The One Where Sabrina Almost LOST Her Blog

So at work when i am bored, I like to play around on my blog. Today was no exception. I like to experiment with new templates so I can have the coolest blog ever, and every one will like me more because i get my validation from my blog so i can have a stylish blog.

I was a bit more daring then usual when i found a blog template i really really liked. I downloaded it and viola, it looked something like this:I was so excited to see my new blog in action! Except there was one thing wrong with it: All my info\posts\pictures\links\EVERYTHING was gone! Poof! I almost had a mini panic attack...

Nothing was working and I literally almost started to cry. At that moment i realized that i needed to get a life and stop being so enmeshed/addicted/stage 5 clinger with my blog. Actually at that moment i did everything I could to bring it back because I am enmeshed/addicted/stage 5 clinger with my blog. I almost ran and found one of the tech guys to save me (even though blogging is not really allowed at work, but why?) THANKFULLY, I was able to save my blog all on my own, and now I feel whole again.

Operation Baking Gals

Well for those of you who know me, you might know me as this free spirited Libertarian pacifist gal. I rarely will talk about my political views or politics in general, but i guess you could say i am a Libertarian. I am not a fan of war (really, who is?) and therefore i am a pacifist. There are a lot of things very wrong with this country. Yet i am still an American, and I love living here and i embrace my freedoms (hello Libertarianism). So as we are in the middle of a war, that i definitely wish would end soon, in the mean time I will support our troops. I think they are an amazing\fearless\brave\wonderful lot of men and women. Even if i don't understand or always agree with what they are doing on a daily basis, I still care about them. So to show my support I have joined a group of women calling ourselves, Operation Baking Gals. Operation Baking Gals is a group of women who are on "teams" and each team picks a group of soldiers and sends them baked goods. I am on team Meet Me in the Kitchen. Starting the week of August 23, all the members of our team will be sending goodies to Russ and his pals. Anyone can join, so if you are interested check out Operation Baking Gals and sign up. Now, the big question is: What am I going to bake????

After the Dentist Comes the Police

My dentist visit went well... I was offered Nitrous Oxide and GLADLY accepted. I had my earphones\MP3 player cranked up and I was out of it. You really do think about the weirdest things when you are a bit high. I think i solved all life's major crisis... now if i could just remember the solutions??? I have to go back in a month to get a crown on bad tooth, but this was such a positive experience, i don't mind going back.
Oh and guess who showed up at my door after the dentist? The police! Marius decided to wander far far away again. Although this time he was such a criminal the police picked him up and handcuffed him in the back seat. Ok no handcuffs, but he was in the back seat. Silly Cat.
Lady cop was nice and didn't give me any lectures about not having my cat licenced. What is this shame free week? No shaming dentists, no shaming police. This is great!
Well Marius is back home safe and sound, good thing for ID tags... Now i must go rest, I still feel funny funny funny.

Pie Time!

I enjoy making pie... and i love having reasons to make pies, like the birth of a new baby. So i went to my dessert bible: Baking by Dorie Greenspan. She had this recipe for Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie. Sounded summer delicious! I took the "bones" of her recipe and then tweaked it a bit... I had a sampling of the cream filling with a hunk of mango, and let me tell you, not too shabby.

Mango Gingered-Lime Cream Pie-
makes 8 servings - adapted from Dorie Greenspan's recipe
Ingredients:
For the Filling1 9-inch graham cracker crust, fully baked and cooled, or a single crust pie dough.
1 cup sugar
Grated zest of 3 limes
4 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (from about 6 limes)
A 1-inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces, at room temperature. (you could even use less butter... her recipe called for 2.5 sticks of butter!)
1 Mango, chopped into big chunks, drizzled with lime juice.



Procedure 1. Have an instant-read thermometer, and a blender or a food processor at hand. Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.
2. Put the sugar and zest into a heatproof bowl that can be set over the pan of simmering water. Whisk in the eggs, then whisk in the juice, ginger and cornstarch.
3. Set the bowl over the pan and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. Cook the lime cream until it reaches 180 degrees F. As whisk—you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling—you'll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as it gets closer to 180 degrees F, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point—the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don't stop whisking or checking the temperature, and have patience—depending on how much heat you're giving the cream, getting it to the temperature can take as long as 10 minutes.
4. As soon as it reaches 180 degrees F, remove the cream from the heat and pour the cream into the container of the blender (or food processor); Let it cool until it reaches 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes.
5. Turn the blender to high speed (or turn on the processor) and add the butter a few pieces at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed as you incorporate the butter. After all the butter is in, continue to blend the cream for another 3 minutes. If you find the machine is getting really hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats.
6. Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface and refrigerate until the cream is cool. Or I put mine in the freezer and let cool that way. Much faster! (The cream can be packed airtight and and frozen for up to 2 months; thaw overnight in the refrigerator.)
7. When the cream is cooled and firm, stir and then pour 1\3 of cream into the bottom of your cooled crust. Add half of mango chunks, then pour rest of cream on top. Finish with the rest of your mangos. Let chill until ready to serve.

Just in case you were dying to know...

My weekend went something like this:

Friday night I went out to the Carver County Fair. I hadn't been there in years. I used to be in 4-H and I would show my horse there. Back then it was cool to walk around the Midway and meet cute boys. Those days are long gone, well the 4-H part at least, I still like walking the Midway, making friends with the Carnies.

