Making My Coworkers Jealous

Every week the deli near our work has a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches on Fridays. It's usually a bummer since they only take cash. And most of us never have cash. I love a good cheesesteak. These are ok, but I knew I could do better at home.
Yeah that mess of cheese and peppers is my cheesesteak sandwich. I bought lean, thin cut steak and fried in olive oil and with Lawry's Seasoning. Once the meat was cooked I took the meat out and cooked the peppers and onions until soft. I toasted the bread, then combined. I put a piece of cheese (I used Provolone) then put the meat and veggies with another piece of cheese on top. I wrapped the whole sandwich in foil and put it under the broiler for 15 minutes for the cheese to melt. The bread got toaster then so I could have not toasted the bread previously.
Anyway my coworkers all drooled when I told about my own cheesesteak. Almost all of them have made this delicious sandwich themselves and come back to rave about it. If you make it let me know if you like too!

Weekly Geek #4

This week we are going to continue with the theme started last week and go even further exploring our favorite book characters.

Many of us have had an opportunity to interview an author, mostly through email, but perhaps even on the phone or in person. In fact, many of you have become experts at author interviews. So this week, let's pretend that we can get in contact with one of our favorite characters and interview them. What would you ask Mr. Darcy if you could send him an email. What would his answers be like? What would you say if you could just call up Liesel or Rudy from The Book Thief and ask them anything? How would they answer your questions? What if you could invite Jo March or Anne Shirley to lunch, what would the conversation be like?

So blog about that imagined conversation, or phone discussion, or email exchange. Of course, there may be lots of things we'll have to make up or imagine them saying. But many things we should be able to figure out their answers just from what we know of them in their respective books.

So I've been thinking about this since Saturday when it was posted. But I've had a cold for the past couple of days and can't seem to think straight so you'll have to forgive me for skipping this. But I wanted to post some of the other delightful conversations people came up with.

Suey had a lovely conversation with Mary Bennet.
It's Dark in the Dark had a great conversation with Cthulhu. I learned so many interesting things about this mysterious creature.
Naida talked with Lestat and asked him his opinions about The Interview with Vampire movie.
Which literary character would you want to sit down with?

Library Loot #2

I was taking pictures of this week's library loot when Tai asked me what I was doing. Come on how often does your wife throw some books on the floor and start taking pictures?

Me: For Library Loot. It's a weekly group that shows what books we've gotten from the library this week.
Tai: So these are new books that you are showing off to others. Give them ideas of what to read?
Me: No, these are books that someone else got last week and I decided to get them too.
Tai:So you're just showing what people got last week this week?
Me: Uh, yup.

So this week I got Life Sucks, a graphic novel by Jessica Abel and Gabriel Soria. It was recommended on bookgirl's blog. Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith was recommended on someone else's blog (forgot who now) but I just read the reviews on Amazon and this appears to be book 2 of 3. Drat! I'll have to return it and get book one. And Shopping Your Closet by Melanie Charlton Fascitelli which was part of A Striped Armchair's Library Loot last week. I'm really excited about Shop Your Closet. I've been weeding out my closet for the past month. It's not a one day project. It takes time. So I'm hoping it will give me ideas for what to do with what's in there. And not going out and buying more, right now.
So, did you get anything good from the library?

Contemplating Sewing

I wish I knew how to sew. My mom used to sew clothes. But I never learned. I've pulled out her sewing machine but I make a big mess of things and put it back. If knew how I would make some new pillows for the couch using these fabrics:

Anyone else look at fabric and dream about what you could do?

Roasted Pork Loin

So I started this new thing of making food ahead of time and freezing them. Novel you know! This is huge for me. I usually won't eat leftovers. But making food ahead of time has saved me time and money. I can buy huge packages and cook it all at once. That leaves Tai food for the day and something easy for to cook. Like this pork loin with southwest seasoning. I made it last weekend, froze half and served this:
I served it with this Mushroom Risotto:

So easy to make. I've never attempted risotto on my own without a box. I'd love to try just haven't yet. Anyone got a good easy dairy free risotto recipe?

Relationship Meme

I borrowed this meme from AmyJean.

♥ What are your middle names? Maria and he doesn't have one.

♥ How long have you been together? We met 6/15/06

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? We met online and talked for week before we met.

♥ Who asked who out? I think I suggested we meet first.

♥ Whose siblings do you see the most? Neither. His live in CA, mine in TX.

♥ Do you have any children? Nope

♥ What about pets? Not yet
♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? finances
♥ Did you go to the same school? Nope
♥ Are you from the same home town? Nope, he's from CA, I'm from WA.

