Eggrolls

So... I found myself with a day off and looking for things to do. I decided that the paychecks just weren't going to get into the bank on their own so I deposited them. I then went to TJ Maxx and roamed around for awhile looking for gift ideas. I found a few things, a pine scented yankee candle, some skull bottle stoppers, jeans for me (Im a sucker for good jeans), and a nerf toy for my boyfriends lil 3 year old. I then went shopping at one of my favorite grocery stores called Sprouts Farmers Market. I got avocados, broccoli, celery, cauliflower, zucchini, roma tomatoes, blackberries, oranges among other goodies such as ear candles and garlic sourdough bread :) Then to get gas for my beastly gas guzzling truck. I got home and cleaned up the place a bit and moved around the 4 totes of Christmas decorations that will be going around the house and on the tree in the next couple days. I decided to try my hand at making chinese eggrolls after that and I think they turned out pretty decent. I took a couple pictures of the funtivities involved. The recipe ensues...

Gathering all the ingredients.

Cut up the cabbage and carrots and make the oil nice and hot.

Add all of the ingredients to the pan and cook till the cabbage is slightly wilted.

Let the mixture cool down and then prepare to wrap!

There we go making some eggrolls :)

Wrapped and ready to be fryed up to eat.

Mmmmm...look at those hot little rolls!

I ran out of cabbage mixture so I had some leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving and some velveeta!

Finished product, ready to eat! The top ones are the chinese eggrolls and the bottom ones are the mashed potato and cheese ones. They all turned out better than I thought. I could have wrapped up the cabbage eggrolls a little tighter, but I was afraid to tear the fragile eggroll wrappers. Fun stuff, I will definitely make them again. Heres the recipe for the chinese eggrolls if you are so inclined.

• 4 c. cabbage, coarsely chopped shopping list
• 1 or 2 tsp. red wine, optional shopping list
• 1 pkg. egg roll skins shopping list
• 2 carrots, grated shopping listshopping list
• 2 tbsp. soy sauceshopping list
• 1/2 c. chicken brothshopping list
• 1/2 tsp. saltshopping list
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• 2 tsp stir fry sauceshopping list

How to make it

·       Into a large frying pan, place about 3 T. oil. Let oil get hot.

·       Throw everything into the pan, and saute until well blended and coated with oil/wilted just a tad bit---not completely shrunken, but just reduced by a bit. You don't want to over-cook. You're just looking to wilt everything a bit before the frying stage!

·       Remove from heat, pour vegetable/meat mixture into a colander and let drain into another bowl in the fridge until cool enough to handle.

·       Prepare wrappers by laying out on waxed/parchment paper.

·       Wet edges of each wrapper individually with a fingertip or small brush dipped in water.

·       Place approximately 3 tablespoons mixture in each wrapper, and seal egg rolls

·       At this point, you can either deep fry for a couple minutes, or fry in about a half-inch of hot oil until golden brown.

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Have it Good

I don't often think about how good I have it at work. I was so blessed to find jobs immediately when I moved to Fort Worth, and I soon found that they really loved my work ethic and how personable I was with people. I think there is something to midwestern work ethics that isn't always realized here. I work my butt off with every job I have, no matter the pay. I give 100% in it. It is my livelihood and I have been rewarded in the past with recognition in getting better positions and raises by my working hard. Unfortunately, I don't see that hard work ethic as much in those around me at my other jobs, people tell me that I'm working hard, to just sit down and let others take care of stuff, things like that. The winery loves to have me there and is looking to advance me in the future when they get everything grounded in the next few months with some major position changes of the owners. the owner suprised me the other day when he asked me to do an 8 wine tasting for a group of 12. He trusts that my wine knowledge is good enough to be able to share it with others (and he is a stickler for us knowing all the details about our wines). I love working there, we have a close knit crew and I've made some great friends. People who come in say that they love to be there because we have so much fun there, and really we do. We joke around, and there never seems to be any bad nights there. The managers want us to drink the wines (isnt that terrible?) and know our stuff. We sip wine all night as we work, and the customers love that we drink wine with them. All in all it's a great job, I have learned so much about wine and their regions, distinct tastes, terriore, varietals, bordeuxs, and all that good stuff. I always wanted to be more knowledgeable in wine, and I feel like I really have it now. There is so much more to learn, but I will get there. I really do have it good.

Glorious Week

Mama made the long flight to Texas to visit me for a week. She left on Monday and it was so hard to see her go. We had a great time. We went antique mall shopping and found some cool things, we went to the botanical gardens where they have an amazing japanese zen garden, I took her to my winery that I work at and we drank wine and ate cheese, olives, and crackers. The tastes that I poured must have been a little too heavy. Mama may have imbibed just a little too much wine, but I wanted her to try some that I thought she would enjoy. We laughed and joked for hours there. We played uno for a few nights and found a book that asks questions like, "if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what food would you choose to eat a day that would keep the doctor away instead?" We drove out to Mineral Wells State Park and went hiking on the rocky terrain, we went to the overlooks and took pictures of Lake Mineral Wells. We walked around an abandoned haunted hotel that has been standing since the early 1900's. We went and ate way too much every day, but we had fun with trying a bunch of new places. So, yes, I thought about kidnapping her and making her stay here. If there were anything that I could change, I would change this distance between us. I miss, more than anything, not being able to just go and see my family and friends whenever I want to. Because the best part, the very best part was seeing her smiling face all day and putting my arms around her as much as I could. Being in her presence, enjoying our time together, that is what matters. It wouldn't have mattered that we went anywhere, or did anything. Just to have that glorious week was perfect.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

He tells me that I was never the one he truly wanted. Stubborn intent and decisions change the course of lives. They cut ties that can never be mended. He never wants to see, hear, or speak to this "evil" that is me. I wish that I hadn't thought that those little monkey trinkets were just something cute with a little life lesson. They play a much larger lesson in life. I see that I am an evil in someones life now. So much so that they never want to see, hear or speak to me again. Ever.