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Chicken soup, mmmm!!
Poached chicken, sweet peppers, carrots, watercress, and scallions, seasoned with soy sauce, srirancha, and sesame oil. Light and tasty!
Oh the gluttony that is rakott krumpli.
This food dehydrater is great. I've made raisins, dried apple, and various fruit roll-ups. Puree fruit and pour on tray - couldn't be easier. Pictured here are peach and blackberry purees, frozen leftovers from summer.
We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there . . .
Ah, Boulder! For Ben's "birthday," we had breakfast with friends at my favorite diner, Dot's.
Dot's is in the college neighborhood, but is equally frequented by bums. You can bet your waitress is a lesbian enviromental activist. They regularly rotate the art with installations by locals. They have fresh flowers on the tables. You can order any meal vegan - with avocado or tofu, and request cage-free eggs be used in your omelette. But they can also make a mean, greasy plate of sausage. I come for the non-vegan fair.
Ben is enjoying a favorite: Arnold's eggs (foreground). Ham, eggs, cheese on a biscuit smothered in gravy. Oh, blessed biscuits! I drive all the way just for the biscuits. Cut from a pan, they are savory, buttery, melt in your mouth pieces of heaven, served with a squeeze bottle of raspberry jam.
I opt for a house breakfast: sausage, egg, incredible peppery hash browns, and that perfect biscuit.
I'm starting a new trend: norwegian print socks with heels. I think it could catch on ;-)
And I'm only posting this picture because I haven't been able to fit into these pants for 2 1/2 years. Rock.
It's TURTLE TIME for Ben and Jeff's birthdays!
Note the mutegen.
Brian contributed the original series to our merriment. None of that new pupil-less crap for us 80s bred young adults!
No one wants to be Raphael :-( (Hey, Raphael is cool, but rude)
While whetting my appetite for Swan Lake in February, I found video of the new Matthew Bourne ballet: Edward Scissorhands. (You need the latest version of flash to view, link provided). Now I want this ballet to tour America too! Scissorhands seems like a natural fit as a ballet. It's dream-like with fairy tale elements and a haunting score.
These are always fun.
http://www.virtualsweden.se/projects/louvre/
Lots of good new recipes lately!
Spicy black bean croquettes with sauteed vegetables.
Caramel Apple Bars (Mmmm, although I thought they would make a sturdier bar cookie)
Cabbage Soup. Kind of boring, but a good old fashioned budget soup.
Lemon poundcake with cherries and orange glaze.
Trying out my new Mark Bittman International cookbook. For my lemon grass chicken I pureed ginger, garlic, sugar, tumeric, lemon grass, fish sauce (can you believe it?), coconut milk, and cilantro.
Panfried potatoes and eggplant with Indian spices. 
The finished meal. Yum!
I gave my old airbrush a whirl with henna this weekend. 
In my quest for a decent hair-do, I got a perm. It's . . . eh. I don't love it or hate it. It looks scruffy, which is how I used to scrunch my hair beforehand. Not the head of curls I was hoping for, but not bad either. 
This one was delicious: Thai peanut chicken, ginger snap peas, and sticky rice. The peas were so easy and good! Saute the peas in a little oil with 1 tsp minced ginger. When they are bright green, add a Tbs soy sauce and a Tbs of sesame oil. Salt and pepper and serve. 
Chicken Biryani and Coconut Dal. Both of these turned out pretty good, though it took much longer to cook the grains at high altitude and I think the chicken was overspiced (I followed the recipe exactly). Also pictured is homemade ginger ale: ginger steeps in the sugar syrup and then combine with sparkling lime water (La Croix).
Simple Italian: Turkey meatball spaghetti, steamed green beans, and parmesan fennel. Gotta go! Family Guy is on. 
i
But it's what I do everyday, and it's fun to take pictures of!
Slow Cooker Pork with steamed broccoli and homemade chedder garlic biscuits.
Stuffed Peppers. Yum! Used the leftover tomoto sauce from the pork.
Pot Stickers, Basmati Rice, and Napa Cabbage salad with almonds. Various dipping sauces.
Peanut butter Chocolate Chip cookies and milk, and 10 Days in Africa game. I almost won this time! Foiled by Brian again . I just needed to switch Angola for Mali, and he covered up Mali on the discard pile right before my turn! Blast!
In other arenas, I just finished my first cable knitting experience. I love this new scarf, and I'll put up a picture when it's done.
Going dancing with friends again tonight. I started a cutting a dress last night and I hope to get it put together in time to wear it tonight. I'll blish pics of that too, once it's done. First Ben and I are going back to the Pacific Ocean Market for more ingredients.
Started the weekend with a Mexican style soup: tomatos, onions, anaheim pepper, bell pepper, hominy, and corn. Served with guacamole and ovenbaked tortilla chips. 
Ben has been into coconts lately. Pictured here is a "young coconut." He prefers to the young to the old ones - more milk and easier to eat. I don't like any coconut. :-P
How does my cat do this? She gets these gaping scabs on her shoulderblades, where I'm pretty sure she can't reach. Whole sections of hair go missing and it bleeds. I've never seen her scratch herself. Last year, when she last had one, our vet thought it was diet-related. But we haven't changed her eating habits in the past year. Why all of the sudden did she get a large one?
The aforementioned scarf. The colors here are not quite accurate, but close. I love this cable design. It looks complicated but it was super easy. 
Ta da!
I've worn it almost everyday since I made it. Also note, I'm getting a little better at taming the perm. We'll have to wait and see what humidity horrors await in SF later this month.
Measily pictures from my phone camera, but for low resolution in a dark dark place, what do you expect? These are from the dance club I'm always talking about, Lipgloss. I've wrangled more friends into going with me, and I think they're hooked. I look forward to more weekends of feverish shaking to music.
Also went to the Pacific Ocean Market and Viet Hoa again. I bought a few things that weren't on my list because I couldn't pass them up. A bunch of basil for $1, in the middle of winter?!! Crazy good deal. This week we'll be enjoying more international cuisine, from Africa, India, Thailand, China, Italy, and France. What I love about Bittman's book is how accessible he makes the exotic dishes. Now I've picked up my older foreign cookbooks, and the task seems easier. Bittman breaks the ice. It's exciting to understand the ingrediants better and realize how common cooking techniques are worldwide. Nothing is difficult, just different. (Lets see if my tune changes when I tackle foo foo this week.)
Foo foo: smashed plantains. These took time, but hardly any effort. These plantains had a natural lemony flavor to them. 
Injera: flat bread for eating Ethiopian food. It didn't taste at all like what they serve in restaurants. The bread was too stiff and the distinct sour taste was missing. I think I can attribute those to too thick of a batter and using whole wheat in place of t'ef. Still good though, like a wheat pancake. 
Nketia Fla: peanut chicken stew. This was really good. I shredded the chicken and partially pureed it in addition to Bittman's recipe. This dish is from Ghana. 
Argh, I can't cook dried legumes for the life of me! Here are my yellow split peas after an hour of soaking and THREE hours of simmering!!! The pea was so undercooked it still bounced when dropped on the counter. I heard that you can't cook dried legumes with acidity (tomato) because their interaction prevents softening. But so many recipes include tomatoes, how can that be true? Nevertheless, these were left in the fridge overnight, slow cooked for 4 more hours the next day, and are now in my fridge waiting to be eaten.
Soup au Pistou: this was a special treat for Ben, since I hardly ever cook mushrooms. The soup had a really good flavour. Served with parmesan basil toasts. 
One nice thing about Ben being home is that the dishes are always done when I back from work. And as a bonus, he lets me play Vanna White! ;-) Six, count 'em, six cabinents for me to close. 
mis en place :-)
Sorry if you saw some duplicate posts, blogger was acting funny that day. I think it's all cleaned up now.
I've had the privilege of co-choreographing some works for the Arvada Center's spring dance recital. The director, Christina, will be out of commission for a few weeks post surgery, so she's having me help set and rehearse the numbers. They are doing the Velveteen Rabbit, La Boutique Fantastique, and the 12 Princesses. I wasn't familiar with any of these short ballets. This weekend I worked on Boutique, and later I may work on 12 Princesses.
It's been a little nerve-wracking. I only had a couple hours to familiarize myself with the ballet they set in 1994. Then when I met with Christina, we completely changed it and I was choregraphing with her on the fly. I didn't even have time to take notes, so last night I was working off memory while setting it on the dancers with her. Then, again, I only had this morning to finish the dance that we set this afternoon. It's also the first time in 8 years I've choreographed a piece for actual dancers (vs. drama students). I forget that I can make it complicated, so that part is fun, but I'm also nervous because they have higher expectations.
