TGIF

Well, I'm pretty much losing my mind. I apologize for the lack of updates, though I'm not sure I'm apologizing to anyone other than Ashley (and maybe Tara).

This week has just been absolutely insane. Work has been ridiculously stressful, both in general and personally. We have a ton going on, so we've all been here very late, and I just haven't been able to do the greatest job. So, there have been very mature episodes, featuring me crying in front of my boss. They will totally remember that for bonus time. I'm such a grownup.

On top of that, my bridal shower is this weekend! I'm really excited to see everyone who is coming in for it, and I'm excited for the party. It's going to be a great time. Of course, nothing is ever simple with my family, and there have been endless conversations about planes, trains, an automobiles, all of which have also left me in tears multiple times. I never used to be such a baby! But, it looks like everyone is taken care of now. I'm not even supposed to be involved in any of this, and my family and bridesmaids have done a fairly good job of keeping me out of it, but, as they say, shit rolls downhill. So, I don't know about any of the good stuff -- all of that is a surprise -- but I do know who is on what train and when, and how they feel about it. Awesome.

Also this weekend is my BACHELORETTE PARTY. Wooot woot! I'm just really excited to have a girls' night out. It's been forever. We've all been so busy with work, and now that I live a little bit out of the city it's more difficult, and I just don't have the time, energy, or money to go out big like I used to. I'm really looking forward to it. Fiance is staying in a safe place Saturday night -- with our priest! (sweetie, if you're reading this, don't forget to call him and confirm :) )

I'm taking a half day today because my friends are already on their way in for the festivities. We are going to do a little mani-pedi and shoe shopping, hopefully have dinner out tonight, and then we'll see.

I should have a much more fun update on Monday :)

It's the 24th!

..... I just realized my wedding is in exactly two months. Holy crap.

Monday already?

I know you're all dying for the weekend recap, so I won't keep you waiting. But first, who wants to know what happened with Partner confronted Admin about her mistakes? You'll recall that I asked her to make corrections to a letter, and that she would not let me show her, telling me that she can read, etc etc, and I left it on her desk and walked away. Well, Partner did talk to her the next day, showed her the mistakes she'd made, and said maybe next time she should let me walk her through the corrections. Her excuse for the mistakes? "I was already so aggravated by what had happened, that I just wasn't focused on the letter when I was doing it." This girl should run for office.

+++

Weekend Recap

Friday we finished up work and I met Tara on the bus, sort of (fiance had worked from home and was meeting us at church). I sat all the way in the front of the bus so I could pass Tara my metro card when she boarded, and so she could sit next me. Well, some lady who got on at the same stop as Tara, but slightly before her, plopped herself down next to me and did not offer to move, even when she saw me pass Tara the card. So, Tara and I chatted on blackberry messenger while this opinionated, obnoxious woman prattled on for the entire hour-long bus ride, telling the driver her thoughts on everything from her national merit scholar niece to the best vacuum for your money to why slate floors are the best in bathrooms. It was surreal.

Finally, we got off at the stop near church (and I remembered my purse!), and we headed over. Had a lovely evening over there, and then I went home and crashed. I woke up on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. I can't even remember the last time I slept past 8. It felt good, and it seemed to help me avoid the cold that has been threatening me for the last couple of weeks.

The rest of Saturday was nice. We drove to Jersey City (Fiance did end up driving me since I felt like crap), and I tried on bridesmaid dresses with my friend and a few of her other bridesmaids. I think I selected a nice dress (we each get to choose our own). It will be this, but all black:

I'm pretty sure I found a picture of it in black, below, but I'm not positive.

I'm pretty pleased with it. Of course, I'll be an old married hag by the time that wedding comes (well, it's only 4 months after my own) ...

Saturday night we went to church (noticing a pattern?), and then went to a great little Greek restaurant in Bay Ridge called Elia. Excellent. We went with Tara and another friend. We all shared a fried calamari appetizer which was perfectly done, and then I had a shellfish dish baked in a clay pot. Delicious. It's a great little place. After dinner, we went home, and Tara and Fiance played some Wii while I snuggled on the couch.

Sunday was a busy busy day. The parish council had to set up the coffee hour because our custodian was out, celebrating his own Easter. So, we missed most of Matins and the first fifteen minutes of Liturgy, cutting bread, arranging olives and everything else, putting out everything ... and then we get downstairs after Liturgy and there is ten times as much food, uncut, in tinfoil pans, out downstairs. There was a 40-day memorial for someone, and the family brought enough food to feed a small army. Greaaat. They are supposed to tell people when they are going to do that! So, on top of the fact that everyone was running around buying food and missing church to prepare, we had about ten times as much cleanup to do. Oh well. It was good food anyway.

After church Fiance and our friend went home and warmed up the Wii, and Tara stayed with me at church to help clean up. Thanks, Tara! Finally we were able to join the boys at home, and we played a ton of Wii. I schooled everyone in bowling, scoring a personal best of 209. Then I got my butt kicked in tennis and boxing. Well, first I beat Fiance to a bloody pulp in boxing, and then I got my ass handed to me by our friend. Ouch. Today I feel like I've done about a thousand pushups.

I managed to get four loads of laundry done yesterday while we were all playing and hanging out, and I made some pretty fantastic imjadra. It was nice to have company for dinner -- I am just so in love with the dining table.

Fiance and I went for a nice walk around the neighborhood last night, and got to bed early. I had big plans to wake up at 6 and make oatmeal, but I didn't manage to get out of bed until 7:15. Oops. Oh well. Here we are on another Monday ... which brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves, lately:

They just changed the elevator system in my office building. I work on the 15th floor. The building is served by two separate elevator banks. The one I take serves floors 14 through 32. We each have a special key card that we need to use in order to access our floor. You have to wait for the elevator to come, and then when you get on, you have to fight everyone else to make sure that you can wave your keycard in front of a censor, and then push your floor. Since the 15th floor comes very quickly, I have to make sure that I have my floor pushed before the elevator starts moving, or I could miss my floor. If anyone else tries to wave theirs at the same time, you cancel each other out. It's the most asinine system ever, and it gives me endless anxiety.

That's about it for now.

It's Official!

My mom is on her way to the post office with our wedding invitations as we speak. Fiance likes to make fun of me, because every time we've checked off another item on our to-do list, I say "It's really official now! We're really getting married!" But REALLY -- this is OFFICIAL. {:-D

I was very sad to leave my wedding band at home today, but fair is fair, I guess. It is wonderful to have my engagement ring back on my finger, though, and I can enjoy looking at it on its own for the next two months, until it has to share company with my band.

*******

In other news, who remembers the saga of the irreverent admin? Here's a little update. Things had been going fairly well. I'd actually talked to my priest about how out-of-control angry the situation was making me, and I had resolved to just try to think nice things about her every time she did something that would aggravate me. Well, before I'd even had a chance to implement that new policy, she actually started acting a little nicer to me. Apparently, though, her change of attitude was short-lived.

