Law & Disorder

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times ...

2011-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

Cliche, yet so very true.

The year started out great, with the birth of our sweet, adorable, goofy baby girl. I relished my time away from the office on maternity leave. What could be better than a steady schedule of baby snuggles, bad tv, shopping, and never having to set the alarm? I spent a lot of time with family and friends I usually don't get to see too often. My husband found a job quickly once he started looking -- a job that is vastly different (for the better) in terms of quality of life. We took a fabulous vacation to Maui and saw two of our good friends get married. I returned to work a found a new, comfortable groove in my assignment -- something I hadn't felt in the office for quite some time. Things were really, really good and I was really, really happy. Sure there were challenges and annoyances along the way, but the good far outweighed the bad. There were days I'd be in my office during lunch, catch a glimpse of a family photo or read a funny message from a friend, and think to myself "I am so blessed."

Then everything with my dad happened and my world fell apart. While I still can find joy, humor, and goodness in various things, there is still a deep sadness that permeates each day. No matter how enjoyable a particular day might be, at the end of it, in those moments right before you drift off to sleep, all my thoughts come back to the following: dad is gone, mom is losing her mind, and my relationship with my brother is (probably) permanently damaged.

When I look back on 2011, I don't know how to label it. Obviously the latter part of the year sucked big time, but the year also brought me some of the most magical moments I've ever experienced. So whatever 2011 was, I'm just relieved that it is over. And whatever 2012 will be, I just hope it isn't as much of a roller coaster ride.

Wishing all of you a happy and prosperous New Year!

Six Weeks

2011-12-23T21:39:00.000-08:00

It's been just around six weeks since my dad died.

People have told me that I'll find "a new normal," but for now it just all still seems surreal.

There's a lot I want to document about everything that happened, but I can't. Not yet.

I don't cry every day anymore, but I've reached the point where something out of the blue, or the little things, will upset me and make me sad. Stuff like passing by the merlot section in BevMo. It's never been my favorite varietal, but it was my dad's favorite, so I'd always buy him a nice bottle for the holidays that we'd end up sharing. Tonight I wrote out all the cards for my parents' grandkids, grand-nieces & grand-nephews on behalf of my mom. Then I realized that with my mom's condition (dementia) and my dad's passing, there'd be no more cards for me from my parents on special occasions. And I still can't bear to read a newspaper when I'm up in San Francisco, because my dad and I would always swap sections.

I have no idea how to get through this Christmas weekend.

You can have a plan ...

2011-11-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

... but then life decides to throw up a roadblock instead.

In other words, my efforts at NaBloPoMo '11 are pretty much done today, Day 2.

At 9am this morning I was laughing & joking with court staff.

At 10am I got a message that my dad had taken a nasty fall, but appeared to be alright apart from a lot of blood.

At 11am I got a phone call that my dad was actually going to be facing an emergency craniotomy for a large subdural hematoma.

Cue sobbing & a massive freakout.

I never expected to spend my lunch talking to a neurosurgeon.

I don't have a laptop or iPad, so blogging will have to fall to the wayside since I've obviously got some business to handle.

If there was anything good to be said about today, it was the overwhelming amount of good thoughts and support I received from my friends --- old, new, near, far & some that I have never even met in person yet. Your messages really do mean a lot.

At 10pm, the adrenaline that has kept me going all day is gone & I am wiped out. But I've still got about 500 things to do before I can attempt sleep.

It's NaBloPoMo!

2011-11-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

What better time to start blogging again, especially if you've been a slacker like me, right?

But of course it *has* to start on a Tuesday, the busiest day of my week. So for today, this is all you get.

Lame, I know. So leave me a comment and flame away!

The End is Near

2011-07-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

Not the end of days, but the end of my awesome maternity leave, which sort of feels the same to me. :(

Remember that Leave List I drafted back in March? I've completed exactly 1-1/2 things on that list. I had super fun purple-ish streaks in my hair and I've gotten through most of that magazine pile. While I didn't spend any time on those other things on the list, I did spend a lot of time having fun. Sure there were days filled with dirty diapers and naptime tantrums, but there were far more days filled with hanging out with friends, visiting family, shopping, food truck chasing, cooking new recipes, watching tv & cuddling a sweet, happy baby. And there wasn't a single day I had to set the alarm clock for myself. No regrets man.

I'm now staring down approximately the last three weeks of my leave, trying to maximize my fun before I'm shackled to The Man again. I already covered up my purple hair with a dress code friendly shade of brown. *sigh* So here is my updated leave list:

- Spend a day at Laguna Beach
- Have brunch with friend(s)
- Go on our 1st real vacation in over a year
- Read "A Suitable Boy" (not your traditional beach read, but whatevs)
- Finish all those magazines
- Stop checking my work e-mail
- Make beef bourguigon (even though it's 5 million degrees outside)

I've left myself some wiggle room to go wherever the day may take me. :-)

I will miss you maternity leave, but let's stick our head in the sand about your imminent demise and make every day count in the meantime!

Operation Wedding Weight

2011-06-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

In January 2012, I will celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary. Since that day back in 2007, I have gained 50 pounds.

Say it with me ..... HOLY SHIT!!!!!

When I got married, I was 10 pounds above what would be the upper limit of a normal BMI for my height, but I thought I still looked pretty good. BMI doesn't account for big boobs.

(blurry pic of a pic but you get the idea)

These days however, I pretty much hate every photo of myself, as well as my reflection in the mirror.

How does one gain 50 pounds in almost 5 years? Well there was happy post-marriage weight, followed by stress-eating-due-to-a-sucky-boss-weight, followed by pregnancy weight, with a HUGE dose of laziness thrown in. Yeah, I can't believe I let me do this to myself either.

So tomorrow morning I commence Operation Wedding Weight. The goal is to get as close as I can to my wedding weight by my wedding anniversary. That's 50 pounds in 31 weeks, which breaks down to a target loss of 1.6 pounds per week. Not too unreasonable, right?

The plan is as follows:
- 3 low carb meals and 2 snacks per day (aiming for no more than 1600 calories/day)
- limit of one 5oz. glass of wine per night, if at all
- skating 2x per week
- pilates 2x per week
- cardio 4x per week, for at least 40 minutes
- a daily 2-3 mile walk with the kid for the rest of maternity leave

I could totally say that this is all in the interest of health now that I'm 35, that diabetes runs in the family and gestational diabetes upped my chances even more of developing Type 2, that I want to model healthy eating for my child, blah blah blah, but in all honesty I'm just a really vain bitch who wants to feel pretty and shop easily again.

If I put it out on the interwebz I have to do it right?

My First Mother's Day (Epically Long)

2011-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

Note: Obviously this is late, but I had food poisoning on Sunday, the worst case I've had since college. Happy Mother's Day indeed!

It seems like an opportune time for Juliette's birth story, no? I know some of you are cringing and clicking the back button already, but I swear there is not much grossness in this post. This is likely to be the longest post I will ever write, but I need to document as much as I can while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind. And I didn't want to spend the whole week breaking it up into parts. Besides, thirteen to fifteen years from now I'm going to need this info to lay a guilt trip on the kiddo. ;-)

On Saturday January 22nd, I was just shy of being 35 weeks pregnant. I went to pilates in the morning, thought about packing a hospital bag & reading some birth prep info, napped instead, ate dinner, watched tv & went to bed by 11pm. I wanted to be well rested for the next day, as we had plans to see the 3rd show in our Pantages season ticket package. It was a pretty typical, lazy day.

At 3am on Sunday January 23rd, I woke up with a backache. Figuring I may have pulled something in pilates I tried to adjust my sleep position. Nothing seemed to alleviate the pain though. By 4am I gave up on trying to sleep and went out to the living room. Initially, sitting up seemed to relieve my back, but then the pain would return. After nearly 45 minutes I realized that the pain was coming & going every 4 minutes and I frantically starting googling "back labor." I also had signs of bloody show. It wasn't long after that Google search that I frantically called Kaiser hospital's 24-hour advice line. I got transferred to a Labor & Delivery nurse who told me to come straight in if the pattern of back pain continued for 2 hours.

By that point, Eddie had woken up. I updated him as to what was going on. Then he went back to bed. Hmph. From 5-6am I timed my labor, which stayed at a steady 4 minutes between back contractions, while watching Say Yes to the Dress. At 6am I started throwing together a bag to take to the hospital. Luckily I had polled some mom friends a few weeks earlier on what they felt was essential, so I had a list written down already. I love packing lists, no matter the situation. At 6:30am I made myself somewhat presentable & woke up Eddie. Or rather tried to wake up Eddie. From bed he saw me standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom & told me to let him know when I was ready, then rolled back over. I promptly informed him that it was not a hair & makeup type of day & that we needed to leave asap. Within 15 minutes he was up, walked the dog & we were on our way.

Here is where Meltdown #1 occurred. We were in no way ready for a baby that wasn't supposed to arrive for another five weeks. I had no idea why I was in preterm labor. I knew that my OB, whom I adore & completely trust, was on vacation out of town. Cue the tears.

Around 7am we arrived at the L&D admitting office. They took down all my basic info, then sent me into a triage room where I got hooked up to monitors to measure my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. I also got flooded with fluids, in case dehydration was the culprit. Then I was given two doses of procardia, with the hope the medication would stop the contractions. No such luck. I was in some sort of denial at this stage, thinking that I might need to take the morning off work the next day or might need to be on bedrest for a while. The reality is that I was still contracting every 4 minutes, despite being dilated only1cm. They decided to complete the admissions process and I was on my way to a birthing suite by 10am.

The birthing suite was large & private with a huge bathroom and shower. I wish I had time to take advantage of it all, but back labor is excruciating. Every doctor & nurse I encountered said it's the worst type of labor pain except for pitocin-induced contractions. Yikes. By the time I got settled into the birthing suite, around 11am, I was dilated to 4cm. My 1st and most awesome nurse offered me an epidural. I had no qualms about saying "Yes please!" At 12pm, the nurse anesthetist arrived, Eddie was sent out of the room and I got into position to get the epidural. While I had heard many tales about the huge epidural needle, etc. what I hadn't heard was how much the local anesthesia prior to the epidural hurts. Holy shit that stuff stung like a mofo. I don't know if it was my inability to get into a good position or the nurse anesthetist's inability to do her job, but it took two attempts and nearly one hour to get that sucker in me. Once the epidural took effect, things were pretty blissful. I wasn't in pain and I could lay in bed watching tv to my heart's content. I was constantly on the phone, texting family, friends, & my boss (since by that point it was clear I wasn't going to be in at all the next day). I met the on-call OB, who was perfectly nice. I also met with a NICU doctor, just in case the baby would need to go there after birth, but he seemed optimistic that she wouldn't need to. The only bad thing at this point was the fact that I was starving. I had been on a very regimented diet that had me eating every 3 hours for gestational diabetes, but it was well over 12 hours since my last snack of greek yogurt. Around 5pm my nurse took pity on me and snuck me 2 orange-flavored sugar-free popsicles. At the time, those popsicles were as delicious as anything I'd ever eaten in a Michelin-starred restaurant. I continued to get checked for progress and was pleased to find out I had dilated to 7cm. It seemed as if the baby would be born by midnight.

At 7pm, a new nurse came on duty and checked me again. I was still at 7cm. A couple hours later, I was still at 7cm. At midnight, I was still at 7cm. The doctor came in and told me he didn't want to do any interventions as long as me and the baby were still doing alright. He wanted the baby to incubate inside of me for as long as she could. While I appreciated his philosophy of letting my body & nature take their courses, I was starting to feel a little dejected. With the epidural still working its magic, I got as comfy as I could and tried to sleep.

On Monday January 24th, I woke up around 7am. I'd been in the hospital a full 24 hours. I was on to nurse #3. She checked me again around 9am and I was still at that blasted 7cm.

The new day meant a new OB on-call. I met her at 10am and welcomed her suggestion to try a little pitocin to see if they would intensify my contractions a little bit. Since I already had an epidural, the pitocin-pain I had heard about wouldn't be a factor. At 11am, there were some scary moments where the baby's heart rate dipped dramatically low for seemingly no reason. I started preparing myself to hear "We need to do a c-section," but the OB waited it out a minute or two and the baby's heartbeat got back up to normal. At 12pm I got checked again to see if the pitocin was working. I was still at that blasted 7cm!

Here is where Meltdown #2 occurred. I was starving & exhausted. I hadn't progressed in 17 hours. I didn't know how much longer I could keep myself together enough to actually push this baby out, whenever that would be. Thankfully Eddie was a fantastic coach and got me through the tears.

Shortly after noon, the OB returned and asked if I'd consent to letting her break my water. I said yes. It seemed to have a quick effect, as I started feeling enough pressure within the hour to request a booster for my epidural. By 1pm I had dilated to 9cm and was feeling a lot of pressure. I also started trembling violently. I had the shakes for a solid hour. By 2pm I was finally at 10cm and started pushing. I also started hating nurse #3 who kept telling me I wasn't pushing hard enough. I really wanted to tell her to STFU and/or kick her in the head. At 3pm, after several rounds of pushing, the baby's head was right at the exit point, yet just wouldn't go through. For a girl who decided that she wanted to come into the world early, this kid sure took her sweet ass time about it. Sheesh. Around 3:15pm the OB came in, followed by a team from NICU. After another round or two of pushing, the OB asked if I'd like some vacuum assistance. I took her up on the offer and Juliette entered the world at 3:32pm, after 34 hours of labor, weighing 5lbs 13oz and measuring 19-1/2 inches.

Here is where Meltdown #3 occurred. I wasn't in tears, but I was in silent fear because the baby was not letting out a robust cry. In fact, she wasn't making much noise at all. After being placed on my chest for a nanosecond, she was whisked to the area of the room set up for the NICU team. Everyone was so quiet & focused on what they were doing it freaked me out. The OB tried to reassure me that everything was fine, but I wouldn't be convinced unless I heard her cry. The baby finally did let out a cry, but it sounded wrong, like she was gasping. So off to NICU she went while I got cleaned up and stitched. I had a small 2nd degree tear, but it wasn't anything that I felt at the time.

By 5pm I was being transferred out of the birthing suite and on my way to a recovery room. The recovery room was also private, but it was small and I had to share the bathroom. Yuck, especially with all the stuff happening downstairs if you know what I mean. I had hoped we could go to the NICU right away, but I had contracted a slight fever post-birth. By 7pm the fever was gone and we started walking down the hallway to see our daughter.

These are Juliette's first photos. They are still a little hard for me to look at even now that a few months have passed. She had to be intubated right after birth and when we first saw her we could immediately tell that she hated those darn tubes and wanted them out. She was so unhappy, fighting the tubes, and there was nothing we could do other than hold her tiny IV-attached hand.

