The Misadventures of Mub

My Newbery Project

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:03:00 +0000

One of the things on my 101 list is to read every book that has won a Newbery Medal. The first Newbery Medal was awarded in 1922 so if you do the math this gives me a rather lengthy list of books to get through. I have read several on the list through the years of growing up but it's been long enough that I felt like I should just start with a clean slate and re-read those that I had read in the past.

I first thought I'd start with the 1922 winner and go in chronological order but after several weeks of trying to make it through The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon, I abandoned that idea and decided to just read them in whatever order I felt like. If you're wondering, I'm still slogging through The Story of Mankind. It's approximately ninety-million-billion pages long... and it hasn't grabbed my attention enough to sit down and just get through it!

I will confess that I do count the books that I've listened to as books that I've read. Some may think I'm a cheater, I just think it's a safer way to "read" and ride my bike... hah!

I'm going to put a Newbery Project tab on my nav menu in case you start to feel curious about my progress.

How many Newbery books have you read?

Menu Plan Monday- January 9, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:23:00 +0000

This past week's menu had mixed reviews.

We both really liked the Tuna Patties but weren't really sold on the Grilled Portobello Mushrooms.

The Shepherd's Pie with Cauliflower Mash was not bad. We did make a couple of small changes though and we decided that it probably needed a couple more to make it just right. We added some cream cheese to the mash and a lot of garlic and onion powder. Also, we tossed in about a cup of lightly steamed diced celery root into the beef mixture just to stretch it out a bit more. I think it could use a rather big slosh more of Worcestershire sauce but it still needed something else to perk it up a bit.

The smoked salmon BLT salad was tasty with a bit of avocado thrown in and was basically just the breadless version of the BLT itself!

I didn't make the Mexican Baked Eggs and didn't get to the Meatloaf with White Beans and Mushrooms. I still have most of what's needed to make those so they'll carry over.

This week:

Mexican Baked Eggs

Meatloaf with White Beans and Mushrooms

Chicken Tandoori- Totally cheating on this one and using a boxed mix.

Roasted Tomato, Halloumi & Quinoa Salad

Are you eating anything new and exciting this week?

Menu Plan Monday- January 2, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:05:00 +0000

Part of getting back on track involves getting my menus up again.

On the agenda for this week:

Meatloaf with White Beans and Mushrooms
Shepherd's Pie with Cauliflower Mash
Smoked Salmon BLT Salad
Tuna Patties on Grilled Portobello Mushrooms
Mexican Baked Eggs

Poking my head out...

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:55:00 +0000

You know when you get really busy or slightly unmotivated and start to let things slide a little... and then they keep sliding and sliding until they turn into some huge insurmountable task that makes you want to crawl back under the covers and never come out again? Meanwhile you get further and further behind. People start contacting you to ask if Mr Jummy told you to take a wrong turn and you are lost or dead somewhere in the middle of South Dakota. Everyone you know says "Why did you stop blogging? Don't you like it anymore?!" So you just slink further and further under the covers to hide because WHERE ON EARTH DO YOU EVEN BEGIN?!

First things first I suppose. Martijn and I are not lost or dead in the middle of South Dakota. We had a wonderful but very busy time visiting family and driving and driving and driving and driving. After I sent him home to The Netherlands at the beginning of October I stayed another month and came back at the beginning of November. I'm not going to lie. It's hard coming back after being gone for two months. I treasure my time with my family and friends and it's hard to leave them behind. I said it was a good thing I sent Martijn home a month early otherwise I might not be able to drag myself back here!

It took me awhile to get back into the swing of things here and I think I'm finally "back" and ready to poke my head out from under the covers again, so to speak.

On the road again...

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:11:00 +0000

We made it to Utah safely and are now on the road through Wyoming and South Dakota to Minnesota. Mr Jummy is navigating...

I wonder if we'll ever be heard from again?

J/Yummy Ready for Holiday!

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:58:00 +0000

Mr Jummy & Mrs Yummy are going on holiday and have graciously allowed Martijn and I to tag along! We're headed to Utah in the morning and I can't wait to get there and give my mom and dad a hug.

Friday Fragments- July 29, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:29:00 +0000

It's time again for Friday Fragments! I don't feel like I did very much this week but let's see what I can come up with to tell you about!

