Thursday, August 9, 2007
This really would make baby Jesus cry
One of five drivers in fatal hit-run stops for victim - The only person to stop after a man was hit by 5 cars and being fatally injured was the one who hit him second and least severely. This is a very sad thing to see and I really hope this isn't statistically accurate because if 4 out of 5 people would drive off after hitting a pedestrian, then our world really is in a sad state.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Happy Camper
I now have 24 bratwurst waiting for me in the ISU MEATS lab freezer. I will soon be reunited with a long lost college love. [tears up] Now all I have to do is figure out how to eat a West Street Deli sandwich, chicken wings and cheese bread all in the span of about 3 hours and I'll be set!
I think I'm also going to stop by the good ol ECSS office and say hi to my former co-workers. Of course every single student that I worked with will be gone, and that is sad, but I'll still have the memories. They can never take away my memories.
I brought a ton of peanut butter cookies into work today. I haven't sent out a mass email though because I don't want people making a mess in my cube. I'll put the cookies out in one of the main asiles around 11 after Tony comes in because he gets first dibs for helping fix my TV problem.
I think I'm also going to stop by the good ol ECSS office and say hi to my former co-workers. Of course every single student that I worked with will be gone, and that is sad, but I'll still have the memories. They can never take away my memories.
I brought a ton of peanut butter cookies into work today. I haven't sent out a mass email though because I don't want people making a mess in my cube. I'll put the cookies out in one of the main asiles around 11 after Tony comes in because he gets first dibs for helping fix my TV problem.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
What do you do when you're bored?
Bake cookies!!!!
...and post about it in your blog. I made some peanut butter cookies with a similar recipe to the molasses cookies Kristin and I made the other day. I think I'm going to bring these into work tomorrow. I made almost 50 and I still have a ton of dough left! I'm refrigerating the rest until Kristin comes back from Colorado.
Grandma's Best Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup white sugar
1 cup Butter Flavor Crisco
1 cup creamy peanut butter (Skippy)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups flour (1/4 cup more if needed)
1. Cream together the sugars, Crisco, peanut butter.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla.
3. Sift the dry ingredients together and add gradually until blended well.
4. Roll into tablespoon size balls.
5. Roll cookie dough balls into sugar.
6. Place on cookie sheets- do not mash with fork in normal "peanut butter cookie" fashion!
7. Bake at 350° oven for 11-13 minutes.
Soft Molasses Cookies
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1. Cream together shortening and brown sugar.
2. Stir in egg and molasses and mix well.
3. Fold in dry ingredients and stir.
4. Cover and chill till firm (1-2 hours).
5. Preheat oven to 350°.
6. Roll dough into small balls and roll in white sugar.
7. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
8. Bake at 350° for 9-10 minutes.
9. Leave on sheet one minute until set.
...and post about it in your blog. I made some peanut butter cookies with a similar recipe to the molasses cookies Kristin and I made the other day. I think I'm going to bring these into work tomorrow. I made almost 50 and I still have a ton of dough left! I'm refrigerating the rest until Kristin comes back from Colorado.
Grandma's Best Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup white sugar
1 cup Butter Flavor Crisco
1 cup creamy peanut butter (Skippy)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups flour (1/4 cup more if needed)
1. Cream together the sugars, Crisco, peanut butter.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla.
3. Sift the dry ingredients together and add gradually until blended well.
4. Roll into tablespoon size balls.
5. Roll cookie dough balls into sugar.
6. Place on cookie sheets- do not mash with fork in normal "peanut butter cookie" fashion!
7. Bake at 350° oven for 11-13 minutes.
Soft Molasses Cookies
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1. Cream together shortening and brown sugar.
2. Stir in egg and molasses and mix well.
3. Fold in dry ingredients and stir.
4. Cover and chill till firm (1-2 hours).
5. Preheat oven to 350°.
6. Roll dough into small balls and roll in white sugar.
7. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
8. Bake at 350° for 9-10 minutes.
9. Leave on sheet one minute until set.
Food I miss from ISU
It's funny that I miss food from college more often than anything else. Yes, I miss the parties and the ability to sleep all day and lack of real bills. But day after day, I wish I could find something similar to so many of the foods I ate at ISU. Here is a list of food I miss the most and I hope dearly that I can find a way to eat some again before I die ;)
1) ISU Meat Lab bratwurst - I hope to head over to the market and buy at least 4lb of this next time I visit Ames. They're open from 11:00-1:00 on Fridays so I can't wait to stop by.
