Arfink Gets Random Part Two!

[AnneLine]

Made those delightfully delicious noodles with the garlic and oil sauce again. :drool:

 

I could probably eat them every day. And I would probably be the size of a barge.

 

Glad you like those, ARFink, but be sure you get some protein and veges with 'em. 

 

I know, AL won't let you have any fun... but I don't want you looking like an oversized garbage skow, either...

 

 

 

EDIT:  Sheesh!  I didn't get the above posted before you'd posted the below... they WERE NOT INTENDED TO BE CONNECTED.  Seriously!

 

 

I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. :| I feel like I have enough junk to deal with already, and not enough time to deal with it before I get steamrollered again. Which is hardly the case in reality I think, because honestly I don't think the guys at work will drive me that hard tomorrow, but given how many times it's happened without warning I get kinda jumpy I guess. It happened again yesterday, they tried to spring some junk on me at the last second. I told them "This far and no father" because I had stuff to do, and you know, the world didn't end, the project didn't fall apart. The guy who was begging for help didn't have the most pretty presentation on his project and may have gotten a little embarrassed. But then again, he waited until the last minute to contact me about it, and then waited until the last second to give me the files, so he got what I could give him.

 

GOOD FOR YOU!!!!   That takes guts!!!!

 

I wish you didn't have to work, either.  Would much rather go play myself. :)

Edited February 24, 2013 by AnneLine

[arfink]

Yupppers, gotta have other stuff for sure. I admit I'm guilty of regularly skimping on the protein, but I do alright with the veggies.

[AnneLine]

Humph.  Proof or it is capretto for you for Easter!   (ANNE LINE  IS EVIL!   :brutebeast: ) ;)

Edited February 24, 2013 by AnneLine

[arfink]

Proof? Well, the zucchini isn't my favorite vegetable as you already know. :P

 

However, I am a big fan of broccoli, lettuces, asparagus, carrots, cauliflower, and some others. You got me curious about chard, although the last time I was at the grocery store I didn't see any good looking stuff. :)

[AnneLine]

That's fair, ARFink, you did eat a LITTLE of the zucchini... more left for me!

 

And I wouldn't intentionally subject anyone to cauliflower unless I knew they liked it... feeling not so friendly toward it myself. 

 

The chard is really an astonishing vege if cooked the way I did it... as a peace offering, here's the way to do it.

 

Cook some bacon in a pan.   You don't need a ton of it, realize, just enough to have a few pieces cooked and the fat rendered.  if you really DON"T want to use the bacon fat, you can use olive oil and some garlic and/or onions (now I know I have your attention, ARFink, right...: ;) ) but you'll need to add some salt & pepper without the bacon, or it will be too bland....

 

Select bright-colored chard.  The leaves will be green, and they should look crisp and bright green.  The stems can be white, red, or colors....I like the white ones, but the others are OK too...(the red tend to dye the chard like beet juice does).... but look at these and you'll see how they are cousins... and how bright & shiny the leaves are:

 

 

When you are ready to cook it, clean the chard.  That means you wash the leaves well (they tend to get a LOT, yes LOT, of sand stuck in them, especially at the bases.)

 

Then you trim out the stems... just make a 'vee' on either side of the main stem and cut it out.  Don't toss it out... you will chop those into 1" 'square' bits like celery chunks.   You'll cook those first... and then the leaves after they are tender.  Here's how the stem cutting looks....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fold the leaves together (like you were cutting a valentine heart?) and roll them up into a little roll like a jelly roll.  Take a sharp knife and slice the rolls like you were making cinnamon rolls.  This is called a chiffonade... and it is a very easy way to make like narrow strips of chard leaves.  They will end up about 1/2 inch wide and long, cut cross-ways across the leaves.   It gives you slices of chard that will cook really fast when you are read.

 

Now, to cook them!

 

Take a pan and heat it a bit.  Ideally something like a high sided frying pan or a wok is perfect.  You want the oil (or bacon fat) hot.  (Take the bacon OUT and let it cool before you start, by the way... you'll want to add that last so it stays kinda crisp.   Add some bacon fat or olive oil, an then add the chard stems.  Saute the chard stems, and if you are doing onions you can do them at the same time.  You want them to be firm but a little tender before you add the leaves.  You can add sliced garlic (or even whole cloves if you are feeling daring!)   

 

When the stems and onions/garlic are cooked but not brown, add the leaves,stir them around.  You may need to cook for a few minutes with a lid on it, but they won't take long, and you don't want to overcook them.  You can add a LITTLE water if you need to, but usually just the moisture in the leaves is enough!

 

Toss in the bacon at the last second, after it is off the fire;  garnish with a little more bacon, possibly some fresh parmesian cheese....

 

When ready, it will look like this:

 

 

Oh, and ARFInk... some people add pasta and/or meat to this.   hint... hint...  you could toss in a bit of chard to your new favorite dish and have something really interesting....

Edited February 24, 2013 by AnneLine

[arfink]

I bet so! And thanks for putting up the recipe, although my memories of cooking it with you are still fresh in my mind. :)

[AnneLine]

Hey, I can't have EVERYONE over for dinner... at least not 'till we all get to Heaven.   :eat:

[arfink]

 

So I found this. It's cool. H/T to Missy for posting it on FB.

[arfink]

Whoever thought of this is a monster. Seriously.

 

[arfink]

[AnneLine]

^^^^^  Wow.  Just WOW!!!!

 

[arfink]

^^^^^  Wow.  Just WOW!!!!

 

I knew you'd like it.

I believe what's happening here is the artist has painted in his birds with water, and is dabbing a bit of water soluble ink on, and letting it run in. It's flowing too quickly to be watercolor, although I suppose a similar effect could be done with a liquid watercolor.

