Hilarious Olan Mills Photography

I have to give you the link to one of my favorite blog sites' (List of the Day) most hilarious posts. The reason I love this post so much is for the pictures and the awesome captions written by Cary underneath. The captions are priceless. I wish I had the talent to come up with stuff this good but I don't so I shall just direct you to someone who can deliver. Follow the link for some laughs and good times. I am also posting a couple of my baby pics, straight olan mills style. Olan Mills knew how to do some great portraits. My parents never did get a shot of me in "the library" though, but check it out; you can see a primitive fence in the background. Also that green shag carpeting made to resemble grass does not look so safe. Can carpet contain asbestos? Please, no fat kid jokes. Oh and the last picture is of my parents. I hope that I can one day have a wedding portrait taken as spectacular and incredibly dated as that one.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup Recipe!

Now I realize the picture does not look too yummy; I think my everyday dishes suck at food photography. That being said, this recipe is super good. I picked it up over at Simply Recipes The recipe is super easy and is perfect with a simple grilled cheese sandwich. The perfect cold weather food, or if you are like me, the perfect any weather food. Now I made this recipe with pre-roasted red peppers. I am sure it would be more delicious with homemade roasted red peppers but I didn't have the time. So if you want to make your own roasted red peppers follow these steps: Roast the red bell pepper by placing it over or under an open flame until it is blackened on all sides. (You can use a grill, cook top gas burner, or oven broiler.) Place the blackened pepper in a bag, close the bag, and let the pepper steam for 10-15 minutes, or until the skin feels like it can easily be slipped off. Remove the pepper from the bag, peel off the blackened skin, remove the seeds. See I told you this was too much work. Much easier to just buy the peppers pre-roasted. Good eats my friends!

Roasted Red Pepper Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
1 can of drained roasted red peppers
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped small (around 5 cups)
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
3 cloves garlic
2 quarts chicken stock
1 cup hot milk or cream
1/2 stick of butter
1 tbsp ( at least!!!) Cayenne Pepper
red pepper flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Cut pepper into strips. Place peppers, potatoes, garlic, and onion in a large soup pot and add the stock. Cook over medium-high heat until potatoes are soft. You can tell by sticking a fork in them, the potatoes will immediately break apart.
Add hot milk and butter. Purée in a blender or food processor until very smooth. You can also use a hand blender. Add cayenne,red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to taste.
Serves 6-8.

Bad Blogger, no!

I have been horrible about posting stuff. Life has been crazy, so I apologize. I know all one of y'all is sad that I am not posting more. Speaking of y'all: I am very sorry for the blatant use of the word y'all throughout my blog. If it offends you sorry, but I really don't care. Y'all is my word and I am sticking with it. Besides, its way better than you people, which is such a horribly Yankee thing to say. Haha. I am just kidding about Yankees. I am a Jew so I go hand in hand with Yankees. Though I am a southern Jew so in reality I eat grits with my matzoh. I don't even eat matzoh actually. I think it is awful and feel bad for the poor Jews wandering in the desert who didn't have time for the bread to rise. I bet they had wished that they go have eaten some delicious, perfectly risen challah. I bet they wished they could have had some french toast made out of that challah. Wow, I think I am going far beyond the boundaries of sacrilegious here so I am just gonna shut my mouth. I wanted to post some pictures of an oyster roast I attended at my friends Tre's house. The pictures are not stupendous but I love to see things in black and white. I wish there was more contrast though. Tre's oyster roast was a bit more sedate than the last one, but with us all getting older.. I mean I am almost 28, not really, I still have 6 months to go, but we are getting older; I, far slower than the rest. The one thing I did enjoy at the oyster roast was listening to a drunken discussion between a devout catholic and an atheist who began the discussion by debating why catholics didn't allow gays to marry. It then moved into morals, ethics, and all kinds of fun stuff that you should normally never talk about sober, much less wasted. Good thing all parties involved are nonviolent and not likely to get offended easily. I am going to post a recipe later today that will hopefully have you all go rushing out to buy ingredients to make the soup so get prepared and put on your shopping shoes.