For the last several weeks, the securities partner and I have been working with the Department of Banking of a certain state, because one of our clients, a broker-dealer, is facing some securities violations there. The potential penalties are severe -- their registration could be revoked, and they could be fined enough money to put them out of business. Not a good situation. So, I've been researching like crazy, to find examples of more severe violations with lesser penalties imposed. Partner has been working on a letter, which is pretty much our last chance to show them why they should settle for less of a fine. On Wednesday night I stayed late, creating squibs of these example cases so that Partner could slug them into the letter. Last night, he finished drafting it all. He told Admin to pull up the file on her computer and to format the letter for letterhead. He told me to print out a hard copy and make any necessary edits (it's kind of my thing).

So, I printed out the letter (about eight pages), and I did some fine tuning. There was one type-o ("gain" instead of "again,") but most of my changes were stylistic: word choice ("incidence" was used where "incident" belonged), punctuation, capitalization, etc. I brought my changes to Partner, and he OK'd them. I walked over to Admin's desk, and she was talking to my friend, Associate. She didn't see me, and was telling him that she was waiting for me (well excuse the crap out of me for doing a thorough job!). So, I said, "you're not waiting anymore -- here I am!" in a really cheerful tone. I walked closer to her desk with the letter in my hand, and I began to show her the changes. She tried to take it out of my hand, and said "Just give it to me, I don't need you to go through every little thing." I said, "I would like to go through it all with you so we are clear." She said, "This is going to take too long -- I guarantee I can do it faster myself" (I wasn't aware that speed -- not accuracy -- was the goal). I said, "Partner always goes through his edits with me, and I'm doing the same with you." I swear, my tone was calm but firm, and not belittling or rude or anything else. Her tone was something else entirely. Well, she says, "[Miranda], I can read, I don't need you to go through this! Just give it to me!" So I said "Fine." and I dropped it on her desk / keyboard, and I walked away. I circled back around the other side of the firm and I went into Associate's office, because he had heard the first half of the interaction. He said "Wow, I didn't know she spoke to you like THAT!" Yup.

So, I decided I would go right into Partner's office while I was still mad. I went in and shut the door, and told him that I'd just had a moment with Admin that I was sure he was going to hear about, and that I wanted him to hear it from me first. I related it to him exactly as I've just posted here, and he took me at my word. He asked if maybe she was busy, because he'd given her some other stuff. I told him she's like this with me 100% of the time, and that I had spoken to Admin Coordinator about it, but that I hadn't wanted to bother him. He apologized for her behavior, which I said wasn't necessary, and he said he would speak with her. I told him I didn't care if he spoke with her or not -- she's his employee, his business -- but that I just wanted him to know the truth about what happened in case she spoke to him.

So, for the next couple of hours, I was working on something else. When I was finished with everything and was about to leave (at 9pm), I asked him if that letter had gone out. He said "Yes, Admin printed it, I signed it, and she scanned it and emailed it to the Dept of Banking." I asked if he'd checked it before he signed it, and he said he hadn't. We pulled out the copy of what was sent ... SHE MISSED HALF OF MY CORRECTIONS.

Thankfully, she changed "gain" to "again," but she left "incidence," and she left "Dollar" capitalized several times. Partner is NOT happy with her. He told me that she had, in fact, come in to speak with him after I had, and told the exact same story, except in her version, she was right to tell me that she didn't need to be hand-held, that she'd been doing this for 13 years, etc (Oh, excuse me, but I was in college and law school during that time, which, once again, makes me more qualified to give you direction). She told him that I threw the paper at her and it hit her in the arm ( 1-- I dropped it; I did not throw it. 2 -- It's a piece of paper). She told him that I was rude to him, and he said he found that hard to believe, as I am always very respectful of everyone. She said, "Not to the staff," which is complete and total poppycock.

I have been treated like "the help" before, like I was beneath contempt, like I was a peon (the two most memorable instances are working as a hostest and working as the caretaker of a house that belonged to cranky old stamp collectors ... but that's a whole other cabin time, as they say). The point is, I would never treat anyone that way, first of all because it's wrong, and I don't think I'm better than anyone else, and second, because I've been treated that way and I know how demeaning and hurtful it is. It is just not in my nature at all, and it's not how I was raised. Implications that I act superior and rudely like that really hit home -- it's personally offensive, and it's also professionally dangerous. Nobody wants to hire attorneys who are rude to the staff.

Thankfully, Partner didn't believe her for a second. And, he promised he's going to point out the errors she missed in this document. When he gets back from lunch, I'll follow up with him and make sure that happened. Based on the way she was bouncing around the office this morning, she clearly believes last night was a win in her column. Not so.

********

I am very much looking forward to the weekend, as you might imagine. It's not Easter for us yet (about another month), but it should be a good weekend. On Saturday I'm going to Jersey City to help one of my bridesmaids and best friends pick out the bridesmaid dresses for her own wedding, which I am also going to be in. If I am feeling brave and the weather is clear, I might just drive myself. Otherwise my gallant knight has agreed to drive me and then go wait in a Starbucks for a while. And people say romance is dead!

That's all, folks!

I'm Jactitating

Don't worry, it's not gross. It's not even illegal anymore.

But, if you're interested, here's the evidence:

Not the best photo, as I took it with my blackberry, but you get the idea!

The Eagle has Landed

My rings are here! It's so nice to have my engagement ring back -- I missed it like crazy. Plus they cleaned and polished it, so it's as shiny as the day fiance proposed (down on one knee, in the Yorkville Diner, after cheeseburgers and beer).


My wedding band is absolutely perfect. It looks roughly like this, though that's not where I bought it. It fits together so nicely with my engagement ring (but fiance says I'm not allowed to wear them together until after the wedding ... he's such a stickler!). For now, I have the wedding band on my right hand and my engagement ring back where it belongs, on my left. When I get home, I'll put it someplace safe.

My engagement ring, in case you've never seen it, looks like this:

Rainy Hump Day

Sorry no post yesterday -- I just wasn't feeling it. Work was typical, but we did go out for nice casual dinner at Circles last night, always a treat.

Work today is business as usual, as usual. I did hear that my engagement ring and wedding band are officially in the mail -- hopefully they'll get here super fast!

I continue to be turned off by Obama's rhetoric. If we are to believe what he says, then he's either very naive or he agrees with Wright. Either way, I'm not interested in seeing him as President.

Wedding stuff is getting very annoying and stressful. We're down to the nitty-gritty details now and they just make me want to bury my head in the sand. Every time anyone tries to talk to me about logistics and timing for the "day of," I just feel my heart racing and my face get hot. It's too much.

Sorry this is such a Debbie Downer post -- I blame the weather. I'll post again if something cool happens today :)

7 Weird, Strange and/or Random things about ME

In honor of Ashley (the crazy cat lady -- see my blogroll), here is a NaBloPoMo list:

7 Weird, Strange and/or Random things about ME

1 - I still sleep with a teddy bear.

2 - Everyone I know thinks I'm this super-organized "together" person, but my house and my office are always a mess.

3 - I have a sort-of-photographic memory.

4 - I'm a pretty lousy baker (but a pretty awesome regular-food-cooker).

