waffles, courtesy of jozeph dearest

dinner this past week was splendid!

joe came prepared. he was armed with a ten pound bag of pancake batter mix and a waffle iron, and some hot sauce and chives for reasons unknown. we had breakfast for dinner, care of josephus and katrina, joe providing the waffles and 100% pure maple syrup, kate providing the eggs. kate continues to impress me with her generosity. it seems she is willing to do almost anything to make saturday nights fun for everyone, and so far she has been very successful. 

danny and i spent some time before and after dinner on our computers, me writing my story, he doing something mysterious and secretive, or in other words, i have no idea what he was doing. joe sat on the couch, half asleep and debating out loud with himself whether he should stay and watch a movie or just go home and go to sleep. he compromised by staying for an hour or so to discuss with us whether or not he should go, and then leaving around nine. 

i stayed until eleven or so, and it was lots of fun. kate's roommates were all hanging out; a bunch of them were playing cards, while liel sat on the couch next to kate listening to her headphones. it was funny because we spent long hours discussing which board games we should play, and then kate started getting panicky about starting a movie. "should we start one now?? is it too late to start one?? if we don't start one now, it'll be too late so you guys have to decide!!! sarah, do you want to watch a movie??"

"uh, i don't care."

"danny! do you want to watch a movie??"

"maybe later."

"but by then it'll be TOO LATE!! We have to start it now or we can't watch one at all!! danny, what should we do??"

about an hour and a half later, he put away his computer and suggested watching a movie. kate shook her head, insisting that it was too late, and informing him that he should have started one earlier when she told him to.

there was something else that liel and kate were talking about that was really funny, but i can't remember. i do remember kate and i singing all the words to some disney song or playing out all the voices to a disney scene (i forget which one) and everyone else looking at us like we were freaks. ahh, good times. kate'll have to tell you what it was exactly. if she ever gets around to posting on here again.

why am i always the responsible one? geez...

then, we all played catch phrase on the way to my house. kate got mad at me because i was paying so much attention to the game that i forgot to tell danny to turn left off of state street to get to my place. she doesn't understand the meaning of priorities: catchphrase ALWAYS comes first. no matter WHAT.

we discussed how we need to get the board game "guess who," with the funny little caricatures of all those ugly people on the different squares. either that or connect four. that'd be fun.

this coming saturday, i anticipate having painter boy come over to help cook with us (this means i'll have to cook too, which is unfortunate, for everyone else) and have dinner and a movie. i hope he is not too weirded out by joe and kate. danny is pretty normal. i also hope he likes japanese anime, which seems to be a theme despite the fact that we only did it once. then again, if i scare him off now, it'll save time of having to do it later. you know you have problems with commitment when your relationships (or lack there of) are more about efficiency than enjoying time with the person. haha!

dinner sans katrina

so catherine didn't show up for dinner last week. in fact, i was in charge of the entire affair, making phone calls frantically and inviting people left and right. (joe and danny) i volunteered to make the main entree, but realized a few hours later that unless people didn't mind eating frozen chicken, i was in way over my head. 

fortunately, (da dada dum!) greg was there to save the day!! i asked him if he wanted to make dinner for me, (no sense in euphemisms, i always say) and he said "sure!" except probably without the exclamation point. he made very yummy chicken with pesto over rice, with extra tomatoes in it, mmmm... he is too good to me, it's true. 

then josephus arrived with a loaf of bread and el care package-o. i was the one who scored this time- we divided up the items and i ended up with a $50 gift certificate to Walmart, hurray! joe got some envelopes and kate got a rolladex. hehe. 

joe is hilarious. there is nothing i enjoy more than being with joe and greg both together. greg thinks joe is completely weird, and whenever joe makes some bizarre comment ("look, this bread knife looks like the lower jaw of a killer whale!") greg will give me this look like he's freaking out, and i fall to pieces laughing. the funniest thing in the entire universe was when joe and i were driving greg home from the airport, and joe goes "hey greg, have you read the book 'neuromancer'?" hahahahahahahahahahahaha! greg just sits there in silence, staring at me with bug eyes like "Oh. My. Gosh." it was spectacular!

