More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Durian

I have a new goal. I told you in a previous post that I enjoy watching Chopped. As a desire to "continue" my education (i.e., keeping on learning new things!) I have decided that I will research at least one food item on the show that I don't know anything about, or haven't heard of. So last week, one of the mystery baskets contained "durian." I don't remember whether it was for the appetizer, the entree, or the dessert, and I also can't remember what any of the chefs did with it, but I do remember one thing- nobody liked the taste of it. So I thought durian would be a good first food item to research.

Here is a picture of one:

(www.srilankanguardian.org)

As you can see, it's pretty gigantic. According to the ever trusty website Wikipedia, these spiky fruits can get up to a foot long, have a diameter of 6 inches, and weigh 7 pounds!

Now, if it's size and distinct shape and texture (I wouldn't want to hold that thing!) aren't enough, if watching the chef's facial expressions is any indication, these enormous fruits also have an enormous smell- and it's not good. Apparently it smells like death, skunk spray, vomit, and the like. Here is a great video on the durian's smell.

It is an Asian native and has many culinary uses in the Asian cuisine, including Malay candy and ice cream. It's so common in ice cream, in fact, that the popular Indonesian dessert Es durian (meaning durian ice cream), is sold in stalls on the streets of cities (think hot dog stands in NYC). From my research, it looks like it's also mainly used in sauces and commonly used with coconut milk and in soups.

I'm not so sure if I would ever be willing to try this (interesting?) fruit, but I can tell you this: I don't want one of these to ever fall on my head. Ouch. And that is you introduction to durian.

Tell me, would you ever try it?

Dulce de Leche Coffee

So one of my new favorite shows in Food Network is Pioneer Woman. It only premiered yesterday, but I already know I'll love it. She is a city girl who is an accidental country girl. And when she says country girl, she means a gigantic ranch in the middle of no where in Oklahoma, cooking for her four kids and other ranch hands at 5 am. She makes the kind of food that I love- comfort food. I saw her yesterday on Paula Dean's show and she made some coffee that I, of course, just had to try. Mine is different, so I feel great actually publishing one of MY recipes! But the inspiration was definitely from her drink, so I have to give her most of the credit.

Now. Dulce de Leche. If you don't know what this is, it's a caramel-like thick milk spread. Think of the caramel sauce from Hershey's you squeeze out of a bottle for your ice cream, but thicker. It is very popular in Latin America, although it doesn't have any "special" Latino flavors. You can make it several ways. The way I know is to cook sweetened condensed milk over a double broiler for a few hours, or you can make it from scratch. For my coffee recipe, I just thickened sweetened condensed milk, but next time I might try making it from scratch (Alton Brown has a recipe on foodnetwork.com) since I'm kind of a purist when it comes to food.

Anyways, it's delicious. And it's even more delicious in coffee. So here's what I did:

-Brew some of your favorite coffee.

-In a clean bowl, whisk together the coffee and some dulce de leche. You can be the judge here, I like mine pretty sweet, but you can use as little as you want.

-If that weren't enough, top the coffee with whipped cream. I flavored my whipped cream with a little dulce de leche before I whipped :) Yummy!

-Top the whipped cream with cinnamon, nutmeg, and shaved chocolate. This would taste extra yummy with white chocolate shavings, but alas, I am fresh out of the white stuff, so milk chocolate was what I used!

Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum! This is perfect if you're needing a "fancy girly" coffee but don't want to spend the four dollars at Starbucks (a can of sweetened condensed milk is less than $2!). This would also make a great dessert coffee (de-caf, of course!) with something that's not quite so sweet, like a simple brownie or the like.

YAY! Coffee and sugar!

Things to Do

I guess it's time for me to write another post. The sleeping animals are a signal that that is what I should do right now.

Having a kitten and a puppy is definitely keeping me on my toes. I love them both, don't get me wrong, but holy freaking cow, they can get on my last nerve sometimes. I have figured out the feeding schedule, though. I've started feeding the cat first in his room. I used to feed Jack first, but then the kitten learned where the food was, and it's really hard to get your dog to sit and wait for his food when he can see the cat trying to get into the food storage bin while I am fetching his dinner. So now Huey eats in his room and that distracts him for about 30 seconds while I fill up Jack's food.

