Tonight's dinner experiment was very tasty.



Spinach & Tomato Orzo

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, slivered
2 Tablespoon olive oil
½ box Orzo, cooked as directed on package.
¾ – 1 package spinach
1 large ripe tomato, diced
6-8 fresh leaves basil, slivered
good quality mozzarella balls, halved

1) In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Toss in garlic and onion. Cook for about 3 minutes.
2) Stir in tomato and spinach.
3) When the spinach is wilted, stir in mozzarella and basil. Cook another 2-3 minutes until mozzarella is warm, but not overly melted.
4) Drain off excess water
5) Stir in cooked Orzo

We also had Jumped Greens. Much less tasty, but definitely a "good for you" food.
http://public.integrativenutrition.com/resources/RecipeDetails.aspx?catId=15&recipeId=275

8-10 medium potatoes, cubed (leave the peels on)
1 large onlon, slivered
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of organic whole milk
32 oz vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
1 tsp celery ceed
1/2 cup bacos
1/4 Tbl butter


1) In a skillet melt the butter and sautee onions and garlic until translucent.
2) In a large cooking pot bring broth and milk to a boil.
3) Add the potatoes as you get them chopped up and stir in the onion/garlic mixture.
4) Cook for 35-45 minutes.
5) With the back of a large spoon, mash most of the potatoes against the side of the pot, leaving a few chunks.
6) Stir in bacos

Serve with a side of good bread

Valentines Day this year brought a lovely vase of tulips for me and a box of Chalmer's Ganache for @base10. After a productive day of house cleaning we decided to break into the ganache. Dipped strawberries - delicious, melons - ok, pineapple - ok, grapes - delicious, grape and pineapple in one shot - also delicious.


We've been good about paying down the credit cards and our tax return looked nice, so we decided it was time for a little fun. @base10 bought his D300 this weekend and I inherited his D70. The D70 is more camera than I will ever need, but I look forward to learning the ins and outs of how to use it. This weekend I practiced playing with the aperture & focus settings.


This photo has the focus near the shore line. I quickly learned that the camera had extreme difficulty focusing on a point out in the water. To solve this problem for my other shots, I took a tiny piece of stick and tossed it out to my desired focal point. This allowed the camera a point of color to grab and focus in on.


I'm always fascinated by logs with holes in them and wish I could shrink down and crawl inside. I was surprised to find out that taking a photo inside the log resulted in a lot of glare. I suspect I need to hone my log spelunking techniques.


The only other news of interest is our new incense burner. Nathan's college friend from Germany sent this little guy along with some rather tasty German snacks. He immediately was placed on our fireplace mantel

I learned a wealth of interesting tidbits during the NC Science Blogging Conference tour of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), January 18th. Instead of overwhelming you with vast details on each point, I've decided to give a brief overview of several items with links leading off to more fascinating details for those who wish to read more.

The EPA's cafe recently switched to compostable plates and plastics utensils due to the severity of the drought.

"The Greening Curve” - A history of designing Triangle EPA campus. Includes why they made the decisions they did when building. Find out about solar paneled street lights, the 100KW solar array that supplies 5% of the power used by their computer center, wild flower landscaping and more.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System – Companies that wish to participate pay a fee and use various resources provided by the US Green Building Council to obtain the building rating they desire.

We found out the EPA uses modularized lab benches. While the plumbing stays in one location, the rest of bench structure can be changed to accommodate their current projects.

Fume hoods in the laboratories use a lot of power. The EPA has a special set-up so if fume hood closed up and lights turned out at the end of the day, a sensor cuts back the amount of single pass air that goes through.

The EPA has a limited number of closed offices to allow natural light to come thorough and light office.
LED lights?

Quote: “On spaceship Earth, there are no passengers ... everyone is crew” ~ Marshall McLuhan

While doing fact checking on this quote, I discovered it was not actually made by Buckminster Fuller as attributed in the presentation; however I did come across a fascinating read by the man who buckyballs were named after, the “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth”. He claimed Earth did not come with one and decided to write one himself.



