The dawn of a new day

Captains log stardate 71280.6

Saw Jeffe off yesterday at the crack of way before dawn. I wouldn't have been so emotional, had I not scheduled the car insurance payment when I did. So instead of being somewhat put together, I was balling my eyes out at 3am. He gave me some cash which I was able to deposit, so now I've got $10 to my name. 

Mom came over with Frosty Paws and we chatted and watched some tv- which I fixed, the lamp went out during game 7 of the NLCS, not that we were watching being out for 5 straight days- puppers chased our resident roadrunner and did some yard patrol so it was a good afternoon. Got the room cleaned up and some laundry done. It was an interesting day. 

Captains log 71281.7

Slept pretty good in the giant bed by myself. Oh wait kitty was there, BUT I was able to stretch out. It was weird, but, meh, whatever. Got a call back from Geico and my friends are trying to hook me up at the smoke shop so there is some promising employment on the horizon. DES tells me my unemployment claim will be resolved today, so there should be three weeks of payment deposited tomorrow morning. And funny enough, got a text from current employer about that bread baking position. Which I don't want, and don't think will work for me. 

Jeff got to Sacramento ok, which is a miracle, since a brushfire broke out just as he was trying to get on the 210. And I'm glad he called and is ok. Today I'm cleaning the bathroom and finishing laundry and binging S4 of Sherlock, because why not? Friday is a coffee date with mom so I can almost finish the Bingo board. FREE STARBUCKS! And a doggie date. 

And now you're caught up on the last 24 hours. It's been boring. And that's ok. Now I'm off to Frys. Jeffe gave me his gift card so I can at least get some bread. The meatballs and snausages his mom made have been calling me, but with no bread/rolls, how am I to sop up all that gravy??? 

the end is just the beginning, right?

CAPTAIN'S LOG: 71278.9

many moons ago, y'all told me to start this thing as a way to share my recipes and shit. and i see my last post was FOUR YEARS AGO. i've been pretty active over at ye olde facebook, but i'm gonna need a bigger platform for what im about to spew forth. its gonna get ugly folks, and then hopefully it gets better. i mean, it has to, right?

so lets get everyone up to speed. I'm Lisa, AKA the den mother, LisaLisa, cultjam, lunchbox, and that bright ray of fucking sunshine. i just turned 45 in august. for the last fifteen years, ive been the partner of  DJ BlackFlagg, AKA, Jeffe. Today, my best friend of 21+ years is moving to Portlandia. We don't know how this will affect our relationship. We are putting that on hold. This is amicable and something we feel needs to happen if we are going to move forward as one. Right now we need to work on ourselves separately because we value our friendship above all else. So, there you have it. Neither one of us has answers right now. I wish Jeffe nothing but success and happiness, he's certainly capable of it, and deserves it. Not gonna lie, today I hope it's with me, somewhere down the line. Yes, I'm staying in the house, for now. My financial and job situation sucks, so me and the tv will be best friends until I can find a job. I'm putting myself out there, something will turn up.

A HUGE shout out to Brent, Dani, Willy, and Tommy. Thanks for keeping it real. I look forward to Brunching once some money finds its way into my pocket.

I'm going to chronicle my life moving forward. and taking you along with. its gonna get vulgar kiddos, and i'm not censoring anything. i swear. a lot. i hope you laugh. we may cry. but mostly i hope we laugh. a lot. cuz crying makes your face puffy, and then people look at you weird.

LLAP
LisaLisa

Ps please feel free to comment. I welcome them. BUT, this is a place for friendly discussion, if you CANNOT do that, I will 86 your ass. This is MY blog and forum, and I will not tolerate any negativity or bullshit. Be respectful. Let's have fun. Learn things.

