Stress, and a meme

I can be an annoying ball of stress sometimes, and over the least important stuff. I’m trying to get better, but in a lot of ways that’s just how I am, and about the only way that’d ever change is through medication – but that’s a bit more extreme than is necessary, I think. This is why as things approach that I enjoy doing (Wuffmeet, Anthrocon, MFF), I become more and more irritable and worried. The good news is that once things get going, I’m fine, everyone has a good time, and I’m able to enjoy myself. But the few days leading up to the event…yeah. Which is a long way of saying, if I seem snappish to anyone over the next few weeks, I apologize in advance.

My FRAC stuff is done; takaza has a few more things to take care of and we can start assembling everything. In the meantime I can worry about the food I’m cooking for Friday; I’ve got a white chili recipe that I’ve synthesized out of a number of recipes I’ve found on the net (I can post the recipe if people are interested); I’ll be making that tomorrow night. I’ll also be making a nice big pot of Kielbasa and sauerkraut with boiled potatoes – it’s easy and tasty. I will admit that it never occurred to me to rinse the sauerkraut before using it, but it’s probably a good thing to do to cut the acidity a bit. Tonight, though, after a quick visit to The Spice House on the way home, Dan and I are off to see the White Sox play Oakland in some kind of baseball thingy.

Oh yeah, woodychitwn, tagged with a meme. You bastard! I’m supposed to name 6 weird facts/things/habits about myself.

  1. I have broken each arm twice, and have had reconstructive ankle surgery on my right ankle.
  2. When I was 12 or 13, when we lived in Southbury, CT, we had a house fire. Mostly it was just smoke damage, but it was scary. The one thing I remember the most was the rotten neighborhood kids making fun of us because our house was on fire. How broken do you have to be to sink that low?
  3. I have been in four car accidents, three of which occurred while I was driving. The first was when I was 10 or 11 and our family car was broadsided (no injuries). The second was when I was 17 and I took a curve too fast with sand on the road – I spun out and wound up in a ditch. No injuries there, either, though I didn’t do the car much good. The last two were fender-benders in Chicago in 2004 and a few months ago.
  4. I won the Latin Award when I graduated high school, for having the highest grades in Latin in my graduating class. You may think it’s geeky, but that gave me a basis for vocabulary so I can somewhat understand written Spanish and French (curiously, Italian eludes me completely).
  5. I was seneschal (regional president) of the Barony of Black Diamond (Southwestern Virginia group) in the Society for Creative Anachronism for a little over a year. I was in the SCA for seven years total, and made many dear and wonderful friends there. I also learned that fen are fen, and you can change fandoms but you’ll still meet the same people 🙂
  6. I have maintained the same set of web pages (with slightly varying and updating content) online for the last 11 years. My coming out page attracts the most hits, and I still get nice e-mails at random from readers.

Now I’m supposed to tag some people to do this meme. I tag perro‘s mom 😉 (oh, and anyone else who just feels like doing it)

5 thoughts on “Stress, and a meme”

  2. riecka

    Saurkraut
    Yes please rinse the saurkraut lol Being from Germany I shudder at people opening a can or bag of the stuff and just heating it up lol Besides rinsing it gets rid of those sudden urges to make a mad dash for the restroom 20 minutes after eating it 😛
    And white chili is very good 🙂 Are you making the white chicken chili?

    1. woofwoofarf Post author

      Re: Saurkraut
      Interestingly, when I talked to my mom (who, granted, was raised in Kansas by Scottish-Irish immigrants) she never rinsed the sauerkraut when she made it as we were growing up, but added applesauce to cut the acidity. I’ll probably definitely rinse; the applesauce I’m not sure about, but I’ll probably reserve a bit and test it with the applesauce. If it works, I’ll add the applesauce to the whole batch.
      And yes, the white chili will be made with chicken. It’ll be interesting because I’ve never made it before, but the idea seems simple. I’m going to saute’ boneless breasts and thighs, then set them aside and pull them into small pieces when cooled. I’ll saute’ up some onions, bell peppers, garlic, and jalapenos, then add chicken broth and white kidney beans. Once the beans are cooked soft, I’ll pull out about half of the mixture and puree it to get a good stewlike consistency, then add the pulled chicken back in and adjust seasonings.
      That’s the short version 😉 Any pointers or suggestions would be welcomed!

  3. Anonymous

    kielbasa and kraut
    It was the Italian/Irish side of your family who introduced me to the applesauce addition. It does make a huge difference! But, like you, I was skeptical at first. I’m NOT big on sweet and salt (glazed ham, squash with maple a/o brown sugar etc). The I/I side of your family also suggests adding carrots (NOT the packaged “baby” kind) cut in any fashion that suits your fancy. Brings out the sweetness of the applesauce – doesn’t make it overly sweet, just kind of enhances the whole mess. By the boo…..if you do go with the applesauce, go with something like Musselman’s(or anybody’s)pure, unadulterated, nothing added applesauce. M.

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