Chicken Pot Pie - Dinner for the Big R!

Here we have the purely altruistic dinner since I can't eat it at all but want to!!!

2 lbs frozen chicken breast - Doesn't have to be frozen but mine was
1 bag frozen veggies
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Crust recipe
2 cups flour
1 stick of butter cut into tiny pieces
1 Tbs sour cream
1/4 cup ice water
1 egg yolk (save the white)
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat to 375
Cook the breast in a ton of water - and I mean cover the hell out of them and boil away.  Salt if you must but not necessary.  When you know they are done and I mean like almost an hour  - take out the breasts and put them in the freezer in a separate container to cool down - save your water though.  Put your frozen veggies  - I used frozen corn, green beans, wax beans and carrots.  Boil them in the chicken broth water til not frozen.  Strain and mix veggies with soup, salt and garlic powder and your chicken broken up. 

Crust mix flour and butter with a fork or pastry cutter until butter is mixed in - add yolk and sour cream and only enough water to make a tough mix.  It will depend on your climate so not too much water.  Roll half of the dough on parchment paper with flour - put into your pie plate.  Roll the rest on parchment for the top.  Fill your pie plate - on top of crust - with chicken mix - top with crust and cut holes into top crust.  I use a fork or my fingers to seal edges.  I brush with the beaten egg white - gives it a sheen.  This one I cut I <3 U because I do :D Bake for at least 45min.  Enjoy.

Food and Sex

Okay - before you go all 9 1/2 weeks on me - just stop.  I am reading Born Round by Frank Bruni.  Wow.  And I thought I was neurotic!  Okay.  I am.  But, seriously having someone as esteemed as he (is, was?)  in the position of NY Times food editor spill his guts to someone like me (no position no esteem) even if in just book form is a cold wet squirrel in the face!  And very very welcome.  Yes he is gay - oh so very very gay.  And honestly - in the context of this book and his life perfectly in place.  The very second I learned he had bulimia I was thinking "oh he is gay" and then I thought "what a stereotype" and well, sho nuff  - he is.  Slam dunk on this one.

What is it about sex and food that are so inexplicably linked?   I, as someone who survived a sexual abuse - (like what is NOT surviving an abuse - suicide?) messed up as I am and yet going through my life like I do struggle almost everyday with some kind of food related issue.  "I can't eat that it's . . . . "  Okay to my defense a lot is true due to being Gluten Intolerant AND Lactose Intolerant.  SO really I can't eat a lot of food.  BUT still every damn day is a struggle with loving who I am apart from weight and appearance.  But to my credit - I did not read this book to get insider dieting secrets.  Thankfully I am so far beyond that it's yesterday's review - but it still leaves me wondering if it's back to the garden.  I mean THE GARDEN.  The first sin was doubting God and then eating.  And it really hasn't changed in the 6000 years since then.  Doubting God and then eating or doing something outside of what HE has said is coolio for you or me to do.

Frank Bruni's Grandma said - "born round - you don't die square" - I don't usually doubt the old folks - but I'd rather pick "born sinful, you can die perfected!"  I pick perfected every day of the week - it's what picks my head up off of the asphalt when I fall.  and fall, and fall - and fall.and fall and fall   AND fall.  Thank you.

Cravings - or why I make this soup once a week! Thai Coconut Soup.

Just before we left Illinois a good friend took me to lunch at this little Thai restaurant.  The conversation was great, but it was the soup that in many ways changed my life.  Or at the very least what I crave.  I crave this soup.  Don't know why really since it's so very different from anything that I would normally eat.  It's not a flavor of my past nor some other sensory memory thing.  It's just so damn good!  I had to find the recipe and failing to find it on the internet EXACTLY like I wanted I did what I always do.  Experiment.  Tweek.  Mess with the normal and make it my own brand of crazy. 

