Stuff for today

Well, as you can see, our nectarine tree is in bloom. Provided we can keep the birds from eating them all we should have a pretty good crop. Nectarine cobbler is definitely in our future :-)

Things are looking up in the job market, I hope. I don't want to go into any details just yet--don't want to jinx things!--but please do send good mojo my way if you are so inclined.

I'm trying a new recipe from the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook: chicken & ham pie. I bought a whole chicken & cut it into pieces since it was a lot less expensive than buying it pre-cut. I will never do this again. Cutting up a whole chicken is DISGUSTING, especially when you have to cut through bone. Yuck. It's well worth the extra money to not have to do that.

I'm also making another steamed chocolate pudding, which I fear may be a Fail since for some reason, even though it says to cook it for 3 hours, I set the timer for 2-1/2 which is the cook time for the treacle pudding. I didn't realize the error until I tried to turn it out onto a plate after cooling. Mostly cooked pudding remained in the bowl, and a pile of chocolatey goo ended up on the plate. Sigh. I scraped it back into the bowl & am boiling it for another 45 minutes (I'm adding some extra cook time to get it back up to temperature), which I hope will salvage it. I've been craving this all week & it would be a shame if it's not edible.

Last weekend Ralph & I went to a Dickens Festival in Riverside. It was OK, but not as much fun as I'd hoped. We did enjoy watching Jeffrey the Juggler (who was a friend of Ralph's years ago at Ren Faire), and the costumes were lovely. I also liked the musicians. But the dealer area was kind of small, and the play we started to watch was both dull & difficult to hear (the microphones didn't seem to be working, and the cast was relying on them rather than projecting). I think my favorite part was playing some of the children't games. Ralph skunked me at jacks, which I should have anticipated since he is also a juggler. There was also a game there called "Graces" which consists of using two sticks to toss & catch a hoop. I did better at that than I expected. Still, it was a free event and I enjoyed it enough to be interested in going again next year.

While we were there, we also wandered through an antique store & found a bunch of Happy Hollisters books. If I'd had the money I'd have bought several of them, since I know I'm missing quite a few of the titles they had there, such as "Ghost Horse Mystery," "Monster Mystery," and "Swiss Echo Mystery." Ah, well, perhaps when I do have the money they'll still be available. They were pretty well hidden so perhaps I'll be lucky.

I finished the pair of socks I was working on. Since each ball of yarn was enough to knit a full pair, I've got enough left to make another pair. I've already cast them on & am halfway through (just finished turning the heels this afternoon). I'm using a slip-stitch pattern, almost mind-numbingly easy and yet extremely attractive if I do say so myself. I'll have to post pics--which reminds me, I *still* need to post photos of the Bloody Stupid Johnson hat, especially now that I've made two of them.

Wake up, cousin! We're going to the zoo!

Today Ralph & I spent about 3 hours at the LA County Zoo. For the most part, we had a good time. There were only two downers: the elephant was rocking & looking most unhappy (a little online research tells me that this behavior is only seen in captive elephants and is probably stress-related), and the orangutans looked very sad and bored. The rest of the trip was fun. The meerkats were adorable, of course. Lots of interesting birds--my favorite, I think, was the Andean Condor although we were not positioned well enough to get a picture. Ralph got some pretty good photos of a wallaby, however I shall refrain from posting them since it's really quite obvious that this was a male. Really obvious. I was especially pleased that we got a good view of the tiger. I think this is the first time I've ever seen one, since every other time I've been to a zoological park they've been hiding in the shady grass.



Haven't been doing much knitting. Instead, way too much time has been spent on the computer (oh, look, I'm on it again!), mostly on Ravelry but also playing games. I really need to cut down on that, especially if I ever expect to get those socks finished.

Last night we watched "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time." Sadly, that's two hours of my life that I won't get back. Bad acting, stilted dialogue, way too much reliance on the characters telling you the story rather than the story being played out, and for the love of Bob, WHY does every person in Ancient Persia speak with a contemporary British accent? Thank goodness I had some crossword puzzles on which to work or I'd have been totally bored.

