Ca-Joh: November 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

Christmas is On The Air

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we start hearing all sorts of Christmas music all day long. In fact we even have a radio station that now plays Holiday music 24x7. This in itself is nice— but I find that many of the songs the station plays are repeats of the same song, but by different artists. They have only been doing this for about a week, but I'm already sick of many of the songs. All the same, there are a few songs that I never grow tired of:

Baby It's Cold Outside (Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone)
Christmas Time Is Here (Vince Guaraldi Trio)
Please Come Home for Christmas (Eagles)
The Holiday Season (Happy Holiday) (Andy Williams)

I'm sure there are others, I just thought I would show a few so you can contribute as well. How about you… what Christmas songs do you like? Are there any songs that you get tired of fast?

Friday, November 27, 2009

F2: Crudité Stir Fry

If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If you want to join in on the feast— be sure to leave a comment and include the URL to your post so I and others can know of your contribution. Also, if you want to see a particular topic— feel free to suggest it as well (I'm always looking for new inspirations).

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

Joanie M @ Joanie's Random Ramblings
A Thanksgiving feast to remember (or want to forget).
Stacy @ Stacy's Random Thoughts
Here's a dish designed to be reheated.
Carl Vine @ Carl Vine's 40th Parallel Universe
A "hot" tip on how NOT to cook your bird.

With inspirations from Mrs. Mackinac…

So often we have Crudité left over from Thanksgiving. Crudité (pronounced Crew-de-tay, not Crud-ight) is a fancy way of saying vegetable platter. Since the fresh cut vegetables go faster than the turkey meat, this is one that we tend to serve up first.

Crudité Stir Fry:: Peanut Oil; 1 Wok or Iron Skillet; Cut Vegetables
Carrots, Broccoli, Green Peppers, etc..; 1 t Corn Starch; 1/4 C Soy Sauce; Ginger

Pour enough peanut oil to cover the Wok or pan.
Heat the oil in the pan over high heat.
Add the vegetables.
You may want to add the firmer vegetables in first.
Mix the corn starch into the soy sauce in a separate dish.
Stir the corn starch/soy sauce mixture into the pan.
Grate the ginger into the pan.If you don't have fresh ginger, you can use a dash or two of ground ginger.
Enjoy with cooked rice.

Since Christmas is just around the corner, I thought I would dedicate the entire month of December to it. Here are some possible topics that can whet your appetite:

Do you have any special meals that you make for Christmas?
Are there any food items that you only get around Christmas?
What is fruitcake anyway?
You can't have Christmas without cookies…

So… if you have anything that relates to this topic, be sure to leave a comment and include the URL so I can include you in the next weeks feast. Even if you have already posted on this topic in the past— your links are always welcome.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Guitar Hero Much?

A few weeks back my wife and I were visiting my parents. On the way home, we decided to stop at the oasis to pick up some car snacks and other things. The oasis that we visit spans the highway so that you can visit it from either direction.

After I got the car snacks, I did not see my wife right away. I looked over to the center of the oasis and saw my wife watching the traffic pass under the oasis. Just as I was in ear shot, I heard her singing twangs at odd intervals. When I got next to her I figured out what she was doing.

She was playing Guitar Hero with the passing cars. As each car passed under the overpass, she would sing a different pitch much like you would if you were playing a bass guitar. There are three lanes each of which were assigned a different pitch. Each car travels at a different speed which makes playing Guitar Hero this way a bit more challenging. As each car passes under the overpass you would sing the pitch. We stood there both playing Guitar Hero for the next five minutes or so, then proceeded to get into our car and go home.

So if you are traveling by car this weekend… stop at the nearest oasis and give "Guitar Hero—Oasis Addition" a try.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Where do you go for Thanksgiving?

Are you the kind of person who visits all of your relatives for Thanksgiving? Are you the person who makes the meal for Turkey Day?

I am currently over at In the Real World, Venus vs. Mars today talking about how we are Splitting the Holidays. Please stop by and join in on the festivities.

Friday, November 20, 2009

F2: Fresh or Frozen

Welcome again to Friday's Feast. Today I'll be telling the story about when I got a fresh turkey.

