it's all about ME!

Seabrook's Chicken Tenders

2008-10-15T08:40:00.025-05:00

AYUP! And what, might you ask is Ayup? Of course, it's an all-purpose word that Yorkshire folk use to say "hi, what's happening?", "what are you doing?", "how's the family?", "where are you going?", etc.

Today's recipe is all about the goodness of Yorkshire's own, Seabrook Potato Crisps, or as they are affectionately known, Seabrooks. Seabrooks are produced in the Yorkshire town of Bradford (where the Hubs and 1 tied the knot, so they gotta be great, no?) and according to the Hubs, are the best crisps in all of England...and that is saying a lot, considering there are some three kazillion varities of potato snacky goodness. Seabrooks alone makes some twenty different varieties ranging from Smoky Bacon, to Prawn Cocktail, Chicken & Stuffing, Cream Cheese & Chives to their newer hot and spicy wasabi assortment.

The thing about Seabrooks is that they aren't widely available. Even in the UK, they are difficult to find in the southern counties. And forget trying to find them in the states. When we went to England last Christmas, the Hubs decided he would stock up and bring two cases back with us and he would enjoy them VERY sparingly. Well, he did great on the sparingly part, usually only partaking of a packet during an episode of Dr. Who or some other British TV program he'd downloaded. Well, this was good as far as having the crisps last a long time, but not so good for the quality of the crisps, which don't have a bunch of preservative additives and well, they lost a bit of their crunchy ooomph.

Sooooooo, I thought....what can I do with some of these crisps and I came up with the idea to use them as a breadcrumb-like coating for baked chicken tenders. I rummaged through the Hubs stash of crisps to come up with a variety that would go with the chicken. For example, I thought the Bacon & Brown Sauce, Tomato Ketchup, Beefy, and Sea Salt and Vinegar varities weren't quite right. So I settled on Cheese & Onion. The "recipe" follows...

Ingredients (approximate measures since I didn't use any measuring cups or spoons)
1 lb chicken tenders
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
2 cups (or 4 packets) crushed Seabrooks crisps
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp parsley flakes
Black pepper to taste

I put the crisps into a plastic bag and crushed them into tiny pieces. I don't think it's necessary to grind them up or pulverize them in a blender. The bigger pieces will make for a crunchier coating, the same way panko bread crumbs make a crunchier coating over finer ground bread crumbs.

This next picture really is for my father-in-law, who would be glad to know we are eating free-range, no antibiotic, no hormone, organic chicken, but he'd be even more thrilled that I spied a bargain and got the chicken for 50% off the regular price!!!

Gently beat the egg and milk together in a bowl.

I didn't want to take away from the flavor of the crisps by adding too many seasonings, so I added just a bit more onion flavor with the onion powder and then the parsley and pepper.

Next, I dipped each chicken tender in the egg mixture and coated it in the crisp mixture. The chicken pieces were then placed on a cookie sheet that had been lightly sprayed with an olive oil spray, just so tenders wouldn't stick to the pan.

I baked the chicken crispy critters at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and hoped this experiment would work!

I served the Seabrooks chicken with a side dish of potatos, onions, mushrooms and green beans and presented it to the Hubs as a surprise with a pint of Riggwelter, a Yorkshire ale produced at the Black Sheep Brewery.
The Hubs was indeed surprised, the experiment worked and it was a bit of a fun meal!! The chicken came out pretty crispy and he guessed what the flavor was on the third guess!

Cranberry Cardamom Muffins

2008-10-08T15:01:00.035-05:00

These are really nice moist muffins that have a nicely distinct flavor that comes from the cardamom. And I've become a bit picky about cardamom, preferring to grind the cardamom seeds myself in my mortar and pestle. The seeds are very hard and it takes a while to get them ground, but it's worth it and it's a good way to work out frustrations.

People usually think of cardamom as a spice used in savory Indian dishes or Indian sweets, but it's a favorite spice used by Scandinavians in their pastries.

One baking secret I'll share is my fairly recent discovery of vanilla bean paste. It's used as a substitue for vanilla extract. It gives baked goods a richer taste.

Ingredients
(for 2 dozen muffins)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
4 eggs
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

I started this recipe by cracking open the green cardamom pods to reveal the dark brown to black seeds within. I popped them in the mortar and started the grinding.
As the seeds grind the aroma of the cardamom fills the kitchen. It has such a strong scent, but is quite pleasant. I grind the seeds until I have a dark brown to black powder. I set those aside and gathered all of the dry ingredients together for mixing. At the same time I put the butter in a bowl and set it on the stove to start melting. It's nice to have a gas stove that has pilot lights underneath for gentle melting like this.

Ok, on to the muffins...

I measured out the dry ingredients, the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cardamom powder in one bowl and mix it all together really well.

Then I tossed in the cranberries and coat them with the dry mixture. You can toss frozen cranberries directly into the mix without thawing them.

Next, I mixed all of the wet ingredients. I slightly beat eggs and added the sour cream, mixing the two together well. Then I added the melted butter and finally the vanilla paste. And because the vanilla paste is soooo thick, it doesn't all come off the measuring spoon, so I get a taste of the vanilla...yum. This is something I don't think you could do with vanilla extract. It just doesn't taste the same.

Then I added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Now with muffins, you don't want to over mix the wet and dry ingredients. You want to mix it just enough so that you don't see any dry ingredients and it's perfetly fine for the batter to be lumpy. In fact, the lumpier, the better. It gives the muffins their texture.

This batter is real thick, as it should be and almost a bit annoyingly sticky and difficult to scoop into the muffin tins. But anyway...

I filled muffin tins with paper liners or you could lightly grease the tin so the muffins don't stick. It's best to fill the tins about 2/3 deep, but I know these muffins aren't high risers (probably because of all the moisture from the sour cream...not sure), so I take it a smidge higher.

I popped the muffins into the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. But I did the first toothpick test around 15 minutes to see how they were going. The toothpick test is where you take a toothpick and slide it into the center of the muffin and see if the toothpick comes out with batter on it, or if it comes out clean. If it's clean, the muffins are done.

These are so yummy strainght out of the oven warm. With a cold glass of milk....nice!

Greek-style Lamb Burgers

2008-06-30T08:24:00.008-05:00

Burgers, burgers! They are a summertime classic. Beef burgers are the most common I'd suspect, but other types have crept onto the burger scene and are gaining in popularity, such as turkey, and veggie burgers. But one kind that you don't see as often, but is really quite tasty is the lamb burger.

I first had a lamb burger a few years ago at a pub and was instantly struck by the taste. I was pretty sure I could do this myself at home, so I looked around the internet for recipes and have tweaked about three that I'd come across, until I made this one into my own. It's a Greek-style lamb burger served in a pita.

Here, I'd also like to give a shout out to the place I get my ground lamb from. I discovered Mint Creek Farm at Chicago's Green City Market. Their lamb is free-range, grass-fed and never given hormones. It has such a delicate taste and I love the idea of supporting a sustainable, local farmer. AND, the best thing is that they are very reasonable in their prices...a full $2.00 per pound less than the cost of ground lamb from Whole Paycheck.

Ingredients

1 lb ground lamb
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tsp oregano or marjoram
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Toss all of the ingredients into a bowl and mixed up well.

Form mixture into patties, how many depends on how big of a patty you want.

Since I was using my toaster oven this night to make some roasted potatoes to go with this, I cooked these in a pan. You can throw these on the grill, toaster oven, pan or any other way you cook any other type of burger. Just lightly brush with olive oil prior to cooking, so they don't stick to whatever surface you are cooking them on.

One thing I learned on the Food Network about cooking burgers is to let a burger cook without fussing over it. Let one side get brown, and flip once to brown the other side...and NEVER take smash them down to make them flatter. This only squeezes out the good juices. This is something I see people do ALL the time. I wonder where that came from. Maybe from wanting a flatter burger on the bun. Well, whatever the reason, don't do it. lol

For a medium-cooked burger cook to 160º. In the meantime, warm some pita pockets to prepare for serving. I had this burger with Greek tzatziki sauce, lettuce, black olives and tomatoes in the pocket. OH-Pah!!!!

Someone has a sense of humor...

2008-06-27T09:51:00.005-05:00

Everyday when I get to work or leave to go home, I find it amusing that the building I work in has installed the outdoor ashtrays/cigarette extinguishers right smack next to the bicycle rack. I'm sure the bikers LOVE that. There they are being all healthy and then BAM, they gotta park their bike while someone next to them is huffing and puffing. *snicker*

The Hubs and I recently went to an Indian restaurant that had one of those long yummy lunch buffets, probably not the most authentic Indian food, and probably seasoned down for western palates. But the thing I found amusing was the huge reproduction of DaVinci's The Last Supper hanging right above it. Odd...

Thanks for the laughs George...

2008-06-24T10:08:00.002-05:00

I was very sad to hear of the passing of the Hippy Dippy Weatherman. I never got to see him live, but I'd seen his shows on VHS and DVD. I'm certainly going to have to give some of them a re-watch. My mum was able to see him a number of times...she loved his shows.

What was great about him was that he said everything you would want to say, IF you'd even thought of it, because he did look at things from a slightly off-center perspective. Too bad he did so many drugs and too bad he died from heart troubles. He was 71, which for some reason shocked me. Aww George, thanks for making loads of people laugh and for getting under the skins of others.

Some good stuff from George...

When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?

Is a vegetarian permitted to eat animal crackers?

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.

Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.

Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?

Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It's just stale bread to begin with.

I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.

Electricity is really just organized lightning.

I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.

I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

The only good thing ever to come out of religion was the music.

I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood.

Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.

The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark tonight, turning to partly light in the morning.

What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on before you get on?

When Thomas Edison worked late into the night on the electric light, he had to do it by gas lamp or candle. I'm sure it made the work seem that much more urgent.

When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat.

I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it.

Kahlua Pecan Fudge

2008-06-15T08:33:00.010-05:00

I'm a member of a group through meetup.com called What's Cooking Chicago?!. The group is for people who like to cook & bake! Events planned include anything from potlucks, to cooking demonstrations, food swaps, ethnic food tours, and everything else under the sun related to food. The organizer of this group is absolutely dynamite. She organizes these super events, mostly on the weekends, leaving many of us participants to wonder how does she get this all done, and work a full-time job. Check out her blog, Joelen's Culinary Adventures, to see more about what the group gets up to.

So anyway, yesterday was a swap event that was just too yummy to pass up. It was a fudge swap!!! We had to bring a pan of fudge to the swap to share with the other participants. I'd never made fudge before and for some reason I thought there was baking invloved. Thank god there wasn't!! I wasn't up for turning the oven on. And as someone at the fudge swap said, I don't know why fudge is so expensive when it's so easy to make. The only thing I can think of is maybe some fudges are made with really expensive chocolate.... I dunno.

So here's the recipe....

Kahlua Pecan Fudge

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 7oz jar marshmallow creme
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup Kahlua
1/4 tspn salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 cup milk chocolate peices
2/3 cup pecans (or nuts of choice)
1 tsp vanilla

Line 8" square baking pan with foil.

In a 2 quart saucepan, combine sugar, marshmallow creme, milk, butter, Kahlua and salt. Here's a tip I learned after the fact, at the swap...it easier to get the marshmallow creme out of the jar if you microwave it for a few seconds and then you can just pour it right out of the jar instead of tring to scoop it out, one gooey spoonful at a time. Aaack, I wish I'd known that, or thought of it ahead of time. Anywhooo...bring mixture to a rapid boil, stiring constantly for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Add all chocolate and stir until melted.

Add nuts and vanilla.

Pour into the foil-lined pan. Refrigerate until firm. I put some extra pecans on the top of the fudge.

To serve, cut in squares. Enjoy! Yum!!!

Some random thoughts today...

2008-06-12T09:25:00.000-05:00

- Why do people feel the need to invade your personal space when it's a gazillion degrees and twice that much humidity? Grrr, get AWAY from me. I'm crabby. It's hot and I'm not amused.

- Why would an Indian restaurant put a giant picture of the Last Supper right up over their lunch buffet?? Seems odd for a few reasons.

- Why do people at my job, some who have been with the organization 20, 25, 30, 35 years act like it's the first time we've done an "Annual Meeting"????? It's....ummm...ANNUAL, and you've done it before, along with an interim meeting as well, every year since you've been with the org., GET OVER IT!

- Why does it have to be so hot? And can I slug someone who says...ohhh, I love this weather...

- Why are men more likely than women, to NOT give up their seat on a crowded bus for an older indivual, or woman carrying a baby (either inside her or out). What happend to gentlemen?

- Why do tourists walk through a revolving door and then immediately stop? Are they not aware how these contraptions work? MOVE!

- Why do some people paint all liberals with the same brush, ALL identical...as card-carrying, tree-hugging, bunny-loving, lentil-eating, sandal-wearing, hippie wackos? hmm, that might not be too far off actually LOL...but how can one be all those things AND an elitist?

