jelly coconut part deux (the second part deux)

jelly coconut back again. so, found a new way to open my coconuts... seems a bit more elegant. i now use a big knife and a hammer to make a square from which i get my scrumptious jelly. i'm so classy. (i keep forgetting to bring one to work for shelly! durnit! remeeeeembeeeer). ps happy haloween!

the story (pizza egg rolls below)

kitten story as follows... 2 pm saturday becky takes the little dogs for a walkie. our usual saturday mid-day walk consists of walking down the fence that boarders our parking lot and the lovely post-office to the tree. now i don't know if you knew this, but, the post-office is not open all the time. in fact, it's not open a lot of the time and when it is open, there are seedy people sending packages full of who knows what (shady, shady packages).

so, it was 2 pm and the post-office was closed (you'll be glad to know this tidbit later on in the story). we were about to make it to the tree and we heard something. a small, tiny something making a small tiny sound. it was adorable and heart wrenchingly sad little noise that rips right into your brain. you need to find out how to make it stop.

i looked under the fence. no kitten. dafne helped by looking at the fence then whining. meew. listened for the sound. dafne furiously sniffed at one particular spot then helped when i tried to dig some grass clippings and dirt away from bottom of the fence. i reached under there and hoped that i might encounter a bit of fluff and not a pointy snake fang or something. this attempt was futile. i decided to take serious action. i got a stool.

there are no less than three fences between my apartment and the post-office, lest somebody try and steal the shady packages we went over earlier. a plastic fence on our side, a chain link fence with barbed wire on the top and a wooden fence facing the post-office. i climbed atop the stool which revealed a tiny screaming kitten in between two of the fences. the quandary was that it was between the chain link and the wooden fence. i think that the mother cat was moving the litter and was interrupted. the kittens, having no plan of their own, felt it would be a great idea to make their little way into the no man's land between chain link and wooden fence.

there was no way to get it without the help of postal workers. i had heard carts rolling along back there and hoped against hope that some kind soul would help me and help that tiny kitten (who is our future).

i trekked to the p-o which is apartment adjacent through the fence conveniently knocked down by industrious teenagers making their way to buildings of higher learning (LHS?). i went to the corner of the p-o where there is another fence which is an extension of chain link fence. "hellooo!" i said. "hellooo!" then a fine upstanding citizen came over to the fence to listen to my plight. i explained to him that there were tiny kittens in need of rescue. he, what a guy, said that he would clock out and see if anyone would help me.

a wonderful woman came out ten minutes later. she located the kittens, took one out of the fence (we realized there were actually two) and then put it back again (what?). she came back to the fence and asked if i wanted her to call animal control. i explained to her (again) that i the manager of cat hospital and would be willing to take the kittens with me. she said she would let me in and we could get them together because the other one was father back.

i went into the p-o, had to sign a visitor's list (hopefully, no letter bombs will be attributed to me (i have two kittens as an airtight alibi)). we proceeded to the back parking lot where the kittens were still meewing their little heads off. i may or may not have aided and or abetted slightly damaging government property (sorry old, falling apart wooden fence) to rescue said kittens.... they were angry and hungry and had to pee.

and that is the story of the kittens.

pizza egg rolls (egg rollz part deux)

yes, i did have leftover egg roll wraps! and i made something awesome... pizza egg rolls with pizza sauce dip. let's go back... let's see what happened to this roll to make it so yummilicious...

browning the other side of the rollz

browning the rollz

hot oil treatment begins.

all rolled up and nowhere to go.

stuffing = peperoni + mushrooms (cooked) + mozzarella + olives (black)

look what i found!

superhero kitten (just starting his illustrious career saving his tiny sibling) and brown tabby kitten. btk is a lot calmer and was the first to actually getting my feeding device (kitten nipple and syringe). shk is a little more whiny, but how can you argue with that little face?

philly cheesesteak egg rolls

well, i tried philly cheese steak egg rolls a la dee, a la i think... dave and buster's. they were delectable. i got the wraps at the super market (i know, right?) and they were very easy to work with from start to finish. i used a glue made of cornstarch and water to seal the edge. it says on the package to use a tablespoon of "stuff" inside, but i did way more. i surmise they were actually referring to dumpling wraps. the innards included finely sliced green pepper, onion, mushrooms, and scrumptious steaks. (i even got to use my mandolin, score!)i just ate them straight off the conveyor belt but matt dipped his in thousand island and heinz 57 sauce. ps i've been overusing the word delicious... i apologize

fresh and crispy

wonderful fresh veggies. cucumbers from sam's, they have the best produce! they're the "english" cucumbers. i love them and currently have 6 in fridge. mmmm. then i found mini sweet peppers at the thumb. i think they are so cute. and they are also tastey.