Pictures for you

I am random, ask anyone. Therefore I am providing y'all with pictures of Bellas birthday party that went down a year ago. Why? Because I just thought you might enjoy looking at a bunch of dogs wearing birthday hats, eating doggy birthday cake, drinking doggy martinis- shaken not stirred. Can you tell I'm single? Let's just hope that I never wind up being the crazy cat/dog lady (they aren't the same actually; CCLs wear peasant skirts and smell like cat urine whereas CDLs wear high top reeboks, jean jammers, and are covered in dog hair). I will marry a goy if I have to. LOL. For you non-jews, a goy is a non-jew: essentially you. I am just kidding about the whole goy-marrying being a bad thing. I love Goyim ( is that even a word?). The majority of men I have dated are all goy. If I am completely messing up the grammar and syntax of the word goy be sure to let me know...I am not known for my spectacular jewishness. I actually could care less what type of religion my future hubby worships as long as he isn't religious in whatever religion he believes in. I would like some spirituality though. Actually I have been reflecting a lot on religion lately. I think its because I work with so many religious people. I feel like I don't know enough about Judaism. I actually am not really what I would consider jewish. I am as far as my cultural heritage is. I also do celebrate some holidays and do believe in many jewish beliefs but I also believe in other things that are sacriligious for jews, such as tatooing my body. I have a couple, therefor I will never be allowed to be buried in a jewish cemetary. Oh well. If it matters to me in my old age, I can always get them removed, but for now I don't care, especially because I want to donate my body to science. It sounds more noble and I can't wait until some med students carve my body up on a table. OKay, I am going to end this conversation on a positive note. I am going to leave you with a couple of dog pictures. I should probably tell you, Bellas not jewish, I think her birth mom was a Jehovas Witness.

Bella Birthday Pawty Fan-atics


Pinto Bean wears all kinds of hats


Jamie and Kili in celebration mode

Bellas the belle of the ball

Posts

Anyone know why when you look at my blog you can't see the top posts, but once you scroll down and the scroll back up you can. Anyone have any solutions???

Networking Mixer tonight at Frogs

Patrick's throwing a networking mixer at Frogs Cantina in midtown tonight. He is also having a $5 aycd keg. Should be good times. Come if you want.

Jack Handy Quote of the Week

"It takes a big man to cry. It takes and even bigger man to laugh at that man."
-Deep thoughts by Jack Handy

Photoshop-aholic

R U Ready for some photoshop???? Instead of watching my pointless but favorite show, Dancing with the Stars (I am going for the hot frenchman), I played around with photoshop and here are my results. Not great, but this is my first time trying it out. See if you can guess which 4 haven't been photoshopped. Also the more intresting pictures were all taken at Davids house in Cabbagetown.

Funny diary Entries

Excerpts from a Dog's Diary
6:00 am - At last! I Go Pee! My favorite thing!
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
6:00 pm - They're home! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!



Excerpts from a Cat's Diary

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.

The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe —for now...


**I have seen both entries before circulating throughout the mass of forwards but wanted to give credit where credit is due since I did steal it straight from his page.

Weekend

This weekend was fun. I wound up house sitting and pet sitting so I was very busy but I managed to get a little fun in there as well. I experienced Ethiopian food for the first time. It was delicious. My friends Matt and Tracey took me. We went to Desta at the corner of Clairmont and Briarcliff. The place was very nicely redone inside and has a cute little porch. I got fish tibs on Shiro. Fish tibs are tilapia that has been sauteed in a spicy tomato/onion/garlic sauce. Shiro is spicy ground chickpeas. You don't use utensils in Ethiopian but instead use in a type of bread called injera that is made out of grass to grab bites of food. Apparently injera is what turns a lot of people off to Ethiopian because it is very thin and porous and has a sour taste. To me it tastes like sourdough bread but some people describe it as a sponge. I like it, though the texture when holding it is kind of gross. Anyways it was really good and I would recommend everyone try it once. I also had some time to get out and shoot in Cabbagetown. I went to take pictures of the house on Powell Street that has all the signs on the gate and got into a long conversation with the owner David. He was very nice, and allowed me to come on his property to take pictures of his garden and grounds that is filled with salvaged metal and garage sale finds. I will try and post pictures soon. He also has two gorgeous great danes. David is great designing gardens of all types and does most of his work out in Serenbe ( another place I want to visit). His website is Wonderfalls of Atlanta. I have another friend who designs and creates great gardens and I would be remiss not to mention him as well. His name is Brando Chonko and his company is called Grass Roots landscaping. If you are looking for a gorgeous garden or back patio, these 2 are great, though I can tell you Grass Roots is much more affordable. Another thing I did this weekend is my last training run for the half with Elizabeth. It was good times but I will be glad when we can go back to running a nice, leisurely 6 mile run after the ING is finished. If anyone wants to come cheer on Elizabeth and I, as well as Brittany and Tim, the ING goes through downtown and the highlands. I am going to leave y'all with some random pictures I have taken.

