Take it away, Bad Horse’s Filly:
Really? Another week has come and gone? It’s been a busy one, a productive one, but it went by too quickly. Because my schedule has been a bit crazy, you’ll notice someone has joined the What’s 4 Dinner Solutions’ team to help out – JeffreyW has already added some great cooking experiences and even better, pet pix! Check out his posts if you haven’t already.
On the board tonight:
Spicy Chicken Stew
Sweet Potatoes w/Apples
Tossed Salad
Shortbread
Click the link for recipes and shopping list.
And congratulations, JeffreyW… I, for one, welcome our new four-footed overlords pinups.
Bad Horse's Filly
Thanks Anne, as always. This may explain why I’m having difficulty getting work done this week:
Emma helps me file
See what JW started.
SGEW
@Bad Horse’s Filly: I find that when my cat rubs my face while I’m reading, it is, in fact, helpful. Not so much helpful for my work, but generally speaking.
But you’re right: lying on my paperwork (and occasionally eating it), not so much.
PurpleGirl
Aaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Cute doggie face. He wants that treat (or food) doesn’t he?
General Winfield Stuck
Is that Jack or Buddy? both are handsome devils.
Violet
Aww…too cute!
I made a spaghetti sauce tonight. Ground chuck and sauce out of a jar. Okay, I added garlic, onion, peppers and broccoli, so it wasn’t just out of the jar. Not the best jarred sauce, but it was free.
My current favorite sauce in a jar is Mario Batali’s marinara. Got it free with a coupon a year or so ago and never want to try anything else. Yum.
demkat620
That dog is too cute to eat. Can’t we have the chicken instead?
demkat620
Welp, I’m to a warm bed. Y’all hava safe night. Stay classy!
SiubhanDuinne
O/T but are there any Juicers in Nashville? I’ll be there for a couple of days next week, staying at a hotel on West End near Vandy campus. No promises as I will be travelling with new boss but if anyone is in the ‘hood I’d enjoy getting together for a quick drink.
demo woman
The recipe sounds great but I don’t have a slow cooker. If I try the recipe should I brown the items and then finish cooking in the oven on a low temp?
justinslot
Hey–regarding the spicy chicken stew, can’t I use up a lot of my backlog of Christmas gift pack sausage with this recipe? That’s the only “smoked sausage” I’m familiar with.
jeffreyw
That’s Annie.
DougJ
@SiubhanDuinne
Want me to put this in an open thread main post?
Yutsano
Obligatory PUPPEH!!
I’m so glad it’s my Friday. I may just do a whole ton of nothing. Or make up for the awful cookies I made last week. Or make Meyer lemon pie. Yum.
Plus I have a telephone interview for a promotion I put in for, so that’s a good sign right there. I was already having fun with the e-mail correspondence with the lady who’s going to call me, so hopefully I made a good impression there without sounding too much like a doofus. I’m also glad I thought to check my phone number with her. Here’s hoping some stars start aligning my way.
Uriel
I’m pretty sure Jon Stewart read DougJ’s earlier critique of the show and is delivering his rebuttal in his first segment. Can’t say I’ve seen this much smug mugging since the last time I visited the Dyslexic Pottery Barn.
demo woman
@jeffreyw: Many decades ago I tried a slow cooker and found out that they destroyed vegies. The spicy chicken stew sounds great but if I were to try it should I brown everything first before finishing in the oven? See my comment at 9. Annie is a wonderful.
General Winfield Stuck
@SiubhanDuinne: I know of at least one who replied to a comment I made on the Tea Bag convention. Don’t remember his/her name though.
I bet there are several BJ folks there.
demo woman
@Uriel: Tell me more..
jeffreyw
@demo woman: Not my recipe, I’ll have to go read it. I had some trouble with cauliflower today myself.
Edit: Only veggies I see are onions and green peppers, they are crockpot safe.
