Q&A-3 and then some.
(I’m super creative with the titles, huh? :D )
What are your favorite types of books to read? I know your selection is slightly limited, but not so much that there isn’t variety (I’m assuming).
Definitely horror fiction. Stephen King, Dean Koontz. I like John Grisham, too, but sometimes the law detail gets tedious. Almost anything long that will take me more than a day to finish, but I cannot get into things like Little Women or anything set back in that time period or very flowery-ish. I also won’t waste my time trying to plow through the supposed literary greats, like The Odyssey or Shakespeare.
Have I explained the “Rule of Ages and Pages”? No? Well come on then!
When you’re starting a new book and you’re having trouble getting into it, you read the number of pages that equals one hundred minus your age before you decide it’s too boring to finish. So I have to read 62 pages (100-38=62) before I can give up on a book.
An elderly lady I used to care for who loved to read explained this rule to me. She had to read something like 10 pages..lol. She said the older you get, the less time you have to waste on trying to muddle through a boring read. She was a darling.
Any Stephen King you haven’t read? Which is your favorite? (He’s my favorite author, too).
I have not read that tower series (whatever it’s called). I’ve tried to, on a couple of different occasions, but it seems to be much closer to science fiction than I like (I hate science fiction. Master loves it. My biggest fear is that he’s going to start making me read his books. Blugh.).
I haven’t read the non-fiction books he published either. And I thought this last book of short stories he put out was crap.
My favorite by him is The Stand, for sure. The Talisman, It, The Shining – I hate his movies though. HATE them.
I’m turning the kids into little Stephen King groupies, too. Jes read The Stand a few weeks ago. B-man is reading Night Shift right now and Am just finished it. She didn’t like Salem’s Lot though, which surprised me because she’s all into vampire books. But Salem’s Lot is a far cry different than Twilight..lol
Any parenting regrets? Things that, if you could turn back time, you’d do differently?
Only about a million. Some big, some little.
On good days I can tell myself that everything that has happened has shaped who they are today and I love who they are today.
On bad days I tell myself that everything that has happened has shaped who they are today and it’s all my fault they are who they are.
Mommy-guilt is a constant presence in my life. I love my kids but I’ve made lots of mistakes. Lots.
What’s your favorite thing to grow in a garden?
Cucumbers and squash and tomotoes and green beans top the list. Probably because they are hardy and easy to grow and you get a lot of return for your effort.
Carrots and onions are in the middle. Carrots are difficult. I never thin them out enough because it seems like I’m picking all of the seedlings out and then I get impatient and pull them up too soon because I can’t see what they’re doing under there! Same with onions really, though last year I got a lot of onions and they stored really well and we used them for a long time.
Lettuce is at the bottom. I haven’t yet found a seed for lettuce that I really like, it grows like *crazy*, and a lot of it goes to waste because I don’t want to eat lettuce 200 times a day. My kids like salads but only iceberg lettuce and this stuff we grow is leafy lettuce – which gets bitter if you don’t pick it at the right time and eat it right away and blah blah blah.
I want to add broccoli and cauliflower this year. I’d like to try potatoes but I hear so many conflicting opinions on whether or not it’s worth the time and garden space for what little you get. And I really wanna do corn but I’m not sure the growing season is long enough up here.
Thanks! :-)
~~*~~
Well, Master is working this weekend again. This is like, day 14 in a row of 12 to 14 hour days. I hate that he’s working so hard. Poor guy is exhausted.
Today, I have to go into town. Am has some birthday money and she wants to get her tongue pierced. I had mine done and – it hurt. But I’m not having any luck discouraging her from doing it. She said it can’t hurt any worse than getting her industrial done and I’ve never had one of those so I don’t know. She’s a nut.
Jes wants to get a haircut. Oh man – Jes was away for about two weeks, she came home last night and she went from having a cute little tummy bump to looking like an unmistakenly pregnant girl. I’m suspicious of her due date now. (One of the questions was for a new picture so I’ll try and get one today)
Mostly I’m going in to go to the grocery store. Master’s bringing his crew back here for dinner after work tonight and I don’t have nearly enough food for them. He had them over one night last week, too.
