Weekend Update August 31, 2009

Since this is my day off, this is my weekend… Here’s your update:

~Annoying talkative neighbor is moving today.  So sad.  Now I won’t be scared to go out into my own yard!  I don’t like being talked to by people who aren’t my friends.  I don’t do the small talk thing.  I don’t know how I’ve ever actually made friends…

~I’m going to learn sign language.  I’ve wanted to learn ASL since I was a wee beastie, and now I’m finally making it happen.  This actually somewhat goes along with the first bullet.  I’ve always wished I could just sign “Sorry, I’m deaf” when I don’t want to talk to someone.  However, it runs the risk of actually hitting someone who knows sign who then wants to carry on a conversation in sign….  Highly unlikely, but you never know.  Also, I run into so many deaf people at work, that it would be amazing to actually be able to communicate with them effectively.

~My birthday is a week from today, and the closer it gets, the more I dread it.  Not because I’m getting one year older… Screw that.  For starters, I’m not that old.  Secondly, that’s not something anyone can help, so why bother fretting?  No, I’m dreading it because every year something sucktastic happens, no matter how much I try to plan what happens (or if I don’t plan it at all).  Therefore, I have to assume that will happen this year as well.  I’m planning on going to the Minnesota State Fair with The Hippy and perhaps a few friends.  This means it will possibly rain.  Or the Hippy will be sick (again).  Or my friends will decide they hate me.

~The neighbors on the other side are also moving.  I could care less.  They’re annoying, but it won’t be terribly different… Her sister is moving in instead.  Frankly, they don’t bother me as much as the talker.  While they’re noisy, lazy, jobless…. *ahem* They leave me alone.  And leaving me alone is important sometimes.

That is pretty much it.  Yawn.

Hi, August 25, 2009

My name is DK, and I’m addicted to corn.  I especially love corn on the cob, which makes this time of year almost dangerous.  I live in a house of two, yet I cannot buy just two ears of corn.  Not when corn is 6 ears for $2.  At least here in MN, you can’t go past a street corner, grocery store produce section, or farmers market without seeing sweet corn for sale at lovely prices. So, yeah, I end up buying lots and lots of corn.

Tonight I came home with six ears with the intention of blanching them and freezing them.  Apparently they were smaller or my instructions sucked or something because they cooked, not blanched.  Even after only a few short minutes.  No matter; I saved three in the fridge and froze the other three.  I can polish off the first three in no time flat.  In fact, I already ate one…

NOM NOM NOM

Seriously, kids.  I love corn so much that picture almost didn’t get taken.  It was getting between me and my corn.  And I wasn’t hungry.  But the three ears I let sit to cool before freezing them made the whole house (the whole house consists of only four rooms, really, so it’s not much of a stretch) smell like corn.  How could I resist?

I love the spiral pattern on that ear.  It made it a little awkward to eat though.  I’m kind of particular about how I eat my corn.  It must be eaten typewriter style.  I am comfortable biting through three or four rows, but any more or less and I start to feel weird.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still eat it…  I’ll just feel weird doing it.

Also, those cob holders up there?  Awesome.  I won them at a baby shower with my mad word finding skills.  From what I heard, most people were on the second or third word out of ten when I finished.  I rule at word finds and word scrambles (yet I suck at tapwords on my ipod…) so I knew I would win.  Here’s a close up of those puppies:

Photo from Amazon.com

These are the Zyliss Interlocking Corn Holders by name, but I like to call them corn holders from heaven.  It helped that they were free, but even if they hadn’t been, they’re cheap and totally worth the $6.  They lock together, so there aren’t a million little corn holders floating around my drawer or taking up a plastic baggy and poking it full of holes.  The size is on the bulky side, which is really comfortable in the hand.  The pokey bits are long and sort of spread apart, which I think makes it easier for them to hold onto the corn–even on the narrow end.  I always end up losing the holder on the narrow end with most cob holders.  I haven’t lost and ear yet with these, although I did once have one pokey bit poke through to where I was eating.  It was easily remedied, though.

