The Weekend

The weather has been above freezing all weekend and the majority of the snow has melted including most of the huge ice dam above the front door.

Saturday was the first day since last Sunday I felt up to exercising after feeling sick all week with heavy cold symptoms, so I rode the exercise bike. The kids and I headed out around 1 PM stopping at their Mom's so they could pick up items for the week and feed he Guinea pigs.

We had lunch at noodles and company, Scott having the usual pasta with marinara sauce, Danielle their Wisconsin Mac Cheese, and I had a trio with Indonesian with spicy peanut sauce, beef, and a small side Ceaser salad.

We walked over to Game Stop and then drove over to Costco where we picked up some giant packages of Candy for the kids, mini chocolate chip muffins, batteries, and some whole grain crackers for me.

We came back home and played some Left 4 Dead and watched some TV. Danielle got dressed for the Swirl dance at school and left for her friends house a bit before 6. Scott and I watched TV and I made him some Ramon soup around 8 PM. He got dressed and drove over to the dance around 8:45.

While the kids were gone I made myself some spaghetti and sliced pepperoni for dinner and Tails and I watched the Friday night episode of Battlestar Galactica which like all of this season was awesome. I also continued with the setup of the Netbook for Danielle.

The kids, with Scott's friend Alex in tow arrived back home 15 minutes ahead of midnight. Danielle was tired and went to bed. I played a little more left for dead before retiring around 1 AM after cautioning Scott and Alex to be quiet and be in bed at 1:30 AM.

Sunday I was still feeling a bit off but still did my exercising. My throat was so raspy I could barely talk. I finished the setup of the Netbook, relaxed a bit, of course played Left 4 Dead, and then went out to do some shopping.

Because it is Sunny and close to fifty I have decreed the return to Sunday afternoon cooking with fire! We will be having Delmonico Steaks and Niblets corn, hopefully within the hour! It shall be the first grilling since before thanksgiving! The front of my shirt is covered with drool in anticipation of charred beef! Maybe that's why I got so many strange looks at the store.

So, the X, who was away in Ohio for business, arrived a bit after four, the grill was heated, the steaks trimmed and seasoned, and the Niblets corn prepared. Soon we sat down to a most excellent steak dinner. The four of us then camped out in the living room and watched two episodes of Supernatural.

The X headed out, the kids and I watched a couple of Simpsons episodes off DVD, and then Scott headed off to play Left 4 Dead downstairs. Danielle was in the thrall of her Netbook, alternating between that and text messaging on her phone! She and I also watched this weeks episode of Ghost Whisperer. I played a few levels of Left 4 Dead on expert setting and then watched an episode of WKRP. Bed was at 11:30 PM.

Thanks Bev (and some weekend ramblings)

Thanks Bev for your comments on my previous post, which have driven me to resume posts. You're a great and caring friend and I thank you!

So, it's my weekend with the kids, I have them for the week and got them Friday night. It's been tough getting back into the dieting groove with them. I decided when I returned from NJ I really needed to take better care of myself, so, began watching my weight again. Today makes day 6. With the kids here it's a bit harder since they want real food, so I pick them up Chinese from the local place or go to Wendy's with them and sip a soda while they eat, and then come back here.

Today though I have some nice lean NY strips that will soon be marinating in anticipation of grilling later, and I got some excellent ears of corn on the cob. I saw an interesting technique for cooking onions on Grill It with Bobby Flay this morning, I may try that. You take a large onion, half it, in the middle put garlic and butter (I will substitute something for the butter) and some spices. Wrap in foil and then put on the grill. It looked tasty, I think I will wrap the corn in foil as well today and put it on the grill.

Last night on BBC America was the premiere of a new Science Fiction show called Primeval which is promising. The basic premise is that a temporal rift allows dinosaurs from the past to come to the present.

The X will be by soon to pick me up; I mentioned I had to go to Meijer's and since she had to go we decided to go together, and I invited her to dine with us later since I have an extra steak.

Weekend thus far

Not really much to post about the weekend thus far, I mean how many "I got, up, went to Forest Hills Foods to procure the fixings for today's steak dinner, came home, rode the e-bike" posts do you all have the stomach to read!!???!!!!

Anyway, "I got up around 9AM, went to Forest Hills Foods to procure the fixings for today's steak dinner, came home, and" did not ride the e-bike....yet! Will be doing that around 11AM so the kids get a chance to stay asleep as we wee up late, Danielle up until 11:45, and Scott and I until around 1AM.

