Measi's Musings

Archive for November, 2009

So now that we’re a few days past Thanksgiving and the full T-day plate of turkey and sides is getting old, it’s time to start using the leftovers in different ways. We have TONS of turkey, so I’ll be working through a few of these by Wednesday.

Today’s soup sounded just meh to me, but I know that Erich loves the chicken tortilla soup from Au Bon Pain, so I figured I’d try one.

I found this on Recipezaar to use with Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. Very quick (30 minutes!!!) and stupidly easy to make. It has just a slight sweet spicy kick with surprisingly robust flavor for such a simple soup.

The recipe stated that this was four servings, but all was used up in our house between three bowls. I’d recommend doubling it, once you know if you like it.

I was lazy and didn’t do the tortilla browning – we just crumbled tortilla chips over it.

2 corn tortillas, cut into 2×1/2 inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped (approx 1/3 cup)
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (approx. 1/4 cup)
4 cups low sodium chicken broth (2 cans work fine)
1 cup shredded turkey or chicken
1 large tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 slices lime (garnish – optional)

1) Spray a skillet with light olive oil and fry the tortilla strips until brown & crisp. Drain on paper towel.

2) Spray pan again and saute the onions & chilis until tender, but not brown.

3) Add broth and turkey/chicken. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

4) Add tomato. Simmer 5 more minutes. Stir in the lime juice.

5) Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

6) Ladle into bowls. Add tortilla chips and garnish with a slice of lime.

Personal notes:

I’ll be experimenting next time with adding some chopped celery and possibly more jalapenos. It may be good as a slightly spicy turkey noodle soup, too.

Enjoy!

I have eight google wave invites if anyone wants one. Drop me your email address here or via PM.

‘m one of the people who purposely doesn’t go out for Black Friday. I may have to just because my nails are getting to that too long to do anything length, but otherwise… no. I will stay home and stay far away from the insanity.

Thanksgiving cooking went very well yesterday – I have conquered the 27 pound turkey. The leftover pile is terrifying, but oh… it was so good. I’m looking forward to the traditional leftover plate in a little while for lunch. Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of the turkey, cream cheese mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes & apples, sausage stuffing, rolls, and cranberry/apple/orange slaw. We bought pumpkin and apple pies for dessert. I didn’t make the mustard carrots that were also planned – if we need sides later this weekend, I’ll throw them together.

OM NOM NOM.

So yeah – nice, relaxing Thanksgiving with just the three of us. We have enough food to last us through the weekend, I think.

Hoodsie has become the wild turkey-hunting beast once again this year. He only purrs for turkey. Seriously. So he gets a lot of turkey. We want to hear the cat purr!

The plans to get yardwork done have fallen through for a couple days – we’re up against the lawn pickup deadline now. Providence stops picking up leaf bags in two weeks. So hopefully we’ll be able to get them done before the end of the season. If we’re late, the bags will go into the garage for the winter. *sigh*

The rest of the weekend is in flux. I’m going to get some cards written. I have a couple of stitching things to wrap up. I want to get laundry caught up (including that novel thing that is sock matching). I’m going to get caught up on Masterpiece Theater, some audio/visual stuff, some fanfic reading.

And I do really want to write, but my brain is still foggy.

So yeah – that’s what’s up here. How about you guys?

I’m one of the people who purposely doesn’t go out for Black Friday. I may have to just because my nails are getting to that too long to do anything length, but otherwise… no. I will stay home and stay far away from the insanity.

Thanksgiving cooking went very well yesterday – I have conquered the 27 pound turkey. The leftover pile is terrifying, but oh… it was so good. I’m looking forward to the traditional leftover plate in a little while for lunch. Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of the turkey, cream cheese mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes & apples, sausage stuffing, rolls, and cranberry/apple/orange slaw. We bought pumpkin and apple pies for dessert. I didn’t make the mustard carrots that were also planned – if we need sides later this weekend, I’ll throw them together.

OM NOM NOM.

So yeah – nice, relaxing Thanksgiving with just the three of us. We have enough food to last us through the weekend, I think.

Hoodsie has become the wild turkey-hunting beast once again this year. He only purrs for turkey. Seriously. So he gets a lot of turkey. We want to hear the cat purr!

