February Fourteenth. A day just like any other? No. This is the day that I invented my epic man food. Even though that day has passed some time ago, I would still like to share the details of my creation here. When I exclaimed that it was the greatest I had ever made, my roommate suggested that I write it down. Here is my account of how it happened.
Now I'm not going to try to exaggerate, I really am not that great at cooking and whatnot. When I finally flew the coup and moved out to Utah, I refused to live off of ramen noodles and frozen microwaveable dinners. Therefore, I have been slowly learning some new cooking skills a little bit at a time. I think it was around April or May when I wanted to fry some potatoes. I don't remember exactly where I got the idea to do it this way, but I cut it into cubes, added some chopped onion and green bell pepper and fried it all together on the stove top, like a stir fry. Then I think I just ate it with ketchup or something. Very simple and it tasted simple. Good, but simple. Over time I tried new things and experimented here and there. During late summer and fall when my sisters garden produced an abundance of green zucchini and yellow squash, I was using large amounts of those as a base, along with the potato, then adding various things to it.
Any of the following ingredients have been used at different times (but never all at once) and many are interchangeable depending upon availability and desired flavor: Yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes, green zucchini, hybrid yellow summer squash, yellow crookneck squash, Green bell pepper, red bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, white onion, yellow onion, green tomato, fried chicken (shredded), chopped hot dogs, scrambled eggs, crushed almond, crushed walnut, salt, fresh ground pepper, onion powder, garlic seasoning, colby jack cheese, pepperjack cheese, ketchup, salsa and probably a bunch of stuff I have already forgotten. But the purpose of this writing is to discuss the greatest of all, which was unlike any previous.
Usually I use a small blop of vegetable oil on the pan but this time I switched to olive oil. This is necessary to prevent the cubed potatoes from sticking to each other or the pan itself. The potatoes always go in first since they will take longest to cook through. Usually I do this uncovered on medium heat. This time however, I kept it covered on low to medium-low heat. I used one red potato and one gold potato. While the potatoes were slowly cooking, I meticulously chopped up about 3/4 of a small white onion, moving the potatoes around periodically then adding the onions. Then I cut up one whole green bell pepper and one half red bell pepper and added them in, stirring periodically to prevent burning and keeping covered on low heat.
This is where it starts getting interesting... In another pan, I began frying up several strips of low sodium bacon. I think I did about 8-10 strips in total, making sure that they were well done so they are crispy when cooled. In between frying bacon strips, I thinly sliced up some broccoli stem that needed using and I also threw in a few small broccoli tops. I thawed two regular hot dogs in the microwave and sliced them twice longways, then from the end getting four small pieces on each cut. About a dozen or more whole almonds were then crushed with a strong spoon. All was added to the pan except the bacon which was cooling off. Once cooled, I broke apart the bacon strips into very small pieces and stirred them in. Near this point I took the lid off and kept it off to release some of the moisture. Keeping it on low heat, the entire process was slow cooked from the beginning for about an hour and a half. I seasoned it with a few shakes of salt, a few turns of the peppercorn grinder, a few shakes of bbq seasoning, with about 3 or 4 slices of lime squeezed in. Stir a few more times then serve with generous amounts of shredded pepperjack cheese on top so that it gets halfway melty. Devour.
The biggest, not so secret, ingredient here that helps to make it so epic is the copious amount of bacon. Additionally the bbq seasoning, lime and shredded pepperjack make a significant contribution as well. The amounts I used, created about 3 adult size servings, at least that's how many times I filled my plate before I had transferred the entire contents of the pan into my stomach. It was amazingly delicious in every way possible. This, was a meal for one purpose. To feed a hungry man!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Valenslimes
As the title suggests, I am not a fan of this vile commercial "holiday". Perhaps its because the only time that I have had a significant other on this day was also while she was studying abroad in Europe for months, and thus it was nothing spectacular. I think I drew her a picture with crayons and mailed it. I know, it was silly, although admittedly fun. Now, my disdain for the day is probably due to my dislike of gooey, mushy, public shows of affection, as well as the high frequency of Tom Shane commercials on mainstream radio stations. I don't know about anyone else, but I cannot stand that guy. I'm not sure if it's his voice or the repetitiveness of his commercials or both, but when I hear it coming, I tell you what, my hand can't move any faster towards that next preset button.
