The Luckiest Girl in the World

My silence on this blog is often due to my lack of anything interesting and non-law related to write about. So... I will write about cooking. Like last year, I resolved to try one new recipe per week. Like last year, I have failed dismally. But! I made two new recipes today, so maybe that starts helping to make up for the lack of new recipes the last couple of weeks.

Today I made this: allrecipes.com/Recipe/Winter-Vegetable-Hash/Detail.aspx.  It was so fabulous, I can't even tell you.  It's kind of a stewish thing with lots of delicious veggies.  Just chop up potatoes, acorn squash, red bell pepper, mushrooms, shallots and kale, toss it in a big pan with olive oil, and cook it for about 20 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  It involved three ingredients I've never cooked with before - shallots, kale, and acorn squash.  The first two weren't so scary, but I've always found squash formidable.  They're so hard on the outside, I never could figure out how one was supposed to cut up a squash.  It was easier than I expected.  I just pulled out my big knife, chopped it in half, and went from there.  I would also like to note that I find chopping veggies to be one of the most calming activities ever.  Although the shallots did make me cry like I was watching a Hallmark commercial.  The only issue: if anyone has ideas for what to do with spare kale, let me know, because I have an enormus amount of it.

The second new recipe is for lunch tomorrow (my goal is to take something other than a peanut butter sandwich and an apply) and it is a chickpea salad.  Chickpeas, roma tomatos, cucumbers, and a dressing made from half red wine vinegar and half balsamic vinigrette.  Yum.  Way better than peanut butter. 

1. Replaced the 2 1/2 year old spices (which I stopped using long ago) in my spice rack.
2. Organized my pantry so that I can find things.
3. Sold a law book on line.
4. Bought a food processor.
5. Gone to the gym.
6. Bought a 2009 planner and put people's birthdays and anniversaries in it.
7. Watched the Chargers beat the Colts in overtime in a playoff game (I was not invested in either team, but it was an exciting game).
8. Watched "Basic Instinct."
9. Begun crocheting a new baby blanket.
10. Attempted the first three crossword puzzles from the New York Times crossword calendar my mom got me for Christmas. Me: 0, NY Times: 3.
11. Bought one of those computer cleaning air puffer thingys and cleaned my keyboard.
12. Registered to take the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam, for those of you non-law students).
13. Registered with the California bar. Note: this is not registration for the bar exam, before you can register for the exam you have to register... to register. Or something.
14. Made an appointment to get my hair cut.
15. Cooked a big pot of vegetable soup.
16. Made a dentist appointment (long overdue).
17. Played with pet rats.
18. Unpacked from the great midwest visit-all-the-family-Rob-and-I-have tour.

So far 2009 has been a productive year.

I flew in to LA on Thanksgiving, after having the good luck to grab an earlier flight for the second leg of my trip from Chicago to LA, and had two boys cook for me, always the best part of Thanksgiving. I broke my vegetarian, ok, technically pescatarian (adding that for your benefit, Madalene), streak of a couple months in favor of Thanksgiving turkey. And I am ok with that. We decided that Rob and John should have a cooking show called "Just Add Butter!" It would go something like this:

John: So, Rob, what are we going to cook today?
Rob: Well, John, we're going to cook a Thanksgiving turkey.
John: Great! I see you've got the turkey, which is only slightly still frozen in the middle...
Rob: That's right, John. We've also got all our other ingredients lined up here. Salt, pepper, olive oil, sage, garlic, a bottle of White Zinfindel (makes the turkey moist and just a little sweet) and of course... BUTTER!
John: Awesome. Let's just rub our bird with this olive oil, salt, pepper, sage and garlic concoction...
Rob: Perfect. Now, we'll put it in this oven bag and pour in the bottle of White Zin... perfect use for soccer mom wine.
John: And don't forget, we need at least half a stick of butter.
Rob: That's right! Uh-oh, I seem to have set the other half of the stick of butter on the cutting board where the raw turkey just was...
John: That's unfortunate... wait! I know!
Rob & John: Just add MORE butter to our Thanksgiving turkey!!!

So, after the big meal was eaten, there was still much wine to drink. The six of us, Rob, John, Brianne, Matt and Carrie played trivial pursuit. I am proud to say that Rob and I were victorious.

So, it's that time of year... no, I don't mean the holidays - I mean time to start spending every waking moment studying because exams are two weeks away. Sigh. It makes me sad that the holidays get eclipsed by outlining and hypotheticals. However, all is not lost. Tonight I had the good fortune of enjoying a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving meal with a bunch of law school friends. One of these friends made a dish called Snicker salad. No kidding. The ingredients: cut up Snickers bars, chopped apples, and cool whip. I was skeptical, but it was kind of magical. Although I would place it on the dessert table and not next to the other salads...

Thursday I will be heading to LA to enjoy the Thanksgiving tradition of Rob, John and I drinking beer and eating turkey. We may have more people as well, which will be fun. Thanksgiving is nice.

It has come to my attention that the space bar on my computer has started to squeak. I think this is unfortunate...

Today Audrey and I came home from having a couple of beers and there was a big package for her downstairs. What was in it? Christmas music!!! We listened to Aretha Franklin serenade us with Christmas songs. It was pretty great. I also had the first Bells Winter White of the season.

