No Longer Loyal...

In just a couple of weeks I will be headed to Port Aransas for my yearly week of sitting my ass on the beach and drinking cheap beer and boxed wine. I am flying to Austin then heading down from there. I will not be flying on American Airlines. The airline as discontinued its service from Love Field to Austin. I would have to fly out of DFW. It takes longer to drive/train to DFW from downtown than it does to actually fly from DFW to Austin. I am also fed up with the lateness of AA. But the largest factor here is the price. Booked 2 weeks in advance the round trip on AA is $445.00 for a 30 minute flight. Sorry American, but it is time for a divorce. So I will be flying Southwest from Love Field at a price of $150.00. I still think that is a little high but I think that coming back on a Friday is what is causing the price increase. Oh well, at least it isn’t 445.00.

Pink Eye...

My poor beloved has a raging case of pink eye. I feel so sorry for him because he is in pain and miserable. He even got an eye patch and looks like a pirate! Due to his prolonged conjunctivitis his eye is the color of blood and is so swollen. Every time he blinks or basically moves his body his head pounds. When looking at him I ask myself, “I wonder when he had his Borg implants removed?” He is getting better. I threatened to kill him in his sleep if I got pink eye. I am headed to the beach (sans RonStar unfortunately) in a few short weeks and if I get pink eye I am just gonna open fire. Really though, it isn’t his fault. I think that he caught the bug when we went to the Choctaw Casino. But how seriously cool would it be if all of a sudden some Borg nano thingie popped out of his eye!

Just too damn lazy...

Some lazy kids in Salt Lake City decided to start their own protest over high gas prices. The reason? The family needed to cut back expenses in order to pay for gas so they cut the cable television and now their two daughters are protesting. The last time I checked it was summer in Utah and school is out. Why not get off your lazy asses and go play?

When my brother and I were their age we were outside all the time: playing, swimming, shooting each other with bb guns, climbing trees, and riding our bikes all over the city. In fact, I would sometimes walk or ride my bike to the movie theater and watch .50 cartoons or I would find some creek to go play in. I guess by today’s standards the actions I listed are completely dangerous and will cause irreparable harm to children. Whatever, I turned out just fabulous. Most kids (and some parents) today are just total wussies!

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/ODD_KID_PROTEST?SITE=TXDAM&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME

The Bridge...

Well I cannot believe it! After what seems like an eternity, the City of Dallas has finally started on the new Margaret Hunt Hill bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava. The Mayor wasn't kidding around when he said it was time to get this Trinity River Corridor started!

Cooking with Karen...

Hey all,

CWK will be on hiatus for a couple of weeks. We are in the middle of an incredibly busy time at work and I will not be getting home until very late. I will get right back to it as quickly as I can!

Karen

Adios Reunion...

Reunion Arena will soon be a pile of ruble. The City of Dallas has decided to demolish the 30 year old arena. I have fond memories of going to the circus, hockey games, the ice capades, and numerous other events. Since the American Airlines Center opened the traffic over at Reunion has been slowly trickling down to nothing. The only events lately booked there were religious gatherings and a Barak Obama rally. I speculate that the arena will be torn down before summers end. People are speculating what they are going to put there. I am pretty sure that it will be apart of the new Trinity Toll Way bull shit. You know, they are putting a freeway in the Trinity River but that is an entirely different blog.

So long Reunion Arena! You have had a good life but now you are just the ugly step child of AAC.

Click the link below for pictures from the DMN:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/pt/slideshows/2008/06/pho_22reunionarenahistory_2008/

Ron the strong arm...

No question about it, Ron is a big strong man. I fear not when I am with him. His commanding presence is felt by all. I am worried though that he will eventually break everything we own. At times it seems that he does not know his own strength. My gentle nudge does nothing. His gental nudge sends me on a collision coarse with the wall. There is also likely to be an antique of some sort in my way as I desend. Why, just the other morning his alarm goes off at 5:30 am.
His push of the snooze button sends the alarm sailing off the night stand waking the neighbors both next door and under us and me.

Garden & Gun...

