how deep is your well? February 9, 2010

‘we think too small, like the frog trapped at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. But if he only surfaced, oh, he would have an entirely different view!’

to know no boundaries

Yesterday morning I realized I had been wearing my two-week-disposable-contact-lenses for the past seven straight months.  That is six months and two weeks TOO long. 26 very long weeks over-due. How I hadn’t abraded my corneas or forced myself into self-inflicted-blindness, the world will never know.

to quiet all fears

Fear not, though, concerned friends – I dug my wee car out of the snow monster (two whole hours!! Who needs a workout after that?!?!) and headed out into the great-white-abyss to get an eye exam from a very lovely elderly optician who smelled ever-so-strongly of pipe smoke and weathered leather (I know, right out of an iconic 1950’s life magazine cover…)and luckily left with a BRAND NEW PAIR of contact lenses – and I cannot TELL YOU how amazing they feel. So very-full-of-moisture. So very crisp-and-clear.  Its like a whole new world out here (and reminds me of the first time I ever got glasses – I had no CLUE how much I was missing out on… I mean, trees had LEAVES?!?! Blackboards had WRITING ON THEM!?! Books on the shelves actually had TITLES?!?! Who would have EVER guessed life was so full of detail!?!?!)

to live boldly

Sometimes it’s old contacts that trap us at the bottom of our wells. Sometimes it’s paralyzing fear. And sometimes it’s just our crazy-hectic-over-scheduled-and-under-joyed-lives. No matter what it is, so often we take a quick second to look up and can only see tiny slivers of sunlight above. But with a slow breath, and a maybe a ‘fresh-pair-of-lenses’, the world of possibilities can open in such amazing new ways ( I mean, heck, those TREES HAD LEAVES!!!). my challenge for 2010 is to take little steps up the well every day – realizing that some days it will be possible to bound up lots of paces, while others I’m sure will be slippy-slidy-backwards-days. But I hope, with the help of my badly-needed new lenses (and some INCREDIBLE snacks!!), that I’ll end up with some incredible ‘new views’ and ever-so-many new possibilities. Wanna join?!

It’s the week of L.O.V.E… February 8, 2010

…so why not celebrate by tantalizing-your-tastebuds with those that YOU love?!?! best friends…beloved partners…that lovely old lady who lives next door and always calls to tell you when you accidentally leave your garage door up… whom-ever you want to say ‘I cherish you’ to – why not make them this YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY valentines day pizza pie?!?! (this is also a way fun recipe for a birthday, or any other day of the year you just want someone to feel super special!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhEgdJXyDiM

cute or what?!?! and soooooo dang scrumptious!

Very few ingredients + even fewer cooking minutes needed = lot of time for ‘other’ valentines day activites (like hugging and snuggling and watching ‘the bachelor’ on TV….obviously!

love LOVE love

Enjoy friends – and let me know if you tweak the recipe – would be GREAT with other fruits, or with white chocolate, too!

Happy week-of-celebrating-how-lucky-we-are-to-be-surrounded-by-so-many-loving-people-in-our-worlds!

“when words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence” ~Ansel Adams February 7, 2010

the snow makes me love my camera. for some reason, the quiet stillness makes me want to snap thousands of images – some good, some lovely, some amazingly tragic. Perhaps it’s the emptiness, or the silence, or the lack-of-people-infused-humanity that draws us towards the lens – but for some reason pictures just SCREAM out when they are covered with snow… does this happen to anyone else?!?!

and the trains keep chugging...

Like today – whilst walking to the gym (yes walking – after two straight days of chocolate-and-pizza-and-sugar-infused-coma-sedentary-ness, it was time to have some QT with the treadmill. Blisters and snow be damned. But the roads just did not cooperate, so b and I grudgingly trudged the two miles through the white-depths to the mecca of our gym. And shockingly, we were not the only people who had walked there! Cleary, we were not the only people who decided snow days = calorie fests, either, I guess…), b and I stopped numerous times to snap wee images.

and the snow keeps falling...

Is this normal? What is it about snow that blankets the world in a ‘photographic’ visage?! You would think by this point in our snow-filled-winter we would just be totally-frozen-and-numb to its beauty – but I guess its kinda nice that there is still a slightly-childlike wonderment of its strange prettiness. that perhaps something in us needs to capture moments of stillness in our ever-hurried-and-frantic-lives. that when everything becomes so crazy-busy, its nice to remember how still life has the possibility of truly being.

but the people are halted...