The good news is they won’t stay late. They are all burned out on working so much so they’ll eat, sit at the table and drink a couple of beers, fart, and head back to their hotels. (Good times. Srsly. Men, beer and farting while I wash dishes. Slave much?)
Cooking for 7 or 8 oversized, hungry, hard working men-folk makes me hella nervous. I’m already jittering. He invites them over because they are all here doing what he used to do: traveling. They’ve been in Michigan for a couple of weeks now and it’s hotel rooms and eating fast food for 3 meals a day. He hated it when he had to do it so he seems to think they appreciate a home-cooked meal and a chance to sit and yak outside of working.
Personally, I’d rather eat out than eat my cooking, but what do I know?
Anyway, when they were here last week, I had mentioned to one of the guys that I found a new recipe for chicken enchiladas but that it was way more complicated than the enchilada dish I usually hauled into the shop for them. So of course that’s what he wants to have.
Oy vey. I better get busy. Ain’t accomplishing shit sitting on my ass right here!
Recipe behind the cut if anyone is interested. Any suggestions for what to serve with it??
8 6-inch tortillas
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbs margarine or butter
3 tbs all-purpose flour
1 8-oz. carton dairy sour cream
2 cups of chicken broth
1 or 2 canned jalapeno chili peppers, rinsed, seeded and chopped;or
one 4 oz can diced green chili peppers, drained
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (4 oz.)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
Sliced pitted ripe olives (optional)
Chopped tomatoes (optional)
Sliced green onions (optional)
Wrap tortillas in foil, heat in 350 oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they are soft.
In a saucepan cook onion, garlic, coriander and pepper in Margarine or butter until the onion is tender. Stir the flour into the sour cream, then add it to the onion mixture. Stir in the chicken broth and chili peppers all at once. Cook and still until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese.
Stir 1/2 cup of the sauce into the chicken, place about 1/4 cup filling in each tortilla. Roll it up, place the tortillas seam side down in a lightly greased baking dish. Top with remaining sauce. Bake, covered in 350 oven for about 35 min or until heated through.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese, bake uncovered about 5 to 10 minutes more or until the cheese melts. Top with olives, tomatoes and green onions.
Tags: general, questions, recipe
Uncategorized | kaya | 
Saturday March 7th, 2009 8:20am
a spanish rice would be good.. and you can do that real quick and easy.. lipton makes a packaged instant one that’s really good if you bastardize it a little.. just add some picante sauce and some cheese.. some left over chicken thrown in if you want.. and maybe a salad.. ohhh.. and sopapillas i know i just spelled that wrong.. b man can help you make those they’re SUPER easy! take flour tortillas.. quarter them.. have a bowl of cinnamon and sugar mixed up and waiting honey and chocolate syrup (those you can use AFTER everyone leaves as well too! *grins*) heat oil.. drop the quarters in the oil a few at a time.. you’ll be able to tell when they’re done.. they puff up and be a lovely gold watch and flip them once.. pull them out and immediately drop them in the sugar mix and make sure they’re covered really well.. then when they eat them.. they’ll have the honey and chocolate to drizzle over them.. YUMMO. super easy.. super yummy.. and light enough not to make them miserable after all that yummy food :)
I got the stuff to try the cinnamon-sugar things. That sounds yummy! :D
A big salad is what I’d serve with that.
I love The Stand. I get a cold EVERY TIME I read it though. Seriously, less than a hundred pages in, I get sniffly and sick, which is very nervewracking. And, I get very attached to Nick and panic every time he dies. This last time I was reading and going through all these scenerios where he Might Not Die as though somehow, since the last time I read it, the pages magically changed.
I loved the Dark Tower series, but only after the first book. It grew on me. Maybe I’ll read it again, actually. I love Grisham. And Koontz. And James Patterson, too. Laurell K. Hamilton’s “Anita Blake” series is decent, Am might like that…but it does get a little gratuitous at times. (That’s the series I unintentionally named the boychild after, LOL.)
