my nobe is duffy...

I have discovered that sinuses that are stuffed to my ears make every man who doesn't have a noticeably deep register (i.e. James Earl Jones) begin to sound like Ray Romano to me... It makes watching TV really strange.

Two nights ago I tossed and turned all night, kept feeling hot and then freezing... kicking off blankets and then huddling up... Needless to say, I was sick as a dog when I woke up. I spent the whole day yesterday pretty much prone until NyQuill took me away on a happy cloud. Luckily, I slept pretty well and feel markedly better today... though still worn out and filled with sinus joy...

Woohoo...

It's likely I will become gloriously fat in the keeping of this blog...

So, I had someone over last night and made a yummy dinner... Cod, marinated all day in lemon, butter, and herbs and then baked in the same... A nice whole wheat linguine... brussel sprouts tossed in bacon and the fat from the bacon and then roasted to a happy place in the oven...

Unfortunately the pasta was a bit under cooked (by a minute or two) and the fish was over cooked (also by a minute or two... if only I had switched out their times!)... But the sprouts were freaking delicious... Though my dinner companion did not seem to appreciate their beauty. Luckily, he brought a more than decent bottle of wine so he is forgiven.

This morning, the amazing brussel sprouts were tossed in a hot pan again to get warm, then eggs and seasonings were added... Pop that under the broiler for a few minutes with a few pieces of fresh buffalo mozzarella, and - poof! Yummy frittata!

Lesson learned here: bacon saves all meals, even those where you just couldn't get the timing right.

Nancy Pelosi looks like those aliens from AI... Anyone? Anyone?

Yes, Jessica, Alton Brown may be your food savior, too. The Good Eats church welcomes all comers. :-)

Also, I figured out how to leave comments open without having to have an account or sign in - so for those of you that didn't want an account, now you may leave a hello or burning indictment of me.

It's my magical regular Tuesday off. I slept until almost 8am - which is insanely late for me. Granted, I was up until 11pm or so, which is also insanely late for me. I have been working so many days lately that I now sleep like a grandmother - in bed by nine, up at five or six. Maybe I can convince Denny's to let me share in the early bird specials...

Todays exciting plans include getting gas in the car, doing some laundry and dishes, and picking up some cat litter before my home is designated a poop disaster area - though some FEMA funds would be really helpful right about now!

Is anybody watching this election is Massachusetts today? The, apparently, very close and heated run off for the late Senator Kennedy's seat is pretty much owning my TV. At first I was mildly annoyed by yet another seemingly endless coverage of something Kennedy related... but, to be honest, this is turning out to be a rather important seat - the winner of this seat basically defines what will happen to the health care reform that is being ramrodded through in Washington right now. I have pretty strong feelings on this, which many of you can already guess... but I haven't had my coffee yet so I will hold off on ranting until I can make sure I am completely coherent.

Plus... The wafting scent of kitty waste is telling me that it is time to run to the store... Mmmm... nothing like the smell of cat leavings in the morning.

Smells like victory.

A healthy breakfast... or cardboard and sticks...

Well, I decided to try this whole healthy (read: low calorie yet high in nutrition) breakfast thing. Part of having this blog is my desire to live a little healthier and a little happier, so I am back on SparkPeople... exercising and eating well (for all of two hours now).

But, hey... I managed to feel full after only eating 197 calories, only 2 grams of fat, 16 grams of protein, 14 grams of fiber, less than 200 grams of sodium, and 100% of my vitamin D, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, and Zinc... as well as about half of my daily calcium.

Plus I did a short workout that included various forms of crunches and wall push-ups (because I can't even do the girly ones on the floor...).

Now, if only it didn't taste like eating sticks and water with a cup of coffee.

Anyone have any suggestions on filling, tasty, healthy-ish meals? Especially things I can throw together relatively quickly after first waking up or coming home from a long day.

Update

Um...yeah. My cat manages to get Kitty Tonsilitus.

Her throat hurts enough to make her puke everything back up. She is feverish and pissy.

WIN.

It's just one of those days...

Have you ever woken up in the morning from what was technically a pleasant dream (the content, plot, etc was enjoyable during the course of the dream) but have it actually make you sad or angry because it isn't for real? Like, being a little kid and dreaming of free candy and waking up in the household of a diabetic vegan? That's how my day started. I had a dream in which I got exactly what I wanted and I would have paid anything in those moments after waking to give up my waking life to just go live in that.