5 - I've been to at least 20 different countries.

6 - I'm terrible at math.

7 - I spoke pretty decent Portuguese as a toddler.

KeySpan Follow-up

$179 came out of my checking today via auto-bill-pay. Pretty glad I didn't listen to that monster on the phone.

Weekend Recap

Well ... I didn't post on Friday because I was too busy freaking out over the possibility that I'd lost 1000 pages of opposing counsel's documents. Not to worry ... it seems the guy started numbering at 1000. Thanks.

Fiance and I got on the same bus Friday evening and went straight to church. We've got a lot of church going on between now and our Easter (someday I'll explain why we're on a different calendar, but not right now).

After church we went home and vegged. I didn't even make dinner -- my stomach has been upset since Friday afternoon (blame the luncheonette's Manhattan clam chowder, or blame the guy who started numbering at 1000 ...).

Saturday morning we were all set to tackle a bunch of home projects -- mostly cleaning and organizing, but possibly putting up shelves and a tapestry. But, on my way down to the kitchen, I noticed the answering machine light blinking. Of course, I hadn't checked it on Friday night. Curiously, a woman named Angela left me a message, saying that her brother-in-law, a bus driver, had my purse, and that if I wanted to meet up with him to get it back before he turned it in, I should call her, since he can't answer his phone on his route. While it was playing, I thought, that's odd, I wonder how old this message is, since obviously I'd already gotten my purse back. When the message ended, my machine said "Friday, 8:13 p.m." Yup, folks, you guessed it: I left the same purse on the same bus for the second time in a week. I'm a genius.

So, I called Angela back, and got her answering machine. I called the number she'd left for the driver, and he answered (sleepily) and told me that he'd turned it in. I called the bus depot in Coney Island, and they confirmed that they had it. Eager to avoid the Manhattan Lost Property unit and Yee, I told Fiance that we had to go get it right away. He was amazing. He didn't make fun of me or lecture me or anything. So, we walked to where he had parked the car on Thursday night, and he clicked the button to unlock the doors. Nothing. We manually unlocked the car, put the key in the ignition ... nothing. Totally dead. This is my parents' "extra" car that we're borrowing for a while, and neither of us is that familiar with the automatic light settings. Fiance must have left a light on. He was probably pretty glad that he hadn't given me a hard time about leaving my purse on the bus (again). So, we called my dad, and he said not to bother with AAA, just to call a friend. We called my cousin, and he came right over with his super cool Mercedes, which laughed at our pathetic 9-yr-old Chrysler. Well, the jump was successful, and we drove to Coney Island.

I got my purse back with little difficulty, we drove around a little more, took the car to a gas station where the guy tried to sell us a new battery and a new alternator (we declined) and we drove home. I did my hair and Fiance napped on the couch, and then he went for a haircut. And THEN ----- I DROVE! I drove over to the haircut place and picked him up, and we drove over to church for our premarital counseling session. For those of you who don't know, I've driven about 5 times in the last 6 years, usually only under emergency circumstances. I already was sort of afraid of driving (since I totalled my brand new car in '01), and then being out of the practice has made me totally paranoid. It's practically a phobia. But, we were running late, and I decided to stop being a baby.

Premarital counseling was great. We went through the ceremony bit by bit, and we definitely have a greater appreciation for everything now. I'm very excited for the ceremony. It's a pretty cool idea -- you get everyone you know to come pray for your marriage. We stayed for Vespers after counseling, and then a whole bunch of us went out to dinner (I drove). Good times were had by all. After dinner, I drove my friend all the way to 59th street, and then I drove home. Woohoo -- that was in the dark!

Sunday, we drove to church (I drove!), and then I DROVE INTO THE CITY. Seriously. Got on the BQE, went through the Battery Tunnel, up the West Side highway (even though we were going to the east side, because we wanted to avoid the crane catastrophe traffic), and then drove across the park at 79th Street, and dropped off our friend. Then we parked in a garage, Fiance found a Dunkin Donuts, and I met my cousin for some serious shopping.

We started at a small store on Lex between 63rd and 64th, called Expose. Their dresses are ADORABLE. I found a ton that I really liked, and I narrowed it down to one dress for my bachelorette party, and an out-of-this-world dress for the rehearsal dinner.

Then we went over to Bloomingdales, and had good luck up at BCBG, where we found a ton of dresses for my shower. One of them was perfect. So ... lighter in the checkbook and heavier in the shopping bag, we headed out to grab a bite. It was great to spend the day with my cousin -- who, by the way, is an amazing maid of honor. We just don't get enough time together anymore. I'm glad we got to spend Sunday doing some super fun (and successful) shopping.

I went back over and met Fiance, we picked our friend back up, and I drove to my brother's house in Jersey. That's right, folks ... through the Lincoln Tunnel, on to Route 3, and so on and so forth. I'm practically a professional driver. My brother was stunned to see me get out of the driver's side.

We had a fun evening celebrating another friend's birthday. I got to see my ridiculously cute nephews, so that's always a good time. I finally made the Dr Pepper cake, and it was delicious. I probably should have greased the pan, and I probably should have mixed the ingredients with an electric mixer instead of a spatula, but it was super yummy. I frosted it with cool whip. I highly recommend it. Here's the recipe:

Dr Pepper Cake

Ingredients:
One box of cake mix
One can of Dr Pepper (I used diet)

Process:
Combine ingredients. Pour into greased cake pan. Bake at time and temp recommended on cake mix box.

Turn it out of the pan, cool slightly, and frost with Cool Whip. Enjoy.

****

That's about all I have for now. I woke up feeling crappy -- my throat is sore and my stomach is still upset. I had to get off the bus 10 blocks early because of stupid traffic. I had a horrible nightmare last night that Fiance was eaten alive by mice in the subway, so I don't think I slept very well. I'm at work now, but I'd much rather be back in bed. Hope you're all having better Mondays.

A list

I am absolutely freaking out about wedding stuff right now -- I think you all know that already. I'm not really going to go into the details but I'm just stresssssed. So, I'm calming myself down with a little list/poll thingie ... very NaBloPoMo of me.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Babysitter
2. Hostest
3. Camp Nurse's Assistant
4. Attorney

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Breakfast Club
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. My Cousin Vinny
4. Finding Nemo



Four places I have lived:
1. Randolph, NJ
2. Lewisburg, PA
3. New York, NY
4. Brooklyn, NY


Four places out of the U.S. I have been:
1. Spain
2. Turkey
3. Japan
4. Thailand

(yes I picked the four coolest places)


Four of my favorite foods
1. Arabic (duh) -- Mom's or Tata's if it's homemade, Byblos if it's not.
2. Spanish mmm
3. Sushi
4. Chocolate


Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Home
2. My parents'
3. My future in-laws'
4. Phi Phi Island, Thailand


Four T.V. Shows that I watch right now:
1. Good Morning America (even though I can't stand the fact that it's not "Good Morning, America")
2. American Idol
3. John and Kate + 8
4. Little People, Big World

Stressssssss

I was wide awake at 4 a.m., my heart racing, wondering if it's okay that we didn't include directions to the church inside the invitation. I spent 20 minutes calming myself down. All of the out-of-towners will be staying at the hotel and will be shuttled to the church; all of the locals know where the church is. Breathe in, breathe out, relax ...

