Back and Gone

Well, we arriving home from DC last night about eight. I'm off for NC in about 2 hours. In lieu of a real post, I'm doing a meme I poached from Blackbird.

1. Where is your mobile phone? Counter.
2. Relationship? Loving.
3. Your hair? Shoulders.
4. Work? Sales.
5. Your sister(s)? None.
6. Your favourite thing? Sleep.
7. Your dream last night? Dunno.
8. Your favourite drink? Juice.
9. Your dream car? Hybrid.
10. The room you're in? Office.
11. Your shoes? Barefeet.
12. Your fears? Loss.
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Mom.
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Patrick.
15. What are you not good at? Organizing.
16. Muffin? Cinnamon.
17. Wish list item? Move.
18. Where you grew up? Louisiana.
19. The last thing you did? Pee.
20. What are you wearing? T-shirt.
21. What are you not wearing? pants.
22. Your pet? Cats.
23. Your computer? Dead.
24. Your life? Full.
25. Your mood? Argh.
26. Missing? Patrick.
27. What are you thinking about? Work.
28. Your car? Dirty.
29. Your kitchen? Full.
30. Your summer? Humid.
31. Your favourite colour? Pink.
32. Last time you laughed? Morning.
33. Last time you cried? Weekend.
34. School? Hated.
35. Love? Blind.

Off Again

We're leaving this afternoon to spend the weekend in Washington DC. We'll come home on Sunday afternoon.

Monday morning I leave for Durham, NC for the week and I'll be back on Friday.

I wish I could just stay home for two whole weeks without having to jet off somewhere. Oh well, it is what it is.

We'll have a nice trip to DC.

Hey Good Lookin', Look What's Cookin'

How's about cookin' something up for me?

Gotta love old Hank Williams.

I'm been on a cooking streak lately. Here's some of what I've made:

Paprika Pork. It was so good. Pork tenderloin cut into chunks and browned with S&P. Then I added ALOT (3 tbsps) of sweet, smoked Hungarian paprika and a can of tomato sauce and 1 cup of water and simmered for 30 minutes. In the meantime, I charred a green and a red bell pepper in the broiler. I added those to the pot and cooked for 15 more minutes. The sauce was a little thinner than I'd hoped, so I thickened it. Served with steamed rice and it was wonderful. I was very simple and flavorful.

Ginger Soy Sticky Chicky. I kinda made this up. HOT, hot, hot nonstick pan with a little veg oil. Chicken breast cut into 1 1/2 inch strips seasoned with S&P. Seared the chicken quickly, about 2 minutes. Add 1 tsp of red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon of fresh garlic and 1 tblspn of fresh ginger and cook anther 2-3 minutes. Be careful NOT to burn the garlic, that would be bad. Add scallions, cook one minute. Finally add a good dose of tamari sauce (about 1/4 cup), a little fish sauce and about 3 tblspns of honey. This sauce will get thick and sticky and glaze the chicken while it finishes cooking. I served with steamed rice, iceburg lettuce and a little cucumber and carrot salad. It was just like take out, but without even having to call in the order. Wonderful.

Cottage Pie. Technically, Shepard's Pie is made with lamb, if it's beef, it's Cottage Pie. So, Cottage Pie it is. Brown 1.25 lbs of lean ground beef and 1/2 an onion with a very little salt and lots of peppers, until the beef is cooked. Add 2 stalks sliced celery and peas and carrots. I cheated and used a can of peas & carrots. Warm through. Add about 2 tblspns of flour and cook for 2 more minutes, until the flour is absorbed and cooked. Add about 2 cups (I think I had less) of beef broth. The beef broth will be a little salty, that's why I used so little salt in the cooking. Here I added a little marjoram, sage, thyme and more pepper. I simmered this for about 5 minutes, until the broth thickened a little from the flour.

In the meantime, I mashed potatoes for the top. Load the meat into a shallow casserole, top with the potatoes. Now, since the potatoes and the meat are all hot, I suppose that technically, you could through this under the broiler for a few minutes to get the potatoes toasty and eat it right away. I made it this afternoon for dinner tonight. So, I'll throw mine in the over for a bit until it gets all bubbly and tasty.

I haven't tasted it yet, but I was impressed, it looked delicious and smelled great. Too bad my computer is dead and I can't send you pics.

Oh well! Bon appetit!

Celebrity Spotting

It's always fun to see famous people. Patrick used to live in Los Angeles, so he has more celebrity stories than I do. And my friend Laura grew up in LA, so she has some great celebrity stories, too. I however, have none.

While in NY this weekend, we saw a few famous people.

First was on Friday afternoon when we arrived at our hotel and were heading out to grab a snack. We were in Chelsea and I spotted Sara Moulton crossing the street. She's a chef and the editor of "Gourmet" magazine. She's on the Food Network. Maybe not FAMOUS famous, but a little famous.



On Friday evening, we had tickets to "Talk Radio" with Liev Schreiber. So, technically, I guess we saw more celebrities. The show was great!! Here's Liev:


Anyway, before we even got to the show, we were walking down 48th Street near Broadway and we walked passed Chris Noth. You know, Big, from Sex in the City. Mike Logan from Law & Order. I actually saw him in his Tony Award Nominated role in Gore Vidal's play, "The Best Man" in 2001. I met him and shook his hand then. I thought about saying, "Hey, remember me? We met in 2001?" Ha! I didn't. He's very handsome. His hair was pretty short and much more gray than on TV. Hair dye? I think so.



