What's up?

My new job is taking some getting used to. 3.5 weeks off after a year of only working 3 nights a week is making it harder than I anticipated to get into the grind of 40 hours a week. The horror of ...Gasp... 5 days a week! Yeah yeah, I know.

Other than that...

I just finished a good book, The Condition by Jennifer Haigh, a story about a fractured family made up of 5 very flawed individuals. I wouldn't have liked it if it ended sadly, or badly, so one way or another, the family learns to be a family.

I listened to Barack Obama speak last night. It seems evident, apparent and completely necessary that every single person in this country who has ears (or closed captioning) must vote for him in 66 days! Without my new crush Barack Obama in office we are all, and this country as a whole is doomed to struggle and fail! It seems so clear, but my faith in the people of the US to elect him is shaky. I don't think an election has ever mattered as much as this one will.

Anyway...

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's back to work I go!

I am all for a nice summer vacation, but daay-um, I am ready to get my ass back into the world of working, paycheck-producing adults. I have thoroughly enjoyed these lazy days and I am grateful for the chance to have taken this lovely, quiet break. I went to Florida at the beginning of the month (to fall in love with a boy), and the rest of August has been occupied doing these things... reading, swimming, running, cooking, blogging and stalking others' blogs, budgeting and planning our life for the next 2 years (so much to do!!), cleaning (occasionally), laundry and drinking beer.

So... I am more than ready, excited even, to be headed to work today. Sadly, the school lunch catering deal fell through at the last minute. Turns out, the parents thought it was a great idea until it actually came time to pay for it. Oh well, what are you gonna do? Go back to your job at the best place in town, that's what!

Cafe 909, that is. They are very excited to have me back and I am very VERY excited to submerge myself completely into the workings of the best kitchen in central Texas! (sour dough starter made from blanc de blanc wine grapes!!!!!! I am bringing some of that home and you all will still be eating my wine sourdough in 2056!)

Back to the real world I go.

Fish Tacos

I could rival any taco shack in Baja... fo sHIGity! (that's for those readers who play in dad's fantasy football league) Give me a beer, a beach and a fish taco and my day is complete.

Made these delicious blackened tilapia tacos for dinner Sunday. That's just shredded romaine, chilantro and carrots on top and the sauce is red pepper & citrus salsa.

Mmm Mmm...

Fitness?

I think it is our own mortality setting in, as we approach 30 and 35 respectively, that has prompted Joseph and me both to start making an effort to be and stay fit. Healthy, more-so than fit, but with fitness comes health, so either way. Neither of us were particularly unhealthy (Joseph's metabolism of a 15-year-old-trackstar would keep him thin no matter what) but our eating habits (late at night, processed and fast food for him) definitely needed a tuning up. We weren't exercising much either.

This spring Joseph discovered and became OBSESSED with disc golf. He's been playing all through the spring and summer, 3-10 hours at a time, one or two times a week. Each time he plays he will potentially lose between 5-8 pounds, depending on the heat. He gets completely exhausted out there shirtless in the sun, goes through liters of water and plays as hard as he can for as long as he can. It's made a huge difference in his arms, chest and stomach. His dark tan muscular shoulders are so very attractive.

I have been running since January. It started off kinda rough for me, never having been a runner ever. I actually doubted that I could run, like, at all. I had always walked my dogs several miles a week, but running was something I left up to "skinny people". So, it took a lot of not stopping when I wanted to stop, but I have jogged my way into fairly decent shape. I comfortably run 2 miles at a time, 2 to 4 times a week. I aim for 8 miles a week, sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't. I like to take the dogs, and used to before I got [fast]er than them. Now I have to run by myself and walk them later. I am also going to start.... SWIMMING! I have always loved to swim, and this week I decided that if I started swimming after running, I would tone up my whole body much faster than just running. So, the rec center where Joseph disc golfs during the week and I run laps (then read in the shade until he's done, and then we eat the picnic I brought) also has an indoor lap pool. For a very reasonable fee, I could opt to swim laps instead of read on a bench. I have lost a few pounds, but more than a big change on the scale, I have noticed a change physically and in energy level. I also feel very physically capable, something I did not feel, but did not miss, before. I appreciate it now and will not ever take it for granted. I think I have become a "runner".

