moules a la mariniere

this week in megan's cooking class, we're discovering the humble rutabaga. ina garten says she loves it, so we're trying her mashed yellow turnips with crispy shallots recipe. fun fact: rutabagas are just giant turnips. a turnip is the size of a tennis ball while a rutabaga is anywhere from the size of a cantaloupe to a soccer ball. 

..just ignore that sushi in the corner. 

i also made my go-to smitten kitchen moules a la mariniere because it is so easy and tasty. ina tip: soak the mussels in cold water with a handful of flour so they take in the flour and push out any sand they have in their tummies. 

anyway back to the rutabaga. it comes dipped in wax.. presumably to make it last longer in the grocery store since i imagine they don't fly off the shelves. that being said though, they should fly off the shelves. the recipe was very yummy. i made it with 2% instead of whole milk, and it was still really good. 

in the great clean out of 2010, i convinced minky to get rid of our broken food processor. little did i know, ina uses it religiously. but we have an immersion blender, a regular blender and a mini chopper, and between the three, there's not a lot i can't do. and a mandolin. anyway tonight i mashed it with a fork and then used an immersion blender, and it was so easy and quick. 

i can't really think of anything else that tastes quite like it. it's earthy the same way that swiss chard tastes earthier than spinach. it's like it has more of an obvious dirt taste. and it's a little bit sweet.

the only thing that was a little laughable was how long the silly shallots took to get brown. she says to cook them in oil and butter for 30 to 40 minutes. i cooked them at least that long, and they only began to turn golden. in the picture in the cook book, they're really dark brown.. but i was not willing to wait any longer. 

all in all, a really good meal that met my desire for something a little bit complicated but mostly just easy and tasty on a winter night. 

i'm watching oklahoma and i haven't been able to stop singing. OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MOOOORNING. :)

polka dots, checks and stripes

note to self: wait until you're finished chewing whatever's in your mouth before hitting the 'take picture' button.. but! i'm not wearing stripes today! like everyone else in the world, i got swept up in the stripes phenomenon for the last 6 months. 

but polka dots are a fun change. i can't wait for spring colors to come out. i could really go for some spring florals.

while we're talking about shopping.. have you heard of modcloth? it's all supposed to be kind of retro/vintage looking.. and i guess it is.. but it's also just very affordable. i've been keeping an eye on the shoe section. even regularly priced shoes are really reasonable between $25ish and $60 or so for the most part.

and do you own/know someone who owns tieks? i'm waiting to hear about a job.. but when i get it, i think i need a pair.

the only thing i wonder about is whether or not you can see the outline of your toes through them since theyre just leather.. but i searched high and low on the internet and no one mentions that at all.

everyone does mention how ridiculously comfortable they are. and they fold in half should you need to store them in your purse. the idea is that you change into them after a day/night in heels.. but since i'm a 100% flats girl, i just like the idea of comfy shoes. and a reminder of how long i've been extremely frugal while working non-salaried jobs.

christmas '11

christmas at our house was nice and low key. jeff woke up before me for the first time since we were 6 and 9 or something. usually i'm the one running around the house like a crazy person. i think we waited until 11 to open presents. 

ina's roast beef recipe.

matt slept the entire day away, just like christmas '09.

gram made me a new quilt to match my chair!

meeeerrrry christmas everyone.

stephanopopolus

so i'm usually on top of things like this. but i didn't get nirav and becca a wedding present. i told myself i had a whole year after their wedding. and did i buy anything? no. when i went to china in october, i thought i'd find something. but did i want to lug around some tacky trinket? no. 

so then when i was in dc for abha's wedding in august, becca handed me these two shopping bags full of stuff from her wedding and asked me to make a scrapbook for a wedding present. so that's what i spent this beginning of the week doing. 

i loooove to scrapbook. and the coolest part was that the first day i was thinking oh man i really need some prints to fill it out because there isn't that much stuff in here to make a whole book out of.. but then something in the back of my mind remembered that i had already done that in october when shutterfly had a 50 free prints sale and all you pay is shipping.

so sure enough, i look in the bag and there's a package of pictures just waiting.

it turned out pretty cute. i didn't take any pictures of the finished product, but it's a good representation of the week.

