earthquake weather

Oi.  It's been HOT in Southern California.  Hot, humid, muggy, scattered thunder showers, hail?!...it's definitely "Earthquake Weather."  When the weather turns this way we Californians keep our ears to the ground for an earthquake.  I don't think there's anything to the accuracy of "Earthquake Weather" predicting tremors but it always seems to come up when Mother Nature goes wacky.  I will say that it makes for beautiful clouds.

chi-town, day 3

Downtown Chicago at night is something to behold.  The buildings, the lights, the water...beautiful.

doppelganger

If you watch How I Met Your Mother you will appreciate this post.  As Mark and I were walking around Target we spotted someone.  He looked a lot like someone we knew...he looked like MARK!!  It was his DOPPELGANGER!  Gasp.

We call him Merona Mark.  Isn't the resemblance so eerie?!

chi-town, day 2

On Saturday morning instead of brunch Mark and I opted for lunch.  We headed to Meatheads at the Streets of Woodfield.  Mark got the Californian which had a nice cucumber wasabi sauce.  I got the Texas Ranch and it was a pretty solid burger.  Both were pretty tasty but the price was a bit on the steeper side.  A lot of people compare it to Five Guys (which is coming to Tustin soon!).

After lunch Mark got his first tattoo.  Crazy!  Luckily it only took 1.5 hours and not the 4 hours he had been told to expect.  It was way bloody when we took off the bandage...gross.  I got one too!  Let me tell you...it was painful!!  To be honest I go back and forth between liking it and regretting it.  Haha, isn't that horrible?  But the deed has been done and I'm stuck with it like it or not.  Now it's just tending to the small matter of telling my parents about it....

chi-town, day 1.5

When I go to Chicago, which is on average at least twice a year, I eat.  That's pretty much what Mark and I do.  On my first night in town a group of us trekked through horrific traffic to go in to the city to feast on old favorites.  First stop: to a mythical place called Dublin's.  THE best corned beef and cabbage...EVER.   Couple the meal with a pint or two of Guinness and it's golden.  This was the second time we've had the corned beef at Dublin's and we were a bit apprehensive about the experience.  Would it be the same?  Would it not live up to the memory of the first time?  Yes and yes! 

And as if eating all of that wasn't enough we stopped by Maxwell's on Union Street and I ordered their fish sandwich.  An oldie but a goodie - DEEElicious.  At Maxwell's (which is right next to Jim's where they have the best fries EVERRR) it's not enough to let the cheese naturally melt on the fish, no they must dip your slice of cheese in to the hot grease and lay it ever so carefully on your sandwich.

chi-town, day 1

Today I got a lot done while being at Starbucks for nearly 8 hours.  Hahaha  I had to go to work with Mark.  Free drinks, free wifi, hanging out with Mark...it was a pretty good day.  Dude, Starbucks always has such cool styling.  Look at this wonderful typography.  I would love something like this in my future home.

I'm enjoying some fall weather here.  The winds are so gusty that the clouds move so fast across the sky.  It's a wonder how leaves stay on the branches. 

jealousy

I have never wanted an iPhone.  Cool features but it never had the "I need this to improve my life!!" draw for me.  Until now...

The iPhone has a free app from Cook's Illustrated which is the parent of America's Test Kitchen, one of my favorite cooking shows EVER.  Did I mention the app is FREE?!  What the heck...what about the rest of us?  However I will mention that the free app has limited access.  Apparently if you want full access it'll cost you $36 which is pretty steep indeed.  Download here.

etsy love

It's 7:54AM (5:54AM California time!!) and I'm sitting in a Starbucks drinking a tall Americano while gusty winds blow and light rain fall outside.  It's the beginning of fall in Chicago and it's lovely.  Hard to imagine that it was 82 degrees last night when I arrived at 10pm.  I'd love to be wearing the above next to a warm fireplace.  Top, Bottom

leaving on a jet plane!

I'm leaving today to go to Chicago!  I'm very excited to feel fall weather and see my honey.  I hope to post pictures of my trip but no guarantees! 

GMO : salmon

image from google.com

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism, sometimes GEO for Genetically Engineered Organism.  Genetically modified foods aren't new.  Many fruits and veggies have been genetically engineered, you just don't know it.  However, the FDA has yet to decide whether genetically modified salmon will enter the marketplace.  This would be the first time a genetically modified animal would be available for human consumption.  This altered fish has been genetically changed in order to grow to market size twice as fast as a normal.  It's still too early to tell what the implications of eating genetically engineered food will be on human development; this includes the modified foods we are already consuming.  

A big concern is that as the consumer will not be informed that they will be purchasing a modified piece of fish.  It's our right to not only know where our food is from, how it was harvested, but also the genetic make-up of our food.  What's frightening is that the FDA does not independently do the testing on the salmon.  This lab testing and analysis is for the same company that is selling to the product to do.  Conflict of interest?  You bet.  It's scary stuff.  Read more, here.

pronto pesto: success!

Whole wheat pasta with homemade pesto topped with grated Parmesan cheese for lunch...delicious!

etsy love

Oh my hat!  Are these not the cutest little toys you ever saw?!  Handmade out of felt and so adorable.  Check out more creations, here.

pronto pesto!

I'm a newbie to pesto.  Never liked it before but now I crave it.  It's pretty easy to make your own pesto and if you make a lot at one time you could freeze what you won't use immediately.

Here's a quickie version of basil pesto based off a recipe from America's Test Kitchen.  Basically that means I omitted and/or didn't do certain steps that were in the original recipe.  I think I tripled this recipe to have extra to freeze.

Basil Pesto (sauce for 1 pound of pasta)

2 cups, packed fresh basil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup, extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup, grated Parmesan cheese

salt & pepper

Throw everything in a blender.  Pack it down so the blades will catch all the goodies and give it a whirl.

If you make more than enough you can freeze your pesto up to 3 months.  Pour the extra in to the molds of a regular sized muffin tin, leave room at the top.  Pour a thin layer of extra-virgin olive oil on each pesto cup and stick them in your freezer.  Once they're it's hard, run a knife around each mold and pop them out, wrap each one with plastic, and put all your pesto discs in a freezer bag.  Don't forget to label with the date!

I'm going to pack the pesto with pasta for lunch tomorrow.  We'll see how well it heats up for lunch.

postcard from SF

Caption for Mark: "Wait, we said this one is going to be the funny picture, right?!"

egg-cellent!

How to hard boil an egg (as explained in the book, How to Boil Water):

1. Place your eggs in an uncovered pot of cold water
2. Turn on the heat (still no cover on pot) and wait for the water to boil (not a few bubbles here and there but really boiling)
3. Turn the heat off, place cover on the pot, set a timer for 12 min (7 min for soft boiled, also lovely to eat with toast and jam)
4. Remove from water and eat!

Try lemon juice and salt with your hard boiled egg. My friend Elena turned me on to this; it's tangy and delicious.

these are a few of my favorite things

Check out my latest post on the MAMBI blog, here.

thought of the day

mixed berries

This is a ring I've purchased off Etsy. If you don't know what Etsy is c'mon...get with the handmade program! It's a website that is much like Ebay where goods are bought and sold by people like you and me however all the products sold must fall under the category of handmade or vintage. Anyway, whenever I wear this ring I always get a compliment. Sometimes from the same people! Ha! If you'd like to purchase your own, get it here. Tell Karmen, Hannah sent you!

pretty in pink

I don't like to wear the color pink. I try to avoid it. But pretty is pretty, you know what I mean? This lovely necklace went on sale here 40% off at $96 and by the end of the day it was sold out. I wouldn't say I'd wear it but it's pretty to look at.