Yutsano
@demo woman: Honestly? Looking at the recipe, I bet the chicken would do wonderful with a good sear. Plus onions and peppers tolerate slow cooking well. You could put the whole mess in a 200 degree oven and cut the cooking time in about half and probably end up with very similar results. At any rate it never hurts to try!
@jeffreyw: You never do disclose if Annie got the bite or not. I hope you relented.
SiubhanDuinne
@DougJ #12: w
Would you? That would be loverly. Thanks! (And we’ve got all weekend so, whenever.)
Owe you one.
jeffreyw
@demo woman: Ah, I also needed to read your comment again. LOL With no crock pot I’d go with a stock pot or similar on the stove top, browning the chicken in a dab of oil to begin with then add the rest and simmer for a couple of hours. It’ll be faster than a crock pot because simmer on a stove is hotter than the low setting on a crock.
jeffreyw
@Yutsano: Of course Annie got the niblet! I’m not a cruel man. Can be kind of a dick to people, though.
SiubhanDuinne
@General Winfield Stuck #16: OMG, that’s right, I’m going to be there same time as the TeaBaggers! Ho-leee Cray-up. And IIRC they are gathering at the Opryland Hotel? Jeez and I was going to take my boss there for dinner just to show him the river and the rain forest. But I don’t think Sarah, Glenn et al are his, well, cup of tea.
DougJ
Would you? That would be loverly. Thanks! (And we’ve got all weekend so, whenever.)
Will do! If by chance I forget, remind me in the comments or by email. I’ll put it up tomorrow.
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: Dogs are the kind of people humans only wish they could be.
Comrade Kevin
Mmm, shortbread. My mom makes it every year at Christmas. I think every single Irish woman her age knows how to make it.
SiubhanDuinne
@DougJ #24: Kthx (not sure about the bai yet).
demo woman
@SiubhanDuinne: Michelle Bachmann has decided not to go so she won’t be part of your party. Maybe you can convince Sarah but my understanding is that she wants the check deposited into her account before hand. Anyway it sounds like fun.
SiubhanDuinne
@Comrade Kevin: Nothing better than homemade shortbread. Flour, butter, sugar. That’s *IT* for classic s/b although I’m never averse to adding a bit of candied or fresh minced ginger.
Does your mom bake it in a square/rectangular pan or does she use a round cake tin and make “petticoat tails”?
Yutsano
@demo woman: Well at least Sarah has one positive going for her. Cheap whore she ain’t.
Elie
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
These sound real yummy and I am downloading absolutely…love stews of all kinds…
Thanks!
Elie
@SiubhanDuinne:
OMG — never thought of adding ginger!!!
thnks\
(I love sb but its great to tweak it a bit too)
Comrade Kevin
@SiubhanDuinne: She makes it in the round cake tin and adds the edge with a fork.
Elie
That doggie face is just to love and love and love…great pic but most of all, I just feel the love…
Who doesnt need that these days?
Elie
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
This is totally true. I have to find my pic of Buddy laying on my serving platters (empty but set on my dining table before a party). He also “does” my suitcase empty or filled before any trip and any drawer pulled open for a minute or two and he is in it, comfortable and serene…
My old guy Bill can’t get into and out of stuff easily anymore so he just hangs out close to the action and naps off and on.
RandyH
I think I’ll try making that Sweet Potatoes and Apples recipe in a pie crust. Sounds great! Maybe add a a Tbsp of tapioca to take care of any excess moisture.
Mnemosyne
I just spent three and a half hours reconstructing a Keynote presentation that froze up halfway through saving and dropped links to about three-quarters of the images. Did I mention that my boss has to give this presentation to a good-sized crowd on Tuesday and is already freaked out about it anyway?
Jesus fuck, that sucked.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Please tell me you are a + something after basically bailing your boss out.
john@mm
Love Brittany spaniels. I’ve had 2 and one that was half Brittany. Also like the recipes. I’m going to try that whole menu, soon.
