Food, Success Dinner

Success Dinner: Taqichiladas!

R. Hamilton

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So, hello everyone!

Tonight I was successful at making dinner! Now, as most of you know, I am quite lazy when it comes to food. At least making it, I’m pretty good at the eating it part. I know, from my previous success dinners, it looks FANTASTIC and it looks like I can cook. Well, I can, I’m just lazy about it.

Also, those who know me, know I love taquitos. They are some of the best little concepts around. I buy them from Costco is 50 piece boxes (they are stuffed with beef, not chicken. You only get 30 chicken ones for the same price as 50 beef ones). I also love enchiladas. I think it’s because of all the cheese.

So, Bryant’s mum, is awesome and told me how to taquito enchiladas (hence the name, Taqichiladas (Tak-kee-cha-la-das)). You need taquitos, of course. Enchilada sauce. I couldn’t pick between red or green, so I bought both of them. I mixed them thinking I would get orange sauce and I thought that was cool. Instead it turned kinda brown/red. Bryant’s mum said to use the big can, when I was buying cans of sauce I didn’t think that my pan is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than her pan. Mine is an 8×8, I think, while her’s is 9×13, I think. So, lots of sauce.

Well, I mixed those together in a tupperware container because I’m going to make these again very soon and I knew I would have lots of sauce. So a full can of sauce if you are using a 9×13, I think. Gauge sauce usage, based on pan size, I would say don’t drown the tasty taquitos in sauce. So, pour the sauce over the taquitos. Take shredded cheese and make a layer on top. Once again, up to you how much you want to use. I used some. It was a nice layer of cheese on top.

Now, to the step I always forget to tell people. You should have preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Ignore what the taquitos box says for cook time, we’re changing that here. With your three layers, taquitos, sauce, and cheese, pop that in your preheated over for 30 minutes. Yep, thirty minutes. I know it seems out there, but it’s true.

After thirty minutes remove them from the oven and let cool slightly. My cheese migrated the the center of the dish so I added more. Serve up like you would enchiladas and enjoy. That’s how I made dinner, and that’s how you can make Taqichiladas!

Happy cooking/baking/not burning down the house!

Food

Fictional Adventures and Boring Cooking

R. Hamilton

So. Hello everyone!

I’ve been busy lately. I know I’ve been saying that a lot but it’s true, I’m not just saying it so that you think I’m too good for you all. But work has kept me busy. Baking lots of things, being told I’m not allowed to do it, and then doing it anyway because no one else would do it. I’m still trying to get a job out at the mill, but that isn’t panning out like I hoped it would. I really hope I hear something soon, because it’s a great job and has great benefits. A friend of mine works for BNSF and I’ve considered getting a job there, but the one I was looking at would mean I would have to work in Minot, ND and from what I can tell it would be for three years or so, but I would work out of whitefish I guess. I don’t really know, I’ trying to get more information out of my friend, but he’s been off and on all day and it’s hard to have a conversation that way. It’s a better job than plum creek, but it would be hard to have a life while working there. From what I understand, you don’t get to move around as much for a while, and you are on call. Bryant and I have been talking about it. He’s convinced he will never see me. He will but there will be times when we will be apart for a period of time. I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like I’m not doing enough.

Other than work though, I’ve tried to start up writing again. It’s harder than I remember. I haven’t read a good fantasy novel in a while though. I’ve read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft and I love his work, but that’s not what I write about. I am waiting and waiting for payday so that I can go up to Bad Rock Books and see what they have. I have learned in my life to never walk into a bookstore broke. You stay all day and read, and then when the day is over but the book isn’t you have to leave it there and eventually you forget what page you are on, or someone else buys it, or something of that caliber and you feel robbed because you spent so much time with something and then it left you. Hmmm, kinda like real life. 

I don’t have a whole lot of work done on it yet. I have a loose outline but not much else. It has been so long since I read a actual fantasy book, it’s become a little absurd. 

So, I’m cooking a turkey. Why? Because I’m bored. Seriously, it’s the only reason. I made a broth out of chicken bullion, garlic salt, black pepper, lemon juice, and beer. I sprayed some butter flavored cooking spray on the top because my mum doesn’t have olive oil or canola. Hopefully it crisps how I want it too. Hopefully hopefully! 