- Why is wine so bitter?

- Why is the style for ladies blouses this year to have little cap sleeves. I don't like cap sleeves. What happened to normal sleeves?

Final Four, Final Four!

2008-06-06T09:51:00.005-05:00

No, I'm not talking about the NBA or NHL finals... but the final four cities in the running for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games are: Chicago... YAY!, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid. My thought is that since Tokyo has already hosted the summer games, they should be given a pass over cities that haven't. Unfortunately, they received the highest score from the IOC...hmmm. In the scores, Madrid was next. Eh, for some reason, they don't seem like the biggest threat to Chicago winning it. Chicago was third in the scoring, with Rio last. But it's Rio that has me most concerned. Not one South American city has ever hosted the Olympics. The IOC just might think it's their turn and I guess they didn't mess up the PanAm games last year. The thing that would make it attractive to ME is that it will be winter during the games which are normally held in August and sheesh, Chicago can be downright nasty in August...ICK! But I'm hoping my hometown can hold on and get the bid. It would provide a lot of income and jobs for the city.....if we could only get a handle on our mass transit situation...

The final decision will come in October of 2009.

Chorizo, Chickpea and Spinach Sauté

2008-06-05T10:39:00.010-05:00

I was watching Guy's Big Bite on the Food Network this weekend and saw him make this recipe and thought...mmmm, that sounds good and really thought the Hubs would enjoy it, knowing how much he likes chorizo. Everything always sounds and looks good on the Food Network though...hehe. I've changed his original recipe slightly, so if you want to see it, check out his recipes on the Food Network Web site.

Before moving on to all of the ingredients, take note that this recipe calls for the soft Mexican chorizo, not the hard Spanish variety. I also used a nice picante version of the chorizo because I knew that would give it a bit of a kick and I wouldn't have to worry about seasoning much.

So here we are:

Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb Mexican Picante Chorizo, removed from the casing
1 15oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
1 8oz package of fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup Mexican Queso Fresco cheese
Salt and pepper to taste ( I did not use any salt)

Put the olive oil in a sauté pan, and add the chorizo. Heat on a medium flame for about 10 minutes, breaking it apart as it cooks. Add the drained chickpeas to the pan and sauté for approximately 5 minutes.

In same pan, add onions and sauté on low for 10 minutes until onions are soft. Add mushrooms, garlic and pepper and continue to sauté for 5 minutes. It's nice if the mushrooms have a bit of bit to them, not hard, but I don't like them to get too mushy.

Add in spinach (and down't worry that it looks like a hell of a lot of spinach because it reduces so much as it wilts) and chicken broth. Cover and let spinach wilt on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Give it a few gentle stirs to cover the spinach with the mixture, but don't over stir it.

While the spinach was wilting, I popped some bread I'd covered with butter (Smart Balance actually), garlic powder and paprika into the toaster over to make some garlic toast.

A few minutes before serving, toss in most of the cheese, allowing it to soften just a bit. Serve over a small bed of the fresh, uncooked spinach leaves and sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top. Grab an ice cold drink and enjoy!

Whaaaaaaaaaat? 729 layers?

2008-06-04T09:03:00.010-05:00

I took a puff pastry class recently and thought I'd brag about my results. This wasn't a puff pastry class where we made the pastry from scratch, because apparently that would take about 6 hours of wait time, while the layers are...puffing...lol, so we used store-bought frozen pastries and I must say, the results came out quite nice. I DID learn something amazing though and that is that a classically made puff pastry has 729 layers in it! SEVEN HUNDRED TWENTY NINE! That comes from taking the dough, folding it in thirds and letting it chill, then putting in some butter and folding it again in thirds, and doing that 6 times until the original 3 layers have multiplied each time. What makes it puff is air from the water in the butter. AH HA! And that is our chemistry lesson for the day. Chemistry was NEVER this fun or tasty in college. LOL

Anywhooo, at my class we were given the choice of making a sweet or savory pastry and I went with the sweet because I didn't like the choice for the savory... tomato(ick) basil with parmesean cheese. The sweet was a strawberry and cream pastry.

Here is the recipe:
Strawberries & Cream Tart

1 puff pastry sheet
1 block cream cheese
1/2 tablespoon vanilla paste or vanilla extract
1/2 cup half & half
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup sliced or quarted strawberries

Preheat oven to 400.
Prep your baking pan with parchment paper.
Place your puff pastry sheet on the baking pan.

Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.

While dough is baking, prep the vanilla cream cheese frosting.
Whip the cream cheese until soft, adding half & half to help ease it.
Slowly add the powdered sugar, vanilla and remaining half & half until fully combined.

When the puff pastry has cooled slightly, spread the frosting on top of the pastry dough.
Top with fresh strawberries.
And TA DA!! The finished product...

This is best eaten right away. The Hubs and I had some later in the day and I was really impressed with the quality of the Trader Joe's frozen pastry. Maybe someday I'll attempt to make a puff pastry from scratch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2008-06-02T12:55:00.003-05:00

Yay! It's the Hubs birthday today!

It's great that our birthdays are so close together. I've checked on the calendar and the next time we will have our birthdays on consecutive weekends is in 2012. So I propose right now that we plan a little trip to leave on Friday night, May 25th and celebrate right thru June 2nd, returning home on June 3rd. It will be great! C'mon Hubs... let's do it!! We have 4 years to plan it...hehehe.

2008-05-31T19:33:00.000-05:00

Wheeee!

2008-05-23T13:14:00.003-05:00

Woohoo! This is how I feel about the end of this day coming. It's the start of the holiday weekend, it's a four-day weekend for me, AND it's me BIRFDAY weekend! w00t!

I snatched this fine piccie from a dang good Cookie!

French Onion Soup

2008-05-22T10:36:00.010-05:00

Thought I'd share this recipe that I made the other day. The Hubs is a big fan of it and I'd never made it for him before, so why not? I don't have an exact recipe, but it's not like you can really mess this one up.

1. I sautéed about 3 cups of white, yellow and red onions, and 2 shallots, which had been sliced very thinly, in about 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1/4 cup of margarine (I use Smart Balance) or you could use butter if you choose. I let the onions sauté for about 30 minutes on a medium low heat, not high enough to let the onions get brown. You want them to get all nice and soft and transluscent. I added 1 tsp of flour to the onions and stirred for a couplte of minutes until the flour was throroughly mixed in.

2. I added 4 cups of beef stock and 1/4 cup of white wine to the pot. I've seen various recipes calling for white or red wine or sherry. I used the white wine because I had just that much left in the bottle from the last recipe I made which required white wine and because when I tried to take the cork out of the bottle of sherry it broke off and I couldn't be bothered to fish out the rest of the cork at that moment. Then I added some pepper, a bay leaf and some allspice. I didn't add any salt because frankly the beef stock had enough salt in it. I let the pot simmer on low for at least a half hour.

3. While that was going on, I sliced up a demi-baguette I'd bought that day at Trader Joe's. Mmmmm, the bread was nice and crusty. I lightly toasted it and popped the pieces in bowls in preparation for the next step.

4. I ladled the soup over the bread, making sure to get a lot of onions in each bowl...that IS the point afterall.

5. I put sliced pieces of swiss cheese over the soup, letting corners of the cheese hang over the edge of the bowl. It's best if you can put the bowls in a broiler or large enough toaster oven to melt and brown the cheese. But I've never even been able to get the broiler door open on our oven and I don't like the idea of food cooking so close to the floor (since the broiler is at the bottom of our oven) and our toaster oven wasn't big enough for this task. So I put the bowls of soup in the oven on 450° for about 20 minutes until the cheese was nice and bubbly and brown.

Be careful...I've heard more people say they burn themselves on French Onion Soup! There is just something irresistable about that bubbly cheese, but the soup below is absolutley scalding...hehehe. Mmmm, so, so good. I did NOT burn myself, nor did the Hubs...so all was good. Here was the finished product...

DMV HELL!

2008-05-21T14:02:00.006-05:00

It had to be done. I was eventually going to HAVE to make that trip down to the DMV to get a new ID card. I'd been dreading this for oh...about 3 years now, ever since I lost my state ID card.

After I got married, in December for 2003, I went in to get the new ID with my name change. I didn't think this would be complicated, seeing as I had all of the proper documents, including my shiny new Social Security card. But ohhhh, no...not for a DMV employee...someone who can only think within very narrow parameters.

I was waited on by a state employee I will affectionately refer to as Crusty, because he was a crusty ole grump. Well everything was going along fine until I had handed over my United Kingdom marriage certificate and his gears immediately downshifted. The rules state that when you are changing your name due to marriage, you have to bring in an original of the certificate with a raised seal. Well, Crusty didn't know how to process the fact that UK marriage certificates doesn't have a raised seal and further more are not officially typed out. That raised seal really stuck in his craw. Ours anyway, was handwritten by the registrar who proceeded over our marriage and contains the words spinster (GRRR) and bachelor and carries the royal emblem...stamped, not raised. Good old Crusty wasn't going to accept this ORIGINAL, CERTIFIED copy of my marriage certificate. I asked quite level-headedly and calmly what was it he proposed I do in order to prove it is a valid document? I wanted to shout..."YOU WANT ME TO GO GRAB 'LIZABETH, AND TROT HER AND HER CORGIS IN HERE SO SHE CAN VALIDATE IT...MAYBE SHE'LL KNIGHT YOU WHILE IN THE PROCESS FOR BEING SUCH A DAMN FINE DMV EMPLOYEE"? Crusty grumbled off to talk to a manager, or fifty, and they umm'd, ahh'd and pointed. I think they all rubbed their thumbs across it looking for that damn raised seal. Then Crusty came back and in a tone that was meant to convey severe apprehension, he said he'd accept it, but I had the feeling I should be REAL damn lucky he did, and should bow in gratitude or something. I'm guessing no one in my great state of Illinois has ever married outside the country before.

Anywhooo...this so rattled Crusty's cage that he made just a lil tiny, eensy weensy booboo, one which I didn't noticed until several months later, and one I didn't want to even think about having to go back to the DMV to get corrected....he entered my sex as MALE!!!! Secretly I think he did it on purpose. And then at some point, I lost the ID.

So I walked around for a few years without an official state ID, using my passport or work ID when I absolutely needed one, which really wasn't all that often...really only when the Hubs and I went to a bar that wanted to harass women that are clearly over the drinking age. I needed a new ID though, so after enough nagging from the Hubs, I finally decided, that's it, I'm going to just get it over with.

I checked the DMV web site to see what are acceptable forms of ID and gathered together my birth certificate (proving that yes, I was indeed born FEMALE), marriage certificate (EGADS, there is no way of getting around the fact that I have to show how I got from maiden name to married name), social security card (natch), and lease to show proof of address. I merrily skipped on down to the DMV, arriving at 7:20am, knowing they opened at 8:00am, but determined to be in and out of there like greased lightning. I pulled out my book and watched the line grow behind me...I was first in line...hurrah! Then at about 7:50am, a compact lady with sensible shoes and a very swift, efficient looking manner about her...and a clipboard (the sure sign of authority), unlocked the door and asked that we form an orderly line outside the door and gather all of our documents together so she could check them out prior to entering. She wanted to make sure we had everything we needed for whatever our desired service was. I remembered this from last time and whipped them out, all..."AH HA"-like. She hesitated at the foreign marriage cert., only asking if I'd had another state ID at any time. Nope...ok, she said I was good to go. She went through the line and informed us she'd be back to give us numbers. Being first in line you'd think I get the first number right? WRONG...three seniors got the first numbers, because well, they are seniors and they can't sit around waiting all day. Those of us who have to go to work can...

No biggie, once we were allowed to officially go into the DMV office, the seniors were called up, two of them were a tad thrown off by the booming electronic voice telling them which desk to go to. Then it was my turn!!! E-gads, I was being waited on by Crusty's friend Grumbly. He asked what I was there for. I told him a new card, to replace a lost card, that wasn't due to expire until next year on my birthday, and a correction to the card. And what was that correction he inquired. I told him it said "male" and kind of heh-heh'd, saying that I could assure him I was born female. What I wanted to do was spin sideways, narrow my eyes to a glare and point accusingly at Crusty (because oh, yes he was there just 2 desks down) and yell... "YOU! YOU made this mistake, you imcompetent Crusty fart!" Grumbly didn't react much...Grumbly didn't seem to have much of a pulse. Whenever he asked a question, he cut me off, so I just stood there, waiting for him to finish tap-tapping...FEMALE, Grumbly, FEMALE...get it right. He printed off a form for me to sign and I noticed something, it said expiration date of 2009. WHAT??? I said, ahem, why is this only good for one year? Well, silly me, because it's a duplicate and had I noticed the error immediately, they could have replaced it for free, and if I came back next week on my birthday, it could be valid for the 5 years. I couldn't take it...I signed the thing, with full realization that I'd have to return in one year to do it all over again. WAAAAAAAAH!!!! And with full realization that I'd have have to pay another $20 bucks next year. But I just couldn't bear it, I couldn't bear the thought of going back into the office again next week. I just wanted to be done with it and I'll worry about next year....next year. As long as I don't lose the thing again...ahem...I won't have to produce ALL those documents (including the evil marriage cert) next year. Oh, and here's the other thing, not only do I NOT want to go to the DMV again next week, you gotta be crazy if you think I'm going to spend my birthday with either Crusty, Grumbly or any of the other DMV dwarfs.