♥ Who is the smartest? Depends on the subject

♥ Who is the most sensitive? I think I am.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? No where right now. We go through our spurts where we like certain places.

♥ Who has the craziest ex? He does. Mine leave us alone. His sadly do not.

♥ Who has the worst temper? I do.

♥ Who does the cooking? I do. Tai doesn't cook very often.

♥ Who is more social? Depends on the situation. He would say me, but he makes friends so easy.

♥ Who is the neat-freak? Neither of us. We're both pretty messy.

♥ Who is the more stubborn? We both are pretty stubborn.
♥ Who hogs the bed? Whoever gets in first.

♥ Who wakes up earlier? He does.

♥ Where was your first date? Starbucks

♥ Who has the bigger family? He does.

♥ Do you get flowers often? Nope. I don't like flowers as much as balloons.

♥ How do you spend the holidays? Together. Sometimes with friends or my dad.

♥ Who is more jealous? I am.

♥ How long did it take to get serious? A month or so.

♥ Who eats more? I think we're equal on this.

♥ Who does/did the laundry? I do. He helps put it away.

♥ Who’s better with the computer? He is.

♥ Who drives when you are together? Now we can fight over that.

Currently....

wearing

I bought a couple of packs of these a while back. I mostly used them for facials and other face cleaning exercises. Now I use them all the time to keep my overgrown hair out of my face. I made an appointment to get my hair cut, but I'll probably still use them especially when I cook!

using
As a shower gift I received this set of bamboo spoons. I love to use wooden spoons when I cook. So much easier for me than plastic or metal.


loving
Also as a shower gift we received some satin sheets. I put them away and kind of forgot about them. But I found them right before Valentines Day and decided to put them on. So luxurious, but I do slid right off the bed as do the blankets and the pillows! I think they are fun but certainly not every day use.

Friday Truths

*If you want something specific, we do not have it in the house.
*What we do have is nothing you want.
*When finding the most perfect recipe, I will undoubtedly not have one key ingredient.
*When I buy that one key special ingredient I will never have another use for the vat of product I had to buy.
*Encore shows the same 6 movies on a loop all day.
*Movies with good trailers are rarely good movies.
*If I want to see a movie, it will be gone from the theater by the time I get there.
*The shirt I want to wear is always dirty.
*Tai runs out of socks despite me buying more. I think he hides them.

*If I go to the store to buy pants, I'll come home with shirts. The reverse works too.
*The yummy candy disappears before I have a chance to enjoy them.
*Fridays never come quickly enough. Sunday night is here before I know it.

Have a great weekend!

A New Favorite!

Last week I was reading some blogs and came across this Pasta Fagioli recipe. I saved it since it looked so yummy. We decided it to try over the weekend. So yummy.I followed the recipe pretty closely but I didn't have Great Northern beans so I used 3 cans of kidney (2 white and one red). And I didn't have diced tomatoes so I used crushed tomatoes. I didn't even mind the celery. It made a boatload of food though. Tai and I ate 2 plates full. He has a dish of it for tomorrow or later today and I froze half a gallon size bag of it for later. I will be making this again!

Weekly Geek #3

For this week's edition of Weekly Geeks, we're going to take a closer look at character names. What are some of your favorite character names? Go to Google or a baby name site like this one or this one, and look up a favorite character's name. What does their name mean? Do you think the meaning fits the character? Why or why not? If you'd like, look up your own name as well and share the meaning.

Bridget Jones from Bridget Jones' Diary: power, strength, vigor, virtue, exalted one.
Nope I don't think any of those words describe Bridget. She doesn't use her power (which she does have). She's weak most of the time, not strong. And I wouldn't say she's virtuous.

Jamima Jones from Jamima J: It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "dove". Biblical: eldest of the three daughters of Job (see also Keren and Kezia), renowned as the most beautiful women of their time.
I don't think Jamima as a dove. But I do think she is pure in her intents despite what she does to get there. But I definitely think she is a beautiful person which she learns towards the end of the book.

Scarlett from Gone With The Wind: It is of Old French origin, and its meaning is "red".
I definitely think of red when I think of Scarlett. That red dress that Rhett made her wear to Ashley's birthday party:But red to me is strong and bold. Two words I would definitely use to describe Scarlett.

Candace Shapiro from Good In Bed: It is of Ethiopian origin. Also possibly (Latin) "clarity; whiteness".
Candace is looking for clarity for most of the book. I don't think she embodies clarity though.

