Salomi

We're trying new things. There's this Indian place around the corner that Chris has been dying to try since we moved here two years ago. I've always had an excuse. Why? Hell if I know. There was something odd about it. I didn't want to go.

But, as we were riding around last night, he convinced me to head in. It was actually a bribe. I could go to Eat My Cupcake if he could go to Salomi.

Salomi was GOOD. The beer tasted amazing, with an aftertaste of flowers. Lucious amazing flowers. There were bread choices galore. And I heart bread. We opted for the leavened bread stuffed with mint. This whole idea blew my mind. STUFFED with mint. What would that even taste like!? I imagined a french roll with sprig upon sprig of mint. I was wrong... it was more pitaesque with a tiny bit of mint. Stuffed was the wrong word choice there. Still, gooood! The chicken was in some sauce that was awesomeness. I should really try to remember the names of things.

Anyway, Salomi is next to a kick boxing gym. We giggled for half the meal about this guy.

I'm still debating if he was perving, or if he knew someone there. It's funnier if he was perving. And made even better because he was doing his own little jig out there in the alley.

Eat My Cupcake

NoHo has a new cupcakery!

I've had my eyes on that place since the Halloween store closed (WOOO, who the hell needs a halloween store 365 days a year?!) and I knew something fabulous would go in. It just had to be fabulous. Because the area has to become more fabulous (so I can get some equity back. Is that selfish?)

We'd walk by and I watched their progress with hawkesque attention to detail. They were painting and hanging chandaliers and making it all adorable.

Then the sign went up.

"Eat My Cupcake"

WOOOOO cupcakes within walking distance! And they had to be good, right? In such a cute place, right?

Sadly adorableness does not equal tastiness.

We tried the strawberry one. The cake was dry and airy. I like moist and dense. The icing kind of flavorless. All in all, not so much happy with our new addition to the 'hood. Fingers crossed that Eat My Cupcake is just going through some growing pains that all will be fabulous in a short while. Because, this girl needs some excellent sugar around the corner.

Bike Basket

It's finally here! I ordered it from Unica, but it was on backorder. So I decided to order a second from SFMOMA. The second one showed up just days after I ordered it!


How freakin' adorable?! My only complaint... it's plastic. I believe I just made it up in my own head that it was metal. Assumed at that price point metal would be the obvious choice? Who knows. But it's a sturdy plastic. Which works well.

Sizing is perfect for a six pack and a cupcake box. Exercising is going to be so much better now :-)

Photography: Assignment 1

My class has homework. Which I really really enjoy. I always did enjoy homework. Sitting on my bed with a pile of books in front of me. Papers. I liked writing notes. Still do. Perhaps just to see myself write. I so very rarely actually write on paper anymore. The computer is definitely taking over.

Anyways, our first assignment was the following:

"Objective: To record the texture, quality and form of rendering light. The emphasis is on composition and graphic content. Try to express yourself artistically for this assignment.

Show details, angles, texture and color. This is to be a dissection of the building showing off the details in a strong graphic way. Use the viewfinder as a cropping frame. Make a strong visual statement with the images. Tell the graphic story of the whole building by capturing its parts.

Choose lighting situations that accentuate the texture, shape and form of the building.

Turn in your 8 best images."

Google Analytics

... kind of makes me feel like a stalk myself. But its kind of super cool at the same time.

I just installed it a few days ago. Part of the "tackle technology" part of my Jordana Project. I did it all by myself (with the help of a handful of blogs walking me through it step by step plus the google directions). Yeah, I suck at technology. I'm getting better and I continue to remind myself that this is what counts.

So, I'm writing about it today, mostly because I just laughed out loud in cubicle. The kind of laugh that if I'd been mid-drink, water would have spurted out all over my screen. And perhaps through my nose.

There's a section that has key words and tells you how people came to your site from google. I got a recent hit when someone googled "my bum hurts on my new bike."

Saturday January 19, 2008

Wow, it feels like a lifetime ago already. I look at our wedding pictures and it doesn't really seem like it was me. Like it was a good friend that I watched go through the steps of getting married. Odd, yes?

As a knottie, we make bios. Pictures, ideas, inspiration, reviews, etc. all in one place for the betterment of future knotties. Then, a married bio. The completion of it all in one wonderful page. If I had been faster, I could've just handed over the link when people asked "How was the wedding?" Alas, I procrastinated.

So, here it is. The completion of my knottie wedding duties. Done.

The Bio.

Robbed

It's not the first time my car has been broken into. And really, it's just been a better of time. My condo has had quite a few break ins recently. Just the garage, keying cars and breaking windows.

So, I'm running out to a breakfast meeting this morning and see the glass scattered all over the garage. A quick check into the back seat and I see a small box of votives that I never took out of the car after the wedding. It's open and a few votives had been smashed on the floor of the car and the garage. Angry, I still giggle at the image in my mind of a stupid robber thinking he got lucky, breaking a window to find votives from Ikea. Ha!

