Tasty Bytes

Let's start this blog up again...

2007-07-10T11:59:00.000-05:00

Gee, has it really been 7 months since I last posted??? Opps. The only thing I can say is this...

Things have just been crazy for me. I was moved to a different office a little over a year ago to help fill in for another employee that quit and it went down hill from there. It seemed like it was a constant battle with my co-workers on getting things done, communicating, etc... I would bust my butt from 7:30am till 4-4:30pm hardly seeing my desk for hours on end, and the others in my office would be back at theirs surfing the internet. All of this would result in me being totally exhausted when I got home and the last thing I wanted to do was to try and come up with creative and interesting blog entries. I just wanted to hop online and play a few rounds of BattleField 2 or 2142 and kill things. While I still want to kill things on the computer, a few weeks ago, I was again transferred to another office to fill in for another co-worked that left, and now that I'm settled in and the pace of this office is much more laid back and the customers are less demanding so it's like a working vacation for me. This means I might actually have time to start working on my blog entries.

Soooo, I'm going to once again try to get on here and start posting. I know in one of my last entries I said my sister was going to start posting, but I got lazy and we never did get her access to the blog setup, so I'm going to get that going as well.

Updates - coming soon,

2007-01-03T08:31:00.000-05:00

I know it's been over 3 months since my last update. I'm sorry and I hope to have some updates up soon. Thanks to Google making some new changes, I'm able to add my other sister (not Biscuit Girl) as an author on this blog.

I've just been real busy with work, and have just not had the ambition to post. I've also had to start taking "on-call" support at work, and while it's not taking up all my time, it just seems that I got the short straw and have had to work around all of the Holidays since before Thanksgiving this year. It's not hard work, but it can lead to some sleepless night. I've either dreamed the pager went off and it startled you out of a sound sleep, or I toss and turn expecting it to go off. It really mucks up my weekends and I almost always get paged when I'm doing something good or decide to go out from the house to shop or take care of errands.

So, that and the fact that I've been lazy have lead to my blog going to the sidelines. But I do have lots of picutres from The Epcot Food and Wine Festival, Disney World, Thanksgiving, and Christmas that I've made a resolution to create atleast 2 blog entires every month in 2007.

Probably the longest two weeks of my life...

2006-09-18T13:23:00.000-05:00

Well, with less than 2 weeks before Dough-girl and I head off to DisneyWorld, it seems like these are going to be the absolute two longest weeks of my life.

If you managed to read my last post...yes it was kind of long-winded and confusing, but it's not really that confusing, once you sort out the stuff you're not going to see or do. The biggest thing is to don't second guess your decisions. I've read so many threads on WDW related baords where people actually make 2-4 different dinner reservations for each night because they cannot make up thier mind and then a day or 2 before the reservation cancel the ones they are not going to use. This I feel is crazy, you're tying up seats that could've been reserved by others months ago, thus forcing us to either reserve at our 2nd or 3rd choice for dinner, and then we have to call within the 2 day window and hope we can get the reservations we wanted, and then cancel the ones we had made months ago...then we were tying up seats that others could've reserved.....AHHHHHH, the madness.....LOL

So, as my ever-so-kind over-planning sister commented about in my last thread... NO, I DID NOT PLAN THE BATHROOM BREAKS!!!??? OMG...I FORGOT TO PLAN BATHROOM BREAKS...PANIC TIME !!!!! I'll have to re-do all the plans, change reservations...... NOT!!! Our plans are not that detailed, nor are they that tight that we'll be stopping at a certain time to pee. Give me a break, I'm not as bad as Biscuit-Girl.

So, As I've been printing out iteneraries and sample park schedules (They're ONLY sample plans), this we can see if riding Space Mountian is better in the morning or afternoon as far as the lines and crowds are concerned. And since it's just the wife and myself, we can skip the kiddie rides and shows and move onto riding Dumbo a second time before we stop for lunch. And these sample schedules also tell you things like if the temperature is below 65 that morning, then you need to skip certain things at Animal Kingdom, since the "guests of honor" won't be out. Or if it's too hot many of them won't be very active. Other things include like not riding certain rides in the morning and getting a fast-pass to ride it later in the day. According the the "experts" they say two active adults can see everything in the Magic Kingdom in one day and still have time to relax and not fight the crowds or long lines.