Here's what cha need to do this -
Grocery list:
1 lb of chicken breast frozen
lemon grass (just the white part - split in half)
Raw Ginger (a peeled piece the size of your thumb)
onion (diced)
Thai chilies (5 of those little redhot buggers)
Fish sauce 2 Tbs
4 cans Chicken broth (or my method if in need)
14.5 oz can of coconut milk(NOT COCONUT CREME)
fresh cilantro (handful chopped)
sliced mushrooms (you pick your poison)
4 limes juiced and the zest from 1 about 1Tbs (buy 5 limes just in case you need more juice)


Slap the chicken into a stock pot and cover it with about 3 quarts of water, cover and let it cook away.  Add more water if it looks low and basically just boil it.  When it is fully cooked (about 20 minutes) remove and hack it apart.  Tiny pieces are great.  Put back into the water and either add more so that you have 3 quarts or add chicken broth to equal about 3 quarts.  This is not super precise since you will be adjusting later.  Add your mushrooms,  2 T of Fish sauce, chilies, lime juice and zest, ginger and lemon grass.  Basically all but the coconut milk and cilantro.  Cook this for about 10 minutes at a good boil but not too crazy.  Reduce the heat to low and add the coconut milk and cilantro.   Turn off the heat and let the flavors get good and friendly with each other and then taste it.  If it needs a bit more fish sauce go for it, but not too much - that stuff is intense!  More lime juice?  Go for it.  Taste and see what you think.

NOW as far as eating it.  You don't eat the big hunks of ginger, lemon grass or chilies although you can. I just wouldn't.  I have actually cut them up into tiny pieces so that they could be eaten but it's a bit of a pain.  Try it both ways and tell me what you think.

Tips:  Buy good quality fish sauce.  It really does matter though the stuff smells like - well - something not very nice.  But what it does in a dish is amazing.  A little goes a long way so you want the good stuff.  That's pretty true about everything huh?

This really will become a flavor you will crave so when you find a good "world market" buy lots of coconut milk and lemon grass and ginger so you can make this often.  I do!

Enjoy!

New Friends

So I got asked to coffee today by a very energetic grandma and reluctant (so it would seem) mom.  It was actually nice - though when nervous I talk a lot - good thing it was coffee and not martinis cuz whoa baby, "somebody stop me" I turn into beyond chatty Cathy!  But well, it was Starbucks and Sweet Suzanne (the gorgeous grandma) was buying!  Suzanne is the grandma to a boy that my son Liam thought was cool and just handed my cell phone number to set up a play day.  Long story short Liam has a friend and I get two!  Sweet!  I like making friends and they want to take me shopping.  I'm good with that.  I think I answered all of the questions right - I hope I get the job!  Friends.  New state - new friends.  I'm really really good with that.  Sigh.  I miss my old one too - though. 

Touch me

I would say, "Get your mind out of the gutter," but frankly I wrote it and had full intent so whatever keep it where you want it.  Touch Me by Muench is a really crazy yarn that I would normally eschew like the plague - NUMBER ONE it's stupid expensive (um 17 bucks a 67 yard skein?) and NUMBER 2 it's Fuzzy Yarn.  Like sort of novelty sort of chenille -- okay more chenille than novelty but really.  AND my final NUMBER 3 Sally Melville made this COAT with it in her book THE KNIT STITCH.  Okay seriously - she used like 15-20 skeins of this stuff.  I'm sorry I don't run a small country that I can spend that much and actually make it myself - I was offended from the start and vowed never to touch the stuff because I was pretty sure if I did I would want some.


And so like a small soft tumor in my brain it festered for some 5 years - until I did some research and found some on the internet for a bit cheaper and did the deed.  Okay, it's pretty cool.  I like working with it - it's very very forgiving for a chenille.  I worked and reworked the first 15 yards and it is no worse for the wear.  I am very happy with the control I had over the worms which tend to like to come out in a chenille.  Worms are bits of the yarn that have too much twist and just kind of pop out at you mid working that are weird and annoying.  If you untwist a lot you will be fine.

I did a very sweet little purple scarf for a friend and then proceeded to order 5 more skeins just for me.  Yeah it was 50 bucks, but really it's pretty sweet stuff and 10 is better than 17 a piece.  I'll eat rice and beans for a week! Oh wait I already do.  LOL!  So Muench Touch Me - get some!

