window shopping

I finally bought some organic Earl Grey tea leaves on clearance at Target a few weeks ago. I have yet to brew my tea, though, as I have no strainer-thingie and no nylons to attempt to use instead. So, I was just looking over at Nubius Organics and I found some reusable hemp tea bags. I might buy one of those. I also found this tea mug with a strainer built in so I could brew the tea right in the travel mug. Let's see how long it takes me to give in to this temptation. I only wish it came in green.



By the way, I love Nubius Organics.

Light of Day Organics, which was recommended to me by Kate quite a while back has some wonderfully tasty-sounding tea, but I kind of wanted to try some out before I bought some online. If I like the loose-leaf enough, I'm looking at the cacao mint and the orange assam to start. Mmm.

the anxious greys

Okay, so yes, ther're the blues and the mean reds, but right now, I'm feeling tense and anxious, uncertain and frustrated. It's a bit overwhelming. It's like the mean reds, only worse.

This is leading to me having absolutely nothing to write about and you're welcome. (Really, I apologize, but I've only two more days, including today, and then I can take a break.)

So, for a short list of stuff and then off to figuring out how to just relax already. I'm thinking chocolate or yoga...actually, I'm thinking both.

-- I'm an auntie again. Peecho gave birth to her second daughter (third child) just outside of the hospital at about three this morning. Don't worry, Baby NM wasn't born on the sidewalk, rather she was born in the ambulance. I'm pretty sure everything went well and that all is well now. I haven't yet talked to Peecho -- I called and left a message -- but I'll talk to someone within the next couple of days, I hope.

-- The pool right outside the window I'm currently sitting next to is finally being filled. They started filling it yesterday at around six in the evening, I think. I can't wait for it to open. We've been to the other pool a few times already. Pic is incredibly excited about her floaties and will actually let go of the side of the pool now.

-- Cardo has this crazy plan to go to Tahoe for Independence Day. I think about a bazillion other people probably also have this plan and we'll have to get there (to what part of Tahoe, I have no idea) incredibly early in the day.

-- My apartment is hot. Just thought you shoud know.

-- I bought a pre-made angelfood cake today. I hope it's not disgusting. If it's anywhere close to decent, I'll try making my own.

Okay, wow! That was just about beyond exciting! NOT! (Okay, I'm channeling Wayne and Garth and my carefree adolescent days. I'll stop now.) I'm going to go finish watching Three Men and a Baby now because I'm all about fine film. Oh yeah...and chocolate...and yoga (and yes, I know that I'm probably canceling out any physical benefits of the yoga with the chocolate, but I really can't care about that just now).

eating...it's what i do

Sometimes all too often, but don't let's talk about that now. Really, I just wanted to share a few more recent meals a la peanut butter sandwiches. Oh wait, I meant to say a la Cooking Light.

First, at some point in May, we made this broccoli, cherry tomato and pasta salad recipe. It was actually pretty simple, especially because I didn't make the dressing. I'm not a fan of buttermilk dressings, although I used to be (strawberries and ranch dressing anyone?). Instead, I used Cardini's Light Greek Vinaigrette. The yield is four servings, but, really, it was more like twenty-five or so. (Hello Hyperbole!) It was a lot.



Next, the night before Poke went into labor, I was talking to her on the phone -- with Pic singing 'This is boring. This is boring,' in the background -- while making cheddar-asparagus potpie. It seriously took me about two hours to make (not counting the baking time). My mind was just elsewhere, but I'm sure if I made it again, it'd go a lot more quickly. The top was a bit weird, as I wasn't sure how it should overlap (yes, forest for the trees and all), but it turned out okay. Actually, I was going to make this the night before, but it turns out you have to let frozen phyllo dough thaw for a ridiculously long time. Now I know.





I'd eat both of these again. They were good. The only problem is that I have hundreds of recipes yet to try, so we might be celebrating our silver anniversary before I get back around to them.

Oh, and I almost forgot that at the very end of last semester, Pic and I made some poptarts (assembled and baked is a much more accurate description, really). We used premade pie crust and Trader Joe's lemon curd and Smuckers Strawberry Spread (not jam, preserves, jelly...it's 'spread') for the filling. We, obviously, tinted the icing. These were good. I'm somewhat averse to poptarts (after the Amway blueberry poptart fiasco), but I'd definitely make our own again. Perhaps when Pic starts having sleepovers.

I got the idea from here at No Fear Entertaining and you can link to several other places from there.



One more note on these. I'm sure that the actual term 'poptart' is trademarked or otherwise owned by whoever makes them, but I really don't know what else to call them. Mini Breakfast Pies That Are More Dessert Than Anything Else? That's kind of a long name, though.

board games and movies?

