AllanThinks

Where have I been?

I got this from Mike, who got it from Bet.

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Bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

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I might not exactly have seen America, but I have visited 8 foreign countries.

Um...

I slept in this rainy morning. Actually, I went back to bed after waking to the alarm clock, eating breakfast, letting the dog out, and reading blogs.

And I dreamed. Nothing special in that. I dream all the time, but I rarely remember my dreams.

But this morning I did, and I realized that there is a recurring theme in my dreams of late.

In these dreams, I forget where I have parked my car. And I spend an inordinate amount of time walking around trying to remember where I left it.

I'm not making this up.

In the dream this morning, one that I have had before, I was in college, in a city center, and was done with classes for the day. As I walked out into the street to go to my car and drive home, I couldn't remember where I had parked. Not the first fucking clue.

So I started walking toward home, wracking my brain the entire time, trying to remember. All I managed to remember was a class that I forgot I was enrolled in.

I never did remember where the car was.

 

Bunny Suicides

Click the image for more.

Thanks to Richard for the link.

The Carnival has come to town.

A very futuristic Carnival of the Recipes #28 is up, and is hosted by Rocket Jones.

Cat Blog Friday

Lounging Lucy. Like Alison, I have no idea who took this image, or how it got on my hard drive.

Is this our future?

Watch this.

Then read this.

Apparently The Matrix isn't just a movie anymore.

Recipe of the Week

Wagon Wheel Beef Soup

• Cooking Spray
• ¾ pound ground round
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 cups cooked wagon wheel pasta (about 3 cups uncooked)
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (26 oz.) jar of low-fat pasta sauce
• 1 (16 oz.) can red kidney beans, undrained
• 2 (14 oz.) cans less-sodium beef broth (such as Swanson)

Coat a Dutch oven with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add beef and onion; cook until beef is browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well, and return beef mixture to pan.

Add cooked pasta and remaining ingredients. Cook over medium-high heat until thoroughly heated.

Yields 8 servings of 1½ cups. Each serving is 3 WW Points.

Notes and pictures after the jump.

Time Lines

Inspired by these images from Sallie, and these from Pixeldiva, I thought I'd give it a shot [Very punny...Ed.]. I've never really done much with black and white imagery. It's quite challenging. And a lot of fun.

Free Mojtaba and Arash Day

Click each banner for more information.

Thanks to Mike for bringing this to my attention.

I know. I know.

I said I wasn't going to do the foodie thing anymore. But after hosting the Carnival of the Recipes, I realized I can't help myself. I'm a Courtney. It's in my blood.

And when I saw this recipe for hummus at The Amateur Gourmet, I couldn't resist making it. And it turned out great! It is better than any hummus you can buy in a store, and it is SO easy to make.

It takes longer to wash the food processor than it does to make the hummus. Really! Ten minutes tops. And that includes squeezing the fresh lemon juice.

Go copy the recipe. Make it. Enjoy it.

You'll be glad you did.

Carnival wrapup

Wow! What a weekend.

I had no idea how much fun it could be to host the Carnival of the Recipes. But I sure found out.

And judging by my stats for the weekend, I would say that it was a very successful event.

I want to thank everyone who submitted recipes this week, and everyone who stopped by to check them out. I hope you found the recipes interesting, and that you will give them all a try.

If you do, please visit the source blog and leave a comment. Let them know you tried their recipe and what you thought of it.

I would like to extend a very special thank you to Beth, who started the Carnival of the Recipes 27 weeks ago, and whose continued support has made it so successful.

And I would also like to thank Glenn Reynolds for linking to the Carnival, despite the fact he was sitting in a hospital waiting room while his wife was undergoing a procedure. Glenn has been very supportive of our little collective. Week in and week out.

Next week's Carnival will be hosted by Rocket Jones.  Deadline for submissions is midnight Thursday. Send them to recipe [dot] carnival [at] gmail [dot] com.

What a finish!