Last book of short stories…Just After Sunset? Or the one before? Duma Key is a must-read as far as I’m concerned, by the way; it’s a lot more like old-school King than some of the stuff he’s put out lately. (And, I hated Salem’s Lot too. Too cheesy. Cujo and Carrie were the best of those times, but I hate how they butcher them to make movies that are only remotely like the books.)
Whoo! Maybe I should join a book club. ;)
I attempted cauliflower and broccoli this year and it was a horrible experiment. Peas flowed forth like a river though. We’ll see if this year’s better than the last!
lol@a magical new ending. That’s one of the reasons why I like Stephen King – he’s not afraid to kill off a major player. Some authors, you just know they’re never going to have anything drastic happen to the key characters.
That was one reason why I was so disappointed with the ending of Twilight. It was WAY too hokey. Such a letdown. (maybe that’s the wrong attitude though? LOL)
I forgot about James P. I like him, too. And I’ll check out that Anita Blake series, I don’t think I’ve heard of that one.
Just After Sunset is the book I was talking about. I didn’t like ANY of the stories in it. Duma Key was decent, though.
I didn’t know they’d stopped publishing copies of his short story – the one about the kid shooting people in school? (I can’t think of the name of it! Argh!) I thought that was interesting. That was one of my favorite of his short stories.
I hear that broccoli and cauli. are tricky, but I’m hopeful!
Was that Rage?
If so, it was written under Richard Bachman, not King. Word is he let it go out of print due to the school shootings. But his book of all four Bachman books would still have it in there…
I loved Duma Key myself, got very attached to the main character. (Someone mentioned Black House, and that was a favorite for a long time…Beezer reminds me of my biodad). Personally I liked “O” and the cat one in Just After Sunset…but nothing is better than the one with the coked-up doctor eating himself on the island. I can’t ever remember the name.
Best of luck with the garden!
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I just made sour cream and green chile enchiladas for the first time. I would call mine a “cheater recipe,” much simpler than yours, which sound delicious. I also loved The Stand and The Talisman. Have you read the sequel to Talisman? Black House I think? It took me two tries to get into it, but once I did I was reading it at stoplights and all kinds of other inappropriate places until I finished.
I know I read The Black House years and years ago, like when I was teen maybe. But about 2 years ago I found a copy at a rummage sale and it didn’t look familar to me at all and I was all, omg! an SK book I haven’t read?! So I got it, got through the first page and remembered reading it.
But! I don’t remember the story really and I’ve been meaning to reread it, and I can’t get much past the first page. It’s a really slow start. I’ll take your word that it gets better and give it another shot though. :)
You made me read food-porn, you big bad meanie!
I mean…. LOOK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/lambpasanda_74035.shtml
*drools* *mops up*
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1939,147170-246192,00.html
*drools some more* I have a fetish for sweet curry…
I’m still a lamb virgin! I really should give it a try.
Yes, do! I’ve had it once, and it’s delicious. And… besides, isn’t that an awsome reason to use a crockpot?
I was considering making brown sugar glazed carrots, but I’ve no idea what they taste like. Do you know?
yummy goodness is what’ they’d taste like..
Serve with refried beans and sliced avocados (if you can get them for a reasonable price). And/or mexican rice.
I got refried beans and the mexican rice. I looked at the avocados, I was thinking about making gaucamole for some dip, but they didn’t look all that great and were kind of pricey so I just bought a jar or premade gaucamole.
Getting the tongue pierced hurts WAY less that the industrial. She’ll be fine. The worst part is the super germ killing mouthwash they make you use. That burns and then you’re tongue is basically numb by the time they poke it.
She couldn’t do it. She’s so sad. She thought 16 was the age limit here but it’s not – it’s 18. :-(
Instead she bought new jewelry for her lip and her industrial.
SO no growing the easy and plentiful tomatoes?
Oh yes! I’m doing the tomatoes. I’m going to try and grow everything and just see what happens. :)
I’m with the elderly lady; I just don’t have the time to waste on bad books these days. If I’m not caught up inside the plot by 20 pages or so, I’m done.
