Ramblings

S had to go to LA early this morning for some family stuff, so we were up and awake by 4am. I got into work super early, was a little disappointed to have a "sorry we're rejecting your grant inquiry" e-mail from Qualcomm in my Inbox. I think a cup of coffee and some lemon cake will make it all better. Hope E arrives soon with the lemon cake.

We've been in The Fee all week long while S works on the house, painting moulding mostly, which is his own personal form of hell. That's why it's been on the to-do list for about 3 years now. But it's almost done, so hopefully we'll be able to get the place rented soon!

I do believe I'm going to make homemade gnocchi tomorrow night, and I'm pondering doing a red sauce and a gorgonzola cream sauce. I've made gnocchi from scratch twice before, and it is so much easier than you think it will be. It's really just a simple dough that you moosh together, roll into snakes, and then cut into knee-yokes. I made a very simple version from Giada de Laurentiis one time, which was good, but needed tweaking, and I'm no tweaker. Then I made THIS one off of Epicurious, and it was the real winner. Ignore the mushroom sauce part. Unless you want mushroom sauce. Then go bananas. Or mushrooms.

My other little domestic skill I'm working on is knitting. This has been a minor goal of mine for awhile now. I bought a book last year and attempted to teach myself from the book, but failed miserably. Last weekend I finally took a class, taught by the lovely Glenda of The Black Sheep in Encinitas. Delightful! Now I know how to knit! I'm slowly working on my first piece, a scarf of course. I was very tempted to make a face beard, but maybe that's the next class...

Sorry for the boringness of the this post. This has been a laundry list of random things in my life, and I feel no ounce of humor or clever language coming from my fingertips. But at least words are being spilled, no?

And since I haven't had a picture in a post for awhile...

Food and Books

In an effort to write for the sake of writing, I like to mull what my most interesting thoughts are before I get started. Sadly, there is nothing interesting going on in my head. I have been working on a big project at work that is almost done, which is very satisfying. But, it's reached the mindless labeling/paper clipping/envelope stuffing process. And so, I blog.

But all I can think about is when I can sit and read my book, and what I'm cooking for dinner tonight. I'm also hoping the felonious co-workers of El Capitan are behaving themselves.

I'm making turkey chili. Onion, turkey, white beans, cumin, chili powder, lime juice, chicken stock, sour cream. Eat.

I also need to get a grant for our Education programs.

Yawn.

Crepes Fantastico

One thing I love about my husband is that he is predictable and yet surprises and confuses me all at the same time. I find it amusing and confusing that he constantly complains that I try to feed him weird and fancy foods (like butternut squash. weird!), yet last night, he was gung ho about making crepes for dinner. Go figure.

We had leftover tri-tip and roasted veggies from Saturday night's dinner, so we chopped it up all teensy, sizzled it up in a pan with onions and spices, and then proceeded to use our shiny new crepe pan from D&J. The fun part about making the crepe batter was that you make it in the blender. I don't know why that's fun, but it was. My blender is orange. It's fun by nature.

The first crepe was un disastre, but the rest were gorgeous! We need to work on our flipping techniques. Joy of Cooking says your fingers work best for flipping, which we found to be true, except for the fact that S no longer has fingertips. He may be all macho and rough, but as he informed me over the weekend "I have very soft skin. I take care of myself!" So true, fancy boy.

My favorite part of the crepe dinner was the mustard cream sauce I made. Mmmm, creamy and mustardy.

Special thanks to K and K for getting married, having two copies of Joy of Cooking, and letting me have one of their copies in a "we're getting rid of books" purge. Special thanks also to a family I will not name for giving K the cookbook in the first place. Happy 2000 Graduation, K! (Makes me smile every time I crack that baby open.)

I Don't Make Resolutions

But if I DID, I would resolute to write more frequently on my blog. And yes, I know it's "resolve", but what fun is blogging if you can't make up wacky words? It's what the hip teens do on the internets these days.

I was in the midst of writing a brilliantly-crafted letter to some planned giving prospects when Erica and I began discussing the concept of writing for the sake of writing, and no matter how many times you learn it, it just helps to be reminded of its practice. Just write. Stop worrying about having some sort of epiphany to share, or interesting anecdote that will stop the world, just write and get the juices flowing.

So here I am, taking a few moments away from the letter to write. Life is good. 2009 was a very big year in the life of JJ, and a great year indeed. I'm excited about 2010, but at the moment I am reveling in the contentedness of mine and S's life. It's not perfect, but it's warm and cozy and happy and filled with smiles and love and laughter and I guess my other resolution would be to remember to not take that for granted, and to try and stay connected to that feeling.

