Tonight's Specials

My boy and I are very grateful for the wonderful friends and family we've been blessed with. Some people post frequently in November sharing the list of things for which they're grateful. Clearly I am not that type of person :).

My boy and I do like to play host though, so we thought we'd invite all of our local friends to stop by our house on Saturday between 2:00pm and 8:00pm so we could feed them and fellowship for a little while. I mentioned in my last post that I'm really behind the 8 ball for a party, well this is it!

I thought I'd post the tentative menu for this party that's been neglected so long. Items in red we've completely given up on, Items in green have been made, Items in yellowish orange have been started, items in black haven't been touched at all (are you as worried as I am?!):

Bread basket (roasted garlic, baguette, challah)/possibly parmesan cookies

plain butter, blackberry lemon butter

eggplant walnut dip: http://www.chow.com/recipes/13433-roasted-eggplant-and-walnut-dip

Maple Onion Jam http://www.countryhome.com/images/PDFs/Maple-OnionJam.pdf

blue cheese pate

blackberries (possibly other fruit if creme anglaise is made)

Crudite & dip -- someone took this out of my hands!

Gruyere honey mustard puffs

possibly cheddar olives: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/hors-doeuvres/recipe-cheddar-olives-047009

some kind of flavored popcorn -- thank you little lad

Roasted Fall Vegetable Pizza: http://www.marthastewart.com/313662/roasted-fall-vegetable-and-ricotta-pizza

Dinner:

Some kind of meat (suckling pig?, chicken from chinatown? pot roast? brisket?)

roasted potato stacks http://gourmandrecipes.com/roasted-potato-recipe/

Balsamic mushrooms (and/or brussel sprouts)

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/main-dish/quick-recipe-pumpkin-ricotta-pasta-casserole-130962 ricotta pumpkin casserole

Dessert:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/dessert/recipe-chewy-molasses-cookies-with-crunchy-lemon-glaze-130827 lemon glazed soft ginger cookies

pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting

vanilla ice cream

maple ginger ice cream

possibly madelines

possibly peanut butter smash cookies

possibly creme anglaise

possibly meringue

Drinks:

Chilled Cranberry ginger punch (with sparkling water if desired)http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/hot-cranberry-ginger-punch-10000000633522/ hot apple cider, sparkling wine, red wine, root beer

Clearly we have a ways to go. . . I'll let you know how it all turns out!

A Million Points of Interest, Not a Single Blog Post

It's been brought to my attention that some of you are no longer enamored with the ball pit, and you'd like a new post to go up. I hadn't realized this because, as of yet, no one has invited me over to take a dip in their ball pit and I assumed that it was my duty to keep that post at the top so you wouldn't miss any important instructions! I mean, I really, really want to visit a ball pit people.

Here are various things that are not terribly interesting, nor in any particular order, but are things I've thought about in the Month Plus since I've been MIA.

• The bus stop I wait at every morning is right next to the largest independently owned pharmacy in New England. There are several women who work there that stand outside smoking and gossiping before work (a do as I say not as I do sort of thing, I think). The other day, or week, or possibly month at this point, I heard one of the ladies exclaiming, "Oh, I know! Everyone is sick right now!" Let's review, THEY WORK AT A PHARMACY!!! Of course everyone they see is sick! It made me smile. . .
• My boy and I are planning a laid back quiet open house type party on Saturday. We've been planning it for almost three weeks. I have a schedule of when items should be done to ensure maximum relaxing planning and execution. We've accomplished about 1/10th of what needs to happen by Saturday. I am usually not home on Wednesday or Thursday nights. I am getting scared.
  
• I am currently making maple onion jam. I don't know whether I'll like it or not, but we had onions, we had maple and it seemed like an appropriate fall themed item to make. I can tell you it has thyme in it. I'm not a fan of thyme. . .
• My laptop died. Perhaps that's not entirely accurate, there's an incredibly sad wheezing noise it makes if you to try and start it up, but it won't ever actually get to a start up screen, it just sort of breaths labored breaths that make you want to tell it as much as you love it, it's okay, if it has to leave you behind. That's not an excuse for why I've stopped blogging. I'm just telling you it isn't helping with the blogging.
  
• After much angst and wavering I think I might (notice any wavering?!) get an iPad. It was this keyboard that swayed me. Though my boy points out that it may not be the answer to my dreams I think it is.
• I just got back from a girl's weekend in NOLA. Though one of the ladies and I said at the same time "I'd rather live in Vegas than here," I did enjoy my visit and wished we had had more time to eat!
  
• We went in honor of the date I've been waiting for most of my life, 11-11-11. The numbers still make me sigh in satisfaction. They're as comforting and lovely as hearing a dishwasher running at night. I hadn't realized the dates visual similarity to corduroy, but luckily, this other obsessed person was able to point it out!
  
• Here's a tip, if you're going to Herbsaint, listen to the waitress, get their house made spaghetti with guanciale and fried poached egg small plate!! I heard a guy at another table say to his waiter as he got up to go to the bathroom "Do NOT under any circumstances deliver my spaghetti while I am gone! If you deliver it and I am not here, there won't be any left when I get back!" I thought he was exaggerating. Let's just say it was not the dish I ordered and I am still thinking about the bite I had.
• Air boats are now on my list of approved water craft (it's a short list, canoes, and kayaks have not made that list).
• I got to go up to the 33rd floor of a building on State Street today. the view was amazing! I could see the chain of Boston harbor islands!
• I saw some clay gift tags and I've decided I'd like to make some for Christmas gifts this year. Clearly I have none of the tools and our craft area is sort of leaking all over the house so this is JUST what I need to do!
• I still have a tub of clear glycerin hanging around from when I tried to make these super cute soaps for a wedding favor (I was overruled). I've told my boy I want to try and make soap for Christmas too.
• It's unlikely I'll do either of these things, I mean look back up to the bullet point about the fast approaching Thanksgiving Party. . .
• We're responsible for getting a turkey to my boy's family's house for Thanksgiving this year. Several years ago we were responsible for cheese and olives. We brought an overwhelming supply of both. I was informed that they only liked sharp cheddar. . . Last year we were in charge of stuffing. I got nervous I was using too much liquid while making the stuffing and used a suggestion to cook the stuffing in muffin tins for individual servings, it turned out dry and awful (though it was much closer seasoning-wise to the stove top stuffing I prefer). So this year we're bringing the turkey. We'll see how that goes.
  
