Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 92
January 29, 2017
29 Spin-Offs That Never Happened
Probably a good thing. :-)
January 26, 2017
Adventures With Rice
Since I talked about my cooking win, it's only fair that I talk about my cooking...not loss because it didn't turn out badly, but it was a lesson. I wanted to say lesson learned, but this isn't the first time I've made a mistake like this so I have no hope that I've learned it this time either.
I have this slow cooker dish that I've made a few times--successfully! It's a riff on a stove top recipe that I really like. I call it Chicken Salsa Verde. What I do is put in about 4 pounds of chicken (usually a combination of breast and thigh meat), a can of chicken broth mixed with corn starch, and a jar or two of salsa verde. I cook on high for about 5.5 hours, then I add a can of sliced olives and cook for another half an hour. It's always turned out yummy.
This time, though, I had a brainstorm. Why don't I add rice to the slow cooker? That way, I can have my Chicken Salsa Verde with rice and not have to cook it on the stove. Brilliant, I decided.
At about the five hour mark this time, I added rice. I had it all figured out. I'd put in 3/4 of a cup of rice. It might be too much, but I wasn't sure half a cup would be enough. Only after I added the amount of rice I'd decided on, it didn't look like enough. I added another quarter cup. Hmm. It still didn't look like much. I added more. Without measuring.
Um, yeah.
When I came back an hour later, there was no sauce left in the slow cooker. The rice had sucked up every inch of moisture. I added more salsa verde mixed with some water. And then added more water. I had a pretty solid mass.
I was able to get it mixed up enough to lose the clay-like consistency, but I had a hell of a big container of leftover Chicken Salsa Verde with Rice in the refrigerator. It's going to be a long time before I make this one again.
I have this slow cooker dish that I've made a few times--successfully! It's a riff on a stove top recipe that I really like. I call it Chicken Salsa Verde. What I do is put in about 4 pounds of chicken (usually a combination of breast and thigh meat), a can of chicken broth mixed with corn starch, and a jar or two of salsa verde. I cook on high for about 5.5 hours, then I add a can of sliced olives and cook for another half an hour. It's always turned out yummy.
This time, though, I had a brainstorm. Why don't I add rice to the slow cooker? That way, I can have my Chicken Salsa Verde with rice and not have to cook it on the stove. Brilliant, I decided.
At about the five hour mark this time, I added rice. I had it all figured out. I'd put in 3/4 of a cup of rice. It might be too much, but I wasn't sure half a cup would be enough. Only after I added the amount of rice I'd decided on, it didn't look like enough. I added another quarter cup. Hmm. It still didn't look like much. I added more. Without measuring.
Um, yeah.
When I came back an hour later, there was no sauce left in the slow cooker. The rice had sucked up every inch of moisture. I added more salsa verde mixed with some water. And then added more water. I had a pretty solid mass.
I was able to get it mixed up enough to lose the clay-like consistency, but I had a hell of a big container of leftover Chicken Salsa Verde with Rice in the refrigerator. It's going to be a long time before I make this one again.
January 24, 2017
Word of the Year
There are a number of planners and goal-setting books that suggest picking a word or short phrase as your theme for the year. I was a little skeptical of this idea, but decided to think about it anyway. After all, it wouldn't hurt anything.
2016 was a horrible year, one that left me feeling overwhelmed and worn out. I think my word for last year was probably something like ENDURE, although I never really thought about it.
But 2017 was a new year and I gave the word/phrase thing some consideration. My first thought was to go with the word PERSEVERE. Like just continue slogging through all the muck and eventually get to the other side of the fire swamp. That one stuck with me for three or four days and I was feeling confident that was my word.
And then there was a goal-setting webinar someone posted about on Facebook and I attended. One of the exercises was to pick a word or phrase for 2017. :-) Yeah, sometimes fate is just telling you to do something. I'd never heard of this idea before and suddenly everywhere I turn, this is popping up.
As I worked through the exercise in the webinar, though, I decided my word wasn't persevere like I thought it was. My word was actually TRANSFORMATION.
