yoga, books, movies, tv & too many crime procedurals – not necesarily in that order
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before but I’m on a couple of email lists via the magazine website Real Simple. My favorites so far have been the recipes but it’s rare for me not to click through the emails now. They’ve done a good enough job with interesting (and relevant) content that it’s one of the only email newsletters I recommend.
The recipe email I got today was for Chicken Souvlaki. I don’t plan my meals a week at a time. It’s not that I’m a picky eater but sometimes you get a taste for something and then whatever you’d already planned doesn’t sound very good. Et cetera. What I do is stock staples regularly: chicken, ground beef, onions, potatoes, cilantro, parsley, lemons. I use coupons and sale papers, and keep an eye out for deals on additional things (crescent rolls in a can, boxed couscous, rice, yadda yadda). What that means is when I get an email like the Chicken Souvlaki one today, I can make a quick (and inexpensive) trip to the grocery to grab what I maybe don’t have on hand and then get cooking.
I first had souvlaki in Greece, on spring break during my semester in Italy. Martha Boomer and I sat in a tiny restaurant in the sun, only a couple of other people in the place, and I ate the most amazing Greek salad and souvlaki EVER. I’ve tried recreating it a dozen times but there must be something in the way they cooked the pork or how long they marinated it or something. While I’ve come CLOSE I’ve never managed to duplicate it.
This recipe was phenomenal. It used mostly things I had on hand – the only thing I was missing was dill so I didn’t bother running to the store. I substituted a pinch of dried cilantro and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice. I also used Greek yogurt rather than just plain yogurt. Not perfect tzadziki sauce but pretty darn good. Because we live at high altitude, our cooking time is a little different. I browned the chicken well on both sides, pulled it out of the pan and cut it into much smaller pieces, and then returned it to the pan with the lid on. It turned out perfectly. I also didn’t put olives in the tomato salad as neither Husband nor I are huge olive fans.
The chicken had GREAT flavor and my half-assed tzadziki is a keeper. Because there’s just two of us, we have extra tomato salad and tzadziki so I’ll make more chicken on Friday so Husband can eat the leftovers for dinner.
Speaking of Italy, I spent some time this afternoon framing photos of the area where I spent that semester overseas. I also had some great pics of Rome and Venice that I’m in the process of printing for the dining room.
Tomorrow is another day off so I’m going to pack up some cookies and (hopefully) finish with the pictures. My hard drive cover arrived today, too, so that means Dead Toshiba Surgery!
For example, I’m not sure I can adequately describe how incredible it is to use a laptop with a FUNCTIONAL BATTERY. The last year-plus has been spent tethered to an outlet because the battery on my Toshiba was croaking its way to annihilation and wouldn’t hold a charge for more than 7 minutes. Every time I wanted to use my laptop, I had to scope out outlet locations which – let me tell you- are at a PREMIUM in places with free wifi. They are also rarely located CONVENIENTLY.
I say this as I am currently reclined on my sofa, dogosai on my feets, and no power cord in sight! It’s delightful! Liberating, even!
One of the great advancements that’s happened since my last computer purchase is an improvement in the touchpad to eliminate right and left clicks with an actual button. I can do both by tapping the touchpad and it’s GREAT. Don’t get me wrong- it’s definitely taking some getting used to but the new laptop is so far and away better than the old one that it makes me feel like I’ve been driving a Ford Model T for three years and just got a Jag.
The internets are all atwitter about Tiger Woods but it turns out I just don’t care. I’m more worried about when Chuck is going to return to Monday night TV.
Tonight I worked my first training shift and it was pretty great. I’m definitely going to enjoy work this holiday season.
In other internet news: troop levels in the Middle East. Here’s the thing. Back when Hils and Barack were just campaigning for the office of President and we were already embroiled in all this shit, I knew it was a bad idea to start promising troop withdrawal. You know why? Because ANYONE could see that there wasn’t a CHANCE we would be getting out SOON. And by ‘anyone’ I mean ‘people who don’t have access to national security information.’ Why did I say that? 1. Korea 2. Germany 3. Afghanistan
You can’t go into a country, dismantle its government, disrupt its infrastructure (such as it is) and then BAIL OUT. That’s not how it works. That’s pretty much NEVER been how it works. Ergo, there was no chance we’d be getting out early. My major bitch with this, by the way, was that in order to GET a job all the candidates LIED about this fact. They all knew there was no chance of it happening – hell, they all started backpedaling on it DURING the campaign. All I want is for people to be HONEST about it. Be STRAIGHT with people about the realities of the world. Maybe then the country would put on its Big Kid Pants and get a grip.
