The Most Dangerous Game

With the start of football season, I've started listening to quite a bit of sports radio. Our local station has a mix of Texas Tech topics, high school coverage, and some ESPN nationwide programming. Every weekend KKAM hosts a pick 'em contest, where callers pick the winners in weekend college games and guess the scores and stats of the Tech game. Last season, Steve and I replicated the pick 'em contest at work. We made it interesting by betting the responsibility for completing minor work assignments.


Tech fans are notorious for bad sportsmanship. There was quite a controversy a few years back about all the tortilla throwing at the football games, until the law stepped in. I even remember television ads with a referee saying something like, "If you throw a tortilla, I'll throw a [penalty] flag." I like the comments on this blog entry in favor of the tortilla tradition.

Just one thought for you. When I went to a Tech game a few years ago, several of us Aggies were hit in the head by frozen tortillas. It hurts. It doesn't leave a good impression on people. No pun intended.

Frozen tortillas? That's even better. Boo hoo, Aggies.

Why throw tortillas at all? Why spend money to throw food away when hundreds of thousands of Afgan [sic] children will be starving this winter? Why not start a new tradition and send the money wasted on tortillas to a worthy attempt to eradicate worldwide hunger?

Oh yeah, she's gotta be from UT.

Tech fans are also notorious for getting drunk out of their small minds before, during, and after the game. Scott has season tickets to the Tech home games. He related a story from a Tech tailgater. This tailgater was up in the stands and came across a UTEP fan with a noisemaker. He said something to the effect of, "Hey! You're not supposed to have that. They're banned by the Big 12 and it's not fair for you to have those." The UTEP fan responded by sounding the noisemaker in the Tech tailgater's ear. So the Tech fan threw his nachos in the other guy's face. Now that's sportmanship.

The big news in town this week is about Tech students changing the lyrics of the fight song to something profane. It's nothing too new. They were doing it during my undergrad when I was a young skull full of mush. The school's response is to stop the band from playing the fight song. Maybe we should be as worried about our lack of a defense. And at least we're not cheating like the Pats.

But the best football news I've heard recently was during the high school football spotlight on KKAM tonight. An area high school coach had called in and was talking about his team's disappointing Friday night loss. I missed hearing what school this coach was from, but I'm thinking it was a small town. Apparently the Friday night game was delayed because a herd of wild hogs ran onto the football field. The coach said that really threw his boys' game off. The game I attended Friday night was delayed and then called early because of lightning, but wild hogs sound much more dangerous.

Prize-winning Fare

So, inspired by Molly, my prize-winning cook of a cousin, I've decided to enter a baked good in the South Plains Fair culinary competition. Molly won second place for her Peach Crisp at the National Cowboy Symposium last week. As long as I can come up with something tastier than typical fair foods like Funnel Cake and Deep-fried Coke, I'll be pleased.

I need suggestions on what to bake. I'm planning on a cake, but which?

The Chocolate Blackout Cake with Coconut Buttercream is a strong candidate. It's pretty. It's complicated, combining dark chocolate, ganache, toffee, and sweet coconut frosting. It has a touch of pepper, so it's definitely got an unexpected kick to it, which might also make it too weird for the judges.

The German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan Filling I baked for Dad's birthday is my favorite cake, taste-wise, that I've ever baked. Chocolate, pecans, and coconut are a wonderful combination. I think it's nice-looking. What do you think of the unfrosted sides?

The Spice Cake with Sea Foam Frosting is one I thought of a bit randomly. The "sea foam frosting," seven-minute frosting made with brown sugar, makes it different than your typical entry. There might be less competition in a non-chocolate category, too.

The only other cake that would do is a recipe of my mom's. It's a pound cake that I love love love. I don't know exactly what the rules are for the pound cake entries, though. I'd probably have to bake it in a loaf pan, which is just wrong.

I would like to choose a cake that can hold up, unrefrigerated, in a display case for a few days, too. These are the things I think on. The floor is open for nominations.

Never Not Sarcastic

I received messages from a couple of friends, and I thought this was worth nipping in the bud. Despite my recent posts such as "Still Single Shower," "Always a Bridesmaid," "Stalker Boy," etc., I am not wallowing in self-pity about my single status. Apparently my jokes about being single and chubby are soooo played.

So back to more important topics such as foodie chat and armchair quarterbacking:

Feasting on Asphalt 2 ended this weekend with Alton getting a tattoo. Oh brother. My favorite sites from the series are in the South, because of the fun characters and their accents. I think next season should be a Texas tour.



Have I mentioned how glad I am that it's football season again? I like turning on AM Radio and listening to football chat or catching game highlights on the evening news. Sorry, news about baseball and the US Open just pales in comparison. Although, we did have the Western All Stars team from Lubbock in the Little League World Series, and that was exciting business.

The only other exciting business I can think of to report is that Katie survived another Taiwanese earthquake. This one was 6.5 on the Richter Scale. She slept right through it even though the building she was in was swaying. Besides earthquakes, she almost got eaten alive by a dog. She was on her bike and got lost in the middle of a rice field one night. She passed by a house with a light on, and suddenly there was a huge dog barking and lunging at her ankles. She said she pedaled like mad while barking back and kicking at the dog. If that isn't funny enough, she had to pass by the house again later. She said the second time her pedalling was faster and her barks were louder.

Dessert Party

School has started, but I haven't started school. I don't want to go back. The semester started when I was in San Diego, so I had a pretty good excuse to postpone doing homework. Then I got back home and spent about a week getting ready for the Still Single Shower/Dessert Party. I had fun cooking. Cleaning is less fun. Maybe I should cater. It's all the fun of cooking without the stress of hostessing. I also mowed my lawn, which I hadn't done since Hurricane Katrina. Lest you think the grass grew unabated for two years, I will tell you that I bribe my dad and brother to mow my lawn for me. I was worried at first that I wouldn't be able to start the mower. I am pretty helpless. Once I got the mower started, it was easy from there. However, I was never able to start the weed eater to do the edging. That right there is one good reason to have a man around.

Alas, we had a party to celebrate my not having a man around. It was a fun evening. My favorite people came over and ate desserts with me to soothe the sorrow. I didn't get a chance to take pictures. My friends know I'm an obsessed flickr user, and I didn't want to make them nervous by pulling out the camera. I would have at least liked to take foodie pictures, though. I still have leftovers, so I may take those pictures yet.



Menu:

Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate Coconut Truffles
Spiced Pecans
Chocolate Cream Cupcakes
Crème Brûlée
Goat Cheese and Lemon Cheesecake with Hazelnut Crust
Fruit
Strawberry-banana Punch
Milk
Decaf
It is rather pathetic how much chocolate and sugar I have in my house. I sent guests home with treats, but I still have cupcakes, truffles, punch base, and many ramekins of Crème Brûlée left in my refrigerator. Now that I've had my fun gorging myself, I'm going to participate in a Get Fit Lubbock contest. I've never done anything like this, but at least I'll embarrass myself in front of a smaller audience than if I went on Biggest Loser or Extreme Makeover. Some of the prizes are things like annual gym memberships and triathlon training. I wonder if I could convince them that the ideal prize is a year's supply of Ghirardelli Chocolate. That's much more motivating!


That's my chocolate tower before the party. Next year I'm definitely keeping a tally of how many chocolate bars I buy in a year.

Fake Tales of San Diego

Here are the highlights of the San Diego trip, according to me:

Best Restaurant: The Fish Market

The thing I most looked forward to on this trip was getting some good seafood. I wanted fish tacos, freshly caught fish, maybe some sashimi. At The Fish Market, I got a sampler platter of steamed fish. Mom got Mahi Mahi. Wendy got fish and chips. We shared an appetizer of oysters on the half shell.

Best Dessert: Extraordinary Desserts

Monday we skipped lunch to spend some extra time in the Balboa Park Museums. To make up for it, we got an afternoon dessert. I tried the Gianduia, which was fabulous. I wonder if Karen Krasne would let me intern with her. The Orange-Cranberry Scones from Whole Foods were a close runner-up. I'm addicted to those things.

Best Site: Balboa Park

The buildings, gardens, and museums were spectacular. It's amazing to see a public space so vast and beautiful. The Museum of Man was my favorite museum. The Natural History Museum had an interesting exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls. My trip souvenir was a box of Chuao Chocolatier bonbons with Middle Eastern flavors. Unfortunately, the art museum was closed on the day we were at Balboa. Runner-up San Diego Zoo was much more fun than I expected.

Best Spot to Tan: Coronado Beach

It's been much too long since I've put my toes in the Pacific Ocean. It's been almost as long since my body has seen the sun. I figured it was my last chance to get some sun before the end of summer. I'll be finding sand in my wallet for weeks.

Best Laugh: Many-way Tie

There were many funnies, as there are whenever I'm around. One funny moment was when Wendy made a quick turn and smacked her face into a glass panel in the trolley. Another was when a passenger got on the trolley and sang a rap loudly, but pretty well, actually, about the border and being in jail. A street performer with considerably less talent was playing the violin, and we were unlucky enough to catch his performance two separate times in two separate locations. He was playing an out of tune scale or something else unrecognizable.

I wore my Make Cupcakes Not War shirt and got a few reactions, the most memorable of which was on the trolley. An older man with some issues got on and sat down facing me. "Make cupcakes not war," he read aloud. "I like pie. I like cherry pie. I buy day old cherry pies every Thursday. What day is this?" Then he proceeded to read my shirt aloud again, this time by pointing his finger at each letter on my chest. I kept thinking, "I don't care how old this guy is. One inch closer and I'll deck him."

It's nice to be back home just in time for the start of football season. I want my next trip to be a Feasting on Asphalt tour. I know I could travel the back roads of Texas and come up with some interesting finds. Maybe I could even do it on a motorcycle.

Stalker Boy

So, it finally happened. I met someone in the grocery store. I always go shopping hoping to make a love connection. I mean, how romantic is it to be in a room full of food? It's like a giant party with a shining concrete dance floor. I like the elevator music they play in the produce section. As usual, the cup of my imagination runneth over. I really just go to the store to flirt. Real relationships scare the hell out of me.

Last week I was doing some pretty late shopping to grab the ingredients for the Chocolate Blackout Cake, second edition. I walked past an aisle, paused to check my shopping list, looked up, and saw a stock boy staring at me. I recognized him as one of the regular late shift stockers. As I passed to the next aisle, I heard a whistle. Flattered and mortified, I continued shopping and then backtracked a couple of aisles to pick up some chocolate bars. As a rounded the corner, I met eyes with the whistler. I'm sure my eyes widened and my face colored. I have such an expressive face. It's a curse, really. I ducked around him, grabbed my Ghiradelli bars, and slinked away.

So tonight, more late night shopping, again for a cake, actually two, a pound cake and a toffee cake. I finished my shopping and checked out. Unfortunately, the milk I bought had a puncture in the carton, so the checker ran to get a replacement. I stood waiting, looking around, and guess who was on my favorite aisle, the baking aisle, the one with flour, sugar, extracts, and chocolate bars? That's right. The stocker, or rather, the stalker. Just standing there at the end of the aisle and blantantly staring. I looked away quickly. Or probably my mouth fell open and then I looked away quickly. I was still waiting for that checker and the replacement milk. Make conversation with the sacker. I did. Monosyllabic answer from her. I saw the stalker again in my periphery, so I turned around completely.

You know the fluttery butterfly feeling after making eyes with someone? It makes you want to bat your eyes and smile coyly. This guy gives you a fluttery feeling like you want to run away and lock your car door and wear a disguise next time you shop. I'll have to start shopping at the newer Market Street in the rich neighborhood with a bunch of middle-aged housewives! No chance of meeting anyone there. What's with me and the late night shopping and baking?

On a happier note, I just returned from San Diego, where I had, gasp, a date. It mainly consisted of lunch at a Brazilian steakhouse and walking about a shopping mall and the pier of the North San Diego Bay. That is not my ideal place to debut, full daylight. I prefer the cover of darkness or at least the shelter of a shopping cart, apparently. I had a fun time but no particular reason to believe that this guy ever wants to see me again in this life.

That "Still Single Shower" is coming up. Ten out of eleven invitees are married. I'm starting to feel like the reason I'm still single is the elephant in the room that no one's talking about. Or maybe I'm the elephant in the room. Feel free to comment anonymously on my failings.



Had a blast at the San Diego Zoo.

Dinner and a Movie

I found my new favorite dinner recipe. Drumroll, please... Chicken Marsala. I made it for the fam last night for dinner, and I loved it. However, I wasn't sure if I loved it only because it was 9pm when we ate dinner and by that time I was absolutely starving. But no, I was still craving it today, so tonight for dinner, I made Chicken Marsala for one. Here's the recipe, adapted from the America's Test Kitchen recipe:

Chicken Marsala
Serves 1

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed
salt
pepper
unbleached flour
peanut oil
vegetable oil
1 slice bacon, finely chopped
1/4 c. white button mushrooms, sliced
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 t. Annie's Naturals Organic Ketchup
1/2 c. sweet Marsala
1/2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. butter
1 T. minced parsley

1. Heat the oven to 200º. Pound the chicken breast to a uniform thickness, then season with salt and pepper. Dredge both sides in flour.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon peanut oil in heavy-bottomed skillet* over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook chicken until golden brown on first side, 2 to 3 minutes. Add more oil, if necessary, and flip chicken, cooking until second side is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to an oven-safe plate or dish and keep warm in oven.
3. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to skillet and add mushrooms and bacon. Stir occasionally and scrape pan bottom to loosen browned bits, until bacon is crisp and mushrooms are brown. Add garlic and ketchup, and cook until ketchup begins to brown, less than 1 minute.
4. Stir in Marsala and simmer vigorously, scraping browned bits from pan bottom, until sauce is reduced to a syrup. Turn off heat and add lemon juice. Stir in butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in parsley. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

*Do not use a nonstick skillet. The pan sauce is flavored by the browned bits which stick to the pan during cooking.

