Chicken & Sausage Gumbo
1c oil
1c flour
2 large onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch scallions, tops only, chopped
2/3c fresh chopped parsley
4 quarts (dark) chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
File powder to taste
3-4lbs boneless chicken, cut up in pieces
2lbs andouille or smoked sausage, cut into 1/2" pieces
Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and creole seasoning and brown quickly. Brown the sausage, pour off fat and reserve meats.
In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil and cook the flour in the oil over medium high heat (depending on your roux-making skills), stirring constantly, until the roux reaches a dark reddish-brown color, almost the color of coffee or milk chocolate for a cajun-style roux. If you want to save time, or prefer a more New Orleans-style roux, cook it to a medium peanut-brown color, over lower heat if you're nervous about burning it.
Add the vegetables and stir quickly. This cooks the veggies and also stops the roux from cooking further. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.
Add the stock, seasonings, chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then cook for about one hour, skimming fat off the top as needed.
Add the chopped scallion tops and parsley, and heat for 5 minutes. Serve over rice in shallow bowls. Accompany with a good beer and lots of hot, crispy french bread.
Yield: about 12 entree sized servings
Peach Cobbler
1/2 cup butter melted
1 cup flour
2 cups of sugar
3 teas. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup of milk
4 peeled, pitted, thinly sliced peaches
1 tblsp lemon juice
several dashes of ground cinnamon or nutmeg
Melt butter, pour in 9x13 pan. Preheat oven to 375.
Mix Flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, salt in large bowl.
Stir in milk, to just combined. Pour over butter (don't stir)
Bring peaches, lemon, 1 cup of sugar, to boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Pour over batter.
Sprinkle with cinnamon - then bake 40-45 minutes.
November 8, 2006
Loren has access to a webcam now! While chatting with her today, she posed for these pics:
{mosimage}{mosimage}
What can I say - the kid has great teeth!
November 2, 2006
My birthday was last Friday, it was nice, yes! Jessica took me to a French restaurant over by Grand Lake/ Lake Merrit for dinner. The food was great - but the service was S - L - O - W. I thought - oh - this must be what it's like for Loren. 
And to make matters worse, I hadn't eaten lunch that day, and it was 8pm and I was STARVING, and they didn't even take our order until like 8:45 or something, it was crazy! I had to stop someone and ask them to PLEASE bring me some bread or crackers or something, so I didn't fall over dead on their floor!
I shared a bowl of dungeoness crab chowder (yummy) & baked brie with crostinis (brie wasn't that great), then I had the Chicken Provencal (Super Yummy) and then some sort of chocolatey cake thing for dessert that they put on a giant silver platter, and it had a bunch of little hearts made out of sauces all over it - very pretty.
Boy - what a crazy run on sentence - ha! Anyway - after dinner I think I went home and got caught up on some TV - I think I might have watched Lost and Heroes. I love those shows.
(Did you know you can watch the latest episode of Heroes at http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/?show=heroes) It comes on Monday nights, so if you go to the web each Tuesday or Wednesday you could watch the full season! Ooh - I see ABC is putting Lost online too - how cool is that?!? Check out: http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/player?mk=20152622&cid=7 or go to http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing - either one should get you there.
The next day - I crammed crammed crammed as much cleaning, shopping, and yard work as I possibly could into a single day. I bought pumpkins (and another set of carving tools) from Albertsons, a giant 12 qt pot from Bed Bath & Beyond (for the chicken and sausage gumbo I was about to make!), several bags of mulch from home depot, a couple of bags of cedar chips from Petco (I wanted to redo the mulchy area behind the patio), and several bottles of wine from BevMo.
The gumbo was awesome of course, and 10 people showed up to the party. It was a pretty good size, just enough people to all sit around the table outside. Carla and Beverly gave me a b-day present, which was a giant coffee mug that says "Computer Genius" on it. Ha.
Sunday we went to the movies, and saw The Prestige. It was really good. Weird, but good. Monday I had dinner w/ friends @ Toomies.
On Halloween I went to a Haunted House in Fremont called the Pirates of Emerson. They had three {attractions?}: the 1st was a 3D ocean scene, so you're walking through w/ those silly 3D glasses on, can't see ANYTHING, and people (pirates) are jumping out at you all over the place. The 2nd was a maze made totally out of 10 foot chainlink fence. They have strobe lights going so that messes with your eyes, plus it's hard to focus that much chain link anyway - so you end up walking into fence every now and then, pretty trippy. The 3rd thing was another haunted house - er - haunted ship - thing, where you go through and there's all sort of scary things jumping out at ya - you know the deal. It was a lot of fun!
I posted the pics from the camping/coast trip and the pumpkin party in the Gallery.
Chicago Pics
The pictures from this weekend in Chicago (and more importantly, Jackie's wedding) are up.
Goodbye Ann…
I just found out that Ann Richards is gone - how sad. She was my all time favorite politician, and was the reason for my change in interest in things political. Before her I really couldn't have cared less for politics, but she sparked a fire in me, as I'm sure she did for others...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_re_us/obit_richards
Information on AJ
I've collected a bit of information on AJ's death and services, thought I'd get them logged in one place so I don't lose them.
Donations to the family, please send to:
Attn: Margaret Bailes
11136 Vista Sorrento Pky #C203
San Diego, CA 93130
http://www.junctioncitybluejays.com/phpbb/album_cat.php?cat_id=2&sid=291a1ec83617692e04414ca8c634122b
http://www.junctioncitybluejays.com/student_andreajames.htm
http://img165.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img165/1784/115698685630n.smil
Two Vehicles Sought In Fatal San Leandro Crash
POSTED: 4:35 pm PDT August 29, 2006SAN LEANDRO -- The California Highway Patrol is searching for the drivers of two cars who may have contributed to a high-speed crash that killed an Oakland woman early Tuesday on eastbound Interstate 580 west of 150th Avenue. Witnesses said that one of the two cars might have hit the woman's vehicle, causing her to lose control, CHP Officer Hahn reported. Authorities are seeking more witness accounts in the collision, which was reported around 6:20 a.m. A 44-year-old woman driving a 2003 Nissan 350Z lost control in the first lane, spun across four lanes of traffic and collided with the metal guardrail on the right. The car then overturned, resting on the right shoulder of the highway, according to the CHP. Witnesses reported seeing a dark-colored Chevrolet Camaro and a red Mazda Miata traveling at high speeds near the woman's Nissan around the time of the crash. The woman's name has not yet been released.
Anyone with information is urged to call Officer Burks or Officer Hahn at the Castro Valley CHP office at (510) 581-9028.
A couple pictures from Kim and Liz’s Wedding
I found a couple of pictures from Kim and Liz's wedding, check out the gallery: