I heart sweet potato fries.

I am stalling. I am supposed to be doing work, but while I am designing, the aroma of sweet potato fries is wafting through the air, making me hungry, and making Fred (the dog) sit on my feet and stare at me in anticipation. So, I thought I would share. They just came out of the oven, and I put them on a bed of napkins with a giant heap of ketchup, ready for eating.


Ok, I am back from eating them (and sharing with Fred the dog), and they were tasty. This might in fact be one of the cheapest meals you can make that isn't all that bad for you. (Ramen noodles takes the cake on the cheapest meal, I think, but they are full of sodium!) 1 large sweet potato will make a giant portion of fries, cost you about $.65 and there's lots of good nutrients in sweets, like Vitamin A (lots!), Vitamin C, Fiber, B-6, Iron & Potassium.

Here's my recipe:



Ingredients:
(1) large (or 2 small) sweet potato(es)
olive oil
sea salt (or regular salt)



-Preheat oven to 380 degrees

-Generously drizzle olive oil on a cookie sheet

-Cut sweet potato into 1/8-1/4" slices (the thinner the slices, the crunchier they will be, but the important thing is to keep them as consistant as possible)

-Line oiled cookie sheet with the slices of sweets and sprinkle with sea salt

-Bake for about 25 minutes, flip and bake for another 10 minutes (Just keep an eye on them, and when they start to smell like they are crisping, you will know they are ready...they DO burn quickly!)

-Transfer to a plate, layered with a couple sheets of paper towels (to trap excess oil) and sprinkle a little more salt on, if you like your foods salty

-Enjoy with ketchup (my fave!) or try some warm maple syrup on the side for dippin'.

You should really make these tonight. Kid's dig 'em too! :o)

Room redesign.

We're pulling a Trading Spaces in the living room here at 99 Vandalia, but without Page Davis, and I'm pretty sure that we've exceeded the time limit if the show. If Cheyenne and I were on a decorating show, it would be called something like “Room redesigns, beer and chicken wings” or “Let's paint for a while and then go eat some food.” It's all good though, and here is a quick preview before we finally transform the room this weekend.

You can see the wall color is kind of a sage-ish green with a hint of grey. The walls were originally beige. Then we chose a seashore blue tone, but the semi-gloss appearance made it look like a “pediatrician's office” according to our roommate, Greg. So...Cheyenne chose a greener tone with an eggshell finish. I thought the difference was going to be subtle, but in fact it is muuuuch better.

Also, check out this groovy chair that Cheyenne got on Craigslist! And it is sooooo comfortable!It's red leather, which is pretty sweet on it's own, but does not fit with the decorating scheme we are going for. So, she is going to stain the leather this weekend to a dark brown. I did not know you could do this, so I am curious to see how it will turn out and to see how easy it is.

The concept of the room is to make it a peaceful place, with the calming green walls, a new (being picked up today!) khaki colored couch, dark brown and rust curtains, and we're going to tie in the rust and dark brown throughout the room with pillows, wall hangings and a quick refinish of a couple pieces of furniture. It's going to be fabulous!

Check out this supercool, groovy chair!

I think Fred approves of it all.

But unfortunately, Fred has not been able to help with the painting process as much as he would like to-- his tail is too waggy and would stick to the walls!