It's been eleven days since my last post.

It's been eleven days since I posted anything. Eleven days since I even logged onto my blog. That's a long time. And I have to say...I've got nothing going on. That's sometimes the worst part about living in a small town. Especially if you're trying to do it economically, which means no unnecessary trips out of town. The most exciting thing that's happened in eleven days is that the huge storm with 80mph winds that came through and knocked out  our power went out for eight hours on Thursday night. Bill and I played rummy for two hours then went to bed, only to be woken up at 4am when it came back on and turned on all the lights. Neither of us even thought to turn them on as we walked through a dark house.

We also found out that we'd have to switch from our local cable company to Dish Network or Direct TV. Probably Dish, because it seems a little less expensive. Anywho, that's our next big adventure.

I got Netflix recently and discovered Anthony Bourdain. He's a douche. A prick. An ass. I love him.

No menu equals more money spent, a lot more waste, and a lot more stress.

When Bill and I first got married, I religiously made a menu and stuck to it four out of five nights. Nearly four months into our marriage I've quit making it. Not only do I scramble around most nights looking for something to eat, but a lot more food goes to waste and I spend a lot more money.

I need to get back into the habit of sitting down once or twice a month and creating a menu. We ate better, we spent less, and we were a lot happier. I enjoyed making dinner, I had a lot less stress, and I had everything ready to go for dinner nightly.

I'm going to start again soon. Probably. I don't want my mom to be right by saying that I would never stick to it. I figure this is just a bump in the road and I'll be doing it again next week.

Sam's Club spareribs.

Honestly, I have nothing for this, but on my stats it says that seven people have linked my site with these search words. When I put them into Google, I got something saying that page didn't exist. So, I'm making a page that exists. Really I got nothing to put in here. I can only say if you're going to do ribs of any kind a rub with brown sugar is a must, in my humble opinion. Oh, and refrigerate overnight with the rub and leave out for half an hour to bring to room temp. Remember to clean your grill before putting them on. If you're going to all the work to do ribs, you may as well make your own barbecue sauce, too. It's really not that hard...ketchup, molasses, vinegar, a variety of spices, and something sweet. I usually use peach or apricot preserved, but I think root beer might be interesting.

Everything and the kitchen Sink

Pork chops are something we eat once a week. We sort of rotate our meat weekly and although I don't make the same thing twice, it still begins to get boring. Today I made a marinade that I think will be tasty. It's marinading now, so I don't know how it will taste. When I tried it before I put the meat in to make sure that it tasted edible, it didn't taste bad. It was simple, a little bit of this and that, and something I could throw together with ingredients in my kitchen. Since I decided that I wanted to start cooking for ethnically, I've started buying more international ingredients and that means I can create a more varied taste experience. There are no pictures, because I was too busy admiring my work and eating.

Everything and the kitchen sink pork chop marinade

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1/2 teaspoon berbere
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper


Mix all ingredients and add pork chops to marinate for four hours. Bake with your preferred method.

My Homemade Dressing

preheat oven to 350*
1/4 cup real butter
4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 stalks celery, diced small
1/2 an onion
1/2 teaspoon sage
salt and pepper to taste
1 can cream of celery soup
4 large hamburger buns, torn into pieces


1. In a frying pan combine first five ingredients and saute onions until translucent.
2. While onions are sauteing, tear bread into pieces.
3. Add torn bread and cream of celery soup into a mixing bowl.
4. After onions are sauteed, add everything to mixing bowl.
5. Mix well and add to a 8x8 casserole dish.
6. Bake for 45 minutes, until it browns.
7. Let cool slightly and serve.

Peach-blueberry-raspberry crisp.

I made up a dessert. Frankly, I don't believe it. Okay, I didn't completely make it up. I know what goes into crisp and just used up the fruit in my fridge. I don't care though. It's pretty darn tasty. So good that I'm having a second bowl as I type my second time today. Does anyone ever feel weird that they have to specify real ingredients? **Note: My pictures aren't that great. Sorry.**

Peach-blueberry-raspberry crisp

~~preheat oven to 350*

3 peaches
1 pint blueberries
1 cup raspberries
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup real butter
1 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon


1. Spray or grease a 9x9 pan.
2. Cut the three peaches in half and then slice to desired thickness.
3. Add peaches, blueberries, and raspberries to pan; and toss with 2 tablespoons of flour.
4. Cut butter into thirds, then each third into thirds, and dice into small cubes.
5. Combine butter, oatmeal, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Using hands break butter into the other ingredients until pea size.
6. Top fruit with crumb.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.
8. Let cool for 30 minutes.
9. Serve in a bowl with ice cream and enjoy.