8 posts tagged “weekend recap”
That's supposed to say BUSIEST beaver! Anyway. Today I am very busy. The weekend was far too short and I've got so many things on my to-do list that I'm trying not to drive myself insane. Plus, a totally horrific tale of woe about my work, that I'll share with anyone who's interested but is far too depressing to discuss in any reasonable manner on this blog.
This weekend I went to the Magnuson Park SPL Book Sale (!) which apparently is a big deal. I didn't realize that it even existed, but we get there and it's in this massive hangar at Magnuson and there's like, ten million people there. Maybe not quite that many, but it's packed. Books run at .50/.75/1.00, unless you go in the "Better Books" section where they are priced as marked. I bought a bunch of old cookbooks for .75/ea., 2 WWII cookbooks, 1 Microwave cookbook from the 70s, and one really old cookbook from 1936. I know that it's weird, but I really have loved reading them and am thinking of making this into a hobby (insert Casey rolling his eyes here). I find them fascinating. And a funny part about the Microwave cookbook, they have about every kind of food you could imagine in there - a whole turkey, even! They give you all these recipes, but under POPCORN, they say, Popcorn is not recommended cooked in the microwave! So apparently in the 70s, people were cooking turkeys but popcorn was a no-no.
In other news, if you care, the IT Crowd Series 2 has just been released in the UK. Graham Linehan said on his blog that he tried to get them to release it as region free, but it was nothing doing. I'm poor, so I've decided to wait and rent it from Scarecrow and when I have more money, buy it from Amazon.co.uk, since apparently 14 pounds equals close to 30 dollars. But S2 is absolutely hilarious, though episodes 5 and 6, while funny, were a bit broad/goofy for my taste. Still, a very funny show that I have only grown to love more and more. I have Series one and I'm more than happy to show people how great an import it really is, plus make popcorn.
I know I forgot to post music over the weekend, but I'll try to remind myself tonight. Also, I started watching Dexter, and though disturbing, I give it a thumbs up. Also fantastic is Freaks and Geeks, I am working my way through the DVDs. I've only been getting 1 at a time through Netflix, which is a good thing, because I think if I had them all, I'd watch them all at once. I find the show a bit draining since sometimes it's so alarmingly like how high school really was that it makes your skin crawl with the awkward remembrances of it all. Really a bit painful at times. I've found that after 3 episodes (or 1 disc) I feel a little exhausted. One thing I must say, is that though the show was great when I started watching it, I'm around episode 7 or 8 now and it's incredible how much the show tightened up in that amount of time. The acting is better, the writing is funnier... Definitely worth sticking with, if you've rented the complete series.
And finally, my lunch (rice and beans and half of a tomato) is really quite sad. I would take a picture of it, sitting here before me on my desk, but it's mostly gone now. Still, not the cheeriest of lunches. Happy Monday.
[POST SCRIPT] I forgot to include that I watched The Wind that Shakes the Barley over the weekend, and was mostly a little bored the whole way through. The acting and writing was excellent, for sure, but I just don't like war movies, I find them dull. Definitely a great movie, if you like historical war movies, and/or Cillian Murphy, and/or Irish accents so thick we required subtitles. Not my proudest moment, those subtitles.
Ahh, Monday. Looking forward to a week of blzzzzZZZZ. Okay, work is boring. So, about the weekend...
The Great Nabob was a lot of fun, and ended with watching the Mighty Boosh at Eric's house with Devon and Kessler and Kessler's giant giant cat. Also, drinking like 8 rum and cokes and totally regretting it on Saturday. Saturday I was sick pretty much all morning, pulled it together long enough to pick up Betsy and stop by Herb's place, and then go home and nap. The Huskies lost, obvs, to the surprise of zero people. Saturday night I had a mini-Bale-a-thon, watching Velvet Goldmine, followed by Batman Begins (which Casey watched too). I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at nine, crawled into bed-proper, and woke up again at - well, we probably shouldn't talk about that. Sunday was a laaaazy day. Casey watched the game while I slept, woke up, watched Man Stroke Woman, continued working on my back-up computer project (my computer is a mess and in desperate need of reformatting, but it's been a pain copying everything I need to backup to my external) and read. I made a delicious quiche, which turned out quite well though I think I may have added a bit too much milk, Casey ran, and I watched the commentary for half of Pan's Labyrinth and for a couple episodes of The IT Crowd. Graham Linehan constantly called the commentary watchers geeks, which I am, and is fine. But you know, I'm also not a total freak, so it got a little irritating. Also, it's FOX MULDER, not Fox Scully, goofballs. There were a couple discussions about American television where the British actors were like, what is it? Is it [something totally wrong]? We don't know!
I love commentaries, but the best ones are those that are 1. charming, 2. funny, 3. informative, and 4. self-deprecating. And I hate commentaries that consist mainly of complimenting everyone involved in the project, and/or self-congratulations, and/or redundancy, and/or actor jargon/constant references to director's/writer's/actor's past projects.
