About chelle

Daughter, sister, friend.

Food that I eat

Posted on December 5, 2011 by chelle

Made the best dinner tonight!

Just realized I didn’t take a single picture to show it off. I sort of fail, but the overall awesomeness of the food makes it a win.

Moving on.

I’m putting the recipe (if you can call it that) here so I can repeat it at another time.

I based the marinade on a recipe from Simply Recipes:
Skirt Steak Marinade:
1/3 cup olive oil
2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic – sliced in half
1/3 cup soy sauce
healthy shake of red pepper flakes
fresh cracked pepper

I marinated the steak for about 24 hours. I was going to grill it like the recipe calls for but realized at the last minute that we didn’t have enough fuel. So I baked the steak at 450 for 25 minutes. I let it rest for 10 minutes with tinfoil overtop to keep it warm. Then I sliced it up and served it with peas/corn, mashed potatoes w/ sauteed sweet onions and mushrooms.

Mashed Taters with Sauteed Sweet Onions and Mushrooms
I had left over potatoes from Thanksgiving so I added to it some hungry man instant potatoes (what? They don’t taste that bad!)
I sliced some sweet onion fairly thin in long strips and sauteed them in a tablespoon of butter until they started to wilt. Then I added five button mushrooms that I’d cut in half and sliced. I added a little salt and let them cook down. When they were pretty limp, I added a few splashes of balsamic vinegar and let that cook out/down.

Yum.

OccupyEugene

Posted on October 25, 2011 by chelle

Think Outside the Restaurant

Posted on October 13, 2011 by chelle

I was just watching Eat St. on the Cooking Channel. They were profiling a food truck down in Austin Texas – The Mighty Cone.

During festivals, there is a need for a food containment system that allows you to eat and drink a beverage while standing up. Those of us who enjoy going to events like this know how hard it is to juggle this successfully. So some smart people created The Mighty Cone which places the food into what can only be called a sno-cone cup. Potentially messy food is contained leaving the other hand free for beverage holding pleasure!

During the segment, a patron remarked that she’d never been to Hudson’s on the Bend (The parent restaurant for TMC) because she didn’t have that kind of money, then the owner of the restaurant said something interesting.

“When the economy goes down, the cone goes up. Feed the rich and get poor. Feed the poor and get rich.”

Their main business – Hudson’s on the Bend caters to a high spend client, a clientele that is most likely cutting back their spending. So when Hudson’s recognized a pain-point and solved it, they found a way around their loss of income.

Smart.

Wednesday at the Washburne

Posted on October 12, 2011 by chelle

My friend Marilou just bought the cafe down the street from my house. Here’s why that’s awesome. The obvious is of course the fact that she’s venturing out into the small business owner world. Scary but exciting! As many people have said and will continue to say, small businesses will be the reason this economy gets back on track. Small business is the lifeline of American culture and without it, no amount of funds dumped into banks or hedges or funds will fix it.

The second and more interesting to me – I now have a neighborhood place to hang out! I’ve always wanted a place like that. You know that old sitcom Cheers? Where everyone knows your name? Yeah, I’ve always wanted that, and with Marilou’s place, I’ve got it. Woohoo me!

So in this “Post Employment” world I find myself in, I have a place to go and be a part of the world that is outside my home office. That’s important. I know me and the me that would rather stay home and ignore the world needs a regular place to go.

So in an effort to stay regular and put myself on a routine, I’ve decided that on Wednesdays I’ll spend an hour or so at the Washburne Cafe, writing or networking or just watching the rain come down.

[never clean the house]

Posted on October 10, 2011 by chelle

I’ve spent the weekend post-employment thusly: playing Sims.

Well, that’s not quite true, I took out the garbage, did the laundry, cooked a few meals, did the dishes… they were not things I had on my todo list. On that list I had bigger things like 1. One hour of writing 2. Refine resume… etc. Well, except none of that happened.And I’m a little disgusted with myself that I didn’t get those things done.

And thinking about it, I realized I’d forgotten my first key to happiness.

Key To Happiness Number One: Never clean the house.

Have you ever done that? Put something too large on your todo list? Clean the house. Big or small, “clean the house” is a lot of work and can be daunting when you look at it. And the longer you look at that todo on your list, the more impossible it seems. Clean the house… where do I start??

So instead of ever putting “clean the house” on my list, I put, “Take out the trash”. Yeah. I can do that. And when I get that done, I realize I’ve started. One small piece of the whole thing, but I’ve now got a sense of accomplishment!

I did this! This!

And so I build on the trash with making the bed. And straightening my night table, and putting my breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.

You see? Instead of bemoaning the fact that The Big Task is too BIG to get done, I get all the little things that make up the big thing.

So, my advice to you?

Never clean the house.

[life plan]

Posted on October 6, 2011 by chelle

Tomorrow I will walk out of Palo Alto Software for the very last time as an employee.

After nine years and two weeks.

I’m not scared. I’m excited. Even knowing that right now is probably not the best of times to be out of job. But this was something I had to do. My heart and head said I had something else out there for me.

I’m taking a chance.

I can’t wait.

[foodalicious]

Posted on May 29, 2011 by chelle

I generally have a rule never to try a recipe twice. Especially a recipe that was really good the first time.

I revisited the Steak w/ Quince sauce, polenta with goat cheese and asparagus w/ garlic. Critical me says I over salted the asparagus. The polenta didn’t cook the way I liked it and the quince sauce didn’t thicken.

But the sane part of me says it was a good meal. I liked it. I’m proud of it.

The joy of cooking, of taking singular flavors and melting them into something else is so amazing and fulfilling. Good job me.

Good job.

[home improve this]

Posted on May 28, 2011 by chelle

The thing about home improvement projects is that when you start on one you inevitably begin to see where the rest of the spots in the house are that need work.

We started with the backyard. Covering up the huge dirt pit that was nursing along a rather amazing plot of weeds and ant colonies. We covered it with pavers and wow. Instant livability out there.

So with the yard slowly moving forward, we look back inside the house. The landing pad just inside the front door makes us think we should also re-tile the laundry room at the same time with the same tile. And while we’re at it, change the wood door to the laundry with a french door and why not change out the front door as well and wow, did you see the great paint colors? We could totally repaint the laundry… right after we completely redo the whole bathroom.

You get the picture.

Maybe we should have just kept the dirt pit?

[O]

Posted on May 24, 2011 by chelle

Say what you will about Oprah, she has made a serious and measurable difference in this world.

[frustration]

Posted on February 11, 2010 by chelle

I know a lot of people who love Apple and all it is. The design of products, the supposed ease of use. They have whole series of commercials about how the Mac is so much better than a Microsoft OS system because it’s not as buggy and .. frankly it’s just so much BS as to make me angry every time I hear that philosophy spouted.

Here’s my problem.

Mac products are arrogant.

They assume too much about the user and what the user wants. And it’s annoying.

My iTunes is different from home vs work. Even though it’s all on the same login account. But can I download the same songs on my work computer as I do on my home one? No. In fact, hit the wrong button at the wrong time and anything you happened to put on your ipod or itouch will be erased.

Sorry about that. Except where we’re not. Sorry that is. Cuz you should have known better.

Arrogance.

Stupid fricken Apple.

rochelledenise.com

The secret history of me

Author Archives: chelle