Or, how about board games made into movies. When I first heard this story on NPR the other day, my first thought was, 'Seriously?! Um, no thanks.'

The topic?: Turning board games into movies. They (whoever they were, I don't remember and I'm not going back to listen to the whole segment now) were talking about Monopoly, Battleship and Candy Land (as Ridley mentions in that link above). I loathe the game Monopoly. I don't have the attention span for it, or something. Not the original game or any of the versions that have come out since. I used to think that I liked Battleship, and I even owned (own?) it, but every time I sat down to play it, I really just wanted to make patterns with the pegs (I loved the Lite-Brite). Candy Land, I loved. At least I remember loving it. And, I'm sure that Pic might very much enjoy a movie based on it, granted it be incredibly cheesy. (She might not recognize the characters because we've only played a few times. She only wants to get the character cards, even if it means she has to move back. A co-worker once told me to just wait until Cardo and I started stacking the deck to make sure Pic won, and quickly.)

But, really, how are these movies supposed to work? Monopoly? 'Yes! I bought up all the property in Atlantic City!...Oh, wait, that's probably a bad thing. Anyone know where I can get a bailout?' Battleship? I can't even envision this. 'How many missiles will we waste by guessing where the enemies crafts are?' Hmm, no thanks. Candy Land? A group of gingerbread-looking kids go off to find The Big Rock Candy Mountain? And they meet gumdrop and candy cane people on the way? Sure, why not.

All this doubt expressed, though, but I almost forgot that when I was little, I watched Clue about a billion times. Then, I kept watching it on occasion as I got older. I'd still watch it now. Not because I think it's a great mystery movie or anything, but because I know it so well (even after all this time). So, to make a long story short (TOO LATE!), I have to say that Cardo and I will probably continue to avoid the cinemas. Ah, well.

Actually, to make a long story even longer, I'll leave you with one of the comments left on the NPR story:

(Using my best deep movie announcer voice...)
Coming this summer...
In a world where everything is Black and Red... Checkers, the Movie. King Me!

Plus, this 4th of July...
They said it would be More Fun...
Barrel of Monkeys.

And don't miss.... Solitaire!
This time it's personal.

And coming this Holiday Season...
Literature has given us stories of Great Hunters -
The 19th Century gave us Ahab and The Great White Whale...
The 20th Century gave us Quint and The Great White Shark...
Now it's the 21st Century and Samuel L. Jackson is hunting.... THREES! Go Fish!

And...good night.

a little night music

I'm sorting through my vast pile-up of e-mails and listening to my vast pile-up of music-to-be-listened-to. This isn't a video, so you can just start it up, listen and work on something that actually needs to be done.



And, here's Vashti Bunyan singing the song. Again, no real video, just an image.



My parents had the Red Hot + Blue album and Peecho and I listened to that somewhat constantly growing up.

Click here to read more about the Red Hot Organization.

dinner and a movie

Today, I felt pretty useless. I'm hoping for some decent sleep tonight. We went to the pool for the first time since they filled it (they filled it a couple of weeks ago, but we were away).

Anyhow, I was pretty freaking hungry, which usually results in us eating something less than healthy or something not prepared by us. Instead, tonight we made dinner. I've been passing time marking recipes in my Cooking Light cookbooks, so I thought we'd try some out. So, we fired up the grill (or Cardo did, rather) and we put dinner together. Grilled corn on the cob, baked triple-bean pot, herb-and-citrus turkey burgers. Both of the Cooking Light recipes were really easy, especially the beans, which took about three minutes to put together. Also, both were really good. And, we have leftovers (Pic barely ate her turkey, which is normal for her...not eating much at all).




So, Cardo had to go in to work tonight and I'm sitting here watching On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. It's almost over and then I'll do dishes and (please please please) rest.



(By the way, when I have plants, I talk to them also, but all they want to do is die. It's a little off-putting.)

tired of being tired

I haven’t slept for the last three weeks. I was pretty sure that when the semester ended, I would be able to get some semblance of normal sleep, but that hasn’t been true.

The first week, Pic and I were both sick and barely got any sleep. By the next week, I was already used to not sleeping. This past week, Pic has not been sleeping through the night. It’s been like having an infant all over again. I think she’s been having nightmares. Either that or she’s waking herself up with all of the moving around she does at night. She sleeps on the floor…all over the floor, because she falls out of the bed.

Anyhow, my new bedtime has become sometime around four a.m. I can’t do this much longer. I’ve become a useless lump of absolute exhaustion. I really need some sleep and soon, so here’s hoping Pic will actually sleep through tonight (that is, after she goes to sleep in the first place).

Ugh.

So, while I don't sleep, here's what Cardo and I are watching. (I couldn't embed the video.)