1) A friend had sent me a Hungarian lecso recipe with her Chrismas card, and I looked it over to see if there's anything I could do differently with the recipe I already had, and I realized I could put in the chopped up green peppers at the end of cooking to preserve their freshness.
Tomatoes went on sale soon after and I made a pot of lecso, but I forgot to do that, but a week later tomatoes were still on sale, so I bought more and made a 2nd pot and did do that.
The crisper green peppers is nice, not only for texture, but somehow the green pepper taste is a bit stronger and adds to the recipe.
2) For the birthday of the (Mexican) engineer my one friend the lawyer from Missouri used to date, we went to a new restaurant specializing in high quality ramen noodles, where a big bowl of soup with really good ingredients was $14.
"I thought it would be fun and something different, especially when it's so cold out," my friend was like.
I totally agreed it was a good idea, but when we got our menus, I pretend-whispered to some people, "Is it me, or is this way overpriced? I could make this at home for twenty-five cents!".
Saddly, the ramen was disappointing and not worth the money - totally unlike the Mexican red posole I had had at a restaurant like a month earlier, which I'm dying to have again.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Moldy vegetables.
I've been of the "to heck with money" mindset more and more this last year.
For example, I now no longer buy offbrand cough drops, but instead spring for Ricola, which are so much better, both tastier and more effective.
As part of that, I've even started to violate my "dollar a pound" rule for produce, and buy myself a $1.49 bag of radishes each week to cut up in my lunch besides the raw carrots.
Like last week, though, I went to open up the radishes, and around 4 had mold growing profusely on the outside, with a bit of mold extending to the others.
So, I threw out the moldy ones, cut off the bits of the salvageable ones, and used all of them cut up as my vegetables in my next day's lunch.
My tupperware was like half cut up radishes, and half pasta (spaghetti, raw garlic, and olive oil and butter).
For example, I now no longer buy offbrand cough drops, but instead spring for Ricola, which are so much better, both tastier and more effective.
As part of that, I've even started to violate my "dollar a pound" rule for produce, and buy myself a $1.49 bag of radishes each week to cut up in my lunch besides the raw carrots.
Like last week, though, I went to open up the radishes, and around 4 had mold growing profusely on the outside, with a bit of mold extending to the others.
So, I threw out the moldy ones, cut off the bits of the salvageable ones, and used all of them cut up as my vegetables in my next day's lunch.
My tupperware was like half cut up radishes, and half pasta (spaghetti, raw garlic, and olive oil and butter).
Thursday, February 14, 2013
GUNS.
My mom recently ran into a woman she knows who works at a local sporting goods store in my northern Michigan hometown.
"How are you liking that?", my mom asked her.
"Good," she was like, "But I've been working in the guns section, and we have been busy lately."
"And to think," my mom said to me as she recounted that conversation, "That's just in this one little town. People are nuts."
"How are you liking that?", my mom asked her.
"Good," she was like, "But I've been working in the guns section, and we have been busy lately."
"And to think," my mom said to me as she recounted that conversation, "That's just in this one little town. People are nuts."
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Bugs (4 of 4): Another bug in a dream.
Later I was in the living room of my childhood home talking with my parents, and I see a large black grasshopper like thing to the right of the cabinet on which the television sits, and I go in more closely to look, and it's a roach.
Somehow, I go to consult my parents (who aren't in the room then, oddly, though I don't notice it), and my father confirms that it's a roach, and says that some have lived in the upper story ever since we built the house, that they had taken refuge there before the house was closed in, and that that's typical and they're hard to get rid of. He then told me to note where the roach went if I saw it leave somewhere.
Back in the living room, there's now a set of stairs going up from beyond the television set where the roach was. The roach is sitting on one of the lower steps, and moves off to the right to this odd little window like a cat door that I know goes down to an earthen floor basement, and all of a sudden it's so obvious to me where the roaches come from.
(I was at a friend's boyfriend's house a couple Saturdays ago and I just remembered that he had talked about how the building was over 100 years old, and the basement was tamped-down earth.)
