True/False

Thursday I took a trip to visit my parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece. The next day I headed to Columbia for the True/False film festival.

I have always loved documentaries and consider it to probably be my favorite film genre. I was so bummed when I missed the festival last year so I was extra excited to be able to go this year. And, let's face it, Breanne is a pretty cool movie companion. Here's what I saw:

• Smash His Camera - This film is about the original paparazzo, Ron Galella. When I read the synopsis, I knew immediately this was a must-see for me.
• Greetings From the Woods
• Rachel Is - I highly recommend this film. Breanne and I both thought it was at the top of our list.
• The Tightrope
• When We Were Boys - Another favorite for me.
• Someone to Watch Over - This was a collection of shorts. My favorites were My Name is Sydney about a sixteen-year-old girl with autism and Goldthwait Home Movies. (Definitely go online to watch Goldthwait Home Movies...you will not be disappointed!!)
• As Lilith

The only bummer is that I didn't get to see many people. I think it would take me a full week to see all of my friends and that is definitely without any movie-watching.

Mario love

One of my favorite things to do as a kid was sit in my friend, Carrie's basement and play Mario Brothers. For hours. And hours. I also used to own a gameboy that was approximately the size of an encyclopedia and would tote lug that thing around playing some Mario. I love old school Nintendo!

So imagine my excitement when my husband bought me the new Super Mario Brothers Wii game for Valentine's Day. (Isn't he romantic?) Up until this point, the only Wii game I had decided was worth my time was MarioKart.

I think my husband has found my obsession with Mario Brothers a bit odd. In fact, he has since taken a blackmail picture of me. Ladies and gentlemen, you will not find that picture here. I'm pretty sure it is the equivalent of a man sitting on the couch in his underwear zoning out to the television. Only I'm under a blanket, wearing a t-shirt, with the video game controller tightly in my hand and wearing a look of pure concentration. What a sad life this housewife leads.

Earthquake

I woke up early this morning to the entire house shaking. I thought it was odd but it soon stopped so I fell back to sleep. Apparently, we'd just had a 4.3 earthquake. Not surprisingly, Joe slept right through it.

Jeeves in Bloom

You may have noticed that new recipes have not been so free-flowing around here lately. One reason is that between Joe and me, either one of us or both of us, are in school three nights which only leaves about one dinner together for us on a week night. When we do seem to finally reconnect on weekends, it is usually for dinner out somewhere. So I am a little out of my cooking groove these days.

Joe is a huge Wodehouse fan. He started foaming at the mouth earlier in the week when he read about a play in our area based on Wodehouse's Jeeves so we went on Friday night. The theatre was a great local find and I thought the play was a lot of fun. So much so that I would like to watch the BBC television series, Jeeves and Wooster sometime.

And it is always interesting when Super Bowl Sunday comes around; I am more interested in watching than Joe. (And I only like to watch for the commercials.) My non-sports-watching husband and I skipped out today altogether to go to a movie - Crazy Heart. It was crazy good.

Statistics makes me happy?

I just got out of class and after going over statistics problems for three hours my eyes feel like they are permanently crossed. But never mind that - I received an "A" on my first stats quiz. It wasn't quite a perfect score but it still qualified me for an A and I am grinning from ear to ear. I will rejoice in that and momentarily forget that I don't exactly understand the problems for next week's quiz.

Elixir of Love

What a great weekend! It started out with me getting to have dinner with a friend and fellow former-Columbian, Meggan. It is always so much fun to have visitors here even if it's just a dinner date.

Last night Joe and I went to the Lyric Opera to see Elixir of Love. This was our first time at the opera and I'm happy to report that we both had a lot of fun. Prior to last night, my only point of reference for the opera consisted of the opera scene in Pretty Woman. We arrived early enough to have a light meal at the bistro inside the opera house and then went to the pre-show seminar. At the seminar they discussed the story, music and history of the production. I was glad that the show we saw was fun and light-hearted and so easy to follow.

Now I am debating homework or further procrastination...

