So, we’re off to Alaska!  We’ll be gone all week and I have no pre-written posts for you because a) we haven’t actually done much and b) I didn’t have much free time anyway.  Internet costs money on cruise ships, so you can bet I won’t be updating from there!  You’ll just have to wait until we get back.

Okay, so I spell it “refrigerator” or “fridge” and I was going to get all up in arms when I saw people spelling it “refridgerator” because that seems like an odd combination of the word and it’s abbreviated version.  But Google brought up seemingly legitimate sites spelling it that way, too, so I’m going to let it slide.

When it comes to flavoring food, though, I am going to have to put my foot down.  People, a “marinade” is something you use.  It’s a noun.  To “marinate” is a verb.  It’s an action verb!  You “marinate” food in a “marinade”.  At no point, ever, should you be “marinading” things. 

Wednesday night we met with the second landscape guy (whom T likes; I like the first one) to go over his quote and such.  Boy, redoing your entire backyard is not cheap.  But, if we can get it done, it will look so nice.  Clean, polished, comfortable, and a place where we can relax outside and I will most likely complain out loud about the neighbor’s smoking.  I’m not fond of our neighbors. 

Anyway, after that meeting we had to decide on dinner.  Because T had been gone over the weekend on his 4-day trip, I spent all those meals cooking for myself.  I don’t think I ate out once while he was gone.  As such, I was kind of tired of eating at home and I wanted to go out.  Of course, due to his absence, T had a list of things to do before we headed on vacation.  I was trying to make a case for Souplantation, he was trying to push the envelope of tortilla soup (that would make 8 cups) we had in the pantry.  I had almost argued (internally) that we could eat at home since we’d be spending the next week, essentially, eating out and spending money.  But, I must have been pouty and T is too nice to me, so we ended up in the car headed to Souplantation.  On the way there, we passed Outback Steakhouse, for which I had a $25 giftcard (thanks, Melanie!)  It was closer, it would be cheaper, and that’s how we ended up there instead of Souplantation.

We ended up with a variety of dishes: seared tuna, french onion soup, a blue cheese side salad, and I ordered the Slow-Roasted Sirloin Medley.  Now, there is also a dish on the specials menu called Herb-Rubbed Slow Roasted Sirloin.  This dish comes on a crouton, with steamed vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, and au jus dipping sauce.  However, I wanted the dish I had last time - the Sirloin Medley.  The Medley has sirloin on a crouton, but it has grape tomatoes, asparagus, spinach, and is topped with a garlicky-herb dressing.  It’s really good.  Now, why would a restaurant name two different dishes with such a similar name?  You might argue that they aren’t all that different, but if you want spinach and garlic sauce and not potatoes and au jus, it’s a huge difference.  So, we made sure the server wrote down the right one (Sirloin Medley) and he even checked with 3 people to make sure he was putting in the order for the correct dish.  What comes out?  Yup, the one with mashed potatoes.  He approached our table and before he even set it down I said, “That’s the wrong one.”  He took it back and came back with the same plate with tomatoes, asparagus, and the garlic dressing on top.  So, I had a combination of the two dishes, but without the spinach and with a lump of potatoes that neither of us ate.  To make up for this odd snafu, we got free ice cream with hot fudge sauce, which made us very full but it was good.  I think someone in the kitchen was confused because our receipt even said “Sirloin Medley” instead of “Herb Rubbed Sirloin”.

If you go to Outback and you want the good sirloin dish, make sure you order the one that says Medley (and it’s on the regular menu) and make sure your dish comes with grape tomatoes and a garlicky-herb dressing.  If it shows up with garlic mashed potatoes, it’s the wrong dish.

To Outback: Just because you add “Medley” to the end of one and “Herb-Rubbed” to the beginning of another dish title doesn’t mean your people will get it right.  I have no clear solution for you, as I’m not sure how I’d rename either dish, but perhaps you should have tested the dish names in-house for a while before releasing them to the public.  You know, like a quiz. 

“Bob, what’s on the Slow-Roasted Sirloin Medley?” 

“Uh, sirloin slices on a large crouton with, um, wait.  Is that the one with the mashed potatoes or the tomatoes and asparagus?  What’s the other one called?  Herb-Rubbed Slow-Roasted Sirloin?”