• The good news is that the onion jam appears to taste like the yummy Sardignia pizza from Sophia's Grotto. The bad news is that it also looks black. Think people will eat black onion jam?
• It doesn't really matter. I finally have one thing checked off my list. I'm going to bed!
  

More Bouncing Fun

Remember that adult sized jumping ball I told you about? Here's another adult sized idea for kid type fun: http://kevinjameshunt.com/ball-pit-balcony/how-to-build-a-ball-pit-on-your-balcony/ This guy built a giant ball pit (complete with inflatable shark)for his balcony.

Source

How cool is that?! Don't even lie, you're secretly jealous. Kevin James Hunt is clearly a GENIUS!I'm totally filing this away in the "design ideas for when I get a house pile."

"Tap His Smiling Toes"

I have a pair of shoes I'm pretty sure I've owned longer than I've known my husband. I suppose this isn't terribly unique, there are a lot of items I brought into our marriage that have preceded him significantly. These shoes have made it through massive Good Will cullings. It's possible that I've even moved to two different apartments with these shoes.

What's strange about the length of time I've hung onto them is that these shoes have always been so uncomfortable that I've never been able to wear them outside of the house (and usually only make it a few hobbling steps in the house before I take them off). They're not particularly flashy shoes, and I'm sure my sister wouldn't approve of them (it's actually possible she would, but that would make them the first pair of shoes I've bought that she'd approve of). They're just plain black loafers with a little bit of a heel.

The problem is I've always thought if I could simply stretch them out where they pinch over the wide part of my foot, I'd get a lot of use out of them. They'd work with the basic black pants I wear to work, they'd mildly dress up a pair of jeans. They'd probably even look okay with a black skirt. They'd be the "little black dress" of my shoe collection if only I could wear them more than two steps.

I put a shoe stretching thingy on my amazon wishlist ages ago, but no one has ever bought it for me. Probably for the same reason I've never bought it for me. It isn't a terribly sexy gift and if I have a little extra to spend on myself I'd much rather get a fun book or a cute house-ware.

Recently I was reading one of the 14 design blogs I mentioned yesterday and the blogger took a break from her design ideas to ask for advice about comfortable shoes one could wear when doing home design projects. She got a slew of advice. The next time she blogged on the topic she mentioned that the shoes she'd purchased were a little too tight and to make them easier to wear she used a frozen bags of water to stretch the shoes (warning that's a link to a video).

I tried it with my shoes and while it wasn't a complete success, I did manage to wear them around the house for about 20 minutes before deciding they were too uncomfortable to leave on. They were really comfortable everywhere except where I have bunions (yes, disgusting I know). I'm thinking I might try the ice technique again, or possibly splurge on the shoe stretcher spray now that I can at least walk around in them a little. Think this is just false hope, or might it work? Any other suggestions?

One of these things just doesn't belong

I read a LOT of blogs. Currently I'm subscribed to 14 design blogs. I don't really do a lot of interior design in our own house since we rent and usually my idea of "design" is to strategically throw my clothes all over the floor. . . So mostly my reading of design blogs is like window shopping.

I've seen things I hate, things that just aren't my style, and things that while I might love them, there's no way I'd be brave enough or savvy enough to try them. Massive use of patterns falls into the latter category. I'm not sure I'd love it if I were actually living in it, but I totally love it in pictures.

I fell in love with Jason Oliver Nixon's Apartment last year when I saw the pictures featured in New York magazine this spring. I was reminded of that apartment because Apartment therapy has been doing a feature on collections and recently they listed patterns as one of the collections (though I was unimpressed with most of the examples they posted). When searching for the room I remembered being so striking I mistakenly attributed it to Jonathan Adler.

While I LOVE so many of Jonathan Adler's pieces, his home is nowhere near as patterned as Mr. Nixon's. There's no reason why it couldn't be, he certainly has a number of very loud (and I mean that in the most flattering way) wallpapers. Jonathan Adler's blog mentioned a room designed by Diana Vreeland that also fits the bill as far as patterns. She said she wanted her living room to look like a "garden in hell." How can you not be fascinated by a description like that?

Source

You may not agree with my love of overwhelming amounts of patterns, and my examples may not be great, but I think it takes a great amount of skill to create rooms with multiple patterns without them all clashing and screaming out against each other. I would never be able to manage it. So, in the meantime, I just look at rooms other brave souls have designed.

What questionable interior design ideas are you mildly obsessed with?

"A Swinging, Latin Sort of Snack"

I LOVE Doritos! I know it's not an incredibly classy food to admit a passion for, but there you have it. We can't keep any in the house because I would eat the entire bag over the course of a day or so (I have self-control issues).

That's why I wanted to be sure and let you know the sad news that the creator of Doritos passed away recently. That, and also, he's being buried with Doritos. . . I'm not sure I'm that committed to the product, but his family is convinced he was. You can read the whole article here.

Turns out he committed his whole life to snacks, he started out as a cheese salesman and then was an ad-man for jello. Also, he hated the late night cheeseburger flavor (me too!!). I wish I could have met the guy!

The Good Old Days

You may (or may not) know that my dad is a letter carrier, as you can imagine the September 30th deadline that paper after paper is reporting about makes me nervous (last time I talked to my dad he seemed pretty chill about it).

Anyway, in light of that I thought I'd post a link to this Slate article: http://www.slate.com/id/2304468/?from=rss

Also, have you sent your fun mail yet? I haven't, I ended up hand delivering mine. I also wrote 16 thank you notes this weekend and managed to mail 5 of them this am. I think that leaves us with only 2 more to do completely and 11 left to address and stamp.

How long does it take you to write thank you notes? It apparently takes me on average 11 minutes and fifteen seconds per note, is that really long? Is that why I hate writing thank you notes so much?!