I might be crazy

Today my husband invited me to hang out with him and a couple of his friends. They were going to a record shop (vinyl only) and then out for hot dogs. I declined. I just didn't think it sounded like a very "Amy" afternoon. And, besides, I had some studying to do. After much persuading, I finally decided to go. After the record shop we went to Hot Dougs. It is a true Chicago experience but we almost skipped it entirely when we noticed the line went around the block. It was cold outside and I wasn't wearing my heaviest coat. I stood in line with the guys and then I sat in the car for awhile and then I stood in line some more. Finally, we made it inside - a full hour and forty minutes later! After that wait, I wasn't going to just have one hot dog so I had a corn dog and a chili cheese dog. My husband had Chicago dog and a bacon cheddar elk sausage dog. We also had duck fat fries. I am not sure about the hour and forty wait but it was a fun experience. And it's true - I ate today at a place known as the "sausage superstore and encased meat emporium." Nice.

Back to school

Monday I started school again after graduating 10 years ago (gasp) to work on my MBA. Many people have asked how my first week went. Let me just say that I am feeling pretty old right about now. Ten years ago we didn't use "Blackboard" to get homework assignments, check on our grades, etc. I also spent more for textbooks for two classes (for a quarter, not a semester) than I would have spent for five classes back in the day. And I hope I can get used to studying again. After my first class on Monday, someone sitting next to me stopped me before I left and asked me about the homework assignment while our teacher was still there. Then the person in front of me turned around and asked me another question. Um, I'm pretty sure these people are asking the WRONG person. I am, by no means, the expert here. The hope is that I can get into the groove soon...and the other hope is that I can get a B or better in Statistics.

Home again

Joe and I arrived home last night after a wonderful weekend trip to the Pacific Northwest to visit his family.

On Wednesday afternoon, after hearing the weather reports for the next day, I tried getting us on a plane that evening but they were sold out. In retrospect, showing up and trying to fly standby might have been a good bet. As I had feared, our flight first thing on Thursday was cancelled. In fact, most flights were cancelled but I finally found one to Seattle, via Kansas City, to leave about 5 hours after our originally scheduled flight. There was a brief window of opportunity for us to take off before the weather resumed giving everyone trouble. The weather was causing flight delays just about everywhere so thankfully our connecting flight was delayed, too, since we got there 45 min after it was supposed to depart. When we landed, the other plan was all boarded and they were holding the plane for us (and a few others from our flight) so that we were able to make it after all. Since we were the last ones on the plane, we didn't get to sit together. I won't go into our flight to Seattle except to say the gentleman I did sit with was completely obnoxious and terribly over-served. Ugh. Longest four hours ever.

This was what the runway looked like on Thursday just before our take-off.

Joe posing in front of an amazing backdrop!

On Saturday the entire family (minus grandma) went on an ocean-view hike.

I made it to the end of the trail! Thanks to everyone for such a great weekend.

Best week ever

My husband has been off work since Christmas Eve Day and goes back to work tomorrow. This is the longest time off work he's had since he was 23 (yes, he really is a workaholic) and the most time we've spent together with nothing to do. In addition to the ice skating, we've gone to a couple of movies, gone out to eat a couple times, hung out in bookstores, walked aimlessly around Whole Foods, taken the dogs to the dog park, taken lots of naps, took a car load to Goodwill and have been amidst a 30 Rock marathon most of the week. I love it! Tomorrow I'm back to my regular desperate housewife status and routine before our next big adventure to the Pacific Northwest this weekend...and I start graduate school next week. Gasp.

Happy New Year!

Today Joe and I went ice skating at Millennium Park. I will admit that I completely romanticized the idea. The truth is that I've never been ice skating before. And it's hard. About half a lap around the rink and my ankles felt like they were going to snap in half. But I did it and would stop and rest when needed (often) and then try some more. It was a brisk and overcast day downtown but fortunately not too terribly cold. Tonight we're going to have a cozy dinner at The Melting Pot and will be home (and maybe asleep) long before midnight. Happy New Year to all!

Christmas aftermath

Adyson had fun opening presents. Some of the items she received included new dolls, accessories for her dolls and a vaccuum.

My grandma was able to spend a few hours with us on Christmas. She is usually the most excited about opening gifts.