The NICU staff was fantastic. They encouraged us to be as hands-on as we could and had an open-door policy for visits.Thankfully by our second visit later that evening, she was no longer intubated and had only a nasal cannula. Finally, we could hold her. Or rather, I could hold her. I don't know if he was scared by how small and fragile she was or if he just wanted me to have my time with her, but Eddie let me do all the holding that first night.

By the next morning, Tuesday, Juliette was off of breathing assistance altogether. She had a bath and someone dolled her up in an adorable hat.

We spent most of that day visiting with the baby in NICU. She was doing well, but the doctors wanted to observe her that extra day just to be sure. During this time we got an odd visit from the hospital social worker who interviewed us in an attempt to see if there were any factors of concern that may have played a part in Juliette's premature birth. In essence, they were trying to find out if I was a crackhead, if Eddie abused me or if we were broke. :-/ After finding out about our levels of education, my employer and believing we're financially secure, the social worker quickly wrapped up her visit. On Wednesday morning we found out that Juliette had jaundice and would need time under the UV lights, so her discharge would be postponed at least a day.

I got discharged late Wednesday afternoon.

Here is where Meltdown #4 occurred. Up to that point I was relatively okay with the fact that our baby was in NICU and would not be coming home right away. I found comfort in the fact that she was being carefully monitored and looked after by professionals who knew exactly what they were doing and had far more experience with babies than I did. I knew that she was improving leaps & bounds with each day and was one of the strongest babies in the NICU. I knew she'd be home soon. But it felt so.damn.wrong being wheeled out of the hospital without our baby in my arms.

The first thing I did after getting home (other than giving Jack a million scratches behind his ears & pats on the head) was take the longest, hottest, best shower of my life. After a quick nap and dinner it was back to the NICU. Then it was back home, where I slept uninterrupted for the first time in days. On Thursday we (mostly Eddie) spent the morning and early afternoon cleaning the house and trying to get the nursery together. I made some phone calls to get my short-term disability claim & maternity leave going and then we spent the rest of the day back at the NICU. Juliette's jaundice levels had come down, but she still needed to complete her hearing and car seat test, both of which were scheduled for Friday morning. Before noon on Friday we got the call that Juliette was ready to come home. After a quick lunch we headed out for the hospital, stopping to make a trip to Babies R' Us for all the essentials.

Getting discharged from NICU seemed to take forever, but it was well worth the time. I had been having major issues with breastfeeding, so one of the RNs worked with me for a long time, trying different techniques. She was better than any of the LCs who had visited me, but alas, my boobies were still uncooperative. We met with the baby's pediatrician, who I had met a year earlier in my pilates class (doesn't that sound so yuppie?). We got loaded up with diapers, bottles, nipples, pacifiers, etc. Several of the nurses came by to say goodbye to Juliette. We also got a certificate with her teeny footprints imprinted on it, as well as the artwork that decorated her bassinet. One of the NICU nurses does a drawing for each baby that comes into the unit.

At 7pm, we were finally on our way home. All three of us. :-)

Now, I didn't have much of a birth plan during my pregnancy other than "Go to hospital. Have baby." However, there were some things that I knew would be out of my control, but that I hoped to avoid:

1. I didn't want to go into labor before reaching full term.
2. I didn't want to have a long labor, only to end up with a c-section.
3. I didn't want to have a baby in NICU.

Um, yeah. The only part of that I avoided was a c-section. I guess one could compare that list to what actually happened and say that I must have had a bad birth experience. My feeling on the matter, however, is that my birth experience was not ideal but it was still good. The hospital staff in L&D and in NICU was fantastic. They were caring, respectful, reassuring & always kept us informed of what was happening. I felt that my feelings were a priority and that no one tried to push me into doing anything I didn't want to. Even after we were home we received follow-up calls from the nurses (and my OB once he was back from vacation) to make sure things were okay and to answer any questions that may have arisen. The process may not have been perfect, but the end result certainly is:

The Leave List

2011-03-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

Hello? Is anyone out there?

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've blogged. I didn't stop for any particular reason, other than laziness. Okay, maybe my addiction to Twitter had a little bit to do with it. ;) I kept meaning to get back into blogging, but something always seemed to pop up and distract me. Then I got consumed with a project that ended with me popping out this beautiful creature:

With the arrival of the little one (to be detailed in another post), I am on leave from work until August. While the priority during that time will be bonding with and taking care of baby J, I also wanted to use the time to finally tackle some of the tasks that I have been putting off forever, claiming lack of time and energy after work. Number 1 on that list? Blogging. :) I don't intend for this to become a mommy blog, but now did seem to be a good time to return to a medium meant to document daily life as well as the big events.

Other items on the list:
- Upload/back up photos.
- Catchup on an enormous stack of magazines. I swear 1/2 the clutter in the condo is due to my magazines.
- Master a cookie recipe.
- Read A Suitable Boy.
- Exercise every day.
- Finish my closet reorganization
- Catalog all of my skating videos. They date back to 1988, so it's a huge undertaking.
- Get hair streaks in an outrageous color. I was too much of a good girl to do this when I was a teenager & since my office is conservative, this might be the only chance I'll have to recapture my youth.
- Take Jack to dog beach.
- Buy new bed & throw pillows.
- Donate books (thereby freeing up space for new books!)

Nothing earth-shattering, but at least it's a starting point for me to whittle down the seemingly never-ending "To Do" list.

The Book Challenge: April Recap

2010-04-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

First of all, I would like to thank all of you that expressed your good wishes regarding my last post. I appreciate every single one of those thoughts and virtual hugs and I appreicate having every single one of you in my life. A twinge of sadness still hits me at the most random moments, but I am starting to feel much better and more like myself again.

In light of everything that happened last weekend, I remembered one of the reasons I love to read: It's an escape. Whether it's a different time, a different place, or a different emotional landscape that you're seeking, a book can take you there. Most of what I ended up reading this month was lighthearted, which turned out to be exactly what I needed.

21. The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne -- Adopted daughter of owners of a finishing school in London tried to revitalize the family business by updating the curriculum to reflect what millenial women really need to know. Much of her motivation stems from hoping to find out the identity of her birth mom & of course there are love interests along the way.

22. I Will Always Love You by Cecily Von Ziegesar -- Gossip Girl goes off to college and repeats a cycle of incestuous dating between S, B, V, C, D, N & Little J for the next four years. Seriously. That is all there is to this book.

23. Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus -- Hmm. The sequel to The Nanny Diaries. I started off this book with high hopes and for a short time those hopes were fulfilled. But the more I read, the more I got frustrated with the protagonist. She seemed to have not grown up at all during the past ten years. As someone roughly the same age as her, I just could not buy it at all. She was ridiculous in her inability to have a grown-up conversation with anyone, including her husband. It got to be very annoying.

24. Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella -- I have to admit that I had a hard time getting into this novel because I disliked the two main characters so strongly at the start. It did get better, sort of, but was still "meh" overall.

25. Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad -- Book number two in the L.A. Candy series, which was inspired by L.C.'s stint on The Hills. This book is as fluffy and lightweight as cotton candy. I read most of it while watching a marathon of The Hills. I probably should never have admitted that.

26. Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot -- I picked up this book for the sole purpose of getting it signed by Meg Cabot. You can read more details about the signing on Forever Young, but I just have to say that Meg Cabot is so awesome & funny. I would love to hang out with her at a happy hour. This book was so funny at times that I actually chuckled out loud and slapped my knee while reading it. The story was told through a collection of e-mails, journal entries, voice mail messages & photos. I thought it would be off-putting, but it wasn't at all. I really enjoyed reading this one and plan on trying some of the recipes from it.

Over Before It Ever Began

2010-04-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

The last two days have been an emotional rollercoaster.

It all started Friday afternoon. I came home early from work, feeling sick with a cold. Knowing that my period was 7 days late, I stopped at Walgreen's to pick up a pregnancy test. I didn't think my usual cold remedy of Contac washed down with a glass of wine would be a good idea if I happened to be pregnant. So my responsible self peed on a stick, waited three minutes and then got the shock of my life. The little digital screen said "pregnant." We had literally just started trying to conceive; I never thought it could happen so quickly, especially since I get closer to reaching "advanced maternal age" with each passing month. As the shock and resulting shakiness wore off during the next few hours, I started poking around all sorts of baby websites: maternity clothes, nursery decor, due date predictors, etc. I even made a little bandana for Jack to wear, announcing that he was going to be a big brother, as my way of telling Eddie. Yeah, I'm a ridiculous, over-the-top dog owner. Eddie came home, found out the news and started looking around our spare room, figuring out how to turn it into a nursery.

The next morning, still in a little bit of disbelief I tested again. And the screen came up with a "not pregnant." Since there was one more test in the box, I had a big cup of tea and tested again. Another "not pregnant." By that point I had been poking around the internet enough to know that things were not looking good. Sometimes Google is not your friend. I called Kaiser's nurse advice line. The nurse agreed with me that the conflicting results were "perplexing" (no shit Sherlock), but that I could come in for a blood draw over the weekend if I wanted to be sure. If not, I should just keep an eye out for any sharp pains, heavy bleeding or difficulty breathing. While I was getting ready to head out to the hospital, I realized there wasn't much point anymore. There were clear signs of what looked like the start of a period.

Miscarriage is such a rough sounding word. A chemical pregnancy sounds more benign, but is really just a very early version of the same thing.

So I was pretty sad yesterday. I'm still feeling a little sad today. Although the stats say that this happens quite often and that there are numerous causes, I still can't help but feel some guilt, as if I did something wrong. Maybe it was because I drank way more than usual last weekend on a girls' weekend? Or took advil a couple times during the week? Or because I'm fat? Or because of this nasty cold I came down with? Or maybe it was a karmic bitchslap for getting too happy, too quickly.

I also feel guilty about feeling sad. There are so many women who have faced far greater struggles on their journey to parenthood and who have had to endure far worse losses. I poked around a messageboard dealing with loss yesterday and felt silly & selfish. My situation seems so much more trivial by comparison.

So now I am trying to find some positivity out of this whole thing. We can build up our savings some more. I can keep eating sushi, rare meat & soft cheeses. I can get hardcore about dieting & exercise. I can take that trip to Portland in mid-November. And Christmas will always be much saner (the due date would have been 12/22).

The part that really gets me is that if I hadn't wanted to take cold medicine on Friday, I wouldn't have even thought of testing until this morning. Which would have been unnecessary; I just would have assumed that my period was late this month. I never would have known that I was pregnant, even if it was just for a minute.

This is one of those times that ignorance would have been bliss.

The Book Challenge: February and March Recap

2010-03-31T20:12:00.001-07:00

Thank goodness they don't deactivate Blogger accounts for inactivity. ;-)

Since I lost the post-it that had been pulling double duty as my bookmark and as my scratch paper for keeping track of what I've read, this list might be a little incomplete. Oh well.

12. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray -- This is the first book in a trilogy about British schoolgirl Gemma Doyle and the magical power that she possesses. I had a hard time getting into this one, but by the end I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.

13. Rebel Angels by Libba Bray -- The second book in the Gemma Doyle series, this was my favorite one.

14. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray -- The finale to Gemma Doyle's story. I wish I liked it more. The first half was so slow and plodding. While the second half picked up considerably, there was a twist that I just could not get on board with. I left the series feeling disappointed.

15. Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes on a Marriage by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher -- A memoir by two Wall St. Journal writers who fell in love with each other as well as wine. I loved this book. Just do yourself a favor and make sure you have some wine on hand while you read it. I didn't and it was torture!

16. The Help by Kathryn Stockett -- Set in the south, in the early to mid 1960s, this novel explores race relations and societal expectations from the perspective of maids and their employers. I couldn't put this book down once I started.

17. Glass by Ellen Hopkins -- This picks up where Crank left off. In this installment, Kristina relapses hard.

18. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby -- I really wanted to like this book, but didn't. I haven't given up on reading Nick Hornby though.

19. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory -- This was another book I had a hard time getting into. Is there any point in reading Philippa Gregory's books if you can't picture Jonathan Rhys Myers as King Henry while you read? I need to cast my own eye candy in the royal roles before the next book is released.

20. A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates -- This was a seriously fucked up story. Like really, really fucked up. *shudder*

I know that I'm missing a couple. I hope my post-it will turn up eventually.

On a book-related note, I recently joined Goodreads. If you'd like to add me as a friend, you can search for me under starlily313@yahoo.com.

The Book Challenge: January Recap

2010-02-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

Hmmm ... I think I promised to blog about more than just books and skating, but here we are with another book post. I actually do have a vacation recap post in progress, but sometimes all you have the energy for is something quick and easy. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks.

I upped the ante and got off to a really good start this year. I always read more on vacation. :-)

1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver -- This month's book club pick about an evangelical minister who drags his family to the Congo, and the lasting effect the experience has on them all.

2. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult -- The ending annoyed me. I hear the movie has a different ending, but I'm still not convinced that the movie won't annoy me as well.

3. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver -- A mother tries to understand what might have made her son a killer. Disturbing, but thought provoking.

4. Cleaving by Julie Powell -- One of the worst books I have read in a long. long time. I'm not bothered by the fact that Julie Powell (of Julie & Julia) had an affair. I am bothered by how whiny, self-absorbed and entitled she is. Plus she's in dire need of a copy of He's Just Not That Into You.

5. Skinny by Ibi Kaslick -- A rather disjointed novel about anorexia, its aftereffects and family secrets.

6. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson -- What Skinny hoped to accomplish in tackling the topic of eating disroders, Wintergirls actually did.

7. The Wild Things by Dave Eggers -- I don't have the sentimental attachment to Where The Wild Things Are that a lot of people my age do. So while this entertained me, I probably didn't appreciate as fully as others would.

8. Crank by Ellen Hopkins -- Realistic story of a teenage girl's addiction to meth. I'm torn about the ending. One the one hand, it seems a little preachy and too convenient. On the other hand. it is not uncommon among addicts.

9. Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater by Frank Bruni -- It's not too often you read about body image concerns and insecurities from a man's perspective, much less a man who makes his living as a food critic.

10. Falling Out of Fashion by Karen Yampolsky -- Standard chick lit fare, but holds a special place in my heart because it's a thinly veiled account of Jane magazine's demise. Jane had also been the editor of Sassy magazine, which I adored and which was the first magazine I ever subscribed to. Teenagers today totally missed out on that one. Jane wasn't as great as Sassy, but sometimes one has to take what one can get.

11. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee -- A tale of ill-fated lovers in Hong Kong's expatriate community, both during WWII and the decade following.

Three years ago ...

2010-01-13T14:30:00.000-08:00

I was so excited while waiting in the bridal room at the church that I could barely sit still.

We had an awesome time with our guests during cocktail hour.

I spent a very important day in my life with my best girls,

the best co-workers I could ever have in my life,

and the best brothers a Deltasig could ask for.

