Friday, April 30, 2010

Breaking News...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for another exciting episode of THE HUNT FOR KASA KECKY! Structural and pest inspections are complete. Poppy said Mr. Bug-man was shocked and amazed that his inspection came up immaculate! The only glaring thing that came out of the structural inspection with Mr. Bill is that he can't get in the attic to check for proper ventilation. The furnace is located in the attic and we need to confirm that it's vented to the outside and not to the inside of the house. Lynnea-Our-Kickass-Agent will be calling a HVAC guy to come out and take a look.

Mr. Bill (who we trust very much) said it's a sweet little house in excellent condition and all it will need is a little TLC to keep it happy for years and years to come.

Now we sit and wait for the appraiser to pay a visit.

Cross your fingers!

Thursday's Dinner

I'm getting lazy. We had leftover pasta.

Let's see what I have for you today...Well, yesterday was Bro-N-Law-Darryll's last day of working. At 50, he's now retired! There's a little party tomorrow at their house to celebrate. Can't imagine how it felt to be him and wake up this morning knowing you just retired. He's been doing some side work for some folks and he'll probably get a part-time job at Home Depot. He would be very good at that. He's a people person.

I went to the post office yesterday to send an express mail. This is what it looked like:



I stood there for what seemed an eternity clearing my throat and coughing to try to get some one's attention. Finally, "Debbie" came out. I don't know what the insides of your Post office look like, but the one on the Presidio has so many do's and don'ts signs on the walls you can hardly see any paint. DMV is like that too. My favorite one is "PLEASE DO NOT LET YOUR CHILD SIT ON THE COUNTER!"

And that leads me into another exciting episode of THE HUNT FOR KASA KECKY! We received the results of the mold inspection yesterday. You recall that's where they tested the air. You will be shocked to learn the results came back clean. Good to know the air in the house is free of mold and allergens...whatever.

We had more conversations with Tim-I-Really-Want-Your-Business yesterday. Remember that we were trying to choose between Richard-The-Money-Giver and Tim. Well, Tim sent us an email that was very convincing. He said "I would be your advocate, educator, shopper, investigator and when necessary - fighter." Well that just sealed the deal for us! We filled out the application and gathered all our paperwork and that's why I went to the empty post office yesterday. I sent all that stuff by Express Mail from your Post Office because inside the envelope was our whole lives and identities.

Okay, so here's the ironic thing. After we tell Tim-The-Advocate he's got our business, he sends us an email requesting some information from us and then introducing us to his partner, Jason, who will be working with us. Suddenly, I had the feeling that Tim-The-Advocate was now Tim-I-Just-Kicked-You-To-The-Curb.

So there you have it. Today is structural and termite inspection. Poppy will be going to those. I need to stay here and work on my Project-From-Hell.

Later!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Wednesday's Dinner


As you recall, Aunt Kathy had UPS'd something perishable for my birthday...TRIPLE-INFINITY-NOM!! The one we ate last night was the chocolate covered apple with nuts and caramel. Aunt Kathy said you could only eat a quarter of it in a sitting. It would seem Fatass and LuvBacon were able to eat all of it...so good!!

Prior to that though, I had a bunch of veggies that I wanted to grill. I made a marinade of:

1/2 cup Foo-Foo olive oil (aka, the good stuff)
1/3 balsamic
2 Tbs Kecky's herbed red swine vinegar
1 Tsp Kosher salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced

While grilling, I basted them twice with the marinade.

Served them with leftover Food-Of-The-Gods.

Veggies before:



Veggies after:



Guess what time it is???...That's right, time for another exciting episode of THE HUNT FOR KASA KECKY! In our last episode, the Keckys began the process of shopping for a loan. We decided to go with Richard-The-Money-Giver at Wells Fartgo at a 30-year fixed at 5.25%. Not so fast there, Lil Miss...We received an e-mail from Tim-I-Really-Want-Your-Business at Guarantee Mortgage. Tim is offering us a 30-year fixed at 5.125%. Sounds like a good deal to us, only Tim is a broker and not tied to any bank so we need to weigh that all out. Lynnea-Our-Kickass-Agent highly recommends Tim. She's not a fan of the broker in general, but she's known Tim for some time and has used him in her last two deals and he's come through like a champ. So Poppy e-mailed Richard-The-Money-Giver to let him know we've had another offer. He can't match Tim-I-Really-Want-Your-Business' rate but swears we can't go wrong with Wells. I've filled out applications for both companies and later today will most likely turn over our paperwork to Tim and see how it goes.

It's all good, but it's making the Kecky's tired...

