I don't belong in the kitchen

I really do enjoy my new home. I really don't enjoy cleaning the kitchen floor in my new home. The kitchen floor in all of its black and white checkered glory, is covered in vinyl textured tile, yes it really is black and white checkered.

I think the checkered floor adds a nice modern touch to the original kitchen design from 1938. But it is truly a pain to clean.  Because it is both black and white everything shows.  Because it is textured, a scrub brush is occasionally required in addition to regular mopping.  For reasons I cannot explain, only a Magic Eraser will get the white squares completely clean after they have been walked on for a few weeks.

Exhibit A: My floor, pre-cleaning spree

Exhibit B: My floor, after cleaning spree and use of magic eraser

 

I really haven't a clue how the magic eraser works and this sort of bothers me.  But on the other hand, it accomplishes what no amount of scrubbing does, so I like it.

The weather here has been damp, coldish and grey.  So I decided it was time to make soup, a modified version of carrot soup.  I learned a few good lessons today.

1. It is in fact possible to burn soup.  The carrots at the bottom of the pot burned before the pot stopped steaming due to my desire to cook quickly.  I will never try to boil carrots on high again.

2. Despite the fact that the hand mixer does not get the soup as smooth, not having to get hot carrots into a blender may be well worth a few chunks.

3. Adding celery (in effort to use the vile green stuff) to carrot soup does in fact change the color.

So I made carrot soup, with a few bits of burnt carrot, and a slightly brown hue that surprisingly enough still tastes good.

I still think I do not belong in the kitchen.

Help!!! I've fallen down the social media rabbit hole

I do not like social media...I do not like social media...I do not like social media...

Yes, I know I'm blogging. I just had to make it clear, that I do not like social media before I got started with this, my first blog post. I'm a bit of an introvert, I share freely about myself with those I know, but appear to be a closed book to those I do not. Or at least that is how I see myself.

Social media is not evil, but definitely can be freaky, scary, crazy. You will not see posts from me hourly (not even daily if my guess is correct). I won't be tweeting all day long about all things I'm doing and not doing. But I have decided to share a little bit about myself and some of the new adventures I've under taken.

First, in November of last year I became a proud resident of Cleveland, Oh. Yes, this city has many nick names (most notably “mistake by the lake”) but really, its a nice, little city. Very different from Philadelphia. The skyline is tiny, but there are numerous cool touristy things to do and an awesome outdoor music venue called the Blossom Music Center. Ok, Blossom is outside of Cleveland, but it is truly a venue worth visiting.

I've been working in engineering for almost 10 years, wow. I'm currently looking for full time work in this industry, but like everyone in this economy, I'm finding it to take longer than I had hoped to land that next great career.

Because it sounds like great fun and can be rather rewarding, I've decided to join the “Dove Chocolate Discoveries” team. I officially became a Chocolatier on February 11, 2010. Sounds exciting right, well it is! I will be sharing the joy of all of the luscious Dove Chocolate Discoveries (DCD) products. This is really great chocolate. I've tried lots of chocolate, and all of these products are versatile while being absolutely delicious in their simplest form.

So far my favorite product is the Chardonnay Caramel sauce. This sauce is so creamy, with smooth California Chardonnay folded in just before packaging.  The chocolate baking mix is extremely versatile and will always be on hand in my pantry.  Its hard to believe that chocolate mousse can be prepared in just 5 minutes; but DCD makes that possible.  I've tried it, it is a fantastic chocolate mousse.

Finally, there is more to come.  I'm working on many different things right now, and will be sure to have more announcements soon.

For now, take care and have a sweet life.