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I was seriously running out of stuff to take for lunches and snack on the the evenings. So it seems like all I did was cook. I made a fresh batch of hummus, from dried beans of course. This morning I made creamed chipped beef which leaves two additional servings after what I had on toast. Before I left for work I put a batch of pinto beans and onions in the crockpot, that should yield about 5 meals and it freezes well. And for dinner last night I had a version of pulled chicken. I may yet also make a pan of cornbread tonight.
Simple pulled chicken
I took two boneless, skinless breast and nuked them for ten minutes. This technically cooks the meat but I sure wouldn't serve it to anybody like this, it is sort of dry and tasteless. However it does yield quickly cooked meat that can be used in recipes. While it was cooling I diced up and onion and tossed it in the wok with some butter. about the time the onion was done I cut the chicken crossways about 3/4" and ripped it apart from there. I added the chicken to the onions along with some ground garlic, salt and pepper. I poured in some bbq sauce, I happened to have an open bottle of Bill Johnsons, got it all hot and set it off on a low burner for an hour and a half for the flavors to mix and served it over rice. If I had had a bell pepper I would have tossed it in with the onion but I had not thought that well in advance.
I sat down last evening to watch two more episodes of Battlestar Galactica. After all, each disc has 4 episodes. If I had paid attention I would have realized the last disc of the first half of season 2 only has 2 episodes. If I had known that I would have sent it back and had the first disc of season 2.5 for this weekend. So no biggy, I opened up Elektra which I was going to watch on Saturday night and started watching it. It locked up in scene 9 and cleaning did not help. So last night's plan and Saturday night's plan for watching movies went bust, partly my own fault.
This is why I deliberately looked for a phone that would allow me to keep multiple shopping lists. Last night I decided I would put off groceries until Friday evening. So under the old list system I would have left the running list on the counter when I left for work this morning. When I got to work I found there was to be a get together at Lisa G Friday evening. I have an appointment with the rental office Thursday after work so I will be going shopping on the way home this evening. Because I have the list on the phone there is less chance I will forget something.
So last night on the way home I stop at Total Wine to pick up some beer. It is not far out of my way and I can save $3-4 a case compared to what I would pay at Wal-Mart or Albertsons. So I double my savings by buying 2 cases. Of that $6-8 I saved I spent $16 of it on a couple of bottles of wine. ???
2003, PG-13, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner
Another Marvel movie. Lots of action. This one was just sort of ok. I felt the story line a little weak in spots.
Eating out - I had a soso barbecue sandwich Thursday evening at Thee Pitts Again on my way to Costco. Friday's lunch took me to Salvadoreno's where I had onion chicken that was really good. Many of the Salvadoran foods have similar descriptions to Mexican foods but are different in many ways. If you get a chance they should be tried. Sunday I had lunch at the Miracle Mile Deli at Arrowhead Towne Center. Really good corned beef, soso potato salad. All of those places I have written Yelp reviews so if you are interested you can follow the link on the left.
Cooking - for the second week in a row I got a salmon fillet and baked it. This time it was a wild caught fillet that because it was on sale was actually less expensive than the farm raised variety. I used the leftover to make salmon salad goop for sandwiches. I did a tri-tip on the electric grill Sunday night. Somehow I got it medium well instead of medium and I cannot figure out how to make meat less cooked afterward. And last night I pan fried a couple of ground beef patties. So I have leftovers for lunches this week. I had a double serving of Spam on Saturday and a double serving of bacon on Sunday. Having run out of sliced ham a couple of weeks ago I now have no more processed pork in the apt.. No, I am not going vegetarian. Just getting rid of those things that I really like the taste of but my body doesn't like digesting. I have also just about burned up my supply of red meat and will try to not eat any late in the evening where it can keep me up at night. It won't help my cholesterol any because chicken has as much as beef.
The biggest change from the norm for me was I actually took Sunday off. Slept in until almost 6, got up and had a leisurely breakfast, then started deep cleaning the apt.. I really didn't get the whole place done but I got the bathroom, vanity, and kitchen along with all the floors. Looking at some paperwork I found cleaning I had not cleared the shit lip in over 3 years so it was definitely time. Midday I took a break and went to the mall. I had lunch and then wandered around. Went in to Dick's which wasn't open the last time I was there (June 08) looking for unpadded bike shorts and not only was everything padded for road bike wear the prices were really high. I'll go to the Sports Authority when I have time and look there. I had a gift card that was almost a year old for Penney's and after wandering around I bought some boxers. I stopped at Yankee Candle and picked up a couple of Pumpkin Spice jar candles. And in general cruised the mall. For a Labor day weekend it wasn't very crowded and I only parked a few steps from the door. I spent the afternoon resuming my cleaning and keeping track of the Diamondbacks losing to the Rockies. A very easy going day.