Did you see the mini-series, The Stand? I liked it! “My life for YOUUUU!” lol I do hate almost all his other books made into movies, though. Oh except for “Shawshank Redemption”. That was amazing. So was the Green Mile.
The Shining is my favorite King novel.
Parental regrets; Kaya, we all have them. No parent thinks they did a perfect job. But you know what?
We all did the best we could at the time and made decisions as well as we could make them. That’s all anyone can do. Once they’re grown it’s up to them to be the people they are going to be and that’s a mix of genetics and environment, as you well know. :) No more beating yourself up, you did/do a good job. :)
And my Lucy’s stomach is huge! Just her stomach! She’s normal looking except for this gigantic enormous blow-up ball of a stomach. And her boobs; they have gotten bigger too. But the rest of her looks the same. I saw her this morning and I was like, wow! Only a few weeks to go. :)
Kaya,
Okay, I’ll bite. What’s an industrial?
Dave
http://www.tattoolicious.com/pics/pierce/Sean/INDUSTRIAL.jpg
:)
THAT is freakin’ awesome!!!!!
Since I have had to read for a living nearly, I really enjoy King’s books because he is such a good writer. He is able to construct stories exterely well and uses words nearly as good as any one out there. Loved Duma Key, my type of scary. However Kaya, Dark Tower is one of the best efforts in American writing in the past 25 years. Damn fine writing. Would give my eye teeth to write one half that good…. Oh, if you wonder what I mean by “for a living,” look at my nick, lol….
Yes Virginia, there is a….
oops wrong thought…
Yes! you can grow corn here. I’ve seen it done :) yep yep
re: spuds. try growing them in a spud sack – any kind of sacking that will keep the earth in, but let water out, i.e. even a heavy duty plastic sack that you’ve poked holes in. fill with a little bit of soil – just enough to put the spud in and for it to grow a few roots. Roll the top of the sack down so that the top of the soil is visible. wait for it to grow. When the tops peek out, roll the top of the sack up a lil, and top with soil. Wait for it to grow some more. When the tops peek out, roll the top of the sack up a lil, and top up with soil. repeat till you got no more sack to roll up! Once the spuds are ready, slit the bag, or tip them out, and you’ll have a sack full of spuds. you get a LOT more spuds for yer moneys from the one sack than from the ground.
The other thing i would say: go for spuds that are either rare or expensive. I’ve seen a purple new potato variety i would absolutely give my right eye teeth for, its purple to look at, and when you cut it open, its got purple flesh inside. There’s a blue variety available too. But even if not that, try something like pink fir apple – its a knobbly new potato but tastes absolutely divine. Something like that is worth growing – straight from the plot, tastes far better than anything the shops can produce. THAT is when growing yer own spuds is worth it.
Lettuce: try growing a butterhead lettuce, rather than the kind you’re growing now. These you crop the whole head in one go, and if you’re smart, you’ll sow successionally – so you only have say, three, to harvest in a week. Try little gem or cos lettuce, you might even be able to get iceberg. If its the crispiness of iceberg they like, try little gem. The other thing you can do, and again, do this successionally, sow a few seeds of the kind of lettuce you like (i.e. the bitterer kind) in a window box/pot (helps to keep them confined and frees up land for something else). harvest when they’re still quite small, baby size, they’ll be much less bitter that way.
carrots: try mixing the seed with sand, and sow that way. it’ll help spread them out.
yes, i am a mine of information. LOL. I’ve done a LOT of reading on this stuff over the last couple of years.. Oh and i answered your smelly socks question. :D
keth
xx
Just a comment on The Stand. I too, hate the movies of his books (boo Jack Nicholson, you SO did not do The Shining justice) but if you love The Stand and if you haven’t seen it yet, go rent the mini-series of The Stand, starring Gary Sinise. It was excellently done (and old, I think it’s from the late 80′s but it IS rent-able). I also felt The Shining mini-series starring Stephen Weber and Rebecca DeMornay was FAR superior to the movie and many people argue with me on that point but the progression into madness that Stephen Weber showed was definitely worth watching. This version of The Shining was also done with King’s approval as I recall.