Unremarkable December.

Summer at the Dry Canyon, in December.

It's been two weeks since my last post and I have not done much of anything with that time. I did manage to get my hair trimmed and dyed, and schedule some photo shoots for current pictures, as you may have noticed on Facebook. In fact, waiting to see what pictures she'll have ready next are pretty much the only thing I look forward to lately.

I've cooked a bit, but nothing I've been thrilled with. I'm making a new Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe in the slow-cooker soon and I'm not even sure I'm looking forward to that. I made Cheddar Broccoli Soup last week that I wasn't impressed with, and Chicken Bacon Panini's to go with it. I wasn't thrilled with those either, which was depressing. I do have some turkey meat, I want to make a Turkey & Swiss panini inspired by the one and only Pioneer Woman.

Rigged with bells, to hear troublesome cats.

We did go out in the woods and steal a Christmas tree. It was the puppy Bo's first trip away from the house and into the woods.

This past weekend Ed's brother, Ron, came to visit with his new girlfriend and we had "Christmas" early. They didn't come for Thanksgiving this year, and Ed's parents will be gone for Christmas so this was our big weekend together. We took family pictures with the same photographer, as I came across a fantastic Holiday Package on CraigsList. (it included the pictures of Ed & I, which we took on Wednesday.) Afterward we had a turkey dinner (again. 16 days after Thanksgiving...) and watched Love Actually. Sunday before they left we decorated the tree and put up lights (which the puppy has chewed though two strands of outdoor lights already).

Terrible quality, hard to see. Sorry.

I was inspired to crochet again last night, sat down with an audio book of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (one of Ed's favorite books, and Ron's, and Kirk's. He's been waiting for me to read it forever.) and made myself a headband style ear warmer  In one sitting. (Did stay up until 3 am..) Without pulling it apart even once. So pleased with myself. I even made a bow on it. The perfectionist I am, I'm not 100% pleased with it.. but I am pretty close to 95% please with it. (A Christmas miracle!) I do find it too wide, so it doesn't sit around my head well. And I would like to change the dimensions of the bow, but besides that.. I've decided to make a handful of them for Christmas gifts this year. They only take a few hours, and the more I do it the quicker I get. (I've already made another basic wrap..I need more yarn for trim and decorations.) So I hope to sit down with all 51 discs of Les Misérables, crochet away, and maybe get though most of the book before the movie comes out. If I'm lucky. I want to practice making some flowers instead of bows for some, and I've been working on a new stitch I'd like to use on one of them, except now my hands are cramped up and sore, add Benadryl in the mix and I've decided to stop for the night. Sorry the picture is terrible. Taking a picture of something dark, on dark hair, in poor lighting doesn't turn out well.

The only other bit of interest is that I've recently began actually studying for my RHIT exam. Not terribly seriously at the moment, but I do now have access to mock quizzes and tests. I've been told by a classmate who just passed his exam over the weekend, that it wasn't worse than anything we had in class. That the program I am using is pretty much all he used to study, and working in the field as a coder he felt gave him no advantage when it came to the coding section of the exam. That is the area I am most concerned about, as it wasn't one of my strongest areas, or something I am particularly interested in pursuing. So.. while the questions are obviously not exact, they are covering the same material. There are some things I've found already that I need to go back and study in more detail, so that when the question is reworded, I still know they are talking about. (I have found it really easy to memorized the questions in the resource already, which is a bit of a problem.)

I shall have yarn and yarn flowers to share with you soon.. Pinkie Pie promise.

Squash & Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls

Trial got dismissed. It's good for the client, but I was getting excited. Oh well, I'm sure another one will come up again, tis the nature of the business, afterall.

It was nice to get to regroup at home this weekend. This was my first week working nearly full time and it wiped me out, I will definitely need my weekends in the future. Today Austin and I went out to Roseville (the 'burbs) and went to the behemoth mall they have out there just to look around. We didn't buy anything, but it was nice to get out of the city for a bit. After we got our fill of the holiday-mall craziness we meandered home and I continued to make these cinnamon rolls I'd started this morning.

Sure, it's not the prettiest roll on the block...

A few years ago on Christmas I made these cinnamon rolls, and we loved them. They're pretty cardamom-y, and after round two my inclination is to 1/2 the amount she used in the dough, and then omit it from the filling (which I will tell you about down yonder).  Still, I love the unique, almost anise flavor cardamom has.

For the filling, I wanted to use up a mostly whole butternut squash I had sitting on the fridge. I thought fall flavored cinnamon rolls would be awesome on Christmas morning, and since the recipe makes two batches we'll have some to bring over to our friends' house tomorrow morning.

le process

I diced, then roasted, a nearly whole butternut squash in the oven after coating it with brown sugar (maybe 2 tbs), cinnamon (1 tbsp), nutmeg (1 tsp), cardamom (1 tsp) and a small pinch of cloves.

When it was soft (20-30 minutes), I pureed the squash with a little soymilk (2 tbsp), maple syrup (1 tsp), and honey (1 tsp). I added extra cinnamon and one or two drops of almond extract.

The mixture made enough to spread on both batches of dough. Before we head over in the morning I'm going to make a simple glaze to pour over the top after I bake them. The one above is a lone-roll I baked just to make sure they were good (they are).

The butternut squash is a pretty subtle flavor and I think the cardamom flavored dough from the recipe kind of overwhelms it, so while I would highly recommend the recipe, I will certainly half the cardamom the next time I bake these. Also, it is not a typical super-sweet cinnamon roll recipe. It would be good with a nice glaze, since the rolls themselves are moderately sweetened.

