I ate breakfast at a Chili’s restaurant in an airport last month, and I really liked their “breakfast potatoes” – which were prepared as if they were in a wet curry, but the spices were Mexican rather than Indian. The end result was greasy, saucy, spicy, and really good.
This morning I tried to duplicate the recipe, and while what I came up with wasn’t the same, it was delicious.
Breakfast Potatoes
3 T. oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1/4 red pepper, diced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced
3 T. tomato sauce (or leftover tomato soup or red sauce)
6 small or 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1-1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne or to taste
3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
salt and black pepper to taste
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In which Brett turns 32.
Yesterday was Brett’s birthday. I totally forgot about it until I went to write a check for dog food at Tractor Supply. I pulled it together pretty fast, though, and had a fantastic pasta dinner (with guests!) all lined up by the time I got home from the store.
But Brett didn’t want to do that, of course. He wanted to go right back to town. Immediately. Screw the dinner party, and screw the people already on their way out. So I put the groceries away and called Hattie & Joe and explained that I was un-inviting them for dinner, blah blah blah, and Brett and I drove back to town.
First we went and picked up Jimbo & Joy and Chuckie, then we drove past some anti-hog confinement benefit so Jim & Joy could drop an Ella-support bag off to Grandma, and then we went to the Red Rock where we commenced to drink.
I spent some quality time gossiping in the bathroom with Misty, Hattie, and Rachel. I got drunk on cosmopolitans. It was a fun time in general.
Jim & Joy
Well, it might have been more fun if I’d had some dinner first, but hey – whatever. It was his birthday.
When we got home a little past midnight, my dad’s RV appeared to be stuck in the mud a hundred feet past our driveway. Figuring he was asleep in there, we didn’t do anything about it.
I made a grilled cheese with mushrooms and tomatoes and shared it with Brett, and then I passed out and slept in my clothes on the couch all night.
When I got up this morning I made potatoes and eggs and toast and cardamom lattes, and drank about a half gallon of water while I was cooking. We had breakfast. Then my dad came in. Then Brett said he wanted to do some logging today, but I think that’s probably not going to happen:
The day after: napping on the couch
As Brett slept, I watched Affluenza on Link TV, which was insightful, thought-provoking… and fucking depressing as hell. (Shows like that cause more stress than they relieve, I’ll tell you that right now.) I am going to check out a couple of the books mentioned in the program, though. And I love the phrase “voluntary simplicity.”
I understand that a bunch of folks are making the trek to Ottumwa tonight to see Steve’s band play. I might be recovered enough to go out by then… and I bet my dad would like to do something. Hmm.
Update Brett went logging after all! And I think he even said something about getting my dad’s rig unstuck, which would be cool if it were true.
In which… ah, fuck it.
The entire point of yesterday’s post was to get Truck to comment. He did not. Bitch.
Today: I got up, cleaned house, meditated, napped, ate leftover enchiladas, and cleaned more house. I’ve done more laundry than you can shake a stick at. I got rid of the cat pee smell in the living room (but I honestly don’t know what did it – I just cleaned and/or vacuumed and/or laundered everything and now it’s gone). I swept. I dusted. I de-cobwebbed. I even scrubbed the tray under the dish drainer.
Outside it’s overcast and dreary. The leaves are turning stunning colors and then falling immediately to their deaths. Brett’s dog Stella has been lounging in my jeep since 1:30 and will not get out no matter what I tell her.
I’m going to town to buy groceries. I will probably have a cocktail first. As always, I love the word “cocktail.” Cocktail!
My dad will arrive sometime this weekend.
In which I follow through on my threat to blog a bar conversation.
Brett called me after work yesterday and we met for cocktails, where Truckunsafe gave me shit about ignoring him and playing the Megatouch (I was using up Sean’s remaining quarters, he’d told me to and I’m nothing if not obedient) and then when that ploy didn’t work, he gave me shit about blowing bubbles in my cocktails.
“I’m so blogging this,” I told him.
“Yeah, you’re gonna sit there and ignore people, and then write about it on your blog,” he sneered. I believe he was making some point about my habit of going to public places and then being totally unsocial. (See Megatouch, reading books, and playing games on my PPC in bars.)
I finished the Megatouch game and then at his prompting asked him how he was, and he revealed he’d bowled a monster game the night before, I think he bowled a 268 or something. I was all proud of him.
“Did you ever think we’d be thirty-something talking about bowling league in the bar?” I asked.
“I always wanted to bowl league,” he replied. “I just never thought I’d mean it.”
Anyway, I digress. Yes, I blow bubbles in my cocktails through the straw. I do this to stir them up. I’ve always done it. And I’ve had bartenders and patrons in bars across the country give me shit about it. What are you doing? Why are you blowing bubbles in your cocktail? What, are you four years old?