What better time to start blogging again but Election Day 2008? I would live blog the election results, except that I plan to head out on the town and drink copiously this evening.

Today I voted in person for the first time since I was 18. In the past elections I've either been volunteering or I've been living in Michigan and voting absentee in Missouri. I showed up at my polling place at 7:00 a.m., the time the polls opened, and there was already an enormous, enormous line. I left because I knew I couldn't get through the line and still make it to class. I returned at 11:30 and the line was about 1/3 as long as it had been, so that was a good call. It only took me about an hour to vote.

Here's a funny story - I had memorized the judges I planned to vote for before I headed to the polls. I decided to remember two of the options because they both had the initials "D.S." and I thought there was no possibility that any remaining candidates would also have those initials. But, the third candidate also, you guessed it, had the initials "D.S." So I was looking through my email on my iPhone looking for the information I had on the guy I meant to vote for. Sigh. Another lesson in not making assumptions.

Starbucks was giving away free coffee to all those with an "I voted" sticker. I went over there to check it out, but when I say that the line was as long as the one I stood in to vote, I left and paid a whole dollar for some coffee down the street at Espresso Royale. I'm not so much a fan of long lines.

Haiku2 for amedley
incoherent i um er that's so nice thank you so much snow on
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Created by Grahame

You may have heard me ask this question at times when I am frustrated with Michigan, winter, or the long distance of my relationship. Today I discovered the answer: at UCLA, I could never cross the street from the law school to the student union to find an ice sculpture carving extravaganza going on out front. There were speakers blaring some Vanilla Ice (which was a little twilight zonish before I figured out where it was coming from and realized that it was theme appropriate) and a table set up with cookies and hot chocolate. There were ice sculptures in the shape of Ms and one that was a heart with lovebirds on top. Another looked as though it were meant to be a pillar for something.

Take that, southern California! There are advantages to cold weather! Ahem.

Okay, so by popular demand, the dress Rob got me is at this link

Unfortunately, it did not fit. Also, the style was rather unflattering to my figure. Okay, that is an understatement. With the cut of the neckline it failed to cover certain sections of me appropriately, as I am rather curvier than the model in the picture. So, after conferring with Rob, I returned it and got this one. This works well, as it was actually his first choice, but they didn't have it in the color he wanted (they did have the color at the store in Ann Arbor).
I like it a lot!

Before sharing all the great things that happened to me today, I would just like to say that I've discovered that the best way to solve a problem is to post about it on my blog. This results in awesome, useful suggestions for the best way to solve the problem. For example, I posted about my poor dead iPod. Someone mentioned that you can buy batteries and kits for installing them online and that hers was still working just fine (thanks, Laura!) So I was looking around online at these, but thinking, "Huh. I'm not so sure about trying to install this things myself." So I called up my local battery store (my dad bought me a laptop battery from another location of this battery store) and found that I could buy a battery from them and they would install it for me! So, I dropped off the iPod today... by driving over in my car. Which brings me to my next example. I got great comments on how I should get some deicer or some rope or just lean on the door and lock it so it would stay shut (I tried the last of these suggestions, to no avail. But thanks anyway, Leigh.) I did end up taking the car to the shop (in order to get it there I ended up holding the back door on the driver's side shut with my left hand while holding the wheel with my right). However, these comments were ever so enlightening and made me think that my car door situation was not, in fact hopeless. Sure enough, the mechanic guy put the car in the garage, let it thaw a bit, put some WD40 on the latches, and it's good to go. He only charged me $25, and so far, it is the best $25 I've spent in awhile.

Onward, to the good things that happened to me today, bringing me out of my grumpy crabby mood of the past several days.

1. Last night it snowed... probably 5 or 6 inches. They were predicting 5-8. So I was already wondering how difficult it would be to get my car out of the driveway in the morning. My roommate Kelli said she was sure there wouldn't be more snow than I could easily drive through. When I woke up this morning, I looked out my bedroom window and was a little dismayed by the fact that there was so much snow on my car that I couldn't actually see the car. I took a shower and got dressed, then went downstairs for breakfast. Lo and behold, when I looked out the kitchen window, my car was completely snow-free! Kelli cleared it off for me. She said she just wanted to make my day start out better. Yay.

2. The sun shone in Ann Arbor. Temperatures reached above the freezing mark. Yay.

3. My car is fixed. See above.

4. There was a knock on the door. It was the UPS guy. He had a box for me. It contained a Valentine's Day present from Rob. He got me some clothes - a dress, with shoes to match. I like when Rob buys me clothes, because he picks out things that I would like but never buy for myself.

5. I went to dinner with Sunil. We were seated at a table right next to the one where the dean of our law school was sitting with his wife and two daughters. We were a little freaked out, to be honest, and didn't know if there was any possibility that he would recognize us. Sunil and I chatted, and the dean and his family finished their dinner. As they were getting up to leave, his wife turned to me and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but my oldest daughter wanted me to tell you that you're so pretty that she couldn't even eat." I was totally taken aback by this and I'm sure I responded with an incoherent, "I, um, er... that's so nice! Thank you." I waved at the little girl, she was probably 4 or 5, and they left.

So, that is the story about how I was finally cheered up after several days of gloom. The end.