Chrimbus

Given the extended length of time since my last post, I thought I'd write a quick one since it's Christmas time. I'm sitting in my parents' house, on my mother's computer, in my old bedroom, looking out the window at the snow. It started snowing last night - Christmas - and it hasn't really stopped since.

There's a distinct comfort that I feel being here. Suddenly, I can let go of my responsibilities. I'm not in charge. This isn't my house. I don't have to work. I'm folded back into the dynamic with which I grew up, with a few tweaks: my sister, Ginna, is accompanied by her new husband, Alex, and a few extra rings on her fingers; my sister, Catey, also carries a new ring on her finger, as she is now engaged to Scott as of last Saturday.

I think that I've desired control for a long time. But at some point, I also began to desire the ability to relinquish it. A few months ago I wrote a post about the summer camp that I went to, Ballibay. I had just felt a massive emotional swell, which was unexpected, and I came to two conclusions about why it happened. But here's what I left out: at that time in my life, I was not responsible. The most for which I had to be responsible was remembering the lines to a few songs. No rent, no bills, no serious relationships, no dogs, no job, no path of my own choosing. I was told where to go and what to do and it was glorious. I miss it.

So being here in my parents house with my family throws me back to that time. It's a weekend when I get to let go. Tomorrow I have to go back to work. Tomorrow I have to cook dinner. Tomorrow I have to walk my dog. But today, I get to sit in my old bedroom and watch the snow fall, totally unable to control it.

New Job Galore

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet, but at the same time, I can totally believe it, because I've been busy and stressed out of my mind for two weeks.

I will start from the beginning, but let me warn you, this is a life update story.

A few weeks ago, an employee of mine at Aromas, Ashley, put in her two weeks notice because she was moving out of Richmond. Knowing that my other employee, Tarae, would be appreciative of more hours, I didn't hurry too much to hire a new employee (meaning I put an ad up the next day rather than that day, and I didn't stress out about scheduling interviews). I put ads up on Craig's List several times that week, and one time I typed in "bakery" just to see what popped up. Three listings: Cheesecake Factory (eh), some place in Ashland (eh), and an ad for full- and part-time positions at a cafe/bakery/coffee shop now opening! I checked my resume to make sure it was presentable, whipped up a quick cover letter, and sent it to the address on the ad. It was Friday.

Monday, I received a call from the lady who placed the ad, Kelly, who wanted to meet me on Tuesday. Tuesday was a day off I had scheduled for myself so I went in at 11:30 and found myself in a small cafe inside of a very cute consignment shop (housewares more than clothes). The cafe was precious, with zebra stripes and polka dots and bright colors everywhere. When I started talking to Kelly, it quickly became clear to me that this was not an interview - it was basically just a meeting to make sure I didn't have two heads. She explained to me what they were doing and what they wanted me to do - mainly coffee, but they would train everybody to do everything. She talked to me about pay, benefits, hours, schedule. And when I left there, my understanding was (and correctly) that I had the job.

I didn't know what to think, because that happened CRAZY fast! Mind you, this was the very day before Ashley's last day. So now not only did I need to finish hiring and train somebody for her position, I now had to hire and train somebody for my own position. And I only had two weeks. And I would begin working part time at the new place (called Liza Jane's Sweet Shoppe and Cafe). I was excited, but I kinda flipped out because the prospect of all of that stress was scary. When you're used to working behind the bar by yourself, and you don't have a concrete list of things to teach, it's very stressful when suddenly there's somebody else behind the bar with you and you're trying to remember everything that you know and do.

I waited a few days before talking to my boss about it all, and I gave him my two weeks notice on that Friday. By that time I had hired somebody for Ashley's position and I would put up an ad for my position over the weekend (to give you an idea of the timing, it was Halloween weekend).

Week one of last two weeks at Aromas was crazy. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I opened at Aromas at 6:30 am. I had Tarae come in for me at 11 so that I would have exactly enough time to eat, nap for 30 minutes, and take a shower before heading to Liza Jane's from 2 until 7 (lots of travel time in there, too - about 25 minutes to and from both jobs). Tuesday and Thursday were normal days for me - Sam's and a closing shift at Aromas on Tuesday, and a closing shift on Thursday. No Liza Jane's. That week I spent half of each shift training Sarah, the girl I hired to replace Ashley, and the other half interviewing people for my job and attempting to complete any tasks that needed to be completed in that shift, in addition to helping customers. It was ridiculously stressful and tiring for me.

Week two of my last two weeks at Aromas I spent training my replacement, Zach. That was less stressful because he is already very experienced, and we didn't need too much time for me to teach him everything. Nevertheless I was still working a 50-hour week, just like the week before, so I was tired. And my saint of a boyfriend, Corbin, was stuck walking Ivy at least an hour and a half nearly every day because I didn't have time to split the responsibility with him like usual. Also, our apartment looked (and still does look) like a bomb went off.

You have no idea how happy I was to be finished at Aromas on Friday. For the most part, I liked working there. But when you're working as much as I was and counting down the days until you're done... well let's just say I was relieved.

So this week is my first week at Liza Jane's full-time. To tell you more about the job, I basically do everything. While I was brought on for my coffee experience, we're not selling all that much coffee yet, so I'm preparing a lot of food and taking a lot of orders. Cleaning a lot. I work 11-7 Monday through Friday and 9-2 on Sunday. It will take some time to get used to working 6 days a week, but my hours are pretty awesome compared to having to get up at 6:00 at Aromas. I really like the people I'm working with, I like the atmosphere, the food is delicious, and I think I'll have the chance to make things and sell them (like soups and baked goods) since I told the owner that I cook and want to go to culinary school. Also, I get to watch the food network all day, and I actually get a lunch break (a concept which is foreign to me)! I am on my lunch break as I write this in fact - I just finished my grilled cheddar on rye, tomato three-cheese soup, better cheddars, and pickle. I'm sitting in a very comfortable leopard-print chair and the food network is on in front of me. I love it.

Anyway, there's an update for you - apologies for the gap, but as you can see, I've been busy and tired. I'm so happy to have a regular schedule now, I like having Saturday off cause Friday still feels like Friday, I like knowing when I'll be at work and when I won't, instead of my schedule changing all the time. Also, I'm going to the Harry Potter midnight show on Thursday night. Yes indeed. Life is good.

‘Fresh’ Event at the Byrd Theatre in Richmond, VA | Flavor Magazine: The only independent publication dedicated to local food, Virginia wine, and sustainable agriculture in the Capital foodshed.

‘Fresh’ Event at the Byrd Theatre in Richmond, VA | Flavor Magazine: The only independent publication dedicated to local food, Virginia wine, and sustainable agriculture in the Capital foodshed.

This was good. Samples before hand. Yum!

More Food

Tonight makes week two of our CSA (see previous post). Heck yes this was an awesome idea.

Last week we picked up the following:
One half-gallon of whole milk
One quart of peach yogurt
One dozen eggs
One half-pound of jalapeno apricot cheese spread
Pork chops
Hot Italian sausage links
Parmesan-herb baguette

Wow. That's a lot of food for two people for a week. Corbin and I began planning the way we'd use the food. I was mostly concerned about the whole milk and the eggs, since the meat was frozen and who ever has to worry about eating a baguette before it goes stale?

Our first idea for milk & eggs: ice cream. Well, you could say this was my sister's idea too, since she's been saying from the beginning that that's how we should use the milk. We have some local honey on hand that we bought a few weeks ago from a farmer's market nearby and I have ten or twelve Madagascar vanilla beans from making Basil Lemonade, so I made honey vanilla ice cream. Yum! Six egg yolks down. Here's the recipe.

I had six egg whites left over, so I made one of my favorites: Forgotten Cookies. Here's the recipe:

6 egg whites
2 1/4 cups sugar
chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Beat the egg whites until they're foamy. Very slowly add the sugar while continuing to beat the eggs until they're stiff. Fold in the chocolate chips - as few or as many as you want - and spoon the mixture in teaspoon-fulls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Place the pans in the oven and turn the oven off. Let the cookies sit without opening the door until the oven is completely cooled. overnight is best.