The mini-angst of my subconscious was short lived, though...

As I went in search of coffee I found even more piles of lovely kitty puke in the hall (Sam has been blessing the carpet a lot lately) and no kitty in sight. It took about 10 minutes to find her, lying behind the couch hot as if she had just come out of the oven. A few phone calls and a short drive later, I am now waiting in the the exam room of my vet while they piss off my sick kitty even further by taking her blood and shoving that delightful thermometer where the sun don't shine.

It's just really not my day. :-(

I'll update when I know something...

Did you know? ... and other early morning ramblings...

Did you know that if you add a pinch of salt to your coffee grounds when you make your morning coffee - it cuts any bitterness that comes from using poorer quality beans (like me and my poor folk foldgers...)? Once again, my Food Network boyfriend Alton Brown proves himself worthy of my love. This is the best cup of coffee I have been able to produce with my limited means.

Still trapped in my habit of being in bed and asleep before 10pm... which should prove interesting tomorrow when I am scheduled to work from 3pm until closing... Which means when my phone rang for about 20 seconds at 12:30 this morning (you know who you are -_-... you will get a coaster directly to the eye) I wasn't a happy camper... But it does mean that I wake up naturally before my alarm - allowing me to ramble on about absolutely nothing at 8am.

I really did have something clever to write about, honestly... I just forgot what it was. Time for more coffee!

An exploration in...Soup.

Well, for my day(s) off I decided to try to cook something fun and more complicated than my schedule will usually allow... All from scratch and using nothing that has ever been processed...

Started last night. One whole chicken, one sliced white onion, chopped carrots and celery, a couple cloves of garlic. Filled the pot (a nice, deep enamel stock pot) with water, a few dashes of salt and fresh grinds of pepper. Brought to a rolling boil and then dropped to a simmer before going to bed.

When I woke up in the morning, the chicken and veggies had almost completely disintegrated into a delicious mess...

Slowly straining the tasty tasty stock from all the dissolved chicken and veggie bits... I ended up with enough stock for this soup as well as about 8 cups worth that went up into the freezer to be used another day.

After straining off all the chicken bits, I added a bit of butter to the bottom of the pot and dropped in 3 chopped and cleaned (they get nasty dirty on the inside!) leeks... Stirred that around and let the leeks sweat and give off yummy flavor for about 10-15 minutes.

After the leeks are done sweating, I dropped in some roughly chopped baby bella mushrooms and just a few tablespoons of the home made broth to sautee all together.

While the leeks and mushrooms are cooking, I peeled a few cloves of garlic, lightly tossed them in olive oil, and then wrapped them in tin foil before putting them in the oven to roast for about 45 minutes.

This is what the leeks and mushrooms look like when they are happily sweated and sauteed...

On top of the leeks and mushrooms go cubed potatoes....

On top of the leeks, mushrooms, and potatoes goes the broth (just enough to cover)... and then it all gets brought to a boil and left to simmer for about 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, the potatoes are starting to dissolve into the broth...

About this same time the garlic is done roasting...

The whole pot is removed from the heat and I bring out my trusty immersion blender...

After about 3 minutes of blending, a very thick and smooth form of mushroom leek mashed potatoes is formed.

Don't forget the garlic!!

Time to make this a soup instead of a strange version of a Thanksgiving side dish.

After the half and half is added, the color is lighter and the texture is much smoother and creamier.

The finished product! Garnished with cracked pepper and parsley flakes. Pretty damn yummy.

Who says that a day alone at home has to be boring or wasted? I'll be eating off of this for the rest of the week!

The point of all of this...

Well, as some of you know... I have attempted to keep blogs multiple times before. I always do pretty well for a while and then suddenly it is a year later and I haven't updated. All my other blogs have always been private - a lot of whining to the 2 or 3 friends who would listen to it.

I've been going through a lot of life changes recently, so I figured, why not try again? Be a bit more open (I can still specifically block people if they are active assholes...) and maybe writing about what I am doing will make it more likely that I will do things worth writing about.

So... Hope people enjoy it and I hope that this is soon an archive of a fun and full life. I believe I am a secret comment whore, so... validate me, people! :-D