Thrilling Thursday: Sopa de Pollo

No post yesterday because...

Well, I don't know why actually, it just never happened I guess!

My usual take-a-break-and-write time was replaced with sit-in-the-stockroom-and-don't-look-too-closely-at-that-moving-thing-in-the-corner time.

It happens.

ANYWAY.

So last night The Kid had to finish her third and final cooking assignment. She had already made the entree (Thai Beef Wraps which were AWESOME) and dessert (the Easter cupcakes which were equally delish), and so had to make either soup (from scratch) or salad (with many ingredients and dressing from scratch).

We had been kicking around salads, but you know something? Dressings are frackin' complex. You can't just take sour cream and stuff and make ranch, there are HERBS and SPICES and if you do it wrong a bear will eat you (or so I'm told). Italian dressing requires vinegars of every name and description, and they all cost many dollars that I'm too proud to sell myself for.

(Excuse me... "for which I am too proud to sell myself." Better living through proper grammar!)

Instead she decided she's make some chicken soup. We started riffing on this idea.

Since (in anticipation of tacos) I had already purchased an avocado, and we had leftover taco chicken from an I-need-to-cook-that-before-it-rots experiment the other day, we came up with a Cinco De Mayo soup (it being Cinco De Mayo and all yesterday), which closely mimics the Azteca soup which I LOVE from Ajuua.

It was definitely a kitchen-sink, use-the-leftovers soup, and it ROCKED.

(And why all the hyphenation today?! I-DON'T-KNOW.)

She put the chicken in the broth, let it simmer, cut up some leftover corn tortillas we had sitting in the fridge, added the chunky-chopped avocado and some leftover shredded quesadilla cheese, some dashes of chili powder and cayenne, some salt and pepper and hot sauce and...

It was so good we ate it ALL.

I love that she cooks. Here's the video!

I have mentioned how much I love my Mac, right? Thank you iPhoto!

In other thrilling news, I'm happy to report that I found roller skates for The Kid that will be much better than the ones she has now, and they were only $100, plus a swap-out of the bearings and maybe new wheels, we'll see.

The Rollergirls tried to convince me to get her the $500 ones, and they're totally right because those ones are the BEST, but until her feet stop growing/she really settles in to the sport, that just seems like a lot of bucks to scrape up.

I can't even afford salad vinegar, much less the Riedell Minx Superbootie!

Maybe in a couple of years. USED.

And I'm sorry I just don't think I'll ever see the need for the $1000 ones. Call me crazy. If she wants those, she'll have to start selling her organs or something.

Happy Thursday!

Weekend Catchup: There Can Be Only One

A lovely weekend.

Friday and Saturday consisted of a lot of lounging.

We had a dinner Friday night with Melissa at a local favorite, then went home and baked the lamb cake.

It came out totally cute! All the detail of the mold doesn't really come through, but I think all that detail is meant more so that the mold can be displayed as a piece of kitchen art.

In the morning, before leaving for 4 hours of fun at Firestone, I iced and decorated...

And voila!



I was really proud of myself! It looked just like I remembered. I didn't coconut the whole thing, which meant that I took a little longer icing the sucker (coconut covers many, many icing sins). The Kid hates coconut, and I had promised her the beast's head, so that was that.

Firestone was actually quite a nice experience. My car has recently hit 45,000 miles (yowza) and I knew I had to get some serious upkeep done. I'm good about oil changes, but the other stuff tends to fall by the wayside because it tends to be expensive and time-consuming.

I did some comparison shopping before going to Firestone, but ended up there since I've been there many times and always had good experiences. They have never messed around, or made me think they were doing anything unnecessary or to take advantage of me being a girl. (Much as I'd like to believe, in this modern age, that women are considered equal to men in all things, a lady alone in a car-related area is someone of which advantage is often taken.)

It paid off... I had requested a brake job, assuming I needed one after so long, and was informed after inspection that my breaks were just fine (although I did opt for a brake line flush). Now they could easily have done it anyway, how would I know? But they were honest, and they have me as a customer for good.

So back at home Saturday, we made the gluten-free cupcakes we had promised The Kid's grampa's housemate. Well, I say "we", but really The Kid was in charge! This was another project for her Home Ec (excuse me, Consumer and Family Services) class, so there were many pictures, the end result of which was some seriously cute Easterness!



We brought the cupcakes and lamb cake to Easter dinner Saturday night (ham, potatoes, green beans... the best!).

Since I had promised The Kid the head, I let her lop it off, and she snitched many red jelly beans and got arty.