Last week I had dinner at the Urban Cafe and there, on the bar, were two magazines. The first was Dwell and the second was Garden & Gun. I had seen Dwell before but had never heard of G&G. Curious, I began to thumb through it and found it to be entertaining. It was certainly southern. There was a special article on Sweet Iced Tea. I just knew that I had to read it. After reading it I was a bit dissappointed that there was no mention of a gun but I certainly had a hankerin' for a tall glass of tea. The next article was a riveting black and white photo spread of the Water Women of Cedar Key. Apparently these women make a living digging for clams and oysters. And finally, there was the article about Beauregard Turner, the son of Ted Turner (you know, Jane Fonda's ex-husband). He looks totally gay and even gayer with a 100 year old 12 gauge shotgun flung over his shoulder. The article was very dull. It went on and on how he runs land acquisitions and his love of children and hunting and hunting with his children at his home Avalon Plantation. Perhaps we should name our loft, something dramatic would work. I am certainly not going to hurry out and order a subscription but I did enjoy the magazine.

Williams-Sonoma = Porn…

I become giddy and wide-eyed as a little school girl every time I walk into a Williams-Sonoma. I could do some serious damage in that store. Why do I have such an addiction to kitchen ware? Luckily I have my wits about me enough to not buy crap. I hold out for the higher-quality appliances and wares. I want my stuff to last! I was in there earlier today just browsing and found at least 4-5 things I want NOW! Unfortunately the 4-5 things would run a grand total of around 800-100 dollars. I want to complete my Wustoff knife collection, add a Kitchen Aide stand mixer, several cookbooks, several small specialty gadgets, etc. Oh well. There is no need to stock up on stuff I really don’t need. Perhaps I could write it all off as a business expense for Cooking with Karen. Eh, probably not.

Cutting back...

I have been complaining about my growing waist. Lack of exercise, work, bad food choices, work, getting married, work, etc have contributed to my weight. Well, this past week I have been really cutting back. For breakfast I eat wheat toast, for lunch I have been eating less (portions the size of my fist) and for every diet coke I have I drink 2 large glasses of water. For dinner I do the same, eating better choices, eating out less, and no alcohol. I had a greyhound on Monday because it is low in calories and sugar. Well the grapefruit juice in the beverage has broken my mouth out in sores to the point it hurts to drink or eat. Anyway, I am now able to button my pants and shorts!! I am going to continue this although I would kill for a margarita!

Cooking with Karen...

Caesar Salad with Pancetta

2-4 servings

Salad:

1 head romaine lettuce, washed

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup pancetta, cooked

Dressing:

1 egg yolk, room temperature

1 tsp dijon mustard (country style preferred)

1 clove of garlic

3 anchovies-optional

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

Dice pancetta in 1/2 inch cubes and cook over medium low heat for 10-15 minutes until brown and crisp.  Drain on paper towel and set aside.

Wash romaine lettuce and cut into cubes

Dressing:

Combine egg yolk, mustard, garlic, cheese, salt, and pepper in a food processor. If using anchovies then omit the salt.  Pulse the machine several times until the mixture is combined through.  Add olive oil and pulse until mixed through.  

Toss salad with dressing until leaves are coated.  Add pancetta and 1/2 cheese and toss.

Enjoy!

Forkboy...

Forkboy has been kinda dormant lately.  Actually he has been eating at home-mostly.  Look for a new review on Hook Line & Sinker soon!  

This is so going to pass...

The Dallas city council is overwhelmingly in favor of a total smoking ban and I say get that bill passed pronto!! Dallas already has a smoking ban in place for most public spaces but now they want to extend it to bars and clubs. I can't wait! This goes in front of the council in August and will probably be law if it passes by the end of this year.

Choctaw Casino...

We felt the need to get out of town. Even if for just a few hours. We were supposed to attend a birthday party but decided instead to head north to Durant, OK with some friends to gamble at Choctaw Casino and Resort. I am not certain just what their definition of "resort" is.

We left around 6:30 and we were starving. We stop in Sherman, I think, at McDonalds because everything else looked just way to "k"ountry. Have you seen that video with the retarded kid singing "Ding, fries are done....would you like an apple pie with that?" If not then click the link at the bottom. Well, the dining experience was like that. I ordered a quarter pounder with cheese, dry and got blank stares from William who looked like and sounded like a girl but had one of those chins reserved for morbidly obese, which he wasn't, or someone like Corky from that tv show whose name escapes me.