matt and jeff are here and we were suppooosed to be trimming the tree.. but since we haven't seen each other since thanksgiving, we've just been chatting. lots of funny stories. jeff wears skinny jeans. matt has no blankets in his house. we decided the tree looks pretty enough without ornaments with just white lights. 

time for bed. 

thursday

today was kind of interesting in yoga. before class, we go around and say our name and how the body is feeling, and this man in the middle of the room said it was his first hatha flow class, and that he had been looking forward to it for a whole year after taking lots of regular hatha and beginners classes. so we all laughed and were happy for him.

so then at about the 1/4 way point through class, he really started huffing and puffing hard.. and since he was in the center of the room, we were all really aware of it. sweat was dripping off the end of his nose, his chest was heaving, you could hear the shake in his voice as he chanted OMMMMMM during poses.

so at the half way point we took a couple seconds to chill out before moving to another set of poses, and the instructor said 'how's everyone doing?' and then 'welcome, welcome' to the new guy with a big grin on his face.

at the end as we were rolling up our mats and getting cups of chai, the new man said he didn't think he was actually ready for that class. but the instructor told him he was. you just need to push through that beginning part. i felt bad for him. but a month ago, those million lunges were almost the end of me, and now i can lunge forever. so he'll be fine. i told him it gets easier.

baby write this down

jeff came home and told a funny story about people stealing his beer, but i wouldn't be able to tell it like he did. (turns out i did try anyway..) he was trying to explain to maj how there are unwritten beer rules when you're at a party. in short, he went to a party with a 12 pack of fat tire for he and his girlfriend, and he put it in the otherwise empty fridge. then as he was walking around, he noticed that everyone was carrying around the beer they had brought. so when jeff went back to the fridge to get his, 6 beers were missing when he and his girlfriend had only taken 2.

so then he went on a mission to find who the 4 people who stole his beer were. two were easy to spot.. but then one guy was holding his hand over the label trying to be sneaky. but it has a pretty distinctive top, so jeff knew who it was. but then he couldn't find the fourth..

so much later on, he was chatting with people and saw this guy take a fat tire out of his 6 pack of fireman's 4. so when the guy wasn't looking, jeff took one of the guy's fireman's 4. and then he waited outside, watching through the window, as the guy reached in his 6 pack and realized his last beer was gone. retribution.

but he was trying to explain to my mom how if you're at a party and there's a bunch of cheap beer, it's ok to take one because it's clearly for the party in general. but if people bring nice beer, you shouldn't take it, or you should at least ask around to find out whose it is and then ask them if you can have one.

and that is jinky's story.

he got a new car because his died. it's a red and khaki subaru wagon with not one, but twoo sun/moon roofs. pretty fancy.

deck the halls

well today we turned the normal living room:

into the christmas! living room:

 you can't really appreciate it in the small photos. i'll take some more detailed ones later.

and we found the christmouse. he's my favorite holiday decoration.

all the lonely people

well, kim jong ill died if you haven't been on facebook or any news sites in the last hour. majjy and i agreed we hope his son will be less of a crazyman.

went to the lake this weekend and all of the highlights are food related, are you surprised? coconut macaroons in marble falls on the way there, fondue from world market for a pre-dinner snack, stuffed peppers for dinner.

then tonight i made scalloped potatoes with some of the leftover spiral sliced ham. stuffed peppers and scalloped potatoes are two of the easiest, tastiest things we make at my house.

stuffed peppers: 4 green bell peppers, tops cut off and seeds and ribs taken out. then you make 4 meatballs out of 1 lb of ground beef, 1/4 cup or so of campbells tomato soup, and 1/2 c or more of minute rice. and salt and pepper. put a meatball inside each pepper and pour in some extra soup. then you just put them in a pressure cooker and dump the rest of the soup mix and a can or two of water in the bottom of the pot and voila. 15 minutes later, you have delicious dinner.

scalloped potatoes: 3 or 4 russet potatoes, sliced very thin, 2 medium white onions also sliced thinly, a bunch of ham in pieces. layer all of that in a 13 x 9 shallow glass dish and pour in milk until it comes up about 1/2 way (to the top of the potatoes, not the dish). sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake at 375 for an hour or until top is browned and bubbly.