Let's talk a minute about office kitchen etiquette. I know it's the same in every office that has a common area or kitchen, but why is it that once some folks get to the office, it's as if they were raised by wolves?? And in every office there is a sign that says "Your Mother doesn't work here..." Then there are two or three of us that are the ones that alaways are cleaning up after the wild pack of wolves. Every time we see something like this, we're just dumbfounded. This ranks right up there with the time someone put a slice of pizza in the toaster and caused a cheese fire.



Bye bye.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Tuesday's Dinner



Mmm hmmm...It was my birthday dinner only this time we grated some sharp cheddar and moozarela and stuck it under the broiler until it got toasty brown! DOUBLE-INFINITY-NOM!

Dad called last night. Well, actually it was Missy that called cause Dad couldn't see to dial the phone. He said he makes Missy do everything for him. ;) He also said he's gotten back into exercising. So that's good. I told him that Kathy and I would be coming up sometime soon and then he went to his "no" place on me and said "Don't think I'm coming back with you this time." I asked why. He said it was too quick and Shirley is in bad shape. I said not to worry because it's not like we were coming tomorrow, for cryin in a bucket! I guess Shirley hasn't been doing well since the stroke and has been in bed most of the time. The doctors are playing with all her meds and she's doing a bunch of tests. They don't know what's really wrong with her. I came clean and told Dad about the hopefully-soon-to-be-Kasa Kecky. He's very excited and it turns out before I was born he lived on Santiago and 44th...which is about a block away from the hopefully-soon-to-be-Kasa Kecky. Weird.

And that leads us to another exciting episode of THE HUNT FOR KASA KECKY...For the last two days we've been loan shopping and decided to go with Wells Fartgo. Lynnea-Our-Real-Estate-Agent said it would make a difference if one of us had an account with Wells Fartgo. Just so happens I've had an account with them for years. Some years ago, I changed all my banking to Poppy's bank and Wells Fartgo wanted to charge me $25 to close my account so I left a penny in it and that's where it's stayed for the last 5 years. The Fartgos will give us a 30-year fixed at 5.25% so I filled out the online application and then after I got home, Richard-The-Money-Giver sent us an email outlining all the paperwork we have to collect and submit for the loan. Kind of fun now because you can do everything by email and PDF. I think we're in good shape and will submit all that paperwork sometime today. Then Richard-The-Money-Giver will send out an appraiser so we'll have to cross our fingers that it appraises at that 80%-loan-to-value or we'll have to go back to the Seller's and start negotiations all over again.

For someone who isn't big on celebrating my birthday, yesterday was sure a fun day! Thanks everyone...and to Aunt Kathy, I'm going to go home at lunch to see if Mr. UPS-Man delivered the surprise! The suspense is killing me!

Chow!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Monday's Dinner

Well, I took that hot Italian Sausage from the night before and turned it into pasta sauce. I added the following:

Zucchini
Finely chopped carrot (for a little sweet)
sliced portabella mushrooms
capers
a can of whole tomatoes
a can of diced tomatoes
red wine
chicken broth

I also had a couple of Roma tomatoes, so I chopped those up and cooked them way down so they were really concentrated. Very NOM!

Today is my birthday, do you notice a theme? Sister Kathy is on a Sock-Minkey roll...



Poppy bought me these lovely flowers over the weekend. Iris' are my fav. They're Ferdinand's fav too!



Poppy also got me the original soundtrack and movie, Tommy! Let me know if you want me to sing a few tunes...

Time for another exciting episode of...THE HUNT FOR KASA KECKY! Yesterday we had the mold inspection. Upon arriving to our could-be-new-house we met the owner, Erik. Very nice guy. Also, Mr. Moldman, Graham. As luck would have it, the Surfrider Foundation had some people come and take out a lot of the concrete in the front of the house and then Erik put some mulch down and some pavers that go to the front entrance of the house. In the next couple of weeks, volunteers (who aren't us) will come and plant some California native plants. This is all very exciting. Poppy and I had some questions about the house so it was great that Erik was there since he's done all the updating. He is one talented guy! Most of my questions were about my AWESOME new stove, Betty. Check her out!



Mr. Moldman's preliminary mold testing went well. Although, he kept harping on Erik about the mold on the shower curtain. Oh, don't keep paper products of any kind under your kitchen sink. It's a hotbed of mold production. Keep your paper stuff in "dry storage". You should also put a rubber mat with holes in it (kind of like the stuff they have on the floor of a bar) on the bottom of the kitchen sink cabinet and keep all of your non-paper cleaning supplies in plastic tubs. If you have furniture up against an outside wall, make sure it's a few inches from the wall so it can breath cause that's another seedy-hotbed of mold production.

