Heather Bakes

That’s What She Said…

I Apologize, Mr. Buttlicker November 7, 2008

Filed under: November 2008 — heatherwlu @ 5:38 am
Tags: ,

The Office writers are GENIUS. That sales role-playing scene almost made me pee my pants (which is the coolest, in case you haven’t heard).

I’m ready for this week to be over- it’s felt like constant craziness and I’m ready for some R&R… although this weekend is already shaping up to be pretty busy. Sigh.

Today I had my last day of training at yet another WF location. The Dallas/Fort Worth area has 6 stores. Running late (as usual) so I had a quick breakfast of Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar and milk:

larabar

This flavor is definitely a winner… I would equate it to eating crunchy PB out of the jar, but without your judgmental spouse giving you the stink eye for double dipping.

Free lunch again! Well, kind of free. I had some brown rice salmon avocado rolls and a cup of cioppino:

lunch

Has anyone seen the new Everyday with Rachael Ray holiday issue? It’s like $10, but much more substantial than the monthly issues and has a bunch of great recipes. Tonight I made the Pumpkin Penne (recipe here) but subbed half-and-half for the heavy cream. It was easy to make- you just saute garlic and shallots, dump in a can of chicken broth, pumpkin, cream and some spices, simmer until thick and then add whole wheat pasta to the mix. This recipe features fresh sage, which I’m a HUGE fan of in the fall. It works so well with pumpkin and root veggies.

We chopped up a link of Archer Farms Italian Chicken Sausage to serve on top of the pasta… lots of parmesan, too:

pasta

Want to hear something gross?

My toenail fell off. I noticed that the nail looked bruised a couple of weeks ago, and it basically just completely came off today. I’ve heard of that happening with distance running. It doesn’t hurt at all- I just hope that it grows back. Brian honestly could not be more disgusted right now. Like even more disgusted than when I double dip in the peanut butter. I can’t say that I blame him…

Guess what tomorrow is? PASTA DAY!! We’re making fresh pasta, cheese ravioli, pesto, pasta salad, caesar salad, and italian dressing. Can’t wait :)

Survey Time!

You know this one:

Weekend plans?

For me…

  • Friday- class, short run, catch up on blogs (FINALLY), ??
  • Saturday- 20 mile run in the morning, making cupcakes, then wedding at night.
  • Sunday- first real day of work, 12-8
 

BIRTHday November 6, 2008

Filed under: November 2008 — heatherwlu @ 1:32 pm
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It’s been a LONG day! Started at 5:00 with an early morning track workout- 12 x 400’s, but I left after 10 to get home in time for training. Oatmeal didn’t sound good (weird), so I had a bowl of randomness: cottage cheese, pumpkin puree, pumpkin butter, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, walnut pieces and dried cherries…

random

With some creme brulee coffee from Central Market. Apparently hempmilk is NOT good in coffee- see how it’s separating? And then the milk basically sank to the bottom, leaving me with black coffee… strange.

cofee

Training went well. It was at the Whole Foods in Uptown and guess what I found?? The holy grail of Larabars: Peanut Butter Cookie! I haven’t tried it yet. We also sampled this amazing Dutch Parrano cheese and I ended up buying a wedge afterwards. It’s soft but has a really sharp, parmesan-like taste.

We were given lunch vouchers- very cool. I got a salad, but had major buyer’s remorse after spotting BBQ tofu in the daily specials. Will not be making THAT mistake again tomorrow!

wf1

After Brian got home, we headed out to meet our new niece, Samantha! She’s a perfect 8 lb, 8 oz little blondie. Here she is with excited Uncle Brian:

bribaby

She opened her eyes a little for the photo…

hbaby

And my favorite photo, with Kara… who was born to be a big sis. She’s so good with the baby! And protective- I totally got the third degree before holding Samantha.

“Um, Aunt Heather? Have you ever held a newborn??“

“Yes, Kara.”

“Whose?“

Lucky baby is going to have one doting big sister!

kbaby

Once we got back into town, pretty much the only dinner option was Central Market. I was STARVING. Sushi always sounds good, so I had some tuna/avocado and salmon/avocado rolls…

sushi

And chicken dumplings.

dumpling

Hope everyone had a great Wednesday! This week is flying.