Anyway, it's back to the planning (now where are the closest bathrooms to space mountain on the way to Main Street?). Oh, and If I think about it (or have time), I'll maybe post some day-to-day reports live from Disney....

The Wonderful World of Disney...

2006-08-31T07:55:00.000-05:00

Besides work, work and more work, I've been busy working on planning and organizing a trip to Disney World for the wife and I. This is not the first time we've been to Disney World. We went a few years ago for a long weekend and went to Epcot, and another time just for MGM-Studios. We had a blast both time, but figues it was time to go all out and spend an entire week in the parks and just "blow 'em out".

We booked this trip almost a year ago, and over the months I've researched and talked to others on Disney-themed forums such as Allears.net, DIS Discussion board, and TourGuideMike.com. I've also ready through various books from BirnBaum, Passporters, and other authors. But the one site that helped me the most has been www.TourGuideMike.com. This guy used to be a tourguide for Walt Disney World, and people used to pay him (actually Disney) thousands of dollars a day to take them through the park and hit the rides at teh right time to avoid lines, take them to teh best restaraunts, the least crowded parks, and just have the optimal Disney experience as possible. Well, he's now sharing that information with those that come to his website and sign up for his service for a mere $21.95. What this gets you is all the information you can handle (sometime too much at one time) for the entire time before your vacation till 30 days after (so you can report back on your experiences to others).

Mike covers it all. From hotels, to transportation in Disney, to Dining (from snacks to elegant dinners), to where to stand for the best viewing for the parades and fireworks. But be warned, there is soo much information in this site that you can become overwhelmed very quickly.

While I cannot give out any of his proprietary information (Mike still has contacts within Disney that share information with him), I can tell you that if you are planning on going to Disney, you better start planning around 1 year in advance. While some of the information about "least crowded parks", Special events", Extra Magic Hours, etc.. don't get published till a few months before, you can use last years info for research and reference.

The wife and I are going during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, so I started there and figured out the dates we wanted to go. Then we picked our Hotel - the Carribean Beach Resort. After that we got the Disney Magic Your Way Park Hopper tickets, these allow us to go to different parks each day (park hopping). Then we added on the Disney Dining Plan, this is realy a good deal as each member of your party gets 1 Coutner Service meal, 1 Table service meal, and 1 snack per day for a set price. It cost about $38 per day per person, but you'll easily spend $50 if you buy the exact same things without the plan. One thing to note is that most restaraunts inside Disney get crowded quickly at meal time and you have to get Advance Dining Reservations (ADR's) well in advance. Most places have a 180 days policy, meaning you can book up to 180 days in advance. Some places fill up fast, others slowly. One example is Cinderella's Breakfast, it fills up in the first few days of the 180 day window. But others like Raglan Road, and Irish restaraunt, had plenty of opening for us at less than 45 days prior.

BUT, don;t make reservations just yet. You have to decide if you want to see the fireworks, parades, certain shows, etc... Each of those will determine if you eat dinner at 4:30, 5:00, or later. If you don't want to see the Wishes parade a Magic Kingdom, then eat at 4pm. If you don;t want to see the fireworks, then eat at 8pm.

Then you have to figure out what attractions, rides, shows you want to see as they will determin if you ride it as soon as the park opens or get a fast-pass and come back later in the day. Some rides are easy to ride at park opening, and late in the evening (before closing), and others are easy to get onto any time of day. If you go with children, you have to plan differently then my wife and I would, since we're not going on the smaller rides or children's shows we can skip portions of the park.

It seems like a lot of planning and would seem like you wouldn't have fun at the park because of "the schedule". While it is a lot of planning and decision making, you'll appreciate it when you show up for dinner, there are people waiting around all over the place, and you walk up and give your name and are seated within 10 minutes while the rest wait over an hour for a table. Also, walking up to a ride and getting on it within 20 minutes instead of 1-2 hours. All of this planning will result in you beign able to rind some rides multiple times easily, and even take a 2 hour break in the afternoon, go back to the hotel to freshen up, take a nap, and return to the park recharged and ready to go several more hours while those that were there all day have screaming, cranky, or unruley kids slowing them down.