you and me together

it's felt like winter around here lately with dreary rain and cold. we needed the rain, but i'm ready for just plain cold. 

two of my favorite girls will be in austin next week and i'm so exciteddd!! the fam.. or at least me, faj & maj are headed to the lake this weekend. ripley hasn't been in two weeks and she was so sad, so i'm glad she gets to go this time.

at my own game

laaaazy day today. i didn't get out of jammies until after 2.

but then this evening C and i went to phoenicia bakery and it was very cheap and delicious. not as good as milto's, but at $4 a sandwich, how much can you really complain. we had a roasted chicken wrap, a gyro, stuffed grape leaves, tabouli and hummus.

then he beat me at scrabble. he didn't know you get 50 points if you play all of your tiles at 1 time. but he did that on a triple word score. that one hurt.

sand made everything round

there is nothing quite like walking in to a room of people over 50 who you know are wondering whose lost child you are, and then to have the chair of the organization say 'and now i'd like to introduce you megan..', and lift his hand to point toward you, standing quietly in the back of the room in heels, sparkley earrings, magic pants and a j crew sweater.. while everyone turns and looks to either side of you, wondering who he's pointing to.

and then, using your practiced teacher voice, you confidently report what you're up to and how well your team is doing in a difficult area. and the faces that a moment ago were saying 'who the hell is this girl?' are now saying 'hell yes, this girl!'

that was my monday night. :)

folks dressed up like eskimos

last night the boy, we will call him C from now on, and his housemates threw a party. it was adorable considering 4 boys hosted it. they range in age from 26 i think to 35 and they throw the kind of parties i suspected people over 30 threw. there were little candle lights up the walkway to their house and they had a christmas tree and stockings hung on their tv unit. the tv itself was playing a fireplace video that C spent hours searching for online. apparently there aren't a whole lot of high quality fire videos on youtube.

anyway then they had hung these big plastic snowflakes from the ceiling and ornaments and lights. there were vegetable trays and homemade salsa and a counter full of wine of all kinds. all of their rooms were as clean as they've ever been. they cleaned the bathroom.

then the people at the party were as eclectic as you'd imagine they'd be. a bunch of astronomers. lots of people who rode their bike there. a yoga teacher. lots of teachers in general. some nonprofiters. it was a lot of fun.

today was kind of a whirlwind. breakfast tacos in the morning. then i went to visit majjy and see how her show was going. did i tell you she's taping a show? it's not going to be on tv until may. there are 2 episodes being filmed in austin and then 4 episodes in other cities. this morning, one front yard was almost finished and one is in progress. i told 'her guys' they should ask for more money to work so hard on a sunday.

this evening i had a cookie exchange hosted by a girl i used to work with. i brought russian tea cakes and the other girls brought and bought coconut orange sugar cookies, macadamia nut white chocolate cookies, cake balls, sugar cookies, blueberry and cranberry cookies. they were all really yum.

and then! one of the guys i work with had a birthday so i went and met a couple of people downtown for pizza.

time for bed. so tired. fun weekend.

ni cong na li lai de

tonight the boy and i went to my favorite sushi place (where i never order sushi), and then afterward we went next door so i could get rose milk tea. the old woman behind the counter confirmed my order 3 times. don't think they sell a lot of that there. 'hot? milk tea? rose milk tea? you want hot? rose milk tea?'

so when i was paying, i asked if she was from japan. there's a lot of japanese stuff in there. but they also have hichew, which is taiwanese candy. and koala yummies. she said she was taiwanese, so i said i lived in taoyuan for a year. she wanted me to take a sip of the tea and tell her if it was like taiwanese rose milk tea.

i wanted to speak to her in chinese, but i just lost my nerve. in my mind, it was so much easier in taiwan because no one expected that i was able to say anything to them at all so mistakes were easily forgiven because they were so happy i had made the effort.

but i guess i got a little embarrassed about speaking chinese imperfectly when i was teaching at that mandarin immersion afterschool program because the main teacher would constantly correct everything i said. so i kind of stopped speaking it around her.

anyway. i want to go back and just sit some time when the store is empty and talk to her about tsong dra bing and rose milk tea and scooters and beef noodles.