Next I decided to use our last six eggs, our hot Italian sausage, and some of the milk in a dish that my family made for Christmas last year: The Neely's sausage and leek casserole. This is basically a spicy breakfast casserole, and I love it because the main filler is not eggs (though there are eggs in the dish) but French baguette cut up into cubes. Delicious. Here's the recipe.

So all of this food was delicious, but of course we still had a lot of milk left over, the yogurt's only half gone, and we've totally neglected our jalapeno-apricot cheese spread. So imagine how it felt tonight picking up another share :) But I'm definitely looking forward to finding new ways each week to use this food. And luckily for us, they were extremely limited in their milk because of a problem at the farm where they get it so I forfeited it for a little goodie: garlic and chive chevre. I've already eaten a ton of it. I also picked up:
A dozen eggs
A quart of plain yogurt
A half-pound of Jumpin Jack Horseradish
A pound of ground beef
A pound of ground pork
Bacon
Green beans
Red peppers

Anyway, I just wanted to share what's been going on in my food universe. Definitely try out these recipes if you're able to - I have to super-endorse the sausage and leek casserole because that was my favorite. I'll keep you updated with what else I make ;)

Community Supported Agriculture

A few weeks ago, Corbin and I spent a wee bit of time with a college friend of Corbin's. Ben and his girlfriend, Paige, had become part of a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture program. What this means is that at the beginning of a growing season, they paid a couple hundred dollars to a farm and every week the farm provides them with a box of vegetables or other things that come from the farm. It seemed like a very intriguing idea.

When I got home I did some internet research to see if there were any CSA programs in Richmond or nearby to get a better feel for what it could be to be part of one. I found a berry farm that provides just berries for a few months out of the year; I found a farm or two that has a CSA which begins in April but a) we were nearly done with the season and b) it had sold out anyway. Bummer. I gave up on the idea, thinking that we would get in on it for next year's growing season.

That is, until Corbin and I watched Food, Inc. on Monday night.

We were both horrified and appalled at what we learned. Though, to be quite honest... I already knew a lot of it. I had just somehow been able to ignore it. Though Corbin and I have wanted to spend more of our money at farmer's markets and less at grocery stores, we haven't totally been able to do that. But this movie invigorated both of us.

I'll spare you the horrifying details of the food industry (watch the movie) and instead tell you about a farm that they highlighted in the film called Polyface Farms. It's a farm in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia near Staunton and they use the best, most humane practices they can to raise animals for meat. Here's an example: pigs, which in most slaughterhouses would spend their time crammed in some stall with a hundred other pigs, live their lives in the woods at Polyface. They are happy pigs. They get to roam around in the open air, play in the mud puddles, and lead better lives before they provide their meat. All of the animals at Polyface are herbivores. None of them are given hormones or anything else that might artificially make them bigger and meatier.

First of all, this farm sounds awesome. Second of all, the guy who runs the place seems like a really funny, awesome guy. So we were intrigued. Corbin, in his usual fashion, spent some time after the movie doing some online research, but I eventually went to bed.

Lo and behold, the next morning, I receive a Groupon in my inbox: $20 of produce from Farm to Family for $10. I'd seen Farm to Family around town: a mobile farmer's market. A bus that drives around and parks at various places throughout Richmond selling vegetables, meat, dairy, fruit, bread, etc. I hop on to the website. What's this? There's still time to join their Fall 2010 CSA? I must know more. Let's see, every week you get milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, bread.... and $15 of meat from Polyface Farm!?!?

This is too good to be true. It's like they knew I wanted to do this so they waited for me to watch Food Inc and then set up the groupon for the next day. I talked to Corbin and we decided to head over to their new stationary market. First, we fell in love with a hand-made rocking chair on the front porch, which we still might buy. Then, we bought a few things: zucchini, squash, a whole chicken, bacon and potatoes for the dinner we had planned (loaded baked potato soup in the slow cooker). Then we signed up for the CSA.

So here's the deal: the Farm to Family bus parks at Ellwood Thompson's, near our house, every Thursday from 5:30-7:30, and we can pick up our food there. Officially, every week we get:

$15 of meat from Polyface (or however much meat we want with $15 off)
One dozen eggs from Polyface
One half gallon of whole milk
One half pound of cheese, which changes weekly
One quart of farm fresh yogurt
Local bread or baked goods

Also, we get a half pound of butter or goat cheese every other week and... this I find really awesome... a Polyface Thanksgiving turkey delivered the week before Thanksgiving.

Corbin and I are both super excited about this. Not only are we supporting local farmers who do good things on their farms but we're also getting some good and good-for-us food. The other cool thing is that this is not stuff we buy from the grocery store on a regular basis, so in order to make sure we use it all I will be pushed to find some new recipes and use ingredients I might not normally use. Lastly, we don't spend much money on meat usually – but now it's built into what we've already paid, so we get to eat something other than chicken!! And it's going to be GOOD!

I highly encourage you to look for something like this in your area. And like I said, watch the movie. My decision to spare you from the horrifying details was not because I don't think we all need to hear them. We do. I just wanted to spend my time in this post highlighting the awesomeness.

p.s. The loaded baked potato soup was delicious. Our potatoes came from Farm to Family as well as the bacon. Corbin couldn't tell the difference between that bacon and regular bacon, but personally I thought it was amazing! Tonight we're making pesto with our home-grown basil and some fresh Bombolini tomato-basil pasta that we bought at a farmer's market on Saturday.

"White Blank Page" - Mumford & Sons

Pots. Food. Book. Happy.

I realize that I have seriously neglected my beans recently, so I'm going to do my best to cover several things in this post.

1. Tonight will be pottery class number three. This is an exciting thing, and I will tell you why. After the first class, I knew I had a lot of room for improvement. This was expected. But somehow, in the second class, after coming away with zip in the first class, I immediately made three different pots. Bowls. Cups. Whatever. Suddenly, I was exponentially better than I had been the week before with absolutely no extra practice. It felt great! So I became a member of the Visual Arts Center for $50, which means I can go in to the studio and practice whenever they're not having classes. After I made my three pots, I went in on my own time to trim them before they dried out too much. It was just the instructor and me in the studio, and he had Pandora on (sounded like a John Mayer station), and it was very relaxing. I like this a lot. And I feel good making things.

2. Speaking of making things, I've made a lot of things recently. First off: soft pretzels. I made them last weekend, and they were the first thing I made in my mixer! I've had Bobby Flay's soft pretzel recipe in my inbox (foodnetwork.com recipe of the day) for months, waiting for a time such as this. Not only did they turn out really well... I also made a queso poblano dipping sauce. This involved roasting poblano peppers myself - which I had never done before. That was fun. Then when I was chopping said roasted peppers, they squirted pepper juice in my eye. Not fun. But the queso sauce turned out to be delicious. Second new thing I've made: Pizza dough. This was the second thing I made in my mixer, and it was delicious. It was very thick, almost like focaccia, and yummy. Third new thing: Bolognese sauce. I'm reading a book right now that is not a cookbook but has a few recipes in it, and one of them is a delicious-looking bolognese. So I made it. It was delicious - and I shared it - but we left it sitting out all night and I had to throw it away. It looked like vomit/poop/dog food the following day. Fourth new thing: pot roast. A few months ago I visited a farm that sells grass-fed beef and bought two steaks and a roast. Haven't cooked the steaks yet, but I used the roast yesterday to make pot roast in my slow cooker, and it was quite tasty. I did not leave that out all night, so we still have leftovers.

3. I am "currently reading" five different books. I am actually, for real, every day, reading one of them: The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn. Remember above how I said I was reading a book that wasn't a cookbook but has recipes in it? That's this book. My mom saw it in the book store and bout it for me. It is one woman's story of her journey through the basic, intermediate, and superior cuisine programs at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. I love it. And it feels good to read a book that I love. It feels good to want to read every day. And P.S. the title refers to onions.