The weather today is GORGEOUS, sunny, blue sky, breezy, around 70 right now with low humidity, which will prevail for the next couple of days; it was quite muggy Friday and Saturday. The day just begs for me to....Cook With Fire!

Last night the kids and I watched Cloverfield off of DVD that my friend Brian lent us. Speaking of Brian that reminded me I forgot on the Scott driving test post to mention that I headed over to the X's when she called to tell me Scott passed where I began preparations for dinner which she invited me to. I do enjoy when the five of us, as my son Chris was there, can eat dinner and simulate a family. That not withstanding, she sprung for steaks!

Anyway back to the movie. I must admit that the trailers on TV do not do this flick justice, and even with the jerky home movie style photography it is an excellent movie, with a decent plot and plenty of drama and action. Even the seemingly bore first 15 minutes of so, which at the time hardly seemed necessary, served to acquaint us with the main characters and understand the relationships between them. I highly recommend this movie! Now for a spoiler....the butler did it!

Christopher headed back to school yesterday; I hope he got settled he is not staying in the dorms in this, the beginning of his sophomore year, but with several others in a rented apartment close to the school. We don't even know if they readily have an Internet connection though the apartments are affiliated with the college. It will be an interesting time for Chris, more freedom and more responsibility; last year on campus he was paying for board so he got three square meals a day down in the school cafeteria, now it will be procure, create, and clean up after your own meals. I will really miss his by-weekly visits for out Sci-Fi watching!

Speaking of Sci-Fi last night heralded the start of the new season of Stargate Atlantis, plus repeats, starting with the premier episode, of a show I had never seen called Joan of Arcadia on the Sci-Fi channel which I have yet to watch, though I recorded it.

The Sci-Fi channel also began repeating a show called Jeremiah, a show starting (of all people!) Luke Perry and Theo from the Cosby show. A very gritty look at what happens after the end of the world, and, surprising good! After being type cast as Theo, Malcolm-Jamal Warner does a very good job portraying Jeremiah's (played by Luke Perry) street wise sidekick.

I just sent the X an e-mail inviting her for dinner later if she can make it; she had a rough weekend having to stay overnight because of the distance of her appointments from here. She unfolded a tale of horror film like proportions of being so far off the beaten path with dark, deserted foggy forests and a bizarre 'motel-hell' like motel stay in the middle of no where......so...I figured she can use a nice dinner. We'll see if she is able to attend, if she does not we'll just cut the extra steak into threes!

Footnote: I think I broke my own record for number of labels on this post.

Mother's Day (May 11)

I had written most of this on Mothers Day and finished it up last night. Adjust and day reference to last Sunday, May 11.

Friday Christopher came to visit. We had planned on dinner and then watching last week's and this week's episode of Doctor Who. I made a modified version of the BK Bacon Breakfast Wrap alternative, adding Turkey Sausage (thanks Brian for the suggestion) and some Jalapeno cheese. They were very good. As Chris started eating his I told him "You can go get the Mayo, I won't be offended" and that's just what he did. He enjoys Mayo on almost anything.

Time to watch TV, but alas! My AT&T DVR was not being cooperative; I've already had one service call on this and I ended up placing another one. We had tried to start up the recording of last week's Doctor Who it would not play anything and then froze. A reboot (multiple reboots) did not help (it finally came up but reported it had no hard disk installed) so I placed a tech support call. 20 minutes later I had an appointment for a tech to visit the house on Mother's Day. Chris and I watched Bender's Big Score, the first Futurama movie that followed up the series which had been cancelled two years ago. This was the third time seeing it and it was quite enjoyable.

Chris departed, and I ended up watching the current Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica episodes off of live TV so I would not miss them.

A few more reboots and the DVR once again showed recorded content so I stayed up until about 2AM going through first run shows since I knew there was a strong chance the unit would be replaced Sunday.

Saturday I arose about 8:30 and over the course of the day did several loads of wash, cleaned the kitchen and dining room, worked on some issues on my computer (finally interfacing the dock for my Kodak Z1275 camera, and updating the bluetooth software for my bluetooth equipped USB hub), a session on the e-bike, web surfing, interacting with Tails, took a trip to Forest Hills Foods for some staple items (Salad Dressing and beverages for Sunday's dinner) and some cleaning supplies, and continuing the watching of recorded material on my DVR. I went to bed around 1AM. The cleaning tasks were because the X, her parents, and the kids were coming for Mother's Day. The dining room table was lots of fun, it has a tiled surface and the cracks between the tiles were, how should I put this delicately, less than clean.


