I've had this rant in the back of my head for a while now. In one of my first blog posts, I mentioned in passing that my iPhone and I did not "meet cute." It had to grow on me.
Now, that they've introduced the iPad--and they didn't fix what I consider to be a major flaw in the design--has put in a bad mood. Add to the fact that I've been thinking of gloves recently--they're on sale!, and I have the ingredients necessary for a blog post.
To be blunt: I love gloves. When I was first thinking of starting this blog, asking myself "What should my blog be about?", the first answer was gloves.
There are blogs about clothes, in general. There are blogs about purses, and shoes, and jewelry, about perfume. But as far as I can tell, the only glove blog is the For the Love of Opera Glove blog--which hasn't been updated since 2004. Makeup blogs will have FOTD--face of the day. There are several blogs along the lines of "What I Wore Today" (including, of course, "What I Wore Today"). But what about us glove lovers? Why I can't get a daily fix of some lovely gloves, and how to wear them?
I wear gloves all year. I love going to fairs in the summer wearing white gloves and a straw hat. It feels so respectable. I own as many spring/summer gloves as I do winter/fall ones, and I am looking to increase my spring/summer collection. Each coat I own has it's own pair of gloves. Basically, if I'm leaving the house, I'm wearing gloves.
There are more to gloves than opera gloves, but assuming that it is true, that the most popular gloves out there are opera gloves (which is NOT what I observe in looking around the people I pass by everyday)--that makes Apple's overlooking of this flaw even greater--you can't use the iPhone or iPad while wearing gloves. And stripping--because the way I see it, taking off gloves, especially if you have to peel them off the entire length of your arm, as an opera glove--is not something so casually done, say, on a crowded bus.
So, my iPhone--hated the bugger when I first got it. I picked it up from the post office--and noticed I couldn't use it. It was summer even, and even through my thin summer gloves, it wouldn't read my finger pressure. That was my first impression, and first impressions stay with you. Within half an hour, I was imaging myself "accidentally" dropping it behind the wheel of my car.
I looked up how one was supposed to use an iPhone with gloves. The solutions suggested? Use your nose, or your tongue. My nose doesn't work, for some reason. My tongue does work. But only if I lick it like I MEAN it...no little dainty ice-cream lick, but firm, hard-candy/half-my-tongue-on-the-screen lick.
My thoughts: "I'm sorry, iPhone, but we just met less than an hour ago." I'm not putting out for my phone. I'm not that kind of girl. (Though, I'm pretty sure that anyone who saw me doing that would probably think twice about stealing my phone.) The iPhone had such GREAT choices for using it. The choices are: take off a piece of clothing, or lick me hard.
Other things that bothered me--besides needing to strip in order to use the thing--a dual step to answer the phone (isn't it supposed to be more efficient to use the iPhone?), a really sucky speaker (when alone in the room, I take my calls on speakerphone), and the general elitist attitude of its accessories (everything has to have the designed for iPhone logo on it, or there's no guarantee it will work).
Anyway, I have a stylus for my iPhone now. It's not a good stylus. It doesn't read well at all--but it's the only "official" stylus (the Pogo). I've come to accept that sometimes I need to take off my gloves, but there's still a little resentment underneath. At least, I only need to take off one.
Yes, I've seen the gloves with the little capacitative patches on the fingers. But the most I've seen is on the thumb, the index, and middle fingers. Some people type on the iPhone using the index, middle, and ring fingers. Because some people have small hands. (Random trivia--the tip of my pinky is too small for the iPhone to register.) And no, I don't think gloves without fingertips are very stylish.
Really, I'm not the person that the iPhone was designed for. They had someone else in mind. Not me.
And now comes the iPad. Which has a full size keyboard, which means two hands. Which means one would have to remove both gloves. At least, from what I could tell, they didn't offer an alternate way of input (other than a separate keyboard--which defeats the purpose of the thing if you have to carry around a screen and a keyboard, no? I mean, isn't that a laptop?). So, so, so, stupid. We're not talking some minor tweak to make the operating system go 2 ms faster. I mean, it's a change so that one can actually put in input! How can a thing be interactive if it won't register any inputs? It's freaking fundamental!