After completing my goal of a 30km bike ride I decided I would set my next goal a little higher... and bike to Belgium!

This may be slightly less impressive than it sounds because I live within sneezing distance of the border but I was still impressed with myself for doing it.

*****

I came home from my bum-numbing ride and bought a new bike saddle with a little stubby nose. I had to order it online because the only one in that style that I could find locally was a gel seat and I decided "gel" is slang for "you're gonna regret buying this seat if you take any rides longer than 10km."

*****

I'm going to a tapas party tomorrow hosted by two of my lovely friends here. I am bringing teeny one-bite cranberry cream cheese muffins and some phyllo pastry with cheese and ham rolls. I am excited to see what other people bring.

*****

There is some really unclever person who thinks that my e-mail address actually belongs to them. I know it's not stuff I've signed up for because it's a very slight variation on the address that I actually use (periods on Gmail addresses can be omitted or extra ones added and the e-mail all goes the same place). I get weird e-mails from family members that I know I am not related to! Every now and then I get bombarded with password recovery e-mails at my secondary e-mail address while she tries to retrieve "her" password. I get bank statement notifications and I know what's on her Netflix queue. Today she signed up for match.com and part of me wants to do evil horrible things to her profile. Honestly, wouldn't you start to wonder why you couldn't ever log into your e-mail and why you never got the e-mails you thought you signed up for?

I don't really know what to do other than shake my head in wonderment and keep deleting the e-mails.

*****

I'm so mad. I've been wearing my cute hat that I fancied up and it's been a little rainy and I've been sweaty so it's gotten damp. The darn button on the top is a fabric covered METAL button that's rusting. So now my pretty white hat is all marred up with rust spots.

*****

Go visit the amazing Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time for more Friday Fragments Fun (oooh alliteration) I hope everyone has a fun weekend. I think I will!

Menu Plan Monday- July 25, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 04:54:00 +0000

Last week:

We both really liked the Curried Chickpea Salad but the Mushroom Quinoa Stew wasn't very memorable and it actually tasted yucky as leftovers so that means a big fat FAIL in a soup/stew recipe if you ask me.

The Sticky Sausage & Sweet Potato Salad was quite tasty but we both thought I should've used slightly leaner sausages than I did. You need them to have a little fat though because you don't use any oil on the sweet potatoes to roast them.

As for the Nutty Chicken Curry... well I'm not going to make it again. It tasted okay but there are certainly way better curry recipes around.

Sloppy Joe Bake- I'm going to add in a can of kidney beans like it suggests in the "All-American" version. Seems a bit strange to me though as I've never once added beans to my real "all-American" sloppy joes!

Thai Coconut Soup- I love this stuff. I'll post the recipe on Tuesday!

Split Pea Soup- Yes, in July. Unlike the rest of the northern hemisphere we are not having an absurd heat wave at the moment... plus I have a little ham in the fridge that I really ought to use.

Baked Corndogs- I love corndogs. I hardly ever eat them but they're so so good. I'm going to try this and see if they're any good but I think I'm going to change the flour/cornmeal ratio to 1:1. If I'm going to eat a corndog i want it to be CORNY not floury... hah!

Bacon and Egg Casserole with Tomatoes- I'm not sure we'll actually get to this meal this week but it's usually stuff I have in the fridge anyways so if I don't make it it's okay.

What's your menu looking like this week?

Monkeys Monkeys Everywhere!

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:44:00 +0000

Some might say that Disneyland is the "happiest place on earth" and while I do find it a wonderfully fun place to visit I can tell you it's not the happiest place on earth. I discovered a few weeks ago that the happiest place on earth is actually the Apenheul. The primate zoo where monkeys roam free and there are teeny monkey babies everywhere.

There was a brand new baby gorilla born the night before we went so that was pretty exciting too!

The gorillas live on an island in the middle of the park and there is a "feeding show" every few hours where they'll come for treats like apples and cucumbers. We were really lucky because ALL of them showed up for our show and the hosts said that doesn't always happen. I learned a couple of interesting things during the show. Gorillas can't swim and they have round potbellies because their intestinal track is larger and set up slightly differently than in humans.