Joe and I arrived home yesterday afternoon after spending a couple days in Missouri with my family. I don't know what it is about travel - however long or short - but I'm exhausted. I'm also hoping that an elf sneaks into the house to put away the Christmas decorations. I hinted around to my husband and he asked if I really wanted him to be responsible for packing away delicate ornaments. He's right. I'll get to it eventually.

Recipe Roulette - Bibimbap

Nichole picked this recipe and I was definitely overwhelmed when I read the ingredients. It was a little more high-maintenance than I prefer in the kitchen. I didn't care for the results but Joe loved it. (If you haven't noticed, he basically loves everything.) Also, I don't do fried eggs so I made a fried egg for Joe and scrambled one for me. I also don't do radishes but decided to comply for this recipe and ate it anyway.

1/4 cup of Korean soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup minced scallions
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp ground toasted sesame seeds
Dark sesame oil, as needed
Black pepper, as needed
1 lb beef skirt steak, cut into strips
1/4 cup peanut or canola oil, as needed
2 cups steamed medium-grain rice
2 cups iceberg lettuce chiffonade
1 cup julienned or grated red radish
1 cup julienned or grated daikon
1 cup julienned or grated carrot
1 cup julienned or grated seedless cucumber
4 shiso leaves cut into fine shreds (you can substitute basil and mint if you can't find shiso leaves)
4 large eggs
2 tbsps Korean red pepper paste (gochujang), or as needed

Combine the soy sauce and sugar in a bowl. Add the scallions, ginger, garlic and sesame seeds. Add the sesame oil and pepper to taste. Add the skirt steak and toss until evenly coated. Cover, refrigerate and let steak marinate for at least 1 and up to 8 hours.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok over high heat until it is nearly smoking. Add the beef strips to the hot oil and stir-fry until the beef is cooked, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and keep warm.

Divide the rice evenly among 4 bowls. Top the rice with the lettuce. Toss together the red radish, daikon, carrot, cucumber and shiso leaves. Divide the vegetables evenly among the bowls. Top the vegetables with the skirt steak and season each with a few drops of sesame oil.

Wipe out the wok and return it to the burner. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok and heat it over medium heat until the oil ripples. Add the eggs to the hot oil one at a time and fry, basting the tops with a little oil, until the whites are set and the yolk is hot, 2 to 3 minutes. Top each serving with a fried egg and serve at once, accompanied by the Korean red pepper paste.

The most wonderful time of the year

Today my yoga teacher gave me a gingerbread man cookie cutter doing the tree pose. It's so cute that I had to share. I might be inspired to make some yogi gingerbread cookies now.

Speaking of baking, I have been making lots of treats lately. I guess it's because in June you don't really have an excuse to make fattening stuff and hand it out, so I need to get it all out of my system now. Otherwise, it's like baking pumpkin pie in April...not really time appropriate although still tasty.

Recipe Roulette - Chicken, Goat Cheese and Rice Casserole with Pecans and Cherries

This week served up another recipe by Paula Deen. I thought it was great. I could have probably done without the cherries but they turned out to be Joe's favorite part of the dish. Also, I only used one cup of goat cheese which seemed like enough. It's a great twist on your everyday chicken and rice casserole.

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 chopped yellow onion
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
3/4 cup dried cherries
2 cups (1/2 pound) crumbled goat cheese
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chopped pecans
finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup (1/4 pound) grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and saute until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the thyme and cook for 1 minute more. Pour in the broth and season with the salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil.

2. In a 13 x 9 inch flameproof baking dish, combine the chicken, rice and cherries. Pour the boiling broth mixture over it and cover tightly with foil. Bake until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Remove the casserole from the oven, remove the foil, and turn the setting to broil. Stir in the goat cheese, cream, pecans and orange zest. Smooth the surface of the casserole and sprinke it with Parmesan cheese. Return the casserole to the oven and broil until the cheese is melted and golden, about 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Husband interuptus

This post is by husband of Girl About Town. Her Beef Burgandy is out of this world. This was one of the best winter meals of my life.

My proudest moment

My Christmas present this year was a Dutch oven. (Yes, I now consider myself a full-fledged adult for being genuinely giddy over a kitchen pot.) Anyway, since I already have it, I decided to use it to make beef burgundy. I didn't use the Julia Child recipe because, frankly, it's practically longer than the last book I read. I made the dish along with a side of mashed potatoes and I am so proud of the results. (Recipe from Food Network Magazine.)

