Splish Splash!

It’s raining today. In fact, it’s pouring. The old man? Definitely snoring. But I don’t want the rain to go away. We need the rain.

Enter my awesome plaid wellies.

   

I’d forgotten how fun it is to splash in the puddles, instead of gingerly trying to avoid them, ending up with soaked shoes and soaked pants and coming into the office a wee bit crabby because of said soaked shoes and pants.

I got out of my car, and splished and splashed and stomped through every puddle I could find between my car and the door.

Then I came to my desk, took off my wellies, slipped on my flats, and got going.

In other breaking news: I’m going to the dentist this afternoon to, I devoutly hope, get my infected wisdom tooth removed. If he doesn’t remove it today, I shall be very put out. It hurts. The whole right side of my face hurts, including my ear. I’ve been on antibiotics for days, but it still frikkin’ hurts! Growl!

How to Eat M&M’s

1. Pour the contents of the bag onto a napkin or into a dish or a plate or something.
2. Separate them by colour.
3. Line them up in neat little rows, the top row being the colour that has the most M&M’s and the bottom row being the colour that has the fewest M&M’s.
4. Eat them, two at a time, from bottom to top.
5. If you are left with a single M&M in any given row, leave it there.
6. If you have multiple colours with the same number of M&M’s, eat them according to which colour you like better (e.g. brown before yellow because I like yellow better).
7. Then when you have only one M&M left in each colour, pair them up and eat them two at a time.
8. If you have one solitary M&M left at the end of this process, throw it away.

 

A Blast from the Past

When I was a kid, 12 or 13ish, we lived in a house in Albany, Georgia, in a neighbourhood that was formerly Naval Base Housing and abutted a golf course. Being the oldest kid, I was the boss of the other two, and frequently strongarmed them into going to the small convenience store at the golf course and getting me a Coke and some sour cream and onion Doritos.

I know! What a bossy bitcah!

And you’re probably saying, “What the heck? There’s no such thing as sour cream and onion Doritos!” And you’re right. Well, not anymore. Because when I stopped at lunch to get something to drink this afternoon, I saw the holy grail of Dorito-dom sitting by all the different flavours of Doritos. Limited Edition! screamed the label. Sour Cream and Onion!

I bought two bags so I’d have a spare in case something happens to the first bag and I never find them anymore. I hope they taste as good now as they did when I was a bossy big sister. And if my siblings are reading this, I owe you. Want a Coke and a bag of sour cream and onion Doritos?

Random Acts of Noise

Sometimes I’m just sitting at my desk working, and an uncontrollable urge comes over me. I have to make noise. Any noise. Well, any noise with my mouth. Whistling doesn’t cut it during those urges. It probably sounds like a toddler babbling, or someone who has consumed a serious amount of mind-altering substances expounding on the universe. Or maybe someone speaking in tongues. I don’t know. I just hope the urge never overtakes me when one of the bigwigs is near my desk.

 

belarhgk;fst jfdkl ghuigopopop ghgne ksd jkla jgkasl!

Temporary Housing Solutions

As we’ve been dealing with the aftermath of our house fire, we’ve been surrounded with all kinds of people–people and organisations who successfully have taken advantage of us in a time of need, and people and organisations who have done nothing but help.

Temporary Housing Solutions has been one of the latter. Our contact has been incredibly proactive in contacting us, finding housing for us, taking care of everything, keeping us in the loop as to what’s going on, answering questions that others should have answered but didn’t.

If you are EVER in need of temporary housing assistance after a disaster, or for corporate housing, or any other reason, I cannot recommend them highly enough.

This is not a sponsored post, and I’m not getting any compensation for it. I just wanted to spread the word. They’re ethical, honest, and fantastic.

