Frog and Goat

Last weekend we made Char Siu (Chinese Barbecued Pork) and it was good but we had so much other food the pork didn’t get eaten but it was tucked away for later. That later time was yesterday afternoon.

The better-half recently purchased Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn (we’re going to make bacon from scratch soon). Taking a suggestion from this well-written book*, we slow cooked the leftover Char Siu in the oven with a liquid bath. Essentially the pork steamed.

The house smelled so good that I can hardly describe it–porky goodness but also faintly like baking bread.

We made a chipotle sauce (also out of Charcuterie) to go with the pork. The sauce included onions, garlic, olive oil, chipotle with adobo, ketchup, ground cloves and other ingredients (I’m too lazy to walk downstairs to give you a complete list).

It sounds weird to take pork that had a hoisin based sauce on it already and mix it with a chipotle sauce but it worked. It isn’t your mother’s barbeque but damn, it was good.

Served with brussels sprouts, roasted potatoes and as you can tell Stump Jump.

I went to the bowl three times:

*The other night I was reading the first few pages and the better-half said, “it’s like God is talking to you, isn’t it.” I could only answer with mmmmmm noises.

I’ve had my desk up against the window since we moved into the house and I’ve been living with the blinding glare of the sun for the last year (since we had some trees cut down). I decided to go ahead and move my desk around and while there’s still some glare it isn’t as bad. I used to wear sunglasses when the sun was particularly blinding.

I could buy some blinds but I like the view.

Here’s the before:

Here’s the after:

I got home today and the better-half met me outside and said “who trips down the streets of the city, calling to every car that goes by?” I didn’t get it because I have gaps in my pop culture awareness. At least I didn’t give him a blank look and then say “my, it’s windy this afternoon”.

Speaking of not getting it (and what a nice segue), in Tuesday’s class the teacher gave us a break and I went out into the hallway. I ended up standing in a very large window looking down into the courtyard. A class friend came out and gave me a look of despair. I told her I was thinking of jumping out of the window so I wouldn’t have to go back in the room. She laughed and said she had just doodled a note that if she had to sit in the room a minute longer she was going to kill herself. Yes, we love Research Methods.

We have a mid-term next week so if you are wondering what I’m doing this weekend, I’ll be cramming 6 chapters worth of information into my head so I can answer 50 multiple choice questions on Tuesday. My class friend is planning on doing the same thing. We’re both sure we’ll have no memory of all that information as soon as we complete the test.

I want us to go back to that time when we were nice to each other. We were polite. We cared about our fellow man. We cared about how our actions told people a lot about our character. And, we attempted to make that a message of good.

I’m aware of the irony of wanting niceness and using this particular tenor for this entry. I’m considering it tough love.

If you have kids and you have a partner, spouse, or other family member that lives in the home then here’s some advice…delegation of work. I’m sick and tired of hearing how this adult living in the home or that adult living in the home can’t take off work or lift a finger to help out with the kids. Don’t have kids if there is a snowball’s chance in hell of you getting help at home. Because those of us who have to go to work every day get really tired of hearing how the other adult in your house doesn’t have to miss work but you do every single time. We’re the ones picking up the slack when you aren’t around. Work that out at home and give the rest of us a break. We’re doing the best that we can at work and we’d appreciate the reciprocal. Single parents? You get a hall pass on this one.

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There is a building security alarm going off and has been going off for more than an hour. The building is across the street from ours but the alarm is so loud and so piercing and so ineffective at this point that we’re all wishing we had shotguns in our cars so we could shoot the alarm system and put it out of our misery.

With today being a holiday, we’re worried the alarm is going to go off for the entire day. I feel bad for the people who live around here who thought they could sleep late today.

One person here called campus security although we’re pretty sure the building has nothing to do with campus business. I just watched as a slightly disheveled guy walked up to the building, looked at the building number and got on the cell phone. I hope he’s calling in a hit on that alarm.

In other news, dinner last night turned out pretty well and we lit off some fireworks. The new year celebration was a success.

Update:The alarm was turned off around 8:30 by the building owner. The original call to the police and fire departments about the alarm? 2:30am. The building owner got the call around that time but went back to sleep and let that alarm go off for 6 hours in the middle of the night. She’s paving her way to hell.

To celebrate, the better-half and I will be making the following dishes to share with The Niece and her family:
Golden Shrimp Balls
Potstickers
Wonton Noodles
Char Sui (BBQ Pork)
Orange Chicken
Sichuan Green Beans
Rice
Assorted fruit for dessert

The better-half and I are going to FL in early March to see my sister and her husband. We’ve been back and forth and back and forth over the price of airline tickets, hotels, etc. We considered driving there but the thought of being in a car for 13.5 hours was a little horrifying. I’ve driven down to FL twice to see my sister but she lived 3.5 hours closer then and that was still a long drive.

