IT'S A SHOE THING

When Jenni was home for the holidays, we went shoe shopping. -- Hark, Is that a heavenly chorus I hear?

Yes, shoe shopping. The location was the place I refer to as the Mother Ship of Shoes. DSW. OK, the dominatrix-style shoes on the current banner of the website aren't exactly my style. On this trip I wasn't buying shoes. Shocking, I know. Jenni was the one making the purchases, and she said she needed a pair of plain black flats and plain brown pumps.

Plain?

Seriously, plain?

OK, I can do this for my daughter.

After a game of "Love This One/Hate That One" (played by only me because Jenni was serious about the plain thing and was on a mission), Jenni pointed out that there is a fuzzy line between shoes I like and shoes I don't like. As I held up a pair of sparkly white Sketchers and declared that the verdict hadn't come in yet one them, I innocently said, "I don't know what you mean." (I later put the sparkly Sketchers in the "Hate That One" category, but Jenni thinks I secretly love them. )

Then I found a clearance rack of wonderful slides and sandals that all spoke to me. I went wild, "Love that one, love that one, REALLY love that one!" Jenni's eyes audibly rolled.

I pointed out that Meghan and I have similar tastes in shoes and she tries to steal them when she's home; only her feet are smaller. Yet Jenni and I have the same shoe size but our tastes don't match. She said that she likes my shoes, she just wouldn't buy them.

huh?

Anyway, with iPhone in hand, I started taking photos. Jenni asked (sarcastically), "Blog fodder?"

Why, yes, actually. Sadly, only three of them are viewable. Earthquakes seemed to have hit while taking most of them.

Jenni asked if they could have included any more animal prints in this shoe. I refer to it as "Something Unfortunate Happened At the Watering Hole."



To make this shoe, we think they swept up all of the scraps left on the floor.




This shoe photographs well. In real life, it's atrocious, but it actually looks almost good here. The blue is a satiny electric blue. It's so electric you could almost hear it sizzle and hum. And it did not cost $109.95. Those are for a a pair of boots that were actually kind of cute, but they were out of my size. *sigh*



I didn't buy any shoes that day, but did go back a week later and bought these. They go great with red trousers, or a great pair of tobacco-colored jeans.



I told you, I don't do plain. Also, I can't seem to shrink this photo. Oh well.

Update on Bialatti Mukka Expresso Maker

A little over a month ago, I posted about the annoying explosions I've experienced when I used my Bialetti Mukka Espresso maker.

Today, Williams-Sonoma sent me an e-mail entitled "Tips for Using Your Bialetti Mukka".

Some of those tips are below, with my comments in italics:

If your cappuccino or caffè latte is not hot enough:

Increase the temperature before serving by leaving the unit on the stovetop for up to one minute after the brewing and frothing are complete. (basically, let it cook longer)

Carafe overflows:

Fill water using the measuring cup (Gas water level = 1/2 Cup, Electric plate water level = 1/2 Cup + 1 tablespoon). Fill milk to milk line located just below the handle. (In other words, don't fill it so full)

If the unit leaks between the carafe and base:

Be sure the carafe is properly screwed in place, without any loose grounds obstructing the threaded connectors. (In other words, clean it)


If the carafe does not screw apart from the base:

Let the unit cool entirely or rinse it under cool water before unscrewing. If necessary, remove the pressure valve first. (Refer to the online instructions.)(OR -- ask a hunky neighbor for help.)

If cappuccino rises slowly or minimal froth is produced:

Be sure that the filter is not clogged and that the pressure valve is clean and positioned properly. (Refer to the online instructions.) Use only finely ground espresso. (In other words (1) read the instructions and (b), again, clean it)

If caffè latte has no foam:

Traditional caffè latte is brewed and poured into a cup of hot milk. By nature, it has no foam. For foam, use the setting for cappuccino. (In other words, again, read the instructions)

And yet, there is nothing about how to prevent explosions.

Maybe I should go read those instructions.

Or clean it.

HUH?

Today's weather report says that our low for the day will be 26 degrees; the high will be 44 degrees.

Current temp is 18.

uh......

huh?

CULINARY RANT

It's been awhile since I've ranted. Hasn't it? Well, except for the Rams. And that wasn't so much a rant as an outburst. Because, well, come on. That was a pathetic season.

But that's not today's topic.

