It's been a while since I've updated, I know, but at least I've checked something off for each list! I'll start with the cooking because I actually have three new recipes completed! Last week I made honey-glazed chicken stir-fry, which Matthew and I enjoyed very much. Upon reflection, I've become quite a fan of stir-fry meals - they're quick and easy to make, they can be just as good with or without meat, they have lots of vegetables, and the wide variety of flavoring agents that can be used in stir-fry meals allows for a wide range of flavors. For this dinner, I loved how the orange juice and honey provided a tart, sweet taste, and then how the soy sauce made a nice contrasting salty flavor. The one mess-up I had was with the rice; the recipe called for two cups of hot cooked rice, so I took two cups of my raw brown rice and cooked it in the designated saucepan. I was quite surprised when I opened the lid after it was done cooking and saw that the entire pan had filled with rice! Luckily, Matthew and I love rice, so we just piled it onto our plates and enjoyed our dinner =]
This week's dinner was beef enchiladas! This was my first recipe that called for beef, and I ended up choosing the all-natural ground beef from Meijers, which actually turned out quite well. I'm not entirely unfamiliar with choosing beef cuts as I've accompanied my dad on shopping trips many times in the past, so I know better than to get the cheapest ground beef that's largely comprised of fat. My opinion is that if you want to make a meat dish, spring for at least a mid-level quality of meat, otherwise what's the point? Anyway, the meal was great! Strangely enough, it called for cottage cheese to be mixed with the beef. I have no idea what the cottage cheese did, but since the flavor was good I'm not complaining! Sadly, Matthew got burned while he was taking the baking pan out of the oven =[ He has a dark scab on his arm now where it hit the side of the oven, and before that it was blistering, but at least it's healing well. Injury aside, the enchiladas were a great lunch before work and also made for tasty leftovers.
I decided to make deluxe chocolate marshmallow bars from the Taste of Home's Holiday Get-Together's cookbook. Oh my gosh, this is a fantastic dessert! It's a blend of every great baking flavor: the bottom layer was like a very soft and fluffy chocolate cake (this was the layer that baked in the oven for a while), the second layer was entirely comprised of mini-marshmallows that were only in the oven for a few minutes so that they would melt and spread evenly, and the third layer was a blend of melted butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter that was mixed with a rice krispies cereal just before pouring it over the marshmallows. After a few hours of chilling, the bars were ready to be cut up and eaten! Funny enough, I ended burning my arm on the side of the oven while getting this pan out! I must have moved my arm away faster than Matthew though because my burn only turned red without blistering or scabbing. This must have been a cursed week for baking or something. Burnt arm aside, the dessert was a big hit for Matthew and his parents, so I'm happy with the outcome!
Cooking: 20/75 completed
The night that Matthew and I ate the stir-fry was also the night that we watched American Psycho. This is a movie that I've seen once before, but that was five years ago, so I didn't remember very many details at all. I did remember that near the beginning there's a very unfortunate scene in which he kills a dog, so I covered my eyes and hummed to myself until Matthew told me that the scene was over. I remember liking the movie, but I had forgotten how many times this movie made me laugh! Christian Bale played the part of sociopathic serial killer Patrick Bateman perfectly! Everything from his great one-liners ("Would you like to hear today's specials?" "Not if you want to keep your spleen.") to his music-oriented monologues that he says shortly before killing someone had me laughing at the utter insanity of the situation. I really can't see how someone would dislike a movie in which an ATM asks the main actor to feed it a stray cat. Hilarity aside, I also appreciate the social critique that is spread throughout the film. Starting with the first scene in which all these clone-looking men fail to correctly identify their co-workers, the film points out how humanity has largely been stripped from the corporate sector. In this movie, the only thing that anybody cares about is money and their reputation. The fact that everyone is sleeping around with each other's significant others shows how relationships are only used for status symbol. What I really like is the somewhat uncertain ending: did Bateman imagine everything or were his killing sprees real? There's quite a bit of evidence that suggests that Bateman did actually kill all those people, and funny enough, if it all was real, then it proves that others are just as evil and emotionless as Bateman. The only thing that really threw me off were the sex scenes. I understand why they're there, it's just too disturbing at times for my taste. This movie is not exactly one that I would want to watch frequently, but it's still a fantastic movie for those who can handle it!
Rating: 4/5
Movies: 16/100 viewed
Lastly, I finished another novel! This one was Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. I'm actually surprised that I liked a war novel as much as I did, but it's a pleasant surprise. Following Juan "Johnnie" Rico through his training in the mobile infantry was exciting, interesting, and actually quite thought-provoking. The novel's political system threw me back for a while, but upon reflection it actually makes quite a bit of sense. In Starship Troopers, there are civilians, who are normal people who have never served in the military but are still protected under all laws, and then there are citizens, who are those that are retired from military service and the only ones allowed to vote. The reasoning for this system is that those who have served voluntarily in the military have proven that they value the survival of the group/country over their own survival; as such, only those people have the authority to make political decisions that will affect everybody. To be honest, I wouldn't be opposed to something like that happening in America. Too many people are greedy and selfish and have a one-track mind when it comes to voting: "me, me, me." Those people would never be able to harm others with their reckless voting anymore because those are the kinds of people who wouldn't risk their lives for complete strangers. If that's how America was, I definitely would have signed up at 18. Politics aside, I enjoyed watching Johnnie grow as a person. He starts off as a confused 18-year old whose only reason for enlisting is so that he doesn't turn out to be a carbon copy of his father, but the military forces him to grow up. Though we don't get much insight into any of the other characters and at times all the listings of the military personnel were confusing, overall this book is a good war novel and a good sci-fi novel.
Rating: 8.3/10
Books read: 5/75
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