Ok, this isn’t a real post but it’s been almost a month since the last one. We’ve been working on taxes (which as you already know: IT SUCKS!!!!), Mike has been horribly stressed out because of work, and I discovered the magic of a slow cooker and made this for the Miami Renaissance Festival:
Mike, as a dark wizard.
PJ as a peasant.
We bought a sword and a dagger, and justified the purchase because is … just in case of a zombie Apocalypse.
Hope everyone has a good Easter weekend!
What do you do with the left over rice?
If you’re anything like Mike and I, when you order Chinese food, you have a lot of left over rice. I never know what to do with it, other than put it in the fridge, leave it there for a few days and then throw it out. We usually order a dish that comes with rice plus fried rice.
When I was growing up, on of the dishes that was in our rotation was “rice primavera”. It’s a simple dish: rice, carrots, tomatoes and lettuce, with about a spoonful of mayo. We enjoyed it, specially in the summer, is a nice easy, cool-off dish. Well, like every time I have to throw away food, I look at it, and feel horrible about it. Saturday we had a lot of left over rice. So I took it out of the fridge, put about a teaspoon of butter on it, and put it in the microwave for about a minute. When I took the plate out, the smell (for some strange reason) reminded me of the rice primavera we had as kids, but with a hint of something else, like coleslaw. I’m not a fan of coleslaw. It’s fine, I don’t order it, but if it comes with my food and I’m really hungry, I’ll eat it.
Now, the term “coleslaw” arose in the 18th century as an Anglicisation of the Dutch term “koolsla”, a shortening of “koolsalade”, which means “cabbage salad”.It is originally from Ireland and was made at the end of the month from leftover vegetables and cream. (According to Wikipedia….)
“left-over vegetables and cream”? while yes, I do believe I have that….
With that said, I had an idea for the left over Chinese rice. I chopped some veggies and looked up some coleslaw dressing recipes. I found some that sounded really good, and I wanted to try all of them but I couldn’t, so I picked the ingredients that sounded the most interesting, and mixed them all together.
Here’s what I got:
I paired with Raspberry – Hoisin stir-fry chicken and Michael loved it! I made enough salad for about 5 servings, and he finished it that night…so now we have left over chicken.
*Here’s the recipe for the salad
Left over chinese food rice, about a cup
1 medium size plum tomato, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
hand-full of baby spinach, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4 red pepper, chopped (just for crunchiness)
1 teaspoon of butter
Coleslaw dressing
2 tablespoon of Mayo
4 teaspoons of white vinegar
1 teaspoon of mustard powder (or to taste)
2 teaspoon of white sugar
salt and pepper to taste
In a microwave safe bowl, place the rice with the butter in the microwave for about a minute. You want the butter to melt, but the rice should just be barely warm. Mix all the vegetables in a large salad bowl.In a separate bowl, mix all the dressing ingredients and set a side. Fluff the rice with a fork, and mix it in with the vegetables, add dressing and dig in!
On a usual day, when Mike gets home, we pretty much have the same conversation. We set up for dinner, have a glass of something, I tell him what I did all day, update him on current events and he tells me about his day. Nothing too out of the ordinary.
Well, yesterday I had ordered some Chinese food, Mike got home, and (very excited) told me that he had to take a co-worker to the airport, took a wrong turn and almost got lost. Now, this type of story is fairly typical for Mike (I’ve seen him get lost half a block from our apartment). Mike getting lost is not news in this house, the story is not funny anymore (the co-worker almost missed his flight, because the wrong turn that Mike took lead them directly to a nightmare gridlock), this “condition” might be generic (legend has it that his dad’s nickname in college was “wrong way Whittenberger”), and when it happens (and it does happen at least once a week), the story is not surprising.
What is surprising, however, is that, apparently, Mike thought that this story merited more value, was more memorable, and, to him, was more entertaining than the fact that a half-ton elevator engine fell through the roof of his building!
Miraculously, nobody got hurt. Two people were actually standing very close to the crash.
Mike works on the 24th floor, of a 25 story building. The last office floor is actually the 24th floor. Here’s what happened: the elevator engine that lives on the roof of his building needed some sort of maintenance. When the crane was taking it out for said maintenance, something faltered and this half ton engine came crashing down through the roof and a couple of floors where it landed. On Mike’s floor mind you. Mike was in a meeting when the entire building shook; there was a very loud explosion like noise and then there was chaos. The fire department obviously had to come, and the entire building was evacuated. In all fairness, there was a “caution cone” right underneath the engine, but somehow it wasn’t quite large enough to cover the entire danger zone.
