Ah, I dunno. We had such plans for this house and most of them did not pan out. We’ve had plans for the comics. Not panning out. Plans for several people – those most definitely did not pan out.
Some days it’s hard to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and carry on. But carry on we must. We continue to save up for our BIG BIG PLAN and hope the gods smile upon us as we carry it out. It’s scary, exhilarating, nauseating and awesome all at once. But mostly scary.
Not much else to say today other than I wish to not dream of today, but of the future.
This is a very quick bake made with LOTS of store bought help – so it’s not one for the cookbook, but it’s still really tasty. SEE VARIATION BELOW!!
1 package Perdue Perfect Portions chicken, Italian flavour
1 box Uncle Ben’s Country Inn rice, chicken flavour
1 bag frozen cauliflower
2 cups chicken stock
half cup pine nuts
olive oil
marjoram
parmesan cheese
Heat up the chicken stock to boiling and add rice mix flavourings. Pour rice into 9×12 baking dish then pour in the hot stock. Stir and make sure rice is evenly distributed. Sprinkle in pine nuts. Put chicken breasts on top of rice. Put frozen cauliflower around edge and in between chicken. Douse the cauliflower with olive oil, S/P and a good amount of marjoram. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 375F for about 45 mins. Uncover, sprinkle generously with parmesan and turn up oven to 400F. Bake for another 10-15 mins or so until rice has absorbed the liquid and the veg and cheese has browned.
VARIATION!
Chicken thighs, boneless/skinless
1 box Near East Long grain and Wild rice mix
1.75 cups water and chicken stock (1 cup stock, .75 water) as indicated for rice!
1 large shallot, sliced (or half a red onion)
2 green onions, sliced
half a red bell pepper, diced
handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
S/P
Meyer Lemon and Sweet Lime marmalade (mine) or store bought orange marmalade
Olive Oil (EVOO)
9×12 baking dish, coated with food release (Pam). Add rice, water and flavour packet for rice. Toss in shallot, green onions and pepper. Season chicken thighs on both sides with S/P. Lay over rice cut side up. Toss in the parsley. Put about a teaspoon of marmalade on each thigh. Sprinkle with EVOO.
Cover with foil and put into a 400F oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil, turn up oven to 425F and let water cook out and chicken get brown for 10 more minutes. That’s it! Delicious!
So I’ve been sick with Con Crud this week and when I’m sick, all I want is matzoh ball soup and mac ‘n cheese. Matzoh ball soup is easy, just get this:
For mac ‘n cheese, I’m good with Kroger mac ‘n cheese in a box. So I was cooking up some of that the other night and decided to use buttermilk and greek yogurt in it. WOW! It was soooo delicious we ate every bite! I also tossed in some mexican blend cheese, but it was the buttermilk and yogurt that made it. I highly recommend this recipe next time you’re making boxed mac ‘n cheese!
Last night, Nick brought home KFC – which totally hit the spot. It’s amazing to me that the potatoes and coleslaw taste EXACTLY the same as when I was a kid. That is true comfort food!
So, yah, still sickly, but I think it’s breaking up. It’s not that bad, but juuust enough to disrupt sleep and make you miserable. Yuck! At least Nick is feeling a bit better today. Hopefully it’ll go away so we can get this place back in shape this weekend. :)
We made it through DragonCon, but just barely. We both have mild con crud; Nick is very run down and I have a sore throat + run down. Ugh. But it was worth it to attend our last DragonCon for a few years and to help Echo out of a jam.
We helped Echo with setup and breakdown of her booth, just like last year. The setup was OK but the breakdown was a clusterfuck. They were using a truck line to transport their stock to the next show and that was a truly bad idea. They didn’t realise that truck lines do NOT offer packing services at trade shows/cons, which means that Echo was responsible for putting her shit on pallets. Yah, not really a job for a couple of girls. Luckily, Nick was there to pack that shit properly and get it wrangled. HARD WORK!
