Puppies!

I meant to share this before but look, the new puppies!

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Here We Go Again.

So people had been asking me how we ended up doing with our first week of produce delivery. I think we ended up doing pretty well. At the end of the day, all we have left is half of an avocado and some celery (which is good for lunch so it's not gonna last.) In the end we made a really yummy spinach and yam gratin, you saw what we did with the bok choy, some arugula pesto with homemade pasta, some really yummy salads with the lettuce, arugula, and apples (among some other things.) The fruit was eaten as some pretty tasty desserts/snacks.

Pretty good for being away for a bunch of days in there. Feeling good about all the cooking. Of course, we got another box today...

• Cabbage
• Russet Potatoes
• Avocado
• Broccoli
• Grapefruit
• D'Anjou Pears
• Bananas
• Apples
• Tangerines
• Carrots
• Spinach
• Boston Lettuce

Yowza. Here is the game plan for the upcoming meals:

1) A cabbage salad with apples and walnuts (with lemon vinaigrette)

2) Another salad with the lettuce (and I think we may still have a little arugula left) and some sweet and spicy pecans

3) We're having some friends over for dinner on Saturday so I'm gonna attempt homemade gnocchi (with the potatoes) with broccoli, lemon, and some parmesan. I'm a little frightened of the gnocchi, but I feel like it would be rewarding to do...kinda like making your own bread.

I don't know why I'm sharing this -- I doubt anyone but me finds it interesting (or maybe Jess who is attempting the local, organic vegetable thing too). Still, I feel by typing it out for all to see, I'm holding myself to actually making these things and not letting everything wilt away in the produce drawer of my fridge. Time will tell...

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday.

For Your Viewing Satisfaction...

...my gorgeous nieces. This is a little something I put together on the flight home from visiting family. Thank goodness for power outlets on planes.

(In case you were wondering, "ojitos" means little eyes.)

It is incredible to consider how much they have grown since the last video I made a little over a year ago. They are a lot more exciting now...

Quick Fix.

Jamie and I will be traveling home tomorrow (hopefully, there is a wind advisory so cross your fingers that our plane makes it out of here). I will be trying to put together a video from this weekend, but in the meantime, I hope a couple of pictures will help tide you over until then...

Sitting in a Chair. In the Sky. Blogging.

Guys, I'm blogging from 30,000 feet up in the air over Kansas City! (At least that's what the little monitor in the back of the seat in front of me says). Apparently, today is the last day of the free in-flight Wi-Fi on Virgin America so blog I must. Never mind that we had to get up at 3:15am this morning to get to the airport. Sleep? BAH!

Anyway, Jamie and I are on our way to see the Zaki clan in San Francisco. My nieces are now bipedally mobile! Hopefully they will remember enough of me from Thanksgiving not to run away from me. If not, dagnabbit, I will do all I can to make them LOVE me in the few short days I have with them. Oh, and I'll see the rest of my family too. Look it's a NIECE!

More posts soon...(when I'm on solid ground).

Chicken of the Sea.

Jamie and I made a rare Friday night trip to the supermarket this evening. We hadn't been to the supermarket since we got back from the Bahamas, and there are only so many nights of soup that one can stand...even when sick with the flu.

We saw they were having a nice sale of sashimi-grade tuna and once we made sure it wasn't bluefin tuna (which I have learned is akin to eating a panda) or any other of those tuna types that are listed on the sad parts of our little seafood watch guide, we bought some nice filets!

If you came into our kitchen this evening, you would have seen Jamie and I coexisting in the kitchen pseudo-happily which is actually pretty rare. Since we are both alpha-"chefs" on opposite sides of the "clean-as-you-go" versus "pile-it-up" debate, it generally gets ugly in there when we are both cooking at the same time.

Fortunately, today's dinner was simple enough that we didn't get in each other's way and we produced a pretty tasty dinner at the end. Behold!

Seared Sesame Tuna with a side of Stir-Fry Garlic Baby Bok Choy

It was delectable!

Sunshine in My Mailbox.

Still sick -- but getting better. I feel like Death's less scary cousin, Myrtle. My head was in a fog all day at work, but when I came home I had a box sitting on my doorstep. It was a strange box...

...and I didn't remember ordering Peter nor his "Sword of Mercy". But when I opened it I was greeted by the most wonderful, earthy smell!



Our first shipment of organic fruits and vegetables came! Apparently, Washington's Green Grocers gets misprinted boxes that other companies want to dispose of and reuses them (we are to leave our box out for pickup on the next round) until they are no longer crisp and clean. They also, apparently don't use any packing material in their boxes. Not even using plastic bags unless they are loose items (i.e. beans) Hooray for less waste!


There was so much deliciousness inside! Look!

