Moody Blues

I just had to do my least favorite thing in the whole world. Call people on the phone. Is it weird that I am essentially a secretary ...prolly. I had to call 6 High School children and tell them they just got 2000 dollars. Should be fun right? Nope. They were not as excited as I would have expected. I think 2 grand is a lot of money. Maybe someday they will too. They all seemed reluctant to come to our induction ceremony. They get recogniziton, to be on TV, and a free dinner for them and two family members. all in all not a bad deal... but no. I had to talk to a mother. I just gave your kid money! why are you a bitch! I didn't want to talk to you anyway you didn't win anything! I hope someday soon I can go back to having a job where I don't have to talk to customers or donors or patrons. I would be a much happier girl writing little tiny numbers on things than explaining to someone for the 15'000th time that no we don't sell baseball cards.... we are a museum. Okokok.. I think im done.
Not that I am taking my job for granted. Lots of people would be jealous of my job. I get paid 12 dollars an hour to surf the web. Currently I am at work writing this. Here is a rundown of things I have done today. 8-930 did some work for Joe (my boyfriend not my boss). 9:30-12 read all my comics, the news, the eagle, the Oregonian. 12-1 lunch .. I watch the cobert report during lunch. 1- 2 I called the high school kids. Now I have til 4 to waste. Definitely more news on the horizon for me. It's not like I am the only one that does this.. If I turn around I can see one of my bosses playing tetras. Ahh nonprofit jobs.
It's times like this where I dream of getting a new job. or perhaps winning the lottery. even my old job would be better. At least there were people I could talk to and there was a mission.
Maybe Paul Allen will call me soon and offer me that job.

Chickpea / Sweet Potato Casserole

Chickpea / Sweet Potato Casserole
A few people have been asking for this so here it is.
It is my new comfort food.

1 cup dried chickpeas cooked for two hours. or 1 can
2 medium sweet potatoes (yams also work)
1 small onion (diced)
1/2 Jar Salsa
1 red pepper (diced)
1/2 tsp chili powder
8 corn tortillas (taco sized)
dash of cayanne pepper
salt and pepper
oil


Sauce
1 1/2 cup Milk
3 or 4 Tbs flour
1 1/2 cups of grated cheese

Cooking
-- Chickpeas. If you are using dried (which tastes better but is slightly more work) soak the beans in water (in a bowl or container with a couple of inches covering the beans all day or overnight) Drain and rinse the beans. Put the beans in a sauce pan with a few inches of water covering them. Bring to a boil then simmer for 2 hours.
-- Sweet potatoes. peal the tato and dice into cubes, toss with oil and salt and pepper and bake for about 40 minutes. or grate and pan fry in a few tablespoons of butter for ten minutes or boil and mash.
(I usually do those first two steps the night before while I am cooking that nights dinner. then the rest doesn't take that long.)

-- In a large skillet heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and peppers and cooked till tender (about 5-10 minutes).
Add the salsa, potatoes, Chickpeas, seasonings, salsa. Heat through.
-- Meanwhile. Heat 1 and 1/4 of the milk over meduim heat. Mix the remaining 1/4 with the flour. When the milk is warm whisk in the flour. Whisk for about a minute. Slowly add and whisk in the grated cheese. The sauce will be thick.
-- Cut the tortillas in half and layer the bottom of a greased 8 x 8 baking dish with 1/2 the torts. Add the filling. Layer the top with remaining torts. Pour on milk sauce. Sprinkle a little more cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350.
-- serve with sour cream (optional)

Last time I made this it was enough food for Joe and I to eat dinner and two lunches.

So Tired.

We have been busy. We went to Seattle to visit and see the Sox. Dave came for a few days. I feel like I haven't slept in in ages. I don't see that happening til mid-June. Ouch. This weekend is the Rose Festival. So we may head out to the Grand Parade that goes through downtown. I doubt we will get to see much of it because they allow you to camp on the route the night before.. and we are totally not doing that. I am sure it will be the biggest parade I have ever seen in person. I think somewhere around 300,000 people pack into downtown to see the parade. Sunday is my first day of volunteering at my neighborhood farmers market! I took the early morning shift so joe and I could still have the day to do weekend things. I am super excited about the market. Soon joe and I will be eating vegetables grown on a sustainable farm just 1.5 miles from our house! Recently I have been reading a lot of foodie books. So now I dream about owning a farm.. not really all the work just the benefits of yummy veggies and grass fed meat. I bought a powerball ticket this week. so we shall see.

How to get things done.

