Nowhere to ice skate yet, but we're close.

The snow from this last storm has turned into large rock gardens. It has stayed cold, and while the snow does melt in the sun, it promptly slithers into the shade to refreeze. In town most of the sidewalks and parking lots have been clear for a few days, so you kind of forget the severity of the storm until you see the huge collections of mucky ice left along the streets by the plows.

It's hard to make out, but this pile in front of The Greek Place is about nine feet tall at its peak.

Bacon Fried Rice

Liana- I would have posted this sooner, but I kept forgetting to bring the recipe down to the office.


Madame Chu's Failure-Proof Rice

1 1/2 cups long grain rice

2 1/3 cups cold water


1. Place rice in a strainer and rinse thouroghly in cold running water. Drain. Put rice in a 2 quart saucepan and add water.

2. Bring to boiling over high heat (about 5 minutes). Lower heat; cover; simmer for 20 minutes, until dry. Turn off heat. Allow rice to stand for another 20 minutes. Then stir rice well so that it will be flaky and each grain will be separate. Rice can be kept for several days in the refrigerator.



To Make Bacon Fried Rice:

1/2 pound bacon

3 eggs

4 cups cold, cooked rice

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup green onions, cut intp 1/4 inch pieces


1. Cut the bacon into 1/4" pices, then fry; drain on a plate with paper towels to absorb all the extra grease.

2. Beat eggs until white and yolk are well mixed. Using 1 T oil in skillet, scramble eggs, breaking them up in small pieces. Put aside on plate.

3. Heat 3 T oil in clean skillet or wok and add rice. Mix, letting the oil coat the rice thoroghly. Blend in soy sauce and salt. Add eggs, green onions and bacon and mix thoroughly. Serve. Bacon fried rice can be kept in a warm oven in a covered casserole for as long as half an hour before serving without drying out. It can also be made several days ahead and frozen. Just leave at room temperature for two hours before rewarming in the oven.




This is the recipe that my mom has used for decades (its age shows in its flagrant use of salt in a recipe full of soy sauce and bacon, and in its countertop thawing directions). I usually add pea pods, and it's good with sliced water chestnuts too.

Snainy Day

We were pummeled by soggy, gross weather yesterday. It was my goal to never get dressed, but I could only make it as far as 3:00. I did a lot of cooking and sewing and tea-making...and other things from the fifties? It was not an exciting day, but it was nice to have a complete day at home- this was the first I've had since I moved. I never went further than the camp kitchen (I needed sugar for banana bread).

Today's Cold. But I'm Okay, 'Cause I'm Wearing Several Animals.

Rabbits

Sheep and cows

Geese

There's a joke in there somewhere about turtlenecks, but I don't want to be a hack.

For Jen: A Teaser

Let Them Eat...Fish?

I've decided to learn to like fish before our trip to Norway. Attempt #1:

I trust Trader Joe's. This picture was appealing, so I plunked down the eight dollars for this package even though the thought of eating salmon makes me uneasy.

I realized when the timer sounded, that I have never in my life cooked myself a piece of fish and I wasn't sure if it was done, so I gave it extra oven time.

The sauce and vegetables were really good, but didn't last as long as the fish. They ran out about two thirds of the way through the meal, leaving just a slab of undisguised salmon.

I hit a wall before the last few bites, and resorted to cheese and cracker supplements to hide (uh, enhance?) the flavor.

For distraction:

Mission accomplished. I ate it all. It'll be that much easier next time.

I hear the train a'comin'
It's rolling 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine
Since I don't know when.
I'm stuck at Camp Maranatha,
And time keeps draggin' on....

I didn't take any before pictures because it was just a little too sad. There are a few things, like the pine needle that was shellacked into the tile, that I can't do much about, but the rest of the bathroom is shaping up.

More Desert Magic

The Tates came over for dinner on Sunday. Highlights? Lucy ate two and a half servings of berry applesauce after dinner, and Bowden found a nook in which to stand.

It Takes Me Too Long To Pick Out Paper Towels!

It just does. It's ridiculous. I don't want just plain white, but I don't want hot pink hibiscus or cartoon penguins wearing scarves either. What's so hard about, like, ivy?

Oh, This Mountain...

This is a picture of Angelica disposing of mouse carcass #2. I went into work very late on Friday because I found mouse droppings on my kitchen counter. I moved everything in the area and sanitized like mad. I rewashed dishes as I wistfully longed for the less disgusting moldy windowsills and flat hair of beach living. That night around 10:00, I went to the kitchen, reached for a canister on the counter and jumped when a mouse ran right beneath my hands and under the rack full of clean dishes. I pounded on the sink's rim and it ran back out and behind the washer and dryer- filthy beast. I hit the button on the dryer in the hope of scaring it far, far away and let it run for a few minutes while I stood hating wildlife. I opened the cupboards under the sink to check the traps that Keith had set before I moved in, and jumped again when I saw carcass #1 bloated and still. I shut the doors, unwilling to think about it anymore, took a long shower, then went to bed. The next day, still feeling a little traumatized by this proximity to filth and betrayed by cracks and crevices of my home, I asked Josh to do me a solid and get rid of #1. He did my dirty work and loaned me camp's electro-shock-I-pity-da-mouse-who-gets-near-this!!! trap.
After hanging out at the Tates' a few hours after work, the Barrs and I headed over to my place to check the trap and, sure enough, there was #2. Angelica wanted to look at it, which bought her the honor of chucking it outside. After that unpleasantness, we spent about twenty minutes eating mentos and taking goofy pictures, then went to bed.

Our town's Christmas tree is no longer lit, but Christmas lights stay up and burn year round.
It makes evening walks into town very enjoyable.

Friday

Bobby D. and I sorted through this mountain of old bread and made croutons.

Happy Birthday Josh!!!!!

Try enjoying it, huh?

Really, Winnie Cooper? This Is Your Life Now?

So you're smart, you like math, and you want young girls to realize that they don't have to wear pocket protectors and taped glasses in order to do well in school. You've taken some time off from posing in your underwear to dust off your protractor. But a book including horoscopes and featuring a section called "do you still have a crush on him?" This is frighteningly convoluted.

I Ran Down To The Desert Last Night,

and found great joy in ditching my boots.

Can I get Some Oohs And Ahhs?

Okay, so this slightly-too-small Roman shade doesn't fix the peeling paint, the rusted, misaligned hinges or the partially cinder block wall, but I had to use a power drill to install it, and it is much better than this:

The Castaic Richards sent party favors home for Bowden and Lucy, but the Cars tattoos were enjoyed by all. Perhaps more than is normal or socially acceptable. You can ask Sarah about that one.