Gaak. What a pain in the ass! Russ' driver's license expired yesterday, less than 24 hours ago. He went into the DMV to get it renewed, and, because it has been expired (for all of 24 hours) he can't get it renewed without first presenting a birth certificate or unexpired passport. If he had decided to endure the hassle of the DMV yesterday, on his birthday, it would have been no problem. But now we're having to scramble to try and find his birth certificate, which I'm pretty sure he's never had, and is still with his parents.
We went through less hassle getting our marriage license.
Welcome to the new USSA. Present your papers, please.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
If you always thought there was something wrong with me . . .
You were probably right! I remember taking this thing sometime in high school and being upset because it scored me high on Narcissistic and Histrionic. I have apparently gotten worse over the years.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
I'll Miss You, Jeannie
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, since it's the time of year when we specifically get together to enjoy our family, and eat, and there isn't any of the attendant stress of Christmas gift-giving to take the shine off of it.
This Thanksgiving was extra-special, and really exemplified why I love the holiday. My Aunt Jeannie came out to visit! Dad's little sister, who I hadn't seen since I was just a very little girl, and my youngest sisters had never met, came out to stay with dad over the holiday, and we all got a chance to meet/reconnect. I had such a great time with her, I'm really kicking myself that all these years, I've had an aunt that's only 4 years older than me, and we never got to know each other before now. I'm looking forward to future visits, and plotting how I can get Russ and myself out to Vegas so we can see her on her own turf, and maybe meet my uncle, too!
So for a wonderful Thanksgiving, thanks Jeannie, and I'll miss you. Here's hoping we manage to get to see each other again before another 20 years pass.
Friday, November 23, 2007
I'll Miss You, Santos
This morning, I overslept and didn't wake up until I heard the kiddo making noise over the baby monitor. So I dragged my ass out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen to fix his breakfast and a pot of coffee for myself. Stumble downstairs for a smoke while everything is heating up. The nicotine helped, so I managed to trudge rather than stumble back up the stairs to assemble Roy's tray and fix that first, blessedly reviving, hot, sugary and creamy cup of coffee for myself.
Grab the filter to pull it off of the carafe, and spit! Dirty drawers! The damned thing is stone cold. Peek inside the filter.... grounds are still completely dry, and none of the water has moved up into the filter as it should. I ended up having to boil water on the stove-top and pour it through the filter just so I could get some nasty over-perked sludge to make it through the morning.
My first Bodum Santos lasted a year, and then the heating element died. The coffee I was getting from the machine was so wonderful I went ahead and replaced it with another one. This one only lasted me 3 years - not a sufficient return on my investment for a machine priced over 100 dollars. It makes a great cup of coffee, but it's a bitch to clean, since even with my tiny hands I can barely fit one inside the carafe to scrub it out, and every time you try to give it a good cleaning, you're taking the risk of it not coming back on. So, while I love you, Bodum Santos, I had to replace you with a different brand.
Here's hoping the new Oster I ordered arrives before I expire from caffeine withdrawal tomorrow morning, and lives longer than the Bodum did. That morning cup of coffee is too important to me for me to screw around with unreliable machines.
Grab the filter to pull it off of the carafe, and spit! Dirty drawers! The damned thing is stone cold. Peek inside the filter.... grounds are still completely dry, and none of the water has moved up into the filter as it should. I ended up having to boil water on the stove-top and pour it through the filter just so I could get some nasty over-perked sludge to make it through the morning.
My first Bodum Santos lasted a year, and then the heating element died. The coffee I was getting from the machine was so wonderful I went ahead and replaced it with another one. This one only lasted me 3 years - not a sufficient return on my investment for a machine priced over 100 dollars. It makes a great cup of coffee, but it's a bitch to clean, since even with my tiny hands I can barely fit one inside the carafe to scrub it out, and every time you try to give it a good cleaning, you're taking the risk of it not coming back on. So, while I love you, Bodum Santos, I had to replace you with a different brand.
