my tarot card

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

cheval noir

i love this painting by aya kato. i want to crawl inside it and have a cup of tea. or maybe some champagne. . .

bellinis

i'm meeting up with friends in lake tahoe next week. yeah! we're staying at a timeshare so we will be in condo-type units, which means we can hang out and sit around the table or lounge on the couch and chat and drink instead of hustle to find a bar all the time. so i have been on a quest for cocktails. my sister and one of my friends like sweeter drinks. i can't drink too much of the sweet stuff. neither of them really like champagne and i love it so i thought i'd try to find a champagne cocktail which could have sweetness in it for them and the consistency and taste for me. i saw giada delaurentis making a bellini on everyday italian.

i looked online and there were a bunch of recipes, but i wanted to try it her way. i could not find her recipe. i thought all she did was combine champagne, cranberry juice and a little lime juice. so this is what i did. i figured out there are three and a half cups in a bottle of champagne. so i started with one cup of cranberry juice but it still tastes too champagney. so i added another cup and the juice of half of one lime.

i don't know . . . that must have not been what she did. i like it, but it's really tart! i don't think my friends will like this one. no sweetness at all. it could use some sugar i suppose. maybe i'll add some to the picture to see how it turns out, but i don't like adding sugar to champagne because of the chemical reaction. it causes it to bubble like crazy.

we had a bit of an event when i was opening the bottle. usually others open it. i thought i was supposed to take the foil wrapping off, twist off the wire piece and then pop it off. but the cork popped while i was un-twisting the wire. i wasn't expecting that! i had the bottle pointed straight up and it flew up into the low part of the ceiling and down. my dogs ran for cover and i never saw my bird move so damn fast. and of course i was screaming and stuff. so a little bit of drama there.

darn, i'm stuck with all these drinks now! it's the equivilant to an entire bottle of champagne . . . good thing it's a higher quality champagne so the hangover won't be so bad!

the 'peanut butter' manifesto

wow, this is interesting! I'm posting the entire article below:

The blogoshere is abuzz with a leaked memo written in October by Yahoo senior VP Brad Garlinghouse dubbed the Peanut Butter Manifesto.  In it he warns that Yahoo is spread too thin and is all over the place.  Excerpt:

We lack a focused, cohesive vision for our company. We want to do everything and be everything -- to everyone. We are scared to be left out. We are reactive instead of charting an unwavering course. We are separated into silos that far too frequently don't talk to each other. And when we do talk, it isn't to collaborate on a clearly focused strategy, but rather to argue and fight about ownership, strategies and tactics.

Our inclination and proclivity to repeatedly hire leaders from outside the company results in disparate visions of what winning looks like -- rather than a leadership team rallying around a single cohesive strategy.

I've heard our strategy described as spreading peanut butter across the myriad opportunities that continue to evolve in the online world. The result: a thin layer of investment spread across everything we do and thus we focus on nothing in particular.

I hate peanut butter. We all should.

We lack clarity of ownership and accountability. The most painful manifestation of this is the massive redundancy that exists throughout the organization.

We lack decisiveness. Combine a lack of focus with unclear ownership, and the result is that decisions are either not made or are made when it is already too late.

We end up with competing (or redundant) initiatives and synergistic opportunities living in the different silos of our company.

• YME vs. Musicmatch
 
• Flickr vs. Photos
 
• YMG video vs. Search video
 
• Deli.cio.us vs. myweb
 
• Messenger and plug-ins vs. Sidebar and widgets
 
• Social media vs. 360 and Groups
 
• Front page vs. YMG
 
• Global strategy from BU'vs. Global strategy from Int'l
 
We have lost our passion to win. Far too many employees are "phoning" it in, lacking the passion and commitment to be a part of the solution. We sit idly by while -- at all levels -- employees are enabled to "hang around". Where is the accountability?

He goes on to suggest how to remedy these issues, principally by picking its best bets and getting rid of everything else. "Heads must roll," he writes, as many as 15% to 20% of employees, and Yahoo needs to stop managing by committee. These are all good (and somewhat obvious) suggestions. The question is, will Yahoo follow them?

Yahoo has done a good job of identifying and acquiring hot startups on the cheap (Flickr, del,icio.us, Bix, MyBlogLog) but then fails to integrate them with the rest of Yahoo, creating all those redundant properties Garlinghouse lists. By leaving them alone, Yahoo has at least succeeded in not screwing them up, but it also has succeeded in creating a lot of silos.

Yahoo is in a tough spot. It needs to stay on top of the latest Web fashions, but at the same time not alienate mass audience of hundreds of millions of people who visit it each month. In an interview I did with Garlinghouse a few weeks ago, he told me:

It is certainly not a simple thing to do. The first thing is you have to fundamentally understand what users care about the most. Too often business people try to deliver the coolest, whiz-bang widget they can do that will appeal to 1% of users. You have to understand what the mainstream users care about the most. I think it helps that I am from Kansas.

The Yahoo home page is the number one homepage, with 300 million monthly unique visitors. How do we appeal and exceed the expectations of all of those users? Therein lies the crux of a delicate balance between delivering what the users expect , and anticipating what will Wow them. How do we make a user say, ‘Wow, I did not even know you could do that.’ Some companies over-invest in the table stakes, and then they become mundane. The secret sauce is effectively balancing excellence in the table stakes with Wow.

My guess is that Garlinghouse's next move is to start tying different parts of Yahoo together in a more cohesive fashion. And communications products like Yahoo Mail and Messenger will be the string. It's no coincidence that Google is similarly trying to pull its various products together instead of launching five million different ones a day. People like to be Wowed with simplicity.

Oatmeal-Raisin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

This evening I made Oatmeal-Raisin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting from the November issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine. I don't bake much. I rarely make desserts except for the occasional cupcakes from a box. But these sounded good. I did make one modification though - i used craisins instead of raisins. The end result will probably be sweeter this way.

I had kind of a hard time with this one. Due to the oatmeal it was really hard to stir all the ingredients. Thank god I added only a third of the dry ingredients at a time, but by the time I got to the last third it was so thick! i was mixing by hand with a wooden spoon. Maybe using a mix-master would have been easier for this recipe, but I don't have one. I was also a bit confused when it came to pouring the batter into the pan. The recipe calls for a 13x9 pan. I poured the batter into one side and was going to spread it like I do when I make a cake. But since the batter was so thick it was really hard to move. Also, the batter ends up only being about a 1/2 inch deep or something like that. so it ended up looking like the pan was too big. I guess if i would have looked at the picture in the magazine i would have noticed that is how it is supposed to be. but with a little finesse i got it all spread out.

Now for the fun part - the results! The SMELL IS AMAZING!!! i love the smell of oatmeal cookies. I made the cream cheese frosting which was very simple and tastes great. It's definately a bowl licker. I had to sit and wait while it cooled before I could frost it. My entire house smelled all homey. Finally, after about an hour I got to frost it. Then it was time for tasting! my big decision: a glass of coffee or milk? i went with the coffee because i only bought a small thing of milk and i need it for a recipe i want to cook tomorrow.


these are so yummy! i am so glad i made them. they are kind of dry which is to be expected since they are oatmeal. the consistency with the chewy raisins and crunchy walnuts is great! the frosting adds a little moisture. i'll probably eat these for breakfast in the morning and bring them to my co-workers on monday because they are too much for me to eat them all!