I do so love her.

Sunday morning, I hid The Kid's basket-filling goodies, which she enjoyed immensely. We languished all morning until Nova & family came to have lunch with us at our new favorite pizza place, and Nova's husband Kelly did some house maintenance for me (he's handy like that... the broken tree limbs are now down, and my furnace filter changed).

We ended up going to bed pretty early (I blame the weather and ever-present allergies... even The Kid seems to be suffering this year) but we did manage to watch Sherlock Holmes, which wasn't bad but could have been so much more!

Happy Monday... I hope you had a fun weekend!

Weekend Catchup: Horrible Stories Of Woe

My weekend was great...well, mostly. The ER thing was not so much.

Don't worry, let me 'splain...

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.


Princess Bride quotes make me happy

Let's see, Friday night...

Friday night was an unremarkable night. The Kid and I had a little dinner, watched a Vincent Price movie (The House On Haunted Hill), and went to bed.

Then I woke up at 2AM or so feeling like Inigo Montoya himself was stabbing away in there with all the rage he could muster for the 6-fingered man.

Now I'm not a pain wuss - remember that whole avocado fight I lost? - so believe me when I say the trip to the ER was only after realizing that not only was the pain not going anywhere, but that I may actually die of it at any time. (Panic attack GO!)

I'm fine. It was probably just acid reflux or something, which I've never had before and now have total respect for and fear of if that was, in fact, what it was.

Or it was my gall bladder, but I'm not inclined to think so based on my exhaustive Googling on the subject.

Or it was nothing. One never knows. Humans are weird.

Anyway, thanks go out to Melissa for driving up to get me (they gave me a shot of something fun and so I couldn't drive), and my apologies to The Child for scaring the bejesus out of her.

I scared me too.

Not exactly the most spectacular of mornings - it was pretty weird, in fact, but everyone survived.

Saturday afternoon we were supposed to go to a Dia De Los Muertos event, but lacking a car (it was still at the hospital) that didn't happen. Instead we went to The Kid's grampa's for one of his daughter-in-law's birthdays, and then The Child was off for her night of merriment, and I went to bug TR awhile.

Saturday night TR & I went on a ghost tour and...

Hm.

Well.

I won't say it was *bad* exactly, but it wasn't very ghostly. It was more a series of horrifying events detailed for us in a loud fashion. With spittle.

I know the guy really worked hard, and I will give him this - he knows his stuff! But...

Well, it'll make for good stories later, and it was definitely fun to dress up and look pretty, and plus 2 hours worth of holding hands with a cute boy on a bus doesn't suck at all, even if you *are* going deaf all the while and being...

What was the word? Irrigated?


Say it, don't spray it! (Also, cool photo)

Sunday morning we hit Dozens again because mmmm, Novo coffee, (and also Lucille's had a mega line again) and then it was back home to finish up some fantastic chili and head to a friend's for a Halloween gathering. It was very nice, and the chili was a big hit, and I got to see folks I don't see but every 6 weeks or so, all of whom are always glad to see me.

And that rocks.

Monday I had the day off (thus the late posting) to take The Kid to the airport. She's in Arizona with her grandparents there, doing homework (I hope) and helping them out a bit... wish I was there with her, since I miss my mom, but it's okay since she'll be coming out the week after Christmas! YAY.

Monday night the fabulous Pioneer Woman appeared at the Tattered Cover (conveniently located mere blocks from TR) and although I wasn't able to meet her in person it was cool to see her up close and personal!

Had I shown up about 3 hours in advance I might have had a shot at an autograph and the chance to thank her for inadvertently introducing me to the almost Mrs. Ms. Dandy, but by the time I got there it was standing room only, and I was at the back... there had to have been 500 people there!

I got her book (it was waiting for me when I got home), and let me tell you...

There will be cinnamon rolls. Soon.


Photo by P-Dub.

I hope you had a nice, ER-free weekend!

Weekend Catchup: Blue

Well thanks to my new friend Pill (what, TMI? We're all girls here. Mostly.), who I love because she makes my skin clear and actually caused me to *lose* 5 pounds, I was EXTREMELY crabby Friday afternoon as it was the end of the "off week", which those of you who've also been friends with her will know = "Stay Away From Her, Bitch Crazy!".

Thankfully I got over it quickly, like in hours, but as a result I was exhausted and pissy and totally missed an opportunity to see the fabulous TR for awhile, which bummed me out additionally but was quickly remedied by my fabulous Child, who fed me chocolate and put on something dumb to watch that I didn't have to think about.

