For the Love of Food

Food, Part One (of Two)

2009-11-14T08:29:00.005-05:00

So, it's been over two months. Almost three. Is there hope that I'll get back to doing this regularly? I CERTAINLY HOPE SO!

On a complete tangent, I've recently become addicted to dooce.com, which has caused me to begin writing a bit like her. Basically, anytime I'm emphatic about anything, I note this by USING ALL CAPS and completely taking away any visual landscape. I apologize for this. Also, read her blog. She's hilarious. Or, at least look at the pictures of her dogs, they are freakin' adorable and hilarious.

Anyways. Clearly, I've eaten a lot of food in the past two-and-a-half months, but since I haven't updated on dinners since JUNE, I'm going to list the dinners (mainly for my own purpose, should I need to recreate them) and then go more into all the BAKING that I've done recently. So, without further ado, here's the special dinners (that I noted and / or can remember) from the past four months!

7/7/09 - Guacamole, Big Bowl of Mexican, Banana Chimichangas.

7/19/09 - (M3) Enchiladas.

8/11/09 - Gazpacho, Grilled Cheese, Peach Cobbler.

8/16/09 - (M3) Phyllo Pizzas, Orange-Cranberry Crepes.

8/23/09 - (M3) Guacamole, Polenta-Stuffed Peppers, Pineapple-Upside Down Cake.

8/25/09 - (Salads from the 101 List), Tofu Joy, Rootbeer Floats.

9/8/09 - Potato and Bacon Pizza, Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bread Pudding.

9/15/09 - Caesar Salad, Ravioli with Apples and Pecans, Oreo Panna Cotta.

9/20/09 - (M3) Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread, Mushroom and Sage Pasta.

9/21/09 - (S) Mashed Potatoes, some chicken dish (?), Cheese Puffs, Meringue. Probably so much more, but I can't remember!

9/22/09 - Home Fries, Banana Pancakes, French Toast.

10/4/09 - (M3) Mexican Wontons, Tortilla Soup, Peanut Butter Cookies.

10/6/09 - Ratatouille, Gnocchi, Apples with Caramel.

10/11/09 - (M3) Salad with Apple Vinaigrette, Roasted Asparagus and Potatoes, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Apple-Caramel Bread Pudding.

10/13/09 - Guacamole, Big Bowl of Mexican, Banana Chimichangas. (Sounds familiar...)

10/25/09 - (M1) Salad, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Vegetables, Macaroni and Cheese, something chicken.

10/27/09 - Puffs Stuffed with Brie or Boursin, Gougeres, Pasta with Roasted Vegetables, Cream Puffs.

10/31/09 - (S) Gougeres with and without Butternut Squash, Focaccia Bread, two Risottos, Roasted Red Pepper Soup, Pumpkin-Orange-Cranberry Cookies, Coconut Crisps.

11/3/09 - Roasted Chickpeas, Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese, Coconut Cream Pie.

11/8/09 - (M1) Salad, Roasted Vegetables, Rolls, Mashed Potatoes, Applesauce, meat from a crock pot, Cherry Pie.

11/10/09 - Guacamole, Black Bean Soup, Jalapeno-Cheddar Bread.

AND... That brings us to now! I'll follow (soon!) with a post on all the BAKING that has gone on recently... Really psyched!

Salads!

2009-08-23T09:43:00.010-04:00

I know I am due for another "catch up on food" blog (as I've still got July and August to talk about. If I can remember any of those, even...) However, I wanted to show my vast reader base [pause for laughter] some interesting salad recipes. My friend, S, found these; Mark Bittman, author of the How to Cook Everything series, writes a column for the NY Times called "The Minimalist." While I haven't read too many of these, I can only assume that he's trying to get people truly back to simple, delicious food. So, without further ado, please visit Bittman's 101 Simple Salads for the Season. And then go make some.

S and I declared Friday night "food night." Original plan was to make some salads, then go see Food Inc. (Clearly we had to eat before seeing the movie, as the movie was going to make us feel terrible about everything we eat. And we're vegetarians...) Between an addition to our duo and some wine, the movie changed (to Julie & Julia,) but the salads remain.

So, I bring you: Five of a Hundred-and-One

[Also, apologies on the poor image quality... I was tweeting, so I used my phone to take the pictures.]

No. 2

"Mix wedges of tomato and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing."

And "astonishing" it is. S has actually made this a couple of times recently, but it's just so fresh and delicious, we couldn't NOT have it at salad night. (We used lime juice, and, lacking red pepper, added a bit of cayenne.)

No. 7

"Grate carrots, toast some sunflower seeds, and toss with blueberries, olive oil, lemon juice and plenty of black pepper. Sweet, sour, crunchy, soft."

This was such a WEIRD combination. But it worked. SO GOOD. I joked through the meal that I kept trying to pick a favourite and couldn't; while this is true, this was one of my top three. (Of five, but whatever.)

No. 9

"Chop or slice jicama (or radishes or kholrabi) and mango and mix with coconut milk, lime juice, curry powder and cilantro or mint."

By default (lack of certain produce at Shaw's,) we used radishes here. I love love love jicama, so I was a little bummed at first. However, the little heat that radishes bring worked perfectly with the mango, curry and lime juice. Kind of inspired me to want to do more with radishes - they're so good, but vegetables that I wouldn't normally think of... (Another top three.)

No. 10

"Cook whole grape tomatoes in olive oil over high heat until they brown lightly, sprinkling with curry powder. Cool a bit, then toss with chopped arugula, loads of chopped mint and lime juice."

Again, with the lack of selection at Shaw's, we bought baby spinach instead of arugula. Then, getting nervous that spinach and mint wouldn't do well together, we made two versions - one with spinach, one without. They were both lovely. And, the tomatoes cooking in the oil smelled amazing.

No. 39

"Yukatecan street food as salad: Roast fresh corn kernels in a pan with a little oil; toss with cayenne or minced chilis, lime juice and a little queso fresco. Cherry tomatoes are optional."

And, the final of my top 3. Instead of queso fresco, we used smoked fresh mozzarella. (Queso frsco = fresh cheese = fresh mozzarella?) Which was amazing. Going forward, I'd add some black pepper. But, this was just so good...

And, there ends the Friday night of salads. There shall be more to come (salads with strawberries or cherries??? Yes, please!) But, if you decide to try any out, let me know how they go!

Food, May Massive Update.

2009-07-27T20:10:00.008-04:00

Here's the deal: I have well over a month of food to post about... But, frankly, my memory isn't that good, and I apparently took very few pictures. SO. It's going to be quick and dirty. Also, breaking this into May-and-June and then July, lest I get bored and don't finish ;)

Tuesday 5/26/09: White sangria, empanadas with roasted red pepper sauce.

Okay, this one, I happen to a) have pictures of and b) want to write the recipes out because it was so frickin' good. Since this was so long ago now (whoops,) I've actually been talking about these and plan on making them again - TOMORROW! So, here we go:

White Sangria

I've experimented with sangria a bit this spring / summer. Honestly, it's kind of difficult to go wrong.

Whatever "white" fruit you can find (apples, mangoes, oranges, lemons, etc.)

3 oz. brandy

2 oz. Triple Sec

1 c. OJ

1/3 c. pineapple juice concentrate

[Combine the above. Let sit - in the refrigerator - overnight.]

Add 1 c. ginger ale and 1 bottle sparkling white wine shortly before serving. Enjoy!

Black Bean Empanadas

[GO MAKE THESE NOW.]

2 sheets, puff pastry (I use Pepperidge Farm...)

1 egg

1 T water

1/2 onion, diced (small) - I tend to use "red" onions.

3/4 c. corn

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 red pepper, diced (small)

1/2 c. tomato sauce

1 t cumin

1 T chili powder

1/2 t crushed red pepper

1/2 c. "Mexican" cheese

15 oz. black beans, rinsed, drained

2 T cilantro

1. Thaw pastry sheets (about 40 minutes.) Preheat oven to 375. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Stir egg and water together in small bowl.

2. Saute onion, corn, pepper, garlic until tender. Add tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, red pepper; reduce heat to low, and cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in cheese, black beans and cilantro.

3. Unfold pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface, and cut each sheet into six rectangles. Put ~1/2 c. filling, folder over, press edges with fork to seal, and brush with egg mix.

4. Bake 18 minutes, until golden. Serve with GUACAMOLE. And sour cream, if that's your thing. And salsa. And red pepper sauce [see below.]

[This recipe is something of a combination of this recipe, and a meal I had at Border Cafe.]

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Red pepper - Roast by cutting, seeding, and roasting at 450 for 30 minutes, turning once.

1. Place pepper in airtight container till cool; peel skin off.

2. Food process the heck out of the roasted pepper.

3. Add garlic, salt, pepper, cilantro, balsamic vinegar and cayenne pepper.

This was one of my favourite meals. Writing about it makes me SO EXCITED about tomorrow.

Sunday 5/31/09: Asparagus risotto, garlic bread, strawberry rhubarb pie.

If there are recipes to come, they're going to have to come from M3, as I have no idea. Particularly loved the rhubarb pie - my mom introduced me to this vegetable (fruit?) early, and I've (surprisingly) always liked it!

Sunday 6/7/09: Black bean burgers, potato salad, corn, guacamole.

M3 used the black bean burger recipe that I posted here (and we've used it a few more times since - a true keeper!) Otherwise, memory fails. M3: What potato salad recipe did you use??? (For those of you unaware, I hate mayonnaise, so I'm constantly trying to perfect a non-mayo potato salad recipe.) (HATE mayonnaise. Cannot emphasize this enough.)

Tuesday 6/14/09: Mimosas, stuffed French toast, hash browns.

Total repeat of this meal!

Sunday 6/21/09: Bruschetta, caesar salad, ravioli.

M3, was this the meal that you made that black bean sauce for??? (Clearly, can't remember. However, I can't hate anything that involves caesar salad.)

Tuesday 6/23/09: Bread with oils, garlic bread, pasta with roasted tomato sauce, panna cotta.

HA. I was looking for all these recipes - they've all been done before - and they actually all came from ONE post... A long one, but still!

Saturday 6/27/09: Red sangria.

Okay, this wasn't a meal, per say, but, as noted above, I've been playing with sangria this summer, and I think this one came out really well! (This was made for the pirate ship adventure, noted here.)

Red Sangria

Package of frozen mixed berries

Apple, sliced

2 c. Cran-Raspberry Cocktail

8 oz. Chambourd

2 oz. Triple Sec

2 T confectioner's sugar

[Combine the above. Let sit - in the refrigerator - overnight.]

Add 2 bottles red wine. Pour over ice. Enjoy! (And make sure to eat the fruit!)

Sunday 6/28/09: Garlic bread, pasta with sun-dried tomato / pesto sauce.

Fail memory. Mmmm, food.

Tuesday 6/30/09: Veggie lasagna, garlic bread, strawberry shortcake cake.

This was in celebration of UJ's half birthday! Lasagna was the first Tuesday dinner I made. However, this cake is truly amazing! It's so light and fluffy - I've made it a couple of times now, and I always feel like I could eat the whole thing myself... Luckily, this hasn't happened... YET. (And, I didn't change a thing!)

Okay. That's it for tonight. I've been watching Code and Lyle play all evening, and I may explode from the cuteness, so you can expect something on that soon!

Oh... And food from July! Goodness!

Lyle!

2009-07-20T21:12:00.006-04:00

So, I believe that I've declared myself a dog person before here... And I'll hold to that.

However, my roommate recently got a cat. And he is SO FRICKIN' CUTE. Even though his new favourite game is to swipe at toes with his talons. SO FRICKIN' CUTE:

K named him Lionel. However, when she told me this, she threw out, "It's kind of like 'Lyle,'" which sealed that I would call him Lyle forever. See, one of my first memories of living with K was one evening, we were watching the Discovery Channel (we're cool, srsly,) and a show called "Walking with Dinosaurs" was on. In this show, we were introduced to the Liopleurodon, who was killed by some other giant, prehistoric sea monster. But, we called him "Lyle." We then proceeded to go to work the next day and try to find him online. Googling "Lylepleurodon" resulted in nothing, which clearly meant that I was going to figure out what this creature was called. Obviously, successful, and K and I sometimes still bring up our sea monster friend, Lyle.

Lyle, the prehistoric sea monster, Lyle, the kitten, whatevs.

He and CodeDog seem to be getting along okay. Sometimes Lyle hisses at Code, but it's all in good fun. This is my favourite picture of the two of them (so far):

Lyle: Too fast for the camera!

Ummm... Hello?

2009-07-06T21:30:00.009-04:00

Riiight... Remember when I was proud of blogging for several days straight? That clearly went to hell. BUT, trying to get back into it. I only have a few moments right now (totally owe someone a letter of recommendation...) but, as I haven't blogged for, what?, well over a month, there's a decent amount that I can randomly spurt out in just a few sentences!

Therefore, I give you, notable parts of my past month-and-a-half:

1. First food. Wait, no, that'll get its own post. I'll summarize it by saying: I ate a lot.

2. 5/25/09. Memorial Day was spent in S'ville with S, M1 and UJ. Mojitos, tons of food and sitting on a deck.

3. 5/30/09. We finally had our Nostalgia Party. Between the awesome prom dresses (see below!) and the photo albums and home videos (featuring M1 at the zoo, M3 cheering, UJ singing "I'm a Little Teapot," etc.,) it was a hilarious evening!

4. 6/7/09. There was the Week of Baseball. M3 and I got work tickets to a Sunday afternoon game, then we went to the Tuesday night Yankees game (which we won,) and then we went to a Diamondbacks game in Phoenix on Friday! Loved each and every game.

5. 6/12/09. I went to Phoenix! First time in Arizona. M3 was going to visit her sister, and M1, M2 and I tagged along... You know, across the country... Was a weekend full of food, hanging out, playing with sister's dogs, baseball, tubing - lots of fun!

6. 6/19/09. I had dinner with a high school friend. Not that this is incredibly noteworthy, but I hadn't seen Meredith in, literally, years, so it was cool to catch up with her.

7. 6/20/09. Then came Movie Week. So, I saw two movies in a week, not that notable, but I don't see movies that often, and we went to Cambridge, 1 before both. (Love that place. Possibly I go to movies because of Cambridge, 1.) Saw The Hangover - hilarious - and My Sister's Keeper - total chick flick, exactly what I was hoping for.

8. 6/25/09. I got an iPhone! Turning into a true Mac-lover. Certainly love my new phone. At least till I dropped it and broke it. Luckily, the lovely people at Apple replaced it without question! Winner!

9. 6/27/09. Pirate Ship! Last year, for M1's birthday, she organized an outing involving a pirate ship. Basically, you bring the drinks / food / whatever, and this ship totes your around Boston. Despite the mist and chilly weather, I had a blast!

