Starting in the basement...

SITB Has Moved

2009-01-06T19:16:00.003-05:00

Please visit me at my new address.

startinginthebasement.wordpress.com

Wonderland

2008-12-24T20:13:00.001-05:00

Manly
Originally uploaded by etjarrell

Here's a picture of Frenchie throwing wood in my mother's backyard. Merry Christmas.

Frenchie and I actually arrived in Portland very early Tuesday morning despite the countries travel troubles! I have never felt so lucky. All weekend I had been worried about our trip and sure that we were going to get stuck in an airport somewhere. I was actually more afraid of being stuck somewhere than not getting to Portland at all. I definitely would have picked having the holidays alone in Boston over spending days in airports. We saw a lot of people sleeping in the airport and heard some crazy traveling stories.

The reason for all this trouble was of course the Winter Wonderland that is occurring on the West Coast right now. They had 2 feet of snow in Portland which NEVER happens. There is no snow plan here and it is very hilly so getting around is tough. We are going to brave the weather tonight for our families annual Christmas Eve dinner at Hunan's Chinese restaurant. This has been a family tradition for who knows how long on my mother's side of the family.

What are your Christmas traditions?

My Day

2008-12-18T15:19:00.004-05:00

Today I:

- Bought a 12 pack of Classic Pate Friskies cat food
- Went to see Four Christmas's alone. I was the only person in the theater!
- Ate primarily chocolate and potatoes
- Saw an entire buttcrack of a Best Buy employee
- Got hit on by a "car" guy at Auto Zone. "You gonna change that oil yourself?"
- Got full service at the gas station (screw you Boston, I'm not pumping my own gas!)
- Moved my blog!! I am now going to post at startinginthebasement.wordpress.com

Sorry about the change but wordpress is about 8000 times easier to use than blogger. Sorry blogger. I also apologize if there are a million change daily on the new site because I'm still figuring it out.

Why Mars and Venus Collide

2008-12-17T09:48:00.004-05:00

If you are in a relationship I suggest you read this book. I got it from the library but I think I might buy it so I can read again and again (as needed).

John Gray goes through how men and women react differently to stress and how that affects relationships. That part is interesting with a lot of "I TOTALLY agree with that!" moments but the best part is that he gives you actual solutions and tips on what to do. I've already put a couple of these tips into action and it has totally worked!

Needing a partner is not a weakness. It is why we partner up. Men and women just have different primary needs. Men need to feel needed, and women need to feel they are not alone. Just as a woman is happiest when she feels she is getting what she needs from her partner, a man is happiest when he feels successful in meeting his partner's needs. This is an important distinction. We certainly need each other, but for different reasons.

The book is called, "Why Mars and Venus Collide: Improving Relationships by Understanding How Men and Women React Differently to Stress" by John Gray. Seriously, you need this book.

Why do cupcakes always look so yummy?

2008-12-16T11:36:00.002-05:00

Cupcakes in ramekins
Originally uploaded by etjarrell

But sometimes don't taste that great? I made pumpkin muffins with honey cream cheese frosting. They taste okay but I think I need a different recipe for the muffins. These were a little weird but the frosting is good and I had fun decorating them!

Cheesy Onion Cornbread

2008-12-15T08:52:00.004-05:00

I think I managed to make the most unhealthy cornbread yesterday. Sometimes you just need some greasy bread to go with your healthy chili though, you know? I modified this recipe from simplyrecipes.com.

Cheesy Onion Cornbread

1 cup minus 1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cups cooked corn, either frozen or from a can
1/2 cup chopped onion (red or white)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9x9 pan (or cast iron skillet if you have one, which I don't) with a generous amount of butter for extra crispiness and saturated fat

Mix together dry ingredients

Add remaining ingredients and mix until all dry ingredients are incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into 9 pieces and serve warm or room temperature. Just try to eat only one piece. You can't do it.

Like the Corner of My Mind

2008-12-13T18:45:00.005-05:00

Last night I went to Frenchie's lab Christmas party. I used to be a member of this lab so I am very familiar with how these parties work. Boss buys lots of booze. Scientists drink booze. Scientists play some bad pool. Boss buys lots more booze. Scientists do some crazy dancing.

My memories of these parties were not only of the good times at the party but a Saturday in bed recovering from the never-ending flow of free alcohol. This year was no different! I spent all day before the party trying to figure out how I was going to keep myself from feeling like crap on Saturday and went in armed. However, as soon as I arrived I was a little nervous because I didn't know very many people and was not really looking forward to having to explain my job situation...so I downed 3 beers and ate no food. Classic. By the time we got to the bar my good intentions were out the window and I think a couple shots of tequila were in. Oops!

The party was a lot of fun and I got to talk to people! It didn't even matter who they were, although of course I enjoyed every single one of them, I was just so excited to talk to people. Even strangers, which is usually not my thing. Oh, and also the freakin' most adorable baby ever was there and I got to entertain her while her parents played pool. Frenchie gave me the "don't get any ideas" look while I happily bounced the baby. After almost 11 hours of drinking and dancing, it was time to go home.

Frenchie always thinks it is a little weird that I like visiting him in the lab and going to his functions but it is entirely to boost my ego. See, people there love me, or at least they act like they do. I am always met with lovely compliments and smiles when I go, so why would I not enjoy it? Plus I feel SOOO comfortable around science types. Maybe because my dad was a scientist so I grew up in that environment but I really feel like I can be myself. Not always true around lawyers. I often feel like I'm trying too hard when around lawyers and end up with that not so good feeling the next day. Like maybe I said or did something inappropriate. Hopefully that will change with time and spending more time in the legal world. If that ever happens.

New name

2008-12-11T09:56:00.002-05:00

I'm thinking of changing the name of my blog to something more catchy and perhaps related to cooking. But I don't want it to be only a cooking blog. Arg. Decisions are hard!

Any catchy ideas?

Hazelnut Tea Cookies and Chocolate Snowflake Cookies

2008-12-11T07:59:00.003-05:00

The last two recipes from my baking frenzy. I took both of these to my last French class yesterday and people went NUTS over the hazelnut cookies. I mean, absolutely insane!! Especially crazy P, the Franco-filly, who asked me if I made them from a box. A box? My people do not make no cookies from a box lady!! I got the hazelnuts from my grandparents farm, roasted them myself, pureed them with the kitchenaid resulting in a thin layer of hazelnut dust all over the kitchen (don't tell Frenchie). There were NO boxes involved!! (no offense if you make cookies from a box, I'm sure they are wonderful, just not my thing)

Hazelnut Tea Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, plus additional for coating
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped

Directions
Heat oven to 325 degrees F and arrange racks in upper and lower third. Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl and whisk until aerated and evenly combined; set aside.

Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla and continue to mix until whipped and light, about 2 more minutes.

Add half of the nuts and mix until evenly incorporated and nuts are broken up, about 1 minute. Add flour and mix until well combined, about 1 minute. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in remaining nuts.

Shape dough into 1 tablespoon balls and place on baking sheets, spaced at least 1 inch apart. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until underside of cookies are brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes on baking sheets.

Meanwhile, place some powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Once the cookies have cooled, roll them in the powdered sugar until just coated and tap off excess. Let cool completely and recoat in powdered sugar, tapping off excess sugar, before serving. Makes about 45 cookies.

I happen to love the Chocolate Snowflake Cookies more and these are made in our house every year. However, last year there was an unfortunate mishap that have soured these cookies a bit. I slaved over these in the midst of finals last Christmas to bring to a holiday party at the icebox. I made them and prepared a plate covered in foil and left it on the counter while I went to class. In the evening I grabbed the plate and ran out of the house for the party. I took the foil off and the first layer of cookies were fine and people raved. Apparently though, when the second layer was revealed it was infested with ants!!! The hosts were incredibly cool about this and did not make a big deal and dumped the cookies but I was still mortified!! It still makes me cringe.

So, if you have an ant problem, please wrap these cookies well because those little guys love the powdered sugar! The dough needs to be chilled so make it ahead of time.

Chocolate Snowflake Cookies

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate squares
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

Directions

Mix oil and chocolate in microwave proof bowl and melt in the microwave about 2 minutes, checking often and stirring. Add the sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Add about one-fourth of dry mixture at a time to chocolate mixture, beating after each addition.

Cover and let chill at least 2 hours.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls, and roll in powdered sugar

Place cookies 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies will still be soft when you take them out.

Try not to burn your tongue when you stuff one immediately in your mouth. Enjoy!

Chocolate Panaforte Candies

2008-12-09T11:55:00.005-05:00

I made these candies for Frenchie. They are chocolate on the bottom with a fig, hazelnut and orange topping. This is not my favorite type of candy because I'm not a big nut fan, but they made Frenchie really happy and impressed. Don't worry about me. I have a tray full of meringues to eat.

Guess where I got the recipe? December's Bon Appetit magazine of course.

What are your favorite Christmas recipes? Or what have you been hoping to try?

Meringue mountains

2008-12-09T11:35:00.004-05:00

I always assumed that making meringue candies would be difficult but it really wasn't! This is definitely a new favorite. I probably didn't make these before because you kind of need a stand mixer. I mixed them for about 10 minutes total so you're hand would get tired with a hand mixer. I stole this recipe from food network 12 days of cookies but changed the name and wrote it myself. Is that a copyright violation? Abra?

Chocolate Dipped Meringues

4 egg whites, room temp
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (the recipe said to use superfine sugar but I couldn't find that so I used regular sugar and it was fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix egg whites on medium until frothy. Add cream of tartar and mix until combined. Slowly add the sugar and vanilla while beating. Once all sugar is added, turn speed up to medium high and mix for about 6 minutes. The meringue will be firm and shiny and look like heaven!

If you have a pastry bag and tips you can make pretty little snowpeaks, but I don't have that kind of fancy stuff so I put the meringue in a ziploc bag, cut a tip out of the bottom and squeezed it out into ugly snowpeaks while getting meringue EVERYWHERE. In my hair, all over my shirt, all over the counter. Actually, that's what happens whenever I cook but meringue is a little stickier than most things.

Bake in a 225 degree oven for 1 hour and then turn off oven and leave them overnight.

Meringues in the oven

To dip in chocolate, melt a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave or over a double boiler and dip each snowpeak in the chocolate. If you want, crush some candy cane and have some sprinkles ready and dip in there after the chocolate. Place on wax paper to dry. Store in airtight container (not in the fridge). Be super impressed that you made these pretty meringues.

I tried to make this one below look like the ones you get in a Parisian boulangerie. I've got a ways to go.

Help others

2008-12-09T08:40:00.001-05:00

Hangry Pants blog is giving 5 cents to buy food for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank for every comment on this post.

Baking Fever

2008-12-08T14:09:00.003-05:00

Pear Hazelnut Crumble with Crystallized Ginger

2008-12-06T12:01:00.003-05:00

I bought some Bartlett pears at Russo's last weekend and needed to use them. What better occasion than a Friday night to celebrate my husband's legal status in this country? I combined a couple Bon Appetit recipes for this Pear Hazelnut Crumble with Crystallized Ginger. It turned out delish. It is not super sweet so add more sugar to the pears if they are tart or you like your desserts a little sweeter.

Crumble

1/2 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted and husked
5 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, but into pieces
pinch of salt

Filling
4 firm but ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into pieces
Juice from one lemon
Zest from one lemon
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger (skip if wanted but don't add ground ginger)
1 tablespoon flour

Process all the ingredients for the crumble topping in a food processor until clumps form.

Mix together all ingredients for the pear filling and place in a buttered 9x9 glass baking dish. Cover the pears with the crumble topping. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes until the pears are bubbly and the topping is a little browned. Serve warm with lightly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Save the Last Dance

2008-12-06T11:51:00.003-05:00

Frenchie and I have been taking a dance class at the Brookline Adult Education center called Club Latin. Apparently this was to prepare us for dancing in a salsa club so on the last class a few of us headed over to Ryles Dance Club for their latin night. I thought this would be a fun opportunity to dress up a little bit, out of my usual lounge pants you know. I put on a cute skirt and tights and we headed out.

You know that feeling when you walk into a room and everybody is wearing jeans and you are wearing a frilly skirt? At that moment you feel like, well, the only person wearing a skirt in a room full of jeans. EVERY female in the club was wearing tight jeans, a slutty shirt and strappy sandals. I am not even exaggerating. OK, one woman was wearing a dress but she was about 65. Umm, maybe the dress code could have been part of the curriculum of the Club Latin dance class?

Normally I am not very concerned with my clothing and "fitting in" but since I was already self conscious about our horrible dancing, having COMPLETELY the wrong outfit did not help. These dancers were amazing and we looked like, well, beginners. By the last dance I did finally chill out and just have fun but that required me to not look down at my outfit at all during the night.

Ugg, brought back horrible memories of pre-teen years when I was a foot taller than everybody in my class and Tiffany Berger made fun of my side ponytail.