When I got to work today, my mom IMed me to alert me to the fact that I had registered for 12 place settings, each of which included a mug, and also registered for 12 cups and 12 saucers, and then an additional 12 mugs. Ooops. I certainly don't need to serve that much tea and coffee at once. I guess I didn't realize that the place settings included the mugs. So, I took the extra mugs off the registry. I try not to peek too often, but we have gotten a lot of our Macy's stuff, so that's really exciting -- it's all of our everyday ware. Unfortunately, our Michael C. Fina registry is, so far, untouched. I really hope we get at least some of our china for the wedding. It's sooooo pretty.

I got a lovely email from Fiance's grandmother (yes, she's 83ish and Internet savvy), letting me know that she won't make it out to my shower but is very excited to come celebrate with us for the wedding. She's just adorable.

Anyway, I think I am just going to have to get used to the racing heart for the next 72 days, and hope it means I'm burning extra calories. I am just panicked.

One of my best coping methods / distractions is cooking. Last night I made a perfect (and perfectly Lenten) portobello mushroom risotto. This is a recipe I've fooled around with a lot, so the measurements aren't perfect, but it should work out.

1 and 3/4 cups arborio rice (I ran out of that and used about half sushi rice, and it was fine)
one medium onion, halved and sliced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 box (32 oz) Imagine Foods Cream of Portobello soup (it's vegan)
3 portobello mushroom caps, sliced and chopped
1/4 cup dry sherry or other dry white wine
salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder

Saute the onion in the vegetable broth over medium-high heat until the onions are translucent but not brown. If you are not fasting from oil, use extra virgin olive oil for this step instead of the broth, but be more careful of the heat because the oil will brown or burn the onions much faster.

Add all of the rice, followed by all of the liquid (soup plus wine). This recipe goes faster if you heat the soup to boiling before adding it, but that dirties another pot, and this works just fine. Bring to a boil (stirring frequently), and then lower to a simmer. Cook for about ten minutes, stirring frequently (but not constantly -- which is why I love this particular risotto recipe). Add generous amounts of garlic powder, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice if it tastes like it needs some acidity. Mix in the mushrooms and cook for about another five minutes, until the rice is al dente and the mushrooms are warm. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for five minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley (and extra virgin olive oil, if you are using it). Serves two as an entree and 4 as a side dish. This recipe ALWAYS needs more salt than I think it will, so don't be shy with it.

I also made a very simple and delightful salad to start last night. I made a homemade honey mustard dressing (about 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, about two tablespoons of honey, and a good squirt of bottled lemon juice, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder), and put it over mixed baby greens, red peppers, and tangerine slices. It was perfect.


And here we are at another Thursday. Tomorrow is payday (for both of us!) so that's something to look forward to. We need to buy two wedding bands and pay for our honeymoon this month, so I welcome every dollar that comes in.

Meanwhile, I haven't heard from KeySpan since the irate phone call, which, on the one hand, is very nice. On the other hand, though, it makes me even more furious with the guy on the phone who told me that they'd keep calling me unless I wrote a check. Automatic payment should occur in 4 days -- we'll see.

I'm not cut out for this bridal crap

Honestly ... I've been dying to get married since forever, and I am excited about it. But the being engaged part ... not really my thing. Por ejemplo, today on theknot.com message boards, someone was asking how she should ask her friends to be in her wedding. For me, I think all 8 girls already knew they were going to be in my wedding -- we figured it out when we were about 10. I called them up and said, "You're in my wedding, right?" and that was it. Here's how another bride did it (and this is NOT unusual):

I bought little favor boxes, mesh fabric, little folded place cards, ribbon, and a little heart charm type thing (same hearts that were on the place cards) from Walmart and wrote their name on the front of the card and on the inside wrote Will you be my bridesmaid/MOH/Flowergirl?... I stuffed the box with the fabric and stuck the note inside, tied the ribbon around it like a present, and added the little charm. They turned out really cute, and were like $13 total for all of them.

Um ... seriously?

Happy Hump Day

First of all, I am turning over a new leaf today. I was lazy the last two days, but I am buckling down today and getting a lot of work done. It's Lent, I need to not be a lazy piece of crap, and that should probably be the case year-round anyway.

I forgot to blog about Monday's Parish Council meeting -- my very first. It was ... not bad! Not bad at all, actually. We had an agenda, the meeting was organized, and we went through it item by item. No debates, minimal discussion, nobody raised his voice. It was over in an hour and a half. I am very happy about that. I went home and made some sort of shrimp-avocado-salsa-tortilla thing, and it wasn't bad.

Last night, I made very simple and very yummy stir fry, from another Fresh Direct recipe.

Stir-Fried Shrimp with Scallions From "New York Cookbook" by Molly O'Neill

Elaine Louie recommends cooking this dish in two batches in an ordinary-size wok. Overloading the wok will cause the food to steam rather than fry. Serve this with boiled rice and cucumber salad. This recipe was adapted from Chinese Home Cooking, a pamphlet written by Elaine Louie and Julia Chang Bloch and published by The Organization of Chinese American Women.

Serves 4 to 6
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Scotch whiskey or dry sherry
2 teaspoons sugar4 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 slices fresh ginger (1/4 inch thick), lightly smashed
2 bunches scallions, or 1 bunch Chinese or Western Chives, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
2 pounds medium shrimp, rinsed and patted dry
Cooked rice, for serving

1.In a small bowl, mix together the soy, whisky, and sugar. Set aside.

2.In a wok, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil until very hot. Add 3 of the ginger slices and stir-fry for 1minute. Add half of the scallions, half of the shrimp, and half of the soy mixture and stir-fry rapidly until the shrimp turn pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove to a warm platter, discarding the ginger.

3.Return the wok to the heat and warm the remaining 2 tablespoons oil until very hot. Add the remaining ginger, shrimp, scallions, and soy mixture and stir-fry as before. Add to the previously cooked shrimp and mix. Serve over cooked rice.

I halved everything except the sauce, and I added the cooked rice right into the wok at the end. I probably should have stir-fried the stuff in half the amount of sauce and then should have added the rest of the sauce when I added the rice. It was a little too liquidy while I was cooking. But, the results were delicious. It was very light but not bland, and tasted very authentic. I used Sherry because the only Whisky I had was Canadian. I don't know how I can claim to be my father's daughter or the granddaughter of either of my grandfathers and not have Dewars in the house, but it is what it is. Anyway it was good with the Sherry.


****

So here I am, back at work on Wednesday, and I actually have some energy. I am going to be a real go-getter today, I swear!

In blog-related news, I am happy to report that according to SiteTracker, more people than my real-life friends are reading this blog. People searching the following terms ended up here: Coned (I assume it was ConEd), Katrina Kaif (I now have a reader in India, or at least I did, for a moment), and Orthodoxchristiandating.com brought someone from Oklahoma here. Very exciting.

