Pun Wars

It began in the first days of living in the same house with Jess. Either she or I would start with a cheesy pun and we would begin bantering back and forth, punning on the same topic.

For example, fruit:
"You're a basket case."
"It stems from having you around so much."
"Be pre-peared to clean out the fridge."
"These things don't happen organically."
"I hope all of our conversations are this fruitful."
(This is a real excerpt from our text messages.)

And as a result, this is how I got the nickname "Grapechel." :)

We've gone through topics like the ocean, dogs, horses, eggs, cheese, and countless others that I can't even remember. It was from these wars that I realized (1) we are both very competitive and (2) we are both very witty.

1) We are both very competitive.
Pun wars would start late at night, right as we both were preparing for bed. Neither of us was willing to let the other have the last word, so we would stay up past our self-imposed curfew. After we managed to extricate ourselves and shut our respective doors, we would still be yelling puns through the paper-thin wall we share. The other would yell in response that she couldn't hear what was said. We would then move to texting each other from our respective rooms.

2) We are both very witty.
This is self-evident.

We are indeed a pair of cheesy buds.

Breakfast Cups

Today's Special: Breakfast Cups
1 package of chicken sausage
1 pepper
1 zucchini
1 carton of egg whites

Preheat the oven to 350. Sautee the chicken sausage on medium high heat. Put to the side. Cut up the zucchini and peppers and sprinkle into a greased muffin tin. Add equal amounts of sausage in each cup. Bake at 350 for 23-25 minutes. Most important: Once they are out of the oven, take them out of the cups and place on a cooling rack.

I just threw mine into a ziploc bag and then voila! Breakfast for the week under 200 calories for 2 cups. They are delicious, but please forgive me. I am still very new to foblogging and forgot to take step by step pictures like any good pioneer would do. So I only have a picture of the final product which I even admit... doesn't capture its true... essence. But here you go... I hope you enjoy them as much as I do :)

Seattle SuperSonics

When it comes to sports teams, Seattleites tend to favor soccer, baseball, and I guess football (now that Pete Carroll has made something of the Seahawks). I quickly learned that bringing up the NBA topic in Seattle ends up in bitter tirades about the Oklahoma City debacle (Seattle's NBA team was sold off to Oklahoma). This is unfortunate because basketball is my favorite sport to watch!

The latest news is that Seattle is going to purchase the Sacramento Kings and hold it out as the new local Sonics basketball team. While I am thrilled that our city is going to be an NBA city again, part of me wonders how this will go; is this a case of "If at first you don't succeed..." or will it be "Fool me twice, shame on me"? Note the ironic history.

On a side note, many familiar faces from my hometown (Los Angeles) are turning up in Seattle.

• Steve Sarkisian: once a coach at USC, now head coach at UW
• Pete Carroll: former head coach at USC, now the Seahawks coach
• Phil Jackson: former LA Laker coach, Seattle newssources say he is a possibility for the open position as Sonics coach

I suppose everyone heard that I'm headquartered here?

Cheesy Buds... Literally

Eloquently put, Rachel. Since PBS has yet to take notice of my culinary qualifications, I shall share my first recipe that both Rachel and I have made separately with smashing success, and wouldn't you know it, they are literally cheesy buds. I present to you: Parmesan Crusted Potato Skins.

Ingredients

• 6 small potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
• 1/4 cup butter
• grated parmesan cheese
• garlic powder
• other seasonings (to personal preference)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter and pour into a 9x13 inch pan and spread evenly across the bottom. Generously sprinkle parmesan cheese and lightly sprinkle other seasonings all over the butter. Place potato halves face down on the butter and seasonings. Place in preheated oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve on a plate with a side of sour cream for dipping.

 

Why Cheesy Buds?

"Cheesy Buds" was to be the name of Jess and my hypothetical television show. The idea was to have a cooking show where Jess (the more advanced cook) would make PBS-worthy dishes, and I would be the ignoramus ooh-ing and aah-ing in the background (and I would of course devour everything).

To create our show's name, we each thought of our favorite food. Cheese is my favorite thing. Potatoes are Jess' go-to staple. We combined to call our united product "Cheesy Buds." The name is particularly appropriate as we tend to enjoy one-upping each other in often cheesy jokes and puns.