Did you like yesterday's post?

CLICK for the classic tale of holiday angst from the Griswold's insane perspective. It's got it all: too many visiting relatives, too many Christmas lights, an overly expensive Christmas gift, a disastrous Christmas feast with gaseous results, and a miserly Christmas bonus. Much as it sounds like one, it's neither a documentary nor a memoir. And yes, it's delivered by the bunnies featured in yesterday's movie.

AND here's the seasonal memoir: "A Christmas Story", via hyper-bunny vision.

Don't shoot your eye out.

 

Waiting. Room. View. (Sigh.)

So. Hospital waiting rooms. They are not outrageously cushy. This one has no windows. BUT! We are surrounded by family and friends. That alone makes this room instantly warm.

We are watching The Day the Earth Stood Still while we wait for the doc to bring us word about Sandy's surgery. She's done, just needing to be closed. Of course we are right on the edges of our seats!!

 

New and Improved Silly Caterpillar!

Edited and improved Silly Caterpillar!
Originally uploaded by sunspotting.

Now our silly, smiling caterpillar has an environment! See the grass, flowers, and mushroom!

Wow, this was so much fun. We learned a lot about building a good ecosystem for our little caterpillar. Sure looks happy to be there.

 

Silly, smiling caterpillar!

Edited silly, smiling caterpillar!
Originally uploaded by sunspotting.

Made by Adelaide, Grammy Garcia, and Aunt Becca.

 

New interesting thingy! ARRRgyle Sock pattern!

Here's the amazing graph!!

And good instrux on knitting argyle, skully or otherwise!!

It's also a source of blissful distraction. I am dangerously keen on knitting socks, now, and even argyle socks, especially argyle socks with a skull, are probably not outside of my skill level. God help me. All I need is the yarn. God help us all.

 

Bert takes over Cleo's station & duties.

Sometimes we have one dog and three cats.

Sometimes, however, there are role reversals.

All in a day's work.

That used to be the shed. Criminy.

It seriously changes the landscape at Bill and Louise's farm. It will take several visits to acclimate.

Or not. Time will tell.

I'm very glad now that I made my drawing.

 

SteamPunked Bacon Burger MeisterBurger

Wednesday's are always my day to blog on the AntiCraft, where I'm a tech editor. We're still in the middle of the "Beltane" issue, also known as "Unclean (It's Sacrelicious!)", though most people just call it The Bacon Ish.

I think we seriously underestimated how much fun could be had with bacon. BACON. Really. Who'd'a'thunk it? But Carin ended up on NPR on Monday morning. Baconhenge has been picked up by so many different food blogs, and my felted bacon bracelet has piggy-backed (ha! porcine pun!!) its way along on at least one (Slashfood, if anyone's wondering, and I think it's cool.)

Today, at Zabet's suggestion, I put my Steampunked Bacon Burgers on the AC blog, but I can never figure out how to post photos there. Redundancy is the answer!! I'll post it here, as well, with pics here and link the two.

Problem solved. Bon apetit!!

(By the way, if you're curious about the format, it's how all projects are formatted when they're published on The AntiCraft. This was one such submitted project for the current issue, but it's not really fair for a tech editor to have more than 2 projects in a given issue.)

STEAMPUNKED BACON BURGER MEISTERBURGER

It felt like they were breathing down the back of her neck, but they were in fact at least twenty-five, maybe thirty miles behind.

Still: too close for comfort.

But it wouldn’t do to skip meals. That trophy could never happen on an empty stomach. This strip of road? No double arches, no giant cowboy hats. Not here! Gonna have to do it herself.

She pulled to the side. A glance in the cooler, some rapid mixing, deft application of aluminum foil. A pop of the hood and the metallic packet nestled securely on the manifold.

As she drove the next 230 miles the aroma of cooking meat tantalized her, speeding her across the continent.

Victory smells like a juicy bacon burger.

Suggested Watching
The Great Race (1965, rated “Approved”)
Wacky Races (1968, rated G)

Difficulty Level
Rrrrgh….Brains….

Finished Measurements
# of burgers = 8-12, depending on the size of the patty

Tools/Ingredients
2# ground beef
2 packages onion soup mix
2 eggs
1 1/4 C (151g) dried bread crumbs
1 medium onion, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
3 T (29g) minced garlic
2 t (5.7g) fresh ground black pepper (or to taste)
1 t (2.45 g) cayenne pepper (or to taste -- I prefer more!)
1/4 C (20g) dried parsley
Hickory smoked bacon (1 pkg.)