 

Also, that paper's gotta be SOAKED. And he's probably using a resist as well.

Edited February 25, 2013 by arfink

[AnneLine]

My bet is that that is a black and white image of a Lady Gouldian Finch, ARFink....

 

 

Edited February 25, 2013 by AnneLine

[arfink]

I am very tempted to try a technique like that now. Maybe tonight after work.

 

Also here is today's song:
 

http://youtu.be/NLe8c5GaJ5E

Edited February 25, 2013 by arfink

[arfink]

*The Sweater Incident*

So I had a very vivid dream last night. I was being pursued by a man in a green/black cardigan who kept loudly insisting that he knew who I was.
He kept shouting that he knew I had been part of "The Sweater Incident." He was harassing everyone I knew, including AnneLine, who I was with at the time. He called on the phone, and she answered it, and then turned to me and said "What kind of accusations is he making against you? I think you better talk to him."

Except I couldn't figure out what the heck this stupid Sweater Incident was, so I decided to go back home so that he would follow me. There was a rather uninteresting car driving scene, where neither of us drove very fast or did anything interesting, but it still felt intense somehow. When I got home I found my grandma attempting to tape up star-shaped balloons in the stairwell. She couldn't get them up where she wanted because she was too short and didn't want to lean over the edge because she would fall over. So I offered to help. They were strange balloons because they were latex star shaped balloons, which I thought even in my dream was exceedingly odd. Putting them up took a long time, because they stupid things kept popping, and even I was a little too short. But I finally did manage to get a string of them put up somehow.

Next on the party agenda (the Sweater man now completely forgotten) was to wash some t-shirts which had just been screen printed. Apparently each guest was supposed to wear one. They were all different colors and patterns, with little animals printed all over them. There was a glass of something sticky sitting on the table next to them, and I accidentally knocked it over and the shirts got all wet. Grandma just looked at me like "You're a dork," but said nothing. So I went downstairs to wash them, since I needed to do it anyway.

When I got down there I met a creature that looked like a polar bear with the face of a girl. It could talk, but also would make weird yelling sounds. And it also did the duckface at me. It was raging around breaking things and smashing up the walls. There was a lot of dust and debris everywhere. Soon the basement began to flood. See, apparently all that dust had clogged the drains in the basement, so the water had no place to go, nevermind where it was coming from in the first place. As the whole basement began to fill up with water the polar bear-girl turned to me crying. I said "What's wrong" and it/she said "My favorite polyester pillow is floating away."

Yep. Weird dreams, I tell ya.

[AnneLine]

uh... "I'm a counselor, Jim, not a Freudian analyst!" 

 

I have NO idea what to make of that dream, ARFink, except to tell you, "Fred Flintstone, that will keep happening if you eat brontosaurus burgers too late at night!"

 

 

 

On the other hand.... when I got dressed this morning, I didn't dress in what I put out the night before but... a black skirt and turtleneck and a green sweater. Which struck me odd as I did so as it is Lent, and I try to dress more-or-less liturgically. And I was putting it on just about the time you put that post up. Now THAT is pretty odd.....

 

 

You also might want to check out the FLYLady thread if you have that much of a muss in the basement... and how did your subconscious know I was planning to tackle MY basement that is flooded with clutter?

 

Sheesh....

 

 

Edited February 26, 2013 by AnneLine

[brianthephysicist]

 

Google has a new toy. I want one.

http://www.google.com/glass/start/how-it-feels/

Heck yes. That's awesome.

 

*The Sweater Incident*

So I had a very vivid dream last night. I was being pursued by a man in a green/black cardigan who kept loudly insisting that he knew who I was.
He kept shouting that he knew I had been part of "The Sweater Incident." He was harassing everyone I knew, including AnneLine, who I was with at the time. He called on the phone, and she answered it, and then turned to me and said "What kind of accusations is he making against you? I think you better talk to him."

Except I couldn't figure out what the heck this stupid Sweater Incident was, so I decided to go back home so that he would follow me. There was a rather uninteresting car driving scene, where neither of us drove very fast or did anything interesting, but it still felt intense somehow. When I got home I found my grandma attempting to tape up star-shaped balloons in the stairwell. She couldn't get them up where she wanted because she was too short and didn't want to lean over the edge because she would fall over. So I offered to help. They were strange balloons because they were latex star shaped balloons, which I thought even in my dream was exceedingly odd. Putting them up took a long time, because they stupid things kept popping, and even I was a little too short. But I finally did manage to get a string of them put up somehow.

Next on the party agenda (the Sweater man now completely forgotten) was to wash some t-shirts which had just been screen printed. Apparently each guest was supposed to wear one. They were all different colors and patterns, with little animals printed all over them. There was a glass of something sticky sitting on the table next to them, and I accidentally knocked it over and the shirts got all wet. Grandma just looked at me like "You're a dork," but said nothing. So I went downstairs to wash them, since I needed to do it anyway.

When I got down there I met a creature that looked like a polar bear with the face of a girl. It could talk, but also would make weird yelling sounds. And it also did the duckface at me. It was raging around breaking things and smashing up the walls. There was a lot of dust and debris everywhere. Soon the basement began to flood. See, apparently all that dust had clogged the drains in the basement, so the water had no place to go, nevermind where it was coming from in the first place. As the whole basement began to fill up with water the polar bear-girl turned to me crying. I said "What's wrong" and it/she said "My favorite polyester pillow is floating away."

Yep. Weird dreams, I tell ya.

[AnneLine]

Brian, ARFink's friend, Heidi, will tell you you misspelled 'wat'... but it's good to see you back!  I'd almost decided you'd left straight for that conclave!   (Pope Pinky Pie, indeed!) 

[brianthephysicist]

[AnneLine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke_AkJC92IA