Life, Fannishness, and Thespic Infatuation

I made this recipe for dinner tonight, with, as suggested, the tequila rather than rum. It was mighty tasty, if I do say so myself.

Oddly enough, the first taste sensation I got was "Saturday morning cartoons." Weird, huh. It was the combination of sweet (honey) plus lime. It brought to mind Fruit Loops, which by my earliest recollection is the first cereal I can remember, and my first favorite. Anyway . . .

I had to tweak the cooking time (I'm always paranoid that I will accidentally undercook chicken, which is why I rarely use anything other than my crock pot to cook), but now that I know, I'll be prepared the next time.

The hardest part was grating the lime zest, because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough. We've got some wonderful apiaries, so fresh, local honey is not a problem (I particularly love the honeys that have a bit of a unique flavor).

Served with steamed zucchini and a nice Australian Chardonnay. Two thumbs up from George, and a paws up from Bunqui. Must investigate other broiler recipes in our quest for lighter eating.

Not too sure that the wine was a good idea, though. I'm not really mellow, and will most likely fall asleep during the movie tonight. George is introducing his favorite movie, Sunset, which is a silent film. Not that I don't like silent films, but when you get into a dark theater, and have the nice music going, (and after a nice dinner with a nice glass of wine) . . . I can't really see staying awake, you know?

I know that the linked website makes most of my f-list cringe. But disregard the website, and read the article. Be sure to click on all the recipe links.

Cupcakes for manly men. (I can totally see Dean going for a couple of these.).

Today after work, I made myself a smoothie of tofu and jam.

I have dubbed it a to-jam smoothie.

And I'm instantly reminded of my Aunt J2. It's her kind of beverage and her kind of humor.

And actually? It's pretty darn tasty.

French toast for breakfast. (I haven't made that in about 20 years.)

Morning at the farmer's market.

Burgers on the grill for lunch.

Meals on the back porch for both.

Three sit-down meals with my husband in a row! (I think that's a record.)

S1 SPN. "Wendigo" and "Dead in the Water." Ah, yes. Good stuff.

And last night? The Haunting in Connecticut. Oy! Talk about a freaky, make-you-gasp-make-you-jump movie. I remember when it came out, I thought it looked really good, but that it also looked a little too intense for me. Well, we watched it last night on Netflix on demand.

( It was one bright day in the middle of the night / Two dead boys got up to fight. )

Happy St. Patrick's Day, all.

The wearin' o' the green. One of my favorite colors.

Last night Geo and I were watching (well, Geo was watching, and I was dozing) a PBS show about Ireland. And listening to the music, I realize (again) that that's one of the things I miss most about Ohio--the easy availability of Gaelic/Celtic music. I mean, good grief. One of the suburbs of Columbus is Dublin, Ohio. I've often said that Gaelic Storm should purchase property in Ohio, they spend so much time there. Our Club Kuss series at the PAC always included at least one Irish or Scottish group in their season. I miss it.

Oh! But I didn't tell you about the concert on Saturday, did I? I'll post about that in a separate entry.

It will be a quiet St. Patty's Day. No time to fix the corned beef and cabbage or shepherd's pie per our tradition, as Geo has a StageWorks rehearsal tonight. I'm going to make soda bread after work, though, and a lime pound cake. If nothing else, I can put a shot of Irish creme in my coffee tonight.

I should also have some Gaelic Storm playing in my car today, but I need to get my CDs out.

( In other news . . .  )

So many Irish blessings, some with the Irish wit. But I'll leave you with the traditional . . .

May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And the rain fall soft upon your fields.
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Have a grand day!

Geo and I went back to Ohio for Christmas. It was really strange, and kind of didn't really feel like Christmas. This is the first Christmas we've spent somewhere other than in our own house.

We left Thursday. Travel was reasonably smooth, though there was snowy travel in the mountains in Maryland. No surprise there.

( Christmas Eve )

( Christmas Day )

( December 26 )

Then came back Monday.

A warm thank you to smalltwndreamer and luvwinchesters for the v-gifts. They came at a much-needed time. Thank you to just_ruth for the card. It arrived yesterday. And I've already thanked Izhi for enabling my habit the mags. :-)

And that, in a nutshell, was my Christmas weekend.

Oh, my word, you guys. I just made the most amazing soup for dinner tonight. You know how last week I mentioned having pumpkin soup and how finding a comparable recipe was my new culinary quest? You guys. Here's what I found.

Well, first of all, I found pumpkinsoup.org. Everything you wanted to know about pumpkin soup but didn't know to ask. Lots of interesting recipes there of varying levels of complexity.

But that's not where I got tonight's dinner from.

No, one of my newest go-to sites for recipes (I also subscribe to the hard copy magazine) is the Southern Living website. Being from Ohio, I also try to find things on the Midwest Living website, but nine times out of ten, I like the Southern Living recipes better. (If I want Midwestern recipes, I usually head to the church/fundraiser cookbooks from back home.) The trick is to watch your fat ingredients, because if there's one thing Southerners like to cook with, it's fat.

But I digress.

Tonight's dinner was originally printed in the October 1997 issue of Southern Living.

Pumpkin-Corn Chowder

I used 1 cup of half-and-half and 1 cup of 1% milk in place of the 2 cups of half-and-half. And you could use vegetable bouillon cubes or other vegetarian bouillon for a vegetarian variation.

A mild, creamy soup to warm your tummy on a cold winter evening. And delightfully easy, because if you are what you eat, then I'm fast, cheap, and easy.

Also of note: Today I started burning my favorite Christmas fragrance candle. Yankee Candle's Sugared Plum (which they have since repackaged under a different name and color). I've used this fragrance for years, for as far back in our marriage as either Geo or I can remember. It's a warm, comforting fragrance that makes me content and nostalgic at the same time. It smells like Christmas at home.

The pumpkin pie is in the oven, so I'm sitting down a moment to type of the BBQ recipe for kimmer1227

( Slow Cooker BBQ Pork )

One of the hardest services to replace when moving, in my experience, is the hair stylist. It took four different stylists in three different salons before I found someone I really liked, who was in my price range. (It's still about twice what I paid in Ohio, but it's the going price for this area.) And the gal I ended up with, I ended up with by default.

I was with her for a while, really liked her, then . . .

She left. Went to work out of town, I think. No forwarding address.

So I went with another default person, who was not the default person I thought it was (whom I really liked, too).

So Wednesday, I tried a different salon. And I'm highly amused by the difference.

The previous salon had more of an "up-scale" "salon" atmosphere to it. The place I went Wednesday was a much homier "beauty shop." Owner-operated (the owner returned the message I left and was working the front area of the shop when I arrived), and rather, as George suggested, "Steel Magnolias."

The gal gave me a fairly awesome cut, and was even able to--by serendipity--bring out my natural red highlights.

And the kicker? I got a free cookbook for being a new client. It's one of those homemade cookbooks, like churches or schools or community groups do for fundraisers. It's a collection of recipes gathered from the (I assume) employees and clientele of the shop.

It's really interesting to see the differences and similarities between this book and the ones I have from back home. Lots of crab recipes, something definitely won't see in a mid-western cookbook.

( Recipe rambling and the Joy of Pineapple )