Anyway.
The gloves I saw on clearance were leather, elbow length, unlined. I think they'd be so cute with a tank top in summer. My current summer gloves are all 5 button length or shorter.
And for those gardeners out there, looking for a classically styled gloves, instead of the chunky work gloves, I highly recommend Foxgloves brand gloves. They also work really well for going out. For a durable dress-casual gloves (gloves to wear when going to the store) I like the Foxglove Original. For something dressier, there's the Foxglove Elle, that's elbow length.
(The penny remains)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Stuck
I'm stuck in my own blog.
I've been trying to catch up, writing about my Christmas vacation. It's been a tough process. In the most general sense, I had a wonderful time back in Metro for Christmas break. It was difficult for me to adjust back to being in University Town. I would like to add more detail to it, to make a fuller description of my Christmas break. I've been trying to write: this is what happened, this is how I felt. However, the last two weeks of last year, I lived through one version of events, and my husband lived through another. The facts, we can agree on--we went here, we did this--what those events, meant, however, is up for dispute.
I can write my own interpretation, but reconciling the two interpretations is not so easy. I suppose that since this blog is my forum, I wouldn't be blamed for presenting only my version. But I want the history to be correct!
So for now, Christmas break did not happen.
Forward!
And, although this evening I found the penny knocked from the window sill, I put it back. So, the penny remains.
I've been trying to catch up, writing about my Christmas vacation. It's been a tough process. In the most general sense, I had a wonderful time back in Metro for Christmas break. It was difficult for me to adjust back to being in University Town. I would like to add more detail to it, to make a fuller description of my Christmas break. I've been trying to write: this is what happened, this is how I felt. However, the last two weeks of last year, I lived through one version of events, and my husband lived through another. The facts, we can agree on--we went here, we did this--what those events, meant, however, is up for dispute.
I can write my own interpretation, but reconciling the two interpretations is not so easy. I suppose that since this blog is my forum, I wouldn't be blamed for presenting only my version. But I want the history to be correct!
So for now, Christmas break did not happen.
Forward!
And, although this evening I found the penny knocked from the window sill, I put it back. So, the penny remains.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Return from Holiday
My last post, on December 5, was written at the beginning of the last two week stretch of the semester. I was busy writing--I turned in 5 papers over those two weeks, and writing for "fun" (this blog) seemed to be beside the point. The next two weeks, after the end of the semester, was spent on holiday with my husband in Metro. The lack of posts from those two weeks were inexcusable. However, I did have a wonderful time.
I have, however, returned to University Town. School starts tomorrow, and I will return to my twice weekly updates.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, had good time with family and friends, and returned to work rested. Thanks for bearing with me.
Since last time....
November:
It was Thanksgiving. I made a turkey Wellington--crazy recipe because I'm really frustrated with turkey. It turned out OK. Then I flew home.
Flying home was great! The first leg of the flight offered actual food! Not $7 snack boxes, but free food--a box with wheat crackers, a little wheel of herbed Rondele cheese, and a package of sliced salami. It included a small package of M&Ms, and another small bag of dried fruit. That was before the drink cart came around with pretzels, and we were handed an entire can of soda.
Then, I was in Cleveland Hopkins International for the first time. I remained only in one terminal, but it was nice and airy. I liked how they placed the restrooms in the middle of the hall, with a corrugated metal half-pipe roofs--it made the terminal seem boulevard-ish. The terminal even had an area for young children. I people watched as I waited for my next flight, and it was a pleasant people watching--not staring into a tired crowd moving hurriedly back and forth in a long tunnel, as it can sometimes feel like in an airport.
The second plane was a bit odd. Typically, on such flights, there are two seats on either side of the aisle going all the way back, where it opens to a small area for the flight attendants. This flight, instead of being open in the back, had a back row that was 5 seats across. That is, one person sat in a seat in the "aisle". (I was seated in the last row, but next to the window.)
I was in good spirits when I landed. It was about 6 o'clock, but dark my now. I thought it odd that the car did not unlock when I tried to unlock it with my key fob...and that the light did not come on when I manually unlocked the car...and then that the car didn't start.
