Category Archives: Food

Free Sierra Mist Guy

There’s this ***Pizza Hut|http://www.pizzahut.com/*** delivery guy who’s handled our deliveries for the past four or five orders we have placed. Almost every time, he has brought along a free one liter bottle of ***Sierra Mist|http://www.sierramist.com/***, even though we didn’t ask for it. We’re fine with it, since we both like Sierra Mist. Nonetheless, I wonder. What is the deal with that? Do they just have a lot of extra Sierra Mist? He’s probably one of the most put-together and professional looking delivery men I’ve ever encountered, so I don’t know if he’s some sort of upper-level deliveryman, or did he steal it somewhere, or is it ‘bad’ Sierra Mist, or what? A couple of times he was late, and I thought it was as an apology for being late, but there have been several times where he was right on time, and he just said “Here’s a Sierra Mist for you, on the house.”

Fine, fine. I’ll just try to enjoy the free drink without any angst.

Turkey Take Two

Last year, ***Will|http://pulchersentio.prwdot.org/*** ***lamented|http://pulchersentio.prwdot.org/001488.html*** the turkey leftover phenomenon. I’m assuming that it won’t be a problem for him this year, living in Japan and all. Is there an equivalent leftover phenomenon in Japan?

In any case, after this year’s Thanksgiving celebration in South Boston, we were presented with a portion of the leftover turkey. Becky made use of it tonight in the form of Mexican Turkey Casserole:

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MEXICAN TURKEY CASSEROLE
 2 c. chopped cooked turkey
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. milk
1/4 c. diced green chilies
2 c. crushed tortilla chips
1/4 c. sliced green onion
1 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
Paprika for garnish

In a 1 quart bowl, combine turkey, soup, milk and chilies. Microwave on full power for 4 minutes, or until hot throughout. Sprinkle 1/3 of tortilla chips on bottom of 2 quart casserole. Pour in half of turkey mixture; sprinkle on half of onion and half of each cheese. Layer another 1/3 of the chips, remaining turkey mixture, onion and cheese. Top with remaining chips. If desired, sprinkle with paprika over chips for added color. Cover and microwave at full power 5 minutes. Turn 1/4 round and microwave 5 minutes longer. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. NOTE: It can also be baked in regular oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Good with rice and green beans.

NOTE: If you prefer a relatively mild flavor, be sure to use mild green chilies. This casserole has an excellent flavor and is not “hot”.

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It was quite good. And there’s still plenty of turkey left over. w00t.

(Speaking of yesterday’s celebrations, there are some ***photos|http://gallery.prwdot.org/thanksgiving_2004_pt1*** from Corey’s breakfast birthday party, and for family members, there are photos from the Southie celebration available in the Family gallery – let me know if you need access.)

The Spice Of Life

Never mind the MSG, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, or the rest of the laundry list of ingredients… I think it’s the “spices” that make Chex Mix Stop and Shop Brand Original Squares Mix taste so great. Yum.

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Lunches everywhere….beware!

There is a lunch thief on the loose and roaming Cambridge Street in Boston. I kid you not, people!

Today at work my, much anticipated (mexican leftovers) lunch was boldly stolen from my museum desk! Granted, it wasn’t hidden or in a locker or anything, but it was tucked underneath the admin desk, out of plain sight. ARG. I think it was a kid from the school group that was there today, but it may have been accidental. I hope it was accidental.

I was really distraught. Perhaps overly distraught. I couldn’t believe that someone would actually take my lunch…and the green cloth bag it lives in…and the ice pack that kept it cool. WHY, WHY, WHY? What kind of person would do such a thing? My knickers are all in a twist just thinking about it again!

And I liked the lunch bag. It was my brother’s in middle school and I kind of inhereted it somehow. It was just the right size, with a velcro closure and the name LOWE written on it in permanent marker. Thief, unless your name is Lowe you have a huge problem!

So, I’m sad. I had to have a crummy Dunkin Donuts bagel lunch and it put me in a bad mood. I may be over it now, but maybe not.

WHAT KIND OF A PERSON STEALS ANOTHER’S LUNCH?!?

I only hope that that person was truely in need of a lunch. If they were more hungry than me and couldn’t afford to get their own lunch then I guess it’s better that they have mine.

Dueling Dunkin Donuts

A while back I had mentioned the case of Dunkin Domination here in Beverly – eight dunkin donuts within 2.5 square miles of land.