4. I am sincerely humbled by the amount of outreach that stemmed from my previous post, "To Stop Hiding." It feels great to know how many people care about me. But you know what else I realized? I didn't need all the people who came out of the woodwork to support me (though, of course, I am sincerely appreciative). I realized that I am totally comfortable with the support system I have in place already. And that feels good. So things have been really good recently - mostly due to said support system and each point listed previously in this post. So thanks. ;)

To Stop Hiding

I started this post yesterday intending to tell you a few highlights about Corbin's and my beach trip. It probably would have turned into a life update, which can tend to happen from time to time with my posts. I don't want that. You don't care that I ate ice cream every day at the beach.  You don't care that we had a delicious dinner with Corbin's parents for his birthday the night before we left for the beach. You don't care about how much I love the boardwalk. And the reason why you don't care is because it's not important. Yes, time off is important. Yes, fun is important. Yes, I understand that you care about me and are interested in how my life is going. But there are much, much more important things than some of the things I write about on this blog.

This is not to say that I won't still provide some updates about things that I'm excited about. When I figure out what will be the first thing I make in my new mixer, you'll know. When I start my pottery class (September 13th!), you'll know. When I eat at a new restaurant, you'll know. But these things do not a good blog make. Nor do they a good person make.

As my friends one by one start to write blogs, I realize what incredible writers my friends are. Andrew spits out heart-wrenching blog after heart-wrenching blog; Brett Baker spins her words into touching anecdotes about life and her marriage; Vince cracks me up with his Italian restaurant antics; Shawn writes his (sporadic) entries with biting humor. I am not any of these types of writers. I do not use this blog as a creative outlet for my writing. Instead, I use this blog as an outlet for my life.

It's easy for me to get caught up in the daily things that happen and when I do my blog posts turn into a reading from Twilight ("This happened... then this happened... then I did this... then he said this... then this happened..."). But there are much more important things going on in my life right now, and I need to focus enough to share them. Remember that blog I wrote a few weeks ago about being afraid? That was big. And bigger things than that are happening. And if I share them here, put them on the interwebs for anyone to see, I can no longer ignore them. I can also begin to deal with one of my biggest problems, which is not being able to share myself with others.

So, in the interest of sharing myself with you: I am depressed. And just like the last time, it snuck up on me. The symptoms of my depression as of now manifest themselves in entire days of eating anything in sight and watching anything I can find on television. I spend more time on the couch in my apartment than I do at work (I work about 30 hours a week). If any of you have known me for a long time, you've known that my weight has gone up and down and up and down. Over the past ten years I've bounced around between 130 and 175. My body, as of the last time I measured it, is about 1/3 fat. This is not, however, just a matter of going on a diet... there's a much deeper reason that I behave the way that I do, and I am in the middle of trying to figure that out. I'm grappling with huge self esteem issues that I didn't even realize existed, and those are completely separate even from my weight issues. They're issues that I didn't even realize stemmed from low self esteem. I've felt for years that I have great self esteem. It is not true... I'm just good at hiding it from myself.

Last time I was depressed, I took medicine. It worked great, and there are times that I'd love to be able to pop a pill and make everything better. The problem is that it won't make everything better. I need to find the sources of the things that I'm dealing with and accept them. That's something I'm learning... that the bad parts of yourself cannot be pushed away or they will grab a greater hold on you. You must learn to accept them, understand them, forgive yourself. Don't suppress them.

I'm currently reading How to Raise Your Self Esteem by Nathaniel Branden, which is helping me figure out the roots of the problems I'm experience. I also just started today a book that my sister bought me called Women Food and God. I have a lot of faith that this woman, Geneen Roth, is going to present to me a path to understanding myself that will take me very far.

So that's me, right now. It's a lot of information to just put out there, but I can no longer convince myself that everything is fine. And if you're wondering, Corbin is proving to be more supportive and encouraging in this process than I ever imagined possible. He never stops believing that I am strong enough to get through this, even on the days when I break down, convinced that this isn't possible for me. And for those of you who feel weird reading all of this, that's okay. For those of you who want to say something but don't know how to approach it, that's okay. Don't worry yourself. I know you care about me.

And if you're still wondering how the beach trip was... it was fantastic. Relaxing. Sunny and 78 degrees every day. We ate too much ice cream. We saw a fisherman catch a shark. We shared a 45-ounce pina colada. We played with Ivy. We listened to a lot of music. When we got home, my mixer was waiting for me:

Thanks.

Beansies

1. I just polished off the leftover powdered sugar from a batch of puppy chow with my finger.

2. I know of at least four people having bachelor/bachelorette parties this weekend.

3. When did bachelor/bachelorette parties become weekends?

4. This morning I made a batch of absolutely delicious (if I do say so myself) rosemary bagels topped with sea salt:

They look funny but seriously folks, they were so good. Right out of the oven.

5. One of my regulars at the coffee shop, Greg, brought me a bag of skittles today. No particular reason. 

6. I finally won $50 Target Gift Card #6 - which brings me to $300, enough to buy myself a brand new KitchenAid stand mixer in... buh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh.... Yellow!

That was a drum roll.

Summer Anthems

As our beach trip approaches, I am become very aware of the music that has defined our past beach trips. Last year we listened to a lot of the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. I remember this because one night on the boardwalk, a shop was blasting "No Cars Go," and like the awkward people we are, Corbin and I stood in the store listening to it because I loved it so much. At first we were able to play it off like we were looking around, but come on, it's a long song and those shops are only so big. So we just stood there kind of bouncing, trying to make it clear that we were listening to the song. In retrospect, we probably could have sat on a bench outside. The store front was completely open.

Anyway, it's interesting that the Arcade Fire was our defining music last summer because they just came out with a new album, The Suburbs, and Corbin saw them in concert a few days ago. Before the concert, we were both pretty iffy about the album... since the concert he's listened to it nonstop, and it's totally growing on me. I realize this is how I learned to love Funeral and Neon Bible as well, so I have faith in the end result here. I can tell already that the Arcade Fire will once again be our defining music, and I'm excited about that, but it inspired me to put together a playlist of the songs that I've loved this summer. I'd like to share it with you. Note: I am opening myself up for judgment beyond reason by putting some of these songs on here (cough... Adam Lambert...) but what's the point in doing this if I'm not going to be honest? Judge away. I also apologize that some of these songs have been on here previously.

This is a very important decision!

Which one?

A New Tradition

Corbin's family owns a house on Assateague Island in MD, near Ocean City. They love that house so much that everybody in the family has to book time there, and an email gets sent out with the schedule every time it is adjusted. Lucky for me, Corbin books about a week there every year.

This summer will be my fifth time at the beach: three summers, one spring break, one Thanksgiving. It reminds me of my own family's beach house, which my grandparents sold almost ten years ago. It was a 50's-style beach-front house on Hilton Head Island, and my dad's family used to spend every summer there. I grew up spending time there every summer, and I remember the first time I walked into Corbin's family's beach house, it smelled the same.

I've always liked going to Ocean City, but this year I'm actually excited in anticipation of it. Every day I think about it and I look forward to it more and more. Perhaps it's because I'll get a five-day vacation from work; perhaps it's because I've been there enough that it's familiar and comfortable to me.

Here are the things I love about the beach:

1. The local farm stand nearby, where we get amazing white corn and other veggies that we cook all week.

2. The local food joints we hit every visit: Smoker's BBQ, Dumser's ice cream, Meroni's, Thrashers...

3. Fractured Prune. This is the donut shop to end all donut shops. Hot cake donuts prepared to your liking. My favorite: the OC Sand, with honey glaze and cinnamon sugar. This has been a Corbannah favorite since our first tandem visit to the beach, and we were thrilled when we found out that there were two in Northern Virginia... then highly disappointed when they both closed. I was also secretly okay with it, though, because I like it being just a beach thing.

4. The boardwalk. This is one of the trashiest places I've ever been but it is so fun. It is lined with souvenir shops, crappy food, and smokers.
    **When I say crappy, I mean amazing. Fried candy bars. Kettle corn. French fries. Fudge. Skewers of
        chocolate-covered strawberries.