There really isn’t anything funny about this event. I don’t know all the facts, but I think that accidents do happen. What is funny, to me, is the course that Mike’s and I conversation took:
Picture, if you will, sitting down starting to eat dinner…
Mike: Oh, I forgot to tell you, we actually got to get of work early today!
Susie: (focused on my spring roll, more than anything else) really? How come?
Mike: The Fire Department evacuated the entire building
Susie: What? Why?
Mike: An elevator engine, crashed through the roof and landed on my floor… can you pass me the soy sauce?
Susie: WHAT?!?!?
Mike: the soy sauce is right next to your hand… oh yeah… I forgot to tell you….
Years ago, for our first anniversary, Mike asked me what I wanted, and I said that I didn’t want any gifts, but a little weekend get-away, to a nice bed and breakfast outside the city, and I wanted to go horse back-riding. Simple, right? Well, for those of you who do not know Mike, he is a big American History fan (… Did I say “big”? I meant HUGE!). More specifically, the Civil War. Well, we ended up in Gettysburg, and my horse back-riding was a guided tour of the Gettysburg battlefield…. I should’ve been a little more specific…In all fairness, it was a wonderful weekend and the B&B was awesome!
I told you that story to tell you this one:
There is a wall in my living room that was in dire need of some color. The problem was that the TV is also on that wall, and I couldn’t find anything that would go with my living room, not distract from the TV, and still bring some color. Thanks to my wonderful Mother-in-Law, I have a subscription to “Better Homes & Gardens”, and this month, they had this on the cover:
I thought this would be a good idea, with different stencils and probably different colors. Originally, I was just going to paint them on regular paper and frame them. However, Michael’s had a 2 for 1 sale on packs of canvases, so I bought a couple. I also needed brushes and paint. Since I’m not a professional artist (I repeat: NOT a professional), I got the best bang for my buck: a pack of 10 brushes, a box of 12 watercolors and a box of 12 oil paints. Total cost: $35! Pretty good considering that this stuff can get really expensive. I was so excited to make these, that while I was making them, it never even occur to me to take pictures for Hippie Points… oops!!
I found the pictures that I wanted online and made the stencils myself, very carefully (while my friend PJ was making me listen to french ska music). I used watercolors, because they are unbelievably forgiving, and I’m not a fan of spray paint. So, when Mike saw them, he really liked them and asked me to make him one of Abraham Lincoln (yes, you read that right: former president Abraham Lincoln… I know what you’re thinking, and yes I did marry him) for his office. At the very least, I could show you the process I used to make mine. I’m sure there are many different ways to do this, and a lot of them are probably easier, but this is what worked for me.
Materials:
Canvas
Paint (if you are good use whatever you want. If not, stick to water colors or color pencils)
Cutting materials (scissors, mat, etc)
Adhesive tape
paper
black and white picture of what you want.
color pencil (that matches the color you’ll use)
1. You want to frame your canvas with the adhesive tape.
2. Decide if you want a reverse or regular stencil, which is going to determine if you cut the black parts or the white part of the paper.
3. Since I wanted a reverse, I ended up with a creepy, zombie looking Lincoln.
Tip: if you have any sections of the “stencil” that’s to flimsy, of that you know is about to rip, put some adhesive tape on it, and that should do the trick.
4. Tape the stencil to the canvas centered.
5. Outline the stencil, with the color pencil that matches the paint that you’re going to use. (if you look close enough you can see it)
6. Paint! First grade refresher: stay inside the lines. Let it dry, and remove the tape.
Personally, I don’t really think it looks like Mr. Lincoln, but it is not for me and Mike loves it!
Here are mine:
I decided on a Blue dolphin
Yellow dove
Green lotus
Red sun
and a Purple “namaste” fella’…
Obviously, I need more practice. But for now, they work beautifully!
As it turns out, every so often, my work area needs a “touch up” a far as cleaning and organizing. I think is because I’m a very messy and disorganized person. Yet somehow, I almost always know where things are (with the exception of my keys, iPod or headphones). Mind you, Mike believes that this is the best place for the router, all 7 hard-drives, the old PC, that now doubles as our main hard-drive and pretty much every cable that he doesn’t need.