Anyway, after eating at the special McDonald's we get to Durant, OK. We go in and the place was packed! This place ain't Vegas. If you do not smoke then a few moments spent in this casino now qualifies you as a chain smoker. Luckily there was a non-smoking room however, it resembled the special kids table in high school. Ron and I set a high-rolling budget of 20 bucks each. We work hard for our money and would rather not flush it down the drain. I love playing the nickel and quarter slots so that is what I did. On my first bet I won $17 and was content on being done for the evening. Overall, I lost it all. The biggest disappointment/relief was that this was a non-alcohol serving casino. Had there been booze involved then I am sure we would have had a better time while dropping next month's rent payment. Since there was no booze served then we left after about an hour. At this point we just could not breathe with all the smoke. Unlike Shreveport and Vegas this place did not have the nice air filtration systems.

Overall, we had a good time. We consider our losses a mere donation to the Choctaw tribes of Oklahoma. Now I am off to buy Nicorrette.

Ding! Fries are done:

Getting by without a car...

There was a CNN poll that asked “Can you get by without a car?” 15% said yes and 85% said no (out of 53,393 votes). What they should be asking is “Do you WANT to get by without your car?” I have a feeling that the percentages would stay relatively the same. Living in cites with mass transit is really a blessing. Cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco have it made! Dallas and Atlanta have very sophisticated, young mass transit systems that, while not near the scale of NYC or Chicago, get people to and from many destinations stress free, quick, and cheap. I know many people who would rather die than give up “their God given right to drive.” And these are people who cannot really afford $4 gasoline (really $3). Why spend 200+ dollars a month when you can spend 50 a month for a DART pass? Just makes no sense to me to live in a city with busses and trains and not use them. Everyone complains about gas prices and I admit that they are high for the United States. But take a look at how much money it takes to fill up a tank of gas in Europe. They pay in upwards to 10 dollars a liter. That’s right, a liter, not gallon. Basically all I am saying is that if you live in a mass transit city then use it and stop bitching about how much gas is. Gas is high, that is a fact that isn’t going to go away.

Cooking With Karen...

Episode 2 of Cooking with Karen! Enjoy!



Next week: Ceasar Salad

I was a bit inconsistent with the cooking time on the video: 1 hour, 20 minutes @ 400 degrees.


Turkey Meatloaf:

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup good beer
1/8 cup Worcestershire
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1 small clove garlic, minced
3 slices of bacon (optional)

preheat oven to 400˚

combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and mush all together until well mixed.
place turkey mixture in a loaf pan
place pan in oven and cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
optional-add bacon after 1 hour of cooking and return to oven for remaining 20 minutes.

Waist size...

Every since I started at FCS I have gained weight. Which is perfectly fine. I needed to gain a few pounds as it was. I started in July 2007 and was 140. Last month I weighed myself and I was 162. Now I am probably pushing 170 if not already. The problem I have is that my clothes do not fit. I broke down a month ago and bought two new pair of Jeans. The jeans were 31 waist. I threw on a pair this morning and they didn’t fit-both pair!! I was in NYC a few weeks ago. I brought a pair of dress pants with me. There was NO way I could fit into them. So now I am having to wear my pants-that remotely fit-unfastened with a rubber band through the button hole and wrapped around the button. WTF? I am done buying new pants to accommodate my growing wait line. I am hitting the gym. People also tell me that part of this is married weight. Well, crap. I am hitting the gym today!

Texas Govna's Mansion...

Why in the hell would someone set fire to the the Texas Governor's Mansion??  I know Rick Perry, along with every other governor in the nation, has their haters but WTF?  There is just no reason to burn down the 152 year old house.  

Before:

After:

Sex and the City...

This as a fabulous movie! I LOVED it! I was kinda worried about the 2.5 hour running time but forgot all about that. The only disappointment was that the movie ended. It was certainly the Miranda and Carrie show but the funniest moment went to Charlotte and I certainly hope that I look as good at 50 as Kim Catrall does (not that I want to look like her...that would require some therapy). If you are a fan of the show then you will love the movie. Highly recommended!!