5. The beach next to the boardwalk. Last summer we visited the boardwalk at night and walked out to the water, and it was a cool experience being by the peaceful waves yet hearing the voices and music coming from the boardwalk.

6. No alarms. Seriously, when was the last time you went five days without setting an alarm?

7. A new one: Frontier Town. This is the hokey-looking, Country/Western-themed water and mini-golf park near the house. We pass it nearly every time we try to go anywhere, and I've been eyeing it for years, so last year I finally convinced Corbin that we should go. The verdict? Best day of our vacation by far. Spent the morning there, left for a lunch of trashy food on the boardwalk, came back for the afternoon, and ended the day in the low sun, asleep on a tube floating around the lazy river. Glorious.

8. Playing house with Corbin. I know we do this every day because we live together, but it's fun to do it somewhere else. Planning our days, grocery shopping, cooking dinners... I love it.


I'm not sure this list is complete, but just writing it made me even more excited about going. What's your favorite vacation spot, and what do you love about it?

Update #32: My Life In Movies/Bread/Bowling

First off: apologies for it having been over a week since I've blogged.

Last weekend Corbin and I saw Inception for.... yes... the third time. Shawn has us beat, though, with a grand total of seeing Inception four times in the theater. Anyway, I highly recommend seeing Inception three times, and here's why: the first time, you are totally along for the ride and though you may not understand every word that comes out of their mouths you feel as though you get the story; the second time, you're paying more attention to the details and you enjoy the viewing but you come out of it with questions; the third time, you've discussed your questions and theories with your friends and you seek (and find) the answers to your questions.

It's kind of crazy how much closure I had after the third viewing. The next night, on our drive home from Northern Virginia, we put James and Shawn on speakerphone and had long talks with each of them about our feelings. Then I didn't think about the movie for days. This movie that had been on my mind for a week since the first time I saw it - the questions that Corbin and I had been asking ourselves and each other over and over again every day - they were gone. And when I ran into my cousin on the street on Friday, and he asked if I'd seen Inception, it was like he'd dug up a memory. I'd almost forgotten about it.

Another great thing about our third viewing: we saw it in an IMAX theater. And not those fake IMAX theaters that regular theaters are boasting; I'm talking the science museum, huge, blow-you-away theater. This movie, unlike parts of The Dark Knight, was not filmed in IMAX, but the sheer size of it and the amazing sound made for a fantastic experience.

Moving on. Yesterday I did something I've only done once before and not in a very long time: I attempted to bake a loaf of bread from scratch. Wegman's grocery store has this amazing Rosemary Olive Oil bread that they make with sea salt on top, and I decided that for my (basically) first attempt at baking bread, I would attempt to make my favorite kind of bread. I scoured the interwebs for recipes and picked one out that seemed to make the most sense to me. Let me tell you something: watching bread rise is amazing. I don't mean actually sitting there watching it do its thing, but setting it in the corner to let it rise and checking it in 45 minutes is absolutely incredible. It gets so big! So fast! And then when you knead it and let it rise again, it does it again! It was amazing. But I think that the second time I let it rise, it collapsed a little bit. It expanded outward instead of up... sort of blobbed on the pan. Then when it was done, it was kind of dense. In addition, the recipe called for part whole wheat flour, which I didn't really think about, and the bread ended up being rosemary wheat bread. This is not what I was looking for. To give myself a little credit, it was pretty good - not a bad first attempt at all. But if I really want to perfect my rosemary bread, it's going to take a lot of tries.

If this rosemary wheat bread sounds good to you, here's the recipe.

For some reason, when I woke up yesterday morning, I wanted to have a fun day. This doesn't happen often. That's not to say that I don't want to have fun days, but usually if I want something from my day, it's productivity. Other days I might want to do "interesting" things. But yesterday, I really thought about what I would enjoy doing. That is why I baked the rosemary bread. I decided yesterday that I wanted to bake. I had the day free, and I wanted to make something new. I also decided yesterday that I wanted to bowl. So that's what I did. Last night Corbin, Will, Anne and I made our way to Shrader Lanes and bowled four games with two pitchers of Yuengling and all-you-can-eat pizza. Here's the thing I love about bowling: it's still fun even if you're bad. And believe me, I'm bad. I momentarily thought I might have a successful night when I bowled a strike on my very first turn of the night, but it went downhill from there. Luckily Anne, who wasn't bowling, was keeping track of "style points." I rocked those. It's been a very long time since I've been bowling... perhaps sophomore year of college?... so I definitely had a great time last night.

Here are a few little beans to end my post:

1. I'm on a mission to win a MacBook Pro for my sister on bidfire.com. We have agreed: I will not stop until I win one.

2. Corbin is leaving his position at Aromas (the coffee shop where we work). This is sad, because I love love love working with Corbin. This is interesting because now I have to hire somebody new and training somebody is stressful. This is awesome because losing the little bit of extra money he makes here will motivate him to find a new job by Thanksgiving (he still works at ABC). This is SUPER awesome because now that Corbin and I don't make up 2/3 of the employees who work here at Aromas, we can go on vacation at the end of August. YES!

3. If you're in Richmond, can you please look outside? Glorious. Another cloudy day. I'm not being sarcastic! After so much sun and heat, I love these cloudy - sometimes rainy - days. Yesterday afternoon it was 78 degrees outside. I'm going to pretend it won't be 101 on Thursday.

4. I resisted it, but I think I actually like the new USA show "Covert Affairs." That's tough for me to say because I am a die-hard fan of Alias. In fact, I'm in the middle of watching the series for the, oh, fifteenth time or so. Covert Affairs is basically the same thing but with Piper Perabo instead of Jennifer Garner. When I first saw the commercials I was resentful that this type of show would be on because they canceled Alias several years ago; I also thought it was dumb to make the same show again when the first was so fantastic. But I gave it a try, since I like White Collar so much, and I have to say I actually like it.

5. Between the time that I began writing this blog and now I have decided that this afternoon I'm going to give another go at the rosemary bread. Practice makes perfect, right?

Little Beans

A few random little beans to share with you.

1. It's Friday!

2. I had $13 in my tip jar this morning by 9am. I'd only been open for two hours. That's crazy!

3. Ivy is at summer camp. Sort of. She's with my mom at the farm until Monday, and she's been there since Wednesday morning. I miss her a lot! But I do NOT miss walking her in this heat. How nice it is to wake up in the morning and not have to walk her first thing - or first thing when I get home from work. But seriously, I miss her! I hear she's having a good time running all over the place, swimming in the pool, farting up a storm. Seriously. From an email my mom sent me:

"By the way, your precious darling just cut the loudest fart I've ever heard out of a dog! She looked behind her to see what the noise was!"

4. I've now seen Inception twice. It was an interesting experience. I still loved the movie, but Corbin came out with a lot more questions than he did the first time. Trying to answer them troubled me, even though it all still made sense for me. I think we've gotten most of them worked out, but just to be sure, we're going to see it again on Saturday night in an IMAX theater. Nothing like amazing sound and a giant picture to answer your questions.

5. BidFire.com is my new best friend. It's an auction website where they auction off crazy things like iPads and $500 Visa gift cards and KitchenAid mixers and other cool things for barely any money. Sounds like there's a catch, right? Well, there can be if you're not smart about it. In order to bid on anything you have to purchase bids at $1 per bid - which can seriously add up if you're not smart about your bidding. Sure, you may have gotten that $50 Target gift card for $1.56 (which I did!) but you also paid $20 for each of the bids you spent trying to get it (which I did not). Each bid sends the price up in either $.01 increments or $.05 increments, but here's the thing: there's no swooping in at the last second to snag the item because every bid in the last 30 seconds resets the clock to :30. So you won't win until other people give up or run out of bids or don't hit the button when they mean to.

It can be a long process, depending on the item - the auction for a 16GB iPad yesterday went for 3 hours after closing time and sold for $23.93. Set at $.01 increments, that was a LONG auction, and who knows how many bids the winner spent trying to get it, but added together, it was probably still far less than $500, which is the retail price of the iPad.