2) Gumby's pepperoni rolls - I had some of these when I visited Illinois State back in Nov. They were heavenly
3) West Street Deli capicola and pastrami on panini-style toasted dark rye with mayo, black olives, banana peppers, lettuce and tomato - complicated order, but it is seriously the best sandwich I have ever put in my mouth.
4) Pizza Pit fried buffalo wings - These come in at a close second to my all time favorite fried wings from the Chicken Shoppe in my home town. Unfortunately, the Chicken Shoppe no longer exists and their delicious wings are lost forever.
5) Pizza Pit cheese bread - Italian bread covered in a thick layer of mozzarella and Italian spices then baked until the cheese is gooey and the crust is crispy. Dip it in a cup of fresh marinara sauce and you'll be in heaven.
6) Home Team Chicago-style sausage pizza - For the price, this pizza couldn't be beat. It cost only $6 without any coupon, and it lasted me at least 2 meals. A lot of people didn't like Home Team but I loved them and now that they're closed. The closest location is in Des Moines, and I don't see any indication that they serve this pizza anymore :(
7) Totino's Mexican pizza - OK, this is just frozen pizza, but you Chicagoans think you all are too fancy to stock a $1 Mexican pizza, don't you???
1) ISU Meat Lab bratwurst - I hope to head over to the market and buy at least 4lb of this next time I visit Ames. They're open from 11:00-1:00 on Fridays so I can't wait to stop by.
2) Gumby's pepperoni rolls - I had some of these when I visited Illinois State back in Nov. They were heavenly
3) West Street Deli capicola and pastrami on panini-style toasted dark rye with mayo, black olives, banana peppers, lettuce and tomato - complicated order, but it is seriously the best sandwich I have ever put in my mouth.
4) Pizza Pit fried buffalo wings - These come in at a close second to my all time favorite fried wings from the Chicken Shoppe in my home town. Unfortunately, the Chicken Shoppe no longer exists and their delicious wings are lost forever.
5) Pizza Pit cheese bread - Italian bread covered in a thick layer of mozzarella and Italian spices then baked until the cheese is gooey and the crust is crispy. Dip it in a cup of fresh marinara sauce and you'll be in heaven.
6) Home Team Chicago-style sausage pizza - For the price, this pizza couldn't be beat. It cost only $6 without any coupon, and it lasted me at least 2 meals. A lot of people didn't like Home Team but I loved them and now that they're closed. The closest location is in Des Moines, and I don't see any indication that they serve this pizza anymore :(
7) Totino's Mexican pizza - OK, this is just frozen pizza, but you Chicagoans think you all are too fancy to stock a $1 Mexican pizza, don't you???
Macbook woes
On Sunday, I tried to burn a CD in my new Macbook Pro that I bought 6 months ago, but to my dismay it spat the blank disk right back out like a 3 year-old spits out canned spinach. Frustrated, I tried another blank disk, followed by another, but only more 3 year-old fits occured with these disks too. At first, I wanted to give the laptop the benefit of the doubt because my newest CD-R was at least 4 years old (I bought a 50-pack in college). So for sanity's sake I put in a DVD-R that I had burnt a home movie onto to see if the computer would spit that out too. And since you're reading this, you can probably guess that the computer refused to read that disk too. As a last resort I put in the OS X install/restore disks that Apple provided and the computer refused to read those as well. So now I knew something was up and I did some research online and I found out that many people with supposed "bad hardware" had the drive malfunction after the latest Apple superdrive firmware update.
Luckily, my Apple is still under warranty. So I took it into my local Apple store to have tech support verify that my drive was indeed toast. Because I am the luckiest person alive, the first blank CD-R they placed in the drive was read just fine. I got worried. I thought to myself, "These guys are going to force me to take back a broken drive just because this one disk works" Lucky for me, even though the computer recognized this disk, it refused to burn any amount of data to the disk because the "data was too large" according to the on-screen error message. The technician also noticed a weird noise coming from the drive so he said he'd have it replaced. Phew, that was close! Of course he also noticed another problem, which was most likely on the software side that has me worried if replacing the drive will fix. There was only one burn speed , maximum, available. I sure hope the drivers are not corrupt now after the superdrive firmware update and I will be able to set my burn speed again!