Mnemosyne
@Yutsano:
Not yet, but I’m eying the rum. Building the Keynote is my responsibility, so it’s more that I didn’t torpedo my boss in front of our entire division than that I saved her. It would be like claiming I’d saved her from drowning after I pushed her in the water.
And I also have to go in early tomorrow to make sure all of my fixes survived the trip from my hard drive to the network server.
FYI, Keynote hates being on a network, and when the file gets over about 2GB, it becomes unstable and creates an evening of suck for everyone.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Bleah. I have picky programs like that at work too. You look at them wrong and they decide to crash on you. Plus I’m hoping everyone else has better experiences with Lotus Notes than I do but personally I hate it.
Anne Laurie
@jeffreyw: Figured you wouldn’t mind me “borrowing” Annie’s picture, as a sop towards the recent drought of petshots. And I think Annie & I look kinda similar, except my eyes are green.
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: She definitely has the handsome puppeh thing down I will give you that. I really need to get me a picture of Jack-Jack, if I can get this little border collie ass to hold still.
KDP
ooohhhhh, the pup is just too cute. Love the pic, thanks for the fix, Anne Laurie
Something Fabulous
@jeffreyw: Funny! BORN TO BE WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILD!!!!!!!
Mnemosyne
I probably should have paid more attention to the proportions before I made an I-have-everything-but-mint mojito. Drank the whole thing anyway, and it’s already putting me to sleep.
This is why you rarely see Mnemosyne +1, much less + more than that. I’m a very cheap date.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Fortunately you’re happily married. Although there is no shame in being a lightweight.
EDIT: Full disclosure: I don’t drink for religious reasons. I have zero issue with those that do, I just make the conscious decision that we were made sober and that really is our ideal state.
Mnemosyne
@Yutsano:
How do you think I hooked my man? ;-)
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: LOL I was honestly thinking that but I was erring on the side of discretion. Plus sipping your drink while your date gets loaded is a fantastic way to take advantage of an evening.
asiangrrlMN
@Mnemosyne: I am a one and done woman, too. VERY cheap date. And easy, from what I’ve heard…or said….
@Yutsano: Hi, FH#2! I’ve missed you! Smooch smooch. I hope the phone interview goes well. Sounds like you’re simpatico with the woman who might hire you. I’m sick. You know how I know? I felt cold to my bone (and flushed at the same time) while inside a heated building. A sure sign I’m sick.
@jeffreyw: Congrats to you and Annie on your new job! Couldn’t happen to a more deserving fellah.
BHF, Emma is sooo cute ‘helping’ you file!
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: There you is! We’ve been missing each other and I haz news dagburnit! I may have to post up my way of making chicken soup that doesn’t take half the day just for you. Although I do love the slow long simmer of a whole bird all day until it disintegrates.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: You haz news? What is your news? And, I don’t cook. I don’t have a slow cooker.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: You drop a chicken in a pot with a few veggies and basically ignore it for hours. Easy stuff.
And…
GUESS WHO FINALLY GOT IN TOUCH WITH ME?? :):):)
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Dat’s what I was hoping to hear! Yeah, baby. I am sooo happy for you. He’s ok, I take it? Woot-woot! Doing a sit-down happy dance ‘coz I’m sick and ‘coz I got cat on my shins.
And, what’s a pot?
Mnemosyne
@Yutsano: :
I’m mostly joking. I actually won him because we’re both enormous movie geeks. His first gift to me was a wide-screen version of The Haunting that he taped off TCM for me because it wasn’t commercially available at the time. And he threw in Peter Jackson’s “Forgotten Silver,” too. How could a girl resist?
(edited to fix some coding — the +1 led me to reply to myself)
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: He’s still alive and kicking (direct quote), just forgot he had a life again. I do have something to tease him over though, he e-mailed me at 2 in the morning! Well, 2 AM my time but still jeez talk about squeezing me in! We didn’t say much to each other, we rarely do in e-mails. I’m gonna hold him to his promise about talking to me soon. Well, as much as I can make him do anything.