I'm not sure exactly why this is my word or what it means yet, but I'm going with it. It seems like a really good word.
2016 was a horrible year, one that left me feeling overwhelmed and worn out. I think my word for last year was probably something like ENDURE, although I never really thought about it.
But 2017 was a new year and I gave the word/phrase thing some consideration. My first thought was to go with the word PERSEVERE. Like just continue slogging through all the muck and eventually get to the other side of the fire swamp. That one stuck with me for three or four days and I was feeling confident that was my word.
And then there was a goal-setting webinar someone posted about on Facebook and I attended. One of the exercises was to pick a word or phrase for 2017. :-) Yeah, sometimes fate is just telling you to do something. I'd never heard of this idea before and suddenly everywhere I turn, this is popping up.
As I worked through the exercise in the webinar, though, I decided my word wasn't persevere like I thought it was. My word was actually TRANSFORMATION.
I'm not sure exactly why this is my word or what it means yet, but I'm going with it. It seems like a really good word.
January 22, 2017
What Are Those White Lines On My Nails?
I've wondered about this.
January 19, 2017
Adventures in Grocery Shopping
On Tuesday when I blogged about cooking, I mentioned that I'd do a post about my shopping adventures. It was not what I expected when I started out.
To preface the whole story, I had to make a run up to the airport early in the morning to drop someone off on Saturday. On my way home, I decided to do my grocery shopping and get it out of the way. It was nearly 7am when I pulled into Kroger, but they're open 24 hours, so I didn't think much of it. I used to go grocery shopping in Minnesota at 6am on Saturdays all the time to avoid the craziness that started later in the day and the experience was no different than shopping at 2pm.
I expected the same thing in Georgia. That's not what I got.
I parked my car in the nearly deserted parking lot and didn't think anything of it. Mornings seem to start later in Atlanta than they did in Minneapolis. I walked up to the doors, but they didn't open. I tried the other set next to them. Nope. I checked the sign on the door. Open 24 hours, it said.
There are two entrances to this store, so I walked the length of the store and those automatic doors worked. I don't like using this set of doors because I like to shop produce first and it's on the other side of the store, but hey, whatever. I grabbed a cart and entered the store. I hesitated. It was sort of dark because not all the lights were on. Huh?
Still, no one told me they weren't open, so I headed down to produce and discovered that the section for the apples I wanted to buy was almost completely empty. There were two sad, scarred apples there, but there was no way I was buying them. And there was no asparagus for my fish either.
I decided to do the rest of my shopping and come back to produce. Maybe things would be out by then. As I was in the whole foods section, the lights came on. It was 7am. After I finished picking up what I had on the list, I headed back to produce, but no, the vegetables and fruits had no magically appeared. When I was ready to leave, I had to use the self-service checkout because not one register was open. WTF? This isn't open 24 hours to me.
My next stop was Publix. They open at 7am and by now it was 7:45 or so. Here, I found the apples I wanted (yea!), but they didn't have the chunks of cantaloupe I wanted to get, at least not in the small container. They had some big ones out, but those are too big for me.
But everything else seemed to be out and ready for purchase. This was much better, I decided.
My happiness deflated when I went to buy fish and saw that it was closed up. There wasn't a single piece in the case. Empty and the case was dark. No fresh tilapia for me. I ended up picking up a bag of the frozen fish they sell. Much disappointment, but I wasn't leaving without the ingredients I needed for my recipe.
The lesson here? Don't go grocery shopping in Atlanta too early in the morning. They're not prepared for it the way they are in Minnesota.
To preface the whole story, I had to make a run up to the airport early in the morning to drop someone off on Saturday. On my way home, I decided to do my grocery shopping and get it out of the way. It was nearly 7am when I pulled into Kroger, but they're open 24 hours, so I didn't think much of it. I used to go grocery shopping in Minnesota at 6am on Saturdays all the time to avoid the craziness that started later in the day and the experience was no different than shopping at 2pm.
I expected the same thing in Georgia. That's not what I got.