Frenchie gets to vote in the next election

2008-12-05T16:24:00.005-05:00

Frenchie and I had our interview for the green card today, which, incidentally, is not green but actually pink. I was hoping it would be exciting so I would have a good blogging subject today but it was actually quite boring and easy! Better for us, not so good for my blog. The "adjudication officer" asked us for some evidence to show that our marriage is genuine. After we gave her insurance stuff and bank account information she said, "I'm satisfied," so we held off on the pictures documenting our five years of love. That woman was missing out! Then she made Frenchie promise he's not a terrorist or prostitute. We were approved immediately! Thank goodness we don't have to fill out any more paperwork! Frenchie is allergic to forms.

The waiting room was much more interesting. Many of the other people in the room had attorneys with them so it was interesting to see them at work. For example, one couple came out of the interview area, sat down with their attorney and handed him a GIANT wad of cash. They were being discrete but luckily I looked over at just the right time. That was one happy old attorney. At that moment I decided I wanted to be an immigration attorney.

Seriously though, I think it would be really cool to work in immigration. The process is SOOO confusing, even for me, so I can't imagine being a non-English speaker and trying to navigate the system. Plus, this might be coming from nothing, but I got the idea while eavesdropping on other people's interview experiences that ours was much easier. I can't help but wonder if it is easier for people with a certain education level or from certain countries to become residents and citizens of the United States. OK, I guess I'm not really wondering, I'm pretty positive this is going on and I would love to fight that prejudice.

Giveaways!

2008-12-04T10:54:00.001-05:00

Win a FLIP camera from Common Sense With Money.

Yummmmmmmmmmmmm Sauce

2008-12-04T10:00:00.006-05:00

Some of you know about it, some of you probably think that I'm crazy to be this obsessed with a sauce, others are allergic to nuts and can't enjoy (sorry Marie!). Cafe Yumm is a restaurant that was started in Eugene and is spreading across Oregon. Their signature dish is the Yumm bowl which is rice, beans, some other stuff and YUMM SAUCE. I was pretty convinced that this sauce had crack in it because it is totally addictive. While I was in law school in Eugene I would crave Yumm bowls and went there at least twice a week. Usually more. I found the recipe online, probably stolen by an employee, but it doesn't mention crack as an ingredient. Strange...

After what was hopefully my last turkey lunch (SO sick of turkey!), I trekked to Whole Paycheck to find almond flour and nutritional yeast. It turns out both of these ingredients are insanely expensive so I decided to splurge only on the nutritional yeast (I know, it sounds gross but it is essential to the sauce) and use some slivered almonds I had instead of almond flour. Here is the recipe I used.

YUMMM SAUCE
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup almonds (for a creamier sauce use almond flour)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup chickpeas or garbanzo beans
1/4 cup soybeans, cooked (from a can, not edamame)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried cilantro

Directions:
Blend everything together in a food processor or blender. Cover and let sit in refrigerator overnight (or a couple hours if you can't wait). Don't cover too tightly because it may expand with the yeast.

I made it last night and then realized this morning that I totally forgot to add the oil. Strange because I usually look forward to adding the fat to any recipe, so I had to put everything back in the blender to add some oil.

and...THE VERDICT IS IN. It smells and tastes like Yumm sauce! There is something a little off, maybe the texture with the almonds instead of the almond flour? But wow. Totally brought me back to the good 'ol days.

This sauce is great with rice and beans, chili, vegetables, salad dressing, and basically on everything!

Meyer Lemon Cranberry Scone

2008-12-03T22:23:00.002-05:00

Meyer Lemon Cranberry Scone
Originally uploaded by etjarrell

Meyer Lemon Cranberry Scones

2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (from about 3 lemons; preferably Meyer)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons additional if using fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries, chopped coarse, or 1 1/4 cups dried cranberries or dried cherries
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream (I used milk)

Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons and chop fine, reserving lemons for another use.

In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

In a small bowl toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar and stir into flour mixture. If using dried fruit, add to flour mixture.

In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

On a well-floured surface with floured hands pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter) and with a 2-inch round cutter or rim of a glass dipped in flour cut out as many rounds as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. Arrange rounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until pale golden.

Serve scones warm with crème fraîche or whipped cream. Scones keep, individually wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, chilled, 1 day or frozen 1 week.

My first attempt at scone making. It was sort of a disaster, especially since I did it before having any coffee.

Note to self. Do not bake before coffee.

The cranberry's I had were frozen so I tried defrosting them with water. This made them all mushy and difficult to cut. The mushiness in turn made the dough super wet so I had to keep adding flour. Until I ran out of flour (probably for the best) and just plopped the sticky mess onto the cookie sheet. And they turned out OK! Not wonderful, but definitely edible, especially if warmed up a little.

Franco-filly

2008-12-03T16:12:00.003-05:00

I have to vent about my French class a little. We had a makeup class this week so I had class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It's like I was in France this week! Ok, maybe not, but it was a lot of crazy French teacher. Our teacher is pretty nice but not such a great teacher. She doesn't speak any English so she asks us to do things in French but we have no idea what she is asking so she just keeps repeating herself. Lady, you can repeat that sentence 57 times and I'm still not going to know what you are saying! Eventually she'll just give up and ask something else or do some pointing. She gets obsessed with certain things, like teaching us the difference between types of kisses and pointing to her tongue to explain, what we call, French kisses. Gross!

Besides the weird teacher, one of the students is equally strange. I'll call her P. I told her near the beginning of the course that I was married to a French man and she started to get excited and suggested he give her private lessons. Ok, that's a little weird, but whatever. Then a couple weeks ago we went to an open house at the French Library and P was there. I introduced P and Frenchie and she got very excited and talked to him the whole time, asking him many things about France and French movies. This was a little strange but she is obviously a Francophile and kind of socially weird so didn't think much of it.

Yesterday, though, she took it a little further. Two of us in class are married and the two others are single so we were talking about our statuses and all of the sudden, P says, "I'm waiting for Emily to divorce her husband so I can marry him." Huh? Seriously lady? I mean, she sort of laughed while she said this but isn't that a totally inappropriate thing to say? Then, today after class P wanted to go out for coffee so, seeing as I had nothing else to do, I joined her. Twice in our conversation she said she wanted to marry Frenchie. I had no idea how to respond to this so I just sort of ignored it. What would you have said? I mean, I barely know this woman and she keeps saying she wants me to get divorced and steal my husband. I spent the whole conversation trying to think of something witty and equally as weird to say to her to "get her back." But, as usual during these opportunities in life, my mind went blank. We have two more classes so if you have any suggestions let me know.

Our tiny Christmas tree

2008-12-02T10:00:00.001-05:00

Our tiny Christmas tree
Originally uploaded by etjarrell

We found a Christmas tree in a pot at Russo's. We wrapped the bottom in a cape that Frenchie had. Yes, he owns a cape, you have a problem with that?

The tree is a Dwarf Alberta Spruce which we unfortunately found out later will not survive inside for long. So we will be rotating it outside periodically because it would be really sad if it died! Although it will probably die anyway because I have that effect on plants. Unlike the rest of my family, I was born without the green thumb.

Leftover Madness

2008-11-30T18:22:00.005-05:00

We have so many leftovers from our turkey dinner. Next time I decide to invite over half as many people as we have food I will remember to buy some extra tupperware and force everybody to take stuff home. I love leftovers but I would also love to continue to fit into my pants.

Not only do we have leftovers, but we have a ton of veggies that we didn't end up using. Since I HATE wasting food, I'm trying to find ways to use everything. Tonight I made a Thanksgiving Leftover Shepards Pie. I got the idea from crazy Martha Stewart but turned it into my own thing. I layered everything in a pie plate. Stuffing, then turkey, a few plops of gravy, cut up carrots and green beans and the whole thing topped with leftover mashed potatoes. It was ok. A little dry and VERY filling.

As for the rest of the vegetables, I'm going to have to be creative. Unfortunately, the only thing I feel like cooking right now is Christmas cookies and candy! I'm going to restrain myself until most of this food is gone though. Bummer. Luckily, our friends gave us this awesome cookbook called The Illustrated Kitchen Bible and every recipe has pictures! I've already looked at it for a few hours and found some inspiration. Time to start cooking!!

Gobble gobble highlights

2008-11-28T12:42:00.005-05:00

- Standing in line for 45 minutes at the neighborhood bakery to buy bread for dinner and stuffing. It would not have been so bad to stand there with my coffee, smelling fresh bread, except that the lady next to me felt the need to talk stream of consciousness about her whole life. After the bakery I hit Trader Joe's where the wine guy told me all about his Thanksgiving plans, in way too much detail. I guess I just bring out the chattiness in people. Of course when I got home with four loaves of bread Frenchie informs me that those are too beautiful to use in stuffing so we had to ask one of our guests to bring bread.

- Frenchie massaging the turkey with butter. Hopefully he will give me permission to post the video on here because it's funny.

- Me waking up at 5:30am to make the pies which included pureeing pumpkin, followed by "What the hell are you blending?"

- Mismatched dishes, tables, chairs, glasses and silverware. Food being served in measuring cups because that was all we had left! Me realizing that we really should have married in the traditional way where we give people a night of food, cake and dancing, and they bring us some freakin' serving platters!

- Me realizing that it didn't matter how the food was served as long as it tasted good and people enjoyed eating it

- "This is the best pumpkin pie I've ever had!" : )

- Tons of potatoes, none made by me, thank goodness.

- My first ever turkey and gravy was a complete success. I had lots of compliments and I also thought it was good. The gravy was a lot of work though. I might have to do some exploring with gravy recipes in the future. The turkey and gravy recipe I ended up using was from Bon Apetit of course. Roast Heritage Turkey with Bacon Herb and Cider Gravy. Of course we didn't actually use a "heritage turkey" but it probably didn't make that much of a difference. If I can ever afford a heritage turkey, I will definitely use this recipe to prepare it!

- More posting to come, as soon as blogger starts to work properly. Check out more pics at Flickr.

Goddess Grunt

2008-11-26T19:12:00.004-05:00

I recently had the realization that I go to an old lady gym. That's right. I'm 27, and I work out like an old lady, with old ladies. This was pointed out to me by an anonymous review on the internet, and ever since I read it I've started noticing things. First, the gym does not play music. I noticed this when I first joined but thought maybe it was just a bare bones gym. This is the first independent gym I've gone to and I didn't know how it worked! Second, if you go in the middle of the day or the morning there are only old ladies (this was a pretty big sign). Third, there is a woman in one of my classes that wears a unitard, kind of like the one below, but on a much larger lady. More power to her, but I'm pretty sure this one is the same one she had in the 70s when she was Jazzercising.

I usually go to the classes in the evening because a) I don't like entertaining myself between 4-7 (that's another story) and b) I like to watch Ellen in the morning (yup, still unemployed). After 4 or 5pm the crowd is a little younger; the teachers from the area or students. Then I don't feel so young. Yesterday, however, I decided to go to yoga in the morning and found myself a good 30 years younger than the next youngest person in the room, perhaps including the teacher. The class started and got moving pretty slowly but I had hopes that it would pick up. Oh...it did. At the climax of the class we did the goddess pose (below) and all of the sudden all the women started sighing. "ahhhhh" "ahhhhh" each time we went in and out of the pose. Then the teacher said to pick up the pace and all the women started loudly grunting! "grah" "grah" It took everything I had not to laugh!

I still like this gym but I wonder if I would be getting a better workout with music playing and harder classes not catering to the older crowd. At least it's entertaining!

Prep

2008-11-25T13:31:00.002-05:00

You still need to eat when prepping for Thanksgiving. My almost famous enchiladas.

Testing pumpkin pie recipes. Aren't they cute? Turns out you can make mini pumpkin pies in ramekins.

My favorite thing at Russo's. These cute herbs bundles. They have tons of herbs and they are cheap!

The featherlight yeast rolls. They actually are getting better with age. Frenchie even said they are good.

So far..

2008-11-23T17:09:00.005-05:00

We bought the turkey and about half of what we needed at Costco, even in our hungover state. Plus a bunch of stuff we didn't need of course, because that is how Costco works. Frenchie: "Check out that beef (with stars in his eyes). We should get this. I mean 8 lbs of beef chuck is kind of a lot, but we can always freeze it. And it is only $3.59 a pound! Oh, and look over here! 2 whole chickens for 10 bucks! What a deal!" Emily: "Hey, can you pick up that gallon of whipping cream?" Frenchie: "Are you sure we need all of that?" Emily: (rolls eyes) "It's Thanksgiving!"

You all know what I mean... Well, my family does at least. Whipped cream is important. Way more important than the turkey.

The turkey was a "Fresh, Young Turkey" for 99 cents a pound. Hells yeah! Cheap and I don't need to defrost it. We were wondering; if the young turkey is so cheap, the "Not so fresh, and not so young turkeys" must have been really cheap. Those were apparently sold out though because we didn't see them. : )
Anyway, we went for one that is 20.09 pounds. For the upcoming year (which is going to be a great year, BTW).

I've come up with most of the menu.

