Inspired By Real Simple

In the latest issue of Real Simple, I saved the Chicken Cutlets With Smashed Potatoes and Peas.But I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I added Old Bay to the flour to give it a little kick. I didn't let the potatoes cook long enough so they weren't smashed. I also discovered I need a potato masher. I'll definitely make this again once I get a potato masher.

Weekly Geek #10

This week you are asked to share books (fiction or nonfiction) and/or movies which center around an animal or animals.

• Which are your favorites?
• Which touched your heart the most?
• Which have found their way onto your wish lists or TBR stacks?
• Is there a childhood favorite?
• Have you ever named a pet after an animal from a book or movie?

You get the idea! Have fun with this; use your imagination. Share your thoughts!

As an adjunct to this post, consider sharing photos of animals (domestic or wild) which have inspired or thrilled you, or graced your life with their presence.

When I think about animal books my favorite is Charlotte's Web. I was so in love all the characters of that book. I think I read it a thousand times.
There aren't any books about animals in my current stack. And I'm hard pressed to think about a recent character that has a beloved pet. The only one that comes to mind right now is Samantha from I Am Legend. She sticks in my mind. She was one awesome dog.
My first dog was Lady from Lady and the Tramp. Mom always said she was quite the lady. My brother had a dog named Cujo.
Recently I've been taking pictures of our friend's pets. Tai and I don't have enough room for a dog right now, so we love our friend's pets.
Jeff recently got this little Maltese, Toby. He's just a little sweetie. I took this the other day we went to the dog park.Carlo brought Stella over the other day so ignore all the mess. I couldn't get Stella to move to get a better picture. Every time I moved she moved. I love Stellie. She's such a good dog.And here we are with Simon (Jill and Jamie's dog), the greatest dog ever. Simon recently passed on. We were blessed to know such a wonderful spirit.
I look forward to getting our own little pup, but right now I enjoy spending time with these.

Library Loot #10

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Alessandra and Eva that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
Last week I was a cheerleader for those doing Dewey's Read-A-Thon. That really helped me add to my to tbr.
I read about Stone Gods on Blog Goggles last week and thought it sounded fascinating.
Omnivoracious recommended Fear Agent but our library didn't have it so I went with The Man With The Screaming Brain which was written by the same guy.
I have a confession. I love the Jessica Darling series. I have a crush on Marcus Flutie! I can't wait to see how the series ends.
Jenn of Jenn's Bookshelf read the Wicked Lovely series during the read-a-thon. It sounded like a great series. I'm really looking forward to it.
I'm not sure where I heard about Black Heart Billy. But I'm sure Tai will like it.
I loved Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, the movie. I'm excited to read the book.
I also discovered Christina's blog, Stacked, during the read-a-thon. She was reading Elegance which sounded wonderful.
I read Waltz with Bashir this week. It was incredibly good. Great graphic novel with an interesting story. I need I learn more about what happened in Beriut.
I also finished Alchemy of Stone which I learned about on Urban Bachelorette. It's not something I usually read. In fact I thought it was more up Tai's alley than mine. But I really liked it.
My tbr pile is huge. I'm having to take books back without reading them which disappoints me. I'll be slowing down on getting books for a few weeks to catch up on my stack.
What did you get this week?

Girls Night in Wallingford

I met Janet, Jennifer, and Kris for a fun evening out in Wallingford. First we had sushi at Kozue. I can't wait to take Tai there. The food was really good.
We had planned to wander Wallingford and try the treats they had to offer. We put quite a few dollars into Wallingford's economy. First up was Trophy's cupcakes.
See those 2 pink cupcakes on the left hand side? I wanted a snowball. Janet and Kris beat me to it. But Kris was kind enough to share hers. I bought a triple chocolate and 3 chocolate vanilla cupcakes. Tai really liked the triple chocolate.
Janet got the snowball, lemon, carrot cake and cafe au lait. Doesn't the snowball look yummy? It was. Better than Hostess!
Next stop Chocolati for chocolates!
We had a lot of fun looking over the truffles and deciding what to get. We got some samples too.
Then we stood in line for Molly Moon's ice cream. The line was out the store and down the street. I think we waited for 1/2 hour or so.
For this. A 2 scoop cone with chocolate and ginger ice cream. So yummy and totally worth the wait. I also bought pints of salted carmel and honey lavender.
This is going to be our new thing for a while. Each month we're going to explore the food options in different neighborhoods. It sounds like so much fun.

