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.

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 

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.

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.

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.

Youtube is full of concert footage and music videos! Yea!
(search for more videos, there’s a lot)

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.

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. 🙂

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.