So I have adapted my own recipe! This recipe was expressly made so that I could freeze a bunch of patties for quick use down the line – but you can alway use some math to break this down if need be.

I CAN HAS BEAN BURGER?

Recipe yields about 8 standard sized burgers.

Ingredients

• 2 Peppers (any color)
• 2 Cans Black Beans
• 1 Can Black Eye Peas
• 5 Cloves Garlic
• 1 White Onion
• 1 TBSP Thai Chili Sauce
• 2.5 TBSP Chili Powder
• 2 TBSP Cumin
• 2 TSP Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 TBSP Salt
• 1/2 Cup Cut Okra
• 1 Cup Bread Crumbs

Directions for Patties

1. Drain all beans and cook over Medium Heat in a large Pot for 30 minutes with Diced Onion. (be sure to give them a stir occasionally.
2. Finely Chop Peppers and set aside
3. In a small bowl mix Cumin, Chili Powder, Salt and Red Pepper Flakes, and Thai Cili Sauce minced Garlic, set aside.
4. Puree Okra into a paste then mix into mixture above, set aside.
5. Let cooked beans and Onions cool to room temperature.
6. Mix in Okra Puree mixture, chopped Peppers and Bread Crumbs
7. Form into 0.25 inch thick patties

Directions for Cooking

So far, only tried cooking these in a pan, but my goal for these was to be able to cook them on the grill outside, so once I try that — I’ll update this and let you know.

For pan grilling these, all a bit of olive oil into the pan and in Medium Low heat cook about 10 – 15 minutes on each side.

To cook them on the outdoor grill: Get the grill VERY HOT, cook about 5 – 8 minutes on each side.

Taste & Texture

They turned out a little crunchy on the outside while still moist on the inside, which was the texture I wanted. I do like spice, so these have a bit of a kick to them but I wouldn’t consider them spicy, per sa. I think my next batch may add in a  jalapeño pepper.

I enjoyed cooking and eating a burger without it falling apart (which has always been my main complaint about all other bean burger recipes I have attempted int he past.) I hope you enjoy it too! If you adapt this further with success please share your improvements with me! :)

We filled each other in on all that we’ve been up to, talked about family and pets and work. He expressed his excitement over building his business (which is a partnership with another owner) and that while he is working non-stop, he is loving it! We talked about dealing with clients… the art of retaining clients vs selling to new ones. The balance of looking out for your clients and also not being a push over. He said, “I don’t know how you handle this without a business partner. I need a ‘good cop’ in the scenario — I’m only capable of being ‘bad cop.’”

This got me thinking — am I both Good Cop and Bad Cop? I guess as an Independent business owner, you kind of have to be! It’s delicate balance of being able to lay down the law and tell a client something they may not want to hear, holding your foot firm on policies and generally being able to deal with people on a purely “getting business done” level and the Good Cop side is the smile you close with, the empathetic comment you offer when a frustrating situation arises, the hand holding for those high maintenance clients. It’s tough to play both of these rolls, but not impossible.

I’ve been dealing with a frustrating project lately. A client wants a feature added to a project that was not part of the original scope — trouble is, they didn’t anticipate the added cost of this from the get go, so they are struggling with passing along that expense to THIER client. It’s a mess and while yesterday I had almost reached the point of saying “I don’t care WHAT you do, here’s the bill for the time I put in — and here is some referrals to other devs you could hire to finish the project!” Instead I slept on it, pulled myself together (the good and bad halves) and told them “I know you’re in a really frustrating situation since you did not anticipate this feature being part of the project so the added cost was not part of your original budget (that was the Good Cop, now time to switch gears… Bad Cop, I know you have a ‘but’, right?) — BUT I have offered up some really good solutions and you can either go with the less expensive one that is CLOSE to what they want, but not exactly… OR you can go with the more expensive option that’s going to give that JUST what they want.” While the previous email from the client had been a little huffy — her next response after this message said “Thank you so much for all the time you’ve put into this! I am going to talk this over with my client and follow up with you next week.”

Thank you Good Cop and Bad Cop for Liz and her clients sane! :)

Do you recognize this in yourself? Is there one side you feel you need to get more in touch with? 

In preparation for the warm weather, Eric and I are fixing up the patio that is attached to our apartment and because we are renters, we cant install an actual screen door so after some brain storming and clever internet searches — I found THIS idea, for a removable screen door. The photo was tiny and the idea of having to sew didn’t exactly have me thrilled — but I decided it was my best option.

Since the patio door is 36″ wide, I ordered 2 of these mini tension rods off Amazon, for under $5 each. These are the same types of rods you usually see used for a shower curtain but they are thinner and shorter.

