Since moving into a house with a kid, I’ve eaten some weird things, like Gerber Puffs.
Today, I did it again. I ate something I would never, ever buy for myself…Eggo French Toast Sticks. I’m embarrassed to say they were pretty good, especially when there’s a smear of Nutella on top. I’m calling it a crepe to make myself feel better.
Just a word of advice, maybe just eat half of the slice, instead of an entire one. I feel sick now.
Hooray for kids’ food!
And I mean that in the best way possible. I’m talking about my new sports bra that came in the mail today. Holy cow. If you have any sort of bust and regular, stretchy bras don’t work, i.e., you have to wear more than one AT A TIME (this girl), I highly recommend Enell. They aren’t the cheapest of bras, but I think so worth it. Just be warned, it’s not pretty or anything, and you basically put it on like a jacket and then buckle it up. I just laughed typing that sentence. I got mine from See Jane Run. Use LIKE2011 for 20% off.
I dare you not to break a sweat while getting into this thing.
I did a lot of research before finally deciding on this one. I saw some recommendations for Shock Absorber, and looked them up. Well, I was taken to the UK site, instead of the US site. On the UK site, you’re greeted by the Bounce-Ometer. It’s interactive and you answer a few questions about cup size, and level of activity, etc. I thought it would give me a list of bras, but I was wrong. Instead, it was this. I was both mesmerized and horrified. Nothing dirty about it, but you probably don’t want to open this link up at work, unless you want to be embarrassed (Alex, I’m talking to you.)
And finally, because I want to leave you with something pretty, here’s my favorite girl wearing such a lovely shade of mustard. I want chairs in this color, or better, an entire room with this color scheme.
After repeated threats to start her own competing blog to encourage me to post more, my friend JP finally threw down the gauntlet. She’s funny, so I think you’ll all like her. You can visit her here:
http://jpblogstoo.wordpress.com/
Time moves quickly, no? I’m still here, settling into new stuff. It seems that life is similar to a series of dress fittings. We move along and sometimes things need to be taken in, or let out a little, or perhaps scrapped all together. I tend to fall into the ‘scrapped all together category’ often, at first impulse, at least. What are you?
Things my mind’s eye has pictured are finally beginning to come together. It’s a bit of a magical feeling to have your imagination and reality converge. Work is flexible and challenging and I finally know where I’ll be making a home…at least for the next year. I can’t wait to move into this sweet little bungalow in Fort Worth. Because I’m so excited to decorate, I’ll share progress as I go along. And, most importantly, my new landlord appears to be pretty normal.
Here she is!
What I’m most excited about (besides central A/C and a washer/dryer):
Oddly enough, even though I’m a happy-go-lucky type, I tend to gravitate towards kind of sad music. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll happily listen to upbeat stuff, but I’m more likely to put weep-inducing songs on perpetual repeat.
Here are a few that kill me every.sing.time.
I have to go blow my nose now. In the meantime, tell me about the songs that make you cry.
So, remember last week when we talked about those Pickleback shots that Rachel Maddow made with Jimmy Fallon? Well, I didn’t make those, however, I was introduced to pickle martinis by my sister-in-law. Did you guys know those were even a thing?
They were surprisingly pretty good, and a clever excuse to drink iced pickle juice. I don’t have an exact recipe, but I think it goes something like this. Decent vodka, and more pickle juice than you’d ever think you would need.
Martinis have never been my drink of choice. They’ve always seemed fussy to me and overly strong. I’ll gladly take a beer over any other drink choice. So it was a happy accident that I ordered a martini at the Greenland Cafe, a small restaurant in downtown Salem.
Photo credit: North Shore Dish
This drink made my head explode a little. Really, my words fail me in trying to explain how good it is. But, I’ll try.