The plans to get yardwork done have fallen through for a couple days – we’re up against the lawn pickup deadline now. Providence stops picking up leaf bags in two weeks. So hopefully we’ll be able to get them done before the end of the season. If we’re late, the bags will go into the garage for the winter. *sigh*

The rest of the weekend is in flux. I’m going to get some cards written. I have a couple of stitching things to wrap up. I want to get laundry caught up (including that novel thing that is sock matching). I’m going to get caught up on Masterpiece Theater, some audio/visual stuff, some fanfic reading.

And I do really want to write, but my brain is still foggy.

So yeah – that’s what’s up here. How about you guys?

CARDS!

I’m going to start writing them today, so if you want one – drop me your address. I have a signup here, but I know people are starting to get insane.

I’ll screen comments to this entry, and unlock ones that aren’t address-related.

Hope everyone celebrating has a good one!

I’m going to start cooking in a bit. Hosting plans for this weekend fell through, so my expected 10 person sit down is now three people. With a 27 pound turkey. (hee!)

Anyone have a good turkey stew recipe? I’m going to need something beyond my normal turkey salad, I think.

I have two four day weekends in a row. So. Happy. And I need them badly.

So a couple things…

If you’d like a card from me and haven’t dropped me a line, please go [HERE] and drop me a line on the form. It’s private and only I’ll see it, but in years past I had stuff all over the place. This will keep me better organized this year. And my address will pop up after you fill it out – or just let me know that you have a signup on your journal, and I’ll go find it.

And yes, I send internationally. In years past, I was a queen of penpalling. (I just may have sent a postal worker’s child to college with what I spent on stamps). Overseas postage and I are quite familiar.

——-

It’s a semi-working vacation this week for me. Mostly just little errands and chores to do around the house. I’d like to keep Thanksgiving weekend as work-free as possible, since I’m cooking.

I’m also getting an ornament finished up and mailed to my secret-swap partner (who is overseas… so I need to do it quickly to give it mailing time before Christmas). The stitches are done. Tomorrow morning will be adding beads and sewing it together into the little mini-pillow shape it will take, and then adding some decorative braiding and such to finish it off. I’m already proud of it, and I’ll probably make another for myself later.

Since I’m certain that my swap partner’s not on LiveJournal, I’ll post a finished photo of it here under a lock, just to make sure it stays a surprise. I’ll do an open post once I know she’s received it.

——–

Other stuff this weekend… on Friday night we’re going up to see A Christmas Carol being performed by a Catholic girls’ high school in the area. Our best man is directing the show and his mom is the musical coordinator. The school’s drama department is very solid – they do impressive productions. So that’ll be fun.

Immediately after, we’re driving down to Brewster, MA on Cape Cod for the annual Cape LAN – only it’s not really a computer LAN anymore since no one can afford to keep updating computers. Now it’s a weekend for Erich to run a session of his d20 campaigns with the guys and gives me a chance to do a trial run-through on some of the food for Thanksgiving.

Of course the biggest goal for me this time around is… to not get sick. Every year – and I mean EVERY YEAR – I’ve managed to get sick during the Cape LAN weekend. By about mid-day Saturday, I have the sniffles and I’m curled up feeling miserable up in the bedroom to keep myself away from everyone else. After dealing with the aftermath of whooping cough now for two months (that hit me for my LAST vacation days) ? Yeah… not really enthused to go through another round, particularly since I’m still getting the occasional coughing bout out of nowhere.

I’m looking forward to it, though. I’m going to bring my stitching and my laptop and do some tinkering with both crafty stuff and some fic (and rewatch Who, and see where the weekend takes me.

—-

So finally – I need a catch up. I have days to read fanfic. I have a piece from wendymr that was written just as I got hit by whooping cough that I need to catch up on. But what else since like… July… do I need to catch up on?

That’s it… going off to get stuff done now.

- Mel.

Well… I liked it.

/end of line

It’s funny – I’m all geared up to write, and then I sit with blank pages and go “Um… yeah, so what’s up with me lately?”

I’ve been sorting some of my older entries that translated over to WordPress with no labels and such, and I’m amazed at how much I had to write about years ago. Now? Life is just routine. I get up, I go to work, I headdesk a bit at work due to one frustration or another. After work I go home. I veg on the couch and stitch, or I play Bejewelled, or I play World of Warcraft. And then I go to bed. And six hours later, the whole routine starts again.