I’m giving you guys the day off from answering survey questions while I come up with some new ones, unless there’s something you’re just dying to share… then by all means go ahead :)

 

And It’s Over November 5, 2008

Filed under: November 2008 — heatherwlu @ 4:43 am
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Today started out bright and early… well not bright, but early… with a steady 4-mile hill run at 5:45. Any doctors out there that can tell me what the muscle/tendon is that runs on the back of the leg, right behind your knee? Because that hurts.

I had to be at Whole Foods at 9:30 for some orientating (yeah, that’s a word), so I grabbed an english muffin with a schmear of ABCB- almond butter/cherry butter. Got my official hat, box cutter and cutting glove and learned all of the important safety procedures. Tomorrow and Thursday will be the formal “training”.

Afterwards I met my parents for lunch at Cafe Express. I got a little burned out on this place a few years ago, but I do miss the Oasis Table. Sounds exotic, no? It’s basically just a spread of all kinds of goodness: pickles, capers, chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, vinegars and oils. I managed to spill a giant cup of balsamic all over my Dad’s white dress shirt. Don’t worry- he’s come to expect this.

I had the Veggie Chef’s Salad with chicken:

salad

Loads of vegetables, but I have to say- not a huge fan of raw fennel on a salad.

So our family’s favorite restaurant for years and YEARS has been The Grape on Greenville Avenue. We would go there for good report cards (some kids got cash, we got steak), birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc etc etc. I can’t believe that I’ve never written about this place before. The food is fabulous and they change the menu every month so you always get something new and different. Brian had a monkfish dish there maybe 6 years ago and still gets all misty-eyed when he talks about it. If you haven’t been there- GO. Right now. And order the calamari.

Anyway, the parents had dinner there last week (and didn’t invite me, dammit) and the chef/owner, Brian Luscher, was gracious enough to visit with them. My mom is very excited about both culinary school and the blog, and I’m sure that she talked the poor guy’s ear off. Long story short, Brian passed along his email address and let me come into the kitchen today to pick his brain about the whole culinary endeavor. It was so exciting to actually get to see the kitchen and hear some solid advice about getting started in the field. I don’t kid myself by thinking that I actually know what I’m doing at this point, so any and all words of wisdom are GREATLY appreciated.

So that was awesome. And you know what else is awesome? Tomorrow I become an aunt for the 3rd time! Brian’s sister is being induced early in the morning, so we’ll head out to Keller to meet the new addition. Not only is this the third grandchild, it’s the third NIECE- Kara, Abby and now little Samantha Ruth. Can’t wait!

Sorry for the lack of photos today (me = slacker) but I’ll make up for that tomorrow…

SURVEY TIME!

I’m running out of good topics, so…

Tell me an interesting/random fact about yourself.

I freak out if people touch my neck.

 

Cupcakes in ‘08 November 4, 2008

Filed under: November 2008 — heatherwlu @ 12:51 pm
Tags: , ,

(That’s my write-in candidate.)

This week is going to be a lot more structured than any I’ve had since… well, probably since I quit my job in May. Tomorrow is paperwork/training at WF from 9:30-12:30, then a meeting at 2. Weds and Thurs both involve more training at 2 different WF locations from 9:30-4:30, and then Friday is class as usual. Plus the normal running routine: easy run tomorrow, track workout Weds, tempo Thurs, long run (18) Saturday.

Aren’t you glad I shared all of that with you? I feel so much more organized now. Screw Google calendar- I can just blog it out.