I'm sometimes afraid I'm too non-traditional of a mom (June Cleaver would never have told her daughters, had she had them, that she was PMSing) but then again normal is boring. And she seems to be just fine - just think of all the coping skills she's learning.

Also thankfully, TR is the most patient person on earth and also very very smart.

And cute.

(cough.)

Anyway.

I didn't do much else with my weekend other than organize my books, which were encroaching on every surface of the house. I even donated a bunch to the library which, while it makes me feel good to give things away, also made me feel uncluttered.

I also put up a *few* Halloween decorations, despite my prior protestations about it, since I came across my Halloween bins and remembered about this...



...which I made last year and love to bits.

And the tombstones are up.

And the pumpkin patch is calling. Damn.

So after all that organizing and putting-out (sounds dirty, isn't) I headed with The Child to her grandpa's to watch his dogs while he and his girl were down in Denver for the night. She did the 5K Breast Cancer Walk, and then they decided to make an evening of it.

Bonuses for The Kid and myself...

a) The new hot tub he just put in. We were so in it. Strangely I got pruny really quickly - this didn't happen in the hot springs. More research needed.

b) His gas range & oven. I wept once, I think.

I have an electric range. I hate it. It doesn't cook evenly, it *always* boils my pasta over due to the cycling on and off of the stovetop bits, and you can't broil anything properly.

I made a steak for us in their broiler, and it was so good there was nothing left when we were done. Nothing. It was perfect because I remembered the rule... 7 minutes on one side, 5 on the other. Works every time. (For a little more well-done, just add another minute per side, but truly this makes a perfect steak in a gas broiler.)

In the morning, I made eggs and OMG MIRACLE... no sticking, and they were absolute perfection. They were a great start to a Sunday that was really really relaxed and calm and didn't involve me acting like a loon for any amount of time, with the exception of the ungodly amount of fresh mozzarella I ate with dinner.

It was shameful, but as it's a rare treat I will just do a little longer on the bike tonight and call it good. Life is short.

I also decided, while being cold and looking out at my ugly lawn, that my next house currently has 6 things that will be deal-breaker musts:

1. An electric fireplace (effective without killing you with fumes and exploding logs).
2. A furnace that is somewhere I can get to it that doesn't involve spidery, dark crawlspaces filled with the potential for zombies and clowns. In fact no basement at all would be great.
3. Air conditioning because I'm a wuss - unless we're in the mountains, then ceiling fans.
4. No grass anywhere at all - I want that shit xeriscaped to within an inch of its little lichen-covered life. This is slightly negotiable if there is someone to mow the grass besides me, and if there is a sprinkler system. I could tell you I want xeriscaping because I'm very earth-conscious, and this would be true, but I can't lie - the top of the Top 3 Reasons is "I'm lazy".
6. No carpet. Anywhere. I don't care if it's frickin' TILE as long as it's not carpet, but I'd prefer wood.
5. A gas stove because hell yes.

There are other things too, of course. I don't want the roof caving in on me ever so a new one would be nice, if there are termites I will get Orkin because I don't care, and I really really really want a claw-footed tub, but those are things that can be dealt with and adjusted for.

It'll be awhile of course... at least until The Kid finishes high school.

How was YOUR weekend?

Totally Random Tuesday: Beads and Beets

We have a monthly birthday celebration here at work, wherein all the birthday-ified gather for cake and coffee and chitchat for half an hour. We're all chicks here in the office (there was a guy once but I think we scared him away... must have been that discussion about ovaries), so you would think that the snacks would tend toward the low-fat, sugar-free variety.

Not so.

Last time, for example, we had a coconut-covered white cake confection that was just about the best coconut-type food I've had since Melissa's guacamole. (Trust me, it's good.) While there were a few "oh, just a small slice" type comments, most just accepted they'd probably never have cake like that again and went for it. Everything in moderation, right?

Well this time it was my turn to bring the goodies, and though I would have loved to go all out with something worthy of a Challenge, cupcakes was what was in the budget (and on a Monday night I can only get so involved), so cupcakes is what we got! Carrot cake and Devils Food... I don't think they'll mind that they're a little low-tech.

Anyway, given that there are only about 10 of us, I wasn't going to make full batches of each kind, but that left me with a lot of leftover batter. Being the frugal girl that I am, I decided to make a cake out of each batter's leavings... and The Kid decorated, since that's her favorite thing.



Cool, right? That was the carrot cake, which we gave to the neighbors to thank them for lending us eggs, since we were short.