10. 6/29/09. NEWEST. BIGGEST. TATTOO. I'm getting a half sleeve. I had the first three hours done last week, and I'm so frickin' excited about it. I'm going to save pictures for later, as it, frankly, looks unfinished (I actually have had a couple of people say "It's not done yet, right?",) but it's going to be awesome. Next appointment is in less than two weeks.

11. 7/3/09. Movie Day / BBQ. It was discovered that UJ hadn't seen Step Up, and I hadn't seen The Departed. We remedied this all in one afternoon, and then headed to the N. End for a BBQ with some of UJ's friends. Lovely.

12. 7/4/09. Happy Birthday, USA! Per usual, we went down to the Esplanade, convened with the masses. After finding our nice little spot in the grass, we broke out the sangria and food, played Hearts for a few hours, and just enjoyed the weather and people-watching.

13. 7/5/09. Happy Birthday, M1! Three-cubed! Woo! To celebrate, we picniced in the Public Gardens. Again, fabulous weather! (Knock on wood.) Everyone brought food, and, once again, I stuff myself. It was awesome.

Okay, that's the quick and dirty. Lots of food to come, as well as (hopefully) some interesting stories... Till then, just know I'm alive!

Something New! Food!

2009-05-20T20:08:00.016-04:00

... Oh? Food's not a new topic? Well, whatever...

So, I haven't babbled about the lovely meals that M3 and I have made recently. However, there have been a fair number of dinner cancellations due to conflicting plans. Here comes summer!

Anyways, here we go!

Sunday, April 19th

Guacamole, Taco Salad, Strawberry Shortcakes. After a bit of a stressful search for taco bowls, M3 settled on adding tortilla chips to salad... And it was delicious. Lettuce + black beans (with chili powder) + tomato + corn / onion salsa + magical chipotle dressing. Yum! Later, there was strawberry shortcakes... Which just remind me of summer...

Tuesday, April 28th

Salad, Bread with Oils, Strawberry Fettuccine Alfredo, Trifle.

I was trying to determine what I was going to cook for this week... Luckily, I was having drinks (at The Globe - love it) with M1 and S, who had just returned from hanging out with her family for a week. S's mother is a pretty phenomenal cook, and it's definitely worn off. In between planning the restaurant that we're going to open (?,) S went through the meals she had cooked while home... One including a fettuccine alfredo with, ready?, strawberries. Neither M3 nor I had done an alfredo yet, so I figured it was time to try!

In keeping on the strawberry theme, I started with a salad - spinach, strawberries, red onion and pecans. Simple. As a spin on garlic bread, I roasted some garlic and mashed it in olive oil, with some oregano; there was also a spicy red chili oil, which was awesome (though this came directly from a bottle, so I can't take any credit there.)

The, the fettuccine alfredo. I didn't really make any edits to this... So, obviously, it was incredibly healthy. (I can feel my arteries clogging again, just thinking about it...) I don't know how impressed I was. It tasted really good, but I was fairly unsuccessful in getting the cheese and cream to mix, resulting in hunks of cheese. (I mean, there are worse things in life...) I felt a little better about this after M3 talked to her chef sister, and Chef Sister said that it was tough, or you had to use crappy ingredients... One thing I will note: I would not advise reheating in the microwave - there was distinct butter-cream-cheese separation. Ew.

And, to end the theme, I made trifle. Basically, layering chocolate cake, vanilla pudding, Cool Whip and strawberries / raspberries. Mmm...

[Sunday, May 3rd]

I just have to note this night, and retell the stories that M3 related to me. I ended up with a company ticket to the Bruins game this night, so I wasn't able to make it to M3's this night. (First family dinner I ever missed! Sad!) However, my absence opened a whole new world to M3: Meat. Apparently, this was a little more overwhelming than I ever considered. Upon proposing this to Chef Sister, CS responded with "All I can think of is hunks of meat. Like steaks and pork chops. Meat." Same thing went to J, who responded "Chunks of meat." I'm not entirely sure what resulted (I think it was steak,) but I doubt there were less than three types of meat in the meal!

Tuesday, May 5th - Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Burrito / Taco / whatever-you-want-to-call-them, Banana Chimichangas. Cinco de Mayo fell on a Tuesday, which means everyone came over and drank margaritas! For food, I basically just made lots of "Mexican" things and let people put them together as they pleased. So, there were chips, salsa and guacamole to begin, then black beans, tortillas, cilantro, cheese, onion, sour cream and corn were added. (Possibly more? I can't remember...) To round out the night, I made Banana Chimichangas again!

Sunday, May 10th

Caesar Salad, Fire-Roasted Tomato Pasta, Garlic Bread. M3 put together everyone's favourite Italian dishes. I was a little hesitant on the caesar. Don't get me wrong - I love, love, love caesar salads. However, this means that I have extremely high expectation of caesar dressings - I have been disappointed more than my fair share in the past. However, M3 found a delicious caesar dressing - from Brianna's. (This brand also makes a delicious vinaigrette - I highly suggest you try them both.) She then had a recipe for a fire-roasted tomato pasta sauce from a magazine; it was from an ad for McCormick, so I was able to find it here! Just mush these up a little and serve with pasta - Yum! (Add garlic bread, of course.)

(As usual, there may have been dessert, but I cannot remember!)

Tuesday, May 12th

(Guacamole,) Tofu Joy! This dinner had been a long time coming... It just had to come to me! S introduced this to me years ago, back when she used to be an honourary roommate when I lived in Quincy. The results are delicious, but it's also incredibly fun to make. Basically, these are just fresh spring rolls, wrapping all ingredients in rice paper. As I actually had to call S to be reminded of what we put in these (it had been awhile since I had made them,) I figured I'd go ahead and write a rudimentary recipe:

Ingredients: bell peppers, cucumbers, peas, tofu, apples [all julienned,] mint, Thai basil, lettuce, rice noodles, peanuts

1. Cook rice noodles, and rinse in cold water. (All ingredients in this recipe, with the exception of the tofu, should be cold. I think.)

2. Saute / heat / cook tofu strips in Hoisin sauce + duck sauce + a bit of soy sauce.

3. In a large pan, filled with hot water, dip the rice paper till it is soft (but not too soft...)

4. Wrap whatever you want in the rice paper! Dip in sweet chili sauce, or Hoisin sauce, or duck sauce... Or some combination thereof!

Tuesday, May 19th

Bruschetta, Pizza, Panna Cotta. I realized we had never done pizza, so that obviously needed to change. I also think I had in my head that I wanted to make panna cotta, so I needed something kind-of Italian to go with it!

First, bruschetta. I love bruschetta. I used this recipe, with a few edits... I made the tomato mixture ahead of time and refrigerated it overnight. (I think this allows the flavours to combine a little.) I added two cloves of minced garlic to the tomato mixture, as well as doubling the basil, and adding some salt and pepper. I brushed my bread with olive oil and toasted it ahead of time, then rubbed it with a clove of garlic. Yum! One thing, I used a crusty baguette, which I wouldn't really recommend - it got a little on the hard side. Stick with a thicker, softer Italian bread.

Pizza! I made a crust, using this recipe. My recipe came from a magazine, so here it is:

Pizza crust

Zucchini

(Plum) Tomatoes (~7)

salt

pepper

16 ozs. Fresh Mozzarella

olive oil

fresh basil

1. [I actually made two pizza from this, but only one with zucchini.]

2. Roll out crusts on cookie sheet. (Sprinkle sheets with corn meal first.) Let relax for five minutes.

3. Add zucchini, tomatoes, sprinkle with salt, pepper (and minced garlic!)

4. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes.

5. Top with cheese, and bake for 5 minutes, till cheese just melts.

6. Drizzle with oil, top with basil, and pop back into oven for just 1-2 minutes.

7. Enjoy!

[Note: This involves a lot of wet ingredients, so try to drain them as much beforehand as possible. I'd also suggest tilting the pizzas to drain when pulling them out of the oven.]

Finally, panna cotta! M3 and I made this for Thanksgiving last year (take that, Pumpkin Pie!) but I hadn't attempted it since then. In the end, this is way easier to make than I originally thought. You can find the base recipe here... And then do whatever you want with it! At Thanksgiving, we added Oreos to it. This time, I made a simple berry sauce to pour over it. (Heat half berries with 1/3 c sugar and 1 t vanilla. Blend. Back to stovetop, plus rest of berries.) I find this smooth and creamy and delicious... Far and away my favourite dessert in recent history. If only heavy cream and half and half were healthier...

And, that's caught up on family dinners! Suggestions for next Tuesday???

Erm... And Peter's Graduation

2009-05-18T20:32:00.006-04:00

Remember when I was good at blogging? Oh, okay, maybe I was never good, persay, but I did ramble more than once every other week...

Even about food! I haven't babbled on about food for awhile now... And you know there have been some dinners since last time. But, I'll save that for "next time."

This time, I'd like to congratulate my littlest brother (who doesn't read my blog) on his graduation from college. Congrats, Petey! This is my lovely family with the newest "adult":

Simon, the middle child, and I reminisced about some Peter stories over the weekend. I won't spend too long on them, but here's a taste of why we're so proud of the youngest sibling...

Fourth Grade - In Virginia, we have standardized testing. I'm not sure if it's changed since I was in elementary school, or if there are earlier tests, but the Iowa tests are in fourth grade. Or they could be called something else - it doesn't really matter. Every fourth grader takes these tests. The Iowa tests (as I am going to call them) have several parts, one of which is an essay. During his year, Peter's essay questions was something along the lines of "You have a box. What's in it?" Simple prompt. Kid could have written anything. A new toy, a puppy, a helicopter, a computer, an original raft from "Oregon Trail"... Anything. What does my brother do? He turns in a blank piece of paper. When the teacher discovered this, she pulled him aside - heaven forbid he hurt the school's average test scores - and asks him what was going on. His reply? That he didn't have a box, so how was he supposed to know what was in it? Even after the teacher explained again that it was a creative thing, he wouldn't write anything. Eventually, they called my mother in, and she walked him through writing the essay.

High School - Peter didn't like English or Social Studies. (I can totally respect this part!) I'm not entirely sure what prompted him to fail his first class, but, after doing so, and then going to summer school, he realized that summer school was way easier than normal school. Obvious thing to do? Fail all the classes that he didn't like, take them in summer school and get better grades than he would have during the normal school year.

And in what did this all culminate? Peter now has a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. And he graduated Magna Cum Laude!

... And the rest of the family exhaled loudly...

Comment That Made. My. Day.

2009-05-07T18:19:00.002-04:00

Walking Code down the sidewalk, same old, same old... There is a woman with two fairly small children (under five years old) coming, so I pause Code, cross my fingers that he won't bark at them, and wait for them to pass.

As they're approaching, one of the little boys goes, "Whoa! That is a big dog! ... And he has claws! Like a dinosaur!"

Cody got compared to a dinosaur. LOVE IT.

Thank you, small child, for making me smile.

Boston + Sports + Jennifer

2009-05-03T22:53:00.003-04:00

Dear Boston Sports Teams,

Why, more often than not, must you lose when I actually attend a game? I've seen tons of great plays and cool games on television... But when I am actually there? Nada.

I can cheer pretty loudly. I'd just like for you all to have the opportunity to experience that...

Love, true love,

Jennifer

Springtime in Boston!

2009-04-25T12:48:00.002-04:00

I. Love. Today. It is finally Spring!

There were teases of it before (and perhaps this 80-degree day is also a tease,) but I absolutely love the feeling I get each Spring when the weather finally becomes warm and sunny.

And the people come out in droves! Code and I are going to go join them!

"Are you going to get a new phone this summer?"

2009-04-23T20:42:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday, M3, E, M2 and I went on a bar crawl - Bar Golf. (That's another story.)

At the first bar, I went to text M2 quickly, to figure out where she was. As I was putting my phone away, M3 asked me if I was planning on getting a new phone over the summer. (M3 and I have the same phone, which we got weeks apart, so she figured my contract was coming to an end.) I replied that, yes, I'd definitely be looking into a new phone, contract, supplier, I wasn't sure, but definitely a new phone.

Minutes later, M3 and E both had their phones out, texting or something. (Does this happen to anyone else? Everyone around you is checking their phone, texting, etc. and you have absolutely nothing to do on your phone. But you pull it out anyways.) To not feel left out, I pulled out my phone, too.

And promptly dropped it.

I've almost never dropped my phone before (mostly because I rarely use my phone.) M3 said no worries, just pop out the battery, stick it back in, all would be fine.

Nope. Screen was completely blank.

After repeating this a few times, M3 turned to me and said, "When I asked you if you were getting a new phone over the summer, I really meant 'tomorrow.'"

After a brief dilemma (do I break down and get my lusted-after iPhone?,) I eventually decided to finish out my contract with Sprint and then go month-to-month till the next iPhone version comes out.

My new phone? The Samsung Rant. So far, I'm mostly loving it. Given that I hate talking on the phone but enjoy texting, the key pad is the best thing that's happened to my phone since... well, since I got a phone. (Note: As with the camera, I'm not asking for a lot out of my electronics. Can it text? Yes. Awesome.) I was able to get Tetris on the new phone without paying again, which was awesome, and I got some sa-weet ringtones ("Yeah!" and something by A R Rahman, my new obsession.) I neglected to read reviews before buying the phone, but I've definitely noticed some issues with freezing, even after only a few days. I'm going to see how things go in the next week, but I've got thirty days to exchange it, so I'm not chained down (yet.) That being said, I've never been chained to my phone, so freezing once in the while isn't the end of the world!

Still lusting after the iPhone... Soon...

Free Time... What to Babble About???

2009-04-23T20:02:00.007-04:00

So... This week, most of my friends have out-of-town things going on... Which leaves me alone with lots of free time... Which is strange, as, for the past month or so, I've had plans probably five of the seven nights of the week (at least.)

I realized that I have a free night. I'm mostly caught up with my DVR, so I thought I could write a little about... something. But what? My blogs till now have been about strollers (yeah, I gave up on that,) FOOD or quick notes that were inspired by events in my life. (coughdogpeemancough.)

But NOW. I said forever ago that I'd babble on about my new(ish) camera. And maybe my new phone, too. Gadgets galore!

SO, I got the new camera three months ago. I originally wanted a DSLR, but then I walked into a Best Buy and saw this:

Not going to lie. Sometimes I buy things because of how they look.

It's beautiful. Less than half an inch deep, completely sleek. The entire back of the camera is the viewing screen... Which is a TOUCH SCREEN. So far, the battery hasn't died, the flash works, the screen is huge, the memory hasn't been full... And, did I mention?, it's beautiful.

My one complaint is that it has a weird thing with light. It tends to wash out pictures a bit, especially if the picture's taken by a light or a window in daylight. I'm kind of betting this is something that I can adjust with settings. That, however, would involve reading the User's Manual. Ack! (So, if anyone knows anything about this camera, advice, please!)