Come Clean

One thing that is very very clear to me is that cleaning is not a learned trait - it is decidedly genetic.  I mean - you can learn HOW to do it - of course.  I could learn HOW to be a golfer but that would not make me think it is not the lamest sport on the planet - second only to curling.  What I am saying is that in my family cleanliness is a generational thing.  My grandmother's house was not just gross - it was frankly a den of disgusting ickiness that my siblings did NOT want to partake in once we were old enough to take the GOOD LOOK AROUND.  Now I know that I will probably get the big old slap from the momma on this one for the disrespect to the ancestors and all.  But really I loved - love and will always love my grandma.  She rocked.  BUT her house was gross.  Period.  NOW flash forward a generation (ok my momma).  My mom's house is clean.  Sanitary, but very very cluttered.  Packrat - are you kidding me you really need that? cluttered.  I love love love my mom, but really seriously she needs a life change.  Okay - again. ANOTHER intervention to tell her she can let go of the crap and be free!!!  Oh really who are we kidding?  She likes her crap and it likes her.  Nuff said.  She will die and my sister and I will have to sort out the stuff and take 47,000 trips to goodwill and she'll be eating pizza with Jesus!  That is just the fact and  I can't change it.

Now on to me and my sister.  We are different ladies - cut from two very different types of cloth.  BUT the same can be said.  We don't like crap and will be happy to get rid of it.  DECLUTTER - is our mantra.  I will go to great lengths to get rid of stuff and she will only buy really expensive things so really they tend to last - or she just goodwills and I go there and then buy her stuff LOL!

But if nothing else rings true here it is this.  Cleaning a new house just feels and looks better than an old crappy dirty one.  Case in point.  I lived in a 100 year (PLUS) farmhouse that when I cleaned it looked like a 100 year (PLUS one) farmhouse that vaguely smelled of pinesol.  It really did not look any cleaner after my 6 hour elbow grease fest - now I knew it was clean it just was not so satisfying to see.  NOW here - in my NEW house - cleaning is like WHEW - it's clean - see - see it's so squeeking clean it's pretty - don't I rock? it's so clean here . .  . Okay you get the point.  Clean is as clean does - but frankly - I like cleaning new.  It makes me happy and really what else is it about other than making me happy right?  :D

It Bites!

My son has a very bad habit - in moments of anxiety (and actually pretty much always) he chews on his fingers.  Not really his nails, just his index finger.  It drives us all mad.  SO I found this stuff at Walmart.com
Let me say - it tastes awful!  In the spirit of "I won't make you do something I would not be willing to do," I put this stuff on.  Well, yup I won't be eating with my hands, licking my fingers or tasting my food for about another day!  This stuff will kill your tastebuds forever!  My daughter decided she wanted to use it too since she does bite her nails - she agreed!  She will NOT bite this stuff!  So I'd say it's a success!  It would be nice if the flavor did not LINGER quite so long but honestly I'd give this stuff a major thumbs up!  Ha!

Spicy Peanut Chicken - It's what we had for dinner

Another recipe from the hungry girl!

Spicy Peanut Chicken:
Grocery list: 
3 lbs Chicken thighs - deboned and cut into bit sized pieces 
1 Onion chopped
1 Green Pepper chopped
1 Jalapeno pepper chopped
3 Cloves of garlic chopped
10 oz Mushrooms chopped roughly (I prefer them bigger rather than small pieces)
3 finely chopped carrots
A few brocolli florets (too many changes the taste of everything in my opinion)

Sauce:
1/2 cup peanut butter (which ever you prefer chunky or creamy)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
dash of crushed red pepper (as much as you like)
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

Garish - chopped peanuts and more crushed red pepper

White rice - I'll tell you how I make it.

In a saucepan put the sauce ingredients and bring to a boil.  Let this reduce to a thick syrup.  Taste it - if it is too sweet for you add some water or more stock and let it thicken again.
Then in a wok or heavy bottomed pan brown the chicken and add the veggies reduce the heat and cover but stir so nothing burns.  You want the chicken cooked thoroughly and the veggies fork tender.  Add the sauce over the chicken mix and mix in chopped peanuts.  Serve over rice.  I add more crushed red pepper since I like it spicy!

To make the rice I take a glass (12 oz) and fill it with my rice and put into a saucepan.  I then rinse the rice with cold water - swirling it in the pan - drain the water carefully (not the rice!) and repeat 4 or 5 times til the water is clear when you drain (or close to clear) put the saucepan and drained rice on the stove and heat to high.  Add 2 glasses (the one you used to measure the rice) of water (24 oz of water) heat to boiling.  I stir it once and then cover it and reduce heat as low as it will go.  Cook for 15 minutes WITHOUT PEEKING! Turn off heat and let sit for about 5 minutes.  Enjoy!

I served it with a cheap very cold Pinot Grigio - I'll review that one later on! 