Also, I'm craving soup for lunch today, so I might head over to Influx for their Tomato Bisque. Maybe I'll take my Scottish-time-travel-romance-adventure book. Ha! "Maybe" I'll take my book. That's funny.

And apparently, my 2-year-old nephew, whose name starts with a B, ate FOUR adult-sized pancakes yesterday. I am 29 years older than him, and I've never been able to eat more than two, and I LOVE pancakes.

How's THAT for a stream of consciousness. What do you think, Airshine???

Rainbow Cake!

Oh man. I done gone and baked one of the coolest things ever. It was nothing but box cake and food coloring--no challenge of baking science--and it wasn't even my idea, but it turned out so radical, I'm so pumped about this. You must find an occasion to make this cake.

The fabulous Claudia Russell, Jazz88 DJ extraordinaire, had a birthday last week, but wasn't in the office for cake-ular activities. I had been saving this cake recipe specifically for her, as she's a hippy-at-heart who loves tye-dye.

TO THE CAKE!

First, I made a double-batch of white cake. I believe it was Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe.

Then, I divided up the batter into 7 bowls of equal volume. Using gel food coloring (more intense, less liquid added) I dyed each bowl a different color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink.


Next, I took two round 9-inch cake pans. Here is where the expert baking technique comes in. Now, you can put the colors in whatever order you want, but I put them in regular rainbow order. So, beginning with red, I put a heaping cup to cup and a half into the bottom of the first pan. Next, a little less of a heaping cup of orange right on top. Don't worry, they don't mix into each other, they just sit on top of each other in concentric circles and slowly spread out into the pan.


Follow with the rest of the colors until all seven are in the pan. Then, do the same thing in the second pan, but put the colors in REVERSE order. Here's another tip. The BOTTOM layer of batter (meaning, the first color you put in the pan) should be more than the top layer.

Bake.



Cool. Frost. Cut into. Freak out.



Delight your happy birthday-having pal:



Then eat more cake:


Full credit to Omnomicon.com, although she does it some crazy nonsense diet way with soda and pudding mix. No. Just...NO. Make the box cake the way you're supposed to make it. The end.

I Have a Ring!

Finally! We have an engagement ring! Woohoo! On Saturday we hit up Leo Hamel in Old Town, after hearing they had a decent selection of estate pieces. I was starting to feel like I just needed to pick SOMETHING remotely close to the style that I was leaning towards. Everything that I had tried up to that point had been close, and pretty, and sparkly, but I don't know, how do you choose when they are all pretty and kind of all look the same after awhile? Well, we debated between two finalists, and this little darlin' finally won out. I love it more and more the longer I have it. Hooray!





Oh, wait, you might want to know, it's 14 karat white gold. I don't know how old it is, I forgot to ask.

Well Hello There!

Oh hey! I have a blog! Discipline has never been my strong suit, but you know, I am a work in progress.

I am safely ensconced on my couch, sipping a glass of red wine and nibbling on Rainier cherries. Mmmmmm! I went to Pata Negra after work and got some tomate frito (put it on white rice), chorizo, and a super tangy goat cheese rolled in paprika. I've been trying not to gorge on it too much as it was supposed to be our cocktail hour appetizers, but el Capitan just called and won't be home until 7. Guess who gets all the cheese and chorizo to herself? These are the sacrifices and rewards of the fireman-family lifestyle.

I left work before 3pm today due to an exceptionally frustrating situation that remains out of my control. Rather than sit at my desk stewing in my own angry juices, I decided to just leave. I don't mean to be mysterious, but I'd rather not memorialize my rage on the internet. Needless to say, said situation will pass.

Tomorrow I have a meeting in Balboa Park, specifically at the delicious-smelling Mingei Museum. I don't know what it smells like, but it just smells good. Textiles and foreign wood carvings and fresh paint. We're partnering with them for an event in two weeks, so every few weeks for the past few months I've been popping up to the museum to meet with their Marketing Coordinator.



The last time I was up there I walked through my favorite spot in all of San Diego, the Alcazar Gardens. It was such a beautiful day (the miserable May Gray hadn't descended yet) and the flowers were just bonkers. I had to stop and attempt to take artistic pictures of the crazy tall purple flowers. Stalk? Snapdragons? I wish I was better at my flower identification.



Anyway, it was such a pleasant interlude during my work day, I had to stop and appreciate that my job frequently requires that I walk through Balboa Park. Not a bad gig.



Thank God I have another meeting there tomorrow, I need the reminder!