Menu

Munchies
Roasted Hazelnuts (from my grandparents farm)
Trader Joe's Kettle Corn (if I don't eat it all before Thursday)
Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

Meal

Turkey
Cider gravy
Fennel, sausage, squash stuffing
Mashed potatoes (brought by a guest, so I don't have to worry about it)
Green beans with shallots
Sweet Potatoes (still figuring out how I'm going to prep these)
Cranberry sauce (still working on this recipe too)
Brussel sprouts with buttered pecans
Rolls (I'm trying out a recipe tomorrow to see if making them is a possibility. If not, buying them somewhere)

Dessert
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie with walnut streusel
Lots of whipped cream

I can tell you are all jealous now. What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Discovery

2008-11-22T10:39:00.002-05:00

I've made a discovery! Going to the gym in the morning means you get to start drinking earlier in the evening! Which leads to a very slow Saturday morning. I think I'll go back to evening gym classes. : )

5 people...7 bottles of wine. Nuff said.

If we can get off our butts we are going to brave Costco today. Need to find that turkey so I can start defrosting it. Right? How long do they take to defrost? I am definitely in over my head... Actually I think I'm more worried about the mashed potatoes after last week's situation. Maybe I can put one of the guests on that one.

Perfect Pizza Dough Recipe

2008-11-20T10:27:00.004-05:00

I have tried a bunch of different pizza dough recipes but the first one I ever tried is the best. And super easy! The only hard part is remembering to make it a couple hours before you want to eat it so it can rise.

Pizza Dough
1 package active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water

2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Pour 3/4 cup warm water into small bowl; stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Brush large bowl lightly with olive oil. Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add yeast mixture and 3 tablespoons oil; process until dough forms a sticky ball. Transfer to lightly floured surface. KNEAD dough until smooth, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 1 minute. Transfer to prepared bowl; turn dough in bowl to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. PUNCH down dough. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Store in airtight container in refrigerator. ROLL out dough according to recipe instructions. (Start in center of dough, working outward toward edges but not rolling over them.)

While the pizza dough is very important, I think the sauce is equally important. I tried to use Trader Joe's pizza sauce once and it was a disaster. This recipe is the best! Make a bunch of this sauce and freeze it in batches so you always have it when you want pizza. I have modified it in many ways depending on what I have available but I think the most important components are the honey and a little bit of spice; red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. It won't be spicy but it adds a LOT of flavor.

NOW, my other piece of advice on pizza making is to buy some fresh mozzarella and basil and just make a pizza with splotches of each. Spread olive oil on the dough, and put a slice of mozzarella next to a dollop of sauce and place some basil leaves over it. I always get rave reviews on this pizza!

This pizza from the other night had mozzarella, chanterelles, big chunks of garlic on one side and pizza sauce, cheddar cheese and spicy sausage from TJs on the other. Yummy!!

Penne and cheese

2008-11-20T08:40:00.002-05:00

I made a wonderful penne and cheese dish yesterday for dinner. It might have been the most unhealthy thing I've ever made (minus desserts of course). Here is the recipe I used. It is loosely based on a Bon Apetit recipe but I changed it so much it is now mine!

Penne and Cheese

1 lb bag of mini penne pasta

1 tbsp butter
1 small onion chopped
1 leek chopped
1 tsp flour
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon (or whatever herbs you have around)

8 slices bacon, chopped.

1 cup bread cut into pieces
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350, grease a 13x9x2 glass baking dish. Cook the penne al dente.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in a large pot and saute the onions and leeks until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, mustard, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir until combined, then add the milk and cream. Whisk quickly until the sauce thickens a little bit, about 5 minutes. Add the goat cheese until melted and combined. Add the grated cheddar cheese and herbs and whisk until cheese melts. Add the pasta and mix it all together. Taste a couple pieces to make sure it isn't gross (it won't be).

Cook the bacon in a saucepan until crisp and drain on a paper towel. Add half the bacon to the pasta and cheese mix and stir together. Pour the mix into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining bacon on top.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in saucepan and add the bread crumbs. Cook until browned and spread on top of the pasta. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

I took a picture but blogger won't upload it right now...I'll add it later.

Frenchie and I have just decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner at our house so now I'm freaking out a little about the cooking. I have never cooked a turkey!!! Any advice or recipes to share?

J'ai un interview

2008-11-19T16:54:00.003-05:00

I kept saying that for the past 4 days to Frenchie, even though it was totally wrong. Whatever, he knew what I meant. I had my interview today but it turned out not to really be an interview. It was just sort of an initial interview for a legal temp agency so maybe they will find me something else. Oh well. I was pretty disappointed at first because I had my hopes up too high, but now I feel better. That might be thanks to the 800 pieces of Trader Joe's Peanut Butter filled pretzels I just ate. Man those things are addictive!!

I suck at lying

2008-11-18T16:09:00.002-05:00

In a desperate attempt to make some money last week I signed up with a secret shopper service. My experience with secret shoppers came from working at Starbucks and having them warn us about them. At Starbucks the shoppers would take the drink into the bathroom to measure the amount of foam and test the temperature. We also had very important requirements like to ask the guests (Starbucks' word) if they specifically want a Hawaiian Bagel. Not just a pastry, or a bagel, it had to be a Hawaiian Bagel, with cream cheese. And the fear of asking a secret shopper if they wanted a pastry was very real. I thought I would get fired if I got caught asking a "guest" if they wanted "something to eat" but at the same time I felt stupid suggesting to every customer that they needed a Starbucks Classic Coffeecake so I never actually did that.

Anyway, my first assignment was not Starbucks or anything useful and interesting. I had to call a childcare center and pretend to be 5 months pregnant and ask for information. I was not that excited about this because, having never been 5 months pregnant, I didn't even know how to make things up. I had never thought about what I would want out of a childcare center so when she asked me that question I think she figured me out. I was like, "umm, I want you to watch my soon to be born child, like, all day and stuff." And then I was supposed to ask all these weird questions so I asked, "uhh, what kind of classes and teachers do you have?" Thinking to myself, what kind of freakin' class are they going to have for a 6 week old infant. Gymnastics? She obviously had me figured out by that point and just started rattling off all the propaganda for the center. I felt dirty lying to her and stupid for being so bad at it.

All that work and all I get out of that is $9, a packet of information about the childcare center (that will be useful if I ever have a baby in Lexington MA), and this blog post! Now they want me to take my cat to a vet in the area, which would be a free vet trip and less lying, so I'm considering it...

Oh, and an update on last night's dinner. I am horrible at making mashed potatoes! I need you Abra! My potatoes turned out so gummy we could barely swallow them. Any advice on less gummy mashed potatoes?

Frenchie's steak with chanterelles was very yummy as usual though! Cook the chanterelles with butter until slightly soft, add some cream until warm and pour on top of a prepared steak. Voila! Beautiful French meal.

Monday update

2008-11-17T16:09:00.004-05:00

I am sitting here trying to think up a clever title to this post so I just gave up and decided to just write about stuff.

Last night we went to the Ani Difranco concert at Boston's Symphony Hall. I think this was the 6th Ani concert I've been to but I might be forgetting one. She is wonderful in concert!!! Really amazing. Last night was no exception and I think was even better than some of her other concerts because she was in really good spirits. Her third song was a brand spankin' new song about President elect Obama. It was so inspiring and really summarized the feelings that I think a lot of us have about this election year. I had goosebumps.

We also put in a cat door in the window so the cats can go in and out but we can try to keep the heat in the house. It is getting very cold here in the Northeast. Those silly cats cannot figure it out!! We try to show it to them and they look at us like we are crazy. I think Gizmo went one direction this morning but then she started crying at the window because she couldn't get back in. I really thought they were smarter than that! I guess I'm going to have to do some research on how to teach a cat to use the cat door. It is kind of funny though.

Tonight I am going to make fennel mashed potatoes and steak with chanterelles, if Frenchie will agree to make the steak. Chanterelle mushrooms are one of my favorite foods so I'm super excited that it is the season right now but I leave it up to Frenchie to cook them. He's so good at making things with them so I just leave it up to him. I was going to make my pumpkin soup again but I can't cut the pumpkin in half!! It's too hard!!

Whine Stopper

2008-11-15T12:33:00.004-05:00

I think I have to apologize to my readers (all 4 of you) for that whiny post the other day. I really appreciate the nice things you all said though! I even knew, while I was writing it, that I would regret it and feel stupid later, but whatever. Sometimes you just need to get things off your chest!!!

Really, things aren't that bad. Frenchie and I will be fine. I called the nice loan people and they said I could defer a couple months before starting payments and I now have a job interview! I think this one is actually going to happen too. I don't want to jinx it by saying too much so you are all going to have to wait until Wednesday to hear about it.

Yesterday we had some friends over who are going through a breakup. I'm a little unclear why they came to dinner together but it definitely put some things in perspective. Their sadness hung in the air and their voices and it made me realize how lucky I am right now. I have everything I need in my life right now and I think I'm going to try to just appreciate that.

In other news, hopefully I improved my friends' moods by force feeding them this amazing cake I made yesterday! I think it was the best cake I have made!! And it was pretty easy. Making the caramel icing could have been a disaster but I got lucky. Just make sure to only cook the sugar for 2 minutes. Also, I did not have all these spices and it was still very yummy. Just improvise if you can't find them (add more of the ones you like!).

Pumpkin Spice Layer Cake With Caramel and Cream Cheese Frosting
- bon appetit, November 2008

Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin (I used Libby's)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel (I used lemon)

Frosting
1 1-pound box powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
Candied orange peel (I didn't use this)

CAKE/ Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2-inch sides, tapping out any excess flour. Whisk first 9 ingredients in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat pumpkin, sugar and oil in another large bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to incorporate between additions. Mix in orange peel. Add flour mixture; beat on low speed just to blend. Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 33 minutes (mine took more like 40 minutes). Cool in pans 10 minutes. Invert onto rack, then turn top side up and cool completely.

FROSTING/ Sprinkle 1/2 cup powdered sugar over bottom of small nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat until sugar melts (do not stir). Continue cooking until sugar turns deep amber, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Carefully stir in 1/2 cup cream, vanilla, and salt (mixture will bubble vigorously). Stir until any caramel bits dissolve. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon cream. Strain into small bowl. Cool caramel to room temperature.

Sift remaining powder sugar into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in cooled caramel. Cover and chill frosting until firm enough to spread. (make sure to taste the frosting along the way. A lot. Because it is wonderful. You'll have enough for the cake).

Using long serrated knife, trim rounded tops from cake (eat this with the frosting to make sure it's not gross). Place 1 cake layer on cake plate, cut side up. Spread 3/4 cup frosting over. Place second cake layer, cut side down, atop frosting. Cover top and sides of cake with remaining frosting, creating smooth surface.

Sprinkle candied orange peel over top of cake.

Doesn't this look yummy???

Chicken Pot Disaster

2008-11-13T19:43:00.004-05:00

I roasted a chicken the other night, which was a first for me! I got the idea from an Oprah episode where they roasted a chicken and then used it for different recipes. Frenchie immediately started gnawing on it, even though we had already had dinner, so I guess that is a good sign! Although he'll gnaw on anything with a bone.

Last night I made chicken enchiladas with Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce. Very yummy! I also made a Spiced Sweet Potato Gratin which was pretty good. A little too much curry I think.

Tonight I decided to make a chicken pot pie, one of the best foods ever. I've never tried to make it from scratch though so I didn't know what to expect. I had some puff pastry in the freezer so I found this recipe to try. I have never used puff pastry before. It turns out it is not easy. I defrosted it on the counter and the recipe said to roll it out into a square. I started to roll and it just started cracking!! There was definitely no rolling it into a square or rolling it at all. I decided to just stick it on the filling anyway. In it's rectangular shape. Ummm...bad idea.

I often have this approach to cooking (I'll just try it!) and it works about half the time. Ha!!

What did I do wrong? I think maybe it wasn't defrosted enough? The filling was good but the puff pastry was not. Next time I'll just make a regular crust.

Fall Forward

2008-11-12T19:09:00.002-05:00

Every year at Oberlin there were two dance recitals. Fall Forward and Spring Back. These were always confusing because daylight savings is the other way around. These dances were always full of crazy modern dances that were sometimes beautiful but usually pretty awful. I miss those days!

Well, there was no point to that story. I just wanted to post some cute fall pictures of my Gizmo and thought of that title. She was watching the new neighbors move in which is funny because I was looking out the window to also watch the neighbors move in. I am passing on my snoopish (snoopy?) behaviors to my cat!

Contest

2008-11-11T19:00:00.002-05:00

Check out the blog "while they play" to enter a contest to win a $50 gift certificate from her cool Etsy shop.

Downer...

2008-11-11T11:13:00.003-05:00

I am having a really hard time right now. I know things could be a lot worse, but right now, in the middle of it, it feels like things are really bad.

I am totally desperate for a job, or some lottery winnings. I am at the point where just hearing about people being busy with their jobs makes me incredibly jealous. I am craving that feeling that comes after a hard days work. I'm sure all you working people out there are like, "what is your problem! you have all this free time and you are complaining?"!! Yes, yes I am. Unemployment is not for me. It is hard enough that I have to try to find some meaning to my day, but now we are starting to worry about money. Because of me of course. My student loans are starting to send me ominous notes about how my payments are going to begin. And it is not pretty.

