Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Cream of Broccoli Soup

I cooked a lot the other night. I made two big frittatas and some cream of broccoli soup. The frittatas look pretty good, but they're worth taking another shot at before I post a recipe.  Buuuut, the soup turned out really good.  No pics, though.  It just looked sorta greenish.  Use your imagination.

This is another recipe where I used what I had on hand.  One definition of a perfect dish is the act of just making a great dish from "miscellaneous."


Cream of Broccoli Soup

Makes 4 side dish sized servings


Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
20 baby carrots (or 4 regular carrots), chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 cups chicken broth
4 cups (~85g) broccoli (fresh or frozen), chopped
2 cups whole milk
4 tbsp light sour cream
salt and pepper to taste


Directions

Heat a large saucepan, with a cover, over medium high heat.  Melt the butter, then saute the onion until translucent.  Add carrots and broth and bring it to a simmer.  Simmer for about 15 minutes, then stir in the broccoli, cover, and continue simmering for another 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

Using a blender or hand blender, blend until smooth, adding milk slowly to incorporate.  Add the sour cream and blend a little more, just until the sour cream is mixed in.

Return the soup to the saucepan and heat gently, making sure not to allow the soup to boil.  Add water, if necessary, to bring to the desired consistancy.  Salt and pepper to taste, and serve.


Nutrition, per serving

Calories 237, Fat 13, Carbs 24, Fiber 5, Protein 10


Saturday, February 21, 2009

Not Good Enough For Its Own Blog Post #1

These things keep popping into my head, and since they aren't all that interesting, I'm just sticking them up and leaving them out there.

1.  When I was a kid, my brother and I would walk to the lapidary shop to buy stones.  Right next to the place, was H Salt Fish & Chips.  For a dime, you could get a whole tray of those batter drops that failed to attach to the fish and ended up floating in the oil, only to be fished out and saved for kids with dimes.  OMG good.


2.  We used to play One Eyed Car, where the object of the game was to spot cars with one burned out headlight.

   One Eyed Car

When you did, you yelled "one eyed car" and punched the other person's arm.  It's not as much fun anymore, since headlights don't burn out all the time like they used to.  However, the other day, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw THREE cars behind me, driving abreast (hehe), each with a light out.  Weird.


3.  Slug Bug was another game of cars and punching.  Whenever you saw a VW Beetle, you yelled "slug bug" and its color, and punched.  In this game's heyday, I went on a trip to Mexico.  Walking out of the airport, I spotted a blue bug and started hard.  BAM!  Another step outside, and I caught a view of the parking lot, where seven bazillion bugs were parked.  BAM on my arm.  BAM back.  BAMBAMBAM!  OMG!  BAM!  We put our hands up!  "Truce!" "Surrender!"  "I quit!"  The bug was like the only car they HAD there.

Slug Bug Blue!  Slug Bug White!  This one's a bonus!

Slug Bug was featured in some movie not too long ago. I can't remember which one, but google puts it at "3,000 Miles To Graceland," which I've never seen, os that's not it.  If you know the name of the movie that I did see, let me know.

New Bug

I am happy to report the return of the game of Slug Bug.  Since VW reincarnated (hehe) the bug, it's been open season in my family.


4.  You know those sink sprayers, attached to a hose next to your kitchen faucet?  If you take a rubber band and make sure that it's really, really tight over the trigger, then aim the nozzle in the general direction of where your victim will stand to turn on the water, it's pretty funny to watch.  Tony's idea, Allie's implimentation, my wet shirt.  This one just happened.




  

Thursday, February 19, 2009

debbie

Debbie, I've got about 30 minutes left in today, February 19th, so I gotta hurry with the typing!

I've got nothing funny to share today. Instead, I share something that I'm thankful for (besides your grace in forgiving the classic "preposition at end of sentence").

I've said before that I'm thankful for the internet, and it's not just because of the girlfriend thing. We'll just call that a bonus.

In a nutshell, I'm thankful for the people who I've "met," who I'm sure I'd never have met without the internet. I'm not going to name names, since I don't want to exclude anybody important. ...or make the others feel squirmy.

Anyhow, Debbie, as an illustrious member of one of the groups of people previously mentioned, I'm happy to have exchanged comments with you, and hope we get the chance to meet someday. You're inspirational from a distance, and figure it's probably even better up close.

Perhaps I've been subconsciously effected by you, too. A few days ago, I downloaded a bunch of songs for my mp3 player. Tonight, I find that seven of them are on your blog playlist. An interesting mix you have there, and I do forgive you for the Nickelback, since you have more than enough Tull to make up for your transgression.

There aren't a lot of timely songs on our mutual list, so I pick a long time favorite that has no significance, other than we both like it.



It was really hard to pic a video, since Ian Anderson is such a freak, so I picked this lady, KarenEng, who inexplicably dances to a variety of songs, including Delta Dawn and Freebird.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Lentils with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Spinach

This is not a perfected recipe.  It's more of a recipe posted to show what you can do with things that are just in your pantry and fridge.