surprise!

karenann's birthday was almost a month ago... buuut we'll do a post about her anyway. because she's so greatness. my sister set up a surprise for my mother at salerno's italian restaurant. we had various dishes, i think the most talked about thing was the lobster bisque and the garlic bread. here she is being surprised. we invited some "denton friends" who were a big hit. thanks martha lynn and peggy! of course the family came, (even dad, the often discussed and rarely seen about town) joanie brought some of her friends and katie brought that girl who always follows her to all family functions (hi tiffany bro!).here she is talking while the candle is slowly covering the cake with wax. mmm wax.and here is the yummy crispy garlic bread. mmm it was so great. they served it with balsamic vinegar slash olive oil with all sorts of herbs floating in the bottle (at least i hope they were herbs).

meatballs

italian meatballs. with ground beef and ground pork... i think next time, i'll use less or no pork. then they nestled onto hoagie rolls.

ps they will be MUCH better the next day... or the day after that...

tsf

we went to the fair saturday. i would not recommend going on the weekend because of the people and because of the parking, or lack thereof. we saw the bird show (twice), the blechy aquarium and got some fair foods. the birds flew aaaaalll the way from the ferris wheel to the stage.

dumplins

chicken and dumpling soup is the best soup ever. the most important part of the soup is to brown the chicken before starting. i used onions and mushrooms and took out the carrots and celery. the dumplings are made with milk and chicken fat. mmmm. to the right they look more like cauliflower florets, but i assure you, they are in fact dumplings. the recipe's from america's test kitchen cookbook that my mother got me for my bday or maybe xmas.

baked ziti

i made baked ziti penne. it was "matt's recipe" that he's made before. it uses a lot of cheese and a lot of sauce and sour cream. ps colin farrell in that broges movie is funny and akward at the same time. and, and! he judo chops a midget! ps again, i almost forgot... i made some for me with brown rice noodles (matt is morally against brown rice noodles *rolls eyes*) and dude, if you've never tried brown rice noodles they are very nice. they are the same!

broccoli cheese

i made broccoli cheese casserole, trying to be like cheddar's restaurant... it most certainly did not taste as tastey as cheddar's. i think it's because i didn't have any condensed soup. it was still good because of the broccoli, every thing's better with broccoli. i used french's onions on the top, which i felt was a super great addition. crispy.

mmmm... coconut milk bubble tea

so, pho bistro is a restaurante near my house and also near a veterinary hospital where i used to work (there's two). they have the best bubble tea. not the kind with sweet bubble but the normal tasting bubbles, she told me that you're "supposed" to soak them with brown sugar, but they get a little too sticky so she stopped. yay for me! i always get a blended coconut milk tea. mmmmmm. buuuubbles. and then they have dumplings, fried or steamed. the sauce is kind of sweet but also salty. awesome! i love a lot of their food, but the other thing i enjoy there is the beef noodle soup. i really like the people who work there as well.

the process

so, raymie wallsie asked me, regarding this post, "is that a screw driver? that you use? for screws?" (or something like that). i realized that i didn't really explain the process... the first picture shows the coconut in it's whole foods off the shelf form. it looks like this off the tree. then you cut off the soft white fiber-y pyramid on top (as shown). then you take a screw driver, yes the one for screws. it can be any kind you want.. phillips, flat head, you can even use a chisel. hammer your sharp sturdy weapon of choice into the coconut three times around the top. drain and drink the tasty tasty coconut water. then make several more holes around the top until you can take a piece of the top off (wide enough to fit a spoon through). finally scoop the jelly like meat of the coconut out and eat it! then you should send me a thank you note for introducing you to the best food ever. you're welcome.

fish tacos

so... fish tacos are awesomely awesome. i have made them with tilapia, but this time matt got shark on sale at k-roger so i used shark. i grilled them with a lot of seasoning and a little oil. i have such a dang hard time flipping the fish, it makes me crazy. i got taco shells and some peach mango salsa. the salsa was great "because people like to say 'salsa!'"

sausages

we got some sausages when we got the ground bison. they were mild italian. i grilled them and served them with spaghetti. i made alfredo for myself and matt wanted marinara. he was already eating his meal. they were delicious. just the right spiciness. that central market... will it ever steer us wrong?