Cheap Wine Review - Winking Owl Cabernet Sauvignon

Just gonna state up front that this is certainly not going to be a place for snooty wine snobs to chime in.  I am attempting to do something that flies in the face of convention - that you can find a decent wine for under - YES under 15 bucks.  I love wine - which absolutely does not make me an expert - just a lover.  Though really I'd rather be a lover than an expert in a lot of things. 

So that said: we start with the cheapest of the cheap: Winking Owl Cab. $3

Color - Red (obviously) but what kind of red?  It is not a deep dark murky red, more of a cranberry shade
Taste - It is considered semi-dry and I concur.  It's not bitey nor sharp. 
Notes - There are some oak overtones.  I did not taste the vanilla they say it should have but I did sense some of the blackberry.  There are definitely some tannins here but not so drying that it makes you pucker.

Overall - it's okay.  For $3 you really can't brag about it, but it's drinkable and is actually better a little colder.  The 55 degree to 60 range is great.  This one doesn't really breathe all that much but a little air time is preferable to none.

Unanswered prayers

Garth Brooks has a song about thanking God for NOT answering affirmatively to a prayer for a particular girl he wanted to marry when he was in High School.  I was reminded of this song when I reconnected with someone I knew a long time ago from school.  We never dated - in fact we kind of had this Moonlighting love/hate thing going on but there were definitely sparks.  He was always dating these girls that made me wonder WTF was he thinking?  I was always single when he was with someone and I was with someone when he was single.  Then off I went to college and we just never connected after that -  until a short time ago he was back in my life - if only in cyberlife.

I did think about this person throughout the years and wondered where he got off to and what would have happened if we had ever dated - dunno . .could have been awesome or it could have been awful.  Only God knows and He's not telling.  Or is He?

God does answer some prayers - Ones that we did not even know we needed to pray  - by moving us in and out of  places.  Keeping us from situations that would perhaps not be the best choices for us, or putting us in places that we need in order to grow.

Joseph (from the OT) sat in prison from 17 to 30 because God knew he needed to mature and be humbled before being made 2nd in command of a country almost overnight!  Things line up/things fall away, and no it's not all good.  I make some really really dumb choices and God absolutely lets me.  But sometimes He makes sure I'm otherwise occupied until the timing is just right.  Thanks God.

spiced - it's all good

Since I've been on the Cook/Author kick for a little over 2 years now it's really nice seeing more than just male cooks jumping on Anthony Bourdain's coat tails.  Dalia does a wonderful job of letting us in on the ever evolving life of both a pastry chef and the life cycle of a restaurant.   We see more than just the gritty underbelly of a restaurant (oh no sexual innuendo!) kitchen. 

Learning how and what goes into making a menu work or not work as it were was very enlightening.  I enjoyed her perspective: more than just the kitchen antics and puffed up egos of chefs and line cooks but what makes an entire restaurant flow.  And ironically I had just read Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl who was the restaurant critic for the NY Times at the time of Dalia's writing!  Watching them dance around trying to make her happy when she was trying (unsuccessfully) to be disguised was just a little treat (pun intended).

All around good read. 

Sweet/Sour Chicken for the Gluten & Lactose Intolerant

I am a hungry girl. AND I am gluten intolerant AND lactose intolerant. Yeah yeah, sucks to be me!!!! I can still drink booze so shut up! (atleast today that is! GAHHHHH! - that would really suck! - Ummm I mean dear Murphy - whatever I don't care!)

So I made this for dinner and it's pretty good if I do say so myself!

Kind of like Gen. Tso Chicken - only without MSG or Wheat!
Enjoy folks!

Sweet and Sour Chicken without Gluten or Lactose
Chicken Chunks:
* 2 pounds semi frozen chicken breast (chopped into 1" chunks - I use a scissors)
* 1 cup corn starch
* A little fresh ground black pepper & garlic powder & red pepper flakes
* 2 eggs
* EVOO
* Vegetables:
* 1 green bell pepper, washed, seeded and cut into chunks
* 1 red bell pepper, washed, seeded and cut into chunks
* 2 medium carrots, peeled and trimed, slice (yeah into chunks!)
* 1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks in juice

* Sweet and Sour Sauce:
* Drained pineapple juice
* 1 cup water
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/4 cup vinegar
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice
* Strawberry water (2 strawberries cut up into water about 1/2 cup - this makes that creepy red color without adding creepy red color LOL!
* 2 rounded tablespoons corn starch mixed in enough cold water to make a loose mix (about 1/2 cup or a bit more)


READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH FIRST - DON'T BE SURPRISED LATER!!!!