So, after Mr. Moldman did his inspection he asked if we wanted him to take air samples to see just what kinds of molds and allergens are in the air. Personally, I wasn't interested but Poppy being an allergy sufferer was very interested. That cost and extra couple hundred for that test. We get the results tomorrow sometime. Frankly, I think it's a scam...how can you really confirm that the air that this guy put into a jar is really our air or if in fact, it's really in the jar? Can you see it? Nope. Can you smell it? Nope.

After we finished up with Mr. Moldman, Poppy took some measurements. She's very spacial, you see. She's going to figure out where all our stuff will go. Needless to say, this is a daunting task. Where do you draw the line on stuff you want to keep and stuff you don't? For all of you that have given us little kitschy trinkets in the past, don't expect to ever see them if you come to our house and don't even think of giving us any more! We love you all, but we gotta make some cuts somewhere...

From the house, we went over to Petco to get Roger-The-Escapee a Cone-Of-Shame. Her paw looks much better, but she's still licking on it. We were going to put the Cone-Of-Shame on her last night but Poppy couldn't bring herself to do it, so we'll give Roger-The-Escapee one more day.

Guess that's it for today.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Sunday's Dinner


Was...Artichokes and hot Italian sausage. With the artie's I made a mayo based dipping sauce that I added soy sauce too. For the sausage, I used, Greek style yogurt, added some Kecky's red wine vinegar and Kecky's dried Italian seasoning. I sauteed the sausage in garlic and shallots then added a couple of chopped Roma tomatoes and finished it with Kecky's seasoned salt. Very NOM!

Not much else to say...

Chow!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Saturday's Dinner

Well it doesn't look very appetizing but it was INFINITY NOM!!! This is my annual birtday dinner.



Guess what I'm having for breakfast??

Time for another exciting episode of THE HUNT FOR KASA KECKY...Poppy and I were talking yesterday about how we still need to get through the inspections and appraisal and then the actual closing. We decided to refer to this period as the first Trimester of our baby house pregnancy. You know, that point where you don't really want to tell anybody about it in case, Cod (yes, Cod) forbid, something bad happens. But being an excited first-time house parent, we're just so excited and slipped the news to just about everyone. Oh well...Way I see it, if this one doesn't stick, then it's just one of many more episodes of THE HUNT FOR KASA KECKY.

Weather is great here...almost hot. After I do some work on our bikes, I'm planting Fatass in a lounge chair with a tasty cold beverage.

Have a great Sunday!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

This just in...

WE ARE IN CONTRACT!! Escrow opens on Monday. We couldn't be more excited.

To be continued...

Friday's Dinner

We had some NOMMY NOM NOM pulled pork sandwiches. This concludes Kecky's Karnitas Fest 2010...for me anyway.

Time for another exciting episode of The Hunt for Kasa Kecky...In our last episode, Poppy and Fatass' avitar, Kelly, put an offer on 3325 Rivera Street and were waiting for the counter-offer. Well, it came and there were no surprises...their original asking price was $690,000. Our offer was $670,000 with a condition of a mold inspection (we smelled something in the entryway) and that Mr. Seller vent the oven. By the way, did I mention Mr. Seller restored the oven? It's a Wedgewood. I'm in hog heaven!!

Anyhoo, they countered w/$680,000 and that they could stay in the house for no more than 60 days, in case their new fixer-upper house isn't ready. They would pay us our mortgage in the form of rent. Since we're barely paying rent on our place now, I think the extra time is fine cause for those of you that have had the pleasure of hanging at Kasa Kecky, you know our place is like a mini-museum so we've got a lot of downsizing to do. Can you say "garage sale"?

We accepted their counter w/another counter of a 45 day close. They have accepted but I've seen nothing in writing so I can't commit to you that we actually are in contract.

Another interesting thing is that a non-profit called The Surfrider Foundation is sponsoring a "Greening of the Sunset" so they will be removing some large chunks of concrete in the front of the house in the coming weeks. I gather that we will be responsible for planing some California Natives. So once that's completed, it will add to our property value.

Here are some pics of what could be the future Kasa Kecky:

My kitchen:



The Living Room:



From Living Room to the Kitchen:



There are two bathrooms, this is the upstairs:



Pretty sweet, huh? We saw pictures of the before house. Mr. Seller does very good work!!

Poppy, Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer and I are headed up to Marin today for some grocery shopping and sitting outside having lunch. How sad, our weekend entertainment is going to a different Safeway than the one I usually shop at.

Today also marks the beginning of my Birthday celebration. My Birthday isn't until Tuesday and, as you know, I'm not all that into birthday stuff, but Poppy is and she said we should celebrate all week long. One of the items we'll be buying at the store is my Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Family Style Deluxe!!! I can hardly wait!