Today I got up at 7:30 and had a nice oat-y breakfast. I wish I were creative like some of my blogger friends (I’m looking at you, Rose) and could come up with fun oatmeal combinations early in the morning. But no. This was the typical banana, vanilla hempmilk, almond butter and trail mix combo.

oats

Tonight we were going out to dinner to celebrate our brother-in-law’s birthday, and a cupcake request was submitted. Apparently Mike really likes Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, so I found a recipe in the Elinor Klivans Cupcakes! cookbook for peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate glaze. The batter basically consisted of butter, dark brown sugar, LOTS and LOTS of smooth peanut butter, flour and eggs. I threw in a cup of milk chocolate chips, too. The glaze was a very basic chocolate ganache of butter, heavy cream and milk chocolate.

cupcake1

cupcake2

So good. I didn’t know whether to do chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing, or peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate icing… but after consuming about 1/4 of the batter straight from the bowl, I’m confident that this was the right choice.

cupcake3

Lunch was a whole wheat Western Bagel Alternative Pita with leftover rotisserie chicken, baby spinach, jalapenos, hummus and yellow bell pepper:

pita

We had dinner at Champps and unfortunately I forgot to get a photo. Just picture some balsamic glazed chicken with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies. And a cupcake.

Off to bed. I don’t know why I’m so tired right now… but I have to get up at 5 for a run. Hope everyone had a great Monday. And don’t forget to vote!! I hear Starbucks is giving free coffee to voters, and you can score a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme, too. WOOHOO free breakfast!

SURVEY TIME!

Did you vote today? And how long did you have to wait at the polls?

I early voted on Thursday and waited about 20 minutes. The line was really long, too- I expected to wait a lot longer. So yea for the super efficient Lake Highlands poll staffers!

 

Holy Cow, It’s November November 3, 2008

Filed under: November 2008 — heatherwlu @ 4:00 am
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Is it just me, or has 2008 flown by??

*FRIDAY*

Class as usual (twice baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes, lentils and mushroom risotto), then hurried home to straighten up and get ready the Halloween festivities. By “festivities” I mean answering the door for little trick-or-treaters while eating pad thai and Halloween candy. Speaking of, look at Micky and Minnie… aka Gabriel and Molly.

I was kind of obsessed with Molly’s shoes… a girl’s gotta start early with the heel collection :)

We also had a visit from a very scary Vampira and a very cool Speed Racer but I forgot to get a photo :( Chloe kept her costume on for about 30 very sulky minutes and then we gave in and let her be Naked Pug for Halloween instead.

*SATURDAY*

Saturday we slept in and then set about the really fun total beat-down job of flea bombing our house. We’d dosed both pets with Frontline and STILL found flea dirt on them, so we ended up having to buy a few foggers. While that was going on at home we took Chloe and Piper to my parents’ house to bathe them. Have you ever bathed a cat? Ask Brian how that went.

While Bri wrestled the animals, I made cupcakes for Katherine’s Halloween party: Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Spiderweb Icing…

I’d never worked with crystallized ginger before- it’s so cool! It adds just a kick of ginger, and I like the chewiness it gives the cupcakes. We found it pre-chopped at Williams Sonoma.

The party was fun! It was way North (Frisco) and we definitely got lost on the way (stupid Google Maps). Katherine had the best costume: a Stepford Wife, complete with wind-up key:

Can you tell what I am? This might give you a bigger hint…

No, I’m not (that) fat… I’m Juno! And Brian was Paulie Bleeker, although I don’t know what’s up with the face he’s making here. The belly was a bike helmet tied around my waist, and my “bump” kept dropping during the party. I guess I was carrying low.

Katherine’s cookies were cute AND delicious:

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT!

We ended up leaving the shindig around 11 to get some rest for…

*SUNDAY*

The big half-marathon! It was pretty warm today- about 65 degrees when we started running and probably close to 75 at the end. Despite the heat I was happy with my time: 1:51, so about 8:28-8:29/mile. That’s 7 minutes shaved off my half marathon PR from 2006. For all you runners: I’m officially a convert of the Gu brand gels now. I used the Orange flavor at 45 min and the Triple Berry at 90 min and they helped a LOT… maybe it’s the caffeine? They actually taste pretty decent, too.

The rest of today was spent having brunch with my brother at Dream Cafe (MIGAS!!) and then taking a loooong nap with Chloe. For dinner we grabbed a rotisserie chicken at Sam’s and roasted some brussels sprouts. The best part were the twice-baked taters recreated from the recipe from class on Friday. Despite having cooked baked potatoes in foil for my entire life, I’m now obsessed with just rubbing the outside in olive oil and sprinkling with kosher salt. The skin gets super crispy and delicious. The insides are mashed with a couple of Laughing Cow wedges, some Brummel & Brown, light sour cream, garlic salt and some chopped green onions. Scoop back into the potato skins, top with cheddar and bake until cheese melts. YUM.

