That's what I got in my oven right now. Yesterday was Dan's birthday, but we're sorta celebrating today. We'll just call it a birthday weekend. Today's plan is for appetizer type food all day long, while he's watching football. Except that he's watching Ice Harvest, which is definitely not football. But which amuses me because they keep talking about Kansas.
Here's my simple recipe for porcupine meatballs. Take a pound or two of the leanest ground beef you can find. Add 2/3 cup minute rice for each poud of meat. You can guess at this one. Just make sure you use minute rice, and no more than 2/3 cup per pound. Throw in an egg (crack the shell first) and then moosh it all together with your hands. It helps to have warm water running in the faucet when you do this -- if your hands are wet, the meat doesn't stick, and the meat is cold, so the warm water will feel good. Form into meatballs... I do small balls if I'm doing an appetizer thing, larger if they are a main dish. In a separate bowl, mix a can of tomato soup with something to give it a kick. Today, I used a half bottle of good barbecue sauce. Usually I just dump in a bunch of worcestershire sauce and a lot of seasoned salt. I used to add some water to thin it out, but we've decided we like our sauce thick. If you're a creamy person, you could use cream of mushroom soup with some milk to thin it a bit. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for an hour. This is the one dish everyone in my family will eat, and you can dress it up or down. I made it for my inlaws with a good potato casserole and it was home cooking. Today, we'll be eating it with waffle fries.
Yesterday, on Dan's actual birthday, we were out running errands half the day. We started by picking up his "cake." I ordered a cookie tray from my favorite cookie bakery, and they did not disappoint. The tray has football shaped cookies, arrowhead shaped cookies with the Chiefs logo, and Snickerdoodles.
OK, and when we pulled up to the cookie shop, there was a big sign advertising the "Hamfest" a few doors down. I was thinking someone was really excited about their pork products. Turns out it was ham radio and the old guys just wanted to steal my cookies.
Next stop was the post office, to pick up an envelope that arrived postage due. Our post office is barely open... only 10 to noon on Saturdays, and we were early. However, there is a package pick up window that's open 6 am to 10 am for those just picking something up. Only problem was that I had to have exact change -- 24 cents -- and I only had 22 cents to my name. I still think the sight of my family walking the parking lot and scrounging in our van must have been hilarious. We found the 2 cents, though, and I picked up the envelope, which was just information about our rental home. You know, the home we're renting 7 plus months from now. I should have sent it back to the rental company and then made them resend with the right amount of postage, but I didn't know what it was and after all that effort to find 2 cents, I was taking my envelope.
I wasn't in the mood to go home, so we decided to go see if we could find the digital camera I want and try it out. I don't really want the camera for me -- I think Dan needs a camera of his own. He takes darn good pictures, but he'd rather have a tiny digital than a big one like mine. And really, digi cameras are getting darn small lately. We know what we want by reading reviews and descriptions -- a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 -- but Dan wanted to feel it and see it. Both to make sure it's small enough and just to see if he could operate it. So off we went, to Best Buy and Circuit City, Target and Wal-Mart. We held it a couple of times, but never found a better price than Amazon, so we decided to hold off on buying it. I kinda wanted him to have it for next weekend, when he and Brady are going to a college football game and the girls and I are doing some kind of fall activity, but I guess I'll survive not having football pictures.
We ate lunch at Fazoli's and had a great experience. Brady wanted ziti, but of course, it has meat in it, and he doesn't eat much meat. So I was trying to talk him into spaghetti with marinara sauce, but he insisted on the ziti. The manager said if he didn't like it, to bring it back and he'd exchange it. Of course, Brady ended up eating the ziti, with only two pieces of meat left in the bowl. Go figure. While we were paying, Dan and I both reached for our wallets at the same time. We were going to use our debit card, so I told him that he should pay since it was his birthday and went to get drinks. I was just being my usual sarcastic self, but when we went to pick up our meals, the manager included a free dessert because it was Dan's birthday. I call that Disney magic -- it's not Disney, but it feels Disney, if you know what I mean. Disney fans do.
OK, I'll quit boring you with a run down of my day. I've got 2 pictures open and really need to put them on a layout. I do have a final book recommendation I have to put out there. Janet Evanovich. Stephanie Plum novels. You have to read them. I was bored this summer and got a bunch from the library, but I ended up not getting into them and returned them before I read them. When I needed to buy a couple of books to get out of a book club, I bought the first five books in the series (there are 12 now). Last weekend, I picked up the first one and darn if I wasn't hooked. I finished the fifth one last night, and found myself laughing out loud. So loud that Dan wanted to know what was so funny. Grandma Mazur just doesn't come across the same in a retelling. So I finished #5, and ordered numbers 6-11 through sellers at half.com yesterday. I already have #12; my mom got it from her book club and gave it to me. So after finishing #5, I had to open #12 to see what the plot was. And I couldn't help but notice (as I was reading the last chapter because I always cheat and read the last chapter first... if it doesn't have a good ending, why should I bother reading the first 90% of the book?) that Stephanie still hasn't decided between the two men in her life. I like Stephanie as a character, I really do. But I hate when a woman can't make a decision between men. I hope it doesn't turn me off these books because I really love them. But I can't stand wishy-washy women.
OK, laundry's buzzing, I need to check the meatballs and Mykiah's whining for the computer and I won't let her have it until I finish this layout. Have a relaxing Sunday!
