house burgers a la wen'l

so wen'l made brioche hamburger buns yesterday. i'm not posting the recipe (mostly because i don't understand it), but you can click on the title of this post to find the book he got it from.


w/ further ado, the food porn:





piping hot from the oven :)







an artfully styled house burger, as done by wen'l

yes, i know i'm lucky.

like i been sayin for years...

the code one is sposed to copy and paste here is quite broken,
so click on the title of this post to rate YOUR blog!

i'm 15% conservative? lol

from eden @ so anyway... (click title of this post)

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 15% Conservative, 85% Liberal Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

the winters are gonna kill him if i don't first

so i inform my father, henceforth the fucktard, that i know of his plans to move to michigan. he wants to know who i heard it from. what does it matter who i heard it from? you trying to remember what story you told to whom? my brother, dipshit. were ya lying to him too?

look, at this point, i'm glad. i don't ever have to deal with the prick again if this what he's doing. but... and this is a huge but: my grandma (his mother, for fuck's sake) is almost 90. she doesn't remember what day of the week it is anymore, and she's not remembering to take her meds. which means her life is in more jeopardy than we can allow to continue. she cannot live alone any longer. he should be a part of getting her to accept this. she thinks my aunt is malicious (she's not. she's definitely not). she's not accepting my being part of her care. i go over there to check her meds, see if she needs anything from the store, give her some company. all she's been doing lately is nursing 30 year old grudges she has with people. it's hard to just sit there and listen to it. i do, but it's no fucking picnic.

and when i tell her she needs to be better about taking her pills, and that she'd feel better if she would, she shines me on. she, all on her own, stopped taking one of her blood pressure meds. strokes run in her family. is she trying to court one? she has long since been claiming to want to die already.

like i really want to hear that. ME. my mom ain't been gone a year yet. but then i think: maybe things really are that bad. she's almost blind and practically deaf and she's had so much death for so very long. she wants to hang in till she's 90. her life insurance doubles when she's 90, and she says she's too mean to die.

she's not. back in the day she was the best grandma a kid could hope for. she took us kids to disneyland and went on all the rides with us. she'd take us out to her place in the desert and it was always a blast. since my cousin stephen died, it's all been downhill. she was still independent, still took good care of herself. but she got so bitter, and she never recovered.

and her dipshit, fucktard son thinks she's doin ok.

he'll be back in the state eventually. he's got some shit to do for his future welfare that he can only do here, in person. i think the line to kick his ass will be quite long.

i'm gonna make homemade mayo...

with this:

i just got it from amazon.com for $149.99 with a $20 rebate and free shipping.

we have the old-skool 11-cup model in *empire red*. it needs many replacement parts. the work bowl is getting all cracked up and the lid's kinda trashed too, among other things. probably $100 worth all told.

so for another $30, we're gonna have a whole new food processor. :)

another thing...

so i took a trip to BevMo! today. bought that (see above). now i'm imaginin all the kick-ass stuff i can make with it. amaretto ice cream. amaretto cheesecake. amaretto french toast.

i guess it's no surprise i'm on the portly side, eh?

i also got some hoity-toity old-timey pop. boylan's grape soda is the shiznit. and san pellegrino limonata makes a delightful cocktail, esp when you have a bit of limoncello to mix in. mmm.. limoncello cheesecake.

fuck.. i'll be makin dessert all weekend.

no subject redux

the soupe l'oignon survived its stay in the freezer quite well. i should have gone a little easier on the cognac i added to it, or let it cook a little longer though. it was a bit, umm.. boozy.

hell, who am i kidding? we all eat french onion soup for the cheese anyway.

no subject

i heart new herbal refreshments. if i weren't so sure the nsa is keeping an eye on me, i'd post a pic of it. there's a nug in here well over ¼oz. :)

i really should have a prescription for this shit. i have these ungodly headaches once in awhile, the result of a head injury i sustained over 30 yrs ago. they come complete with scintillating scotoma. it's my aura that makes me wanna barf, not the headache. and pot is the only thing that helps.

