Shel and Monica at The Hungry Readers want to know about food. What deep dark food secrets have kept us all going for the last 20 hours?
Nothing too deep and dark here, but I have realized that I have a pretty standard formula when it comes to food-some form of carb topped with some sort of dairy and some kind of fruit or vegetable. So far today I've had
Breakfast/snack #1: Bread with cheddar cheese and apricot preserves, toasted in the oven until golden bubbly. I would have preferred fontina, but I didn't have any; and, let's face it, in a pinch any cheese will do.
Dinner/snack #2: Rosemary olive oil bread with olive oil and pesto, topped with mozzarella, zucchini, tomatoes, and pine nuts.
Dessert/snack #3: Cream Cheese Pound Cake topped with Citrus Cream and blueberries.
In any "thon"-triathlon, marathon, read-a-thon-hydration is important. Unfortunately, this is not my strong suit, but so far today I have had 1 cup of coffee, 1 glass of home-made lime-aid, and 1 glass of water. Well, OK, my glass of water is still full, but I'm working on it. I promise to finish it sometime in the next 5 hours.
I don't go too crazy with the reading and eating thing. I will read while I'm waiting for stuff to cook, but I generally put the book down to eat. I'd rather not get food all over my new books (they're new!) or the library's books (that just seems rude) so I'll take a break and turn on the TV while I eat. As far as food prep, I had most of this stuff ready to go last night. The cake was made the cream was whipped, the veggies and cheese were sliced; all I had to do today was assemble and eat.
Showing posts with label cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cheese. Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Mmmmmm, cheeeeeeese!
Remember those "Behold...the power of cheese." ads? Well, I think this may have been the inspiration.
P.S. I don't know how one loses all of one's clothing chasing a wheel of cheese, but, apparently, it can happen.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Happiness A-Z: H
If you don't know what's going on, go here, or just keep reading. It's fairly self-explanatory. :)
Hawaii-I love living here. It's warm and it's green, which were pretty much my main requirements when we moved from Nebraska, and now our friends visit us more!
Happiness-Well, duh, right? Otherwise what's the point behind my Happiness A-Z project? I'm not averse to wallowing in self-pity every once in a while or feeling sad when I'm sad, but overall, I like being happy.
Heat-I HATE being cold. It pisses me off.
Humor/Hilarity-I like to laugh, especially the kind where you are laughing so hard you are crying and can't make any noise except for the occasional snort or wail. This is the best if not always the most graceful! "Recent" occurrences (recent being loosely interpreted to mean within the last 2-1/2 years) involve cheese, Salamander Man, and Tickle Me Almo. I've told you my cheese story, which I realize is probably not that hilarious to anyone but me, but it was funny at the time. Perhaps someday I will tell you about Salamander Man and Tickle Me Almo. I bet you can't wait!
H
Hawaii-I love living here. It's warm and it's green, which were pretty much my main requirements when we moved from Nebraska, and now our friends visit us more!
Happiness-Well, duh, right? Otherwise what's the point behind my Happiness A-Z project? I'm not averse to wallowing in self-pity every once in a while or feeling sad when I'm sad, but overall, I like being happy.
Heat-I HATE being cold. It pisses me off.
Humor/Hilarity-I like to laugh, especially the kind where you are laughing so hard you are crying and can't make any noise except for the occasional snort or wail. This is the best if not always the most graceful! "Recent" occurrences (recent being loosely interpreted to mean within the last 2-1/2 years) involve cheese, Salamander Man, and Tickle Me Almo. I've told you my cheese story, which I realize is probably not that hilarious to anyone but me, but it was funny at the time. Perhaps someday I will tell you about Salamander Man and Tickle Me Almo. I bet you can't wait!
Honesty-I've always been a pretty honest person, and I expect others to be the same way. Sure, I'll tell the occasional white lie to spare someone's feelings or avoid a pointless confrontation, and there have been occasions where I might have exaggerated my inability to work due to some physical ailment (although, to be fair, I don't think I've ever outright lied about being ill, just the extent to which I thought it would affect my ability to make it in to and be productive at work.) I have called in tired before. It's a long drive, and I did not want to risk falling asleep at the wheel, and I didn't want to lie about being sick. What? It's a long, winding drive, and I didn't want to risk my life or anyone else's! See? Very honest.
Houses-I am very happy about the fact that I have one right now.
Hounds-Traditionally, I think of Bassets and Bloodhounds (awwww!), but after reading about Jay's lovely Greyhounds, I see that they fit into the goofy, lovable hound category too.
