It's super easy. For just the two of us I always do a small primo (a very simple spaghetti - DH is half Italian, so we regularly do the pasta first, main after) and use 1 large bulb of fennel and 2 really small or 1 large chicken breast and by now I do the bechamel without measuring, but I assume that's about 30 grams butter, 30 grams flour and 300 ml milk.
Boil the fennel for 5 minutes, then drain and let it cool a bit. Slice into circles and place on bottom of casserole. Cube the chicken breast and place it (raw) on top of fennel. Season with salt (and fresh ground black pepper) to taste and pour a generous amount of bechamel over everything until it's fully covered. Bake in a 175degree C preheated oven until chicken is cooked through and the top has some nice brown flecks. About 30 minutes in my oven and pan. The bottom will be really bubbly.
It's a very very simple dish, but has a supe distinct taste because of the fennel. I'm assuming you have a bechamel recipe (from your previous food related posts, but if not, here goes mine:
As said, always kinda play it by ear. Officially it's equal amounts (in weight) of butter and flour, and then add a 0 at the end and make that ml for the milk (so 10gr 10gr 100ml). After making it a zillion times I know how much I want and how I want it to look, so I don't weigh/measure anymore.
I just melt unsalted butter, then add flour and stir to combine, let it cook for 1 to 2 minutes while stirring occasionally to prevent it from truly browning/sticking. The cooking for about 2 minutes is important to get rid of the flour-y taste. Then warm the milk a little and whisk the roux while pouring in the not-ice-cold milk. (sometimes I hardly warm it, because I'm lazy). If you're not exactly measuring, you start with a good amount of milk and once it starts to thicken add more milk if needed, if you measured, just pour it all in and be done with it! Add salt and fresh grated nutmeg. Cover with a lid and let it cook for ideally 20-30 minutes, but really, it is useable after 10-15 minutes. If you remove the lid for a second, you should see the big globs puffing up and open. Low flame, don't burn. Taste to make sure it's not undersalted/under-nutmegged and use on whatever dish you want!
That is fascinating and welcoming GilliC! Clogged, I always thought that the Catholics would eventually give you the boot too, or do they just assume you cannot become something else, because they refuse to take you out of their books? (And they refuse to recognize that other churches are totally welcoming and say, "Dude, that doesn't matter, we'll just pretend like it doesn't exist.")
Is there any any chance at all that you could get another advisor involved on it? This really doesn't sound like it's productive for you at all. No other advice besides maybe buying a dart board and improving your game by putting a picture of her on there?
Good luck (and it's okay to scream once in a while!)
Still going strong with the exercising, even though it hurts; )
QOTW: I honestly don't know how to answer this as I have never not worked full time. You just do it, like you do groceries and chores and eat and stuff. It just takes 40 minutes away from tv time on the days I work out. No big deal.
I'll admit I own crocks. I love wearing them while gardening, or when I taught sailing lessons (because they actually float). I also admit that I think they're hideous.
Don't like Toms either, and I totally love uggs if it's winter and there's tons of snow and you wear them to walk/wade through the snow, with proper wintery clothing. Wearing them any other way, IMNSHO is wrong!
I'd be angry without PMS-ing. I'm insanely mean when it comes to sharing responsibilities though, I'd probably make DH take the afternoon off work to deal with his share of the responsibilities. And he can make up from that work from home (thus staying home and taking care of DD) while I go out and drink wine with friends.
Don't have children yet, but in situations where I feel we should have a shared/mutual responsibility (like a child FFS) I get really mean and bitchy to make sure responsibilities are actually shared.
Ugh, I hate definitions of people. I'm annoying, I'm a heathen, I'm white, I'm pinkish, I'm Dutch, I'm American, I'm a nice person, I'm a biatch, I'm fat, I'm healthy, I'm smart, I'm blonde, I'm spiritual, I'm so friggin many things and why does anyone else care what kind of definition I give myself in a personal way.
Sure, if any official form needs you to write down your religion (which, unless it's a religious organization, I very much frown upon) you probably shouldn't say "half whatever religions you choose to share", because every religion will automatically say "oh if claim to be something else too, we'll assume you've given up ours".
But what whatever church/religion states you can or cannot do has absolutely NO connection at all with how you feel, unless you personally choose to combine the two. (And I realize this choice can be your faith and you don't feel like you actively choose.)
When I explain my family situation to people, or DH's for that matter, in both instances everyone will accept/understand that yes, I AM half Dutch/half American and he is half Dutch/half Italian. Legally though, we're both 100 percent Dutch.
If everyone would only go by what's legally (or according to official/church documents) true, the world would be a very sad and boring place.
Humpf, I can't believe you guys are all being so nasty about bechamel! I am offended on bechamel's behalf!!!
