Catmegz' Place

Gotta love major road construction projects.....

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Sitting in Caffee Ladro, sipping coffee, and playing on our iPhones. :-) We briefly attended the Auto Show in Seattle yesterday, where we actually convinced William to pose in a Kia for a picture, but skipped out on dinner when he wasn't feeling well. Today we had breakfast with family and then swung by the local craft fair, which had WAY too many grandmothers selling crystal jewelry. We managed to escape with just one bag of caramel corn and one jar of pickled green beans. Yummy! I like lazy weekends like this....

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

We bought a new house!  It's a couple miles south of where we are now, with 2700 sq. feet and a 3-car garage!  Hopefully we can fit all our stuff in there.  ;-) 

Check out the pictures at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/catmegz/sets/72157604720360309/

We're definitely going to miss our cool neighbors here, but we're hoping they'll come visit us a lot!

So, I'm going to try and start posting entries on some of the food I'm making.  It'll be interesting - maybe not to most, but it'll help me critique what I'm doing and tighten up some recipes.  :-D  I'll try to remember LJ Cuts, so you can easily skip it if you want to.

Check them out at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catmegz/sets/72157604578897250

I miss it already....

I've been slow to post, but here are the details from William's proposal:

We were midway through our recent trip to Hawaii, when we took the car and headed over to the east coast of the island. We wandered along the coastline, stopping to take pictures, until we reached the vantage point for Blowhole. Blowhole is a spot where the lava tubes are positioned such that when the tide comes in right, the water will spout up out of the rocks rather spectacularly. The tides weren't with us today, but it was still beautiful.

After a while, the people cleared out and we were alone, watching the waves. It was at that point that William pulled this little box out of his pocket and said, "I love you. Will you marry me?"

Surprise. Shock. OMG. Try it on. Tear up a little. Kiss/Hug William.

Pause...... "You asked me on April Fool's Day?"

"Yeah! It was my backup plan in case you said No. Pretty cool, huh?"

Right now, I'm laying out on a fine sand beach in my bathing suit in the shade of a palm tree, enjoying the breeze that is keeping the 80 degree weather from getting too hot. William is 10 feet away in the sun. In about ten minutes I'll have to get up and move my towel to stay in the shade. My big dilemma? Do I stay here or walk ALL THE WAY back to the pool to order a drink? I'll keep you updated.

Maybe.

I love my iPhone.
XD

Yesterday was pi day. Nobody reminded me and I didn't remember until I saw Wil Wheaton's post about it:
http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2008/03/when-come-back.html

He cracks me up - he's such a geek, just like some of my best friends. :-D

My Thursday night Chef cracks me up:

We're cooking Indian food, which tends to include a lot of whole spices, such as cardamom and cloves.  I LIKE these spices, but they're a bit much when included whole in a recipe.  Evidently, it's a very Western thing to always grind up your spices before adding them to a dish.

Us (my group):  We like this dish, but we find that the whole spices are hard to get past when enjoying it.  We should have given them a rough grind before adding them.
Chef:  Yes, it's an odd consistency for our Western Palates.  Reminds me of when I was a kid and would eat the peanuts with the shells still on.
Me:  *confused*  Umm, you ate the shells too?  Why?  
Chef:  Well, they're more salty that way.
Me:  That's why you suck on the shells and spit them out.  There's no need to acually eat them.
Chef:  *surprised*  Oh!!  -pause-  You could have been my big sister, who would have smacked me and said, "Why are you doing THAT?"

LOL.....  


Huh....  maybe you had to be there....  ;-)

I tried to whip up some sugar cookies today from a mix that I've had for a while.  I followed the instructions on the back very closely, but they left out a very important step:  Always chill your dough before rolling!!   It kept sticking to everything and was too soft to cut into shapes.  Of course, that didn't stop me from putting it on a pan (after liberally sampling the dough) and baking it anyway!  The resulting cookies were a bit flat (the high butter content bakes differently depending on its starting temperature), so I decided to try some frosting.  Again, following the recipe, I mixed up some buttercream frosting.  I think my vanilla is a bit stronger than what they had expected, because it was WAAYYY too strong.  I tried adding some powdered candy canes to the mix, which helped, but it tasted a bit like toothpaste to me.  At that point, I gave up and called it ruined.  The nice thing about baking?  I probably only threw away $2 worth of ingredients!  :D


(of course, writing the entry gave me a great excuse to dig up some more food based icons!)  :D

Well, he wrote a fantastic book, called On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.  There are no recipes in it - he explains any and all questions you might ask when cooking.  Things like:  Why does milk curdle?  Does searing really seal in the juices?  Why are fresh eggs better?  How is cheese made?

Why am I so excited?  He has a blog!  :D  http://news.curiouscook.com

Woohoo!!!

I need to get feedback from at least 50 people on a menu that I put together for one of my classes, which I've included at the end of this post.

What I need:

1. Your name (doesn't have to be your real name)
2. Your choices for Tapa, Entree, and Dessert (drink is optional)
3. Any thoughts on the menu - what sounds good, what you wouldn't try, is something too expensive/cheap?

I will screen posts to keep individual answers anonymous, but I'll post the numbers once I have turned them.  3/6 is the cutoff date, so look for the full report after then!

Thanks!!!

We ordered a new set of dishes from Crate and Barrel last month.  They came wrapped up in three big boxes.  (Side note:  C&B packaging is a WONDERFUL cat toy!)  C&B also decided to send us an additional two boxes of dishes that we didn't order or pay for.  The extra boxes were duplicates of one of the original boxes, to the tune of $900 (!!!!!) worth of extra dishes that they sent us.

