p.s.

If any of you were thinking to yourselves, "Hmmm...I'd really love to get Ehrrin a gift, but I wonder what I should get...?", well, look no further, friends!

long weekend

I love a long weekend! I also love that they usually let us go from work by 3:00 p.m. on the day before a long weekend. And, I loved that we got to leave at 3:00 p.m. yesterday because of the water main break. I mean, I'm sorry that a bunch of peeps had to deal with the fall-out from the water main break, but this guy? This guy was loving the early leave.

Last night I stopped by Aunt Marge's 'cause I was in the 'hood (l-ville). I was planning for it to just be a quick hello, but then Kramer came over, too, and we all ate Chinese food (broccoli and bean curd with garlic sauce which Mags assured me was 'a little greasy, but not really', but which ended up completely soaking a paper bag with grease. but tasted good. of course.), and watched three consecutive episodes of QAF (which Mags kept pronouncing as "quaff" and cracking me up). I'd watched a few snippets of "Queer As Folk" a few times over the years, but had never really gotten involved personally, as in making it a show I was obsessed with. But, after those three episodes, I am hungry for more! (I learned this morning that those two stayed up until all hours of the night watching another three episodes after I left!) I love watching the TV shows on the DVD player and indulging in a huge chunk of it at once. I updated my netflix queue this morning, and now the first two discs of the first season are speeding through the mailways in my general direction right now. I can't wait. That's perfect for a spare day off on Monday, right? Seriously. My big plans for my big day off are to watch "Ellen" in the morning, and many episodes of QAF at some point in the day. Good times. In fact, I hope it's rainy so I don't feel compelled to Get Out and Do Something and such.

But, I am going to do something this weekend! My niece Savanah is turning five years old on Sunday, and they're having a cowgirl-themed birthday party on Saturday. I can't wait! I hear that there will be prizes for the best-dressed cowgirls. Watch out, young'uns, I am busting out some fancy duds! Now, where's my spurs at, n'at?

The party, and most of my family, is located in southern West-bygod-Virginia. It's about a four-hour drive. I'm not necessarily looking forward to the drive up and back (although I do have some good tunes lined up), I cannot wait to see my favorite gal. The last time I saw her was July 4th, and prior to that she called me and said that she was glad we were meeting up because "I haven't seen you in so long I done forgot what your face looks like." Love it.

I don't need any food right now, but I still strongly want to go to both the farmer's market (N.Side today) and the Greek Food Festival after work. But, I have stuff that I need to do, but dang. I have a hard time passing up a good festival.

You know what is sad about this weekend, though? Pools are closing. Farewell, summer...

Anyhow, you peeps have a real nice Labor Day weekend, and I hope the weather holds, and you don't hit traffic, and you remembered to buy charcoal, and filled up the tank, and went potty before you got in the car.

fitness by force

Yeah, that's how I roll. Not like forcing peeps into fitness, but requiring force for myself. Why can't you get healthy by hanging out eating crullers and smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee and getting your sporting in with a hotly contested game of Scrabble? Whyyyyyy?

Okay. I did this before. I was on a roll. Maybe even On Fire. I can do it again. Right? Right!

Kramer has bullied me into starting up morning walks again. We used to do them last winter/spring every weekday morning through Allegheny Cemetery. We started again this morning, but it was a short one--largely because I forgot to set my alarm an hour earlier. But, it wasn't horrible. I mean, I was sorta cursing her name while we did it, but then it was fine. We just did a mile this morning, but I think we used to do three. She read on the internets that we should walk for an hour five days a week. And, she made me plan a biking outing for next weekend, too. (don't point out to her that she's just helping me Kick Her Ass at the weight-off off).

But, as much as I want to raise my tiny fists to heaven and bellow out: I HATE YOU, JEN KRAMER!, I realize that this is the kick in the pants that I really needed. It's tough stuff. So, thanks, Kramer. How have you all dealt with set-backs and forcing yourselves back on track?

In other news, I attended the Classic Book Club meeting last night, and a good time was had by all! Have I mentioned how much I love book clubs? They are the apex of hanging, reading, talking, snacking, drinking and nerding out that I aspire to every day. We'd read a rather silly, much-too-young-for-us book, and so there wasn't a whole lot of discussion about it, but I think that the next book sounds pretty interesting: The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D. Judging by the impassioned and lengthy comment reviews by amazon customers I imagine it's going to be great fodder for discussion. Right on.