H sounds at the beginning of words-We are not in France, people; it's humor, not umor, historic, not istoric, and some other one that I've been hearing a lot of lately but can't think of.
Houses-I am very happy about the fact that I have one right now.
Hounds-Traditionally, I think of Bassets and Bloodhounds (awwww!), but after reading about Jay's lovely Greyhounds, I see that they fit into the goofy, lovable hound category too.
H sounds at the beginning of words-We are not in France, people; it's humor, not umor, historic, not istoric, and some other one that I've been hearing a lot of lately but can't think of.
Of course, there are a few exceptions to the rule like hour, honesty, and herb, (unless you're English, in which case you can say herb and pretty much anything else you want because it always sounds adorable.)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Happiness A-Z: C
If you don't know what's going on, go here, or just keep reading. It's fairly self-explanatory. :)
Awwwwwwww! Go little guy! You can do it, you can do it! Yay!!! He did it! Wait, what...? Awww, that's sweet. I won't tell either. :) Gah! Now I need a tissue!
C
1. Cheese - I love cheese. I've written before about how my love of cheese made me laugh until I cried. I don't know what else to say. I could live on cheese. I might not live long, but I'd live happy!
2. Cats - I like the furry creatures, but I'm talking about the musical. I know there are a lot of people that think Andrew Lloyd Weber is sort of the Stephanie Myer of Broadway, and I won't necessarily argue with them. The play is based on the writings of T.S. Eliot. I'm not really that familiar with T.S. Eliot, but I don't find the story-line of Cats all that compelling, I don't love all the songs, although a well-sung version of "Memory" just shatters me at my core. What I like about Cats is the production itself, all the people running around in their cat costumes and their fancy cat wigs and cat makeup. I like watching the performers on stage-they've actually done quite a good job of turning themselves into cats, even, perhaps especially, the supporting cast. If you watch the chorus of cats in the background while one of the stars is in the spotlight, you will see them all grooming, slinking, stalking, scurrying, and generally doing a great job of becoming lycra-covered, human-looking cats.
This clip is of Elaine Paige, portraying Grizabella as part of the original London cast. She's a washed-up, has-been cat who has been shunned by the rest of the cat community. She's gone through about 8 1/2 of her 9 lives and is trying to come back into the fold.
2. Cats - I like the furry creatures, but I'm talking about the musical. I know there are a lot of people that think Andrew Lloyd Weber is sort of the Stephanie Myer of Broadway, and I won't necessarily argue with them. The play is based on the writings of T.S. Eliot. I'm not really that familiar with T.S. Eliot, but I don't find the story-line of Cats all that compelling, I don't love all the songs, although a well-sung version of "Memory" just shatters me at my core. What I like about Cats is the production itself, all the people running around in their cat costumes and their fancy cat wigs and cat makeup. I like watching the performers on stage-they've actually done quite a good job of turning themselves into cats, even, perhaps especially, the supporting cast. If you watch the chorus of cats in the background while one of the stars is in the spotlight, you will see them all grooming, slinking, stalking, scurrying, and generally doing a great job of becoming lycra-covered, human-looking cats.
This clip is of Elaine Paige, portraying Grizabella as part of the original London cast. She's a washed-up, has-been cat who has been shunned by the rest of the cat community. She's gone through about 8 1/2 of her 9 lives and is trying to come back into the fold.
Here is Betty Buckley in the same role, performing at the 1983 Tony Awards along with the rest of the original Broadway cast. If you want to skip directly to her part, it starts at about 3:47. Personally, I think Elaine Paige's performance is far superior. What do you think?
3. Center Stage - Okay, this might be one of the worst movies ever made, but I love it! It's about a bunch of kids at the American Ballet Academy. They are all vying for some of the rare and coveted positions in the American Ballet Company. Who will get those positions? That all depends on how they perform at the year-end workshop. There are staunch classicists, rogue dancers, a motorcycle on stage, and love triangles! Okay, so "worst movie ever made" might be kind of harsh. The plot itself is okay, but the acting is terrible. To be fair though, most of the dancers are professional dancers, not actors, and the dancing is the part of the movie that I really enjoy, so I'm willing to overlook the bad acting. The first time I saw this movie, I watched it, rewound it, and watched it again immediately. A few days later, I was talking to my cousin and asked her if she'd seen it. She started laughing and said, "Yeah. And then I rewound it and watched it again!" I hardly ever do that, and neither does she, but there's something about this movie.
