My husband cooks. Yep. That's right. COOKS! And he kicks ass at it too. Even if it's "just" salad or heating some leftovers - he has the magic touch for real.
The biggest mistake I can make is to not make plans when he is out of town. Like Wednesday night. He was gone for just one night. I thought: "easy. I can make a baked potato. Eat in. Get to bed early. Piece-o-pie."
wrong.
I SWEAR, all I did was heat, in the oven (recommended) some frozen veggie chicken patties and heat, in the microwave, a baked potato. Yeh Yeh - I know, the oven is better but the chickies were already in there and, bitch please, I do not have the patience to wait an hour for a potato. The chicken was meh - was ok I guess for fake chicken. I think it had freezer burn - it tasted like it had come out of the microwave - mushy and not cooked enough but still hot. And the damn potato was overcooked! AND I burned my thumb on the damn plate.
Cereal or eat out with the girls from now on. That's it. No more of this "cooking" stuff for me.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
mmmm? - eh.
So there is a new(ish) restaurant in town with a fancy name and bright colors. I want to like it SO BAD. It's got outdoor seating (bring your dogs!), dark wood interior, sangria (!!), takes online reservations (cuz, y'know I am afraid of talking on the phone), there are lots of friendly servers, and it has a well designed website and menu. In my quest to force it into being my new favorite restaurant I've gone there 4 times in the last month.
La Grande Orange. A failed love story.
First visit:
breakfast: hash browns, huevos rancheros, latte.
The foam on the latte was beautiful and decent. The hash browns were greasy and delicious. And the huevos rancheros needed salt.
Second visit:
breakfast: egg salad sandwich, hash browns, orange juice.
The OJ was fresh squeezed and yum!
Hash browns were a little greasier this time. Still didn't stop me from plowing through them. The egg salad needed a lot of salt.
Third visit:
dinner: Sweet potato roll, Seared Ahi Tuna Tacos, red sangria.
The roll - omg. Soooo good. The "seared" ahi tacos were completely cooked and flavorless. The person I was with also ordered them and hers came with a side of mayo instead whatever more appropriate but completely forgettable condiment mine came with. It was just a mistake but it was kind of nasty for her to dunk it in the mayo. (unless you like mayo. then you would have been happy.)
The red sangria, along with the LGO cocktail she had were both really really good. They also have white sangria during the summer.
Fourth visit:
dinner: Sweet potato roll, miso-glazed salmon roll, crunchy tuna roll, red sangria and my friend had turkey meatloaf and a decaf coffee (uh? What?) and warm cookie with ice cream.
Again, the sweet potato roll was really good, altho not as good as the first time. The salmon roll is their "signature" roll and it was just ok. The crunchy tuna roll was equally meh. Her turkey meatloaf looked just like very thin lunch meat style slices of turkey COVERED in gravy (this is bad, unless of course you like your food to be drowned. you probably also like mayo. whatever drowns your boat.). She thought her coffee was bitter. And for desert she didn't think the teeny scoop of ice cream was worth an extra buck.
They say it's all seasonal and organic. And I am pretty sure they shop at the local farmer's markets - all of these things are a yay. Their food is just really underwhelming.
I think it is a fine place. Food is very average and very bland - so keep the salt close! I like the atmosphere and will continue to go back and try new things. It's a great place if you want to take visitors who are used to bland chain restaurants (I'm talking to you Cheesecake Factory) but want to try something in Santa Monica before you stroll them down Main St.
La Grande Orange
2000 Main St
SM CA 90405
Who doesn't love a circus!
Lately I have been thinking to myself "We really need to get to the circus more." I used to go to Ringling Bros as a kid. But nowadays I have concerns about the treatment of the animals, my husband is afraid of clowns, and there are like a lot of kids and it's probably looked down upon to go to the circus just to drink.
Luckily for me there is a new circus in town. Cirque Berzerk! So we grabbed a coupla good friends, hydrated and made our way downtown. The CB peeps describe their show as:
"From stilt walkers to aerialists to punk rock clowns to pro riggers, we work together as a cohesive unit to produce visions of sexy fiery burlesque, dramatic flight and vaudevillian tomfoolery. Cirque Berzerk works with both contemporary music as well as it’s own originally produced score. "
My 10 word review: I liked it. Recommend for sure. Could use more edge.
