Shake It Squirrel!

What A Week!

shakeitsquirrel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:36:32 +0000

Things are moving right along here at the squirrel nest, this week is really busy! First of all I have a new job, the personal assistant to the incredible Kristen Wheeler of KHPhotographics! You can’t beat a job where you’re hired to boss around the boss, and I hav the nagging skills to keep her on track. This weekend is the first of two weekends at the Gainesville Ren Faire too, as the newest addition to the Sahnobar Gypsies. Not only did they ask me to dance, but I’m the one running my mouth and making the silly jokes. It’s a clear case of type casting, they’ve assigned me the character of the hussy. Hmmmph. Behind on all the baking, and the house is looking really shabby so my poor man is suffering through patiently.

The other fun thing this weekend was a great charity show for Haiti! It was really last minute, but even with how small we started out we had a great audience and some incredible singing and dancing and playing. Azuca was who I danced with, they’re really becoming my focus these days when it comes to dancing. Laid back and always laughing, you can’t help but love every second with this group. There’s so much to learn, I’d never even heard of bomba dancing when I started with them and there’s years of work to do. You can’t beat it for therapy!

Winter In The Sunshine State!

shakeitsquirrel — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:37:18 +0000

Ok! Back with a new laptop, it works and everything! It’s a cold day here in Florida, yes we really do have those every now and then. And no, I ain’t just being a wussy because it froze and everything so no giggling. Started the day off right, Eggs In A Hole and mixed fruit smoothies. Y’all are most likely looking at me funny now, but I swear by frozen drinks in the winter! D’s and my sinuses get all irritated when the temperature drops, and I’ve found that something really cold right when we get up gets rid of pain and opens them back up nicely which improves our day.

The America’s Test Kitchen Project is coming along nicely, but I wish I had some good pics to put up! Next month if the budget holds out I might be getting a new camera, the poor old camera I have now is refusing to work right anymore. Please keep this in mind when y’all do get pics, they’re blurry and the macro function no longer works and the flash is quitting so… Be kind. This morning as I was looking over the cookbook, the print jumped out at me again. “Over 1200 recipes!” What was I thinking? That’s a heck of a bunch of recipes, but I’m sure having fun with it! It’s not as neat without pics, but these are the ones I’ve done so far:

Hummus (as easy as it always is)
Stir-Fried Chicken And Pineapple In Sweet And Sour Sauce (delicious and just perfect!)
Stuffed Pork Chops (want to try again)
Big Beautiful Muffins (the new go to muffin in our house)
Irish Soda Bread (eh)
Eggs In A Hole (the same recipe as all others really but tasty)
Easy Cheese Souffle (the first souffle I’ve ever made or eaten!)

There was a pitiful attempt at Eggs Benedict one evening, but I wasn’t focused on cooking and it was a big flop and it doesn’t count. Recipes that fail don’t count, there’s nothing in this cook book that ain’t been tweaked and tested to be successful so if I’m having a bad day and ruin it, I’ll just try again the next week! There’s no must be finished by on this project, the point is to learn to become a better cook then I am and learn bunches of techniques and classic food. The only problem is gonna be all the other things I wanna cook too!

Stupid DSL

shakeitsquirrel — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:50:32 +0000

The second day of my blogging every day commitment, and the DSL goes out. Thank goodness for my new BlackBerry Storm 2, eben of I’m not used to typing on it yet. Not much to report in the world of food today, came home feeling icky after rehearsal and heated up hoppin John from yesterday for D and me. The rehearsal was fir the Gainesville Hoggetowne Faire, we’re the Gypsies dancing there. The troupe who usually does it was missing a few dancers this year, so Sumayah and Krystle and me are joining them. There ain’t much time to learn all the dances, and I have to announce too! D and me went and found all the camping gear I’ll need, it’s January even here! Tomorrow is Azuca rehearsal, and a meeting to talk about what we want to work on. I love Azuca!

Happy New Year!!!

shakeitsquirrel — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:45:43 +0000

Heya y’all!

Promised to get this blog started on New Year’s Day, and I’m totally sliding in under the wire but I made it! Can’t promise any of it is gonna be interesting or entertaining, but there’s bunches of food coming and dancing and singing. The main focus for now is my attempt to cook my way through The America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook, to learn everything in it. D and me are starting a backyard garden too, so expect many learning experiences that could even produce a veggie. There could even be pictures, if I can convince this poor digital camera to not give up yet! Any comments would be loved, it’s always great to know if anybody out there is enjoying my progress!

P.S. Guess which one I am!