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Sunday, April 12, 2020

Be a Calm Iggins

These are interesting times that we live in. I was listening the public radio on the way to work before I became part of the work from home force, and the radio host talked about the importance of being calm. The abbreviated version was that keeping a calm head will keep you safer. Then my brain leapt immediately to “Fear is the mind killer” and then jumped to the time that Iggins was startled and ran directly into a wall.  I do not want to be an Iggins running into walls.  However, I know that it is not easy to keeps a calm out look.  Some people go for distractions, such as binge watching movies until it is over and others are using this time to learn new skills.  I am a list person, so my distraction tends to come in lists and completing them.  Good things come in multiples of threes.

Things that I have learned:

  1. I still hate grape juice
  2. Trying something on Pinterest does not equate automatic success
  3. Date Bread does not taste the way you think it would.  
Things that I am grateful for:
  1. Postage Stamps
  2. Fabric Hoarding
  3. Fluffy Socks
Things that distract me:
    1.  Things We Do in the Shadows (television show)
    2.  My husband and his need for new records
    3.  Family 

What are some things that you have learned, you are grateful for and distract you?  

Friday, April 3, 2020

March Movie List


In the crazy world that we live in that feels more like the beginning to several sci-fi movies, it is a good thing that my husband has various sources for visual entertainment.  The March Movie list feels like I should have earned a badge.  If I had a creative talented I would make a badge for some that has seen at least half of these movies, that isn’t married to me.  It is an eclectic mix.

How many of these movies have you seen?

March movies
  • Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla
  • Godzilla Tokyo SOS
  • Godzilla 2000
  • The Mad Mission
  • Guns Akimbo 
  • Alien Trespass
  • Christine
  • Rifftrax: The Girl from Rio
  • Rifftrax: The Last Shark
  • Lethal weapon 
  • Lethal weapon 2
  • MST3k Zombie Nightmare 
  • Red Son
  • The Monster Club
  • Dr.  Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine 
  • Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs
  • American Movie
  • Jodorowsky’s Dune
Thoughts on some of these movies:

  • I think that Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine might have the catchiest song ever. I still find myself humming and singing it days later.  It is one of those Vincent Price movies that doesn’t seem like it was a hardship for him to film.  
  • Guns Akimbo is one of those movies that is a fun action movie that made me laugh more then I expected and will mostly likely get a copy for my brother for the next holiday/birthday/just because gifting.
  •  Jodorowsky’s Dune made me realize that you don’t always have to read the book to find inspiration. 

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Comfort Food: Twisted Chicken Noodle Soup

Comfort Food: Twisted Chicken Noodle Soup

I should probably call this Thai Chicken Noodle Soup or Not My Mother’s Chicken Noodle Soup, but both of those seemed like really long titles for a recipe this delicious.  (Mom- If you are reading this, your Chicken Corn Soup is awesome and also great comfort food.)

This recipe originated from my husbands work.  They have a healthy eating section to encourage positive life choices and this recipe sounded good to him, so he forwarded it to me. I took what I liked out of the recipe and molded it into something heartier that makes a good meal by itself or an excellent part of a soup and sandwich meal.


Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons water
1 Onion diced
1 tablespoon dried ginger or 2 inches  of fresh ginger rood thinly sliced
2 tablespoon curry powder or 1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 (15 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
3 cups of vegetable broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 cup edamame 
3/4 cup riced cauliflower & sweet potato mix 
2 cooked chicken breasts chunked in bite size pieces(I use rotisserie to save time)
1 small packet of Thai vermicelli rice noodles

Directions:
  1. Wrap sweet potato in cling form wrap and microwave for 7 minutes.  This should cook the potato all the way through.  Put the potato in the freezer to bring down temperature for handling later.
  2. In a pot for noodles, fill will water and put on the heat to boil noodles.  A watched pot never boils, so move on to step 3 as the water heats. 
  3. In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and ginger; cook until onions are tender and translucent. This should take about 5 minutes. Add the curry and water and stir together with onion ginger mix for about a minute.  Once everything is blended, add the unsweetened coconut milk and vegetable broth to make the soup broth.  It should smell amazing.  Bring soup broth to a boil and then let it simmer while you work on step 4.
  4. Take the potato out of the freezer. It should be cool to the touch but not frozen. Remove the skin from the potato and dice into small pieces and put in the broth. If the potato is not cool, it will mush when you attempt this step.  IF the potato is still super warm, put it back in the freezer and work on other steps. 
  5. Add the chunked cooked chicken into the broth along with the edamame and riced cauliflower/sweet potato mix.  Stir the the pot every now and then to verify that it nothing has settled to the bottom of the pot.  
  6. The water for the noodles should be boiling.  Add noodles to the the pot and stir.  You want to make sure that nothing sticks together. Rice noodles cook quickly.  Once they are done cooking, you will want to rinse the noodles in cold water to stop the cooking process.  Once the noodles are cooked and cool to the touch, refrain from eating them from the bowl and put them in the soup broth. IF the sweet potato is still in the freezer cooling down, take it out of the freezer and it should be fine to dice and put in the soup. 
  7. Stir all the ingredients together and let simmer for at least five minutes. You want the potato to gain some of the curry flavor.  IF the noodles seem to overwhelm the soup, it is okay to add half a cup of water. 
  8. Add salt, lemon juice, cilantro and sesame oil to the soup.  Stir to the tune of Ring Around the Rosie letting the ingredients incorporate in to the broth and then serve.