UPDATE: My co-workers loved them and ate them all up within about an hour. A few people asked for the recipe too.

murder, my sweet

"She was a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud. I gave her a drink. She was a gal who'd take a drink, if she had to knock you down to get the bottle."  - Philip Marlowe

DAMN!!! i saw this one already. i watched murder, my sweet a few months ago. but it was REALLY good and actually quite complicated so i'm gonna watch it again. but since i've seen it before i don't have to be glued to the tv to not miss anything. so i think i'm going to make some oatmeal raison bars with cream cheese frosting. i took the butter out a while ago so it should be soft now.

top chef: social service

nasty! the quick-fire challenge on top chef is to cook "leftovers". but they are not leftovers that we typically think of. they are the left over parts of the animal that no one ever wants to eat! lamb kidneys, pigs blood, beef hearts, fish heads, veal tails, chicken feet, etc. all the raw meat looked GROSS! most of the meat tends to be rough, are hard to prepare and take long to cook. they had two hours.

they all came up with some interesting things. one gal made pappardelle noodles with beef cheeks. lots of people used sweetbreads which are the glands of the animal. there was a sweet bread tart, a sweetbread schnitzle, and a few dishes of sauteed sweetbreads. the guy who needs to go made veal tail and tongue stew.  homegirl made braised pigs feet. there were a couple of oxtail dishes too. cliff, sam, and ilan were in the top three. sam won with his sweetbread & scallion beignets with chinese five spice & sweet soy broth.

six course tasting dinner for jennifer coolidge (stiffler's mom). the kicker is that they can only use leftovers from the kitchen. they also had to work in pairs in which they had to pick their own partners. DRAMA! each of the teams cook one of the courses. but it's for a dinner party of 60 people! they had 3 hours to cook and 20 minutes to plate. and one of the judges was going to be with them the whole time due to the cheating from last week.

course 1: marcel & frank making duo of salmon and beets
course 2: cliff & sam making scallop and fois gras
course 3: ilan & michael seafood paella
course 4: betty & mia making seared duck napolean
course 5: josie & marisa making the awakening trio
course 6: carlos & elia making a trio of desserts

when it was plating time, it was nice to see everyone helping each other out to get all sixty dishes plated for each course.

josie & marisa really tanked with their palatte clense course. interesting because those two got called out as being in the bottom three during the quickfire challenge as well. so it's no surprise that those were the two that had to "pack their knives" and go home.

i'm old fashioned

unless my friend calls me to babysit, which i told her i'd do, i'm going to have a good old-fashioned evening. since it's 6:30 I'm assuming she isn't going to call.

i just took a really long bubble bath and read two magazines while i was in there. i have had the "singers and standards" digital music channel blasting for a few hours and lots of ella firtzgerald, shirley horn, and nat king cole has me in the most relaxed mood. i'm making stuffed peppers for dinner and they are cooking up right now. i LOVE the way it makes my house smell. it's very comforting. i smell good too though cuz i used the amaretto scented lotion that my sister got me last year for christmas. it's really strong so i smell like a yummy cookie!

turner classic movies has a night filled with old detective movies. Murder, My Sweet, a Philip Marlowe movie i havent seen yet, starts at 8pm. For those who aren't into old detective stories, Philip Marlowe is one of the most classic film noir detectives. He became very popular in novels in the 30s and 40s and then they started making movies and radio shows with his character as well. Humphry Bogart played him in The Big Sleep (on of my favs). Dick Powell plays Marlowe in this one.

but before i settle down for a night of film noir, i'm going to catch up on the top chef episode i missed this week! i think two people get kicked off this week because they didn't have anyone "pack their knives" last week.

european graffiti

i love this! this was found in paris. by Jef Aerosol, a "famous" graffiti artist.

my new helper

i am sick of cleaning my floors!!! i have way too much tile and too many animals. i currently use the swiffer wet jet but it takes so long! i usually spend over an hour cleaning them. so i decided to treat myself to the Hoover FloorMate SpinScrub 500. And i'm so damn excited about it. I'm as excited to get this bad boy as I am when I book a vacation. Pathetic, I know. But i hate dirty floors!

world's fastest indian

i wasn't sure what to expect from the movie. all i knew about world's fastest indian that it got good ratings from everything i've read, it stars anthony hopkins, and it has something to do with a motorcycle. the title itself is not too appealing. i will say it has nothing to do with indians as a people. the indian referred to in the title is a 1920s motorcycle. The movie is set in 1963. anthony hopkin's character is a man in his 60s living in new zealand who has spent most of his adult life building and streamlining a motorcycle - a 1920 Indian. His main dream in life has always been to go to Bonneville Salt Flats Test Track in Utah which is halfway around the world. This is where he will be able to put the bike to the limits and see how fast it can really go.

The characters are great. Anthony Hopkins plays a man that you can't help but like and root for. He has some eccentricities which are humorous. But he is kind and friendly. There is no bitterness about him. Most of his movie is about the major journey he makes to bring his bike to america. and it's funny, but not in a silly way. he's from the country in new zealand and he lands in hollywood - land of the wierd. general things in america are foreign to him - like a menu with pictures. let alone the strange people he meets and american customs he needs to learn.

snow patrol - run

words of wisdom to live by...

“Do not spoil what you have, by desiring what you have not, but remember that what you have now was once among the things you hoped for.” – Epicurus

regina spektor - us

rediscover joy

join red

check out my horoscope

interesting horoscope today:

Your romantic feelings begin to lighten up a bit these days. You are less concerned with turning every experience into a meaningful emotional encounter. Instead, the weeks ahead offer you a chance to have your fair share of unencumbered fun. Find playmates to share your adventures, but don't put too much more into it at this time.

i'm been getting kind of anxious to see chris next week. there are so many ups and downs. i don't know what to expect. so of course i'm over-analyzing everying. so this tells me to knock it off and just go with the flow.

the great migration

today good morning america announced the 7th and final of the Seven New Wonders. This one is the coolest one yet and the one i definately learned the most from. The 7th Wonder: The Great Migration.

Maybe it's my passion for animals that makes this so interesting for me. The Great Migration is an amazing event that happens when the millions of wild animals move from the Masai Mara plains to the Serengeti. It is deemed as "one of the world's most spectacular wildlife events." The animals need to follow the rain to find food and water. And it's not just a few herds here and there. It' ALL the millions of animals together. Lions, Elephants, Wildebeast, Crocodiles, Giraffes, and many, many more.

Mosaic's Coastal Education Center

Below is a clip of our coastal education center. Mosaicowns a TON of land in Florida. after the merger i think we became the largest land owner in the state. i believe we now own more land than disney. we took a section of land near our riverview plant and created the coastal education center. it is private property and secured so you can't just drive up there and check it out. we have teamed with the hillsborough county department of education and developed a program for 4th graders. the goal is that all 4th graders in the county will come here as a field trip. the purpose is to teach them about florida's natural ecosystems.