So now I have to decide what to do. I am assuming that if I wanted to get a job at Trader Joe's or Starbucks that would be possible. But then am I giving up on getting a job that actually utilizes the skills I've learned (and paid for) in the past 10 years? Another option is to only go back to pre law school and become a lab tech again but I feel like that would be harder to quit if I found something else. I'm thinking about selling my eggs but would anybody want eggs from an unemployed lawyer in serious debt?

I'm not really looking for sympathy, even though this is a pathetic post. I guess I'm just looking for advice and whining in a large forum.

What would you do?!? What should I do?

Wii Fun!

2008-11-08T23:17:00.003-05:00

My gift from Frenchie for passing the bar was a Wii. I know that is kind of a silly gift for a professional to receive, but it is really good wholesome fun. Wholesome, that is, if you aren't listening to the incessant swearing from my hubby. It's like a Quentin Tarantino movie in our living room while he is playing Rayman Raving Rabbids. Freakin' hilarious.

Today though, our big Saturday night plan was to eat some Vietnamese food and then go to the Game Stop to buy a new game. We ended up with a zombie game (because what guy doesn't dream of shooting zombies) called Resident Evil. This game has brought out the French swearing. Now it is like Reservoir Dogs with French dubbing. I just laugh and laugh while he plays.

The Wii was a great invention. Keeping our marriage fresh one swear word at a time.

Failure

2008-11-08T09:58:00.002-05:00

Well, I have failed. My friend, Nurse M : ) informed me that I didn't post on November 2nd, although I actually remember posting last Sunday so I think Blogger failed me and put the wrong date on. : ( And then last night I didn't think about posting until after midnight so I just gave up. This NaBloPoMo was a lot harder than I thought!!!

I will still post regularly though. Promise.

Bachata

2008-11-06T22:48:00.002-05:00

I am super tired from my travels so instead of a real post I'm going to post this video of the new dance Frenchie and I are learning. We are taking a class called Club Latin where we learn Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata. Neither of us knew what bachata was but it is really fun. Here is a funny video that is nothing like how we do it, but apparently is still the bachata.

Another money waster...but this one with 0 calories!

2008-11-05T16:56:00.002-05:00

I am a sucker for new brands of drinks. I don't know where I get this from but I love spending too much money on landfill clogging bottles of what is basically tap water.

Today I found Ayala's herbal water in a schmany store next to the Ritz. The flavor I am drinking is lavender mint lemongrass thyme. Seriously? All those flavors in one bottle? Well, I have to say the mint and thyme are the strongest flavors but it is surprisingly good! I just looked at their website and it is not sold in the Boston area but it is available at Safeway stores for you West Coasters out there.

Let me know if you try the other flavors. I am curious!!

Cultural Diversity

2008-11-05T16:37:00.002-05:00

Today, so far, has been an interesting day. First I went to the Chelsea Market which was awesome! It is the home of Food Network and they have a bunch of small places to eat. I had a very expensive and yummy latte at the 9th Street Cafe (I think that is what it was called) and then a goat cheese sandwich at Amy's Bread which was really really good!

After that I found another cupcake place, called Billy's Bakery. Supposedly Katie Holmes likes their cupcakes which really is not a recommendation at all because she is a) crazy and b) too freakin' skinny to get cupcake advice from. I am saving it for later though so I will write an update on that later. I never found Crumbs so I'll have to wait for my friend's wedding to sample them.

Next I went to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum which my friend Anne suggested. The museum has 6 apartments that they have restored to exact days in the late 1800s to the early 1900's when there were an insane amount of immigrants living and working in these tenements. I did a tour called Piecing it Together about families in the garment industry. The first family had 5 children in a tiny three room apartment where they also did all the garment work (sewing, decorating, and pressing). The second apartment was a Lithuanian family with 6 children. It was really interesting because you really get a feel of what life was like for these immigrants. I can't wait to do the other tours someday!

After the tour I rushed out to the U.S. District Court to watch oral arguments. Although I had no idea what the cases were about that they were talking about, it was interesting to see the different styles of the lawyers and how the judges reacted to them.

Tonight my friend and I are going to find somewhere to eat dinner near Lincoln Center and then we are seeing a modern opera called Dr. Atomic. I'll report back on that one tomorrow.

Sugar high!

2008-11-04T17:58:00.003-05:00

Apparently I've decided to do a comparison of the cupcakes in the city because I've already been to two places today. I happened to walk by Magnolia's on my search for celebrities in the Village (I think I saw Kristen Dunst but probably not, it was hard to tell). That was my breakfast cupcake. Then I met a friend for a late lunch and we stopped at another cupcake place in SOHO I think but I don't remember the name. Not sure which was best. The Magnolia one was so pretty I think it tasted better because of that.

Tomorrow I'm going to try Crumbs which is where one of my friends is getting her wedding cupcakes. I want to make sure they aren't gross!

So excited about tonight's results!!! Hope you are all watching this historic event tonight with friends. Ahhh!!! Too much sugar!

Stayin' at the Ritz

2008-11-03T11:10:00.002-05:00

My friend was coming to New York for work and found that she could stay at the Ritz at Battery Park for a very good price and she nicely invited me to join her! Wow. This is definitely the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. The only problem is, it turns out that at the nice hotels, they charge you for everything! So I'm afraid to even touch the mini shampoo bottles for fear it will end up on her bill. Of course I still did and it was wonderful. I also used their amazing fitness center this morning on the 14th floor with towels and water at every machine along with your own personal TV.

The staff seems also really nice and not snooty at all, which is good, because I obviously do not belong here.

I'm trying to figure out what I should do while I'm here. All my friends are at work during the day so I'm entertaining myself. Any suggestions?

NaBloPoMo

2008-11-01T22:34:00.002-04:00

I joined NaBloPoMo which means that I have to post something on the blog everyday for the month of November. This might be today's post because I'm heading off to New York City for a few days to see some friends!

Who brought the generic candy?

2008-11-01T15:05:00.005-04:00

Halloween turned out to be a lot of fun this year! I started off the day by carving a pumpkin while watching Baby Stories on Discovery Health (I know, there is something wrong with me). Frenchie drew the pattern and I implemented it. Not too bad!

Then my friend called for a lunch date downtown which was tons of fun. I had some disappointing beef chow fun at Penang but her beef rendeng (sp?) was really good. Now I know what to order next time! It was super crowded in Downtown Crossing. There are always a lot of characters down there so it was hard to tell who was dressed for Halloween and who dresses like that every day.

When I got home, our neighbor had invited us over to give out candy, drink wine and eat pizza so I brought over the pumpkin, my bowl of candy and some Italian wine (to go with the pizza of course). It turns out that our neighborhood is Halloween central. I had NO idea because I've never been here for Halloween and Frenchie usually comes home from work too late. People come from all over Boston to see the decorations on the streets and beg for candy around so we wandered through and checked them out. It was fun to wander with my neighbor because she has lived here for many years and knows everybody's stories. I hope to someday find a neighborhood like that, where all our kids go to school together and we all know each other.

This guy turned his front porch into a pirate ship! Very elaborate.

Anyway, it was a ton of fun to see all the kids dressed up and remember what it was like when I used to go trick or treating. I found myself feeling bad that we bought the mixed assortment with smarties because wasn't that always a disappointment? It is amazing to think of the time when what sort of candy you were handed was the most important thing. I tried to hand some smarties to one boy and he said, "I don't want that crappy candy! Give me some chocolate!" Although he was obviously a very rude little boy and I kind of wanted to give him a little slap, I let him have the chocolate because the kid had a point. Chocolate trumps everything.

Of course I was a little sad because by the end of the night all my 3 Musketeers bars were gone. Time to hit the half price candy sales!

Sugar cookie recipe

2008-10-30T23:52:00.004-04:00

This is the sugar cookie recipe that I used, which is similar to the "family" recipe except I think my mother uses almond flavoring instead of vanilla. But I didn't have almond and they are still tasty.

This recipe made about 60 small pumpkin and cat cookies (1 WW point each). Double it for a serious batch.

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured (I found I needed a lot of flour so they didn't stick!) surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Frosting

Mix powdered sugar, a little almond or vanilla flavoring and then add milk until the frosting is slightly runny, maybe 2T milk for 1 cup of sugar? You don't want it to be too thick but you also don't want it to run off the cookie. It's an art. Divide the frosting into different containers and add food coloring. I used Ateco, which I got at the kitchen store. It's a gel coloring which makes vibrant colors, including black, which I have never used before. Cool!

Cooking/Baking frenzy

2008-10-30T12:31:00.005-04:00

I got inspired yesterday to hide my horrible hair in the kitchen where there are no mirrors. I stopped by a cool kitchen store on Newbury Street after my French class and found a couple fun cookie cutters. I also roasted a small sugar pumpkin the other day and wanted to use the innards so I made my mother's famous pumpkin bars. I'm not sure where she got this recipe but I'm going to share it!

Pumpkin Bars

1 1/2 Cups Whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking powder
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed pumpkin, cooked or canned
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 raisins

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt & soda. Add pumpkin, milk, oil, vanilla, eggs.
Beat at med. speed 2 minutes
Stir in raisins
13 x 9 " pan, grease bottom only
350 degrees for 25-30 minutes
Frost with Butterscotch frosting immediately after taking out of the oven.

Butterscotch Frosting
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tblspn butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted.
1-2 Tblspn milk
1/2 teas. vanilla

Combine brown sugar and butter in small saucepan, place over low heat and stir and cook until butter melts and sugar is dissolved.
Stir in powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. Remove from heat and spread.

I ran out of brown sugar part way through and instead of doing the smart thing and walking to the store 4 blocks away, I found that you could "make" brown sugar by adding molasses to white sugar. I did this for the cake part, which was fine, but then I also did it with the frosting and now it tastes a little molassey. It may not be noticiable that this is a bad thing to somebody who has never had the bars before, but to me they taste a little funny. Not like my mommy's. But everything tastes better when your mom makes it, doesn't it?

Then I made sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins and cats. Even though Frenchie got home from work very late I forced him to get his creative juices flowing and decorate with me. He definitely rose to the challenge.

These are mine, not quite as impressive

For dinner I made chili again, this time using the recipe that Lauren recommended. I had ground beef instead of chuck but it was still amazing. I served it with Trader Joe's new Organic Corn Chips. They are like Fritos except without the gross trans-fat stomach ache that follows. Definitely not healthy but really good with chili. I highly recommend them. We also tried TJ's new Simple Times lager, their new cheap beer. It was not that good but sort of counteracted the extreme sugar we were surrounded by while decorating.

Adventures from last Sunday. Am I a Carrie or a Miranda?

2008-10-29T20:54:00.004-04:00

Last Sunday we visited the South End Open Market which was awesome and of course it was the last one of the season! There are tons of artists there selling their wares but it isn't cheesy stuff, like, say, the Eugene Saturday Market. More like Portland Saturday Market. They were having a vendor costume contest which was pretty hilarious.

I definitely understand why people like the South End. After the market we went to the South End Buttery where we had an awesome brunch (butternut squash soup and an awesome salad) but a very not awesome pumpkin cheesecake. I think they accidently used salt instead of sugar. It did not taste right at all. But other than that it was a good experience. I mean, the name has the word "butter" in it. How could you not go?

That night Frenchie and I went to see Keith Jarrett, the infamous jazz diva. I accidently fell asleep before the concert and Frenchie was working so we both realized at the same time that it was suddenly time to go. There was no time to change clothes, brush hair, or put on makeup (at least that's what I keep telling myself). Because we live in Boston and the concert was at the Symphony Hall, people were dressed up. Anyway, while we were waiting for the T, Frenchie's ex called saying she had an extra ticket. Now, there is quite a story behind this ex but I am definitely not going to get into that here. Let's just say, we've never really hung out and actually have never seen each other post Frenchie and I being together but Frenchie and her still talk a lot so it is kind of weird. I am definitely not the jealous type but running into her was not at the top of my to-do list. Especially in this state.

Once he got the phone call I realized that we were going to see her at the concert, that perhaps Frenchie knew she was going to be there and hadn't told me and, my worst fear, that we would be going out for a beer afterwards. After establishing that he didn't know she was going to be there and therefore he could live through the night, I started hoping maybe we just wouldn't run into each other. Of course, we walk up to the Hall and there is a big group of glamorous French folks standing around and Frenchie starts chatting with them. I start trying to disappear. Then we saw the ex. She was glamourous, with perfect makeup and cool jewelry and I was oafish and awkward, which is actually how I always feel around the French and this was no exception. After some awkward conversation it was time to go inside.

The concert was pretty awesome but I spent a long time thinking about what would happen after the concert. What were we going to talk about? How was I going to cover the zit on my chin before the concert ended? If we ended up going out, what sort of drink would I order that could double as food because we hadn't eaten before the concert and obviously I couldn't order food?

Luckily, since it was Sunday night and the concert went sort of long, nobody wanted to go out. Phew. Dodged that bullet. Except of course that we all had to discuss how we could would hang out "soon." I'm pretty sure that means never, but we'll see. I'm not opposed to the idea, I just need a lot of prep. That's fair right?

