The Emily Challenge

 The Emily Challenge

I have a coworker who is an over achiever. Every month she takes on a different challenge. One month she gave up alcohol. Another month it was carbs. One time it was sweets. It is always something different and isn’t always food related. She does this with her significant other and it always provides insight to her and others.  One insight it has provided me as an observer is that I would rather Emily give up alcohol than carbs. Emily is much happier with carbs in her life then out of her life. Another insight is that there is always something to learn about yourself. With this said I am going to take an Emily challenge.  Emily has challenged me to write everyday for at least a month on my blog.  

So, here I am, writing in what feels like forever and seeing several blog posts that were started and never published.  I am not sure what I am going to write about, but it wouldn’t be a challenge if I had a plan.  Welcome to Day 1 out of 31 Days of writing madness. Or as I call it and will probably grumble over it as the Emily Challenge.  We will see what I learn by the end of it and maybe just maybe I would be considered an overachiever.

Tomato Soup Resolutions

 Nobody wants to hear about New Years Resolutions. A resolution is a personal thing and if you made one, it is something personal to you and not anyone else.   I have a few attainable resolutions that I have made this year.  They aren’t anything major, but if asked I’ll share all of them.  Today I have one that I want to talk about and it is going to be quite a journey.  I want to write about the journey and to do so, I need to share the goal. 

I want to make the best tomato soup.  

I know.  It isn’t what anyone was expecting. I don’t even know if it what I was expecting when I was thinking about resolutions, but then outside influences happened.  My husband is a unique outside influence, because he doesn’t even try to influence anything other than my music choices. We were watching a food documentary and talking about favorite foods and comfort foods and the goal came to me out of the wild blue yonder. 

When I was a wee young lass (think around age 8), my mother and I would eat tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches together. It was our thing when I was a kid, because no one else in the house liked tomato soup.  At the time I didn’t like tomato soup. I just wanted to hang out with my mom and I loved grilled cheese sandwiches.  I learned swiftly that cheese and tomato are secret best friends.

I am an adult now, and I love tomato soup.  It is the go to soup that my husband and I can agree on and is a nostalgic sort of comfort food. If I am making soup, it is in the top the requested.  Until recently, I have never made tomato soup from scratch. It has always been a name brand canned soup.  Recently I have made my first attempts into learning the art of tomato soup and for a soup that some think of as a side step away from ketchup, it is not an easy soup to make. 

The first step in the journey was to do research.  I have a plethora of cookbooks, but the one I used as the basis of my first attempt was Ski Town Soup.  (If you recall I may have blogged about a chili I made when I was going through a cookbook challenge. The chili was magnificent.) This cookbook held half a dozen variations of tomato soup from notable ski resorts.  I was able to flip through and compare the different ingredients and preparations with ease and come up with a game plan for my first attempt.

 

First attempt consisted of roasting tomatoes in the oven and then peeling them. While the tomatoes were roasting with rosemary and thyme, diced carrots and onion were sweating it out together in a sauce pan.   After the tomatoes were done being roasted they were peeled, chopped and cooked with the carrots and onion. After simmering together, chicken broth and basil was was added and all of it spent quality time in a blender until it was an odd tomato smoothie.  After blender time, cream was added to the soup to make it a creamy tomato.  Salt and pepper were added through out the process.  Everything was heated through and served with grilled cheeses sandwiches.  The end result wasn’t terrible, but certainly not the best. 

The ratio of carrots used in comparison to tomatoes, made it seem more like a carrot soup. (Who knew carrots were that mighty?) I like the roasted tomatoes. I think they brought out a nice flavor, even if peeling skins off hot tomatoes is an act of madness. I was a nice soup, but not the best tomato soup.  Additional  experiments will commence.  If you have any suggestions on processes/ ingredients to tweak let me know.  There is no wrong path to take to get to the best tomato soup.

Tastes Like Poor Decisions

Have you ever done something that sounds like a good idea, but in reality, it is nothing but regret.   I have made such a decision, when I decided to partake in the Soda Challenge.

What is the soda challenge?

The soda challenge was contrived by GAT and myself as a form of torture to my beloved nephew and nieces. The idea behind it is simple.  We gather weird flavored/named sodas and make the kids try them.  It seemed like an easy plan. Children love soda's.  Children are honest.  Children would give the honest opinion on the soda.  As I said, it was a simple plan. 

I just didn't count on having to taste the sodas with them.

Here is a run down on the the sodas and what they taste like.