Apart from the reading, we got down to some eating. I made a salad with the white beans I cooked yesterday and a bunch of veggies from this week's CSA. It was pretty. See?

But, I over-mixed it, aesthetically speaking. I kept thinking to myself, "If Heidi made this, she would've mixed in the dressing with the beans first, and then just gently folded in everything else so it was beautiful and lightly flecked with purple, orange and green. But, I sir, am no Heidi Swanson. WWHSD? Ah well. Next time I'll try to keep the pretty in mind. I mean, it was still pretty 'cause of the colors, but still.

Here's what I did:

CSA Salad

white beans, cooked, rinsed and drained
green beans
tomatoes (I used red, yellow, red cherry and green zebra), cut into chunks
purple cabbage (I grated half of a small head)
carrot (I grated one large-ish carrot)
green onion (the ones I got were HUGE, so I just used one, but probably could have used another), thinly sliced--white and greens
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
some grated and/or shaved parmesan for topping (I used both)
several basil leaves torn into small pieces or julienned for topping

pesto:
big bunch of basil
pine nuts (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup)
garlic (used 1 clove)
olive oil (about 1/2 c)
parmesan (grated, about 1/4 cup)
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

I didn't really measure anything. Just kinda tossed it together until it looked like enough of each thing.

I soaked the white beans overnight, and then cooked them for about 40-ish minutes with a piece of kombu (helps make the beans more digestible). While the beans were cooking, I cleaned the green beans and steamed them in a mesh colander in the pot where the white beans were cooking (one less dirty dish!) for a couple minutes, then shocked them in some ice water so they'd retain their bright green loveliness.
Made up the pesto in my handy dandy chef's chopper (mini food processor), and left it kinda chunky.
Then just mixed everything together (see my note about WWHSD? above). Don't go crazy with too much pesto. It's better to let the vegetables' flavors come through. Freshness personified. Dig it. It was super-easy, and it was fun to just reach into my bag o' CSA goodness, pull something out, and use it right then and there.

Oh. You know what else I'm reading right now? (Well, some of you do since you're now my goodreads friends. Holla!) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (written with her husband and daughters). I just started it, but it's good. Like, good-good. I just read this utterly fascinating passage about asparagus. Check it out, folks.

And, I've said it before, and (I'm sure) I'll say it again: if you haven't yet read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, what're you waiting for? It's fan-effing-tastic, is right up your alley (I think; if you're reading this blog), and completely blow-you-away fascinatingly amazing. Classic book club read it month before last, and we talked a little again about it last night. The part about the mushrooms? Woah. (what? you don't know the part about the mushrooms? yeah? well, read it! it's even out in paperback now! do it! it feels good!)

floating

I'm sure you've all done this--decided to turn over a new leaf and drink as much (and more!) water as you're actually supposed to, and then started in with gusto only to find that your bladder wasn't quite on board with the idea yet. Yeah, me too. Kramer challenged me to a no-stakes water drinking extravaganza yesterday, and we carried it over for today, too. Which is awesome because I seriously believe that drinking tons of water, possibly more than any other one thing, helped me take a bunch of pounds off a few months ago. It's like magic. So, why is it so hard to make myself do it, even though I hold that belief? I'm not sure. But, right now the more immediate concern is that I have to pee, literally, every few minutes. Kramer's suggestion was adult diapers. I was thinking more along the lines of an office chair new and improved now with built-in flushing toilet. That way I could keep on keepin' on, and just go as I see fit. Are you hearing me, you industrious types looking for your next million dollar idea?

In other news, it's time for "classic" book club tonight. I'm planning to make a delicious and healthy snack to take, but I don't yet know what that is going to be. I have to stop by and pick up my CSA after work, then bust a move home and try to bust something out before E-dawg scoops me up (we like to car pool). I am soaking some white beans, and if they get done in time I'm thinking some kind of tomato-white bean-basil salad, maybe? Will report back tomorrow. Hopefully I'll even remember photos. Speaking of, this is the sandwich I mentioned yesterday. It was multigrain bread, a swipe of mayo, some cheddar, some red and yellow tomatoes, and a liberal sprinkling of some baked shittakes and shallots. Yuh-um. That crispy goodness is like bacon. But better. I'm serious.