What was I thinking?

2008-10-28T07:56:00.002-04:00

I have discovered another problem with being an unemployed housewife. Certain really bad ideas suddenly sound good! Like buying a box of "Light Amber Brown" hair dye. "You didn't actually use it though, right? On your beautiful golden blond hair?" you are asking yourself. Ahhh...What Was I Thinking!?!?!??!?!

I made a huge mistake. I have never been that picky about my hair (see earlier post about unpickiness). My philosophy is usually that it will grow back! This time feels different. I now understand those melodramatic women who say they will never leave the house again after a bad haircut except maybe to buy more hats. Maybe I'll just become one of those hat people. I look pretty good in hats!

My hair is now orange. Well, the top layer, where I had beautiful expensive highlights is orange and the bottom layer is brown. It looks, well, exactly like I just picked up a box of hair dye and made a very bad decision. However, since Halloween is right around the corner I was thinking maybe I could spin this as part of my costume.

Any ideas on characters with horrible orange hair dye jobs?

Has anybody else ever ruined their hair and lived to tell the tale?

ugg, I'm going back to bed.

Chile?

2008-10-25T11:57:00.004-04:00

The last couple of days Frenchie has been coming home from a conference on cancer research all excited and telling me about new research breaking the frontiers of science. Half of it I don't understand, but some of the concepts aren't too hard to grasp and I was getting excited also. I used to be a cancer nerd. My senior year in college my favorite book was Folkman's War all about how Judah Folkman discovered angiogensis. Then he turned out to be our graduation speaker! My friend Rachel and I were the only ones who a) had any idea who he was and b) were excited so we got to go out to lunch with him and got really dorky pictures taken with him. Anyway, Frenchie's stories made me miss working in science.

Then it was my turn to talk about my day.

Em: "I was looking up recipes for chili today but I wasn't coming up with anything"

Frenchie: "umm-hm"

Em: "I was spelling it like the country, Chile, and I thought, maybe I'm spelling it wrong, but I couldn't think of how to spell it correctly!"

Frenchie: fake laugh

Em: "Isn't that funny? I, um, couldn't remember how to spell chili...um, yeah."

Frenchie: leaves room, probably still pondering life-saving cancer research ideas

Em: realizes that this is the worst story ever told and tries to think of a better one. Only other thing I could come up with was how I accidently stole Real Simple from the gym while leaving my brand new Shape magazine there. Decided to keep that one to myself so as not to bore Frenchie right out of our marriage.

This was on Thursday, so Friday I felt slightly inspired and applied for some jobs. Was rejected by one is less than hour, although he did offer me a volunteer opportunity! Thanks a lot buddy. The other one I sent by snail mail so I'm sure it will take at least a week to reject me.

UPDATE: Went back to the gym to try to trade the magazines back but my SELF (it was a SELF, not a SHAPE) was gone! Stupid gym thieves. Now I'll never know how to blast my buns and flush my fat.

One More...

2008-10-23T09:21:00.003-04:00

Music

Ani's new CD. I know, I know, Ani is an angry feminist and you hate her music. But seriously, check out this new happy song she has.

"I've got myself a new mantra, it says don't forget to have a good time"

Things Making me Happy Today

2008-10-22T16:23:00.008-04:00

My book

I am reading a book right now called "Love Walked In" by Marisa de los Santos. Actually, first I read "Belong to Me" by the same author but it turns out it was a series and "Love Walked In" comes first. I am the first to admit that these books have the worlds cheesiest titles and normally I wouldn't like to admit that I read books by these names. It is really too bad because the author is sort of wonderful. She makes many references to books that we read as children, old movies, and famous poets. I'm sure I miss many of the references but as soon as she mentioned L.M. Montgomery, I was smitten.
The other thing I love about these books is that the stories literally make you feel warm. "Love Walked In" is about a 30 something woman falling in love with an 11 year old girl whose mother went crazy and abandoned her. "Belong to Me" is about friendship between women. I think the refreshing things about these books is how they are love stories, but not traditional love stories between a man and a woman. I definitely recommend these books to all my women friends (sorry men, it probably is a little too much for you), if you can get past the cheesy titles.

My latte

Frenchie said the other day that he was surprised that I am so picky and outspoken about my coffee because I am decidedly unpicky about everything else. I'm just not one of those characters that has strong feelings about things. I know that makes me sound boring, and maybe I am, but I think it's nice, and, well, accommodating to be so accommodating. Anyway, I digress. I have strong feelings about foam. There, I said it. I'm sure this comes from my days as a barista at Starbucks when I prided myself on making the best foam in Beaverton, even though most people didn't appreciate it. A latte has an inch of foam and a cappuccino is half foam, half milk. How hard is that!??! And the freakin' foam should be fresh. Not foam that has been sitting around in the pitcher for half an hour. Gross!

Ok, back to the point. I found the most perfect latte in Boston at L'Aroma Cafe on Newbury Street. The milk is always freshly steamed and poured so that a little heart forms on the top. It tastes like coffee, but not bitter, and the foam lasts until the last sip. This discovery has made living in Boston about 1500 times better. I now go there before my French class and after volunteering at the shelter. The cafe also has really good food, and the service is not horrible. There is one girl who can't smile to save her life but that somehow adds to the European flavor. : )

Now, even for those non-coffee drinkers, doesn't that look good?

My hair

I have to share this awesome hair product that I found. It's called Biosilk, silk therapy and I add just a tiny bit to my hair after showering and it makes it so soft and silky. It smells a little strong at first but the scent fades quickly. I spent a pretty penny on it but I just saw it at TJ Maxx for cheap and I'm pretty sure the bottle is going to last me a really long time. TJ Maxx often has the same products around the country so if you are interested you could check there.

Warning. This is gross!

2008-10-21T19:44:00.004-04:00

I decided to have a little snack before going to my cardio flex class at the gym tonight. I grabbed a Kashi GoLean bar that, um, has been in our cupboard for a few months. I started munching down, feeling energized about going to the gym (which I haven't been feeling in a while).

I just happened to look a little closer at my trail mix bar and saw that it looked a little funny. There were little whitish flecks on it that I didn't remember being there on the other bars I had eaten. At first I thought it was just flax seeds because, although I have no idea what flax is or what it looks like, it sounds like something that would be in a Kashi bar and that's what I picture it looking like.

Then...a tiny little worm poked its head out between an almond and a cranberry. After shrieking like a little girl and spitting out everything that was left in my mouth I proceeded to call Frenchie so he could tell me I wasn't going to die. He didn't answer!! So I did the next best thing, called my mother. Her suggestions were to either a) Have a drink because alcohol will kill whatever gross things I ate, b) take a laxative because that would get it out quicker or c) call poison control. Which did get me thinking that somebody should do an interview with poison control to see what sorts of weird calls they get. It must be interesting. Anyway, good suggestions mom, but I decided to just go to the gym anyway and hope that jumping around and sweating out my body weight would get my mind off the grossness. It totally worked, until I got home and started thinking about the incident again. I'm SOOOO grossed out!! Oh yeah, and when Frenchie finally called me back he just laughed at me and then tried to figure out how our Kashi bar got infected. He's such a scientist! That was so not the point of the story.

Anybody else ever accidently eaten something totally disgusting? Or do these things only happen to me?

More cooking!

2008-10-21T12:14:00.006-04:00

Two recent winners in the kitchen

Pizza with whole wheat pizza dough, Trader Joe's pizza sauce, portabello mushrooms, spicy sausage, peppers and mozzarella

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

This soup was A...wait for it...mazing! I added about 1/4 cup of cream, no butter and creme fraiche on the top mixed with these crazy little peppers we found at Russo's. Yummy!!!

Suzy Homemaker

2008-10-20T14:51:00.012-04:00

Last Friday I was a total stay at home wife. I did the laundry in the morning with some new lavender scented soap, making all our clothes smell like a carebear (says Frenchie), then made a big dinner and a chocolate cream pie.

The other day Frenchie was telling me about a French dish called pot-au-feu which is a fall/winter dish made with cheap meat and winter vegetables. We had a bunch of the ingredients in the house already so I decided to give it a try. I am totally intimidated by meat and usually make Frenchie do everything in the meat department. Buying, cutting, preparing etc, but I put on my big girl shoes and bought some marrow bones and a round roast from Stop and Shop. The recipe calls for a whole bunch of cuts of meat but I wasn't ready for that. I knew Frenchie would be appalled if the marrow bones were not included so I bucked up and bought those. I cooked the marrow bones with the soup to give it flavor and then afterwards spread the marrow on toast with salt. It sounds kind of gross, but it is really good.

Some pics from the night

Unfortunately, the pie has a sad ending. Although it looked pretty good, the chocolate filling didn't set and I accidently added sweetened chocolate instead of unsweetened chocolate so it was super sweet. I dumped the whole thing. I've been having a chocolate craving for weeks now and was hoping this would satisfy it but it definitely didn't. I guess not every recipe can work out.

Something to love

2008-10-19T09:29:00.003-04:00

...about Boston! I can be kind of a grump when it comes to Boston. Rude people trying to punch me or wagging their fingers at me. But there is something I love, when the Red Sox are in the playoffs. I wasn't a fan before moving to Boston 6 years ago, nor did I even watch baseball, but it is infectious here. Especially after the season where they won for the first time in 87 million years, I was converted, much to the chagrin of die hard fans who say I don't deserve to be a fan because I'm not a true Bostonian. Whatever, I'm sure the Sox don't care who's watching their games and buying their tickets!

The thing I love is how the city comes together. We went to a bar last night down the street from our house and everybody was high fiving and talking and yelling. It was like the good ol' Bust a Bucket days! Of course, I was about 10 years old then and definitely not at a bar, but you get the point. Also in Boston you get the great city accent, especially if you go to a more divy bar. I swear the guy next to us was one of the Affleck brothers. He looked and sounded exactly like Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone. I think he thought I was a little weird because I kept staring at him instead of the game but I finally decided it wasn't him.

Well, of course none of this is mind boggling to avid sports fans from all over. This must be why people like it so much! But it is something specific to the Red Sox for me, and something to love about being stuck in Brookline.

Suggestions

2008-10-17T10:49:00.002-04:00

Does anybody have any suggestions for blogs I should read? I have a list of the ones I check on the left but I need more. These people don't update enough (hint hint Margot).

Not so Great Expectations

2008-10-16T14:57:00.002-04:00

The most annoying part about the debate last night was the commentary afterwards. I heard so many critics saying that McCain redeemed himself last night because he didn't say anything stupid. Well, it was the same with the vice-presidential debate because everybody had such low expectations of Sarah Palin that when she didn't drool on herself or curse out the mediator they said it was a success. Does this make him good enough to be President or her good enough to be Vice-President? The country had such low expectations of McCain because of the previous debates and his low ratings recently that it wasn't hard for him to exceed those expectations!

I hope Americans are smart enough to realize that mediocre is not enough! And Obama has been consistently professional, well spoken and smart. Seems like an easy choice to me.

In other news, Joe the Plumber is not actually named Joe and he may not even be a plumber. Oops! Poor guy's life was probably ruined by this debate.

Did you just wag your finger at me?

2008-10-15T21:36:00.003-04:00

After my French class today I stopped into a tea shop to buy some loose leaf tea and grabbed a cup of brewed tea. I stopped in the Pottery Barn to check out some overpriced throw blankets (so soft!) with my tea. No problemo. I continued walking and saw a newish store on Newbury Street called Zara. I have been to this store in Paris before, I think it is Spanish, and it is a European style store with H&M prices. I decided to take a quick look and opened the door. Right inside the door a man in a suit was standing there. It is not surprising to see a security guard in the stores in Boston so I didn't think anything of it. However, as soon as I opened the door, he started wagging his finger at me! He didn't say a word, just wagged his finger and stared at my tea cup.

Well, since I remember what it was like to be 5 years old, I assumed that I was doing something wrong and asked him if I could not have the drink in his store. He shook his head and so I awkwardly walked back out the door with my drink. It took me a couple minutes but as I continued down the street I started to get really pissed! I mean, first of all, why can't I have a closed drink in their store? It's not like they are selling $2000 T-shirts. It's cheaper than the Gap for gosh sakes. Second, how about using your words stupid security guard. Where do you get off wagging your finger at me instead of nicely telling me that I can't have a drink in your store? Finally, would you have done this to anybody who walked in your store? Was it because I was not dressed to Newbury street standards today? Did I look like I was going to drop my covered cup of tea on a $50 pair of pants because I did not put on makeup this morning and I was wearing a cheap T-shirt?

Grr, anyway, I'm over it now. But I was not that impressed with Zara in the first place and now I'm definitely not impressed.

PS. I'm watching the Presidential debates right now and McCain is totally bombing! I just hope the critics agree with me.

Some recent photos...

2008-10-14T09:49:00.007-04:00

The World's Longest Sofa at the World's Most Crowded Oktoberfest

Caramel Apple Before (wow, good hair day huh?)

Caramel Apple After...and a not very impressed Frenchie

Beautiful Day

Check out those paws!