I have decided that I am going to reread the Harry Potter series for the umptiumpth time. I want to see how long it takes me. I also hope to write a few reviews of it on my blog to give me something to write about. I really need to write more on my blog. I love writing and I should keep up with that passion. I have no formal training in it, and I spent 4 years of college doing technical writing, so my creative writing skills have been hiding in the closet for awhile. Gotta keep up my abilities or they'll rust away.

I think I'm going to start researching food. I love cooking, but I actually don't know much about it. My passion's actually pastry, but I think I'll be focusing more on actual food. I have been inspired by Food Network, especially the show Chopped. If you've never watched that show, you should. Four competitors start making an appetizer round with "mystery ingredients from the basket." One competitor gets "chopped," then the remaining three make an entree. Then the final two make a dessert and someone is crowned the "Chopped Champion." It's a pretty cool show, even Matt will watch it with me. The mystery basket ingredients are usually pretty random and there is usually something in the basket that I have never heard of, so I would love to learn more about different foods.

My friend Cari has also gotten me interested in broadening my knitting skills. So far, I only make scarves, but maybe I should progress to making hats too. I don't know much about knitting, so this is bound to be an interesting endeavor! And one that I can only do when the animals are sleeping...

I have emailing my Aunt Debi who lives in Minnesota. She is going to be giving me a list of 10 things to do. I can't wait to see her list she is SO creative. I am not so much. Unless I'm scrapbooking. Who knows, maybe I'll learn some new interests in doing this!

Alright, I need to go make an espresso. Cheers!

Life Explained

So my mom sent me this email today, and I actually read the whole thing. I liked it, so here I am reproducing it for you

On the first day, God created the dog and said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said, "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?" 



So God agreed...... 



On the second day, God created the monkey and said, "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span." 



The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?" 



And God agreed...... 



On the third day, God created the cow and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years." 



The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?" 



And God agreed again...... 

On the fourth day, God created humans and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years." 



But the human said, "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?" 



"Okay," said God. "You asked for it." 

So that is why for our first twenty years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone. 



Life has now been explained to you. 



There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service. If you are looking for me I will be on the front porch. 

Jack vs. Huey

Here is a list, in no particular order, of Jack's favorite foods:

-Sticks

-Pine cones

-Dirt

-Dog food

-Grass

-Plants

-Litter box contents

-Anything that should be in the garbage can

-Bugs

-Leaves

-Frogs (I did NOT let him finish killing that)

-Mushrooms (he's at least interested in them, not sure if he would actually eat it, I don't let him get close enough)

-Styrofoam

-Treats

-Anything else, really, that is within reach of his mouth

Huey's favorite foods:

-Cat food

-Bugs

-I'm sure he would eat human food but we keep a pretty close watch on him

-He would probably eat dog food, too

Lessons: Presented by Huey and Jack;8ui

So I know I've been kind of blogging a lot, but that's what happens when you have a husband who takes the car, it's too hot to play outside, you don't have too many friends in your present locale, and with the pets you have scrapbooking and knitting become way more difficult (especially when the cat's food and water dishes are on your scrapbooking table because the dog will eat kitty's food otherwise). Blogging provides me a way to get my creative juices flowing, since I have always loved writing creatively. I started writing books when I was in elementary school and it continued all the way through to college, even. I never finished any of them, but they weren't all that good or serious. I have since started this blog, where I find it much easier to write about my life experiences, which admittedly is rather boring, but hopefully my lovely rhetoric and caustic wit keeps everyone entertained (not likely, who am I kidding?!)

Anyways.

I know have a cat. You know this. But I have never had a cat and a dog at the same time. And since I'm still learning about all this dog stuff, these last few hours have been entertaining to say the least! I'm getting to know my animals pretty well, and I must say, even with as little time with these two as I've had, I'm beginning to understand that the cat vs. dog stereotypes are kind of true.