Kids at weddings are a hot topic of debate, but our reception wouldn't have been the same without all the kids who hit the dance floor.

And we ate the yummiest cake I have ever had in my life. nomnomnom :-)

Three years later and I haven't changed the locks yet ...... haven't even contemplated it ...... I love you Eddie!

What are you doing this week?

2010-01-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

We will be gazing upon this:

Don't be a hater! ;-)

The Book Challenge: December Recap

2010-01-01T21:13:00.001-08:00

I missed my revised goal of 65 books, but that was out of sheer laziness on my part. I can't complain at all though. I finished out the book challenge with some great stories, especially the last book I read. Before going any further, I have to give a shout-out to Jessica, who has been an endless source of fantastic recommendations & reviews. Whenever I got stuck trying to decide what to read next, I always found an answer within her blog.

The final books of 2009:

58. The Luxe by Anna Godberson

59. Rumors by Anna Godberson

60. Envy by Anna Godberson

61. Splendor by Anna Godberson

62. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

My reading goals for 2010? To read at least 50 books again, but with a focus on some big books and classics that I've been meaning to tackle for a while.

Why Hello There 2010 ...

2010-01-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

... you certainly seemed to sneak up on me. I guess that's what happens when you never quite get into the holiday season. It all passes by before your eyes and all of a sudden it's a new decade. Then you start to reflect on the past ten years and realize how much has happened in your life. I have to admit that the last decade brought a lot of change and upheaval to my life, but overall it was good to me.

So I am trying to be good to the new decade by starting off on a positive foot. I'd like to say that it was an easy day, but I hit a rough patch in the morning that had the potential to entirely derail my day. I'm a big believer in setting the tone for the year by your actions and attitude on January 1st though, so I forced myself to turn the day around rather than wallowing. I made a yummy brunch . I took a chance on an interesting-sounding sparkling shiraz instead of my usual champagne (verdict --- thumbs up). I called my parents & my brother. I went to the gym and did a solid 30 minutes of cardio (gasp! --- like literally dude; I'm way out of shape). Then I came home and made Eddie one of his favorite meals. And now I'm actually blogging again, about something other than books or skating.

So bring it on 2010. You might have startled me a bit, but I think I'm ready for you.

'Tis the Season

2009-12-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

I totally stole this from FCD because it's been a while since I blogged and because my pictures from dinner at Providence came out really crappy. The meal itself, however, was awesome and if you need a place to go for a special occasion I would completely recommend it. If you do go, try to get Olaf as your waiter. He's so much fun.

A Christmas Meme

Eggnog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate, preferable spiked with a bit of Bailey's, Godiva liqueur or Frangelico.

Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? Wrapped. What would be the point of unwrapped gifts under a tree?

Colored lights on a tree or white? White.

Do you hang mistletoe? No.

When do you put your decorations up? The weekend before Christmas, usually in a panic after realizing that Christmas is only a week away.

What is your favorite holiday dish? Lamb curry.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not anymore, but I did as a child, after returning from midnight mass.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I haven't put up a tree in years. :'-(

Snow: love it or hate it? Love to look at it. Hate to fall in it or drive in it.

Can you ice skate? Well, duh! Do any of you not know the answer to this one?! ;-)

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Christmas cookies.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Having mom's appam & lamb curry for breakfast on Christmas morning and spending the day visiting various family friends.

Candy canes: yum or yuck? Yuck. I only like the mini ones.

Favorite Christmas show? A Charlie Brown Christmas, the Nutcracker ballet & Love Actually.

The Book Challenge: November Recap

2009-12-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

So I failed miserably at my November challenges (NaBloPoMo and 30 workouts in 30 days), but at least I kept reading!

53. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

54. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

55. Because I'm Worth It by Cecily von Ziegesar

56. The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory

57. The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory

My revised goal of 65 by year end might be a little tough to meet, but I'm still going for it!

2009-11-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

Watching Top Chef has been a Wednesday night ritual for me since the show's debut. I initially got drawn to the program due to Season 1's setting in San Francisco. I was happy to take any glimpse of home, wherever I could find it. It wasn't long before I was addicted to watching the dishes and the drama unfold.

Instead of watching Top Chef two Wednesdays ago, Eddie and I ventured out to Pasadena for dinner at The Dining Room at the Langham Hotel, where current cheftestant Michael Voltaggio is Chef de Cuisine. GoogleMaps actually did send us on an adventure through some of the hotel's narrow, winding side streets, which resulted in much "oohing" and "aahing" as we passed by incredible, multi-million dollar homes.

The magnificence of the Langham certainly fit in with the neighborhood. Based upon its appearance the hotel had a lot of potential to be snooty, but all of the staff members we encountered were friendly and hospitable. Even if we did roll up in a very dirty, 12 year old 4Runner.

The Dining Room currently feels very formal and slightly stuffy. However, there is a planned renovation beginning early next year. As I expected on a Wednesday, it was a fairly slow evening. We were tucked away at a table along the back wall, not unlike this one.

Shortly after being seated, our waiter asked if we would like to see a menu. I confidently replied, "No." Eddie & I were there for the chef's tasting menu; we wanted to get right down to business. Our waiter seemed stoked at this news. That made me happy. In fact, all of the servers who waited on us that evening were incredibly friendly and happy, as was the sommelier. As a guest, I could feel the sense of teamwork between all of them.

I have to admit though that my happiness level dipped a bit when I saw our amuse bouche: Chips and salsa with queso fresco. This looked like powder with a dollop of jelly. I eyed it suspiciously before scooping everything up into the teeny tiny teaspoon that accompanied it. Much to my delight all the ingredients melded together in my mouth and tasted exactly like chips and salsa with a bit of queso fresco. We were off to a good start.

Three types of rolls were offered. I couldn't resist the bacon bread. You can never go wrong with choosing bacon.

Our first course was Japanese Shima Aji with pickled baby peach, sea sponge and bonito. There were a lot of elements to this dish, but they all worked very well together.

Chocolate brioche accompanied by an insanely rich, creamy butter was served just prior to our 2nd course.

The 2nd course: Langoustine with young fennel and lobster mushroom lasagna, served in a lobster bisque. This was the star of the night for both of us. Its light look was deceptive. This was so rich and flavorful. We could have easily eaten an entire chef's menu consisting of this dish served numerous times.

Our 3rd course: Foie Gras with aerated brioche, concord grape and sunchoke. We were split on this one. Eddie was not a fan; he prefers seared foie gras.

I liked the foie gras, but could have done with less of the concord grape. So I just let a lot of it ooze out. I'm picky about mixing sweet and savory flavors, so this was really a personal issue and not reflective of the chef at all. The real surprise for me here was the aerated brioche. It was like biting into a cloud of tastiness.

4th course: Turbot with butternut squash, madras curry and pumpkin seed granola. We were slightly split on the dish again. Eddie took a bite of granola with the turbot and didn't care for it. He ended up ignoring the rest of the granola altogether. I, on the other hand, saw the granola, then saw the small drops of yogurt on the plate and ate the granola with the yogurt. Granola + yogurt = yum. Turbot + all the other ingredients - granola = yum. I was quite happy.

5th Course: Pastrami Pigeon with swiss cheese, sauerkraut and rye. We were back to being agreement on this dish. Neither of us had eaten pigeon previously. This was a great introduction to it.

6th course: Jameson Farm Lamb with vadouvan, pickled tongue, celery root, raisin and peanut butter. I was really struggling to eat another bite by this point in the meal. So I skipped the crouton after sampling it and half of the celery root puree. Instead I focused in on the lamb. It's all about priorities people.

Pre-dessert: raspberry sorbet.

Dessert was Fools Gold: chocolate ganache, salty hazelnut praline and milk sorbet. This might look a little familiar to viewers of Top Chef: Las Vegas. This was tasty, not too heavy and a perfect end to our meal. Or so we thought.

Mignardise: pate de fruit in edible paper, mini macarons and dark chocolate lollipops with pop rocks hidden inside. I cannot tell you how happy these lollipops made me. I felt like a kid again. I was grinning from ear to ear as my head filled up with the tinglyness of pop rocks. Dear Mr. Voltaggio, can you please box and sell these? I promise I would buy a lot of them.

We had a wonderful evening at the Langham and are already planning a return trip after the renovations are complete. I really can't say enough about the quality of the food and service. In the meantime, as Top Chef: Las Vegas winds down for the season, we are Team Michael Voltaggio all the way!

Ennui

2009-11-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I attended my fraternity's LEAD school. Usually I skip most of the sessions, as they are geared toward collegiate students. I just register and attend so I (a) set a good example for my kids and (b) can spend some quality time with alums I don't get to see very often. This year, there were actually a few sessions that interested me. Two were being presented by Adam Carroll, who I knew from previous experience would be an interesting speaker. His first workshop on creating effective presentations didn't disappoint. But as I was about to head off to his second workshop of the day, which was entitled "From Vision to Reality", it suddenly hit me that I don't have a vision; I feel like I've been meandering through life lately. I ended up skipping the session, thinking to myself that it wouldn't be too useful if I don't even have a vision I want to make real.

My lack of vision has been bugging me since Saturday. I keep finding myself thinking about it when I have downtime. I have come to a few realizations so far:

1. I'm happy and satisfied with my personal relationships including my husband, family and friends. So at least that can be excluded as a source of my current state.

2. I think the source of my feeling traces back to when I worked for Big Bad, specifically the really bad performance review he gave me around this time last year. I've spent the year since telling myself that his opinion didn't matter and I should let it all just roll off my back. But when I'm honest with myself, I have to admit that it has had a lingering effect. As much as I've tried to leave it in the past, I haven't been able to. It really stung to hear that I'm a crap prosecutor who shouldn't abandon the field altogether yet, but that I was teetering on the verge. It stung even more that the two other supervisors present, who also had the right to participate in that review, didn't say a word in my defense and just advised me to "let it blow over". When the people who are supposed to mentor you don't believe in you and make it widely known, it's hard to believe in yourself. When all people expect from you is crap, it becomes easy to fall into complacency and only perform to that low standard.

But despite all this I don't hate what I do. I just have not-so-great feelings about some of my co-workers and management. I feel like I need a fresh start. The seemingly easy answer would be to just change jobs, but we all know that's easier said than done. First off, the economy sucks and there are a glut of lawyers who went to better schools and have better credentials than I do flooding the market. Even when/if the economy improves, pedigree is still very important in law hiring and I just don't have it. Secondly, even switching to another county would be very difficult at this point with the amount of seniority I have. Plus, from what I hear, pretty much every DA's office has as much trouble with gossip, back stabbing and general wackiness that my current one does. Three, again, the economy sucks. What kind of spoiled bitch am I to complain about my job when so many people are in dire financial straits?

When I keep thinking about how to get out, all it leads to are the reasons to stay in. And I'd need to stay in at least another 29 years to maximize my pension benefits. FML. Need to win lotto (which is not a realistic vision) stat.

3. Somehow my attitude and feelings related to my job have seeped into my approach to outside activities. Feeling mediocre from 8:30 to 5 for so long has made me feel mediocre at things like ice skating, blogging, working out, cooking, housekeeping, decorating, etc. I feel like I can't excel at anything, so instead I'm just doing the bare minimum to get by. My motto lately seems to be "Why bother?". Please spare me the postive mental attitude stuff; I've tried but I feel like I'm just kidding myself.

So this is me, being emo. I don't have a lot of answers yet, but identifying the issues is the start of solving them, right?

It's Founder's Day!

2009-11-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

Happy 102nd birthday Delta Sigma Pi! You have come a long way since your founding (thank goodness otherwise most people I know would not have been allowed to join). I am grateful for the opportunities you have given me, especially meeting people who I know will be lifelong friends and my favorite brother ever:

The Inevitable

2009-11-06T15:50:00.000-08:00

I really suck at this NaBloPoMo stuff. I knew that inevitably I'd have one of those busy days where I wouldn't have much time to do anything other than prattle off a bunch of random things. I just didn't think that it would happen within the first week. Eff. So here are three things that you don't really need to know:

1. I used some of my vacation time and left work two hours early today. The main purpose is so that I could wash my hair before heading off for our evening plans. You see, I'm one of those every 3-4 day hair washers. I was totally due to wash my hair this morning and planned to, except the alarm did not go off. Argh. Not even copius amounts of dry shampoo could help. I've been sporting limp, grody locks all day and it's driving me nuts. If I waited until after the time I usually leave work, it would have set me way behind for the evening. So here I am, home early on a Friday, just to wash my hair.

2. I have always thought that saggy jeans look ridiculous on boys. I'm also not a fan of skinny jeans on boys either. But based on the kids coming into court lately, the current trend is saggy, skinny jeans. This is quite possibly the worst look of all.

3. I had a raging case of the munchies when I got home. I had some healthy, tasty options available. Bu instead I made the most ghetto-tastic nachos in the world: tortilla chips topped with Kraft shredded cheese, zapped in the microwave and topped with a packet of Del Taco sauce from our large stash. In case of emergency we may not have any useful supplies, but we'd have hot sauce for days.

The First Taste of Fall

2009-11-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

Fall has technically been upon us for several weeks now, but it wasn't until I cooked this dish last night that I really felt like we were in the midst of fall. I think roasting squash does that to me.

Lamb Chops with Garlic & Rosemary
Full Recipe available at: Food Network

Since it was my first time making this, I followed the recipe exactly. I didn't really make any modifications that would warrant me writing out the steps in my own words. And did you know how wrathful food bloggers are when people just copy and paste recipes? I would NOT want to step on those toes. Next time I make this dish I will cook the sauce down a bit more, since we had a ton left over.

As for the squash, I halved two small acorn squashes and scooped out the seeds. Then I filled the hollows with a pat of butter and sprinkled kosher salt, brown sugar and cayenne pepper over the tops. After roasting the squash (with the cut side facing up) for 45-55 minutes in a 400 degree oven, I let it cool slightly. Then I scooped out all the flesh (don't lose any of that melted butter) and mashed it all together in a bowl. This turned out to be super flavorful and made the condo smell great to boot. Even Jack couldn't resist the call of the squash; he grabbed the peels out of the trash while we weren't looking! He usually only does that with ribs.

Bitch Please

2009-11-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes all it takes for me to try a new wine is an interesting label in pretty colors. I know the photos suck, but you'll just have to trust me that it's a pretty shade of pink.

I knew I was going to blog about this wine when I bought it at my new favorite wine store Total Wine. I couldn't wait to use the title. ;-) Here is the space where I had hoped to write, "I'd like some more Bitch please." Except that the wine, much like my photos, kinda sucked. Even after being poured through my trusty Vinturi, the wine tasted thin and acidic. How an earlier vintage rated highly is beyond me. At least it was under $10.