Alright, now that I've made breakfast, I better run and whip up dinner!

UPDATE: I set the cinnamon rolls in a well buttered baking dish in the refrigerator overnight. Then I baked them at 400° for 15-20 Min. They were great. The cardamom had settled down a bit anf he filling tasted like pumpkin pie. YUM. <3 <3 <3

Whoopie Pies, Tetrazzini & a failed Salad.

Cookies; Mushrooms; BACON!

I've got pictures of food.. but nothing I'm really thrilled with. Although, worth trying again for sure. And the cookies turned out perfect, as expected. I first made these last New Years Eve, and once we decided I was making some type of dessert for Thanksgiving these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies were Ed's first request. I followed the recipe as it was and my only "issue" was that I had too much filling than I did cookies. Not a real big problem but I hated to toss the extra. And this is extra AFTER pilling on more onto each cookie. If you end up with excess filling like that, I suggest letting them sit over night. I gave one to Ed to test and while warm, the filling went everywhere when being bit into. But the next morning it had set up and was easier to eat.

My Thanksgiving salad, I didn't even bother taking a picture of because it wasn't as pretty as it could have been. I took the easy route and bought a box of organic spring greens, and I found out when throwing it all together the greens were starting to expire already. And my pomegranate that I seeded for it was going bad as well, so it was lacking that pretty bright red also. And it's possible I forgot the cheese for it all together. I'll give it a second try another day though. Made a vinaigrette for it which I felt was a little strong on the red wine, but Ed thought it was perfect.

The mushrooms and bacon were for a Turkey Tetrazzini. Which was good, but I wasn't happy with the quality of the left over turkey I used. I was using the turkey picked from the bones after making turkey broth,  instead of actual cut turkey from dinner. It did taste good, and smelled great cooking, everyone enjoyed it (and we had enough to freeze a second dish of for baking later), I think I'm just picky. I would like to make it again with better turkey. 

Ends of the scarf.

I finally finished the scarf I started making for Ed two months ago... I'm still not thrilled with the final results, but it is the happiest I've been with any of the attempts. You can see the picture one end is wider than the other, I still can't figure out how I manage that. Besides that.. I'm happy with it. Not sure what I want to do next. Clearly I still need practice at keeping my stitches even. I've been debating a "quilt" blanket, were I pretty much just stitch a bunch of squares (for the practice) and then stitch them all together. I wonder how much of a difference it'd make it I actually attempted to follow a pattern, but so far I'm just winging it. I would like to find someone who can actually sit and working with me on it, but most the people I know who can are in another state, or the wrong side of the mountains. I've got a bunch of black yarn, so maybe I'll just start with that.

Ed has had a break from swim lessons this week, having just the swim team and beginning life guard lessons. He's had a packet and CD-rom of some sort he got about two weeks ago, and now the lessons. He'll have the test in January and be able to actually life guard then.

Besides that, all I have is cat pictures.

Sasha

Sparta

Flop, not and wreaths

I feel like I'm stuck in a web. I can't really move, don't have a lot of motivation cuz I'm tired from trying to move, and it blows

Pass list, baby! Totally used this as my phone background
for a few days until I got the letter in the mail that
basically said "we're not kidding." 

A week ago today, this happened:


It was rather surprising. Austin can tell you I was a big bag of nerves all day. I even went to work on Thursday (when I don't usually) because I needed something to take my mind off of the news.

Thankfully, it was also good news for my three best law school friends, who I studied with for most of my time at McG. It would have been so awkward if one of us had not passed, I mean, specifically the four of us, because we constantly studied together.

But for the past four months I've been able to avoid being serious about applying for jobs because a lot of them strictly require a bar passage first before they actually interview you. So, my not applying for jobs was excusable since I want to work public sector and not at a firm, where I might have more wiggle room.

Now that I have passed, I actually have to get a job. I sent in 2 applications this week to public defender offices in Northern California, not far from where we're living now. I want so very badly to work for one of those offices. It'd be perfect. But, what will be will be. Deeeeeep sigh.

All that is just to say that I am feeling stuck again.  After we got the above good news, we celebrated. Since our engagement a bottle of champagne was in our fridge - it was promptly uncorked.

Then my cousin, Ryland, his girlfriend, Devon, our friend, Danny and Austin and I went out on the town. Eventually we met up with some other law school peeps who passed to celebrate. But first.

Yeah, it's dark ... it was night time.

Fishbowl happened. It was that kind of night.

On the homefront, I've been cooking but not well or memorably. When it is memorable, it's for all the wrong reasons. That dinner I was planning on putting up here was really unpleasant. Not kidding. I made tamales again, I've made them a few times now, and they're good, but I don't know... not something worth sharing I guess (particularly these ones because I just used old frozen veggie burgers I made a month or so ago as the filling, and that just does not sound appetizing.)

yes, it is upside-down, but I wasn't the one eating it :P

But I was redeemed this morning when I woke Austin up with a bunch of these --

The picture leaves a little to be desired. They are crêpes filled with cream cheese and cinnamon apples. The filling really was the star; Austin had four filled crêpes with extra filling on top.

Basically, I diced up a fuji apple in chunks, added a tablespoon of butter and 1/4 cup water to a saucepan with the apples with a tablespoon of brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom. Cooked it for 4-5 minutes until the apples had softened.

THEN, I took some of the juice from the apples, 1 teaspoon of maple syrup and beat in about 1/2 a brick of cream cheese. After cooking my crêpes with my handy dandy crêpe maker I slathered on some cream cheese, added in the apples and sprinkled on some powdered sugar and voila!

Out of my rut!



