鶏ガラスープのポテンシャル

コンソメキューブに次ぐ素晴らしい調味料、鶏ガラ。本当に何にでも入れるだけでおいしくなってしまう、ずぼら&面倒くさがりな私にはドラえもんの秘密道具並みのありがたさ。それからオイスターソースと昆布茶もめちゃ重宝してるんです。最近、彼らを使って作った料理、紹介いってみよう。

酢ブタにはお酢とオイスターソース

豚コマとごま油に鶏ガラ

最近亭主君がベジタリアンになって、レシピに困ってやけくそで冷蔵庫の余り物炒めました。鶏ガラに救われた例。

お肉団子春雨スープには鶏ガラ、お肉のグリルにはオイスターソース、ご飯はツナ缶と昆布茶が入ってます。

近所のスーパーで安かったもやしでナムル。これの倍作ったんだけど、今日の夕飯作りながら片手間に半分は食べちゃった。面倒くさいから茹でないでレンチンでごま油と鶏ガラだけなのに超ウマし。ビールが欲しくなる。

番外編其の１。アスパラは塩茹でしてマヨネーズを牛乳で緩く溶いた物に粉チーズとブラックペッパーを”おいおいだいじょぶか？”ぐらいいれる。薬局で衝動買いした缶のアーモンドの粉マスタード入りをストレス解消に昇竜拳で叩き潰して入れたら食感も◎

番外編其の２。超久々に食べたくなって作ったトリのマカロニグラタン。いつものようにコンソメじゃなくて鶏ガラ入れたらおいしかった。グラタンに関してはいつもそうなんだけど、急に無性に食べたくなって作るか買うんだけど、１/４ぐらいでもう飽きる。このグラタンも例外ではなく、残りを亭主君の弁当箱に突っ込んでやろうと企んだけど、チキンが入ってるからそうも行かずに３日かけて完食しました。おいしかったけど、グラタンはあと半年はいいや。

ドラえもんの秘密道具で思い出した、まいかーの後部座席の写真。誰かを後ろに乗っける時は必ず取ってトランクにつめるというクレイジーぶり。ドラえもんファンなら当たり前だけどね。

Dog Run Pigeonholes, Donkysocks And Other Creatures Unique to the Republic

Though I am a lot of things, I have never been a woman of alfresco. But now that Touchdown has finished all her puppy shots (plus she got spayed), she can go out and enjoy being a dog!! She is a professional fetch player, and she and I are in the process of learning how to catch a frisbee/ball in the air. But playing fetch and socializing aren't the only things we have been doing. We've been doing quite a lot of dog and owner watching. I want to share a few of them with you.

1. tough guy
Most likely this type has a pit bull with a black collar with spikes bigger than your knuckles. A wifebeater wearing, silver chain dangling, huge Nike high top sparkling with a White Sox baseball hat on top tilted just so tough guys usually come in for a few minutes. The dog is friendly but the owner isn't. Tough guy would sit in the furthest bench from the busy entrance and not talk to anyone. His dog would start a little commotion here and there. After the second or the third little fight, this Mr. tough guy would call his dog and leaves the park. The dogs' names are usually Celo, Angel/Angelo, King and Money but this tough guy always talks so low, I could never make out what he is saying.

2. go green girl
This type also, usually brings a pit bull/bully breed. But what's different from the tough guys is that she is not interested to intimidate others or look "cool". She is eco conscience, recycles ever so fiercely, and she has a huge sense of just. She would rescue a dog on death row which is incredibly nice and noble, but the dog is a little bit messed up. Her dog would have a hard core tough life background and because of it, (s)he could be possessive of toys, overly aggressive, and/or people shy. The dog would have the kill or be killed mentality but this go green girl totally laughs it off. I have heard more than  enough times from this type say to her dog, who has totally gone nuts over a chihuahua behind the fence, "Oh Daisy, I know you just wanna play with her!!" Well, honey, I think your Daisy wants to do just a bit more than "just play with her".

3. Cesar Millan
This can be both men and women. This type brings a multiple dogs, and they are usually all big and strong...like Doberman and German Shepherd. What is so significant for this type is that they all have this grin when they come in to the park. They also would perform a dog show no one requested. Am I just being cynical or do I hear their inner voice as their Shepherd catches a ball in the air 10ft off the ground, does back flips and even serves the owner some tea, "Do I know dogs or don't I? I'm on the top of the paaaaaaaaack!!" They shine most when other people ask them the tips and tricks of training dogs. Hey, Mr/Ms Cesar Millan, could you also train me so I wouldn't be annoyed by your know it all grin?

4. bubble ladies
A lot of this type happens to be middle aged women. They have small breeds like Dachshund, Pomeranian, and Maltese. These ladies don't ever walk their dogs but carry them in her arms or pocketbooks to everywhere. The dogs have clothes with bows, flowers and logos like "Live to Dazzle" on their dress. The park I go to has 2 dog runs next to each other. One is meant for bigger dogs and other is for small ones. This type would come to the bigger dog side first, but never EVER let their dogs on the ground nor take the leash off. They would put the dogs on their laps and never stop to fuss with them. They may brush their dogs' fur and always fix their tutu dress. They carry the dogs' tiny pink water bowls and try to give them some Fiji water. But this royal highness would never drink a sip and always shaking because other dogs come around her to get a good sniff. At this point, most bubble ladies get offended by "how rude" other dogs are and walk to the smaller dog park. These ladies don't really give their dogs a chance to be just dogs and because of it, the dogs is ultra sensitive, barks a lot when people come close and doesn't like to walk on ground. If Petco started selling a germ free, hypoallergenic plastic bubbles to keep dogs in, these ladies would be the first ones to make a purchase. Their dogs' names? Nothing other than Princess, but you probably already knew that.

5. Crazy in Love (with certain breeds)
Most commonly, this type would have either Shiba Inu or Husky. They don't consider much about how compatible these dogs would be to their surroundings or the life style. They just want what they want. So they would buy their dogs rather than adopt from a shelter. I always see some Huskies just sit in the dogs' drinking fountain because the summer weather in New York is just too hot for them. Their Shiba, usually have a Japanese name like Yuki, is not sociable and their Husky, Sonia, is super hyper. 

6. Retriever, Retriever, retire the Retriever!
Newly married couples or a family of 15 tend to bring their Retrievers. They usually have such a vanilla name like Riley and Oscar. I sigh inside when I see a retriever come to the park. I sigh because Mr&Mrs Smith always expect a huge "AWWWWW" from the audience. Yes, they are cute. But it's enough. It's been done. Overly done. I am tired. Your dog is tired. I rest my case.

7. Donkysocks
My dear dear nephew made up this name when he was a baby. Donkysocks is a monster and I remember listening to my nephew excitedly talk about the adventures of this monster. I am totally borrowing the name. I hope my lovely nephew will be ok and not sue me. Anywayz...

This particular Donkysocks isn't fun to be around. Their dogs are usually mutt, smaller in sizes and they have a child with them. They always ALWAYS bring their dog's favorite chew toy and treats. They go to a corner of the park to play with their dog because they don't want to share their toy with anyone else. But when you bring cookies and a toy to a dog park, you are carrying a bull's eye on your back for other dogs. So their poor Ariel always ends up getting her toy stolen and the treats eaten. They always leave the park feeling annoyed and the little gils is crying or yelling at the dogs that ate the cookies and destroyed the toy.

8. Little House on the Prairie family picnic
Last but not least, this one might be my favorite. This type is usually an entire family with really small children WITHOUT a dog. Though it is clearly stated at the entrance (and I believe these are common rules for dog runs) "DO NOT BRING A SMALL CHILD." "NO DOG NO ENTRY", they pretend that they don't see that, and casually stroll in the park. Their kids, who recently learned how to walk on their own, get very excited with all the dogs and start running around. They have no fear of strange dogs so they wouldn't think twice about pulling their tails, scream in their faces, pick up a branch and feed it to them. Not even 5 minutes pass after the beginning of the nice family picnic at the dog run petting zoo, their child gets knocked down by a running pit bull. After a split second of dead silence, this little Macgyver starts screaming bloody murder and all is ruined for the Ingalls. Why don't you get your own pet and come back when your little one gets bigger than a Shih Tzu?

Thank you for reading and hope you just had fun reading it. This is meant for a little chuckle and hope you don't take it too seriously! 

Wumpan returns...again!

It's been such a long time since I wrote a blog...Though I took a break for a while, Wumpan never stopped cooking and eating. I grew up a lot (and have more to go), gained weight a lot, and I now even have a new addition in my life! It's not a baby...well, she is my baby...introducing...Touchdown!! She is a 4 months old Rottweiler mix pup. I finally succeeded to convince my hunnie to adopt a puppy I so wanted since I was a little girl. When I brought her home this January, she was so tiny. I would say she almost doubled her size already. Any dog owner would probably tell you the same thing, but she is exceptionally a good, sweet and smart puppy. In these past 3 months, she has caused me and my husband a lot of problems, but it's not because she did anything. A lot of people are afraid and intimidated by the name "Rottweiler" and interestingly, it brings a lot of ugly out of people, but I digress...Well, maybe I won't...I will probably write about it one day. By doing so, I would most likely make a lot of enemies and wake up some "sleeping dogs" (good one, Wumpan!) but who cares? I don't have friends anyway. All I want to say at this point is, whatever she is mixed with, I sure hope she grows really really big and intimidating so people would walk on the other side of the street when I walk her. (I am still bitter from a bad experience!!)

Would you look at her face!!

Touchdown taking a nap

She can be a model!

She outgrew her bed in a month and now cats sleep in it.

Time to buy yet another bed.

See?