Back on track.

$24.98 of snacky mix stuff from Pauls:
dried kiwi
dried strawberries
dried apricots
banana slices
corn nuts
raw pecans
raw almonds

10 individual bags, to take with me wherever I go. 2-3 servings a piece.
I think this will serve me well for about a month. ^_^

TAKE THAT, FRY CRAVINGS!

Pulled beef with a spicy sauce!

Today I made pulled beef because my grandmother sent me $40 in Walmart giftcards so I went shopping for Bad Movie Night food and bought some other groceries as well!

I bought a small rump roast and decided to cook it in the slow cooker. I started it around 11 today and we're just now eating. It's delicious!

Here's the recipe in case anyone is interested! (Sorry they're not exact amounts, I just make this stuff up as I go!)

Spicy Pulled Beef

Ingredients:
1 rump roast small enough to fit in your slow cooker
1 large onion
2 jalapenos
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
8 cloves of garlic
allspice, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper
a couple tablespoons of tomato paste
dash of white vinegar
canola oil for browning
1 lime

You'll also need a crockpot, a pan for browning the meat, and a saucepan, strainer and a blender if'n you want to make a fancy sauce.

Prep work.
Slice the onion into thick rings and set aside. Dice the jalapenos, taking out most of the membrane and seeds. Smash the garlic to take the skins off, and then mince them. Open the can of tomatoes. Roll the lime and cut it in half.

Liberally rub the roast with the salt, pepper, allspice, cumin and paprika. Make sure it's evenly coated. It should look like it has a second skin.


Cooking.
Heat a small amount of canola/olive oil in your pan. Wait until the oil shimmers and begin to brown the roast. Brown it on all sides until it has a nice crust. Transfer it to the slow cooker to rest.

Now, dump in your veggies and saute them for a few minutes until they begin to soften a bit. (Watch out for the fumes here. Those peppers are dangerous!) Juice the lime into the veggies, and then dump the diced tomatoes, juice and all into the pot.

Bring this to a simmer and then pour it over the meat in the slow cooker. Turn the slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours, turning once after 4 hours.

Finishing up!
Once the eight hours have passed, set the meat on a plate and let rest. Strain the liquid from the crockpot into a saucepan, making sure to catch all the solids in the strainer. Add the solids and a bit of liquid to the blender and process until smooth. Make sure to hold a paper towel over the top of the blender while doing this - hot liquid always wants to shoot right out of the blender!

Dump the contents back into the saucepan and taste. I added some oregano, and a bit of coriander at this point, as well as some tomato paste and a dash of vinegar.

Boil this, uncovered, for about 15 minutes or until it forms a fairly thick sauce. It should reduce and be about 1/4-1/3 of what it was before.

Serve on sandwiches or alone. We ate it alone because I forgot to get some nice bread. Hooray!

Pecan pie, scalloped potatoes, dress forms!

Making things I normally don't cook has begun!
I think I should come up with a better title/mission statement, yeah?

The pecan pie is on Instructables. The scalloped potatoes should be posted later tonight.

And today - I'm buying my first ever dress form! Mermaid costume here I come!

Fancy birthday!

I stayed in bed until 10:30, and then got up and had some earl gray tea and mango pie.

Jace got me a beautiful new teapot and some stacking mugs. He also brought home a box of chocolates and a silly ribbon on Valentines - I wasn't expecting that at all! I'm still laughing at the ribbon.

And my mom got to visit! Yay! And I bought an ice cream cake. It's tradition!

Plus, I get to eat Thai food and see Coraline tonight. ^_^

Kiwano fruit, I love you!

Seriously, how cute is this little fruit? It looks like a demented katamari. Jace found it while shopping tonight and I just had to have it. When we got home I checked my ever handy produce field guide and it told me it tasted like a cucumber crossed with a banana.
Cut it in half, it says, and so I do. I can't say I was expecting this. It's a good thing I have a serious picture taking problem. This is a food adventure worth documenting.
It's full of little seeds I'd compare to a cucumber, and it has membranes like those of a citrus fruit, but softer. The seeds are surrounded by green jell-o. Yes, green jell-o. The books tells me to use a spoon to scoop the insides out, and so I do.
This is the shell of the fruit, after I scooped the seeds and jell-o out. I scooped into a little ramekin and then added a pinch of sugar, as instructed.
The kiwano is my new favorite flavor of jell-o. It's bubbly and tart and sweet and slightly crunchy all at the same time. The colors are so vibrant and wonderful. I think I must go back to meijer and buy more.

Fast Food Bannage.

I have banned fast food from my diet. I finally gave up after a eating spell at Taco Bell led me on an awful migraine journey that lasted for four days.

I have no reason to eat it besides being lazy, really. And that's no excuse! So I've been making a little list of reason not to eat fast food, to keep myself on the straight and narrow fast food hating track. :D

#1 - Those are not real potatoes.
#2 - I don't really like meat that much, especially mystery meat!
#3 - I'm an awesome cook.
#4 - I like fresh fruits and veggies.
#5 - I can cook cheaper with fresh foods, hence saving monies.
#6 - Planning ahead and packing a lunch means I don't have to venture out into traffic and get stressed out during my lunch break.
#7 - I can control what I'm eating.
#8 - No sass from disgruntled fast food workers that hate their job. (Not that I blame them at all, I gave sass when I worked at McD's.)
#9 - The food has probably been sitting there for hours if they've been slow, and chances are the employees have been picking at it and slowly devouring everything in sight. It's what happened at McD's.
#10 - I keep remembering the lady at KFC who scooped out mac and cheese into tubs with her hands, and then licked her hands. It was surreal, but I'm sure it probably happens often.

...and a million other reasons, I'm sure.

I've been clean for over a month now, except for a couple of days ago when I got french fries from Penn Station, but I don't think that counts because I know those are real potatoes, and they fry them to order and they're not so scary. :D

Projects and more projects.

Yesterday when I got off work I made some salsa. I just got back from visiting my mom, and she sent me back with some absolutely beautiful peppers and tomatoes. The tomatoes are sweet and firm, and the peppers are dangerous as all get out.

She warned me about them - the guy who grows them lets them cross pollinate like crazy, so you never really know the type of pepper that will come out. Jalapenos that taste like habaneros, for example.

I cut open the poblano (the top picture) and it was beautiful and smelled mighty hot, so I figured it would be fine. But after I mixed the salsa together and tasted it, I decided I'd add another pepper. I chose a very unassuming looking little jalapeno... now my salsa is really exciting.

The jalapeno has a very grassy taste, and it's so wonderful until the heat hits you. Most of the salsa is relatively mild, but every few bites you get a taste of the jalapeno and you know the heat is on its way.

I haven't done much else but make salsa since I've been home. I did buy a mop and sew up another eye mask... but that's about it.

I do have lots of stuff planned for the upcoming couple weeks... a robot embroidery, Faberge eggs, applique on this awesome wool coat I found, perfecting my pin-up girl makeup. Other things too, like the chastity belt, but that's farther away.

I think I need another vacation from work. ;)

Oriental booty.

No, not that sort.

Seth and I decided to go grocery shopping today. I mostly decided this because I was in dire need of tapioca pearls. We went to a couple places off third street, with really generic sounding "Oriental" and "Vietnam" names. Do not be fooled by the names, though! They were amazing.

I will most certainly be going back.

Not only did I find three varieties of tapioca pearls, I also found the straws that are necessary to drink it properly along with green tea flavored boba mix. :D

I also bought some good quality fish sauce and lots of little candies and ginger and jasmine teas. Weeeee! Today was a good day afterall.

I just need to learn how to talk & read about food in foreign languages and I'll be all set.