Bechamel is sooooo good, provided you made it right. As in, absolutely no bechamel from a jar or box or pouch. It's so easy to make. Also, enough salt, cooking the butter/flour mixture long enough and nutmeg make ALL the difference.
One of my favorite dishes is a casserole with chicken and fennel on the bottom and bechamel over it, in the oven until the chicken is cooked. SO friggin good!
Also, any good cheese sauce, the base is bechamel. Basically any good creamy sauce has a bechamel sauce base. Do you not eat mac an cheese? ^o) If you make that from scratch instead of from the nasty blue box, that's a bechamel base!
You all need to apologize to wonderful tasty bechamel, for reals!!!
I used to be in the absolutely not a drop when drivung group untul I was 25 or so. I now do 1 or 2 drunks max with a full meal (1 or 2 depends on how much time 'til driving). If my dad is around I still don't drink a drop, because he'll get behind the wheel drynk as fuck, so I need to be able to take over. Asshole!
Ugh, in our house we share assembling duties. Sometimes I build, sometimes DH does, sometimes we hire someone, and sometimes we buy something pre-assembled and then hire someone to remove windows so we can actually get it into the house (sofa, last year, don't ask).
I fail to understand why those bumpies won't just sympathize with the couple who's floor is now ruined, instead of being all judgey-mc-judgerson about who is supposed to assemble furniture.
Thanks for all the advice, ladies. I'm thinking it probably is the weather/cold/lack of keeping my body esp calves/lower legs warm and the way I run. I just got these running shoes and so far they've actually reduced all the pain I used to have with even just walking and the 'more than just being out of shape' pain started with the sudden change in eather. Also, I'm just completely stiff and sore all over now, back, full legs, everything. I guess I either have man-flu (I mean, everything hurts and it sucks) or I really need to keep myself and most importantly my legs, much warmer.
I'll definitely try the shorter steps and extra stretching too though :-)
So, I started C25K recently. All proud of myself and everything, but just into week two I'm running (hehe) into a problem. My calves hurt like hell! Really, truly not pretty. And my shins feel all tight after running as well.
During week 1 of the program my legs hurt a little on day 2, but not that much and I could deal and it would get better shorty after running. Now though, pain. Very very much pain. Unhappy pain. Pain that makes me want to cry instead of run. So I'll turn back to walking because it's really all I can do and not finish the workout. While the week 1 workouts ended up be very doable (won't ever call it easy, but doable), week two seems impossible.
I do a good warm up (like the app demands), I don't try to go super fast. I bought actual running shoes. I drink plenty of fluids during the day, before and after the run, I do the 5 minute cool down and I do stretches when I get home (I walk/run directly from our house into a park, so the stretching is immediately after cool down.)
Sure, today the weather was crappy, cold and very windy, but last weekend/end of last week, the weather was beautiful and I got the pain as well.
If I touch my calves they actually feel rock hard and BIG. And the shins just feel tense during running/walking, but that's pretty much over when I stop my exercise.
Please, anyone who's done C25K, or is a runner, do you have any advice? I really really want to continue this. It's the first exercising I've done in 3+ years, and the first I've liked in 6+ years.
Let me see if I can get all the acronyms... HPT - Home pregnancy test hcg - pregnancy hormone 10dpo - 10 days past ovulation c/p - chemical pregnancy m/c - miscarriage EDD - Estimated Delivery Date mid - the middle of Feb - February btw - by the way
Have you ever seen a German make spaghetti kit from a box? I'll go ahead and assume that it would give you a coronary.
LOL oh it totally would! The menus are seriously off limits for me! I read mozzarella di bufalo and inside I'm screaming BUFALAAAAAA It's crazy I know, please don't hate me A million times I've told my local Whole Foods how to spell prosciutto San Daniele. And there they are still spelling it San DANIELLE .... @z&$/6/):?.&!?$/!!!!! The poor saint's name was Daniel, dammit! Ok now I need a drink.
Hehe, how ofteb since you've lived in the US have you corrected saying eXpresso?? That always makes me want to pull my hair out.
Not much of a fast-food-craver ever, but I would love love love some BBQ from Hickory house. Order the big plate to share and have some brisket and pulled pork and ribs and bbq chicken and texas toast and baked potato and grilled corn and their awesome, awesome sauce. (And yeah, they have baked beans and coleslaw too, but I never crave those, all the other things on the list though, yeah!)
Like clogged, I usually just make it (provided I have the ingredients/can easily get them). DH has been known to come home to 3 different cakes because I couldn't decide what I craved most and just made all (in the 2 to 3 hours between when I get home and he gets home from work.)
