Thursday, April 29, 2010

Cook until Tender

I followed that recipe to a T - I am thoroughly cooked and tender to the touch. My arms, my neck, my head - I'm red as a dead-ripe tomato in summer. My calves are tight and screaming at me today. But it was worth it. Yesterday, DH and I spent the day over in Asheville, NC at Biltmore Estate. The house, if you can use such a mundane name for it, was breath-taking as always - but the gardens...I haven't explored the gardens like this before. Explosions of color everywhere! I do hope, gentle reader, that my pictures come out so I can share, because I don't think I could choose the proper adjectives to describe the beauty of everything.

Of course, you don't think I came back without any goodies of the culinary-bent do you? I bought a cookbook and a bottle of black cherry flavoring mix to experiment with. I hope to have more to share with you soon about those items.

But the fun's not over yet. Nosiree, tonight is the Taste of Home Cooking School! I'm getting prepped and ready by watching Good Eats dvds - well, it's not really prep, but it's as good of an excuse to watch AB as one needs. Guess I better get to installing software so I can pull those pictures off my camera!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Jackpot and Minor Irritations

Friday night, after helping set up for a dance at work, I came home tired but happy. There was that smiling box Amazon ships out, sitting on the end of the couch I usually come home and collapse on. My baby had arrived! Yep, my Kodak M341 in the orchid color...it's much smaller than my old cam, and a shade more compact than an Ipod Touch. I've been playing around a bit this weekend trying out the different settings, attempting to get the basics down before Wednesday's trip to Biltmore. And of course, that meant a late night run to Walmart for accessories. Screen covers, camera case- purple to compliment the orchid, memory card, and a tripod. This girl's joining the big leagues - a tripod!

I like having a tripod; I tend to have shaky hands. The one I got was the Gorillapod by Joby. You can bend and wrap the legs around objects. I like that the piece attaches to the camera has a bubble level on it. Experiments were good today, and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting some nice pics with this set-up.

But now for the fly in the ointment - ever work on a project or cooking up a recipe that you've bought all the exact ingredients or supplies on the list, and the list is not exactly correct? I've been working on a beautiful bracelet that I'm nearing the end of. I knew the amounts of seed beads called for were off just reading the pattern, but bought plenty in anticipation. But the type of elastic the components are strung on was too thick - it called for threading a needle with 1 mm stretch cord, which I had ordered with all the supplies needed. That cord wasn't going through the crystals without a needle, much less with one. I even cut the tip at an angle, still wouldn't thread. I find this out last night after our craft store closed - and it's closed on Sundays. Aarrrggghhh. I just hope they have a thinner cord on the shelf when I go tomorrow. Guess I'll chuck the other spool of elastic in my crafting stash and hope I get around to using it someday.

Moving on from frustrations, I hope to have lots to share this upcoming week. I'm taking the last half of the week off for day trips and puttering around the house. I hope to snag a cookbook while over in Asheville. (I like to pick up local cookbooks when I go places.) Plus, my mom and I are continuing our tradition of going to the Taste of Home Cooking Schools when they are in the area on Thursday; this will be our fourth year going. We always have a ton of fun together at the shows. So stayed tuned for more posts!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Lights...Camera...Camera?!

I'm one happy lady, folks. Last night, I slipped on Amazon and bought myself a new digital camera. I am so excited, I can not wait for it to get here - so much so, chipped in for 2 day shipping. But that was to mainly ensure its arrival before next week, when my DH and I are slipping away for a day to Biltmore Estate. If y'all are ever in the corner of the woods that brings you close to Asheville, NC, I highly, highly recommend a visit. Simply gorgeous! But I digress, it will be replacing my old Kodak digi cam...I decided it's fate after eating through 2 sets of batteries and not even making it through a trip to the zoo. My new baby will be another Kodak, but one with a Li-Ion battery and 12 megapixels. Big ol' upgrade from my 3 megapixel cam.

But it also means I might get some photos for this here little blog and spruce the place up a bit. Plus, I might even be able to take pics for my recipes over on Recipezaar. (You'll probably see it referred to as RZ from time to time around here. If you ever take a browse, you can find my recipes by doing a member search for me - Misa) And anyone that might be reading kind enough to have made any pics for my recipes, well, let me give you a big hug. I do greatly appreciate it - and may yet keep appreciating it, pending on how well I take pictures with my new camera.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Venturing into the Blogosphere

Well, here I go - my first venture into blogging. Be gentle, as I'm unpacking, sorting, pondering, and plain ol' organizing myself for my blog. Volunteer Vittles - sums it up nicely, methinks. I enjoy food and learning lots as I go. What good is this knowledge if I keep it just to myself? I'm not a fancy cook by any means, so vittles is a good word. To me, vittles is something comforting, tasty, and made with loving hands. And volunteer, well, honey, that's just a little state pride creeping in. Hopefully, all in all, your patience will be rewarded and this will be a place of a little learnin' and a lot of eatin'.