I do not care if people think it’s weird because it works. It’s better than drinking all the booze out of the bottom and having nothing but mix and ice left at the end!
I upgraded to iTunes v6 yesterday. It seems to work fine. And this, THIS is how much I need that new 20Gb iPod:
Eleven megs left out of three gigs. Jeez, I can’t wait for the new toy to get here! (Man, I’d better fire up that album-art importer app and get crackin’.)
In other news, I’m trying podcasts again. I found two last night that amused the hell out of me. I’ve decided I like iTunes’ built-in podcast functionality, even though there are tons of other, more adorable iPod podcast managers.
I guess I’ll keep my iTunes installation on my work computer because most of iTunes’ fun features suck over dial-up. SUCK.
I can’t figure out which RSS feed aggregator I like best, and am currently using three in tandem. I know I don’t like the email client-based readers, so that leaves web-based interfaces. The three in the running are Kinja, Bloglines, and Google Reader.
- Kinja is sweet, simple, and easy to use. I like the layout. I also like that it’s really easy to either click the link for the blog itself or for the particular entry. And Kinja seems to be able to get feeds from more sites than Bloglines.
- Bloglines is robust, neat looking, and works well. I don’t like that you’re always at least two mouse clicks from getting to the actual page – Bloglines is great for reading but not for commenting.
- The Google aggregator is still in beta and is slooooooooow, but it has about the same features as Bloglines – and, like Bloglines, each entry only lets you click through to that entry, not to the root of the target blog.
Overall, I think I like Kinja best, even though it’s not as tricked out as the other two. Simplicity wins.
In which you learn more than you want to know.
In my household, the trimming is done by my husband. Mostly because he can get a better angle at it, and therefore does a better job than I can myself. But also because he’s male and he seems to enjoy it.
The thing is though that sometimes he gets a little over zealous and I end up with something of a porn star look. Which is fine because it grows back and, you know, clothes ~ it’s not like anybody else is going to see it. Thank God.
But damn does my crotch ITCH.
In which you can hear a few random things I’ve been listening to lately.
For no reason other than I can, I present for your listening pleasure three four tracks I’ve been playing lately in no particular order and with no particular theme:
- Aganjú by Bebel Gilberto
A nice, smooth little Latin track. Fun driving music. Yum. [buy] - Music Sounds Better With You by Daft Punk
I luv Daft Punk. This ain’t nothin’ but highly repetitive house, no excuses. I like it to do housewife stuff to – folding laundry goes well with it. If I ever worked out, I’d probably work out to it. Sometimes I just stand in my living room and dance to it… and I can get away with that shit ’cause I live waaaay out in the country and no one can see me. [buy] - Dirty (Junior’s Juke) by Earth Wind & Fire
Old school funky funkerson, an’ you know it. (I still want to have the Tower of Power horn line’s baby.) [buy] - This Is It by Kenny Loggins
Remember this song from AOR in the 70’s? I had no idea it was about infidelity until I heard this live, somewhat-unplugged version. [buy]
Oh, yeah – I ordered a new iPod today. It’s a belated birthday present to myself. I think I’ll give my old one to Brett; he’ll probably lose it somewhere.
Lemmie know if you download or enjoy of any of these tracks.
I finally bought myself a birthday present ~ a shiny new 5th gen iPod. It’s got five times the storage capacity my mini has, it’s got a color screen, and it should be here within the week.
I’m very, very, very excited. Not only because it’s shiny, new, and color, but because I am so sick of iTunes telling me that my iPod is full.
Update: I do not have a good reason for getting this instead of shelling out that little bit extra for a late model iPod… I think I might be slightly retarded. In fact, I might even just put this one on eBay the moment it arrives and get a 6th gen instead.
WTF was I thinking? Well, to be quite honest, I hadn’t visited the Apple Store since the new video iPods had come out, and I didn’t realize how cheap they’d gotten until after I’d bought my 5th gen. Eh.
In which I observe that parenting seems to involve lots of sitting around chatting, plus snacks.
Last Friday, Brett came home around one in the afternoon and promptly fell asleep on the couch. (All our late night discussions last week had left him with a significant sleep deficit he needed to remedy.) I went to town and spent a lovely afternoon at the park with Reni and Mira, knitting and chatting.
Reni & Liza
I saw and talked with Reni, Liza, Jimmy, and my evil twin Danya (who also knits). I took Shiva with me, and he was a totally well-behaved dog the whole time.
Knitting socks
I ate Doritos and watched kids play on the jungle gym.
All this happened well before Brett and I went out and got totally shitfaced, of course.
VSCO
Instagram has become unusable crap, so please click the icon below to see my latest pics.
4 random books from my Library!