UPDATE: 3 More Mailed as of Noon! Now just waiting for addresses on 8 (if you're keeping score that means I'm half way done!!).

We Interrupt the Regularly Scheduled Programming

My mother once said to someone, "Sarah really likes commercials." I have no recollection of the context in which this was said, and I think it's sort of a weird comment, but I really do like commercials. I like that commercial breaks let you have a chance to run to the bathroom or let you stop and do something else briefly. I like that they're a finite time, so I can run go do something and know that I'm done with that task by the time the commercial is over (hello laundry switch overs). I also just enjoy watching some commercials. Some of them are so well done it's like you've got bonus "shorts" in between your actual show. Below are some ads that I'm currently enjoying.

When I saw this ad, I immediately thought of my friend Meg:

Not only would she totally train a bird and a dog to do that (if she weren't afraid of birds and allergic to dogs) but she re-enacted the music video for ah-ha's Take on Me with our friend Chris at her 30th birthday. The best part of that was when they finished their reenactment and she said to me, "My dad's gonna come over here and ask me if I'm drunk!" Sure enough her father came over and said, "Meg, are you okay?!" Her response, "Yeah, we were reenacting the music video for Take on Me" she then walked away leaving her father standing there with a stupefied expression on his face.

This ad is pure brilliance:

This ad makes me smile EVERY time it comes on:

I love the brilliance of whoever came up with all the random things going down the street, but also the recurring "I could have had a falcon," makes me laugh!

Insurance ads usually suck me in. I like the Mayhem ad campaign, I love Flo and a number of the Geico ads. Here's one of the ones I think is great:

Subaru has had a few ads lately that I have found terribly cute. This one with the little girl sucks me in every time:

I love when she puts the seat belt on her knees and says "Daddy, Ok" In the comments on YouTube, it says that both of the girls in the ad are actually the guys daughters. I hope that's true, it makes the commercial that much better!!

I also like a new ad where a girl who has moved across the country worries about her parents. I can't find the ad right now (I was pretty sure it was a Subaru ad too) but the best line in the whole thing is when she's talking about how broken up they must be because "I'm their only child. . . .except for my sister." It totally sounds like something I might say :).

What ads are you currently enjoying?

Oh Modern Family, You are a Tease!

So did ya watch the hour special for Modern Family Last night?! I did. Were you disappointed that though they advertised an hour special, it was just two separate episodes? I was. I mean come on, they built up that dude ranch episode and then it was only half an hour?! Also, the "I will only be checking somewhat satisfied on my comment card." was far funnier out of context.

On the other hand, I had crazy flash backs in the scene where Claire is correcting Lily about how old she is since I spent a good portion of Tuesday night doing the same with one of my friend's kids :).

Yeah, this is one of the lamer of my blog posts, I'm sick, you're lucky you got anything ;).

Things I'm Currently Digging

We went to the fair on Saturday. It merits it's own post (I LOVE the Fair!!!) At the fair we saw judging for Belted Galloways. I don't think I'd ever seen one before. They were sooo cute and cuddly I think they might have usurped the place in my heart Jerseys once inhabited (sorry mom). I was sad because it didn't look like you could pet any of them and their fur looked soo soft! They even have fuzzy ears.

Source

I'm also pleased that Modern Family won 5 Emmys since it's one of the few current television shows I watch (though I occasionally catch Big Bang Theory and I do love that show too. . .). I'm even more pleased that day after tomorrow there's an hour Modern Family Special to kick off the new season!! "I will only be checking somewhat satisfied on my comment card." Brilliant!!

On a completely unrelated note, I'm currently obsessed with pickled peperoncini, I don't know why but when I came home for dinner last night we stopped at the grocery store and I bought a jar. I had eaten three before dinner was even in the oven. . .

What are you digging currently?

Imagine a Menagerie

I want a LOT of pets. I am quite content to be able to leave the room without fearing a little critter will come up and sample my meal while I'm gone. I'm happy I don't have to use a lint brush constantly to rid myself of pet hair. Yet, I still have a burning desire for A LOT of different pets. Below are some of my top choices.

I am pretty serious about my current desire for a King Charles Cavalier (I don't want my husband to mistake that animal's presence on a mostly pipe dream list to indicate that I have stopped believing he will get me a non-bug-eyed specimen for Christmas -- though I am mildly worried that it might be lonely while we're at work).

Source

I would also like a pygmy hedgehog (how can you not be totally charmed by their cuteness?!?). It would be especially good if we could get a circus cage for him! I found out this weekend my husband's second cousin once removed (or something like that) has a pygmy hedgehog, she wasn't really interested in talking to me about it though. At the time, she was busy begging her mother to keep the big toad they'd found.

source & source

Next on the list would be a Neapolitan Mastiff. It's been on my list since my friends and I went on spring break to Seattle and saw one in a boutique on Whitby Island. Despite it's immense size it was very graceful (not breaking anything in the shop) and so gentle and sweet tempered. I think it might be the same breed they used in the Harry Potter movies to portray Fang.

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As my mother always said, Jerseys are the prettiest cows. Maybe it's the dairy farmer in my blood, but every time we go to the fair there's a yearning for a Jersey of my own (they're pretty brown eyes rimmed with long lashes, who can resist?). While a full sized cow is definitely not practical for the city, I totally think we should get a Miniature Jersey Cow! Of course they produce 6 gallons of milk a day and have to be milked twice a day, but that just means we'd have to be sure to keep our house fully stocked on cookies so my husband could keep up :).

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I've been watching a lot of the Golden Girls lately (sadly it's moved to midnight so it's harder to watch -- COME TO NETFLIX ON DEMAND GOLDEN GIRLS!!) and Dreyfuss from Empty Nest sometimes guest stars on the show. Wikipedia said he was a mutt, but when we were apple picking the other day we saw a dog that looked an awful lot like him. So Leonberger has now been added to the list of must have pets.

Source

So those are my top five, what is on your list (I might have added a rat with a racing stripe down it's back but in searching there were terrifying images of snakes everywhere!!)?