This is a picture of a random dog I met in the park. I love odd pictures of animals.

Random picture of a dog toy within a dog toy. I just like the colors together.

Bella's foot: you should try and smell your dogs feet. They smell like corn chips, honest.

Not the best picture of the midtown skyline, but I love how the buildings are outlined. All of these pictures are straight out of the camera. I am still trying to figure out Photoshop so I have not gotten around to improving upon any images. I will let you know (probably in year 2011) when I actually improve upon a picture while in photoshop.

Recipe for Corn Salad

I love all things food. I love looking at cookbooks, reading recipes off the internet, and seeing food pictures. I also love to eat, but thats beside the point. When I see recipes that look good, I am so tempted to run out and immediatley make the dish, that I could possibly go broke for as many recipes that I see look good. I try to limit myslef, but its hard. I was persuing my friend and former boss, Christy's, blog Moon Dreams & Day Beams and saw this recipe. I have had it before but never realy attempted to figure out how to make it. Well now I don't have to because Christy has done that for me. I rushed out last night to get the ingredients and the dip was so good that it was all I ate for dinner. I did add jalepenos and cayenne but that is beacuse I like things hot. I also think this would be good as a hot dip with perhaps some sour cream in it as well. Christy actually crushes corn chips and mixes it in right bfeore she serves the dip, but I decided to just dip corn chips in the dip. I really hate anything soggy, though she promises if you mix it together at the last moment it wont get soggy. I have made and tested the dip and now I am giving it to you readers so you can have a fun new recipe. No pictures though, sorry.

CORN SALAD
2 (15 oz) cans whole kernel corn- drained
2 c grated cheddar cheese
1 c mayo
pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, Optional
Jalepenos (diced), Optional
1 bag corn chips or tortilla chips

Mix first 5 ingredients. Chill. Serve with corn chips or tortilla chips
This recipe may be made ahead of time.

Recipe

The other day we had a potluck breakfast at the office and I brought what I always bring, hashbrown casserole. One day I am going to change it up and suprise everyone but it always gets eaten quick so at least I know its enjoyed. And this time I went to the store to buy the ingredients and wound open only buying the ingredients; I only paid $10 for the ingredients. Wow, I normally walk out of Kroger with the 5 items I came for and 10 items that I didn't need, but did want. I always do that. I have some serious problem with money flying ofmy wallet faster than it can get in and it always seems to fly towards food. Arg! Anyways, my friend and co-worker Melissa, made this super delicious granola that easy to make and its has a "pun"ny name. She served it with both normal and greek vanilla yogurts. I think it would be delicious with a plain greek yogurt because of how sweet the granola already is. Throw in some fresh fruit and you have a scrumptious parfait to rival any store or restaurant purchased soggy parfait.

"Berry" Good Granola:
-2 cups rolled oats
-½ cup wheat germ
-3 Tbs. dark brown sugar
-¼ tsp. salt
-2 handfuls each – dried cherries, dried blueberries, dried cranberries
-1 handful sliced almonds
-½ cup maple syrup
-3 Tbs. canola oil
-1 Tbs. water
-1 ½ tsp. almond extract

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Lightly coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In a saucepan, simmer together wet ingredients. Drizzle over the dry mixture and spread in baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally (if it is still too moist, cook longer at 10 minute increments stirring after each time). Cool. Enjoy alone or sprinkled atop plain yogurt.

Bens Birthday Party Pics

I wanted to give post some more pictures of Ben's 2nd Birthday Party. Most are pretty cute. Email me at moke076@yahoo.com if you want any more.

