good things to distract me from my brain pain

While Larry was traveling in Central Asia last month and I was on my own to survive February bachelorette-style, I started a list of things that were making me happy - you know, to distract me from gray skies, freezing temps, muddy paws, insomnia, and missing my boy. The list is on an index card next to my computer and I thought today would be a good day to break it out...

I've recently started another cycle of cluster headaches, so if I don't write much in the coming weeks, it's because of my insane clown posse brain pain. The "good news" is that the headaches will be gone in about two to four weeks (hoping for two), so I'll only look like this temporarily. Until then, to distract me from my shattered face, we have some happy things:

Things I'm loving:

Homemade custard for breakfast and reading in bed with our yellow comforter, finishing a book on my reading list, snowflake pajama pants.


Fuzzy slippers.

Fuzzy puppies.

Sales for 50 days in a row in my shop (my first non-sale day of 2011 was the day Larry returned from Asia safe and sound - I was ok with that!)

The skylight in our bedroom.


300+ ideas for my freelance gig.


Being accepted to the Ballston Arts and Crafts Market. (I'll be there on June 11 and October 8 - stop by and say hi!)

Reading every day. (Per Personal Resolution #2 - I've kept it up and read every day this year.)

A new issue of Food & Wine and mini marshmallows - lots of 'em!


Dinner at my favorite local restaurant - Sea Pearl.

New cookbooks.

Wine.


Candles in jars.



Moroccan food.

Sartori Bella Vitano Gold - my new favorite cheese.

The Boden catalog - always so cheerful.


"Men" who will carry your purse.


Oreos.

Curry.

An awesome new address stamp from Paperwink. (I thought about designing my own, since I have designed my own stamps before - but why bother when Paperwink's stamps are perfection? My favorite design is Highway 1 - but I thought it just wouldn't look as cool with a Virginia address as it does with a California address!)


Llama Love!

Winter sunsets.


14 types of cheese currently in my refrigerator!


Recipes inspired by books I'm reading. (I made egg curry as inspired by Interpreter of Maladies. If I had a book club, I would totally combine it with a dinner club to continue this theme. I recently finished reading Empire Falls - not sure what recipes would be inspired by this book - diner food? Currently reading Gilead...so far the only food mentioned in this book is "fried mush." )


Etsy shopping sprees and pretty packages.


Sugar cookies.

Wayfarer Prints from BKNY. (Can't wait to get these framed and up on the wall! Also, just saw that they are sold out - got mine just in time!)

Leftover Italian Cream Cake.

Bakery treats.


iPad2 - soon to be mine!

Favorite grilled cheese sandwiches - gouda, swiss, and tomato on potato bread.

Discovering USB ports on my iMac keyboard - only took me three years to realize they were there.

Pretty stamps.


New nailpolish (Larry calls these my "Terminator 2 nails".)


Cheesetique - my definition of heaven on earth.

Burgers and shakes at Elevation Burger.

Pudding cups - I told Larry the only thing I felt like eating the other day was pudding and he stopped at the store on the way home from work and bought me 24(!) pudding cups!

What are you loving these days?

weekend adventures: roosevelt island

Another weekend with grand plans, another weekend's grand plans thwarted by Mother Nature...

When I heard that it was going to be 60 degrees on Saturday, I knew that we had to get out of the house (cabin fever is running rampant over here after a solid week of rain) and I looked forward to packing up a picnic, throwing the dogs in the car and going for a hike. I even baked hamburger buns from scratch the night before and mixed up a batch of egg salad and bought containers of chocolate milk...and most shockingly, was up early on Saturday morning so we could hit the road.

Except it wasn't 60 degrees. It was 46 degrees and gray. 46 degrees is not picnic weather.

So we waited. It was 46 degrees at 10 am. It was 46 degrees at 11 am. It was 46 degrees at noon. It was 46 degrees at 1 pm - so at that point we decided to eat our picnic at the dining room table.

We ate our egg salad sandwiches and drank our chocolate milk. And then the sun came out and the sky turned blue.

