italian sausage soup

ok, this is SO good that i had to share. we made it three days ago, and i just had it for dinner tonight for the THIRD NIGHT in a row - it's that good.

it was the betty crocker recipe of the day on monday. yummy!!! and perfect for these frigid-ass days we've been having here in SF. our version is below. enjoy!

Italian Sausage Soup (click the link for the original version)

1 lb. Italian sausage links
2 cups broccoli flowerets
1 1/2 cups uncooked mastaccoli pasta
2 1/2 cups water
3 chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tsp. dried fennel, crushed
lots of pepper to taste
1 28-oz. can whole, peeled tomatoes with basil (undrained - use the juice!)
2 10.5-oz. cans French Onion soup

1. Broil the sausage until stiff. Remove from broiler and cut into 1-inch pieces. Put pieces in large soup pot and brown until, well, brown.
2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, breaking up the tomatoes (kitchen shears work great for this).
3. Reduce heat to medium-low.
4. On a separate burner, cook the pasta in water with a pinch of sea salt. When the pasta is al dente, add to soup.
5. Cover and simmer. Share a glass of wine. Talk about stuff. Eat when hungry! We left it on for about 45 minutes, very low, adding another 1/2 a cup of water after about 15 minutes.

monday, monday

acutally, not bad for a first monday back at work after a long, holiday weekend!

i had a great time in d.c., particularly hanging with the kids and finally getting some much-needed alone time with my sister, but i have to say... it was *so* nice to be home last night with my dave and my kitchen and my cat! :-)

short post today - gotta get back to work.

can hardly believe i've actually posted every day this month. except for thanksgiving - hey, even hard-working bloggers need some time off for a tryptophan coma ;-) only a few more days to go, though, and my goal will be met! yippee!

ok, back to work for real this time.

headin' home

a great long weekend with my sister, her husband, and the kids.

i have eaten way too much.

but i am fat and happy. holidays are great :-)

back to SF tonight, back to work tomorrow...

hanging with the kids all weekend... :-)

watching the Grandsons at the wolf trap barns in no. virginia - good times!

heading to the east coast

spending the long thanskgiving weekend with my sister & her family. i heard the airports are probably crazy! i'm heading out of here in 20 minutes, so wish me luck. i'll post a report from the other coast while i'm there!

Thanksgiving haiku

beautiful fall day

leave for d.c. tomorrow

time off from work, yay!

oooh... oooooh!!

like i said, the table is awesome! i mean, the table completely, totally rocks. it is super-solid, too - can hold our weight, if we wanted to sit on it! (we tried.)

dave set it all up while i was at work - what a sweet, great surprise. the cute flower in the patron bottle was his touch, too :-)

i wish we had taken "before" pictures, but suffice it to say, you probably wouldn't have wanted to see them. imagine a super-crappy bookshelf piled with junk; a rusty trunk from college, carrying stuff i had forgotten existed, with those plastic bins stacked on top; and a rickety Ikea kitchen cart, stacked up with everything from kitchen cleaning supplies to a bin full of surf wax to my tool box... all of which now sit neatly on shelves or the floor, beneath the gorgeous table.

the corner is so great now! and there's even more greatness to be gotten. we're installing (a.k.a., dave is making) a shelf that will sit about 3 feet above the table, on which we'll place all of the cookbooks... we're replacing the bright light with something rounder and softer... and once we find the right fabric, i'll be making a curtain for the front of the table, to "cabnetize" it, if you will. i'm on the search for the perfect fabric now - something red/orange/pink/white, with a roundish, mod pattern. i know it's out there; i'll just have to search.

ahhhh... it feels so good not only to have that damn corner cleaned out, but to have it look so... so GREAT!

we got the table!!!

omg, this is such exciting news. dave just called, and he found exactly the table we were looking for at some giant restaurant supply warehouse - picked it up with the 'burb and it's sitting in the kitchen *right now*!! i can't wait to see it!

oh jeez, it is hard to get my mind back on work, to try to concentrate till the end of the day - when i know that i have a PERFECT, 24x60, stainless steel, heavy-duty industrial workspace table sitting in the kitchen just waiting for me to come home and drool all over it. this is so exciting.