 

 

Here is a run down of what we tried and my thoughts.  The kids had mixed reactions.

• San Fransisco Fog
• This soda truly made me feel old. I felt cranky when trying it, because it tastes like liquid cotton candy.  I was super sweet and made me want to brush my teeth immediately. 
• Unicorn Yack
• I am convinced that unicorn yack taste like someone took all the cream soda flavors and mixed them together.  So, yeah.  Yack is an accurate description. 
• Bacon
• If you are a person that likes the artificial bacon bits on your salad, then you might like this soda. It tastes exactly like that, except in liquid form and carbonated. If you don't like artificial bacon bits, then, you know that this is pretty disgusting soda. 
• 4. Cinnamon Red Hots
• Out of all the soda's this one isn't terrible.  This one does taste like Cinnamon Red Hots in liquid form. I think it would be better as a candle then a drink. 

The children may have disagreed with me on several of these assessments.  I think that the lesson here is that these taste like some poor decisions and family bonding.

Seven Photo Challenge

It was a seven day black and white photography challenge.  You were supposed to nominate other people to take pictures with every picture you posted, but I am not too keen on things like that.  However I did want to do the challenge. Seven pictures. One for each day. No people. No explanations. Here are my seven pictures.  

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 7

Day 6

Favorite Holiday?

As the last week of September drew to a close, and the writing challenge  dwindled down to that last few hours, I had to admit that I was stumped. The last prompt of the week was to talk about "Your favorite holiday and why." That sounds like it should be easy cheesy breezy, but that is not the case.  There are 55 holidays recognized by Hallmark, and 11 of them are federal holidays.  That is not counting such esteemed national holidays, such as National Taco Day (October 4th) or National Coffee Day (September 29th) and Love Your Pet Day ( February 20th).  With so many holidays out there it is hard to pick just one and name it my favorite and a long explanation why.  

Here are my top twenty little known holidays that make me smile:

1. National Step in a Puddle & Splash Your Friends Day (January 11th)
2. National Kazoo Day (January 28th)
3. National Tell a Fairy Tale Day (February 26th)
4. National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day ( March 13th)
5. National Quilting Day (3rd Saturday in March) 
6. National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day (April 12th)
7. National Free Comic Book Day (1st Saturday in May)
8. National Dinosaur Day (May 15)
9. National Wine Day ( May 25th)
10. National Best Friends Day (June 8th)
11. National Cheer Up the Lonely Day (July 11th)
12. National Eat Your Jello Day (July 12th)
13. National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbors Porch Day (August 8th)
14. National Video Games Day (September 12th)
15. National Ghost Hunting Day (Last Saturday in September)
16. National Moldy Cheese Day (October 9th)
17. National Cat Day (October 20th)
18. National Nachos Day (November 6th)
19. International Ninja Day (December 5th)
20. National Cat Herders Day (December 15th)

For more wonderful holidays, check out https://nationaldaycalendar.com/ for more holidays than Hallmark has cards for.  Good luck trying to pick a favorite holiday.  As for which is my actual true favorite holiday, I don't have one. I enjoy any day that makes me smile. 

Bored for Life

This weeks blog post is supposed to be about the boring job I ever had.  I am supposed to wax poetically about how I thought would die of boredom.  I wish I could say that I have had a boring job.  When I am paid to do something, I can find something to entertain myself while I get the task done.  It is when I am unpaid that my mind begins to wander and think about all the other things that I could be doing.  An example of this would be, Laundry.

It is one of the unpaid necessary tasks that I do, because I don't want to be wrinkled or smelly.  I think laundry is one of those things that just has to be done, but the thought of sitting and matching socks, makes me want to go dust something.  At least when I am dusting, re-arrange the toys on the shelf and sometimes play with them.  Infinitely more entertaining than trying to finding a white sock to match with another white sock.  Even talking about folding laundry is boring, thankfully the next blog prompt is a little more entertaining.  Next weeks prompt is; "Describe your most memorable family holiday, and explain what made it special for you."

Deathbed Confession

I am  running behind this week.  I was going to do a long post talking about last weeks prompt and announcing this weeks prompt and then things went pear shaped. Every time I thought that I had several minutes and the inspiration was with me, it was quickly swindled away by the distractions of the internet  or responsibilities.  