BIRD! Cook faster! I want to take a picture of you!

Food, Life, Rant

“I love (food), It’s my favorite!”: A Story of Acceptance

R. Hamilton

So, I’ve discovered recently that I seem to love every single food I eat. I only noticed it when my grandmother mentioned it a few days ago. She said “Well, tonight we are going to have sauerkraut and polish sausage.” I responded “Oh I love sauerkraut, it’s one of my favorite foods!” She kinda gave me this look that I took as ‘Really?’ and said “Kas, you say every food is your favorite food.”

This made me think. Because I don’t think I say that about every food. I certainly don’t say that about Mayonnaise. I hate that stuff, unless it’s in tuna fish. Or swiss cheese, unless it’s melted on a Reuben. Bananas I like if there is ice cream surrounding it. 

I’m going through my food index right now trying to think of a food that I do not like and that I don’t like with anything else. I mean, Greek Yogurt would be an option, but I have never tried it with anything (like fruit and whatnot). I can’t say that I don’t like spinach, because I do, as long as it isn’t cooked. I could say sweet potatoes, but I like sweet potato fries. See, this is difficult.

Squash. It is the only food I can say that I don’t like, and I don’t like it with anything else. Unless you count pumpkin pie. But I’m not going to count pumpkin pie. I don’t exactly love it, it is good, but it is more of Bryant’s favorite pie. So we have discovered something that I do not like. Squash. Maybe one day I will find a dish that I like with squash in it, but until then it is the only food I can think of. 

So, the title says that this is a story of acceptance. In a way it is and I am getting to that, so thank you for sticking with me. 

I have never been a small person. Not in height, not in personality, and certainly not in weight. I am the kid that could have played basketball because of how tall I was. I never played basketball, I just don’t care for it. Being taller than everyone else never played into my favor. I was made fun of a lot. It effected every aspect of my life. I didn’t have many friends, I had three grade school friends as a constant (Erica, Josh, and Ben) and in Middle School I met Dee and Arika. Soon, Josh moved and Ben was in a different grade team than I was on. We still saw each other but it was mostly at football games and lunch. Then Erica left our group, and joined who I have determined to call “Them”. “Them” were people who made fun of your size, the clothes you wore, they way you talked. “Them” made me hate myself and everything about me. I ate to comfort myself and then I would hate myself for eating, because it would never fix the problem. I would go out in the summer, but avoid popular places. I hung out with the same people until I left in the eighth grade. I thought this would a turning point in my life, I was starting a new school where no one knew me and it was going to be different. 

BUT! It wasn’t. I felt the capital letters there would break up the somber mood I wasn’t going for. But I like said this is a story of acceptance. The rest of my junior high year sucked as well. High school got better, the reason being, because I stopped giving a fuck (Mum, I apologise for my use of crass language). It’s true really, I did what I wanted, listened to what I wanted and plain stopped caring about other people. The only person who could decide what I was going to be me, was me. 

I developed a cover for the raw, broken, and insecure girl that I had been. The cover I developed kept her safe and made me appear to be a strong and confident person. The cover didn’t care if people didn’t like me, if people talked about me. And I grew comfortable with it. It’s different when you see other people do something, and it looks so easy. It’s easier to do something when you see yourself do it. 

I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense.  But to me it does. I was able to observe myself doing things. I like to say that I live in both the first and third person. I watch myself do things while I’m doing them so that I know I can do them. That’s the easiest way I can say it. It helped me grow as a person and I am happy with it.

This process helped me understand that it doesn’t matter how much I weigh, how tall I am, or how much I eat that I am just damn fine the way I am. Sure I may be on the heavier side, so what. I think I just needed more room for the awesome. 

 

I still struggle with myself time to time. But I’m the only one who is allowed to put me there. The world is not my oyster, because then everything would smell awful. I have all I need. 🙂

Food, Life

Adventures In Baking and Other Tall Tales

R. Hamilton

So, Hello everyone. It has been a few days. Longer than a few days. But I’m somewhat settled in Montana, Bryant isn’t here with me and I miss him like when you miss the bus and you’re late to work and nothing in the whole world can make up for the loss and anxiety you feel. I miss him like that. 

