Weekend update December 31, 2012

things are unchangeable, and at the same time

 are being constantly transformed

Yukio Mashima

There's a winter sport that gets alot of attention this time of year- it's called Making Resolutions.

It's a game I rarely play- mostly because it's a game I can't remember ever winning. And yet....

I do love learning, and the changing that comes from learning, and the transformation that comes with change, and I love being a transformer.

No, not this kind-

although that would be crazy cool.

I mean the sort of transformer who knows that on Christmas Day, with a little time and a little work, this

can be transformed into this

(well, it did take a little more than a little time, but we
were playing in the snow while it cooked, so that doesn't really count)

Or the sort of transformer who gets a kick out of the way that stale bread and eggs can be transformed into not only this:

Best bread pudding I ever had, courtesy of my
sister-in-law (that's about 500 calories I owe you Libby,
and about 1500 more if you'll pass along the recipe)

but this:

Alton Brown's fantastic French toast recipe.
Liz had told me it was the best- and she's
right again.





 The sort of transformer who likes to watch the word chili mix with a little curiosity and turn into

this                                        and this                                             and this

That's right! the great chili quest is in full swing, and so far the biggest surprise is that the leading contender is this Chicken and White bean chili. Easy, low cost, and a really great flavor.
Best technique discovery of this domestic chili cookoff so far? Learning how to deal with a recipe that calls for a tablespoon of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce.
Behold:
Just empty the whole, undrained can of chipotles into a food processor or blender or bullet thingy.

You may not have a friend awesome
enough to have given you  cool discarded
Starbucks pitchers. That's okay.
Just use whatever uncool mixing container you have.

then blend em up-



That's a $20 immersion blender I bought after I burned out our
traditional blender. Does the job and takes up zero counter space.Nice.


then spoon the blended chilies onto a waxed paper or plastic or foil lined tray and freeze

Once they're frozen, take them off the tray, pop them in a zip bag and....Viola! You have little frozen tablespoon sized chipotle nuggets that you can use to flavor up all kinds of things.
And in further news..... today I learned how to poach an egg, and that egg got together with some grits and tomatoes and cheese and transformed into this pretty awesome breakfast:

which was a very nice way indeed to begin the end of the year.

 And there we are. Back to the end of the year. Which is where we started.
And I'm wondering if maybe underneath all the broken resolutions of years past- all those discouraging attempts to resolve ourselves, there's a deeper wish to transform ourselves. You know, a wish to change the form  of our lives.
And you know what?
Maybe we do have the power to reshape some of the things in ourselves we long to change.
Because I'm pretty sure that right now, today, you have at least the power to transform elements as ordinary as peanut butter and jelly and bread into happiness this big:

And if you've got that kind of power, who knows what wonders you may yet perform?