What the hell happened to me? Is mid-thirties when we all start getting boring?

Well, at least I seem to be.

It’s just strange – either it’s a sign that I’m content with my life as-is, and just don’t have the tortured soul need to write. Or perhaps experiences in Doctor Who fandom on LiveJournal and Diary-X in the past have me very… reserved… about what I want to write about, to the point that I’m not writing anything.

It’s crap. I need to fix this.

(sigh)

Along with the clicking clock theme of my last entry, I came across a great way to do my holiday cards this year, thanks to Weetabix.

So… if you’d like a card from me, please head over here and enter your info:   I’m planning on sending cards out at the end of November, but I’ll take requests until Christmas if people want them. 

I came across a great way to do my holiday cards this year, thanks to Weetabix.

So… if you’d like a card from me, please head over here and enter your info: I’m planning on sending cards out at the end of November, but I’ll take requests until Christmas if people want them.

Reciprocation is not necessary – I do love just sending them. But if you’re doing a card list of your own, there’s a field on there to add the link to your card thing (or just tell me you are… I’ll search your blog for it).

There’s a whole lot of Time-related stuff on my mind these days, and I’m not just referring to the new Doctor Who special on the 15th…

My brain still isn’t quite believing it’s November, even if we’re already nearly a quarter-way through the month already.  Where the heck has this year gone?  I’m getting the completely useless and stupid feeling like everything’s ending and OMGIMUSTGETTHISDONENOW!! as if the end of 2009 means the end of everything.

It’s absolutely stupid.  I have no idea where it comes from.  And I wish it would shut up.

Since it won’t, though, I’m considering what is realistic for me to get done before the end of the year, both in a practical “this shit really does need to get done, Mel” way, and fun stuff I’d like to get done.  I think I have the list down to a few things, both practical and not.

But that’s NOTHING compared to the clock that’s started ticking.

.

.

.

Yeah, that one.

The stupid one I NEVER EVER EVER THOUGHT WOULD KICK UP.  Oh, it has.  With a vengeance.

Not that people asking me why Erich and I don’t have kids already has helped at all.  Or that so many of our friends are blissfully (or otherwise) parental now.

It’s honestly hellish being the odd duck on this one.  No, I’m not opposed to having kids.  I’ve been completely neutral on it, actually.  If I had them, great.  If not, no problem.   I always thought that if I were going to have kids, I’d adopt.  For me, that’s the natural method of parenting anyway.

But biology is starting to warn me that 35, that “women over…” warning age for every medical label is approaching rapidly.  If I am going to have kids by pregnancy method, I probably should start thinking about it soon.  And then there’ s the question – do I really want to have kids?  Can we afford to have kids?  Is it even safe for me to think about having kids, given my weight?

Erich’s been on the negative side on this one, but even he’s mentioned feeling some pressure lately. Mostly due to the fact that we’re now becoming the rarity in our friends’ circle… the couple without them. 

It’s getting a bit lonely in the circle.

And the clock’s ticking.  And driving me absolutely insane. 

The thing is – I would never decide such a thing without Erich.  If he doesn’t want kids, then that’s that.  But at the same time, I’m troubled by it.  Really, really troubled by it.

And having just checked the date again and realized why these thoughts are probably even more intense is not helping.

*headdesk*

For October, I wanted to:

1) pick out and finish an ornament for the TW Ornament exchange  Yes! And I’m working on it now.
2) Finish the over-one cartouches on Egyptian Sampler  Done!
3) Update my stitching website pages with photos and progress  Didn’t have time. Too busy stitching!
4) Stitch 10 hours on Cats on a Staircase  Done!
5) Stitch 10 hours on Floral Bellpull  Didn’t get that far in my rotation.

For November, I want to:

1) Finish an ornament for the TW ornie exchange
2) Stitch 10 hours on Floral Bellpull
3) Stitch 10 hours on Apache Wedding Blessing
4) Update my stitching website with photos/progress
5) Frame the Star Wars sampler for DH

I’m definitely happy with my stitching progress.  I’m feeling well enough that I should be able to get back to some writing within the next couple weeks and clear out my obligation writing.  Hooray!