New Thing #109: Chicken, Chicken Who's Got the Chicken?

When I went down to visit my mom, I was encouraged to flex my cooking muscles. I took that and I ran with it. I baked my first whole chicken! This may seem silly and not very special, but I had NEVER roasted a whole bird before. I found out it was quiet easy and made for a delicious chicken! Also, I baked yams, potatoes and used the giblets to make a fantastic stuffing! I roasted asparagus too! It was a PHENOMENAL meal :)

Fantastic Stuffing Ingredients:
Chicken heart, giblets and neck (simmer and remove the meat)
Walnuts (broken up)
Celery heart and leaves
Stove Top Stuffing Mix

Mix it all together = Yummy!

New Thing #108: Iron Grinder

I watched a frightening Buffy episode today that had to deal with mythological villains that had iron teeth. They were very scary. It didn't help that they stole your voice and then cut your heart out and you couldn't scream - ick. Anyway, new thing! I ground the rust out of my cast iron frying pan and "reasoned" by baking in the oven for an hour with hydrogenated vegetable oil. To be fair, I don't really know if it is seasoned or not. It left a terrible (and I mean terrible) stench after being baked in the oven for so long. And parts of it are silver and parts are black. But now I know that I can't keep it beneath my colander or my porcelain fish dish because the water will just soak into it and rust it. So, where do I put (hide) a 15 + pound cast iron frying pan?

New Thing #107: French Frenzy

In response to feedback given to me by my hair dresser, April, I decided to try french braiding before bed time a whirl to "accent my naturally wavy hair." A lot more difficult than it looks. I think my hair was a tad too dry and I forgot to put product in it. When my hair is long (like it is now), it is actually REALLY nice to have it out of the way when I am sleeping. If it were in a normal braid it would just fall apart. I'll keep trying.

Cooking Adventures

Mom went to the emergency room today and may stay the night at the hospital. In order to remain calm, since Kevin is gone and I'm feeling very overwhelmed, I started to cook. And cook. And cook. I fried the remaining pieces of bacon. I prepared a marinade for the steak I plan to eat tomorrow with soy sauce and garlic, which I promptly spilt on the floor and dropped a steak on the linoleum. What won't kill me right? So, I'll eat it anyway. I took a salmon fillet and drenched it in lemon juice and threw some capers and green olives on top with some sea salt. I'll broil it for like 15 minutes and serve it to myself with green beans or something. Then I took two remaining baked potatoes and mashed them up with low-fat sour cream, salsa and I plan to microwave it to melt gruyere cheese and heat some tiny pieces of bacon (which I cooked first if you remember) and have yummy "mexi" mashed potatoes. I had made chocolate-chip banana bread Tuesday night and have a lot of that left.

I plan to go to Winco tonight if I need to get out and get some canned goods to restock our pantry ... which is already full but I just thought it would be helpful to have things like enchilada sauce...

New Thing #106: Pattern Ha-ha

Though I did try one summer to sew a tank top with my cousin in Montana, it turned out as a disaster. We used a cotton material and it was really built for a type of knit / stretch fabric. Anyway, I decided to chance to sew (another) pattern. This time was a cute stuffed elephant made of fleece / felt. It's super cute! I plan to give it to my matron of honor when she gives birth to her daughter. This was the first time the pattern turned out successfully! And even better than that, it looked good too! Maybe I'll try to sew clothes next... that would DEF be a new thing if the clothes decided to fit. And now, a completely unrelated image of a pink elephant cocktail ring, enjoy!

Hobbies, hobbies, hobbies

Isn't there enough to choose from than more hobbies. I thought, for my own enjoyment, that I would list all my "important" aka most favorite hobbies. There is no order of preference and I made note of the variations that each of these broad categories have.

A.) Dance

• Modern
• Tap
• Hip hop
• Ballet

B.) Japanese Tea Ceremony
C.) Yoga – Vinyasa Flow
D.) Container Gardening
E.) Arts & Crafts

• Painting
• Drawing
• Pottery / Clay
• Mixed Media
• Sewing
• Knitting
• Scrapbooking

F.) Journalling
G.) Cooking

Anything else?