easter - a day to stuff your face in the name of JC

i may have overdone it. see, i have been spending the last few months attempting to get my blood pressure under control. turns out the meds i had been on in SF weren't really working. also turns out Moose makes me crazy, which may or may not have an impact on my blood pressure. anyways! a month ago, i was put on 2 meds. they worked. they also caused an impressive rash. so i went to an allergist who declared i was not allergic to either of these meds. i believed him cos i saw how not rashy i became when they poked the meds under my skin. i continued on one of the meds and it *almost* kept me at a good bp level. except that it didn't. so my doctor added my second med back on and i went all rashy again PLUS dizziness this time. so no gym, no fun,no nothing for the last few days. i don't do well if i can't do all. i just don't.

and then there was easter! here is what we had to eat:

green salad
fruit salad
cream cheese danishes
cherry danishes
potatoes
bacon
sausage
goat cheese and prosciutto strata
raspberry and lemon french toast strata

too. much. good. food.

there were 6 and a half of us. us, the jungs, mel and beth. mel had double plans so greta and i texted him after a while to see if he was going to come back and play with us. being three years old, she does not suffer from the "fat finger" iphone affliction the rest of us struggle with. she is an excellent texter.



we played "Apples to Apples" which is in second place for fun (first place will always be catchphrase), but in first place for being incredibly enjoyable whilst not causing couples to contemplate divorce after playing.
Beth introduced this game to us. look how happy neil is to be spending easter with his sister.now look at how happy neil is to be spending some time with the entire box of "apples to apples" cards i spilled on the ground:
Greta is a dancer. she is into it. sometimes she closes her eyes when she dances. i kind of feel like if she were stranded in the forest and could only communicate with the wildlife via dance, it would just be a matter of moments before mice would be bringing her crumbs to eat and butterflies would be braiding her hair.
moose thought he was a part of the show and bowed for us all
Greta will be getting a puppy soon. getting a 12 week old puppy is one thing. having a 75 pound two year old puppy want to cover you with kisses is another thing. G is learning how to say "NO" like a big girl and moose is FINALLY learning not to knock G over just because he loves her so much. jesus H, people. it's just exhausting. so this new level of vague disinterest mixed with slight amusement is a godsend. G wanted her picture with each pooper.

and with matilda:




she is going to absolutely love having a dog in her life, and i can't wait to meet their future pup. they will be getting a pup from a rescue, unlike our President who has greatly greatly disappointed me by not adopting like he said he would.

and then it was time to eat again. seriously. we had an 8 hour day today.




easter may be the new thanksgiving. shocker, i know. but if 40 can be the new 30 then thanksgiving had better watch its back. i'm just saying,

WTF?

Remember all of that sunny garden building? This is what 6000 pounds of rock looks like:

If you like, i can tell you how 6000 pounds of rock feels, too. Whilst Neil was at work, i had the honor of moving most of this rock out of the alley and onto our property.

I built raised beds with some of the rock. They look pretty gray and benign now, but when they get wet you can see that they are actually quite colorful and assorted. This is why we needed to build a fence:
Moose doesn't now how to discern a rock garden bed from a dog bed.

Then we had 10 yards of soil delivered. This is what 10 yards of soil looks like:

As with the rock, i had to move the soil from the alley to it's new home. Neil built an amazing arbor over where the fence will be and....





WTF winter? Seriously. WTF is up with you? We had a great spring in March and now we have fallen back into winter. Yesterday it thunder snowed. i didn't even know that thunder snow was an actual thing! I only hope that all of the little buds that were starting on my lilac bush hold on tight because i would really like to see them do their thing come mother's day.

And since mother nature is kicking my ass, i have taken to making the green happen indoors. Here are 25 Genovese Basil Sprouts and 25 French Marigold sprouts:
Neil talks to the basil every day when he gets home from work. He does not address the marigolds.
is that what it is going to be like when we have kids? "hello son!" *daugher waves frantically for Neil's attention. Neil ignores daughter* whatever dude. say hi to your daughter....i mean the marigolds. i think. whatever.

i have bell pepper seeds going. and i also have seeds starting for flowers. seeds are cheap! did you know that? when i think about all of the money i have spent at nurseries on plants, i kind of want to punch myself in the face.

here are my lobelia, mexican sunflower, tropical milkweed, and white swan echinacea seeds all sprouting about:



i am totally into it. like crazytown into it. i think that is what happens when you live somewhere that has real winters. you crave spring. you watch your little basils pop up and you greet them with love and you promise them out to your friends, knowing that you will be saving your friends a bit of cash as well and life is kinda good and stuffs. well, at least Neil does this. I actually greet the marigolds with love as well BUT THAT IS JUST ME.


