the city chicken

A new blog perhaps?

city chick — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:54:33 +0000

The gist of this long post is that I am testing out a new place to host my blog – http://blninja.tumblr.com/

The rest of this post is a discussion of why and hopefully will get others on the bandwagon to join Tumblr and try it out!!

So for anyone who has checked it out, I tweet way more often than I blog here at WordPress. Sometimes I just feel like I don’t have enough time to blog and I think that is because blogging suggests thinking about a post, sitting down, writing it out, editing it for errors/length, etc. . . That is a lot of work when you are busy.

Twitter provides a quick place to update but you are limited to 140 words a post which suggests the other extreme:

post: “I’m at the coffee shop”

post 2:”now I’m leaving the coffee shop”

post 3: considering taking a poop . . .

You get my drift.

I have found what might be the perfect in-between – Tumblr

Tumblr is fairly new and has been neglected thus far due to the popularity of Twitter and Facebook. Tumblr also provides updates to my Twitter if I would like but I have the option of whether or not to post to both. I like the idea of being able to update friends and family without forcing my updates on other readers who may have no interest (ala Facebook news feeds/Twitter).

The best part, the posts are clearly intended to be smaller than typical blog posts however I can write as much as I want and I am able to upload movies, pics, even audio files without any hassel.

So I’m going to give it a fair shake and see what Tumblr is all about. Catch me at my newest place on the net: http://blninja.tumblr.com/

Rooster in the Coop!

city chick — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:35:48 +0000

I’ve been lacking in updates lately but can you blame me?

Bar review began this Tuesday, I have a trial coming up, oh, and did I mention Brian lives with me now??

Yup, we got Brian almost all moved in on Saturday. He is still paying rent on the old place for a couple weeks – his old roomie is still there until the 10th so we haven’t gotten everything out of there yet, but all of the important stuff has been moved.

We utilized a storage unit because my place is fairly small but I am pretty impressed with how well everything has fit so far. We are making it work. We are getting ourselves situated with the new arrangement and it is going along fine. The only clear downside I have noticed so far is that the housework, dishes, and just general daily upkeep has tripled. If I were to just toss my clothes from the day on the floor or bed in the evening like I used to, things would get out of control in no time. I’ve worked hard so far to keep the place as well organized as I can and it seems to be working out pretty well.

Things are good otherwise. This is going to be a very busy summer with studying for the bar but so far it hasn’t been too bad. I am sure things will start to get hectic this weekend/next week.

Well, I wish I was better at updating but right now I need to do some cleaning, check on supper, and organize a plan for weekend studying.

Ciao!

Today blew

city chick — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:18:01 +0000

Today was a fairly crap day. . . frustrating and lame. I thought about telling you all about it, I’ve decided it isn’t worth reliving in too much detail but here are the highlights:

multiple technological issues from printer to phone to computer,

having to smile and make small talk with guy who deferred me from job,

bumping into the girl who I think got my job,

deposing incompetent detective from hell,

and having to haul a 35 lb box across 3 city blocks in a skirt and heels.

All while in the midst of the most mind-blowing cramps and back ache known in PMS history.

Needless to say, I was not a pleasant camper today.

Fortunately, after a long afternoon nap, I have managed to be fairly productive tonight getting the rest of my packing complete.

Now I just need to get to bed and forget this whole lame day.

Life update

city chick — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:07:51 +0000

Got news on the job yesterday – essentially deferred. I don’t plan to dwell on it. I am going to study like mad for the bar (because if you don’t pass that, who cares what kind of job you have lined up!) and the MPRE and do my best and look for jobs in whatever spare time I have.

As for today, I have Brian’s future closet, the linen closet, and the bathroom all prepared for his arrival over Memorial Day weekend. Now I just have to finish organizing my closet and the bedroom and pack up the bar and barware. Everything else will be taken care of when he moves in; the bar, bed, tv, trunk, boxes, and maybe some other random items will be moved into storage. Brian’s fabulous bed and television will be moving in here. The only other really large items coming here will probably be his dresser and desk. It will all be good.

Otherwise, I am working on a case that will likely go to trial in the next two weeks. I will know for sure if it will go on Monday after we see who shows up for our depositions – we aren’t expecting much.

Well, that is it for now – ciao ya’ll!

wow, that was quite the closing combo . . . .

Frozen Fiasco

city chick — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:33:44 +0000

CongAgra foods makes Banquet PotPies. We always had some in the freezer when I grew up. Well they were tainted with salmonella not so long ago making many people sick. CongAgra tried and tried to figure out just what ingredient it was that was at risk of killing their customers but dagnabit, they just couldn’t find the culprit. That isn’t surprising considering the fact that they don’t even know who supplies most of their ingredients or if those suppliers actually check the foods for contaminants! ConAgra’s solution? To put your health into your own hands (where it ought to be) and tell you to check several spots in your potpie with a food thermometer and check the internal temperature for a reading of 165 degrees.

I have a better idea. Literally take your health into your own hands and tell ConAgra where they can put their potpies.