The Monster Truck Bouncy

The proud daddy

Bouncies aren't always fun. By the way what are these things actually called? I feel like a kid calling it a bouncy.

Mom and child

Bens already macking on the ladies

Look at all the pretty colors

I prefer to call this picture Cake Pop-diggity

Monster truck blow down

Sweet Food Deals in Atlanta

*$1 fish tacos and $1 PBRs at Hand in Hand on Sundays (all day)
*$12 for salad, pasta, and gelato at Shauns on Sundays (5pm to 9pm)
*$10 AYCE tapas at Twist on Sundays (all day)
*$10 AYCE pizza and salad at Shout on Sundays (all day)
*$10 AYCE pizza and salad at Via (5pm until 11:30)
*20 cent wings at Cypress St Pint and Plate on Mondays
*$10 AYCE tapas at Noche on Mondays
*$10 AYCE tapas at Shout on Mondays (all day)
*$2 burger at Fox and Hound on Tuesdays

Creative Loafing coupon deals for intown Atlanta restaurants

Happy St Patricks Day!

Ah, how the years have changed. St. Patricks Day used to be such a fun time while in college. We would be on spring break and you would either be at Daytona Beach or Destin for St. Pattys Day or we would be driving the 45 mins to Savannah for the festivities. Only problem with going to Savannah is no one ever pre-prepared and got a hotel room, so you would hope someone stayed sober or you would sleep in the car. Fun times. Unfortunately, I have a job now and I actually passed on a trip to Savannah with Kim, Ben, Shawna, Hailey, and Hannah:( I just couldn't take the time off work, especially when I want to save up my PTO (corporates name for paid time off, which means your sick and vacation are lumped together in one fell swoop- great for vacation, bad if your sick). Anyways, I am providing y'all with a delicious recipe perfect for Saint Patricks Day: Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. I found the recipe at Smitten Kitchen and it looks so good. The cupcake is made with Stout (beer), the center of the cupcake contains whiskey, and the icing is made with Irish Cream. Yummy. Oh and don't call it an irish car bomb, apparently the irish get offended by the conotation. So click on the smitten kitchen link and follow it to a great looking recipe. Happy Saint Patricks Day! Go out and drink some green beer for me.

Free food!!

Noni’s, the Italian deli and bar on Edgewood Ave, is serving free antipasti from 5-7 p.m. every Monday.
Some of tonights free goodies are hard-boiled eggs with a mayo-based sauce, fried chick peas, charred mortadella (sausage with a fancy name) with arugula, various fried vegetables, and grilled leeks.
There will also be lots of raw veggies with some interesting sauces, including caponata, tapenade, and bacon and sundried tomatoes.

Thanks goes to Cliff at Creative Loafing for this find.

Free Brewmaster Tasting Kit by Killians'

You can get four tasting glasses, a bottle opener, and a tasting guide FREE if you go to the following website:

*Georgekillians.com
*Click on that free beer link in the lower left
*Register (make sure you use your real address, they got to send the stuff somewhere)
*Click on order and enter one of the following codes
-P3W9L4T
-M9N7K3K
-W3K4H96

Thanks goes out to fatwallett.com and foodiebuddha who clued me in to this fabulous free offer

Bens Party

Whew, this was a long weekend. I felt super accomplished though. I didn't drink a lot Friday night, which meant for once I didn't lie in bed all day which is my normal weekend M.O. (M.O. means Modus Operandi... I think?) You can not believe how accomplished I felt when I was actually out of the bed and running errands by 10 am. Drinking really slows a person down. So anyways I got a lot accomplished Saturday morning and then I went over to my friend, Megan's house and made Cake Ball Lollipops and mini cupcakes for my nephews birthday ( recipe to come). I also went to Your Dekalb Farmers Market to pick up some items I needed in order to make Chicken Salad for Ben's Birthday Party.

