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ARCHIVES:
JULY 2005
SUNDAY,
JULY 31
My
friend Laura provided this lovely well-intentioned deep dish cherry
pie for my birthday. It has the giant sugar crystals on top that
I love, but as innocent as it all looks, this pie is pure evil.
After just a few small bites, my head started spinning and I thought
i might be sick. I ate as much as I could until my brain took over
and said "NO MORE SUGAR PIE!" How come this pie makes
me sick but my apple pie doesn't?
-=-
Snail bought me a Megan
Whitmarsh friom sixspace
gallery for my birthday --(not pictured above). Mine is a (4"x6")
painting instead of an embroidery. I must get it into a frame and
on the wall this week.
I guess it was last christmas that we decided to buy artwork for
each other for special occasions. It's a good call.
<"<"<"<"<
I had a new skin test done at the allergy office on monday. The
nurse girl was telling me that they are out of the smaller needles
and wouldn't normally be using needles that big, as she made the
10 injections on each arm. I offered that she may not want to be
sharing that information with me.
I got the results on friday. Looks like we are adding some items
to my cocktail of shots: cottonwood, mulberry, oak, new grasses,
and smut (its a corn fungus).
(_(_(_(_(_
MONDAY,
JULY 25
I've
decided that there IS no point to having a recipe collection. Because,
what? there's not enough recipes on the internet that I won't be
able to find something to make ever again? I'll never see another
recipe in a magazine? I'll never ever find another good chocolate
chip cookie recipe? and how often do I make chocolate chip cookies
anyway?
My 'notebook' recipe collection that never made it to fruition ceases
to exist after tonight. This collection was a 3-ring binder with
some odds and ends in the pockets and the rest in clear protective
sleeves, most of them not even full, some of them not even in 'latched'
in, some of the pages with recipes clipped out of cooking light
and rubber cemented onto colored paper from the days when I had
really good intentions. It was a mess. If i ever did go
looking for the only recipes I ever look for - well, i couldn't
find them very easily. I had to laboriously sift through emeril's
garlic meatball sandwiches (never made), jamie's coconut cake (made),
carmelized ruby red grapefruit salad (never made), etc. Some were
things I had made once and clipped out. Some were dishes that I
had intended to make. Some of them were probably tasty, but so what?
The only recipes I ever need are the quick-rise pizza crust that
my friend gave me 12 years ago, the crunch top apple pie that we
like and that's it -- oh, and the chocolate chip dutch baby that
I only made once but SWEAR i'll make again, I promise.
In order to avoid my binder mess and still make culinary progress,
I had created a more temporary situation with a yellow spiral notebook.
It was established in the last 6 months and designed to carry with
me in my bag, to work, so that I could have recipes with me when
I stop at the store on my way home -- cause its a pretty good idea
to HAVE recipes WITH you when you're AT the store BUYING the ingredients,
right? I just tape a recipe to a page, no fuss. It has worked out
fine, thank you very much, but won't be anything I can pass down
to my grandchildren.
It contains a squash casserole that I have made a few times, the
dutch baby, and a breakfast skillet alton brown recipe that I still
want to make, among others.
_?|?|?|?
SUNDAY, JULY 24
Friday
night we had a mini-movie night. Our friends brought salad and this
fantastic movie: DANGER:
Diabolik, a 1968 italian action picture. As you can see,
Diabolik is so sexy and mysterious. So hip and clever.
Snail made his Mexican Lasagna and it was his best ever. I said
that the reason it was his best was because I wasn't around while
he was making it, trying to tell him how to fix it.
My birthday is in 4 days. Hurray birthday week!
>">">">">
WEDNESDAY,
JULY 20
I have some paintings completed, and I am trying to get my work
"out there." I have sent a few emails out and have actually
spoken to a local gallery and a bakery/cafe. The bakery has a 2-year
waiting list.
Not even the gallery I talked to has shows planned that far out.
The bakery curator said that I would need about 24 peices. I only
have about 12......certainly by 2007, I can come up with 12 more
paintings. But the bigger problem is that by the time 2 years gets
here, I won't even like those first 12. Can't he just push me into
2006 if I offer to buy a bunch of muffins?!?!?!?
_+_+_>+>+>+>
SUNDAY,
JULY 17
There is a chicken roasting in the oven with carrots and onions.
It has been raining all day. Snail is watching television. I just
finished painting. I went grocery shopping. I contemplated buying
the new Harry Potter book for $17.98. I did not buy it. We rented
ALIEN VS PREDATOR to watch. I am ready for some loud monster violence
after my belly is full of dinner.
We bought some oreo's last night and ate them. Do you remember how
good oreos are?