Mosaic's Coastal Education Center, 2:01

the events are highly organized and our employees always work as guides. the program is called "Where the River meets the Bay" because it is located right where the Alafia River feeds into the Tampa Bay. we all can volunteer and we get assigned a group of kids and we take them around and point out crabs and other wildlife to them. i have never been able to go yet because i always have deadlines so my boss would prefer that i didn't. but many of my co-workers have and they absolutely love it. the kids always have so much fun.

when i was doing the halloween trick or treat booth, a kid came up to me and said "i've been to mosaic". it made me so proud! he really liked it and was telling me all about the crabs.

ch-ch-ch-changes

i just had our I/T Staff meeting. we FINALLY got to find out the new organization now that we are finished with our big two year project. I think it works out well for me. They haven't officially told me who my manager will be and they are due to complete that by 12/10 but they said all the web people will report to leonard. so that should be me! that is REALLY GREAT because before i was supposed to report to judith and she didn't know a damn things about websites.

i do not know leonard well but i really respect him. he seems like a hard worker. all the people that report to him seem very happy. so i think he will be a reasonable and a good manager. i'm psyched!

the bad news is that i have been told i will need to go to netpark to work. this sucks cuz it will be about an hour commute each way instead of 20-30 minutes. how annoying!

mayan ruins

finally! good morning america announced the 6th new wonder today and it is actually something valid! The Mayan Ruins. Now those are really amazing. How did the people who lived so long ago make such complex bulidings? and it is also impressive that they lived in very complex societites. Chichen Itza in the Yucatan was highlighted as THE mayan ruin. It is probably the most popular because it is easy to get to. The photo above is from Xcaret. The thing that is so amazing about the mayans is that there is still so much mystery for us as to how they lived and what they believed in.

tipsy tomatoes

last night i made "tipsy tomatoes". i found the recipe in the holiday issue of southern living. you take one pint of cherry tomatoes and a half a cup of vodka. poke each tomatoes with a toothpick then pour the vodka on top. let them sit for at least 8 hours.

just had them tonight as a snack. you are supposed to serve them with seasoned salt. they are kind of like a bloody mary. i got a tinsy buzz from eating the whole thing! double the recipe and put them out at your next party. they are fun to nibble on.

the internet

this morning good morning america announced it's next in their list of the new seven wonders. so what is the 5th new wonder? the internet.

The Internet may be the most enigmatic "wonder" of all. It reaches across time and space, and connects people from faraway places. It is vast and sprawling, and yet it gives each person his own private window to the world.

well, the internet is amazing but that is just a joke. the internet is just a technology. what makes it better than the telephone or the television? they highlighted thing like second life and internet dating. i wish they listed something like the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia which is what i have been voting to appear on this list.

go emmitt!!!

tonight is the finals on dancing with the stars. it's the battle between emmitt smith and mario lopez. they each have to dance three different dances.

for the first dance they both had to dance to the same song, Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder. both teams picked the samba. emmit and cheryl were up first. at the beginning he seemed kind of thick or stiff or something, but he loosened up quickly. cheryl said she decided to showcase emmitt's quick feet. but it's when he shakes his ass and rocks those hips that gets everyone up on their feet cheering. the judges gave them all 10s for a perfect score of 30. mario and karina danced second. they had some really good moves with rolls and stuff. it seemed like they did alot of technical "ballroom" steps. and of course they seemed great but one of the judges noticed they screwed up some of the steps. They got a score of 29.

for their second performance the dancers got to choose their favorite dance of the season. emmitt and cheryl chose the mambo. they were ON FIRE! i think that's what i said the first time they danced it. he is wearing a red silk shirt and she has a sassy red dress and it completely evokes that feeling of heat. the audience gave a very loud standing ovation. another perfect score of 30!!! maria and karina danced the pasa doble. and they danced a hell of a dance. ole! judge gave them a perfect score of 30. so far, emmitt is up by 1 point.

at this point i decided i was going to cast my votes. you get 5 votes per email address. i'm going to vote all five for emmitt. but the web server is too busy!!! wow, a lot of people must be watching the show right now. i find it hard to believe that the I/T Department at ABC finds that acceptable!

This site is temporarily too busy to process your request. Please try again later.

for their final performances, the dancers got to perform a freestyle routine. emmitt and cheryl had to dance to "you can't touch this" by mc. hammer. okay, i SO WANT TO GET UP AND JUMP AROUND WITH THEM. Emmitt has gold lame shoes on! how fun. hell ya! he did some hammer moves and even had on blousy pants which looked like hammer from the video. oh no he didn't -- the running man! haven't seent hat for years. it looked like he screwed up a tiny bit at one point but their performance was a blast. The judges gave them a score of 29. Maria and Katrina dance to "It takes Two" by rob base. he's pulling out some 80s breakdance moves! that was a really original routine. they did a hell of a job. judges gave them rave reviews and a perfect score of 30.

so to sum it all, alot of awesome dancing and TIED score at 89 each. we find out the winner tomorrow night.

spinach and shrimp quiche

i don't think i planned this too well!  a few weeks ago when i decided to attempt various quiche recipes, i printed a few out. i didn't have time to make one on sunday so i went to the grocery store last night. i spent about $20 on all the ingredients i think for Emeril's recipe for Spinach and Shrimp Quiche. It called for 2 lbs. of spinach! that's 3 of those salad bags full. 1 lb. of shrimp. swiss cheese, parmasean cheese, onion, cream, eggs.

this is the second time i have made one of emeril's quiche recipes. both times the recipe called for a 9 inch quiche crust and each time i had twice as much filling! last time i threw it away. this time i made two quiches. but that is where I screwed up. I have work lunches for the next two days. so unless i want it all week for dinner, it was a total waste. and of course it was the most expensive one too! maybe i can freeze one. . .

but this one didn't turn out that well. the instructions were to wilt the spinach. i had to make 6 huge pans through to get it all wilted. then i was to squeeze out all the extra water and chop. i squeezed and squeezed it but i couldn't get all the water out! after i chopped it, it was all watery again. i used like 12 bounty towels (the quicker picker upper) and they were all soaked. holy hell. so i just put it in and i think it made it too watery. i ended up cooking it an additional 10 minutes so it would firm up, but when you scoop out the ingredients, it's wet on the inside. bummer. oh well, that's what i try them out for i suppose. OH - it tastes AWESOME!!! so that's the good part. and it's actally really, really healthy.

Hawaiian Islands National Marine Monument

i'm throwing up my hands at this whole Seven New Wonders on Good Morning America. They captured me with the first one. The second one I thought was kind of strange. The next two. . . I do not know what they were thinking. Of course I still make myself late for work each morning to see which wonder they picked and why . . . today the fourth wonder was revealed: the Hawaiian Islands National Marine Monument in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.The guy was scuba diving while "reporting" and telling us about it. I don't know, I have a problem with one of the seven wonders being under water i suppose.

i was tolerant yesterday with the polar ice caps. but maybe since i've been to hawaii i'm not quite as impressed with it being a "wonder".   it surely is gorgeous. but i  don't know about a wonder. what about the great barrier reef? shouldn't that be listed over something in hawaii if they listed an underwater sensation?

sometimes it seems like they just picked these wonders so that the people at ABC could tell us how difficult it is to get to and broadcast from all these places and pat themselves on the back. they showed us how hard it was to get into Tibet. they broadcast from some temples and churches in Jerusalem that they have never been in before. the guy up at the north pole was on some plastic little boat and they were showing us the other guys in a boat next to him all suited up in diving gear in case he fell off so that they could save him. then they did a satellite feed from the north pole to the south pole but the way the earth and the satellites were positioned they had to go through abc studios to do it . . . they keep highlighting how much work it is for them to "bring this to us". that's starting to annoy me, but it's also kind of cool i suppose. i mean a real time conversation between someone standing on a boat in the middle of water on the north pole and someone wrapped up in a parka out in the snow on the south pole is pretty amazing. even if there was a go-between person.

I also think they are using it for awareness. First we had tibet vs. china. Then we had the middle eastern religions in jerusalem. yesterday it was global warming. and today it was about the garbage and littering done that kills the wildlife.

now i am ALL FOR awareness, especially when it comes to human rights, the environment and animals. but i tuned in to find the seven wonders more from a historical perspective. it's making me quite depressed. it seems like they are highlighting these places telling us to enjoy them all before they disappear. with the old seven wonders it kind of seemed like you could look at them with a sense of amazement and pride. a "how'd they do that" type of thing. so i'm a bit disappointed that there is none of that with these new seven wonders.