Well that's all I've got today. Hope you all have a great day!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Thursday's Dinner

More Carnitas. This time, Poppy put some KC Masterpiece on it and I made some yummy mashed potatoes and a little arugula salad.

Today has the makings of a very exciting day. We put an offer in on The New Kasa Kecky and I'm off to the DMV this morning to renew my driver's license. Just doesn't get any better than that. I'm winging it too...going without an appointment. Lucky for me I checked to make sure it wasn't a Furlough Friday!

We're expecting a counter-offer on the house sometime today so more on that later. Also, more on my adventures at the DMV...

But first...check out my early birthday present from Sister Kathy, et al. Oh yeah!!!



Okay, so I rode my bike to the DMV and got there 15 minutes before the place opened. There was a line of at least 30 people ahead of me.



See this guy drinking his Peets? He's got happy feet and is dancing. Turns out, no food or drink allowed in the building. Mr. Security Guard made him toss it.



I got this picture when I was getting closer to the door. Yeah, that orange thing is a needle cover for a syringe. Why do I know this? My Mom was a diabetic and would shoot up every morning. Ask Sister Kathy what she did with the oranges and the vodka when she went to Day On The Green...

So, once I got in the door and got my number, G014 and was told to take a seat. This was my view:



And this:



Did you ever see the move Logan's Run? If so, you will recall "Sanctuary". That's where you would go to get "renewed" when you turned 30 only they'd kill you. There was this sultry women's voice that would announce "Santuary in 15 minutes." "Santuary in 5 minutes." Well that same ladies' voice is at the DMV announcing numbers. "Number G014 to window number 6." Don't think I wasn't just a little scared. So I go to the window and tell the nice lady I need to "renew" my drivers license. I told her it's been many years and the ravages of time have not been good to me. She either laughed or burped. I couldn't tell. She takes my papers and asks me if my height or weight has changed. I replied "Well yeah! Why don't you add 30 pounds to my weight!" So she crosses out my weight on the paper and writes the new and improved "obese" number. I stare at her for a few seconds and I say "I wasn't supposed to say that, was I?" She replies "No, most people say it's the same." Too late cause she's already marked it on the paper. Man, do I feel stoopid. I guess if Fatass ever gets off her ass and loses some weight, it'll look good cause people will look at my license and say "You're not that fat!"

From the DMV I then made my way back to work. I stopped at this little market to get some stuff for dinner tonight. I walk in the store and this guy at the counter looks at me then looks at the guy at the cash register and he goes "Got a wild one here!" What the heck was that supposed to mean? Just cause I was wearing my Strawberry Shortcake helmet doesn't make me a wild one, I don't think. I look at the guy with my best stink eye and go "What?" Jerk!

I just talked to the Assistant U.S. Attorney and it seems the project-from-hell that I'm working on is due a little sooner than I thought. I thought September. He says June 1. Looks like I need to make some miracles happen!

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wednesday's Dinner

I've got a lot to talk about today so first off, let's talk about personal grooming. For Christmas last year, Poppy and I got Sister Kathy a gift certificate to SenSpa. SenSpa is one of those she-she day spas but has good deals for eyebrow waxing...or so we thought. Sister Kathy went in yesterday to get her brows shaped and tinted. She came back looking like a cross between Keith Olbermann and Groucho Marx. Plus, the lady that did the work shaped the right brow so it looks like Joan Crawford in Mommy Dearest. This kind of stuff only happens to my Sister!







Interesting piece of news. Amy-Mae sent me a blurb from SFGate that the HGTV show, My First Place is going to be filming in SF and is looking for cast members to talk about their struggles of house-hunting. I figure we're a shoe-in. So I sent Mr. Schnieder and email and referred him to my April 16 entry of my blog and it appears I've piqued his interest. So I filled out the application and sent some goofy pictures of me, Poppy and Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer. The pictures are supposed to show personality. I've got lots of those but seems that more than half of them show us holding an alcoholic beverage. How's that for family entertainment? I'll let you know if we get picked. My only fear is that it's taking us so long to find a house, this show could go on for several seasons. I talked to Camera-Shy-Poppy about it so she wants to play it like Jay and Silent Bob...only given LuvBacon's current state she said she's play it like Silent Blob. I'm still laughing at that one!

Last night we went to see a place in the Sunset on Rivera. It's your basic box from the outside but I really loved the inside and the backyard, which is sheltered from the wind...and get this, they've got tomatoes growing!!! The kitchen is exactly what I'm looking for. It has a refurbished Wedgewood stove and subway tile on the floor! Mama want it something bad! Price is right too. We could even afford to eat out once in a while. Poppy really likes it but wishes it was sitting in the middle of the Mission. Could this be the one? You'll find out on another exciting episode of The Hunt for Kasa Kecky.