(but we also decided it would be fun to have a frantically-frazzled-snow-filled-photo-shoot in b’s back yard – and yes, that is real snow. And yes, we were FREAKING-FREEZING! But it was so fun – when else can you wear red cocktail dresses in 28 inches of the-powdery-white-stuff and not have the looney-bin called on you?!?!)

at this point, you just gotta love it!

Happy sunday-night, everyone! Hope all have stayed warm and are SO READY to see the outside world tomorrow (even with all the crazy traffic and even-crazier snow-feared-drivers!)! big, big hugs!

“Your good friend has just taken a piece of cake out of the garbage and eaten it. You will probably need this information when you check me into the Betty Crocker Clinic.” February 6, 2010

And after a day-of-tremendous-treats like today – I would not be scared to take the ENTIRE CAKE out of the garbage and gorge-myself on it.

and so it begins…

with snow up-to-ones-ears and winds-a-howling, bestie-b and I spent the day watching movies, taking snow-glamour-shots, and baking. And baking. And baking some more.  I had gotten inspired whilst perusing the bon appetite magazine as bonnie got her hairs chopped off yesterday, cause they had a recipe for a wee-tiny-little-cake that was designed to be baked and eaten in place of the traditional frozen-top-layer-of-ones-wedding-cake on ones first wedding anniversary.

frosting = un-freaking-believable…

Now, clearly, bonnie and I are NOT celebrating our first wedding anniversary (as she herself has been happily married for a few years now, and I’m still crossing my fingers for mr.right-to-ride-in-on-his-specked-horse….hahah yeah right!) – but given it would only be the two of us snacking on our baking-outcomes, it made sense to create bitty bitty treasures.  A tiny-top-tier was right up our alley (and given that it was a devil’s food cake smothered with chocolate-sourcream-frosting, WHO ON EARTH could turn that down?!?!)

and its only the first layer…

ladies and gentlemen. This cake is OUT OF THIS WORLD.  like for serious. This is the moistest-most-yummiest-most-chocolatiest-cake I have ever tasted. And, let’s be honest, I have had more than my fair share of chocolaty cakes. This one TAKES THE CAKE, if you know what I mean…. You must try it – and DO NOT WAIT for a wedding anniversary – celebrate a ‘I finally got my taxes done’ day or a ‘hooray – Johnny didn’t get lice even though EVERYONE in his class did’ day. do yourself a favor, though, and make sure you make it on a day when ONLY you are home. cause you are going to want to eat every last crumb all by yourself.

can you just TASTE it?!?!?!

And, if like a college friend of mine, you toss the last half of the cake in the garbage so as to not allow yourself to polish it off – don’t be ashamed if you catch yourself guiltily pulling it out only a few hours later. The betty crocker clinic is just a mere phone call away – and I’ve already got the number for you on speed dial.

these feet might never be the same… February 5, 2010

Half marathon training was supposed to make me healthier – to help me focus and commit to feeling healthy and to feel great about how strong my body can really be. Instead, this is what I’ve gotten.

it's alive!!!

Yes – you are seeing things correctly. Those are blisters-of-ginormous-size. Like GIGANTIC-nearly-softball-size. On the BOTTOMS of my feet. Do you know how nearly impossible it is to move with blisters the size of planets on the bottoms of your feet?!?! (there was this woman we studied abroad with who wore the most TERRIBLE shoes that every step she took looked extremely painful and constricted. Best-friend-suzanne and I called her ‘every-steps-an-effort-girl’. I have totally become that girl now. I feel her pain. I take back all my catty commentary, ma’am. And I’m oh so sorry for your agony…) but truly, this is tragic. Simply tragic. And the uber creepiest part is that I can feel the liquid inside of them slosh around when I shake my foot. Ew. Big fat ew.

But its ok. I kinda like it, to be honest. It makes me feel triumphant. Like, please, these measly blisters cant stop the just-learning-how-to-be-a-runner-within.  The blizzard, on the other hand, certainly has put a cramp in the jogging style, though, that’s for sure!! Alas – three days of fun bundled-up-playtime never hurt anyone!

Off to bed. Another day of snow, snow, and more snow tomorrow. everyone out there surviving??! Any fun snow-bound stories yet!?!!? Cooking over fires? Cross-country-skiing to the grocery store? Let us know how you are!!

you would think the apocalypse was on the way… February 4, 2010

Whilst waiting in line at target (yes, yes, I know, all my musing about big-box-stores crushing the American spirit fly out the window when the snow-pocalypse is on the move – but a girls’ gotta go where the diet cokes are the cheapest, ya know?!?!?!), it became quite apparent that peoples shopping-carts-in-times-of-trial-and-tribulation tell a HECK-TON about who they are. Examples:

Woman one. Mid-thirties. Carrying a baby strapped ever-so-tightly-to-her-chest. Cart contents included: three 12-packs of miller lite. A handful of bags of Doritos. 18 tiny jars of overly-pureed-baby-food.  a gigantic bottle of hair spray (is she planning on ‘dressing up’ for someone?!?).  leads me to think the following: this poor new-momma is ECSTATIC to have a few days to lie on the couch and drink cheap beer (low cal, for sure…momma’s gotta shed some of that post-baby-weight still) and gorge on cheesy chips (so THAT’S why she saved calories on that beer!). she also probably runs a steel-magnolias-type-hair-salon out of the back of her duplex.

snow in virginia = immediate primal fear

Woman two. Mid-sixties. Three gallons of milk. three GINORMOUS bulk-type-packs of toilet paper. Paper napkins. Disposable plates. 6 hershey bars (two dark chocolate, four with almonds). Clearly, she: realizes all 14 of her grandkids will descend on her two-bedroom-post-retirement-home and camp out for the duration of the storm. They will want bowl after bowl of highly sugared cereal.  And she is in NO MOOD to actually do dishes.  She is also COUNTING DOWN THE MINUTES until she can hide in her bedroom and take-rationed-nibbles of her secret stash of clandestine candy cars.

note the near collision

Man one. Mid-forties. One bottle of axe body wash. One 12 pack of coke. A few random magazines. A pair of stonewashed jeans (tragic, tragic choice, by the way).  Analysis: poor guy doesn’t know whats coming. he’s either 1: in total denial about the 24+ inches of powdered paralysis heading this way, or 2: has crossed all his fingers that his life-partner has stocked up on all the true necessities like twinkies and taco shells. Either way – this poor guy will be one miserable good-smelling dude for the next three days.

Yet if this storm is ANYTHING like the last one…I guess some of the paranoia is justified…this really would have ruined anyones day. or, heavens, week.

So what was in my cart, one might ask? 5 24-can-cubes of diet coke (yep, that is 120 individual drinks. One can NEVER be too prepared.) a mega pack of peanut butter. A bottle of advil. and a clearance dish rag. Wow. That is sad, huh?? And what does it say about me?! snow gives me an immediate headache? Life without caffeine is not worth living?! I need to get a hobby or something?!?!?!

So is everyone ready for the big-blustery-beast of a storm!??! What are you doing to prepare?!? did you get any fantastic snacks (or secret comfort food?!?!) to hold you over??? (PLEASE PLEASE tell me you are NOT the woman I saw earlier tonight fighting a small child for a box of ding-dongs. That was just sadder than sad.)

(ps – all photos are from the december blizzard. not a flake in sight here yet!!)

is this really what i think it is?!?! February 3, 2010

I must start this post with a big apology – for I have been holding out on you all – cause I had THE MOST FUN EVER last month making the MOST FUN cupcakes EVER – and I had such good intentions of showing you these treasures just as soon as I made them…and then I just forgot. Totally totally forgot.  But friends – these are little treasure treats – and I think you will ADORE them – so here goes! Please please PLEASE forgive me for the unnecessarily-long-delay…but these are totally worth it, I promise!