Here's hoping the new Oster I ordered arrives before I expire from caffeine withdrawal tomorrow morning, and lives longer than the Bodum did. That morning cup of coffee is too important to me for me to screw around with unreliable machines.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Simply Wonderful - Roast Chicken with Lemons
The recipes I always like the best are the ones that require just a few ingredients, and very simple preparation. If those two requirements are met, I don't mind if the dish itself takes a long time to cook, I can start dinner earlier. I just don't want to spend more than half an hour actually preparing ingredients. Whenever I see a recipe that calls for 2 tsp of this, 1 tablespoon of that, 3 tsps finely minced garlic, 4 tablespoons of shredded this, etc, I just cringe. Those are the dishes that I save for the weekends, when the additional work involved is less daunting.
A really simple recipe, however, just seems to have an extra edge to it. I marvel at how just a few ingredients can produce such a satisfying flavor. When I'm serving it to guests, I feel smug that so little effort produced such rave reviews. Last night, I tried a really simple recipe out of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, and it's one of those recipes. So simple it's easy enough for weeknights, and really tasty.
All you need are: roaster chicken, 2 small lemons*, salt, pepper, roasting pan w/ rack, some kitchen string.
*the lemons need to be small enough that you can cram them into the bird. If they're too large, you'll split the birds rib-cage, which, while it doesn't affect the taste, makes it look it's harboring an alien.
Preheat your oven to 350°. Rinse and completely dry the chicken. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper, inside and outside, and rubbing it into the skin to really distribute it well.
Roll the lemons across a cutting board with the palm of your hand, sort of squishing them up as you go to soften them up a bit, then poke the hell out of them with a skewer or knife tip or fork. Cram the lemons into the chicken.
Put the chicken on the roasting pan breast side down, and sort of loosely tie up the legs. The goal isn't to keep them from moving or to make the ends meet, but just to keep them from spreading apart too much and splitting the skin during the cooking process.
Put the bird in the oven, and leave it there for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn it over, trying not to tear the skin on the bird and let it cook for another 30 minutes. When that time is up, raise the heat on the oven to 400° and let it cook for at least another 20 minutes, more until it's done.
There's no need to baste the bird or use any additional cooking fat. And the point of not tearing the skin is that, if you don't, the chicken will swell up with the juices. It won't hurt if you do tear the skin, though.
Leave the lemons in the chicken when you carve it, and serve the pieces with the juices that run out of the bird. For a 4 lb bird, with my oven, total cooking time was 1 hour, 35 minutes.
This chicken was amazingly juicy and flavorful, and the lemon wasn't a dominating flavor at all, the meat was infused with just a hint of citrus tang to it. I'll definitely make this one again.
A really simple recipe, however, just seems to have an extra edge to it. I marvel at how just a few ingredients can produce such a satisfying flavor. When I'm serving it to guests, I feel smug that so little effort produced such rave reviews. Last night, I tried a really simple recipe out of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, and it's one of those recipes. So simple it's easy enough for weeknights, and really tasty.
All you need are: roaster chicken, 2 small lemons*, salt, pepper, roasting pan w/ rack, some kitchen string.
*the lemons need to be small enough that you can cram them into the bird. If they're too large, you'll split the birds rib-cage, which, while it doesn't affect the taste, makes it look it's harboring an alien.
Preheat your oven to 350°. Rinse and completely dry the chicken. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper, inside and outside, and rubbing it into the skin to really distribute it well.
Roll the lemons across a cutting board with the palm of your hand, sort of squishing them up as you go to soften them up a bit, then poke the hell out of them with a skewer or knife tip or fork. Cram the lemons into the chicken.
Put the chicken on the roasting pan breast side down, and sort of loosely tie up the legs. The goal isn't to keep them from moving or to make the ends meet, but just to keep them from spreading apart too much and splitting the skin during the cooking process.
