Owner: Needle Cloud URL:http://www.needlecloud.com Join Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:59:53 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A personal blog containing recipes and information on photography experiments, arts and music, travel and general life in Chicago, IL. Site statistics:Click here
He Shook His Head Trying To Blink The Rain Out Of His Eyes 2008-04-18 10:56:52 The latest on the dog is I’m pretty sure in an attempt to train him to control his urges to bark we have been teaching him to bark.
CRAP!
Saul has one of the most insane barks I’ve ever heard. It’s not really high pitched or yappy it’s just loud. He barked in my ear last night and it’s still ringing. I think he slightly deafened me.
The past week or so he’s started regressing into old bad habits. Being really agitated, barking, not listening. This morning for an hour he’s just basically paced from the kitchen to the window. Growling at nothing, barking at nothing. When he’s been barking we call him to us and give him a treat when he’s quiet. I think he’s purposely barking so he can be called and given a treat. Snea Read more:Blink
Sounds That If Written Would Be White. 2008-04-18 09:42:30 Holy crap we had an earthquake last night!
I slept through it, of course. The hubby said when we woke up, ‘I think there was an earthquake last night’. I didn’t believe him, but he was right.
From the Associated Press
5.2 earthquake rocks large region of Midwest
By JIM SUHR – 25 minutes ago
WEST SALEM, Ill. (AP) — Residents across the Midwest were awakened Friday by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago’s Loop and homes in Cincinnati but appeared to cause no major injuries or damage.
The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 45 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Milwaukee, Des Moines, Iowa, and Atlanta, nearly 400 miles to the southeast.
“It shook our Read more:Sounds
, White
Rotini with Arugola and Spicy Tomato Sauce 2008-04-18 09:28:43 This was a really tasty, quick and easy dinner.
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/2 a 5 oz container of Arugola (if you can find bulk get a couple good sized handfuls , I could only find it pre-packaged)
Pinch of ground cayenne
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
1 pound rotini
Parmesan Cheese
Empty can of tomatoes into a large bowl. Finely chop the arugola and add it to the tomatoes. Add cayenne, salt and olive oil. Stir it all together. Let the sauce sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes to let the flavors mix. Cook pasta according to the package. Drain pasta. Heat the sauce until bubbling, add pasta. Toss and serve. Top with parmesan cheese. Read more:Spicy
, Tomato
Fromage Blanc 2008-04-18 09:00:57 1 gallon pasteurized whole or skim milk (if you use skim the cheese will be a little drier)
1 packet direct-set fromage blanc starter
Butter Muslin – to drain the curd
Heat the milk to 86° F. Add the starter and mix thoroughly
Cover and let the curd set at room temperature for 12 hours or until it’s the consistency of yogurt.
Line a colander with butter muslin and gently ladle the curd into the colander. Tie the corners of the muslin into a knot and hang it to drain. I used a narrow board propped up on a mixing bowl and a stock pot on either side of the sink. Then I tied the bag to it with twine. Just make sure you have it over a sink or a bowl to catch the liquid.
Let the curd drain at room temperature for 6-12 hours or until it reached a desired consistenc
Like Cows We Gathered to the Artifact. Maybe We Were Bored. 2008-04-17 15:27:40 The funk has slightly lifted. Still feeling a touch funky but sitting outside for an hour yesterday afternoon feeling actual warm sun on my back seems to have helped a bit.
The additional cheese making supplies have arrived and I’m excited to start the next one, feta. I’m slowly working my way up to the ones that have to age for a while. Partially because I’m pretty impatient and also kind of buying time while I figure out how to fashion a press.
A couple days ago the hubby and I were both suffering from a bad case of ‘We have to get the hell out of the house before we go on a homicidal rampage’ so we went out for a beer. We’ve had a few discussions lately about needing to make traveling more of a priority. Not just traveling to visit friends and Read more:Bored
, Maybe
You Can Lose Yourself in Hardware 2008-04-21 11:53:05 The pup is doing much better. The idea of ‘quiet’ has gotten into his head and it’s great.
On the hubby’s suggestion, this week we are doing an experiment in grocery shopping. Instead of doing the usual big trip to get things for the whole week we’re going to get all our food for the week from stores we can walk to.
Lately the grocery bill has been getting bigger and bigger even though we’ve been sticking to the list and not giving in to impulse buys. So we’re going to be resourceful and see if we can stay within (or at least close to) our normal grocery budget by shopping nearby.
We have 2 great markets in the hood, Bari and Green Grocer. And a bakery, D’Amatos. Yesterday we went to Bari and got all our stuff for dinner.