Lately, I feel like I have been receiving an unusually high amount of unsolicited attention from the members of the opposite gender. I find this to be quite strange, especially since I think of myself as just an average chill guy, one that girls seldom actually take a serious interest in, but rather keep around as a friend. I've grown accustomed to this and frankly, right now in my life, I haven't placed a high priority on dating, despite living in one of the largest and busiest dating pools. When I moved here, I had a few people make jokes about or even just straight up ask me if I was going there to "find a wife". Good grief. There are other reasons for making a life changing relocation as I did.
My usual style of asking a girl out is one where I prefer to get to know them in social settings and groups a little bit and then if I'm still interested and if I feel like they may also be interested, I'll make a move. However, as I mentioned earlier, I haven't really made dating a priority at this point in my life. Perhaps I should. Really. I'm 27. Definitely a menace to society by now. Shortly after the first of the year I was somewhat tricked into writing down a new years goal to date, and more specifically to beat my roommate. Last term, my roommate had a crazy busy full class schedule, worked like 3 jobs, barely ever slept, and dated more than I did. The guy is a freakin beast. What did I do? Worked part time at one job, annnnnd yeah, thats it. But going back to an earlier observation, recently various girls have been showing what I feel like is an unusual amount of attention for an average guy like myself. I'm really not used to this phenomenon and honestly wasn't sure how to handle it. I was definitely overwhelmed. Then I got to thinking, hey, that February holiday is coming around again in a couple weeks... I think it's just making these girls go stark raving mad! Okay, exaggeration. But, still! Anywho, I have tried to kinda play it cool and just be same old average self, and now that valenslimes is tomorrow I feel like the flames have cooled off a bit, and I'm okay with that, because all along, I've been making observations and taking mental notes. Now I'm ready to start asking some of them out. Hopefully it's not too obvious that I clearly didn't want anything to do with this meaningless holiday. But if that bothers them too much, then they are probably not the right person for me. Realistically though, I would have reacted the same if the scenario were any other time of year.
So without further ado, here's tomorrow's schedule of events. I will awake and go to work at the usual time and get off sometime around 6-7 hours later, depending on work load. I will then make an incredible dinner from scratch with extra bacon and I will devour said dinner while enjoying a great man movie, The Last Samurai. Following the movie, I will probably just go to bed and catch up on lost sleep from the previous few nights, including right now when I should be asleep rather than writing this drivel. But yet, here I am. Therefore I declare February Fourteenth to be a day just like any other day in which I might make an awesome dinner and watch an awesome movie. Yes. To be a single man tomorrow is a very pleasant bliss that I for one, intend to appreciate. Goodnight.
Lately, I feel like I have been receiving an unusually high amount of unsolicited attention from the members of the opposite gender. I find this to be quite strange, especially since I think of myself as just an average chill guy, one that girls seldom actually take a serious interest in, but rather keep around as a friend. I've grown accustomed to this and frankly, right now in my life, I haven't placed a high priority on dating, despite living in one of the largest and busiest dating pools. When I moved here, I had a few people make jokes about or even just straight up ask me if I was going there to "find a wife". Good grief. There are other reasons for making a life changing relocation as I did.
My usual style of asking a girl out is one where I prefer to get to know them in social settings and groups a little bit and then if I'm still interested and if I feel like they may also be interested, I'll make a move. However, as I mentioned earlier, I haven't really made dating a priority at this point in my life. Perhaps I should. Really. I'm 27. Definitely a menace to society by now. Shortly after the first of the year I was somewhat tricked into writing down a new years goal to date, and more specifically to beat my roommate. Last term, my roommate had a crazy busy full class schedule, worked like 3 jobs, barely ever slept, and dated more than I did. The guy is a freakin beast. What did I do? Worked part time at one job, annnnnd yeah, thats it. But going back to an earlier observation, recently various girls have been showing what I feel like is an unusual amount of attention for an average guy like myself. I'm really not used to this phenomenon and honestly wasn't sure how to handle it. I was definitely overwhelmed. Then I got to thinking, hey, that February holiday is coming around again in a couple weeks... I think it's just making these girls go stark raving mad! Okay, exaggeration. But, still! Anywho, I have tried to kinda play it cool and just be same old average self, and now that valenslimes is tomorrow I feel like the flames have cooled off a bit, and I'm okay with that, because all along, I've been making observations and taking mental notes. Now I'm ready to start asking some of them out. Hopefully it's not too obvious that I clearly didn't want anything to do with this meaningless holiday. But if that bothers them too much, then they are probably not the right person for me. Realistically though, I would have reacted the same if the scenario were any other time of year.