73 days to go ...

Blah Tuesday

I keep feeling like it must be Wednesday. I feel super blah. I got to work a little late today (got a late start and then bus hit traffic), and I just never really got on a roll with my work. I can't get any momentum.

I called the bus depot in Brooklyn to find out about my purse, and they told me it was moved to Manhattan today. I called the MTA Lost Property Unit in Manhattan, and spoke to Heather, who told me that they had my purse, and that they close at 4. I went over there around 1:15, via subway. I was wandering around the 34th and 8th A-C-E station looking for the Lost Property Unit, and I asked a subway maintenance guy where it was. His reply: Downstairs, but they are closed right now. Me: No, they aren't. How do I get there? ... He told me where to go (lower level, behind the stairs, in sketchiville). The man at the counter was Yee, whom I spoke to last week (he didn't remember) and who doesn't speak a whole lot of English. I gave Yee my claim number, and he disappeared for about 5 min. Upon his return, he told me he did not have my bag. I told him that Heather said they had it. He verified my claim number, and asked again where I'd left it. I told him (again) that I'd left it on a Brooklyn-bound bus, and that it had been turned in at Elmer Park. He left again and came back, asking me if I'd left it in Staten Island. Nope, I said, Brooklyn. He left again and was gone for a good 10 min.

He came back and said they did have my purse, but that it needed to be processed, which would take at least 10 or 15 min. He told me four different times to be "patient" -- which was odd, considering I'd smiled the whole time we spoke and was very calm and patient. Whatever. I waited forever (patiently) and a manager came out and asked if I had any ID. I told him it was in my purse (duh). He asked my name and I gave it to him. He told me that he couldn't return the $26 that had been in my purse, because they didn't have petty cash at that station. I decided not to try to make sense of that statement. He asked me to write down my address so he could mail me a check. Whatever. I finally got my purse back, and got back to work around 2:30ish. Fun times.

The whole thing was like something out of a Cold-War era documentary on bureaucracy. The lesson: if you are going to leave something on a bus, leave it on a bus in Brooklyn, and claim it in Brooklyn.

******

Meanwhile, I decided to go ahead with the platinum wedding band, even though the price has gone up 50%. The guy I'm dealing with sent me a chart on the price of platinum in the last six months, and it really has skyrocketed. I hate having to pay up (especially since the price will probably eventually fall) but if I'm going to be wearing this ring for the rest of my life, I want it to look right. I'm probably not going to get my engagement ring back for another couple of weeks, which is absolutely driving me bananas. As long as I have it back in time for my bridal shower, though, I guess it will be fine. I just miss it!

Seventy-four single days left. Weird freakout feeling not abating.

They love me in India

A partner at my firm (of Indian origin) keeps telling me I look like this Indian film star. I mean ... she's good looking and everything, but that's kind of weird!

Katrina Kaif

I've had enough of useless words

"digerati" -- really?

Holy Crap!

I can't believe I forgot to post the most significant event of the weekend! My parents' best friends dropped off wedding gifts for us at their house, and we opened them on Saturday ...





I GOT MY KITCHEN AID!

It's so beautiful. I can't wait to use it! The Rules say that we have to wait until after the wedding. I think that totally stinks. I really want to use the pasta attachment to make homemade vegan ravioli during Lent. Oh well. They also got us the Sausage Stuffer attachment, just because it made them laugh. It made us laugh, too. :)

Weekend Recap

I just do not like Mondays at all. Starting around 5 pm on Sunday, I get what my mom calls Ed Sullivan Syndrome -- that feeling of dread that comes upon you when you know the weekend is dwindling and Monday is roaring toward you. I get anxious and crabby and I just don't like it. Work has been so stressful lately, and weekends are so nice that I get lulled into a good mood ... and then BAM here we are again. So ... let's escape for a moment and relive the weekend, shall we?

Friday night, Fiance and I took the bus straight from work to my brother's in Northern NJ, to spend the night. We had a yummy dinner, played with the kiddos, had some wine, and watched TV. Pretty much a perfect Friday night.

Saturday morning we went to the Diner with them, and the boys were very good. I mean, the baby doesn't do too much, but the 2-yr-old is just hilarious and adorable. I can't even stand him.

Afterwards we went back to the house, and Fiance and Brother built a treadmill while Sister-in-law gave me a much-needed haircut. I no longer resemble the 18th Duggar Child. Thank the Lord. It's about shoulder-length now with good shape and layers, so I'm getting some really nice curl. Very very pleased.

Fiance and I then drove out to my parents' house to begin the laborious task of assembling the invitations. Each invitation has it's own neato sleeve thingie, with a layer of tissue paper that needs to get slipped inside. Then, there's a response card with its own tissue paper and its own little envelope, and then there's the inner envelope and the outer envelope. Things needed to be sorted, stamped, numbered, alphabetized and stamped, and double checked. Four envelopes had minor -- but crucial -- errors, so the calligrapher has to redo them. I hope that I checked all the others thoroughly. They are going out approximately 3/20. My mom is going to give them one last look and will seal them and bring them to the post office to be hand-cancelled. Fun times. It actually wasn't awful at all. The four of us sat at the dining table with some music on, and we had a nice little assembly line going. Nobody argued, no serious mistakes were made, and we just all had a chance to chat.

We went to Minado for sushi -- it's "all you care to eat," and it's pretty good. Then we all went home, had some scotch, and sat around and talked some more. It was a very nice night.

Sunday morning Fiance and I drove straight back to Brooklyn for church, in a car we are borrowing indefinitely from my parents. After church we went to the Diner and had cheese omelets -- our last rendezvous with eggs and cheese until Pascha (we began fasting from meat last week). I'm actually excited about Lent this year -- I definitely feel like my mind and body need to be detoxed and refocused. I hope I don't fall into the carb trap; we'll see.

We went home and FINALLY put up curtains in the living room. I know you're all sick of my empty promises to post pictures of things so I won't even bother making promises. Soon, I hope to have the whole apartment picture-ready, and then I will post pictures. Until then, you'll just have to use your imagination.

We went back to church at 5 for Forgiveness Vespers, which is definitely one of my favorite services all year. It's an excellent way to begin Lent -- but my hamstrings are a little sore today from all the metania. Turns out I can touch the floor without bending my knees -- news to me!

After church we went home and I made an outrageously good dinner of pan-seared tuna with macaroni and homemade pesto. I was working without a recipe, and I must say, I am officially back in the game. I did a little laundry and started to tackle the Pile of Clothes in the bedroom, but I have a ways to go. Then I passed out on the couch.

***********

I'm still without my engagement ring, and they are reneging on the price of the wedding band. I know the cost of precious metals has gone up, but this is a pretty significant increase. I am going to see how much wiggle room I have. I'm a little resentful that they only mentioned the increase after I sent them my engagement ring -- sort of prevents me from going anywhere else, and makes it hard to haggle.