I parked my car in the nearly deserted parking lot and didn't think anything of it. Mornings seem to start later in Atlanta than they did in Minneapolis. I walked up to the doors, but they didn't open. I tried the other set next to them. Nope. I checked the sign on the door. Open 24 hours, it said.
There are two entrances to this store, so I walked the length of the store and those automatic doors worked. I don't like using this set of doors because I like to shop produce first and it's on the other side of the store, but hey, whatever. I grabbed a cart and entered the store. I hesitated. It was sort of dark because not all the lights were on. Huh?
Still, no one told me they weren't open, so I headed down to produce and discovered that the section for the apples I wanted to buy was almost completely empty. There were two sad, scarred apples there, but there was no way I was buying them. And there was no asparagus for my fish either.
I decided to do the rest of my shopping and come back to produce. Maybe things would be out by then. As I was in the whole foods section, the lights came on. It was 7am. After I finished picking up what I had on the list, I headed back to produce, but no, the vegetables and fruits had no magically appeared. When I was ready to leave, I had to use the self-service checkout because not one register was open. WTF? This isn't open 24 hours to me.
My next stop was Publix. They open at 7am and by now it was 7:45 or so. Here, I found the apples I wanted (yea!), but they didn't have the chunks of cantaloupe I wanted to get, at least not in the small container. They had some big ones out, but those are too big for me.
But everything else seemed to be out and ready for purchase. This was much better, I decided.
My happiness deflated when I went to buy fish and saw that it was closed up. There wasn't a single piece in the case. Empty and the case was dark. No fresh tilapia for me. I ended up picking up a bag of the frozen fish they sell. Much disappointment, but I wasn't leaving without the ingredients I needed for my recipe.
The lesson here? Don't go grocery shopping in Atlanta too early in the morning. They're not prepared for it the way they are in Minnesota.
January 17, 2017
Fish in the Slow Cooker
I'm not much of a cook. I admit that readily. I hate it and it hates me back, but the one thing I can usually do well is use my slow cooker. Except for turkey breast, which I can't seem to master. Anyway, I wanted fish, but I didn't want to risk cooking it on the stove or in the oven, so I did a search online and discovered a recipe for Lemon Pepper Tilapia with Asparagus. I decided to give it a try.
When I went grocery shopping, I picked up asparagus and tilapia. (Although the fish proved to be an issue. More about my grocery shopping issues on Thursday.) If you check out the recipe, you'll see the fish needed to be wrapped in tinfoil. This proved a little problematic too.
The first tinfoil problem arose during the wrapping stage. I had to fold the edges to keep the lemon juice in while I finished putting the packet together. I had one that started leaking even after being carefully wrapped and I had to double up with a second sheet of tinfoil, but at last everything was wrapped and put in the slow cooker.
It was when I took the fish out that problem two surfaced. Leakage. The bottom of the crockery was filled with lemony sauce. I'd figured there'd be a small amount seeping out, but I wasn't prepared for the volume. My culprit was the fish on the bottom. The heat must of ripped a gash the length of the packet. Can a slow cooker do that to tinfoil? It was super torn, not like a hole.
But the big question was how did it taste?
Yummy! The asparagus was so soft and I loved that. The fish was slightly dryish. (but not bad!) I think the problem was that the fish was half frozen because I'd had it in the refrigerator overnight. I decided to cook it as if it were frozen. I probably should have split the difference and done 2.5 hours instead.
I'm not a food photographer or professional chef who knows how to plate food, but here's a picture of my dinner. I served with a quarter cup of brown rice.
Lessons learned: I'm not a fan of pepper, so I would cut back a little on the lemon pepper seasoning the next time I make it. It was a little bit too peppery for me, but not by much.
Buy more asparagus. I picked up a small bundle and it wasn't enough for four fillets.
Double wrap all the fish packets and put a liner in the slow cooker. I always, always line my slow cooker before using it, but I didn't this time. Next time I will.
I'd do the fish frozen. The pieces that were more solid were easier to work with while I built the packets. The fillets that were partially thawed were messier and just a pain.