So we threw the dogs in the car and headed to Roosevelt Island and crossed our fingers that we'd get a parking spot. Roosevelt Island is an island in the Potomac River between Virginia and DC. It's a surprising bit of nature surrounded by the city - with views of Georgetown, Key Bridge, and the tall buildings of Rosslyn. We used to go there when I lived in Arlington because it was so close, but we haven't been back since we moved to Falls Church and we'd never taken the dogs.



The island is home to a swamp with a boardwalk (made even swampier due to the rains), and also one of the most disturbing statues I've seen in this country.


But we got our afternoon hike in, the dogs were satisfied, and then all four of us came home, fell asleep, and slept through dinner!

(Actually, the dogs fell asleep in the car.)

You're a good pillow, Gravy.

lost in translation?

Larry brought me back this bag from his trip to Central Asia - he knew I would get a kick out of it. I have always been a supporter of wildlife conservation, but I think I am an even stronger proponent of PROTECTING FERAL ANIMAL.

a wine + cheese weekend

Friends, I have found heaven on earth, and it's located at Cheesetique in Alexandria.

I've been wanting to go to this gourmet cheese shop for ages, and this weekend learned just what I've been missing out on. It's located in the cute Del Ray neighborhood - and a few years ago they changed locations so they could include a wine shop and little restaurant/bar. I have to say, it's a good thing we don't live in Del Ray because I would be at this place every weekend, stuffing my face with wine and cheese and other delectable goodies from their outstanding menu. And while that scenario would make me very happy, I would also end up weighing about 500 pounds.


Last week I saw an article in the Washington Post listing the best restaurant mac and cheeses in the area - and when I saw Cheesetique's Goat Gouda, Asiago, and 30-day Pecorino Mac N' Cheesetique, I knew we had to head over there this weekend. Bonus - they have wine tastings on Saturday afternoons - $5 for 5 tastes, plus you get $5 off if you buy a bottle - great deal. Between the tasting, and the flight of reds I had with my Mac and Cheese, I had tasted eight different wines by the time we left. We also bought 4 bottles, including a bottle of Portuguese red for our monthly international meal (the one for February that we still haven't cooked!) And our wine rack is now restocked:

The cheese case was seriously impressive - there was more cheese than I'd ever seen in my life - in big hunks the size of my head. The only reason we didn't buy any is because we were heading to a party right afterwards and didn't want to leave our cheese loot in the trunk of the car for the rest of the evening. No worries though - we will be back to this place...maybe next weekend? I have a lot of wine and cheese loving friends, so I can't wait to take them with me as I eat my way through their menu.

The party was great, too - lots of cute guys:

As for Sunday, it was one of the rainiest, gloomiest days I've ever experienced. Even with our fireplace going, it wasn't a cozy rainy day, it was downright depressing. Banjo had the right idea:

The weekend ended with movies from OnDemand (we finally saw The Social Network and The Kids Are Alright - both of which were fantastic) and scary scary wind that kept me terrified all night long. I have good reason to have a phobia of wind after our experience last summer.

Well, I'm off to meet my boy for a burger and shake at Elevation Burger - followed by another evening on the couch watching hockey and drinking beer.

friday, 7:30 am

Whew. What a week month year. I survived my freelance project, met the deadline for the incentive I was working towards, and get this, scored myself a free iPad! I'm so excited about this, that if I weren't dead tired, I'd dance around my studio and shout How ya like them apples?! Totally worth the all-nighters of the past month!

The project is an ongoing gig, so it will still keep me busy, but right now I'm taking a few days' break to catch up on...life (and personal hygiene...these pajamas are getting a little crusty).

Despite the fact that I don't have to work late, I'm still suffering from insomnia (and squeaky dogs), and this morning I just decided to get up early. I haven't really photographed anything besides my art and my food lately, and at 7:30 am this morning, the light was pouring in the library window and illuminating the amaryllis on the window seat. I grabbed my camera and realized I haven't even seen the light of the sun much lately - which usually makes for much better photos!

