Happy Boo Day!

Happy Halloween!! I'm spending the morning trying to transfer my cake decorating skills into cupcake decorating skills by making mummy and graveyard cupcakes for our big Halloween party tonight. Truthfully, I've never cared much about Halloween, but it's the very favorite holiday of our good friends, so they always go all out with a very elaborate party.

I won't tell you what B and I are going as this year, I'll save it for the pictures. The costumes aren't very creative this year, but they should still be good anyway. B's costume is almost not a costume at all if you know him and I'm slutting it up this year, which is out of character for me. Stay tuned!

Things shooting all around

So you may or may not have seen my Twitter update yesterday (the little chirps on the right column) that someone shot a BB gun into our bedroom this morning and shattered the window. Yes, you read that right. I have no idea when exactly it happened because I was doing laundry and dishes and generally just running around the house doing chores, but I know it wasn't broken when we woke up. Then at noon I went into the bedroom and saw the cats standing at attention and saw the window.

We have some sparse woods behind our house, but they're too far away for a BB to make it to our window. At first I wasn't that scared, more confused, but as time went on, the whole thing sank in and I got really scared.

B came home from work to check it out and then I called our landlord and the sheriff's department. One of the officers came out and examined the window. He thought that based on the height and shape of the hole, that it was a close range shot and probably came from right behind the house. He interviewed our clearly mentally disturbed neighbor who regularly walks up and down the street yelling at himself and hitting apples with a golf club and thinks he might be the one, but really there's no way to know. Either way, the whole thing was incredibly disturbing and I accomplished nothing on my extensive to-do list today.

On another note, B brought home his fun laser stuff tonight:

See the box and the silver cylinder? That's the technology that B invented and built. The silver cylinder goes on top of a vehicle and tells you whether the road is wet, dry, icy, flooded, or damp.

B tried to show me how it works by using a dish of water, but it was immediately overtaken by some thirsty and curious kitties.

Calibrating the sensor.

Data, calibrations, etc.

My hubby is so smart and nerdy! Also, he's taking the computer away and we won't have it again until Friday morning, so I won't see you until then.

"A Little Too Awesome"

This isn’t a very timely post since the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner happened two weeks ago, but all the computer issues put me behind. Additionally, I'm very behind in my online grant writing class due to some logistical problems, so posting might be a little light over the next few weeks.

Anyhow, I thought you should see the full footage of Obama’s hysterical speech at the dinner. Each of the candidates made satirical speeches (as is the tradition) taking jabs at themselves as well as their opponent. And while it’s clear the material was written for them, it’s so good that it’s forgivable. To really enjoy it though, you have to watch all ten minutes. Be sure to listen for my favorite part – strengths and weaknesses.

Given McCain’s anger problem and general demeanor, his laughs look a little forced, but he’s losing pretty dramatically lately, so I can’t blame him for not having a big sense of humor about the whole election. I heard that his speech was pretty good too, but I’ve only seen clips of it.

First Fire of the Season

The house smells so wonderful tonight!

Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Sauce and Toasted Hazelnuts

Despite the fact that the last round of homemade raviolis caused me some grief, they taste so good that I was determined to try again. Last Friday I tackled pumpkin ravioli (much to B’s suspicion) and I think I have it figured out! I think I’ve finally perfected the whole technique and could even make enough of them for 4 people without running screaming from the kitchen. I took the advice I found online that they freeze great and froze about half of them, so we’ll be able to have an amazing meal soon without any prep work.

Despite his extreme hesitations about pumpkin ravioli, B actually loved them and declared the Gorgonzola sauce “the best thing you’ve ever made.” Although I think it’s a little overly generous of him to bestow such a compliment for a sauce that required nothing more the stirring. I think it was really the butter and the cheese that did the heavy lifting. I got so excited about perfecting my technique though that I forgot about side dishes. So when B asked me what else we were having with the ravioli I replied “uh… the sauce and the hazelnuts?” Oops.

-------------------

On another note, I'm getting closer to having a computer again. The computer center was able to recover some of the files off the dead laptop and we ordered our first computer from Dell last night. We've been using B's work laptops for three years now, so it was about time.