Linda:It is of Spanish origin, and its meaning is "pretty".
Tai would agree that I'm pretty. I don't often think so. Funny story. When I took Spanish in junior high, our teacher would write linda when someone did a good job on their paper. I would get everyone's paper since they thought she was saying it was mine.

Ever look up what your name means?

Library Loot #1

Hehehe. I found another online book group to join. This one highlights what books you picked up from the library this week.
So this is what Tai and I picked up tonight. Two books on hold:The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia and The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn. I've been wanting to read The Sharper Your Knife for a while. Leafing through it I see some great mouthwatering recipes. The Alchemy of Stone was recommended on someone's blog. I thought it sounded interesting for both me and Tai. Not often that happens.
Hopefully I'll have a chance to read both of these before they have to go back to the library. I'm in the middle of my book club book right now (The Friday Night Knitting Club). Must read that first!

Bar Hopping In Belltown

On Thursday I met Ashley and Marta to try a few restaurants in the Belltown neighborhood. We wanted to try 3 different places, each specialized in small plates. We thought it might be fun to try some new things.
First we hit Spur:
Spur was the reason we decided to try a few different places. Spur's menu wasn't varied and we thought it would be hard for us to make that our only stop. But we were surprised. The menu was on the short side but I wouldn't say their portions were tiny. I had the grilled cheese sandwich (a happy hour special) and the steamed clams. It was good. I would try it again.
But Ashley and I decided to see what else Belltown held. So we walked a block to Kushibar:I've been dying to try Kushibar for a while. I was intrigued by the Japanese street food idea. I was not disappointed. It was hard for me not to order everything. It all looked so good. But I decided on the Agedashi tofu, the salmon skewer, and the dragon ball (scallops wrapped in bacon). The skewers are all under $5. It's easy to buy a lot and therefore have a huge bill. But you could have a small snack or light meal for cheap. I can't wait to take Tai there. I think he'll love it.
The third stop was Umi. I didn't take a picture, sorry. Ashley had been raving about Umi's sushi for a while so we treked over. It was ok. I had the octopus and Copper River Salmon. The salmon was delicious but the octopus was cut too thick for my taste. I might try it again but I was really full from Kushibar.
I definitely think we'll try the bar hopping model again. It was a lot of fun trying a bunch of new places rather than just one. And the small plates were easy on my wallet.

Living Room Redo

Yesterday I decided to get to work on rearranging our living room. Jeff wasn't able to help me since he mysteriously hurt his shoulder. First I built our new bookshelf (Thank you, Marta!) and put it in its new place:
I was able to put all the books from our old bookshelves into this one. We'll still new another bookshelf to put all the new books we'll acquire. I swear we get new books all the time. Especially Tai. He comes home with boxes of books that he gets from friends. I'm glad I weeded out old books recently.
Then I got rid of our old rickety DVD rack and used one of the leftover bookshelves for our DVDs:It's much cleaner and tidier now. I still have some more improvements I want to make. I'm thinking about curtains for our sliding door. We don't use it so I think curtains will help create a 4th wall plus block out the neighbors and lower the heating bill (if we get those heavy duty ones). More on curtains later.
How was your weekend?

The Love List

In honor of Valentine's Day I thought I would share things I'm loving.

♥Snuggling with my husband
♥Flannel sheets
♥Coffee first thing in the morning
♥The deli I stop at every morning
♥Laughing with friends
♥ This hairstyle:

Found here. Think I can pull it off?

♥Chicken salad
♥Real Simple
♥My iPod
♥Facebook
♥Making my coworkers laugh
♥Finding cute new clothes
♥ Cookies

What's your love list?

A Special Meal

On Saturday Tai and I won't be at a restaurant. Partly the money thing but I dislike going out for the sake of going out. I rather go out when I want to. And Saturday, I just don't want to. So we'll have our special meal at home. And yes we have a regular menu for this special dinner.
This menu gets pulled out at birthdays, holidays and special occasions. It's hands down our favorite special occasion dinner at home.
First we start with aged steaks from Whole Foods:
Shamelessly stolen from here. We bought these once on a lark and fell in love with them. My mouth waters thinking about them.
Then bacon wrapped scallops:
So yummy. I love the combo of the scallops and the bacon. It's so salty and sweet at the same time.
And we'll wash the whole thing down with Tai's favorite lambic. So what's on your Valentine's Day menu?