I wound up relaxing Saturday night too and then woke up bright and early for Elizabeth and I's long run. Too bad it was poring rain. Elizabeth canceled so I ran to my petsits houses. The run there was nice since at the time it was sprinkling, the way back sucked since it was poring by that time. I enjoy running but only in ideal conditions which means it has to be 40 to 60 degrees outside and clear. Why can't the weather cooperate with my wishes? This is the 3rd long run Elizabeth and I have missed in the last month and I am scared that I am going to suck at the half Marathon we are running in 2 weeks. I think I might need to suck it up and run all week for the next 2 weeks because if not, I just might fall down in the middle of the race and not get up. I actually picture in my mind falling and people running over me like I am a speed hump. Not pretty. Another scenario is me walking while grotesquely large people run by me. You are sitting here thinking, surely grotesquely large people will not be running a half marathon but its true, they do run half's, just like the elderly do. Actually the reason I decided to do a half marathon was because I went to cheer on Brittney and Tim last year when they ran the ING half. The people I saw running and/or walking the half were such a hodgepodge of people that I made up my mind that if they can do it, then I most certainly can run a half too. That being said, we shall see.

Anyways, Sunday afternoon was Ben's party so I drove out to Duluth in order to celebrate with a grumpy 2 year old and 15 screaming children. Ben had good reason to be grumpy; he was sick and hadn't slept well or eaten much in the last 2 days. The party turned out to be a great success though. Kim and Michael rented out one of those huge bouncys that was shaped like a monster truck and all the kids loved it, except Ben who cried every time he was forced to go in it. There was also a pinata. I really believe that pinatas and 2 year olds don't mix. I swear about 3 kids almost got taken out due to them not paying any attention to the fact that a child under 5 with absolutely no motor skills was swinging a wooden stick as hard as they could. The party was a success but I left with a splitting headache caused by a deadly combination of too much sugar and too many kids in one small area. Don't get me wrong, I like kids and love Ben but they wore me out; I'm not sure how you mothers out there do it. I commend you though. I ended out the weekend by going to bed at 8:30. Wow, I'm getting old.

**Pictures will be posted as soon as I get a new card reader.

Cake Balls and Mini Cupcakes

So for Ben, my nephew's, Birthday I made some super cute cake ball lollipops and mini cupcakes from some recipes I found at Pioneer Woman and Bakerella. Bakerella has been on Martha Stewart touting these things.. they are that popular. I think mine would have looked better had I not had the decorating skills of a 5 year old. Luckily my friend, Megan, was there helping me make them look a little more professional. The lollipop and mini cupcake recipes are super easy, highly impressive, and delicious.

Items necessary: *Baked cake made from your favorite store bought cake mix *Your favorite store bought icing *Melting candies- whatever colors you prefer, definitely get chocolate then get some pretty colors (you can purchase these at Michael's or Hobby Lobby) *Candy mold in the shape of a Reeses cup ( for mini cupcakes, Can be found at Hobby Lobby and Michaels) *Lollipop sticks (for lollipops, Can be found at Hobby Lobby or Michaels) *Styrofoam Block lollipop holder ( Can be found at Michaels or Hobby Lobby in fake plant section) *Candy for decorating ( I used M&Ms, you can use sweethearts or whatever else floats your boat) *Sprinkles *Icing ( if you want, see mini cupcakes)

To make the cake balls, that you need to make the lollipops and mini cupcakes, you bake your favorite cake and mix it with your favorite icing flavor. Bakerellas recipes call for a cake made from boxed mix (she likes red velvet or chocolate) and store bought icing (I think she uses butter cream or chocolate). I made a funfetti cake and mixed it with almost a full thing of store bought butter cream icing. I was thinking the funfetti would look cute, but the problem is that when the cake cooks it gets brown on the sides, bottom, and top so the color turns into more of a cream and tan speckled mixed with really light colors in it. I didn't think it looks very pretty so, next time I will be using a dark cake.

After you mix your cake (already baked) and icing together, form small balls using your hands and place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Once you have made all your balls (I love saying balls over and over again) and placed them on the wax paper, place in the fridge for 2 hours or the freezer for 30 minutes until the balls get hard- you don't want them frozen, just solid. No one likes rock hard balls. teehee.