4. Comfort - In all it's forms. I like comfortable clothes, being comfortable around people, sitting comfortably, being comforted when I am upset about something, being at a comfortable temperature. I have had some great teachers along the way. In case you missed yesterday's post, Basset Hounds are masters of comfort. I guarantee that if you walk into a home with a Basset Hound, and the dog doesn't come running to greet you at the door, it's because it is lounging somewhere, comfortably, and does not see the need to come check things out. That's what the humans are for.
5. Chocolate. and Cake - Even better, chocolate cake, but I will take either one separately, unaccompanied by the other.
6. Classic cars
7. Cool Whip on pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving - I know it's not the real thing, but it's what we always had growing up, and that's part of what makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving for me.
8. Clydesdales - They're so big and strong and beautiful and sweet, like Clyde. Also, they always make me cry during Super Bowl commercials.
Awwwwwwww! Go little guy! You can do it, you can do it! Yay!!! He did it! Wait, what...? Awww, that's sweet. I won't tell either. :) Gah! Now I need a tissue!
9. The Color Purple - I've never read the book, but the movie was outstanding. This one definitely holds up. I think it's absolutely as relevant today as it was when it was released in 1985.
10. Color - Purple or otherwise. I'm looking out at my yard now at the reds, greens, silvers, whites, pinks, and purples that show up so beautifully against the blue sky and the browns and grays in my rock wall.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sydney
Well, kids, as you can see from my last post, I have just returned from Australia, 17 days in Australia to be exact. Which is why I have been a big, giant slacker in the posting department. Sorry.
I think the best way to break up my posting of this trip will just be to do it by region. So, one post for each city we visited. Let's start with Sydney!
First of all, if you are the person in charge of planning a work conference, and you know the Pope is coming to town, you might want to consider timing your conference so that it doesn't happen at the same time as the Pope's visit give or take a week. For one thing, any of your Catholic attendees probably won't appreciate you very much. Secondly, anyone who has to travel to and find accommodations in your city during this time probably will not appreciate you much either. I'm just sayin'. Some things to consider.
Anyway, I really liked Sydney, World Youth Day craziness aside. We stayed at the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay. It was...fine. The hotel was nice, the staff were courteous, the room was clean. I wasn't overwhelmed, but it was ok. The one complaint I do have is that I asked for a robe, and they sent one up that smelled like smoke. I don't know if they didn't wash it after the last person wore it or if someone was smoking in the supply closet or what, but it stunk. Also, the 3AM fire alarm was a drag. Turns out someone down the hall from us was a smoker and couldn't drag his ass outside to take a drag. So, not really the hotel's fault, but still. Actually, it could have been the hotel's fault. Maybe whoever was wearing my robe and smoking in the supply closet finally went too far and set off the smoke alarms. Damn closet smokers...which brings me to...
my first public safely announcement: If you are injured or in some other way not highly mobile, don't get a hotel room on the 26th floor. I had never considered this before, but my knee was tweaked from all the walking around we'd been doing, and I couldn't go up or down stairs in a normal fashion. I had to do it old-people style where you put your left foot down a step and then, instead of bringing your right foot down to the step below your left foot, you bring your right foot down to the same step that your left foot is on and then start all over with the next step. I am here to tell you that if there had been an actual fire, I would have burned alive, probably on the 24th floor. So, I guess I should be thankful that it was just some thug smoking up robes to foist on unsuspecting guests.
Before all this nonsense with the fire alarms, we walked down to the Sydney Opera House. We tried to get tickets to see Hamlet, but it was in its last two nights of production and was sold out. The architecture is, of course, unique and fascinating. What was cool for me though was that it reminded me of the architecture of the Air Force Academy's Cadet chapel, which my grandpa helped build. When I say "helped build" I mean I think he was one of the lead guys on the job, but I'm not actually sure on that, so I'll have to do some fact checking. For comparison check out pictures here of the Sydney Opera House and this picture of the chapel.
After that we walked over to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain which are huge! And quite lovely. They have some amazing trees and beautiful walkways and fruit bats, or flying foxes as they are more euphemistically called. Some people found the bats creepy. I kind of liked them. They were flying all over the place and chattering like crazy during the day, which surprised me. I figured they would be pretty quiet during the day and active at night. Shows what I know about fruit bats. They also had herds of cockatoos flying around. I'm sure the correct terminology is probably "flocks" but if you've ever heard these things, you'll agree it sounds more like a herd of cockatoos coming at you than a flock.
