May 31, 2008
Cooking up a storm
Ever since New Years and New baby I've been doing my best to cook at home rather than eating out. This is both to ensure healthier eating and also to save dough. I'm not sure how we're doing money-wise since we still have very little but we're eating at home most all the time now and it's pretty ok. Now, mark my words, if I ever win the lottery, I'll never cook another meal,
Last weekend we went to the river. Going there mostly means that we'll eat tons of wonderful food. Saturday we had Lowcountry Boil. Here's the recipe in case you haven't heard of it.
4 pounds small red potatoes
5 quarts water
1 (3-ounce) bag of crab boil seasoning
4 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
2 pounds kielbasa or hot smoked link sausage, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
6 ears of corn, halved
4 pounds large fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined optional
Cocktail sauce
Add potatoes to large pot, then add 5 quarts water and seasonings. Cover pot and heat to a rolling boil; cook 5 minutes. Add sausage and corn, and return to a boil. Cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Add shrimp to stockpot; cook 3 to 4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Drain. Serve with cocktail sauce. Serves 12.
Sunday we had homemade strawberry ice cream. The recipe ended up being very concocted because we had 3 recipes and not every ingredient for each one. The ice cream was awesome.
This week we also had grilled curried chicken and some curried chick peas. I found basic recipes and then doctored them up to the way I wanted them. The chick peas had a perfumy taste according to Dan but I ate em up. I think that might have been because I didn't have whole cloves so I used ground ones. The chicken was a little slice of heaven, according to Jake.
This morning I'm making a quiche with bacon, asparagus and red peppers in it. I wish I had another type of cheese besides cheddar/mozarella mix but that's what we have so that's what we're having.
I remember when Peggy lived here she said we have lots of food but no ingredients. I know that I've managed to change that and I'm even getting better at deciding what to cook. Now if I could just get my kids to eat this food.
Posted by krystal at 7:55 AM | Comments (2)
March 2, 2008
Ribs
You'd think that a girl on a diet would lose some weight but we've come to a point in this year where I am not.losing.weight. I stay within my "points" on a daily basis but forget to count once I drink beer. This means that I should either stop drinking or gain more weight so I get more points OR stop eating. I can't see where any of those is a good option. That leaves one thing...exercise. The cool thing I've noticed is that I eat a lot healthier these days. I eat lots of soy beans, tofu rather than meat and tons of veggies. I even drink light beer most of the time. (sometimes I can't...just CAN NOT). The weight loss just isn't happening and that's disheartening but I'll get past it and start losing soon I'm sure. I just think it's too soon to plateau.
***
Yesterday was FNO money collecting day for us over at the wings place. They had big honkin' glasses of Fred Red for $3 so HELLO...that was a great deal if you ask me. Sarah,Terri, Becky, Mads and I met up and brought along some menfolk and kidlets and then we all came back here to play rock band. (duh). It was way fun as usual. It's not often that we go out-out these days because it means hauling the whole crew so it was good, at least for me. Dan had to chase the urchin around the place because she's bad. I swear, she's like the poster child for kids needing leashes. and beatings.
Today I'm worthless. We got the house straightened back up, fed the kids, took Jake to work, danced with the babies in the kitchen and I'm marinating some ribs for grilling. I'm not making it to the party over at Jessica's, to church, to the grocery store or anywhere else that I should go. I'm in my pj's staring at my windows xp professional book hoping that the information within will enter my brain. If I'm open minded enough it could be possible...right?
***
ps. Max has grown eyebrows now and long curly eyelashes and I swear, I don't think they make babies much cuter. His head is the perfect shape and his eyes seem to want to stay blue. I'm so in love with him.
Posted by krystal at 10:26 AM | Comments (2)
November 25, 2007
Do they even MAKE steak-ums anymore?
I was having a hankering for a steak-um sandwich yesterday or anything NOT turkey or pasta so I went to Bloom and picked up some processed steak slivers...whatever you call em. I noticed they didn't have "steak-ums" like we used to get. Never fear, it all tastes the same. When I was a kid mom fixed them a lot because they were cheap and we were poor. I'd tell her that they give me headaches. I told her the same thing about hotdogs. I know they did indeed give me headaches but she never bought my story and told me that I just have expensive taste in meat. I would argue that those two items are not "meat". Anyway, the steak-um was delish today and if I go another 20 years without one, that'll be ok too.