But today went well overall. Christina was appreciative of my help and said she couldn't have covered half the material we did without me. I think that's an exaggeration, but I'm glad I can help. I brought my video camera and shot the parts finished today. Afterward Christina asked me to help her remember where we stopped working, and I said it would be easier if I just gave her a DVD to look at! Showbiz is a bare-bones editing suite. I don't like it very much, but it got the job done. I wonder if I can learn to post video to this blog. . .
With this recital, I mostly want to get my foot in the door for future shows. I could see myself taking the reins for other projects, and maybe getting a tuition discount.
Molly has been scratching her scab and created a new bald spot, so I decided I should invest in a visit to the vet. I hadn't done so already because she didn't seem bothered by the scabs and last year they just went away. But if she's hurtin' I want it checked out.
They did a thorough skin check and found another big scab under her chin that I didn't know about. After discussing possibilities, we decided to have a skin scrape done. My vet's office is awesome, friendly staff, very modern looking, and hosts their own surgery, pathology, and radiology clinics. After her scrape Molly was returned to our exam room looking quite grumpy, on top of her already severe nervousness. Within 10 minutes the vet came in saying "There's a party on her back!" As she suspected, Molly had a secondary bacterial infection, which are quite itchy. The vet ruled out mites or other parasites and only saw 1 or 2 cells which would have indicated diet allergy.
So we don't know what caused the initial scratching, just that now it's infected. But at least we are able to treat her with antibiotics to get rid of the infection. "This isn't going away on its own," she said. Ben will have the pleasure of getting Molly to take two pills twice a day, starting on Tuesday after we get back from San Francisco.
Molly looks relieved, but I'm pretty sure it's because she's back at home, away from the lady who pokes her belly. I tried to tell Molly that at least they didn't stick anything up her bum this time.
Mmm, after all that ethnic food, we were craving something comforting. This is my super duper chili. May be served with cheese and cilantro, but Fritos are a MUST.
I finally made Indian food. Here is aloo gobi, but with butternut squash instead of potatoes. Totally untraditional. I made this way too spicy, but otherwise it was good. The puree is my yellow split peas - FINALLY cooked to tenderness. The meal needed something bright, so I added the steamed green peas.
This meal was so colorful! Also very tasty. I had to use up all my extra vegetables before we went on vacation. From the 6 o'clock position going clockwise: baked parmesan coated eggplant, roasted beets, steamed snap peas, glazed parsnips and carrots, and balsamic rosemary chicken. Yum!
Oddly, Ants on a Log sounded really good after work. Last time I made these I must have been in elementary school. I remember it being a lot messier to assemble back then.
What an amazing weekend. After getting off of work early, Ben and I had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory before seeing Swan Lake. Hmm, that merits its own post, so I'll add that later. The next morning . . .
San Francisco, California!
(brace yourself for a lot of pictures)
We took the BART into town and dropped off our luggage. The plan is to spend the first day walking downtown, getting aquainted with the city. 
First things first in SF, get lunch!
Sorry it's blurry (I hate the way flash looks). Bento boxes started the trip.
We quickly spotted our future penthouse apartment.
Getting our bearings. We rode the bus everywhere. San Francisco has great public transit.
Chinatown: window gazing and a vanilla cake snack (the puffy ones).
Then onto North Beach. I liked that all the posts are painted this way.
We decided to cut east to Lombard street. I was out of breath before the hard part!
Great view from the top though.
'Nough said.
After the most amazing hot cocoa I have ever sipped, we went back to North Beach for dinner. Of all the Italian restaurants, we happened to pick the Mona Lisa, where I went with my family the last time I was in SF! I had a delicious artichoke ravioli with tomato cream sauce.
Our hotel, the Stratford, was right on Powell and Market. Very convenient. A bit noisy at night with one begger playing Christmas carols on his violin, another banging plastic tubs and singing Rice-A-Roni, and a third banging Chinese drums in the morning with his friend playing a recorder. Add to that the cables churning underground, and it's a good thing we were exhausted every day and didn't have trouble sleeping. 
Small rooms, but clean and smartly decorated.
The elevator was incredibly slow. One time we tried taking the stairs to our room on the 6th floor. Only one time.
Cute breakfast room overlooking the street.
The F Line streetcar was our favorite route. It was quick, convenient, and fun to ride the old cars.
Ah! Look how relaxed these two strangers are.
This is the farmer's market on Saturday morning at the Ferry Building. So much wonderful produce!
Ben's new favorite orange is the cara cara, seen here.
no comment
At the wharf. We tried to buy Alcatrez tickets but they were sold out until Monday. Oh well, there was so much else to do, like seal gazing.
At the Boudin bakery museum, Ben provided a little free tech support with their jammed printer.
The vault with the MASTER MOLD!!!!
Mmm, sourdough . . .
We thought it was hilarious that there's a GAP squarely on Haight and Ashberry.
While once a hippie nexus, the street is full of cafes and vintage clothing stores now. We went to the Red Vic Movie House and saw a documentary called 24 hours on Craigslist. It was obviously low budget but you don't notice because it had such hilarious content. It was the perfect way to feel like a local on a rainy afternoon. 
Dinner was at Bangkok Noodles back near Union Square. Ben had Tom Yum soup that made him cry from the heat (very unusual for him) and I had yellow curry chicken. That's a gardenia in my hair he bought on Haight after our movie.
Ghiradelli still has the best sundaes.
Oh! The visions of my childhood revisited!
Sunday morning, the museum wasn't open yet, so we wanted to hike up to Coit Tower. Unfortunately, the Tour of California had the same plan.
We made it!
Look at all the supporters cheering us on. ;-) They also gave us energy bar samples, how thoughtful!
Such a beautiful day, we wanted to do more walking before going to the museum. This is back in North Beach at City Lights bookstore. 
Lunch across the street
Cheesesteaks and garlic fries.
In the Presidio neighborhood I found another sweet from my younger years.
It's amazing to see calla lilies growing all over.
Change of plans: instead of the museum we walked all the way from the Exploratorium to Sausilito. This is halfway, on the bridge.
Dang, that's a long way to walk. Our feet are killing us and we didn't plan for bringing water or snacks. But it was worth it.
Remember this?
Took a ferry and bus back to Union Square where we had Indian food, cheesecake, and collapsed into bed.
It was a fantastic trip. I only wish we had another day or two to see more. We didn't get to the Golden Gate park, any museums, Castro neighborhood, Cowhill shopping, etc. But it was a great and memorable birthday.
Molly discovered milk.
Friday I cooked and cleaned and sewed, just like a real wife! ;-) Here's one of my recipes and my future skirt. This fabric is a dream to work with. 
The party! Brian turned 25 this week, so we had an Irish dinner celebration last night. Ben bought him a GI Joe gun, which is targeting the meat in this picture. Notice my lovely soda bread! I should have made two, it was tasty, hearty, and quickly devoured. 
The whole meal: Corned beef, boiled cabbage, soda bread slathered in butter, and assorted root vegetables - parsnips ("what's that?") carrots, turnips, and potatoes. 
And for dessert I attempted the Norwegian Birthday Cake, a tradition in Ben's family. It's an angelfood cake with strawberry cream between three layers, coated in sweeted whipped cream, and topped with fresh strawberries.
A Duck Hunt competition
Brian and the elusive Bruce.
I've been enjoying the work of Riva Sweetrocket during the past month. Her collection of pastels have been on display at Arvada Center, in the gallery where I stretch before class. I am disappointed to read her notes on her website. What really struck me, besides the vibrant colors, was how absurd they are. I think they're better when taken randomly. Reading the explanation is like dissecting a joke. If you browse her website, try not the read the fine print.
Busy weekend! I've been working on choreography and rehearsals for the spring recital. I'm feeling stressed out for some reason, I really shouldn't though. It's all volunteer, and I genuinely enjoy working on the recital. But I'm missing all my leisure time. I'm also not cooking as much adventurous food as I used to. Still cooking though, and maybe I'll post some pictures soon. In fact, I made a strawberry rhubarb pie this weekend. Not much else to say. Saw a couple movies, cleaned the house, life goes on.
Chicken enchiladas, no recipe, just thrown together!
These were divine cookies. Fairly healthy too: whole wheat flour, wheat bran, hardly any butter, low sugar, and homemade peach jam filling. Well, the would be healthy if I could eat less than 6 a day. They tasted similar to a Nutrigrain bar, but better.
Shepard's Pie. Pork filling with a sweet tomato sauce, peas, and carrots. The topping is mashed potatoes as well as the leftover vegetables from our Irish dinner: carrots, parsnips, and turnips. So the topping was slightly sweet and surprisingly cheesy, but there wasn't any cheese in it! 
Balsamic chicken with rosemary, garlic roasted fingerling potatoes, and steamed broccoli. Ben went nuts for Colorado potatoes, so we've been eating a lot of them.
Strawberry rhubarb pie - Spring is here!
Tamale Pie. Eh, too much polenta, not enough filling. But really this was just using up odds and ends, so not bad considering. 
