Lester Sews!

Finally! A successful batch of Gingersnaps!

2010-02-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

After my last failed attempt at Gingersnaps, I was left brokenhearted for a while...

But I figured I'd try this recipe today... kind-of out of sheer boredom, and kind-of because of a full bottle of molasses that is rotting away in my pantry.

Mmm... now don't tell me this first picture doesn't look delicious!

Too bad these cookies blend in with my lovely butcher block countertop...

Deee-lish!

Chocolate Salty Balls, round 2

2010-02-02T16:51:00.000-08:00

Mmmmm....
Today I tried this recipe.

It allowed me to use my double-boiler - a wedding gift I've never actually used until today!

YUM YUM.

I followed one person's review and stuck toothpicks in the peanut-butter balls before putting them in the fridge. However, I found that the toothpicks did not aid that much in the dipping. It would be just as useful to keep ONE toothpick next to your double boiler and use it over and over again to stab the ball after you douse it in chocolate, then place it on the cookie sheet.

Fun with the double boiler.
I also followed another review and put in about a tablespoon of shortening to make the layer of chocolate a little thinner on the balls. Uh... if that was a "thin" layer of chocolate, I'd hate to see what it would be like without the shortening. I ran out of chocolate before finishing all the balls!!!

Ahh. Chocolate ball goodness! I was just kidding about the salt. Tee hee, "balls."

Danny is 2!

2010-01-17T23:38:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to Danny!

Happy Birthday to Danny!

Happy Birthday to Da-a-anny...

Happy Birthday to Him!

Mountainview Cemetery

2010-01-15T22:07:00.000-08:00

I went to a cemetery today. I was uninspired...
We are quasi planning a trip to the south in August, and mom says the cemeteries down there are out of this world!

She didn't actually say they were "out of this world."

And on the subject of creepy: Whilst on vacation, I read the short story, "The Lottery." Then I requested the movie via Netflix, and I watched it tonight. It's very made-for-TV-ish, but super creepy! I encourage you to go to a cemetery and watch The Lottery all in one day.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

2010-01-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

I made my first Chicken Cordon Bleu last night. I've always thought this recipe was way too hard, but I had nothing better to do last night, and we weren't having dinner til after 8:00pm anyway (my parents were coming over for dinner, and they had a high-intensity work-out from 7:00 - 8:00pm believe it or not!), so I figured, "What the hey?"

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com - Chicken Cordon Bleu II.

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

6 slices Swiss cheese

6 slices ham

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon paprika

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1.	Pound chicken breasts if they are too thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Mix the flour and paprika in a small bowl, and coat the chicken pieces.
2.	Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Add the wine and bouillon. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.
3.	Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened, and pour over the chicken. Serve warm.

(You'll notice from the following pictures that I did not perfectly follow this recipe; for instance, I couldn't get six chicken breasts to fit in my oven dish, so I just used four.)

First thing's first:I've decided I'm really not fond of pounding poultry. Last night, it was so loud, I was nervous our next door neighbor was going to knock on our door. Ideally, you'd have a box of those really large, sealable bags instead of one flimsy piece of plastic wrap, but I don't live in an ideal world. And I must say... this piece of plastic wrap held up nicely.

Isn't it pretty? The reviews of this recipe suggested using no-water-added ham, but I couldn't find any unless I looked in the deluxe meats section (that's what I call it), and the deluxe meats section is out of my price range.

For some reason, I have "party picks" instead of "toothpicks," so that's why mine are so festive looking. Please, do not be ashamed of regular, non-dyed toothpicks. They will work just as well.

Okay, I forgot to take a picture of the raw chicken covered in the flour and paprika mixture, but that step did transpire, I promise. I also added some garlic powder b/c one reviewer told me to, and I follow orders. Look at how delicious this nicely browned piece of chicken looks! I thought the toothpicks - I mean, party picks - would really hamper the browning, but they didn't. I was able to flip that baby, no problem! (and my nonstick pans have already really disappointed me with the non-long-last-ability of their non-stickiness, that I really didn't care if the party picks wreaked more havoc upon them)

I then followed one main review many of the reviewers suggested. Instead of leaving the poultry in the skillet to fully cook, I popped them in a 350-degree'd oven. I had the butter/oil mixture (that's another review I followed... 3T butter and 3T oil instead of just 6T butter) left to work with for the sauce. In this pic, I had already added 1 cup of white wine... I used Pinot Grigio. Cheap Pinot Grigio. (Also... I doubled the ingredients for the sauce b/c again... reviewers told me to do it.)

I added the heavy cream/cornstarch mixture...

And I took the chicken out of the over after 20 minutes. The chicken was not fully cooked at that point, so I decided to pour all the sauce over it and pop it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

Mmmmmmmm..... it was fabu (remember, pronounced: fab-yew!)! It was seriously delicious. I must say... I've come to an epiphany in the past few months. I - and most people, I'll assume - overcook chicken. I have overcooked chicken so many times when following recipes to the dime. For a long time, I thought I just didn't like chicken, but from time to time I would taste really excellent chicken! So lately, I take chicken out when I'm still a tad uncomfortable with it... when I still think there's a chance I could catch ill with salmonella from eating it.

And I haven't regretted it yet! Just as long as there's no visible pink, I go for it.

2010-01-13T22:37:00.000-08:00

Are you?

I've finally started!

2010-01-12T21:20:00.000-08:00

It took me three days to finish cutting all my fabric. I completed my first block! Isn't it darling?

2010-01-11T22:34:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day in my blog-everyday-in-January venture that I am completely blank. It probably doesn't help that I don't post my blogs til around 11:00pm.

Today I visited my friend in Dayton, NV; therefore, I did not sew, and I did not cook. Well, actually I did make some Chicken Cacciatore tonight, but I didn't take pictures, and I'm feeling too lazy to copy down the recipe.

To distract from my crappy blogging, here's one of my favorite youtube videos: the dramatic squirrel (chipmunk? guinea pig?).

It makes me laugh!

Here he is again, but this time with a lightsaber!

Hee hee hee!

I love Photoshop!

2010-01-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

Click on it. Do it.

My new "big" project

2010-01-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

Here's the new quilt on which I have finally started. As I got all my fabrics out (and went to the fabric store to finish buying all the fabrics I needed), I realized I have been working toward this project for over a year now. Dave actually bought me a bunch of these fabrics LAST Christmas.

Quilting is just such a lifelong passion, ya know? *happy sigh*

So here's the quilt I'm making - from my favorite quilting book, "Big Book of Scrap Quilts." (Quilters are so clever... with names and such)

EXCEPT!!! I'm using blue, not red. I've always wanted to make a blue quilt... probably b/c I don't really decorate with blue or anything... yet I'm strangely drawn to the blue fabric section at most fabric stores.