Have you met Midge? She is the middle cat. sometimes i wonder if she feels neglected. Especially when i find her Hugging The Couch. Note to self: pet Midge every once in a while. She is the marigold of cats.

Indian Food is scary

Or at least that is what i have always told myself. i LOVE Indian food, but have always felt like it is out of grasp of my cooking ability. i think it has something to do with some of the spices being unrecognizable. let's say you are making something and it you taste it and something is off. Does it need more Hing? Or does it need more Tamarind Pulp? How the hell do i know? WTF is Hing, anyways? you see? Scary stuff.

When Noelle and i are at the gym, we spend a lot of time noting how we married the same dudes. there is so much "really? he does that too?!!??" happening that our neighboring cyclists must be bored stiff by our ramblings after 3 minutes. too bad we have 27 more minutes to go, old guy! anyways, the one thing that makes me like Noelle's husband instead of Neil, is that if i cook a meal and it doesn't turn out well, just pack it up and go home. game over. nothing good here. move on. J and i are both super cranky like that.

So yes, indian food is scary. it could ruin two whole days, retrospectively, if you count the time to marinate the chicken.

But something got under my skin. Building our garden and the thoughts of being vegetably self sufficient, the crazy apocalyptic ramblings of those on the internets, i don't know.....i decided it was time to provide my family with Indian Food. no more blindly trusting that society will provide me with Indian food, just because i know i have a take out menu in the drawer. i pushed my fears aside. i found recipes. i even went to the fancy spice store and purchased what one can not find at safeways and such. People, meet Hing, Mango Powder, and Ghee (some people make Ghee. i think my cousing Kerry does. but she also has two kids and teaches. she clearly does a lot of things that i do not do):

So the menu was not to be a fancy one: tandoori chicken (grilled, since we do not have a Tandoor Oven, surprisingly enough), aloo gobi, naan, and cilantro mint chutney.

I don't bake. and i don't bake in Denver. and again, i do not have a tandoor oven. AND i am trying to cur back on the white carbs. so this whole naan plan is just really pushy in general. but i went for it, whole wheat in my oven at high altitude and all.

dough before rising:
then in the oven, science started to happen. Neil found out when i started yelling "science is happening in the oven!!!!!"
a little ghee brushed on top and we're looking good, people! that it totally naan!
the chicken marinated for 30 hours or so. i was surprised to read that most "authentic" tandoori recipes call for some kind of food coloring to get that pinky red color. regardless, i just took a recipe from Cooking Light and grilled it up. oh, and people, the wave of the future is in boneless skinless chicken THIGHS. they taste better, are cheaper, and they taste better and are cheaper. why are those two reasons not enough for you?


the aloo gobi freaked me out. maybe it is all the pot i smoked in high school but there just seemed to be So Many ingredients. so i got out all of my little glass bowls and did all my prep work. i lined it all up in order of appearance and opened all the windows in case i was going to burn everything and i just went for it.

and it worked!

the cilantro mint chutney was a breeze. i'd like to thank the Bhores once again for the food processer. i have no idea how we lived before it!






So, in all, the standouts were the aloo gobi and the chutney. those were to my previous professionally made Indian food standards. The naan was amazing for 30 seconds and then it went really hard, like a cracker. a yummy cracker, but the texture of naan is what makes it so dreamy. i'll have to readdress. the chicken's flavor was not tandoori, but it was good. basically, what one would expect from a Cooking Light recipe that is geared towards not having to go to the special spice store.

oh, and Neil hates cilantro and mint. but he ate the chitney cos i didn't tell him until after that it was cilantro and minto. oopsie!

My favorite thing to have discovered about all this is actually a financial one. Indian Food at a restaurant is expensive! i remember paying $7 for aloo gobi in SF! now, i have all of the spices in house, so i can make it for the cost of 2 potatoes and a head of cauliflower! tandoori chicken? $12 in a restaurant. i can now have it for $3 worth of chicken thighs. you catch my drift here, people? it's a nice thing to know.

so, come the apocolypse, you know where to get your Indian Food!

spring is a season, not an emotion.

one of the many reasons we love denver is the sun. some say it is sunny 300 days a year here. some also say it was foggy 300 days a year at our last home. that crap takes a toll, you know.

one of the many reasons our dogs love us is that we keep our tomatoes in the fruit basket. this makes them easily accessible for snacking in our absence. seriously, i need to hide tomatoes from Moose these days.

