1) Painting 3 rooms this week. Picking out colors is HARD. Way too many options. And no matter what I pick someone will say "WHY did you pick that color???" Sigh.
2) I'm not actually the one doing the painting so really, I should not be complaining.
3) The theme this week seems to be Charcuterie. This was not planned but hey - I am cool with that. First, went to The Sample Room and had the Charcuterie Platter. Wicked good. Second, will be CAing the upcoming Sausage Making class at Kitchen Window. Bratwurst, Italian Sausage, Chicken and Apple Sausage, etc. Num Num Num.
4)Pouring Surly at the Luminary Loppet on Saturday with the Surly Gives A Damn crew. Cheers to that!
5)Made a Chicken and Rice Salad with Nam Jim dressing for dinner tonight. Sooooooo good.
6)I've decided I'm not going to have any wine this week. Until the weekend. A glass of wine would have gone nicely with my salad but cannot cave that fast.
7) I also had good intentions to work out tonight. But...was late wrapping up work for the day, then had to make my super yummy salad, then kid driving to Lacrosse. If what they say about good intentions is true then I'm screwed.
8) It bugs me when fake Twitter accounts with stupid smutty website links follow me on Twitter. You're getting blocked so really, do not bother.
9) I'm on the Daring Cook and Baker now. Can't wait to get started. If you are not familiar, check out http://thedaringkitchen.com/ . Very cool!
10) Need a better spice jar storage solution. Would probably help if I didn't have so many jars to store. Any thoughts??
Cheers peeps!!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Post 4 - The one called Ten for Tuesday 012412
1) The Clicker AKA the TV Remote Control. A source of power struggle.(My show is starting! I need to record something! You KNEW I was waiting for my show to start!!) Yet a sort of "hot potato" pariah (I don't have it. I don't know where it is. I am not looking for it. What is YOUR PROBLEM.) When anyone/everyone wants to change the program and it can't be located, a source of drama and panic.(I haven't seen it. I had to change the channel BY HAND. How am I supposed to change channels during a commercial???)
2) The DVR. I want to watch a show on a particular channel. As soon as my show is about to start someone has recorded two different programs at the same time. DENIED. Crap.
3) Chopped. I love this show. Mixing fish heads and M & Ms and tomatoes and tofu ALL AT ONCE. What sick twisted bastards put these ingredients together in these crazy baskets? I bet they get drunk together and giggle about their evil ingredient mixing plans.
4) Snow Boots. I was complimented on mine today. A co-worker (male) scoffed and asked what was that about. Dudes SO don't get clothes. Women get it. Well - women who get it, get it. Some women clearly don't get it either.
5) Toilet paper. When the roll is empty, replace it. Paper over the top, not under. We're not curing cancer here people. Seriously.
6) Band-Aids. Read something in my Jr High kid's test book that they are developing fungi band-aids. Helps with healing apparently. Cool! Shroom-aids?
7) Manners in Minnesota. We are nice here. When you walk past we'll probably say "Hi" or "Hey". When on the phone I will ask how you are and you would respond "good and you?" regardless of how you really are. When driving past a neighbor on the road we will give the one-finger wave to each other. It's how we roll here.
8) Labradors. They make the best dog pets. Just saying. Unless you don't like shedding. Then you are screwed. Buy a plant.
9) Sprinkles. I like them. I hear they are called Jimmies in some parts of the country. Wierd. They are SPRINKLES because they are sprinkled on. Not JIMMIED on.
10) Getting my hair shampooed at the hair salon. It's fabulous. So relaxing. I could just keep handing her fistfuls of dollars and asking her to keep going.
Well, that's it for today. More later peeps!
2) The DVR. I want to watch a show on a particular channel. As soon as my show is about to start someone has recorded two different programs at the same time. DENIED. Crap.
3) Chopped. I love this show. Mixing fish heads and M & Ms and tomatoes and tofu ALL AT ONCE. What sick twisted bastards put these ingredients together in these crazy baskets? I bet they get drunk together and giggle about their evil ingredient mixing plans.
4) Snow Boots. I was complimented on mine today. A co-worker (male) scoffed and asked what was that about. Dudes SO don't get clothes. Women get it. Well - women who get it, get it. Some women clearly don't get it either.
5) Toilet paper. When the roll is empty, replace it. Paper over the top, not under. We're not curing cancer here people. Seriously.
6) Band-Aids. Read something in my Jr High kid's test book that they are developing fungi band-aids. Helps with healing apparently. Cool! Shroom-aids?
7) Manners in Minnesota. We are nice here. When you walk past we'll probably say "Hi" or "Hey". When on the phone I will ask how you are and you would respond "good and you?" regardless of how you really are. When driving past a neighbor on the road we will give the one-finger wave to each other. It's how we roll here.
8) Labradors. They make the best dog pets. Just saying. Unless you don't like shedding. Then you are screwed. Buy a plant.
9) Sprinkles. I like them. I hear they are called Jimmies in some parts of the country. Wierd. They are SPRINKLES because they are sprinkled on. Not JIMMIED on.
