Weekend

This weekend is my annual girls beach retreat. Nine women. We each have one meal for which we take responsibility, with a partner. Other than that, its just relax and hang and do whatever. No laundry, no cleaning (a few dishes, but that's really it), no yard work, no feeding the husband or the cat, no one calling, no one complaining about anything, no tv (although we usually watch some movies), no computers, no politics, just unadulterated, relaxating girl time. I hope your weekend is as pleasant, however you choose to spend it. Maybe I'll have photos next week... miracle happen! They do! This photo has nothing to do with anything. I just like the sky.

Ciao bellas!

Orange

One of these will be, or is by now, my new desktop.

How often do you change your desktop? I mean, I rarely really even see it, just in the morning when I boot up then again at the end of the day. Maybe once or twice in between. So why do I change it up so often? Do you do that?

Just Watched: Frost Nixon: Watergate Interviews

I picked up this movie because of the remake that is now on rental shelves of the same name. I figured, I should watch the original so I would have some comparison when I watched the updated version.

What I realized as I watched this movie then ended up watching it while I was doing other things too, was that, I don't really care about Nixon or Watergate or his impeachment or any of that as much as I thought I was going to care. Before I picked up this movie, I thought, well, I'm more into politics now than I ever have been in my life this is probably a good place to start re-learning about American presidents and their goof ups (I put that mildly). Turns out, I really don't care. I suppose if this was something that I lived through as an adult then I would care more, but I wasn't old enough to remember any of it (was I even born yet?) and hence I don't care one little bitty bit. Even though I tried, to care that is.

Maybe you have another perspective on it. I'd love to hear what that is as I didn't make it through the entire movie. I turned it off, put it back into its little envelope and mailed it away the very next day without thinking twice. And you know I'm obsessive about finishing stuff I start even if I don't particularly care for it. I mean seriously, I even made it all the way through Baby Mama, even though I did fast forward a bit toward the end. I may, given enough time and a few good movies in between, rent the remake. For now...

No, not recommending this.

Onward.

Italy

Have I told you Mister and I will be going to Italy in May?

Mister and I will be going to Italy in May. Mister's sister is getting married there so, we'll be there to celebrate with them. I'm medium excited. Strange huh!@? I'm sure I'll be more excited as the time gets more near. But, I am excited right now for one little portion of our trip, we'll be staying one night in Paris. La Ville-Lumière. The City of Lights.

Photo from Wikipedia

We'll be there on my birthday and I am extremely excited about this one night. We have 24 hours in Paris and I have every minute of it planned. With the caveat that I know anything goes. We'll walk up the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, through L'arc de Triomphe, to La Tour Eiffel back down the Seine to the Ile de la Cite to our hotel.

I've always had this thing about France and Paris in particular. I don't know why, I just do. I want to eat a croissant and drink cafe au lait and soak up, what I've been told over and over again, is the "I'm better than you because I'm French" attitude. It will be great. It will be amazing and wonderful and oy! I can't wait.

By contrast, I've not made one single arrangement or plan for the two weeks we'll be in Italy. I should probably get on that.

Just Watched: Baby Mama

Not my type of movie.

I picked this movie up because Tina Fey is in it. I thought her Saturday Night Live renditions of the former GOP VP candidate was beyond hilarious. I figured her movie could/would be funny because that one thing she did, that I saw, was so funny. Not so much.

It went past chick flick to, well, the only thing that comes to mind is 'sophomoric'. I usually reserve that word for men and their comedy about bodily gases and the like. This movie was entirely predictable and I adore Tina Fey, but, no, not a movie I could in good conscious recommend, to anyone, ever, ever, ever. Never.

I would love to hear why you liked it, if you liked it that is. I would also love to hear that you agree with me, who doesn't love that. Am I right?!

Gone Fishin'

Mister made this. Why, because he can. He's so amazing. In the event you don't know, it is a humuhumunukunukuapua'a. That's its Hawaiian name. We love its Hawaiian name. Its so much fun to say. This fish ts also known as a Picasso Trigger Fish and also by several other names. You can link out to a pretty good actual photo HERE and see how amazing Mister is at metal work. You must also know that he has no metal working tools, just uses the tools he has around for other types of work. I just imagine one day when we can afford to live in a place where he can have a shop and get a welder and other metal working tools. So cool to have a talented mister. And just a piece of trivia, that photo in the background is me at the age of about 5 or 6.

