stuffing!

[Now back to regularly scheduled programming - the post I was going to write last night, but was too full of rage to do so.]

Stuffing is one of my most favorite foods that I only eat for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's always been a bit of a mystery to me, since the only way I've made it myself is with Stove Top. But no more! Now I shall conquer the world with stuffing whenever I please! (And whenever I have extra bread, which I may need to buy more often.) Oh, you say you want to know too? OKAY!



1. Make the Croutons

I used about 6 slices of getting old wheat bread, cut them up into large crouton pieces, drizzled with olive oil (with salt, pepper, and garlic) and baked in the oven at 400 degrees. I don't remember the exact time, but until they're brownish and crisp. (20 minutes or so?)

2. Prepare Your Stuffing Holder

For me, this was emptying out the cavity of a large pumpkin I bought mostly for decoration. I've heard any type of squash works, or really any vegetable that can be stuffed. Or hell, put it in a glass baking dish. That works too. Or, I guess a dead animal, though that freaks me out.

3. Add Stuff To Your Stuffing

I sauteed onions, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, and celery in olive oil first. Then I mixed this in with the croutons, along with 1/2 cup or so of water (stock would also be good), some more olive oil, and some shredded parmesan cheese. I hear there are many other delicious things to add...such as fresh herbs, chopped nuts, or even chopped fruit? You can go crazy here.

4. Put The Stuffing In The Stuffing Holder And Bake!

In this case, into the pumpkin it went (and fit perfectly, imagine my luck), and then into the oven (@325, but later hotter because of my impatience) for a reallllly long time because it was a big pumpkin. The good news is the stuffing turned out delicious. The bad news is that the pumpkin was a bit bland. So maybe oil that veggie cavity before you stuff.

5. Eat

Um, duh. Did I mention I like how often this post has "stuff" and "stuffing" in it? Nice.

what's wrong is right, or something.

I usually try to make this blog a happy place about babies and mittens and baked goods, but today is tough. I'll attempt to balance it out, though.

Just A Few Things That Are Wrong With The World
1. Laundry. Hi, if you live in an apartment building with two washers and dryers and have two or more loads of laundry to do, AND you are well aware there are people waiting behind you, you had better well get to your shit in a timely manner. (Brought my huge basket down at 6, estimated arrival of clean, dry laundry? Oh, 11? 12?)
2. I can't transfer anything onto my external hard drive unless I erase it all or dump it somewhere else since I used it on a PC first and I'm a very sheltered mac user. Oh, also, I only have 1.6 GB of space on my iBook.
3. Schools in the Twin Cities are more segregated than ever, over fifty years since Brown v. Board of Education.
4. Since we're speaking of the world, I don't like this tilt business and the winter darkness it creates.


Just A Few Things That Are Right With The World
1. When you leave your lock in the locker room, a nice person might put it in the lost and found.
2. I forgot about the fundraiser cookie dough in the freezer. That just about saved me.
3. Homemade stuffing baked in a pumpkin, made from homemade croutons. MMM.
4. Further laundry complications have led me to only think of three things.

happy birthday.

Dear Mia,

You were born a little over a year ago, a tiny cute ball of wonder who slept through the entirety of my hospital visit. I was in awe of you, even though looking back, during those first few months you were pretty boring.

But as every month went by you grew up a little and learned a little more. You started to recognize me and smile when you saw me, or even cry when I left (aw). You learned to to stand, to sit, to play the piano, to babble, to crawl, to point, and to dance and stomp your feet to the most unlikely of songs. Watching you change bit by bit every time I see you has been a joy.

I can't wait to see you grow up and talk and become the smartest little lady there ever is.

xo,
Auntie E

(This is my favorite picture of us.)

one time i tried to write a song.

I was in college, I had a wealth of file-sharing services available to me, and I was just getting into indie music. This is what happens under those circumstances:

1. You want to be in an indie rock band yourself

AND / OR

2. You want to date someone in a band, though not necessarily a good one

So, I bought a cheap electric guitar from my brother's friend, put some stickers on it so it spelled out my name and glowed in the dark, and learned some chords. Even though my I could never seem to fit my hands around the neck quite right, I still learned a few tunes - mostly along the lines of Liz Phair, That Dog, and Elliott Smith.

And of course, if I was going to fulfill my rock band dream, I better start writing. So I wrote a song. Now, I was listening to a LOT of Go Sailor at this time. (Think twee. Very twee. Example.) Therefore, my song ended up being an extremely twee ditty with no more than three chords, with lyrics about having the same shoes (hello, converse!) as a boy and dreams of doing cutesy stuff with said boy (while wearing said shoes, of course). No, I don't think the song was based off of any real boy but rather a fictitious version of the perfect boy for me.

No one ever heard this song except maybe the kids who had dorm rooms next to mine. And it shall stay that way forever. I don't even know where that guitar went, honestly.

to run or not to run.

Some friends brought up the possibility of running Grandma's Marathon in June. I am totally on the fence on this one. So, I'm making more lists.

Reasons to run a marathon:
- Bragging rights.
- Ability to eat whatever I want, I mean we're talking ice cream and chocolate every day without guilt.
- I've already done it, so I know I can.
- It is pretty empowering and all that.
- If I train in the winter/spring I won't be ruining my summer with training.
- I have a lot of trouble staying up past 11 on Friday nights anyway, so why NOT run an insane amount on Saturday mornings?


Reasons not to run a marathon:
- Been there, done that.
- Such a huge stressful time commitment.
- The last time I trained and worked at the same time, all I did was run, work, and eat.
- Uhh, it's hard and stuff.

