nlbarber

A food meme! I'm in. I saw it first at sraun, specifically this post. Here's the rules:

Share a recipe with your friends list. It should be something quick and easy and without rare ingredients; ideally, it should be something you already know by heart because you've made it often enough. If you're comfortable doing so, post public.

1. Post a link to the entry where you ran into the meme.


2. In the comments to the entry where you ran into the meme, share your recipe and link to the entry where you share it with your friends list.


3. Invite your friends to share their quick and easy recipes.


4. Explore the recipes posted in the comments to your friends' journals as well as those in your own.

I think I'll post 2 recipes as well, one that's ultra-easy and uses only ingredients you can keep on the pantry shelf, the other needs a little more effort and planning...but not much.

Rotel black beans and rice

1 can of black beans
1 can of Rotel (That's a specific brand of diced tomatoes with green chilies-any brand will do, but be aware that a can of Rotel is 10 oz., others are probably larger. But that's OK, too.)
1 bag of brown "ready rice"--the precooked microwavable stuff.

Drain and rinse the black beans, then dump in a pot. Add the Rotel. Heat. Serve over the brown rice.

If served to obligate carnivores, this also works well with leftover chicken, sausage, etc. stirred into the beans while heating.

Chicken Kyoto

A chicken's worth of pieces--I tend to go with all thighs, but you can use a whole cut-up chicken, or breasts, or whatever. Skin on or off as you want.
1/3 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. catsup
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

Grease a baking dish, and put the chicken pieces in it, skin side up. Mix the other ingredients and pour over the chicken pieces, covering all the upper surfaces of the chicken with some sauce. Bake at 350 degrees about 50 minutes total (adjust as needed for the size of your pieces). It comes out better if you baste the chicken with the pan juices after about 20 minutes and 40 minutes, but it'll do OK without.

I've picked up a few since the last time I did this. Current map:



create your own visited states map.

Statistics: visited 35 states (68%). I need to come up with some vacation that takes me through the upper Great Plains, or maybe I should have voted for that committee meeting next summer to be in Lincoln, Nebraska (which was one of the options).

For contrast, I did this one in July 2004--32 states, 62%. The countries map hasn't changed--no international travel in the last few years.

Gacked from several:

1. Go to Mapquest.com
2. Click on "Directions"
3. Enter your current address and the address of your childhood home (or at least the town if you don't remember the exact address)
4. Put the time and distance in a post like this.
5. Don't forget to repost these directions. (Not the door to door ones).

For me:
Total Est. Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes Total Est. Distance: 213.84 miles

It's a lot further than that in terms of culture. <g>

Maximum it has been was for 2 years in graduate school:
Total Est. Time: 15 hours, 57 minutes Total Est. Distance: 930.76 miles

For my father, Mapquest won't do it. YahooMaps says: 0.0 miles, blank travel time, with detailed directions of:
1. Start at 617 3RD ST - go < 0.1 mi
2. Arrive at 605 3RD ST, on the Left

He lives next door to the house in which he was born--literally, as he was born at home.