How fitting that Day 100 at site should also be Thanksgiving.  No entries the past few days because I was sick and then traveling to Tamale, but as soon as I got there a full-fledged cornucopia of cooking awesomeness blossomed.  It started before I got there, on Thanksgiving Eve, with the baking of TWO pecan pies and an apple pie.  Then, Thanksgiving morning, I made Betty Crocker blueberry muffins and the DOC’s Coffee-Almond Streusel while Matt made 30 eggs&tomato/onion/moringa. The muffins were perfect, as everything out of a box should be, but the streusel left something to be desired (besides the missing almonds).  It had a strangely dense, grainy texture and was burned a bit on the bottom while the inside remained a bit underdone, and the cake itself wasn’t very sweet, although the topping was.  Next time I’ll go for Yogurt Coffee Cake.

Later that day I was in charge of the Stove-Top stuffing (five minutes, yess), the cherry pie (all of these courtesy of Craig’s family, bless their hearts) and the dinner rolls (I wanted it to be just like Thanksgiving at the Mayo household).  I even made a menu so we wouldn’t forget the peas or the stuffing or the cranberry sauce (like we always do at the Mayo household) and taped it on the wall for all to see.  The pie was crust-from-a-box, filling-from-a-can so all I did was to assemble it, but I modified the DOC recipe for Basic Roll Dough by leaving out the shortening & egg and got rave reviews.  They were maybe a touch too sweet, and not quite Bertucci rolls, but everyone liked them a lot.  Success!! And I made sure we did not, in fact, forget any crucial side dish.

The rest of the menu included turkey (of course), ginger/honey-roasted chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, half a gallon of gravy, stuffing, peas, cranberry sauce, cheesy scalloped yams, sautéed eggplant, green bean casserole with real house-made onion rings on top, sweet potato pie, and a delectable wagashie (locally made cheese)-tomato-basil salad.  For appetizers beforehand we also had Shauna’s amazing homemade hummus and fried yam chips/bread.  No one could eat as much of the main meal as they wanted because they all ate too much hummus.  It was great.

Dessert came like four hours later because everyone ate so much, but there were all the abovementioned pies plus an unbelievably delicious cheesecake-pudding dessert. That was my favorite part, hands down.  Didn’t need to eat again until the next day.

Split Pea Soup

2 cups dried yellow peas (1 lb)
3 qts cold water (reserved broth from boiled ham is great)
1 finely grated carrots
1 large onion, minced
1 ham bone
3 celery stalks with tops, minced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
salt and pepper to taste

Pick over peas, wash, add water, and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let sit 2 hours. Add all the other ingredients. Heat to a boil and then for simmer 3-4 hours or until peas are soft and liquid is partly reduced. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 6

The Dwarf Gray Sugar Snow Pea

Lectio divina (daily lectio instructions): I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4: 1-3

Prayer: I pray for the grace of humility.

Thoughts: (Reminder: I am studying and meditating on Ephesians, using John Stott with Phyllis J. Le Peau, Ephesians: Building Community In Christ, Downers Grove, Illinois, InterVarsity Press, 1998 (the link is to the book in Amazon). In keeping with Ignatian Spirituality, I don’t rush my reading of the Scripture for the day but sometimes take several days/weeks over one.  I have been awhile and am continuing lesson #7, Ephesians 4: 1-16 titled Unity.)

One way of promoting unity in the church according to Stott and Le Peau is the practice of humility. Humility is recognizing the God-given worth of every human being – created in the image of God – and treating them so. They write, “personal vanity is a key factor in all our relationships. If, however, instead of maneuvering for the respect of others (which is pride) we give them our respect by recognizing their God-given worth (which is humility), we shall be promoting harmony in God’s new society.” I’ve been trying to understand and live out this definition of humility for the last couple of weeks. Its not at all easy to be humble with others; to recognize “their God-given worth”  does not come naturally at all. I’m realizing just how much more socially conditioned by the world I am than even I realized. I want the respect of others and too often try to get it without even realizing what I’m doing, without thinking! Only the grace of God can keep me from pride and help me be humble.

Picture: This heirloom pea has been relatively easy to grow thus far. The seeds germinated without fail and grow many leaves and vines within a month or so. The only problem I ran into was during transplanting. The plants are so delicate that I killed many just by my handling while transplanting. Now, one of the vines about 15 inches long has started to produce flowers and in this picture you can see two of them (open pink and closed blue). I have more a couple of dozen pea plants in my garden now and am amazed at how little space they take and how easily they can be overloooked! These humble, unpretentious plants remind me that the word humble has many meanings, one of them being low in height, small in size, making or counting as low all of one’s worldly acheivements and accomplishments .  They remind me that its good to be unpretentious, like Jesus when he came to the world, humble, making no show or display of his greatness but choosing to be born poor & lowly.

