My Ipod had a Final Destination moment yesterday....

My Ipod Shuffle (featured here), seems to be telling me that the movie Final Destination isn't that far from reality. If you haven't seen the movie, let me explain it's basic premise (I have never seen the whole thing, but caught about 45 minutes of it on cable once). Basically, before some trip, a kid has a vision of him and his friends getting in a plane crash, so he tells them not to board the plane. Surprise surprise the plane does crash and he saved all their lives (I think some didn't heed his word and died). The "universe" found a way to course correct itself and have what was to be, be. For the rest of the movie, one by one, everyone that was saved from the plane crash dies in freaky ways. I have a nagging feeling there is another movie or something that focuses on "course correction" and is the same kind of idea but for the life of me I can't think what it might be. If anyone out there knows, please let me know!
So anyway, my ipod had been missing for a whole day and I was just kind of halfheartedly searching here and there for it, knowing it would turn up somewhere (it always does). What I didn't think of, was that Scout had spilled a drink on the cookie blanket the day before, and I had scooped it up and thrown it in the washer, but not washed it. I was waiting one day for my official "laundry day", so it just sat in the machine. You may think that I saved it from the wash, but it found it's way in there again and that is my final destination story. Nope. I threw some towels on top of the blanket and started it up. While transferring the contents into the dryer, I heard a *clink* and I just knew. I looked and sure enough there was "neil", earphones and all. I put the buds in my ears and turned it on and silence. I thought, well- Rob's first shuffle survived an entire winter under an iceburg and is still (far as I know) going strong at Sue's house. So, I plugged ol' neil up to the computer and he popped up on my itunes! All the stuff still showed up on it too. I was dubious about the earphones, but after I let the ipod charge up for about 15 minutes, I plugged them in and besides being a little crackily, they worked! I rejoiced and shared the ordeal with Rob and we marveled at the endurance of Ipod shuffles and I happily enjoyed Neil as I prepared our Memorial Day hamburgers. The crackling even went away after a short amount of time.
After dinner, Scout and Lola needed a park romp- so I got out the wagon put the kids in it and got Lola leashed up and we went to the park. I ran around with Lowes (she was particularly naughty) and I had to chase her quite a bit and I SWEAR I noticed at one point that I still had Neil clipped to my shirt (this is very common- I will unhook the earphones, but the ipod stays clipped to the bottom of my shirt until I remember to remove it and put it somewhere safe. When I got back from the park, fed Elles, and had Scout in bed, I noticed Neil was gone. I looked around the couch and decided that it must be at the park, so I went back and back tracked and couldn't find it anywhere. I went back inside and Rob took Lola, and searched for me for a while (I was kind of having a bad day and he took pity on me). He looked and then I went out again and searched again. No Neil in sight. So, I had quite a roller coaster ride yesterday concerning my shuffle. I couldn't believe my luck that I didn't dry it (Rob's got dried once and that is an ipod kiss of death), also I couldn't believe it could survive an entire wash cycle! I was so happy and thankful it worked I thought about it all day! and then- bam! Cruelly lost at the park. I suppose it's fate was sealed when I woke up that morning and since it was miraculously saved from it's fate- the universe had to do something.

As a neat little twist (I don't believe I shared this on my blog before) my good old original ipod I wrote an obituary for last fall, crawled back from the grave and was my companion today. Yes, he came back to life months later when Rob decided to spontaneously plug it back in, just to see. I had Neil by then, so it's sat in my "ipod accessory basket" abandoned for months. It was kind of fun to use "old trusty" again (it's new, well deserved name) but Neil has definitely spoiled me. I love Neil, I miss Neil, I want Neil back. (No Rob, I'm not hinting- I'm just saying).

I am not fully writing Neil off, as miracles do happen when it comes to my family's ipods. So stay tuned. Good grief, I need to make a label for my ipod soap operas!

Apricot Chicken

I made this recipe I found tonight and we loved it, it was pretty easy, so I thought I would share. I didn't get a picture of it, we ate it too fast, but I was able to scrape a few leftovers to give you some idea...

• 1/2 cup apricot preserves
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sherry (I'm sure you could use chk broth)
  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

Original recipe included:

• 1 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup salted cashews

But I didn't add them because I didn't have them and also I am not a big fan of bell peppers. (I did have a bag of cashews a few days ago, but they were absently left on the counter and Lola can get anything she wants from off our counter, so bye bye cashews).


I did however make my own additions:

• 1/2 cup onion, cubed into stir fry size pieces
  
• big handful of broccoli florets
• Oh, and I bagged the oil since I cooked the chicken in oil.
  

We were very pleased with both additions, so I highly recommend them

What I am going to add next time:

• cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes to taste
• maybe a little more garlic
• I am sure fresh ginger would be better (isn't it always) sadly, I didn't have any.
  

Ok, here is the procedure:

1. cut chicken into strips. Warm up the wok and add olive oil. Cook chicken in oil on high until it starts browning, then add onion and broccoli and turn wok down to medium.

2. While that is cooking, mix the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and whisk. When chicken and veggies are cooked, add sauce, turn wok down to low and let simmer a few minutes (about 5, maybe a little less).

3. Serve over rice.

I added a little more soy sauce to mine and it was yummy, Rob thought it was perfect as is. In fact, he called it "the most Chinese thing you've ever made". I try so hard to find recipes that taste like a real Chinese restaurant, and even if it is good, it falls short. Well, Rob thought this time I did it. I added my own twist to the original (as I find myself doing a lot), but this time I really felt it was called for as the original recipe cooked everything in the microwave! Cooking meat in the microwave absolutely horrifies me, but if anyone would like to try it, I would be really interested to hear how it turns out. Here are the original instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Add chicken and toss to coat. Transfer to a shallow microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring once.
2. Add green pepper and cashews. Cover and microwave on high for 2-4 minutes or until chicken juices run clear, stirring once. Let stand for 3 minutes. Serve with rice.

I would also like to know how it tastes with cashews. I would also like to sub the broccoli with snow peas sometime, or I suppose you could do both since I really liked the broccoli in this dish. But, I will definitely be making this again- so I can keep experimenting and tweaking until I have it exactly as I'd like it. I'll let you know what's good- and anyone that tries it, I would love a little feedback as well.