What I really should be bitching about is Verizon's internet service. It is consistently hit-or-miss between the hours of roughly 8pm until 10pm. Their tech support has never been able to figure out why. While not ideal, this usually this works out alright for me. I have use of the computer from the time I get home until dinner, which is usually around 8. Then Eddie gets to play his computer games while the internet is spotty. But due to an busy evening and poor planning on my part, I never found a good time to post yesterday. I kept getting kicked off. Which means I failed NBPM of day 3. Day 3 people! Just call me loser.

The Book Challenge: October Recap

2009-11-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

45. Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

46. Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

47. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

48. Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding [So the backstory here is that I had wanted to read this book years ago, when Ms. Fielding was in the midst of all her Bridget Jones glory. But parts of the storyline seemed a bit too close to my own life experiences at the time. Now, years later, I figured I could read it without cringing too much at some of the parallels. Then the ex-boyfriend who this book reminded me of e-mailed me out of the blue after six years. What timing.]

49. Time of My Life by Alison Winn Scotch [I had wanted to read this as soon as Y_L had posted about it on her blog. It sounded intriguing: What would and could you do if you found yourself in your past armed with knowledge from your future self? Of course my name came up on the hold list for this one right after I got that e-mail.]

50. The It Girl #8: Adored by Cecily von Ziegesar

51. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

52. The Wedding Girl by Madeleine Wickham

Sound the horns! Drop the confetti! Pop the champagne! After a dreadfully slow start, I have reached my goal with two full months to spare. But the reading doesn't stop here. I have a full stack of books fresh from the library awaiting me. Let's see if I can make it to 65 by the end of the year.

Maybe This Will Get Me Back On Track

2009-11-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I fell off the blogging wagon back in March and never quite got fully back on board. I don't think it was a lack of material that did me in; it was breaking what had become a habit. Last week I started seeing mentions of NaBloPoMo on various blogs and knew that it would be a good way to get back into the habit. My decision to participate was sealed when FCD said that she would also be participating and that we could be each other's support.

NBPM isn't the only 30-in-30 challenge I'm doing this month. I have also committed myself to doing 30 workouts in 30 days with a certain group of inspirational ladies. While I started off strong and got a head start on on that one yesterday, I'm already fizzling out. I got completely trashed last night and woke up with the worst hangover ever! Well, it's probably not actually the worst, but it's been so long since I've had one that it completely and utterly sucks. Maybe I can handle some yoga later, but for right now staying still seems like a good idea.

The Book Challenge: September Recap

2009-10-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

37. Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner

38. L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad (yes, that Lauren Conrad)

39. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

40. Sleeping Arrangements by Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophie Kinsella)

41. The Towering World of Jimmy Choo: A Glamorous Story of Power, Profits, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Shoe by Lauren Goldstein Crowe & Sagra Maceira De Rosen

42. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Leviathan

43. The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham

44. Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier (a great read for ABCDs or even just ABDs)

I'm close to my goal! With six books from the library that I just checked out, I should easily hit 50 books this month. The question then becomes whether I should just continue my normal reading habits or whether I should embark on the longest book I have ever purchased.

OC Restaurant Week, Take 2

2009-09-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

10YT was very motivated to take full advantage of OC restaurant week. After an appointment fell through for me a couple Saturdays ago, I signed up to be her dining buddy once again. This time we went to Old Vine Cafe, which several of our friends had raved about in the past.

I started off with the Caprese of Mozarella Buratta: Buratta, Flash Fried Arugula, Grape Tomatoes & Citrus Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This was perfection. The flash fried arugula added a really nice bit of texture and salt to the dish.

10YT had the Crispy Blue Salad: Certified Organic Greens, Crispy Proscuitto, Fried Onions & Maytag Blue Cheese Dressing. This looked delectable.
We were both in a berry champagne cocktail kind of mood.

For my main, I ordered a Pulled Pork Panini: Tender Pulled Pork & Chef’s BBQ Sauce with Smoked Gouda Cheese. The pork was very tender and well seasoned. It could also easily feed more than one person.

10YT had ordered the Porcini Mushroom Mac & Cheese: Macaroni, Porcini Mushrooms and a blend of Artisan Cheeses. I sampled a portion; it was heavenly. We had opted to sit indoors, which afforded us a lovely view of a shady nook at The Camp.

For dessert we both had cheesecake. I judge a cheesecake by its crust and this one did not disappoint at all. It was also the perfect portion: just enough to satisfy one's sweet tooth, but not enough to make one feel sluggish.

Two thumbs up for Old Vine! I hope to return soon.

Not Quite Nirvana

2009-09-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm still woefully behind on blogging about the spring and summer, but how about something a bit more recent in the meantime? Two weeks ago I met up with some friends for brunch at Nirvana Grille at the start of OC Restaurant Week.

Champagne is a good start to any brunch. 10YT agrees with me! Rather than buying individual champagne cocktails, the four of us split a couple bottles and added our own peach, pomegranate or blood orange purees. Blood orange definitely packed the most flavor.
Mrs50% and I started off with the salmon toasts. These were yummy. So were the chicken wontons that 10YT and Serendipitie ordered.
Mrs50% had the Nirvana Rancheros, which looked fantastic.

10YT and Serendipitie had the heirloom tomato sandwich served with thyme fries.

I ordered the Nirvana Poached Benedict served with house potatoes. It was good, but needed just a tad more salt. It was a good decision to order a side of bacon (more on that later).

10YT had apple pie for dessert.

Mrs50% had a molten chocolate cake that was divine.

Remember my side order of bacon? I saved half of it so that Serendipitie and I could jazz up our desserts.

Much to our dining companions disgust, Dipitie and I both ordered roasted figs served with maple ice cream flecked with pieces of crumbled goat cheese. This was good on its own, but a piece of crumbled bacon took it to the next level. The saltiness of the bacon set off the sweetness of the dessert and provided a nice contrast in textures.

So far so good, right? Good company, good food, decent service ..... what could I possibly complain about? How about the waiter stalking me down as I was exiting alone and inquiring about the amount of the tip we had left?

That's right. Our waiter stopped me as I was leaving the ladies' room and asked me if the amount we each paid on our respective cards was intended to cover a tip as well. When I said "yes" his response was that we left him only a 10% tip. I instinctively knew that couldn't be right, but he kept going on and on about it as I was trying to do some math in my head. At this point, a rational person would have asked to see the bill, gone over it and attempt to figure out any discrepancy. I was not that rational person. Serendipitie was. I was the deer in the headlights, please get me out of here, god I hate awkward situations, here take $10 type of person. Thanks Dipitie for getting my $10 back!

One place where I did not spend any of my money was the LF store, which we wandered into after lunch. If you ever feel like old costumes from Madonna's or Michael Jackson's tours in the '80s, head here quickly.

No outing would be complete without a group pic. Thank you ladies for a lovely afternoon!

The Last Skating Post

2009-09-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

We started off the morning at The Farm of Beverly Hills at L.A. Live. If only I could start off every morning with coffee and a mimosa.
R and I both had some variation of eggs benedict. It was good, but the restaurant is mighty stingy with its hollandaise sauce. R had even less than I did.
L had yummy looking french toast and fresh fruit.

I really hate this picture of me, but I left it in here anyways since it's a pic with L, R and Dorothy Hamill (squee!). That's her in the pink shirt behind us, just on the other side of the glass. We were 2 for 2 when it came to Dorothy sightings at The Farm.

After brunch we walked across the street for the Exhibition of Champions. Usually exhibitions have a tendency to be hokey, but this one was actually good. It was a shame that it wasn't televised.

U.S. ice dancers Samuelson & Bates performed a lively disco routine.

The Frech ice dance team not only continued its hooker theme with its costumes, they actually simulated sex on ice this time. I bet there was a lot of pearl clutching going on in the stands.

Tomas Verner brought the house down with a Michael Jackson routine. Who would have guessed that just a few months later Staples would be the site of MJ's memorial service?

This is one half of the Russian pairs team Kavaguti & Smirnov. He was quite popular with the ladies (and the men). The only urge I had, however, was to chop off that sad mullet.

Did you know that there is such a thing as synchronized skating?! As much of a skating fan as I am, I still think it's weird.

Here's me and R, ready to take the ice for our pairs number! This is a long running joke between us dating back to a skating charades game we all played back in '02.

Brian Joubert actually skated to music that wasn't from The Matrix! And it was wonderful!

The U.S. ice dance team of Belbin & Agosto are very obviously fans of So You Think You Can Dance. Their routine to "Bleeding Love" was clearly insipred by Mark & Chelsie's performance in season 4 of the show.

Apparently Brian Joubert loaned his music to Domnina & Shabalin. They performed to music from The Matrix. What is it with ice skaters and this piece of music?

The final curtain call. As I said before this is the final skating post .....................................................

.... at least until January 2010 when I'll be attending the U.S. National Championships in Spokane, WA! :-)

The Book Challenge: August Recap

2009-09-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

I did a lot more reading than usual this month. Maybe all that vacation time had something to do with it. ;-)

27. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

28. Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown

29. One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell

30. The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory

31. Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison

32. The It Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar

33. That Summer by Sarah Dessen

34. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

35. Skating Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

36. Thirteen by Candice F. Ransom

I read the last two books while I was up in S.F., visiting my parents. I have always been an avid reader, but I thought I had packed away or donated most of the books I read as a teen. It was a pleasant surprise to come across a stash of my old favorites in the guest room closet. Skating Shoes had actually been out of print for quite some time (it's being re-released this fall!) and I must have read Thirteen at least twice a year through junior high. It was interesting to see the similarity of themes in young adult fiction from twenty years ago (#35-36) to the present (#32-34). While today's stories feature a bit more sex, drugs & drinking, the underlying plots in both eras seem to focus on friendships, rivalries, body image and finding one's identity. Perhaps there is some truth to the saying, "The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same."

The Main Event

2009-08-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

Since the main event of the week, the ladies' long program, wasn't scheduled to start until the late afternoon I spent the morning getting pampered at my usual spot. After leaving Marina's capable hands I met up with R and V for the yummiest lunch I had all week.
There should be a pic of the mixed appetizer platter here. I'm guessing we tore through it before I remembered to take a pic? Oh well. Gaze upon the beauty of my pork burger with yam fries instead.

The cinnamon water complemented our desserts well.

After fueling up for the main event we walked over to Staples. Along the way we encountered many members of Yuna Kim's fanbase. In addition to wearing matching shirts, they were passing out free South Korean flags outside the arena.

As with the men's winners, there was an outdoor public ceremony for the ice dance champions. See the dude in the black sleeveless shirt? Umm, he never looks that hot in any of his skating costumes. I mean, I really had no idea that he could look hot at all. It was a pleasant surprise for many of us.

Candace Didier of France wins the award for toughest girl ever. About ten minutes before I took this picture she had an insanely hard fall onto the ice 1/4 of the way into her program, right onto her hipbone. After lying motionless on the ice for a few moments in an arena that became dead silent, being assisted off the ice by a plethora of staff and screaming in pain for a few minutes as medical personnel examined her, she came back out and finished her program. That's pretty hardcore, especially when you consider the fact she had no shot at a medal even at her best.

This guy had a plea for resident headcase and U.S. champion Alissa Czisny.

Despite a crowd that filled Staples up to the rafters . . .

. . . Alissa held it together and had a lovely skate. Too bad she had messed up so badly in her short program. There was no digging out of the hole she had dug. Her final placement, combined with final placement of Rachel Flatt, was not enough to give the U.S. ladies three spots at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Do you know what happened the last time the U.S. could only send two ladies to the Winter Games? Tonya Harding's creepy husband decided to break out the club and take matters into their own hands to guarantee her a spot. It might be a little dangerous to be an elite female skater in these upcoming months.
It's too bad that none of the U.S. ladies in recent years have the type of consistency that the Kween had. I have to say, she also consistently looks fabulous. The color of her dress was awesome and she was perfectly accessorized down to the interlocking Cs on her handbag. It must run in the family; her older sister always looks spectacular as well. It takes a certain kind of woman to pull off wearing stilettos at an ice rink.

Of the top contenders, Mao Asada of Japan was the first to take the ice. One of the few women who can land a triple axel, she had two planned for the evening. Her first attempt was successful; the next one was not. She skated the rest of her program adequately, but a bit mechanically. While the Code of Points has helped increase the credibility of scoring in ice skating, it has also had the effect of producing a lot of performances that are skate-by-numbers. It saddens me that we may never see simple, beautiful moves anymore, like a perfect layback spin or a lengthy spread eagle, because it just doesn't offer enough points.

Miki Ando, also of Japan, skated next and with much more emotion that her teammate. A couple years ago, the Japanese skating federation all but gave up on Miki. She refused to slink away, however, and made a rousing comeback.

The cheers started to fill the arena long before Yuna Kim stepped out on the ice. The amount of flags and signage was overwhelming. There's a better pic of one of the signs, as well as an explanation as to her preferred method of address, here.

Yuna skated to Scheherazade. Why is this significant to a skating? In 2002, Michelle Kwan also skated to Scheherazade for her long program and brought down the house at Staples. I remember the crowd being on its feet with thirty seconds still to go in her music. I can only imagine what Michelle must have been thinking while watching this teen dynamo skate to what was her music, in her "house". Michelle's version of Scheherazade is one of my all-time favorite programs and I feel fortunate to have seen it live in '02; I had a difficult time not picturing Michelle's moves at certain points in the music. I know I wasn't only the skating fan with that problem.

Yuna's performance was also magical. There was no doubt who the winner would be at the conclusion of her program.

Following the magic was one of the most spectacular meltdowns of the week and really, of the last twenty years. Like Yuna, Carolina Kostner of Italy also skated to a piece of music well associated with Michelle Kwan -- The Song of the Black Swan. Michelle's black swan was triumphant and led her to a World title in 2001. Carolina's swan most definitely did not do the same. She either fell or downsized almost all of her planned triple jumps. At some points she did single jumps. Dude -- I can do single jumps! And I know my level of skating has absolutely no place at Worlds.

The final standings.

There was only one way for us to end the night: drinks, junk food and admiring the handiwork of Yuna's fans:

Candles for Annaleigh

2009-08-21T23:07:00.001-07:00

You can read about Annaleigh here. I became "acquainted" with Brooke through her cooking blog, which popped up as a recommendation in my Google Reader one day. It wasn't until several weeks later that I realized that the blog author was also a poster on one of my favorite messageboards.

Tonight my heart is breaking for that family. It all seems so unfair. The Candles for Annaleigh campaign was started on that messageboard as a way to show support. If you can spare a moment, please send positive thoughts or prayers their way.