Also. As you've seen on instagram, I made wreaths. The picture I put up there was the wreath I gave to my Grammie, who we spent Thanksgiving with. I also made one for our door.

I was fairly proud of my work - even though they aren't professional quality or look particularly fancy, I am just completely not crafty, and so the fact that I could make something resembling a wreath, well that was just magical

ooooooooooh ahhhhhhhh

I liked the berries that were in my grammie's wreath, but I had a bunch of flowers left so I arranged them in a pretty vase (wrapped with red gardland).


I think we're going to spend the rest of the day decorating - putting up christmas tree and decorations.

Overall, it's been a pretty darn good week, though, I'm excited to get back to work next week.

Mostly Swimming.

Whelp, our big excitement lately was a evening out to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream as put on by the high school, it was adapted to be a musical and set in the 20's and quite fantastic. And we went on an unauthorized tour of the remodel of the high school . That was entertaining.

Warm ups and last minute instruction.

Events, Heats and Swimmers list

The water slide.

A day later, Ed had his first swim meet as the assistant swim coach. The Madras Aquatic Center hosted it,  and there were a total of four teams competing. It was the first swim meet I'd ever gone to, and Ed's first where he wasn't the one swimming. I don't know if I'd call it fun, but I did enjoy it and look forward to future meets. I'm sure it'd be different if I had a kid who was swimming, or more involved with the team in someway, however, I pretty much just sat there munching on the snacks provided to the Coaches. I was happy to cheer on the CAC team, but since I don't know any of the kids it was rather uneventful for me. Perhaps next time I'll volunteer as a timer (they needed 3 per lane!), or help out with recording the swimmers times or something. Be a little more involved myself.
I've never spent any time in Madras, (for those who don't know, it's about an hour away from where we live) besides driving though on our way over the mountains. I was fairly impressed with the Aquatic Center though. It has two indoor pools, the full sized pool that was in use for the laps, and a kiddie pool. They also have an impressive water slide into the kiddie pool, it's at least two stories high and wraps around a few times. I want to go swimming in Madras just to go down the slide. (Little known fact: swim meets.. include a lot of splashing...very wet tables.)

We then decided to drive from Madras to Bend to attend a surprise party for my brother. He was expecting a gathering of friends for the Duck game, but he wasn't expecting all the decorations and cupcakes and group of people yelling "Happy Birthday" at him when he opened the door. That was also a fun night out of the house. Lots of good food, disappointing Ducks game (the first they've lost this season I believe) and the to counter the pain of the the Ducks loss, they decided to watch one of the (UFC?) fights that was on. I couldn't tell you much about it as I spent the whole time entertaining a 2 year old who was enjoying beating me up. Got kicked in the face, choked out and bit.. but the little guy was exhausted by the time we left so it was time well spent.

Scenes from Dan's Party.

And that's all the news from me. I'm still not having any luck getting employed, but Ed is having fun and being successful at the pool. After the swim meet, the Coach he works with went to look up Ed's swimming times on the Oregon Swim site, and his best time that was listed (but not his over all best time) was 58.35 for the 100 Fly which was his stroke when he swam. The Coach was quite impressed with it (2012 Olympic qualifying times are 55, 57 seconds.) and actually had Ed teach a Fly lesson all day yesterday. He is so cute when he tells me about the kids he's teaching and his lessons "click" and suddenly kids who couldn't do a legal stroke, have pretty decent stokes that they won't get disqualified for.

Times from just one meet.

No big plans for Thanksgiving for us. Family is all over the place this year so I think it will be just Ed & I and his parents. We have Kirk in charge of the turkey and stuffing I believe. KD will be making a side dish and a dessert, and I'll be making side dish and a dessert. Ed wants the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie cookies I made last New Years. And I'm thinking about this Escarole Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Red Wine Vinaigrette, but 1.) I don't know if I like escarole as I've never even heard of it, let alone had it, and 2.) I should check with the others eating it before I decide to make it. KD asked if I knew how to make Green Bean Casserole so I think she may want that. I've still got a day to decide anyway.

Picture Post

I have nothing going on lately.. so I'll share a handful of pictures that will make my uneventful life more interesting for you.

Birthday Flowers

I woke up super early for my birthday to babysit Jace, who was asleep for the first hour and half that I was there. It was a long a morning, and Ed came by after work with roses, a coffee and a pomegranate. It was fantastic.

Birthday Pedicure

We spent Saturday evening with Dan & Connie watching the Ducks play, having dinner, celebrating each touchdown with Duck Farts mini-shots. Made watching football more interesting for sure. (I learned a lot too!) Dan had to leave town to go back to Cali for work early Sunday morning, but in the afternoon I went over to visit with Connie more and she treated me to a pedicure for my birthday. 

Bo Pup. (Black Lab/Chow Chow mix)

Came home from dinner Saturday night to find an odd amount of dogs barking outside at 10:00 pm, but Tucker wasn't outside taking part. However there was a specific yipping that was new. We stopped at the front door and looked at each other wondering if this new yip was coming from inside the house as it sounded. Inside we found this little 6 week puppy hanging out in a kennel in the kitchen. Kirk & KD had been looking around for a puppy for a while and they clearly found one while we were out that afternoon!

The current state of my 3rd attempt at Ed's scarf

I had nearly finished Ed's scarf... but it was too wide, and not long enough. And I was going to have to buy another thing of yarn if it was going to be able to actually wrap around his neck. So I pulled the whole out and started over. (And to be honest, that is the length of it after I'd pulled out another 3rd of it.) I should get on it though, because I've bought the black to the trim around it. But this whole 70 degree weather in November stuff doesn't inspire.