Oh, and see those three little tomatoes on the side? I grew them! They're from my step plants, but they're not actually very good. The skin is really thick and tough. What's up with that? But still--cute, eh?

Okay, gotta go. Gotta pee.

the take weight off-off

Peeps, I have been seriously stressing lately about slipping into Bad Things and how to get back on track. But, then my dear pal Kramer came up with a perfect solution. We're going to have a weight-off off!

Those who know me may know that I enjoy competition and games of all stripes, so this is really the perfect way to get me reengaged in getting back on track! So, the terms are that we have to lose 18 pounds by Dec. 31st. Whomever is not the winner has to throw a party for the victor. I like it! And, I plan to totally Kick Her Ass. Just sayin'. But, despite the humiliating defeat I must, with every ounce I got in me, deliver, I still am very much grateful for this much-needed kick-in-the-drawers. Kramer, you are on!

And, she challenged me to a no-stakes power water drinking challenge today, too. Thanks, Kramer. For real. I'm already floatin', and that's a good thing.

In other news, I continually forget to take my camera and also to upload the pics when I do remember my camera. What the bleep? I had pictures of the best sandwich ever. Maybe I'll remember them tomorrow. But, anyhow, I made some baked shittakes and some crispy shallots and used them as the substitute B in a BLT-style sandwich. It was divine with my fabulously thick-n-juicy tomato slices (a yellow that was called something like Montana wedding or something? Nebraska birthday? Oklahoma Bah Mitzvah? Something like that. And, a big, hearty, juicy red that I completely forget the name of). Have I mentioned that I love summer tomatoes?

And, seriously, have I mentioned, lately, that I love you?

guess who!

Guess who forgot their camera last night, and therefore was only able to take a couple crappy phone photos? I'll give you a hint. Her name rhymes with Behrrin Beenan.



I'll have to make it again. The crust was a very tasty vehicle for getting the tomatoes and basil into my gullet. I just went with the fresh slices instead of "Chef Mark"'s suggestion of lightly sauteeing the tomato slices. They were just super lovely as-is. Not that you can tell that from the photos...

There were also two fantastic homemade salsas at the book club. You can tell it's tomato season! And, a selection of dips, grape leaves, cupcakes, rice pudding, lots of wine and good times. I love book club! We read A.M. Homes's The Mistress's Daughter, a memoir of the author's experience in meeting her birth parents as an adult. Most of us felt kinda 'eh' about it, but several in the group had read her fiction, and described it as "great" and "creepy" and "disturbing". I like the sounds of that, so I have one of her novels, The End of Alice, on loan from the library right now. Along with...um...fourteen other books. Admittedly, I do have a bit of a problem when it comes to getting carried away with library books, but also I had a bunch of stuff reserved, and it just all happened to come in at once. And, I just got an email that another one is in! Eek!

The best part is that I have another book club meeting next week--"classic" book club. But, we, um, read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Not my choice! Not it! Actually, I shouldn't be overly hard on it because it is teen chick lit. I mean, for real. What can you expect? And, in that context, it was fine--just not something I'd normally want to read.

Are you on goodreads? The myspace equivalent for book nerds? Yes, I know I've mentioned this (a couple times) before. Get on. Be my friend. Let me evaluate you based on your choice of reading material. Doesn't that sound fun?!

In other news I'm still struggling. A lot. With smoking and eating and cleaning and just generally feeling motivated and not depressed. I'm not exactly sure why. I thought that confessing would make me feel better, and it did--temporarily, but then I just felt more pressure to be "good". Blah.

book club = good times!

It's book club tonight! Queer book club (not "classic" or "hardcore"...what? I like bookclubs!), and the queers enjoy throwing down some delicious treats along with their literary discussion. I'm making Heidi's Heirloom Tomato Tart in a Parmesan Crust. I made the crust last night. I don't have a tart pan, so I used a regular 9x9 glass pan, but I think I made the sides too high (see Heidi's picture), but it smelled like heaven out of the oven, so hopefully it'll be a-okay.

I am rapturously in love with summer tomatoes (and hate their waxy, mealy supermarket poser wannabe cousins with an rabid venom in equal measure as my love for the sunkissed real tomatoes), and am constantly looking for things to do with them. I often get stuck on tomato-cheese sandwiches, tomato-on-toast and just thick slices on a plate with salt and pepper because they're so fantastic just on their own. That's what intrigued me about this recipe--the tomatoes stay in tact and lovely and just-sliced, but they get a fancier outfit to ride around in and make their way to your mouth. And, I'm actually considering trying out a twist that was posted to the comments on Heidi's site by "Chef Mark". I just checked out his blog, and it's not really my style, but I liked the suggestion:

Lovely article, and a great recipe. May I add a suggestion which I use for Tomato Basil Tarts? You say that you leave the tomatoes uncooked but salt them to draw out water. You can achieve the same result with just a tad more work, but get some added flavor by GENTLY sauteeing the tomato slices in a light soffrito (garlic, butter and oil, and parsley, or for a subtle flavor, marjoram.

After a few minutes, use a spatula to transfer the tomatoes to a colandar set over a bowl to drain. You can save the juices for another purpose. I LOVE this garlic and herb infused juice to add to soups, any tomato sauce, a vinaigrette, etc.

I'm going to try to remember my camera tonight so I can photograph the tart and any other delectable delights that show up. I know that E-dawg made a fresh salsa that I can't wait to taste.

monday, monday (part deux)

I love personality tests. I want to think up a good reason for that, but the truth is that I just find myself to be an endlessly fascinating topic, AND that I find it really interesting that we never seem to be able to really view ourselves with the kind of clarity in which we can view others. This is true with both physical and emotional traits. Sometimes I think that I am Lookin' Good, other times I look positively disgusting. I'm sure that I generally pretty much look the same all the time to others, so why is it so jarringly different every time I look in the mirror? And, as far as personality goes, I have this image of myself in which some things seem like they should be evident to everyone, and other things that are constantly shifting and changing. When I have to describe myself I find my mind racing wildly and all the saliva in my mouth drying up. Who am I, really? I think about ways in which others have described me--sometimes I'm flattered, sometimes I'm stunned, and sometimes I'm just puzzled. When it comes to other people, I think I'm pretty insightful (but maybe you'd never describe me that way?), but what does that even mean? I mean, I think about all the parts of myself that are private, all the thoughts that never are shared, so how could someone else ever see the actual me, anyway? And, how insightful could I actually be about the interior life of another person?

Okay, ramblin'.

But, here's this personality-type test I took today. It says that I'm a Benevolent Leader. You should take it, too, and tell me what you are, and I will see if my insightfulness matches up with the experts of the internets. Here's my rundown.

monday, monday

This seems like the kind of day that would be really good spent under an afghan (the blanket kind, not the person kind), reading, eating soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and intermittently napping. At least that's what I was thinking when my alarm went off this morning (and I snoozed it for over an hour). But, the weekend was swell, so the alarm on Monday is the price you pay, it seems.

Friday I had a swim-date with E-dawg and Kramer. After some hectic running around and changing of locales, we met up at the Bloomfield pool, but it was kinda cold! So, we just pooled it for a while, then made a beeline to the wine store and back to Zeke's house for a little mezze-style feast. We included the leftovers from Kara's delicious cookin' the other night--the arabian stew and carrot hummus, and added in some cheese (extra aged beemster gouda - it has these amazing little crispy crystals that give it an awesome texture) and crackers, this Tomate Salade that Ellen riffed from The Splendid Table (big, thick slices of yellow and red tomatoes with a vanilla-citrus dressing), some nicoise olives (I think?), oven baked carrot fries and roasted potatoes and shallots with a chipotle dipping sauce based on this recipe from Heidi's site, and some banana chips dipped in a honeyed version of the chipotle sauce, washed down with some white wine in the courtyard, escorted by our speckledy friend Zeke. It was delicious, and just looking at these pictures made me wish I had a vat of the potatoes and chipotle sauce Right Now.





Yum.

Saturday morning E-dawg and I hit the Firehouse Farmers Market in the Strip, where I got more (more!more!) tomatoes, a piece of organic raw chocolate, and ran into the Davidson-Wagner clan out a-shopping. Sadly, Mushrooms For Life weren't there, 'cause I was craving some baked shittakes. But, we also hit Reyna for some fresh tortillas (where E-dawg was several people behind me in line and I overheard her on a phone call with Baby Boo where she was saying, "Oh, just read it on the blog". When I asked her about it, she said, "I didn't feel like listing everything we ate last night, so I told her just to read about it." heh.).