Pictures from the weekend

It's the second to last weekend of October, so we're continuing our fall excursions while the weather still holds. Friday night we went on a Haunted History Walking Tour sponsored by our local history center. George Washington lead us all around downtown telling us about the horrible murders or deaths that happened at various locations and buildings. Along the way there were little reenactments as well.

Then on Saturday night we had to leave the house after being inside all day so we had a little date night. And today we went to a local trail which used to be a railroad track until 1957 and I managed to walk three miles and totally survive! I had never been on the trail before and it's so gorgeous - absolutely pristine and perfect. The trail and the entire forest were covered in beautiful fall leaves.

Standing with George Washington after our Haunted History Walking Tour of downtown. This was shortly after we learned that George kicked all of the Cayuga Indians out of the area upon arriving. Typical.

With Ithaca Chick outside the "adult toyland" that we walked by.

After spending all of Saturday inside looking for jobs and doing other low key things, we headed to a local Italian restaurant for drinks and dessert.

View along the South Hill Recreation Trail

The tree grew around the sign - how crazy is that!?

Can you see the "1905" stamped into the side?

Catalog Love

The Crate & Barrel holiday catalog came yesterday and it's all I can do not to call them, give them our credit card number and say, "one please! No, no page number, just one... of everything." In reality I never buy anything from the catalogs because I almost literally never buy clothes or home goods unless they're on sale, but I drool nonetheless. So because I can't actually buy all the fun stuff I thought I'd pass along my favorites in the hopes that it'll quell the urges.

As you can see, I tend to prefer Reindeer and Snowmen in my holiday decorations. This is for a few reasons - partly I prefer that the decorations are more non-denominational. There are several holidays in December in my mind - Christmas, Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, etc - and since I'm don't consider myself a "Christian" per say, I like to keep it a little more inclusive. Also, and this is a far bigger consideration, Santa only comes in December, whereas snowmen, snowflakes, and maybe even reindeer come in January and February when all of our holiday decorations are still very firmly in place. And then I can pretend that these are just our "winter decorations" and not our "embarrassingly overdue-to-be-taken-down Christmas decorations" It's all about practicality with me.

Reindeer Doormat

12 Days of Christmas Ornaments

Snowman Throw Pillow

Snowman & Snowflake pancake molds

Reindeer Platter and appetizer plates

A 3 Person Marriage

Up until a week ago our bed used to look like a pillow cemetery. We had so many that there weren't even pillow cases for all of them, and every night before bed I'd have to build what B referred to as The Pillow Wall. And while it sounds like some puritanical way to approach a new marriage, it was really just back support. A pillow for my head, a pillow in front of my stomach, but tucked under just right so my back was supported, one between my knees, etc. As you can imagine, rolling over causes quite a problem as the entire wall needs rearranging. But it was the only way to take the pressure off my back since I'm a side sleeper.

But then there was a stroke of brilliance. B decided that our marriage was strong enough to bring someone else into bed with us, and that someone is a delicious new addition I call Hank, The Body Pillow. Hank was waiting for me at Target for $8 and then I paid an extra $5 to buy him some clothes - no one likes to walk around naked. And let me tell you - Hank has improved my life nearly as much as B has. I'm deeply infatuated.

From the moment Hank replaced The Pillow Wall, I have never slept better and it was an instantaneous change. Instant! And then one night I lent him to B to test out and I slept terribly. He's never leaving my sight again. In fact, I found him just in time because I have to buy our plane tickets for Portland soon and now I'm gonna need to buy three seats instead of two.

Year Round Jack O' Lanterns

Since I'm still dealing with life without a computer and a Blackberry that suddenly won't receive email, I have about two minutes to devote to you before B leaves for work and takes both the car and the computer. Do you remember Film Guy? He's Dino Girl's boyfriend and the co-host of every single great party we've gone to in the last three years here. Well, he's finally put his passion into a blog!

