It Started with a Journal

Ermahgerd, I went to the Seahawks home opener on Sunday! One of my coworkers got tix as a thank you for her work on this series of articles that we've worked on the last 3 years, and she invited me to come with. It was a very cool experience to go to a Seahawks game live, even though it's harder to figure out what is exactly happening on the field than on TV. Our seats were in the 100 level, but near the end zone (kind of kitty corner rather than really end zone), so when the team was on the other side of the field, I couldn't see what the hell was going on and had to look at the big screen. Of course the Seahawks had to stretch it out until the very last seconds, just to ratchet up the drama. I brought ear plugs and had them in the whole time, but honestly it didn't seem that bad other than for really critical moments.

And Russell sprained his ankle, so yay for that... not. Not only is that bad for the Hawks, it's bad for my fantasy team, so now I have to try and get Matt Ryan back, who I had dropped for Jason Witten. Argh. But other than that, I won both of my fantasy matchups this week, which is kind of exciting. In one of them I even pulled out a miraculous win, because I was down by like 40 points and somehow came back to win it. (It helped that I had Carson Palmer as my QB and my opponent had the NE defense, so every time I gained points, he lost points. It was another scenario where I got to have my cake and eat it too, because I wanted the Cards to lose, but Carson to do well.)

My friend and I ate in the stadium, at Kraken Congee. Congee in a football stadium! How awesome is that? It's definitely a hipster variation though, because it was NOT traditional Chinese congee. It had aioli, pork belly, and crunchy corn. It was pretty dang good though, I must say! ( Pictures. )

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I now have a butter bell, and I am very excited about it.

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The lye is supposed to arrive tonight, and I'm super excited about making my first batch of soap -- I'm going to do a really standard starter soap, even though I have created my own recipe and I'm eager to try it out.

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I finished Orphan Black S4, so with that, I'm all caught up!

( Spoilers )

I wanted to share with you guys the inside of one of my cherry pecan macarons:



In the words of 11-year-old Jane on Kids Baking Championship, "Not to toot my own horn or anything, but... TOOT TOOT." Jane is total GOLD on the show. Her interviews are amazing. If the producers have any say at all in it, she'll be on the show as long as possible. (I just watched her audition vid and she and her brothers are just adorable.)

Since Chinese New Year is coming up, I've decided that this year, for the first time ever, I'm going to try and make a CNY food item. I'm going to make tang yuen, which are sweet, black sesame paste-filled rice balls in ginger syrup. Except instead of syrup it's going to be more like a ginger broth, because the balls themselves are already pretty sweet, so I think eating them with ginger syrup is overkill. (In fact, growing up, I only ever had those balls cooked in plain water. It was news to me, when looking up the recipe, that everyone else always made them with ginger syrup.) I'm not crazy about Indian gulab jamun for the same reason... they're like little donuts completely soaked in syrup, and I can only have one or two tiny bites before I'm done.

This is going to be a way-too long post about one of my favorite things to eat: dill pickles. I generally like to eat them with sandwiches, even strange concoctions like peanut butter with pickles (don't knock it til you've tried it. I'm serious).

( The pickle saga. )

I am really hitting it out of the park in the food department recently. ;) I made some killer lasagna. This was the recipe I used. It took like 4 hours, what with grating my own cheese, making the bechamel and all that, but sooooo worth it. It made a ton, which is good for leftovers, but also problematic for my not-that-big freezer. I think the next time I make it, I may actually try making my own pasta, so that the pasta itself retains more "bite."

