how are the mighty fallen

OK, what happened to Grey's? I mean really, has the medical field become so boring that we have to endure Izzy's romance with a ghost? And how boring are Meredith and Derek? Seriously, can't you just write about a third arm, conjoined twins, a human race ending plague or how about the old stand by heart attack? Is this a symptom of the writers strike? Whatever it is I can't take it anymore. I am bidding farewell to the once great show.
Time of death 9:52.

eat well

Roasted Tomato, Eggplant and Haloumi Burger
Recipe Courtesy Donna Hay
*My changes & suggestions in italics.

2 vine ripened tomatoes, thickly sliced
olive oil, for brushing
4 burger buns, halved, wheat buns are delightful with this.
1 eggplant (abergine), thinly sliced
8 oz Haloumi (or a couple of slices per burger)
You really could use a variety of cheeses, but haloumi is delicious.
Garlic Mayonnaise (recipe to follow)
caramelized red onions (recipe to follow)
Arugula
Hot sauce for serving

Garlic Mayonnaise
place 1 cup mayonnaise (I use Vegannaise) 2 crushed cloves of garlic (it is delicious with roasted garlic) salt and pepper to taste in a bowl and combine.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tomato on a baking tray and brush with olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes or until cooked. Set aside. Brush the bun halves with oil and place on a baking tray. Grill (broil) under a preheated hot grill for 1 minute or until golden. Set aside.

Heat a char-grill pan or barbecue over high heat. You can also roast the eggplant, just follow same instructions for tomato. Brush the eggplant with oil and char-grill, barbecue or roast until cooked through. Set aside. Brush the haloumi with oil and char-grill, barbecue or roast until each side is golden.

Spread the bun halves with garlic mayonnaise and top with the tomato, eggplant, haloumi, caramelized onions and arugula.
Serves 4

Recipe & photo v. Donna Hay Magazine issue 41. Photographer Chris Court
*Donna Hay's recipe measurements have been converted from the metric system.

ah, polaroid

Thanks to my thoughtful husband & mom's Christmas gift to me, I finally scanned in all my polas that have been collecting dust in my camera bag. It is such a shame that Polaroid will no longer be making this amazing instant film.

resolution #3: read more

“Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought.”
^{- Arthur Helps}

From top left:
Paris To The Moon, Adam Gopnik
Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
John Adams, David McCullough
When You Are Engulfed In Flames, David Sedaris
In Defense Of Food, Michael Pollan
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Ulysses, James Joyce
Three Cups Of Tea, Greg Mortensen

A legacy in question

On my way to work today I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show on NPR. The subject was our 43rd presidents eight years and what they have meant to America and the world. If you have a moment or two I would recommend listening to it. I thought it was fair and interesting, particularly because he has been one the most polarizing presidents in U.S. history. Listen here

one question

Fifty People, One Question: New York from Crush & Lovely on Vimeo.

How happy did this video make you? I adore it, thanks so much to the lovely Naomi for posting this. It also makes me really, really excited for my NYC trip!

via crush and lovely

resolution #2: exercise more

Could I have chosen a more cliche resolution? I never promised originality in my resolve to do better this year. I am simply stating a necessity, I need to work out. And the lovely (and a bit mannish, but who cares cause look at those abs) Jillian Michaels is going to fill that need. Thanks to Emily, Amazon.com and $8 I will be better looking in a matter of days. Wish me luck!

resolution #1: cook more

This year I am resolving to cook as much as possible. It is better for you, cheaper, and frankly I am pretty good at it . So I hope to hone my skills as the year goes by and I will continue to share my recipes. These two are some of my favorite, bon apetit!


Double-Coconut Cake
Recipe courtesy Cooking Light 2001
3 images courtesy Google Images

I usually insist on making my cakes from scratch, but I almost think this one is better if you use a box mix. There is something about the lightness that comes from a white cake box mix. Just add 1 tbsp coconut extract to your cake mix and split into two nine-inch rounds. I also prefer less coconut on the finished cake and then I serve with a bowl of shredded coconut on the side. I also really like unsweetened shredded coconut. Enjoy!

1 tablespoon cake flour
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup butter -- softened
2 large eggs
1 can light coconut milk -- (14-ounce)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Fluffy Coconut Frosting
2/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes -- divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Coat 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour.

3. Combine 2-1/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (for about 5 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in vanilla.