Randomness

Don't you love it when I post random items I find in emails and chats from years ago? I hope you said yes, because here's another one from December 2008:

This morning we got on the train where a woman got on who was reading, The Newly Updated Handbook on Herpes. I mean really if something merits one of those handmade lace trimmed book covers, I think that is it!

As we were getting off the train and the herpes woman was still sitting on their reading her handbook on herpes, a guy got on the train with a large box of toilet seat covers; leaving me to wonder if he knew about the herpes woman on there and was being extra vigilant.

I'm Back Didja Miss Me?

Sorry, I was doing so well there for awhile with a slew of posted ahead posts (brilliant). Work got really crazy last week though so I was thinking about that most of the week and packing for the trip, but I think I might be back on track for posts again.

Anyway, turns out I needn't have worried about our gift. The wedding has been postponed and it was handled so badly (and I mean really quite badly), we're not going now. . . I spent the first evening of our vacation almost in tears, but that may have been a result of the extreme fatigue brought on by the work I mentioned above.

Late Saturday morning I wanted to cry again, this time a result of getting stung by a yellow jacket. It was not an auspicious start to the family weekend, but things ended much better. One highlight of the weekend was going to a couple of antique shops and finding a slew of golden books. I didn't buy all the ones I wanted (seriously $7.50 for a golden book, what are you smoking?!) but amazon has a fair selection for under $4 and I'll search them more thoroughly at some point.

Speaking of children's books, awhile ago (by which I mean over two years ago -- happy birthday little G) we threw a shower for my friend using children's books for the menu. It looks like I'll get to re-use the idea for someone else and I'm pretty excited about it (just like I was before). You know I love a theme and I love children's books so what more could I ask for? Also, a children's book themed menu is pretty simple since you can usually find a children's book to match. I happen to know this woman loves chocolate covered strawberries, thus we'll have The Little Mouse, the Chocolate Covered Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear

Some ideas we had the first time around were:

Make Way for Ducklings Salad
Deviled Green Eggs and Ham
Three Billy Goat Cheeses Gruff served with The Stinky Cheese Cracker Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
Dill Pickles to Pittsburgh
Blueberries for Sal tartlets
Madeline(s)
Goodnight Moon Pies
Ice Cream Cake Larry
Chicken Soup with Rice
Bread Pudding and Jam for Francis
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs-liders
Potato Pancakes for Breakfast with Rain Makes Applesauce topping
The Smoked Salmon Pinwheels Princess
If You Give a Moose a Muffin
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie etc.
Popcorn or The Popcorn Book
Three little pigs in blankets
The Peanut butter, Marshmallow Chocolates Incident
The Giant Jam Sandwich Cookies

What book (or food) would you like to see if it were your shower?

A Few of My Favorite Things

We have a wedding this weekend (9/10/11 -- isn't that a brilliant date? I mean it's not my favorite date, but a close third). Lately Amazon's 4 for 3 has served me well by letting it appear we paid mildly more for the gifts we've given than we did (or the nice way to spin it is we've been able to stretch our wedding gift budget a little farther so that the bride and groom get a little extra-- total aside within an aside but do you think it was Freudian that I had trouble spelling groom and it came out as goon?). It's not terribly difficult to purchase the items off the registry that qualify for 4 for 3 and then call the place where the couple actually registered to have the items removed. So the bride and groom don't get multiples and we get the satisfaction of free two day shipping and the price of one item less.

I've been sort of putting off purchasing a gift for the wedding this weekend though. I put a lot of items from their registry in my cart for my husband to look at before purchasing (it's for his niece I figure he should get some veto power). It's sat in my cart about a month. This past weekend I decided that since she was family maybe to make her feel more loved we should buy her some of our favorite kitchen items, items she didn't necessarily register for but which might prove useful in her kitchen. She and her husband are just starting out, she's lived at home for the last 20+ years without a kitchen of her own and, as far as I know, has not done much of the cooking there.

I'm torn, in my head I hear my friend from Other Pieces of Me telling me to "Just go with the registry, that's why people make registries it's WHAT THEY WANT!!!" on the other hand I like to think I give good gifts, couldn't we come up with a gift she didn't know she wanted?! I hope I come to a decision before this posts. . . .

Below are some kitchen items I love, some I've blogged about before, some I have not. They are all items I would totally replace if we had some kind of horrific kitchen fire destroying our beloved kitchen items. It turns out picking my top 10 kitchen items is almost impossible, these items have taken a LONG time to narrow down. Far longer than a blog post should really take :). If you gave us a wedding gift and it's not featured here, just refer back to the last two sentences and assume that it's number 11 on our list!!

When you look below you'll see why I don't post pictures. I tried to put them in a different file all nicely together and then when I uploaded it, it was all too small. I am no good at embedding them polyvore-style straight into the blog though. I read enough blogs to know I did a really shoddy job but I don't have the knowledge or the time to change it.

Cow Image from Here, Microplane Image from Here, LeCreuset Whisk Image from Here, L'econome knives, Chicken Image My Own, OXO angled measuring cup Image from Here, Dexter knife Image from here, Browne-Halco 11 inch Pan Image From Here, flexible cutting boards Image from Here, Silpat Baking Liner Image from Here

The Big Lobster. . .

So I know this story is old, but I am so tickled by the whole thing that I thought I would post a link to the original story about Zabar's "lobster salad" and the almost as brilliant follow up! If you haven't already read it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Who eats White Peaches?!

I just ate the juiciest loveliest peach from our farm share box this week. I mean dripping down your chin juicy. I did not want the peach to end. When we go to PA later this week we'll be going to a farmers market in Gratz --I love Gratz, PA, my husband makes fun of me saying that even the people who live there don't love it as much as I do! It was at that farmers market that I finally learned what free stone peaches are (yeah, yeah, it wasn't rocket science to figure out, it means that the pit easily removes from the fruit).

The difference between white peaches and "regular" peaches is that the white peaches tend to be sweeter and have less acidity. The thing is, I've yet to have a white peach that had good flavor. They seem like watered down peaches, sort of simpering half siblings of the "regular" peaches.

Any white peach lovers out there? If so, tell me what all the hype's about!

