Tortilla Espanola

disclaimer: I don't know how to insert a tilda over the n, so you'll just have to forgive me. Thank you.

Despite having a cold, I've been into cooking this weekend. Usually, I try to focus on one main meal for the weekend's cooking accomplishments, but somehow I've managed to be adventurous in between the sniffles and coughs and hazy fevers. I especially like it when my head spins because I bent down to get another pan from the cabinet.

I got a new cookbook for Christmas, Barefoot Contessa/Back to Basics. I flipped through it and I immediately knew I had to make Tuscan Lemon Chicken this weekend. It was SO good, and it came out looking just like the picture. I served the oven roasted vegetables from the book also. A nice lady at the Wegman's butcher counter wished me luck with the recipe, so maybe that's why it came out so well. I digress.

So, this morning, when the cold really got into full swing, I was clicking around the internet while I had my coffee, and I saw this recipe for a Spanish tortilla. I've always wanted to try this out, and I think when I've tried to make it before, I just ended up making potatoes O'Brien or home fries and scrambled eggs because I already knew how to do that. This time, I resisted the urge, and stuck to the recipe. It was so yummy. The potatoes were perfectly done and creamy, and flipping the tortilla was easier than I thought it would be. I served it on my cake platter. I think that next time I'll add something green, like thin pieces of asparagus. I didn't have any leftover from the oven roasted vegetables, though. Oh, and instead of the Spanish paprika, (because who has that?) I just used a little cayenne for color and a little spice.

I'm so glad I tried new recipes this weekend! Now, a hot shower and more Tylenol.

*Photos taken by my new iPhone!!!! Also a Christmas present: my cold, from le nephew. Thanks, E.

I don't like it when ...

* ... people don't pronounce H's at the beginning of words. "Yooston" instead of "Houston". "Yuge" instead of "Huge". You get it. I think it's the people from the midwest who do this. * ... news anchor people are perky before I've had my coffee. I have my coffee at 6:20ish a.m. Is it so hard to just postpone the perkiness for an hour? Come on, people. * ... people don't fill out the address forwarding card when they move so the post office will have permission to redirect the mail that's sent to their old address, aka, my current address. Ms. Benescoma, I'm talking to you. Ditto, Mr. Iverson. I can't even do anything about it. I've written "return to sender", "not at this address", etc. I keep getting their mail. Don't they notice they aren't getting any bank statements?! * ... I wake up an hour before my alarm will go off and can't fall back asleep until ten minutes before the alarm does finally go off. This is why I couldn't stop yawning this afternoon at work. It was that kind of sleepy where your head wobbles and you startle yourself when you realize you're supposed to have control of your head.

Merry Christmas - here's an old shirt

OMG. From the archives of "HOW DID THIS GET PUBLISHED?" comes this article from the Houston Chronicle. It can't be a coincidence that I read this article on the same day that I read "It's Official - we've been in a recession since last December".

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/features/6141573.html

Headline = Holiday Hint: Get Creative with wrapping paper

Here's the cut-and-paste version of the article:

In these days when every penny counts, don’t waste your money on wrapping paper. There are multiple ways to wrap presents, many of which can be achieved with stuff lying around your house. Save money, think green and surprise your family and friends with gifts wrapped in one of these five alternatives: 1.A tea towel, old or new. 2.Newspaper, or any printed paper, including old maps, pages from atlases or colorful magazine pages. 3.Layers of tissue paper with leaves tucked between them. 4.Vintage fabric. 5.An old shirt. Cut the back off, wrap the shirt front around the gift and secure the sleeves on top with string.

The lowlights:

1. The tea towel, (gag), is open to being either old or new. Old or new?!

2. Tissue paper with leaves tucked inside? I don't even get it. Why do we need to go outside and pick up dirty old leaves? The tissue paper is the only suggestion that makes sense. Why ruin it with leaves?!

3. She wants me to do what with the sleeves of an old shirt? From vintage fabric (which only a chic person would have lying around their house, so I'm trusting that this option at least has potential) to tying an old shirt around a box, and then on top of that, to not even TRY to disguise that it's an old shirt, but to openly flaunt the shirtyness of it by tying the SLEEVES on top of the box?!