If you found my blog by searching for guidance as to what to do after a house fire, please feel free to email me privately at chauceriangirl(at)gmail(dot)com. It’s one of those things that you never expect to happen, and trust me when I tell you that the vultures will be at your house the next day. I can tell you some companies I would recommend and some I definitely would not recommend. I can also share our negative experiences, and hope that you can come out of things in a better situation than we have.

Curry! Curry! Curry!

My plans to go back to being vegetarian were rudely disrupted by my physician telling me that I have to eat lean meats because they’re more difficult to eat and have less fat than, say, tofu. I love tofu.  

And I must confess that the lean meats do tend to fill me up and keep me unhungry for longer than the other stuff, so I’m trying to obey the doctor.

Yesterday Sarah-bear brought me leftover roast beef with onions, carrots, and potato for lunch. I ate mostly roast, with several carrots, a hunk of onion, and a small piece of potato.  And it was good. I offered to bring lunch today since she was so kind as to provide my Tuesday lunch.

So what to cook? That was, after all, the question. I had some round steaks, but knew they wouldn’t be thawed yet, and I didn’t want to eat beef two days in a row. So I decided on curried chicken. Here’s the approximate recipe:

• Mix together 1 tablespoon curry powder with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
• 1/4 cup dried currants
• 2 medium onions, sliced in long strips.
• 2 medium green bell peppers, sliced thin
• some olive oil
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 can ro-tel tomatoes
• some fresh thyme, if you have it, or some dried thyme if you don’t (I had neither, so I used dried Italian herb blend)
• Minced garlic, as much as you want but at least 2 cloves
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (don’t zone out when you’re toasting them, or you’ll end up with a nasty crusty mess of burned blackened almonds and your house will stink until you get the curry going)
• 1.5 to 2 pounds of boneless, skinless, chicken breast, cut into 1/2″ chunks
• mango chutney
• cooked rice

1. Sprinkle the curry mixture over the chicken, and toss well so that it’s nicely coated. You might need more curry powder. Don’t be shy. Curry is your friend.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick wok or big skillet thingie. When the oil is nice and hot, dump in the chicken. Cook it, stirring and tossing occasionally, for about 7 minutes.
3. Add the onions, garlic, and bell peppers, and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, currants, thyme, and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until it’s time for you to serve dinner.
5. Place some rice on a plate/bowl, spoon some curry on the top (be sure to get plenty of the juices), sprinkle some almonds on top, and then add some mango chutney. If you happen to have fresh thyme, sprinkle a little of that on top of everything, but if you don’t, don’t worry about it.

If you wanted to make it vegetarian, I’d substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth, and seitan for the chicken. It would still taste really, really good.

And if, like I, you toss the chicken and curry powder mixture with your hands, know that your hands will still smell like curry powder the next day, no matter how many times you wash your hands. Unless you know some secret as to how to get the curry smell off, in which case please tell me, because I’ve been hungry all morning because every time my hands go past my nose, I smell curry.

Tonight’s dinner will be swiss steak. Then fish on Thursday night.

I’m really not comfortable with eating this much meat.   I’m going to make a batch of seitan, and see if it will help with the satiety (did I spell that right) as much as the lean meats do. Then I can add seitan into the blend, and feel a little better.

And the tofu in my fridge? Chocolate mousse.  (Melt some chocolate chips with a small spoon of vegetable oil; then blend it together with the silken tofu in your blender. Add a smidgen of vanilla extract, then put it into a bowl and put it into the refrigerator, and smirk when you serve it to your tofu-hating friends.)

 

Photo!

You will rarely, if ever hear me say this, but here is a photograph of myself that I actually like.

Making a Difference

One of my goals for this year is to step out of my comfort zone, and try to find ways to really make a difference in the world.

Meet Charity:Water. If you make a $20 donation, you give a person access to a clean water project. 100% of the funds raised go directly to building water projects. If you’re a little more affluent than I am, a $5000 donation can provide a well. Depending upon your company’s policies, they may match your donation, up to a certain percentage, which can end up potentially doubling your donation.