Cheers to health and fitness everybody. Go get sweaty, you'll feel better.

Bangs, yes bangs

I went to see Vallejo perform at Lorraine's tonight. The music was good, it's always good. The bass player and I said hello at the bar before they went on stage. I explained that I was no longer working at Lorraine's, just there to see the show. The next thing he said was, "you gonna be partying later?". I didn't get hit on very often while working at Lorraine's, but I knew enough to know that in "rock star talk" this meant either drugs or sex. I said "I have to make it an early night, because I am running a half marathon tomorrow, so I don't think so", and walked away. I am sometimes even astonished at what comes out of my mouth. Half marathon, what?

It is different being on the other side of the situation, now watching the music and drinking myself, but with all the same drunk people around. Bars are crazy places and the worst of most people comes out at the bar. I am thrilled to be no longer working in the bar industry, and I will be beyond-thrilled when my sexy, sexy, blond, dimple-cheeked Joseph is no longer serving drinks to drunk redneck bitches of Marble Falls. It's not jealousy, just a general disdain of the entire situation. Anyway...

I told Kate that I would take some pictures of my hair before I went out tonight. Here they are. And by the way, I have been running my ass off in some hot nasty weather to look this good in skinny jeans!

xo

Basil Almond Pesto

We have an abundance of basil.


So I made Basil Almond Pesto. I would normally use pine nuts, walnuts or pecans in a basil pesto, but Joseph prefers almonds, so I made this just for him. It turned out to be delicious. I made creamy pesto penne with baked chicken and cherry tomatoes for dinner tonight, which was lovely. I made a large batch of pesto so I'd be able to use the left over to make pesto mayo for chicken foccacia sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

Basil Almond Pesto
In food processor:
2 large handfulls of fresh basil leaves
5 cloves garlic
1/4 c toasted almonds (pieces, slices, whatever)
2 T grated parmesan
zest & juice of one lemon
Pulse until it all comes together.
Slowly add 1/4 - 1/3 c olive oil.
Blend until smooth. Salt & pepper to taste.

I used pasta cooking water & milk to dilute the pesto, before mixing cooked mini penne pasta and 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes. Sliced baked chicken breast on top. Yum. No pics of dinner, sorry.

I did some baking tonight also. First I made banana pecan muffins. I used whole wheat flour and replaced flax seed for some of the oil. They turned out well, very moist and fluffy, but very filling. Definitely a breakfast muffin. I froze half the batch to be enjoyed later on.




I thought the banana muffins were so good that I also made cheddar muffins. I froze 6 of those too. We had the cheddar muffins with dinner. I happy with how much use I am getting out of our big freezer. It was a good investment.

Where's my pot of gold, yo?

It has been raining off and on for the last few days. Around here, especially in the summer, it tends to be really dry and hot and then storm like crazy until it floods. but lately, these afternoon rain storms have been kind of pleasant. No thunder or lightning, just rain. Tonight, while I was cooking dinner, I looked out to see the sun shining through the rain. I went out and found this rainbow behind our house:

lunch and a haircut

My friend Susan and I have come up with a lovely trading system. Every couple of months Susan comes to my house for lunch and a haircut.

First we catch up and talk for a while, drink some strong-ass coffee and fill each other in on the latest HSB gossip. (There is always so much, you wouldn't believe these people!) Then I make lunch, which since Susan is vegetarian, means lots of fresh fruits and salads.

After we're done with lunch and Susan's gotten her caffeine fix, we move onto the haircut. She has been doing my hair since '06. Back before Joseph's opinion really had any bearing, she used to get crazy and fun with the highlights and styles. But since Joseph has made it clear forever that he wants my hair long and natural, I am working on growing it as long as I can. These days I just get it trimmed up to keep it healthy. ........... there may be a wedding at some point... sometime... in the future... near or far... and I want my hair to be really really long, most of the way down my back, so that's the real reason for growing it out. Don't anyone get too excited... we're still talking years here. :)

This is what we had for lunch,
grilled romaine salad with tomatoes and goat cheese vinaigrette:

a platter of tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, french bread & roasted garlic hummus, cantaloupe and apple slices:


Susan cut some little bangs this time, which I'm totally loving! Here we are after dinner tonight, you can see my hair pretty well:

What a Classy Lady

I wonder who the designer is?

Nothing is Real and Rules Don't Matter

We've been thoroughly enjoying watching the Olympics thus far. Swimming has been awesome to watch, obviously (Way to Go, MPhelps!), basketball is exciting, gymnastics is always fascinating and track and field is mind-boggling. Joseph likes to watch totally random sports that I would ordinarily never watch a second of like badminton, table tennis and the steeplechase. He says its fun to watch any sport at the Olympic level. This got me thinking...

"The Olympic Level" by definition is the very highest level of competition in the world, the very best, fastest and strongest athletes coming together on a World stage to determine who is THE BEST. To be the best at the Olympic Level, that's is the aim, hope, goal and dream of every athlete there (not to mention families and coaches), plus the crushed-spirited thousands who trained just as hard for four years and didn't quite make it. People give up their entire lives to try to get to the Olympics, to get a taste of the glory that representing and winning for your country brings. In an International sporting event so huge, one that unites nations and creates heroes, it seems only natural to me that it be fair.

The Chinese "women" gymnasts were underage. They not only clearly look like emaciated children, but there are journalists writing about their fake passports and hidden medical records and genetic experts analyzing their undeveloped facial features on tv. The truth always makes its way out eventually, so why try to deceive the WHOLE WORLD? When the truth does make its way out, will they take the gold medals away from the sad little gymnasts whose childhoods were sold to their countries athlete factories and who were forced to lie about their ages? That doesn't seem fair. But neither does lying to the entire world.

What about the little jenky-toothed angel-voiced Chinese anthem singer who was deemed "too ugly" to represent the country. And the 56 children supposedly representing the 56 nationalities that make up China. Turns out they were all from only a few regions that produce the most appealing (according to the Chinese government) children. Why tell the entire world they're each from a different country if they're totally not? Is physical appearance really more important than integrity? Really, at the Olympics?

I know, I know, it's all about marketing. Money. They do it in the NBA too, the refs make terrible calls in each and every game, because they're supposed to, to keep the games close and the crowd interested. I know that everything in America these days is lies, everything. A few examples: "Reality" tv that we all know is scripted but pretend to think is real, plastic surgery center commercials selling the idea of your family not recognizing you at your next reunion, our unfairly-elected President (whose campaign was partially funded by Enron, a company built on LIES) telling us to keep driving SUVs so we don't look like we're scared of running out of oil, when we clearly should be being told that we are in fact running out of oil and need to find a solution. How about Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire, they were paid millions and idolized for breaking records... all liars. We are deceived by everyone and everything in the United States, we know it and we don't care. I guess I have to say I expected better at the Olympics.

Turns out, The Olympics is all about money too. Too bad, I always thought it was about sports.

I Love This Picture

I just stole this photo from Aunt Sarah's album (thanks!). I absolutely love it! We all look so pretty and tan. We were out for a delicious seafood dinner on the water, celebrating Kate's birthday. It had been a really long time since Mom and Sarah and their daughters had all been together, so it's special for that reason too.