I now have to change these fabrics into the above quilt:

Woo Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I'm tired.

2010-01-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I'll have a wonderful sewing blog. Promise.

But now I'm tired.

We just finished watching Scent of a Woman. I love that movie. Dave has never seen it, so I got it for us on Netflix. He loves it too now.

How about a joke?

Q. What did Mrs. Bullet say to Mr. Bullet?

A. "We're going to have a BB!"

P.S. This is in no way my clever way of informing the world of any important news Dave and I might have, so don't let your imaginations run wild.

Give Me S'more Cake

2010-01-07T23:20:00.001-08:00

Tonight I tried a recipe from my Taste of Home magazine - Give Me S'more Cake. They had this big feature last month on the winning cakes from a contest they held. It was pretty cool b/c they provided these nice cut-outs for eight different cakes! I was excited to try this one b/c I love s'mores with all my heart. Side note: As a child, I was always resentful that my family never went camping. As an adult I realized I hate camping (almost as much as I hate hikes), but S'mores almost, ALMOST make camping worth it!

That's why I was so disappointed with this cake. I am a huge cake lover. Some may call me a Cake Eater. This cake turned out beautifully... but tasted so...

bleh.
Completely un-camping-fantasy-like. Boring! It was so so-so, I actually stopped eating my slice! I thought to myself, "Why even keep eating it? Empty calories, Leslie! Empty calories!"

Dave, on the other hand, loved it. He had two slices. This news is big news because one would not call Dave a Cake Eater. He admitted it did not taste like S'mores, but he liked it nonetheless.

Anyway... since Dave liked it, maybe other people will like it. Here's the recipe:

Give Me S'more cake
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
2-3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tsp baking powder
1 can (12-0z) evaporated milk

Marshmallow frosting:
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided

Line two 9-in round baking pans with waxed paper and grease the paper; set aside. In a large bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. combine cracker crumbs and baking powder; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition.

Transfer to prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes (I found it took a good 28 minutes to fully bake) or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

In a large heavy saucepan, combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar over low heat. With a hand mixer, beat on low speed for 1 minute. Continue beating on low over low heat until frosting reaches 160 degrees, about 8-10 minutes (uh... I just stopped after about 4 minutes). Pour into a large bowl; add vanilla. Beat on high until stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes.

Place a cake layer on a serving plate; spread with 2/3 cup frosting and sprinkle with half of chips. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and sides of cake; sprinkle with remaining chips.

Dave actually voted for this dessert when I gave him a choice of three desserts I could bake today. I wanted him to pick Chocolate Ginger Cookies. I think I'd be happier tonight if I'd made Chocolate Ginger Cookies. I'd feel fatter tonight if I'd made Chocolate Ginger Cookies.

We also watched Julie and Julia. It was a great movie! I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. I love, love, LOVE Meryl Streep. Dave won't let me name our future daughter Meryl. I really want to though.

Dave gets sick to his stomach when he looks at this picture.

2010-01-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

2010-01-05T21:10:00.000-08:00

the BEST hot chocolate!

2010-01-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

NaBloPoMo's theme for the everyday blogger in January is "Best." You don't have to write on the theme, but it's supposed to help on farty brain nights.

As it is 8:27PM, and I am ALREADY tuckered out... I thought I would take a picture of the BEST hot chocolate I'm about to consume.

You see, you start out with a large mug - preferably one that says "Hawaii" on it. One that says "San Diego" is also acceptable. You empty one of those cheap-o hot chocolate packets into the mug - Sunny Select if I had my druthers. Pour boiling water over the top of it, but people... only fill the cup about 2/3 full... else wise your hot chocolate is way too watery! You then pile HEAPS of mini-marshmallows on top.

Voila! Consume while your husband is playing DJ Hero and dominating the only television in the house.

If you had to roll around naked in food... this dish would be what you choose.

2010-01-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

Holiday Chex Mix is what I call it. I felt it needed a better name than "Cereal Treat," as my grandmother had christened it. I know the holidays are technically over, but we missed Christmas morning (you know, what with being in Hawaii and what not), so we're headed over to Dave's parents tonight to exchange gifts. We are dirt poor right now (you know, what with being in Hawaii and what not), so I thought I would distract attention from our chintzy gifts by making my favorite holiday candy-ish type of stuff.

The following ingredients combine together in a celestial way:

8 cups of Corn Chex
Gluten free!

The most delicious of cereals.
9 cups please.

2 cups of Flaked Coconut - sweetened. Did you know that coconut isn't actually that sweet? All my life I've been thinking the coconut that comes out of bags like these is what coconut tastes like! But my friend Gloria taught me that it's not! This stuff is sweetened! Some real light bulbs went off when I learned that little secret.

The recipe actually calls for slivered almonds, but I think sliced almonds are prettier. You're technically supposed to put one cup of almonds in, and this bag is just barely over half a cup. But nuts are expensive. And as mentioned in paragraph uno... we're poor as ish right now.

Dump it all together in a big fat bowl.

Then mix it up - don't be lazy.

This cellulite-ridden concoction includes the following three ingredients: 3/4 cup butter, 1 cup Karo Syrup, and 1 cup sugar. Stir it together and make it boil for two minutes.

Then dump it over the top of the cereal mixture. I dump a little at a time, stir, little at a time, stir, little at a time, stir.

Then spread it out on two cookie sheets to "cool." Or become crispified... whatever you'd like to call it.

And then eat. And thank the Lord. For he is indeed risen. This treat is proof of that.

Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?

2010-01-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Someday when we're rich... I'm going to buy all the most awesome camera lenses out there. First and foremost - a macro lens. A macro lens will enable me to take super-duper up close pictures... you'd be able to see the pollen stuck to the legs of this bee with a macro lens!

However... a Janome serger costs about the same. I plan on becoming an expert clothes maker this year, and a serger would really help me with those seams.

Which hobby will win?

I finally organized my sewing room today (the sewing room quadruples as the office, the second bedroom, and the work-out room), and I plan on sewing tomorrow... so that might answer my question. I'm breathing a happy sigh just thinking about the joys I will encounter tomorrow while sitting at my sewing table!

Christmas in Hawaii

2010-01-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

I'm staring January 1st off with a blog... I'm SO getting back into it! I'm going to try the whole post-every-day-for-a-month thing again. Last time I flunked after the second day.

We spent Christmas in Hawaii this year, specifically in Kailua, Oahu. Obama was less than a mile away! (But we didn't see him... there were patrol boats in the canal, and the neighborhood was blocked off with cement dividers!) It was different spending Christmas away from home... not bad... but different. I must say, I like my traditional Christmases with cold weather. So sue me.

