Please tell T thank you for me. I'm always up for some flattery!
I'm so glad you were able to get your own place. Overheated bedroom aside, it still sounds like an improvement. I hope you can find a temporary solution that will help make you more comfortable. Would it help to use a fan or two to blow the cooler air from the kitchen into your bedroom? I think I'd be tempted to get an air mattress and set up camp in the kitchen every night when it was time to go to sleep.
I'd love to see more of your food photos. I enjoyed the ones you used to post. I'm afraid my food pictures make my meals look very unappetizing.
April-May and September-October are the months when the temperatures are most pleasant and the city is its prettiest. In the Spring the temperatures are warm without being too hot and everything is green and in bloom, in Autumn the temperatures start getting crisp at night and the leaves turn color. Because of the swings in temperature and rainfall, the plants here tend to bloom all at the same time instead of spreading out the blooming season throughout the year. That makes the pollen count rise and fall more sharply. August = ragweed season. It makes the beginning of the school year so fun.
We have some lakes and reservoirs and all sorts of farm ponds in Kansas and we're right on the border with Missouri where there are more, and much larger, lakes. We've been taking sailing lessons at Shawnee Mission Park Lake, which is about 120 acres and is one of the smaller lakes in the KC area. A bit like sailing in a teacup. We're thinking about trying one of the cereal bowl sized lakes once we get a little more experience.
I can't comment on your page, so I'm commenting here: Many scrumptious looking pictures! That's quite an impressive variety of foods. You're doing better at building a repertoire of dishes that Dan and I are and we've got years of experience on you. We really need to get out of our dietary rut. It's just so, so easy to fall back on the old tried and true reliables when Dan and I are tired and don't want to think about how to work around everyone's tastes and dietary restrictions.
Bedrooms need to be cool so you can get a decent night's sleep. It sound like there is no way to do that in your apartment. There are many pluses to living in a house instead of an apartment and a lot of them have to do with not having to share walls, ceilings, and floors with your neighbors. It would be nice to have a driveway/garage, too, even if you don't need to park a car in it, but I don't know if that's a common thing in your neck of the woods. When we lived in the D.C. metro it was common to have a driveway or parking pad but you had to move up into a much more expensive neighborhood to get a garage. Here in Kansas almost everyone has a driveway and garage or carport.
I don't know why, but I can't type anything into the comment box on either of your last two entries. I still can't. I tried it on both just a few seconds ago.
Lol at you cooking my dinners for me. Somebody needs to have teleportation superpowers.
Weird. Well, I'm now overriding the default settings on the most recent two entries; maybe the defaults were messed up and were set to allow no comments. LJ has changed a lot in a year, so I don't know how to fix it beyond that...
Deeennaaaar. Tonight I had swedish meatballs that we made on the weekend (so the flavors could stew and because I had time then), and a medley of potatoes, green beans, and mushrooms in a garlic and parsley sauce (pre-made from Trader Joe's--too salty). (T had his meatballs over farfalle. I don't know where to find egg noodles.) Shall I teleport to cook, or shall I teleport the food?
Not eating gluten-free. A few people at work are diabetic or pre-diabetic, so I wondered if there were baked treats recipes that were both sugar- and flour-free.
I've been eating a low-carb diet for a couple of weeks now, because I realized eating solid carbohydrates as the main dish in a meal (e.g., bread, pasta, rice) is for some reason bad for my digestive system (i.e., I get bloated, constipated, and gassy, kind of like lactose intolerance without the pain). A friend had the same symptoms plus high blood sugar problems so he recommended that I try this type of diet.
LiveJournal spell-check doesn't think "teleport" is a word. Yes, I totally meant heliport or telephoto (what is this even).
I vote we forget the food and both teleport somewhere cooler for a day or two. I'm sick of these 90°+ days. I just want to enjoy sitting outside without breaking into a sweat.
Well, I can apparently leave a comment on your LJ now, but I can't see what I've typed in the comment box, nor are any of the labels on the buttons visible. I think that may be caused by the background and text colors being the same or so close as to not make much difference. I can't say for sure whether I just didn't catch it before or not, but I think when I tried to comment previously that nothing could be written in the comment box at all.