This little orangutan was so funny. He kept hiding under his blanket and then popping out and jumping and waving... then crawled back under to hide for another minute before popping out again. Orangutan peek-a-boo!

If you're ever in Apeldoorn, take the day and go to the Apenheul! They're open from March 30 to October 31st and entry is €18,50 for adults (which I think is plenty but we did have discount cards and now that I've been I would still recommend it even if you have to pay full price).

*****

Be sure to swing byUnknown Mami for more Sundays in My City.

Friday Fragments- July 22, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:50:00 +0000

I miss doing Friday Fragments so I'm going to make an effort to participate regularly again.

*****

Martijn bought me a fietscomputer (bike computer) a few weeks ago so that I could track my mileage and speed. It's totally a psychological motivator because I can see how far I went and say "Oh, I can go FURTHER today!!" Counting my 32km trek on Wednesday, I cycled 129km this week!

****

In other cycling related news, I am considering a noseless bike saddle... and maybe some cycling shorts with a nice padded bum.

*****

I am so pleased with the progression of technology. I have to get pictures of my eyeballs done once a year and every time they dilate my eyes it makes me want to die for the next 24-72 hours while the drops wear off. I get the letter for the appointment about 6 weeks beforehand and then I spend the next 6 weeks moping about it. Well this year I went in and she said "We got a new camera and with your light eyes we shouldn't need to use the drops." I almost hugged her. Seriously!

*****

My mom loves me a lot. I already know this but she sent me some new socks for my birthday to remind me just how much!

*****

Have a good weekend! We're headed to Belgium tomorrow for a family BBQ. Hopefully the weather will be nice.

Be sure to swing by Half Past Kissin' Time for more Friday Fragment fun!

Go on a 30km bike ride without dying

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:44:00 +0000

(Alternate title: Why my bum is going to hurt tomorrow)

I don't drive in this country which is okay because it's the flatlands and being in a rather big city gives me pretty easy access to things by bike or if I'm really desperate, public transportation. I go pretty much everywhere by bike but most of my normal treks don't take me more than 5-6km (3 and a little bit miles) away from home. That's why I figured a good challenge for my 101 list would be to take a 30km (18.64 mile) bike ride without dying. The without dying part was especially important because what good is a great accomplishment if you die in the process or before you can brag about it!

I've been working my way up and have done several 20km rides but today I got a wild hair and decided it would be the day to make the longer journey! I got on Google Maps and plotted a route that would get me 29.3 or so and I figured I could just loop around the block once more to get me that extra 700 meters. Thanks to my winning sense of direction it turns out I didn't even need to make another loop around the block because I took a wrong turn somewhere and extended my journey a little.

My handy dandy bike computer tells me I did 32.79km (just a hair over 20 miles).

And I lived to tell the tale!!

Menu Plan Monday- July 18, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 07:59:00 +0000

Alright, this was a mixed week. The Sizzling halloumi with fava beans and mint wasn't bad but I don't think that it was as good as I'd have hoped. I think if you cubed up the halloumi and tossed it in with the beans and served it as a side dish it would be better.

I thought that the Steamed pork and shrimp wontons were quite tasty. I decided to steam the broccoli for the stir-fried broccoli with cashews and I think there was serious potential for good until I boiled the pan dry and killed the broccoli... and my pan.

As for the eggplant curry... I grilled the eggplant on my contact grill instead of frying it in the pan but otherwise I followed this recipe pretty well. It was good, I will probably make it or something like it again in the future!

This week:

Curried Chickpea Salad with Mushroom Quinoa Stew-- I think I'll serve the chickpea salad on top of arugula or something green to stretch it out a little bit.

Sticky Sausage & Sweet Potato Salad-- I have some sweet potatoes to use and I think this looks yummy! I might cut down on the honey a bit. According to the reviews it's a little too sweet but we'll see what happens when I make it.

Polenta Pizza-- Last time we had this we both quite liked it but I think I'm going to tweak the toppings a little and make a slightly thinner crust this time.

Nutty Chicken Curry-- We're having curry weather here right now. I think this'll be a nice tasty warming dish! I'm going to toss in some other vegetables to stretch it out a little and maybe add another chili like the comments suggest.

Menu Plan Monday- July 11, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:10:00 +0000

We ate well last week.