So, we ordered the smallest organic box which they advertised as good for a couple who likes to cook. Apparently, this equals...

• 1 pineapple
• 3 gorgeous yams
• 3 bunches of broccoli
• 5 Satsuma tangerines
• 1 big bunch of peppery arugula
• 1 head of Romaine lettuce
• 3 baby bok choy
• 3 Fuji apples
• 1 mango
• 3 bananas
• 2 avocados
• 1 bunch of celery

This is definitely upping our fruit and vegetable intake. We ate up the broccoli with some falafel tonight, and shared a tangerine and apple for dessert, and I'm coming up with a good plan for the rest of our treats!


Of course, it being January, a lot of the produce isn't locally-grown at this point in the year -- according to their website, almost everything in the box would be locally-grown between June and November. However, in this shipment I think maybe the yams, romaine, and celery were local -- our local green beans got shorted.

Hey, if that fair-trade mango from Ecuador tastes good, I'm fine. Also, they don't air freight anything, and nothing is sitting refrigerated on a shelf in some supermarket for a long time so I'll take it. Jamie is not as convinced. But I'm telling you that apple and tangerine (and broccoli) were just better-tasting than the organic stuff we buy from the supermarket...


I love the idea of having produce that tastes GOOD. California GOOD once again...

Sick Day.

It felt like I had been hit by a truck. I woke up yesterday morning with a mildly sore throat, and I downed an Airborne hoping that it would go away. By 11am I felt like death...after being hit by that truck. I had the works: chills, headache, so many aches, etc. While I have been sick many times before -- I work at an elementary school, after all -- I had no memory of anything hitting me so suddenly or intensely. I wanted to turn off my lights, crawl under my desk, and disappear.

By the time I got home I had a raging fever, crawled onto the couch and tossed and turned for a good long while before I got the not-so-bright idea to take a bath to warm up. I vaguely remember Jamie coming home and speaking a whole lot of words to me. I definitely remember waking up various times with all of the blankets in our house on top of me. That's pretty much it.

I woke up for good around 10am this morning -- I had emailed my request for sick leave around 5am -- and felt that my fever was starting to break. I'm back down to 99 and my body doesn't feel like it hates me anymore. When Jamie called to check in with me this morning, he told me that last night I was complaining about the "sandy pancakes" (what was actually chicken soup) that he was feeding me and that I thought I was on the beach. Just thinking about happier times, I guess...

Next time, I might request that Jamie videotape me when I go into my crazy, fever-induced ramblings. Or maybe not.

Going Green(er).

I swear it's not part of some ill-fated New Year's resolution, but Jamie and I have joined one of those organic fruit and vegetable co-op food delivery thingies. I am so excited. We're going with the small organic box and I'm already planning out what I can make with its yummy contents.

While there are several reasons to join a co-op food delivery thingie, these were the top reasons for us:

1. We need to eat more fruits and vegetables. Especially the vegetables. If we have a box of vegetables put on our doorstep, chances are, we'll eat them!
2. The fruits and veggies from our local grocery store are not tasty. Maybe it's because we're used to Californian produce. Maybe it's because we do most of our shopping in small city grocery stores...the produce there? Not so good.
3. We should eat more locally-grown organic food. Everyone should. We watched Food, Inc. a few weeks back (Jamie's boss is in it!) and while it did not make me a vegetarian (much to Jamie's chagrin) it did really make me want to eat more organic food.

Let's see how it goes...

Prius Love.

It is cold outside. Sure, I'm probably spoiled by the Bahamian "winter", but it's still cold!

Sadly, I'm having to spend my last days of break at work. Granted, it's quiet and I can actually get things done with no kids around (well, aside from taking a blogging break), but it's still sad to think that our winter break is almost over.

Jamie and I had a little adventure with my car this morning. We hadn't moved it since the Blizzard of 2009 and I knew that it probably wouldn't start. Aside from it being one of those hybrid-y cars, it has also been nearing the time when we will probably need to replace it's battery. Now, don't get me wrong, this car has been wonderful. Almost no mechanical problems with it -- in fact, aside from a flat tire or the time when I crashed it (it still drove fine, mind you), I can't think of any problems we have had with it. But, I had heard from other Prius owners, that around 5 years, the battery starts deteriorating rapidly. Sure enough, right after we hit the 5-year mark weird things began to happen. Actually, just the audio console ceased functioning.

I meant to take it to the dealer then, but life prevented me from getting out there and weeks passed. Then the snow storm and then the vacation...and needless to say, when we went to start it up after weeks of no use there was a really dead battery. Fortunately, it's not as hard to jumpstart a Prius as I thought it would be and we made to the dealer. Also fortunately, it is actually not all that expensive to get a new battery installed and recycle the old one -- even less than the cost of a nice dinner!