After a few frantic phone calls (I didn't have my AAA card, and couldn't reach my husband. I called my in-laws, instead.), I got on the bus to go back to the terminal (there was a shuttle bus between long-term parking, where I was, and the airport terminals). I stopped a couple that was disembarking to ask if they could give my car a jump. They said that they didn't have a jump cable, but I said I did. Only, when I looked in my trunk, turns out I didn't....Back on the bus.
My husband called me when I had arrived back at the terminal--his parents had contacted him, and he had called AAA for a service vehicle to be sent out. My car got jumped, and I was on the way home by 8 o'clock. I drove the 2 hrs home without incident. The first thing the next morning, I was at Sears, getting a new battery put in.
The following week, I made two presentations. That week also had the first day of hunting, and the local schools were all closed. I received an early birthday present--a clock radio docking station for my iPhone! I'm very happy with it. It's display, sound quality, and ability to pick up stations, are all better than my previous clock radio. It looks pretty, too.
There were also strange weather reports. It was 50 degrees and raining here in University Town in the Northeast, but I heard that it snowed back in southern Metro.
Finally, the penny remains.
I have, however, returned to University Town. School starts tomorrow, and I will return to my twice weekly updates.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, had good time with family and friends, and returned to work rested. Thanks for bearing with me.
Since last time....
November:
It was Thanksgiving. I made a turkey Wellington--crazy recipe because I'm really frustrated with turkey. It turned out OK. Then I flew home.
Flying home was great! The first leg of the flight offered actual food! Not $7 snack boxes, but free food--a box with wheat crackers, a little wheel of herbed Rondele cheese, and a package of sliced salami. It included a small package of M&Ms, and another small bag of dried fruit. That was before the drink cart came around with pretzels, and we were handed an entire can of soda.
Then, I was in Cleveland Hopkins International for the first time. I remained only in one terminal, but it was nice and airy. I liked how they placed the restrooms in the middle of the hall, with a corrugated metal half-pipe roofs--it made the terminal seem boulevard-ish. The terminal even had an area for young children. I people watched as I waited for my next flight, and it was a pleasant people watching--not staring into a tired crowd moving hurriedly back and forth in a long tunnel, as it can sometimes feel like in an airport.
The second plane was a bit odd. Typically, on such flights, there are two seats on either side of the aisle going all the way back, where it opens to a small area for the flight attendants. This flight, instead of being open in the back, had a back row that was 5 seats across. That is, one person sat in a seat in the "aisle". (I was seated in the last row, but next to the window.)
I was in good spirits when I landed. It was about 6 o'clock, but dark my now. I thought it odd that the car did not unlock when I tried to unlock it with my key fob...and that the light did not come on when I manually unlocked the car...and then that the car didn't start.
After a few frantic phone calls (I didn't have my AAA card, and couldn't reach my husband. I called my in-laws, instead.), I got on the bus to go back to the terminal (there was a shuttle bus between long-term parking, where I was, and the airport terminals). I stopped a couple that was disembarking to ask if they could give my car a jump. They said that they didn't have a jump cable, but I said I did. Only, when I looked in my trunk, turns out I didn't....Back on the bus.
My husband called me when I had arrived back at the terminal--his parents had contacted him, and he had called AAA for a service vehicle to be sent out. My car got jumped, and I was on the way home by 8 o'clock. I drove the 2 hrs home without incident. The first thing the next morning, I was at Sears, getting a new battery put in.
The following week, I made two presentations. That week also had the first day of hunting, and the local schools were all closed. I received an early birthday present--a clock radio docking station for my iPhone! I'm very happy with it. It's display, sound quality, and ability to pick up stations, are all better than my previous clock radio. It looks pretty, too.
There were also strange weather reports. It was 50 degrees and raining here in University Town in the Northeast, but I heard that it snowed back in southern Metro.
Finally, the penny remains.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thanksgiving break 2009
It's 11pm, and I'm back in my cozy apartment in University Town. I feel like I'm just warming up.
I feel like laughing. I left the southern city of Metro a week ago, and in the past couple of days, they've gotten snow--one of the earliest snows of the season. Here, in the northeast, it's raining, and 51 degrees, at night. Since our snow in October, here in University Town, all precipitation has stayed liquid. Here, we're looking at each other and saying "Can you believe it's December, and we don't need our coats?"