Roasted a chicken this week (sorry, no picture) and then made stock! I love homemade stock. I tripled strained this one. Should contribute a nice clear broth to soup for next week.
Decadent Peanut Butter Cups really lived up to their name. My grocery store started carrying Guittard chocolate chips. Heavenly.
Added butter changed the texture dramatically. It surprised me. 
The cup. 
Classic potato salad. This is maybe just the third potato salad I've ever made. I liked the peas, Ben and Brian thought it was weird.
I got some paparazzi style pics of Molly exploring the great unknown. She's graduated to letting me close the screen door behind her. What a wild girl ;-)
g
I'm so addicted to Volfied. I've gotten through 13 of 16 levels. There's no saves or passwords. It's an old arcade game recently released as part of the Taito collection for PS2. I don't get to play it as much as I'd like, so Sunday I indulged and set a new high score for myself.
What a nerd.
Yes, those are stretch pants.
But really, I caught up on a lot on Sunday: listened to General Conference (which I think should be held once a month), cooked, choreographed, and sewed (Check out my webpage for an updated crafts section!)
The weekend was fun in general, with Friday dance class, an Indian buffet lunch Saturday and the last of our Colorado Ballet season tickets at night. 
Dinner today was chicken pot pie redux with roasted beets. I'm so lazy about making pastry that I make biscuit topping instead. At least it was from scratch with buttermilk :-) And the filling was condensed soup-free, with chicken I roasted last week.
Baked Potatoes with chedder, broccoli, bacon, and plain yogurt. Easy and good.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. This recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens' cookbook. I made the whole wheat variation. Good texture, but a little sweet.
I love my new vacuum! This was a birthday present from Ben (and to make sure the present wasn't interpreted offensively, he promised to vacuum for a few weeks before my birthday-he hates to vacuum, so this really was special).
Our old vacuum was very cheap and used bags. I emptied the bag a few times a year and changed it maybe once since we got married. It never seemed to get full, so why change it?
This red baby sucks so much more than the old one. It's the cheapest bagless model, but oh, the satisfaction I get from the sediment layers it forms. I have to empty it every three times I use it (I only vacuum weekly, I know, I suck). Pictured here is what I collect after vacuuming twice. Ew and Mmmm.
The scenes I'm choreographing are looking really good! Most of the scene is done, and about half has been taught to the dancers. It's hard trying to gauge what's too hard and what will work spatially, given my the lack of pointe shoes and my small apartment.
Crafts updated on my website! (Same pose, now with a cat!)
From Kottke.org:
Film critic Jim Emerson recently compiled a list of 102 movies that you should see before
you can consider yourself movie literate:
Kottke then asterisks all the movies he has seen. I do not consider myself movie literate, but for kicks, let’s see how I do.…they [are] the movies you just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies. They’re the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat “movie-literate."
I could have remembered what all these spices were, if I had posted this picture in a timely manner. But if memory serves me, it includes paprika, tumeric, fenugreek, cloves, cumin, coriander, cayenne . . . and others.
Put it all together, and you get my first attempt at Ethiopian cooking. I made Tibs W'et, red lentils with chow, basmati rice, quick pickled carrots, and yogurt (because this was WAY spicier than anything I normally make). (Ben was thrilled). 
Beef fajitas with guacamole, grilled onions and peppers, and various toppings.
Pan fried potatoes with paprika and cayenne, boiled brussel sprouts, and smoked sausage with onions. 
Whole wheat banana bread with wheat bran on top. 
Meatloaf with spicy hoisin glaze, steamed green beans, roasted sweet potatoes, and beans. 
Spring is here! Strawberry shortcakes. 
Bean, onion, pepper, and cheese quesadillas with guacamole and blue corn chips. 
Roasted pork loin, sweet and sour red cabbage, and pickled radishes. 
Leftover grilled pork sandwiches (surprisingly flavorful), more pan fried potatoes (they were so tasty, I had to make them again), and the ubiquitous steamed green. 
Chocolate pudding from scratch. I learned pudding really isn't worth it when made with low-fat milk.
I love it when we get snow like this.
Ben got me my favorite kind of roses, orange and yellow. They're blooming like mad.
He took me to Vesta Dipping Grill last night. It's a very fun place to eat (although they could turn the lights up a bit, it would be nice to be able to see the food). I had a lamb tenderloin with pistachio-mint sauce, red pepper rica rouille, and dried berry chutney. We also had a sauce sampler with pita bread and a cheese plate. The truffle cheese was amazing.
Saturday night we were talking with a new friend about MS and tried to search the internet to find the official website (here, by the way). To our surprise, all of our movies were playing on Google Video! So now everyone can easily and speedily stream all of Movie Saturday productions anytime they want. Just search video.google.com for "Movie Saturday" including quotes. 
Watching a few films reminded Brian that he intended to make commentary tracks for a future DVD release. Sunday afternoon I went to his place and we started. We have three commentary tracks done. They were really quick and easy to record. Now we just need to find a day for other participants to provide insight for their works.
More leftover pork loin in my famous baked sandwich. This time with a balsamic onion and cream cheese filling, with kosher salt and herbs with butter brushed on the top. 
Peanut butter/chocolate swirl chip cookies. These chips were unimpressive. Next time I'll opt for plain chocolate chips in peanut butter batter. 
Mac and cheese from scratch with steamed broccoli. 
Spring is here! Rosemary balsamic chicken is accompanied by sauteed vidalia onions, asparagus, and corn.
I went to Grand Junction for Kristin's baby shower. Andy came home since he had a break from school. Not wanting to be left out, Amanda made it too! I was thrilled to spend lots of time with . . .
The newest cat in our family - Roman!
This blur is most typical of her behavior. She makes my cat look like a statue.
She obviously loves her owner.
And is good at finding others in the mood for a nap.
We make a classy pair.
Roman and dad are modeling the hats I made for Kristin's baby.
Andy caved and bought Guitar Hero. Even mom was rockin out.
Final gratuitous kitten photo.
When I got back home, my own cat looked FAT!
Yeah, so what? Feed me, slave!
Check out my website for more pictures in the About Me section and the crafting page!
Back in February a company was moving office furniture into our building. I have a view of the building entrance from my desk and had a nice chuckle watching 5 people struggle to get an object larger than a fridge up our front step. They were at it for at least 20 minutes. The next day I noticed they had chipped the brick walkway. The single step was damaged just 4 inches across and only one inch deep from the edge.
That afternoon our on-the-ball management placed four large orange cones surrounding the chipped area. The message being that they're very concerned about our safety. Over the next three months, I saw management come inspect the spot several times. Often with clipboards, making notes.
Recently I saw two men from management on the step, fiddling with the cones. Good, I thought. They're finally fixing it and getting rid of the rediculous over-the-top warning. Right? Wrong.
Let's add caution tape!
Three weeks have passed since this photo, and nothing has changed. Amazing.
This is brilliant. Al Minns and Leon James dancing to hip hop. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=593402085&n=2
(Don't get me wrong, I prefer the original music, of course. But this is a seamless blend of old and new dance/music. Not only the rhthym, but the choreography matches this piece of music perfectly. An amazing mash-up.)
Last year I learned about Eurovision, a continental song contest with finalists representing each European country. Since the contest is not broadcast at all in America, I worried that I’m missing out on something great.
Now my fears have been confirmed: I am totally missing out on much awesomeness.
Courtesy of Go Fug Yourself:
Every year at about this time, all of Europe goes insane for the Eurovision song contest, cheering for each country’s entry into what could be termed a one-night international American Idol marathon with more language barriers, loud and drunken reveling, culture clashes, crazy clothes, and camp value.
…Famous past winners: ABBA with “Waterloo,” and Celine Dion, singing for Switzerland for some reason. Although the genius of the contest is better examplified by the Belgian act that came in second in 2003 by singing a song in an imaginary language. It’s awesome. Just try and imagine Katharine McPhee getting anywhere by standing before Simon Cowell and crooning in tongues.
The reason for my rambling: I am devastated that nobody in the U.S., not even BBC America, televises any of Eurovision. Because that is why I missed the live display – as opposed to the welcome yet not-quite-the-same blurry YouTube version – from this year’s Finnish winner, Lordi:
Ben raved about this beef stew all week. I started by browning the beef chunks after dredging in flour. Then I sauted onion and carrots with thyme and a bay leaf. Add mushrooms. After a few minutes deglaze with red wine, add cubed potatoes, and browned beef. Add water and let simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours. 
I prefer this sort of meal in warm weather: spaghetti with sundried tomatoes, asparagus, onion, and goat cheese.
While getting some toilet necessities - lotion, cotton balls, midol - at Target, I noticed they were all sky blue. Then I got home. Whoa. All my toiletries are sky blue. Including my walls. Freaky.