So how do they make money, you ask? How can they possibly sell items for so little? It is ridiculously simple and one of the smartest ideas I've ever heard of. I've even already told you: they charge you $1 per bid. Do you realize that 2,393 bids were placed to get that iPad up to $23.93? BidFire made nearly five times the retail price of the iPad. They made $2,393 on a $500 iPad! Ridiculous! They also auction off their own bids. An auction for 250 bids, which would normally cost a user $250, got up to about $54 before it ended, in bidding increments of $.05. Awesome deal for the buyer, and BidFire made over $1000 on something that doesn't even cost them money - that's four times how much they would make if somebody just bought 250 bids.

Here's the other thing: you're not a complete loser if you don't win the auction. Based on your bidding pattern (how often & when you bid on an item) they will award you Fireballs at the end of a lost auction. This is basically virtual currency that you can use to purchase almost any of the items that they auction in their Fireball Store. 

Anyway, I'm kind of obsessed with this website now. I've won two $50 Target gift cards and paid a total (including bids & shipping) of $25.60. So basically I'm getting about $75 free money at Target. Yesterday they were auctioning off a KitchenAid mixer that I desperately wanted, and the only thing that kept me from getting it for $.35 was the internet at the hospital where I work. It didn't get my bed in, so instead of resetting the clock, the auction ended. Bah. But I took a look at Target's website and found the mixer in a thousand different amazing colors, which was silver on BidFire (boring). My new plan is to win a bunch of gift cards - Target, Visa, whatever - and buy it in the color I want. OR! Win something awesome that I don't need and sell it. Do you know how much money I could make if I'd won the MacBook Pro they auctioned off last night? I was so close.

If you think you might want to try it out... let me know first, I'll have them send you an email, and then I'll get 5 free bids for referring you. That would be super awesome! 

I'm off to finish up my shift and head home - I've gotta say, leaving at noon on a Friday is not a bad deal.

What!?

First of all, you have to go see inception. You have to.

a) I have a big crush on Joseph Gordon Levitt now. Big. I'm pretty sure those were the first words out of my mouth after the movie.
c) It is so much better than you even think it will be.
d) I don't like building up a movie before someone's seen it, because usually it's a let down. I have confidence that this time it won't be.

I am afraid.

I am afraid.

Recently my sisters and I figured out what our roles in the family have always been while growing up. Ginna was the flake; Lizzie was the princess; Catey was the bitch; I was the know-it-all. I don't know how many people read this blog, but I guarantee you 70% are currently nodding their heads in agreement, and the other 30% probably just followed this link from Facebook and don't know me well enough to agree or disagree.

I am the know-it-all. I'm always right. I will correct you. If I don't outright correct you, I'll find a round-about way to do it. I always know the best way to do things. I'm judgmental. I get irritated with people I don't know on a daily basis because I think they're dumb. I'm a verbally aggressive driver. I'm right, and you're wrong. I'll make sure you know it. I do this because I have fear. Pride. I project. The way that I see the world is the way that I see myself. Everything for which I judge other people is something I see in myself.

Last night Corbin and I had a pretty confrontational argument about it. It was not a relationship-on-the-rocks argument by any means, but it was an I-think-you're-reacting-this-way-because-internally-you're-doing-this sort of argument, and I was throwing up any punch I could, grasping for anything I could hold onto that would make me feel like I wasn't completely and totally wrong in this situation. At first I felt justified in my original reaction and gave a poorly-formed apology. I was sorry, but not for the reasons I should have been. Obviously Corbin knew this and tried to tell me what I was doing. I moved on to the argument that if he wanted to point out what I was doing wrong, he was doing it the wrong way. I was desperate for anything that would justify my feeling of being so right.

I was wrong. And even when my head figured that out, I could not convince my heart. There was -- and is -- a physical knot in my chest that is loving the anger and resentment. It is kicking against the relief that would come if the knot could only loosen. I need humility but my fear makes me think that being wrong, being broken, is humiliating.

There's a long journey ahead.



I'm afraid of major change.
I'm afraid of getting a new job.
I'm afraid of not being liked.
I'm afraid of ordering Chinese food.
I'm afraid of being judged.
I'm afraid of being late.
I'm afraid of being wrong.
I'm afraid of making telephone calls.
I'm afraid of being reprimanded.
I'm afraid of making change in my life.
I'm afraid of running into people I used to know.
I'm afraid of not knowing myself.
I'm afraid of awkward silences.
I'm afraid of so many more things.

Lazy Pasta

When I was younger, I was a very picky eater. There were more things I didn't like than things that I liked. This pickiness - which made my mom's life ridiculously difficult - stretched on into high school, to the point where if my family wanted to go out for dinner, I would get moody if they chose to go somewhere new because I wouldn't know if I'd be able to find something on the menu.

One of the things that I wouldn't eat was pasta with any kind of red sauce, which my family loved to make loaded with sausage and vegetables. Usually my parents would have to make me something completely different for dinner, but pasta had an easier fix - leave some pasta out for me before tossing it with the sauce and I'll fix it up with some olive oil, salt, and dried basil. This was a dish that my mom's friend Carolyn had made for me when she babysat, and it stuck with me as a favorite for my whole life.

When I got to college, I didn't know how to cook much, so I'd usually stick with a few easy favorites, and this pasta was one of them. I can't even tell you how much pasta I ate sophomore year when I cooked dinner for myself, but gradually I learned too cook with more variety and flavor. Additionally, and this is even more important, my tastes have opened up monumentally in the past three years. This pasta has fallen pretty low on the list of dinner options as there are many more flavorful and adventurous possibilities, but I still love to pull it out on a night when Corbin's at work because it's simple and doesn't require thought. It was, in fact, the first food that was prepared in our new apartment!

This evening, I shared it for the first time with Corbin (I know, you'd think we'd have done this sooner, right?), and we agreed that this dish, lovingly named "Lazy Pasta," is perfect when you have absolutely no idea what to eat for dinner, or when it's really late and you've already eaten but you're hungry again, or when you're too busy to think about eating dinner but you're hungry. I think that's even part of what I love about it - saving it for random, lazy nights, not allowing it to enter into the realm of "actual dinner."

To make lazy pasta, pull out whatever unfinished box of pasta you have sitting in your pantry. I forbid you to go out and buy yourself a new box of pasta unless you don't have a single piece of pasta anywhere in your house. Personally, I prefer short pasta - penne, gemelli, ziti as opposed to spaghetti or capellini - and this evening we used the rest of a box of elbow macaroni that I bought to use in my spicy tomato soup (believe me, you want that recipe - keep your eye out, I'll write about it). Once your big pot of water is boiling - and this is a step you don't want to skip - heavily salt the water. It will blow your mind how this will bring out the natural flavor of the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, cooking it as long as the lower end of the time range. If it says to cook the pasta for 9-11 minutes, cook it for 9 to get that delicious al dente texture. Once it's done cooking and you've strained it and served it into bowls, drizzle olive oil over it and add some salt and whatever italian blend seasoning you have that you like. The dish originated with dried basil, but I like to add a little more flavor with a rosemary blend we have. It's as simple as that! Quick and lazy.

If you want to make your pasta a little less lazy, do what Corbin suggested we do this evening - shave a little parmesan on top (fresh only! I forbid you to use those green cans of powdered parmesan). Last week I splurged on a small piece of Parmigiano Reggiano, so we grated a bit on top of our pasta and wow, did it taste good!

What's your go-to dinner on a lazy night?

It's been a basil night.

At the beginning of June, our friends Mary and Hans bought a basil plant for us. It was a while before we finally got it from them, and when we did, it was huge. Huge, I tell you! I was afraid of killing it, as I usually do any living plant, but we stuck it in the window of the kitchen and kept watering it when needed.

Tonight, I decided to make use of the basil plant. It had nearly doubled in size so I cut off a sizable portion to make Basil Lemonade (duh). It's been too long. Interestingly enough, tonight is also the night Corbin and I decided to make our chicken quinoa stir fry, which is delicious and the recipe for which can be found on the back of the Trader Joe's quinoa box. The last thing you do for the dish is stir in fresh basil, so I hacked a little more off the plant and julienned it to add to our dish. Delicious, but it seems that I had some extra.

I've had a Sam's Club-size box of strawberries sitting in my fridge for about a week now, which I've been neglecting for grapes and junk food. I pulled them out and they looked a little squirrely, but I couldn't bear to throw them away, so I started cutting them up and thinking about what I could do with them. What would mask the mushy parts? What would mask the parts that were frozen from sitting in the back of the fridge? I decided to macerate them. For those of you who don't know, that means drawing the juices out of the fruit with sugar. I tossed them in a bowl with a  tablespoon of sugar, a few squeezes of lemon juice, and.... gasp! The leftover basil. This could either be the best idea ever or the worst idea ever.

It was the best. It's delicious. All you need to do is put a strawberry and a basil leaf in your hand to smell that it is a fantastic combination. Believe me, I know the combination may sound strange, but try it! Basil is my herb, fo' real.

In fact, add basil to the list.



p.s. Should you choose to macerate some berries tonight, let the berries sit in the sugar-lemon juice mixture for about thirty minutes at room temperature to give the sugar time to draw out the juice. Wonderful.

The Essence of Summer

You know that song that you heard a few days ago that you hadn't heard in a really long time that reminded you of that road trip when you listened to it over and over again? Do you remember when you tasted grape soda and were immediately flooded with memories of summers at your grandparents' beach house? What about the smell of spices that reminds you of steamy days when the odor of the spice factory behind your parents house filled the air with heavenly goodness?

Usually you don't realize that these things will bring back memories until they do. You overload on it, then you're deprived of it, and when you get it again, you think, "Ahhh, yes, I remember." Just as I'm writing this, Anthony Bourdain is eating clams that bring back memories of his childhood. 

This summer, I'm ahead of the game. I'm slowly developing a list of things that I believe will eventually remind me of this summer. I realize this requires distance at some point in the future, but I'm willing to bet that will happen because I'm a sucker for overdosing on something and not wanting it anymore. I'm hoping that since we're not even halfway through the summer, this list will grow, but I wanted to both document it and share it with you. Perhaps you can try making these things part of your summer list, too.

First off, basil lemonade. At first this didn't even make the list because I started early with this one: Easter weekend. I almost forgot about it! But I have a basil plant in my kitchen, a giant one, and every once in a while I lean over to smell the leaves and am filled with the taste of basil lemonade. It's fresh, it's refreshing, and it's a twist on a classic that I think you'll find better than the original. Here's the recipe:

1 cup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice
3 cups of water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup fresh sweet basil, lightly torn
1 vanilla bean, split
lemon wedges and extra basil for garnish

In a large saucepan, combine the water, sugar, vanilla bean, and basil. Heat on the stove until the water begins to simmer; remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture; combine with lemon juice and chill. Add lemon wedges and extra basil for garnish if desired.

Next on the list: these songs. 

Next up: coconut popsicles. I know that to some, this might not sound appetizing. Coconut doesn't even sound like it should be a popsicle flavor, but I guarantee you, it is. They're part of the Edy's Real Fruit popsicle line. They make lime and strawberry on a regular basis, and the other flavors vary based on the season. I've always loved tangerine and lemonade, which you usually see in the summer, but they've also come out with a sub-line of "antioxidant" popsicles which look tasty. "Creamy Coconut" is the flavor that I've always seen, but never tried. As a testament to the changing tastes of my tongue, I suddenly one day thought that creamy coconut popsicles sounded really refreshing and delicious. It was the smartest craving I've had in a while. 

Some of you may remember this from a previous post: "I'm kind of pissed at sunscreen. I used to think that sunscreen smelled like coconut; now I think that coconut smells like sunscreen. Coconut has been ruined for me." I assure you, this is not the case regarding the creamy coconut popsicles. It doesn't taste like fake coconut, it tastes like real coconut, and it's packed with coconut pieces. It's milky and soft and thirst-quenching. It's very difficult for me not to have two.

So this is my list so far. It's short, I understand; but it's growing. What I like about this particular list and being reminded of this summer is that I will also be reminded of moving into what feels like my first real apartment. It's coming together, and I feel like an adult. I even enjoy perusing antique malls for some retro finds. It feels good!

The creepiest thing in my life just happened.

There's an extremely talkative man who I see every once in a while in the hospital. He was here for a while for his mom, but she died a few months ago so it's been a while since I've seen him.

I saw him this morning. And this was a morning like no other. In my life.

First I saw him sitting at the tables next to the coffee stand. I avoided his gaze because I was hoping he wouldn't come talk to me. I was doing a good job until I heard, "Oh my god, Suzanne!?" He couldn't believe I was still working here (yeah, tell me about it). He reminded me that his mother had died, and proceeded to show me pictures of his family. At the funeral. Then came a picture of the casket. Then came a picture of his mom in the casket. Then came a picture of his mom in her hospital bed. Right after she died. I'm talking head back, eyes closed, mouth open. The way a person falls asleep on the sofa. But not asleep. dead.

WHAT!?!? Who is this person?

The first couple of times he came I gave him the benefit of the doubt - he's extremely friendly, and it just seemed that maybe he needed to talk. He didn't talk to me about anything deep, just a lot of friendly small talk. Then a girl who works with me told me that he'd asked her sister, who volunteers at the hospital, for her number. I thought that was a little strange, but whatever.

After the pictures, he began to seem very interested in how my life is going for me. Why I'm still working here, what area of town I live in (don't worry, he wasn't trying to get specific), how long I've lived there, what places I've been to recently. When he asked that last question, I assumed he meant restaurants or something like that, so I asked him if he'd heard of Black Sheep, which is where I went last night. He said, "I'm assuming... that's a band?" No. I told him about it, where it was, how it tasted. He asked about other restaurants I liked. Now believe me, at this point, I realize that my retelling sounds like he was a creepy guy from the start, but believe me, he wasn't. He just sounded like a really friendly person who wanted to learn. So then he starts telling me about all the places where he used to deliver pizza in the fan, and this is punctuated by pointless little stories about the time he went to visit his friend the mechanic and he wasn't there, or the time his cousin stayed with him and ate all of his cereal.

We're nearing the end of the conversation, which has felt like a really odd dream, and he says, "You know, we should go to Black Sheep some time!" And I say, "Yeah," but in a way thats like you're just saying that but we won't actually do it. Because you're creepy and old. Then he asks me to write down my number, tells me he'll call me Saturday. Is Saturday a good day for me? No, I'll be out of town with my parents. I write down the wrong number. He verifies it with me and leaves. And now, of course, I'm afraid that he'll be at the hospital some time when I'm here and ask me why my number didn't work. Why, why, WHY didn't I have the guts just to say "No, I don't think so." How hard would it have been? That was so dumb. I'm so dumb sometimes.

I realize that the creepiest part of the story happened at the beginning... but this was the creepiest thing that has ever happened to me in my life. Ever.

I really mean it this time

I'm serious. This is important.

Imagine you're in a club. Yes, you. Even if you're antisocial. Even if you don't like to dance. Even if you've never been to a club in your life, imagine you're in a club. It's hot, it's crowded, and you're probably sweaty since you've been dancing for a while. Your friends are there too, but you haven't seen them in a while because you've each been absorbed by the music and the lights and the crowd. You're in your own element, dancing like crazy because you know that nobody is paying attention to what you look like. Arms are flailing, head is down, lights are crazy, and this song comes on, so loud you're sure you won't be able to hear in the morning:

sex and cilantro and weddings and oatmeal

Is that how you spell that? Nuptials? Nuptuals? Google spell check tells me it's nuptials.

Before I begin anything I'd like to say that the oatmeal I'm eating right now is delicious. Hence the "oatmeal" in the title of this post. That's all.

Sister got married this weekend!

