starchy side dish

Well the "Festival Rice" started out pretty sadly. Me and my mad ninja produce identifying skillz came up horribly short.

Isabel had earlier proclaimed the mango the "world's largest lima bean", waving it around and chasing her brothers with it. *sigh*
The fruit had progressed from hard and green (thus the clincher in my ID- decison..plus the sticker said "mango" to green and waaay over ripe. I easily remembered how much Zoli liked mango when he was a toothless slop slurper. This was some drippy fruit. Truly this mango was mush--peeling it the way the recipe said just did not happen. What did indeed happen was that I sort sqwoozed it with both hands and it mushed into the bowl. I briefly wondered if maybe I should make some sort of moisturizer of this mess. My hands were covered in pulpy goo. The giant seed plopping like a slimy cuttle bone of doom. The mass of the fruit went from what I had estimated at 1-2 cups of shredded tangy to a glop of orange-ish mush. Hmmm time to start re thinking this side dish. Well, as there was NO texture to the this puddle I diced up two apricots. And a carrot At this point I realized I had deviated so far from the original recipe (which called for grated green mango and NO apricots or carrot) that I was going to be creating an entirely separate thing. That's cool. Walk the path my Padawan.

Loosely basing my actions on the original fruity spicy rice theme I went with about two cups of cooked jasmine rice, one pulverized over ripe mango which gave us a nice yellowy saffron color (I was having fantasies about driving to Mistress Kay's house and begging some saffron-- she has a damn ziplock bag full)--so then skipping the ghee entirely I went to the spice drawer, white pepper, cumin and sweet curry. The original; recipe called for peanuts and chiles--I went with almonds and garlic.

They loved it. Matt and Pete just kept the bowl between them and the childwen even ate the first servings. It was pretty spicy for Iz but she liked the almonds. All in all a satisfactory outcome.

delivery ad-veg-ture

ITEM 1--
My new produce box came today I got the MEDIUM BOX. I am still chuckling at several things including their concept of local--apparently Texas and California are local?? But darling reader, the biggest giggle for me is what do they expect me to do with ONE leek and ONE Sweet potato? The medium size box is supposed to be for a family of four. One pint of cherry tomatoes? Obviously these people haven't seen my DH near cherry tomatoes. Don't worry if you are afraid the fam is gonna have to subsist on four apricots (LOCAL???--whatever) this box is mostly a challenge to myself to try new things and force myself to think beyond Chicken tenders and romaine lettuce. So for tomorrow I found a blog that has this tasty sounding recipe on it... "Festival Rice" wish me luck while I check out a stranger's blog.

ITEM 2--
Which technically should have been first as it is chronologically previous to the produce box. Today (FauxMonday) is Tuesday, thus the Calder's dude arrived this morning. But lo and behold it is a new Calder's dude!! His name is Stan as in "Stan the Man" and happily for me he realized that we really didn't want 21 half gallons of skim milk. I got to meet him (only wearing the shortie kimono I threw on to drink my coffee in) and we checked that the rest of the order was right and shook hands--whew... Not even my boys could handle the typos of 21 half gallons of milk--THAT is a LOT of milk! Just two thanks!

Hair

That would be Brookie on the far right with the little shoulder shrug. I am so proud.

LOST marathon

The devil's fart cake.

thighs of steel

One minute of awesome TV. Watch my pretty boys kick some serious ass

mellowing

I am gonna guess I was pretty high strung when I was younger.

Shit-- I can remember just two or three years ago I would be all wired if the chaos swirling around me right now was as nuts as it is. Chuck's surgery went well--Zol is sick, Pete is still sick, I haven't written anything in three days and it is killing me--Plus other stuff is out of my conscious control--like should we buy a pool pass if we are gonna move in three weeks? OR--For example--next weekend is the NPNA Yard Sale. Fun and profitable! One year when Isabel had outgrown all of her cute cute baby girl clothes--we made $450!! This year I am gonna sell (read: get rid of everything). Usually I alternate years, Gretchen and I will fix up some to go cups w/vodka and lemonade and just cruise around having fun. I often wear my tiara--ya know random silly. But on the years we sell stuff I am all about the bags and the color coded price tags and the kids do a cookie sale--- BLAH BLAH BLAH--I haven't sorted out stuff or even taken over my registration fee yet. We need to get on the map (yes dear one, there is a map!! 600 houses!!--amazing-- so I guess I better do that today. Right after I go to the library...No worries--Either I am mellowing with age or I'm just lazy--or exhausted--or both.