Quiche. I love quiche, and I really think the best quiche is the most basic quiche - cheese, bacon/sausage/ham, spinach/broccoli, bake it up. I made a fairly complicated quiche (caramelized onion/ham/swiss/apple/spinach) over the weekend (I still have Yakima apples to use up), and though it turned out well (I should have used more salt) I am anxious to try a tomato/mozzarella/basil quiche next. I have never found a quiche recipe that I love, but I think staying basic is better. I don't use cream or half-and-half, as some recipes call for, and it's always turned out fine.
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
salt/freshly ground pepper/nutmeg
premade pie crust (get in refridgerated section near pre-made rolls)
1 medium sized onion
1-2 tbls butter
a little under 1/2 pound sliced ham, cut into 2-3 inch strips
1-1.5 cup shredded swiss cheese
a large handful of chopped fresh spinach
1 small apple, peeled and sliced thin
Pre-heat oven to 375.
Caramelize your onions in the butter. Basically, just let them cook in the pan, moving them around occasionally, until a nice, pretty brown color. I usually finish off my onions by deglazing the pan with a splash of balsamic vinegar, and I'll occasionally add an extra couple pinches of sugar in the beginning of cooking to make them extra sweet and caramelized. Adding sugar is called cheating, but I like the way it tastes better :) Set aside to let cool.
Whisk together your eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. I keep a little jar of whole nutmeg in my spice cabinet and just grate a little with a microplane - makes a huge difference over the pre-ground kind. Make sure to consider the salt content in your eggs - I used a hearty pinch for this and I wished I had used a touch more, but I didn't want to oversalt considering that there's also plenty of salt in the ham (and in the cheese).
Place pie crust in pan. Layer the following: a handful of swiss cheese over the bottom (keeps your crust from getting soggy), caramelized onions, another small handful of cheese, apple slices, ham, another handful of cheese, chopped spinach, and pour egg mixture over the whole thing. Press down lightly so you make sure that egg has gotten over everything, top with the remainder of your cheese. You can definitely get away with using less cheese, but my feeling is that 1. it helps to hold the quiche together, and 2. quiche isn't really the healthiest food in the world anyhow, you might as well accept this and move on. But I've been known to do the light layer of cheese on the bottom and a layer on the top and calling that good. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until cheese and crust is golden and pie has puffed up (it will go back down when it cools). Watch to make sure your crust doesn't burn - if it starts looking too brown, you can either drop the heat of the oven down a bit, say to 350, and/or cover the edges with foil.
Tastes better the next day.
Once this one is finished, I'm planning on using the same basic recipe and adding parmesan to the egg mixture and filling with fresh basil, tomatoes, and topped with fresh mozzarella. I'll let you know how it turns out!
Jen has inspired me to blog. Lately I've been so fed up with my office that I'm really, really not the best person to talk to right now. I went into a meeting with my favorite boss and actually felt some frustrated tears brewing in my belly - it's been that bad. My new office is quiet. And lonely. And messy. And there's no printer. Or sink. Or mail. And my new huge cubicle has so far only inspired my coworker with whom I get along just great with to invade my cubicle space. Constantly. Thus making me less than friendly.
Basically, I'm miserable and have considered on multiple occasions over the past couple days to just go in and quit. Of course, I can't afford that, not even a little bit, nor can I afford to find a job that pays less but would be more fun to stand in its place. I can only keep looking, and cross my fingers.
So, I will probably be a less than fun person to be around for a little bit here. I apologize in advance.
In other news, the Alice Temperly collection has hit Target stores. It is by far my favorite of all the guest designer collections there, and I have something from almost every single one (I have a clothes problem, I know). On the internet, the collection doesn't look like much - kind of awkward, actually. But in person, it's very feminine and old fashioned, it's got this great art-deco air to it and I just think it's so pretty. I bought this gorgeous sweater dress and it was 30.00 and it's totally a great versatile dress that I'm sure I'll be wearing all the time.
In even more other news, I "watched" the Seahawks game on Sunday. Afterward, I found out that yes, I am still very allergic to cats. I watched 3:10 to Yuma and was intimidated by all the extreme closeups the movie had to offer. I was distracted by the sexy, dirty cowboy that is Christian Bale. So distracted, in fact, that I am still not quite sure exactly what happened in that movie. Also, I fell asleep during part of it.
Finally, do not play Trivial Pursuit when you are "not of your right mind." It will take you five minutes to figure out that a movie with Roy Schneider and some ocean joke is Jaws. You will feel dumb.
1. Intense, excruciating drunkenness that can only be brought on by drinking an entire bottle of wine, 1.5 bottles of hard cider, and 3 rum-and-cokes.
2. The most extensive discussion of the Crunch, ever ("You know nothing of the Crunch! You've never been to the Crunch!")
3. Spilling beer in D.'s eye, and stepping on his foot once he returned, beer-eye-free, in a miscalculated way to apologize
4. A severe hangover
5. Season 3 of the Office on DVD, my own Dundie award, and a mini-Dwight bobblehead
6. A beautiful day for a wedding; pink champagne; missing the Seahawks game
7. Lots and lots of dirty dishes.
Highlights:
Saturday: 90s mixed cd, Mexico, margaritas, Superbad (which was incredibly, side-achingly funny, and also ridiculous dirty).
