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.

I want to tear my eyes out.

Here's the thing about OnDemand: it's awesome. Right? It's awesome. Unless you have satellite, in which  case OnDemand sucks (they always forget to tell you that in the ads - it's all about the HD, but there are about seven crappy movies on demand and that's it).

I don't have satellite, I have Verizon, which has really awesome OnDemand. TONS of stuff: new movies, old movies, free movies, television shows, exercise shows, cooking shows, tons of stuff. I usually catch Grey's Anatomy on there because I have too much else recording on the DVR on Thursday nights. And usually there's a great benefit to watching a television show on demand, and it's that you have much fewer commercials, if any. 

When I watch Grey's Anatomy on demand, they still insert commercials in every designated commercial spot on the show. And for some reason, they also don't allow you to rewind, fast forward, or pause that particular show on demand. Whatever, I can deal with some commercials. But here is what makes me want to tear my eyes out: they play the same commercials in every spot. Two commercials. Every time. The exact same ones. Even watching something live on TV is not that bad. This episode features a commercial for Disney's Ocean (or whatever... I started to tune it out) and a commercial for the Un-Anniversary edition of Alice in Wonderland. Seeing the same two commercials 12 times in a 45-minute episode makes me crazy.

That's all.

The Perfect Green Bean

I have discovered the perfect way to cook green beans. I can't believe I hadn't discovered it before-- and quite honestly, I know I am not the first person to figure it out. But it is like a giant light has begun to shine in my life! Because I can cook green beans perfectly every time!


I used to cook green beans several different ways. For a while, I just tossed them fresh in a pan with some garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Sometimes a little lemon zest and red pepper flakes (delicious). This method takes a long time, and they still come out pretty crunchy. Seriously, I don't have time for that. Don't get me wrong, I like crunchy green beans, but they never really tasted like they were cooked, and they weren't great at absorbing the other flavors. They were alright, but never awesome.

Then for Christmas I got a set of pots & pans that included a steamer, so I began steaming my green beans. I really liked this method because they came out with a great texture, nice and firm-- not limp, not crunchy. Steaming is also a great way to keep all of the nutrients in veggies and really get the best bang out of them. The problem with this method is that I couldn't season them well. I recently became a huge advocate of seasoning during cooking as opposed to after -- give this a try, because it will make a big difference in your foods. Salt and pepper during the process will bring out the flavor of your food, whereas putting it on after it's all done just makes it taste salty. Given the holes in the bottom of the pot when you steam, seasoning isn't really an option (unless someone knows something I don't?).

Then it struck me. There was nothing special about the meal or the day, but I really didn't feel like dealing with another batch of so-so green beans. I knew I wanted the seasoning, so the pan was the way to go, but I had no patience. I took a lesson from potato roasting: steam them a little first and they'll get a great texture and crust when you roast them. I steamed the green beans. Then I finished them off in a pan with seasonings. What!?!?!? It was AWESOME. Yes, I used capital letters because I am YELLING that these green beans were AWESOME. And let's talk about how it took less than half the time of cooking them in a pan. Seriously. Eight minutes, max. You get the amazing texture of steamed green beans and the delicious flavor of whatever seasoning you want to put on them.

My life has changed, and yours will too. Here is the recipe for perfect green beans. Read it all the way through before you start cooking:

Get a steamer. You need this. You can buy a steamer basket in the grocery store for like eight bucks, so do it. Put a little water in the bottom of a pot - enough so that when it starts boiling it won't boil away, but not enough to touch the bottom of the steamer basket. Set the pot on the stove and boil the water (you should know how to do this). While you're waiting, put a pan on another burner and set it to medium-high heat - this will get the pan nice and hot so it's ready when the beans are done steaming. Once the water is boiling, put the steamer basket and green beans in the pot and cover. The boiling water releases steam but the lid keeps the steam in so this is how the beans cook!

Steam them for about 4 minutes. They should be bright green and beautiful. While they're steaming, mince up a clove or two of garlic. When the beans are about ready to be moved to the pan, put a tablespoon or so of oil in the pan and throw the garlic in there, too. Turn the heat down if it gives you a crazy sizzle cause the garlic will burn quickly and you don't want that. Cook the garlic for about 30 seconds, which is when you should start to smell that amazing garlic smell.

It's time. Grab those green beans with some sort of kitchen utensil (tongs) and throw them in the pan. Use the tongs to mix 'em all around so they get covered with oil and garlic, then put a dash of salt and pepper in there. The beans will need to cook in the pan for about 4 more minutes. After 2 or 3, I take a lemon and zest it into the green beans. What you'll need to do this is a lemon (duh) and a zester. This is a zester. It's like a grater with tiny holes - you're just grating the lemon rind into the beans. Keep moving the lemon around though, you don't want to zest the white part of the lemon because it's bitter. If you like a little kick, you can add a dash of red pepper flakes, too.

Toss them around a little more in the pan, take a little taste test, and... Voila! You have perfect green beans. No need to thank me. Enjoy.

Oh my gosh it's the weekend.

