Epiphany

I have just figured out why, after such a blogging dry spell, suddenly I have something to say.  The busier I am, the more I post. It's all about social deprivation. I have no time to tell someone about the fabulous qualities of  potato starch as not only  a thickener but also as a clothes bleaching agent, so I type it. Not that I couldn't just take 2 minutes to call someone and tell them... 

Asian Food store

I bought some potato starch to "dust" o-mochi with, and check out its many uses.

Another interesting food item I saw in the Asian store, Gypsum Powder! Isn't that the stuff used in dry wall? Who knew it was edible? I was thinking of Melamine in baby formula, but I looked it up and apparently it's a legitimate food additive. Specifically, it's used to coagulate tofu and is a great source of calcium.

Clearly I no longer need to worry about how I might obtain calcium in the event of food shortages--lifetime supply in the walls.    http://www.ehow.com/list_6395376_uses-gypsum-powder.html

Shopping =Torture

"Fitted Hips & Thighs," Wouldn't you think that means skinnier through the hips and  thighs? For example, a fitted shirt conforms more to the body. Right?

"Curvy" is very descriptive.

 "Fitted Hips & Thighs" is entirely misleading. Jodhpurs.

Let me just reiterate, girls' jeans with spandex are ridiculous. Girls' jeans without spandex don't exist.

Shoe Leather

Happy President's Day. Having the holiday off, I volunteered to make dinner for a nice lady who just had her knee replaced. I always make chicken pot-pie, it's easy, and I can't really make anything else. This time, I decided to mix it up, try something new. Pot Roast. I called my mom, looked in a cook-book, and checked on-line.

Feeling confindent, I purchased the very first chuck-roast of my life, browned it and had it in the oven by 1PM, projected finish time, 3PM. I added vegetables at 2PM, checked on it at 2:30PM and started to worry just a bit. Not boiling, not even generating steam, roast hard as a rock. Called my mother.

It is now 4PM, just transferred everything to a pot on the stove. The roast is akin to the above mentioned footwear. It so happens this nice lady has a sister who lives with her. She has Down Syndrome and no teeth. Tenderizing mallet instead of utensils? Might be prudent. Olive Garden, anyone?

Sending Back Food

So I went out to dinner with some friends last night and asked for my steak  medium-rare, I want red stuff to run out when I cut into it. Well, it arrived not even remotely pink, blech.
"Send it back!" was the consensus. "And ask for a bowl of soup!"

I always thought sending food back was an invitation for the cook to spit in my food. 

The second steak arrived, slightly pink. I did not send it back. Surely sending it back a second time invites who knows what other desecration of my food?

Another time, a friend asked the waitress for a recommendation. The food came, she didn't like it, and sent it back! Apparently this is all perfectly acceptable?

Stretch Jeans and the Japanese Body Type

Who invented jeans containing spandex anyway? On the tube-shaped, Japanese body type, once the spandex has stretched a little, what do you suppose keeps the stretchy jeans from sliding down the tube? That's right, nothing.

Lemons vs Apples

Turns out the new laptop is a total lemon--broken DVD drive, still having start-up issues. They're sending me a new one. They're suggestion, not mine. I was all for the tech coming to my house with new parts.

In the meantime, thinking it was fixed, I downloaded Microsoft Office. All for naught once I send the defective computer back. Dell doesn't want to install Office on the new computer for free, I think they should--or send the tech to my house to fix the computer. That's $100 bucks we're talking about! Still haggling over that. So my $600 laptop will cost me $700 (if I've lost the argument) plus a trip to western Utah, 1 week of irritation/frustration, and 2hrs on the phone. Grrr!

Next time I will try Apple.