And the highlight of my day Sunday came just before I started cooking my dinner. My son called and we chatted for about an hour. First time he has done anything other than texting in over 6 months.
Sunday, in addition to the ground beef steaks,baked potatoes and artichoke I was having for dinner, for lunches during the week I wanted to make some chicken to go with the basic bagged salad that was on sale. More than 1/2 the time I would marinade boneless skinless breasts in Italian dressing and ground garlic. Well I had no dressing so I thought I might make up a sauce and stir fry them in the wok. I make sauces from all sorts of stuff and one of the ingredients I wanted to try was some Terra Verde blackberry peach preserves I had in the freezer. I had had some on toast a couple of times and decided it was too tart for my taste. I decided to make it mayonnaise based which I have done several times for grilling but not for stir fry. I also knew I wanted enough liquid for the sauce to also be the salad dressing. Well, when I got done mixing it all up I knew I had a really good salad dressing that may not take the heat very well so I set it aside and cubed the chicken and gave it a dry rub of Garam Masala, salt, pepper and let it sit on the counter for an hour or so then fried it in peanut oil in the cast iron skillet.
It turns out I had enough (about 1-1/4 cups) dressing to use for three salads, one with just over 1/2lb of baked salmon and the other 2 with a cubed chicken breast each. Each on 2/3 of a 12oz bag of salad. I have no clue if I could even recreate the dressing. Here is a list of the ingredients in approximately descending order of volume. The first three items were the bulk of the volume. I noted brands where I think the taste is important. By far the strongest flavor was the preserves which were muted and was what I was trying for. As you can see I just wander around the kitchen tossing stuff in the bowl and then maybe make a second trip to alter the taste.
Mayonnaise (Best Foods)
Ketchup (Muir Glen organic)
Blackberry peach preserves (Terra Verde)
Mustard
Honey
Sesame oil
Orange juice
Lemon juice
Rice vinegar
Sriracha
Paprika
Onion powder
Ground ginger
So Friday's lunch took me within a block of my apt to a coffee house/bakery, La Boqueria. Cool dude, grew up in the neighborhood, spent some time in Europe adding to his cooking/baking skills. Saturday morning I decided to eat out at Ronnie's Cafe. Manuel and Amy had recommended it to me. Not bad but not the most authentic shit on a shingle either. I posted Yelp reviews on both places.
I stopped at Albertson's to pick up something for dinner and ended up with a 1.37lb salmon fillet. I usually only buy the 6 or 7 oz portions because the whole fillets are over 2lbs and I really have no clue what to do with it. I took the fillet and put it on a rack in a baking pan, melted some butter with ground garlic and Italian season that I spread on it. Covered it in foil and baked at 350° for 30 minutes. Ate about 1/2 of it with steamed cauliflower and put the other half on top of bagged salad which was on sale for $1 at lunch today. Sunday I accidentally made some really good dressing that will be the subject of it's own thread. Sunday morning I started breakfast with a half cantaloupe. This is memorable because I rarely eat fruit. It made my orange juice taste funny too. :-)
2008, Romantic Drama, PG-13, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman
This movie got an Oscar nomination for costume design. Not really the strong point for me. What was the highlight for me was the scenic footage of Australia. Even though it is fiction they tried to be historically correct especially about the aborigines. While I watched it over 2 viewing sessions because it is almost 3 hours long it kept me interested the whole time. I would definitely recommend it.