I didn't chart temps last month (did start this cycle/today, in case AF would come) so I'm not 100 percent sure when I O'd. I think it might only be 12 or 13 DPO. I think I O'd on the 20th, but not 100 percent sure.
So far no AF though! And usually that starts either early morning (wake up with cramps) or early afternoon. I'm weirdly regular in that aspect.
As far as I know no-one in my family has died in any wars, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been any impact.
My grandma (officially stepgrandma) was a young German girl during WWII. She still cannot throw food away, nothing, absolutely nothing. If it smells bad, you just cook it a minute longer to kill the germs. The older she get (dementia) the more extreme she gets/reverts back into that pattern. My grandpa on dad's side had to go into hiding with his 3 brothers. His younger brother was caught while walking his sisters dog and asked for his papers and when they saw his age, they demanded he'd report for workcamp 2 days later. When he announced that at home, they knew that if he would have to go, the other two boys would as well, and they all went into hiding. My grandpa isn't alive anymore, but his brothers still won't tell more about it than 'we used to play cards, we'd play cards for days on end'. My mom's dad was the chief of police in a smallish town and they lived in the station. Obviously the nazi's took that over and kept their offices there. My grandparents risked their lives in the resistance, as this gave them the opportunity to try to listen in and sneak peeks at nazi intel. My other grandma and her sisters have told us about having to eat tulip bulbs, because that truly was the only thing there was. DH's grandpa, maternal, was born Jewish (married a catholic, but still had the name) so his mom and her parents had to go into hiding as well. They were separated from each other for a few years, but fortunately were all able to reunite. Despite the fact that WWII ended 67 years ago, it has still had a huge impact on all sides of my family. It probably will until everyone from my mom's generation is dead.
I know my family's story is absolutely nothing, nothing compared to people who actually lost family members or friends in conflict.
And it saddens me that since the break out of WWII there hasn't been even 1 single day that there wasn't a war or serious war-like conflict somewhere in the world.
Ahhh, this post now makes me miss the good old days where we didn't have to be afraid of burglars and my mom hung a little rope out the mailbox which we (well, anyone) could pull so we could open the semi-locked door from outside. Everyone did that when I was a kid 'because it would suck to have to keep answering the door all the time, and no-one but your kids and close friends will use it anyway".
Regarding the mailbox slot, every DIY store sells 'mailslot backs', which you attach to the door on the back of the slot, which will let mail through and fall into a bag or box or so, but trying to put a hanger through there to open the door/steal keys would be impossible. Since I have a window next to my door that won't do anything for us, but that's what a lot of people do to secure their mailbox.
I just read this last night, how's that for irony.
Iran, together with Azarbejan, have filed a complaint about the Netherlands to the UN human rights council because, believe it or not, according to Iran and Azarbejan, NL discriminates based on sexe.
I can't find the article anywhere in English, but yeah....
I know NL doesn't do everything right, we do have a bunch of problems, there is a glass ceiling, yadayada whatever. But really Iran complaining about discrimination based on sexe by ANY other country in the world just seems very, very ironic.
I have thought about how awful it would be if the door was locked and I lost my keys and there was a fire. Luckily we live on the first floor, but it still makes me nervous. (I am known to be paranoid about things that aren't likely to happen, though.)
I also think about this AND, because I am paranoid, what if someone breaks in, takes the keys out of the door from the inside where I left them and then I can't escape?!?!
I watch too many crime shows I think.
And break-ins are exactly the reason I don't trust doors that don't do this. Burglars could just throw in a window and turn the knob from the inside and be in, even though you locked it from the outside when you left. That scares the crap out of me.
I have a sliding lock (no idea what it's actually called) which I can close from the inside so I don't actually lock the door with the key when I go to sleep. If someone would throw in a window when I'm in the house, it's harder to unlock that, plus I'd hear the glass breaking. From the inside it's pretty easy to slide open though. Makes me feel so much safer.
Thing is, I've been used to this since I was a little kid and I've only once forgotten my keys inside when I went outside (I was super excited about getting the call that my BFF had her baby, so I ran out to go buy her a gift to send and promptly realized both my keys and my bank card were still inside. Oops!) , and as said, DH locked me in once, but that was when we didn't know my key didn't work.
In our old house my set of keys for some reason didn't work from the inside, all others did, so I've been locked in here. All houses I've lived in needed a key on the inside if locked from the outside, I've never trusted locks where that isn't the case. I've always had spare keys for guests though, so in the event that I would ever for some reason send my own keys with someone and the door gets locked, I'll jsut grab the spare keys.
So my advice is very very simple. Have a spare key made, store that somewhere in the house, only use it if you want to lend someone a spare key, or when you're locked in. We have 3 sets of spares I think in this house.