Sunday night and all's well

Lest you think I'm all about the sweet tooth, I do sometimes get creative in the kitchen with cooking. Behold tonight's din-din:

Linguine, scallops, onions, garlic, sweet peppers, mushrooms, white wine, butter, and a little olive oil. TH helped me through some of the finer points (searing the scallops, deglazing the pan, opening the wine). He's the real cook around here, but Sunday nights are usually DIY/scrounge.

This weekend has been wonderful. TH and I spent a lot of time together after not seeing each other much over the last week due to meetings, rehearsals, so on. Saturday we tackled some household chores, then went our different ways to run errands. I had lunch at Adalberto's, a hole-in-the-wall Mexican chain that is cheap, fast, and so good. I had to return an item from the shopping marathon last weekend, and picked up a couple of classic pieces in its place. When I got home, we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. The weather is classic Spring - windy and mild, in the 70's. Today TH sang a beautiful solo in church. After, we grocery-shopped and did some housecleaning, and I tackled a painting project while TH snoozed. I've had the windows open wide all day, fresh air and sunshine filling the house. Then, tonight - the aforementioned pasta, some Yo-Yo, and an excellent book.

Oh, and best of all (I guess I am all about the sweet tooth): I found a new Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor. My new favorite: Creme Brulee. Oh. My. God. Heaven on a spoon.

Horoscopes

I don't generally go for horoscopes, but I like to read them. I find them either absurdly generic: "Try not to offend anyone today." Or, random: "The stars predict an increase in the intensity of your emotional life." Occasionally, I'll find one that I like. Here's an example.

"It's time you acknowledged that you are a miraculous work of art, a masterpiece unlike any other ever created. I'm not pandering to your egotism by telling you that. When I say, "Be yourself," I don't mean the self that wants to win every game and use up every resource and stand alone at the end of history on top of a Mt. Everest-sized pile of pretty garbage. When I say, "Be yourself, " I mean the self that says thank you to the wild irises and the windy rain and the people who grow your food. I mean the self who's joyfully struggling to germinate the seeds of love and beauty that are packed inside every moment. I mean the spiritual freedom fighter who's scrambling and finagling and conspiring to shower all of your fellow messiahs with your best blessings."
-- Rob Breszny, as printed in SN&R 3/6/08

Cool, huh?

Plus, any horoscope that can use the word "finagling" successfully, deserves some props.

Bake Puzzle Night - Or, into every baker's life, a little resourcefulness must be acquired

So I'm trying this Weight Watchers recipe for Lemon-Poppy Seed Crisps. Sounds easy, I've got the ingredients. Then the dough ends up looking like this:

Not right, yeah? So I go online, trying to find the recipe or at least one similar. No luck. "Grandma," I say, "What should I do?" And I get the answer. It seems strange that there are no eggs in this recipe. And, unlike other recipes with no eggs, there is not a lot of moisture from other sources. Hmmm. So I put the laptop aside, get off my tush, and go and add an egg. What can it hurt, right? For good measure, I squeeze in some lemon juice. Mix it up, and get this:

Ah, looks much more like cookie dough! Now, time to roll it out. Wait - do we still have a rolling pin? And where is it? No matter, I'll use a glass. And the dough is a little sticky, so into the fridge it goes to cool off. Guess it's time to check the gossip sites. Back to the baking in a mo.

Taking a peek into the oven...

I think it worked...they taste OK...could have used more lemon juice, or lemon extract maybe...not my worst cooking disaster, but not my best effort. They look pretty - I love lemon zest.
I'll take them to work and see what the crowd thinks. Now, time for American Idol elimination night!!

Happy Birthday to me!

I have had a wonderful birthday so far this year. I got to spend time with friends who appreciate me for me, with all my quirks. I go to go shopping, an activity I love. I got to eat good food and chocolate cake. I got to stay up late and talk trash about celebrities, and the exploits of the girls on SATC. I took the day off yesterday and spent it all with TH.

35 years old. It feels strange. I feel more confident, more me than ever. I hope I'll feel these even more at 45. I'm living the life I always wanted: good job, with great coworkers, enough challenges to make it interesting, but not so much responsibility that I lose sleep; happy marriage; a house of our own; travel; good health. After the turbulence of the last few years, and the hindsight of the years I have so far, it feels really good to be sure of this life and my happiness with it. Truly, nothing is lacking.

In the next phase of my life (could be one year, could be five), I'd like to:

• Keep working at my current job. I have no big plans for new work or big promotions - I think I'd like to keep tinkering at my job and get better at it.


• Travel more. We're looking at Galapagos in 2010, maybe Europe again in 2011.


• Learn another language. Spanish, French, or ASL (American Sign Language) come to mind.


• Think things through before taking action or speaking.


• Maybe start running or swimming regularly. Maybe.


• Clear out the clutter of my life: books, clothes, STUFF. On a regular basis. Once every 6 months. Hmm.


• Get outside more.


• Eat vegetables at every lunch and dinner.


• Utilize the public library more than amazon.com


• Sing every day, even if it's only in the shower.


• Eliminate road rage from my driving experiences.

Maybe an ambitious list. But there's something valuable in the process of considering.

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Weekend of Fabulousness

The girls' weekend out was a huge success! Loads of fun from start to finish. We had pedicures, ate lunch, shopped till we dropped, talked and gossiped, and watched this great show on DVDs. We ate candy and cake and drank margaritas and stayed up late. I love my friends!! We always have the best time together.

PJ relaxes in the chair while getting her pedi.

Four fabulous pedis. (L to r, clockwise - Nicole, Denise, PJ, and me). PJ wins the cutest flipflops award. Me and Nicole went for flowers on our toes. You can't see them too well in this shot, but they have "bling" in the center of the flowers. That's right, baby.

Nicole tries the strawberry margaritas.

The birthday girls!! (Denise, Ari, and me)

Nicole made this dense, rich, devil's food cake with buttercream frosting from scratch. 6 cubes of butter and 6 eggs in the frosting. Mm-mm- MM. Fabulous.

Fabulous shoes.

Fabulous coat.

I am officially shopped out. Although, Ari just sent me a webpage with some cute espadrilles...