Yummy Food At Barrio

There are going to be a lot of food posts this week! I've had some good food lately.
Last week I met Marta and Ashley for dinner at Barrio. I'm so glad Marta suggested this place. I wouldn't have tried it if she hadn't suggested it.
I did a little research before going and found out their sangria was delish. So of course we ordered a pitcher.All the appetizers and tacos looked so good that we decided that we would order stuff to share rather than each having an entree. The Ceviche of Halibut was light and refreshing. It was amazing!The Masa Cakes were totally different than I expected but yummy nevertheless. The hot sauce on the side really made it so much better. We easily could have eaten 2 plates of them.
Here's our half eaten order of mussels. They are steamed with chorizo and habanero peppers, so it was a little spicy but so yummy. Ashley went with the duck confit tacos and the smoky pork taco. She mentioned that duck was a little dry and she wished she'd gotten 2 of the pork tacos.Marta went with the beef taco and a chicken taco. She enjoyed both of them.
I got the pork tenderloin taco which was amazing. I could easily eaten 2!
And here's the chocolate cake. I really liked it. It was dense and had a little bit of spice to it. It was a great Mexican chocolate cake.
Overall I recommend Barrio. I would love to go back and try some of the other ceviches.

Japanese Cultural Festival

Over the weekend, Tai and I went to the Japanese Cultural Festival at the Seattle Center. We weren't sure what to expect especially since I couldn't find a lot of information about it. But this is what we saw.
First there was some dancing:These dancing grandmas came out and did a line dance to That's The Way I Like It. Tai and I were laughing. Not exactly what we expected at a Japanese Cultural Festival.Then this beautiful girl came out and did a beautiful dance. I loved her kimono!
The dancing grandmas came back out for a more traditional dance. They were great.
They also had a Ikebana display:Really beautiful flowers. I really enjoyed that display.
We also saw Judo and Karate demonstrations. Tai did both in the past and he was impressed with both presentations. He's considering joining the dojo that did the Judo presentation.
All in all we had a good time. It was a great day. I think I'll put it on the calendar for next year.

Library Loot #9

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Alessandra and Eva that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!I spotted The Ten-Cent Plague on the shelf at the library and thought Tai and I both might be interested seeing we like comic books. I was very excited to see A Reliable Wife on the shelf. I had it on hold but I was towards the end of a very long queue. I first saw A Reliable Wife mention on Omnivoracious but Staci got this one last week. Dying Inside is for Tai. It was recommended on Omnivoracious. I've been waiting for A Homemade Life since Molly first mentioned it on her blog, Orangette. I love her blog. It's not just about recipes. It's about food and life.
I finished Handle With Care. Jodi Picoult was one of those writers I would read no question. Sadly this will be the last one of her books I'll read. Too formulatic, Jodi. She's gotten so comfortable with this pattern that it's not gripping. I remember My Sister's Keeper. It was page turner. I connected to the characters. This time, eh, I could care less. I know the path and I'm not enjoying the journey. Sorry Jodi, you used the same formula one time too many.
I also read Saving Juliet this week. It was cute YA. I found myself excited to read see how Mimi's story ended. I enjoyed it. Lighthearted and a satifying and predictable ending.

Getting Green

In honor of Earth day, I thought I'd update you all on my ongoing journey on becoming more green.
1. I use too many paper towels. To help, I bought dish towels for the kitchen:From Ikea. I have 8 of them now. I don't have a good place to put them. Right now they are stacked next to the paper towels. I have one on the counter and 2 on the stove handle. I wish I had more room for a cute basket. Hopefully these towels will cut down my consumption of paper towels but I don't think I cut out paper towels all together.
2. I stopped buying bottled water all together. Since I have my water bottle for work, I don't need to. Tai and I talked about options for home. He's terrible about drinking water, but we bought a huge pitcher for the fridge and he happily drinks from that all day.
3. Trying to buy more enviromental friendly cleaning products. I bought a few different kinds of liquid dish soap. Tai's not really happy with them as much as he was with the non-green option. Still more work to be done there. My friend, Michelle, introduced me to Melaluca. I've been using their cleaner and I'm very happy. I'm working on transitioning to more of their products.
4. Trying to have more meat free meals. Tai and I like tofu but we differ on how we like it. I'm still looking for a good recipe that we both like (ie not a stir fry). I have made a couple of soups with tofu and I think I'll continue to. At least try to do it once a week. Build from there.
So what about you? Are you getting greener or are you as green as it gets?