Sunday I arose a bit after 8AM and headed down to Forest Hills Foods to acquire the perishable items for dinner. I lucked out and found 8 NY Strip steaks in two family packs. These family packs as I have mentioned before are a bargain when available and come in at almost half off buying the same item from the meat counter. I also shucked and bagged 8 gorgeous ears of corn, and bought onions and mushrooms, baked beans, apple sauce, and a cake (chocolate layer with creamed filling and Oreo cookies and crumbs on top) for dessert. Since apple juice was on same for 4 bottles for $5, I also picked those up since Scott drinks AJ as his primary beverage choice.

I headed back home, unloaded the car, and alternately spent some time on the PC, some time watching items on the DVR, doing some additional cleaning, repairing a wobbly leg on one of the dining room table's chairs, setting the dining room table for dinner, and an e-bike ride. Just as I was finishing this up and ready for a shower the AT&T tech called saying he was on his way. So, no shower for Chris (and I needed one!)

I took the steaks from the fridge and trimmed the fat off them and then put them to marinate in olive oil, chopped onion, black pepper, and just a bit of chili powder. Since the X's mom was coming and she is allergic to Garlic, I could not use my preferred Montreal Steak Seasoning. I put the steaks in the fridge and then make a nice salad which was covered with plastic and returned to the fridge.

It was almost an hour before the AT&T guy showed up, and Tails was fascinated by him, giving plenty of attention, rolling on his laptop, and following him anywhere he went in the house. I have never seen her so affectionate to a stranger and surmised he must be a good guy,

While Drew, the tech, was working the X and the three kids arrived, followed shortly by her parents. I saved her Dad a trip to the store when I overheard her asking about him getting her some coffee, by surprising them with all the materials needed to fulfill such a request.

Drew was having trouble getting the new DVR to function, and we delayed putting the steaks on for about 45 minutes until the DVR authorized and we verified all was working. He departed, the steaks were cooked (to perfection!) and we sat down to enjoy NY Strip steaks, salad, corn on the cob, baked beans, applesauce, and my own sauteed onions and mushrooms to use as steak toppings.

After dinner I discovered the DVR was not working right again, and left a message for Drew. Cards were given to the X and Mom, and various discussions between adults occurred, Danielle had her mom listening to music from her iPod; they each wore one of the ear buds, and the boys played video games.

Around 4 PM we sat down to desert which consisted of the cake I had bought, and a chocolate pudding cake grandma had thoughtfully provided.

The X had a customer to visit so everyone departed around 5PM.

Around 8PM Drew called me back, and I told him the DVR began working OK shortly after I left the message. He stopped by anyway to place a filter pack between the DVR and residential gateway as another tech had told him this often eliminated many spurious issues with the DVR. He also stressed I should call his direct line if I had other issues, since he and his manager could get tickets in quicker than calling tech support, and he was often in the area. Tails was right in her assessment of Drew, he is good people.

After Drew departed I enjoyed a long overdue shower and spent the remainder of the evening watching TV before an early bedtime of 10:30.

The week in Review

It has been a long week and it along with last weekend, is all kind of blurred together at this point, so here's a summary I've been keeping during the week. It's a long rambling summary with bold titles for each section.


A visit to Damnation County
Over the weekend, the most notable point was picking Scott up Saturday night from a friends house in what I now like to call damnation county.

He and a gal pal were dropped off at the movies and I told him to call me by 10PM if he was going to be later. He had alluded to the fact he would not need a ride home. So, around 10:45 when I noticed I had not heard from him I rang his cell. Yes, of course he needed a ride, could I come and get him, no he had no idea where he was. So, a friend read off the address which I did not recognize and then I asked for the zip. As soon as the last 3 digits were read off, which were different from mine, I knew he was nowhere close by. I mapped it, called him back mentioning i was not pleased by the fact that he was two counties away, and headed out.

Fortunately I had the presence of mind to take the GPS with me. As I got further from home and entered areas I ad never driven though the GPS saved me as the turnoffs I had to make from the main road were in totally dark areas with signs that would not have been readable without a quartz halogen lantern! Street lighting was non-existent here.

So, thanks to the GPS I found the large culdesac with about 8 houses, none of which you could read the street numbers on, and called his cell again.

"What house are you in?" I asked. "I dunno"was the laconic reply. Is it a big house, what color is it, was it close to the connecting street or near the end? "I dunno" again came the reply.

Meanwhile, one of the houses had illuminated and people were looking out and pointing at the car. I called Scott back and told him to hurry, and soon a bit down the street the massive garage door (by far the biggest one of all the house), on the furthest house in, with by far the longest driveway opened. I queried him as to how he could not have noticed any of those unique features compared to the other house?

Wait for it.......

"I dunno" was the reply followed by a request to take two of his other friends home with us.......after dropping them off I mentioned how this had best not happen again stressing he needs permission to lave the county we live in let alone be two county's away.

With the price of gas being what it is I used up a whole weeks worth in one trip. Oh, did I mention it was also raining? That added even more joy to it......anyway, it least I now what what lies down the road from the driver training school, I tell you what!

The only other thing that stands out about the weekend was the steak dinner Sunday. Forest Hills food had some excellent Delmonico steaks int he family value packs and the corn on the con, unlike the previous weeks pitiful offering of tiny ears with tiny kernels, were large and sweet. We had a most excellent meal indeed with the steaks seasons with pepper, dried onion, and garlic.

Don't Bug Me
A humorous note the X stopped by to watch Supernatural which I download off the Internet, she screeched at one point as a small black spider was spied on the couch by her. She is powerless where spiders are concerned; so I jumped up and crashed it in an empty bag from some low carb crisps. I teased her and said it's not that big and then pretended to reach in and toss the dead bug at her. She screamed at the top of her lungs startling Scott, and making Danielle, who was in her room doing homework, come running! Scott and I though that was hilarious. At this point I inverted the bag so the dead bug was trapped underneath and then, pretended to show her the bug by saying "Look! It was not that big anyway!" and opening the bag right by her face. She launched upwards and the kids and I had another laugh.......teasing the X about spiders is a long standing tradition that has lasted longer than our marriage did!


Sick kids through the week
Scott and Daniele were sick Monday, so I worked in the office until lunch time and then worked from home the rest of the day. I made a large batch of homemade chicken soup for an early dinner with lots of chicken in it, which the kids really enjoyed.

Danielle went back to school Tuesday but Scott, suffering from dizziness and vertigo stayed home again so I did the same thing at work.

Wednesday, I was feeling like crap, but I drove the kids to school because while Scott was feeling somewhat better I did not want him to have to ride the buss. I returned home and did half a days work and napped half the day.

I picked Scott up at school a bit after 5 (he had swing, did not dance but wanted to be with his friends) and we stopped on the way home to pickup Chinese food for him and Danielle while I went into Forest Hills Foods to get some items to make wraps for myself.

Thursday I took Scott to the Doctor's because he was worse and stayed home again and was very dizzy. They checked him for mono, strep, and some other items and concluded that it is most likely viral, though they warned to keep a close watch on his temperature because these symptoms could be indicative of meningitis. One humorous note when Scott was being examines as she went down the list of symptoms she was querying him for she was using the stereoscope to listen to his heart and lungs and she queried him: "Cough?" and Scott did his best to do so; the doctor and I both enjoyed a laugh at this.,

Thursday evening we watched the last episode of Scrubs....a show we all enjoy which NBC in their infinite wisdom has chosen to cancel.

Friday Scott stayed home again, I made arrangements to pickup his weeks homework after school today and came home half a day surprising him with some Burger King for lunch. He had his usual chicken tenders, fries, and a vanilla shake which of course he dipped his chicken and fries into.

True Lies

Danielle boldly and blatantly lied to me the other day after school. Even after giving her an out she did not back down, and while I will not go into details other than to say she lost her computer privileges for the entire afternoon and evening, it was most disturbing and depressing. We have always taught the kids to stand tall and tell the truth even if it means they might get into some trouble. I explained this again and mentioned how sad I was. I also told her since she could not be truthful for the right reasons that next time the punishment would be doubled! The sad thing was it was not really any big thing to be lying about!