So, by now, you must know I love things-that-are-wee-tiny-and-precious. Like babies. And small non-yippy dogs. And tiny british-import-cars. (now this could be because I myself come in a micro-type-package….sometimes this drives me crazy – like when trying to reach plates on unnecessarily-high-shelves, or when trying to find jeans that don’t have 14 extra inches of stiff-denim-fabric trailing under my heels…but other times I LOVE it – like when I can by kids shoes for ¼ the price of adults – score!!!) But I also LOVE things that trick-ya – things that you think are going to be one-thing but REALLY turn out to be something-totally-different….especially when it comes to food! so these cupcakes are just that – teeny-tiny-tricky-treasures – and I am in HEAVEN!

cupcakes...nearly impossible to go wrong with these things...

And you also know I am not a baker – I don’t measure, I don’t use a kitchen timer, and I really don’t follow specific recipes well. But boxed cake mixes are pretty fail-safe, and you can always add way special mix-ins (think cinnamon, or nutmeg, or cocoa, or chopped crystallized ginger…yummm…you get the drift…) to really make them your own. So be-not-ashamed to make these from a boxed mix – those things are yummy and quick and totally-user-friendly! But i got this idea from a great book called ‘hello, cupcake’ – if you haven’t checked out this fantastic cupcake cookbook, you are truly missing out! She’s got some fantastic recipes – and all her cupcakes are super easy to make and SUPER fun to enjoy!!! These are ‘bagels and lox’ cupcakes, and they are simply adorable:

Step one : make the ‘bagels’ – cut mini doughnuts in half. Brush melted honey on the top piece. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Let dry. DONE!

Step two : lox – zap orange starbursts in the microwave for like 15 seconds (they should be soft enough for you to roll out) – roll very thinly, and then score with a sharp knife (just try not to go all the way through!) – you are looking for the starburst to resemble raw fish!

Step three : scallions!! So easy – just cut green twizzlers on the diagonal – simple! And SO CUTE!

Step four : assemble! Slather cream cheese frosting on the bottom half of the ‘bagels’ – top with a slice of ‘lox’ and a sprinkle of scallions. Top with top-half of ‘bagel’. Place assembled ‘bagels and lox’ on top of frosted cupcakes and enjoy!!

Aren’t they fabulous!!??! Don’t you want to have them at your next birthday party?!?! Or office party?!?! And it would also be so easy to make ‘hamburger’ or ‘cheeseburger’ cupcakes by just tweaking a few details…! So fun – wouldn’t your kids (and friends!!) LOVE THESE?!?!?

soups on! February 2, 2010

Surprise surprise – the impending weather forecast has a SNOW STORM in it again! For tonight! And for Friday night! And for Saturday – like a BIGGIE on Saturday… this is the winter that will just never ever end (and I heard through the grape vine that that twerpy puxatauny phil decreed another 6 weeks for us. I’m pissed.)

But, instead of wallowing in self pity (and wasting my days away dreaming of white sand beaches and 80 degree days and sailboat-cruises-at-sunset.. I mean, seriously, who has that life anyway?!?!), I thought it might be a great day to delve into my BIG BOX of put-away-root-veggie-type-produce from this summer. (I was also noticing a small odor coming from the top of that box. Not terrible, necessarily, but not splendid, either. Chicken or egg, I don’t know…but it was clearly time to investigate the source.) That’s right, friends…I really was a thinker.  Every week, at every farmers market, I tried to be as thoughtful-as-possible-with-my-wee-little-brain and stock up on food that had a few special positives going for it. most importantly:

1)      The food-product needed to be fairly cheap. I mean, I LOVE me some brussel sprouts, but at 4 dollars for like 8 sprouts, those has to be extremely rationed.

2)      The food-product needed a good hearty shelf life. I mean, I’m cooking for one here. if I’m going to stock up, I need to make sure the delectable treat not-going-to-rot-away-to-nothing in two little days. And if it could last for months without refrigeration/freezing/canning – I was SO ALL OVER IT (hence the abundance of butternut squashes, garlic bulbs, etc…)

3)      The food-product had to taste amazing. We all know they were practically giving away cantaloupes in august, but the smell alone of those things makes my stomach turn inside out. No-freaking-thank-you.

So I popped the top off my Tupperware-root-cellar (girl’s gotta work with what shes got here – ain’t no room for a real-kansas-style-root-cellar here in my 400 square foot apartment) and here’s what I found.

not too shabby, huh??

but those poor little sweet potatoes... they just had no hope...