The rest was a breeze...paid the cashier $20, went to the photo area, got awful picture taken by very pleasant lady who giggled when I said I just wanted to make sure it didn't say "male", like last time, and she said, no, it's too early in the morning for sex changes.... She's alright! Too bad she can't spread her personality to Crusty and Grumbly.

Holy freakin' crap!

2008-05-15T08:24:00.002-05:00

After waiting 406 days for my husband to have the conditions removed from his greencard, he's been approved!!! FOUR HUNDRED and SIX! When my husband entered the country almost 3 years ago, he was given conditional status because we hadn't been married over 2 years at that time. The green card he received was good for 2 years. The rules of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) state that within 90 days of expiration of the green card the immigrant is to file for lifting of the conditional status to recieve a "permanent" 10-year green card. Ok, fine, we did that, supplied goo-gobs of supporting evidence that we were still married and that he hadn't entered the country via a sham marriage, and paid their big fee. And then we just waited....and waited. There was nothing we could do to move the process along as the center that was handling our case was working on cases several months prior to the date we filed. And then they just stopped processing cases, apparently because of the massive increase last year in naturalization filings. Eventually our case was transferred to another center in late March of this year and bing-bang, they knocked it right out. We only have one USCIS hurdle left....the naturalization hurdle, which my husband is eligible for at this time. An immigrant married to a US citizen is eligible to apply for naturlization within the 90 days of the 3 year anniversary of becoming a permanent resident. For my husband, that was the day he entered the country. aaack, I don't know if we are ready to go through another lengthy waiting period at this time, AND hand over another big fat check. Someday we won't have to deal with USCIS ever again....YIPEEE!!!

At least we can say we are doing this all legal-like, never having to look over shoulders and wonder if he'll be booted. And that's all I'll say about that.....

Back in da groove...

2008-05-04T10:01:00.009-05:00

Ok, I took a little blog break there. It wasn't too long, but I actually had a reader poke me and say hey...get moving. Maybe I just didn't know what to say.

Anywhoooo, take a look at the flowers growing on the plant in my living room. These are the funniest flowers because they don't look real. They look like a little plastic clump, almost feel like plastic, and strangely enough, they pop out of the plant upside down and under the leaves so you don't see them sometimes until they are in a full bloom. This is the first year this plant is blooming for me. The plant was started as a clipping for me from a co-worker last year and I was hoping to get flowers this year....YAY!!! It's one of those great, throw som water at it occasionally and forget it plants and it LOVES bright, bright sunshine, which I get a LOT of in the living room window. I get so much that other plants just can't take it, plants that grow wild outside cant'take the excessive sunlight.

This week in the mail I received my book club book for May. I didn't know it was going to be 455 pages and with tiny print! I thought aaack, how am I going to finish this one on time if I just read it on the bus. Well I picked this book up on Thursday morning and couldn't put it down. I finished it Saturday afternoon, ignoring the bedroom that needed straightening and eating a sandwich while reading it. The book was Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. WOW, was it compelling, sad, thought provoking, even a little suspenseful. It's the fictional account of a what leads up to and occurs in the aftermath of a highschool shooting in a small town. I highly recommend it. I have two other Jodi Picoult books which I look forward to reading.

Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Herbs

2008-05-01T13:39:00.003-05:00

Ok, here's my Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Herbs, served with rosemary roasted potatoes with goat cheese and steamed green beans with pearl onions.

The chicken recipe....

1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried Thyme1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp Creole seasoning
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced (depending on how much garlic you like)
Black pepper Salt if you want (the Creole seasoning has salt in it, so I didn't use more)

Make marinade: Combine lemon juice, oil, herbs, seasoning, garlic and pepper (salt if you are using.

Wash chicken, pat dry, put chicken in marinade and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Arrange chicken in roasting pan, pour some of the marinade over the chicken so the chicken doesn't dry out while cooking. Bake for 35-40 minutes, basting several times.

This recipe originally called for chicken legs, but legs are not the Hub's favorite and he doesn't like chicken with skin. If you use bone-in meat it will take longer than I've said in this recipe. It was good though...juicy. Also, the original recipe didn't call for marinating, but I think it made the flavor better.

New "do"

2008-04-18T14:52:00.003-05:00

Life is good again. Well, at least my hair life is good again...
Back at the beginning of March, I did the unthinkable, I cheated on my colorist and not only had my hair done by someone else, but at a different salon. I knew immediately that I'd made a mistake. I wasn't happy with the results, the salon, and felt stupid for not just telling my original colorist that I wasn't completely satisfied with the results I'd gotten. So I sucked it up, knowing that she'd know immediately that I'd been elsewhere since my hair was a totally different color, but was also obvious that it was a professional job, and I went in for a hair color yesterday. I told her...aaack, I messed up and that I should have just told her I wasn't happy. She ust said she was happy to see me and that if anything ever isn't right, just LET HER KNOW! Ok, lesson learned. So she fixed what I didn't like about the last color job and the rest of the conversation was about the rest of our lives....just as it should be. And YAY, I LOVE the color, so it's a happy Caturday on that front.

Otherwise, I'm still not 100% back to feeling the way I should, so I'm taking it easy today. I just finished reading a book by one of my favorite mystery authors, James Patterson's 1st to Die. It's the first in a series of four (so far) books about the Women's Murder Club. I've seen promos for the tv show based on the novels, but I've decided I don't want to watch it, because I don't want it to mess with the way I've got the characters envisioned in my mind. I'm guessing it would be a bit off of the book anyway. I flew through the some 470 odd pages in this book; it was good stuff! So now I've got to get the second book....oooh! I'd been in a certain chick-lit phase because I'm in a chick-lit book club, so this was perfect for breaking that up. So with that book done, I've got to peruse my shelves until my next chick-lit book club book comes to me from Amazon. It actually isn't anymore chick-lit than 1st to Die. I'ts Jodi Picult's Nineteen Minutes, about a small-town highschool shooting and what would cause someone to do it. It should be interesting.

So that's it for today, I'm off to drink my Ensure and find a book to read.

Happy Caturday!!

aaaaaarrrrrghhhhhhh

2008-04-18T14:44:00.002-05:00

While I've been icky ill most of this week and still am not quite right, our computer has died so I haven't even been able to share with all of you how crappy I've felt. I'm at work today because I didn't want to miss a meeting that concerned me, so thought I'd pop in and maybe tomorrow I'll pop back in on the Hubs laptop.

For this week, I'll just say hey...Priscilla got booted off of DWTS...awww. It's been warm here, but not that I would have known as I've been under a blanket.

And why is it that because I can't eat anything, I want to eat EVERYTHING???

Caturday already?

2008-04-12T09:31:00.002-05:00

All is good, even if it's raining. The Hubs got forward-moving progress on immigration paperwork we sent in over a year ago... YAY!!! I MAY be getting a lil promotion. I HOPE. I'm going to be given twice as much responsibility but all of the details haven't been worked out and a new job despcription needs to be written, so I hope that what I asked for, and this IS something I'd asked for, isn't seen as just ohhh, something more to do for the fun of it. Regardless, I know what my bonus for last year is going to be and I'm going to get it on Friday (saving for Peru), and I will also get my raise at the end of the month. I'm only getting a 4% increase, but I guess in these days, it's oh...better than a sharp stick in the eye (one of the stepfather's fav phrases...hehe.) Let's see, what else? Tomorrow is my the Mum's b-day, and we are having a little "do" here. I won't say what the menu is because the Mum reads this..... *waves*. HAPPY BIRFDAY!!! And let's see how else can I wrap up this post of goodness... I got a new super duper fantastic hair straightener yesterday and if I can get my hair not frizzy in the summer, that will make me happy for the rest of the year. I could go on and on, cuz it's not only the big things that are making for a great Caturday... raise, bonus, maybe promotion, Mum b-day, immigration, but also the little things like finding a really nice smelling hand soap (almond and cherry bark or something....mmm, nice), having a nice new fan installed in our "den", and having free, pizza for dinner tonight. OHHHHHHHH, and I forgot, I'm going to one of my tea groups afternoon teas today. Chitter-chatter with the ladies and finger sammiches, scones and tea. You know...it's a great day. Even if it is raining.

Week 4

2008-04-11T09:01:00.005-05:00

Ok, I'm quite a bit behind with this review, so I'll keep it kinda short and sweet...the dances this week weer the Paso Doble, a Spanish style bullfight dance and the Viennese Waltz, a floaty ballroom dance.

Kristi & Mark - Paso Doble - They had fantastic moves, there was good emotion, it was intense, but the song was a little bizarre. She makes it look so darn easy. They've had the highest overall score ever to this point of any of the dancers on any season.
Judges: 29/30, my score: 10

Priscilla & Louis - Viennese Waltz - At the beginning she said "Kristi, we're coming to get you!" lol I thought this dance would be right up her alley, and it was. It was flowy, she had good posture, and she looked beautiful in her dress. HOWEVER, unfortunately, at one point, both of her feet were off the ground in a lift and that is illegal, so the judges really penalized her.
Judges: 22/30, my score: 8 (taking away a point for the lift)

Adam & Julianne - Paso Doble - Jeezus, he came riding out on a unicycle and rode around for the first 15 seconds of the dance. It was quite stupid. When he finally did get off, she did most of the dancing around him. IT'S TIME TO GO HOME!!!
Judges: 19/30, my score: 6

Marlee & Fabian - Viennese Waltz - This dance just didn't grab me and there were times it looked a bit awkward and she seemed off balance. Strangley though it took Carrie Ann's brath away.
Judges: 24/30, my score: 7

Mario & Karina - Paso Doble - The dance was aggressive and he did this really nice cape work. It wasn't really crisp though and also had a strange song. And then Len said something about underpants older than Mario, TMI Len, TMI. LOL I think they are being tough on him, because they know he has the capability of doing really well.
Judges: 24/30, my score: 8

Jason & Edyta - Viennese Waltz - So she took him to Medieval Times to show him how to be a gentleman and he was dubbed Sir Dance-alot......okaaaay. But hey, it worked apparently and he got the job done. So much so that for the first time he was able to tie Kristie's score of 29/30. I wasn't that moved by it. To me he seemed almost too long and lanky to pull off the flow of the dance. But whatever...my scores don't count, only the judges.
Judges: 29/30, my score: 8

Christian & Cheryl - Paso Doble - I just love saying his name... Christian de la Fuente.... anywhooo...He did a nice dance, and I loved that they used Spanish music for the dance instead of something funky that just has the right beat. It (and he...heh heh heh) looked great. But the judges felt that maybe the music overpowered him.
Judges: 26/30, my score: 9

Shannon & Derek - Viennese Waltz - Wow, Derek had an injury during practice. Apparently something in his neck SNAPPED!! So they had one of the already ousted professional dancers fill in while he was in a neck brace and the night of the dance, he took the brace off...eeek! Everytime he spun his head around I was like...aaack...be careful! But they did a very nice dance, she IS getting better. And SHE got Len Goodman's first 10 of the season. hmmmm, sympathetic score?
Judges: 28/30, my score: 9

Marissa & Tony - Paso Doble - She is trying so hard! She's really got her bubbliness under control and is focussed. I was overwhelmed by the dance, but it was nice.
Judges: 24/30, my score: 8

SOOOOOOOOOO who went home??? YES! Finally, Adam! buh-bye....

Tarragon Chicken

2008-04-09T10:54:00.003-05:00

"The best sauce is cooked in an old pan"....African proverb

I absolutely love tarragon, but for me it MUST be fresh. I've never really experimented a whole lot with it, but is is super on chicken and supposedly is real nice in a seafood dish or in a sauce for veggies.

Ingredients

1 lb boneless chicken breasts

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp green onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 tspn fresh taragon, chopped (remember, if you are using dried, use only 1/3 the amt of fresh...but fresh is really so much nicer.)
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup half-and-half

Coat chicken breasts in flour on both sides. Set aside remaining flour to use later.

In a large pan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add chicken and brown on both sides. Remove the chicken and keep warm.

Add green onion to the pan and saute for 1 minute.

Add wine to the pan and increase heat to high; cook until liquid has reduced by half, stirring to loosen browned bits on the bottom of the pan.

