Frequent Citations

Cranberry Sauce (Don't Mess With Tradition)

Cranberry sauce is a must for Thanksgiving, and there will be none of this canned stuff. Ever. Guaranteed sign of senility or alien abduction if I ever serve the canned stuff. The thing is, it's the easiest stuff to make and it looks as gorgeous as it is tasty. It's the recipe on the back of the bag, plus a little lemon juice, a touch of lemon rind (not too much or it turns into marmalade, yuck) and, if you're feeling fancy, throw in a cinnamon stick while it's cooking and takes it out before you serve. Do skim the foam from the top while it's boiling. Don't worry if the sauce is a little runny. We seem to be having a hard time ordering a thanksgiving dinner instead of cooking it. People (WF) are doing it wrong.

All In One Piece

We went to the shore yesterday morning and successfully avoided being nipped at by sharks, so we're still all in one piece. 

The ocean:  the cure for anything that ails you.  Except for the sunburn you get if you, unlike, say, me, do not wear a metal coating.  You know the kind of sunblock lifeguards wear on their noses?  I put something similar all over, and I still got a little red on my shoulders but not bad.  TFL is lobster-ish, unfortunately.

After taking the sea cure for a few hours we stopped at Ick-ee-ah and did a terrible job of shopping.  We walked out with 8 dish towels for $5 and not much else.  I do love new dish towels, so I don't consider it a complete loss, but let's face it:  TFL and I are not good at Big Stores. 

We also wandered through one of those absurdly cute neighborhoods with the quaint little shops and cafes.  We had an exquisite dish of beets and avocados -- I know, sounds weird, but it was fantastic -- at a little French bistro.  And yes, of course I found a yarn shop and bought a needle I needed to finish a sweater.  TFL found a meat-and-cheese shop and bought some kind of, well, meat.  I don't know, I'm not eating it.  Oh, and some very tasty olives, too, which I will eat.

All in all, a nice day off for both of us.  We need to remember more often that we have this shore thing right here, all close and convenient -- at least, convenient if our timing is good.

Today's agenda: a long ride, and finishing up a knitting project or two.  It's good to have goals.

Excited But Clueless

An excellent friend from law school is coming to town tonight, and I can't tell you how excited I am to see her.  And we're all going out to dinner, Excellent and TFL and I (not Dogness).  Problem: it's 8:30 and I haven't a clue where to go.

Sigh.

Nor do I know what I'm going to wear, come to think of it.  And I still need to do my hair.

So suggestions are welcome, but the fact is that there are a million restaurants and bars around here so we might just punt and go on a wine-bar crawl. 

Today I Ate--

Two tiny cinnamon melt muffins. A small slice of leftover frittata.

A boatload of fresh-made guacamole with salsa and chips with a sprinkling of cheese melted onto them.

A hamburger with tomato slices and mustard but no ketchup, because we were out. A dill pickle. Salad with fresh herbs, cucumber, and kalamata olives.

And, probably for the last time this year, strawberries with balsamic vinegar and feta cheese. This time we threw in some blueberries too, and served shortbread cookies and plain crackers on the side. It was even red, white, and blue! Clever, no? Well, tasty.

I hope your Independence Day was a good one.

Farmers And Markets

There was a farmer's market right next to the bar course yesterday. Given its downtown location, it had more flowers and baked goods than it did produce. Nevertheless, I succumbed to a pint of fresh strawberries, small and dark.

I got inspired by PBB's description and sent TFL to fetch feta. Please don't tell anyone, but I'm not a fan of goat cheese at all, so I'm passing on the chevre. (The movie of that name is quite amusing, though.) I have a bottle of one of the bottles of wine I got for graduation that should go perfectly with it.

Sometimes I really enjoy puttering around in the kitchen. Mostly, when I don't have to and I'm not so ravenous I'd eat an arm--I guess that means I prefer it when it's for fun and not work.

Alaskan King Crab Legs

I still love them, fyi.

Also: Shaw's Crab House makes pretty decent Cosmos.

The Obligatory Whither Now? Post

Lots of law school bloggers find themselves wondering, whither now? Do we keep blogging when we can no longer complain about professors? Is there much point to blogging when we can't say one word about work, which will consume 110% of our waking hours?

I started this blog to keep my family apprised of my continued existence while buried in the non-stop fun and games that is law school. I don't see my life becoming less hectic, even if it becomes less share-able.

One of the main benefits of the blog for me has been the way it forced me to look up from my mound of work sometimes and find something else to say about life. Whether it was noticing that the trees were, in fact, blooming again, or ranting about some current event, I would occasionally break out of the law school mind set and that was good for me.

So for the moment I think I'll continue. I'll regale you with the thrills of my Bar preparation adventures, agonize over the unsold status of our flat, keep you up to speed on our progress to the new and improved location.

Bonus picture: GirlChild's wall pocket with a flower.

Playing With Food

As I was cutting up vegetables for the salad tonight, I never thought about doing this with them:

Coconut Cake Is Not For Dogness

I made a coconut cake for yesterday's dinner. It was partly Easter dinner dessert, partly TFL's birthday cake. Having your birthday on the day of my tax final and the day before my Con Law final is not the way to get a big celebration.

The cake itself was basically a pound cake--dense and rich--with a cream cheese and coconut frosting. Not bad, all things considered. Dogness thought she should have some. Dogness has a thing for cake, and kept staring intently at us while we ate it and made it clear she was pretty miffed that we weren't sharing. She even tried to investigate it when we set it on the counter. Sadly for her, we were watching. Now it's tucked back in the fridge and as long as it's there it's safe.

But woe unto us if we leave it out, because she will eat it. And there is no justice, because she won't get sick from it.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter.

Dangerous Celebrations

I have an announcement:

I did not, I repeat not, fail Con Law.

In a modestly celebratory mood, I decided to make cookies. Or I decided to make them because I am an evil person who must not be stopped, you decide.

It is possibly one of the most dangerous batches of cookies I have ever made.