Hippie Stew

After much searching and agonizing and cussing, I finally got all the ingredients to my Hippie stew

1 large red onion

1 large yellow onion

Mushrooms, lots of them and in different varieties

half a bag baby carrots

1 stick butter (sorry vegans)

Some fresh green bean if you like

A few heaping table spoons of flour

1 cup merlot

1 box vegetable broth

1 box mushroom broth

salt

pepper

sage

oregano

garlic

other spices hiding in the cabinet next to the stove

In a large soup pan, melt the butter over low heat.

Slice the onions

After the butter melts, but isn't scorched, add the onions. (if I had real garlic, I would add some diced garlic at this time, but I didn't)

Cook the onions until they're mushy (technical term there, I swear)

While the onions are cooking, wash and chop the mushrooms.

(If you're using some dried wild mushrooms, soak them in water or wine)

Add some salt, pepper, garlic powder, sage, thyme, season salt

Stir it up

Add three or four heaping spoonfuls of flour and mix until you have an oiniony mess

Add the mushrooms (including the juice)

Add the broths and wine

Stir

Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally

Add green bean, carrots, and other fresh vegetables

Simmer for a while

I would say share and enjoy, but since I didn't bother to add meat, no one else in the family will eat it

Amytopia Movie Awards

I've managed to see more movies this summer than I have in a long time. It can be a good way to kill a couple of hours. Or a horrible let down. Since I'm bored and all ready made my nocturnal trip to Wal-Mart and caught up on Project Runway and I don't feel like sewing, here are my 2009 (so far movie awards

OMG! That was Awsome: Star Trek. Fantabulous reset of an old favorite. The effects were awesome. The story bring a little humanity to Spock.

Honorable Mention: Zombieland, Up!, and The Wrestler

Great, Now I Really Need a Beer To Cry In: The Wrestler. For an ugly guy, Mickey Rourke can act.

Honorable Mention: Up!

German Shepherd Head Tilt: Terminator. Great action, awesome story, until the end. Really needed a better ending. Goes to show a Hollywood ending doesn't make for a good story

Surprise, It Didn't Suck: Land Of The Lost. Could have waited until it came out on DVD, but it didn't suck

I Want My Two Hours and Twenty Bucks Back: Shorts. Nickelodeon's feature was a kid movie that felt like it was written by twelve year olds.

Office Barbrady, "Nothing to see here." Award: Surrogates. Bruce Willis as a police detective with a damaged home life. Yeah, same song different verse.

Honorable mention, G-Force. Disney animal film. Hamsters save the world.

No Hit Wonder

Recently, I purchased a new mp3 player. OK, not recently, I bought at the Circuit City failure sale, but just now getting a chance to use it.

I ripped most of the cds I own to my new laptop. (Yeah, I really needed to buy one those too) And then I set about finding more music on the Internet, only a legal and authorized sites like amazon.com, walmart.com(they have the best prices), etc.

The nice way to describe my musical taste is eclectic. A more accurate term is schizophrenic dj.

If you were to get your slimy (not Sliimy) hands on my collection, it might just drive you a little batty, if not down right crazy.

There is the usually collection of hair bands(Journey, Nickelback), hard rock (Cabo, Slayer), country pop(Big and Rich, Brad Paisley), mega acts (Beyonce, Green Day), odd balls (Rehab, the band not the song, Rednex) and pretty much everything in between.

So, I was searching for songs I love, songs I like, songs i forgot, and songs I never heard of before. Some of the gems I've discovered or recovered include such classics as Covens's One Tin Soldier or Paris Hilton's Stars are Blind. And who doesn't love the rousing sing along (at the top of your lungs) quality of You Don't Have to Call Me Darling, Darlin'?

Sometimes I don't even know what triggers a search, by artist or song. A song clip during a commercial or a US Weekly fresh scandal might explain the presence of Britney Spears, Eminem, and Whitney Houston. (Wait, I don't think I have any Whitney.)

Anyway, whilst checking out perezhilton.com, my interest was peaked by Jessica Simpson. She's a singer, or so I thought. After a little search, I realized I don't know any of her songs. Oh, there are a couple of cover songs and a bunch of Christmas songs, but nothing original that I recognized.

That does not bode well for Jessica. Seriously, not one song title stood out. I love a one hit wonder, Mambo No. 5, anyone? I even have a few (ok, a lot) of songs by obscure artists few people ever heard of, Dear and the Headlights, Amy LaVere, The Beat Farmers or Jane Child ring a bell?

So, unless Miss Simpson starts worrying more about music and less about men, she may be destined to be a no hit wonder.

Oh, wait, I do own some of the shoes she designed. She put her name on. Whatever