In the Health Affects Lab the EPA uses mice and rats to test disel affects. In order to keep them in place, Velcro mice and rat suits were created by one of their scientists. The Velcro on the suit attaches to its mate on a testing vesicle's wall.

Each state has to develop an air quality plan every year. NC, not in CO compliance.

In the EPA's wind tunnel laboratory all kinds of particle tests can be conducted. Since particles affect individuals of different heights uniquely, the EPA has various sized dolls equipped with measuring devices. The smaller kid sized doll is named “Chucky”. They also have a man with mechanical foot purchased off ebay. When the EPA could not afford a moving doll one of the scientists too measures into his own hands and bought a used mechanical foot off of someone on e-bay that no longer needed it. He then adapted it to their current adult doll to measure how much particular matter is kicked up when a person is walking.

Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Study (DEARS) – Measured how various pollutants affect humans.

According to the scientists in the human exposure lab, the highest creators of particular matter are cooking, cleaning, and self grooming.

July 4th day highest particular matter, because of all the fireworks debris.

Dust – Since it comes in different sizes, the different sizes have differing abilities to enter the body.

Through a process called bioremediation, certain microbes can eat TNT rendering it harmless. The University of Idaho appears to be conducting a study of this with sheep.

Radon information

Recipe: Dangerous Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies Dissected by Sweet Napa. Nice food blog.

After a fine evening of shooting ambermae, gorski, base10 and Ben with laser tag guns in celebration of gorski's big 3 0, base10 and myself were in search for something tasty to eat. We decided to cruise around the Brier Creek area until something struck our fancy.

Johnny Carino's Country Italian. I had to ask myself, "what is country Italian?" As you are seated, the hostess runs off to get a rag to clean up food left behind from the several families dinning before you. No elbows on this table, thank you. Even after hostess wiped it, it was so sticky I could feel the goo through my shirt sleeves. On the brighter side, country Italian is edible food, just not classy Italian food. The angel hair pasta is cooked until it reaches a lovely blanched white color and then the pasta is CUT into tiny bite sized pieces for you. I wasn't sure why they served it with a spoon, so I passed my spoon onto base10 after he accidentally put his on the table. Dessert? Nah.

We went to see the "Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism" exhibit at the NC Museum of Art on Sunday. While looking at Henri-Joseph Harpignies's "A Meadow in the Bourbonnais Morning", 1876



I could not help but wonder if over the years, the beautiful landscape grew to look more like this.



Realism.

Every now and again I get a bug up my butt to cut off my hair. Today, the bug won. My plan is to experiment with different hairstyles as I let my hair grow back to its normal length. LONG.


So far, everyone's first comment has been the same "You look very different". The kids in the neighborhood did not recognize me, especially without my glasses.


First style: Sponge Bob Square Hair & Rex Luther, Best Dog Ever



Recipe:
1 oz tequilla
3 oz margarita mix
.5 oz cointreau
3-5 ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a shaker to mix. Poor into a lovely glass lined with margarita salt. Place a sliver of lime on the side for a final touch.

It has been a peaceful morning. Base10 is enjoying the opportunity to sleep late and I've been surfing the web in search of interesting reading, like pfesteria and sea lice. I did have to frantically dig through my pantry in hope of finding a very odd ingredient I was not expecting in Black Bottom Cupcakes - white vinegar, but that has been the worse of the excitement. My first thought was, why on earth would you want to put that foul stuff in with chocolate and cheese. It does somehow pull it all together though, for a very tasty treat.
http://www.joyofbaking.com/BlackBottomCupcakes.html

Happy Winter Solstice. base10 and I are planning on a lot of rest and relaxation this holiday season and would like to invite all of our friends over to enjoy our freshly stocked pantry filled with nog, apple cider, vodka, tequila, scotch, various cheeses and random acts of freshly baked treats. Feel free to give us a call or reply to the blog for directions. I hear apple pie with B&J ice cream is on the baking list.

We had dinner at Margaux's Restaurant on Creedmoor Road tonight. Very tasty food. I had the three bean vegetable chili. It was delectably spicy and finished off like a finely baked ziti. The cheesy topping had slivers of baked tortilla added as a final touch.

