seeded and halved
4 Champagne Mango's worth of cubes
2 Keitt Mango's worth of cubes
a handful of lemon mint leaves

Combine and let sit in the fridge for atleast 20 minutes before serving.

Weekend Errands

Mom called up this morning asking if I wanted to go to M&M Nursery in Orange. What a random surprise to find this quaint nursery in the middle of Orange's suburbia!

There were a good mix of random flowers, as well as traditional ones. This one here is called "Nepenthes Alata." Left is the way it looks close up and below is how it looked in the pot.






Some of the more traditional: Hydrangea and Lavender (two of my favorites :) ) ; also some flowering dill and some micellaneous veg (I forget it's name) . Then, of course some random miscellaneous shots of Mom and Dad picking out flowers for their garden.







Flowering Dill Left
Misc. Vegetables Above

Hydrangea Below

Mom and Dad Below







Then off to lunch at The Crab Cooker by our house where they've got really great fish.. just a bit expensive. $13 dollars for two small sides and a fish kabob of sorts--though it was very good, not overdone and just right.

The Outside of the Crab Cooker

Random Shot of the Misc. Interior

Surprisingly Expensive

Random E-Mail Forward

It's rare that I like something that's been forwarded to me. This one came today.

HEAR WHAT OPRAH HAD TO SAY ABOUT MEN

If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn't want you, nothing can make him stay.

Stop making excuses for a man and his behaviour.
Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache.
Stop trying to change yourself for a relationship that's not meant to be.

Slower is better. Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.
If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no, you can't "be friends".

A friend wouldn't mistreat a friend. Don't settle.
If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is. Don't stay because you think "it will get better." You'll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better.
The only person you can control in a relationship is you.

Avoid men who've got a bunch of children by a bunch of different women. He didn't marry them when he got them pregnant, why would he treat you any differently?
Always have your own set of friends separate from his.

Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you. If something bothers you, speak up.
Never let a man know everything.* He will use it against you later.

You cannot change a man's behaviour.* Change comes from within.
Don't EVER make him feel he is more important than you are... even if he has more education or in a better job.

Do not make him into a quasi-god. He is a man, nothing more nothing less.
Never let a man define who you are.

Never borrow someone else's man.
If he cheated with you, he'll cheat on you.

A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.
You should not be the one doing all the bending...compromise is a two way street.
You need time to heal between relationships...there is nothing cute about baggage... deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship

You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you...a relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals...look for someone complimentary...not supplementary.
Dating is fun...even if he doesn't turn out to be Mr. Right.

*Make him miss you sometimes...when a man always know where you are, andyou're always readily available to him - he takes it for granted.
Never move into his mother's house. Never co-sign for a man.

Don't fully commit to a man who doesn't give you everything that you need.* Keep him in your radar but get to know others.

All this said, remember though that NOT ALL men are dogs :-)!!
Share this with other women and men (just so they know)... You'll make someone smile, another rethink her choices, and another woman prepare.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them and an entire lifetime to forget them.

Consumption

This rubbed me the wrong way this morning. He's flicking his cigarette ashes driving his gas guzzling Hummer.

Tracy's Cake

Ah... ode to practice! Tracy's birthday allowed for me to learn a couple things that I took for granted.

Buttercream
-normally when I'm interning at Rachel's she's always got buttercream made. I'm at home this weekend doing chores and of course baking. As with most recipes, there's ALWAYS going to be something that is assumed. Some things not always mentioned--the creaming method, wet/dry method, one at a time egg adding etc... well here's another, two:

a) when adding the hot syrup into the whipped whites, make sure it goes straight into the whites and doesn't hit the mixing bowl-- otherwise it'll crystallize and break off into your buttercream! I don't know about you, but chunks of rock candy inbetween cake does NOT sound happy.

b) buttercream looks really scary before it's come together... lumps of stuff and looks like it's been over mixed.. well it turns out that's just a stage, it'll turn out fine if you keep mixing. ( I wish I took pictures of this)

But all in all... in the end it turned out ... well, alright, I think considering I'm really still learning.

Random

H: okay.
H: i read ur blog today
H: i posted a comment
e: just saw it thanks
e: i'm more factual instead of amusing with my blog
e: takes too much time to be amusing
e: i'm glad you liked the bread one.. it was too much of a foul up not to put it in the blog
H: hehe.. takes to omuch time?
H: post that.
H: its funnye: ok

Get Fuzzy 

Shitty Ass Day/ Chai Tea Latte Wonders

I should have known when Toddles , the brat cat (avec stitches and cone--he played chicken with a car) ran out the door not to be seen for hours that this day was off to a great start.

Or maybe I should have known .....

when I finally got caught for being late... a WHOLE ten minutes...

or when I got yelled at (2 pages, single typed) over what turns out to be a misunderstanding...

or when boss "boy" number 1 (of three) gave me all those compliments and I thought (oooo a bonus!) Psych, laid off....ooooo! Made you look! no raise for you!

or when my period didn't end.. for the 3rd week in a row; uhm doctor, so you say it's "random" and normal that this is happening????(yes really, see previous posts)......

