My Food Network

I don't know if everyone knows this, but I've totally been getting my groove on in the kitchen, and I'm proud of myself. Josh and I prepare these really delicious meals together- and it's all thanks to this great book by Marc Bitman called How to Cook Everything. We make chicken and pork chops and all kinds of things, but some of my favorite things to make are ones that take the least time and preparation. There is this chicken breast that I make which takes less than half an hour, by covering the chicken with chili, lime, salt and pepper, then using the juices to make a reduction sauce, served with pasta and yellow corn. Seriously, it's great.

But recently, I started making this pizza, pictured above. It's a wheat dough, with shredded cheese, red pepper, tomatoes, salt, fresh ground pepper, feta cheeses, olives and anchovies (for Josh.) I bake it for twelve minutes and and broil it for three. And it also takes less than half an hour.

My quiches are pretty great, too. I like putting swiss chard, maple cured bacon, spinach, broccolli, onions, garlic, and whatever cheese we happen to have around. I buy the crust frozen at Hannaford.

Nice View if you Can Get It

Sometimes conversations at my job meander. Five ladies, over worked and underpaid are often eager to not get back to work. We talk about jewelry, our significant others, travel and crazy people. Here's where it started, I think. Someone exposed himself on the bus to one of our temps. She takes my bus. I could've been on that bus, it could've been me. Not only was he showing but he was also touching. I thought it was bad when some man touched my hair, this would've been a million times worse.

On the subject of crazy people not being able to keep it in their pants, by boss tells us this story about her cousin who went on the road with her husband in his big-rig for two months, across the country. She said that you would not believe what people did in their cars when they thought no one else could see them. Women and men naked from the waist down, men pleasuring themselves, women with dildoes, men and women performing oral sex on the driver, the driver pleasuring the passenger. And this happens all the time, apparently. Everyone in the room was pretty disgusted by this, but I thought it was more dangerous than anything else. But it's pretty easy to get turned on in the car, what with all of the bumps and vibrations in the road... these people are putting their safety at risk. If I were them, I'd stop at the nearest rest area and deal with my problems there.

In the meantime, I'm praying that my dad will fix my transmission so I can stop taking that stinking bus.

Hey Lady, Nice Pom Pom

This weekend, we hit the church-fair circuit. My mission: mittens. There are few things that make me more nostalgic for my childhood than a pair of hand-knit, brightly colored mittens. Unfortunately, my upper body is about the size of an adolescent boy, and sometimes my feet fit in little girl shoes from the Gap, but my hands are normal, average lady sized hands that can't squeeze into the brightly colored hats any longer. At the table o' knits, much to my delight however, there were some reasonably cool beret-styled cable knit hats- the gem amongst baby sweaters and afghans. The only problem was the pom-pom. The slate blue hat that I was coveting had the most horrific pom pom made of white, pink and blue yarn. I locked eyes with the grandmother behind the table, who was eyeing me expectantly with her hand close to the cash box. "I sort of like this one..." I trailed off. She replied, "But this pom pom is ruining it, isn't it?" Shocked at how forward she was being and how dead on correct she was, my mouth gaped a few times before I agreed, with a quick save, "But it'd be no big deal to just chop it off." A second woman joined the first at that moment, and I debated, to buy the hat, to not buy the hat, while the second thanked the first for watching the table while she was gone. She said it was no trouble at all then added, "The pom pom completely ruins this hat."
I look to my left, then my right at Andrea and Heather who are clearly as awestruck as I was at one grandma saying to the other, hey, you can't match a pom pom worth shit. Not being able to help myself I blurted, "But I would never have said that." And repeated it twice before lady number two said, "Oh, I didn't make this."

That day I went home with one ugly pom pommed hat, a secret present for Laura's cat, a San Antonio mug, suede boots, black patent leather heels, and a brooch.

Bells Will Be Ringing

So, just in case you were thinking of what to get me for Christmas, here are some ideas from FredFlare.com

Pomegranates

Tonight I bought a bottle of Beaujolais, put some pictures on the wall, and learned that the best way to peel a pomegranate. First, cut off the top, then make shallow cuts down the side, from top to bottom. Then take the fruit and pull it apart, submerged in a bowl of water. I just ate a bowlful of delicious pomegranate seeds! Next: Jason Bateman singing karaoke. Josh is still in Chicago, which means I can watch as many low-brow comedies and chick-flicks as I want!