The Book Challenge: July Recap

2009-08-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

22. Mommy Tracked by Whitney Gaskell

23. Fat Girl by Judith Moore

24. Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

25. All I Want is Everything by Cecily von Zigesar

26. If I Am Missing or Dead by Janine Latus

I have to admit, most of these books (#23, 24 and 25) were rather depressing, covering topics such as physical & emotional abuse, sexual assault, co-dependency, etc. At times I felt as if I were reading just another case file from work. I think I need some lighthearted reads for August.

The Final Stretch

2009-07-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

I realized this weekend that I better finish writing about my last trip before we head out on our next trip in a few weeks, otherwise I'd have no hope of ever catching up. Just two more skating posts after this one and I'm done!

Friday was a long day, starting with the ladies' short program at 8:30 am or thereabouts. With almost 50 entries, there were lots of zamboni breaks.

While some of the lower-ranked ladies skated inside, the mens' champions had a public medal ceremony just outside the arena. This feature was unique to Worlds. Judging by the crowds, the fans seemed to love it.

R and I opted to make a quick trip to Starbucks at L.A. Live and watched the festivities from across the street.Remember Brian Joubert (far right), who ended up in third place after some silly mistakes? He looked awful at the ceremony. Clearly someone had been drowning their sorrows the previous night.

When we walked back into the arena we glanced over our shoulders and had a Michelle Kwan sighting! The Kween wasn't scheduled to provide commentary until the following day, but she was there to take some notes on the top female competitors. Maybe she's trying to assess her chances for a comeback? One can only hope!!! I did feel slightly bad for some of the competitors though, since at certain points more people in our area were watching the Kween rather than whoever was on the ice.

Joining her in the booth was the legendary Dick Button. Uncle Dick has received some criticism for being too mean (he once infamously referred to a well-liked skater as a "refrigerator break" during a prime-time broadcast), but he just gets feistier and more un-PC with age. Consider him the Simon Cowell of skating commentators.

America's hopes rested on the shoulders of its reigning national champion, Alissa Czisny. Unfortunately, however, her shoulders could not handle the pressure. When she is on, she is truly an elegant, beautiful skater with unbelievable spins. But she is classified, with good reason, as a headcase. It's a shame. I hope that she is ale to straighten out her issues before the Olympic season begins.

As much as I love the sport, I know that one cannot live on skating alone. So I left the arena in the late afternoon to meet up with 10YearsTogether at the Wilshire Grand hotel. Coincidentally, that was the official hotel for all the skaters and officials.

We walked over to Chaya and got a head start on snacking while waiting for the other fab ladies (and one cool dude). If you are ever looking for a good happy hour location, Chaya would fit the bill. Much more food and several more drinks eventually made their way to the table, but I completely forgot about taking pictures once we all started talking.

Mr. Monkey took the official group picture. From left to right: Weezermonkey, 10YT, me, Insomniac, Wan and PinkObssessed.

As much as I wanted to stay, I had to tear myself away from the group and head back to Staples for the ice dance finals. As usual, the ice dance discipline provided the most interesting costumes. Roger took one look at the Israeli ice dance team during warm-ups and figured out that they were skating to Jesus Christ Superstar. Eventually the jumbotron confirmed his suspicion. The man is psychic.

The baby Italians had cute and slightly preppy outfits for their performance set to Love Story.

The French team continued to take its design inspiration from hookers. During one of the breaks I spied Frank Carroll in the next section over. Between his own accomplishments as a skater, the skaters he has coached to the most elite levels and the sheer number of years he has been entrenched in the sport, I truly hope he writes a book someday. I would snap it up in a heartbeat. With all the behind-the-scenes info he is sure to have, I'm sure it would be a scintillating read. The American teams did not disappoint. Belbin & Agosto performed passionately to Tosca. In light of the fact that they had sat out most of the season due to Ben having a major back injury, they were phenomenal. There was only one slight moment of hesitation before one of the lifts, which I probabky wouldn't have even noticed had we not been sitting so close.

Davis & White had an outstanding performance that sadly turned out to be the biggest "wuz robbed" moment of the competition. They finished just off the podium, despite the fact that they skated a difficult piece brilliantly and brought the crowd to its feet. The crowd actually booed when their scores were posted; they deserved much higher. But Meryl & Charlie, ever the class act, did not complain and instead attempted to quietly shush their booing fans while being broadcast over the jumbotron from the Kiss n' Cry area.

The final standings. The Russians were on top despite an underwhelming performance. And the Canadian team, who have been on the scene longer than Davis & White, just edged them out for third place. The more things change in ice dancing, the more things stay the same. My friend Lois was so disgusted with the judging that she boycotted the medals ceremony. I don't think she was the only one.

The Book Challenge: Spring Recap

2009-06-28T15:59:00.001-07:00

I still have a few more skating posts to finish (insert your "yay!" or "boo!" here), but I figured I better update this little project in the meantime since I am old and forgetful.

April

12. Knit Two by Kate Jacobs

May

13. Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty

14. Dreams From My Father by President Barack Obama

15. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

June

16. Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar

17. You Know You Love Me by Cecily Von Ziegesar

18. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

19. The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

20. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

21. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield

With half a year to go I am slightly less than halfway towards meeting the challenge. I think the remainder of the Gossip Girl series will help me make up some lost ground. ;-)

Not All Of Them Are Gay

2009-06-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

If you haven't guessed yet, this post is mostly about the men's competition. Without fail, almost every non-skating fan I talk to about ice skating asks me at some point whether all of the guys in the sport are gay. Some of them are, but, no, they all aren't. Even if they are wearing sequins. And does it really matter? I've never quite understood why this question gets asked so much. So let's move on.

See all these Canadians that were sitting across from us at the arena?
I couldn't escape them all week. They were staying with a tour group in my hotel, crowding the bar and the elevators. They even followed me to Panini Cafe one morning for breakfast. This lone CA(lifornia) girl sitting on the side patio was forgotten about as the CA(nadian) mob overtook the front of the restaurant. The food at Panini Cafe was okay: good mimosa, good bacon, good bread, good coffee. But my eggs were overdone. Blech. I hate overcooked eggs.

Lunch later on that day at The Farm was a lot better. The fact that we waited twenty minutes for a table while standing shoulder to shoulder with the legendary Dorothy Hamill and current U.S. ladies' silver medalist Rachael Flatt had nothing to do with it. ;-) I swear, those twenty minutes were the most quiet we had been all week. We were desperately hoping to overhear some hot (or cool?) skating gossip. After we were seated I ordered ahi tuna, served three ways.

I also mooched off of V's cheese platter.

The men's short program had more interesting audio moments than visual moments. Did you know techno music is just not for raves? It seems the be the go-to music for most men.

The U.S. men's champion, Evan Lysacek, bucked the trend, but by skating to Bolero. For those of you not as obsessed as I am, Bolero is the iconic ice dancing piece skated by Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Olympics. Their performance revolutionized ice dance. Those two pretty much owned that piece of music for almost two decades. No one else dared to skate to it because how could one possibly live up to the expectations? Over the last five years though, Bolero has snuck back into the repertoire of skating music. I still raise my eyebrow when I hear someone skating to it; I expect them to bring it. Despite his excessive arm flailing, Evan brought it.

Evan's primary compeition was French skater Brian Joubert. Brian opted for a lively techno number, that seemed more like a piece for show skating. Much to the delight of tweens and cougars, he worked in some Chippendale-esque hip thrusts into his routine.

We ended up back at the Yard House that night. From left to right: R, Me, C, A, A's Fabulous Mom, V and L. L is the woman responsible for having brought most of us together. Back in 2002, when we were still all strangers on FSU, L arranged a block of group seating for FSUers for the '02 U.S. Nationals, which were also held at Staples Center. The area has changed quite a bit since then -- all for the better! C befriended us at the '06 U.S. Nationals in St. Louis. Having been seated in the row in front of us, he overheard all our snark and couldn't stay away. We were thankful we didn't scare him away with our chatter. We met A and her mom at Worlds, although A already seemed to familiar through her posts on the board.

The (over)use of techno made an appearance in the men's long program too. I forgave this guy for it as he was vastly entertaining, channeling his inner Mr. Roboto.

The other crowd pleaser of the evening was Italian skater Samuel Contesti. He skated a program with a spaghetti western theme. Plus he's easy on the eyes.

This is the joy of victory. Evan Lysacek skated a stellar long program to Rhapsody in Blue.

This is the agony of defeat. Brian Joubert skated a sloppy program to the soundtrack of The Matrix (for like the third season in a row). He broke the cardinal rule of being a good competitor and tried to change his program elements as he skated. That's a big no-no, since muscle memory is a vital part of being a good skater. Changing elements mid-program also shifts your mental focus. If it works out, then it's great. But more often than not it results in silly mistakes, as Brian learned the hard way, falling on what should have been an easy double axel.

The final standings. The pleasant suprise was the silver-place finish by Canadian skater Patrick Chan. He and Brian Joubert had quite the war of words in the press regarding the necessity of doing quadruple jumps. Patrick = no quad. Brian = quad. On this night, the quad lost. It was the first time a U.S. man has won the gold at Worlds since Todd Eldredge's win in 1996.

I only took this picture because Dr. Debi Thomas and Tiffany Chin were presenting the medals to the men. Those two were my idols when I skated as a kid. I still have some of Debi's performances on VHS.

The guys had to do a lot of posing for the media.

After all the media shots were done, the skaters stuck around for their fans. Brian Joubert came over to our section. L hustled down to the front and returned with the most funny and bizarre story of the week. L always gets the best stories and gossip:

Apparently a middle-aged woman came rushing down the stairs toward Brian, holding an envelope. She shouted at him, "Brian I have something for you," while handing over the envelope. Then she insisted that he open it. Most people assumed it was perhaps a photo she wanted him to sign, or a racy photo of herself she wanted him to have. Instead it was a picture of her cat. A cat she named "Brian Joubert", because she is such a huge fan. Skater Joubert politely smiled, thanked her, then tried to return the photo of Cat Joubert. The woman, however, refused to take it back and said she printed that photo out especially for him.

And you all thought I'm a crazy skating fan ;-) ......

Let's Start At The Very Beginning

2009-06-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Because as Fraulein Maria sang in The Sound of Music, it's a very good place to start. When you read you may begin with A-B-C, but when you attend a skating competition you begin at the practice sessions. And this is exactly where I started my week at Worlds, watching the ladies take the practice ice at Staples on Monday night. As far as practice sessions go, it was fairly uneventful with the exception of being rather crowded for a practice session.

Even though she has not competed since 2005, Michelle Kwan still garnered one of the first posters put up in the arena. (Disclaimer for all photos: Click to enlarge and see details. Can you believe I didn't discover the manual zoom until 3 weeks after the event!?!)

The next morning I woke up early so I could leisurely stroll over to Staples, which would become my home away from home for the following five days. That was probably a good thing since I was woefully underwhelmed with my room at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel.

I actually bypassed the main arena so that I could meet up with my friend at the mens' practice session being held next door at the L.A. Convention Center. We were amazed that they built an ice surface so quickly after the Adult/Porn Expo that had concluded just two days earlier.

Brian Joubert of France seemed to be the most accessible top-level skater all week, both to the media and his fans.

Finally it was time to head back to Staples and find our seats. We were pleased to find out that we were seated just over the judges' shoulders.

Competition ice, ready to be skated on.

And we're off! The first skaters to take the ice were the ice dancers, skating this year's compulsory dance, the Paso Doble. In compulsory dance, the skaters do two rounds of the same exact pattern. They have a little bit of leeway at the start and the end to personalize it, but otherwise it is all exactly.the.same. In other words, it can get pretty damn boring quickly. The Paso Doble however, is probably the most exciting compulsory dance, so at least we had that to keep us going.

A lot of the guys seemed to be channeling Edward from Twilight. I'm not sure how or why vampires = Paso Doble. This guy took the award for most Edward-iest.
The Russian team of Domnina and Shabalin were the one of the favorites heading in to the competition. I thought their opening pose was pretty kick ass. I can't say I've ever rested my skate blade on someone's neck, but it sounds sort of cool. Hmmm, maybe this is where the Twilight connection comes in??

The top American ice dancers, Belbin and Agosto, took the ice shortly after their rivals. In a weird "only in ice skating" twist, both teams have the same coach and train at the same facility.
Another American team, Davis and White, also drew a lot of attention. They haven't been skating at the senior level very long, but they made a splashy debut last year and have been considered serious contenders ever since. One or two decades ago, it would have been impossible for such a young team to be ranked so highly. Figure skating judging may still have a long way to go, but it really has come a long way already.

After all the compulsory dances were over, we all walked over to L.A. Live for dinner. The "we" refers to some great people I met -- some years ago, some just this year -- through FSU. From left to right: A, her fabulous mom, C, V & R.

We were lured in by Yard House's 50% off happy hour drinks and appetizers. I've never been a huge fan of any of the entrees I've tried there previously, but the appetizers were surprisingly good.

Crab Cakes:

Seared Ahi:

Mango Martini:

After dinner we headed back to Staples for the Pairs' Short Program. Apparently I didn't take any photos during that segment. I think R and I were clutching each other in fear way too much. There wasn't much else one could do while watching many of the pair teams launch into throw jumps or rotating lifts. Thankfully there were no spectacular crashes.

Not a "Dear John" Letter

2009-05-11T18:57:00.001-07:00

Dear Blog,

I know you are feeling neglected, but I promise to write in you soon. Work seemed to drain the life out of me for most of April, but there were fun things too that I know you'd love to hear all about. One of these evenings I swear I will sit down and do nothing except shower you with text and pictures, even in the fact of seemingly insurmountable obstacles like Verizon's crappy connection during the hours of 8 to 10pm. You deserve more from me.

Love,
Your absentee author

Kind and Lawyer in the Same Sentence?

2009-04-14T09:17:00.001-07:00

I feel like my leg is being pulled, but according to this website today is Be Kind to Lawyers Day. I wouldn't recommend calling your lawyer to wish him or her well though; those billable hours are sneaky little increments. ;-) Instead, I recommend my favorite suggestion from the 'How to Participate' section of the website:

"Switch your ring tone to the 'dah-dah' sound from Law and Order."

Book Challenge: March Recap

2009-04-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

Cutting for Stone; Abraham Verghese

The Friday Night Knitting Club; Kate Jacobs

The Adultery Diet; Eva Cassady

Charmed Thirds; Megan McCafferty

Fourth Comings; Megan McCafferty

11 down, 39 to go. I have to get back into my library habit.

Finally! A Post About Worlds '09

2009-04-08T22:50:00.000-07:00

When Eddie gets sick, he is a mess for a day, sleeps for hours and wakes up completely fine the next morning. When I get sick, I am still hacking up a lung ten days later. Not fair. So to kickoff my coverage of Worlds '09 I present to you the Gallery of Bad Costumes because I am still weeding through all the other pictures. There were definitely more questionable ones than the dozen below, but these were really the best of the worst. Click to enlarge the pictures in order to enjoy all these outfits in their full glory.

