Chef in the house

I like to cook. I only know how to make a few things, but I make them just how I like them :)

Sadly Kim doesn't like my cooking. It's not that I don't do a good job, its more the ingredients (vegetables). Because of this I often end up cooking for myself and she'll do her own thing. We only do this some nights. Typically it happens either because one of us spoiled our dinner by snacking or eating prior to when we would eat. That or I have a craving for something Kim hates. The latter is what happened last night. I really wanted stir fry.

Earlier we went to Teryaki Stix for lunch where I requested a small container of their hot sauce they use in the Hot 'n Spicy chicken bowl (my favorite). So making stir fry also gave me a chance to use this. So, without further ado, here is my stir fry!

Here is the chicken in my wok
Here is the chicken with vegetables (I always cheat and use a mix, this time from Costco)
It was really good!!!

So, I thought I would also leave some words of wisdom in this post. Don't cut over a ceramic plate. It turns out that it isn't a good idea. I just wanted some watermelon....
At least I showed that watermelon... Ya, kept my dignity

Finally, here is my favorite breakfast and one which if you were a guest in the morning you might get to enjoy!
Eggs (usually two) and hash browns (one potato per person). I always shred a potato when making hash browns. It takes hardly any time at all, definitely cost effective, and tastes significantly better than a mix at the store. Hash Brown Mix = bad. :) Also, when I make the hash browns I salt them, pepper them, and add onion while they cook. I don't do anything to the eggs since the hashbrowns more than flavor the dish (for me). People can add their own salt, but again its just me and Kim. Since Kim doesn't like the dish it's usually just me so I might as well have it my way. Someday maybe I'll have kids that'll like it. I expect so. :)

Flaming Gorge

I may have mispelled the name "Flaming Gorge" in my title, but this is where I went with Kim, her Dad, and her brother Scott last weekend.

Flaming Gorge has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Flaming Gorge itself is a lake that is divided by several canyons that you can boat through. We went to waterski, play on the rocks (jump off them and stuff), and just enjoy the scenery.

I really enjoyed being there a lot, granted that after I exceeded my coldness threshold I "hid" under the bow cover at the front of the boat wrapped in a blanket. :) But before this I waterskiied and jumped off some rocks. (note: the water temperature was 65 degrees!!)

Here is some video footage!

Get to work

Not long ago I was introduced to a halarious site: www.despair.com. This site is all about demotivating people. This ranges from using photos much like motivational ones to mugs and shirts.

Anyhow, the site is halarious and I'm not going to elaborate on it. However, I wanted to mention that one photo in the collage especially impressed me. Here is a link to it http://despair.com/gettowork.html. For those too lazy to click the link and view it, its a picture of a row boat with men rowing off into the distance. It's titled "Get to Work" with the quote "You aren't being paid to believe in the power of your dreams".

This picture meant something to me because for quite some time I have considered started a business of my own with my talents (Software Developer - emphasis on web development in Asp .Net 2.0). Sometimes at work I feel like I am just rowing. I'm not saying I don't like my job because actually I do. I'm saying that I do what "the man" tells me to do. If my manager, who I respect quite a bit, tells me to row then I row. However, I think rowing shouldn't stop me from pursuing some of my other interests.

Lately I have particularly been interested in what I do at work, which at the moment is building up our Solution Software Development Kit (SSDK) that integrates into Visual Studio 2005. I won't elaborate since I'm sure I will lose most people reading. Despite being so engaged, I think I'm going to pursue my dream of starting a business and begin by designing WebControls. By begin I mean continue since I've been working on this off and on for over a year now.

Apple Cobler

Last night Kim and I had some friends over and played bocce ball followed by apple cobler. Apple Cobler... yum...

So, it may seem silly to say, but we've never prepared our charcoal so well before. Nearly every time we barbecue, or otherwise use charcoal, its a nightmare. The charcoal sometimes lites at first but then goes out. We pour lighter fluid on and it gets really smokey. We relite it and it bursts in flames briefly. etc... It just always seems pretty difficult.

Well, this time we seemed to have gotten it right. I put the charcoal in our chimney (metal container for starting charcoal), prepped the charcoal with lighter fluid, and let it sit for about a half minute. I lit the charcoal using a long match (not standard size). After the charcoal lit on fire for some time and was slowing down I put on more lighter fluid. This time I did something different though. I squeezed the bottle really hard so that lots of fluid would hit all at once. This may have been a key difference. I did this once more.

Anyhow, it came out great and so did our apple cobler, which we ate with Vanilla Bean icecream. It was good eating.

I know, I know, the charcoal became the theme of this post. Oh well. The apple cobler was really the highlight of the night though. I think that it was the best we've ever made it. We've made it a few times and Kim appears to have mastered the proportions of the ingredients (spice cake mix, apple pie filling, cinnamon, and root beer).