Reduce the heat to low, add the set-aside flour, stirring until you get a thick paste. Add tarragon and chicken broth. Return chicken to pan, cover and cook until tender...about 20-25 minutes.

Remove chicken to clean plate and keep warm. Add half-and-half to the pan and you may need to add a bit more liquid if it's too thick. Add a bit more broth (or wine) until the sauce is between thin and gloopy. Add the chicken back to the pan and heat for just a few minutes.

Serve over orzo or rice.

In My Life

2008-04-08T08:21:00.003-05:00

Arrrgh, just before I left for work this morning I heard one of those commercials for a radio station....93.9, LiteFM. Eeeesh. They give a sampling of some of the tunes one might hear if they tune in and one that play is Dido's Thank You, and now I've got that stupid song running through my head endlessly. It was one of those songs that was played ad nauseum on radio stations toward the end of the 90's I believe. "And Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii want to thank you, for giving me the best days of my-yyyyy liiii-ee-iiife." I'd try to find a link to it so you too could enjoy the tune, but I don't want to do that to you....my lovely reader(s). It's bad enough when you get a song running through your head all day and it's a song that you actually like, but one that's just annoying...grrrrrrrr. I vow to never listen to 93.9 LiteFM, if this is the stuff I'd run across.

Anywhoooo, this got me to thinking about the conversation I had with the Hubs last night about favorite bands and such like. You see, the Hubs has also started blogging again and is using his blog to talk about his favorite bands....100 of them to be precise. Each week he'll give us his next in the list (starting at 100....oooh, and as a preview he told me #100), along with album info, songs we should try out if we've never heard of them, etc. I'm not surprised that he can come up with 100 FAVORITE. I couldn't come up with 100 period. Well, yes I could, but certainly not favorites. So we talked about what my list of top 10 would be. Much more manageable for me, but even then as I was forming my list, I was like...eeek...I've only got one spot left, who do I give it to??? Maybe I need a list of 20 afterall. But nevertheless, my list is as follows, in no particular order, except that #1 is definitely #1.

#1 The Beatles
Guns N' Roses
Bon Jovi
Pink Floyd
Aerosmith
Rush
Rolling Stones
Michael Jackson (ok, this is BEFORE he went all freak-a-zoid on us)
Jimmy Eat World
Beach Boys

Yeah, I need another 10, so I can put Motley Crue, Dream Theater, Chicago, Simon & Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen, Journey, Cheap Trick, Kaiser Chiefs, Bob Dylan, Reo Speedwagon. oi, I'm out of space again....LOL

So for today, to try and get that Dido nonsense out of my head, here's a video clip of my favorite Beatles song... enjoy!

Where are the cat carriers????

2008-04-07T14:29:00.003-05:00

I'm trying to nosy about and see what happened in our apartment building over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, nine of the big hook-and-ladder fire trucks pulled in front of our building, there were two ambulances, about 4 cop cars, a mobile medical unit, cops on bikes making sure people were clearing the street and traffic was blocked off so it couldn't come down the street. Now, we live in a 13-story building and I know when an alarm goes off or someone calls the fire department, they DO bring the big units, but this was a massive response. Since we have a great view, we can see all of the action down on the street. Firemen were coming toward the building with all kinds of equipment and there were a couple of firemen about ready to open the fire hydrant across the street. I've lived in this building a long time and had never seen action like this. Of course I was thinking, hmmm....do I get the cat carriers ready, or what? The Hubs didn't think it warranted getting nervous over....but then again, he doesn't get nervous over anything. Random people on the street were looking at the building, so I opened the window higher to see if I could hear what was going on. No such luck. About a half hour later, the trucks and other vehicles started slowly leaving until there was just one truck and a few cops. I went out to the hall outside of the apartment and smelled the smoke. The fire escape stairs were smoky and I could hear people making their way either up or down the stairs. The elevators obviously immediately get shut off by the fire squad when something happens. One guy on his way up said he didn't know what had happened. Can you imagine how embarrasing it would be if you were the cause of all of this commotion for leaving something cooking too long on the stove....

So glad it's Caturday

2008-04-05T07:44:00.008-05:00

I was thinking about a few things that got on my last nerve on Thursday and Friday and I wonder, why do people do these things? Is it okay to be so totally into yourself that you don't notice you are infringing upon someone else's either space?

I was in the elevator yesterday in my apartment building and there was this guy yapping on his cell phone. Not being one who finds it necessary to be obsessively attached to my cell phone, I can't imagine who I would find it urgently imperative that I speak to in the elevator. But, as the elevator is not the best place to have a cell phone conversation, obviously because you are basically in a little box, you have to talk louder, say "WHAT, I CAN'T HEAR YOU", a lot, and reiterate numerous times that you are in the elevator, so hang on. For FRICK SAKE! Arrrrrrrrrgh! This is a 5 ' x 5' BOX! I don't want to have to be subjected to your inane conversation. Why can't we just go back to the days when everyone stared uncomfortably at the ceiling, in silence, or at floor numbers as they go up or down. I have a lot of gripes about people and their cell phones, so I'm sure at some point I'll do a 10,000 word rant on this blog....hehehe.

On Thursday, I was on the bus on my way home from work. Oh, hang on, just as a side note, I can also do a 10,000 word rant on people on the bus and the bus service in general, so just keep that in mind. LOL Anywhoooo....the bus wasn't crowded and I took one of my favorite seats on the bus because it is in the very last row, in the corner....next to the window. I like the last row because then you have no one behind you to bop you in the head with their briefcase when they get up, or no one behind you on their phone having an inane conversation (sensing a pattern here with cell phones?), and no one behind you to sneeze into your hair....aaack! So I'm sitting there, the bus is more than half empty, plenty of two-sie seats together for a couple sit together. That's why I was surprised when this couple got on the bus and he sat in a seat perpendicular to mine and she sat next to me. Since I had to look at his profile most of the way home, I'll call him Toupe Guy, for obvious reasons. And she is just Annoying Lady . It wouldn't have been bad if they just sat there, but they had this animated conversation in an eastern European language and everytime she thought of something new and exciting to say to him, she bolted forward and to the right...into my lap for crissake...and flung her arms about, flopping her shopping bag into me. Lordy, I wish I knew what the conversation was about so I could be either apalled or excited. But didn't she see me sitting there. And why couldn't she have sat next to Other Dude, the only other person sitting in the back of the bus. Maybe he could have sympathized with her obvious distress. Toupe guy just nodded sagely every few minutes. I hate the bus!

Also on Thursday, I was in the loo at work, in the far stall, farthest away from the entrance. There are five stalls and I was pretty sure the unwritted lady's room rule is that if there are ample stalls available, you don't go in the stall next to someone. I've talked with a co-worker about this, and we pretty much agree that if you go into the bathroom and there is no one there, you go to #1 or #5. If one of them is occupied, you leave a space between you and your co-tinkler. If #1, #3, and #5 are taken, aaaack...you have no choice to go in between two people. Sometimes though, in a split second decision, you can gauge who might be leaving first and you go next to them so you have at least one empty stall next to you. So I was surprised when I was there by myself in #5 and someone went into #4. Don't they know the rules????? The closest they should have gotten was #3. Sheeeesh!!!! I RAN out of there...of course after business had been completed. I didn't wait to see who the offending party was. But this brings me to another point about bathroom etiquette. What on earth makes people think I want to have a conversation over tinkle??? I feel obligated to stop mid-flow so I can hear them properly. NO...please at least wait till I'm washing my hands to talk to me. And god forbid...don't have a cell phone conversation in a stall. LOL

This is why I'm so happy it's Caturday!!!!!!

Our cooking guidelines...

2008-04-04T11:00:00.004-05:00

The hubs and I are looking into taking some sort of cooking class together. We figure it could be a hoot! And maybe it would make him more comfortable in the kitchen. Regardless, we've come up with our own 15 simple guidelines for successful meals. Please feel free to adopt them into YOUR cooking repertoire....

1. How to make a grilled cheese sandwich........with bacon.

2. How to prepare an Indian meal.......start a week in advance.

3. How to cook broccoli, brussel sprouts, or asparagus........DON'T

4. How to make a pot of chili........hot and often.

5. How to prepare a full English breakfast........go to the pub.

6. How to make Easter lamb........with a bullet, but save that for your guests.

7. How to create a veggie sandwich........with extra bacon.

8. How to make a pizza........call for delivery.

9. How to prepare Christmas dinner........go to the folk's house; they do it better.

10. How to pop popcorn........go to the movies instead.

11. How to make a pot of soup........with lots of crusty bread.

12. How to prepare ice cream........let Al make it.

13. How to make a burger........with bacon.

14. How to prepare seafood........when the Hubs is out of the house.

15. How to create the perfect snack........buy Seabrook's Crisps.

Turkey Lentil Soup

2008-04-04T10:44:00.003-05:00

"I live on good soup, not on fine words"....Moliere

This is a recipe from one of my favorite recipe books...The Soup Bible. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of diced smoked turkey. Since I didn't have smoked turkey in the house when I made it, I used diced ham, leftover from a nice baked ham my mum had made, and found the recipe to be fabulous. Also, the original recipe only called 1/4 cup of the turkey, but that didn't seem substantial for a meal for two, so I used just a bit more!

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
1 large carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, white part only, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup lentils
1 cup diced ham (turkey ham would work well too)
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion, leek, celery, and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes, until golden. Stir in the wine and stock and bring to a boil. Add the thyme and bay leaf. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the lentils and continue cooking, covered for 30-40 minutes until lentils are tender. Stir occasionally.

Add the diced ham and season with the salt (if you must) and pepper. Simmer 5-10 minutes until the ham heats.

Fish out the bay leaf and serve the soup with some nice warm crusty bread and butter. It's a meal in itself.

News

2008-04-03T10:19:00.012-05:00

Things in the news that are frankly cracking me up.....

- Dr. Pepper announced that it will give a can of it's soft drink to every American if Guns 'N Roses releases the LOOOOOOONG awaited cd (GNR have been working on it since 1993) Chinese Democracy anytime in 2008. Well, everyone except Slash and Buckethead can get a can. I think that is the part that cracks me up the most...I mean, is it REALLY going to be a slight to the two of them? Does that mean Izzy will get a can? Apparently old battle scars left from earlier days of squabbling between old band mates and Rose are gone. And to make it even weirder, Rose said he'd share his can with Buckethead....huh? Well, if Slash is THAT desperate for a can, my hubster will send him his can, free of charge...

- So, Heathrow opens their new $8 billion state of the art terminal. The Queen cuts the ribbon and hey ho...it's a clusterfrick! Tens of thousands of bags get lost in the system, employees can't get into the terminal to work, flights cancelled, total chaos, long lines, and shorter tempers. All this to alleviate traffic and headaches for the worlds busiest international airport.... D'OH! Costs to British Airways for this disaster are estimated to be about $32 million. Eeeek, someone's losing their job over this one. Jackie Bachmann, 40, from Switzerland encountered baggage problems as she traveled with four other snooker players to an amateur competition in Glasgow. "We had problems with our bags and his snooker cue is missing," she said.

- Well, so....there is no evidence that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is beneficial. Scientist don't know even know where this widely held belief/myth came from. I'll tell you....the bottled water industry. But anyway, a study by a bunch of nephrologists concluded that there is no evidence that these 8 glasses or more, will help in weight loss or maintenance, make your skin clearer, detoxify your system, or get rid of headaches if you are dehydrated. Shoot....all those excess trips to the potty for nothing...

Week 3

2008-04-02T12:23:00.004-05:00

First of all I have to say that I didn't make catch the first dancer so I can't give a totally accurate review of Marlee & Fabian's Jive. I did see a clip of it though and thought the little bit I saw did earn her her score of 21/30...so I'll go with the judges and say my score 7/10.