Amy, Kate (baby girl), Erin, Aunt Sarah & Mama Lisa

some pictures of Jack

Korean Dinner

I had planned to make this dinner before I left for Florida, but never got around to it. I got up early (11:30) on Monday and prepped all the veggies, minced garlic & ginger, which I used a ton of, and a crazy toasted sesame seed/ginger/soy dipping sauce. Then we went to see a movie, for a lack of anything better to do on a cloudy disgusting August day. We should have just stayed home and watched power lifting and canoeing on the Olympics, which would have been far less mind-numbing than the shiteous (thanks, Perez) movie we saw, Pineapple Express. After the movie, we came home and threw this fiest together together. We ate on the couch while watching the tiny little US men gymnasts try to compete with China and Michael Phelps own the pool. Having dvr makes the Olympics much more pleasurable. We can only tolerate so many sad orphan human interest stories between races, and now we don't have to.

Marinated Cucumbers

Edamame (not much cooking involved, but I'll take credit for the perfect salting)

Mirin Potatoes (made these without a recipe. have tasted potatoes like this at Korea House and knew only that they were potatoes cooked in mirin. Mirin is a sweet rice wine, which makes the potatoes very sweet and delicious. cooked them briefly in a bit of peanut oil, then added enough mirin to cover a flat layer of potatoes in the pan. simmered for about 30 minutes. half way through, added few splashes of soy sauce. they were pretty close to what I was aiming for, mmm!)

Hawaiian Fried Rice (carrot, celery, onion, scallion, peas, ginger, garlic, napa cabbage, egg, ham, pineapple, diced shrimp and jasmine rice ... this is my take on Hawaiian fried rice anyway)

BBQ Korean Beef (we used New York Strip. Joseph sliced it super thin while it was semi-frozen. marinated for 45 minutes, then grilled very hot. D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!)

Eggrolls (kickass!!!!)

Glass Noodles with Veggies & Shrimp

My first Korean attempt was a success. Not completely authentic, but Amy-licious, for certain.

He Sucks

$100 Bet... The Results

As I predicted, there will be no money transfering hands in the great "Yogurt Bet" of 2008. That's right, even for the $100 prize, Joseph was not able to eat all 8 yogurts before their expiration date (8/11/08). I even helped him out and snuck two, and he still couldn't do it!

It is tough to always be right, very tiring.


(The original post, which explains this nonsense, is from July 12)

Florida

Amy just got back from a lovely little vacation in Florida. Kevin was going to be out of town for Kate's birthday, so Mama Lisa, Aunt Sarah and Cousin Erin planned to drive to Florida to spend some time with Kate and Jack. Not wanting to miss out on the family fun (and having a few days off from work), Amy decided to meet them there. As you'll see from the pictures, we had a blast... It's also safe to say that Amy completely lost her heart to a certain 19 month old blond boy named Jack Robert Lord.

We went to Jack's gymnastics class, which was fantastic to watch. He did many activities, all of which were totally darling. We went to the pool, swam and had a picnic, shopped, got mani-pedis (not Jack), celebrated Kate's birthday and went to the beach in Destin. Most of the fun was had chasing Jack around the house and awe-ing at his every move at home.

It is wild and amazing to me to see a little person, whom 1) I love so much and find more perfect than I ever could have imagined, and 2) to me, looks like a beautiful blend of my brother and sister. That sounds strange, but he has Kate's eyes, and I see Mike's face, expressions, hand gestures and of course, the hair. I know he looks like Kevin and his cousins too, but the similarities I see to my siblings is so so cool.

Here's a slideshow of some of the highlights:

SNOOP DOGG + 311

The Backyard, in Austin, Texas has been around forever, offering the very finest live music, on an outdoor, tree lined stage. Sadly, this October, the Backyard will have it's final show.

Neither of us has been to the Backyard before. We knew had to get to see at least one show at this legendary Austin spot before it was too late! When I heard about the Snoop & 311 show, it was a no brainer. Joseph LOVES Snoop Dogg and he used to party with 311 in NYC in the 90s. And it's on a Sunday, perfect! Happy (late) Birthday to Jojo!

We're off, stopping for some margaritas and snacks before the show! I'll post pictures when I get back from Florida.

