Simple America

This diet stuff is hectic. Today my missus was preparing breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was an omellette with aspearagus, mozzarella cheese and mushrooms. In the water-filled sink she had a bag of precooked salad shrimp defrosting.

I came out of the bedroom dressed for work and she put me to work on the salad dressing. This consisted of olive oil, balsamic vinegar (as we had no red wine vinegar), water, dijon mustard, dill weed, basil, chopped garlic and half a sliced white onion. I mixed all of these ingredients, covered the box with a lid and shook it like crazy. In the middle of making breakfast, my missus had an outage, so she left to get on the phone. I ended up finishing the omelettes, serving the missus her breakfast, and combining the shrimp with lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, and the salad dressing.

Had no time to eat my omelette after all of that, so I ate my nine o’clock snack for breakfast, drank my V-8 juice, and packed my omelette. Poured two cups of coffee and drove the kids to school.

Assessment. Need to do prep work the night before where possible. Mornings are just too hectic.

Challenge passed. I buy a diet coke every night for the drive home. If not I get groggy and I have been known to nod off while driving. I passed the candy aisle despite those damn orange slices calling my name. Phew!!!

I have been tagged. Surprise! Surprise! This time by the clever Velverse who loves to eat very good food and take nice journeys to and fro. This passion for food is shared by her cousin, Nicole, who devised this meme. How to play?

The rules are simple:
1. List out your top 5 favourite place to eat at your location.
2. Put down your link below together below the name/nick of the person who tag you and link directly to your post. Please include the state or country you’re from.

Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Simple American (Sugar Land, Texas, USA)

3. Tag 5 other people (preferable from other countries/states)

Where do I like to eat? Such a hard question? Really have to think.

*tick tock tick tock*

And the unanimous decision is: !!!!!

5. Whataburger

My first job ever was with a long forgotten burger chain called Herfys. I worked there for six months and then Whataburger acquired the chain. Shortly thereafter I became addicted. The beef is of better quality than Herfys and there is something in the salt and pepper that is different. I do not know what the spice is or if it is the type of pepper. But it is different and I like the flavor.

My favorite Whataburger is in Brenham, TX. But I am fortunate that I can actually walk to one of their restaurants from my house if I so desire. In fact when they opened that restaurant, Ed and Mark, my two original partners in 12 to Midnight met there to plot our takeover of all things horror in d20.

4. Macaroni Grill

I am a big fan of Italian food. My biggest disappointment of the last couple of years is that the Macaroni Grill closed its restaurant in Stafford. Now I have to go to Galleria to get my fix. I love the loaves of bread they bring each table. It is so good, especially soaked in olive oil and pepper. And their lasagna is just to die for. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

3. Kim Son

 Kim Son is an example of how quick the American dream can blossom. The family escaped from Viet Nam after the war and came to Houston. The family had a restaurant in Saigon called Kim Son, and they decided to do what they know best and opened up a restaurant in downtown Houston with the same name.

As a student at University of Houston, I remember many a midnight meal eaten at oold Kim Son location. We would leave the computer room and go there for a break. I used to love eating their Singapore noodles. Very spicey and nice with lots of curry and little brine shrimps.

Now I like to eat their dips. Especially lettuce wraps with their peanut sauce. It is so good. And at the Stafford restaurant (pictured above) you can have dim sum.

2. Fung’s Kitchen

If you want to eat Chinese food like Chinese people eat you must go to the restaurants they prefer. Fungs Kitchen is one of those restaurants. Their location in Sharpstown had grown from its small crowded dining room to spread out and take over half of the building that houses it today. 

They have fine dining and serve dim sum. When it is a special occasion that we need to celebrate this is where we come. They have one of the best Chinese chefs in Houston and you have to taste his steamed fish or lobster. To die for.

1. Taste of Texas

Sometimes a man has to go and eat meat. I talking beef here baby. And when he eats this meat it has to be the best. And if the name includes Texas, the man can be quite certain that the food will be the finest and have Texas size portions.