2008 elections

just got this newsflash emailed to me from ABC News:

EX-NEW YORK CITY MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI FORMS COMMITTEE TO PLAN RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008

wow. is he going to go up against hilary? is he going to go up against obama? it's like the election of celebrities. i know no one else has said they would definately run yet, but it sure is interesting. usually if it's not the vice-president running, the condiates are always some govenor that i don't know from a state i haven't been too.

polar ice caps

This morning Good Morning America released the 3rd of the Seven New Wonders. The clue was "where fire meets ice." The wonder: Polar Ice Caps, Iceland.

This one confused me. The other two wonders that were already revealed were man-made places. There were the old Seven Wonders of Antiquity and the old Natural Seven Wonders. I assumed that the "New Seven Wonders" would be of man-made things since the first two were. But their explaination:

Most of the Seven Wonders panelists agreed that the beautiful, disappearing polar ice caps should be one of the new wonders of the world. One panelist saw no wonder in the water, though. "I don't think it's a wonder. It's frozen water," astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson said.

The polar ice caps are clearly a natural wonder. They are stunningly beautiful. But part of me believes they listed it because one day it will disappear. The science of it all is actually a wonder.

The bright white ice of the Arctic regulates the planet's temperature by reflecting solar energy back into space.

The "when fire meets ice" clue is because there are volcanoes underneath the glaciers. This results in some of the warm springs which are popular tourist attractions in Iceland.

Allez Cuisine!

the gals were in the house tonight on iron chef america. rachael ray and giada de laurentis battled it out tonight. how fun. rachael was paired with mario batali and giada was paired with bobby flay. i am rooting for giada and bobby.

food network has been playing thanksgiving shows almost non-stop this past week, so it's no surprise that this battle is holiday themed. the secret ingredient: cranberries. i bet you can do some really neat things with cranberries . . . rachael mentioned cranberries with pasta - hhmmm.

rachael and giada both look like real amateurs compared to bobby and mario in the beginning. the girls are both so damn girly! i wish they were more like iron chef cat cora - serious and with a little hustle. rachael and giada were all smiles. there is no way those two would be able to handle the battle on their own. instead of one hour they'd be in there for four hours. at one point giada couldn't get the container off the food processer so she had to ask bobby for help. are they doing this on purpose? make the girls look this flakey? oh brother.

the food of course is amazing. cranberry tempura. cranberry butter. cranberry and pork tamale (hell ya!). cranberry and squash ravioli with cranberry simple syrup. french toast and cranberry with goat cheese stack. cranberry polenta with cranberry and bacon wrapped shrimp. venison osso buco with a cranberry glaze. cranberry suger topped donuts. cranberry risotto. sausage and cranberries with the spaghetti (which is some fancy type of spaghetti that was cooked in wine).

bobby and giada's dishes:
cranberry custard french toast
squash and cranberry ravioli
cranberry and duck confeit tamale
venison osso buco with cranberry risotto
cranberry zeppole

mixed reviews from the judges. some they liked but they had criticisms for most of them.

mario and rachael's dishes:
cranberry ajo blanco
panchetta wrapped cran-glazed shrimp
drunken bucatini with sausage and cranberries
turkey osso bucco with saffron cranberry fregula
panettone zuppa inglese

the judges loved every dish. i didn't hear one negative comment.

i have to say, when the chefs were talking to the judges, rachael came off much smarter than giada. giada was still giggling and acting kind of flakey. and bobby spoke more so it didn't really seem that giada contributed to the team too much. rachael presented almost all the dishes and you can tell that she actually made some dishes on her own. she impressed me. she came across as gracious, intelligent and easy-going. and going into this i was rooting for giada so that says alot.

and the winner of battle cranberry . . . rachael and mario. they blew them a way with 53 points vs. giada and bobby's 46 points out of a total possible 60 points - 20 from each judge. in most battles there are only a few points different. i've never seen it over a four point difference. well, if you missed it tonight don't worry. i checked the schedule and it will be on about 20 more times between now and christmas.

swank

i'm doing the website for the salon where i get my haircut. i love the people there. they just changed their name to swank hair lounge - they used to be rejuvinations salon. we got to talking and they and they need a website and were having problems with the people the met with. they found nobody wiht the same vibe as them. apparently they got a bunch of really crappy proposals. we talked about it when i was there last week and i went over there for a few hours and we played in front of the computer and determined a design. i got them going with what they need to do when writing the text and taking pictures. we are hoping to have it complete before i leave for vacation on thanksgiving day.

favorite places circle journal

you'd think i would have jumped right on this circle journal instead of dragging my feet. i've had it for about two months. the theme is "favorite place for vacation". as we all know i am all about the vacation. life has just been busy i suppose. i'm the last entry to finish up the book. it has been passed around between twelve of us.

for some reason she wants us to do four pages in this circle journal. probably because she picked such a small book. it's really hard to do a 6x6 page! anyways, i picked the smokey mountains. lots of people in the book picked tropical places like hawaii or the caribbean. i chose the smokey mountains because it is one of my favorite places and there is so much to do there. you can do everything EXCEPT go to the beach. and that is just fine with me because i'm not a beach bum anyways. i much prefer playing in the river and hiking to the waterfalls.

november fest

tonight i went to november fest in brandon. it was so packed! my girlfriend took her daughter and some of her friends for her birthday party. the kids hung out together going on all the rides and we hung out at the beer tent. it was a blast.

christmas lights

the guys came and did the christmas lights on my house yesterday. one guy fell off the ladder! but he was okay. anyways, they put them up and it took them a little over an hour. my neighbors told me how easy it was and that i could do it myself, but no way i want to go up on the roof by myself. i almost had a heart attack today getting up in the attic afraid that i'd kick the ladder away somehow and fall.

anyways, i fell asleep during a nap and when i woke up it was getting dark. that's when i noticed the lights!!! no one else on my block has them up yet so i snapped a few pics and then unplugged them all. it looks really nice though. it's a happy place here at my house :)

smart dog

i always knew tristen was smart! today he fell asleep while reading my new kentucky kitchens cookbook. isn't he precious?

christmas decorating

the guys came today to put up the lights on my house. i know it's early! but it inspired me to pull out my christmas stuff and start decorating inside as well. normally i'd do this over thanksgiving weekend but i'm going to be out of town during that time and not back until december 3. this way, when i get back it will be all ready and i can actually enjoy december.

it's actually kind of fun this year to decorate. last year at the end of the season, while in chicago, i bought a ton of christmas decorations and had them shipped back to my house in florida. when they came i just left them all packed up and i forgot what i got. so it was kind of fun to open up all the stuff i got for myself :) also, when i travel i collect ornaments. so i got to pull out all the ornaments i brought back as souvenirs. i haven't started hanging them yet but when i do it will be fun to look back on everything over the past six years since i started collecting them. i have done a bunch of traveling during that time so it will be neat.

this guy is cracking me up

i know borat is all over the place, but he cracks me up! in this clip martha teaches borat how to make a bed on late night with jay leno.

interesting question . . .

are you anybody's favorite person?

nostalgia: bugsy malone

i'm not quite sure of why i thought of bugsy malone this morning, but that movie brings me to a nice place. when i was little i thought it was the coolest movie! because all the kids were actors living an adult life. the gals got to dress up and dance and sing. the guys were in the mob. it was great.

