Home Sweet Home

Dear Blog,

Now I'm writing all my blog entries in DreamWeaver CS4. The design interface allows me to write some nice clean HTML without having to type <p>paragraph</p> or <a href="somewhere">Link</a> and most importantly format images the way I want them! I had to disable "Enter as Line Break" so the rest of my blog looks all messed up as of today. I plan to go back and start editting them and rereading to get that reminiscent feeling.

Well during my previous post I had some ginger and old, way overripe bananas. So I made some good eats and I always make some Iced Tea with my little Ice Tea Maker. I love cooking and I love eating. That's what makes it soo hard to lose weight around here!

Well I've hermit crabbed my life into this house. I am completely infatuated with making this the best possible that I can make it for the cheapest possible. I think I was born to flip houses, but that's another day, another market. Here are a few of the many repairs I've done to my wonderful house.

Colleen and I cleaned out a water filtration system we had with bleach and vinegar. I guess every year or two it's required to do this. But now we getting nice crisp clean and cold (or hot) water on demand! Nice!

Check out our old TV setup! Yikes, right!? Well, since then we went to rooms to go on this awesome fall sale, and we got the floor model of this excellent set. Everything reclines except the center of the main sofa, and it just completely rocks! I love it!

My bud Brett gave me this awesome computer desk. When I paint the office, this piece of furniture may be getting primed and painted black black black.

Then waterproofing the deck! Well first we have a set of dry deck pictures.

Then I hose blasted it! Notice how the water seaps right into the wood.

After some deck cleaner and waterproofing agent that I applied with this cool little garden pump device, my deck doesn't absorb the water. It just beads up on the surface. I think that's soo cool.

Colleen's parents has also given us some old items that they had in their shed that we can revive, such as this microwave.

But the restoration that has taken most of my time is this cool little dinet set that Colleen's parents gave us. Notice in the original that the table top has some rust on it, and the color of the furniture is like a faded red or orange.

I primed it, put some Rust-Ex on the table top, and painted the table top with some white enamel paint. Looking pretty cool now! Now that we are primed in the next few days, I'm going to paint the furniture hopefully a nice glossy dark brown.

And the chair padding was really thin also. So I pulled it apart to find that it was a layer of fabric, a layer of tough leathery material, and then some kind of sheep wool padding. I'm not sure if I'm going to reuse this, or just use my old pillows in the padding. I want a green that matches our walls in the kitchen as the fabric to go on our chair padding. This project may take me just a bit longer, and I can't wait to get it done!

Life at the house can seem hard, but it really is fun creating something for myself and my loved one. One day everything around the house will be done.... one day!

- E.T.

ET's Yum-Yum Pho

Dear Blog,

This entry is about my first experience making Pho. I absolutely love this Vietnamese traditional soup, and was not even remotely sure how it was made. However, I looked up some sites and recipes on the net, and I was brave enough to try. Now my pictorial story!

I split up the ingredients into two teams! The Pre-cook team, and then the post-cook team. Then I start with the Pre-cook team.

First I take my beef bones (not very good choice of beef bones my frist time around, not even bones! I hear knuckle bone is a good choice, and will try it next time) and parboil them (boil them for 10 - 15 minutes before actually cooking). I take two yellow onions and split them in half. I do the same with the 4" - 5" nubbin' of ginger. Stick them in your broiler on HI. After about 10 - 15 minutes you should have some nicely charred veggies. Your beef bones should be done too, just scoop up and scum on surface and toss that in the trash or sink.

Alright, I throw everything into the slow cooker, and I add some sugar, salt, beef broth (cause I didn't use real bones) + water, and fish sauce. I let this cook for about 8 hours in the slow cooker on low.

Ok! 8 hours have passed and I'm ready to prepare the post-cook team. I get a nice big bowl, put some rice noodles into it. Then Itake some nice steak and slice it very thin and put it in your bowl. I chilled my steak for a little bit in the freezer so it was easier to cut thinly.

Add hot broth!!! Let is set for about 5 minutes. Mix in some lime, hoison sauce, chili sauce. If you have mint leaves and bean sprout, those are great too! EAT!

My first experience was near Pho quality, but I think I screwed up cause I bought the wrong kind of bones (not bones at all, just ribs with small bones in them.). The ribs also made it extra greasy, which I could feel all over my hands after eating a bowl of Pho. Colleen and I totally enjoyed eating it, and I really want to add this to something I cook often.