Hopefully the Office Crew will like the cupcakes... I'm fairly confident, though. I mean, they're cupcakes! What's not to like?

As promised, here are photos of the suncatchers that don't involve my car; the first is a design that The Kid did for use as a computer charm of sorts, and the second is the first one I made, so it's not as cool as the subsequent ones, due to learning curves. (You can see these better by clicking on the photos, if you're so inclined.) Thanks to my hand model, Ms. Thing.





Finally, tonight I plan on watching The Big Lebowski, a movie I have never seen but have heard more than once is fabulous and mood-altering. I get the impression that this movie is akin to a Tom Robbins novel - weird but profound, and bound to leave you with a new view on the world around you.

Speaking of which, book recommendation of the day... Jitterbug Perfume, one of my favorite books ever. The Wikipedia summary says:

Jitterbug Perfume is Tom Robbins' fourth novel, published in 1984. The major themes of the book include the striving for immortality, the meaning behind the sense of smell, individual expression, self-reliance, sex, love, and religion. Beets and the god Pan figure prominently. The novel is a self-described epic, with four distinct storylines, one set in 8th century Bohemia and three others in modern day New Orleans, Seattle, and Paris.

That's a mighty fine description. Go read it!

Weekend Catchup: Egyptian Goddesses & Green-Blooded Hobgoblins

I had a busy weekend!

I managed to water the lawn, plant flowers, watch half a series on DVD, spend an enormous amount of time with my kid, cook, clean, do all my laundry AND see Star Trek!

Friday I ended up at my friend Melissa's to watch The Secrets of Isis, this serial show from the 70's she loved as a kid. It was fantastic! The 70's were such a bad time for fashion though... I know we joke about that, but dayum.



Saturday morning I got up and got moving early... maybe thanks to all that Isis-infused energy! I had to get my car to the dealer... only 5,000 miles left on my warranty and the a/c is busted. They got done checking it over pretty quickly (a replacement for a leaky hose needs to be ordered), and I headed over to Lowe's to pick up light bulbs. MY WEEKENDS ARE SO EXCITING.

I got inspired while I was there though, and for the FIRST TIME EVER bought potting soil and flowers to plant. They'll be dead in a week, but still! This is thanks to my mom sending me a lavender plant of my very own which unfortunately arrived half-dead (they're sending a replacement). I finished the job by giving it *too* much sun - my backyard is an inferno, and so ended up with a pretty yellow pot that was probably going to be relegated to the garage for all eternity.

Instead, it now has lovely annuals... I've been told that's the best and least guilt-inducing way to start, since they're going to die anyway. We put some in a pot the kid painted when we first moved out here too... it had been sitting lonely in a cubby for ages and now it's finally getting some use.



Doesn't my front stoop look prettier now? Yes I know the grass needs mowing.

I was so inspired by all my planting that I made an awesome lunch after Colorado Alterna-Dad brought my newly rehabbed computer over (it was a mess). I grilled steaks and then made steak quesadillas.


They were bitchin'.

We went to Nova's for the afternoon and evening, as it was her husband's birthday and they wanted to go see Star Trek, so we sat for their kids. To be honest I thought her daughter was going to have conniptions but she had a grand old time high-fiving us all and running around looking cute. Her son was very cooperative considering he's 4, and helped clean up and keep an eye on his sister. They're both great kids!


Karma loves that wagon.

We stayed for dinner (a lovely roast) and then had to skedaddle... as you can see I'd had a bit of a long day and I was pooped by 8:30! We got home and I promptly fell into a coma. It was great - the first dreamless sleep in a week.

Sunday I was up early, natch, and headed to the grocery store for a few necessaries, then back home to get coffee made. The child wanted to make me breakfast in bed but frankly I don't like breakfast in bed... I spend the whole time worrying I'll upend something or get crumbs (and subsequently ants) in my bed. It's very stressful.

Instead we sat and watched the new movie I got for her (Howl's Moving Castle - she loves her Miyazaki) and she made me eggs and toast. Nice, right? We exchanged cards (some think it's odd but it's a tradition my mom started - I give the kid a gift on Mother's Day because I wouldn't be a mom without her, and I want to thank her for that!) and sat around all morning. Delightful.

Then, thanks to Nova's generosity...

STAR TREK

This was as fantastic as I hoped it would be. The casting was great, the action was exciting, there was a ton of humor, there were nods to the old characters without being overly campy... it was, in a word, awesome.