I went to the attic, (which, by the way, is always about 10 degrees hotter, and I come back down dripping sweat) to get a a small box from when we moved here, and I found these two little numbers:
I don’t know how long these things have been up there, or who they belonged to, but I thought I might have some use for them as far as my cleaning went.
I cleaned them and fixed some minor odds and ends. Then I took 2 boxes, made with really hard cardboard, and I wrapped them with some pretty contact paper that I had been saving for some time. Took everything out, cleaned, re-arranged and this was the end result.
One of the boxes had a strange top part, so I made it into a shelf.
Of course, I had a little help…
Last night Mike and I went outside to walk the dogs and I looked down and Mike wasn’t wearing any shoes!
Now, just so you know, there’s an abandon empty parking log behind our house, where we’ve seen pretty much every animal in Florida, including a guy passed out drunk! And Mike thought it was OK to walk about bare foot. I had to yell at him to go put some shoes on.
On a non related news: I was at the vets office the other day and I noticed that they had posters hanging on the wall of vintage “Good Housekeeping” magazine. I thought they were adorable! I came home and looked some up. Google has a bunch, and not just Good Housekeeping. I found a few that I really liked that reminded me of people, so I had an idea.
Remembering that a few months ago I found glitter on sale, of course I bought it. I printed a few of the pictures on card-stock paper and enhanced a few details…
I think they looked pretty good framed. Great thoughtful gift.
And I live in Florida!
For the last few months it’s been cold. Not Montana or NY cold but cold for Florida. In fact, we hadn’t had to turn on the AC since November.
Well, Mike got us tickets to go see Rodrigo and Gabriela. They are are awesome and I can’t wait! So I decided that I needed a new fancy coat to wear. It’s actually made with medium- light home decor fabric and is fully lined. It would be a nice spring/fall coat.
Plus, I had left over buttons. It sort of has a Empire cut, and it hits right below the knees. The fabric is a medium cream with paisley design.
Front.
I Think I want to drop the buttons a bit.
Back
I wanted a wide back belt to complement it.
Sleeve
And of course the sleeves needed a button as well.
I’m officially Ms Whittenberger.
After a year of planning and getting ready, it’s time to start being married. I’m sorry this took so long but we were trying to get back to normal. Plus I wanted to wait until the pictures were ready, but they’re not going to be ready for a while.
I have to say being married agrees with me!
About the wedding:
Mike and I decided that we wanted a winter wedding and the best to have that would be Billings, Montana in January. His family lives there and we though that it would be a good central point because we had guests coming from Seattle to Florida. The minute I arrived my first thought was “What were we thinking?!”
I arrived on Tuesday to finish all the small details, such as center pieces and souvenirs. Mike arrived on Thursday with pretty much everyone else. The party started on Thursday at around 7pm, and didn’t end until the wee hours of Monday morning… We’re still trying to recuperate!
Thursday, we had a pre rehearsal dinner dinner at a Mexican place in downtown Billings (Because that’s were you want to go for good Mexican food: Billings! ) Then we moved on to some of the bars around the area and we decided that shots was a really good idea. Then the hotel, which I had the bridal suit, and everyone was over visiting. Friday, Mike’s parents hosted the rehearsal dinner with a western theme. Kathy even hired a line dancing instructor! It was a lot of fun!
After, I went back to my room with some of my friends, were the hotel security quickly came knocking… oops!
Then Saturday came…the big day! Woke up early with my wonderful maid of honor and my minister. We went to the location and prepared and decorated everything. Then Randy drove me around looking for more candles and candle holders. I think, nay, I KNOW that he was more nervous than I was. But we somehow finished everything. I went to get ready and a few hours later we were married…
Randy’s ceremony was nothing short of perfect, and Mike’s vows had me gasping for air…
Then Sunday came, and Mike and I had planned to take everyone skying (we had planned it, in order to trick some of the guests into coming to Montana). I was exhausted and hangover… but everyone loved it, so it was well worth it!
Now it’s a few weeks after. Life has gone pretty much back to normal and we’re not going on a honeymoon until the summer. I know that the wedding itself was just a few hours of eating and dancing. But what made it a complete dream come true was the fact that all of these people come to a time and place for no other reason than because they love us. I will be forever grateful at how they turned my “special day” into an absolute weekend of non-stop awesomeness!
There’s no way I’ll ever be able to say how much I love these guys!
That’s what we were thinking!!
*here’s a few more pictures…
Maid of Honor and I
It has needle work.
