stupid cars

I've always wished I could fly. Or at the least, had a hovercraft that could float about 15 feet above all the other traffic. Cars are just a hassle. Especially right now.

I'm sitting in my dark, cold office waiting for the Triple A dude to show up and make mine start. I have no idea what happened to make it decide not to start, but when I went to leave a few minutes ago, nothing at all happened when I turned the key. Meh. Good thing my Babes keeps me hooked up with AAA; they said they'd be here "within the hour". Here's hopin'. Meanwhile, I'm sitting in my chair where I have been uncomfortably planted for the last EIGHT HOURS, staring out the window at the rain, wishing I was at home in a hot bath. And I even had extra time at home alone tonight since Rob is touring a library after class today. I was hoping to get in some reading. Well, I guess it serves me right for planning on laziness!

So I think I'll surf the web instead. ;)

Here's the forlorn lil' car, waiting for the doctor

i'm so domesticated

Since Erica alluded to the fact that I make my own hummus, I decided a little post about hummus would be nice. Actually, I just got a craving for hummus yesterday and made some... and as I was so doing, I took pictures along the way.

Hummus is super-easy to make, and I figure I can make the amount I could buy in a store for about a tenth of the cost. This is a very good thing, since Rob and I really like the stuff. So I started out by piling the ingredients together: a can of Garbanzo beans (no, Erica... I do not grow them myself), some kosher salt, garlic, pepper, tahini (sesame seed paste), olive oil, and cumin. Not pictured is the half of a lemon who's juice goes in to the hummus. It's not pictured because I didn't have a lemon in my fridge yesterday. ;) I have a recipe (see my cheesy notes?) because I'm not one of those magic cooks who just knows how to make delicious dishes without a guide. So despite the fact that I've made this recipe about 50 times, I still have to look at it every time.
I toss all the ingredients except the tahini into my Cuisinart (love this thing!)
and whirl it around for about a minute or so, then add the tahini. I'm not exactly sure why I wait to add the tahini until later, but I do because that's what the recipe says to do. I'm sure if I put it in with everything else at the beginning it would end up inedible. I'm just sure of it.

Then ya just scoop it out into a container of choice and enjoy. I usually eat it with celery, bell pepper, and cucumber slices, or in a pita with fresh basil and feta cheese and maybe some sprouts and tomatoes. Or chips.

Chiiiiiips...!

I had an overabundance of corn tortillas yesterday (bought a package on Friday not realizing that I already had some) so I decided to make tortilla chips to go with my delicious hummus. Now, before I sound TOO much like Betty Crocker, lemme just say that Rob has made tortilla chips for us before. On several occasions, actually. We got a "fry daddy" (is that a brand?) deep fryer for our wedding, and I honestly did not know what the heck to do with such a thing. I grew up believing in my heart of hearts that fried food was going to send me to an early grave; consequently I had never deep-fried anything. Rob convinced me once to make French fries, insisting that Crisco be the medium of choice. They were sooo yucky (sorry, Babes). But Rob convinced me to try again with canola oil and they were much much better. So when he wanted to try making tortilla chips, I was more than happy to let him experiment. The result? They were the best chips I've ever had, hands-down. And since they were just corn tortillas and canola oil, they had to be better for us than the store-bought ones with loads of preservatives and artificial flavorings, right?

So since I had all these extra tortillas and a bowl full of fresh hummus on my hands yesterday, I decided to try my own hand at deep-fryering and chip-making. It's simple, really. Heat up a couple of cups of canola oil in the fryer, grab a stack of about 4 or 5 tortillas and cut them into fourths:
Then pop them into the hot oil:
Fish them out when they start to turn golden, and let them drain on a baking rack. Salt well.
Ta-da! Fresh, delicious tortilla chips. I think they might even be cheaper than a bag o' chips. :)

Here's the finished product: hummus, chips, salsa (NOT homemade, hahahah), and refried black beans (out of a can, thankyouverymuch). Best enjoyed with a BL Lime, if your conscience allows you. If not, Sprite is good too. (And I can't recommend this sermon highly enough. Gotta love Driscoll's straightforwardness)

Rob and I kicked back and snacked on this feast while watching the iTunes free movie download from last weekend, Dogtown And Z-Boys, a documentary on the beginning of skateboarding. It was a delightful Sunday afternoon.

iBlog. iBlog seven times.

Wow, I just looked at this lil site and realized that I've written seven posts in October... and it's only the 10th! Heh heh. And here I thought I'd forget I even had a blog.

I was only intending to write that ^, but now that I'm here, I can't resist typing more. At least a little something.

