Dog Bingo.

 AKA:  And now for something else completely un-food related.

I created this lil’ number the other day after having “one of those days” where my furry four-legged child was REALLY trying my patience. 

See that focused intensity?  Dad’s posing for a pic, while the Pugster is thinking “must. eat. game. dice.”

(And for those who are thinking “WTF game is that?”  Click here.)

 

I found myself wondering, “does he just have an AGENDA or something?  Like—’these are the things I have to accomplish today for my life to be complete’.  Like…DOG BINGO!”

So, now you too know your dog’s ultimate purpose in life: to get ‘Bingo’ every day.

You can’t fool us, canines.  We’re on to your wily ways.

What your lunch says about your personality.

Or, at least: What MY lunch says about my personality.

Being in the professional world, I’ve become very familiar, through a series of HR-imposed team-building exercises, with the array of personality profile quizzes that are currently out there.  One of the more popular ones is the DISC assessment, which determines if you are Dominant, an Influencer, Steady, or Calculating.  It would probably shock no one who knows me personally that I fall under the category of Steady.  “Steadies” are fiercely loyal, friendly, sympathetic to others, and dependable.  Their primary weakness, however, is that they don’t deal well with change.

Introduce my lunch.  I forgot to bring anything for lunch today.  Happens at least 1-2x a week.  I keep a stash of food at my desk (i.e. canned ravioli and Ramen, which only technically passes as food in that it slowly kills you with sodium, rather than dying from starvation), but I try to reserve those for days that I absolutely cannot leave the office due to some emergency.  Other days, my go-to is Pizza Hut.

Seriously.

What is a food blogger doing at Pizza Hut, you ask?  Getting a salad to go, I answer.

Pizza Hut has “to-go” salads?  Yes, yes they do.  Something I’ve been familiar with since I was a kid, but is apparently news to 90% of Americans.  For $4.83 (give or take some tax) you can get a giant pile o’ salad from their salad bar and take it with you.  Weight doesn’t matter.  That’s the awesome thing.  See, Pizza Hut is 1.5 miles from my office; there’s a grocery store less than half a mile from my office that has a salad bar as well, but they charge $4.99 a pound.  At Pizza Hut, it’s like Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes—if it fits, it ships.  108 cubic inches of salad.  I’ve never weighed one, but I guarantee my average salad is at least a couple pounds, once you factor cottage cheese, dressing, and some sort of non-salad “salad” in there.

Growing up, my parents both usually worked weekends.  My mom got home on Saturdays around noon, and we would go to Pizza Hut to get salads & breadsticks to go, pick up a rental video, then come home, chow down while watching a movie, and then clean the house together.  P. much every Saturday, that was the routine.  So Pizza Hut has a very special place in my heart.  Plus…they all have T. Marzetti’s Honey French dressing, which makes my heart even happier.

Heaven in a bottle.

Anyway.  I drove to Pizza Hut.  Only to find out that their salad bar was BROKEN.  No salad.  O_o <-- If I could figure out a way to make that face cry, I would.

There’s a Quizno’s, like, RIGHT across the street.  Also, a Hong Kong Inn, a Sonic, and a variety of other fast food establishments.

But no…the heart wants what the heart wants.  And today, the heart wants produce.

I accidentally left my smartphone at the office, so I head out on a journey…to try to REMEMBER where the next-closest P.Hut is. (Ugh---how did we find anything before smart phones?)  I vaguely remembered another one on the northwest side of town, so I head that way.  And yes…there USED to be one, but it’s now Kenny’s Non-Pizza Hut Pub & Grill. *sigh* Here, we’re surrounded by Burger King, Pizza Inn, Papa Murphy’s, Papa Johns (I see now that P.Hut got squeezed out of the market, despite their superior salad offerings)… do I give up & settle for a Whopper?  Hecks no.  It’s freakin’ SALAD DAY!

