the sorts of things I think about

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:42:54 GMT

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:29:19 GMT

I just made an enchilada concoction shared with me by my pal Brandon (of Topeka; you may know him), and baby jesus it's fantastic. I must share it with you all, with my input in italics:

STACKED ENCHILADAS
corn tortillas
olive oil/whatever oil
TVP (or cooked meat would work, I'm sure)
1 small can sliced black olives
1 can peas/corn
2 small potatoes (or 1 medium-ish sweet potato)
1 onion
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
oregano
cheese

You can use 2 cans enchilada sauce, or
ENCHILADA SAUCE
large can tomato sauce
oregano
salt & pepper
tiny can o green chiles
onion chopped really finely
baby bit o cilantro

- Grease up a baking dish (say, 9x9 or something similar - I used a casserole dish, actually, since I tend to go overboard with veggies) with a thin layer of olive oil.
- Make up the enchilada sauce to taste... I usually use this concentrated stuff called "Sofrito" by Goya that's really good, but I have no idea if you can find that there. I don't know a damn thing about enchilada sauce, so I just bought a big ol' can of premade stuff, then tossed in all those other sauce ingredients (sans tomato sauce) anyways.
- Boil the TVP in water for a few minutes until tender (or brown the meat). TVP is not exactly plentiful on the shelves of Auburn grocery stores, and cooking meat always grosses me out a bit, so I just added an extra can of black beans.
- Simultaneously, cook the potatoes and onions in a large saucepan with a lil olive oil until tender. I'm retarded and forgot to get potatoes, but I had sweet potatoes anyways - used that instead and it tastes damn good. of course, I'm always biased in favor of sweet 'taters.
- Add the rest of the vegetables and fry up until hot throughout.
- Once everything is done, add a layer of tortillas to the bottom of the pan, then I usually alternate cheese, enchilada sauce, veggies + TVP, cheese, enchilada sauce, tortilla until you reach the top of the baking pan. Add a thin layer of cheese and enchilada sauce on the top, then sprinkle with oregano, pepper, and turmeric (if you have it) and pop in the oven at 350-400 degrees.

Everything is pretty much cooked at this point, so you can be the judge of when to take it all out.. I usually wait until the top looks really crispy and the sauce, etc, is bubbling up on the sides. I eat it with chopped fresh jalepeños, a little bit of cilantro, and sometimes some lime juice on a slice... you may like it with your world famous pico! (too bad my pico was entirely consumed long ago and I had none left. oops!)

yumyum!

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:59:17 GMT

I am currently stuffing my face with tortillas piled high with refried beans & homemade pico de gallo. jes' a little slice of heaven. now, I know it's hard to fuck up pico de gallo, but I have encountered some astonishingly dull varieties. here is my version, modified from a recipe I stole from the internet:

PICO DE YUMMY
chop it all up & mix together:
+ 8 roma tomatoes
+ 1 medium white onion
+ 2 jalapeno peppers
+ a giant handful of fresh cilantro
+ 2 limes (the juice thereof)
+ 1 tbsp salt (kosher = better)

MAKE IT NOW.

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:33:57 GMT

HELL YEAH

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:14:39 GMT

finally!

love. this. song.

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:50:43 GMT

omg head explosion! made it onto the etsy front page for a 2nd time (and missed it again):

screencap stolen from swallowfield.

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:17:25 GMT

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:38:42 GMT

wtf?

"As with everyone else, I have had to cut back on entertainment, travel and food. An interesting trend that I have seen at work (I work for a pizza shop): When I started working there five years ago, no one ever ordered a medium pizza, it was always a large. Over the last 6 months to a year, however, not only have we begun to have fewer customers, but many of our customers have been forced to settle for a medium instead of the large.

At least a third to half of our orders are now for mediums. A family of four has to struggle to make a meal out of a medium pizza. What happens when the economy gets worse? Do they cut back to the small pizza (you can't feed a family of four with a small), or do they stop purchasing all together?"

this is a VERY SERIOUS ISSUE, people.

oh, oh, also:
"My family lives in a rural area and it is 30 miles to town to go shopping. So instead of going weekly we go once a month and stock up. Also church is 20 miles away. So instead of going 3 to 4 times a week we only go Sunday morning and Wednesday evening."

what is this world coming to??!?!?!??!

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:23:59 GMT

So, many months ago in October, a young opossum would trap himself in our trash can every night:

my father, being the way he is, dubbed him Sammy and started to leave nightly treats for him in his own special little 'possum bowl on the patio. And every night since then, the treats - from mushy bananas to stale chocolate cake - have been nibbled if not thoroughly devoured.
tonight, my father caught him in the act! of course the little guy ran off, but we waited patiently at the kitchen window for his return. he's much bigger now, fatter, and has lost his youthful fuzz, but he's got the cutest little paws and cutest pink nose and tiny little black ears. what a precious! he even tolerated me pointing a flashlight at him as he ate.

sweet little Sammy.

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:13:13 GMT

sweeeeeeeeeeet.

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:39:06 GMT

went birding at Sparger Park again. damn, that place is birdy.

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:19:44 GMT

I LOVE IT.

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:04:18 GMT

there's a livejournal community about... Heath Ledger?
so strange.

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:31:54 GMT

dreams about raising baby ducks: every night, please?

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:01:55 GMT

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:21:39 GMT

I [think I] saw a screech owl down the road from Mi Cocina last night, and now another one near work this evening. what is up with that?

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:32:29 GMT

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:22:01 GMT

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:51:37 GMT

weird.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/19/btsc.tuchman.roadsideprayer/index.html

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 03:39:12 GMT

finished the wood-hoopoe print:

I'll scan the finished piece(s) tomorrow after they dry.

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:56:49 GMT

I gots ta get up for the Fort Worth Christmas Bird Count in... 8ish hours. damn. gotta love those pre-sunrise birding hours.
please oh please, weather gods, no more rain! at least not tomorrow!

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 02:29:23 GMT

my bro and his gf being cute in the snow:

my fantabulous blueberry+peach pie:

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:42:10 GMT

it was 84 on Tuesday. now it's snowing.

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:34:00 GMT

new print:

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:03:01 GMT

3 cormorants + 2 grebes + 20ish coots + 15 scaups = autumn!
big beautiful male great-tailed grackles bathing in the pond = awww!