Anyway, the Royal Botanic Gardens have a lot of open space that doesn't involve bats or stampeding cockatoos, so don't let that discourage you if you're wary of either. It's a beautiful area and you can spend days walking around. Definitely a winner! Hawaii, take notes-this is how you do a botanic garden!
After all our walking around, we needed some food, and we found this little cafe called GG espresso, which was fabulous! And it wasn't just because I was famished and getting mean. I had the lemon pepper chicken, tomato, cheese, pesto and rocket on Turkish bread, which was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. It was so good! The chicken was tender and had great flavor, the cheese was perfectly melted, the pesto was good but not overwhelming, the rocket (arugula) was fresh and the bread was light and crispy. The whole thing was wonderful! Sydney Airport, take notes-this is how you do sandwiches! My husband got the meat pie, which is not on the menu, but was also really good even though he burned off most of his taste buds on the first bite. A warning about meat pies: They tend to be served at roughly 800 degrees. Fahrenheit or Celsius, take your pick; at that temperature it doesn't really matter.
Speaking of food, we decided to go to Lord Nelson's Brewery Hotel for dinner. Instead of eating dinner there, we ended up trying some of their beer which is, as the name of the establishment implies, brewed on site. I'm not a beer gal, but I liked the Old Admiral and the Victory Bitter (not to be confused with Australia's Victoria Bitter or VB, which from what I could gather from the locals is sort of Australia's Budweiser-everybody drinks it, but it's pretty much crap.) I think we tried one other beer that night, but I can't remember which one it was. My husband wanted to try the Nelson's Blood, but they were all out. After finding the beer selection pleasing we decided to ignore the tempting menu and wander around the city a little more. At the time, some things seem like a good idea.
We walked around until we found the Australian Hotel, which apparently is some hot-shit, award-winning beer venue, but we found their beer to be far inferior to Lord Nelson's and their food was mediocre. My pizza, however, did make me laugh until I cried. Not because it was particularly funny, but because sometimes all the elements in the universe line up just right to make one split second in time so funny that you can't stand it. I ordered a cheese pizza, and as I was taking my first bite, I sort of sighed and thought, "I love cheese." This made me smile a little, and I knew that my husband had caught me smiling and was now wondering what I was smiling about. Then I thought about having to explain my wistful, "I love cheese," thought and that made me laugh, which made my husband ask, "What?" which made me laugh even harder because I thought about how ridiculous it would sound to actually say, out loud, "I love cheese," and how non-funny that is and then I thought about the disparity between the funniness of my "I love cheese," and how hard I was now laughing and that made me laugh even more. So, it just kept snowballing, and I probably laughed for a solid two minutes before I could pull myself together enough to tell my husband, who by this time was waiting for something really freakin' hilarious, "I love cheese!" which then sent me into peals of laughter for another minute or two. I'm sure anyone watching from the outside would have had no doubt that I was high as a kite, but I swear to you I wasn't. I just really love cheese.
I have more to report, but it's bed time, so I'll be back later with more.
I think the best way to break up my posting of this trip will just be to do it by region. So, one post for each city we visited. Let's start with Sydney!
First of all, if you are the person in charge of planning a work conference, and you know the Pope is coming to town, you might want to consider timing your conference so that it doesn't happen at the same time as the Pope's visit give or take a week. For one thing, any of your Catholic attendees probably won't appreciate you very much. Secondly, anyone who has to travel to and find accommodations in your city during this time probably will not appreciate you much either. I'm just sayin'. Some things to consider.
Anyway, I really liked Sydney, World Youth Day craziness aside. We stayed at the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay. It was...fine. The hotel was nice, the staff were courteous, the room was clean. I wasn't overwhelmed, but it was ok. The one complaint I do have is that I asked for a robe, and they sent one up that smelled like smoke. I don't know if they didn't wash it after the last person wore it or if someone was smoking in the supply closet or what, but it stunk. Also, the 3AM fire alarm was a drag. Turns out someone down the hall from us was a smoker and couldn't drag his ass outside to take a drag. So, not really the hotel's fault, but still. Actually, it could have been the hotel's fault. Maybe whoever was wearing my robe and smoking in the supply closet finally went too far and set off the smoke alarms. Damn closet smokers...which brings me to...
my first public safely announcement: If you are injured or in some other way not highly mobile, don't get a hotel room on the 26th floor. I had never considered this before, but my knee was tweaked from all the walking around we'd been doing, and I couldn't go up or down stairs in a normal fashion. I had to do it old-people style where you put your left foot down a step and then, instead of bringing your right foot down to the step below your left foot, you bring your right foot down to the same step that your left foot is on and then start all over with the next step. I am here to tell you that if there had been an actual fire, I would have burned alive, probably on the 24th floor. So, I guess I should be thankful that it was just some thug smoking up robes to foist on unsuspecting guests.