the hills have eyes

horror movie sunday, yay!

the hills have eyes was great. not sure what we'll watch next, but i'm sufficiently satisfied with suspense and gore from that one!

kitchen redux

we spent this afternoon tearing apart a very ugly corner of the kitchen and making plans for a new design. the old "design" was really just a pile of stuff sitting on top of an old trunk and bookshelf - really not our style! i'll keep y'all posted with pretty pictures on the new one once it gets done - it should be really cool. we're looking into a restaurant supply stainless steel table with shelves. i'll make a curtain for the shelves, so they work like cabinets. then we'll add some shelving above for the cookbooks... i can't wait. it's the final frontier of the apartment... for now!

Friday again!

decaffeinate your own tea

since giving up most caffeine at the start of the year, i've been pretty good. i have at most a cup of green and a cup of white tea per day - about 30mg of caffeine, compared to the 400+ mg per day i used to ingest. i found a really good water-decaffeinated (as opposed to chemical-decaffeinated) coffee at my local market, and i've completely dropped sodas and red bull. (and i've never eaten a lot of chocolate.)

the only thing is, i really like the flavors of a lot of black teas. i miss having a chai in the afternoon, or a robust english breakfast in the morning. so, i was really happy to learn how easy it is to decaffeinate your own tea!

since caffeine is water-soluble, most of the caffeine gets steeped out in the first minute of brewing. so, to decaffeinate your own tea - any tea! - just do the following:

1. brew your tea for 30-60 seconds
2. pour off the water
3. re-use the tea bag and steep for the full recommended time (3-5 mins usually)

this won't remove all of the caffeine, just most of it. if you want truly decaffeinated tea, herbal infusions that don't have actual tea leaves are your best bet.

i just had a full cup of american breakfast and can confirm that it works! i feel like i just drank the equivalent of a small cup of green tea, or a large white tea. yay!

looks like it's back to black for me :-)

retail therapy

i blew off going to the gym after work today in favor of feeding the mall my money. i know, i know - look, in all reality, if i could, i would *always* buy handmade and sustainable. but local, independent, organic, and recycled is not always a feasible choice for those of us who work 50-60 hours a week and don't get home until long after all of the independent stores on valencia st. have closed. (and don't ask me to shop on the weekends! that's like asking a redneck to shop in the inner city... whatever that means).

anyhoo... i got some cute new things! yay!

i got less than i was hoping for, though, because as i was standing in line at store #2, with my arms full of clothes and the *cutest* patent-leather clutch (only $10!), there was some problem with the gift card that the girl in front of me was trying to use, and it was taking waaayyy too long (15 minutes!), so i gave up. put the clothes on the nearest rack and bailed.

alas, i missed out on the clutch, jacket, shirt, and pants... but i have a sneaking suspicion i will be back there soon to retrieve them. besides, the jacket and pants would both be replacing items i've recently given away, so it wouldn't be THAT indulgent. just kinda ;-)

fantasticrafts

lip balm!

sf craft mafia! i wanna go.

amazon's massive collection of crafty books! great holiday present ideas - hint hint ;-)

obligatory post

heh. still trying. here's what i've got today:

• monday. gray. rainy. work went by very fast - i thought it was 11am, but it was really 2pm.
• however, spent a total of 3.5 hours today getting to and from work, due to the rain and the traffic. thank god for the shuttle, but still.
  
• watched "nacho libre" and ate leftover ribs for dinner. funny movie, yummy ribs.
• gave the cat some pork rib meat and she slipped into some kind of digestive coma. it was cute, but a little scary.
• i really feel like shopping, perhaps because i am broke and have no time to shop.
  
