Sushi

I made my second round of sushi last night. It came out way way way better than my first attempt. I just need to know how to make less rice. I took pictures. I'll post them later :)

Stuff I improved upon between last time and this time:

1. I rinsed the rice so we didn't have "smelly rice"
2. I figured out how much rice to use in hosomaki and futomaki without exploding the rolls
3. I figured out that if I under fill, I will never explode a roll, but I did figure out how much filling is appropriate to have in a nice, not under filled or exploded roll
4. I timed everything better
5. I successfully attempted uramaki by lining the rice with sliced avocado (it looks like the retarded baby brother of the Dragon Rolls they make at Publix)

Andrew is the best :)

So I found this awesome site about terrible cakes. It’s called Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong

She has this awesome description of hockey:
“See, apparently they play this sport on ice - but they have to make sure the ice is really thick, or else their cleats will scuff it all up. The players wear lots of padding and helmets, and carry little butterfly nets on sticks with which to hit the ball around. The object of the game is to score a triple Hail Mary - which is just another name for a running slam dunk - and consists of knocking three other players down while simultaneously dunking the ball through one of the red rings. Players known as running backs try to kick the ball, but the other team's catchers use their heads and butterfly nets to deflect the ball away from their side's field goal. Any running backs who are able to push the other team's running backs out of the big circle in the middle get what's called a free throw, in which they're allowed to chuck the ball at the head of their least favorite player. If they miss, their team only scores a half-down, but if the ball hits the other player, they score a hole-in-one.”“There was also some stuff about yard lines, birdies, and triple-axles, but I kind of zoned out at that point. Still, I think I just may have to check out a hockey game some day; John tells me every time the pitcher serves a kill-shot, the mascot serves hot chocolate. How cool is that?!?”
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/10/whats-better-than-hockey-wreck.html

lol hug

So, I’ve decided that I don’t really like Tasty Pastry. I ordered (or thought I ordered) cupcakes for Andrew. I wanted as many different kinds of cake as I could get, but I really only needed one cupcake or so of each kind. They were all like “sure!” and wrote it down. I got a call yesterday that my “order” was ready. Apparently they only had two kinds of cupcake for me, not the original 5 I had “ordered”. She said they only had the two because they didn’t make any of the other kinds of cake all week. So, I can’t just get a cupcake? I needed to have ordered more to warrant baking anything!? Why have me order anything if you weren’t going to actually make it? After I picked up my “order” I drove on down to Heidi’s Bakery and got other stuff (probably better stuff) that is a surprise. Pfft. I use Heidi’s from now on. It’s too bad Heidi’s was closed on Monday or I could have avoided all this in the first place.

And really, I should have done all the making of the things yesterday, but the stupid power was out until this morning. I am so behind.

Break

We're taking a break from houses this week because Kenley is busy. We'll look again on Friday. But oh man is Friday going to be busy!

Here's the agenda so far. Andrew is going to drive me to work at 7 (so I can get off at 4 and he can get to work on-time). At 3:30, he should get off work and come pick me up at 4 so we can go meet Kenley at 4:30. After looking at some houses (for who knows how long) we (or I because it is Andrew's birthday so he shouldn't have to do anything) get to go home and finish any party things (like cleaning the house or decorating). At 7, people should start showing up for the party. Sometime in the wee morning hours I get to go put dinner in the crock pot so I can pull it Saturday afternoon at 3:30ish and get it back into the pot for an hour before people show up for dinner. At breakfast time on Saturday, I think we are having pancakes and bacon, so I get to cook that for whoever is left of the All-Night-Movie-Marathon. I think then Andrew wants to go to the park and play frisbee golf. I plan on making lots of coffee. Lots. At dinner, his fam is coming over along with anyone else who either hasn't left yet or is returning for a pot luck. A true pot luck I am told. Now I haven't planned past this point yet. The only thing I do know is that we need to get some paper plates.

Happy Birthday Paige

We had a fun time last night celebrating Paige's birthday. We went out to dinner and had cake. We played with all the music stuff in our "music corner" and watched video's on YouTube. And best of all, I got some wonderful movies of Lauren and Andrew dancing. lol They'll be up later this week.

So here's the thing. We seriously disturbed the beer we made on Sunday. I was really afraid it was going to explode in the fermenter. The lid is all bulged out and when I got home yesterday, the airlock was full of foam and leaking everywhere (I took pictures that'll be up later this week too). It was making this awesome whistling sound. I took pictures and video of it so I could stop by the beer place on my way home after the doctor's today and ask them WTF? We ended up taking the airlock out and using one of the siphoning hoses to make a bigger airlock (by putting the one end in a big tub of water and letting it bubble out that way). This morning, the water in the tub was a very very dark brown beer color. It's also very beery in the bathroom.

Epic Photoshop Disaster

Happy birthday to me!

I like being crafty. I made red velvet cake truffles for Nicole’s birthday present. They weren’t that hard, but they were a bit tricky. I melted the chocolate chips in the microwave and “painted” it into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer. I read online that chocolate shrinks as it freezes so the cups would just pop out. Lie. I only broke a few though. The next thing was to crumble the cake and mix icing into it to make it pastey. That part was easy. And messy. But not as messy as piping the filling into the cups. After a messy situation with a sandwich bag bursting, we moved the filling to a gallon bag. It lasted a little longer. I ended up piercing the bag with all of my fingers and a seam burst towards the end and red velvet cake was everywhere. It looked like I killed something. And I did this twice :) Topped with pink sprinkles and placed on a pretty plate with a cover, they looked pretty. Apparently they taste good. Andrew wants a “sampling of cakes” for his birthday. But unless they make smaller boxes of cake mix, he might just get one kind. But I have time to come up with something.

The recipe I followed said to dip balls of the cake mix in the chocolate, but making cups was more fun. I think it might be too much chocolate though. The cups would be good filled with anything. Dark chocolate cups filled with cake might be good too.

I love Andrew :) We are going out for pizza at Momo’s tonight (not the grown-up store) and friends are coming over for games after. I heart dump cake. Last night there was a February birthday celebration at Peter & Laura’s. Addy is too cute singing Happy Birthday. Laura liked the dog we got her and I got fabulous gift cards :) and Nicole liked the candy/cake. I think it’s funny that Papa didn’t know it was my birthday :)

The entire state internet/intranet is down. No one has email, internet, intranet or anything happening on a state server. When your job is internet, then there is nothing to do. That’s why I can type this big post. I’m not currently busy. Oh, I will be when we’re up and running again.

It’s like a tiny disgusting snail kiss.
Puppies!
Big ears
Winston
I like Huskies
Heck yes
Squishy
Fuzzy
This pup is beefy
Bulldogs are awesome
So are itty bitty dachshund puppies!
And bassets

It's been a while

It’s been a long time since last post. I feel better now. Yay!

So here’s what happened: I slept a lot. But seriously, TMH was great from what I remember. Everyone was really nice. They gave me something to “relax” that promptly made me fall asleep. I woke up once in recovery to throw up on myself. The nurse said something and shoved a towel on my shoulder. I fell back asleep. The second time however, I was aware enough to tell the nurse and she gave me a cup. The towel I think had disappeared by then. By the third time, I was pretty awake and got a new cup and they decided to give me something else to combat the nausea. Which almost immediately made me fall back to sleep. Andrew said it took a lot longer to wake up than they had told us.

We stopped to eat on the way home. My throat was really sore from the breathing tube I guess. I had to take a sip of water with every bite to get it to swallow. I didn’t eat much and I was falling asleep again. That’s pretty much how it went for a few days. They gave me Percocet, but it is more of an uncomfortable thing than a hurt thing, so I only ended up using a few. They didn’t help. I hate sleeping on my sides. I think I’m over the sleeping-on-my-side thing because Andrew said I was sleeping on my back snoring a few days ago.

We went to Ruby Tuesday for some “roughage” because all I had eaten in as few days was fries. When Andrew left to use the bathroom I began arguing with a song on the radio just as the waiter stopped by. I might be embarrassed the next time we go if I could remember who the guy was. Silly anesthesia.

Andrew’s family came over for pizza on Monday. It was the most that I was able to sit up without being dizzy. I think everyone had a good time.

I have one more appointment to get the stitches out and then I’ll be golden!

On a completely unrelated note, it was so cold this morning that all the grass had frost on it. I hope I didn’t kill my spider plants. We went to get coffee and there was such a layer of ice on the car that the cup kept sliding off the roof. Silly ice. Temperatures in the teens are too cold.

Xmas Eve!

Happy Xmas Eve! I’m so excited!

