GENTLEMEN! BEHOLD!!!

I BRING YOU...



SOUP!!!

Lentil & pasta soup, actually!
(Passions to pastry)
Very delicious. This was my second run making this recipe. I was intending to swap half of the orzo in it for barley, but I realized at the last second that I no longer possessed any barley. However, I've been exchanging the lemon juice (which I do not have presently) for lime juice (which I do), and it has tasted just fine as such.

I've recently gained a striking interest in lentils, having tried them for the first time at Amy's Place a couple weeks ago. I cannot believe I haven't tried them before, for as tasty as they are. Regardless, I've lined up a slew of recipes with which to eat them, so I'm hoping they will all be delicious!

P.S. Here's the reference to my introduction (if you didn't already catch it).

Anyone ever tried this wine before? I picked it up at Gates Circle as they were out of the blueberry wine from Niagara Landing. Thinking about popping it open tonight for dessert to finally just try it out.

My fridge is loaded with leftovers to feed me through this weekend (and then some, likely).

I really want to make some veggie fried rice, as I don't want my peppers and garlic to go bad!

I never thought I'd get too overzealous on the cooking, but sometimes I forget I'm only feeding one. Ack!

Currently stocked:
Crockpot's worth of beef stroganoff and egg noodles
1.5 casserole dish's worth of homemade mac'n'cheese (I overestimated with the bechamel and ended up having to make a small second dish's worth)
A quart or two of spaghetti sauce (I ought to freeze it), since I finally finished over the leftover spaghetti this morning.

Sorry I haven't stopped around much. As (e:tinypliny) put it, I've got a blog elsewhere. I sort of frequent that more. Oops. *blush*

Walking around with a shopping cart in Aldi, it was filled with twelve boxes of hot-pocket wannabes and eight pot pies.


I can only imagine how it screamed "lazy non-cooker." However, for $26, I now have 32 lunches stocked in my freezer at work! They're really only backups for those days I forget to bring in some leftovers or a prepared lunch. I think I'm done with the "crap, forgot lunch so I'm going out to eat" mentality. The budgetary reassignment necessary for that is insane when I do the math. Blargh!

Thank goodness I only have to do this 2-3 times a year.

When my music isn't enough to remove the tedium from my daily benchwork in the lab...

...I make patterns in experiments. Like my gels. Pretty colors!

In other random musings while I'm waiting for my gel to run, contemplating the whle "resolutions for the new year" thing. I always feel like I cheap out on them whenever I did in the past; it's probably been six or seven years since I actually made resolutions to stick to. This year might be a good one to propose a few with, however.

Now this is the kind of weather I enjoy waking up to in Buffalo. :)

This may not be the best place to be checking around, but my friend and I still have 3 seats to this Sunday's Colts game since his shady cousin (and co.) backed out on him. The seats are somewhere in the 100's, but I will update later with the specifics on seat/section.

I know there'll be nil chance of seeing Peyton (for all the Manning-love fans), but is there anyone interested in going that hasn't already obtained tickets? You'd be welcome to tailgate with us, however there being only 2 or 3 of us at present, we may not tailgate more than an hour or two. I'm still beating my infection from doing this at the last home game.

Who needs Girls Gone Wild?

Homemade trail mix (kind of), only because I can never find any with blueberries in them!

So voila, peanuts, cranberries, and blueberries. NOM!

2am last night, and some pickup truck was plowing snow along the north half of Lexington and the sidewalk in front of The Place. I'm all for snow removal and got quite used to it growing up (my house growing up was on a 4-lane major thoroughfare in Minot, ND, that had to be plowed regularly), but I'm really not used to someone going back and forth and back and forth for what seemed like 30-40 minutes. I figured it was a one-shot (maybe two) deal and it was plowed, amirite? Oh well, I managed to sleep through the plows during daylight this morning after the parking ordinance switched sides on Ashland. I swear, I really could sleep through (once I am asleep) a tornado or something comparable if I was really stuck in that situation again.

Thankfully the plague that is my non-sterile sinuses stayed under wraps, without antibiotics no less! However, due to the causative nature present at tailgating/watching the Bills home game against the Patriots, I'm considering rescinding my attendance to the Colts game this Sunday. I still have an in to it with friends, but I'm at a loss of how to prevent my sinuses from being overrun again. I'm still clearing out the last of the residual drainage; it's no longer than vile yellow/green as the infection was setting in.

One of my best friends from the MN/ND area where I went to college was supposed to try and come up for this weekend (her boyfriend was flying out for work-related travel for 5 days). Unfortunately, she turned riotously ill with something that left her retching all night and in no shape to drive this morning. So alas, those NYE plans are a wash. I was just invited to go to the party at Queen Victoria Park over in Ontario tonight, but those sinus-issues don't have me inkling to stand in the cold (and potentially rainy) weather for 3-4 hours. Nor amongst 30000+ people. I'm not much of one for big parties (like just 30-40+ people), let alone over 9000.

I saw (and was recommended by (e:tinypliny)) the invite for NYE at the 24. I'm undecided if I want to go meet a bunch of strangers yet, but that's my only feasible social option for the holiday (all my other friends are basically out of town or elsewhere for the holiday break, except Mr.-Queen-Victoria-Park-Party).

In other news, my overnight digest (or recovery) completely consumed my plasmid. Time to go figure out where it went and/or digest a fresh batch!