acourse, i like smoking it for its nonmedicinal purposes too. i'll wait while you roll your eyes. :)

dad's met someone back in the hinterlands. i had to go to the dmv for the fuckwit yet again. i'd love to go upside his head.

we're having french onion soup for dinner. it was in the freezer. i hope it survived its stay there.

a recipe!

you better have some skillz if you think you're going to try this recipe. having a stand mixer wouldn't hurt either.

i know most cooks don't bake, and most bakers don't cook... but i could be either. all baking is is measuring properly and in the case of this recipe below, knowing how to not overwork your batter/dough.

chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting:

2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t kosher salt
1 c buttermilk, shaken
½ c vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 t pure vanilla extract
1 c freshly brewed espresso
chocolate buttercream, recipe follows


preheat the oven to 350° F. butter 2 (8 or 9 inch) round cake pans. line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans. sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. in another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. with the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. with mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 min, until a cake tester comes out clean. if you're using 9" pans, you'll definitely want to check them after 30 min. cool in the pans for 30 min, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

place 1 layer, flat side up, on a plate or cake stand. with a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

chocolate buttercream:
6 oz good semisweet chocolate (recommended: callebaut, valhrona or scharffen berger)
½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 t vanilla
1¼ cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 T instant coffee powder (i use medaglia d'oro instant espresso powder)


chop the chocolate into fairly small placesand place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of just simmering water. stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 min. add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 min. turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. dissolve the coffee powder in 2 t of hot tap water. on low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. don't whip! spread immediately on the cooled cake.

tongue-bath worthy pins

i been threatening to do this for a long time now...

happy mother's day

i'm not a mom. never going to be a mom. don't have one anymore either. :(

but i hope any of you out there who are moms have a wonderful day today, surrounded by the people who love you.

i'm a &%$#@! genius, yo!

i ganked this from eden (so anyway... on the blogroll fyi):

a cooling trend...

(AP photo)

let's hope it continues. it's been hellishly hot here the last few days. yesterday broke the century mark here in da OC.

makes me sick to see griffith park burning. AGAIN. apparently, this fire was started by some jackass that tossed a still smoldering cigarette butt out the window of his/her automobile. i smoke. i don't ever ditch my butts out the window. this sort of shit is what happens when one does that in so cal. i imagine this isn't the last time a fire will be started this year by this method. the hillsides are fucking crispy already from our lack of rain, and this kind of fire is fucking avoidable goddammit!

anyhoo, after weeks of no interest, i've got someone coming to look at the house tomorrow. time to get off my sorry ass and get back to the apartment hunt. i don't know quite what the deal is with the places i've been looking, but i think one needs a fico score in excess of 800 to get into any of them. even the place we looked at over in *rose park*. there was a dude behind what would have been our stairs smoking crack. !!

um, if my fico score was in excess of 800 and i could afford the fuckin rents these clowns think they can charge, i'd fuckin buy a place! as it is, i can only afford the rent.

how is it that someone in debt up to their eyeballs (who makes only the minimum payments on any of it) has no problem renting a place but someone who has NO credit card debt gets hosed?

fucked up society we live in, eh?

again, from konagod

I am: -3% Republican.

"You're a damn Commie! Where's Tailgunner Joe when we need him?"

Are You A Republican?

love your mother

happy 4/20 bitches!

*ROTFPMSL*

yet another meme

I ganked this from Konagod. Click the title of this post to check out his blog!

1. How tall are you barefoot?
Six feet.

2. Have you ever smoked heroin?
Hell to the no!

3. Do you own a gun?
Again, hell to the no.(!)

4. Who's your best friend?
My husband.

5. Do you get nervous before "meeting the parents"?
It was "parent", and no.

6. What music are you embarrassed to admit that you listen to?
Actually, I don't listen to anything that embarrasses me.

7. What's your favourite Christmas song?
It isn't actually an XMAS tune, but "2000 Miles" by The Pretenders.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
A good cuppa joe.