One of the men in our group provided this 2 word review: needs boobs.
(the other man in our group agreed)
It was lots of fun! I highly encourage making a trip downtown, having a tasty dinner and 7 or 8 beers before the show, getting there a little early to enjoy the "pre-party" and more drinks (I can't encourage beer, they only had Red Stripe and Miller Lite). And planning to stay a little late for the after-party where the performers come out to party.
If you are going to the show here are three important reminders:
- your feet will get dirty. Wear super fancy or open toe shows with caution.
- if you try to clap your hands while holding a vodka tonic it WILL spill down the front of your shirt, even if you pay $2 more for Belvedere.
- bring cash so that you can get your "Safety Third" shirt.
Life lesson learned from the show:
You do not have to be insanely or grotesquely thin to be a performer - but you do probably need to do a lot of yoga and stretching.
Pics and reviews:
Oh, AND they have partnered with the Chrysalis group to provide jobs for the homeless. Come on now. That's awesome.
UPDATE: The husband would like you to know that he is not "afraid" of clowns. He just hates them because they are "evil" - noted.
YO! What's up? What's going on in the world?
Some random thoughts while perusing the news..
Lakers - I'm from LA, and I really could not care less about basketball, but it's always good to see the hometown team win. At first I was a good liberal and was all up in arms over the parade that was scheduled - I agreed that people who were out breakin shit and looting do not deserve a parade. But you know who does deserve a parade? The other several million fans who did not break any laws. Why should the good fans be punished? I agree that the cost of the parade is high and comes at an unfortunate time but I also think people need to celebrate and it's great that our DamnMayor was able to raise some private funds for it. Party on and don't act like assholes is what I say to the parade and rally goers.
Dodgers - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for beating the A's last night. I am SO over interleague play. And I am SO over the AL dominating the NL with their cheating not real baseball no pitcher hitting ways!
WTF is up with Diet Cola "for men" ??? Stupid.
Congrats to Silversun Pickups on getting to number one on Billboard... I still think you're kind of boring.
Huh, David Sedaris at the B&N at the Grove tomorrow night.. That's kinda cool. I never actually read him (the bookclub girls will frequently remind me that the Christmas book they picked is only like 4 pages long or something...) but I do think he's funny, I just don't really like essays or short stories (that's what he writes right?)
If you haven't been to Wurstküche you are totally missing out. Unless of course you don't like sausage, fries or beer. If that is the case you can close the browser, your kind is not welcome here - unless you're a vegan and then you can stay - but at least they have vegetarian options.
Food Inc. Let's go see it!
Obviously there are things arguably more important than these happening in the world... those things bring me down. I don't read regular news, I read blogs. I get my news from The Daily Show and Twitter and I figure if something is important enough I will hear about it. Unlike a lot of people though (brace yourself, I am about to judge) I don't argue over world events, I don't retweet unconfirmed Tweets, I don't make my decisions on who I will side with or what I will believe based on 30 minute TV shows, Whole Foods solicitors in American Apparel Tshirts with clipboards and a smile, or social media without doing a whole lot of research first. Now I just need to figure out why everyone's Twitter avatar is green... Green isn't really my color.
Lakers - I'm from LA, and I really could not care less about basketball, but it's always good to see the hometown team win. At first I was a good liberal and was all up in arms over the parade that was scheduled - I agreed that people who were out breakin shit and looting do not deserve a parade. But you know who does deserve a parade? The other several million fans who did not break any laws. Why should the good fans be punished? I agree that the cost of the parade is high and comes at an unfortunate time but I also think people need to celebrate and it's great that our DamnMayor was able to raise some private funds for it. Party on and don't act like assholes is what I say to the parade and rally goers.
Dodgers - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for beating the A's last night. I am SO over interleague play. And I am SO over the AL dominating the NL with their cheating not real baseball no pitcher hitting ways!
WTF is up with Diet Cola "for men" ??? Stupid.
Congrats to Silversun Pickups on getting to number one on Billboard... I still think you're kind of boring.