Let's begin. Little Huey is tiny. Extremely tiny. Right now, I'm guessing he weighs less than 2 pounds. He might not even weigh a pound. Needless to say, my twenty pound puppy is a little rough on him. But even though my kitty is only 8 weeks old, he's already your typical cat! I swear, this cat is egging the dog on, and when the dog gets too rough with him, he wants me to rescue him! Granted, the dog did start shaking the cat's head like he does with his stuffed toys so I did have to stop that immediately (poor kitty!), but I think it's mostly the cat's fault. But the dog gets in trouble. Poor Jack. Don't worry, we don't punish him for playing with the cat, we just have to say "NO!" when he gets to rough and then we put the cat away on his side of the house so Jack can calm down. And to give the little kitty a rest. I don't want them always stressed out so this works great.

Jack is a sneaky and smart little dog, but Huey is even smarter. We have a chair in our living room that Huey can get under completely, but Jack can now only get his head under. The cat will poke his head out and lure the dog over to the chair, then duck under. Well, Jack of course follows him, and moves around the chair whenever the cat moves positions. When Jack pulls is head out to move to the other side of the chair, the cat takes advantage of this and shoots out from under the chair and goes and hides on one of the dining room chairs. Jack, then, gets confused and tries to find the cat under the chair. Sometimes I don't think he realizes that the cat left!

I also think the cat likes to jump on everything right now because he already knows the dog can't get him! Granted we haven't corrected where he can and can't be yet, but with the puppy, I'm willing to look past the lounging on the dining room table since I know that's one of the places where the dog can't get him. And besides, he's a cat, so he might never learn that he's not allowed up there, at least when the humans are present.

Another lesson. Puppies get very, VERY distracted with a kitten in the house. I assumed this, but Jack will no longer play with any of his toys when the cat is present. Dude, his toys aren't nearly as exciting as a moving tiny speed monster! So we'll have several times a day where the cat will be on his side of the house so we can focus just on Jack and try and focus his energy into more training, since we still have a few things to learn. Training's probably going to get a little bit harder because of this, but thank goodness I am home all day and don't have anything else to do. Might as well train the dog, right?

I would also like to say that I've calmed down my worries with the puppy training. I'm one of those people that's such a perfectionist, I would rather quit while I'm ahead than continue on with something just to find out I'm no good and fail at it. I know this is crazy, but I'd rather be a quiter than a failure. I've always been this way. There were a few times these past weeks where I have gotten really upset with myself (and the puppy, I admit, although I never, EVER showed that to him) and wanted to give up training before I found out I suck at it. I just want my dog to be a good dog, I don't want a dog where all my friends and family refuse to come to my house because I have an insane dog. But I have finally figured it out. I AM a good dog trainer and my dog is SO smart. Let's face it. We have only had Jack for 3 weeks and he is already mostly potty trained (he does know to go to the door, but we still usually have at least one accident a day, that's usually our fault, but sometimes when he's super excited he gives no signal and just let's loose, lol), he sits and waits for food (we're working on the annoying barking he does prior to this when I'm filling his food dish), he can sit, lie down, high-five, shake, stand, and roll over, and he already walks really well on the leash! He knows "drop" when he has a leash in his hand, but nothing else, and he kind of knows leave it, and we're working on making his recall a lot better. So I can do it and I WILL continue to do because it's quite rewarding. Just keep the coffee coming in the mornings!

Pictures of the Little Kitty!

We are going to have to fix this behavior eventually, but here he was trying to run away from Jack so I didn't say anything ;)

He's a little shoulder kitty!

Hi puppy! You can't get me up here!

Well hi!

Huey the Kitten!

Well folks, it's happened, we have a kitten! Super yay! I'm SO excited! I love Little Jack so much (more than I thought I would, actually), but I just really love cats. I'm not sure why, but I have a soft spot in my heart for them. I've had three cats growing up and I live with two my last year of college. I really have missed having a cat. Matt and I talked it over and we decided that it was a good time to get one since we want Jack to grow up with a kitten and get used to one while he's still young.