Long story short: I love the camera, but I'm not asking for a whole lot.

Religion!

2009-04-21T20:31:00.006-04:00

My life lacks religion for the most part. That hasn't really changed, but a couple of weekends ago, I did attend a Passover Seder and an Easter supper. (Anyone miss that those both revolve around food? No? Just checking.)

Saturday, April 11th - Passover Seder

E has been hosting Passover Seders for three or four years now. Her parents comes down from Maine, her aunt and uncle join, there's some friends and cousins... In the end, there are about twelve people crowded around a table in her living room in S'ville.

These dinners always involve a) drinking wine and b) reading the Seder text. (I have no idea what it's actually called. Which is terrible. I've read it three or four times now, and I have no clue. It talks about the Jewish people and the Seder plate and the oppressed people... Well, wiki's entry covers most of it.) We take turns reading the text, which generally results in some yelling about where do people begin and end in the text. Hilarious. (There's also mention by the Christians in the room - lead by E's uncle - about how this isn't their "thing." Also hilarious.)

I must insert something of a cool story here. This year, E put an orange on the Seder plate. Someone commented that this was strange, so it was told that (and, no, I don't have dates, names or locations straight here) some old male said that women belonged on the altar (is there a Jewish term for that?) "like an orange belongs on the Seder plate." So, it has become some sign of female empowerment to have an orange on the Seder plate. Yay, ladies!

In the end, I'm always a huge fan of these gatherings. I never had a big family growing up, so to have a gathering of all these people of different generations is lovely. (Plus, there are no actual kids, so it's great to be on the same "adult" level as everyone in the room.) Given E's family, politics are always brought up - this year was distinctly different, thank you, Barack!!!

A brief note on the food... I can't (won't) eat most of it - brisket, potatoes (cooked with meat,) matzo soup. However, E's aunt made a beautiful and delicious salad. My favourite part of Passover? Charoset. I have no idea how E and her mom made it, but here's a recipe - apples, spices, nuts, sugar, red wine - yum! Since the beginning, I've made Chocolate Chip Meringues, which always go over well. (Notes: Pinch of salt. I had to do the oven thing twice to get them baked through.) Easy and delicious!

Sunday, April 12th - Easter Sunday

M3's Sunday dinner turned into Easter supper - a lovely excuse to make a lot of food and get together a bit of a bigger group than usual!

That being, said, we had a bit of a hard time coming up with what Easter supper consisted of. I can't remember growing up eating Easter supper, so... I looked online.

All combined, our dinner ended up consisting of: (ham,) roasted potatoes, deviled eggs, guacamole (new tradition!,) asparagus, pineapple bread (made by M2) and cherry pie. Yum yum yum. There was also Easter candy, but I think we were all too stuffed to eat any of it!

Really enjoyed this weekend... and all the food it involved!

Food Catch Up!

2009-04-17T22:32:00.008-04:00

So, I just went to upload my pictures so that I could ramble on about food for a bit... And I discovered pictures of other events from the past couple of weeks! It was a nice reminder that I do things (possibly) worthy of pictures other than eat...

That being said, on to the food! (There is a lot of it.)

Sunday, March 29th

"Big Bowl of Mexican." This is officially one of my new favourites. I believe M3 created this after returning from Mexico and missing all of the flavours... So, she just put everything into a bowl. It was / is spicy and delicious!

As I clearly got this "recipe" (it's a bit of a make-it-up-yourself thing!) I shall share:

- Corn, sauted in lime juice, with chili powder and cumin and garlic and a bit of olive oil

- black beans (with jalapenos - Ortega does a can of these)

- Rotel, lime and cilantro (this salsa-type thing)

- rice

... Mix altogether, heat, eat! Actually, heat up a tortilla to eat it with. And, you know me, add some guacamole!

[I'm pretty sure there was a dessert - M3 always does dessert - but I don't have a picture, and I can't remember!]

Tuesday, March 31st

Eggplant parmesan, garlic bread. This was my night, and I was trying to do something that I hadn't done before... I'm not sure that my friends were that excited about eggplant, but they at least pretended to be happy! And I thought it was great!

I used this recipe. Slight alterations: I only used two eggplants. Sweat the eggplant before making (coat in salt, let drain for ~30 minutes, rinse in cold water.) I baked the eggplants for 10 minutes / side. Go! Enjoy!

Thursday, April 2nd

Rice and veggies. More importantly: scorpion bowls. M1 started with the idea of fruit salad, which lead to scorpion bowls, which lead to (sorry, I forget) some Asian-inspired sauce with rice and veggies. Yum!

M1 decided that scorpion bowls should be her signature drink. Which I am all for. This evening, we made them according to this "recipe":

1 part rum

1 part Malibu

1 part vodka

3 parts Orange-Mango-Pineapple juice

maraschino cherries!

We decided that the 1 part alcohol:1 part juice was a bit strong, so we splashed a bit more juice in there... Delicious!

Sunday, April 5th

Guacamole, enchiladas. M3 made enchiladas, as she did in our very first family dinner. (Let's all take a moment to reminisce.) Awww...

Cheese and tortillas and chilis and spicy goodness!

Again, I'm sure there was a dessert, but I can't think of what it was to save my life!

Tuesday, April 7th

Lasagna, garlic bread. Following in M3's footsteps (and by request from KJ,) I made lasagna, as I did in week one.

Also, I made garlic bread. But, differently. By "differently," I mean "I bought frozen Texas Toast. It was a bit sacrilegious - I've almost always made my own garlic bread! But, having been fed and REALLY enjoying Texas Toast, I broke down and made it myself. And I'm just happy that I did. It was delicious.

Tuesday, April 14th

Black bean burgers, potato wedges. Haha, this was another one that I told my friends about, and there was a slight hesitation before the "That sounds good!" Putting vegetarian options on meat-eaters is, understandably, not always that exciting. But I think they like it!!!

Here's the recipe I used: Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers. And, the slight changes I made (all based on the reviews): Rinse and dry black beans before mashing. I squeezed the moisture out of the onion-pepper-garlic puree through coffee filters. I doubled the recipe, except I used three eggs... And I added more chili powder. Also, I found that they needed a little longer than 10 minutes / side in the oven.

I found these delicious - and, possibly the best part - they freeze great, so I've had them for leftovers a couple of times since, and still have a few more!

That's all on food for now... And I haven't covered Passover and Easter! (What can I say, it was a religion-filled weekend...)

Chair Launch Party

2009-04-17T21:41:00.008-04:00

Ha. "Chair Launch Party." They have those???

Yes, yes they do! And they serve wine at them!

I'm not entirely sure if this kind of an event is unique to modern designers, but, apparently, modern companies hold launch parties for new items. I'd never been to one before, but this one seemed to be fairly open-to-the-public, so maybe it's just a case of knowing it's happening?

Anyways, M3, M1 and I headed down to the Kartell store a couple of weeks ago. (A store which you could somewhat often find M3 and myself with our faces smooshed against the window on our walk home after some bars...) Kartell manufacturers lots of items, almost all (if not all) made of plastic... Actually, the company was founded as a plastics producer (chemistry!,) only later moving into furniture. They were launching the Papyrus Chair:

I'm not a huge fan (it reminds me of the '70s,) but I love being around modern stuff. (The brothers who designed this chair did actually design one of my favourite sofas: The Alcove.)

After going in and having our names checked off of the guest list, we grabbed some Proseco, and began to wander around the store... At which point the photographer they hired for the event began following us around, as evidenced here. M3 and I knew a fair amount about the furniture, but it's always fun to touch the pieces! And be reminded of what more you want... And this... And this... And this... And this... (JK on the last one!)

Kartell apparently has begun making jelly shoes, which was new to me. Not entirely sure how I feel about these, but if you're going to wear jelly shoes, they may as well be made by Kartell!

In the end, it was a funny night... Walking around, drinking, and trying to pretend that I fit in with the crowd that showed up. Other than the free drinks and some good chats with friends, I did leave with my new favourite picture of myself:

... Never mind the retro chair...

Absurd.

2009-04-13T07:07:00.002-04:00

Dear Little Man, Thanks for reminding me that there are jerks in the world. -Jennifer

So, this morning, like every morning, I was walking Cody. We were on the final block of his walk, he lifted his leg and marked some house. No biggie. This happens approximately ten times a day, and I'm not including his actual bladder-relieving pees. We continue.

In a couple of steps, we are about to pass a man. By "man," I mean "jerk."

Jerk: Did your dog just pee?

Me: [Confused. I mean, stupid question. Was it supposed to be rhetorical?] Ummm, yeah.

J: That's not good. I know that's not your house. Is it?

M: [If you know, why are you asking?] No.

J: That's bad. You should take your dog in front of your house to pee.

M: Ummm, okay.

J: It's not the dog's fault. It's the owner's fault. The dog doesn't know any better, so it's the owner's responsibility. Do you understand that?

M: [This is actually something I agree with, so I nod. Even though he was being a condescending a-hole.] Yes.

[Possibly there was another exchange, but in the interest of not hitting him, I tried to move along.]

J: See the difference? One is being a good, nice person, and the other is being a pig.

M: [As I'm retreating.] Got it. And thanks for calling me a pig. It's been awhile.

And now I've been thinking about this since I got home. There are several other ways I have since thought of to respond to the jerk:

1. Punching holes in his theory. Have you had a dog? Clearly not, as you must know that you can't walk a [male] dog around, more than a block, without him marking his territory. So, am I expected to pace in front of my house so that he only pees there? (This is a hilarious image, given the number of dogs that live in the South End.) Also, I don't own my house; so is it fair for him to pee there? If not, where do I go? Or do you believe that one shouldn't own a dog till they own a house? (I actually suspect this jerk wasn't a dog person and would prefer that no one own dogs...)

2. Be as condescending to him as he was to me. Did you have a bad weekend? Did a dog once pee and kill your prize-winning [flower]? Did Mommy and Daddy never let you have a dog? Ugh.

3. Punching him in the face. I'm just saying, I bet it would have felt good.

Okay, I must get on with my day, now. Hopefully it'll continue better than it started!

And, for the record, I plan to let Cody pee pretty much wherever he wants. Yes, I can control where I take him, but as far as starting and stopping his bladder... Nope!

Restaurant Week, Spring 2009

2009-04-03T21:46:00.005-04:00

Does other cities have Restaurant Week? I'd never heard of it before Boston, but I've only really lived in a couple of other cities. Regardless, it's a fabulous idea that should be wider-spread.

What is Restaurant Week? First of all, it's actually two weeks, and happens twice a year (Winter / Spring and Summer / Fall.) Three-course dinners are set at $30.09. Lunches are $20.09. There are generally two or three choices per course. Drinks aren't included, but some pretty amazing places participate in this. Basically, I try to use Restaurant Week to try out fancy, expensive places that I generally wouldn't be able to afford (or, well, to let myself afford.) Also, it's great to be "forced" into getting a three-course meal - how often do you eat out and get appetizer, meal and dessert? It doesn't never happen, but it's certainly not frequent for me!

3/19/09 - M1, M3 and I went to Banq. We'd been there before, but only for drinks. (Tip: Just say "no" to the Hot Mess. Hilarious name, bad drink.) The architecture in there is absolutely stunning... And actually the reason that we declared that we needed to return! (I asked our waiter who designed the place, but I only half got the name and don't have the patience right now to really search for them. So, deal with this image!)

So pretty!!!

Appetizer - Beet Salad. Okay, kids, I'm not really a beet lover. That being said, this was my first try, and they were huge. I pictured beets as slivers. These puppies looked like tomatoes. Seriously, I got the salad and asked my friends, "Where are the beets?" (Note: Most of my choices are limited due to the fact that I don't eat meat. Restaurants are usually good about making me something without meat, even if it's not on the prix fixe menu. But, little choice.)

Main Course - Zucchini and Tofu Steak. Yum! This was over some noodles, and absolutely delicious. Best of all? It was big enough that I had leftovers for lunch the next day. (And they didn't openly scorn me for asking for a doggie bag. I always feel weird doing so in fancy places...)

Dessert - Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake. Okay, it wasn't bad or anything, but I can do better.

Overall: Great experience!

3/25/09 - Again, M1, M3 and I went to Sorellina. I had heard amazing things about this place from multiple people, so I was psyched to try it out. The decor was lovely... The food and service, not so much. Our waitress came over and asked if we wanted anything to drink seconds after we had been seated. Maybe this is good service (?,) but we hadn't had time to look at the wine list, so it was a little preemptive. When we did order wine, it must have taken fifteen minutes to get to us. Service throughout the night was less-than-stellar. M1 got soup as her appetizer... It came with no spoon. M1 ordered a coffee with dessert... It never came. It was just like this through the entire meal. And, then, the food...

Appetizer - Salad, with pear. This was my favourite part of the meal, and a great salad. Greens, pear, craisins, it was delicious!

Main Course - Vegetarians get the shaft here. I got what I believe was pasta, cauliflower, green beans and some green leafy thing. If there was a sauce at all, it was maybe a butter sauce. Basically, I can (and have) made better pasta sauces at home in five minutes.

Dessert - Not idea what they called it, but it was chocolate pudding. I do enjoy chocolate pudding, but... M1 and M3 got an "apple tart," which they equated to an apple muffin from Dunkin Donuts. Dessert = no.

Overall: I wanted to love this place... Maybe it was because it was Restaurant Week, and they knew people wouldn't be paying the full prices, but how do you expect people to return to your restaurant if their first experience kind of sucked? Seriously, the best thing there were the plates, which were beautiful. That being said, I wouldn't say no to returning for a fun drink and the parmesan truffle fries...

It's Been Awhile...

2009-03-29T14:25:00.016-04:00

I'm almost intimidated to begin trying to catch up on all that's been going on. But, being busy has got to lead to more interesting blogs than "I did nothing this week," so here we go! I'll begin the catch up with, what else?, food!

Tuesday, March 10th

Potato salad, tomato soup, grilled cheese. Mainly, I wanted to make a tomato soup, as I found a recipe that got rave reviews... And, given my soup pickiness, I liked that there was no way to screw up any of the ingredients!

And, what goes better with tomato soup than grilled cheese??? NOTHING, that's what.

...Except maybe a huge baguette. Whatever.

To the recipes. I wanted to make a potato salad, even though it didn't exactly go with the meal. I don't do mayonnaise, so finding a good potato salad recipe has always been a challenge. I didn't love this one, either, but I also only included the potatoes. (No pepper, olives or artichoke hearts.) If anyone has a good potato salad recipe, PLEASE SEND IT TO ME. I would pay you if it was close to the potato salad that I got back at Cafe Europa in college. Seriously, if you're in Charlottesville ever, go there, get the potato salad. SO GOOD. (Also get the tomato basil soup. Perhaps that's why I made potato salad and tomato soup together... Reminds me of Cafe Europa.)

