Thursday, November 3, 2011
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
more randomness!
We went to dinner at shabu-shabu, which a Japanese hot-pot. It wasn't bad, but I think that adding meat really adds a lot to this particular adventure. Action shot, though! Those long noodles are super hard to eat with chop sticks.
Scouting a river when Steven wanted to go check out an area for prospecting. You can see that I'm contributing what is basically my only contribution to prospecting, which is talking like a grizzled 1890s prospector (aka constantly yelling "GOOOOOOOOOOLD!")
Steven with possibly-dead Rosemary over his shoulder. This picture is a little blurry, but I like how cute they both look.
Me and Steven at his mom's neighbor's birthday party... yah. Because there's nothing quite like going out drinking with your boyfriend, his mother, and their neighbors, that's totally normal, right? Why doesn't my mom ever take me along when she's out with the Bachs!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
random pictures from around the apartment
A pretty amazing double rainbow behind the condos down the street. It's so intense!! What does it mean!??
The shelves we hung in the bathroom. They look so peaceful, after all the arguments and strife involved in getting them hung up.
Me on a turtle, outside a church we passed on the walk up to the sports bar. We walked up there back when it was worth it to walk somewhere to watch football...
Me (with my short hair and overalls) and Rosemary.
Rosemary out on the patio. She likes to sit on a chair out there, or on my lap if I'm on the chair. That way, she can see out over the wall to what's happening on the streets and watch every car drive by. Maybe she could also sit up on the ledge around the railing, but I don't want to let her get that close to the outside.
The shelves we hung in the bathroom. They look so peaceful, after all the arguments and strife involved in getting them hung up.
Me on a turtle, outside a church we passed on the walk up to the sports bar. We walked up there back when it was worth it to walk somewhere to watch football...
Me (with my short hair and overalls) and Rosemary.
Rosemary out on the patio. She likes to sit on a chair out there, or on my lap if I'm on the chair. That way, she can see out over the wall to what's happening on the streets and watch every car drive by. Maybe she could also sit up on the ledge around the railing, but I don't want to let her get that close to the outside.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Kitteh!!
We got a kitten! We're working our way through a variety of names right now. On the table are: Salma (her name from the shelter), CatBox (my suggestion), Boots, and Rosemary. I'm sure she'll notice the difference, right?
Pictures from when we tricked her into believing that the laser lived under the door of the broom closet in our kitchen:
She guards the crack under the door vigilantly, in case it tries to escape. She'll protect us!
Pictures from when we tricked her into believing that the laser lived under the door of the broom closet in our kitchen:
She guards the crack under the door vigilantly, in case it tries to escape. She'll protect us!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Hollywood
We took an ill-fated trip to Hollywood on what turned out to be the hottest day ever. Also, it turns out Hollywood is kind of lame, so we mostly wandered around, being hot and wondering why we were there.
We took the train into the city, so that was kind of a fun adventure. Of course, it also meant we didn't have a car, with AC, to hide in.
Once we were in the city, we took the subway. I realized, once we were underground, that we were on a subway in a place that has earthquakes (!) which seems like a ridiculous thing to do. So here I am, for the first and last time, on the LA subway:
The Hollywood and Vine station was kind of pretty, though:
Too bad I'll never see it again.
We were trying to figure out a place to eat when Steven took this lovely picture of me being all pissy and looking at the map. Classy!
We ended up eating fried macaroni and cheese at Citizen Smith. Our waiter, who was basically the only employee there at 3:30 in the afternoon, was super nice and brought us lots and lots of ice water. When we arrived, he was in the process of telling his boss that he refused to set up the outdoor furniture because it was too damn hot. Who would want to eat outside in 115 degree heat anyway?
After lunch, we went straight home. Next time, we're driving to LA, yikes!
We took the train into the city, so that was kind of a fun adventure. Of course, it also meant we didn't have a car, with AC, to hide in.
Once we were in the city, we took the subway. I realized, once we were underground, that we were on a subway in a place that has earthquakes (!) which seems like a ridiculous thing to do. So here I am, for the first and last time, on the LA subway:
The Hollywood and Vine station was kind of pretty, though:
Too bad I'll never see it again.
We were trying to figure out a place to eat when Steven took this lovely picture of me being all pissy and looking at the map. Classy!
We ended up eating fried macaroni and cheese at Citizen Smith. Our waiter, who was basically the only employee there at 3:30 in the afternoon, was super nice and brought us lots and lots of ice water. When we arrived, he was in the process of telling his boss that he refused to set up the outdoor furniture because it was too damn hot. Who would want to eat outside in 115 degree heat anyway?
After lunch, we went straight home. Next time, we're driving to LA, yikes!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Baked Tofu
Inspired by Wendolonia's post 2 years ago, I decided to make baked tofu a couple of days ago. The basics turned out so well that I decided to make a *lot* of baked tofu last night, with a variety of marinades.
I followed her plan, pre-marinades. I dried the tofu on paper towels, but used legal books to press out the liquid since we have a lot of those lying around not doing anyone any good. Then I sliced the tofu and baked it in the oven for 10 minutes per side at 200 degrees, to get it nice and dry before we added flavor.