Important Ponderings of the Morning

To latte or not to latte, that is the question.

I Adore Vanilla - Homemade Vanilla Recipe

I could go without chocolate, I really could. It would not bother me at all if chocolate was gone from my life, so long as I could have berries and aromatic spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and of course, vanilla. Sweet, pure, lovely, dark, unintentioned, Vanilla. Don't let the jar below scare you, its the beginning of a lovely vanilla relationship. Or at least, thats what I'm told. I'm on a vanilla kick. In the last two weeks, I've made plain old vanilla tapioca pudding three times. I know its the vanilla flavor that I'm craving. I also got talked into - don't you love that "talked into" - buying vanilla beans at Costco. When I say I was talked into it, that means someone casually mentioned Costco had vanilla beans for inexpensive and on my very next trip to Costco, I had to buy some. I then got home and realized, what the heck am I going to do with vanilla beans? Coincidentally, I came across a make your own vanilla extract recipe and that is what you see above. Me, making my own vanilla extract. Its 3 vanilla beans sliced lengthwise, then bent to fit and placed into an 8 oz jar which I had previously sanitized with boiling water. I then filled the jar with a good quality vodka. Place the jar in a dark place and a couple times a week, shake it up. In about eights weeks, voila, useable vanilla extract. The great part is, I guess, that as you use the vanilla up, let's say you've used 25% of it, you just top off the jar with more of the same vodka and let it sit/steep for a couple weeks before you use it. I don't even know that you have to let it sit those couple weeks at that point. I just added that because, well, I don't know why. It just seemed appropriate as I typed it up. I'm not to that point yet, and not sure how it will all come down, but there you go. Home made vanilla extract.

Mmmmm, if you know if any recipes that emphasize vanilla as the main flavor, I'd love to know about them. I'll need some crazy, yummy recipes to try out my vanilla. Seriously, write to me and tell me your recipes!! Just kidding. Well, not kidding on the desire for you to send me recipes, but kidding on the demanding attitude about it.

Just Watched: Coraline

What a great movie.

Mister and I do not go to the theater to see movies. The exception is for those movies that we absolutely really want to see and just know that the big screen experience will make the movie extra-ordinary. One of those movies for us, Coraline.

I did not know (amazing huh!) ... anyway, I did not know this was adapted from a book by Neil Gaiman. I may have to check that out. At some point in the film, I thought I might be bored, but then I was rapt again into the story. We watched it 3D. There's really no other way to watch it. I would still be a fun flick, but, the 3D is pretty amazing. I recommend you find a theater and get there a bit early so you can pick the best seats, a bit back from the half way point and smack dab in the center of the row. We didn't do that, and the film was still great. But I think the experience would be super maximized if you did it that way.

Just my humble opinion.

Happy Valentines

Callas are my favorite. Happy Valentines all!

Just Watched: Control Room

Control Room Produced in 2004, Mister and I were a little late in getting this from our movie source. Its been on our list for, like years. Anyway, this documentary is a look into Al Jazeera from the perspective of not only Americans and especially Amercian military, but from the perspective of the Al Jazeera journalists. It was a bit of what I expected and didn't contain any really new information but the information was framed in such a way that it made me think of things a bit differently. If only a bit. We should all know by now that our government (and all governments around the globe) tell its citizens what it thinks its citizens should know. Information is colorized and held back and leaked out only in increments that the government controls. Its just a fact. Its always been that way and all governments take part in this little game. Anyway, it was interesting to listen to the American military's (from the mouth of an authorized spokesperson) perspective on why we were invading Iraq and then exactly opposite to hear the Iraqi (et al) perspective on the invasion and its immediate and long term consequences. You may remember all this, but our administration had big issues with Al Jazeera and how 'we' viewed its coverage of the war effort. At the same time, it was enlightening to hear the reaction of the Al Jazeera journalists and Iraqi citizens who were actually living and breathing the bombing nightmare. How, prior to the bombings the Iraqi's (at least some) had faith that the allied forces would bring an end to Saddam's regime then after the bombing starts, how those same individuals saw Saddam's reign of terror as a welcome relief from what was now being rained down from above and arriving in convoys. So, my point is not a one sided political one nor an anti-war one. It was fascinating to hear one soldier admit that seeing dead and maimed and brutalized Arab peoples on the television had a rather small effect on him and his constitution and when the very next day he saw American soldiers who were no where nearly as badly slaughtered but still shown on the Al Jazeera network, that it had a visceral effect on him and drew completely different emotions from him. He had the wherewithal to make note of this dramatic difference from seeing two different sets of people in basically the same situation and the ones that "looked" like him effected him so much more profoundly that those who "looked" different. Its that way with most of us, whether we realize it or not. Well, there's my ramble for the day. We liked the movie. Not one for popcorn and hilarity, but one to make you ponder.