Big Girls Can Wear Sexy Things Too

*Warning. This post contains lingerie. Might not be safe for work*
I think most of you know I have a thing for lingerie. I have 2 entire drawers devoted to bras and panties. I love buying pretty undies. I don't really buy pretty nightgowns or lingerie. Tai's certainly doesn't buy them for me. I don't think he pays much attention to what I wear. But Valentine's Day is on it's way and marketing tells me to buy pretty underthings. I can't resist marketing!

Lingerie - by honeylin on Polyvore.com
I focused on plus sizes cause I am a plus size. Just cause you're a plus size doesn't mean you can't buy something lacy and skimpy!
Planning on buying anything skimpy for Valentines?

Weekly Geek #2

Judge a Book By Its Cover!

This week it's all about judging books by their covers! Pick a book--any book, really--and search out multiple book cover images for that book. They could span a decade or two (or more)...Or they could span several countries. Which cover is your favorite? Which one is your least favorite? Which one best 'captures' what the book is about?
For this WG, I went with one of my favorite love stories-The House of Mirth by Edith Warton. Tragic. Sad. Wonderful. I read it periodically.
I think this one is my favorite:
I hope her dress and the pinkish hue of the cover! I also think it's a good representation of Lily.
My least favorite is this one:This one reminds me of the ones I used to buy for a couple of dollars. Great literature on the cheap. But what a boring cover. Who wants to read this?
Are there are novels that you read over and over again?

Kris' Shower

Over the weekend we celebrated Kris' upcoming wedding with a little shower. We started by going to the Stone House Cafe. The food was delicious and the staff was sweet. Kris had the pork tenderloin:Janet and I had the crab and aspargus pasta. Very yummy!The chicken dish was popular.
Here's all the girls.
Two of Kris' friends flew in especially for the event!
Then we headed to Jen's house to continue the party. Since Kris is planning a destination wedding, she was sad that she wasn't getting a cake tasting. She'll taste her cake for the first time on her wedding day. We asked everyone to bring a cake so she could have her own cake tasting!
Janet made cupcakes with M&Ms:Sharon's friend made this poker chip cake in honor of Vegas (where Kris and Tony are tying the knot):Jen bought this yummy chocolate cake from Whole Foods. Love the meringue heart!:I choose this flourless chocolate cake:
And this chocolate ganache cake from Trader Joes:And Leslie and Naina brought this cake that Kris tried at the wedding show and loved. It's a champange cake with champange filling. So yummy!
And here's the bachelorette with Michelle showing off her new clutch that Michelle bought her:I'm so excited that her wedding is almost here! We had a great time celebrating! I'm looking forward to celebrating with her in a few weeks!

Currently....

needing

Sweaters - by honeylin on Polyvore.com
I went though my sweaters the other day. I now have 4 sweaters I can wear to work. Not going to cut it. It's always cold in our office, so I need more. I feel a shopping trip coming.


eating
Tai bought these yummy candies from Costco the other day. The best damn candy in the world. I highly recommend them!


usingI bought this for Tai but it's really for me. Giving him massages can be hard on my hands but not with this little octopus! Makes massage time so much easier!

Street Music

Every night on my way to the bus, I pass various street musicians. But my favorite is the elderly Asian gentleman who plays the shamisen. I love the hauntingly beautiful music it plays. I wish I could stay and listen longer but I usually can only listen for the minute or so it takes me to walk through.
So for your Friday afternoon listening pleasure:

This isn't the gentleman who I see daily. But gives you an idea of the music I enjoy.

Flickr Meme

I've seen this meme everywhere. I was bored and decided to do it.

1. My Daughter ^.^ !, 2. great sushi lunch!, 3. Turquoise pearl, 4. When Waves Collide, 5. Bones, 6. Something about superhero's, Muppets™, whiskey, stuffed animals and pink slippers (062/365), 7. Sunset Cruise, 8. hamburger cake, 9. Day 106 - I am a librarian, 10. Tai expresses his opinion!!, 11. Loyal, 12. BrainWash And Set

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Linda (This is was the first one that wasn't some teenager)
2. What is your favorite food? Sushi
3. What high school did you go to? Forest Ridge and no that is not a picture of my high school
4. What is your favorite color? Blue ( I just picked one)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? David Boreanz
6. Favorite drink? Whiskey
7. Dream vacation? Cruise
8. Favorite dessert? Cake (I love how it's a hamburger. I love hamburgers too!)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? writer but the librarian is my current wish.
10. What do you love most in life? Tai (and I choose the sassiest one)
11. One Word to describe you? Loyal
12. Your flickr name? omitted.