and god bless youtube because i got to go look at some clips. i forgot how many musical numbers there were in the movie. instead of the mobsters having bullets in their guns, the guns are filled with foamy cream. i totally wanted to work at fat sam's speakeasy!



here is the original trailer for the film.

fucking china

well, once again i take issue on some of the inhumane things going on in china. it's not enough how they treat the people, now they are hurting dogs! in an attempt to combat rabies, they have come up with the ridiculous rule that each household can only have one small dog. what are the people supposed to do if they have a medium or large dog? what if they have more than one small dog already? it's an offense if they abandon their dog, so that means they need to turn it in to china's version of the dog pound for certain death. it just makes me sick.

men in trees

"i just wish that when you look at yourself that you see even a little bit of what i see."

oh how i've missed this show! men in trees was only off for one week. it's so damn funny. i think they showed the funniest walk of shame that i've seen in a long time. and i love the romance between mirin and jack. i want to marry him. well, maybe not that. but a nice kiss and a cuddle could be a ton of fun! but they didn't really get along this week because they both have all these walls and stubborness and miscommunication. humph! the romance this week was between the publisher and the plow guy :)

jewel was on the show for some reason. not sure why. but she sang with one of the gals and she was really good. she had kind of a bluesy sound going . . .

they just announced that men in trees is moving to thursday night after greys anatomy. i guess that means that six degrees will be cancelled since that is in that time slot now. and it's going to be interesting because from the previews it looks like mirin goes back to new york with her publisher and the ploy guy and jack go to new york to find them. yeah!

Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva

this is so amazing . . . can you imagine how long it took to choreograph?

coldplay goes commercial

this makes me want to watch a star wars marathon like i used to with my sister and tiffany. too bad i don't have cinemax . . .

pull up

what the fuck is this? oh my god, it totally cracks me up. "at least i've still got the truck!"

the holy land - a wonder?

this morning they announced the 2nd of the Seven New Wonders on Good Moning America. It's The Old City of Jerusaldm.  I don't know about this one . . . why is it a wonder? Why is an amazing man-made place? It is known as one of the most holy places in the world and there is alot of history there. it has holy sites for christians, jews and muslims. but I'm not sure if it should be listed as a wonder.

12,284 days

Your date of conception was on or about 1 July 1972 which was a Saturday.

You were born on a Saturday
under the astrological sign Aries.
Your Life path number is 11.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 6.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 9.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2441765.5.
The golden number for 1973 is 17.
The epact number for 1973 is 25.
The year 1973 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/3/1973 and ending 1/22/1974.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Ox.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Hawk; your plant is Dandelion.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Paony, the second month of the season of Shomu (Harvest).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 20 AdarII 5733.
Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 21 AdarII 5733.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.19.12.1 which is
12 baktun 17 katun 19 tun 12 uinal 1 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Saturday, 19 Safar 1393 (1393-2-19).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 22 April 1973.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 29 April 1973.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 7 March 1973.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 10 June 1973.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 17 June 1973.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Thursday, 27 September 1973.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 17 April 1973.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 6 March 1973.

As of 11/10/2006 11:10:05 AM EST
You are 33 years old.
You are 404 months old.
You are 1,755 weeks old.
You are 12,284 days old.
You are 294,827 hours old.
You are 17,689,630 minutes old.
You are 1,061,377,805 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Peyton Manning (1976) Alyson Hannigan (1974) Sharon Corr (1970)
Mase (1970) Annabella Sciorra (1964) Louie Anderson (1953)
Steve McQueen (1930) Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919) Joseph Barbera (1911)
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (1887) Harry Houdini (1874)

Top songs of 1973
Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree by Dawn
My Love by Paul McCartney & Wings You're So Vain by Carly Simon
Crocodile Rock by Elton John Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye
Keep On Truckin' by Eddie Kendricks Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce
Top of the World by Carpenters Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & the Pips

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.80782778864971 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

There are 134 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 34 candles.

Those 34 candles produce 34 BTUs,
or 8,568 calories of heat (that's only 8.5680 food Calories!) .
You can boil 3.89 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1973 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.
In 1973 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1973 in the US there were approximately 2,158,802 marriages (10.6%) and 708,000 divorces (3.5%)
In 1973 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1973 the population of Australia was approximately 13,614,344.
In 1973 there were approximately 247,670 births in Australia.
In 1973 in Australia there were approximately 112,700 marriages and 16,195 divorces.
In 1973 in Australia there were approximately 110,822 deaths.


Your birthstone is Aquamarine

The Mystical properties of Aquamarine

Aquamarine is often used to experience love and mercy. It is said to help ease depression and grief.

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Jade, Rock Crystal, Bloodstone


Your birth tree is

Hazelnut Tree, the Extraordinary

Charming, undemanding, very understanding, knows how to make an impression, active fighter for social cause, popular, moody and capricious lover, honest and tolerant partner, precise sense of judgement.


There are 45 days till Christmas 2006!
There are 58 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waning gibbous

what my name means

My mom sent me a link from my uncle that tells me about my birthday and i found this link to What Your Name Means. I've never seen anything about using your name to determine your personality . . . i guess it uses numerology.

There are 11 letters in your name.
Those 11 letters total to 57
There are 4 vowels and 7 consonants in your name.

Your number is: 3

The characteristics of #3 are: Expression, verbalization, socialization, the arts, the joy of living.

The expression or destiny for #3:
An Expression of 3 produces a quest for destiny with words along a variety of lines that may include writing, speaking, singing, acting or teaching; our entertainers, writers, litigators, teachers, salesmen, and composers. You also have the destiny to sell yourself or sell just about any product that comes along. You are imaginative in your presentation, and you may have creative talents in the arts, although these are more likely to be latent. You are an optimistic person that seems ever enthusiastic about life and living. You are friendly, loving and social, and people like you because you are charming and such a good conversationalist. Your ability to communicate may often inspire others. It is your role in life to inspire and motivate; to raise the spirits of those around you.

The negative side of number 3 Expression is superficiality. You may tend to scatter your forces and simply be too easygoing. It is advisable for the negative 3 to avoid dwelling on trivial matters, especially gossip.

Your Soul Urge number is: 9

A Soul Urge number of 9 means:
With a 9 Soul Urge, you want to give to others, usually in a humanitarian or philanthropic manner. You are highly motivated to give friendship, affection and love. And you are generous in giving of your knowledge and experience. You have very sharing urges, and you are likely to have a great deal to share. Your concern for others makes you a very sympathetic and generous person with a sensitive and compassionate nature.

You are able to view life in very broad and intuitive terms. You often express high ideals and an inspirational approach to life. If you are able to fully realize the potential of your motivation, you will be a very self-sacrificing person who is able to give freely without being concerned about any return or reward.

As with all human beings, you are prone to sometimes express the negative attitudes inherent to your Soul Urges. You may become too sensitive and tend to express emotions strongly at times. There can be significant conflict between higher aims and personal ambitions. You may resent the idea of giving all of the time and, in fact, if there is too much 9 energy in your nature you may reject the idea. You may often be disappointed in the lack of perfection in yourself and others.

Your Inner Dream number is: 3

An Inner Dream number of 3 means:
You dream of artistic expression; writing, painting, music. You would seek to more freely express your inner feeling and obtain more enjoyment from life. You also dream of being more popular, likable, and appreciated.

take a train into tibet

today good morning america had their first installment special segment they are doing called "The Seven New Wonders".