Lunch on the Roof
Another notable tidbit this week was taking my lunch break yesterday on the roof of my house. I set my work IM away message to

"Taking lunch on the roof of my house - YOU figure it out"

and I got my ladder out of the garage. it's one of the four piece kind you can make into shapes, such as a U for example. I set it as a single straight ladder which barely reached tot he peak of the garage roof and I ascended to the top so I could remove the LMB from the Dish Network dish. Along with the receivers which I had boxed up for return you have to send the LMB. So, with instructions, pliers, and a screwdriver in hand up I went. Precariously perched I managed to dismantle the LMB assembly and disconnect all three cables to it.

I climbed down and packed up the LMB and also scored for my parts bin three coax cable extensions and three 6 foot coax cables. After work from home was over for the day I drove over to The UPS Store and sent the equipment on its way back to Dish Network.

In closing, that about covers it. I hope Scott feels better soon and this is not something more serious than a viral infection. he has already fallen down several times this week while trying to walk, it is most distressing. I will be heading off to school a little later to pickup his weeks assignments so he has something to occupy his weekend!

The Weekend

Saturday: After getting up around 8:30 I spent some time continuing the finishing touches on the migration of the old HTPC to the new one which I had moved into the entertainment system cabinet last weekend. iTunes was not recognizing anything except the few songs I had purchased. Post thinking and troubleshooting about this the answer turned out to be somewhat easy; on the old HTCP my external drive was drive E: and on the new it had gotten mapped at J: because for some reason the card read slots were taking the first four drive letters. I had to disable both USB disk devices and then trial and error fashion re-enable the one the drive was plugged into. After doing that changing it to drive E: was easy, iTunes came up and all my songs were accessible. I re-enabled the other USB device and the card reader slots mapped above them.

Danielle arose around 10:30 and after a good morning headed downstairs, I rode the exercise bike around 11 and after I had finished up Scott had wakened and we headed out for some errands. We stopped at Costco first for some items. I had to wait when I finally got to the register as they were changing tape. "Good News!" exclaimed the cashier brightly, "You get to be first on a new roll! Isn't that great!" The person next to him who boxes your purchase looked at this guy askance as if to say "What planet is this gut from", and I brightly interjected "Oh my god, something must seriously be wrong with me, you know because here is this great thing, like, first with new register tape, and for some reason I find myself unable to drum up even mediocre interest!" This set the boxing dude into much laughter along with patrons and the supervisor who were within earshot. As I was handed the receipt I muttered pseudo sotto voce "I can't want to get home and put this in my memories box! This is truly a day to remember!!" which caused a fresh burst of laughter.

We zipped over to GameStop because after I had sold a couple of xBox 360 games to a coworker a bit back I had told Scott we would get a game we both liked, but, nothing suited both our interests. I had promised them Wendy's for lunch but I guess the mild weather brought out the bad parent in me and I asked if they'd still like that or going into Coldstone next door. They picked the latter and they each gave me a taste of their 'lunch'.

At this point Scott was awake enough to drive and with him at the helm we headed out to Best Buy to look for a good wireless mouse as the performance on my current one was lacking. I found something suitable there, paid, and since I had to go through the ATM machine for some cash, I drove and after procuring additional fluid assets we headed off on the next mission looking for a rental game for the Wii Scott wanted. I 'did Scott a solid' as I told him and backed into a space at Family video because his weak spot is still parking lots. He remarked there was nothing 'solid' about this....

No Soap at Family Video for the rental but down the hill at Hollywood video we obtained the game using a free rental I had from a previously defective rental DVD. Back at home I ran the cabling from the HTPC to the Onkyo receiver; the old hookup was an optical audio cable and a DVI to HDMI from the HTPC to the Onkyo. The new setup would be a single HDMI to HDMI with both HD audio and video. Once I got this working I marveled how things sounded much better and with one less cable across the floor. (Not that you'd notice on the right side of the plasma display with the mega bundle of cabling from that device and the xBox 360!)

Scott and I then watched a Scrubs, I played around some more on the HTPC. Scott headed out for a bike ride, and a bit later figuring Danielle had been on-line long enough I took her with me to Forest Hills Foods for some shopping and a refill on the propane tank for the grill, because this weekend I, like cooking legend Biker Billy, planned to Cook With Fire!

For dinner, I made pasta. For Scott, the usual pasta with marinara sauce. For Danielle and I, I oven roasted fresh broccoli, mushrooms, and garlic cloves in some olive oil and tossed that with pasta, olive oil, a bit of 2% milk and some grated Romano cheese. It was awesome!!