9. Can you do push-ups?
Not if my life depended on it.

10. Why does one question always disappear?
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" That's what Kelly and Konagod said. I can't think of a better answer.

11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
My wedding ring.

12. Do you like painkillers?
For breakfast, lunch and dinner!

13. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
My big brain. Or my prodigious cooking skills.

14. Do you own a knife?
I own several actually. I prefer Wüstof.

15. Do you have A.D.D.?
I am like the anti-A.D.D.

16. Middle Name?
Diane.

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
Why isn't this spliff kicking in?
Why can't I find a fucking apartment already?
Does wanting a footrub tonight when I got one last night make me a greedy bitch?

18. Name the last 3 things you have bought:
Dinner tonight, a blended from It's a Grind, and smokes, in that order.

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink:
Coke, coffee, San Pellegrino Limonata.

20. What time did you wake up today?
About 9:15.

22. Current worry?
That this fucking house will sell before I can find an apartment!

23. Current hate?
Same as it's been since January of 2001... The Prezteldent.

24. Favourite place to be?
Wherever Wen'l happens to be.

25. Least favourite place to be?
Anywhere near Wen'ls office. Irvine can suck my dick.

26. Where would you like to go?
Besides Long Beach, to my new crib? I'd like to go back to Napa.

27. Do you own slippers?
Ayup. A well-worn pair of UGGs.

28. What shirt are you wearing?
A gray t-shirt.

29. Do you burn or tan?
I tan eventually.

30. Favorite colour(s)?
Blue-black. (Props to Mr. Ries, my 11th grade English teacher)

31. Would you be a pirate?
Um, I think my bum wheels would preclude that as a career choice.

32. Last time you had an alcoholic drink?
A week and a half ago. I had a rum and coke.

33. What songs do you sing in the shower?
O man, my ears couldn't take it.

34. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?
Oddly enough, I didn't develop that kind of fear till I was an adult.

35. What's in your pockets right now?
No pockets. I'm wearing a pair of lounge-y type shorts.

36. Last thing that made you laugh?
Michael Chiarello getting *pazzo* on Napa Style, about green ketchup.

37. Best bed sheets you had as a child?
What, like you had Frette linens as a kid?

38. Worst injury you've ever had?
A concussion that rendered me comatose.

40. How many TVs do you have in your house?
Two. Only one has TiVo though, so it's the only one that gets used.

41. Who is your loudest friend?
My friends are all on the quiet side.

42. Who is your most silent friend?
None of them are actually silent however.

43. Does someone have a crush on you?
Does my husband count?

44. Do you wish on shooting stars?
Nope. I live in the greater L.A. area. Can't see em to wish on em.

45. What is your favourite book?
"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.

46. What is your favorite candy?
Perugina Baci!

47. What song do you want played at your wedding?
Already got married. Everything I wanted to hear got heard.

48. What song do you want played at your funeral?
I'm not going to have a funeral, per se. I want everyone who knew me/loved me to throw one hell of a party though, and they can play whatever they want.

49. What were you doing at 12 AM last night?
Doing a crossword, trying to get to sleep.

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning?
Is today the day I find home?

apartment hunting sucks

long beach palms @ sunset

i've decided i want to live in bluff heights over in long beach. it's a neighborhood about 1 sq mi in size, and leafy and full of craftsman bungaloes. wen'l and i looked at a place over there this afternoon, and i'm still swooning but trying to tell myself that i'm not going to get it. i think my not working doesn't look real good, and unfortunately i don't have the time to also find a job.

it's hard out there. our choice of neighborhoods is pretty much limited to the southeastern part of town, right along the ocean. the rents on places i've looked at range from $975 to $1500. the low end of that is because i stupidly started my search looking for a 1 bedroom place. i've pretty much come to the conclusion since that we kinda have to have a 2 bedroom. several have greatly exceeded my expectations, but all but 2 were the 1 bedrooms i started with. tiny tiny places with all the period architecture one would expect in this part of town. the floors in a couple of them have just taken my breath away. heart pine makes me swoon.