Love Thursday

Love for me, comes often in the form of floral macro.

Happy Love Thursday all.

Oh, and I love yellow too.

Its all sunny and fresh and light and inviting.

Do you have a color or colors that enliven you? refresh you?

To Do

I have three movies which have been sitting around for several weeks. I just can't seem to get into the mood to sit for a couple hours at a time. I also have five, or is it six books I'm trying to read. Well, to be more specific, I'm in the middle of one, part way through another and really want to start the others. I'm sure I've said it before, I have this 'thing' about not finishing a book once I've started it. So, the one book I'm currently physically reading is quite slow and I'm having a hard time reading more than two or three pages at a sitting. The other book is an audible and I'm starting to like it more, but I only listen to it on my commute home, which is about 15 minutes at tops, so, it takes awhile to get through a book at that rate.

I've been craving (and eating) chocolate and steak. You have to love the full moon.

I'm back into working out every day. I had a short period of time recently where I just couldn't muster the energy to exercise. That may not seem like a big deal, but I've been a person who has exercised an average of five days a week for the last, well, just about my whole life. It feels good to be getting back into a routine with it. I wish I could afford to get back into Pilates. I did that for about 10 years and it was so amazing. But, you know how it is when your budget says "NO". You have to listen.

Sending Valentines to my two nieces. Cute socks, candy, cards, pretty wrapping. I really want to send red and pink lacey panties because I think all girls need special under garments to make them feel girly, even if they are wearing jeans and a t-shirt over top of them. But, I think my ever so slightly more conservative sister may have objections.

Mister's birthday tomorrow. We'll be having Thai food with family. If I find the energy, he'll be having german chocolate cake. That may have to wait until the weekend. Does that make me a bad wife? No, I can't just go out and buy one, it has to be a non-dairy version. Danged lactose intolerance!

My dream item: Canon 40D. Ahhhh.... some day. I miss shooting film. I don't miss waiting for the results, digital photography has changed us all dramatically. What I miss, I think, is the feel of the camera in my hands. There is no way my (quite awesome) point and shoot can measure up to the way an SLR feels in your hands and the invisibility I feel behind the viewfinder. Those feeling just aren't there with the point and shoot. I always feel like a tourist and I don't have the control I would like to exact over my shots. blah blah blah

I obviously have very little to post about this week. Maybe I just shouldn't write at this point until I do have something of interest to say.

Let me see if I can find a photo that you haven't seen already...The first is a bachelor button that I macro'd. I didn't ever really like the photo then an odd turn of events placed it as my desktop photo and I fell in love with it. This next photo was taken by my favorite brother. Its part of the wreckage of an old ship wreck which through tidal movement, sprang from the dunes on the southern Oregon coast. We were there together to take photos, but we chose a bad time and the tide was coming in and the 'shore police' made everyone get off the beach. We were there like 15 minutes, I was bummed. I didn't get any photos that day, but brother, on another day, got several. This is but one.

Ok, well, that's it. Write to me, post a comment, link back, send smoke signals... I would love to know you are out there.

Weekend Redux

I keep seeing that word "Redux" these days. Mostly, but not exclusively, on food blogs. It just popped into my head this morning. There you go.

Busy, but nice weekend. Normally, I don't do too much in the way of "busy". I mean, I'm usually doing 'stuff' and keeping busy, but I'm a bit of a recluse of late and mostly want to spend time at home, with Mister and Harley and do not want to leave the house. I can't explain it. Its just that way sometimes. This last weekend, was a complete change of pace. A pace that would previously have turned me into a mewling mass curled into the fetal position somewhere dark. Fortunately, I'm in a place where I am ready to be out and about and we had a nice time.

