kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Kaylee)
When I moved in I bought a long string of garlic, thinking it would look pretty to hang up while I used it. Well, it turned out that it wasn't really set up properly for that, so I've been trying desperately to use it up (as have Tim and Ray and Dwen; it's been a group effort). It's finally getting to the point where enough of it's gone bad that it's not worth it any more, so today while I was at the store I contemplated a jar of minced garlic, like I used to buy.

And passed on it. I've gotten to a point where I enjoy it: peeling the garlic, the papery feel against my fingers. Cutting each clove up, mincing the resultant pile of garlic pieces until they're just right, careful of my fingers because I'm still learning how to keep them out of the way properly. Putting them in a pan with some olive oil to sautee for a while; the aroma, the sound. Yes, it takes longer that scooping it out of a jar, but I'm convinced it tastes better - and the _doing_ of it is so much more satisfying.
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (food)
So I made dinner last night. Started with a chicken marsala recipe, but wound up diverging wildly...

ExpandRead more... )
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (food)
1) Read the recipe. No, again. Again. Make sure you have the entire clue, not just half of it.

2) Check to see if you have the ingredients. Not just 'parsley', but 'fresh parsley'.

3) If it calls for 'chicken cutlets' but talks about said cutlets, read what it says, too. If they're supposed to be an eve quarter-inch thick? The ones from the grocery store might just not cut it.

4) Prep the ingredients first. A good chef might have the brain cells to remember to make chicken broth while dealing with chicken cutlets that are too thick, but that doesn't mean I will. Also? Juicing lemons causes lemon juice. Everywhere.

5) It says 'softened butter' for a reason. Reread #4. Twice.

6) When it works out anyway? Have a glass of wine, and enjoy.

Good Day

Dec. 4th, 2005 11:14 pm
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (courage)
I woke up earlier than I've been recently (though still later than I want to be), well-rested though I did have some weird-assed dreams. I got up and looked out the window - snow! Maybe an inch, but enough to cover everything with pretty white and that just got the day off to a good start.

I got dressed (instead of spending half the day in a bathrobe) and stuck a Trans-Siberian Orchestra album in. Spent more time listening to that and playing on the computer than I'd meant to, but ahh well; I was in far too good a mood to worry about it.

Eventually I shoveled the sidewalk, then walked up to the store to get some stuff. Shoveling _hurt_ but life goes on and the walk was lovely. One of the houses I passed was full of fresh squirrel-tracks in the snow - I noticed that both of the trees in the front yard are oaks. I didn't get to see any of the actual squirrels but they were clearly having a good time earlier.

I didn't get a lot done today but it was good to just sit and relax. The house is clean and there's not a lot I have to be doing right now. Lewis fell asleep on the couch round about five and I let him sleep - when I woke him up around six-thirty to talk about dinner, he went right back to sleep, so I decided to forge off on my own, and made chicken paprikas _nearly_ all by myself. He woke up in time to help me with the last bits, which was the only part I wasn't sure about; I could do it entirely by myself, now. It came out pretty good and we have enough leftovers for two more meals.

I got some copying done while he was napping, too; the photomasters are _almost_ all copied and soon the originals can head back to Jae in Finland. Three less boxes in our house. Oh, and Lewis looked through some of the stuff in the bedroom; that's yet more stuff I can get rid of.

Tomorrow he flies down to Norfolk and I drive up to [livejournal.com profile] baronadhemar's for a couple days. Have some errands to run before I go, and I have to pack enough sewing to keep me busy. Looking forward to it.

What with all the stress and stuff that I've been dealing with, today might not sound like much...but I spent nearly the whole time genuinely _happy_ and, well, I needed some of that.
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (gulls)
ExpandKate's Chicken Soup )

Er.

Oct. 27th, 2005 06:09 pm
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
Is oatmeal cookie batter _supposed_ to look exactly like tuna salad...?

--

Just checkin'.
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (kate)
First I typed 'shirt takes'. Well, between us, [livejournal.com profile] fosveny and I did buy three new shirts over the weekend...