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

Stacy @ Stacy's Random Thoughts
Want some dressing to go with that turkey…
Stacy @ Stacy's Random Thoughts
Yummy Turkey Gravy…

Most years we like to get a fresh turkey from our local butcher. We stop by and order the turkey a few weeks ahead of time and pick it up sometime before Thanksgiving. This is good because we do not have to wait to thaw out the turkey and have more room in the refrigerator for other things. Two years ago, we thought that we could pick up the turkey on the Sunday that we were having our children over— boy were we wrong.

When we ordered the turkey from the butcher, we asked when they came in and they indicated that they come in on Sunday. We think, "Great… we don't have to worry about having a turkey in the oven, we will just have to pick it up." Sunday rolls around and I walk over to the butcher only to find that no-body's there.

My wife gave me her cell phone (just in case) and it looks like that case just happened. I called the number on the business card and left a message wondering where he was and to call back. When he did, I found out that they got the turkeys in early and he went home after he was done putting them away. Unfortunately the butcher does not live near the butcher shop, so we had to scramble.

Fortunately there were some unfrozen turkeys at the grocery store that we quickly bought and made for that day's festivities.

Note to self… When ordering a turkey for pick-up— make sure that they are open when you want the turkey.

How about you… do you order a fresh turkey? Can you tell the difference between a fresh one and a frozen one— or does it not matter.

Even though Thanksgiving is Thursday, I have decided to still use Thanksgiving as the theme for next week:

Do you "Talk Turkey"— or talk to your turkey?
Who does Thanksgiving in your family— are you the host, or the guest?
What craziness ensues when the family comes to visit?
Are you traditional with your dishes, or are you experimental?
Do you have any family recipes handed down for generations at your table?
What do you do with all those leftovers?

So grab a turkey leg, pull up a chair and link up. Even if you are Canadian and have celebrated earlier this year— or have a post from last year's festivities your links are always welcome.

Monday, November 16, 2009

On Comments…

I have found after reading other people's comments— as well as commenting myself that there are several different types of comments that you find:

Authoritative Comments…: Sometimes I find that I leave comments that tend to sound like I know what I'm talking about. I know that I am no expert on everything, but I do have a way of sounding so. If I leave a comment and appear to sound like I'm a know-it-all… please forgive me. I tend to blame it on having to write in a professional, concise manner at work.
Banter Comments…: I see a lot of these kinds of comments in Facebook and Twitter. These are the ones that you tend to leave that are supposed to bring out a chuckle. It's friendly banter that is passed back to the reader, often after they post something witty and/or funny.
Compassionate Comments…: Sometimes people confess to things, or tell of a tragic tale in their posts. So often we want to be able to offer some form of assistance to the writer so that they know that they are not alone. I have been told that I have a lot of compassion in my comments to others. I try to offer any kind of helpful and supportive words which will help build confidence in the writer. So often we are exposing ourselves to public scrutiny by posting our thoughts and our feelings. We do not want to feel that we have said these things in vain, nor do we want to be ridiculed for being brave enough to post.
Dutiful Comments…: Many times people feel obligated to comment back if you commented first. Some people consider this a type of empty comment, but I feel that it is a way of letting the person who commented first know that you read their comment and are willing to comment back.
Empty Comments…: I hear a lot of people complain about empty comments. These are the ones that tend to not have much thought behind them. They may not even make much sense and not tie very well to the original post. To me a comment is welcome no matter how much thought goes behind it. It just proves that you are there and are willing to say so.
Feedback Comments…: Sometimes someone writes something that is very well written and you want to give your feedback as to how you interpreted their writing. I find this to be very helpful especially when the post is a story or poem.
Group Comments…: I have seen others comment back to the comments that others have left. I myself have tried this because it offers a way to dialog about the post. Many times I write directly to the person who commented, but sometimes they do not have a return address so I have to add a comment to the thread of comments already given.

This is by no means an exhaustive list— I am sure there are other types and would welcome any additional ones you happen to have encountered. It does seem odd to have to comment on commenting, but that is what commenting is all about.

