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Entrees
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Okay, here's the thing. Burger King is the only fast food that my daughter will eat, and although I prefer my children to eat at home, I treat both kids to Burger King every Tuesday and Thursday for lunch on their way home from school. The employees there know us, and have come to anticipate our arrival. We always get the same thing~ two 5- piece chicken tenders, one small, (grr), order of fries to share and ice water. This has been our ritual for two years, and though many times I am hungry, once I pull up to the window at BK, I lose my appetite. The smell of BK alone is enough to do that to me now. I feed my children home-cooked meals most of the time, and encourage them to eat healthy snacks, and rarely ever give them beverages with sugar in them, so I don't feel bad about these two meals a week.
As for me, I am also choosey about the fast food that I'll eat. I think Wendy's has great burgers and salads, but their fries are grody. I don't like McDonalds, unless I'm in the mood for a sausage biscuit, although I think their fries are still some of the best. Steak and Shake has awesome burgers and fries, but they are more pricey and can take forever at the drive-through. Hardee's is much improved with their addition of Angus beef hamburgers, but nearly everything else there is gross, and they always get the order wrong. Arby's is one of my very favorites, though I don't like their fries I do love their jalapeno bites, and usually get those with one of their yummy sandwiches. My favorite fast food restaurant does not offer fries or burgers, though. Taco Bell, anyone?
Posted at 01:41 pm by ChefGrace
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Well, it's a couple of weeks earlier than I expected, but the cicadas have begun to emerge.
Here's an excerpt from story from National Geographic:
Brood X has arrived. Are you ready?
Billions of black, shrimp-size bugs with transparent wings and beady red eyes are beginning to carpet trees, buildings, poles, and just about anything else vertical in a wide region of the U.S. The invasion zone stretches from the eastern seaboard west through Indiana and south to Tennessee.
The message board on the Cicada Mania Web site, managed by Dan Century in Metuchen, New Jersey, was abuzz Tuesday with news of cicada sightings.
Dan from Silver Spring, Maryland, wrote: "Our 60 year old house and the surrounding yard are now covered with them. It was quite amusing watching my wife (who has never experienced the cicada before) sprint to her car with an umbrella over her head."
Amusing? Not to me. These buggers are icky. However, it is a very interesting phenomenon. What is believed to be the first cicada to emerge was found in Bloomington, Indiana, (home of Indiana University!), which is considered the epicenter of this event.
Some things to remember:
~ Cicadas will not eat plants or trees. They only eat the sap from the tree roots when underground. They can damage trees and plants, however, just by the sheer number of them that climb onto leaves and branches. I will be armed with garden hoses to keep the pests off of my stuff. There is an entire section of woods behind my house where they are welcome to hang out.
~ Cicadas are sometimes referred to as locusts, but they really aren't. Early settlers mistakenly identified the cicadas as locusts when they sited them in large groups.
~Cicadas are considered a delicacy by many people world-wide. They are low in fat and high in protein. Many of the early settlers witnessed the Native Americans eating them. You won't be finding any cicada recipes on any Food Friday menu, that's for sure.
I'll leave them for the birds, snakes and spiders in my yard. And cats.
~The 17-year cicadas are actually three species which emerge at the same time. Each species look and sound different. Only the male cicadas sing, as a way to attract the females, (much better than cheesy pickup lines). The three species sing at different times of day. Morning, mid afternoon, and late afternoon. In China, the males are kept in cages as housepets, so that people can listen to their songs. Whatever happened to canaries?
~ The males die shortly after they mate, leaving the females to do all the hard work. They will lay around 500 eggs in dozens of nests before they die, leaving their hard shells crusted all over trees and the ground.
I have not found any cicadas in my area yet, but I'm going to stock up on windshield wiper fluid today, and then spend the next few weeks indoors.
Posted at 01:09 pm by ChefGrace
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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
This is just odd. I was thinking about posting a little rant about Burger King, but decided to read some news items first. After skimming through the usual muck, I came upon not one, but two articles involving Burger King.