The Police Station. They tell me there was a rash of breakins last night, put me on hold, then tell me they'll call back. They do, which is a nice change.

The Insurance Company. I have a $500 deductible. The good news, the window will cost less than that! The bad news, it's all out of pocket.

The Window Company. They're heading out in a few hours to fix it. Excellent. I left Chris with the car so he can do all the yelling if the tint doesn't match. (Thank you sweetheart.)

The irony of the whole situation is that I'm the one who sends the emails begging people to remember to NEVER leave things in their cars. And I'm usually so good. Last night I slipped and left my gym bag in the backseat. Mostly in a self-inflicted guilt trip to only run upstairs, give Chris some cupcakes, and then head out to the gym. It was the cupcake that got me. Who goes to the gym after eating a decadent flourless chocolate cupcake? On my second attempt at heading to the office I realize that's what caught their eye. My canvas gym bag. With my iPod. Shit.

You know, that iPod really was too big for me anyway.

Photography: Up Close and Personal

I can only imagine what I looked like to people as they drove by me on their way to work. I was in a suit, four inch Choos and had my head stuck in a bush.

For this:


See, my first assignment for Photography class is due tomorrow. I shot most of it on Saturday afternoon, but wanted a bit of morning light. On my way to work I swung by a beautiful church on Moorpark and snapped the last few images I would need.

And then I saw this itty bitty bush COVERED in water droplets. A macro filter went onto the lens, my butt proceeded into the air and my face dumped into a bush.



Not so bad for my first attempt with the new Macro!

My New Bike!

I feel super hardcore when I ride my new bike. And the witch song from The Wizard of Oz plays in my mind. Perhaps it has something to do with the wide handle bars and the sitting straight up. I should get a puppy to complete the package :-)





The seat hurts my bum a bit. But I think I'm getting used to it. Less bum hurtage now.


And Chris is SUPER excited that we can go together. Look at how excited he is!

Project Updates

So, I've been bad at the Jordana Project. Real bad. But, I do have some updates. Bullet style due to the sheer ridiculousness of my life these days.

- Body - I'm not going to the gym like a good girl should. I have no motivation to go. Blah. Perhaps getting myself into another giant gown would do the trick. Renewal of the vows?

- Body & Love & City- I bought a bike! I took pictures of him yesterday and will post soon. Chris' dad sent out his bike a few weeks ago, so obviously I had to have one so that we could bond and whatnot. We headed out to Target and Chris wanted me to buy the pink/purple/fuschia disaster area of a childs bicycle because obviously I am too small for the grown up bike. (I almost fell off of it and into the Barbie display.) I refused. This pink girl is all grown up. So we headed to Costco. I was too small for their lady bikes too. But the black beach cruiser with the fancy white lines was perfection when at it's smallest size and on my tippie toes. I do feel slightly ghetto fabulous though. We've been spending time on the road instead of at the gym. The city really is different when seen from a bike. I'm really enjoying it. There's just one small exercise issue. We're out, riding, and I get hungry. So we go eat. Then I get fat. Should ride more, eat less.

- Photography - I'm taking a class at SMC. Love. It. My professor has straight espresso running through his veins. He's interesting and excited. I'm learning tons. I was slightly concerned about the drive. But since I adore my car, I'm enjoying my time in it. The 5 minute commute in the morning just doesn't quite do it for me :-)

- Friends - When Chris traveled a lot we never spent time with friends together. I pushed all of the friend time into spurts between Chris' trips. The time that he was here was too precious to add all these people into it! But, now that he's home more regularly, we're spending time with other people. I like it. But now, when do I do the stuff at home that I'm supposed to do! The cleaning. The bill paying. The ick side of being a real person? I think I should hire someone to do that.

- Cooking - haven't done it. Chris is home. He does it. Should be a better wife. Will remember that.

- Baking - I made a cake this past weekend. One from Smitten Kitchen. Totally screwed it up. Couldn't get it out of the pan. So I broke it into pieces to get it out. When I iced it, it turned into a giant cluster. So, I slid the entire thing into a bowl, mushed it up and called it Cake Pudding. It wasn't so bad :-)

- City - we've been doing more. Lots of games recently. There was the Red Sox/Dodgers game at the Coliseum. Go Sox! Paid 3 times face value, but the look on Chris' face when I gave htem to him was worth every penny. I heart making him light up. Mark took us to a Galaxy Game on Saturday. I'd never been and it was AWESOME. Soccer might be my new favorite.

I'm missing the Jordana Project. Need to get to work on that.

Quirkiness

I've never been tagged before! And by no less than the most loverly Diabolina! I didn't know it was possible to have such a girl crush on someone you've never met, but I do and I like it :-)

Thanks for the tag m'dear!