I tend to view comments a lot like telling jokes. So often you hear a joke that reminds you of a joke you know and you want to tell it. So often I find a post that reminds me of something that I myself have experienced and I want to share my thoughts about it. Many times a comment leads me to another post because they offer an opinion or perspective that I had not thought of before.

What about you… How do you comment? Do you feel like you tend to comment in a particular way? Do you find that comments help you in your writing?

Friday, November 13, 2009

F2: Talking Turkey

Welcome again to Friday's Feast. Today I'll be talking about talking to your turkey. If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If you want to join in on the feast— be sure to leave a comment and include the URL to your post so I and others can know of your contribution. Also, if you want to see a particular topic— feel free to suggest it as well (I'm always looking for new inspirations).

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

Blogging Mama Andrea @ Blogging Mama
What to do if you don't like pumpkins.
Stacy @ Stacy's Random Thoughts
Ways to get your bird drunk…?
m²I @ Ca-Joh
Pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Turkey from last year.
Stacy @ Stacy's Random Thoughts
Something to stuff your bird with… or not.

Whenever we prepare our turkey for thanksgiving my wife and I typically go through an interesting ritual. In order to make the experience of preparing the bird more palpable, we tend to humanize (or is that turkeyize) the bird. If you are borderline vegetarian— this may put you over the edge, so be forwarned.

Give the bird a bath…: We take the bird out of the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. "Hi Mr. Turkey" we say to the bird… "are you ready for your bath?" After removing the giblets, we place the bird in a colander and proceed to wash the outsides as well as the insides of the bird.
Remove the pin feathers…: "Oh Mr. Turkey— you seem to have some whiskers, let us shave them for you." This is where my wife shines. She can spot a pin feather a mile away and proceeds to pluck them with a pair of tweezers.
Salt the inside cavity…: I don't think we say anything when we salt the insides, but if we did we could say: "Let's get your insides cleaned up nicely so you're ready for some stuffing."
Truss the bird…: After we stuff the chicken, we say: "There Mr. Turkey, you're almost ready to go. Let's get you ready for your sauna."
Butter the bird…: "Let's give you a nice butter massage to smooth out those muscles." We then proceed to butter the outside of the turkey and place it in the roasting pan.
Serving the bird…: No, this is not giving the finger, but rather what we say when we take the turkey out of the oven: "Welcome Mr. Turkey. Did you have a nice sauna? Thank you for being such a great Turkey and making our Thanksgiving great."

You have to realize that Mr. Turkey sacrificed his life for us so that we can enjoy eating turkey for Thanksgiving. They are self serving creatures that do not mind the service that they provide. Giving them that extra dignity makes their sacrifice more noble

Given that this month is Thanksgiving for our family, I have decided to have Thanksgiving be the theme for the entire month of November.

Do you "Talk Turkey"— or talk to your turkey?
Who does Thanksgiving in your family— are you the host, or the guest?
What craziness ensues when the family comes to visit?
Are you traditional with your dishes, or are you experimental?
Do you have any family recipes handed down for generations at your table?
What do you do with all those leftovers?

So grab a turkey leg, pull up a chair and link up. Even if you are Canadian and have celebrated earlier this year— or have a post from last year's festivities your links are always welcome.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

RTT: Nothing in particular

My apologies for getting the Smith's song How Soon Is Now? in your head. I have had a lot of bits and pieces lately that don't really add up. So I decided to do a random Tuesday's Thoughts today:

It's a Dog Eat Dog world…: Our dog got bit on the back by a Great Dane a week ago Sunday. I was not there when it happened, but it did shake up my wife quite a bit. We took the dog to the Pet ER and had them take a look at it. After he was shaved on his back you could tell just where the other dog had his teeth sunk in. Fortunately there were no puncture wounds and it was mostly a big bruise. As of yesterday he is more himself despite the big shaved area on his back.
When is a couch not a couch…: … when it's SOFA. My wife and I went to SOFA on Saturday. SOFA stands for "Sculpture Objects and Functional Art". It is an expo where all sorts of artists and galleries show their art for people to see and/or purchase. My wife won two tickets through the Public Radio Station, so we didn't have to fork out the $15 a piece just to walk around. I did notice that there was a lot less booths there this year as in years past (my guess is that it's due to the economy).
Searching for Turkey…: If many of you are here for the first time, I am doing a Thanksgiving Theme the entire month of November. I am hoping that many of you have Thanksgiving related posts that you would like to share to keep the festivities going. If you do, go here so I can include you in the festivities.