Notes:

I used peanut oil to fry the chicken and vegetable oil for the pan sauce. I don't know if this is logical. I simply grabbed peanut oil by accident last night, and I fried the chicken in that. I really like the way peanut oil fries, but I'm sure the oils are interchangeable. Depending on the mushrooms you're using, it might be a good idea to put them in the skillet before the bacon. I found that less ripe mushrooms needed more time to cook, and the bacon was almost burned by the time the mushrooms had softened. I used salted butter in the pan sauce and didn't find that the sauce needed any extra salt or pepper.

I served the chicken over fettuccine noodles. A simple green salad with a light dressing is a great accompaniment. A quick and easy meal. -

After the Chicken Marsala, you're going to want a good dessert. I suggest cheesecake. I would be eating the New York Cheesecake I made yesterday, except I was a good little girl and took it to work to share with my co-workers, and then I forgot to bring it home.

After dessert you're going to be so full that you'll want to veg out on the couch and watch a movie. I suggest The Godfather to keep with the Italian, excuse me, Sicilian, theme. Don't even think about going outside to do yard work or mow your lawn. No reason why you should quit being the white trash neighbor that everyone hates.

Always a Bridesmaid

I thought Sarah was going to stay my hip single friend, but she went and got herself a good catch with John. At the rehearsal dinner, we had comida salvadoreña, or El Salvadorean food for you English speakers. I was introduced to the world of pupusas a few weeks ago, and they are wonderful. I've tried pupusas stuffed with queso, loroco (tastes like zucchini), chicken, and pork. They're served with curtido, which is a cabbage relish, and tomato sauce. I love fried plantains spread with that tangy cream they use. I also tried a drink called marañón, which is made from the cashew apple. Cashew trees apparently produce a bright red or orange apple along with the nuts we buy in a can. There are a couple of Pupuserías/Restaurantes Salvadoreños in Lubbock which I've been frequenting since I found out about them. I recommend them, except the wait can be excessive if there's any type of crowd, but that's the price of fresh, handmade food.

How cute is that picture of Hannah? It was a little cold and rainy outside while we were taking pictures after Sarah and John's wedding. My hair immediately went fro, but the bride looked beautiful. Here are my BFFs Catherine (Hannah's mama) and Sarah:

Still Single Shower

I have this great idea to have a "Still Single Shower" for myself to recoup from the losses after years of attending bridal and baby showers for my friends. I wouldn't really request gifts. It would actually just be a party to celebrate my fabulousness, with a tongue-in-cheek theme. So now I need ideas for it. I am trying for something that screams single and fabulous and not so much old maid. I want people leaving my party saying, "What is wrong with the guys around here?", and not, "I guess we know why she's single." Food-wise, I'm thinking it will be a dessert party, since that's what I like to make, but I guess I could do some real foods, too.

You're all invited to the shower. Men are welcome, too, and don't worry, there will be no giggling at this shower. We will all be mourning my failed love life, which is nothing to laugh about.

Nice thing about being single: I get both closets in the master bedroom. Of course, I don't use them, because other nice thing about being single: King size bed all to myself. It's a nice place for laying my clothes. Also, the living room is crowded with clothes air drying after laundry day. Yesterday Wendy mentioned that I had two closets, both of which must be empty, since all of my clothes are in my bedroom and living room. "How do you decide which clothes to put in which closet?" she asked.

I answered, "One is for clothes I would wear. And the other is for clothes I would never wear."

I want party suggestions, people. Should I pass a collection plate for my plastic surgery fund?

Doppelgänger

Sometimes people comment that I look like someone famous and beautiful. Then they ask to borrow money. People have told me that I look like these people:

Keri Russell, but it was back during her Felicity days. Trust me when I tell you that if I don't intervene, my hair looks just like that after washing it. Fro is fun. Keri is super cute in Waitress, too.

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Brooke Shields. I think we share thick straight eyebrows.

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Pauline said I reminded her of Kate Winslet in The Holiday. Unfortunately, it sounds like it was the character's crazy antics and not her gorgeousness that reminded Pauline of me. Nice to know that the person in my life with whom I spend the most time thinks I'm an unstable psycho chick.

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Sophie Simmons (in red) - Gene Simmons' daughter? And we'll just leave the question mark there.

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I so do not look as good as Giada does in an apron.

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And then there is the Simpsonized version of me.

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Okay, I was a little selective in the pictures I posted here. What girl wants to admit her hair looks like Brendan Fraser's in George of the Jungle? (Thanks, Wendy.) I told you my hair was fro-ish. All I can say about the ladies above is "I wish."