Next I started searching for mosquito netting to make the curtain but ran into some trouble since most of the netting I found came in sheets sized too small to cover the full height of our doorway. It was then that I remembered these LILL curtains from Ikea — which are essentially mosquito nets — they’d work perfectly and at only $4.99 for a pair this is a great option!

Before ordering them I opted to go check out the local thrift shop a few blocks away to see if they had anything similar — and they did! For $2.99 I got a single sheer polyester curtain that (bonus) was already seamed at the top and bottom of its 84″ (the exact height of the door!)

Today the rods arrived and I had the solution up in just a few minutes! The top and bottom rod will allow us to keep the door open this summer for fresh air and not have to stress over our cat wondering outside. It’s simple to just slide the curtain open or closed if we want to enter in and out — or if we have friends over and the kitty isn’t roaming free we can always take the bottom rod out to have a barrier against bugs but easier access to come and go.

You will need:

• A tape measure (start by measure the interior frame of the doorway, of course.)
• 2 adjustable width tension rods (measure your doorway to determine the size — but morst standard doorways will fit this 28″ – 48″ option.
• 1 mesh, net or sheer curtain (Ikea’s LILL curtains or check out your local thrift shop or fabric store!)

You might need:

• Scissors
• Sewing Machine

Over all this was cheap, easy and (i think) looks pretty darn good! I suggest this to anyone who lives in a rental and needs a screen door solution! :) If you end up trying this too — post a photo link to the finished product in the comments below and let me know how it went for you!

You get gems like THIS video I just pinned!

I wish I had thought of this, so clever!

First off, I’ll admit that I’m a fan of coming of age stories. All the good ones usually follow a protagonist who is struggling to find their way in a world they don’t quiet fit into — that’s just something I related to in adolescence and even sometimes in adulthood. So — generally speaking — I liked the book. If you went to art school or grew up being an outsider, you will likely find something to like about this story. If neither of those apply to you, you probably won’t find it as entertaining… and are likely to see it as a little bizarre or even boring.

The full title of the book is, “The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters” and the storyline has a very “day in the life” feel to it, even though it spans two semesters (as the title would suggest.) Not a whole lot happens in the book, there are some interesting situations, but it really is more about how the narrator (Happy) feels and thinks about the characters around him and how what they do and say shapes him and how he views himself and the world around him. So… who are these characters?

First there is Maybelle, who is what I think of as ‘the Ducky’. Ducky was the best friend character in the 19080′s John Hughes film Pretty in Pink wherein Molly Ringwald spends the entire film fawning over this rich yuppie dude (and eventually falling in love with him) when all the while she had this amazing friend (and could be love interest) by her side. The only difference of course is that Ducky was an interesting character — Maybelle is not.

Next up, Himillsy. Himillsy Dodd is the manic pixie dream girl. A character troupe that has been played to death in the past decade. Back in 2001 when this book was first published, we hadn’t seen Garden State or  500 Days of Summer so if I had read this back then — perhaps I would not have found Himsy so cringe inducing — but alas. I read it in 2012, at the ripe age of 30, so I see this character as trite.

At this stage, I am beginning to think — maybe I didn’t actually like this book?  …Let’s keep going.

In the second semester of Happy, Maybelle and Himilsy’s journey they putz up at registration and are left with only ONE class option left for their studio class, Introduction to Commercial Art. When they arrive to the first day of class, they meet a sign stating, “INTRODUCTION TO GRAPHIC DESIGN: formerly mislabeled Introduction to Commercial Art. Enter the room at EXACTLY 2:25PM -W.S.”

W.S is our final character,  Winter Sorbeck. I like to imagine looks a lot like Don Draper, which is enough to explain Himillsy and Happy’s infatuation with him. Sorbeck introduces them all the Graphic Design, which — at this time in history was a completely new concept that none of these kids had ever heard! However excited any of you got the first time you played with Photoshop or CSS, it’s not even close to having your whole world turned upside down when you learn there is this whole new way of communicating that is evolving – and it is so much bigger than what we’d known as “Commercial Art” and it is something completely different from “Fine Art.” Whoa.

The last half of the book follows the gang through their class with Winter, and his various class assignments. There are moments that flash me back to my own school experience — and some dorky art school references that those of you who are part of the club will find amusing. For the most part, I see this book as being about a kid discovering passion. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, he hadn’t really encountered anything that excited him — and now he’s discovering ideas and people that are driving him nutty with excitement. A pretty relatable experience — being young and excited about things. Being a little terrified as you discover the things that excite you the most and how powerful that feeling of passion can be.

I hear this book is being developed into a movie — which does not really interest me. I found the story not to be about the actual characters, but about Happy’s experience of the characters. It’s his observations and inner-dialog about the things around him that tell the story, not really what is ACTUALLY going on.

I still don’t know, DID I like the book? Maybe it’s not that cut and dry… reading it was an interesting experience.