Aunt Julie's Cabbage Salad

In honor of my mother's sister, my Adorable Aunt Julie (who I also call Auntie Ted, but never Auntie Julie or Aunt Ted - always Aunt Julie and Auntie Ted), I offer you one of my favorite recipes: Cabbage Salad. I made this last night to send with Tim for his office potluck today; he ended up with five requests for the recipe.

Since I typed it up to send him, I figured: Why not post it, too? Oh, and if you look over there, at the photo: That's Adorable Aunt Julie the tiny pixie, and my bigass pumpkin head.

What follows is the original recipe that Adorable Aunt Julie gave me a decade ago, with my modifications/notes in parentheses (which is to say that's how I do it, when I make it):

Aunt Julie's Cabbage Salad

1 head cabbage, chopped (2 bags pre-sliced/bagged 'slaw' without carrots.)

4-5 green onions, chopped (Just buy and chop one whole bunch, green part only)

3oz sesame seeds (I just use one of those little 1oz McCormick containers sold near/with the spices.)

1/2c sliced almonds (Or whatever quantity you prefer. I like a lot of almonds.)

2 packages uncooked ramen noodles (Break up before opening the package. Either throw out the seasoning packets, or amass a stockpile you'll never ever use.)

Dressing

1/2c sesame oil

1/2c vegetable oil (I omit.)

6T rice vinegar (or more, to taste; I like 8.)

4T sugar

1t salt

1t pepper

Brown sesame seeds and almonds, using your favorite method (stovetop, oven, microwave), but do it separately as they brown at very different speeds. I'm partial to the microwave, although they go from 'raw' to 'Aiie! Fire! Fire!' super fast - after the first 3 minutes or so (almonds), stir every 30 seconds.

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients. Throw in the rest of the ingredients, toss. I think it's better the second day, but good luck waiting. :)

Water: Meh

"Woo hoo!", I thought to myself this morning, "I can get a head start!"

That was during my morning commute, when I realized Tim had packed a bottle of water in my lunch. I finished it before arriving at work, all pleased with myself for getting that one out of the way early on. And now, I find myself mid-afternoon, struggling to get through the second bottle.

My daily goal is to consume four of these aforementioned bottles, because that's what They recommend. That's what They say is good for me. Yep, this is what passes as a new year's resolution in me-land: "Maybe I should drink something other than coffee, cream soda, and red wine, once in awhile? I don't even remember the last time I drank plain water... Let's see how that goes..."

So here I am.

Every day, I struggle to choke down four 16.9 ounce bottles of water, and every day I find myself wondering: Why the hell is this so hard?

Aren't we human animals something like 60% water? Isn't this what we're meant to drink? Supposed to drink? And then I force myself to chug down some more. Frankly, it's annoying. I'm constantly filling and refilling bottles, I'm running to the bathroom all the time, I don't feel any different than I did before, and I'm annoyed with having yet another item on my To Do list. Oh yes, I am that petty:

Don't even talk to me about lemon wedges, or flavor packets, or Special K Protein Water mix. Those are all great ideas, in theory, (and "everything works in theory", which always makes me think of John Cash's old .plan, or maybe it was his .sig? Anyway....). In reality, to make use of such items I have to remember that I need to purchase said items, and then execute the purchasing of said items, and remember to pack them along with me, and then... the hardest of all... remember to use said items. I just don't have the spare brain power to do it. So, plain water, I thought, I can handle. I have empty bottles, and there's a water fountain pretty much right outside my office door.

And yet, here I am.

Still on bottle two.

New Template

The last one was driving me crazy with disappearing comments links.

This one, by Templates Block, struck my fancy. I'll probably get bored with it soon enough, but I'm quite fond of it for now.