Here in America we have it pretty easy. If we want water, we turn on the faucet and there it is, gushing out so we can wash dishes, wash clothes, take baths, shower, drink it, cook with it. It’s clean, and free of disease.

Imagine living in some parts of the world where the villagers may have to walk 3 hours just to get to a fresh, clean well. Here’s your chance to join me in making a difference. Please consider making a donation.

Counting Blessings

The insurance company finally sent us the check for the company that did the packout and storage and can clean those items we want them to clean, so Joe went over this morning to review the contents.  Unless he changes his mind since we discussed it 10 minutes ago, we’re having them dispose of everything in the boxes. That includes my books. Gulp. But because I have had a nook for about a year at the time of the fire, I had gotten rid of a lot of books because I had them on my nook. The books that will pain me to lose are some very fancy editions of books about the crusades, medieval writers, all my Chaucer books, and my cookbooks.  But the thought of not having to go through everything in those boxes is definitely a happy thought.

I told him that the only things I absolutely want are the cedar chest my monster gave me, for sentimental value and because I like to store linens in it, and my exercise bike. As far as I’m concerned, everything else can go. I think he’s keeping the dressers and bed frame. All of the living room furniture–going out. All of the kitchen stuff–going out. Honestly, knowing the soot and chemicals used to extinguish the fire got all through the kitchen, I don’t know that I’d ever feel good about using that stuff.

And I think he’s going to have them clean the piano. Frankly I’d like to get rid of it as well. The woman I bought it from turned out to be exceedingly nasty, and tried to take me to court because she said I was lying about where I lived. While I could easily prove otherwise, at that point Joe and I had the money to finish paying her off, so we did. She got the case dismissed WITH prejudice. Bitch.

I feel good about being able to move back into the house, when it is ready for us to move back into, and have it be clean and uncluttered. I’m going to do my dead level best to keep it that way.

Hello Salty Goodness!

I found a delicious crunchy salty snack that has a reasonable amount of fat and a lot of protein and fibre. Yes, I’m talking about dry roasted edamame.

I successfully lost around 65 pounds this year.  I’d like to get at least another 65 pounds off in 2012, if not make it to my goal weight. That means I have to make some more changes, like going cold turkey on Slurpees. Yes, my loves, my last Slurpee will be today. It also means I need to find some healthier things to snack on.   The dry roasted edamame was an experiment, and I’m pleased to say I like it. It’s not as cheap as, say, a bag of chips, but the nutritional benefits far outweigh the chips, as does the lack of greasiness.

I also bought some kale, and tonight I’m going to experiment with making kale chips.  The recipe I’m following is pretty straightforward–toss the kale in a bit of olive oil; sprinkle with sea salt; put in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until they’re nice and crispy.

I’ve also decided to go back to being vegetarian. I picked up some great vegetarian & vegan cookbooks at Half Price, and one of my goals for January is to prepare one recipe a week from either the vegan slow cooker cookbook or the vegetarian slow cooker cookbook.

For 2012, instead of setting a bunch of resolutions at the beginning of the year, only to fail abysmally within two weeks, I have decided to set monthly goals.  I figure I can do anything for 31 days. If some of them end up being permanent changes, well, awesome. But if I choose, after 31 days, to focus on other things, well, that’s awesome, too.

I’m spending the last day of 2011 having lunch with Liz and the Monster. Then Liz and I are going to go see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. And I’m going to Barnes & Noble to spend at least some of the gift card Joe got me for Christmas. And I will probably go to World Market with Liz. Then I’ll either watch Doctor Who with Joe, or else I’ll read.

2011 was a really rough year for me in more ways than I feel free to express on this blog. The things I have written about–losing two dogs and the house fire–are enough to deal with in one year. The other things have sort of pushed it over the edge.

I am declaring 2012 my year. It is going to be a fantastic year!!  I know–I have Faith (I am Faith). Wishing you all a very safe and very happy New Year!