My sweet hubby just poured me a glass of $3 Wal-Mart wine and there’s a new South Park on, so I can’t miss this hot date :) Don’t be jealous.

SURVEY TIME!

What’s your favorite condiment? And do you put it on anything weird?

Mine’s boring: ketchup. It goes on everything, though- potatoes, eggs, green beans, tamales. Second favorite would probably be vinegar.



 

Oh I Wish I Were An… October 31, 2008

Filed under: October 2008 — heatherwlu @ 11:42 am
Tags: ,

So, are you ready for it?

You sure?

Okay… here it is:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!


What better way to celebrate than through a tribute to Brian’s 2nd favorite food (next to corndogs)?

Oh my goodness, she hates this costume. You can probably tell from the photos. We only leave it on her for a few minutes at a time, but she just stands there unmoving, or she’ll waddle over slowly and just lean on me, like, “Pleeease take this off of me.” It’s not heavy or anything, but I think the extra width bothers her. She’s used to her trim, toned figure :)

Last night we met Lauren and Robert at a new pizza restaurant in the Bishop Arts District, Eno’s. If you still haven’t ventured down to Oak Cliff, you should- they have a TON of new restaurants with anything you could possibly want at any price point (pizza, Mexican, tapas, upscale Southern, sushi…). The stores in the Arts District stay open pretty late on weekends, too, so you can make a night of eating and browsing. Anyway, Eno’s was great. I loved the decor:

And I especially loved the Dogfish Head Punkinhead Ale on draught:

I started out with the small Eno’s House Salad, minus the peppered pork belly. It was just okay. First of all, there wasn’t a trace of endive on this plate- it was all arugula, which I normally love but was a little overwhelming with the bleu cheese. I ordered it because one review I read praised the lemon dressing, but I couldn’t even taste it. Eh, at least the cheese was good…

The salad options all sounded pretty impressive, so I’ll give it another shot next time. Brian and I shared the Classic Pie, which is topped simply with mozzarella and “fresh picked herbs”.

This was delicious. The crust is wafer thin and super crispy, the tomato sauce tasted really fresh and sweet, and the herbs were perfect. They even had a little fresh dill on top, which worked surprisingly well. The problem with such a thin crust is that we wolfed the entire pie down in t-minus 5 minutes.

Lauren and Robert shared the Eno’s Supreme:

I was stuffed, but on the way home we stopped at yet another new yogurt place for dessert. What is up with all of these pseudo-Pinkberries popping up everywhere? I can think of 5 right now: Berry Berry, Natsumi, Orange Cup, I Heart Yogurt and now Yogilicious. Don’t get me wrong- I’m not complaining. This stuff is delicious. I had half taro (kind of tastes like graham crackers), half chocolate with pomegranate seeds and mini chocolate chips… like I Heart Yogurt, you pay by the ounce. I managed to keep it under a pound this time:

Lauren wins the genius combo award, though: Pumpkin yogurt topped with graham cracker crumbs and chocolate chips. Mmmm.

So my mom has been doing this major attic clean-out lately and keeps calling me to ask if I want stuff before she throws it out. So far I’ve been offered: a Barbie dreamhouse, Easter decorations and a plastic light-up ghost circa 1987. I did express an interest in two holiday trees for the front porch, but apparently Brian and I didn’t fetch them fast enough… because look what we came home to last night:

Nice. Hey, if Target can start decorating for Christmas, so can we. Brian was so tired when we got home that he shrugged and said that he would deal with it in the morning (don’t worry, I did manage to unplug the lights). Our neighbors must love us.

Gotta start getting ready for class. Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween!

Survey Time!

This is going to be the weekly Friday survey, because I’m nosy and like to hear what you’re up to:

Weekend plans?

