Sorry, grandma (it was her birthday), but I had a horrible day yesterday-the day from Hell. I diligently worked on plugins, our new printer and a project that I cannot discuss.
Plugins are these wonderful/awful/annoying software components that help a bigger program function (like the twitter, facebook, or print option below) on my blog. I had 3 major components to make work with my theme. The previous plugins decided to stop properly functioning after almost a week of success.
For some reason, this theme has problems working with many of the popular wordpress plugins. It will and one day, it just stops. I’ve tried other themes but I keep coming back to this one. One will work and mess up a few others and I’m in reverse. When this happens, I try to figure out and adjust the setting to acquire an appealing looking/functional blog. I haven’t had much luck in that area and thus, I would just leave it with the intention to adjust it later. I’m not the kind of person to just let things sit there in appearance/functionality purgatory. I had to adjust when I started the dabble.
What led me to doing that was the many hours, days, and weeks of different combination of plugins that never seemed to jive with one another in the end. I gave up. Not forever. I downloaded my heart out yesterday and randomly hit the plugin jackpot because the new ones work with the old, with the theme and work in general. Fingers crossed. It only took several hours.
Of course, the entire site isn’t the way I envision but I’m loving any success right now. This non-designer/technical lady is getting the hang of things. It might take me longer but I can usually figure it out; I’m not completely useless.
After working on that for hours, I went on to the printer. Some of you might remember my announcement about getting a new one in June. Whoa, that was June? It does this thing when you want to print that says it has a paper jam…it doesn’t. Once you follow the directions, it’s supposed to stop dinging…it doesn’t. Since it’s doing this, it will not print. You have to resort to shutting it down, cancel your jobs and try again when it reboots. Half the time this does nothing. It also hates to reuse the backside of paper, which is often the thing that sets of the paper jam call. We bought a well-rated printer/copier/scanner/fax machine so it must be us…me. I’m just relying on the fact that we don’t print that often. That project didn’t get far.
Then, the project that I won’t discuss (it’s a surprise). In the name of not-so-legal downloading, I really shouldn’t say anything. I’ll leave it like this: 3 hours, 1 song, slideshow and me screaming. Got a clearer picture? I don’t think this project will ever come together.
For some icing on the crap cake, my husband needed to be picked up from work after he also had the day from Hell. (He had to create 8 programs to help the broken CNC machine at the other plant.) I was excited to get to drive again. There’s no reason for me to do so during the week but I do have the car, since Greg carpools, for emergency/errand reasons. (Whenever I say that, I think how different my life is in Minnesota. I was a driving fool in Indiana.) On my way out the door, the plan was to pick up some dinner, drive the 30 minutes there so he could perform his duties and be able to get home when he finished. My car had other plans and since I don’t have the keyless remote, I do what normally is done and used my key. Bad idea. This set the alarm off and wouldn’t let me start the car. Not the first time.
Ru2 has a mind of its own every few months and doesn’t like keys even though we’ve done the “hokey-pokey” (putting our right arm on the radio, the other on the unlock button, our right foot on the ignition and tapping all of these things 5 times for the alarm to stop…it feels like that) routine to stop it and adjust when the alarm goes off. I tried doing what was the actual routine while the alarm went off over 5 times, in town, with many people watching. There’s no button under the dash, holding the unlock button down for a certain amount of time doesn’t help and finding the info again in the manual wasn’t an option. I said many choice words, called Greg (yelling), slammed the door shut and went back to the apartment.
Greg got a ride from Derek (thank you), our friend, and Greg worked on the alarm upon arrival. Apparently, when I tried turning the key 3 times within 5 seconds (one of the routines), I didn’t do it right because that fixed the Forester’s alarm. I now have the keyless remote so I don’t have to work with this annoying event. After that, we both went to Greg’s work so he could begin those 8 programs. We got home late and it was not a fun day.
Anyone for a drink? I’m abstaining right now but this drink was refreshing when I had it. The raspberry smash, from Bon Appetit, adapted from Bella Vista Restaurant in California, is one of those beverages best sipped on a summer day, a rough one. I left out placing sugar on the rim. Simply lovely.
Raspberry Smash
Serves 2
Print Recipe
Ingredients:
4 lime wedges
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
6 tbsp vodka
4 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups ice cubes
1/4 cup chilled Champagne
Place 2 lime wedges, raspberries, vodka, and sugar in a cocktail shaker; with a muddler or spoon handle, smash the mixture. Add the ice and shake for 10 seconds. Divide between 2 glasses (don’t strain) and top with Champagne. Serve with lime wedge on the side.
Happy birthday to my grandma! (I’ll see you soon. Tell grandpa to practice Aggravation.)
I’m sending my gratitude to my brother-in-law who fixed the comment section Friday. I did a little dance and added a few more options to the site after said dance. It wasn’t quite working when I tried doing both at the same time. Warning: my print option isn’t functioning as I would like and I’m now working on that issue…along with a few others that popped up with my new plugins. It never ends.