Last night almost all the Watkins’ got together for dinner at Morallia’s (sp?). Man did that waiter work! 20+ people and he was all by himself. But I don’t think he got any orders wrong. It was nice to talk to Carly and Aunt Shelly. It was nice to see everyone else too; we were just sitting next to them. At the end of the table. Near the wall. lol

Tonight is dinner with “the in-laws” and presents I think. I’m making Andrew wait until Xmas morning to open his from me. I don’t really know what’s going on though with stockings and such on Xmas. I guess it really doesn’t matter :)

I had to go get a blood test today. So I figured it might be busy. I forgot it was Xmas Eve. It took like 15 minutes. I got there at 6:30 and was walking slowly to the car since I don’t know where my office keys are. The lady was wonderful. He roped off my arm and patted and patted and patted. I told her that you can at least see the vein on top of my hand. So she flipped my hand and was like “Woah, that’s much different from your arm. I’ll make a note of that.” She hit it the very first time. Yay! And luckily the office was open. I think someone forgot to lock it last night though because I did a walkthrough and didn’t see anyone. I have a Dr. appointment later this morning too. I have a big ol’ band-aid on my hand though because she didn’t want the cotton ball normal thing to come off.

Woohoo! It’s Xmas Eve! At 7:45am, Santa is in Khabarovsk, Russia *<]:{D}}}

Links:

• I’m dreaming of…
• Cold pup
• The dark side has puppies
• Crest ad

Busy busy busy

So yesterday was crazy busy at work. From at least 10 until 4:45 or so, there was back to back stuff to do. The only breaks I took was to change the YouTube song from one Muppet Christmas Carol song to another. A big Commission thing came in that took precedence over everything else, so that got done before lunch, but not much else did. I got to eat with Kelly today. It was fun. I like Kelly. She gave me my Consultis Xmas gift. It is a book just like Andrew wanted. Sheesh. She also gave me some yummy candy. lol

After lunch was a barrage of requests from marine fisheries. When they get going making changes, there really isn’t anything to stop them! j/k. I heart Gus. I accidentally made an entire page of edits from the wrong reference. I was completely done before I realized. Oh man, that was totally a wasted hour. Law stuff cam in as did Birding trail stuff. Lots and lots and lots of stuff today. And I have to do it all twice because of the redesign. I love working at FWC. :) It makes me happy.

Apparently, the La Fiesta on the Parkway is having some trouble. Well it’s just nice that they have activities for roaches; most restaurants aren’t that thoughtful.

03A-07-1	Critical. Observed potentially hazardous food cheese cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit since 10:30 AM discard leftovers at 2:30 PM.
04-01-1	Critical. Cold holding equipment incapable of maintaining potentially hazardous food at proper temperatures. Cooks line prep table. Service unit.
08A-29-1	Critical. Observed uncovered food bag of sugar in holding unit/dry storage area.
08A-29-1	Critical. Observed uncovered food in freezer.
09-05-1	Critical. Observed improper use of bowl/plastic food container or other container with no handle used to dispense food sugar that is not ready-to-eat.
10-04-1	In-use utensil for nonpotentially hazardous food ice not stored in a clean, protected location.
32-15-1	Critical. No handwashing sign provided at a handsink in wai6 station used by food employees.
32-16-1	Critical. Hand wash sink in wait station lacking proper hand drying provisions.
35A-05-1	Critical. Observed roach activity as evidenced by 25 live roaches found under dishwasher.
35A-05-1	Critical. Observed roach activity as evidenced by 20 live roaches found under meat grinder.
35A-05-1	Critical. Observed roach activity as evidenced by 4 live roaches found on walls in meat room.
41B-03-1	Critical. Observed unlabeled spray bottle.
45-36-2	Critical. Hood suppression system tag out-of-date. For reporting purposes only.
47-06-2	Critical. Observed extension cord in use for non-temporary period. For reporting purposes only.
53A-09-1	Critical. No currently certified food service manager on duty with four or more employees engaged in food preparation.

This is the creepiest Santa I’ve ever seen. The caption under the picture was “I can’t believe my Mom gave me to him”. This cartoon is funny.

Le bored

We went out to dinner and Ryan came over last night. It was a nice departure from chicken wings. Le sigh...back to the wings tonight though.

I really have nothing to report on. I feel bad.