This recipe is useful if, like me, you have recently been faced with a lot of leftover turkey.  The soup has the added bonus of being hearty and warm – perfect for a cold day!  Of course, one could make this soup even in you haven’t had any Thanksgivings recently.  Substitute leftover chicken for leftover turkey and voila!  Note that while the measurements in the recipe tend toward the imprecise, this means that there’s a lot of flexibility about ingredient quantities depending on personal preferences or what you have in your refrigerator.

Turkey Thanksgiving Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 quart vegetable broth
• ¼-½ cup tomato juice, depending on preference
• ½ potato, cut into ½ inch squares
• ¼ onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1-2 handfuls leftover cooked turkey, chopped
• 1 handful dry lentils
• 1 handful frozen peas, chopped
• 1 handful baby carrots, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• Fresh ground pepper
• Old Bay seasoning
• Salt, to taste (optional)
• ¼ cup grated cheddar cheese
• Croutons (optional)

 Directions:

1. Fill a 1.8 liter (or similar sized) pot halfway with vegetable broth.  Add ¼ cup tomato juice.  Heat the broth to a low boil.  Keep the broth simmering as you cut and add the vegetables.  
2. As you chop, add potatoes, onion, celery, turkey, lentils, peas, carrots, and garlic to the pot.
3. Add additional broth and, if desired, tomato juice to the pot until the pot is just under full.
4. Taste the broth and adjust the seasonings.  Add some fresh ground pepper, to taste, and a few hearty shakes of Old Bay.  If desired, add salt to taste.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low, or just hot enough to keep the soup simmering while it’s covered.
6. Cover the pot and continue cooking the soup for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. 
7. Spoon soup into bowls.  Top with croutons, if desired, and cheddar cheese. Serves 2-6, depending on whether the servings are entrée or appetizer sized.

James Beard’s Navarin is a French lamb ragôut, or stew — and it’s hearty and rich. It requires first browning and then braising lamb meat (his original recipe calls for shoulder or breast; we’re using leg) in beef broth while caramelizing turnips and onions in butter and sugar. After the lamb is done braising, the fat is skimmed from the broth, the broth is strained and the caramelized vegetables and other veggies are added, along with some spices, for the final simmering. The recipe calls for leeks, carrots, new potatoes and peas, spiced with cloves, salt and pepper; we’re adding purple potatoes and rutabagas with some parsley. This is a sure heartwarmer for cold weather; give it a try!

I made these easy stuffed mushrooms last week.  I halved the recipe : wrong idea.  They are so good and so easy to eat

In the last 2 weeks, I made lemon roast potatoes and creamed peas with mushrooms and onions.  Both dishes are yummy!   The potatoes are like French Fries without all the oil with a lemony taste.  So good!

so there i was in the kitchen and i needed to cook dinner to go.  i wanted carbonara and i wanted risotto….so i figured why not push them into a lovely marriage with one another.  in any other circumstance pushing something/someone into marriage would not be desirable…but this works.  this dish has the same creaminess of the carbonara with the bacon and peas, but in a risotto.  the recipe is for one dinner portion, the amounts for 4 servings are in parenthesis.

Carbonara Risotto
1 tsp oil (2 tbs)
2 tbs onion, diced (1/2 c)
1 slice of bacon (4 slices)
1 garlic clove, minced (4 cloves)
1/4 c arborio rice (1 c)
3 tbs white wine (2/3 c)
1 c chicken broth (4 c)
1/3 c peas (1 1/3 c)
2 tbs parmesan cheese, freshly grated (1/2 c)

in a sauce pan heat the chicken broth over low heat covered.  in a seperate sauce pan heat the oil over medium heat then add the onions once the oil starts to smoke.  let cook for 4 minutes then add the bacon and the garlic, cook till cooked (haha)…2 minutes.  then add the rice and toast until lightly browned.  pour in the wine and stir as it is added.  once the rice has soaked up all the liquid add 1/8 c chicken stock and stir as it is added.  once the rice has soaked up the liquid add more and continue till all of the chicken broth is used.  then mix in the peas and the cheese.  and enjoy.

tips

• arborio rice must be used to achieve the creamy texture that only their starch can provide.
• if you want to make the dish a little more figure friendly but eat your bacon too, cook the bacon seperately (whether in the microwave or on the stove) then crumble it in at the end.
• you can also use pancetta since that is more authentic, but bacon is what i had on hand.  you can also use ham.

My sister Emily’s best friend Sarah came down from Irvine a couple weeks ago, armed with a sample of some delicious soup she had made out of a recipe book Emily had given to she and her boyfriend, Matt. I loved it, and she was kind enough to send me the recipe.

