Hellooooooo.
Did y’all have a nice Easter? We didn’t do much, had roast pork, deviled eggs, green beans, and I made Jordan Rolls. Dinner was kind of screwy, because the roast was done long before I expected, so it had to sit under a foil hat while I put the rolls together. I’ll admit, I was a little leery of the rolls because the dough seemed a bit soft to me when I broke the dough up into rolls, but they baked up nicely (though I think they could have used just a couple more minutes in the oven to brown up completely; I was afraid of overcooking them) and were very tasty. I’ll definitely make them again, though I might make them a tad smaller next time. Or actually, I think I’ll try Method #2 next time.
We’ll be eating roast and deviled eggs and rolls for at least another couple of meals. The good thing about only two people to cook for: leftovers. These days, it seems I’m only having to cook a couple of times a week.
I’m glad the rolls turned out, because I was starting to wonder if I’d lost my baking skillz. Nance posted the other day about all the damn fine food she’d made the day before, and I thought “Oooh, soft pretzel bites! Those look GOOD.” So on Friday I made a batch of soft pretzel bites, and I can tell you right now that they were NOT worth the effort. It must have taken me three hours to get the goddamn things made, because I made half of them with sea salt and the other half with cinnamon sugar, and the making of the dough and the boiling of the dough and UGH. There was a window of time about two hours long when they had cooled and were pretty good, but after that they just got tough.
AND I HAD FORGOTTEN THAT I DON’T REALLY MUCH CARE FOR PRETZELS ANYWAY. Duh.
Then on Saturday I made a Lemon Truffle Cake. Fred and I both love lemon-flavored stuff, so when I saw the recipe I knew I had to make it. The fucking cake took forever to make, and it was okay, but it was another instance where it just was not worth the damn effort. (Which didn’t stop us from eating half of it between Saturday and Sunday, before we gave the rest to the chickens.) (Also, I learned a new skill – I’d never tempered an egg before, and I did it successfully, so score one for new skillz!)
Sunday morning, I made muffins – Paula Deen’s Surprise Muffins – and I forgot the damn baking soda, so they were hockey pucks (which were also fed to the chickens).
But the rolls turned out, so hopefully my Baking Streak of Suckiness is at an end!
Tell me this, fellow reality TV viewers – did or did not a season of Survivor take place in the Seychelles? Because when the teams on The Amazing Race were there, I knew how to pronounce it correctly, and there’s no WAY I would have figured that out on my own. I’ve Googled around, but can’t find a damn thing.
Anyone?
The weather has been so lovely over the past week, with just half a day of rain, that it looks like we may actually be able to plant the damn garden before July. Fred went and got seeds this morning. Over the weekend, he mowed the lawn (mostly – the side lawn in front of the garage is still far too wet for mowing), the daffodils have all bloomed, the trees are starting to leaf out.
By god, I think spring might actually be here!
I wasn’t going to write about this, but honestly I see no reason not to – it’s the ONLY DAMN THING going on around here right now.
Fred’s company and their largest customer have parted ways – and as a result, Fred is looking for a job. Anyone in the Huntsville/ North Alabama area looking for a Software Engineer strong in C and C++?
Yes, Fred has been all over Monster, Dice, and Craigslist, he’s applied for one million positions in the last few days. At this point, we’re sitting and waiting for the phone to ring and it’s driving us (me) nuts. He’s literally been looking for five days (including the weekend), so I know the hunt is just beginning. But still – COME ON, PHONE. RING.
Where’s the employment love, Huntsville? Dayum.
“I do not appreciate this. At ALL. This is completely undignified. STOP IT.”
(No babies yet!)
Those Bookworms sure do love their food.
“Hi. Hi! Hi. Just hangin’ out. Snugglin’ in the lady’s lap. I think if I charm her enough, she’ll give me some more of that canned food. Hasn’t worked yet, but I think it will. Seriously, have you ever seen anything cuter than ME?”
“Um. Is that POOP on her leg? Ugh, humans are SO gross!” Yeah, and I wonder where that poop CAME from, brat!
Spanky! In! A box!
“Hey, Spanky.”
“Hey, Sugs.”
“How’s the box going?”
“Working well for me, thanks.”
Previously
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: (Nevermind that Mister Boogers’ way of protecting me would be to go hide in the closet.)
2006: “Hard liquor is the first stop on the train to Gaysville.”
2005: I had no idea that leaving the top of the washstand bare meant that you didn’t appreciate the washstand.
2004: (Yeah, yeah, cry you a river. I know. Bite me.)
2003: No entry.
2002: Apparently Fancypants’ evil twin (except that I’m sure Fancypants is actually the evil one) now lives in our neighborhood.
2001: No entry.
2000: I guess there’ll be no physical fisticuffs for me to go break up.