Sassy Black Friend

Best Thing Ever!

All I have to say is Tim Gunn on a tandem bike.

Really. That’s it.

More time wasting fun

I’m not sure why but this debate is making me regress to childhood. So, as another diversion, I’m playing with the South Park Avatar thing. Kicking it 2002 style! This is pretty much what I look like at this point. Except, there are more beers.

Debate? What debate?

Instead of watching the debate I’m just going to play this over and over for the next 90 minutes.

Sifl an Olly’s Weird Day

My idea of following a recipe

All morning I was trying to think of something tasty for dinner, and coming up empty. Then I remembered a recipe I’d bookmarked to try from Foodie, Zucchinin Pappardelle with herbs and tomato (she adapted it from Emeril). Only after deciding that I must have this or never feel joy again, I realized that I didn’t have any zucchini. Smart girl.

And thus, I was faced with an epic decision. Go to the grocery store at 5pm or have something else for dinner. The first option just wasn’t happening. So, I decided to “improvise.” Which, to be honest, is pretty much how I always cook.

So, instead of zucchini I decided to try using eggplant. And in lieu of pork, I used ground turkey. And canned tomatoes. And a combination of fresh flat leaf parsley and basil, as well as tried oregano and thyme (because I put thyme in everything). Eggplant is very delicate, so it helps to leave the skin on, and be gentle with it.

So, flavor-wise, it’s pretty different, but the process was the same. Thinly sliced eggplant (by hand, not mandolin), ground meat, hash browns, and tomato sauce. The result was really quite delicious. And the addition of potatoes really made this a hearty meal, and provided a great bit of crunchiness that complimented the soft texture of the dish. Plus, any chance I get to use my immersion blender is appreciated.

Yummy yummy. I expect this will taste even better as leftovers, with the flavors having more time to come together. I have 25 cookbooks, and I don’t think I’ve ever followed a recipe in any of them to the letter, but that’s part of the fun of cooking, I think. You’ll have to ask someone I’ve cooked for if they agree it is part of the fun of eating my food.

Mad World – Creepy video

I woke up this morning with this song in my head, so I thought finding the video might make it go away. Of course, that never works. And, I found the video to be rather creepy. I’m not sure why, but something about the people making shapes in formation, dressed in black just got me. Maybe because they look like ants? It’s probably best not to analyze why. I’m sure it means I’m bonkers.

Good song though.

Work at Home Jobs Experiment – My Lot

This is the second site in my work at home job experiment series.

MyLot is an online message board site where you get paid to create and participate in discussions about pretty much anything you can think of. The beginning was a little rough for me. The sign up process felt like a personality test. After creating an account I had to select from over 200 “roles that I play in life” and that was only the first of a dozen categories to select from. Yikes.

But, once I got through that, things were a lot better. You can search and browse for discussions related to the issues you select, or look at new and popular discussion topics. I responded to a few quick questions like “do you eat breakfast everyday” and “how often do you get drunk” to get familiar with the site, and then tried starting my own.

Unsurprisingly, my thread about NPR got no attention, but asking what movie to see with friends did pretty well. Like any huge site, it’s really difficult to get a topic moving, because there’s so much competition. Most of the really popular topics are about making money online, which… duh.

I wrote 12 posts in 2 days (probably 1 1/2 hours in total time) and have made $0.19 so far. So, not exactly a cash cow. But, the site is fun, and I think you have to look at it like a nice way to spend time, and earn a little money as a bonus. I would definitely recommend this site as a good way to waste some time and talk to interesting people.