danny showed up an hour late (mormon standard time!), bring with him the dessert. he had brought homemade broiled cookies, with tops that were cooked and bottoms that were raw. (hahahahaha, read the end of that last sentence!) apparently the lower coil in his oven is having some difficulties getting it up (the temperature, you dirty minded fool!). but they were good nonetheless.

we left the box with the rolladex and batteries at greg's house. i've been there two or three times since but i keep forgetting to pick it up. i think kate's gonna have to do it herself this time. 

well, that was pretty much it. over and out---

captain's log: january sixth, ten hundred hours

i was very nervous going into Saturday Sibling Dinner. My sources (Kate) had told me that the main dish would be piatzi chicken, however you spell that. my father likes to make piatzi chicken, and we used to have it like every other night when we were growing up. he always made it the way my mom makes cookies and pizza: overcooked. i had seen it overcooked so many times that i forgot that it could be cooked without burning the chicken, and i was somewhat dreading having to choke down blackened chicken breast for the millionth time. 

to my great surprise, kate had managed to make the piatzi chicken without overcooking it! it was made to perfection, and dinner was saved! the icing on the brownies was kind of weird tasting and the beans were cold (my fault for showing up late), but other than that dinner was paramount! (i am not quite sure what that means, but it sounds like it should mean "very good")

kiki's delivery service was a good movie, just like i remembered. the small black cat provided comic relief with anecdotes such as "if you wake up in the morning and see a white cat, it's me," and "my friend jeffrey helped me out! he's a GOOD DOG!" liel was very considerate and did us all the favor of keeping track of how many times kiki's bloomers show, and joe complained whenever the heater turned on. (which was about every fifteen minutes) we came to the conclusion that the painter lady who lives in the middle of the forest is an inactive mormon, and that it was very rude of the boy tombo not to introduce himself properly upon meeting kiki. 

all in all, quite a success. i feel kind of bad because kate did all the work for dinner, and the only thing i did was bring the salad, but i am fairly certain that if i were to cook dinner, no one would want to come back the next week. as it is now, things are looking good and the Vasicek Siblings (plus danny) are united in the common cause. next week seems to be a go for sure. 

that is all. over and out.

First Saturday Sibling Dinner

Tonight we had dinner together and it was fun! Here's what happened:

Danny and I cooked Piatza Chicken, real mashed potatoes (from a package), green beans, and Danny's Mom's delicious Caramel Brownies.

Here's how:

Step 1: Call mom and find out the recipe for Caramel Brownies

Brownies
preheat oven to 350 degrees
3/4 cup cocoa
2/3 cup veg. oil
2 cups sugar
4 beaten eggs
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup nuts

Combine dry ingredients, add wet ingredients. Mix well.

Bake 25-35 minutes
(better undercooked)


Caramel Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter and brown sugar
Boil 2 minutes
Stir in milk
Bring to boil
Remove from heat
Cool
Beat in powdered sugar (in ice [optional])

Meanwhile...

Step 2: Piatza Chicken

boneless chicken breasts
olive oil
breadcrumbs
Either lemon pepper or garlic salt

Defrost the chicken breasts.
Cut diagonal slits in the chicken to desired thinness. (Use a meat tenderizer if you want extra thin slices).










Put chicken in plastic bag. Add 1/2 cup olive oil. Close the bag, and shake until chicken is coated in the oil.










On a plate, mix 1/2 cup breadcrumbs with 1 teaspoon of either garlic salt or lemon pepper. Coat chicken in breadcrumb mixture. Place on non-greased foil-covered baking sheet. Add more breadcrumb mixture as needed.










Broil for 3-5 minutes on each side. Serve hot.

Step 3: Side Dishes

Steam cook green beans. Follow directions for the real potatoes.










Step 4: Eat and talk!




Tonight we discussed how the apple pies at McDonald's are rumored to be potatoes, how people who watch Jerry McGuire are sinners (especially Liel!), Mormon Art Philosophy, and how this photo could be an advertisement for the pitcher.








Step 5: Watch Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service (I rate this movie five ***** stars.)

Step 6: Eat Caramel Brownies!



















That's all, until next week!!!!