“Hmm… I see where you’re getting confused.  Perhaps we should work on this a little more.”

So, I was determined to find a picture of my new salad bowl, and I sort of succeeded.  Biggie at Lunch in a Box took an in-store picture to go with her extensive review.  You can see the salad bowl (oval) and the divided lunch container (rectangle), along with the kid’s lunchbox (that holds a drink), and a larger salad bowl (for picnics, maybe?)

I guess it’s worth noting that the salad bowl isn’t leak-proof.  I can see this being an issue with the lunch container, if you were packing foods with a sauce or something that could leak out.  But it’s not that big a deal (to me) with the salad bowl.  My undressed salads are pretty dry and there’s nothing to leak.  I put the dressing in the little cup and it stays put quite well.  I haven’t had it fall out of the cover.  The fork does sometimes fall out, even when I make sure it “clicked” into place.  The fork itself is sturdier than a typical plastic fork but, of course, not as sturdy as a metal one.  I haven’t measured the sauce cup, but it looks like it holds maybe 2-3 Tablespoons of liquid, which is more than enough to cover my salad.  I pour the dressing over the salad and then shake it all around (no dressing leaks through the cover, either) and any more dressing than that is actually too much for my tastes.

We have a fridge at work, so I don’t have to worry about keeping my salad (or any other food) cold.  I suppose if you didn’t have the luxury of a fridge you would need to find a lunch bag large enough to hold the bowl and an ice pack.

I don’t really have a need for a divided lunch container.  We usually package leftovers in one container (rice + meat/veg and/or sauce) to take for lunches and I find portioning it out into compartments is too much work.  But, I maintain that this salad bowl is the best design for taking salads and dressing to work in one convenient package.  Integrated dressing cups are a pain and often down work.  Having a separate, small container that locks in (and mine really does lock in nicely) is perfect.  It actually makes me want to eat salad, as odd as that sounds.

Never mind that an hour before lunch I was also thinking how tasty a steak burrito would be.

So, we’re going on this cruise to Alaska next week for our vacation.  I’m really looking forward to it, both because it’s a vacation and because it’s a cruise.  I love cruises and I’m glad that our Mexico cruise two years ago went so well (aside from an engine breaking and us missing Puerto Vallarta) because that means T won’t say no on future cruises.  I’m a big fan of unpacking my bags once, not worrying about where to eat, and definitely not being in charge of what time we’ll get to whatever place we’re headed.  My only responsibility is making sure we get back to the ship on time so it doesn’t leave us stranded.  And when we go on shore excursions booked through the cruise ship, they are responsible for returning us on time!  Yes, you pay more to book through them, but it’s worth my peace of mind.

Anyway, everyone knows that when you go on a cruise you are faced with multiple multi-course meals every day.  Plus a midnight snack and round-the-clock room service.  In preparation for this gluttony, I started taking salads to work.  Not only does this save money (I figure I spend $6 every time I go to the deli next door), but salads are good for you.  I actually don’t mind eating salads, as long as there’s a tasty dressing to drizzle over.  For a while, I would make salads with other tasty things: carrots, beets, cheese, hard-boiled egg, etc.  I would put dressing on the bottom of the container, put in the non-lettuce foods, add lettuce and then take it to work.  At lunchtime, I’d turn the whole thing upside down and shake.  Dressing and non-soggy lettuce, ta da!  But then I ran out of other things for my salads and I just never got around to buying more.  So I started relying on communal dressings in the work fridge.  But I got tired of them and then I started thinking of all the preservatives and then the expiration date and at one point I just ate my lettuce plain.  I remembered seeing salad bowls with built-in containers for dressing, so I actually bought one:

The idea is that you pour dressing into the container on top (which doesn’t unscrew from the lid, as far as I could tell) and pop the cover on.  Then you press down on the top, which pushes on a stick inside and pops the cover off (on the bottom, towards the salad inside).  The problem is that the cover doesn’t really stay on, so chances are that your salad will get doused with dressing before you’re ready.  Doesn’t really solve the soggy-lettuce problem, huh?  But, if you’re willing to overlook this minor design flaw, let me tell you that it is ridiculously hard to clean the little dressing container.  It doesn’t come off, it’s really hard to get inside, and… well, it’s lame.  Don’t buy it.  If you see it at Target or The Container Store, step away.  It’s not a good product.  I hear the one by Fit ‘n Fresh isn’t much better, either.

