Just Stopping In for a Moment

I've said it before but it bears repeating, blogging is awesome. It has become so much more than a way to practise writing. The abiding and completely unexpected gift of being a blogger is all the friends I've made. The crazy thing is that to date I have met, in person, 7 blog buddies and every single one of them was exactly who I expected them to be; no artifice or fakery. And while there might have been a little nervousness in the anticipation ("will they like me as much as I know I'm going to like them?"), all that was dispelled, every single time, the second we saw each other.

Within the hour I'll have my hatty Hat here. She's become one of my bestest friends in the world, a friendship which now has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with blogging. By week's end, we will have hugged the stuffing out of Sling. Now that we've done this "meeting blog buddies" thing, we're not even nervous. Excited, yes, but not nervous. It's Sling, for crying out loud. What you see is what you get with that man and more than anything else I'm looking forward to just hanging out with him.

I first found Sling in the comments section of one of Hat's earlier bloggy incarnations. One time she wrote something about how she wished she could take her blog friends to breakfast and in our comments, Sling and I pretended we were at breakfast with her. ("Are there more hashbrowns?" "Stop bogarting the ketchup"...like that, you know, the sort of thing we do now and again). I don't know what it was and of course, that blog is gone so the whole thing can't be properly entered into evidence but that was the turning point for me. That's when I started stalking reading Sling. And then, as is the way of our people, we started emailing. And now we are going to meet.

Once upon a time JP said something to me about how even if we never met, he considered me one of his best friends. Of course, we had every intention of meeting and, in fact, have met (and eaten Cheetoes and watched "Steel Magnolias" and other stuff friends do) but I knew what he meant. Meeting is awesome, but it actually is possible to get to know and trust someone through the ethers. Of course, the fact is, once the relationship gets to a certain point, meeting is pretty much inevitable, or at least, something that gets put on a list of "Things I'd Like to Do". But the point remains. I've considered Sling a friend, a good friend, for quite some time now. The actual meeting isn't going to be that big a deal. But I still can't wait to give him a big ol' hug and sit around eating applesauce cake and playing the guitar and laughing a bunch. Because I'm pretty sure there is going to be a whole lot of laughing.

Some Observations and Some Food

Yesterday we went out for lunch at Iwanski's favorite hot dog joint.

A classic Chicago dog. Yum.
Words to live by.

Then The Child and I went out and did a little shopping. It was a little warmer yesterday than it has been, but still lovely.


The afternoon was all about getting ready for the Trailer Trash party. Merlene Hogswaller, fixin' up some of her dandy devilled eggs.


'Cause any proper Trailer Trash party starts with real good horses ovaries. And Miss Healthypants brought the fried pork rinds to round out the spread.
Talk about good! Corn dogs, baked beans, tater salad and a nice red Jell-o.
Cousin John Bob brought his real fancy NASCAR cooler full of some right fine beer.
The Mouse family came on up 'cause ain't no party complete without 'em anymore. (I'm really hoping they'll come out for my birthday party in September. If you are looking for property in the Chicago area, please contact the Mouse and let her sell you something).
Since The Spouse's Trailer Trash name is Buck, we had to call the actual Buck Two Buck. (Did you know that if he'd been a girl his folks were going to name him Jacqueline Creama? Creama Wheat. Seriously. He even called his mom to confirm the story. And then we passed the phone around the room to tell her what a lovely son she has).
John Bob, posin' fer the Kodak.
MHP and The Child, doin' the Shimmy Shimmy Shake.
On the roof for the fireworks show.
Jon makes watermelon daiquiris. I'm not a fan of the watermelon. But his drinks were really delicious. Went down real smooth. Stubbed my head on 'em, but sometimes you pay the price. Paying the price. That would also be why after all this eating I look 5 months pregnant.

Climbed a grueling 11 floors to the roof to watch the fireworks (using the elevators wasn't even an option as everyone in the building plus all their guests were headed up there as well)and then came back down to sit out on the "front porch" some more and talk and laugh and call both The Neighbor and JP and pass the phone around so everyone got to talk to them.

Iwanski finally hit his wall and went home like a sane person. But Buck, MHP and the fam were just getting started. So we did karaoke until 4 am.

At one point, well before the daiquiris had kicked in, I announced that I felt truly blessed to be in Chicago with this particular group of people. It was just the truth. And later, in the midst of much conviviality, Iwanski said, "Can you believe we just met 3 days ago?". Because, you know, there we all were just hanging in that totally comfortable way that friends do.