Prayer

I came across a draft of an email I apparently never sent. It was from years ago (the friend who it was addressed to has changed his email address more than once since then) but I thought that maybe it would be something worth sharing on the blog (and yes, I'm getting kind of desperate for material already -- you might want to help me out a little lest I start to slow down and thus stop for another 6 months).

Anyway, I was emailing about something that Lauren Winner wrote about in her book Mudhouse Sabbath (and if you haven't read the book, you really should, I'm a big fan). Ms. Winner was an Orthodox Jew turned Christian. In the book Mudhouse Sabbath she explores some of the Jewish traditions in light of her new faith. The section I was talking about in my email is where she discusses the liturgical prayers that Orthodox Jews use. They have prescribed prayers for many daily activities. When she became a Christian she fell away from that and used more free form prayers. A point in her chapter is that while liturgical prayers can sometimes become rote, they also can sometimes make us less selfish than free form prayers, molding our thoughts to the creator rather than trying to mold the creator to our thoughts.

I have discussed this chapter with a number of people since I read the book and I think it's a very interesting argument but it wasn't the point of my email.

In my email I was discussing how even those of us who were brought up without much influence of traditional prayers (I had never even seen The Book of Common Prayer until after I read Mudhouse Sabbath) tend to start to create our own traditions in prayer. In the same way that a number of Jewish prayers begin Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu (I think it's loosely translated as Blessed art though Lord God. . .) I find that often I open my prayers Dear Lord God. . . and end them with in Jesus Name, Amen (decidedly less Jewish :)). Another woman who I used to pray with used to chant throughout her prayer Abba, father. I don't know that this is earth shattering, but I do think it's interesting. How about you? If you grew up a "free form" Christian, do you find yourself praying in patterns?

Hop to it!

Um, you guys, I know it's kind of ridiculous, but I've fallen in love with these bouncing balls. It's a good thing I don't have a kid, because I am totally torn, do I love the bright red bull, the dino rider, or the hot dog best?! Maybe the elephant. You know I love elephants. . . They even have a sumo wrestler!! I mean come on, how do you choose?

Sadly, they only have two options for adults and neither is quite as exciting as any of the kids options -- go figure. I can tell you though, I am getting one for Christmas (as in don't worry about buying me one, someone already has :)).

They also made me smile because I remembered the scene in FRIENDS where Phoebe's list of things to do before she turns thirty includes a bouncing on a bouncy ball.

Have you come across anything as crazy that you're attracted to?

Some Fun and Crafty Ideas

Yesterday I challenged you to send people some fun mail. Below are some links of fun crafts you could make and then send on!

Surprise Balls --I've had these bookmarked for so long (I considered making them for kids at our wedding)

Tiny Pinatas -- you can use any leftover water balloons you have from the summer!

Elephant Delivery -- okay, so this one is the easiest, print it on card stock and let your recipient put it together. Yes, it's very valentine themed, but still, how fun to get an elephant in the mail!?

Turn a beloved paperback into a custom hard back (um, and you can send it book rate!!)

Photo Shrinky Dink Jewelry --I thought about doing this with some of my boy's art to sell at open studios. . . I don't think it would work though).

Felt Finger Puppets -- fairly flat and they could be as fancy or fanciful as your creativity/skills allowed.

Photo Napkin Rings -- send flat and let your recipient make into the actual ring, great if you or your family would be missing a holiday or other family event!

Temporary Tattoos --it's unclear to me, but I think you can just cut the tattoo paper yourself (one reviewer said you needed to own the sillouette cutter).

You can find lots more ideas for crafts all over the web, but one of the blogs I read offers you a bunch every day. Go visit Oneprettything for more ideas!

Stamped, Sealed, Delivered

I was talking with a friend of mine about what she could do for save the dates for her Cape Cod wedding. I suggested, yet again, that it would be super cute if she took the images the BPL has made available of vintage postcards and made her own postcard save the dates. She shot that idea down (yet again).

I remembered that one of the bloggers I read, giverslog, has a feature on fun items she's mailed and one of those was a bucket. I told my friend she should mail a little bucket and ask people to put their wedding on their "bucket list" I thought it would be a super cute idea. I got shot down again. I won't tell you what my friend's idea is (lest it's a surprise for any of you who read my blog) but I do think it's pretty fun!

I've been thinking about mail lately, not just save the dates and wedding invitations (since we've been invited to eight weddings this year they've certainly occupied a certain amount of my thoughts) but fun mail, non-bills and not junk. A friend of ours gave us an "item of the month" for our wedding. She made a commitment to send (or hand deliver) something to us every month that seemed like something we'd want. She said she'd looked at a lot fill-in-the-blank a month clubs and non fit the bill for what she wanted to give so she made her own.

My father has taken to randomly sending me books from amazon that he thinks I'll enjoy. Just last week I got a fun surprise from my aunt. She sent me a package which contained an item that reminded of her the minute she saw it! My friend, Emily, talked about how exciting it was when her sister-in-law mailed them a ball last spring. Their mailman even got in on the fun, tossing the ball through their screen door so the mail was bounced to them, rather than delivered.

It's so fun coming home and discovering a package or a letter waiting for you. I don't know anyone who isn't excited by "fun mail" greeting them at the door. So why is it that we don't send more "fun mail" to those we love?

It's not like the post office makes it incredibly difficult (though, I'll admit, some postal clerks make mailing packages a HUGE annoyance). They even have super fun stamps, like the new Edward Hopper Forever Stamp (unveiled this week in Provincetown, MA), not to mention, the kid-friendly Pixar Forever Stamps and the Sunday Funnies. Some of the stamps have really interesting stories behind them (readily accessed on the USPS website)

Are we so busy that we can't slap some stamps on an item or scrawl two sentences to another person to let them know we're thinking about them? I think it's more than that. I think like my long list of thank you notes, and my long neglected blog we get overwhelmed by the time that has elapsed since the last time we sent something or touched base with a person. It's easier for us to keep putting it off till we can devote the appropriate attention to it.