anyway, it's gonna be a task and ½ to find a place i'm afraid. and then we have to pass muster thru the financial portion of the enterprise. salaries are pretty high around these parts. having 2 in the household would definitely be preferable. neither of us has the best credit in the world (you try being unemployed for a couple years sometimes. it sucks worse than anything short of losing someone close to you.) certain things will become luxuries, and that's alright with me. and, i'm finally gonna quit smoking. no one will allow you to smoke inside the property anymore, and if i were unlazy enough to go outside to smoke now, i'd be doing it.

we all know how badly i need to quit. i need lots of fresh starts, namely a semi-estrangement of indeterminate length with my father. it will be very good for me to not have to deal with him anymore. he's moving to arizona allegedly, and that's more miles than i'd drive to visit him.

the thing i don't quite have figured out yet is if i'd go any more often if my mom was still alive and making this move. i can't quite get over being angry with her. all the crap she allowed to go unchecked with boberto that's currently biting me on the ass. the man has no idea how to pay his bills. checks will be bouncing, things will be late.. i don't think i'm the only person in the world who taught herself to be financially responsible (which is currently also biting me in the ass... my credit problems are not having enough of it. i don't believe in credit cards, but that's another story...). i just figured if i couldn't pay cash for something, i didn't need it.

i live pretty well, but i live well within my means. my grandma and my aunt gripe are the only 2 people i know of on that side of the family that have any sort of grasp on that concept.

fuck... well i feel better having gotten some shit off my chest, but i think it's time to go watch some tivo and have a cocktail. boylan's sugar cane cola (remember what coke was like back in the day? it's like that.) and cruzan estate dark rum. life is too fucking short to drink cheap booze.

card catalog generator

click on the title of this post to make yer own!

snaps to eden @ http://piggyhawk.wordpress.com for directing me to make my own :)

more food porn

cookies!! cool disher, no?

the hardest picture i've ever taken.

golden brown and delicious!

virtual dna

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

he still has his chops

k i didn't bake this lovely loaf of sesame semolina bread, but it was so purdy that i just had to post a pic.

i won't torture you with the recipe or the procedure... hell, i barely understand how sourdough bread works myself, and i live with the world's bestest amateur baker. suffice it to say, this was the best version of this particular loaf ever.

so, w/o further ado:

sesame semolina loaf, version 2.0

a boy and his bread

can you see why i'll never do the atkins diet? and... can you see why i proposed? i'm gonna cook him a lovely breakfast tomorrow morning, and this is gonna make the best damn toast!

what i SHOULD be doing

right now is posting the recipe for the penne alla pecoraio i made last night.

hammer and the sickle, the news is at a trickle
the commissars are fickle but the stockpile grows
bombers keep acoming, engines softly humming
the stars and stripes are running for their own big show
another little flare up, storm brewed in a tea cup
imagine any mix up and the lot would go
nothing ever happens, nothing really matters
no one ever tells me so what am I to know

"read about it", midnight oil
(hirst/moginie/garrett)

what i am doing right now is sitting here sort of ashamed. ashamed that i live in the so-called first world. we keep perpetrating the same bullshit. this time it's the iraqis' turn. i'm sure the cambodians know exactly how they feel.

how many times does this have to happen before we make it stop? and exactly how many of us actually know what's going on in the world? or give a fuck about it? and why is it i haven't given up, seeing that i do? on both counts.

i keep hoping enough of us will say no more. haven't we got enough problems right the fuck here? kids are getting a shittier education than ever, you know. the kids that will be paying for your health care. do you really want to entrust your life to someone who learned nothing more than how to pass some standardized test? that's what will happen you know. there won't be many of them making the big bucks, therefore not kicking up a lot for your premiums. you'll be making do with far less than you should.

the country is falling apart. new orleans is still a wreck. can you believe the dutch, the masters at controlling flooding, offered to come help rebuild and our government turned them down? not enough money, apparently. oh, they can spend half a trillion dollars on their bogus, illegal, immoral war, but they'll be damned if they'll help americans? regular, often not white, hardworking and underpaid americans. who've had to give up their homes and move all over the country to get their lives even halfway back together.

i wish someone could tell me why chimpy and all his cronies are still free to walk amongst the rest of us? fuck being unemployed... how many laws do they get to break?

i heart chris rock

from http://socialitelife.com:

In the latest issue of Life magazine, featuring Chris on the cover, Rock is asked, "Is this country ready for an African American president?" Rock answered, "It's ready for a retarded president, why wouldn't it be ready for an African American president?"


