Scene- watching a football movie on a lovely fall afternoon while working on a custom chainmail order. Settled into the giant comfy couch, pupsplats everywhere when I suddenly realize dinner’s a thing.

 

Me: Hey, how does pizza sound?

Rick: Twist my arm.

Me: What kind do you want?

Rick: The good kind.

Me: I could stab you with my pliers.

Rick: I could stab you back.

Me: My hope is that you’d be bleeding too heavily to formulate a defense.

Rick: Bah, all I have to do is miss the kidney. Don’t want to put stepdad out.

 

Welcome to my world, folks.

 

Burritos are amazing.. breakfast burritos, pupritos, crispburritos… but most of all, the burrito that you just have to warm up when you want dinner.

Heh.. that reminds me.. gotta share a little rant- https://medium.com/@luckyshirt/dear-guy-who-just-made-my-burrito-fd08c0babb57

Go ahead, check it out.. he’s way funnier than I am anyway, and I’m patient. I’ll wait.

OK- now this little meandering can, if you like deliciousness, help you make up your own pile of burritos. Anyone can do this- it’s super easy, and most of the time, you’re just sitting around and letting stuff simmer. Kind of my favorite kind of cooking, the lazy kind.

You’ll need:

2 1 liter bottles of Dr. Pepper (beef or pork only)

1 roast- beef or pork shoulder will do, can also use chicken thighs or leftover turkey.. it all works as long as you’re willing to shred meat

2 jars of salsa- your favorite will do, I like La Victoria’s Salsa Brava

1 large block cheddar cheese- shredded.. do not buy preshredded cheese, for the love. Get a food processor or bribe someone hungry with the promise of delectable, tasty burrito-y goodness

1 large block pepper jack cheese- shredded

refried beans (about 1 part to 2 parts meat, optional)- canned, make your own, whatever makes you happy

tortillas of decent size (gramma used to make her own, but I am not that cool)

box of single sheet aluminum foil

 

Start out around 6-7am by throwing your roast into a crock pot, covering with the Dr. Pepper. It won’t impart a lot in the way of flavor, but it will make the meat melt in your mouth tender. Honestly, sometimes not all of the meat makes it to the next step. Sometimes.

Around 3 or 4pm, stab your roast. It should kind of dissolve in the pot. Use tongs to get it out of the pot, then flake it onto a plate before tipping the shredded meat into a stock pot. Pour in the salsa, stir, and simmer over low heat for about a half an hour.

Add in your refried beans now if you want to. If you don’t want to, that’s fine.

Now, just lay in a layer of meat/bean mixture, then a layer of cheese, then wrap the burrito up (I like to tuck the ends in so it’ll be neater eating), then wrap it in foil.

Super easy, and with the sheer number of the things you can make at once, pretty cost effective. We like taking these camping and heating them up on our propane skillet. Or you know, have a couple for midnight snacks… breakfast… too lazy to make dinner…

They freeze really well, but around here they don’t tend to last very long!

For anyone that was hoping for something more impactful- don’t worry, I’ve just about come to a decision about what’s going to be happening in November this year. In fact, you could say I’m piling up burritos so I’m good to go for NaNoWriMo………

Like most walking stereotypes, I love fall. I love the cooler weather, the whole getting darker earlier thing, the crisp, clear air…. and comfort food.

Warm, homey, filling… the kind that produces a heavenly aroma promising all things tasty and savory coming from the kitchen and wafting through the house.

And I love experimenting with the creation of said comfort food.

Tonight, it was sloppy joes-

Hamburger, spicy barbecue sauce (Famous Dave’s XXX Devil’s Spit), Velveeta Queso Blanco, and bacon. That’s right, that’s bacon you’re looking at in there.

And then… I had an idea. Like the idea that the Grinch had that made him smile that super creepy Boris Karloff narrated smile.

Oh yeah, baby, it’s gonna happen.

 

BAM!

 

Now, of course, this involved certain sacrifices on the behalf of Mr. Wellman- I shouldn’t even be inhaling the aroma of this concoction of heavenly scents and textures, let alone attempting to eat it. Heroically, slowly, he nibbled away at the latest creation coming from my kitchen and pronounced it good.

From him, that’s as good as it gets for praise. And if I hadn’t stuffed him with two regular sloppy joes before going all Dr. Frankenstein, I have the feeling he would have asked for another.

Now, if this has at all appealed to you, please feel free to make a GI Joe or two of your own… just remember, lots of barbecue sauce. You really wanna feel the burn here. If you don’t need two Pepcid after, you’re doing it wrong.

Bon appetit!

So Rick and I were about our usual Saturday errands today (stop into the craft store, Mom & Rod’s, and the all important visit to the local game shop), and when we crested the hill, we saw what could only be a giant dog attacking the mall.

Around the next curve, the giant dog must have been in a playful crouch, because we only saw it’s back half.

And then… just a butt.

Now maybe it’s normal for a giant dog butt to stick up in the air over rooftops in your city… and I guess in a way it’s normal enough for Albuquerque.

Cause you see, once we got closer, we determined that it was a hot air balloon.

Rick- “I know it was one cause it had the gondola for it still attached as we drove by.”

Me, after pondering a moment- “Can I just say, it’s both kind of awesome and kind of weird that we happen to live in a place such that we happen to immediately know what the name of the giant basket that goes under a hot air balloon is?”

Just your typical fall Saturday in Albuquerque, I guess.

And the lone random shoe on the side of the road. Can’t forget about that.

I’ve been a very busy girl.

Santa Fe Ren Faire was… okay. Our scale bags went nuts, very little else did.

• High point of the event- when someone ran screaming to our booth to grab hold of the new scalemail bra, “DRAGON BOOBIES!” Heads turned.
• Blink moment of the event- when a potential buyer of said bra asked if we could sell a matching codpiece. “I’m concerned we’d be liable for the chafing.” was my quick reply
• Low point of the event- waving goodbye to my favorite piece, the golden branch with the silver leaves… fear not, I will make another, this one fall themed with all the bronzes and coppers and scarlets and golden leaves. Once my Ringlord order comes in anyway.

More book sales are happening- yay! I’m still not going to be retiring anytime soon, but hey, every bit helps.

Slowly, oh so slowly, order and calm have been restored to Casa de Wellman and the Den of Geek as all the crafting messes have been packed up and cleared away, though with another event or possibly two coming up here soon, I’m sure it’s not for long.

And November is coming…. NANOWRIMO!

 

In short, enjoying the long weekend.

Rick started printing us a 3d Catan board.. only 10 pieces and some painting to go!

We tried some new games, Dragonwood and Unstable Unicorns (the last one is Carla Morrow’s fault, honestly). Both are great sit down and have some fun with cards games.

With fall coming on, I also got some repotting of plants done- including the random purple basil that popped up in the yard a couple weeks ago. Also moved the honeysuckle to see if it’ll benefit more from morning sun than evening sun. And one sad little rose that got nibbled down to the stem by the Bastardly Bunnies of El Cajon Court.

Santa Fe Ren Faire is in two weeks, so there was some chainmail work, too.

But what 3 day weekend would be complete without some puppage time? So we did some of that, too.

You WILL throw my hedgie. You WILL.

Setting- in the car, listening to what I thought was Toto’s Africa on the local hits station

Ang- Weezer covered Africa?

Me- The fuck? I was sitting here going since when does 104 play oldies.

Rick- Apparently since Weezer did Africa.

Me, turning to look over my shoulder, sees noseprints from Ang’s dog Sunni, then turning back again- Rick, what the fuck? Did you lick the windows?

Rick- gives me the Rick look

Me- Geeze, man, we try to take you out in public and everything, and there you are licking up the windows.

General laughter

Me- I’m going to pay for that later aren’t I?

Rick and Ang in unison- Yup.