Failure at Cooking: The Pepper Soup (Part 2)

This is part 2 of  The Pepper Soup

"Did you trip and fall, Steph?"  my Greek co-worker asked. He was grinning ear-to-ear as the entire office gathered around the small kitchen to witness the mess.

"No, I just opened my soup," I muttered, as I desperately tried to scrub the red and orange goop off the wall.

"Did you shake it up first?" the secretary asked, who was at least helping with the cleanup, but obviously laughing her butt off.

"No," I said firmly. "I just opened my soup."

"Did you put the metal container in the microwave before you opened it?" asked my concerned Polish colleague.

"No, I just opened my frakkin soup! Dammit, people, I was getting ready to pour it into a microwave-safe bowl, not trying to burn the whole office down."

My boss chimed in, "Was the soup hot when you put it in the container? Maybe it was too hot and it expanded and-"

"No, it would have had the adverse affect and actually condensed," the Greek argued.

My boss pointed her finger at him, hands still full of wet paper towels, "But it still could have caused some sort of vacuum."

I thought for...
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Failure at Cooking: The Pepper Soup (Part 1)

The other day, I bought a three pound bag of red bell peppers on sale for $2. I was delighted with the good deal, but after a few days, I feel guilty because I had only gone through about a pound and the peppers were wrinkling. Nagymama taught me that I should never waste food, so I started looking up recipes that called for a metric ton of peppers.

After browsing Ye Olde Internets, I discovered a Red Pepper Soup recipe that sounded tasty, and more importantly, cheap and easy! I made a few modifications to the ingredients to make the soup more spicy and waist-line friendly. The whole stew was ready in less than an hour, and since I had already eaten dinner, I packed it in a non-spill thermos for later.

The next morning, I went into the architectural firm where I am a graphic design consult a few days a week. I normally don't go in on Mondays, but they called me to do some extra marketing since they just moved into a lovely new office space. After a few hours of slaving over InDesign, I popped in the kitchen...
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We have a winner!

Congrats to "Wives' Tale" winner, Vincente for his adorable post about his mother:

My mother had me and my brother convinced that she could give us a injection (shot) in the butt with a syringe without using a needle. She would show us the syringe without the needle and with a clever slight of hand put the needle back. She was really good at this and I seldom felt any pain, so the needle-less story held up for years. I didn’t realize this was not possible until my 20s when I went to EMT class and studied IVs and stuff.

Congrats, Vicente - e-mail me over your address & I can mail you your mystery prize!

I cannot help but pimp this guy out, since he is one of THE COOLEST people I've met in a long time. Vincente is a great comedian, and he is specifically a master of short-form Improv Comedy. He is a total geek (uh, I met him at a freaking MENSA meeting), a computer genius, and a fellow admirer of Battlestar Galactica. Also, he loves the Steelers, which is allegedly some sort of sports team.

You should add him now and say, "Hi!": Read the rest of this entry »

March 10th,2009 Contest, News | tags: Contest, old wives' tales, winner | No Comments

Quick Bite: Wives’ Tale #7 – Blindness

Anyu always said that anyone that goes blind later in life...
Probably touched kitty litter and did not wash their hands.  Do you know anyone that has ridiculous theories?

Quick Bite: Wives’ Tale #6 – Gypsies

Nagymama walked me to the bus stop until I graduated high school...
So that gypsies would not push me into their car and sell me into prostitution.  Did your family ever have insane paranoia?