Meetup Here, Meetup There, Meetups Are Everywhere
Another Two-Hour Extravaganza!
Last night I hosted the weekly Hell’s Kitchen meetup. To my surprise Gary offered to bring some Tasty China to the meetup, so all I had to do was supply alcohol and some appetizers. I swung by Kroger on my way home from work and picked up some cheese, sausage, crackers, salsa, plus some beer and wine.
I didn’t know that last night’s Hell’s Kitchen was going to be another two-hour event and since we (me, Gary, Nancy, Andrea, ITP-Reader Betsy, and Reese) were all content consuming food an beverage we watched it all.
Honestly, I don’t remember much of last night’s Hell’s Kitchen. Since I wasn’t driving anywhere I figured that I didn’t have to worry about my alcohol consumption, and worry I did not. (This also explains why this blog is a little later than normal.) I certainly had an enjoyable time, and I believe the others did as well.
Have I Mentioned How Much I Love My Crockpot?
I believe I’ve mentioned Gardenfork TV before in this blog. Last week Gardenfork TV showed how to make “caramelized” onions using a crockpot. On Monday I decided that I was going to make an InsideThePerimeter Improvisational Meal.
I bought a pack of uncooked Italian sausages and placed them into the bottom of the crockpot. I then peeled and sliced (into about 1/2″ half-rounds) four large Vidalia onions and scattered them on top of the sausages. To this I spread two healthy pinches of salt and drizzled on a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (it’s best to have some liquid in a crockpot, next time I may try water or stock). I turned the crockpot to Low and let this cook for about fourteen hours (You could probably eat this sooner, say twelve hours, but make sure your sausages have cooked to at least 160ºF in the center to avoid making yourself sick.)
Not satisfied with that, I slathered some whole-grain Dijon mustard onto a roll and ate one sausage smothered with delicious, “caramelized” onions.
Would I make this again? Oh, hell yeah!
ITP Flickr Pic
Hey look! Another flower photo!
Well, at least it’s something. Note to self: Start carrying your camera everywhere you go again.
Settop Box Senility
It seems as if my seven-year-old settop box is becoming senile. At least twice in recent months it has decided to delete all of my DVR timers without any explanation. I was confused last night when the settop box decided not to record Hell’s Kitchen, and then luckily decided that I should check to make sure that the timer for Top Chef was still present; it was not.
I’m not sure what I plan to do about this problem. On the one hand, it’s a major inconvenience. On the other hand, I don’t watch all that much tv and not recording things will only help me watch less.
A Different Kind Of Nerdfest
I believe that I’ve mentioned my use of Evernote to help organize my life. I’ve come to rely on it so much that at the beginning of June I paid to become a “Premium” member.
Tonight, there is an Evernote Meetup that I plan on attending. I figure that it might be a good way for me to network and learn a tip or two about Evernote from the other guys in attendance (seriously, unfortunately for me most of these events are sausagefests). Unlike with the iPhone Developers meetups I think that should be able to hold my own with this crowd. I guess that I’ll find out tonight.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though some of last night’s Tasty China peppers are punishing me for eating them.
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – In my perfect world I would shop more at places like the Sweet Auburn Curb Market.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 204 pounds (ugh)
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 10.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 122.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 23 (23)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 22
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 3
June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application
2010 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop
- Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
- Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online
- Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers
The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
I saw Gary (& Betsy) on Saturday, and we talked about Tasty China. Good to know he got around to eating it before we did. We also talked about having lunch there again someday soon.
I’ve got a ‘new to me” mexican chicken recipe for the crockpot I’ve been trying to get around to making. I need to use my crockpot more.
Doesn’t that DVR box coem from the company you work for? Can’t you just switch it out?
Last night they talked about discussing Tasty China while poolside on Saturday.
My DVR does come from my employer. However, it is my “customer” box and has long been made obsolete so there is no chance of swapping/upgrading it without going through the proper channels (and probably signing a contract). I’m actually trying to consolidate (as part of my downsizing) so I’m not sure how much I want to get a replacement settop box.
Barb- Debbie has a mean Mexican chicken in the crockpot recipe and I think it is incredibly easy… like chicken and salsa and turn on the pot. And oh so good.
Paulie- who showed up last night with their white inspection gloves? Glad y’all had fun-
-FP
Attendees:
Rat’s Ass
Easy Cheeks
Pull My String
Boner Rooter w/Short Bus
moi
No white gloves made an appearance (thankfully)
Go Steve – you can make it in the future. Tomorrow night would be good.
Barb, I’d love to get your recipe if it turns out well.
We can host y’all any time. Now that the house is on the market, it is company-ready all the time. Of course we haven’t had the first looker yet.
I’m back to the gym tonight and back on the wagon. At least it’s in the airconditioning.
Paulie – I’m ready for iPad app recommendations. I almoooooost sent mine back, but we fell in love over the weekend and it’s here to stay. Now I just need to return the Kindle I bought.
okay- I haven’t made it yet – but plenty of office mates have, and no one has said a bad thing yet. So – here it is – (I’m sure we will doctor it a little, cuz that is what we do………)
Ingredients
2-3 chicken breasts
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
1 can mexican chili beans
(Do not drain tomatoes or beans)
1 Package Taco Seasoning
1 can black olives
1 can chopped green chiles
Directions
Layer chicken in bottom of crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients in the order written. Do not stir. Cook on low 7-8 hours. Take out chicken and shred. Return chicken to crock pot and stir well. Serve with tortilla chips or on a flour tortilla. Serve with chopped lettuce, tomatoes, and shredded cheese if desired. Extra ingredients are not included in nutritional facts.
Number of Servings: 6
Nutritional Info
· Calories: 220.5
· Total Fat: 5.0 g
· Cholesterol: 14.8 mg
· Sodium: 1,114.3 mg
· Total Carbs: 29.4 g
· Dietary Fiber: 6.9 g
· Protein: 13.0 g
I think I would have been much better off watching Hell’s Kitchen last night, instead of Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History on PBS. I bawled for most of the show, been tearing up randomly since then, I’m a wreck.
I have two crock pots but I don’t really like to cook in them much, seems hard to make anything ‘light’. I do use it about 2-3 times a month to make chicken broth or a brisket.
Oh Debbie, your gym has AC? That would be nice, even at 5:30am mine is a sweat box. The gym at the office has AC, didn’t seem to help last week. I ran 5 miles on the treadmill and still felt sick.
Hmmm, I never thought that the crockpot skewed toward making fattening dishes. I think if you tried to locate “light” crockpot recipes you’d find some (I’ll look after posting this).
Debbie, what sort of apps do you desire?
Game: Get “Plants v. Zombies” — BUY THE iPhone APP AND NOT THE iPad APP
Reading: Kindle for iPad (I know, you probably already have this)
Reading Magazines: Zinio
Food: Yelp
Food: Epicurious
Music: Pandora
Music: NPR
Music: Shazam (identifies songs by “listening”)
Video: Netflix
Video: ABC Player
And if you want to be devilish and tease Steve you can download the “ROAD Magazine” app. Road is a road cycling magazine. ]:^>
I went to your blog first thing in the morning yesterday but you didn’t have anything up yet….never had the chance to go back.
Just wanted to say..I really like the photo!!