We had to drive to Starkville (30 miles away) to get to a shelter that had kittens. I have nothing against adult cats, but a 10 week old puppy is extremely hyper, so we thought a fast, hyper kitten would adjust better. We both didn't really care what sex, but we both had our color picked out. I love gray tabby kitties, but Matt likes black and white kitties. I don't usually like orange, since the majority of orange cats I have ever known are kind of mean (including my first cat, Tigger). What color is our little kitty? Orange, lol. But he's so adorable. Whether I like the color not, I think it's more important to pick for personality, and while I loved one of the little black and white kittens, we just had to pick the little Huey (his name was Frenchie, but that was absolutely changed!) because he picked us. He came right up to the cage door and would get really upset when Matt would turn away and go somewhere else. Huey liked to follow us along his cage door, so we just had to take him home with us!

He is adjusting well to his new house, I think. He has his own dedicated room, where his food, bed, and litter box (which he already uses!) are, and we put him here when Jack is bothering him too much or we're busy at the moment and can't watch both of them. They're playing well now, but Jack can still get a little rough and they run EVERYWHERE! I'm confident in a few days they'll be playing well together (i.e. Huey egging Jack on and then running up out of the way). And I have noticed that since Jack spend the majority of this afternoon running around with the kitten, he's pretty tired! Hooray!

I'm going to be pretty busy in the next few days (ok, ok... weeks, probably) referring play times, but I'll make sure the dog gets outside a lot for a break from the cat and the cat goes to his room by himself when the dog gets too rough on him. I'm super excited, I will never be bored! I won't have as much down time, obviously, but who needs down time when there is a puppy to train and a kitten to play with!

Budget Bytes

If y'all haven't already experienced the goodness that is the blog Budget Bytes, you should check it out. Cari introduced me to it, and I am hooked. Basically, it is a blog that a woman puts recipes on. It mainly focuses on new cooks, so the recipes are simple, but they are SO GOOD. She also breaks down the price of each meal, so it's great for young cooks that don't have a gigantic budget. So far, everything that I have made from her website is made from scratch, so you can take great in what you made. This also keeps price way down. I mean really, I don't want to offend anybody, but why would you buy cookie mix, biscuit mix, brownie mix, and others when you can buy flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and make SO much more than what that single $2 box mix can make?

You will also be surprised by how much you'll save going out to eat. Some of the main courses cost as little $5, and that serves at least 2 people! If you serve that with just rice and frozen veggies, that meal is already cheaper than a meal out to McDonald's! And SO much healthier! (I guess depending on what you made). See why I like cooking so much? It's cheaper, you can tweak recipes to your own liking, and you can take pride in what you made.

Happy cooking!

An Ode to Bacon

So fellow bloggers, even with the addition of a puppy to my household, there isn't much here in the lovely retirement town of Columbus, Mississippi to keep me entertained. In fact, there's not anything, except the two coffee shops; getting texts from Rayla and Brittany; seeing Cari, Ryan, and Bryan; my two boys; getting letters from Rachel; reading people's blog updates (y'all need to do more of that, please); and eating. Also, receiving my Food Network Magazine in the mail. As you can see, none of these are location specific to Columbus. Anyway, I'm digressing. If you were unaware, FNM comes with a little booklet, titled either "50 Things to Make with...." or "50 Ways to Make..." I love these little booklets, and if you haven't guessed already, this month's booklet is "50 Things to Make with Bacon." Oh, let the heavens open up and the angels sing! BACON! My favorite character from the show, Parks and Recreation, Ron, would literally be crying tears of joy! And I am, too (not too loudly, though, since Jack is sleeping and I want him to stay that way). I think bacon is one of God's greatest gifts to humanity. So since I'm super bored and Matt has the car, I thought I would share some of the "ideas" from this booklet and tell you what I think.