Then I remember one on the west-central part of town.  So I head south.  Thankfully, that one is still there, and the salad bar is intact.  Thank HEAVEN!

My epic salad journey.  13.93 miles roundtrip.

And yet…it’s different.  Where is the cottage cheese?  Where are the little crunchy lo mein noodles that have no nutritional value whatsoever? Where did this cauliflower come from?   WHY ARE THERE NO CROUTONS?????  *takes a breath*  It’s okay, it’s okay.  We’ll deal.

And that, my friends, is how I logged 14 miles on my car to get THIS:

You’ll notice that conspicuously large piece of cauliflower in the  bottom right corner?  Yeah…that’s where I usually put the cottage cheese.  The cauliflower is really just a place holder.

But….in reality…completely worth it.

So, while I haven’t reached that Sheldon Cooper level of control where Monday is Thai Night and Tuesdays are always spent at the Cheesecake Factory… I fear it’s coming.

Foto Friday: Summer Fun Recap!

As I prepare for my return to Academia this coming semester (new parking pass, textbook reservations, getting my pic snapped for my all-new-student ID, because apparently my original one from 1998 is a little out of date, paying tuition--$224 a credit hour now!!!!), it occurs to me that “summer” is coming to an end.  Not the blinding summer heat, or this ridiculous drought, but the “summer” as defined by “school” is definitely ticking away.

Therefore, I’d like to take this post & dedicate it to reminiscing over the fun things we’ve done this summer!  That way, when I’m sitting in class next month sweating over the chemical components of fibrous clays, I have something to reflect back on with a smile.  So here’s just a few fun pics from the Summer of 2012.

May: Annual Memorial Weekend Trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama!

Sometimes, low lighting blur makes for an awesome photo op.

That would be my husband getting pummeled by his best friend while we wait for dinner.

Also—dolphins can surf:

June-July: Float trips!

I should clarify something here, in case there’s any confusion.  In Missouri, “floating” involves a canoe and occasionally paddling.  Whereas in Louisiana, “floating” involves an inner tube and a prayer that no trees get in your way.  Either way, you’re not moving very fast & can easily kill most of a day with your friends.  We got in about three float trips so far this year, which is a pretty nice way to spend a Sunday.

This is my floating hat.  I bought it for $2 at WallyWorld in December.  It pays to shop off-season.

The Pugster also loves to float and swim, although he spends much of the day trying to get into someone’s lap, or into someone else’s boat.

He is less than fond of his life jacket though.  However, when you have a small dog who frequently likes to go AWOL, a life jacket is essential.

Mainly because it has a handle.

Rocky sez: Algae iz tastee.

 

June: Somewhere during the summer, I got addicted to Bubble Safari on Facebook…and apparently, it got addicted to me, too…

Geez, Monkey, co-dependent much?

 

June: We took my folks up to Kansas City to watch the St. Louis Cardinals slaughter the Royals.  My dad is a die-hard Cards fan, so I like to take them to one of the “I-70 Games” each year as a Father’s Day gift.  This year, we teamed up with my cousins and aunt to make it a family outing!

 

Yay tailgating with the fam!

Yay beating the Royals! Go Cards!

 

July: We took a jaunt about 4 hours north to Columbia, MO for an Independence Weekend camp out. Rocky made friends with some alpacas:

 

And then he made friends with a gi-normous Great Dane:

…who later decided he didn’t want to be friends with Rocky anymore, and attempted to literally bite his head off.

Yup.  That be’s pug-blood.

Alas, Rocky’s still young & ornery…whereas Diesel (the Dane) is older and gets crotchety after midnight.  We’d like to think Rocky learned some sort of life lesson from all of this…but no, after he was patched up & calmed down, he was right back to his antagonistic lil’ self.  *sigh*

July: The Hubs & I celebrated our one-year anniversary!  We made a week-long celebration out of it, starting off with a quick work trip down to Louisiana, then a fancy dinner at Fire & Ice here in Springfield:

 

Left: Flavored butter for our rolls—raspberry and orange.  SO good. Right: Some of the best creme brulee I’ve had in YEARS.