I'm also still without my purse, which, as you know, I moronically left on the bus on Thursday. I should be able to get it back by the middle of this week. I have to hand it to the MTA people, though -- they've been great about calling me and keeping track of it. I'm very impressed.

So far I haven't gotten any more calls from KeySpan about my gas bill. We'll see what happens between now and March 17, the day the autopay is supposed to occur. If they keep calling me this week, I am going to call the Brooklyn Borough President. This stupid company has full access to my bank account and has had my authorization for nearly two months -- they have no business calling and treating me like a deadbeat.

******

In other news, my wedding is in two and a half months. Ten more weeks as a single girl ... what a weird, weird feeling. I can't believe it's really happening! Fiance has been teasing me because he knows I'm starting to freak out. I'll get my revenge when he starts freaking out (which will definitely happen). We are supposed to have our premarital prep on Saturday, and hopefully it won't get rescheduled for the fourth time. We've been trying to schedule it since December. I'm really looking forward to it, actually.

OK, time to work ... I don't know how I'm supposed to bill so many hours when there isn't enough work to go around, do you?

Friday from Heck

Why was I looking forward to Friday so much? Why? Why? It's just another infuriating day.

Before I get into that, I must respond to Ashley's anxious comment regarding my news yesterday. Of course I am going to continue with the regular blog. The two new services are in addition to the one I already provide: artful recounting of the details of my boring-ass life. Also, I need to add that I am also available for grammatical advice. Duh.

Okay, so back to the day from Heck ...

The Gas Company Saga

Let's start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start). Fiance and I moved into our apartment on 9/15/2007. My lease on my old apartment in Manhattan ended on 10/31/2007, so I had a bit of an overlap. I called ConEd in Manhattan before I left, and I advised them to continue the first account through 10/31, and also to open an additional account in my name on 9/15 in Brooklyn. No problem.

About 3 weeks after we move in, the landlady calls Fiance to tell him that the gas company just pushed past her into the garage and turned off the gas to our apartment, despite her protests that people (we) actually lived there. Fiance calls me, and I spend the rest of the (very busy work) day on the phone with KeySpan. It turns out that ConEd controlled both electric and gas in Manhattan, but only electric in Brooklyn. Gas in Brooklyn is provided by KeySpan, formerly Brooklyn Union. Well, who knew. So, they had no name on the account, and the just showed up and turned off the gas. When I asked the woman why they didn't tack a note to the door or something first, she said, we didn't know where you lived! I said, "well you certainly found the place when you decided to shut my gas off!" to which she responded, "We didn't shut off your gas, we shut off our gas!"

They were totally obnoxious to me. It was a Thursday, and they said that in order to schedule the gas to be turned on that Monday, I'd have to make it down to their headquarters in Brooklyn on Thursday with a copy of my lease and two forms of photo ID, by 5pm. Well, it was 1:30 pm, and even if I could leave work (and I couldn't), it would take at least an hour to get to my apartment to get those documents, and then another hour to get to their headquarters. Not gonna happen. I called back every 15 minutes, trying to get someone reasonable on the phone. I called my mother, crying, just like any mature, 26-yr-old attorney would do. My mom said, "Geeze, tell them you have a baby!" as if that's the obvious secret code to get your gas turned back on, and only an idiot wouldn't know that. So, I called back, and I told the next person that without my gas stove, I didn't know how I'd heat my baby's bottles, and I didn't know how I could do the laundry, and I didn't know how I could bathe my baby, and it was supposed to get down to 40` that weekend, and I didn't know if it would be warm enough ... for the baby. I told the guy that I was an attorney, and that I would swear an affirmation that I did live at that address and did have a lease, and I would have that affirmation notarized, and I would fax it to him right away with two forms of photo ID. He said yes! So I faxed my sworn statement along with a copy of my NJ drivers license (bearing my parents' address) and a copy of my expired student ID. Gas got turned back on about 20 min later. So ... that was my first encounter with the gas company.

Fast forward a couple of months, as Fiance and I are trying to merge our fiances, debt, etc. I find that the easiest thing to do is to sign up for level bill pay, so all my bills are equal, and auto bill pay, so the money comes right out of my checking. This way, I know exactly how much I am going to be charged, and when. So I signed up for this in about January. I never got billed. I called the gas company at least twice in January and twice in February. Both times, I was told that the auto bill pay takes time, that I should ignore my paper bills, and just wait for the system to get caught up. I did what they said, but still called back every couple of weeks because I was nervous that they would cut my gas off.

On Wednesday, I got an email saying that on March 17, my account would be debited $179. My level bill pay amount is only supposed to be $89, so I called to see what was going on. They said I would be charged for two months this time, because the February bill never got paid, because their system wasn't caught up yet. Fine.

Wednesday was an annoying, long day, and at the end of it, I went home and went to bed. Thursday morning I noticed that the answering machine was blinking. Sure enough, it was KeySpan, calling about a "very important issue" regarding my bill. I called them back right away, and I told them that I had been eager to pay for months, and I didn't know what the problem was. They had an attitude with me right away, and they said sometimes the system takes 20 - 30 days to get straightened out, because they have to wait for authorization from my bank. So I said, fine, but you're the ones who called me, so just stop calling me if everything is fine. They said sorry for the misunderstanding.

Thursday was another annoying day at work. I got home pretty late, we had leftover mac and cheese, and I went to bed. This morning the answering machine was blinking again, meaning they called yesterday. Got a very similar message from KeySpan. This time when I called, I was irate. I was shouting at them at about 7:15, telling them to stop calling me like I'm some sort of deadbeat. I gave them access to my bank account more than 2 months ago -- just take the friggin money! I even called them multiple times to let them know that I wasn't being charged! It was like the Twilight Zone of customer service. It was infuriating. I said please make them stop calling me. The guy said, just send a check for $179 and they will stop. I am absolutely certain that if I send them a check for $179, they will still autodebit another $179 on March 17. I asked the guy if they would shut off my gas if I didn't pay in the next 10 days, and he said no. He said the only thing that will happen is that I will get kicked off level bill pay (am I even on it???). I said fine. He said that the money will not get autodebited on March 17, because the auto bill pay can't be activated unless there is a zero balance on the account. I am going to take my chances. If the money doesn't come out on 3/17, I'll send a check on 3/18. Until then, I expect to get a call every day from KeySpan. I am pretty tempted to get Seven on my Side.

The day continues ...

So then I get to work this morning, already fired up about the Keyspan thing, and I have a message on my work voicemail, from 9pm last night. It's the MTA (that's the bus and subway people, for you non-New Yorkers), letting me know that one of their drivers turned in my purse. Great. I didn't even know it was missing. All my credit cards, debit cards, drivers license, etc are in there, not to mention what the guy called "my personal stuff." Fantastic. The best part is that I didn't even notice it was gone. Good thing I had a bunch of business cards in there, so the guy knew how to reach me. So now my purse is at a depot in Brooklyn, and I can't get it because I am going to NJ this weekend. It will be moved to a depot in Manhattan sometime next week, and then I'll be able to claim it. Fan-freaking-tastic. Good thing Fiance and I merged our accounts -- he can just give me cash and I'll be fine. I also have all my credit card info on SeamlessWeb already, so lunch will not be a problem. But really? Did I need this? It's only 11am. What else is going to happen today?