My Thanksgiving holiday was great.
I didn't go to a movie, but I played way too much Assassin's Creed, both 1 and 2. I enjoyed them both, but I think the second game is superior. The first game grew a little monotonous. The second game had more humor, more variety to the missions, and did a far better job of incorporating the various tasks you had to complete into the plotline. And I liked the puzzles in AC2! A part of it, too, I think, is that my husband assisted me as I played, helping me to find hidden objects, directing me to different points on the map, solving puzzles with me, and giving approval of my cooler assassination moves. It was just really nice being able to game together.
We mostly ate in during the week. I did get a good steak at Saltgrass. It was a surprise, as I had remembered it to be a middling experience the last time I went. I would go back.
On the other hand, I had a negative experience when I went to D__'s Mediterranean Buffet. It was one of a regional chain of restaurants. One had opened recently near my apartment, and it had gotten high reviews from family members, who had eaten there several times. My trip there was a wasted effort. The food was either dry, or overspiced. I tried to sample as many dishes as I could, to give it a fair shake, filling one plate with a bunch of options, and when those did not work out, going back and getting another plate, sampling a different variety of food. Unfortunately, I was not able to get more than one bite out of most of what I tried. I liked two things: the rice, and the green beans and carrots, but even the rice had dried, and was crunchy--not in a good way. It was not worth the $11-ish dollar price. I left hungry, and I asked the husband take me took a grocery store so that I could buy something frozen to take home. If I was with a group of people considering D__'s, I would actively try to dissuade anyone from going there, and if they decided to go anyway, I would get food elsewhere, and meet up with the group again later.
Despite my concerns with Thanksgiving dinner, everything turned out well, even though it turned out to be more of a Thanksgiving supper--the food wasn't ready until about 4:30pm. Luckily, I had talked the husband into taking me to IHOP for breakfast--and for me, a full hot breakfast will last until suppertime. There was turkey, turkey Wellington, stuffing, baked beets and squash, green bean casserole, Dijon glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy. I also had pumpkin pie, homemade, fresh from the oven. Yum. The others chose to wait on dessert.
I am thankful for many things. For friends, especially for family, for the chance to just get together, to have to time to get together. I am grateful, too, that everyone in my family has employment, that their bills can be met. I was thankful that Thanksgiving day was nice--I joked that it should have been a bbq--it was warm enough to be comfortably outdoors, and our cooking was causing the A/C to run. I am thankful that school was gone very well this semester. And I'm thankful for all the support my friends, family, and my husband has given me as I slog through school.
Thanks everyone. And I hope that everyone found something to be thankful for this holiday, as well.
I feel like laughing. I left the southern city of Metro a week ago, and in the past couple of days, they've gotten snow--one of the earliest snows of the season. Here, in the northeast, it's raining, and 51 degrees, at night. Since our snow in October, here in University Town, all precipitation has stayed liquid. Here, we're looking at each other and saying "Can you believe it's December, and we don't need our coats?"
My Thanksgiving holiday was great.
I didn't go to a movie, but I played way too much Assassin's Creed, both 1 and 2. I enjoyed them both, but I think the second game is superior. The first game grew a little monotonous. The second game had more humor, more variety to the missions, and did a far better job of incorporating the various tasks you had to complete into the plotline. And I liked the puzzles in AC2! A part of it, too, I think, is that my husband assisted me as I played, helping me to find hidden objects, directing me to different points on the map, solving puzzles with me, and giving approval of my cooler assassination moves. It was just really nice being able to game together.
We mostly ate in during the week. I did get a good steak at Saltgrass. It was a surprise, as I had remembered it to be a middling experience the last time I went. I would go back.