10) Getting my hair shampooed at the hair salon. It's fabulous. So relaxing. I could just keep handing her fistfuls of dollars and asking her to keep going.
Well, that's it for today. More later peeps!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Post 3 - The one called Fill in the Blank Friday!! (1/20/12)
1. The last thing I ate was some delicious Happy Hour appetizers at Sopranos (@SopranosMN) at the West End. Did you know they have 1/2 price bottles of wine on Thursdays?? Smitty at the bar was great! Meatball pizza, edamame, and porchetta sliders. Needed to lay the proper foundation before going to the Laphroaig tasting at Byerlys tonight. (Did I mention that I got to taste 25 yr Laphroaig Scotch Whisky? Retail $500 - yay me!!) And what a FABULOUS tasting that was! Thanks to the ever fabulous Gary Eagan of Byerlys and Stacy, the Ambassador from Laphroaig!! Went with the slightly less expensive but oh-so-fantastic 18 yr Scotch. Oh yeah.
2. The last song I listened to was Jennifer Lopez'a new CD. True confession - I am a car dancer. Love to shake it a bit while driving down the road. There may also be some singing involved.
3. Using the letters in my name I can spell {Jennifer}...Nothing remarkable worth listing. So whatever.
4. If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick Red. Red is fabulous. It's a color that demands attention, is vibrant and full of life. I like to think that is me.
5. If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find oh boy, several lipsticks, receipts, kleenex, wallet, keys, sunglasses. It could be worse. It's been a virtual survival kit at times.
6. When I finish filling in the blanks I'm going to finish watching a movie with my daughter and then go to bed.
7. My all time favorite song to dance to is "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire. Please refer to confession in #2.
Goodnight peeps!!
2. The last song I listened to was Jennifer Lopez'a new CD. True confession - I am a car dancer. Love to shake it a bit while driving down the road. There may also be some singing involved.
3. Using the letters in my name I can spell {Jennifer}...Nothing remarkable worth listing. So whatever.
4. If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick Red. Red is fabulous. It's a color that demands attention, is vibrant and full of life. I like to think that is me.
5. If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find oh boy, several lipsticks, receipts, kleenex, wallet, keys, sunglasses. It could be worse. It's been a virtual survival kit at times.
6. When I finish filling in the blanks I'm going to finish watching a movie with my daughter and then go to bed.
7. My all time favorite song to dance to is "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire. Please refer to confession in #2.
Goodnight peeps!!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Post 2 - The One Where I Talk About Leftovers
Leftovers. The white elephant in the refrigerator. Unless you can accurately anticipate the hunger level of your family and control your portions to match you will have them.
I actually think leftovers are a good thing. It gives you options for the next day's lunch or perhaps can be converted into yet another meal. It's more efficient to cook this way, especially if you can make use of the leftovers in meals-to-come. Not that I am one of those cooks that plan the menu for the week, then shop - buying just enough for their meal plan - then execute the plan, with something new and delicious every day of the week. I do admire people who can do that. I bet they throw away a lot less food and spend much less at the grocery store. I envision their immaculate kitchens with tables set with candles and flowers and shiny happy people seated there enjoying their planned dinners. Heck, they probably have the menus posted like a school lunch calendar so everyone knows what's coming.
But in my household that's just not how I roll. I don't have that kind of time (or, more honestly, I choose to not make that kind of time). Our nightly plans seem subject to daily change and quite often it seems we have a few extra kids to feed (surprise!) Besides, it probably wouldn't help - I have a bunch of leftovers snobs. There. I said it. It's like I'm asking them to eat used food. The way they turn up their noses I might as well have regurgitated it like some big Mommy Bird.
I know what you're thinking. Maybe she's just not a good cook and being forced to eat something nasty twice is above and beyond. But - not to pat myself on the back too hard - I am a good cook. Seriously.
It just pains me to throw out container after container of leftovers because nobody ate them. According to the Mayo Clinic here in Minny you should toss 'em after 4 days. So the Mommy Bird must have a few tricks up her sleeve to minimize the waste.
I have found that there are a few good ways to use up those Godforsaken bits of this and that. One of my favorites is to make hash. Everyone I know likes potatoes. Chop up those leftover veggies and bit of steak or whatever you happen to have and voila - a meal no one will snub.
Option #2 is homemade pizza. Again - chop 'em up and use them to top the pizza. Who doesn't love pizza? And cheese, glorious cheese.
Option #3: Omelettes! All those goodies make great omelette filling.
Option #4 Loaded baked potatoes. You can even use up "liquidy" things like leftover chili this way. Just top your baked potato with whatever you've got and some cheese. MMMMMMMM...cheeeeeeese.
One note though - reheating leftovers. The Harvard Medical School has some helpful information about reheating leftovers and the risks posed by the containers they reheated in if using a microwave. Check it out and be safe!!
Well, my friends, if you're out there, hopefully this will give you a few ideas. If you have any tricks of your own, please share!!
Cheers!