Links:

• Fuzzies
• Cute little bow
• Love
• Final exam
• Scaredy pup
• Food goes here
• Manly toy
• Igloo fail
• Happy kitchen
• Leave
• It looked easy
• See? I'm not the only one!
• Nice dodge Mr. President
• How high gas prices have effected the military. I'm glad gas is back down.
• Pope Santa I
• How much would this suck?

Budget?

Redneck 12 Days of Xmas. <- after much upload trouble, here it is.
Kittens running up a slide. This is too cute.
For a bit of Xmas music. They’ve been playing it since at least Thanksgiving.
An awesome potato song.
The feast is mine!

We had fun playing frisbee golf with Hoyt and Carrie this weekend. We also had everyone come over for dinner so Andrew could play with his deep fryer. I like it when the family is over. Addy only made me nervous once when she threw the panda, but she was very very good! We played Apples to Apples and Balderdash. It was only until Addy had her meltdown that folks decided that maybe it was time to go home. :)

We got all of out Xmas shopping done. Now all we need are a few more things for stockings and for me to get my craft act together.

December budget? What December budget?

Thanksgiving weekend

I had such a good time this weekend! The drive down was long due to Ocala traffic, but otherwise uneventful. Fall is so pretty. The whole way down is lined with trees that change colors (all except the lower turnpike, then it’s gator infested canals :)).

Mom made delicious food and Dad fried a turkey. My mini-pumpkin-pies didn’t come out as good as I’d have liked, but they seemed to be eaten up nonetheless. The house was all pretty too. I took pictures and they should be up tomorrow. Uncle Louis, Aunt Chris and Vin and Mike came to TDay dinner. USil and Vin played some sax. Vincent is really really good. They played some Xmas songs.

Mom & Dad have a duck problem. Dad says he chases them off with the hose, but he went running after one to get it away from the yard. It was funny. He wouldn’t do it again for the camera though.

The trip home was terrible. It took 10 ½ hours when it should have only taken 7. We hit the front coming down. There was one point that it got so windy that Andrew said it was throwing the truck around. I’d estimate that if it was doing that to the truck that we had at least TS force winds. I think it was a little tornado, but that’s only because I watch Tornado Chasers too much. There were backups all along the turnpike, the 75-Turnpike interchange, Ocala, and Gainesville. Bu I-10 was clear. It was heavy traffic, but no slowdowns. I’ve only ever seen it worse once. I gave up that time and stayed with Keren.

Microwave meatloaf

The OIT Thanksgiving Luncheon yesterday was fun. I got to talk to Rita and Kevin and Glen. :) I brought cranberry sauce. I also managed to dip my hair in the cranberry aftermath. It was a big sticky mess. Gini was awesome and put the messy dish into her bag so I’d stop getting it all over everything. I heart Gini.

Andrew is the best husband ever. He did a load of dishes before he left for work yesterday. When I got home I did the rest (with his wonderful help). We had thawed some hamburger that we needed to cook, and I didn’t want to dirty more dishes, so I googled "microwave ground beef" and found a recipe for meatloaf in the microwave. Somehow though, I got it in my head that meatloaf goes in the oven and I started to mix it in a not microwaveable dish. Crap, that’s one dirty dish that was unnecessary. Then I transferred it to a bowl to put in the microwave. Dirty dish #2. Well, the recipe called for shredded cheddar cheese which we didn’t have, so I took 2 slices of American singles and tore them up. During the microwaving process, all the cheese came to a boil and leaked over the edge of the bowl and burned itself to the microwave plate. Dirty dish #3. I wasn’t sure if it was done after I cooked it for the recommended time, so I flipped it out of the bowl onto a plate. Dirty dish #4. Cut it with a knife, used a fork to eat it and got a glass to drink from. Dirty dishes #5, 6 & 7. All in all, it would have been less to wash if I would just have ovened it in the first dish. It tasted good though. It even had a crunchy crust. I’m not sure if it was just the cheese that eeked out and burned though. I was so excited about the microwave meatloaf that I completely forgot to make anything else, including the asparagus that we eventually threw out this morning. It was the epitome of low-carb meals; a big domed lump of meat.

Recipe:

• 1 lb of hamburger
• ¼ cup breadcrumbs
• ¼ cup milk (I used water)
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp dry onion soup mix (I used 2 tsp powdered mashed potatoes and some garlic powder)
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used Kraft Singles)

Mix everything into a ball and microwave covered with wax paper for 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. I suggest putting it on a paper plate so you don’t burn it to your microwave like I did.