Recently I've been watching a lot of Food Network programs. My favorites include Chopped, anything with Guy Fieri in it (especially DDD), Kids Baking Championship, and I've only seen a couple of eps, but I also enjoy Worst Cooks in America. I feel so accomplished watching those people. LOL. Depending on the day, they just show like 6 hours straight of a certain show. So when DDD is on, I just watch Guy stuff his face over and over and over. One of the eps from last night featured him going to Kuma's in Chicago! Eee! And I swear, the food truck he went to in Key West was the one I went to, that had the really amazing food. But darn it, it looks like I didn't write about it in LJ (which is odd, because I could have sworn I wrote about it SOMEwhere...). :/ See, this is exactly why I need to be better about keeping this thing up to date! I'm sure I would have talked about it and given the name of the truck. >< I might still be able to go through my pics and hope I caught the name, I suppose. I'm pretty sure it had to be the same one -- Garbo's Grill is where Guy went. The food was AMAZING. Also in Key West was Better Than Sex, a dessert/alcohol place that was also a fantastic experience. Jeez, I'm going to have to dig up all my pics and make up for the fact that I didn't do a post! Wow, and in going through my email, I realize that I didn't do anything for Santa Fe, either. Mea culpa!

I guess it being an "El Niño year" is driving up produce prices. The biggest one is the price of green onions. They're usually maybe $0.50 for a bunch? In CA you can even get them for like $0.20/bunch. But recently it's been insane... $1.70/bunch??! I had to look up why, and found this article. Global warming is fucking everything up! (Duh.)

I've heard of making the most of your living space, but these really take the cake!

Well, here, a Boeing engineer has created a condo with three living levels -- with 182 square foot of space. THAT'S RIGHT. You have to see it for yourself. The Seattle Times has a slideshow of the place. Again, totally admire the form/function/preciseness, but could not live that way. I like the bathroom, though.

Then there's this architect in Hong Kong, which is like a less-spacious New York City. People live on top of each other. Anyway, he has a 344 square foot apartment -- I know, gargantuan compared to the other guy, right? Except he lives with his parents AND sisters. WTF? So what did this awesomely talented and creative person do? He created a sliding wall system to transform the space into 24 different room options. !!!!!!!!!! Seriously. It blows the mind.

I really, really admire the ingenuity, economy and beauty behind these tiny homes. There's part of me that definitely understands wanting everything to have its place, and to maximize the most of what you have. BUT I also think that I would suffer from claustrophobia in the first one, and in the other I'd probably simply get too lazy to move anything around, and end up having my bed lowered 99% of the time.

OK now flist, steel your arteries. I finally got off my duff and have pictures of the bacon and other stuff that I've made recently. It's not for the faint of heart. I know elle_blessing was particularly interested in the bacon because of the massive quantities of it that are consumed in her house. :))

( The fat. Ohhhhhhhhh the delicious, delicious fat. )

Since I had the bacon, and I have an ongoing love affair with mushrooms, I decided to make a bacon & mushroom stroganoff. Because I also have a love affair going on with beef stroganoff, but I didn't have beef, I had bacon. ( Come to me, you luscious creamy thing. )

Also, here's the olive oil & maple granola and garlic bread I was talking about the other day: ( Pictures! )

And FINALLY, because I have not traumatized your arteries enough, I made some butter. (In reality, butter is actually good for you, in moderate quantities. It is certainly better imho than putting chemicals in your body with the fake stuff.) I love making butter at home. It's so flipping easy. If you have access to heavy whipping cream, you can (and should) make your own butter. If you already do this, I am not directing this to you. You have obviously already been blessed. ( BUTTAH! )

I don't know why I have been talking about food even more than usual lately. BUT I had to mention that I am very excited about the reservations I have this Sat for Joule, the restaurant that K and I go to monthly. K's going to be in NorCal until I leave for SoCal, and I won't be back until March, so this is my only opportunity to have their February supper. Since they're not good about updating FB about what that is on a monthly basis, I just called and asked what the menu is... and it sounds ah-may-zing. ( Joule's February Family Supper menu. )

One of my favorite coworkers in the world, C., lives in New York. She's turning 50, which she just told me and blew my mind, because she literally looks like she's in her mid-30s. Anyway, the last time jade_okelani and I were in New York, I asked her for recommendations on places to go to eat, and she gave great advice. Anyway, for her birthday her husband is taking her (and 8 guests) here. Her birthday cake is going to be from this bakery. Look at one of their cakes:



They also make cupcakes:



Seriously, I can't even imagine the work that went into these.