Year Round Jack O' Lanterns is an extremely niche blog about horror movies, and yet it's so well written and with such passion that I'm a regular reader. And if you had ANY IDEA what a movie wimp I am, you'd know that I've pretty much never seen even the most main stream of horror movies and certainly not all of the specialized ones that he talks about. However, I still find myself reading with great interest. It's always interesting to read an expert's take on a field you know nothing about because it's basically like going to film school for five minutes every day.

Enjoy!

Ugh...

I'm gonna be on a hiatus for a day or two while dealing with computer issues. While using B's old laptop yesterday (that's the computer I use during the day) it started to make terrible noises, then the screen went black and it said "operating system not found." Thankfully most of our pictures and documents are on his main laptop (which we back up using an external hard drive), but there were enough pictures and documents that I hadn't yet transferred over to make it extremely infuriating that this happened. So... after pilates, volunteering, using the computers at the employment office for all of the paperwork that just happens to be due today, I'm headed up to Geek Squad to see if a file recovery is possible. Blech. Think good thoughts for me.

Colin Powell Endorsement

If you didn't get to watch Colin Powell on Meet the Press yesterday, you MUST watch this video. If this doesn't completely end all questions and debates as to who should be president, absolutely nothing will. There has yet to be a statement as clear, eloquent, and free from political bullshit as this video. Watch it.

Day Trippin

B and I continued our fall excursions on Saturday with a day trip to Aurora, NY (home of Wells College). I’ve heard of people day-tripping to Aurora over the years, but it was never something I had thought too much about until Billy raved about it and said that he and Joe go every fall. Billy shares my love of all things creative, so I knew it would be a good recommendation. We went to the famous Mackenzie-Childs studio and production center, ate lunch at Pumpkin Hill Bistro, and roamed around the historic and newly renovated downtown.

Mackenzie-Childs was nothing like what B & I had expected, but for totally different reasons. B is a trooper and shares my love of travel, so he trusts that if I’ve set up a trip it’ll be something we’ll both enjoy, but I was unable to explain all week what exactly Mackenzie-Childs was. I mean, to be truthful, I really put in no effort whatsoever. This is how it went:

B – Wait, where are we going on Saturday??

S – Aurora.

B – Oh, that’s that little town up 34B?

S – Yeah. I’ve never been there, but it’s supposed to be a good little trip.

B – What did you say we’re going to do again? Something about dishes?

S – Yeah, we’re gonna go to the apple orchard, eat lunch at Pumpkin Hill Bistro and visit Mackenzie-Childs. It’s dishes – they’re world famous. I’m pretty sure they’re all really ugly and we’ll hate the designs, but it’s a big deal so we should visit before we move.

B – Ok, whatever.

So when we pulled into the palatial estate known as Mackenzie-Childs B immediately began freaking out:

B – What the HELL?! I thought you said we were going to see dishes!!?

S – Yeah, we are. This is where they make them.

B – Yeah, but this place is MASSIVE. There’s like ten outbuildings. I thought we were going to a little dish shop in downtown Aurora – this place is a Big Deal!

S – Yeah, I know, that’s why we’re here.

So then we went inside and I began freaking out. I honestly can’t explain it – the designs are very specific and once you see enough of them you’ll recognize a MC piece for the rest of your life, but they’re extremely whimsical and nothing that I would ever put in my home. But yet, I loved everything I saw. I didn’t love it in that way where I walk into West Elm, or any high end furnishings store, and want to buy every single piece, but I loved it just the same. I walked around in total awe, everything was so colorful and creative and just different from anything I’ve ever seen before. It was honestly the most inspired I’ve felt in years. Not to mention that the craftsmanship is flawless. The prices begin to make more sense once you see how much time and effort goes into every piece.

In addition to the large shop and the studio video, we toured the grounds and went on a guided tour of the Farmhouse. The Farmhouse was designed floor to ceiling in specially created MC pieces, furnishings, wall treatments, etc. as a B&B, but it has never been used as one. After seeing the house, I got a better understanding of how you could decorate your house in such a whimsical style and still have it look sophisticated. It was like an Alice in Wonderland house. Additionally, the architecture of the outbuildings was stunning. Nothing was left to chance and every small detail had been attended to.