On the other hand, I had a negative experience when I went to D__'s Mediterranean Buffet. It was one of a regional chain of restaurants. One had opened recently near my apartment, and it had gotten high reviews from family members, who had eaten there several times. My trip there was a wasted effort. The food was either dry, or overspiced. I tried to sample as many dishes as I could, to give it a fair shake, filling one plate with a bunch of options, and when those did not work out, going back and getting another plate, sampling a different variety of food. Unfortunately, I was not able to get more than one bite out of most of what I tried. I liked two things: the rice, and the green beans and carrots, but even the rice had dried, and was crunchy--not in a good way. It was not worth the $11-ish dollar price. I left hungry, and I asked the husband take me took a grocery store so that I could buy something frozen to take home. If I was with a group of people considering D__'s, I would actively try to dissuade anyone from going there, and if they decided to go anyway, I would get food elsewhere, and meet up with the group again later.
Despite my concerns with Thanksgiving dinner, everything turned out well, even though it turned out to be more of a Thanksgiving supper--the food wasn't ready until about 4:30pm. Luckily, I had talked the husband into taking me to IHOP for breakfast--and for me, a full hot breakfast will last until suppertime. There was turkey, turkey Wellington, stuffing, baked beets and squash, green bean casserole, Dijon glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy. I also had pumpkin pie, homemade, fresh from the oven. Yum. The others chose to wait on dessert.
I am thankful for many things. For friends, especially for family, for the chance to just get together, to have to time to get together. I am grateful, too, that everyone in my family has employment, that their bills can be met. I was thankful that Thanksgiving day was nice--I joked that it should have been a bbq--it was warm enough to be comfortably outdoors, and our cooking was causing the A/C to run. I am thankful that school was gone very well this semester. And I'm thankful for all the support my friends, family, and my husband has given me as I slog through school.
Thanks everyone. And I hope that everyone found something to be thankful for this holiday, as well.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Notes: Making Turkey Wellington
The in-laws purchased a frozen turkey breast at Tom Thumb (a local grocery store chain) and then took it to the deli counter to have it de-boned the next day. It came back deboned, and cut in two fillets and a small strip of tenderloin.
Ingredients:
2 turkey filletsstuffing
1 box puff pastry dough, defrosted
vegetable oil
1 beaten egg
Also, cotton string/twine
1. Make a stuffing of your choice. I used an apple cranberry walnut stuffing found here. I mixed all the ingredients and cooked it on the stovetop. I thought the recipe lacked a little "oomph", so I added a splash of orange juice to the recipe. Let the stuffing cool a little.
2. Flatten the fillet to about a 1/4" thickness: Place the fillet between two sheets of plastic wrap. Pound it with either a meat mallet, or in this case, a cast iron pan.
3. Scoop up the stuffing with your hands. Spread it on top of the turkey fillet.
4. Pull the ends of the fillet together, so that it forms a circle. (Close the Pac-Man mouth)
5. Roll it all up. Yumm...raw poultry. (I think the photo looks a little obscene)
6. We're not done, yet! Tie the roll in string.
7. In a large frypan, heat some oil. Place the rolled turkey in the pan to sear. Turn it so the outside is cooked all the way around. It looks like fish!
8. After the turkey has been seared, remove from the pan and allow to cool. While waiting for the turkey to cool, roll out one sheet of the puff pastry dough.
9. Cut the string off the turkey roll, and carefully remove it. We don't want the roll falling apart.
10. Put the turkey on top of the the dough. Bring the edges of the dough up around the turkey, and cut off extra dough if there is too much overlap. Pinch the edges of the dough together. Turn the whole thing over, so that the seam of the dough is underneath. If you want, use a cookie cutter to cut decorative shapes from the extra dough. Place it on top of the roll to make it look pretty.
11. Brush the loaf with the beaten egg.
12. Place in the oven at 350 F. Bake for 20-30 min, or until internal temperature reads 170 F.
13. Slice, eat, enjoy. (Thanks to Mr. Turro for the photo)
It goes well with gravy, and I'm told it does well, and in some ways is better, re-heated. Just place slices on a pan to warm up.
We didn't eat until 4:30pm...it really was a Thanksgiving dinner. But! People were impressed with it. I had fun making it. It was a group effort. The father-in-law beat the turkey into submission, while the mother-in-law tied the turkey rolls.
I've been encouraged to make Beef Wellington for Christmas.