Getting back up to speed

Well dear ones, the last few entries have been pretty lame and the only excuse I have is that I am living up to the name of this blog! As every family with kidlets knows the end of the school year is naught but finales and showcases and productions and big games. Thus we at Chateau Bain Chaud have been busy. There are pics from Z's choir concert at the .mac account and Isabel had a blast at the Safety Fair at Estabrook--It was really cool! We met a lady cop and some fire fighters and the MedFlight guys --we saw a cancerous pig lung-- we realized how much alike candy and drugs look (that was actually a little scary) Andre cracked a really good joke but not quite quietly enough and we got frowned at severely by a fellow parent. The main reason we were there was so she could pick up her free bike helmet! Sweet! So she can get all active (ROFLMAO!!!)

One other thing that is getting our butts off the couch is me & Izzy's vegetable garden.
We rented an 8x16 plot in the Community Garden for several reasons--1.) IT gets full sun. 2.) the dogs can't pee on it 3.) Even if we do move before harvest it gives us a damn fine reason to pop back in and visit in the 'hood. Of course at the rate we are going we will probably still be here well past Pennsic.

So, we have planted five types of heirloom tomatoes, Hungarian hot wax peppers, green beans, cukes & an eggplant (that is very sensitive so far!) we are gonna add dill and some flowers in the leftover space. It's fun. Well shoot some pics as we go--documenting the progress! Maybe I can con Iz into writing the entries.

a little backwards

Calvin's got the teams out of order but I was amused nonetheless--tonight the Wings MUST WIN (actually they MUST WIN 2 more) C'mon Hank...you can do it.

Which goes to show you that even bookworms know how to get it on.
Let the whole world know that you are a book-loving rogue-ho

I'm gonna eep my pants

Oh..we are so close. With the Ottawa Senators moving on the Stanley Cup Finals, and the Wings and Ducks in a heated battle to do the same, I hold my breath--3-2 their freaking leadIt's first four outta seven...c'mon Nicky lead those boys. EEEEEEP!

Day by day they rode together apart and he told her tales of gallant deeds done for love of beautiful ladies, and they passed under trees gay with the first green of spring, and over hyacinths covering the earth with sheets of blue, till at sunset they drew rein before the silken pavilion, with the banner of Uther Pendragon floating on the top. And Guenevere's heart went out to Lancelot before she knew.




http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/trt/trt25.htm

SCA ponderments

Well...after feast at Crown HizMaj & the prettiest Herself confirmed that Wednesday of Warweek shall be BEEF NIGHT. Wherein I shall cook a period roast beef dinner for the Northshield army. I want to. It will make me happy. Now I begin the active prep work--for example...a butcher in PA who has good beef. A LOT of good beef--think I'm gonna make sausage for starters...bread and...I'm gonna need a fridge and lance already said there was fire pit space...but I may just get a cooker...hmmm thinking....

Northshield

Now THAT is a scroll! My friend Tariq (feh...my bead pusher!) was awarded a court barony this past weekend. He got a spiffy hat. He shares a funny anecdote on his myspace page which is HERE.

Just four days

I learned a lot over the past weekend. I was in observational mode for much of the time. Much of what I learned is that people really don't listen to each other--at least not on trains. Friday at 8:28 am I got on the train in Ann Arbor and rode that puppy till I got to Fargo, ND. After attending the Crown Tournament of my beloved Northshield, Tarrach got me back on the train in the wee hours of Sunday morning and I limped home nearly 23 hours later Monday night. I watched people... alot. I hid behind my ipod and studied mankind. Man's inhumanity to man.

