LadyLee in the Kitchen!

If you know me, then you know I have my pet peeves.

One of them is that I cannot STAND spending all day in the kitchen.

And I'm not even talking about a hot kitchen, with the oven on high and the pots boiling over on the stove. Nerp. I'm talking about just not liking to spend too much time in the kitchen.

But then there are those times I don't mind. Like when I make my red pepper ketchup.

And to tell the truth, it isn't all day. Maybe a couple of hours.

And that feels like all day.

But I LOVE this ketchup. I first had it at the Watershed some 4 years ago. It came as a condiment with the fried oyster appetizer. I remember saying to the waitress? "Red pepper ketchup? What the world? Bring me a side of tartar sauce with my oysters."

She said I would really enjoy it. And she was right! It is indeed a surpising taste.

So I bought the chefs cookbook, and lo and behold, I saw it in there.

I didn't know you could make ketchup out of any veggie, fruit or nut. I just always thought ketchup was tomato ketchup. So I made it 4 years ago, and I make it now, like, every 2 years.

It's not that hard. It is more a matter of getting all the chopping of the vegetables done. WOW!





I needed 9 cups of red bell peppers, and 5 cups of onions. All chopped.

O_O

That was the worst part. Let's just say, I turned on the TV in the living room, hoping to find a good Lifetime Movie. LOL. Nope, I watched a couple of shows on ESPN. That was all that was on good on Sunday morning before Church.

I also had to sterilize my Mason jars.


I boiled those, along with my tongs for gripping them, for a good hour. Not sure I did that right. But I took all the lids and jars out and let them dry on a paper towel.

(That was painstaking. Had to be careful not to touch nothing.)

I threw all my peppers in a skillet, but the skillet was much too small.

That is my favorite skillet, though. It is 20 years old. First skillet I bought for my new place when I was in grad school. That's an ollllldddd skillet.

But I couldn't use it. Had to bring out a dutch boiler (I think that's what it is called).

In addition to the chopped red bell peppers and onions, I also had to finely chope some ginger and garlic (UGH! That took forever). There were also a TON of spices to measure out. Cumin, coriander, cinnamon, salt, pepper, nutmeg, paprika, and some more I can't even remember).

I added all of those to the pot with a half cup of water, and simmered it for about half an hour, while sitting there stirring and tossing it with tongs.



After the peppers and onions softened up, I added it all to a blender and pureed it.



First time I did that, it wasn't cute. Adding hot stuff to a blender... man, I don't even want to talk about it. Let's just say an Oldgirl is much more careful these days. LOL

I added brown sugar and apple cider vinegar, 2 cups each, and let that simmer for about an hour and a half. I carefully poured everything into my cooled jars, and capped them off.





Not sure how much that came out to be. Looks like with all those doggone peppers I cut up, I should have more than that! But once it cooks down and reduces some of the water out, I guess that is all I get. But that is cool.

The top bigger jar is an old jar I used last time, and that alone lasted 2 years in the fridge. I plan to give the others as gifts. I want to leave one on the shelf, just to see if I did the sterilizing process correctly. I wish I could find an older lady from the Celie Color Purple era that understood all this canning stuff. It seems to have become a lost art. Sigh.

I gave a jar to one of my coworkers, who likes to bring me in GREAT meals to try.
I didn't tell her what it is... I just told her it was... ketchup.

LOL.

But it has a different taste. And used all organic veggies, which makes it EXTRA good. I love it with my french fries, and with seafood, on the rare occasions I eat that.

But it is good stuff. I am trying to summon up the courage to try different veggies and fruits... like mangos. I bet THAT would be good.

If only I didn't mind being in the kitchen for so long... No telling what I could do!

But that was my adventure for the weekend! Spending 3 or 4 hours around the kitchen!

I hope you are having kitchen adventures this holiday season too!

Friday Freestyles: The Angry Cat Edition

Look at this beautiful glass staircase.

No, look at the CAT on this beautiful glass staircase.


modern staircase design by san francisco architect Zackde Vito Architecture [DesignBuild], AIA


That is a beautiful staircase. But I am looking at the cat.

Angry-eyed. Mouth downturned.

Such an angry cat. Much more surly than Oscar-Tyrone. Much more.

He has that look that whispers "I DARE YOU to say something to me. I DARE YOU."

Describes my mood. I've been looking like that angry cat right there.

Oh well. Glad it is Friday. And I have a three day workweek next week.

