Marmot birthday

There's a whacky birthday post over at the main site ... bad picture of me circa 1974 as well. Enjoy.

Snarlingmarmot.com is live again

My old site is back up with all archives restored. La Marmot is quite relieved to have the old digs back. Fret not, however, fans of the Marmot Den. This site will stay live as both a backup and a site for additional material on occasion.

And now, I give you this week's Week In Random Observations!

• Dear woman, if a drag queen’s makeup is both more subtle and tasteful than yours, perhaps it is time to change tactics. However, you are amusing the rest of us.
• Love is a many splendored thing. However, please limit yourself to hugs, hand holding or a sweet buss on the cheek in public. If you feel the need to play tonsil hockey, it’s time to either get a room or go home.
• Sharp knives are excellent tools. In the hands of a danger prone marmot, they spell catastrophe.
• An impending 36^th birthday does not exempt you from zits.
• My hair is clearly getting too long when, while performing my morning routine, I utter the phrase “Peace through superior fire power,” and proceed to fumigate the bathroom with the contents of one hairspray bottle.
• My friend, who doesn’t cook often, has a hyper-organized kitchen. I find it far easier to cook there as opposed to my own kitchen where any attempt at culinary hijinx involves rooting around for twenty minutes in the junk drawer for just the right spatula.
• Sometimes, it’s just easier to buy a new wheelbarrow.
• He may be 63 pounds, but the Corgi that ate Springfield has more staying power than I do when it comes to a brisk jog around the backyard.
• A place where you can get both a haircut AND a glass of wine is definitely a place worth revisiting.

Sleepless

There are those nights when my brain simply won't shut down. I lie there staring at the ceiling turning situation after situation over in my head. It's like having a moving projector without an Off switch running constantly. Thoughts, ideas and worries all flicker past my conscious leaving me exhausted but wide awake.

I have spoken to the doctor about the problem. She prescribed a mild sedative and, for the most part, it works. Last night was not one of those nights. I don't think I managed to fall asleep until well after 2 a.m.

Some people keep dream journals. I've been thinking of starting my own "can't sleep" journal. As if writing down all the minutia sifting through my head might dislodge it and therefore help me sleep. I don't know. At this point, I am desperate enough to try just about anything.

And I do realize that a lot of this is me reacting to what was a difficult year. I know that there are bigger and better things ahead for me. At least, I hope there are. I also fully realize a lot of my consternation is a direct result of my own fears and insecurities that I just need to get the hell over.

I promised myself when I headed down this road I would not allow myself to get overly cautious or complacent. I have fallen headlong into both. I know full well that, in this life, part of living it is having my heart broken. But at this point, the poor thing is held together with duct tape, Bandaids and paper clips. I feel so ridiculously fragile I feel like I just can't put myself out there again. And I've got to get the hell over that too.

Captain America dead at 66

The latest from Yahoo:

NEW YORK - Captain America has undertaken his last mission — at least for now. The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic that hit stands Wednesday, the Daily News reported.

On the new edition's pages, a sniper shoots down the shield-wielding hero as he leaves a courthouse, according to the newspaper.

It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941 to incarnate patriotic feeling during World War II. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books, published by New York-based Marvel Entertainment Inc., have been sold in a total of 75 countries.

Although we all know that comic book heroes do come back to life on occasion.

The food blogging continues

A couple of weeks ago I bought a George Forman grill. A friend who has one has been raving about it and, after tinkering with it myself, I decided I must have one.

Now, my crock pot thinks I'm cheating on it.

The Forman is quite useful. You can grill darn near anything on it. As time rocks along, I will post a dry rub recipe you can use for chicken or pork that translates quite nicely on the grill, Forman or otherwise. But today we're going to talk about one of my favorite single person foods: the grilled cheese sandwich.

Not only does the Forman make a mean grilled cheese, the thing is your own panini maker. You can make any combination of cool sandwiches with the device and have them be ready in 4 minutes or less. Last night, I made a grilled ham and cheese. Just buttered up two pieces of bread, slapped some ham and provolone on it and 3 minutes later had a nice hot sammie.

Yum.

Oh dear God. I just channeled Rachel Ray!

Fat Jack vs. Litle

Jack's got a dandy of a post up. He's taking Larry to task on his stance against gay marriage. Read both and enjoy the fireworks, but there's one passage I simply must reprint, hopefully it will hook you enough to read the whole thing:

If we allow unmarried people to live together then that will lead to donkey-on-turtle sex and polygamy. Or wait! Despite the fact that people have lived together for years has not led to the legitimacy of polygamy and I have yet to hear of donkey-on-turtle sex. Amazing. So if living in sin has not led to polygamy and child molestation, then how exactly will civil unions of homosexuals lead to either of those? It won’t. It’s a red herring.

Well played, Jack. Well played.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

I guess it's recpie week here at the Marmot Den. La Marmot had a couple of friends under the weather yesterday, so I did what you're supposed to when you have ill friends, make them some soup.

I found this recipe over at Allrecipes.com. It's quite good, but I did feel the need to tinker with it. The recipe is as follows:

INGREDIENTS

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 (1 pound) package frozen pepper and onion stir fry mix
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 3 tablespoons ground cumin
* 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
* 3 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained
* 4 (14 ounce) cans vegetable broth
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel corn
* 12 ounces tortilla chips
* 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the pepper and onion stir fry mix, garlic, and cumin, and cook 5 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Mix in the tomatoes and chile peppers. Pour in the broth, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes.
2. Mix corn into the soup, and continue cooking 5 minutes. Serve in bowls over equal amounts of tortilla chips. Top with cheese and avocado.

I did not use avocado, I simply got a tub of guacamole. I also used the jarred garlic. Also, a dollop of sour cream when you serve is fantastic in this soup. You could also substitute a 28 oz. can of Rotel and ditch two of the cans of chiles and be fine as well, that would save money and time. But all in all this was a great recipe, very easy and fairly fast for a soup.