Spring Time Warmth

It was nice over the weekend. I went to grab a jacket and realized that my winter coat was too heavy. I didn't want to wear my jean jacket so I looked for a cardigan. I think I need some more light jackets.

Untitled by honeylin featuring Old Navy coats

I'll be on the look out for cute little jackets like these.

Beef Yakisoba

I bought some yakisoba noodles in the hopes of making some yakisoba. I've never tried but I figured I could try it.I found this recipe and luckily I had all the ingredients. I had left over beef from sukiyaki (yeah I made it again), so I made beef yakisoba. I need to play with the sauce ratio. Just a little salty so I'll up the sugar next time.

Currently....

readingI really enjoyed Revolutionary Road. I understood Jack and April's feelings and by the end of the book felt that I had become friends with them. I was sad to finish the book. I liked how the book made me think about my own life. Was I happy? What had I given up? Yates' writing style was incredible and really got under my skin in a good way. Highly recommended. Hello My Name is Alice also wrote a review-watch out though, some minor spoilers. Melody's Reading Corner did a review as well.

using
I bought this before we left for Vegas. It really works. I get dry skin patches in the winter but not with this. Totally combats dry skin!

watching

We love Nathan Filion so I knew we'd be watching this show. We love this show. We love the back and forth between Castle and Beckett. I hope this show sticks around.

A Delicate Issue

Some of the pics in this post may not be SFW. You were warning.
As a child I used to look at movie stars and dream what I'd look like when I grew up. In the 80's Farah Fawcett was all the rage. Or at least in my house. I think my dad thought she was attractive or my mom thought he thought that.But I always wondered why Farah's boobs were so far down her chest. I think I even asked my mom. I don't remember her answer but it was probably something to do with Farah's frame or her utter lack of boobage in this picture. Then we had Liz Taylor with her boobs under her chin. My mom thought Liz was a pretty classy lady so I hoped my boobs would be under my chin when I grew up. BTW, my mom was never without her bra so I think we both had the same fear:
Saggy boobs! I've definately noticed a downward trend lately. I'm really scared of the sag!
My friend Janet isn't going to let me run around with saggy boobs. She took me a few years ago to get measured and reminds to get measured again and again. She disapproves of my Target bras but at least they are the right size.
But there are other women out there obviously without a Janet. I saw a woman a few weeks ago, her arm was in a cast so I figure that's why her DD's were flopping around without a bra. I could totally tell through her shirt! So if you don't have a Janet consider this your warning. Get measured, lady. It'll take 10lbs off your frame and make you feel a whole lot better. And while you're at it, take a friend with you. Then hang out at the mall and make fun of people who are sagging and flopping around ;)

Give Me Some More Room

Ever since we got back from Vegas it's been obvious that our bed is too small. Every night one of awakes up dangling off the side of the bed. Despite the fact that we'll give up valuable floor space I think it's time we start looking for a king size bed.

I really like the look of a metal bed frame. It's what we have now. But there is something about this one, that makes me think it might be time for a change.I just love how cozy it looks. All our blankets are blue and purple so I'm not sure it would look good with the white wood. Plus all our other furniture is light colored wood. Perhaps this white wood bed is for when we can buy an entire bedroom set.
All pictures from Overstock.com

Library Loot #8

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Alessandra and Eva that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
A small haul this week. All the Walking Dead graphic novels are for Tai. He read the first 4 and he really enjoyed them. And The Sharper Your Knife The Less You Cry is for me. I got it once before but never got to read it then. It looks good so I hope I can read it this time.
What did you get this week?

