The Late Late Post

I haven’t posted since last Thursday! Yikes!! I feel like it has been a crazy few days between work, fun and more work, but there are a few delicious and random things to blog about, so it was all worth it 🙂

As I mentioned before, I am working on an editing project on the side and that is definitely taking up a lot of my time (and the piles of junk around the apartment are evidence of this). I really enjoy editing because it gives me a chance to put to use the organizational side of things…I love to research, write and edit my own papers, but when someone else has done the writing, I can step back and just sort of put together the puzzle and try to untangle the lines of argument and help the writer figure out the best way to organize their ideas. I have spent the last 7 years or so editing papers for some of my best friends, which is tons of fun!! Now that I am getting paid for this particular bunch of editing, it makes it feel like a real job and like I am actually putting my English MA to work! Hooray! It is still time-consuming, especially because it was sprung on me with somewhat short notice, so I spent a lot of time this weekend curled up on the couch with two colored pens, a big quilt, and a puppy sleeping on my lap. I felt like I was back in grad school…and it made me very glad that I was NOT still in grad school. It’s nice to be able to leave work at the end of the day, leave the pile of papers on my desk and not worry about them again until the next morning.

We also managed to get some fun in…we went to the gym on Sunday for some random weight training and swimming. The highlight of our weekend was actually Friday night when we went to the Showbox Downtown to see Blue October. The opening band was mostly annoying, too loud and a little too scream-y for my tastes, but Blue October was AMAZING. If you are a fan of them at all, I definitely would recommend seeing them live…the put on a great show and they played their entire new album which was just released really recently. In my experience, bands have usually played a mix of old and new stuff, but we got a wonderful taste of exactly what the album felt like before the played the older, recognizable songs. It was different for me, but really wonderful…we went out and bought the CD on Sunday!

A note to the two people who randomly met at the show and then proceeded to intensely make out in front of everyone through most of the songs: Was it really necessary to have your hands in each other’s pants in the middle of the concert?? I hope you enjoyed the rest of your evening in whatever way you saw fit, but some of us were facing forward and could not see past your groping. In the future, it would be greatly appreciated if you could relegate yourselves to some shady corner. Thanks!

Our original plans for Saturday included getting up early, heading to the gym, running errands downtown, being super productive. Our actual activities included sleeping in late, watching some Netflix with breakfast, trying to get the pile of dishes down in the sink, spending way too much money at Walgreens and Whole Foods, making dinner (see below), and watching more Netflix on the couch before bed. I also threw in some editing and cuddling with Santana. Not so productive, and definitely less active than originally planned, but we were exhausted so we went with it.

THE FOOD

Friday night, before the show, we went to one of Tom Douglas’s restaurants, Serious Pie. We have had this on our list of places to try ever since Matt moved up here. Serious Pie is basically a fancy pizza place. They have fresh ingredients, just a few pizzas to choose from, and a really small but cute atmosphere. We shared two pizzas—the buffalo mozzarella and san marzano tomato with basil (delicious, perfect thin crust, simple and addicting) and the guanciale (pancetta-type meat made from the cheek of the pig), soft egg, and dandelion greens (same amazing crust, ridiculously fresh-tasting runny egg, addictingly-salty pork product and a really fun treat). We decided it was a fun night on the town and also went for the panna cotta with blood orange for dessert. Panna cotta is one of my favorite desserts because it is smooth and creamy and usually not completely overwhelming. Serious Pie’s was a really great one and the blood orange was a great complement to the sweetness of the cream and sugar. Yum! Thumbs up for Serious Pie!

Saturday morning/early afternoon, when we finally crawled out of bed, I made breakfast burritos!! I am be  coming addicted to these things, so I thought I’d make them at home instead of dragging us out to breakfast since we had all the ingredients on hand. I filled spinach wraps with salsa, sour cream, center cut bacon, soft scrambled eggs, shredded cheddar, and an onion/garlic/pinto bean sauté…perfect breakfast/brunch for a lazy morning.

Since we had such a late breakfast, we skipped lunch and snacked to hold us over until dinner. Since I made a run to Whole Foods, I filled up on samples (chicken sausage, grapefruit, and other random yummies) and we shared some chips and organic fruit snacks while I was editing on the couch.

Saturday night was a semi-repeat of an Indian dish we’ve tried before: Major Grey’s Chicken. This time we had two mangoes on hand so we added those to the chutney to give it a little fresher taste…it worked out really well and made a TON of chicken (leftovers for today’s lunch!).

I have never seen mangoes like this before, but they seemed really similar to the typical ones I normally find and they were really the perfect amount of fresh fruit to add to our chutney.   

This time we also avoided any horrible side-dish recipes and just made stir-fried chick peas and onions with curry powder. Simple and yummy if a bit dry…next time maybe we’ll add some stock to steam them off at first. We also used our rice cooker for the first time to make some basmati rice which we added green onions to. I had a mini-breakdown and felt like a complete failure because even with a rice cooker, my rice got destroyed!! We had to make a second batch, and that one was not even close to perfect, but was at least edible. The rice we had in the cupboard was a brown basmati, so I am wondering if the measurements included with the rice cooker threw us off…they had three times listed: soft oriental rice, basmati rice, and brown rice. I had basmati brown rice…I had no idea which to use and flipped out a bit. Next time we’re trying regular white rice…I may be cursed when it comes to rice, just FYI. It was especially frustrating because dinner was running late and it was nearly 9pm by the time we sat down to eat!