After our stop at the “dish shop” we went for lunch and then headed downtown. Downtown is extremely small, yet restored to pristine, almost cinematic, conditions. And that brings us to the most interesting part of the day. I had heard that there was a huge controversy surrounding Aurora and its renovations, and then when we were walking around we saw a protest vehicle. It was parked on the street in downtown and covered with articles, facts, and quotes about how Pleasant Rowland has destroyed the town. The whole story is SO fascinating that I spent at least an hour on the computer reading all about it after we got home. I’ll give you the short version, but if you have time you should really read the links I’ll give you!

In 1983 Richard and Victoria Mackenzie-Childs started the company. In 2001 the company was near bankruptcy and they owed the bank 15.3M. To save the company a Wells alumna named Pleasant Rowland bought the company. (Pleasant invented the American Doll line and sold it to Mattel to $700M. Pleasant has money) After buying up MC, Pleasant decided that she would completely gut and restore downtown Aurora with brute force. The whole story has all kinds of great twists and turns and should definitely have been a Dateline special, and basically it’s all resolved now (because she got her way), but it was so interesting to see the town in the aftermath and know what it took to get it to that state. Enjoy!

Pleasant's Wikipedia Page

CNN article on the whole story

Meal Planning

This past Monday I opened the cookbook and started to do some meal planning for the week. I decided that I wanted simple recipes so I wouldn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen and I couldn't possibly have failed more in this attempt. In fact, I got so excited by all of the yummy looking side dishes, that most meals I planned actually involved two recipes - one main dish and one side dish. I think I've mentioned before that while Cooking Light recipes always taste good, there are often a lot of steps and prep work.

So, I completely failed at limiting my time in the kitchen, but there are still some good ideas buried in my failure. I think cooking is one of the biggest challenges for working and busy families. You want to eat healthy, interesting dinners, but you don't want to spend your life in the kitchen. Plus, there's the fact that it's a never ending cycle. In light of that I've put together a few of my personal kitchen ideas for you.

When I'm on top of my game - which happened about once a month while I was working, but happens most weeks now that I'm not working - I plan out our meals for the week. I can not tell you how valuable this is. You will save yourself SO much stress and hassle. Even if the meals are blindingly simple - pasta, eggs and toast, etc. - this one step makes our evenings so much better.

In our kitchen we have a chalkboard that I use to write out the 5 meals that we have the ingredients for (ingredients that I shop for on Sunday or Monday). I don't get fussy about each meal having a designated day because it all depends what you're in the mood for and what you have time for. But this way there is no thinking involved. You just consult the board and pick a dish for the night. If you do nothing else, do this.

The second step I don't do that often, but when I do I always wonder why I don't do it every week - prep work. I used to do this on Sunday afternoons when I was working, and now I do it on Mondays. I look through the recipes and see what I can do ahead of time. Cutting vegetables is one of the biggest things. If you can dice an onion, slice a pepper, cook and crumble the bacon, grate the cheese, and mix the ravioli filling ahead of time, you'll be loving life when you cook your week night meals. This is what they do in restaurants and it's why the chefs can put things together so easily. And of course this is easier for me because we don't have kids yet, but if one parent can take over for two hours on a Sunday, you're weeknight meals will be far less stressful. Also, this method saves on kitchen clean-up time since a lot of work is done at once with one cleaning.

The last tip is one we live by - freezing. I think freezing is the single biggest way to spend less time in the kitchen, while still eating healthy and homemade meals because you can work once, but get two meals. If we're having burgers for dinner, we make the entire package of meat into the burgers, cook 2 and freeze the rest. If I make chili, I save enough for one or two meals and freeze the rest. When I buy pizza dough, I immediately cut it in half and save one half for this week and one half for next week. Another thing we'll do is bake a chicken breast, cut it up and immediately freeze it. This way you can have pasta with pesto chicken in no time.

