Please Plow Your Sidewalks!!!

I need to vent for just a few lines to start off with.  I'm sure many of you experienced the ridiculous amounts of snow that we had this week.  Grand Rapids did a fine job of plowing the roads.  They were nice and clear today.  But as for the sidewalks on my way to work:  NONE OF THEM WERE PLOWED!  I take that back.  About ten feet had been plowed, and then the plowing abruptly stopped.  Before I left for work this morning, Eric told me to please walk on the sidewalk, even if it hadn't been plowed, because it makes him nervous to have me walking in the road.  I agreed.  It's a pretty busy street, and the cars often don't move over for pedestrians, so I had every intention of slogging through the snow.  When I got there, however, I plunged into snow up to my thighs.  I had worn boots and tucked my jeans into them, but it didn't matter anymore.  As my boots sank to the bottom of the drift, snow poured in around my cold feet.  Yuck.  I waded through the snow drifts for, eh, maybe 50 meters or so, until I was winded, and nearly stuck.  I knew I would never make it to work on time if I kept going like that... so I fought my way out onto the road.  When I finally got to work, I took my boots off to change into the shoes I had stashed in my purse.  Snow that had been packed in between my jeans and the boots rained down onto the floor and swiftly turned into a puddly mess.  I scooped up what snow I could and molded it into a snowball that I deposited in the toilet to melt.  Then I mopped up the rest of the water with toilet paper.  The walk back home was only slightly worse.  The snow in the road was turning to slush... so as cars whizzed past me, I was repeatedly sprayed in the face.  One kind lady pulled over and asked if I would like a ride.  I declined.  She insisted.  I declined again.  Getting in cars with strangers makes me nervous.  Another car honked at me.  That made me mad.  I would GLADLY have been on the sidewalk instead of in the road... but no one seems to think it necessary to plow the sidewalk for pedestrians.  And since pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way... I don't think people should be honking....  Oh, and, I almost forgot to mention, while I was at work, snow that had been caked on the insides of my boots melted... so the boots that I walked home in were soaking wet :(

We might look into borrowing a car from a friend for a few days, at least when the drifts are this high.  The walk itself isn't bad... but seriously Grand Rapids!  Plow the sidewalks!

Alright :)  Now that I got that out of my system, I will write about more pleasant things :)  Like... food!!!  So... this week I made a nice dish called Artichoke and Feta Fettuccine.  The recipe was really simple to make, and it tasted quite good too!  It's basically as though you mix a few ingredients together and make your own flavor of Ragu :)  You should give it a try too!  Here's the recipe:

Artichoke and Feta Fettucine

2 6-oz. jars marinated artichoke hearts
1 (14 1/2-oz.) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
2 garlic cloves (or more to taste)
1/4 C. sliced black olives
1 lb. fettuccine, or angel hair pasta
6 oz. feta cheese
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Put artichoke hearts, tomatoes, garlic and olives in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  (Can be done by hand in large bowl.)  Put in saucepan and simmer.  Add the pasta to boiling water and cook until tender but still slightly firm.  Drain and put in large bowl.  Top with artichoke-tomato sauce and 1/2 the feta which has been cubed or crumbled. Mix well.  Top with remaining feta and a few grinds of pepper, if desired, and serve immediately.

I had never tried an artichoke before, so I ate one straight out of the can.  Not so yummy really.  I've had artichoke dips and things... and those are good.  But as for just a plain artichoke all on its lonesome... really kind of gross.  That worried me since it was going to be one of the main ingredients.  But once it was mixed in with the tomatoes it tasted great :)  I wasn't sure whether or not to pour the vegetables and their liquid into the food processor.  The recipe doesn't indicate whether or not you use the liquid from the food cans.  I did.  It worked fine.  But you might get less watery sauce if you threw the liquid away.  Does anyone else have issues with their fingers stinking like garlic for a long time after cutting up garlic?  Sometimes the smell seems to last for days, and sometimes it goes away really quickly.  I do wash my hands and shower, lol!  Any suggestions for how to get rid of the smell?  Once again, the food processor was quite a success.  I really like it, even though I had never used one before I bought it.  It really speeds things up in the kitchen.

Our largest pot is currently in the refrigerator holding chicken soup... so I only had two other pots to work with.  One was needed for the pasta and one for the sauce.  The sauce went in the small one and the pasta in the larger.  Both pots were rather too small for what they needed to hold.  The sauce kept boiling over even though it was barely simmering, and before the pasta was done cooking, the water had almost all disappeared (I couldn't fit enough water in the pot to begin with).  But everything was cooked eventually. 

Poor Eric didn't get home that night till 7:45PM, which meant that the sauce simmered on the stove for a loooooong time.  The pasta I tried to preserve by coating it with butter and placing a lid over the pot to keep it warm.  It worked alright :)

As for exercise... well, in addition to walking, lol, I've been doing lunges.  You've probably all done them before.  It's basically slow walking where you drop into a kneeling position with each step, but never actually touch your knee to the ground.  It KILLS your butt and thighs to do lunges.  (I do mean kills in a good way ;P )  I also read online that if you do these while holding one weight up above your shoulder on one side (then switch to the other shoulder after a bit) it's supposed to work your ab muscles too.  I'm not sure about that.  They said that you are making your body unbalanced by holding the weight there, and so your abs will have to work to maintain balance.  I don't know.  I could feel the exercise in my butt and thighs... but not in my abs.

That's all for now folks :)  Good night!