I finally broke down and bought a new laptop and THANK GOD!!  As hard as the old SONY was to replace it was limping on it's last leg.  I have had it since 2003 ( I should be ashamed...or should I) we have had a good run together.  This new computer is AMAZING though...wow...so fast...so smooth...so maneuverable.  As a web manager and writer it was excruciating to work on a computer that froze every other moment.
 AWW PIE!!! (watching MAN VS FOOD).
Happy typing (for me anyway). After I transfer all the files from my old computer it will be handed down to my little sister.  I just pray it does not produce the same horror that I suffered as I passed on my Barbie collection to her.  I gave them to her (YES...I was one of those young girls that coveted their Barbie dolls) in perfect condition, perfect silky hair combed flawlessly, clothes pressed and ironed (okay that is just for dramatic purposes) and the next time I saw them their hair was in snarls, they were NAKED and I think one was missing a leg....OHHH the HORROR of it all.  I was traumatized!!  Just Kidding Brit Brit love you!

My art

I found a new love...Elizabeth Gilbert.  Currently I am reading her book "Eat Pray Love" and I feel as if her voice is one from my own heart.  That may sound cheezy (and I am sorry to put that on you), but she has a familiar voice that I have known for years.  Her sense of humor towards the erruption of  life's problems is align with mine.  I can not say that I have struggled with the depths of depression as she describes, but I have been harrassed a time or two by D & L.  I completely relate to her questioning of what our thoughts and feelings stem from, she has written the words that I recently was speaking of to a friend.  We share similar views on the over use of antidepressent being described to people (a band-aid for the real problem.) 
The thing, however,  that I think I can relate to the most...the one thing that really struck a familiar neural cord with me was the deep divide within myself.  Marriage/kids/tradition vs living wild and free amongst the Earth,  screaming to the Earth from the mountain side, diving head first into serging waves from  jagged rocks, being swallowed by the sky as I exit the door of a plane, tasting the spice of a hidden weed, the homemade broth of a mother's foreign land...
I want both.

The gift that Papa Larry made with his chain saw was awesome!! I love it when people give gifts created from their own talent!

What I am reading

January 12, 2010
I have been excited to start on this book that I got for a Christmas present.  Thanks MOM!!

I am going to make Luke's brother-in-law, Tony's Sauerkraut and cheese & potato pierogis, should be delicious, but with a healthier spin. Thanks for the idea Tony!!  I am puzzled on how to get around the bacon fat (turkey bacon..no) hmmm. I like the idea of cooking them WITH bacon (instead of in bacon fat), so maybe I will cook them in olive oil with thinly sliced bacon pieces.  Tony put a dallop of sour cream on his pierogis, I will substitute low fat plain yogart. 

The days are just slipping by as if they are greased with butter. I cooked up a pot of deliciously simple shrimp soup the other night.  I will share the recipe once I get the photo uploaded.  It is somewhat like a Manhattan style chowder only with shrimp. 

Tonight my father is taking my sister and I to the old casino for a belated Christmas dinner.  I will post a review tomorrow. 

Reflections from yesturday

We are well on our way into the new year, yet it feels strange to me that so much is now in the past.  I have long learned the truth of my Grandparent's words "time flies" as I reflect on the holidays.  I remember Christmas used to last forever; an abundant buffet of Christmas cookies and little trays filled with black olives and baby dill pickles, last crinkled packages left under the tree for stragglers to open, drunken nights of brandy 7's, and spiked egg nog, laughing with my dad around my Grandma's oval table about horror stories from childhood.  Now it all seems like a flash of memory a shard from the past.  Strange time and memory is...strange.

The main dish or the diner?