If you want more more more… just head over to Keely's place at The Un Mom to see some other Random Thoughts.

Friday, November 6, 2009

F2: Packed Pumpkin

Welcome again to Friday's Feast. Today I'll be talking about making your own packed pumpkin from scratch. If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If you want to join in on the feast— be sure to leave a comment and include the URL to your post so I and others can know of your contribution. Also, if you want to see a particular topic— feel free to suggest it as well (I'm always looking for new inspirations).

Participants in this weeks Feast are as follows:

m²I @ Ca-Joh
When pumpkins go bad.
m²I @ Ca-Joh
Last year's festivities.

With inspirations from m²I…

How often do you go to the store only to find that they ran out of canned pumpkin. Fear not, because making your own packed pumpkin is really easy.

Note: Please do not use those pumpkins that you just carved for Halloween and have left out on the porch for the past week as they are probably not the right kind and probably are too rotten to use.

Packed Pumpkin:: 1 Small Pumpkin; Water

Pick out the right pumpkin.
When picking out a pumpkin, you need to keep in mind that those large ones you carve for Halloween are not the correct size to use.

Pie Pumpkin with an apple for comparison.
One thing to look for is deep grooves in the skin which makes the Pumpkin sweeter than ones that have a smooth skin.
Slice the pumpkin in half then remove the seeds.
Contrary to what some may believe, it is not the insides that packed pumpkin is made of.
Peel the pumpkin with a potato peeler.
Dice the pumkin rhind into small chunks.
Place the chunks into a medium sauce pan and boil until soft.
Drain and mash with a potato masher, or whip in a food processor.

If you are planning on making pie, I would suggest letting the packed pumpkin cool first as it may curdle the eggs you use in the recipe. Usually one pumpkin makes two pies. You should be able to make this well ahead of time and store in an air tight container for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

Given that this month is Thanksgiving for our family, I have decided to have Thanksgiving be the theme for the entire month of November.

Do you "Talk Turkey"— or talk to your turkey?
Who does Thanksgiving in your family— are you the host, or the guest?
What craziness ensues when the family comes to visit?
Are you traditional with your dishes, or are you experimental?
Do you have any family recipes handed down for generations at your table?
What do you do with all those leftovers?

So grab a turkey leg, pull up a chair and link up. Even if you are Canadian and have celebrated earlier this year— or have a post from last year's festivities your links are always welcome.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Writer's Workshop: Just call me Murphy

In honor of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop I have decided to take on Prompt #2.
Tell me your most humorous wedding experience…

As it's been over ten years since I got married, one would think that all of the memories from the day would be completely wiped from my mind. I will try my best to recall some of the humorous moments from my wedding day. I cannot guarantee that it is completely accurate (I tend to blame that on the Aliens who use my memories for entertainment purposes) but is is quite funny all the same.

Being that I was over thirty when I got married, most of the wedding plans were left up to my wife and I. We did a pretty good job booking the venue and getting everything lined up— but sometimes the best laid plans go to waste.

My wife and I had a great spread arranged for the wedding. Considering that we have several dietary requirements including Kosher, Vegetarian, and Heart Healthy— we were able to pick out a menu that covered all the bases. About two weeks before the wedding we get a call from the hotel indicating that the menu was going to change. When we called about the menu change we were told that the wedding coordinator was fired for promising things they could not deliver. After much negotiations we knocked off some of the extras so that we could still have the menu we wanted even though it was not part of the package the hotel offered. That should have been my first hint of things to come.

You could say that the wedding itself was a success because many of the things that always seem to happen did as can be attested by my previous post: That happened at my wedding too… but this is not the entire story.

