Cooking 101

Yup, that's what I need, big time! Last week I didn't cook at all because we were so busy with everything, so that was out. This week, I told myself I'm going to cook, whether I like it or not. DH left for work this morning and didn't take any meat out to defrost. I was just about to scratch my idea of cooking, and I said I'd better not. So I went to the freezer and pulled out chicken breasts. It's a BIG thing of them, there's about 6 or so in there. Boneless chicken breasts....thick too. I remember I made some chicken and rice casserole awhile ago and since they were so thick, took a lot longer to cook. Anyways, I'm trying to figure out new recipes, so I can make up a 'cookbook' of my own recipes stolen from websites and fellow hounds. I can't realy find something interesting using chicken breasts. If I do, I am missing items and I'm not looking to go out to the store today. I was thinking of breaking it into two meals, maybe chicken and broccoli over rice with biscuits on the side, and then making something else...but not sure what yet. Ho hum. I really want to get a few meals out of this chicken...maybe at least one I'll cook then mince up into chicken salad for lunch this week.
So to all you gals and guys out there, what are some of your favorite recipes you'd like to 'donate' to the blog?

Holiday Troop Drive!

I am getting involved in an Advisory Council here at work in 2009, and we are doing a Holiday Troop drive to collect much needed items to the troops overseas. I'm trying to be the 'overachiever' on this, so I'm asking for all your help! See below:

The Intern Advisory Council (which I am appointed to starting in 2009!) will be hosting a Holiday Troop drive to collect items to send to local Soldiers stationed in Iraq. The Intern Social is on Wednesday 17 Dec 2008, and that is when we are to bring in the donations. I am attaching the sheet with what to donate and what NOT to donate. I want to 'stick' out as an intern and would love to be the intern that donates the most stuff. This is why I am sending out this email, to ask for all of your help with the donations. If you can donate an item or two (or more!), that would be great and would help out towards my goal. Please let me know if you can donate some items. I have to have all items that will be donated no later than Dec. 16th.

Thanks in advance!
Do’s
Travel Sizes are best for the following items:
SoapShaving cream & RazorsToothpaste & Tooth BrushMouthwash.Tissues
Magazines/BooksDeodorantGames (Chess/Checkers/Footballs/Monopoly/Etc)Gum/Candy/MintsPastries & Cookies - To included bakery items (NO CHOCOLATE!)M&M’s (Yeah they will survive the trip due to their candy shells)Nuts & Dried fruits/Canned fruits (No Glass Please)Beef Jerky (This is a big hit with the Soldiers)Crackers/Pretzels/ChipsPopcorns (Bagged or Microwavable)Microwavable foodPowdered drinks mixes (Crystal Light & others like it)Socks (White : Men’s)DVD’s (Usually Male Oriented)Cards Addressed to the Soldier for morale purposes Free Cards available!Holiday Items: As we get closer to the holidays, themed items are nice. I’ll send Halloween candy/Cookies/Decorations at the end of September/beginning of October.Also, Local favorites are comforting (Ex: Tastykakes or items only available from this area)
Dont's
Please do not donate any of the following items:
Home baked goodsOTC MedicinesChocolates (They will melt)Meat (Besides Beef Jerky)Pornographic materials (Even Maxim)Alcohol of any typeAmmo or Anything that might explode due to dropping, combustion, or heat

Necessities, adding up to too much moola!

So yesterday, I venture out to do some errands. I was planning on making a beer lime roasted chicken for dinner, but the chicken is still frozen. Darn! I had to get some other things, so I made a pit stop at Shop Rite. I figured I'd see what sauce was on sale and make spaghetti. The only sauce I had at home was the LARGE bottles, not the smaller ones I use for spaghetti. Guess it's been awhile because I have no smaller one left...ooops. So I'm walking down the sauce aisle all ticked off that I have no sauce at home, and my Prego Q expired. Figures. So I figure we'll have cereal. We do that once in awhile, have a 'kid' night and have cereal and ice cream and cookies for dinner. So I decided last night was a 'kid' night. So then I figured that we needed milk. I have to have the Lactaid, and the big jug was almost $7...YIKES. And of course, not on sale, no Q's. Once in a blue moon it goes on sale. never get a Q. So i pick up the smaller container then walk off to get cottonelle wipes and TP. The wipes were on sale, so I grabbed one, then I go to the TP. It was originally 9.29 for a 12 pack, on sale for 7.99 and I had a Q, so that worked out. I check out and it was $13 and change...for 3 things! The day before, I went to A and P, got 25 things for 8 bucks and change....Geesh. What is this world coming to?

December off to a great start...Triples at A and P (2 weeks in a row!)

So, this week, A & P did triple Q's again (second week in a ROW) and I just could not resist! So out come my Qs and off I go! I do utilize thegrocerygame.com for A & P, but this week was the off week (boo!) so I had to do it all on my own, and here's what I did:

NY Pizzeria Dip N Sticks (2) 3.89 - 1.78 store savings - .40Q (tripled) = 2.80 each
Pillsbury Quick Bread (3) 2.59 - .92 store savings - $1/3 Q = 1.33 each
Kellogg's Special K (2) 3.99 - 1.49 store savings - $1Q = 1.50 each
Lipton Knorr Sides (18) 1.99 or 2.19 (some were higher priced) so for all it came to 38.22 total, then store savings was 20.22 and I had .75 off Q's, so that was 2.25 each times 9 Q (.75/2) so it came to 20.25 for the Q's. All in all, they were $1 a piece and the .75Q was off 2. So for each 2 I had a Q. So I buy 2 for $2, then the Q triples to 2.25, so I MADE .25 off each 2 that I bought...sweet!

Total before savings - 61.75
# items - 25
Store savings - 27.75
Q's - 25.65
#Q's - 14
tax - 0
OOP - 8.35!
Savings 86%!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I have a cabinet FULL of Lipon/Knorr side dishes!

Hounding Catch Up

Okay Okay, I know I haven't posted my 'hounding' in awhile, so here ya go. I didn't hound too much the rest of November. I did one grocery shopping at Shop Rite with 32% only of savings, thanks in no part to DH with his 'impulse' buys. I can't blame him, he's been a good boy and never complains too much about my 'couponing.' I also did a few 'drive-bys' at Shop Rite to pick up 1 or two items, with no savings, figures. But I did have a great hounding experience at Pathmark, the day before Thanksgiving...triple Q's!

Bird's Eye Veggies (4) 2.39 - 1.70 store savings - $1/4 Q = .44 each!
Fresh Express Salad (3) 2.50 - .75 Q (tripled) = .25 each!
Reddi Whip (1) 3.39 - 1.39 store savings - .50Q (tripled) = .50!
Activia Yogurt 3.49 - .50 store savings - .50Q(tripled) = 1.49
Shedd's Country Crock butter (5) 2.69 - .69 store savings - .35Q (tripled) = 1.05 each

Total before savings - 37.39
# items - 14
Store savings - 12.14
Q's - 16.00
# of Q's - 11
Total OOP (Out of Poket) - 9.25!!!!!!!
Savings = 755!!!

Here's my totals for November....not too great, but not too shabby either!
# of items: 134
Total before savings: 324.79
Store savings: 70.80
Coupons: 61.09
# of Q's : 50
Total OOP: 196.24
Savings: 40%

So my goal for November is to do better than 40%! Stay tuned to see if I can do it!

Part Two - Poker Karma 11/29/08

Now, I'm sure all you poker players out there have heard of Poker Karma, but if you haven't, you probably know what I'm talking about. I don't know if it has happened to anyone else, but here's a scenario:

You're playing at a table, any limit, and there is one or maybe even two or three people that just have no regard for poker etiquette or playing good poker. Whether they are drunk, stupid or whatever, they are in every hand, and miraculously will hit a one outer on the river. Sound somewhat familiar?

So, on Black Friday, one of these people is at my table. There will be 5 bucks in the pot (small blind, big blind and a limper) and he will raise to like 50 bucks, to win 3. Weird. Supposedly he's a regular and a GREAT tipper, so the dealers love him, everyone else can't stand him. The one guy next to me says he's great to be at your table b/c you can make tons of money off him. Funny thing is, the first hand those two got involved, the guy next to me loses a HUGE pot to him. yea, he's really great to have at the table to make money off of huh? The people that play crazy will win once in awhile, but in the long run, will lose a ton more money then he just took off of you. I'm sure you've heard that a bazillion times....at least I have. And it annoys me to no end. yea, great, that person just took me for a boat load of money, but I can sleep better at night knowing that eventually, he's gonna go broke (and give my money to someone else). For some reason, that doesn't help me sleep at night. If I were around to see this 'karma' come back around and bite someone, well, then yes I'll sleep better, maybe.

As you know, I have a point to this. So Saturday morning, we wake up, early because the brochure in the room says check out is 11. And breakfast is from 7-10. So we wake up early....set the alarm for 9. So we get up and drag ourselves to breakfast. I have a waffle and some OJ. Then back to the room to shower and get ready, and we're checking out around 11, and then on our way to the Big B (Borgata). It was pretty nice out, nice and sunny, a little chilly, but still. So we go in, check out the poker room then head to the Amphora Lounge to find hubby's uncle, he's not there yet, so we go back to the poker room. There was like no tables opened, and there was a list for 1/2. So we all put our names on the list. Tom gets called first, then me, then hubby. I get seated at a table, and just wasn't feeling it. Then, hubby is called to a brand new table.

I love new tables. I don't know why. Probably because everyone is starting from scratch. Most they can have is $300 and nobody knows anything about anyone else. So I try to switch, floor person says no, he can't take me off a full table. So I told him to send someone from the new table to my table. Funny thing was, only 6 players were on the list for 1/2, no idea why they opened a table. So he says that he will save me a seat, and when they start to play, he'll move me. Okay fine, whatever. So he locks up my seat at the new table, seat 10. so I go back to my table, and I see all in guy from Friday walking around....oh brother. So anyways. I get moved to the new table. Had seat 10 locked up, but as I went over there, some guy was going to sit in seat 10. Floor guy apologizes and says that I locked that seat up, but seat 1 was open, and that guy can sit there. He was literally in mid-sitting pose, so I said, don't worry, I'll take seat 1 (it was closer for me anyways) so he sits in 10, I sit in 1. One seat is open. All in guy, nowhere to be found...so he's probably going to get my seat at the other table. Then I see him...oh no. He wants the open seat at my new table! NO! Floor guy Eric says no can do, he just locked up the seat, guy is at the cage getting chips. He tells him he wants to sit there, yadda yadda...can't do anything...so he is seated at my old table...phew! So a little while later, seat is open at my table and guess who sits there! NO! So I tell the guy next to me to tread carefully! Nobody else knows and people are getting involved in pots with him left and right. Geesh. All in guy ain't doing so great. I just stay out of his way, as does hubby b/c he's at my table. So, after awhile, I'm small blind, look down at jack 8 of diamonds. I call the extra buck, and guy next to me (BB) checks. I check dark (I don't like to think in early position sometimes lol). Flop comes out Jack 8 3, two hearts. SWEET! Guy next to me bets out 15. I'm like, dude, I'm gonna have to push I got top two. Girl across the table raises to 50, old guy next to her calls, all in guy calls. Hmmmmm, I have over 300 I believe, so I'm like 'told ya i gotta push, I'm all in' Dude next to me is like 'I gotta call you' I nearly peed my pants. He insta called, knowing I said I had to push and told him I have top two. Now I'm all depressed that he's got a set. So it's up to the girl, she's thinking. I immediately put her on a flush draw, and start to talk to the guy next to me. I'm like (whispering) 'do you have a set?' He's like 'No, do you?" Duh. I'm like 'Dude, I told you I had to push, I have top two!' He's like 'Oh man, really?' I'm like 'What do you have?' he's like 'Ace Jack' I'm thinking lovely, he's gonna catch an ace on the turn or river...or my luck, both. Girl finally folds, old guy next to her is like 'I can't fold, i call' Oh are you kidding me! LOL All in guy is like 'wow' he's thinking he's thinking. I put him on a flush or a gut shot, something ridiculous. I didn't put anyone on a pair preflop since there was no raise. So he starts to shuffle his cards, like in the air, and taking the top one and putting in on the bottom, etc. This is where if you're looking for it at a good angle, you can see his cards...he's got pocket 3's!!!! UGH. I know he's gonna call, so basically I'm hoping to hit a jack (which there is one left in the deck, or an eight, 2 left...3 outs) to win the pot. ugh. He's talking out loud that there are too many people in the pot and that someone has to have the higher set. I swallow hard. Hubby is standing up, ready to pee himself too LOL. All in guy thinks, looks like he's gonna fold, puts his card down, grabs some chips, still thinking. Finally, he FOLDS!!!!!!! I nearly cheered right there. The old guy is still in....no idea what he's on. I didn't put him on a flush draw to call an all in, then an insta call. I flip my cards over, so does guy next to me, old guy flips over ace two of hearts...nut flush draw...UGH! Turn is a red card....a 5...diamonds though...I breath. River, another red card. a 7...of DIAMONDS! I WIN I WIN I WIN! That was a HUGE hand! I basically hug the guy next to me...then I felt bad b/c he called...but then joked and called him an idiot for calling :)

All in guy, on MAJOR tilt. So the next hand or a few hands later, I'm still shaking and stacking my chips, I look over...I see hubby put out a bet of like 30 bucks or so, and got re-raised all in by all in guy. Flop was Ace Queen rag. All in guy is like 'c'mon call, I'm on major tilt' So hubby calls....all in guy flips over ace jack, hubby flips over pocket jacks for a set! SWEET! Turn is the ace, which gives all in guy a set, but hubby a boat, rag on the river. All in guy is like 'Sorry man' and hubby is confused. Dealer is like 'Oh you got him covered (to hubby) and takes all in guys chips and shoves them to hubby :) WHAT A SIGHT! All in guy is like 'What are you doing? I won the hand' Now, the board is still out there, but all in's guys cards were in the muck, however, hubby cards, still face up, were under all them redbirds, so he's like here's my cards. And all in guy is like 'He had a set of queens, I had a set of aces, man' And hubby is like 'look, your set of aces gave me a boat' And all in guy is like 'OH MAN' So he buys back in. A few hands later, all in guy raises to 15, I'm thinking 'easy fold' but hold the phone, pocket aces! I play his game from the night before, and make it $100. He is like 'okay I call' So the flop is jack high, I think it was like jack 7 8. He checks, I go all in, he insta calls with 4 5! WTF! He has a gut shot. hubby looks at me, and I just KNOW he's gonna hit his 6 for the gut shot....but he doesn't! I just took him for a TON of money!!!!!!! He gets up and is all ticked off about that hand where he laid down the set. Oh well! Stinks to be you! But that's karma baby! You play like that, you're gonna get burned. And not only did I witness it....but I was the receiver of the GOOD KARMA! I put in the initial blow, then hubby for the second, and me for the final blow. I was soooo happy! I had like $1100 in front of me, hubby had about 600 or so. I was sooooo happy! I got involved in a hand with the old guy with the nut flush draw.I had queen king, flip was queen jack rag. he checked, I bet he called, jack on turn, he goes to bet, I tell him don't bet...so he checks, I check. He checks again on the river, and is like 'You got the jack?" I'm like 'no the queen' and he mucks. I felt bad b/c he could have bet me and got me off the hand, so I gave him his money back. He didn't want it, but I kept throwing it at him. It was awesome. So basically a little while later we cashed out and went home. It was a great weekend!

Black Friday at Borgata 11/28/2008

Black Friday is an annual trip for us to AC, we go every year. What stunk was that my 10 year high school reunion was the same day. I didn't make a big deal out of it because we didn't go to Mike's, so no sense going to mine anyways. My friend's 10 year reunion was at Trump Taj like 2 years ago....now THAT would be one I'd go to :)

We get up early, at least I do, to eat something, take a shower, get ready and pack the last minute stuff and drop off the dog at my uncles. We planned to leave at noon, but we left around 12:30 so it wasn't too bad. We checked into the hotel, that took awhile, and arrived at Borgata at around 3pm. We put our names on the list for 1/2, which had about 40 some names. (we went with our friend Tom). We walked around a bit to see if we knew anyone and to see if my floor people were there. We ran into a friend of mine playing the noon tournament. He's made it pretty far in the past in the Friday tourney, but he busted around 40th and top 36 paid, so that hurt. After about an hour of waiting, we finally got a table.

My friend Tom got a table near mine, and then switched over when a seat next to me opened up. I got up about 100 within the first hour, then I wasn't catching anything, was was losing blinds. I did make a few good laydowns and got really excited and proud of myself for making the laydowns. The one guy at the table said 'I've never seen someone so happy that they lost money!' What they didn't understand is that normally I don't make the good laydowns...I put bad money in (knowing that I'm losing the pot). The one hand that I loved was I had king jack suited, in early position. I didn't raise pre-flop, figured I'd see a flop. Flop was king 8 5 or something. Guy checks, I bet like 12 bucks, everyone else folds but the guy to my right. Turn comes another eight, he checks, i bet again, he calls. Nothing on the river (not flush or straights out there). So he checks, I bet again, he min raises me. ugh. He's a good player, and I didn't see him calling w/ an 8 when I bet with the king out there. Well, I know I'm beat and I fold, but I show him my kings and 8s with a jack kicker. He shows me king queen! So his queen had me outkicked! SWEET! i got soooo excited which was when Kelly (guy at the table) was saying he never saw someone get so excited about losing money :) He left the table a short while later, but we all begged him to come back. Sweet kid. Was always short stacked but was a good player, we wanted him back. OH, by the way, I looked great! I had planned my outfit for awhile, so I had on a denim mini, with black leggings and black boots w/ the fur LOL. I had on a funny christmas tee as well. So let's see what else happened. I added the pic for everyone to see. I look miserable b/c it took me forever to convince hubby to take the pic, and the actual outfit was in the wash, but this is almost the exact outfit.

OH my friend Tom is an EXTREMELY tight player. So every time he's in a hand, I fold b/c I know he's got a great hand. So he's next to me playing for awhile, and came to my table with 325, had to put away 25 b/c he can only come in with 300. No biggie. He lost a big hand to a guy that wanted to shake my husband's hand because I was such a great girl. He kept saying in his next life, he was going to marry a girl like me :) AW! So, Tom raises and this guy calls. They both flopped a set! Tom flopped bottom set, the guy flopped top set. There were bets and raises, etc. Guy says 'I won't re-raise you this time because you're friends with her' AW! So in the end they flip over, amazing. Both flopped a set. So Tom was down a lot at this point. He busts out a short while later holding aces. He raises pre-flop and I think 1 or 2 people called. I folded (obviously). Flop was four king something. Tom bets, guy raises, Tom calls. Turn was nothing, bet, raise, call. Then the river Tom bets, guy raises Tom all in, Tom calls, guy flopped a set of fours! OUCH! So Tom's out.

At this point, my friend Tim is there and I tell him to switch to where Tom sat (best seat in the house...next to me of course! haha!) So he sits down and we're all playing. At this point is when I see Kelly two tables away. I was drinking a bit and everyone at the table is like 'Go get Kelly! We got an open seat!' So I go over there and beg him to come back. He didn't want to come, thought we wanted his money. Said 'no no no, you're a fun player, we all want you back' I told him to trust me (most poker players are untrustworthy, but not me!). He's like 'I'll think about it' then he grabs my leg and says 'Okay, don't miss any hands' and tells me to go play, but says when a seat opens next to me, to get him.....see, best seat in the house! So, as I sit down, this guy that was at the table earlier sits in the open seat. Very weird guy. Calls EVERYTHING. Nobody wanted him at the table, but one guy did...said he was easy money. HOW? He was taking everyone's money. First hand, the guy that sat down (we called him all in guy..would push all in for like $200 with like $15 in the pot) got heads up with the one guy that wanted him at the table. Took him for a ton of money on that hand...he had ace king and flopped top two. So I don't play many hands with this guy in the pot because it's just stupid. He can be on no draw, will call and suck out miraculously. He couldn't lose a hand! Well, Tim gets involved in a few pots with him and loses. Tim is down to like nothing, and goes all in and loses. Oh well.

Then I run over to Kelly, who's at another table, and he locks up the seat next to me. He was really fun to sit down next to. I tell him about all in guy, he's not scared. Go kelly! He gets involved in a 3 way pot with all in guy and some other guy. Kelly turns the ace high flush, bets, and all in guy is raising. So Kelly is doing the 'acting' part like 'man, are you kidding me?' etc. River is another spade, so it's bet raise call....all in guy had the king high flush (caught on the river) but kelly had the nut flush. So the pot comes he goes from like $200 in chips to about $700-$800 easily. He had these little figurines and the one was his good luck one that he pulled out RIGHT before this huge hand. So I say 'Can I have it?' and he's like 'here you go' So the next hand, I get dealt Ace Queen off, in late position. I raise to 21 (meant 16, the one chip got stuck to the other) and the all in guy calls and so does the guy to my right. Flop is ace jack king. All in guy bets 40, guy to my right insta calls, I go all in, they both fold. So at this point, I'm up about $30, so now I'm happy and ready to cash out. I don't want to hit and run so I stay for a few hands, knowing I'm just folding no matter what. Next hand, Kelly gets ace king, raises big, all in guy calls. Flop comes out ace king rag. kelly bets, all in guy raises, kelly re-raises, all in guy calls. The rest is shady to me, in a blur. They are both all in on the river, all in guy sucked out BIG time and hit runner runner straight (two rags) and kelly had ace king, and flopped top two. yikes. So kelly went from like $100 to $800 back to like $100. Gross. So he makes the remark 'nice suck out sir' and the guy gets all ticked off and telling the dealer he wants him kicked out for saying 'that word' I guess he thought Kelly said the f bomb, which he clearly didn't. So he says suck out again to him to tell him that's what he said, and they start arguing. Now, all in guy is a jerk, but is tipping the dealers BIG time, so of course the dealer is gonna be on his side, and the dealer kinda gives Kelly a warning. I flip my you know what. I'm sorry, but when a friend of mine (okay, I just met him, but I was on his side) is getting blamed for something he didn't do, I'm gonna run my mouth. OH, all in guy too, on the big hand Kelly won from him...Kelly tips the dealer a redbird, and the all in guy makes a snide remark that 'oh, here look, I'll take care of the dealer for you, eventhough I gave you all my money' and puts a redbird in the tip thing. Then Kelly's like 'What, 5 bucks is no good? I threw him a red-bird!' and the dealer kept mum b/c all in guy was tipping the entire time (even losing hands, still tipped). Idiots. I basically had to sit on kelly's lap to get him to sit down and be quiet. I didn't want him thrown out because of a jerk like all in guy. So I leave a few hands later, tell Kelly we'll find him tomorrow and wish the table luck. So I cashed out up $25 for the night.


Part two is great....Poker Karma baby!