Those stories are here and here. The first story has to do with a homeless man who was asked to leave a Burger King, then proceeded to tear up some cash registers. Big deal. The second story has to do with Burger King's Subservient Chicken website. Basically, Burger King wants the chicken to enjoy a cult-like following, and keep out of the mainstream. Yeah, right.
Anyhoo~ my issue with Burger King is that for some insane reason, they've taken french fries off of the value menu. So, you can go there and get 5 chicken tenders for a dollar, and a coke for a dollar, but it's going to cost you $1.20 for medium fries. That's right~ going against the new trend to downsize Americans, Burger King does not offer a small order of french fries any longer.
I guess they need to come up with the money for some new cash registers and a lame chicken suit.
Posted at 01:38 pm by ChefGrace
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Monday, May 10, 2004
Highwaygirl, who, according to her blog, likes "cracking wise, twirling, running around my apartment, and rambling on and on about my petty annoyances and deep thoughts." She also hates guacamole and tweed;)
Name: Julie Goodrich
Age: 34
Location: Florida
Where were you born? Dunedin, FL
Have you ever lived in any other state?
I've also lived in Virginia (Norfolk, Chesapeake and
Virginia Beach) and North Carolina (Greensboro and
Raleigh). I would move back to any of those places in
a heartbeat because the weather is much more to my
liking.
What's the best thing about living in Florida?
The best thing about living in Florida? Being close
to my family. I live about 30 minutes away from my
mom, dad, brother, nephew, grandparents, aunts, uncles
and cousins. I really like being able to see them
whenever I want to, because they're a big part of my
support system.
The worst?
The worst thing about living in Florida is the weather
during the summer. I lived in this state until I was
24 so I never knew any differently, but once I moved
to Virginia I realized that there actually are four
different seasons, not two (Tepid and Freaking Hot).
Florida is uncommonly beautiful from November-March,
but outside of those months it can be brutal. My air
conditioning bills in the summer are disgusting.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A veterinarian.
You changed your mind?
Yeah, I changed my mind because as much as I love
animals - and I am a total sucker for them, with two
cats, a betta fish, and a hamster (who bit me this
weekend - my fault) inside the house and a flock of
backyard birds to feed - I realized that I probably
wouldn't do very well in a profession where I had to
see animals suffering and dying a lot. Even if I
could ultimately help heal some of them, it would just
be too hard for me.
Tell us a bit about your current job.
My present job is a source of much mystery to my
friends, I am told. No one knows what I actually do.
So I will tell you! The short version is that I'm a
technical writer. The longer version is that I'm a
content architect. Some of the things I do in an
average day are writing help text that helps users
navigate the software systems the company develops;
researching and developing original content for our
clients; editing client-provided content; working with
clients to figure out what types of content they want
in their systems, how they want it structured, and
then designing a hierarchy that meets their needs. I
also do a lot of research into workforce/labor issues,
contribute to the company's newsletter, and this year
I'll be spending a lot of time working to develop new
functionality for our systems.
Confused? If you want to see some of the stuff I've
done, visit http://www.vosdemo.com. Click on the
graphic, then select Option 3 - Guest Access. Choose
to enter the system as an Individual. The Community,
Unemployment, Veterans, and Youth and Senior Services
are all areas that I have developed.
Here is one of my recent newsletter features -
http://www.workdevonline.com/article.asp?id=45
What were mealtimes like for you as a child? If we ate
at the table, silent. But we almost never ate at the table.
Did you eat in front of the television?
You know, I honestly don't remember. Probably in
front of the television, yes. But we probably ate at
the table a lot too. I guess mealtimes were never a
memorable event for me. Now ask me about the time
that Midnight had her kittens in the storage room, or
when I found my kitten Bubbakee dead, and I've got
flashbulb memory-like recall of those events. But
meals, not so much.
Did you ever like any of your school photos? In
elementary school, yes. And I like my junior year
photo from high school, because I'm all gothed out.
Did your parents ever object to your style?