Weekly Geek #1

I found this weekly challenge through someone else's blog (ack I forgot who), but it sounded fun. I especially like the name. So here goes my first attempt.
**************
This week's Weekly Geek is inspired by Dewey's Knit-a-Long, a mini challenge of Dewey's Reading Challenge. Dewey had other passions besides reading and blogging. Knitting was one of them. This made me think, what are the Weekly Geek's other passions?

#1. What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging? For example, are you crafty (knitting, woodworking, scrapbooking, model building)? Do you cook? Into gaming (computer or board)? Sports (player or spectator)? Photography? Maybe you like geocaching, rock climbing? Or love attending events like renaissance fairs, concerts? Music? Dancing? You get the idea.

I love cooking. I get passionate about local food and making fantastic meals. Sometimes they only look good in my head.

I love music and I love to dance. I used to take dance classes when I was younger. I'm not a musical individual. I can't play an instrument but I do love it when other people can. I'm starting to support local musicians more with the help of my friends. And looking forward to going to more local music events.

#2. Get us involved. Link to tutorials, recipes, Youtube videos, websites, fan sites, etc, anything that will help us learn more about your interest or how to do your hobby. Maybe you'd like to link to another hobbyist whose work you admire or tell us about a book or magazine related to your interest.

My passion for local food was started by the 100 mile diet. Then I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and re-realized my passion.

As for music and dancing. My friends go to a local bar to hear local musicians jam weekly. It's amazing how a few folks that maybe don't know each other can play some amazing music. I'd definitely like to go more often. And yes you can dance there too.

Going out and dancing used to be something I did all the time pre-Tai. Now, I just don't. I think the old bars aren't my scene anymore. I'm looking for some new places I can boogie at.

#3. Visit other Weekly Geeks. Link in your post to other Geeks who've peaked your interest in their passion. Or maybe you might find a fellow afincionado among us, link to them.

I'll be adding It's Dark In the Dark's blog to my Google reader. I think I'll get some book recs for Tai out of that. But I love the paper crafting. So detailed.

And Becky who loves Sintra and Dean Martin. Ah, It was great to listen to some of those great songs.

Monniblog makes these beautiful earrings.

Robin at a Fondness for Reading also likes music. One of her favorite albums is Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon, an album Tai just got me to listen to.

I'm glad I found this group. I think I'll be sticking around.

Blockbuster vs Netflix

Before I met Tai I had Netflix I enjoyed the convenience of Netflix. I could choose movies online and they'd appear at my house. I'd keep them as long as I liked and when I returned them a new movie would come in its place. It was a lovely system.
In those first few months of dating Tai I put my movies on a shelf and kind of forgot about them. Then one day Tai said, let's go rent a movie. I explained to him the lovely convenience of Netflix and showed him the 3 movies that had been collecting dust for the past few months. He looked at them and said "I don't want to watch these. Let's go to the video rental place."
Now, I'm sure you've experienced the horror of wandering through a video rental place with another person. Let's be honest it doesn't matter if it's your boyfriend or your friend it's not always easy to decided on a movie. Well Tai and I did this a few times. It was a hit or miss solution. Often we couldn't decide on something or they didn't have what we wanted.
Tai couldn't get into the Netflix experience. Choosing movies online seemed odd to him. He did used to work in a video store so some habits die hard.
Around this time Blockbuster announced their online movie deal. It was similar to Netflix but you could rent movies in the store as well. This was the perfect solution to our problem. We switched to Blockbuster. We get 3 movies from our online queue and return them at the store for 3 movies there at no additional cost. It really works well for us. I couldn't be happier with Blockbuster. Plus it's totally convienent since there is a Blockbuster down the street from our place.
So we still go to the store which Tai enjoys. He likes to interact with the staff and see how our choices rate. And there is less wandering around now. We know movies we want to see since we know what's in our queue. Plus there seems to be more movies to choose from now. Probably because more people are using the online options.
What about you? How do you get your movie fix?

Rolling Duffle

Meeting Tai brought a lot of wonderful things into my life. One was his rolling duffle bag. I had the standard suitcases before I met him. But all he had was duffle bags and one that rolled. We've taken them on our two previous trips and used them for our wedding night at the campground. Our next trip is next month (Vegas baby!) and I think we need another rolling duffle bag.

rolling duffle - by honeylin on Polyvore.com
I'm determined to carry on our luggage. Do you think I can do this? Anyone have any good tips on not getting taffata wrinkled? I'll be on the look out for a new duffle. I'm sure it will be featured on our trip recaps :)