Oh no he didn't!


Rock went on to say that he likes Al Gore, and that he doesn't expect to see a black president in his lifetime.

talk about labor intensive!

ever watch the sopranos? remember shfweeadell? they're actually called sfogliatelle. they were developed by nuns in napoli... because they had the time to devote to making them. they're certainly tres yummy.

i would recommend not tackling these if you're not very comfortable with pastry, and having some experience laminating dough would definitely be a plus.

so, without further ado:

pastry:

1 ½ c flour (you may need more tho)
½ c sugar
½ t salt
½ c butter (very cold, cut into small cubes)
1 c ice water
¾ c melted butter or shortening

ricotta filling:

1 lb ricotta cheese
2 t milk
¼ t vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
¼ c sugar
1 t grated orange zest
1 c mini chocolate chips (optional)

for filling: combine ricotta, milk, egg, sugar and vanilla and run through sieve. add orange peel and chocolate chips, if including. store in refrigerator until ready to use.

for pastry: sift together flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. mix in cold butter with fingers. gradually add enough ice water to hold ingredients together. toss on lightly floured board and knead about 8 minutes or until dough is smooth. cover and set aside in cool place ½ hour.

divide dough into four even parts. roll out each piece with rolling pin on lightly floured board, making rectangular sheets about 20" long. if necessary, pull and stretch dough with hands while rolling, to make tissue thin and almost transparent. brush each sheet and place sheets on top of each other. when four sheets are piled up, brush top with melted butter or shortening. let stand 5 minutes, then roll tightly as for jelly roll. roll in waxed paper. set aside 30 minutes or more in refrigerator.

with sharp knife, cut roll into ½" slices, which will resemble narrow rolls of ribbon. place on board or platter, cover with towel and set aside 15 minutes in cool place. place each slice on palm of left hand. with right thumb on center of roll, gently press through slice so that it forms a ribbed cone; make sure that ribs do not become entirely separated. carefully work around cone with thumb and index finger until it is well shaped, 3-inches across mouth and ½" at tip. press tip together.

fill each cone with 1 heaping T of filling. flatten cones slightly between palms of hands; place on lightly buttered cookie sheet; bake in a preheated 375° oven about 30 minutes or until sfogliatelle are golden color and crisp and filling is firm. remove from oven, cool, dust with confectioners sugar.

spaghetti with wine and seafood

fyi... the recipe follows the porn.

ready... set... go!

boil, boil, toil and trouble


mise en place.. not much, eh?


about to clamp on the lid!

19,000 BTU's, hard at work


the finished product!

w/o further ado:

1 lb spaghetti
¼ c olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¾ c chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1½ c pinot grigio (or any other fairly dry white wine)
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 lb clams, washed
1 t salt (sea salt please!)
1 t freshly ground black pepper
2 c baby arugula

bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. drain pasta.

meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. add the shallots and the garlic and cook for 3 minutes, until tender but not brown. add the sun-dried tomatoes and cook for another minute. add the wine, shrimp, and clams. bring the liquid to a boil. reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the shrimp are pink and the clams have opened, about 5 minutes.

add the spaghetti to the seafood mixture. add the salt and pepper and stir to combine. add the arugula. stir gently and place on a serving platter. serve immediately.

feeding my addiction

aww... isn't it cute? the coach store is like the nutella of personal accessories to me. i got a catalog from them in the mail the other day and started dreaming up excuses to go to (or past) the south coast plaza. i wanted to snap this bag up while i could.