My phone would no longer show charge complete no matter how long I left it connected. And I had to charge it every two days instead of 3-4. I could search around and come up with a battery for $15-20 or I could get a new phone for free, the latest iteration of the last two phones which have served me well. Two things lacking in the old phone. Texting with a numeric pad sucks and I had no ability to edit texts or notepad entries. So I looked at a few phones with some extra features. The notepad thing is more important than it sounds. I have kept a pad of paper in the apartment with a separate page for each of the normal places I shop. That works fine if I remember I am going shopping one of those places on the way home and put the list in my pocket on the way out the door in the morning. As often as not I would not pick up the list and get to the store and forget something. Now I can keep running lists for each of those stores. It's not like a synced PDA or a smart phone but it does what I need it to. I found out real quick how much faster I can text even with those itty bitty keys. And if I do make an error I can fix it without erasing all the way back. And of course sound clarity and battery technology have improved in the last three years. What I got was an LG enV3, cost $29.95. It fits in my existing holster and I hardly ever used my car charger on the last two phones so I got out of there with no accessories as I had recently purchased a Jawbone II to upgrade my headset. It is going to take a bit of time to learn all the things it can do and I haven't even thought about going on line with it yet.
Started off my day sleeping in until almost 6. Next stop was the MVD. I had to sell off my truck which had a vanity plate on it. Got there at 7:45, waited in line, got in and got called to a window at 8:04. Now here is where it gets goofy. I can go online and order up a new vanity plate anytime I want for an existing vehicle and they would charge me the fee and send it to me. It turns out if I have an existing plate I can only swap it at the next renewal. I fail to understand why I cannot just pay the fee and swap it out.
The MVD happens to be 2 blocks from my apt. and my hair stylist is also in the neighborhood. So I get out of the MVD at 8:12 and go back to the apt to cool my heels until 9. Getting there 10 minutes early I beat out an old lady by about 3 steps to get my stylist first.
So then I go to work for a bit and take off for lunch at the Golden Greek (35th North of Glendale, review on Yelp) which was pretty good.
By the time I did all the running around, put in a couple of orders and chatted with a bunch of customers I think I go maybe an hours worth of actual work done the whole day.
2008, PG13, Daniel Craig
Lots of fast paced action. I enjoyed it. Now is that a short enough review or what? :-)
And I followed it up by sleeping in until almost 7 this morning. I had a free ticket to the Diamondbacks vs Dodgers game. I was joined by some friends for three innings who went down to try and improve their seats after a while. I happen to like sitting up high where I can see the whole field. With only one eye working well I have poor depth perception so up high works, and these were pretty good seats, on the rail just past 1st base. Instead of paying $12 for parking I opted to park at FEZ and take the light rail down for $3.50 round trip. That was my first trip on the light rail and right off the bat I lost my balance not realizing how much faster electric motors accelerate compared to propane motors on buses. I almost landed on a kid, pulled a muscle in my upper arm and stomped on the toes of the kids dad. One hot dog and one beer totaled $15. The beer was Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen for $10, the option were a bunch of generic lite beers for $9, no contest. But I did bring my own liter of frozen water for .35 instead of $4. They bring in extra rail cars for major events and I was surprised how fast they moved several thousand people out of the Central core after the game, which we won in 10 innings. Getting back to FEZ for a late dinner I found I missed a bit of excitement. The president had dined two doors down at Macayo's and his secret service staff, 20 of them, had gone in to FEZ for drinks and appetizers.
And for dinner? FEZ has a monthly $5 special that you can find on Facebook or their website but doesn't show on the menu. This month is a Turkey burger: "Hand made Turkey Burgers, grilled, topped with field greens, roma tomatoes, provolone cheese and a roasted red bell pepper, olive tapenade, on whole wheat ciabatta; served with a field green salad with lemon basil vinaigrette. FIVE BUCKS!" It was delicious and not heavy on my stomach like a beef burger would have been that late. Their burgers normally go for $10.95 so that was quite a deal. I ordered a glass of Sam Adams summer ale and got the last 1/2 glass in the last keg. They gave me a full glass of Boston lager also but I don't really care for it as much. By the time I got home at 11 I was beat.
While I was at FEZ Thomas, the GM, filled me in on some details of Rickie's, his SO, upcoming fashion show at The Devils Martini. I am not into high fashion and I am not going but it should be a good show with Thomas doing the emcee and Intuit providing the music.
Not bad for a budget night out. I cannot wait until the economy picks back up so I do not have to watch every penny. Of course then I won't have time for an outing like that.