Announcing New Services!

1) *Dear Miranda*

I think a fun way to get this blog really rolling is to turn it into a vehicle for one of my secret career dreams: advice columnist. Readers are all hereby invited to email me at pullingamiranda@gmail.com with requests for advice on just about anything: dating, single life, breakups, relationships, cooking, cleaning, careers, dealing with relatives, wedding planning, and whatever else you can think of. After 5/24/08 I might entertain requests for sex-related advice, but until then, if I'm not gettin' any, you're not gettin' any advice. I will not answer requests for legal advice. Sorry.

I'll publish the letters and my answers (redacting names, of course).

2) *I Have*

The second part of the news is the launching of the "I Have" project, whereby I will endeavor to match up all my single Orthodox friends either with each other or with random Internet strangers. Random Internet strangers are encouraged to apply. Don't be shy -- I met Fiance online, and he's (fairly) normal. We met on orthodoxchristiandating.com, but unless you are into Russian brides (or are a Russian bride), I fear you might be disappointed by that site. Plus, this way I get to indulge both my Orthodox Christian side and my (paternal) Jewish side, by finally letting my inner Yenta set up all my goyish friends.

Again, contact me at pullingamiranda@gmail.com if you wish to be set up. I will require a brief description of you, a photo, your location, and what you are looking for in a mate. I'll add you to my index, and if a suitable match arises, I'll contact you again and put everything into motion. Should be fun.

Is it Friday yet?

That's the question I asked on Monday morning. I had a premonition that this was going to be a craptastic week, and I was right. Nothing horrendous happened (thank God) but it just dragged and dragged, and I had two snafus at work that were not a lot of fun to deal with.

On the bright side, I made some amazing macaroni and cheese last night. This probably isn't the best weeknight meal, since it's a pretty involved recipe, but it was just to die for. I made two changes: I used 2% milk instead of whole, and I used Italian bread crumbs instead of plain, because that's what I had in the house. Also, I baked it in a 7 x 7 casserole instead of an 8 x 8 baking dish; it cooked in about 13 minutes instead of the 30 - 35 the recipe said, but I have no idea why.

Macaroni and Cheese

From "Artisanal Cooking" by Terrance Brennan and Andrew Friedman

Serves 4 as a Side Dish
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
5 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
Kosher salt
White pepper in a mill
2 1/2 cups Gruyere or Comté, grated (from 5 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup mascarpone
1 1/2 cups dry elbow macaroni

1.Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour the water into a 3-quart pot and bring to a boil over high heat.

2.In a small sauce pan, melt 2 1/2 tablespoons of the butter over low heat. Add the bread crumbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, toss well, and set aside.

3.Put the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a 2-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan and melt it over low heat. Add the flour and cook for 5 minutes, whisking constantly, but not letting the flour burn. (I had trouble with this step - I basically got globs of flour, nothing that could be whisked, but it didn't seem to matter. Once I added the milk, it all smoothed out) Pour in the milk and cook for 5 minutes, whisking or stirring with a wooden spoon. Add 4 1/2 teaspoons salt, 4 grinds of pepper, the Gruyère and mascarpone, and continue to whisk until the cheese is melted and incorporated. Remove the pot from the heat.

4.Add 1 tablespoon of salt and the elbow macaroni to the boiling water and cook until al dente, approximately 8 minutes. Drain the macaroni in a colander and add it to the pot with the cheese sauce. Mix well with a wooden spoon.

5.Pour the macaroni mixture into an 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture evenly over the top of the macaroni and cheese. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, approximately 30-35 minutes. Serve hot.

Embellishment: For a main-course pasta dish, double the recipe and add prosciutto and/or peas.


We had this as a main course, without the Embellishments. It was fantastic. We started with a salad with my usual olive oil / lemon juice etc dressing. It stood up well to red wine.

*****

In other news, I am having serious baby fever. Part of it is that work has been crappy this week, and my go-to daydream is that Fiance gets a huge raise, and I quit my job and stay home with babies. The other factor is this article I just read, which definitely did something to my hormones. The rest of the problem is probably just hormones. We shall see, my friends.


We're going to sleep at my brother's tomorrow night, which means we get to see the boys! They are insanely cute. Saturday we are going to my parents' to stuff wedding invitations. I cannot believe we are this close!

I'm wearing a new red dress today and I feel pretty special. That's about all the news I got right now. :)

Recipes

I don't have much to say today, other than that I worked 13 hours yesterday and got royally chewed out by the partner for no good reason. So, I'm cranky today, and thinking about food. I thought I'd post what I made Saturday night.

First, the Strawberry Misu, by Rachael Ray:

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream, divided
2 8-ounce containers mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 bag frozen strawberries, defrosted
1/2 cup water
1 package lady fingers
Cocoa powder, to garnish

Yields: 6 servings

Preparation

In a medium mixing bowl, whip 1/2 cup of the heavy cream to soft peaks with a hand mixer. In a large bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream, mascarpone cheese and confectioners sugar. The cream will loosen up the mascarpone making it easier to mix with other ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. In a blender, combine strawberries and 1/2 cup water. Blend until you have a smoothie-like texture. Set aside until ready to assemble. Layer the bottom of a square baking dish (I used red wine glasses instead) with lady fingers (you may need to break some in half to make it fit in the dish). Ladle half of strawberry puree over the cookies. Top with half of the cheese mixture. Add another layer of lady fingers and ladle the remaining strawberry puree over them. Add the rest of the cheese mixture and dust with cocoa powder.

This was delicious, and it looked great prepared in red wine glasses instead of in a baking dish. Plus, I didn't have to worry about how to make nice servings from the baking dish. Overall, I give this 5 out of 5 stars -- and it was well worth trekking all over tarnation for the lady fingers.

********************

Green Beans with Ricotta Salata Recipe #75454 (Recipe Czar)

Tender fresh string beans sprinkled with fresh basil leaves and ricotta salata and coated with a homemade mustard vinaigrette. Feta cheese can be substituted if ricotta salata is not available. by sugarpea 15 min 15 min prep SERVES 2
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
8 ounces string beans, stem ends trimmed
1 ounce ricotta salata cheese, crumbled
10 small fresh basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 1 pinch fresh ground black pepper

Cook beans in boiling water with 1 1/2 tsp salt, about 4 minutes, until just tender; drain and immerse in an ice bath; drain, pat dry and place in bowl with cheese and basil leaves. Whisk mustard, vinegar, oil, remaining 1/8 tsp salt, and pepper until oil is emulsified; pour over beans and toss to coat.

This was excellent. 5 out of 5 stars. Ricotta salata was a little hard to find, but we tracked it down at Piazza Mercado on 3rd Ave.