I kept thinking that someone should just make a salad bowl with a tiny dressing container that snaps into place.  Even my smallest plastic containers are just a bit too big for salad dressing, and who wants to keep track of a tiny container anyway?  I was actually at the point of wondering if perhaps I should invent such a container when I went shopping at Target.  And if I could find my salad bowl on Target’s website, I would totally show you a picture because it is a genius product.

If your Target is like mine, there is a seasonal aisle that gets filled with Christmas decorations, chocolate hearts, Easter candy, and Halloween costumes.  Apparently, my mom’s Target Greatland is not like this because we couldn’t find such an aisle.  But!  My Target had their aisle decked out in summer goodies, picnic totes, and lots of other cool stuff.  Next to picnic tablecloths, summery plastic cups, and horseshoe sets, I found this awesome shelf with lunchboxes, small divided plastic lunch containers, and my salad bowl.  So, because I don’t have a picture, I’m going to describe it to you:  It is a transparent, oval container with either a blue or pink lid.  There is a green plastic fork that snaps onto the lid, as well as a small, round, green “sauce” container that also snaps into place on the lid.  It is just perfect and exactly what I was looking for.  I bought two.

I also bought this pretty flatware caddy.  There are woven ones in bright colors, but I also found this stainless steel one for the same price.  When we have parties, I stick the plastic utensils in plastic cups and one (or all) of them inevitably gets knocked over.  Now I have a pretty container to hold the utensils AND napkins!  I love Target.  So, go check out your summer aisle before it’s all picked over!  you should have seen the tablecloth weights I managed not to buy (so cute!) and the floral placemats.

But don’t hold your breath on this becoming a regular feature.  I don’t do that.  I’m random and unpredictable, ha ha ha!

I love John Cusak.  Even when he makes bad movies, I still love him.  He has to be the ultimate 80’s crush.  Aside from Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street.  If you don’t know why this LOLcal (uh, squirrel) is funny, then I’m sorry, we can’t be friends anymore.

see more crazy cat pics

Also, can someone please tell me if I’m supposed to be on MySpace or Facebook?  Is Friendster just so totally gone (I mean, I don’t even remember my login)?  Why am I even on Facebook?  To find people I don’t talk to and won’t visit?  I don’t even understand Facebook… so many frames and boxes and links.  It also seems hard to find people by searching.  Maybe I’m doing it wrong. 

And, I guess while we’re referencing old stuff:

see more crazy cat pics

And this is just funny.  To me, anyway.

see more crazy cat pics

When I’m bored, I mill around Chowhound. I’ve gotten pretty good at not reading posts with titles that I know will annoy me. I now ignore them. Sometimes I get tricked and read a post only to discover that it’s a stupid question (yes, there are stupid questions AND stupid answers in this world) or completely unrelated to the title. These days, Chowhound is most useful to me for providing insight on new restaurants in the area. Of course, I don’t trust chowhound praise outright. No, typically I’ll see a few restaurants named and I’ll read about them and try and get an idea if the reviews are balanced enough to believe. I don’t trust gushing at all. Especially if it’s accompanied by PRAISE in CAPITAL LETTERS. So, I make a mental note of these places and then if I see it pop up on a couple local blogs it triggers a “hmm..” moment. At that point, I probably write it down somewhere and tell T that I want to try it. Or Cami. And then a few months go by before we ever get to where it is we’re craving. So, I’m totally not a trendsetter when it comes to new restaurants. Except for places in Poway, I guess.

My actual point, however, was to say that I don’t actively try to annoy myself with Chowhound. I feel like I’ve been on that site long enough for the vast number of topics to actually start repeating themselves. What to make for V-Day. What to cook to impress a first date. What to do with leftover ham. What’s your favorite cheese. OMG - Greek yogurt rocks. How long do I roast a chicken. Where to eat during Comicon. No car in SD - what food is bearable. And on and on.

