CategorySeasons

The Chevy VOLT

Hi Everyone! First,  I want to Thank General Motors for giving me the opportunity to drive the brand new Chevy Volt for a week. I got the car last Tuesday and it was a BLAST!

Here are some of the highlights. If you don’t know,  the car runs on Electric for aprox. 40 to 60 miles with a full charge. I never had the car charge over 41 miles, but from what I read about the car it has to do with the outside weather conditions. Some of the other features that caught my attention were the keyless start button and the DVD player. The car does have all the bells and whistles you can think of to put on the car and that is REALLY NICE.

The car does have really small back seats which is great if you have kids 5 and younger but if not consider it a two seater with alot of room. The electric part of the car takes 5 to 10 hours for a full charge depending on if you are using 120v or 220v. After you get a full charge the charge lasts for it’s 40 to 60 miles and then turns to gas which is nice if it isn’t convenient to plug in at that moment.

It was a lot of fun to drive that car around for a week. Everyone I met was excited to sit in the car or have me drive them around the block. I think one of the biggest highlights of the week was taking the car to the local Bill Jacobs Car Dealership  where there was a swarm around the car before I even got out. Needless to say, it was a highlight for them too. The first Salesmen to talk to me was Jim and he got the privilage to drive the car and report back to his boss about how much he liked it. The Volt was a great hit with them and all of my friends and family.

When I got this car I knew nothing about driving an electric car or anything that was this far forward  technologically. But I sure learned alot over the course of a week and it was very easy to understand how to work the car. I think one of my favorite features was the Green ball in the dash board that would tell you if you were Accelerating or Braking to fast and you were not getting optimal gas mileage.

What a LONG time!!

I didn’t forget about you guys …  I just got caught up in that thing I call LIFE …. has been crazy! Everything from more Baseball games… Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox. A huge cross town rivalry to going all the way to St. Louis for a Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals game. Its better to just show my last few weeks in pictures! And all the fun I have been having!

Well first we got a new puppy… YES she is a puppy only 8 months old. I know what you are thinking how on earth can she be so big and still be a puppy… Well she is a Irish Wolfhound and they are average 150 lb. She maybe big but I still love her!

Then I got my butt kicked in darts. Yes Brent apparently knows his way around a dart board better than I do! But it was fun and I got named the best wingman an guy can have!

And now its on to Cubs vs. Sox! We were sitting 3rd row of the bleachers! And the only place the Cubs hit a home run that day! I saw myself later that night on the SportsCenter highlights and I was in the DUCK AND COVER position!

Frank and I hanging out after the game at the Dolphin Dugout!

This would be my current fashion accessory that I get to sport for the next few weeks! Yeah that one is a long story but aren’t they all? No heels for me for awhile!

Last but not least this was after we discovered the Land Shark booth at the Taste of Joliet! We also go to see the 80’s band Loverboy!

Thanks,

-Peace, Love and Tweeting!

Dinner Adventure … Royal Wedding Style

Well if you read People Magazine every week like I do then maybe you see recipe after recipe and think one of these days I will make one for dinner. Well tonight was the night … Royal Wedding style. I tried to make Prince William’s favorite Cottage Pie. It didn’t go so well, I’m going to start by saying I am not the best cook in the world but I can follow a recipe with the best of them. As I started to taste the meat after it has been cooking with the other ingredients. I noticed that it had a very sweet taste to it. Well 2 more pounds of ground beef later and I was back square 1 and still had some not so good tasting sweet beef on my hands. Frustrated I decided to keep on going and used the 2nd batch of meat that I had made. After further reading the recipe I come to find out that they want me to put the mashed potato’s in a pastry bag and squeeze them onto the meat in the baking pan. At this point I felt like I bit off more than I could chew. So I opted for the easy way of spreading the potato’s onto the meat with a good old spatula. It didn’t look as pretty as the picture but I figured it would get the job done lol. Here are some photo’s from my not so pretty adventure. I don’t think I will be trying any new recipe’s anytime soon.

Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try.

1.5 lbs ground beef

2 small yellow onions (finely chopped)

2 tbsps corn oil

1/3 cup all purpose flour

2 cups water

2 bouillon cubes

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 or 2 tsp dried thyme

The potato topping

2 lbs (peeled weight) red potatoes

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 tsps salt

1/8 tsps ground white pepper

1/8 tsps ground nutmeg

1 egg yolk

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 In a large saucepan over a high flame, heat the oil and add finely chopped onion. Saute the onion until soft and translucent. Add the ground beef and break up using a wooden spoon. Saute the beef until it has all browned. Gradually stir in flour, thyme water, bouillon cubes and Worcestershire sauce.

2 Reduce heat to low and simmer the meat (so it is just bubbling) for about 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from stove and using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef into an earthenware pie dish. (Using the slotted spoon will ensure the beef is not too wet to hold the potatoes and also leave you some sauce to serve with the finished pie). Leave the beef mix to cool and a skin to form. (Up to this stage can be done several days before and cooled and stored in the refrigerator).

3 Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water (about an inch above the potatoes). Cover and bring to boil over high heat. Lower heat to a simmer until the potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes). Drain the water off the potatoes and return dry potatoes to a low heat for one to two minutes to dry them. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or pass through a ricer.

4 Add the butter, salt, pepper, ground nutmeg, egg yolk and cream and stir into the potato mix. Spoon, or pipe using a wide star tube, on to the top of the beef mix and sprinkle the grated cheddar over the potatoes.

5 Bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about 20 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown and the pie has heated through.

Peace, Love and Tweeting -Tor