These extreme lighting conditions are really hard to photograph - the shadows always end up underexposed and the light parts of the photos overexposed, but here's what I got:


We have one dog who's an early riser (as in "4 am is a perfectly appropriate time for breakfast, Mom"):



And another who's happy to sleep in - especially when he wakes us up three times in the middle of the night to shit - which might be why he's falling asleep on his feet here:

(I had to get Banjo a new collar the other day because his rapidly expanding neck rendered the old one too tight and it was giving him a muffin top* on his neck.)

Here they are holding hands - awwwww - while Banjo licks his goodies. Nice.



And here's Gravy's "Haha, I got you up at the crack of dawn to feed me, but guess what, I can sleep all day" morning nap:



The glimpse of blue skies this week had me fooled (it is still 28 degrees here) and I had grand plans for a fun pre-spring outdoorsy wine-filled weekend:

Until I learned that it is supposed to rain on Saturday and Sunday, PLUS Larry has to work this weekend. Boo. So scratch all that (except for the wine).

P.S. "I'd better get a walk, bitches!"

* I find it hilarious that:
a) a definition for muffin top is included in Wikipedia,
b) the top of the Wikipedia entry states "This article's tone or style may not be appropriate for Wikipedia", and 
c) that the "see also" part of the article includes links to cameltoe and whale tail - which I will not link to, you're going to have to look those up on your own. Also, thanks to Wikipedia, I just learned that the male version of cameltoe is called moose knuckle. (Again, look that one up on your own, and preferably when your boss isn't looking over your shoulder.) Well, hmmph, you really do learn something new every day, even if it does attract perverts to your blog. (And for the record, I always thought that was called almond joy.) And now that this post has gone totally into the toilet, I shall wish you all a wonderful weekend!

flavorful february!

Despite the fact that Larry was out of the country for half the month, and the other half I survived on a steady diet of Oreos, February ended up being a delicious and flavorful month. Due to our aforementioned busy schedules, I failed to cook our monthly international meal or a loaf of bread, but I hope to tackle those goals this weekend.

When Larry's away, I tend to take the opportunity to eat things he doesn't like: namely, chocolate pudding, curry, and broccoli. It's a strange collection of things that Larry doesn't like, and the chocolate pudding thing is just plain weird. Although, I'm probably weird for being excited about the prospect of eating broccoli! So while Larry was feasting on beef tongue (gaaaahhhh - go read my About Me section for my thoughts about this) and mutton (or as he calls it, old sheep) in Tajikistan, I was eating a mostly vegetarian diet while he was away (the exception being the bacon sprinkled on my broccoli, corn, and potato soup). I made egg curry - inspired by reading Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri and was on a pretty big Mexican kick this month. I made Mushroom, Rajas, and Corn Tacos with Queso Fresco and Salsa Quemada - aka Burnt Salsa - a recipe that starts with the instruction to "Make sure your kitchen is well-ventilated". This was good advice, because it turns out intentionally burning tomatoes is quite smelly. I was well-prepared for this endeavor though - not only was my kitchen ventilated, but I had this within arm's reach (which is especially important if you've disconnected your smoke detector):

Larry and I also made Chorizo + Potato Tacos with Avocado + Tomatillo Salsa. According to the website I got the recipe from, this was a Rick Bayless recipe. He does have a similar recipe in Mexican Everyday, but that recipe uses mushrooms and isn't quite the same, so we'll call it Rick Bayless-inspired. We'll also call it freaking delicious and super easy. Yum. Rick wasn't the only celebrity chef who's recipes we sampled this month - we also made Nate Appleman's Pork Loin Spiedino with Pine Nut, Garlic and Currant Cranberry Soffritto from the A16 cookbook. (I'll admit, after watching him on The Next Iron Chef, I do agree that he's a dick - also, is it true that he works at Chipotle now???)

Also, Larry made Ina Garten's Sour Cream Coffee Cake, but that is a (hilarious) story for another time.

And I promise to post the valentine cookie recipe soon - hopefully on Vicious Dishes later today, since I have gotten several requests.

What we (mostly I) were/was eating and cooking this month: vegetarian, Mexican - several types of tacos and homemade salsa, COOKIES, hot chocolate (it was a cold month!), and several recipes from celebrity chefs.