Thanksgiving

So, this year I made Thanksgiving dinner all on my own (ok, Kasey cleaned the dishes.  Thank GOD!).  It was AWESOME.

I have recently found that I like to cook with ingredients.  You know, not crap out of a box, but real food with real stuff.   I find that it is kind of like a chemistry experiment that you get to eat.  Mmmmm….

So, this year, I made:

• Turkey – Rubbed with Tony Chachere’s, injected with Tony’s Creole butter (This was the only premade thing that I used) and stuffed with my own stuffing
  
• Stuffing – Bread crumbs, butter apples onion, spices and cranberries
  
• Pie – Coconut oil based crust (TRY IT!) with granny smith apples
  
• Corn- Frozen HEB organic
  
• Green beans – Organic fresh and hand snapped (by me)
  
• Deviled Eggs – mayo and mustard mixed.
  
• Mashed red potatoes – with garlic and sour cream….
  
• Brown and serve rolls – Not from scratch, but Kasey insisted that I make these…
  
• Cranberry Relish – This came from a recipe on NPR and was AWESOME even if it sounds gross.   It is made of raw cranberries, a whole onion, 3.4 cup sour cream and 2 table spoons of horseradish.   Kasey was a bit timid at first, but now wants it on everything that she eats.  She even wondered what it would be like on the pie.  ;)
  
• Jalapeno stuffed olives for an appetizer.  ;)
  

It all turned out awesome, except that I think that I pushed the needle in a bit too far for a couple of the injections and squirted it right through because the stuffing was really salty…  It was still awesome though.

I did not fry the turkey this year, but I may next year.  I am not sure.  This one from this year was right behind the best fried turkey I have ever made and roasting is a lot cheaper.  The oil this year was $35!  I was like “SNAP!  That is a LOT!” and did not do it.  J

At the B&B

So, I am just really going through a bunch of pictures that I have and I ran across these.

Some time ago, Kasey and I stayed at a B&B near San Marcos with friends from church for our annual leadership retreat.  It was a pretty good time, but we were really busy the whole time.

Anyway, here are some pics of our room.  It was totally gay.

Headlights

So, the headlight covers on my BMW (e46 325i) have been jacked up since I got the car.  They are like all crazed and …  well crazy looking.  They really needed to be polished, so I did that last night.  Here are some pics.  Exciting huh?

Pretty ugly looking!

So, I taped it off so that I would not ruin the paint

Then I sanded them with 1000 grit and then 2000 grit sand paper.

I don't have a pic of this, but the next step was to apply Meguiars PlastiX - a great clear plastic polish.  It like fills in the grooves and rounds off the peaks left by the sanding.  I am a little worried that this will come off as I wash the car and will have to be reapplied every now and then.  Without it they lenses look very foggy when dry and very clear when wet.

The finished product.

Big difference huh?  

If you can't tell, I did this at night and this morning I was able to see that I left some areas almost untouched.  It seems that I was scared of ruining the paint, so I avoided the lower areas quite a bit.  You can see it a bit in this picture. I will probably fix it this weekend, but it is definately something that I will have to do in the day time. 

I am thinking of using an electric vibrating sander too, but I have heard that this can cause too much heat and cause the plastic to warp.  That would suck, but I am still going to try it.  I will just do it in bursts.

I really need to get a drill adapter for the polish too.

Sweet.

Food Bank

I don't really have time to write a lot, but I have a lot of pictures of taking my youth group to volunteer at the San Antonio Food Bank.  It was a great time, being both fun and fulfilling.  We spent three hours there and sorted something like 5 pallets of food donated from HEB.

HEB donates all of their damaged can goods and other non perishable items that would otherwise be thrown away.  By the time it sits in a warehouse and all that, some of it is not eatable anymore and some of it may not have been in the first place.  Our job was to sort out what was keep and what was trash.

After working here, most of the kids had an idea that there are many people right here in town who only have this to eat, the stuff that other people would consider trash.

Don’t get me wrong, I would have eaten the food.

When we got there, they treated us all to some “home made” pizza and soda.  It was delicious and EVERY single kid commented on how good it was.  However, I think the kids did not put one and one together and did not easily realize where the pizza came from.   I do not know for sure, but I would assume that the ingredients came from the food bank itself.

More Christmas Stuff

Here are a couple more things that I thought of that would be great gifts for Christmas

• AeroPress coffee maker (Amazon)
  
• Shoe Shine Kit (Amazon)
  
• Armani Gio Cologne (Amazon)
  
• Flexible cutting boards (Amazon) (they have these at Walmart too)
  
• Electric knife sharpener (Amazon) (not picky at all, as long as it WORKS!)
  
• METAL, NON GAY Retractable Badge holder (Here are some examples, but as long as it is not gay, I am cool)
  
• Wireless PC game controller (Amazon) OR (as in instead) a PS3 wireless controller (can still be used with a PC. I know how. I am a nerd. If you know I am getting a PS3, then this is the obvious choice….)
  
• Opera tickets - Rigoletto  (Austin Lyric Opera Saturday, 1/31/09 7:30PM CST)

I am sure that there are more, but this is what I thought of over the last couple of days….

Wasting Time

Here is a great way to waste your entire day.

http://fantasticcontraption.com/

It is a game where you have to get a block to a goal by making a contraption. It is pretty slick. My dad sent it to me. He found it on the Mensa website posted by some 8 year old.

Christmas List 2008

People are always asking me what I want for Christmas, so here is the list of things that would be cool to see under the tree. Keep in mind that some of the items are for my car, and it is possible that I will be getting a new car (probably like a 2006 BMW 530i… Sweet!) in March or so. Of course the things that I want for the car will make it easier to sell… This is by far not a complete list and I will try to update it. When in doubt, ask Kasey. J

 

Ray Ban RB 3183 "SideStreet" Sunglasses – Gunmetal frames and Polarized lenses. (Amazon)

New floor mats for my car (real BMW part, NOT some Autozone junk.) (Amazon)

The book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Amazon)

The book How to Win Friends and Influence People (Amazon)

The book When You are Engulfed in Flames (Amazon)

Sweet Ties

San Antonio Rampage Flex Pack (sarampage.com)

Asus EEE PC (newegg.com)

Royal Caribbean Gift Certificates (Royal Caribbean)

Seidio Rubberized Holster for BlackBerry Curve (CrackBerry.com)

The ridonckulously sweet keyboard (newegg.com)

PS3 (Amazon) and Final Fantasy XIII (Amazon)

Wallet – (double billfold!) (coach.com or coach.com) (I am really picky about this)

New Docs – 14 hole, smooth black size 10 U.S. (9 U.K.) (amazon.com)

iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, Black and Silver (THIS 560 model, or the 562 pet hair model) (amazon.com)

Starbucks Gift Cards! (Starbucks)

Some sweet new swim trunks (Please make sure that Kasey approves)

New arm rest cover for my car (eBay)

A trip to France (Either Paris, Lyon or Cannes. I am not too picky)

Headphones for work (these or these)

Louisiana Hot Sauce sample pack (Saw it at Big Lots for like $6)

4gb Memory Stick Pro Duo (these are for a PSP) (Newegg.com, but can be found at office max, office depot, best buy or circuit city)

ThinkGeek.com gift certificates (thinkgeek.com)