Today's topic is the American Casserole, or what I'm beginning to refer to as "One-Dish Heart Attack." Canned soups, and canned ingredients of many kinds, seem to be the required ingredients. At some point in time, was legislation passed that all casseroles in the United States MUST include at least one condensed "cream of" soup? And that you get extra points for multiple cans of soup? Campbells obviously has one big lobby. Most casserole recipes I've read in the last several days included more than one can of "cream of" soup. Based on the recipes I've read, I have come up with a dish I will call "Southwest Chicken One-Dish Heart Attack Casserole".


Two cans cooked chicken cubes
one can of cream of chicken soup
one can of cream of mushroom soup
one can of cream of celery soup
one can of corn; drained
one can of Rotelle tomatoes
one can of button mushrooms, drained;
8 oz sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
one 8 oz block of velveeta cheese
one pound elbow macaroni; uncooked
buttered bread crumbs mixed with 1/2 cup of that parmesan cheese crap that comes in that skinny green can
one package of tortilla chips.
Don't even think of using salt because there's enough sodium in this already to cause you to stroke out.

Mix together all ingredients except for the tortilla chips. Place in well buttered casserole dish (because this dish just screams for more fat). Sprinkle with bread crumbs/cheese mixture. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour or until the ingredients start to ooze to the surface. Sprinkle tortilla chips on top and bake another 5 minutes. Serve with a side of Lipitor. NOTE: This recipe has not been kitchen tested, and probably shouldn't be.

I am in search of a GOOD casserole recipe for a church event and am desirous of one that has fresh ingredients. So far, I'm finding recipes featuring canned and gloopy stuff. Ingredients that would make Paula Dean's diamonds sparkle with excitement and are worthy of one of Sandra Lee's cocktails served on one of her horrendous tablescapes.

Nearly desperate, I started searching cassoulets, knowing how the French abhor canned anything. MUCH better. And really fairly easy. I just need to find a duck.

So why is it that so many people seem to think that opening a can of this and throwing it in with a can of that is easier than chopping a couple of ingredients and adding to a bechamel sauce and topping with grated gruyere cheese? The term "Bechamel sauce" may sound intimidating, but it is merely a white sauce made by adding scalded milk to a roux made of flour and butter. I use skimmed milk and the amount of butter for a casserole serving 8 is minimal. A couple of years ago, my mom mentioned how much she likes my green bean casserole. My sister asked what I did that made it special. Mom said that I made it from scratch. Sis paused and blinked and said, "Isn't it already a scratch recipe?"

THAT'S what I'm getting at! Opening cans instead of thawing out a Swanson dish is NOT making something from scratch. (I must be fair and point out that my sister makes her own greeting cards. I don't. I cook from scratch, she does greeting cards from scratch. Different strokes)

I am going to make the cassoulet for a family dinner; but for the church event, I'm going to make a chicken and rice casserole that features the dreaded canned gloop; BUT! BUT -- I will be substituting a bechamel sauce kicked up with cayenne pepper and nutmeg for the gloop and will be using all fresh ingredients; just to show that it can be done. And that my garbage can won't fill up as fast as it would using all of that canned crap.

Interestingly, one of the cassoulets I found was a recipe called "Easy Cassoulet Casserole". I suppose it's served with a cup of chai tea.

But that's a rant for another day.

Huckleberry

My grandpuppy, who is currently curled up in my lap.

Dickens' Christmas Carol; My Version

I barely have time to enter this. But as I slowly try to wake up so that I can rush in to work early this Christmas Eve, I remembered a Christmas past; Christmas 2006.

And then there was a new tradition started for Christmas 2007 .

This Christmas Eve morning, I am not relaxing over an early morning cup of coffee while watching a pastoral sunrise. I have hurriedly downing a cup while blow drying my hair and searching for my briefcase which I may have left in the car. I want to be at work by 6:30 ---- want? um, not exactly --- so I can try to finish cite-checking a brief and putting finishing touches on exhibits and get those packaged up nice and neat with a lovely bow and then try to get out of the office before 8 hours are up. And that may not happen.

In Christmases past, December has offered up a light workload which allowed me to take vacation the last two weeks of the year. This year, I've been working 10 hour days, I still have Christmas shopping to do, I need to pack to go to my sisters' today with the rest of my family, and my decorating has been limited to buying 5 candles and 5 poinsettias -- which need watering.

And yet I seem to find time to post this. But I must hit "publish post" and get going.

God Bless Us Everyone.