Jen
I actually think leftovers are a good thing. It gives you options for the next day's lunch or perhaps can be converted into yet another meal. It's more efficient to cook this way, especially if you can make use of the leftovers in meals-to-come. Not that I am one of those cooks that plan the menu for the week, then shop - buying just enough for their meal plan - then execute the plan, with something new and delicious every day of the week. I do admire people who can do that. I bet they throw away a lot less food and spend much less at the grocery store. I envision their immaculate kitchens with tables set with candles and flowers and shiny happy people seated there enjoying their planned dinners. Heck, they probably have the menus posted like a school lunch calendar so everyone knows what's coming.
But in my household that's just not how I roll. I don't have that kind of time (or, more honestly, I choose to not make that kind of time). Our nightly plans seem subject to daily change and quite often it seems we have a few extra kids to feed (surprise!) Besides, it probably wouldn't help - I have a bunch of leftovers snobs. There. I said it. It's like I'm asking them to eat used food. The way they turn up their noses I might as well have regurgitated it like some big Mommy Bird.
I know what you're thinking. Maybe she's just not a good cook and being forced to eat something nasty twice is above and beyond. But - not to pat myself on the back too hard - I am a good cook. Seriously.
It just pains me to throw out container after container of leftovers because nobody ate them. According to the Mayo Clinic here in Minny you should toss 'em after 4 days. So the Mommy Bird must have a few tricks up her sleeve to minimize the waste.
I have found that there are a few good ways to use up those Godforsaken bits of this and that. One of my favorites is to make hash. Everyone I know likes potatoes. Chop up those leftover veggies and bit of steak or whatever you happen to have and voila - a meal no one will snub.
Option #2 is homemade pizza. Again - chop 'em up and use them to top the pizza. Who doesn't love pizza? And cheese, glorious cheese.
Option #3: Omelettes! All those goodies make great omelette filling.
Option #4 Loaded baked potatoes. You can even use up "liquidy" things like leftover chili this way. Just top your baked potato with whatever you've got and some cheese. MMMMMMMM...cheeeeeeese.
One note though - reheating leftovers. The Harvard Medical School has some helpful information about reheating leftovers and the risks posed by the containers they reheated in if using a microwave. Check it out and be safe!!
Well, my friends, if you're out there, hopefully this will give you a few ideas. If you have any tricks of your own, please share!!
Cheers!
Jen
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Post 1 - The One Where I Introduce Myself
One must start somewhere and where better to start than at the beginning. I've been trying to determine what exactly it is I will talk about here on this blog - whether it will be topic-specific or just whatever my whim of the day might be. I think I'll roll with the second option for now and just see how that goes.
You might be wondering about the name - "Walking Book of Knowledge" - and wondering if I am some sort of smug self-satisfied know-it-all. Not in the least, my friends out here in the ether - whoever you might turn out to be. This is merely a nickname given to me by friends (WBK for short)due to my ability to collect vast amounts of snippets of knowledge on a variety of topics. It makes me a fierce competitor in the game of Trivial Pursuit (or so I like to think) but that may be where the value ends. In a nutshell, I know a little bit about just about everything but the topics on which I am an expert - well, let's just say that is a shorter list. But I have the inate ability to pull some random factoid out of thin air - thus the nick name.
Now that I've sufficiently beat the hell out of that topic let's move on to some other topic, such as those I plan to cover here and get that out of the way. (I must interrupt myself to mention that my use of the word "hell" in the previous sentence makes me feel a little bad-ass. You see I am from Minnesota - born and bred - and we're nice and polite here and just don't use that kind of language around people we don't really know yet.) Okay, back to topics. There will be discussion of cooking because that is something I love to do. There will be discussion of cookbooks because I love to read them and they relate to cooking - did I mention that is something I love to do? I am sure I will talk about many other things but for now - that's enough information because really, laying out a whole list of topics would suggest that I actually have a plan, which I don't. I'm winging it here people. Shooting from the hip. But if you are willing to stick with me and listen - well, thank goodness for that. You might just pick up some useful yet random information from the Walking Book of Knowledge - WBK for short.
So enough with the sappy introductions. Now that we've got that silly business out of the way, I have some news. Tonight I stopped by the Half Price Books store looking for some used cookbooks. Not any one in particular - I find it is better to go with an open mind and just see what you see. I did score a stack of them. In the back of my mind I was looking for a cookbook with weight measurements. Measuring ingredients by weight rather than by volume leads to more consistent results. (Oh joy!! My first factoid to share with you!)
Anyhow, I did score a copy of Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen - 5th edition. I have no effing idea what this book would cost new but let me just say that the copy I bought cost me $9.98. I am CERTAIN that Ms/Mr Selas (name written on book) did not pay such a nominal amount. I know this because there was also a used copy of the 7th Edition retailing for $59.98. I went for the cheaper edition because I figured that flour, salt or whatever else did not suddenly get lighter or heavier since the 5th edition. No new developments with gravity that might render my copy obsolete. Although it is quite possible that I may have in fact gotten a little heavier since the 5th edition was publishedin 2003. Yeah - that's actually more than a possibility. (Chef Selas - assuming you now are one because you don't need this book anymore, even for sentimental reasons - unless you sold the book for gas money - it would be kind of cool if you showed up here one day.) So I will look throughy the book and see what I am inspired to make. Stay tuned!!
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