100th POST

WOOO HOOO If you have been reading my blog from the beginning, wow. You have read 100 random, poorly written, boring posts. Hey, I'm an engineer. I don't get much practice.

I have been trying to cook more. I go out to eat and it's hurting my weight and bank account. Sundays I have been cooking dinner for me and Dave and then I take it in all week for lunches. Last Sunday I made chicken casserole with spaghetti noodles and tomatos and green chili peppers. It turned out really good. Side note – it really bugged me that he told me what I should do next time to try to improve the recipe when he went back for thirds. Today I made pulled pork. I used the recipe that mom gave me for pulled beef and used pork loin instead. I like doing crock pot meals because you get to smell them all day. It made such a big pot that I am going to have to freeze some of the leftovers. I don't want to get sick of it before it goes bad.

My favorite thing to make is cheese cake from scratch. It's rich and thick and awesome. It's difficult to make but I'm getting better and better at it. It's expensive and takes a lot of time to make so usually I just do it for special occasions and gifts.

Sometimes I get pre-prepared stuff and mixes. I bought some stuffed peppers from the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. Next time I do that, I'm going to just buy one stuffed pepper, and one empty pepper. I'll split the meat up between both peppers and fill the void with rice. I think it will soak up some of the pepper juices and be healthier. This doesn't have to do with cooking but sometimes when I eat a frozen dinner, before I stick it in the microwave I'll add a handful more frozen vegetables so that it'll be more filling.

If anybody has a really easy recipe you want me to try, send it on over and I won't have to come up with something new for next week!

California Poppies

Dave and I went out to the poppy preserve today. The hills were solid orange. We took a four mile hike up and down the hills (after playing ultimate the day before). Everybody in southern california should go. Well maybe not everybody because that would be a lot of people. Crowds and yappy jerks and people who don't stay on the path really bug me. It was nice going on the long loop because most people stayed close to the parking lot and we had a nice quiet hike. Poppies don't smell like anything but there were other flowers that did. There were some little yellow ones that smelled bad, but not as bad as a christmas cactus flower. Anyway, enjoy the picture.

runnin' 5k's is fo' sucka's

I ran a 5k race friday march 28th. It was crazy. I ran the whole time, but really slowly. I finished in 44:30. I told somebody at work what my time was and he said, "so you walked it." I made a frowny face and said no. It was up a giant hill and back down its other side. I am going to download google earth and try to take a screenshot of the route and outline it. You won't be able to see the elevation change but you might be able to guess it by the picture.

I played ultimate again yesterday. It wasn't as much fun as the other week. Last week nobody guarded me the whole game so I was in a good portion of the plays. This week i was guarded better and I had a harder time staying on the person i was supposed to guard. Anyway, it made for a game with a lot of running without feeling like I helped much. The rest of the day I went to a one-year-old's birthday party. It was fun. I can't remember ever going to a child's birthday party where there was a keg.

I did my taxes today too. I am checking things off my to-do list and i'm feeling great!