Adios

I'm off on vacation for a while. Now that I have a nifty new digital camera, I hope to have some pictures to share when I return in June :)

Mister Bee Trims Waistline

It's a sad day for trans fat-loving Mister Bee potato chip fans.

They've switched to frying their potato chips in pure cottonseed oil. Previously they used partially hydrogenated soybean oil. And judging from the article, many Mister Bee fans are not exactly thrilled about the change.

If they've ruined Mister Bee sour cream and onion chips - my all-time favorite Mister Bee offering - then it's a real shame.

Leaving is the First Step

Hmmmm, maybe that's where I went wrong. But anyway...

The Brooklyn Hillbilly sent me this NY Times article about West Virginia that's worth a read:

For Many West Virginians, Leaving Is First Step Home

Pre-vacation Frenzy

I have a list of things that go in my suitcase. A list for the duffle bag. A list for the carry-on bag. A list of things to take out of my purse. A to-do list, broken down by day, of all the things I have to accomplish before departing. A list of things to get at the grocery store. A list --

Well, you get the picture. My life is presently a mess of lists, and I've yet to make it to the end of any of these lists before either losing it or discarding it and making another list. It seems I'm more of a list-maker, rather than a list follow-througher (um, you know what I mean). Or perhaps I just need a list that prioritizes the other lists.

Somehow, I hope to be leaving for vacation in a few days...

Blog as Evidence

Perhaps a first for WV - a blog details the events that led up to a double murder.

And just for possible future reference, if you find me dead in my house, please check the dog excrement flinger's alibi.

I think he is just incredibly rude, not dangerous, but just so you know.

Creek Flood Lotto

You never know what the rains will bring!

Pros

1. It's free.
2. There's no red and yellow signage proclaiming your backyard a Hot Spot.

Cons

1. The odds for a positive outcome are about as good as Powerball.
2. You play whether you want to or not.
3. What you usually win is an old tire, a deflated basketball, or a tricycle.

BTW, is there a law requiring that these items be stored untethered on flood plains? Especially children's toys! Why do they seem to gravitate toward small streams? Do parents present their kids with a new toy, saying, "OK Billy, go play with this next to the creek! Shoo! Hurry! Oh, don't mind the rain, Billy, go!" ??

One of my relatives is a regular player of this little flood game. Yes, he has a bit of a Creek Flood Lotto problem.

He's collected tires, lots and lots of children's toys, a round bale of hay, and many other smaller items permanently encrusted in mud on the creek bank. Several months ago a kid's toy car - the huge kind that kids ride outdoors - washed up. He thought he knew the kid it belonged to and was contemplating dragging it up the road to him, but then the next flood came, washing it away forever.

Of course, he doesn't want any of these fine items, and when it comes to the tires, it's actually quite difficult to try to dispose of those.

Which is how I got on this topic to begin with...

According to a TV ad I just saw, the WV DEP is collecting old tires at various locations throughout the state through mid-July. So, if you have hit the creek flood tire jackpot, or just have tires to dispose of (especially if you're upstream from our property!), here's your chance to do it for free:

List of WV DEP tire collection sites (PDF)

More info (at bottom of the page)

Radi-licious!

Now that the radishes are ready to be picked -- all three rows of the things -- I've realized that there really isn't all that much to do with them besides eat A LOT of salad.

Even if they aren't terribly versatile, I do find them rather attractive. Perhaps I'll just use them to decorate.

The latest on JL

Oh yeah...almost forgot - here's the latest on JL Goes to College. Sorry, Brooklyn Hillbilly, looks like she has a new boyfriend, but maybe if you move back to WV you'll still be able to win her over.

May 15 - Here's another JL story, this one from a Wood County fund-raiser. The photo with this one is rather frightening (bad flash?) -- she kinda looks like a wax figure.

Indian cooking with the hermit hillbilly

I can't remember where I first ate Indian cuisine. It was either in Washington, DC, or Morgantown. Regardless, I fell in love quickly with Indian food, especially chicken curry.

A friend gave me an Indian cookbook several years ago, but it wasn't until recently that I got the courage to try some of the recipes. I've made 3 or 4 of the dal recipes several times, to the point that I'm comfortable enough with the recipes to change them to suit my own tastes and available ingredients.

This is the lentil base, made with pink lentils, turmeric, and, of course, water.

And then here's the "tempering oil", which has cumin seeds, fresh ginger, minced garlic, onions, serrano peppers, dried red chiles, and canola oil. I've taken to reducing the amount of oil in my version, adding a couple of extra chiles and extra lemon or lime juice, and in this batch I threw in some fresh spinach from my garden. This goes into the lentils once they're finished cooking. Mmmmmmm.

Because I don't particularly like cooking (esp. the cleaning up part of cooking), I double the recipe and spoon the dal over basmati rice at each serving, which allows me to eat most of the week on one batch.

I've tried a couple of the potato recipes, and so far I haven't been blown away by the results.

The latest I tried (above) was spinach potatoes, which called for potatoes and spinach (duh), onions, ground coriander, ground ginger, garlic, ground cumin, cumin seeds, fennel seeds (I learned I'm not too keen on fennel seeds), dried red chiles, canola oil, and who knows what else I'm forgetting. Oh yeah, garam masala. It was OK, but I probably won't bother making it again. I like the various dals much better.

Election Day

Another election day goes by and I've still not been offered a bottle of whiskey or cash for my vote.

I did go vote today and used one of the touch-screen machines. I didn't encounter any problem.

The only thing that did give me trouble was selecting candidates. I wound up voting in only one race because I couldn't bring myself to just randomly choose someone I didn't know. In the other race in which I actually had heard of some of the candidates, I didn't particularly care for any of them, so I skipped that one, too. I didn't even get to vote against most of the people who'd made me suffer through their hideous, cutesy campaign songs; apparently those candidates were on the other ticket.

Still Alive

I really can't explain why I dropped off the face of the (blog) earth. It all started when I got somewhat ill (long story involving prescription meds). Then, well, I dunno. I even wrote some things for the blog, stashed them in my Yahoo! notebook, and just never posted them. The Brooklyn Hillbilly and others sent me links to interesting stories, and I never posted them.

Sigh.

But I did at least get around to building and planting a small raised garden in my backyard. Those are rows of radishes to the left, some onions just to the right of them, and spinach on the right. The spinach has not been doing nearly as well as I had hoped. But even if I never get anything to harvest, I think the rows are somewhat pretty ;).