Joe and I are heading to Seattle for the weekend for a mix of the two best things, family and the Red Sox. It is our first time away from Portland together since Thanksgiving. (I actually left for a night once with Eric while he was visiting) It feels like we are going on vacation. Joe's work friend is going to check in on Alice. Joe doesn't have to work til Wednesday and I am taking till Tuesday afternoon off. I am so excited. That makes my Friday very busy. We use the weekend usually to do errands. I grocery shop, do the laundry, clean (sometimes). So I have to smush it all into Friday instead of spread out over three days. Luckily I only work til 1pm on Fridays so I have a good portion of the day to work with. I have to make a list of things I need to do or they never get done. A list is very important. For the past week or two my dresser has been broken. The top drawer became separated. I can open it but everything stays put. I can't complain because we got the dresser from the side of the road. It is on my list now. So tonight I will take out the duck tape and fix that puppy up so I can actually see what socks I will be wearing instead of just getting what I get. I made our weekly dinner list last night. On Thursday I sit and looks though cook books and figure out what food we are going to eat for the next week. I make a list of possible dinners (I try to pick out 8 meals so I don't have to stick to the list exactly) The list also includes a rundown of ingredients so I can make my grocery list based on it. It sounds complicated but it works. This week we are going to have Bouangerie Beans and Potatoes. (hmm totally the best meal that is so easy and inexpensive). Tempeh Chili with black beans, Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad, Corn Pancakes Thai Style, and Pasta with a sauce cooked in my new slow cooker. ( I know that is only 5 but we will be away this week) Bonnie and Holly got the slow cooker for me. I have made Tuscan Rosemary Beans (which kind of turned into a soup but was still delicious.)and today I am slow cooking beets all day. I can't wait.Joe has really turned me on to beets. It is going to be awesome to get home and have the whole house smell so earthy! I wish I could leave work now so I could get all this stuff done. I really want to get to the best part of the evening which will be a couple glasses of Absinthe and a Red Sox game that starts at 7pm instead of 4!

Rally

I don't know if you can tell from the photo but way in distance there is a little flag. That is how far away we were from Obama. We stood in a line that snaked around a good 13 or 14 city blocks. There ended up being about 75,000 people. Pretty Crazy.

Imagine.

Could you imagine Kerry or Kennedy standing in Park Square, waving, trying to get your vote? Prolly not. Well today I saw Steve Novick waving at a busy intersection right outside of downtown. He is the current front runner for senator. I am pretty happy I voted for him. He is an interesting guy. He has a hook for a hand. (part of his campaigning was a beer called Left Hook Lager.) I am taller than he his if you can imagine me being taller than anyone. oh an I pretty much (but not totally but more so than I did with other candidates) agree with him politically too.
Speaking of politics Joe and I are going to see Obama on Sunday! Should be pretty interesting since neither of us have ever been to a political rally before. More on that to come.

Other Blogs

I was just reading over Joe's blog when I read this.



"I got home to a house full of wonderful smells and Lauren doing some serious cooking. ...
homemade pan fried seitan lentil loaf, braised carrots and a broiled asparagus casserole with homemade bread crumbs and local extra sharp cheddar aged 3 years. On top of it all was a delicious mushroom nutritional yeast gravy."

And I thought damn I became crunchy.. remember when I used to eat rare burgers?



For those of you who don't know what seitan is (I didn't either till I had a corned seitan sandwich at a Vegan resturant) It is made out of wheat gluten. Wiki says "It is made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch dissolves, leaving insoluble gluten as a gummy mass, which is subject to further processing." I purchased mine as you would with flour. I made mine by putting 3/4 of a cup into the food processor and then adding 1/3 of a cup of dried lentils. Mix it for a minute or two with 3/4 of a cup of water and presto you have a nice sticky gummy dough. You let the dough sit for 20 minutes under a towel and then boil it for about 1 hour. (I boiled mine in 6 cups of water mixed with 1/3 of a cup of soy sauce. ) and thats it.. It turns into about a 1.5 pound loaf. That kinda looked like the one below if that one were to have lentils in it. I may try straight out seitan next time.
Nutritional yeast too might also make you wonder. Nutritional yeast is grown on mineral enriched molasses and used as a food supplement. At the end of the growth period, the culture is pasteurized to kill the yeast. Nutritional yeast contains 18 amino acids (forming the complete protein) and 15 minerals. Being rich in the B-complex vitamins, it is vital in many ways and particularly good for stress reduction. The B-complex vitamins help make nutritional yeast such a valuable supplement, especially to the vegetarian. It fortified with B12, a nutrient generally found only in animal food sources. One element of yeast is the trace mineral chromium, also known as the Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF). This is necessary to regulate blood sugar and is important for diabetics and people with a tendency toward low blood sugar.
Hmm yummy... I know you are thinking that.