This weekend, Becky and I had the occasion to drive around the Route 60 rotary in Revere for the first time in a while. We discovered that there were now two Dunkin Donuts on the rotary, immediately across the street from each other, as shown by “DD1″ and DD2” in this diagram:

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Dueling Dunkin Donuts|ppp

So, whether you’re entering the rotary or leaving the rotary, there’s a DD to satisfy your cravings. And there’s probably another one down the road if you missed one of those. And another one in case you get lost. And another one in case you take the wrong exit. And another… and another…

Stupid Selects

How about a nice tasty pack of “I hate those stupid commercials!” Though McDonald’s Chicken Selects do look sort of tasty, the people in those commercials certainly don’t make me want to be associated with them. Will they turn me into the office dolt if I eat them – guarding my Chicken Selects with fervor, and uttering such phrases as “Step slowly away from the deliciousness?”

Would I think differently if it was an ad for Taco Bell? Well… maybe. Probably. Yes. There’s little Taco Bell could do that would discourage me from eating there.

Apologies to our readers from outside of McUSA.

Arr, Shipwreck!

On Saturday, Becky and I had Jeremy and Angela over for dinner. We haven’t seen too much of them recently, since Jeremy has been working crazy hours for Back-to-School season at Staples, so it was good to hang out, talk, and catch up.

Since Becky was at work for most of the day, I was in charge of preparing a meal for dinner. I’ll freely admit that Becky has a much greater knack for cooking than I, so she is usually the one to prepare our meals. But, I was determined to cook something yummy, so I turned to the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook. Crock pot recipes are great, of course, since you just prepare the ingredients, put them in, set the timer, and “Forget it”. Yep.

The recipe I selected was called “Shipwreck”. To be quite honest, I selected it mostly because the name sounded interesting. 🙂 We had most of the ingredients, and I went out and got the others that we didn’t have. I put it all together as directed, and when I served it later that night, the consensus was “Yum!” I have to say that it didn’t look so appealing, but after we tasted it, it was quickly consumed.

Anyway, here is the recipe, along with some notes from me:

qqq|Shipwreck

Makes 8 servings We got 6, but probably because I used fewer potatoes

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef, browned
4-5 potatoes, cut in French-fry-like strips I only used three potatoes here, 4-5 just seemed like too much. But you could probably use more. Some sort of potato-slicing device would probably make this easier.
1-2 onions, chopped
16-oz. can light red kidney beans, drained
1/4 lb. Velveeta cheese, cubed Next time I’ll probably use more cheese.
10 3/4-oz. can tomato soup
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
butter

1. Layer in slow cooker in this order: ground beef, potatoes, onions, kidney beans, and cheese.
2. Pour soup over top.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Dot with butter.
5. Cover.
6. Cook on Low 6-8 hours.
7. Serve to hungry and delighted guests!|qqq

All in all, it was a successful first attempt at crock pot cookery for yours truly!

Holiday Revels

We headed out to Townsend yesterday for the Lee family’s annual Labor Day Pool Party/Cook Out. The weather, surprising, turned out quite nicely. Warm sun, warmish pool, and cool air in the evening made for a very pleasant day. It was great to see people that we haven’t seen in several months or even since last year’s party! A special note…Congratulations to Zach and Andrea on thier upcoming nuptials!! The photos are ***online|http://gallery.prwdot.org/labor_day_04***, and you can also check out some of ***last year’s photos|http://gallery.prwdot.org/labor_day_03?page=3***.

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(Those pics were carried over from Peter’s post, which has been deleted since it was pretty much the same thing Becky posted about – our first ever blogging collision!)

In addition to the fantastic company there was some very yummy food. Geoff and Deanna brought a dip made from peanut butter and fluff and I’m not sure what else. We dipped graham crackers and chocolate in it…YUMM! I’m going to have to get the recipe. I made cheese balls wiith Wheat Thins crackers. I thought they turned out pretty well. The recipe is as follows 🙂

qqq|Pineapple Cheese Balls

2 pkgs of Neufachatel Cream Cheese
1 8oz can of Crushed Pineapple (drained)
1/4 cup chopped Green Pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 Teaspon of Seasoned Salt
2ish cups of Chopped nuts

Cream the Cream Cheese until soft and mix in the pineapple. Mix, mix, mix… and then add the peppers, onions, salt and 1 cup of the chopped nuts. Chill. Form the mixture in to two balls and roll in remaining nuts. Chill until serving (you may want to bring it to room temp before setting out)

Serve with crackers or sliced veggies. Enjoy!|qqq

yummy, sugary goodness

I had to work today 🙁 Because I can park for free at work on Sundays I decided to drive into the city instead of taking the T. This turned out to be a fantastic decision, because it brought me dangerously close to the brand new Krispy Kreme store in Saugus.

Needless to say, I couldn’t just drive by. So I pulled in, got in line, and was fascinated by the donut making machinery. Yup, me and the 6years olds had our faces glued to the window watching.

I was all ready to pay for my one donut when the girls working the line offered me a free one, hot, and just off the glazer. yum, yum, yum.

Now, I don’t think I’d want a Krispy Kreme donut every day, but it sure was good!