I made this creamy tomato soup - I would not use butter, though. (Not a fan of the oily film it creates.) For grilled cheese, I had some nice, rustic white bread, beautiful heirloom tomatoes, and some tomato-basil cheddar. Delicious!

[Also, look at my fun plates! M3 got "samples" from a new supplier that she's working with - Working Class Studio - and distributed them. Such fun! And I love love love square plates...]

Thursday, March 12th

Salad, asparagus, garlic bread, bean pasta. M1 wanted to make a fun pasta sauce, and found this recipe from Barilla! Obviously, she changed the pasta shape (love mini shells,) used vegetable stock in stead of chicken stock (thanks!) and we sprinkled a three-cheese blend on the top, instead of ricotta. Yum! I really liked all the vegetables that worked together in this sauce - broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, white / cannellini beans (which I rarely think to eat...)

She also made a salad and garlic bread, and we roasted asparagus - coat in olive oil, toss with salt and pepper, oven! (I also have to think that this must have been a pretty healthy meal - good for us!)

Sunday, March 15th

Guacamole, fajitas, pineapple upside-down cake. M3 made guacamole, which I'm extremely grateful for, as she's never been huge into guacamole herself, so I have to assume my guacamole-loving presence may have influenced that slightly. She also found a tip - if you make guacamole and throw a pit back into the mix, it'll stay green longer. (Brown guacamole just isn't that appealing.) In the end, I think we're both still on the hunt to make guacamole as spicy and good as Wholly Guacamole!

Fajita makings included: tortillas, guacamole, black bean / onion mixture, peppers / onions, salsa, cheese, sour cream... And some steak thing that was apparently amazing... If only I ate meat...

I would like to state here and now that I love "create your own" meals. With all the different tastes of our little group (I don't do meat, M1 doesn't do spicy, M3 doesn't do... a lot of random vegetables,) being given a lot of different things that will all taste great together, but being able to leave out what you don't personally like is just great!

For dessert, there was upside-down pineapple cake. One of my favourites! (Pineapple obsession? Me?) Actually, the maraschino cherries may be my favourite part... Add some coconut, we've almost got a pina colada!

Sunday, March 22nd

Spicy mac and cheese, garlic bread, apple cobbler / strudel. In the absence of M1, M3 jumped on making something spicy! She loaded mini bow tie pasta with cheese (at least three kinds, though I forget which,) green chilis, tabasco sauce, chili powder and paprika. It was delicious, and I, traditionally, do not do mac and cheese! (This, though, is referring to the kind from the box - the powdered cheese kind of creeps me out.)

[I'm also realizing - garlic bread comes up again and again in our meals. It's just so frickin' good!]

She also made some apple dessert - apples wrapped in pastry dough of some sort. It was delicious. And I am hugely sorry for forgetting my camera this night!

Tuesday, March 24th

Salad, butternut squash risotto, pistachio gnocchi, "white forest" cheesecake. Mine! This meal was inspired by Ivy, which is currently my favourite restaurant - small plates (meaning you can try a lot) and a wine list where most of the bottles are $26 - what's not to love??? They recently changed their menu, though, discarding of the two dishes that M1 and I always got when we went. So, obviously, I needed to try my hand at these.

[I made my first salad (of these dinner series) that didn't involve fruit - spinach, red and green peppers, purple onion, tomatoes... Simple.]

I had made butternut squash risotto before, on "Risotto Trio" night. It turned out lovely, once again. The other dish that we loved was this pistachio gnocchi. In my head, at least, Ivy's was still better than mine, but that's not to say it was bad. I found a recipe for Pistachio Cream Sauce, so I threw this over gnocchi (from Trader Joe's! I'm on a huge TJ kick currently!) The results were pretty good... I'd perhaps suggest a bit less cream (?) And there were tons of leftovers to last me for several days!

Despite my poll claiming I was going to let people vote on the first cheesecake that I was going to make, well, I couldn't wait a week! So, I made the White Forest Cheesecake (white chocolate, maraschino cherries.) I'm going to hold off posting a recipe for this - I made several substitutions on ingredients, and the result was quite sweet. (Note: One should not use maraschino syrup as a substitute for cherry flavouring.) Not bad, I mean I ate half of the 9" cheesecake, but I'd definitely make some changes when trying it again!

That being said, as predicted, I had all of two votes for my cheesecake poll. I saw at one point there were three votes, two for the "Cookies & Cream" version, so I'm declaring that the winner - project for next weekend!

And, with that, I'm actually off to M3's for Sunday night dinner. As of this afternoon, she didn't know what she was making. But I love surprises - especially when they involve food!

Busy!

2009-03-23T22:59:00.003-04:00

I got another one of those emails from my mother late last week - "We haven't heard from you in awhile. Just wondering how you're doing." And then I got a voicemail [Note: Hate voicemail.] from my mother on Sunday saying exactly the same thing. As if I needed to be reminded that things are busier than I'd like and that I'm a terrible daughter who hasn't talked to her parents in, well, over-a-week.

Seriously, though. Of the past nine evenings, I've had plans on EIGHT of them. Maybe to you social butterflied out there, that's no big deal, but this is coming from homebody Jennifer! I generally try not to have plans two nights in a row. (Eight of nine calculated to more than two in a row.) How did this happen???

And... I've got plans for the next three nights!

(Woe is me. I have fun things going on. I know, I know, I'm only half complaining!)

And, with that, I shall leave you again! Hopefully I'll get the chance to actually write about some of my happenings, rather than just allude to them! And, you know, call my mother...

A Letter

2009-03-17T21:35:00.002-04:00

Dear Adam Lambert,

I think I love you. I find you oddly adorable.

Your version of "Ring of Fire" sucked. Please never do that again. Ever.

Love,

Jennifer

Adult Scratch Mittens?

2009-03-16T22:03:00.003-04:00

I went to bed Friday night with an unscratched face. I woke up Saturday morning with this:

Myself and a friend separately joked, comparing me to an infant. You know how you can get babies those little mittens to keep them from scratching themselves? Yeah... Perhaps they should make them for adults?

Jennifer's Exercise... For the Year...

2009-03-16T21:28:00.006-04:00

I don't work out much. I think about it several times a week (as all the boys in my pod at work go to the gym on their lunch breaks, and another friend talks about her coed basketball and soccer teams, and other people are running marathons....) But I don't actually work out much. I walk Cody three times a day. That counts for something. Right?

However, I did used to be more active. And, sometimes, I can commit to one-off exercises. Like 5ks. Three miles. Anyone could practically do that in their sleep. I did it yesterday.

In 2006, E and I (and some other people? We couldn't remember.) ran in a St. Partick's Day race - the Ras na hEireann - in Davis Square. (Don't ask me to pronounce that. No idea.) This year, she was doing it again. I procrastinated on signing up for it, but, as luck would have it, the girl E was running with couldn't do it, so I swooped in on her spot (which came with a free t-shirt, thank goodness.) (You all should know that I run races for the t-shirts.)

I searched online for a bit, in an attempt to find pictures of people at this race. Everyone (except me) wore green. One in five people wore bobbly shamrocks on a headband:

There was a guy in a speedo (and a bow tie.) There was a guy juggling while he ran. There was a dad pushing a double stroller (Ironman BOB, woot) that passed me in the final quarter mile. There was a person dressed in a huge bear costume. Basically, the people-watching was fabulous.

And, after several false starts - we'd start running, then come to a halt as the people in front of us stopped - the race itself went pretty well. Again, just a 5k, but I didn't feel like dying at any point...

...Until this morning. Post race yesterday, I stayed pretty active - did laundry, played with Code, walked to M3's for dinner. I went to bed, woke up a little sore. Walked Code, got ready, went to work. Here comes the killer - I sat for three hours. At this point, I wanted to take my usual 10:30 break, go to the bathroom, rescue my water bottle from the freezer.

OUCH. I almost turned around and reevaluated having to leave my desk, walking hurt so much. What was I expecting, though? I hadn't run more than a mile since the fall... And, per usual, I didn't really stretch...

Eventually, I got over myself and waddled around the office, realizing that moving helped things. Boring ending, I know.

Quick Quick Quick Food Blog!

2009-03-09T20:26:00.003-04:00

Mainly, I just need to spread the recipe as far and wide as possible. To, you know, the maybe five people who read my blog. And I got it from one of them, so that's four...

It's been pretty quiet on the food front. M1 didn't get a chance to cook last week, and M3 was away for the weekend, so all I have to write about is the meal I made last Tuesday: Salad and Mulligatawny Soup with homemade croutons! The salad consisted of spinach (current leaf of choice,) pears, strawberries, almonds and pecans. I altered the soup recipe to my tastes (two apples, half an onion, bit more curry,) and it was delicious. (Great suggestion, Kelly. I'd gladly accept any others you have!) At the suggestion of the soup recipe, I decided to try homemade croutons.

People, homemade croutons are easy! It's something I never thought of making before, so I was a bit questioning when I read this suggestion. But they are so easy and SO good. (Probably not SO healthy, but, please, I ate a salad and a vegetable-packed soup.) I kind of combined this recipe from a few (I think, can't remember,) so I'm just going to write it out:

Homemade Garlicy Croutons

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Melt some butter (~1/4 c) on stove. Saute some minced garlic in there, just till you can really smell the garlic.

3. Add more spices. I'd suggest salt, pepper, oregano, maybe a bit of paprika...

4. Toss with bread cubes (~3/4" square, but I love a variety of shapes and sizes.)

5. Bake on cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes, till slightly brown.

6. [I forgot to do this, but I read somewhere to sprinkle parmesan cheese over the croutons when they're 2-3 minutes from done. Sounded fabulous.]

7. Let cool, and enjoy! (I made these a day ahead of time to let them get a little more of that delicious stale-bread greatness that croutons should have.)

A million times better than those crumbly, boxed croutons... And, I mean, I always end up with stale bread anyways...

"Could there be a 'Fan Favourite' robot?"

2009-03-09T19:48:00.003-04:00

Ready for the nerdery??? YES.

So, there were two highlights to my past weekend. One was dinner with S. The other was a robotics competition.

Both of my brothers are smarty pants engineers. In high school, they both got involved with a program called FIRST. I'm not entirely sure what the organization does other than this robotics competition, and, frankly, I don't care to read about it on the site right now. The robotics competition, however, is awesome.

This is for high schoolers. Both of my brothers are way out of high school, but both are good people and have mentored teams in their areas since leaving high school. Simon now works for an engineering corporation, which was founded by one of the guys who founded FIRST. (I repeat, smarty pants.) This year, Simon acted as an ambassador at the Boston Regionals, and he said I should swing by.

And I am thrilled that I did!

Each year, FIRST comes up with a new challenge (necessitating that each team makes a new robot every year.) This year's challenge was called "Lunacy." Check it out on YouTube for how it's played. [Note: If anyone can advise how to imbed YouTube videos, that'd be great. I'm clueless.] In case you don't care to watch the video (fair enough,) here are the basics:

- Goal is to get "moon rocks" into your opponents' trailers. You get two points per "moon rock." (There are also special other balls, but they came into play so infrequently and I never understood them, so I'm going to skip them.)

- Preliminaries are played in some number of rounds. Teams are randomly paired and randomly pitted against one another. Teams get points for wins and ties.

- After the preliminaries, teams are seeded. 1-8 teams then pick two other teams (generally other great ones or ones that compliment their abilities) to form an "alliance." ("Alliance"?!?! It's like "Survivor"!)

- Finals are bracketed. Single elimination, but best of three. Alliances remain the same till the end.

I'm not an engineer. However, it's so great to see high school kids come together and make these amazing, creative contraptions. My favourite part of these competitions is always picking robots to root for. My favourite this year was this one:

Its ability to bring the "moon rocks" to the top to dump out in the opponents' trailers was amazing to watch. (Unfortunately, they only made it to the semi-finals.) This sparked my desire to vote for a fan favourite... (Too much reality television, you say?)

Other than the robots, there are lots of great things to enjoy at FIRST Regionals:

- The Blue Man Group played a little number. (This may be Boston-specific. Whatever.)

- The costumes:

A team was called the Ligers. They purchased a lion costume and a tiger costume. And switched heads.

There was a girl dressed as a pirate, carrying around a large wrench. PIRATE WRENCH. GET IT?

(Were you involved in some competition in high school? Do you remember how INTO it you got?)

- Grown men doing the chicken dance...

- Stadium french fries. Yum!

A Letter

2009-03-09T06:24:00.003-04:00

Dear Boston,

I feel like you're sending me mixed signals... Last Monday, there was a foot of snow. This past weekend, it was sunny and lovely, with temperatures in the 50's, possibly hitting 60.

Now? Less than twenty-four hours after the 50-degree weather than melted all the snow? A rain / snow / ice mix???

Really???

Love,

Jennifer

8am Saturday

2009-03-07T08:01:00.002-05:00

Why why why am I awake???

When I woke up (closer to 7,) I don't think I was with it enough to realize the time. Discombobulation due to this cold thing.

So, I've always kind of shunned people with "bad colds." Seriously, it's a cold, how "bad" could it really be? No more. I'm not even sure my cold is that bad, in all reality, but I just feel gross. And my nose feels huge. And the swallowing...

Ugh, yes, it's only a cold, but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

Going to go walk the pup and see if I can get back to sleep...

Onions!

2009-03-02T21:46:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to add one quick note. I think I'm coming around to onions!

I wouldn't consider myself a picky eater, exactly, but being a vegetarian tends to make you come off as picky, no matter what else you'll eat. That being said, there is a list of foods other than meat that I'd generally rather not eat - olives, mayonnaise, mustard, a number of cheeses (this is a whole other story,) and, until recently, onions.

I don't love love love onions, but I've been putting red ones into my salsa recently, and I'm really enjoying them. They're definitely no longer vegetables that I completely shy away from anymore. So, nothing ground-breaking, but I always like it when I come around to foods that I've disliked for so long...

Also, why are they called "red" onions? They're clearly purple:

A Quick Food Update

2009-03-02T20:24:00.008-05:00

In an attempt to not leave it too long without blogging about food (heaven knows I can't go more than a couple of hours without talking about food,) I wanted to catch up on food from the past week!

Tuesday, February 24th

Heuvos rancheros, hash browns, banana burritos. This was mine! So, I generally don't do eggs. Not that I'm against eating them, I'm just not really a fan. However, I went to a restaurant for brunch a little while ago, and I had read about how fabulous their huevos rancheros were. So, I decided to give them a shot. (It was a nice place, so if I was going to like eggs, Metropolis was a great place to start.)