The night began with tears (duh) as my dad walked my sister down the aisle in a beeeeeaaaauuuuutiful outdoor ceremony at my parents' farm. The night ended with about 30 people in the pool in either their undies or their dress. Add about 1,284 bobby pins from the bridesmaids' hair, a twelve-pack of broken Beck's (Bruce), several broken votives at the bottom of the pool, two cut feet, and ridiculous joy at how the night was ending. Another successful Thomson family wedding which will be talked about nonstop until the next one. Jim Thomson, you're up next.

Speaking of up next: Sex and the City 2. In my last blog I said I would address it later, and now it's later, so I'm addressing it. I hope I've given those of you who want to see it enough time to see it. I probably won't spoil anything except your expectations. Here was my biggest problem with SATC2: You know that magic you feel the moment the first movie started? That feeling of giddiness because you LOVED the show and they canceled it but now it's back!? That isn't there in this movie. Not once. It all feels... forced. The ladies look like they're almost too old to be doing this anymore. The writing was pretty bad. That witty banter that they usually have is ill-timed. For pete's sake, they spend more of the movie in Abu Dabi than in New York. Sure, they went to Mexico in SATC1, but they spent about 30 minutes there. This movie even starts with that Jay-Z/Alicia Keys song about New York, and we barely see them there.

(If you haven't seen the movie, you might want to skip this paragraph.) Furthermore, this movie is so negative. I understand that every character needs a conflict, but come on. I can understand Carrie's reaction to Big wanting to take two days a week off from their marriage - that sucks. But she's plagued by it for the entire movie and there's nothing else good in her life. Charlotte's problems with her kids are understandable. I can definitely get the frustration and helplessness of taking care of a child who cries all the time. But the issue of the nanny who doesn't wear a bra? Really? That's only a "scared my husband's cheating" problem if the husband actually shows signs of being interested in the nanny. Come on, it's Harry. That would never be believable. For her to be obsessed with that the whole time they're in Abu Dabi is contrived. And please... let's talk about Samantha. She's using dozens of pills and creams to slow menopause and her conflict in the film is that.... they're confiscated at security? That's it? So she has to deal with the same thing everybody else deals with at her age. Big deal. Honestly, the most entertaining part of the movie is Miranda, who has quit her job and definitely shows a more carefree, excited attitude while they're abroad (which made me laugh out loud several times).

I'm not even going to touch the karaoke scene.

Here's my problem. I love Sex and the City. Like truly, sincerely love it. I've seen every season several times. I just watched season six (for probably the seventh time) while I was unpacking my apartment. I can't count how many times I've seen the first movie, since I turn it on without fail every time I see it playing on the movie channels. Going into this movie, I thought that it didn't matter how bad the movie was because it's still Sex and the City. It's not as though the movie has ruined the whole franchise, but I wish so badly that they'd left it at the amazingness that was the first movie: a perfect wrap up to the series.

Having said all this... I will probably watch the movie several more times. I don't know what will happen, if I'll feel better or worse about it, but I need to see every detail a few more times.

You know, it's taken me so long to write this that I feel as though it should be later than it is. It's 9:36am. It's too early. I still have two and a half more hours here at work. So let me tell you about....

Chimichurri sauce! I almost forgot that I wanted to write about this. Last night Corbin and I cooked our first meal in our new kitchen: flat iron steak with chimichurri sauce, grilled zucchini, and corn. It was delicious, but VERY smokey in a kitchen without a vent. Usually we make this meal on the grill, but seeing as we don't have an outside space to have a grill, we made it on a two-burner grill pan on the stove. We had fans running, windows open... we were afraid we'd set off the smoke alarm, until we realized we don't have one (what?). Anyway, it was great. But you NEED this recipe for chimichurri sauce because it is deliiiicious. Put it on everything. Even a cracker.

1/3 cup packed fresh cilantro
1/3 cup packed fresh parsley
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a small food processor. Process. Enjoy.

New apartment

Hello dear friends,

I am writing to you from my new apartment. I'm in my bedroom. Corbin is in the living room watching television. The door between us is shut. I'm excited about this because we actually have doors between rooms that we can open and shut. We actually have rooms instead of room.

This morning I woke up in my bedroom. I walked through the hallway to the kitchen. I opened our full-size fridge. I took a carton of strawberries over to the large Ikea kitchen workspace that Corbin and I painstakingly put together on Monday. I cut them up into two bowls and walked into the living room to enjoy a strawberry breakfast with Corbin. Not only am I excited by this simple thing, but I'm excited that something so simple can excite me.

I'm sitting in bed writing to you and out of the corner of my eye I see my bridesmaid's dress hanging on a hook. That's right my friends, the blessed event is this weekend. Three days from now my sister will be married. Now, I've had friends in the past whose siblings have gotten married. Believe me, I know that my sister's wedding is not that exciting for you-- but I hope you'll understand how important it is for me and for my family. The first Thomson girl is going to be married off! Anyway, I'm headed up to the farm tomorrow afternoon, and Corbin will join me on Friday. It's going to be a very big weekend. And you know what else I'm excited about? That we get to come home to our new apartment.

Sorry - that's enough about the apartment. Some thoughts:

1. In retrospect, I still liked the ending of Lost.
2. I saw Sex and the City 2 on Friday night. It was bad.
3. I will elaborate on SATC2 more at another time.
4. This is how I spend my free time at work:

 

Can you guess whose hair I'm wearing in each photo? Which is your favorite?

Ch-ch-changes.

Today seems to be the day that I can blog. It also happens to be the day that I have... maybe a few things to talk about.

First of all, we got our apartment on Sunday. To be quite frank, it looked pretty crappy. Apparently Previous Tenant did not clean at all, and in fact left about 50 of her record albums, a few q-tips, and two odd figurines behind. Luckily we got some awesome landlords who know very well how gross it is and how clean it needs to be when we move in there. They've been working all week so far to clean it, which is awesome of them to do. Luckily our plan wasn't to fully move in and sleep there until Memorial Day, but we also wanted to do a lot more moving this week than we'll be able to given that they're painting the place on Friday. Eh, whatever.

If you didn't hear, it turns out that I was stupidly notifying people of my new address (people = magazines and the DMV) but gave them the wrong address. I should be receiving a new license and registration with the wrong address on them at 2425 Grove, as opposed to 2225 Grove. I also had a package sent there. Sent back, needless to say. I'm debating whether or not to stop by there and own up to my mistake in case they've got any mail that I need (it would probably be smart to snag that license from them).

I did, however, realize my mistake and correct it. Therefore I have indeed received my new license! It's kinda drab. Black and white photo. But I was one of the lucky ones to get my old photo on it instead of having to take a no-smile photo. See?

In other news, Lost is over. (Skip this paragraph if you haven't watched it but think you will) I'm not sure that it's quite hit me yet, though yesterday was rough because usually I'm pretty excited about Tuesdays. Not so much. I think I like the way it ended. There are a lot of people who didn't, and who feel that the "everybody's dead" thing was a cop out, but it only would have been a cop out if they'd used that to explain away everything that we still didn't understand. A lot of people still think that's what they did, but they misunderstand. I'd like to note that what I'm about to say is a combination of my interpretation and the explanation that was provided at the end of the show. Basically, the alternate reality that we've seen this season, their lives in LA, was understood to be a "flash-sideways." What we learn from Christian is that they were actually flash-way-forwards. To hear the words "we all died" come out of Jack's mouth almost shut down our hearing but the truth is that yes, they all died, in their own times. This reality that we've seen was merely a waiting area until they could all move on together. What viewers wanted to see was what happened after the island, for example what happened to Kate, Sawyer, and the other people who were on the plane at the end of the show. Sure, maybe it would have been a happy ending to see Kate live a long life, maybe get married and have some real kids of her own, but never could it have been as satisfying as to see them all back together again in a way that they never could have been because of all the things that came between them. It was happier to finally see them all peaceful and without worry because they just wanted to be with these people with whom they'd formed these incredible, life-changing bonds. Sure, the island was weird and there were strange things that happened. I know there are a lot of people who feel unsatisfied with the explanations about the island. But what those people don't understand is that even though this show takes place on this strange island, it's about the characters, not the island. The writers fooled us into thinking it was about the island, but the truth is that people come and go. They conquer, they destroy, they change the makeup of the island, but the island will still be there and still do what it does even when these people are gone. 