This weeks prompt is "write from the point of view of a character on his or her deathbed."  In my head it translated to "Deathbed Confession" and my brain started to spring into action on what horrible ailments a person could die from and if a person really knows when they are on their deathbed. I think I have myself straightened out and that I came up with something that does not have a person dying from eating expired Jello.  ( I spent some time cleaning out my grandmothers cupboard and trying to figure out the last time Jello was $0.33 a box. The possibility that Jello could kill has weighed heavily on my mind this week. I am not obsessed with Jello.)  It took a little while, but I finally came up with something. If you feel so inclined, below is my "Deathbed Confession."

Juliet

My gaze looks unseeing to the audience.  I was told it was the biggest crowd of the year. The last show often is, since family and friends make an effort to be there.  Something about it better to go out with a bang than a gasp. 

The heat of the lights are making me melt and I wouldn't be surprised if my make up is beginning to slide off of my  face.  The body next to me lies still and unmoving, but I can feel the heat radiating through my clothes.  A clattering jostling noise happens just behind me. It sounds like metal armor hitting a stone floor. 

Taking a breathe, I say the next line, knowing only two more come after it and then it is all over for me.  It has been a good run, though eventually the curtain must fall.  My time is up.

Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger,

I pick up the crooked dagger that is next to the body I am lying against and examine it.  I extend my arm out dramatically and say my next line.

This is thy sheath;

I bring my arm quickly to my chest and feel the blade slip into my bosom.  Blood seeping from the wound spreads.   With my last breathe, I gasp out my  last line.

there rust, and let me die.

I close my eyes as the rest of the world moves one. My curtain has fallen.

Treatment

Lucy didn't like waiting for the doctor to show.  Sitting in a thin hospital gown on the examination chair, she tried to ignore the way that the paper crinkling with every time she shifted. The walls had boring health posters to remind a person the importance of washing their hands and to check for lumps and there was no music. Just the hum of the air conditioner.  Lucy was trying to resist the urge to check her phone, to see how much time had passed, since there wasn't a clock in the room. She wished she had brought a book with her. 

Just as Lucy thought she was going to die of bordum the door opened, and the doctor breezed in. Clipboard in hand, white coat, gold rimmed glasses skimmed the notes on the paper before they focused on her.  

"Hello, Ms. Carmichael.  How are you?  I am Dr. Anderson. It says here that you have been having trouble sleeping?" Dr. Anderson asked, but then he looked back down to the clip board and read more notes.

Lucy tried not to shift to make the paper crinkle. Truth be told, she never really like going to the doctor, but her mother had told her that they could help.  They had helped her with the same issue and now she slept like a baby. 

"Yes, I am not sleeping well.  It is hard to fall asleep and even harder to stay asleep at times," softly replied Lucy

"How has your appetite been?  Are you eating well?" Queried the doctors as he made notes on the chart.

"I haven't been all that hungry lately.  I have been exercising. I have been trying to go for a run in the evenings to clear my head," nervously replied Lucy.  She shifted a little and the crinkling paper could be heard clearly in the room. 

"Have you been traveling or anywhere that can be crowded?  There is an epidemic going on, and it is incredibly infectious," warned the Dr. Anderson.

"I don't really go anywhere. I go to the book store,  I go to work, I go home.  I don't travel.  The most crowded place I go is the grocery store," muttered Lucy. 

"It doesn't take much.  It passes in the air and lack of sleep is one of the first signs. Loss of appetite is the second.  If this continues, you will feel achy and restless.  You will tear up at odd times.  Communication with others will be limited."  The doctor looked at her grimly.  This was the worst news.  Everyone knew that there was an infectious disease going about. She just didn't think it would happen to her. 

"Can this be treated?"

"Yes.  It is the early stages.  If you sign this consent form, we can start treatment right away.," advised the doctor as he flipped the page on his charge and pulled a piece of paper off.  Handing it to Lucy along with a pen, he started to set up for the procedure. 

Lucy looked down at the paper.  It was a standard consent for treatment.  Looking for a pen, she began to wonder what the name of the infectious disease was.  If so many people had it, why didn't it have a name? The milk at the grocery store even had a name. Daisy. Daisy was the brand name of the milk she drank, but this infectious disease didn't have a name, so a person didn't know how to avoid it. 

"I need a pen," stated Lucy as she chewed her lip, trying to decide if immediate treatment was the best action or if she should try and research other treatments, but first she would need a name of what she had.

"Of course, my apologies," replied the Doctor as he pulled a small hand drill out from the bottom of the cabinets on put it on the counter.  Pulling a pen from his front pocket, he handed it over to her.  Lucy tried not to look at the drill on the counter as the doctor started to pull out bandages and cotton wound pads.  The growing pile of supplies on the sterile countertop was beginning to make her nervous.