Before all this nonsense with the fire alarms, we walked down to the Sydney Opera House. We tried to get tickets to see Hamlet, but it was in its last two nights of production and was sold out. The architecture is, of course, unique and fascinating. What was cool for me though was that it reminded me of the architecture of the Air Force Academy's Cadet chapel, which my grandpa helped build. When I say "helped build" I mean I think he was one of the lead guys on the job, but I'm not actually sure on that, so I'll have to do some fact checking. For comparison check out pictures here of the Sydney Opera House and this picture of the chapel.
After that we walked over to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain which are huge! And quite lovely. They have some amazing trees and beautiful walkways and fruit bats, or flying foxes as they are more euphemistically called. Some people found the bats creepy. I kind of liked them. They were flying all over the place and chattering like crazy during the day, which surprised me. I figured they would be pretty quiet during the day and active at night. Shows what I know about fruit bats. They also had herds of cockatoos flying around. I'm sure the correct terminology is probably "flocks" but if you've ever heard these things, you'll agree it sounds more like a herd of cockatoos coming at you than a flock.
Anyway, the Royal Botanic Gardens have a lot of open space that doesn't involve bats or stampeding cockatoos, so don't let that discourage you if you're wary of either. It's a beautiful area and you can spend days walking around. Definitely a winner! Hawaii, take notes-this is how you do a botanic garden!
After all our walking around, we needed some food, and we found this little cafe called GG espresso, which was fabulous! And it wasn't just because I was famished and getting mean. I had the lemon pepper chicken, tomato, cheese, pesto and rocket on Turkish bread, which was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. It was so good! The chicken was tender and had great flavor, the cheese was perfectly melted, the pesto was good but not overwhelming, the rocket (arugula) was fresh and the bread was light and crispy. The whole thing was wonderful! Sydney Airport, take notes-this is how you do sandwiches! My husband got the meat pie, which is not on the menu, but was also really good even though he burned off most of his taste buds on the first bite. A warning about meat pies: They tend to be served at roughly 800 degrees. Fahrenheit or Celsius, take your pick; at that temperature it doesn't really matter.
Speaking of food, we decided to go to Lord Nelson's Brewery Hotel for dinner. Instead of eating dinner there, we ended up trying some of their beer which is, as the name of the establishment implies, brewed on site. I'm not a beer gal, but I liked the Old Admiral and the Victory Bitter (not to be confused with Australia's Victoria Bitter or VB, which from what I could gather from the locals is sort of Australia's Budweiser-everybody drinks it, but it's pretty much crap.) I think we tried one other beer that night, but I can't remember which one it was. My husband wanted to try the Nelson's Blood, but they were all out. After finding the beer selection pleasing we decided to ignore the tempting menu and wander around the city a little more. At the time, some things seem like a good idea.
We walked around until we found the Australian Hotel, which apparently is some hot-shit, award-winning beer venue, but we found their beer to be far inferior to Lord Nelson's and their food was mediocre. My pizza, however, did make me laugh until I cried. Not because it was particularly funny, but because sometimes all the elements in the universe line up just right to make one split second in time so funny that you can't stand it. I ordered a cheese pizza, and as I was taking my first bite, I sort of sighed and thought, "I love cheese." This made me smile a little, and I knew that my husband had caught me smiling and was now wondering what I was smiling about. Then I thought about having to explain my wistful, "I love cheese," thought and that made me laugh, which made my husband ask, "What?" which made me laugh even harder because I thought about how ridiculous it would sound to actually say, out loud, "I love cheese," and how non-funny that is and then I thought about the disparity between the funniness of my "I love cheese," and how hard I was now laughing and that made me laugh even more. So, it just kept snowballing, and I probably laughed for a solid two minutes before I could pull myself together enough to tell my husband, who by this time was waiting for something really freakin' hilarious, "I love cheese!" which then sent me into peals of laughter for another minute or two. I'm sure anyone watching from the outside would have had no doubt that I was high as a kite, but I swear to you I wasn't. I just really love cheese.
I have more to report, but it's bed time, so I'll be back later with more.
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