Sleeeeeepy

While 49 of the 50 United States have snow on the ground, I'm ready to take a nap. Why? Because I lay outside in the sun for about 30 minutes in my shorts, and now I'm all warm & sleepy. Some of my Ravelry friends are talking about 13" of snow, and freezing temperatures, and here I am with this lovely, lovely weather.



I've been doing a lot of cooking, as I'm sure you have all figured out by now. Today's picture is of last night's roast chicken, which I served with onion-garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas. No, it's not burned; those dark patches are the herbs showing through the skin. Dessert was a bit of the Steamed Chocolate Pudding; not the one in the January 8 post, as that was completely devoured by January 10, but the second one that I made on January 11. I polished off the last bit of it this morning. I think I need to cut down on the desserts so I won't be making another one for a while. The chicken leftovers are going to be turned into stew tomorrow.

Kind of a silly thing happened a few minutes ago. I was sitting here in the living room when a car drove past the house. A man in the car was laughing the entire time, so loudly that I could hear his laughter better than I could hear the sound of the car. Got a great Doppler effect. I certainly would like to know what was so funny, though :-)

My new socks are coming along nicely. I've done the leg & heel portion on both of them, and the gusset on one. I was worried that they were going to be too tight, but I tried one on today & now I think they might turn out a little bit too loose. Ah, well, I'm not too worried about it. I wanted to make them because they are unusual, and if they don't fit it isn't the end of the world. I'm thinking of maybe entering them in the County Fair, although every year I think about entering the Fair and have never gotten around to really doing it. But hey, it could happen!

Condensation!

Our house is wet. The archway separating the dining room from the living room was dripping water onto the floor before we wiped it down. The windows are quite steamed over. The bathroom mirror is fogged. What could possibly have caused this?

Dense and Fudgy Steamed Chocolate Pudding. Yup. The whole house is soggy because I decided to cook. But ya see, I had some issues when I made the Treacle Pudding, because the pot was really too small which made it very difficult to remove the steaming hot bowl, and the only thing I have that's any bigger is my roasting pan. You know, the kind you use to make a turkey. This thing was boiling away on the stove (taking up two burners) for three hours, during which time I had to add a total of six quarts (!!) of additional water as it boiled. That is a lot of moisture to add to a 1,000 sf house.



Ahhh, but it was worth it. It came out a little soggy; I put the lid on the pot & I don't think I was supposed to do that. It tastes very much like a gooey, slightly underbaked brownie. Ralph ate two pieces of it in rapid succession. I'm thinking of having another piece now, but will show a *little* restraint and wait until after dinner. I tell you, this Harry Potter cookbook is the best!!!



I've spent most of the past 2 days knitting and watching Mythbusters on Netflix. I finally took a picture today of the socks in progress. I know they don't look much like socks yet, but they will once I start working on the gussets. I really like how the colors look together.

Harry Potter Cookbook

As some of you know, Ralph bought me The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook for Christmas. (Actually, I found out yesterday that there are two books with this title; I got the one with the purple cover). I was completely jazzed about it and couldn't wait to try some of the recipes. Now that I've made some--I am even MORE jazzed about it. Entree-wise, my favorite so far is the Breaded Pork Chops, with the Herby Roast Chicken a close second. Ralph likes Molly's Meatballs with Onion Sauce best, and I have to admit those are very good too. A couple days ago I made the Treacle Pudding (see picture) which Ralph & I both love. It was just OK the first day, but after it had "aged" overnight, WOW!! There's just barely enough left for our dessert tonight. I'm hoping to find bittersweet chocolate somewhere so I can make the Steamed Chocolate Pudding this weekend. It's also used in the Dark Chocolate Truffles so you can see it's very important that I find some.

Knitting-wise, I'm ready to pick up the stitches for the gusset in the first sock. I've put that one aside for now & am casting on for the second one. I do prefer to work on both socks at the same time to avoid "second sock syndrome," but that hasn't been feasible with this one because of the bobbins. I didn't want to load up 20 bobbins & then have leftover bits on them when the socks are done. I really need to get a picture of the one in progress, though.