Finally, on Sunday, I had to use the bathroom while walking around Chelsea and we popped into a sandwich shop and ordered an iced tea so that I could use the facilities. Of course, while I was in the bathroom, Patrick sees a famous person! Dave Gahan! The lead singer of Depeche Mode! I love DM and David Gahan!!! He did have the English accent and Patrick noticed his tatoo, which we confirmed with pictures. It was father's day and he was picking up a to go order with his wife and two kids.


That's my brush with fame for the weekend.

Oh My Lord

We had such a good time in NYC. Of course, the food was the best part. Here is my review of the places we went on Chowhound.

Enjoy and I'll report more later.

Hello?

Hello?

Are you there?

(Crickets chirping)

Is anyone there?

Hello? Hello?

Leave a comment would ya!

Summer Storms

Today whilst driving in Maryland north of DC, a powerful thunderstorm struck with very little notice. At least no notice to me, I hadn't been watching the weather.

Oh, how I yearned to be in my house with a cup of tea, a good book, a good movie, my favorite feather pillow and Patrick.

The temperature dropped about 15-18 degrees within 45 minutes. It got downright chilly. Bummer to be in a hotel room alone.

Exctied

Dispite my sinus infection and my dead computer, I am very much looking forward to this week.

Friday morning we're leaving for NYC for the weekend for Patrick's birthday, which is Saturday.

We'll arrive at noon on Friday and head to our hotel in Chelsea via subway. We'll drop off our things and wonder around the neighborhood, have a light lunch, maybe at Sapa. Then we'll head back to the room to get ready for the night. We'll hit Tia Pol in Chelsea for a snack of tapas and a drink and then get a cab to the theatre district. We have tickets for Talk Radio and I'm very excited about seeing Liev Schrieber. He's great. I think Patrick will really enjoy the play. We wanted to see Spring Awakening, but I couldn't get good tickets for Friday or Saturday night.

Saturday we're meeting my parents in the West Village for brunch at Tartine. It's BYOB, so I'm going to pick up a bottle of champagne and a couple bottles of wine to celebrate Patrick's birthday and Father's Day on Sunday. We'll hang out, maybe walk around a little and then we'll head back to the hotel to get ready for the night. We have 7:30 reservations at Apizz in the Lower East Side for dinner. It's earlier than I wanted, but we have a burlesque show at the Slipper Room at 9:30 to get to in the LES. That'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it.

We don't have any plans for Sunday, but I'm sure it will involve a brunch with cocktails, people watching and general enjoyment.

Have a great day!

Dead

The blue screen of death. My laptop got it. It's dead. Again.

This is the second laptop that has died on me in 10 months. The last one was hit by lightening in a storm in Phoenix. (Yes, it was plugged into a surge protector, which blew up when it was hit by lightening.)

I have to struggle with IT now to get it fixed. Nice.

Oh, and I have another sinus infection. This sucks.

Blonde Ambition Trailer

Blonde Ambition is basically the new "Working Girl" with Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver. Man, I loved that movie.

I'm not so jazzed about this movie as I am about the fact that it was filmed in Shreveport, my home town. My brother runs the Robinson Film Center there and was involved in getting this movie made in Louisiana.

I would've taken a picture, but...

I was afraid I might get shot! I'll explain.

As you may know, I'm in sales. I drive alot. ALOT! To the tune of 800 to 1,000 miles a week. That's alot. On Sunday I left to drive west to Charlottesville, Va. I've been driving all around central and western Va.

It's beautiful country. Miles and miles of green rolling hills. Gently sloping fields, trees so think you can't seen more than a few yards, cows and deer and beavers and all kinds of animals. And the people are so nice. So nice. Everyone says, "Hello" and "How are you?" And I think they actually care about the response. They hold doors and say "Thank you, ma'am." It's very charming.

But some of them are just so stupid. I was driving down a beautiful lane, all green and quiet with silos and hay bales and cows. I saw a small house in the distance with a flag pole. As I got closer, I realized that it wasn't an American flag. It was red. As I got closer, I realized it was in fact a confederate flag. Gag!

I thought, "I must get my camera!" Can you believe that people still fly the confederate flag. It's so ridiculous. As I was looking for my camera, I looked closer at the flag and saw that there was something more on the flag. Writing, perhaps? On a flag? Who ever heard of such?

It was writing. In white block letters was stitched, "I AIN'T COMIN' DOWN".

Now do you see why I didn't take a picture? I was skeered.

Idiots. I have no patience for that nonsense.

What is this about?

I cannot sleep.

I have not been able to sleep since coming home from NYC. I slept a little over the weekend, but not restfully and not until late, late, late.

Sunday night I was in a hotel and was awake until 3ish. I kept turning off the light, rolling around and then getting back up. I woke at 9ish yesterday.

Last night was was awake a 2, at 3, at 4, and I distinctly remember seeing 5:19 and then the sunrise. Not sure when I fell asleep, but I was awake at 9:30. I'm so sleepy I'm nauseated. Nice.

I'd Starve

God, there are so many small towns with absolutely NO dining charm. I swear 20 years ago, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, KFC, etc. were NOT in every small town in the country. THIS is why I can't find a decent little diner or hole in the wall BBQ place in western Virginia when I'm traveling...because there's allready a Ruby Tuesday's and a Chili's here. Dammit.

Still Here

I'm sorry to report that my Nana passed away the Thursday before last. I left for New York last weekend and didn't return until Friday. After a very short weekend, I left tonight for Charlottesville, VA. I won't be back home until Friday evening. Sheesh!