Desperately seeking recipes...

A while ago I did a posting about my roast that would not cook (a posting that I have since removed, but nonetheless)…I am now desperately trying to find a good replacement recipe. Does anyone out there have a good roast recipe? (Standing rib; brisket etc.) If you do, and don’t mind sharing, please post it!

I love to cook. I am still trying to improve my skills though. AND I really need to enhance my repertoire of delicious dishes. SO, if you have any other recipe that you don’t mind sharing, that is really yummy, please post it.

On Sunday I roasted tons of chicken – standard garlic, onion, paprika type recipe. I don’t think that I put the oven at a high enough temperature in hindsight (my current oven is really cold compared with previous ones that I have used) but the chicken still turned out decently.

Anyway, it was really nice to come home yesterday from work and have a meal already made (other than popping it into the microwave to re-warm). I am really going to try to cook on Sundays from now on, in sufficient quantities to have leftovers ready to eat over the next day or two.

I really would like to cook homemade meals more often. I do NOT know how my mom did it all those years when she was a single mom and worked 24/7…we always had home cooked meals!

mmmm….food….

What should I have for dinner tonight????

More on Friday Night Lights…sort of

So this week’s episode of Friday Night Light’s was really well done – well acted, well written, well received (at least by my husband and I).

One of the main storylines centred on the high school football coach’s fifteen year-old daughter (Julie) and the quarterback of the football team (Matt). The two teenagers, who are dating on the show, were considering losing their virginities.

During the episode, Julie’s mom – aka the coach’s wife – caught sight of Matt buying condoms from the store. She confronted her daughter and tried to explain to her the reasons why not to lose her virginity at such a young age.

In the end, the kids chose ‘the right thing’ – not to do ‘it’ – at least for now.

As an aside, the episode brought back memories of when I was 15 and dating my first boyfriend. Unlike Matt, my guy was not as considerate and was much hornier. My saying no ended our relationship. Looking back, it was crazy to think that had I not been as well grounded as I was, I may have given in to his pressuring and who knows what would have happened!

But I digress…

Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly based on the show's history, the episode did not come across as a cheap after school special but rather a really great show!

Nonetheless, I think the writers missed the opportunity to take things a timely step further.

The episode should have seen the mother march her daughter down to the doctor’s office, yes in part to get put on the pill, but more topically, to receive the HPV vaccine.

The recently approved vaccine works wonders in preventing HPV infections and thus many types of cervical cancers – but only if it is given before a girl is exposed to the virus.

However, there is a taboo associated with it because it relates to sex. Responsible parents need to vaccinate their daughters. They need to understand that just because their daughters get the vaccine does not mean that their daughters are going to become promiscuous. On the other hand, not getting the vaccine COULD mean their daughters will die at a young age from cervical cancer - what could have been a preventable death.

The writers of this show are talented enough to have tackled this topic and I am saddened that they didn’t.

Proof positive…

So almost a year ago I hurt my bum – literally. My doctor is positive that I actually fractured my tail bone, though the XRAY at the time didn’t show anything (apparently I should have been sent for a bone scan, but I digress).

Anyway, for whatever reason, the injury has recently ‘flared up’ so to speak and so now, once again, I have a pain in my ass.

The funny thing is that for several years now, I have claimed to be an ice-cold bitch. Now I FINALLY have proof.

You see, when my tail bone healed itself last summer, it ‘grew back’ in a weird fashion.

If you actually touch it now, it feels like I have a bit of an actual tail – honestly. Thus, proof positive that I am a bitch – in the literal female dog with a tail sense of the word!

HA!

Anyway, the thing is that despite the satisfaction in having such evidence, I am still irritated.

My bum really does hurt!

This means that despite the fact that my neck and upper back are finally at a point in the rehabilitation path to withstand exercise, my bum and lower back aren’t.

So yet again, no running allowed.

The bigger issue is that I am really REALLY REALLY stressed out lately (for several reasons…some of which you can probably garner from my previous posts and others I cannot write about for fear of various forms of retribution).

I need the endorphin-induced relaxation buzz!

