Yay! Intellectual Husband just phoned to say he got accepted to U of T for his grad work! He wants to talk about living expenses and stuff ! I am going to explode!
Not Atkins-y. He loves pita and naan and corn chips and nanaimo bars. Just not most baking. The last thing he needs is to lose weight.
Swampy, have a good and uneventful (WRT the travel stuff) trip.
Gonna goose the future nephew-in-law?
I am completely bummed about not being able to get together with you, swampy. I even thought about not going to the pub on St. Pat’s and hijacking you instead, and I would, except that the band is expecting me to bring their employee (my kid) so she can help out. But NEXT time you’re in the area, I am kidnapping you fershure. Maybe I’ll take you to Target.
Nobody in this house has a bike now. I don’t know why.
Yes, we are remodeling, and we have to do so creatively, because we’ve already spent the bulk of our budget on hardwood flooring for the dining room, foyer and hall, and carpeting for the family room, parlor and master bedroom. I’m gonna go start a thread in IMHO because I need some clever ideas for the dining room, which I want NOT to be a dining room anymore. So if you’re a creative decorating type, get over there soon please and help me out.
It’s good to know I’m not the only Target addict here. It’s so bright and shiny and everything looks so pretty. And they built a new Target just for me, so I wouldn’t have to drive so far to go shopping at Target (past zillions of Mallwarts, and we won’t even talk about K-Mart–it’s just scary).
FairyChatMom, your ginger snaps sound yummy! I love ginger cookies. My grocery store has ginger cookies–chewy and gingery and oh, so good. I want to make cookies like that, but I can’t get it quite right. Well, you know what they say, practice makes perfect, so I need to just keep baking cookies! Anyone want to come over for cookies and milk?
I feel so left out–I don’t have a “Rippin’ Claw,” or a “Major Damage,” or even a “Techno.” I used to have a bike, but it was a piece of junk, so I left it by the dumpster, and someone else gave it a good home. I wanted to get a very cool vintage-y Schwinn (at Target, natch), but my legs are freakishly short, and they didn’t have it in my size. I think I need to start looking at kid’s bikes. I wonder if they have a “Rippin’ Claw” in my size.
Bikes and Target and other stuff I’ve forgotten because it’s late and I’m tired.
Including the tricycle, I’ve owned four bikes. I have a picture of my brother and me on our tricycle when we were 2 and 1. He’s sitting; I’m standing on the steppy thing behind him while Mom tries to keep us from coming to grief. Then there was my first 2-wheeler, red, with training wheels, for Christmas (or maybe my mid-November birthday), in Michigan. (Go back and re-read comments about inappropriate times to give bikes.) My brother and I both got bikes sometime later in grade school. I rode mine until sometime in college and even painted it at one point. It was a Schwinn Breeze. My brother had a Schwinn 10-speed of some sort which actually outlived the Breeze. I adopted it and rode it in grad school. Can’t remember what happened to either bike; they probably wore out.
And Target…well…I’ve wound up buying all manner of things there: cameras, DVD player, lamps, mugs, my first PDA etc. Several times, I’ve started out at Best Buy and then gone to Target and found what I was actually looking for. For non-food items, I pretty much stick to Target and Kohl’s. If they don’t sell it at either store, I probably don’t need it anyway.
GT
Sorry, Kall, but I can’t bring myself to wear any orange on St. Patrick’s day unless I actually have an Irish flag. I grew up hearing “No orange on St. Pat’s day!” so I just can’t do it. My mother may have heard it from her mother who is Boston Irish, so maybe that explains that.
I’m not much into corned beef but I think I might make some Colcannon and that’s probably about it for my St. Pat’s Day. But maybe I’ll try some Guiness for the occasion.
Oh, and I have a bike but I never ride it. I don’t remember if it has a name, it might. Being that I am rather short I usually have to buy kid sized 10 speeds.
I have 2 bikes, a Schwinn City Cruiser, with the fat seat, longhorn handlebars, and 7 speeds. The transmission is inside the rear hub and all I hafta do to shift is push a lever with my thumb to go up (or down, I forget) and a button to go the other way. It’s very cool! Herself bought it for me for Christmas a few years ago, when Schwinn still belonged to Schwinn. I think they were bought out by Huffy, or somebody like that. If you can’t beat 'em, buy 'em, it’s the Merikan way!
My other bike is at the beach. It’s a pile of rust labelled, incongrously, a ‘Malibu Hopper’. We bought it, and it’s sister, at a rummage sale, and I immediatly doubled their value by buying and installing fenders and baskets. ‘Malibu Hopper’ isn’t nearly as scarey sounding as ‘Ripping Claw’, but my bike does instill fear in onlookers however, they’re afraid that if it touches them they’ll catch something.
I rather like Target. I buy clothes there sometimes, and DVDs. Plus they’re only about 10 miles away.
I have nothing to add about St. Paddy’s day, being, in my heart at least, of Scottish descent. I suppose I should start saving up my ‘gout points’ for some corned beef though. I loves me some corned beef. See, I have gout, and I only allow myself to eat a certain amount of red meat per week.
Chocolate on the other hand…
Hey y’all, I’m sneakin’ in one last post before I leave for the cold north. I checked out the weather and the highs are lower than the lows here. Plus there’s a 30% chance of rain/snow tomorrow and Thursday in Skokie. Good thing I gots me a nice warm waterproof overcoat for just such occasions. Wile E has got me wantin’ colcannon now. If’n I was to eat corned beef, cabbage and colcannon together, the resultant gaseousness would be heard and smelled all across the greater midwest. There would be big national headlines about toxic fumes and evacuation of the greater Chicago area. But it’s sooooooo good!