And Merry Christmas.

Christmas in the Lobby

EVERYBODY

UPDATE: This is an example when mobile blogging from an iPhone goes badly. There was supposed to be a photo here somewhere.
.
.
.
.

Come to think of it, I had meant to delete this, which must be why the photo isn't here, but doesn't explain why the the "Everybody" post showed up.

I blame Al Gore.

IS THIS LEGAL?

OK, so the Rams suck. We know that. 2 - 13. Well, at least they aren't the Lions at 0-15. But it certainly doesn't help when the referees start tackling our players.

SUNDAY EVENING SPORTS REPORT

CRAP! It's cold!!!

Oh, and the Rams still suck.

This has been your Sunday Evening Sports Report.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

To the White Album



hmmm. It doesn't show up well on a white background, does it?


Anyway.....It's 40!!! 4-0. Remember when we weren't supposed to trust anyone over 30? Well, that apparently includes the White Album.

Anyway, it was just about 40 years ago this December that I had quite a disappointing Christmas for a young teen in Southern Illinois. Get out your hankies.

I asked for The White Album. It was sold out.

The tragedy doesn't end there.

I got what my parents thought was the next best thing. It should be kept in mind that my parents' favorite musical group at the time was One Hundred and One Strings. They owned every album the group made. 100 Melodies. 101 Strings and Piano. 101 Strings Waltzing Violins, 101 Strings for Lovers (ok, I don't want to think about that one!).

Anyway.... did they get me 101 Strings Play a Tribute to the Beatles?

Nope. I got:



Complete with The Dreams of the Everyday Housewife:




"An everyday housewife....who gave up the good life.... for me."

I was 15. Years old. Wanting The Beatles' White Album.

No Rocky Raccoon. No Dear Prudence or Back in the USSR. Just Dreams of the Everyday Housewife and Wichita Lineman.

You'd think 40 years later, I'd be over it, wouldn't you?

Yeah .... well.....Ob la de. Ob la da.

QUOTES

Instead of hosting a Christmas Open House for my neighbors today, I find myself in bed with a fever and sinuses threatening to explode.

I'm also bored since I can't watch the Rams game as it is being blacked out due to low ticket sales. (excuse me while I laugh at myself for even thinking I was going to watch the game; except that the laughing has set off coughing.)

Where was I? Oh, yes. Anyway, here are some random quotes I've seen lately that have amused me.

"Black is the new President" -- bumper sticker

"Buy stocks like a buzzard." -- Jim Gallagher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"You want to know how good bacon is? To improve other food, they wrap it in bacon." Jim Gaffigan, no relation to Jim Gallagher.

"Bacon bits? Bits of bacon are like the fairy dust of the food community." Jim Gaffigan. Still not related to Jim Gallagher.

"I'd love to be a pop idol. Of course, my groupies are now between 40 and 50." Kevin Bacon, who keeps a safe distance from Jim Gaffigan.

"Your idol is shattered in the dust to prove that God's dust is greater than your idol." Rabindranath Tagore, who doesn't eat bacon.

"I'm full of dust and guitars", Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. Who is now dust.

"Some people are like slinkies...not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs." on a pink T-shirt.

"Love is the answer, but while you're waiting, sex raises some pretty good questions." Another t-shirt

The ten commandments are not multiple choice" -- bumper sticker

"I don't know much about the Bible myself. I haven't read it. I don't have to 'cause I'm Catholic." Jim Gaffigan after dusting off his Bacon routine.

MY LATEST CREATION

Any guess what this is?




Does this help?



It's home-made caramel. Diamond hard. I could have it cut into gem stones and make some lovely jewelry with it, except that brown isn't one of the desirable colors for gem stones.

Too bad it's not more opaque. It could be made into tinted bullet-proof glass.

ADDICTIVE TIME-KILLER WHEN YOU CAN'T SLEEP BECAUSE OF A HOOTY OWL OUTSIDE OF YOUR WINDOW

There's more activity going on inside this snow globe than you think, so it takes some watching to see it all. And for a pretty effect, click on it and drag it to shake.

UPDATE: Apparently there have been so many hits on the site, the server had a nervous breakdown and is not functioning very well.

WHY IS IT

I enjoy a big mug of cappucino in the morning. But it takes me so long to drink it that it cools down, so I'll pop it into the microwave to heat it up. I have the kind of microwave that has the rotating plate.  Why is it that no matter how much time I enter, when it's finished, the handle of the mug is always opposite the door?