We frequently will have two weeks in a row where we eat the same things because the second week we're eating the portions we froze. Or we'll have Freezer Week where I look at everything we can use in the freezer to eat and then I'm only left buying side dishes, condiments, or fresh vegetables to go with everything.

I hope that helped - let me know if you have any tips of your own to save time in the kitchen!

-------------------------------------------

Last night we had Onion and Shitake Soup from the latest issue of Cooking Light, along side Gouda/Sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches. It was an amazing meal!!! And between the two types of cheese on the cheese toasts for the soup (Gorgonzola and Emmentaler Swiss) and the Gouda in the sandwiches, it was a cheese-lovers dream. Very hearty and fall-like.

Huh?

B - I had the weirdest dream last night!

S - Yeah? What happened?

B - (laughing uncontrollably) I had kidnapped 4 lesbians.

S - What?? (huge smile)... Why? How?

B - I don't know. We were just there... and I had kidnapped them.

S - (now also laughing uncontrollably) What?!??!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry to be MIA yesterday. I spent most of the day cooking (more on that later) and today is Thursday which means pilates, volunteering, and errands. I'll post again later though!

Interview

To distract our super gloomy household from the ridiculous NY Giants loss to the Browns last night, I'm going to pretend that game never happened, move forward, and give you some Tuesday entertainment. Here's an interview I conducted with B before Eli went back to his 2006 ways of being the interception master.

Hard Hitting Interview With My New Husband

1) I mentioned briefly in a recent post that I had no idea what the hell yogurt was (then Billy clued me in in the comments section). That confusion came directly from you when you asked me in an exasperated voice one day in the kitchen “What the hell is this stuff?!“ and my brilliant reply was “Dairy.” What are your current feelings on yogurt?

I love yogurt. It’s the best snack ever after cheez-its and pickles.

However, I don’t accept any explanation anyone has ever given me regarding the origin of yogurt. Clearly its not a dairy product. You want to know why? Because milk and fruit don’t go together. Not in my head they don’t. You’re trying to tell me that my strawberry flavored super-yogurt from Wegmans comes from a cow? Come on. Get real.

2) You seem to have an abnormal preoccupation with lasers. What’s that about?

Lasers are awesome and if anyone doesn’t think so then they are wrong. Name one other invention that can be used to do all of the following: Point at things, Eradicate invading aliens, provide awesome visual impact at a White Snake concert, allow me to watch my DVD of the NY Giants Super-Bowl every day, and most importantly, etch my wedding date into my wedding ring thus being a constant reminder of when my anniversary is. ‘Nough said. Lasers rule.

3) People frequently tell me that my beauty is blinding and my wit is unmatched. How do you deal with living with someone like that on a daily basis?

Its hard.

4) Is there anything I can do to change your mind on your refusal to allow cinnamon coffee in our house?

Sigh.

No.

I hate Cinnamon. I hate everything about it. I hate the smell of it. I hate the taste of it. I hate that my stupid boss drinks stupid cinnamon tea every freaking day and often leaves his cup lying around the office making everything smell like sickenly sweet cinnamony hell. I hate how if you put cinnamon in anything, including as a smell in my house, it dominates everything around it. Here’s where cinnamon is allowed in my life: Donuts. Here’s where it is not allowed: Everywhere else, especially in my coffee.

5) Who is your favorite teen rocker? It’s Avril Levigne, isn’t it?

Avril does rule. She’s so “edgy” and “tortured”. Anyone who can come up with the following lyrics is a rock god;

“Hey hey, you you, I don’t like your girlfriend.

No way, no how, I think you need a new one.

Hey hey, you you, I could be your girlfriend”

Pure genius.

Fact Check

Click HERE for an article out today in the NY Post which fact checks the new George Bush biopic, W, by Oliver Stone.


And if that's not enough to whet your appetite, click HERE to read a great op-ed piece by Frank Rich in the NY Times yesterday about the horrendous direction the McCain camp has taken.

Fall Excursions

B and I made the most of fall today and enjoyed the scenery. First was a trip to Iron Kettle Farm to see the pumpkins and the baby goats, then it was an impromptu gorge walk near our house. I'm trying to suck in as much fall as possible while I still can. It's usually three weeks of pure heaven and perfection, followed by six very long months of winter. It's important to grab the window while you can!

