My hands smell like garlic all the time

In our continuing efforts to feed ourselves, this week Josh and I made:

- Chicken Cutlet Parmigiano
- Baked Sole with Roasted Asparagus
- Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti

I also ate several pomelos, but you don't cook those, you just meticulously peel them and then enjoy their succulent flesh.

This is why my hands smell very much like garlic, although the citrusy tang of the pomelos does diminish it somewhat. Check 'em out.

January dinners

Enjoy the pictures! I'll keep adding to the album so you can enjoy all the visuals of what we've been cooking.

Awesome + awesome = ?

I am a girl, so I like fairy tales (most of them). My favorite fairy tale is Rapunzel. Though there are numerous variations, I like the one which ends with the blinded prince wandering the forest till Rapunzel finds him, and her tears cure his blindness. Then, of course, they have their happily-ever-after. I always found that rather poetic and lovely.

On a completely unrelated note, I really like the TV show Chuck (NBC Monday 8pm). It's sort of light and funny, with pop culture references and some action and romance and one hunky semi-geeky charismatic tall drink of water leading man, Zachary Levi. I find him sort of spastically charming and also rather pleasing to the eye.

So what delight should arise when I learn that Disney is finally doing an animated version of Rapunzel, with Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore (who I also love) as the main voice actors! What delight indeed.

I really like some of the concept art images giving a peek into the style of the film, but it's unclear whether the end result will actually look that way; I guess they've gone through several revisions.

Who knows, maybe all my many years of hoping for an onscreen rendition of my favorite fairy tale will turn out great, or maybe they'll completely butcher it! My expectation is somewhere in-between -- it's hard to believe that they'd make it as dark as the story I love, but it could be good anyway.

Adios, Christmas tree...hello kitchen

Friday night Josh and I took down our Christmas tree, an activity that always makes me a little sad even though I know if we kept it up all year it'd lose some of its magic. At least the "after" picture was pretty entertaining.


Josh removed the branches for recycling, leaving it with sort of a Seussian profile. You can see "Moon at Magome" sitting on the floor to the left. Not sure quite where to put it just yet.

Also, this week Josh and I have been trying something new -- I guess it's called "cooking"? It's where instead of someone else making food for you to eat, you make it yourself. Weird, right?

Anyway, we've been giving the whole cooking thing a try, in part inspired by the film Julie & Julia. We watched it Sunday night, and I came home Monday to find Josh had bought swordfish and veggies and was ready to rock. So we made this sort of breaded fish dish that turned out quite tasty, despite some bok choy-related obstacles. Then later this week we tried out a shrimp stir-fry and beef tacos in lettuce shells.

All of it has been decent, if not spectacular; it's a good start and sort of fun once you get in the groove. On Saturday morning I was even so motivated that I got up and made some blueberry scones (from a mix). They turned out all right, but I'm not giving Icing on the Cake a run for their money just yet.

What should we make this week?

Lucky

I feel incredibly lucky to start the new year with so many wonderful gifts, friends, family, and opportunities. At the risk of being super-cheesy (which is a risk you all know I'm willing to take, unlike trying a new cream-based food), I want to start off the year by appreciating all the joys of the holiday season and musing on my hopes for next year.

This year I got so many fun, thoughtful gifts, I was really surprised and delighted. Among other things, I received a vintage Lincoln print, a Hasui print, and a real-life companion cube, along with plenty of good books from my Goodreads list (see the swanky widget on the left of this page).

I also had a lot of time to "kick it" (as the kids say) with family and friends -- making gingerbread houses, cookie decorating, attempting to replicate migas with Sar, meeting the newest addition to the Quaresma family, watching the ball drop with the Veltmans and then watching P&P with D&N. So many great ways to spend my days off! I was having so much fun I barely even thought about work. For me, this is a big accomplishment. :)

This year I hope to be more social and try more new things. I'm not big on new year's resolutions, but I hope to enjoy 2010 as much as I possibly can.

Until I see you in person, enjoy these dorky pictures of me and my loved ones during the holidays!

How is he 6 already?

Damn. Drew turning 6 means it has been MORE than 6 years since I graduated college and nearly that long that I've been working at the G. How the time flies!

Oh well. While I bemoan my impending decrepitude, I give you this cuteness:

We had pumpkin cake, a pull-tab pinata, and some really tasty celebratory food. Good times.

Classic!

So, the other day I happened upon an Entertainment Weekly list of the "new classic" books -- the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008.

So, as with any "have you read it" list, I've got to give this one a go.

Have Read:
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

34 ain't bad.

Definitely Want to Read:
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)

How 'bout you?

L.A. Story

Josh and I headed down to L.A. for a long weekend recently. We stayed at his very hospitable Grandma Elaine's in Brentwood (neighbor to the stars!), visited a museum and an observatory, ran around UCLA and down to the beach, lazed about reading, and, to my delight, had the obligatory star sighting.

All in all, it was quite a successful visit, even if the sun didn't come out enough for us to swimsuit up and get tans, and even if we didn't spy Conan. That wily bastard! ;)