Sunday Misc.

Sunday 7:
Getting harder and harder to do. I grabbed some odds and ends in the basement and shoved them over with the Prepare for Fair stuff. There's more than seven, but I didn't bother noting what they were.

In two weeks - because next Saturday is going to be pretty much eaten up with "What happened on Who? What happened on Who?" - I'm going to do a major purge on the basement, though. There's a lot of sewing fabric that I will probably never sew at this point, collections of quilt scraps that haven't been looked at since they were labeled and set away, boxes and boxes of candles - in essence, a ton of things that will doubtless bring in a few extra bucks at the sale. So I'm going to do the kind of serious culling that I haven't done in months. By the time that's through, and by the time the sale has gotten everything out of the house at the end of the month, I'm going to be in a position to start doing some serious rearranging along with the cleaning out.

Homekeeping:
Yesterday I didn't accomplish that much, but I did hammer in a set of nails high on the pantry wall to hang my assorted current and to-be-bought bento containers. In the long run, I want to own at least 5, so I can fill 'em up on Sunday for the whole week. I own two and put a bid on a 3-container one on ebay. (Because if all I'm doing to fill the 4th container pop open a cup of yogurt or pudding, why not just throw the yogurt or pudding into my bag?)

Recipes:
Tried a new chicken marinade last night. The recipe called for equal amounts of orange marmalade and mustard to be spread over a whole chicken to roast, so naturally I made mine 2 parts lemon marmalade and 1 part cranberry mustard over a chicken breast, which I then steamed. (The only way to cook chicken breast and have it come out moist!) It's a good thing I always steam in a dish, as the marinade turned into thin liquid, but spoon it back over the chicken and YUM! It wasn't bad on the rice either (hey, white rice and chicken breast steam for the same amount of time. It's why I eat too so much of it.)

Doctor Who:
A thought about Doctor Who that struck me this morning - what age was Susan when the Doctor took her from Gallifrey? ( Are you pondering what I'm pondering? )

Recipe - African Stew

No, Addams Family fans, it was not made with real Africans. Pretty easy, crockpot-able, lots o' veggies.

Saute in olive oil for 4 min:
1 small chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 small chopped green pepper

Add and saute another 3 min:
~1 t grated ginger (I used chopped crystallized ginger)
1/2 chopped chicken breast (uncooked)

Add in and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally:
1 1/2 c chicken stock
2 c tomato sauce or juice
2 cubed sweet potatoes (the recipe called for one sweet and one baking; I prefer to bake my baking potatoes)
1/2 c corn (I used frozen corn-and-peas)

When it's done (chicken cooked, potato chunks tender), take it off the heat and throw in:
2 T peanut butter

I boiled it without a lid and added cornstarch to thicken it; next time I think I'll throw in a handful of barley instead.

More Bentos,with links

Someone mentioned in passing that they were interested in the bento posts, so that has only encouraged me.

Anyway, there's a flickr group called Mr. Bento Pr0n only they don't misspell it, so you'd probably better not check it out at work. People take pictures of their lunches, with popups describing the food, which is giving me some ideas. (Also the giggles.) This particularly American one is nifty and I'm totally ripping off everything but the olives. (Feh.) The mini frittata recipe is brilliant, although I'm thinking that when I steal it I'll use silicon liners in a ramekin so I can 1) use the oven and 2) it'll be reusable.

Scroll down this page for a cold spinach/corn vinagrette salad idea.

Am waffling about buying a three container bento tube as filling a container with a pudding cup only makes for more washing and sometimes I'll have something I don't want to refrigerate at all, like apples or bananas. Having a larger main container would be good for times when the central dish covers all the food groups (African stew, mac and cheese w/veg) or I want to have a bunch of tortilla chips for a salsa lunch.

Am. Not. Supposed. To. Be. Using. Credit. OTOH, cannot find these at local Korean market (have gone to look) and packing lunches instead of buying them will "pay back" the price of the bento in less than a month.


Completely OT for the Heroes fans, via svilleficrecs: a great Another One Bites the Dust vid on Youtube.