Return to Sender

Today we got seven pieces of mail for seven people, none of whom live here. I suspect two of the addressees are the same person, because how many Lizas could have lived here before us, really? These people also have some obsession with fashion and fancy things. I have never received so many perfume sample cards in my life.

Also, there's a jury summons in that stack of mail, so I hope that gets to the right recipient in time. Eep.

A hearty vegetarian meal or snack

I love Chipotle. I especially love their rice and whatever it is they do to their veggies that make them taste so tangy and spicy. I've been fooling around with rice dishes for a while, trying to get somewhere close to replicating the flavor. I think lime juice is a key factor.

On Saturday I threw together this dish after reading a few recipes and getting spice ideas.

Spicy Lime Rice with Black Beans
2 to 3 cups cooked white rice
Water
Canola oil
2 limes
Cumin
Crushed red pepper flakes
Garlic powder
Salt
1 can of black beans
Greek yogurt (can substitute sour cream or maybe plain yogurt)

Time: Under 20 min, start to finish, if you start with cooked rice.
Yield: About 3 main course portions or 5-6 side helpings

Directions: Spoon the cooked rice into a frying pan or skillet (I used a nonstick pan). Gently break up any clumps. If your cooked rice has dried out in the fridge like mine had, add some water so you can see a bit of water in the pan below the rice. Pour a bit of canola oil on the rice and mix it in (a couple tablespoons). Cut two limes in half and juice them over the rice. You can leave the lime halves on top of the rice while you cook if you like (I'd take them out once you add the beans). Open the beans, drain and wash them using a colander. Set aside for now.

Sprinkle the cumin, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and salt onto the rice. Mix the rice and turn on the heat to medium. Give it a couple of minutes to warm up, then mix it and taste to gauge if you want more spices. I made it a little spicier than I'd want because the beans will take up some of the spices. Once it tastes citrusy and spicy, add the beans. Stir them in and let them heat up with the rice. I don't like to stir the beans too much because they can mush. As the beans get hot, taste the mixture once more then either add more spices and repeat or kill the heat.

Serve piping hot on a plate. Spoon a hearty dollop of Greek yogurt on the side (we like Fage Total 0%). I like to grab a bit of rice and beans and a bit of yogurt on my fork at the same time. The hot and cool contrast (in both temperature and spiciness) is very enjoyable. Have fun and enjoy this dish!

Additional notes: I already had cooked rice on hand, so I don't know about proportions. Just play around with the flavors. They go together pretty well so as long as you add the cumin/red pepper/garlic in semi-even amounts, they should blend well. The dish doesn't really need a lot of salt; just a little salt tastes so good with the lime flavor.

This recipe is vegetarian and rich in protein and fiber. It's also almost as tasty as a microwaved leftover as it is straight from the frying pan. So you can make a bunch and save it for lunches or a hearty snack. If it dries in the fridge, just add a bit of water before microwaving to perk it up a bit.

Now with modern conveniences!

For now I'm classifying October weather here as comfortably bizarre. After previous chilly week, I thought we'd fully switched into Winter Ahead mode, but it seems I was wrong. This week has been positively delightful and bordering on (gasp) too warm. It's still 60°F and it's the middle of the night! So that's been nice.

What's been nicer? Clean, fresh from the dryer clothes. I'm not saying I was wearing dirty clothes. I'm just saying I was wearing dirty shirts. And sometimes dirty pants. But that's as far as it went. I swear.

Anyway! We have a washer and dryer and they both work well. The dryer works so well that it will dry your clothes forever or until your house loses power! We haven't touched the "more dry" setting because the "dry" setting is bloody hot enough as it is. The washer works just fine, but the piping for it is almost certainly where the Crawlspace Leak originated, seeing how the floor directly beneath the piping is discolored and the piping itself is in desperate need of some PVC cement. But it goes in a neat loop-di-loop, so it wins in cuteness.

So until Ike fixes the piping, he's got the water dumping into a trash can (a very nice trash can!) and then he's dumping it in the yard. The trash can has ambitions of becoming a rain barrel one day soon. And I think we can weave the hosing through the laundry wall and out to the backyard so the trash can won't be sitting between the washer and dryer like it is now.

The going price of a used large appliance is between $35 and $40. Not bad at all.

The fridge is in the kitchen now. I got to power lift it onto the cart in the kitchen, because even though my upper body strength pales in comparison to what it was five years ago, my quads still have it in them. Plus I was already on the right side of the fridge to lift, and Ike had a hell of a time keeping the cart steady on the other side. I really don't know which task was harder. And this doesn't make much sense without a schematic. So here:

I'm the one on the right with the nice legs.

I will say that having a fridge in the garage is a great incentive not to eat things from it. I bet it would be a weight loss supplement. Or you could move your whole kitchen into the garage! But then a chair would appear in the garage and you'd just end up there, slightly less comfortable, but eating as normal.

Can you tell it's late?

But wait there's more! Pictures! Since I know you like pictures. Here is one of the sheds on the side of the house. One of them looks like kid play house, but it's nice. Double pane windows (right? I think it has those), electricity, and a lockable door. The other one is directly to the right of the wooden one in the picture; if you look closely you can see the corrugated metal. It's much more of a shack-type shed. It's got an old, deteriorating wooden floor and it used to hold boxes of xylene products. *blink*

And here's one of the sunset, which I hardly notice since most of the windows on the west side of the house are high and/or small. But I caught a glimpse of it tonight while working, and I swear the clouds were a much more vibrant pink. The image is unedited (aside from resizing and cropping), so perhaps I didn't use the correct camera setting to capture the lovely colors. That electrical tower buzzes at night like a gigantic bug zapper. But you only hear it if you're outside, so it's not bad.

Goodnight!

All in

The asbestos guy made it seem like the ceilings would be incredibly ugly after the acoustic popcorn coating was removed, but in reality they're just flat and boring. Each room has a few scratches and inconsistencies, but it's definitely not cringe-worthy. I'm so glad we didn't drop more money on having them redone. I think we can refinish them ourselves (would that be with plaster? not sure of the materials needed yet).

All of our belongings are here. We moved in over a long, grueling weekend. My back has mostly recovered, but I still need to catch up on sleep. Since the asbestos removal involved all the ducts being taken out, we couldn't turn on the heat even if we wanted to (and since it's 44°F right now, I want to). Taking a shower at night has made the cold evenings much more bearable for me (especially considering my circulation issues). I'm all toasty before sleeping now, and I sleep more deeply.

The cats have settled in well. They love all the extra space and the windows. It's so much quieter here, too, and I think they appreciate that as much as I do.

This place doesn't really look like a home yet on the inside, but it feels like one.