My First Ever Homemade Salsa

Roasted Garlic Salsa (Mild)

I got the original recipe from AllRecipes.com, then modified it to suit my taste.  Some of the directions were suggested by other users on the site, and some of them I figured out on my own.  For my first time making it, it was awesome!

Ingredients

12 roma tomatoes

8-10 cloves garlic, peeled

1 small onion, halved

2 jalapeno chile peppers, halved

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

ground cumin

salt

lime juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (reduce or add according to taste)

1/2 -1 teaspoon chili pepper blend paste

(optional) fresh ground pepper

(optional) 1-2 teaspoons onion powder (for the flavor w/o the chunks)

Directions

Preheat the broiler.

Seed and core tomatoes and jalapeno peppers before roasting.  It's infinitely less of a hassle than trying to do so after you roast them.

In a medium baking dish, place roma tomatoes, garlic, onion and jalapeno chile peppers. Drizzle with olive oil. (Optional: lightly grind fresh pepper over.)

Checking often, broil 5 to 10 minutes, or until outsides of vegetables are charred.

Remove vegetables from heat. 

Take half of vegetables (6 tomatoes, 2 jalapeno pepper halves, half the onion, 4-5 garlic cloves), and hand chop until it looks kind of like pico de gallo.

Put in intended serving/storage dish, mix with cilantro.

In blender or food processor, mix remaining vegetables and chili pepper until you get a chunky paste.  Should be a sort of smoothie consistency.

Mix in with the first half, adding lime juice, cumin, (optional onion powder), and salt to taste. 

Using mesh strainer, drain excess water until preferred consistency achieved.

Stir and serve, or put in sealed container to store in the fridge.

Note: 

You'll notice that the final product doesn't look as red as store-bought salsa.  Duh, right?  If you want to pop a little more when it comes to presentation (for a party, etc.), add a little red food coloring.  Doesn't affect the taste and makes the salsa look more appetizing than the sad, pastel sort of orangey brown it is without coloring.

Bold Venture and Bronchitis

Oh, the excitement.

So on the one hand, it look likes MyGeekling.com may actually happen.  Fuck yeah.  On the other hand, I haven't been getting any sleep because of all the coughing.  Lack of sleep may drive me slowly insane, which I sincerely hope does not happen.  What with this blizzard coming and all, I feel like I should be getting a ton of sleep.  Instead I spend all my time on the laptop, often gently hallucinating.

Trying to figure out what to do for a logo.  LOGO.

What to do, what to do...

So I've been re-evaluating my life since I lost my job.  You know, the usual stuff: what am I doing with my life, where am I going, why does working in the corporate machine suck so hard, etc.  Usually losing my job would be met with depression and anxiety, and maybe that will kick in later, but for the most part I'm actually pretty happy.  I hated that job A LOT.  Didn't make me want to kill myself, but it did make me feel like a giant loser, somehow even more than being unemployed does.  Everyday where I don't have to wake up and go to work is a day I smile and breathe a sigh of relief.  Yay!

I've been looking for a new job of course, in between hideous barking coughing fits.  While fighting off illness and working on my resume, I've been reading webcomics and reflecting on my lack of real skills.  Yesterday I found myself lamenting the fact that I'd never received any training as a body piercer, because a friend opened a tattoo shop and needs a piercer badly.  I wished I had more artistic talent so I could be a tattoo artist.  I love tattoos and one of my dream jobs is to be a shop manager.  Maybe I wouldn't be doing the actual tattooing, but I'd be setting appointments, ordering supplies, promoting the shop, etc., and I'd get to be supporting an industry in which I actually believe.  Plus I really like the guy who owns the shop.  He and his wife are adorably cool and his shop is all in green.  I like green.

Not having the skills to get to work in a fun place like Bob's Body Shop, I started wondering if I am, in fact, good at anything whatsoever.  I haven't really come up with much.  So far my best achievement is that I've raised a child who has not yet managed to develop some sort of severe emotional problem and likes stuff like Star Wars.