Congratulations to Jeff Gordon on winning his third Daytona 500.

Cat Blog Friday

Lucy's cocoon.

Carnival of the Recipes #27

It is award show season, and everyone is abuzz with talk of the Grammy Awards and the upcoming Academy Awards. So I thought why not have the Carnival of the Recipe Awards.

So without further ado, we present this week's nominees.

 

The nominees for best performance in the role of LIBATION are:

Lehnhoff Brewing's Weis Beer, from Jeff at Trub.

 

The nominees for best performance in the role of a SOUP OR STARTER are:

Italian Potato Leek Soup from Gullyborg of Resistance is futile!.

Quick And Dirty Miso Soup from Alpha Wolf of The Laughing Wolf.

Louisiana White Boudin (Pork and Rice Sausage) from Christina at Feisty Repartee.

 

The nominees for best performance in the role of SALAD are:

Sensation Salad from Christina at Feisty Repartee.

Smoked Salmon Salad from B. Durbin of booklore.

Elotes (Mexican Corn) Salad from Triticale, The Wheat/Rye Guy.

Donna Barton's Mexican Cole Slaw

Mix the following ingredients together in the amounts that you choose.  Any ingredient that you don’t like or don’t have on hand can be left out and it will still taste good.

Dressing

• Mayonnaise   
  
• Pace hot picante sauce (medium or mild if you can’t take the heat!)
• Cumin

Cabbage, shredded Carrots, coarsely shredded Onion, chopped (or green onion, sliced) Canned red kidney beans, rinsed and drained Jalapeno peppers, seeded (or not) and minced

 

The nominees for best performance in the role of SIDE DISH are:

Fire-In-The-Hole French Fries from Oddybobo of Bobo Blogger.

Grandpa’s Scalloped Potatoes from Rammer of Blog o'RAM.

 

The nominees for best performance in the role of MAIN COURSE are:

Sausage and Pepper Stew from Shawn at Everything And/But Nothing

Turkey Casserole with Leftover Cheese Sauce from Punctilious at Blog o'RAM.

Frito Pie from Amy at Prochein Amy.

Tempeh with broccoli from David at The Glittering Eye.

Thai Chicken With Basil from Bo the Nook at A Geezer's Corner

Chicken Casserole from Romeocat at Cathouse Chat.

Spam Pie from Karen of Let's Play Restaurant.

Green and Yellow Squash Latkes with Sweet Tomato Jam. from Caltechgirl of Not Exactly Rocket Science.

Napalitos (Cactus Paddles) from Deborah of Eat Your History.

A recipe for corning your own beef brisket. from Dave of AZ Perspective and Junk.

Tips for cooking perfect sausages from Drew Burchett.

Posole, a lamb or pork and hominy stew from Kevin of Techno Gypsy.

Crock Pot Macaroni, Cheese & Bacon

Ingredients 

• 8 cups of cooked Macaroni or other pasta 
• 4  bacon rashes - rind removed and diced 
• ½  onion - minced or very finely chopped 
• 2 cups  milk 
• 1 tin (13 oz/375ml)  evaporated milk 
• 2 eggs - lightly beaten 
• 2oz/60g melted butter 
• 2 tbsp vegetable Oil 
• 6 cups  Cheese - We used 4 of tasty and 2 of Parmesan 
• Salt and Pepper
 

Method

1. Place all ingredients into the crock pot and stir to combine.
2. Cover and cook for 8-9hours on Low and 4-5hours on High.
3. Eat and enjoy

Notes Serves 6-8 as a meal Serves heaps as a side dish

It's very easy to make and tastes great.

From Lisa at The Crock Pot Recipe Site.

 

The nominees for best performance in the role of DESSERT are:

Banana Bread from Julie of The Glad Gastronome.

Lemon Supreme Pound Cake from VW of One Happy Dog Speaks.

 

As Allan tears open the envelope, he reacts in delighted surprise as he reads aloud, "The winners are... everyone!"