Ingredients:
3 cups chicken stock
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I use 2 to maximize the broth:chicken ratio)
1/4 cup butter
2 onions, chopped
4-ounce piece smoked, fatty bacon, chopped (I use 4-ish pieces)
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 can lima beans (I have tried peas, with equally delicous results. …Because I had no lima beans.)
4 corn cobs (I made it without the corn tonight, due to the fact that there WAS NO CORN ON THE COB at my neighborhood Vons this evening. Is this normal during this time of the year or am I blind?)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste (Like, a lot. Just keep on shaking it in… Or, if your tastebuds are intact, don’t…)

1. Bring chicken stock to boil. Add chicken breasts and bring back to boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 12-15 minutes, until cooked through and tender. Use a slotten spoon to remove the chicken and leave to cool. Reserve stock.

I do this part a little bit differently. I cut up and sauté the bacon first, then add the onions and butter, so I don’t have to remove the bacon, or have soggy bacon in my soup… because I love bacon, and far be it for me to eat it soggy and tasteless.

2. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the onions and cook for 4-5 minutes, until softened but not brown
3. Add the bacon and cook for 5-6 minutes, until beginning to brown. Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minutes, stirring continuously.
4. Gradually stir in the hot stock and bring to a boil, stirring until thickened, remove from heat.
5. Using a sharp knife, remove the kernels from the corn cobs. stir the kernels into the pan with half of the milk. Return to heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12-15 minutes until corn is tender.
6. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and stir into the soup. Stir in the lima beans and the remaining milk. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, then season well and stir in parsley.

I have been completely obsessed with this soup and have made it three times in the last month. My sister, ironically, calls it mediocre soup. Those exact words came out of her mouth. So maybe you wouldn’t like it. But, if you like bacon, chicken and/ or creamy, buttery, really yummy soup, and have any SOUL AT ALL, you will probably like this.

What a Wednesday!

It started off with very unusual eats, but I just went with my craving.

If you guessed peas, egg whites and avocado, you are correct.

I know it’s weird – you don’t even have to tell me. I was craving vegetables, but I only had about 5 minutes, so I pulled the peas out of the freezer, microwaved for a minute, then topped them with 2 cooked egg whites, salt, pepper and avocado. It was so good – I will definitely be adding this to my breakfast repertoire. It only took me 5 minutes to make, and it held me over until 11ish (4 hours).

For lunch, I scooped a bagel, toasted it, and added a mixture of pumpkin butter and crunchy peanut butter.

It was about 18 degrees today, so we had indoor recess. This makes for a very long day. After making a few copies and toasting my bagel – I had exactly 8 minutes to eat this lunch. The apple was inhaled while teaching my class about the importance of a subject in a sentence.

I also got my weekly Wednesday latte from a certain mom who spoils me. Along with my latte today, she brought me sun butter!

This stuff is so darn good. I dug into this bad boy with my finger when I was still at school at 6:30 this evening. I told you it was quite a Wednesday.

When I got home, I was beyond starving, but I also had a bit of a tummy ache (lesson learned: don’t eat 1.5 oz of sun butter on a very empty stomach) – so I sipped on cinnamon tea (with almond milk) while I cooked dinner for Meeker.

The tea…

The boy’s dinner…

3 heads of broccoli, 1 zucchini, ½ onion, 2 carrots and ground turkey.

I tasted enough while cooking to make the gnawing hunger subside, and then sat and watched The Biggest Loser – which I didn’t get to last night. What a good show. Seriously, I cry at least 5 times each episode – I’m so inspired by the accomplishments and determination of the contestants. I love all of the finalists – I can’t wait until next week.

After TBL, I whipped together a batch of Cookie Dough Babies. This was my first time making these bad boys, and I didn’t have any chocolate chips to add, so it was just dates and cashews.

Heck yeah. Success. I’ve already eaten two.

I made these partially because I wanted something sweet after instead of dinner, and partially because the inventor of these yummy nuggets is having the most fantastic giveaway – and I really want to score some of her loot.

***

You’re probably wondering why I’m up still awake (and semi-functioning!) so late. Okay…in reality, you probably don’t know or care how late I stay up, BUT
I am usually in bed by 9:30, and it is currently 9:32. What gives?

I took the day off tomorrow! Whohoo! (kind of)

I took the day off for 3 reasons:

1. I have too much to do and not enough time to do it. If you can believe it, I took tomorrow off so I could catch up on work. I have insane amounts of grading to do, the end of the quarter is coming up soon, and I wanted to get all of the big stuff knocked out before the weekend. I also have an enormous pile of laundry to tackle and a grocery store trip to make. It just didn’t seem reasonable for me to do all this during a long work week – so, I took the day off.
2. Zac Brown Band is going to be in Denver tomorrow night, and I’m going to see them!!!

   
   

3. At work, only 5 sick days carry over from year-to-year, and I can’t remember the last time I was sick – so I might as well use the days for something I want. Otherwise, they go to waste. Waste not want not.
   

So, with that – I’m off to get a good night’s sleep. I hope you all have happy Thursdays!

