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Doesn't that take away that I went through all the Andy Hardy books?

Success

Sometimes I make a delicious chicken pot pie.

It's from Real Simple and it came out perfect and scrumptious.

What makes it a good Monday morning.

Watching two episodes of How I Met Your Mother on the subway.

Basically the universe conspired to make me start watching this show. Last week Armine asked me if I've ever seen it, which I hadn't, and we watched the pilot on DVD. Then when Sam came on Friday she asked me the same thing and just happened to have the whole first season on DVD. Am starting to feel a bit addicted. Off to download more episodes from iTunes.

No Kris Kringle.

I had high hopes for Coraline and had read good things about it, so I was looking forward to seeing it this weekend when Sam came to visit. It seemed interesting and quirky and I liked that it was made using old-school stop-motion animation rather than computer animation.

In the end though? I never got into it and plot was just not compelling or even followable in some parts, which maybe is because it is based on a book. It definitely could have been suffering from the whole Harry Potter Syndrome where people who haven't already read the books don't really have a prayer of understanding what the hell is going on.

On the plus side, we got to wear fun 3-D glasses, and the visuals in the movie were lovely.

give em the old zazzle-dazzle

So the first Hungry Girl recipe trial was not such a huge success. I tried this Zucchini muffin business I was talking about earlier this week. Not gonna lie, I did not follow all the substitutions the recipe calls for, like Splenda instead of sugar and Egg Beaters instead of eggs. But I tried being really good about some of the other substitutions, like whole-wheat flour (actually not that expensive at Whole Foods), and applesauce instead of oil.

Then it got a little hairy with the substitutions when I was halfway through combining all the ingredients and I realized I didn't actually have any baking powder, plus I was all out of salt. Salt! After consulting with my mom she suggested I look up the substitution recommendations in the Joy of Cooking, and what do you know, 1 tsp baking soda plus 1/2 cup yogurt can take the place of a tablespoon of baking powder in a recipe. So cool, right? However, JoC does not provide an equivalent for salt, probably because one does not actually exist, so I just kind of had to shake the dregs out of the salt shaker and hope for the best.

As you can see from the lovely photograph above, they didn't so much do the whole rising thing and came out looking a bit shriveled, but they tasted pretty okay. I'm willing to give Hungry Girl another shot though.

Free book pile scores

Another double-scoring day in the free book piles today, and even more exciting because I scored a craft book and a cookbook!




There are already a lot of sewing projects on my to-do list from the nifty patchwork book Rachel gave me for Christmas, but this one is definitely going on the shelf next to it. I felt like kind of a huge nerdy loser because a couple of other people saw Sew Darn Cute on the shelf and started making fun of it, while I was like "but I like to sew things" in a small voice.

I'm ambivalent about the whole Hungry Girl thing. It's great that the recipes are healthy and whatnot, but a lot of them require ingredients like soy milk, veggie burgers, and egg substitutes that I would not normally cook with (also what ARE egg substitutes??). Also am slightly squicked out by the cutesy recipe names like "Rockin' Tuna Melt" and "Pizzalicious Chop Chop." However, this recipe for "Zucchini Zazzle" muffins from hungry-girl.com looks amazing and I'm planning to try it.

Veggies aplenty

Tonight's dinner (plus enough leftovers for two at-work lunches) was pasta primavera from the Joy of Cooking. It's a great way to get in some extra vegetables, and I probably could have even put in more veggies than I did. I used broccoli, carrots, onions, asparagus, and zucchini, but the recipe encourages you to substitute whatever else you want. I didn't have any heavy cream and was a little worried that the lowfat milk I splashed in instead was going to potentially ruin the whole thing, but surprisingly it didn't. And look how pretty and colorful it all looks cooking away!

Currently freelancing

Freelancing like crazy (which is great because that=freelance dollars like crazy). It's nice to take a break from the sci fi and read some nonfiction, and I'm about to learn a whole lot about surfing. And 23-letter Hawaiian words and names and funky accent marks.

Namesake

Wine is great, but I am just not good at it. My #1 criteria is that it be easy to drink. I have a hard time remembering what types of wine I like so ordering at restaurants is usually a crapshoot, and I depend on my handy Wine Deck (a 21st birthday present from Rachel) for info. (For example, once I bought a wine that came in a dark-colored bottle and I didn't even know if it was red or white.)

