Odds and Ends

Okay, I know I haven't written anything for a couple of weeks.  I haven't made anything new.  This will be a mash-up of different topics.

I appreciate the rain we've been getting.  Keep it coming!

I roasted brussels sprouts for the first time last week.  They turned out good- fresh ones cut in half, tossed in a little bit of oil, salt and pepper, and roasted in the oven until done.  They get a little soft on the inside, crispy on the outside.  Yum.  You may not like brussels sprouts, but I do. :)

There's a really cute bagel place near me, called The Bagel Cafe, in Houston.  Really good.  Mom liked the bagel chips; their sandwiches are tasty.

Have you seen the new brown sugar/cinnamon Ritz crackers?  I picked up a box.  They aren't that sweet.  Maybe a little on the bland side.  They probably would be good for some no-bake pie crust.

San Diego has Comic Con right now (convention for comic books, action movies, fantasy movies, you get the idea).  Yesterday was basically, albeit unofficially, Breaking Dawn day.  The director and actors had a Q & A time, and showed two clips from the upcoming movie.  One clip was of Jacob (Taylor Lautner) talking to two of the vampires, and then the pack of wolves.  I'm not going to rehash the details; it's on YouTube and probably every other news and fan site.  (I should mention that both clips were filmed "unofficially," and put on YouTube.)

Then we get to the other clip-- of Bella and Edward arriving at Isle Esme, where the honeymoon takes place.  That's where we have the problem.  Mom deduced that the "cameraman" (woman?) got cold feet at the last minute, and that was why we ONLY GOT AUDIO.

Really? Seriously?  There's a million other frustrated fans asking the same question.  I guess we have to wait for Summit to officially release it. 

You have to turn up your speakers, but it's there.  I have to say, I liked the music at the beginning.

The Alternate Universe

I knew it was coming.  I had about a few weeks left.  As much as I hated to do it, I needed to.  Sooner than later, I needed to venture to one of the most hated places on the planet. 

Here in Texas, it's called the Dept. of Public Safety- DPS.  In California, it's called the DMV.  You might as well call it purgatory.  I had to get my state ID. 

I got there at about 11:30 or so; Mom came with me.  I came prepared- with the paperwork, as well as the books "Water for Elephants," and "Breaking Dawn." (The latter was for Mom.  Alas, the book made her sleepy.)  There seemed to be two groups-- one to get the number to be waited on, and another (larger) group where you actually got waited on.

The security guard really did his job.  He routinely asked people questions, making sure they had all the documents to get that "Golden Ticket."  I was number 448.  The numbers were called by groups, rather than in order.

Then, once you get your number, you go to the much larger group to find a seat.  Or not.  And yes, we were by no means not the only ones there.  Mom got a chair, and I either stood, or sat on the floor until there was a seat available.  Around 2 1/2 hours in, I got a seat.  We watch the screen for our number to be called like brokers watch the stock market.  There are occasional cheers from various corners of the room when some numbers are called.  After a little while, people emerge from the counters with grins on their faces, like they had won the lottery.

All in all, we were there about three and a-half hours.   

Southern... Toffee?

I had wanted to make this saltine cracker toffee candy for a while.  Paula Deen has a recipe of it, but the one I used was from http://tammysrecipes.com/easy_saltine_cracker_candy .  It's pretty easy to make, all you need is crackers, brown sugar, butter, nuts, and chocolate chips.

You combine the brown sugar and butter, and bring it to a boil.  Okay, done.  Pour it over the crackers that you've laid out on a baking sheet.  Pop it into the oven for a few minutes, put the chocolate on it, let that melt, then put the nuts on top.  Let cool, then put it in the fridge to solidify.

There was one problem.  I probably should have doubled the recipe for the toffee, because it didn't really make enough to cover the crackers.  The mixture wasn't quite liquified enough, and thus, was not that "pourable."  I quickly learned that I didn't have enough chocolate chips on hand.  I tried to make do with a remnant of a chocolate bar.  The semisweet chips didn't melt that great.  Paula uses chocolate bars.

All in all, if you need a sugar fix, this is it.  One other thing-- Mom suggested putting the nuts on after the toffee, instead of on the chocolate.  (Some of the nuts had fallen off) 

If I try this recipe again, I would do a little bit of tweaking.

"We have no bananas..."

I don't really care for bananas. Let me clarify: I'm not crazy about eating bananas by themselves. I'm not really sure why.

That being said, I really like a recipe I came across once for banana bread cobbler. And, I do like banana bread. So I thought I'd blog about my attempt to make banana bread-- in muffin form.

I'm working off a recipe I found on foodnetwork.com. It's something Giada de Laurentiis featured on a show of hers. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giadas-weekend-getaways/flours-famous-banana-bread-recipe/index.html

One of the curious things I noticed was that you beat the eggs and sugar together. I'd never done that before in a recipe. I'm using a muffin pan because I don't have a loaf pan. There are 3 ½ bananas (mashed) in this recipe, and toasted walnuts. (Yum. Sprinkled a few extra on top. Mom and I like walnuts.) A little bit of cinnamon is included.

The batter seemed a bit thin, even with the bananas, so I was a bit concerned about the tins overflowing, But they were fine. These do not take nearly as long to bake. It seems like just under a half-hour is perfect. My oven runs kind of hot, so I'm lowering it some more for the leftover batch. These puppies are hot when they come out of the oven, even with a 2-minute rest period. They smell good, too.

The Verdict:

These are really good. They're moist, nutty, and have chunks of banana.

(By the way, the title comes from this old song that my dad had referenced to once in a great while. So I looked it up, and it has a pretty interesting history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes!_We_Have_No_Bananas )

24,266 Pages

I racked my brain last night trying to think of what to blog about.  I thought about baking something, but I didn't really want to, because I have a cold.  I thought about somehow analyzing books that I'd read, but considering the sheer number of them, that was less-than-anticipated.  Then, I found out that GoodReads.com had done it for me already.  Phew. http://www.goodreads.com is a site that helps you keep track of the books you've read.  It's right down my alley. 

So... just because I can't think of anything else....

I have 253 books listed on GoodReads.com.  209 of those are books that I've read- give or take one or two.  One I have listed as "currently reading", and 43 books that I want to read.  There are seven that I "seriously need to finish reading" (might as well start over with those). 19 are children's books, 25 are Christian, one's a cookbook, three are history, and 51 are biographies/autobiographies.  Rather consistently, biography is the genre that I've read the most over the past few years.  Seven have to do with movies and music, and fifteen are mysteries.  A lot of the books I've put into multiple categories. 

My first book listed is "Veil of Roses," by Laura Fitzgerald, on Feb. 3, 2008.  My most recent book listed is "Choosing to SEE," by Mary Beth Chapman, although technically the last book I finished reading last week is "A Love that Multiplies," by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.

I've read ten books so far this year.  The longest book was "The Twilight Saga Official Guide."  The year where I've read the most books is 2008- twenty-six.  John Grisham's "The Client" was the longest that year.

To break it down by page numbers, there were 7619 pages read in 2008-- I had a lot of time on my hands.  6207 in 2007.  This year, it's 3447 so far.  But we're only halfway through.  And we're not counting the books I've reread.  These are just new books. 

The total of pages from 2007, until now, is 24266.  

It's all Mom's fault. :)  She started it.

Waiting for 2 Minutes

If you are a Twilight fan, you knew that last night was the premiere of the two-minute teaser trailer for "Breaking Dawn", part 1, on MTV.  The fans' collective response seemed to be "Eeeeeek," or "Aaaaahh!!"  Mine was more along the lines of, "Ooooh."  I thought it was pretty good.  For this first look, you got a little bit of everything, even Renesmee (Bella and Edward's' daughter) makes an appearance, albeit in utero.

And, everyone wanted more.  This is just the teaser trailer.  My guess is that the full theatrical trailer will be out sometime in August.

If you would like to see it, it's right here on... well, it's right here. :)

http://www.imdb.com/features/movies/breakingdawn/

We Didn't Like Ike (One ten-piece order to go!)

June 1^st marks the beginning of hurricane season for the Atlantic. It's not just the East Coast that has to worry, it's the Gulf Coast region as well. From the first of June through the first of December (yes the season is that long), residents watch the news for any storm activity which could go one of two ways- on its' way to Florida and beyond, or the Gulf Coast. We are interested in a number of factors:

• Will this be a tropical storm, or will it develop any further?
• How strong will it be?
• Which way will it go?

If experience is the best teacher, then Mom and I got a crash course during our first year in Texas.

It was September 12, 2008, and Hurricane Ike was about to smack the Gulf upside its' head. Mom and I were staying in the southeast part of Harris County, and Ike was trying to make up its mind as to where itwould go. It was six hundred miles across-- the eye alone was 49 miles wide.

Mom and I were in a peculiar situation ourselves. We had no choice but to stay put.

And isn't it funny, that's right where Ike decided to go at the last minute.

My Walmart closed at seven that evening; people were boarding up the windows when Mom picked me up. That night we went to bed around 10. It was already raining and windy. Mom put in her earplugs and slept the rest of the night. She did wake me up around midnight to tell me the power went out. The eye of the hurricane hit around 3 in the morning, on the thirteenth. Then, we got a ton of wind and rain, also known as the “dirty side.”

We did get a much-loved, albeit brief, cool front, which meant the temperatures dropped to the sixties.a 

The Monday we had to go to a Red Cross shelter until power was restored, roughly five days later (there were approximately one hundred people in the church's gym). And, cleaning up Walmart was an experience in and of itself. After Ike, ice (as well as water) was very much in demand. The employees handed out ice at work. The only restaurant that was open nearby was Church's Chicken. The owner must have had a generator, and he made a killing. There were lines around the block all the time.

Now, nearly three years later, hopefully Mom and I are far enough inland that all we should have to worry about is rain. Of, course, we don't know how many hurricanes (if any) we are going to get this year, but we hope Ike is our last one.

http://www.click2houston.com/weather/17455610/detail.html- Details about Ike

http://www.khou.com/news/local/66174132.html- It seemed like a good idea at the time to blog about MREs. (NOT mine)