A Dinner Party

The Menu:
Macaroni in an Extra Sharp Cheddar and Gruyere sauce with nutmeg and paprika
Mushrooms in a Marsala Reduction
Pao de Queijo
Green Salad with Blood Oranges & Apples with a fresh vinagrette
BV's Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon

The Company:
3 neuroscientists, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins, an entrepreneur, and (for the purposes of this post) an editor.

The Music:

Classical Violin

This sounds pretty impressive right? RIGHT

Everything else:
We ran out of dining chairs, and so 2 of our illustrious company were camping out on office chairs. The boys decided it would be fancier if we ate in the living room so we crammed the table in between the couch and the stereo. This meant that we were constantly clambering over the couch. We also ran out of plates...and one person jerry-rigged a "plate" out of a pot lid upended over a bowl. We didn't have enough wine, so people resorted to PBR.

It's like...we know what class is...and we aspire to it! We just couldn't...quite...make it.

Dinner was awesomely fun though. And delicious.

PS. I love that I am tagging this as both "Awesome" and "Fail"

That's a SPICY MEATBALL

Except...it really wasn't. BUT IT WAS TOTALLY DELICIOUS.

Sidebar: I brought this up with my cousin today - about how often I will use caps, especially in my conversations with her. She pointed out that we tend to scream when we are around each other anyway.

Oh. Right.

Anywhoozle, LOOK AT THIS:

Jesus God. It's after midnight, and I'm still way full from my meatballs a few hours ago, but looking at this picture makes me want to go raid the fridge.

I won't though! I have something that was at one point a distant relative of self control!

You can find the recipe here from Pioneer Woman. I love her - her food is friggin amazing. EXTRA POINTS FOR LIVING ON A RANCH IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, AND STILL MANAGING TO BE AWESOME.

Note - this being, you know, ME, I left a lot out. Aside from the parsley, which I hate buying cuz I use a tiny lil bit, and the rest rots in the fridge. Ew. But I also left out the whole 2 lbs of pasta part. And the whole homemade pasta sauce part. And the actually using spaghetti part.

I just dumped in the Bertolli we had in the "pantry" (pantry is in quotation marks because you can't really call the CUPBOARD ABOVE THE OVEN A PANTRY) over some penne we had lying around. Pasta is pasta. Whatever.

This ALSO got extra points because I finally broke in ye olde Lodge Cast Iron Pot:

That's the sweetness.

On Friendship...and Lemons

I offer the following quotation as an insight into my relationship with certain of my friends:

"What ho!" I said.
"What ho!" said Motty.
"What ho! What ho!"
"What ho! What ho! What ho!"
After that it seemed rather difficult to go on with the conversation."

- P.G. Wodehouse (duh)

Indeed.

Many of the conversations I have had with certain of my friends of late border on the ridiculous. For example, after a woeful encounter with a sprayer, in which it might be said that the sprayer came away from the argument with less damage, the following chat ensued between The Blonde and myself (more or less)

The Blonde:. Please. I look like an oompaloompa. you should have seen me this morning. i scared myself.

me: are you orange with green hair?

The Blonde: i could be

me: are you 4 foot 5?

The Blonde: maybe

me: hmm in that case i don't think i can call you the situation anymore.

The Blonde: waaaaaaaait

me: im sorry. The situation cannot be 4 foot 5 with orange skin and green hair. i mean one of these symptoms maybe but all three? i dont think so.

The Blonde: hahahaha

me: id have to send you off to go work in a chocolate factory and sing silly little rhyming songs

The Blonde: theeeey scaaaaaare meeeeeee

me: exactly! So if they scare you you cannot be an oompa loompa; no one is afraid of themselves. unless they are a serial killer.

The Blonde: hahahahaha

me: and if you were a serial killer then no WAY would Morgan marry you

The Blonde: GASP

me: and since that is one of your major life goals

The Blonde: this is true

me: it can't possibly be true.

The Blonde: i like your hypothesis

me: you know what you call this? you call this irrefutable logic.

The Blonde: correct dear Watson. that is exactly what this is

me: i know it. im very smart.

The Blonde: you have deduced that I am NOT an oompa loompa and therefore i AM THE SITUATION!. WHAT UP

And now...regarding lemon rolls. I was slightly disappointed because the mother of the author of the recipe declares solemnly after tasting said rolls that "this is the best thing I have ever put in my mouth" Vast exaggeration, and if not then please allow me to introduce you to my Cinnamon Rolls.

