Thursdays

I, like Arthur Dent before me, could never really get the hang of Thursday's.

That's why, this morning, when I wandered into our temperature controlled parking garage to discover that our car wouldn't start, I wasn't really all that surprised. Sure, we're not outside in the sub-zero, arctic front that all the local weathermen insist on calling "the Deep Freeze" (the graphics are really fabulously bad) but, on a Thursday morning, I expect nothing less. First, I phone call to my Dad - i.e., the car doctor. (Turn your headlamps and cough, please.) Then, to my sister-in-law - i.e., "Hey....how far are you from work right now and how do you feel about getting a little farther? We'll go back, I swear!" Then, to the office to tell them that my sister-in-law was a little too far from work to get us both there on time so I was going to be late all by myself.

When superman showed up, battery pack in tow I was all ready for him to MacGyver the car back together but it didn't go quite like I planned. Apparently, the starters bad. But that's a problem for after work.





So, thus begins my weekend. In the mean time, Superman gave us his car so we can all get to work and class where needed.

All in all, it's good times.

French Onion Soup - A.K.A. I Have Sulfuric Acid In My Eyes!

A few days ago, my Magic TIVO picked up an epsiode of America's Test Kitchen where they re-revisited French Onion soup and, while I've always loved French Onion Soup, I have a renewed interest in it since M has recently discovered a love of caramelized onions.

So, it seemed only fitting that I fill my recent need for soup with a batch of French Onion soup, and the Test Kitchen never fails me and this time was no exception. Deglazing the pan thrice, caramelizing onions in the oven for hours....it really has all the potential in the world and it meets it.

The problem?

CUTTING FOUR POUNDS OF ONIONS.

Can I just tell you that even though it was a whopping 5 degrees Farenheit outside today (no, that doesn't include the wind chill) we left the door open for nearly an hour to help cut the amazing amount of sulfoxide in the air. In fact, when I posted a note on Facebook, my mother called me to make sure I was OK. It was that bad.

Still, now that I have a bowl in my hand, I'm totally happy.

French Onion Soup
America's Test Kitchen

3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces
6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (see illustration below)
Table salt
2 cups water , plus extra for deglazing
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (see note)
2 cups beef broth (see note)
6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons
1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices
8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)


1. For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

2. Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.) Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

4. For the croutons: While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

5. To serve: Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Comment

I have, at one point or another, belonged to many a community and at all of those communities, commenting has been kind of a big deal. People encourage it - they long for it. And I get that. Comments are nice. They make you feel warm and fuzzy and like people actually care about your inane blather that you insist on sharing on the interwebs. Sure, comments, depending on their nature, can sometimes have the capacity to make you feel like crap, but most people have the good sense to keep that shit to themselves.

Me, I'm not much of a comment whore. I have blogged for going on a decade now and for the first 2/3rds of that decade, my blogs were geared towards my immediate friends and family - if they had something to say, they called. (And, oh, they did.) In fact, the only time I used to get comments, my stomach would lurch and bile would rise up in my throat because the only people who were driven to leave comments were those that didn't know how to get ahold of me by a more personal means and those people are almost always bad for my psyche. So, long story short - I love comments. They do make me feel warm and fuzzy, but if I never get one, that's OK with me.



All right, that's really not what this was about.

Gotcha.

What I was going to say is that as much as I've never been particularly eager for comments, and as much as I'm always willing to espouse my personal opinion on my own blog - I've never been one to leave comments. There's something about scattering my personal opinions on other people's corners of the world that makes me...uncomfortable. So, for the most part, I just don't. Sometimes I want to say something - and occasionally it's even witty, but I just don't. But lately, I've been...inspired.

I never say anything profound and rarely is it interesting, but I've felt compelled in recent months to post wishing people a good time on their trips or letting them know my personal method for achieving the maximum possible amount of "crap shoved in a flat rate postal box" with the minimum amount of "held together completely by packing tape that will give way at any moment."

All in all, it's not as scary as I thought it would be. :P

Making Macaroons & House Guests Who Set Alarms For 5:30 AM

What are Vegans? They're like Vegetarians...only more strict and humorless.

Well, last night, we had our first house guest since the move. (Is it a bad sign that it took us 6 months to get around to it? Oh well.) To boot, it was only my mother...who lives a whole 20 minutes away, but she had an early flight to catch with her boss and, since we live about four minutes away from said boss, it made sense for her to stay with us rather than to have my father drive her, only to turn around, go home and then come right back to go to work.

In any case, at Pizza Night, she mentioned that one of her co-workers brought in Mac's and she's been gushing ever since. It was at that point that I foolishly revealed that I know how to make Mac's.

