Ok, this is someting new to me...

My first meme! BiscuitGirl tagged me and three other bloggers for this fun meme. The 4x8 Meme:

Four Jobs I've Had in My Life:
1. User Support Analyst (PC Tech) (current job)
2. Printing Press Operator for my parents
3. Wideband Communication Equipment Maintenance Specialist in the AirForce (phone equipment technician)
4. Counter Sales and Bindery for my parents print shop (see #2 above)

Four Movies I Could (and I do) Watch Over and Over:
1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. National Lampoon'’s Christmas Vacation
3. any James Bond movie (Never Say Never Again wasn't a true Bond Movie, it was a remake)
4. StarTrek movies

Four Places I've Lived:
1. Knoxville, TN
2. Biloxi, MS (Air Force Tech School)
3. San Antonio, TX (Air Force BAsic Training)
4. Levittown, NY

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Dirty Jobs
2. MythBusters
3. Family Guy
4. NCIS

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation:
1. Grand Cayman
2. Mexico - Cancun, and Costa Maya
3. Key West
4. Freeport Bahamas (2 times); Castaway Cay Bahamas - That's the Disney Cruise Line private island (3 times)

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
1. HardOCP.com (Geek, Techy website)
2. HTPCNews.com (Geeky, Techy website)
3. Google.com (to search for geeky, techy stuff)
4. Gotapex.com (for good geeky, techy deals)

Four of My Favorite Foods:
1. Chocolate, Dark
2. Sushi, and more sushi
3. A big thick, juicy steak, with a side of steak
4. Lamb

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. A a disney cruise
2. In Florida, preferably Orlando
3. in bed asleep
4. wishing I was infront of my fireplace, if I could get it to work, with my wife and 2 cats.

Four Tags People I'm Tagging to Continue this Meme:
1. DCFUD
2. Food Porn Watch
3. At our Table
4. Accidental Hedonist

D'oh, D'oh, D'oh....

Once again, I've forgotten to get pics of the chili and tamales. I'm sorry ! :(

I've got to see about either keeping the camera in the kitchen or getting a camera to leave in there and upload them to the blog as I take them.

Ok, On with the blog.... The next comfort food I'm making is Pot Roast...Yummy.

Take a 2.5 lb chuck roast, place it into the crock pot, add carrots, celery, and onion. I use a packet of crock pot seasoning from the store. Mix it with 1 cup water, and pour over the top or the meat and veggies. Cover the crock, and turn on low for 8 hours.

After 8 hours, skim the fat off the top. Check for seasoning, and adjust if needed. Add in some diced potatoes and cover for another 15-30 minutes (depending on the size of the diced potatoes). And serve it up.

Comfort food

Chili and tamales. Mmm, comfort food for a cold and snowy weekend. This ain't no Tapas restaraunt food (see biscuit girl's blog - http://yougonnaeatallthat.blogspot.com/ ). :)

Pictures WILL BE posted this time. Just give me till tomorrow night to cook everything and take the pics.

Boot Scootin' Chili - A packaged mix we bought at a yardsale in our neighborhood. It looked interesting and since I've not found a recipe that I like 100%, I'll just have to keep trying as many as I can find. You soak (or cook) the beans till just tender. Meanwhile, cook up 2 lbs of beef, pork , chicken, sausage, deer, or what ever you want to put in your chili till it's browned. Then add the packet of seasonings (looked like chili powder, paprika, dried minced onion, dried garlic, and maybe a pinch of cayene). stir it around a little and then add the beans and a little of the liquid from the beans. That's pretty much it. I added a large can og crushed tomoatoes, and a small can of tomotoe paste as well as dark red kidney beans and more chili powder and a few extra pinches of cayene.

The tamales were pre-made and bought by my other sister, Flour-child. They cost $10 per dozen and are huge. The have mild, hot, and hotter. I was chicken and got the mild. the wife doesn't like really spicy things, so the choice was really made because of her. We've had these talames before on Christmas Eve and boy are they filling. One Tamale and 2 scoops of chili and I was tossing in the towel...I was done... put a fork in me...give me a bucket. They are very tasty, and had a good amount of meat inside them. (yes a pic of them is coming too...jeez, let me cook them first...lol)

With a huge pot of chili and a dozen talames in the freezer...We'll be fumigating the house by the middle of the week. Not really, I plan on freezing some of the chili for later...... OK, it's later, time to thaw it back out.

