thursday has always been my favorite day of the week. mostly that's because nothing has ever gone majorly wrong in my life on a thursday. (heh.) and today has been as pleasant a thursday as i could wish. i slept in, made $60 doing massage, worked out, ate a yummy healthy salad (baby spinach, tuna, shredded cheese, and tomato-bacon dressing), had a glass of chocolate milk, rotated the laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, and now i'm hanging out on the couch with the cat, watching Golden Girls before getting ready for class. thursday means lab day, which means i get a massage, and then after school it's date night with my baby. whee!
more on the working out - my friend v turned me on to bodyweight calisthenics, and i've been doing them since monday. hindu squats, hindu pushups, t-squats, and bridges. and they are hard-core kicking my ass! already my arms feel more solid, and my legs are sooo sore, lol. to warm up, i'm doing the "chairman mao" exercises that my theatre class used to do...and for ab work, i'm hula-hooping. still nursing an injured right deltoid from last friday's charity hockey drop-in (stupid 14-yr-olds and their stupid slapshots!), but it feels about 90% healed. i've decided that it's time to get serious about getting into better shape, especially since fest is just 2 months away! naked-time in the woods! whoopee!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
the slow cooker
loaf is an herbivore. i am an omnivore. this has already made life interesting. especially since my definition of "omnivore" means something like "i eat most things, but not mushrooms if i can avoid them, and neverNeverNEVER tofu!*" i am very suspicious of not-meat products. boca burgers disgust me (though Amy's brand texas burgers are AMAZING), and it'll be a cold day in hell before i try another not-meat hot dog. there is one company that makes a tasty chicken "alternative", and that's Quorn. even my cat will eat Quorn!
anyway, while i've always been able to enjoy vegetarian fare, i never really cooked it until i was faced with the reality of a vegetarian wife. but since i love to cook, the last 9 months have been a fun and tasty adventure...i've tried new recipes, and found ways to make some of my favorites veg-friendly. (but not all of them. we're already referring to the weekends loaf will be away from home as "chicken weekends", in which the cats and i will have a roasted chicken all to ourselves!)
surprisingly, until yesterday i had never used a slow cooker. for anything. ever. but several months ago i bought this great book by Robin Robertson called Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, and promptly dog-eared most of the pages. there are so many great recipes! the one i chose to make as my intro to slow-cookery was Pesto-Infused White Bean and Sundried-Tomato Stew. i picked it because i heart all things pesto, and because we convieniently had a jar of sundried tomatoes in the fridge. :o) i didn't get to try it before running off to school, which was sad...but let me tell you, once i got home and had a bowl, i was NOT disappointed! this is some hella good soup! and here is the recipe, for your nomming enjoyment:
Pesto-Infused White Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Stew
--------------------------------------------------------
1 Tbs olive oil
1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (actually, i used a jar of tomatoes canned by my mom last summer)
1/4 Cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 cans cannelinni beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 Cups vegetable stock
salt to taste
1/4 cup pesto (homemade or store-bought; i did store-bought)
1. Heat the oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer the onion to a 4-qt slow cooker. Add the bell pepper, both kinds of tomatoes, the beans, and stock; season with salt, cover, and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
3. Just before serving, stir in the pesto. Taste to adjust the seasonings.
(* the exception being the nutloaf at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. i can't find the tofu, and can't taste it...)
anyway, while i've always been able to enjoy vegetarian fare, i never really cooked it until i was faced with the reality of a vegetarian wife. but since i love to cook, the last 9 months have been a fun and tasty adventure...i've tried new recipes, and found ways to make some of my favorites veg-friendly. (but not all of them. we're already referring to the weekends loaf will be away from home as "chicken weekends", in which the cats and i will have a roasted chicken all to ourselves!)