I do have a job, finally. I work at Super 1 Foods Bakery. It’s a really fun job, really labor intensive though. I’ve made tons of things. I can’t take pictures of my adventures though, because I can’t have my phone in the bakery with me. So instead of taking pictures of all the muffins, breads, and icings I make I just get to hold onto them in my mind and you can live vicariously through my thoughts. 

My first day at work was hectic. I had no idea what to expect from it and I can’t tell you now that a bakery is more than doughnuts. I’m still hoping for a better job though. If I can get a really great one that isn’t seasonal, then Bryant and I can be together again. I don’t care if we live here in Montana, or we live over in Washington. I just want to be with him.

Day two in the bakery, we actually finished early. So they sent me around cleaning everything and boy was that a load off. I still don’t know when things come in or when shipments are arranged. I just know I’m told to do something and I do it. But yeah, finished early on my second day. That is pretty cool!

I hung out with a friend of mine last night. I really missed hanging out with her. We talked for a long while, had a nice country rib dinner, and then had FroYo. She’s such a great person! She’s been one of the greatest friends that I have had my entire life. Her husband is pretty cool too. I’m really glad I have both of them in my life.

I stopped drinking soda (for the most part). I have been drinking Cascade Ice Naturally Flavored Sparking Water. I like the Pomegranate Mango and Raspberry Lemon flavors. All that is in it is water, carbonation, and fruit extract. That is IT! And it’s really tasty. The carbonation doesn’t last as long as soda so when I go to drink it I drink more of it than I would soda. I drink soda for bubbles, I drink this instead. Needs more bubbles. 

I’m sorta planning on starting an herb garden. I do want to and I don’t want too. The reason I do want to is because I love growing things. I don’t want to start one if I move back to Washington and I can’t bring them with me. So i’m torn on that.  

But everything is going well. There is a huge chunk of my life still in WA. And I miss him all the time. I can’t wait to see him again, and I hope that we can be together again no later than summer’s end. 

 

Life

You Have Arrived At Your Destination

R. Hamilton

So, hello everyone! It is an hour later in the day, but isn’t. People say it’s cold, but it isn’t. And I have been in Montana for a little over 24 hours! It was a pretty nice trip. Iwas  listening to “Outlander” as an audio book and I gladly thank my former government and psychology teacher for recommending it. It’s a little slow when I’m listening to it, but the story is really good. The narrator is Davina Porter, she’s okay but her voice was a little irritating over the ~14 hour trip. She does the male voices incredibly well, but makes Claire, the main character, sound awful. It was fine in the beginning, but after a continuous 12 hours (because I also listened to some music and “Herbert West – Reanimator” read by Wayne June and written by H.P. Lovecraft) of her voice it started to bug me. I’ve just got the the part where she was trying to run away from Jamie (Which is a stupid decision, that man is AMAZING) to be with a man that looked just like a vile man (because they are related) which I would think is a terrible idea. I mean, seriously, this evil man reminds you of a husband that hasn’t technically been born yet, so you want to go back to your husband. Could you imagine her going back and everytime her husband gets irritated or mad she would be reminded of the vile man ( I can’t actually remember his name. He isn’t as bad as Joffery though. I hate that guy.) But, I’m only half way through the audio book so hopefully Claire stops making terrible decisions and stays with the sexy hunk of Scotland that she’s also married. I’ve just realized I have forgotten the time travel element, which would have been an important thing to tell you because nothing I have said really makes any sense. But there you go.

So it’s a good book, It’s my kinda book. I wasn’t exactly prepared for the sexy parts. That’s usually not in the books I read, so of course I giggled immaturely when they buzzed into my ears. But it was fun. Through the next couple of days I’m going to try to finish it, but I don’t really sit for long periods of time with nothing to do but listen to an audio book. I tried reading and listening to it and boy did the plot get a tad twisted and confusing. 

The train was pretty uneventful, although I did get to see an orca whale. At least part of one. I saw it in the Puget Sound. It was cool. I tried writing on the way and I was distracted by the water. I like looking at water, I don’t like being in large bodies of it. I saw a lot of deer too. I like deer.

I slept yesterday from 10 – 4 pm, it was nice. A real bed, even if the mattress is a little softer than I’m used too. Cora is still a cutie, even if she’s the size of a boulder. She’s a cute boulder. She all stocky and wide. Absolutely ADORABLE!