But, there is this supercute wine store called The Juice Box close to my apartment where the salespeople give helpful recommendations (and there are inexpensive choices!). And last weekend when Kathryn came to visit I discovered a wine I really like. It's the Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling and it basically tastes like candy. Best of all--a bottle is ten dollars only!

Not really made for walking...

Lordy, how positively cute and vintage-y are these pumps? Too bad they are$90 and I would probably never be able to walk in them.

modcloth.com

If I were a bell I'd be riiinging

This one goes out to Kathryn.

Kathryn was all mad that I told her about my blog but then didn't write anything about our fantabulous trip to see Guys and Dolls on Broadway last weekend when she came to visit.

Let me just tell you how many kinds of luck we had getting these tickets. Kathryn was dying to see the show because, you know, she loves doing stuff, and Guys and Dolls was her first musical as a child. I was desperately hoping we could get tickets because none other than LAUREN FRICKIN GRAHAM was playing Miss Adelaide. Gilmore Girls is hands-down my favorite show of all time. I own the complete series on DVD and it pretty much provides the background noise which plays on a loop in my apartment.

We went down to the box office at the Nederlander Theater in the early afternoon to find out about rush tickets for that night, and lo and behold, with our student IDs we were able to score 11th row seats for $26.

It was amazing to sit that close at a Broadway Show even though we were waaay over to the side and a teensy sliver of the right side of the stage was obstructed. The show was a lot of fun and Lauren Graham was really entertaining. It was strange to see her in the blond wig and laying on the thick (New York?) accent and acting all ditzy; her voice was totally unrecognizable.

The one line that would have put the night over the top, was unfortunately never spoken on stage: "Give it to 'em good, Jule!"

Tell me you didn't have a Caboodle.

When it comes to makeup, I basically fly by the seat of my pants while wishing that Carmindy would come to my house and sit me down. And while I don't still use all of the same makeup I did when I was 13 and my mom first showed me how to put it on (and said makeup was kept in a Caboodle), I get very attached to my products. So when my Clean and Clear zit-concealing-stick thingy ran out I was hesitant about finding a new product to try (especially because I don't want to drop $12 only to find out that it sucks). But, behold, the Neutrogena Skin Clearing Oil-Free Concealer! So far it's working great for blemish coverage, and I recommend.

Free book pile scores

Nine times out of ten the free book piles at work are more like piles of crap but I check them frequently anyways because of that one time out of ten when I find something good that I've been looking for.

Today and yesterday were a Tom Wolfe jackpot (one of the production managers was cleaning out her office).

Make this chicken!

New recipe last night from the Real Simple recipe archives: Chicken with Parmesan, Garlic, and Herb Crust. It's a variation on my old "crumby" chicken standby (a.k.a. Oven Bake). Basically toss some whole wheat bread slices, garlic, grated parmesan, olive oil, and parsley (using fresh parsley made a huge difference in the flavor, and it smells so wonderful) in the food processor. The recipe called for spreading dijon mustard on the chicken breast before patting the breadcrumbs on, but I used spicey Gulden's and it tasted great.

What makes it a good day

a new issue of Real Simple in my mailbox

a good hair day

getting a seat on the subway

a tin of homemade cookies by the printer at work

Weekend recipes

On top of spaghetti
All covered with cheese
I lost my poor meatball
When somebody sneezed

Italian Meatballs
First up on Friday evening were some classic Italian-style meatballs, the first recipe I've made from the Joy of Cooking, which my Mom gave me for Christmas.



Surprisingly? Easier than I expected. No crazy ingredients were involved, and basically you just mush everything together in the bowl with your hands and then form the balls. I prepared them ahead of time earlier in the week and popped them in the freezer so all that was left for the weekend was to dredge them in flour, brown them in a pan, and bake for 10 minutes. The most difficult part was actually the pan-browning since they ended up being more like meatcubes than meatballs. The end result was amazingly delicious and flavorful, plus I have some leftovers for work lunches this week.

Breakfast Scramble
Not to brag, but I am damn good at scramblin' the old eggs, and they are my standby weekend-guest-breakfast dish. To try something a little different, I adapted this recipe from Everyday Food. Leftover scallions from the white bean soup were already in the veggie drawer, and clearly I skipped the whole tofu thing that Martha wanted me to do.



