(no subject)

[same_sky]

Recently, we made up a song about Evelyn's pajamas. They have pumpkins (a.k.a. "balls") and black cats on them, and she was babbling away about the balls, and somehow we started singing "Ball-ball-ball-ball-ball-ball-ball, ball-ball-ball-ball-ball-ball-cat!" to the tune of Barbara Ann. (Take my hat, ball-ball-ball-cat!) As an aside, neither one of us knew that song was about a woman named Barbara Ann until we saw it on a TV commercial recently. I always just thought it was ba-ba-ba-etc. Anyway! I would like to tell you that this is the stickiest song ever. I have walked around singing nonsense songs about balls for days now. I would say that Carrie and Mike probably thought I was completely bonkers but honestly, they think that anyway.. just for different reasons. :)

One type of product that I have been getting oodles of for free is Glade air fresheners. I pulled out a flameless candle last week. After a few minutes, my throat was a bit irritated by it, so I turned it off. That happened when I had close contact with a plug-in of the same scent (Clean Linen) and that faded away by the next day so I was hoping this would do the same. When M came home, he started complaining about his throat, and finally, we traced it to the candle and he took it out to the sunroom and sat it on top of the bookcase, where we mostly forgot about it. It wasn't bothering either of us anymore, and though it remained off, it made the room smell nice. Fast forward a few days to when we had houseguests sleeping in the sunroom. By Saturday or so, poor Carrie was sneezing with a runny nose. She finally confessed that she thought she was allergic to something in my laundry room.. and then it clicked that hey! I am trying to kill her with chemical linen fragrance! So we removed those and she began feeling better... but not quite well. It seems that Carrie is (in addition to being allergic to my house) also a bringer of plague. M and I could tell just before bedtime on Monday that E was getting sick, and me as well. She has been fairly miserable, though (so far) not too bad, and I think she's already heading towards getting better. I was pretty crummy feeling yesterday, but I felt some better today--enough to go grocery shopping this afternoon. Neither of us are at our peak, but perhaps we're going to be better soon. Probably just in time for M to catch it.

I always get nervous about cooking for people. Everyone has different tastes and all that, so I get all fluttery and insecure. (Especially when one is preparing what is a fairly ghetto meal in the first place and then realizes that they're missing the key ingredient and that there may not be enough for everyone. Not that that happened to me or anything.) Anyway, that is really just so I could point out to Carrie that I bought jalapenos, roma tomatoes and cocoa today while shopping today. Now I need recipes, and don't you dare tell me to wait for the book! ;) I think M would really like the choolate cake thing.

I wanted to write more but since I am falling asleep at my keybaord I guess it will have tow ait. Nightienight toodles goodbye.

Comments

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I try to help. Maybe if it's in your head, it will get out of mine.

I thought, after I posted, that someone might think it was one recipe. Sorry to disappoint you, but it's two--a cheesy chicken and tomatoes and jalepenos thing and a chocolate thing. I know what it's called in Swedish but I don't know how it's spelled. Cloud cake.

[ozswede.livejournal.com]

If it's a direct translation, it would be molntårta. Which I of course googled as I love new recipes and it does indeed exist. And has cocoa in it.

I had already figured it must be 2 recipes. I was just being silly :)

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

How funny that cloud cake actually exists! It is definetly something very different from the little Swedish brownie cake thing I always make. I am seriously addicted to kladdkakka. It is just so easy to make that when Erik begs to bake a cake (every day) I say "Ok!" and then eat almost the whole thing myself.

[ozswede.livejournal.com]

If you read Swedish, there is a recipe here It looks quite straightforward.

I agree that kladdkaka is a real no brainer to make. Even my step kids love it. I just serve it with a little raspberry coulis and a bit of whipped cream to dress it up. Luckily I don't have a sweet tooth, so if I make it, L-G eats it. Quite unfairly, he remains as skinny as a toothpick. So I hate him for that.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

You know, I bet Carrie would give you bonus points for coming up with a recipe that uses all three of those things!

I apparently had it wrong on the name, as per Carrie. I thought that's what M called it but maybe I was just on crack. I should have just written the Swedish as it sounded in my head.. woulda been close enough. :)

[ozswede.livejournal.com]

You know, I bet Carrie would give you bonus points for coming up with a
recipe that uses all three of those things!

And I'd give her bonus points for eating it. I just shudder at the thought.

I see by the later comments that it was kladdkaka you were thinking of. If something is kladdig, it is sticky or gooey, so sticky cake is a good translation.

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

KladdKaka or something like that. I think it is Sticky Cake.

1 stick butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 T. cocoa
dash of salt
2 eggs
vanilla

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Bake at 350 for 22 minutes (or in your oven, a couple of hours). You don't want to overcook it or it's not as good.

Texas Style Chicken

Put a bunch of roma tomato slices in the bottom of a pan. Sprinkle with chopped jalepenos (I use three and make sure I avoid the seeds, but if you use seeds it would be spicier). Cover with 8 ounces shredded Colby Jack.

Salt and pepper a pack of chicken tenders (or skinless, boneless breasts if you don't mind bigger pieces). Put them on top of the cheese then sprinkle them with ranch dressing powder.

Bake at 350 until the chicken is done (usually the same amount of time it takes to make a package of Mexican rice).

Aren't I fancy?

And, by the way, we've also been singing about the balls and the cats. Also, this morning when Erik woke up he asked for you. He wanted to know when you are coming to our house. That sounds like I am making it up, but he seriously said "When is Kisha coming here?"

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

And I want a copy of your ghetto recipe! I am assuming you are talking about the mexi rice dish? I thought it was great (though a bit spicy).

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

The original "recipe" is to brown one pound of ground beef. Begin cooking a package of Mexican rice according to package directions, and then when there's about ten minutes left, add the beef and a can of diced tomatoes and simmer until the rice is done. However, of course you can't just make it the way you're "supposed" to and hence adding a can of corn as well. You'll probably add spinach or lettuce or something weird. ;) I usually use half a pound or so, too, pre-frozen from burritos*, and because I hate browning ground beef. Actually, I just hate draining it, but that is completely irrelevant. At the end, I stir in a handful of cheddar and a bit of sour cream.. or sometimes we just have sour cream at the table.

Since I had Spanish rice the other night, I threw in a bunch of cumin (because of course that makes it oh-so-Mexican) and cayenne. I got carried away with the cayenne, so sorry about that. I love teh spicy but it was a bit much.

*I put corn in my burritos, too. Muahaha. Yum! Also, now I am hungry.

Thanks for the recipes! I thought the cake was very like brownies only less sweet. M doesn't like things that are overly sweet, but he does like brownies, so this might be his cup of tea. And I like how it doesn't make that much. I hate having huge pans of sweets around since he won't eat them much. Salt is his poison of choice, not sugar.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Also, just remembered that I usually pour in some plain white rice when I add the packaged rice so that it makes more for freezing leftover purposes. I dunno, half a cup maybe? I never measure it.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Awww, what a sweetie! E has had a few moments of asking for Erik. We were at the grocery yesterday and this little boy was there. He was probably seven, and with darker hair, but when she saw him she pointed and said "AAAAAAEEEEI!" And she keeps going out to the sunroom and saying "Baby? Baby? Aeeei? Baby?" Now that she's an only child again, I think she remembers that it sure was fun to have someone else to play with!

kladdkaka. Damn. I could have sworn M called it cloud cake. Maybe he had a brain freeze. I'm sure it was him (native speaker) and not me (not at all native). ;)

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

oh, and also... *laugh* at "(or in your oven, a couple of hours)." :)