That's enough of that. Sorry. Um, on another note, Sex and the City 2 comes out this weekend. When I first heard that they were making a sequel, I didn't care for it. I loved the first one so much, and I was seriously concerned that they would ruin it all by doing this. And honestly, they still might. But who am I kidding? I love Sex and the City. Love it. I may not be happy with what this movie does for the overall franchise, but I am positive I will love this movie. 'Nuff said.

Umm.... that's all for now.

Bits and bites.

1. I just changed my address with DMV - should be receiving a new license in the next week or so :)

2. We get our new apartment on Sunday!!

3. I am tired.

4. Work is stupid.

5. Three weeks from now my sister will be married!

6. Soon I will be putting up pictures from Corbin's and my trip to Austin and I'll tellya a little bit about it (we can ignore the fact that it happened two months ago).

7. I don't have a lot to say.

The US postal service can go to hell

I suppose they haven't done anything THAT deserving of hell, but they certainly are making me angry. A few weeks ago, so that I wouldn't forget, I put in a forwarding order so that my mail would go to my new address starting June 1. Apparently that threw off their whole system. Sometimes I get mail when I'm supposed to. Sometimes I get it, but a week or two (or more) late. Sometimes it gets sent back to the sender. Sometimes it evaporates into thin air. Take, for example, the ten Mexican vanilla beans I ordered on April 26. Gone. Haven't come to me, haven't gone to my new address, haven't been sent back. Or the most recent Real Simple magazine: sent to my new address (thank goodness my sister lives there and can snag it for me). Or take my paycheck. Sent back to my employer. He sent it again, but it hasn't arrived... however I did receive mail from him on Saturday. What?

Apparently "Beginning June 1" doesn't mean anything. I realize I may have jumped the gun by putting in the forwarding order, but come on, I had to do SOMETHING. We had just decided to move into a new apartment but we still had more than a month before the move, and it was too early to pack. I needed some action! You'd think that the forwarding order might sit dormant in the system until June 1, at which point it would pop up and yell "Hey! Don't send me to 2000 Monument! Send me to 2425 Grove!" I was wrong.

Rant over.

new music is as refreshing as basil lemonade

About a week ago, maybe two, I figured out how stale my music library is, and it just about drove me crazy. I had resorted to the radio. THE RADIO.

Something had to be done. Occasionally I watch Grey's Anatomy on some women's network on cable in the evenings and, as I'm sure most know, Grey's Anatomy is a sort of pioneer for unknown artists. A particular song was playing that I super enjoyed, so I decided to visit a website that logged each and every song used in Grey's. I Groovesharked every song -- and I mean every song -- and then bought the ones I liked off of iTunes. Spent about $23. Got some new music.

Then I took a hint from Corbin and started listening to NPR's "All Songs Considered" podcast. I had my doubts at first but I've found some music there that I like too. So I laid the smackdown on my music library. Here's what I'm loving most, in no particular order other than Grey's music first and NPR music second:

The Quintessential Summer Dinner

There are some foods that are best during certain seasons. I'm not talking veggies here; obviously eating seasonal veggies is optimal. But there are some other foods that really just don't feel right in the wrong season. Barbecue is a good example of this: isn't it really a summer food? Does it feel right to you to eat barbecue in the winter? Another example is anything grilled. This isn't such a clear-cut example, as grilled things taste good year round, but they're really at their strongest during the summer. That's when eating something that's grilled becomes grilling something. Stews are delicious too, but don't mix that well with summer weather, am I right?

For this reason, Corbin and I have taken a liking to the Martha Stewart Everyday Food cookbook (here). Instead of being split up into chapters like Salads, Poultry, Dessert, etc., it's split into the chapters of Summer, Spring, Winter, Fall. This is seriously awesome and a stroke of pure genius. Now I don't have to scour every chapter in the book for something to eat! I can flip right to the season and it's guaranteed to be a good recipe. On Monday night, I did just that.

The dinner about which I'm going to tell you was one of the best dinners I've had in recent memory. I can cook well, but it's not often that I get everything spot-on. Maybe the veggie isn't cooked well, or the meat doesn't have enough flavor. Maybe it's just not quite what we were in the mood for that night (a la turkey sausage manicotti Sunday night) or we would have rather eaten out. But Monday.... ooooh, Monday. It started out a little dodgy because the weather was sitting on the edge of a storm and the plan was to grill every part of the meal. We got lucky, though, so I put together our dinner: garlic-marinated chicken cutlets with grilled potatoes and asparagus. And the meal is even better than it sounds.

I'm serious, if you have access to a grill, you have GOT to try this. I feel like I make meals like this all the time – meat, veggie, potatoes – but there is so much flavor in this dish. It's partly due to the chicken marinade (which is delicious) and partly due to the garlic vinaigrette in which you toss the asparagus after grilling it. Oddly enough the potatoes, though only tossed with butter, salt and pepper after grilling, are also melt-in-your-mouth fantastic.

There's really nothing tricky about this meal, either. It's very straight-forward and simple to make. I will tell a couple of things that might help, though. First of all, the recipe calls for cutlets. You may be able to find cutlets in your grocery store, but if not, buy a few boneless breasts (I bought a three-pack) and cut them horizontally through the middle to make them half as thick. It's important that they're all the same thickness so that they all cook at the same speed, so if after cutting them they are different thicknesses, put the breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them with something heavy like a rolling pin until they're even thicknesses. I used the back of my ice cream scoop because I don't have a rolling pin.

Second of all, the recipe isn't very clear about the best way to time this, probably because it seems to be aimed for grills that aren't very big (so you'd have to cook everything separately). If you have a grill that's big enough to house all of the food at once, as my parents do, then do what I did. The potatoes go on the grill for about 25 minutes. I let them sit for 12 or 13, then I flipped them. After I flipped them, I used those last 12 minutes to cook the rest of the food. The asparagus takes about 8 minutes, and the chicken takes 4-6 minutes, so I just timed it so that they were all done at the same time. It may seem like a lot of multi-tasking, but it's not too difficult.

Anyway, enough of my blabbering. Here is the recipe, which I've also posted below, though this online version seems to be double the recipe in my book to leave you leftovers for other recipes. You can either halve everything or follow the links to the leftover recipes!

3 pounds baby red new potatoes, halved or quartered if large
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for grates
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup white-wine vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped, plus sprigs for garnish, if desired
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 pounds chicken cutlets (about 12)
1 tablespoon butter
Grilled asparagus, cut on the diagonal into 1 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups)
2 tablespoons garlic vinaigrette, recipe below
1. 
   
   
   Heat grill to medium. Fold two 4-foot-long sheets of aluminum foil in half to make two separate double-layer sheets. Place half the potatoes on each double layer. Form two packets, folding foil over potatoes and crimping edges to seal. Place on grill and cook, turning over once, until potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat. Leave potatoes from one packet wrapped in foil to keep warm. Open second packet to let potatoes cool; reserve for Potato Salad. Raise grill to high; lightly oil grates.
2. 
   
   
   Meanwhile, make marinade: In a large baking dish, whisk together oil, garlic, vinegar, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add chicken; turn several times to coat. Let marinate at room temperature 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
3. 
   
   
   Lift chicken from marinade and grill until browned and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from grill. Cover half of chicken with foil to keep warm. Reserve other half for Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad.
4. 
   
   
   Remove warm potatoes from foil; transfer to a medium bowl, toss with butter, and season with salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, toss asparagus with vinaigrette. Serve the grilled chicken with potatoes and asparagus. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

Vinaigrette:

¼ cup white-wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons minced garlic
¾ cup olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

In a small bowl or jar, combine white-wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and garlic; season generously with coarse salt and ground pepper. Whisk or shake to combine. Add olive oil; whisk or shake again. Store in an airtight container or jar, and refrigerate, up to 2 weeks. Shake before using.