Odie is still with us too. His age is showing but he’s still is as cute as ever. He has senior moments a lot and he doesn’t hear well. He’ll be 15 this Nov-Dec. I think. He’s such a good little dog.

Hopefully I will have a special post coming soon. I purchased a Loot Crate this month and I plan on doing a special Half Ginger unboxing!

Life

Trip Destination EXPOSED!

R. Hamilton

So, since I leave in the morning, I thought I would tell you all where I am going. I am going to…

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Specifically, Columbia Falls! I’m excited!

I’m hoping to find work there so that Bryant and I can finally stop living with our parents and have our own place again. I totally appreciate everything that his family has done for us and everything my family has done for me, but I am tired of not having my own place. I get to see the family tuesday morning at the train station in Whitefish and I can’t wait. I haven’t seen anyone in over a year and I miss everyone terribly. 

There is a lot I have missed out on. People I will never see again and people who I’m not too sure want to see me. It’s a big step going back to find work and I’m going to soldier on until I’m in a good place again. 

SO! My next post will be from my home town! See you all then!

Life

Packing

R. Hamilton

So, last few days have been BUSY! I have been ‘packing’ for the past two. I say packing in quotes because I’ve been procrastinating as I do it. Unfortunately, I have forgotten what procrastinating means. Last night I had a bag packed, and I unpacked it last night as well. I was not fully prepared for the task. BUT, I have space bags to help me out. They are roll out or vac out the air space bags… The vac out is significantly more efficient for space. I have two bags that I vacuum the air out and one that I roll the air out. My sea bag doesn’t hold as much as I had thought, but it holds more than I originally thought.  I almost forgot my sneakers, so I had to make room for those. The suitcase that I purchased is just big enough to hold my underwear and socks (that’s also where I put the sneakers). What I thought was a lot of room isn’t all that much room. I’m leaving some stuff that I wanted to take here to save a little bit of room. 

I really want to take yarn with me, even though I know I shouldn’t. I want to start making farmer’s market bags for the summer time. I think people would appreciate them. Not sure what kind of pattern I’m going to use, or if I’m going to do it at all, but we’ll find out. 

I am going to miss Bryant. He’s playing it off like it isn’t a big deal that I’m leaving. Which is fine, I wish I was the same way. Hopefully I can find work where I am going and he can join me soon. He means the world to me.

But, enough with the sentimental blogging. I have to vacuum out the bags again. Like I said I repacked them last night but it was about 1 a.m. and it was too late in the night to use the vacuum. I’m looking forward to this trip.

Apparently it is legal to bodily eject someone from public transportation in the state of Washington. So, there is your fun fact of the day. 

Bryant’s dad told me that last night when I shared the story of the crazy lady on the train. Crazy Lady is a real person, she cause a real incident, and she called me a wizard when I was on a train. I’m going to share the story with you all.

I leave Portland, Ore. at 4:45 p.m. Regular time, everything is on schedule. We ride for a few hours, make a few stops. We haven’t reached Spokane yet if I remember correctly. It’s late at night, so late a lot of people are asleep. This woman starts walking the train, pointing and whispering at people at she walks but no one really takes any notice of her… Until she starts screaming that is. She starts telling people things like “Wizards use computers, you must be a wizard.” She’s just creeping everyone out by now. A few people are disgruntled, but she walks out of our train car and goes somewhere else, everyone relaxes slightly. Then… THEN, the woman comes back with full force, she is shouting and throwing things about, she tries to take this poor kids computer demanding to know if he is a wizard. I was also called a wizard but I avoid her at all costs. The woman starts throwing trash behind her and up in the air. The conductor finally arrives and tries to calm her down. A man across the aisle tries to interject like most people who don’t know how to handle a difficult person and situation. He starts trying to ‘give the conductor advice’ about how to handle what’s going on and he isn’t making much sense. The conductor tells him to return to his seat and he tries to argue, but sits back down. The conductor gets the woman down stairs into where the bathrooms are and you can hear the woman screaming at the top of her lungs.

Eventually, the train starts to slow. We see flashing lights in the distance. We hear sirens. Police board the train. The start to inspect the trashcan and what not, they go back to the lower level of the train and we hear the woman being arrested. It was fun.