Anyway...time to get back to my planning....Not really, I'm almost done. I only need to look at the rides for each park and cross off the ones we won't go to. Everything else is planned, reserved and ready to go......Now where did I put my sunscreen and hat????

I need to be taken out back and flogged

2006-07-25T15:03:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've been bad and forgettful and neglected my blog yet again !!!! I'm sorry, I should be taken out back and flogged with a .....er, nevermind. I don't need to go there...

Anyway, once again things got busy, and I wasn't very creative with my cooking, unless you consider scrambled eggs and bacon fancy cookin'.

Well, since the last update my wifes grandmother (guess that makes her my grandmother-in-law) passed away. She was in the hospital and we found out she had terminal colon and liver cancer....yea, not very good news. Well, upon further investigation we found that all treatments had been stopped and they were trying to get her into a hospice or other facility. A few days later she was put into a Rehabilition Facility (I guess it was the only one to take her insurance and volume of O2 she required). About a week and a half later we were called to say she passed away. So the last few weeks have been a mad dash to go throught her home and sort out the good stuff from the garbage.

Now that her place is cleared out, the junk hauled away, the trash piled into dumpsters, and the important papers and valuable furniture hauled to our home we have started on sorting through boxes and boxes of cancelled checks, and bank statements from the 1950's to current; notes scribbled down on nakpins and envelopes; to saved newspapers from landing on the moon, to the 1982 World's Fair, and the Blizzard of 1998. If anyone needs toilet paper, just let me know because we have enought TP to last us till the next iceage.

All of that aside, I'm still taking my mini-vacation to D.C. to see my sis and enjoy Sushi till I grow gills, and attend a cooking class at Galileo this Saturday. It's a 5 course meal featuring lobster. YUMMMMMM. I'll be sure to take pictures and post them when I get home.

A tasty opportunity...

2006-06-12T06:58:00.000-05:00

My sister and I have been talking over the last few weeks about taking some cooking classes (Yea, like we need cooking lessons!!). For those that read Biscuit Girl's blog (http://yougonnaeatallthat.blogspot.com/), you know that she lives around the Washington D.C. area. That area has probably the highest amount of culinary choices/experiences anyone could imagine. Many of the restaraunts in the area offer cooking classes, or demonstrations that include hands-on preparation, cooking, and plating, as well as wine pairings/tastings.

Biscuit Girl sent me a pretty large listing of restaraunts that offer cooking classes. There were so many to choose from...Lebanese, Italian, French, Asian, you name it.... The prices of these courses ranged from $40-$250 per class and last about 4 hours. While I could not come to a decision on the course I wanted to take, nor the time I wanted to take it, Biscuit Girl made the decision for me. We are going to take a course at Galileo working with lobster !!! YUMMMMM. It was a tough decision for me, especially not living in te area (I live in East Tennessee), so I'll have to fly up there and airfares are not cheap right now. Luckily I found a decently cheap flight, just over $200 round-trip. At least I'll be able to fly into Reagan National Airport, hop on the Metro, go a few stops and be at Biscuit Girl's home in no time.

One of the hardest parts of taking this class is I'll have to leave my wife, Dough-girl, at home. She really, really, wants to go back to D.C. to hit a few of the touristy spots that we were forced to miss due to 9/11. But she's not able to take the time off from work right now. I really hate doing this, but she'll have our two cats (Mini and Skittles) to comfort some. THANK YOU HONEY, I LOVE YOU !!!

I'll definitely post more on this when we take the class at the end of July.....Stay tuned...

Loosing track of time...

2006-06-12T06:46:00.000-05:00

Wow, I cannot believe how long it's been since I last posted. It's been 7 weeks since my last post and I can only say....D'oh....

I've been reminded several time by my sister, Biscuit Girl, that I haven't updated my blog in a while. Each time I'm reminded, I have all good intention of writing up something and getting it in there, but little things distract me and I would forget about the blog.

I do have a few pictures of meals I've made, and I hope to post them up this week. While I have not looked at the pictures in quite a while, I have no idea of what I'll be writing up....LOL. I know it'll be good, I just can't recall what meal I did take pictures of and what I missed.

And now for the pizza

2006-04-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know it's over a week late, but here is the much anticipated pizza entry.

#1 - mozzarella and diced roma tomatoes

#2 - carmelized onions and prosciutto

#3 - carmelized onions, prosciutto, and roma tomatoes

Pizza, wonderful Pizza.....

2006-04-12T06:54:00.000-05:00

This is just to let everyone know I'll be posting an entry tonight about some wonderful homemade pizza I made last night (YES, there will be pictures!!!). They were so good, I'm thinking of making more this weekend.

Here's the ingredients list to get you drooling.....
Mama Mia's pre-made personal size crusts (they crisp up very nicely and taste great)
Emeril's home-style marinara
Smoked Provolone (shredded)
Smoked mozzarella (shredded)
regular mozzarella (shredded)
prosciutto (thinly sliced and diced)
Roma tomatoes (seeded and diced)
carmelized red onions (with orange juice and balsamic vinegar)

Please don't drool on your keyboard, they're not easy to clean. Also, keep the pizza away, don't want any crumbs in there either....

Easter Sunday.....
Well, I still have not written the entry about the piza, but I will tonight. But I've got a second round of pizza to add to it. Yea, we liked the pizza so much I made it again over the weekend. I added some leftover ham from Easter lunch to one with just mozzerella and some diced roma tomoatoes. And another I added some leftover roasted chicken with the sweet-carmelized onions and smoked cheeses. The last one was the onions, prosciutto, and smoked cheeses.

Work, work, work.... and a little play.

2006-04-03T06:31:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts the last month. Work has me running all over the place, and working some long days that leave me wiped and brain-dead in the evenings.

Dough-girl and I did manage to escape for an extended weekend during March to visit with her aunt and uncle in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. While there we also arranged to get together with her cousin and thier family. While it was a short trip, it was a break from the chaos. For those that don't know, Pawlays Island is about 45 minutes south of Myrtle Beach. That's 45 minutses away from the hustle-bustle, and cheesy tourism that once was called the "Redneck Riviera". No offense to those that really like that stuff.

Our trip was great, the drive was long, but the relaxation was worth it. Just a short 7-8 hour drive from Tennessee, mostly interstate till you get to Columbia, SC. From there you travel state roads and highways to the coast.

Once in Myrtle there is so much to do. If you like to shop, there are 2 large indoor malls, and hundreds of strip malls, and several outdoor malls. Dough-girl and like one outdoor mall named Broadway at the Beach. There are over 100 stores, restaraunts, and entertainment attractions surrounding a lagoon that hosts boat rides dusing the day and firework in the evenings. Each time we visit Broadway at teh Beach, there are always new shops to check out and restaraunts to try.

While we looked at the map this trip, I noticed a shop named Father Time Clocks and gifts. I made note that we needed to look in there. Well, we walked around the mall, twice in fact, and forgot to stop at that store. So, on out way out, we drove around to that end of the mall and went in. The shop has all kinds of Grandfather clocks, mantle clocks, etc... We looked around and this one Grandfather clock caught our eye, and we kept going back to it. The sales lady told us hte history of the clock and the manuacfurer. Apparently the manufacturer, Sligh, made furniture for a long time, and started a clock division many years ago, over time, they decided to focus only on furniture again, and sold off their clock line to Bulova. This clock was the only one they had left for sale. While the price looked very nice, about 40% off, we needed to think on it. So that night in our hotel room, I use my tiny little PDA to surf the internet and research the clock. Do you know how hard it is to read a web page on a 3" screen ?? Trust me, it's not easy. Well, we decided we wanted the clock and went back when they opened the door the next morning and made the purchase. During our talking they dropped the price another $600, and since we were from out of state, No sales tax. But to top it off, they were running a special of No delivery/setup cahrge. Well, that sealed the deal for us.... We'll take it. Well, that was two weeks ago, and when we were wondering exactly when they woudl call us to schedule the delivery, they called us last Thursday and set it up on Friday evening. The toughest part of this was wondering if the color of the wood would match or be close to the hardwood floors where it would be sitting, and dining room furniture just off to the side. Well, it's an almost perfect match.

Anyway, the clock is beautiful, the chimes are wonderful, and there are no regrets to our purchase.

TLC...

2006-03-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

It seems I made my Chicken Noodle soup a little too early in the season. The last two days I have been home sick, and no more soup. If only I had some of that homemade cold remedy on hand....

Along with being sick there was little to blog about, and even less cooking going on. Luckily I made a few things over the weekend that carried Dough-Girl and I through the week. The best meal was home made Enchillada's, mexican rice, and refried beans (out of a can). I had no idea how easy enchillada's were to make, and I will definitely make then again.

1lb ground beef
1 packet of taco seasoning (or your own blend of flavors)
4 flour tortillia's
1 can enchillada sauce
a package of mozzerella cheese (or what ever you like)

Brown the beef, and add the taco seasonings. Set aside to cool slightly. In a 9x9 pan, pour a little of the sauce to coat the bottom. take each tortillia and place a little cheese and about 1/4 of hte beef mixture and lay it down the middle of the tortillia. Roll the tortillia and place it seam side down in the pan. Repeat on the other 3 tortillias. Cover the tortillias with the remianing sauce and top with cheese. Place in to 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately with a side of rice, beans, sour cream, and guacamole...Yummm

I also made some cajun Dirty Rice, in honor of Mardi-Gras. I came in a package, and all I had to do was brown the beef, so there's not much to write about. The dirty rice was my meal of choice through the week, while Dough-Girl opted for the Enchillada's.

Virtual Recipe Club - Potato Edition

2006-02-19T19:30:00.000-05:00

Leek and Potato Gratin

2 1/4 pounds (about 3 large) white and pale green parts of leek, well washed, chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half, scalded
1/4 cup grated Parmesan plus 2 tablespoons
1/4 cup grated Gouda plus 2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard - to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds (about 3 medium-large) russet (baking) potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a saucepan, cook the leeks in 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat, stirring, until they are softened. Add the flour and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the half-and-half, bring the liquid to a boil, and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup each of the Parmesan and Gouda, mustard, nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste.

In a separate saucepan combine the potatoes with enough water and salt to cover them by 2-inches, bring the water to a boil, and simmer the potatoes for 1 minute. Drain the potatoes.

Transfer the potatoes to a buttered 1.5-quart baking dish. Spoon the leek mixture over the potatoes, sprinkle it with the remaining cheeses, and dot the top with the remaining butter. Bake the gratin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown.

Got chicken???

2006-02-19T08:11:00.000-05:00

It's wintertime, it's cold and flu season, that means it's time to make home-made Chicken Noodle Soup....Yummy. I had a turkey carcass in the freezer from Thanksgiving dinner, and I was craving homemade soup. Mmmm, a bowl of soup, a warm fireplace.....Ahhhh.

Having Chicken Noodle Soup around almost makes me wish I was sick...

Ingredients
1 frozen chicken (or turkey) carcass - with some meaty pieces left on it
1 package of chicken breasts and/or thighs
Carrots (3 for broth, 3 or more for soup)
Celery (3 for stock, 3 or more for soup)
onion (1/2 for stock, 1 for soup)
salt and pepper
basil (fresh or dried)
oregano (fresh or dried)
rosemary (fresh or dried)
thyme (fresh or dried)
parsley (fresh or dried)
whole peppercorns (about 8-10)
Skinny egg noodles

Chicken Broth
Thaw the chicken carcass, place into pot of water (enough to cover). Add a few carrots in large pieces about 3 or 4 inches long. Add a few stalks of celery cut about the same as the carrots. Add 1/2 an onion rough chopped. Add some of the basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, peppercorns, and parsley. Bring the pot to a boil for about 1-2 hours (depending how rich you want the broth.

While the broth is cooking, preheat the oven to 350. season up the chicken breasts and/or thighs with that ever you like, and bake in the oven till done. If your grill is availalbe, grilled chicken would be wonderful in the soup. Place the chicken aside to cool.

After the broth is finished, remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. Remove hte chicken carcass from the pot an place on a cutting board (if you plan on removing any meat from the bones). Strain the broth into a second pot. Throw away the veggies.

Soup Time
Chop remaining carrots, onion, and celery into small pieces. Also cut up the chicken you baked earlier. Place the pot of broth on the stove over med-high heat. allow broth to begin to boil, reduce to simmer. Then add the veggies and chicken you just cut up Let this simmer for 20 minutes (or more depending on how done you like your veggies). Once veggies are to your liking, return pot to a boil, add the egg noodles and cook for 10-12 minutes.