Snapping some quick mountain shots from the car.

B doing his best 'little kid at the pumpkin patch' pose.

B furiously rubbing his hands after being peed on by a snake. (Seriously, it's one of the worst scents I've ever smelled)

View of the reservoir from the top

View from the bottom
(The elaborate strings were put up by a local artist who was taking videos of the creek by zooming a camera down the line)

Friday Poll

As I told you on Wednesday, the Friday Poll this week is: What is your go-to weeknight meal? When you come home and you're tired and not in the mood to think, what do you cook? Feel free to leave the recipe so other people can benefit from your idea. Like last week, the poll will be open all weekend.

The answer for us is always breakfast. Eggs and home fries or, more frequently, breakfast burritos. SO good!

Children Made of Sugar

If we had a baby right now, it would take all of my will power not to dress them like this for Halloween.

Via Mighty Junior

Stock vs. Broth

Thanks to the latest issue of Cooking Light – who should really be sending me royalties for how frequently I’ve been promoting them lately – I FINALLY learned the difference between stock and broth. Riveting life question, right? I mean, it’s not like that’s what I’m obsessing about on those nights that I can’t fall asleep, because trust me, there are much greater things to obsess about. Like, what the HELL is yogurt, really?

But it IS one of those nagging little things that keeps coming up in the kitchen, but you never care enough about it to actually look up. And then you realize you have one can of stock and one can of broth, and what the hell is the difference and which one do I use and WHEN THE HELL DID SOUP BECOME SO STRESSFUL?!??!

So anyway, without further ado, the difference between Stock and Broth according to Cooking Light:

“BROTH results from simmering a whole chicken or beef parts in water, then removing the solids. ‘When short on time, canned broth is a quick soup starter, but the convenience can come with a higher sodium cost.’”

“STOCK is prepared by simmering roasted poultry or beef bones and/or vegetables in water, then straining and discarding the solids. It often has a richer flavor than broth”

So... Broth = Whole Chicken (or Beef) and Stock = Bones.

As for that super restful night of sleep you’ll get tonight? You’re Welcome.

Easy Weeknight Dinner

We had a great, easy dinner last night from Cooking Light – Ziti with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes, and Gorgonzola Sauce. Ever since the most delicious appetizers ever, Gorgonzola is my new favorite cheese. The dish was great – very fresh tasting and light. B made a good observation that it would be a great recipe to add shrimp to for some extra protein. The only modification I made was to use whole wheat pasta, but that’s all we use anymore anyway. Also, next time I would add even more tomatoes and spinach. All in all, it was a great weeknight dish.

And speaking of easy weeknight meals, start thinking about your response to the Friday Poll, which is: What is your super easy fall back meal? What do you make when you want something better than frozen pizza, but don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen? Think about it for a few days and then I’ll post the poll on Friday.

Ouiser on MSNBC!

Ouiser is famous!! She's been doing a hell of a job lately volunteering for the Nashville democratic party and she continued that effort today by getting up at 3:00am to get the word out this morning and then went back this evening with Mr. Ouiser to stand at the MSNBC tent. She called us 20 minutes before Chris Matthews started and said that they were in the front row, so we stood two feet from the TV vigilantly watching the audience....

UNTIL WE SAW HER!!!!! B did an excellent job of catching some screen shots...

Yeah Ouiser!!! We're so proud to say we know you!! Don't forget us when they offer you your own show.

Rent or Buy?

Since everyone has been asking lately why we’re not going to buy a house when we move to Nashville, I thought I’d post a little item I ran across last week. In addition to the fact that I don’t believe in buying a house until you’re financial stable and out of debt, I also believe all of the economists who say that if the only reason you’re buying a house is for the investment, then you’re doing it all wrong – almost every other long term investment gives you a better return. I’m not scared of renting and I don’t subscribe to the philosophy that it means you’re “throwing your money away.” It costs money to live somewhere, and there are financial outputs in owning (albeit less) that you don’t recoup either – school taxes, regular upkeep and maintenance, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hater, I just don’t believe in doing something before it’s smart in a desperate attempt to “gain equity.” Soooo, until we can get closer to fitting the requirements below, we’re hanging in Rent Town for a few more years.