And I observed that when I told people we were making this trip to meet people I knew from the interwebs, there were often those who would lift and eyebrow or make a remark like, "Wow. Hope they aren't serial killers". (Which was silly because what are the odds that they'd all be serial killers? I mean, really. The odds of that would have to be like, what? really, really high).

But here's the thing: we weren't the only ones taking a risk. Crikey, for all Buck knew we were going to come here and sell all his stuff on eBay. And it should also be noted here, since I noted it last night, that this trip could certainly have gone the other way. Serial killers and scam artists aside, we could have discovered that all we had in common was the fact that we blogged. We could have spent 2 minutes saying "Hi, how are ya?" and then just sat around awkwardly, wondering how we were going to stand to be around each other for a week. Or we could even have found each other really obnoxious.

JP and I have talked about this before, about this magical little circle of bloggers we've found and our friendly little virtual neighborhood. And we talked about it again last night and how superfantastic it is that our expectations about these particular people have been met and exceeded. If I lived in Chicago I would totally hang with these people. And I think they'd let me hang with them. It's just a gift, puppies. A sheer, unmitigated gift.

Oh, and a big storm blew in last night, as we sat out there on the Balcony of Terror, watching a million people trying to get out of the city. (Bwahahaha). We'd been hearing about these legendary Chicago thunder storms and it was impressive. The Child was inside when it started and came out at the first flash.

"What was that?" she asked, all saucer eyed.

"God's fireworks".

"Oh. Cool".

Today has been spent in recovery mode...cleaning up, resting our heads and watching what appears to be an airing of every episode ever of "Twin Peaks" (which was one of my favorite shows ever). There has been some napping. And mineral water. And The Child continues to explore the wonders of Easy Cheese.

In a bit we're going to head for Chinatown and a much ballyhooed dinner at Lao Sze Chaun

I will not be eating beef maw.

Oh, and happy birthday America.

Miss Healthypants, Paging Miss Healthypants

There is a woman in Chicago. If I am interpretting the chicken innards correctly she is variously referred to as Miss Healthypants or as The Hag. The latter owes not to her being old, haggard or in anyway unpleasant. Just to do with a gay she knows. Right.

So Miss Healthypants, who clearly comes by that moniker honestly, was asking if I had any "quick, easy, healthy, spicy" recipes. Do I have recipes? If a tree falls in the woods and there's no one to hear it does it make a sound? Of course I have such recipes, you little vixen. These two were originally from my friend BBB although they've been tweaked a smidge because that's what I like to do. I happily share them now and I'll poke around for some more. Here's what we ate this week while Childless.

Mini Red Curry Burgers

¾ lb. extra-lean ground beef (10% fat or less)
1 medium zucchini, grated
salt & pepper
1 bunch green onion, chopped (white and light green)
1/3 cup low fat yogurt
2 tsp. Thai red curry paste (2 t. is the original recipe amount but frankly, and I like things spicy, a rounded teaspoon is plenty. Unless you actually enjoy having the back of your head blown off).

For the sauce:

Combine 2 T. grated zucchini with yogurt and 1 T. onion plus salt & pepper to taste

For the burgers:

Combine hamburger with remaining zucchini and onion, salt & pepper (to taste) and Thai red curry paste. Form into eight 2” patties. Grill on non-stick pan over med-high heat, about 4 min per side for medium.

Pop the tiny little burgers into mini pita pockets with 2 T. sauce.



Now, I realize that butter isn't the first thing that springs to mind when one is being healthy but a) it is not a trans fat, b) if St. Paul was right about anything he was right when he said "all things in moderation" and 3) life without butter is a like a day without sunshine.

Pan-fried Snapper with Chipotle Butter

½ stick unsalted butter, softened
½ to 1 T. finely chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo plus 2 t. adobo sauce
½ teaspoon salt
4 red snapper fillets (or any firm white fish)
1/3 c. flour
2 T. veggie oil

Mash together butter, chipotles, adobo sauce and salt to taste until blended.

Pat fish dry and season with salt and pepper. Spread flour on a plate and dredge fish, knocking off excess.

Heat 1 ½ T. oil in a 12 inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, the panfry fish, turning over once, until browned and just cooked through, 4-6 minutes. Transfer as cooked with a slotted spatula to plates and add more oil to skillet as need. Top fish with dollops of chipotle butter.

Extra chipotle butter (and you will have it) can be plopped onto some plastic wrap and then rolled up like you would for sugar cookies. Wrap that up with foil (don't forget to mark it) and you can keep it, pretty near indefinately, for subsequent healthy fish dinners.