A Jesus Themepark

So today I stumbled on this article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/138347?GT1=43002

It's on The Holy Land Experience, a new(ish) theme park that has opened up in Florida close to all the others. Be sure to go to the link above and watch the video.

Not being Christian or Jewish, I would like some of the rest of your opinions about this, because I'm just not sure how I feel. On the one hand, I do like the idea of a religiously based park on the premises of cultural and historical education, as well as on the basis of teaching positive family values in a culture that has become very centralized on the violent and sexual pizazz and flare of Hollywood. On the other hand, there's just something that seems wrong with putting Jesus on the same page with Mickey Mouse in the easily confused and highly impressionable minds of young children.

Never having been to this park, I won't judge it. I would like to go to see what it's all about. Any takers?

Possibly the most religiously controversial thing that I've encountered since the finding of a Jesus action figure "with karate-chop action" (I kid you not),
Alula

Sweet Dinner Carrots

It's time for another installment of cheap food recipes! Yay!

One of my most expensive purchases at the grocery store is always fresh produce. Good produce costs good money, generally, and while there is the option of buy in bulk to reduce pennies per pound, is anyone really capable of eating thirty pounds of anything fresh before they go bad? In order to avoid this needful waste, I go to my old faithful tactic of buying cheap and freezing extra.

Frozen Carrots--I like to freeze mine in the usual amounts of how much I cook for dinner. That way, I don't have to thaw out 5 pounds of carrots to boil up maybe half a pound, and refreeze the rest. Freezing in useable portions is a huge timesaver.

For carrots, the appropriate way to freeze is after blanching. Basically, you take your carrots and boil them for a few minutes prior to freezing to partially cook them so that the water content is better preserved. I do this stove top because several attempts in the microwave yielded dry portions of carrot. Freezing them fresh (i.e., without the blanching step) will result in mushy carrots when you go to thaw.

In order to make tasty dinner carrots, I use some of my frozen stock. I put them into enough water to cover for boiling and about 1 cup of brown suger in a pot. I bring them to a boil for about 5 minutes, then serve the carrots (minus most of the water). Butter to taste; these carrots can be refrozen for up to 1 month. When refreezing, I recommend freezing the carrots undrained in the cooking brown sugar water, as this allows you to heat up the whole deal with having to add more water (reheating the carrots without a water buffer can result in dried out carrots).

Enjoy!

Alula

The trip to Ms. Hyde!!! Dun dun dun...

So this month I'll be visiting our dear friend Ms. Hyde. Ms. Hyde may seem like a nice harmless woman, we will call this version of her Dr. Jekyll, but this will only be for a short time. All us women know that we must visit this wonderful lady once a year, to make sure we will be able to have babies and not get cancer down where it isn't welcome. When we get to to Dr. Jekyll's place of business, you are escorted to a nice pretty room with lots of pretty pictures and diagrams on the walls. When Jekyll comes in, she usually greets you with a warm smile, and then the gloves come out! You're now in a paper dress being told to lie down and relax. Now she will snap her latex gloves down to her mid arm, non-latex for those among us who are allergic to it. Then we experience the finger, the swab and the tree. The finger reminds you of your first boyfriend experimenting with you. The swab tickles. And then we have the tree. The tree prickles you in ways that you were never meant to be. Preceding these threes items on Jekyll/Hyde's list is jelly. Now that all of this is over, you are left feeling violated and awkward. And if she isn't a great lady, and uses nasty jelly, you may even end up feeling a plopping situation.

Needless, to say I will not be looking forward to my visit with Dr. Jekyll/Ms. Hyde and you all shouldn't either (no matter how necessary they are). I do so apologize that this happens to be my first post, bear with me I have no time for anything.

~Munchkin

wedding

I thought I would share some wedding pictures with you! I'm the one in white!


Playing with fire wail wearing flammable clothing!

Home Fries

Hey Y'all. So most of you know that Mr. Borealis and I save a buck wherever we can, and that recently includes cutbacks on the food budget. I am currently feeding the two of us on $100 a month, and part of doing that is cutting back on the expense of eating out.

I created this recipe to feed my craving for french fries.

You start with a pile of potatoes. I use potatoes in a lot of my recipes because they are so cheap; when I buy more than I can use and they start to grow little eyes all over them, then it's time to turn them into fries and freeze them. (Raw potatoes don't exactly freeze well.)

First, cut all the eyes and blemishes off/out of the spuds. Then wash and then peel all of them. As an experienced peeler I like to do this in front of the television watching a movie I've seen a hundred times but still love (this way I can enjoyably listen to the audio while focusing on peeling potatoes and not fingers). After peeling the potatoes, they go into a bowl of cold water to keep them from discoloring.After all the potatoes are peeled, I like to start the oil on the stove. I use a deep cooking pot, though I recommend a frier if you happen to have one. It's important that the oil is deep enough to cover several fries completely, and that the pot is tall enough that oil overspill won't be a problem. The oil should be heated to about 320 degrees.

While you wait for the oil to heat, you can cut your fries. I use a large Santoku knife to cut the potatoes in half and then into large steak fries. The fries then go into another bowl of cold water to prevent discoloring.

