Successful Foodage...

For whatever odd reason, I wanted to putter in the kitchen last night. I made two dishes and I brought some to work today for a few people to try. Feedback has been really positive (though it could just be that everyone is afraid of me).

Dish 1: Skrubby Masherd Pertaters

1) 2.5 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes cut into quarters, leave skin on, boil until fork tender
2) 1 to 1.5 cups Chicken Broth (the low sodium kind if you can) with some black pepper, thyme and parsley - bring to almost a rolling boil, basically want to get the temp to 200+ F
3) Add hot broth and 1/2 stick butter (I'm thinking this is to much butter, I'm going to try to cut back on this next time) to drained potatoes.
4) Mash until you get the consistency you want.

I've had one person that didn't touch these, but the other three people who have tried them love them and said they would replace their normal mashed potatoes with these. I like them because they are tasty, they don't require milk, and they are EASY TO MAKE!!!

Dish 2: Skrubberd Chiken Salerd

1) 2 large chicken breast cooked on the George Foreman type grill, cut into small pieces
2) 1 cup celery finely chopped, 3/4 cup bell pepper finely chopped, 1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic, 1 to 2 tablespoons evoo - sweat in a pan with some salt and thyme or other herbs you like
3) Add some lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon or so), some mayo (aprox. 1 cup), diced chicken, fresh ground pepper, and the sweated items into a bowl for mixing
4) Mix
5) Chill in the refrigerator overnight. Good with lightly toasted bread.

Two people raved about this, and the third said it was better than most. I was a little hesitant about the garlic (I actually don't like garlic at all), but I think it gives the whole thing a unique flavor. Again I find this to be REALLY easy to make. No fancy techniques required; minimal cost (the chicken is the most expensive); minimal hardware. Also could replace the chicken with crab meat and make a pretty tasty crab salad (which I did, but I haven't shared it with anyone yet).

If you happen to try either of these, let me know if you like or hate them.

Smokers...

I've been reflecting on an incident that occured several weeks ago, but haven't formally blogged about. I have been unable to properly formulate or put words to an impression/thought I had, but as I don't want to lose that thought, I'll put down what I can.

I was driving home one day and as I pulled out onto the road home, there was a rather large amount of space between myself and the car in front of me (I'm gueesing about 100 yards). The road I'm on is rather busy in both directions at this time of day. I notice that at the road next to my place of business is a vehicle that wants to turn left (across my directions of travel). The driver has plenty of space and is clear from both directions, it's the perfect time to make his left yet he doesn't.

Instead of making the left, the guy had to light his cigarette. This bothers me. Smoking bothers me in its own right, but the fact that this guy was to busy trying to kill himself than take a left turn and get on with his life kind of stuck me as very odd.

Smoking is bad, m'kay. You'd have to be a complete and utter f*cking idiot not to get that little fact. Year's of study and empiricall evidence abound as to what smoking can do to the human body. There's no "maybe". There's no "not me". There's no "I'll only smoke a little it won't hurt". And it's not just bad for the smoker, it's bad for those of us around the smoker.

Now, I'm not one to tell someone else how to live their life. You want to smoke knock yourself out, but I sure as hell don't have to appreciate it or desire to be around you. That's me looking out for me. I have enough medical problems in my family to kill myself seven times over. I don't want to add lung cancer to them.

So anyway, back to my left turn smoker. I'm thinking about this guy and trying to get in his head. Of course I don't know this guy from Adam, but I start to think of all the little things this guy might be prioritizing behind lighting his one way ticket to death.

Ex. showing a bright smile to a neigbor; saying thanks to someone for helping him; being near the phone for when a friend needs someone to talk to; saying "I love you" to his wife; hugging his son/daughter

We all have vices that aren't healthy for us (mine is I eat to much). We are all controlled more by our psychosis than just about anything else. We're hurtful to both ourselve and others. We're uncaring and self-absorbed to some degree. How we made it this far along and survive in the world around us is just boggling. So take a moment the next time you bow to your vice and think about how it can really effect your world.

The Anti-Business....

This post is about Wal-Mart....I'll pause a few seconds to let you get your focus back....

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Several people I know despise this chain. I however have been a fan of it for a very long time. However, I'm presently downgrading Wal-Mart's status.

For years while I was in Mobile, I really liked Wal-mart. The Schilenger's Rd store was one of my prefered shopping locations. While I don't begin to hope that that store remains the same as my memory of it, the store up here in B'ham really exemplifies the negative comments I hear.

It's painfule to go there. It's like a wild-magic zone, in which all magic becomes stupidity. It even stretches slightly beyond the bounds of the store and it's parking lot. It also seem like it is one of those bug zappers, but without the zap (or maybe it's IQ or civility or cutlture that it zaps instead of people). A good portion of the demographic that visits this place would easly be classifyed as either white trash or complete redneck hick.

Ex. On my way out I was waiting at the stop light to leave the parking lot and look over at the car next to me. I see an older guy (60's) and two early 20ish girls. The girl in the back produces a pack of cigarettes and a lighter to hook up the old man and the girl up front. At this point I see that the girl up front is missing at least 1 if not more teeth and grandpa is missing an eye and some teeth. All of this in a beat up falling apart car.

While I won't boycott the place and I won't profess never to go, I definately will be arranging my life such that I minimize my visits. Wal-mart has good prices for somethings that I really don't want to go looking for elsewhere, but thank the lord they are open 24 hours so I can go at 2 or 3 am and dodge the jacked up-inbred-toothless-58 kids-I'm on welfare-they had to get a crane to get me out of my house-I can't read prices and like to argue-I can't count so I have 64 items in the 20 item express lane-assholes that are generally in attendance.

Why Santa should exist...

Went down the the Gulf Coast for Christmas. Enjoyed most of my weekend over in Mobile with Porter and Horst, followed by the BJD Eve Orderves. Christmas day I made it to my dad's place for our untraditional traditional Christmas event.

Things went splendid most of the day. The step-skank (SS) (step-mother, but only when I'm to drunk to deny it) had done most of her cooking ahead of time and for once wasn't whining like a 400 lb two point five legged pig. Dad and I worked in the garage and deep fried three turkeys.

Two pairs of Dad and SS's friend arrive for dinner as well as SS's son, daughter-in-law and grand "will be white trash soon enough" spawn. We eat and everyone has a good time. After food, we start to open presents (keep in mind the guests are all still in attendance). When the SS gets to the big present dad bought here, she opens it up and says (slight paraphrase), "What is this? I didn't want this.........I thought you said this was junk."

At first I thought, "There's no way she said that." Yet one look at my dad's face and I knew she had. Dad's only response was a polite, "Well, we can take it back and get you something you like." After all the guests left (about 1 to 2 hours later) my dad just sort of disappears. I help SS clean up a bit (it's Christmas so I'm REALLY trying not to drop kick her to the hypothalimus) then go looking for dad. I find him and can tell he's really upset. Just the kind of crap my family is known for on Christmas.

Other than the SS is total scum, I had a great Christmas and had the chance to spend good quality time with some good quality people.