Of course, I made it myself. And I hadn’t done needle work since the seventh grade. I think it looks pretty good. The rings are titanium. Mike’s has a white gold band in the middle and mine has a ruby in the center (to match my engagement ring) and 2 white sapphires on either side. Both are a little big, but I love my wedding band!
I love pasta and I love cheese.
Doing a little research i found that, since the Kraft Company put it in a box in 1937 every American kid grew up with macaroni and cheese. Everyone loves it. It’s a perfect comfort food. Easy, fast, and delicious! I enjoy a good “box mac and cheese” like anyone, but I wanted to make a “fancy one” for Mike and I.
There can be no doubt that its ultimate origins are Italian, macaroni and cheese recipes can be found as early as from the late thirteenth century in southern Italy. The anonymous Liber de coquina, written in Latin has a recipe called de lasanis which we can call the first “macaroni and cheese” recipe, by someone familiar with the Neapolitan court (then under the sphere of Charles II of Anjou (1248-1309). It was a macaroni, in this case, lasagne sheets made from fermented dough and cut into two-inch squares that were cooked in water and tossed with grated cheese, probably Parmesan or Romano. The author suggests using powdered spices and layering the sheets of lasagne, just like today, with the cheese if desired.
But the American macaroni and cheese has two main lines of ancestry claimed. In the first, it is thought that macaroni and cheese was a casserole that had its beginnings at a New England church supper. In southeastern Connecticut it was known long ago as macaroni pudding. In the second, and more famous story, and more than likely the original story, it is said that the classic American macaroni and cheese returned with Thomas Jefferson to Virginia after his sojourn in Italy. Jefferson had brought back a pasta machine from Italy. His daughter Mary Randolph became the hostess of his house after Jefferson’s wife died and she is credited with inventing the dish using macaroni and Parmesan cheese. Later, the Parmesan was replaced with cheddar cheese. Anyway, that’s one story. It is more likely that Jefferson had the dish in Italy and brought back the recipe.*
The other day I made “homemade Italian Macaroni and Cheese”. Provolone, mozzarella and Parmesan were the chosen cheeses. It turned out… bland! The pasta was perfect, the sauce marvelous, the bread crumbs homemade and somehow, all together was just ok. Needless to say we had some leftovers….
I opened the fridge today, and took out the leftovers to trow out, and then I remembered something: A few years ago, I was watching Nick Stellino on PBS, and he said something that stuck with me. He was making a wonderful Italian wine sauce, and he said (I’m paraphrasing) that sometime during the Middle Ages, “Italian men would travel, and comeback to Italy with “strange spices from far away lands” then he added a pinch of curry! Back then I thought that was MADNESS! Today, my light bulb when on. I found homemade chicken broth from yesterday and put it in a pan on low heat, I added some flower to make a roux. Added some milk (just a touch) some Gouda cheese, dry red peppers and yes, about half a teaspoon of curry powder. Put the left over “mac and cheese” in an oven pan, and poured the sauce over it. Put it in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350…
Mike said that it was the “best Mac and Cheese of his life”. I have to agree…
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (according to Susie)
1 box of macaroni
1 cup of chicken broth (homemade is not necessary)
2 tablespoons of flower (maybe)
1 teaspoon of dried red pepper
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh garlic
1/4 milk (if that)
1/4 stick of butter (the real stuff, not the one you “can’t believe”)
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon of curry (trust me!)
salt and pepper to taste
Cheeses (as much or as little as you want)
Provolone
Mozzarella
Parmesan
Gouda
Macaroni
Cook macaroni according to package directions. Some people under cook them a little, since they still have to go in the oven. I prefer cooking them completely and then running them under cold water. Your call…
Sauce
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add the garlic and let it brown for about a minute. Add flour and stir until the butter and flour are well combined (no lumps). Lower the heat to lowest setting, pour in chicken broth and milk (not all at once), stirring constantly as it thickens. Add more milk depending on desired consistency. I added about 1/2 cup of Parmesan and 1/2 a cup of Gouda stirring until melted.
In an oven pan, put a little olive oil. Now a layer of noodles, a layer of provolone, a layer of noodles, a layer of mozzarella and the last layer of noodles. Cover with the cheese sauce and add the bread crumbs. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden and bubbly.
Enjoy!
*I will give credit where credit is due:
http://www.cliffordawright.com, http://www.wikipedia.com, blogs.smithsonianmag.com, http://www.pbs.com
hippiepoints 