So turns out, the Seller's agent, Todd is the guy that jerked us around on the house on 47th Ave. They had accepted an offer on it, but the buyer's financing was a VA loan so it was difficult to close. Todd encouraged us to put an offer in and said it was practically ours. So we did. Then we kept getting excuses as they waited for the VA loan to go through. Well it evidently did, cause we gave up and never heard from him until now.

Todd is the kind of agent that I'm pretty sure quite his job as a used car salesman to sell real estate. From the time we walked into the place he didn't shut up. He told us the Sellers had outgrown the house now that they have two kids and since we didn't have kids, it's perfect for us. Oh, he also told us that there are two lesbians that live across the street. Wow, not two lesbians?...that would make 4 on the block if we buy. So would that be considered a gaggle of lesbians, a flock of lesbians, or a herd of lesbians? And of course, at the end of our looking at the house and just like he said on the 47th Ave property..."Make me an offer." Like we're talking to the Godfather or something.

On to dinner...we had Korean fud a few blocks down the street. It's a very unassuming place. I would tell you the name but I don't have those kinds of characters on my keyboard. Looks something like this: ^%^$#%&*(^$. Anyway, you could hardly tell it was a restaurant. No windows either. We had the giblets in garlic, a seafood pancake and a dried fish plate. The giblets were really good. The pancake was good too, but every time I picked up a piece, a tentacle would fall out of it. The dried fish was odd. The dried octopus smelled and tasted like barnyard (aka, pooh-pooh). Poppy really loved it. We will definitely go back. One item we want to try next time is corn w/cheese. Wonder that that will look like?



Okay, that's all I have for today. Cross your fingers that we move ahead on this house.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Tuesday's Dinner

Will be a repeat of last night's so no need to write about it.



However, I do want to share breakfast with you. I have leftover pizza from Friday night so, I added an egg to it. Very high on the NOM scale!

Today, I decided I'd take my lunch hour (I'm still on it for those of you tracking my time) and check in with Mii Fatass. We have some very disturbing news to share. Fatass has completely let herself go. Not only did she not reach her goal, she's put on more weight. Check out that BMI. A few more points and she'll tip into the "obese" catagory...and you know what follows after that? Yeah, morbidly obese. It's a slippery slope!





So Fatass has set a new goal of losing 16.1 pounds in six months to bring her into the "normal" range on the BMI scale. Fatass' avitar, Kelly needs to reel it in with stuff like breakfast pizza and bottomless mimosas.

I'll leave you with a little ditty my Mom used to sing to me:

Fatty, fatty two-by-four...couldn't get through the kitchen door!

Monday's Dinner


Were still working on the carnitas so dinner was a repeat of Sunday...carnitas burrito. So very NOM!!

So after three days and a lot of looking, Roger has returned to Kasa Kecky. When I got home yesterday, I took the mason jar that has her catnip in it and went outside and made the noise of opening the jar and she popped out from under the house. Our black cat was now gray and very shakie. She's got some small puncture wounds and her paw looks pretty nasty. Poppy said they are all exit wounds so at least she got away from whatever attacked her. Poor little girl. We've been keeping the wound clean and will watch it for the next few days.

A few words about living in a construction zone...it's getting very musical. We've got the worlds largest oscillator across the street that has this noise that is very rhythmic. It starts every morning at 6:59. Who needs a stinking alarm clock when you've got the world's largest oscillator to wake you up? Last night we had what I called Big Ben sounding every 10 minutes or so. DONG, DONG, DONG. At least we haven't had a rat in the walls in a couple of weeks. Oh, and I walked to and from work yesterday which is normally a 20 minute walk. Took me about an hour to get home because I couldn't get through any of my usual locations. Pretty much walked the perimeter of the f-ing park with my bag and a 10lb laptop. Didn't really need the exercise either since I'd just waddled that 10k the day before. But really, we're being well compensated for the construct on so I can't complain.

I'm working from home today so I can keep an eye on our little escapee. Think I'll make some brown rice and tofu for lunch. NOMMMM!

Tootles!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Sunday's Dinner

Well, after my "run" and a day of fruitless house-hunting, I was craving a burrito. So, I took that leftover pork and rice, added some tomato, chopped onion, guac (especially made by Poppy) and sour cream. Put it all in a whole wheat tortilla...NOM!!

So our little black cat, Roger has been planning an escape. She does this every now and again where she hovers around the back door. On Saturday, she was successful and darted out the back door and went directly under the house. She usually will come out within a few hours, but no luck and we haven't seen her since. I'm really worried...

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Special Edition UPDATE...

WE DID IT! Fatass and I finished the 10k with the help of my pal and motivator, Jeanette-Mae! I ran all of it except about a mile worth of hills. I finished in 2:08 hours. I feel pretty good, except my body feels like a noodle. Yay!