1. This picture doesn't capture the truly atrocious hot pink panels on the underside of the male skater's trench coat. And why on earth would an ice dancer want to wear a trench coat during a competitive performance? Seeing a skater's line and extension is crucial when evaluating an ice dancer. This was fug with no function.
2. This year's compulsory dance was the Paso Doble. As the Paso Doble is supposed to mimic a bullfight, the feathers did not make much sense. Especially the ones on the female's head. Perhaps they were attempting to do Paso Doble meets Swan Lake?
3. The '80s called. They want their costumes back.

4. Hot pink hot pants. Hot pink faux legwarmers. Lavender holographic unitard. Can you say hot mess? Now granted this pair did skate to the theme of Lost in Space, which somewhat explains their get-ups. But apart from being a bit hard on the eyes, these costumes also seemed to be of poor quality. Let's just say that we weren't the only ones who found it a bit chilly inside of Staples Center.

5. I like pink, I really do. But it just wasn't working well on the ice this year.

6. This picture doesn't completely capture what was wrong with this outfit. But I think that we can all agree that sheer black illusion fabric is generally not a good look on a man.

7. The bones were sparkly, but still jarring and scary.

8. Was this gladiator outfit made for a skating competition or for the Halloween sale at Party City? Just say no to turning skating boots into gold lame gladiator boots.

9. There aren't too many other sports where one can dress like a hooker complete with thigh-highs and a garter belt. This French ice dance team embraced the opportunity to do so.

10. Fluorescent green tulle. 'Nuff said.

11. She could open an aerobics studio with the '80s pair in #3.

12. And finally, what do Mickey Mouse gloves have to do with interpreting music by The White Stripes and Kanye West?

Lest you think all these thoughts were bottled up inside me all week, I actually had the very good fortune of sitting with a group of fun and snarky skating fans that I've known for years. Sometimes I wonder what the people around us must think, but so far no one has tried to beat us up for our outspokenness. It's a good thing skating fans are generally civilized.

Fatigue + Hoarse Throat .....

2009-04-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

..... did not equal the effects of overenthusiastic cheering at Worlds.

Fatigue + hoarse throat = flames of hell burning my throat, followed up by a hacking cough and utter exhaustion.

It's back under the covers for me.

I'm back!

2009-03-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

Lots of photos to upload and weed through (including a gallery of bad costumes).

Lots of thoughts about figure skating.

Lots of work to catch up on. (boo!)

Lots of sleep to catch up on as well.

And if all that weren't enough, 94 new entries awaiting me in Google Reader!

The World Comes to Los Angeles

2009-03-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

And I will be there to cheer them on!

Staples Center will be hosting the World Figure Skating Championships this week. As I usually do when I attend major competition, I will be meeting up with a group of skating fans that I met online many years ago. In fact, the first competition we all attended together was the 2002 U.S. National Championship, which was also at Staples Center.

I bought my tickets and booked my hotel last year. Planning ahead has its privileges; we have fantastic seats. *squeal*
The biggest perk of buying an all-event package is getting a practice pass. Many times the practices foreshadow what will happen during the actual competition. Practices also give you insight into how people train, how they deal with mistakes or criticism and whether they are catty towards other competitors. The end of practice sessions are also a good time to say hello or get an autograph from skaters. And since most practice sessions are usually only attended by coaches, commentators, skating icons and die-hard uber fans, the sessions are THE best place to get all the latest gossip. And the skating world always has a lot of gossip. Things can be quite interesting behind all the sequins and sparkly makeup.

With practices starting as early as 7am and competitive events ending as late as 11pm, attending a major competition isn't a very relaxing experience. But who cares as long as you're having fun, which is what we always seem to have. :-)

In the Company of Greatness

2009-03-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last week I met up with Weezermonkey for one of the lectures presented as part of the L.A. Library's ALOUD program. The evening was described as a conversation between actor Hector Elizondo and author Abraham Verghese. In addition to being an author, a physician and a professor, Abraham is also my sister-in-law's cousin. And his older brother is married to the daughter of a long-time family friend. Due to the broad, unique way that Indians define family, my parents and brother fully expected me to turn out for this event despite the fact I had never met Abraham before.

The lecture's topics were centered around the themes and concepts contained within Abraham's most recent release, Cutting for Stone. This is his third book, but first novel, which was eight years in the making. Abraham really amazes me with his intelligence, creativity and compassion. Not to mention that I think he is a total rock star for being able to balance medicine, writing and family life. Having read Cutting for Stone, as well as My Own Country, I feel like these personal qualities are carried over into his characters and descriptions. With regard to Cutting for Stone, I easily got swept away into the story and its characters. It is really a wonderful novel and I'm not just saying that because he is "family"!

After the lecture there was an opportunity to have books signed.

Dorkiness personifed: Here I am introducing myself and explaining to Abraham how I know him. I'm really not good at stuff like this.
After the event, Weezermonkey and I headed to the The Restaurant at The Standard. It was a dim for picture taking, although Weezermonkey did teach me how to change my ISO settings. It was a great evening all around, with great company!

More pictures and thoughts available here.

Birthday Blisses

2009-03-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

Who says Friday the 13th is an unlucky day? For me, last Friday was a day filled with bliss. I took the day off. I slept in. When I did leave the house it was for an early lunch at Le Diplomate Cafe in the Brea Mall. I started with the complimentary bread and bruschetta. This was so damn good. Had I known how good it was going to be I would have ordered a side salad or a cup of soup instead of my entree, just so I could eat this entire basket of bread.

But alas, I had already order a brie, avocado and apple panini. It was good, although I think I could have managed with a bit less avocado and a little more apple.

After lunch I walked over to the Glen Ivy Day Spa for my 80-minute massage, using a gift card I received for last year's birthday. Better late than never I suppose. It was more crowded than I expected for a Friday, so I didn't hang out too long in the whirlpool/sauna area. All that chatter doesn't relax me. It turned out I didn't need that stuff; the massage was heavenly and got rid of any tension I had.

I left Brea on the early side, so that I could beat traffic on my way home. I needed to get dolled up for dinner! I used the occasion to debut some recent purchases.

Cole Haan Aurora Slingbacks in black patent:

Louis Vuitton Sunset Boulevard bag in Amarante:

Then Eddie picked me up for a return trip to OC, to one of our favorite restaurants: The Hobbit.

The Hobbit is tucked away on a busy street lined with strip malls. The restaurant has been in operation since 1972, but the home was built in the 1930s. After last month's dining debacle, I wanted to go somewhere familiar and reliable for my birthday. The restaurant may not be modern or trendy, but it consistently turns out good food and excellent service. Eddie and I first ate here three years ago and have returned 3 or 4 times since. We have never had a bad experience. A dinner at The Hobbit really is an experience. There is only one seating per evening and seating is somewhat limited.

From their website:

ACT I: All our guests are invited into our wine cellar to begin the evening. You are handed the evening’s menu and a flute of Hobbit Champagne. Hot and cold hors d’oeuvres are placed throughout the cellar for you to enjoy while selecting your wine for dinner. Executive chef/owner Mike Philippi, his wife Debra, and sommelier Greg Cole are available in the cellar to help select wines-a fun task with over 1000 labels from which to choose.

*What I appreciate about their cellar is the fact that they have something for nearly every price point. I saw full size bottles available from as low as $38 to into the thousands of dollars. They also have a wine pairing available for $40 that is tailored to the menu. Three of the pairing are 4 oz. pours, while the dessert pairing is a 2 oz. pour. The sommelier is very easy to talk to and not at all snooty.*

ACT II: Our guests are invited upstairs to their own table. Act II includes an appetizer, followed by a fish, fowl or light meat, and then a salad course. You are then invited to enjoy “intermission” – take a walk, relax on the patios or visit the kitchen to speak with the chefs.

ACT III: Ten to fifteen minutes later you are invited to return to your reset table for Act III. A flavorful sorbet is next as a palate-cleanser. The main entrée is served complete with accompanying vegetables. Dessert arrives next, always available with an after dinner list of coffee drinks, liqueurs and fine cognacs.

If it is a special occasion, you will also receive handmade truffles along with your dessert.

It was quite dim at our table, so my pictures didn't turn out, but here is a look at our menu:

The birthday blisses continued into the weekend, which was filled was sheer laziness and relaxation. It really doesn't take much to make me happy.

Law & Disorder: The Crime Dog Edition

2009-03-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

Are you familiar with McGruff? When I was a child I would see at least one of his public service announcements encouraging us to "take a bite out of crime" each afternoon on television. Considering what I do for a living, I suppose you could say I received the message loud and clear. But it seems that an individual in Washington never got it at all.

Excerpted from SFGate.com:

A bus driver thought it would be funny to take the bite out of McGruff the crime dog by punching the mascot, but police said children who witnessed the stunt were horrified. Metro bus driver Shawn Brim, 38, climbed off a bus, adjusted his side view mirrors and then punched officer Tyrone Hardy,who was handing fliers to children on a Washington street while dressed as the crime dog, police said. After the punch, Brim got back on the bus and drove away, but was quickly pulled over Saturday.

People continue to amaze me with their stupidity.

The Book Challenge: February Recap

2009-03-06T17:27:00.000-08:00

February was much more successful that January. I think I'm still a little behind the pace, however, depsite the fact I did engage in some re-reads.

What I read:

Social Crimes by Jane Stanton Hitchcock
4 Blondes by Candace Bushnell
Baby Proof by Emily Giffin (Note: This book is about a 30ish couple who views on having children brings them together, but also drives them apart. I was amazed at how many people actually asked me about the state of my own marriage after inquiring about what I was reading. Seriously?)
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty

Six down, forty-four to go!

Earning My Cooking School Degree

2009-03-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Last October I spent the morning attending a demo at the New Orleans School of Cooking. At the conclusion of our class, our instructor advised us that we could earn a diploma if we made any one of the recipes at home. Last night I set about getting that certificate. Since gumbo was Eddie's favorite dish in NOLA, it seemed to be the logical choice for my final exam.

I used the recipe provided to our class as a model, but halved it and made a few other changes to account for our preferences.

I used:

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup flour
1/2 lb. chicken breast (cut into pieces)
1 lb. andouille sausage (cut into pieces)
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
4 cups chicken stock
1 bunch chopped green onions
Big Kevin's Bayou Blend seasoning
File (ground sassafras leaves used for flavor and thickening after cooking. 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per serving is the recommended amount)
Cooked rice

Here is how I did it:

Heat the oil over moderate heat in a saucepan. Add in the flour and make a roux to the desired color. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon to avoid lumps from forming. I took my roux to a light chocolate shade; it took approximately 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. My roux is in the ramekin below.

In a large stockpot, heat a tablespoon of oil over moderate heat. Add the chicken, season. Brown the chicken. Add the sausage and briefly saute with the chicken. Remove both from the pot.
Add the onions, celery, green bell pepper, garlic and roux into the pot. Mix well and stir very frequently. After the vegetables start to become tender, return the chicken and sausage to the pot. Combine well with the vegetables, stirring often. Stir in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for approximately an hour. Season to taste with Bayou Blend.

Here it is, simmering away:

Approximately 10 minutes before serving, add in the green onions. Serve gumbo over rice, adding file and additional Bayou Blend if desired.

This was a lot of work, but was SO delicious! Even Eddie had nothing but compliments, which was a suprise to me since he has become quite picky when it comes to gumbo. I think I aced the exam. :-)

What a Week

2009-02-27T20:26:00.000-08:00

I try to avoid doing bullet style posts, but this week has been filled with work and activities every single day! It's all been mostly good, but tiring. I'm so glad that we have nothing planned this weekend.

So what have I been up to?

I went to a fun GTG at JD 2 B's place. It was less than a year ago that I headed over there all nervous for my first-ever GTG. This time I was just excited to see everyone. No more GTG trepidation. :-)
Eddie and I have both had many Deltasig events and meetings to attend related to our positions as advisors. I am fortunate that "my kids" are good to me and don't cause much trouble. I just wish they weren't such night owls; I can't keep up anymore!
They say that when the economy goes down, crime goes up. Based on the steady influx of cases getting assigned to me, I have to say that this saying just might be true. It is making for some very long days in court. Especially when you have to cover for a flaky p.o.s. co-worker. Grr.
I had a great lunch on Wednesday with the people I consider my Core Co-workers. These are the people I've known since my first few months on the job; they are the ones I know I can always count on and trust. Over the past year a tag-a-long that shall be known as the Jellyfish (If you have read Bridget Jones' Diary then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't then you are probably pretty confused.) has been joining us at our weekly lunches and it just isn't the same with her around. But this week she was far, far away on vacation and it was just the five of us again. It was wonderful.
Also on Wednesday, I saw my brother for the first time since my wedding! Even though he's been living on the East Coast 10+ years, we usually see each other at least once a year. He happened to be in San Diego this week on a business trip, so I drove down to meet him for dinner. We had a great meal at the C-Level bistro within the Island Prime restaurant, but more importantly we had a great time catching up with each other. Our parents' 44th wedding anniversary was the same day, so we called them after dinner. I like to think that they were happy my big bro and I were hanging out together, even though they would have preferred it if we were all having dinner approximately 500 miles north of where we were.

And to end on a note of cuteness:

According to Eddie, the night that I was really late coming home (from SD), Jack had been at the windowsill whimpering the entire evening. When Eddie is super-late, Jack just peers out the window. It has now been decided once and for all that Jack is indeed a mama's dog. And a big baby. ;-)

Time for a Pick-Up

2009-02-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

No, not that type of pick-up. I am happily married woman after all. But after the last couple of posts, I feel a little "pick me up" is in order. The espresso in these brownies should do the trick.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Brownies
Source: Giada DeLaurentiis

You will need:

Nonstick cooking spray
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons plus two teaspoons espresso powder
1 box brownie mix (I usually use Duncan Hines dark chocolate mix)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9x13 inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray. Whisk together 1/3 cup of water, oil, eggs and 2 tablespoons of the espresso powder in a large bowl. Add the brownie mix and stir until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Transfer the batter to the baking pan. Bake for approximately 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely.
To make the glaze, dissolve the remaining 2 teaspoons of espresso powder in the remaining 2 tablespoons of water in a medium bowl. Whisk in the vanilla. Add the powdered sugar and butter. Whisk until smooth. Pour the glaze over the brownies and refrigerate until set. Cut into bite-size pieces and serve.

In the original version of the recipe, Giada uses an instant espresso powder by Medaglia D'Oro. This most recent time, I was out of the instant stuff so I used 2 tablespoons of Illy ground espresso for the batter. For the glaze I brewed a shot of espresso and used 2 tablespoons of that in place of the instant mixed with cold water. It turned out just as good, if not better than the original version.

