Puppy is now in the possession of the Plano Animal Shelter. It seemed like a nice place…I hope he finds his future family there.
It’s been a dismal weekend. Lots of peanut butter chocolate sammiches in the future.
Scratch that. Unhappiness = no eating.
I’ve been test-driving some social networking plugins such as Lifestream and the Facebook Dashboard Widget, and I’ve come to the conclusion that some of these things are just too user-unfriendly. As much as I like Lifestream, it appears that Facebook closed their API so that I can’t grab my status feeds from them. What does this mean? Well, it’s not the plugin’s fault that a well-known social networking site decided to shut off public access to feeds. But given that it is one of a few sites that I regularly check up on, would it be too much trouble to have an RSS feed work from it? At this point, I’m thinking I should just use blog RSS feeds, such as the one by Blogger, or a proprietary widget, from MySpace for example, to fill my sidebar.
Lifestream doesn’t work actually, it just fails to reload my dashboard page whenever I attempt to add a feed, so I’ve dropped it.
I found another annoyance: it seems that the newest Sidebar Login plugin is wreaking havoc with my sidebar formatting. I’ve rolled back to 2.1.7 to correct the issue, since I don’t have time right now to root around the code to fix it. Besides that, I dislike the gravatar image that was added in 2.2.1. It would be more appropriate in a personal site, but seems out of place in a multi-user portal site.
…see Puppy eat a wall. Yes, Puppy has developed a taste for drywall…as there is now a hole in my laundry room that he has chewed through. /sigh
Nobody has stepped up to claim the pup. I had him posted on SPCA’s PetNet but no luck in finding his owner. Most likely the fellow has been dumped/abandoned. Given today’s economic climate, this seems likeliest. It’s a tough time to be homeless, and tougher for a homeless animal. I just wish I could find this guy a good home…and get back some much need sleep and productivity. Meanwhile, it’s still been a pleasure watching another puppy grow up under my roof, even though he is a little pee monster.
Little known fact: after 72 hours, the lost pet becomes the finder’s responsibility. So apparently I am now the proud new owner of a furry poop machine. He’s lucky he’s so darned cute.
After deliberating on what to do with a 1.25lbs of frozen sliced lamb that I purchased from my local Asian grocer, I opted to create two dishes from this earthy-flavored meat. Because the lamb is thinly sliced, it is not overpowering like heartier cuts of lamb. But if you don’t have good ventilation in your kitchen (and you dislike the smell of cooking lamb) then I recommend throwing the windows open or turning up your vent hood on high.
I chose to present the more successful of the lamb recipes I cooked. Preparing this recipe requires two steps, marinade then stir fry.
For the marinade:
1/2 or 3/4 pound thinly sliced lamb
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp shaved fresh ginger
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp of fresh lemon thyme, chopped
ginger powder
garlic powder
Mix all of the dry ingredients: garlic, ginger, thyme and soy sauce together. Pour the marinade into a resealable freezer bag with the lamb. Refrigerate overnight.
For the stir-fry:
6-8 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
3 green onions, sliced
5 thai chiles, julienned
half a bunch of snow pea leaves
1/4 cup of soy sauce
peanut or vegetable oil
Before cooking, remove the stems from the snow pea leaves, unless you like the stringy parts (young snow pea leaves do not have the tough, stringy stems, a typical preparation found here). Brown the garlic in vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Toss in chiles and stir. Add the marinated lamb, making sure that the meat is separated and cooks evenly, about 4-5 minutes. Toss in the snow pea leaves and cook until slightly wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Add soy sauce and a little water (to deglaze) if more liquid is needed for a sauce. Reduce heat, toss in green onions and stir fry until tender. Remove from heat, then serve over a bed of steamed rice.
Another upside to thinly sliced meats is the relatively fast cooking time. Stir frying this dish took no longer than 15-20 minutes, not including the overnight prep time. And using sliced meats gives you a better handle on portion control.
The callas are blooming. First up: Flame. These blooms display brilliant yellow, with a touch of orange or red. I am assuming that as the weeks go on, they will deepen in color per their namesake. As an aside, the single blooming purple flower of my Devil’s Wine calla has barely faded but held its true shape. It’s a testament to how long-lived these calla blooms are!
My Blossom Farm order came in last week, but 2 of the lavender plants I ordered do not appear to be faring very well. I’ve been keeping a close watch on them, but it appears the smallest of the 4 has given up the ghost. I’ve messaged Blossom Farm for assistance…perhaps they are not beyond rescue. I’m just glad that I have one each of the 2 larger specimens, Coconut Ice and White Provence.
I’m not too thrilled with the Bewitched Purple potato vine (which appears to be mislabeled) threatening to take over my planter. While the palmate shape of the leaves are attractive, they are much too large and overshadowing the neighboring plants. I intend to pull it out as soon as I can find a suitable replacement, preferably a petite-leaf purple potato vine, similar to the compact bright green potato vine (which may be a Sweetheart Light Green) in the other planter.
Today is an example of a perfect morning on the patio, cool weather and warm sun. I should invest in a folding patio set. Perhaps I can shop for one this holiday…if the fiance will let me out of bed this weekend. 😀