Okay, off to go house-hunting!

UPDATE: Turns out I was looking at the wrong clock at the end of the race. I checked the official results and I finished in 1:36:24 so that's about a 16 minute mile. Not bad for an old Fatass!

Saturday's dinner


Was.....PAPOOSAS (aka Pupusas)!! You'll all recall my mentioning the Papoosas last week that I had a Casa Sanchez. I will admit that I've got a way to go on the technique but they were high on the NOM scale, all the same.

But here's the best part. The recipe was for queso papusas but I thought some pork would be really good inside cause pork is good with anything! So, I made Carnitas for the first time. So good!! Poppy and LuvBacon were very happy!



I also made a little salad and some Arroz de Espana as my sides. Oh, and I sauteed the rice in the pig fat that I cut and rendered from the hunk of pork. NOMMY-NOM-NOM!!



Can't wait for dinner tonight. Think it'll be pork tacos!

Okay, Mii and Fatass are off to our 10k. I have a feeling Fatass will want to walk most of it since she's still a fatass!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Friday's Dinner


Was....Pizza! I had a couple of those Bridgeford loaves in the freezer so turned that into pizza crust. Not bad. Medium on the NOM scale!

But here's the fun part...As you know, Poppy and I commute to work by bicycle. I recently outfitted my Bianchi Vigorelli (aka Silver-Streak) as a commuter bike. I know all you fanatical Roadies are turning your heads in shame. I couldn't help it, I wasn't riding my Silver-Streak all that much so why let it sit when it can be my work-horse?



Yesterday, I put it to the test and went grocery shopping. I came back with two full grocery bags and one that was only half-full. I also needed to bring all my workout clothes (including my running shoes) home for the race on Sunday. Well I did it! I fit enough food in those bags for 6-8 meals! I was very proud of myself.



Well, that's about it for today. I've got a hunk-o-meat in the oven at 300 for 4.5 hours. Hope it's good. I'll let you know sometime tomorrow.

Bye bye.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Thursday's Dinner


Meaty leftovers. Still NOM though. Looking at the picture, if I were to add some pork-n-beans it would look like something you'd get in England.

Well, it's finally Friday. What a long week this has been! I'm afraid the job of house-hunting is starting to wear us down. Okay, it wore me down months ago but it's really starting to effect my Poppy. We've become short-tempered, glazed-eyed alcoholic shells of the people we used to be. Won't someone PLEASE sell us their house?!

Poppy and I looked at a total of three properties this week. We liked all of them, but each had enough "cons" on the list to tip it into let's-keep-looking-land. We have quite a list of places to see on Sunday. I wonder what the record is for seeing places in that two-hour time span between 2:00-4:00?

Why did Sunday become open house day and why is it only from 2:00-4:00? I find it very annoying that I have to give up the middle of my Sunday to go on the quest for a new home. Poppy doesn't mind because that's just about the time she gets moving. Anyway, I figure the timing of the open house was originally set up for the church-goers. Near as I can remember, church is usually over by noon, then you have lunch and while you're still in your Sunday best you'd go house-hunting. That or maybe real estate agents just can't get their act together before 2:00.

Another thing that I find weird is the whole staging of the property. Fake fruit, fake televisions, fake cup-of-coffee, etc. I took a fake pencil from one of the places we looked at yesterday. Not like anyone would miss it...it's fake.

Speaking of church, have I ever told you about "Bad Mood Sunday"? My Dad was very much a church-goer when we were kids. I don't think my Mom was into it but being the good wife, she had to go but wouldn't be very happy about it...and you know the saying "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" so that meant us kids would have to suffer later.

Here's the routine...if there was a BANG, BANG, BANG on our bedroom doors at 8:30 on Sunday morning, all three of us kids would cringe because it meant we had to go to Sunday School and Church...it also meant it was BAD MOOD SUNDAY.

After we would get home from Church and go change our clothes. Mom would come out of her bedroom with her tight white headband on and we knew we were in for a day of house lock down. We'd spend the day doing Warden Judy's bidding, which pretty much consisted of cleaning the house and being yelled at. Don't get me wrong, Sister Kathy and I look back on this with great affection. I loved my Mother very much and miss her everyday. This is one of the things that made Sister Kathy and I what we are today...semi-well-rounded, emotionally f'ed up people with great senses of humor. :)

I'm making something very special for dinner tomorrow...I hope it turns out cause I can hardly wait to write about it.

Happy Friday!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Wednesday's Dinner


I went to Sister Kathy's, et. al. for another visit with them and Dad before Dad heads up the mountain on Saturday.