Put the bird in the oven, and leave it there for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn it over, trying not to tear the skin on the bird and let it cook for another 30 minutes. When that time is up, raise the heat on the oven to 400° and let it cook for at least another 20 minutes, more until it's done.
There's no need to baste the bird or use any additional cooking fat. And the point of not tearing the skin is that, if you don't, the chicken will swell up with the juices. It won't hurt if you do tear the skin, though.
Leave the lemons in the chicken when you carve it, and serve the pieces with the juices that run out of the bird. For a 4 lb bird, with my oven, total cooking time was 1 hour, 35 minutes.
This chicken was amazingly juicy and flavorful, and the lemon wasn't a dominating flavor at all, the meat was infused with just a hint of citrus tang to it. I'll definitely make this one again.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Book Report: Twilight and New Moon
Twilight and New Moon are the first two books in a 'young-adult' series by Stephenie Meyer. Arabella is the teen-aged child of divorced parents - a flighty mother who takes up new projects and causes as quickly as she loses interest in them and a thoroughly grounded father, the local sheriff of a small town in Washington state called Forks. When her mother remarries, 'Bella leaves sunny Phoenix and moves back to terminally overcast Forks, to give her mother the freedom to travel with her new husband, a minor-league baseball player. There's nothing to do in Forks, and 'Bella knows she's going to hate it... until she meets the Cullens, the strange and exceedingly attractive family of a local doctor in town. They're rich, they're eerily graceful, and the most beautiful of them all is a boy named Edward who appears to be about the same age as 'Bella. They're also always absent on the few sunny days that Forks gets. 'Bella finds herself strangely drawn to Edward, although he can't seem to stand her. Then BAM! he miraculously rescues her from a near-death situation involving a skidding van, and 'Bella has a mystery to solve. Eventually, she figures out that the Cullens are vampires, but despite this, 'Bella falls head over heels in love with Edward, and amazing to her - he with her.
I nearly put Twilight down and didn't finish reading it. The writing was very well done, and the story was moving along well enough, but 'Bella's love is full of the typical selfishness and shallowness of a teen-aged girl. Lie to your family? Deliberately hurt anyone else you love for the sake of 'the one?' No problem. And why does she love Edward? He's controlling, is dangerous to her, and constantly mocks her clumsiness and assumes she's incapable to doing anything for herself. But he's beautiful... every page of the story, which is told in first-person, drips with descriptions of Edward's heart-stopping beauty and grace. 'Bella finds herself constantly amazed that someone as gorgeous as Edward would be interested in her. At that point, 'Bella was just pissing me off, and I wanted to reach through the pages of the book and smack some sense into her, or at least lend her a little backbone. Big danger appears - which, I might add, the Cullens are directly responsible for - and Edward rescues 'Bella, and the tale ends with 'Bella and Edward vowing to be together for ever and ever... and 'Bella hoping that eventually Edward will make her a vampire too.
New Moon was a vast improvement, largely, I think, due to the prominent absence of Edward for the majority of the book. For someone who had just declared his undying love (ha ha, get it?), he sure was quick to dump her ass and leave town, leaving 'Bella shell-shocked and in a zombie-like state while she tries to pick up the pieces of her life... something that might not have been so difficult if she hadn't gleefully alienated anyone else she had a relationship with for the sake of Edward. Gradually, 'Bella begins to recover. She finds a best friend in Jacob, who brings some sunshine and fun into her life. Unlike the exceedingly paternal Edward, Jacob gives 'Bella a chance to bloom. His sunny personality helps draw her out and 'Bella finds herself wondering if maybe loving someone who is also your best friend might be better than spending the rest of your life pining after someone who is so obviously bad for you. It was nice to see 'Bella starting to grow up a little bit. Of course in a tale revolving around supernatural creatures, things can't stay that way, and Jacob's puberty hits him way harder than most. And Edward returns, and 'Bella finds herself faced with having to choose between her best friend and her first love, who happen to be mortal enemies.