A new month is about to start and I'm challenging you to send someone you know fun mail, random mail, something that will bring a smile to their face when they get home from a hard day of work. It doesn't have to be lengthy, it doesn't have to be incredibly deep, it can even be anonymous, just send something fun! I promise I'll send the three thank you notes that have been in my purse since February and I'll work on sending the rest of you deserving people the thank you notes I owe you. I'll also try and send out one fun item a month. Are you with Me?!

P.S. I did NOT write this post because my dad works for the Postal Service, though it doesn't hurt :).

Bonus Points

So a lot of blogs I read have regular features, be it "Awesome Shit I Want Monday" or "Happy Mail: 13 ounces or Less" (I soo will write more about each of these bloggers in an upcoming blog post cause I've loved some of their features -- I'm just dragging this blogging thing out for all it's worth).I've decided that for this spurt of blogging (which, lets be honest will last probably 2 weeks max) I'd add a feature called "Bonus Points."

My husband makes fun of me when I tell him certain things (getting me a glass of water in the middle of the night, doing the dishes, etc.) would earn him bonus points. He usually wants to know what he can cash these "bonus points" in for. We're not Chucky Cheese after all. I have mentioned that the bonus points make up for all those times when I subtract bonus points from him in my head (not re-filling the Brita pitcher, leaving droplets of jelly on the floor, etc.)

Anyway, the "Bonus Points" feature will involve things that can be made and/or done that would earn bonus points with me. Don't say I didn't warn you with that intro, bonus points are actually not trade-able for anything :).

Here are some current bonus point worthy items:

Make me these:

Cheesy Mega Tots (um seriously, Thursday Night Smackdown's description and pictures has had my mouth watering since she posted them I. NEED.).

Malteser Cake

Do This:

Volunteer to set up chairs and tables at the Chelsea Soup Kitchen my boy and I work with. If you can't volunteer personally, ask everyone you know if they would be willing to commit to an hour or two a month to help with set-up and don't stop until you have at least one person committed (it's a great volunteer activity for people with young children, they're already up by 8:30am and they're attention span usually lasts long enough to drag some chairs and spread some tablecloths!)

Bonus Point Earners this week:

Other Pieces of Me, she read my blog post on Kohlrabi and then presented me with one when I went over to her house!

My boy, he bought frames and mat board and then framed and matted pictures all in one evening when I was desperate to have them by the next morning!

What Would We Do Baby, Without Netflix Watch Instantly?

So I know there's been a LOT of uproar over the increase in rates netflix is instituting in September. In fact, at that brunch I mentioned a couple posts ago, someone said, "yeah but netflix is so expensive now." It's not really. I agree, a 20% increase is a pretty huge jump, especially in a recession. But it's still only about $4 or $5 more a month, so really the cost of a fancy coffee a month more. It's not like the annual 20-40% hike we see in health insurance pretty much every renewal!

I am not trying to spur a debate over netflix pricing, I just thought I'd mention a few things my boy and I are enjoying watching instantly (we LOVE watch instantly, though I'd love it more if they'd add The Golden Girls, Murder She Wrote, Modern Family and NCIS, to name a few).

We finished, the short lived Out of Practice, it has Phil from Modern Family in it and you can see glimmers of that character in his portrayal of Oliver. I thought it was a super cute show, though nowhere near as brilliant as Modern Family.

My boy and I are currently rationing out Sports Night, again, a cute show, though I'm glad Peter Krause was free to make 6 Feet Under when the time came.

I love how many old television shows are on watch Instantly. My boy and I watched all of Simon and Simon (LOVE) on there and currently I am catching up on Family Ties. I was only 3 when it started so I missed the episodes with Tom Hanks and Geena Davis (and even if I'd seen them, I'm not sure I would have gotten all the nuances).

They have all of the Dick Van Dyke Show, and if you're not going to watch every episode (and I totally think you should), you should at least watch "Pink Pills and Purple Parents". In this episode, Mary Tyler Moore who usually plays the straight man, takes on the physical comedy role and she's GREAT! I also totally recommend The Cosby Show, though my current favorite episode (if I can only convince you to watch one) is Father's Day.

Not on watch instantly, but another show I got from Netflix and loved was Bride and Prejudice. It's a super cute rendition of Pride and Prejudice Bollywood style. Perhaps my favorite scene was the dance of the cobra.

Any suggestions on Watch Instantly Items you love on Netflix?

Family, the Ties that Bind And Gag

So I totally stole that title from Erma Bombeck (I love her!). I was telling some friends recently what I find to be the hardest thing about being married. It really is the inlaws. I LOVE my husband's family. In fact, at one point he accused me of marrying him simply for his family. I always wanted a big boisterous family and so it's exciting to have inheirited eight nieces and nephews and to instantly have not only four more siblings but really eight more because they're all married.

The thing is, you grow up in a family and dysfunctional or not (and I'll tell you, my family really felt like we put the FUN in dysfunctional) you learn the system. I'm not gonna lie, every time we go home for a visit my dad says to me, "why do you come back?" Every time I leave though I miss those people I've just spent two weeks fighting with. . .

Despite the fact that my father loves to tell the story about how we're "the quiet family" (a nickname we earned from a walmart greeter when we walked into the store in silence as part of the aftermath of a fight we had in the car), my family fights. We yell, we swear, we slam doors, and stomp and vow (very loudly) to never speak to each other again, and to never come back. Then it's over, no need for apologies really, no need for hugs (omg, is there no need for hugs!!) and you talk again, and you laugh and you tease and all is right with the world.

When you get married though, there's this new family. A family who didn't grow up playing by the same rules your family did, not matter how similar on paper they might seem. So you know your family rules, and you want to apply them to this new family, but it just doesn't work. No matter how much you want to shake the people (or, barring that, at least shake your fist), you have to learn (and then play by) new rules. So far the one I have the most trouble with is where people really do simply stop speaking. They didn't announce it loudly and continue shouting back replies. They just. stopped. speaking. How do you deal with that? No, seriously?

Won't You be My Neighbor?

So a long time ago on this blog (it would have to be wouldn't it, since I let months and years pass between blog posts), I mentioned someone who often rode the bus I was on. It was not very complimentary. . . I've now found another person who frequently rides our bus (or rather, she found us).