• i won't be broke for long. payday is on wednesday!
• we're watching "alive" right now, except i'm actually online and dave is actually falling asleep. so "watching" is more of a fun, descriptive term to explain the noise and video flashes in the background. but beyond that, i don't got much more for ya today. that's all.

sunday

oh, sunday.

you came *way* too fast.

suffice it to say, my weekend was chill and great and i really, really wish it could last a few more days.

i have finished (!) painting the toy box, sans some detail work that i should have done by tomorrow night.

the image here is a fuzzy close-up of the lid. i also painted the front portion, the two side panels, and the back.

i promise i'll post more pictures once i send it to my nephew, and i arrive in d.c. for thanksgiving slash his 2nd birthday, and we put the thing together, and it looks all purty and whole.

on other notes... not only did we cook ribs AND a brisket in the slow-cooker, but i baked this weekend, yes i did. more of the infamous carrot cake cupcakes, but also some amazing butterscotch-white-chocolate brownies, which dave & i have been affectionately calling "the butter bars," because there's, like, a stick of butter in each one. mmmm... instant coronaries never tasted so good!

and along those lines, monday means back to the gym :-)

... back to the scheduled-to-the-minute lifestyle, back to life at the Big G... in all, my weekend was sweet, chill, and filled with love, but damn, i miss it already.



p.s. ~ i bought a robe today! long, not-too-fuzzy, but very soft and cozy. and pink! yay, pink. it's taken me my entire adult life* to finally do so**, but i'm very happy i did! i am wearing it right now :-)


* long enough, people, no need to ask for details!

** that said, i have owned several robes in the past, just not fuzzy bathrobes ~ more cute, kimono-style things. nothing COZY. not the kind you can, say, curl up in and read a magazine while waiting for your freshly polished toes to dry. so i'm really happy to finally have something like that! even if it takes me two steps closer to grandma... :-)

welcome to your northern california spa experience

so, since i've been working my butt off recently - and so has dave - i was thinking that it would be *great* to spend a weekend up in napa/sonoma/calistoga indulging in spa treatments, massages, wine tasting and cheese platters in the afternoons, and cushy b&b rooms in which we would sleep soundly and eat breakfast in bed.

but after a morning of research and discussion, we decided that it would be just as easy to transform my fabulous (really, it is) SF apartment into just what i wanted from a spa/resort experience. i already have pretty much i want around here - i just get restless sometimes, especially when i'm stressed at work and figure escape is the best plan. but here's the deal: i can get massages at work. that's no big deal. as for dave, well... the lucky guy has me, and i'm already a CMT, so he's taken care of :-)

after much thought and talk, it turns out that the essence of what i was actually seeking boiled down to superficial pampering - chilled bubbly upon your arrival; afternoon cheese platters; fluffy bathrobes; mud baths, facials, and body scrubs. and perhaps a fireplace in the room.

to rectify the situation and happily avoid spending $500+ for a weekend's worth of decadence, we did some more practical, but still fancy things, instead: bought a bottle of chandon and a cheese platter, which i served in a fancy way at "cocktail hour" (5pm); we cooked up fresh fish & clams with great wine for dinner - instead of the fancy restaurant;....

the fluffy bathrobe is not a big deal, but i still don't have one and i would really like one. i realize i just have to go shopping & buy one, but, you know - that takes work! :-) except, i will probably go do that tomorrow.

as for the mud bath, that will just have to come later. but i will take care of the facial & body scrub tonight in a candle-lit bath. yeah, saturday night! dave might be going out later; me, i am IN like you wouldn't believe.

the only thing left is the fireplace. i suppose the porch is a nice alternative, especially with the grill to cook on... but if we ever do make it up north for a spa & wine weekend, i think that will be one of the deciding factors on a room! for now, though, i am quite content in my northern california relax-o-lifestyle, cozy-ass apartment without even needing to leave. and that's a really nice security i can count on.

Me, lights, Friday, finally.

you are not as tired as i am

ok, maybe those of you with kids are.

but still.

there is so much work to be done. so much that i had to post a picture of kittens, because they are soothing and they don't have very much work to do, so it somehow helps my perspective.

five weeks till vacation! yee ha.

i am very proud of myself for keeping up the post-every-day thing so far, btw.

gumb-oh!

well, california-style gumbo, anyway.

california-style-mish-mosh-empty-out-the-fridge gumbo! we didn't have any cooked chicken, but we did have andouille sausage and shrimp... more importantly, we didn't have any okra, but we did have green beans, carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. this made the gumbo a bit more like a healthy, veggie stew - hence its "california"-ness.

we cooked 2/3 brown rice to 1/3 "forbidden" black rice, and served the gumbo over the mix.