Crap there are totally more reasons in the pro column. This was not my goal!

probably the only time i will discuss economics at length.

Analysis of the Sub-Prime Economic Meltdown and the Resulting Effect on World Markets™, as requested by Tim.


Dear Readers, I know in these times where people are throwing economic type words around left and right, well, things can get a little confusing. That's why I have been solicited to explain it to you.

You see, the people, they want houses. They want houses with bedrooms and backyards for the kiddies to run around in. They are sick of throwing their money away on an apartment with paper thin walls and water damage! And they also hear that building equity is a good thing, whatever that is. But what about the money? That's okay, house-desiring friends! Mr. Sub-Prime Mortgage Man is here to help!

Sub-Prime, you say..what's that? Don't you know your prefixes at all? It means below prime. That doesn't help either? Okay, I'm going to quote a former student on this one.

Teacher, I think...not good.

Yes, exactly. Not good indeed. So here we are, the happy new homeowners with their not good mortgage. This is where the World Markets™ come in. No, not the Japanese Stock Market they keep talking about on NPR. Cost Plus World Market! Proud seller of "unique, authentic, and affordable" household goods. Also, imported wines and foods at low low prices.

Obviously, the new homeowners need to decorate. This is good for World Markets™, and it's also good for the homeowners since they may embellish their abode with worldly goods at lower prices than Pier 1. Everyone is happy. The homeowners are happy, World Markets™ are happy, and the not good mortgage provider is happy.

Then a bunch of stuff happens, but it's really way too complicated to get into here. IN SUM: The happy homeowners can no longer pay their not good mortgage. This makes the mortgage man sad. Furthermore, it makes the World Markets™ really sad because if the happy sad homeowners aren't going to buy these elephant bookends, then WHO WILL?


Don't cry, little elephants. Someday you will be loved.

This is where we're at now. The not good mortgage dudes are feeling sad, but we don't really feel too sorry for them. The homeowners are desperately trying to sell their worldly household wares on ebay. As for the World Markets™, they are having a giant sale on everything. With an extra 10% off anything elephant related.

how i like my eggs.

- with fully cooked yolks.
- in a sandwich, with cheese and meat.
- scrambled, with a little milk mixed in, and not overcooked.
- not cold, unless they're hard boiled.
- hard boiled, and still a little warm.
- in quiche, with pretty much anything.
- in an omelet, but probably only one I make myself.




(Dear readers, would it be possible for you to think of silly short essay assignments for me? PLEASE?! I'll make you eggs.)

bring it on, cold weather.

A long while ago, probably when Spring was just about to start, I was at the thrift store and spotted a sweater. It was striped with loads of colors, so many colors it was almost obnoxious, but if there are only two things for which I am a sucker (and trust me, there are way more than two), they are stripes and bright colors. Here, why don't I just show you:



A little much, yes? (If you recognize it, it's definitely one of the holiday sweaters from the Gap a few years ago.) I knew I probably wouldn't wear it, and it was also too small. Shrunken, in fact. In the crafting world this is known as felting, and most crafters spend their hard earned quarters washing and drying old sweaters to shrink the wool, which then makes it suitable for a wide range of projects. I looked at the shrunken sweater and thought, Wow, I won't even have to deal with that! And thus, I bought it immediately.

Months went by, and it was warm outside, and the sweater sat in my closet. Then today hit with its cold and wind and I was annoyed. And cold. And sick of having all my cheaply made gloves and mittens fall apart. So, I cut up that sweater and made mittens. Then I said, hey, there's still a lot of sweater left! I cut off the sleeves and made a scarf to match.



(This is the place where I would give you a tutorial but there are many on the nets. Here is one. Here's another.)

Oh hey, recognize that coat? Yes, I done bought it. It is the most expensive article of clothing I have ever purchased, but I just consider myself a small (and fashionable) hero for the economy. And now with my new colored accessories, I am so ready for winter. I think. Ask me in December.

dear michelle obama.

Hey Lady Michelle,

Can we talk about hope? Because I have a lot of hope in you as the new first lady. I hope that you will become the next presidential style icon, the next Jackie O.



Thank you for wearing this in my town - I love the color, and the necklace. It is a totally classic look that suits you perfectly.



Even in pants (jeans?) you still look classy, in a new Americana way. I look at you and I can't help but think of Jackie, who was an icon herself.



Now, I haven't enjoyed every fashion choice you've made, but there's enough goodness in there that I have good feelings about this. I hope you stay with the bright colors, and stay away from the pants suits of first ladies past. And I can't wait to see your inauguration gown.

Hearts,
e

bulldog - lowertown.

I knew I didn't want to be alone in my apartment on election night - I would have been way too jittery, incessantly clicking refresh on news sites, and mostly just going a little nutty. So the best option was to get out with a friend and have some beers.

After some deliberation Stephanie and I decided to head to the new Bulldog in Lowertown. Here's how to make a bar in downtown St. Paul viable: have a built-in and trusted clientele who are already friendly with your locations in that other city across the river. When we got there, there were maybe four empty chairs in the only place. It hasn't even been open a week! They had lots of flat screen TVs, a nice beer list, TATER TOTS, and a whole lot of 90s music. Actually, that was almost weird. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love 90s music...but we're watching the 2008 election on mute while listening to the Counting Crows and the Gin Blossoms? My only complaint is that at one point they changed one of the TVs to a hockey game. Hello, elections come only every four years! People play hockey everyday or something.

So there's my initial review of the new Bulldog. Ladies and gentleman, we do have hope - hope for some semblance of nightlife downtown.