Why, oh why am I put in this situation?  The right thing to do is clear, but of course my brain is yelling, "Ebay, here I come!!"  

Except, I hate the hassle of shipping stuff, and dishes would be even worse.....

And I probably wouldn't be able to sell every single piece, leaving me with extras that I don't need.....

And I probably wouldn't get the full amount for them, making them not worth the hassle and headache of selling.....

Yes, this is the logic that brought me back to the right thing:  Bring them back to the store.  So, William and I packed the boxes into the back seat of his truck (the only vehicle we could fit them into) and brought them back to the nearby store. 

Let me tell you, people don't usually bring them back.

Me:  I need to return these mugs, because we just won't use them.  I also need to return those two boxes of dishes that I didn't pay for, even though I have these packing slips for them.

Clerk:  *confused look*  Ummm... OK.  Well, we'll need to count all the dishes to give you the correct credit.

Me:  Actually, you don't need to credit me, since I didn't pay for them.  They were shipped to me on accident in addition to the dishes that I ordered.

Clerk:  *long pause and some confused looks*  ............................................. Let me call a manager.

The manager shows up and I explain the situation to her.

Manager:  Really??  Well bless your heart!!  Do you want something else?  A box of candy?

Now it's my turn to be confused - what??  In the end, she was so grateful that we brought back the dishes that she gave me two boxes of their Christmas candy that they were trying to get rid of:  Some Peppermint Bark (a favorite of mine) and some delicious Caramels covered in Dark Chocolate and dusted with a sprinkle of Sea Salt (Yummy!).  And she let me return the mugs that had been part of a set.  :-D

So, if I had gone through the hassle and headache of selling them through eBay or Craig's List, I could have paid for 1, maybe 2 credits of my schooling. 

Instead, I got a fun trip to the store and some free candy!  =D

Yes, I'm enjoying the last of my time off of school and work.  =D

Atonement:  The first third is a great start, the rest is just depressing.  It'll probably get an Oscar nomination - it was beautifully filmed.

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem:   What can I say?  I loved the Aliens movies and Predator.  I saw the first AVP movie, which was campy, but watchable.  This was just bad.  All they did was kill people.  Lots of people.  And more people.  The Predator wasn't even that cool - in the other AVP movie there were a couple of them and they actually had some personality.  Don't even bother renting this one.

With the holiday and the fact that I'm feeling better, I've had some time to watch a few movies.  :)

The Golden Compass:  I liked it!  It had great SFX and an interesting storyline which didn't follow your standard fantasy movie storyline, which made it a bit unpredictable.  If you're looking for it, you can see the Atheist view being pushed a bit, but not so much that it hurt the movie for me.   If you enjoyed Narnia (or just the first half, like me), you should give it a try.

PS I Love You:  Definitely a chick flick.  The story was just OK, but I really enjoyed the music (iTunes here I come!).  And watching the hot Irish singers.  They were quite nice.  ;-)  And I think I'm going to make a rule:  William's not allowed to die for a very long time.  Nope.  No Way.  Uh-uh.  I called it.  =D

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio:  This was supposed to be such a great film, so I was excited when I caught it on cable the other night.  Very disappointing!  The whole thing is narrated by the main character in an unrealistic, constantly cheery tone.  Maybe this is how her children remember her (based on a true story), but it makes for an unbelievable film.  Woody Harrelson also stars as her one-dimensional, blue-collar, drunk husband who can't stand her success.  Bleh.

So, once again, I got to have surgery for Christmas.  Fun!!  :D  I checked in on 12/21 and got to come home on 12/24.

I had one spot on my incision that never healed, so my surgeon went in to clean it up.  However, it wasn't looking good, so he ended up taking out the entire mesh that he put in last year.  He said it's all sewn up really well now, so hopefully I won't herniate again, but we'll see how it goes.  For now, I get to juggle antibiotics (take on an empty stomach) and percosets (take with food).  Woohoo!  I can't believe I forgot to bring home some of those sexy hospital gowns again!  I know William really likes them...  ;-D

Fortunately, I was out in time for Christmas, which was great. :)  I got to spend time with all my family, and we all went overboard on the stocking stuffers.  I think my favorite gift was the calendar we got for Pat:  Women in Waders.  http://www.womeninwaders.com   If you check the website, you'll see that they've been putting out this calendar for YEARS!  lol.....

Jocelyn hosted a great dinner at her place, and we got to catch up with Ryan's friends and family again.  This time, we skipped the walkie talkies and midnight shopping trips.  ;-) 

Lindsay and Pat are out visiting from the East Coast (they brought the snow with them!), and we've gotten to see them a couple times now.  The girls are going out on Saturday so Lindsay can try on wedding dresses!  Fun!!!  (her ring is *beautiful*, BTW)  They're enjoying driving the new car while I'm out of commission.  They think it was generous of us to lend it, but they're getting it through the break-in period for me!  =D

Now I'm off to lunch with friends - it's kind of fun having everyone else be my chauffeur for a while!
  

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! In July I had a shoot-out with rival gang lords on the 5 near LA (-76 points). In October I set firesplace 's puppy on fire (-66 points). Last Tuesday I helped thejinxed  see the light (8 points). In September I helped kieferskunk  across the street (6 points). In March blackbirdcd  and I robbed a bank (-50 points). Overall, I've been naughty (-178 points). For Christmas I deserve a spanking! Sincerely, catmegz

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username: