Dinner musings

I really hate thinking of things to serve for dinner. Not that I don't have some great recipes at my disposal, but the whole process of planning, shopping, prepping... and then not being in the mood for whatever it was I planned. And on top of that, dinners have to generate reheatable leftovers for Car Guy's lunch. We're trying to save some money, so I'm currently trying to cook from the pantry, instead of going to the grocery store.

Sunday night I had a simple dinner of chicken and stuffing planned. Not because we love it (although I think stuffing and cranberry sauce are my favorite parts of turkey dinner), but because I have a couple of boxes of Stove Top in the pantry from just before the holidays - it was on sale and I had a coupon. While getting the box out, I glanced at the recipe on the back. Sounded pretty good, and I had all the ingredients. Oh, my gosh! Delish!

It's probably on everybody else's standard dinner rotation, but I hadn't made the chicken and stuffing casserole before. I did make a couple of changes. Well, actually I hybridized the 2 recipes that were on the box. One had cheese and sour cream, one had milk. I didn't have sour cream in the house, but I did have cheese and milk. See where I'm going? And I used fresh broccoli instead of frozen. The only complaint I had is that the instructions called for cut up chicken breasts, and didn't indicate that they needed to be already cooked. But the pieces in the middle of the casserole weren't cooked through when the casserole was done (and at that point the stuffing on the top was getting really crispy and dark). So next time I make it, I'll either pre-cook the chicken a little, or cook the chicken mixture for 10 minutes before I put the stuffing on the top.

Car Guy said the leftovers reheated well for lunch. I figure that the almost-burnt stuffing on top (I put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes after I figured out that the chicken was super-rare) would soften with reheating. So this recipe is going on the "OK to make again" list. But I think next time I'll jazz it up a little: add some sauteed onions and celery to the stuffing, or maybe some chopped apple. I think I'll also try it with cut up pork tenderloin or chops and mushroom soup instead of the chicken and cream of chicken soup.

What are your fall-back dinners that you don't have to think about and always seem to have ingredients on hand?

This Week

So, Car Guy has been home from work this week, part of an unpaid shutdown to cut costs. Well, it's throwing off my schedule! I wanted to get some things made and posted on my Etsy shop, and feel like he resents the time I spend beading. I did manage to get a few things made, but they're not finished (I'm working on earrings to match the necklaces that are done), and then I have to haul out the lights, etc. to take pictures.

We did get out to the mall to get Car Guy some clothes for work. He's so fussy about the colors of his dress shirts: no white, no stripes, no pastels, no French Blue. No colors that other people at work wear regularly. Unfortunately, he also prefers black pants. That's good, because they're a neutral and he doesn't have to think about matching things. But when he pairs a really dark shirt with black pants, he looks like a shadow walking around. Not approachable. I did (finally) convince him a few months back that the Oyster/Putty colored casual pants work better with the really dark shirts. And the pair he has is looking a little worn. So we had to pick up another pair.

Luckily Car Guy had a gift card that I earned from taking some online surveys, so the total damage wasn't as bad as it could have been. We walked out of the department store with 4 dress shirts (1 with a matching tie), 1 pair of casual pants and 1 pair of jeans. At least he won't be running around naked. (Ouch, my eyes!) Now if I could only convince him that there are fashionable cardigan sweaters out there for men. Then he wouldn't have to wear his outdated mid-90s sportcoat at work to stay warm.

What things does your significant other do that drive you nuts - even if they're not hugely important in the grand scheme of things?

Murphy's Busy

Did you know that Murphy has a law for just about every situation? I'm assuming that you know the general one: Anything that can go wrong, will. It's been my experience, however, that there's some sort of related axiom for most common situations.

Like elevators. There are 2 rules that apply. The more commonly-encountered one is, "In a crowded elevator, the person who needs to get out first is the person in the back, farthest from the door." There's a related mini-rule that you can tell how much of a jerk a person is by whether they actually move out of the way to let the person out. The second main elevator rule is that "One will only have bad gas at work in the elevator. Especially when the other occupant of the elevator is a VP or higher."

Or blogging. "As soon as one makes a resolution to blog with some regularity, interesting things will stop happening." That's my problem. I want to keep this blog updated, but I hardly live an interesting life. And nobody wants to read "me me me" stories all the time.

What variations on Murphy's law have you experienced or seen in action? Please share!

Another dud

NaBloPoMo day 28

Gee, anyone would think I don't have a life. At least when the quality of my posts is considered. Honestly, I'm trying to stay away from the boring minutae, like what I had for lunch (a kid-size organic energy bar). Problem is, there's not usually anything interesting that happens to or around me.

Last night, Car Guy and I went to a local family restaurant for dinner. It's one of those places that has no specialty, so everything on the menu is adequate. Not stellar, but edible. And there are too many choices. We looked at the menu for 10-15 minutes last night, trying to figure out what we wanted, before settling for lasagna and veal parmesan (don't get excited - the veal was a breaded patty). There are 2 things that are notable about this restaurant.

First, the theme. Not content with being a serviceable family restaurant, they had to take a theme and run with it. Run way, way too far. There are posters, murals, street signs, staff uniforms. I guess I should be thankful that they didn't carry the theme to the menu and have things like "Andy's Catch of the Day." The theme? The Andy Griffith Show.

Second, the placement of the smoking section was not well-thought out. The non-smoking section is definitely the majority of the restaurant, encompassing about 2/3 of the seats. But, one must walk through the length of the smoking section to get to non-smoking. Yuk! I usually hold my breath as we walk through.

I know that some of my regular reads on the 'net have gone to interesting places. Gnightgirl has some cool posts about a local place near her. How about you? What interesting independent places do you frequent?

Looking for a gift?

NaBloPoMo day 21

Now's the time of year when we start seeing gift guides to help us select gifts for the hard to buy for. There's usually something outrageous on the lists. Something that makes you wonder a) why anyone made it in the first place; b) why someone thinks anyone would buy it; and c) just what's the target market again? The knife pictured to the left is just such an item.

It was included in an email I received from a shopping list service. And I knew I had to share when I saw the picture.

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of those things that has bastardized a good idea. The Swiss Army Knife is meant to be a compact, easily-carried piece of equipment that has a couple of versatile tools on it. Recent versions have included some specialty tools like tools to tighten bicycle spokes. But that's OK - as long as it's aimed at those users and the specialty tools have replaced others, keeping the size of the knife in check. This version is clearly an illustration of "more is not always better." What's hard to see in the picture is exactly how many tools are included. There are 85 tools on that baby. 85! That's every tool currently produced by the manufacturer. It weighs 2 pounds, 11 ounces, slightly more than a quart of milk. A quart of milk may seem light, but strap one to your belt one day and see if your pants stay up.

What's the weirdest thing you've seen on holiday gift guides? Please share!

By the way, to purchase the behemoth, go to Think Geek.

De-lurk day - Here's a topic, discuss.

Rather than have another rant about the idiot drivers on the roads today (what is wrong with people?), I decided to pose a question, to get you, my gentle readers, to come out of the woodwork.

The background

Detroit has 3 casinos. When they opened, several years ago, they were all in "temporary" locations, and were supposed to have permanent casinos with attached hotels built in time for the Super Bowl. You know, the one that was held in Detroit in February 2006. Because of the idiocy of the city council and some of the movers and shakers on the Detroit business and political scenes, the casinos are just now completing their permanent locations. One opened earlier this month, another was scheduled for November 1, but will be delayed by several weeks because of non-delivery of furniture, and the third is still building. In an effort to attract patrons, the third casino has changed their billboards around town to emphasize some of their new features. The one I pass on the drive in to work says

Are you ready for it?

New Parking Structure

I'm not a big patron of casinos, but I'd think that the atmosphere, buffet and number of tables would play a much bigger part in one's decision about where to blow one's hard-earned money than the fact that one's car will be sitting on newer concrete than at the other 2 places. Especially because they already have covered, guarded, attached parking in 2 other structures.

The question

What bizarre or illogical signs have you seen around town lately?

Post your answer in the comments.