It was hard to leave our little poopsies... the first time we ever have! Luckily we had a good friend who also has chihuahuas and works for the SPCA... so I felt pretty comfortable... sort-of. I was absolutely certain that my shmoopers were miserable without mama's warm bosom to keep them comfortable.

Anywho, here are some of my favorite pics from our trip:

The Dole Plantation, and Lucy's excellent photography skills...

Mother again... hit with a wave of artistic emotions.

We made it to the top!

The Valley of the Temples... and me and Dave.

And that's all I feel like posting for the time being. Happy New Year everyone! I read you're supposed to say "Twenty Ten" instead of "Two Thousand and Ten." But the article kind-of annoyed me. I've never liked anyone but my parents telling me what to do, so I think I might say "Two Thousand and Ten" just cuz...

Oatmeal Cookies are better with chocolate chips than with raisins.

2009-11-17T10:50:00.000-08:00

Usually when it comes to cookies, it's only chocolate chip cookies for me. But today I am home sick with absolutely no voice, and I got bored and decided I wanted to cook myself some oatmeal. Then, as I stared at the oatmeal cylinder, I though... "Hmm. Oatmeal cookies sound better than a bowl of oatmeal."

So I made some of those instead.

The following recipe is the best oatmeal cookie recipe ever. Period. That's all there is to it.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt

3 cups rolled oats
1 heaping cup chocolate chips

Instrucciones:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt;

stir into the sugary, buttery, eggy mixture. Then stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Drop by whatever-size-you-want spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for about 9 minutes... but check them at 8.

Now, for higher altitudes, I've finally mastered all the baking challenges! First, you'll want to preheat your oven to about 25 degrees higher. Then you'll want to decrease your leavening agent (in this case, the baking soda) by a little scosche (scoshe?).ll like make it more of 3/4 tsp instead of a full tsp. You'll also want to decrease your sugar a bit... so with the white sugar, I only put in about 1/3 instead of 1/2. And that's it! Something about things baking faster at higher altitudes, so the flour rises and falls quicker, but still keeps baking, in turn making a hard, sunken product, blah blah blah. But, either way, delicioso!

Lacking inspiration...

2009-10-28T12:44:00.001-07:00

I miss blogging. But, as noted in my title for this blog... I've been without artistic inspiration these past six weeks. I don't blame my parents, whose house we've been occupying for the past six weeks. I blame the lack of space and time to sew and bake/cook. My sewing machine has been in storage since September 19th! Can y'all believe it? I'll be so dead on the inside by the time I have it set up in our new place, I don't know if there will be any coming back from that.

With any luck, we'll be moved into the condo this Saturday, and perhaps I'll post pictures of our fabulous newly-painted green walls and fabulous new furniture!

Going, Going, Back, Back, to Reno, Reno!

2009-09-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

First, let's acknowledge what an awesome title I picked for this blog.

Okay, second, I would post another picture of the Reno arch for this entry, but I posted it two entries ago... dang it. A picture of the state of our spare bedroom (now: the box room) will have to do.

Dave got a job, I got a job, so back to Reno we go. We'll be there by the 20th of this month.

And now, to sing us out,... here is REM, detailing how one can be a star in Reno (thanks for the reminder, Matt).

Baby Luke's quilt

2009-08-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the baby quilt I made for my friend Heather's new baby: Luke. (And boy was he a whopper of a baby, ladies and gents... 8 lbs 15 oz... I guess the days of her making fun of the big baby I was are over!)

I must admit, I really outdid myself on this one. I followed a simple pattern provided by the lovely blog, The Purl Bee. When I completed the quilt top, I thought it looked a little boring, so I appliqued on some turtles from some leftover backing fabric I had. When I added the embroidery, I felt better about myself.

Here is my husband, behind the quilt. Isn't he looking great today?

Here's a close-up of the embroidery.

Here's a super-duper close-up of another appliqued turtle.

Aaaaand, here's a picture of the backing fabric folded over on top of the quilt.

I made something for Max too, but I forgot to take a picture of it. He took a real liking to Dave when we visited. This is a picture I snapped right after he begged and pleaded with Dave to pick him up.

Vacation

2009-08-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Reno this weekend! Woot woot!

Finished Journey Quilt top

2009-07-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

Here it is with the additional border. You can't really see the turquoise squares in the corner b/c it's just so dern big. At first I wasn't sure about the red, but by the time I had put all four borders on, I loved it! Pearl really liked it too.

Journey Quilt and Danny's Shenanigans

2009-07-25T14:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything regarding sewing/quilting in a long time, and I know you've all been waiting with baited breath.

I just (nearly) finished my Journey quilt top. I wanted to get it done before the hus and I drove to Reno in mid-August because once there, I'd like to take this quilt to my favorite quilters who live in Carson City... though they always seem to charge me double what they charge my mother. (This time my mother and I have cooked up a brilliant scheme. We're going to go TOGETHER to drop off our quilts... then we'll see! Then we'll see...)

Here are some pics of this fabulous quilt:

Here's a close-up of the cute corners:

And here are some close-ups of some of my favorite blocks:

The reason I said I (nearly) finished it is because at this size it is just a wee too small for our bed. I'm going to make an extra border out of these fabrics, so stay tuned for more pictures:

While I was having this quilt photo shoot, Danny had some 'splainin' to do! He somehow gets himself stuck under the dresser. This is the second time it's happened... at least while we've been home to hear him growling for help. I'm making it a habit to snap some pictures before giving him any sort of assistance.

He tried to squeeze out by himself:

Then he got frustrated and just stared at me:

Isn't he adorable? Today I let him lick my ice cream cone a few times... it's not so gross after all. As Michael Jackson said on a constantly re-aired documentary special from 2003 with Britain's Martin Bashir regarding adults sharing their bed with friends' children: "That's love... that's love."

Strawberry Cake

2009-07-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

Num.

1 package vanilla cake mix
1 3 oz. package strawberry flavored gelatin (only use 1/2 - 2/3 of the package)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
4 oz. frozen strawberries (or 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries)
1/2 cup buttermilk

1. Thaw and drain the frozen strawberries (if you're using frozen instead of fresh).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Combine the cake mix, strawberry gelatin, oil, eggs, flour, strawberries, and buttermilk. Mix until combined. Pour into prepared pan (I made cupcakes).
4. Bake at 350 according to cake box directions. (I baked my cupcakes for 20 minutes)

It's enjoyable, and sometimes embarrassing, to hear reactions of those who try my desserts. This time, my friend Traci enjoyed these cupcakes so much, she said, "Ohhh sh*t!"

July 4th, 2009

2009-07-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

Red (Velvet) White and Blue Mini-Cupcakes!
I'm taking these babies to a barbecue tonight.