surprisingly, until yesterday i had never used a slow cooker. for anything. ever. but several months ago i bought this great book by Robin Robertson called Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, and promptly dog-eared most of the pages. there are so many great recipes! the one i chose to make as my intro to slow-cookery was Pesto-Infused White Bean and Sundried-Tomato Stew. i picked it because i heart all things pesto, and because we convieniently had a jar of sundried tomatoes in the fridge. :o) i didn't get to try it before running off to school, which was sad...but let me tell you, once i got home and had a bowl, i was NOT disappointed! this is some hella good soup! and here is the recipe, for your nomming enjoyment:
Pesto-Infused White Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Stew
--------------------------------------------------------
1 Tbs olive oil
1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (actually, i used a jar of tomatoes canned by my mom last summer)
1/4 Cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 cans cannelinni beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 Cups vegetable stock
salt to taste
1/4 cup pesto (homemade or store-bought; i did store-bought)
1. Heat the oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer the onion to a 4-qt slow cooker. Add the bell pepper, both kinds of tomatoes, the beans, and stock; season with salt, cover, and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
3. Just before serving, stir in the pesto. Taste to adjust the seasonings.
(* the exception being the nutloaf at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. i can't find the tofu, and can't taste it...)
Sunday, May 18, 2008
unsolicited movie review-type-thing
my entire family loves to read. as a kid, i especially got into The Chronicles of Narnia, a love that my mother shares wholeheartedly. so today, as a belated mother's day gift, i took mom to see the movie Prince Caspian. (it was not entirely unselfish, i'd been dying to see it too!)
overall, i was really pleased! there was some artistic license taken, of course, but it stayed fairly true to the book. i was impressed that some of the minor details (apple trees at the ruins; the chess piece; the moss-covered descent into the gorge exactly as described) were included...but i thought the exposition could've been handled just a bit better. and never to say the name of trumpkin the dwarf? when he's such an important character and figures in two more books? but to include the werewolves' speech word-for-word? sigh. and i gotta say...as much as i love what they've done so far with the movies...the Trees continue to fall short of my expectations. the whole point is that they're alive, they have spirits, and in the books they're anthropomorphized - the Trees talk, they walk, they eat, and they look human. so far, the movies have just given us moving trees. it also would have been nice to show the all-night feasting and dancing of the Old Narnians in the book. oh well. i guess they can't keep everything.
in other news, i spent the weekend plying my trade as a mobile massage therapist and did rather well! it's a bitch sometimes to drive all over God's green earth, especially with gas prices, but the fun part of doing outcalls is that you meet so many interesting people. yesterday, one client showed us a few of her pole-dancing moves! it looks like so much fun, but maybe i'd better build up a bit more upper-body strength first...to the gym! awaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
overall, i was really pleased! there was some artistic license taken, of course, but it stayed fairly true to the book. i was impressed that some of the minor details (apple trees at the ruins; the chess piece; the moss-covered descent into the gorge exactly as described) were included...but i thought the exposition could've been handled just a bit better. and never to say the name of trumpkin the dwarf? when he's such an important character and figures in two more books? but to include the werewolves' speech word-for-word? sigh. and i gotta say...as much as i love what they've done so far with the movies...the Trees continue to fall short of my expectations. the whole point is that they're alive, they have spirits, and in the books they're anthropomorphized - the Trees talk, they walk, they eat, and they look human. so far, the movies have just given us moving trees. it also would have been nice to show the all-night feasting and dancing of the Old Narnians in the book. oh well. i guess they can't keep everything.
in other news, i spent the weekend plying my trade as a mobile massage therapist and did rather well! it's a bitch sometimes to drive all over God's green earth, especially with gas prices, but the fun part of doing outcalls is that you meet so many interesting people. yesterday, one client showed us a few of her pole-dancing moves! it looks like so much fun, but maybe i'd better build up a bit more upper-body strength first...to the gym! awaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
whee! inaugural post!
so i'm not your typical butch girl...more of a butch in tomboi's clothing, i suppose. i love sports, jeans, boots, and wrestling with large dogs; i also enjoy sheets with little flowers on them, cute half-aprons, and drinking what my grrl calls "cheerleader beer". calling myself a housewife (or, rather, housewife-to-be, since loaf and i won't be living together til august) doesn't feel quite accurate - after all, i'll be the one killing bugs and dealing with the occasional dead thing as well as baking cookies and cheesecakes (and making killer spinach dip) for potlucks and dinner parties.
follow along as loaf and i shack up and prepare for our wedding next summer! thrill to tales of near-death as i learn to navigate a new city! get your vicarious adrenaline rush as i train for roller derby! try new recipes! it's all here, just for you!
follow along as loaf and i shack up and prepare for our wedding next summer! thrill to tales of near-death as i learn to navigate a new city! get your vicarious adrenaline rush as i train for roller derby! try new recipes! it's all here, just for you!
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