Recipe review

Yesterday, I tried to make the recipe at the bottom of the page (for Hashbrown Casserole). I followed the recipe exactly, except for using butter to grease the pan I baked it in instead of using vegetable spray.

I found the finished product delicious, but too greasy. When I took it out of the oven, I could see pools of butter/grease at the corners and along the edges of the pan. I don't know if there is a difference between the frozen hashbrowns I bought, and just plain frozen shredded potatoes (which I couldn't find at my store); perhaps what I had contained too much grease already. The ingredients did list sunflower oil.

What I would do next time is:

• Use vegetable spray to grease the pan
  
• Leave out the melted butter entirely or use just a very small amount
  
• Remove the foil after 30 minutes of heating and cook an additional 10-15 minutes to crisp the top

If I did that, I believe it would be completely delicious, just the right texture, and not too rich.

Here is the recipe (as found from here):

Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole

3/4 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1&1/3 c. shredded Colby cheese
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/3 c. + 1&1/2 Tbs. melted butter
Just under 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 lbs frozen shredded potatoes

Mix all ingredients except potatoes.
Add potatoes and mix by hand until all is well distributed.

If time allows, let the mixture season by sitting in the fridge for a
few hours.

Place mixture in a sprayed baking dish. DO NOT PACK THE MIXTURE DOWN.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Does inability to multitask lead to cheating?

I was commenting in a friend's livejournal and I sort of made up a theory in the process of the comment that made a lot of sense and felt like it needed a little more attention, so I'm going to attempt to flesh it out here.

I'll start by saying that I believe there are differences in general between how men behave and how women behave. I don't know if these differences are due to nature, nurture, or some combination (which I think is most likely), and I'm also not saying "Every man acts such-and-such way, and every woman acts differently," because that's simply not the case. There are always exceptions, and there's as much variation between how any two men (or two women) act as between how any one man and one woman act. That said, as a(n amateur) sociologist, I feel that I can generalize about gendered patterns of behavior without resorting to sexist stereotypes and without insisting that all members of either group do (x) or (y).

Research has shown that women multitask better than men, while men focus on a task better than women do. Does this singularity of focus, and inability to multitask, lead to men getting into situations that cause them to literally forget about their significant others, and engage in infidelity?

If a man is singular-minded, and goal-oriented, can he so lose track of what he's doing that his S.O. doesn't enter his mind until after it's "too late"?

I'm not trying to create an excuse, but in light of the fact that nearly two-thirds of married men admit to having affairs, it's interesting to think about why this may be occurring.

Of course, this would not help at all in explaining why a significant portion of women also have affairs. Perhaps monogamy just doesn't work well for humans?

how long must i blow my nose several times a day? this is getting rediculous. i GOT this cold over a week and a half ago (almost 2 weeks ago actually) and i've had only the nose-part for about a week. what's the deal!? i should buy stock in kleenex.
in the home-saga: the toilet seat is STILL being left up by my inconsiderate roommate, with whom i've had discussions about it, apparently to no avail. he promises to be "better" about it, and every time i come home when he's been in the house the toilet seat is up. so i got fed up yesterday. i wrote on a small piece of paper

PLEASE
CLOSE
ME

in permanent blue ink and taped it to the underside of the seat. i am really frustrated and disappointed that it must come to this, but what am i to do?

history, part I

My mom disappeared when I was young. When I was about ten, she became so emotionally distant that it was almost as though she was really gone. When my parents separated and then divorced, I lived with my dad.

My dad wasn't the present parent that would have created stability either. He was often off with the flavor of the week, spending too much money trying to impress, and forgetting for the time being that he had children to think about. This left me quite a lot of time to get into trouble, which I frequently did.

In the meantime, I remained close with my grandma. She and I had a closer relationship than do most people separated by a generation, and she taught me much of the lessons I now feel were most important. I learned about honesty, cooking, and homecrafts from her, and we both got quite good at playing Gin Rummy.

At 19, I needed to move. Things got unbearable with the latest new character on the scene (in this case, my sister's boyfriend who had moved in and made an uncomfortable situation). I headed out West to discover my fortune.

Many adventures and a couple of years later, I discovered my grandma had been rushed to emergency surgery for cancer, and I hurried back into town to be there for her. When it became clear that she would need chemotherapy, I went back home, tied up a few loose ends, and returned to be by her side.

I spent my days with her.

Teenage promiscuity increases as threat of cancer decreases (ummm, ok)

Via indigoskynet:

Members of the Religious Right are now concerned that a vaccine that prevents the virus that leads to cervical cancer will encourage teenagers to be more promiscuous.

Doctors have suggested that the vaccine become one of the many required to attend public school in the United States to encourage its widespread use. Conservatives are against this requirement since they're scared that removing the fear of cancer (well, specifically, the fear of HPV, a sexually transmitted disease) will break down the barriers that currently prevent teens from having sex. Conservatives feel that discouraging pre-marital sex, and encouraging fidelity in marriage, will be the best solution to prevent the spread of HPV.

Do conservatives honestly believe that teenagers sit around thinking of all the STDs that are possible to get, and when the list is reduced by one, that they will decide to have sex when otherwise they would choose against it? Let's not forget chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV/AIDS, and genital herpes will still be risks for sexually active teenagers, not to mention pregnancy, or, say, disapproval from their religious parents?

If parents would like their teenagers not to have sex for religious/moral reasons, why not talk to their children about morality and religion instead of using diseases to scare them? If conservatives believe that the threat of eternal damnation, God's wrath, or parents being pissed off is not enough to scare their kids into being virgins until marriage (and if not, why not?) and there needs to be the threat of bodily harm in the form of a sexually transmitted disease, why not stress that AIDS and genital herpes, both of which continue to have no cure, are still out there? Oh that's right, in abstinence-only education, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases is not mentioned at all, because that would mean talking about something besides "It's not ok to have sex, just don't do it. End of discussion." How well is that little talk going, religious parents?

Why I love Grey's Anatomy

Even though it's a silly drama on ABC (of all stations), I love Grey's Anatomy. Here are the reasons:

1. The show centers around a strong female lead
   
2. The strong female lead, as well as her supporting actors and actresses, are flawed, and have a real feeling about them. These are believable characters, making mistakes and saying things that you or I might say or do
   
3. The plot is not overly formulaic
   
4. It's fun to watch
   
5. Tegan and Sara songs have played in five of the nine episodes of the first season! Prominently, in fact!

I can't wait for Season 4!