In looking for some pictures to post on my humble blog, I found a great write-up that summed up what I wanted to say about it pretty well without giving anything away... all I can say is if you've ever enjoyed Star Trek at all, you need to go see this, and on the big screen. You won't regret it.


Hells yeah.

Oh, just for posterity's sake, I finally posted a picture of the bunnies from Easter. Took me long enough!

Weekend Catchup: Sausage and Forward Momentum

I don't know what happened last week! I was minus my regular mojo all around, I suppose...

Well, I'm here to tell you I am back in action!

It's all thanks to Melissa's idea of making her own sausage. While a great idea in and of itself, if nothing else than for my selfish reasoning of "YAY, SAUSUAGE", she invited me to help. I did, and really got into it, and the whole process seems to have kick-started me back into gear.

YES! *Insert raised arms here.*

After sausage-making glory was had, I made strawberry tarts for Saturday's Beltane celebration (where I had a whole lot of mead) and made a bag for my mom's birthday (shocking due to the amount of mead I drank - seriously), so I'm feeling fairly accomplished, or at least back on the right track... since I found the missing not-ugly car bag, I wonder if that was the catalyst to all this progress!

This might even mean I get back to regular updates, you never know... try to contain your excitment.

Sausage Making Joy

Turn away now if you're a vegetarian, for there is carnage ahead...

Sausage making is surprisingly easy, and, except for the equipment, cheap! Melissa forked over $14 for a 5-pound pork butt and some casings, which amounted to about 20 sausages. That's 70 cents a link for how we did it, or 2.80 for a pack of 4 gourmet home-made sausages...that's a *whole* lot cheaper than Boulder Sausage, the local favorite that can be found at the grocery store, and trust me... ours was better! There was a bit of a learning curve, so I'm sure we'll be able to get more out of it next time, but for our first round that's not bad.

Well, I'm using "we" very liberally, now that I think about it... All I did was feed pork into the scary, scary machine and help Melissa stuff them, but she totally did all the hard work! She's a fantastic cook.

She made sage & red wine (a little salty, but good), garlic (strangely pie-like; the recipe called for cinnamon and nutmeg - really fabulous combo as it turns out) and Irish sausage (using fresh bread crumbs). All were delicious when we tested them out, so I can't wait to try them now that they're all sausage-ified! Especially the Irish Sausage. Yum!

It was surprisingly easy to do, assuming one has the correct equipment (check!).

START WITH THIS:


Mmmm, pork butt.

PREP MEAT:

1. Cut meat into cubes
2. Freeze a bit (so you're not making mush)
3. Feed cubes into grinder
4. Stop and turn grinder blade the correct way
5. Re-feed cubes into grinder
6. Marvel at your technical abilities
7. Rush to insert meat faster because OMG that thing is fast when it's put together right

This is what you get when you grind 5 pounds of pork butt...a bowl full of goodness.

MAKE SAUSAGE FILLING:

1. Season meat per various recipes available
2. Test for deliciousness by frying up a patty
3. Test a little more

Red Wine & Sage, Irish, and Garlic sausage stuffing...
What was left when we were done testing, anyway!
Click for bigger pictures!

STUFF:

1. Put remaining sausage filling into stuffer
2. Put casing on stuffer tube (surprisingly not gross but very condom-like)
3. Tie off and carefully fill until you get to the end
   
4. Tie off again
5. Form sausages and twist like a balloon animal every 5 inches or so
6. Swear when the casing breaks
7. Repeat steps 1-4 again but limit the amount of stuff in the casing
8. Repeat step 5, marvelling at your skills with meat
9. Get mind out of gutter
10. Dry sausages on a rack for 24 hours in fridge
    
11. Fry or grill or prepare in some way that pleases you
    
12. Eat and swoon all while patting yourself on the back - this takes some advanced skill, FYI.
    

See? Easy.

I hope to make more soon... we've been having fun coming up with inappropriate names for these, such as "The Italian Stallion" for the garlic one, because we have a combined age of 12.

Here's hoping for a productive week!

Thrilling Thursday: Dinner Delightfulness

My friend Melissa had some celebrating to do last night, and wanted celebratory partners, and so we happily obliged. :)

She made a lovely scallop and shrimp dish marinated in lemon and Worcestershire and garlic and stuff, plus some garlic-sauteed mushrooms (don't barf, mom, they were Portabellos), lobster tails (who knew they were so easy?!), and this awesome thing in a fondue pot that I can't recall the name for, but it was made with cream, garlic, butter and... anchovies. Anchovies! It was delicious!!