Which got me thinking.

I like kids.  I like geeky stuff like video games and Star Trek and playing D&D.  You know what I wish there were more of?  Websites devoted to the latest generation of geek parents and their geek children.  I'm wondering if there would be a real interest in starting a site devoted to geek parenting, one that would include but not be limited to the following:

• Kid-friendly video game reviews
• Costuming ideas for kids and parents alike
•  Parenting advice for new parents, likely with Star Wars references thrown in for good measure
• Geek merch reviews and links
• A "Geekling Pic of the Week" spot (I like looking at pics of my kid doing nerdy things, so I figure other people do, too)
• Links and schedules for kid-friendly conventions and fandom-themed vacation spots
• Recipes for geeky treats (for examples, check out this book)
• Activity ideas (top of my list? LASER TAG)
• Forums where readers can trade tips, share stories, and post their own reviews

Anyone have any ideas, lemme know.  DO EEEEEEET.

Hee hee, babies reading manga is adorable.

Being healthy is hard.

So, some yucky honesty time.  I was doing okay on my resolution to quit drinking soda, until I had a miscarriage and fell off the wagon.  Between the miscarriage, Pam's death, and the general stress of daily life, I lost weight then packed it all back on.  July SUCKED.  August wasn't much better.  October's been pretty good so far.

I'm back on the wagon, though.  No more soda!  I drink a lot of juice and tea.  So much juice!  I've been drinking a lot of Bolthouse Farm's Green Goodness lately.  My favorite tea for on the go is Sweet Leaf Mint and Honey Green Tea.  It's so awesome.  I've been thinking about getting a reusable bottle and a tea pitcher and making my own tea at home.  Much cheaper.  Of course, I could always just re-use the glass bottle I have left over from yesterday's tea.

Damion and I have resolved to not to buy junk food for the house.  We went shopping last week and bought all healthy stuff that requires us to actually cook.  Lots of fruit and veggies.  I have noticed that with healthier food, I eat less.  I don't feel so hungry.  Also, I drink more water, and everyone says that often when you think you're hungry, it's really your body wanting more water.  So I give myself more water.

I pee more now.

We have a puppy now, so we get out a lot more because she technically lives at my mom's house.  We try to see her everyday, and take her out to a park or something.  Running around with Liv and Kiera (the puppy) gets us more exercise.  I don't think I've lost any weight yet, but I feel better (with the exception of the cold I had earlier this week), and that's more important.  Looking better would be nice, but I want to concentrate on feeling better first.

And now....PUPPY PICTURES!

She's much bigger now.  These I took the first day we rescued her.  She's almost four month old now, and according to the vet, she's a black lab and Belgian Malinois mix.  For those of you who have know idea what that latter one is (I certainly didn't), here's a picture of a pup that looks a LOT like Kiera does now, only Kiera's black with more of a lab look around the eyes and snout.

Livibelle, the Animal-Talent Fairy Part 2

I found a green leafy/flower print shirt on summer clearance, and paired it with a purple thermal undershirt since it will be COLD on Halloween this year, by all accounts.  She has purple wings, a frilly green costume skirt that we'll pair with her purple pants or purple tights, depending on how cold it actually is that day.  She has a Tinkerbell trick or treat bag and she's going to take Jane with us.  Her friend Talia is also going as a fairy for Halloween, so they'll match.  It will be heinously adorable.  Plan on seeing pictures next week.

Livibelle, the Animal-Talent Fairy Part 1

You can probably guess what this post is about.  That's right, it's Halloween costuming time again and this year Liv finally decided on a fairy.  Last year she'd wanted to be Coraline since pretty much the moment she watched the movie, but this year there was a lot of indecision.  She was thinking about Velma for the longest time, especially after we got her hair cut, but I reminded how much she'd wanted to be a fairy after her friend Talia was one last year, and we set about deciding which kind of fairy from the Disney Fairies of Pixie Hollow she wanted to be.  It came down to water- or animal-talent, and taking our new puppy, Kiera, and a stuffed animal got her set on animal.  So now comes the fun part, where I look for her costume pieces.  Yay.

