July 30, 2003
BY POPULAR REQUEST (ok. only one person asked for a recipe)
this is the easiest and best chicken paprikash you will ever taste. i swear to god. i NEVER make it in this small of a quantity, but i down-sized it for you. if you don't have lawry's seasoned salt, buy it. just for this recipe. you'll use it. this will be the dish you make for company.
1/2 stick butter, melted in a pot
2 medium onions, cut in medium (about 1") chunks
lawry's seasoned salt, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika
6 pieces of chicken
flour (maybe 2T)
water (~1/2 cup)
1/4 - 1/2 c sour cream
start cooking the onions in the butter, season onions liberally with lawry's seasoned salt, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika.
add chicken -- i'd use half dark meat and half breasts -- wash the chicken first, pat it dry, and JUST PLACE THE CHICKEN ON TOP OF THE ONIONS.
season again (liberally) with lawry's seasoned salt, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika. put a lid on the pot, cook on medium until you hear it really start to cook, then turn down to simmer. cook for 2 hours. shake the pot once in a while to unstick food -- I DON'T TAKE THE LID OFF TO STIR AT ALL.
when done (2 hours), remove chicken pieces, thicken onions and liquid (there will be quite a bit) with a slurry of the flour and water -- then add a little sour cream (1/4 to 1/2 cup) -- this is the gravy.
serve this with rice or mashed potatoes or spaetzle or noodles. whatever.
and here are a couple pictures i took tuesday (from the golf cart) while bill golfed. i'm having so much fun with this camera; i can't wait to use it at the wedding.
#1 View image
#2 View image
July 28, 2003
12 DAYS!
i am getting so excited for the wedding. to hear the joy and excitement in our son's voice is an incredible gift to us.
when matt was about 3 month's old, i was talking to a friend at a party. her new-born son was about 6 month's old. anita said to me, "i can't stand the thought of him growing up. it makes me cry everytime i think about him getting married." i felt exactly (well not exactly) the opposite. i enjoyed so much the "baby days." but i daydreamed about dancing with a young man, healthy, strong, and so much in love, at his wedding. it looks like that day's almost here (except for the gimpy dancing mom thing), and i'm so happy for him.
i spoke with him today, and he told me that (even though he has not seen mel's dress) that she looks beautiful in it. he sounds so happy. makes me smile thinking about it.
i'm antsy about getting started on cooking for the rehearsal dinner (my sisters and i are doing the dinner). i'm making lists like crazy.
this morning i found a pair of earrings bill had given me that i had misplaced. i said, "dammit! now i don't know what earrings to wear! i might wanna wear these!" he said, "you have a WEEK AND A HALF!" pfffft.
July 27, 2003
BANANAS
the freezer in the garage is NOT self-defrosting. i don't know what we were thinking when we bought THAT. i've been putting off the job for a while, tried to sucker one of my sisters into coming over to help me with it as a birthday present, but she's too smart for that. she went out and BOUGHT me a present. crap. so i had to start preparing jax and bill for the job a week ago. you have to start early with them; otherwise, they won't help, citing the "previous notification rule." men. hrrrr.
anyway, the freezer is PACKED. i mean packed. ok. a lot of the space WAS taken up by the ice build-up. and frozen bananas. i'm telling you this so you hear it from me before bill tells you. i have a problem with throwing out bananas. i buy bananas at least three times a week, as i love bananas and must have at least one banana every day. the problem is that i only like them slightly tart. you know what i mean. just-turned-yellow-with-a-little-bit-of-green-at-the-stem ripe. when they turn all yellow, i might eat one in a bowl of rice krispies. but if they have even one little freckle just starting, they're freezer food. i cannot throw them out. i just can't.
bill and i both like to make banana bread, and i make the earth's greatest banana cake. yes i do. and banana pancakes. frozen bananas are perfect for baking. pop them in a freezer bag and offer them up to the freezer gods. evidently never to be seen again.
i started pulling stuff out of the freezer and putting it all in coolers and the inside fridge and "mr. avocado" as we call the garage fridge -- i think you can guess why. i made a HUGE mistake by heading in the house, leaving bill to continue pulling stuff out of the freezer. he tells me he pulled out at least 6 bags of frozen bananas. i thought it would be more, so i don't feel THAT silly. but he threw them out. thank god i didn't have to watch.
i also freeze leftovers like crazy. before i married almost 30 years ago, i was the primary cook in our household. it took me at least 5 years to figure out that i didn't have to cook 2 pounds of pasta for a meal. it drove bill crazy. but i got over that one. then kids came along, hockey, school activities, less time for cooking every single night. so i started cooking double meals when i cooked. and freezing the second meals. that and the way i make a pot of spaghetti sauce. i do not know how big the pot is -- it's a whopper. sauce making is a real production here that doesn't end until the 15 containers of sauce, meatballs, and sausage have been packed and frozen.
some of what we found in the freezer: 8 containers of sauce and meat, a tray of breaded beef cutlets (a treasure), 4 containers of cheese sauce for mac and cheese, spaetzle, bananas, 2 ham bones (another thing i cannot throw out), 6 containers of pasta e fagioli, a tray of pig from last year's pig roast (still good as i had it packed really well), a home-made pumpkin roll that somebody made for us, and -- eureka! -- the mother lode -- a container of my chicken paprikash. trust me. this is the best chicken paprikash you have ever tasted. if you had tasted it. trust me, matt and mark are salivating right now as they're reading this.
it's heating up on the stove right now. got to go. the rice may be done. sucks to be you.