So at the end of the day, I still love my Prius. I especially love my Prius because it gives me an excuse to leave work today at a decent hour in order to pick it up! I was worried I would be here 'til obscenely late...

Looking Back at 2009, Looking Forward to 2010.

Double Post!

I've been meaning to do a 2009 Retrospective (original, isn't it?), but I figured Bahamas deserved it's own post. Since I already missed posting my retrospective before the new year, I figured I should at least try to get it done by January 1st. So here it is...

Jamie asked me what my favorite parts of 2009 were. At the time it was a daunting question that I answered with less enthusiasm that I'm sure Jamie wanted. Still, it is hard to answer a question like that on the spot. When I'm home, sitting in front of my blog, it becomes an infinitely easier task. So now, in chronological order, I present my favorite moments in 2009...

1) The Inauguration: it still gives me chills to think about all of the excitement in the air.

2) Spending time with the two most beautiful babies in the world.

3) That time when I may have spoken to Morgan Freeman.

4) All those times I got to go backpacking with my husband.

5) Abby and Samir's Wedding. (This was actually one that came to me on the spot when Jamie asked...)

6) Our trip to Maine: which, incidentally, was the first trip Jamie and I took by ourselves since our honeymoon...

7) Visiting Jess, Marina, and Anne Louise in New York.

8) Thanksgiving in Los Angeles -- which was the first time I spent Thanksgiving with my family since Freshman year of college.

9) "Blizzard" 2009 (a.k.a. Jamie's Birthday). SO COOL.

10) And, of course, Christmas in the Bahamas.

As far as looking forward -- I'm sure that there will be many great things coming up this year. Plenty of weddings and (hopefully) trips. It is also really amazing to think about what a difference one year makes. For example...this post from exactly one year ago compared to this video that I received from my brother this morning...

It's gonna be an exciting year...

So Long Bahamas...

Happy New Year's to everyone!

We made it back from the Bahamas in time to usher in the new decade!  On our stopover in Miami, we came to terms that we had not yet come up with a plan for New Year's and Jamie made wrote our friends Ben and Ragan to see if we could all meet up.  With a toddler and another baby on the way, we figured they would be up for something low-key if they were in town.  Fortunately for us, they were!  And so we got to enjoy some yummy Thai Curry Mussels with freshly baked rolls (I was in a big baking kick when we got home).

The Bahamas, of course, were awesome, and Jamie and I are already planning our next trip out.  We would have loved to stay longer, but sadly, I have to open the building at work tomorrow (!) so our trip to paradise had to be cut short.  Still, we had a wonderful time...

It had been a couple years since we have been to the Bahamas (since Christmas 2007) and it was great to see how somethings hadn't changed.  It was still gorgeous, populated by friendly people, and completely relaxing.  Although I did have to do some work while I was there, it was infinitely better to do it to the sounds of the ocean and with a cool breeze at my back on the deck.

We spent lots of quality time with Jamie's side of the family and had lots of laughs, got to snorkel at Fowl Cay, and swim in the heaven blue water.  While I really missed seeing my side of the family, it also reminded me how fortunate I am to have two loving families to which I can belong...

I'll put up some more pictures from our trip over the next few days...hopefully!

On Our Way.

We're heading out to the Bahamas bright and early tomorrow morning. Not sure that I will have access to the internet while there -- in fact, I'm 95% sure that I will not -- so I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a safe and fun New Year.

As I have done in years past, I will still write posts while I am away and then post them one-by-one when I get back. Can't wait to visit paradise!

A Whole Lotta Nothing...Plus Some Mushiness.

I think it's slightly funny that Jamie was the one who got a Snow Day after the storm rather than me...In the end, I got to spend my first day of break with Jamie at home. And actually Scott who came over to our place for a quiet place to study. While I adore my husband and brother-in-law, they were seriously cramping my vegging plans.

No matter, I would vegetate properly on my second day of break by sleeping in, etc. Unfortunately, I woke up at 7am and figured it'd be best not to waste my day. Also, I needed to get myself to Urgent Care and no time like the present. Given my previous experience with Urgent Care, I was not looking forward to it.

This time I went to Minute Clinic. Hooray for Minute Clinic! I was seriously seeing a nurse practitioner within a minute. Minute Clinic saved my second day of break because afterwards I was able to get back home and do my jog and then catch up on my vegging.

Today is Jamie and my dating anniversary. After spending eleven years with the guy I can safely say that he is still the best, most wonderful, human being.

Christamas-ish in The Capitol.

Yesterday morning, Jamie and I ventured out in the snow with our snow boots to enjoy the Capitol under a blanket of snow. It was an absolutely beautiful day -- with bright sunshine and few clouds -- so we walked to the Capitol and check out the National Christmas Tree.

