sunrays and saturdays

I love how Michelina's tv dinners are called something like "chicken and broccoli alfredo" and then consist of hardly any broccoli or chicken and a BUNCH of noodles. Seriously, there is so little non-noodle stuff in there that it looks like the chunks fell in by mistake. All of their dinners are like that. I guess that's what you get when you buy it for a dollar. At least the alfredo sauce is really tasty.

I've been so unmotivated at work lately. All I want to do is stay home with Jeremy and play with the cats.

I just tried to make sweet and sour chicken for the first time tonight and ROCKED IT. Damn, if I knew that making chinese food from scratch was so cheap and easy I would have never spent 12 bucks a pop all those times for takeout up in Ames.

Jeremy and I have planned out everything we want to do in Colorado for our vacation next month. We're going whitewater rafting for the first time AND climbing a "fourteener" for the first time. I'm so excited! I've always wanted to go whitewater rafting. This is going to be fun!! Did I mention I'm excited about it? Well, I am. This whole mountain climbing thing means I finally need to get around to working out at the gym on a regular basis. If I tried to climb Mt. Elbert tomorrow I'd probably get 100 yards up the mountain and start crying. I can't even make it up four flights of stairs at the weather center without feeling completely worn out. My Dad, my sister, and I climbed the West Spanish Peak (13,000 feet and some change) back when I was in junior high. I was in probably the best shape of my life back then (I played a lot of sports even though I sucked at them, go me), and that climb wore me out. What has me worried about this one is that the Mt. Elbert hike is about three times longer than the Spanish Peak trail, both in terms of elevation climb AND distance. Gah, we're going to have to get up so freakin' early to beat the afternoon thunderstorms. I'd rather not be a lightning rod, thankyouverymuch.

Today's recipe for crockpot chili:

1.5 lbs of beef stew meat
2 cans of salt-free stewed tomatoes
2 cans of dark red kidney beans
1/2 a yellow sweet onion, chopped up
2 small cans of salt-free tomato paste
2 cups of hot water
Season to taste with chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika, brown sugar, and poultry seasoning.

Cook on high for one hour, and then switch to low for several hours until ready to serve.

It seems that crockpot stews such as chili and beef stew are an art. There really is no universal recipe for them, so you just add whatever sounds good and then hope it turns out. Last time Jeremy insisted that we use dry red beans (soaked first of course), and that just screwed up the whole mojo of the chili. It didn't taste right, but there were a few other mistakes that also affected it, so I can't blame it all on Jeremy and his beans. He also doesn't like onion, so that was another key flavor ingredient that was missing. The one I'm making today has all the tried and true ingredients (sans the brown sugar...that's a trick I learned from other groups in the ISU chili cook-off freshman year) that my Dad used to put in his legendary chili, so hopefully it ends up being close.

Oy, long day. Way too much cleaning and work for a weekend. We made some awesome food tonight, though. It was sopa de lentejas con pina, peras, y platanos (Lentil Soup with pineapple, pears, and plantains) and pan de elote (corn cake). They both came out of a cookbook that my mom has called Savoring Mexico. Good stuff.

I played the Gamecube for the first time last night, and it was awesome. Mario Kart Double Dash and Mario Party 4 were so much fun. I didn't do too bad for my first time if I do say so myself. ;)

I have a mountain of chocolate chip cookies sitting in front of me right now, and the milk in my fridge is two weeks past its expiration date. I would consider this a dilemma. However, I happen to also be a fan of dipping cookies and graham crackers in hot tea, and that is something that I do have. Dilemma no more!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning to head home for part of my Christmas break, so this is probably the last update I'll make in awhile. I still have snow sitting on top of my car, so I'll be conducting a little experiment tomorrow to see how far south I get before it melts. If it's sunny tomorrow, my bet is on Newton or Hutchinson, since highs down there have been in the 50s lately. Me? A weather nerd? Never.

I skipped two classes today just to come home and make myself a cheesy baked potato. As each semester winds down to the last month or so, I become so incredibly lazy. Going to class just does not seem like it's worth the effort anymore. So, food wins over sitting through a Geology video.

( This is an actual email that I just received. What the fuck? )

Thanksgiving break has commenced!!!!!!!!!

This is going to be great, because I'm not even going anywhere until Wednesday or Thursday, so I have this entire place to myself with nothing pressing to get done for almost a week. I love love LOVE being lazy, so I'll enjoy this muchly. Yep, I'll break out the NES and play some Zelda and Dragon Warrior, I'll screw around on the internet, I'll watch movies, I'll blast my music and sing as loud as I physically can, and I'll cook lots of food. Oh, this will be so wonderful.

Oh, and while I'm snuggled in here enjoying my break, we might get a blizzard this weekend!!! This cannot possibly get any better.

Since registration has started here, I decided to go look at my classes for next semester to make sure that I still have a spot available in them. As it turns out, they restricted all but one section of my Linguistics class to El Ed, English, and TComm (whatever that is) majors. I might have to start looking for another class to take, because there's only 17 seats left in that section, and I don't register until November 7. My other classes look pretty good at this point.

I feel like cooking something spectacular for lunch. I don't get enough time anymore to really spend it cooking. Plus, I hate handwashing dishes. That can be a very huge deterrent for me.

So hungry....

I can't go grocery shopping till the roommate gets a check deposited into her account, so I wait. I ate a little bitty bowl of scrambled eggs just now, and the tummy is grumbling like I didn't eat anything at all. I already ordered Jimmy Johns yesterday for dinner after deciding that it wasn't worth the agony to starve. Should I shell out the dough again today for delivery or should I just drive my ass to somewhere cheap and eat? I know I can get a combo at Mickey D's for less than five bucks. It just requires the will power to get there.

So, I have three options:

1) Try living on beverages today, saving money in the process and continue on this insane I-have-no-money-so-I-will-eat-dust-bunnies diet.
2) Bite the bullet and order delivery, saving me about 5 cents in gas to drive somewhere.
3) Get off my lazy ass, drive to McDonald's, and order the most fattening thing on the menu as a reward for getting off my lazy ass.

hm?

One sure fire way to cheer yourself up: make pancakes, even if you royally fuck them up. You can't cheat, though, and "make" them at Denny's.

And I don't think any of you know this about me, but I sneeze repeatedly and uncontrollably as a direct result of being full. It's weird, I know, and I have no idea how my physiology results in this. But...yeah, I can't stop sneezing now.