Amazingly, NOTHING was rotting! (yes, yes,  now I am even MORE concerned about that strange odor. When/if I find its source, I’ll be sure to let you know.) squash look great, garlic hasn’t even started-to-think-about-sprouting, onions just beginning to dry out and become lovely and papery.  Only one small failure – sweet potatoes. Look at those little guys – so sad and wizened. Oh how they longed to be consumed in their prime, enjoyed in all their plump glory… alas – when life gives you shriveled sweet potatoes, you only got one option – make shriveled sweet potato soup!  And that I did. And wowza – it was out-of-this-world-yummy! And so super simply easy…

you know 'step one' for me is ALWAYS 'sweat garlic in olive oil'. delish.

add your winter-squash/root-veggies/etc...(just make sure you take off the peel - that stuff is NOT edible!)

toss in some butternut squash if you have it. this stuff is like vegetable-candy - AMAZINGLY sweet and lovely!

cover veggies with stock (chicken/beef/veggie/whatever-you-got)...did you know you could use a mason jar as a measuring cup!?!? LOVE it!

let simmer til super soft. blend/puree. add some milk or cream if you like it a little silkier. tada - soup's on! ENJOY!!!!

wasn’t that just so-darn-easy!?!?!

Worried about snow headed your way, too?? or just tired of the same-ole-meatloaf for dinner every night? Or perhaps totally not feeling like take-out-chinese for the third time this week already?! Why not dig out some treats from the back of your fridge/bottom of your freezer/hidden-corner of your pantry and whip up a pot of scrumptious winter soup?!? Let me know what you come up with – the sky’s the limit!! cant wait to hear!  Stay warm and dry, friends!

its a fine fine line… February 1, 2010

I was flipping though a random collection-of-stories on my bookshelf this evening for some late-night-inspiration, and came across the most lovely-of-quotes – so I had to share…

‘all the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on…’ henry ellis.

We take pictures to remember people and places and pachyderms and parachutes. We try and hold on to these stories and spaces forever…but you wonder…is this really the best idea? maybe you can find even greater happiness in letting the old journeys go so as to make sacred space for the new ones?

It seemed so very fitting in this year-of-new-beginnings and new-adventures. But sometimes the hardest part is learning which ‘ones’ to hold on to, and which ‘ones’ to let journey on their own way… I guess this balancing act is what makes life so complicated. and so courageous. so comical. and so incredibly complex.

pizza in the morning…pizza in the evening… February 1, 2010

pizza at suppertime! (didn’t y’all used to love that jingle?!?!)

Is there really a more delicious food that pizza?? I mean – crispy, crunchy, chewy, salty, saucy, cheesy-gooey…. Unbeatable!!! I just adore pizza – plain cheese, roasted fig, meat-lovers – you name it, I love it.  but I’ve really gotten into this super-thin-nearly-see-through-crusts these days – the more crackle-when-you-break-it the better! there is this little place near us that makes the most delectable cracker-thin pizzas with taste-bud-tantalizing-uber-delectable toppings (imagine ricotta and pancetta, caramelized onions and figs, asiago and gruyere…my mouth is watering just typing this…) – but there are times (like during these unending blizzards!) that I just cant drag myself out of my cozy little abode to trek to the pizzeria, so I thought I might be fun to do a whole month of take-out-pizza-made-in!  so easy. So yummy. And so-freaking-quick. You might never call out again…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4JdmQnpSTg

look at that gooey cheese!! – i love using slices from a ball of fresh mozzarella cause the cheese stays in huge melty hunks like this – but feel free to use shredded mozzarella if you prefer a more ‘uniform’ cheesy layer!!!

So week one’s the basics for ya – dough (and a recipe for a basic tomato/basil/mozzarella stand-by-with-a-new-twist).  Again – SUPER EASY. Like 4 ingredients. And like 4 minutes. Give it a little nap to rest and rise (while you enjoy a glass of white wine and a quick round of jeopardy), and you are ready to top and bake. And such a fun way to get family involved – have a super-bowl pizza party, gather the kids for a Friday-night-pizza-and-a-movie tradition, create a romantic valentine’s day pizza soiree – the options are ENDLESS!!!

Enjoy the pizza – I CANT WAIT to hear what amazing concoctions you all come up with!! And get pumped for next week – it’s a ‘sweet-treat’ for sure!