We usually get egg noodles either in the pasta aisle (cheaper) or sometimes in the freezer section (better taste and texture). The difference in availability must be a regional demand thing. The mid-west is still in love with its carbs.
We had bruschetta for dinner tonight. We had bruschetta three nights ago, too. And five nights ago. We've been eating bruschetta 2-3 times per week lately and something else with tomatoes for the meals in between. Can't. keep. up.
How are you feeling now that you're eating low carb? Are you noticing any improvements?
When I got home today around 7:35PM, the bedroom was 98F. Ugh.
Low-carb diet feels good--not especially physically, besides being able to avoid the symptoms I described earlier--it's mostly a good feeling to know you have enough willpower to constantly keep to a goal. The first couple weeks, I felt hungry more frequently, partly because there was nothing to eat. I think I also can't gain weight as easily without going off the diet. Because your body uses ketosis instead of glycolysis, you can eat lots of fat and just metabolize it instead of storing it. I gain weight quickly. This weekend I didn't stick to the diet because it was 100F or hotter all weekend, T wanted to eat out (takeout BBQ), and I didn't do anything except watch a lot of The Mentalist S06 and Top Chef S10, and I already have extra fat.
Well, at least you have fresh tomatoes. T bought tomatoes and he didn't look carefully and picked a bunch with mold. I had to cut off the bad parts and freeze it. It's also hard to get zucchini around here. They were in season for, like, a week. I finally got some at the farmer's market last week. This looks delicious (and low-carb): http://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/pork/zucchini-pepperoni-pizza-frittata
Yuck at those temperatures. We had a brief (thank the powers that be) heat wave with the highs in the 100s, but our temperatures are blissfully back down in the 70s and 80s. We're keeping the windows wide open while we can. I hope your temperatures are dropping to a more comfortable range, too.
We do a zucchini/squash/onion fry up that is a nice side for anything Italian. Zucchini fare pretty well as a container plant. Think you can grow your own?
Caprese salad looks so good. We're trying to avoid dairy (less headaches, sinus infections, and other problems when we do), but sometimes you just gotta...
We use our immersion blender daily for salad dressing, sauces, soups, smoothies, etc. I'm sure we use it for foods that don't start with the letter s, too. A good immersion blender is one of the small kitchen appliances I feel is well worth the cost and the counter top real estate.
I'm reading what an immersion blender is. When I saw a picture, I didn't understand how it doesn't just splash your food all over the place (I still don't). Is it battery-powered? I don't know when one would use a food processor vs a blender vs an immersion blender vs a hand mixer. Things I might make:
1. brownie and cake batter 2. pie dough 3. coffee-cocoa drinks 4. minced garlic (will an immersion blender blend the garlic or just knock it around? does it have blades or is it more like a milk frother?) 5. hollandaise sauce (so tiring!)
Thank you. --Person who wasn't sure how to use a hair dryer until three months ago
No blow dryer until 3 months ago? I know there have been times you didn't need one because you kept your hair short, but there have been other times you grew your hair out. Anyway, awesome that you're using one now! Your hair looks really pretty in that picture of you in front of the sewing machine.
You can get either a corded immersion blender or a cordless immersion blender. We used to have a cordless blender. We kept the rechargeable battery in it's charging station on the counter and just popped it into the blender when we needed it. It was convenient, but it didn't have enough oomph to deal with the frozen fruit in the smoothies. When we had to replace the blender we got one with a cord. For us, the additional power and endless electricity was worth giving up the ease of not having to worry about where the outlet was or what the cord could be dragged through.
We either blend in a pitcher or a wide mouthed Mason jar (very convenient - just pop a lid on the jar to store sauces and dressings in the refrigerator - less mess and waste). The steep sides of the vessel help contain splatter, but you still need to remember to immerse the blade before you start blending and stop blending before you pull the blade out, just as you would with the beaters on a mixer. You'll fling stuff all over every horizontal and vertical surface if you aren't careful.