Remove form heat and serve.

Oh how time flies...

2006-02-15T15:57:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've updated my blog. Boy how time flies when you're busy.

Work has been hectic as we are preparing to open a new section at one of our 5 hospitals. Working in the IT Department, we have the duty of deploying the new PC's printers prior to the areas going live. But we also have to move the existing equipment from the old areas, clean it up and re-deploy it. Moving the old equipment isn't as easy as just unplugging it and plugging it back up. Some of the departments want a few machines moved, then they'll move a few patients, then a few more machines, etc... A process that can take several hours just to move 5 machines. UGH...

Now, working in a hospital, one would think the areas around the nursing stations would be neat, clean, and sanitary.....yea, right. Pick up a PC, and you'll see a coffee spill that's months old. Or dust bunnies that could eat a '75 Cadillac Eldorado. Then look under the desk, at the mess of cables, staples, dust, tape, and other stuff. Ewwwwwwww. I've pulled out cables that looked like they had on fur coats. Surge protectors that had soda, coffee, and other unknown fluids spilled on the, and then left to collect all kinds of nastiness. Infection control would go ape-sh*t if they saw some of this mess. Not only do we have to collect these cables and remove them from the area, but most of the time, we have to clean them and reuse them where the equipment is moving.

Ok, now that you would probably never set foot into a hospital again, let me just say that it's not all that bad. I've worked in the hospital for 10 years now, and not caught anything serious.... *cough* *cough*, and I've got this growth that still hasn't been identified yet.... JUST KIDDING. Seriously, these are just small areas, where there is no way to get in there and clean it on a daily r weekly basis. If we allowed housekeeping to move the machines every few days to clean under and around them, we'd have broken equipment all over the place. Many times the house keepers can't get to these areas to clean because the nurse or doctor won't move their lazy butt 6 inches to the left or right for even a minute. And the really dirty machines are the ones on or near the floor where the fans suck up any little speck of dust and after time it just builds up. Heck look around your own PC, see any dust around it, inside it.... Yea, inside it. How many of you actually open your PC up and vacuum it out? And how many of you smoke near your PC? All of that build up, and you're only one person for a few hours a week or day. Now imagine a nurses station with 8-10 nurses (or more) per shift (3 shifts), 5-20 doctors per day, 5-50 patients, 2-4 visitors per patient, plus other hospital staff going through that area on a daily basis. It doesn't take long to build up a lot of dust.

I don't know what made me write this post, I just started typing and there it is.

Ok, this is someting new to me...

2006-01-31T22:04:00.000-05:00

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....

2006-01-24T10:39:00.000-05:00

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

2006-01-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

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

2006-01-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

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

2006-01-07T10:33:00.000-05:00

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.

change of cheesecake plans...

2005-12-21T07:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess I spoke too soon about making a White Chocolate Raspberry cheesecake. I get home, get things ready to make my cheesecake and guess what?? No White Chocolate pieces. Guess I should look in the pantry FIRST before I get my heart and mouth set on a cheesecake. Well, what was I to do? Do I make a plain cheesecake, do I make a Bailey's one, or possibly Chocolate. I opted for the last one, good ol' Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. I made the crust, then hte cake, put it in the pan, carefully put it in the oven and then realized I FORGOT THE RASPBERRY JELLY !! Oh no.. it was too late to try and fix it, so I ended up with a Chocolate Cheesecake. No harm done, at least not yet...

I only had to change the recipe slightly. Use cocoa powder instead of flour, and Semi-Sweet chips instead of white chips. And I had to increase the cooking time to over 1 hour and 25 minutes at 325*. That's probably the longest I've ever baked a cheesecake, but the center just would not set. The edges were getting dry and I had to put foil around hte edge to keept them from burning. But the result....A house that smelled of chocolate, and a cheesecake that came out almost perfect. Not even the slightest crack in it. That's the first in a while for me that didn't crack.

Oh, and I've been reprimanded by my sister for leaving out some vital imformation about her cheesecake recipe. She won First place with her cheesecake at a cooking contest in Po-Dunk (name changed to protect the guilty). Thanks Sis...

