An Orange County Sitcom

Field guide to the OC Family's new home

Ants
Black Widows
Tarantulas
Rattlesnakes
Coyotes
Bobcats
Small dead furry things in back yard, killed by the above.

Just a handy checklist for you to bring when you come visit us.

I found this really cool blog today.

Check it out. :)

Maybe you'll see someone you know listed here.

Shakespeare Hates Your Emo Poems

Thing 1 got a new t-shirt:

And I wrote haiku in honor of it:

Emo kids take note
Shakespeare hates your poetry
Try haiku instead

OK, after I wrote this I realized it might be misunderstood.  Haiku IS poetry, so to say try haiku “instead” might be read that it’s instead of poetry – which doesn’t make sense.  What I mean is try haiku instead of angst-ridden poems such as this one by Walter Landor:

“Why do our joys depart
For cares to seize the heart?
I know not.  Nature says
Obey and man obeys.
I see and know not why
Thorns live and roses die.”

And that’s the only thing I remember from 12th grade AP English Lit.

No offense intended to any emo readers of my blog.  I am a former emo – I was emo before anybody knew what emo was – so I totally understand and I am there for you, KWIM?

No, Sam. I'm going to Mordor alone.

For Wordless Wednesday.

Stuffed Snapper in Puff Pastry

This is what we had for dinner tonight:
It was delicious.  It made up for the really bad dinner I made last night - honestly, it was bad.  It was a "what I need to use up in the freezer and pantry" dinner and involved egg noodles, canned soup, and salty ham.  Tonight was another "what I need to use up in the freezer" dinner but it involved an orphaned puff pastry sheet, a 1/2 pound of shrimp, and snapper filets.  Much better!  I'd post the recipe here, but who ever goes to the trouble of using puff pastry?   Nobody - that's why I had an orphaned sheet.

Photo credit goes to Thing 1. :)

Strider attempts his getaway. Good thing we had the leash on him.

For Wordless Wednesday.

And the magic number is 80

Thing 1 just yelled down that it's 80 degrees upstairs - may she turn on the air conditioner?  Yep, we're pansies. The AC comes on at the OC Family home any time the temp reaches 80. 

And speaking of...Remember growing up without programmable thermostats?  At night in the winter, our thermostat was set on 55, and whoever woke up first would run downstairs and crank it all the way up to 65!  That was sometimes me...so then I'd run back upstairs and hop into the warm bed again for a few minutes before heading for the shower. By this time the house would be about 57 degrees.

In the summer we didn't have that problem with the thermostat, because I don't think we ran the air conditioning, ever.  Did our house even have air conditioning?

I also had to walk to school in the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways.  And we LIKED it that way.

Limes were on sale this week

Oh, happy day!  We did this:

You can find the recipe here:  Coconut-Lime Cupcakes

PS - We loved the cupcakes, but I personally thought the frosting was too "light" - it's basically whipped cream.  So I will be experimenting with other (richer) frostings for this marvelous cupcake.

(Photography, of course, is by Thing 1)

Thing 1 thinks she's The Pioneer Woman

Thing 1 takes lots of photos with her point-and-shoot, and also, when allowed, with the big-fancy-Nikon-that-I-hardly-ever-use.  She has what GWH calls "a good eye."  She also knows how to use Photoshop (unlike her mother).

She puts clever captions and comments with them, too.  Here's here photostream for your enjoyment.

If you ever find yourself on Oahu's North Shore...

Eat here:

Their motto is "the Best", and they are, indeed, the BEST!  Wonderful burgers and fish sandwiches on never-before-tasted-so-soft-and-fresh Kaiser rolls.  And the thinnest shoestring fries I've ever seen.

No matter how hungry you are, avoid this place:

It might seem like one of those obvious things to avoid a place that looks like this.  GWH tried to talk me out of it, but I insisted that it would be fun and funky and cheap.  Au contraire!  In case you can't tell from the picture, the building is a complete dump.  None of that Joe's Crab Shack style faux-shack stuff - this is a genuine shack that should be condemned.  And the sushi was expensive - about 30% more than what we pay at nice sushi places on the mainland.  At least we got a good laugh out of the experience.  GWH was very sweet and didn't hold a grudge.