Meat and Mosquitoes

The lunch special of the day today at Cafe Emily is roast beef and baby Swiss on toasted rye bread with cranberry chutney and apple slices. Deeeelightful. The weather is insanely beautiful today. I poked around in the garden this afternoon for awhile. I dumped a bunch of standing water and got scared that we already inadvertently started a mosquito epidemic. They were really bad last summer and we couldn't really enjoy the backyard because of all the bugs. Any suggestions for keeping the mosquitoes to a minimum?

Hope everyone makes the most of today!

ho hum

After an incredibly stressful and frustrating meeting this morning, I was feeling pretty down. Joe took the day off of work to provide moral support, which he was doing very well in the form of a duck confit omelet and a side of scrapple at a nearby restaurant.

After the meeting, we came home and walked around the Italian Market in the cold mist. I don't think I've ever been there on a Thursday. It's much less crowded but there are just as many options. We got a bunch of produce, including a huge basket of strawberries for $5. I am brainstorming what to make.

I am relaxing and enjoying a cup of coffee with a chocolate covered pretzel and a raspberry jelly I got at the market. It is a delicious snack. We have no plans until five o'clock and I for one plan to do a lot of nothing. There is a lot on my mind today and I think a little nothing will be very nice.
Hope you all have a good day and a fun weekend. kisses.

Clouds in My Coffee

I've come to the conclusion that I'm not a true coffee lover. If cream and sugar aren't available, I'll pass, thanks. I know cream has 40 calories per tablespoon but that is why it's so delicious. It's worth it. And don't try to sell me on the wonders of fat-free half and half. Maybe I was in a healthy mood when we went grocery shopping, because we only have 2% milk. Grey skies, pounding rain, and a freezing house left me really wanting coffee, so I jazzed it up with the milk. It's all about the foam.



Recipe:

3/4 cup 2% milk, hot
dash vanilla extract
tbsp sugar
dash pumpkin pie spice
1 cup coffee, hot


Whisk first four ingredients together until foamy. Pour on top of coffee and enjoy, preferably with a chocolate croissant.








I had my coffee today with a whole wheat cinnamon raisin English muffin with cream cheese and some fruit salad.

I'm painting and creating art today. Maybe soon I'll have something to show you. There's something about the rain that, in addition to making me crave coffee, also makes my head spin with creativity. I'm off to tap it.

LUMI

This post is for my family. I couldn't figure out how to email the videos because the files are too large. They aren't really talking about anything too amusing, but they still make me laugh. Miss you Love you Mean it.

Hi Mel Mel!


Hi Gin Gin!

Breakfast of Champions

The best thing about having steak for dinner is breakfast the next day.

RIP The Wire

Several months ago, Joe found a good deal online for the entire series of The Wire, which aired on HBO from 2002-2008. We've been watching little by little and just finished the last episode on Sunday. I highly recommend the show for anyone that can handle a little violence and gore. I like that nothing is sugar coated but nothing is over-dramatized either. It is a funny, poignant, and thought-provoking show.

I found these clever illustrations from a quick google search. Check out the rest of them on the artist's website.

We're going to take a little break from excessive television and try to be productive members of society. When the novelty of that wears off, maybe we'll try Dexter. Any other suggestions?



all illustrations via blake hicks

Love and Calories are in the Air

I experimented a little yesterday with my new cookie cutters and piping tips and gel food coloring. I'm a few weeks early for Valentine's Day, but is it ever really a bad time to have cute heart-shaped cookies in the house?
(The answer is yes if you want to fit in a wedding dress in nine months)

Have a great day!

P.S. Does anyone have a recipe for royal icing that actually tastes good?

The Sketchbook Project

"I Quit: A How To"

Apparently today is the day to quit your job in a dramatic fashion, as evidenced by the people in these two articles.

Fed up flight attendent

Fed up assistant

I'd like to see follow up articles on these people. Will any of the people that copied these articles stating "This guy is my hero!" be willing to hire him? Does the pleasure and catharsis of a public resignation outweigh the blemish to the person in questions references and reputations? Either way, it does seem like a victory for the average guy.

Double Rainbow all the way across the Sky!

Unfortunately I didn't catch any double rainbows after the storm the other night. I hear it is supposed to rain again today so maybe there's still hope. Of course I don't think I could ever be as excited about a rainbow as this guy...



For some reason this amuses me to no end. It's definitely worth it to hold out at least until he starts openly weeping.


In other news, we went to XPN fest on Sunday afternoon. The bands we were interested in seeing weren't playing until later in the day, so we had a lazy morning and finally ventured into the heat around 3 o'clock. We (as in Joe) accidentally missed the correct stop on the PATCO train, so we spent a good twenty five minutes playing Scrabble and staring at this view. Which I thought was pretty cool. I like the thumb tack graffiti.


We finally got to Wiggins Park and squeezed in among this crowd. We had beer and watermelon peach gazpacho and people watched. We saw Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and Dr. Dog perform. Robert Randolph and the Family Band were up next but we've seen them before and by then we were both feeling kind of meh about the heat and the proximity to hippies and the comfort of the hill we were sitting on. Last year we held out much longer. Maybe we are becoming more yuppie with each passing day. Or maybe Joe is starting to hate fun too!! AH HAH! I might be on to something here.

There's a storm a brewin'

At least there was when I started this post. Between then and now there was a hell of a storm. There is still some thunder in the distance, but the sky is bright. Brighter than it seems like it should be at 8pm.
I really really love rain. I love how green it makes everything, the smell right before and right after a storm and so many more things. It's just so beautiful and perfect. Another thing I love about rain is that I don't have to fill a bucket with water and trek up these stairs to water the plants on the roof deck. During this wonderful rain, I am watching Bones and drinking a glass of wine (maybe two). Joe hates Bones, so it works out pretty well that he plays basketball on Monday nights when Bones is usually on.

I had to take a food safety certification class today instead of going to work as usual. It was uneventful but surprisingly exhausting. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair and listening to someone read out of a textbook for 8 hours is TIRING! It's weird how I feel more worn out today than a typical workday of running around doing a million different things.

Have a good night darlings. Sweet dreams!