Double dipping

This article in the New York Times shows you! And my coworkers think I'm weird for putting my snacks in a container they can't get their grubby little paws inside of! And why I feel the need for them to be sanitized! I feel vindicated. And I am not anal for doing that.

Ugh

Well I'm no longer gonna-kill-someone pissed off, now I am just I-give-up-I'm-not-gonna-bother-trying pissed off so I guess that's good........

Me and the ATM

I got my rebate check from my stand mixer. I don't have my stand mixer but at least I got the rebate? Anyway, so I went to the ATM after work today with 2 purposes in mind. To deposit the check and get cash. Well I got cash. The check is still sitting in my bag. Sadly, this is like the 4th time I've done this (with different checks, not just this one)

I Can Rename Tabs!!!!!

I got a copy of office 08 and now I can rename tabs!!!! Woohoo!!! This is the sole reason I had issues with open office. I am so cool!

Don't you wish that you were cool like me. Don't you wish that you were cool like me. Dontcha (imagine singing, you know the song)

Firefox

I downloaded Firefox today. The whole not copy and pasting correctly in Safari was getting old. I am hoping that with Firefox I will be able to put the pics where I want them in here, not just at the top of the post like it seems to be the only way it would go in Safari. We shall see.

Garlic Onion Noodles

I saw this recipe on Steamy Kitchen and decided to make my own take on it.

6 balls of skinny egg noodles (that's what was in the bag that I decided to use)

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 a carrot, julliened

2 T dark brown sugar

1 T fish sauce

3 T olive oil

I started with a large pan and heated it on medium low with the oil while I chopped the onion. Oh and I put the noodles in a pot to soak in cold water. The noodles are these balls of noodles. I got them from the China guys ages ago and just decided to start using them. I left them to soak about 2 minutes, like Jaden says (well, as long as it took me to chop the onion and garlic and go oh crap, I should take the noodles out) so I drained the noodles and let them sit in the empty pot. The noodles stayed in a ball so they held a lot of water so I dumped that out again a couple minutes later.

Back to the sauce. So there's the hot pan with the oil. I added the chopped onion. While that cooked I chopped the garlic and the carrots. To get the carrot super skinny I used a peeler to make planks. Then I chopped the planks into little pieces. That worked pretty well. Then I added the garlic and onion and turned the heat down to low and let that cook. That was probably about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, I heated up 1.5 quarts of water in my new electric kettle (see my Aldi's post), which worked quite well by the way, took a few minutes for the water to heat up. I meant to time it but then I was busy chopping and making the sauce so I failed at that. Anyway, the water boiled and I poured it over the noodles for about 2.5 minutes.

While the noodles were sitting I put together the fish sauce and brown sugar and poured them into the pan with the aromatics and mixed it in. Maybe I didn't let it cook long enough after this because there are tiny flecks of brown sugar on my noodles but I kinda like them so I think it's OK.

We are almost there. I added the noodles, gave a quick mix, with tongs of course, put it in a bowl, took a picture and ate! (Actually I am still eating but you get the picture)

They are quite tasty. A serious garlicky bite (I guess that could be tamed by longer cooking or a little more heat if you want but I don't know why you'd want that) so it's a good thing I'm not planning on making out with anyone anytime soon. The noodles have a nice chewy texture and you can taste the difference with the egg noodles. This is definitely a quick easy tasty dish that I could make anytime and there isn't even anything that I don't always have in it. I probably could add more carrot or other vegetables to pretend it is a little more healthy but eh, why bother.

Aldi's

There is an Aldi's a couple miles from here, I drive by it all the time.  Yet for some reason I never went.  I saw someone on Chowhounds mention that they got good chocolate at Aldi's so I decided to go yesterday.  It was a bit different than a regular supermarket experience.  

When you get there you have to have a quarter to get a cart.  They have those things where you put your quarter in and then you get your quarter back when you return the cart.  I remember seeing them at all the supermarkets when I was younger but then they went away.  I usually have all sorts of change everywhere but when I pulled in to their parking lot I had all sorts of trouble finding any.  Apparently I took most of it out of my car at some point and what I've got left did not include quarters.  I eventually found one in my purse.  Whew, that would have been sad if I had finally ventured over there and did'nt have a quarter for the cart.  So I got my cart outside and headed in.  They had all sorts of Valentines day stuff right by the door.  

I saw these boxes of truffles a lot like the ones they have at Whole Foods, same style box though obviously no Whole Foods logo on it so I got 2 boxes, one of regular truffles, one of cappuccino.  They were $2/box vs the 8 or so at Whole foods.  The regular truffles are pretty good, sweeter than the Whole Foods ones but it definitely is good chocolate.  Haven't tried the cappuccino ones yet.  I'll probably take them into work.

I got a thing of mixed peanuts.   I've been needing snacks in my office, it's been pretty sparse for a while now.

I got 4 boxes of cereal, one was Kellogg, the rest was their brand.  Their brand was $1.50 a box, I forget what the Kellogg one was.  I'll take them in to work and see how they are.  (are we picking up on a theme here?)

I got a few cans of tomato products, one of each, diced, sauce, paste to see how they are.  I'll use them... eventually... though apparently I really don't use that much tomato.

I got some frozen stuff, a frozen pizza, onion rings and texas toast, I expect those will be fine.

I thought about getting cheese, it looked fine and I read afterwards it is the same as Sargento's but I have tons of cheese in the fridge and it isn't exactly happy on the stomach so I decided not to.  Their milk was only in 1 gallon jugs and their eggs were the same price as the lady at the Renningers so I decided to stick with Renningers.

I also got a Crofton brand electric kettle.  It's 1.8 quart, the kettle comes off the base so it's portable and it was $10.  I haven't gotten my french press yet (and almost all of my tea is in my office) so I can't make a cup of tea.  It has the heating coils directly in your liquid in the kettle.  It looks OK, but obviously I haven't used it yet.  Maybe I'll make hard boiled eggs.

I think that's all I got.  They had 2 employees working, both at the registers.  Throughout the store, everything is in boxes, the way they are shipped.  I guess that's another one of their cost savings things, not having to pay someone to restock.

I think this may be a bad store for me because I am more inclined to impulse buy because it is so cheap.  Like I so didn't need 4 boxes of cereal but now I have them.  Well it's not like they go bad or anything.  It's a good store.  Can't get everything you need there but so far I am happy with what I got.

I did some more digging on chowhounds.  The canned goods are a bit questionable because they say they have more water filler in there than brand names but I don't buy canned veggies anyway.  

Things I will need to find and try: 

chocolate bars (they say they are good european chocolate, I didn't see them, I was focused on the truffles)

olive oil

ice cream bars

salad mix bags

frozen stuff