MTFBWY!!

decisions

so i went to bed last night crying. and not from anything jeffe said or did, i was just thinking about my life so far, and the week/day gone by. my financial situation sucks, and frankly it always has, but i've always managed to get by. nowdays tho, it just seems like this overwhelming dark cloud i cant escape. and i know, more often than not, its me holding myself back, but then i think, is it really? when your own boss says you should be making X $$$, then why dont you just pay me that? and why cant you communicate with your employees, let alone yourselves? i've only had two bosses ever, ask me what i wanted (ok one, the other the job spoke for itself. i never shouldve left ventura, but i did). i used to have such passion, but now, its just loathing and hatred. i dont have any other skills however, so i trudge along. i really think going back to school was a bad idea, they never asked me what i wanted either. 

so, what is it i want? well, i'd love for my debt to go away. i'd like a better paycheck- to not be worked till i'm dead. i'd like to not wake up everyday wondering what i'm going to get yelled about that day- those in the biz know the job is organic, it changes day to day. theres structure, but each day brings its own challenges. and if you dont communicate, go with the flow, you will constantly think your employees are just jerking you around. (you'll know if i'm being vicious, i'll tell you- or just leave) i'd also love to merge my love for food and photography. and possibly history. i've been told theres a food anthropology class/course/degree. i'd love that. i'd also love to cook/bake for you. :) you know, sit around all day and BBQ. 

funny thing, i have so many ideas, thoughts, stuff to say, mostly when i'm in the shower, and now, those thoughts have vanished.(and then they came back, and vanished again, lol)  i guess its time to get off my butt, and look for better. because my loyalty apparently doesnt mean much. (ok to one it might). and yes, i'm aware this is public.  i've got to get this off my chest, these thoughts have been running around up there for some time. you know, jeffe asked me why i stay. you know, since the pay sucks, and my thought is this: its really hard to find a job that has the hours i potentially have. i dont start work until 9:30. i can be done by dinner. i miss that. i dont want to work at night anymore. i shouldnt have to. why cant i work breakfast hours? thats when i'm up and productive. i've paid my dues, i mean ive really paid them. i dont want to work in a hotel, and i dont want to work sundays. i give you my entire weekend, you can at least not be so butthurt as to give me sunday. without question. 

well, i need breakfast now. so i best get on that, then off to work for me. and do feel free to comment, ask questions, whatever. and thanks for reading my rambling post. if you've got ideas share them! 

Road trip day one

Got up at 4am. Hit the road at 5. I've been out east twice. I remember going to the fairgrounds when emery left and years ago I think we went to bisbee, I know I've been to Jerome. Sooo all of this was new. Impressions? Meh. Not. NM is incredibly boring until sante fe. ALBQ sux but at least there's buildings. Tried to eat in sante fe but it was pouring rain and we missed everything. Wound up eating Wendy's in las Vegas. No Internet anywhere. Oh Deming sucked too. Stopped to pee at mcd's. Directions in bathroom in Spanish. Hatch was quaint. SAW A TARANTULA ON THE HATCH CUTOFF Observations: wind gusts MAY exist in NM except in CO where they do. Watch out for falling and fallen rocks. There are safety zones. Kinda like the danger zone but you need lights. There are a metric fuckton of steer, a gaggle of horses and a few sheep btwn say vail and Denver. No joke. The deer are free to roam nm & co, but the elk are confined to between raton and the border. Then they turn into bears for a stretch. No bears in nm. Today was entirely too long. More tomorrow. The hotel is nice. I recommend. Nite!

banana muffins

as requested by my friend stephanie. i adapted the recipie from james beard. i've tried others but i keep coming back, because its so versitle. and easy. be creative! i've even used hershey's syrup and had great results.

1/2 stick butter
1c brown sugar OR 1/2c brown sugar & 1/4c honey
2eggs
1 1/2c mashed bananas or pumpkin or applesauce or zucchini or carrots or crushed pineapple
nuts and/or chocolate chips
1T pie spice
1/2t baking soda
(salt) (i use salted butter so i omitted this)
vanilla
1 1/2 c all purpose flour (mine is 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 unbleached)

preheat oven to 350*

cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. add eggs. mix well. then add bananas. (i let my mixer do my mashing for me) add nuts and chips, then spices and baking soda. finally add flour. mix just until moist batter- dont overmix.

pour into loaf pan or lined muffin pans. for loafs bake about 45mins then check for doneness. cover if necessary. muffins take about 15-20 mins. let cool before removing from pans.

for my carrot & pineapple i used 2t ginger and 1t pie spice. it looked to be about 1 healthy cup of shredded carrots and 1/3c drained pineapple. i used half the sugar and upped the baking soda to a full teaspoon.

also when doubling i only use 3 large eggs. and the banana recipie took 2 3/4c flour rather than the 3C called for.

enjoy your treats!!!