Good thing I know of a place in Metro to buy foie gras. And perhaps I should go to that queen of gastronomy, Julia Child, for the recipe of filet de bœuf en croûte ?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving Eve, altered state
Normally, being up at 11pm doesn't mean much to me. In my apartment at University Town, I'm by myself, and I've got two high-lumen torchiere lamps in a small living room which makes the place as bright as daylight (I have a theory that a reason I have trouble sleeping at night is that the lights are too bright.)
Here in Metro, though, there are two average lamps in an average living room. The husband is sleeping in the next room, and and everything feels quiet and sleepy and just very NIGHT-like. I'm feeling a little sad, a little lonely, a little regretful, a little homesick.
I've had a wonderful few days here. I don't want to leave. But Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I wish it weren't. I wish Thanksgiving was another week away. Oh, I look forward to the actual getting together and all that. It's just that to me, Thanksgiving marks the end of vacation. I don't want to go back.
It's always this way, of course. While I'm in University Town, I'm happy to be in University Town, happy to have my own place, and I think that perhaps after I graduate I'll wander some more. Who needs to live together, right? The world is so big--why live in a single place, why settle down? I'm happy to travel back to Metro, as I step on the plane out of University Town...but it's a happiness that is no different from going on any vacation. It's only once I land in Metro that I enter a reality shift, an altered state: Why did I ever leave? And, no, I don't want to go away again. I no longer know what is real: Of course things are wonderful--You're on vacation, you dolt, sans souci! It's not real! It's an illusion, a slice of only some of the happy moments in life. Yet it FEELS real. The happiness and the sadness, both.
So I'm awake, typing, in strange place when 11pm feels like night.
I'm a bit intimidated by Thanksgiving tomorrow. Oh, the mother-in-law has the turkey covered. Nothing will be ruined. But we agreed that I would try a mix of a turkey kiev/turkey wellington. There is filleted turkey breast waiting for me in her refrigerator. The plan--my plan--is to take a mallet to the things until they're about 1/4" thick, layer with a cranberry walnut stuffing, and roll it and sear it, and encase it in phyllo dough and bake it. Because honestly...I've had roast turkey for Thanksgiving every year for YEARS. I'm no fan of leftovers, either. There has to be a better way! There has to be a better way! There has to be a better way!
The issue is, I'm no professional cook. This turkey rollup/wellington is something I've dreamed up (though there are recipes for turkey wellington out there, they require bacon, and they have the turkey breast whole, not flattened). Add to this the fact that I get to make it while *all* the Thanksgiving stuff is going on--the cooking of sides, and gravies, and desserts--and I've no idea how I'm going to pull it off. The way I figure it, it'll be ready by supper time. On the plus side, unreasonable cooking tasks have never put me off before.
I'll let you know how it goes.
My contributions for Thanksgiving:
White wine turkey gravy
Glazed Dijon carrots
SUPER TURKEY:
Apple cranberry walnut stuffing
For reference: Turkey kiev
For reference: Turkey wellington
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!
Here in Metro, though, there are two average lamps in an average living room. The husband is sleeping in the next room, and and everything feels quiet and sleepy and just very NIGHT-like. I'm feeling a little sad, a little lonely, a little regretful, a little homesick.
I've had a wonderful few days here. I don't want to leave. But Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I wish it weren't. I wish Thanksgiving was another week away. Oh, I look forward to the actual getting together and all that. It's just that to me, Thanksgiving marks the end of vacation. I don't want to go back.
It's always this way, of course. While I'm in University Town, I'm happy to be in University Town, happy to have my own place, and I think that perhaps after I graduate I'll wander some more. Who needs to live together, right? The world is so big--why live in a single place, why settle down? I'm happy to travel back to Metro, as I step on the plane out of University Town...but it's a happiness that is no different from going on any vacation. It's only once I land in Metro that I enter a reality shift, an altered state: Why did I ever leave? And, no, I don't want to go away again. I no longer know what is real: Of course things are wonderful--You're on vacation, you dolt, sans souci! It's not real! It's an illusion, a slice of only some of the happy moments in life. Yet it FEELS real. The happiness and the sadness, both.
So I'm awake, typing, in strange place when 11pm feels like night.