Mixing bowl
Knife
Chopping board
Grill, grill pan, or griddle
Metal spatula, large


Chef's Notes
One very effective way of forming the hamburger patties is to make a very large ball of ground beef, wrap the bacon strips around the ball so they intersect twice (once above, once below), then flatten the patty on the bacon intersection points. Your burgers will keep their shape, and the bacon will not shrink or squeeze the meat out between the strips.


Directions
Preheat your grill, if you plan to use one. You want a warm grill, not hot -- this burger needs to cook a bit slowly, due to the bacon. If you’re “grilling” this burger on the stove, use a medium-low flame/comparable electric setting.

Mix all ingredients together except the bacon. Form into patties. Wrap the bacon around the patties in the form of Xs (see Chef's Notes). Make sure there is an X on both sides of each patty. Press gently to embed the bacon in the surface of the patty.


Place the burger patties on the cooking surface. Let them cook at least 5-8 minutes without pressing or lifting it! (Seriously -- walk away if you have to! I know the temptation is unbearable for some.) Cook these burgers sloooooowly. Flip after 15 minutes. Flip again, watch and make sure the bacon doesn't cook too fast for the burgers; cook until the burgers are done to your satisfaction.

The fresh vegetables in the meat actually steams the burger from the inside while it grills. It will be VERY juicy.


Serve on toasted sesame buns with onion and tomato slices, with a little barbecue sauce and horseradish. Or don't bother with the condiments. These burgers are loaded with their own flavor.

 

Run Like A God

Run like Ganesh: filled with joy, and finding all you seek. Run like Athena: with wisdom. Run like Horus: with far-reaching vision. Run like Anansi: with mischief and playfulness.

 

Wordless Weds: I'm Lutheran. I'm a pro. I can handle this.

Good Tidings of Great Joy!

We have confirmation! Boarding begins in 3 minutes. We are going HOME!

Weather and Whither We Go

We woke up to cooler weather here in Winter Haven, and histerical Weather Channel field reporters at E. 9th and Carnegie. If you click the link it will show you that the guy was standing right in front of Progressive Field (the newly renamed home of our Boys of Summer, the Cleveland Indians) though he wasn't creative enough to point that out. It's looking a bit doubtful whether we will actually make it to our home *region*, let alone Hopkins Int'l. Airport. Well, we were looking for baseball and adventure, right? We got 'em both! And the adventure continues upon arrival home. :-)

 

Full House at Quicken Loans Arena

25 seconds left and the Q is still packed. For what? For SCRUBS, that's what! That's how much this town loves our basketball. Or at least, is willing to give the revamped team a chance. For all that the revamped team hasn't even made it onto the court yet!

Sunset Thru Ballpark Lightposts

Yep. It's the sun. The sighting was positively confirmed. I didn't think we'd see him today, given the 4" of snowblanket dropped on this morning's commute, but it's nice to be surprised!

Cozy

Aw. No one snuggles in like Cleopatra. I wish I could join her.

Whaddayaknow...

Well, huh.

Look at the holiday I missed yesterday: Northern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day.

What a bummer! If I'd have known, you can bet I'd have participated.

Run outside, wave my arms, and yell, "Hoodie HOO!!" to banish winter? Why not? Can't hurt, and my neighbors already think I'm a little odd. I may as well go in whole hog!

And if it works, I'll have your gratitude, right? ;-)

(So should I wait til next year, I should I call for a do over and celebrate a little late, like tomorrow?)

 

Ravelry Ravings

I'm a member of this way cool online community called Ravelry. It's for people who knit and crochet. I spent a fair part of this evening messing around with my site and checking out some of the groups.

I am soooooo in love with this site.

There's even a site for people who knit and crochet and have a basenji. Such a cool niche! So perfect for ME.




And the part about "basenjis + yarn" that's especially funny is that they really REALLY don't mix. Cleopatra eats wool as often as she can get it. Plus, this is a very odd breed, with unbelievable quirks. I mean, dogs who yodel? It's true. But you don't want them near the yarn stash. So now we have our own support group.

Which is nice.

 

All 3 Cats

This is something that rarely happens. It's a less than marvelous picture because it's taken with my cell phone. It's also a photo taken waaaay back in the warm summertime, so enjoy it, and think of warm, sunny, 80 degrees Fahrenheit!

 

Super Duper...

It's Superbowl Sunday. I look forward to this usually because of the commercials. That's because my team never makes it to the game.

This year I made mascarpone cheesecake with dulce de leche sauce, triple chocolate brownies, and strawberry marshmallows. (Yeah, marshmallows from scratch. That's what I said!) It's going to be a fun Superbowl party, regardless of the game's outcome, or however many political ads take away from the actually entertaining ads.

Play ball!

 

thought for the day

The world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming it. -Helen Keller