6 strips of thick-cut bacon, chopped
2 1/2 pounds flat-iron or tri-tip beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 medium carrots, diced
2 medium onions, diced
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1 4-inch piece celery stalk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup brandy
2 cups burgundy, cotes du rhone or other dry red wine
2 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup pearl onions, peeled
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup quartered button mushrooms

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat a 6-to-8-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add the bacon and cook until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon to a large plate, leaving the drippings in the pot.

2. Pat the beef dry with paper towels; season with salt and pepper. Add the beef to the pot in a single layer (do this in batches); sear for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown all over. Transfer with a slotted spoon to the plate with the bacon.

3. Add the carrots and onions to the pot and cook until softened and slightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, make a "bouquet garni": Tie the thyme, bay leaf, garlic, parsley and celery together with twine (nestle the garlic in the celery stalk).

4. Return the bacon and beef to the pot. Add the flour and stir for a few minutes until the meat is coated. Stir in the tomato paste. Add the brandy and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the red wine; cook until reduce by half again, about 10 more minutes. Add the stock and bouquet garni; bring to a low boil. Stir gently, then cover and transfer to the oven; cook until the meat is tender and cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the pearl onions and cook until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and 1/4 cup water; cook until the water evaporates and the onions are browned, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms; cook until slightly softened and golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; set the skillet aside.

6. Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon. Let the sauce sit for a few minutes, then skim the fat and discard. Return the meat to the pot. Add the pearl onions and mushrooms; heat through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley. (For better flavor, make the dish a day ahead.)

Recipe Roulette - Pumpkin Baked Ziti

This week's random recipe comes from Kate. She volunteered to supply our random recipe to which Nichole responded that her only rule was that whatever the random recipe was, Kate would have to make it, too. I think this was Nichole's way of making sure the recipe wasn't gross. I will admit, I was super skeptical when I saw the recipe. Mostly because one of the main ingredients is sausage. And, as anyone who reads this blog regularly should know, Amy doesn't go near sausage. But I decided to use ground beef instead of sausage and plunge forward. Besides, Paula Deen has never let me down before.

The results? I liked it. The pumpkin was very subtle (my husband called it "quiet") and was a nice change from red sauce, which I don't really care for. It may not go on my list of favorites but I really don't have any complaints and it was very easy to make.

• Pumpkin Baked Ziti

Runaway dog

I took this picture with my cell phone yesterday in the parking lot of the grocery store. This car was parked directly in front of us and the dog inside looked like he was about ready to pull out of the parking lot and take off. It was so cute!!

O Christmas Tree

My Wedding Day Barbie ornament. My Barbie ornament collection is quite stunning. :)
Our first Christmas tree!

I feel like a huge grinch but I hate decorating for Christmas. I dread putting up the Christmas tree, getting out the ornaments and everything else that is festive. What I hate even more is having to undecorate the tree and put everything away. This is probably another reason why I haven't done trees or much decorating for the past couple of years.

When I suggested to Joe a few weeks ago that we needed to buy a respectable Christmas tree he looked a little confused. He grew up with real Christmas trees not the artificial ones you'd usually find in my house growing up. Sure, real trees can smell and look nice but I hate the needles. And the watering. And when I think about setting out on an adventure to find a real tree, it just seems like a royal pain. So we went to Target to buy our very first Christmas tree. I was going to be content with just about any small/medium sized tree. Not my husband. Nope. If he was going to have some fake tree in his house it was going to be big and beautiful. So tonight we decorated our new tree. I love it!!

And I remembered why I love having a Christmas tree - my massive ornament collection! Most are from friends and trips I've taken. The only souvenir I bought on our honeymoon was an ornament which is standard procedure whenever I travel. And every time I see my ornaments, I'm reminded by the place/time I purchased it or the friend/relative who gave it to me. Yup, my husband now has a Christmas tree FULL of Barbie ornaments in his living room - thanks, Amber!

Who knows, maybe I won't be such a scrooge next year about getting the tree out. But when the time comes, I will definitely let someone else undecorate it and put everything away.