My first clue came about 10 seconds after placing it in my mouth.  It was my very first mouthful.  You would think after all these years I would know better than to put in so much on my first mouthful.  But I don’t know any better.  In many ways I am still a kid at heart, eating is one of those ways.  I no longer eat mud pies or put things in my mouth on a dare from my friends, but I am still stupid enough to stick a mouthful of something new in my mouth without tasting a small piece first.  I can’t help it.  I gave up trying a long time ago and just accept things like that as personality flaws and I learn to live with it.

Tonight my eating adventure involved a mixture of some new spices I recently acquired.  I got some new Cajun spice, Chipotle seasoning, Louisiana hot sauce, and crushed red peppers.  Any experienced connoisseur of hot spices could tell you that the intensity of any one of those spices could vary significantly for many reasons, such as ingredients used, processing methods, aging time, packaging, etc..  I certainly know such a thing, but that doesn’t stop me from being an idiot.

There’s just something about adding spices to food.  For me, that “something” is a lack of restraint.  Not that I follow recipes, but let’s say for the sake of example that I did.  If a recipe called for “a pinch” of some spice, I’m going to probably use about a tablespoon or two.  If a recipe calls for a tablespoon, I’ll probably use about a quarter cup or so.  I basically just sprinkle some on in between adding every ingredient.  The more ingredients a dish takes, the hotter it’s going to come out if I have anything to do with it.

Tonight I was in the mood for something with black beans.  I had just soaked and cooked about a pound of black beans yesterday so today it was time to make something to use them.  I was in the mood for my famous black bean/turkey chili, but I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients and didn’t feel like running out to the store.  When I’m hungry, I’m ready to eat, not ready to go shopping.  So once again I was reduced to using whatever I found in the house.

As is typical with me, I didn’t want to spend a lot of time cooking dinner.  I ended up spending more time than I wanted on brunch earlier in the day, so I didn’t want to waste a lot more time on another meal in the same day.  I wanted to practice the KISS method – Keep it simple stupid.

Here’s what I found and decided to make – a sweet potato, an onion, Brussels sprouts, corn, broccoli, black beans, fresh spinach, left-over white turkey meat, whole-grain tortilla wraps, and all my yummy hot spices.  Below is the recipe for what I did with them.  Feel free to try it on your own.  By the way, I should point out that I don’t cook for any number of people.  I just throw stuff together and get what I get.  If it’s too much food, I have left-overs for the next day.

Steamed Cajun Sweet Potato (with friends)

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato, any size
1 onion, any kind you want
Whatever other veggies you have would work, but for this recipe I’m going to recommend something green like brussels sprouts, green beans, broccoli, peas, or asparagus.
½ to 1 cup corn, not on a cob.
½ to 1 cup black beans, either raw already cooked or organic, low-sodium from can.  If you’re going to use canned, just use the whole can and roughly an equal amount of corn.

Directions:
First peel and cut one medium onion into big chunks, not dainty little chopped pieces.  Let it sit while you prep the other stuff. 

Start a steamer pot with about 2” of water to steam the veggies. 

Next get out a nice sturdy, sharp knife and cut the sweet potato.  Raw sweet potatoes are kind of tough, so you have to have a good knife to get through them.  Cut it into chunks small enough to put into your mouth. 

Steaming a whole sweet potato takes about 45 minutes, but cutting into small chunks cuts the steaming time down to 7 – 10 minutes.  When the water starts boiling, put the sweet potato into the steamer and cover.   I don’t like to over-cook my sweet potatoes, so the total steam time is going to only be about 7 or 8 minutes using my bite-sized chunks.

If you are steaming fresh Brussels sprouts, add those at the same time as the potato, or maybe even a minute or two earlier because they take a little longer.

After a few minutes, add your other veggies (already cut to bite-sized if needed).  How long they take depends on what veggies you add.  I’ll list a few of my recommendations below.  Keep in mind the total steam time is less than 10 minutes so add them accordingly.

Steam times:
Brussels sprouts - 7 – 10 minutes
Asparagus - 5 minutes
Broccoli - 5 minutes
Onions  - 5 minutes
Green beans - 4 minutes
Peas - 2 minutes

I wanted my black beans warm, so I micro waved them with the corn for 3 minutes when there was that much steam time left, because I’m all about coordinating the times perfectly.

While the veggies where steaming, I also threw this together –

Turkey Wrap

Ingredients:
1 low-cal, low-sodium, tortilla wrap (I use multi-grain, but any should do)  note: most wraps I’ve found are high in both calories and sodium so search around and read the label for the lowest you can find).
Fresh spinach
Sliced green and red peppers
Sliced red onion – just a little since there were onions with the veggie dish.
White turkey meat pieces
Spicy brown mustard

Directions:
Place all together and roll up a wrap.  Hopefully I don’t need to tell you any more than that.

When veggies finished steaming, I put them into a mixing bowl with the black beans and corn and sprinkled on about a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil and then added all my new spices (Cajun, chipotle, red pepper, hot sauce) along with some freshly ground black pepper and some extra cayenne pepper and then mixed it all up.  Then I added the spices again and mixed again.  While I was at it, I also added a round of the spices to my turkey wrap.  Just to make sure all the veggies got some good hot spices on them, I added a little more EVOO and another round of spices and mixed one last time.