Oh. P.S. Dick Cheney, you can go straight to hell for saying you had nothing to do with the epic clusterfuck that you ACTUALLY STARTED in Afghanistan as a result of all this Iraq nonsense. Asshole. Hell might actually be too good for you.
And since I went on a political rant, here’s a moment of zen:
My new laptop has arrived and she is AMAZING. Lightning fast, new Windows platform, widescreen and supersweet touchpad. I adore it. I may never leave it alone, ever.
I’ve been adding back my favorite software: Filezilla, Zune, Calibre, LastPass and Skype are all safely onboard. All that remains is to resurrect the old hard drive and transfer the bits I want onto my new and dear toy.
Today was eventful, as I also started my new part-time job! I’m pretty excited about working extra hours over the holidays. Employee discounts don’t suck, either.
Tomorrow I’ll hopefully wrangle up some photos – of the house AND the laptop. In the meantime I’m going to keep tweaking the lappie while we watch Star Trek.
Today I found another part-time job, did the last of the Turkeyday shopping, got a haircut and my hair is brown again. All in all, I’m feeling pretty accomplished. Tomorrow is baking, brining and cleaning day. Apple pie and pumpkin torte, thaw and brine turkey, sweep floors, et cetera. The turkey should only have to cook for 5.5 hours on Thursday so I’ll have all morning to make sausage-stuffed stuffing and turkey stuffing. Sweet potatoes are the only other thing oven-bound so my schedule is looking pretty managable.
Tonight I may start the torte or cranberry sauce – I haven’t made up my mind.
Technorati detail: 7F7AW5GMW9HB and N69SS9HRAVQ9
I never used to like cranberries, so apparently my tastebuds have evolved. After the great plum sauce I made earlier this summer, I wanted to try a homemade cranberry sauce (The jellied kind skeeves me- I loathe jello) for use at Thanksgiving and maybe throughout the year.
Coincidentally, in order to make room for a large turkey in my freezer I had to thaw several pieces of meat (steak, pork chops) and figured pork chops love applesauce- why wouldn’t they love cranberry sauce!? Golden opportunity. As a last minute addition, I used some refrigerated breadsticks and Steamfresh Roast Potatoes and Green Beans in Rosemary Butter Sauce. I can’t say enough nice things about the Steamfresh vegetables. They don’t overcook the veggies, which is a HUGE deal for me. What can I say- I’ve got texture issues.
So. Pork Chops and Cranberry Sauce.
Pork Chops, Cranberry Sauce, breadsticks, roast potatoes and green beans.
Cranberry Sauce Recipe
1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries, washed/drained
3/4 c sugar (I used white)
1/2 cup plus a dash Tawny Port
1/2 cup orange juice
1tsp (ish) grated ginger (I used the store-bought-in-a-jar kind)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Place cranberries, sugar, port, OJ, ginger in a pot on med-high heat. You want the berries to boil for about 10 minutes, so once they got to the boiling stage I turned down the heat and stirred constantly. In fact, I didn’t realize until I was already started that I didn’t have OJ so I actually put the other ingredients in the pot, turned the heat on low, and made a quick grocery run. No harm, no foul. When I got back, I added the OJ and ginger. Basically I used the ‘cook until they pop’ theory – waiting until the berries got so hot they began to burst their skins.
I very nearly forgot the lemon juice- important because WITHOUT it the sauce was almost too sweet. After the sauce is done, transfer to a fridge-safe dish. Add lemon juice on top of sauce DON’T STIR. Refrigerate. Most recipes say to cool at room temp before placing in fridge. I didn’t do that, it worked out fine. Then, stir sauce just before serving. It was a perfect balance of sweet and tart. Two thumbs up.
Baked Pork Chops
Heat oven to 350. I sprayed a pan with nonstick spray and placed the chops in the pan. I dusted with salt, garlic powder, and pepper just by eyeballing it. Then I flipped the chops and dusted the other side with poultry seasoning, paprika, and then added breadcrumbs. I baked them for about an hour (high altitude- for those below 10,000 feet it would probably be closer to 40-50 minutes). They turned out JUST right.
I also took pics of yesterday’s cheesy bread appetizers.
Martha Stewart Savory (non-pumpkin) Puffs
The recipe is here, just in case. The background looks a little weird because I cooked them on parchment paper.