The cut fries then go into the heated oil about 10-15 at a time and are fried until golden brown--as these fries are freezer-bound, I tend to slightly overcook for better crispiness. Use a metal kitchen utensil to lower the fries into the oil (Note: LOWER--do not DROP the fries in, as hot splashing oil is bad for the skin!). They stay in for about 5 minutes until golden brown, then use a metal utensil to get them back out and put them into a flat holding container lined with paper towels to absorb extra oil. Salt them immediately. As more fries are added, another layer of paper towel can be put down on top of the fries for additional oil absorption.

Wait for the fries to cool, and then put them into a gallon-size plastic bag and write the date on the front in permanent marker. The fries will keep in the freezer for up to three months and are an excellent substitute for fast food or store bought fries. Reheat in the oven.

After the oil has cooled completely, you can filter and save it for reuse the next time you have surplus potatoes or other fry work.

For a tasty spin on this recipe, you can create a simple batter using flour, water, and spices to taste. Batter your fries just prior to frying them (this makes for EXTRA crispy fries); if you do this be sure to lower in one fry at a time or the batter will cause them to stick together.

Thrifty and tasty,

Alula

Dun NUN NERNERNER! NERNERNERNERNER NER NER NER!

If y'all haven't seen Iron Man, go see it. Even if you have to budget and forgo Starbucks for a week, it's just that good. I don't know how closely it followed the comic book, but the story made sense, the effects were something spectacular, and the acting was quite good. I never knew Robert Downey Jr. could be as sexy as he was in this movie. The character of Iron Man is based off of Howard Hughes. The first half hour is a touch graphic, but after that it gets a mite bit shiny.

The previews had me wanting to spend my entire summer at the theater. The Batman movie looks good (Q- it's got the girl from The Secretary), along with the new Indiana Jones movie. The Incredible Hulk shows some promise, and lots of things blowing up. The Get Smart movie looks funny, and it's nice to see Ann Hathaway doing something other than a romantic comedy.

Me, I'll be humming the Iron Man song in my sleep for a few weeks...

Say hello to my wee little friend!

I don't check my mail frequently. I especially check it less when Mr. Borealis is out of town. So you can imagine my surprise when I actually check my mail and realize that my good friend DoHP has mailed me a sizeable envelope package.


Wondering if she accidentally packed some of my underwear by mistake when she left from her last visit, I open it and find this little guy:

Thanks, DoHP! Now my wee little garden is tended by the Wee Little Garden Gnome! He lives in my strawberry planter and I have named him Gnigel.

Don't tell GGLF,

Alula

Hi Death of Houseplants...

Hi, my name is Death of Houseplants, and I am addicted to school supplies.

Penguin Suit

This image was taken from the original article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24311713/

(it's not mine and I claim no rights to it--I just thought little Pierre the penguin was so cute that I had to share).

The poor little guy started balding so someone made him a wetsuit so he could go swimming with his buddies. Doesn't that just give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside?

Tell me you wouldn't have been tempted to paint a tuxedo on the front,

Alula

If I can't do this nobody can!

I'm taking the PTCE in 12 days. I get to the cardiovascular system agents section of my study guide and see the above warning. I'm starting to wonder how anybody without a biology degree can pass this test. Obviously it has happened, as my two stupidest co-workers have passed this test, but with how "Oh no! Scary test!" the study guide is being, I have no idea how they passed it.

(BTW this post has been made with the Picassa "Blog this!" feature ((which is so super shiny)) so please forgive any formatting errors that don't get fixed.)

Ah, Finals Week...

Surviving finals. Barely. I have a 10-page paper due today at 5pm, and have officially written about a page and a half of it; but the energy drinks are plentiful and I think I know what I'm going to say. I got about 5 hours of sleep last night, got up at 3 to write, wrote Q three emails about how lonely I feel because Mr. Borealis is out of town and erased them all because I just sounded so pathetic.

I missed his phone call last night because he called early and I had to attend my niece's birthday party. She's five and her big present was getting her ears pierced (and she LOVES them!).

My computer virus scanner is driving me nuts. I won't say which one it is but I will say it rhymes with SchMcAfee. If anyone knows where the setting is to make it ask me before it starts scanning or downloading anything ('cause it REALLY ties up my RAM and takes a long time to finish--even when I try to cancel out of whatever it's doing), I would appreciate knowing this information.

Anywhine, I'm not doing anything this weekend. Or at least don't intend to. I will be vegetating on my couch, drooling all over myself unconscionably, remote fixed in my hand and glazed eyes unfocused on the television screen. I still have 5 different kinds of ice cream at my place in it for anyone who cares to join me.

And now, the end is near; and so I face the final curtain...
Alula

...Weren't run on batteries!

Yesterday was my two year anniversary with my batteries. Not the same batteries I started with but the concept of batteries.

I think I've found a certain special kind of insanity. I named my latest knitting project. Steve.

And a warning for Q. Make sure that Mr. Q's insurance has you in the system as female. Because otherwise it will reject with the "Drug not covered for gender specified" error and somebody will have to call the insurance to get it fixed, normally while you're waiting in the store for your birth control. Also the one guy that I work with in the pharmacy had something crawl up his butt today (and I don't mean like one of those giant bugs we get around here), and he really reminds me of my old boss Pissy Hippy.

Your local cranky tech
~DoHP