It's been a while

Yep I'm still here. It's just with a plethora of food blogs out there... So I figured I'd jump back in with this simple recipie for blackberry-rhubarb compote. Why? Because I love rhubarb and I was looking for something to put over my Greek yogurt. I've got more ideas comming as soon as I get those damn red jalapanoes. Blackberry-Rhubarb compote 2C chopped fresh rhubarb 2C fresh blackberries (mine were frozen fresh, no juice plz) 1/2c brown sugar 1t ground ginger 1t pie spice 1/4c key lime juice 1/4c cold water 1-2t cornstarch dissolved in water Add everything but cornstarch to pot and bring to gentle boil. Cook about 10 mins till rhubarb is tender. Add cornstarch slurry and simmer another 2-3 mins. Cool. Enjoy!

journal

one of the req's for my management externship is to keep a journal. i've been slacking. so this is my entry.

two weeks ago, at the beginning of the quarter, by co-incidence, we had an employee meeting. we discussed following procedures, being in uniform, dont drink the water or root beer, ect. had a private meeting with the woners who are on board with the externship. i do have until the end of the month to fully learn and be proficent at pulling the gelato out of the machine. i was given a hat, finally, but it doesnt fit. S told me if i find one in Co. colors he'd embroider it. i found one, i hope he likes it! do you know how hard it is to find a denim chefs toque?

the following week was ok. i dont remember much, except a slight misunderstanding about a request i had made before my day off that week, which leads into this past week. worked with both owners. honestly, they are like night and day. and its very unsettleing. one is happy and jovial, joking all the time and letting me do my thing. the other- not so much. which lead to a wierd text msg from N. i feel bad if he got yelled at, at my expense. but the happy owner made no mention all weekend, and neither did N.  we were given new schedules, with earlier endtimes. i stayed over by at least three hrs each night. i told one owner that cant happen anymore as i'm missing assignments in my online class. he seemed shocked i was staying that late. this cant happen again. and shouldnt as we were also dealing with tucson meet yourself. i hope all of you that went, had some gelato!!!

on the brighter side, pics have been taken of my decorations. i do get positive feedback.

i'm trying very hard to please everyone and its causing stress. i need to get back to being me.

dinner- a project

i have two pots of pork roast going, since jeffe will not eat what i do. so here's the rundown:

my pot:
pork roast
green apple
red cabbage
red onion
brown sugar
thyme & rosemary
apple cider and cider vinegar
bay leaf

when the pork has been cooking for about an hour in the slow cooker i'm gonna add a garnet yam or two. i'll be serving it with this:
apple chutney
i added dates, figs, dried cherries, and dried apricots along with a splash of white wine. this chutney recipie is awesome. i love it.

jeffes pot:
pork roast
lat 48* ipa
red onion
green cabbage
potatoes
garlic

jeffes pot doesnt concern me, as i've done his before with saison, which was yummy. once dinner has been consumed, i'll post the results and photos. :)

OMG ARIZONA!? srsly? Can you PLEASE stop the ducks? see what your mistakes cost you? DO YOU SEE?!

haluski

for my friend erick. i'm also linking to the episode of Triple D where jeff and i first saw this tasty nugget. so lets begin there.

haluski on triple d

heres my recipie:

1/2# ground turkey
2 sausage links, casing removed
1/2# bacon
1/2 ea red, yellow, orange bell pepper- roasted sliced
1 small red onion sliced
1/2# mushrooms sliced
1/2# whole grain noodles not spaghetti. more like egg or penne ect, cooked and drained.
1 head green cabbage chopped

i made this all in one pan. a nice deep big sautee pan with a lid.

boil cabbage in big pot of water. drain.
cook bacon. leave fat in pan. add turkey and sausage. brown. remove. then sautee onions and bell peppers. add meats back to pan and season with chili powder and garlic. add cabbage and noodles. toss to coat and re season.

BAM! YOURE DONE. ENJOY.