Thanksgiving was good. We had lots of great food and wonderful friends and family to share dine with. The weather was perfect too. We were able to send the kids outside a lot. Mom turned 60 on Thanksgiving which was fitting since it's her favorite holiday. We repayed her for having to slave in the kitchen all day by having a little surprise gathering of her friends at the italian restaurant the next day. I think she was pleased. If not, we'd never know because mom never shows disappointment outwardly. She did not instill that same virtue in her daughter. If I'm unhappy, everyone around me must know it and be unhappy too.
This brings me to Dan, who is currently up in the attic trying to find the Christmas Decorations. I asked him to do it yeststerday but he does things on Dan time. I'm not ok with that and guess what? He doesn't give two shits. He's unflappable. I'm a huge round hormonal MESS and he waited til I just walked out of the house with his credit card and STILL did not get the decorations down!! Is this going to teach me patience? I doubt it. What will happen is that in 2 weeks I'll have a baby and I'll be able to drink 4 or 5 beers and chill out. In the mean time, if you hear screaming coming from my hood, it's me...not chilling out.
Tomorrow is the beginning of my last week of work until Feb. 4. Hooray. I am so looking forward to the week off before the birth of Max and the 8 weeks afterwards.
Posted by krystal at 12:25 PM | Comments (4)
February 4, 2007
Pamper me
I posted this on the basement but not everyone who peruses this blog reads there I guess. In any case, I'm having a pampered chef partay on 2/24 at 6:30. If you want to come drink my wine and eat my food, drop me a note so I can make sure we have enough food.
I hope to have a good turnout because I love Amy and she's gonna do the show. BESIDES...gadgets are fun.
Posted by krystal at 11:27 AM | Comments (1)
Fondue deux
Last night we dropped the kids off at a birthday party and then ate the leftover fondue meat at Gayle and Wil's house. I think it's awesome how everytime we eat fondue we make a weekend of it.
Aside from the eat-a-thon, I have accomplished nothing this weekend.
Posted by krystal at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)
February 3, 2007
quelle fromage
Last night we christened the raclette in grand fashion. We had boiled potatoes, gerkins, meat, peppers, onions and white wine. We also had a batch of the stinkiest cheese I've ever smelled. Since I wasn't really sure how it'd all go...we also had fondue. Cheese fondue and hot oil. Everyone got to fix their food the way they liked and thankfully, the stinky raclette cheese does lose some of it's kick when you melt it. I believe everything went along swimmingly. I had read that you need to drink cold white wine because it helps you digest the cheese. I think I had some of that and some red wine. I say "think" because just about the time I got done with round 2 of eating and then ate some chocolate fondue/s'mores for dessert, my body said "go to bed".
So I did.
I stripped down and went to bed. I had a house full of people and food all out and I went to bed. Sorry guys. I vow to get my groove back. Dammit. I think I was just so comfortably full of the delicious food and the lovely wine, and I slept like a corpse all night. It was a wonderful night, even if it was trunkated.
I think we all agreed though, raclette is perfect paired with fondue but we should break tradition in the future and use another type of cheese. Silly Americans. We just don't know good cheese when we taste it.
Posted by krystal at 8:06 AM | Comments (1)
January 5, 2007
Raclette Part Deux
Ok I just got one of these badboys right off of ebay. tyvm wolfgang puck.
Once we get it and figure out where we can find raclette cheese, ukraps perhaps?, we'll set up a partay!
Posted by krystal at 10:53 AM | Comments (4)
January 3, 2007
Raclette
A lady at the wine store told me about Raclette. It's sort of like fondue only with a little grill. I want to try it. If anyone wants to contribute to the raclette fund, I'll host a party or 10 and we'll cook and eat and drink and be merry. For more info, try google or flickr or ebay.
xoxo
krystal
ps. this in no way impedes my diet...I'm still gonna eat right, dammit.
Posted by krystal at 2:29 PM | Comments (5)
December 6, 2006
Like people do
Last night Dan and I left the kids at home and met some friends over at the Tavern. It was so cool to drink a few beers and share some good times outside of our house. I remember how we used to go to open mic night or meet people for drinks or poker every now and then back when Dan and I first dated. Back before we got Tess and more truthfully, back before we got Tivo. I'd like to spend more time entertaining and visiting this holiday season and less time stressing over what we have yet to buy. Plus, as Terri said, it was nice to go OUT on a school night.