Then I placed my wrap and what veggies I wanted on a plate to enjoy and saved the rest for tomorrow.  For some reason I thought a nice glass of burgundy would go well with it, but I opted for water.  I suppose if you wanted, you could top with a little shredded cheese on either the veggies or the wrap, but I skipped that also.

Before I even sat down, I shoved the first huge mouthful in and was very grateful for the glass of water to put the fire out that was now burning in my mouth.  Not only did my nose begin running instantly, but my eyes did also.  I thought my whole head was going to explode.  Holy crap was that good!  In hindsight, I’d have to recommend a little restraint with all the extra spices, but I sure enjoyed it.  I think Cajun spices seem to go well with sweet potatoes.  I just have to learn to quit getting so carried away with it.  Maybe next time I’ll try to measure and take it easy…but I doubt it.

Come to Parnassus Cafe this Thursday, December 3rd for the first ArtsLink Student Organization hosted event of the year!

ArtsLink is proud to introduce the HusKEYS, UW’s very own Acapella group, in their first Parnassus performance! The event is free and cookies will be provided. Swing by and enjoy!

HusKEYS in Parnassus Cafe

Where?Parnassus Cafe, Located in the basement of the Art Building.
When?Thursday December 3rd @ 3:30pm!
Who?YOU and your friends! All are welcome. Free cookies!

For more information, email us at artsl@uw.edu

It’s Monday and I don’t want to leave you without any ideas for your dinner today. Here’s  the artichokes with peas and carrots recipe I cooked yesterday. The quickest and easiest version possible!

Recipe

Ingredients

• half cup olive oil (more if you like it)
• 1-2 onions, finely chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or two cubes frozen)
• one bag frozen peas
• one bag frozen artichokes
• baby carrots cut in 2-3 pieces each
• dill, finely chopped
• salt, pepper
• juice from one lemon, optionally

How to make: Saute onions for 3-4 minutes, add garlic (optional) and saute couple more minutes. Add artichokes, peas and carrots. Add water to barely, BARELY cover the veggies. Don’t put too much water.  Probably a cup of water is enough. Sprinkle salt & pepper,  and add dill & lemon.  Let the food cook in low heat for about half an hour. Ready!

Notes and tips: Leave the dill out if you have kids who don’t like seeing the green things in the food. I like putting just a little more water and thicken it  by adding 1 tablespoon flour melted in a little water. This is a nice, high fiber recipe. For a less quick version you can of course buy fresh artichokes but that’s too much work for me and 4 out of 5 times the artichokes in the market are way too hard. My favorite artichokes recipe is ‘a la polita’, with potatoes and carrots but  today I wanted to raise the fiber content with peas,  plus I didn’t have potatoes.  It’ll be coming, though. I cook it quite often.

16th November – 22nd November 2009

Flood alert and bad weather hit Cumbria, southern part of Scotland, the Lake District….

We are in touch wood situation at the South West, windy and cloudy, on and off of heavy showers…

During this continue wet and windy weather…. On Tuesday caught up with a clear spell and went down to the Allotment to tidy up those bags of compost, empty to the bins and gave them some massage (add some compost maker and gave them a stir)…..

Harvest

While I was at the plot, pick up some veggie for the week… Swiss Chard doing excellent despite the foul weather… though I have got some Parsnip in fork shape, they are still sweet in taste… my Mooli Radish has a big improvement from last year’s stock, use them in my curry really yummy….

Garlic

The downpours has not affect the growth of my Garlic, they grow taller than the week last…

Onions

The same as my Winter Onions, they welcome the rain too….

Feltham First Peas

Nice to see my Feltham First peas has shown the pea tops… my disguise of sowing them with grits and pebbles do work…

Board Bean

Most of my early sown Board Beans has shot up… though there are couple gaps in between the rows, I shall fill them with my home grow seedlings in Springtime if they do remain gapping at me through the winter…

© 2008-2009 Vegetplotlot. All rights reserved.

Hmm, back to back posting. Today’s been an interesting one. haha I’ve been trying to eat better, but with so many left overs it’s hard. However, I’m doing okay with what we have.

This morning, I started out the day with some Fiber One cereal and a coffee. This particular type of Fiber One is not my fave, but it was pretty much the most nutritious breakfast option…so I went with it.

My family left around 11am, and I got some work done because there’s just so much to do before the end of the semester which is — only TWO weeks away. Ahh.

For lunch — I honestly don’t even remember what I had. I haven’t been very good about that lately. I know I ate….OH. Stuffing with peas and zucchini. No pictures though, sorry peeps! I think I’ve have more carbs this week than I have in a long, long time. Well, at least like bread and stuff like that.