The E-Mails You Come to Dread the Most

2009-02-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

When the Big Boss sends out an e-mail with just the name of an attorney in the subject line, it's generally not a good thing.

Today was sadly no exception.

We never worked in the same assignment together, but had met at several social occasions. She was warm, friendly, smart and genuine. I hate having to write about someone in the past tense. I can't even begin to imagine what her family is going through, especially what her young daughters will go through once they are old enough to understand it all.

Hug your loved ones a little tighter tonight.

O is for "Oh Dear"

2009-02-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

I had been wanting to dine at Ortolan for some time, perhaps a year or so. This desire was only further cemented after reading about Weezermonkey's experience at the restaurant. So it seemed to be a logical choice for a nice Valentine's Day dinner.

Based on everything I had read about this restaurant, I had been planning on naming this post "O is for Outstanding." Unfortunately, it is impossible for me to say that.

Things seemed fine initially. We were seated promptly, in the portion of the restaurant that serves as the front patio area when the weather is nicer. Due to the dimness of the interior lighting in that section plus the backlighting from the streetlamps that created many odd shadows, pictures were impossible.

The set menu for the evening sounded fantastic:

Amuse Bouche

Alaska Crab with Cherry Tomato Parfait, Cucumber Chutney and Balsamic Reduction

Ravioli of Langoustine with Consommé of Black Truffle

Steamed Turbot with Zucchini Flower, Venere Black Rice and Ratatouille

Roast Lamb Filet with Cappelletti of Lamb Confit, Crispy Red Bell Pepper and Baby Artichoke

Pre-Dessert of Strawberry Parfait with Rose Caviar

Chocolate Ganache with Passion Fruit, Kumquat and Mandarin Sauce

Petit Fours

The food, in fact, was outstanding. Everything tasted great, particularly the turbot. Each dish was presented beautifully and creatively. The wine pairings were perfect.

What follows, however, is a tale of how awful service can ruin even the most beautiful of meals.

We knew that dining anywhere on Valentine's Day is a bit of a gamble, with much larger than usual crowds at most places. We were prepared to have minor issues arise. That is why we chose Ortolan. We figured a restaurant of its caliber would be well equipped to deal with such a busy evening, without sacrificing its commitment to service. We were wrong.

After being seated at our table, at least ten to fifteen minutes passed before we were acknowledged by any of the servers assigned to our area. When someone did finally come by to find out if we would like wine with our meal, he neglected to offer Eddie the choice of any other drinks. And when Eddie later asked one of the assisting servers whether a full bar was available, that person did not know. He said he would check on it, but never came back. It wasn't until my first-course wine pairing was delivered (by someone else) that Eddie was able to find out that a full bar was available and put in a drink order.

The pacing between courses was horribly uneven. From where I was seated I could also look out across the rest of the dining room. I saw that we were not the only ones experiencing this problem. The primary servers were unsure of which course each table was on. As a result, there were a number of times when the assistant servers seemed to wander around aimlessly, trying to find the right table to deliver the dish to. I could also hear some of the complaints from the patrons seated near us.

Eddie and I seemed to have the misfortune of sitting at the forgotten location. We had a lengthy delay between course three and four. That delay, however, was nothing in comparison to the almost thirty minute delay we had between the final entree and the pre-dessert. Our server's shock at seeing that we were still waiting for our pre-dessert confirmed our suspicion. We had been forgotten. And then instead of the pre-dessert, the assistant brought out the primary dessert. We had to correct him and ask for the correct course. Then when it was time for the primary dessert, there was another delay of almost twenty minutes. By this point, diners who had been seated well after we had started our meal were already receiving their check.

There were some other service related issues as well. Eddie asked three different people, over the span of two courses, to please refill his water glass. His glass didn't get refilled until I flagged down a fourth person, during our marathon wait for dessert. Some of the capaletti in our lamb dish were not fully cooked through. The ladies' restroom was out of toilet paper and apparently had been for a while. Thank goodness there was a box of Kleenex in there. And finally, I did not receive a rose when we left for the evening, as it appeared most of the other ladies did upon departure. (Our table also had a view of the front door)

The primary server tried to make things better by giving me an extra pouring of champagne with dessert. A better offering would have been to allow us to tip at our discretion rather than the mandated 20% gratuity for the evening.

At the risk of sounding like a spoiled bitch, I don't think anyone should leave a $400 meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant feeling disappointed. But that is exactly how we felt on the drive home.

When we began our evening we talked about how we'd like to come back and explore the regular menu. Now, I just don't know . . . . .

ETA: I just opened the small box we were sent home with. They contained chocolates, not the petit fours as listed on the menu. They were good chocolates, but I had really been looking forward to having petit fours. Grr.

The Book Challenge -- January Recap

2009-02-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

When the book club board on The Nest announced the 50 Books in 2009 challenge, I thought it would be a snap. I read a lot. I read quickly. I've been averaging almost fifty books a year anyways.

Cockiness can backfire 'yo.

I read only ONE book in January, Stephenie Meyer's The Host. It wasn't a terrible book, but clearly sci-fi is just not my thing. Hence why Eddie uses the time I'm away from home to watch the Sci-Fi channel to his heart's content.

Spicy Beef Stir-Fry

2009-02-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

What this lacks in authenticity (according to Eddie), it makes up for in taste. Best of all, it's a quick recipe, great for weeknights.

Spicy Beef Stir-Fry
Source: Food Network Magazine, February/March 2009

You will need:

1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine, dry sherry or white vermouth (I used sherry)
1 pound beef sirloin, thinly sliced against the grain into strips
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
3-4 tablespoons peanut oil
1 1-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, smashed
5-7 dried red chilies, halved
1 small onion, thinly sliced
8 heads baby bok choy, halved
Pinch of sugar
Cooked rice, for serving

Whisk the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of rice wine in a medium bowl. Add the beef, season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Set aside for 15 minutes.
Mix the remaining 1 tablespoon rice wine, the oyster sauce and sesame oil in a large bowl. Set the bowl near the stove.
Heat a wok or large nonstick skillet over high heat until very hot. Add 3 tablespoons peanut oil, then the ginger, garlic and chilies. Stir-fry until fragrant, approximately 1 minute. Add the beef and cook, stirring or shaking the skillet occasionally, 3-4 minutes. Transfer the beef with a slotted spoon to the sauce mixture and toss.
If the pan is dry, add 1 tablespoon of peanut oil, then add the onion and stir-fry until just soft, approximately 2 minutes. Add the bok choy and sugar; stir-fry until wilted. Return the beef and any juices to the pan and stir to combine. Serve over rice.

Bark If It's Your Birthday

2009-02-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

Jack's little girlfriend Mimi turned three yesterday. Mimi's parents threw her a party on the lawn to celebrate the occasion. Mimi's other boyfriend Bailey also attended. Since there were three dogs total it made total sense to have a peanut butter cake from Three Dog Bakery.
Mimi couldn't keep her eyes off of the cake.

We all sang "Happy Birthday".

Since Mimi is a proper young lady, all of the dogs were served on paper plates. Jack forgot his manners and ran off into the grass with his slice of cake.

He really wanted to make sure the others didn't come near his crumbs.

He ran off into the grass again to chow down on his second slice of cake. Then he came back looking for thirds, which he didn't get. He's such a piggy little puggle.

So I Had This Great Idea

2009-02-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

I sat down with the intention of writing a post about my happiness at getting a healthy dose of Eric Ripert on tonight's episode of Top Chef. But then I checked my unread entries in my Google reader and saw that Tam beat me to it! I'm chalking this up as another instance of great minds thinking alike. :-)

Peppercorn Chicken with Lemon Spinach

2009-02-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

So far I am two-for-two with recipes from Food Network magazine. I was a little bit nervous about this one because of all the dijon mustard involved. I thought the mustard would overwhelm the dish, but it turned out quite tasty.

You will need:

3 tablespoons dijon mustard
3 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I used two)
2-3 teaspoons coarsely ground mixed peppercorns
3/4 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary (I omitted)
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1/3 cup brandy or red wine
1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound spinach
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350. Brush 1 tablespoon mustard all over the chicken. Sprinle with the peppercorns, salt and rosemary to taste. Pat gently so that the seasonings stick.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer the chicken to a baking dish (set aside the skillet for the sauce). Bake the chicken until cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, add the shallots to the skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until just soft. Remove the pan from the heat, add the brandy or red wine, then return the pan to the heat. Add the broth, bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining two tablespoons of mustard and the parsley.
Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic and cook for approximately 30 seconds. Add the spinach, season with salt and cook until wilted. Add the lemon zest. Drizzle the chicken with the shallot sauce and serve with the spinach.

Cooking note: If you are not a fan of mustard, try substituting two tablespoons of butter instead of the mustard when you finish the sauce instead.

Garlic-and-Greens Spaghetti

2009-02-01T16:38:00.000-08:00

In keeping with the theme for change in 2009, I cancelled my subscription to Food & Wine magazine. After two years of subscribing I have accumulated quite the stack of recipes to try, but really needed more recipes that would be more weeknight-cooking friendly. The newly launched Food Network magazine seems to fit the bill, although I'm only on my second issue. I got off to a good start with this fairly healthy pasta dish.

Garlic-and-Greens Spaghetti
source: Food Network Magazine, Feburary/March 2009 issue

You will need:

16 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced (a garlic press is handy for this)
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, halved and sliced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
Kosher salt
2 pounds torn winter greens such as kale, chard, escarole or mustard greens (I used chard)
12 ounces spaghetti (I used 8oz. of whole wheat spaghetti)
1/4 grated pecorino romano cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Meanwhile, cook the garlic in the oilve oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crisp. This should take 2-3 minutes; be careful not to overbrown it. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic chips to a plate lined with paper towels. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the onions and red pepper flakes to the oil in the pan; cook, stirring, until the onions are light brown, about 10 minutes. Season with 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt.
When the onions are almost done, add the greens to the boiling water and cook uncovered until just tender, about 2 minutes. Using tongs, remove the greens; add them to the skillet with the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes.
Return the cooking water for the greensto a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, 8-10 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of cooking water before draining the pasta. Drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl. Add the cheese and toss. Add the greens and toss, using the reserved pasta as necessary to keep the pasta from clumping. Top with the garlic chips.

Makes 4 side-dish servings or 2 entree servings.

Note: If you can, open a window while cooking the onions and garlic. ;-)

A Martini Day

2009-01-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

The Scene: 4:55pm in a courtroom in 'da hood.

The Judge: "Off the record, five minutes before five o'clock. You all earned your paychecks today, not that you don't work hard every day."

Me: "Today was crazy."

Defense Counsel: "I think we all earned a glass or two of wine in addition to our checks."

The Judge: "Your entitled to your choice Ms. Defense Counsel, but I think today deserves a martini."

Who am I to not follow a judge's order? This past afternoon really does require a martini (or other vodka-based drink) for recovery. I'm typing this with a glass in hand.

Mondays and Wednesdays are always pre-trial days. A typical pre-trial day entails prepping files in the morning and court appearances after lunch until 3:30 or so. Maybe 4pm if it's an unusually busy day. Then it's back to the office for filing, phone calls, e-mails, etc.

Here was today: 17 cases on afternoon calendar in the courtroom, nine of which belong to me. My first case up was a local high profile case. Between the media attention and the need for delicate handling of the victim, I'm always edgy when this case comes up on calendar. We get through that okay, with some tears from both sides but no outbursts.

Then came the case that really took it out of me. It's rare that I completely lose it with opposing counsel. I have a pretty strong reputation for being fair, reasonable and easy to work with. But trying to discuss a case with this one old man PITA left me wanting to kick him. It should have been an easy case; the Probation Dept. had already drafted a pre-plea report. But old man PITA still wanted to dispute every single standard term on there, interrupting me at every possible turn as I tried to talk to the other, more normal defense attorneys on all those other cases. He even tried to argue with me about "making the minor a ward of the court," when the document clearly stated that the proposed plea would NOT make the minor a ward. It was like living a bad thread on The Nest. I didn't know what to do except stop talking to old man PITA and request a conference on the case with the judge. As we waited our turn, old man PITA still took it upon himself to mumble crap into my ear. Fortunately, the judge is a smart man. He quickly figured out what (or who) the problem was and reined in old man PITA. The only problem was that by the time old man PITA was out of my hair, it was already past 3:30 and I still had six cases to call. Oy.

I didn't leave the office until well past 5pm. I know that firm lawyers will have no sympathy for me on this point, but one of the perks of my job is the fact that I generally never have to stay past 5pm. When I stay past five, it's a sign that it's been a bad day.

So now you know why I am already halfway through an elderflower gimlet. I first had this drink at Nopa, but I think I have created a decent at-home approximation:

For one serving, pour 2 parts vodka, 1 part lime juice and 1 part elderflower liqueur over ice into a martini shaker. Shake well, pour into a chilled glass and garnish with lime.

It's a GTG!

2009-01-25T15:49:00.000-08:00

What is a GTG? It's an afternoon of food, laughter, cute dogs and cool women all getting together to hang out and have a good time. Yesterday, 10Years welcomed the ladies of OC, LA and the IE into her home for a fun-filled time. WeezerMonkey documented the day with many pictures, but left out a photo of one of the best parts of the day: live entertainment by the talented Monkey!

I couldn't figure out what type of food item to bring, so I arrived with a pitcher of sangria instead. I used to refer to it as Cha Cha Cha Sangria, since the recipe was inspired by the featured drink served at Cha Cha Cha. But at the suggestion of Marshmalo, I might refer to it as Memory Inhibiting Sangria in the future.

You will need:

1 bottle dry white wine (I use a sauvignon blanc with fruity notes)
1 bottle red wine (preferably a beaujolais)
1 orange
1 lemon
1 cup of sugar
assorted fruits (I always use red grapes and strawberries)
1-2 ounces of brandy (optional)

In a large non-metal bowl, mix the wines together, along with the cup of sugar. Stir for a few minutes.
Slice the orange and lemon into thin slices (1/8 - 1/4 of an inch). Add to the wine and stir.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, add in your other fruits and the brandy. Stir again, pour into a pitcher and chill until it's time to party!

This sangria goes down so easy you may forget you're drinking alcohol. Plan accordingly. ;-) On the rare occasion you have some leftover, skim out the fruit and store the rest in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Totally Smurfy

2009-01-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Lord knows I don't really need any more cosmetics, but I couldn't help myself. I had to order a couple items from this collection (eyeshadow and lip gloss). I adored The Smurfs as a child. I would wake up early to watch it, despite the fact I am not a morning person at all. A girlfight actually broke out at my 8th birthday party over who got to read a little Smurf booklet that had come with a Smurf t-shirt I had received as a gift. And now that we have the Boomerang network I have recorded an episode here and there. I can't wait until my smurfment arrives!

