My Husband the Engineer part 3

Actually this is to praise him; he went out and bought a little gadget that people use to blow up air mattresses, and he used it to get a fire going in the fireplace stove. This time it got hot enough to heat the chimney so all of the smoke went up the flue. It also got the heat in the house up to around 90 degrees. When we went to bed the fire was nothing but embers and the stove was still warm when we woke up in the morning. The (expensive gas) heat never kicked on during the night.

I love the tropics; nothing like watching TV in your underwear in the middle of winter. I should have whipped up some frufru tropical rum drinks but I have to stop that for a while.

I'm always amazed by cats. Both of them sat in front of the fireplace and happily melted. Domestic cats are descended from desert creatures and they love being warm.

Speaking of cats, we have two: Vasquez, who is about 18 (I got her when I was in college); and Eruo, who is maybe 3. Euro is twice Vasquez's weight and he loves to pick on her. She can barely jump up on the table but she'll fight back if he's in a playful mood.

Vasquez is blase about moving; God knows she and I have moved to about 10 different places in the last 18 years. We got Eruo (actually, I can't pronounce that damn name either so I just call him Big Fat Kitty) at an animal shelter and he's only known our old house. He was pretty psychotic when we moved but he's adjusting. I can't keep him out of the kitchen cabinets though.

And even though cats are pretty much useless, Big Fat Kitty has one good but odd habit: at night when we've gone to bed he'll hop up on my legs (I sleep on my belly) and give my butt a massage. Jon thinks it's sick, but hey he's not getting one. Personally having a 16 pound cat kneading my gluteus maximii is quite soothing, especially after a heavy leg workout day. He's just jealous.

Speaking of workouts, yes I went yesterday and today. I am thinking that the new gym's treadmills are adjusted differently than the old gym's treadmills because I can't run as fast on the new gym's. At least not by their little gauges. But a weight is pretty much a weight so we have had no problems adjusting our weight training to the new gym.

I have had to quit doing dips; my left shoulder is hurting. Not bad, but I don't want to make it worse. I'm thinking I'm having a classical rotator cuff problem that comes from exercising one set of rotator cuff muscles and ignoring another set. Instead of the dips I'm doing some of these exercises and stretches. . Don't ask me why I'm looking at Dragon Boat pages. I have no idea why my right shoulder doesn't hurt.

I'm starting to experience insomnia again; I am now convinced it is because of hypocaloric eating. Oh, well. I have more energy like this anyway and can handle that metallic tired feeling better.

Top 10 favorite meals: (just because I'm hungry!)

10) Grilled ribeye (medium rare) with romaine salad
If I'm in a carb mood a baked potato or fries goes well with this meal.

9) Spicy Shrimp Scampi
This is basically shrimp cooked scampi style, then cayenne pepper, parmesan cheese, and italian bread crumbs are added to the pan. Mmm. I usually eat this with plain fettucini. Modified for low carb by omitting the bread crumbs and eating with spaghetti squash.

8)Curry
This is just a stew. Some sort of meat, stock, and veggies. The curry is curry powder, cream or milk, cayenne pepper, and a little sugar (or splenda). Infinitely variable.

7)Sushi
Especially a spicy tuna roll. I will eat sashimi, but I'm not too adventurous for that one.

6)Chicken Wings
And beer.

5)Lechon
Puerto Rican dish. It's basically a pork picnic shoulder that's marinated in mashed garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice (called adobo). Once you start roasting it in the oven, the smell is overwhelming and the entire neighborhood spontaneously starts drooling.

4)Angel Hair pasta in pesto sauce w/ italian sausage
Okay, I'm making myself drool

3)Chicken and Dumplings
Grandma's recipe. Veggie of choice: Green Beans.

2)Barbequed Ribs
mmmmmmmmmmm ribs, mmmmmmmmmm

1) Arroz con Pollo
A Puerto Rican dish that I absolutely adore. I haven't made it in years because Jon doesn't like it. The chicken is marinated in adobo.

Some day I'll have to put these recipes on the web. Here's the one for the Arroz con pollo:

Adobo: for each pound of chicken:

1 Garlic clove
1 tsp of salt
3 pepper corns
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil.
Mash the dry stuff to a pulp; add vinegar and olive oil. Slather the meat w/this marinade and refrigerate for about 24 hours. This marinade I use on just about any meat in existence.

1 cut up chicken
1/4 pound ham, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes and peppers
2 cups long grain rice.
4 cups liquid (combo of water, stock, Ro-Tel liquid)
1 Tablespoon turmeric
Cayenne if desired.

In a dutch oven heat olive oil in medium high heat. Add chicken and brown. Toss in ham and onions somwhere. After a while add rice and stir so that the oil will coat the grains. Add the tomatoes and peppers, turmeric, and a little cayenne. Puerto rican dishes are *not* spicy, that's my addition. So is the turmeric, to be honest. They use saffron.
Add liquid and leftover marinade. Bring to a boil, put lid on, and set stove to low for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and leave alone for another 10 minutes. Stir gently and then it should be ready to eat.

This stuff tastes even better the next day.