There was quite a bit involved in these, however. In an attempt to put as much non-egg into these as possible, there were several layers:

1. "Black Bean Hash"

2 t oil

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

jalapeno pepper, minced

4 t cumin

medium potato, petite diced

1/2 t salt

15 oz. black beans

2 T cilantro

pepper

1. Saute onion, garlic, jalapeno in oil.

2. Add potato, cook 5-7 minutes.

3. Add cumin, salt, saute briefly.

4. Stir in black beans, heat till cooked through.

5. Stir in cilantro, pepper. [If serving alone, serve with lime!]

2. Eggs [Yes, I'm going to write out how I made scrambled eggs. I had never done it before!]

1. Whisk eggs and a splash of milk, plus salt and pepper.

2. Melt some butter over a medium-high flame.

3. Pour in eggs; cook till they begin to set, then stir (and add red pepper and jalapeno and cheese.)

4. Finish cooking - till there's no more runniness!

3. Salsa [Homemade salsa is my current obsession.]

Tomatoes + corn + cilantro + onion + chilis + garlic + lime juice + salt + pepper (+ black beans)

Layer these, and garnish with avocado slices!

As there's never a good reason to not eat potatoes, I also made spicy hash browns again.

And, because there's never a good reason to not eat dessert, I made Banana Chimichangas. Ummm, yeah, and I fried them in more butter, instead of oil. They were awesome.

Also, in case anyone was wondering (I didn't know!) you can totally nuke eggs for a couple of days, and they're delicious. I had huevos rancheros for a couple of lunches following this dinner!

Sunday, March 1st

Potato soup, cheese biscuits, lemon bars. M3's night! So, I've always been slightly picky about soup - I like minestrones and some tomato-based soups, but I don't do stews (the whole no-meat thing,) and I've never really found many creamy soup that I like. So, I was a little nervous when I heard that M3 was making soup.

NO NEED. It was awesome. I'm still thinking about it. You can see the recipe here. (She left the bacon out, and made it with vegetable stock for my sake - so nice!) She also made cheesy biscuits, which were great for dipping in the lovely soup.

And, there were lemon squares for dessert. I always forget about lemon squares - when I think "dessert," my mind instantly goes to chocolate, sometimes berries...

[I greatly apologize for the lack of pictures of this fabulous meal.]

Tomorrow, it's my night again! I made croutons tonight... And I'll leave you with that for now!

The Best Saturday Since... Awhile

2009-03-01T16:29:00.010-05:00

Yesterday, I became a brunette:

(Please excuse the red eye. I lack photo-altering software on my new computer, apparently. Should look into that.) So far, loving it. It's darker than I anticipated, and I look slightly vampire-ish when my hair's wet, but it's fun! And, frankly, it's just hair. If I don't like it, can change it again in a month or whenever.

Pre-hair cuts, M3 and I went to Chipotle, which is delicious. Unfortunately, we went so early that they didn't have any guacamole yet. I was more distressed by the fact that they didn't offer up anything after the "We don't have guacamole yet." I was seriously just completely ignored for a couple of minutes. However, they suggested I get salsa instead (which was already my contingency plan,) and then gave it to me for free! Phew, Chipotle and I remain on good terms.

We then made a brief Target run. Nothing exciting this time, just general necessities. Definitely was nice to get them in bulk from Target, rather than paying Shaw's prices for shaving gel and dog food...

Not too much later, it was time to begin the evening! Last summer, M1, S, E and I went to Sauciety for Restaurant Week (which is happening again later in the month!) It was, I believe, my favourite meal ever. That's a lofty claim, but everything about it was fabulous. Sauciety's (pronounced "society") thing is that they make food, and then you dip everything in sauces. There were, I believe, twelve sauce choices for the main part of the meal, and then three sauces came with bread.

We started out with wine, and then they bring bread - regular rolls, cranberry-walnut rolls, flat crispy sheets, and little breadsticks. Three sauces came with the bread - a delicious basil-garlic sauce (my favourite for the breads,) an artichoke sauce and a roasted red pepper sauce.

For the main course, I got grilled vegetable skewers (eggplant, peppers, onions)... And sauces. My favourite sauces were the green peppercorn-black trumpet mushroom, chimichurri and the roasted red pepper romesco. The latter was fabulous with the sweet potato wedges. We also got asparagus, mashed potatoes, broccolinis and sea salt fries:

(My friends got some assortment of steak, crab cakes and swordfish. All we delighted.) After the food was gone, I proceeded to sop up the sauces with more bread... Mmmm...

Ummm, and then we had dessert. Possibly, the only upsetting part of the dinner was that there was a list of dessert sauces... But they didn't actually have these. However, the desserts alone were absolutely delicious. We had cheesecake and a creme brulee trio. (My cheesecake was better.) The creme brulee trio was awesome. There was vanilla, chocolate and Bailey's. Yum! Yet another reminder that there is always room for dessert.

After that, it was off to a "Plus One" party. Not SOs... Just "bring someone not on the invite list." Idea was to meet new people. As we all know, I'm generally more likely to chat with my friends than socialize, but I did talk to a few new people. Generally, I thought it was a great idea. Nothing incredibly noteworthy to tell, though.

Sassy new hair, one of the best meals ever, good friends... Great Saturday.

CLARITY x 10

2009-02-27T20:32:00.005-05:00

I'm not a music person. I like songs, and I like bands, and I like dancing, and I like singing along with songs, but I don't track bands. I'm not the one first to know about a new tour or a new album or a new song. No.

My point in this is that I don't go to a lot of concerts. I don't really know the venues around Boston, and I'm not too picky about sound quality. I'll be happy with songs I know that I can dance to a little. And some beer.

Last night, I saw Jimmy Eat World's CLARITY x 10 tour at the House of Blues in Boston.

Jimmy Eat World, I loved. Given that I'm not a music person, M1 told me that they were coming. Jimmy Eat World was a band that I got into my first year of college (2000.) My ex-ex-ex-boyfriend introduced me to them, and I fell in love. Clarity was the album I first heard, and I'd play it over and over. Upon hearing they were touring, I figured they had a new album, and I should probably check up on them, as I hadn't listed to anything new since Bleed American was released in 2001. I downloaded their newest album, Chase This Light, and listened to it, picking a favourite song ("Always Be") and being ready to sing along. Perhaps I should have noticed that Chase This Light was released two years ago, not two months ago; therefore, Jimmy Eat World was probably not promoting their "new" album. No. The tour was called "CLARITY x 10" because a) they were playing songs from Clarity and b) it was a ten-stop tour. (This is clearly stated on their site. I did not think to check the site till tonight.) So, to my surprise and delight, the band played a song I knew from college... And then another... And then "Lucky Denver Mint." And then I began to realize there was nothing "new" happening. I was absolutely thrilled with this, and sang my heart out, probably much to the distress of people around me. (Whatever, M1 and I were stuck next to annoying make out couple. Get a room.)

Interesting things from the concert:

1. M1 got a Corona. In a can.

2. There was a guy with a blue-green mohawk. He knew EVERY WORD. To EVERY SONG. I had never associated Jimmy Eat World with blue-green mohawks. But I will now.

3. A drunk girl accidentally fell into a guy in front of her. He accused her of hitting him, and there was almost a fight. Friends-holding-guys-off-of-each-other almost.

4. Guys tried to start a mosh pit. Really? At Jimmy Eat World?

5. I saw at least five people I knew there. For a city as big as Boston and a venue that size and the fact that I'm not particularly social, that shouldn't have happened.

Great concert. If you happen to live in Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, LA, San Diego or Tempe, I highly suggest you check them out.

The House of Blues, on the other hand, I was less than impressed with. M1 assured me that the acoustics were great. Otherwise, I wasn't incredibly impressed. I'm not sure what would have impressed me, though. It was a big room, high ceilings. There were two levels of balconies on the sides. On the ground floor, the bars spanned the entire sides of the room. That's the fine. The not-so-great? There was weird religious iconography above the stage. (Not Jimmy-related.) There was a coat check, which was great. However, upon leaving, we waiting in line for probably half an hour to collect our coats. Annoying. I guess there's little way around that when everyone leaves at the same time from concerts. (M1 and I decided, therefore, that we should only go there in warmer weather.)

Long story short: Loved Jimmy Eat World, not impressed by the House of Blues.

Happy Diamond Chair Day!

2009-02-25T21:34:00.004-05:00

Today was the day! I'd like to introduce you to David, the Diamond Chair:

Okay, that's David with my tattoo of David. Still working on a good picture of David. Regardless, today was the day that he came home with me. Yay!

At some point, I'll give more random Bertoia / Diamond Chair trivia... I'll also introduce you to my other chairs. But not tonight.

Food!

2009-02-23T20:36:00.014-05:00

Tuesday, February 17th

Salad, pierogies, bread... I shouldn't even write about this, as I didn't really make anything... I had spinach, pear, craisins, almonds and pecans. Toss. I fried pierogies in butter, served them with salsa. And, I cut up some bread from When Pigs Fly - the potato, onion and something-else bread...

[Small insert.] I made a chocolate cheesecake Thursday evening - I had promised my pod that I'd bake something, as it had been awhile. I normally make a chocolate-peanutbutter cheesecake, but a newer podmate of mine doesn't do nuts. I've had my cheesecake recipe for so long that I'm not entirely sure where it came from. Hence, here's the recipe:

Crust:

2 c crushed chocolate graham crackers

1/3 c butter, melted

2 T sugar

Filling:

1 c semisweet chocolate chips

3 x 8 ozs. cream cheese, soft

1 c sugar

3 eggs

1/2 c sour cream (I didn't have any, so I used Greek yogurt.)

3 T flour

2 t vanilla extract

1. Mix together Crust ingredients, press into a 9" springform pan.

2. In a double boiler (small pot in big pot...) melt chocolate.

3. Beat cream cheese and sugar. Blend in eggs. Gradually pour in melted chocolate. Add sour cream (yogurt,) flour and vanilla. Blend till smooth. Pour into crust.

4. Bake at 350, preferably in a water bath, for 55-60 minutes. Turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake inside for an hour.

5. Let cool! Refrigerate! Enjoy! (I like to spread a thin layer of melted hot fudge on top - it tastes good, and it covers any cracks in the cake!)

Friday, February 20th

Salad, French bread pizza. M1 made us dinner before we headed out to watch a friend-of-a-friend play at a bar. Salad had tomatoes and croutons and avocado and mushrooms and yellow pepper and... Am I forgetting anything?

French bread pizzas had basil and mushrooms and... cheese... and I know there was more, but I can't remember!

Add some margaritas, Bud Lights, a cover band and good friends... Great evening!

Sunday, February 22nd

Bow tie pasta, garlic bread, sour cherry cobbler. I think that past with pesto sauce and a side of garlic bread has to fit into my favourite simple meals ever.

M3 made bow tie pasta (one of my favourite shapes of pasta ever) with a light pesto sauce, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and feta. Add thick, buttery, delicious garlic bread.

[Add Oscars.] Add wine.

There was also "sour" cheery cobbler. I didn't find it that sour, but it was delicious. And with fresh whipped cream! Yum!

Oh, bother!

2009-02-23T20:07:00.002-05:00

I love my dog. He is hilarious and (mostly) well-behaved and a true joy in my life.

But sometimes...

I came home today to find the floor of my apartment covered in diarrhea. Arg.

As much as I want to complain, though, I know Code didn't mean to be sick in the apartment. It's truly only when he can't not that accidents happen. And he always feels so bad, moping around while I'm cleaning up. He went straight to his crate when I brought him in from our walk... Really feel bad for the guy. Fingers crossed he's feeling better. [He's currently curled up at my feet, looking as angelic as can be.] Wouldn't give him up for the world!

Plus, there's only so much I can complain, as I treated myself to pizza from the Upper Crust once the clean-up was done...

Dinner and a Movie

2009-02-22T11:52:00.004-05:00

So, I know that "dinner and a movie" is a traditional date. However, it has turned into one of my favourite girl outings. I'm a huge fan of repeating activities that are enjoyed (something like a routine,) and, well, there's a reason that "dinner and a movie" is so commonplace.

Last night, we switched it up and did a movie, then dinner. We saw Confessions of a Shopaholic, fully expecting a thoughtless, silly, fun time. And that's exactly what we got. Without a doubt, the most hilarious scene was when Rebecca and Luke dance while away on a business trip. (May make me feel a bit better about my dancing...) Also, I'm incredibly grateful to have friends that I'm confident would never make me wear a bridesmaid dress like this at their wedding:

Yes, that is a huge butt bow. And multi-coloured tulle. Ack.

After the movie, we went our standard movie restaurant - Cambridge, 1. If you haven't been there and you live in the Boston area, I highly suggest you make it over there. They make these amazing thin crust pizzas with unique toppings. My favourite is the potato, fontina, parmigiano (etc.) pizza - who knew potato (sliced and mashed) would work so well on pizza??? They also have these great breadsticks; you do have to request these, though. And, of course, dip everything in the chili oil with pepper! (And add a bottle of wine...)

All in all, a great evening. Boston folk, get to Cambridge, 1. Non-Boston folk, see the movie if you're in the mood for silly.

Stroller Saturday #7

2009-02-21T12:03:00.007-05:00

Given that I haven't gone to bed yet, I'm going to pretend that it's still Saturday... And the stroller du jour is...

The Joovy Caboose

Basic Stats: Tandem stroller. Includes universal car seat adapter (works with all the usual suspects.) Front seat has 2-position recline. Back area has seat or standing platform for an older child. Suitable from 6 months; suitable from birth with use of a car seat. Available in four colours. Weighs 26 lbs. Both front and back seat will carry up to 45 lbs.

Who Drives These: Smart parents of children with a couple of years between them.

What I Think: If I had to drive a double stroller, I'd want a tandem. I just can't imagine driving a double-wide around... And I know I get slightly annoyed trying to get out of the way of them. This stroller is a brilliant idea, especially if you've got a slightly older child who may or may not want to sit in a stroller all the time - they can easily hop on and off of the rear platform.

Overall Verdict: At only $179.95, the Joovy Caboose is amongst the least expensive doubles strollers you'll find. And, with its unique design, you'll be easily toting around the kids! Granted, it's not ideal for two kids of the same age, but most families end up with, well, at least nine months between kids... It's not the fanciest of strollers, but the high end stroller companies seem to focus on single strollers, so if it's a double you need, you may have to lower your aspirations slightly... In the end, I'm a huge fan of this stroller. I don't see myself needing a stroller, not to mention a double stroller, for years to come, but if I needed one now, this would be high in the running!