It’s called the Dirty Sexy Dirty and it’s dirty, dirty, dirty, which I’ve discovered is the only way I can drink them. Green Land uses their own homemade olive brine and its salt level is unlike anything I’ve had before. It’s served in the tiniest of salt-rimmed glasses, cold and cloudy topped with blue cheese-stuffed olives. Sadly, you only get two olives. I need another post dedicated to these olives. I’m pretty sure Green Land stuffs them with blue cheese themselves, because the texture of the cheese is so creamy, not hard like the crap you get in jars. And, after sitting in the bottom of the glass marinating in vodka and olive brine, it’s easily the best part of the drink.
Photo Credit: Green Land Cafe website
Since we’re on the topic of Salem restaurants, I’ll tell you about The Gulu-Gulu Cafe, my favorite little place.
This photo of Gulu-Gulu Cafe is courtesy of TripAdvisor
This photo of Gulu-Gulu Cafe is courtesy of TripAdvisor
It’s sits nearly across the street from The Green Land. This place is so cute and charming, but the best part about The Gulu is the cheese plate. It’s only $9…for 3 cheeses! I think it’s a bargain. If you go, I recommend getting the Cambozola, Red Dragon Ale & Mustard Cheddar, and the marinated Brie. And to drink, please try the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.
Remember this post? I found Ruby yesterday!
*If you’re in the DFW area, I highly recommend Operation Kindness.
One of my favorite risottos is butternut squash, seasoned heavily with sage. I am fond of the play between the sweetness of the squash and the earthiness of the sage. And the cheese. The cheese helps, a lot.
This is basically that risotto, just in lasagna form. Not a difficult recipe to follow, but a little time-consuming just because of the prep with all of the ingredients. I adapted this recipe, adding more spinach and a sweet potato as well as subtracting some cheese. The original recipe calls for 8 cups of cheese, and I used roughly half of that.
If you have the time and or desire to roast your own squash, go for it. I opted not and instead used the squash puree, hence the addition of the sweet potato for more texture. I intended on using the chopped frozen squash, but my market didn’t have it. I’ve seen it in both Shaws and Stop and Shop, though.
Just pretty.
Post-Oven
Ok, so here’s the secret. Do you want to know what took this from great to sublime? Yup, a sprinkling of truffle salt. I know I’ve talked about it before, but this stuff is incredible. Yes, it’s true; I only brought up this recipe so I could discuss truffle salt…again. I’ve learned to use it with some restraint, so that’s an improvement over my past behavior.
Just go and buy some, ok?
I’ve had the good fortune of pairing up romantically with very interesting characters, both male and female. If anything, it makes for good stories, no? There was one person in particular though, who gave the best nuggets of advice. And by best, I mean odd and left me feeling paranoid. I guess that’s what advice is for, right?
Headlines that congratulate celebrity mothers for their “post-baby bods” after they’ve given birth a short 2 weeks ago. At least let their episiotomy heal before you start critiquing their body, whether it be positive or negative. And look, I get that I’m part of the problem because I’m looking at the picture, but I swear to you, I cringe every time.
Here are a few recent ones I’ve seen, with the actual copy that goes with each image. Ridiculous, no?
Also, I guess denim tops are “in”?
"Alba was wearing a flowing white dress, which she covered with a denim button up, not giving such a great view of her body, but she still looked great. Looks like she'll be back to her normal weight in no time!"
"See Keri Russell's Amazing Bod Less Than 2 Weeks After Giving Birth"
Do you see what I just did there with the title? Hey, Justin Timberlake! (Is that question grammatically correct, or I have been in Texas too long? I can’t even tell at this point, because it kind of sounds right. Whatever.)
This post is magical in that all my favorite people and things have finally intersected: Jimmy Fallon, Rachel Maddow and pickle juice.
Some of you might know that in my fridge I keep empty bottles of pickles for the juice. Yeah, I like pickle juice and sometimes I take a swig or 4 from the bottle. Up until I saw this video, I kind of correlated drinking pickle juice as a white trash thing and was maybe a little embarrassed by it. Not anymore though. Boom. I was right. Pickle juice is ok to drink.
So, enjoy this clip of Rachel Maddow making Pickleback shots with Jimmy Fallon. Seriously, how cute are they together?