The writing was great throughout. It's not Meyer's fault that I can't stand the sort of woman who will devote her entire existence to pleasing and appeasing one controlling bastard, without recognizing that a relationship where only one side is making any compromises is a sure way to end up beaten down and abused. In fact, I think that was my biggest problem with Edward throughout - his profile is that of the classic abuser - isolate the woman from her friends and family, belittle her abilities, make her entirely dependent on you, and then when the belt comes out, she can't just leave you - she has no where else to go. Thankfully, by the end of New Moon, 'Bella is starting to show some glimmers of maturity and backbone, and is not just happily going along with whatever Edward suggests. The writing, Jacob's character, and the hope that 'Bella will continue to grow up some more, is enough to make me pick up the third book to see what happens. Since it's marketed to the 'young-adult' audience, you also don't risk stumbling into any LKH-style S&M scenes. I'm curious to see how Eclipse (book 3) turns out.
I nearly put Twilight down and didn't finish reading it. The writing was very well done, and the story was moving along well enough, but 'Bella's love is full of the typical selfishness and shallowness of a teen-aged girl. Lie to your family? Deliberately hurt anyone else you love for the sake of 'the one?' No problem. And why does she love Edward? He's controlling, is dangerous to her, and constantly mocks her clumsiness and assumes she's incapable to doing anything for herself. But he's beautiful... every page of the story, which is told in first-person, drips with descriptions of Edward's heart-stopping beauty and grace. 'Bella finds herself constantly amazed that someone as gorgeous as Edward would be interested in her. At that point, 'Bella was just pissing me off, and I wanted to reach through the pages of the book and smack some sense into her, or at least lend her a little backbone. Big danger appears - which, I might add, the Cullens are directly responsible for - and Edward rescues 'Bella, and the tale ends with 'Bella and Edward vowing to be together for ever and ever... and 'Bella hoping that eventually Edward will make her a vampire too.
New Moon was a vast improvement, largely, I think, due to the prominent absence of Edward for the majority of the book. For someone who had just declared his undying love (ha ha, get it?), he sure was quick to dump her ass and leave town, leaving 'Bella shell-shocked and in a zombie-like state while she tries to pick up the pieces of her life... something that might not have been so difficult if she hadn't gleefully alienated anyone else she had a relationship with for the sake of Edward. Gradually, 'Bella begins to recover. She finds a best friend in Jacob, who brings some sunshine and fun into her life. Unlike the exceedingly paternal Edward, Jacob gives 'Bella a chance to bloom. His sunny personality helps draw her out and 'Bella finds herself wondering if maybe loving someone who is also your best friend might be better than spending the rest of your life pining after someone who is so obviously bad for you. It was nice to see 'Bella starting to grow up a little bit. Of course in a tale revolving around supernatural creatures, things can't stay that way, and Jacob's puberty hits him way harder than most. And Edward returns, and 'Bella finds herself faced with having to choose between her best friend and her first love, who happen to be mortal enemies.
The writing was great throughout. It's not Meyer's fault that I can't stand the sort of woman who will devote her entire existence to pleasing and appeasing one controlling bastard, without recognizing that a relationship where only one side is making any compromises is a sure way to end up beaten down and abused. In fact, I think that was my biggest problem with Edward throughout - his profile is that of the classic abuser - isolate the woman from her friends and family, belittle her abilities, make her entirely dependent on you, and then when the belt comes out, she can't just leave you - she has no where else to go. Thankfully, by the end of New Moon, 'Bella is starting to show some glimmers of maturity and backbone, and is not just happily going along with whatever Edward suggests. The writing, Jacob's character, and the hope that 'Bella will continue to grow up some more, is enough to make me pick up the third book to see what happens. Since it's marketed to the 'young-adult' audience, you also don't risk stumbling into any LKH-style S&M scenes. I'm curious to see how Eclipse (book 3) turns out.
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