Now a little something for you gamer nerds -- and if you like old skool Eminem ("Guilty Conscience" is one of my favorite Eminem songs), this is a really awesome parody of that song + Starcraft II. I don't play SC2 enough to fully understand all the terminology, but it really doesn't matter.

( Eminem + Starcraft parody! )

1) Howard Overman, who created and writes Misfits, is one of my favorite writers for Merlin. I was worried that with the success of Misfits, he would stop writing for Merlin, but he's said he will write for S4. Woohoo!

2) So many good things coming in April. HBO's Game of Thrones premiere. City of Fallen Angels. Hmm that might be all. But both those things are so exciting it's like having 10 things!

3) This weekend I am going to make homemade Pop Tarts, from Flour, with strawberry filling. Only thing is making the pate brisee, which is easy enough, but then you have to wait for it to chill and I'm an instant gratification sort of person. Also, my kitchen is not ideal for making pastry, because of the limited counter space. Oh my kingdom for counter space!

4) The Snickers Kudos bar I just ate was really good, and it was only 100 calories. That means I can eat 10 of them, right?

5) I am one episode away from finishing Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I've enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, and am bummed that they never got a third season. I mean... even Roswell got a (terrible) third season and that went off the rails in S2. I guess the ratings for T:TSCC must've been really bad ... or bad enough for what I am assuming was a fairly expensive show to make. It's too bad.

6) I've made my own balsamic vinaigrette to take to work when I get salads. I just don't like their salad dressings. I feel kind of lame taking my bottle to the cafe, but oh well.

7) With Swag Bucks, Bing Rewards, and the Living Social deal, I now have $40 in Amazon g.c.s! I think what I'm going to do is build up my Amazon credit this way, and eventually I'll have enough to buy an eReader. I don't need one immediately, and I can just slowly build up to one.

8) So... I used to hate Swiss cheese. It was flavorless and pointless to me. But I guess as I've gotten older my palate has changed, because now I find myself wanting to put Swiss cheese in my sandwiches and burgers. Gruyere is still my fave cheese, though! Jade recently found a gruyere-cheddar melange at Trader Joe's that is AWESOME.

9) I'm still loving my Keurig. Favorite flavor: Tully's Kona blend. I don't even know why I bother trying any others, because that one is heads above the next best.

10) I'm going to be better this year about taking more vacation time during the year so I can spread it out, rather than lumping it all up at the end. With carry-over vacation, I have 8 weeks this year. I don't plan to use it all, but I need to use at least 4 weeks. Anyway, I'd like to go somewhere in the U.S. where I've never spent significant time (nixed: most of California, NYC, Boston, Washington D.C., D.C.-area Virginia and Maryland, Las Vegas, Hawaii). Any suggestions? Where do you think I should go and why? I'm looking for ideas!

Slowly but surely, I am getting all the things done that I need to do in order to be able to leave on Sat.

- returned all library books to the library (I got 1/3 of the way through The Magicians)
- put my mail on hold
- put various lists on vacation hold
- mailed off Merlin to three cool ladies
- took pets to vet and got health cert
- watched Vampire Diaries 2x09 (and now I know why there was not a peep from my flist about it, what a forgettable episode, though the C/S interaction was cute. I don't even want to TALK about the D/R)
- finished Sherlock (once again, adelagia was spot on and warned me that the second episode was far weaker than the other two, which are great, especially the first ep)

I don't know why, but the Seattle area has a lot of self-named European Delis that specialize in imported European goods, especially cheese and salami. It's very general, there's never any specificity (sorry, Inception!Arthur) as to which countries in Europe are represented, exactly, though they seem mostly Russian. Or something. Anyway, I love those places. My favorite thing is Estonskaya salami or something like that. I think it must be made with crack. It is SO GOOD. I bought half a pound today and my plan is to make myself a sandwich to take on the plane with me.

( Die of adorableness. Two paws up! )

I'm getting a facial at Julep after work today. I don't really like facials and I've only gotten like two of them in my entire life, but this was part of a package, so. It's not even that I don't like people touching my face (which I know is an issue for some people); I like it when I'm getting a massage. It's that I don't notice ANY difference before/after.