I haven't done much on the food front lately. Tonight we're making broccoli beef for dinner in order to use up some broccoli, and beef. I gave up on my yogurt. I think I killed my culture so it never formed. But while tossing it out it DID smell like yogurt, and the very bottom of the jars looked like I was on the right track. Thinking of trying it again with raw milk and starting earlier in the day so it's not 1 am and I'm in a hurry to finish it up so I can go to bed. Made Shallot and Maple Spaghetti Squash. The shallots in my recipe were a little strong. It was good and everyone enjoyed it, but it mostly tasted like shallots to me, so I'm still not sure what I think about spaghetti squash. I don't think I've satisfied my spaghetti squash curiosity yet. Did find a place to order cultures for cheese.. so I may experiment with making cream cheese in the next few weeks.

Told ya I don't I have anything interesting going on. Off to puppy sit. :)

Hippie Soup

Stallone is confused.

Last weekend we went to a Halloween party. We didn't rock any costumes, but the ladies did acquire some amazing mustashes.

The day after, I felt like pooh. Not sad, but in physical pain. It was a good night.

With the exception of going to the farmers' market this morning, and relocating to my bed for a late morning nap, I hadn't left the couch. But I needed to make lunch for the week and be semi-productive, so I made soup & then I ate some and thenI felt MUCH better.

I love the farmers' markets, have I mentioned that before? ;) Especially this time of year, you still have berries and some stone fruits left over from summer, but there's squash and root veggies and leafy greens all over the place. And it's all so cheap! Last Sunday's haul, for instance, was comprised of zucchini, acorn and butternut squash, kale and swiss chard, parsley, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and black eyed peas. And all told it was less than $15! Warms. My. Soul.

Normally, I don't buy beans at the farmers market, but I was walking around picking up these ingredients and suddenly had a hankering for this spicy soup my aunt used to make - a kale and black-eyed pea soup. And it didn't seem like a soup I could substitute in some other kind of legume for the kale, but LO AND BEHOLD! The lady selling the sweet potatoes also had a smallish cardboard box full of black eyed peas! It was a sign!

So it's what I made, with some alterations. Warms my belly and soul.

Barley, Kale and Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 8 cups veggie broth
• 2 cups black eyed peas
• 1/2 cup barley
• 4 stalks kale
• turmeric, cayenne, red pepper flakes, paprika, salt, pepper

I sauteed off the onion & garlic in olive oil first. Then added my broth and threw in the peas and barley to bring to a boil. I chopped up the kale and let it bubble for a while. I tasted it and thought it needed a kick, the red pepper flakes didn't add as much flavor as I wanted so I added a pinch of cayenne and a healthy shake of paprika. I was also compelled to add turmeric, and I'm so glad I did. Salt, pepper and BAM. Donezo. 

Soup-er Food

I know it sounds like hippie food and wayyy too healthy... but honestly, it is delicious. A quick, conservative, cost estimation would be the whole soup cost $3.00, there's probably 8 servings? So maybe $0.45 a serving? For lunch. A day. And it's been deeeelicious!

Such a rough life. 

I know I don't need to apologize for posting pictures of Sammy-cat all the time, but I worry its becoming excessive... oh well, this is too precious to pass up.

Cookies, yogurt & crocheting.

Although this happened... less than 300 miles on new tires.

I still have nothing of interest to post.. hence the delay from me. But I was pretty busy in the kitchen. KD had a surgery on Thursday, resulting in 14 stitches on her cheek, and has been recovering since. Friday afternoon, she said pizza was for dinner but asked me to make some yummy dessert. We chatted about possibilities and as I was leaning towards Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies, (possibly because of my Snickerdoodle coffee creamer) she did a little dance and said, "But I want oatmeal and cranberry cookies!" So I made both.

Messy kitchen, broken wisk, finished cookies

 In the middle of making the pumpkin snickerdoodles, I realized we had no pumpkin. So I had to run to the store (on my "new-new" tire). While I was there I grabbed some supplies to attempt making Greek Yogurt (turns out that's still in progress), and some new crochet hooks and yarn. (As it appears the hooks I did have, have been lost in our move last winter.)

The oatmeal cranberry cookies came out great, the snickerdoodles taste great, but had a strange dense texture. Not that they were bad, just unexpected. And I found the texture improved the next day.

I also threw a half gallon of milk in the crock pot to start my Greek Yogurt attempt. While waiting for it to reach the right temp, I went off to practice crocheting stitches. I did alright.. until I stopped and realized that I somehow managed to LOSE stitches as I went. My practice piece ended up a lot shorter than it started.

Finally I decided I was tired, and confused, so I went to finish up the yogurt and go to bed. Finishing the yogurt entailed adding a small about of live culture yogurt to the milk, and canning it, then putting it in the microwave with the light on for 8-12 hours to culture. Come morning, its still thinner than it should be, so I'm going to try straining it and see if that helps it thicken up. And the stitches that had confused me so, made a lot more sense after a bunch of sleep.

Milk into crockpot, jars in microwave, crochet practice.

Now, I'm working on a scarf. I think I made it a little to narrow, and I'm not totally pleased with my edges, so once I get the length finished, I think I am going to line the edges in black. Should help to hide my somewhat sloppy edges (although as I go they are getting better) and add a little more width to it. I shall be sure to share the finished results with you. Along with the yogurt results if I manage to make it come together.

UPDATE: I realized the scarf was getting smaller too. I completely pulled it apart to the very last stitch and restarted. It's wider (but I think I'll still do black trim) and I'm counting after every row now to make sure I have every stitch I should. (Because my attention span is too short to count while making a row, I can't get past 5 without losing count.)