I'm a bit intimidated by Thanksgiving tomorrow. Oh, the mother-in-law has the turkey covered. Nothing will be ruined. But we agreed that I would try a mix of a turkey kiev/turkey wellington. There is filleted turkey breast waiting for me in her refrigerator. The plan--my plan--is to take a mallet to the things until they're about 1/4" thick, layer with a cranberry walnut stuffing, and roll it and sear it, and encase it in phyllo dough and bake it. Because honestly...I've had roast turkey for Thanksgiving every year for YEARS. I'm no fan of leftovers, either. There has to be a better way! There has to be a better way! There has to be a better way!
The issue is, I'm no professional cook. This turkey rollup/wellington is something I've dreamed up (though there are recipes for turkey wellington out there, they require bacon, and they have the turkey breast whole, not flattened). Add to this the fact that I get to make it while *all* the Thanksgiving stuff is going on--the cooking of sides, and gravies, and desserts--and I've no idea how I'm going to pull it off. The way I figure it, it'll be ready by supper time. On the plus side, unreasonable cooking tasks have never put me off before.
I'll let you know how it goes.
My contributions for Thanksgiving:
White wine turkey gravy
Glazed Dijon carrots
SUPER TURKEY:
Apple cranberry walnut stuffing
For reference: Turkey kiev
For reference: Turkey wellington
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
A quiet start to vacation
I went to bed a little after midnight, and was up at 3 am. I actually had breakfast--chicken tenders and gravy with Texas toast, leftovers from lunch the day before, a good Southern breakfast for a good Southern trip. I washed it down with a warm spot of tea.
The two hour drive to the airport went surprisingly quickly. The weather was fair and clear, temps in the 40's. It was my day to use fuel wastefully--I cruised at 70mph for most of the way to the airport, and then I flew across country. I flew into O'Hare, my arrival gate only a few gates away from the departure gate to Metro (I've decided to refer to my adopted hometown, which I have previously referred to as "The City", as "Metro" from now on, as the term "The City" in pop culture commonly means New York City [and yes, I know in comic books Metropolis is NYC, too, but I have to use *some* generic descriptor].) Living in University Town has let me travel through lots of Eastern airports: Detroit, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare. Next week, my return flight will be though Cleveland. It's been a neat experience.
The flight into O'Hare was also amazingly smooth. From O'Hare to Metro, however, the flight was rougher, and I was glad to land. There was also too much carry-on luggage on this flight, but I packed light--I fit all my clothes into a rolling laptop suitcase--so I was able to fit it underneath the seat in front of me: no luggage issues for me!
I had lunch with my father-in-law: Red beans and rice and pork chops at a country-style restaurant. Also, who knew that getting two watch batteries replaced would cost $151? The on-going cost of owning a designer watch?
I had a quiet evening with video games and TV. The husband is sick, so I'm looking to a quiet weekend. But perhaps I can talk him into taking me out to a movie...
The two hour drive to the airport went surprisingly quickly. The weather was fair and clear, temps in the 40's. It was my day to use fuel wastefully--I cruised at 70mph for most of the way to the airport, and then I flew across country. I flew into O'Hare, my arrival gate only a few gates away from the departure gate to Metro (I've decided to refer to my adopted hometown, which I have previously referred to as "The City", as "Metro" from now on, as the term "The City" in pop culture commonly means New York City [and yes, I know in comic books Metropolis is NYC, too, but I have to use *some* generic descriptor].) Living in University Town has let me travel through lots of Eastern airports: Detroit, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare. Next week, my return flight will be though Cleveland. It's been a neat experience.
The flight into O'Hare was also amazingly smooth. From O'Hare to Metro, however, the flight was rougher, and I was glad to land. There was also too much carry-on luggage on this flight, but I packed light--I fit all my clothes into a rolling laptop suitcase--so I was able to fit it underneath the seat in front of me: no luggage issues for me!
I had lunch with my father-in-law: Red beans and rice and pork chops at a country-style restaurant. Also, who knew that getting two watch batteries replaced would cost $151? The on-going cost of owning a designer watch?
I had a quiet evening with video games and TV. The husband is sick, so I'm looking to a quiet weekend. But perhaps I can talk him into taking me out to a movie...