We're down to the last week of rehearsals for the ballet. I've been taking more classes (sometimes 3 a week) and helping with rehearsals Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. This school has amazing volunteers. The sets and costumes are so detailed and well designed. It's such a nice alternative to the typical scratchy spandex costumes ordered from catelogs and reused for years on end. The sets are designed and made by parents who work in carpentry and design. I should get a DVD of the show, but also I plan to video tape dress rehearsal and post clips online.
Brian premiered his film The Unwritten Rule, and it sparked interest in making films again. We've recorded commentary tracks for that film, some Movie Saturdays, and the Red King. We were watching the Red King for the first time in 5 years. We were so much skinnier back then! Surprisingly, the movie wasn't that bad. In fact, it was a lot funnier and campier than I remembered. It was sort of what you'd call good!
We in discussion for shooting a film this July. One project to the next. That's how I like it :-)
Yea! One night down and two to go.
I got hit with a yucky cold this week, which really dragged down my spirits for the dance recital. Nevertheless, I went to the spacing run throughs and dress rehearsals to get my girls in prime condition. They had their first show last night and another tonight and tomorrow afternoon. I'm helping with quick costume changes during the shows (though not Sunday's) and Christina has me come out with the teachers to be introduced and bow at the end of the show. It's really weird to be on a stage and not have anyone to search for in the audience. In fact, I haven't been on a stage in a long time! Maybe Christina (the dance program director) will wrangle me into dancing on one. She hinted at it earlier this year.
I've posted one of the dances I choreographed on Google Video. Please consider the following excuses while viewing:
reminded me how long it's been since I last posted. Busy as always, but also trying to dance AND rest as much as possible since my week long break while sick, and Ben reformatted/reinstalled the OS on our computer, so I've put off using it. I had to reinstall some programs, and I'm posting this without Hello, my preferred method, because I'm sick of re-registering for it. Anyhoo.
What's been cooking in my kitchen? Not much, but I have a few pictures to share.
This is leftover roasted pork loin dressed with a chinese sauce on udon noodles with asparagus, snap peas, and garlic.
Pocupine meatballs (beef and rice meatballs in a chili-tomato sauce) and steamed broccoli.
This tasted a lot better than it looks. It's pesto pasta with parmesan and steamed sweet potato.
Pineapple + coconut milk = pina coladas
Blueberry Crumb Cake, recipe courtesy of Ms. Stewart here. I made some alterations to the recipe by adding lemon juice and zest and substituting plain yogurt for the sour cream.
These are really good chocolate cookies. They stayed moist and tasted fudgy, like brownies. I saw the recipe, originally from Cooking Light, on a blog called Baking Sheet.
See? Not many great dinners. Some ok baking though. I should have more time to think out next week's menu today, since my car is in the shop I'm stuck at home. But since it's raining, there's no where else I'd rather be.
Work: We're running a study, which means a ton of boring adminstrative tasks mixed with interviewing depressed people on the phone all day.
Dance: The recital is over (yea!) and I'm still waiting for the DVD. Hopefully I can have a copy by 7/1 so I can show my family when they visit. I've been curious in starting up modern dance again. This week Christina was auditioning a new modern teacher so anyone could take the class for free. I am no longer curious about modern. Partially because I didn't like how he ran class. The first hour was brutish "warm-up" = fast difficult exercises, including neck rolls, push-ups, and core work (sit-ups where you bring both your upper body and your legs into the air, so you're balancing on your bum, and you do various leg movements while supporting yourself with you abs). Ordinarily I would be up for this sort of thing, but it was too much too early in the class. The last half hour got more dancy and fun. However, I think it's too early for me to venture into another style. I took ballet for 10 years and then added modern dance for another 3 years. It took some time to adjust to the different techniques. Even though I've been back at ballet for 1 1/2 years now, it was too confusing to my body to turn in my legs, contract at the waist, etc. I'll stick to ballet for now.
Film: My friends are doing a movie this July. I was really excited until the script was chosen, which I don't like very much. I'm probably just going to do production design with Ben (dressing sets, costumes, make-up) though I may act in a minor female role if needed. Discussion on our movie can be read on the forum.
Home: We're in the early stages of looking into the possibility of owning home. There's no plan, we're just poking about. We're going to meet with a loan officer to see if it's really feasible for us to own yet. This is driven by a number of factors. 1) Although our current living space is nice, the complex is getting really trashy. Bad neighbors. 2) I want my own walls so I can blare music and play ddr loudly. 3) Owning is better than renting in general. 4) Perhaps we could cut down our commutes to work. 5) It feels like it's time to grow and mature a little bit. We signed a shorter lease this year to give us an open door. But seriously, we're staying pretty neutral on this issue. It may not be a good idea until next year. We're just looking into it.
Church: Still teaching the 5 year olds. In fact, I have to prepare two lessons for this weekend since we have to give Sharing Time in addition to our regular class. I like the kids, but I've been at this calling longer than any other. I'm weary of teaching and it would be nice to be taught instead. Oh well.
Crafts: I'm sorely in need of a new project. I have no ideas for sewing for myself and it's the wrong season for knitting. Maybe I'll make a buttload of baby shoes and ship them to Kristin.
Cat: Loveable as always.
Ben: Wonderful as always. The man scheduled me a massage appointment last week when I had a stressful day. How perfect is that?! He told me he likes his job (!) and is doing well at school. By the way, he is no longer taking formal classes. The MCSE certification requires that he schedule his own tests and pay for them in addition to tuition. His college has stopped offering some of the courses he needs anyway, so he's going to study from his own books on his day off and skip the tuition part. I think it's a good plan, now that the first semester gave him a jumpstart. Also he's learning the banjo.
Freetime: Keeping up with the Economist and watching South Park
So all is well. Just busy busy busy.
It's so hard for me to get in the kitchen during summer. The days are too long and hot. Luckily we had an unusual two week spell of clouds, so I made a few attempts in the kitchen. Enjoy!
Time to put my crepe griddle to work! It came with an assortment of crepe-making accessories.
The spinner, used to fan the batter over the entire griddle, is fun to use, but difficult. It spreads the batter so thin it cooks almost before you can complete the circle.
I prefer my crepes a little thicker anyway. The flipper is a nice wooden paddle.
Crepes au citron.
On another night we tried a new ingrediant: pasillo peppers. They're deep waxy green peppers with a bit of heat and a smokey flavor.
I used the peppers to make these vegetarian burritos.
Beef stroganoff. I was not pleased with this. Maybe the years of having stroganoff made with campbell's "cream of" has jaded my opinion of what the texture should be. This was made with sour cream. I should have made a roux to help smooth the cream and milk in the heat. It was kind of gritty and loose.
I had some leftover fresh fruit. Instead of smoothies (my typical way to use of fruit) I dried it in my food dehydrator. Then I put them in bran muffins. From left to right: mango, strawberry, and nectarine.
Avanza groceries! The best place to find Mexican ingrediants at cheap prices (and a whole isle of Virgin Mary candles!). These key limes were gorgeous: bright green, large, smooth healthy skin, and 30 for $1.00!
Large plump tomatillos were on sale too. I bought some not knowing what to do with them. After a quick consultation with Bittman I decided to make salsa verde.
Success!
Beef fajitas with grilled peppers (only $1 a pound, incredible!) and onions, avocados (50 cents each!) on freshly made flour tortillas. Seriously, they were warm when I bought them ($1 for a pack of 12).
I've been lusting for a mini-muffin tin for months now. I finally caved. These are mini key lime tarts. Just before serving at our film rehearsal I topped them and took more pictures, but those are on Brian's camera. I'll post them later. Anyway, these little beauties are all the same flavor, I just didn't remember to dye them green until I had already filled a few tins.
More mini muffins! These are blueberry with sugar crystals on top. They are the perfect popping size.
I burned myself on my oven. But it's cool because it looks like a triforce piece from the Legend of Zelda. "Well, we know it's not the Triforce of Wisdom." --Trevor
We're a week into shooting our summer movie. Here are some preview pics from the set. I don't want to say too much or show too much yet. 
Matt and his steady-cam. $12 in parts and 50 hours labor. 
Our starring lady. I'm fitting her dress we bought 2 sizes too big (but it was cheap!). (Look! I have bangs!). 
A reference shot for make-up. In this lighting I can see that the bruises need a little more blue stippling. But when lit for shooting I think it looked ok. 
Shooting a scene. Check out our awesome lighting.
Hopefully this film will be a culmination of everything we learned from Movie Saturday productions. I'm doing a variety of minor parts in this movie: Production designer (including set dressing, costumes, make-up, and props), minor actor, and Assistant Director.
Tarts! The finished display.