I finally visited some San Diego Missions

2009-07-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

Life with a husband studying for the bar can be really boring. Rather than sit at home over the holiday weekend, I decided to get out my camera and visit some places in San Diego to which I haven't yet been. Whilst my pictures aren't extraordinary, my experience was pretty fun! Yes, I felt like one of those lonely travelers, with my camera around my neck, walking around by myself, but I still enjoyed my time.

Here is a close-up of the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. It is the first mission in California, founded on July 16th, 1769, by blessed Junipero Serra. It was pretty cool. Free, of course, so that made it nice. Apparently it's an active Catholic parish today. There's also a current excavation site right inside the grounds of this mission, so that was fascinating... a big section roped off. They have uncovered old walls and brick flooring about 6 feet underground.

I then headed over to what I guess isn't technically a mission (Well, actually I stopped off at the mall to get some new undies first). It is a museum situated on the original site of the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala... but it looks just like a mission. It was cool, but I didn't get to go inside because the museum has been closed since February, and there is no news on when it will re-open. It is called the Junipero Serra Museum. While the first mission was more interesting (I guess just because it was actually open), I'm glad I visited the Museum because you can see this one from one of the major freeways here, and I'd never quite figured out how to get there.
It was a nice afternoon, yet I am no more tan. And it's July. So that's no good. And that's three sentences now that I've started with conjunctions.

Garlic Chicken Stir Fry with Quinoa, Peppers, and Basil

2009-06-21T19:42:00.001-07:00

Dave and I tried this recipe tonight. It is approved, Phase 2 food (South Beach Diet). It sounded delicious, then as I was cooking it, I thought, "Hmm... maybe this won't be quite so delicious." But then it was delicious! It pulled the ol' trickeroo on me!

1 cup Quinoa, prepared with chicken stock, according to package directions (so you'll need two cups chicken stock)
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders
4 tbsp garlic flavored olive oil (I just used regular because that's all I had)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced (I used green)
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
20 leaves fresh sweet basil, julienne (I just used dried basil... b/c I was too lazy to go to the store)
grated parmesan cheese

Cut chicken into one-inch pieces. Heat large nonstick skillet over high heat and add the oil. Add chicken and saute for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Add onions, bell peppers; saute for one or two more minutes; add garlic and saute until peppers become slightly limp, but still bright, about one to two minutes; season with salt and pepper. Remove the pan from heat; add basil and quinoa. Toss until basil wilts; garnish with parmesan cheese. Serves four.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Whatever Works

2009-06-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited for this movie.

Oops...

2009-06-04T08:50:00.001-07:00

I lost already. I don't think NaBloPoMo hosts a contest, necessarily, but if they did, I would have lost.

I forgot to blog yesterday. Here is NaBloPoMo's official policy on mistakes such as these:

"8. My cat died/my boyfriend asked me to marry him/I just spent the night in the hospital and I missed posting for a couple of days. Can I just post a little extra this month to make up for the missing days so I can still be eligible for the prize drawing?

First of all, I'm so sorry/congratulations/I hope you get well soon. Secondly, no. If I let you skip a couple of days then I'd have to let everybody post whenever they felt like it, and that would defeat the whole purpose of NaBlo which is to get you to sit down and write something every day. If there's one thing I've learned from all this it's to post as early in the day as you can. You'll catch more readers that way (most blog reading gets done at lunchtime), and you won't have to worry about posting something lame after work when you're tired, or accidentally forgetting to post at all."

I know we're all feeling really bummed right now, especially after all the great times we've had together during the first two days of June. I'd like to give this final gift to you: a song I feel all of our hearts are singing already. The Muppets might be a tad distracting, given our sad state of affairs and their naturally cheerful aura. Just try to concentrate on the melody.

Douglas Yancey Funnie's "Quailman"

2009-06-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

I want to stay on the theme of "Heroes" as much as possible this month, but I nearly found myself already unable to think of a good hero. I decided to go through as many cartoon heroes as I could. I first thought of Bartman, then wondered... does the Bartman count as a hero? I decided he did, so look forward to a future post on the topic.

My mind then went to Quailman. The alter-ego of Doug Funnie from the originally Nickelodeon show, "Doug." He was a much purer alter-ego than the Bartman. He doesn't think doing the Quailman will make you "bad like Michael Jackson." But he does defend the world from evil using his three powers - patience, intelligence, and speed. When those powers failed, he used his Quail Eye - a beam of fire that shot out from his eyes. He had more control of his Quail Eye than Cyclops had of his Quail Eye apparently.

Let's not forget Quaildog... Quailman's trusty companion.

And on this topic... I loved the show Doug so much. When it went to ABC... it began to suck. They got a new theme song! What could be better than "doot doo doo, doo doo doo doo do doo do doo?" Patti got a new haircut! Roger got rich! Voices changed and everything! I'm angry!

NaBloPoMo Day 1

2009-06-01T18:40:00.001-07:00

First, a shout-out to Sara McGinness - without whom I would not have heard of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). The theme for June is Heroes, and I thought that sounded semi-inspiring; therefore, I will be blogging everyday in the month of June, y'all! It is not required to stay on theme, and I haven't yet made up my mind on whether or not I will do so. However, my first post is very much on the topic of heroes. Superheroes, that is.

I completed The Superhero Quiz last night to prepare myself for the month of June. I was pleased to find this quiz to be very comprehensive - not one of those lame quizzes on facebook that any fool can create. No, this one seemed nearly empirically based. It consisted of 47 questions regarding individualized opinions on important components of Superhero-dom. I completed the quiz.

I am Iron Man. I consider these results to be quite sound because I remember taking a Superhero quiz a few years ago and getting the same result. It wasn't nearly as scientific as this one, but the shared results might still leave one pondering. In case any of you were wondering, the three descriptors of Iron Man are "Inventor, Businessman, Genius." Just change that to Businesswoman, and it's like I'm looking in a mirror, right?!

I further explored the site and took a poll regarding one's favorite Superhero. First, I was surprised by the plethora of Superheroes out there, many of whom I have never heard (Deadpool? Elektra? Hawkman?). Enter Special Commentary #1 from my spouse, David Gamble, Jr: "Deadpool is now likely best known as being portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in the movie, 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine.' However, unlike Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool almost always wears a full-body jump suit and a mask... You're impressed, aren't you?"

I picked my favorite Superhero - Wolverine. I had to pick a second favorite, and it was tough. I'm not a big Superhero fanatic, unlike my husband, and... I basically picked Wolverine because Hugh Jackman is a lovely man at which to gaze. I think I picked Batman as my second favorite. I clicked "submit" to see what I thought would be expected results.

