Once there was a girl…
…where a girl's perspective of how the internet and California culture collide
A few weeks ago I had a hankering for rich comforting soup so I gave Paula Deen’s Beefy French Onion Soup recipe a try…
I took a fresh loaf of french bread, toasted some slices and sunk two chunks in the soup before I added the cheese…
I also substituted the sherry with a Cab I had open from a couple nights before. The rich beefy flavor was great, but I could really do without the actual stew meat, I think next time I’ll just cut the beef and double the onions… you can never have too much onion.
Ingredients
- 4 large vidalia onions, about 2-1/2 pounds, peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted (1/2 stick)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- black pepper
- 2 cups grated gruyere cheese (8 ounces)
Directions
1. In a slow cooker, toss the onions with the butter and sugar. Cook, covered, on high heat, until the edges begin to brown, about 90 minutes.
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until shimmering, about 1 minute. Add the beef and brown, stirring occasionally, 5-7 minutes. Transfer the beef to the slow cooker. Add the sherry to the skillet and scrape up the browned bits. Add the pan juices to the slow cooker along with the broth, Worcertershire sauce, salt, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper to taste. Simmer, covered for 2-1/2 hours on high heat or 7 hours on low.
3. Uncover and simmer for 1 hour more, until thick. Remove the bay leaf.
4. When ready to serve, turn on the broiler. Ladle the soup into flameproof bowls and divide the cheese over the tops. Place the bowls on a baking sheet and broil until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 3 minutes. Serve hot.
via recipezaar
This is brilliant!
Twitter: The Criterion Collection
What if Twitter… came to life?
We asked some of our friends to film their favorite tweets. We didn’t care how they did it. They could read it. They could act it. They could do it with puppets. Whatever they wanted. The only rules were it had to be a tweet written by someone else and it had to contain the entire tweet and nothing but the tweet.
This is what they gave us.
We hope you enjoy it.
Well done, you two.
via yourmonkeycalled.com
All I can say is WOW.
Amazing game. I learned of the score via Twitter and frequent phone calls from my father while sitting in a VERY nice restaurant at the Bellagio in Vegas. I may have jumped up and screamed when the news came across about the gold…
Classy.
Good job Canada. You hosted a gracious event. The people came and they had fun. And you sent them all off while being smug with your Hockey gold, your record of most golds won, and giant inflatable beavers…
*sigh*
Way to perpetuate the stereotypes.
You have to read this post from Tremendous News. Brilliant. Like those mass forward emails, but with pictures! and more in-tune with my generation…
Save for the ‘Roll Up The Rim’ Tim Horton’s campaign I’ve either said or recognize these statements from my family. I missed the memo on winning from Timmys, must also be a product of the fact I NEVER go home during the winter unless it’s Christmas-time.
Also, you aren’t a fully formed adult unless you’ve sat through an episode of Mr. Dressup and get excited to see what he pulled out of his Tickle Trunk.
1. We Are Completely Comfortable With The Term “Homo Milk”.In Canada, this is an acceptable type of milk. I remember when someone asked my mom what type of milk she gave me as a child. I braced myself for a devastating mental image.
He loves homo.
Thanks, mom.
Because that’s not confusing.
2. We Correct You When You Say “Soda”.We’ll say, “you mean pop?”. And then creepily stare at you until you call it ‘pop’.
3. We Are Offended When You Ask Us If We Know A Friend Of Yours Who, Coincidentally, Also Lives In Canada.You’re from Canada? Do you know my friend Tom? He lives in Canada too.
Ever since Canada was invented, we’ve been asked this question. The American soldiers did this during the War of 1812.
Good war, dude. Good war. I think my buddy Jacques lives up in Canada. Vancouver or some shit. Tall guy, eyepiece? You probably know him.
4. We Don’t Think “Legalizing Marijuana” Is A Debate.I’ve never met a Canadian with another view on it.
Or I might have, but I was watching Garfield 2 while eating cookie dough.
Odie’s a bad ass.
5. We’ve All Rolled Up The Rim To Win.Ask any Canadian you know if they’ve ‘rolled up the rim’.
They’ll say yes.
It’s not naughty. It’s way lamer than that. It’s a contest that a coffee shop ..
Actually fuck it.
It’s naughty.
6. We’ve Been Jealous Of Someone Else’s Toboggan.A ‘toboggan’ is a nice wooden snow sled.
When I grew up, I had to go sledding using the lid of a garbage can.
So maybe this one’s just for me.
7. We Think ‘Beaver Tail’ Is Delicious.A beaver tail is a pastry, covered in syrup, ice cream, cream, and some fruit that we pick off it because it’s all gross and healthy.
8. Our Parents Have Tied Our Mittens Together With A String So We Don’t Lose Them.My mom would tie my “wool gloves” together and put them through my winter jacket so I didn’t lose them.
This seemed like a good idea.
But since they were pink and I was a freaking boy, mom I doubt they’d go unnoticed.
9. We Were Raised, In Part, By Mr. Dressup.I’m twenty-nine, so this might not be true of older Canadians. Or like, super hot college chicks who think I’m all old and gross now because they don’t know who Mr Dressup is.
Mr Dressup sawed through the hearts of many Canadian kids.
10. We Grow Playoff Beards. (Not The Women) (Hopefully)During hockey playoffs, players will not shave. So when they win the Stanley Cup, it looks like Hamas is playing for the New Jersey Devils.
For some bizarre reason, some fans who support the team, decide to grow beards too.
Don’t ask.
I look like I’m in Hamas even in the off season.
11. We Are Angry That We Can’t Watch The Same Commercials As Americans During The Superbowl.Instead of the cool commercials everyone talks about, we get “Tom Ford’s Nissan Dealership, Now Open In Bolton”.
Your name’s Tom Ford, douchebag.
Pick the right car company.
12. We Know Where To Get Good Poutine.Because it is the nectar of our people.
–
For the last three, I asked some friends of Tremendous News for help. Here they are.
13. When We Hear “In The Five-hole” And “Spending Some Time In The Box”, We Don’t Think Dirty.It’s hockey. It’s pure. It’s our game.
Alex Ruiz, Calgary Flames TV.
14. We Give Directions Using Liquor Stores And Beer Stores As Geographical Benchmarks.Ok, you know the beer store at Jane and Dundas? Go east until you get to the liquor store then take a right.
Jeff Marek, Hockey Night In Canada Radio.
15. Canadians Never Think Anywhere Is Cold Outside Of CanadaWhaaaa? This isn’t cold. Winter of ‘94, my eyelids froze shut, and I still walked to school.
Nia Vardalos, Actress, Screenwriter, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Life In Ruins
–
There you have it.
Send this to a Canadian friend to see how many of these things they can relate to.
You can follow me on Twitter here. Let me know if you have any friends in Canada.
I was probably jealous of their toboggans.
Now after writing the last post on Tuesday evening I headed to the airport to pick up my parents from the airport upon their return from spending the last week in Vancouver at the Olympics… so jealous!
~
Giving me the highlights of their trip my mum mentioned how some of the best merchandise was hard to come by in the city. One of these desired items of course are the Canadian mittens with the white fleece maple leaves in the palms.
Impossible to find.
After stopping in gift shops throughout their visit in Vancouver, fighting lines and fatigue, they could not track a pair down. Their last day in the city, while waiting for one of the attractions in the Coke pavilion my mother spotted a woman wearing a coveted pair.
Just in passing my mum mentioned to the woman that she could make an absolute killing by selling her mittens. They were impossible to find and the hottest souvenir on them market at the games…
*Now here’s where I stopped my mum from the story and asked
“Did she sell them to you!?”
“No. She GAVE them to me”
“WHAT!?’
So this kind woman, a complete stranger, upon hearing that my mum had been all over the city looking for these mittens and knowing she was leaving the next day to head back to California, thought for a second, and handed over her pair and says “I want you to have these”.
My mum shakes her head and declines the generous gift, and the woman reiterates “No, I WANT you to have these”.
Now that my dear readers is what really sets Canadians apart. Not only are they nice and polite, but they are also gracious and generous too.
So thank you Catherine H. for proving yet again how amazing Canadians are :)
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