I watch So You Think You Can Dance. Every week. And if I miss a show, I try to catch up on YouTube. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it's great dancing and choreography on a prime time network TV show. Awesome. On the other hand, it's teeming with reality show obnoxiousness. If I could watch all the dances on YouTube, then I certainly would do that instead of enduring the applause, the drawn out eliminations, wonky camera work, and the judges blathering and self-congratulating.
I started watching the show on season one. There were only 4 really good dancers in it, and I predicted that by season two more dancers would realize they could have done well and audition. I was right, the dancers on this season are in-cre-di-ble.
It's nice that they show a wide variety of dance styles. Various ballroom (samba, paso doble, swing, waltz) are countered with contemporary (their term for lyrical dance), hip hop, and pop. I only wish they were a bit more distinct: actual ballet, actual fosse (none of this fake stuff), and lyrical by someone other than Mia Michaels or Brian Friedman (who at least changes his palatte more than Mia). But even so, this show goes beyond my expectations for an american idol rip-off.
Here are some of my favorite pieces so far:
(Bummer, there were a few more I wanted to link, but Dick Clark Productions has shut them down. Gotta get them while they're fresh. I think it's inane that the official site doesn't even show clips each week. )
Hip Hop with Ivan and Martha
Contemporary with Travis and Allison (with bonus Mia + Celine ;-)
"Jazz" (More modern in my opinion) with Nathalie and Benji (the "it" boy R.M. with the mormon fanbase - gets more votes than he's worth)
Group Jazz dance to Technologic
Samba with Blake and Ashley from Season One (My favorite dance so far: mix of great performance and perfect, crisp choreography.)
Group modern dance (updated link with higher quality video)
*new* Group swing dance
1. Fresh, hot lunches (blue cheese spinach salad and bowtie pasta with pesto, sundried tomatoes, and parmesan) 
2. Clean counters. 
3. Freshly vacuumed floors. 
4. Music, pictures, videos and internet browsing. 
5. Sewing (or other crafts). 
6. Fresh clean clothes (although I hate doing laundry, I like having a full wardrobe). 
7. Putting my shoes back in order after leaving them out all week for quick access, which I stumble on as I get out of bed.
I love carrot cake and cream cheese. I've been holding onto this recipe for months. For some unknown reason, instead of this:
mine turned out like this:
ugh. Looks aside, they're heavy, sticky, and a little too sweet. I don't know what I did wrong! The only deviations from the recipe were omitting the walnuts and adding a tablespoon of flour (for high altitude). Additionally, the recipe claims to make 24 mini muffins, filling each cup 3/4 full with batter. I nearly filled the mini cups (hoping for a high crown, Ha!) and still had enough batter left for 6 regular large muffins. The cream cheese just oozed on top, instead of descending into the muffin. I blame the recipe. What a disappointment. Maybe I can mold them into some sort of giant bread pudding thing.
Here's a video I put together about Roman, Andy's kitten. I recently got some editing software, which I'm very pleased with.
Rose's feet (1+ hours work) 
My leg (about 20 minutes, it's hard to reach so I work slowly) 
My hand (about 45 minutes). I really like this design. The brown stain it left was really strong on the fingers and upper hand, but really weak below the wrist. I wish my skin took the henna better.
Brilliant idea.
I'm blishing on my juiced up laptop. Bruce and I got the same laptop the same year. He retired his this summer and sold me the parts at a super discount. Now I have a wireless card, double the memory, and working disk drive for the first time in 4 years (hey, that's as long as I've been married - today! Happy Anniversary, Ben). Now I can surf in the same room Ben plays video games. If only I could teach Molly to fetch me chocolate and refreshing beverages . . .
Another beautiful dance video courtesy of YouTube.
I was always curious about this. Accidental Hedonist clearly defines recipe copyright rules:
I see that recipes and copyrights have been brought up again, so I thought I would give my basic spiel which I hope explains it all. I think I've covered this before, but I'm too lazy to look it up in the archives.
Lists of ingredients are not protected by copyright. Explanation of techniques are not restricted either, as a rule. Literary license in the form of prose is, however, guarded by copyright. Let me give an example.
Part I:
I like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as they bring a bright smile to my face. They are especially good with a cold glass of milk.
Part II:
* 2 slices of white bread
* 3 Tablespoons peanut butter
* 2 Tablespoons strawberry Jelly
Part III:
With a knife, spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread. With the same knife, spread the jelly on the other side of bread. Press together the two slices of bread, with the peanut butter and jelly facing each other.
Here's the deal. Part I is under copyright. An entity cannot reproduce Part I (even as bad as it is) without attribution.
Part II is not able protected by copyright. Period. Underline three times.
Part III is where it gets a bit iffy. In the case of the above, Part III is most likely not sheltered by copyright. There's not much in the form of literary expression. Instead, it's essentially a formula that uses the list of ingredients. Such formulas are not covered by copyright.
However, if there was a fair amount of prose interspersed within the formula, then it can be protected by copyright. If Part III was dressed up with memories of making the sandwiches, and tied together with a personal anecdote or two then no one could use it without permission.
In this article, YouTube founder says he is negotiating to get every music video ever created on youtube. It's too good to be true. Does anyone else get the feeling this website is going to crash and burn?
Don't think I've been neglecting my kitchen! I'm just slow to post. I returned to some favorite dishes from the my earlier years of marriage.
Chicken fingers! Breaded with crumbs and parmesan, with baked sweet potato and sauteed zucchini with dill. 
Pesto chicken with sundried tomatoes, green beans, and rosemary garlic potatoes.
Refreshing blueberry smoothies!
I've eaten so much of this lately. Blended cream cheese, parmesan, sundried tomatoes and their oil make a sweet and savory spread. Served here on black pepper flax seed crackers. 
Mmm, homemade semolina fettucini, extra thick, how Ben likes it. 
Served with turkey meatballs, chunky marinara and parmesan. 
Speaking of meatballs, this is turkey meatloaf, baked in a muffin tin. Instead of a burnt exterior, raw interior loaf, each serving is perfectly cooked and portioned. The medley of roasted vegetables includes carrot, eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, potatoes, and (don't forget) garlic. 
A heaping pot of marinara to last all week. 
Italian white bean salad. Minced garlic and carrot sizzle in olive oil before adding cannellini beans. Let simmer for an hour, add salt, pepper, and plenty of fresh parsley. 
I tried a recipe for lemon ginger muffins. Despite calling for a 1/2 cup of fresh ginger, the flavor wasn't pronounced. In half the muffins I added small bits of crystallized ginger. That boosted the flavour and made the texture more interesting (they turned soft like gummies!), but still, this recipe was disappointing. 
Finally, classic lasagne with a green salad. Not pictured, I also made sloppy joes this week.
After a great night performance of the Pirates of Penzance at the Deer Valley outdoor theater, we had a half day in Park City.
Lovely day for a zip down the mountain! It was a close race. . .
I shouldn't have breaked in anticipation of the red line, I could have won! But it's true, Andy crossed the finish first. 
Going up the mountain a second time. Dad, Andy, and I rode a zipline down. 
Mom felt cheated because a squirrel was on her track while racing Dad. 
Amanda's neighborhood got pummelled with rain. 
You gotta see the Baaabee. Addison sure is cute! It was great seeing an old friend (love you, Kris!).
The revival of Pirates of Penzance was a staple in my musical theater repertoire as a young girl. Not only a funny show and fun to pretend I could sing along with the soprano, but it had two handsome pirates in thigh-high leather boots with luscious perms.
Though Kevin Kline's charisma has a certain pull, my girlish crush fell on Frederic, played by Rex Smith. Those earnest eyes, the tiny ponytail, the way he over-enunciated each and every word with those pouty lips. I had forgotten about his capacity to make me swoon until we saw the play in Park City, prompting me to re-watch Amanda's copy of the Joseph Papp production.
But where is Rex now? I think I heard he was doing more shows on Broadway, maybe even a Tony nomination or two. Hmm, let's wander over to his official website . . .
Is there anything sadder than this?
I'm glad to see you all are still checking my site, despite irregular posting. As a reward, may I present to you
Fritz and Franz: Fight the Future SPECIAL EDITION
(with special death-to-John Waters opening)
We bought a house!
We signed the contract on Monday, but this coincided with me getting some sort of stomach/intestinal sickness. Three days later, I'm feeling somewhat functional. Sorry for the delay. Anyway.
Yes, we bought a townhome in Lakewood, just a few blocks from my office. It's been fixed and flipped so it has new carpet, wood panelling (trust me, it looks nice), new fixtures, and new appliances, but we still got a great deal compared to other units in the neighborhood and other homes in that price range elsewhere. It's going to need just a little more work to get it perfect: add more storage in the kitchen, put up window coverings, get a washer/dryer (Yes! My own washer and dryer! I've dreamed of this day for 6 years), but minor things really.
We close in mid October, giving us a cushy two and a half weeks to clear out of our old apartment before that lease is up. Unfortunately, I'll probably go crazy in anticipation waiting these two months.
