• Pioneer Woman’s Welsh Rarebit.  When I first heard about Welsh Rarebit years ago, I thought, “cheese on toast? What’s so special about that??” Then I saw PW’s recipe and thought, “dang…cheese.  On toast.  With beer….” I suddenly had to try it, and I just made it for the 4th time for dinner.  It’s nowhere near as boring as “cheese on toast” sounds.
• Spinach sautéed in olive oil with minced garlic – it makes my soul sing.  The spinach must be fresh though.  Frozen spinach is sacreliege.
• Cinnamon rum ice cream – it’s so creamy, and the flavor only gets better as it sits.  Bonus! This recipe makes a lot more than most ice cream recipes, so it’s lasted the two of us a while.
• The fact that colder weather means I can start making soups on a regular basis again.  HELLO split pea and ham soup! I can’t wait to have you for dinner tomorrow night.  And chili? Welcome to my menu for this week.  Brian has been longing for you to grace his palate again.

Now for the update.  My computer is back up and running, now on Windows 7 (previously XP).  I have access to a card reader again, and have already taken some photos for upcoming posts! Hooray! I’m so excited.  But even more exciting…

I’ve been holding out.  I haven’t mentioned it yet, first because it was hush hush until my family knew, but then because I just got so busy I forgot to actually blog about it.  But…Brian and I are getting married! He proposed to be suddenly and without forethought (he was planning on asking me, but hadn’t decided when or where yet) about a month ago, and of course I said yes.  How could I turn down the man who every day tells me how much he loves my cooking? So we have been busy looking at potential wedding venues this last month, Japanese gardens with nearby accommodations for friends and family, and figuring out the small details of our very small wedding.  It’s exhausting! But so much fun.  Although we’ve not set a definite date, it will be sometime in May 2012.  It seems so far away! But May ’11 is just too close to plan it the way I want (nevermind save up money…weddings are not something you can just throw into the budget with the bills and groceries!).

I hope everyone is having a great weekend, enjoying the last vestiges of truly warm weather, or the beginning of the cooler days.

Posted by Valerie 
Category: Culinary cravings, In the news

5 Comments »

I love meeting people online.  I’m terrible at meeting people in general, because believe it or not, I’m very shy.  I’ve worked really hard to try to overcome it, but the best I can do is pretend that I’m not having anxiety attacks.  I’ve missed many a hangout because I suddenly “felt sick” or “had something come up.”  Really, it’s just my Social Anxiety Disorder making my social life frustrating.  It also makes work frustrating and downright scary sometimes.

So love the internet.  Not only am I able to speak without the fear of completely making an ass of myself (if only I could proofread the things I say in person before I say them!), but I’m exposed to many many more interesting people than I would be otherwise.  I’ve made some wonderful friends (and Brian, actually) by playing World of Warcraft, and one of my closest friends – the man who will be performing my wedding ceremony – through a Pagan forum years ago.  And more recently, I’ve met some wonderful people in the food blogging community.

I met the wonderful Jennifer of Bread and Putter via the Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen, a community of food lovers, many of whom are also bloggers. Jennifer and I befriended on there, then later began following each other on Twitter and reading each others’ blogs.  I soon found out that she lives in a neighboring town to mine, and actually works in my town! So this discovery led to the decision that we should meet in person and hit up one of the better farmer’s markets in our area.

After several scheduling conflicts, we managed to finally meet up and go to the Northampton Farmer’s Market today, and…wow! What an awesome place.  I was really excited to not only meet another [awesome] foodblogger from my area, but also by how much selection was at this market! I got some eggplants, some organic salad mix, blue potatoes, something called an “Amy” melon, and…be still my heart…lemon grass!! I have not been able to find lemon grass anywhere around here – and believe me, I’ve scoured – so I’d resigned myself to never trying all the wonderful lemon grass-laden recipes I’ve found.  Until today, when I snatched up the last of that farmer’s supply.  I was so happy I almost did a little dance.  Actually, I may have.  I don’t always notice my celebration jigs.  Jennifer caught me sniffing the lemon grass, though.  I can’t help it; I smell everything.  And I really wanted to see if my lemon grass smelled, you know, lemon grassy (for the record, it did not – we both checked).

So my day was set then and there, and I’m super happy I got to meet you, Jennifer! We must do this again sometime, or maybe have lunch at one of the great restaurants you’ve told me are out there?

In the meantime, I have decided that in order to expand my culinary repertoire, this week’s menu in our house is mostly…middle eastern! All of our dinners and some of our lunches are all recipes that hail from the middle east, particularly Lebanon, Egypt, and Palestine I think.  I plan to take a lot of photos that hopefully I can get up sometime in the next few weeks along with a full report of this experiment.  We just ordered a new computer for Brian so I should be able to get photos off my CF card soon.

Posted by Valerie 
Category: Culinary cravings, In the news

4 Comments »

…this awesome post by Comfortably Domestic: ‘T Isn’t Always Rosy…

You know how much I love the idea of keeping my freezer stocked and she gave me a couple of new ideas.  I won’t give it away; you need to read her post to find out! It’s how she saved a kitchen blooper and generally displayed domestic badassery.

And we could all use a little more domestic badassery in our lives, amirite?

Posted by Valerie 
Category: In the news
Tags: Link Love

2 Comments »

In my last post (in the comments I think) I mentioned that I am currently working on a not-for-profit design project that will be really good for my portfolio. Now that things have calmed down a little, I can do some ‘splaining.

I found the band, Doug Ratner & the Watchmen, via Craigslist. They were looking for a band promoter, and although I have no idea how to do that, I replied to the ad and offered my design services, pro bono. Band promotion is something in which I’m really interested, and I don’t have any of it in my portfolio. I thought this would give me something for that, and some good experience. Of course, “free” is a magic word, and Doug replied saying, “let’s meet up!”

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Valerie 
Category: Artistic expression, In the news, Moneymaker

4 Comments »

I went to AAA today and got a Trip Tik and some maps for the trip.  I’m in the middle of figuring out how much it’s going to cost us in tolls and gas, and where we should stop for fillups and to eat.  Brian and I plan to take food along with us so we’re not paying more money to eat, but we still need to know where the rest stops are so we can stop there instead of being tempted by road-side diners!

I’m extremely excited about the move…in two days Brian flies in and I get to finally see those blue eyes look at me that way he does again.  In person, not via webcam! :love:  And in four days I leave the “land of corn and beans” as Robert calls it for good! Although I’ll be back the end of next month to visit HotJohnScott for a couple days before the Army ships him off to Iraq.

I’m sleepy! But I needed to take a break from map staring to post this little update…now back to figuring out where the most cost-efficient stops are.  :grrr:

Posted by Valerie 
Category: In the news, Rants and Ramblings

2 Comments »