Bagel & Pantry Happiness!

Ok, Ok, I suck. I know I said I was going to post this -- but I've been in a funk, you see. A pretty big one. I've been going to bed at like 8:30. What can be done!? I frankly have no idea.

Anyway, enough of the whine. This post is about... BAGELS!

Caraway, sesame and poppy seed bagels!

So, one morning last weekend, Austin and I woke up dreaming about what we should have for breakfast. As po' folk, our dreams of eggs florentine, biscuits and gravy, or tower's famous french toast were quickly dashed...unless, of course, it was something I could make myself.

After finding out how much stinking butter goes into making hollandaise sauce, and the fact that the ingredient list for english muffins was long and included the dreaded shortening, I gave up on any style of benedict. There was no adequate sausage substitute on hand... but... what about BAGELS???

With just six simple ingredients I could make authentic NY style bagels? Yes please!

Ya see, this is why I have built up our pantry so. I am now happy to report that I have both whole wheat and white bread flour on hand at all time, a variety of beans/legumes, rice/grains/pastas, and a whole boatload of spices. It's slowly becoming my pride and joy.

And saving us SO much money! Seriously, another successful dinner we've had this week, which I would have devoted a full post to if I wasn't already behind, was falafel pitas. I made the pitas, hummus and falafel (the falafel recipe was tweaked slightly, we baked instead of fried & added a bit of oil to bind in the oven) from scratch. The only other things we put in the quasi-sammach? Lettuce and feta cheese. It was such a reward to have a meal entirely made from scratch that didn't even require me to go to the store to get more ingredients!!

This is turning into more of a recipe box post than I intended -- but I've been having such luck with my cooking!!

Tonight's dinner is sweet potato tamales, I hope they turn out. I hope to get back in the groove of posts, mostly just to keep focused on the now, and my food success... cuz it makes me happy, and being happy is important.

You should make that bagel recipe, though. It was so much simpler than I ever imagined.

Pantry/Spices & cats for good measure...

P.S. I just burned a sh*t-ton of sliced almonds. FML. 

Hasselback Potatoes and Apple Braid Bread

I have been putting off a post because I've got nothing to report. Nothing much has happened, I haven't heard back from either interview yet (although I called to check in today). I've got a couple crafts in mind that I want to try out but I don't have the right color tulle for tutu's, canvas for pictures, or yarn for crocheting.

Oil Pan holes & crack size.

As you may know from Facebook, Monday night Ed was driving Hans (the Jetta) home in the pouring rain (when we had record breaking rainfall) and someone threw a rock off an overpass as he was driving under. The rock was small enough to go under the car, but large enough to get stuck. Cracked and put a hole in the oil pan and promptly drained all 5 quarts of oil. It was horribly scary at 10:30 pm in the rain, but in the light of day Tuesday it wasn't nearly as bad as we all thought. He brought the rock home, and while I have yet to see it, Ed says it's flat on two sides from dragging along under the car. A new oil pan and oil was ordered and Ed has been removing the damage and cleaning up the car in preparation for it's arrival. UPS made it here just before Ed was leaving for work tonight, tomorrow Hans should be put back together and running again.

While Ed was working on Hans, I started planning dinner. Made a meatloaf adapted from a meatball recipe. Used rolled oats instead of breadcrumbs, and Ed mixed up BBQ sauce in eggs to mix in throughout the hamburger as well. Also roasted some carrots in butter with salt and pepper which turned out better than planned. The big fun was the potatoes. I've been wanting to try out Hasselback Potatoes for a while now and thought since we have a bag of potatoes trying to sprout I should use them. The main trait of Hasselbacks is that they are thinly sliced but not entirely though the potato. (And in looking for recipes I discovered that they originated in the 1700's from a Swedish restaurant named Hasselbacken.)

Garlic Butter Potatoes: Good.
Using Minced Garlic: Bad.

Baked at 350 for 40-50 minutes. 

We lightly sauteed some garlic in butter and then spent forever debating the best way to get the *minced* garlic butter in the potatoes. Ended up just pouring it over, and I painstakingly made sure there was garlic in each and every slice of potato with skewers. Before putting them in the over with the meatloaf, I drizzled some olive oil over the tops and followed with course sea salt and pepper. They turned out pretty dang amazing and they are versatile. The slices don't have to be super thin, and you can season any way you like. There are recipes all over the internet, such as this one using tomatoes and bacon. Here is one using sage and butter. This site has 10 different suggestions in one. Ed isn't a big fan of baked potatoes, and I'm too lazy to mash 'em myself so I see this being a regular use of potatoes in our kitchen. Since making dinner, I've also learned that the best way to slice though without going all the way though, it to cut the potatoes on a (wooden) spoon. Good to know.

Kirk and/or KD bought a bag of Honeycrisp apples the other day that have just tasted amazing, and Ed has been bugging me to make an Apple Braid Bread ever since. So tonight I have.

For the Filling:
3 medium-size Granny Smith apples
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Peel, core and slice the apples (I didn't peel.. or use Granny Smith). Cut the slices in half (I did smaller pieces, bite sized triangles). Toss with cinnamon, sugar & lemon juice. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Sorry it's so dark...