--

Last Fruits

Went out to the garden last night -- after dark, in the near-freezing rain, because I've been putting it off -- to pick the last of the tomatoes and peppers. Not a bad haul, given how much I neglected my garden this year. I used some of the tomatoes in taco salad last night, and I want to actually use the rest, if they ripen enough. I don't like wasting food, and I seem to slip the worst with the stuff I've grown myself.

Got me thinking about a number of things. One, that my garden isn't well-placed; it doesn't get enough sun. I'm thinking about possibly moving it to the smaller garden along the side of the house. I wouldn't be able to plant as much but they'd do better.

The other seems to want to get too long to go into a posting called 'short takes' or even 'shirt takes', so I'm gonna break that out into something else.

--

Dreams

Snow and mountains (in my mother's backyard, no less) and fighting with my sister and fighting Bad Guys (one of whom was inexplicably [livejournal.com profile] page_of_swords in the Florida Keys. Plus a couple other bits I've already forgotten. I was busy last night.

--

Sun

Made a brief appearance earlier. Wouldn't mind seeing more.
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
So I hear a bunch of squeaking, and I turn around to see that Siegfried (the big rat) and Reinhart (the little rat) are wrestling, and Siegfried has pinned Reinhart on his back, and Reinhart is squeaking indignantly...

...mostly because Siegfried is busily _washing_ him.

They're in the same cage now, and appear to be getting along Just Fine. It was amusing - the cage and some of the things in it are new to both of them (though I also put in a bit of each of their used bedding, and their preferred sleeping-places). So they both spent about the first ten minutes running around and looking at new things, completely ignoring each other. It was hysterical.

So, things are gonna be okay.

I'm so glad I got Siegfried a brother.

--

I went walking tonight -- just up to the store and back, but I'd forgotten how much I _like_ walking at night. Especially on a crisp cool fall night, with a full moon and the scent of leaves in the air...

--

Then I made fettuccini alfredo By Myself for the First Time Ever. It was good...and so damn easy, I don't know why I didn't learn it years ago. 'Course then, the last time I tried it I messed it up, and I don't know how I did that, either.

The more I learn to cook, the more _independant_ I am that way, the happier I am, too.

--

Took Chocolate to the vet today. I was supposed to bring Samson and Taltos too, but well...didn't happen. They're _fast_.

Chocolate rode in a pillowcase, because I could _not_ get him in the damn carrier. Until he freaked out in the pillowcase, but he was in the car by then, so I let him out and he sat in my lap, fairly happily.

Turns out that the vet had a few minor emergencies this morning, so two fewer cats to deal with was a goodness. I met one of the emergencies, a mastiff with a broken leg. Two hundred pounds of _dog_. He was so big, Chocolate didn't hiss at him. I think he thought he was a horse. Sweet dog, though.

--

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna take a mental day off and go hike on the Trail or somewhere for a while. Then, Serenity, either with Jodi or by myself, depending.

*whine*

Jul. 26th, 2005 08:33 pm
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
You can't just go to the grocery store and _buy_ guacamole, can you...?
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
Boy, was it a weekend.

ExpandWeekend )

Day Off

May. 28th, 2005 03:13 am
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
No writing today. Lewis had the day off, so I took it off, too.

I kinda miss it. This is a good sign, yes?




We were up a little late last night, so I didn't get enough sleep and thus never did wake all the way up today. But I got a fair amount done anyway - caught up on the dishes this morning (necessary, when Lewis and I are home for the weekend, since a lot of cooking tends to happen), went for a doctor's appointment and wound up chatting with the guy for a while, got part of the lawn mowed (Lewis did the rest), and hauled a lot of branches down to the not-burn-pile.

I was also slightly useful in making a big pan of baklava, and making fajitas for dinner.

See, Tuesday Lewis called on the way home from work and asked what was for dinner. We had a lot of leftovers, so I proposed that we use some of them up. He remembered that we had fajita leftovers, and deiced that he wanted those. Fine, I said, but we're out of sour cream.

Anything else? he asked.

Nope, I said.

So he got home and we were out of tortillas. I offered to go and get some (being the one who hadn't checked), but he said no, I have an idea...

Tortillas are stupidly easy to make. And they taste a lot better fresh. :)

So we did that again tonight. I rolled out and cooked my very own tortilla. Yeah, not so impressive but I'm still sorta new to being able to actually cook.