So without further ado, here's tomorrow's schedule of events. I will awake and go to work at the usual time and get off sometime around 6-7 hours later, depending on work load. I will then make an incredible dinner from scratch with extra bacon and I will devour said dinner while enjoying a great man movie, The Last Samurai. Following the movie, I will probably just go to bed and catch up on lost sleep from the previous few nights, including right now when I should be asleep rather than writing this drivel. But yet, here I am. Therefore I declare February Fourteenth to be a day just like any other day in which I might make an awesome dinner and watch an awesome movie. Yes. To be a single man tomorrow is a very pleasant bliss that I for one, intend to appreciate. Goodnight.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Holiday Recap
Well here I am once again. It's 2012. Woooo! Since my last blog post there has been a lot of worthy topics and entries I could have written about. I'll try to summarize some of them here.
My birthday: I turned twenty-seven. I don't particularly care for the increase. However it was an enjoyable day. The Sunday before, my sister invited me to have a birthday dinner with her family. It was a lot of fun! My nephews and nieces made a cool Happy Birthday sign, which is currently still on my wall. My birthday fell on a Monday this year so after work, my friend took me out to dinner at this Texas steakhouse. The food was really good! They announced my birthday and made me sit on a saddle while other restaurant patrons shouted, "yeehaw!" A little embarrassing, but I'll never see any of those people again... haha After the restaurant we headed up to Salt Lake City and stopped at this awesome little hole-in-the-wall type cookie shop. Mmmmmm. Then we went to see the Temple Square Christmas lights display and walked around in the freezing cold, taking pictures and sipping hot chocolate. I'm not the type of person that throws huge birthday parties. I would rather enjoy a relaxing fun evening with a few friends or family and this was more than I could have asked for. It was a great birthday!
The week after, I made another exploratory trip out towards the lake and discovered a really cool marshy pond area that was entirely frozen. It was a neat area with a few trees right along the edge of the water and loads of cattails. Even though the city was just a few minutes away, this felt like it was miles from the cares of the world. I will return. Also the lake had frozen and the ice flow had shifted and created heaps of broken up chunks of ice along the shore. I found that the lake also makes many creepy, eerie noises at dusk when it's frozen. It was fascinating! I also visited a small park a little farther north along the shore that was part of the former Geneva Steel site. It had a little beach area and some neat photo ops. It also looked like a great place for a bonfire, which I would like to organize one of these days.
Christmas: It was on a Sunday this year and I was lucky enough to have both the Friday before and Monday after off from work. I was also lucky enough to be able to get decently priced round trip plane tickets for the exact times that I needed to leave and return in order to fully maximize my time in Oregon. I was able to visit with a few friends, spend some time outdoors, take lots of pictures, celebrate Christmas, and see all my family in Oregon. It was great! One of my nieces had apparently not heard that I was flying in and when she arrived at my parents house I came out of a room and received an unexpected running pounce of a hug! She didn't want to let go :) It was an excellent Christmas vacation weekend! And also weird in a way, being the first Christmas where I was "just visiting". I hope that I can always make it for Christmas.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Year after year, I have always wanted to go see them perform live but for many different reasons it has never worked out. But finally, on December 28th, I was able to go! Many thanks go to my good friend who got me a ticket as part of a combined Birthday/Christmas present. It was phenomenal! Their own rock opera act opened the first half of the show and then they finished with an all out epic firestorm of hard rock holiday songs! I will definitely go again sometime, hopefully next year.
New Years: I was unfortunately feeling kinda crummy with a cold that hit me right after the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and I didn't really have any huge new years eve plans anyhow so I just stayed home. However, one of my friends from back home called me and said he had just moved into his new apartment that day, which was coincidentally almost across the street from my duplex. Both my roommates were out so I was just watching movies and eating junk food until my friend came over and then we just hung out and caught up on life and things. For the countdown we couldn't think of anything more awesome to do than to run outside and go down the slide upside down and backwards at exactly midnight. But it was good times. Then we walked over to his place and watched a Futurama marathon on tv until 2am. I've certainly had more and less exciting new years eves, but since being kinda sick I had expected very little and therefore was not disappointed.