Posted by krystal at 9:45 AM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2005
rock!
Halloween candy is now at the grocery store. I have a bag of candy corn.
Posted by krystal at 8:03 AM | Comments (2)
May 2, 2005
Fruit or foe?
Yesterday we made the dreaded mistake of going to the grocery store as a family. This doesn't just mean that I had to spend $61 on groceries that won't even get us through 2 days. It also means I left swearing "NEVERFUCKINGAGAIN will you animals go to the store with me. EVER".
Jake and Trevor were fighting over who would drive the cart. Jake was winning which caused Trevor to turn all red in the face and scream at Jake and try to shove him, which sent Kendall spinning away since she was sitting on the rack under the cart. I was trying in vain to remember why we'd come to the store in the first place, wondering how many people were staring at my kids acting like assholes and wondering where Dan was.
Dan, as it turns out, was over by the fruit. He came back to the basket with one little fruit. It was the size of a large apple that looked like this:
So I asked him a. what it was and b. how much it costs. Dan tells me it's a quince and it costs like $1.49. I think to myself that it's 1/2 of the price of the entire bag of apples I also had in the basket. But Dan's a good husband and he rarely asks for anything. He can have his little fruit, besides I was entirely too preoccupied with my kids who were still arguing and spinning our grocery cart around in circles. Kendall was looking green around the gills and I honestly couldn't remember what in the name of god we were doing at the grocery store ANYWAY.
Finally we got everything in the basket (and I do mean EVERYTHING...way more stuff than we needed and nothing that we did need...sorry kitty, there is no food for you). So the cashier rung up that fruit and as it turns out, the fruit is not quince, it's a kiwano horned melon...AND it doesn't cost $1.49 it costs $3.99. That's 1 dollar more than the entire bag of apples. So I fume about it and give Dan a ration of shit and tell him that he better eat that fruit really slowly because it cost more money than the apples. When we got home, he chopped it in half to see the guts and there were tons of little seeds and some weird green gel. I remarked that his fruit smelled like freshly mown lawn, rolled my eyes more and put away the remaining groceries.
Dan googled his new fruit and found out this:
[the kiwano] is grown as an ornamental fruit in New Zealand, Kenya, Israel and the USA and its market is expanding. Since the fruits have a long shelf life and retain their decorative appeal for many months at room temperature it can be developed into a major ornamental fruit.
...
So now we have an ornamental fruit that we can't eat, only it's no longer ornamental since it's been disected.
I was googling that fruit a little more since my daughter has been sick today:
[bitter, nonvolatile compounds] are present in [the kiwano], making it extremely bitter. These compounds are very toxic to mammals, however as they are the most bitter substances known they are also feeding deterrents and very rarely eaten by mammals.
I wonder if this is why Kendall's been home puking all day?
Posted by krystal at 1:13 PM | Comments (3)
January 27, 2005
A newborn or a gallon of milk.
I lost 1.4 lbs at my weigh in this morning. That's a total of 7.2 which Scot informs me is a newborn or almost a gallon of milk. I don't feel that much lighter and I am seriously peeved that I worked out and ate right all week for a measley 1.4 lb loss. FEH.
There's also the issue of my energy level. I am totally worn out by 7:30 pm and asleep on the couch by 8pm. Is this because I am eating healthy food and exercising and carrying around one less newborn?
I'd really appreciate the ability to stay awake and enjoy life too. Is that too fucking much to ask? Gawd.
I will just say one more thing about the diet thing then I promise to drop it for now. I have this weird mentality when it comes to the points system and food. For example: this morning I bought a box of 2 point snack bars at the weight watchers office. I immediately figured out that I could eat 12 of them in one day, 14 if I go to the gym! I do the same with dinner. I figure out how many beers I can have, then decide how much a meal would mean to me in comparison. I usually opt for 2 beers and a light dinner. Last night I opted for 2 beers and crashing out on the couch by 7:30.
Posted by krystal at 12:46 PM | Comments (3)
January 19, 2005
Different from the entire grit eating world
Honestly, I have been up to more than taking pictures with my phone. I also took some with my regular camera.
Now where was I? Oh yea. Being fat but working on it.
Last Friday night we went out w/ the Fredtalkers to Mi Pueblo. I had a really good time and ate lots but not more than allowed AND I am happy to report, I've been drinking nothin' but lite beer and it's not so horrible.