Oddly enough... Green Lantern is the favorite Superhero. I knew I had heard of Green Lantern before but needed a refresher. Enter Special Commentary #2 from my spouse, David Gamble, Jr: "There's a couple Green Lanterns. Which one do you want to know about? Oh yeah, one of them was black, I forgot about that... but the main one, I actually can't remember his name... grey-haired guy... also, a good reference site would be Marvel Vault, oh, except Green Lantern is DC, so you couldn't use that site."

Hmm, Special Commentary #2 was not nearly as coherent as Special Commentary #1. I couldn't find a comparable "DC Vault," so I had to resort to the Green Lantern's wikipedia entry. Warning: It is reaaaalllly boring. He (they) looks like an exciting enough guy, but apparently there is the intergalactic police force, the Green Lantern Corps, that each Green Lantern is obliged to be a part of; magic rings that have to be granted by Guardians of the Universe to each potential Green Lantern; required philanthropic membership in various Justice Lagues; blah, blah, blah. Why in the world is this the most highly regarded Superhero (at least according to nearly 32,000 votes)?

It is for reasons like these that I'm glad I'm Iron (Wo)Man at heart. Just a coo' guy, trying coo' stuff, killing off bad guys. No extra community service necessary because I am already bestowing much goodness on the world.

Again I'll say it... that quiz seemed nearly empirically based.

The End.

What a month!

2009-05-31T21:59:00.001-07:00

Our second anniversary was actually May 26th, so I'm a few days late with this post. This picture is actually from May 25th. We celebrated a day early for the same reason that this post is a few days late. I was in San Francisco from the 26th until yesterday, the 30th, for a training. But... we got some adorable with a capital A pictures... that would make them Adorable, so I thought I'd post one.

But then I got to thinking and realizing that I never posted any of the pictures from the REALLY big event this month. One might think that nothing could be bigger than a 2-year anniversary, and normally one would be right; however, law school graduations do not come around that often. Dave did it! With bells on, he finished a gruesome three-year program. [He didn't actually have bells on, but he did have a hood, honor cords, and a lei. My dad bought him a lei (unfortunately, my dad didn't make the hilarious, "You've just been lei'd" joke when bestowing the lei upon Dave) and we all made him wear it for as much of the day as possible!], so he had other objects instead of any bells.

Anywho... it was a very busy, but very wonderful month. Way to go, Dave - on becoming a lawyer and sustaining a marriage to a fabulous woman for two years!

Chinatown (San Francisco)

2009-05-28T21:22:00.001-07:00

Cemeteries!

2009-05-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Winery Photos

2009-04-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

I will forever be experimenting with my new camera, and here's some pics I took during a winery tour in Temecula, CA:

This one was taken at Ponte Family Winery:

The next two shots were taken at Leonesse Winery:

Baby Katie's Quilt

2009-04-14T08:02:00.001-07:00

Well now that I've finally gifted the quilt to Katie J. Sei, I feel I can post pictures of it on my blog. Here it is!

Fabrics used:

Beginning blocks:
The finished quilt:

Close-up of the embroidered heart:
Bottom embroidery - Heart Aunt Les:

Canon EOS Rebel XSi

2009-04-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

I finally got the new camera for which I've been saving! I love it... and just so y'all can see how gifted I am with photography... here is a beautiful picture of items in my parents' backyard for your viewing pleasure:

And here is a picture of my dear friend Heather's son, Max:

Those are my two favorites thus far, but since it's Easter today, I sense a three generational picture coming our way this afternoon: Gladys, Lucy, and Leslie! Stay tuned!

Banana Cream Pie in a Bowl

2009-03-23T22:10:00.001-07:00

I'm not really a cream pie fan. Luckily, this dessert doesn't remind me of cream pie. It is, however, delicious, and easy to make in a more healthful way, if you so choose.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup firm butter or margerine
1/2 cup peanuts (I've never used peanuts in this recipe, but I'm in no position to decide whether or not you'd like peanuts in your Banana Cream Pie in a bowl, so I'll leave it in)
1 box (4-serving size) banana instant pudding and pie filling mix
2 cups cold milk
3 ripe medium bananas, sliced
1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In medium bowl, mix flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter, using pastry blender, until mixture is crumbly. Stir in peanuts (I mean... if you want). Press evenly on bottom of ungreased 9-inch square pan. Bake about 15 minutes or until light brown. Stir to break up. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

2. In large bowl, make pudding mix as directed on box, using 2 cups milk. In 2-quart serving bowl, layer half of the crumb mixture, pudding, bananas, and whipped topping; repeat layers. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Top with additional peanuts if desired (if you're into that). Store in refrigerator.

Leslie's tidbits: I usually buy the 6-serving pudding, which calls for an additional cup of milk. When I use the 4-serving size... I feel there's never enough pudding. Also... it is ready for consumption long before 4 hours has gone by.

Where's Danny?

2009-03-08T10:36:00.001-07:00

He sure loves the warm laundry fresh from the dryer.

The Best New Recipe I've Tried in a Long Time

2009-02-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

This is a slow-cooker meal, which means it is automatically a new favorite.

Pulled-Pork Tacos (Boo hoo pork haters!)
2 cups store-bought salsa, plus more for serving
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
kosher salt
2 1/2 pound boneless pork butt (tee hee) or pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
18 corn tortillas
1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs
sour cream
1 lime

In a 4 to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the salso, chili powder, oregano, cocoa, and 1 tsp salt. Add the pork and turn to coat.

Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4 to 5 hour or on low for 7 to 8 hours

Twenty minutes before serving, heat oven to 350 degrees, wrap them in foil, and bake until warm, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, using 2 forks, shred the pork and stir into the cooking liquid. Serve with the tortillas, cilantro, sour cream, lime, and extra salsa.

So here is what I did. Basically I did exactly what the recipe called for; however, I felt the two-cups of salsa wasn't enough to adequately blend in the spices. Unfortunately, I was out of salsa, so I tossed in a can of tomatoes. I put four slabs of pork shoulder into the crock-pot on top of the salsa mixture, and I smothered them with the sauce. I left the crock-pot on low, then went to work. It cooked for exactly eight hours, and it was PERFECT! The meat just dropped right off the bone, as you can see.

I heated the tortillas as directed and was intrigued to see how they would turn out because I've never warmed tortillas that way. Maybe I purchased cheap tortillas, but I was not a fan of how they turned out. They tore way too easily, and I ended up eating my tacos with a fork, o un tenedor si prefieres. I ate some leftovers today and just heated up a couple tortillas in the microwave, and they were perfect - did not break. Therefore, I personally do not recommend the oven-foil method.

Here is a picture of my finished product. I added some delicioso avocado, as you can see. Dave just could not get enough of these babies! He was going... hog wild. Tee hee hee... get it?!