Friday- handing out candy and possibly seeing a movie

Saturday- relaxing, party to go to at night

Sunday- half marathon

 

Pomegranate Is Hard to Eat AND Spell October 30, 2008

Filed under: October 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:37 am
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It is… I always want to type pomegranITE. And at the grocery store today they had a sign for pomergranates.

This morning I was supposed to meet my running buddies at the track at 5:45, but I woke up late, realized I wasn’t going to make it, and then went back to sleep. While I was pretty much wide awake at 5:30, when Brian woke me up a couple hours later I felt like I had been hit by a truck… I guess I must have been in a deep sleep cycle or something. Super groggy.

Brian ended up working from home today- which was exciting until I realized that he actually intended to work. So I was on my own. Breakfast was some Blueberry Chobani with 1/4 of an Honest Foods Pomegranate Granola Plank:

Then I went for a short, easy run. My feet have been pretty sore since the 20 miler on Sunday, so I’m trying to take it easy. The rest of the day was semi-productive. I cleaned the bathroom, did some laundry, cleaned out my closet… I have a huge basket of clothes in the car that I’m planning on selling at Buffalo Exchange. Some of it is pretty old (freshman year of college!) so I have no clue if they’ll take it or not.

Today was the first day of packet pickup for the DRC Half on Sunday, so I headed to Run On to pick up my packet and stock up on a supply of sport goo’s & gummies. I bought the Gu brand (triple berry and orange) with caffeine, and a couple packs of Clif Shot Bloks- will let y’all know how they work/taste.

We ended up having my parents over for dinner. I made this recipe for Sage Pesto Crusted Turkey Tenderloin and had to go to 5 grocery stores to find the turkey tenderloin!! Most stores only had the marinated versions, which I ended up using and just rinsing off the marinade. The pesto is definitely the best part of the recipe, and it’s so easy to make:

In the mini-food processor, I combined:

  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 1 pkg sage leaves
  • 3 Tbs parmesan
  • 2 cloves garlic

Then you just spread this all over the tenderloin and roast it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. The recipe also calls for surrounding the meat with sliced red potatoes- but just be warned that the potatoes will probably take longer to cook than the turkey. Anyway, the pesto kind of melts off and surrounds the potatoes too… delicious and super easy. Here’s the sliced turkey:

My mom brought over a veggie tray, relish tray (my family is obsessed with all pickled veggies), some steamed spinach and sauteed asparagus.

Yum…

And don’t you like how Brian turned my favorite crystal rose bowl into a paper towel holder? Klassy AND creative.

We had an audience during the meal:

Hope everybody had a great Wednesday! It’s almost Halloween! In case you’re bored: Rachael Ray’s site had some dinner recipes that actually contain Halloween candy. I don’t know if Peanut Butter Cup Chicken Mole or Mussels in Tomato-Licorice Broth sound appealing to you (ew), but if so, have at it… and let me know how they taste.

Survey Time!

What is your favorite meal to prepare for guests?

I always have a hard time with this one. Veggie chili (with cornbread, of course) is always good for a crowd and you don’t really have to worry about timing it for exactly when guests arrive- just leave it simmering until you’re ready to eat. And if you use soy crumbles, you don’t even have to worry about browning the meat (and I SWEAR it tastes the same!).

 

Baby It’s Cold Outside October 29, 2008

Filed under: October 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:34 am
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Holla! Hope everybody had a happy Tuesday. My interview was at 10 this morning, and a big bowl of pumpkin oats was in order beforehand. As you can probably tell from the picture, it was very pumpkin-y…

Made with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup vanilla hempmilk, 1/2 cup oats and 1/2 cup pumpkin, plus cinnamon, vanilla and allspice. On top is a little pumpkin butter, dried cherries, and my most GENIUS oat topping yet: a couple of crumbled amaretto cookies. It tasted like pumpkin pie in a bowl :)

The 2nd interview went well… and (pending a background check- I am quite a shady character) they offered me the job!! So hopefully starting next week I will be a part-time bakery team member at WHOLE FOODS! This particular location doesn’t have a huge bakeshop, so I’ll be doing more decorating than actual baking (works for me!). But they’re moving to a brand spanking new location in March with a much larger bakery department, so they’ll be doing more in-house at that point.

