Gather Ye Rosebuds

I was given a fair amount of rotisserie style chicken yesterday at my FILs place...my SIL and BIL had picked it up at Publix and they gave me the rest. I decided I wanted to try to make Turkey Tetrazzini, even though it was really chicken. I mean, does it really matter much? I thought no, so I looked online to get an idea of what I would need. I gave the list of ingredients to Chas, and he picked them up from the store on the way home from work (he even picked up dessert!). So, here is what I did:

Ingredients:

1 bag of egg noodles, wide variety
1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed, and chopped (I think it was 2-4 cups?)
3 shallots, sliced or chopped...you decide what you like best, but I sliced
1 TBS butter
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of milk
1 can of chicken broth
grated parmesan cheese (I actually used the can kind and it was fine in this case)
parsely and paprika for garnish

Preheated the oven to 350F first. Then I cooked the noodles according to the package and then drained. Once drained, I added them to a 9x9 pan. I sprinkled some of the parmesan cheese over the noodles and stirred.

Meanwhile, I heated a medium sized pan on medium heat, added the butter, and when it bubbled, I added the shallots. I cooked the shallots for a few minutes until they softened a little, and then added the chicken and cooked a minute more. I added all the liquids and let it simmer while the noodles cooked. I added a sprinkling or two or parsely and paprika and stirred. I also added a sprinkling of the cheese here too.

Once the chicken mixture thickened a little, I added it to the pan with the noodles and mixture, followed by another sprinkling of parsely and cheese on top, and baked for 20 minutes. Let it sit at least 5 minutes for the sauce to cool off and thicken.

This made enough for about 4 meals.

I voted today. Go me. :)

...but it is 58F outside right now, and 51F is the low. I was cold outside, when I was supposed to wait for Chas to get me, so I waited just insdie the glass door of the call center where I could see him when he arrived. He made fun of me that I was cold. I think this might be the coldest it has been since earlier this year. We have been getting spurts of fall, here and there, and it has been only slightly less hot the last month or so...so despite being unprepared for this, its actually a nice thing. Tomorrow it is a little cooler, but then goes back up to the low 80's. Still, fairly nice all this week. Hooray for fall.

This is one of my favorite songs..it is a bit folky-rocky, in that Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks kind of way, in my opinion (though I don't know enough of FM/SN to say so definitively). Not the sort of thing I listen to ALL the time or anything, but yeah, I really like it. Chas actually put this on a cd he made me. And it is something other than Tubular Bells!



( 2 more videos here... )

Genmaicha ("Brown Rice Tea") Green Tea.

This tea is unusual, and can be considered and "aquired taste", as it has toasted brown rice with either sencha or bancha green tea leaves, and in some cases, popped rice which looks like baby popcorn is added (as in the picture below), and matcha tea powder for a greener and sweeter cup of tea. It has a nutty taste from the rice that is really nice. This tea can be bitter with a bad blend or not steeping properly, but when it is good, oh man is it good! It is having a strange effect on me now though, as I expect all green tea I drink to taste like genmaicha. :P



( other images of genmaicha tea )


I originally tried Adagio's Genmaicha Pop sampler, at first I liked it, but then it was bitter. That could have been my brewing method though...I think you are supposed brew this uncovered, and I was closing the lid of my IngenuiTea teapot. Being a green tea, my water may also have been too hot. My sample is finished now, so I have no more loose leaf to try. I picked up Choice Organic's Genmaicha from Chamberlins recently, and I have to say it reawakened my taste for this tea. Haven't had one bitter cup. And I am quite surprised too, because it is a bagged tea rather than loose leaf like the Adagio was. It doesn't have the "popcorn" in it as the Adagio did. I took the box to work and have about 3-4 cups of this a day, though usually 1 or 2 infusions are a little weaker as I will use the same tea bag twice before throwing it out. Writing this just now made me come up with a brillaint plan...well, I should try it out before I call it brilliant. :P The other day, at Infusion, I had the genmaicha, which was loose, and I think it did have the "popcorn" in it, and it was great.

I haven't figured out if a bancha or sencha leaf make a better genmaicha, or whether the ratio of toasted rice to tea leaves makes a difference, let alone whether the "popcorn" contributes at all to the taste or if it is just for looks. I will keep trying it though. My next brand to try is The Republic of Tea's "Tea of Inquiry" which is their version of genmaicha...I have heard many people say they liked it, so I feel positive to try it. I may also try Rishi's genmaicha blend...I think I can get both here locally. I may try to get some over the weekend.

Apartments all over town are going condo. Cheap and affordable housing, is being taken away from many residents here. This is also driving up the prices of the complexes that are staying apartments. In any case, our complex is one of the many that have turned, or are turning, condo. So, as of Tuesday, we no longer live in Twin Lakes Apartments, but in The Lakes at Maitland Condominiums (though we are still renting...the conversion is still in progress). The sign officially went up. We have had a lot of work being done in and around the complex for the last few months, and we all knew the possibility of it happening. We actually signed our new lease in the beginning of September, increasing our monthly rate $100, whereas it had only been raised no more than $15/month more in the past. But we signed anyway, as we had little time or money to try moving anywhere else. A week later we got the notice that we can buy our home for 4% less than the selling cost of $196,000, as is. Ha ha ha! They have to be on crack to think this unit is worth more than $100,000. The people that live here are working people, and I doubt anyone here could actually afford a home for $200,000. Besides, for that money, wouldn't you want to find a HOUSE with a YARD and such? I know *I* would.

Because of the timing of us signing the lease, and the conversion announcement and such, the staff came back and changed our lease back to the original rate...they stood up to the new owners because they did not think it was fair to us to jack up the rate so much then hoist this condo business on us. That was really very nice of them to do. We have a good rental history and have never had the cops here, except during the 2004 hurricane season when our phone dialed 911 without our knowledge when it went out, but that was not our fault.

Anyhow, I found the website for The Lakes at Maitland. The floor plans look identical (ours is the 3 bedroom "Maitland" plan). Still no washer/dryer in this unit according to the floorplans, despite the amenities page. It is hard to say how the gallery pics will compare to the converted units with what is standard and what is owner initiated. I think the kitchen appliances are going to be new, but not sure about the cabinets or bathroom sinks and other stuff. Carpet is a given...we had new carpet when we moved in. Really, it was new, for like a month. So, internal changes in the gallery pics may be standard with the conversion, or may not, just not too sure. The furnishings are probably all fake, as usual in "model" apartments and such. They make it look so swanky, considering how crappy this place really is, as Glitter put it...but still, ugh.

So, if someone likes (and sometimes wears) patchouli, often wears Birks, and uses reusable menstrual products (cloth pads, etc), does that make them a hippie, even if they don't dress like the stereotyped hippie?

...except maybe some of you guys out there. Anyhow:



First non-filtered, non-cryptic, public post about this. Whee!!!