Steve & Anna - Tango - Again, he did a nice job, but it always seems like his facial expressions are almost mocking the dance. I dunno.
Judges: 21/30, my score: 7/10

Christian & Cheryl - Jive - Oooh, they were on fire! A bit maybe too out of control, especially at the end when Christian crashed into something or someone at the edge of the dance floor in the final move.
Judges: 25/30, my score: 8/10

Mario & Karina - Tango - Cripes! Who thought it would be a good idea to take Roxanne by the Police and turn it into some strange tango version. I can't help but think that the music, when it is weird like this does nothing to help the overall dance. I tango should be to tango music, not some freaky remake of a Police song. Anywhoooo, they seems a bit off and Karina looked a mess at the end! LOL
Judges: 21/30, my score: 6/10

Shannon & Derek - Jive - They did a nice job, but man were they wiped out at the end. So wiped out she had to sit on the floor for her judging.
Judges: 24/30, my score 7/10

Adam & Julianne - Tango - He didn't do too bad, for him, but he needs to shut his trap. He made these bizarre remarks at the judging about her dress, which was kind of strange looking...black net over peach fabric.... and his comments really are just uncomfortable to watch.
Judges: 21/30, my score 6/10

Marissa & Tony - Jive - This dance seemed like it should have been perfect for her, very high energy and bouncy. But she seemed to hold back and not really WOW the audience. And she was shocked to hear the judges calling the dance boring and not high energy enough. I would agree that she held back, but boring, I dunno about that. She's probably holding back because she was told she was TOO high energy and out of control in the first dance.
Judges: 19/30 OUCH!, my score 7/10

Priscilla & Louis - Tango - Jesus! Once again, she is smokin'! She did a great job, very firey. And her moves are great. It's obvious that she is a total perfectionist and takes the dances seriously. I hope she is having fun as well.
Judges: 26/30, my score 9/10

Jason & Edyta - Jive - Where the heck does Edyta get her dresses? This one, and I think I've seen this before on her in previous seasons, looks like pieces of floss atached to a bikini. lol The dance was pretty good, but the judges are expecting a lot from them.
Judges: 23/30, my score 8/10

Kristi & Mark - Tango - I don't know if they get a choice between the two dances each week, but for some reason I was picturing her doing this dance and not the Jive. This wasn't my favorite of her dances so far. I don't know what it was, and the judges thought she lacks emotion. Could be. However.....
Judges: 27/30! my score 8/10

Final placement: Kristi - 27, Priscilla - 26, Christian - 25, Shannon - 24, Jason - 23, Marlee, Steve, Mario, & Adam - 21, Marissa - 19

I thought Adam should go home even though Marissa was in last place. Everyone has an off night and this was hers. I think in the long run she is a better dancer. But I thought either Adam or Marissa would be the likely candidates to be chopped.

So was I surprised when their names were called as coming back next week!!!! That left either Steve or someone who would have been better, but not as popular, maybe Shannon. In the end Steve Guttenberg was sent home. Awwww...seems like a nice guy, but just with strange facial expressions.

What day is it?

2008-04-01T12:47:00.003-05:00

Oh, it' s only Tuesday... *sigh*

It IS April Fool's Day though and I already warned the Hubs that jokes to wind me up weren't going to be appreciated today. I'm grumpy, crabby, moany. Bahhh. Poor him when he gets home tonight. LOL I'll try to be nice. But well, it's just that, ARRRRRGH, it's well, a "feminine time". How's that for sugar coating it? Get the hot chocolate, Ibuprofen and heating pad.

pffft!

I'll be putting up my review of DWTS tomorrow after they bump the next star tonight. I'm thinking Adam Carolla will be on his way home.

And tonight for dinner the Hubs and I will be having leftover Peruvian food from the restaurant we went to on Saturday to celebrate our Peruvian trip. OMG! Was the food good, but they gave soooo much of it that we each went home with about 2 more meals each. And all that for $42!!! I had anticuchos, the beef heart ones....mmm. And a steak with rice and potatoes in cream cheese sauce of some kind. Hubs had a bowl of soup that would was more like the size of a pot with all kinds of veggies, chicken, and cilantro. Then he had some kind of beef cooked in beer (LOL), with peppers and onions and stuff, and served with arroz & frijoles. The restaurant was this small place, not much to look at and in a strip mall, but really good. They are BYOB, but if you bring some Peruvian Pisco, they'll make a pitcher of pisco sours for you! I don't drink much and I easily downed a glass....really good! I think we'll have our leftovers with the latest episode of Everyone Hates Chris. That show cracks me up! And I need that today.

Forbiddden in Tibet

2008-03-31T11:00:00.008-05:00

The Tibetan flag.....forbidden in Tibet.

Religious and spiritual freedom for Tibetans....forbidden.

Tibetan autonomy and economic opportunity.....forbidden.

Human rights and PEACE for all Tibetan people.....forbidden.

"I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe." Dalai Lama

Tea Time

2008-03-30T19:51:00.011-05:00

Sometimes I do think I should have been born in a different time, the time of Jane Austen, horse drawn carriage, chivalry, petticoats, hats for every outfit, and of course, afternoon tea. I realize that had I been born in Jane Austen's time I probably wouldn't have been in the class of people who actually got to partake of the lovely ritual of tea, dainty finger sandwiches, and scones with clotted cream. So I guess it's better that I live in this century, where I can go with a couple of gal pals to a grand hotel and have the chance to be treated like a real lady, have scrumptious treats and great conversation. I'm glad I have friends who like to do this. The picture above is from the hotel we went to, The Peninsula Chicago and that is exactly what our tea service looked like. Heck that might have even been my teapot.

I'm also glad I belong to a meet-up group of ladies who meet on a regular basis for Afternoon Tea. We'd been on a hiatus, but I'll be joining them in April for an afternoon of more of the same. I'm glad I only do this, at most, once a month, because it really seems like a treat then. I'm not so sure doing this everyday, like the Victorians did, would have been so special.

Spinach Mushroom Lasagne

2008-03-29T13:00:00.002-05:00

"If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?"....Author Unknown

I love to make lasagne, and while it's not hard and I really don't think you can mess it up (unless you burn it), it can be a laborious task, especially if you are using regular lasagne noodles that you have to worry about getting out of the water and straightened, so they don't bend and stick to themselves. That's the reason I've switched to the no-boil type of noodles...very easy to use and just as tasty. But that doesn't mean I make the recipe any more than I use to... Before I continue, let me just say, if you don't like the vegetable ingredients, substitute to whatever you like. You really can't mess this up.

Ingredients

1 package no-boil lasagne noodles

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
4 cups (firmly packed) fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
4 cups tomato sauce or your favorite pasta sauce
3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (if using dried, remember that you use 1/3 amt of dried herbs, so 1 tbsp dried)
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped (3/4 tspn dried)
salt & pepper to taste (I personally don't salt many recipes because there is enough salt found in things like cheese)
1 four oz can of sliced black olives (or about 1/2 cup)
2 cups Ricotta cheese (I use the low-fat variety)
2 eggs1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (1 tbsp dried flakes)
4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (using fresh is so much nicer than that powered stuff...ick!)

In a large skillet on medium heat, saute onions, garlic and mushrooms in the olive oil until veggies are soft, but not brown. Add chopped spinach, lower heat, stirring occasionally and saute for about 5 minutes, or until all of the spinach absorbs liquid from the pan and gets soft (almost wilted looking.) Add 3 1/2 cups of the tomato sauce (setting aside 1/2 cup of sauce), to the veggie mixture. Add the basil, oregano, pepper and black olives. Simmer, covered, on LOW heat for about 10-15 minutes.

In the meantime, beat the eggs and combine with the ricotta cheese, TWO of the cups of mozzarella cheese and the parsley. Set aside the other two cups of mozzarella cheese.

In a 13x9x2 inch baking pan, spread the 1/2 cup set aside tomato sauce, evenly on the bottom. Layer in the following manner, layering noodles overlapping so there are no gaps in the noodles:

If making two layers -

Noodles, 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 veggie sauce mixture, 1/2 mozzarella cheeseNoodles, 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 veggie sauce mixture, 1/2 mozzarella cheese, sprinkle with parmesan cheese

If making three layers -

Noodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1/3 veggie sauce mixture, 1/3 mozzarella cheeseNoodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1/3 veggie sauce mixture, 1/3 mozzarella cheeseNoodles, 1/3 ricotta mixture, 1/3 veggie sauce mixture, 1/3 mozzarella cheese, sprinkle with parmesan cheese

As a side note, using the no-boil noodles, because the brand I use is a flatter noodle, I can make three layers, but using the traditional noodles, I only get 2 layers.

Depending on what noodles you are using, follow the directions for your noodles to determine baking time. With traditional noodles, since you already cooked them, you should only need to bake the lasagne for 30 -40 minutes at 375°F. With the no-boil noodles, you should bake it for 50-60 minutes at 375° F.

So here is a finished lasagne.

Serve with a nice crisp green salad and some garlic bread. Mangia!!

Well, I never claimed to be a food photographer and my guess is that a lot of the really yummy looking recipes you see in food magazines are either plastic, dyed or inedible. You can't see the layers very well, but trust me, all three were there and they were yummy....if I do say so myself.

Happy Caturday!!

2008-03-29T09:13:00.006-05:00

w00t! It's Caturday.... after 10:30 am and still in me jammies. Finished a book this morning and had a piece of cold pizza with a glass of milk for breakfast. Yeaaah...it's Caturday!

Happy Caturday peeps!

Week 2

2008-03-28T14:24:00.003-05:00

The men and women took the floor tonight doing either the Mambo or Quickstep. This ought to be interesting doing the Quickstep so early in the season when these stars haven't had a chance to break in with an easier dance.

Steve & Anna - Mambo - Again, what is it with the huge facial expressions he's making? He seems to really love doing this and has a great outlook on this. He's trying hard and I'm sure he'll be a crowd favorite. But he's not great...just ok.
Judges score - 16/30, mine 6/10

Christian & Cheryl - Quickstep - this is a hard dance and I thought they did a good job but it seems the judges weren't overly thrilled. Are they giving this guy a harder time because he's Latin and should have good rhythymor something? He's CUTE! ah well...
Judges: 20/30, me 7/10

Monica and Jonathan - Mambo - eeesh, I don't think she can pull off loosening up and swishing her skirt. It doesn't work. She looks stiff. She did try hard, but I really think it her dances have come to an end...or should anyway.
Judges: 15/30, me 5/10

Penn & Kym - Quickstep - oh dear.... the dance may be quick, but he really does look like a bit of a giant in a tutu and the magic bit at the beginning was just plain daft. He seemed irritated by the judges remarks. They do sound harsh.
Judges: 17/30, me 5/10

Priscilla & Louis - Mambo - Go mamma, shake that skirt! She is much more fluid and swishy than Monica, she's just plain GOOD! The judges give her a bit of a hard time for not being sexy enough, but I think she did a great job.
Judges: 21/30, me 8/10

Shannon & Derek - Quickstep - They did a really nice job, but I can't find anything to warm up to this star. She's alright. The judges love her though for this dance.
Judges: 24/30, me 7/10

Jason & Edyta - Mambo - WOW, again, for a football player, this guy is a great dancer. And he doesn't carry himself the way other tall athletes in past series' have, where they kind of hunch their shoulders. He has great posture and once again, he looks great with Edyta. And DO the judges love him or what!
Judges: 27/30, me 9/10

Marissa & Tony - Quickstep - Whe I saw they were doing the quickstep, I thought cripes, you'll never see them. They will just be a blur on the screen with all of her pent up frenetic energy....whirrrrrrrrrr! They were good though and she seemed to settle down and focus more. She had the energy, but it wasn't crazy.
Judges: 21/30, me 7/10

Adam & Julianne - Mambo - errrr, ok, let's just say it was a bit odd and that Julianne won't be staying around longer than her brother.
Judges: 19/20, me 6/10

Marlee & Fabian - Quickstep - At some point in this dance I did fall asleep, thank god for DVR. Upon rewatching, this time with my eyes open, I thought they were ok. I liked her better this week than last. She seemed more fluid and I liked her dress. As an aside, too bad there can't be points added or subtracted for their outfits...hehe...a Project Runway meets Dancing with the Stars. Anywhoo, not bad and the judges thought so too.
Judges: 24/30, me 7/10

Kristi & Mark - Mambo - and whoa! They hit a homerun again! They do a difficult dance, even I can tell that and pull some cool moves. But I'm not crazy about Kristi's dress or gloves at all...what's up with that??? She's a serious contender. I hope I don't jinx it though. Look what happened to Sabrina last year...
Judges: 27/30, me 9/10

Mario & Karina - Quickstep - The dance started with her flying into his arms from a few steps above him. Let's just say I wouldn't have been sorry to see him accidentally not quite catch her properly...ahem. I know that's not fair. He did a great job and seems like a nice guy. I imagine this causes a bit of flack for his rep....hehehe.
Judges: 26/30, me 9/10

For me Kristi and Priscilla are the best of the ladies and Jason and Christian are the best men. At the bottom I'd put Monica and Marrissa and Adam and Penn.

On elimination night I never watch the show, just the last 5-10 minutes. I just can't bear all of that filler, recapping, and singing and dancing from people I don't care to watch.

In the end, Penn and Monica went home....no surprise.