"Ccc-aan I ask wh-what the name of the in- Infectious disease is?" Stuttered Lucy, her nerves and fear finally catching up with her.  Her fingers tightly gripping the pen  as she clutches the clip board against her chest. She could feel her pulse racing as she wait on his every word.

"Oh, That is easy.  You are infected with Ideas.   You hang out in dangerous areas, such as bookstores and you think it won't affect you.  Your carelessness finally caught up with you.  A couple quick nips with the drill and we can get those ideas right out of your head and you will sleep the best sleep you have ever had," explained the Doctor with a wide smile on his face.

Infectious

Infectious 

The first week of the prompt challenge has gone by.  As some people may recall, I was instructed to write an article that would be worthy of the Weekly World News.  Sadly the Weekly World News is no longer in publication.  A current news source that reminds me of that beloved printing is The Onion.  My goal was to write something that would fit in with their type of articles, which is where the inspiration of Sarcasm Recognized as Official Language came from.  

This weeks prompt is a little more vague, which means the only limits I have are my mind.  I received a one word prompt: Infectious.  When I think of Infectious, I think of movies such as: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Stuff, Omega Man or even a relative more recent film, 12 Monkeys.  

I am not sure what I am going to do with my prompt yet, but it is certainly getting my head moving.  I want to wish lots of luck to Faye on her prompt.  It is about a different kind of infections. (Love.)

Sarcasm Recognized as an Official Language

Sarcasm Recognized as an Official Language

Sarcasm has been recognized as an official language.  Unofficals from Webster have started that language is a body of words and the systems for their usecommon to a people who are of the samecommunity or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition, and sarcasm falls into that realm as a common communication utilized by those that have not leveled up in years significantly and is a faint cousin to wit.  Sarcasm can  be just as diverse and intriguing as colloquialisms, but with out the pretense of localism. 

Local community college states that adult evening classes are schedule to roll out with new semester to help bridge the communication gap between the five generations in the workforce.  Many have come forward claiming to be naturally fluent in sarcasm and have been speaking it socially for years. Teenager have collectively begun rolling their eyes and loudly sighing at the announcement.

Please see A Challenge blog post for writing prompt. 

A Challenge

A challenge.  That is what Faye offered me.  Almost a decade ago, Faye and I acquired a book of prompts called Writers Block by Jason Rekulak.  From time  to time we will challenge each other to write something based off of a random prompt.  Faye threw down the gauntlet and I picked it up. A total of 5 weeks with a random prompt each week. It is a chance to brush up my writing skills and break out of my comfort zone. 

First prompts have been picked.  I have until Saturday to come up with something.  An idea has been percolating since yesterday.  I can only hope that she has as much fun as I am on this challenge.  

Here is the prompt I have been given:

Come back Saturday to see what I have done with it. 

You can also check out Faye's blog to see what she h///as done with her prompt at http://thehookandthepen.blogspot.com/

Hello Zip Ties

Somedays my brain wakes up and clicks way too fast in the morning and Jon just looked at me as if I am possessed by aliens.  This was one of those mornings. When I woke up this morning, I asked my husband if we had any zip ties.  There were several seconds of silence before he said no and asked me why I needed zip ties.  I quickly explained that I saw this brilliant idea on Pinterest that involved zip ties and DVDs.  Sometimes brilliant ideas are met with a groan and "it is too early in the morning for this" sigh.

I was then told that I was not allowed to zip tie any of the DVDs. That if I did that, I would be a jerk.  I am not allowed to be a jerk.  Part of me really wants to be a jerk to my brother and zip tie weave a lovely pattern on the DVD I bought him. I huge part of me wants to do that. (Last year he opened his DVD's early!!)   That sort of love and torture is what makes the holidays fun. I am sure that booby trapped presents is a sign of love and affection in some culture some where.  If not it could be, given enough time. My brother still laughs and grimaces over the wrench set I got him when we were teenagers. (It was individually wrapped and then laced into a beautiful snowflake shape that took him forty five minutes to open.  It was magical and wonderful and very annoying all in one moment.) (Dont think I am just picking on him, that same year he used a roll and half of packaging tape on my gift.)

My husband is doing his best to make sure I am not a a jerk and refuses to entertain this idea of zip ties.  Even if the idea behind it makes me gleefully happy.   Even though I am not permitted to utilize them at this point; I have been encouraging others at work to utilize that power and festivity of zip ties as alternatives to ribbon, for that extra special person. It seems like there is at least one person in every family, where that little bit effort goes a long way.