It wasn't until I started working Monday-Friday that I began to appreciate the weekend. The sad thing is I have pretty reasonable hours during the week and I still cherish the weekend. Before I became the manager at Aromas, I opened once a week - that means being at the hospital between 6am and 12pm - and closed once or twice a week. I actually preferred opening to closing (12pm-5:30pm) because there were fewer responsibilities in the morning. Now that I'm the manager, I cherish the two days a week that I get to close because those are the days that I get to sleep past 5:30am; three days a week now I open the bar and it's sucking the life out of me.

This week in particular I only had one day that I got to sleep in a little bit, so I'm definitely suffering. In fact I opened this morning and last night I barely slept (had a damn Rihanna song stuck in my head), so that made for a pretty miserable morning. BUT! It actually ended up making for a perfect day. Yes I was miserable, but now that I'm done, it's Friday. And as much as I'd love to have Corbin home, he's working until 9:30 - so I get the whoooole day to sleep and catch up on TV shows and do absolutely nothing. Because it's Friday. It's the weekend!!

p.s. An addendum to the previous post about home: I find it to be quite possible that the thing that excites me most about changing my official address is getting a new, snazzy license.

Home

When Corbin and I move to our new apartment, I will (for the first time) officially change my address. All through college I lived in different places and received mail there but my permanent address was always 2000 Monument Ave. This time, I'm ushering in a new era: the era of “my parents' house is not necessarily 'home' anymore.”

This is a tough era for some people to welcome. To be honest, I'm not sure that I'll ever stop using the word “home” when referring to my parents house, but I am certain that the sense of comfort and familiarity that comes with a home is no longer something I feel when I'm at my parents' house. There's nothing wrong with this, of course-- I still feel the comfort and familiarity of family, just not home.

Corbin and I have been living together for about a year now, and I've known even since before we lived together that my sense of home comes from Corbin. I'm not sure I ever thought that a sense of home could come from a person, but I think sometimes people put too much stock in a space and the things in that space when really it's the people and the relationships that create a home.

I started this post earlier today and have had some time to think about it before finishing it. I wanted to examine the difference between that sense of family and the sense of home. I've decided that I think it's all about the crucial relationships in life. Growing up, it was my family, as it is for a lot of people. They provided for me, I saw them every day, they knew me and what was going on in my life. As I grew older, they became less given in my life and more human. They were no longer just my mom, dad, sisters, these people that were in my life without my consent. They were people who had feelings similar to mine. They thought about the world in ways I thought about the world. This brought us closer as people, but also distanced us in a way-- it put them on the same level as the rest of the world. Then Corbin became the primary relationship in my life, and he became the person who knows me best. The sense of comfort I get from him is based on our intimate knowledge of each other, the way we support each other, the way we encourage each other, fight with each other, yell at each other, apologize to each other, laugh with each other. And that's home to me. My family is my family, and when I'm around them I'll always feel the familiarity of the dynamic that I grew up with. They are crucial to my life, but they're no longer the people who know me best.


p.s. I feel that this whole situation may be specific to my age and where I am in my life. At some point the definition of  "family" will change. For now it's mom, dad, sisters. But in the future it may be husband, kids. This whole feeling of family vs. home will probably change, but that's to be expected given that it already has. 

Some Thoughts

These days, when I feel the urge to post here, it's usually because I feel the need to complain. I will try to keep myself from doing this as I know it is not something anybody enjoys reading. Here are some things I've been thinking about... some of them might sound like complaining.

- 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'm ready to move in to my new apartment, but I still have a month to go.

- Corbin and I decided a few nights ago (maybe last week?) to watch the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy as a miniseries. I have issues with watching movies at night because I get sleepy like an old person, so we're taking it in chunks. We're currently in the middle of watching The Two Towers. I really like that we're doing this... it's kinda random and quirky and fun!

- I love my dog. And my boyfriend.

- I've never been much of a shoes-obsessed kind of gal, but for some reason I have three pairs arriving by mail tomorrow.

- We've had so many sunny days recently and today it was rainy. It surprised me that I was disappointed when the sun came out this evening.

- Tonight we're making hot italian turkey sausage with peppers, onions, & gnocchi. This is a recipe I discovered in the Weight Watchers cookbook last year (I added the gnocchi myself - it's also good served over rice) and it's a fairly simple meal but it is so delicious. I swear I could eat gnocchi every day for the rest of my life. I tried making gnocchi from scratch about two weeks ago and it was mildly successful.

- It has become apparent to me that food is one of my top five priorities in life. I'm not sure exactly what the others are yet, but food is way up there. Should I go ahead and accept that food is more important to me than some people I know?

- My sister is getting married in a little over a month, and I've had time to get used to this-- but it hit me two days ago that she will no longer be a Thomson, she'll be a Seabolt, and that's crazy. She's the first to jump ship.

- Last one: I've been thinking a lot about this blog lately, and every time I think about writing something I feel as though I'm really boring so I don't. There are a few blogs that I sincerely love to read and I know it's because the writers are willing to be open about thoughts, feelings, relationships, etc. -- I long to feel the freedom to write about those things without feeling scrutinized. It occurs to me that I used to be a very open person about very personal feelings, and somehow in the past 5 or 6 years I've closed up. I'm not sure what happened, but I think I became very aware of how the things I do and say affect the kind of person I appear to be. I need to stop thinking about what this or that will say to other people and focus more on doing what feels good.