I tried to go vote after the interview, but the line at our local library was waaaaaay down the sidewalk… so maybe I’ll try again tomorrow at an off hour. So I headed home to whip up a random lunch:

  • Butternut Squash Home Fries (from the Hungry Girl cookbook)
  • Dr. Praeger’s Spinach Patty
  • Leftover Hearty Tomato Soup
  • Slice of Homemade Bread


My soup has a belly button (thanks to a squirt of chopped basil from a tube). Heehee.

After lunch I headed to Bath and Body Works to redeem a coupon and then browsed around Williams Sonoma for a while. Talk about overwhelming! I loved all of your suggestions (except yours, Brian- no deep fryers) and I’m mulling them over. The Le Creuset option is intriguing, and they do have a dutch oven for $99… I’ll have to head back there this weekend.

For dinner we took a *chilly* walk to our little neighborhood seafood restaurant, Offshore’s Next Door. It was so warm and cozy inside- AND busy, which makes us happy. We want more restaurants/retail near our house so it’s exciting when places like that do well. I had a the crawfish etouffee, which was delicious. Just spicy enough with big chunks of crawfish.

Before I forget, here are a couple of articles from the Dallas Morning News that you guys might find interesting:

1. This one is about Oak Leaf Wines, the $3/bottle brand currently carried at Wal-Mart. I’ve tried it before and it’s pretty darn good… AND no animals on the bottle (take that, Brian!). Apparently it fooled some local wine snobs…

2. And while I usually don’t discuss politics on the blog, there is a topic close to my heart that really needs to be addressed. Of course I’m referring to cookies in the White House. Read about them here. Now go rock the vote, people.

Survey Time!

Brian came up with this one:

What was your first job?

Freshman year of HS I worked at a paint-and-party store called Krafty Kids. People were supposed to come in and paint ceramics, but we had NO customers. So I would paint plaster clowns by myself all day, watch Disney movies (all we had) on the store TV, and eat the mini cups of ice cream reserved for birthday parties. How depressing is that?? Very.

 

Chunkin’ Punkin’ October 28, 2008

Filed under: October 2008 — heatherwlu @ 4:04 am
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Not to get you all excited, but today might be the most boring food day ever.

Brian cruelly dragged me out of my nice, warm bed to drive him to work this morning. Jerk. I mean, the 10 miles to downtown would make for a nice walk, no? Aw, I’m kidding… maybe if he didn’t have to cross the highway…

Anyway, I grabbed a quick breakfast on the way out the door. Two slices of the homemade honey-wheat bread, toasted, topped with butter x 2 (almond and cherry).

I had a Safety & Sanitation midterm this afternoon, so from 10-3 Chloe and I studied on the couch. The test was easy. I always get all type-A and create these huge, ridiculous outlines before exams and end up not needing like 90% of the info. So inefficient. I took a break around 1 for a bowl of last night’s tomato soup along with a slice of pizza leftover from dinner on Saturday. I took a bite before remembering to get a photo. Sorry.

Don’t you like how I eat off of paper towels instead of plates? That’s because the dish washer is full of (clean) dishes that I’m too lazy to unload. Niiiice.

Because of the test, this week we will have Slow-Cooker TUESDAY instead of Monday. I hope you aren’t too disappointed. I’ll make it count, I promise.

So tomorrow I have a 2nd interview! So while I should be preparing for the interview, I’ve decided to play Ghost of Halloweens Past with the pug instead. Today I stumbled on her costume from last year, so we decided to see if it still fit.

Yes, yes it does. But she’s not happy about it.

I wish you guys could have seen her waddling around in it. So cute. Unfortunately this is what happened next:

She’s molting…

Aaaand now she’s trying to smother the evil pumpkin:

Awesome.

Oh, remember how Brian went on that retreat this weekend? Well they had a raffle and look what prize my sweet hubby chose!

$100 to Williams Sonoma!!! So what should I get? Any suggestions? Go for something big or just a bunch of little stuff? I’ve had my eye on that vanilla bean paste everyone’s writing about.

Survey Time!