I caught a segment of the show "I Was Bitten" the other night, on the Discovery Channel, that really churned my stomach.  This  kid just got mauled by mosquito bites while he was visiting Costa Rica.  Most of the bites had apparently healed by the time he returned to the states except for two big lumps swelling on the bottom of his legs.  These two "lumps" were actually "warble pores" for bot fly larva. The female human bot fly will lay her eggs on mosquitos, which enter the skin after the human has been bitten. The rodent bot fly will lay their eggs on the grass at the entrance of rabbit holes which will  attach to the hairs of a rodent as it passes by. 
I have always had a curious fascination with insects, especially edible (these are apparently edible) insects, but these flesh eating aliens are a scifi nightmare!  The little nibblers leave tunnel like holes on the surface of the infested creature (I was looking at a infested squirrel) and will burrow and eat until it matures and crawls back out.  Unfortunatly most doctors in the United States are not familiar with human infestations of the bot fly so patients usually are treated for abscess infections which just enables the grub munching inside. 
The kid finally found out what he had (as it moved around under his skin) and used a tweezers to pull the plump sucker out after smothering it by covering the warble pore with vasoline.  I don't know about you, but it makes me hungry for some sauteed grubs!!

As much as I love to eat out it really scares me to think of what I am eating when I do so.  I can't count how many executive chefs (trained professionals mind you) that have sliced their finger on the show "CHOPPED" and still continue cooking and then have the adacity to try and serve the bloody food!  If this is the attitude of an executive chef I can only dread what is in the food at the local hole in the wall down the street.  Are smaller restaurants more cautious (more common sense savy) in the kitchen? 

What I Am Reading

I must have silence!

UPDATE: I am still within the first 100 pages.  I am trying to read this book very carefully so I don't miss something in the style and word choice.  I am glad that I have the version that explains the terms of eighteenth century language.  I recommend reading this book with a dictionary at hand.  Right now, where I am reading,  the words drip suduction and promise of future scandals and love affairs....yummy!

January 12, 2010
I finally finished the last 100 pages of this book last night, or this morning rather, around 3:00 (using a flashlight so that I didn't disturb Luke).  The end calculated a perfect fairy tale ending.  I was in love with the perfect rolling hills of drama that were maintained until the final pages, which smoothed out into every romantic minded readers wishful thoughts of happiness and tranquility for all.  I will be reading this again in a month less than six.  

I have to stop watching MAN VS FOOD so late at night when I am drinking brandied apple cidars!  The places he visits makes me so hungry.  I bought a $2.00 bag of breaded mac & cheese bites on a buzzed (and HUNGRY ) whim for friends that were coming over, I mean who doesnt like mac & cheese?? After destroying the bag I told myself that I would never eat mac & cheese again, but then Adam Richman has to go to a restaurant in Florida that serves mac & cheese on a Philly style beef and cheese (with everything else that the deep frier can hold) and mmmmmmmm....looks so good!  Why do I love fried food so much?? I blame my parents for taking me out every friday night for the local fish fry :)

Amanda's Cook Book

Who ever said that meat loaf had to be boring?





Hot Oriental Shrimp Salad over Wilted Greens
Ingredients:
1 sliced yellow pepper
1 small-medium carrot thinly sliced
1 parsnip thinly sliced
1 avocado sliced
1 roma tomato chopped
1/2 red onion diced
2 jalapeño seeded and sliced into rings
juice of half a lemon
several pinches of sea salt
pepper
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. rhine wine or any white wine
2 tsp. rice vinegar
1 clove of garlic sliced
15-20 shrimp butterflied
4 decent handfuls of mixed greens
Directions:
Add a dollop of olive oil to a pan over medium heat.  Sautee red onion, garlic, carrot, and parsnip for 3-4 minutes are until carrots and parsnips are tender.  Add sliced jalapenos, lemon juice, and a pinch of sea salt, sautee for 2 minutes then add yellow pepper, sesame oil, vinegar, wine, and a pinch of sea salt. Let cook for another 2 minutes then add tomatoes and shrimp with a pinch of salt.  Let cook until shrimp are butterflied then add to a heaping mound (one good handful) of mixed greens.  Top with three slices of cold advocado and a sprinkling of pepper.
Makes 4 servings.
Pair with a soft Pinot Grigio.

Jabba and his eskimo jacket

Jabba's Christmas spirit

Jabba is not happy about his outfit!

Jabba

Christmas Gifts

The gift that Papa Larry made for Luke and I was awesome!  I love it when people create gifts from pure talent and craftsmanship!