Originally published at zenandjuice.com. You can comment here or there.

To the midget and the two men she was with at IHOP (IHOP)

Date: 2009-02-16, 4:46AM CST

I am seeking the midget and the two men who accompanied her at IHOP on Valentine’s Day, around one AM. The midget (I’m not quite sure the PC name, so forgive me if I offend) was wearing a very sexy red sequined halter top with high heels and the two men seemed quite enamored with her, to say the least.

I was the college aged female with a college aged male in a booth that was across the room. We actually were behind you in line while waiting for a table. He and I are quite interested in meeting up and possibly expanding the menage a trois to an even sexier French word, if you get my drift. For authenticity, please include what color the heels were in your e-mail.

This is not a joke. Please respond, we are anxiously awaiting your reply.

—

from http://fayar.craigslist.org/mis/1036579479.html

Originally published at zenandjuice.com. You can comment here or there.

Last week, we went to Über Burger Bistro, located in Bistro V, within the 36 Club.

They had really good hamburgers.  I had the Lamb & Beef.  Quite tasty!

Über Burger Bistro menu

Originally published at zenandjuice.com. You can comment here or there.

Man, this place has a great salad bar.  Their sandwiches are excellent.  I recommend the New York Yankee, or the Reuben.

Jason’s Deli

Originally published at zenandjuice.com. You can comment here or there.

Finally a really good meatball sandwich!  I’ve also had the Pesto Veggie, the Torpedo, and the Italian Sausage.  All good!

Located next to Wes’ BBQ/Burger plus on the corner of Center & South University!

Geraldi’s menu

Originally published at zenandjuice.com. You can comment here or there.

Something I learned this weekend:

For maintenance purposes, a dog’s daily water consumption can be calculated by:

water consumption = 60 ml water / kg of body weight

(1 pounds = 0.45359237 kilograms, 35 lb = 15.8757 kg)

A 35 lb dog requires 952.5 ml of water a day.  That’s roughly 1 Liter, or 32 fl oz (US).

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

Three Valentine’s Days ago, Jill was between houses.  She sold her house on Olive, and was virtually homeless for a month before she could move into our new home.

Luckily, our friend Dede offered Jill a place to stay during this month.

Back then, I asked Jill what she wanted for Valentine’s Day.  “Martha Stewart’s Mac & Cheese” was the reply.

That started our new tradition, christened “Fat Fest”.   The three of us gather together, eat fatty foods, and enjoy each other’s company.

Last year, we went out for BBQ (Kielbasa Sausage), and followed up with Maggie Moo’s ice cream.

This year, we headed over to Art’s Place on College Avenue, and had their famous hamburgers.

We all ordered the “Art’s Hog Burger”, a burger made with a combination of ground beef, ground bacon, and onions.  Add the double pepperjack cheese,  a side of fries, and a pitcher of beer - that’s one hell of a good time.

Afterward, we headed over to Cold Stone Creamery for some yummy ice cream.

Can’t wait till next year!

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

So I was at Lowe’s earlier today, picking up some needed items, and I was completely in amazement over the number of scumbags returning their used chainsaws, gas-powered heaters, and similar items they purchased during the ice storm.   One guy in line left fuel in his chainsaw.

I talked to some associates, and they’ve been seeing a large return of these used items this week.

This is pretty low, not to mention increasing costs for the stores, which in turn increases the cost of these items later.

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

Still no electricity.  It’s Day #7.   They think we might have power sometime tomorrow.

I’m back at work today.  At least here, I have heat, light, and internet.

Our neighbor is out of hip surgery, but won’t fully recover for 6-12 months, and 2 months in the hospital & rehab.

I’m really thinking about taking a couple of vacation days after all this is over.

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

Day 6 of no electricty, heat, etc.

Word on the streeet is that it will be another 3 days before power is restored.

We’re pretty tired of this bullshit, and cabin fever is wearing us out.

I can’t recall being this mentally and physically exhausted before.

We’ve been watching out for our 96 year old neighbor as well, and he’s stayed with us the last 3 nights.  Our house was much warmer than his.

The temperature was great yesterday, so we opened all the windows and let sunshine and fresh air in, increasing the internal house temperature by 15 degrees.

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

The phone lines started working sometime in the middle of the night.  RAZAlert woke me, informing us that the University of Arkansas was closed Thursday and Friday due to extreme conditions.   From what we had heard, all the trees on campus were pretty much desemated.

It was much colder in Chet’s house than in ours.   He’s 96, and didn’t need to be left alone over there, so I convinced him that it would be good for him to get out of the house, eat some hot food, have some coffee, and just not be stuck in the house by himself.   His nurse came over, agreed, and told him that he was too cold.   He finally took us up on the offer to stay at our house.

Around 12:30 p.m., Jill, Chet and myself headed over to Red Robin for lunch.   I don’t think I ever appreciated a hot cheeseburger and fries (and a beer) more than I did at that moment.   We all finished our food (including Chet, I was impressed) and headed over to Panera (which I’m now referring to as “Pantera”).   There were more pastries available today, and I grabbed some more cinnamon scones and bear claws for later.   Hot coffee tasted really really good.   The wireless network was overloaded, so we couldn’t get online.  Once again, batteries were recharged, and I recharged the laptops as well.   We looked at all of my photographs of the neighborhood that I had taken this week.

Chet had never been to a place with Wifi before.  He had a great time, and found it really interesting that people could come in there, eat, drink, and be online.  I think most people who have grown up with this technology take it for granted nowadays.

We left Panera, and headed over to check out campus.  The Old Main lawn was just destroyed.   All the trees that Jill had been responsible for planting along Garland were destroyed.   Basically,  all trees on campus were dessimated.

We headed home, and started getting the house in order for Chet to come over.

I helped Chet over to the house, we let him have my big comfy chair by the fire, and settled in.   It was up to 50 degrees in the house!

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

Woke up this morning and it was really cold but the sun was finally shining.   Birds were everywhere - covering all the trees and bushes, and flying around.

We ate some breakfast, and went walking around the block.   Most of the street was blocked by trees.  Entire blocks were impassable by vehicle, and difficult to walk on foot.

We heard rumors that the north-side of Dickson Street had power, as did Panera Bread Company.   The roads were pretty clear, minus for the fallen trees, so we decided that a hot lunch was in order.

We borrowed Chet’s 4-wheel drive vehicle, and headed off the mountain.   Jill, Alishia, and myself went to Panera where there was heat, free hot coffee, hot food, and electricity.   Cell phones and digital cameras were recharged.   Everyone was in good spirits, and happy to be someplace warm.    Jill bought some cinnamon scones for breakfast the next day.  Panera is my hero.  Apparently, some people later came into Panera and were angrily complaining that they were out of food and free coffee.

We went to the Walmart Supercenter, and bought some things for Chet and headed back home.

By the time we got home, the phone lines were down.   I checked on the fish, and discovered that all three of my remaining aquariums were dead.  With no electricty, the heaters and filters won’t work.   I was expecting this to happen.   I was particularly saddened by losing my two oldest fish - a Marble Sailfin Plecostamus and a Tilapia buttikoferi (Jill’s mom named him “Filet”).  I’ve had the buttikoferi since December 2002, and the plec a few years longer.

We lit a fire, settled in, and ate some cold chicken and a salad for dinner.

Sometime in the evening, the lights on the other mountain (Lovers Lane and those roads) came on.

By the time we went to bed, it was 47 degrees in the house.

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

Woke up this morning to voicemail from Ken Leverington.   University of Arkansas was closed.   There had been freezing rain all night, and everything was covered with ice - trees, bushes, the roads, power lines.   All day long there was nothing but cold, miserable freezing rain.

The electricity went out for a few minutes that morning, but came back on.   The electricty went out permanently around 12:30 p.m.   We stayed bundled up, checking on our neighbors, and just stayed inside the house as much as possible.  My head and arm was still aching, and Jill had to take the dogs out.  Whenever she came back inside, she was soaking wet and cold.  At least we had a gas-powered water heater, so we could take hot showers.

I found an old push-button telephone - at least we could use our landline in case the cell phones died.

I took lots of photographs from inside of the house.  The giant maple tree behind us started falling - limbs breaking and falling over the power lines.   Our wood pile was completely covered from the limbs, and our crape myrtles were smashed.

It was about to get dark, so we found our candles, and our L.E.D. lights and setup camp in the living room.   We started a nice fire, cooked some bratwursts, and went to bed early (around 9:30 p.m.).

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

In anticipation of bad weather, I went to the grocery store before noon and purchased a bunch of things that didn’t require cooking.   Peanut Butter, Bread, Chips, Salsa, Cereal, cheeses, deli meat, some hotdogs and bratwursts (we do have a gas starter on our fireplace with real wood!).

I got home from work around 5:30 and took the dogs out.  While on the street, I grabbed our mail, and my neighbor’s mail.  He’s 96, and we try to look out for him.   Walking across his porch, I immediately slipped on ice, hitting my head on the brick porch.  I was unconscious for a second, waking up to Audrey (the new puppy) licking my face.   Chet never got his mail.   I was totally out of it.  I couldn’t tell what was going on.  I thought I was still floating - but it turns out that I was just pressed again a sheet of ice.  I couldn’t see out of one eye.   A lens had popped out of my glasses.  I crawled around and found it.  And discovered that my favorite pair of glasses, a $600 pair of Alain Miklis, were broken.  The pair that I wear every day.  The first casualty of the week.   I practically crawled back to the house and tried to regain my senses.

I knew before the weather got really bad that I needed to refill my aquariums, and make sure everything was O.K. with them.  So, I added water, fed the fish, and just about then Jill came home, and took me over to the E.R.  I remembered having a concussion in second or third grade, so I was hoping to not have to experience that again.  I’d rather deal with it now, instead of having problems during inclement weather.

We made it to the E.R. shortly after 6 p.m.  They ran a CT of my head, and an X-ray of my right arm.   Nothing visible on either, and no bleeding out of orifices.   The jury was out on having a concussion, but I was warned that my head would hurt for a while.   (Sure enough, my neck is killing me, my head has been aching, and my torso is just plain sore).   My right arm was in alot of pain but the diagnosis was that I pulled some tendons.

