Archive for the 'Life' Category
Plumbing, plumbing, plumbing
More plumbing is to take place today. Finally, the plumber and landlord have agreed to tear out part of a wall to actually find the problem. With a great amount of luck, the water flow will at least be ebbed today (in both of the spots where it is leaking).
2 commentsDinner at Dayna’s
Went to Dayna’s (Mazz’s “bird”) house tonight for supper where she cooked up a wonderful Barley & Mushroom soup and some cornbread. I helped a little by chopping up some celery and mushrooms, but Dayna’s magic and skill made the meal.
In other news, Dayna’s son, Quinn, has been having computer issues that I haven’t been very helpful with. He’s got an older Dell Dimension 2300, a box that doesn’t have an AGP or PCIe slot – just standard PCI and he wants to be able to play several Lego games that require Pixel Shaders or some such. I think I *might* have found him a card that will work, but I’m not sure. Why does Lego make games that require expensive hardware? Even if they do, can’t you just turn off Pixel Shaders and play the game with less details?
I managed to find a very close recipe online from what I remember in helping to prepare it:
— From Real Simple Magazine, November 2005
Makes 4 servings
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 1 cup pearl barley
- 2 medium yellow onions, diced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 20 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
- 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 sprigs fresh thyme
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat; add barley and saute for 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from heat. In a medium pan, bring the barley and 4 cups of water to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender, 25 to 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 ½ tablespoons oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until the onions have softened, 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the carrot and celery and cook, covered, for 5 minutes more. Add the mushrooms, increase heat to medium-high and cook, covered, until they release their juices, about 4 minutes. Add the broth, bay leaves and thyme and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
Stir in the cooked barley and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove and discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. If desired, season with additional salt and pepper.
Christmas with the Folks – argh
I was all excited this year because my folks were supposed to be coming up to Fargo for X-mas. Which meant that I could sleep in my own bed and not have to spend hours traveling. My mom, excitedly, e-mailed me yesterday and said that my sister is no longer on call X-mas day and we’re going to have X-mas back home again. She wrote it like I would be happy about this, which I’m totally not.
I’m actually really pissed off right now. The holidays are stressful enough in just dealing with my family without the changes happening days before Xmas. I’m planning right now on trying to spend X-mas eve with my sister in town and just go nowhere on X-mas day.
No commentsHoliday Goodness
Must try making this soon: Home-made Ginger Ale. Links to other tasty goodness are at the bottom of the page.
No commentsCraziness at the bars
’tis the season, I guess. Labby’s was packed to standing room only (Christmas parties) and the Turf is filled with rambunctious college students’ last day of classes celebration (although finals still remain). No beer for me at the Turf tonight, as I’m going over to Mazz & Dana’s place for little wine party. It’ll be a long evening, but a nice end to my sleep-depraved week.
No commentsPlumbing
Well, after over a year of having a leaky ceiling, plumbers finally arrived yesterday to fix the problem. Apparently my upstairs neighbor would point her hand-held shower head at or above the tub fixtures, which were not sealed properly, causing much leakage into my apartment. This morning there was still a hole in the ceiling, but hopefully soon it’ll be patched up and I won’t have to worry about my cat tipping over the various buckets used to contain the leaks. Ugh!