it was delicious! next time, definitely we'll add chicken. any other suggestions?

guess the logo

this is pretty fun: http://www.guessthelogo.com/

i'm not very good at it, though. my score was pathetic! even worse, the only two that i got right on the first try were netflix and myspace.

on the other hand, i am quite pleased with myself for being so immune to the slick marketing techniques of logo designers and corporate creative directors. except that some of my friends are logo designers and corporate creative directors. (sighs) immune? no, wait ~ i mean, hip to their techniques! i am a master of media deconstructionism! the medium is *not* the message! the medium is the *massage*, and the actual message is one that will only be revealed during intergalactic space adventures with crew members in hot pants and go-go boots, hopped up on vodka and antihistamines, steering us deeper and deeper into the great unknown.


is it really only tuesday? i'm going back to bed now.


hee hee...... space adventures are fun....

mmm.... fire....

the fast & the furious: tokyo drift was pretty good - eye candy, action, fun fluffy stuff.

the best quote, though:

what did you expect? you didn't just play with fire. you soaked the matches in gasoline.



hee hee. BANG! KAPOW!

note to self: quit soaking matches in gasoline.

sunday bliss

chill, chill sunday. i worked on painting the toybox for four hours this afternoon. (i promise one of these days i'll put pictures of the kids' stuff that i've painted up on the site for all to see!) dave & i drove down to half moon bay for a bit. had a beer at the half moon bay brewing co. and came home. shrimp & veggies dinner. gave myself a mani pedi. the fast & the furious: tokyo drift is up next. super-chill, ready for my crazy upcoming week? i hope so.........

awww, shucks

what's better than shucking and eating your own fresh chesapeake bay and kumamoto oysters while enjoying fine wine and good tequila?

not very much, i tell ya.

NaBloPoMo

all i have to say about attempting to write 1700 words a day every day for a month for nanowrimo is:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god. what was i thinking?

i leave for work around 7am and get home around 8. i have a boyfriend whom i am dedicated to maintaining a relationship with during this month. i also have a fire dancing troupe whom i am dedicated to maintaining a practice and performance schedule with during this month. add in things like time to eat, shower, and sleep... where on earth was i thinking i could squeeze in an extra, oh, 2+ hours every day? i am seriously crazy.

but the **best part of all of this** is my discovery of nablopomo. what a fantastic idea! i can't work on my novel every day, but i can certainly blog about how i can't work on it... every day!

funny thing is i have already posted every day this month. it looks like i have a goal i can actually accomplish!

and for those of you crafty types who don't really care about writing novels or blogging about random bits of your life, check it out: nakniswemo! there is really something for everyone these days.

i think i am also going to start natntdyticmo* myself, if i can ever figure out how to pronounce it.

life is good. happy friday!

*national try not to drive yourself too insanely crazy month

rain makes rainbows!

well, rain + sunshine makes rainbows, actually.

a lovely sight outside work today...

white chocolate sugar skulls - part 2

feliz dia de los muertos! halloween/DotD week is always my favorite, so needless to say, things have been pretty good around here.

so, yep, i made the skulls! as you can see, they are pretty cool, but not anywhere near as detailed or colorful as most of the stuff that i paint. here's why - i was painting with frosting!

as i learned, frosting is drippy, gooey stuff. many of the "lines" on the skulls actually started out as dots, but they dribbled after a few seconds. i got frosting everywhere - all over the table, all over my fingers, in my hair. it was a total mess! fun and tasty, but really difficult to work with. but... the skulls are made and i'm pretty happy with the final result, even if it's not perfect.

what did turn out perfect, though, were my carrot cake cupcakes. yum!!!















so, november 1st also marks the first day of nanowrimo. i signed up, but i'll be darned if i'm actually able to pump out 50k words in a month. we shall see!

"wait," you say, confused. "aren't you already 7000 words into your novel? that would mean you only have 43,000 to go!"

yes, i reply, that is correct, but i decided to change the style (narrative vs. journal), so essentially, i will be starting from scratch again. using the material, just writing it again in a different manner.

i make no promises, people! but i do make myself a little crazy sometimes :-) wish me luck!

... vaya con dios... i hear your whispers in the wind...