Something almost happened today

2008-10-14T08:23:00.002-04:00

My phone gave me it's cheerful whistle at 6:50am this morning. As soon as I woke up enough to think, I knew that the one thing I had to look forward to this week was not going to happen. I was supposed to have a job interview this morning at 8:30am. I had my suit all laid out, I got new shoes (always a good luck charm) and googled the heck out of my interviewer. I was ready! But instead, here I am, another day stretching out in front of me with nothing productive to do. I mean except for the yoga and bootcamp class I'm planning on attending, which, while giving some structure to the day, does not contribute anything to society. It barely even contributes to my health since it doesn't seem to matter how much I work out, everything is the same.

Someday I know I will miss this period of unemployment and I will be busy and stressed again. But for now I feel like a lump.

Leef Peepers

2008-10-09T11:11:00.005-04:00

Last weekend Frenchie and I ventured about 3 hours north to Rochester, VT. A tiny, adorable little town in Central Vermont. As soon as we crossed the border everything looked "vermonty." I mean, even if you have never been to Vermont, I'm sure you have a picture in your mind of what it should look like. Well, in October at least, it definitely looks like that. Rolling hills of oranges, reds and browns, cute white churches, hippies selling baked goods and antique books, and many outdoorsy stores where you can get your very own fleece vest for $400. I must admit though, it was chilly there and those fleece items were very tempting.

When we got back to Boston fall had started here as well. It is absolutely beautiful. Everything smells good, the air is crisp, people are starting to wear their new boots and coats and apples are everywhere! It is hard to believe that in a month it will be snowing and bitterly cold. I guess we better enjoy this while it lasts!

Female Bonding

2008-10-07T09:58:00.002-04:00

Last week I found myself walking alone down Newbury Street and suddenly felt depressed and very lonely. Seeing groups of women shopping together, eating together, and just talking made me crave female company. Most times in my life I have had almost constant female contact with either roommates or coworkers. Now I find myself living with my husband, not working, and having very few friends in Boston. Of course I love that I am finally with Frenchie but I feel an actual craving for female friendship. That day, I called a friend and we went to our favorite pizza place and after an hour I felt refreshed. It didn't matter what we talked about or that we ate fatty pizza, it is just that we talked and we listened.

I decided to do some research into this feeling to see if anybody was studying this phenomena. I found a researcher, Shelley E. Taylor, who studies how women and men deal with stress differently. She found that while men seek their mate when they are stressed, women tend to seek other females. She points out that primates have this same tendency but while female monkeys will groom each other, human females bond by talking about feelings, gossiping and doing social activities together.

Psychologists discovered this intriguing benefit of the company of women by doing stress studies in the laboratory. The invite women individually into their labs to do stressful tasks like mental arithmetic and public speaking and provide the company of a supportive woman or man during the stress tasks. Women's stress responses are typically greater, not lower, in response to a supportive male companion (even if he is the woman's own boyfriend!), but when the supportive companion is another woman, stress responses usually go down.

This probably seems obvious to the women reading this because it is so natural for most women, but I think it is nice to be reminded of this option. So if you are feeling stressed, call a friend! And if you are reading this and are one of my friends, call me. I miss my girls!

Oh, and check out the new Followers gadget on the side. If you do read my blog, become a follower!

Crazy Dog!

2008-10-02T17:10:00.001-04:00

This dog thinks it is a cat. Or a monkey.

Underwear Radius

2008-10-01T14:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I was watching an episode of one of my favorite shows, How I Met Your Mother (it's the new Friends and Doogie Howser is in it!). One of the characters, Marshall, is a recent law school graduate who is unemployed and got to the point where he was not putting on pants all day long. The gang was talking about the "underwear radius" which is the distance one will travel while in their underwear (first, you open your door to get the paper, next, you walk to the mailbox, and eventually you run out for some food in your boxers). Ted, one of the other characters, explained that the more of a loser you feel like, the larger your underwear radius is. This cracked me up because it is something that I am very familiar with. Instead of underwear though I wear my Costco lounge pants all day. I have reached the point where I get the mail and take out the trash with these on. Because, well, I just don't care!!! I also rarely care enough to brush my hair, shave my legs, or put on makeup. Poor Frenchie!!

I think it might be time for me to find a reason to put pants on in the morning. I'm really going to start the job search now. I mean it, really!! Well, maybe tomorrow. It's already 2:30 which only leaves my 9 hours before I have to go to bed and a lot of mindless tasks to get done before then. : )

UPDATE: I went to the library (in regular pants) but not until I was standing in front of the shelves did I realize that my pants were unzipped. Oops! Was I embarrassed? ehhh, not really. Also, I put on a new jacket that I got the other day at H&M and realized that the tag was still on. I wore that jacket the entire day on Saturday with the tag on. Awesome.

GET IT TOGETHER EMILY!!!

Parlez vous francais?

2008-09-30T14:08:00.002-04:00

Today I had my first French class at the Aliance Francais in Boston. It is a beginner beginner course but when the instructor came in, she didn't speak any English!!! Whaaaa??? Luckily one of the girls in the class, a Polish girl, already spoke some French and so was translating for us. I was doing ok because I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what French people are saying but a few of the others were completely lost. I think it will be a great way to learn though, if we can ever figure out what is going on.

Next time I see my mother-in-law I will be able to speak to her!! Or at least count to 20 in French... I think she'll be impressed.

Yummm

2008-09-29T09:44:00.004-04:00

So, weight watchers is not going too well. Especially after vacation where I just ate and didn't exercise, except for bailing some hay and getting a little lost on a walk in the fields. Also, Frenchie and I went apple picking and so I've been trying to use up the apples. I'm having a hard time finding any healthy apple recipes that actually sound appealing. Here is one that was amazing and next time I make it I'll try to cut down on the butter to make it a little healthier. Oh yeah, and maybe eat less of it. : )

Puffed Apple Pancake

We also just discovered this AMAZING store in Watertown, MA called A Russo & Sons. I'm pretty sure we are the last people to find this store, especially considering Frenchie is French (surprise!). The number of Europeans in the store definitely outnumbered the Americans. Last night we made a very yummy leek tart for dinner.

Today I'm going to make an apple crisp, roasted butternut squash soup and potato, green bean and basil risotto. I'll try to remember to take pictures.

Goat Musk

2008-09-28T15:42:00.007-04:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have written. Frenchie and I were on a cccrrraaazzzyy midwest vacation!! OK, actually it was not crazy, kind of boring, but it was the midwest, as evidenced by this picture...

Is that a giant aluminum cross, you ask? Why yes, yes it is. It's located in a place called Effingham. Say it out loud. I thought it was funny.

AND this picture! That's me with Bob the cow (who's fate I don't like to think about because he was the sweetest cow ever) and the baby goats.

AND this picture...

Yes, folks, we were on a farm. My dad and his wife's farm with a farmstead cheese operation (which means they milk the goats and use the milk to make their own cheese) and organic fruits and vegetables. Frenchie got rubbed on by some of the male goats and had to leave a pair of his jeans in Illinois. Man, those things are musky!! It is almost mating season so the male goats do this little trick with their penises where they spray their face with a special type of urine with the aforementioned smell (Sarah, maybe you can help me out here). I saw Little Richy (one of the male goats) doing this and was completely mesmerized. Too mesmerized to get a video. Sorry.

We also saw praying mantis' mating but we missed the part where the female eats the male. : (

My dad and his wife are in the donkey market so last Monday we drove down to Arthur, Illinois to the Amish live animal auction to look for a donkey. We didn't find a donkey but I did find out that the Amish use cell phones and try to sell some pretty sad looking chickens.

On our way home we remembered why flying sucks and my dad has sworn to never go to the Willard airport again! When they tell you to arrive 30 minutes before the flight, they mean it! The reason is, the same people who work the counter take the bags out of the plane. Northwest airlines has 3 people working there so since we arrived 29 minutes before our flight they wouldn't check us in and we missed it!!! So we got to stay another night and then drive to Chicago at 5am the next morning to get another flight. Luckily, since I'm unemployed and Frenchie's job is very flexible, being gone another day wasn't a disaster. Just an annoyance.

...Esquire

2008-09-15T10:50:00.003-04:00

Last Friday was full of emotions. I knew that I would be finding out the results of my bar exam at 5pm. So it was a long day.

I went to the gym in the morning and then decided to take myself out shopping to distract myself. I went down to the mall and bought myself a new outfit that I probably didn't need.

Cute dress though, huh?

Anyway, I was out and it was about 4:15 when I thought I should start walking home. I can't even explain how nervous I was. I decided to stop by Frenchie's new lab but I couldn't decide whether I wanted to check the results there because if it was bad I just wanted to be at home. At 5:04 I was staring at Frenchie's computer, completely paralyzed. I didn't know what to do. Frenchie tried to get me to check but I wouldn't do it. Then the phone rang...

It was my friend Sarah, also a lawyer in Oregon, who had checked and called to congratulate me. I let out a HUGE sign of relief and finally clicked onto the webpage and saw my name. I passed! Phew...

And then I started running around the lab like a huge dork telling people that I am now an esquire. haha. Luckily, it was Friday which meant happy hour at the lab where the PI just happened to have champagne. Since I used to work there I know him well and he dedicated a toast to me. It would have been nice to be in Oregon with my law school friends but I think this was second best because there were people there who have known me through the whole journey and they were genuinely happy for me.

Weight Watchers Update/rant

2008-09-11T10:22:00.003-04:00

Day 4

I would like to say that I feel great. I have more energy, feel healthy, all that BS. But...I FEEL LIKE CRAP!!! I have no energy, I have a constant headache, I'm hungry almost all the time and I'm turning into a bitch. Am I doing this wrong? Yesterday I went over my allotted points a little bit and now I feel guilty but not quite as crappy. I went to my bootcamp class yesterday and felt totally sluggish. I tried to do the elliptical afterwards, like I usually do, but they were showing the Food Network (I don't what sadistic gym member always puts the food network on at the gym, but it is dangerous!) and I thought I was going to pass out at the site of food. So I had to quit and go home.

Last night I dreamt about eating candy.

I think my body is just adjusting to eating such a small amount of calories and hopefully in a few days it will be easier. Right? Has anybody done this and had this experience?

Grr, I just want to fit into my jeans before the weather gets cool again. They are my first designer jeans! I can't afford to buy more!!

Read about me!!

2008-09-11T09:43:00.003-04:00

I was tagged to do this survey, so here goes

4 random things about my husband
* If he calls you his friend, you can ask him for anything, anytime.
* He is an animal lover, especially kitties
* He is a total goofball and has some of the strangest dance moves you have ever seen
* He uses very expensive face cream. : )

4 movies that I would/could watch more than once
* The Princess Bride
* Dogfight
* The Breakfast Club
* Juno

4 TV shows I watch
* Weeds
* 30 Rock
* How I Met Your Mother
* The New Adventures of Old Christine

4 places that I have been
* Paris, France
* St. Pabu, France
* Victoria, Canada
* Cleveland, Ohio

4 People who email me regularly
* My mom
* The Gap
* Online bill pay
* My college friend group

4 Favorite Foods
* Anything Frenchie cooks
* Cake
* Candy
* Cake

4 Places I would like to visit
* Italy
* A Greek island
* Raleigh, North Carolina (to see my BFF!)
* A talk show audience (like Ellen, or Conan, or Daily Show)

4 things I am looking forward to in the coming year
* A new job!
* A new house!
* Living in Portland (hopefully)
* Getting "married"

4 People I have tagged
* Um, I don't have many blog friends, so I guess this ends with me...

Real Housewife of Norfolk County

2008-09-10T10:07:00.002-04:00

I have sort of become a housewife, although not a very good one (I still only clean when we have guests coming over). Our apartment does not have laundry so it is off to the laundromat for us. Frenchie is allergic to doing laundry (well, not really, but the laundromat makes him sort of crazy) so I have found it is more pleasant for me to do it by myself. Of course, there is also the fact that I have TONS of free time on my hands.

I still hate the laundromat though. It's not so much dragging the laundry there or spending the time, it is more that my dirty laundry seems like it should be more private! It makes me slightly uncomfortable to think about whose laundry was in there before and how dirty the floor is (when I accidently drop things). I feel like nothing is really clean. Not to mention the weirdos who work/hang out there. One of the employees the other day was standing around making conversation with the patrons and was jokingly threatening to beat up somebody's kid! WTF? And then yesterday there was this older couple in there and the guy literally watched everything I did. I'm normally self conscious in public anyway, but having this dude staring at me the whole time did not help. Well, it sure makes me thankful for all the places I have lived where I had my own laundry machines!!

What I've Been Up To

2008-09-08T18:47:00.002-04:00

I did a LOT of cooking yesterday, just for the fun of it. We had a few people over, including my old friend from out of town. I made a chocolate caramel cake with fleur de sel. It was kind of a lot of work to make (it was from a Bon Appetit magazine) and did not turn out that pretty because I had the wrong type of pans, but I think it tasted really good!!