I should take a shower before we eat.
We watched a french zombie movie last night with friends, THEY
CAME BACK. I'll sum it up for you. Those that died within the
last 10 years come back to life. They try to resume their previous
lives, except they walk around looking like I feel when I haven't
eaten and they don't sleep. It was kinda good, kinda wacky, kinda
slow, kinda intriguing. There was no blood.
-=-=-=-=
WEDNESDAY,
JULY 13
This is a floating island of fire ants found in our pool (about
4"x4"). The white bits are fire ant eggs.
"Fire ants have developed a unique method
to keep from drowning. At first hint of rising water, worker ants
gather the entire colony into a ball - sometimes as big as a basketball.
As the water overtakes the mound, the ball rides the flood like
a living raft, rolling in the water so all the members can take
turns breathing. When they strike a solid object, be it a swimming
dog or your canoe, they quickly swarm aboard. " -- more
on fire ants
THURSDAY,
JULY 7
This is Yoda (above) and she was here for a visit a few weeks ago.
Maybe it was a few months ago. I have no idea. I'm sure she's three
times the size by now. Anyway, she was tiny and cute that afternoon.
This is the CORPSE
BRIDE by Tim Burton, coming out this fall. Overall i'm pretty
excited, but its creepily too much like Nightmare Before Christmas
- same score and very similar characters. That said, I'll take a
tim burton over a jerry bruckheimer any day of the week.
Today I decided once and for all that i don't like bbq. I just don't.
(for those of you that haven't been to Texas, bbq means smoked meat
eaten on butcher paper.) This doesn't mean that I won't ever eat
it again, it just means that i'll be thinking about enchiladas when
I do.
TUESDAY,
JULY 5
 Sunday
night we had friends over for bbq, potato salad, hot dogs, beans,
beer, watermelon, potato chips with homemade onion dip, cobblers
and homemade ice cream. I have to say, the team really came together
to create a stellar meal. The only thing missing was fireworks and
that we forgot about the magic shell.
We had a fantastic meal last night that i'd like to share with you.
Here's what you do:
---Split open some ciabatta bread
---Butter and broiler/toast it
---Top with slices of fresh mozzarella, a small amount of diced
cucumer, a few slices of avocado, drizzle yo dizzle of olive oil,
salt+pepper and some chilled shrimp.
---Serve with a light salad: field greens, sliced strawberries,
matchstick
carrots and a homemade vinaigrette. (that was a darn good vinaigrette
I made. I think i added more honey this time and it was extra sweety
and soury).
To top the meal off, we watched Harry Potter: Azkaban. I was really
impressed with it. As you know i've already heard the story 6 times
at work, but its amazing to see all of the special effects and what
they add to an already great story.
SUNDAY,
JULY 3
Instead of meeting Rachel Ray at the movie/dinner event friday night,
I met with a long ugly situation and regrets.
We can all admit that it did not say in so may words that she WOULD
be there, but it was misleading when the web site said they would
be filming one of her shows (turned out to be a new show debuting
this fall.) -- at the friday night viewing only. We all showed up
hoping to see her and having to endure watching THE WILD BUNCH.
A friend that joined us went home and rechecked the web site to
see if we had all misread the info and what she found was that they
had ADDED in BOLD letters a line of NEW text that there was no guarantee
that she would be there.
On saturday morning, the entire friday night page was gone.
The Rachel Ray mishap could have be a side note if the dining aspect
was correct. I mean, you've heard me mention on this site that i'm
not nuts about eating in the dark. But i was willing to overlook
this in order to take part in the madness of the celebrity aspect.
Before I go further, let me review the menu :
beef carpaccio (super garlicky sauce on top and not enough salt),
salad (eh), pork chop (pretty tasty and hot) with hominy and i'm
not sure what else on the side and strawberry tres leches on the
side (tasty).
First thing is that if i'm cooking a meal for people eating blindly,
I would definitely not put anything on their plate that isn't edible,
i.e. a pork bone or meat that has any fat. I would serve spaghetti
or lasagna or pizza or a burger or anything that can be eaten readily.
All i was able to see of my food was the shape. I couldn't see color
at all. And I didn't like not being able to season my food. I felt
trapped, which reminded me of eating on an airplane. THere's no
where to go. Sit there and take it.
Oh well, now i don't have to wonder what the dinner and movie might
be like, now that I know it sucks ass.
FRIDAY,
JULY 1
Go go go go and go and do it and stuff and keep going and go go
go go go. Go and go do it do it do it. Now its friday. Now come
home and go, out the door to the movie/dinner/Rachel Ray event.
I'll have lots to report tomorrow, I hope.
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