Now that your balls are hard (This so makes me think of the schweaty balls shtick that Alec Baldwin did on Saturday Night Live. If you have never seen it check it out on You-Tube, it's super funny) we shall begin making mini cupcakes first. Melt your chocolate candy in a deep bowl, make sure not to burn it. I heated the chocolate in 30 second increments in the microwave, making sure to stir well each time. Once the chocolate was hot and melted, I put a spoonful of chocolate, enough to fill the mold half way, in each mold and placed a ball in each mold, pushing down on the ball until the chocolate filled the mold to the top. Then you let the mold sheets with chocolate and the balls sit until the chocolate hardened. I stuck my mold in the freezer for 10 minutes to speed up the process. I then melted the colored candy (in my case, vanilla flavored candy, colored blue) the same way I melted the chocolate candy. I popped my cake balls out of their molds and flipped them upside down and dipped them in the blue candy. Make sure you dip them until just above the chocolate line. You want to be able to see that they look like they are cupcakes. Decorate the top quickly with sprinkles and M&Ms or other bite sized candy before the colored candy top hardens. Sit the mini cupcakes right side up and allow to harden. now you are done with your mini cupcakes. Take a bite.. it's been well worth it.

Look at the cute little sun and those scrumptious little mounds of goodness. (Ew, I am never saying mounds again when talking about food; it sounds too lascivious)

To make the lollipop's, you take your cold balls out of the fridge/freezer, dip a lollipop stick in the melted chocolate (or colored vanilla melted candy), then stick the stick 1/2 of the way into the ball. Let it sit a minute and then take the stick, turn it upside down, and dip the ball in the melted candy. Tap the lollipop stick on the side in the bowl to get off the extra melted candy. Now flip over and stick the lollipop stick into the Styrofoam box. Decorate the top of the cake ball before it hardens with M&Ms or sprinkles or let it harden and then decorate the top with icing. Now you are ready for a treat.

I will post some better shots of the cake lollipops. These pictures are weak.

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Monday! Bella's feet want to wish you a happy Monday as well! Hopefully I will be taking and posting more picture on here, but I found that my new memory card reader doesn't work. Figures, piece of crap wally world junk. Speaking of I went to wally world for the first time in months on Saturday morning to pick up the digital transisition box, because my government sponsered coupon was about to expire and then I wound up purchasing $70 worth of crap and forgot that I was supposed to buy the box. I later went to Best Buy and noticed that while those converter boxes used to be $45 meaning with a $40 coupon you would only need to pay $5 additional plus tax, the price has now gone up to $55. This is bullshit. Just because I am cheap and don't want to pay for cable, or buy a bad ass new tv when I don't want to pay for cable doesn't mean I should have to pay $20 extra dollars just so I can watch tv out of the wall. I was pissed. Sorry to unload upon y'all but it really made me angry.

Parrrrty

Wanted to give y'all a couple of pics of my nephew, Ben's, 2nd birthday party. I will write more about the head-pounding fun-filled monster truck bouncy gym action later but I wanted everyone to see the awesomeness that is my one and only nephew. He is the bombdiggity.

.

My curly hair is not so hot, but it was raining outside and for anyone who knows me and my jew fro, you know how it is.

Future stud. 'Nuff said.

This is Grady. He's hard. He likes to blow his blower out at people. He cries when he gets bumped in the monster truck bouncy. He's part of Bens crew.

Ben and his birthday pout. It almost looks like another expression he made at his 1st birthday party.

Levi the Foster Dog

I have a new foster dog for anyone who doesn't know. His name is Levi and he is a Heinz 59. We think he might have Australian shepherd in him but who knows. He had open heart surgery about 4 weeks ago to fix a torn heart valve and came to stay with me during his recuperation. He is now doing fine and is ready to find is fur-ever home. Levi is a goof ball who loves to play with toys and balls. He very playful yet calms down quickly. he has been great with Bella, but would not be good with an overly dominant dog. He also doesn't like dogs who try to take "his" toys when hes playing with them. He is not the best on a leash and gets overstimulated by the sights around him, such as scooters driving by, people running by, etc. He is a huge snuggler and people pleaser. If you know anyone who is interested please let me know. They can apply to adopt him through Lifeline Animal Project. He is such a sweetie! (I know he looks like he has crazy eyes, well he does. Its all gravy though. He just got a bath and they trimmed his butt hair so no more dingleberries. This means he is ready to go)

Free Stuff!!!