We also made

Pizza with honey wheat crust
Shrimp and Orzo Salad
Lamb with Mint Marinade
Spinach salad with apples, candied pecans, goat cheese and tomatoes

It was quite a success, even though it was a lot of work. And today, I've decided to start dieting. For reals this time. I'm trying the Weight Watchers online free trial to see if I like it. So far I only have 3 points left for the day and I'm starving. Hmm...this is a bit of a problem...

Need to figure out which foods have 0 points so I can stuff myself with those. : )

The Price for Fun

2008-09-05T00:07:00.000-04:00

This week has been pretty great. Tuesday night, one of my old friends Nikki (we went to the same college but didn't really know each other and then ended up working next to each other at the lab in Boston after college), came to visit. I have been missing seeing friends and just talking to people so I was eating it up! Frenchie made us steak and we stayed up late and talked.

Also, on Wednesday I had my orientation at the women's shelter. The shelter is on one of the fanciest streets in Boston, Newbury Street, in the basement of a church. Nikki and I took the T down there and tried to find something to eat before my orientation. We found a place called Stephanie's on Newbury. They are always voted Best Salad or something like that and I was curious to check it out. We ate with the fancy people and ordered our salads. Nikki got the fruit salad which said came with yogurt and granola. Sounds hearty and healthy, right? Well, it actually came with a giant pile of beautiful fruit and berries, about a tablespoon of yogurt and a sprinkling of granola. Obviously, this restaurant is not for people who like to eat, as was apparent when the girl next to me received her salad and then with a disgusted look, handed it back to the waiter saying "Um, I asked for the dressing on the side!" The waiter grabbed her salad back and as he walked by me he muttered something in Spanish. She may have received some spit with her side dressing. Anyway, it was just a funny Newbury Street experience.

The orientation was amazing. I am so excited to volunteer at this place. They are a women's day shelter that serves breakfast and lunch and then close at 2. They have a reading room, computers where guests can use internet, countless advocacy resources, a clinic, a nap room and just a general whole community. The lunch is served restaurant style, not buffet style and the staff and volunteers sit and eat with the guests. Of course, after three years of being a poor student, my first thought was "Free Lunch!" Which is obviously horrible because I can afford lunch, these women are homeless for gosh sakes!

Then on Wednesday I went to Cape Cod for Frenchie's lab retreat. Normally significant others aren't invited but I got a special invite because I worked in the lab for three years and the admin (who runs everything) loves me. So we drove off to the Cape on a gorgeous day and partied with the lab late into the night. Of course I drank a little too much and am now on Day 2 of retreat headache, but that is the price of fun sometimes...

Not sure what is in the plans for today. I'm thinking I definitely need a few hours at the gym though. ugghh.

A Very Successful Day!!

2008-09-02T20:02:00.002-04:00

Today, although just about as slow as most, was still very eventful.

It started yesterday when we went to the neighborhood BBQ and I was talking to one of my neighbor's about volunteering in Boston. She suggested a place called The Women's Lunch Place which is a place where low income women can eat and, well, do other things I think. I haven't quite figured it out yet. I filled in an online application this afternoon and a very nice lady called me today, said she loved my application, and wanted to see if I could go to an orientation tomorrow! Of course, tomorrow is probably the busiest day I've had in months, but isn't that the way it always works out? Anyway, I'm going to go tomorrow because otherwise I would have to wait until October to start. Finally, somebody called me back and actually liked my application! OK, so it is just a volunteer job, but still, I'm very excited.

Second, Frenchie received his work permit and his travel permit! So at least for a year, in which time the green card will hopefully have arrived, he can be like any normal American. He can travel across the border, and even change jobs. Another very exciting development that we have been patiently awaiting for awhile.

Two Recommendations

2008-09-01T12:05:00.002-04:00

I just read "Rise and Shine" by Anna Quindlen. I tried to listen to the book on CD but the CDs from the library were so scratched I couldn't. It sounded like it was going to be a great one. But I read the book the old fashioned way and it was really good. A quick beach read.

Also saw Tropic Thunder yesterday. Freaking hilarious! Tom Cruise will surprise you.

A little behind...Days Two and Three

2008-09-01T11:52:00.003-04:00

Saturday

I ran into my neighbor the other day and we realized that we both go to the same gym (I am slightly obsessed with my neighbor and her family, but that is another story). I was excited. She said I should check out the 8am yoga class on Saturday morning. Well, like I do anytime somebody new invites me to do something new, I had to debate this one. It is always a little scary to go to a new yoga class because you don't know what the level will be like, what the teacher will be like, if you should bring your own mat, etc. At the last minute on Saturday morning I jumped out of bed and decided to go. She saw me coming up the driveway with my yoga mat and yelled out the window to wait for her. We walked the couple blocks to the gym together and I talked too much, like I sometimes do (it doesn't help that she's a psychiatrist so she is easy to talk to). She also invited us to a potluck, which will be Monday's scary thing.

I was reminded after the class how much I enjoy yoga and how strong and peaceful it makes me feel. I am definitely going to try to bring yoga back into my life.

Sunday

The rest of Saturday did not go so well. Let me just say, my sanity was tested many times. And Sunday was only slightly better. I guess the scariest thing I did on Sunday was to go to a lake with Frenchie and we went out on a canoe. Ok, the canoeing part wasn't actually scary, but other parts of the day were, lets just say, trying.
It was beautiful and so nice to be out on the water, even if we could hear and see the freeway from the lake.

What I have learned over the past two days...

Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.
- Anne Shirley

Day One...foregoing craigslist

2008-08-29T10:48:00.005-04:00

I am at an age where I can still remember a time before the internet and emailing became the only way to contact a person, when you had to go to a music store to buy your music and a bookstore to buy books, and when, if you wanted to buy something used, you had to look through the Thrifties or the classifieds, and then pick up the phone and inquire about the kitten, tractor, or rare iguana you were interested in. Even though I can remember these times, I have not picked up a phone to call a stranger in quite a while. It does not even occur to me, especially when email is a very viable and safe option! If I could do everything over the internet I would, and we are definitely heading that way.

But the other day Frenchie came home with a small strip of paper torn from an ad on a lamppost selling furniture. He thought it would be a good idea for me to call them because it seemed like it might be one of the beautiful Brookline houses which may therefore have some beautiful furniture, not the crap that people sell online. It is my job to make phone calls in our marriage because Frenchie is self-conscious about his accent (even though I think most people understand him) so the task was left to me.

I put it off. Because I was scared to make a random phone call! You have no idea who is going to be on the other line! I never even pick up a call unless I know who is calling and what type of person would just blindly pick up my call without even caller ID??

Of course that type of person is the older generation who still puts signs on posts with little tabs to rip off the phone number, that's who. Obviously not somebody to be afraid of. So I called. She was nice, in a Boston sort of way, and said I should call back later to schedule an appointment to look at her furniture because she was busy with somebody else right then.

I'm already scared for the callback, but a little less than I was to make the initial call.

Day One - mission accomplished!

New Blog Theme Announced!

2008-08-29T08:09:00.002-04:00

I haven't thought of a name for the new blog yet, but the theme will be that I am going to do something every day scares me. Now, I think I will have to take the term "scare" loosely because there are some things that don't so much scare me but I just really don't want to do them. : ) I'm sure everybody can relate to that. Those will count.

I thought of this during Obama's speech last night and the video they made of his life. Of course, it was produced in a way that was supposed to inspire us and make us impressed by his life of public service, but it made me think. Why do some people have so much courage and so much belief in themselves that they know they can serve others? I have always had the desire to help people and I often have the urge to talk to strangers who seem to be in distress. But I have always been too scared. For the past 27 years, I've had other excuses as well, like school or work or a personal life in shambles, but right now I spend my days watching TV, wandering the neighborhood and exercising. And it is not very fulfilling.

Now I'm sure eventually I will get a job and there will be multitudes of scary things to face every day, but for now I need a challenge. So I will post later with today's moment of truth...

Haircut

2008-08-28T11:42:00.002-04:00

What should I do? Back to this?

Baby Fever

2008-08-27T14:45:00.003-04:00

Let me start off by saying there is NO way I will be having a baby anytime soon, so don't get your hopes up quite yet (or worry, depending on who is reading this).

Maybe it is the result of me being surrounded by the mothers with their infants who, like me, walk around all day shopping, sitting at coffeeshops, etc. Or maybe it is daytime TV trying to sell me information about raising my baby. Or, maybe it is because I am in my prime baby making years and my hormones can't help it.

Whatever it is, I'm obsessed. I watched this wonderful documentary made by Ricki Lake the other day called The Business of Being Born. I was sobbing, watching these women have their babies and marveling at how strong these women are, whether they had their babies at home or in the hospital. Amazing. I also spent yesterday reading the Heather Armstrong's blog Dooce archives about her pregnancy experiences and her committal with postpartum depression. Also very intense.

This baby fever has also translated to me wanting a dog. Let me just say, while I am definitely an animal lover I am not a dog person. I don't desire to pick up poop or listen to whining or to be followed around, but I do like the idea of going for walks, teaching it tricks, and snuggling with a big doggie. I'm especially attracted to Wheaten Terriers. They are like giant stuffed animals!! Anyway, I'm not getting a dog either. I think I am just wishing for something to take care of and the cats are just not doing it for me right now.

I have to keep reminding myself that I should be taking care of myself by a) finding a job, b) fulfilling my dream of living in Oregon with Frenchie, and c) being more healthy. That should be enough to focus on, but I still feel like I'm looking for something else.

Beautiful weekend

2008-08-25T09:04:00.008-04:00

Boston had the most unbelievable weather this weekend. In the 80s, no clouds, no humidity. So Frenchie and I headed off to the coast on Saturday. We decided to go to Rockport, MA on the North Shore. It took about an hour to get there which moved quickly because we were listening to a hilarious book on CD called The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir Listen to it, it's funny.

Going to the beach on the east coast is so different than a trip to the beach on the west coast.
First of all, you usually have to pay to park to go to the beach. Frenchie and I went to one beach a few years ago where they charged us $20 just to park! WTF! It was definitely not worth it.
Second, the beach towns are so picture perfectly cute you just want to throw up a little. Not that Oregon doesn't have cute beach towns, but these are sickeningly cute (of course, they still sell the same cheap crap).
Third, the beach is insanely crowded. I mean, I remember going to beach, trying to pick a spot to sit and rejecting them because we could see other people. Here, you can see them, you can listen to their conversations, you can smell their sandwiches, and see the tatoos that can only be seen when they are in their skimpy bikinis. It's not so much a much a bad thing, especially since I love eavesdropping on strangers, just very different.
We left the beach and walked around the cute town, thinking we should find some place to have a beer and watch the boats. As we walked around we noticed the complete lack of bars and restaurants serving alcohol. All of the sudden, like a lightbulb went off, we remembered that Rockport is a dry town! Another strange Massachusetts phenomenon. So we had to leave immediately. OK, actually we had some ice cream and then took off.

On Sunday we walked to this great bakery and our favorite store, TJ Maxx to buy more crap that we probably didn't need. Then I decided I am going to try once again to play the guitar. I mean, I'm not really busy doing anything else right now, so why not? I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Waiting

2008-08-20T16:33:00.004-04:00

Waiting for the next step seems to be the theme of my life right now. Patience has never been one of my strong points, and while I am sure nobody likes waiting, I think it actually causes me pain. I like things to happen NOW and to have answers NOW.

Right now I am waiting to find out my bar results, for Frenchie to get his work permit (only 10 more days until we are screwed), waiting to get a job, and sort of waiting for life to begin. Not that I am not enjoying myself because I am. I have been baking, working out, reading, catching up on TV and movies and following the Olympics. At the same time, I am deep in transition mode. I can't plan anything more than a couple weeks away because I don't know where I will be or if I will be working.

For now I am just going to try to live in the moment as much as possible and not worry too much about things I cannot control.

Here is a picture of cuteness of my daytime companions.

Watching the Olympics Dinner

2008-08-19T13:11:00.002-04:00

Jazzz

2008-08-17T08:52:00.004-04:00

Frenchie and I went to the Newport Jazz Festival last weekend to see one of his favorite people, Wayne Shorter. We arrived a little late after the GPS system, "Garmin," decided to have a mind of its own and took us on a bit of a wild goose hunt of Rhode Island. It really made me think how much we rely on technology now. If the GPS systems and google maps were to suddenly break, would we still follow them wherever they told us to go? Would we follow blindly while we drove in the opposite direction of our destination, just trusting this device? Well, it turns out we will!

Anyway, we got there and it was a gorgeous day in a gorgeous location but many of the seats on the lawn were taken. I led us through the maze and we sat down between two groups of what turned out to be giant douchebags. On our left there was the typical young couple who glared at us for sitting so close and could not even bear to move their giant bags so we could have a little more room. On our right, was a couple with a very unattractive man and cute woman who I think were on a first date or something. The guy was trying to impress her with such lines as "I know I am overweight but I have great blood pressure" and "I understand why you are the way you are." I honestly believe it may have been this guy.

The night ended with Aretha Franklin who was awesome but slightly crazy and another wild ride home with Garmin. Whew, another New England adventure!

I did it!!

