I know a few of you live in warmer climates, but here in Chicago, we just survived a cold and blustery week. Over a foot of snow and a wind chill close to -35 degree had me working from home for two days and I was happy my car started when I left for work on Thursday.

The fridge is pretty empty at this point, so it’s Four Foods on Friday before a trip to the grocery!

1. Do you prefer to eat Chinese food in the restaurant or to have it delivered?

The best Chinese restaurants are seedy little places, so I prefer to have my shrimp lo mein delivered so I don’t have to know what the kitchen it was cooked in looks like.

2. Do you prefer wonton or egg drop soup?

Egg Drop. It’s totally Atkins friendly and I made it from scratch for lunch yesterday! It’s just chicken stock, green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, and eggs. It was fantastic.

3. What flavor fried rice is your favorite?

Shrimp is my favorite.

4. Describe your favorite item on the Chinese food menu.

Crab Rangoon made with imitation crab, smooth cream cheese, and lots of that sweet red dipping sauce, folded into a flower. No purses or triangles!

One of the advantages of being snowed in and working from home is being able to have daytime television playing in the background. The mention of Tiffany Brisette on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet caught my attention this morning.

Tiffany played Vicki (VICI – Voice Input Child Indenticant) on Fox’s very first sitcom, Small Wonder, about a married engineer who creates the very first robot and tries to pass her off as their daughter. Vicki had super human strength, was a mathematical wizard, and runs on atomic power, but looks like a real little girl.

I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. If you’re not familiar with the show, here’s some clips…

Besides the fact that my sister teased me endlessly about looking like Vicki’s TV brother, Jamie, Small Wonder was one of my favorite television shows. Is anyone familiar with the show? Did you watch it as a kid? Did your kids watch it? Are you now stuck on YouTube watching old episodes like I am?

Congratulations to Joanna Smith! Winner of a $20 Starbucks gift card in celebration of my 2nd Blogoversary!

joanna smith Dec 22, 2008 at 4:52 pm

Happy Blogoversary! 2 Years is quite an achievement! May you have many, many more! Thank you for celebrating with this great giveaway! With all the harsh snow and wind we have been enduring a nice warm Starbucks coffee sounds like heaven to me! My best wishes to all for a very Happy Holiday!!

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and wishing me many more blogoversaries! I think I’ll keep it up if you promise to keep reading!

We didn’t get the snow that the northern suburbs did, but we sure got the ice! (Mike put my windshield wipers up so they wouldn’t get iced to the window, but I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere today for that to matter.)

I was smart and brought my laptop and project folders home with me last night, so I’ll be working from home today as long as the internet and power hold on. They’ve been flickering all morning.

It’s been switching between freezing rain, sleet, and hail since I got up at 5:30 am, with the temperature right at 32 degrees. We’re supposed to dip down to 22 degrees tonight, so the roads and ice are just going to get worse, with the storm watch in effect until midnight.

Did the rest of you make it through the night? How did you weather the storm?

Much to my husband’s dismay, I love fruits and veggies. He swears he’s some sort of super-taster and that all fruits and veggies are bitter, but I just think he has an adverse reaction to anything that is good for him.

Obviously, he wouldn’t enjoy this week’s Four Foods on Friday, because he’s crazy anti-veggie man.

1. Fruits and veggies. Do you prefer them peeled or not?

I used to be a strictly peeled fruits and veggies kind of person, and I do occasionally enjoy taking the skin off my apples, but I have learned to love crispy roasted potato skins and peach fuzz.

2. What’s your favorite fresh fruit or vegetable smell?

I don’t think fresh veggies smell all that great, but I’ll take a wiff of a fresh cut watermelon or pear any day.

3. What’s the worst food smell you’ve ever smelled?

When I lived in Indianapolis, I worked in the same building as Oceanaire, and one summer their grease trap backed up and I was never able to eat there again. They had terrific food, but after smelling what the remains of fried fish smell like, I couldn’t stomach it.

4. Share the recipe for the dish that you love to smell cooking in your oven.

Sugar cookies! I made several batches a few years ago, and the house smelled fabulous for days. I’ll have to remember that smell, because sugar cookies are too much damn trouble to make and that fresh baked smell will not be coming from my house again!

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

NOTE: The cookies taste way better when you let the dough chill overnight, and taste even better when you take the time to roll the dough out and cut it into stars and snowflakes. Seriously. It does!