Also, speaking of comfort food. Flour-Child and I are taking our parents out for breakfast on Sunday. It to celebrate thier 45th wedding anninversary, which is today. We're taking them to Mimi's Cafe (http://mimiscafe.com/ ). I'll post more tomorrow about our experience.

Christmas is taking over our house

Well, I know it's after Chrsitmas, but the decorations are taking over our house.

Dough-girl and I had a modest amount of decorations for our little 1000 sqft. condo, but when we moved into a 2600 sqft. house, those decorations barely covered one room. So, what were we to do??? BUY MORE DECORATIONS !!!! We have a collection of Norman Rockwell houses and until now we had about 10, now we have 15. Our nice 6 ft tall prelit tree looked like a twig inour living room so ww borrowed an extra tree from mom. A 7.5 ft tree, but not prelit. Now we don't have enough decorations to cover that size tree...Ugh... Well, enough aboutthe inside of the house, let's enter Dough-boy's Christmas domain....Exterior Illumination and Decoration.... I keep telling the wife the house will look just like the Griswold's next year.... her reply...that's fine, you pay the electric bill anyway.

Icicle lights. Our condo only needed 2 strings of light, the house...5 for just the lower gutter, and 3 more for the upper. I only had 4 strings before Christmas, so I only did part of the lower one. I bought the fancy LED Icile lights, but returned them because the white ones do not look good. They give off a nice white light, but around that it a blue-ish hue that looks weird. So I returned them and dug out the old ones and some that were packed awat for a few years. But, I bought more lights on Christmas Eve, and next year we will have light on both sets of gutters.

Bushes and Trees. The condo had a few azalea bushes and a 8 foot cedar trees in front. The house, 8 bushes, a railing, 9 windows, etc... So, I hung up our homemade wreath on the front of the house, and had to buy 8 sets of net lights to cover the bushes. Let me just say, net lights are a wonderful invention. No more getting dizzy walking around hte tree or bush, just open up the net and wrap it around the bush, tuck in the edges, and plug it in.

Windows. After we had our pitiful set of light and decorations up, we noticed a neighbor had little wreaths with red bows in each window. It looked perfec for us, but would cost a fortune. So, we said we'll get them later. Well, the day after Christmas, I hit the decoration sales and bought 9 wreaths, 4 sets of prelit garland, and storage bags for it all. All we need are the giant suction cups to hang them on the windows. Time to scour the internet for a bargain....

I don't have any pictures...I've got to keep my camera strapped to my hip from now on. But next year I'll get some..

Oops...Got busy

All I can say is....Oops , I got busy and forgot to write in my blog. I will do my best to get an entry or two up this weekend.

The wife, Dough-Girl, and I have been working on entertaining the family for New Year day, and working to take down and organize our Christmas decorations.

For New Years day, I made a 'Whiskey and cola glazed ham'. I used a recipe I found on foodnetwork.com from Chef Emeril Lagasse.

Fresh Baked Ham with Whisky and Cola Glaze
1 (8 lb) fresh ham (shank and leg of pork)
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of Essence (recipe follows)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
whole cloves
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup whisky
4 cups cola drink

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
With a sharp knife, puncture and score the skion of the ham, making parallel 1/2 inch deep cuts. Turn the ham and score again to make a grid like pattern.

In a small bowl combine the salt Essence, pepper, and cayenne. Rub evenly all over the ham. Place the ham fatty side up, in a large roasting pan. Place 1 clove where the lines intersect on the ham. rub the sugar evenly over the ham, pressing to pack. Pour 2 cups of cola into the bottom of the roating pan and bake for 1 hour. In a container, combine the whisly and the remaining 2 cups of cola.

Baste the ham with the whiskey and cola and continue to bake, basting every 15 minutes with the whisky and cola mixture and pan juices, until the ham is cooked through, the skin is crisp and dark, and a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees F, 2 - 2.5 hours.

Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.


The ham is so good, that I didn't get a chance to take pictures before they were attacked by the family. I make scalloped potatoes to go along with it, but I cheated and used the Betty Crocker, cook in 20 minute kind. LOL.