What is even more pathetic is that I can barely even walk at a decent pace right now. While my husband was running on the treadmill next to me, I was forced to reduce my walking pace speed to 2 miles an hour because anything greater hurt too much. (and for those of you who know me in real life, know that I normally walk VERY fast!!!!)

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

memories...

One more post for today (it appears as though the flood gates have finally opened...)

Have any of you found that listening to certain songs bring back memories?

For me, there are several songs that when I hear them, I am transported instantly back in time to particular moments.

As examples:

1) Glory of Love - watching Karate Kid Part II at the preview screening with my mom at a downtown movie theatre that is no longer (this was such a treat for me since my mom worked 24-7 at several jobs)

2) Walking on Broken Glass - Old Quebec City when I was there for Canada's 125th birthday on an exchange. I remember being in car with that song on the radio driving past a McDonald's located in a several century old building in Vieux Quebec and the first snow flakes of the season started falling...

3) Lightning Crashes - driving in my uncle's volvo station wagon asking his advice about whether I should go to law school.

4) That Boy is Mine - sitting outside my apartment in Cape Cod looking for 4 leaf clovers the summer that I worked at an Oceanographic Institution.

5) Come What May - my wedding reception, dancing my first dance with my new husband

6) Tom Sawyer - sitting in a car with my husband and our tour guide blasting this song from her tape deck in her car while driving through the jungle from our resort towards Tulum in the Mayan Riviera (the song was just on the radio now, which is what prompted this posting)

and there are many more...

Let me know which songs mean something to you!

oh...one more - One Hand In My Pocket (or any song from Jagged Little Pill for that matter) - sitting on the floor in my bedroom in my parents' house realising I had just eaten an entire box of Wheat Thins in the span of an hour while studying for my introductory chemistry exam.

tv shows - bad for your health - but still really addictive!

One more thing…

I was very disturbed to hear that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip might be cancelled (though the latest rumour is that it will be back in April or May). I know that there were a few episodes early on when the show struggled to find itself, but honestly, the past few episodes have really been quite enjoyable. In fact, the most recent episode – with the real baby story line – was hilarious. Keep your fingers crossed that the network does in fact bring the show back in April!

On the same topic, does anyone know what happened to Six Degrees? I really loved the show – it was one of the few that was able to grab me from the very first episode. Unfortunately I have been waiting for a new one since before Christmas...BRING IT BACK!

And last but not least, I was disturbed to hear that Friday Night Lights has also been struggling in the ratings. It is a fantastic show! People – get onto your butts and start watching!!! Even if you don’t like football (which is actually a travesty!), the shows would still be quite entertaining for you to watch!

It, Studio 60 and Greys are the three shows each week that both my husband and I watch together religiously!!!

Another round of to rent or to own...

Ok so people keep wondering when I will post again…I admit, I have been really bad of late. The problem is that with my recent (well, I guess not so recent anymore) decision to refrain as much as possible from writing about others; it is surprisingly quite difficult to come up with topics to post about. And, honestly, save for a few people, I didn’t really think anyone was really reading my blog anyway.

So…what can I write about…

My husband and I are back to the rent versus own debate. We just found out that our rent will be going up $50 a month. We are already paying quite a lot of money and so we started questioning whether it really was time to take the plunge and buy a house.

We spoke with a real estate agent and I went to see a few houses with that agent. The problems: 1) the houses we want are really expensive – and we see no reason yet to move from the apartment that we love into a house we hate! 2) our agent knows that we aren’t under the gun and will only move if our ‘dream’ home comes on the market – so now he isn’t really doing anything for us. For example, I have tried 3 weeks in a row to set up times to go look at houses and he has never gotten back to us (he commits to looking into appointments but then never calls me back with times). I have also requested information from him about recent sales - and except for the first time, a couple months back now, he has never forwarded to me that information.

I am now really annoyed! I mean, I know we aren’t in a rush to move or anything, but we are serious about being ready to buy if the right house is for sale. And when we do buy, our agent will make a VERY nice profit from the commission. So shouldn't he be giving us more attention?

Why not just get a new agent, you might ask?