Preparation:
Directions for Making Chicken

When cutting the chicken into bite-sized pieces, remove any tough stuff.
In small frying pan, add some evoo and heat to sizzling. In a bowl mix eggs and milk. Beat until well combined.
Place corn starch and seasonings in a shallow bowl and mix.
Dunk pieces of chicken in the egg mixture. Allow excess to drain.
Dredge the chicken pieces in the coating thoroughly. Here is your chance to practice with your chop sticks and keep the crud off from your fingers.
Drop pieces into the hot oil and fry until deep golden brown. Turn as necessary to cook evenly on all sides. When golden brown, turn down heat and cover and cook for 5 min. Watching to make sure not burning. Then remove to paper towel covered plate to drain.

Directions for Making Sweet and Sour Sauce
Place pineapple juice and water in sauce pan. Heat over low flame. Slowly add sugar while stirring.
When sugar has dissolved, slowly add the vinegar and the lemon juice while stirring.
Add corn starch and stir while heating. Bring to a boil.
Stir constantly until thickened. Add strawberry water (not the strawberries) and stir well to mix. Continue to heat and stir until almost a syrup. Remove from heat and set aside. It will thicken fast - wisking will help this. Turn off heat and let sit.

Directions for Assembling Completed Dish
Add a little oil in the chicken pan over medium heat. Add vegetables (but not the pineapple) and cook, stirring frequently, until onions begin to caramelize, reduce heat and cover - check in 3 minutes.

Add sweet and sour sauce and continue cooking and stirring until vegetable are bite tender and sauce has re-thickened and clings to the vegetables.
Add pineapple and chicken into the vegetables and sauce. Simmer until heated through. Serve over rice.

Obsequious

Yes, that is the word of the day according to Tim. I, however have chosen insouciant as mine. That just seems the funniest turn of affairs I could ever think. Anyone who knows me or my ex knows that Obsequious was pretty much tattooed on my ass from birth and that laissez-faire whatever whatever characterizes him to a tee! So today as I'm driving home from shoe shopping with the kiddies - he sends me this random word text and as the stuck in traffic driver that I am I respond in kind.

I do really miss having intelligent conversations about things that matter and things that don't but do to a certain extent just because they are fun to talk about. I miss sitting around a fire with wine and beer and such and being smarmy and funny and kind and sassy. I even miss the company of outlaws as they were some of the most interesting men I have ever met. Truly a rare 1% breed if there ever was one. Time wounds all heels and does heal all wounds. It's a fact - palpable indeed!

Dirty little secrets

The Book of Secrets
We really all have them in one way or another - but what do you do with that evil little thought if it's not so very little and is so so very evil? Yes as a Christian I KNOW what to do with it. And it's NOT rolling the thought slooooooooowly over and ooooover in your head like a big piece of rock candy over your salivating tongue. No it's definitely not that. Though really that's what I want it to be.

Nor is it to just banish it to the deep dank murky recesses of your swampy brain to ferment and stagnate into a pungent stank you can always smell but never really place it's origin.

Nope, the answer is face up to it. Mirror like. And know that no one, NOBODY besides a certain Winemaker (John 2: 1 - 11), gets out of this place clean. You learn a lot about yourself when you face the honest to goodness filth that is inside the cleanest looking reflection!

I'm so glad I don't have to be God and read everyone's messy dirty thoughts all day long - reading mine is bad enough. Though some are really really goooooooood!

Never ready

The first paragraph to my book is:
"I have killed everyone I have ever loved. Some have burned to death in firey car crashes, some have gone softly in their sleep. Some have shot themselves and some have had heart attacks. Regardless, all have died in varied and myriad ways. Still there I was, in my mind - at the funeral looking regal in my basic black - sobbing or stoic depending on the particulars of the situation. Suffice it to say - no matter who or what happened - I (heart and mind) was ready when my specific loved one passed."

Bullshit. No matter what and no matter who you are never ever ready. If you have no warning or if you have tons - years of slow demise - you, if you truly love someone are never ready to say goodbye. I really don't even care if you know - Know - KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that you WILL see them again. There is no ready. Just knowing that there is peace that passes understanding is slightly enough. Slightly.