Dancing With The Stars

2008-03-28T12:42:00.010-05:00

Alrighty here we go...a new season. I've been looking forward to it. I know, it's a bit schmaltzy and many times the stars that kicked off aren't the worst dancers, just the least popular for that week. It IS a popularity contest, but in general the stars that DO make it into the final round and are amongst the one's that are the better dancers. If that weren't the case, we'd have seen Jerry Springer or George Hamilton of previous seasons win, which they didn't and shouldn't have. The stars for this season consist of:

I had no idea who Christian de la Fuente or Mario were. Christian is a Chilean actor and Mario is a rap or hip hop or R&B singer. Can't remember which. Adam Carolla isn't so familiar either and I didn't know Shannon Elizabeth did more than American Pie. I'm sure like everyone else, I was surprised to see Marlee Matlin on the roster, and not to be mean or anything, but is every season going to have a star with some sort of disability who gets given a bit of leeway by the judges and gets voted off long after they should have? Will she be another Heather Mills? hmmm Time will tell. I was also surprised to see Priscilla Presley and a little disturbed by what possibly could be botox gone wrong. Jason Taylor I don't know from football, but he won't be hard to watch (along with Christian), Steve Guttenberg might be the "old" guy this year. Penn Jillette....oh my is all I'll say. And Monica and Marissa....eh...ok. I WAS thrilled to see how Kristi Yamaguchi participating. I loved her skating and thought she might be enjoyable to watch.

The stars are paired up this way: Adam & Julianne Hough (winner of last two seasons); Christian & Cheryl Burke (winner of the two seasons before Julianne); Shannon& Derek Hough (yes, Julianne's brother); Steve & Anna Trebunskaya; Mario & Karina Smirnoff (ick I don't like her); Marlee & Fabian Sanchez (he's replacing Maxim Chemerkovsky...toooo bad. Fabian seems boring); Penn & Kym Johnson (how does she always get stuck with duds); Priscilla & Louis van Amstel; Monica & Jonathan Roberts; Jason & Edyta Sliwinska (this woman has legs that go on for miles...holy schmoly); Marissa & Tony Dovolani and Kristi & Mark Ballas.

The judges are, as usual Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli.

So for the start of this season, the producers decided that the couples would dance two dances before an elimination and for the first time there would be a double elimination. Sooooooo, week one had the dancers doing either the Foxtrot or the ChaChaCha. The men danced the first night. Penn & Kym were up first with the ChaChaCha. Eeeek, he did seem to be trying but jimminy crickets, Bruno said it right, he looks like Shrek and his feet are like BOATS! Their score was 16 out of a possible 30. My score 6/10. Jason & Edyta followed with the Foxtrot. He did a really nice job. For a football player, he was surprisingly elegant and paired with Edyta, they make a nice picture on the dance floor. Score: 22/30, my score 8/10. Christian & Cheryl were up next with the ChaChaCha. He was nice to watch and I think the judges were a little hard on him, but they still gave him fairly respectable marks 21/30. My score 7/10. Then it was time for Adam & Julianne with the Foxtrot. Let's just say, there is no way Julianne is going to have a three-peat! Judges score 15/30, mine 6/10. Mario & Karina were up next doing the ChaChaCha and while he was good, I'm never going to get past that I don't like her and I wanted to urp when one of the judges said something about her and all these great Mario's...aaack. Their score 24/30, mine 7/10. Lastly Steve & Anna took the floor and I think Steve needs to stop making all of the facial expressions. He did fair. Their score 18/30. My score 6/10. So the men were in the following order by score: Mario, Jason, Christian, Steve, Penn and Adam.

The next night the ladies took to the dance floor. Shannon & Derek were up first with the ChaChaCha. The judges liked them. I thought they were ok. Derek made some comment about being a MAN this year instead of a boy like last year....aaack! Judges score 21/30. My score, 7/10. Monica & Jonathan were up next with the Foxtrot. Oh my goodness! It's a real good thing Monica is just using this as a substitute for the prom she never went to because she was in a Grand Slam, cuz I think she may see her last dance next week. She was so stiff and gangly. Judges score 15/30, my score 5/10. Marrissa & Tony did the ChaChaCha. First of all, in the bits they show before the dances of the dancers practicing and learning and all that filler which sometimes gets annoying... I wanted to either shake her or slap her Cher style ala Moonlight "SNAP OUT OF IT!" She was so hyper and over the top bubbly. I understand that was probably a huge bit nervousness, but SHEESH! This carried into the dance where she was kinda all over the place. I got exhausted watching her. The judges kinda felt this too. Their score 18/30. My score 5/10. Next was Priscilla & Louis doing the Foxtrot. WOW....I was shocked. She was GREAT! She did this death spiral thingy and she really looked great. I just wish she could smile properly. Judges loved 'em...24/30. My score 8/10. And then came Kristi & Mark, also doing the Foxtrot. C'mon, could she do a bad job. With her years of skating experience, she must have loads of dance training and any dance that would require elegance and good arm and leg extension, she'd surely be able to pull off nicely. YAYYYYYYYY, she did. She looked GREAT out there and everyone loved her! Judges score 27/30, my score 9/10. Finally Marlee was up last and did the the ChaChaCha. She was good, don't get me wrong, but there were a few awkward moments of a stiffness. hmmm Judges gave her a 22/30, my score 7/10. So the ladies are in the following order: Kristi, Priscilla, Marlee, Shannon, Marissa & Monica.

Next episode and then duh duh duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh...double elimination!

Out with TC4, in with DWTS!

2008-03-28T08:06:00.015-05:00

OK, I've made an executive decision here. Instead of doing a weekly recap of Top Chef, I'm going to do one of Dancing with the Stars. I may make reference to TC, but it's easier to talk about the stars than the cheftestants that no one knows. The review of the first elimination round will be forthcoming very soon.

So what else is new? Earth Hour is tomorrow. The Hubs and I are planning to go out early to celebrate the booking of our trip to Peru by going to an authentic Peruvian restaurant not too far from us. Ya know, that's what I love about Chicago...one can find an authentic Peruvian restaurant, run by a Peruvian immigrant, so you know he's going to be serving the real thing, not just an Americanized version, like I think so many Chinese restaurants are. Where do you find something like that in Bumblehoot, Iowa? We'll be going out early enough to get home in time to turn off a lot of the things in the house that use electrical energy. I don't think I'll unplug the clock radio...too much of a pain to reset the time.

And then on Sunday, I'll be going out to Afternoon Tea with the ladies *said with pinky held high* at one of the posh downtown hotels. I'll let you know how that goes.

I was able to unload another book from my Bookins list...YAY! And I have two items coming to me, the book Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. I've been wanting to get this book for a long time. I've heard it's hilarious. And maybe it will help me be a better writer...LOL. I just had to include an image of the book cover because it cracks me up! I'm also getting a Spanish Level 1 (Learn in your Car). Well, we don't have a car, so I'm assuming this will be Spanish Level 1 (Learn in your cocina). It should be a hoot anyway!

Episode 2

2008-03-27T09:50:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I know I'm a week behind...got a bit busy with my own top chef activities for Easter dinner and didn't get to watch TC4 until this week. To keep it short, the elimination challenge from Lincoln Park Zoo was fun to watch, having volunteered at LPZoo for over 10 years. The premise was that 5 teams of 3 cheftestants were named after 5 animals, lion, bear, vulture, penguin, and gorrilla and the teams had to prepare appetizers using foods that those animals would eat and they would have to cater to a fancy cocktail party for zoo patrons.

In the end the winner was the annoying Andrew, from the penguin team, who swore a lot in the first episode but didn't seem to be so obnoxious this episode...hmmmm. He made a ceviche and this glacier made out of yuzu (a Japanese fruit). Valerie, from the gorilla team, made some awful looking olive blinis that got soggy and was sent packing. I would have ditched either her or Nikki, from the bear team for making the "poo" looking stuffed mushrooms. I can't believe her team didn't tasted them before serving them. It seems a no-brainer to taste the food you are serving to anyone else, before you do so. Heck even I do that when I cook....duh!

For more reviews, visit the Top Chef website or read David Dust's blog.

Conserve some energy and read a book!!

2008-03-25T11:39:00.009-05:00

Two things on my mind today....one I was reminded about in an email from a "family-member-by-choice", that Saturday, March 30th, my husband and I are going to observe Earth Hour, Chicago, from 8-9 pm. To all (yes, I know I have a mass audience out there...hehehe) naysayers who would say that by turning off the lights and using as little electrical power as possible, one can't make a difference, well then they really are missing the point. It's about making those small changes on a daily basis that make a difference and if you don't believe we, as humans are having an impact on our environment, then I just don't know what to say. Impact it possitvely by reducing your energy use. I know I'm far from perfect when it comes to the three R's (and I don't mean, Reading, Ritin', and 'Rithmatic), I'm talking about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but I think these kind of observances give us all pause to think about what we are doing....so TURN YOUR LIGHT OFF!

And while you have the light off, you might want to pick up a book. Yes, your eyes can handle reading by candlelight for an hour. Better yet, it would be cool to read by one of those old fashioned hurricane lanterns (hmmmm, not so sure about the kerosene though). But I digress (as ususal)....this is about books and reading. I was made aware of this great book swapping website called Bookins. The idea is that you offer up books for trade that are taking up way too much space on your bookshelves and in return you can replace them with books you want to read, but instead of paying full price, you pay one flat fee for any of the books in the Bookins database...$4.49. When someone wants a book you have, you just have to print off a US postal service label, wrap the package up, slap the label on, and pop it in any mailbox....no auctions, no dealing with the buyers directly, no going to a post office. It's so easy, you just wait for an email telling you that someone wants one of your books and you are off! The best thing is you know the book is going to someone who wants to read it. I joined the site yesterday...for FREE, I might add....put 23 books up on my trade list and by the end of the day THREE of them were requested. That was so cool! I was worried no one would want my books...LOL Anywhoo...if you are a reader, but don't want to keep buying books at full price, or even reduced price, check Bookins out. Another suggestion I'm making to readers out there is to check Amazon Marketplace for books. Yesterday I bought the book for my next book club meeting for 1 cent! Of course there were shipping costs of $3.99, but really can one camplain about spending $4.00 on a book. And then when I'm done with it...on the Bookins list it will go! I know some of you will say....go to the library. The fact of the matter is that some of the books we read for our book club are that readily available and I'm not going to traipse all over the city to find a book. *shrug*

Lastly for today...Dancing with the Stars.... Monica Seles, Penn Jillette, and Adam Carola are in my bottom three. There will be a double elimination...two of them NEED to go. And I just gotta say, I'm impressed with how well Priscilla Presley is doing. Her face has some strangeness of the Botox variety going on, but WOW, she's dancing great....and not "just for her age". Kristi Yamaguchi is my girl though and is at the top of the heap....go Kristi!!

Fontina Risotto Cakes with Chives

2008-03-24T09:26:00.003-05:00

Yay! I'm posting the first of my recipe collection. I served these for Easter dinner yesterday along with lamb and mixed veggies and soup and these were a big hit. I'll definitely make these again. I got this recipe out of Bon Appétit magazine. I've slightly changed it so I don't think I can be accused of copyright infringement for reprinting it here. You'll notice I say FRESHLY grated cheese and FRESH chives. The first is there is a world of difference between freshly grated Parmesan cheese and that grated powdery stuff that you get in the pasta aisle....eww, that stuff just doesn't smell right. And as far as fresh herbs, well, if that isn't pointed out, one COULD make the mistake and use dried herbs and that would be a mistake. The rule of thumb is to use 3 times as much fresh herbs as you would dried herbs.

Ingredients
4-5 cups (about) chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
6 tablespoons FRESHLY grated or shaved Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/2 cup (packed) coarsely grated FRESH Fontina cheese
1/4 cup chopped FRESH parsley
3 tablespoons chopped FRESH chives
1 large egg yolk
2 large eggs
Canola oil (for frying)

Instructions
Bring 4 cups broth to simmer in small saucepan. Reduce heat to very low; cover and keep warm.

Heat olive oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine; stir until absorbed, about 30 seconds.
Add broth, 1/2 cup at a time, and simmer until rice is just tender and risotto is creamy, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more, and stirring often, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in 6 tablespoons Parmesan and butter. Season with salt (if you want, I didn't use salt though) and pepper. Spread risotto in a thin layer in a pan and cool completely in the refrigerator. Can be chilled overnight.

Beat 2 eggs in shallow bowl to blend. Place 1 cup panko in another shallow bowl.

Mix 1/2 cup panko, Fontina cheese, parsley, chopped chives, and 1 egg yolk into risotto. The risotto will be a bit more solid than when it was first made, but it will make the cakes stick together much better. Shape mixture into 1 1/4-inch balls; flatten to 2-inch rounds. Dip risotto cakes into beaten egg, then into panko to coat.

Pour enough canola oil into large skillet to coat bottom; heat oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sauté risotto cakes until crisp and brown, about 2 1/2 minutes per side. Either serve immediately or these can be made ahead of time and heated on a baking sheet in the oven on a low heat for 20 minutes.

grrrr Trader Joe's!