Huh, David Sedaris at the B&N at the Grove tomorrow night.. That's kinda cool. I never actually read him (the bookclub girls will frequently remind me that the Christmas book they picked is only like 4 pages long or something...) but I do think he's funny, I just don't really like essays or short stories (that's what he writes right?)
If you haven't been to Wurstküche you are totally missing out. Unless of course you don't like sausage, fries or beer. If that is the case you can close the browser, your kind is not welcome here - unless you're a vegan and then you can stay - but at least they have vegetarian options.
Food Inc. Let's go see it!
Obviously there are things arguably more important than these happening in the world... those things bring me down. I don't read regular news, I read blogs. I get my news from The Daily Show and Twitter and I figure if something is important enough I will hear about it. Unlike a lot of people though (brace yourself, I am about to judge) I don't argue over world events, I don't retweet unconfirmed Tweets, I don't make my decisions on who I will side with or what I will believe based on 30 minute TV shows, Whole Foods solicitors in American Apparel Tshirts with clipboards and a smile, or social media without doing a whole lot of research first. Now I just need to figure out why everyone's Twitter avatar is green... Green isn't really my color.
Do you ever eat too much butter?
Do you ever think to yourself: "HEY! I'm on vacation and I've already walked all over town and sat by the pool and done yoga in my hotel room via a really awesome online yoga site and decide that it would just be too much effort to put on real clothes, brush your hair and go outside in search of dinner? So you decide to order room service. Only everything looks kind of expensive and kind of unhealthy except for the "Fit" options which just look boring. Then you find Salmon! (which is good if you like salmon.) And you look at the options for sides and see carrots! So you order Salmon, a baked potato and carrots! And you're all proud because you ordered healthy AND yummy! And it comes in 30 minutes or less, as promised, and it looks amazing. And it actually tastes amazing. And then about 17 bites in (because it was the hugest portion ever) you realize it tastes amazing because it was cooked in AT LEAST a stick and a half of butter. But you keep eating it. But you don't finish it because not even you are that hungry. But you do have to go wash your face because you feel like you just bathed in butter.
me too.
So - vacation update day 2 - I slept in late, went for a tasty breakfast of eggs, hash browns and a biscuit and then walked around the marina, for like EVER. I was hoping to take the ferry to Coronado, but I literally walked up as it was pulling away and didn't feel like waiting an hour for the next one. So I just kept walking. And walking. It was good. So good that I took a nap. After being awake for like 3 hours. I got up, searched for food and ended up with some pretty yummy fish tacos. Came back to the hotel and read by the pool before coming back to the hotel room, Facebook, Twitter, Photoshop research for new-ish Mac, decided I didn't need a new iPhone for $500 and did Yoga online. Before the great-butter-dish of 2009 occured.
The best thing happened by the pool though... there was a family there on vacation, a mom was sitting poolside with her baby in the stroller while her husband (I assume) was in the pool with his 3 daughters (I assume). He was towing the 3 girls and hollering out: "I AM ON VACATION! ON VACATION! WE ARE ON VACATION! No lawns to mow! On Vacation! No work! Vacation! SEVEN MORE DAYS OF THIS POOL!" - Man, his excitement was awesome. I hope they had a nice buttery dinner!
Now I am finishing up a decent glass of Pinot, watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix (man, that pilot was REALLY GOOD! Watch it.) and waiting for Guy to get back from dinner.
me too.
So - vacation update day 2 - I slept in late, went for a tasty breakfast of eggs, hash browns and a biscuit and then walked around the marina, for like EVER. I was hoping to take the ferry to Coronado, but I literally walked up as it was pulling away and didn't feel like waiting an hour for the next one. So I just kept walking. And walking. It was good. So good that I took a nap. After being awake for like 3 hours. I got up, searched for food and ended up with some pretty yummy fish tacos. Came back to the hotel and read by the pool before coming back to the hotel room, Facebook, Twitter, Photoshop research for new-ish Mac, decided I didn't need a new iPhone for $500 and did Yoga online. Before the great-butter-dish of 2009 occured.