While on vacation, I painted my old bedroom and part of the foyer. Enjoy!
Indian spiced yellow squash fritters 
Red bean side dish, I forgot what the recipe was called. Not that great, dal would have been better but I was short on time. 
Oh, so good! 3/4 lb of Tillamook chedder went into this baked noodle and broccoli casserole. I ran out of white flour, and had to use whole wheat to make the roux. It worked just as well and gave the sauce a heartier texture and flavor. 
Spicy pepper and tomato tortilla soup. Way too spicy for me, I could barely finish it. 
A Lebanese dish from my Mediterranean cookbook. Chickpeas, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and eggplant are simmered with cumin, cinnamon, and coriander. Served on basmati rice with a cucumber salad. 
Ice cream sandwiches. Ben is enjoying the traditional two cookie model, while Brian is topping little cookies baked in a muffin tin.
Steamed artichokes (straight from Ben's boss's garden) with potato cakes. Mashed potatoes are combined with feta cheese, dill, lemon juice, scallions, and egg, then dredged in flour and browned in a skillet. 
The realtors keep saying "It's a buyer's market." I think they may be right. First they agree to cover all our closing, then they agree to fix the expensive and outdated electric system noted on the inspection. But now they ask if we can close a full month earlier, and they will pay our rent for the time! Something about a wedding and wanting to get the deal done asap. Whatever.
All I know is I can move into my house really really soon. Like in 1 1/2 weeks soon. Eeep! This is probably a better change for Ben than for me. My whining and pining and planning neurotic details of furniture arrangements, future improvements and purchases, and scheduling for moving has been cut. For example, I've been mapping garden plans. In October. For a house I don't live in yet. (And the only past gardening success I've known is a couple window boxes of petunias, of which I should have gotten the bushel kind instead of the trailing kind. But that doesn't stop me.)
But soon I'll be there!
Oh, in case your wondering: chives, thyme, rosemary, mint, and parsley under the kitchen window, lavender by the entrance, Lilac bush in the corner, clematis on one trellis, morning glory on the other, nasturtiums in the front with geraniums in the window boxes. The following season add tulips, irises, narcissus, and crocus. Ground cover yet to be determined and maybe a potted japanese maple. In my dreams, I know. :-)
I saw Nouvelle Vague (French for New Wave) at the Gothic last night. (Monday night concerts are a bad idea . . . reeeeally tired today)
Nouvelle Vague is a French band that plays covers of New Wave songs, like The Cure, Depeche Mode, and The Clash. Two guys redo the musical arrangements in bossa nova style. Then they recruit a variety of female vocalists. Last night there were two singers, both fantastic.
The show was energetic, well staged and rehearsed, but at the same time you knew there was a lot of improvisation going on. The girls donned unique, smart dresses with killer shoes (seriously, I covet the accordion player’s black Mary Jane pumps) and showed a flagrant love of stockings (black stockings with a white and green dress?? Love it!). The men weren’t shabby either; the bassists’ white ruffled pirate shirt seeming oddly appropriate.
Ah but the music. Easily my favorite band these days. I’m a sucker for distinctive, throaty, honey feminine vocals, such as Dido, Sarah Nixey, and Frou Frou. Combine that with some of my favorite 80s pop music and blend in a smooth danceable beat. I loved the singers’ floaty, arm waving choreography, very 60s pop. Despite the medium-sized crowd they kept the energy up and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
You should check out there music here. And you should see them if they come to your town. And you should buy me a t-shirt, because I didn’t have enough cash at the concert.
Youtube is full of concert footage and music videos! Yea!
(search for more videos, there's a lot)
Sorry for my lack of posts, but I got struck with a SECOND cold this month. Last time it was stomach, this time sinuses. I've been out of service since Tuesday. Now that I've emerged from my half-conscious, wheezing, moaning state of being, I'm scrambling to get ready to close on the house this Wednesday (eep!). We just did the final walk through and I LOVE it. Sure, some things still need repairs, and some design sense, but it's going to be so great. I love the area and I love the property.
Ben convinced me to go out to Mexican food tonight, instead of cooking another meal from old pantry items (cleaning out the kitchen). Later.
We have a truck scheduled for Saturday. We have a pile of flat boxes in the dining room. We have bathroom cabinets sitting on the floor in the new house. But the days are going. so. slowly. If only I didn't have to work (the nerve!) I could be doing so much fun stuff. Like screwing in door stops! And ripping out astroturf! And sorting my old clothes for donation! And holding 34 yellow paint samples up to the bedroom wall!
Sorry no pictures to upload. I have a few, but lack the motivation. Moving feels like your life is on hold.
Today was the big day. Yesterday was the boring, anxiety-building drudgery that is boxing up everything one owns. Today with friends and family help and two loads in the 15 foot truck (we've grown!) We got everything in by 3 pm (started at 9:30).
Molly was freaked, then excited and curious, then scared and whiney, then exhausted and limp. She spent her first 5 hours in her litter box. Just sitting and glaring. She has made two noble voyages into the den (right next to the laundry room, where her box is) but is sticking to closet corners and under furniture. I expect she will start really exploring late tonight.
I was able to say that all of our things made it in one piece, but Ben just knocked over a box, breaking a couple serving dishes. Eh, I expect a little damage, so we're still doing pretty good.
Oh, I wish I could take this week off work! So much to do . . . but at least we're here on lovely little Quail street.
my new top-of-the-line Duet washer.
Calling a plumber at 9:30 pm because your washing machine debut ended with water draining onto the floor, soaking your next 3 loads of perfectly sorted laundry, which have been festering in their dinginess for three days longer than you anticipated because you didn't test the previous (used) washer until your dryer was set up, which needed a vent, and then said washer would not start, and then having to wait a day for the new washer to be delivered, but not being able to test it until after work, and when you did and it flooded first you tried a snake and then drano before executing the final step in our three step program: hire a professional. I finally found my camera cable so I can upload some pictures. To my surprise, I hardly have any of the new house, but a lot of old pictures of my cooking! I guess that's what you get. :-) I did take this one of my kitchen:
(Roses from Ben, of course). I'll take some more house pictures later as the design starts to fall in place. I need to paint the walls and get a bit more furniture. Then I'll show you.
Little things I didn't notice but now that they're there, I love:
Spray nozzle on the kitchen sink
Oven light
Butter tray in fridge
Keeping the TV in a special room (I watch so much less! It's great. Though part of the reason is stupid baseball preempting all of Fox's shows.)
Room to leave my hair dryer plugged in all the time.
Segregated litter box area
Old Apartment cooking: Lettuce wraps - these were so good! I found a recipe supposedly copying a certain appetizer at a certain restaurant. I made a couple changes (ground turkey instead of minced chicken, button mushrooms instead of shiitake, and added carrots) and it turned out great! I should definately keep this recipe on hand for later. 
The tree in the parking lot had these gorgeous apples. 
I decided to try an apple crisp recipe. The "topping" (if you can called two tablespoons of brown sugar a topping) didn't really cook. So I used my blowtorch!! The cinnamon sparked when I blazed it (kind of scary). 
These were supposed to be bars you can eat out of hand. They were far too gooey, in fact, the center didn't cook while the edges were dry. I have that problem with bar cookies a lot. I should get this pan. 
Stuffed zucchini and pork sandwich. Blah. 
Pasta with two sauces and standard green beans. Blah. (Getting close to moving, can you tell?) 
A sudden spurt of energy led me to pizza! 
The one on the left has steak, carmalized onions, cheddar, and garlic on marinara. The one on the right has a pesto base with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and garlic. 
Sweet Potato Soup. Ingredients: sweet potato, sage (thanks mom!), butter, chicken stock, salt and pepper. 
Simmer all day, stir in cheese, you're done. I also made wheat bread with sage. 
New House!! It took me several days, but I finally cooked in the kitchen. This is my first dinner (not counting the mac and cheese from a box). I improvised with food on hand (hadn't gone grocery shopping yet) and used a recipe I found online as a base. It's acorn squash, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, and garbanzo bean stew with Indian curry. 
After shopping I made - sandwiches! I know, real ambitious of me, huh? But they were quite tasty: bacon, gouda, and butter lettuce with grainy mustard and horseradish. I picked up the requisite gallon of cider at the store. The neighborhood king soopers was fairly impressive. 
And tonight's dinner: rosemary pork tenderloin, sweet roasted acorn squash, sweet and sour braised cabbage, and you'll notice my prized roasted garlic nestled on the right. I have a whole head of it, baby. I just brought a batch of brownies with butterscotch chips out of the oven.
It's starting to feel like home.
She totally digs my new down comforter and duvet.
(btw Mom: see what I mean? What color do you do walls when this is the focus of the room?)
She also digs the cover I sewed for her cat bed (even though in this picture she's making the same face she makes while using her litter box, trust me, she loves it.)
