sarabou

Wow, the last entry was 2 years ago. And I sounded really cranky. I'm not quite so cranky these days.

Coincidentally, I made that black bean chili again for my Soup Swap.

Anyway... just stopping by. Going to go read now.

I made a batch yesterday.
It is waiting for me at home.
and I have brown rice already made...
Mmmmm.

The other thing on my mind is my skin. It has had enough of winter weather and heated indoor air and could use an oatmeal soak.

Perhaps I will eat black bean chili while in the bathtub.
Kill two birds and all that.

If you aren't utterly grossed out by that image, you can try making my black bean chili... this is from memory, I hope I have everything.

1 lb black beans
1 red pepper, diced
1 lg onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 serrano chiles, seeded and minced
1 large can (28 oz?) petite-diced tomatoes in juice
2 14oz cans vegetable stock (equivalent in bouillon works)
2 T your favorite chili powder
1/4 t cayenne pepper or more to taste
1 t cumin
3-4 chipotle chiles packed in adobo sauce, chopped

Prepare the black beans: covering with a few inches of water and soaking overnight is best. You can "quick" soak by bringing them to a boil, boiling for 10 minutes, then turning off the heat and letting them sit, covered, for an hour. Then drain, rinse, drain again.

Throw everything in a crock pot (except the chipotle chiles, put those in about a half hour before serving time). It'll take all day on low, and a few hours on high. It's done when the beans are done. You can add a little sea salt, depending on your taste and how salty your stock is. I don't, usually.

Serve over brown rice. Shredded cheddar or jack cheese, sour cream, and chopped green onions are good too.

I'm generally a easygoing, good-tempered person. My usual self-image does not include "cursed" or any variation thereof. But 2006 was string of bad luck... starting with a January 2nd flight down the stairs, peaking with the June death of my dear Dad, and winding down with a lovely bout of food poisoning.

So I'm raising a shaky, dehydrated middle finger to the old year. 2007 will be better! It simply can't be any worse.

I feel like I am tempting fate with that statement.
Oh well.

I haven't seen the Rudolph show this year and I'm sooo disappointed. I miss the scary snow giant with the big sharp teeth. Even as an adult, the mere thought can cause a little shiver, a little primal hair-raising. However, these days I can watch his appearances with little more than a throw pillow for protection.

I never liked the part at the end when you see all of his teeth have been pulled out. It seemed very sad to me. Why couldn't he be nice, put the star on the tree without needing a ladder AND keep his teeth?

Maybe I'll find the DVD in the clearance bin.

Merry Christmas!!

While browsing Trader Joe's yesterday, I suddenly realized I recognized the folk-rock mood music playing overhead...

There's a dead skunk in the middle of the road...
Stinkin' to high heaven.

I called my brother. "Dave. I'm at the store. Guess what's playing overhead?" I sang it for him.
He started laughing. "It's a real song?"
"I always thought Dad made it up!"

Now that I think about it, I don't recall him ever passing it off as his own. He sang it on roadtrips; we thought it was hilarious and sang along. And made up other lyrics. A song about roadkill? Seemed perfectly reasonable, coming from Dad.

I looked it up. It's by Loudon Wainwright III and was a top-40 novelty hit in 1972. It's still his best-known song. Apparently he doesn't play it in concert anymore; in response to requests, he reportedly said, "I'm so sick of that f*cking song."

I'm learning to knit and crochet. It was less about Reclaiming Girly and more about indulging my tactile compulsions. Playing with texture and color is the big draw for me... making something cool out of a piece of string is a bonus.

But I put it aside for a week or so. Because I wanted to make this sushi TP cozy. I didn't actually make it, mind you. I had already committed in my head to finishing some scarves, and this was not on the agenda for now. So I didn't work on either one. My brain kind of gridlocks sometimes.

I do have some conflicted feelings about the cozy. I sense a slippery slope looming, where every available surface clamors to be covered. Cozied. A lawn gnome and publicly-worn pink foam curlers may be at the bottom of that slippery slope, and if that is my fate, a dear friend has explicit instructions to shoot me.