On New Years Day, I carried on the tradition of a new years hike or adventure but without the usual company since they were all still in Oregon. Instead I went to Rock Canyon for just a little bit by myself to take a few pictures since I hadn't been there since fall. Shortly thereafter I picked up my friend and her and I went up to American Fork Canyon just for a little drive. We stopped at a few places and took lots of pictures. In one spot we found a small, steeply cascading stream that was entirely frozen. I was able to walk up it like stairs. It was really cool! And cold. So we headed back and had some hot cocoa. That wrapped up my successful traditional New Years adventure.
Visitors from out of state: In January my closest sister and brother in-law finally were able to move down here. Their house in Oregon had been on the market for over a year and due to economic conditions and market trends they weren't able to sell. However, they chose to rent it out instead and were able to continue on their game plan and move out here. Their purpose in moving here is similar to mine. Working and getting more education, while making new life experiences. I am so glad to have them here because now I have more people to go on awesome little adventures with, which we have already successfully done! They needed a break from job applications one day so I took them up to Pleasant Grove where we hiked to Battle Creek Falls and did some exploring.
Also in January, I had some friends come down for a visit one weekend. They are all currently going to school in Idaho which is only a few hours drive away. I showed them around some of the cool places I had found here. We went to Bridal Veil Falls and North Falls, both of which were icy and awesome looking. Later we went out to the lake which was also icy, but not as much as when I had been there before. We did a little exploring, some hanging out, made an epic breakfast and enjoyed a dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. It was a really fun weekend!
Wild & Wacky Willies: A while back I had heard about this food invention from a guy I know at church. His brother invented it while serving an LDS mission. It consists of an egg, a pancake, cheese and sausage all wrapped up into one thing. There are actually three types. The "One-Eyed Willy", reference to The Goonies, is where you take an egg and start cooking it, then pour pancake batter over it. Fried egg in a pancake. The "Wild Willy" is an egg on side of the pancake and cheese that gets fried and crispy into the other side of the pancake. The "Wild and Wacky Willy" is the same as the previous but in addition to cheese, you add sausage chunks that get fried into the flipside of the pancake. He prefers it served with fresh sliced tomatoes and salt on top. Last week we got a small group together Sunday morning before church and we made these for breakfast. It is surprisingly delicious and I'm excited to try some variations on it including hashbrowned potatoes and syrup. We talked about possibly making this happen every other week at different locations and inviting more people.
Lava Hot Springs: Most recently, I ventured up to Lava Hot Springs at the request of some friends from Idaho. It's about a two and a half hour drive north for me and a one and a half hour drive south for them. We split a room five ways in this old hotel which had originally been built roughly 90 years ago as the town's original hospital. There were about 6 different pools with varying temperatures and we tried them all. It was indeed, relaxing! We spent Friday night and most of Saturday there. We came into contact with all kinds of interesting people, visitors and locals, as we relaxed at the hotel, soaked in the pools, walked around the town and perused various shops, restaurants and a museum. It was a short but awesome little adventure with some fun friends!
And that pretty much sums up the last two months. I had forgotten my blogger password and also have been pretty busy with work and these adventures, so that is my excuse for not updating sooner. But don't worry, I'll be back again soon.
My birthday: I turned twenty-seven. I don't particularly care for the increase. However it was an enjoyable day. The Sunday before, my sister invited me to have a birthday dinner with her family. It was a lot of fun! My nephews and nieces made a cool Happy Birthday sign, which is currently still on my wall. My birthday fell on a Monday this year so after work, my friend took me out to dinner at this Texas steakhouse. The food was really good! They announced my birthday and made me sit on a saddle while other restaurant patrons shouted, "yeehaw!" A little embarrassing, but I'll never see any of those people again... haha After the restaurant we headed up to Salt Lake City and stopped at this awesome little hole-in-the-wall type cookie shop. Mmmmmm. Then we went to see the Temple Square Christmas lights display and walked around in the freezing cold, taking pictures and sipping hot chocolate. I'm not the type of person that throws huge birthday parties. I would rather enjoy a relaxing fun evening with a few friends or family and this was more than I could have asked for. It was a great birthday!