Stay put as a renter if...

You've got a three-year game plan.
It includes grad school or moving for work or family reasons. You need to hold on to a home for at least three years to recoup closing costs and fees.

Your super’s name is on your speed dial.
Whatever upkeep or repairs you do on your apartment now, multiply that by 100 when the home is your own.

You want a showplace, but it’s not in your budget.
Look for a luxury rental instead or keep putting money into your home acquisition fund.

The numbers don’t add up.
If your total monthly housing costs -- principal interest, taxes, insurance, and maintenance (and debt) -- exceed 42 percent of your annual gross income, stay put.

Consider Buying If...

You can afford it.
If the mortgage payment on your target home, insurance, taxes, car payments, and student loans are less than 36 percent of your gross monthly income, it’s a good signal to mortgage lenders that you’re not drowning in debt. Go to www.yourmortgagecalculator.com to estimate what your monthly payments are likely to be.

Your credit is good.
Run a check by going to www.annualcreditreport.com.

You have enough for a down payment.
The gold standard is 20 percent, but 5 or 10 percent will do. If you’re desperate to buy, check out 0 percent-down loans. But watch out: If home values drop, you could end up owing more than what the house is actually worth.

You have an emergency fund.
If you’ll have to empty your bank accounts to buy a house, wait until you can build up a cushion of three to six months’ worth of living expenses.

----------------------------


Also, we made these crab cakes last night for dinner. Crab cakes are one of those things that we both like, but it never occurred to me to make them at home. They weren't bad for a first go-round. Next time we'll have to cut the crab meat smaller, make the patties smaller, and maybe look up how to make a true remoulade sauce, but they were still pretty tasty. I threw together a sauce of sour cream, fresh chives, lemon juice, mayo, mustard, Old Bay, horseradish and garlic. It was actually pretty good, but I like the remoulade better.

Palin Humor

Remember this video of Matt Damon? Here's Part 2, in a manner of speaking...

And just for good measure, here's a little Palin Flow Chart that B ran across:

Weekend Home

We had an amazing time at home this past weekend. Got to see the family, watch the Giants game together, visit with the "bump," share meals together, etc. We went to the wedding of some close family friends where we heard THE BEST maid of honor speech I've ever heard. Ever. I wish I had a transcript I could post for you. In lieu of that, here's some eye candy for you.

Can you see the little bump??

The parents-to-be.
See the really pretty pink pashmina M is wearing? That's the fabulous birthday present she got for me.

And do you know WHY we were both wearing pashminas?? Because it's FALL. A little fact that I've been in denial about for quite some time. My denial hit me square in the face last night when we came home to an ice box where a house once stood. So, the heat went on and my heart sank a little. I'm excited for the leaves, the caramel apples, and all of that lovely stuff, but fall is fleeting, and winter is long. But before we dwell too long on that, there are plenty of fall activities that are in store for our little household: Iron Kettle Farm, Haunted History Walking Tour, Halloween, and whatever else we can find!

Food List

This morning Sweet Nothings mentioned to me that she didn't eat cheese until her senior year of college. This got me thinking - not only thinking that I can't believe I was friends with someone for so long who didn't eat a food as perfect as cheese, but also about other foods that would fall into that category. I now present:

A list of foods that are nothing short of perfection and should be included in every meal :

Cinnamon

Garlic

Cheese

Bacon

Chocolate - high end, not Hershey's

Sesame - oil, seeds, whatever

Peanut Butter

Good coffee


Now for you. What food do you think was sent from the angels just for your culinary pleasure? We're going home this weekend, so you'll have all weekend to answer.

Chicken Satay Burgers

As it turns out, you won't be hearing reviews on either of the dishes I mentioned yesterday. We ended up having Chicken Satay Burgers with Peanut Sauce last night and take-out Chinese tonight. I forgot to take a photo of the burgers, but really, they're burgers, you know what they look like.