I made the roasted tomato, halloumi, and quinoa salad twice because we liked it so much. I suggest adding some chopped up cucumber to the mix.

We both liked the egg foo yung with chicken and mushrooms but I need to figure out what to serve with it next time because we both had an attack of the "I'm still hungries" a couple of hours later. It's kinda weird though because I would've thought the protein from the eggs and chicken would've made it stick around longer. One thing with this recipe is I don't think you need NEARLY so much oil as it calls for. Use the full amount of sesame oil but cut down on the canola/veg oil.

I didn't make the potatoes in the BBQ Chicken Salad and instead served it with baked sweet potato fries. It's a really good salad but I decided next time to just chop up an avocado and add it to the mix instead of bothering with the avocado vinaigrette. I loved the combo of BBQ sauce and blue cheese though, it's really good!

BBQ Chicken Salad-- Yes, again. It's actually a pretty fast meal to throw together so I'm all over making it again!

Steamed pork and shrimp wontons & Stir-fried broccoli with cashews-- I was looking for recipes to help use up some of the bottle of oyster sauce I bought for the egg fu yung last week and this looks rather delicious.

Sizzling halloumi with fava beans and mint-- I like all of the ingredients in this so I hope they'll be good add mashed together!

Eggplant curry with lemongrass and coconut milk-- I don't make a lot of curries and I'm not really sure why since I quite like them. I'm going to give this one a go and see what happens!

What is on your food agenda this week?

Menu Plan Monday- July 4, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:45:00 +0000

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends!

I still haven't made tamales like I wanted to. It got so hot here that the thought of having something steaming in the kitchen for almost an hour nearly had me in tears so I ditched that plan for now. I will revisit it again in the less hot future.

This week:

Turkse Dürüm (box mix)-- We don't tend to eat a lot from boxed mixes but there are a couple I really like. This is one of them and they were on sale last week!

Roasted tomato, halloumi,& quinoa salad-- This is hinging on me finding halloumi. I have an idea where to buy it but I'm not 100% sure. This sounds really good though so I'm rather determined to track it down!

Egg Foo Yung with Chicken and Mushrooms-- I think this looks yummy and it should go together pretty easily.

BBQ Chicken Salad-- I might leave the potatoes out of this, it looks like it'll be pretty filling without.

Friday Fragments- June 24, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:39:00 +0000

It's Friday! Time for my ~~boring~~ fragments!

My new vacuum sealer broke the second time we tried to use it. I'm not blaming that on the first person who used it and it may have actually been a blessing in disguise because it wasn't actually that handy to use.

Have you been following The Apprentice on the BBC? We like to watch it and cringe at the things people say. The quote of the week was "Are the French very fond of their children?"

I hopped on my bike to go to my volunteer job today and it started sprinkling a little bit so I ran back upstairs to grab my rain poncho-esque thingie so I wouldn't get wet. That proved to be a rather futile effort because it was raining SO HARD by the time I was halfway there that the water had soaked through my poncho. My shoes were squishing as I was pedaling and THEN it started to hail. Lucky for me they have white nursing shirts that they keep on hand for the nurses and I could borrow one (which didn't fit very well because I don't think most Dutch people have hips but at least it was something). My shoes were squishy and my pants were soaked but at least I had a sorta dry shirt... Now I'm on the hunt for a good water proof fabric to make myself a less useless poncho.

Every now and then I think of something and then I realize how European I'm becoming. Case in point: It's supposed to be in the high 80s and low 90s (F) next week and I'm trying to figure out ways of clearing out my fridge and living in there for the duration. When I lived in Utah I scoffed at these Euro-weenies who were dropping like flies when it was in the 80s. I could survive well into the 100 degree weather without dying! I'm not so European that I don't believe in central air conditioning though. I seriously wish it would catch on sometimes!

I somewhat successfully made corn tortillas this week. I borrowed someone's electric press/griddle and had a bit of a hard time getting them so they weren't see-through-thin at first but they still tasted good. I'm going to keep experimenting because I really do like corn tortillas better for tacos, enchiladas and the like and the corn tortillas here are flour tortillas with a scoop of cornmeal... which I say BOO to!

*****

Go visit the amazing Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time for more Friday Fragments Fun (oooh alliteration) I hope everyone has a fun weekend. I think I will!

