#24, Beer pong or beer bong

This one was actually technically completed on January 24th, when we made paella. We thought it would also be fun to create a beer bong. I've just been a little nervous about posting the pictures. I'm a little paranoid, although I am very much of legal age, and I barely consumed any alcohol through said bong. It was one bottle of beer poured through a funnel and a tube and I was actually pretty bad at it and didn't get much of it down. Nonetheless, don't want to get fired, you know? So, below are some cropped versions of the pics, showing the beer bong. I do also hope to do beer pong at some point.

Also, I hate beer.

#22, Eat paella and ratatouille (Part II of II)

This one was completed on February 22nd.  I did the second half (eat ratatouille), and had lots of fun making it.  Libby joined me for another cooking adventure.  I thought paella was complicated, but ratatouille (at least the recipe I used) had a TON of chopping.  Here's the recipe:

Dad's Ratatouille Recipe

Preparation time: 1 hour and a half, minimum.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb of yellow onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 lb zucchini, chopped

1 lb yellow squash, chopped

Bell peppers, seeds removed, chopped into 1/2 inch square pieces:

--1 lb green bell peppers

--1/2 lb red bell peppers

--1/2 lb yellow bell peppers

1 lb eggplant, 1/2 inch cubes

1 lb fresh ripe tomatoes

1/4 cup olive oil

salt to taste

2 sprigs thyme

1 bay leaf

1 sprig rosemary

3/4 cup vegetable stock (or thin tomato juice)

fresh ground pepper to taste

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

2 Using a large oven-proof pan over medium high heat, saute onions in olive oil until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and reduce heat to low.

3 While the onions and garlic are cooking over low heat, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a another frying pan over high heat. As soon as oil starts to smoke, quickly add enough zucchini cubes all at once to cover the bottom of the pan. Keep on cooking over high heat, stirring, until zucchini is lightly browned on all sides. Remove zucchini cubes, and add them to pan with the onions.

4 Repeat process until all of the zucchini cubes have been cooked. Do the same with the yellow squash. Make sure to add a little olive oil between each new batch. Continue with the bell peppers, then the eggplant cubes, adding the browned vegetables to the onion pan as soon as they are cooked.

5 When all the vegetables (except the tomatoes) are browned and in the pan with the onions, increase the heat to high and stir, making sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add salt to taste, thyme, bay leaf, and rosemary, the vegetable stock, and stir well. Place in oven for one hour.

6 Boil water in a saucepan on stove. Remove stems from tomatoes, and crisscross the bottoms with a knife. Plunge into boiling water for a minute or two, until skin starts to fall away. Rinse in cold water and remove skin. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise, remove seeds, chop coarsely, set aside.

7 After the vegetables have been in the oven for an hour, remove from oven, drain vegetables in a colander set over a bowl. Clean browned bits (if any) off bottom of pan with a paper towel. Return any liquid to the pan and reduce to a thick glaze over medium high heat. Keep on adding juices to the pan as they run out of the vegetables into the bowl.

8 When all the juices have been reduced, return vegetables to the heavy pan. At this point the ratatouille should be moist and shiny, with very little liquid. Turn heat off. Add the chopped tomatoes and cover. If serving as a warm side dish, let the ratatouille stand for 10 minutes, just enough to "cook" the tomatoes. The ratatouille can be served at room temperature or refrigerated and reheated the next day.

9 When ready to serve, remove the bay leaf, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

(http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000101dads_ratatouille.php)

We did not use fresh tomatoes, but followed the rest of the recipe pretty closely.

We both spent quite a bit of time chopping.

More chopping (see, I helped!)

This recipe called for some simultaneous cooking.  Good thing we have serious cooking skillz.

The finished product.

In the end, I found out that I don't really like ratatouille.  Still, another culinary adventure has been accomplished!

#15, See Rocky Horror Picture Show

This one was a lot of fun!  We have a local venue (Billy Joe's Pitcher Show), that plays Rocky Horror Picture Show every Friday at midnight.  My friends Thad and Margot joined me on Friday, January 30th, and it was quite an experience.