Unicorns are Underrated

Day 2

Unicorns are under rated. Everyone knows what a unicorn is, but very rarely are they a main character.  I was thinking about this over the weekend while I was folding laundry.  I few weeks ago I had picked up two animated films that I had loved as a child. They were The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and Unico and the Island of Magic. I loved those movies as a kid.  They were the right amount of whimsy sugar filled sweetness with a little bit of plot and angst to keep the story moving.

Once you watch one nostalgic film, it is easy to spiral down into a path of re watching other childhood favorites, which is what lead me to rewatching Legend while folding laundry over the weekend and got me wondering about having a unicorn movie marathon.

I quickly discovered that there are not enough unicorn movies to have a marathon.  I can name four unicorn movies.  That is it. There are more leprechaun based movies out there, then there are unicorn movies.  Some how this seems unfair.  Which leads me to believe that unicorns are the under-rated fantasy creature.

Some where are in a time where people just remake movies instead of creating something new, I think they should remake The Last Unicorn into live action.  It's just a thought.  Who do you think would be cast in it?

Day 1

November Challenge

Day 1

Every November for the past seven years, I have participated in NaNoWriMo.  It is something near and dear to my heart, that challenges me and makes me a better person. This year is the first year that I am not actively participating in NaNoWriMo.  I find that I write these stories and then never touch them again.  No editing is done, no re-writes, no spell checks, it just remains a raw piece of work. 

I keep telling myself that I will eventually get to editing, the hard part of getting the idea out of my head it done.  I have discovered that I am really talented at procrastinating. It is unfair for those ideas that made it onto paper not to be polished up just a little bit.  

Instead of adding to the pile of stories that need a good scrubbing and detangling, I am going to do two things instead.  One, I am going to pick one story out of the pile to be edited and really start editing it, to see if it is a diamond or just a lump of coal. Two, I am going to post something on my blog every day that NaNoWriMo runs.  The reason for the blog post requirement is to give myself a writing challenge, but perhaps one not as aggressive as NaNo.  I tend to get lazy if not given a challenge, and lately trying to get any of the half-baked idea’s out of my head and onto my blog has been a challenge. 

For all those that are taking up the pen and pouring out the words, Good Luck!  Happy Writing, and if all else fails, kill a character. 

Last one Standing

Not all sibling relationships are harmonious. I have gone for years with out uttering a word to my siblings. To some people this would be an ideal relationship, to other people it would be a nightmare. It all depends on the sort of relationship you have with your siblings.

My brother and I have figured this whole sibling relationship out. The goal is to be the last one standing. As far as we know we are the only two left.  The youngest brother passed on a little over a year ago  and the oldest sister is presumed to have passed on.  We are not entirely sure if she was eaten by wild dogs or just went to commune with the nature.  Either way, I am not going camping anytime soon, (I read Wytches,  I know what to expect.)

There are rules to being the last wizard standing.  (Wizard, sibling... Same thing) It is much like the assassins guild, it is going to take a fair amount of planning and elegance.  You can't just up and knife them in the spleen, you have to get away cleanly also with nothing linking you to that life exipiration date.  That is where elegance and planning come into play. 

My brother and I have a birthday in the same month and this latest attempt on both our parts was perfect. Birthday gifts are the gifts that keep on giving.  It was the if I give you the tools, you will do it your self, in a Darwin Awards sort of way plan that both of us had, that left me laughing at our genius. 

For my birthday my brother sent me a grow your own mushroom kit and assured me that they were edible. It could be considered a thoughtful gift, considering my love for cooking and love for mushrooms, or it could be a subtle way of me poisoning myself, because after all, he didn't make me eat the mushroom, just gave me to the tools to grow it.  It would be my fault, because every one knows you just don't eat random mushrooms.  Clever my brother is. 

For his birthday I got him nunchucks and a set of sais. I could be the best sister in the world, because I know that he needs to embrace his inner Ninja Turtle and the only way to do that is to be armed like a Ninja Turtle.  Or I could be devious and have given him instruments of bodily destruction that if he tries to use them, he could hurt himself.  Sneaky I am.  

I feel like it was a stalemate this round, both of us will survive these gifts, but it has given me some new ideas for the next gift giving holiday.  I am hoping this is a long drawn out game of last wizard standing, because the best part is seeing what the next move is. 