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules in your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

So, my quirks. Here goes.

1. I adore sushi. But I hate ginger & wasabi. I won't even contemplate eating the rolls that are the closest to the wasabi, even if they are not touching. I tried once. I could feel the wasabi and I hated it. You would think that I was ALWAYS remember to ask for the plates sans the devil, but I always forget. Always.

2. I used to have a serious Southern accent. I blame my slew of Northerners in college and my Bostonian husband for the loss. It does come back slightly when I talk to someone from home, a bit more when visit and is in full force when I'm drinking.

3. I am cold all the time. I keep a space heater in my office and use it year round. In the winter I also down at least 10-12 cups of hot tea to warm myself from the inside out while the heater blasts my feet. Getting heated seats in my new car was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

4. Since I am always so cold, one would think that I love my hot tub. But I hate when my body gets too hot. So I take my arms out. But then my hands get cold. The temperature differences make me very unhappy and I have to leave. This makes Chris sad because he would spend 3 hours a day in there if he wouldn't turn into a raisin-y old man.

5. When I was a kid my mom made all of my birthday cakes. They were big sheet cakes cut into the number of the year I was turning. All the kids were jealous. But all I wanted was a super sweet frosting laden awesome cake from the grocery store. I get them now and I love them. But for other people, I always make cakes, and sometimes I even cut them into giant numbers.

6. I am so behind in my musical repertoire. To qualify as a "new favorite," a song must be at least 10 years old. In 2004 I heard 'Break My Stride' by Matthew Wilder for the first time and I fell in love. The song debuted on his 1983 album I Don't Speak the Language.

Sometimes I wish I was quirkier :-)

I tag
AnneKinLA
AlisonsBlahBlahBlog
MissMissy
JensCrappyJob
RealityTVJunkie
WTF

Baking: Hamantaschen, Round 3

The Monday after I baked Round 2, I got an email from I Shot the Chef. She baked Hamantaschen that weekend too and hers were PERFECT! They were mocking me in their pretty little crusts.


So, Round 3 was a must. I took Jen's advice, using the paddle attachment. I never really thought that the paddle attachment would be able to do much work. Honestly, I had no idea what it was for. Apparently it is good for most of the baking I do. You learn something new everyday!


The dough came together perfectly! It was a bit sticky, but decided that after a bit of time in the fridge and some flour when I rolled it out that it would be fine.

So, I moved on to the Chocolate Nut Filling. Holy Crap this is good. I decided to switch it up and make my own filling instead of the preserves that I'd been using. It was surprisingly easy. Until I blew up the Magic Bullet. Yeah, apparently it does not like hazelnuts as they get stuck under the blades and the machine begins to smoke. Also, more than likely, there were too many nuts to begin with.


I destroyed the other nuts with a plastic bag and hammer. Worked well enough.


The sticky dough came back to haunt me. It sticks to EVERYTHING. No matter how much flour you use to diffuse it's stickiness. My only hope was that it would stick to itself and create magazine worthy hamantaschen.


THEY STUCK TOGETHER! No where near as pretty as I Shot the Chef's, but a much better showing than Round 1 or 2.


Unofortunately, they don't taste anywhere near as good as the recipe from Round 1 & 2. They taste blah. The dough is too dense I think. Or perhaps it's the filling... the fruitiness makes a difference I think.


I think I'm done with Hamantaschen. Forever.

Ridiculous Movies

Good kid gone terribly wrong heads to the other side of the tracks to turn his life around while finding love, himself and a new outlook on life.

I adore this genre. Drumline is seriously one of my most favorite movies. The last scene always makes me so excited as the drumlines go toe to toe on the field and sticks fly. It makes me jump up and cheer.

Chris HATES these movies. I'll admit, the plot is usually dumb and the acting is TERRIBLE, but there's something so fantastic about a character leading a better life for themselves.

Last time he travelled, I moved Stomp the Yard to the top of our Netflix Queue. I was dissapointed. They tried too hard and ruined what could potential be an excellent bad movie. Too much with the cinematography, the story was never really developed, blah. But the dancing was excellent. I wish I could dance. Unfortunately for me I have two left feet and the rhythm of a drunk squirrel. I drive by Millenium Dance Studios almost everyday, seeing the cool kids in their ridiculous outfits heading to class. I must also admit that I have a love/hate relationship with dance outfits. Love in the fact that I don't really understand them and they intrigue me. Hate in the fact that they're so absurdly ridiculous and over the top that they seem a logistic nightmare.

Last night Step Up arrived in my mail box! MUCH better than Stomp the Yard. Quite the Save the Last Dance feel to it. Excellent dancing, horrible acting, a feel good story that makes me cry. Those movies get me everytime. Totally predictable, but I literally began to clap, by myself, in the living room, when they finished the Senior Showcase. Then I realized how ridiculous I was.