I’ve just been kind of lazy all day though. I was up early with the dog every day this week so I didn’t really get to sleep in. I think it hit me today — I think it hit the dog, too, considering she is fast asleep at my feet right now. I made myself an early dinner in the hope of getting some nourishment in my system, and making me feel more up and at ‘em. Dinner took on a life of it’s own though…haha

Okay, so this is the lovely dinner I put together… a thick slice of spiral baked ham, leftover squash and a little bit of stuffing.

I also poured myself a glass of Canada Dry Cranberry Gingerale. Obviously..I’m obsessed. haha

Alright…so there I am…super psyched about my meal….but this plate had other plans for me…

As I walked into the next room with my plate…CRASH. Yep…I tripped and dropped my glorious plate of food ALL over the floor. The plate didn’t break…but that was because it was on the carpet. Oyyy. It was like watching slow motion as the plate first wobbled…and then BOOM. Ham -  squash – stuffing… everywhere! Oy. I scooped up what I could but thankfully my dog is my own personal garbage disposal, and by the time I got back to clean up the rest she had polished everything off. haha

Anyway, so after a moment of…”Oh my God, I’m such a klutz!!! What the…” I hopped back into the kitchen and made myself another plate…sans stuffing because I’d used the last of it on the plate that made its way to the floor…

Instead I had two thin slices of ham and a heaping helping of squash. I guess it’s for the best. Stuffing schmuffing…okay, I do love stuffing so I am a little sad. haha

Even without the stuffing it was a delicious meal…which ended with a few Andes chocolate mints. I love these little suckers.

I’m enjoying a few moments under the covers…so toasty! And then it’s time for me to get stuff donnne! Tomorrow, I’m going out to lunch with my brother and my dad (maybe his wife, too…I don’t know) for a little early birthday celebration for me…oy. I don’t want to turn 24!!

Alright, I’m off! G’night everyone!

Peace, Love & Munchies.

I rarely have salads for dinner.  With dinner, yes, but for dinner, not so much.

It’s not necessarily that I want something heartier (although, that is the case sometimes) or more (true other times too), but I guess I just like variety or not having the whole meal in one plate/bowl.  I know it doesn’t make sense…

But sometimes, not often enough, I want salad for dinner.  And strangely enough it happens in the winter.  When I am usually wanting warm, cheesy things.  I want something light and bright that reminds me of summer.

And then that happens, this salad is perfect.

The only “cooking” this salad requires is toasting pinenuts.  And while that doesn’t really qualify as much, unless you are watching them closely, there is a chance you may have to make a second batch.  Not that they burn EASILY or anything…

The rest comes from the store:  spinach, peas, pesto, parmesan.  Yes, you can make the pesto, but its December, so I bought it.  And yes, fresh peas are even better, but its December, so I went with frozen.

I also added chicken, to up the protein and make it work as a meal.  And I didn’t even cook that – just used the rotisserie kind from the store and shredded up a bit.  But of course, it works great with chicken you make – fresh or leftovers.

But I don’t know why I am that surprised about a salad that uses pesto for dressing … just to keep it “light” and all!

Spinach Pea Pesto Salad

Thanks to these gals who made it for me the first time, as a side to an amazing dinner, so there was no chicken.

And there will be no amounts here, as I figure you can alter that as you wish, depending on if this is for 1 or 11 – main dish or side. One thing though, I go heavy on the peas, but maybe it’s just because I like them!

–

–

In a small heavy-bottomed skillet, toast the pinenuts until golden brown – be careful through, as they burn easily.

In the meantime, if using frozen peas, defrost – I use a strainer and cool running water.  Once defrosted, I don’t cook them – they don’t need it and they can be overcooked in a snap.

After that, just assemble.  Combine spinach, peas, pinenuts and chicken in a large bowl.  Add pesto, a small bit at a time (so you don’t get too much), and toss.  If it tastes a bit rich or too thick, add a bit of lemon juice or vinegar for the acid, and toss again.

Top with a bit of freshly grated parmesan.

aliens,human,ufos,and dogs
morning! haha:D
afternoon liao la.
I’m still feeling unwell before the trip and after:D
Anw, HI! I’M BACK FROM TAIWAN!
hehe, went to XuePing in Taiwan
then bought gifts:D
but mostly all is different things:D
I came home about twelve midnight then was very tired..
So i didnt bathe and went to sleep, when i woke up i was shivering!
then i ate panadol and when to sleep with like 2 pyjamas
And i didnt on the aircon.. THEN a cockroach FLEW IN! FFFFFFF!!!!
I was like shouting in the middle of the night haha:D
so i went to sleep with my sister
STUPID COCKROACH RUIN THE WHOLE NIGHT!! >< !!
ARGH
hee nvm!
Taiwan trip was okay only
cos i went there before already:D
i liked the 温泉！
the hottest i can take is only 39-40 degrees:D
If i had went in to the 43 one, i think i’ll be shou already D:
hehe, korea and japan one nicer
After that, we spent 2 days in ximending:D
Overall it was okay:D
BUT I HATE 臭豆腐！！！
the smell is like OMG o.o
hehe.
then damn funny, the police came and all the 小摊(illegal ones)
started to run!
haha! then i ask one of them, 警察来了你们跑去哪里躲？
“有地方躲就先躲咯”
哈哈，然后我选到了就要减价，她就说：“你快点卖啦！我在用我的生命在跑警察，不能再便宜了啦!”
haha, so i bought it
Anything lor, walao, 用生命，我当然会买啦。。。
Taiwan photos are not ready yet D:
bu guo, mmi photos are done i think
Ta men quan bu zai xia mian!