Snowboarding: A Relative Success

2009-02-19T20:46:00.006-05:00

I'll start one year ago. My company had a sponsored ski trip up to Sugarloaf in Maine. M3 and I decide to give snowboarding a shot. She's snowboarded a few times before, but not regularly enough that she's really that comfortable with it. I had tired once before, in college, and spent most of the time on my butt or knees and frustrated. (The then-boyfriend knew what he was doing and possibly could have been a little more patient.) In the end, I was stubborn - I know the theory behind snowboarding, so it's just a case of getting my body to follow. Saturday morning, we wake up, get ready, get some breakfast, get our gear... And hit the slopes! ... For approximately five seconds. Not even exaggerating. I fell badly. My back was killing me; I lay face-down in the snow till I could bear to move, at which point M3 helped me back to the lodge, then back to our condo, where I barely moved from the couch for the rest of the day. Two days later, I went to a trade show in NYC for Monday and Tuesday (read: was on my feet all day.) When I returned to Boston, I was still in a lot of pain and decided possibly it may be a good idea to see a doctor. Verdict: Compression fracture. Which made me feel much more justified in all the complaining that I was doing!

Needless to say, the idea of repeating this made me a little nervous.

But, back to Sugarloaf we went. I had declared ahead of time that I was not going anywhere Friday night - I was already nervous enough, I wasn't going to risk being hungover at all. Luckily, much of my condo was on the same page. We made dinner, had some drinks, played some Apples to Apples... And I was in bed pre-midnight.

Saturday was the big day. The conditions were pretty miserable - icy and windy - but it was our one chance. And, it wasn't a complete failure at all. I thought for awhile that M3 was going to leave me because I took SO LONG to get moving. (Sorry, but there were tons of people where we were trying to get going and then there were loads of children in ski school. Loads of children who were way better than me. Whatever.) In the end, though, made it up, made it back and forth and made it down the mountain. (By "mountain," I mean "slight decline.") We did the same slope a few more times (which took quite awhile,) and then decided to grab some lunch.

Note: If you're ever at Sugarloaf, I'd highly suggest Black Diamond Burrito. It's a tiny place, no tables, just a bar, but absolutely delicious.

After lunch and a quick chat with M1 and Cousin, it was back to the slopes. M3 and I grabbed our boards, walked to a lift, strapped our left feet in, took the lift up, fell off the lift (I never made it off a lift without falling) and sat down to strap righty in... And my right binding it shot. I debate for awhile whether I could make it down with half the binding (just one of the straps was broken,) but then remembered how very bad I was and figured that wouldn't be a good idea. My option for getting down the mountain? Snow patrol stretcher:

Totally embarrassing. Even more ridiculous? When I got a new binding, it was broken, too! Finally, on binding number three, we were up and running again. For one more run. We both had uncomfortable falls on that run, and my knees were already quite swollen, and we decided to call it a day.

Saturday evening brought nothing interesting. Other than two of my coworkers coming up to me and yelling, "Did I see you being carted down the mountain on a stretcher???"

Sunday brought outlet shopping, which was fine - not the best, but I found a few things I liked. Including a silver wristlet from Coach. Frankly, it's rare that I go into a Coach outlet and don't buy something. Lack of willpower...

I made it home with lots of aches and bruises... But all bones were in tact, making the weekend a huge success as compared to last year!

A Week in Food

2009-02-13T00:20:00.005-05:00

So... There was less cooking this week, but no less great food!

Monday, February 9th

Happy Birthday, E! Another friend turns three-cubed! We gathered at E's place in Somerville, had fried food (reminiscent of Super Bowl Sunday) and ordered sushi from Hana Sushi. Due to my vegetarianism, sushi's often a bit on the boring side for me. BUT, there's edamame, which I love. And, Hana Sushi has this "New York" roll, which is apple, avocado and salmon - minus the salmon - delicious! Apple in sushi was a fabulous idea.

I also made a cake - a very raspberry cake! Serious raspberry. (I made it in two 8" round pans. I used two 12 oz. bags of unsweetened raspberries, mixing in a bit of sugar to sweeten them up.) Unfortunately, I totally forgot my camera, so no pictures... Yet!

Tuesday, February 10th

Stuffed French Toast, Hash Browns. So, M1 and M2 were busy, so it was just me and M3. I was going to unadventurous and make pasta... But then I got French toast in my head. And breakfast grew from there. I found a recipe for stuffed French toast. I used bananas and strawberries, and for the topping, I used vanilla oatmeal stuff, brown sugar and flour. (I happened to have vanilla oatmeal, rather than just oats.) Also, the best thing that's ever happened to French toast - challah bread! SO GOOD.

This seemed all sweet, so I decided to add potatoes into the mix. Dice potatoes, coat in olive oil, paprika, red pepper, salt, black pepper. Bake at 400 for about 20-30 minutes. Spicy hash browns!

And... Mimosas. Champagne is healthier with orange juice in it, right?

Thursday, February 12th

wagamama. wagamama originated in England, and opened their first US location in Boston a couple of years ago. They are opening another location in the mall where my office is located; it's officially open to the public on Monday, but they had a special preview event. I signed up, and M3 and I got a free appetizer, meal and two drinks apiece! I had edamame (again) and some spicy tofu-noodle dish. And some wine. Yum!

wagamama is a bit of an odd place. The food is great, and I think it's a great place for large groups. However, the seating arrangement could be a little awkward. They have these really long tables, and they seat groups of people altogether... So, it's just not very private. (Luckily, M3 and I were placed next to a guy that we work with and get along with and his girlfriend.) But, good food!

And that's the food for now. I'm heading off to Maine for snowboarding (fingers crossed) tomorrow for the weekend, so I'll be skipping Stroller Saturday. And, hopefully, making it home unscathed, unlike last year!

A Letter

2009-02-13T00:12:00.005-05:00

Dear Dog Walkers of the South End,

I have a dog. I walk him at least three times a day. And, when he poops, I bag it and throw it away. In the trash can.

I'd really appreciate it if you would all follow suit. Especially if / when it gets warmer. Sure, it won't smell as bad in the freezing cold, but what happens when all the ice and snow melt? Exactly...

On one of my much-traversed blocks in the South End, I recently counted no less than nineteen piles. NINETEEN. That is not okay! (Note: I do not normally count piles of dog poop, but I had walked up and down this block several times and noticed all the mess. So, I decided to see what kind of number we were talking... "A lot" just wasn't going to get the point across.)

So, I know it's not fun, but just do it. Pick up the poop. Throw it away. Go home and wash your hands.

Love,

Jennifer

Stroller Saturday #6

2009-02-08T20:30:00.005-05:00

Quick note. I'm watching the Grammy's. What is Carrie Underwood wearing? Me and my lack of wardrobe stylists have an excuse for not looking great, but... Okay, onto strollers. One stroller, to be specific...

The UPPAbaby G-LiTE

Basic Stats: [Not much to say here. Umbrella stroller.] Suitable from 6 months. Available in four colours. Weighs 8.3 lbs., and will carry up to 40 lbs.

Who Drives These: Parents of toddlers. Those who probably have to do a lot of folding and unfolding of their stroller! Those who have done a bit more research about what umbrella stroller to get - not because this stroller is better than others, but it's less common. I've seen the UPPAbaby Vista in the wild on many occasions, but not the G-LiTE.

What I Think: I'm partial to the Maclaren Volo when we're talking extremely lightweight umbrella strollers, but this is a good alternative. (Something cool - the G-LiTE can stand upright when folded.)

Overall Verdict: UPPAbaby's a relatively new company, but I'm not sure that they have that many new ideas. The G-LiTE looks strikingly similar to the Maclaren Volo, and the Vista is a dead ringer for the Bugaboo Cameleon. Retailing at $129.99, the price on the G-LiTE isn't astoundingly low, either. I can't help but be excited to see what UPPAbaby comes out with next, though I'm underwhelmed by their current offering. That being said, the comparison to the Volo should be taken as a compliment - the Volo is a great umbrella stroller!

It's Saturday, ACK.

2009-02-07T22:37:00.002-05:00

Apparently I'm going to miss another Stroller Saturday, as Saturday is almost over, and I have not thought about it. There's been some correlation between me leaving my apartment pre-noon on Saturdays and not getting to the blog.

Tomorrow! We'll pretend I'm prolonging Saturday (???)

The Week in Food

2009-02-06T21:47:00.013-05:00

While it was generally an uneventful week, there was FOOD. Which makes anything and everything better.

Sunday, February 1st

Happy Super Bowl! Or, as I like to call it, "FRIED Day." S and I are fans of fried food. We have been known to eat plates of it for dinner (and then regret it a little later. But it just tasted so good!) The Super Bowl is a wonderful excuse to eat fried.

On a Target excursion the day before, I may have talked S into buying a Fry Daddy. What can I say? We ended up in the kitchen appliances aisles and happened upon deep friers. After S declared that she couldn't spend $40 on one, we turned to leave. And then I saw it. "S, this one's only $25..." And the rest is history.

We fried zucchini, we fried mozzarella, mushrooms and asparagus, we fried sweet potatoes, and we made hush puppies and carb wontons. And by "we," I mostly mean S. There was also guacamole and 7-layer dip and raspberry pinwheel cookies and chocolate chip cookies. It was all wonderful!

And, I'll be honest, I didn't really care who won. I had to be rooting for the underdog, but it really didn't affect my life either way.

Tuesday, February 3rd

An early Thanksgiving! Roasted Vegetables, Sweet Potato Casserole. The thought process going into this was simple. M3 has been away (in Mexico, insert jealousy here,) and many of her "No" foods are very much "YES" foods for me. So, while she was gone, I wanted to do a meal packed with things she wouldn't want to eat.

My first thought was sweet potatoes. (Who doesn't like sweet potatoes? M3, that's who!) During Thanksgiving last year, I made this lovely ("yummy") sweet potato casserole. From there, more Thanksgiving-y thing: roasted vegetables. I roasted potatoes (white and sweet,) parsnips, Brussels sprouts, carrots and asparagus.

I'm a huge fan of all these vegetables. Growing up, my parents made steamed Brussels sprouts, which are probably healthier. But roasted ones are surprisingly delicious. A friend, J, joined us for dinner. He declared Brussels sprouts on his very short "No" list, but agreed to try one... And then he loved them! (Or, at least, he said he did. I thought they were wonderful, so I'll assume he wasn't just humouring me!)

Thursday, February 5th

Salad, Pesto Gnocchi, Garlic Bread. Finally, I got a picture of M1's food!

There were many (good) interesting things about this meal. Well, mainly having to do with the salad. First of all, I tried turnips, which I really can't remember having before. They're lovely little vegetables - nice and crispy! (Also making an appearance in the salad: mushrooms, tomatoes and lettuce. Turnips were the celebrities, though.) The second interesting thing was the dressing - we made it ourselves! M1 was worried about the dressings she had in her fridge, and I'm pretty picky about salad dressing... But she had olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic - Abracadabra! Dressing!

The pasta and garlic bread were great, too. M1 bought this pre-made garlic bread, one that you stick in the oven. But, there was real diced garlic on it and tons of butter. And it was delicious.

(M3! Note the plates!)

All this talking about these has got me thinking about this coming week... I have no thoughts yet on what I'll make. Suggestions? (Kelly???)

My Less-Than-Motivated Week

2009-02-06T21:07:00.003-05:00

'Twas a bit of an odd week. It certainly doesn't help when there seems to be no hot water in my building at the time that I shower every morning. Seriously, it's strange. I get into the shower between 6:45 and 7:00 every morning... There's a bit of warmish water... And then it's gone a minute later. I'm going to work on a test. One of my roommates showered around 6:30 this morning, and she said there was hot water then. (I am usually the first to shower, so it's not a case of my roommates using all the hot water or something.) So, going to see if I can get my tired self out of bed just fifteen to twenty minutes earlier than usual. We shall see.

ALSO. I went to the dentist this morning. For the first time in at least three years. (Whoops.) I just hated going so much back in Richmond that I was just terrified to make an appointment. Finally did though. I'm not going to say that I enjoyed it, but it was a million times better than back in Richmond. Dr. Davis brings his dog to work everyday; he's this adorable, old pup that just lies there and looks friendly. The equipment is high-tech, and Dr. Davis didn't make me feel too bad about not having gone to the dentist in quite awhile.

We had yet another interesting discussion at work today. One of my podmates sent out an email about this kid who got a fork stuff up his nose. I'll refrain from posting pictures, as they're a little gross, but please click here to see the article. Somehow this turned into a "Would you rather..." Would you rather have a fork stuck up your nose OR break your arm? I voted strongly for the broken bone (it's happened thrice before, what's once more?) but, for reasons I still cannot fathom, there was a strong argument for the fork. No, thank you!

Stroller Saturday #5

2009-02-01T13:18:00.009-05:00

Okay, okay, it's Sunday. Yesterday was busy in the morning, and then I was unmotivated by the evening to do this.

Which was a bit of a shame as I'm wicked excited about this stroller...

The Stokke Xplory

I'm so excited about this one because Stokke recently added a new colour to the Xplory line-up: Yellow! There are just so few yellow strollers out there. I can understand why - manufacturers are only going to make the colours that are going to sell, and you just don't see demand for yellow strollers like you do for pink, blue or red ones. However, I get excited over unique!

Basic Stats: Includes chassis, seat, (bassinet in the Complete version,) seat insert (for smaller children,) rain cover, mosquito net and shopping bag. Seat / bassinet height is adjustable. Adjustable footrest. Adjustable handle height. Reversible seat; two-position recline facing the world, three-position recline facing the pusher. Solid rubber tires. Compatible with Graco SnugRide, Peg Primo Vaiggio and Maxi-Cosi Mico with the purchase of an adapter. Lots of matching accessories available. Suitable from birth. Available in seven colours (now!) Weighs 23 lbs., and will carry up to 45 lbs.

Who Drives These: Fancy parents! The Xplory is always sure to turn heads. These are growing in popularity, but are still relatively rare in the wild. They're also amongst the most expensive strollers out there - the Basic version runs $999.99, and the Complete version, which includes the bassinet / carry cot, will cost you $1,199.99. People who drive Xplorys love them, though. I've talked to a few people about them, and they love to talk about the stroller and all its features.

What I Think: I really like the Xplory. Stokke is an interesting company - they have focused mostly on furniture but are really working to expand the reach of their stroller. I love the colours this is available in, and, of course, I'm a huge fan of the unique look of the stroller. The price is a bit shocking, but the Basic version is only $100 more than the Cameleon, which so many people do already have.

Overall Verdict: The height of the Xplory is its stand-out attribute, and I think it's a good one. There are many pictures of the stroller being just rolled up to a table, rather than needing a separate high chair. The only downsides that I can really come up with are a) the price (whoa,) and b) the shopping basket - I just can't imagine how that bag can hold that much stuff. (Apparently, I plan on carrying a lot when I have a kid to stroll around.) Overall, though, very cool, distinctive stroller!