Well, all right - so the tops sometimes crack and they're always misshapen - but OMG do I have the flavor down. And that's all that's important.

Right?

Hrm...

Anyway, I dragged out my egg whites and my food scale and painstakingly measured out 200 grams of powdered sugar, 100 grams of almond flour, 65 grams of white sugar and less carefully doled out the cocoa powder. The results - YUMMY. The look - not so much. The leftovers, less than half.

Where am I going with all of this delicious gloating? Two places, really. One, I have come just this much closer to achieving one of my New Years Resolutions. Cuz, hey, at least they were all round and approximately the same shape this time. (Piping, why dost thou mock me?) And two, I know why my career as a person with a dedicated food blog ended before it started. Macaroons are the only thing I can stick to the recipe on. No, seriously. Give me a salad, a dough, a crust, a batch of cookies, a roast and I will improvise - improvise - improvise. More of this. Less of that. Measuring cup say what? The problem, I never write any of this improvisation down. And I never measure it or weigh it. I just cook.

All in all - 5:30 AM Sucks.

A Year In Review

Because nothing says "nice to meet you" like a year in review.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? I went sky diving. For my birthday no less. I also surprised everyone in the entire world by announcing that it was one of the duller experiences of my youthful existence. (Seriously not worth the $160 unless you’re actually considering that there may be a possibility you’re going to die and you fear that possibility. Skydiving – not for the fatalistic.) Oh, and went to State Street in Madison on Halloween.

(Not Pictured: Me. I was Punky Brewster. Also, the line of cops outside of the Orpheum.)

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? My New Year’s resolution since the age of about eight has usually been to loose weight and be healthier. On the former, I failed. (2022 – You’re my year!) On the latter, I probably succeeded a lot - but only if mental health counts. Just kidding. Every year I make a resolution in every area of my life. At work, I vow to be more X. At home, I want to try to R. With regard to my family, I’m going to try to Y. This year I’ll learn to F. (Cuz F and R don’t get enough respect.) I do this so that I don’t spend New Years eve drinking for all of the wrong reasons.

This year, I think I’ll stick to that formula, learn to make Macaroons, be more careful with my finishing details on sewing projects (perhaps by learning to topstitch without it looking like a Dr. Seuss garment?) … plus a few dozen other little and big hurdles :)



3. Did anyone close to you give birth? If physical proximity counts, the girl that used to sit in the cubicle behind me popped just a few weeks ago. She gave birth to a bouncing baby girl and with whom I shared the second “OMFGNEVERHAVINGCHILDREN” moment of my life – the first being shared with my mother in the delivery room, of course. (hint hint – I wasn’t the one being delivered. Majorly gross at 7.) Do you remember that scene in Devil’s Advocate with the chick who played Keanu Reeves wife…when her skin started, I don’t know – boiling? That’s sort of what I felt like I was looking at when I was walking down one of the cube-farm corridors to hear her exclaim “Look, the baby is moving!” only to look up and see – physically see – the baby moving from like five feet away!

Charlize Theron, you've never been more gross.

4. Did anyone close to you die? For the first time in more than a few years, I can honestly say that we only crashed one funeral this year and it was for a Great Uncle. I think. To be honest, I’m not sure. He was one of those relatives that I can only recall seeing a handful of times after I turned six and anything that happened before that doesn’t really count. Mostly, we went for my Grandparent’s, who remember him somewhat better than I did. It was short, sweet and, aside from the military aspect (which always kills me.) completely what it should have been.


5. What places did you visit? This year, I went a whole lot of no where – unless you count the state of Ikea bliss I slid into as I found $1 shower curtains and tempered glass serving bowls for $3.

how thou art loved by crappy apartments everywhere?

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? More outside fun. We’re sort of hermits.


7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? May 23rd. And Friday the 13th. We signed the lease on the 23rd and moved on Friday the 13th. Surprisingly, we’ve had one of the easiest years in a long time. Go freakin’ figure :P


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Moving on. For me, that’s always been difficult and, this year, I moved on from a lot.


9. What was your biggest failure? Saving. I wanted to do a lot better than I’ve done. I wanted to be totally butch about it and not bow to anyone. I, erm, didn’t. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we still saved – but I wanted to save MORE.

This is my dream. No. Seriously. If I every get really rich, I am going to take a large sum of money, convert it into coins, have it all sanitized and put it in a gigantic pile and then jump in it. It sounds...*sigh* glorious.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? In February – I think it was February I came down with a 24-hour flu that reminded me how thin the line between reality and insanity really is. I truly, honestly, wanted to die. If I could have gotten up and walked far enough to get a gun, I’d have killed myself. I fucking hate the 24-hour flu bug. Somehow the fact that it only lasts a day never makes you feel better.