One would think that it is the responsibility of the Maid of Honor and the Best Man to take care of the bride and groom during the wedding and reception. I tend to blame it on my wanting everything to go as planned, than letting go and having someone else handle things. During the reception I must have looked more like the nervous mother than the groom running around in a panic most of the time. And who could blame me— things were falling apart left and right (literally)…

I don't know how it happened, but the dance floor was coming apart. The dance floor was a series of raised square boxes that were put together to make a dance floor. Somehow the squares were not together at the seams— and we were worried that someone would get hurt while dancing. Rather than stopping the festivities and scramble to find someone to fix the dance floor— we all decided to try and fix it ourselves. If you didn't know better you would have thought that it was a new dance craze with everybody jumping in the same direction in short strong hops— but in actuality we were trying to scoot the dance floor together.

And it didn't stop after the day was over. I lost my wedding band overnight. And to "top it off" (pun intended)— we found ourselves scouring the kitchen the next day only to find out that they served our cake topper. OK… I'll blame my sister on that one for making such a great tasting cake that everybody was asking for seconds— but that doesn't give the wait staff the excuse to break into the topper (shame on them).

Looking back on the day I just have to laugh because no matter how many things went wrong, it still turned out right. I married the woman I loved and in style. If it went without a hitch I do not think I would remember the day— it would just be one giant blurr.

So how about you… Do you have any funny wedding stories? If so, head over to Mama Kat's and tell all.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

I have been Awardified

I am stealing the term "Awardified" from my good friend Heinous who originally coined the phrase. So with out any further adieu, I would like to thank Eternal Lizdom with the honor of awarding me the Over The Top award:

Here are the rules:

Thank the person who gave it to you.
Answer the questions below using only 1 word answers.
Pass it on to six other bloggers that you think are also "Over The Top!"

Some of these are just downright strange— but I tried to answer them as best I can. If you want an explanation of an answer… just ask and I'll be sure to comment. Here we go…

Where is your cell phone? Nowhere.
Your hair? Thinning.
Your mother? Sarcastic.
Your father? Intelligent.
Your favorite food? Ranch.
Your dream last night? Movie.
Your favorite drink? Martini.
Your dream/goal? Communicator.
What room are you in? Living-room.
Your hobby? Writing.
Your fear? Overlooked.
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Known.
Where were you last night? Church.
Something you aren’t? Fake.
Muffins? Please.
Wish list item? TV.
Where did you grow up? Illinois.
Last thing you did? Post.
What are you wearing? Wool.
Your TV? Old.
Your pets? Injured.
Your friends? Priceless.
Your life? Wonderment.
Your mood? Hesitant.
Missing someone? No.
Vehicle? Costly.
Something you’re not wearing? Stilettos.
Your favorite store? Restoration.
Your favorite color? Burgundy.
When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday.
Last time you cried? Sunday.
Your best friend? Wife.
One place that I go over and over? Breakfast.
One person who emails me regularly? Coworkers.
Favorite place to eat? Depends.

As for my six others who get this award from me— I have chosen to go "North of the Border" and pick six Canadian bloggers. Some of these I have known for a long time— while others I have recently discovered and consider all of them "diamonds in the rough" well worth looking at:

If you have not visited these— please do so and send them some warm comment love (I hear it gets cold up there in Canada).

Monday, November 2, 2009

Bad Burner

I don't know how many of you use Feedburner. I rather like the fact that there is a service that can deliver your post via e-mail to those who do not have a reader. I also like the fact that this service is now a part of the Google suite of services.

One aspect of Feedburner is something called FeedFlair. This allows you to add additional functionality to your feed that gives the subscriber a way of interacting with the feed. The one I like the best is Comment Count which gives the subscriber a link to go directly to the comments section of the blog without having to load the page first.

What I have noticed is that ever since September 29th, the link has disappeared from my feed. I noticed this one time before and somehow it fixed itself. I have been looking at other people's blogs that incorporate FeedFlair and I do not see comments there either. This could be because they did not check the option in Feedburner. So if you use Feedburner and have Comment Count turned on, check your feed to see if comments appears as a link in your feed.

I can safely say that I did not change anything either in my blog's layout, or in Feedburner between when it was working and when it wasn't. I am hoping that it is something that the Google-Gods can fix because I do not want those who subscribe to my posts via. E-mail to not able to comment if they want.