Oh! I'm so confused! There's boxes everywhere and I can't find my food. Woes me! And get that camera out of my face.
Look, a squirrel! I feel a primal urge I haven't felt since I found that moth three weeks ago. I think I'll run up and down the stairs some more!
Glorious glorious carport! What joy I have experienced this morning, to come outside where there is one or two inches of snow everywhere, but my car is clean and dry. There is not even frost to scrape!
I'm really disappointed in my cooking habits since the move. Meaning the cooking doesn't exist. I've made a little of this and that, but mostly we go out a lot. There's always an excuse - I got back from dance class late and don't have the energy to cook. I spent the whole day cleaning the old apartment, let's celebrate! We're going to the ballet, we already planned to go out to Indian food! Ben's sick, so there's no reason to cook for one. It's snowy and cold, let's go out for pizza. And on and on. I think it's partly because I'm tired, partly because I haven't done meal planning, and partly because the kitchen is disorganized and doesn't flow well.
The ballet, by the way, was fantastic. I had not seen Giselle live before. For those of you who don't know the story, or have only seen clips on that one episode of Angel: Giselle is a peasant girl who loves to dance, but has a weak heart (literally). She has an admirier, Hilarion, who is a bit of a prick. She prefers her lover, Loys, who is actually a nobleman named Albrecht. She and Loys become engaged, Hilarion reveals that Loys is a fake, and in fact Albecht is also engaged to a noblewoman. Giselle freaks out and dies from shock and grief. In the second act, Giselle has become a Wili - "vampiric ghosts of betrothed girls who have died before their wedding day." Hilarion visits her grave, the wilis catch him and make him dance to death. Albrecht visits her grave and the wilis make him dance. Giselle pleads for the wilis to spare him, they refuse. He dances until dawn, when the wilis must retreat, and his life is saved. Giselle returns to her grave.
Here's a video clip from another company. The first variation it shows it my favorite, those traveling changements are incredible!
The sets and costumes were really impressive. A couple dancers were having an off night, but overall it was a crisp performance. I was a little disappointed that Maria Mosina was playing Giselle. She's ok, but she played the lead in every performance we saw last season. They have other great dancers who I would like to see featured. They rotate the part of Giselle between three dancers, and Maria just happened to be scheduled for the time we saw it. She's always paired with Igor Vassine, who is pretty good, but our favorite male dancer is Kubo Koichi, and he's too short of Maria, so we haven't seen him in a lead yet either. (Link to dancer bios) Oh well, it was still a lively, engaging show. And I love any excuse to put on a stockings and heels.
What do you do after a long day at work? Paint the house! I put one of two colors on the walls of the living room. I'm not sold on this blue yet. It's darker in person, but just as bright. After I put the complimentary color up, I hope it will look better.
It's starting to feel like a home. I still have that unnerving sense that I'm lost when the lights are off at night, but at least the house is functional.
Molly loves the stairs as much as I imagined. 
She chases toys from the top floor to the basement. I shuttle them back upstairs about 5 times a day, and that's on a work day. 
The stairs help her access sweaters put in otherwise inconvenient places.
(I realize that the number of cat pictures I post is ridiculous. You don't want to know how many I take and don't blish). 
She and Ben have slap fights from the top steps every night. They're doing again right now.
(I dig Ben's hair flip in this picture)
She also learned to play fetch with her toys, but she's usually only in the mood right after I go to bed, and right after I feed her in the morning (when I have the least energy). She's lost weight and is definitely building more muscle. 
Have I mentioned how great my oven light is??? 
Finally a good seasonal meal. Roasted garlic rosemary pork loin (I'm putting leftovers into a baked sandwich loaf tonight) with yellow and purple fingerling potatoes and sweet acorn squash.
We got dumped with slushy wet snow today. Perfect night for hot baked food and more Battlestar Galactica on DVD.
See how many candy bars you can identify (answers at the end of the post). The winning guest only got 6 out of 10 correct! I guess I made it harder than was necessary.
Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins with cream cheese frosting.
Deviled Eggs (made by request at 11:30 last night I might add)
So last night Brian comes over to carve pumpkins with us. Fun, right? Well, about four strokes around the stem, and my finger slips and jams into the rind. In a flash I see the side of my nail lifted outside of it's cozy skin. I dash to the sink and run it under cold water. At first I thought I cut it, given my track record. No, the pumpkin rind rammed up my nail all the way back to the bed.
Did I mention it went all the way to the bed? Such SEARING PAIN I have not known.
Ben and Brian took turns operating with a needle, and they got some of the bits out that were closer to the edge. But I was crying from the intense pain of having NEEDLES POKING UNDER MY FINGERNAIL. I finally had to ask them to give up, squirt some antibacterial ointment on it and try to ignore the throbbing and swollen heat it was now producing. 
But dog gone it, I was going to carve that confounded pumpkin! (Me on left, Ben's on right). 
Today it was definitely swollen, red, and more tender than last night (abused finger on the right). 
After much soaking in peroxide and numbing with benzocaine and ice, I pried out all of the pumpkin. These last three chunks are probably about half of what was in there in total. All that white space on the nail is where I had to root around, and it's now detached.
But I feel much better now that the pumpkin is out. I just have to make sure if it starts looking infected that I get better treatment.
We had a steady trickle of trick or treaters tonight. With my finger relieved I was able to make the lamb stew for dinner as planned (simmering now), and put on ghoul make-up for the kids. Ben is watching Monster Squad with Brian (I'm so glad he's not participating in all of the marathon this year), then he's coming home for dinner and to watch Shaun of the Dead with me. Yea!
The Rancher and the Wili
Saul Tigh (and if you don't know who that is, start watching Battlestar Galactica)
The 60s skater and Emilio Estevez from Young Guns
Neil Diamond Phillips
Creepy and Big Wig
A full length shot of my fire hazard of a costume
I bet you're dying for an update on my pumpkin incident, right? Right? No? Well too bad, because I'm at work trying to gather ppt slides into a final report. That means they have to be converted to Word files, and despite Microsoft's insistence that their programs work together seamlessly, the auto-conversion creates HUGE (like, 150 MB) word files. My computer processor maxes out whe I try to reformat these great honkers. I've frozen the program three times in the two hours I've been at it. Saving the documents take several minutes to process. Thus, I have time to blish some blurry camera phone photos of my finger.
Surprisingly, it has pretty much healed from the intrusion. I had several days of pussiness, tenderness, and swelling. But now it's only mildly swollen and virtually painless, even if I bump it. I can type, hold a pencil, and shampoo my hair with ease.
In other news House is back on Fox after the baseball hiatus. Yea! Between House, South Park, Battlestar, and another show I'm too embarassed to mention, Fall TV has been good.
I think my file saved, so I better get back to it.
I sincerely recommend you see Stranger Than Fiction.
This was a great comedy. The jokes were clever, and at times subtle, and never pointed out. I hate when comedies make a point of every joke and/or laughable scene. My favorite example of this is the dinner Harold eats at Dave's home. Look at their plates. Not once do the characters glance at the food in a pointed fashion. Love it. Speaking of characters, fantastic cast - all around. Emma Thompson was engaging, kooky, and a little scary all at once. Brian says he heard she was channeling Peter O'Toole for the role. Whatever she did, it worked. Will Ferrell was delicate and honest. For once you didn't feel like you were watching "Will Ferrell." The supporting cast were just as delightful, including Tony Hale and the Sonic commercial guys . Towards the end of the movie you start to think that there's no way this can end in a satisfactory way. But then it does. The graphics, cinematography, story, everything about this movie was lovely and fun.
I had a perfect weekend:
Friday morning - sleep till 10, then 30 minutes of running, shower.
Friday day - straighten up spare bedroom, temporarily decorate lower bath, sweep, mop, dishes, laundry, make applesauce.
Friday night - CPK pizza, excellent movie (see previous post), chat with friends over tea and a vanilla steamer in Belmar, watch Battlestar Galactica, play Scrabble until 1 am
Saturday morning - sleep until 9:30, play tennis, get dressed, leftover pizza lunch.
Saturday day - visit whole foods for bulk spices, eat yummy samples, get smelly blue cheese, buy Guitar Hero II for Ben (but then play just as much as him).
Saturday night - shop at Mod Livin (if anyone needs present ideas for me, ANYTHING from this store will do [such as this, this, or this])**, dinner at Queen of Sheba Ethiopian restaurant, browse the new Tattered Cover, another excellent movie, Marie Antoinette.
Sunday morning - snow, church.
Sunday day - grilled cheddar sandwiches with pea soup for lunch, bake applesauce spice cake.
Sunday night - make lasagne, crudites with blue cheese dip, friends come over for Scrabble and Fox Sunday comedies.
Who could ask for anything more?
**Mod Livin' seems very expensive by looking at their website, and it is, because you are paying for designer goods. But the store was also filled with vintage items, clothing, and more affordable misc. items for the home.
Blogger is acting funny, so this is in no particular order.
Split pea soup - Italian style. First you saute diced portabello mushroom in a little olive oil. Remove the mushroom and saute onion, carrots, and celery. Add bay leaf and the split peas and cook for not 20 minutes (according to the package) or 1 hour (according to Bittman) but THREE HOURS. GAh. Why do legumes hate me???
Sorry. At the end of cooking stir in parsley, parmesan cheese, and the reserved mushrooms. Delicious.
Hot wings and crudites with blue cheese dip. Mmmmm.
I made applesauce (below) and then used it in this applesauce spice cake. With cardamom and honey, this cake turned out spicy and moist.
Sour Cherry Pie with cherries from Iowa - extra sour.
When turkeys are $5 for 10 pounds, who can resist? 
And now the fun begins - turkey sandwiches, turkey enchiladas, turkey stock . . .
Despite beta blogger not working with picasa, and not finding this out until after I switched, and then finding out you cannot switch back, I have spent the past hour acquiring and uploading pictures to satisfy your curiosity. Click on any picture to see it full sized.
Master Bedroom
Obviously unfinished. I have purchased ("Enchanting" and "Feldspar") paint but haven't had the time or gumption to slap it on yet. That's my closet on the right.
My dresser on the left, Ben's on the right, and his closet in the picture on the right.
Master Bath
Square-shaped, wallpapered (ugh) and no storage space. We fixed that as much as possible with cabinets. There are two doors to the bath - one from the hall and one from the second bedroom (not the master). Behind the hall door is a mirrored medicine cabinet, opposite of the sink mirror. It's nice for checking the back of your hairdo or looking at yourself to infinity. (Also note in the right hand picture the holes left in the wall from a former towel rack. We were unsuccessful at mounting anything there, because the drywall is paper thin.)
Spare Bedroom
This is sort of my room, I guess. My sewing and crafts are in here, and my new vanity, where I get ready each day.
It's been relegated to a junk room for now. I'd like to do something really funky with it eventually. There's also a walk-in closet, but it's completely disorganized with fabric in piles on the floor and half finished craft projects strewn about, so you don't get a picture.
Upper Hall and Stairs
This is Molly's main base. From here we can topple toys at maximum chasing velocity.
Main Floor - Living and Dining Room
You can see our new couch, and Molly's new favorite resting place. I recently pinned up the curtains (picture on right side). Do you like that better than full length (picture on left)? It shows more dark blue, which I like. The floor doesn't feel so sloppy either. But once I cut I can't go back. This weekend I painted the desk to match "chester" the bureau I repainted last year.
I also got a cheap bookshelf from Target to house my cookbooks. Sorry about all that clutter, I haven't reorganized since finished the desk.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I still have a couple shelves, knickknacks, and pictures to hang on the walls, so this room is not done, but it's a heck of a lot closer to feeling complete.
Kitchen
I painted this wall yellow, in addition to the green above the kitchen cart I've already posted. I need more artwork for this area. On the right are the curtains I sewed.
Action shot (applesauce from last weekend)
Main Floor Half Bath
Sorry, bad lighting made this picture yellow. It's really just plain white. We added the oval mirror to this bare room, but otherwise all the decor is temporary. I think someday I'll do some rich oranges and yellows, like the box of guest soaps on top of the toilet. For now I just had to put something on the walls so it doesn't feel like a plain white box.
second set of stairs . . .
Den
Our entertainment room: it's FREEZING, but fun. I have some Star Wars fabric to make curtains or pillow covers out of, but otherwise this room is done. The den is divided into two sections, TV side and reading side.
Our old couches are down here with a plethora of pillows and blankets (Ben is demonstrating his frequent practice of stealing all the pillows.
This is where I've banished the ugly orange chair. All along the walls are video game characters, arranged chronologically. Here's a close-up. I'm on the search for nice labels for their name and year, something small with a metal frame, like on the end of photo storage boxes. Let me know if you come across something suitable.
Laundry Room
Finally, the laundry room, with cat litter and excess storage. Nothing really to point out except that I hope to have this more organized one day and please, marvel at how spacious it is! It's the same size as my kitchen. We have a second washer in there now (see previous post about my plumbing), hopefully it will be removed in December.
That's it! As you can see, I have a long way to go. It's a lot of work but I love it, and all three of us adore our new home.
Want to see what pumpkin rind looks like after hiding for 22 days in the base of your fingernail?
I really love Thanksgiving. I love that my family converges, all sleeping in until 10, eating cheese by 10:30. This holiday we left Molly home in Lakewood instead of driving her to GJ. 
Good thing, because she would have been totally upstaged by Roman.
My favorite part of the trip was shooting off rockets after dinner. But eating peppermint ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry while playing a family game comes in a close second place.
Mom loaded up her three kids plenty of leftovers. I made a turkey casserole tonight (Swiss cheese, canned cream soup, egg noodles, and frozen peas and carrots) (oh the humanity! I can't believe I sunk to such conveniences!! But I had to go grocery shopping in addition to dance class tonight, and really didn't have time to make a roux and chop and blanch veggies myself) (ugh, leotards look the worst when you're working off holiday feasts). 
Molly is quite a fan of turkey, even when coated in Swiss cheese (and no, I only give her plain turkey snitches. I know cheese could make her puke or die or something).
I have a problem.
I'm absolutely addicted to the salsa from a certain Mexican restaurant in Centennial. It's a nondescript strip mall family restaurant. But one day last summer Julia brought us some take-out salsa and it was HEAVEN. I CRAVE this stuff. It comes in a pint sized Styrofoam cup for $5. I eat half of it in one sitting. I fantasize about taking it in my purse to 3 Margaritas, where they serve the best hot, salty, slightly oily thin tortilla chips. (Sadly, the makers of the mighty salsa proved very poor in their chip department)
I had Ben pick up salsa for me twice in the last two weeks. This is a very bad habit to start. By itself, the salsa isn't a bad thing. Fresh and natural veggies are good. But I eat it with fried chips, and those calories add up fast. Not to mention it's kind of pricey. Actually, I could eat this stuff on cardboard. Or Styrofoam - hey, I might try that! Sounds like a good way to get every last drop.
It looks like everything was dipped in sugar!
And it's cold. COLD cold. That sun isn't going to melt anything today.
(photos taken with camera phone at office parking lot)
December is busy! But it's all for fun. I had a cookie decorating party last night. Richard visited and we had dinner with Ben's extended family Saturday. My parents were up the weekend before, seeing the new house and shopping in the city. Mavi's visiting us en route to GJ. Tonight we're going to get hot wings at the Dark Horse in Boulder, just like old times.
All my Christmas shopping is done and wrapped up in silver paper and bows. I finally finished a little art project I've been working on for a few weeks. Pictures to come . . . sometime. Picasa is still annoying to use with this beta blogger I got roped into.
Some friends and I watched Dungeons & Dragons the movie this weekend. It was so deliciously bad. I haven't laughed so hard in ages. A couple months ago I came across this website, 64 reasons to watch Dungeons and Dragons. Lo and behold, the author was right on all accounts. I actually sort of wish I hadn't returned it so soon to Blockbuster*. Shoot, I may have to buy this one.
* What?! Blockbuster, you say? Yes, they've been running a deal where you can get a free rental by giving them your Netflix envelope flap. It's a marketing scheme to try to get people to switch to their service, but it saved us $5 so it was worth taking advantage of for this stupendously bad movie.
Can you say Cabin Fever?? On the one hand, we're happy to be home safe and sound, on the other, WE'VE BEEN STUCK IN THE HOUSE FOR 36 HOURS, AND THERE'S NO END IN SIGHT. Roads are closed all over Denver, and those who try to drive on local roads are getting high-centered. Ben and I are wishing we bought each other snowshoes for Christmas.
So yesterday I didn't have work, all schools were closed. Today more of the same, all government, schools, retail, are closed. So even if you could get out, where are you going to go? We might give the grocery store another try today, just to get out of the house.
So what did we do? I made turkey stock, reorganized my kitchen pantry, cleaned, cooked, knitted, watched the news, and read. Ben worked from home and read. We napped in the afternoon and played some scrabble and hanafuda in the evening.
The day was long. How the heck am I going to keep occupied today?
Wednesday mid-day.
Wednesday evening.
Thursday morning.
Wednesday afternoon we trekked to the grocery store to get cookie ingredients (very important).
I also got brussel spouts to serve with dinner.
Wednesday afternoon we had an impressive drift in the front walkway.
Wednesday evening some workers shoveled the front walks clear. By Thursday morning it looked like this
This morning Ben shoveled our back patio for a second time.
It's light and fluffy, but DEEP! The levels shown here are non-drift snow.