She's from Pittsburgh and had noticed my boy's PA paraphernalia. Both Penn State and Hershey Bears Hats. On Monday she started a conversation with us. A conversation that lasted all the way from when we got on the bus to when she got off at Back Bay station. Turns out, she lives so close she can see our Apt from her back porch (we could see her apt too if our house weren't so strangely cut up).

So far we've seen her every day this week, and while our conversations aren't earth shatteringly deep, I really like her. I'm hoping that we become even more friendly with this newly discovered neighbor.

Kohlrabi My Old Friend

So, as always, I haven't blogged in a long time and I still owe a lot of you thank you notes.

Let's pretend that neither of those things are true. Let's also pretend that I'm not responsible for my organization's blog and that I haven't neglected it for about a month too. Let's just start as though we were friends that actually talked on a regular basis and you knew so much about what was going on in my life that my babbling about food we've eaten recently/recipes we enjoy would be natural.

Good, I'm glad we got that out of the way!

Anyway, we went to a Free Friday Flick a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my friend C's birthday. The movie was Tangled. I am pretty sure that Disney declared that after Tangled they were going to stop making princess movies because they don't have the turn out they used to. Let me just say that I like princess movies, I am especially partial to Sleeping Beauty, but generally I'll watch any princess movie (it's Bambi I hate!!). I don't think that Tangled is an indication that they should stop making princess movies, I think it's an indication they should stop making shitty, trite movies that simply aren't funny. . . The absolute funniest part of that movie was when the witch/mother says: "I don't want to be the bad guy" and a kid a couple of blankets over from us shouted "YOU ALWAYS _WERE_ THE BAD GUY!"

C enjoys a good theme as much as I do, so for her birthday we pulled out all the stops on a salad themed menu. There were about six salads, but the top salads based on consumption seem to be the Vietnamese Shrimp and Glass Noodle Salad and the Corn Salad with a sweet lemon dressing and salty/crunchy sesame seeds. I also tried this watermelon salad and learned that I love the combination of dill and watermelon (I think I like it more than basil or mint and watermelon) but I am just not a sake fan -- at least not the kind I used.

Skipping ahead to last weekend (BECAUSE WE TALK ALL THE TIME REMEMBER?!?) we hosted two brunches (listen, we're not clean people so when our house is in some semblance of order we have to make the most of it). On Saturday we had friends over to the house who had gifted us with a waffle maker and a toaster for our wedding (I mean doesn't that sort of imply that they expect to be invited to brunch?). We had two types of waffles plain and banana (we used mixes, but I feel no guilt, the stonewall kitchen mixes are super yummy) and a slew of toppings: there was blackberry lemon butter (my boy thinks I needed to push it a little more because it tasted mostly just like colored butter), Amish butter (from Lancaster and everything!), freshly made vanilla whipped cream, bananas in brown sugar, lemon curd, peanut butter sauce, and this super easy praline ice cream sauce (I know it calls for pecans we used walnuts) -- I would use salted nuts next time or add a little salt to the recipe.

We also offered various bread products to be toasted and a yummy egg dish I like to make with caramelized onions, sausage, sharp cheddar cheese and dollops of ricotta. To wash it all down we had iced coffee using this recipe, maple lemon iced tea (I did not make it well), and mimosas (both orange and grapefruit).

I had high hopes for our organization and planned on making some sample menus for people, things like, "the new england elvis waffle" banana-bacon waffle with peanut butter sauce and maple syrup; "The nutty monkey," a banana waffle with brown sugar bananas and caramel walnut sauce; and then I ran out of ideas. . . I had plenty more toppings just no more clever names :).

One of our friends is a plain vanilla kind of guy and so when I asked him what type of waffle he wanted and what he wanted on it (mind you, by Saturday we'd added a maple waffle to our list using these pellets from King Arthur Flour) he sort of balked. Later I asked him what he wanted to drink and he said, do I have to pick a topping for that too?! Of course, these brunches occurred before I read this article.

Whew, I see why more bloggers use pictures in their posts :). If I haven't lost you already in the long boring lists of food we've made and eaten, I thought I'd try one more. On Monday night we got our delivery of vegetables and I was giddy with excitement. Included in our box was a kohlrabi. I haven't had kohlrabi since I was a little kid and I'd wander across the street to our neighbor's yard. They had a double lot and one whole lot was devoted to their incredible garden, row after row of raspberry bushes, strawberries, fresh carrots, and other yummy items, including kohlrabi.

One of the bloggers I read was complaining about kohlrabi and how much she not only didn't like it but refused to believe she ever would like it. Growing up we ate it raw, just sliced that puppy up and ate it like you would a carrot stick. It was mildly flavored and totally refreshing. It's sort of like daikon in it's refreshing crispness, but with a subtle cabbagey flavor. It looks like a majority of people eat it cooked. If we get another one, perhaps I'll try this recipe, but our kohlrabi is long gone, eaten raw with much pleasure as soon as it was brought into the house.

A lot of blogs I read end with a question, so I'll leave you with this, what vegetable do you absolutely adore which you don't eat often enough?

DON'T PANIC

Imagine that title in large friendly letters. . . In case you don't get it, it's a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. If you didn't get it, then you probably also didn't get the reference to the book under Interesting topics relating to our wedding on our wedding website. What's that?! You never clicked on the link?! Well here it is reprinted for you:

According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, our wedding date is the binary equivalent of the "answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." Can you think of a more auspicious wedding date?

I even wrote about the importance of the wedding date in our wedding announcement for the Anchorage Daily News. You probably didn't see it there though. Since I never actually sent the form in. In case you're interested

SRH and SPK will marry in Boston on 10/10/10. SRH’s especially excited about this date; according to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, their wedding date is the binary equivalent of the "answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." They will have an Alaska reception July 3, 2011. SPK and SRH met while volunteering for a homeless outreach program sponsored by Park Street Church. They are both board members of The Network of Community Food Providers in Chelsea, MA and continue to serve the underprivileged on Boston Common with their church. By vocation, SPK is a senior draftsman at McNamara and Salvia, Inc. By avocation, he’s a landscape photographer who looks forward to yearly visits to Alaska. SRH is a reference librarian at the Insurance Library Association of Boston. She is the daughter of DMH and KLH, of Anchorage, and a graduate of East High. SRH is a 2001 graduate of Hillsdale College and 2002 graduate of Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, where she earned her masters degree. SPK is the son of GK and DK of Halifax, PA and a 1995 graduate of Pennsylvania College of Technology.

