My first Quiche Lorraine. I told Dan what I was making and he said "huh?" I told him it was bacon and egg pie and he was sold. The recipe comes from a big pastry cookbook I found at Borders:
And here is Lorraine!! :)
Using my new quiche pan I bought. Having never used one before, I didn't know the bottom came out to help release it from the pan. Final product:
I also made these cupcakes to take to my office for my birthday. I don't like much of anything with pumpkin, but thought I would give these Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes a try. They are from the November 2009 issue of Rachael Ray Magazine. They turned out very pretty and I actually ate one and liked it! The office rejoiced and said my birthday was now once a week. Something tells me they just want more baked goods.
I still haven't posted pictures of my stew and soup-making escapades! Sorry!
Thanksgiving is at my house this year! Looking forward to trying out some new recipes and maybe modifying some old favorites.
I got two new cookbooks for my birthday too! Dan got me the classic Julia Child: Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
I love all kinds of music, but vocal music will always have a special place in my heart. Since I began studying classical singing at 15, I have learned to appreciate and LOVE this art. I recently found out that The Metropolitan Opera has begun broadcasting performances to movie theaters. Last year I saw Lucia di Lammermoor, Orfeo ed Euridice and a documentary about the Met's National Council auditions called The Audition. Here's the trailer, and I wish they would release it on DVD!
This season I'm excited to see Tosca, Der Rosenkavalier, Aida, Carmen and Turandot.
From the title of this post, you may think my culinary adventures have taken me into the realm of salads, but alas, my food-exploring playing piece is stuck firmly in soups for a little while longer. No, this post is about my favorite salad place in Des Moines and my LEAST favorite salad-maker. I've dubbed her Cranky Salad Lady (CSL).
Palmer's is my absolute favorite lunch place near my office. Their salads (as in bow-tie pasta, primavera, and crunchy cabbage salads) are absolutely amazing and I get one every single time. Their lettuce salads are great too. Chicken caesar, no olives is my staple. But I'm having an issue with CSL who works the salad counter. She's there about 90% of the time, and no matter how nice I try to be, she always cops an attitude! I'm afraid to customize anything for fear of her icy stare. And it's not even like I want to change everything about a caesar salad so that it looks like something completely different either! I simply want a chicken caesar, no olives. Apparently that becomes difficult for her.
It's almost like a game now. Each time I walk up to the counter, I'm mentally steeling myself for a barrage of icicles to come shooting out of her eyes. I'm determined to get my order EXACTLY right, so she will have no opportunity to question me with hatred.
Today, I want to beat CSL.
I cringe as the older woman in front of me is berated for not specifying she wanted her dressing on the side. Now CSL must haughtily dump the entire mixing bowl of lettuce and all the trimmings into the garbage and begin again. Slamming the bowl back down on the counter, the old woman jumps. Literally. I want to give her a hug.
CSL hands the woman her salad with a snotty "Thanks" and I prepare to order my salad with absolute precision and perfection.
ME: "I'd like a small chicken caesar salad without olives to go, please."
This is perfect. It's all the information she needs. I just stuck this salad-ordering landing.
CSL (with contempt in her voice): "You want croutons?"
DAMN! I forgot about the croutons! Why is this so hard!? I'm trying to make HER job easier and she STILL finds away to make me feel like a child.
I take my salad with my tail between my legs and happily order my side of bow-tie pasta salad with the Santa-like gentleman at the salad case. If this man is so friendly, how did CSL make it through the hire-screening process!?
On a happier note, my meal from Palmer's is always excellent. I will continue to eat there. I just have to find a better way to order a salad. I've literally sacrificed people and let them go in front of me to be served by CSL so that I could have a different server. Am I the world's worst salad patron or what!?
We will meet again, CSL....I long for the day you are silent as I order my salad and then hand it to me with a sincere smile...then I will have won.
Dan's dad Ray and stepmom Susan visited us this weekend and I had the chance to make a great new recipe from Giada DeLaurentiis. Her book Everyday Pasta has some really good-looking recipes, and that is where I found and tried this Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells recipe.
It is a little time-consuming, because you have to cook the pasta (partially), then cook the meat, then mix the cheeses, then wait for the meat to cool, then mix the meat and the cheese, then fill the shells, and finally bake with sauce. But the end product is beautiful and delicious!
There are things in your life that you never imagine you will have to do. One of those things happened to me on Thursday.
My good friend (and former roommate) called me and I missed the call because I was at work. I saw that my phone said she had called, thinking I could return the call later. Fifteen minutes later a text message from her said "please call. emergency." I knew something was up. I called and she is crying and in hysterics. Crying uncontrollably. She says she needs help. Her brother had committed suicide the previous evening. She needed to go to her sister's (our other roommate) workplace and tell her the news, but didn't want to and couldn't go alone. She requested that I come pick her up.
Whoa.
I dont' know what I'm going to do. Of course I leave work right away to go pick her up. The entire car ride there I'm crying and don't know what to do. How can I possibly deliver this bad news to someone? I'm very upset and nervous, but just pray that I can be strong for these two friends and sisters.
When I arrived, all I could do was hold my friend and cry with her. A few minutes later, her sister called and said that she had called their mother and already knew. We went to her workplace to pick her up.
After they were together, they both quickly packed a bag and after a quick prayer together, headed to their hometown, about two hours away.
I felt so helpless, like there was nothing I could do or say to comfort them.
I've never had to deal with suicide so closely before. I had met their brother before and he often came to visit his sisters and stayed at our apartment. He was a talented young man, a fabulous trumpet player and a very compassionate person.