Congratulations to all our winners, and thanks for attending the Carnival of the Recipes Awards!

Next week, the Carnival will be hosted by Rocket Jones. Submissions, as always should be emailed to recipe [dot] carnival [at] gmail [dot] com, before midnight next Thursday.

Oh my God! I'm the host this week.

I am hosting the Carnival of the Recipes this week.  The deadline for submissions is midnight Eastern Standard Time tonight.

Due to the fact I have yet to look in the Carnival inbox, it's going to take me a while to compile it all, so I will likely be up late, and I will check the mail a couple of more times before I am done in case there are any late submissions.

If you haven't already sent one in, submit your links to recipe [dot] carnival [at] gmail [dot] com.

Daylight Moon

 

Look what I just got!

Sixteen brand spankin' new replacement windows for the house.  Installation begins at 0830 tomorrow.

I am so excited!

Clink.........clink.....clink.

It was sunny and 65° today. And after a rocky start to my day, I was determined to get out and soak up some sunshine. This afternoon I went walking at the arboretum. I didn't take my MP3 player today, choosing to listen to the sounds of nature for a change. I did, however, take my camera with me.

This made me feel better.

It's all over the hizzle.

I wish.

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right

A guy can dream, can't he? I'm starting to have empathy for my friends in the Pacific Northwest.

Rain, rain, rain. Wind, wind, wind. Ad nauseam.

Yep. Duke still sucks.

Maryland   99     Duke   92   

Heh.

Boogity, Boogity, Boogity

Thank God. The long, dark pitstop is over.

Woody

Cat Blog Friday

This blogging thing can be SO addictive!

Aw crap

After five days of temperatures in the 50s (approaching 60 some days), winter has returned.

It is 32 degrees and snowing here. There is a dusting of the white stuff on the ground. That might be all we get out of it. Southeastern Kentucky will probably bear the brunt of it.

But still, it is cold, and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future.

Last weekend was wonderful. Both days, the sun shone. I walked at the arboretum both days. I took a  bunch of pictures Saturday (two of which I posted here).  I was in the best mood I have been in in a while.

Appearances by old Sol have been few and far between this winter.

It has rained every day since then, but at least it remained warm.

I guess the groundhog was right. Damn that Punxsutawney Phil! Damn him!

Like him, I think I will crawl back in my hole and hibernate for another six weeks.

See you on the other side, Ray.  [Bonus points for anyone getting the reference.]

Another meme...

Since I seem to be out of original ideas.

Stolen from Alison, who stole it back from Chris after he stole it from her.

Search keywords from my stats:

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girls are evil math proof

How pathetic. I swore I wasn't going to make this a food blog, but from this, it seems that that is what it has become.

That's it. No more recipes. I have volunteered to host the Carnival of the Recipes on February 18, but after that, I am done.

He blew a perfectly good career

Okla. Judge's Career Ended by Allegations 

By JULIE E. BISBEE, Associated Press Writer

Oklahoma City, OK (AP) -- Jurors and others in Judge Donald Thompson's courtroom kept hearing a strange whooshing noise, like a bicycle pump or maybe a blood pressure cuff. During one trial, Thompson seemed so distracted that some jurors thought he was playing a hand-held video game or tying fly-fishing lures behind the bench.

The explanation, investigators say, is even stranger than some imagined: The judge had a habit of masturbating with a penis pump under his robe during trials.

The lurid allegations have led to criminal charges against Thompson, brought an embarrassing end to a solid career and shocked many of his colleagues. The case could also lead to a wave of appeals from defendants claiming that the judge was not paying attention while presiding over their cases.

Read the rest of the story here.

Whatcha doing?

Nothin'. Just hanging out. You?

This was my favorite

Super Bowl ad, that is. It was HOT! [Groan. - Ed.]

You can see all of the ads here.

Walnut Woods

Photoshop technique courtesy of Dooce.