And that’s how I learned that it is legal to bodily eject someone from public transportation in the state of Washington, including Amtrak.

So today I will resume packing and hopefully get everything squared away. I’ll have to sort through my suitcase and decide what I don’t want to take with me. It’s a stressful time but hopefully it will be worth it when I get a job. 

Food

Success Dinner… I Mean Dessert: Brownie Cookie Sundaes

R. Hamilton

So, this looks tasty… You can’t even see the brownie cookie. But that’s okay. I made this! Bryant wanted brownies with our dessert so we went out and bought everything that we needed to make them (which was just 2 boxes of brownie mix). I just wanted to make brownies and I had never heard of brownie cookies. Except for the kind that you make a brownie and a cookie at the same time, something like this:

courtesy of meals.com

But apparently I was wrong. A brownie cookie has nothing to do with cookie dough. I was thinking that on top of making brownies I would have to make cookie dough. I wouldn’t buy it. I only buy cookie dough when I want to eat it. I make cookie dough when I want cookies. If I want cookies I will work for them.

So, we get home and we find a recipe online, and Bryant wants me to help him. I’m thinking, “No problem. This will be easy.” The recipe didn’t look hard and I didn’t have to make anything from scratch. So we combine all the ingredient together like it says into the biggest mixing bowl we can find. I start to look in the drawers for a whisk and Bryant wants to know what I’m doing. I told him what I was doing. He gave me a little smile and said no. Apparently, I was going to mix this with my hands. So, a surgical-esque scrub of the arms later and my hands find their way into the brownie mix. It… was a weird feeling. It was dry and squishy, so it didn’t make a lot of sense when it came to my sense of touch. This is what happened to my hands:

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It looks like I’ve been in poo! Oh yes, and if you haven’t noticed, I took pictures this time when I made something! Now to make it a habit. What you see in the picture is early in the mixing process. I ‘kneaded’ this for about twenty minutes. I had to get all the flour off the bottom and it took quite a while to get everything off my hands. Bryant just watched me do it…

After what felt like forever of having my hands in muck, I’m finally done. Most of the mix is stuck to my hand by now and I can’t touch anything. Bryant grabs a spatula and we scrape my hands over and over again and I can finally see my skin again. Now he grabs a cookie sheet and tells me to make balls. That I can do. It came out to this:

making balls 20130416_204957

 

Pretty, huh? Well, I had a whole other sheet of them to do. Only then, could I wash my hands. We waited for the timer, and waited some more. Then, as our hunger cried from the tombs of our stomachs and echoed through the empty halls that had been our veins, did Bryant say that they were ready. We placed the brownies in the bowls with the bottoms up, so that the ice cream will sink into the brownie and add the strawberries.

Three Things Need for Delicious 20130416_211858 20130416_211852

 

Mix them all together and you get the first picture of this post. It was awesome. Brownies were a little crispy on the edges but Bryant says that was on purpose. It was quite good.

Brownie Cookies Recipe  — If you were interested!

Life

Rodney The Bear

R. Hamilton

So, I have a bear. His name is Rodney. Those two sentences eerily remind me of something that I had to write in the first grade about my favorite thing. Without the ‘so’ part. But, back to Rodney.

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That is Rodney. He is about 22 years old (give or take a few months). I have NEVER gone anywhere without him. Every move I have ever made, every trip I have ever taken, every new house I have lived in, I have had Rodney. 

I recently had to pull him out of storage, as I don’t want to have him in Bryant’s parents house because I don’t want their dogs to eat him. Because I would be so incredibly heart-broken that I would probably cease to have a happy day. I’m not even being hyperbolic for the most part. Rodney has been a crucial part of my life.

Bryant think it’s funny. He says that he has seen it more in girls. That we usually have a blanket or a teddy bear. But, Rodney is more than a Teddy Bear. He is a part of me. He is a constant that I have come to rely on for emotional support. We’ve gone across borders together. He’s the best little bear that a girl could need. 

This isn’t really a humorous tirade like I usually go off on, but a sentimental one. This time next week I will be on a train headed for new things.

I’m planning a few daily posts for the future. I’m hoping to have ‘Reading Room Mondays’ where I talk about a book I read over the weekend/week. Things like that.