We've got several different blades in our set and I don't remember what all of them are supposed to do. We mostly use the blender blade and the whisk attachment to blend, puree, and whip (the whisk should serve you well for Hollandaise sauce and meringues). I've never tried using it for cake batter, but I assume it can handle it okay. I haven't made cakes or cupcakes in years and when I did I used a hand mixer or a standing mixer. Pancake batter, brownies, and biscuit doughs can easily be over-worked and should always be mixed by hand. We've got a little chopper attachment for the blender that is supposed to mince/chop onions, garlic, nuts, crumbs, etc. We tried it once and decided the cleanup was more work than chopping and mincing by hand.
I've never tried to make a pie dough with the blender, I've always done it all by hand when I've done it at all. Mostly, we just buy the pie dough in the store. Maybe I'll try a little experiment, at least to see how well it cuts the butter into the dry ingredients. I've kind of been wanting to try my hand at chicken pot pie and Sheperd's pie. Overall, though, I wouldn't want to use it for heavier doughs, like pie doughs, cookie doughs, or bread doughs, or for some types of frostings. For that I think you're better off with a mixer, preferably a standing mixer.
I've never had a food processor, so I can't say much about them, but some of them allow you to interchange different attachments for blending, processing, mixing, etc. My mother had one and loved it. I used to have to take hers apart and clean it. Did. Not. Like. I guess I might be more interested in one if we had more counter and storage space, because it's handy for some things. Like at Christmas, when we're making 12-8"x8" apple crisps to give out as gifts and 2-9"x13" apple crisps for the buffet. Also, if you want a food processor to really work for you, you need to get one that won't burn out because you tried to use it to slice something tougher than a cucumber and that costs some serious money. Plastic gearses, we hates them.
Dan and I took a road trip through Missouri-Arkansas-Oklahoma last month, I put up some pictures. We got a bit farther south than we did the last time we took the motorcycle down there. This time we actually made it to the Ouachitas and Boston Mountains. We met a lot of survivalist/wannabe rebels/tea party types. Who the hell strikes up a conversation with a perfect stranger by telling them how massive your gun collection is? Lots of people in Arkansas, apparently. I love that part of the country, but I don't know if I can take the people.
Thanks! It's not blow-dried in the photo with the sewing machine. I cut my bangs unevenly there, too. :( It gets more curly and voluminous because I don't know how to style and I hold my head upside-down and blow it because the point for me is just to not have a wet scalp. Hurrr.
I /might/ get an immersion blender. Watching one on Amazon. Still undecided. T likes mixing things for me by hand.
Re: gun collection--maybe they were trying to hit on you by impressing you.
It looks so shiny and healthy and luxuriant. I stopped using a blow dryer yeas ago, but all I ever did with it was the same thing you're doing now - held my head upside-down and dry my hair at the roots. I think big hair/volume is coming back in right now, so you're right on trend.
I'm so glad you were able to get your own place. Overheated bedroom aside, it still sounds like an improvement. I hope you can find a temporary solution that will help make you more comfortable. Would it help to use a fan or two to blow the cooler air from the kitchen into your bedroom? I think I'd be tempted to get an air mattress and set up camp in the kitchen every night when it was time to go to sleep.
I'd love to see more of your food photos. I enjoyed the ones you used to post. I'm afraid my food pictures make my meals look very unappetizing.
April-May and September-October are the months when the temperatures are most pleasant and the city is its prettiest. In the Spring the temperatures are warm without being too hot and everything is green and in bloom, in Autumn the temperatures start getting crisp at night and the leaves turn color. Because of the swings in temperature and rainfall, the plants here tend to bloom all at the same time instead of spreading out the blooming season throughout the year. That makes the pollen count rise and fall more sharply. August = ragweed season. It makes the beginning of the school year so fun.
We have some lakes and reservoirs and all sorts of farm ponds in Kansas and we're right on the border with Missouri where there are more, and much larger, lakes. We've been taking sailing lessons at Shawnee Mission Park Lake, which is about 120 acres and is one of the smaller lakes in the KC area. A bit like sailing in a teacup. We're thinking about trying one of the cereal bowl sized lakes once we get a little more experience.