Okay okay I get it I give up. If you can muster the trip go get a nice spicy bowl of pho and call it good. That should clear you out nicely.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Throw in Amelie or Persepolis and it’s a date!
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Well, I’m relieved that he managed to remember he had a life outside of the Marines. I hope you get to actually talk to him soon.
Heh. I’m teasing you. I do have a pot or two. But pho, now that sounds yummy!
And, Amelie? Um, just, no. My ideal wooer would suggest a 24/7 Alan Rickman fest. Throw in Dogma with the incomparably lush Salma Hayek, and I would…at least date the person.
Mnemosyne
@Yutsano:
Okay, you forced me to post this link. Now I really do have to go to sleep.
Oh, and Coraline is highly recommended, if you missed it.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Well since I’m about to get into a link war here, how’s about a song that you’ll get and Anne Laurie will totally appreciate the video for?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkeXHsO6KKI&feature=related
EDIT: Switched the links, better video.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Aw, bittersweet! And, I was recently turned onto Cowboy Bebop, so I can totally appreciate the video, too.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: You asked me once how I deal with the separation. One of my coping mechanisms is I listen to a lot of music. A LOT. Being a trained musician, music is simply one of the greatest comforts I have. I need to get off my ass and buy a decent oboe and start playing again just for me.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Wait, you played the oboe and were trained in it? Wonderful! I played the cello until I was eighteen, and I’m thinking of starting again, just for me as well. I love the cello. I miss it. Cooool!
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Can you do that Bach interlude (that I can never remember the name of!) that gets played on commercials all the time? I never thought that could get renewed for me until I heard Yo-Yo-Ma perform it. I personally hate Mozart even though most of the really fun oboe stuff is by him. I prefer digging up the more unusual stuff by people most folks have never heard of.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Probably. I am not exactly sure which one you mean, but yeah. I can also play the cello part to Pachelbel’s Canon because there are eight freaking notes to it. I’ve told this story before, but my orchestra was playing it in the school gym. The lights went out, and everyone stopped–except the cellos. We kept on playing our eight damn notes.
Funny related video here.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Okay THAT was hilarious, as much for the obvious rock jokes as for the inside music ones. I seriously sat at my computer and giggled.
Speaking of giggles, kind of embarrassing for me, but my response to the Dawg was, well, treacly. I mean he knows how I get sometimes and he’ll just laugh about it, but I’m not usually that obvious. I’m gonna be embarrassed about it when we can actually have a decent conversation.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: I love that rant! It’s so fucking hilarious. Just cheers me up greatly.
As for the Dawg, hey that’s how you are. It’s part of your charm and part of his fondness for you. Don’t be embarrassed by your emotions!
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: My high school didn’t have an orchestra so I’ve didn’t really do anything symphonic until college. I hated the orchestra conductor but my oboe teacher had a shitfit about me not doing anything classical so had to do it. It wasn’t bad all in all, the band director appreciated me much more however. Plus we did a piece in band based on LOTR that is still my favorite thing I’ve ever played.
He knows I worry about him. I’m gonna blame the long separation for reacting the way I did. There are times he knows me better than I know myself, so I’m not worried about putting him off. It’s more I feel like I’m guilting him for something that he doesn’t have a lot of control over.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Ah, I get it now (about the Dawg). Still. You care a great deal for him. That is what’s important here.
And, LOTR? Seriously? How cool! Yeah, you need to pick up the oboe again, and I need to pick up the cello.
P.S. I love Yo-Yo Ma. Such a joy for playing!
P.P.S. I am toddling off to bed, so night, FH#2! Good luck with the phone interview.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I’ve said it here before and it’s still fucking true: I care for the big fucker. I think I always will no matter what happens.
BTW the coolest part of the LOTR piece was the English horn parts. I’m a decent oboist, but oh man can I make an English horn sing. Unfortunately you can’t really do much with that as it’s really more of a niche instrument, but it still fits in my talent pool well.
Thanks for the well-wish hon. Try and feel better tomorrow mmmkay?