Thanks to the patience of my friend Brian, who had loaned me Meet the Robinsons weeks ago, Danielle, Scott, and I watched that and found it incredibly funny, in fact downright hilarious. It's now on my list of DVD's to pickup.

The kids have off next week and had Friday off too, so, I let Danielle stay up until midnight, and Scott until 1AM, I headed to bed around 12:30AM.


Sunday: ANOTHER GORGEOUS DAY! Blue sky and sunny, around 9AM I headed down to Forest Hills food to see what types of family packs int he beef variety they would offer, I snagged a five pack of New York strips for just under $20 and shucked four ears of corn on the cob to have with dinner. The remainder of the morning passed in exercise bike riding, computer puttering, and getting myself and the house cleaned up a bit. I also made a nice spicy (using Red Monkey seasoning) turkey bacon rollup with lettuce and tomato on a Flat Out flat bread.

At 12:30 PM there was a knock at the door; Emma had arrived. As Scott was not up yet I sent her in to wake him, she was trailed by Tails who wanted to join in. After Scott was up and the two of them got some food together (Scott made himself Ramon noodles and Emma some rice balls wrapped in seaweed) we sat down to watch Hot Fuzz off of HD-DVD; Danielle decided to stay on the computer (what a surprise). Scott and I remarked afterward that the movie was even better the second time around and Emma enjoyed it too. After the movie I went back to playing around on the computer and Scott and Emma headed for the family room. Emma left around 5:30 and I fired up the grill after putting a pot of water on the boil for the corn on the cob. By 6 PM we were eating perfectly grilled NY Strip steaks, all of them seasons with Montreal rub and mine also had Red Monkey Barbecue Spice rub. Danielle and I each had an ear of corn on the cob; Scott had two. We all remarked it was a most delicious dinner.

After dinner the rest of the evening was spent on computers and watching TV, by myself, and on and off with the kids.

Scott's Birthday

Thursday was Scott's 16th Birthday. I know from talking to the X that his girlfriend Emma surprised him at the house that morning so she could go to school with him; wish I could have seen his face when that happened!

I left work early to pick him up at school. When he got in the car I surprised him with a pack of Peanut M&M's, his favorite candy snack and wished him a happy birthday. I could tell he was pleased by my small but thoughtful gesture, and we headed over to pickup his sister from her school which is int he same complex as the high school. Scott informed me that he was wearing the shirt and scarf Emma had gotten him, and they were both quite nice. I teased him a bit and asked if he complained to her about getting clothes as a present, as he has all through the years, as most kids do, when this happens.

We headed home, Scott getting first dibs on Tails as it was his birthday! After greeting her we all did a quick cleanup of the messy house common areas and our bedrooms, and then spent some time watching TV including the new Shrek the Halls Christmas special which we all thought was excellent!

A bit before 6 PM we headed out, stopping at the 5/3 drive through so I could stoke up the wallet with some Yankee Dollars, and we arrived at Outback where Scott wanted to have dinner. having just witnessed his brother Chris being embarrassed to no end at Texas Road house on his birthday, he opted for outback. At Texas Roadhouse, they can really embarrass the heck out of you on your birthday like no place I have ever seen.

Mom and Dad were already there and had a table setup and the X along with Chris and Emma arrived. We had an excellent dinner and at the end Scott was presented, quietly, a small bowl of ice cream and topping with a candle in it. Around this time the X's cell phone rang, it was Uncle Kevin (and family) who called t wish Scott a happy birthday. once this had wound down a bit the bill was settled and I headed out with Scott, Emma, and Danielle as Emma had to get back home. The X and Chris headed off to get Scott Chris' birthday present.

Arriving at Emma's house I dropped her off and we headed back to the X's house where I watched Scott open his last present. This was a Legends of Zelda jacket and shirt which Scott had been wanting. He was most pleased with it. After he disappeared to play his Wii I got ready to leave, and, after recalling them, hugging the kids I then headed home. Thus ends post 3 of 3 and below is a picture taken of Scott with Tails. Needless t say, though obviously I am saying it, you can click on this to open a new window with a much larger version.

I know from IM'ing with the X this morning that Scott and his friends had a good elebration having Pizza, snacks, and Cake and were up until at least 1AM. As of noon, they were still sleeping. I was pleased to hear this!

