Eye Poster

Okay, so most people who know me, people who have been to my house, have seen the huge eye poster that I have. It all started back in 6th grade when we got an assignment to do a montage. I took this to mean I had to cover the entire paper with one theme. I covered a piece of cardboard entirely with eyes. I remember one guy put 4 or 5 guns on a sheet of legal size paper. Oh. Anyways, back in high school sometime I decided to start another one--on a much larger scale. I've said more than once that I think it's done, but then I randomly start working on it. I spent some time working on it when I came back from Maryland. I was planning on working on it more regularly, but I only worked on it for a week or two. Then, a couple weeks ago I just randomly started working on it again. Lisa Diane actually noticed when she was here for passover. I've worked on it even more since then. Here are a few photos showing the progress of the poster: This one was taken 9/19/2006.
This one was taken 9/28/2006.

Most recent photo: 4/25/2008.

Random Updates

Well, last night we had hot pot (shabu shabu) with Robert and Tiffany. After dinner we played Raving Rabbids 1 on the wii. That is my favorite game of all time. We laughed so hard. Everyone got in on the action. There was even plenty of cooperative play, with one person using the controller and the second person using the nun chuck. We had so much fun!
Ethan is a super cutie and talks so much now! His Chinese is much better than his English. I think he's blowing past Ross now (although I'm so amazed at how much Ross has learned). Ross and Ethan were even speaking Chinese to each other. Its funny, he sometimes says things to me in Chinese, but most of the time I don't know what he's saying. Robert and Tiffany want him to also learn Spanish. I tried to get him to roll his Rs...that was funny. He kind of started purring in his throat.
The garden is doing well. I just have one jalapeno plant that is wilted....not completely dead, but completely wilted. We got some really heavy rains the last couple of weeks. The stone patio is a mess again, and I just don't have the will to fix it again! The water moved all the mulch onto one area of the patio....I just can't mess with it again....
It was hot and humid this week, and the A/C wasn't working. The repair man finally came on Friday and fixed the freon leak and added 8 pounds of freon. Now cold air comes out. Woo hoo.
Let's see...Passover. I've been eating a crazy amount of matzoh....I didn't make another batch of chocolate matzoh until Friday. Partly out of laziness and partly because the A/C was out and I didn't want the oven running at 400 degrees! I discovered that soy sauce has wheat in it! Oops. I ate a lot of fruits and veggies yesterday to try and balance out all the meat and matzoh I've been eating. Tonight we are going to Logan's Roadhouse to have some yeast rolls!
That's about it.

Passover 2008

So Saturday night we had seder at our house. I think it's the first time we've had seder at our house. As you can see in the photo Tim, Jason, Laura, and Lisa Diane and Joey came (Joey was taking the photo.) I made most of the food early Saturday, so we were able to start just after sundown and when it was time for the meal I just reheated everything. We had matzoh, matzoh ball soup, steamed baby carrots with mint, gefeltefish, charoset (2 kinds), boiled eggs, twice cooked Chinese 5 spice lamb, zabaglione, and lots of wine. Things went pretty smoothly. It was a good passover dinner. I managed not to eat too much. After dinner Bailey started kneading Lisa Diane's knitting and curled up on it.
On Sunday we had some sushi then did some shopping. I bought some capri pants that actually fit. I don't know how I fit into a size four, but I did (and I was all proud until a certain somebody burst my bubble and told me that those sizes run large....hahaha (I knew it was too good to be true.)) We also went to Bethany and got some drinks. I had a taro frappe. It was tasty. Around 8 pm the weekend really hit me and I started to feel exhausted. I slept in and I still feel tired. The house is pretty much cleaned up...it took me a whole hour to wash the dishes.
Oh yeah. There seems to be a consensus that the chocolate matzoh is better with the brown sugar. There are only 2 pieces left in the fridge. I'm going to have to get some more chocolate chips and make some more tonight! Oh, and its SUPER scrumptious with peanut butter on it.

Choco Matzoh

Well, tonight I made two things: upside down pineapple muffins and choco matzoh. My mom gave me this recipe a long time ago. I think she found it in the newspaper. In this month's Bon Apetit there was the same recipe, except it used brown sugar. Tonight I used brown sugar just to try it out.

Choco Matzoh

8 matzos
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar (white or brown)
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cover two cookie sheets with foil and arrange matzos onto the sheets.
3. Melt the butter and sugar in a small saucepan, stirring constantly.
4. Boil the mixture for 3 minutes.--I think this is the most critical step. Sometimes the mixture is very grainy and I think that happens when it isn't boiled long enough.
5. Pour and spread the sugar butter mix over the matzos.--You kinda have to work quickly at this, or the mixture can harden or separate.
6. Bake the matzos for 5 minutes.
7. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the matzos.
8. Return pans to oven for 30 seconds--just to melt the chocolate chips.
9. Smooth out the chocolate chips.--I use an icing spatula, but the back of a spoon works too.
10. Allow to cool and harden, then refrigerate in a ziploc bag.--If you have room you can cool and harden them in the fridge.

Latest Happenings

So, we drove to Granbury last night and picked up my new scale. Well this morning I weighed myself neked, and it said 146. So I guess its official; I've broken 150. I think I could stand to lose another 10 pounds. My clothes are looser, but it would be nice to have less gut and less thighs.

On another topic...my garden is doing very well. I planted some pepper seeds that I got at Dishi's wedding shower. They sprouted nicely, and I've now planted planted them in pots. I always get seeds to sprout, but then they just kinda fizzle out there. I'm hoping to get at least a couple of plants out of these seeds. As far as the rest of the yard goes...I started to clean up the front areas so we could move some of the dirt and mulch there. We have a lot of dirt left over. I'm sure we'll be able to spread it around, but it's going to take a little while. The lawn has turned green and looks great now that it's been mowed. Well, that's about it.

Oh, yeah. The house smells funny because I made gefeltefish today. I'm burning a candle, but it still smells in here. I went shopping today for all the food for seder. I bought a really big leg of lamb. We'll also have matzoh balls, charoset, baby carrots, and of course the gefeltefish. Ross is making the dessert. Tomorrow I'm making choco-matzoh. It's one of the only ways I can stomach matzoh: covered in butter, sugar, and chocolate. This year I'm going to try it with brown sugar. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I think I'll go have some ice cream....

Movies, etc.

We went to the movies today. I haven't been feeling so well, so the movies is the perfect activity. No activity. Haha. Last Sunday we went and saw Horton Hears a Who. Today we saw Juno. We both really liked it. I cried more than I did at Dan in Real Life. It was partly cause I'm overtired. I wore my new pants from Fossil. Size 6 and 9.99! Woohoo! Even if i haven't lost any weight I've lost some inches. After the movies we went to the mall and had some ice cream. Piccolo Molo. Not exactly Amy's, not exactly gelato, but it satisfied my craving. I had kiwi and pineapple. Ross had cherry and white chocolate. There were definitely artificial flavors in there. When we got home I watered the garden. I'm all excited because my jalepeno plants each have one little white downward-pointing flower. My other pepper plant also has a little bud that should open into a flower soon. I'm so stoked about the garden. Of course there are little holes everywhere where the squirrels have been digging. I'll have to go out and fix that tomorrow. I'm exhausted (from doing nothing, I assure you). I'm going to lay down now.

Yard Month Continued

Yard month has spilled into April. Bailey is sniffing me intently, as she does every time I come in from outside. The garden and flower areas are planted and mulched. I have to spend Sunday back out on the stone patio. Little weeds are everywhere. I have to pull the weeds and put more mulch in between the rocks. Ross mowed both the front and back lawns. I've used over half the mulch we ordered. I guess the rest can go around the little tree, but first that area needs to be cleaned up. We still have a lot of dirt left over. I know we'll find places to put it all. There are plenty of holes around the yard to fill in. It's time for me to work out, so I'll upload the photos and post this.