I know, it's not thrilling, but my mom REALLY wanted me to publish it in the paper, so hopefully, four months late, that fulfills that dream.

Anyway, I used the above title to let you know I won't be posting for a bit again, we're going to Central PA. I don't want to accuse it of being the hinterlands, but there's only dial up Internet service where we stay. . . It would be impossible for me to type all this drivel on dial up (aren't you ever so grateful for technology now :)).

Have a good President's Day weekend!

C is for Cookies, S is for Stories so long and boring you'll want to shoot yourself. . .

This weekend I had a "girl's night" with women from my Thursday Night Outreach Group. I had planned on making a variety of cookies for dessert but one thing led to another and I was so far behind by the time Saturday rolled around that the only thing I'd managed to make ahead was a sad looking ice box cake.

The ice box cake was originally going to be chocolatey and yummy, like smitten kitchen's, but I couldn't find the chocolate wafers. Instead I found Anna's Ginger Thins (total aside, but, for a little anna's fun, you can take their cookie quiz). I also saw a tip from kitchn lifted from the LA Times that suggested using a food processor for making whipped cream that stayed stiff. A few more googled attempts and I decided on a maple flavored cream to go with the ginger flavor. Once it finally came time to make the whipped cream I decided to add a little brandy too.

The problem was I haven't really ever made whipped cream before and the directions from the Times and Kitchn weren't really step by step. . . my cream was not really whipped in the end, but it was a nice flavor. It didn't really fill the bowl well though for layering. My boy stepped in with our new whipped cream maker, but it only takes half a pint at a time and each use requires a new nitrogen cartridge so that seemed pricey and useless after two tries. I knew that the cream was going to sink over night, but it was a pathetic little "cake" that greeted us the next day. Since we'd been given the trifle bowl from one of the women coming, I was determined to sit my super sad looking pile of goo out. Luckily, the flavors worked well and the women are the super supportive kind!

As the week heading toward Saturday progressed and I hadn't prepped any food nor made a move toward cleaning my house, I remembered that palmiers we're fairly simple to make and that a blogger I love, Joy the Baker, had written about them awhile ago. The blogosphere blew up about them briefly just before Valentine's day ruining any attempt at originality I might have had, but I've already mentioned who I was cooking for, so it wasn't a huge deal :). To dress up my palmiers I used a little raspberry jam and shaved on some chocolate (using a microplane we also got for our wedding -- I LOVE that tool) . I am not sure that you could taste the chocolate but people seemed impressed by the palmiers.

Instead of the original 13 women I'd planned on, in the end there were only six of us. Four of the women brought another dessert to share. Chocolate chip cookies, brownies, a red velvet cake and flourless chocolate torte all came to keep my contributions company. I may not have been successful at providing a cookie buffet, but we certainly had plenty to feast on.

I was thinking about all of this today when I saw this blog post on Serious Eats. They apparently got the idea for cookie stuffed cookies from this blog, but then they took it so much farther! I wasn't sure how I felt about the cookie stuffed cookie idea, but it did remind me of this salon article about cookies and pizza . I was horrified about the idea at first when I thought they were combined, but apparently they are only packaged together, like a killer lunchable.

Anyway, there's a fairly lengthy blog post for you on basically nothing, but I'd totally welcome your thoughts on cookie stuffed cookies or even DiGiorno pizza and cookies. Heck, I'd take your thoughts on any subject really, it's just good to be getting back into the blogger swing of things.

More on Homelessness

Yeah, still no real posts, but I thought I would pass on this link to a Salon article somewhat related to homelessness because I thought it was mildly interesting: http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/02/15/what_i_learned_pretending_to_be_homeless/index.html

Enjoy.

So two posts in two days! That's pretty big time folks. Today's is kind of a cop out post. A friend who used to be involved in our Thursday night ministry wrote a post for her new ministry's website and I thought I would re-post it here since I haven't talked about Thursday night outreach in awhile. It was a timely post, since I'd just been thinking about the person she was describing. I have a terrible scan from a newspaper of him (he's the one in the middle) on my computer that I'd just come across yesterday (I've posted it on my blog before).

Souce: The Boston Metro

It's been so long

Yes, I know that I always write that or some variation after a long hiatus. I have been asked yet again if I ever plan on posting. As always, the answer is don't give up on me, I'll get back to posting at some point! Clearly a lot has happened since 9/28/10 and I owe all of you loyal readers who haven't already written me off a lot of blog posts.

The thing is, I can't make up for the four months of not writing all at once so I'm starting slowly (I mean come on people I still owe half of you thank you notes from our wedding and shower still!!!).

I will try to write about how I think the Franklin Park Zoo is the best deal in town for events (and how maybe they should charge more -- gasp!-- since they're looking for suggestions).

I will also try to write about how our wedding was PERFECT. I know lots of brides say that, but mine really was. We struggled to come up with something to put on the survey as something we wish had gone differently. I finally answered that I was disappointed that the pink cotton candy I had requested TWICE in writing and was assured in writing we could get was instead blue cotton candy, but really when that's your biggest problem, you're really grasping.

I will even try to post some pictures here of the big day (you know, now that we have a computer up and running and can look at some pictures). Until then, you can definitely look at some teasers here and here if you haven't already seen those.

Anyway, all that to say I'll be back. I know I have stuff to write about, but I'm just not ready yet. In the meantime, I wanted to share this fun link with you: http://www.acme.com/heartmaker/ so you can go have some Valentine's fun (like the kind I had at the top of the page). My boy and I had our first date on 2/13 so we already celebrated v-day, but we hope you enjoy the link on this, the proper day to celebrate.