So I went to the Fair and Shannon, Jaime and Cindy were there. Cindy is on the fair board and gets to drive around in a cool golf cart. And she is officially attached to the hip with her new\old boyfriend John. Jaime also brought her new boyfriend Kevin.

He was nice, and he thought we were silly\strange\deranged\funny. True.

I also hung out\played games to win goldfish with an old old friend from High School named Mike. Mike and i dated in 6th grade. It was like old times. But no kissing behind trees at recess.

It rained, and that wasn't so great. It was strange being back. Even weirder bumping into people I haven't seen since the day I graduated. Strange indeed.

Saturday was calmer. I spent most of the day relaxing. Until i made some chicken and pie and brought it over to Jodi. Yes, the one and only! We finally were able to meet after all this commenting over blogs. I also got to meet\hold\feed\burp\love baby Jada!

What a doll! Plus I also got to meet Jakob, who is such a cutie too!

and hubby Craig... and have great conversations with one Simple Perfect Family. Jodi and Craig are the New Megan and Jake.

Sunday i spent the day at my parent's house. My parents surprised me with a new grill! They are good people. We took a drive into Hutchinson and played guessing games.

Mother: I'm thinking of a restaurant that begins with the letter W.

Daughter: Olive Garden?

Mother: I said W!

Father: Wally's?

Daughter: How often do you actually ever eat at a restaurant named Wally's?

Mother: Hello, any more guesses?

Daughter: Chilli's!!!!

Mother: I SAID W!!!!

Back at home we made a campfire and grilled and sang songs around the fire. Including the one where my mom played Puff the Magic Dragon on the guitar and my dad and I changed the words to the song. Puff the Magic Doobie. We are nerds. We prefer it that way.

Monday is dooms day. Mr. Dentist will spend 2 hours repairing my one sad tooth. I will calmly sit listening to my music and wishing i were somewhere far far away.

"I wish I was a bird and I would fly far far away."(go ahead Kelly, name that movie.)

Are you going on vacation anytime soon?

You know how it is the cool thing to shorten words right now:
That's Gorgeous.... That's Gorg
Whatever... Whatevs
Vacation... Vaca

Vaca means beef in Spanish... So now when people go on vacation I'm just going to say,
"Have a nice Beef!"

If you want a sneak preview to the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games, my friend Bonnie who lives in the future told me all about it.

The Swiss will be sporting Leiderhosen is the word on the street at the Bird's Nest.
Yep, still buzzin' on caffeine.

Warning!

Just to warn you I just drank an Iced Latte, NOT DECAF. "IS THIS DECAF?" (kelly, name that person!) Anyway, I do not handle caffeine very well, so i stay away from anything caffeinated including: coffee, soda, dark chocolate, and men from Columbia.
Caffeine makes my left eye twitch. It's so annoying and i suppose if you didn't know me or didn't feel comfortable telling me, you might be drawn to my eye doing some weird spasm dance and totally not being able to focus on all the interesting stories i would be telling you.
So why am I drinking a NON DECAF Iced Latte this morning you ask? Well, It's Friday, I just got paid and I wanted to treat myself. And on top of it, I discovered this quaint little bistro style coffee shop right in my neighborhood. That is the great thing about moving to a new community, you get to find little gems right in your backyard. So if you are ever in the Robbinsdale area I would highly recommend you check out this place, it's called McCafe.

I totally stole a dinner idea from Shannon last night. "You stole it!" (that is a line we say in our family a lot!) Why? It's from a movie, Can you name it? 1980's comedy, featuring too funny guys.
Shannon was going to make Mini Meat Loafs. I like meat loaf and I like to eat mini things. To top it off, I had mini loaf pans that kelly gave me as a dink once.
(Dink: a small random gift.)
They were very tasty, although i don't have a picture to post at the moment. But when i do, you will be dazzled by cuteness. Can meatloaf be cute? I say to you: YES!

Tonight is the opening night of the Olympics! I love the summer Olympics! I think Mary Lou might take the gold! Greg Louganis is going to Rock! Go Bruce Jenner!
I'm sorry, that was the Olympics circa 1976,1984 and 1988. See what caffeine does to me!
I tend to be a bit surprised when the Olympics draws near, and you stop and think, The last one was four years ago? But for me, it goes back a little further than that. I was teaching in Beijing 6 years ago, right after Beijing got the bid to host the 2008 Olympics. You have no idea how excited\proud the Beijinians (they do not call themselves that) were. Everywhere you went there would be signs saying: Hosts of the 2008 Olympics. Even on our mattresses they printed, Olympics 2008. I remember telling all my students that I totally would be back for the 2008 Olympics. Heck, I had 6 years to prepare. I guess I just assumed that it was so far off, that of course i would be returning in 2008. Well 2008 is here, and I'm not there in Beijing. Isn't that so funny how time works... You just think you have all the time in the world. And then it just zips right by.
My dad who went to work everyday for 31 unfulfilling years at the local gas company, had a saying at his job:

Time waits for no man, and neither does the

Meter Reader.

Words of wisdom spoken by a true gas man.
"How did they know i have gas?" Name that movie. 1990's movie with 2 different funny guys.

(addition: I am getting the distinct impression that people are liking me better when i am high on caffeine. So are you saying regular Sabrina isn't good enough? Or is it like that one episode of Friends where they only like Fun Bobby when he is drinking? thanks.)