However, they were prettttty tasty. And made good use of the meyer lemons that my friend brought me!

Zesty...and I can wait while you are oohing and aahing over my impressive shot.

...maybe it's not that impressive.

You put your ingredients in shot glasses right? No? Just me then. OKAY

Ahh...the finished product:

Recipe!!

Regarding Family Recipes

It was my intent this evening to make my favorite soup, my grandmother's vegetable soup, a staple of Easter and Christmas dinners.

Or whenever I begged.

It's a good soup! With many vegetables for a particularly nutritious Tuesday dinner. Or it would have been had I not forgotten myself and used an entire stick of butter.

Damn. That was some tasty soup.

Also advice from Grammy when making this soup - "if it doesn't taste good, just add more bouillon!"

Bouillon FTW team. For the win.

NEXT UP - MEYER LEMON MORNING ROLLS - like cinnamon rolls, but with a delicious, lemony filling.

EDIT: I realized this post would be infinitely served if I ACTUALLY POSTED THE FRIGGIN RECIPE. So that all the internet can glory in its deliciousness:

2 cups lettuce, chopped (I used half of the heart of romaine head)
2 cups celery, chopped
2 onions, chopped (tears running down my face, per the usj)
1 carrot, chopped

Saute veggies in
1/2 stick of butter (of if you are, you know, slow of wits, an entire stick)
until you feel like the volume has reduced by approx 20%.

Add 2 cans of diced tomatoes and 4 cups of boiling water (electric kettle = awesome)

Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add 4 cubes of bouillon, salt and pepper to taste. Allow the bouillon cubes to melt and then the soup to simmer up again.

My grandmother says to keep adding bouillon till it tastes good, but this usually happens around 4 cubes.

Carefully ladle into bowls, making a minimum of mess, and present proudly to roommate. The Mav politely inquires as to how much butter is actually in the soup, declares it similar to eating a cookie, and happily consumes for 2nd dinner.

Cheers!
Frances

And now for something completely different!

It will not have escaped the notice of the discerning reader that it has been many days, nay WEEKS, (moons even?) since a last post.

...

Moving on!

Interesting article in Vanity Fair today - apparently V.F. and 60 minutes took a poll of approximately 580 Americans. This poll lead to the conclusion that "Americans are like straightlaced, upright citizens who turn out to have a surprising quirky streak - the accountant with an entire room dedicated to his collection of Pez dispensers. Alphabetized by character"

I must say, I wish I could agree a little more strongly. Surely we could do with more of the quirk and less of the accountant!

I should note that they based this "quirkiness" trait on the fact that 9% of Americans, if given the chance to change the map of the United States, would choose to combine the Dakotas.

Riiiiiiiiiight.

Hi Welcome. I'm Confused. And You Are...?

Oh - you are confused too? Yeah. Join the club.

The latest selection at the Non-Nerdy (Ok - maybe nerdy) book club is A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Mirakami:

And...what? Please be prepared for spoilers for the first 80 pages, cuz that is as far as I have gotten.

The Mav and I have discussed our feelings for this book, and so far they are generally not positive. She is displeased with the non-sequitors and general randomness, and I can't STAND the lack of timeline. I suppose that is unimaginative of me, but I like my stories to have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

The so called "sheep-chase" has just been introduced, and going from the back blurb, appears to be the main focus of the story. That being said, I think you could pretty safely compost the first 80 pages into mulch, and not really have done much injury to the story.

I AM SO CONFUSED. A great deal of attention has been paid to his girlfriend's ears? Apparently they are mindbogglingly gorgeous. Unfortch, I cannot empathize with the narrator here, as I have never seen a truly staggering set of aural accoutrement. I am always annoyed with a narrator I cannot empathize with.

Ok so this blurb provides a little more information - it is mock hardboiled mystery? Buckoes, this is NOT hardboiled. Not remotely. The closest egg analogy would probably be scrambled.

HOWEVER. We shall see. I like me a little bit of action - mayhap getting to the yolk of the plot (PUNS) will change my mind.

Being confused is not an uncomfortable state of mind for me after all, so I continue. Just muddled.

Images Courtesy of The Book Bark

A Photo Blog

I would like to direct your attention to the amazing work of photographer Phillip Toledano - in Days with My Father he documents the relationship he has with his aging father.

The work is beautiful, poignant, and sad. Above all - the work is love.

...What? I CAN BE SERIOUS SOMETIMES.

All the better to keep you on your toes, my dear