But you don’t just get good food there. There is cozy ranch house ambience that makes you want to kick your feet up and sit a spell. And you will wait when you go there. There is always a line. But they treat you right with free popcorn and soft drinks while you wait.

The best part is when you order your steak. The waiter takes you back to their butcher shop and you pick the cut of meat right there. I love coming here. Its not just a meal, but an experience.

So there it is. I love to eat here!!!!

Oh yes. I need to tag people. Scan near and far.

1. Bkworm, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
2. Canadian Pie, Toronto, Canada
3. Car@, Spain
4. Claire, Hong Kong
5. Jane, Bangkok, Thailand

I had a request for some of my daughter’s Thanksgiving recipes. I recall folks wanted to know about the turkey, the zucini, and the scones. If I did not post the recipe you wanted, please let me know and I will put it up another day.

Turkey

She made a brine this year. We never did this before, but it made a very juicy turkey. Not dry one bit.

First she made the brine. This consisted of:

2 gallons of water

cup of sugar

1 cup of salt (kosher)

2 lemons cut in half

4 bay leaves

4 cinnamon sticks

Handful of cloves

She combined all of the brine ingredients in this huge pot we have. It must be 10 gallons. Make sure the sugar and salt dissolve. Then she add the frozen turkey. Ours weighed 13 pounds, and this recipe should work good for any bird in this size. You could put the turkey in your fridge for at least six hours. We did not have room, so the bird stayed out all night. We added ice so it would not go bad. It must have soaked in the brine for close to 18 hours.

When your ready to cook set your oven to 350 degrees F. Put the turkey in a roasting pan, preferably one that has a rack. Take the lemon halves, bay leave, and cinnamon sticks and stuff them inside the turkey. The turkey will take around 3 and 1/2 hours. Baste it every 45 minutes. If part of the turkey starts to become too brown, just wrap that part in aluminum foil.

You can tell if the turkey is done by the juices running clearly and the drum sticks should pull away easily from the bird. If you are in Malaysia you should save the drum stick for Titoki. Remove the turkey from the oven. Wait 20 minutes before carving it.

Zucchini Squares

Mix the following ingredients well:

3 cups of zucchini, thinly sliced

4 slightly beaten eggs

1 cup of Bisquick

1/2 cup of chopped onions

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons parsley, snipped

1/2 teaspoone oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon paper

Put the ingredients in a 13″ X 9″ X 2″ pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until it turns golden brown. Cool dish and into squares.

Scones

This recipe is tricky. The first year my girl baked these, they were as hard as a rock. This year they were just wonderful. She says she used more cream than the recipe calls for.

Mix the following together:

1 3/4 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

6 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp salt

Then slowly add heavy cream. Add 4 tablespoons at a time. Mix real good before adding the next 4 tablespoons. Repeat five times until you have 20 tablespoons added to the mix.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Shape the mixture into 3″ balls. They do not have to be perfectly round. They just need to stay together. Place the balls on a cookie sheet about 3″ apart. Bake for 16 minutes.

Okay thats it. Try them out. Don’t blame me if you get fat.

My daughter worked hard on the feast. Though she started a bit late. We had planned on a 6:30 dinner and it did not happen until 8:00. Made some phone calls to relatives to let them know of the delay so they would not rush. She managed to pull off one heck of a meal. The only thing she ruined was the corn bread, so there was no stuffing. Oh well. Christmas then.

Little MissChef making scones.

Fresh from the oven.

And the feast looked like this:

The pigs brought their own blanket. Cranberry sauce as I demand it. And sweet potato casserole with apples and cinnamon.

Greenbean casserole does not look near as good as it tasted. My neice from #3 BIL loved it. This dish had no leftovers. This is the third year my girl has made zuccini squares and I vote for a fourth. Scones have been raided already. Have to be a quick photographer as these were gone quickly. And they were the best she ever made. She used more cream than the recipe calls for. Perhaps that is the trick.

We served shrimp coctail. The chef made a salmon pasta bake for the first time. It’s invited next year. #3 brought a lovely ham. Yum!

And then the star of the show. Front and back. What did she put in the bird’s butt? And the chef gets to sit next to the carver while he does what he does. And that drumstick is for Titoki.

And we had a nice Australian wine. And look at that little drunk. All passed out in his chair. I’ll fix him with my Vulcan head crush.

And we pigged out as you can see. I cannot believe I ate all of that. No room for pie. Tomorrow. And the missus looks good no matter how much she pigged out.

Hope everyone that celebrated Thanksgiving had a great day.

Well in the spirit of Thanksgiving I am baking some pies. Pumpkin and Apple to be exact.

Pie crust is an important part of the pie. Years ago I used to make my own crusts. But after a while I realized that pie crusts are just too cheap and easy to buy. It takes a lot of work to make a good pie crust and I choose to take it easy on the holiday.

This year I bought these Pillsbury pie crusts. They come rolled, but you slowly unroll them and set them in your pie tin. I had a lot of extra hanging over on my crust. So I just rolled it back along the edge, pinching it together as I went around. One crust develeoped some holes. I used the overlapping bit as a patch. Think it should work just fine.

I made the apple pie first. I peeled, cored, and diced some green apples and placed them evenly in the pie tin. The recipe calls for 4 cups. Then I sprinkled 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon over the apples.

I then took a bowl and mixed 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour, and 1/2 tablespoon salt together. The recipe actually calls for 1 & 3/4 cups of sugar, but I found that is a bit too much in the past.

Once the dry ingredients are mixed, I added 3 tablespoons of milk and 6 tablespoons of creamer in bowl and combined them. Then I added the liguid to the dry and beat it four 8 minutes.

Then I poured the mixture evenly over the apples. You bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour to hour and quarter. You can serve it warm. Ice cream is always a nice touch.

With the apple pie in the oven i took a peek at the turkey. My daughter is soaking it over night in a brine. Actually letting it thaw out. The brine consist of two gallons of water to which she added 2 lemons cut in half and squeezed. Drop the lemons in. One cup of sugar. Salt mabe a cup there, don’t recall. A handfull of cloves and several cinnamon sticks. First year we have done this. Am curious to see how it tastes.

Before I leave my the subject of my daughter, she passed her drivers test this morning. 100%. The lady said she does not see a lot of those. No wonder all these drivers are so bad.

Peeking time is over. So I worked on the pumpkin pie. The pumpkin pie is all out of can. I have never made a pumpkin pie from scratch.

I combined several dry incredients first. 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves. Once this is combined, add one can of pumpkin pie filling (might be called puree too). Once this is well mixed with the dry ingredients, slowly add one can of evaporated milk.

Pour the mixture into the pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees fahrenheit. Then bake for another 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit. Serve it immediately or put it in the fridge for later.

I made a mistake with mine. I misread the instructions. I baked the first 15 minutes at 350 and then baked the second 15 at 425 to compensate. Dang. We’ll find out if I dun good or not in a few hours. It looked good coming out of the oven. We’ll see how good it is tomorrow.

Edit notes: The apple pie needed more apples. My fault. Its just begging for more apples. The pumpkin pie, well it’ just perfect. Whatchu expect out of can. Also I will restart the Hug Hug Club count for this post. So it is possible to get to ribbons off this post my friends.

Thanksgiving was great. I’m so full I did not eat any pie or cake. haha. Tomorrow after shopping. Got to get up at 4:30 cuz the stores open at 5:00 am. It’s 12:45 am now. Tata!

Note: Pictures will be posted later today. Got memory problems which means a reboot is needed. I will post photos then. I’m a sleepy headed pie man. Good night!

I was tagged by Angeleyes with this meme. This was her first meme and her first passing of tags. How could I refuse her? Plus she has the cutest baby boy. You need to visit her Rambling Moo blog just so you can peek at his cute pictures.

But this meme deals with the five things you eat before you bite the bullet and move on to the manna and honey of the next life.  So without further delay here I go.

I will start off with Char-Siew Bao. I love those steamed buns full of tasty barbecue pork. The bun melts in my mouth and sauce dribbles over my tongue. A wonderful culinary delight.

Next I want a hamburger. But not just any hamburger. I want a triple meat triple cheese What-a-Burger with all the fixings, to include jalapenos and grilled onions. And it has to come from the Brenham restaurant where they make the best burgers anywhere.

Then I want to jump back on the Sapphire Princess and eat that fresh silver salmon. Fish has never tasted so delightful. I eat salmon a lot down here, but that Alaskan salmon is so delicious.

Next I want to have Korean barbecue bulgogi with kimchi on the side and all of the other little plates they serve. I just love the smell as the beef cooks at the table-side stove. Heavenly.

And to finish the meal. Before I step in the coffin I want Peking duck. The whole bird. Not sharing la. Sorry. Last meal ya know.

And plop. Then I can die with a full belly. Happy and content. St. Peter will have to push my stuffed butt through the pearly gates. haha.

So what would you all eat. I’m interested to hear. I don’t tag but you are all welcome to play.

Here are some pics of lunch on Day Three. I’m sure you recognize me and the missus.

That is #3’s brother-in-law and wife. Had a good time with them.

But most important. You can see lunch time in the International Dining Room. First they brought us a bread basket. I selected a scone for myself. Very firm and crunchy crust, while the inside is soft and smooth. A nice salad got me primed for some calamari rings. The sauce was exquisite. I ate Sheperds Pie, which I have not had in ages. This was the best I ever tasted. Sacre’ bleu. My wife had fish, I don’t remember what type. For desert I had key lime pie that melted, dripped and oozed down my throat. My daughter had some pistaccio ice cream and they made it look so delicious.

Next post will have pictures of Glaciar Bay and more of my family.

I drove home from Friday with only two objectives. Go turn in my shirts to the Dry Cleaners and visit the Scout Shop and get a lad registered for Boy Scouts. Picked up the mail and went inside my house for a bit of lunch before dealing with those chores.

One letter got my attention. The addressee was the VA (Veterans Administration) and I wondered what they wanted. I had not really used any benefits since I graduated. I read the letter and I could not believe what I read. No it was not Miss Jin searching for me through the VA it was even worse than that.

National news had reported where a VA employee had taken home a computer or some digital files. Some kind of records. Thieves broke into this individual’s home and they gained access to the private records of over two million veterans. And I am so luckly to probably be one of them. Though the VA is not certain of course. Having access to these records opens up all of the veterans involved to identity theft by anyone that knows how to do that sort of thing. The VA’s letter tried to assert that they did not believe the thives know what they have. Thanks. I can sleep now.

I could wait until I got screwed or I could act. So I called one of the major credit bureaus and had them put my credit on a national fraud alert for the next 90 days. This group would also pass the information to the other two major credit bureaus. Well I am safe for the next 90 days. But I am going to have to monitor my credit pretty closely. Pain in the ass. Hate thieves.

With my credit watched over, I went out to carry out my chores. My first stop was the bank as I needed a little cash. My turn came up and the machine would not let me make a withdrawal. I could pay bills, transfer cash, print statements, play tic tac toe, but I could not get any cash. The first thing that crossed my mind was the fraud alert call had killed my ATM card. I went in to the back. I’m on the verge of panicing as I need cash for both of my chores. Turned out the ATM was out of order. Damn I felt stupid. Fortunately, they had another machine as I did not have a check on me.

Made it to the Stafford Scout Shop and I had no problem getting the boy signed up. He is squared away for camp. I had an Adult Leader that needed to be registered also, but I need our Charter Representative to sign before they would process it. Bummer. Made a quick stop at the American Automobile Association (AAA) and picked up some maps of Vancouver, British Colombia, and Washington state. Need those next month. Made it to the cleaners and headed home.

I stopped at the grocery in the neighborhood and picked up a movie. We watched The Producers after supper. Mel Brooks is so funny. I really love his humor. The missus doesn’t get him though. My son and I were dying laughing.

Saturday we had a lot of chores on tap. We dropped my son off at Tae Kwon Do and the missus and I went to Sams. We picked up some essential things for the home and bought some new sunglasses. Then we rushed back for the boy.

We planned on going to dim sum but the day was still young. So my missus wanted to go to the Sams that is located near the restaurant. The boy and I were drooling over the video games, while she went looking for some skirts for the girl (who is still hiking in South Colorado). We found a copy of the latest Ghost Recon game. I agreed to split the cost with 50%/50% and we looked at the computers. More wishing to no avail.

Went to dim sum and it was nice. I really enjoyed my jasmine tea too. The missus and I must of drained three pots of tea.

From there we headed toward Borders. Actually the boy askede to go there. He wanted to purchase the new Naruto book. I escaped with nothing more despite the cries of numerous books that wanted to go home with me.

Our next stop was a teacher’s supply store. My kids never get the summer off totally. We went and purchased some books to help the son with his reading comprehension, and math. I have also assigned him some reading. Currently he is reading Michael Moorcock’s Elric series. Would like for him to read more quickly. When I was his age I could read the six Elric books in two or three days. He thinks manga is critical reading. I got news for him.

We left there and I gassed up the Impala and ran her through the wash. Then we made a stop at Best Buy. The missus needed some DVDs for recording. Of course we drooled all over the video titles before we left.

On the way home we talked about Xbox and Playstation systems we had at home. I was thinking about selling the Playstation as the only time the kids play it are when they have friends over. Then they break out Dance Dance Revolution and the Dance Pads. Then my wife surprised me by telling me to go to Game Stop and see what kind of money we could make on selling the Playstation and Xbox in order to get a Xbox 360. I missed the turn but hard no problem circling the block in this noble cause. We hit the right day too. The store was extending bonuses for both game machines. The missus asked me if I wanted that for Father’s Day. What kind of question is that?

Went home and carried our purchases into the house. Then I gathered all of the XBox games upstairs. Some Xbox games are backward compatible, while others are not. So I went through the games and seperated those that would work and those that would not. I am quite disappointed the Spiderman 2 does not work. But I am sure they will put out another for 360. Once we figured out which games we would keep it was time to gather the game machines and all of the peripherials and go.

The boy went with me. He had his own games that he wanted to sell also. And I feel really good about this deal. They took all of my games, video game systems, and stuff except the dance pads. After all was said and done I bought an extra game pad, rechargeable battery system for the controllers, and the latest Ghost Recon.

We been killing bad guys at my house.

Sunday I woke up early because I wanted to make a Strawberry Chiffon Pie. Some of you may remember the recipe I posted. I remembered the demand for pictures. This post make things right. Oh I also woke up because my lawn guy decided to mow the yard too. Argh!

I pulled ingredients and realized I had no lemon juice. So off to the grocery store. I also picked up some Canadian Bacon and Orange Roughy. Returned home and I had all I needed to get this pie made.

You’ll notice that I opted to use Splenda rather than sugar. I eat enough sugar already.

I am not going to repost the recipe. Heck, I gave you a link that will pop it up for ya. Here are the strawberries getting crushed and smushed.

I added the splenda and lemon juice to this strawberry pulp. Might be useful as prop for movie blood too.

Then I had to whip some evaporated milk. I felt bad for kicking its butt. But it’s all for the pie.

Then I had to beat it up with strawberries. Damn I can be cruel.

Once it is subdued. Then you SPOON it into the crust.

Then I realized that I had enough of this mixture to fill two pie crusts. So back to the store. Bought the pie crust, eggs and milk. This store is too convenient. Filled the other pie plate and stuck it in the fridge for six hours.

I was hungry by then and the missus made a lovely breakfast.

Spent the afternoon editing a freelancer’s module. Damn this is going to be one scarey heebie jeebie adventure. I hope we can do some neat stuff like we did for Ed’s Last Rites.

Finally got to be supper time and the missus cooked that orange roughty with Caribbean spices. Just yummy.

Then I pulled out the pie. Okay one of the pies.

I liked the coloring. But the gelatin did not do the trick. I made an error in that part of prepatation. I may have cooked it too long I suspect. There was no firmness whatsoever. Was more like a pudding than a pie. My missus did not like the Splenda after taste. I did not notice any myself. My son had no complaints. Mr. Finicky just asked for another piece so that is all I needed to hear.

 Note I have auditors at work the last week of June. I looked at the list they sent and just kill me. They want both my balls by the end of the month. So needless to say I am going to have to work work work. My blogging during the week will not be near my usual level and I may have to stop entirely if I run into some audit issues in my preparation. Free time has to go to editing first and then blogging.

I’ll be around and I may stick my chup in because I wants my Hug Hugs.

Somebody handed my a recipe at work. Got nuthin to blog so what the heck. Everybody eats right?

1/4 c. butter

3/4 c. finely crushed graham crackers

1/2 tsp sugar

Combine ingredients and spread evenly in a 9-inch pie pan (22.86 cm)

or

Use a prepared graham cracker crust.

3 1/2 - 4 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, chopped

2 1/2 tsp sugar

1 tblsp. lemon juice

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/4 c. water

1 5 oz. Can evaporated milk, chilled icy cold

Thaw frozen strawberries and crush in a mixing bowl. Stir in sugar and the lemon juice, set aside.

In a saucepan stir together gelatin and water, let stand five minutes. Cook and stir over low heat until gelatin dissolves. Cool. Once it is cool stir in the strawberries.

Beat the chilled evaporated milk in a chilled large mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in a strawberry mixture. Spoon into crust. Cover and chill 6 hours. Makes 10 servings.

Sorry don’t have a picture. Just bored and this is on my desk.

You Are a Boston creamy Donut

You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you. But on the inside, you’re a total pushover and completely soft. You’re a traditionalist, and you don’t change easily. You’re likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it’s sold out.

I found the donut test at JJ’s blog, Itsy Weesy Bytes (sp?). No calories try it out.

I’ve spent the whole day finishing my taxes. Damn I still owe money. Can I just give em my first born child? I owe four figures and I have already paid 5 figures. Just shoot me. Of course they may if I don’t gather the funds. Guess I may have to consider a bake sale.

My brain is baked. But I had to get it all done today. Tomorrow I go to San Antonio and I do not return until Wednesday. Have the big college auditors convention there and I am going to learn the latest Gestapo techniques. The missus will be leaving for Manila, P.I. on Wednesday and I won’t see her again for three weeks. So I had to get these stupid taxes done so she can sign the damn form. Very important to sign your taxes in the US or the statute of limitations do not start.

Please come by my house and buy some cup cakes at my tax payment bake sale. Cup cakes and brownies will be going for $100 a pop. Lets put capitalism to work here.

My daughter went fishing with the girl scouts. She should have fun. Wonder if they will catch any fish? My son is still on academic suspension. Because of this I would not allow him to go kayaking with the Boy Scouts this weekend. I was actually going to take some of the boys and conduct a conservation project for my Wood Badge ticket but the taxes and convention killed that. I’m starting to wonder if I am going to complete my ticket or fail. Lot of things to do and such little time to get them done.

My wife is looking forward to her trip back to Asia. She is working in Manila, but she will take the time to visit Hong Kong. She has not been to her birthplace for 20 years. Wish I could go with her, but the kids have school. So I will be Mr. Mom for three weeks instead of the usual Monday to Thursday gig. Might need another apron.

I don’t know if I will be able to blog in San Antonio but I will take my laptop just in case. I did load some voice recognition software on my computer today and I will see if it will take dictation on Part XVI.

Question to you all. Does anyone know a sure fire cure to ridding one’s self of goose bumps? I have been frequent victim of this malady lately.