My First Knitting Project

2009-02-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but back in November, I decided I wanted to see if I could pick up knitting. I bought a $5 kit on sale at Michael's that provided me with two sets of knitting needles, other accoutrements like stitch markers and stitch counters, and a book of simple projects. I began making the scarf - I figured that would be the easiest one with which to begin . I also used Youtube videos quite heavily when I got confused with stitch directions.

I really thought highly of myself when I began and even ran out and bought more yarn in hopes of finishing my project and making a scarf for my mom for Christmas. By the time Christmas came and went, I was maybe halfway done with my own scarf. Finally about a week ago, I finished the darned thing. This project took me nearly three months to complete! I couldn't believe it. I felt I was a reasonably paced knitter, so I don't know why it took so long.

Anyway, as you can see, I have posted some fabulous pictures of this scarf. First though, some disclaimers about the modeling photos. #1) It's Superbowl Sunday, okay? If I can't dress casually on Superbowl Sunday, when can I dress casually? Therefore, please look beyond the boyish, short-sleeved, grey t-shirt. #2) Picture number one shows me in an annoyed state with my cameraman, David Gamble. He decided to cease counting off, and instead decided to just take pictures willy-nilly. #3) Picture number 2 is me trying to make up for picture number 1 by appearing extra happy with my new scarf. Finally, #4) Picture number 3 shows me in the way I will most likely be wearing my scarf, as I generally wear most scarves this way. My expression is intended to show you how warm I am at that very moment!

#1#2#3

Lastly, I wanted to share how this scarf also works unisexually. Don't let the color mislead you. It's less a pink, and more of a salmon, if you ask me.

Leslie's Mm-Mmm Good Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-01-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups shortening

3 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

one package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Whilst my directions to myself read, "350 degrees, 12 minutes or less... play it by ear, champ!" I realize you, dear readers, may want more details. So here goes:

Mix together the first five ingredients, like so:

In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients, like so:

Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients, like so:

Add chocolate chips, like so:

Mix together, like so:

Take a moment to admire the REAL, non-imitation vanilla Leslie purchased in Ensenada, Mexico for $3, like so:

Place cookie dough in spoonfuls on cookie sheet (lightly sprayed with no-stick spray if you want these babies to slide right off), like so:

Take cookies out of 350-degree'd oven after sometime between 11 and 12 minutes, like so:

Take a picture of Dave and Danny enjoying the scent of fresh-baked cookies, like so:

Stinky dogs are where the heart is...

2009-01-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

We finally arrived back to our lovely apartment in San Diego. We returned during the play-off game between the Chargers and the Colts. They only reason I knew that was because our complex was unusually noisy with eruptions of cheering and boo-ing.

It took us forever to unpack, but the dogs didn't mind because we let them out first, and they were able to run free in their home - stretch their legs after more than 10 hours in the car! Actually, now that I think about it, it was close to 12. How could it be close to 12, you ask? The damn dogs! Usually they are great on long car rides, but Danny couldn't stop whining for the first half of the trip (and large parts of the second half). So we had to frequently pull over to various fields of weeds, grass, and dead leaves to let the dogs relieve themselves. The problem was, they only ended up relieving themselves about half of the time, so the majority of our stops were big wastes of time.

Danny took a particular liking to one pile of dead leaves. He'd sniff it, then roll in it. I said to Dave, I says, "I've seen dogs do this before, but it's always been a girl dog, and it's always been poop that they roll in." Hmm, I said to myself, as I sipped my hot chocolate and continued observing the dogs. When I retrieved Danny, I saw some fresh brown streaks on his neck. Poop. He was rolling himself in some poop. And we just stood there and watched it.

So the car reeked for the next couple of hours until the poop apparently dried onto his fur and was no longer so incredibly stinky. A couple of hours later, I glanced back at Pearl in her crate, and saw some regurgitated partial pebbles of food. She had barfed, who knows when... and had just been sitting in it.

Once home, we let the dogs calm down for about an hour, then we bathed both of them. Another one of the (many) perks of having a small dog is that it takes 5 minutes (max) to thoroughly bathe them. Danny dried off almost immediately, but Pearl took longer. The apartment was, of course, cold when we returned, so I cuddled with Pearl while she dried. Then Danny tried to get in on the cuddling action. Dave was moved to take a picture (after I said, "Take a picture!"). It's really just great to be home.

This year's Christmas wall-hanging

2008-12-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

I always have great aspirations to make many Christmas-themed projects during the holiday season, but I usually end up only completing one. This year I made a Christmas wall-hanging for my Secret Snowperson. I wouldn't have put nearly as much effort into this gift, but I happen to really like the person whose name I picked.

Therefore, I made a three-squared wall-hanging. Two of the squares (the tree and the present) were paper-pieced. Every time I paper-piece, I love it! I always ask myself, "Could I make a whole quilt out of paper-pieced blocks? Would I have the patience?"

Here are some pictures of my paper-piecing progress on the tree block.

After I assembled all of it, I got a little panicky... I think just because I'm giving it away. Usually my wall-hangings don't make me so nervous. One thing I changed... I didn't really think it looked Christmas-y enough, so I added ornaments and garland to the middle block - the tree.

And here's the finished project:

If only I had a picture of Traci's face when she saw it. Unless she was faking those happily watered eyes!

Pearl the Rascally Chi-Pin

2008-12-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

Dave and I have a new problem.

It was weird. Pearl often jumps up on our bed at very wee hours of the morning (like around 5:30) - when she is ready for her breakfast. It's pretty funny because she's so tiny, and we actually have a pretty high bed, so often times we'll hear a running start, then a thump as she hits the side of the bed. She doesn't wait too long until she tries again and is successful. We have discouraged this behavior from the start because we don't want our doggies sharing the bed (except on the rare nights when Dave is out of town... then I don't mind so much.).

Well, anyway, she's been doing this more and more, so Dave and I have been concerned because one of the biggest problems with little dogs as they age is joint problems due to jumping down seemingly low surfaces. So I've been mildly concerned.

The weird part is that the other day I said to Dave, I says, "I wonder why we don't come home and find her just hanging out on our bed." I should have knocked on wood because when we came home that day, she was on the bed! Now it's becoming a habit apparently! Here is Pearl yesterday while Dave and I were eating breakfast:

She knows she's not supposed to be on the bed because as soon as you even say, "Pearl!" She flops back on her back and exposes her belly while frantically wagging her tail. She's more trying to hide under the blanket in this one:

So now I'm torn. I don't like her little puppy legs already accruing joint damage! But I don't want to buy a set of doggie stairs because then it's just encouraging this darned behavior! But I don't want an arthritic 15-year-old mutt shuffling across my floor when I'm 40! If she were just 3 pounds smaller, like Danny, she would've given up trying to jump on high surfaces ages ago!