While I was still at the Apple store, I decided to bring up another rather minor issue I had noticed since I first received my Mac. I have a magical "J" key that sometimes will not register a keypress even if the key was fully depressed. This probably happened about 50% of the time if I typed fast and with lighter keystrokes. But that day, the key worked wonderfully for the technician. I swear this computer has a mind of its own! Luckily, I was able to reproduce it readily by pressing "J" followed by "K" repeatedly. The technician then removed the key and noted that the rubber spacer under the key was almost completely torn off and that caused the misalignment that caused the key presses not to register. My luck had changed and the technician ordered a new keyboard. They say the parts will be in the store within 2 days and the repair will take up to 2 days. Although I don't like the fact that my computer will be gone for 2 days, they say that no data would be lost if I had the computer repaired in house as opposed to shipping it off to a service center. Yay Apple!
Luckily, my Apple is still under warranty. So I took it into my local Apple store to have tech support verify that my drive was indeed toast. Because I am the luckiest person alive, the first blank CD-R they placed in the drive was read just fine. I got worried. I thought to myself, "These guys are going to force me to take back a broken drive just because this one disk works" Lucky for me, even though the computer recognized this disk, it refused to burn any amount of data to the disk because the "data was too large" according to the on-screen error message. The technician also noticed a weird noise coming from the drive so he said he'd have it replaced. Phew, that was close! Of course he also noticed another problem, which was most likely on the software side that has me worried if replacing the drive will fix. There was only one burn speed , maximum, available. I sure hope the drivers are not corrupt now after the superdrive firmware update and I will be able to set my burn speed again!
While I was still at the Apple store, I decided to bring up another rather minor issue I had noticed since I first received my Mac. I have a magical "J" key that sometimes will not register a keypress even if the key was fully depressed. This probably happened about 50% of the time if I typed fast and with lighter keystrokes. But that day, the key worked wonderfully for the technician. I swear this computer has a mind of its own! Luckily, I was able to reproduce it readily by pressing "J" followed by "K" repeatedly. The technician then removed the key and noted that the rubber spacer under the key was almost completely torn off and that caused the misalignment that caused the key presses not to register. My luck had changed and the technician ordered a new keyboard. They say the parts will be in the store within 2 days and the repair will take up to 2 days. Although I don't like the fact that my computer will be gone for 2 days, they say that no data would be lost if I had the computer repaired in house as opposed to shipping it off to a service center. Yay Apple!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Movies, Molasses, Marklar
Friday was the start of my movie marathon weekend. Well I only saw 3 movies, but that is more than normal! I went to see the Simposons Movie with Tony, Kristin, and her friend. It really didn't seem all that exciting and it seemed like just another episode to me. But I guess after writing a show for 15+ years you start to run out of ideas. It really is one of those movies you should see in the dollar theatre but not shell out the money for the full-price ticket. It was really short, but I was glad because we ended up going to the 11:00PM showing because of random scheduling mix ups along with people going to the wrong place and having to find the rest of the group. Before the movie I had a great piña colada at Bahama Breeze. And before that, I had cooked the chicken saltimbocca for Kristin and Tony to try. Even though I burnt the chicken it was still moist because of how it was cooked and everybody claimed to like it! Kristin even had a second piece (2 days later).On Saturday I watched Cruel Intentions with Kristin. I remember liking that movie back in the day and I still do, although I have a more jaded viewpoint on the way love works now and I have a hard time believing that somebody could fall in love with another person in a matter of weeks. The movie still showed that you could change for the better and in the end, you'll get killed for it. It's those life lessons that I so adore! (sarcasm)
Molasses Cookies
Blueberry pancakes started the day on Sunday. Kristin came over to make them with me. We put the heat on too high though so they either burned or were slightly undercooked between the blueberries. Next time I'll do better, I swear! We also tried making a recreation of the Walker Brother's flapjacks by adding a lot of extra water to one pancake. It was thin, but it just didn't have the same flavor. I think it was most likely the pancake mix we were using because I remember having a slightly undercooked pancake made at the YMCA with very similar flavor. Walker Brother's probably adds a couple of secret spices to their flapjacks and I bet that's what made them taste so good! Later in the day I watched the Rocky Horror Picture show with Kristin. It was a weird movie, but I had to watch it because people referenced it all the time in college. I really don't know what was so awesome about it though. It kind of reminded me of Clockwork Orange, which is a very very twisted movie. You don't want to watch it.