It was WAY awesome to see Ted and Drew! We missed the girls, but it was great to catch up with the boys. We also got to hang out with Suzann and Dave for a while – YAY! Saw Miracole and Chris briefly and met Grant Imahara. Nick and Ted also got to talk shop with George Pérez, which was great to watch – as was George and Suzann nerding all over each other! PRICELESS!
We got into 2 panels – 2 more than I thought we would. John Barrowman’s panel was hilarious (of course) and he had his husband Scott with him, too, which was even better! We got to see their Batman and Superman underwear! LOL The Trek panel with Dorn and Frakes was pretty good. The questions were semi-dumb, so the guys entertained us with show tunes for much of the panel. Hey, it was Sunday, I don’t blame them! We did learn a couple of new things about Trek so it was worth it.
I gave in to my inner goth girl and bought a new corset. It’s a midlevel corset ($169) that has industrial plastic boning and laces front & back w/ black/purple brocade. It’s OK. Nothing like a Fallen Angel, but at half the price, I can’t really complain. The really good news is that I am in a 32!! This corset should be good for me even if I lose 30+ pounds. We will write it off as “booth décor”. :) Which is 100% true. Now I’ve got to make a skirt to go with it.
That was the big purchase of the con. We don’t need to spend the money, no, but sometimes you’ve gotta go with it. It makes me feel like a girl again, which I really needed. Nick will get his flat panel TV when everything goes on sale for xmas, so it all works out.
The restaurant remodel is clicking along. We’re working on the new menus and pricing. I’ve managed to stay on top of all the corrections despite the con, which makes me happy.
Hopefully the con crud will burn itself out this week and we can get back to normal by the weekend. We’ve got to mow the lawn and do some outdoor work this weekend and we can’t do that while sick. Bleh. Hope everyone avoided the crud and has a good week! (Oh, and Happy Birthday, Andy!)
So, we got our DNA results from Connect My DNA yesterday. I’m very glad I got a steep discount because I think the results are questionable at best.
Here is my graph of DNA hits:
Angela’s DNA hits
Irish I can dig. I’ve researched the family names and United Kingdom is a definite link. But all that Latin America? I’m not so sure. I also love that there’s no obvious Native American Indian anywhere to be seen. THAT doesn’t surprise me, although I’ve seen a pic of my great grandfather on my father’s side and he certainly LOOKS Cherokee. Or some sort of Native American, anyway.
But I dunno, could that dude actually be of Central American Indian descent rather than North American Indian? I suppose that’s a possibility. And on my mother’s side, her father’s lineage is a question because he was born out of wedlock (and of course in the 20s, one didn’t TELL no matter what). Whoever his family was (we think Hall is a good possibility) had black hair and eyes and could tan deeply – like my mother and brother. Also, my brother is practically hairless, which is another Native American trait.
I’ve always assumed their reddish skin full of melanin was the Cherokee or perhaps there was some African in there, but what if it’s the Central American causing their traits? I guess it’s possible. I assume that all the native tribes of the Americas intermingled at some point, so maybe that’s the deal?
Just read this on the wiki about indigenous peoples of the Americas:
“DNA testing is not sufficient to qualify a person for specific tribal membership, as it cannot distinguish among Native American groups.”
I paid for a STR DNA test, which cannot test for indigenous markers, sadly. You need a Y-DNA or mtDNA test for that specific information. Info on that (here). But I think you can extrapolate from this one that indigenous people are involved. I think maybe the family insistence that there’s “Cherokee” in us may not be entirely untrue.
Here are the actual tags:
LOCI values
If anyone out there can read that, HOLLAH, would you? All I know is that I can prove I’m a minority! Yay! LOL
The Irish did make me laugh, though, considering what a sot I am. Makes TOTAL sense! :)
Nick’s came back with Belarus as his primary and Polish at the very bottom, but it was almost all Eastern European, so that makes sense. After looking at the history of Belarus (Lithuania and Poland) it’s perfect.
I think these cheapo DNA tests are more parlour game than useful info, but it’s fun and for $30, why not? Perhaps use a better one than Connect My DNA if you want ancestry info, but do try it if you find a discount coupon. I’m intrigued and will probably do the ancestry one at some point.