Husby and I are hosting an (almost) impromptu football party this weekend (gasp- that's tomorrow!). I've never hosted a football party, and I think I've only actually attended one. And that was at Rob's parents' house in September of 2005, the first time I flew out to visit Rob in his hometown. Needless to say, I wasn't really paying attention to the game. I was waaaaay too nervous because of all the people I was trying to make a good impression on. (Carrolls, Williams, Chris&Megan, etc. Good times.) And I was waaaay excited to be with Rob, of course. Rabbit trail: I remember writing a text message to my friend Cassidy as I was boarding the plane for that trip, saying something to the effect of "gosh, I'm so nervous. everybody important in Rob's life is going to be there... and we're going to have a pool party. I'll have to meet some of these people for the first time my bathing suit!" After composing it, I accidentally sent it TO ROB. Yargsh. So much for being "cool and comfortable". Ah well, we always have been perfectly honest with each other.

Anyway, at my first football party I only remember being given an Oklahoma University shirt to wear (felt like such a poser, but it was sweet of them to include me) and seeing the expansive table of "game day" food. I mean, Rob's mother had made literally every kind of midwestern delicacy for that party. There were nachos with Velveta sauce, sausage/cheese/biscuit-ball thingies, jello salad, mini weiners in sauce (horrors) and other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting. I just remember thinking that there was no way people would eat it all. I was wrong. People arrived by the boatload, stayed ALL. DAY. LONG. and definitely ate all the food. Or most of it anyway.

So I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. Obviously I have a lot to live up to. I'm planning on grocery shopping tonight and throwing some chili in the crock pot (shhh, it's gonna be "healthy" chili made with ground turkey). I'll go ahead and make the sausage biscuit ball things, but I refuse to make mini weenies. Rob has offered to make the nachos, complete with his very delicious homemade corn chips (fried in canola oil, thank you). I think I'll have some cut-up veggies, and maybe some hummus and rice chips. Hey, this is MY party... if ya don't like my style of party food, go home. haha. I seriously doubt we'll have a boatload of people, so the pressure is going to be low anyway.

Eh, I'm gonna have a blast. I'll even pull out my OU shirt and try to cheer at the right times, which will be a challenge since football looks like scrambled eggs to me.

I'll add a picture of Rob and I at that first party back in 2005 when I get home today. Just for your viewing pleasure. (And to keep up my current trend of adding a picture to every post)

Edited to add the promised pictures:

The group at the Hulson's house. Can you tell they're fans?



I was interested in the game. Really.

a girl's gotta love it when...

...she gets a Travelocity "fare watcher" e-mail alerting her that tickets from Reno to Minneapolis are on sale, down from $550 to $321. And, after some schedule-wrestling, she books tickets for her mother to come see her for her birthday!! ::happy dance::

Mom arrives next Friday at 3:30pm (perfect, I get off work at 4, so I should arrive just as her bags are unloaded) and stays until Tuesday at 4:45pm. I have Tuesday off (as previously rejoiced over) so that means that I'll be able to spend Friday evening, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday with her. Monday I work from 8-4pm, but I don't go back to work until Wednesday morning, so that leaves us all day Tuesday until she has to be at the airport in the late afternoon.

I'm so happy! I don't get to hang out with my mom nearly enough, and we always have such fun together. Thrift stores, here we come!



Dad and bros, you know I'm missing you guys like crazy too. The invitation stands. Always.

sweet relief

I submitted a time-off request to my boss several weeks ago, and have been on pins and needles ever since. I know she's busy, but daaaaaaang, I wish she would have paid attention to it sooner. This is pretty much the expression I've been wearing every day:


Not cute. (heh, compounded by the especially un-cute "I don't care" hair)

Anyway, I told her that I needed to know today about the long weekend that Rob and I are planning to celebrate our collective birthdays and anniversary (yep, time off is that scarce), which is in 2 weeks. I staved off the reservationist yesterday, but promised to let her know today. Hence my pressure. Gah, I hate asking for things even once; why is she making me go through this torture three times over?? Anyway, she printed out my e-mail (dated 9.18.08) and discussed the dates with me... and finally granted me the day of my (30th) birthday AND the following Friday off! Whew!!!


Now for plans. I think we're going to get up super-early on Tuesday (my b-day) and drive up to Duluth. We haven't been there yet in the three Autumns that we've lived in Minneapolis, and I really want to check it out. Although sleeping in does sound incredibly attractive... but I think I need to get out of the house and have a major change of scenery to keep me from thinking about the fact that I really just want to party with my family for my birthday. So Duluth may be the perfect answer. Then I'll work Wednesday and Thursday. (easy peasy!) And, after I call and confirm today, we have reservations for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at a quiet, secluded little cabin right on a lake somewhere north of the Cities. *deep sigh* That sounds like heaven to me. No technology, no phones, no schedules, no clocks, no pavement, even. While in the past I definitely would have chosen a more fast-paced and exciting party in a city locale, complete with fancy food/drinks, friends, and dressing up, I think this may suit me just fine this year. I may regret it later when I realize this is how I'm sending off my twenties, I don't know. Maybe this is an indication of getting old? I just know that right now, I feel like resting. A lot.