While watching the movie, we made molasses cookies. Kristin has loved these cookies since childhood, and I really am starting to like them too. While making the cookies, I learned that Cracker Jacks are actually molasses flavored, and not just some crappy caramel flavor like I had thought as a kid. Anyway, Molasses cookies are delicious spice cookies made out of a bunch of tasty spices including, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and of course, molasses! These cookies get my stamp of approval! They kind of remind me of ginger snaps, and I probably have eaten them and mistaken them for ginger snap cookies. I've eaten 10 since making them last night. Good thing we made small ones because I'm sure I'd have eaten more mass-wise if they were bigger!
While watching the movie, we made molasses cookies. Kristin has loved these cookies since childhood, and I really am starting to like them too. While making the cookies, I learned that Cracker Jacks are actually molasses flavored, and not just some crappy caramel flavor like I had thought as a kid. Anyway, Molasses cookies are delicious spice cookies made out of a bunch of tasty spices including, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and of course, molasses! These cookies get my stamp of approval! They kind of remind me of ginger snaps, and I probably have eaten them and mistaken them for ginger snap cookies. I've eaten 10 since making them last night. Good thing we made small ones because I'm sure I'd have eaten more mass-wise if they were bigger!
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Chicken Saltimbocca
I was looking for some baked chicken wings with some delicious looking glaze I had seen on Food Network while working out, but I found this first... mmmm. I think I'm going to make it!
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Show: Everyday Italian
6 (3-ounce) chicken cutlets, pounded to evenly flatten
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 paper-thin slices prosciutto
1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Place the chicken cutlets flat on the work surface. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Lay 1 slice of prosciutto atop each chicken cutlet.
Squeeze the frozen spinach to remove the excess water. Season the spinach with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, toss the spinach with 1 tablespoon of oil to coat.
Arrange an even, thin layer of spinach atop the prosciutto slices. Sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over each. Beginning at the short tapered end, roll up each chicken cutlet as for a jellyroll. Secure with a toothpick.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken and cook just until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Add the chicken broth and lemon juice, and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Simmer the cooking liquid over high heat until it is reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Season the cooking liquid with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove toothpicks from the chicken. Drizzle the reduced cooking liquid over the chicken and serve immediately.
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Show: Everyday Italian
6 (3-ounce) chicken cutlets, pounded to evenly flatten
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 paper-thin slices prosciutto
1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Place the chicken cutlets flat on the work surface. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Lay 1 slice of prosciutto atop each chicken cutlet.
Squeeze the frozen spinach to remove the excess water. Season the spinach with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, toss the spinach with 1 tablespoon of oil to coat.
Arrange an even, thin layer of spinach atop the prosciutto slices. Sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over each. Beginning at the short tapered end, roll up each chicken cutlet as for a jellyroll. Secure with a toothpick.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken and cook just until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Add the chicken broth and lemon juice, and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Simmer the cooking liquid over high heat until it is reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Season the cooking liquid with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove toothpicks from the chicken. Drizzle the reduced cooking liquid over the chicken and serve immediately.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
computers are smarter than people
Today my belief that computers were smarter than people was reaffirmed. I went to order pizza from Pizza Hut for delivery. I told the guy over the phone my address and he said I was out of their range. I figured this was a bunch of bull because they're about a mile away from me. But I decided to call the other Pizza Hut that is a mile away in the other direction in another suburb. The lady who answered said that they could not take an order because I was in the other suburb. So I gave up talking with people and placed my order online. The system automatically selected the first Pizza Hut I called. 25 minutes later, I had my pizza! The computer knows where I live and the computer can see that I'm only a mile away from the first location and it placed the order for me. Good riddance to human error!
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