Dan and I are going to his funeral today.
Ben was 18. He graduated from high school in May. He will be remembered and missed by all.
So lately I've been running around my life like a crazy person. Work has been busy, decorating the house has been time-consuming, taking care of my husband and dog is an ever-daunting task and for some reason, even though it REALLY bothers me, there are mornings where I just. Can't. Get. Out. The. Door. Time to take a breather.
With two major weeks of work done, and no business travel this week, I can maybe focus on the fact that I have family coming the next three weekends. Even though I know they don't care if my house is spotless, it will be the first time that Dan's family (mom and sisters and then dad and stepmom) has seen our home since we got married. It's important to me that everything look nice. But do I really need to be combining my reading time with my bike time at the gym?!
Bottom line: I need to remember that there are only 24 hours in a day, and that tomorrow there will be 24 more. I should try to enjoy them as much as I can, because life slips away from us. I've been married for two months already!! And I know that this first year will pass so quickly. I don't need to be on my laptop at home WHILE the TV is on. I don't need to have 87 tabs of Firefox open to soak up information faster, because in reality I can only look at one page at a time.
Some exciting things will happen soon; Dan is getting ready to apply to some big PT schools. I originally thought he wanted to stay in the Midwest, but he's told me he's applying to Utah, Nevada at Las Vegas, and Colorado at Denver too. I think it might be kind of fun to go out on our own!!
Life lesson for the day: Take a breather. Your computer will still be there tomorrow. Barring a lightning storm or sometning like that, but even then. You know.
Being in PR means that sometimes you get to do fun things like events! And also travel for some of these events! Last week I was in Madison, Wisconsin (how completely ADORABLE is this city!?) for a client event at the University of Wisconsin. The campus is absolutely precious, right on the lake, and beautiful. I checked and they have a physical therapy program so maybe Dan will look into going there!
This week was huge for my firm, we had three grand opening events for a new restaurant client AND I traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota for another client event at the University of Minnesota. All this stuff makes for one tired girlie! I have one more event to monitor tomorrow...not much involvement on my part other than wrangling people into where they need to go at the right time. Still, it's right in the middle of the day.
I think Dan is tired too, he's officially completed his second week of work and he's exhausted. I need to get the house in working order this weekend because we're having company the next three weekends!!
Sadly, it might be a pizza and/or takeout weekend...no time for cooking!
...and its name is Barnes & Noble. And Half Price Books. Or [enter a bookstore's name here]. Some women are shoe people. And when it comes to apparel and accessories, I'm definitely a handbag person. But my worst money offense is buying books. And lately, it's been cookbooks.
I don't know what it is about a new cookbook that gets me really excited! I'm obsessed with the bargain section at B&N that houses JUST cookbooks. I can't stay away from it!! I've dipped so low as to copy a recipe out of one said cookbooks just so I wouldn't buy it. I. Love. Cookbooks. Maybe I should write a book about loving cookbooks and then recommend some good ones. Hm.
I've gotten much better about not buying so many other books; I love fiction, non-fiction, memoir, biography, etc.But thanks to my new best friend PaperbackSwap, I can easily get books I want for free!! You sign up for free, post some books you're willing to get rid of, and every book you send to someone gives you one credit. You only have to pay for shipping the book (media mail through USPS) to the person who requests it. So it's averaging to about $2.38 per book, depending on weight. But when you request a book from someone else, it only costs you one of your credits! I love this service and have been swapping books for a few months now.
My husband appreciates that I can feed my book obsession without blowing lots and lots of money. I also spend quite a bit of time at our library, and lucky us we live a 4 minute walk away! It's smaller, so sometimes I have to do an inter-library loan to get a book or CD that I want, but all in all it's great. AND the library has some great...you guessed it..COOKBOOKS!
Ok. My one free night this week will probably consist of an easy recipe I know by heart, but that's ok. My other books are wanting some attention. And Glee starts tonight!
I think it's weird that even though this is my personal online space, I can't always blog about the things that I really want to. Like if I want to gripe about work or spout off about something that pissed me off, people can read it and that may not always be good.
I realize that I could make a post "private" but then I feel like I'm cheating. Even though I have no readers. Like I said. It's weird.
Dan got a job! He's working as a Physical Therapy Aide at a PT clinic in Johnston. Basically when he's not at school he'll be working there. It will be nice to have just a little extra cash from his job to help with expenses. And it's in the field he wants to work in. And I think it will look great on his resume and applications for PT school. And he's a pretty cool guy so who wouldn't want to work with him? He was excited because he learned how to do an ultrasound today. You know, science-y stuff I don't really know or care about but he tells me about anyway ;) That's ok, I tell him about the great cookbooks and other reading material I find so I'm sure we're par for the course.
I'm reading Water For Elephants right now. I never thought I'd choose a book about a circus train during the depression but it really is interesting. I've flown through the first half and so far I'd recommend it.
Is it weird I'm already thinking about what I want to do for Christmas cards? We made postcards for our wedding announcements and they turned out great, so I'm thinking we might want to do that again. We can put our own photos on it and stuff so it's kind of fun.
Long day today. PR job 8-5 and retail job 6-10. Yay bills.
We got a bread maker for the wedding and I hadn't used it yet, so I deemed this weekend the test-the-bread-weekend. Instructions on the breadmaker say to let it run through a cycle with nothing in it to "burn off the minerals and oils used in manufacturing." Lucky me, my house got to smell like burned plastic for three hours. But, fear not, I baked my first loaf of breadmaker bread yesterday: French bread.