4. Pour batter into prepared pans. Sharply tap the pans once on countertop to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.

5. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1 cup Fluffy Coconut Frosting. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup coconut. Top with remaining cake layer; spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle 1/3 cup coconut over top of cake. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator. Yield: 14 servings.



Sweet Potato Oven Fries
Recipe courtesy Meikel Reece
3 images courtesy Google Images

4 Yams or Sweet Potatoes (there is a difference, see here.)
I generally do a potato for each person I want to serve.
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground pepper
Ceyanne Pepper (optional)
Olive oil

For the Fry Sauce:
Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
Ketchup
Mayonnaise (I use Veganaise.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel yams and cut into 1/2 inch fries or wedges which ever you prefer. Put on cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil until well coated (not dripping just gleaming really) and sprinkle with pepper (not salt, it will pull out the water and make the fries soggy). Place in oven for 20-35 minutes depending on the oven.

In a separate bowl combine equal parts Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce, ketchup & mayonnaise combine and set aside.

Test your fries, they should be fork tender. Turn your oven to broil and watch until golden brown. Immediately salt and serve with your fry sauce.

For more recipes, visit NOSH

christmas past

Another lovely Christmas gone by filled with family, friends and a grotesque amount of food. My aunt and uncle had us all over for Christmas Eve, a tradition that I look forward to every year. The food and company is always amazing and this year was no exception.
Afterward we had such a great time with Luke's parents and sister, they spoiled us rotten with so much good stuff! Luke and I both had to work Christmas day, which is never ideal, but ended up being a great day that we spent with my mom, aunt and grandma.

We capped it off the holiday week with a ruckus New Years Eve, that involved more food and movies. At midnight we banged pots and pans with wooden spoons to ring in the new year! It is our family tradition that we have to break the wooden spoon to bring luck, but I think it may have started because one year someone accidentally broke one and now we break several every year. I suppose that is how most traditions get started, by happy accident.

Hoping all of you had a delightful holiday season, and now all we have to look forward to is snow and cold with no holidays. Good times 2009!

2008

“Have you heard of chaos theory? It’s a science that tries to determine underlying patterns in chaotic systems in weather, ocean currents, blood flow that sort of thing. But it turns out that there are few things more chaotic than the beat of the human heart.

Speeding up, slowing down, pretty face, flight of stairs, it’s always changing depending on what is happening to us out there. It’s an erratic thing, but the truth is under all that bump-pi-di-bump mess, there is in fact a pattern, and it's love.

The most important thing about love is that we choose to give it and we choose to receive it. Making it the least random act in the entire universe. It transcends blood, transcends betrayal and all of the dirt that makes us human.
If you can figure that out, all of the trials, disappointments and tragedies of the world have nothing on you.” -chaos theory

Happy New Year!

some good advice

Another great Etsy find! Click here for more.

and in news everyone already knows,

30 Rock is amazingly funny.



How is it this show has been on for 2 seasons and I had never seen it? I desperately need Tivo.

i love the internet

click HERE.

four years ago

Luke and I got engaged. Aw, aren't we cute. I love the second picture with my mom, grandma and aunt all just a twitter over the occasion.




On a side note, if you haven't seen Say Anything, stop what you are doing and go rent it. You won't be sorry.

vintage santa, vintage coke

They just don't make advertisements like they used to, don't these just make you want to run out and get an ice cold Coke in a glass bottle? I found the top print while looking at one of my favorite blogs Snippet & Ink, it inspired me to go searching for vintage Santa Coke advertisements. These are my favorite. Merry Christmas!

the drive

I had an interesting drive to work today, and by interesting I mean life threatening. I love my job, but days like today often leave me wondering why on earth I work at the top of a mountain. Then I get to work and a stray goat (who apparently made his way down from bear lake) is tied to our Safety department, they have named him (his name is Steffan) and Steffan is really cute and warmed up to me. That almost made it worth having to drive up today. He looks about as stressed out as I do, bless him. I know I should be grateful for that moisture that everyone is praying for, but I was cursing it today. At least we will have a white Christmas.

generally amazing

I have the best job. It is made amazing by the lovely ladies that I get to work with! We had a great time at our Christmas Party at Zoom in Park City. I wish I had more pictures of everyone, but I was a bit distracted by the copious amounts of food we ordered! I love you guys (I mean gals!)