WHY did I not take the full 2 weeks off for Christmas? O_o

And You know, I actually would not have minded working this Christmas, seeing that me and my sister Kentucky are not going on a vacation for Christmas.

Sidenote: Kentucky is a PUNK. I think she trying to vacation for $100. You need at least a grand to do what you gotta do, and do it right. I think she wants to go one county over to Decatur or something. She must wanna take a trip to Stone Mountain Park. Humph.

Anyway, this means I can freely work... But I got caught looking CRAZY last year, because I was working and everybody was off. Looking CRAZY.

I was looking like that cat for real last year: steely eyed. Angry. Mouth downturned.

Not this year, babes. I am OFF. 3 day workweek this week coming up.

And next Wednesday cannot get here fast enough. I will not be coming in at 10 in the morning. I will get here at 5:30 in the morning so I can get the heck out of dodge.

But alas, as of now, I will work hard. And I am glad for the upcoming weekend.

CowgirlCre is not at work today. I have no one to talk to. So I went to the other building and harrassed the cheese out of my former secretary. She is still giving me the hard eyeroll after I snatched a bag of open chips off her desk and started munching on them.

(Yes, I was that bored).

I got in trouble this week. With a coworker. Let's just say I'm being talked about. "Certain people"don't like my attitude. I use to be such a nice person. Whatever. I ain't apologizing for not being a gossiper or backbiter. If that is what it takes for me to be accepted then throw me out the window, babes. If that is what it takes for me to be considered a nice person, well, I'll just be considered bad. That is fine. But I don't accept that. Why? Cuz of this:

Quote of the Week: "It ain't what others think of you, it's what you think of yourself that truly matters."

*Spray painting that in red blood bright red paint on my cubicle wall*

You know what I think of myself? LadyLee is nice! LadyLee brings joy! LadyLee is a blessing! LadyLee is a help to those in need! LadyLee is a source of encouragement! LadyLee is your friendly neighborhood Original Oldgirl!

Yes indeed!

Okay, that's the lane I'm driving in. Anything else and I am looking at you like that angry cat is looking at you in the picture above. Do not waste my time and space with craziness.

A coworker bought some lunch in for me today. She had been speaking with me about the whole vegetarian thing a few months ago. And even though I am bootleg about it, she says I was her main source of encouragement in trying it out.

(O_o)

Her and her husband made a change a few months ago.

This chick... man, she does all kinds of research on their meals and what-not (Uh, I am bootleg. I will sautee veggies and keep it moving these days)... but she brings me the most WONDERFUL lunches -stews and soups, stuff with pumpkin and chickpeas in it. And it be GOOD-T!!

WOW. I am thankful for that.

That was the highlight of my week. Such kindness drowns out the tomfoolery.

Alas, I won't be looking like the Angry cat this weekend!

You all have a fine fine weekend!

On purpose!

Saturday. The "Special" Edition.

I want to talk about Saturday.

Yeah, yeah, I am just now posting about my Saturday.

Saturday was GREAT! I went and hung out with my Play Mama Adrienne, one state over. She lives one state over from me, you see...

She lives a stone's throw away!

Her city parade was last Saturday.

A couple of weeks ago, she was telling me about it, and I hollered "Hey, I wanna come down there! I wanna go!"

She said cool.

Okay, parade starts around 11:00. That is cool. Means I could leave the ATL around 9 and make it that way.

But uh... her child was in the parade. And had to be on sight at 8:30. And the roads close at 9.

O_O

This meant that I had to be there by at least 8. Which meant I needed to leave the ATL around 6 in the morning.

O_O

Under the cover of DARKNESS.

Man... 6 in the morning... around that time, I am just waking up in the morning, staggering towards the bathroom.

LOL.

I woke up around 4, laid in the bed til 4:30, went and took a shower, got dressed, and watched TV and loaded up the car.

(Anyone who I hook up with from the internet... uh, I come with plenty gifts and stuff. That is all.)

I had bought her a bunch of stuff from the Farmer's market. A quiche (which she had never had before), a lasagna, a chicken pot pie, plenty of bread, some cheese).

I brought GROCERIES!

(CowgirlCre and I went farmer's market shopping on Friday evening. I know she was a bit confused about the meat products in my buggy. "That ain't mine, that's Adrienne's!" I was quick to holler).

So I headed out at 6, and headed down to her country town.