Menu Plan Monday- June 20, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:50:00 +0000

The only new recipe from last week was the fish tacos. I used corn tortillas instead of lettuce to wrap them but they were pretty amazing. I loved the cabbage in them!!

Casselrib (a type of smoked pork) with green beans and tomato salad-- we got some goodies from my mother in law which makes a very easy night of cooking for me!

Mexican Pizza on cauliflower crust-- we both really liked this last time and it's actually pretty quick to put together!

Tamales-- I've never made these before so it might be a little bit of an adventure.

Grilled Chicken and Quinoa Apple Salad with Curry Dressing

Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

I'm having Mexican food cravings. Can you tell?

Mushrooms for Sale...

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:11:00 +0000

Today I bought some mushrooms...

...from a VENDING MACHINE!

Sometimes it's really hard being so far away from home but then I do something like this and realize how much I do actually like this country.

*****

Be sure to visit Unknown Mami for more Sundays in My City.

Friday Fragments- June 17, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:24:00 +0000

It's been AGES since I've done Friday Fragments. I need to get back into the habit!!! I've been missing my fragmenty friends.

**I booked our flights to the US. We're headed westward on September 7th. I'm very very much looking forward to seeing my family and friends! We're planning on a road trip through Wyoming and South Dakota into Minnesota. I would like to drive the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway (Needles Highway) and stop at Mount Rushmore for sure, but after that the plans are still a work in progress. If you have any amazing insights on MUST SEES on the way I'd love to hear them!

**I bought a vacuum sealer the other day. Mr Jummy decided he needed to test it out.

He claims Joey just "fell in" but I think he's up to his usual naughty tricks!

**Don't you think the name Benedict Cumberbatch is the perfect name for an actor who plays Sherlock Holmes? If you haven't seen any of the BBC Sherlock series you NEED to! I love it.

**Speaking of the BBC. I think they need to not have evil mid-season breaks of Doctor Who anymore. I'm too addicted to keep having these months-long interruptions.

*****

Enjoy your weekend and make sure to swing by Half Past Kissin' Time to visit the other Fragmented Folks!

Daring Cooks Challenge: Slimmed Down Potato Salad

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

After browsing through some of the other freaking amazing recipes people came up with this time around I think my Daring Cooks recipe is rather undaring but it did taste good!

1 kilo (2.2 lbs) small potatoes, quartered (use red or white or a combination of both)
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
4 hard boiled eggs
1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used 0% Total)
1/4 cup mayo (if you use yogurt mayo you won't need to add any sweetener as it's rather much sweeter than normal mayo)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp sugar or sweetener of your choice
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp horseradish powder
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 small red onion, diced
1 small sweet onion, diced
3 celery ribs, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 large yellow bell pepper, diced

Place the potatoes in a pan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 12 minutes. Drain and cool for a half an hour or so.

Chop up the hard boiled eggs. You can leave out the yolks if you want to slim the recipe down a little more but I like to add them in.

In a large bowl whisk together the yogurt, mayo, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and salt. Add the potatoes, eggs, and veggies and toss to coat.

Chill in the fridge for about a couple of hours and serve cool.

Menu Plan Monday- June 13, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:17:00 +0000

Last week went over pretty well.

Everyone at the potluck liked the Thai Minced Chicken Salad.
The Mexican Pizza on cauliflower crust was quite tasty. It's not -really- pizza but it's close enough to make me feel quite happy! This would be a good one to turn vegetarian by leaving out the chicken since it's still pretty filling without.
Now the Seafood Stuffed Peppers... I substituted quinoa for the rice and they were good but a little bland. I think if I were to make this one again I'd add some seasonings in to jazz it up a little.
I didn't really follow the recipe for the almond crusted fish but I did make it! I really like using almond meal to crust fish... I ought to do it more often!

For this week:

Lettuce Wrap Fish Tacos- This came across in my Google Reader yesterday and I knew I had to make it. It looks so so tasty. Plus I can try grilling fish on my snazzy new contact grill.

Asian Inspired Slaw- Since I'll have leftover cabbage from the fish tacos I thought this would be a good way to use some of it. I think a head of cabbage is like the gift that keeps giving... and giving... and giving... and giving. I'll toss in some chicken for some added protein to make it a main course.

