Stepping It Up .....

I gave in ..... I caved.  I hate to admit it, but I finally had to change the time on my clocks.  I kept forgetting which one to look at for that appointment to pick up my now-quilted quilts.  It was just too much trouble trying to figure out what time it was, depending on what I was doing.

Here's the first one, full of violets and perfect for that little girl's bedroom, except I don't know a little girl to give it to.

I'll wait to show you the second one ... I'm going to do a little quilting on it myself.  I sewed with my machine as long as I could, as it cried and squeaked along.  I couldn't take it any longer and made an appointment for the machine doctor in Fresno tomorrow.

That went smoothly enough, except it's Monday AND a Holiday.  NOTHING is open on Monday, meaning I won't get my rolled ice cream treat.  Sadly, I'll have to spend a couple of hours perusing their fabric section.  I DO NOT NEED MORE FABRIC!!!  That's my new mantra.

At least I have television to occupy me.  You see the weirdest stuff on TV.  This guy is Justin and he lives in Tucson.  That made my ears perk up.  He has spent his life getting stung by everything you can possibly get stung by in the desert, rating each sting and coming up with a Pain Index.

Yeah, that's what I thought too.  Is he crazy??  Who in the world would do that on PURPOSE!

Well here's the guy.  I didn't get his name, but he was going around getting stung or bit by everything he could find ... scorpions, tarantula hawks ... because he was just SO tough, he knew he could withstand anything.  I'm pretty sure I've seen this guy on the Farmers Only dating website.

Anyway, here he is screaming bloody murder when he got hit.  I laughed out loud.  Serves you right, you dummy!!!  At least I was mildly entertained for about an hour.  You just have to laugh at their stupidity!  By the way, there are only four levels.  A wasp sting is a low 2.  The tarantula hawk, 4+, similar to volcanic lava running through your veins.  Now you know.

In an attempt to step up my cooking skills a little more, I figured to try out one more new recipe for butter chicken, better known as tikka masala.  OMG this came out GOOD!!  Such an easy recipe to whip up too, unlike most tikka masala recipes where it takes all day long with strange ingredients.

Mix up the marinade and dump in the chicken.  I left out the fenugreek, whatever the heck that is, and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Cook the onion in oil in a large frying pan.  Add in the chicken with the marinade and let it cook for about five minutes. Dump in everything else (you really do need a big frying pan here), bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.  BEST I'VE EVER MADE!  Not spicy at all, so add in some hot sauce if you like the burn.

Even better, there's so much sauce left over, you can freeze it, making another batch later in the week with rotisserie chicken.    It's a TWO-FER.  Certainly better than getting stung by a tarantula hawk.