What I don’t understand is what people think the site is for. I see questions pop up that make me wonder if they think they’re having live conversations*. Like, there’s a chicken burning in the oven and the dinner party starts in half an hour - what should they do? If I had a dinner party in half an hour and my food was burning, my first instinct would not be to consult a message board for an answer (and then wait for said answer to eventually appear). I would turn on the vent hood, stick the food outside, and either run to Costo for a roast chicken or make a frantic call to Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ. But, I also plan my dinner parties very carefully, so the chances of this happening to me are small. Also, for small get togethers, I don’t tell people what I’m cooking. For all they know, I was planning on having take-out all along!

Or someone will pull out chicken, a pepper, cheese, and couscous and ask what they can make for dinner that night. In half an hour. Do you really think people are sitting at their computer, constantly hitting “refresh” to see what last-minute disasters they can solve?

My latest favorites, however, involve broken appliances. My oven sometimes bursts into flames - should I worry? My refrigerator is leaking water - what should I do? Weird noises, odd smells, random flames, and puddled liquids are not questions for a message board. That’s when you start calling repair people. Some problems don’t get better the longer you wait to fix them (actually, I don’t know of any problems that do that). The concept boggles my mind.

But, just so I don’t end this post on a grumpy note, I will tell you about a cookie from Trader Joe’s (I know, surprise, surprise!) that I bought and didn’t like that later grew on me to the point where I took the bin to work so I didn’t eat them all. In one sitting. They are like Nilla Wafers, if Nilla Wafers were made with butter and vanilla beans. They’re called Ultimate Vanilla Wafers. They come in the plastic tubs, like the chocolate chip cookies that are also addictive. The cookies are crisp-soft. Not as hard as Nilla Wafers, but not as soft as a chewy cookie. You can definitely taste the butter, but sometimes you can also feel the vanilla bean seeds (some people don’t like that). It’s kind of nice to know that you could use a more natural cookie in place of Nilla Wafers (remember making mini cheesecakes with the wafer as the bottom crust?), but I also take comfort know Nilla Wafer are always on grocery store shelves. For all I know, the vanilla thins are “seasonal” and will disappear once summer is over. All in all, it’s a good butter cookie, with just a hint of vanilla.

* Some message boards really are like real-time chatting. I know friends who frequent boards like this and they form their own little odd community. This comes in handy if, say, your car is stolen and you need hundreds of eyes keeping a lookout until it’s spotted, at which point they band together, block said stolen car in until police arrive, and help you get your car back. I’m just saying.

I still love our Handi-Vac.  It’s been almost six months and I still love it.  I think we’re also finally getting to the point where we might need to replace the batteries.  I think that’s pretty good for this little vacuum sealer!  I’ve been reading on Chowhound that a lot of people are having trouble with their Handi-Vac bags.  They say some bags aren’t sealing properly and they’re getting discouraged with the Handi-Vac and dismissing it as a cheap gadget.  The last time I bought bags was probably a few months ago, so I have no idea if the “new” boxes have quality issues.  However, I sealed up some filets and corn and cheese just last week and my bags are still holding their seals just fine.  I’m wondering if people are trying to fill the Handi-Vac bags too much and that’s why they aren’t sealing well?  When you seal meats, you have to be very careful not to get meat juices near the “valve” or in the latticed part of the plastic.  Obviously, the bag can’t hold a seal if there’s liquid between the layers of plastic.  With dry food, you can’t fill a quart bag as full as you could with a regular zip-top plastic bag.  You need clearance space so the bag can seal properly.  It’s kind of a disadvantage, since a quart-sized bag doesn’t really hold a quart of food due to the sealing area, but you’re getting more time before the food goes bad, so perhaps it’s just a trade off.  Anyway, without knowing exactly how other people are using their bags I can’t really evaluate if their bags are defective or they’re just using them wrong.

The Reynolds website has a coupon up for the Handi-Vac.  You fill out their little form and then you can print a coupon from your computer.  It’s only a 55-cent coupon, but you can use it for the bags, too.  And if you take it to Vons or Ralphs, they’ll double it.  I think that makes a box of bags practically 50% off.  I’ve also seen the Handi-Vac wand on sale at the grocery store for about $8.  I don’t know if that’s because the product is not selling well and they’re trying to move it or if it’s just becoming more mainstream so the price naturally settles downward.  I hope it doesn’t get discontinued, because I’d have to go stock up on bags before they’re all gone and where would I store them?