BLEH!!!!


God I could drown in this Chai Tea Latte....anything get your cat today?

Fig and Frangipan Tart

This didn't keep very well but it was really good the first day. I got this idea from Rachel. She was making something like this and I wanted to try to figure it out at home. I don't have the exact recipe b/c it was eyeballed. I used a cookie based tart shell that I froze into the tin. I made frangipan, custard and cut up figs. Frangipan on bottom custard on top and figs to top it all. Num!

Ordinary

I could be this bored...
Have you ever had one of those days where just about everything feels so ordinary? My same alarm of birds chirping from my cell postponted "just 10 more minutes," for that same inevitable last rush out the door to arrive at work..no surprise.. ten minutes late. The "same coffee with half and half and 3 sugars please" from the coffee stand just outside the office door for "pick me up Friday, hang in there" coffee. The same never-ending statements to file--surprise! end of the quarter statments are here (WHOMP! a pile 5 inches high of statements EACH for all three bosses). The same rediculous questions--(latest: on post it, adhered to envelope of junk mail offers, yes really from today) "emi, what is this? Find out because I don't remember signing up for anything" (then my response sans what I was really thinking) "C-you don't have to sign up for anything to get junk mail. They're just trying to reel you in cold via mail. Just toss it."
Man, hurry up already! 6 more months....

I saw this right after I wrote that entry. From the Get Fuzzy Website.

(since it's "fuzzy" ironically, here's what it says)

First Block:

"so what are things that would cheer me up!"

"Well... you like Pie.

Second Block:

"I do... I DO like pie."

"And I was saving these photos. But I thik it's time to debut them."

Third Block:

"Oh Ho Ho! Pictures of the time Bucky passed out and we put doll clothing on him!"

"Yes, the world is not a totally evil place. There are always cats in pants."

Random Quote

"She looked at him, as one who awakes: The past was a sleep, and her life began."


(::sigh::)


.--Robert Browning (1812 - 1889), British poet. From Men and Women, "The Statue and the Bust."

Italian Bread Experiment Gone Wrong

So while the Granola was baking I made an Italian Spice loaf inspired by the excellent bread from the night prior at Pomodoro (Awesome CHEAP place near by.) Which is different of course. Their’s was more like a rustic baguette (excuse the French term), whereas I wanted more of an Italian flavored Boule.

Just as I was beginning to think that everything was looking good...

This was a very humbling experience.

Mistake #1
Make sure oven rack is low enough so it doesn’t hit the heating element.

Mistake #2
I thought I was being ‘smart’ by using fired pottery for the base—but .... make sure it’s the right size for the quantity of bread.

Mistake #3
REMEMBER to put Cornmeal beneath bread… bread can stick.

My Pet

Smelly but worth-while is a great starter. I got my bit from Rachel at the bakery a while back and have been maintaining it for months. I may not be the best keeper* but man it is soo cool to look at the next morning after being fed the night before. It's pretty much double it's size from the night before and has tiny bubbles all over it-- if you stare at it for about a minute, you can see these tiny bubbles get bigger and bigger and then POP.

*I had killed my first “insta-starter” from Whole Foods.
(a bit of an aside—it was fun to scare Dave on the way home when I first got it.

“ You know what?”

“what” (a bit bored)

“I’m so excited about my new pet”

“WHAT?!”

::GRINS::

Elusive Granola

The pursuit of Awesome Granola keeps eluding me. I think this is about the 8th? Time that I’ve tried making Granola. First time ---too hard, flavor good .. Mmm... molasses-y. Second time---too much like honey oat cereal and way too loose texture etc. etc.

This time, it looks like I might be close. Even though flavor is lighter than I like, the texture is great. Next time I think I’m going to sub some molasses in for the maple syrup. Num!

I kind of like how this picture is almost too bright--you can really see the chunkiness

Recipe as follows Adjusted to taste from proportions found on the net:

Granola

In a small pot heat:
¼ cup peanut oil
2/3 cup of a mix of maple syrup grade A with some molasses to taste

In a GIANT** bowl throw together
2 cups of wheat germ
2 cups of oats
¼ cup of sesame seeds
½ cup of pepitas
1 cup of your favorite nuts (mine, walnuts)
½ cup of pine nuts

After the syrup is heated, add to the dry mix well and put on a cookie sheet spread out. In heated oven at 225 bake 1.5 hours and stir ONCE*** halfway through.

At the end you could add dried fruit. I usually don’t like dried fruit but I’m thinking candied ginger might be great to cut up and mix in after this cools.

**GIANT bowl = flying granola ingredients EVERYWHERE.. lesson learned, check.
***If you want less chunks and something that resembles meal, keep stirring. As for me, It's all about the chunks