scooch on over closer dear

The men in my life, together again!

you make me happy/ when skies are grey

This is what a lazy winter evening at home looks like around here.

Hope yours is just as cozy!

maybe showers remind me of psycho too much

Happy Halloween everyone! This is one of my favorite holidays.

Carve up a few pumpkins...

Make some festive cupcakes...

And scare all your little trick-or-treaters.

Have a spooky night!

hush my darling, don't fear my darling

Just a peaceful evening with the engineer and some adorable kittens.

Mina loves the fireplace. Sike loves wreaking havoc.

And I love everything.

Have a beautiful night.

tickles in my tummy/ he's so yummy yummy

My engineer is here to visit for a few days! The weather has been gorgeous, crisp and cool. So we went apple picking.

We found a place that had Empires, which made my day. The apple of my childhood in New York, an Empire is everything an apple should be. Sweet, tart, crisp, never mealy. Slightly out-of-focus. :)

Anyway, upon this amazing find, I went a little overboard.

If you ever get the chance to taste an Empire, they are delicious out of hand. (Not pictured, tears of joy. Really.)

Or as a snack with peanut butter.

Try one, would you? It'll change the way you see apples forever.

Happy hunting!

i needed someone to feed

I've tried to avoid whining, but it's been very lonely living here on my own, without my engineer for the first time in four years.

But yesterday, my life just got a little fuller and brighter.

Allow me to introduce Sike!

And his sister, Mina!

A neighbor of a relative of a friend rescued these little guys from a dog that killed their mother and the rest of their siblings. They needed a home.

How could anyone say no to these adorable little faces?

The good news is that they went to the vet today, where they were proclaimed to be very healthy (except for some worms and a nasty case of fleas, which have already been treated), 6 week old kittens. And my sad little apartment is a little happier now!

...I may need to consider child-proofing.

Just wanted to share my sunny day with you all. :)

there's something good waitin' down this road

I'm a vegetarian. Mostly.

Maybe some day I will delve into the tangled mess of my brain to try and explain my lifestyle choices, but in the meantime, I want to share an amazing (and mostly vegetarian) recipe that I made with my dear friend Laura a few days ago.

If you have never had pho, then you are seriously missing out. Luckily, I'm here to help.

According to Wikipedia: "Pho is a Vietnamese beef and noodle soup."

Silly Wikipedia.

Pho is one of those beautifully adaptable soups that can use whatever you have lying around. Traditionally, it is made with beef and beef stock, but it could just as easily be made with chicken, or left meatless. And is comforting and delicious no matter what. Are you ready to try it?

We will begin by making the broth.

In a large stock pot, simmer 1 gallon vegetable (or chicken, or beef) broth over medium-low heat. Chop two whole onions and peel and smash a 1-2" piece of fresh ginger. Sauté onions and ginger over medium heat until soft and add to broth. Put 1 teaspoon whole cloves, 1 stick cinnamon, and 4 whole star anise in a seasoning pouch and drop into the pot. Add 4 tablespoons sugar, 4 tablespoons fish sauce (told you it wasn't strictly vegetarian!), and a pinch of salt. Allow to simmer 15-25 minutes or until you are happy with the level of seasoning. Remove the seasoning pouch and continue warming broth over low heat for another 25-30 minutes.

While the broth is simmering, prepare 1 pound of rice noodles according to the instructions on the package, and prepare whatever goodies you want to put in your pho. We stuck with tofu and veggies, but you can pretty much let your imagination run wild.

Once the broth and noodles are prepared, assemble your bowl! I like to put the crunchy vegetables on the bottom so that they cook just slightly, or if raw vegetables aren't your thing, you could steam them first.

Pho is traditionally served with about a million toppings, including Thai basil, Thai peppers, culantro, onions, bean sprouts, scallions, various spicy sauces, and a lime wedge. My amazing Asian market was out of the herbs and peppers, so we substituted plain old sweet basil, cilantro, and jalepeños, and it was just as tasty.

I also posted this at TastyKitchen.com (an amazing recipe resource) which provides printable versions of all recipes.

Go make pho and have fun!

Cheers!

the greatest thing since bread came sliced

Today I want to share a recipe with you that is near and dear to my heart.

