Italian White Beans

¼ Cup Olive Oil

1 medium size yellow onion, cut into wedges

4 oz Prociutto/Pancetta, Chopped

1-2 carrots, sliced into rounds

2 stalks celery, diced

1 cup dried cannellini beans, picked over, rinsed, soaked overnight, and drained

3 cups chicken stock

2 bay leaves

¼ tsp dried thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Sauté the onions and meat in the olive oil in the bottom of the stock pot. Cook for until tender. Add the carrot and celery and cook to soften.
2. Add the beans, chicken stock, and herbs, stir to combine. Cook until the beans are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Remove bay leaves and serve with crusty bread or as a side dish for meat or fish.

Here’s a photo that I took after I started eating my dinner. It was great the next day also.

Cool Links…

Links I’ve bookmarked and never done anything with.

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/12/how-to_stitched_gift_wrap_and.html

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/12/little_owl.html

http://curbly.com/capreek/posts/9566-how-to-make-your-own-mini-balsa-wood-tree

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weightwatcherspointsrecipes/~3/EkoHowlxUKs/spinach-tortellini-en-brodo.html

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2010/12/15/racheting-readywrench-combines-16-socket-sizes/

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2010/12/15/tegu-magnetic-wooden-blocks-review/

http://whipup.net/2010/12/13/15-felt-ornaments-to-make/

http://blueeyedfreckle.blogspot.com/2010/12/handmade-and-fabulous-agate-druzi-slice.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhipUp/~3/URQCVItNwew/

http://www.thimble.ca/?p=2580

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/12/how-to_tiny_plastic_canvas_gin.html

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/11/noro_hat_pattern.html

http://curbly.com/diy-maven/posts/9436-diy-pipe-shelves-round-up

http://www.designmom.com/2010/11/diy-monogram-mugs/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhipUp/~3/84kO4jQLzFw/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhipUp/~3/_-ONznCqyKU/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HowAboutOrange/~3/lZHdNsIKUA4/how-to-make-recycled-paper-flowers.html

http://whipup.net/2010/10/04/bags-bags-bags-roundup/

http://curbly.com/diy-maven/posts/9125-how-to-make-paper-cake-treat-boxes

http://annekata.blogspot.com/2010/09/room-shoes-and-book-lovers.html

http://curbly.com/diy-maven/posts/9113-diyable-bike-shelf

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20100920/digital-picture-frame-keychain/

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhipUp/~3/5GE2-x2gIUI/

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/09/how-to_salt_light.html

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/08/how-to_braided_ribbon_headband.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhipUp/~3/HqbkNvtjauU/

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/08/how-to_embellished_tunic_tee.html

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/07/how-to_newspaper_gift_bag.html

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/12/binding_ebooks_for_gifts.html

http://www.kitchenipadrack.com/

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/07/how-to_tissue_paper_hydrangea.html

http://offbeatbride.com/2010/07/diy-frosted-glass-centerpiece

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/apartmenttherapy/main/~3/oMMhYbO0wSY/how-to-create-paper-blossoms-120262

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/apartmenttherapy/main/~3/oMMhYbO0wSY/how-to-create-paper-blossoms-120262

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/06/how-to_paper_rose_table_decor.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhipUp/~3/bwN6QMMy8B0/

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/06/how-to_sew_a_tissue_paper_garl.html

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/05/how-to_quilled_monogram.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhipUp/~3/jKSHaHOPK0U/

http://whipup.net/2010/04/23/paper-towel-flowers/

http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2010/04/01/easter-surprise-eggs-the-easy-version/

http://craftlog.org/craftlog/?p=3478

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/03/pussy_willow_rainbow.html

http://yougogirl.typepad.com/you_go_girl/2010/03/crochet-like-crazy.html

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/05/how-to_quilled_monogram.html

 

Religious Messages

Cory found this on his windshield about a year ago. We saved it because we wanted to share it with folks. Enjoy.

One of the members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster saw his symbol on the back of Cory’s car and decided to leave a message.

Here are some more links to more information about the FSM.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
• The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on Google Books
• The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on Amazon

 

P.S. I’ve been struggling to write another post about my family. I thought I would try something light hearted to break the ice.

Cool Links…

Today, just feels like it is going to be a long day. I’m working out of the CDS database at work. Meaning for each call I attempt today, I have to dial the phone number manually (no computer assistance here) and the person I’m trying to get a hold of probably hasn’t been in contact with a coach for months, so there will be lots of disconnected phone numbers and voicemails will be left today.

In between call attempts, I am randomly looking at different websites. I thought that I would post links to projects or ideas that I found interesting. This may end up being a long or short list. Here it goes…

Source: Re-nest.com

Source: Re-nest.com

Source: Home in the Country

 

I guess that is it for today.

Clam Chowder – PIitTO

Here’s the clam chowder recipe, I’ve used before.

Week 2 – Meal Plan

Sunday – Death by Garlic Pasta, Green Salad – The reviews have some great suggestions for how to “improve” this recipe. It seems to be very adaptable to what you have on hand. I made it as written and it needed a little something. It is definitely a meal we both liked and will go into rotation as a regular recipe in our house. Suggestions, for next time, use less oil, chop the garlic (or use roasted?), and stick with the finer grated Parmesan/Romano cheese.

Monday – Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa

Tuesday – Fend For Ourselves (FFO) – Meaning, we are on our own for dinner.

