eat your heart out, white castle!
last night marshall and i made our own white castle burgers. we used ground round, an aged english cheddar, and sauteed onions. they were served on mini brioche rolls. served alongside was a freshly-made iceberg wedge salad with cherry tomatoes, crisp bacon, and a homemade bleu cheese dressing. it was delicious. i was worried about the beef because when i came home, it hadn't completely thawed yet (we were originally going to have these last week, but didn't get the time to) and i had to use the microwave. i HATE using the microwave with raw meat. inevitably there is always bits that end up cooking and other bits which end up still being frozen. the risk here being that the meat ends up mushy and dry. i also didn't know how to season them. i've never made straight burgers before (i always put chopped veggies in mine). i figured i'd stick with the basics: salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, and a wee bit of breadcrumbs for binding. i mixed it together and formed 7 little patties. i stuck the in the fridge while i prepared everything else, to make sure they were all in even temperature before going on the grill. since i needed to render down the bacon for the salad, i decided to saute my onions in the bacon fat after the bacon was cooked. this was an excellent idea as it gave the onions a lovely color and added just a little bit of flavor. i also didn't have to salt the onion either, as there was plenty of salt given from the bacon. everything was awesome. the sliders were juicy and flavorful and the brioche rolls were an excellent choice. the onions were perfect and the wedge salad really complimented the dish. since the sliders were a little heavy, the crisp, crunchy, cool salad cleaned out your mouth. i really enjoyed this dinner and i'll keep it handy for future dinners or perhaps even parties. :P
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marshall taught me how to cycle the fish tank last night, since i would need to do this while he's away for the next 2 weeks. normally we would cycle out 9 gallons of water, but since i cannot lift the 5-gallon water jug past my waist, i'll only be responsible for 4 gallons (i can easily hoist up the 2-gallon jugs). it was a little nerve-wracking sticking my hands and arms in the tank with all the little fishies swimming around inside. none of them bite, of course, but it still makes me a little squeamish. i also gave everything in the filter a quick rinse in some of the discarded water. we've been having some problems with our water recently. it's been a nice murky green for the last month or so. we aren't sure why, either. it's not algae and the water is constantly at a cool temperature, never going above the green zone. i think i'll take in a sample to dolphin and see what they say. i'm not sure when the last time marshall added salt or water "cleanser" to the tank, but maybe it's due? i dunno. it's just not as clean and clear as it was during the first months after putting it together.
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after cleaning the tank, marshall and i sat down to watch HP5. this movie comes in a very close second with HP3 as my favorite, but after watching it last night, i think it's practically tied. i love the stories for each of these movies, but i LOVE the editing and flow of the move in HP5 better than HP3. in the book, there's an emphasis on the daily prophet newspaper. the book is also huge and there's a lot going on. the movie takes advantage and uses cut scenes showing the newspaper with stories happening that they wouldn't be able to show in full with characters and such. i also love the animation of the newspapers, as well, with the movie pictures and segueing into the actual scene the pictures show. it's just really cool and very imaginative. i also LOVE helena bonham carter as bellatrix lastrange. oh my god, they couldn't have found a better person to play that bat-shit crazy woman.
i'm now all caught up for tonight. i'm so freakin excited! 8D
p.s. the guy they cast as fenrir greyback is HOT!
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this morning my body decided to celebrate bastille day by eating it during my morning run. marshall and i were a little more than 2 blocks away from home coming back and my toe hit a slight jutting of the pavement and i just tumbled to the ground. i tried to catch my balance, but i had too much momentum (granted, i wasn't going that fast, but i wasn't walking either) and just slammed on the sidewalk. my elbow took the brunt of everything and it got scraped up pretty badly. a couple driving by stopped to make sure i was OK. the guy came out and said that his wife is a nurse. she came soon after and asked if i was hurt anywhere else. she got me a bottle of water from her car and offered to drive us home. i told her we weren't far away and that i could walk. i mean, i didn't twist, sprain or break anything, just got a few scrapes. my elbow is dressed and wrapped and my leg got a nice coat of neosporin. i should've put some aloe on it, too, since it's just a really bad road burn. the band of my engagement ring is all scraped, too. it's rough on one side. i'm sure it can be buffed out, but it still sucks. at this point, i'm OK, just really sore. i think i bumped my head, too, as part of my head is tender. my shoulders hurt, too, but i think it's just the trauma of falling flat on the ground.
so yeah...marshall asked if i felt like a pro, now that i've encountered my first training-related injury. i suppose so, but it sucks. :(
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marshall taught me how to cycle the fish tank last night, since i would need to do this while he's away for the next 2 weeks. normally we would cycle out 9 gallons of water, but since i cannot lift the 5-gallon water jug past my waist, i'll only be responsible for 4 gallons (i can easily hoist up the 2-gallon jugs). it was a little nerve-wracking sticking my hands and arms in the tank with all the little fishies swimming around inside. none of them bite, of course, but it still makes me a little squeamish. i also gave everything in the filter a quick rinse in some of the discarded water. we've been having some problems with our water recently. it's been a nice murky green for the last month or so. we aren't sure why, either. it's not algae and the water is constantly at a cool temperature, never going above the green zone. i think i'll take in a sample to dolphin and see what they say. i'm not sure when the last time marshall added salt or water "cleanser" to the tank, but maybe it's due? i dunno. it's just not as clean and clear as it was during the first months after putting it together.
+_+_+
after cleaning the tank, marshall and i sat down to watch HP5. this movie comes in a very close second with HP3 as my favorite, but after watching it last night, i think it's practically tied. i love the stories for each of these movies, but i LOVE the editing and flow of the move in HP5 better than HP3. in the book, there's an emphasis on the daily prophet newspaper. the book is also huge and there's a lot going on. the movie takes advantage and uses cut scenes showing the newspaper with stories happening that they wouldn't be able to show in full with characters and such. i also love the animation of the newspapers, as well, with the movie pictures and segueing into the actual scene the pictures show. it's just really cool and very imaginative. i also LOVE helena bonham carter as bellatrix lastrange. oh my god, they couldn't have found a better person to play that bat-shit crazy woman.
i'm now all caught up for tonight. i'm so freakin excited! 8D
p.s. the guy they cast as fenrir greyback is HOT!
+_+_+
this morning my body decided to celebrate bastille day by eating it during my morning run. marshall and i were a little more than 2 blocks away from home coming back and my toe hit a slight jutting of the pavement and i just tumbled to the ground. i tried to catch my balance, but i had too much momentum (granted, i wasn't going that fast, but i wasn't walking either) and just slammed on the sidewalk. my elbow took the brunt of everything and it got scraped up pretty badly. a couple driving by stopped to make sure i was OK. the guy came out and said that his wife is a nurse. she came soon after and asked if i was hurt anywhere else. she got me a bottle of water from her car and offered to drive us home. i told her we weren't far away and that i could walk. i mean, i didn't twist, sprain or break anything, just got a few scrapes. my elbow is dressed and wrapped and my leg got a nice coat of neosporin. i should've put some aloe on it, too, since it's just a really bad road burn. the band of my engagement ring is all scraped, too. it's rough on one side. i'm sure it can be buffed out, but it still sucks. at this point, i'm OK, just really sore. i think i bumped my head, too, as part of my head is tender. my shoulders hurt, too, but i think it's just the trauma of falling flat on the ground.
so yeah...marshall asked if i felt like a pro, now that i've encountered my first training-related injury. i suppose so, but it sucks. :(