Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

I hope Michael Vick is worth it to the Pittsburgh Steelers, I really do. Signing him has upset a lot of fans, a lot of rescues, and has a lot of people trying to justify how he's "turned his life around," or "done his time." I've been a lifelong Steelers fan. I'm 37, and some of my earliest memories are watching games with my father and going to training camp every year, as a Daddy-Daughter day. I remember the One for the Thumb t-shirt that was huge on me, as a child, but that I proudly wore. Steelers football days were Daddy-Daughter days, and the Steelers were always something that my father and I could discuss, a tie to bind even as I was looking to find my own way. One year, on Christmas Eve, when I was maybe 8, my father slipped on ice and broke his leg. A few days later, I remember watching a Steelers game with him sitting in his recliner, me on the couch. They started showing a replay of the Immaculate Reception, and as Franco Harris somehow fou...

Mac and I were at the Steelers game on Sunday, so I knew that yesterday, I wouldn't feel much like cooking. So, I pulled out the Dream Dinners Chicken and White Bean Chili with Corn Fritters, as I could toss the chili in the crock pot to cook. Once I added it to the crock pot, I knew I needed to add water, as my crock pot has a tendency to burn things if there isn't enough water in it. When I got home from work, I removed the lid and turned it to high from warm, which is where it had defaulted, after cooking for 8 hours on low. I allowed it to cook on high for an hour or so, hoping that some of the excess water would cook off. I then started cooking the corn fritters. Mac ended up cooking most of those, as he's better at cooking them and flipping them than I am. We added cheese to our chili, and ended up tearing the corn fritters into pieces and adding them to the chili as well. The chili had a nice taste, but the bleu cheese and onion in the corn fritters was a bit odd...

Tonight, after work, I'm headed to get my hair cut to donate to Locks of Love , and colored. I'm trying Bernard's at Brighton, where we were last Sunday, for their Spa, Shop, Wine, and Chocolate event. We each received a $15 gift certificate, so I'll use that to offset the costs. I also won a door prize at the event, so I'll pick that up as well. After that tonight, I'm going to cook the Dream Dinners Chicken with Honey, Garlic, and Orange, along with rice and broccoli for dinner. After tonight, I'm not cooking again until Tuesday, for various reasons, in part that Mac will be at the Steelers game on Sunday. On Tuesday, I'm going to prepare the Chicken and White Bean Chili with Corn Fritters. That will leave me with 3 additional meals from November to prepare, and those will probably be prepared in December, since Mac will be hunting much of the last week of November. I'll only be hunting for a day, but he'll be out in the woods for much of...

Between work and Cobaka last week, I didn't get a chance to cook as much as I'd hoped. I was in the office this morning for a few hours, and then had errands to run before a Dress for Success Professional Women's Group Community Action Project meeting. I needed to pick up dog food this week or next, and in addition to a $3 coupon, plus a coupon for a free can of cat food, PetSmart was having a friends and family sale, so I could save an extra 15%. I shop at Petco, but they accept PetSmart coupons, so it all worked out well. After the meeting, I stopped at Weis, and picked up my WeisIShop order. That was a disaster, and I'm extremely disappointed. It took 20 minutes, portions of the order were incorrect, omitted, and the produce was substandard. However, I needed to go grocery shopping, and since I wanted to watch the Steelers game, I opted to order everything online, pay $5, and have them actually do the shopping. They're going to get a phone call tomorrow, becau...

I prepared the St. Louis Smokehouse Ribs on Thursday for an early dinner. We headed out to Philadelphia for the Steelers-Eagles game. That was an experience, just trying to get there, with the Turnpike closed in several areas. The stadium layout is so disorganized, and you have to go down to the lower level to get to various "sections" of the upper deck. Horrible layout and experience! Anyway, back to the ribs... The Dream Dinners ribs were easy to prepare, as I only needed to open the packages, wrap them in foil, and bake them. I used additional BBQ sauce, and served them with cole slaw. Mac and I split a rack of ribs, and kept the other rack wrapped in foil, in the fridge. He prepared those for lunch the next day, although he didn't bake them quite enough to heat them. Such is life! The ribs were very meaty, with minimal fat, and had a nice flavor, although the extra sauce was definitely necessary to add a bit of extra moisture to them. As Mac mentioned, they'd ...