must paint stuff!

I really do have shelves to paint, but Brandon Frazier is on tv. He was super hot in ensino man and I have carried a torch for him ever since, 80's skaters *sigh*. stupid tv, stupid weather, stupid lazy ass of mine.

goals for uhm, soon: Paint shelves for shoes, paint the little yellow dresser thats so ugly and yellow, and get out of bed.

Nadies monitor is going out, and had to borrow mine so I am on the little baby lap top.. right! work!

mmmmasa!

the last couple days have been spotty with the ol net..

okay replanted the plants it's bigger in person, really..

then I made tamales, pork chops with rosemary, green beans, mashed tates and left over stuffing from T day ( I made a ton)
for dinner. Nathan made the mashed potatoes, he used milk. Not whip cream. good stuff. I took a picture of my far too small stove. some day I'll have a full size stove, with *big, big, sigh* gas heat...
I need a bigger stove! okay first post with pics, go! It decided to change text color all by its self!

okay and the tamales, I needed to make something with left over smoked and none too tender turkey. Mom and I walked into gartner's when they were having a TEN DOLLAR SMOKED TURKEY SALE! crazy! momzilla and I had split one. They were nice enough to slice it in half for us and packaged it so it would be fine in the freezer for a couple months more. poor thing was dried out and stringy, yes we both forgot and mine is still in cold storage.! But the flavor was great, I shredded about six cups and mixed in some double roasted salsa from trader joes, cilantro, and some other stuff and set it aside to think about things. I found a couple recipes online but made up my own..
melted butter and corn oil. about 2 cups. to which I added,half a bag of masa mixed with some dried herbs, about half a cup of mixed stuff, warm, not hot, chicken broth. Fun to mush into a "peanut butter" consistency
I pre soaked some corn husks and pondered why at the end of all the recipes I found it told you to soak the husks for two hours. but only at the end of the recipe. and here is is some place in the center not even at the end.. I drained a few shucks on a towel and mushed a quarter cup of masa mix on the husk, I think I made mine a little too skinny.
please see action shot! then stacked them in the steamer basket.
yum! once it was full,
I plopped it over a a gentle boil with a lid and let it steam for 2 hours. when the buzzer went off I removed one and let it cool for five minutes before eating it to make sure they were cooked through. quite good indeed.. they had to cool out of the pot and onto cookie sheets till cool then into bags. I believe I made at least thirty tamales.

I threw a couple into the oven with some enchilada sauce, and some left over enchiladas (turkey, no way!) I do love food.

Garlic and Saphires

I just finished a beautiful memoir by Ruth Reichl. I \ hate girls with curly hair who want to have straight hair. Don't they understand what its like to have straight hair? it's nothing, no curl no defiance, just once in awhile some rogue wave from drying it too quick

This curly haired wonder winds up as The New York Times Critic".  She wears full costumes, wigs and assumes an identity to visit restaurants in new york. She visits many but actually attempts to be truthful. Oddly she chooses a batch of half people to become. with her donning of a wig she becomes some sorrowful woman with out family or a miss marriage, it seemed with all her studies in character she never chose a strong or happy person, just lonely and alone.

A few wigs later and a trillion meals of delight tucked in she writes this book. "Oh, I am so skinny and have curly hair, but I eat in all the super fab places!" I'd want to kick her rich ass if she didn't write about stuff I liked.

I love her book for being an easy read, yet I hate it for being less than complex. She writes about restaurants eons in the making yet makes me feel I as if I am visiting some fast food mexi-fresh joint with each report, with clean table clothes and truffles.

I enjoyed her book, an least honest read on fine dining.  Memoirs that held to the idea of food for enjoyment and understood when getting a shitty table a and a bitch of a server,  your meal just might be ruined.

The book had a handful of recipes and The bacon carbonara is specifically fatty delightfulness.



Can you go wrong with bacon ?


Spag-carb a la Reichel, as translated by me..

start a pot of water and drink a glass of white wine while you dig up your ingredients:
how ever much pasta you need, preferably spaghetti,
as much bacon as can might want
a clove or two of garlic
two eggs ( unless you are cooking for one)
pepper
hard cheese

Take 8 0r 12 rashers of bacon , chop well and saute until the fat is just beginning to go soft and add a clove or two of garlic, don't over cook or slice the bacon too thickly or you won't make the mix we are searching for. it has taken me a few times to get it right.

While the bacon is cooking, remove shells from your eggs and put them into your serving dish, where you should beat those eggs until they are uniformly bright yellow and seasoned with a few grinds of pepper.

When the pasta is cooked drain and toss with the eggs, the heat from the noodles will cook the egg mix. Add bacon, and most of the fat. I did not mix all the fat in with my pasta, though I am sure I am going to die of heart failure anyway. Add cheese, and a little more cheese, mix and eat..

Cheese, egg, pasta and bacon, go get em fatty!

All Right Then!

I plan on using this blog for crafts and cuisine, but I bet a few other things get tossed in.

Todays projects: Replant the jade plant, plant the aloe plants, and see if the roses are dormant so I can trim them back. Hello winter!

Mom is dropping off turkey to go into the huge pile of tamales I plan on making tonight.

Now I must get out of bed-soon!