Garbage Pasta Recipe

I have demonstrated time and again that deviating from a recipe always ends in a huge disaster. So, recently I decided to do away with recipes altogether and just come up with my own. Sounds like something that will be a roaring success, right? RIGHT! And I mean it. I hear you naysayers out there, “pfffting” on my genius plan. And just to prove that I perhaps can make a culinary delight every once and a while, I present thee with my recipe for Garbage Pasta.

First, an image to really get you salivating:

 Ok, um. Not the best photo. Really enbodies the “garbage” aspect of it’s name. That really wasn’t my intention. Hopefully you’re still with me and ready for the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Chorizo sausage (2)
• No salt added plain pasta sauce (Hunt’s makes a good one) approx 400ml
• half an eggplant diced
• one zucchini diced
• 1 cup of diced carrots
• 1/2 cup of chopped onions
• any other vegetables you have lying around
• whole wheat pasta

Directions:

Fry up the chorizo. Remove from heat. Then fry the onion. When it is soft add all the other veggies. When they’re looking almost soft add the cooked chorizo. Pour sauce on top and simmer. Throw that baby on some cooked whole wheat pasta and voila.

You can add spices too, but I find that chorizo has enough flavour for the whole dish.

Whole wheat pasta is key because it tastes hearty. And so is the eggplant. The other veggies are really there just for fun.

Why “Garbage?” Because I invented this recipe by throwing in everything I had in the fridge one day that was probably going to be thrown out if I didn’t find a use for them STAT!

It’s yummy, I promise.

Live Like Adama

Recreating Jean Luc Picard’s room was so much fun, that I decided to take a crack at Adama’s quarters. Ikea wasn’t rustic enough, so I decided to go with Pottery Barn. Here are the items:

Austin Leather Sofa

Emmett Trunk

Franklin Persian-Style Rug

Watson Lamps

BEHR Ultra (Cathedral Gray)

Thanks to AOLTv for the images of Adama’s set on BSG

Live Like Picard

I thought it would be a neat challenge to try and recreate Picard’s living quarters from Ikea’s current catalogue. It was surprisingly easy! I’m almost tempted to redecorate my living room now! If you are inspired, here is the product information:

KARLSTAD Sofa (Isunda gray)

KARLSTAD Chair (Korndal green)

KIVIK Chair (Tullinge gray-brown)

VEJMON Coffee Table (Birch)

BERLEVAG Table Mirror

And for paint, Martha Stewart Mimosa Yellow

Also thanks to Flickr user Maxpixpix for the photo of the set.

How to Be Cool Like Riker

 

Getting to know you…

…getting to know all about you.

Everyday I have a few minutes to spare while Betty sleeps. So I thought, “hey Becky! Why not use those minutes to get reacquainted with your friends on Facebook.”

And so, that’s what I am going to do. Here’s the recipe:

261 friends
1 question: What was the last thing that made you laugh?
1 hope: That I learn something new about someone and that I can have a laugh too.

Hopefully this all goes smashingly and I have some fun stories to share.

How to Encounter at Farpoint Fist Pump

Ok Ok Ok! I get it. You are dying to find out how to do the infamous Encounter at Farpoint Fist Pump. Well, here is the step by step guide:

And here I am with my friends demonstrating the special greeting to Levar Burton and Brent Spiner. As you can tell they were really impressed! I believe Levar’s exact response to “Wanna see the Encounter at Farpoint handshake?!” was “NO”

Didn’t matter. I showed it to him anyways.

Rapture Etiquette

The end of the world is nigh and sadly there is very little guidance out there for those of us that won’t be invited to participate. That doesn’t mean we can throw all of our manners out the window. We still need to act civil. So I thought I would compile a list of things you can do to make sure that this Rapture is an enjoyable one.

First — what to do for the people that do get to go? I would treat this like your regular everyday going away party. Except don’t bother to splurge on a cake or anything too nice. Remember: they’re going to have a decidedly better life than you from now on. A card signed by everyone and maybe some cucumber sandwiches is really all that is required. Also, if you’ve been eying anything that they own that you want (like those wicked coloured whiteboard markers) don’t be shy in dropping some subtle hints. Try “You won’t be needing those where you’re going!” Or “Are there whiteboards at Jesus’ house?”

What to do about people who thought they were going, but turns out they were mistaken? This is delicate. For these people, it’s like being uninvited to the swingingest sweet 16th bash of the year because they use words like “swingingest.” In this situation, keep it simple. A pat on the back and a “there’s always next time” is sufficient. Also avoid encouraging them to talk about why. It will inevitably be hurtful to you. (Trust me, they’ll start sentences with “no offence but…” and then follow it up with some generalization about you that probably isn’t accurate like “I get why you didn’t go, you like to eat puppies.”)

And for the rest of us, who knew all along we’d still be done here on earth? Well, now we can play Settlers of Catan in peace while watching our fave episodes of TNG. So just do lots of that.

So there you have it. A few ideas to get you through the Rapture this weekend. If you have any other recommendations please share!

It’s Time For A Name Change

Ok. So I’ve complained about having to share my name with a whole bunch of other Becky Youngs. But now, now I’ve really had enough. Not just with Becky Young, but with Becky. I’ve had issues with the name since 1991 when Mattel introduced Barbie’s newest friend, the handicapable Becky.

And then a few years ago I caught wind of the urban dictionary meaning of Becky. And then there’s Becky from Glee:

And now? Now I have to hear about some crazy large drill that is going to drill into Niagara Falls called “Big Becky”.

I can only take so much ridicule from my brother about my name. Especially since as long as I can remember (and before Becky Barbie) he used to sing to me (to the tune of “Davey Crocket”):

Becky

Becky Cripple

Yep. It’s definitely time for a name change.

Retracting Last Statement: Mac Paintbrush is Equal to Microsoft Paint

Ok, so I was a bit hasty in my conclusions yesterday. I upgraded Paintbrush and now it performs exactly how I expected a paint program should perform (maybe even better, I haven’t tried out all of the new features yet).

So here is what I was dying to make yesterday:

It’s Betty and Sousa as Ted Baxter and Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore show. You see, because Betty is a baby so she has a similar IQ as Ted and Sousa is sort of all around cranky and always yelling. I guess I would fancy myself to be Mary of course. Mostly because my hair has such amazing volume and I am a really great dresser.

Maybe one day Betty Baxter and Sousa Grant will have their own blog where they report on the news of the day. And Betty will get things wrong. And Sousa will get all mad. And oh how the audience will laugh.  That seems like an awful lot of work though. But hey, if John Stewart and Stephen Colbert can do it everyday I don’t see why I can’t. It’s not like I don’t have a team of writers here with me hanging out just waiting to write hilarious quips about current events.

I’m just going to say it: Mac Paintbrush is an inferior product to Microsoft Paint.

And so now I feel like I’m having a major issue. How am I going to create my super amazing creations? And don’t say Photoshop. Sad. I’m very sad.