Yum! (and no ketchup required)

Cauliflower Macroni & Cheese (sans cauliflower)
The main draw of this recipe was definitely the drool-inducing photograph of it on the cover of Real Simple. Then I found out that cauliflower was involved and quickly crossed that off the list of ingredients. I've always used the recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook before, and this new one was quite different because no flour goes into it, and they want you to use sour cream. It's also a little healthier, using whole grain pasta and bread slices for the breadcrumb topping. I'm saving most of this for lunches during the week.

Shameless consumerism

Oh now this I must have.



"Amber Waves of Buttery Ice Cream with Roasted Non-Partisan Pecans."

Currently freelancing

Libyrinth by Pearl North

My company includes a science fiction publisher, so 90% of the time when I get a freelance job from a coworker, it's a science fiction or fantasy book like this one.

I can't claim to have been very into anything even approaching science fiction since reading The Giver when I was thirteen (and writing a highly kickass paper about it freshman year of college) and I'm totally snobby about the whole thing.

But in a small voice I must admit that this one and the last one I worked on were relatively interesting. Relatively. Ssshh.

Sweeping the clouds away

This morning The Today Show, GMA, MSNBC, and CNN all either had commercials on at the same time or were talking about stupid things, so I flipped over to Sesame Street and saw this instead. I swear this will make you chuckle.

My dreams are triangular every night...

Getting crafty

I really, really want to join Etsy (www.etsy.com). The concept is so much fun: it's a website that connects buyers and sellers of homemade crafts. If you join, you get your own "store," which you name, and you can list handmade crafts for sale. Or, on the other side, say you want a nifty knitted earflap hat, but the most complicated knitting project you've ever completed is a plain scarf--there are tons of choices, and you know that no one else will have it.

I feel a little squishy about putting things I make out there though. I think will try it out with one of my handmade canvas quilt-stripe tote bags, and see how it goes. Like, if anyone will actually want to pay me $15 for one.

Trials at Target

I love Target. I have a hard time remembering what shopping was like before Target was in my life. Their housewares are the cutest and I always find like 80 bajillion tops I want to buy.

But the Target on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, I do not love. Firstly, this Target is a pain in the ass to get to. Subway transfers are involved, and then when you finally get there, it's one of those ginormous, confusing, crawling-with-people subway stations where nine different lines intersect and you have to walk up and down four flights of stairs before you even get to the shopping complex where Target is. So I am usually a bit cranky by the time I step through the doors.

This Target is always ridiculously crowded and understocked. Even when they have all 30-whatever registers open, it's hard to find a line where there aren't seven other people in front of you.

But despite it all I still go there every once in a while. Today I decided to see if a weekday would be less crowded, and actually did make a bit of a difference, although not on the subway since it was rush hour. Then because of the whole depleted-shelves thing, I couldn't find some things on my list (soup ladle, replacement sewing machine needles).

But look at these super hot plates I bought!

Dude.

Wow, Michael Phelps really loves to go crazy after winning him some gold medals.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28964105/

He also had a drunk driving arrest in 2004 after the Sydney Olympics. My feeling is, dude, whatever if you want to take a bong hit (the drug lingo? not sure if I have it down.) because honestly in terms of what's worse, drunk driving > marijuana, but do it around people you trust aren't going to use their cell phone camera to sell pictures of your ass to some British tabloid.

Super Bowl / Supermodels

When you've had the game on for a half an hour before realizing you couldn't tell someone which team is winning, you know it's time to flip over to the America's Next Top Model marathon on Oxygen.

Sunday soup

This afternoon I made this super easy white bean soup from Everyday Food.



I have this problem called whenever I make soup I like to add potato chunks and teeny pasta even if the recipe doesn't want me to, which way compromises the healthiness of whatever the soup is, but no matter, it's my favorite part of soup. This time I restrained myself from adding some little potato cubes but did add in some ditalini. The only downside to this is that the pasta sucks up a lot of extra liquid, so it needs extra water and/or extra broth.

This white bean soup was quick to make, and the only ingredient I had to buy for it that I didn't already have on hand was the scallions (now I have like a dozen extra scallions hanging around that I need to find something to do with, though). The broth is really flavorful too. A lot of times with homemade soups the broth comes out so blah, but the scallions and dried oregano are great for the broth.

Plus I am extra into making soups lately because they allow me to make use of my pretty pretty green enameled cast iron pot, which my mom gave me for Christmas.