Wednesday – Cabbage Rolls

Thursday – Chicken Stir-fry & Rice – using whatever marinades and frozen vegetables we have on hand.

Friday – FFO

 

Groceries for this week – Umm… Well, let’s say I went over the $30, I spent last week. I am justifying what was spent because I stocked up on pantry items that I can use in the future. I am going to do my best to not go back to the store after today (I forgot to get a carrot). Hey, I just realized I can go back to the produce stand and use the deposits from the dairy containers to pay for the carrot.

No more money would be spent and technically, I wouldn’t be going back to the store. Yay!

Groceries

I’m going to try an experiment this week. For this week, I was curious to see if I could plan a week’s worth of meals and stick to my prepared menu. Below is what I’ve planned for our meals (and I’ve made every single one.) Also, I went shopping one time this week and spent about 26 dollars. Yep, I’ll say this week was a success! I’m going to keep trying to do this for as long as I can. It will be a great way to build up our list of easy recipes that we enjoy. I know we eat a lot of the same things over and over again but I could not tell you what we’ve been eating or making.

• Monday – Homemade Gyros & Greek Salad- $12.29
• Tuesday – Baked Pasta & Green Salad – (Free – all ingredients were found in our pantry.)
• Wednesday – Pulled Pork Sandwiches w/Homemade Rolls – (Free – all ingredients were found in our pantry.)
• Thursday – Leftovers from Wednesday
• Friday – TBD

All of the meals, I’ve made this week have also included leftovers for my lunch the next day.

Cory and I both loved the gyros but the Greek Salad needs some work. Next time we’ll skip the lettuce, add more vegetables and use a different dressing. Maybe we could use some of the Tzatziki sauce?

The baked pasta was pretty good. Just add the Parmesan cheese to the end of the baking time vs. before. I’d like to try some different variations. It definitely needs to be cooked in the correct size pan. The green salad was a good mix (tomatoes, cucumber, and onions). For lunch, the next day I added some walnuts. Yum!

We’ll see how the pulled pork turns out. It smells pretty vinegary now but I’ll see what happens after a few more hours. The Crock-pot is slowly working it’s magic.

Brain Slug Cupcakes!

Brain Slug Cupcakes!, originally uploaded by the small cat club.

How awesome are these!

The brain slugs from Futurama are one of my favorite “villains.”

Ooops! Sorry about that!

So lately I’ve been playing an MMO of D&D (DDO).  This is primarily because I get god awful bored in the winter since I’m an outdoors person, but also because my friend Tom plays it and it’ll be fun to connect with him regularly.  I’ve had problems with overplaying MMO’s in the past, but luckily, Emma is on it.  She’ll walk to the doorway of the room I’m in when I’m all in gamer mode and staying up too late and will meow very loudly.  I then look up and Emma stares at me disapprovingly, meows again, and then trots off to bed apparently expecting me to follow now that she’s scolded me on my sleep habits.

The Enforcer

Anyhow, I’ve been trying to get a healer up to 3rd level so I can be useful to Tom’s party, which is why I was a bit frustrated when the computer froze yesterday while I was playing it.  I cursed, tried a few more times, and ultimately it froze 5 times on me, all when I entered combat.  I grumbled, went to sleep, and ended up looking up some fixes online at work.  When I came home from soccer today, I tried a few out.  Really basic stuff, all client based (turn down the frame rate, the connection speed, engine speed, etc.)  I get in and it’s working fine for about 3 minutes, even during combat.  Unfortunately, it stalls again.  It was a different type of freeze and not something I had to hard reboot from, so I didn’t take it too bad.  I log out, and try to log back in.

Except now I can’t get into any of the servers.  Blaming myself for messing with the interface, I try to log into the DDO forums to look up fixes.

The forums are down.   So I zoom over to a different forum board and notice a post that all of the DDO servers and in fact all of the servers at Turbine Inc (which runs a handful of MMO’s and is partnered with Microsoft) are down.  And for one moment, for one split second, I thought this:

OMG!  I BROKE TURBINE’S SERVERS!

Yup.  I broke the internet.  With slider bars.  On a MMO interface program.  All you hackers out there better take a lesson from this.  Coding viruses and worms aint the way to sabotage tech companies.  You do it with radio buttons and predefined variables on a gaming client program.  (Allright, I know I didn’t break it.  Just let me have fun with my neurosis, okay?)

A Box of Stuff

So it’s late it’s late and I’m tired from moving today and yet bored, so I decide to go through some of the boxes that Hydee and I have unloaded.  I start rummaging in one box that is already open and I see a few photos of Hydee’s mom and some knitting needles and the first thing I think is, “Great.  A box of Hydee’s junk.”  Both Hydee and I tend to collect boxes of “odds and ends”, which is a polite way of saying that we’re pretty disorganized and end up with boxes of God only knows what.  I usually find tools in my boxes that, for the life of me, I can’t figure out what their original function was and that I secretly suspect never had one.

Here’s the rub though.  As I poke through this one, I realize that it’s not Hydee’s.  There’s an old driver’s license of mine, a ribbon from a 7^th grade track meet, an old game CD of mine… this is OUR junk box.  My junk mixed up with Hydee’s, and it all fits together like a Tetris game.  Love can be so many things in so many ways… passionate, sublime, sincere, tender, caring…  however, two people intermingling their mementos and having it all belong together is likely the most tangible sign of love that I have ever experienced.