Parlez Vous Le Francais?

I have been loving Flight of the Conchords. Best Novelty Folk Duo Ever! But this is one of their best bits in my opinion.

Yesterday at work I was teaching my coworkers French & they were teaching me Spanish. My skills are a bit rough since I haven't been speaking it and I am too embarrassed to use it in front of family cause I have forgotten everything. Going over verb conjugation has been difficult, especially since I haven't done it in 10 years and I was never very good at it anyway.

But I did exchange one very useful phrase. In French you say, "Ou es le W.C.". In Spanish, "Donde esta el bano".

LOL

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I can't decide...is this humorous or tragic??

New Kanye Video - LMAO

This is the video from Kanye's website.....Hilarious.

The sidekick is Will Oldham, aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy, a brilliant indie folk songwriter. The main guy is the comedian Zach Galifianakis.

Kid's are easy...cuz I got 3 pacifiers

If my baby get's cold, it's cool cuzI got a blanket



What a great role model...oops I mean playa.....LOL

Space Saving Design: The Silent Butler

I am completly addicted to space saving furniture. Anything that looks like what it is not and creates more floor space just seems like a good idea. I have plans in my head to create an elaborate wall unit in our dining room that will house 2 computers for gaming & a dining table, but neatly fold up to a flat wall. While this is an expensive project, I found a simpler one today on Apartment Therapy.



This design from a 1970's apartment design book that the author of the Apartment Therapy post found at a used book store.

I ran this by Frube & he doesn't hate it....success!

Glass Love: Kosta Boda

Ever since my glass working class in college, I have been a glass junkie. In order to design pieces like the one above you work in a searing hot room with molten glass at 2,000 degrees Celsius & spin, blow and shape at an incredible pace. These pieces are created at such a high temperature that when they are complete they have barely cooled below 1,000 degrees C.

Each factory has a special recipe for their glass and each artist has their own techniques. The complexity, artistry & secrecy makes glass working unique when compared to other hand crafts. Read more about the Kosta Boda factory in Sweden in Doug Lansky's article.

Blackout Stuffed Peppers

Monday night was another adventure with a new recipe mixed with the fun of a 3 hour blackout. Luckily, I had started cooking the brown rice 30 minutes before the blackout (we have and electric stove). With 95 degree/100% humidity outside, everyone was inside running their air conditioner, televisions, microwaves and such. It was only a matter of time until the we had our first major power outage of the year. I was just getting ready to start the onions, but I figured we would only be black for a few minutes. When honey called the power company and they said it could be out for 4 hours...it was time to improvise.

We have a side burner on our grill, I have never cooked with it and I haven't cooked with gas since my college days. So...outside with the onions & garlic to get them carmelized. Just by chance as the sun sets they are done so I go back inside to combine the rest of the ingredients and wait for the rice. After waiting another half hour...miracle of miracles...the rice is cooked perfectly. Everything goes into a bowl to get mixed together & then stuffed into the peppers. Now comes the question. How to bake the peppers....in a grill???

Hubby suggests indirect heat and...it works. Now...I experiment alot in my cooking, but I have never had this string of lucky chances. Especially with new kitchen equipment. So as I do the prep dishes in the sink, wouldn't you know it...we run out of propane. So now I hope I can duplicate the rice, maybe enough heat got in there to cook it. But after 20 minutes it is obvious that the peppers are not cooking and I am getting hungry. But wouldn't you know it...the power comes back on. I throw the peppers in for another 30 minutes and voila....Stuffed Peppers. They were good too...hubby ate 2 for dinner & 1 more for lunch the next day. So much for leftovers.

I got the recipe from Fat Free Vegan

Stuffed Green Peppers

3 large green peppers (I used red peppers)
3 cups cooked brown rice
1 large onion -- chopped
3 cups tomato -- chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil -- use more if fresh
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon agave nectar or other liquid sweetener (I didn't use)
1/2 cup of chipotle cheddar (adds a little more spice to the dish)

1. Cut peppers in half lengthwise & remove the seeds.

2. Steam peppers for 5 minutes then drain.

3. Fry the onions until translucent.

4. Reserve half the tomatoes. Mix the other half with the cooked rice,
onion, spices, and add salt & pepper to taste.

5. Stuff the pepper shells with this mixture and place them in a shallow
pan. You may want to use parchment paper or a spray of oil to prevent
sticking.

6. Puree the remaining tomatoes in a blender and add the sweetener. Pour
this over the tops of the stuffed peppers.

7. Bake at 375º for 30 to 40 minutes.

Serving Size : 3

The Bouquet

Zinnias & Guacamole

This spring we started to build a flower bed out front. Last fall we received a note from the HOA that our bushes needed to be trimmed. Not taking to this kindly we removed the azaleas and put them out back and installed a lovely black plastic pipe to pull the water away from our foundation. We also managed to acquire a large quantity of dirt which graced our front yard all winter. Back in April we finally got around to building the flower bed to cover the plastic pipe.