pat on the back though: when we were in the car on the way home, the boy said 'you think that other girl in there was chinese or japanese? her skin was so pale.' and i said 'no she's taiwanese because she used the taiwanese way of saying "there" instead of the chinese.' and he made a comment about how it's interesting that my background allows me to know things like that. and it is. i think about taiwan every day.

a merry little christmas

felt a little fancy when i checked the mail today.

my my my

tonight i discovered a little 5 piece gift pack of face wash/lotion that one of my mom's friends had given her. it's all Q10 stuff from japan apparently. what is it about women and skincare regimens? 

my friend marisa wrote a blog post once (two, it turns out) about how she tries every kind of lotion under the sun. i do the same thing, but i'd really like to get to the point where i just use one lotion/cleanser/etc that i love and stick with it. my mom has used noxema forever because her mom used it. the smell of it reminds me of sunburns as a little kid when we would put it on our shoulders. 

a year or so ago, my friend stacy recommended two things that i now swear by. one is cetaphil face wash. the reviews on the website call it 'a great inexpensive cleanser,' but at more than $10 a bottle, it seems pretty pricey to me. anyway a bottle lasts forever, and the pump is so easy in the shower or to use at the sink when you can't open your eyes because your face is all wet. it doesn't foam or bubble, but it works really well to take off mascara and makeup. 

(image from cetaphil.com)

for the record, i've been on the hunt for a non-greasy-non-shiny facial moisturizer foreeever and ever, and after trying and failing with kiehl's and clinique and whatever else, cetaphil's daily moisturizer with 15sph is the only thing i've found that isn't shiny or greasy. 

the other thing stacy recommended is neutrogena's rapid clear 2 in 1 fight & fade gel, which i love. my skin doesn't often go crazy anymore, but this stuff really helps clear up whatever does pop up. it's also kind of expensive at $10+ a tube, but i've had the same tube for easily a year, and there's still 1/3 or so left. 

(image from neutrogena.com)

and finally, i know it puts me in the grandma category, but i love amazing grace by philosophy. it's a little bit flowery and a little bit citrusy. but not overly sweet or overly grandma. it just smells clean and fresh. love it. 

(image from philosophy.com)

last thing: this weekend i had to run out the door to a party but i noticed my nails had begun to chip, so i just painted over the chipped parts and then painted over my whole nail with a clear top coat, and they've been lovely ever since then. you can't see where the line is between old and new at all. 

and those are megan's random beauty tips.

all the colors are changing

the last couple of days in central texas have been uncharacteristically rainy and cold, which has been really nice actually. we haven't really had any good scarf days yet this fall. i think it's still supposed to rain tomorrow, and then it's just clear and cold for the rest of the week. makes me thankful for heated seats in my car and the down comforter on my bed. so toasty.

not much to report. lots of holiday parties. at one party last night i made mulled wine and mini quiche, and based on people's reactions you would have thought i invented mini quiche. i thought they were pretty standard?

aubergine

jeff and i used to watch ina garten's barefoot contessa show together almost every day, and we would imitate her husband jeffrey's voice when he said 'hey ina' and we know all of her catch phrases; how easy is that? how bad could that be? a dog's breakfast. 

but then the day came when jeff no longer loved watching ina. probably because we have seen every episode at least once at this point. 

(image from housebeautiful.com)

but in the afternoon while i'm working online, i still like to turn on her shows and just listen to her in the background as i work. majjy hates her voice, she thinks it's condescending, but i think she's friendly and open and fun. who cares if she tops everything with parsley or tells us the same tips over and over. (add a little bit of instant coffee powder to chocolate baked goods for extra richness, crack an egg into a separate bowl in case you get a bad one, use really good vanilla).

so this week when i had to choose between one million possible colors of speck laptop shells, (and i think it goes without saying, but i definitely found it on overstock.com for $15 less, don't worry), i haddd to choose aubergine just like ina's. i searched high and low on the internet to find a picture of her with it, but came up empty handed.

it's such a deep, pretty shade of blue-y purple. love it. and now i feel that much closer to ina. 

as a side note, i brought a tupperware container of truffles to the office today, and a bunch of people were standing in a big clump so i just held my arm out in the middle with the open tupperware, and 2 seconds later, they had all vanished.