And speaking of cooking: a report on the tomato bread soup. Very, very good stuff. Everyone liked it, and there are still enough leftovers to feed Lewis and I a couple more times. Not only that, but Olwyn announced that it's the only thing she's ever tasted that came close to her father's tomato soup recipe - which he took to his grave in something like 1985.

[livejournal.com profile] montuos, where did you get that recipe, anyway...?

So, good results. It wanted the Italian sausage instead of the country sausage, and we decided that it would have worked better with a much more butch bread - a good pumpernickel, maybe, or even a cut-up Philly soft pretzel (Lewis brought one home for me that day; I'd forgotten what a real one tastes like...). Easy enough to fix next time.




It seems that I never did post the original excitement with Miki. I hadn't noticed him scratching particularly, but he developed a hematoma in his left ear almost two weeks ago. I took him to the emergency place, since it was Sunday, and they told me that it was still small enough that it might drain on its own and sent me home with a bottle of Tresaderm (treats ear mites and a plethora of other things). Monday it didn't seem any worse, but by Tuesday Miki was miserable, so I called the vet. Yeah, they said, it's gonna have to be operated on. I brought him back in Wednesday for the operation, and took him home again that night.

He spent the next several days wearing a cone so he'd leave his ear alone. Round about last Friday he was trying desperately to wash his 'bits' and all he could get to was the cone, so he was washing that incessantly, and I just couldn't deal - so I let him out for a bit. And a bit the next day, and a bit the day after that, and finally yesterday I just took the thing off and figured I'd take him back in to the vet if he needed it. He didn't, and his fur is all clean now, and he's a lot happier.

He still needs antibiotics and Tresaderm twice a day, though; hence the lack of travel. He doesn't like either application of medicine very much, and I can't blame him - bubblegum-flavoured stuff I can see for humans, but for a cat...? I want _fish_ flavoured antibiotics, thank you.

For him, not for me. Euw.

He's currently sprawled out in the hallway, gnawing on a hair tie.

*goes to retrieve hair tie*




Tomorrow we may be going to an air show in Willow Grove, or working on the yard, or baking bread, or I don't know what. Or reading all day. Or working on computers. Who knows. I think I'll try to write a little something, if nothing else.

It's gonna be fun.

Soup!

May. 26th, 2005 01:57 pm
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
Today for Sewing Night I'm making [livejournal.com profile] montuos's Tomato Bread Soup, with some changes. The only Italian sausage we have is hot, so I used country sausage from the farmer's market instead. Added more basil than called for to try to make up for that. No rosemary, so Lewis can eat it; no parsley, since we didn't have any. Added oregano, thyme, and a couple of bay leaves.

I added more wine than was called for, quite a bit, because we've got a bottle of cheap wine to get rid of. I used fresh tomatoes, since we had a bunch; maybe ten medium ones. I have no idea how that compares to three cans of diced tomatoes. It looked more stew than soup by then, so I added more broth; I think there's almost twice as much in there now than it actually calls for.

It's simmering away now, on the theory that you can't usefully simmer soup for too long. It smells _lovely_.

I got a loaf of crusty Italian bread, and, since I couldn't find shredded Parmesan, got a slice of the stuff. I've got the right tool for that somewhere, I'm sure.

It looks like the kind of recipe that could go well with a dollop of sour cream or heavy cream swirled in right before it's served. Might try that sometime.

--

Note to [livejournal.com profile] dr_zrfq: we're not going to Alles Faire. Miki still needs medicine twice a day and I really don't want to board him - he's miserable enough as it is.
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
No, it's not _really_ pneumonia. But it sure feels like it.

Napped at least a little every day since Tuesday. Sometimes a lot. Slept through half of the Shire revel on Saturday, which fortunately caused me to miss little. Yes, I _was_ awake for Lewis getting his Ironstar. Just not moving any.

Survivede the Obligatory Family Birthday Thing yesterday with only minimal grumpitude. My mom got me a trash can. :) Now, this really is good - one of ours got run over by a truck or something a while ago. I love my mommy.

Lewis's mom, in the meantime, is _still_ grumbling over the Clearly Non-Suitable things I bipped for the bridal shower they insisted I have. Hey, we _needed_ flashlights, and some more surge protectors, and that set of screwdrivers... *sigh* She's promised she'll eventually get us something 'more meaningful' as a wedding present. I live in fear.