Frube prepping the ground (lots of weeds)



In progress, you can see the lovely black plastic pipe & pile-o-dirt. After all the flooding last year we are hoping we won't have any water problems come September.


The finished planter, you can see the 3 pots we installed into the planter. While pressure treated timbers last forever, we didn't want to risk eating those pesticides in the herbs I hope to harvest from the bed.

I planted a variety of zinnias & lavender in the bed itself. I have recently planted rosemary & tomatoes in the 3 pots.



The flowers on Saturday (there are even more today). I had to replant almost every plant because not all the seeds came up and there were weird distributions of plants. The lavender is teeny tiny, hopefully next year they will look better.

On Saturday afternoon Chris was spending some time outside enjoying the weather and our neighbor offered him a plate of handmade goodness (steak, coleslaw, guacamole, pico de gaillo & rice). Since they only speak Spanish & we don't it has been tough have a relationship with them. This was the first time we have ever had any sort of contact in 3 years. So to thank them for the food I picked them a little bouquet. He came over and gave us a 2nd larger plate of food...needless to say, we were stuffed.

Baby Brunhilde Knitted

For years I swore I would not start to knit or crochet. With the sewing, needlework & scrapbook supplies taking up so much time, space and money it seemed like a smart idea. But..I didn't realize...you can knit in the car. I am currently working on Anouk, but I think this might be next project. Source: Craftzine

Chilly Jilly

My office is freezing, like wool sweaters in July cold. Normally I wear a blanket over my shoulders to keep warm...but this is just so much more stylish.

Found at Kenzie Kate

Helvetica: A Documentary Film

Visiting Apartment Therapy I found a movie review of Helvetica a movie about the typeface. As a former marketing coordinator who would ask designers for "friendlier" or "casual" fonts...this movie intrigues me.

The choice of font can add or take away to any marketing piece. A whimsical font can increase the sense of whimsy in a campaign. A serif, typewriter font can add credibility to your copy. I have spent hours choosing new fonts for marketing materials. I am interested to see how this film ties it all up...but personally...I would like to know more about Tahoma.

Clickable

Great article by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post that touches on the concept of the hectic pace of our lives and art outside of the frame - Pearls Before Breakfast

It's Shake & Bake, and I Helped! - Pasta e Fagioli

Every time that I take new cooking adventure I think of the Shake & Bake commercial from the 60's. The little girl proclaims when the meal is served, "It's Shake & Bake, and I helped!". On Friday night I had my first ever experiment with dried beans when I made Pasta e Fagioli with kidney beans.

I found this recipe on Vanesscipes

********************************************************************************
Pasta e Fagioli

1 yellow onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic,minced
3 stalks of celery, sliced
2 carrots, diced
olive oil
5 cups of veggie stock
1 1/2 cups of red wine
1 very large (35 oz) can of tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 (16 oz) bag of dried kidney beans or 3 cans of canned kidney beans*
2 cups elbow macaroni
sploosh of balsamic vinegar
salt, pepper
red pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese, optional

*Cooking dried whole beans produces the best taste but takes the longest. Soak your beans overnight in the fridge (or for at least a few hours) if possible as this cuts down cooking time.
If cooking using a regular cooking method the beans cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
If using a pressure cooker soaked beans take around 15 minutes. Unsoaked beans take about 40 minutes.
If all this is too much work, just use 3 cans of kidney beans, discarding the liquid and rinsing the beans.

Saute onions, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil for about 5 minutes.

Add the liquids: broth, wine, tomatoes and the herbs: oregano, rosemary, thyme, red pepper and bring to a simmer. Add the beans and cook until beans are soft (see above note for approximate times.)

When the beans are soft, add the macaroni pasta and cook for 10 minutes.
Season with salt, pepper a sploosh of balsamic vinegar.

Serve with grated cheese and more red pepper flakes.

****************************************************************************

I wound up soaking my beans for 2 nights since I was too tired to make the dish on Thursday and I didn't do the best job of getting the bean completely soft before I ate the dish (but still tasty). I was out of celery and forgot to add the balsamic vinegar, but a great dish. Definately going on the list.

Here is the photo of my attempt:

The New Do

On Saturday, I finally did the deed and lopped off about 12" of hair. After growing my hair out for the past year it feels very strange not to have it anymore.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

2nd Attempt

Ding! Round 2 of blogging for me. I managed only 1 post on my former blog. I plan on discussing whatever I feel like instead of just focusing on our ongoing renovation.

Look how happy the big dog is in the photo on the left. He has exacted the perfect revenge. He has decided to tear up and lay on our new grass. I guess it is fair since last weekend he got his summer buzz cut (a #2 to be exact). He hated the entire 2 hours...so if destroying a little grass makes him happy...I will let it go.