because my mom will think it's cool

This is the sort of thing you see every day in the parking lot behind my office- clunkers mixed with sports cars. My well-loved teal Ford is in the foreground, and there's a Corvette two spaces away.

I know you really just want to see the Corvette.

I still maintain that the back ends look dumb.

And this is the part for Mom. No, it's not just any old Corvette. Yes, when it's warm and relatively dry someone drives this to work every day.

employment causes abandonment issues

Banik has been a stay-at-home dad ever since we got the kittens. Sure we do stuff on weekends or evenings, and he had evening classes for a while- but he was always home all day.
But he's been gone all day. And now all they're doing is watching the window and running around looking for him.

They're probably blaming me for this. When he's not here and I come home without him, the cats act like I forgot him some place. Apparently I'm careless with their human.

this is what my mom wanted for Mother's Day

handpies

We did an SCA workshop yesterday and took four kinds of handpies to share. The savory ones were filled with beef pot roast or chicken molé (which used the leftover sauce from the burritos). One type of fruit pie contained sweet potatoes with toasted pecans and coconut; the other had a mixed berry filling. We used Alton Brown's recipe for the pastry (weighed the flour and shortening, used skim milk), and got a good 15-16 per batch. All were well received, but since it was all rather rushed we forgot to take pictures. I'm sure there will be more later.

why we can't go into wholefoods to "just see what they have"

"oh look, they have sample sizes of cheese..."
and so we ended up having an improntu cheese tasting

The results:

**** We both ranked the Drunken Goat at the top; it was mild,

rather soft, and not overly salty.

**** Banik's other favourite was the Pyrennes, which I also liked.

**** My other favourite was the Hoch Ybrig, which smells

questionable but tastes good.

*** The Aussie Jack is a good, versatile Jack that we might use

in other things.

*** The Cotswold has chives in it, and might be good in something.

* The Habanero Cheddar was mostly just hot and didn't taste

particularly awesome.

* The Sottocenere has a nasty rind, and although Banik is fine

the cheese itself with it I think it just tastes like mold.

-

The sourdough is good. Maybe we'll have to try making a starter again...

Fried Calamari

This plate of calamari is the the only thing we have to show for over an hour of cleaning and prepping and cooking half a box of whole squid. They were delectible with a little red sauce, and eating them took far less time than prepping them.

The little tentacles were both crunchy and pleasantly chewy. They are my favourite part.

pork burritos with mole sauce

These things were not only awesome fresh but also cold the next morning for breakfast. We just put them on a plate, topped them with baby spinach, tomatoes, and crumbled queso blanco.


The mole sauce was made from:
- 1/2 jar Dona Maria green mole sauce
- a costco-size package of mushrooms, chopped and sauted
- salt added to above cooking mushrooms
- 2c. water
- 1T. chicken bouillon

The burritos themselves were made of:
- wheat tortillas
- refried beans
- seasoned pork, roughly shredded
- queso blanco