The staff and doctors were really nice, and the shot I received in my butt didn’t even hurt.   We left around 10 p.m.

We made it home around 10:30 p.m. and ate the pizza that Jill brought home hours earlier.  I went to bed shortly thereafter.

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

This is Jill’s contribution to tonight’s Soup Swap.   It’s from the Winter 2008 Cook’s Illustrated Soups & Stews.   There’s really nothing quick about it, but it has incredible flavor.

Chicken Noodle Soup

The shredded chicken and stock can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated separately in air-tight containers for up to 2 days.  The noodles do not hold very well; this soup is best served as soon as the noodles are tender.  if you plan on having leftovers, prepare the recipe throguh step 5, reserve the portion you want to save for another day, then cook a portion of the noodles in the remaining soup.

Ingredients:

Stock

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 whole chicken (about 4 lbs), breast meat removed on bone, split, and reserved; remaining chicken hacked into 2-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, chopped medium
• 2 quarts boiling water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 bay leaves

Soup

• 2 tablespoons chicken fat (reserved from making stock)
• 1 medium onion, chopped medium
• 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 celery rib, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 cups (3 oz.) egg noodles (fine, extra-broad, or home-style)
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leavaes
• salt
• pepper

Process:

1. For the stock: Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just beginning to smoke; add chicken breast halves and cook both sides until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Remove chicken breast halves and set aside.  Add onion to pot and cook until brown on edges and slightly softened, about 3 minutes; transfer to large bowl.
2. Add half of chicken pieces to pot and cook both sides until lightly browned, and 5 minutes transfer pieces to bowl with onion. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.  Return onion and chicken pieces (excluding breasts) to pot.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken releases its juices, about 20 minutes.
3. Increase heat to high; add boiling water, chicken breasts, salt, and bay leaves.  Return to simmer, then cover and barely simmer until chicken breasts are cooked through and stock is rich and flavorful, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove chicken breasts from pot.  When cool enough to handle, remove skin from breasts, then remove meat from bones and use fingers to shred into bite-sized pieces; discard skin and bones.  Strain stock; discard solids.  Before using, defat stock.
5. For the soup: Heat chicken fat in large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add thyme, stock, and shredded chicken meat.  Bring soup to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender and flavors meld, 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Stir in noodles and cook until just tender, about 8 minutes.  Stir in parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

I made this last night for tonight’s Soup Swap.   The recipe came from the Winter 2009 issue of Cook’s Illustrated Soups & Stews.  I recommend buying this publication.

Garlic -Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium leek, white and light green parts halved lengthwiese, washed, and chopped small
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 2 whole heads garlic, rinsed, outer skin removed, and top 1/3 of heads removed
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 pound Red Bliss potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons inched fresh thyme
• salt
• pepper

Garnish Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup minced fresh chives
• Garlic Chips (recipe follows)

Process:

1. Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat.  When foaming subsides, add leek and cook until soft (do notbrown), 5 to 8 minutes.  Stir in minces garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add garlic heads, broth, bay leaves, and 3/4 teaspoon salt; partially cover pot and bring to simmer over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer until garlic is very tender when pierced with tip of knife, 30 to 40 minutes. Add potatoes and continue to simmer, partially covered, until potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes
2. Discard bay leaves.  Remove garlic heads; using tongs or paper towels, squeeze garlic heads at root end until cloves slip out of their skins.  Using fork, mash garlic to smooth paste in bowl.
3. Stir cream, thyme, and half of mashed garlic into soup; heat soup until hot, about 2 minutes.  Taste soup; add remaining garlic paste if desired.  Using immersion blender, process soup until creamy, with some potato chunks remaining.  Adjust consistency with more broth if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper and serve, sprinkling each portion with chives and garlic chips.

Garlic Chips

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 medium garlic cloves, sliced thin lengthwise
• salt

Process:

1. Heat oil and garlic in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Cook, turning frequently, until light golden brown, about 3 minutes.
3. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic to plate lined with paper towels; discard oil.
4. Sprinkle lightly with salt

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

Meet the latest member of the family: Audrey.
She’s about 7 months old, born in August 2008. We adopted her today, January 19, 2009 from Forever Friends, the same rescue where Jill adopted Pekoe in 2005.

We think she’s an Aussie/Saluki mix. And she’s probably going to be BIG. (right now she weights more than Hoover, which is 40 pounds).

more photos to come!

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

I woke up this morning, knowing that I had some strange dreams in the night.
Just remembered some details.

I was in some backwoods town or something, and the bar was pretty much a piece of plywood in the back of a shed.

There was only one bottle, and they actually measured out the pours in a JIGGER!

How barbaric!

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

This was made on Christmas day.  It was meant to be a cat toy.

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

Here’s a needle felted coffee cup wrapper, similar in size to those recyclable cardboard ones used in coffee shops.

Originally published at memory lain.... You can comment here or there.

I made this skull (small, about 1/2 inches tall) to attach to my felted coffee cup cozy:

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