Men's Cooking contest

Last nite was the annual 'Men's cooking contest' hosted by our friends Rebecca and Ron. The men must decide on a recipe, and then prepare the dish with no help from the wife. They must also create a display to present their main entree. One fellow even did an ice sculpture!

The wives vote on the originality of the dish's title, presentation and finally on taste. There is a Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced category. Numbers are assigned to each dish so no one but the wife knows who did what dish.

Doug won in the Beginner category in all three areas with his soon to be famous 'Roadkill Chilly'. The prop included a 'dead' furry possum watching over the crockpot.

Recipe is as follows:

1 lb squirrel or possum (may use lean hamburger instead)
1 can squashed tomatoes
1 can kidney beans (liver or spleen beans will NOT do)
1 can tomato soup (or 100 ketchup packets from McDonald’s drive thru)

1 green pepper chopped (if you put it in whole, it just looks silly)
1 onion chopped (real men cry when they chop onions)

1 packet of French’s Chili-O mix

Brown meat in frypan breaking up into small chunkettes.
Put browned meat chunkettes into large saucepan.
Add canned tomatoes with liquid, beans with liquid and soup.
Add pepper and onion.
Add spice mix packet.
Mix well.
Simmer over low heat for one hour, stirring frequently.

A good time was had by all.

Wakey wakey!

There was a somber air hanging over the house after the chair departed. While I was pleased with the new, and I think improved look, my sweetie was in mourning. So, what better way to help heal but to throw a wake!

Our friends came over dressed all in black and surprised Doug. I had made a card to express my condolences and we sat outside eating appies and toasting the chair.

I did the eulogy and then invited others to share their memories. One friend said that although she hadn't known the chair for long, he had always welcomed her warmly. After each speech we raised our glasses and toasted and yelled 'TO THE CHAIR!'. Other neighbours gathered and were invited to express their feelings. Phyllis said 'Good riddance...he was a disgrace to the neighbourhood!'

Doug was in mourning for another day and then yesterday we went out and replaced the chair and his soon to be departed sister Sophie the Sofa. The new kid on the block will be a lovely leather sofa and matching ottoman.

I feel a 'Welcome to the 'hood' party coming on!

Chairish the memory....

Alas, we lost a 'friend' today...he was a faithful companion, always there when you needed him...in fact, you could lean on him and know that he would comfort you. Some would say that all he did was lie around all day and that was true.

In fact, sometimes he just plain got in the way. I think at times he mocked me by saying 'gee, you've had a busy day...me? oh not much...just laid around most of the day'.

But he has moved onto greener pastures. He didn't protest too much when his time had come...in fact, I don't think he even looked back as he drove off with another.

We take comfort in knowing that he's gone to a place where he will be put to good use....his new best friend needs him to help him recover from foot surgery tomorrow and then he gets to hang out in a real man place where we've been told there is a beer fridge, TV and computer.

It's all for the best....and we'll always have the memories to 'chairish'. And in case anyone asks, his sister Sophie the Sofa needs a good home too!

Blogging for Dummies....second try!

This is the second attempt at posting a blog..apparently 'save now' and 'save' mean different things!

I was asked today if I had a blog. I said no because I thought my life was much too boring and lame.

To prove that point I reflected on what I had done in the past week:

1. Made chicken soup for the soul.

2. Hit a million tennis balls

3. Drew and painted three rather nice IMHO masterpieces....best to get my autograph now before I become too famous to talk to you.

4. Went to a Medieval Nite dressed as a wench with my real life 'knight in shining armour'.

5. Sent an email to the author of 'The Drunkard's Walk..how Randomness Rules our lives' a Dr. Mlodinow to ask him if it was true that it really was a 'one in a million' chance that the Pick 3 Nebraska lottery picked the same three winning numbers (out of 9) two days in a row.

6.Phoned my mother.

A little eclectic perhaps but the days have slipped by. It's sunny and warm where I am and so no reason to really work up a sweat.

Oh, now I'm off to play pool....another day in the slow lane....pretty cool.