This is a hearty chicken noodle soup that is full of flavor and sneaks in a couple of vegetables while providing comfort that only a chicken soup can provide.  



Sunday, March 1, 2020

February Movie List

It is weird keeping track of all the movies that I watch in a month. Especially since I have the attention span of a gnat. I am hoping that by the end of the year when I look at all the movies I have watched I can identify a couple of trends in my husbands viewing pleasure and therefore able to better predict movies he would be interested in as future gifts.  That is the hope.  


February Movie List
  1. Come Drink with Me
  2. City Hunter
  3. The Magnificent Butcher
  4. Crank 2
  5. The Tingler
  6. The Devil’s Nightmare
  7. The Strange Door
  8. Yo-Yo Girl Cop
  9. Tears of the Black Tiger
  10. Doctor Bloods Coffin
  11. The Abominable Dr. Phibes
  12. Knives Out

While February was less intense in volume, the variety was up kept.  Other than Knives Out (which was a birthday gift and I loved it when I saw it in the theater), my favorite movie was The Abominable Dr. Phibes.  My husband discovered this movie based on a tour of Silver Screen monsters we did on our anniversary in Connecticut. It is one of the strangest Vincent Price movies I have ever seen. 

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Paint Colors

Names of paint colors is weird.  Jon and I were picking a color to repaint our entryway and I have decided there should be rules when picking colors. At the moment I have it boiled down to two rules. 

Rule # 1  Don’t use a paint color named after a food unless you are going to be eating in that room. 

Rule #2  Nautical colors should be used in nautical locations only. 

The thousand of colors to choose from os at best overwhelming. All of the paint names are upbeat or neutral at best. Does the name of the paint color describe who I am as a person?  If so, perhaps I might recommend some of these names to be used for paint colors.

Dismal: This would most likely be a grey or a brown or some weird combo of both.  It would be great to be used in horror movies.  

Institutionalized: I think you can picture this color in your head. It is the color of a faded green, that feels like it is trying too hard to be cheerful and welcoming.  This color would also be great to be used in horror movies. 

Blood of the Enemies: This would be a dark reddish brown.  Perhaps matte would look better than a glossy. This color would also be great to be used in horror movies.  

Maybe there is a slight horror movie theme, but you have to admit it has a bit of charm to it.  In fact I am sure that any one of an Emo or Goth nature would be thrilled to have a Dismal hallway, or a Blood of the Enemies bedroom. 

What are your thoughts?

Monday, February 3, 2020

Marshmallow. Mail

My father cracks me up.  I suddenly feel like I have to up my mail game.

As an early Valentines Day, I received Marshmallows in the mail.


That in itself cracked me up, but to put the icing on the cake was the message on the bag and some interesting graphic design choices. 


I am sure that it was supposed to be an innocent finger pointing sort of thing, sort of saying “You got this” or “Shoot”, but in my brain it looked totally like something else.  Something that would give you the munchies and relax you if you took a couple of hits.   

Dad is totally made check mate in one move. I totally need to up my mail game.

Sunday, February 2, 2020

January Movie List

My husband has a love for movies.  I don’t exactly share that love, but occasionally I will indulge.  I have made a list of every movie we have watched in January, in the attempt to find a theme.

January Movie List

  1. Murder Party
  2. Hard Boiled
  3. Black Sheep
  4. Missing In Action
  5. Rock N Roll High School
  6. Waxworks
  7. Storm Riders
  8. The Great Yokai War
  9. Deathgasim
  10. Saturday the 14th
  11. Frankensteins Created Woman
  12. Club Dread
  13. The Day of the Triffids
  14. Land of the Minotaur
  15. The Chivalry,  The Gunman and Killer
  16. Nino Kuri 
  17. The Delightful Forest
  18. Planet of the Vampires
  19. Jackie Chan’s First Strike
  20. Drunken Dragon

I feel like I may have used the word indulge a little liberally. However looking for a theme for the January movie collection is a little strained.  I feel like it is even harder to find some one that has watched all of these movies.  If this was a points system and each movie was worth 5 points, what would be your score?