More than 2,000 years after the creation of the original list of "Seven Wonders of the World," in an unprecedented event, "Good Morning America" and USA Today brought together an esteemed panel of international experts to choose the "Seven New Wonders of the World.

The first one was announced today . . . The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. This was where the Dalai Lama used to live before China took over Tibet.  It was once a center of government, the site of a monastery, and a mausoleum for eight previous Dalai Lamas. It is a 13-story building built on 32 acres of land.

I have always wanted to go to Tibet. And back in the 90s I was into the Free Tibet thing so I learned alot about their culture. But I guess I didn't realize the geographical location of Tibet. It's one thing to look at it on a map, but this morning they showed how difficult a place it is to get to. It's at a very high altitude and you have to go through all sorts of difficult terrain to get there from beijing.

The most interesting part of piece was the description of the Beijing-Tibet Train. China built the railway leading across their country for something like $4 billion. China built it to try and bridge the poor communities in the west with the wealth in the east. Before the climb up into the mountains the train has to switch engines to have one powerful enough to make it up in the mountains. the train compartments are all equipped with oxygen because people are likely to get altitude sickness. It is the world's highest railway. they get to such a high elevation that things like pens and packaged food explode.

one gecko, two frogs

there is a gecko in my house about half the size of my foot. this is kind of big for a gecko. and earlier this week i had to catch two baby frogs that my dogs found and decided to play with. taylor was chasing the gecko around today but those things are damn fast. not sure if i can catch it. right now he's hiding under my piano. i'm home sick and don't feel like dealing with it.

interesting combinations

i am loving top chef. cooking competitions are so interesting because you see so many different combinations. and now that we are seeing some personalities

the quickfire challenge is to make "amuse-bouche". that was described as a small bite to please the palate and tickles your appetite. but the twist is that when they do their shopping, they are taking to a room with vending machines! one was that refrigerated type that has sandwiches and stuff and another was a traditional on with chips and cookies. and there was a pop machine too. adn then they get 30 minutes to complete a dish.

the things some of them came up with were amazing! one guy ended up with a ham & cheese quiche.the dorito tostata looked good.  twinkie on top of whipped strawberry yogurt (this one was wrong because it was dessert and it's supposed to be an appetizer). on guy made his version of a deviled egg with a boiled egg he also bought and topped it with salami that he deep fried, h corn nuts and a fig sauce from the fig newtons. the guy that won made a mini-loaf with squirt, sunflower seeds and carrots.

for the big challenge the group was divided into four teams of three people. they had to cook meals for camp glucose and prepare a meal for children between the ages of 8 and 18 without exceeding 500 calories. they came up with sausage pizzas, cheesecake, meatballs, chocolate cake, smoothies and all sorts of neat stuff. the kids had to look at the different menus and decide which one they wanted. most of them went for the pizza - big surprise. one team only had one order for their chicken.

the drama came in when the judging was happening. when the teams first prepared their meals they each had dieticians which counted calories to ensure they stayed under 500. but the second day when they prepared the meals it ends up people changed recipes and added in extra olive oil. so it got all confused and they ended up not sending anyone home this time because they don't know who cheated and who didn't. really, it wasn't cheating, just misunderstanding.  

the holiday

well, i think i found the romance movie that i can't wait to see during the christmas season.  it's called the holiday and stars jude law, cameron diaz, kate winslet and jack black. awesome cast. looks humerous. looks nice and girly. i can't wait! haven't looked forward to a romantic comedy this much since you've got mail came out - which is one of my favs. kate winslet and jack black look hysterical!

dems take control

wow, this election ended up to be kind of cool. the democrats ended up taking over the house and the senate. we didn't find out until tonight that the senate will now be ruled by the democrats. so things should start changing . . . or coming to a stand still. . . .should be interesting.

logos

i thought i new logos! but this quiz is hard. i couldn't get amazon.com which surprised me cuz i'm on that sight almost every day. however i did get youtube, netflix and goolge on the first try. google and ebay were the hardest.

lost mini-finale

this episode of lost is the last one we can see for three months! these last six episodes are some type of "mini-season" they are doing. so of course there is a cliff-hanger . . . i just hope it will be a good one.

i just don't know what to make of kate and sawyer. part of me wants to go "oooohhhhh, they are so cute!"  and the other part says "this is lost! knock off the romance. get back to the clues." but oh my god, poor kate in her back story.

damn . . . the last five minutes were intense!  aahhhh. i need the DVD. what was the story on the beach from the first episode???????  i can't remember.

now i have to wait all the way until february to find out what happens and will have nothing to watch on wednesday nights.

via a text message?

divorce sucks. no way around it. so i feel bad for britney / k-fed cuz it's just going to be painful. when i heard the rumor today that k-fed found out from a text message britney sent him i didn't pay any attention because i thought that no one would be that stupid or rude. but then i saw this video! and of course i'm torn because i spend half of it laughing and half feeling bad for him. damn, it sucks. but for some reason i keep watching it . . .

poor joey

so much to say about tonight's results show of dancing with the stars. first of all, i never thought i'd say this. . . but the pet shop boys are cool! they performed west end girls. they are two middle age men. they have the british thing going. they have the salt and pepper thing going. they are just so cool.

but what's up with Dancing with the Stars: The Tour. Yup, they are going to do a concert type thing with dancers from all three seasons. four couples danced the jive together. it looked good but i wonder who really would go? and they are at big venues! the allstate arena in chicago (used to be the rosemont). the st. pete times forum here in tampa.

another point of confusion for me . . . what the hell is the host girl wearing? it looks like something that was homemade using all the elements from the Spring 2007 fashion week trends. it's superman blue and it has a poof skirt! her hairdo looks like it's right out of the 50s with that headband.

my heart was breaking while i was watching the final three stand up there. i like all of them. i want to cry that one of them has to lose! and joey lost . . . he is so nice and humble. i feel bad for him. but the good news is that EMMITT IS IN THE FINALS!!!! go EMMITT!!!

chris daughtry

my favorite americal idol and "america's sexiest baldie", chris daughtry, is releasing his first album this month. he totally should have won! but that's ancient history and he says it was the best thing for him that he didn't. his group is simply called Daughtry.

by the way, it's entertainment weekly that dubbed him "america's sexiest baldie", not me. but i can see where they get that title from.

ghee happy

how fun! i totally want to get this book: the little book of hindu dieties.  you can find info on it at gheehappy.com. The creator of the book is an animator and storyboard artist for Pixar animation working on such movies as Monsters Inc., A Bugs Life and Toy Story 2. He first self-published a version of this book last year, but it has since been picked up and reprinted in this new, expanded form by Penguin Books.

finally. . . some good news

it was so nice to wake up this morning and turn on good of america and actually have some quality news going on. it wasn't gossipy stuff. i wasn't election speculation stuff. it was good hard facts. we got the results of the election and got to find out who we all voted for and we also got to hear what effect that will have. they didn't even bring up britney's divorce until 7:31.

