Lunch time!

Just wanted to share a look at my lunch location, right behind my office; my "kantine":



So, what do you think about it?

Spring? They call THIS spring?

I know, different places in the world have different climates.
Put so far, this must have been the oddest spring of all!

Spring; the time of year where after a cold winter, you open up every window in your house to let the fresh new air in. Where the grayness is replaced by blooming flowers, and the temperature rices a little again.

But not here in Georgia.

Here, after the freshness of the winter leaves, people close up every window, seal of every opening, and hope their air conditioner holds. Then, temperatures soar up to 30degrees Celsious (86F), cars turn a Uni-color, and if we had more brick roads, they all would be Yellow Brick Roads. Now, we ended up with just yellow roads. And
I think I might also know where the Beatles got their inspiration for "Yellow Submarine"..

The reason for it all (apart from the temperatures) is the pollen Pine trees release here in clouds. Cars, streets, windows, plants; everything gets a yellow coating.

Quite an experience...
And well, I can imagine a worse color than yellow...

Slow Cooker Convert

Don't get spoiled now, yes, 2 blogs in 2 days.
But I just have to report on the slow cooking.
Last night I set of into a new culinary adventure, slow cooking.
Found a recipe, got the groceries, and even prepared the ingredients that needed cutting. This morning, I quickly tossed the couple of ingredients that needed to be sauteed in the skillet while preparing my breakfast and enjoying my morning coffee. Mixing it all together in the slow cooker resulted in just a nice amount for the 1/2 2/3rd requirement, slowcooker on low, and off to work; not much later than usual. Seems even when additional preparation is required, with a little thinking ahead, it doesn’t require getting out of bed any earlier. (+1)

Arriving home
When I cook rice on a timer, and arriving home having the place smell all nice after the fresh rice is wonderful. But today, the sent was less oriental, and all the more Mexican. It kind of reminds me of a Mexican restaurant. In my own kitchen, without much effort (big +1) I did worry a bit about it drying out maybe, as the recipe time was a little less than the time I had been out for work, but, a quick look in the pot convinced me I didn’t had to worry; plenty of liquid left. And I can’t resist the smell, so I’ll have a quick taste…

Oh my, that is good. Maybe I should have reduced the green pepper a bit more, as the flavor is quite clearly present, although not too overwhelming. Can’t wait for dinner time!



Was anybody keeping score? In any case, after a little bump at the start, I have become a slow cooker convert; that meal was great. (+1 if you’re still counting). And still half a pot left to freeze, for another great dinner another day (yes, another +1).

Losing My Slow Cooker Virginity

After family and friends have all continuously been bragging about how nice a slow cooker is, I now finally have one at my disposal too. It’s resting right here at my desk, staring back at me. I think neither of us is sure how we both ended up here together. It’s a nice little 3 Quarts Crockpot; probably one of the smallest sizes available. But then again, usually, I only need to feed one.

It’s just after work, closing in at dinner time, so, let’s put it to some good use. Or, well, it’s a SLOW cooker, so never mind that, or I won’t be eating until midnight…
-1 for the slow cooker…

Having to find a different dinner for today, I decide to look into dinner for tomorrow. With closets filed like your average bachelor, (lots of prepared and microwavable food) and only a little extra for stir frying, I suppose I won’t be able to pull a slow cooker meal together from that. Also, with a brilliant absence of any previous experience with slow cooking myself, I have no recipes to start with either.
(Ah, the microwave tells me dinner is ready for tonight, another -1 for the slow cooker…)

Hunting recipes
Dr Google is my best friend, and proves himself with a quick search for “slow cooker recipes” returning 4,330,000 results (wow, +1 for slow cooking). A lot of results turn out to be for larger sized pots, serving whole families at a time. (hmmm -1 for singles wanting to slow cook), and good luck finding most ingredients in my house (yet another -1) So, a quick question to a friend and slow cooker fanatic tells me that I can reduce the quantity of recipes to fit my cooker (+1), but should make sure to fill 1/2nd to 2/3rd of the pot. Also, he warns me that spices don’t scale evenly (huh? -1)

Anyway, I think I’ll settle on something I’d never make without slow cooker, because it’d be too cumbersome, but I generally quite like it when others make it. Fiesta Chicken, a tortilla wrap. The recipe doesn’t involve many steps (+1!) nor seems to required a lot of preparation time (+1). I even have some of the ingredients from my stir frying stock(+1). The other ingredients I’ve seen in many other recipes, so, should be a good investment. (I really would appreciate a list of the more common slow cooker ingredients…) Today’s dinner is finished, let’s go shopping for tomorrow’s.


Hunting ingredients
An interesting note I found on a website is the recommendation to buy the cheaper cuts of meat, as it would work better in a slow cooker. Nice. (+1). A quick read of the recipe indicates boneless skinless chicken, that I would need to dice, and cook… But as a good bachelor I know I can get pre-diced, precooked skinless boneless chicken from the freezer in my grocery store. If I leave that in the fridge overnight, that safes me even more work in the morning (+1)

Snow

I have to admit, when I arrived in the Netherlands, just before Christmas, I arrived basically in the eye of a snow storm. And it basically took out most forms of transportation. But, it did snow quite a bit, to Dutch standards. Probably like a good 20cm/8inch, in very little time (the plane landed while it was maybe 4 inch, after taxing and waiting for an available gate, it doubled that.) Which meant, I was going nowhere that day.

Now, just last week, it snowed here in Georgia too. It started in the afternoon, and somewhere late in the evening, more snow had fallen than usually in a whole year!
...
It was a good 7cm/3inch:

I completely took out traffic. (Now, 3 days later, there's no snow left, even in the shadows :(     )

How it reminds me of when I lived in Lake Forest, IL. The snow knee deep, the piles along the parking lots more than man-high, and traffic just continued going...

PS. I heard The Netherlands has ran out of salt?! hmmm, next time only 2cm/1 inch of snow falls, it will take out traffic completely again too :)

There and back again

I'm back in the U S of A.
Yes, I've been gone for a little. Back to the Netherlands for 4 weeks around Christmas and New Years'. Just a short trip.
Catching up the family, and with the colleagues at work.
And while the snow was 8inches/20cm back in NL, here, the sun is shining over the green grass. (Okey, the trees are leafless here too). It has become a small world.

And you know, the world gets smaller, the more you travel; The flights weren't as tiresome as they used to be, but, they weren't the great and exciting Events they used to be either.
One time, the scent of kerosene mixed in with the chill of the morning would remind me of adventure, of travel to wonderful places, of meeting new and interesting people...
Maybe the difference now too, is that I'm returning here for work. No new people, no expectations of travel, no plans for new adventures...
Or are there...?
;-)

Differences are to get used to

One of the most interesting things in visiting other countries, is experiencing all the differences. Often they are counter-intuitive, odd, or just require getting used to (no questions asked. ;) )
And occasionally, you just need to reset your mind, as "things are different", as happened to me the other day.

Coming from the Netherlands, having driven a relative new car there, I was used to using like 10W-50 grade oil, and driving 20.000 KM before bringing in the car for service, which often cost small fortunes.

But "things are different here". OK, I have to admit, the car I drive isn't as new as I was used to. But being told by the Honda dealer itself, that what they always use is 5W-30, services are usually done every 5000 Miles, and the whole service (including checking lights, tires, battery and oil change) costed me like a little over $30...

Well, I can tell you, that's "one of those moments".