Spring in SF was literally just a couple of warm days. the whole "season" was lumped into daylight savings and single people feeling a bit frisky for a bit. here, it is approximately 1/4 of the year, which makes sense since there are approximately 4 seasons and such. duh.

So, a love of tomatoes combined with abundant sunshine clearly calls for something pretty specific....a fenced in veg garden. (i say "veg" because Jamie Oliver says "veg". now i am awesome.)

BEFORE:
see how there is a seam? Previous owners had implanted some kind of Only Child Amusement Device....a huge structure on a bed of tan bark, with a huge curb to delineate the "child" area from the "adult" space. weird.

first we got to building raised beds. some of the beds will be constructed of wood.
this week, i will be getting rocks delivered to build more raised beds. it is hard for me....rectangle plots of land on rectangle blocks of land. so many 9o degree angles. i am hoping my rock plan will counter that a bit.

but don't forget who we live with. tomato stealing low fence jumpers. so we do more. neil creates an outdoor workshop:

and fences are built.




i help:
but that shit is loud so sometimes i need to close my eyes and wince.
and the cool thing is that we still have the bulk of the yard, plus the side yard to play fetch with the dogs in.
i am still not smoking and am still exercising. i have lost a few pounds, but mostly it is inches i have lost and muscle i am gaining. i have set a goal that i am afraid to call a goal. it is more of a "if i ever do this i will be awesome" reference point. i would like to be able to jog round Sloan's Lake without stopping. It is only like 2 or 3 miles, so it should be able to happen soon-ish. Unfortunately, i forgot that Moose hasn't been going to the gym with me. Our little jog/walk around the lake kind of kicked his butt today. at least he was tired enough that i was finally able to really catch his toe-fro on camera. people think his paws are big but it is all fur.



so this week i build my rock beds and Neil will build the gate next weekend. we can't plant warm weather stuff until mother's day but we might be able to sneak some carrots, lettuce, radishes, and beets in there a bit earlier. if you don't like beets, roast them. roast them and realize how wrong you were about beets and then send me a check for $20 for saving your liver. you will not find a cheaper liver anywhere else, i promise.

happy spring, mofos!

not okay

i am a creature of habit. i go to the gym every day. and i am pretty much always there at the same time of day. if i am by myself, i tend to lean towards the elliptical machines. i love them, but they are just far away enough from the 4 televisions that i can't read the closed captioning. it is frustrating, but i have found a solution.

you see, i tend to go to the gym during the most boringly televised time of day. one tv is espn. one is msnbc or some other news channel that has so many "windows" open that you can't even understand what they are reporting if you are two feet in front of the screen. then there is the one that shows Inside Edition, the lowest of all the low television. once, when i was on a closer exercise machine, they were "reporting" on a grandma that was beat up by some teenagers. i don't like looking at beat up grandmas. then there is the last television....my savior. it shows some kind of today show-ish show. i think it is al roker? i don't know. but they are always cooking! i don't need to be able to read the words below....i just watch the pretty food happen. it's perfect.

until today. some rat bastard changed the channel to the Rachel Ray show. She was interviewing the cast from The Watchmen. I felt bad for Billy Crudup, which is weird because i am normally not one to pick the side of the dude who leaves his 8 month pregnant girlfriend to be with this chick who he isn't even together with anymore (was it worth it, Billy?) and now she is marrying this dude , who apparently is famous but i never heard of him until the happy engagement was announced. yay!

Also, you would think that i would be all "oh, she loves animals and i love animals so we are total BFFs". she makes a dog food. it is called "nutrish" and it is crap. Her food is rated 2 stars out of 6. what i feed my dogs is rated 5. if i made dog food, i would actually make one that is good for dogs. and i would not give it such a lame and misleading name, either. that is how i love animals.
She may donate the proceeds of her slop, but she is not Paul Newman (~~*le sigh*~~). Let me be very clear about that. "nutrish?" puke.

and really, how many shows can be just about burgers? according to rachel ray, 42 is the correct answer to that question. i know this because i actually did a search and counted them myself. Next time you want to make a fancy burger, save yourself the annoyance of her mug and email me. greek? add feta. mexican? add salsa and feel free to garnish with cilantro. Indian? throw some raita on there and you are good to go.

do you see what i am saying, people? it's not rocket science. it is clever marketing. don't fall for her 30 minute undercooked meals. admit that things can take 45 minutes and open up your resources to other celebrichefs and books. your kids will still love you. You will not be 15 minutes late to work the next day. you can still consider yourself on the pulse of America. just quit giving Ms. Ray your money. she's got enough and she isn't earning it.

also, i would like to announce to the triscuit people that i will specifically not buy your product if rachel ray is on the box. that goes for all marketed packaging. rachel ray = no dollars for you.

daylight savings has got nothing on rachel ray. i will be waking up an hour earlier tomorrow to get to the gym an hour earlier and be home an hour earlier, safe from this madness. i will use that extra hour to make a 90 minute meal. i will abbreviate nothing. And nothing will be served on a bun.