Reply
Reply
Bedrooms need to be cool so you can get a decent night's sleep. It sound like there is no way to do that in your apartment. There are many pluses to living in a house instead of an apartment and a lot of them have to do with not having to share walls, ceilings, and floors with your neighbors. It would be nice to have a driveway/garage, too, even if you don't need to park a car in it, but I don't know if that's a common thing in your neck of the woods. When we lived in the D.C. metro it was common to have a driveway or parking pad but you had to move up into a much more expensive neighborhood to get a garage. Here in Kansas almost everyone has a driveway and garage or carport.
Reply
Reply
Lol at you cooking my dinners for me. Somebody needs to have teleportation superpowers.
Are you eating gluten free now?
Reply
Deeennaaaar. Tonight I had swedish meatballs that we made on the weekend (so the flavors could stew and because I had time then), and a medley of potatoes, green beans, and mushrooms in a garlic and parsley sauce (pre-made from Trader Joe's--too salty). (T had his meatballs over farfalle. I don't know where to find egg noodles.) Shall I teleport to cook, or shall I teleport the food?
Not eating gluten-free. A few people at work are diabetic or pre-diabetic, so I wondered if there were baked treats recipes that were both sugar- and flour-free.
I've been eating a low-carb diet for a couple of weeks now, because I realized eating solid carbohydrates as the main dish in a meal (e.g., bread, pasta, rice) is for some reason bad for my digestive system (i.e., I get bloated, constipated, and gassy, kind of like lactose intolerance without the pain). A friend had the same symptoms plus high blood sugar problems so he recommended that I try this type of diet.
LiveJournal spell-check doesn't think "teleport" is a word. Yes, I totally meant heliport or telephoto (what is this even).
Reply
Well, I can apparently leave a comment on your LJ now, but I can't see what I've typed in the comment box, nor are any of the labels on the buttons visible. I think that may be caused by the background and text colors being the same or so close as to not make much difference. I can't say for sure whether I just didn't catch it before or not, but I think when I tried to comment previously that nothing could be written in the comment box at all.
We usually get egg noodles either in the pasta aisle (cheaper) or sometimes in the freezer section (better taste and texture). The difference in availability must be a regional demand thing. The mid-west is still in love with its carbs.
We had bruschetta for dinner tonight. We had bruschetta three nights ago, too. And five nights ago. We've been eating bruschetta 2-3 times per week lately and something else with tomatoes for the meals in between. Can't. keep. up.
How are you feeling now that you're eating low carb? Are you noticing any improvements?
Reply
Low-carb diet feels good--not especially physically, besides being able to avoid the symptoms I described earlier--it's mostly a good feeling to know you have enough willpower to constantly keep to a goal. The first couple weeks, I felt hungry more frequently, partly because there was nothing to eat. I think I also can't gain weight as easily without going off the diet. Because your body uses ketosis instead of glycolysis, you can eat lots of fat and just metabolize it instead of storing it. I gain weight quickly. This weekend I didn't stick to the diet because it was 100F or hotter all weekend, T wanted to eat out (takeout BBQ), and I didn't do anything except watch a lot of The Mentalist S06 and Top Chef S10, and I already have extra fat.
Well, at least you have fresh tomatoes. T bought tomatoes and he didn't look carefully and picked a bunch with mold. I had to cut off the bad parts and freeze it. It's also hard to get zucchini around here. They were in season for, like, a week. I finally got some at the farmer's market last week. This looks delicious (and low-carb): http://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/pork/zucchini-pepperoni-pizza-frittata
This soup looks creamy and tasty. Wish I had a blender. Pureeing literally anything and dotting the plate with anything is so "nouvelle cuisine," which I hate, but I don't mind if the blending is for a soup.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/roasted-tomato-soup-recipe.html
I also love caprese salad if you can get fresh mozzarella and basil.