English Toffee = Absolutely Fabulous

2008-12-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

I tried this recipe from Elsie Marley's blog. It was fargin' delicious and easy! I highly recommend it to all. Here is one of the pictures... the rest of mine turned out hideously ugly, so I'll let you look at Elsie Marley's blog (I don't feel comfortable enough yet to call her just by her first name) because she has better pics.

This is right as the toffee reached "Soft Crack" at 290 degrees. Mmmm... smell that yummy nuttiness.

Stay tuned for blogging awesomeness on Thursday evening! I have to wait until after our staff Secret Snowperson party.

LesterSews.blogspot.com

2008-12-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

My URL changed! Update immediately to forego missing awesomeness!

I figured since my blog is really taking off, and going big time any day now, I needed a more relevant URL.

The BEST recipes!

2008-12-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

By sharing these recipes with the world, you'll all see that I am not one of those stingy people who refuses to give away their most popular recipes. We had our company Christmas party last night , and it was potluck style. Yes, I was made fun of for nearly bringing my entire kitchen (one entree, two desserts), but I didn't hear my co-workers taking that issue into account when they requested these various dishes. Also, I didn't hear them complaining while they were consuming the food.

All right, dish #1 - the entree:

Em's Mac 'n Cheese
(okay, another reason I'm not being stingy is because this recipe actually belongs to Emeril and didn't originate with me anyway. BUT I've added my own touches based on people's reactions!)

6 tbsp butter
1/2 lb elbow macaroni
6 tbsp flour
3 cups whole milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne
2 1/2 cups grated cheddar (6 oz)
1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs
1 tsp Essence (see below)

Essence:
2 1/2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp thyme

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Use 1 tbsp of the butter to grease a 2-quart baking dish (or to grease a crockpot if you're bringing this dish to someone's house, or a potluck). Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the mac and cook until al dente (about ten minutes). Drain in a colander and rinse. Melt the remaining 5 tbsp butter in a heavy 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minute, stirring constantly. Do not let the flour burn! Using a whisk, add the milk in a steady stream and cook, whisking constantly, until thick and smooth (about 4 minutes). Remove from heat. Add the salt, pepper, cayenne, and 2 cups of the cheese - stir well, then stir in macaroni. Pour into the prepared baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup of the cheese with the breadcrumbs and 1 tsp Essence (only 1 tsp! The first time I made this, I put the ENTIRE recipe of Essence into the Mac 'n Cheese. It was horrible!) . Sprinkle evenly over the mac and bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 25 minutes.
Helpful hints from Lester: Everyone's favorite part is the crunch and kick on top with the essence, cheese, and breadcrumb mixture, SO... I usually pour half the macaroni in the dish, sprinkle a whole other batch of the Essence, breadcrumb, and cheese mixture on top, then do the same with the other half of the noodles, right on top of the first half. Also, if you bring the Mac 'n Cheese in a crockpot, you can just leave it on "warm" setting, or even "low," and it should be fine.

Unfortunately, the one bad picture I got last night of my baked and cooked goods was the Mac 'n Cheese. In this pic, the Essence mixture on top isn't thoroughly cooked in yet, so only some of it looks delicious. It got baked in before everyone ate it though! (It's in my fancy crockpot, and the crockpot carrying bag, right before we left for the party)

Dish #2 - the first dessert

Delicioso Pumpkin Bread
(I originally got this recipe off of Allrecipes.com, where it had a perfect 5 out of 5 star rating from over 2,000 users. I followed some of the user reviews, so it's changed a teeny bit.)

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (or 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup applesauce if you wish to be calorie conscious)
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 package mini chocolate chips (my personal addition, thank you very much. Quite fabulous.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 7x3 inch loaf pans (or 2 4x9 inch loaf pans).

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, and sugars until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Mix in mini chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pans.

Bake for about 50 minutes (or about 1 hour 10 minutes if using the bigger loaf pans) in the preheated oven. Loaves are done with toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

These babies go fabulous with some cream cheese frosting slathered on top. Mm-mmm good!

And finally, the piece de resistance - the dish in which one co-worker once told me she'd like to roll around naked... *drum roll please*...

Dish #3 - the second dessert...

Holiday Cereal Treat! (I haven't come up with a more clever name yet.)

Combine in bowl:
8 cups Corn Chex
9 cups Golden Grahams
2 cups coconut
1 cup slivered (or sliced) almonds

Combine in saucepan:
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo syrup
3/4 cup butter

Directions:
Bring contents in saucepan to boil and boil for two minutes. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to coat. Let cool on cookie sheets.

Ladies and Gents (do I have any gents reading this blog?), this recipe may seem simple, but the mind-blowing goodness of it will... blow your mind. Just try it.

All right, this is one long blog posting. I insist all of you make each and everyone of these recipes before the end of the holiday season (and then several times thereafter).

Upside down turkey

2008-12-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

I decided I wanted more turkey. Our Thanksgiving leftovers didn't last very long, so we went out and bought ourselves an 11 lb. turkey - that's according to the patented weight test Dave and I have developed to weigh the dogs. You see, this turkey didn't have a tag telling me exactly how much it weighed. Obviously I could tell it was smaller than the other turkeys, so I picked it. When we got home, I found out it weighed too little for the scale to detect it (much like the dogs). Dave hopped up on the scale and got his weekly tally (a whopping 142). He then stepped down, grabbed the turkey, and stepped back up. 153!

Not only did I want more turkey, I also wanted to try the upside-down cooking method. I quizzed a foster mom with whom I work on this method, then I came home and found a very basic recipe on allrecipes.com. Seemed easy enough.

But first I thought I would brine it. I followed this recipe for the brining. First lesson learned: one shouldn't give up so easily on one's quest to find an oven bag at the grocery store just because one has unused kitty litter bags at home that are surely big enough to brine a turkey. That was an awful pain in the arse. (When we first got Danny, we thought we could train him to pee and poo in a litter box. We weren't so successful.)

So anyway, I began the brining last night and put the turkey in the fridge. Today around 3:00PM, I got the turkey out, rinsed it, drip-dried it, then transferred it to our roasting pan, BUT... upside down. I then put slabs of butter in it and on it, according to the first recipe I posted above. Apparently brining one's turkey causes it to cook 20-30 minutes faster, so I checked it after about 2 hours and 15 minutes, and I used my handy meat thermometer - the one I normally use to make sure foster parents don't have their water turned up too high (it works much better on meat). It was just about 180 degrees, though it didn't look finished like most turkeys look. I stuck it back in the oven for approximately 15 more minutes, then took it out and stabbed it all over with the meat thermometer. Everything checked out.

I quickly realized that upside-down turkeys do not turn out nearly as pretty as rightside-up turkeys.

I flipped it right side up, and uh... not much prettier. But we're not making it the centerpiece of any table, so no biggie. Check out this awesome platter! I think I got it at a thrift store a couple years ago (what do you think, Heif?).

We quickly began eating the turkey. I made myself a sandwich, and Dave just had some turkey smothered in ketchup. He likes most of his food smothered in ketchup. It's really precious. He forbade me from taking a picture of him enjoying the delicious upside-down turkey specifically because he didn't want to be featured on my blog, so a picture of my sandwich had to suffice.

It just tasted like turkey to me. :-( Dave swears that it's tastier and juicier, but I sense he's just saying that because he knows the brining and the upside-down cooking was supposed to create those results. When confronted on this suspicion, Dave denied all wrong-doing.

Mmmm....

Christmas and stockings!

2008-12-01T19:48:00.000-08:00

So I finished making stockings for our entire family! By our family I mean mine and Dave's. And by family, I mean me, Dave, Danny, and Pearl. Look!

I must say, I'm quite proud of myself. I did this without a pattern... not that it's much of a feat, but I will brag about it anyway. If you'll look closely, you'll notice Dave's stocking has a scalloped edge on the cuff. Neat, huh?

Last night we bought Home Alone from Target and watched it while we decorated for Christmas. Well, I mean I decorated for Christmas while Dave claimed he was too busy studying for finals to join me. Very rude. He claims I suffer from "Finals Amnesia" and therefore can't remember from semester to semester how he can't seem to participate in anything except sitting at his desk and reading books/typing outlines/reciting memorized outlines back to himself. Hey, change of subject, but here's a close-up of the doggies' stockings. Aren't they fabulous? Look at the wittle paw print fabric and the wittle hearts I put on the wittle paw print fabric! I know whose getting two seemingly big juicy bones but in actuality two teeny juicy bones for Christmas...

Danny and Pearl!

My first sewing post...

2008-11-29T18:59:00.000-08:00

My parents recently visited for Thanksgiving and brought down some quilts I dropped off at my favorite quilter couple in Carson City back in October. They were my favorite quilter couple until they revealed the price to me. Let's just say it was hundreds of dollars more than I thought. Now I am forced to find a new quilting service, and it isn't easy because everyone charges too much! I feel especially stupid about the whole ordeal because I didn't ask for a price estimation. I've taken about three quilts to them before, and they've never chaged me over $80 a quilt. My plan of partially retiring by age 28 needs to happen soon so that I can buy myself a quilting machine and start my own biz. I haven't yet figured out why buying this machine would have to coincide with my partial retirement, but that's just the way it is.

Anywho... here is a picture of one of the quilts (I sent off three) that I got back. It's my favorite quilt I've ever made! It's a huge Irish Chain. I enlarged the pattern from the book because even though it was a queen sized pattern, our pillow-top mattress necessitates enlarging quilts, or else they look stupid by not even reaching the bottom of the mattress.

But isn't it fabulous? I still have to put the edging on. Hopefully I'll have it finished before Christmas, but I'm not making any promises. Notice the cute flowers quilted into the plain white part! I love those gosh-darned money-gouging Carson City-ites! Why did they have to triple their prices?

And then we have the quilt I made for my grandma. It's just a log cabin, but I love the colors and patterns on the fabrics. The quilters also did a great job on this one. I kinda want to keep it... but I won't. I initially set out to choose "greens" and "goldens" as my colors. I decided to throw in a dash of burgundy as well. These are the colors with which my grandma mainly decorates. I made her a wall-hanging last year, and after she opened the gift, she hinted, "I would really like a big one..." I assumed she meant a quilt, not a gigantic wall-hanging, but maybe I'll be in for a surprise on Christmas Day.

I know you're all dying for more quilter info and pictures, so here is a close-up of some of the quilting detail on this baby!

I definitely have to have this one done by Christmas, for obvious reasons, so I need to get the binding sewn on as soon as possible; however, it's way more fun to sew Christmas stockings. I will try to prioritize.

Granny-ism Gaiety!

2008-11-16T16:00:00.000-08:00

I feel rejuvenated. I've thought of a spectacular focus for the blog.

*drum roll please*
Sewing and Cooking! My two passions! Long have I waited for a venue in which to exploit and brag about my two favorite pastimes. I have arrived!

Perhaps I should change the name of the blog if this passion is going to be the focus. Dave hesitates to even sleep under my artful creations, declaring that they're too girly; I doubt he'd want to be named a co-author of their blog.

However, I don't think I'll change it, and I'll probably still post pictures of him. (By the way, I left my camera in Reno last month - blast! - so no pictures until mumsy and pop-pop bring it to me this weekend when they come down for our uber-fantastic three-day cruise we're taking to Ensenada, Mexico. Until then, I will have to rely on pictures found on the internet... which brings me to my first passionate post:)

Sazón Goya
¡Ay ay ay!

Muy delicioso!

Mi amiga mexicana introduced me to this wonderful flavoring. I've only tried it on rice, but it's so good on rice that I'm not in a huge hurry to try it on much else... because I keep making the rice. The rice is delicious is what I'm saying. Based on tips I've received from my friend, Gloria (or "Glorita" as I adorably call her), I now fry my rice in a saucepan before I add the liquid - usually chicken broth. If I'm using white rice, I wait til it turns golden before adding the broth, and so far I've only used brown rice once, and it's a little trickier to monitor... but not much trickier. Anyone with some college should be able to figure it out. When I add the broth, I also add one packet of the Goya flavoring - the one that says "con culantro y achiote" (coriander and annatto) is my favorite, then cover the saucepan and let it cook. It's a big hit with the sexy husband. Throw in some sauteed veggies, and baby you got yourself a stew goin'! (Not really, because we're not making stew... but I love Arrested Development, and I will often say "Baby you got yourself a stew goin'" when I think something is about to be awesome, so get ready.)

The only problem encountered so far with this spectacular seasoning is the relative difficulty one may have with finding this product. Glorita says they sell it at Wal-Mart. I found it at Pancho Villa last night - our local Mexican superstore. The website does not offer any help with locations. Lo siento.

I'm excited that it is now the holiday season (officially, right?) - because I have some fab-u recipes to post for all the fab-u readers of my blog! In fact, I may post the first one tomorrow because that's how excited I am about the new focus of my blog.

TTFN

My First Blog

2008-11-11T22:24:00.001-08:00

I kind-of made this blog by mistake. I thought I had to create one in order to comment on other people's blogs, but I have since found that not to be the case. Now that I feel I've told a sufficient lie to explain away my lame-feelings, I'll move on.

I'm gonna go 'head on and keep this blog though. Sure Dave and I don't have kids yet, or much money with which to buy anything interesting and make videos to post on our blog. But we have dogs. And they are sure cute.