Christmas: It was on a Sunday this year and I was lucky enough to have both the Friday before and Monday after off from work. I was also lucky enough to be able to get decently priced round trip plane tickets for the exact times that I needed to leave and return in order to fully maximize my time in Oregon. I was able to visit with a few friends, spend some time outdoors, take lots of pictures, celebrate Christmas, and see all my family in Oregon. It was great! One of my nieces had apparently not heard that I was flying in and when she arrived at my parents house I came out of a room and received an unexpected running pounce of a hug! She didn't want to let go :) It was an excellent Christmas vacation weekend! And also weird in a way, being the first Christmas where I was "just visiting". I hope that I can always make it for Christmas.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Year after year, I have always wanted to go see them perform live but for many different reasons it has never worked out. But finally, on December 28th, I was able to go! Many thanks go to my good friend who got me a ticket as part of a combined Birthday/Christmas present. It was phenomenal! Their own rock opera act opened the first half of the show and then they finished with an all out epic firestorm of hard rock holiday songs! I will definitely go again sometime, hopefully next year.
New Years: I was unfortunately feeling kinda crummy with a cold that hit me right after the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and I didn't really have any huge new years eve plans anyhow so I just stayed home. However, one of my friends from back home called me and said he had just moved into his new apartment that day, which was coincidentally almost across the street from my duplex. Both my roommates were out so I was just watching movies and eating junk food until my friend came over and then we just hung out and caught up on life and things. For the countdown we couldn't think of anything more awesome to do than to run outside and go down the slide upside down and backwards at exactly midnight. But it was good times. Then we walked over to his place and watched a Futurama marathon on tv until 2am. I've certainly had more and less exciting new years eves, but since being kinda sick I had expected very little and therefore was not disappointed.
On New Years Day, I carried on the tradition of a new years hike or adventure but without the usual company since they were all still in Oregon. Instead I went to Rock Canyon for just a little bit by myself to take a few pictures since I hadn't been there since fall. Shortly thereafter I picked up my friend and her and I went up to American Fork Canyon just for a little drive. We stopped at a few places and took lots of pictures. In one spot we found a small, steeply cascading stream that was entirely frozen. I was able to walk up it like stairs. It was really cool! And cold. So we headed back and had some hot cocoa. That wrapped up my successful traditional New Years adventure.
Visitors from out of state: In January my closest sister and brother in-law finally were able to move down here. Their house in Oregon had been on the market for over a year and due to economic conditions and market trends they weren't able to sell. However, they chose to rent it out instead and were able to continue on their game plan and move out here. Their purpose in moving here is similar to mine. Working and getting more education, while making new life experiences. I am so glad to have them here because now I have more people to go on awesome little adventures with, which we have already successfully done! They needed a break from job applications one day so I took them up to Pleasant Grove where we hiked to Battle Creek Falls and did some exploring.
Wild & Wacky Willies: A while back I had heard about this food invention from a guy I know at church. His brother invented it while serving an LDS mission. It consists of an egg, a pancake, cheese and sausage all wrapped up into one thing. There are actually three types. The "One-Eyed Willy", reference to The Goonies, is where you take an egg and start cooking it, then pour pancake batter over it. Fried egg in a pancake. The "Wild Willy" is an egg on side of the pancake and cheese that gets fried and crispy into the other side of the pancake. The "Wild and Wacky Willy" is the same as the previous but in addition to cheese, you add sausage chunks that get fried into the flipside of the pancake. He prefers it served with fresh sliced tomatoes and salt on top. Last week we got a small group together Sunday morning before church and we made these for breakfast. It is surprisingly delicious and I'm excited to try some variations on it including hashbrowned potatoes and syrup. We talked about possibly making this happen every other week at different locations and inviting more people.
Lava Hot Springs: Most recently, I ventured up to Lava Hot Springs at the request of some friends from Idaho. It's about a two and a half hour drive north for me and a one and a half hour drive south for them. We split a room five ways in this old hotel which had originally been built roughly 90 years ago as the town's original hospital. There were about 6 different pools with varying temperatures and we tried them all. It was indeed, relaxing! We spent Friday night and most of Saturday there. We came into contact with all kinds of interesting people, visitors and locals, as we relaxed at the hotel, soaked in the pools, walked around the town and perused various shops, restaurants and a museum. It was a short but awesome little adventure with some fun friends!
And that pretty much sums up the last two months. I had forgotten my blogger password and also have been pretty busy with work and these adventures, so that is my excuse for not updating sooner. But don't worry, I'll be back again soon.
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