Car Baked Cookies

Why?

Where Does the Time Go?

Did you know that it was mid-April already?! Holy crap.

Chris is gone. Again. But only for four days this time. He's in Norfolk VA on a military base. They're filming a casting special on the USS something-or-other and he's stuck on base for his entire visit. Can't leave stuck. I'm looking forward to this time without him. Four days of alone time is blissful. I just start to really miss him and then he comes home! These two and three week jaunts are getting tiresome. It takes 14 repetitions to get into the habit of doing something. So, 14 days and I'm in my own rotation, doing my own thing. Then he comes home and I get all out of whack. By the time we're back in sync again, he's gone! Must work on this.

He sends me pictures of where he is while he's gone. It helps in keeping us connected I think... me seeing what he's experiencing. Most of the pictures are so utterly ridiculous that I laugh out loud in my cubicle. If the picture isn't laughable, his comments are.

"Nor is forkin' beautiful"




In other news, I've decided where I want to take my life! Surprisingly, this blog helped me to get there and I'm so excited! It's going to be a while to get me up and going, but it's going to happen because I'm too stubborn to not let it happen. I get that from my Dad's side of the family, the stubborness. It's an excellent quality when used in the right capacity. Yet, I digress. So, I've been working hard and getting ready. I want everything to be perfect before I unveil my plan :-) Currently I yell at my computer frequently in an effort to make it do what I want it to do. Perhaps this was not the most excellent time to move from PC to Mac.



A super happy weekend (finally!) to all! I'll be babysitting my office all day Saturday which will be a thriller for me. Boo. Sunday will be full of productivity. Well, hopefully it will.

The Secret Life of Benches

I got an email this morning from Photojojo. A man tied a camera to a bench and left a note for all passerby's to take photos. He picked it up at the end of the day and developed the film.



I adore things that are this random.

The Secret Life of Benches.

Baking: Meyer Lemon Cupcakes

Why do I do this to myself? Damn you Martha Stewart.

See, someone posted the Meyer Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes from Vanilla Bake Shop on my local Knot Board. How could I not make an attempt!?

The cupcake. The lemon curd. The icing. Oh my.




3 hours later...

How can it take so long to make cupcakes?!

Is it worth it?


Definitely.

Baking: Hamantaschen, Round 2

I am going to make these cookies look beautiful if it kills me.

They taste so amazingly delicious that it's sad they look so disgusting.

We went to Canter's Deli last week and I tried some of theirs. Mine totally taste better, which is weird to say about an institution like Canter's. And I feel wrong for saying it. But their version is dry and crusty and mine have a hint of orange. I totally win.

The Canters version does look really cute though. Almost a totally enveloped jelly center. Very little jelly peeks through. Perhaps that is the trick.

I tried thicker dough, less jelly, more overlapping twist.




I got one good one. OK, maybe two if you stretch. Hard.




Who's up for eating ANOTHER batch?

Love: Cupcakes

I have been a bottomless pit for food lately. Candy, Cookies, Burgers, Fries, Pizza, Beer. You name, I want to eat it.

This from the girl that ate nothing more than chicken and vegetables for the last half of 2007. Screw it all. I'm an old married lady.

(not really. I need to stop. soon)

But last night, all I wanted was a cupcake. I had Sprinkles and Crumbs and Vanilla Bake Shop dancing around in front of my eyes. I needed it.

Chris was at a Galaxy game, and he called on the way home. I told him about my need to devour a little piece of yumminess.

And he delivered :-) Gummy worms, plastic trees & yumminess. It was perfection.



I love that man.

Things That Suck.

I always thought tax time was pretty awesome. You get a form. You sent it to the tax person. They send you forms back. You sign them. You get a check! WOOOP!

Then, 2007 happened. And instead of a form with a plus sign, I got a form with a negative sign.

Damn you tax season.

Allllll Gone

We ate our last bit of frozen heaven last night.



It's been eyeing me from it's adorable pink box for two months. And occasionally we'll cut of a slice, let it defrost for a few minutes, and then dig into it's slightly frozen chocolatey banana buttercream goodness.

Now, I can't imagine who these people are that let it sit around for a YEAR before digging in. We couldn't keep our paws off it! And, where do these year long folks keep it!? Stupid side-by-side beautiful freezer. Nothing fits.

No more wedding cake for these newlyweds.

Trashing My Dress

I find it odd that I have gained 8ish pounds, but when I put on my dress for our Trash the Dress session with Crissy Farah, it was too big! How is this possible?

No matter, we had such a good time. Crissy and her husband/sun slave were so much fun to hang out with in a beautiful field in Palos Verdes. The light was perfect. The flowers were beautiful. The sky was stunning.

Can I have a photo shoot once a month, every month?

The Rest of the Goods.