Dinner was INFINITY NOM! Sister Kathy had five pork shoulder blade steaks that Bro-in-Law-And-Frugal-Shopper-Darryll picked up at the store for $4.00! Since Sister Kathy and Bro-in-Law-Darryll have a cornucopia of mustards, I mixed together some Dijon and Chipotle mustards and rubbed it on the pork. Then I sprinkled some of Kecky's Southwest Seasoning on those babies, rubbed that in, then toasted some cumin seeds and rubbed those on as well. Then the steaks of succulence went on the grill. Oh, and contrary to popular belief, it's okay to slice into a piece of meat on the grill to check for doneness.

The pork was served with sauteed green beans and broccoli and Sister Kathy made what I like to refer to as Food of the Gods...Kraft Macaroni-n-Cheese, then rounded the meal out with a little apple sauce. Gotta have some sweet with the pork, dontcha know? By the way, the Food of the Gods are in the shape of SpongeBob and Spiderman!

Since Poppy-And-Beloved-Food-Critic had to work late, she was unable to accompany me to Sister Kathy's, however, Bro-n-Law-Darryll did send me home with some leftovers. Poppy-And-Beloved-Food-Critic liked the pork but would not have put the cumin seeds on it. Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer also stayed home since Dexter McLovin was still under the weather and isn't allowed to do the dry-humpy. Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer thought the pork tasted NOM but thought a little side of Food of the Gods would up the taste to INFINITY NOM.

That is all.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tuesday's Dinner

More house-hunting! Saw a flat on Potrero/24th. We liked it a lot but the hood is pretty dicey. It's a 4-unit condo with a very formal Homeowner's Association (HOA). Each household is assigned chores such as keeping the HOA budget, sweeping the garage, etc. It's also a shared washer and dryer so it kind of sounds more like the life of a renter than a homeowner. We're interested in it but have to weigh it all out. Check out the decorative fireplace.



Off to see two more places tomorrow...

Dinner was at Casa Sanchez. That's the place where if you tattoo their logo, Jimmy The Cornman, on your body you get free tacos for life. It's also the place that makes Casa Sanchez salsa. You can find that in your local Safeway refrigerated section. I had the combo plate with an enchilada and a chicharron papoosa...okay, okay...pupusa and Poppy had a couple of tacos. Very NOM!

See you later alligator!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Monday's Dinner


INFINITY NOM part deux! Kecky's Almost Famous Burger patties with sauteed onions and mushrooms on the top. Served with Sister Kathy's potato salad and some sliced tomatoes.

Poor baby boy, Dexter McLovin is under the weather today. Had to go to the hospital last night. He's either had an allergic reaction or ate something not at all NOM and caused his throat to swell. Report from Sister Kathy this morning said they were going to go pick Dexter McLovin from the hospital and he'll come home with some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory steroids.



For those of you who don't know Dexter McLovin...he's Sister Kathy et. al.'s dog-child and Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer's best friend with dry-humpy-benefits.

So it looks like our Bryant Street condo deal is now dead in the water. We're going to throw in the towel and move on. Agent Lynnea will be talking to her Landlord/Tenant lawyer to see if we have any options, but we're not holding our breath. So tonight we go to see another condo on Potrero/24th. I'll let you know how it goes.

Chow!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sunday's Dinner


INFINITY NOM!!! As you know, Dad is in town and staying with Sister Kathy, et. al. Since Poppy and my Sunday's are taken up with the house-hunting, I couldn't have everyone over for dinner but asked Sister Kathy if we could cook dinner over at her place. We made Kecky's Almost Famous Burgers with Kecky's Klassic Burger Sauce (sort of like In-n-Out burger sauce). Sister Kathy made her INFINITY NOM-NOM-NOM potato salad and Niece Ashley made Gluten-free brownies. Pssst...the secret ingredient is black beans. Most NOMMY! I decided I'd like to have sliders in addition to the regular sized burgers. Why is it food that's made mini tastes so much better than regular size? So we were all completely stuff after dinner. Poppy and I didn't stay too long and I was home and in bed by 9:08!

The above picture of Dad was taken sometime in the 70's. This was the era that my Mom called my Dad her Paul Newman!

Happy Monday!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Saturday's dinner


Where do I begin...The evening ended with appetizers at Sociale on Sacramento Street but let's talk about mudbugs!

We decided we'd walk to Yats from our house. Probably about a 3 or so mile walk. Poppy found her new favorite ball and for me, a pair of Wellies...SHOES GLORIOUS SHOES...and they fit!! Poppy is soooo good to me!



So once we arrived, the courtyard was full of crawfish carnage. Little carcases everywhere. But were they ever NOM. You paid $5.00 for a bottomless cup of beer.