The drive went well. I ate a banana and some peppermint candy. I listened to a homemade gospel CD.

I think the most amazing thing was seeing the sunrise in my rearview window. Amazing!

Anyway, I got down there. Played with the cat and dog. Talked plenty trash to the children...



Her middle girl Kayla twirls the baton and was gonna be in the parade.

"Kayla, I want you to light the ends of the baton on fire, girl. And throw it up in the sky!"

LOL. I think they know to ignore me by now... I am sure their mama has told them that LadyLee is... special.

Anyway,we headed to Adrienne's Mama and 'em house to pick up her Mama, and headed out to the parade.

We had an hour and a half to spare... so we sat in the truck and talked. Her mother and I sang white people's Christmas songs that were playing on the radio (which left poor Adrienne a bit disturbed... she just mad she can't sang like us. That's all that is. Jelous chicken!).

I also taught a science lesson on the chemical in purple fruits and vegetables that is very good for you, and why we must eat our purple vegetables. And the difference between a sweet potato and yam.

*crickets*

(What can I say? I am a geek, man.)

So, the parade was about to start. We had our game chairs, had our place staked out EARLY.

Interesting parade. There was this big deal about being ready to catch candy.

*more crickets*

It is sort of like the bead throwing at Mardi Gras. But with Candy.

I stood and watched this. Harrassed AJ (Adrienne's youngest son) about his candy catching strategy.

And I got a bit pissed that they weren't throwing Dove chocolates. Some good stuff.

(Let's just say: a gang of peppermint candy landed at my feet. I had to supress the urge to scream. And the urge to pick it all up and throw it back at the dude that tossed it).

I did happen to spot a few mini-snickers being tossed. I think that was as close to Dove candy as I got.

BUT...

They were tossing beads.

The little strands. I got my fill of those when I lived in New Orleans. But AJ happen to catch a handful of beads which contained a gold strand with beads the size of marbles!

I promptly took it from the boy.

That's them GOOD beads!

LOL

A gang of horses came by!

"Take a picture of the horses for CowgirlCre, girl," Adrienne said.

I was thinking to myself, uh, CowgirlCre got a horse. She don't care to see pictures of horses. But I took pictures anyway.




I showed the pics to CowgirlCre. She scooted over to my side of the cubicle, face full of glee. Her eyes were all glazed over. Strange. She really like horses.

Then there was SANTA! Up on top of a Fire Truck!


He was not exciting. Because he was not throwing beads and candy.

*lee turns back on Santa*

After the parade we went back over to Adrienne's parents house. I had been hollering about my brakes squeaking. Interestingly, when they took the wheels off, it looked fine. They said I might have a bad strut.


"So, uh... I can't do any Fast and Furious moves in my car, can I?"

"Uh, no," her brothers and Daddy said.

"Okay, as long as I get on back to Georgia, that's cool!"

LOL

I had such a GREAT time. I hated to leave. It crossed my mind to go on a mall trip with them, but the mall doesn't excite me, and I knew that running around the mall THEN trying to drive home... Uh, NERP!

She has such a nice family. Good good people!

Thanks for having me in your city, Play Mama! You as always made my day GREAT!!!

I hope to stop through again some day soon! :)

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: Baby Blanket

Got a new Nephew on the waaaayyyy any minute now!!

I suppose we will call him "Milk and Cookies 3.0"

LOL!

His blanket is almost finished.
Another couple of hours and I'll be done!

Surly Regular Kitty

That Original Oldcat, Oscar-Tyrone looks a bit...



I don't know... surly. But surly don't quite describe it.

Surly + upset is more like it.

Why?

Because he'd run out of cat food. And that is my fault. I forgot to pick it up on my last trip to the natural foods co-op.

He is a special kitty. (He is not a kitty. At 14 years old, he is an Oldcat).

I went and bought that... under the cover of darkness.

"Ma'am, do you need a bag for your cat food?" the cashier asked.

"NO!" I said, a bit too loudly. I grabbed the food and walked briskly out the store.

That Oscar-Tyrone... I knew there was a problem when I tried to feed him some tuna and rice. I even warmed it up for him. He gave me the hard side-eye, and very reluctantly ate it.

No, he likes his flaxseed, his brown rice and chicken. Real chicken. Not by-product.

Oscar-Tyrone is a REGULAR Oldcat. Likes to keep his digestive system... regular.

So now, hopefully, he will be less... surly.

Hmm.