Thanks to Stokke for taking a chance on Yellow! Along with the Yellow Xplory, Stokke recently introduced a new accessory set for the Xplory - the Moods Accessory Kit. These include a canopy, parasol, diaper wallet and bottle bag and add a bit of pizzazz to an Xplory. Available in a couple of colour combinations, this cute new kit give you some options to make your Xplory stand out in a crowd... As if the Xplory needs that!

Au Revoir, Russell Thomas!

2009-01-29T19:46:00.003-05:00

My apartment recently had an unwelcome visitor. He was a little mouse.

One day, roommate S said to me, "I think we keep the place pretty clean, but... I saw a mouse a few nights ago." Roommate S is much more of a night owl than myself, so she spent many a late night hearing his "rustling."

After S told us about him, roommate K and I were watching television one night. She startled and said, "Did you hear that?!?!" I hadn't, but I went right to investigate. After freaking out - may I remind you there was a mouse behind our microwave - I went to try and catch him. And failed. Miserably. After chatting with K about what we should do, both of us came to the conclusion that we should name him. Obviously. K picked out "Thomas."

Upon discussing Thomas with S, we discovered she, too, had named him - Russell. "Because he rustles!" Hence, Russell Thomas.

I bought (humane) mouse traps, and set those up, probably a week ago. After a few false trappings (probably it just got hit,) this morning I heard him. Picking up the trap, I knew Russell Thomas was in there!

While this was exciting (as no one really wants a mouse around,) I then had to figure out what to do with him. I wasn't going to outright kill him. I considered throwing him in the trash, but that seemed really mean - he'd die, and slowly. I wanted to release him, but I was really worried that someone would yell at me. I mean, we didn't want a mouse in our apartment, others probably didn't want one being released outside of theirs.

Too bad. That's what I ended up doing.

So, Russell Thomas, we wish you the best, but please don't return. Pass the message along to your friends!

FOOD

2009-01-28T19:53:00.026-05:00

This has been a week and a half coming... I've been meaning to catch up on babbling about all the food my friends and I have made over the past couple of weeks.

Friday, January 16th

"Smushed" Potatoes, Veggies, Chicken. M1 had a bunch of people over for "board" games - love them. She made a variety of things, including "smushed" potatoes, which were my favourites. She doesn't own a masher, so they had larger chunks than most mashed potatoes - the perfect combination of mashed potatoes and roasted potatoes! It was a lovely dinner, and a lovely evening.

(We played Apples to Apples and Celebrity. Both great games for more than six people. It's just so hard to get six people crowded around a board...)

Sunday, January 18th

Garlic Bread, Pasta [Right.] M3 made some bow tie pasta with vegetables (mushrooms and peppers, I think.) And garlic bread, my favourite pasta side.

Bow ties are also one of my top pasta shapes. Granted, there's a time for everything, but bow ties are almost always welcome. I've never been a spaghetti person. Holy moley. There are a lot of pasta shapes. Oh, bow ties are officially "Farfalle." Other favourites are Rotini (spiral, for pasta salads,) Ziti, Ditalini (for Minestrone) and, well, lots of stuffed pastas (Ravioli, Gnocchi, Tortellini, etc.)

End feelings on pasta shapes.

Tuesday, January 20th

Tortilla Soup [Left,] Quesadillas, Pinwheels [Below right.] My night! Also, Inauguration Day! Yay! Possibly because I wanted a margarita, we ended up with Mexican. I made Tortilla Soup, which was lovely, if I do say so myself. (And I do.) Quesadillas were simple enough - cheese, hot peppers, black beans and corn.

Dessert... I made these "really healthy" Cream Cheese Chocolate Chunk Pastries. Nevermind the fact that pastry sheets are absolutely terrible for you. They taste delicious!

I would suggest a few changes to the soup. Less oil! (Or a sheen results over the top of the soup.) Someone in the reviews suggested petite diced tomatoes - I was a huge fan. Frozen corn - because I hate canned vegetables. Two cans of green chilis (as three is just a bit much.) Now... Go!

Wednesday, January 21st

BBQ, Fries. M1 made BBQ chicken for the omnivores, and a BBQ veggie burger for me. And my two favourite versions of French fries - seasoned and curly and sweet potato. Yum!

Sunday, January 25th

Polenta-Stuffed Peppers [Right.] These were awesome. They looked so pretty! I just spent a few moments looking for the recipe M3 used for these, but couldn't find it... Also, I had no idea what polenta was; that shall not be an issue going forward.

Another great discovery here was Newman's Own Roast Garlic Balsamic Dressing. I'm not big on many condiments, including most salad dressings, but this one was great!

Tuesday, January 27th

Risotto Trio. I made three risottos, which was a bit of a juggling act, as risottos take a fair amount of hands-on work. (The "trio" part of it was planned without thinking. It worked out in the end.)

I was most excited about the Mushroom Risotto, but it turned out to be my least favourite of the three. It wasn't bad, just the other two were better. My favourite was the Butternut Squash Risotto. I made a few alterations (from the reviews.) I roasted to squash, with some nutmug and salt - for 20 minutes at 350. (I'm not big into onions, so I probably used only a quarter.) Obviously, I used vegetable stock; and I used only 2.5 to 3 cups of it - nowhere close to five cups! It. Was. Awesome. Lastly, there was a Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto. Here, again, vegetable stock and less onion.

And... Now we're up to date. With what I've been eating, at least! It seems that family dinners are taking a bit of a hiatus for a week - M3 is off to Mexico, and M1 is heading to my home state for the weekend. However, since the Super Bowl is on Sunday, I can see loads of FRIED in my near future!

Stroller Saturday #4

2009-01-24T16:24:00.007-05:00

Today, we come to possibly the most-recognized stroller of the stars...

The Bugaboo Cameleon

First of all, why did Bugaboo insist on spelling "Cameleon" without the h??? Honestly, I have no idea.

Basic Stats: Includes chassis, seat / bassinet frame, bassinet fabric / structure, seat fabric / structure, underseat bag, raincover and carry bar. Handlebar rotates so that either (lockable) swivel wheels are facing forward (normal) or large, foam-filled tires are facing forward (for rough terrain.) Height-adjustable handlebar. Reversible seat has three-positive recline. Requires purchase of an adapter, but compatible with the Peg Primo Viaggio, Graco SugRide and Maxi-Cosi Mico car seats. Tons of colour-coordinated accessories available, including footmuffs, canopies, diaper bags, etc. Suitable from birth (using bassinet.) Available in a zillion colour combinations. (Reality: Base is available in six normal colours, plus denim. Tailored Fabric is available in nine canvas colours, six fleece colours, denim, and, in a few weeks, four Paul Frank limited edition patterns. Oh, plus the Bugaboo by Marc Jacobs, pictured below.) Weighs 20 lbs., and will carry up to 45 lbs.

Who Drives These: Seemingly, all of Hollywood. Claudia Schiffer, Matt Damon, Gwen Stefani actually owns one of the fifteen Cameleons designed by Marc Jacobs:

(I love the idea of a black frame, myself.)

Otherwise, lots of non-celebrities also drive this. I have a hard time walking down the streets of the South End of Boston without encountering one of these. (And, it's all but impossible to not encounter at least a Bugaboo of some sort, Cameleon, Frog or Bee.) Cameleons have become something of a status symbol.

What I Think: Well, I can't not love all the colour options! My favourite is the one pictured above, with the red base and orange fabrics. This stroller is packed with features, between the versatile handlebar to the different wheeling options. You can even take the swivel wheels off to pull it in the snow! The coolest part, however, is that Bugaboo understood that a stroller with this many features was possibly going to be a little confusing, so they colour-coded it! Everything white on the stroller represents some action - Push certain buttons, and the seat comes off. Push others and the seat reclines. Another white button is the brake, another allows you to flip the handlebar over. Sure, it may take some figuring out what button is for what (though they make sense if you think for a hot second,) but you know you'll get it to work if you push everything white!

Overall Verdict: I really like the Bugaboo Cameleon. The only problem? So does everyone else. For my stroller, I'd want one that I wasn't going to see everywhere. I'm not asking for a one-of-a-kind, but I'd like to be able to walk around and not run into ten of the same in one stroll. For $899, it's not cheap, but it does have a lot of great features, and it's cool-looking. For those will to spend the money, it's certainly not a bad options, and certainly not one that you wouldn't already be thinking of! It's definitely not an umbrella stroller - folding this guy is a bit of a bear (it involves removing the seat, sometimes the wheels, too, and then folding,) so it's not the most transportable, but if you're using it in the city on a daily basis, it's a smooth push!

[Final note here. If anyone ever wants my opinions on strollers, please let me know, I'll definitely have them!]

Tattoos (aka, Catch Up, Part One)

2009-01-23T23:08:00.006-05:00

Erm, it's been awhile. It's been a bit of a busy week, but business leads to actually having things to write about. In an attempt to a) not bore those that read this, and b) not bore myself, I'm breaking my catch-up post into a few posts.

Back to the tattoos first! So, last Sunday, my incredibly brave friend, S, and I headed over to the tattoo shop, which I love. (I swear, people-watching doesn't get much better than in tattoo shops. Walk-in days are best, but, really, oddballs can show up at any time!) We had appointments that began at noon, and it was snowing, so all the staff was a bit late, but we just hung out. S had declared she was going first (get it over with!) so it was just a case of waiting for John to be ready, talking with S, drawing it up, getting it priced, John setting up the room... And so on. S was a champ, though! There was a bit of time when she felt dizzy - which it totally normal! Thank goodness, she said something! John said that there are generally two things that happen if someone doesn't tell him that they're not feeling well - they either pass out OR they "power vomit." I was thankful to avoid both of those scenarios. But, after some glucose tablets and water, we were back in business and all went smoothly. And the results??? A pretty flower!

... A pretty flower resulting in a hilarious story a few days later. S is a high school math teacher. Her students are, well, they're not the angels I was in high school, let's just say that. (I'm not being sarcastic here.) S tends to wear a sweatshirt to school, and then change into a more professional, blazer thing for work. Wednesday, however, she forgot to change before her kids came into the room. As she lifted her shirt over her head, apparently her shirt came up a bit, and her kids saw her tattoo, at which point they freaked out about it. There were whispers of "I never thought Ms. H would have a tattoo!" Seriously, they probably talked about it at lunch. I kind of figure they may respect her a little more now; given the reason, I can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing. Generally, they should have just respected her from the beginning...

After S was set and we had had some rejuvenating milkshakes from Ben & Jerry's, it was my turn! (Also of note, every time we said the word "milkshake," John would go "Did you know that my milksha

ke brings all the boys to the yard?" Hilarious coming from a thirty-something, heavily-tattooed guy.) When John saw what I wanted, he said something along the lines of "Remember how we talked and laughed during S's tattoo? Yeah, we won't be doing that with yours." I should have realized this, but straight lines are a tattoo artist's nightmare. Whoops.

Oh well, an hour and a bit later, it turned out sa-weet! I'm loving it. (And now beginning to think of what's next on my list...)

However, back to my chair. I realized in my earlier post, I posted the Knoll poster of the chair... But not actually what the chair looks like. (In trying to explain what the tattoo was going to look like to a coworker, "It's from an ad for a chair. But it doesn't look like a chair," apparently didn't really describe much.) Here's the love of my modern design life, the Bertoia Diamond Chair:

I dream of having a bunch of these in black, with various red / orange / yellow seat pads. In real life, I actually don't own one quite yet, but it's coming soon! (Probably in chrome, a close second.)

The Diamond Chair was designed in the early 50s - I believe it went into production in 1952 - by Harry Bertoia, an Italian-bord designer known most for his metalwork. Actually, I just learned (wonders of the internet!) that Bertoia designed the fountain at Marshall University that commemorates the plane crash victims (1970.) Makes me want to watch "We Are Marshall" again. (The fountain and the fact that it was a great movie.) Anyways, the Diamond Chair has been amongst my favourites ever since I discovered the joys of modern design.

However, some joker named Douglas Homer thought that it would be funny to go from "Harry Bertoia" to "Hairy Bertoia," and made this abomination of my chair:

Ack! I'm not impressed. Between the garish colour and the fact that these sponge cords completely hide the beautiful design of the chair... I just do not like it. At all! Give me the original!

I Officially Have a Tattoo of a Chair

2009-01-18T21:17:00.004-05:00

YES! Today was lovely. It began a little earlier than I prefer my Sundays to begin, but I woke up at 7am, completely wired for the day. Luckily, there were breakfast / brunch plans, so I met M3 at the bus stop, and up to Cambridge we headed. Lovely food and coffee at Crema Cafe, where I had only been once before. And, of course, lovely conversation.

Then... To Chameleon! I'll save the story for another day, but I just couldn't wait to share a) the fact that S, fearer of all things pointy, got a tattoo, and b) the pictures of them!

S's:

Mine:

[See earlier post for poster it came from.]

Short post, but I need to catch up a bit on sleep...

Stroller Saturday #3

2009-01-17T08:54:00.005-05:00

Today, I chose my stroller. Mainly because I forgot to run the random number generator on my stroller list at work...

The Quinny Buzz 4-Wheel Stroller

This stroller is new to the world in 2009, with a slight alteration on the original Quinny Buzz, which has three wheels. The more the better?

Basic Stats: Includes stroller, adapters (for Maxi-Cosi Mico Car Seat,)bug net, rain shield, removable seat pad. Adjustable handlebar. Two-position, reclining seat. Reversible seat. Rear wheel suspension. Adjustable footrest. Awesome unfolding technology, using gas springs to automatically unfold. Scotchgard-protected foam seat. Suitable from 6 months; suitable from birth with use of Dreami Bassinet. Available in four colors. Weighs 26 lbs., and will carry up to 40 lbs.

Who Drives These: I see these strolling around the streets of Boston fairly regularly these days. (Actually, that's a total lie. I've never seen this 4-wheel version in the wild. I'm on the lookout! But, to group the Buzz 4 in with the Buzz 3 is not too big of a leap.) I associate this stroller with chic, hip parents. Chic, hip daddies, actually. With the cool unfolding mechanism, I can't help but wonder if it was a dad out there that wanted to add a little wow-factor to his stroller...

What I Think: This stroller is definitely in my top ten for "general strollers" (ie, not lightweight, not jogging.) I swing back and forth almost monthly on how much I love it. It's definitely cool-looking, and it's definitely got some cool features. I like the fact that Quinny came out with a four-wheel version of this, and the three-wheeled one always looked a little precarious to me. However, I don't like the new colours. 2008 colours included my favourite - orange! 2009? Black (classic, I know, but unexciting,) "Strawberry" (an ugly red-pink,) "Apple" (more of an olive green) and Gold (which is the most exciting colour, and a little on the daring side. How many yellow strollers do you see around?) Regardless, I miss the orange.