Bye now! Y’all play sweet!
One more time. It occured to me some of y’all might not know what colcannon is. Being as I am all helpful and stuff I thought I’d share a basic recipe. It really should have some bacon or ham mixed in to be especially good but here’s a starter.
I present for your enjoyment colcannon. Enjoy!
Colcannon sounds harmless enough. But isn’t kale a relative of okra? I may be Southern by choice now, but not that Southern.
The Factotrix has declared war on the squirrels in our neighborhood. More specifically, the actual squirrels who have climbed up to our condo’s porch to ransack the bird feeder. Yesterday morning they woke her up, and when she went out there to shoo! them away, one of the squirrels took the birdfeeder with him all the way down to the ground floor. Since it was made of plastic, it broke.
So, off to the store she went, to get another feeder, some more seeds, and weapons. The K-Marts around here are dumping merchandise at ridiculously low prices, so she picked up a coupla guns. Real beauties these are, pump action pistols that hold about a pint of water each. Pump them up once or twice, and they’ve got three or four shots each in them that will reach a good thirty feet - more than enough range to soak down the asses of those fluffy-tailed rats as they’re high-tailing it away from the scene of the crime. I can’t wait to douse me some squirrels!
Regarding St. Pat’s day, my family is of 100% Polish descent. My dad’s parents and my mom’s grandparents came to the US in the early 1900s - we’ve barely been in this country for 100 years… My dad worked for a company owned by a family of Irish descent. On Mar 17, he’d go to work in a blue suit and a red tie with a button that said “Kiss me, I’m Polish!” Despite that, he was never fired or anything. Plus he was a VP in the company, so what are they gonna do??
I make it a rule not to wear green, ever since the kids in elementary school gave me crap about it. I’m thinking this year it’ll be black jeans and a red shirt. But I do loves me some corned beef and cabbage.
What’s with people calling it “corn beef”? Are these the same people who say “ice tea”? They should all be whacked with a dictionary, by golly!
Oh yeah, I came home from work sick. I don’t know if it’s so much sick as sick building - I felt fine, but after being there an hour, my eyes were tearing up, my nose was running, and I was sneezing like crazy. Thankfully, we’ll be moving to a new office by the end of the month, so it shouldn’t be fatal. Now excuse me while I hunt down a case of tissues.
You’re close, sean. Funny, when I googled kale, one of the links was for Super Target. I really wish they would build a Super Target close to where I live. I know I would definitely do my grocery shopping there. Mmmmmmmmm, Super Target.
My memory has been jogged. Seems I DID have a brand new tricycle when I was about two or three. I got it for my birthday. But my mom made me take a nap in the afternoon. Whilst I was snoozing, my cousin Katie trik-jacked my wheels. When I woke up, she was hightailin’ down the sidewalk. So I ran after her, jumped on the little step thingy…and BIT her! Boy, did that start a family feud! A regular Irish brawl! Heh, heh.
swampy, if yer still listening, have a great safe trip and don’t freeze off any bear claws. 
Tupug
Next time I’m in Raleigh, can TaxiDriver and I come over for some cookies and milk? Experimental ginger cookies sound great! 
Not big on the milk part - but of course, cookies are always welcome. Thought you might be interested in a chewy ginger cookie recipe - http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71723 . I haven’t made them, but the couple people who have seem to like them.
Susan
That’s not the exact recipe I used, but it’s very close. Not that it matters now, as the cookies are all gone. They lasted less than 36 hours… doggone sweet tooths…
Kale, collards, okra - definitely not that Southern. The only green things I eat are beans, peas, celery, all the varieties of lettuce, cabbage (in cole slaw, not corned and beefed), and frozen Mountain Dews. But I will be wearing the green on Thursday.
Yes, the Irish flag is green and orange, but there is another flag that was broken out every year at this time back home. It was a green field with a harp in yellow, and the words “Erin Go Braugh.” I was told it translated to “Ireland Forever,” but since I couldn’t understand my grandparents when they spoke Gaelic (neither of them sounded like Chief O’Hara or the Lucky Charms leprechan), it could have meant “Ire, Man, for Evan.”
And I can’t say that I ever ate a ginger snap either. Is 42 too late to start?
It’s never to late to try a ginger snap! Well, except at my house right now, because we’re out of them. As of last night, it was too late. But you know what I mean!
Sure! If it’s on a weekend, I might even have time to do something more impressive than cookies. How does Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse Cake sound?
Susan, the chewy ginger cookies sound just right! I’ll try them and report back.
What’s the deal with the ginger chips? I didn’t see them in the recipe, but they sound very intriguing. I have cinnamon chips, but not ginger chips. I must go find ginger chips.
I’ve heard North Carolina is a beautiful place to visit. And obviously the people are friendly!
Shall I bring my own fork and napkin?
I think we’d better get some paper plates. What time today d’you want us to arrive, FCM?
My mother bought us this gorgeous almond cake/torte thing at Costco. Marzipan is among the many things that Mr. Lissar Doesn’t Like. So I have 7/8s of a torte whose first two ingredients are almond paste and almond flour, and I am trying not to eat the whole thing myself. I hope Driving Husband will be over today and Attacks Things Husband on Thursday. I will be much rounder if I eat the whole thing myself.
Oddly enough, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I just love marzipan. Normally I prefer not-too-sweet and comforting custardy things like bread pudding.
Laundry and bathroom cleaning and dance class today. Whee.