More Pointless Facts

I had an *awesome* weekend.

Friday night I went out with work friends to The Melting Pot. I got to dip raw meat in boiling oil, then dip the cooked meat in sauce, and then eat that. There was chocolate. I drank an Algonquin, which is my new favorite cocktail.

Saturday I went to the gym, then headed to a farm store to see what the produce of the week was. It turned out to be acorn squash, 2 pears, and a pint of raspberries. I splurged on a half gallon of local cider. Delicious, but pricey.

When I got home, I mashed the raspberries up on the bottom of a pitcher, and poured the cider over them. I then drank raspberry cider all day. That's yummy, in case you wondered.

Then I relaxed a while. I read a book, played with the plants a little, watched a TV show, just regular lazy stuff. I put the acorn squash in the oven to roast, because that takes a long damn time.

In the late afternoon, I finally tried the sage pesto experiment that I've been threatening ever since the sage plant went insane and took over the planter. I took sage, walnuts, garlic, and olive oil for a spin in the trusty ancestral Cuisinart, and then salted to taste. I sliced open some chicken breasts, and smeared the pesto inside and out, and then baked them. So dinner was sage pesto stuffed chicken breasts and roasted acorn squash. That was nice. I ate it while watching "Race to Witch Mountain" on Netflix, and drinking an Algonquin.

Sunday morning, after putting in the laundry, I realized that I had a bunch of squished up raspberries in the bottom of a pitcher, and instead of wasting them, I made raspberry chocolate chip muffins. They were really wet, so I added extra flour after the raspberries, and it all worked out just fine. I ate some while drinking coffee and watching "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" on Netflix. Yay, Netflix! Then I went and hung out with my dad for the rest of the day.

Recipes:

Sage Pesto (all measurements are approximate)
about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sage leaves,including green stems
about 1/2 cup salted shelled walnuts
about 4 T minced garlic
unmeasured olive oil

Put 2 T of garlic in the food processor bowl, add sage leaves. Pulse to process into a paste. Add walnuts, pulse until reasonably smooth. Add olive oil in a stream to the mixture while the FP is running, until desired pesto texture is achieved. Check this quickly, it goes fast. Taste. Add salt to taste.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 cups flour, plus more to adjust batter consistency
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar, depending how sweet you want this (I used 1/2 cup)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 Tablespoons melted butter or canola oil (any mild oil will work)
1 egg
1 cup milk (maybe more, depends on how wet your raspberries are)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used extra bittersweet)
random amount of raspberries, whatever you have. I had a cup and a half of mashed raspberries that had been soaking in apple cider

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Put dry ingredients (except the chips) in a mixing bowl and mix slowly to combine.

Whisk together the butter, egg, and milk in a separate bowl.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix to combine. Add raspberries, then chocolate chips. The batter should be thick, not smooth liquid. If it's too wet, add 2-3 Tablespoons of flour and mix, repeating until the batter is the desired consistency. I added at least a half cup of extra flour until I was happy with the results.

Bake in a greased (or papered and greased) muffin pan for 20-30 minutes, or until the muffins are slightly brown around the edges, and the tops spring back when touched.

American Freed!

Carter gains freedom for American held in N. Korea

... Carter haters heads explode across America.
I don't know how Carter got this guy out, but I bet he's really grateful.

Really, I read the article, but do I trust the press to present me all the facts? No, I don't. My point here is that it looks like President Carter did something nice for another human, and I expect angry articles to pop up about why it was the Wrong thing to do.

People are like that.

This Weekend In Success

I bought sequined platform heels with magenta skulls on them. The main sequin area is black, and yes, the skulls are also done in sequins.

I made something called "5 o'clock biscuits" which are canned biscuits folded over smoked oysters.

What'd *you* do?

Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On

This morning, as I often do, I was driving to work. The last leg of my commute is up a winding mountain road with a state route number. It's one lane each way, or a two lane road, however you think of it, my point is that it's a winding mountain road that goes through a residential neighborhood.

As I traversed this part of my route, I noticed a deer running hell-for-leather diagonally across the lawn to my right, headed - headed for a collision course with my car. I slammed on the brakes. I wasn't fast enough, or it was too late, because BAM! I hit the deer and it went down. Pretty sure I was yelling something like "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" while that happened. My heart beating a mile a minute, I watched the deer flounder, then stand up, shake itself off (minus some huge tufts of fur) and RUN AWAY. Jesus, deer are tough. I slowly hit the gas on my car, and everything seemed OK, driving-wise. I noticed that the car in front of me had slowed, but it took off when it saw me moving.

Shaking like a leaf, I continued the approximate 3 more miles in to my office. I looked at my car, and the frame for my license plate is broken. The plate itself is still riveted to the car, so, OK. A seriously small amount of damage, considering what could have happened.

Still shaking, I walked in to the office, headed to the ladies' room, went to the fridge to put my lunch in, and started thinking about how the car in front of me had slowed down...

The car in *front* of me.

I am now so, so glad that there wasn't a car behind me.

Economic Recovery

Today in the mail I got:

• A letter explaining that a certain Corporate Bank can help me if I'm having trouble making my payments
• 2 Debt reduction/debt forgiveness solicitations
• A letter explaining that the limit on my Macy's card, which has a zero balance, has been reduced
• An offer for a new credit card that will give me airline miles

In my email, I received a notice that, since I'm such a good customer, the limit on one of my credit cards has been increased.

This gives me the impression that, as a nation, we don't know what the f**k we're doing.

Smuggling Golf Balls

"My throat feels like it's closing up," he said.

I offered him tea or coffee.

Why didn't I put on a surgical mask and keep 20 feet back?

My throat feels like it's closing up. Bah.

...And Then I Went Soft

Seriously, when did I start liking babies?



I wasn't even washing her off as dinner preparation or nothin'! In fact, it was her mother washing her off in my sink, but man, that's just cute.