When I was actually at the event I was kept pretty busy hugging friends and clan sisters, serving feast and oogling eating daggers. I finally got my perfect cordial drinking cuppy. It is ingen Aeda green. There was very happy several hours in Fina's living room making vodka drinks of varying strengths and flavors while tucked safely into the corner of the couch. I haven't felt that blissfully content in a long time. We argued semantics and literary history... we giggled and played in the henna, plotted future trips and had some much needed quality time.

There are of course some new pics in the album.

the state of unknowing

I should be packing for my escape this weekend. But putting things in a bag in prep for 2 days on the train is daunting. On one hand I am thinking me, my ipod & my ticket. I'll borrow garb when I get there. But that is wrong because everybody in Fargo is tall. Gotta take my own garb. But--I want to travel light--kinda of a purposeful abandonment of clutter. Do I NEED all that crap? three books? a notebook? the camera? clean panties? my toofabrush--won't that all fit in my bookbag? What about my crochet project? Should I pack a lunch (yes. train food sucks) what about coffee??
How much do I want to haul through Union Station? Will I need a sweater--what if the train is cold because of air conditioning? I hate that.

Then... I'm like should I change my clothes on Monday? If so WHY? all of this unsettled anxiety directly relates to the house. To be more precise --the ongoing negotiations for the "big house", which not only has a garage and closets--but is twice the size of our current storage space free house. I have so much hope for organization--WHEN we get to the new house--IF we get to the new house...

I think it was David Sedaris who has a short story about "a place for your stuff"--gotta put the stuff somewhere. Too much stuff--I am channeling Steve Martin in "The Jerk"... "and this ashtray and this ping pong paddle"

I am gonna lose my mind at the rummage sale..all of it going bye bye. American's are greedy and my family has very strong pack rat genes. They get them from my grandfather who keeps semi trailers full of furniture & farm equipment all the way over to my mother in law who dates her tins of tuna--my kids are doomed. I have to break the cycle.

I admire the Japanese Zen monks who carry a rice bowl and wear their blanket like a cloak.

Derby

Scatdaddy my ass--feh.

To quote Bullwinkle--I gotta get a better hat. First of all someplace on the internet told me (and I believed) that the race started at 3:05. So we didn't start with the Juleps till like 2:45--well when the race actually started we were at Eli's Possum Party (oh no dear reader that is not a story I can tell--not at least until he gets his version in. He, or his lady-- or a member of the Possom Removal Squad. I avoided that mushroom cloud and thus I dare not lay claim to His Grace's narrative.) So--6:05 we are at Eli's. I am shnockered (mint juleps finally stop tasting like toothpaste around the 3rd or fourth one) and wearing a decidedly UN pimped Hat and I get my Derby fan ass kicked. Despite being one of the three or four people who could answer questions with some confidence-- I did NOT pick the winning horse. I was trounced by an eight year old. Child had never watched the race before and picked the winner--sigh. I HAVE to get a bigger hat. I wonder... if like chocolate at Easter; they are all 50% off now?

There were of course much happier notes throughout the weekend. Despite Petey being on call all weekend--
The Wings won!! (brilliantly I might add) I Found a couple of Tom Stoppard plays at Westside Books.
Midair reminded me how much I enjoy watching his antics (sober or drunk), got to lick frosting from Eua's fingers. Got my musicians to their gig on time...(check out the new album Ark Concert '07.) But most of all I drank a lot of coffee with my girl and we giggled and gossiped and discovered that apparently "once you wear them a bit you get used to them".

clutterphobia

MSU is done for the term. Matty came home last night. YAY! he starts work at Sidetrack in less than a week. YAY! But...
I was a little shocked last night to learn that he has "stuff". He has been jogging home with just his laptop and a laundry basket. I had gotten used to imagining him (literally) as a traveling Spartan. He left from the tiniest bedroom in our overcrowded house to a double dorm room. How much shit can he have? Apparently a lot. His dad made a run earlier in the week and brought home the futon but last night his car and Pete's truck disgorged the tubs of clothes and boxes of movies and video games, plants, a grocery bag full of "caf" pilfered snack size chips (CHIPS?? not even baked-- just plain old school nummy fat laden chips)--a microwave, a coffee pot---yeeah--suddenly the kid has "stuff". I am doomed. I need a garage.