My parents were extremely cool about it, actually. I
think this was at least in part because, other than my
physical rebellion, I was a "good kid." I got really
good grades, I lettered in track all four years of
high school, I didn't mouth off, I wasn't into drugs,
I called if I was going to be home late, etc. They
gave me a lot of leeway as a teenager (I had a car
when I was 16 and my curfew was 2 a.m. on the
weekends) but I earned it - and kept it - by being
responsible.
I *did* listen to weird music and I shaved/dyed my
hair a lot, and I wore black and spider web earrings
all the time ... but my parents made the decision that
if THAT was the extent of my teenage rebellion, then
they could live with it.
What was your first date like? It was a group date
in 8th grade.
What is in your vegetable bin? Shredded carrots,
organic broccoli, baby spinach, cantaloupe,Bio-Spira
(aquarium cycling medium)
Do you eat much seafood?(sorry Otis)
Poor Otis. He's sick right now (I think he has a
parasite). I don't eat any seafood, really. I just
never really liked it. I will occasionally eat tuna
fish salad (water-packed tuna, light mayo, green
onions, and dill relish) on wheat bread, but that's
about it. I would eat fried shrimp if you forced me
too, as long as I had a lot of ketchup or cocktail
sauce available.
Oh, wait - I also love fish sticks. Mmm, Gorton's.
We had fish sticks and yellow rice all the time when I
was a kid. I haven't had that for years, though.
What color is your car? Silver blue
Are you having a good hair day? Why yes, I am.
Does the humidity ever wreck your 'do?
It would if I had much of one! My hair is straight
and fine which basically means it doesn't do a whole
lot but sit there. I don't use hair spray because I
hate the way it feels, so I basically work with what
my hair wants to do naturally anyway, and leave it at
that. I do use volumizing stuff, though, because
without it my hair is flaaaaaaaaaaaat. And I use John
Frieda Secret Weapon smoothing cream stuff on my part
to smooth down the little baby hairs that stick up.
Those are my nemeses.
What is your favorite cologne? If I could only
use one, it would probably be Marc Jacobs.
What is your middle name? Lynn
What type of books do you like to read? Anything
that teaches me something about a subject I don't know
a lot about (but find interesting).
What is your favorite type of cookie? Snickerdoodle
What are your thoughts on the upcoming season of Big
Brother?
I am cautiously optimistic, as always. Mostly I'm
looking forward to Hamster Time coming alive again. I
miss all of the people who post and recap there. I
hope that we have a better season in BB5 than we did
last year (Alison, UGH). I also hope that EZboard
holds up. That one day during BB4 that it was down
was pretty hellish.
I don't know if Shapiro will ever be able to top BB2,
as far as I'm concerned. Your first is always
special to you, isn't it? I guess that holds true
with Big Brother seasons as well.
Many thanks to Highwaygirl for letting us get to know her better!
Posted at 04:38 pm by ChefGrace
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Sunday, May 09, 2004
The last piece of ASS you'll ever get
Tonight is the two-hour finale of All-Stars Survivor, followed by the ASS reunion show. I can't say that I'm sorry to see this season end, because although I am a true Survivor fan, I did not like most of these people the first time around, so having to endure them for another season was, at times, torture.
I've had fun spoiling the show, and looking back realize that I only spoiled incorrectly once, thanks to reliable sources. You'd think that I would have done better on the fantasy league, but once again, I was consistently sucked. Oh well. It was still a lot of fun to play with friends.
We are down to the final four tonight. My prediction is that Rupert will be the first to go, followed by Jenna, leaving Rob and Amber as the final two. I named Amber as the winner early in the season, so I'm going to stick with her.
Other things you might see tonight is a "firey fight between two tribemates", a big surprise~(I refuse to use the "t" word), and perhaps some ex-truck-driving-lady will show up for the reunion with an Extreme Makeover.
Bring it on!
Oh-way-oh-way-oh Oh-way-oh-way-oh....
Posted at 05:12 pm by ChefGrace
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