so when wen'l asked me if i'd like to take him out to dinner between his early shift and his late shift today, i jumped at the chance. i wasn't going to see much of him today if i didn't, and it got me in the vicinity of the mall.

we just walked across the parking lot to el torito. discovered a lovely new margarita though... pomegranate! after i bid wen'l farewell, i hit trader joe's and scored some provisions... pomegranate juice among them.

i will be so glad when daylight savings is in effect. i'll have my husband home during the evenings at long last. you DID know it starts the 2nd weekend in march now, right? apparently, the change would have fucked up any company using a myriad of cisco systems products. thus, my husband and his coworkers will spend the next couple of weeks patching various companies' voip and routing and switching crap.

cisco can toss my salad. how come they couldn't have made these patches easy enough to install that anyone whose knuckles don't drag the ground could have dealt with them? he's not been home most weekday evenings for the better part of a month already. my sex life sucks. his isn't much better *snort*.

i'm pretty sure i speak for both of us when i say self-love in the shower has long since gotten old.

the purse has certainly cheered me up tho :).

a meme!

i've seen this at various blogs. the last of which said "if you're reading this, tag, you're it!".

so here goes:

Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. If you are reading this, tag, you’re it!

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (George Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

fuck his lack of coitus interruptus

i'm gonna be stuffed come sundown

so the highest of american holy days is upon us... it's super bowl sunday! i'm married to a guy from indiana, but that's not why i want the colts to win. say what you will about peyton manning, the boy's made his OCD work for him. someone who can take a minus like that
and make it a plus is my kinda football player.

as far as food's concerned, we're having wen'ls righteous buff'lo waaaaaaaaaaangs with a creamy dip made from imported gorgonzola, various dips and freshly made baguettes, assorted salumi including a mozzarella, prosciutto and basil rotola, and at halftime i think we'll make a huge pot of popcorn.

GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!

o yeah.........!

like autumn leaves his sense fell from him
an empty glass of himself shattered somewhere within
his thoughts like a hundred moths
trapped in a lampshade
somewhere within
their wings banging and burning
on through endless night
forever awake he lies shaking and starving
praying for someone to turn off the light

"born of a broken man", ratm



omfg kids... the flying spaghetti monster has heard my prayers! brother de la rocha has come to his senses and has decided to join bros morello, commerford and tim2k and play at least one show! yes, you read right... rage against the machine is playin the coachella music and arts fest this april!

i am so fucking stoked... wen'l never got to see them, and when i told him there was a rumor afloat that they were going to play coachella, he said if i went w/o him he'd divorce my ass. umm... it's a long drive to indio, honey. i'd want company for the trip if nothing else! *snort*

all i can say is yay!!!!

blog for choice, 2007 edition

click on that button for more info.

i have a story to tell.. one that doesn't affect me personally, i suppose, but here goes:

sometime between the birth of my father in 1940 and the birth of his brother in 1949, my grandmother got pregnant. her übercontrolling husband forced her to have an abortion, which was still 30 years or so from being legal. abortionists who performed their services on the working-class woman of the 40's were not as scrupulous about certain things (like sterile operating conditions and aftercare) as they should have been, and the result was my grandma getting socked with a wicked dose of septicæmia. it almost killed her.

had they still been living out in corona, she probably would have died. they lived in long beach, and close to what was at the time a state of the art hospital, and she didn't.

i guess the story is personal. i would never have known my grandma, the only grandparent i actually got to know. my father would have been motherless from a very young age, and probably a whole lot more fucked up than he ended up being with the one parent who gave a fuck about him.

no woman, or girl, should have to go through what she went through. they should not have to risk their lives having surgery in someone's garage on pacific ave.

i have never been pregnant. i have been as diligent about contraception as is humanely possible to avoid having to make the choice to abort a pregnancy. no one ever had to tell me that what goes on inside my body is MY choice (and mine alone). it's something i just knew, and no one ever dared tell me i was wrong.