Friday August 14th, 5-9PM
This event was hosted by Hickman's Family Farms and several restaurants normally only open for breakfast and lunch. It was a charity event to benefit Arizona foster children. The deal was: you bring in a pair of new childrens pajamas and you get a dozen eggs. And while you are there you can eat off of the breakfast menu. I went to Scramble with a group of Yelpers and we ended up sitting around for almost two hours. Attendees were encouraged to wear pajamas to the event and many families had children in pajamas but the only adults I saw in any type of house wear were the employees of Hickman's and the restaurant. It was really a fun event.
Here is a picture album of the event. I am not sure whether you need a Facebook account to view it or not.
ARRGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!
So, alternating between regular movies I am also doing TV Scf-fi on Netflix. Currently I am working my way through Battlestar Galactica. This week the Diamondbacks have been playing in the East so I have had time to catch an episode or two after the game. Saturday night disc 4 ends with the first half of a two parter. Not bad because I already have disc 5 sitting there. Sunday I pop disc 5 in and watch the second part which happens to have a cliffhanger ending. No problem, I have time to watch the next episode. No way would they ever put out a disc with only one episode on it. I hit menu, no more episodes, check the sleeve run time and sure enough there is really only one episode!! They mailed me off the next DVD this morning and I will have it tomorrow. I suppose things could be worse, at least I do not have to wait months until the next season starts like I would have if I had actually been watching it on TV.
A lawyer boarded an airplane in New Orleans with a box of frozen crabs
and asked a blonde stewardess to take care of them for him.
She took the box and promised to put it in the crew's refrigerator.. He
advised her that he was holding her personally responsible for them
staying frozen, mentioning in a very haughty manner that he was
lawyer, and proceeded to rant at her about what would happen if she let
them thaw out.
Needless to say, she was annoyed by his behavior.
Shortly before landing in New York , she used the intercom to announce
to the entire cabin, "Would the gentleman who gave me the crabs in New
Orleans , please raise your hand?"
Not one hand went up ... so she took them home and ate them.
Two lessons here:
1. Lawyers aren't as smart as they think they are.
2. Blondes aren't as dumb as most folks think .
Aka granny panties, briefs. I came of age in the last decade or so of the use of belts and napkins. Tampons were just starting to become available and self stick pads were not yet designed. All that hardware took a lot of containment so all women wore full briefs during their period. Before PMS was defined it was semi popular thought that the mood changes were in part due to the inconvenience of dealing with a period. I remember my ex and I coined term B-flats as they just were not as sexy as the panties she normally wore. So just why am I moved to remember this particular piece of nostalgia? Oh yes, this is supposed to be a movie review.
Zack and Miri make a porno.
2008, R, Seth Rogan, Elizabeth Banks
One of the early scenes is some kids taking a voyeur photo of Miri in her "period panties" as she is changing clothes at Zacks work. In spite of the title it's actually a chick flick. Funny in many places, a little gross in a couple of places. Of course only the supporting actors/actresses are ever seen without clothes. I enjoyed it.
4700 N 16th St., Phoenix
It's been a while since I did a Friday lunch out. This month's Yelp Office Hours turned out to be on a Friday so off I went. Any meal out is much better with pleasant folks to chat with while eating. The food was generic sandwiches, salads, soups. I had a grilled cheese sandwich, cup of clam chowder and and iced tea. Bill came to $12.16 which I thought was a bit steep. But at least the food was good and the company great. For me it was about 25 minutes each way so lunch was almost 2 hours by the time I got back. There is a more detailed write up on Yelp.
1999. Ron Livingston, Gary Cole, Jennifer Aniston
I can see why it wasn't big at the box office. I just didn't think it was very funny. I barely made it through the whole thing. I know several folks that regularly make references to some of the dialogue but this movie just isn't me.
...but were afraid to ask.
1971. Woody Allen, Burt Reynolds, Louise Lasser. Tony Randall, John Carradine, Gene Wilder, Lynn Redgrave, Lou Jacobi, Anthony Quayle. Directed by Woody Allen.
Woody Allen takes seven questions from the book by the same name written by Dr David Rueben and turns them into seven silly vignettes. All 7 are in a different presentation style. Some are OK, some are great. Overall I liked the movie but I could see why a gen X person might not because some of the basis is seated in values prevelant at the time. Woody Allen is a brilliant director but much of his story lines get mired in the technical. I recently tried twice to watch Match Point and gave up because it moved too slow. For the most part this movie moves along quickly while retaining Mr Allen's attention to detail.
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