They had a few tables and chairs so if something was empty you had to jumped on it. We ended up sitting at a table with two other couples and what a riot they were! Here's the line-up:

Two-Fingers Chelsea-Tate (like me, had the two finger method of eating the little critters cause they're so freakin messy);
UbiSoft-Ed;
Donna-I-Have-Gaybees; and
SippieCup (not hard to figure out his nickname. I learned pretty quick that you shouldn't sit to close to Sippie).

Here's Donna-I-Have-Gaybees and Two-Fingers-Chelsea-Tate.



Later, another couple showed up, which were friends of SippieCup. Figures, cause they were really weird. Two-Fingers-Chelsea-Tate and I came to the conclusion that they were both vampires. A guy with fingernails that long, can't be human!

So we spent the afternoon eating mudbugs, drinking beer and laughing. Truly the funnest group of young-folk I've met!

I call this picture "Beer Claw".



Here's one of Poppy's hands. I think she should be a hand model, don't you?



After the party disbanded and we were all going our separate ways, I gave Two-Fingers-Chelsea-Tate what was left of the sixpack and a bag of Fritos. Just wanted to make sure she and UbiSoft-Ed could have something to keep them satiated on the long BART ride home.

From there Poppy and I walked up to the Fern Bar on Sacto/Divis to discuss the day's events over a beer and Mimosa. From there we ended up at Sociale and from there the long walk home.

A good day was had by all!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Friday's Dinner


Was chicken KachaKecky and it was very high on the NOM scale. Poppy wasn't a fan of the skin cause it wasn't crispy but I love, love, love wet chicken. The sauce was easy..onions, red bell pepper, garlic, diced tomatoes, dry white wine (I used a dry Rose) salt, pepper and basil. Served it over pasta shells and my green beans. I cooked the beans in some of the fat that the chicken was browned in. Again, NOM!



Well one more week of training to go before the 10k. My running buddy, Netty-Mae is currently in Mexico. I sent her a text today to see if she's been running. She said the humidity has been 90% so she's been doing a lot of walking. Today I was to run 5 miles but since Fatass still hasn't lost any weight and seems to like to drink like a fish, we ran about 3 miles with a little walking thrown in for fun. Wonder what goal Fatass and I will set after this little race?

You may recall the reward for doing this 10k is oysters and bubbly at Chandon Winery. That seems to be up in the air since there are only a few precious weeks left to find a place to buy before the $8,000 tax credit runs out. Can't be letting a Sunday of house-hunting slip away. Plus our agent, Lynnea said that things will open up again after April 15.

You know, now that I'm thinking about it...I can let a Sunday of house-hunting go! Poppy can stay here and look while I basque in the warm sun of Sonoma eating oysters and drinking the bubbly. It's all about priorities, isn't it?

Well that'll do it for today. Ciao!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Thursday's Dinner

We had two very large artichokes. Served them with mayo laced with soy sauce. Infinity NOM!!

Not much to report other than it's Friday!! Tomorrow, Poppy and I will be heading to Yats on California/Divisadero for all you can eat crawfish boil! I'll try to remember to take some pics.

Speaking of pics, here's Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer in one of her finest positions. She actually likes sitting like this. I'm thinking of changing her name to "Contort-a-Jax".



So Sister Kathy brought me a blurb from the Pacifica Tribune that Terra Nova High School class of '80 is having their 30 year reunion and they're looking for long-lost classmates. Uh huh, I'm one of them. The blurb says I can go on Facebook and search "Terra Nova" or gives a couple of email addresses. I go on Facebook and type in Terra Nova and I get the class of 1991. So typical of a Terra Nova graduate to get something wrong! I finally found the right class. Turns out, I recognize two of the folks on the reunion committee. Pretty weird for me given I didn't know hardly anyone from high school. I was the fat chick in the hiking boots and hoodie that you'd see in the smoking lot all the time puffing away. Why they gave me a diploma, I'll never know. Anyhow, one of the gals on the committee is Janet Matias. She was one of those popular girls or as Close-Family-Friend Laurie calls "TSP" (thinks she's popular). I remember that Janet had Dumbo ears and came to school wearing these headbands cause she had her ears operated on so they wouldn't stick out.

The other gal I recognized is Gina Saucedo. We were friends when we were little. She lived down the street on Zamora. I have two memories that stand out. One, where she and I were in her backyard digging up every long-dead pet she ever had so we could look at the bones. The other was that her Father told me that in Japanese, the colors red and black together mean death and I should never wear that combination. That has stuck with me all these years. Anyhow, I've emailed Gina to see if she remembers me. Since I was such a loner in high school, I'm not entirely sure I would go to the reunion. Maybe I would if Fatass could lose those extra 25 pounds!

Y'all have a nice weekend!