I loved Merlin 3x10 so much I am thinking of doing a pictorial summary of it, even though I know my time should be spent elsewhere.

OMG!!!!!!! Amazon Fresh is finally delivering in my area! *does a dance* I've been waiting for this for sooooo long. Some of you may not have heard of it because they're only in the Seattle area right now, but I know so many people who use Amazon Fresh and LOVE IT. I know, I thought the whole grocery home delivery thing was dead, but Amazon has somehow made it work. I have not heard one bad thing about it, only people raving about how great it is.

It is ridiculous how excited I am about this.

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OK... I have Mockingjay in hand (thank you, Amazon, for the expediency), but I don't actually feel like reading it. I read the first few pages, and it just sunk me into depression. I guess I'm just not in the mood for dark, post-col (as we used to call the genre in XF fandom) stuff. :/ I do want to know what happens, but I also don't want to ruin the book for myself by reading it before I'm ready. I'm going to wait, and will hope that everyone will be very careful about spoilery information!

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trashy_eats is currently in LJ Spotlight and we have soooo many people posting now, I can barely keep up. Yet I can't look away. It's like a gastronomic car crash.

I joined the comm thinking that there would be a lot of food that's bad for me, but prepared in creatively delicious ways (like English muffin pizzas), maybe some different but interesting combos (say, chocolate-covered bacon), or maybe just stuff that's bad for you but also yummy, like the deep-fried Twinkie I've always wanted to try.

But I've found that a deep-fried Twinkie is child's play to these people. I thought I knew about trashy food; it turns out I know nothing about it. I am constantly amazed by the ingenuity (and iron stomachs) of these posters. Some examples (which my uncreative mind would never have come up with) follow. Keep in mind that these aren't just things people eat because they were dared to or something, but because they honestly find it delicious (and many times come about due to lack of funds -- truly, necessity is the mother of invention):

• Warm a tortilla in a pan till it's a bit brown. Slather with mayo. Roll up and eat. Proclaimed by the poster to be "HEAVEN... I swear it's awesome."


• Variations of peanut butter ramen. Cook ramen noodles until soft, then add spoonfuls of chunky peanut butter. Add other ingredients such as scrambled egg or scallions if you are "feeling wealthy." So many people have posted their versions of this dish.


• Ramen, period. Apparently I am the only person on the planet who has never used ramen for anything other than making ramen (though I will dress it up with egg or veggies or whatever). So very many posts about what else you can do with ramen. And the best trashy post ever, for "Gourmet Ramen a la Felon" -- recipe from a guy who learned how to make his variation in prison after bartering some cigarettes for food.


• "Deathwiches." Basically, sandwiches inside sandwiches, your creativity is the limit. Example: Go to McD's and order a Big Mac and McChicken sandwich. Open up the Big Mac. Place McChicken sandwich on top. Place the other half of the Big Mac back on top. Eat. (This is a fairly tame example. Apparently McD-specific ones are called "McGangbang.")


• Instant stuffing + instant gravy + canned chicken + crushed pineapple. Proclaimed "a staple meal."


• This entire post, in which the poster has made trashy eating a lifestyle.

I love this community, though in a different way than I thought I would. There are very few things shared on the comm that I would actually want to make and eat myself (though I AM intrigued by chili dog pizza), but I am constantly entertained by the posts and taking my brain to places it never would have gone on its own.

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To those of you who asked for books from me and provided a way for me to get them to you, I plan to mail them out today. :D What with those and the PBS and Half.com orders, I'm going to be one of those annoying people at the post office who have more things to mail than I can carry at one time.

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I've started rewatching The X-Files from the beginning, and am on S2 now. (I'd burned myself out on XF so much that I couldn't even watch a single ep for YEARS.) There are so many little things I'd forgotten! Krycek started out as Mulder's partner! Scully was young and chubby! Skinner is interesting! It's amazing how quickly they became "Mulder and Scully." There were only like, 3 episodes in which they seemed like they were getting to know each other. And then it was all familiar touching and glances that lingered a second or two too long.