Sunday: Rain, rain, rain. Went to Greenlake for soup, wrapps, and hot chocolate. Also, The Mighty Boosh. Of course!
The song for Monday is by The Blow - True Affection. The Blow or Khaela Maricich is a local musician, hailing from Portland, Oregon; Queen Anne, Seattle, and lived in Olympia, WA for 10 years. Since 2004, she's performed exclusively as The Blow. This song is from the album Paper Television, 2006.
Casey was gone camping with his family all weekend, so I had the apartment to myself. True to form, I made a mess - clothes and dishes everywhere. I woke up on Saturday to a visibly sick bunny (Mallory) and Jen saved the day by agreeing to take me (and Mall) to the vet on Aurora. An hour-and-a-half later, Mall had a lump of subcutaneous fluids on her back, honey flavored pain meds (she likes them!) and some compliments from the Vet (some fished for). Luckily, since this was the second time she's come down with Gastric Stasis, I was not a blubbery lump the way I was two months ago. Additionally, she was not as sick, and it was not midnight on a work night.
Sunday, Casey got back at noon. I ended up taking a nap instead of going to Target, and dreamed that Aaron wanted me to come over for a Home Improvement marathon and to eat at Applebee's. Or, the least appealing dream-activity ever. Woke up and actually went to dinner with Aaron and Casey to Bai Pai ("fine thai"), then the Bourne Ultimatum with Eric (plus milkshake from Burgermaster).
Final thoughts: Matt Damon as Jason Bourne? So sexy I might have actually made an "mmm" sound at the movie theatre. For serious.
Hello, friends and neighbors. I have not posted for a very long time, and I would like to apologize. I'm sure that I have not been missed, or at least much, but I am apologizing nonetheless. I have been busy with many things over the past weeks and have not had the time nor inclination to post.
If you are curious what I've been doing, I'll tell you. In short-
There was a week of Harry Potter, magic, celebratory meals, butterbeer, vomit flavored jelly-beans, 3-d glasses, laminated badges, dead chickens, kleenex, sore feet (waiting in line), face painting, junk food, and tears.
There was also a week of traveling, lavender (the color), make-up counters, old friends, old-old friends, food, tuxedos, crying (a little bit), dancing, margaritas, penis straws, Mormons, home-baked cookies, Burgerville, and of course, my John Hancock.
And finally, a week of runny noses, headaches, fever, complaining, mounds of used tissue, bad daytime television, ice-cream (undeserved), and not working.
And now here I am. Today is the second day back from what ended up being a five-day stint away from work. Thursday and Friday spent traveling for marriage purposes (not mine) and Monday through Wednesday spent being ill. And going to the doctor. Today, I came back five minutes early from my lunch (and planned on taking at least an extra ten minutes) which gives me, by my calculations, at least another fifteen minutes to continue not-working. I don't have an extreme amount of work at the moment - it being summer, and Friday, and most people being on vacation or "telecommuting," I would even give myself twenty or twenty-five for this task. But I've already updated you on everything that happened and it has only been three or four minutes.
If you are curious about what part of my body is sore right now, I would be happy to tell you that it is my thighs. My thighs are very sore. I am walking a little pigeon-toed up stairs right now. I am doing a lot of groaning whenever I stand up or sit down or walk around. They are sore.
It's because I went camping this weekend, to Rainier, and it was very outdoorsy and also kind of boring and anti-climactic. I enjoyed thinking about it when I got home, but when I was actually camping I was just kind of uncomfortable and cold. Also, we forgot to bring our chairs so I had to sit on a rock. But, you know, it was fine. We camped at White River, and we got there pretty early like around 2:30 or 3, and set up our camp site, and then we went for a hike on the trail. But the trail was mostly untrailable, as apparently they've had a lot of shifting and various kinds of -slides, so we went as far as we could before massive amounts of rocks got in our way. I have really terrible balance, and so I get nervous when I do a lot of perching, particularly when falling means that I'm going to land in rocky, wet, cold mud in large crevasses. Very scary.
The next morning, we woke up early (8 am, people) and got dressed and packed up the campsite (read: Casey packed up the campsite and I put some things in the car) and drove over to Sunrise to do the trail over there. It was beautiful going up there, lots of bikers, snow, ice, purple and white and yellow flowers dotting the sides of the road, and cute chipmunks! The air was very thin as we were pretty high up, and it's really early in the season so we couldn't get very far before we were stopped by lots more snow and ice. Casey wanted to try to keep going but again, my poor balance made me say no. It is terrifying to contemplate sliding down a steep mountain of ice and rocks and trees. It is even scarier when you slip and fall and you realize how realistic your contemplations are of death. So we didn't get to go very far, and we weren't up there very long, esp. considering the long-ass windy drive it took to get there and also, as I realized while we were hiking up there, that was the main reason we went camping anyway. To be perfectly honest, I would have preferred just driving up and doing the Sunrise trailer and opting out of the whole sleeping outside on the ground in a tent thing. But, I will persevere! And probably try it again in a month or so.