And we finally ate the top tier of our wedding cake, which was still moist & delicious, thanks to AmyCakes:

 

Then & Now: Vanilla Buttermilk w/Triple Berry Compote.

We also received this GORGEOUS handmade ceramic casserole dish from my friends Kathy & Matt in New Orleans as a belated wedding gift. 

Kathy & I are old friends & fellow cheesemongers from Martin Wine Cellar back in the day, so Kathy’s only request was that the first dish I make in this beautiful piece of artwork be SUPER cheesy.  And I am true to my word!  Stay tuned for seeing this dish featured in a blog post coming SOON!

 

July: My husband MADE FLOUR.  Seriously, this still blows me away.  He is so stinkin’ resourceful!

We also had some very tasty beer.  I love trying new summer seasonals, and this was my fave of Summer 2012:

Grapefruit and GINGER.  It’s a refreshing citrusy ginger beer.  I love it.  So much so that we asked Finn’s to put it on tap.  Thus far, no dice, but it was worth a try.

 

July: We also rented a pontoon for a day and had a lazy day on the water at Lake of the Ozarks with six of our friends.  I brought my camera…but didn’t take a SINGLE PIC.  I just think of it as a sign of having a really great time—I was enjoying myself too much to bother with photos.

 

August: The Hubs & I volunteered with our church for Project Partnership to help paint a local school.  Springfield is a city of about 160,000 people with 55 public schools in the district.  As such, maintenance is just severely underfunded. Without the community’s help, the schools in this area would only get renovations & upgrades (painting, landscaping, minor construction/repair projects) completed every 20 years—but with the assistance of Project Partnership, the schools get these well-needed updates every 8 years.

 

The Hubs & I are in this photo from the local news: He’s the blue shirt up on the ladder, & I’m the blue shirt just below.

There were about 300 volunteers this year and while they had slotted the whole day (8am-5pm) for the work, we finished up all the painting & construction projects by 1pm.  We sometimes catch a lot of flack for attending a megachurch (weekly attendance averages 9,000 between the two campuses), but I’m proud to be a member of a church that provides so many opportunities for community outreach, and sometimes it’s our sheer numbers that makes so many amazing things possible. 

This summer, our church also sponsored a “Bags by the Bumper” campaign: on the first Sunday of each month, patrons could bring a bag of groceries to church & leave it out by the bumper of their car, and the parking lot attendants took care of bringing everything in.  All the groceries go to local families in need through our One Heart community outreach.  We also did a “Stuff the Bus” drive, both at the church & at various drop-off locations around town, where good Samaritans could fill a backpack with one set of school supplies and drop it off for a local kid whose family can’t afford supplies.

Even if only half the people at our church participate, that’s still 4,500+ bags of groceries & sets of school supplies.  Not even counting what non-church members in the community might donate.  It’s totally awesome to be a part of something like that.  My husband & I have been truly blessed in our lives—loving families, good friends, college diplomas, steady jobs with decent paychecks, one devoted but mildly psychotic dog, no debt but our house… we couldn’t ask for more & wouldn’t want to. 

To be able to turn around and bless others is really what life should be all about. :)

Musings.

Given the oh-so-trendy-trend of giving kids odd names these days, I just found myself wondering (while commenting on a friend's blog)... I wonder if anyone has ever used the nonsense Captcha words to brainstorm for baby names.

"OMGs, youze guys, 'Extapi Icappec' would be SUCH a cute name for the fruit of my loins! I can call her 'Tapi!' It'll be sooooo cute."

...sorry. Just had to get that out of my system.

...I should probably swing over to GoogleTranslate & make sure I didn't just curse at you. Sorry.

--

On a more food related note, I have a backlog of recipes & restaurant reviews that need to get typed up...so...that'll be happening...eventually. Sometime this week. :D