Thanks for sharing, Melissa! We love it when you cook.

Weekend Catchup - Pot Roast and Baskets and Snooze, Oh My!

Ah, a lovely weekend. The weather was fine, my head didn't hurt, and I ate pot roast with the girl and her buddy, who stayed over on Friday:


Pot Roast with red potatoes. Aren't they pretty?

And this was for breakfast, and much appreciated by the children:


They totally thought I was nuts when I ran for the camera, but it just looked so yummy!

I also made this for my boss:


On request, for her "French Pink bathroom". The beads are cuter in person, and add a little je ne sais quoi, non?

I also exercised, cleaned my house, and took a nap. How much more can you ask from a weekend?

My mom had a better weekend, though, she went to Phoenix to see the Chihuly exhibit (he's awesome), and took many many many pictures, but this one's my favorite, despite it featuring no glass art whatsoever. I told her she should make notecards out of it. Don't you agree? (Side note - I went to her blog, and she totally posted the same pic as her fave. It's like we're related.)


So pretty!

Mmm, Steak

I know I said I wasn't going to post, but I just had to share two things.

Thing One:

As predicted, my careful waiting gained me a bitchin' deal on Priceline. Seriously, next time you're planning a trip, try it for a couple of weeks and eventually... voila!!! I did pay a *little* more than for the place in Iowa, but only by 10 dollars.

Check it out! It even got good reviews on Hotels.com, and you know everyone on there tells it like it is.

Do you think I should charge them for plugging their site?

Anyway, now I'm feeling great about the trip, the planning for getting there and back is all settled (even if I didn't really want to spend 120 bucks on hotels, it's worth it to be safe), and now I just need to start making lists of other stuff.

Thing Two:

I cooked an awesome dinner last night, not from-scratch really but definitely away from the norm. We had French Onion soup, with some fresh french bread and I pan-grilled two petite sirloin steaks** in some olive oil and seasonings. We sliced up the steak, folded it in the bread and dipped in the soup. YUM. I think, despite it being mostly store-bought, that it gets points for originality at least! I have to give half that credit to the kid though... I made the steaks without anyone telling me how to, and they *were* perfect, but she totally came up with the idea of French Dip. I feel secure about her future as a college girl now; I know she won't settle for Ramen.

** I bought the steaks in 4 packs at Albertsons the other day... 3 packs for the price of 1 OMFG. I used the miraculous Food Saver to split them all into packs of 2 for us, and now we have steaks! I think maybe I'll try that steak salad finally!

Thrilling Thursday: I Heart P-Dub

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been more inclined lately to try new things, but I still have that problem of needing to have things explained in an exhaustive manner if I don't understand them right off the bat. In particular, I have a fear of cooking, or rather a fear of trying new styles of cooking. I go again and again to baked things and things made with the help store-bought cooking aides like Shake-n-Bake. Not bad things necessarily, but not very creative either, and kinda boring.

Enter The Pioneer Woman (thanks to Finny for linking her, I'm forever indebted). I don't want to get too gushy, but I have to give credit where credit is due...she has changed my life in the kitchen. Not only does she have the exhaustive-description thing down to a science, complete with lovingly rendered visual aides, she also cooks *interesting things* with *ingredients from the supermarket* (I can't grow my own to save my life). These have been totally inspirational.

Now don't get me wrong, I can follow directions and can muddle my way through a recipe, but I'm a baker. I bake, therefore I measure, therefore a recipe that says "cook until done" terrifies and mystifies me. I need times, and temperatures, and pictures of how it should look, otherwise I will (I guarantee) frack it up royally, and then nobody wins. I'm also really cheap, so if I'm going to experiment, I need to know it's going to work before I invest in a zester or something.

But now? Now, I can make a steak salad! Me! With my own hands and it won't even make me cry! These may seem like simple recipes to you, dear reader, but for me this is a whole new world of possibilities. Not one ingredient mystified me.

She has even organized the recipes, all pretty like. She's a miracle.

Oh and she has awesome friends too.

Oh We're So Having These Tonight

Whilst browsing Finny today, I followed along to Pioneer Woman. While most of her recipes are way too involved for me (I'm really lazy), I did find this.



We're stopping at the store for red potatoes tonight, because if we don't I'll just dream about these. Holy crap do they look good! Pretty, drooly picture is from Pioneer Woman's blog. Not so pretty, yet still equally drooly because I remember how they taste, picture from my very own table:



They didn't last long, let's just put it that way. Yum!!