The other night as I was driving home from work in a bit of a drizzling rain, I noticed the dashboard read-out on my my new car said "ice possible."  

Hello!  That was nice.

Later that night,  I left a meeting at church and had to carefully walk across the parking lot to avoid sliding on ice.  When I started the car, I noticed the read-out said nothing about ice.    Did it figure that if I had to slip and slide on it to get to the car and then had to scrape a layer of ice off the windshield that obviously, I knew the conditions.  Why is it that it knows that?

(OK, awkward sentence structure, but I had to go with it to fit in with the theme here.)

Why is it that I can't accept that my Bialatti Mukka Espresso Maker will explode whenever it wants?  Yep.  Did it again.  Third time.

Why is it I don't settle for a normal everyday cup of Folgers in the morning?

Why is it that I can sleep through freight trains going by all night long, but one little hooty owl outside of my window keeps me up for several hours. And why is it that hooty owl isn't getting hoarse after all of that hooting? (Can owls get hoarse?)

Why is it that no one trusts an Illinois Governor?

OK, that one I actually get.


UPDATE: Ever since I posted about the microwave, the mug handles have been at the front of the microwave. I'll admit it, I'm a little creeped out that my microwave reads my blog.

SNOW ART

Some of my favorite Calvin and Hobbs snow art cartoons. You may need to clicken to enbiggen. Or find a pair of reading glasses.

Maybe I enjoy these so much because this is the level of my snow art ability.




Calvin: Dad, if you threw a snowball at someone, but deliberately missed, would that be "bad"?

Dad: Well, I suppose that would be provoking, so yes, it would be a little bad.

Calvin: As bad as if you'd hit the person?

Dad: No, not that bad, but worse than if you hadn't thrown it at all.

Calvin: Suppose you just grazed the person. How bad would that be? Say maybe you knocked off his hat and his glasses or something.

Dad: That would mean instant death.

CATCHING UP

November 23, 2008

I'm waiting for my flight back to St. Louis and thought I'd get caught up on thisthatandtheother thing, but as I'm writing this, realize there's not enough time.

I spent the weekend of November 21-23 visiting Jenni and Tim, watched the Bearcats win against Pittsburgh State (from Pittsburgh, Kansas) -- 38-35, although they tried like heck to lose. Next week, they play Abilene Christian University who beat West Texas A & M 93-68. That is not a typo. And that is not a basketball score. 93-68. When the Bearcats' coach heard that score, he reportedly asked, "Did they cut down the net after the game?"

In other news........

When I went in to my room this morning after church, I was surprised to see this sight.



Yeah, you don't see that every day.... a suicidal deer.


********************************************************************************************************************************
12/2/2008

Well, I had tried to upload the above to my blog while at the Kansas City Airport, but gremlins got into the works and prevented the upload.

By the way, the Bearcats DID beat Abilene Christian 45-36 (I think, I'm too lazy to look it up. Tim and/or Jenni will correct me if I'm wrong). Next weekend, they play the North Alabama in the NCAA Division II semi finals. (December 6, 3:00 on CST, ESPN2).

AND..........as usual..... I think of tons of things to write about during my commute to work and as soon as I fire up the Mac, I get blocked.

I do have something to say about sports, superstitions and my beloved son-in-law, Tim; but I will reserve my comments until after the championship game because I don't want to jinx anything. Or be accused of jinxing anything. Not that Tim would accuse me of that, *coughcough* but I came *thisclose* to being asked to leave the Pitt State game at half time ONLY because out of all of the Bearcat games I've attended since 1999, the Bearcats l_ _ _ (I'm not allowed to use the "L" word in the same sentence, thought or even DAY as the Bearcats) the only other game I went to this year and a certain SOMEONE thought I was bringing bad karma. But they won so maybe I've been absolved.

Or something.

Oh yeah, Boot camp, Part I is over. Due to some nasty headache issues I had to go AWOL for Part 2, but have resumed running (and resumed HATING IT) and will re-up for Part 3.

Hoooo ah (cough gag yuk)

SUNDAY EVENING SPORTS REPORT

The Rams won?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

This has been your Sunday Evening Sports Report.

THE MARKET

This guy had a full head of hair last Monday.

SUNDAY EVENING SPORTS REPORT

THE RAMS SUCK!

This has been your Sunday Evening Sports Report.