Saturday, February 20, 2010

bike fixed!

I'm starting to feel like we live here for real. We're having friends over next weekend (planning to make Cooks Illustrated's Chicago-style pizza recipe for them--we tried it earlier and it is not perfect but pretty good, this time I might leave out the cornmeal). I just got my bike up and running--a few pieces were taken apart for moving. The derailleur is working better than it was before the move, and I didn't even adjust it! So that went well, and now it has tire sealant to hopefully avoid the terrain-specific flats people get here. I didn't have the proper tool to unscrew the valve core, so I used a cuticle scissors--just the right size to get in there, but not quite the right shape of course--luckily they weren't too tight! Later on TE's suggestion I found that a really little screwdriver could fit too, though it couldn't pinch down obviously, it worked a bit better.

I am going to start a series of quick recipes or things I mix together and then eat that aren't really "recipes" per se. My cooking philosophy is to do things really fast, but also to use only things I consider pure/real ingredients, which I define based on essentially no obvious metrics to include things like packaged mayo and mustard but not the canned diced tomatoes with basil or other things in them (the canned tomatoes in the pantry here contain only pure tomatoes and salt--except for the jarred pasta sauce, but using that isn't really cooking).
So here's the first in the series:
What to put on breaded fish if you don't have tartar sauce:
mix some mayo with lemon juice and dried dill (or you could use another dried herb)
it's good!

Friday, February 12, 2010

pink eye, ear infection, and strep throat

We seem to all have mostly gotten over a couple of weeks of recurring illness. I for one feel great. I mean, if I felt like this on a normal day, I would say I have a bit of a sore throat. But given the last week, I just feel like getting up and doing jumping jacks. I think I will.
My brother in law made me realize that I have an important similarity with hobbits--I need second breakfasts. When he said that, I was thinking, well, I just have snacks sometimes and an early lunch. But yesterday, when I was eating 2 pieces of leftover pizza just after 8 AM after having had breakfast at 5:30 or so, I realized maybe I do eat second breakfast. I mean, 8 AM is a bit early for early lunch after all. It's ELP's fault for taking all my food--although she hasn't been eating as well for a few days given that she's sick. Poor thing--I am really glad she is getting better fast because it was so sad to see her cry--you could just tell something was really wrong because she had that terrified look in her eyes. Given how happy/not freaked out she was compared to other sick babies, though, I think the doctor appeared pretty surprised to see such a raging infection in her ear. Sorry for the stream of consiousness type post again--it's all I have time for--I am picking up my mom at the airport soon!!! We are going to have a great weekend. We told LP last night that Nana was coming in today, and then I asked him who might he see today, and he said "NANA!!". So he will be excited when we go get him at daycare. I could've kept him home all day, but it was pajama day, so I didn't want him to miss that. Off to do some jumping jacks and then to the airport . . .