It's raining it's pouring

well, you finish the line - I'm too tired to. The man has a problem. 7.6 on the richter scale - WOKE himself up. Oh and me as well - 3 times! I understand why couples get separate rooms now - always thought it was creepy. No, it's so you can freakin sleep when the lawnmower is running!

I would never advocate living together prior to marriage - if so no one would actually get married! But seriously - a heads up on this one would have been nice! Though I guess if it's you - you really have no idea until someone is bashing you in the skull telling you to roll over - OH I mean gently nudging you and rolling you sweetly on your side.

It has to stop before I am reaching for a pillow to cover his face - I mean an amicable solution needs to be found.

I think I am going to find a corner to nap in - preferably one without a lawnmower in it!

Time

What I dislike in myself even more than my intense self-absorbtion is my seeming dissatisfaction with whatever it is I have the most of. If it's money - then I probably am working my butt off and what do I do with it? What is the most responsible use for it . . . . worry worry worry about doing the WRONG thing with it since I also know that famine quickly follows such feast. If it's time - then it's what is the most constructive use of it? Sewing, praying, working out, reading, blogging chatting, looking for programs for the kids during the summer - gardening . . . . . I don't seem to just be able to relax and just know it will all get done. Again I have been sucked into justifying my own existence through activity! Why can I not escape this very destructive of activities?

goodness gracious great falls of

coolness! I really have to say of all of the coolness that is the state of VA - great falls national park rocks. I have to have a moment of humbleness - I really wanted to turn around when the line of cars to get into the place was 1500 feet deep (no lie!) that is 163 cars (I counted when we came out). It is the coolest place and only the picnic area was creepy crowded. And by creepy crowded I mean "freakin set up camp and stay the day! - wow is that a kitchen sink? really chorizo cookin on that grill hombre? yummy!" So apart from that we had - frogs and turtles and lizards and white water falls and rapids and cool rocks and trees and lions and tigers and bears. Oh my. I love this state. really I do. Virginia is Wisconsin. only prettier. If you can believe that. No shit. Really. I love it. Fat people and all.

where there's smoke there's

fire

okay so 7 doors down from me. Another house. Another family's house burned. Today. A family I don't know, a family the neighbor to my left knows because he coached their games, whatever, he knows this family. 7 fire trucks. A house burned why? I don't know. A lesson for my kids to respect fire and things that make it, but shit really I can't shake it. 7 house's a family is done. for a long damn time. I miss my mom. A lot. And my friend. a lot. You can't fix that.

regret

Okay - really. Regret is like a dagger to the sleeve. Or wherever you happen to place your particular heart. You can't go forward and back is never an option - or has never been to me anyway. It bites and you just live with it like a cancerous lession that you know KNOW is really not going to get better. Time - time is all that you have and yet time is your enemy. You my friend are not getting any younger - are you? Had that expensive plastic surgery yet? No. You have not. Not getting any younger or prettier. More experienced and more educated yes. Does that count? Depends on who is doing the math.

So many things to sew - sew little finished

Yup. Got it again. Some people catch colds - I catch crafter's ADHD. It really sucks and I am pretty sure like the cold there's no cure. It needs to run it course and I can only soldier on.

There's purse ideas, cushions for the back yard, oh and speaking of the back yard - pots for flowers to buy - no wait something more creative - we need to dig up clay from our yard and then spin the pots and then fire them somehow - I don't have a kiln, hmmm dig a hole and do some version of a raku fire. . . . . . it's really really annoying and mental and happens pretty often when the weather changes. It's gorgeous here and I just wanna burst and frankly mentally I think I have.

Maybe I can write it all down so I don't forget some of the really cool ideas swirling - oh yeah I could make my own paper with flower petals and leaves and newspaper scraps . . . . .

What would you do if you knew you would not get caught?

Would you adhere to the predisposed Judeo/Christian upbringing that we have all (or at least all I was raised with) or would you run wild? Banks be damned - or robbed - virgins deflowered - villages pillaged - you get the idea.

What if that was your dream - I mean real dream like sleeping dream? And then you woke up feeling so funky fresh and - well guilty. Cuz you did things you would have loved to do but were inhibited because of the inherent "wrongness!" And yet oh so satisfying!

Gotta stop watching Lady Gaga videos before bed. Or frankly ever!