The best thing happened by the pool though... there was a family there on vacation, a mom was sitting poolside with her baby in the stroller while her husband (I assume) was in the pool with his 3 daughters (I assume). He was towing the 3 girls and hollering out: "I AM ON VACATION! ON VACATION! WE ARE ON VACATION! No lawns to mow! On Vacation! No work! Vacation! SEVEN MORE DAYS OF THIS POOL!" - Man, his excitement was awesome. I hope they had a nice buttery dinner!
Now I am finishing up a decent glass of Pinot, watching Friday Night Lights on Netflix (man, that pilot was REALLY GOOD! Watch it.) and waiting for Guy to get back from dinner.
Firsts - a doggy
I am constantly reminded of my first dog because his name is one of the random security passwords for a site that I frequent. Yapper. I probably shouldn't tell you that, now my security could be breached. Damn. His name was Yapper. You know why? He yapped. He was a little dog. Black. Brown maybe. I really don't remember very much about him. I remember that my mother gave him to me and that was the last time I ever saw her. I remember he wasn't housebroken. I remember being 4/5 years old and thinking it SUCKS to wake up in the middle of the night to get a snack and step in dog shit. I remember being thankful that it was just a little dogshit - because after all, he was just a little dog. What I don't remember is kind of disturbing. I don't remember ever walking him, or watching my father walk him. I don't think he EVER got housebroken. I don't remember him ever not yapping. Mostly though I don't remember what happened to him. I remember moving and he didn't come with us. But I really don't remember if I was upset about it. Weird. I wonder what happened to him. I would like to think Yapper was adopted by our neighbors, given a yard and a nice house with soundproof walls for his new family and a Kong that was half the size of his body and he wasn't intimidated AT ALL by it. Hopefully he bit someone if they were mean to him. Hopefully he got a better name, like Gus or Rocky. I wonder if he fathered little Gusorrockys? For sure we didn't get him fixed if we couldn't even walk the little fucker. Man, I hope he was a he. Yapper would be a terrible name for a girl.
Day 1
Day 1 9/22 Monday 1 drink
Day 1, no major mishaps and everything seemed to go smooooooth. I was reminded by the evil* Dr Patrick that chili – even vegan chili – is made with tomatoes. DAMNIT! Oh well. There’s always tomorrow. Totally felt really good today, tomorrow the headache is going to set it for a couple of days I would imagine and I need to stock up on more snacks because I was reminded today by Tina that I need to “keep my mouth busy” (huh huh) so that I don’t crave sweets.
The Drink
Banana
Strawberries
Carrots
Chili
Salad
Almonds
Grapes
Salmon
Red Potatoes
Green tea
Water (not nearly enough water)
*Dr. Patrick is not evil.
Day 1, no major mishaps and everything seemed to go smooooooth. I was reminded by the evil* Dr Patrick that chili – even vegan chili – is made with tomatoes. DAMNIT! Oh well. There’s always tomorrow. Totally felt really good today, tomorrow the headache is going to set it for a couple of days I would imagine and I need to stock up on more snacks because I was reminded today by Tina that I need to “keep my mouth busy” (huh huh) so that I don’t crave sweets.
The Drink
Banana
Strawberries
Carrots
Chili
Salad
Almonds
Grapes
Salmon
Red Potatoes
Green tea
Water (not nearly enough water)
*Dr. Patrick is not evil.
Day 0
9/21 Sunday
Tomorrow I start a detox thingy that is GOING to last 3-weeks (or 21 days, or 504 hours, or 30,240 minutes, or if you like really unachievable goals it’s 1,814,400 seconds – I do love the internet). I say GOING to last because damnit I am totally going to get through this. In the grand scheme of life 3 weeks is soooo nothing. It’s going to be tough – no caffeine, sugar, wheat… it’s really just a super healthy way of eating that I should be doing anyway along with some probably really nasty tasting drink that has all of the vitamins I am not getting because all I ever eat is coffee, sugar and wheat. (yes, I consider coffee a food). Hmmph.
In the spirit of a good kick-off I HAD to go out with a bang, so today I had a huge coffee along with a donut and then a very small serving of a very salty chinese fast food dish accompanied by a super tasty carbonated and caffeinated soda. I think we’re having skirt steak for dinner along with some yummy wine and finishing up with some dark chocolate. So basically, every single thing I have eaten today will be off limits for the next almost two million seconds. Easy! Right.