Quilt of Books

My dear friends decided that they wanted to combine DNA. I was and am very excited for them. They live in the harsh New England area and it is said to get a fair bit brisk there than it does in my location.  I had this brilliant idea that I would make them a book quilt.  Books are unisex and everyone of any size and shape can enjoy them and they can grow with you and help you grow.
Quilts are warm and help you survive through the winter.  It was a perfect combination in my mind.

The only hitch in that plan, is that while I have done quilts in the past, I haven't really done a quilt.  Normally my mother and I will work on a quilt together. My job normally has something to do with the acquisition of fabric and supplies and the manual labor of hand tying it when it has been assembled.  My job has never been the math in the quilt, until now.  My mother was unavailable to assist in this adventure, and with the help of some creative excel spreadsheet mapping, I had a plan and some math flushed out.

Where The Wild Things Are

The plan was simple.  I have one large block that I draw a book cover on and then I have color block around the side of it. Then it all gets sewn together on a flat sheet with batting and add a border. It would test not only my artistic skills, but my limited sewing skills. It was a simple plan and I gave myself two weeks to get it accomplished in time for their shower.

The beautiful thing about math, is that number don't lie, however if you ignore them or perhaps don't pay attention to them, then things get a little interesting. All off that math I spent a day mapping out turned out to be mostly useless, because I bought the wrong sheet size in my supplies gathering, and had to wing it from there on out.

I could go through the ins and outs of what it takes to make a quilt and how much fun it is to try and do anything with a super helpful cat that thinks that it is his job to lay on everything or chew on any of the strips of fabric, but I won't.  I had promised that I would give a guide to the book covers that was used on the blanket. This is that guide. From the top row, where Iggins is standing going left to right is the following:


1. The Hobbit
2. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
3. Brisinger
4. Pride & Prejudice
5. Dune
6. Moby Dick
7. Alice in Wonderland
8. Don Quixote
9. Disc World (I couldn't choose just one book!)
10. The Last Unicorn
11. Harry Potter (Again I couldn't pick just one!)
12. We Have Always Lived in the Castle
13. Peter Rabbit
14. Where the Side Walk Ends
15. Where the Wild Things Ate
16. Sherlock Holmes (Okay so maybe there are several book series on here, but they were needed!)
17. Game of Thrones
18. Batman (Frank Miller's Batman was one of the first graphic novels according to my husband and everyone needs Batman in their life.)
19. The Phantom Tollbooth.
20. The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe  21. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.

I had a lot of fun working on this, and while it might not be a perfect quilt with all the straight lines and defined lines that my mother would have done, but I am still proud of it.  It was fun to think about what sort of books should be on the quilt and whether or not I could mimic any of the art. My husband was a great support in looking for images for inspiration and listening to him campaign as to which books he felt should be on the quilt.  If anything my friends have a reading list they can pass down to future generations.

Brain Monkey Screams at Me

It is okay not to hit goals. Or at least that is what I tell myself.  Today is the last day in June, and I can without a single doubt in my heart tell you that I did not make my goal of utilizing every single cook book that I own within a year. I made a healthy dent in them, but I am not even close to being done.  I am not going to get through twenty cook books in a single day, and I am going to be okay with this.

I like having goals and when I don't meet them, then the little monkeys in my brain get all hyper active and throw horrible thoughts around.  They eat at  me and I can't help but think what I could have done better, or how I could have planned better. It is one of those things that can throw me in a mental rut until I reconcile the reason for not hitting the goal and what I am going to do to reach it.  I have had an entire month to brood over this when I realized that even if I pushed it wasn't going to happen.

Part of my little brain monkeys scream at me, If I not going to meet and exceed the goal, what is the point of having the goal to begin with! The rest of my brain asks, What was the point of trying to  use every cookbook you own with in a year? What were you  trying to accomplish, and did you accomplish it by not accomplishing the goal?   All the questions float around in my head and demand attention. I am going to address them, so that I can move onto other things and have the little brain monkeys shut the heck up for a little bit.

What was the point of trying to use every cookbook you own with in a year?

I needed a change and a challenge to change. I get stuck in ruts and food is just an example of that rut. I eat the same things over and over again and make the same things over and over again.  I get stuck. Attempting to use every cookbook I owned for at least one new recipe, would nudge me out of that rut and also help me with other ruts that I create for myself out of habit and laziness.

Did I change and challenge myself?

Short answer is yes.  It made me uncomfortable to do things that I have never done before. It made me broaden my horizon not just on food, but also in how I communicate with people.  I have always been the sort of person that will feed a person if I care about them, but this challenge had me talking to people and sharing my triumphs and failures.