I would like to give a product shoutout to Amy’s Kitchen - the maker of wonderful foods including MANY frozen entrees and pizzas which are healthy, organic, sometimes vegan (but not always), and tasty. I haven’t had any Amy’s product that I wished I hadn’t bought and I am in love with their Roasted Vegetable Pizza. The products are sold at most major retailers – no need to go to an expensive health food chain and they appeared on the Food Network at one point with a look into their factories – clean, beautiful, safe, and sanitary in appearance.

While I can’t deny that owning a food thermometer is not a bad idea and I won’t suggest that no Amy’s product could ever be contaminated by some food borne pathogen, I will suggest that it is probably safer (and will make you feel good) to purchase products from a company that really seems to care and at the very least knows who supplies their ingredients!

Oh, bonus: I see that Amy’s now features diet plans on their website – a regular plan, gluten-free plan, vegan plan, and others for those of you with illness or allergies. You could most certainly lose weight eating their products which are very filling, nutritious, and not full of empty calories. I think I might just give that a go!

Pantry party

city chick — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:39:37 +0000

I’ve decided to do something I have read about on some other blogs a while back – a pantry challenge. I will only use up the foods that I already have in the house. This is really great timing for such a thing – Brian moves in less than a month from now and I have lots of good food that will go bad unless I take the initiative to eat it up. I figure I will allow myself to purchase one ingredient per meal if I need it but otherwise, nothing else can be bought and brought into the house (besides Diet Coke ). I’ll keep you all updated as I am sure things will get . . . interesting here soon.

In other news, Oliver is feeling better and can now see out of both eyes.
Here is a picture of Oliver on Friday:

versus today:

Feeling much better apparently

Meh

city chick — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:11:44 +0000

Not much going on around here this morning. I’m getting ready for some taped statements later today. Oliver is sick. I came home yesterday and he greeted me at the front door with a meek “arg”, one of his eyes total glued shut with goo.

I hauled my little pirate off to the vet and we came home with an arsenal of all things cats hate; the pink stuff that usually ends up all over me rather than in the cat, ear drops for both ears, and an eye SALVE. Yea, try holding open a cats eye so you can smear something on it – that is going over real well.

He seems a little less lathargic this morning fortunately. Yesterday afternoon he was like a limp rag.

Otherwise, I’ll be doing taped statements today and then studying the rest of the weekend for my final final on Tuesday!

Spiral slicing madness

city chick — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:07:09 +0000

By now you all know how much I enjoy odd, bizarre, and ridiculous vintage items. One item I was particularly proud of owning was my Popeil Spiral Slicer.

The box is certainly great fun, but it did not compare to the pathetic little tool that was inside:

It you are uncertain of what that is, let me help you out. It is a screw. Yes, a plain old screw attached to something that looks like the end of a broken tool with a semi-sharp filed edge on one side.

The object is to stick the screw into the top of your vegetable or fruit, sit the vegetable upright, stick your finger in the finger hole, and begin to circle around and around your food item until you have spiral sliced through the entire thing.

I was convinced it was a joke and had ZERO intention of using this thing. Even now I wonder if it was really smart to stick this thing into something I intended to place in my mouth. It looks like something that you should find in a tool box, not in a kitchen for crying out loud!

Either way, last night for some dumb reason I decided to destroy one of my little zucchini that needed to be eaten up. At least destruction was what I expected to happen.

Instead, this is what I ended up with:

Yea, a beautifully spiral sliced zucchini.

Even cooked it all still stayed pretty much together and wrapped around my fork just like pasta. If I had thrown marinara on it, it would have sufficed as a carbohydrate sub.

Instead, I tossed the “zucchinasta” in olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, salt, and pepper and ate it right up.

Who knew.

However, I am still quite skeptical about the idea that little tool could go through a hard carrot, beet, or pineapple like the box suggests . . . but I might be inclined to find out for myself.

Oliver has left The City Chicken

city chick — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:35:14 +0000

Just hours after his latest episode of the Daily Dish, Oliver made the decision to leave my blog and create his own space on the web: The Daily Dish. He told me that I wasn’t updating enough for him and it was holding his creative juices back. Good for him . . .

He is currently chilling on the couch, flipping between CNN and Fox, taking notes on various stories for his next post. I’m guessing he will not be updating much while I’m taking my finals – he often helps me stay organized around here. But we’ll see how he does staying on top of his own little web blog.

As for me, I am just thinking about going to bed. I had a pretty productive day today but Monday is going to be SUPER busy for the clinic. Tomorrow I head to Brian’s family gathering for the April birthdays and then I will be right back here creating deposition questions.

Good evening ya’ll!

THE DAILY DISH GOES LIVE!

city chick — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:54:05 +0000

In response to a recent e-mail about humans and their bathrooms, I decided to do a live report from the bathroom in my own house, and yes, the bathtub was filled with water and in prime condition to attack. However, I managed to escape from the bathroom high and dry.

Here is a look at my adventure in the bathroom.

Daily Dish Episode 1 – Bathrooms