5 years

Did you know that Rosemary...

• referred to herself as "The Imelda Marcos of Birkenstocks"
• Loved t-shirts that had a message, all dogs (but preferred the big ones), buying bath products that she would never use, stale Peeps, the Muppets, and tomato and onion sandwiches
• was in the color guard in high school and carried the American flag. She also graduated 3rd in her class from Hacketstown High School in Hacketstown, New Jersey
• Graduated from Bucknell with a major in Spanish. She was in a sorority. She was originally going to major in math, but her grades in that subject (and child psychology and American Government) were lacking. She proceeded to be a 3rd grade teacher and then to work for the government and have a child.
• had a thing for Sam Elliot. Her favorite movies were Wuthering Heights and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
• introduced her younger siblings to Joan Baez, Peter Paul and Mary, Leontyne Price, Africa and more.
• as a teenager rescued her first animal...a goose she named Henrietta. At an early age, her and her cousin Diane conspired to become veterinarians, although women were not encouraged to do that sort of thing back then.
• was a pretty good bowler, and considered it a family sport.
  
• enjoyed jigsaw puzzles, researching her Polish ancestry, going to Reno to play the slots with her mother (they always won), using the "f" word, and fresh cut flowers
• called her brother John, "Juano" and her daughter Bec "Kidlet". She also enjoyed naming her foster puppies after people she knew.
• hated peas and hated flying. she would fly, but only for special occasions. she would not eat peas, ever.
• would make cioppino every year for her family at Christmas.
  
• Cried when wacthing ice skating on TV.
• Thrived at party planning. For birthdays she would make pinatas. she would make pins, stickers or even t-shirts with embarrassing pictures of the honoree on them. every easter she wore bunny ears. she made bec's childhood halloween costumes by hand.
• went to Baja to pet baby gray whales from a zodiac boat.
• always left an open invitation for any of Bec's friends who might not have a place to spend the holidays, whether she knew them or not. eventually, she knew them all.
• had reall REALLY great legs.

The above was written by family for mom's memorial service. i just did quite a bit of digging through our storage to find it. it stays hidden in the "sad box", or at least it has for the last 4 and a half years.
tomorrow it will be 5 years ago that she died. i could write about it for days and in the end have no more insight than i did when i started. i miss her. i thank her. i am pissed at her for dying. but mostly, i miss and thank.









and here is a postcard from the nugget in Reno. we had taken our pics on one of those photo sticker booths and put our heads on the bathingsuit models. and i think my head is on a dude. we laughed so hard that it hurt. that is truly what i miss the most about my mom. she made me. she made my sense of humor. and she knew the most efficient ways to induce tears through joy. ugh, the missing and the thanking. it never stops.

oops!

it has been brought to my attention that i have not updated this here blog for quite a while. one of the people doing such attention bringing is Neil, my husband, who lives here with me, and who is the primary receptacle for most of the words that come out of my mouth. he must really like my words.

there is a theory that my number of blog posts is directly proportionate to the number of cigarettes i am smoking, which is zero. well, now that is all effed up cos i am sitting here typing. not to worry, i am not about to go make up for the math and smoke.

i am not sure why i haven't posted. maybe it is just that i am so wrapped up in my physical state lately, and not my mental state. my mental state can be pretty shaky at times, so it is quite a relief to know that i have this ability.

People tend to gain weight when they quit smoking. it is not necessarily a "replace the cigarette with food" thing. it is really just that your metabolism slows down. according to some internets, you need to burn an extra 100 calories a day to not gain weight. oh that is nice, since i am heavier now than ever before. perfect timing.

so i have been going to the gym. a lot. yesterday neil wondered if maybe i was being a bit fanatical about it. but for me, once this whole basement remodel crap is done, i will either be pregnant or working or both. this is my only chance to get back on track. so i am in it to win it.
and i have lost 5 pounds since i quit smoking. take that, 100 calories a day!

So it's gym, house, pets, healthy eating, more pets, and then maybe some house stuff and probably a puke related pet issue. that is my life right now. not terribly blog worthy, i will admit. but i am having fun being the boss of my own self. don't expect me to post pics of my abs any time soon, though. i am not a crazy person.