So I have a couple of blogs that I love to read and that give away bad ass prizes every once in awhile because they want to entice their readers into stopping by daily. Well you are in luck today. I have a certain item that I don't plan on using but want to give it away to one of you because I think you deserve it. This is the first prize in what is hopefully many to come. I promise that some of my future prizes will be better than others. Like I said since my blog readership is small at the moment, like try none, at least giving away some awesome prizes might turn that around and after all, I strive to gain readership so that my blog can take over the world and my name will be a household name and not for some bullshit scandal either. I want to be famous, not infamous. I want to be president of the United States of America, actually no, I take that back, I want to be the head of the huge group of multinational corporations that band together and are actually the puppeteers behind the United States government and many other governments around the world. Conspiracy Theory much, not I. Anyways, because I love y'all so much and because I have an item for free that I don't need I have decided to give it away to the first reader who comments on this blog. Now I am going to tell you what it is. Lady's and Gentlemen without further ado I am giving away one free pantie card from Victoria's Secret allowing you to pick the VS cotton pantie of your choice as long as that pantie is black, white, whisper pink, ivory, or buff and as long as you pick up your gift (while supplies last) anytime between March 3rd and April 6th, 2009. Bonus gift is the fact that you can also use the free pantie card to get $10 off any full priced VS bra. Victoria's Secret do make some fine panties and bras, so in my opinion this prize is to be cherished, used, and washed. Winner: please make sure you wash after every use:) Also if I don't know you include a way for me to reach you. thanks and have a grand Friday!

My Fav Chicken Sald

So I am known for many things; a loud mouth, a person who can be called anytime you find a stray, a bitch, whatever. But my favorite thing is when I am known to be counted on for hooking people up with some good tasting food and then providing them with the recipe so that they in turn can create some good tasting dishes. I get my recipes from anywhere; sometimes I adapt them from favorite dishes from restaurants, sometimes I get them from my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, Simply Recipes, and Pioneer Woman, and sometimes I pull them straight from my gigantic stash of cookbooks. I have drastically reduced my cookbook collection, but still have a ton in stock. Even if I never wind up making a recipe I love to look at pictures of food. Weird isn't it?

So today I want to provide you with my favorite chicken salad recipe. This recipe was adapted from my one of my top sandwich's in college which I would get from Sugar Magnolia Bakery in Statesboro, GA who served their chicken salad on their homemade foccacia. http://www.sugarmagnoliabakery.com/ I loved that bakery. It was built right near the newly revived downtown and they had some great homemade lemonade. The only thing I hated was the odd hours they were open, but perhaps they were only odd because I was on a schedule where I woke up super late and went to bed super early.. in the morning.

After I finished giving you my best joke now I am giving you my favorite chicken salad recipe. Wow, am I a great person or what? It is yummy and I love to serve it with Rosemary Foccacia. You can get great Rosemary Foccacia at Your Dekalb Farmers Market, where all bakery items are organic. This chicken salad would be good on other types of bread too like ciabatta or thick bakery multi grain. Just pick a good bread from your favorite bakery and not white or whole wheat in the bread aisle of the local grocery. Also I should mention that the measurements I am giving you are not exact at all. I don't tend to use exacts when making foods, especially chicken salads. I think you should taste away and add more to your own personal liking.

Tarragon Chicken Salad

1. 4 bone-in chicken breasts and thighs
2. 1 red onion, chopped
3. 2 tart apples (I use granny smith) peeled, cored, chopped and then put 4 tbsp of lemon juice in bowl with chopped apple and toss to coat
4. Hellman's or Dukes Mayo, start with 1/2 cup and work your way up to more depending on consistency
5. Fresh tarragon, at least 3 tbsp (has to be fresh)
6. salt and pepper to taste

First, boil water in a large pot. Once the water boils throw your chicken breasts in the pot. Poach for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Pull out of water. Let cool a bit remove skim, toss, then remove meat and chop.

Mix all items in a large bowl and then add more mayo if you would like a thicker consistency. I prefer to go light on the mayo but that's just me. Don't add to much salt; you can always add more salt, you can never remove and you can severely mess up a dish with the addition of too much salt. Serve the chicken salad, if eaten by itself, in a nice bowl or plate, otherwise put in between two slice of your favorite bread and go to town. Enjoy!