Now, just to get the time off for the holidays/visit to Portland and I'll sleep one thousand times better at night. *fingers crossed*

lake taco

When I was a little girl, my grandma had a framed, full-color map of Lake Tahoe hanging in her back bedroom. I distinctly remember her holding me and pointing to various places ("and here's Incline Village, where you were born...") while I looked at the blue of the oblong lake, repeating "Taco" after her carefully pronounced "TaHoe" (what can I say, I liked mexican food early).

So, ever since I was a wee thing I have had a fascination with this gorgeous little jewel of a lake. Understandably so. My parents lived on Robin Drive in Incline Village when I was born, I learned to walk at Burnt Cedar Beach and the golf course (where my grandpa marshalled) in Incline, I must have spent 3 days a week at Sand Harbor and Round Hill Pines Beach each summer since I was a child. In the winter, my brothers and I could be found ditching school at either Mount Rose or Sierra-At-Tahoe ski resorts. (Okay, we didn't really ditch. We were homeschooled, so we doubled up and did school on the weekends so we could snowboard 3 or 4 days during the week) I had my 21st birthday in King's Beach, had my wedding reception at Aspen Grove (also the place where my dad preached his first sermon and I was dedicated as a baby) and Ski Beach in Incline, and spent the first two days of my honeymoon at Red Wolf Lodge. So yeah... this lake is in my blood. I just don't think I'll ever get tired of it. I sure hope it's going to be in heaven, cuz I just may not want to go there if it's not. Kidding, kidding. ;)

Here are a few factoids I ran across... they are actually what inspired this post.

• Tahoe is the third deepest lake in North America and the tenth deepest in the world. Tahoe's deepest point is 1,645 feet near Crystal Bay. The floor of the Lake Tahoe Basin is at an elevation of about 4,580 ft, which is lower than the surface of the Carson Valley to the east.



• Lake Tahoe is the North American Continent's largest Alpine lake and is 6223' above sea level, 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, covers a surface area of 191.6 square miles, and has 72 miles of shoreline.



• The estimated 39.75 trillion gallons of water contained in the lake is 99.9 percent pure, with visibility to 75 feet below the surface (a 10 inch white dinner plate would be visible at 75 feet below the surface). Tahoe could provide every person in the United States with 50 gallons of water per day for 5 years.



• The water temperature near the surface generally cools to 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit during February and March and warms to 65 to 70F during August and September. Below a depth of 600 to 700 ft (183 to 213 m), the water temperature remains a constant 39F. Many drowning victims are never recovered from Lake Tahoe. The cold water at lower depths preserves the bodies and prevents the formation of gases that would otherwise float them to the surface.



• If Lake Tahoe was completely drained, it would cover a flat area the size of California to a depth of 14 inches, or Texas with 8.5 inches of water, but would take over 700 years to refill.



• Lake Tahoe loses much of its water to evaporation.An average 1,400,000 tons of water evaporates from its surface every 24 hours, yet this drops the lake level only one-tenth of an inch. If the water that evaporates from the lake every 24 hours could be recovered, it would supply the daily requirements of a city the size of Los Angeles.



• There are 63 tributaries (including and two hot springs) draining into Lake Tahoe, but only one outlet at the Truckee River.



• At lake level, annual snowfall averages 125 inches. At alpine skiing elevations, the snowfall averages 300 to 500 inches each year. Skiers can hit the slopes on one of the 182 ski trails in the midst of more than 8,800 total ski resort acres. The longest ski run in the area is 5.5 miles long. Lake Tahoe's greatest vertical drop is 3,600 feet.



• There are six 24-hour casinos in the South Lake Tahoe area, including the infamous Cal-Neva, once owned by Frank Sinatra and so named because it straddles the CA and NV state lines. All together, the casinos in Tahoe have a total of 7,051 slot machines and 411 game tables.

Yay for Tahoe!




(both taken on my Kodak digital cam)

garsh

For the love of pete, I can't get the photostream feature on here to work right. For the longest time it just displayed random pictures from flickr... now I finally got it linked to my account, but it's being awfully picky and only showing a select few photos. Seriously? I didn't know that it was allowed to have an opinion.

In other news, it's pouring rain here today. I loves it. This just may warrant a lunch-hour trip to the ol' 'Bucks for a grande, skim, no-water, extra-hot, extra-foam, extra-chai, Chai Tea Latte with caramel drizzle on top. ::SMILE::

(hey, who invited all the hyphens to this post??)