What is the point of having a goal if you aren't going to meet or exceed it?

Something that I constantly tell have to remind myself is that a goal is a mark of measurement, but not all things fall with in the same categories of measurement.  I have to be realistic in what my capabilities are and be flexible in what the out come is. If I didn't meet the goal, does that mean it is unattainable, or is there another lesson that I need to learn, or did the goal become unimportant?

While not actually meeting the goal of using every cookbook with in a year, I achieved the result I wanted of challenging and changing myself and broadening my point of view. Just because I didn't make this particular goal, does not mean that I should give up and never cook again. It just means that I need to keep pushing and utilizing all of my resources and continue to keep trying new things and new recipes and learn to be okay with the results.

Remember the Mini Sausage Roll

I was going through my cookbooks and realized that I had accomplished two cookbooks that I had not blogged about.  I thought that I would take this lazy Sunday morning, where the snow is coming down in delicate manner and try to remember what these recipes, while sipping a hot cup of Earl Grey.

A couple of weeks ago, we had Kung Fu movie day at the house. From early in the morning till the blurry hours of the night, we and several friends over to watch a large succession of Kung Fu movies, ate the foods and drank all the drinks.  I think that having the friends over is a perfect reason to experiment with finger food.  Cracking open the Best Ever Appetizers, Starters & First Courses cookbook (another book from Hermes House)  was a good start to finding something good to eat.

The recipe that I found was a Mini Sausage Rolls, and it was ridiculously easy to make, or at least I from what I remember it was easy to make. It was sausage, onion, spices and pie crust all rolled together and baked.  (I had store bought pie crust, because I still can't make a descent pie crust.)

The Mini Sausage Rolls all got consumed, which I think is a good sign that they were passable. I have been told that they turned out well, and that the ones that I rolled thin, were better than the thick rolls, but over all I don't remember.  I just know that Jackie Chan punched a lot of things that day, and everyone fell asleep in Battlefield Baseball and that I still love Kung Fu Hustle will all my heart. I might have to make this recipe again, just so that I can remember more about it and not just the movies that I watched that day.

The other cookbook that I had used was a Thai cookbook, that also is apart of the Hermes House publishing line. I am sure that my addictions to these cookbooks had a lot to do with the fact that I worked in a book store that constantly had me fixing the display and that everything looks so good and simple to make.  Pork Belly and Five Spices was a testament to something that was rather easy to make and tasted awesome.

It has been several weeks since I made this, but from what I do remember is that I had to buy fish sauce for this recipe, and that is the one thing that has never been in my pantry until this moment, and it was not the easiest thing to find at my local grocery store.  I ended up finding it in the International Section of the grocery store. I think that next time I make this recipe, I am going to go to an specialty Asian grocer to pick up the ingredients.

The one thing that I can say about this recipe is that the finished product did look like the picture. Very few things that I make ever actually look like the picture. The fact that this one did, just proves how easy it is to make this recipe. I am looking forward to trying other recipes in this book, and if you ever see a copy in the bargain bin, I would pick it up.

Mine

How it is supposed to look

Jell-O of Doom

I made a grave miscalculation. I thought that Jell-O Classic Recipes was going to be an easy cookbook.  I did not count of my lack of patience, or that I was going to have a breakdown of logic.  I think that any one that has the foresight and the planning to make at least half of the recipes, deserve an award. Almost every step requires you to wait at least an hour before you do the next step. It is not one of those throw together desserts that turn out awesome.  Jell-O is a dessert that you need to be committed with plenty of hours to spare.  I do not deserve any sort of award for patience when it comes to Jell-O, in face after this little experiment I might deserve an award for creating the most god-awful concoction ever in less than six hours with four ingredients.  You may think that I am exaggerating, but alas and alack I am not spinning a tale.  

Creamy Fruited Mold looked deceptively simple.  Pick any flavor of Jell-O, add any fruit to the mix and add whipped cream. I think I took “Any Fruit” a  little too liberally. Cranberries are a super fruit, or at least I have been lead to believe this through various media outlets.  Cranberries and Jell-O are not friends.  I thought that if I used a strawberry flavored Jell-O, that I find too sweet and added the tart little berry, the flavor would mellow each other out and it would be a symphony on the taste buds. 