For the Bread:
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon instant yeast (I prefer SAF Instant Yeast)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons vegetable oil
Mix dry ingredients together. (Tonight I used 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose white. And  splenda instead of sugar. And I think I forgot salt.. huh.) Add water and oil and mix. (Original recipes says to use a mixer.. I didn't want to, so I didn't.) Once the dough begins coming together flour a surface and kneed until smooth. Roll out dough into a large rectangle (12 x 16 is recommended, but I've never measured). Transfer dough to a greased baking sheet. Cut 1 inch long slices into the sides of the dough, without going all the way across. You should have a solid 1/3 of dough in the middle, and the remaining 2/3's of dough on either side with slices though them. Spread the apple filling down the middle of the dough. Fold the strips of dough across the filling, alternating from one side to the other. Bake for 25 minutes at the 350 degree from before. When golden brown, remove and let cool. (The original recipe has wonderful pictures if you need a more visual explanation. I know I do.)

For the Glaze:
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
5 teaspoons whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of kosher salt
Pinch of nutmeg
Mix together, and while the braid is cooling brush glaze over in a thick coat. Transfer to a cooling rack to prevent the bottom from getting soggy from sitting in glaze. (I didn't have any confectioners sugar or whipping cream so...)

Hopefully I've got something better to chat about next time.

Cornucopia Granola Bars

I was going to do this post mainly on ways that I have learned and practiced budgeting. But then, on Saturday night (partay), when I was avoiding writing my examinations for trial on Monday (!!!) I made these granola bars and I am just too stinking excited about them to wait.

Dopest farmers market haul E-V-E-R

I call them Cornucopia because 1) they're fall-ish and 2) once I started listing the "prominent" ingredients I realized that there were just too many to name in the title. Plus, cornucopias are bomb.

So, what are these prominent ingredients? Well I wanted to use quinoa, because quinoa granola bars sound sa-weet! And then I LOVE me some cardamom (shit's expensive, tho)  so I added that too. I bought some slivered almonds at the market and threw those in, then kind of married all those yummy flavors with a little drop or two of almond extract.

BUT WAIT! There's more! Maple syrup, applesauce, and toasted pumpkin seeds -- OH MY!

Ok, the full list is down below. Who knew granola bars were SO. DARN. SIMPLE?! And to be able to put in the flavors and key ingredients of the season? How has it taken me 28 years to do this!? GAH.

Cornucopia Granola Bars

Ingredients (be creative, b-e- creative!)

1 cup cooked quinoa (about 1/2 cup dry)

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup oat bran

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup raisins (after measuring, I coarsely chopped them)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch cardamom

2-3 tbsp butter

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 drops almond extract

2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp sunflower seeds

2 tbsp honey (optional)

1. In a bowl combine the cooked quinoa, oats, oat bran, almonds, cinnamon and cardamom. Mix.
2. In a saucepan add the butter, applesauce, maple syrup, almond extract and raisins (to plump). In the oven toast your seeds.
3. Once the butter has melted, pour the sauce over the dry ingredients and add the seeds to combine. Taste. If desired, add the honey. 
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet and, using a rubber spatula, spread it out evenly. My baking sheet is on the small side, 9x11 and it was about 1/2" thick all around. 
5. Bake in a 350° oven until golden brown (20-30 minutes). Your house will smell absolutely divine (and I do not use that word lightly!). Cool for a few hours before cutting. 

Ommmm nom nom nom.

Hans and Petra

Dog Shaming

Have you seen you seen the internet craze of Dog Shaming yet? I'll wait while you check it out.
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Our giant dog-in-law, Tucker, (120 lbs of black lab & Newfoundland?) earned himself a photo shoot for a submission to the site. I'll let you know when/if his his picture makes it though.

Wednesday morning started out great. Around 11:50 we headed out the door so I could babysit my little buddy Jace, and discovered the front of our Jetta, Hans, was destroyed. Besides scratches in the paint, missing half a license plate frame and tooth marks in the plate itself, the worst of the damage is the part of the grill he pulled off.

Tucker, is huge. Nothing about him is small. His toys include boat buoys, not sticks but tree branches, you don't play with him you literally wrestle. Small toys don't survive. He was bought a toy duck made out of kevlar that didn't survive. But he is very friendly, doesn't bite, and is not a destructive dog (his own toys don't count). He doesn't know how big he is. So we know he didn't just decide to chew up the car. Besides that, there is the start of a large hole in the ground right near the front tire where he was clearly trying to get under the car. Ed's mom and I backed up while Ed popped the hood to see just what it is the dog tried to get.

Bunny!

We believe Tucker chased this little bunny under the car. The bunny found himself a safe spot in the engine compartment, and Tucker did his best to get to the poor thing. We weren't really sure what to do. Turned the engine a few times to try to scare him out (which did nothing). Found a long skinny stick to try and push him out (which caused him to move into a more unreachable spot under the transmission). Finally we closed the hood, put the dog in the house, and borrowed Ed's mom's car.

When Ed picked me up about 3 hours later in our car, I asked what happened and got "I'm not sure." for an answer. So.. I can only assume that once the dog and the people were gone and it was quiet outside, the poor little guy found his way out and took off.

Sad puppy.

Petra

In other vehicular news.. I can officially introduce Petra, the 1999 Volvo V70 XC. Featuring:

• Keyless Entry
• Turbocharged engine
• All wheel Drive
• Leather Interior
• Side Impact Airbags(SIPS)
• Power Driver's Seat & Power Passenger Seat
• Power Moonroof
• Newer Pioneer CD Player with XM Satellite and IPOD hookup
• Cruise Control
• Tinted Windows
• Winter package featuring headlight wipers and heated seats

This is the giving-into-my-inability-to-drive-a-manual car, as it is an automatic. Kirk got the idea in his head last Sunday, and spent the week shopping on CraigsList for the right car. Mainly looking for Volvo's, but had  checked out a few other makes (including a super pretty blue new Bug) but none of them were quite right. Kirk found this one Thursday night after dinner, worked out the details Friday morning and by 1:30 in the afternoon he and I were on the road to Portland to pick it up. It runs great, handles well. Kirk had them put brand new tires on it today, and we ended up getting a brand new battery put in free of charge as well. Also has recently replaced brakes and timing belt.