MILLIONAIRE MIND INTENSIVE 2009 (MMI09) ^^
me me me and more me

hello HEHE!! 
MMI was FUN!!! and SUPER
YAY, but bad things happened too D:
Scolded by customers and xuan was even beaten D:
WALAO. We still have Zun Yan one okay,
Pictures!!

DAY 1
 We were all eating
THEN WORK!
and lunch we started taking pictures!
 After lunch  

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a happy family
Happy Family

One day when cheryl was hungry,  
I was feeding Zhafri and haha. Then we bought STARBUCKS which cheryl wants it but we are not giving her.

Cheryl was real mad! and she WANTED REVENGE! so Cheryl took my waterbottle away and scolded me D:

我以后不敢了! i told her , and everything was settled then viviany suddenly said huh?

 Out of the sudden!
ZHafri wanted to eat me!!! but i ate him back
So we are settled

WE were back as a happy family again
HAHA:D THE END!
 idk what were we doing
Zhafri was like UH?, and i was so xin fu looking and cheryl was trying to rape me
haha

Me:幸福 Cheryl : 想要强奸我                                                        Cheryl :幸福    Me: 不屑 (我再帮小鬼黄鸿升打他的专辑哦！)
Sweet  

Can you see viviany haha a guy was looking at her and felt frustrated while i was taking photo

DAY 2
I met Yun Xuan at the mrt then we went together
I bought a bread
 
BUT I CANT EAT ON THE TRAIN!!!

At the platform

EMO!!!
FINALLY I GOT OFF THE TRAIN!

HEHE.
DAY THREE(LAST DAY!)

I made a Wong Yon Ling Song ( yon yon song for short )
 hehe.
Just scroll over the picture to see descriptions
i got a nice face painting by Denise Warner hehe.

then was bored , so i took xuan’s camera and asked justina to smile and she …  

…….
Then i just zi lian lor, haha.

And cheryl was getting bored too so she took my photos haha.
I was trying to open my jelly but i cant!!
Attempt 1:
 

Attempt 2 : No choice had to bite.                Wynn and me
 

 尼可乐思
then we took photos with the other crews  




BYE BYE!!
 

 
HERE COMES THE (HIGHLY ANTICIPATED) EATING ALBUM!!! HAHA.
吃饭特写
 

Cheryl                                                                        Yon

Wynn

Dewey

Zhafri                                                                         Wen Xian

Everyone
 

BYE!!~~~~ 

I’ve looked back on every Number 1 single (in the UK Singles Chart) from 2009 and decided that this list boasts just about the worst collection of lyrics ever. This has nothing to do with the songs themselves being any good – most of them are absolutely terrible – but there’s no reason a cheesy pop song can’t display any attempt at lyricism. Remember Eamon from 2004 with the hit single ‘Fuck It (I Don’t Want You Back)’, boasting the timeless lyrics: ‘Ya burnt, bitch, I heard the story/Ya played me, you even gave him head.’ What the fuck was that!? It was like a scorned, illiterate teenager had wrangled their way into a studio and surrounded himself with equally dumb-ass sound engineers and record executives. Or maybe not – because some of you out there actually paid for that shit.

In an attempt to inject a little more intelligence to our critique of pop music, I’ve put together some of the worst lines that scored some of the highest sales this year. I decided not to include some of the really dancey numbers because they were never meant to have good lyrics in the first place. So I present to you…

The 2009 Top Ten of Shit Lyrics:

10. Lily Allen – The Fear (four weeks on top)

‘I want loads of clothes and fuckloads of diamonds/I heard people die while they’re trying to find them.’

Just because she thought she was being so clever with this satirical take on modern life. It’s more like a lullaby that ticks the box of ‘Socially Conscious’ – meanwhile her life outside of the song takes on a much more parallel line to the things she is attempting to denouce. Turns out ‘I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless,’ wasn’t so much a cynical stab as it was an admission of what The Sun readers were in for all summer. I’m actually a Lily fan so all apologies, love.

9. JLS – Everybody in Love (one week)

‘You accept that they’ve got things to do, but sometimes in the end there’s nothing left for you.’