It was a symphony of discord. If I was have truly thought this out, I might have realized that the whipped cream was going to cut down on the sweet factor of the strawberry and that perhaps whole cranberries were not best fruit to use.  I did not think this through. It wasn’t until I took a heaping spoonful of pink fluff with the cranberries lurking inside did I get the realization that I had done something really wrong. 

Chomping into a spoonful of raw cranberries made me feel like an old Gusher commercial where my insides where trying to be my outsides and that death might be a true option to escape the utter tartness of this super fruit.  There was a moment where my jaws locked up and my eyes began to water. Cranberries were not a good idea.  In fact they were a bad idea. A very bad idea and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be able to move my mouth again since it had seized up. The clenching of my jaw caused me to salivate, and eventually diluted the extreme cranberry flavor, which slowly unclenched my jaw, all the while drooling on myself.  I made a grave miscalculation and created the Jell-O of Doom.  

It seems like every step forward I make in harnessing my skills in the kitchen, I end up taking a step backwards in the weirdest way.  Lesson learned, don’t trust Jell-O when they say “any fruit” and never trust a cranberry. They will both betray you in the end. 

Poland and Ireland on a Plate

I think that winter is made for eating a sleeping. Since I am not allowed to hibernate through the winter, it is only logical that I spend way more time eating than I probably should. I did a mental tally of the cookbooks that I still have to utilize before June 30^th for this Cookbook Challenge, and I am still behind. It doesn’t matter that I may have acquired several for the Christmas holiday, I should still be further ahead than I am. It also doesn’t help that when I walk into a book store, I am drawn like a magnet to a lodestone to the cookbook section.

In an attempt to make some head way on the books that I already have, I have started to use multiple cookbooks at one time for a meal.  This has mixed results. Not bad results, but mixed, because some where I forget to take a picture of something and then debate on if it is esthetically pleasing to take pictures of food glopped together on my dinner plate.   In the end I suppose it doesn’t matter because it is all going to end up in my stomach in the end. (Insert evil cackle here.)

The Bermingham House

Every Wednesday we have was I dubbed as “Nerd Night” at my house. This is where my husband a long with a motley assortment of friends and family come over and eat food, watch a really bad movie and discuss a variety of off the wall topics. My part of this is has to do with the “eat food”. I prepare the food, which makes them the perfect subjects for experimental recipes in this challenge. This past Wednesday they had the pleasure of a mixed culture faire, where Poland met Ireland on the dinner plate and no potatoes were harmed in the process.  Literally there were no potatoes harmed in the process.

Scanning the cooks books I found a lovely stuffed tomato recipe called Mushroom stuffed Tomatoes in my Best of Polish Cooking compiled by Karen West that seemed like it was meant to be a natural side dish for Bermingham Chicken out of my Irish Countryhouse Cooking by Rosie Tinne. I am pretty sure that there is no such thing as a normal recipe. As I scanned the ingredients for the chicken disk, I realized that two slices of ham is a lot of ham. I am not sure if the slices they are talking about in the recipe are the inch thick slices that I picked up at the grocery store or if they were talking about sandwich thin slices. I decided to face it and to use just one large ham slice and cube it instead of two slices and lay them flat at the bottom of my fireproof dish. (The recipe was very specific that I used a fireproof dish, I am going to assume that all of my bake ware if fire proof, because why else would it be able to go in the oven?) Other than the slight confusion with the ham, the overall result of the dish was somewhat like an inside out Chicken Cordon Bleu.  Ham and Chicken are meant to be meaty friends in a cheese sauce. 

The Stuffed Tomatoes were not trouble free as I had hoped they would be.  I thought that I would have issues with coring a tomato and filling it.  That was actually easy.  If anything out of this whole challenge I am building some culinary skills and am a lot more confident wielding knives.  The trouble that I had with the tomatoes was the ingredients that were not listed.  There came a spot in the instructions where it told me to add onion and sauté.  I had no problem adding onion, if the onions were listed in the ingredients to begin with. I ended up scrambling to dice an onion to add to the mix.  Then at the end of the instructions it said to add spices.  I had already added salt and pepper and there were no other spices listed, so I wasn’t sure if this is where I was to get funky with the tomato or not. I just settled for more salt and pepper and hopped that it turned out well. 

Overall both recipes did not cause bodily harm to any of the tasters.  Some suggestions of adding rice to either dish came about, but if that was the only thing I would consider this a success and can cross both of the cookbooks off of my list. It is often amazing how it doesn't matter where food is from, that when it is done well it doesn't matter what is paired with what. It is a wonderful medley in the mouth.