It was pouring rain in Portland, and traffic was bumper to bumper which didn't make for great test driving conditions but we are both very happy with it. We had dinner across the street from the Shell service station that had it, to let traffic clear up and I drove her home! We paused in Salem for coffee, I called Ed and said "You know what's awesome!? Having a car that GOES when you step on the gas!!" (As at the end of it's days, my old Neon did NOT go when we stepped on the gas.)  Besides pouring rain and Portland/freeway driving, the trip back was great. Especially once we were out of Portland. There was the challenge of driving Santiam Pass in the rain, in the dark, and for the first time ever, but there was very little traffic, so it wasn't all that bad. Driving for pretty much the first time in years, and a in a car I'm not familiar with, I don't think it could have gone better.

Until I start working, at whatever job I end up getting, Kirk is going to be driving it to and from work instead of his truck. So we're sharing it until Ed & I are able to make the payments and cover the insurance.

Speaking of working... Ed was offered the position of Assistant Swim Coach for the Swim Club tonight! Couple more hours, more pay. He's been working with the Water Babies (how cute!) during his swim class hour, but with this position he'll be working with the middle school and high school aged kids as well. Fantastic news!

Drove home from Portland in the rain and a "new" car and didn't throw up!

Risotto style rice 'n' 'beans'

Lately, I have been the new kid on the block. With school wrapping up, everything I've done over the past five months has been a new experience. From taking the bar to starting a new job - I have never felt so much like the newbie. And it really is an awful feeling -- I spent three years in school only to get into a potential job and not know what the hell I'm doing. How does that seem right?

Hey there Mr. Grumpy Gills!

But at Dory says... just keep swimming. I love Dory and think of that quote often. Or, as Malcolm Gladwell wrote in Outliers, it takes 10,000 hours of practice before you become an expert. I got a ways to go.

So, while I diligently read case law, visit clients, and wait for that magic moment when the lightbulb flickers on and I say, "Aha!" to the newly deposited cache of knowledge in my noggin' (cuz that's what's gonna happen, right?), I need to feel like I can do something right.

Enter: cooking.

It's something I like to do, something I feel like I'm decent at, and something that allows me to be creative. So in these times that I'm feeling particularly low on life's totem pole, I bake... or saute... or roast. And if it doesn't turn out - I'm crushed.

Melodramatic? Absolutely.

When we first started this blog I resolved to find a really killer recipe to share, one that I concocted on my own (at least mostly). The first night I made a spanish tortilla. It was a'ight. Egg, sweet potato, onion, garlic. It was fine. But nothing to write home blog about. The second night I made bean and chile enchiladas with cilantro lime rice, Chipotle-esque if you will. It was delicious. But not pretty, and I used canned enchilada sauce. I mean, if you post an enchilada recipe, the sauce bes' be homemade, am I wrong?! And then last night... oh my.

I might be exaggerating -- It was edible,
just not entirely pleasant...

I mean, it doesn't look so bad. I was really excited about it... soba noodles with tofu in a spicy miso sauce with roasted eggplant. Mixed in some fresh veggies and we've got a yummy noodle bowl, right? Damn thing makes me shudder, or shall I say: miso nasty.

So I was feeling pretty low. I mean... I'm trying to eat healthier, we're trying to eat in, and I'm really trying not to run to the store just to buy silly ingredients for dinners. I managed to build up a decent pantry, so I have been trying to just be more creative in my cooking; that's the whole point, right? This was just not good. Bleh! Can't even think about it.

So tonight. I knew Asian was off the menu; can't handle any more rice vinegar or shoyu for a while. I was thinking eggplant parmesan, because I have the rest of a big eggplant to use... but it wasn't comfort food enough. Then, slowly but surely, an idea started to form in my head:

Risotto... with cheddar cheese... and sweet potato... annd, beer? aaand, lentils? 

Ok - OK... I know this sounds even worse than the stupid miso-soba-shit I made the night before. But I 1) wanted it to be a well rounded meal, 2) wanted to only use what I had on hand, and 3) I'm kinda nuts.

And, law! Was it good. MMMmmmMMMMM.

So, this is getting long and I don't want to keep rambling... but you should totally try this sometime.

Risotto style rice and 'beans' 

Ingredients
1/3 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup red lentils
3 1/2 cups vegetable/chicken stock or water
2 tbsp beer or wine (I used only the classiest: Tecate)
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 sweet potato
1 cup cheddar cheese
Olive oil, paprika, sage, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste

1. Start roasting the sweet potato with olive oil, paprika and garlic; I threw it in the oven about the time I started the rice & then pulled it out after I added the last bit of stock to the rice. 
2. Saute the onion for 3-4 minutes, until it's soft, add garlic for another minute. 
3. Add the rice, stir constantly so it doesn't burn. 
4. When the olive oil is gone & any water from the onions has evaporated, de-glaze with some of the beer/wine (or not - but it makes things delicious). 
5. Add in your seasonings - though be wary of salt... you probably will not want to add any (even if your stock is salt-free) because the beer & cheese is pretty salty.
6. Add the lentils, because you need a little protein and you know red lentils will probably just thicken the dish without being a big, intrusive legume. And you're a genius. 
7. Once the beer has evaporated, add a cup of the stock at a time, allowing the stock to be completely absorbed by the lentils and rice before adding the next cup. You might get impatient at the end because you're so darn hungry and add a cup and a half or so, to finish off the broth: that's okay - it won't ruin the final result (ahem.) 
8. When you've added all the broth, and checked the rice's done-ness, add the potato to combine. 
9. When the risotto has thickened nicely, turn off the heat and sprinkle in the grated cheddar cheese. 