July 26, 2003
WIZARD? hmmmm.
within 60 seconds, matt fixed my blog. i'm a little bit scared now. these special powers he has -- i'm not sure where they end. or do they? are they infinite?
OK, OK
the last post i made shows up 7 times because it wouldn't post, so i kept pressing "save." i guess it saved. overnight. i'm not sure if this one will show up, but i'm sure as hell not gonna press "save" 7 times. i deleted 6 of those duplicates, but it's not updating. i'm giving it some time. it only shows up once in entries to edit, so i guess there's some kind of problem. time. patience. ommmmmmm.
July 25, 2003
SUMMER DAY FRIDAY
i have off every other friday. today was my day off. i'm ready for bed, and it's only 10:00.
i was up by 7:30 to drive along with bill to a hearing. we were home by 10 a.m. with our first mochas. we made a nice breakfast of fried apples and hash browns (just had a taste for it!). jax was working for a friend today laying mulch, so we brought him a meatball sub, a pitcher of espresso over ice, some cookies, and a bottle of gatorade.
i found some shoes for the wedding, but i'm not completely happy with them, so i'll keep looking. we'll see. i had my hair re-blonded today, so i am ready! second mocha, golf, dinner, and now i'm setting this down quick before i head up to shower and bed. woo hoo!
boring, trite blog entry i know. sorry. really all i wanted to do was try out my new dig camera and uploading to the new site and post this i-m i had with mark when i got home. don't know why this tickles me, but it does:
simbear17: you there?
StaceyLng: i am now
StaceyLng: you?
simbear17: alright
StaceyLng: hey!
simbear17: i'm looking for a word that looks like this "repore"
simbear17: and means relationship
simbear17: i just don't know how to spell it :-/
StaceyLng: rapport
simbear17: SEE
simbear17: HOW THE FUCK WAS I GONNA GET THAT?
simbear17: mutha fuckah
simbear17: :-d
simbear17: thanks mam!
StaceyLng: k, bud. goin to fry up some spaetzle cya.
StaceyLng: ttyl
StaceyLng: otu
simbear17: later gator!
and here's my first picture from my new dig camera and my first try at uploading with mt:
crap! i did something wrong. none of the golf course pictures came out! i'll get some outdoor shots tomorrow. but i think this shows how beat we all are. and who can resist dog pictures anyway? now i'll try the upload thing. here goes nothing.
woo hoo! it worked!
July 24, 2003
ARGHHHHH
STACEY TO MATT 9:08 A.M.
dad says you have his tennis shoes, do you?
MATT TO STACEY 12:40 P.M.
i have a pair of tennis shoes -- mine.
STACEY TO MATT 12:48 P.M.
i just talked to dad. he says YOUR tennis shoes are in your bedroom. HIS are gone.
MATT TO STACEY 1:06 P.M.
Hmmm. Ok, I'll bring them, but I'm pretty sure they're mine
STACEY TO MATT 1:06 P.M.
this is too funny. you guys are gonna have to duke it out.
STACEY TO MATT 8:49 A.M.
dad STILL insists he didn't have nike's, but the shoes at home are nike's.
MATT TO STACEY 8:56 A.M.
The shoes I have up here are mine - I'm sure of it...but I'll bring them.
BILL TO MATT AND STACEY 10:22 A.M.
The shoes here are yours and we will bring them.
STACEY TO BILL AND MATT 11:10 A.M.
matt, dad thinks his brand of shoes was "saucony." is that what you have on your feet?
MATT TO STACEY 12:19 P.M.
-- wearing new balance...the exact same shoes I've had for a year.
STACEY TO MATT 12:26 P.M.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
BILL TO MATT AND STACEY 6/14/02 1:25 P.M.
I am such an idiot. I found my Saucony running shoes. I found your mom's New Balance shoes. I found Airwalks that Jackal has.
if you don't have a headache yet and you actually followed this, you may be wondering: who owns the Nike's??? and is there or has there ever been a pair of Nike's in matt's room???