Free Dinners are the best!

Tuesday night Scott, Danielle, The X, her parents, and I dined at Braan's Steakhouse and Grille. Last year we went around my birthday and they give you a certificate for your birthday for a free steak dinner. I still had this so I redeemed it and received an 8 ounce sirloin sizzler, a loaded baked potato, and a salad. The steak was tender and grilled to perfection; lightly charred on the outside, pink and juicy inside!

It was similar to the one below, except it was free! I must go back September 7th for my birthday and get another free steak certificate!

Triple Play Fajitas

The grill was talking to me yesterday; I could swear I heard it whispering "Fajitas!". Of course, I was mistaken! When I got closer, I could hear it was saying "Triple Play Fajitas"! So, even though this meal takes a bit of time and effort to prepare, I went shopping, acquired the ingredients, and began! Four people ate and loved these yesterday, if you try them I am sure you will NOT be disappointed!

Ingredients:
1.5 pounds flank steak
3 large chicken breasts
1 pound large shrimp (cleaned with tails removed)
3 large Onions cut in large wedges
2 red, 1 yellow, and 1 Green large Bell Peppers sliced6 cloves garlic, crushed
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1.5 teaspoons smoked paprika
1.5 tablespoons Samball Oelek
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon Red Monkey Cajun Spice Rub
1 teaspoon Red Monkey Mango Habanero Rub
1 teaspoon Red Monkey BBQ Spice Rub
2 limes cut in half

On the side:
Salsa
Fat Free Sour Cream
Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Shredded Lettuce
LA Tortilla Factory Tortillas

Misc:
Wooden skewers
Non-stick cooking spray
3 large Ziploc freezer storage bags

Preparation
Roll out flank steak flat and with a tenderizer mallet pound both sides of steak across entire surface. In one of the freezer bags add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon Red Monkey BBQ Spice Rub, 1/2 tablespoon Samball Oelek, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground back pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and the juice from 1/2 a lime. Mix well and add steak removing excess air from bag before sealing and then insuring steak is well covered in marinate. Place in fridge.

In one of the freezer bags add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon Red Monkey Cajun Spice Rub, 1/2 tablespoon Samball Oelek, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground back pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and the juice from 1/2 a lime. Mix well and add chicken breasts removing excess air from bag before sealing and then insuring chicken is well covered in marinate. Place in fridge.

Now the really fun part; take the shrimp and place on skewers. I make sure each shrimp is pierced by the large neck area and about half an inch from where the tail was (thus getting a skewer of shrimpy letter C's - this insures the shrimp do not move around while grilling or fall off of the skewer) As each skewer is completed break off or cut off the sharp end of the skewer to avoid puncturing the marinate bag. Once all the shrimp has been skewered, in the remaining freezer bag add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon Red Monkey Mango Habanero Rub Rub, 1/2 tablespoon Samball Oelek, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground back pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and the juice from 1/2 a lime. Mix well and add skewered shrimp removing excess air from bag before sealing and then insuring shrimp is well covered in marinate. Place in fridge.

For best results marinate at least several hours, turning the bags over every hour.

Spray a large frying pan liberally with non-stick cooking spray and place on medium heat. Add sliced peppers, cover and cook three minutes. Stir well, and spray surface of peppers with non-stick spray. Cook covered another three minutes. Remove cover spraying surface of peppers with non-stick spray and stir, and sprinkle 1/8th teaspoon freshly ground back pepper on top. Continue cooking until peppers are at your preference for fajitas; some like a bite to them, some like them soft so this can vary from a couple of minutes to another 6 minutes or so. Remove peppers to large disk and cover with plastic wrap. Do NOT clean frying pan, the remnants of the peppers cooking will give the onions an excellent flavor.

At this point your grill should be lit and allow to pre-heat to a temperature of 550 degrees. I used a gas grill. The meat will take about 8 to 9 minutes to cook, so time it with the onions preparation below.

Spray frying pan liberally with non-stick spray and and place on medium heat and add onions, sprinkling a half teaspoon of salt over the surface. Cover and cook three minutes. Stir well, and spray surface of onions with non-stick spray. Cook covered another three minutes. Remove cover spraying surface of onions with non-stick spray and stir, and sprinkle 1/8th teaspoon freshly ground back pepper on top. Continue cooking until onions are at your preference for fajitas; some like a bite to them, some like them soft so this can vary from a couple of minutes to another 6 minutes or so.