(by the way, britney was absolutely brilliant in announcing her divorce on election day. it was probably only one of the days she could have done it and the news not be the top headline of the day.)

dancing semi-finalists

tonight the dancers were on fire! emmit smith can come over to my house anytime! the final three danced tonight on dancing with the stars. mario, emmit and joey. they were all awesome. the judges were giving away 10s like water. joey has had lower scores in the past, but i still like his personality better than mario. all three couples tied for first place tonight. i voted for emmit and joey, but i think joey will be eliminated tomorrow and emmit and mario will be in the finals next week. it's so great now since the really star dancers are left. go emmit!!!

saving grace

i just watched saving grace. that movie is brilliant! it is about a middle-age woman whose husband leaves her in a horrible amount of debt. craig ferguson plays her gardner and he helps her grow a shitload of ganja. no one in the town expects this of the woman. there are some hysterical scenes when people get unexpectanly high. it's one of those movies that you enjoy watching, but after it's done you think about parts and they are even funnier and it makes you want to see it again.

accurate horoscopes

wow, my horoscopes have been dead on lately. i read this one and it made me think of chris. of course. i always think of chris. but i was kind of annoyed he didn't call me back last night. not really that annoyed, but a little bit. good idea for me to not call him today i guess. he's busy working on something now anyways.

You may benefit from what you don't say today, rather than what you do. Your physical needs are strong and could present awkward situations should you decide to go after what you want. Remember that others might not be feeling the same way. Allow them to find their own level of comfort without expecting anyone to match your current intensity.

what annoys me is that there are not that many times i "need" him but when i do he is always busy. that sucks.

i voted

today's election day so of course i voted. what's worse: someone who doesn't vote or someone who votes but has no idea who they are voting for? i put some thought into govenor, but had no clue about the rest of them. the negative ads down here are crazy and i got all confused. so i went for democrats and women. that was my strategy.

florida is SO different than chicago. it's so much more christian down here. i don't think any candidates proudly campaigned that they were pro-choice. those were used in smear campaigns as a negative against a candidate.

i wonder if dancing with the stars will be on tonight or if the local networks will focus on election results.

rio grande beef burritos

tonight i made rio grande beef burritos with roasted peppers. i found the recipe at epicurious.com. this is one of those recipes that isn't too hard if you feel like cooking. but you have to slice veggies, cook meat, slice it up and then assemble the burritos. they were really good though. the recipe called for Ahaheim chiles or canned whole green chiles but i couldn't find any so i used canned jalapenos. it ended up being really spicy but i like it spicy so all is well.

mediterranean quiche

i am continuing to stick to my plan to make one quiche each week to try learn "the art of the quiche". this week i selected a mediterranean quiche from emeril lagasse. i found the recipe online at the food network website. it is made with zucchini, mushroom, onions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and a healthy dose of basil. but the best part is all the goat cheese which gets sprinkled over the top before you pop it in the oven.

this is one hell of a recipe! i usually think of quiche as a breakfast or light lunch food. probably because i think of the typical quiche filled with egg and spinach. i wasn't aware of all the varieties . . . which is of course is why i am trying out all these different recipes. this quiche is very rich and filling. i would definately serve it for dinner. it is not a breakfast recipe. the combination of flavors is absolutely amazing. there is something about the goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes that makes it taste like something you ordered in a funky restaurant in some botiquey part of town. i would be happy to pay $12 for a slice of this for lunch with a light salad. it is that good. in fact this is something i would make for a special dinner or when serving guests. it is very impressive and quite simple to make which is perfect for entertaining.

even though it came out well, i really botched it up while trying to follow the recipe. first of all, it calls for gruyere cheese and even after searching for it for twenty minutes in the supermarket - in all the different cheese sections - i could not find it. i had no idea what type of cheese is similar to gruyere. i think it is a mild cheese so i just choose shredded mozzerella. i figured that wouldn't overwhelm the veggies like swiss might. of course when i came home i looked it up online and discovered that i should have used swiss as a substitute for gruyere. oh well, i wasn't going to head back to the store. it ends up though that it only calls for half of a cup to be mixed in with a cup and a half of half&half so i don't think it really mattered that much.

instead of making the homemade pie crust i purchased the premade kind in the freezer section. i am intimidated about making my own pie cruse since i consider myself more of a chef than a baker and have never made a pie before. i guess i did not buy the right size. when i poured the cream and egg filling on top of the veggies in the pie crust, it overflowed all over the place. i had a total mess. and i didn't even get to use half of the liquid! i noticed that there were "deep" pie crusts available. i probably was supposed to buy those.

overall, my quiche came out well and will be an awesome leftover lunch for a few days this week. the taste of it way surpassed my expectations and i learned a lot of lessons about making quiches. so i consider it a really good success. i'm glad i got up off the damn couch to cook for a while because it was fun. i kind of like it when i get little goof ups and challenges. i used to freak out but the one thing i have learned from scrapbooking is that there are no such things as mistake. it's all art (yes, i consider cooking a form of creativity and art) and these little hiccups force your hand to personalize things and make them your own.

root beer carrots

this evening i made root beer carrots as featured in the november issue of everyday with rachael ray. one word . . . yum! these babies are sweet. if you like glazed carrots, you will like these. i chose this recipe because i thought it looked simple, tasteful, and i had most of the ingredients. it ends up though, i didn't exactly have all the same spices. the recipe calls for ground cloves - i had whole cloves. it also calls for ground cumin - i had cumin seeds. i also purchased the wrong size bag of baby carrots. the recipe calls for two pounds but i only had one pound. it worked out well though since i'm a single girl. two pounds of carrots would have been simply too much! i improvised on my spices and halved the recipe. it smelled wonderful while cooking. i used a "quality" root beer which i think has a lot of spices in it already. the root beer is definately the key ingredient as it maintains its flavor even after cooked so choose one that you like.

i don't enjoy my cooked carrots when they are piping hot so i let them cool to room temperature. it firmed up the outside a bit as the root beer sauce solidified. was great because the salt i sprinkled on stuck to them really well. they were really good. i ate them with a mediterranean quiche and the sweetness of the carrots balanced out the richness of the goat cheese in the quiche.

these carrots actually remind me of thanksgiving food.  i would not serve these with any meal in which you are serving sweet potatoes because the taste and consistency are about the same. i bet eating them with something spicy would be really good too. in the magazine the recipe was featured as part of an article on lake tahoe. they will definately make an awesome cold weather side dish!

saddam will hang

i guess it's pathetic when i find out that verdict to the sadam hussein trial from a music blog instead of from a news website or tv or the radio. well, it looks like saddam will hang. i wonder if they'll show it on tv? it is the day and age we live in . . . what a morbid thought. but i'm also curious and even though it is twisted, i think i'd like to watch him hang.

master chef marathon

i found a show on bbc america called Master Chef and to my great joy there is a marathon on today. The series initially ran in the UK nightly for 8 weeks from January through March. Now we american's get to see the repeats. i'm not sure which came first . . . the UK's Master Chef or the US's Top Chef, but I like them both. I like the format of Top Chef better because you get to know the contestants personalities and one person gets ruled out each week. Master Chef started with 100 amateur chefs and has whittled down through group eliminations. You never really get to know the contestants. However, any time i can listen to british accents for an hour i am happy. and in this case, combining the british accent with interesting food dishes and fun competition is pure bliss.

(the only problem is that there is a midsomer murder maraton on today too! more british accents but this time with mystery instead of food.)

the grey album

i was psyched to see this video today. i never knew they made a video. i think it's actually quite important as far as freedom of art is concerned. there is a very interesting story behind all of this.

Danger Mouse is a very talented DJ. He does alot of mashups -- combining two different songs together, ususally from different musical genres. In 2004 he made a mashup album that was quite controversial and i have been very interested in it all. He took the classc White Album from The Beatles and The Black Album from Jay-Z and combined them to come up with The Grey Album. He used these two albums because he respected these artists so much. Can you imagine how much work that must have been to produce an entire album redoing all the songs? I LOVE the art behind the mashups . . . i think because i took several sound editing classes in college so i know what is involved technically, but also because i just love music and i like to see the different things people come up with.