11. What was the best thing you bought? The rabbit. Definitely the rabbit. Or the computer. Or possibly the TV. Maybe the immersion blender? Man, we moved! I bought a lot of stuff this year!


12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I know this might be hokey but I have to give big up’s to M for this year. If you’d told me last year at this time that we would be where we are a year later, I’d have laughed at you.


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I think I’ll save the specifics for a wag of the finger later, but in general, I think we’re making a rather appalling turn for the worse in a lot of ways.


14. Where did most of your money go? At a guess, moving expenses and related bills. Rent, thine are the bane of my existence :P


15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Our future college boy.




16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Song? God, I don’t know. Sunshine – Atmosphere, maybe. Or Ear to Ear – Brother Ali. I may not have made it, but it’s hella better.


17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Oh how I would love to lie – but I learned how to make these and no one can expect to say “thinner” with that kind of power at their fingertips.
c) richer or poorer? Richer. Because I may not have hit my mark, but I didn’t do too bad either :P


18. What do you wish you’d done more of? I think I wish I would have seen more shows. All of my favorites are getting older. I’ll miss them when they’re gone. I hate to miss an opportunity.


19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Complaining. A good rant is the only manifestation in which complaining is interesting. Then it’s not complaining, it’s entertainment.


20. How did you spend Christmas last year? Last year I spent Christmas rather similarly to the way that I spent it this year. M’s parent’s house at around 4ish to hang out with them for a few hours and then out to my Grandmother’s house where we spent the evening not talking to my Aunt, Uncle and their children/child-in-law/grandchild. This year was very similar. Except they were there this time.

OH! And this year, for the first time since I was…born (?) I didn’t go see my father’s parents and, let me tell you, it was suh-weet.


21. Did you fall in love in 2008? Yes, with these.


22. What was your favorite TV program? Oh god. I think it had to be The Secret Life of the American Teenager. People – it’s even better – yes, better – than One Tree Hill for contrived and insane melodrama. Do you know why? Because they have a crazy Christian.


23. What did you do for your birthday in 2008? Oh my birthday ? This year was the big one that part of me has been looking forward to since I could count. 08.08.08. This year we went sky diving, glass blowing, pizza eating, junk shopping, sandcastle viewing/relative avoiding. Next year will be a let down. Unless we rent a bounce house….

24. What was the best book you read? I don’t often read new books. I read books – just not new ones. Mostly, I re-read the same half-dozen books again and again and absorb their wonderfulness. This year, however, I read Hugh Laurie’s book – The Gun Seller. It was fab.


25. What did you want and get? Everything. No, seriously. Aside from the afor mentioned problem with muffins + my waistline, this year was a banner year for setting and then achieving goals.


26. What did you want and not get? An easy job with ridiculously high pay that allows me to work from home and still spend my entire day surfing the internet for things completely non-job related. Oh, and it should have great benefits.


27. What was your favorite film of this year? I don’t watch a lot of new movies. Or, should I say, I do – but I don’t enjoy many of them as they were intended. (27 Dresses was fabulously bad for example.) The only movie I can remember seeing this year that was released this year that I liked would have to be Zach and Miri…and I really loved that movie until the last five minutes. Full frontal Jason Mewes is not something one should have sprung upon them.


28. Did you make some new friends this year? Yes.




No, really. I did. I made a few friends at work and a few friends online. I also managed to reconnect with some people I’d lost touch with.


29.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? No-calorie chocolate.


30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? My 2008 fashion goal was to dispose of all button downs. Sure, they’re great on some people. On others, they grab so badly in the chest, pull funny, shrink weird… Yuck. Goodbye button downs! Hello blouses!


31. What kept you sane? I think at some point this year, I relied on literally everyone I know – including people I don’t know very well. (What do you think that says for my sanity?)




32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? As usual, Hilary. And not just because she is a woman who ran for president – but because I love me some Hilary.


33. What political issue stirred you the most? The issue I’m always most likely to hit someone over would usually be the stuff of PEEJ and the Child Protection Act. But since that wasn’t the question, I would say the issue that has gotten me the most stirred up would be the economy – namely the people that were allowed, nay – encouraged, to spend themselves into a hole so deep they couldn’t see their way out and then were surprised and upset when the government bailed their banks out, but not them. Oh, and anyone who drives a fucking Hummer.