Lentils with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, and Ham

Makes four side dish servings

8 sun dried tomatoes (the dried type)
1 cup lentils (I prefer the red ones)
4 bay leaves
6 oz frozen spinach (usually one 85g serving from the bag)
2 tsp butter or olive oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek powder - or a commercial curry powder
Salt to taste

Instructions

Bring a cup of water to a boil.  Cover the tomatoes with the boiling water and set aside.

Rinse your lentils, then place them in a saucepan and cover with water.  I was planning to add salty ham to the lentils, so I didn't add any salt at this point.  Lentils break up a bit when cooking (unlike beans), so salting them after cooking works pretty well. 

Add the bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Red lentils cook pretty quickly, so check them after 10-12 minutes.  Brown lentils take 20-30 minutes, but check anyway.  Add water as necessary.

When the lentils are tender, add the frozen spinach and stir.  Cover the pan and turn the heat down to low for 5 minutes.

Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and chop or cut them into slivers.  Add the tomatoes to the lentil mixture.

Heat a small skillet over medium high heat.  Add the butter or olive oil.  Add the cumin seeds, stirring constantly until the are dark and very fragrant.  Stir in the fenugreek powder and let it become fragrant. If this is a side dish (no meat), scrape the spices into the lentils, then deglaze the pan with a little water to get the good stuff.  Stir well.

Or, if you are going to add some chopped or shredded meat TO the lentils, you can heat them in the pan with the spices.  So, if that's you, add the meat and heat through.  When it's hot, add the meat mixture to the lentils.  Deglaze the pan with a little water and pour it into the lentils, stirring well.

If they are soupy from the water, simmer a few minutes, uncovered, then salt to taste.

Serve and eat.  I was out of yogurt, but that would have been an excellent garnish on the top.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but my talent is not in snapping pictures of food.  I'll be importing that talent from Eastern Europe.


Nutrition, per serving

Calories 213, Fat 3, Carbs 33, Fiber 16, Protein 15


Notes

Red lentils cook faster than brown, but overcooked, can get mushy, fast.  You choose, red or brown.  Both are good.

Use any leftover meat you like.  Shredded chicken, ham, or pork are all good here.  I suppose two sunny side up eggs would be good, too!

Oil packed sun dried tomatoes would be fine, but will obviously add some fat.  Not a problem, just know it.

Fenugreek is a major component in most supermarket curry powders, which are merely blends of spices.  We're not going for perfection here.  Use it if you got it.  I have multiple jars of curry powder in my cupboard, so sometimes I use it, too.


Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentine's Days - The Best & The Worst

No suspenseful story here.  This one, 2009's Valentine's Day, is the best and the worst one.

It's actually been really and mostly good.  I have a girl that I love with all my heart.  That makes it the best.  The worst part is being apart, yet feeling like we're not, but,yeah, we are apart...  So, it's the best because of her, it's the worst because of her.  ...she's not here.  The positives absolutely outweigh the negatives, though.  No doubt!  It's a wonderful feeling of misery, to live and love in this modern day world, with it's modern day technologies. All that "living like our ancestors" is crap.  So, I'm thankful.

I'm particularly thankful for the internet, without which I would not have my wonderful, beautiful, brilliant, short, funny, talented, cute, sexy, girlfriend (who, for those of you out of the loop on this one, lives in Bulgaria).  Yes, we met via the internet years ago, became friends, years later, met in person, then, eventually, became much more than friends.

For all the good of the internet (email, IM, webcams, etc.), there seems to be something of a lag in how we perceive people at the other end of the wire.  Our minds simply don't comprehend that the person we're seeing on those webcam isn't right here in the room with us.

In the days of yore, we had messengers to carry letters.  Kings, Generals, Apostles, and other important people would round up some poor sap to carry a scroll or two a very long distance, hand delivering it at the end.  In some cases, he'd wait around for the return trip with the answer. That's a long time between the send and receive.

In a Bulgarian antique store, Gal found a card from a man to his woman, It is dated 1917.


He says : "my dearest love, I regret to inform you that I am very very busy with work, so I will not be coming now, but in a few days I will be free and I will come home, so please start getting ready for me. I am sending you my kisses..."


Underneath, apparently, it says "please deliver personally TO HER and by train immediately."

That's what she says it says, anyway.  If there's anyone reading this who speaks Klingon or whatever that is, don't ruin this for her.  I'm going to go with it.

For the sake of argument, let's assume it's all true.  Well, that's quite a difference from calling from the office to say you're going to be late for dinner.  I guess we have the long distance relationship pretty easy compared to people who used runners, the Pony Express, wagon trains, actual trains, and ships.

Fast forward to 'yesteryear," and even our parents, who relied on airplanes to deliver mail and had phones had it pretty hard.  Calls were short because they were extremely expensive, if not prohibitive.  Letters still took from days to weeks to arrive, depending on the "to" and "from" locations.

I love this Bulgarian girl, and will not give her up for the world.  I thank God for Al Gore and his invention of the internet, which makes our long distance relationship possible.  The guy who invented the webcam (big thanks, Gregorio Y. Zara!) deserves a thank you card, too.  With Skype and the webcam, it's like we're in the same room.  But as good as looking through a camera across the world to Bulgaria is, it's somehow really bad, too.