In my family, on your birthday, you get to choose any meal you want for dinner. And since the time I was first able to talk, I've been choosing my mom's macaroni and cheese. Oh sure, there have been deviations from time to time, when I wanted to seem more grown up. But this meal is still my ultimate go-to, happy, comfort food.

It's not even particularly complicated. You'll need some milk, your favorite kind of pasta (I love campanelle for this. It looks like little trumpets!), butter, Wondra (or other super-fine flour), and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.

Begin by boiling the pasta.

After 7-8 minutes, begin to check the pasta regularly until it's as done as you like. Use a silly-face slotted spoon. (Courtesy of my awesome baby sister.)

I like my pasta slightly al dente, not smushy at all.

When you're happy with the pasta, drain and rinse (I know, I know, this isn't recommended anymore, but it won't be my mom's macaroni and cheese if you don't. Trust me.) and set aside. It should be relatively cool and very sticky by the time you're done making the sauce.

Heat two cups of milk in a large saucepan over low heat and carefully whisk in 4 tbs. of Wondra. No lumps, people!

Once the flour is fully incorporated, turn up the heat and allow the milk to begin to thicken. Once it's slightly thick, add 4 tbs. butter. Allow the sauce to boil for 2-3 minutes, remove from the heat, and pretend there's a picture of me dumping in 12 oz. of shredded chedder. The sharper the chedder is, the better the sauce will be. Mix in the cheese thoroughly, allowing it to melt.

Once the cheese is thoroughly incorporated, slowly add the cooled pasta into the pot of sauce and stir. (I know, my mise en place has orange cheese, and here I clearly was a dork and forgot and used white. Forgive me?)

Allow the macaroni and cheese to cool slightly (it will thicken as it cools, which is what you're waiting for) and serve with plenty of fresh ground pepper.

And applesauce.

Really cold, unsweetened applesauce.

Trust me. I would never steer you wrong.

i'll eat my candy/ with the pork and beans

So it's my birthday. The very first one I have ever spent entirely without my family. My engineer has gone home, and while my family sent me some lovely flowers and balloons, I would rather have their company.

So I will spend the evening drinking champagne with a few friends and working on my birthday puzzle.

What would you do?

like a tired bird flying high

Day 4: Arizona-

After spending the night in Flagstaff, we drove into Grand Canyon National Park.

The Grand Canyon is like nothing I have ever seen before. We drove into a fairly ordinary looking park, parked our car, walked about a hundred yards, and were suddenly staring at hole in the ground bigger than you could possible conceive of. It's beautiful, and terrifying, and absolutely looks fake. My engineer is terrified of heights (don't tell him I told you), but was perfectly fine climbing around on rocks at the edge of the canyon, because the heights you are looking at are so enormous your brain can't begin to comprehend them. Once again, I will try to compensate for my lack of words with a few pictures.

We had made plans to meet a friend in L.A. that evening, so we tore ourselves away far too soon, and headed back to the parking lot, where we saw a baby mule deer.

Word to the wise: if you ever make it to the Grand Canyon, give yourself a full day. At least.

The drive to L.A. was mostly uneventful, save another about-to-run-out-of-gas-in-the-middle-of-nowhere experience, and we got to see a couple of interesting bands at some club. Honestly, we were too tired to really appreciate the evening.

The next day, we limped our way to our final destination, where we immediately took a very long nap in my new, entirely unfurnished apartment. And thus concludes our grand adventure.

looking for a place to stay/ near some friendly star

Day 3: New Mexico (cont.)-

The next stop on our trip was perhaps a little ridiculous, but something we had agreed was a necessity.

The UFO museum in Roswell, New Mexico is an interesting blend of campy and insane. The walls are lined with "evidence", first-hand accounts of the incident that supposedly took place in 1947, along with copies of redacted government documents that prove that everything was hushed up. We tried to keep our giggles to a minimum, as it was very clear that whoever runs this place takes themselves very seriously.

It was clear that Roswell is a small town that knows what it has going for it. Even the McDonald's sign was in an alien language.

Admittedly, this part of the country is pretty creepy at night. And fairly boring in general. You can see why an alien landing would be such an appealing idea.

Anyway, having seen what Roswell had to offer, we drove on, made the requisite failure to turn left in Albuquerque (and had a fabulous lunch there at The Frontier), and headed off into the desert.