2008-03-21T12:50:00.006-05:00

Trader Joe's is starting to get on my last nerve now. It seems everytime I go in there the product I'm looking for is "no longer carried". I went in there today for panko bread crumbs. Knowing that they make a panko-crusted ckicken breasts, I kinda thought they might carry the bread crumbs and besides...panko bread crumbs are not THAT unusual. But no, it seems that when a product is in the bottom 100 of their products, it gets rotated out of stock for something else. Apparently it's been the way they do things for over 50 years. Hmmm, I didn't know TJ had been around for 50 years. The chirpy (why are they all so chirpy anyway) TJ employee said that sometimes items get rotated back in because of demand but that these had alread been rotated back in once and he doesn't think they will be back. And then he just annoyed me by saying, it's all the products he loves too, so he felt my pain.... oi!

So off to Whole Foods I was....and yep they had organic panko bread crumbs. Organic...hmph...I don't think EVERYTHING needs to be organic. But they weren't a bad price........ for Whole Paycheck.

We are going to Peru!!!

2008-03-19T10:22:00.006-05:00

After accumulating airmiles for the past few years, and working diligently to boost those miles over the past two months, my husband and I finally have enough miles to book our trip to Peru so that we only have to pay the taxes. We'll be going in our summer, their winter and will be there for Peru Independence Day at the end of July! I'm so excited about this. It will be the first time either of us have been south of the equator, in South America, in a totally different culture.

One question always comes up when we tell people of our plans, NO, we are NOT going to Machu Picchu, not because it's not an amazing site to see I'm quite sure, but we were looking to do something a bit less touristy and therefore a bit less expensive. Since the airfare is basically free, we only have to worry about accomodations, dining, and of course....SHOPPING! hehehe Ooooh, and I may have to bring an alpaca back with me. And from what I understand about less travelled places in Peru, staying and visiting is really inexpensive. The only thing we need to do is learn a bit of Spanish. I'm sure we won't have much difficulty getting around in Lima, but we won't be styaing there for long and the smaller towns may require a bit more communication skills. So, I'm going to taking a Spanish class meant for travellers and a good translation book will go a long way! OHMIGOSH! I'm so excited!

I'd like to wrap the world in cashmere...

2008-03-18T14:10:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I know this wouldn't work on warmer climates, but honestly there is no fabric more devine. Yesterday walking home (through) Nordstrom's, I noticed a sale in the sock department. And lo and behold, the cashmere socks were half priced. EEEEEEEE...I couldn't believe my luck. I bought just two pairs, because really, they are still a hefty price, but OMG, do they make my feet happy. And they aren't like angora socks, which make my feet too warm. Maybe it has to do with the size of the weave. The angora socks are soft enough, but maybe the tightness of weave just makes them too warm.

I just believe that if people were wearing some form of cashmere, they'd be too peaceful to start and participate in any kind of conflict.

Foodie fodder

2008-03-13T12:25:00.005-05:00

I was going to work this morning and when I got off the bus I found myself enveloped in that unmistakeable wonderful aroma of cocoa beans being roasted at a downtown Chicago chocolate factory. It's not like this factory is anywhere near where I work, but when the wind is blowing just right, the scent is akin to a warm cup of hot cocoa wafting through the air....mmmm, chocolate. It's best experienced on a chilly winter morning instead of a hot humid summer day, when I'd rather sniff a cool crisp iced-tea or lemonade or something. But this morning, it was bliss, not overpowering, just comforting. So I decided, this would be a foodie post today. I've got some gripes to air and woo-hoo, my impressions of the first episode of this seasons Top Chef!

So my gripes...I went to Trader Joe's yesterday because I had this idea for a meal that was very specific. In the past, I'd bought this mojito meat marinade that was pretty good. I had some chicken that needed to be cooked up and while I know the free-range, non-hormone, non-antibiotic injected, organically-fed stuff is all around a better product for you, it bugs me that I have to cook it up so quickly after buying. I know, not something to really be bugged about, but there you are. That is NOT my gripe. So the menu I had in my head was to cook up this chicken in the mojito marinade and serve it with a nice mix of rice, Cuban black beans (also from TJ), & roasted corn. Mmmm...sounds good, yeah? Well it wasn't to be because Trader Joe's NO LONGER CARRIES mojito meat marinade. GRRRR! I asked one of the chirpy TJ employees what happened to it and he thought it had a possibilty of making it back on TJ shelves because it was popular. This was my gripe! C'mon TJ, don't take popular products off your shelves. Crossing fingers. So I figured, well, I'm here and TJ makes other nice meat sauces, so I wound up getting an Indian "curry" sauce, some naan bread and a package of Jaipur vegetables. All in all, it was ok. The Jaipur vegetables were pretty good, and I'd like to get that dish into my Indian recipe repertoire. It's actually called Navrattan vegetables...a mildly sauced dish with several veggie types and my favorite Indian cheese, paneer. Oh lordy, I'm off track here... The "curry" sauce was a question-mark because it really was difficult to tell just WHAT curry sauce the makers were trying to duplicate. It had Indian flavors so that's good enough to satisfy hubster's insatiable craving for Indian meals when I don't have the desire, energy, or twelvety-five hours to make a dish from scratch.

My second gripe.... I bought a new cereal to bring to work which sounded promising. Post Nut Harvest Crunch... whole grain flakes with lightly sweetened cruncy clusters, almonds, pecans & walnuts. With 200 calories per serving and despite being lightly sweetened, only 8 grams of sugar, but a nice 8 g of fiber (a whopping 32% of recommended daily fiber intake), and not bad in the sodium department. What bugged me was that the cereal looked nothing like the picture on the box. I opened the box expecting all these nice crunchy clusters and I saw not a cluster, not a nut. I KNOW they didn't all settle to the bottom, but there had to be about only 3 of each nut type chopped up so finely in the entire box. Bah...if I wanted boring whole grain flakes, I'm sure I can buy a box of that. The thing is, the picture on that box would have fruit garnishing and would make it look real interesting. I think it's funny too how they give you the impression that you can have a nice big heaping bowl of cereal for breakfast, when in reality, the serving size for most is no more than 1 cup. A better picture for this cereal would have been one little cup with one cluster on top. I think cereal makers and frozen dinner makers are the worst when it comes to the pictures they put on their boxes. I learned a long time ago that the pictures on the frozen foods would not only never look that good, but wouldn't taste as good either. That's why I rarely eat a frozen food, they just rarely taste good and are filled with all kinds of junk.

Episode 1

2008-03-13T12:07:00.009-05:00

So on to Top Chef! I'll be yapping about this for the remainder of the season and will try to figure out how I keep keep all of the Top Chef posts in one spot here. Anyway, it was a great first episode. The viewing audience was introduced to 16 cheftestants (I saw that word on Ted Allen's Top Chef blog and decided to steal it) and it definitely looks like it will be an interesting series. Of course many of them are very confident, some to the point of arrogance, of their abilities. One especially got on my nerves right away...Andrew, who found it necessary to sprinkle each sentence with at least one $%#&*, and for what, to make himself look cool...gimme a break. This was a first for Top Chef, a lesbian couple who both made it on to the show...hmmmm. I'm guessing that the TC producers thought that would put some more interest into the out-of-the-kitchen stories. I wonder if one of the thousands of other chefs that auditioned might not have been a better fit for the show, but lost out because of the human interest story. They "came out" to the other contestants and while there were a few glances around, one chef said it best, well so they are a couple, do they have an advantage, no...and they can just both go home together too. LOL I liked his attitude.

The first challenge they had was to put their own twist on the classic Chicago-style deep dish pizza. I guess you could see that one coming for a mile with all of the Chicago references mentioned and shown. I felt bad for the guest judge Rocco DiSpirito, who had to sample 16 types of deep dish pizza....aack. I hope he hadn't eaten that day and wasn't planning on it for a few days after. One cracked me up, by Nikki...she had used way too much dough so her result was a massive piece of crust with a tiny amount of filling. The New Zealander, Mark put Marmite on his...yes, MARMITE!!!! It's a strange concoction that Brits put on their toast, but as was advised to me by my father-in-law who even travels with the stuff, a LITTLE goes a long way. My mum found this out the hard way when she put a teaspoon of the stuff on her toast and chomped down... AACK! More like 1/8 of a teaspoon is all that is edible. LOL

Anywhoo, Rocco (rawr), picked his 8 favorite and 8 least favorite pizzas and for the elimination challenge, one least fav chef went up against one fav chef in cooking the same classic dish. The dishes were shrimp scampi, lasagne, chicken piccata, steak au poivre, duck a l'orange, crab cakes, eggs benedict, and souffle. Each chef made their dish and the panel of judges decided of the two, which chef would be in the group possible to win the challenge and which would be in the group possible to be eliminated. There was some great looking lasagne, some pretentiously deconstructed duck a l'orange, overly salted and inedible srimp scampi with some funky looking cauliflower puree, chicken piccata that wasn't piccata at all and two darn right disastrous and funny souffles.

In the end I picked who the eliminated chef would be... Nimma with the inedible shrimp scampi. She also just had this really dour attitude. When she was in the losing group of pizza makers, she said she wasn't there to have fun, therefore wasn't going to socialize in the house with the other chefs. She was only there for business. Well boo-hoo, she doesn't have to worry about socializing anymore with them. Pack your knives Nimma. Congrats to Chicago resident Stephanie who won the challenge with her duck dish. Ok, so she isn't a Chicago native, but that's ok...she lives here now.

Purse Schizophrenic?

2008-03-12T13:46:00.007-05:00

I decided it was time for a new "everyday" purse. At this point my husband will no doubt look into the closet, see the Rubbermaid bin overflowing with all purses of every description and just plain think I've cracked a few of my marbles. What he fails to understand is that there are purses for every occasion and season. But a woman should have an everyday purse that is just basic and will "go" with everything. My everyday purse is always a black one. I couldn't use my brown sparkly beaded one, the red one in the shape of a Yorkshire terrier, or the hand stitched Tibetan one on a daily basis. This is obvious!

It was time for a new one because the one I'm about to throw in the garbage which I only paid about 10 bucks for at one of those Claire's Accessories boutiques has a sticker on it that I can't scrape off (don't ask), and let's face it, a $10 purse is only suppose to last so long and this one has gone well beyond it's expiration date.

The weather isn't too bad today, so I took myself over to Marshall's (a discount store), determined to get a new purse. My goal was to spend no more than $30, and at Marshall's this is not only possible, but probable. For those who don't know Marshall's, they carry name-brand products at low prices, the stock is always different, and you can really get some good bargains there. You gotta be careful though because sometimes prices are WAY out of line for that store. I guess it depends on the desinger that is sending the item over and how low they will let Marshall's mark it....or something. I love having lots of purses to mix it up, so I've always kept the prices down on the purses I DO buy. I've really never understood the attraction to a $300-$400 Dooney & Burke or Coach bag. Actually I can't say that I DON'T have a Coach, because I actually do...one that I paid about 75% off for at Nordstroms that is this adorable suede, the shade of powder blue that I would never think of giving up. I've only used it about 3 times, but when it matches the outfit, it is FAB!!!!!!!!!!

Anywhoooo....I headed right for the black purses and was met with quite the array....but it only took about 5 minutes to rule out about 95% of the purses (too big, too small, gaudy, wrong material, cheap looking, too expensive). But then I hit upon it. A simple in design Etienne Aigner black fabric satchel. I think Etienne Aigner is a classic, timeless, elegant designer. Nothing flashy. The purse had a suggested retail price of $67 and it was selling for $24!!!! SOLD! It has a few pockets for small things...which I always say I'll use but when truth comes to it, everything winds up getting thrown in the same section. The best thing is it isn't a walking advertisement for the designer. I hate that and if my Coach purse had those stupid "C"s all over it, I never would have bought it. So I'm happy now...I got a well-made, nice looking purse for twenty-four bucks!

Getting this purse made me think about the feature story I saw by comedienne Anita Renfro the other day on Good Morning America when I stayed home sick. It cracked me up, so I thought I'd share a bit of it. To see the video of the feature, go here.

Clutch, hand bag or purse — whatever the name of your all-inclusive accessory, it can say a lot about you. Whether you love those over-the-shoulder boulder holders or tiny totes are your thing, your pocketbook is telling the world more than you realize.
There are at least four purse analogies.

More Is More Better
This lady is the one who never really got over carrying the diaper bag and still wishes she had something that large. She normally has like a full snack bar and a working pharmacy down in her bag and is prepared for every situation in life.
The upside: Should you ever find yourself in jail, she'll be the only one in your group of friends with a MacGyver 7-in-1 tool to bust you out.

Basic Tiny Toter
This girl can get the whole contents of her day into seven square inches. I don't really understand this woman, but you can bet if she can do this that she's got some control issues.
She probably pays her bills ahead of time and has her sheets tucked in real tight on the corners of her bed.
The upside: Should you ever find yourselves in jail, she'll be the only one with the unlimited AMEX who can bail you out.

Serial Monogamist
She gets one purse and sticks with it for 12 years. She's the kind of person for whom you occasionally have to do what we call "a purse intervention." Now she's also loyal and if she'll stay with this purse for 12 years she'll hang with you.
The upside: Should you ever find yourself in jail, she's the only one in your group of friends who'll be out on the sidewalk holding a candlelight vigil with a sign that says, "My friend is innocent."