Overall Verdict: Luckily, I don't have a child yet, and can therefore hold out in the hopes that Quinny rethinks their colours on this stroller, truly bringing it into the running for me! At $629.99 (see here,) it's not cheap, but not too ridiculous either. (Cool unfolding feature!) (Oh, of course there's a video of the stroller. The lady is British, so that's fun. It is a long video - the cool unfolding happens right at the end, I suggest fast-forwarding...)

And... That's it for this stroller!

[No Title.]

2009-01-15T20:06:00.004-05:00

I sat for a few moments trying to think of some sort of clever title. And then realized I had more to ramble about and should just get on with it!

I work in what is probably one of the nerdiest groups at my company. We embrace the nerdiness. Today, in a little afternoon break, one of my coworkers sent around a little brain-teaser. I can't find the exact image (and I'm not sure what image program I have on this new computer,) so I'm going to do my best to recreate it.

In the above image, the triangle is an equilateral triangle. The length of each of its sides is 6. What is the radius of the circle?

Go!

Wait, no one else cares?

Well, it provided a bit of amusement for us. And then someone sent around a "Japanese IQ Test." I highly suggest you try this. It's not that incredibly hard, but definitely addicting. And a little messed up - be sure to read the rules, but the parents beat the kids if left in the wrong combinations! (Messed up, funny, I go back and forth.)

We did get lots of work done, though! Really!

Mostly, it was nice to have a bit of a lighter day after yesterday. And, thank goodness, tomorrow is Friday. And Friday is game night at M1's!

Tough Day.

2009-01-14T21:39:00.003-05:00

'Twas a tough day. That's all the time I'm going to give that here.

On the upside: American Idol. Does the show find the weirdos of America, or do the weirdos flock to the show? I've watched most of he seasons (sans a few in the middle,) but I'm always shocked by the ridiculous people who think they can sing. Or, they don't even think they can sing, but they have the stupidity (guts?) to go on national television acting ridiculously. Truly amazing.

And, we're only two nights into auditions. Which means there are at least two more to go. I'm feeling smarter by the day.

Two Down...

2009-01-13T21:47:00.011-05:00

(I was all proud that I had blogged for, what, eight days straight. So much for that!)

So far, the dinner plan has worked out excellently. Granted, it's lasted two nights so far, but it's a start! M3 made enchiladas on Sunday night. They were lovely. Actually, I just looked up what enchiladas actually are. M3's made them a couple of times, but, honestly, I didn't really know what they were. You know, besides delicious.

Last night, I made Spicy Vegetarian Lasagna. I believe I'd made it before, back in college when I did a similar everyone-cooks-once-a-week thing with my then bf's house. A couple of notes: 1) I only needed, maybe, 3/4 of the noodles suggested, and 2) it's not spicy. Good though! It took longer than I realized (missed the sauce taking over a half hour to make,) but I had a random salad (spinach, tomatoes, apples and almonds.) (And wine.) Regardless, it was a lovely night full of good food and good conversation.

(Another goal: Take pictures of our culinary creations!)

I can't believe it's only Tuesday night. Somehow, the week has seemed so much longer. I had a doctor's appointment this morning, which was a bit of a shock as I prepared for it - got to get back in the (diabetes) swing of things! Another goal for the year: Get A1C down to 7.

But, really excited for the weekend. Due to weather, we didn't end up celebrating S's birthday (with S, at least) last weekend and decided on this coming Saturday instead. There's also a possibility of a game night at M1's. AND. Most exciting??? Tattoo (#1 of 2009.) I'm going to get the center Diamond Chair from this beautiful, old Knoll advertisement:

(The colours are showing up weird for me... See here for the real deal! Not that it really matters; I'm getting the larger, black-lined design in the middle.) There is even more exciting stuffs to this story, but I don't want to jinx it, so I'll leave you on the edge of your seats for a few more days!

And, with that, to bed for me!

Resolutions and Dinner!

2009-01-11T01:04:00.003-05:00

Tonight I had dinner with two of my closest friends - M1 and M3. We had dinner at Ivy, one of my favourite eateries in Boston (even though they changed the menu...)

Another of my "New Year's" resolutions has been to spend less on food. I do not mean "eat less" by this, but I do spend a fair amount on take-out and eating out...

So, we came up with a plan. Since we all live fairly close to one another, we would all cook once a week and have the others over. M3 claimed Sundays, I've got Tuesdays and M1 is going to do Mondays or Wednesdays, whichever is better. Wicked excited about this plan - hanging out with friends (who allow my pup over) and home-cooked foods - what could be better???

Stroller Saturday #2

2009-01-10T14:44:00.007-05:00

#2! Unless I'm having a truly inspired Saturday, I've decided to randomly pick a stroller to write about each Saturday. This week's lucky stroller?

The Kolcraft Contours Options 4 Wheeler Stroller

Basic Stats: Includes reversible stroller, cup holder and universal car seat adapter (compatible with Graco SnugRide, Peg Primo Viaggio, etc.). Reclining seat. Suitable from birth. Available in Red and Blue. Weighs 29 lbs., and will carry up to 45 lbs.

Who Drives These: These strike me as Bugaboo knock offs. The seat shape, the frame shape, the wheels... All screams "Bugaboo"... Just not quite the same quality. However, for $139.95, this stroller is clearly a deal. I think that people driving these are looking for the modern style without the price.

What I Think: I think these are... okay for the price. Clearly, if we're comparing them to Bugaboos, they're a lot lower on the quality scale, but they're also less than a quarter of the price of the Frog. I definitely think there are better strollers out there - even for the price. The Options Stroller has very few features, so it seems that much of what you're paying for is the shape.

Overall Verdict: I think there are better strollers out there for the money. If it's strictly the style you're looking for, find a different favourite style or find some more money. (Regardless, anyone who's seen a Bugaboo before will be able to tell the difference, so don't actually try passing this off as one...)

And that's it for this Stroller Saturday! If you're in the Boston area, stay safe and warm tonight!

A Brief Update

2009-01-09T21:42:00.018-05:00

Really brief. BUT, I ran through five of my ten magazines tonight. (Plus, a J. Crew catalog and a CB2 catalog.) That's progress!

Along similar lines, new (or old) CB2 things I'm in love with:

bubble ball strand

sol console table

gigi stemware

Fun! Now you've got a couple of ideas of what to get me for... MLK Day (?)

"This is 'Top Chef,' Not 'Top Scallop'!"

2009-01-08T20:23:00.008-05:00

If you've met me, you know that I love reality television. (I currently have the new season of "The Real World" on in the background.) However, "Top Chef" is my current love.

My obsession with food reality television is a new one. Partly due to the lack of cable television through most of my life. Now, though? Between "Top Chef" (favourite = Jamie... and Radhika,) "Ace of Cakes" (love Geoff,) "Ultimate Recipe Showdown," "Amazing Wedding Cakes" and "Iron Chef" (where I always root for Michael Symon,) it's a wonder I'm not a better chef... Also, I'm constantly amazed by my intrigue in these shows - it's not like I get to try the food!

That being said, I occasionally come away with some good tips / tricks / hints. While watching "Ultimate Recipe Showdown: Cakes," the winning "birthday cake" has turned into a true winner in my life. I bring you, courtesy of Doreen Howarth, the Put-the-Lime-in-the-Coconut Cake! (Slight changes: I used coconut extract instead of coconut oil. Also, I used an additional 0.5 c butter instead of shortening for the icing.) It's always awesome to see something being made on television and actually being able to execute it yourself! I made this for S's birthday yesterday:

The coconut is green because it's grass, people!

Drop the Chalupa (!) (?)

2009-01-07T22:51:00.003-05:00

Today is my friend's S's birthday. (Happy 27th!) It was a delightful evening, full of joy!

After consuming some delicious Thai food (from Lemon Thai, my favourite Boston-area Thai place,) we chatted for awhile, and then decided it was game time.

And by "game time," I mean literally that. It was time to play a game.

The game du jour? Catch Phrase! I had never played this before, but it's similar to Taboo, in that you are trying to get other people to say a word or phrase. Unlike Taboo, some of the "phrases" are a little more obscure.

We had "Swiss Alps." We had "Numero Uno." We had "Budget Cuts" and "Tom Brokaw." But then:

Drop the Chalupa.

This was something I was supposed to get my friends to say. A) I've never heard that

before. B) I'm not entirely sure what a chalupa even is, so how am I supposed to get my friends to say it? So, I just busted out laughing and said it aloud. This prompted theories of some stoned guy planning the electronic game having a roommate (named Frank) who worked at Taco Bell. (Thanks, M1!) All in all, absolutely hilarious. (Perhaps less so in the retelling, but...)

I did get curious, though. According to Urban Dictionary, "drop the chalupa" has two meanings:

1. Give birth

2. Take a large, ahem, dump (especially, and I quote, after consuming f

ood from Taco Bell)

And... I think that makes me done for the night!

Happy Birthday, S! Inspiration:

"New Year's Resolution"

2009-01-06T21:10:00.001-05:00

The quotes are because I generally try to make "resolutions" all year long. This time, it's just actually close to New Year's...

(Also, perhaps if I document it, it'll happen???)

I would like to read my magazines in a timely manner. That's what's supposed to happen. Magazines are slightly fluffy, you browse through them... and then the next one comes in a month.

Right?

NO.

I currently have (unread):

- Three Real Simples

- Two dwells

- One Tattoo

- Three Bostons

- One Met Home

That's what I could find, anyways. TEN unread magazines. What? I mean, many of these don't even apply anymore. Thanksgiving and Christmas are over...

(In my defense, most of these are left to browse till I can really focus, as I was to get something out of them. Apparently, however, I'm unable to focus. Ever.)

But, seriously?

Camera Camera Camera

2009-01-06T08:17:00.001-05:00

I just purchased a camera! YYYYEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

And, it is beautiful. Okay, possibly more expensive than I needed, but I just fell in love with it at Best Buy over the weekend. It's so pretty and cool...

I'll ramble more when it arrives. (Actually, the "estimated delivery date" is Thursday! If this happens, I'll be thrilled. And then I'll let you know the site I got it from. Or, I'll let you know the site, but be complaining about it if it takes longer...)

Also, bought a cute case.

Wicked psyched. Now whenever I think, "Oh, Code is being so cute," I can take a picture and show you all! (And by "you all," I'm assuming that someone may find my blog at some point in the future.)

Fun!

A Letter

2009-01-05T08:14:00.003-05:00

Dear South End,

Please do something about your icy sidewalks. My walk with my dog took twice the normal time, and I freaked him out every time I slipped. Luckily, on my walk to work, I remembered what we do in "the south" - walk in the road. Cars love that.

Mainly, though, I just wish to avoid falling and bruising. Shortly after that, I wish to avoid looking ridiculous as I slip and let out random sounds.

Love,

Jennifer

Dog People v. Not Dog People

2009-01-04T20:58:00.001-05:00

So, there is someone that comes over to my apartment fairly regularly. She / he comes in every time and immediately comments on how "smelly" Code is. Let's get something straight from the start, here. Cody smells like... a dog. For those of you unfamiliar, Cody is, in fact, a dog.

So, this person immediately complains that Code smells. Finally, yesterday, I yelled. "Don't come over if you think he smells!" "He smells like a dog!"

I know, possibly he / she was kidding and "bonding" with my dog. But, frankly, I was tired of hearing her / him say that my dog smelled. Hence the counter.

And then I felt a bit bad. Perhaps I wasn't being the best welcome committee...

And it got me thinking.

And I realized... (I think) This person simply isn't a dog person! She / he pretends to know a lot about dogs, but, frankly, she / he doesn't really seem to like dogs. This theory is supported by a recent comment. She / he recently met a "teacup Yorkie" (read: ridiculously miniscule dog,) and if she / he were to ever have an "indoor dog," it would be one of those:

(Can you feel me scoffing slightly?)

While this seems crazy to me, I can't help but understand it. I, myself, dislike many types of cheese, and I know this seems equally offensive to some! So, I can do nothing but respect this. Assuming, of course, that this person shut up about my dog "smelling."

I've grown to hear that people are either dog people or cat people. I don't think this is the case. It's got to be more something like you're either a dog person or you're not and you're either a cat person or you're not. This visitor may find dogs in her / his life that she / he may like, maybe even love, but she / he will never have the instant playfulness with dogs that I enjoy so much. And, she / he will probably never proactively go out to get a dog. I pity that she / he may never have that unconditional love thing. Dogs are so great for that.

Basically, this realization (no matter that it was based off of little research and my own personal opinions) reminded me that people differ and that my opinions may not spread to everyone. (Though, you know, the world may be a better place if that were the case.) As long as this person is nice enough to Code and survives me every time she / he says that Code smells, all will be okay.

I wish I had time to look up the theories and studies that have been done on this. (There must be some.) As it stands, though, it's time to begin thinking about reading and bed.

Seriously, though, check this guy out! What's not to love???

Stroller Saturday #1

2009-01-03T10:23:00.003-05:00

Welcome to my newly-created blog. Who'd've thunk?

Due to my deep-seated love for strollers, I'm going to set aside Saturdays to babble about strollers. (Holy crap. Did I just commit to blogging on a weekly basis? About strollers? I don't even own a stroller!) (C'est la vie!) Here we go!

Given that I've not done this before, I'm not going to start out with my favourite stroller. Nor my second favourite. I'm going to begin with one that is a solid stroller, just not one I'd ever see myself owning. I am, after all, a total stroller snob.

The Bumbleride Indie

You'll find quickly that I am likely to focus more on what the stroller looks like, rather than the practical usage of it. However, I'll be sure to give some basics as well.

Basic Stats: Includes stroller, footmuff, cup holder. Includes universal car seat adapter (which definitely works with the Graco SnugRide and Peg Perego Primo Viaggio.) Has an adjustable handlebar(!) Front wheel can swivel or lock. Four-position reclining seat. Suitable from birth. Available in five colours. Weighs 20 lbs., and will carry up to 45 lbs.

Who Drives These: (This is the part where I tell you the connotations I have with this stroller. Fun!) I associate the Bumbleride Indie with hip parents. Bumbleride is a fun brand, though not incredibly well-known. I think the people driving an Indie are either wanting a stroller that isn't on every block (anywhere) or wanting a design-focused stroller... But without too big of a price tag! (Indies retail for $399.99.)

What I Think: So, I have a mostly-love relationship with this stroller. It's fairly compact, love the aluminum frame for the most part. I love love love the Ruby Red colour - the lining reminds me of some Knoll Textile, which I'm thinking must have been discontinued, as I can't find it. In the end, though, it's just not quite sleek enough. All the clearly-visible hardware just throws me off a bit.

Overall Verdict: For under $400 (see here,) versatile in its ability to work for light jogging, and really great colour choices, I love seeing these in the wild. Great stroller with lots of included features... Just not quite on my short list!

And that's it (on strollers) till next week! I promise more single, childless, twenty-something-appropriate blabbering in the near future!