Eggplant Fries

Ashley, Marta and I all like the eggplant fries at Poppy. We order 2 plates when we go. They are delicious. So when I saw this recipe on Hungry Mouse I knew I had to try it. I followed her recipe exactly and they came out delicious. Tai liked them too. I wanted to serve them with honey and sea salt just like Poppy but I couldn't find the honey. But they were yummy all the same. I'll make these again.

Jennifer's Easter Soup

On Saturday Jennifer invited us over for Easter dinner. I immediately said yes since she mentioned she was making her Easter Soup. The last time I had this soup was 4 years ago when she last made. I've been salivating for it ever since.I begged her to let me share her recipe on here and she agreed. So here is Jennifer's Easter soup:

Easter Soup
A Polish Tradition

3 double lengths smoked, Polish Kielbasa (Hillshire Farms)
3 -8 oz tubs of sour cream
2 tbsp flour to thicken
Horseradish root
Boiled Easter eggs

Cover the Polish sausage with water. Cook to boil then lower temperature. Cook on stove for 45-60 minutes. Wrap sausage in foil. Boil water down to about ½. In a separate pan, whisk together on medium heat 2 of the 8 oz sour creams, 2 raw eggs, and 2 tbsp flour. Continue to cook and stir until it starts to brown. Slowly, ladle sausage water into sour cream mix, continuing to beat and mix. Then pour this sour cream mix into the rest of the sausage water. When it starts to boil, mix and lower the heat. Simmer and taste. If not tart enough, add vinegar or salt. If not thick enough, add more sour cream and flour together. Don’t cover.

Serve by cutting sausage into a bowl with boiled and chopped egg. Cover with soup and add shaved horseradish and pepper to taste. Recently, a friend tried the soup with some fresh spinach leaves and loved it- a nice new twist on a delicious tradition.

Thank you Jennifer for letting me share this tradition with everyone. And thank you sharing this tradition with me.

Fashion Meme

I stole this from someone else. Thought it looked like fun.

Name an item of clothing that has been with you the longest:
I have tons of tshirts from high school that I wear as night shirts now. Plus I have two flannel shirts from my grunge days. I can't seem to let them go.

What’s an article of clothing that you can’t live without (BESIDES jeans, people)?
My jacket. Plus all my shoes.

Describe your perfect winter & summer footwear:
I wear my chucks all year long.

What’s a good, ethical clothing brand you’d recommend?
Ethical? As far as I know, American Apparel is as good as it gets. Or some etsy sellers.

And what’s a brand you wouldn’t recommend?
Nothing I would recommend. If you like it buy it.

What’s the ugliest trend of all time?
Lots of trends just escape my attention these days.

And the prettiest?
Being yourself and expressing your own style.

What colors predominate in your wardrobe?
Sadly too much black. I'm trying to break away from black.

What are your vintage shopping strategies (if you have them)?
I don't buy vintage cause it's rare to find something that fits me.

What’s the most insane piece of clothing that you have ever owned?
I had a pleather blue coat that I loved in college. And a black demin coat too. Both are so ugh I can't believe I loved them then.

If you could describe the majority of the clothes you own in one word, what would it be?
One word? Boring. It's spring and I want pretty light things now.

Lemon Chicken

I saw this packet at Uwjamaya the other day.Lemon chicken sounded yummy. I didn't feel like making it from scratch so I tried this packet. Good flavor, but you need 2 packets for it to be saucy.
Over rice with peppers, mushrooms, and baby corn, it was yummy.
I'm in the mood for stir frys so I think you'll be seeing more of them.

Library Loot #7

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Alessandra and Eva that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
Stuck in the Middle and Walking Dead were recommended from Staci. I guess Tai'd already read Walking Dead. I think I might have gotten Stuck in the Middle before but I don't think I read it. I read about Post Office Girl on Bookgirl's nightstand. Her review made me want to read the book. I'm pretty excited to read it. Urban Bachelorette recommended the Suicide Collectors. Her review was so interesting I had to put it in the queue. I've been waiting for Lark & Termite for a while now. I first read about it on Omnivoracious back in January.
What about you? Get anything good this week?