But it was generally non-awful. Woke up today feeling nearly human, and now Lewis has got it - sore through, coughing, general urk. He took the day off and has napped twice so far. He sounds like he's feeling a bit better but we're so not going to practice.

Talked to Geno and Lisa about Entertaining Shire Things. :P

Lewis went over to Jodi's parents Friday night (I stayed home so as not to be communicable at them) and fixed their new surround-sound thingy, so they sent him home with chicken soup. We thawed it, adulterated it slightly (garlic, oregano, orzo) and are eating it for dinner. Just _breathing_ the steam is making my throat feel better.

I'm not _done_ my novel, but I finally finished the Big Ending Scene in a fit of creativity far later than I wanted to be awake Thursday night. I haven't even re-read it yet; it may still suck rocks. If I keep it, it will inspire another fit of re-writing to wedge in the motive the Bad Guy has suddenly acquired. If, that is, said motive makes any sense whatsoever when I read it over in a week or two.

So instead I have spent the day working on collating commentary for Gwenllian-who-I-have-probably-misspelled. That's now done and sent off. Not as tough as I'd thought, but I didn't do any preliminary decisions. Not the way I'm feeling. Maybe next time...

So I think I'm going to pull up the short story I finished a while ago, rip it apart, and re-do the whole thing, since it's rather lacking in actual conflict and the ending sucks rocks. We'll see.

A Good Day

Jul. 6th, 2004 10:15 pm
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
Somehow it seems that KWHSS was the turning point, and things are going to be at least a little bit calmer, now.

I'm caught up on sleep for what feels like the first time in months. My throat's stopped hurting. The house isn't _clean_, but it's not pitlike. And Lewis and I got to spend most of Sunday doing Not Much, followed by a trip over to [livejournal.com profile] torin3's place to do some enamelling. Well...Lewis did enamelling. I did a bit of sewing and played with the cats.

I'm taking things out of order here...

ExpandCatching Up )
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (Default)
Made dinner tonight. Yeah, I know that's not a big thing for most people but for me it's damned unusual.

Discovered that if I leave the chicken mostly frozen, I can cut it up without getting all grossed out. And once it's _cut_ I can cook it. I don't think I could do the sort of thing where you cut it into flat bits, pound them flatter, and dredge them in flour, though...at least not yet.

Cut up the chicken, put it in the pan. Started one of the Near East rice mixes - garlic and something, which also had orzo in it for some reason. Yeah, cheating, but they're easy and they haven't got much in the way of narsty preservatives in 'em.

About then Lewis got home and decided on honey mustard sauce for the chicken. Easy enough, I've got a recipe - dijon mustard, honey, and mayonnaise. No, really. And a bit of tarragon. The recipe suggests mixing them all in a bowl but they clearly haven't ever tried to mix honey with anything so I just wait 'til the chicken's almost done and stick 'em all in the pan, instead. Seems to keep the chicken moist, too, especially when it's done way before the rice. :P

Even managed to get the dishes mostly done while things cooked. Hey, I almost think I'm getting _good_ at this...

Scary pizza.

Dinner!

Feb. 17th, 2004 08:24 pm
kellan_the_tabby: My face, reflected in a round mirror I'm holding up; the rest of the image is the side of my head, hair shorn short. (devon)
I made dinner _almost_ all by myself.

Chicken soup, courtesy (mostly) of a recipe by [livejournal.com profile] elfs (not that he has any idea I swiped it, but I bet he'd be pleased). Took out the celery, added corn, half a package of frozen kale and a can of stewed tomatoes. Made rye bread to go with it, which turned out well. Cheated on the bread, though; let the bread machine knead it for me. But I baked it in the oven, in the bread-pan!

Yeah, you're thinking, not so much to be impressed about. But...well, I haven't ever been so much with the cooking so. And I'm actually having fun when I don't have to run to the store at the last minute to get the chicken I forgot. :P

In other news, I feel like I've nearly entirely failed to get anything done today though looking at my previous entry ought to disabuse me of that notion, oughtn't it...?

*sigh*

But dinner, at least, is good.

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