It all turned out delicious though, so I am done being frustrated (until the next rice adventure).

Since we were running super late for dinner, we had an adventurous appetizer of steamed artichoke with a butter sauce. Neither of us have had artichoke like this. I love artichoke hearts in pasta dishes or in creamed soups, but I’ve never pulled off the leaves and scraped off the tiny bit of meat at the end. I think I overcooked them, and our butter sauce didn’t turn out very spectacular, but I thought it was fun and didn’t dislike it. I’ll definitely try again and maybe even order it in a restaurant (food is sometimes just more fun if you don’t have to prepare it). Matt wasn’t a very big fan even though he really wanted to enjoy the fun of picking the leaves! I was sad he didn’t enjoy it, but since we had a yummy dinner on the way, it wasn’t that much of a disappointment! Yay for new veggies! Here are some pictures of the artichoke massacre!

Sunday morning we actually got up at a reasonable time and I made ham and cheese omelets! There are no pictures from Sunday…partly because the omelets were a falling-apart (but delicious) mess, and partly because the camera was probably buried under all the piles of junk in our apartment. We had a much more productive day on Sunday, ran some errands, went to the gym, got work done…quite wonderful. For lunch before the gym we made turkey caesar wraps and some chips (which I had bought on a whim because they were on sale at Walgreens the previous day!!). Yummy and a nice not-too-heavy meal before swimming!

For dinner we took a risk and tried a new Chinese restaurant. We have had a hell of a time trying to find a good, cheap, takeout place around here and it is getting pretty frustrating…apparently Seattle has never heard of Lo Mein! The yummy (but a little pricey) place across the street from us has a noodle dish similar to lo mein, but it isn’t called that, and no place else that we’ve tried even comes close. Help!!

Anyway, the last time we tried a new Chinese place, it was the WORST experience of our lives. Most unsatisfying meal ever! Matt joined Yelp just to give this place a bad review.  Since Yen Wor Garden, we have been really hesitant, but last night we went to Szechuan Bistro in Greenwood, based mostly on Yelp reviews and location. Great choice!! Not only was it decently priced, it was really delicious!! We got a standard Sesame Chicken to figure out if this is going to be a good place when we are having late-night Chinese cravings and some fried dumplings because we are suckers. Both really really good…definitely not the best ever, but way better than most of what I’ve tried since moving to Seattle. I especially liked the dumplings because they had very thin wrappers on them instead of the thick doughy dumplings that some places have. Matt prefers the thicker dough, but I like the crispiness and meat to dough proportion of these ones. We planned for leftovers and got a second entrée: Sizzling Plate with Hand Shaven Noodles and Beef. Here’s a list to summarize this dish:

• I love things that sizzle!!
• The wonderful woman serving us brought out a super-hot cast iron pan in the shape of a cow (not a hippo, as I first thought) with sliced onions on it and a bowl of noodles, sauce, veggies, and beef and then the noodle mixture got poured onto the hot plate…SIZZLE!
• The sauce had a really mild flavor but a nice spice. It was a really interesting combo and let the noodles shine.
• The noodles!!! How amazing…hand shaven! This is obviously a huge part of this restaurant because they have it written in big letters on their window to draw people in. And they are yummy!! They are a bit thicker than regular noodles so they have a nice bite to them, but aren’t so thick that they’re gummy or too chewy. Very very satisfying
• The beef was not as good as Chef Liao’s (the place across the street from us), but compared to some other beef I’ve had from Chinese restaurants, not bad! And very flavorful!

All three of the items we ordered were delicious and went well together…plus, it was all ready and served to us in less than 10 minutes…crazy fast. Granted, no one else was in there at the time (I think it’s more of a lunch place), but SO fast! It is definitely a place I’d order take out from (free delivery!) if I was craving Chinese.

Tonight we had Open-Faced Bagel Sandwiches for dinner!  Toasted bagel, one slice of cheese, some super thin and crispy bacon and a runny egg! This was a super satisfying break during all the editing I was doing tonight!

We’re still planning butternut squash ravioli and an exciting secret meal that Matt and I invented last year and will be featured as a guest post on Dori’s blog! Stay tuned!

Random thing I just thought of: Stay Tuned is the name of an old movie my brother and I used to watch all the time…this family gets this crazy satellite dish and it turns out it actually sucks people into this world of television where they have to survive and everyone always dies because there’s some evil plot going on, and this couple (whose marriage is failing at the beginning of the movie) beat the system, escape from the tv and reignite the flame of their relationship! Awesome! For some reason I associate it with Mom and Dad Save the World—maybe we had them on the same tape?? Also, no one seems to know of these movies when I mention them!! I miss watching horrible movies with my brother!

Also, enter some contests! It’s fun! And possibly very rewarding!

– Kelly at Every Gym’s Nightmare is giving away a Gaiam Back Support! Wow! This is a super exciting giveaway and I would LOVE one of these to wear during the day…my lower back has always been a trouble spot and I am working on being really conscious of how I sit, stand and move!

– Cover up your Gaiam Back Support with an adorable tshirt from Strawberry Shortstuff. Diana is giving this away to celebrate 100ish blog posts! Hooray Diana!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Family, Fun, interwebs, Life, Matthew, Puppy, reading, Workouts, Writing, Yum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.