Saturday Gayle picked me up for girl lunch with her and Dea and Kate. That was so fun. I'd never been to hooters. The food was good, the company was better. I really enjoyed myself and then we went to Kates to look at her sweet lil puppies. After that I came home and we just laid around *resting* til time to go meet Dan's folks for dinner in Ladysmith. The restaurant was surprisingly good for the area. Once again, I ate too much, but not too too much. (make sense?) and this time I stuck to water.
Sunday was the day of rest indeed. We were both comatose and pretty much lounged and geeked out all day long. I think it was a really necessary day after all of the running around from the week before us. Sunday was awesome.
Monday is the day when lots should have gotten accomplished. I went to the Honda dealership to get my car checked because the airbag light came on and it needs an oil change. Honda guy said I needed an appointment. Fucker. Then I went to my eye appointment and waited an hour for my checkup. Finally I rescheduled because I had a 10:30 gym appointment with Gayle. Oh yeah! We joined Slender Lady. It's this circuit training thing where you do each machine for a certain amount of time then do some running in place and stuff. It's only 30 minutes but it's quite a workout. It's also very fun and I look forward to going. This is quite a development for me since I hate hate hate hate +++++ exercise. I went again on Tuesday night and even though I wasn't going to go 'til Thursday I think I'll go again today if the snow holds off.
So anyway, after the gym, Dan and I went to the movies to see In Good Company. Cute flick. I liked it. Then we bought more fish (to replace the ones dan murdered) and then got the kids.
End of relaxing weekend.
/boring recap.
Posted by krystal at 10:17 AM | Comments (1)
January 13, 2005
Weighty issues
I joined weight watchers today. I was on the program before I reached my goal back in 2002 and quit AA for fat folks. Until I went on night shift I'd done a pretty decent job of keeping the weight off by just keeping my food intake in check. I know it's lame to blame night shift but that's when I started my slide back to the portly side of life. Then I got all content with Dan around and ate like it was my right and THEN I quit smoking and THEN the holidays came along...(I have my excuses lined up). Welp...my clothes are tight and I'm not one bit happy about that. So today I plopped my fat ass up on the scales and gave the nice lady my check. I'm back on track now. I like weight watchers because it allows me to still drink beer. The loftiest decision I have to make right now is if I want to drink fewer regular beers or more light beers or almost unlimited ultra lights. I'm pretty much a beer snob so I doubt I'll ever be satisfied w/ ultra beers. I'm going to just stick to light beer for now and maybe work myself down to ultra.
***
The job is going well. I've spent the week doing things like making reservations and getting things printed and answering emails and voice mails and shredding things (which I ADORE). I love this kind of work. I think I was born to be someone's bitch. I like my boss too. I've been working for her for a month now and she hasn't yelled at me once. Yehaw!
***
Our home has turned into a zoo. I used to say it was a zoo because everyone in the house acts a bit wild, but now it's really a zoo. In addition to our new rat, we also have a frog named Mr. Hopper. (Dennis??) We also have two goldfish, Charles and Joseph. There are cages and computers in just about every room of the house. The cat is out of sorts about this. She looked at me this morning with a disgusted look on her face that clearly read "Am I not enough for you? WHY ARE THESE ANIMALS HERE?". I feel for her, she's the only animal we've had that hasn't kicked the bucket or run away. If I see her eyeballing my suitcases I'll know I'm about to lose her. Poor Kasey.
These are the things I'm looking forward to:
Tomorrow night: Fajita night w/ Fredtalkers
All weekend: no kids, just Dan and I all alone. Yay!
Saturday: Lunch w/ the girls
Monday: nooooo work.
Oh and one more thing.
Last night in bed Dan and I were discussing how the kids don't get nearly enough spankings. We'd watched the first 5 minutes of Nannie 911 and it started us thinking about how we need to catch up on the YEARS of missing disciplinary action that Jake is entitled to. Starting tonight I'm going to beat the kids a lot. That way, by the time they get to therapy as adults they won't be able to say I was apathetic.
Posted by krystal at 1:08 PM | Comments (4)
January 5, 2005
Right now
I'm picking the raisins out of my raisin bran. I hate raisins. So why'd I buy raisin bran, you ask?
It was on sale.
Posted by krystal at 8:18 AM | Comments (1)