the day cannot come where those in possession of two x chromosomes do not have the choice to end a pregnancy for whatever reason they choose in a way that jeopardizes their health, their lives. if roe v wade were ever to be overturned, we would go back to the way things used to be... where if you had enough money, you flew to some less fucked up country and got a safe abortion; if you didn't, you either gave birth to a baby you didn't want, couldn't keep, or subjected yourself to the indignities my grandma had foisted upon her... indignities that almost cost her her life.

the next time she found herself in that position, she told my grandfather she'd sooner kill him than another one of her babies. may we all have the balls she did, and let it be known that we're the deciders.

sorry for the rant... but i cannot imagine a life that didn't include her.

so true!

Your Inner European is Italian!

Passionate and colorful. You show the world what culture really is.

Who's Your Inner European?

i found this quiz @ http://konagod.blogspot.com. go check it out already!

auntie bubba's shrimp n grits!

2 c water
2 c whole milk
salt and pepper, to taste
1 & one-third c stone-ground grits (forgive me, but i used bob's red mill polenta)
3 T butter
2 c shredded xtra-sharp cheddar cheese
2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 slices bacon, chopped
4 t lemon juice
2 T chopped parsley
1 c thinly sliced scallions
1 large clove garlic, minced

bring water to a boil. add salt and pepper. slowly add grits while whisking furiously, lower heat to as low as you can and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. remove from heat and stir in butter and cheese.

rinse shrimp and pat dry. fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned; drain well. in grease, add shrimp. cook until shrimp turn pink. add lemon juice, chopped bacon, parsley, scallions and garlic. saute for 3 minutes.
spoon grits into a serving bowl. add shrimp mixture and mix well. serve immediately.

here's a joke for you, rudy!

my aunt sent me this email. most forwards get round-filed asap, but the subject line of this one caught my eye... Clinton, Gore and Bush

Bill Clinton, Al Gore and George W. Bush went to a fitness spa for some fun. After a stimulating, healthy lunch, all three decided to visit the men's room and they found a strange-looking gent sitting at the
entrance. He said:

"Welcome to the gentlemen's room. Be sure to check out our newest feature - a mirror that, if you look into it and say something truthful, you will be rewarded with your wish. But be warned, if you say something false, you will be sucked into the mirror to live in a void of nothingness for all eternity!

The three men quickly entered and upon finding the mirror, Bill Clinton stepped up and said, "I think I'm the most intelligent of us three," and he suddenly found the keys to a brand new Bentley in his hands.

Al Gore stepped up and said, "I think I'm the most ambitious of us three," and in an instant, he was surrounded by a pile of money to fund his next Presidential Campaign.

Excited over the possibility of having a wish come true, George W.Bush looked into the mirror and said, "I think...," and was promptly sucked into the mirror.

i heart shopping

well, not always. but sometimes i really REALLY do.

wen'l and i had a spree today. we started out at surfas, a restaurant supply megastore over in culver city. we bought a bunch of breadmaking stuff for wen'l, and sushi rice and assorted consumables for me. plus, some handled individual gratin dishes for both of us. i think i'll make some chicken pot pies next week and break em in.

then we headed to REI over in manhattan beach. i definitely like the store in huntington beach better. wen'l needed a new bike computer. he got overcharged and got kinda bent. he fixed it all up though, and we were on our way... to a store that's mecca to me almost. that's right kids, sur la table. brand new store even. *swoon* we got some bad-ass old-fashioned glasses made by riedel, some blood orange bitters(!), a huge ice cream scoop to portion out cookie dough. and... some candy i'm almost ashamed i bought. 7 dark choklit covered gray salt caramels. that i paid $10.95 for. assorted utensils. a sushi cookbook, to go with the sushi rice i got back at surfas.

next came penzey's. i fuckin love penzey's. wen'l turned me on to em a loooooong time ago, and about 2 years ago, they finally opened a store in california. it's clear the fuck in torrance, though. so today was only the 2nd time i've been to the store. got some high-falutin salt, cocoa powder, red pepper, bay leaves, etc. right next door is a BevMo. so of course we had to hit it too. i'm glad we did. they had my absolute favorite tequila, gran centenario añejo, on sale for $42. it's normally $62. heh.