"Bacon guacamole" This goes without saying. Um, hello, guacamole is already amazing, it can only be made more amazing by the addition of animal product. Word.

"Cheesy Bacon Popcorn" It's popcorn drizzled with bacon drippings and tossed with crumbled bacon, parmesan, and cheddar. Dude. This will cause a heart attack. But if I ever get a heart attack, I want it to be caused by this. My mouth is watering already.

"Bacon-Apple Sandwich" Baguette with honey mustard, bacon, brie cheese, apple, lettuce, salt and pepper. Not sure how I feel about this. I'm intrigued, but at the same time, why would you mess with the classic BLT, the best sandwich ever?

"PB&B" Peanut butter, banana, and bacon on white bread. Why? That's all I can say. WHY?

"Bacon Quiche" Isn't this a given? Quiche should always be made with bacon. Because bacon is delicious.

"BLT Pasta" Basically, you make a bacon-flavored vinaigrette, pour over pasta, and mix in grape tomatoes, arugala, bacon, basil, and parmesan. I have had a version of this. It's delicious. Hello, a BLT in pasta form. Can't go wrong with that!

"Bacon-wrapped Steak" Beef tenderloin rubbed with garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, and wrapped with bacon. This just HAS to be good. I mean, steak. And bacon. But this does bring up a question. Can anyone afford to inhale this much saturated fat in one meal?

"Bacon Banana Bread" You would have to do some serious begging for me to want to make this. I prefer chocolate in my banana bread. But nice alliteration, though.

"Bacon Oatmeal" Bacon, maple syrup, and oatmeal in a bowl. I tried this this morning. Best oatmeal I have ever had!

Pictures of Bacon

Bacon. I heart it so much.

Ron Swanson eating his bacon-wrapped turkey leg. It's called the Swanson. This is the only time in the entire show that he smiles, in exception to when he's eating steak. I would have that exact same face.

From My Recipe Box to Yours: Strawberry Jell-O Salad

My mom found this recipe a long while back in one of her many cookbooks and it has been a hit since the first bite! It's technically called Pinwheel Molded Salad, but that doesn't really say much about what it actually is. It really should be a dessert, due to the sweetness, but our entire family serves it along with the main courses at our large family get-togethers. My grandma ALWAYS requests my mom bring it. I think she gets bored of only providing this, but hey, at least it's good enough that everyone always wants it! And if nobody else actually does want it, I will claim the entire thing, so she has nothing to worry about!

So if you want to make a crunchy, creamy, sweet Jell-O salad/dessert that will keep people begging for your recipe, this one's for you!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 cups pretzels, coarsely crushed

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c butter, melted

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 c sugar

12 oz. Cool Whip (or you could try whipping your own to control sugar intake, make sure it's whipped very stiffly though)

1 large strawberry Jell-O

2 c hot water

2 sm packages frozen strawberries (they need to be frozen, if you prefer fresh, then you will have to add cold water to the Jell-O)

Directions:

Mix pretzels, sugar, and butter for crust. Press in a 9 X 13 inch pan. Bake 6 minutes in a 325 degree oven. Allow to cool.

Mix second layer - cream cheese, sugar, Cool Whip - and spread over cooled crust

Make Jell-O with 2 c hot water ONLY. Place strawberries individually in rows, then pour liquid Jell-O over the strawberries. Chill until set.

Cook's note:

-This can be done with raspberries and raspberry Jell-O (or any mixture of fruit flavors one might desire). But why would you do that when you can make it with strawberries???? ;) I might try this recipe one of these days when peaches are in season, I think that would be an interesting take on peach cobbler. What do you think?

-Seriously, TRY THIS RECIPE. There is NO ONE in our family (and I mean cousins and grandparents, too) that doesn't like this. Sure, a few choose not to eat it because of their current diet or whatever, but everyone has at least tried it and LOVES IT. If you don't like it, I will eat my shorts. Or try my dog's food.

Beach time!