We finally found airline tickets that weren’t insanely priced and the trip didn’t take us North to go South. And, there are no long layovers on these flights. I can handle an hour our two in an airport but get much past that and crazy things start to happen. Like the time I got my hair cut at the Hairport in Orlando. My regular hairdresser was appalled by the hack job.

We’re leaving on a Thursday and coming back on a Monday. That Tuesday we have tickets to see Kodo and that Wednesday is The Niece’s fifth birthday. I haven’t stuffed this much fun into a Spring Break ever. I spent most of my Spring Breaks in college buying tires or working (seriously, I had to buy four tires during one Spring Break so while everyone else was getting liquored up and tanned, I spent all my money on tires–the wild and crazy life).

It will be nice to get a way for a few days and hang out with my sister and brother-in-law.

I’m home today attempting to get over a cold that just wants to hang around but never get quite bad. The fact that I was having a hard time hearing and speaking yesterday (head full of stuff and voice fading in and out) made me think that staying home and napping most of the day would be a good thing. I also have double digit days of sick leave and I may as well use a day now and again.

The better-half is also feeling bad and I think he may be worse off than I am. I foresee lots of liquids and soup in our future today.

The past week has been full of only middling interesting things:
The Niece almost spent the night on Saturday but a beloved snow globe was shattered and The Niece decided she should go home, bummer.

Monday night we made pasta and I, like an idiot, dumped a packet of herbs and spices into the sauce. A coworker gave me the bag after going to Italy last fall and I figured we’d better use it up. I realized as soon as I dumped it in there that the proportions were off so I added more tomatoes. When I took a bite of the pasta, I choked and could hardly breathe. The spice packet was for Midnight Spaghetti which is some twistedly hot pasta concoction in Italy (note to self, use The Google before dumping packets of whatnot into food). I like heat in my food but I couldn’t eat the pasta.

We went out to dinner on Tuesday night for Valentine’s Day since last night I was in class until 9:40. The food was incredible. We exchanged cards last night and the better-half found the perfect card for me. It may be the best card anyone has ever given me.

Strange thing #1: There’s a guy in our neighborhood who is a ham operator. When conditions are right and my computer speakers are on, I can hear him talking. I can’t tell what he’s saying but I can hear him talking. In fact I hear him right now. Kind of creepy.

Strange thing #2: When the work buddies and I decide to go to the grocery store to buy lunch (great salad bar and prepared foods), should it be considered rude to do other shopping while there? I have picked up a couple of things before but sometimes my coworkers walk out of the store with bags of stuff. Yesterday the store was crowded but I know I waited more than 10 minutes for everyone to get through the line. I was worried my sushi was going to get hot.

I came up with a new phrase today at work. I decreed that this week it seems more and more people have started to drink the crazy juice. Proof of crazy juice drinking:
-Tuesday morning meeting–the person I’ve been having issues with went freaking nuts and raised her voice, pointed fingers and then said mean things about me to me
-Wednesday morning–the weird thing that happened at the coffee shop
-Friday morning–I found out some person in the northern part of the state was ranting and raving about the “wrongness” of an online course that she’s never even bothered to look at

About the person who went freaking nuts on Tuesday–it is only a matter of time before the rope she’s tied around her neck becomes a hanging rope.

I parked down in the pay-to-park lot this morning as it is closer to my night class. Feeling like I needed a cup of coffee, I stopped by the coffee shop on the way to my office.

The way the coffee shop is set up, the line usually files in front of the counter. This morning there were three women in a disorganized line out into the tables and chairs. Usually that’s where you stand when you’ve ordered food to go but I figured it was early and if the coffee-deprived are confused about queuing up, then that’s OK. They all slowly got through their ordering process until the third woman asked if they serve grits. No. Then she had to ask about the coffees and who knows what. At this point, I was sort of staring at the menu board and taping my toe and finger to the bluesy gospel playing. I was tapping my finger along the dollars in my hand as I had already wrestled my wallet out of the bookbag and then stowed it back in the inner pocket.

When the third woman finally got her stuff and turned to leave, I stepped into the order spot and said hi to the coffee guy and he said hi to me. As the third woman passed me, she leaned in and said, right in my ear, Hello. It was so weird that I didn’t even react to her. The coffee guy just gave me a funny smile and I handed him my two bucks. He handed me the coffee and I did my cream/sugar thing and walked out the other door.

What was that all about?