Links

• Thumbs
• Buddy system
• Pwned
• Drab Man Group

Leon Sinks

We went to Peter & Laura’s on Saturday. It was fun. They bought a pretty brown couch. It’s really comfy. We had a crab boil for dinner. Ryan came over and ate some too. We went over to his house later (after we picked up some choice things at Target for next Halloween). Andrew helped him with chemistry and I fell asleep.

Sunday Andrew and I went on a short hike in Leon Sinks. Fun! We had a picnic on a bench by one of the sinks. Burt this time we made it all the way to Big Dismal Sink. That’s my favorite one. Hammock Sink is a close second. My camera’s battery died early on, so I didn’t get pictures of a lot. I only was able to snap about 10 before the camera would no longer turn on. There was one place that was like fall essence. It was so pretty. The sun was lighting up all the fall colors and we were surrounded. Stupid camera.

This is Hammock Sink. The water was absolutely georgeous!
You could see all the way to the bottom. When it rains, it turna a murkey tea color.

But not Sunday! It was a beautiful teal.

Here's Andrew looking out over the Hammock Sink.

This is Gopher Hole sink. It's an awesome cave like sink. This is the bottom.
There is a deep hole leading down to this opening on the top. I was only ever up there
once and I was scared I was going to fall in. The felled tree is a new addition.
Probably from Fay. The sink is full of water and it is so calm.
It's like looking at glass in the dark. I didn't get a good picture this time.

Evelyn in fall. I love fall.

This is Big Dismal Sink. It is awesome and the picture doesn't do it justice.
You have to see it in person to understand how huge this hole is.
I'd say hundreds of feet to the top of the water. And the water is so deep it's black.

Aren't we cute?

Rodizios and last night's tv

Andrew and I went to Rodizios last night for dinner. It was really good. They had this one cut of meat that quite literally melted in your mouth. It was awesome. Andrew liked it a lot. He said he liked it better than the Melting Pot, but I disagree. I like other things than just meat. If we go back again, I think I will keep my “salad bar” plate throughout the meal.

Funny but sad story: when we got home I flipped on the TV and the Obammercial was on. Like the very last two minutes or so. He was wrapping it up and I was like, that looks like he is in the Bank Atlantic center! So I called Dad and he confirmed. It’s sad that I can recognize the Panther stadium in like 2 seconds.

I also watched the Daily Show interview with Obama. I thought it was good. He answered questions without just restating the question in the form of a sentence. You betcha. I also saw the Colbert Report, and it was the first time that The Word was a fail. It really wasn’t that funny. But on a not political note, congrats Phillies. It would have been nice for the Rays to win, but, eh, neither team is the Marlins so I really don’t care. Also, Eddie got sent home on Top Design. I was scared for Nathan. I really want him to win. I heart Nathan. I like Ondine too. Preston, not so much. Eddie was starting to get on my nerves, but the judges were right. Nathan’s house would totally be more interesting.

Links:

• Painting
• Innocent looks
• Noble steed
• Moron
• Captain Serious
• Bath time blues
• Sith benefits
• Plastic Surgery
• Whoosh
• Feet not happy
  
  
• An awesomely fun game

Dancing in the parking lot

This weekend was wonderful :)

On Saturday, Andrew and I went out to Carabas with LeeAnn & Jim and Jamey & Danyel. A good time was had by all. They have good food there. I totally think the bridal Minnie Mouse ears are so cute! :) But, I digress…

On Sunday, Lauren invited us to go with her to FSU’s ballroom dancing club for lessons. It was so much fun! I just have to remember to not get so frustrated when I can’t do it right. We leaned the Mambo and the triple time swing. Well, I learned the mambo pretty well. I never did get the swing right. We got the basic steps, but as soon as I had to turn I lost it. We signed up for it and now we’re going to go back every week :) What happens is the men and the women line up on different ends of the Oglesby ballrooms and the instructors are in the center of the room. They show you how to do it and you practice by yourself. Then you find a partner and circle around the room and every so often you switch partners. By the end of the class though, me and Andrew just stayed together. It’s good exercise too. I just need to wear different shoes so my feet don’t hurt at the end of the night.

When we got home, Andrew and I danced in the parking lot.

And here are some funny pictures:

Wigs
Learn Spanish
The best hiding place
Giddy up!
Joyful
Pooh Bear
What are you?!
Are we there yet?
ADD dog
Mop
King of the jungle
Football Names
Amy Winehouse