On the grill place the chicken breasts and cook three minutes. Add the flank steak and shrimp skewers and cook an additional three minutes. Squeeze juice from the remaining half lime over the meats and shrimp before turning and then squeeze the remainder over the top. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes until at done. Remove to cutting board and slice chicken and steak. Serve shrimp skewered on each plate.

That's it! Ready to eat! I like mine with all three types of meat, peppers, onions, fat free sour cream, cheese, lettuce, and either some hot taco sauce or additional Samball Oelek! This recipe serves four to six people depending on how hungry they all are. Other than various pasta dishes, this is my favorite non-pasta food.

A Beautiful Sunday

The kids were up late last night playing Donkey Kong on the Wii, much to my delight, listening to them pound on three sets of Bongo drums which are the custom controller for this game, which with three kinds beating on them can create a hellish racket! I was up until around 1AM, and retired, awakening around 9AM.

Looking out the window I could see it's a wonderful sunny day today and the temps should hit 70's easily. Later the X is coming over and we shall make some nice grilled steak rubbed with a savory spice mixture, some corn on the cob, and a salad! Sauteed onions and mushrooms are a possibility as well as Sunday is the day I get to eat 2000 calories instead of 1600. Plus, she is paid for the food! Again I say Whoo hoo!

I did my blood sugar and went on the computer and ending up ordering a new toy I had been tracking on e-bay since Friday; not a Shelby Mustang which is my long term toy fantasy... but and HP Digital Entertainment PC (model Z556). New they were going for about 1.5K last year. A picture is below:



I got a factory refurbished one for $499, and added a two year warranty for $61 more. It's a good warranty too, if they can't fix it they send you a check for your full purchase price.

While scrolling down all the e-bay matches for Z556 I noticed they have $80 1GB memory modules for this thing too, I may just go that route as well, particularly as searching elsewhere, the lowest price I could find for the module was around $130.

Now I can finally remove my noisy full-tower PC (which has 5 cooling fans) from the entertainment system and put it back in my downstairs office. I can then put all the shelves back in the leftmost cabinet of entertainment center. Again with the Whoo Hoo! I had been pricing surplus small form factor systems and parts for the past 10 months in an effort to do this, and I could not build something comparable for less than what I just paid. I've also been visiting e-bay during this time period too.

Scott got up while I was riding the exercise bike (Danielle was already downstairs on the computer when I got up at 9; I had heard her get us which is what woke me) and I told him in a few he could drive mt down to the pharmacy to pick up my three prescriptions thus getting some drive time. He drove much better, though, believe it or not, once again he was getting uncomfortably close to the tree across the street while backing up out of my driveway.

Once we arrived at the pharmacy he realized he had forgotten his wallet, so, after we picked up my meds and some M&M's for him, I ended up driving back and stopped at Forest Hills Foods for a few staples and to cash in some bottles and cans.

The X soon arrived as I had the mushrooms and onions cooking and we chatted about her job (her partner is giving her a real hard time) and then we interspersed watching Supernatural with making dinner. We also chatted about Christopher's upcoming high school graduation.

Scott reminded me he wanted to buy a sword (yes, you read right, my 15 year old needs a sword...) and we talked that over with his Mom. Scott does a lot of flash and filming and wants to use the sword as a prop, so I sent the seller on e-bay a query as to the sharpness of this particular item.


This is the Sword that Scott wants!!

Filming or not, 15 year old children with friends and swords is just an accident waiting to happen!

The five of us settled down to dinner which was was awesome; the Delmonico steaks were rubbed with a blend called 'Montreal Style Steak' and were grilled to perfection, along with a nice mixed salad and corn on the cob.

Instead of making the onions the way I used to with a lot of fat and oil, I simmered them in lo sodium broth with some spices for 30 minutes they poured off almost all the liquid (did that with the mushrooms too) in another pot. Then, after dinner the leftover onions and mushrooms went in there. later this evening I will add a slice or two of Swiss cheese and have some french onion style soup!

Scott headed over to his mom's because a friend ended up going there early and then she and I watched the rest of Supernatural before she, Chris, and Danielle headed back a few minutes before 3. In an hour or so will be the next ride on the exercise bike, I think i will see if I can do a whole session instead of a half.