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Wow, I guess I've blabbed enough for one post. So I'll end with...

TV Show Meme, Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)

HBO's A Game of Thrones, of course! I am so flipping excited for this one, it cannot come soon enough.

It's Friday. It's been a crazy week. Publishing for Monday's content should be set. I am giving myself the afternoon off.

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My favorite new coffee drink is the Americano. I love the deep coffee flavor. I've finally figured out how to achieve an almost perfect Americano, but there's still one thing missing. My favorite Americano consists of 2 shots of espresso in a short cup, with room. So the espresso to water ratio is bigger. However, I also like my coffee drinks very creamy and sweet, so I add sugar (preferably vanilla sugar) and cream. I like the short because of the espresso-water ratio, but also because I don't actually drink that much -- I usually can't even finish a tall. I also like my drinks scalding hot. The problem is, with as much cream as I like, the drink is usually lukewarm when I'm done "fixing" it to my preferences. Not quite sure how to fix that except nuking the drink right afterward, which I don't like to do because it changes the flavor.

At Starbucks, it costs less than $2 for a short Americano, and I don't want to turn it into $4 by doing a lot to it, lol. However, their short only consists of 1 espresso shot. I'm not sure if it makes more sense financially to get a short and add a shot of espresso, or get a tall (which comes with 2 shots) and get less water. Next time I'm going to add vanilla syrup, since by paying with my Starbucks cash card that should be free. Unfortunately that doesn't help my lukewarm drink issue.

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My mom called me last night and was like, I want to come visit you guys and meet Jaime! So I booked her a flight. If only the timing worked out so that she could come at the end of August, it'd be better, as Alaska's having a sale during that time period. Sigh.

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I've been hearing/reading a lot about Beer Butt Chicken, and I think I might be one of a handful of people who have never made it. I love, love, LOVE the high-roast method that Jade and I discovered a couple years ago, and swore I'd never cook a chicken in the oven any other way again, but I might have to try beer butt chicken. I just have to know.

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When K. graduated from medical school oh, about 16 years ago, some of us went to New York for her graduation. While there, we shopped at Tiffany's (well, *I* didn't) and afterward went to Bergdorf Goodman for lunch, as they have a little cafe there. Several of us ordered one of their chopped salads, and it was the best salad EVER. We all agreed. Years and years later, we still remember that salad.

I guess I never tried to search for it online or anything because I didn't know what it was called, the salad ingredients are fairly generic, and it's been so long that their menu had probably totally changed, and maybe they didn't even have a cafe anymore.

Well it just goes to show that it never hurts to try. A couple of weeks ago I did a search for it using "Bergdorf," "salad," "thousand island," and "beets," which were the only things I knew of for SURE that were descriptive of the salad. And viola! Someone else had waxed poetic about it in their blog, in 2006!

"Goodman’s Café, hidden in a corner of Bergdorf Goodman’s beauty department, is definitely a ladies who lunch (and shop) spot. For me, it’s all about the Gotham salad. This chopped salad is made up of diced chicken breast, ham, Gruyère, tomatoes, beets, bacon, hard-boiled egg, iceberg lettuce and Thousand Island dressing. While there is nothing extraordinary in the components, the combination is a real winner! I love the texture of the crunchy iceberg, sweetness of the beets, softness of the egg, sharpness of the Gruyere, and the extra kick of the bacon. It is one of my preferred light lunches, accompanied by a glass of Duval-Leroy Brut champagne."

The Gotham Salad! That's what it was!! Now I want to replicate it. The problem is that I think the key is in the dressing, and I have no idea how they make their thousand island dressing or where they buy it from. I mean, the rest of the ingredients are pretty run of the mill. So it must be the dressing that brings it all together to make The Best Salad Ever.

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And finally, I leave you with...

TV Show Meme, Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times: Bad Blood, The X-Files

I LOVED this episode. It was funny and wonderful in so many ways. It's probably not the best episode to watch if you've never seen XF before at all, but if you know the characters and their nuances well, it's hysterical and fun, with just the right amount of MSR (Mulder Scully romance). Plus, Luke Wilson is in it.