It's not even the obvious parts, like the opposing timezone thing - when she's going to bed, I'm eating lunch, and when I'm leaving for work, she's just getting home from her day.  I'm awake when she's asleep.  She's awake when I'm asleep.  I almost posted a Björk song about that feeling, but it's just too grim.  Björk gets the feeling, but she talks about "ending things" ...dramatically, and that's way more "cry for help" than I'm feeling.  I have no such thought or intention...  But the angst is there, deep and felt.  Hang in there, Björk

The feeling of "together, but not," also causes the "we can see, but can't touch" effect.  It's almost like being in a dating relationship back in the "days of yore," with a grizzled old woman (sorry, Mom) sitting at the table next to us, keeping us from touching.   I wonder if Skype offers a virtual chaperon service to make the archaic dating sensation complete.

But, even these problems are pretty minor compared to the unseen, and unimagined problem caused by the damn webcam and f***ing inexpensive, ubiquitous, high speed, broadband internet access.  (and for that, I say "screw you, Al Gore!")

What's the problem?  It goes back to that feeling of being in the same room.  Only we're not.  The miracle of Skype lets us talk like we're in the same room.  Free of charge.  Webcam's are running, and we can chat, work, clean, and simply hang out, long distance.  We're in our own homes in two different countries.  ...but she's right there, too!  On one Sunday, I looked down and found that the timer said 7 hours had passed!  Wow, who knew?  Call this a miracle, a blessing, whatever you want to call it, but it's amazing.

Amazing, yes.  But, after a few days like this, your mind plays tricks on you.  You go to work on Monday, as usual, but then as you pack up your desk at 6 o'clock, you almost fight the urge to call home and say you're on your way, to let her know to "start getting ready."

Our minds do not yet fully comprehend this phenomenon.  Do you get it, or should I write a couple of paragraphs using cool words like "paradox," "spacial," "awareness," and "dichotomy?"  I hope not, because I gotta get home, see how my love is doing on my dinner.  Oh wait...

So, what does the future hold in the realm of interpersonal relationships?  How long does our species need to put up with this bullshit?  I'm sure our brains will catch up to our technology at some point, if the past is any indication.  Our caveman ancestors wouldn't have understood the spyglass, and my great grandfather would have freaked out a mere television broadcast.  But we understand those things today.  We get it.  We've "evolved" alongside changes in our technology.  Our brains are bigger, most of us stand  erect, and I'm quite a bit taller than my great grandpa.

I'm hoping that this is where it ends.  What's the next step in dating technology?  Teleportation?  Not really an issue.  If you can set aside the conversion of matter to pure energy, then the reassembly at the other end, you're cool.  Once we're to this point, the long distance part of the relationship is pretty much wrapped up; the other side of the planet might as well be next door.

It might be a while for teleportation.  We don't understand the "pure energy" thing yet.  We don't even have fusion down yet.  So we continue to evolve and force our brains to adapt to these technologies and the dichotomy (I know, but I just had to use it) that comes with it.

Sadly, I fear that our species is doomed.  If science fiction is any indication (and it seems to be pretty accurate in some cases), we're looking at evolving into people with huge heads with weird, thick veins and an obvious pulse that you can see across the room.  Either that, OR living as beings of pure energy.  The latter probably means that the teleportation and long distance issues are moot, right?  But can we get there without first growing immense noggins?

Hmmm...  I sense a problem.  If we grow the huge head thing, that could just be the end.

 Yes, I got a swelled head because you
could love me, but this is just not good!

Who's going to travel around the world to date that guy?  Uh, no...  As soon as that webcam turns on, someone's turned off!  Long distance relationship?  Done.  Over.  Kaput.  But I digress.  This is an issue for our future psychiatrists, therapists, and physicists.

So, with this in mind, I put the worry about our collective future aside and concentrate on my own future with my Eastern European chick, and settle into this, hopefully, short term long distance thing until the long term, short distance thing takes over.  I'm in it for the long haul, I just hope it's not all that long.  As of today, said chick's been gone for four weeks.  (Is that really all?)  And there's something like nine weeks until she comes back.  That's forever.

Oh, and I've had a few headaches lately.  Is that my brain growing inside my head or just the coffee cutback?  I can't risk it!  Hurry back, Gal!

Oh, and happy Valentine's Day, love.  I've never been happier.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Happy Monday!

Brief updates...

1. I have so much to do, and so much of it uses my brain, so blogging takes a back seat. Short and sweet is all I got. Mostly because a long, lengthy blog will drive the guilt-meter through the roof!

I do have a huuuuuuuge long list of things I want to write, so one day...

2. Met Jamie and Michael down in San Diego on Saturday night. They were nice enough to spend a portion of their 10th anniversary celebration with me. Happy Anniversary!

3. It's been months since I took my kids to school or even had them at my place on a school night. I did fine, they did fine! Food, teeth, clothes, and on time. No yelling, tears, or stress. I'm getting better, but I'll admit that the girl helps with her brother more than she knows. I know it. I hope he does, too.

Later! Happy Monday!

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