I give the recipe two thumbs up. It was super good. Prep time was relatively quick and even for me, someone who hates to cook with a passion, it was an easy meal to put together. Certainly worth the effort for the results I got. :-) Recommended if you like lemon.
When I went grocery shopping, I picked up asparagus and tilapia. (Although the fish proved to be an issue. More about my grocery shopping issues on Thursday.) If you check out the recipe, you'll see the fish needed to be wrapped in tinfoil. This proved a little problematic too.
The first tinfoil problem arose during the wrapping stage. I had to fold the edges to keep the lemon juice in while I finished putting the packet together. I had one that started leaking even after being carefully wrapped and I had to double up with a second sheet of tinfoil, but at last everything was wrapped and put in the slow cooker.
It was when I took the fish out that problem two surfaced. Leakage. The bottom of the crockery was filled with lemony sauce. I'd figured there'd be a small amount seeping out, but I wasn't prepared for the volume. My culprit was the fish on the bottom. The heat must of ripped a gash the length of the packet. Can a slow cooker do that to tinfoil? It was super torn, not like a hole.
But the big question was how did it taste?
Yummy! The asparagus was so soft and I loved that. The fish was slightly dryish. (but not bad!) I think the problem was that the fish was half frozen because I'd had it in the refrigerator overnight. I decided to cook it as if it were frozen. I probably should have split the difference and done 2.5 hours instead.
I'm not a food photographer or professional chef who knows how to plate food, but here's a picture of my dinner. I served with a quarter cup of brown rice.
Lessons learned: I'm not a fan of pepper, so I would cut back a little on the lemon pepper seasoning the next time I make it. It was a little bit too peppery for me, but not by much.
Buy more asparagus. I picked up a small bundle and it wasn't enough for four fillets.
Double wrap all the fish packets and put a liner in the slow cooker. I always, always line my slow cooker before using it, but I didn't this time. Next time I will.
I'd do the fish frozen. The pieces that were more solid were easier to work with while I built the packets. The fillets that were partially thawed were messier and just a pain.
I give the recipe two thumbs up. It was super good. Prep time was relatively quick and even for me, someone who hates to cook with a passion, it was an easy meal to put together. Certainly worth the effort for the results I got. :-) Recommended if you like lemon.
January 15, 2017
January 12, 2017
I Miss Old-Style Movies
My original plan was to blog today about how my crochet class is going (okay), but I changed my mind after watching White Christmas.
Over the holidays I watched some movies with my dad. It's so hard to find things he enjoys so a lot of the movies were old--from the 40s, 50s or early 60s. Among these movies were musicals. Delightful songs, dancing, sweet stories.
As we were watching White Christmas on Saturday I started thinking about how they don't make movies like this anymore and haven't for decades. Oh, sure, there's an occasional musical now and then, but once upon a time these were released all the time. Actors and actresses could sing and dance as a matter of course. Now I'm not so sure they can do anything except act. Which is fine, but still I can't help thinking we're missing something special.
There are no words for how sick I am of comic book movies. Marvel Universe, DC Universe, I just don't care. I'm tired of Batman and the Joker and X-Men.
Part of my problem no doubt is related to what I consider the poor offerings Hollywood has released in the last ten or fifteen years. It's all the same and it's part of their chasing the blockbuster and that they're gearing movies to the foreign audience. They now make more money overseas than in the US and this has meant we've lost dialogue-heavy films, especially if there's subtlety involved. I do love action and adventure, but I also love witty banter.
And I love singing and dancing. I loved White Christmas. I never get tired of The Sound of Music. I heard there's a new musical out right now and that it's not bad. I'll have to make a point of seeing it at some point, but I kind of doubt it will have the same magic as the old musicals.
Edited to add: Not that White Christmas is by any means a perfect movie. The conflict in the romance part is the Big Misunderstanding which could be resolved with one conversation and the secondary romance is pretty much non-existent. The characters aren't really well fleshed out either. I look at the movie as more of a vehicle for the singing and dancing and that I enjoyed tremendously.
