Thursday, June 14, 2007

And the Ugly Shirt Has Begotten...

Today, a friend of mine sent me an article about the fact that somebody who works in this Fashion-God-forsaken company was nominated by a Seattle magazine as the most fashionable man in the city.

On the same day, I overheard the following conversation in our kitchen at work:

Geek-ette #1: “Wow! I REALLY like your shirt!”
Geek-ette #2 (wearing a YELLOW, CHECKERED MAN’S SHIRT): “Oh really? Thanks!”
Geek-ette #1: “I wish I had a shirt like THAT! Well…you probably didn't get it here…you probably got it in...don’t tell me…in CHINA! [yes, the fashion capital of the world]”
Geek-ette #2: “YEAH! I got it in CHINA! I can get you one! Just give me your size; next time my parents are in town I can ask them to get you one.”
Geek-ette #1 (ecstatic): "Thanks! I'd really like that!"
Geek-ette #2: Yeah, I myself have tons of shirts like this! I could wear them for a month without doing my laundry!

I'm CONCERNED. The think that a breed of ugly shirt has begotten many more like and taken over Geek-ette's 2 closet and is now about to expand into Geek-ette's 1 wardrobe! The thought of seeing not one, but TWO geek-ettes wearing the same horrendous yellow shirt just killed ANY hope of fashion in this place…

Monday, June 11, 2007

Timmy and Charlie Go to School


Next week my husband Tim and my brother-in-law Charlie will be starting Portuguese 2 together. They say it's because they want to learn Portuguese, but I know they just want to eavesdrop into our conversation and see if my family is talking about them.

Still, I think it's cute that they're going to school together.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

My Fave Running Gear


Two words: fuel belt.

I tried a few different water carrying products for my long runs: the camelbak, the one bottle belt, but one of them are better than the fuel belt. So much so that I gave my friend A one for her bday this weekend. Happy bday A!

Food Project 2: Spiced Up

My second food project was inspired by my current fave Food TV star, Nigella Lawson. I had never made an Indian dish except for curry. However, seeing Nigela do a simple version of a traditional Indian meal made me think I could get past my intimidation. On the menu:

Mughlai Chicken Curry served alongside a fluffy rice pilaf, green pea and cheese curry Muttar Paneer (for recipe, see here).

I decided to start doing the cooking after my 12 mile run, which surprisingly enough did not wipe me out. It's a good thing I'm a good wife and cook for Diesel after such a long morning.

The meal called for my first trip to an Indian grocery store. Needless to say, I was the only non-Indian person shopping there. I had to enlist the owner's help to figure out what the best paneer and garam masala brands were. On a side note, the cinnamon sticks are a STEAL! You can get a huge bag for 5 bucks. Except for the register erroneous total of $126, the shopping trip was a success!

Cooking notes:

  • The recipes are pretty simple, and I had fun using the concoction of foreign spices
  • I used the original 8-servings recipe, but halved the chicken quantity, as both Diesel and I like more sauce and less meat
  • When Nigella says that the paneer with "splatter and spit" when you're frying it, she ain't kidding. There was a lot of drama during this step, and Diesel ended up doing the frying
  • Everything was delish, although I think I will kick up the spice mix in the paneer and pea curry next time
  • Since pomegranate is not in season, I simply skipped it and the raita tasted good with just the scallions
Diesel's rating: 8.5




Spell with Flickr

Some geek did something pretty cool. Check it out:
http://metaatem.net/words/


K E L Lincircle Y

Monday, June 04, 2007

Running

Here's a list of the races I'm planning to do this summer/fall:

Vancouver Half on 5/04- completed
Seafair Half on 7/8 - not-so-fun course (mostly running through the suburbs of Bellevue), but should be good training
Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage on 7/27 - 7/28 - 12 runners, 189 miles, 24-hour relay
Skagit Flats - on 9/9 - flat course, hopefully I'll beat my PR
Victoria Marathon (or half if I slack off) on 10/7 - beautiful course along the water

The Julie/Julia Project

Inspired by the Julie/Julia project, I decided to create my own cooking challenge. What is the Julie/Julia project, you ask? A crazy New Yorker, owner of a small kitchen and great ambition, set out to cook all of Julia Child's 524 recipes from her Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days. She recorded her culinary failures and successes on her blog. Witty, entertaining and inspiring.

So now it's my turn.

With a bigger kitchen and lower ambitions, I'm challenging myself to cook one new recipe every 1.5 weeks until...well, we'll see. Instead of sticking exclusively to Julia Child recipes, I'll be picking recipes from our personal library. In addition, Diesel will be weighing in on how good/bad each recipe turns out. Other friends and family will be enlisted as tasters as well.

First up, cream puffs from the traditional Betty Crocker cookbook.

The recipe for the pate a choux is pretty simple. What's not as simple is trying not to burn the cream filling. I had to strain it to get rid of the burnt bits. Another thing I noticed (and was pissed at) was that the recipe called for 35-40 min in the oven for the little puffs. The timer barely showed 35 minutes when I did a first check, and I found out that the puffs were overdone. Also, I think I should have used non-baking chocolate for the chocolate glaze; it would have tasted better. Please note that that because of my inability to follow directions, I shaped the dough into puffs instead of eclairs.

Diesel's rating: 7 (out of 10)
*readjusted from an original 8, as Diesel wants to leave room for a REALLY good recipe