I expected to read an article about how to create interesting patterns with wrapping paper, or how to make your own bows instead of buying the cheap ones with the peel-off backs. Instead, I received advice on how to make my loved ones' gifts look like:

Sam doesn't even want to be near it. Even HE can tell there is something wrong with this picture.

Moon + Venus + Jupiter

This morning, the weatherman on the news told me that we would be able to see Venus and Jupiter very near the crescent moon this evening. I didn't think much of it since I usually forget about those things by the time you actually get to see them (it doesn't help that these things seem to happen in the wee hours of the morning). Tonight, however, I lucked out! While I was driving home, there they were, in the night sky. Here is an artist's digital rendering of the sight:

The moon is the closest to us, naturally, at only 252,000 miles away. While flying home for Thanksgiving, the Captain announced that we had reached our cruising altitude of 37,000 feet. That's only a measly 7 miles.

If we got to the moon, and looked back at Earth, the Earth would appear to us about 3.7 times bigger than the moon looks to us from Earth. That would be a BIG "moon".

Venus is 94 million miles away, and Jupiter is 540 million miles away. The next time that the crescent moon, Venus, and Jupiter will be as close and visible as they were tonight will be November 18, 2052! I'll be 72. Here's hoping someone wheels me outside to see this again.

I want an iPhone!

Since the iPhone was released (the first one), I've been ignoring it. Yes, it's beautiful. Yes, it's awesome. "Blah, blah" was my reaction.

I guess I finally drank the iKool-Aid, because I HAVE GOT TO HAVE ONE. It happened all of a sudden, just like a switch was turned on, or maybe someone wiped the windshield clear so I could see. I need it.

I've been Googling and staring at eBay for days. I don't trust the hackers on eBay promising me that the iPhones they have for $700+ are unlocked and ready for any GSM carrier. (Why do they have a no-return policy then? What if you can't find good service?!) Congress is trying to work something out, or they were trying before the economy popped.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9879554-7.html

Can't we all just shut up and sell SIM cards, which will either be tied to contracts or a pay-as-you-go service, and then have universally compatible handsets for sale separately? Then, I could walk myself to the mall next door, march straight into the Apple store and skip out with an iPhone for mois. Is that so difficult? Who would deny me such cell phone happiness? What have I ever done to the world?

Make it happen, people!

Somebody better make it happen soon, because my frustration over being in cell phone contract jail until February 16, 2010 is going to give me gray hairs.

Laughter can be dreadful

Remember the song in Mary Poppins about laughing? I can't figure out how to post this video, so here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx7lz5X2vKk I know a person with many annoying laughs. Let's call her Jane. Jane sometimes hisses like a snake. ssssssssssssssssssssss Other times, Jane wheezes like she's going to have a heart attack. Which gives me a heart attack, because I naturally assume I'm about to see someone clutch their chest and fall over. Frightening. She will even cackle on occasion. I don't think I've ever cackled. What can come over a person to make them cackle? I don't understand that emotion. Why is laughter, a positive thing, sometimes so annoying?!

To launder or to pack?

I realized just a few minutes ago that I would actually rather pack than do laundry. Packing is awful! Why would anyone in their right mind rather pack up all of their belongings three whole weeks before they're moving than do a load or two of whites? I'll show you why.

Here is the UGLY laundry room I have:

All of that mess on the wall is because there was a leak last month and the maintenance peeps said they would let it dry out and make sure there was no more leaky ... wall or whatever ... and then they'd come spackle and paint. (I'm not sure if spackle is the correct term here; I just like to say "spackle".) You can see the wall for yourself, so there's the end of that story.

Here is the inside of my washer:

As you can see, only about two towels and maybe a sock will fit in there. Then, during the spin cycle, the lid will bounce up and down and the entire tower of washer/dryer machinery will dance about. I feel sorry for my neighbors. I never hear their machines boogying. I want this:

What girl doesn't deserve this glossy duo from Samsung? That's laundry heaven, right there. I'll take the laundry room, too. Thanks.