Those two lines alone make it sound like the JLS boys would weep if their girlfriends nipped out to do the laundry. They would come back and find them at the foot of their beds, in a mess of tears and her underwear…

8. Taio Cruz – Break Your Heart (three weeks)

‘And I know karma’s gonna get me back for being so cold/Like a big, bad wolf – I’m born to be bad and bad to the bone.’

Taio Cruz ain’t no wolf! THIS is a motherfuckin’ wolf. The worst part of this little club number is the fact that half the drunken fools out there dancing to it mistake it for a love song – ‘I can so relate to this… I’m like a freaking man-eater, I swear…’

7. David Guetta feat. Akon – Sexy Bitch (one week)

‘I’m tryin’ to find the words to describe this girl, without being disrespectful/Damn, girl!/Damn, you the sexy bitch! The sexy bitch!!’

Oh, so that’s how you respect women! Because I was going around holding doors open and shit, but I guess I should’ve just called her a sexy bitch…

6. Black Eyed Peas – I Got a Feeling (two weeks, sandwiching the Stryder-man)

‘Fill up my cup – Drink!/Mazal Tof – L’chaim!’

Since when does ‘L’chaim’ get shouted out mid-song? Since when does the Hebrew toast, ‘to life,’ get shouted out mid-Black Eyed Peas pop anthem? Since now.

5. Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden – Bonkers (two weeks)

‘Everybody says that I’ve gotta get a grip, but I let sanity give me the slip.’

Dizzee Rascal used to be good guys, seriously. Go HERE for my rant on the glory days of grime artists, but it’s just a shame the shit that’s being churned out these days. It’s a solid club-track with a decent beat and Dizzee has been given free reign to repeat the same verse a few times, whatever. All I know is that if I were spitting the same verse four times on one track I’d make it a fucking good verse. Bonkers.

4. Flo Rida – Right Round (one week)

‘From the top of the pole I watch her go down/She got me throwin’ my money around.’

This song is about a pervert with a boat-load of money going to the same club every night, to watch the same girl pole-dance, while he and his mislead cronies throw thousands of dollars into the hands of whichever genius stripper is milking them for so much. I used to think it was a crude reference to a girl giving head – ‘When you go down, down…’ – but now I’m even more disappointed.

3. Tinchy Stryder feat. N Dubz – Number 1 (three weeks)

‘It was all now, never planned, no after/It was like games, jokes, laughter.’

Games, jokes, laughter – in that order please.

2. Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow (two weeks, sandwiching Dizzee’s contribution)

‘Beat so big, I’m steppin’ on leprechauns/Y’all gettin’ down with the boom, boom.’

Black Eyed Peas first arrived in the charts with ‘Where is the Love?’ back in 2003, establishing them as a conscious, sensitive hip-hop/R’n'B collective – I assumed they planned to rival groups like the Fujees with their addition of Fergie for their third album, Elephunk (the first one anyone on this side of the Atlantic actually knows about). Since then pretty much every song has been about sex or dancing. This song doesn’t really seem to be about either, as Will-i-am fights his way through dancefloors filled with leprechauns in some attempt to meet Fergie in 3008, which she has some how beaten us all to, while we just stay back here jocking her style. Get g-get get get get…

1. Kelly Clarkson – My Life Would Suck Without You (one week)

‘I know that I’ve got issues, but you’re pretty messed up too/Either way I found out I’m nothing without you.’

You can just imagine the beer-stained, wife-beater wearing hick who inspired this insepid love song. I think the best thing about it is the fact that Google corrects the name to ‘My Life Would Such Without You,’ because even search engines think the word ’suck’ should never find its way into a song title.

Stuffed Cutlets: Mutter ki bharwan tikki

These cutlets are my all time favorite. You cannot go wrong with this . Simple yet delicious.

Ingredients:
For Stuffed Cutlets:  [Approx. 12 cutlets]

Potatoes – 5 medium
White bread [decrusted] –2 slices
Green Peas [fresh or frozen] – 2 cups
Cumin seeds [Jira] – 1 tsp
Red chili powder – 2 tsp
Oil for frying
salt as per taste

Method:
1.Boil and peel the potatoes and keep aside.
2. Mash all the potatoes and add 1 tsp red chili powder and some salt to it. Also add 2 slices of bread. Combine the ingredients into smooth dough.
3. For stuffing, in a pan add 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Add cumin seeds to it. Let is splatter and then add fresh or frozen [defrosted] to the pan. Also add 1 tsp red chili powder and salt. Sauté the peas for 3-4 minutes on medium high heat.
4. In a grinder, grind the sautéed peas coarsely. Keep aside for cooling down. Make marble sized balls of the stuffing.
5. Take one drop of oil on both the palms and take lemon size mashed potatoes and stuff it with the stuffing balls and make round or oval shaped patties.
6. Heat oil in a pan on medium hot. Fry the patties in the hot oil till they become golden brown.
7. Drain the patties on a kitchen towel.

Serving Suggestions:
Serve hot patties with tea or coffee with green chutney or ketchup on the side.