For starters, unfortunatley, I am a very non-confrontational person, believe it or not, when it comes to ME (on the other hand, I LOVE defending other people!) So I would find it very difficult to call our agent up and 'fire' him. AND, we can't just go get a new one. We are still getting automatic e-mail listings from this agent. Thus, if we go look at one of the houses about which we get an e-mail, and we decide to buy said house, we owe this agent a commission even if we had gone to see it with another agent.

So why not just talk to your original agent and tell him how you feel, you say?

I am too shy to tell him off / confront him about his lack of attention. Afterall, we aren't in too much of a rush for a house, maybe he should be focusing his attention elsewhere.

What do I do???

Like I said, though, we aren’t in a huge rush to move. Thus, I am thinking, in a way, that it might be a good thing if we don’t stumble across our dream house. If we are planning on having children in the next few years, we only have so many vacation days left as a free-spirited couple. If we own property, we would have to cut back on the extravagance of our vacations.

You see, as a teenager and in my early twenties, unlike many of my friends, I never did the backpacking through Europe/Asia/Australia trips. I couldn’t afford the hostels, let alone the flights, and didn’t want to go into debt to travel. However, instead of jealousy, I just told myself that one day I would be travelling and they’d still be paying off their student loans.

That day has arrived. I am making a salary (albeit not a fantastic one), and I want to be able to travel.

However, being the nervous nilly I am, I would once again be too prudent to spend the money if I owned a house for fear that I might need the money later to fix something in the house (in addition to the fact that I wouldn’t have any free change to spend to begin with)…

Right now, I don’t mind as much to drop some serious coin to go away. I have some savings and I have the vacation time. For example, my husband and I just booked a trip to Toronto, New York and Boston for May. We have a wedding in Niagara-on-the-Lake and decided to tack on NY and Boston for fun. We are very excited!

On the flip side, though, I am DYING to get a puppy or two. This has been the longest stretch that I have lived without a dog (going on three years now). Ever since I was born, my family had at least one dog. My parents refuse to buy another one, so it is up to me. And, while almost everyone living in my building has a dog, I just find it too cruel to keep a dog in such a small space, especially when there is no yard for him/her to play in. So, the sooner we buy a house, the sooner we get a puppy.

Anyway, I will end my rambling here.

(p.s. I apologise if the posting doesn't make sense - I don't have time to 'proof it' today!)

(p.p.s. I promise to write more frequently!)

Just can't catch a break...

Hey there everyone. Once again, I apologise for the delay in posting another message.

Things with me have stayed as crazy as ever. On top of my illness (I am 95% recovered), my husband and I have had a relative suffer a heart attack, a close family friend die, another relative (my grandfather) begin another batch of chemo rounds, and another family member placed in a personal care home against the person’s will. I have also had a fight with one of my in-laws to the point where I am no longer speaking with that person (and quite frankly do not care if I ever do again!)

Anyway, suffice to say that I haven’t been in the best of moods and I didn’t think that you guys would want to hear me whine yet again.

So…what can I write about?

One of my absolute best friends is having her engagement party tomorrow night. I am very excited about going! I am so happy for her. I really believe that she has found her soul mate. PLUS her mom throws the best parties with the yummiest food (in large quantities) so I really cannot wait!

The only thing is that my husband is driving me crazy about the party – he believes that we are supposed to arrive fashionably late. I know that with this particular friend in general, and this type of occasion in particular, we are supposed to arrive on time.

I think that my husband is just using the fashionably late concept as an excuse because he doesn’t want to go earlier. It isn’t that he doesn’t like my friends. It is just that he has to give this HUGE presentation this coming Wednesday and he still has tons of work to do on it. For the most part, he is so far behind because of the MANY family obligations that his family has imposed on him (without caring at all about his presentation). However, he has also procrastinated a bit on his very own accord.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t mind his taking time to relax. What I do mind is his trying to disguise the real reason for wanting, or more accurately needing, to go to the party late.

PLUS, I mind that some of the other activities that he chose to participate in with his family could have been skipped so as to allow him to arrive on time for my friend’s engagement party – a party that means A LOT to me that he attend – on time!!!!