We had an enjoyable afternoon at Lily's pizza and twittering about the comments we heard from two folks on a first date at Third Place. I wonder if the guy will get a second date after talking about hookers and video games she was oblivious about.

The Grains of Time played a number of newer songs tonight. The Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium was a nice surprise, as was The Eagles' Hotel California. The guest a cappella group was Duke University's female group Out of the Blue. They came dressed in NCSU colors.

While we were there, we enjoyed the Gregg Museum of Art and Design exhibit Sock Monkey Madness & The Red Heel Dream. Plenty of good chuckles to be had.

Since I was a teenager, I fell in love with Andrew Wyeth's work. I admired Christina's World for many years, but more recently, I came across some of his Weatherside pictures at the NC Museum of Art.


Christina's World


Weatherside

I'm afraid to find out how much his original works are http://www.awyeth.com. It appears other members of the Wyeth family are also quite talented.

A few months back a mother Siamese cat brought her kittens to our yard for a little socialization and of course, food. We managed to trap everyone and get them into the house and socialization has gone very well.

As some of you might have read in an earlier post, momma cat had Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and we had to put her down. Since then, the kittens have been quarantined to the kitchen, until they can be fixed and tested for FeLV.

Lady Braveheart is all set to go home with her new family on Tuesday, providing her health checks out. Now we need homes for Tator and Tot.

We also have several gorgeous orange Tabbies available for adoption and one Flaming Point Siamese, who range in socialness from friendly to a step up from feral. If you know of anyone who might be interested in any of these beautiful (inside and out) babes, please contact me here at Live Journal or at feralcatadoption@gmail.com for an adoption application and info on how to visit the kitties.

Tator	Tot
Lady Braveheart (Wallace)

A delicious cookie recipe one of my co-workers shared with me!

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups Old Fashioned or Quick Oats
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup craisens


1) Heat oven to 375°F.
2) In a large bowl, blend shortening with sugars, adding sugar gradually.
3) Add eggs, milk and vanilla; beat well.
4) Add flour and baking soda; beat well.
5) Stir in oats, craisens and chocolate chips.
6) Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
7) Bake for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove cookies and place on cooling rack.

Yield: 42 cookies.

Thanks Kathleen! These are my all time favorite cookie.

I have not posted any recipes in a while, so here is an old favorite of mine that falls in the line of comfort food. I never thought this simple recipe could be made better, but while shopping for ingredients this weekend, base10 mentioned mushrooms. It was a good call. Mushrooms definitely made this dish even tastier.

Cabbage and Noodles (and Mushrooms)
1 head of cabbage, sliced
1 package of yolkless egg noodles
2 lg packages of baby bella mushrooms, rinsed and sliced

In a large skillet or a steamer, cook the sliced cabbage and the mushrooms until they reach a good texture and temperature (10-15 mintues ish)

Cook the noodles according to the package directions, drain and put to the side.

When the cabbage and noodle mixture is done, mix it together with the noodles

Add salt and freshly ground pepper

He hears: "Honey, why don't we have company over."
She really means: "Honey, it's about time we clean the house."

The Birds are coming!!!! Netflix says it will arrive tomorrow. Hopefully, it will play in the DVD player, so we all don't have to huddle around a laptop.

I have been missing Retrofantasma, so to alleviate the problem, I just bumped "The Birds " to the top to the Netflix queue. Hopefully it will come by Friday. base10 and I will let everyone know if it does, so other's suffering from horror flick withdraws can get their fix on too.

Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act

How much should government regulate freedom of speech and expression and how much responsibility should rest in the hands of each individual parent to decide for themselves, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable television programming for a child?

Audio

Results: Parasites Roundworms Siamese

This was the google inquiry I typed in yesterday after one of our kittens took up projectile vomiting. For all the bad things said about Walmart, at least they were open late last night and carried roundworm medication for kittens. The little buggers appear to be feeling a lot better today and there are no more blood covered "spaghetti" strands on the floor.

More interesting parasite tid bits link and link

Once these lovely beasties are worm free, spay, and test negative for Feline Leukemia, they will be available for adoption. If you know anyone who is looking for a half Siamese kitty, have them drop me a line.