A Thursday Night in Nowhere

I'm trying to get us to eat more fish lately.

Not only do I love beef, but my favorite fish tend to be the ones you shouldn't eat more than once or twice a month due to stupid mercury levels. That being said, I realize that salmon is one of the best fish to eat (omega3-blah-blah-blah), but I really really hate that fish. Because it's so good for you though, I keep my eye open for recipes that look like they may mask the taste pretty well.

Salmon in lemon brodetto with pea puree.

Why I would pick this I have no idea. Not only do I not care for salmon, but I hate peas with a passion- they actually activate my gag reflex (which caused me to almost puke on my grandma when I was little).

When I told Innocent M about it she immediately said she would leave the mint out of the recipe, but I figure that since I'm making a dish that already has things I don't like in it, I might as well include the ingredient that makes me think of delicious adult beverages too.

Perhaps one of the things I was drawn to was the fact that it had garlic in it. I like to put garlic in anything I can, and in this case it called for one clove so naturally I put two. After the peas, mint, garlic, salt & pepper, and EVOO we pureed together I mixed it with dry jack (it called for Parmesan, but close enough). Interesting, isn't it? It was at this point that I realized that you don't cook it. Or heat it up. Huh. So raw peas. Riiiight.

The brodetto was easy, and when I tasted it it was on the lemony side, but after trying the two separately you could tell that they would marry well. As seen here before the salmon was on top:

It was a recipe for four, so not only were our salmon fillets too big, and I added too much brodetto to each bowl, but the puree was a little on the not-so-stiff side. I'm not sure if this is due to the change in cheese, or if I pureed it too long.

The salmon made the puree smoosh into the brodetto, which irritated me since I was trying o get a pretty picture, but when we tried it- yeah, amazing. Not only did is not have a huge salmon taste, but the peas didn't taste like peas, and you couldn't even tell there was a crap-load of mint in there. I would probably tweak a few things, but nothing much- and I am definitely cooking this for guests at some point or another.

Now I just have to get a delicious wine to pair with it.

101 Things in 1001 Days

Kate did this, so I thought I may give it a try too. Especially since 1001 in way days sounds like a really long time (Aprox 2.75 years). I should mention that I started this blog weeks ago, but I'm lame and couldn't think of 101 things. Meanwhile I'm seeing Kate cross off a bunch of crap on her list and as of today I only had 7 things down. (You'd think since I live in the middle of nowhere I could find the time to make a list...)

Per Kate- and the person she stole it from- I must complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. The tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on my part).

As I perused the Internet for inspiration, I realized that, well, I've already done a lot of stuff. Although exciting to think about, it just made coming up with new things that much harder. I realize that they don't have to be anything that's a big ordeal, but I am already the queen of multi-tasking, so shit tents to get accomplished around me.


So here's my effort at a long list of crap I'll try to accomplish:

1. Bring my hydrangea back to full glory


2. Actually plant my lemon tree
   
3. Get an ice cream maker (and not buy store-bought crap again).


4. Learn more about sewing- including how to operate my sewing machine
   
5. Back-up all the pictures on my computer


6. Gain 5 lbs of muscle
   
7. Lose 2 fatty pounds. =)


8. Start running again (at least 3x per week)


9. Spend at least a weekend in Lake Como


10. Visit Mom in Florida twice


11. Go to NY
12. Buy a random person coffee


13. Send something to postsecret


14. Have my S.O. at faire at least three of the six weekends


15. Help somebody learn a new skill
    
16. Visit the Grand Canyon
    
17. Have a romantic moment in the canals of Venice


18. Hike across Switzerland
    
19. Publish one of my poems
    
20. Go to the theatre at least 4 times
    
21. Have a food fight. (A very messy one, and not worry about the mess it makes.)
    
22. Visit the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt
    
23. Read a classic novel
    
24. Finish scrapbooking my past travels
    
25. Be so happy that I cry
    
26. Share a martini with a/some good friend(s) at least once a month
    
27. Learn to cook 6 foreign dishes
    
28. Trace my family tree as far back as possible
    
29. Test drive a car I can't afford
30. Bungee Jump
    
31. Give a stranger a compliment
    
32. Go on two picnics
    
33. Spend one night a week NOT on my computer or iPhone
    
34. Make it to one of Boob's Bad Movie Nights
    
35. Commission a bustle dress to be made for me
    
36. Practice my millinery for aforementioned bustle dress
    
37. Go to an art opening
    
38. Spend an afternoon snowboarding on nothing by black diamond runs.
    
39. Try four new vegetables
    
40. Bury a grudge
    
41. Surprise someone twice
    
42. Cut high fructose corn syrup out of my diet
43. Buy a puppy
    
44. Learn two new words a week (English or German)
    
45. Meet a foreign diplomat
    
46. Move back to London (Ha! What a long shot...)
    
47. Start doing pilates and yoga again
    
48. Buy a new computer
    
49. Set up my digital picture frame
    
50. Find a plant that needs very little sunlight for around the wine rack in the hallway
    
51. Put that really neat concrete stuff on the garage floor
    
52. Clean out my closet for Good Will
    
53. Buy new boots
    
54. Teach my brother a new dish to cook to impress the bitches
    
55. Find the best onion soup in SF
    
56. Host a cocktail party
    
57. Teach my cat how to fetch beer from the fridge
    
58. Teach somebody how to appreciate Belgian beer
    
59. Take my dad wine tasting
    
60. Write 10 more poems
    
61. Finally get HD tv
    
62. Get a new car when mine finally dies
    
63. Bike 10 miles (at once)
    
64. Make it to Drew Day at Disneyland next year


65. Host a Christmas party
    
66. Watch the sun rise
    
67. Make love under the stars
    
68. Visit an exploratory museum
    
69. Put my toes in an ocean/sea/gulf that I haven't yet
    
70. See glaciers in person


71. Attend the Black & White Ball in SF
    
72. Go to Canada


73. Stay in hotel for no reason
    
74. Fix my iTunes problems

Although there is not 101 here, the rest of the list is complete, just not suitable for a public format. Maybe I'll write them when I get to cross them off, but for now they'll be in a safe place. The ones I did not disclose here to me about 10 minutes to write, as the other ones took me all day. Funny how that works out...

California Deaming

Some times I want to slap myself for complaining about where I live.

This week has been amazingly beautiful for January, with a high today of 67 degrees, sunny and clear.

Those poor suckers in the rest of the country - yeah, not so lucky.
Read about crappy weather here.

Now I know one of the reasons Grandma said leaving the Midwest was the best thing she ever did.

I am confessing: I am infatuated with my cat. I honestly think that my cat is the coolest cat out of every cat I've owned or seen. Although not known to be graceful, he does play fetch like a dog, and hold a conversation with you. My pussy is King.

I didn't think I had a problem, but when I plugged my iPhone into the computer I decided to go through the pictures on it, and shockingly there are a lot of Puss pictures.

Seriously- with 19 lbs of furry lovin' like this in bed with you, can you blame me for not wanting to get up?

I fear I may be one of those crazy old cat ladies when I'm in my 80s.

Shit.

Mmmm, Tequila

Who knew that there was a crazy bloody Mary-ish tequila shot chaser called sangrita. Smells like toilet water, taste like orange-juice bliss after a shot. Maybe I should try another to be sure...



Sent from my iPhone

A GPS reminds me of television: An amazing invention, but somehow makes you stupider for using it.

I love my GPS, but because I always have a cute little voice (I usually call her "Vicky", and on occasion "Dumb Bitch") telling me where to go and when to "make a legal U turn", if for some reason I am driving there without the smart-ass portable contraption- I. Am. Useless. Sure, I could have driven there twenty times, but I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings because I didn't have to.

(Side Note: I have one of the settings in German which drives The Hubby crazy. I like it because I'm the only one that knows what the f*^k is going on, and you can't change it in the middle of a route without completely shutting the system off and allowing it to reboot and transfer everything back to English. Ha. That voice is male, and I like to call him Hans.)

When we initially set up the system we had a huge debate about which voice to have speaking. I wanted the sexy British guy, but The Hubby refused to have that "jack-ass" telling him where to go. So we settled on "Vicky". "Vicky", however, often entices anger when she dings on a street that is not there, or takes me to the ocean when I want to head towards the hills. I think she's out to sabotage me. Maybe we should have compromised on a British female instead of an American one. Or maybe we should update our system so it knows where to go on new streets.

The other thing that bugs me is when you ask somebody for an address, and they proceed to give you directions to the address. You politely tell them that you have a GPS, but they insist that their directions are better than where ever the magic box (insert joke here.) will take you. Because really- why would I want to easily follow the directions that are being played out-loud, when I could be trying to remember what you told me, or look away from the road to follow something written down? But wait....Didn't I just call myself stupider for listening to that damn thing?

*sigh*

Happy Friday!

2009

I went in to 2009 with a wonderful, bright, hopeful and optimistic outlook.

As of now, I would like to give a big F-OFF to 2009. You have hardly started, and I am already through with you. Seriously. I wish I could skip you as if you were a stupid Geiko commercial recorded on my Tivo, so I can get back to my regularly scheduled program called life.

That has been my mantra as of late. I will humbly follow that up with a view of delicious unfiltered sake, because that should make anyone feel better- at least for a few minutes.