My friend Libby, who was unable to attend, nonetheless brought me some special sunglasses to wear, pictured here:

I didn't expect to like the movie at all--it's just one of those iconic things that everyone does.  However, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.  It's so campy and awesome.  Tim Curry is amazing.  I think I would like to watch it at home on DVD without all the yelling and toilet paper throwing.  However, I did enjoy watching everyone do the time warp.

Here's a picture of the three of us after the show--thanks to Thad and Margot for coming out!

#22 Part I of II

Finally paella has been accomplished!  This is 1/2 of goal #22.  We used the recipe from my last post and it was delicious.  Here is the photographic evidence:

Rick and Libby stirring the paella

Adding the garlic

Showing off the finished product

I ate the paella.  It was yummy.  Nom.

Paella recipe

It looks like we will not be making paella until tomorrow.  In the meantime, I thought I would go ahead and post the recipe we are going to use.  I am a vegetarian (although I do eat shrimp), so we are creating a variation on the "normal" recipe.

From Vegetarian Times:

Ingredient list

(Serves 6)

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 7-oz. pkgs. spicy marinated tofu, finely diced  (we are substituting shrimp)

8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 large carrots, diced (1 cup)

1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 14-oz. can chopped tomatoes, drained

4 cloves garlic, minced (4 tsp.)

1 cup short-grain brown rice

¹⁄8 tsp. saffron, crumbled

1 cup fresh or frozen peas, thawed

¼ cup lemon juice

3 green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Add tofu (or shrimp) when ripples appear

in oil, and season with salt. Sauté 10 minutes, or until tofu (or shrimp) is browned, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms, and sauté 4 to 5 minutes, or until mushrooms release liquid and begin to brown.

2. Stir in carrots, corn, tomatoes, and garlic, and sauté 2 minutes more. Stir in rice, 2 1/4 cups water, and saffron. Bring paella to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover with wok lid, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed. Add peas on surface (do not stir yet), cover, and allow peas to steam 1 to 2 minutes. Remove wok from heat, and stir in lemon juice and green onions. Season with salt and pepper. 

Doesn't that sound yummy?

Mid-month update

It is a new year and progress is being made on my 30 before 30 list!

Sometime in the next week, expect an update with pictures on goal #22 - I am cooking paella this weekend (with the help of my friend Libby because I suck at cooking).  So that will be part I of II for goal #22.

Also, I am making progress on #27 -- I am on day 6 of 120 Days of Sodom.  I already want to scrub my brain with steel wool, but I will press on!

I'm a little worried about #29.  I'm afraid the Harry Potter theme park will not be open in time for me to finish that one.  But progress is being made!  Click here for the latest pictures (or don't, if you would consider that "spoilers.")

#12, Wardrobe purge - Part II

Today I have completed the grand purging of the wardrobe! (And there was much rejoicing!)

I kept track of the number of items tossed, and I managed to meet my goal of cleaning out 1/3. Final count of all of the clothes I own (except socks) came to 320. (You can see why I needed to purge.) I am keeping 213, donating 90 to Goodwill, and bringing 17 to a consignment store. Here are some pictures to illustrate the process.

Before closet:

Before t-shirt dresser (yes, the ENTIRE dresser is full of t-shirts):

A picture of all of my t-shirts (I had 46 of them!):

This is a bridesmaids dress that I wore to my friend Erica's wedding. She got married years and years ago (maybe 8 years? Actually I think it was more like 9). Anyway, I decided that it was finally time to let it go, but realized that I didn't have any pictures of myself in it, so I decided to take some. Frankly, I'm pretty impressed that I could still squeeze into it. (Face is cut off cause I had a goofy expression.)

Two big bags of clothes headed out the door!

After picture of closet:

So, my clothes finally have a bit of breathing room. And I got rid of quite a few things that I should have tossed a long time ago. I have no idea how I managed to amass so many clothes, but I really very rarely get rid of anything, so it was past time for this.

Next goal to be accomplished will probably be #27 - Read Something by the Marquis de Sade. Fortunately, my friend Libby loaned me a copy of The 120 Days of Sodom, so I didn't have to check it out at the library or anything. I've read about 50 pages and it's already disturbing. Apparently there's also a movie, so if I really like it, I guess I can check that out, too.