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.