Peace Out, Bitches (working on my gangster talk, so I blend in tonight)

PS. The final show in October is WILLIE NELSON & Friends and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see that show too. We'll see...

Marshall

Reading at the lake a few days ago I was able to sneak some sweet pictures of Marshall. He doesn't like the camera, refuses to look at you when you're holding one and he spends most of the time sleeping in the shade when we're out and about, so we have noticeably fewer pictures of Marshall than of Cooper.

Here are a few good Marshall pictures, he deserves some blog face-time.






And even though this is supposed to be about Marshall, I couldn't resist this photo of Cooper. That hole just keeps getting bigger and deeper.

Amy Learns to Cook: KOREAN

I've got several days off coming up in the next few weeks... more to come on this later. With my free time, aside from running more than I have been lately, "fall cleaning" my house, because I didn't in the spring, cleaning up the poor deserted back yard and reorganizing my pantry, garage & office, I am going to teach myself to cook Korean food.

I learned so much in Culinary school. I learned things I don't even know I know, seriously, I occasionally surprise myself by knowing how to make something I've never made before, like I flipped to that page in my little SCI rolodex of info in my brain. A good feeling, nice to know the $899/second education I received was worth it. The education part only takes you so far though, and after that you have to actually cook to learn. So that's what I do.

Being with Joseph and having the open schedule that we've been fortunate to have together has broadened my cooking knowledge and experience tremendously. He loves food as much as I do and has been my happy kitchen companion for years. I can hardly remember cooking before him. We kind of fell in love in the kitchen. I mean, how girly and loserish does that sound?, but it's the truth. Typically, the first meals together while dating are in restaurants. We live in Horseshoe Bay though, which means there is practically no suitable place to go out to eat. So instead we came up with crazy elaborate dinners, went to the grocery store together and then stayed at my condo every night and cooked whatever our hungry hearts desired. I had been cooking at work and for myself forever, but this was the first time I had been cooking for one other person all the time. I loved getting to know what he liked and disliked, and he loved to taste everything I made. I brought out my big guns a lot, I wanted him to love my food (and me). We even made all the things that were his favorite meals that his mom made. It was fun, amazing and fun. He used to rub my shoulders and kiss my neck while I did the dishes back then.... Now, not so much.

Since being with Joseph I have taught myself to cook Mexican food. He had eaten WAY more of it than I had, there is considerably less Mexican food in Ohio than Texas or California, you see. I had never ever cooked it and didn't really know what it was supposed to taste like. Taco Bell and Don Pablo's aren't a good basis for comparison. With things he knew from his family, a couple lessons from Letty, and tasting a lot of Mexican food, I was able to figure out how to make some fairly authentic tasting food. I'm sure my technique is way off and I won't even try to make tortillas, but Joseph certainly does not complain. My enchiladas need work though.

I have also studied recipes, cooking shows and cook books to learn about Chinese cooking. I did learn some about this in school, but not enough. The sauces in Chinese cuisine always seemed so mysterious to me, because who can tell what makes it so good, thick, salty, sweet, rich... but there are actually not many components and the technique is really simple, just very far from the old-school French methods my training was based on. Our new wok, which rocks and we should have bought long ago, was the last step to my being able to say I can actually cook with (somewhat) proper cooking technique and products. Joseph's favorite is Wonton Shrimp with apricot hoisin sauce and mine is Twice Cooked Pork. I need to master eggrolls still.

I decided to start with something that is a basic Korean staple, barbeque beef or Bulgogi. It's so freaking DELICIOUS at Korea House, which is the only place either of us have had it, and the reason I'm interested in Korean cooking in the first place. It's super-thin sliced beef marinated in soy, sesame, garlic, scallions & sugar that's grilled quickly. Traditionally it's served with white rice and about a dozen little side dishes of salads, beans, noodles, potatoes, kimchi & pickled vegetables. I love all of them, but will just pick a few to make.

I'll let you know how it goes.

:) aem