Pork Sate- It's been ages since I made this and I think it will probably taste good with the leftover slaw that will inevitably be there!

Since today is my birthday (yay me!) we're going to the in-laws for dinner and I don't have to cook (yay!).

Menu Plan Monday- June 6, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 04:05:00 +0000

Last week:

I loved the grilled eggplant. The Fusion Chicken was okay but I felt like it was missing something so I probably won't make it over and over again.

The Chicken Rollatini with Spinach a la Parmigiana was tasty but MESSY to make and looked a bit of a disaster on the plate. I used almond flour to crust it instead of breadcrumbs and that worked pretty well.

I didn't get the Almond Crusted Fish made so it'll move over into this week.

This week:

Thai minced chicken -- One of the guys in Martijn's dinner group made this for us last week and it was really good! I plan on taking it to the NAWC potluck on Tuesday so I'll just double the recipe, save enough for dinner, and take the rest.

Mexican Pizza on a Cauliflower Crust-- I've been having wild cravings for refried beans so I think this'll be extra tasty.

Seafood Stuffed Peppers-- I have oodles and oodles of bell peppers in the fridge. I thought this would be a yummy recipe to use some of them.

Almond Crusted Fish-- Carryover from last week because I didn't get to it.

New template is live!

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:34:00 +0000

Out with the old:

and in with the new:

I also made a new blog button!

If you want to snag it the code is over yonder in the sidebar -------->

I also updated my recipe index. Everything has a thumbnail photo to go with it, so be sure to take a peek there too!

I'm pretty psyched that it's done. Please let me know if you run into anything that's not working.

Under Construction

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 10:17:00 +0000

Remember back in the good old days of the web when everyone had a poorly designed Geocities or Angelfire personal webpage with horrible loud colors, blinking fonts, and the like? I think there's a good possibility that 99.7% of those good old personal webpages also had at LEAST one "Under Construction" animated graphic. Well, I thought I'd bring some of that nostalgia back today.

Today I'm installing my new web template that I've been working on and off on for quite some time. Hopefully all will go well but you know how things go. If things look slightly deranged for a little while be patient and come back in a few hours. If you're reading this via RSS on a reader, boy aren't you lucky? You don't have to witness the carnage in person!!

P.S.
This is an interesting read on Geocities and archiveteam.org's attempts at saving and archiving things before Yahoo nuked the service in 2009. I snagged my Under Construction graphic here.

Menu Plan Monday- May 30, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 30 May 2011 18:25:00 +0000

The pies I made last week for Martijn to take to work were a hit. They didn't even save a sliver for me... which if I'm being honest isn't a completely bad thing!

On to the eats for this week:

Fusion Grilled Chicken and Grilled Eggplant- Chicken and eggplant were on sale this week so I took it as a sign that I needed to make this!

Almond Flour Crusted Fish- I need to use some fish we have in the freezer. The last almond crusted fish we had was really good so hopefully this will be too!

Pork & Veggie Stir Fry- I admit to being lazy for this one. I totally bought the stir-fry veg and meat pre-chopped which made this a 10 minute meal!

Chicken Rollatini with Spinach al la Parmigiana- I just think this looks delicious. It's probable that mine won't look nearly as good but hopefully it'll taste amazing!

Menu Plan Monday- May 23, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (mub) — Mon, 23 May 2011 21:44:00 +0000

This week is a short one because it's Martijn's birthday and we're going to his parents for dinner that night. The next day he's got his weekly dinner group somewhere else so that makes two easy days for me.

Veggie Thali- According to wikipedia "a thali is a selection of different dishes, usually served in small bowls on a round tray... Typical dishes include rice, dhal, vegetables, roti, papad, curd (yoghurt), small amounts of chutney or pickle, and a sweet dish to top it off." I've made this once before (with a few tweaks here and there) and it's quite tasty.

Chicken Cordon Bleu and Potato Salad- I'm using pre-made chicken cordon bleu since I'm laaaazy.

Potato, Green Bean & Tuna Salad

Since Dutch tradition dictates that you bring pie to work on your birthday I'll be making a lime pie, cherry blueberry pie, and a nut pie for Martijn to take on Wednesday.