***If you want to make your own foccacia ( bread making is not my cup o' tea) I found a great recipe at a year in bread

Joke of the day

I am going to offer up something awesome today. My one and only PC joke that I have within my aresenal of jokes. Actually my arsenal of jokes is pretty tiny which means this joke comes to you as an even bigger deal. I am gonna warn you: it's pretty durn funny. That being said, let's roll wi'd it. Okey here goes.... wow, this is harder than I thought... giving up my favorite joke is hard to do. Oh but speaking of jokes I watched The Office last night and the begining scene where Dwight busts out his joke on Michael, who got pissed off, which I belive Jim gave him and then Jim turned around and did it to him. I think it was knock knock joke. It went something like this ( and I might be screwing this up so I am just warning you):

Jim: knock, knock

Dwight: "I'm not gonna answer it"

Jim: "knock, knock"

Dwight: 'I'm not gonna answer it"

Jim: (slaps Dwight in the face and says in a gruff russian FAKE accent) "The KGB waits for No one."

LOL it was funny, especially since Dwight then says: "It's true" with a very serious look on his face.

Anyways, I digress. Here goes my joke. Obviously the best joke ever since I have built it up so much. Ready?

JOKE:

What is the last thing they do to Tickle Me Elmo before he leaves the factory?

They give him two test tickles.

Hahaha, I know you thought that was great. No go forth and share with everyone, only be sure to say that I, Stephie, was the one who told you that ultra-hilarious joke.

Bella

As many of you know, I have a dog. Her name is Bella. She is a harlequin Great Dane. She is my baby. She is the best dog ever. I am sure I will be mentioning her a lot, so get familiar with who she is. I adopted her back in 2004. I was living in Statesboro, GA, going to school and I was fostering dogs trying to find my perfect pet. I then found Bella, who has turned out to be the worlds most perfect dog... for me. While she may bark at any noise she hears, imaginary or not, she has provided undying devotion to me ever since I picked her up in Pembroke, GA 10 weeks after she gave birth to a litter of puppies I never got to see:(. After living with me a week I found that I never had to keep her on a leash because she would be by my side no matter what. Let's just say she had a little bit of separation anxiety. Still does, but at least she doesn't tear up the carpet and door frame anymore. Anyways, our first couple months together were hard. Its tough adjusting to responsibility when you are still in college. I lived with 3 girls, Kelly, Loni, and Amy in a 4 bedroom apartment and while I know they enjoyed having a dog around that they didn't have to pay for, it got a bit annoying when Bella would greet every guest with growls and barks and when she would do laps throughout our 1000 or so sq ft apartment. After that we all moved our separate ways. Bella and I got a place with my boyfriend at the time and it was a nice big 3 bedroom house with 2 dens and a huge backyard. B loved it. She got to romp around anytime she wanted plus we lived across from camping so we would go on hour walks daily. those were the days. There were some hard times, like the parties we threw and the fact that Bella would make herself clear that she hated having people over. Too bad for her, the parties continued. One night my friends and I got home from the bar after a night of heavy drinking. One friend harassed Bella by barking at her and it lead her to be freaked out and growl and bark back. We sent Bella to the corner in a dark room and commenced talking. What I didn't realize is that my boyfriend and roomie David, had gone around to check on Bella. He got in her face quickly and she bit, not hard but enough to cause Davids face to bleed in multiple spots. Lets just say not ideal for a dog to do. We moved past that and months later brought a puppy into the household. Little Hobie, a yellow lab aged 5 weeks was here to stay. Bella and Hobie love each other now and always have but there was some rough times there as well. Hobie tried to play with Bella while she was snoozing, she pierced his ear. Hobie tried to take a bone from Bella while she was chewing on it she split his tongue so that now he goes through life with a snake tongue. Bella plays to rough on Hobie, he cries and hides between our legs. Hobie grew up though and learned all of Bella's idiosyncrasy's. They are now best buddies. Unfortunately, they no longer live together; David and I split after college yet we still remain friends and the dogs get to have vacations with each other every couple of months. I now live in a 650 sq ft apt in the Virginia Highlands in downtown Atlanta. While this isn't ideal, though Dane's don't require much space, I know Bella is as happy here as long as she is with me. Which is fine and dandy with me.