Also, I made this cake about 4 years ago for a contest at work and got first place with it as well. I even beat out another guy whom people swore his cheesecakes were the best ever made. All of the entries were numbered and when people tasted them, they thought mine was soo god that it just had to be this other guys and they voted for it ...HAHAAHHAAH. He was so mad, it was rumored that he didn't even work the rest of the day, but went home early with "a headache". LOL, yea a White Chocolate Raspberry cheesecake headache.

Mmmmm Cheesecake

2005-12-20T08:41:00.001-05:00

Well, the wife asked me to make something for her office Christmas party. I usually hit a roadblock trying to think up things on the spur-of-the-moment. But given a little time and a night to sleep on it I came up with something that will satisfy almost everyone in her office.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake !!!

It's actually a recipe from my sister, Biscuit Girl, but don't tell her.. :)

Crust:
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (or Oreo crumbs)
2 Tbs sugar (actually to taste. I like a little more sugar in my crust. But more sugar makes the crust stick to the pan).
melted butter (enough to just wet the crust and help it stick together)

Mix all 3 ingredients in a mixer till moist. Press mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a spring-form pan.

Cheesecake filling:
3 pkgs Creamcheese, softened (leave the creamcheese out for a little while so it softens up and isn't ice cold).
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream or whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract (I use a good Mexican Vanilla extract, not the cheap imitation kind).
1-2 tsp of flour
1/2 cup melted white chocolate pieces (about 1/2 bag)
4 or 5 tsp of seedless red raspberry jam (make sure to use seedless)

Pre-heat oven to 325-350 degrees. Place a small pan of water below the rack the cheescake will sit on. This will help prevent the cheesecake from cracking.

Place creamcheese into mixer and turn on low. Slowly add sugar to mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, to mixer. Add vanilla. Once eggs, sugar and vanilla are incorporated, turn off mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and beaters with a spatula. Turn mixer back on and add the heavy cream and sour cream. Mix for another minute. Turn off and scrape bowl and beater again. Turn mixer on again, add the flour. Slowly ad the melted white chocolate. Turn off mixer and transfer 1/2 of the batter into the spring form pan. Spoon in the jam on top of the batter then carefully add the rest of the batter to the pan. Now take a small paring knife and gently make a few swirls in the batter to just spread the raspberry around the pan. Do not mix too much or it will mix it in too much and you will not have small pockets of raspberry hidden in the cake. Place cheesecake into oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until center of cheese cake is slightly jiggly.

Once cake is done, DO NOT take it out of the oven. Use a small paring knife and go around the edge of the cake to release it from the pan. This will also help prevent cracking. Leave the cake in the oven for about 30-45 minutes, then remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Once cool, cover with plastic wrap and place into refridgerator.

Each time I make this cheesecake it comes out slightly different. Most times it's better but a few have been pretty sad with huge Grand Canyon like cracks in it, or chunks of white chocolate in it. One even had the raspberry sink to the bottom, through the crust, and weld itself to the pan. Just take your time, enjoy using all your baking tools, and have fun.

Variations - Color small portions of the batter red/green for Christmas, or Orange/black for Halloween. Even color all the batter green for St. Patricks Day. Use a little red and make a Valentine's Day one for your sweetie. The combinatiosn are endless.

Enjoy.

Biscuit Girl

2005-12-19T13:10:00.000-05:00

The links to the right contain two blogs by Biscuit Girl, my sister. Please pay her blogs a visit. She has a wonderful way with words, and has probably the two finest blogs about food on the internet.

YouGonnaEatAllThat.blogspot.com is her main blog and GlobalFoods.blogspot.com is a listing of every country in the world, and links to many recipies for that countries cuisine.

These blogs are a real labor of love for her. I know her and her husband, Biscuit Boy, really hate trying out some of the various dishes that she posts....can you feel the sarcasm. I know I try to help them with that quest each time I visit them.

Welcome

2005-12-19T11:36:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog. I'm going to give this a try, so please bear with me. I'm not usually one to write my thought and feelings down, but I'll give my best shot. LOL.

With Christmas upon us, I'll try to post a few entries this week showing some of our families traditions in food and celebration. Also, being a computer technician, I have lots of tips and tricks that I use that many people may not know about that could make things easier on you, or make mundane tasks fun again.

Stay tuned...