Friday my bro and his wife were visiting, we had a nice family dinner and cocktails with them and Mister's immediate family. All of whom I adore. We ate and drank and ended the evening watching Frankenweenie and Vincent. If you don't know, these are shorts which happen to be on the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD. If you are a Tim Burton fan and haven't seen these, I recommend them. Vincent's only six minutes and on YouTube.

Anyway, Saturday, brother left town, Mister and I went for a nice walk. It was cool, but sunny. We hung around the homestead most of the day, I couldn't tell you what we did, then went to Mister's annual company dinner. I'm normally about 125 degrees so didn't wear any hose with my dress. (I despise hosiery. Just so you know.) We planned to park at my office and take the LightRail to the event. What we didn't know was that LightRail was being worked on and not running. The short version of the story is we ended up on a bus then walking to the event. I was very cold. At dinner we seemed to sit at a table right under a cooling vent then we walked the 10 or so blocks back to the vehicle. Cold, cold and more cold!

Sunday, more stuff, walked a bit with Mister's mom, she's so great. Did the dreaded bookwork for the weekend and paid some bills. You know how much fun that can be. Thought about giving Harley a bath, decided it was too cold. Made tapioca pudding. I've never made it before. I've learned to like it a bit as an adult and for some reason, I've been obsessed with the idea of it as of late. I followed the recipe on the bag substituting soy milk for the dairy. I must say it was very good. It didn't quite thicken up as much as I would have liked, but that's just the nature of soy vs real milk. Next time I'll incorporate some arrowroot. I think that'll do the trick. Then around 5:00 we went to a homeowner's meeting then to a fab Thai dinner. Home to OPB and Nature: Drakensberg, a hostile home to animals, most specifically, the Eland. Then lovely sleep time.

How was your weekend?

The next thing I know, the alarm is waking me and the new week begins.

This is my current desktop. Just so you know.

Good morning!

Imagination - Homemade Samoas

You have to understand how much baking and cooking is in my blood. I don't know why, it just is. I'm sure you have something you do that might seem obsessive to someone elese, right?!

Anyway, Mister's been wanting me to come up with a non-dairy, non-chemical version of the Girl Scout Samoas (his very most favorite GS cookie) for, well, since I met him practically. I've balked at his attempts to coerce me. It seemed so overwhelming and impossible. Well, its not exactly impossible. I stumbled upon this recipe for homemade Samoas and figured, "what the hey". I'll give it a go. But first, I had to figure out how to make non-dairy caramel. There are million recipes out there, but I have a friend who is famous for her home made carmels at Christmas so wanted to try her recipe. Unfortunately, her recipe uses sweetened condensed milk. Back step once more and look for a recipe for non-dairy sweetened condensed milk. You might be surprised what's on the internet, in a lot of areas, but seriously, if you want to make something non-dairy, just search for it and its most likely there.

I began the arduous task of making the non-dairy milk. Then the next task of making the carmel, each of which is quite time consuming. Then I make the cookie rounds with the little holes in the middle. Then mix and layer and dip and drizzle and refrigerate and a very long story and two days later, I have cookies that taste nothing like Samoas. They aren't bad, but they also aren't what I wanted. They looked VERY cute though - I didn't take a picture. After two days of baking, you'd think I'd need to document it, but I was just over it and had to walk away.

I had left over baked cookies and toasted coconut and carmel so last night, I roasted some pecans, chopped them and threw them into the coconut/caramel mix. I wasn't as anal about the way the cookies looked and the pic above is what come from my efforts. They are better than the original cookie I tried to make, but also, nothing like a Samoa.

That's my story.

Have a superfantastic weekend.

PS - That site, linked to above for the Samoas, also has recipes for Thin Mints, Tagalongs and Do-si-dos. Check it out.