Somehow, I go to consult my parents (who aren't in the room then, oddly, though I don't notice it), and my father confirms that it's a roach, and says that some have lived in the upper story ever since we built the house, that they had taken refuge there before the house was closed in, and that that's typical and they're hard to get rid of. He then told me to note where the roach went if I saw it leave somewhere.
Back in the living room, there's now a set of stairs going up from beyond the television set where the roach was. The roach is sitting on one of the lower steps, and moves off to the right to this odd little window like a cat door that I know goes down to an earthen floor basement, and all of a sudden it's so obvious to me where the roaches come from.
(I was at a friend's boyfriend's house a couple Saturdays ago and I just remembered that he had talked about how the building was over 100 years old, and the basement was tamped-down earth.)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Bugs (3 of 4): Bug in a dream.
Last Tuesday night I dreamt that I was outside my parents house, and I somehow came across this bug that had been recognized in a regional paper as a newly-discovered species.
The bug was sky blue and around the size of a quarter, and had many small legs on its underside, and occasionally a small crack would shift in its back and what appeared to be wings would raise up, and occasionally its body would undulate like a wave or 2 across the surface of a pool.
I went to show my parents, and it disappeared, only to reappear on the underside of a cedar banister in our house.
I went to show them again, and it disappeared, only to reappear crawling around my upper arm and going to hide underneath my armpit.
When it was on the banister, I noticed that one of its wings was bent almost in half, and sticking out from its body, and I realized that someone had sent me the bug in a letter, and in all my joy at seeing the new species, that I hadn't realized how damaging the trip had been for the bug.
I looked more closely, though, and I realized that the bug's wing was fine, that a small pine needle had been jammed underneath the left wing and was sticking out in back, and so that what was sticking out wasn't a wing at all.
The bug was sky blue and around the size of a quarter, and had many small legs on its underside, and occasionally a small crack would shift in its back and what appeared to be wings would raise up, and occasionally its body would undulate like a wave or 2 across the surface of a pool.
I went to show my parents, and it disappeared, only to reappear on the underside of a cedar banister in our house.
I went to show them again, and it disappeared, only to reappear crawling around my upper arm and going to hide underneath my armpit.
When it was on the banister, I noticed that one of its wings was bent almost in half, and sticking out from its body, and I realized that someone had sent me the bug in a letter, and in all my joy at seeing the new species, that I hadn't realized how damaging the trip had been for the bug.
I looked more closely, though, and I realized that the bug's wing was fine, that a small pine needle had been jammed underneath the left wing and was sticking out in back, and so that what was sticking out wasn't a wing at all.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Bugs (2 of 4): Another bug on the kitchen wall.
Like a week after that first bug, at night I go to my kitchen, and there's a small black bug near the same place on the kitchen wall.
Immediately, though, I recognize it as the kind that had infested the Goya rice bag I had kept under my sink (and the corpses of which I have to strain out of that rice, which I transferred into coffee cans and keep in my freezer).
Immediately, though, I recognize it as the kind that had infested the Goya rice bag I had kept under my sink (and the corpses of which I have to strain out of that rice, which I transferred into coffee cans and keep in my freezer).
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Bugs (1 of 4): Bug on the kitchen wall.
The other day I looked at the wall above my kitchen sink, and there was a small black bug on the wall.
I crushed it with the tip of my finger nail, though that was hard because it had such a hard shell.
I wonder if was there to eat the dried grease or whatever had flown off the top of the pots I frequently boil on my stove and had landed on the wall.
(My stove is directly adjacent to my sink.)
I crushed it with the tip of my finger nail, though that was hard because it had such a hard shell.
I wonder if was there to eat the dried grease or whatever had flown off the top of the pots I frequently boil on my stove and had landed on the wall.
(My stove is directly adjacent to my sink.)
Bonus to teaching my class:
I'm downtown after regular work hours.
As I've discovered, since downtown gets dead at night, there's a lot of bars that are really only open weekdays into mid-evening.
Thankfully, then, I'll have a chance to hit those up without too much trouble.
As I've discovered, since downtown gets dead at night, there's a lot of bars that are really only open weekdays into mid-evening.
Thankfully, then, I'll have a chance to hit those up without too much trouble.
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