I’ Read more:Hardware
, Yourself
We have no more to do with heavy stones and hard lines. 2008-04-29 13:11:55 A quick update before I get back to work…
The grocery experiment went well. Overall the total for the week was a couple dollars under our normal budget. I think it was $2. Not bad though. I thought for sure it would be more expensive to shop like this. I did go to Jewel once, but got out of there for under $30 which is unbelievable. The thing that gets me at the bigger stores is all the stuff on ‘sale’. I go with a list and a good idea of what we need for the week but get sidetracked and end up buying a couple extra this and one more of that because it’s a good deal. I try really really hard not to be a sucker for these marketing strategies but inevitably get roped in. The other major problem with shopping at the supermarkets is buying more than we can actually
Comcast - Illinois 2008-05-09 14:14:30 After a couple frustrating calls to Comcast
without any results I finally figured out the right number to call to get taken off their mailing list!
This week alone I have received 7 mailers, only 1 of which was actually addressed to me. The other 6 were for apartments that don’t even exist in our building.
Okay so here’s the info.
The company who does their mailings is
Advance Mailing Systems
Northlake,IL
(708) 836-0600 Read more:Illinois
The term 'turned on' remained in my kitchen 2008-06-06 15:28:31 We caved.
After 5 months of broadcast TV, we are getting cable again. I know, I know, we were doing so well. Not getting stressed out by the number of channels to choose from, comfortably complacent watching episodes of ‘The Moment of Truth’ and a million Law & Order’s.. Life was good until we found ourselves going through the channels in the early evening last Friday and Read more:turned
What is love to those who laid these stones 2008-06-14 11:10:30 A million years ago (well only nearly two) we had our wedding reception. At that reception we had cameras. I had the best intentions of taking those things right to the lab to be developed but they sat… and sat…. and sat. I’m such a procrastinator. Finally I took the damn things to the photo place and developed them. We got some really great and funny pictures. There were als
Stir-Fried Chicken w/Radishes, Chipotles & Lime 2008-06-18 11:52:54 I keep forgetting to post this recipe. Last week we went to the Wicker Park ‘Farmer’s Market’ and got a couple things (not really a farmer’s market more like 3 tables with a so so selection of random things). But we did manage to find a few things that looked really great. One of them was a bunch of radishes. I don’t really buy them that often but they looked really Read more:Chicken
, Fried
, Fried Chicken
Story of Stuff 2008-06-26 16:08:12 This video was recommended to me by a friend and I think it’s important for people to watch. Here’s your chance. You can view the entire video on the Story of Stuff website.
The Story of Stuff
The less is more philosophy is something I have practiced most of my life. Occasionally I do slip up but I think for the most part I consume much less than the average American.
I thin
The name.. 2008-06-23 12:05:13 A couple people have asked me where the name NeedleCloud comes from.
The name was inspired by this great little art piece done by a friend of ours, Ben and his wife Betsy.
I was sitting here trying to think of a new domain name for my blog and looked up at the piece on the wall, bingo! Needle Cloud. My husband and I went to Ben’s art show last summer and I saw this piece and reall
Summer Spaghetti 2008-07-01 19:01:57 We eat this a couple times a month in the summer.
5 large ripe tomatoes diced
1-2 cloves of garlic peeled and finely chopped
5 or 6 fresh basil leaves coarsely chopped
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4-6 ounces of fresh mozzarella cut into small pieces
1 pound of spaghetti
Salt & Pepper
In a medium bowl combine tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt & pepper. Add enough olive oil to cover the mixt Read more:Spaghetti
, Summer
Less is much much more.. 2008-06-28 12:40:22 Over the past week I’ve been thinking a lot about possessions and why I feel this urge to keep acquiring things.
A few months ago I bought an iPhone. It’s a really cool gadget but not so great at being a phone. I like the look of it. I like the features mostly. Being able to check my email anywhere is great (kind of) but it sucks as an iPod (the sound quality is really poor) and I
Those were rich months. 2008-08-13 12:54:23 Way too long. Well the past month has been exciting. I went to Oregon. It was fantastic. Drank a lot of wine, sat by the ocean, ate amazing seafood and most importantly relaxed.
Came back home and have been working my ass off. It’s good though, I like being busy. I just kind of wish I had a little tiny bit more time to enjoy the weather, but all in all I can’t complain.
Another
Braised Pork with Rosemary 2008-08-29 09:49:52 We had this on Tuesday night. It was so good!
needles from 1-2 rosemary sprigs
2 1/4 pound loin of pork
2 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove crushed
1/2 onion chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
Push half of the rosemary needles into the meat and tie neatly with kitchen string. Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan, add th Read more:Braised
, Rosemary
She will not complain 2008-10-22 09:32:06 With all this financial crisis and panic I’ve decided to start really taking a hard look at our habits and see what we can do to keep ourselves from going down the dark road of debt.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to try to build a nest egg and keep track of everything we’re spending. We had a little bit of money set aside and decided to completely pay off our credit car Read more:complain
Slow Food 2008-11-08 08:50:01 Consuming less. Being conscious about what we do consume, these are things I’m really starting to work on.
My first battle is food and then I’ll move in to the home goods. Food is a little easier for me. Though it is bothering me that the bed we just bought was made in China and every night as I rest my little head on my pillow I think to myself, “Is this thing going to get rec
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