I thought they had excellent potential, but needed some serious tweaking. If you look at the actual recipe it calls for a 1/4 C of fresh cilantro. Do you have ANY IDEA how much cilantro that is?! And I really like cilantro, but even with cutting the amount back, it was overpowering. Also, it told me to grate an entire onion. I sort of just stared at the recipe for a minute, not processing how or why you would grate an onion, but I got out the cheese grater and did it anyway. It does give it a different texture because it basically liquefies it, but in the end it was totally unnecessary. Save that, I thought they were great. I did cheat and use both the peanut sauce as well as ketchup, but I put peanut butter and ketchup on regular burgers, so that's no surprise. I will say that the ground chicken was incredibly moist, more so than turkey burgers.

But while I was tasting and analyzing the new recipe, B was busy having a ginger FREAK OUT. He agreed that the burger would be good if not for the cilantro bomb, but spent the rest of the time chewing slowly and looking off into the distance deep in thought. About half way through he said "what's in the peanut sauce??" As I ran through the ingredients (peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, fresh ginger) he screamed "Ginger! Oh my God... I. HATE. GINGER! I just realized that right now. I never knew that before!" It was all down hill after that and he filled up the rest of the way with ice cream and hot fudge.

Mushroom Ravioli with Parmesan-Chive Cream Sauce

I’m giving these a little bit of a mixed review. Taste-wise, they’re spot on. Very, very yummy and even healthy. My hesitation is that I’m not sure they’re worth the work that goes into them. This is the fourth time I’ve made homemade ravioli and the third time I’ve done it with wonton wrappers instead of homemade pasta.

Since I had some experience, they definitely went together faster than they have in the past, so that was nice. However, I have yet to figure out how to keep the first batch of boiled raviolis from sticking together while the second batch cooks. They get extremely sticky after cooking and so far neither olive oil nor the cream sauce has prevented this. (My mom suggested putting oil into the water)

Having the prior experience helped in other parts of the process though. I was more organized while putting them together, it didn’t take nearly as long, and they stayed moist without drying out. Also, thanks to the pot that has the strainer insert, cooking them was significantly faster and easier.

As for the sauce, I was surprised at how healthy and good it was! It was made from 1% milk, some fresh grated Parmesan, flour, chives, and salt and pepper. Truly surprising.

If you’re going to make this yourself, this is what I suggest:

* Set everything up before you begin stuffing the wonton wrappers. Have everything in reach so you don’t have to move. On the left – wonton wrappers under a damp cloth. In front of you – mushroom mixture and small bowl of water. On the right – a cookie sheet with corn starch sprinkled on it and a damp cloth waiting to cover the ravioli.

* Definitely use the wonton wrappers and skip the homemade pasta. They taste exactly the same and are made of basically the same ingredients. I’ll never use homemade pasta again after having such good experiences and tastes with the wonton wrappers.

* When you’re ready to cook them, take the strainer insert out of the pot, put in half of your raviolis, then set the whole thing in the water so that they cook evenly. Since they only cook for 2-3 minutes, it works much better and faster if you have them all in the strainer and then can simply set it in the boiling water, as opposed to dropping them in the water one by one.

* When taking the first batch out of the water, I put the raviolis into a pasta dish, covered them with sauce and then put them into a 200 degree oven to keep them warm. This is what I would change – put them in a single layer in an oiled cake pan. The single layer will prevent them from sticking together and using olive oil instead of the sauce will save the sauce for later and prevent them from absorbing it.

So, maybe this dish is one of those dinners where you just have to do it over and over to get it right. Or you need someone like me to do it over and over so you don’t have to. I’m not giving up though; it’s too good of a recipe! (One last thought - I don’t think it will ever be a “dinner party dish” since it would just be too much work, but it’s good for 2-4 people)

------

Tonight is either crab cakes or Penne with spinach, tomatoes and Gorgonzola – I haven’t decided yet. Tune in tomorrow to find out.