our last stop was whole foods market. what a fucking disappointment it was. there's not many of em down in my neck of the woods, so i'd never been in one. i think i'll stick with bristol farms. whole foods had new zealand green mussels. i was stoked till i noticed that most of them were open. *hurl* we didn't end up buying anything there.

now i have no idea what i'm going to do about dinner tomorrow. i'll have to watch the cookin shows tomorrow and get inspired.

part of me would kind of like to sit down with all my receipts and figure out how much we blew today. i'm not going to though, cuz i'd probably choke on my lovely hand-dipped choklit and caramel-dipped marshmallow.

from korea, with (fill in the blank)

so today was secret santa day, at long last. my package was from Jelly. it came all the way from korea (!!!). click on the title of this post to go check out her blog dammit.

the package, before i broke the seal.

wot lovely handwriting! mine looks like a serial killer's anymore. i never actually write, see? i type about 65wpm tho.

how'd she know i dig purple toothbrushes?

mmm... choklit.

um, soft smoked squid legs? wot shall i do with these?


the chili oil will definitely get used, tho.

thank you Jelly! hope you're having a great time in japan!

a holiday meme... on festivus!

yet another ganked meme... this one's from the cranky prof. check out her site @ http://crankyprof.blogspot.com .

anyhoo.. here goes!

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Why not both?
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? There is no Santa. I wrap my ass off most of the month of December. I'll post a pic.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Neither. Our electric bill is heinous enough as it is.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? My husband doesn't need shrubbery to kiss me. I'm lucky like that.
5. When do you put your decorations up? The Festivus pole doesn't go up till the 22nd of December.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I don't make the same thing every year.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? The frenzy of unwrapping my presents on XMAS Eve.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?I don't think I ever bought into the whole Santa thing actually.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I told my husband that this year, I'd wait till XMAS to open them. First time ever.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I actually like the XMAS tree. I did a tree last year. I tend to not overdecorate the tree. I don't have any filler ornaments though, so they're all cool. My favorite is a reindeer carved out of wood that I got at Eddie Bauer in Seattle.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I live in California. I think snow is pretty on Mt. Baldy, but other than that, I'll pass.
12. Can you ice skate? Umm.. no?
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don't think I could ever pick a favorite.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? That it's a mad rush, and then I get to slow down and just hang out with the people I love.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Ice cream made out of the leftover scratch egg nog.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Something that'll never happen again. Mom's no longer with us.*sigh*
17. What tops your tree? I'm gonna have to find a new thingy to put up there next year.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Do I really have to choose?
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Just about anything Nat King Cole ever did.
20. Candy canes: yuck or yum? Yuck, mos def.
21. Favorite Christmas movie? I cannot think of one. I know I suck.
22. What do you leave for Santa? If I believed in Santa, I'd probably leave him an espresso-spiked hot choklit and a spliff.

a festivus for the rest of us!

o yes, today's the day! gather 'round the festivus pole kids, it's time for the airing of grievances and feats of strength!

i swear, one of these years i'm going to have a festivus party, and someone's gonna have to pin me before it ends. maybe next year. i've seen stuff all over the internets the last couple days about a company (http://www.festivuspoles.com) in wisconsin that manufactures and sells a six foot tall festivus pole + attractive collapsing stand for $38. i think next year i'm going to have to get one.

soooo... i gotta go wrap some of the hub's swag. have a happy festivus everyone!

the aforementioned pics!

the choklit chip cookies

the oatmeal cranberry cookies in progress

if i had a dick...

blogger could suck it.

i just got invited to participate in a group blog, turdmania (click the title of this post), a wicked cool food-related blog. i'm using the beta version of blogger and it's taking a big dump all over my invite.

anyhoo, i'm baking cookies to take to wen'ls office tomorrow and i better get back to it.

pics later!