Woman faces fines for wreath peace sign
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061127/ap_on_re_us/anti_peace_sign

My favorite? Is where the association president fires the committee for disagreeing with him.

Since I had to work Friday, traveling for Thanksgiving was out of the question... for which I was thankful. Ryan and I spent a very pleasant day first with his cousin, then with some friends. I contributed to the first meal but just enjoyed the second. At #2, Charlie's dad's cornbread with chipotle cream sauce was a definite highlight.

Meal #1: Traditional turkey, grilled, with trimmings: mini yukon gold potatoes, dressing with apples/turkey sausage/cranberries, Ironic-Nostalgic Cranberry (out of a can, sliced). We were charged with bread, a veg, and a dessert. Rye made a chocolate pudding pie, and I brought cheddar biscuits and roasted lemon pepper Brussels sprouts with Parmesan. The biscuits are just an easy go-to; the sprout recipe was in the Holiday 2006 issue of Cooking Light. (CL rocks.)

Cheddar Biscuits (provenance forgotten)
2 c reduced-fat Bisquick (trans fat free!)
1 c shredded 2% sharp cheddar*
3 T buttermilk powder**
3/4 c water
2 T butter/marg of choice (smart balance for me)
1 clove garlic (1/4 t garlic powder in a pinch)
Parsley (optional and dried is OK - crush it very fine.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine Bisquick and buttermilk powder. Stir in cheddar. Add water and mix by hand until well combined. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a cookie sheet and bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown.

Crush a peeled garlic clove and place with the butter/margarine in a small bowl. Nuke it for 30 seconds or until melted. Brush onto biscuits. Sprinkle a bit of parsley over tops to make 'em look pretty.

Makes 12 biscuits.

* My picked-over grocery did not have the 2% so I used regular. The biscuits came out very flat... normally they have that appealing drop-biscuit look, but these looked like cookies. They were fluffy and tasted fine, though.

** The original calls for 3/4 c real buttermilk in place of the powder and water. I don't have anything against real buttermilk; it's just a pain in the ass to find for some reason, and I always end up wasting a ton of it. boo. Buttermilk powder can be found in the baking aisle and it keeps in the fridge. I've tried this recipe both ways and didn't taste much of a difference. My feeling is, use buttermilk if you have it, but don't make a special trip. I mean, come on, it's Bisquick.

Roasted Lemon-Pepper Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan
from Cooking Light, 11/06

Use good-quality Parmesan for the most robust flavor.
I take this to mean, "real Parmesan, please. Not the stuff in the green can." I wholeheartedly agree. You can cut corners... but not here. -sg

1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
Cooking spray
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/2 ounce shaved Parmesan cheese*

Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; toss well. Place Brussels sprouts mixture in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until edges of Brussels sprouts are lightly browned.

Combine parsley, butter, pepper, and rind, stirring well. Add butter mixture to Brussels sprouts mixture, and toss well. Sprinkle with cheese.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup)

Meal #2: The champagne flowed like... well, champagne, and it was all a bit of a pleasant blur for lightweight me. Charlie's dad Tom is a rockin' cook. Taboo is fun. Yeah.

I just started playing Viva Pinata on Rye's 360. You're tending a garden on Pinata Island, where pinatas live when they aren't being sent off to parties to meet unfortunate ends. It's a resource management game, along the lines of The Sims and Animal Crossing.

For a kid's game, it sure has some interesting themes. Want the pinatas to make little pinatas? When they get little hearts above their heads you can convince them to do a... "romance dance". Complete with bass-heavy 70's-porn-style mood music. Woohoo!

Back to the unfortunate ends: the game claims they LOVE being broken, and provides a cheering-kids sound effect for this event. Still, I have a really hard time believing anything actually enjoys being beaten with a shovel. And the pinata pecking order follows a definite predator-prey food chain; they also "break" if you don't tend to their illnesses in time. It really gets weird when the other pinatas rush over to squabble over their delicious innards. I didn't know pinatas were cannibals!

It's all so disturbing. And cute.

So yeah, I love it.