One last thing about corn….  There’s only a mere 10 days before I get my hands on Minnesota State Fair roasted corn and other MNSF goodies.  I’m going on the 4th and the 7th, and I’m going to eat.  Tons.  Possibly more than tons.  I might need to be rolled home.  Both days.  Because my favorite thing in the entire world is the Minnesota State Fair.  I get teary-eyed when I drive by off-season.  I kid you not.  Ten days.

Misc around the house August 24, 2009

Life is all work work work, play a little, go to the cabin a little, work some more.  The weeks keep flying by, and I have no idea where they’re going.  It’s funny how life at work can seem like it’s going so freaking slow, but then I turn around and the summer is over.  My birthday is in exactly two weeks, and no matter how old I get, that still means school is just around the corner.  Summer has been relatively good to me, though, despite all that working business and the speeding by business.

Bountiful harvest.  I would say that I have more cucumbers than I know what to do with, but I can easily eat on of these in a sitting.  They do not go to waste.  I might, however, end up with more tomatoes than I can handle, but I have some great recipes in mind.  I will have to work fast, though!

There is an airport nearish my house (not only has my official address been the same block my entire life, but I’ve also lived near an airport my entire life.  And a train track.  It’s a requirement), so there is always interesting aircraft flying around my neighborhood.  I made a rare trip outside of my house for something other than work last weekend, and was thankful I had randomly decided to pack my camera in my purse the night before.  As it turns out, I NEVER carry my camera around.  I just don’t ever think to take pictures.  But I managed to get a picture of the Good Year Blimp while I was driving.  I’m pretty sure I took that picture at a stop light, because the ones actually taken while moving turned out poorly.

That lovely vision of shit greets me every time I step out of my house.  My neighbors are absolute rubbish, and their lawn reflects it.  This picture was taken (by the Hippy while I was gone; apparently my camera was more convenient) on a particularly bad day.  Turns out my neighbor and her children are moving!  Hooray!  Oh, but wait.  Her sister is moving in instead.  WTF? (or FTW? if you’re a wench)  So, sadly, it will be the same shit, same people, same nonsense.

Okay, summer has been MOSTLY good to me.  With the exception of the neighbor thing.  I also got a new washer–no pictures, because, well, it’s a washer–for nearly free.  It was in the renter’s side because it was “broken,” according to the woman who sold the house.  Hippy figured out what was wrong, got a $60 part for it, and WHAMO!  Even better washer than the one I’d been using.

This post is half a week overdue August 3, 2009

I few Fridays ago, Rocketdog and I were watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  Something got me thinking about falafels, and ever since then I’ve felt a strong desire to make them.  I’d like to point out that I’d never in my life eaten a falafel.  I knew they were made from chickpeas, and I love hummus (also made from chickpeas), and I knew they were fried.  And yet, I needed to make them.  So I did.

I very, very loosely followed this recipe.  I usually have a rule of following recipes exactly the first time I try them, but I was lacking some spices and a food processor.  I didn’t have cumin or garlic, so I decided to substitute seasoned salt and garlic salt.  Also, I hate cilantro, so that was just plain out.  I used my potato masher, and while it took some muscle, I think I ended up with a better finished product than I would have if I’d used a processor.  I’d read some other recipes online, and they all said that the falafels didn’t cook well when made with a food processor.

I know from the same reading that falafels can either be balls or patties.  Since I was planning on putting them in pitas, I decided to make patties.  Nom nom, fry-y goodness.

Whole wheat pita, lettuce, falafel, and the yogurt sauce in the recipe above.  And it was ridiculously delicious.  Salty, but delicious.  I bought cumin today, so I’ll be making them again.  Probably tomorrow for lunch.  Because I’m officially obsessed with them.  And I have yogurt sauce to use up.