Purse Schizophrenic
This woman changes her purses more often than she changes her underwear. Sometimes she doesn't know how she's going to feel after lunch so she'll occasionally carry a purse inside of her purse just in case her mood changes.
The upside: If you find yourself in jail, she's normally the reason why you're there, BUT she's also the one who'll sit right there with you in that jail cell saying, "Isn't that the best fun we ever had honey?"

hmmm, so who am I? I think I go between a Purse Schizophrenic (hubster would be nodding the affirmative while looking in the closet) and a Basic Tiny Toter. I know my mum is a Serial Monogamist. I once bought her a nice Liz Claiborne and hadn't paid attention to the fact that she carried that thing for YEARSSSSSSSS. It does say a lot about the durabilty and quality of a Liz Claiborne though. I think if it hadn't been for the fact that the leather straps were wearing away so bad from being carried around for years, she'd still be carrying it.

Another bit in the Renfro piece was an interesting fact...that on average, women carry about 65 things in their purses. REALLY?? 65??? I thought I'd take a look in mine seeing as I'd just transferred the contents to the new purse:

1 cell phone (may or may not be charged....probably NOT)
1 set of house keys
1 change purse with money and debit card
1 bus pass holder with bus pass
1 comb
1 clear lip gloss
1 colored lip gloss
1 purse-size perfume
1 bottle of Ibuprofen
3 Halls throat lozengers
1 pair of gloves

THAT'S IT?!?!?!? Something must be missing?

Peepalicious!

2008-03-11T08:58:00.007-05:00

Well it seems like Peep Diorama Contests are peeping out all over the place. The Chicago Tribune invited Peep lovers to create a diorama and send a picture in for a public vote. Well the top 10 finalists have been named and it's time to vote. The winner will be announced on, well, of course....Easter! Go HERE to vote! I won't say which is my favorite of the bunch, but it's not looking good so far for my pick.

I'm not sure how this contest started, but it might have been because of the overwhelming success of the Washington Post's first ever Peep Diorama contest last year. (The pic is of the winner, Peeps are a Girl's Best Friend). Who knew there are people out there who would have so much time on their hands to create a diorama out of Peeps...and in the case of the Chicago Tribune contest, for the staggering $101 prize. I love it though! I wish I were that creative. The only thing I do with my Peeps is let them get stale by puncturing a hole in the Peep box and then enjoying the hardened exterior/gooey interior. I'm glad they've introduced Peeps for other holidays now...cat and ghost Peeps for Halloween and tree and snowman Peeps for Christmas...hehehe. I've never tried any of the other microwave-related Peep experiments, mainly because I don't want to blow up my 20 year old microwave over some Peeps!

Bleurgh...

2008-03-07T09:18:00.004-06:00

I've got the gunks. And I'm blaming my husband 100% because he's been carrying the nasties around for weeks and weeks now. My throat hurts, my glands are swollen, I'm cold, my nose is simultaneously runny and stuffy, my ears hurt, and I'm tired because I didn't get enough sleep. blllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh. Ok, that's my whine-fest for the day.

I have a co-worker who always says it's a "mute" point. hahahahahaha That cracks me up. If it's mute...I shouldn't have to hear about it, right? That's the way I figure it. It got me to thinking about some of the funny things that people mis-say (is that a word?) Another favorite is "for all intensive purposes" or "for all intense and purposes". Teehee! Don't forget "all-timers" disease. One I ran across the other day was "I could care less", which really SHOULD be "I couldn't care less", unless they actually meant it really wasn't all that bothering. I think I make that gaffe occasionally, oops. I know there are loads of them, and I can't think of anymore right now. It must be because I'm all clogged up.

Christian Siriano, you're UBER-FIERCE!

2008-03-06T10:15:00.007-06:00

If you're a fan/viewer of Project Runway, you'll know what I'm talking about. Last night was the finale of the reality show that pits fashion designers against each other with the prize being $100,000 to start their own line, a new car, and a photo spread in Elle magazine. This season's winner, Christian Siriano was arrogant, a bit of a punk and his kooky "do" got on my nerves sometimes. But he did grow on me as the season wore on and his designs were, as he'd put it....fierce.... except for that one hideous prom gown!!! AAACK. I was actually surprised that he'd made it past that episode, but in the end, glad he did. His final collection was, for lack of a better word, a bit "samey", but the way he pulled it off, was WOW. I'd love to see if his collection will ever translate to real people, in the real world. Whatever though, for this 21 year old wunderkind, it is definitely HIS time now.

How did I miss my flight?

2008-03-03T09:26:00.003-06:00

I couldn't get to the airport on time. I had an international flight which was departing at 12:30pm. I was going to a couple of European countries. My plan was to get to the airport by 10:00am. My parents were picking me up to take me to the airport. But I as I was doing the last minute stuff you do before you leave on a trip, one of my neighbors dropped by with some sets of keys for apartments that I had to check on when I got back. The people whose apartments I was going to be watching were also going to be on vacation. One of those people was Spinelli (more on that later.) Somehow I missed my parents. So I thought I'd catch a cab. The only one available to the airport already had two passengers...two Italian brothers on their way to Florida. They had to make a stop at this shop and since I was butting in on their cab ride, I couldn't very well complain. I was still ok with time. I figured as long as I got to the airport by 10:30, I'd still be ok. So I went in the shop with the Italians, and they had the cutest tiny vases made of all different colored mosiac glass. I'm turning around and I saw this huge plate hurtling toward the ground. But it didn't crash, it didn't even break. It was plastic. I lost the Italians somewhere in the shop and decided I'd go back home and check to see if my parents were waiting for me. I figured, as long as I got to the airport by 11:00, I'd still be ok. When I got back, there was painting going on in the hallway and my apartment door was open. All of my furniture was stacked up in a strange way and I saw my stepfather moving things around. And then I saw my mum coming toward me, with a short soft cast on her left arm. It seems she'd had an accident and that was why they didn't make it to may apartment earlier, and their phone wasn't working. And I thought well, ok, now they are here, but I don't think I can make the flight if I get to the airport at 11:30, what with the way you have to check in by a certain time before they close check-in to the flight.

AND THEN I WOKE UP!!!!!!!!!! I'll never know if I made the flight, what kind of accident my mum was in, why there was only one door that worked to get in the cab, where my husband was, why my stepfather was in shorts and what he was doing moving my furniture around, and why was I watching the apartment of the uber-hacker and slightly misunderstood guy from my soap, General Hospital???

Jellybean anyone?

2008-03-02T14:57:00.004-06:00

The jellybeans and Peeps are out... Easter is on it's way. I came across this info and I found it kinda interesting...

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare. Here's the interesting info. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever observe the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen Easter this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here are the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

I've cheated on my colorist!!!

2008-03-02T13:39:00.008-06:00

Yes, I've cheated and I feel guilty about it. I was seeing my colorist for over 3 years and it really feels like I've betrayed her. Why did I do it? Well, I was unhappy after the last two, possibly last three appointments. I felt like she wasn't really listening to what I wanted and each time I left I was like....was that what I wanted? I guess I should explain that I'm not afraid to change colors, add highlights, lowlights, etc. And until recently I had been extremely happy with the results I was getting. The happiest I was with her was when about 1 1/2 years ago I went in for an appointment as a light brown, with blonde highlights and I came out as a deep brunette with no highlights. It was EXACTLY as I'd pictured and I felt my colorist was so in sync with what I wanted. since then I'd taken the color very dark and then back up a bit and with warm red highlights. It was fun. I don't change my hair style much, except that I'm in the latter stage of growing out bangs, but I like to change color. So I don't know what happened. I know there was tension between my colorist and the salon. She only works two days a week and I know they wanted her to work more, but I think the salon knows that she has a good client base, so they haven't pushed her too hard to work more days. There were also some other salon issues that she'd told me about that led me to think all wasn't rosey. Also, because she is only in two days a week, it's gotten harder to book with her, and when I did have an appointment, she'd alwasy be booked solid, so I'd often not be able to see her after I was rinsed and had a cut by a stylist. I'd think she'd want to check on her results.

Anyway... a friend at work recommended a colorist at a competing salon and based on the fact that her hair looked FAB, I thought, hmmm...maybe it's time for a change. So I made an appointment with this colorist and had my hair done a few days ago.

So here's the deal....I think I may have made a mistake!!! ;-( I feel guilty for not confronting my colorist and being honest and saying hey...I'm not happy, but I want to stay with you. I'm not terribly thrilled with the way my hair looks by the new colorist. It's alright and yeah, it looks ok, but I'll admit, I have high standards in what I want from a colorist and I'm picky about how I want my hair to look. I guess if this colorist had hit a homerun, out of the park with this color job, I be thinking, wow, great!!! I know many would say, hey, you pay for a service (a not a skimpy price at that), you can go wherever you want until you find someone who gives you exactly what you want, and I don't argue that, but I think after a long service relationship, and let's face it, it's not "just a service", it's how you feel about yourself, at least you can have the courtesy to tell someone who is a professional what's not working, before taking your business elsewhere, otherwise, what are they suppose to think? How can they keep from making the same mistake with another client and possibly losing another client. SOOOOOOOOO, I guess I've made my decision...I'm going to face up to my former colorist, tell her I went elsewhere and see if we can't get back to that great hair relationship we had before. In the end I really do think she's a great colorist, and maybe I just need to speak up! I don't think I'll feel AS MUCH guilt for not going back to a colorist who I'd only seen once. The complication to all of this is that I'm happy with the stylist I have at the other salon. She was my colorist's assistant and had just recently gotten her own chair at the salon and was so excited to be getting clients....and she did a good job, so I didn't want to leave her, and really how could I see her at the old salon if I was seeing another colorist at another salon? I know, it sounds crazy. There are more important things to worry about in the world, hell, in daily life, but these are the kinds of things I worry about... LOL. But not so crazy, I came to the conclusion really quickly that I just really like the old salon better. I like the vibe, the way they take care of you, even something so insignificant as I like the way the old salon looks. Or IS that insignificant? Why would they spend the time and effort to put fresh flowers at each stylist/colorist's station, why would they have the place painted in warm relaxing colors instead of just drab greyish white, why would they offer cheese and wine on Wednesday afternoons? They know what they are doing! And hey, they are in th exact same price range as the other place, so.... why not go for the place that is actually a spa, with that spa vibe?

Gosh, it must be nice to be a guy!!! LOL My husband totally doesn't get this. Yeah, it's probably a girly thing!

Mai favrit lol catz

2008-02-28T11:00:00.014-06:00

Keep checking back for more of my favorite kit pix!

I wonder...

2008-02-27T14:15:00.011-06:00

I wonder, when did fortune cookies stop giving fortunes and start saying things like "others admire your generosity"? I got that in a fortune cookie today. That's NOT a fortune. I feel gypped.

I wonder, who was the first annoying person who said with sarcasm "is it cold enough for you?" or "is there enough snow for you?" when it's either cold or snowy. Yes, it's cold, yes it's snowing...and your point? This bugs me. We've had a cold, snowy winter and I've heard this probably no fewer than 10 times. I usually just say, oh, it's not that bad. Then they don't know how to respond because they were ready for a moan-fest about the weather.

I wonder why people who are texting as they get on an elevator, go through a door, get on a bus, etc, think that their time is more valuable and it's ok to hold up everyone else? Pet peeve!

I wonder, could I get a cashmere goat to produce wool for me, which I could then shear, learn to spin and then make socks, sweaters, scarves and mittens out of? I wonder if there is such a thing as cashmere sheets. I can't even imagine the cost if there were.

I wonder a lot of the time what is going through my cats' minds.

I wonder, how can people believe that humans are NOT having a negative impact on the environment. This isn't about global warming and/or cooling (because we've had one cold, snowy winter), it's really about why do we keep just junking up our 3rd rock from the sun. Why don't people care? George Carlin said it a piece he did awhile back....the planet will be here a long, long long time after it's kicked our sorry butts off. (he didn't use those exact words...lol)

I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to put peanut butter AND grape jelly together in a jar and swirl it....because we can't have one jar of each?

It's a brand new blog...

2008-02-27T10:17:00.008-06:00

Some of you may know that I use to have a blog that I infrequently kept up with on a personal website that my husband and I have. Well, I'm aiming to do a better job on this blog, while keeping it completely separate from our website. We'll see how I do at updating it. As the title implies, this is all about what's on my mind...as I guess a blog should be. I'll probably have my gripes to share and the things that perplex me about people/society/situations. Hopefully I'll have some laughs to share as well. Down the road, I'd like to expand to a recipe-sharing library. I started this on our personal website, but because we have this very small audience, there wasn't a whole lot of recipe sharing going on.

I welcome your comments, unless they get mean....LOL

So that's it for now..... ciao!