10 things you should not do

if you are a professional "handy man".

1. Talk about your ex wife and/or girlfriend.
2. Schedule an appointment and not show up...or call
3. portray yourself as having a "crew"
4. make political chit chat
5. make ANY chit chat--just hang the f@$%ing screendoor.
6. belittle other clients
7. explain that you got fired from HomeDepot because you were "too fast" (??!?)
8. rag on successful businesses like Anderson windows and Sears
9. make racist jokes (at least not in my house)
10. use the clients tools


sigh....

YAY for JRT Hero!!!

My friend Garth flipped this to me and I have to share-- after all my stories of Bree and her crazy antics here is another even more engaging story. And he looks like an old Jarvis doesn't he? These really are wonderful dogs. What is particularly ironic about this piece is that I often tease Bree that she is a Rottie in little bitty body. Poor little pupstar.

Read on

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A plucky Jack Russell terrier named George saved five children from two marauding pit bulls, but was so severely mauled in the fight that it had to be put down, its owner said Wednesday.

George was playing with the group of children as they returned home from buying sweets at a neighborhood shop in the small North Island town of Manaia last Sunday when the two pit bulls appeared and lunged toward them, Allan Gay said.

"George was brave -- he took them on and he's not even a foot high," Gay told The Associated Press. "He jumped in on them, he tried to keep them off.

"If it wasn't for George, those kids would have copped it."

One of the children, Richard Rosewarne, 11, was quoted in the Taranaki Daily News on Wednesday as saying George fought with the pit bulls to keep them off his 4-year-old brother, Darryl.

"George tried to protect us by barking and rushing at them, but they started to bite him -- one on the head and the other on the back," Rosewarne said. "We ran off crying and some people saw what was happening and rescued George."

But George was so badly mauled that a veterinarian had to put him down, Gay said.

South Taranaki District Council official Graham Young said the two pit bulls had been impounded, and likely would be put down because of the attack.

In New Zealand, owners of dogs judged to be too aggressive can be required to have them neutered and dogs involved in attacks are destroyed.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

cheap cotton skirt

I like that. I don't know why. I am a freak. It is Like my "collection" of band names. "Cheap cotton skirt" just sounds good. (what band names you ask?) Well potential names for my fictional band. Right now, and for about the past 2 years, the number one spot has been kept safe by "Pussy Toupee". When I learned the word "mercken" (a supposedly nude color body suit complete with faux fuzz) I just fell in love with the idea of a toupee for one's snatch. Go figger.

So the other day I was perusing the 70% off rack and found two sweet skirts. One embroidered cotton for $6.99 & one lavender linen for $9.99. And since my thighs are no longer socially acceptable in shorts--I've been procuring a collection of natural fiber skirts--swishy skirts mind you. Kind of a hippy happy warm weather wardrobe shift.

rolla coaster...of love

AHHHHH. It is spring and the Wings are in the 2nd round of playoffs. emotion level UP! They get spanked. happy level DOWN ): They WIN! YAY!--they Lose. BOOO.

and now there is a dilemma--tomorrow night the game starts at 10 pm. That is when LOST is on. Normally, I would say "Thank the Goddess we have Twin screen"--but really...I can't watch my boys when they are tiny NOR should the smoke monster be diminished in anyway...I think instead we shall DVR and jump back and forth between periods. The game is going to go longer than LOST fer sure...ahhhh why can't the game be on at oh--5:30 and then Lost at 8? Don't these silly people realize I fall asleep at 10. Damn primetime Western timezone crap. I want to rule the world. Socialized medicine and all TV ON DEMAND!!