In other news, I’m off to Vegas for a short trip.  T has been there for his hockey tournament (they tied their first game!) and by the time I get there they’ll either be done with games or headed to the playoffs.  They won the championship (in their division) last year, so I guess anything’s possible! 

I’m still here… I’m just really tired.  That’s so lame to admit, especially because I don’t have any good reason.  Maybe it’s because we didn’t really get to sleep in over the weekend.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been trying to get up earlier in the morning before work.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been slacking on exercising.  Maybe it’s because my brain is exhausted just thinking of everything we need to do before going on vacation next month.

Maybe I’m just tired.

We had a good weekend, though.  We met with two landscape contractors who should be working on a proposal or rough quote or something that would, I hope, help us figure out who to hire.  That is, of course, unless the cost to redo the backyard comes in ridiculously high.  I mean, the plans we have aren’t that grand, but it does require ripping everything out and starting from scratch, including a new irrigation system.  I think it we got it done the yard would look amazing, though.

We also ventured out to Earth Day in Balboa Park to wander among earth-friendly folk, people just looking for free samples, and a corridor composed of disgusting abortion pictures.  Is that really an effective way to get the message across?  Because it doesn’t really sway my mind one way or the other, I just think the pictures are unnecessary and graphic.

Because Earth Day always draws such a huge crowd, we took the opportunity to have brunch at Cafe Chloe and then ride our bikes from downtown to the Park.  It was a quick ride and much nicer than dealing with the lines of cars and terrible parking.  Plus, we had a lovely brunch with amazing coffee!  On the way back, we had lunch at Neighborhood Bar and, while my tuna salad was refreshing and good, T’s burger was out of this world.  It was like the cow knew it was going to become a burger so it worked really hard at becoming the best burger a cow could become.  Seriously, the burger didn’t even taste like a burger.  It was like a juicy, rich, decadent meaty sandwich on a soft roll.  Really good.

T leaves on Thursday for his Vegas hockey tournament.  I think it’s just a good excuse for all his buddies to get away for a good boys weekend without too much wifely nagging.  I’m going to fly out Friday night and then drive back with him.  The next week he goes off to D.C. for an ASCE meeting, throwing in a family visit and high school reunion in PA.  I wish I could go out with him for that trip, but I just don’t have the time to take off from work, especially since the next week we leave for our cruise to Alaska.  So busy.

Tonight was a meeting with our financial advisor where, if all goes as planned, reinvesting money from the condo sale should provide us a nice cushion in our old age.  Money for the deluxe RV and premium food for the RV-dog, and that’s not counting our retirement accounts.  At least, that’s what I hope will happen.  I do feel good about having money invested in different types of accounts.  Different income streams and all.

Tomorrow we do beer tasting to see how the home-brewed beer turned out.  I’ve had a headache for the last 3 days, so it would be nice if it went away by tomorrow.  I guess we’ll see.  Then, more meetings with the landscape people.

I’m off to bed.  My nice, comfy bed with the soft pillows.  A good night’s sleep would be pretty awesome.

]]> http://threedogkitchen.com/2008/04/22/so-tired/feed/ threedogkitchen http://threedogkitchen.com/2008/04/18/sonicare-10-coupon/ http://threedogkitchen.com/2008/04/18/sonicare-10-coupon/#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:28:35 +0000 threedogkitchen http://threedogkitchen.wordpress.com/?p=392

Because I am lazy, I am going to make you sign up for your own $10 coupon.  It’s supposed to be a Refer a Friend type of link, but what if you want a coupon and I don’t know who you are?  So, go here and fill in your information like you’re referring yourself and Sonicare will send you a $10 coupon for a toothbrush.

I’ve written about our Sonicare before, and even though ours was free (yay Bzzagent!) I really love the Flexcare toothbrush.  I was skeptical about really needing to change the brush head every 3 months, but I recently did put a new one on and it makes a noticeable difference.  So, I would say think about doing so every 3 months (more or less).  I haven’t seen the compact brush heads in the stores so I’ve been using the standard size head which seems to fit my small mouth just nicely.  I’m curious whether or not the compact head would fit even better…