SCORE!
mochas:
ONLY 1!
presents:
new canon digital camera – 3 MEGAPIXELS!
new nothingbutlove site
2 longaberger baskets – haven’t arrived yet, so my birthday is not OFFICIALLY over!
more help on tweaking nbl – will be done by saturday – stay tuned
cake:
baby casada cake (not bill’s home-made recipe, unfortunately)
chocolate cupcake with sprinkles at work
work:
only half-day
flowers:
basket of flowers from friend, marlene – sweet!
dinner:
quiet, nice, at home – with bill and girly-dogs
manicure:
YESSSSS! FINALLY! getting ready to be mother of the groom on 8/9/03. i know, i know -- i'll need another one before the wedding -- this was practice!
nothingbutlove:
LOTS! calls, e-mails, and really nice comments on nbl – THANKS!
nothingbutlove: none of your business.
as i said, the birthday’s not OFFICIALLY over until all the presents are in. maybe my baskets will have arrived. our friends, sue and dave, gave me tickets to take bill to see “late nite catechism” tonight. lookin’ forward to that. maybe we’ll go to stino’s beforehand?
i have off tomorrow (i have off every other friday in the summer by putting in an extra hour 4 days a week), and the first thing on the agenda is to find shoes for the wedding! i’m determined to get this done quickly tomorrow cuz i’d REALLY like some pool time. and try out my new camera on the golf course with bill. i’ll post some pics if i’m successful. and i need to figure out the mt upload thing. lots on the agenda for the weekend.
really: THANKS for the nice birthday wishes. some of you left your first comments to me yesterday – that was so cool! and big thanks to michelle, -d, kazoofus, and, of course, bill, for your birthday wish posts to me. i feel special!
July 23, 2003
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
i'm looking for nothingbutlove today.
July 22, 2003
ANOTHER TRICKY DAY*
*another “who” allusion
bill and i were talking about a friend of ours this morning who’s going through a really bad time. this friend is truly an exceptional person: big hearted, compassionate, honest, energetic. good, good people. not many of these around. and this bad time is REALLY a bad time: gut-wrenching kind of bad time. shit.
so i was thinking about how we felt when we first found out about jackson and the drugs. all i wanted to do was fast-forward through the pain. cuz i know enough about me – us – to know that we’d fight like hell, with EVERYTHING we could, to beat this thing. cuz that’s all you CAN do. not always gracefully (as they say), but with resolution and absolute commitment. but it still was so incredibly, fucking painful ...
so to our friend – and anybody else who’s fighting the fight – all i can offer is hugs and support during the bad times. it’s gonna be bad. it’s gonna be ugly. it’s gonna hurt like hell. it is what it is. that’s not meant to diminish how bad it will be – i’m just sayin’. but it will end. just be there on the other side. it will be worth it.
July 21, 2003
POLLYANNA 101
1. always -- bill
2. always -- the boys
3. my birthday's on wednesday
4. bill's making his famous special recipe chocolate chunk cookies
5. my new blog site
NOTHING BUT LOVE
if you're here, you found me. this new site is a birthday present from bill and the boys. i'm so glad they were able to get the "nothingbutlove" title. i wouldn't have cared if it had to be www.nothingbutlove.ass. um. well maybe i would have.
when i named my site nothingbutlove over on blogspot, i meant it. and i thought that since my new site is brand-spanking new, i'd outline exactly what it is i meant / mean.
if you've been a nbl reader, you know i'm not adverse to ranting. that's not gonna change.
but i do not and will not proffer or tolerate any personal attacks on MY site.
this site is a log of MY life and my feelings and experiences. some of them. i don't share everything about my life, as i'm sure is true about most - if not all - sites.
i have definite political and social views. not everybody is gonna like them. that's fine. if you disagree, say something. that's fine. but say it nice.
i won't tolerate trolls. don't be coming here and leaving snide, cryptic, or downright shitty comments. i'll delete the comment and block your ip address. if you've got something you want to say to me, e-mail me. we'll talk. otherwise, stay the hell away. or don't. it's a big www.
i don't care if i have 5 regular readers. i'm not doing this for fame or fortune. you won't find paypal here. i'm doing this for me mostly. for my family second. and -- i've met some very, very nice people here in blogworld, and i'm glad they visit and are encouraging about what they see here, too.
you may find this site pollyanna-ish. god knows i do sometimes, too.
i'm a 49 year-old woman with a husband whom i absolutely adore and three boys (two regular and one semi) who mean the world to me. these people are what my life is about. really. no hyperbole. i had an "interesting" childhood, and my life has been and always will be about redefining "family" for me. i think i've done a pretty good job of that, and will continue to work to that end.
but i'm not just a wife and mother, and i think that's another reason i do this. my children get to get a look at who i am as a woman. i'm glad for them to see that.
if you're not interested, that's fine with me. like i said, it's a big www. i'm sure you can find what you're looking for elsewhere. do it. next.
happy birthday to me.