A quick list of things in my diet that I can’t eat:
Coffee
Red Meat (only during week 2 do I have to stop all meats)
Tomatoes
Pasta
Eggs, dairy
Chocolate
Things with added Sugars. Bah.
Piece of (sugar-free) cake!
oy, I just realized Guy is going to be out of town for most of week 2, really smart planning on his part. I'll have to work extra hard to find things I like and can prepare myself that aren't frozen mac and cheese dinners!
Tomorrow I start a detox thingy that is GOING to last 3-weeks (or 21 days, or 504 hours, or 30,240 minutes, or if you like really unachievable goals it’s 1,814,400 seconds – I do love the internet). I say GOING to last because damnit I am totally going to get through this. In the grand scheme of life 3 weeks is soooo nothing. It’s going to be tough – no caffeine, sugar, wheat… it’s really just a super healthy way of eating that I should be doing anyway along with some probably really nasty tasting drink that has all of the vitamins I am not getting because all I ever eat is coffee, sugar and wheat. (yes, I consider coffee a food). Hmmph.
In the spirit of a good kick-off I HAD to go out with a bang, so today I had a huge coffee along with a donut and then a very small serving of a very salty chinese fast food dish accompanied by a super tasty carbonated and caffeinated soda. I think we’re having skirt steak for dinner along with some yummy wine and finishing up with some dark chocolate. So basically, every single thing I have eaten today will be off limits for the next almost two million seconds. Easy! Right.
A quick list of things in my diet that I can’t eat:
Coffee
Red Meat (only during week 2 do I have to stop all meats)
Tomatoes
Pasta
Eggs, dairy
Chocolate
Things with added Sugars. Bah.
Piece of (sugar-free) cake!
oy, I just realized Guy is going to be out of town for most of week 2, really smart planning on his part. I'll have to work extra hard to find things I like and can prepare myself that aren't frozen mac and cheese dinners!
If it's September we're going to Pomona!
Pretty much every year I try and make it out to the fair. Basically if you've been to one fair you've been to them all and nothing really changes except the prizes evolve into the most current licensed hit (Hannah Montana) and the shopping expos get the lastest As Seen on TV must-have (ShamWOW!). Knowing this does not stop me from wanting to go.... here are some pics of things that can be seen and done at the fair. See you there next year!
Never forget...
Right Now!
- i am STOKED over getting the news about a new TVOTR cd- FINALLY! even though honestly I am still not tired of the last one
- can hear Guy making dinner and am flip flopping between feeling like the luckiest girl alive and guilty cause i'm in here fuckin around
- thinks picasa rules, and really only needs it to be wireless to make me that much happier
- i kinda sorta kinda want an iphone. don't tell Guy. i love gadgets. and their apps look awesome. gonna try and wait it out to see what BlackBerry comes up with. damnit.
- i have 1 night till i have to geek out with the nerds and am sooooo overwhelmed with shit i need to do at work and home. bah.
- loves the Dodgers right now. 12-2 in the 4th. hah! (err, not loving the error just now...might just want to delete number 6 before I even publish this---BAH, 12-3)
- feels bad that Guy has to go to jury duty tomorrow but thinks the plan of wearing one of my t-shirts, reading Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, while carrying a disposable camera in one hand and an oversized rubber ducky with a rainhat in the other hand should be a good way to not get placed on a jury
- realizes that she's writing these the same way she writes her Facebook status and that needs to stop
A day with Coop and Poub
Guy was outta town last week for Cooper's birthday party and so The Clough's invited us over so that Guy could experience some of the most delish carne asada and I could take pics of the baby and the cat.
and a link: http://picasaweb.google.com/cindymvaughn/CooperAtHome
Cooper turns 1!
He had the BEST carne asada at his party! unfortunately for Guy he had to miss it.... I had enough for both of us, twice.
here's the link, in case the slideshow no worky worky for you http://picasaweb.google.com/cindymvaughn/CooperSFirstBirthdayParty
here's the link, in case the slideshow no worky worky for you http://picasaweb.google.com/cindymvaughn/CooperSFirstBirthdayParty
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