How was your weekend? I had a good time…too good Saturday and needed a day of rest Sunday. The rib fest was impressive. My only complaint is that patrons didn’t get to sample any of the competition food (unless related or friends of friends on the down-low). A rib/brisket/pulled pork vendor was the only source, from what I saw, for carnivorous feasting that was out of many of those items before 2PM (when we wanted to sample). The event was intended to go on until 11PM. The band playing when we entered was excellent but I’m not sure who it was and the beer choices were decent. I didn’t venture towards the art area on the other block of the event. Instead, we went with some friends to the Cheese Cave. Delicious!
After that, we went on an impromptu camping trip to reader and friends (“Auntie”) Jayne and Tom’s lake campsite with our pals her son, daughter-in-law and grandson. They were so kind and welcoming and made us food and served us beverages. I will leave out those details but it was a grand time. Greg and I took a walk around the area. The lake is huge and peaceful. Thank you for having us!
I don’t know about you but when it comes to sweet corn season, I’m busy stuffing my face with its goodness and freezing batches upon batches for the next few months. My freezer is full of this summer’s bounty, in one form or another, and the two chickens graciously given to us by our friend. I’m always looking for new ways to use corn in my meals and since I’m a “researcher, “ navigating my way through website after website, I have found a keeper that I would like to share.
This one was discovered…like I’m an explorer (geez)…on Chow.com, one of those treasure-troves…seriously, Annie, stop with the explorer thing…of a website. Allysa Torey, in “At Home with Magnolia,” was my inspiration and this was her shared recipe on Chow. I call it a gratin while she calls it a casserole (tomato/tomata) and I spiced it up to contrast the sweet corn and pep up the squash. You can use a number of different cheeses for this but I was partial to Spanish Manchego. Allysa requested sharp white cheddar. I really don’t think you can go wrong-Parmesan, yellow cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella, etc… With the spicy flair, I added fresh, chopped cilantro but for all you haters, flat-leaf parsley will suffice. I like that herb too but think it can be too dull for some dishes-there, I said it.
Summer Squash and Sweet Corn Gratin
Summer Squash and Sweet Corn Gratin
Serves 6
Print Recipe
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp butter
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 ½ cup onion, chopped (white or yellow preferred)
4 cups yellow summer squash, thinly sliced
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen sweet corn
1 cup Manchego cheese, sharp white cheddar or your choice, grated or shredded
1 to 2 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how much heat you’d like)
½ cup sour cream
½ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (or flat-leaf parsley)
coarse salt
freshly ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter or oil a square baking dish.
In a large skillet over medium-low heat, add 1 tbsp of the oil and 1 tbsp of butter. Add the onion and cook until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, for the breadcrumb topping, heat 1 tbsp of oil and 2 tsp of butter over medium-low heat in a saucepan. Add the garlic, do not brown, stirring occasionally for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the breadcrumbs, stirring to toast evenly, for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
To the skillet, once the onion is tender, add the squash and corn, raising the heat to medium-high, stirring often, until tender. This time will vary but make sure the squash is tender because it will not cook much in the oven. Remove from the heat
Stir in the cheese, cayenne, sour cream, heavy cream, cilantro and salt and pepper. Mix well and transfer to the baking dish. Sprinkle with the breadcrumb topping and bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden.
Look who has comments again! (It’s me, people.) Comment away!
Oh, and you subscribers might be receiving a few more emails with old posts and recipes that are, what I guess to be, part of the whole “comments coming back from the corrupt database” thing that caused the problems. This should subside and normal one email per week day/post will be back soon. Please bear with me and let me know if you have any issues with comments and/or emails…really anything else. Have a great weekend!
And so it continues with this damn comment issue…I’m sorry, readers. I never imagined it would go on this long or that I would be this upset about it. I’ve updated, tested, researched and contacted my brother-in-law on this one but until he gets a chance to delve into the database, this will go on. Nothing I have done has made an impact. I lost a subscriber today and I’m going to place blame on the comment problem. It may not have been but I don’t want to fathom any other reason.
For any new readers, Fridays at thedabble include links to things I am fond of which is why I reference this day, at the end of the work week, as “fond of” Friday. Clever…only not at all. I need a pick-me-up today and recently few things have made me chuckle more than this website: Awkward Family Photos. So awkward, so funny.
More awkward than stache night (sorry for the quality)...
On a positive note, a rep from Winn-Dixie asked to use my plantain photo in their training materials. The man thought it was a good shot. I was flattered! Also, my grandma’s birthday is Monday while my sis-in-law’s birthday is Wednesday along with my in-law’s anniversary- reminders that I will soon see them all. Did I mention I have many family birthdays/celebrations in August/September? I tend to repeat myself.
Tomorrow is the second annual Blue Collar BBQ and Arts Festival in Faribault, Minnesota (our neighboring town). This is an event where amateur chefs and their teams compete to see whose barbecuing skills rank supreme. I’ve heard that there is some kind of dessert contest too. There will be a beer garden, food vendors, six bands, rides for the kiddies and local artists in the downtown area. We’re meeting some friends in the afternoon and intend to have a great time. If you’re in the area, check out the festivities between 10AM and 11PM. (Proceeds benefit the Paradise Center for the Arts-the sponsor.) To find out more about the event, read this article from the local paper.
Anyone going to any fairs? Whatever you do this weekend, have a splendid time!