Reply
We do a zucchini/squash/onion fry up that is a nice side for anything Italian. Zucchini fare pretty well as a container plant. Think you can grow your own?
Caprese salad looks so good. We're trying to avoid dairy (less headaches, sinus infections, and other problems when we do), but sometimes you just gotta...
We use our immersion blender daily for salad dressing, sauces, soups, smoothies, etc. I'm sure we use it for foods that don't start with the letter s, too. A good immersion blender is one of the small kitchen appliances I feel is well worth the cost and the counter top real estate.
Reply
1. brownie and cake batter
2. pie dough
3. coffee-cocoa drinks
4. minced garlic (will an immersion blender blend the garlic or just knock it around? does it have blades or is it more like a milk frother?)
5. hollandaise sauce (so tiring!)
Thank you.
--Person who wasn't sure how to use a hair dryer until three months ago
Reply
You can get either a corded immersion blender or a cordless immersion blender. We used to have a cordless blender. We kept the rechargeable battery in it's charging station on the counter and just popped it into the blender when we needed it. It was convenient, but it didn't have enough oomph to deal with the frozen fruit in the smoothies. When we had to replace the blender we got one with a cord. For us, the additional power and endless electricity was worth giving up the ease of not having to worry about where the outlet was or what the cord could be dragged through.
We either blend in a pitcher or a wide mouthed Mason jar (very convenient - just pop a lid on the jar to store sauces and dressings in the refrigerator - less mess and waste). The steep sides of the vessel help contain splatter, but you still need to remember to immerse the blade before you start blending and stop blending before you pull the blade out, just as you would with the beaters on a mixer. You'll fling stuff all over every horizontal and vertical surface if you aren't careful.
We've got several different blades in our set and I don't remember what all of them are supposed to do. We mostly use the blender blade and the whisk attachment to blend, puree, and whip (the whisk should serve you well for Hollandaise sauce and meringues). I've never tried using it for cake batter, but I assume it can handle it okay. I haven't made cakes or cupcakes in years and when I did I used a hand mixer or a standing mixer. Pancake batter, brownies, and biscuit doughs can easily be over-worked and should always be mixed by hand. We've got a little chopper attachment for the blender that is supposed to mince/chop onions, garlic, nuts, crumbs, etc. We tried it once and decided the cleanup was more work than chopping and mincing by hand.
I've never tried to make a pie dough with the blender, I've always done it all by hand when I've done it at all. Mostly, we just buy the pie dough in the store. Maybe I'll try a little experiment, at least to see how well it cuts the butter into the dry ingredients. I've kind of been wanting to try my hand at chicken pot pie and Sheperd's pie. Overall, though, I wouldn't want to use it for heavier doughs, like pie doughs, cookie doughs, or bread doughs, or for some types of frostings. For that I think you're better off with a mixer, preferably a standing mixer.
I've never had a food processor, so I can't say much about them, but some of them allow you to interchange different attachments for blending, processing, mixing, etc. My mother had one and loved it. I used to have to take hers apart and clean it. Did. Not. Like. I guess I might be more interested in one if we had more counter and storage space, because it's handy for some things. Like at Christmas, when we're making 12-8"x8" apple crisps to give out as gifts and 2-9"x13" apple crisps for the buffet. Also, if you want a food processor to really work for you, you need to get one that won't burn out because you tried to use it to slice something tougher than a cucumber and that costs some serious money. Plastic gearses, we hates them.
Dan and I took a road trip through Missouri-Arkansas-Oklahoma last month, I put up some pictures. We got a bit farther south than we did the last time we took the motorcycle down there. This time we actually made it to the Ouachitas and Boston Mountains. We met a lot of survivalist/wannabe rebels/tea party types. Who the hell strikes up a conversation with a perfect stranger by telling them how massive your gun collection is? Lots of people in Arkansas, apparently. I love that part of the country, but I don't know if I can take the people.
Reply
I /might/ get an immersion blender. Watching one on Amazon. Still undecided. T likes mixing things for me by hand.
Re: gun collection--maybe they were trying to hit on you by impressing you.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment