a99kitten's Musings

Well, we lost to the Rams. To be honest, I’m truly surprised we made it this far so go team. And in a way, kinda relieved. If we won I would have to decide to either blow the money and go since it’s in LA or host a party. Either option – I am not in the head space for.

And it will be pretty easy to not care about a LA – CIN Superbowl.

Besides, my close friends never come any way. And my local friends/neighbors who come really do not care about football. So it’s just a reason to have a party. Which is perfectly acceptable and fun. But again…not right now.

I spent all day thinking about the game as I worked on projects. I have not sat down since around 9:30am. The entire game – I paced around, did stuff, made dinner.

Now that the game is over, I am finally sitting down and eating dinner. And typing this. And remembering it is Sunday. A day which I now hate for a while.

Started the day with a hike up on Glacier. Was fun but at 39 degrees (at 8am!) and sunny – too hot for Smokey :( No more hikes up there unless butt cold or cloudy/windy.

Spent the early part of the day cleaning just like if I was having a SB party – lol. But I got crazy! Polished my wood floors. Everything looks so nice now – I don’t want to walk on them!

Took Smokey for an afternoon walk before the game started. Of course saw the a-hole dog. But Smokey is the best so we cruised right by as he barked like an a-hole.

Game was great. Glad Brady and the Bucs won. I actually like KC and Andy Reid and Mahomes. But after last year’s 49er loss in the SB – happy to see them get beaten down. #revenge

But first year in I do not know how many that I did not have a party or participate in any SB Squares, or bets or anything. Sucks. Pretty bummed about it to be honest but oh well. Even my friends who never seem to shut up when I am too busy to participate were quiet most of the night. lol. And I know no one was at a party! Whatevs.

Funny – I have friends who could never come to my party because of travel or work. And yet even without those issues – no one said Hey – let’s do something. Probably best but still. Meh. My days as Cruise Director are over. #underappreciated So unless someone else initiates interaction – oh well…

Smokey would not eat anything all day and had a bad tummy. He didn’t even want his treats on our hike this AM. My neighbors invited me over for the game at the last minute, but I knew that stress would not be good for his tummy so declined. But just now at 8:30pm ate his breakfast. So at least I do not have to stress about that tonight. I always do. #myboy

Sunday night. Market opens in a few hours. Another long week. I think I need to pull back a bit – in my trading, communication, social media. Focus on my process and eliminate noise. Less energy expended I guess. Tired of feeling like I am the one expending so much energy. #hippiedippie

I just now fully realized that this will be the first Superbowl Sunday that I will not host a party in years. Like…probably more than a decade.

That sucks.

I know I could invite some neighbors/friends and they would come. But honestly, I do NOT want to be the site of patient zero.

So…quadruple sucks. :(

I love Buffalo Chicken Wings (prefer boneless though.) I love Buffalo chicken pretty much anything. I hate when people call anything spicy “Buffalo” but whatever. Use Frank’s and you are pretty good :)

2 (10 ounce) cans chicken breast
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot original cayenne pepper sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup ranch dressing
1/4 cup Greek yogurt (Fage)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place cream cheese in a medium bowl and stir until smooth. Mix in Frank’s Red Hot, mozzarella cheese, ranch dressing, and yogurt. Stir in chicken until thoroughly combined. Spoon mixture evenly into a deep 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until mixture is heated through. I serve with pita chips and sliced cucumbers (also carrots and celery but yuck.) :)

Mmmmmmm

First draft of fantasy football season is done! Seems decent to me even if several players I wanted were drafted right out from under me!!! I already have a Drew Brees jersey from a few years ago when he was my QB (I buy the jersey of my main fantasy QB each year) so I’m set! And obviously I have a Kap jersey.

The STL D was a tough one. But the 4 highest rated defenses were all NFC West so there you go. And since SF and SEA were drafted before I took a D, I went with my division. At least I got 1 49er player – even if a kicker. Although he better be faking this pre-season BS or I’ll drop faster than SEA bandwagon fans jump on.

….and may the odds be ever in my favor. :)

I was hoping to write this after the NFC Championship Game but the Saints didn’t get that memo. Oh well.

I’ve been to a lot of 49ers games at Candlestick. Actually my very first football game in my life was a 49ers game at the Stick. And I became a huge fan from there on. I took my little brother to a couple games when he visited form Florida and those are good memories for me to have of us. One of them was a game where Jerry Rice was breaking some big NFL record and the place was going nuts. It was also pouring rain and freezing cold. Ah Candlestick. That was the 1 good thing about the dry winter this year – not 1 rainy or even cloudy game this season. Frankly, it seemed really weird. Candlestick games = cold, cloudy/foggy and windy.

And I went to a lot of SF Giants games there. Went to the all of the play-off games leading up to the World Series vs the As. And yes the ’89 World Series game when the earthquake hit. I was on the escalator and it felt like we were surfing. The ground didn’t shake as much as roll. After it stopped everyone yelled and cheered because it didn’t actually seem that bad at all. Only a bit later after being in our seats, and people had their little TVs or radios on (yes…before smart phones..), did we realize how bad it actually was.

Once they called the game, it took forever to get to our cars. And then it took forever to get out. One of the joys of Candlestick is its location in the ghetto along with horrific routes in and out. So traffic is a nightmare on a good day. The police were sending us out through some side streets where all of the street lights were out and it was not a good place to be. There were bricks thrown in car windows, people standing around watching all the cars. But got home safely. All of my friends and family were freaked out because cell coverage was gone and all the news kept showing was the fire in the Marina but really saying how it was basically the city on fire. Nice.

I started going to more 49er games once we signed Jim Harbaugh. Was a fan of his at Stanford and was excited to have him! Then I finally got season tickets 2 seasons ago and it’s been a blast. Tailgated at almost every game with friends and had a super fun time each and every game. Our seatmates in our row and behind us were all super fun.

The send-off at the MNF game a couple weeks ago was great. We won – most importantly! And they had Boys II Men do their goodbye songs, many 49er greats to say hello/goodbye – Dwight Clark, Steve Young, TO, Jerry Rice, EDDIE D! It was AWESOME that the entire stadium chanted for Eddie. But no Joe. Don’t get me started. He lost some awesome points in my opinion but oh well. It’s a business.

A fantastic fireworks display set to Hello, Goodbye by the Beatles which was fitting both in song and also that they played their last concert at Candlestick (the Let it Be rooftop show was more of a jam session of a few songs.) As a huge Beatles fan, I liked that. No one left. Everyone stayed for the entire send-off and people were all singing with Boys II Men and the Beatles. You did actually want to shed a tear or 2. :)

I say Farewell Candlestick. It’s been a lot of fun. You gave me a lot of nice memories. But I would be huge liar if I said I’m not extremely excited about the new, way-more-cushier stadium :)

GO NINERS!!!!

Me and gnome at the Stick (with bubbly!)

Cut up 4 Smoked Andouille chicken sausages. Browned in 2 tbsps of vegetable oil for about 20 mins over medium-low heat.

Made a package of Zatarain’s Dirty Rice and tossed in the sausage about 15 minutes into simmering.

Voila – delicious and SUPER easy Sunday night dinner on a cold night while watching Peyton’s team dismantle Tom’s team (so far at least..17 – 0 in 2nd quarter! Gisele is not pleased….)

And since Peyton is a Louisiana boy, this dinner works :)

I’m always looking for yummy recipes that will work for tailgating. Has to be easily transportable, eaten easily while hanging out and preferably little mess (at least once in the Candlestick parking lot!) Oh! And also very yummy :)

Have never done chicken before. Honestly my go-to is cheeseburgers because cheeseburgers are delicious. Two weeks ago I decided to use the advice from some food guy on Yahoo about cheeseburgers and use 80/20 meat, American cheese and squishy white bread buns (no pretzel bun, ciabatta, etc etc.) Frankly, I’ve never done that. I always buy 93/7 meat and use cheddar, blue cheese, or some such other yummy cheese. BUT, this guy’s point was make the cheeseburger the way it is meant to be made. You don’t eat them every day so when you do, make them right. He was right – DELICIOUS!!! I will make them that way for tailgating from now on.

But I digress….I wanted to try chicken this time so went on a search for a tasty chicken recipe. Found this one on the Food Network – Dirty P’s Garlic-Ginger Chicken Thighs:

Ingredients

2 pounds skin-on, boneless chicken thighs
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh tangerine or orange juice
Freshly ground pepper
Vegetable oil, for the grill

NOW…I changed the recipe to this (for my tastes):

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger (used Gourmet Garden ginger paste found in the produce section)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (used Odwalla)
Freshly ground pepper
Vegetable oil, for the grill (I used spray on grilling spray stuff…highly technical)

I hate onions (unless deep-fried into rings in which case they are OK especially when dipped in ranch!) so they had to go. And I just can’t eat chicken skin unless way deep fried KFC style. So skinless as well as boneless chicken for me…

Directions

Combine the chicken, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, juice and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal and shake to coat the chicken with the marinade. Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight. (I marinated for about 5 hours before cooking.)

Preheat a grill to medium high and oil the grate. Grill the chicken skin-side down until marked, 5 to 6 minutes. Flip and continue to grill until cooked through, about 5 more minutes. (here is where I changed it – since I have skinless chicken cook for 2 minutes on 1 side, flip and 2 more minutes, and then repeat. So cooking for 8 minutes total. BUT, the key was making sure the grill was HOT. In making this at home for a 2nd time my grill was heated to 500 degrees.)

When I went to Safeway to buy chicken for the tailgate, the checkout guy was probably 20 yrs old at most. There was a HUGE notice at checkout about the chicken as there was a recent Foster Farms salmonella scare. When I asked half-jokingly “what do I need to know about this chicken?” he responded “cook your chicken. simple. people don’t cook their chicken and then go around blaming other people for their own stupidity. it’s not filet mignon people. it’s chicken. not supposed to be pink.” I left that in all lower case because he said it so fast, and in such a thick country accent, that I had no response other than a heartfelt smile and a “You are completely right.” Nice to know there are some people out there that I agree with.

Anyway….I digress…..again….

Let the chicken rest 3-5 minutes before serving.

This was SO good. So, so good. Also – FULLY cooked but not dry. Pay attention people. Yummy. Both at the 49ers tailgate and tonight. Very glad I found the recipe and will use it often! And not just for tailgating :)

Tim Tebow was released by the New York Jets today. I say good riddance. But I don’t mean to Tim being let go. I mean to the NY Jets being out of Tim’s life. That team and its fans deserve each other. Scrolling through some of the headlines and stories on it this morning had me shaking my head at the vitriol and immaturity of the sports media (who I had liked more than standard media but that is waning fast.)

So let’s see…Tim Tebow has NOT:

. Raped anyone or been accused of rape…multiple times
. Run a vicious dog fighting business, murdered (yes, murdered) many dogs and lied straight-faced to the Feds when asked.
. Help a friend cover up a murder (at BEST just helped cover up but probably just a weeeeee bit more)
. Take drugs and get arrested…multiple times
. Drive drunk and get arrested…multiple times
. Hangout with known gang members and get involved in their shoot outs.
. Carry a non-licensed gun (What?! Criminals can get those?!?!) and shoot someone or better yet, yourself
. Killed someone while driving under the influence

Those are just a few little indiscretions made by current (or recently retired) NFL players.

But he DOES/HAS:

. Spends his off time helping sick children in the Philippines
. Started a foundation that helps children with cancer – and actually spends time on it, not just his face or cash like MANY other celebs.
. Doesn’t seem to drink, or smoke, or do drugs, or end up at the police station or in his lawyer’s office. Or even on TMZ.
. Broke *numerous* college football records (including QB records) while still maintaining a 3.77 GPA
. Won the Heisman Trophy
. Oh yeah…took the Denver Broncos from a 1 and 4 start (when he was brought in to replace Kyle Orton) to the AFC Play Offs in his first year in the NFL. You can argue it wasn’t just him and it was a team effort. Of course. But where was that team in the first 5 games? Napping in Loserville. Takes something special to rally a team. And Tim did that. Also…beat the NYJ…

I am 100% convinced the media that hates Tim hates him because he is very outspoken in his Christianness (is that a word?) They can’t stand that someone who is so religious could also be a nice guy, not a pedophile. And be a successful, happy guy. *Obviously* something has to be wrong with him.

The New York Jets are an awful team. Maybe not always, but they are now. Mark Sanchez is pathetic. And NO team leader. That’s a laughable thought actually. But the coaching and frankly, the fans, are way worse. Watching the “fans” react to the NYJ draft picks was telling. I’d hate to be drafted to that team. They are tied with OAK for my least favorite sports teams ever. I think it’s blessing (and I’m not religious at all) for Tim to be let go from that hell hole of a team.

But I think it’s far more telling of people that rail so much on the kid. Sure you can argue you are some football purist and he has no business playing. But…well…he did far more for the Gators and for the Broncos than most. And I love (love) Peyton Manning, but not once person can say with a straight face that he would have even considered joining that team if they had continued down the 1-4 road they were on in 2011. Not. One. Chance. The last time they were in the play-offs was in 2005. And he really did only take them 1 game further than Tim did.

No..I am not comparing Tim to Peyton on a football level. Peyton IS a football genius. But also another example of a team leader that leads his team through more than just his playing. Are there better QBs in the NFL. Yes. But are there QBs (or any position) who have been maligned as much as Tim? Not that I can recall. Certainly not recently. You can point to the fact that he has more of a celebrity factor than a lot of other players. True. But that’s the media, not him. The media likes to build up so they can tear down.

But for all the hate spewed forth and pointing and laughing by the media or people about Tim, you are simply showing what a pathetic human being you really are. So go back to worshiping the scumbags of the NFL.