When he released The Grey Album online it was very well received and generated alot of buzz. Everyone was talking about it and EMI, who holds the copyright to the beatles album took action against him. he got a cease and dissist letter and was forced to take down all the tracks. It brings up the question: what is art?  I think that using the beatles lyrics and music as a contribution towards a new piece of work should be an honor! it's not really stealing since he used only their acapella track. but, good old corporate america doesn't agree i suppose. according to the wikpedia entry:

Danger Mouse never asked permission to use The Beatles' material, and intended to produce a limited production run of 3,000 copies. Jay-Z's material, on the other hand, was commercially released in a cappella form. Although the work was copyrighted, it was released for the implicit purpose of encouraging mashups and remixes.

this act by the musc industry back in 2004 had a big backlash. several bloggers and people championing the "freedom of the internet" cause rebelled on Grey Tuesday.

An organization which dedicates itself to music activism, Downhill Battle led a web-based protest to EMI's actions on Tuesday, February 23rd (2004). Naming the event Grey Tuesday, over 170 web sites hosted a full copy of the Grey Album for 24 hours, despite the numerous cease-and-desist orders issued by EMI to ISP owners. This protest proved a great success; overall, Grey Tuesday yielded over 100,000 downloads in one day, amounting to over one million digital tracks.

i know this is all old news from two years ago, but these issues still come into play today. and The Grey Album was one of the first big controversies, but definately not the last. It will be interesting to see how the music industry keeps evolving to handle both the internet and the new technologies available to new artists using this medium.

Luckily, all the lawsuits were dropped and today you can download all the tracks from The Grey Album (through blog torrent) if you are so inclined. but for an easy sample of the mashup, check out the video for the track Encore which features black-and-white footage from the beatles movie A Hard Day's Night and concert footage of artist Jay-Z in combination with computer animation. damn, can you imagine what all the whities would have done if they saw jay-z walking down the street as is in 1964? times have changed!

just finished "click"

i just finished watching Click. oh my god, it was such a good movie. i expected it to be a goofy comedy but it was so much more. it was kind of like "a christmas carol" or something like that. i laughed my ass off during the first half. there were some fucking hysterical scenes. but what i didn't expect was to be crying during this movie. i cried so hard during the second half my eyes still hurt! but the moral of it all . . . enjoy life. enjoy life now. make the most of what you have. don't worry about trying to have everything because you probably have everything you need already.

regina spektor - fidelity

i hear in my mind
all these voices
i hear in my mind
all these words
i hear in my mind
all this music

love this catchy song called "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor. but hearing it while watching the video is really cool. it starts in with a black & white color scheme -- as life and love so to speak usually seems. regina's lyrics depict the way we all hold back on feeling, afraid of the possibilities and more often the disappointment of an outcome. the true beauty comes in when what once seemed so monotone becomes full of bright rainbow colors, when surprises happen, chances are taken and genuine love is given with absolutely no expectations. how fun! how positive! i love it.

"hurt" (jane austen edition)

scala choir

okay, i found the scala choir today. they are an all girls choir from belgium of about 60 girls. they perform all sorts of songs . . . but their effect is always kind of creepy. they cover songs like creep from radiohead, under the bridge by the red hot chili peppers, smells like teen spirit from nirvana, muscle museum by muse, with or without you by u2, etc. in the video below they are singing "dream on" by depeche mode. these are all powerful songs on their own . . . but sung by a choir it just gives me the chills. it's just the girls voices and a piano.

the saints are coming

wow, powerful video. what kind of a statement do you think they are trying to make?

the honey battle

one of the neatest thing about iron chef is the amazing conbinations that the chefs come up with. tonight the food item was honey. there were huge containers of honey and some honeycomb. i'm no seasoned chef, but i sure do like to eat. i tried to think of what i would make if i had to come up with five dishes with honey . . . i figured i'd make some type of dim sum dish like a dumpling with honey flavoring the meat inside with other spices and a honey-soy sauce. the only other thing i could think of was some type of honey cookie or cake. i have no idea what else honey is used for except to put in tea.

the chefs came up with the most unique things. each of them made duck dishes. each of them made cocktails. and each of them made a dish with soba noodles. the challenger also came up with popcorn, ice cream and mashmellows. the iron chef cat cora came up with a greek donut. her soba noodles was with scallops - honey and seafood?

a new perspective

the latest circle journal i have is themed 'a new perspective'. i've been sitting on this for over a month. the gal that made it is going through chemo treatments for cancer. this has given her a new perspective on life. we were all asked to make a layout describing something that has given us a new perspective.

i had no idea what to do. some of the gals had really serious and touching stories. i've been pretty negative lately. more negative than i have been in a long time. so i have been trying to figure out something positive to do. i did come up with something and i journaled about "living in the now" instead of dwelling on things in the past or worrying about things in the future.

ham and cheese

i made a ham and cheese ring for dinner tonight. it's based on an old pampered chef recipe. it was total yummy comfort food that i really needed tonight. i'm bumming.

hip hop is dead

for some reason i'm into the new single from NAS - hip hop is dead. i'm not usually into NAS but i'm liking the deep "inna-gagga-da-vida" sampling or whatever it is. the words are cool and it's totally catchy.

Hip Hop Is Dead (mp3)

on a side note, i found my new favorite girly-girl, dance-around-the-house song. it's a mash-up between Jet and Girls Aloud by Lionel Vinyl. it is so much fun! i love the poppy-bounciness of it. I can't get it out of my head.

Are You Gonna Be My Love Machine (mp3)

the art of love

i was just reading soul kadee's blog about practicing the art of love. i have heard of this concept before and strongly believe in it. the theory is that there are five different ways that people like to be loved. Some of the biggest challenges with couples is that they do not take the time to find out how their  partner needs to be loved. They misinterpret things that their significant other does and they feel under-appreciated.

The five languages of love are:
    * Words of Affirmation
    * Quality Time
    * Receiving Gifts
    * Acts of Service
    * Physical Touch

Each of us have one of these five as their preference. I know that quality time is my number one. All someone has to do is spend time with me. It doesn't matter what we are doing. I had a past relationship where my significant other liked to be loved by receiving gifts. He would always buy stuff for himself and loved it when i'd surprise him with something. at the time though we didn't have alot of money so this posed a problem. He would sometimes buy me things even if it meant getting us into debt. i HATED that and it was a big problem for us. Obviously, the relationship did not last.

Sometimes though it's hard to figure out. When thinking of my ex I have no idea which language of love he leaned toward. He was a quiet one and I never new what he was thinking. I suppose I should have tried to talk to him more about these things to figure it out.

I took the What's Your Love Language Quiz and below are my results of how I like to be loved:

#1    Quality Time--This can be expressed either through those intimate tete-a-tete discussions or via doing things together. It's possible to get a low score in this category because you have a strong preference for one form of Quality Time over another.

#2    Words of Affirmation--You need to hear praise to know you are loved and you may also prefer to express your affection verbally. Negative comments cut right to the bone. You want to hear that you're loved and how much and why.

#3    Touch--You want to give and/or receive affection physically. This may or may not center around sex.

#4    Acts of Service--You prefer to show your love through favors and chores and doing things for others. You feel put-upon and unappreciated when your efforts are taken for granted.

#5    Gifts--You are moved by presents and physical tokens of affection. It's the fact that someone is thinking about you enough to give you something that moves you. The objects are of secondary importance to the relationship and sentiment with which they were intended.