Over the holidays I watched some movies with my dad. It's so hard to find things he enjoys so a lot of the movies were old--from the 40s, 50s or early 60s. Among these movies were musicals. Delightful songs, dancing, sweet stories.
As we were watching White Christmas on Saturday I started thinking about how they don't make movies like this anymore and haven't for decades. Oh, sure, there's an occasional musical now and then, but once upon a time these were released all the time. Actors and actresses could sing and dance as a matter of course. Now I'm not so sure they can do anything except act. Which is fine, but still I can't help thinking we're missing something special.
There are no words for how sick I am of comic book movies. Marvel Universe, DC Universe, I just don't care. I'm tired of Batman and the Joker and X-Men.
Part of my problem no doubt is related to what I consider the poor offerings Hollywood has released in the last ten or fifteen years. It's all the same and it's part of their chasing the blockbuster and that they're gearing movies to the foreign audience. They now make more money overseas than in the US and this has meant we've lost dialogue-heavy films, especially if there's subtlety involved. I do love action and adventure, but I also love witty banter.
And I love singing and dancing. I loved White Christmas. I never get tired of The Sound of Music. I heard there's a new musical out right now and that it's not bad. I'll have to make a point of seeing it at some point, but I kind of doubt it will have the same magic as the old musicals.
Edited to add: Not that White Christmas is by any means a perfect movie. The conflict in the romance part is the Big Misunderstanding which could be resolved with one conversation and the secondary romance is pretty much non-existent. The characters aren't really well fleshed out either. I look at the movie as more of a vehicle for the singing and dancing and that I enjoyed tremendously.
January 10, 2017
The Snowmageddon That Wasn't
The weather service predicted snow for Atlanta last Friday. I don't know if you all remember the last time it snowed in Georgia, but people were trapped on the roads for 24 hours and longer. It made the national news. I think it was December 2014.
I didn't have the problems getting home in the last snowfall, but it did take me 3.5 hours. That would be an hour longer than my worst ever snow commute in Minnesota. That includes snowfalls of two feet, not the meager 2.5 inches that fell in Atlanta, but as I'm continually reminded, the south isn't used to snow like the north is and doesn't have the equipment to remove it.
So with 2-4 inches of snow in the forecast for Friday into Saturday, I was naturally concerned. This is almost double what fell during Snowmageddon 2014.
It started raining early in the day right on schedule according the the weather people. The temperature hovered in the mid thirties. We watched and waited. And waited. And waited, but finally it was late enough to go to bed.
When I woke up on Saturday morning, I expected to see a blanket of white covering the ground. I opened the blinds to brown. Brown leaves, brown grass, brown pine needles.
The snow forecast had apparently been changed to ice, although I missed that little announcement. There wasn't much ice either that I could see. That was a huge relief, but when I think of the time we spent getting ready and worrying about the weather, it's a little frustrating too. Still, I'll always take them being wrong this way than to have them be wrong the other way and have surprise snow.
I didn't have the problems getting home in the last snowfall, but it did take me 3.5 hours. That would be an hour longer than my worst ever snow commute in Minnesota. That includes snowfalls of two feet, not the meager 2.5 inches that fell in Atlanta, but as I'm continually reminded, the south isn't used to snow like the north is and doesn't have the equipment to remove it.
So with 2-4 inches of snow in the forecast for Friday into Saturday, I was naturally concerned. This is almost double what fell during Snowmageddon 2014.
It started raining early in the day right on schedule according the the weather people. The temperature hovered in the mid thirties. We watched and waited. And waited. And waited, but finally it was late enough to go to bed.
When I woke up on Saturday morning, I expected to see a blanket of white covering the ground. I opened the blinds to brown. Brown leaves, brown grass, brown pine needles.
The snow forecast had apparently been changed to ice, although I missed that little announcement. There wasn't much ice either that I could see. That was a huge relief, but when I think of the time we spent getting ready and worrying about the weather, it's a little frustrating too. Still, I'll always take them being wrong this way than to have them be wrong the other way and have surprise snow.