2008-08-04T17:20:00.002-04:00

The bar is finished!! For now at least. Since last Wednesday night life has been pretty darn good. I spent the first two days sleeping, watching TV, reading and basically doing nothing. Saturday my friend and I went back down to Eugene and hung out with friends which was really fun and a last hoorah to say goodbye to what was my home for the past three years.

Last Friday night I met with some old friends from high school. I graduated 10 years ago and haven't seen some of those people since then. We are all surprisingly the same as we were in high school and my nervousness about having to tell everybody that I have no job nor do I know where I am going to live, was quickly assuaged by the fact that I felt completely at home with these girls. Reminiscing was hilarious, hearing stories about people that I had mostly forgotten. My actual high school reunion is supposed to be this fall, but I think I've seen most of the people I wanted to see already! Plus I have a new plan to go to Costa Rica this fall. Just need to dig up a little bit of money, a new bathing suit, put off getting a job and I'll be off!

4 days to go!

2008-07-21T20:06:00.005-04:00

Only 4 days until the bar exam in Oregon. I am flying to Portland today with plenty of time to adjust before the exam on Tuesday and Wednesday. My mind is racing with so many competing thoughts right now.

"I have been studying every day, I will be fine!"

"What if I'm not fine, what if my brain draws a blank and I choose C for every answer?"

but the worst...What if I go there, feel like everything went great, threw up all the knowledge I have about the law and in 6 weeks and my name is NOT on that list. Gulp.

Well, at this point there is very little I can do about it so I'm going to go to Oregon with excitement at seeing my family and friends who I haven't seen in 2 months, take this stupid test, and then proceed to piece back together the parts of my life that were neglected while I was giving everything I had to the law.

Please, if you have a minute next Tuesday and Wednesday, throw some good thoughts my way...I'm going to need everything I can get. And if you are reading this and are in the same position as me, GOOD LUCK!!! We are all going to rock this thing!!!

Trader Joe's Kettle Corn

2008-07-18T11:55:00.005-04:00

I weighed myself at the gym again today. Another 2 pounds. According to the scale I've gained 20 pounds since April. How is that possible? Maybe it is time to give up my new favorite snack. Trader Joe's Kettle Corn. It is seriously addictive and yummy.

but it might be time to say goodbye...

Jump and Jab

2008-07-16T16:44:00.005-04:00

I was feeling especially restless on Monday while trying to study so finally around 5:30 I decided to go to the gym. I usually only go to the same couple of classes but I decided to try a new one. Jump and Jab. I walked in with about 25 other women and saw the teacher was one that I had experienced before in my bootcamp classes. I swear she was actually in the military at some point because she is intense. So I was ready for a lot of jumping and jabbing, and boy was I right! The class was very crowded but I found a little spot in the back (furthest from the mirrors). Right before the class started this tall, blond woman with full makeup on (Boston style) comes in and stands next to me on my left so she could be next to her friend.

As we started jumping and jabbing, I was about a beat behind on all the moves because I wasn't sure what I was doing and at one point we were supposed to shuffle to the right while punching to the right. I suddenly found tall makeup woman's fist about an inch from my face and she wasn't stopping! She did not even attempt to watch out for me, she just kept punching along like I was invisible for about a half hour! I finally just accidently punched her when we went the other direction and told her to wash her face before coming to the gym.

Ok, I didn't really do that. Instead I left the class halfway through because she was annoying me. Someday though I will grow a backbone and tell people to just get out of my F-ing face. Or maybe I should just move back to the West Coast where people are nice and don't try to punch you...

Hot Loki

2008-07-13T18:15:00.001-04:00

Countdown begins

2008-07-12T19:42:00.002-04:00

While there is still 17 days until the bar exam, it feels like it is tomorrow. I have about one day per subject to memorize everything and get myself totally ready. No pressure at all! I am currently in major freak out mode and will be there until July 30th at 5pm.

The only thing keeping me going are the thoughts of what I'm going to do after the exam. The month of August is going to be amazing. I'm going to do nothing! Except of course look for a job, but that will be minor compared to studying for the bar. I can't wait to:

Read a magazine
Go for long walks to nowhere
Have a beer in the middle of the day
Sleep
Watch mindless TV
Sleep
Go shopping (window only of course since I am broke)
See friends
Umm...that's all I can think of right now but I'll add more later as I think of all the wonderful things awaiting me in August.

Back to studying Contracts and Sales on a Saturday night while Frenchie is out playing poker with his buddies.

Homesick

2008-07-10T18:33:00.002-04:00

It was a beautiful day in Boston today. Not too hot, not too muggy, breezy and nice in the shade. I found myself wandering into the Brookline Farmer's Market, hoping to buy some bread and see what else was in season. It made me so homesick for Oregon! It's a tiny market with about 2 farmers, a meat guy, a cheese guy, a bakery and some random stuff. It's not bad, but it was voted Best Farmer's Market in the Boston area!! I mean, it's just sad. Needless to say, they were out of bread, the only vegetables in season are beets apparently and I got too depressed to buy anything.

I miss Eugene and my friends. I miss Portland and my family. But most of all I miss Oregon and everything that makes it the perfect place to live. If I had some sort of plan about how to get there I think I would feel better but right now Frenchie and I are just in "wait and see" mode. Ahhh!!!

Well, I'm obviously feeling sorry for myself today. Better go back to the real world of studying secured transactions (what the hell are those you ask? I have no idea either. Uh-oh).

Microsoft doesn't want me to take the bar.

2008-07-09T11:55:00.003-04:00

The computer saga continued this week. We went to Costco, exchanged the computer for a spanking new HP laptop which was surprisingly nice for a PC. Took it home, played with it and finally tried to download the bar exam software. I successfully downloaded it but when I tried to open it, a little error came up.

"Softexam not compatible with 64 bit"

WTF is 64 bit? I have no idea but it didn't sound good. And it wasn't. I frantically called my cousin, a computer expert, who told me I was screwed and needed to get an operating system that was 32 bit. Basically, a new computer. After a complete mental breakdown I called Frenchie, told him he had to fix this and he did. He went out, burned the credit card and bought a refurbished IBM ThinkPad with XP (apparently 32 bit) and got the program working just in time. This bar exam business is expensive!

Costco doesn't want me to take the bar

2008-07-07T18:25:00.004-04:00

For all of you non-lawyers out there, the bar exam requires you to bring your own computer, install some ridiculously expensive software, and pray that it doesn't break down. But, on top of that, it HAS to be a PC. Thanks for telling us that when we started law school and about half of us bought our shiny new Macs. I had a couple ideas about what I was going to do to solve this problem.

My mother works at Intel, she can probably get me a laptop! umm, not so much

I'll borrow one from the school's tech office! oops, forgot to do that

I know, I'll make Frenchie let me borrow his computer because we are married now! That's what marriage is for. Perfect.

His computer is a newer Mac so we could install Windows on it (some tricky way neither of us understood) and then install the exam taking software. Well, that turned out to be the best option until yesterday when I realized I only have three days to do download the software, Windows was on its way in the mail with an unknown arrival date, and there were already some preliminary problems with Bootcamp (which has something to do with running Windows on a Mac, don't ask me).

New idea! We'll go to Costco, buy the cheapest laptop they have, use it for the bar exam, then return it under their liberal 90 day return policy. Brilliant idea by Tesa (few and far between these days).

So we GPSed our way to Costco, found a computer, purchased the computer (along with a slice of their yummy pizza) and dragged ourselves to Frenchie's office to check it out. After plugging in and pushing buttons, I turned it on and...the user was "Costco" and it was asking for a password. Hmm, I thought, that's weird. Maybe that's just because we bought it at Costco, the password must be "costco" or "password". Hmm, neither of those work either. This is starting to look a little shady. "Oh, look at that, it's all scratched up" "This was a GD display model they sold us and we can't even use it because we don't know the password!"

This better freakin' work this time!!!

Independence

2008-07-05T18:21:00.004-04:00

Frenchie and I had a very successful BBQ yesterday to celebrate our country's independence. I actually did some cooking! I have always been more of a baker because of a lack of confidence in my cooking skills, but I decided to give it a try. I made:

Molasses-Ginger Baked Beans
Feta Burgers
Watermelon Feta Salad
Rosy Peach Sangria
Raspberry Cream Cheese Tart (made patriotic by adding blueberries)

I forgot to take pictures because I was sampling too much of my sangria while making it, but I have to say it was a huge success! Frenchie also made steaks marinated in oyster sauce, balsamic vinegar, mustard and red chile pepper flakes and a friend bought some sausages from Northern Africa called merguez (which were amazing). The sangria was a disappointment, not very flavorful. I think I should stick to the traditional kind with citrus fruit and red wine.

Then we walked to the Charles River in Boston to watch the fireworks. We were sort of far away (on the BU bridge) and we had a kid next to us who would yell every time one of the fireworks went off. Usually he yelled "bitchin". One of our friends was practically peeing her pants laughing at first but then it became a little annoying because he wouldn't stop. And the Boston show is quite long!

It was a nice break from studying and reminded me how wonderful life will be when this is all over. Ahhhh...

Homeland Security

2008-07-04T05:23:00.003-04:00

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is about to receive a whole bunch of money from the Frenchie's. We sent our green card application yesterday! After probably about 20 hours of paperwork, organizing, double checking, medical exams (which included TB tests, HIV tests, syphilis tests and an inconclusive chest x-ray) a little fighting, picture taking and one giant envelope we have mailed it off. Now we wait.

Frenchie's visa expires at the end of August so we have 57 days for his work permit to arrive. If it does not arrive before then, Frenchie gets an unpaid vacation until it does! They say it will take between 30-90 days to arrive so we'll see. Nobody has ever accused the government of doing things quickly so we may be looking for somewhere to crash in September. Or maybe I'll get a job finally, we'll see.

In other news, I am awake way too early on the one day BarBri says I get to take off from studying. I'm going through a little period of insomnia which is exacerbated by the fact that every night I wake up with another mosquito bite itching like crazy. How do you get rid of mosquitos anyway? I'm sure it would help if we closed the window but the cats insist we leave it open so they can roam in and out all night. I'm tempted to dowse myself in bug spray before I go to bed but that seems kind of gross. Maybe mosquito netting?

Grr

2008-07-02T13:32:00.000-04:00

I am currently a full time bar studying crazy person. Of course I am using the worlds only bar review course, BarBri, but I am doing an iPod program so I'm responsible for figuring out which of the 40 lbs of books they sent me to use for that day. Well, I did well for about 30 days, but yesterday I screwed up! Apparently I did the wrong 6 hour practice exam!!! Grrrr... Now I am supposed to listen to 12 hours of lecture specifically targeting those 200 questions that I have not done.

Of course I realized this as I sat down in Starbucks to begin the review lectures and a giant thunderstorm started outside so I'm stuck here for a bit until the downpour is over and I can go home and figure out what exam I was supposed to be doing.

not sure what to do next...

Another 2 pounds?!?!

2008-06-30T15:31:00.000-04:00

I recently moved to Boston to live with my husband and study for the bar exam. As soon as I got here I joined the closest gym because working out keeps me sane and sort of allows me to concentrate while I study. So far I've been going about 5-6 hours a week, usually in the form of these crazy bootcamp workout classes. I wouldn't exactly call them fun but since I hate weightraining and I hate to be a quitter, they get me to lift some weights and do some cardio all packaged up in one hour. The insanely skinny and fit instructors have lulled me into thinking that maybe if I keep this up I will someday look like that. But, instead I have been steadily gaining about 2 pounds a week since I got here. This is not a huge surprise considering I snack all day long while I study and then when Frenchie gets home I tend to drink a lot more than usual and eat a lot more than usual. But it is still frustrating because I don't see how I could be gaining that much weight! A couple pounds, sure, but literally I've gained about 12 pounds according to the gym's scale!

So, the new plan is keep up the snacking, on healthy to semi-healthy snacks, but cut way down on the dinners and the drinking. I'm usually not all the hungry in the evening anyway and I just eat because it is there or because it tastes good (Frenchie is an excellent cook). From now on, one drink a night and tiny portions. There, I said it out loud so it will be true!

Whatcha doing?

2008-06-29T18:36:00.000-04:00

I recently got married to a wonderful French man, who we will call Frenchie. Frenchie and I have been seeing each other for almost 5 years, but have never really lived together until now. Actually, for the past three years we have been living 3000 miles away from each other. So, needless to say, this is taking a little bit of getting used to. I like to have my space and my routines while he seems to like knowing what I am doing at all times. "Whatcha doing? Where are you? Where are you going?" It reminds me of that Sex and the City episode where Carrie and Aidan move in together. I am realizing that there are many things that I did as a "single" person that I am not sure I want him to know about.

For one, sometimes I like to sit and surf the internet for HOURS. I know that does not make me special or anything, and he also does this sometimes, but I like to do it while watching TV, snacking, perhaps talking on the phone, with my cat nestled in next to me, while chewing gum, painting my toenails and well, you get the point. I am sure the first time I let myself do this in front of him I will hear about it and be endlessly made fun of. But at some point I guess I just have to be myself with him.