We also stopped in to Cafe Richard for lunch of spinach quiche, and it was fantastic--perfect crust, creamy filling. I love this place! I've walked past it a billion times, but had never gone in. It's really French, and really cute. I did not do well on the diet, but did do well on taste by ordering a coconut cream tart to go for later. It was uh-MAY-zing. The flakiest, butteriest crust, the silkiest custard, the fluffiest whipped cream. My god. In fact, I think I saw god. Perfect.

I made one more stop at Penn Mac for some grueyere where E-dawg's nimbleness and petite stature allowed us to spot and snag a number that was fifteen spots ahead of the one I'd grabbed--and, then we also got to help out someone else by giving them our number. Nice.

Saturday evening we rolled out to Sewickley to celebrate our dear pal Susie's graduation and going-away. She's heading out West to join up with her fabu gf (who surprised her by flying in for the party/weekend!) in Monterey, CA soon. The party was at her parents' house, and everything was planned perfectly. I *wish* I could be this organized! And, there was lots of consideration given to the vegetarians in the house--including that we got to eat first (they grilled the meatless meat first) and several delicious dishes were pointed out to us as specifically veg. We ate ourselves silly and ended the evening swinging in a hammock by the fire and making s'mores while belting out 80s style television theme songs. Good times.

Sunday I had a little work to-do at Dave and Busters. I'd never been to Dave and Busters, but had heard it described many times as "the grown-ups' Chuck E. Cheese". And, it was! Kramer went along as my plus one, and we had some snacks with my coworkers, then hit the game floor for some serious game-tastic delights. The event was an appreciation type shindig, and they gave us a card with $50 in game credits! Sweet! I could see where D-n-B could get really pricey if one were paying for it outta pocket, but the extent of my expense was $3.25 for a bottle of rootbeer (it just seemed to fit) and tip to the bartender. My favorite games were air hockey, the shooting of the basketballs game, and Ms. Pacman/Galaga. My least favorite were this bowling game that ate up a billion credits, hurt our hands, and wasn't even fun, and Qix, some old-skool game bundled with Space Invaders (what I meant to play) that we couldn't figure out. All in all, I felt real appreciated, and it was a perfect activity for a rainy day.

This was the boxing game. Notice how cool and tough I look.

No, seriously. Why does Kramer look like a normal person, and I looked like a freak?


ps. China-Bear paws.

The only thing that would make Friday better was if it was illegal to work on Fridays.

This morning at work my computer couldn't connect to the network. I had such high hopes for a little while that I'd have to be sent home 'cause you can't do anything without a computer. But, thanks to our handy IT guys, it's fixed. Um, yay.

But, it's actually kinda flying by. I just checked the clock, and was kinda surprised that it's already afternoon. I like that in a Friday.

As I mentioned (um, bragged), yesterday I went over to Kara's for dinner. She made three amazing dishes that completely personified summer. The first was an Arabian Stew. (I'll have to cajole her for the recipes). The stew was chock full of all the beautiful summer veggies. I think it was a variety of tomatoes and red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini and squash, onion, cliantro, lemon cucumbers, figs--or maybe dates?, and...not sure what else, but it was amazing. A little sweet, a lot gorgeous. It was almost too pretty to eat. But, I soldiered on. And, I got a snack pack with plenty for lunch today, and a snack (okay, a full meal) later.

We had this with this really interesting carrot hummus-style dip. I know it had carrots, sesame seeds, green olives, harissa, scallions, red peppers...again, not sure what else except 100% pure deliciousness and love. Served with some wheat flatbread.

And, for dessert, a summer fruit crumble-tart-type thing. Blackberries, peaches, plums, apples? I don't know, but it was all amazing and completely full of the very best freshness of the summer. If you ever get a chance to try Kara's cooking, Do Not Pass It Up, Fools! Yuh-um. Thank you, Kara!

In other news, it was very nice to see Zeke's paws, and to get to hang in the central air yesterday evening. Me + central air = TLA.

And, speaking of paws, I got some especially cute ones from Nowlzie yesterday with The Biscuit attached. So, folks, I give you your Paws of the Day!