Sorry for you (three) male readers, this is kind of a girly question… but you can answer, too.

What beauty/grooming product(s) could you not live without?

Me: Lip balm (Dr. Hauschka or Neutrogena Lip Moisturizer), Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Liquid Soap, and Narcisco Rodriguez perfume- it’s the only fragrance I’ve bought more than once.

Night!

 

It’s The End of the World as We Know It… October 27, 2008

Filed under: October 2008, Uncategorized — heatherwlu @ 3:04 am
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“And I feel fiiiiiine”

Hope everybody had a fun weekend! Here’s the recap:

**FRIDAY**

On Friday my Dad called to see if we would be interested in tickets to an REM concert that night… um, heck yeah we would! We like REM and the Old 97’s were opening for them, so that made it even more exciting :) The concert was fun- the 97’s played a great set (as always!) and REM sounded good live. Here’s Michael Stipe doing the robot:

I wasn’t nuts about the stuff off their newest album, but they played a lot of great classics, too.

**SATURDAY**

Brian left for his firm golf retreat and I babysat in the morning. Chloe and I took a looooong nap, then went to lunch with my mom (just me, not Chloe). I got the baking itch and decided to try a recipe I’d been eyeing in the Giada cookbook: Amaretti Torta. I’m obsessed with these little amaretto cookies from World Market so I knew I’d love the cake:

The recipe entails adding ground chocolate chips and amaretto cookies to the batter (eggs, milk, flour and Grand Marnier) and folding in whipped egg whites. Here’s the mis en place:

After baking, you spread a thin layer of orange marmalade on top and then sprinkle with more crumbled cookies:

This torte is AMAZING. The combination of chocolate, almond and orange works so well together, and the egg whites keep it from being too heavy. I had a taste right away. I mean, to make sure that it wasn’t poisonous.

**SUNDAY**

Around 9 I headed out for the big 20-miler. It didn’t feel as tough as last week, but still sucked big time. I hit a wall around mile 12 and felt like there was NO WAY I could finish the final eight. But I did. With lots of walk breaks. My final time was 3:20, and I had some Clif Shot Bloks at 45 and 90 minutes, and then these Luna Sport Moon chews at 2:10 (the Pomegranate flavor- really good!). I’m not super happy with the time, but I’m running the DRC Half Marathon next Sunday so I’ll be able to get a better idea of my projected race time for the full marathon.

After Brian got home, we grabbed lunch at Freebirds- chicken bird bowl (mmm)- and then ran some errands, including buying a pretty sweet Halloween costume for the pug. Get excited. We put it on her today and she just stood in one spot and wouldn’t move for like 10 minutes. Then she tried to come visit us and got stuck between the couch and the coffee table… it’s a wide costume.

Speaking of pug costumes, I know I’ve posted that photo of Miss Chloe in the giraffe costume. Our local magazine, The Advocate, requested pet photos about a month ago and I just had to send in that shot. Lo and behold, a new issue arrived on our doorstep on Saturday…

And just look what was inside!

Aww, the little celebri-pug.

More baking today- for some reason I’ve been in the mood to bake bread, which I’ve only tried in class. Bread kind of freaks me out, so I’ve never made it at home. I decided on a Honey Wheat Bread from the Williams-Sonoma Baking cookbook. Not bad, eh?

And for dinner, soup sounded really good so I made yet another recipe from the Giada cookbook: Hearty Tomato Soup with Lemon and Rosemary. It’s super simple. Just saute onions and carrots in butter, add some white beans, tomatoes and herbs, and simmer 30 minutes. Then puree and top with creme fraiche (which I did not have, so used a mixture of Fage and mascarpone with lemon zest instead). I stirred some tempered half and half into the soup to make it creamy. And what goes best with tomato soup?? Grilled cheese, duh. So Brian whipped up some grilled colby jack on whole wheat bread with sweet pickle slices. Perfect.

Off to do some studying! Thanks for bearing with my long and rambling post :)

SURVEY TIME!

What are your Halloween plans?

We’re handing out candy on Friday night- although last year we only had a few trick or treaters (sad), and then heading to a party on Saturday night. I loooove Halloween.