So far, these are my favorite wings:

These come in a close second:

Realistically, however, I'll probably wind up just picking some up locally on the cheap.  But I like to make my ideal costume first, then budget it down as I go.  

Liv's hair is fine the way it is, so no need for a wig or anything.  If she wants some sort of hair accessory, then that's bonus.  Her outfit will be in forest colors, and I'm going to try to find things with a leaf or animal motif.  

Worst. Dream. Ever.

As many of you know, I long resisted the popular television series Buffy the Universe, along with its descendant fandom, spinoffs, literature, merchandise, etc.  When I finally gave in and barreled through  all seven seasons in three weeks, I pathetically fell hard and fast (like many other women) with Spike.  James Marsters is now synonymous with hot in Abbeyland, much to many of my friends' dismay.  Ah, sexy, sexy Spike, with your silly (fake) accent and your roguish smile, etc, etc.  As you can imagine, although I'd rather you tried not to, I've had my share of steamy day and night dreams about Spike, rewriting the Buffy-verse to suit my liking.  Usually the dreams are fun, hot, and entertaining.

Last night's dream was not one of those dreams.  Last night demonstrated fully how badly I need a new job.

Last night I watched as Spike, not simply James Marsters, but Spike the vampire, tried to live my life as a Walmart employee.

Spike, dressed as he's usually dressed in the Buffy-verse, frets over finding a plain blue or green shirt and some khaki pants in my bedroom, which via the strange logic of the subconscious, is his room.  This dream is set in my apartment, the current day, every thing is the same down to the last detail, only instead of me, there's me watching incorporeal from the third person as Spike lives my life, albeit in his own unique way.  (There's no Liv or Damion, either, btw.)  A not-quite-friend, really more of an exasperated ex-enemy who has decided for the meanwhile not to dust Spike (also typical to the Spike MO), comes up my stairs and reminds Spike he's going to be late for work.  At Wal-mart.  Spike replies rather dramatically that he is aware of that, pulling on his hair and stomping around petulantly.  "Then" he goes on to say, "there's the little matter of breakfast.  I'm a hungry, hungry hemaphage."  I'm not sure why my brain supplied that particular term, but that's what he says in the dream.  He grins evilly at his not-friend, then curses as he realizes that the dude is his ride to work. What's a ravenous vampire to do?  "I can't bite you, you lucky little Happy Meal, you, because it's just poor manners to eat the DD, mate."  Cue not-friend eye-rolling.  Work clothes found (although thankfully, not donned), they ponder the dilemma of vampire brunching while also trying to see which of my blankets would best cover Spike while he goes from house to car, the duration of the car ride, then car to work.  Whether or not my coworkers were supposed to be aware or accepting of his condition/appetites was not brought up.  They settle on my bird-print quilt.  I recall being rather affronted, as that's a relatively new purchase.  Spike has a Walmart name-badge he picks up from the table by the door.  Spike puts my pack of smokes in his pocket, whistling a tune I've had stuck in my head for days.  Spike chats idly about the people I work with, albeit stopping to consider if some would make good meals and how he easily he could snap their necks.  Spike is wearing the studded-leather cuffs I typically wear as he flicks on my lighter and lights up a Camel.  Spike drives to work in the back of some dude's car, covered in my quilt.  Spike walks in, ready to go change into his work clothes.  Spike greets the old lady at the door fondly, then snarls at a manager behind his back.  Spike wonders idly if he'll actually get to be in Electronics today, or if they'll pull him off to do something else.  Spike considers eating the first person who pisses him off, then checks out a hot customer.  Spike muses aloud if he'll ever get a better job, or if playing nice with humans has ruined his career prospects.

I wake up choking on a scream.