Had one nibble at my resume during the week, but nothing definite at this point. I've got those same mixed-feelings about it all. I like being home. It means real dinners instead of fast-food or whatever can be thrown together; the dogs can stay indoors when it's cold or rainy; I can get the chores & errands done so the weekend is free to do fun things. Ralph likes me to be home for the same reasons. BUT. We just can't *quite* afford for me to not be working. A part-time job would be great, or even a series of temp positions would work out. Oh, well, as the old TV theme says, "we'll just take life as it comes, one day at a time." Hmm, wonder if I could find that on Netflix?




I got rather grossed out at the grocery store the other day. The bagger at the next checkstand over thoroughly wiped his nose on the palm of his hand & then went back to bagging groceries. YUCK! From where I stood it looked like his nose was really runny, too; his mustache looked wet. ICK ICK ICK. I kept a close eye on him to make sure he didn't come over to bag at the checkstand where I was. There was no way I was going to let him touch the lettuce I was buying, even if I had to say, "I'm sorry, but I saw you wipe your nose with your hand, and I don't want snot on my salad." Luckily he stayed put. I probably should have told him to go wash.

The second picture today is from the Christmas parade last month. It shows up a lot better if you click on it to enlarge. Isn't that just the coolest cop car ever?

First post of 2011

Man, I really need to start taking more pictures. Today's photo is from the Mt. Baldy trip we took last March. I just don't have much recent stuff that isn't already posted.

Sadly, my temp to hire position has fallen through after one month. The company didn't have as much business set up for January as they had anticipated so several of us (including some full-time staff) were let go. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I am glad for the experience, and who knows? Maybe they will get busy again & remember me.

I have made several of the recipes from my Harry Potter cookbook. I really like the Herby Chicken a lot; the skin comes out nice & crisp, and since it's got butter under the skin you don't really need to baste it. The Onion-Garlic Mashed Potatoes that go with it I wasn't so impressed with. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, and the next time I make it I'll use butter & milk instead. I think that will make a big difference. I didn't care much for the Glazed Carrots although Ralph did like them. However, I don't believe that the recipe itself is poor; I think the issue was 1) I used "lite" corn syrup instead of regular since that's all they had in the store; and 2) I didn't cut the carrots thin enough so they were too crunchy for my liking. I will definitely give these another chance. Today I made Molly's Meatballs with Onion Sauce, and these I give two thumbs up! When I was making them I was dubious about the large quantity of onion (a whole one in the meatballs and another in the sauce), however it really is the right amount. Soooo good.

Yesterday was our 12th wedding anniversary. We didn't buy gifts for each other, but we did have a very pleasant weekend together. We saw "Tron: Legacy" on Saturday. When we got out of the theater, Ralph mentioned it was 3:00 o'clock. I said, "3:00 o'clock . . . isn't that when we were supposed to be at J & K's for the potluck?" Ralph said a Bad Word & we headed home to quickly make a corn casserole. We were quite late but no one seemed to mind; we arrived with the casserole just as people were thinking about having seconds of the meal so that was OK. We talked & ate & watched the re-run of the Rose Parade and basically a good time was had by all.

Yesterday Ralph needed to get some rear view mirror adhesive, so we went & picked that up, then sat in the truck listening to the rain, drinking hot chocolate and reading (him)/knitting (me) while we decided where to go for an early dinner/late lunch. We picked a Moroccan place in San Pedro, but alas we got there long before they opened. After driving around a bit we decided to eat at a British pub. Good choice, very good choice. The meal began with marinated mushrooms, and individual Yorkshire puddings with beef & horseradish sauce. Then we both chose steak pies (his with mushrooms, mine with kidney) and we finished it up with a lovely bread pudding which was complementary since it was our anniversary. Naturally I picked out the raisins since those are An Abomination Unto Nuggin.

Right now I am snuggled up under this wonderful electric blanket Ralph bought for me. It's just the right size for one person. He got one for himself, too. They were a bit pricey but I suspect they'll save us a lot of money when compared to running the space heaters all the time.