View of The National Tree and Mall from the Capitol.

That's Jamie waving his arm.

It was great to get out there. Everyone was in such a good mood because of the snow. Kids were sledding down the hill adjacent to the Capitol steps, people were making snowmen and throwing snowballs. The city itself was so quiet except for people enjoying the snow.

I've known for a while now that I wanted to live somewhere that had snow. While I thought the more snow the better for me, I'm starting to realize it may be that I'd rather be somewhere where snow is a huge deal when it actually happens because then it's something that people are happy about. I don't know that people in Buffalo or Ann Arbor are as excited to see snow as we are in DC.

I still vividly remember the day when I was in Kindergarten and it started to snow in Los Angeles. It was an awesome day.

This is outside of The Supreme Court.

Don't know how much longer we can expect the snow to stick around. Looks like they are predicting freezing rain on Christmas...boo! Fortunately, I'll be in the Bahamas! If I can't have a white Christmas, I think the place I'd most like to be is the Bahamas...

Blizzard 2009

Okay, so maybe not a technical blizzard, but they had a Blizzard Watch for a while. Yesterday it snowed ALL day. Not just flurries, but really snowed.

...And snowed...

...And SNOWED.

D.C. got hit by about 20" of snow yesterday which is a new record for December. It doesn't snow that much here in D.C. -- especially in the city itself. Needless to say, I was a very excited camper yesterday as were many other D.C. residents. Apparently, there were cross country skiers on the sidewalks and snowmobiles going down East Capitol. While 20" is not much snow by Massachusetts standards, it's enough for mass hysteria over here. I didn't even mind that it happened after school let out for the Winter Holidays and robbed me of the elusive snow day.

Still, Blizzard 2009 was not the most exciting thing about yesterday: the most exciting thing about yesterday was that it was Jamie's Birthday!!! Jamie and I have a strange relationship with the weather. Basically, any time we plan some kind of event that would benefit from good weather (i.e. BBQs, birthday parties, WEDDINGS) it decides to go wacky on us. The last sunny BBQ we had was in 2000 (and we throw at least one every year), the last time I attempted a birthday party of some sort there was an ice storm, and of course there was the thunderstorm at our wedding (where it actually only stormed for the outdoor part).

Still, we had a bunch of people brave it out in the snow and celebrate Jamie's birthday for us. It was great to have good food, music, and friends in in our home while it was snowy outside. It all felt very holiday-ish.

Since I didn't get to go outside and enjoy the snow yesterday (due to the massive cleaning and baking effort), I plan on venturing outside today and taking full advantage! Hopefully, pictures soon...

Pasta Masters.

Last Tuesday, Jamie and I finally cashed in on a birthday gift I gave him last year: a cooking class at our friend Leah's store. In my defense, we couldn't go on or around his birthday last year because Hill's Kitchen didn't have classes available yet. Since then, we have had a really hard time finding times when our schedules aligned during the week.

But we finally made it in to the Homemade Pasta class and it was so much

fun! We have tried making homemade pasta before but with little success. The most successful pasta that had ever been made in my kitchen was actually made by my friend Angie when she made some awesome agnolotti for Jamie's Top Chef party a few years back.

But look!

And look!

(Sorry for the low picture quality -- all I had was my cell phone and low light.)

Those are some ragu noodles at the top and my linguini at the bottom of the picture. We took it right home and ate it up...so yummy...and so easy too.

In other news, it's snowing outside! Wahoo! Fortunately it's snuggly time in the house for us all to stay warm...

Love Tap.

What's the etiquette when it comes to parking love taps? You know, when a car gently taps another car when it's parallel parking.

This morning, when I was leaving for work, a car pulled up and began to parallel park into the spot directly in front of mine. Since I didn't want to pass behind his car while he was parking, I waited for him to park. Despite the good 3 feet on either side of his car he kept reversing far beyond what was necessary...I watched with growing alarm as he kept inching ever so much closer. Closer. CLOSER. Until TAP -- my car lurches and he finishes parking his car.

I'm guessing that he understood that it was not cool -- I gathered that based on the fact that he leaned over to the passenger seat to "get something" and continued to "get something" (and hide his face) until I had driven by.

When I was relaying this to a friend today, she told me that love taps were not at all taboo. In fact, she proudly stated that she always gives love taps and will usually tap both cars on either side of her every time she parallel parked. WHAT???? Excuse me, WHAT???? Please tell me that my friend is just wrong.

I feel so violated on behalf of my car just thinking that it may have been getting tapped without my knowledge...

Encore.

Some more a capella goodness. This is from the same concert as before (obviously), but it's a different song.

For Dad. Love, Me.

In honor of my dad's birthday today, I would like to share this:

I think he'd appreciate it.