A Time for Change

2009-01-20T17:42:00.000-08:00

How can anyone possibly be uninspired today?

It is no surprise to most people who know me that I have been an Obama supporter from the beginning. I still remember the feeling of awe I had after his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention. I recall thinking, "This guy has a great future in politics." I didn't think the future would come so quickly however, that a mere four years later he would be Mr. President.

While today's events undoubtedly mark changes for the nation and the world, part of his inaugural address struck me instantly and has stuck with me on a personal level:

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

This statement sums up how I have been feeling about 2009 so far. I stopped making resolutions a few years ago, but after the mess that 2008 was I knew that I needed to make some changes for my own sake. As much as I tried not to let it affect me, the stress I felt at work last year had physical manifestations. I ate more, slept less and had a bottle of Tylenol on my desk at all times. I started the year by coming down with the flu and closed out the year by developing bronchitis. Most of all I didn't feel like myself. Instead I felt like I was trying to fit a role of what people thought I should be like: unbending, more aggressive, harsher.

It's time for me to pick myself up, dust myself off and remake me. I need to be true to my own character, not what others want me to be. If it means rethinking my career path and how I can accomplish certain goals, then so be it. I will just need to get creative. It's time for me to take better care of myself so that I can be a better person. I want to live in the moments that make a day, rather than going through the motions. The time for change has arrived, in more ways than one.

A Coastal Getaway

2009-01-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

In what is starting to become a tradition, Eddie and I escaped to the coast for our anniversary getaway. Last year we had a great spa weekend at the Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach. This year we traveled a bit farther, up to the Central Coast. After a later-than-planned start last Friday, we arrived in Cambria just in time for our dinner reservation at Robin's restaurant.

Even though the night was a bit chilly we opted to sit out on the covered patio, with a heat lamp nearby. We started off by sharing the Crispy Vietnamese Lumpia with house-made kimchee and sweet chili sauce. The lumpia was fine, but the real standout was the kimchee. They should bottle some and sell it. We'd buy it.

Eddie had Porcini Pappardelle Pasta with squash fonduta, roasted wild mushrooms, toasted pepitas and crispy sage. I almost ordered this, but chose not to in an effort to avoid carbs. The joke was on us though because the pasta was a spelt or multigrain version. Not exactly Eddie's preference, but I thought it was yummy. The fantastic mushrooms made it up for him.

I had Pork Osso Buco with celery root-potato puree, braised greens, cranberry-port demi glace and crispy parsnip. Everything was delicious, but the braised greens were outstanding. I wish I had the recipe.

For dessert we had mango sorbet and tiramisu. The sorbet was light and obviously used fresh fruit. The tiramisu was good too.

After dinner we checked in to our room at the Moonstone Landing Inn. Our room was spacious and comfortable, with a balcony and fireplace. We also had a fantastic view. This is what I woke up to last Saturday morning:

After a light breakfast provided by the Inn and watching the surfers for a while, we drove to Hearst Castle for a tour. We opted for the Experience Tour, which is recommended for first-time visitors to the Castle. We fit the bill. After arriving at the visitor center we got on to a shuttle bus for the winding 5-mile trip up the hill.

The tour started with admiring the exterior of one of the guesthouses:

Even guests had a marvelous view.

We then moved on to view the Roman pool. The piece on the left was actually imported from Rome. The other columns and statues were custom built to fit the theme. The pool has always had the capability to be heated, which was quite a big deal back in the day.

This is just a sample of one of the rooms in the primary guesthouse.

This is the exterior of the main house. William Hearst's theme for the main house was "Catholic Church" even though he was not Catholic. I think he accomplished his goal.

The fireplace of the main sitting room where guests would mingle over cocktails before dinner. William Hearst had a lot of famous friends including stars of screen and stage, artists, oil barons, writers and even Einstein.

The north end of the sitting room. Really, a point-and-shoot cannot do the Castle justice. The opulence, artwork and attention to detail was astounding. According to our guide, William Hearst made an average of $50,000 a day. That's a lot of money by current standards and a phenomenal amount of money for the 1920s-40s. The Castle truly reflects that.

Despite his wealth, it is said that William Hearst was a down-to-earth man who didn't like pretentiousness. Hence the table setting with plain old ketchup and mustard right on the table in their respective bottles.

Our final stop was the indoor Neptune pool. There are four tours available at the Castle. Each one covers approximately 25% of the property, but every tour ends at the Neptune pool.

The tilework in the pool area features 24K gold.

After a quick lunch at the visitor's center, we drove north on PCH to the elephant seal vista point.

At this time of year females who have just given birth and young seals dominate the population.

There were a few male seals around trying to get their groove on early. Mating season is still a few weeks away.

This pup's mom needed some alone time; she had moved 20-25 feet away. Her pup was determined to catch up though.

Finally! Back with mama.

I think this is the closest that seals get to a dogpile.

We headed back to our hotel and crossed the street over to Moonstone Beach.

Eddie's the adventurer. My feet were (somewhat) firmly on the ground.

The ground was not sandy, but was covered in smooth pebbles instead. There were quite a few people searching through the rocks for additions to their collections. Since it was low tide, we were able to wade fairly far into the water.

After picking up complimentary snacks and drinks from the Inn's lobby we watched the sunset from our balcony.

Going ...

going ......

gone.

Saturday night's dinner was at The Sow's Ear. Dinner here was just okay, especially since we had enjoyed Robin's so much the evening before.

There was a lot of pig kitsch around, but this little piggy chef tucked away in the corner was my favorite.

We started with Herb Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms broiled in lemon garlic butter and white wine.

Eddie had Chicken Fried Steak with country sausage gravy.

I had Coffee Crusted Kobe Steak with a port wine glaze and blue cheese. The steak seemed a little underseasoned. I think I should have gone with my initial ordering instinct instead, which was the Lobster Pot Pie. I ended up having several bites of Eddie's dish after abandoning mine.

For dessert Eddie had the Ollalieberry Granita. He said it tasted a little syrupy. I had the Warm Cinnamon Bread Pudding. It was nothing like the great bread puddings I had in NOLA. Boo.

The town of Cambria gets quiet early, especially in an off-season month. After dinner we got the fireplace going in our room and watched What Happens in Vegas, which we had picked up from the Inn's DVD library.

Sunday morning was just as gorgeous as the previous day. I took a leisurely stroll along the boardwalk. How can you distinguish the locals from the visitors? The locals say hello to everyone they encounter along the path. When you live in such a lovely location I guess it's easy to be warm and friendly. As much of a city girl as I am, I could totally live in a low-key beach town. We couldn't go all the way up to the Central Coast without heading to a few wineries in Paso Robles. Well, okay, I couldn't head all the way up there without going to a winery or two. Our first stop was Opolo, which I had thoroughly enjoyed visiting last May.

We were the only visitors on a Sunday morning, but this adorable little ball of fluff generated a lot of conversation between us and the pourer. Layla was thrilled to have a couple new adorers.

Our next stop was Jada, where I neglected to take any photos. What makes the tasting unique at this winery is that they pair a cheese with each pour. I wish they sold some of the cheeses they use for pairing. If anyone knows where I can find a cocoa-dusted goat cheese, shoot me a message.

The final winery we visited was Dover Canyon. Rebel Rose greeted us at the car door and showed us the way to the tasting room. This was the smallest winery we visited, but the staff was extremely friendly. The reggae music in the background gave the tasting room a kickback vibe.

Of course she got a reward for a job well done!

By this point I was pretty boozy, so I handed the keys over to Eddie before we drove to lunch. After a leisurely lunch at McPhee's Grill, it was time to leave the mellow coast behind and start the long haul home.

We already have next year's beach getaway planned. More details in the months ahead, but I seriously can't wait. :-)

Two Years Ago Today .....

2009-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

Note: these are a mix of pro and non-pro pics.

(psst ... can you tell why we had our wedding in SF?)

Pop Some Bottles!

2009-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Wishing all of you a happy and properous 2009!

Christmas in the City

2008-12-31T15:30:00.000-08:00

So the week prior to Christmas, Big Bad came down to my new office location to tell me exactly how much I suck as an attorney during my annual evaluation. He even wrote an oh-so-lovely page expressing his true feelings about me. Despite his scathing comments, I still received my final raise and final step approval. All things considered it was a little Christmas miracle. But miracles aside, I was so.very.happy to have a week off for our holiday trip to San Francisco.

Driving conditions were good and we had a beautiful drive through the Grapevine. As you can tell in my previous post, we made a short stop to play in the snow.

Our first destination was actually Napa in order to visit Eddie's sister and her husband. J&W recently got a puppy, Riley, and were also dogsitting another dog, Yorkie. With each other to play with, Jack and Riley were in heaven. Yorkie decided the youngsters were too wild and crazy and hid out under the table.

Sunday night we had dinner at Elements. There is a wall of wine in the restaurant, held in place by a series of open racks. Why am I mentioning this? Because I unknowingly brushed against a bottle and knocked it clear off the wall. It was just mere luck that I didn't cause a chain reaction and take out the entire bottom row of wine. So embarrassing. I didn't take pictures of our food, but if you ever check it out you must try the tuna carpaccio with nicoise garnishes, either the black cod or the salmon and the semolina cake with meyer lemon mascarpone. And is you are a Pinkberry fan you will love the apple tart with greek yogurt sorbet.

The next day W suggested that we take a tour of the Castello di Amarosa winery. It was a great tour for both wine drinkers (such as me and W) and non-wine drinkers (Eddie). Built by Dario Sattui of V. Sattui fame, the winery is modeled after an old European castle. Many of the materials were imported from Italy and Austria, with some of the bricks having been used in other castles. There was even a replica of a dungeon with all sorts of cool torture implements. Here is the dining hall.

Much of the castle is used for wine storage and aging. Overall, I preferred the Castello wines over the V. Sattui wines. There were a few misses, such as the merlot, but I walked out with three bottles (dry gewurtztraminer, chardonnay and the blended red "Il Brigante"). Even though there are over 100 rooms and several events are hosted throughout the year, the winery has no plans for on-site lodging.

My battery started dying on the tour and during the tasting, so I made sure to save my last shot for the exterior of the winery.

Monday afternoon we drove to my family's home in San Francisco and spent some quality time with my folks. The next afternoon I met up with some of my old PCX friends for lunch. I should have been at home resting since I had (and still have) the most miserable cold ever, but it had been way too long since I had seen my friends. We went to a casual sandwich and salad shop in the FiDi.

The food was quite good. But I completely forgot to take pictures since the three of us started gabbing right away and never stopped until we parted ways. I miss these flower named girls.

After lunch I set out for an annual holiday tradition. Along the way I caught glimpses of some SF landmarks. This is what I used to see every morning walking out of the BART station.

I took this picture to prove a point for tourists. You do not need to stand in the middle of the intersection in order to take a picture of the Chinatown gate. Repeat: do not stand in the middle of a busy downtown intersection for pictures.

Finally I reached my destination. For every year as long as I can remember, I have gone to Union Square to see the Christmas tree, the windows at Macy's and the ginormous tree at Neiman-Marcus.

When I was a kid, the windows at Macy's had the most elaborate displays. In recent years they have downscaled the decor for a very good cause. Partnering with the SF SPCA, the store now features adoptable shelter animals in its windows. There is always SPCA staff on hand inside to take care of all the animals' needs, as well as staff outside to collect donations for the no-kill organization. The doggie and kitty condos are all well decorated and stocked with toys and other comforts.

You can see Neiman's tree through the windows. The base is on the first floor and the tree goes up all the way to the glass topped Rotunda.

As much fun as I had on Tuesday, I paid the price for it that night. My cold got a lot worse. Blech. But I just reminded myself that being sick on vacation was still TONS better than being at work.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were fairly low key. Most of the time was spent with family, old family friends or curled up on the sofa. I needed to conserve my limited energy for Friday. In what has become a holiday tradition for me and Claire, we went to the Embarcadero Center for a little ice skating.

The rink is set up from November through January. I love skating outdoors.

The rink was crowded, the ice was bad and it was too early for the Bay Bridge and Embarcadero Tower lights to come on, but can one really complain about this? Winter in California rocks.

After skating we walked across to the Ferry Building & Marketplace. We picked up a gingerbread cupcake to share from Miette and stopped by Peet's for a cup of coffee. As we enjoyed our goodies at one of the communal tables in the building, we were highly entertained by the 50-ish woman at our table who was trying to pick up on a 60-ish married man. Her M.O. was to offer him her cookies. I kid you not.

By the time we finished our coffee it was time to meet FogCityDweller for our annual BFF holiday dinner. A few years ago we decided that spending time with each other over a good meal would be better than gift we could exchange with each other. This year we went to Beretta, a new restaurant that has taken over the location of one of our old favorites. RIP Last Supper Club. :-(

The restaurant was actually bustling, but we were the first party of the evening to be seated in the downstairs dining room.

Beretta has a creative cocktail list. On the left is FogCityDweller's Spiced Sazerac with spice infused apple brandy, sugar and orange bitters. On the right is my Acadian with rye, sloe gin, lemon, honey, absinthe and rosemary.

The antipasti dishes are definitely meant to be shared by no more than two people. Tiny but tasty. It's a good thing the three of us share so well. We started off with the meatballs in spicy tomato sauce. We also had zucchini parmigiana but I spaced out on taking a photo of it.

We shared the saffron risotto with osso buco. Delish. This was my favorite dish of the evening.

We ordered the spicy italian sausage pizza. The sausage was definitely spicy and the pizza tasted good, but Mozza's definitely has the edge.

We also ordered the mushroom and fontina pizza. This was a bland, boring disappointment.

Even more disappointing was the dessert menu. There wasn't a single thing that sounded appealing to any of us. And we love our sweets! Most of the offerings featured gelato or sorbetti which seemed so out of place for the season. Did not compute.

The remainder of the weekend flew by, filled with visits to more family friends. Eddie received a rapid introduction into the world of Indian hospitality. We had to have chai and snacks at every house we went to. Saying "no thank you" is simply not allowed. I was a bad wife and forgot to (a) forewarn him and (b) explain how to pace oneself for chai madness.

I could have easily spent another week in SF. There never seems to be enough time to see all the people I would like to see or to do some the activities I can only do in the City.

A final bit of SF randomness on our way out of town. Get it? :-)

Cuteness

2008-12-29T18:40:00.000-08:00

Must blog about last week and my visit to SF, but in the meantime (since I'm a lazy blogger and all) enjoy these:

Jack trying to snatch a snowball away from me.

Jack posing in the snow.

Jack with his cousin Riley, a Portugese pointer.

Riley the puppy (and already three times the size of Jack) trying to cram into Jack's bed.

Peace, Joy & Love to All

2008-12-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

Kick up your heels and enjoy the day ..... merry Christmas!