Lemon Tart

My bookkeeper's birthday is tomorrow, but she's not going to be at work. Now, that's a plan I can get on board with! Ya know? So, anyway, she, like me, isn't a big chocolate person AND is a lemon person. We get along famously, I think we do anyway. I try to bake treats for my peeps (please just go with it, it just rhymed this morning and it won't happen very often, I promise) and wanted to do something lemony and delicious and outside of my regular repertoire. I found this recipe from BakingBites and thought, why not? I really wanted a gingery crust though. Lemon and ginger as a combintion go way back. Should work, right? I'm not an alchemist or a chemist, I just like food and am rather willing to make some flops to find what works and doesn't work. There occassionaly is some banging of pans and cupboard doors when things don't turn out, but hey, that's life. Moving on... I modified this sugar cookie tart crust recipe also from Baking Bites. I wanted to use Trader Joes Triple Ginger Thins (similar to THESE lemon thins I just can't find a link to them is all, use your imagination, if you will) anyway, the ginger thins are flippin' amazing, if you like ginger that is, and I do. So, I substituted crushed ginger thins for the flour in the crust recipe. I thought it would be something like a graham cracker crust. Are you with me on the thought process? Then due to the consistency, the wrong consistency, I had to add quite a bit of flour to make it something other than a sticky mess. It was still a bit sticky when I pressed it into the tart pan and when it baked, it rose. Nice. Well, nice if that's what you wanted, and I didn't all that much want that. Maybe a little, you know, but the crust turned out like a big baked ginger cookie. No indentation for the lemon curd. Fortunately, the lemon curd recipe didn't make tons (or unfortunately for those of us who would have loved to eat an entire pan of the excess lemon curd, but I digress. The curd was amazing (picture sparkles around the word amazing) tart and tangy in just the right way. I know this as I licked the pan clean. Oh, and I didn't have Meyer Lemons, I used regular. Time will tell if its a hit or a miss. I'm not sure why the photos make the filling look a bit phosphorescent, me and the camera aren't really on speaking terms lately and I don't have the desire to reshoot or retouch. If you would like to see much better photos of the tart - with the sugar cookie crust - check out the links above. And, check out BakingBites-dot-com. Some good looking recipes there. Edit: The crust was not nearly as gingery as I had hoped / expected. I think its because I had to use some flour in the mix and it just took the ginger flavoring down a notch. Next time, if there is a next time, I'll use an actual graham cracker crust recipe and make the appropriate ginger cookie substitution. I think that would be best. The lemon curd, yikes! was it ever good.

Oh, and also PS - lemon curd is EASY to make! Who knew? I surely didn't. I probably shouldn't. And FYI - that baking bites website has a low fat version too. Hmmm... I do see that in my future.

Bonus - Video

Not of me, lucky you!

You've probably, maybe seen this, but if you haven't, its an amazing video on YouTube by Oren Lavie. Seriously, a must see. Not only is the song really just nice, but the video is freakin' Wow! Well, that was my opinion. Check it out. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Her morning elegance, by Oren Lavie.

Red Skies at Night...

Well, this is morning, but amazing nonetheless.

You know, I adore a good sunrise. I've been consciously avoiding taking photos of the sunrise in that I'm sure you've seen enough of Mt. Hood silhouetted against an orange skyline. That is the sunrise that seems to catch my eye most often. Maybe its the orange, I *like* orange. Anyway, I'm minding my own business this morning and out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of a magnificent magenta glow, nearly something like radiation (not the Simpson's type of yellow/green radiation, but the kind I imagine, which would be red and firey). I don't know how I didn't see it happening it was *so* intense. I look up and the entire eastern horizon is afire. The sun must have been in super speed mode, by the time I grabbed the camera and walked out onto the deck, the sun had made its was above the horizon, just a peek. The intensity of the pinks and reds waned just a bit, but the brilliant yellow of the sun was then included in the photo. The photos just can't do it justice with me behind the view finder. Everything, all the buildings that is, were reflecting this amazing light and the horizon was lit up. It was almost surreal. Well, maybe I need more of a life, but, truly, it was so gorgeous.

Just Watched: Water

A tale of widows in India who, by the Hindu scriptures, are forced to live in a widow house, chaste and ignored by society. One child widow, not even a teen yet Chuyia, whose much older and sickly husband dies shortly after their marriage is sent to the widow house to spend the remainder or her days. She, of course, meets different types of widows and shakes things up for those who had thoughts of their own but had not as of yet acted on them.

Its a sad story with a mixed emotion ending. I adore foreign films so I liked and recommend it if you are similarly inclined.

Deepa Mehta, director and writer with some of the Indiana Jones movies referenced in her list of credits, has more films which I will definitely also check out.

Isolation

...seems to breed isolation.

Whether its self imposed or geographic or coincidental or manifested in any other form, its self-propelling and grows like a mold.

That is my word and thought of the morning.