Matt starts UPT in just a little over a week. Since he won't have leave at all until Christmas, we decided that going somewhere for the weekend as a "last" vacation would be a good use of our time, since we both have nothing else to do. Where did we decide? Pensacola, Florida! A state I have never been to! It's crazy to think that from my current location, we can drive to the Florida beaches! Since Matt's friends Trent and Brandy are stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama, they came with us too. Let the beach party commence!

Shout out to Bryan Brenize who watched our puppy for us while we were gone! He was more than willing to do it, since our house is bigger than one room, has lots of windows, cable and internet, lots of kitchen gadgets, and an adorable puppy.

Our trip didn't start until 4:00 pm, since Matt couldn't leave until the end of business on Friday. It's about a 5 hour trip, but an hour and a half was added on due to an accident and construction on one of the bridges to the Pensacola peninsula. An extra forty of that was also because we stopped at a Pizza Hut in Quitman, Mississippi, and the service there was horrible. I hate to say it, but the people there are so dumb. Seriously. But anyway, this is supposed to be about our awesome vacation, so I will stop ranting about the stupid people of the South.

When we got in around 10, I immediately went to sleep with Brandy (different beds, people... lol) and Trent and Matt went out for a drink. Staying up with a puppy the last two weeks has apparently made me tired because I crashed. I don't even remember them coming in. Yay sleep!

The next morning we caught the tail end of the complimentary breakfast (thank GOD there was coffee left!) and then we hit up the beach! It was very very hot, but at least the water was amazing! Being from the Northwest, I'm used to only going knee deep because the water and temperature are too cold to completely swim. So not the problem here. At all. In fact, you want to keep going out because the shallow water is still rather warm. Everything about the beach and water was fantastic. We even saw some manta rays jumping in and out of the water! It was scary at first, since we thought they were sharks (the tips of their rays look a lot like shark fins when they stick them out of the water sideways), but then we thought it was really cool.

For lunch we headed to one of the many restaurants, Crabs, and enjoyed the beach breeze and view while eating. I had surf clams and a yummy alcoholic beverage. I don't remember what was in it, except for rum and chocolate. Delicious! After lunch we cooled down in the hotel kiddy pool (don't judge us, the large pool was crowded and full of rowdy drinking adults) and then hit the beach again. The beach is the best at night. The water is still warm, and the temperature has cooled down, but not enough to require more clothing. The crowds are mostly gone, too, which makes it that much better for me.

The interesting thing about hanging out in the sun all day is that it sucks all the energy out of you. All of it. To the point where you're not hungry. We decided to eat dinner anyway, so we headed to the very small and very crowded boardwalk and found a cafe to eat at. The wait was a little long, but they forgot to charge Brandy and I for our smoothies, so it was worth it. I only ate Greek salad since I wasn't hungry and it would be very easy to digest. From there we headed to a sports bar and grill where we got drinks and just chatted. I got a mudslide, which are the best alcoholic beverages around. Kahlua, chocolate, and ice cream = awesome deliciousness. Then we all went back to the hotel and crashed. Sun makes you tired.

Lazy Sunday hit us hard. We didn't start stirring until about 9:30 and check-out was at 11 am.. We missed continental breakfast, unfortunately, but we made up for that by heading to an IHOP. I heart IHOP. Or any restaurant that serves lots of breakfast food. Our food was delicious, I had excellent coffee and the hostess was great and gave us a military discount. Yay!

Then came the long horrible ride home where we stopped by a PetSmart to pick up puppy food and stop by a Starbucks (not a part of the aforementioned "horrible" part). Being such a superb driver, Matt managed to avoid an accident due to a stupid driver not understanding how to merge. Really, you don't stop at the end of the merge lane and stop on the highway when everyone is going 70. You just don't. On another note, the drive is super boring, driving through rural forests where there is nothing interesting to see.

All in all it was a GREAT vacation. I wish Matt and I had been able to stay longer than a weekend, but it was totally worth it. Unfortunately, it has made us hate Columbus even more, but we'll be out of here eventually. And next time let's hope we're close to the Atlantic coast, because it's outstanding! And makes up for the horrendous summer heat of the South!