We tried a lot of different flavors, which will be posted here. I'll edit this entry to add reviews of each, but honestly, after marinating this nonsense for hours in the middle of the night (why did I decide to start marinating at 10 pm?), I don't want to eat the tofu or even be near it right now.
1) Basic: soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and a few slices of green onion. I did lots of this because I knew it was going to come out ok.
This turned out great, like it always does. Still my favorite, even after all these variations.
2) Lime: lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil and sesame seeds. It may be evident that someone in this apartment really likes sesame...
This was ok, not super different from the original, just a little more tart. TBH... I like it w/o lime more (because I like salt?)
3) Orange: orange juice, soy sauce, and sesame oil. I tried to use fresh squeezed OJ, but I guess I picked a bad orange because it came out really bland. We had to supplement from the OJ in the fridge. (I think these might also have ended up with sesame seeds on them as well; how could that have happened?)
This turned out super bland. Probably my fault b/c of the OJ but yah, totally blah tofu-flavored tofu.
4) Lemon: lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and Italian seasoning. Should be lighter and flavorful (hopefully!)
I really enjoyed this one. Steve thought it was ok as well, though he didn't like it as much as I did. I probably won't make it in large quantities in the future, though I will try it again. However, baking it for longer was a huge mistake; it got hard, as did #6. 20 minutes seems to be a good cap. I did this one closer to 40 and it did not go well.
5) Teriyaki. We just used some store bought teriyaki sauce, although I think it's going to come out pretty similar to the soy.
This wasn't vastly different than the soy sauce, but it's pretty good. I enjoyed it enough that we've made more since this batch, especially since it's as easy as tofu + sauce from bottle = done, no mixology required.
6) Steven's creation: Italian dressing, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, lemon... and anything else he could find in the kitchen. Looking back now, his definitely looks the prettiest but I think we're both a bit nervous about how it's going to taste.
I didn't particularly enjoy this one. To tell the truth, with all the stuff involved, I thought it would have... *more* flavor than it did. Pretty bland given how much nonsense was involved.
Here they are all laid out on the counter, marinating away.
Here they are on the cookie sheet, ready for 10 minutes per side at 350 degrees.
Finally, here they are after baking both sides.
One of the pieces of garlic on Steven's recipe turned this weird green color. Not sure what's up with that; not sure I'm going to tell him about it, either.
Steve's recipe and my lemon and olive oil didn't look baked enough, so I did them another 15 minutes or so. And while waiting for them to cool... I fell asleep on the couch.
That's all the tofu for now. Results tomorrow, I promise!
I followed her plan, pre-marinades. I dried the tofu on paper towels, but used legal books to press out the liquid since we have a lot of those lying around not doing anyone any good. Then I sliced the tofu and baked it in the oven for 10 minutes per side at 200 degrees, to get it nice and dry before we added flavor.
We tried a lot of different flavors, which will be posted here. I'll edit this entry to add reviews of each, but honestly, after marinating this nonsense for hours in the middle of the night (why did I decide to start marinating at 10 pm?), I don't want to eat the tofu or even be near it right now.
1) Basic: soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and a few slices of green onion. I did lots of this because I knew it was going to come out ok.
This turned out great, like it always does. Still my favorite, even after all these variations.
2) Lime: lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil and sesame seeds. It may be evident that someone in this apartment really likes sesame...
This was ok, not super different from the original, just a little more tart. TBH... I like it w/o lime more (because I like salt?)
3) Orange: orange juice, soy sauce, and sesame oil. I tried to use fresh squeezed OJ, but I guess I picked a bad orange because it came out really bland. We had to supplement from the OJ in the fridge. (I think these might also have ended up with sesame seeds on them as well; how could that have happened?)
This turned out super bland. Probably my fault b/c of the OJ but yah, totally blah tofu-flavored tofu.
4) Lemon: lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and Italian seasoning. Should be lighter and flavorful (hopefully!)
I really enjoyed this one. Steve thought it was ok as well, though he didn't like it as much as I did. I probably won't make it in large quantities in the future, though I will try it again. However, baking it for longer was a huge mistake; it got hard, as did #6. 20 minutes seems to be a good cap. I did this one closer to 40 and it did not go well.
5) Teriyaki. We just used some store bought teriyaki sauce, although I think it's going to come out pretty similar to the soy.
This wasn't vastly different than the soy sauce, but it's pretty good. I enjoyed it enough that we've made more since this batch, especially since it's as easy as tofu + sauce from bottle = done, no mixology required.
6) Steven's creation: Italian dressing, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, lemon... and anything else he could find in the kitchen. Looking back now, his definitely looks the prettiest but I think we're both a bit nervous about how it's going to taste.
I didn't particularly enjoy this one. To tell the truth, with all the stuff involved, I thought it would have... *more* flavor than it did. Pretty bland given how much nonsense was involved.
Here they are all laid out on the counter, marinating away.
Here they are on the cookie sheet, ready for 10 minutes per side at 350 degrees.
Finally, here they are after baking both sides.
One of the pieces of garlic on Steven's recipe turned this weird green color. Not sure what's up with that; not sure I'm going to tell him about it, either.
Steve's recipe and my lemon and olive oil didn't look baked enough, so I did them another 15 minutes or so. And while waiting for them to cool... I fell asleep on the couch.
That's all the tofu for now. Results tomorrow, I promise!
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