*****************

Steak Diane Recipe #19464 (Recipe Czar)

This one's a truly memorable dinner without a lot of time spent in the kitchen. by MizzNezz 15 min 5 min prep SERVES 4

4 rib eye steaks (1/2 in)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter (divided)
3 teaspoons green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon fresh chives, minced

Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Heat 2 T butter in skillet,stir in onions and mustard. Add steaks. Cook for 3 minutes on each side. Remove to serving platter and keep warm. To skillet, add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and remaining 2 T butter. Cook for 2 minutes. Add parsley and chives. Pour over steaks.

I give this a 4 out of 5. It was missing a little something, but was very tender, and I loved the buttery taste.

************

Roasted Potatoes

I don't have an actual recipe for this, since I just did whatever I always saw my mom do.

1 bag of red "new" potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Rosemary (dried or fresh)
salt and pepper to taste
onion powder
garlic powder

Mix everything together and put it in a baking dish. Stick in the over at about 375. Stir with spatula occasionally. Turn it up if it's taking too long. Remove when golden brown.

Epilogue

I forgot to mention the most traumatic part of the weekend ...

After Fiance made the Duggar comment, I went into the bathroom to admire my long dark locks. I have super dark brown hair, almost black, but it's lighter around my hairline and has a lot of red mixed up in it, if you look at it under the lights. So there I was, examining my raven Rapunzelage, when I saw it ... yet another wiry silver hair, sticking straight up from my part. I had my first gray hair October 6, 2001. I remember because it was the day before my cousin's wedding, and I was only 20. I freaked out, but I attributed it to 9/11 stress, and I didn't see another one for years. The LSAT, law school, the Bar Exam ... no grays. I got engaged April 13, 2007, and I've had probably 10 gray hairs. I've blamed Fiance for each and every one of them. I pulled out the little sucker, and continued the examination, whereupon I found another hair that was black through most of the shaft, but silver from the root through the first few inches. This cannot be a good sign. I do not want to start dying my hair, mostly because I have such cool variation of color, and I want to keep it (except for the gray). Highlights just don't look right on me, since I'm olive but not really dark, so I can't use highlights to camouflage. I guess I'll keep an eye on them for a while, but I think I am going to have to start dying my hair very dark brown / black. I am not pleased.

You Look Like a Duggar

First things first ... apparently I've fallen off the NaBloPoMo wagon before I even got on it. I'm supposed to post every day of March, with a list theme. I'm going to quit before I begin. I don't want to be boxed in like that, and you guys (if you exist) don't want to read formulaic posts. So, now that that's out of the way ...

The Weekend

Fiance and I had dinner at Divine Bar (East) on Friday night with his friend from high school and her fiance. Fiance and the friend hadn't seen each other since graduation (10 years ago), so it was exciting, and turned out to be a lot of fun. She's super sweet, and the two of them are getting married a week before we are. We had fun talking about wedding and non-wedding things. They are both M.D. / PhD students (morons, obvi), and we had some interesting chats about health care, among other things. I really hope we go out with them soon.

Saturday was insanity. I woke up (sufficiently hungover) at 7 a.m. and hightailed it to the grocery store (the "groshery" as Fiance would say), to prepare for the little dinner party we were planning for Saturday eve. I had to get an early start since we were planning on being at church all day for a retreat. Well, I was originally going to make Dr Pepper cake for dessert, but our new wonderful paralegal talked me into making Rachel Ray's Strawberry Tiramisu. I cannot for the life of me find the recipe online, but if I do, I will post it. The paralegal printed it out for me (I think she was horrified that I was going to feed my guests Dr Pepper cake). Anyway, so it's 7am and I am hungover, and my grocery cart (the one I bring from home, since I am sans auto), has a shaky wheel. I'm weaving up and down the streets, and I probably looked like a crazy person. I went to Foodtown and got everything I needed, except for the lady fingers for the tiramisu. So then I went over to Key Foods, down the road, stopping at two convenience stores and two bakeries along the way. No lady fingers anywhere. I already had the strawberries and the mascarpone cheese for the tiramisu, plus the steak and veggies for dinner, and I just stopped and bought a can of Dr Pepper (back to Plan A), and went home.

It was still only 8:45 when I got home, but I saw my mom was online, so I gave her a call. She said to use pound cake. Poor Fiance was as hungover as I was (even though he got to sleep two hours later), and my ranting and carrying on with my mother did not amuse him. Sorry, honey. He was probably less amused when I asked him to run out and buy some pound cake. Anyway I put all the groceries in the fridge, we cleaned the house (80% anyway), showered, and we made it to church by 11. Not bad.

The retreat at church was pretty good, but, as always, dragged on way longer than it needed to. We started with Saturday of the Souls Liturgy. I don't know why I didn't expect to cry though a Liturgy praying for all our dead friends, but somehow I was surprised by the fact that I wept through the whole thing. Every time I started to get myself together, I would look over at my priest's wife, and since she was crying harder than I was, I'd lose it all over again. Not a good situation. I thought I was pretty much finished crying but I guess not.

We had two speakers. The first is a crazy Canadian man who is really energetic and really wise. His lecture was hilarious but really moving, too. He talked about why we fast, how we should fast, and what we are supposed to get out of fasting (this was a Lenten-themed retreat). I think everyone -- especially the older generation that isn't as accustomed to fasting -- came away with a better understanding and appreciation for fasting. Then we ate an ironically large lunch of subs and cookies.

The second speaker talked about forgiveness, and his lecture wasn't as carefully structured. The old ladies ended up standing up and, without using any names but saying things like "I think you all know who I'm talking about," recounted stories of old grudges that they either had or hadn't let go. It was amusing, to say the least.

We then had a too-long coffee break, followed by a too-long question-and-answer session, followed by Vespers. Vespers usually lasts about 35 min, but we had so many guest chanters who liked to do thing slooooowly that we didn't get out of there in less than an hour. So, it was 6 p.m. before we left church, and my friends were supposed to come by 7. I was anxious, to say the least.

Then, I remembered this little Italian Market in the neighborhood. I don't know how I didn't notice it as I was wandering up and down the street that morning. My friend was with us and offered to run there for lady fingers (and another cheese I needed), and, thankfully, they had it.

We ran home, started the roasted potatoes (thanks again to my friend), did the string bean salad (recipes to follow), and assembled the strawberry tiramisu. We finished cleaning (squirrelling) the house, and I had the steaks ready to be cooked before my friends got there.

We had a great evening of wine, fine dining, and wii. Very sophisticated. I was thrilled to break in the new dining table, and it was just a great night all around.

Sunday we dragged ourselves back to church, and then went to Skinflints for burgers. We went home and I basically sat on the couch all day while Fiance did some cleaning and organizing. Finally, we were hanging out on the couch last night, and I mentioned about how badly I need a haircut (it's been since Labor Day, and it's now past the middle of my back). Fiance says, "Yeah, you look like a Duggar!" I've never been so angry while laughing so hard before. He's hilarious.

And now, somehow, it's Monday again. I got to work super early this morning, and I have a ton to do (why am I blogging? because my people need me). Hopefully won't be a super late night, but Fiance is going to have to stay late anyway, so I don't really mind. I'm planning on making tilapia tonight. We'll see.