At this point it might be a little soupy, but as it cools it will thicken - so you could be patient and wait for it to get to that creamy, thick, deliciousness.... Or, you could dish it up, snap a pic, and call it dinner! 

Soupy, I know ... but, check out them sexy carrot ribbons!!

Ego restored! And yay for blog post #2!

The waiting game.

So, I spent my weekend cooking (homemade pita bread filled with slow cooked Greek chicken. Chili. Mini blueberry pie cookies), and preparing for some interviews I had lined up.

Earlier this year, I spent about four months working on a project with Partners In Care, on a volunteer basis, helping them to implement a scanning system for their paper records into their electronic record system. I kind of managed to create a new position while I was there, and things were rolling along nicely for me to fill that spot until the beginning of summer. But then.. nothing happened. One of the last times I was there the office manager had said, "Management will not hire someone new for this." and I figured that was it.

Well, Monday I had an interview with them for this position that I created, and I'm essentially a shoe-in for it.  I'd be working with the Medical Records department scanning charts, filing and naming them primarily. I would spend some time with the three girls who currently work in the department learning their individual jobs in order to be back up for them when one is sick or needs vacation time, as a secondary job description. Third, the administrative offices and the Hospice House buildings are attached to each other. Hospice House has been planning to begin scanning but still has not. That would be another part of my job description, along with backing up the one medical records tech on that side as well.

Finally, during the interview there was expressed interest in my getting my RHIT, because in order to maintain their yearly certification they hire an outside RHIT to come in and do the check. They are interested in having their own RHIT in-house. Which means I will be the ONLY RHIT on staff.
The downside to all this is, I would be starting at part time (24 hours a week), and it's in Bend, while we are attempting to settle some roots in Redmond.

To add to the roots in Redmond, Ed, who had an interview at the swimming pool last Friday, went in for a night of volunteering with swim classes Monday, and didn't leave without first filling out W-2's! He is starting out part time with just a few hours, but as he gets a little more experience and all his certifications sorted out, he will get more. They were looking specifically for an adult, as most of their staff are currently high school students, who are also on the swim team or water polo team and periodically are out of town at meets, and therefore there is less staff at the pool. So that is very exciting news.

Today I had another interview, for a full time Medical Records position in Redmond. It went really well. The office manager had said she received over 75 applicants for it in two days. She had narrowed it down to a "core" list of people who either had current education or experience in the field. This position has five main duties, including sorting correspondence from the fax server, filing it or forwarding it to physicians. Sorting mail, release of information, backing up the front office and phones, and making sure the network between their (fully electronic) system and the hospital lab are communicating correctly.

I have been really hoping for this position, mainly because it's full time and in Redmond. And after interviewing and getting  more information about the position and company I am even more interested. It's a small, but busy, company owned by the two main physicians. There is a third who just started working there about a year ago, and they also rent out office space and exam rooms to a couple other physicians a few times a week. I also feel it's a little more relevant to the education I just spent three years getting. I think the interview went really well, I will find out next week if I am selected for a second interview. If so, the second interview will be scheduled for the following week, with the two physician owners.

Now I wait to hear back. My main concern is waiting two weeks for a second interview, assuming I am offered one. I don't know how long Partners in Care will wait for a response if I am waiting for another interview. I'll be spending the rest of this week thinking about the decisions I may have to be making soon. There is an exciting event hopefully happening later this week. If all goes as planned, look to hear from me again sometime Friday.

Intro pt. 2

I'm Amy, the second half of the dynamic duo. I am also 27, though about 1/2 a year younger so I've actually known Jessica for proportionately more of my life than she's known me (competition is the name of the game, people!).

[obligatory couples photo]

I live in Sacramento, CA with my boo, Austin, my little fuzzy boos, Samson (Sammy) and Delilah (LiLi, Lilers for short), and our fair fishy Phil (short for Landfill).

I just graduated from law school in May, and am currently working for the Public Defender's Office. I always figured I'd go into environmental law (my hippie track record is immaculate, see below), but too much paperwork makes for a quick career change, lemme tell ya! My work will probably not be a topic of much conversation around these parts, but the depressing nature of some of it makes it critical that I develop my hobbies.

I have always loved cooking... when I was a junior in high school I took over the shopping and cooking duties for my family. It was also around that time that I became vegetarian. I'm not so much an animal-rights/health-nut... vegetarianism just seemed to fit into my general tree-hugging, dirt-worshiping disposition.

I continually reconsider my dietary habits, wondering if the way I'm eating is the healthiest choice for me and the environment. Last year I was considering going full vegan, and this year I'm debating going whole hog (!) into omnivorism. Likely nothing will change -- but I guess it just illustrates how important balance and being purposeful are to me. Running themes, if you will.

I also ache to be crafty. Unfortunately, I have the patience of a toddler, so all my projects never seem to leave the drawing board in my brain (cuz I definitely have never gotten around to actually making one of them there drawing board things), but with the advent of Pinterest, and now this blog, my attention-deficit self finds hope that maybe, just maybe, I too can create a chandelier out of all of those mason jars I've been impulsively collecting.

ooh! CATS!

Sammy ---------------------------Liler       

There really is no hope for me, is there? Ah well - in the very least, it should be interesting...