A success

I had friend over for dinner tonight. I made a couple of new things and couple of tried and trues. I also invited friends that I always hang out with, and some friends that I had not seen in years. In fact, the wife made the baby blankets my kids still use. Their kids are already grown (although I remember them as little kids) and by the time the evening was over, they were EXHAUSTED by my monkeys and the monkeys' friend.

On the up side, they really want to go to the zoo and want to take our kids with them. I'm ecstatic - I just hope they don't being them back early and sue for emotional damages.

I will post recipes and pictures (too bad it's not of the food) tomorrow. I'm too exhausted right now.

TGIF

This has been a LONG week. Work is kicking my ass! Not only has this been one of my more stressful weeks at work, but I come home every night to prep 1099's the the husbands business.

Of course - I have to be me - crazy me. So, what do I do instead of relaxing this weekend? I am having friends over for dinner tomorrow. Not the elegant dinner party, dinner. The kids running wild dinner, which for me is my favorite kind of dinner :)

So, this post is probably not so lucid. I will say good night and promise recipes tomorrow :)

Therefore

I am a mom (although there ARE many other people who don't have time to grocery shop until 11pm). Therefore I am going to the grocery store right now - at 10:35pm.

Got back at 11:30pm - that included the grocery store staff running around making sure I had the right items for the Ralphs/Kroger Mega Match $5 off deal!

Not everything I bought was part of that deal, but 20 of the items were. The other items I still had coupons for.

Here is my haul:



Here is the length of the receipt:




And here is the amount I paid and the savings:



I am not only a mom but LOVE bargains and deals. Therefore I play the Grocery Game and don't need to find these bargains myself. I just print out the list, cut out the coupons and go shop :)

You know you live in LA when...

I love these types of posts so I decided to create one:

• It was 47 degrees outside this morning and children were walking in to school wearing ski jackets (mine including).
• Anything under 85 is considering chilly.
• Your Zumba teacher is creating a DVD and infomercial with his own brand of dance.
• A child of a celebrity goes to your child's school/dance class/etc...
• When you go to the jewelry store to buy your pet a gift (no I have not done this).
• When the geek you knew in high school ends up a porn director (this JUST happen to my friend)
• The valet finishes his night of parking cars and gets into his own Mercedes to go home.
• When you make six figures and still live with your parents (I don't but TOTALLY understand how this could happen).
• 90% of your children's class or your work is made up of immigrants born in other countries, 5% is made up of 1st generation Americans and only the last 5% is made up of people living in America longer htan 2 generations.
• Chain restaurants, like BJs, and malls have valet parking!

OK - that's all I have for now.

I would love to hear everyone else's "you know when" - all cities are pretty darn hilarious. Either leave some "you know when's" in the comments or feel free to post on your own blog and send me a link :)

Awards make me feel warm and fuzzy

In the last week or so I have been give awards by 3 amazing bloggers! I am flabbergasted and so happy :)

Opus #6, at MAInfo, left me the Butterfly Award (for the coolest blog I ever know)! So did JulieChats, at JulieChats. Opus #6 is one of the first bloggers to follow me (in fact, the first) and I absolutely love the intelligence with which she writes (if that makes sense). Julie is a new bloggy friend. I love her recent photo of her son as an Obamicon!

The rules for the award are:
1. Put the award up on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.



LA Mom, at LA Mom Tales of an American Mom Living in Paris, France, gave me the Honest Scrap Award. LA Mom just cracks my shit up talking about her nanny woes! I must list 10 things about myself and then pass the award on to seven other bloggers.



10 Things About Myself:

1. I LOVE TV - I even have a 52 inch in the bedroom!
2. I usually TIVO 2 prime time shows at once (and wish I could TIVO a 3rd).
3. I wish I yelled at my monkey's less.
4. I am obsessed with Zumba (I know - this one is a shocker)!
5. I don't always take a shower after I workout - sometimes I wait until the next morning.
6. I could eat Chinese food or sushi 7 days a week (but I don't).
7. I am 5'2" but drive a big-ass SUV.
8. I love to cook (I know - this one is a shocker too).
9. I am still giddy when I see a famous person (even though I've lived in LA for almost 10 years).
10. You guys are probably sick of hearing about me.

For once I am not tagging other bloggers because 1) I love and appreciate all of you and 2) sometimes it's hard to respond to bloggy love quickly.

So, please take one or both awards! Anyone who actually reads me deserves it :)

For future reference, this IS NOT what I want for Valentine's Day

Every so often I get interesting email. And no I don't mean the penis enlargement/cheap pills/meet sexy singles/etc... emails.

I mean the ones I can use as blog fodder. Because, really, isn't that what life is about?!

The computer is not letting me do a print screen of the cheesy-ass pictures for some reason (which truly is a shame) but will let me copy the words:

Dear Julia!

This Valentine's Day, give your loved ones a unique gift they'll come back to again and again. Create your own custom Kleenex® Tissue box at MyKleenexTissue.com.

...and feel the love

REALLY???? Now I am NOT a materialistic person, but come on??? A personalized box of tissues?? I don't care how much effort is put in to finding the perfect picture to personalize the box with, it is a CHEESY present.

I have an idea - take that picture, print it out and stick it in a frame. At least then I can frame it. What the hell are people going to do with an empty kleenex box???

"Gee, Mary? You got flowers and chocolates? What an old fashioned present! I got a personalized kleenex box. Now every time I blow my nose I will think of Bob!"

Have all the good idea REALLY vanished? Are we down to the crappy ones now? Along with the economy, are our imaginations also suddenly in the crapper? Because that's what it feels like to me.

Anyone who hives that to me will feel an icy cold stare, not "the love".

Breaking the rules on a Sunday

We had no eggs this morning. Eggs are pretty important to most breakfast items I make - omelette's, waffles, pancakes, french toast, etc...

So I was thinking back to the brunches my parents used to have and ended up with a typical Russian Sunday breakfast/brunch - not the healthiest meal but stick to your ribs good. We had:

Fried Potatoes and onions
Fried hot dog pieces
Beef salami
Pickled Cabbage
Pickles
Crab Salad (which I bought at the Russian store)

My monkey's CHOWED DOWN on all of the food, especially the pickled cabbage :) I guess my monkey's are typical All-American kids, but adore Russian food (you should have seen the little monkey shopping at the Russian market with me on Saturday morning - the girl KNOWS what she wants).

After breakfast, the sun came out and so the the monkeys asked whether they could go swimming. Ummm, the pool was about 50 degrees and the temperature outside was MAYBE 70 degrees.

My husband, being A MAN, asked them to feel the water first. After they felt the frigid water, and still insisted they wanted to go swimming, my husband, being A MAN, said "sure". After the kids did a double take, made sure they heard him right, and re-asked about 3 times just to be sure, they ran to their bedrooms to change in to bathing suits. My husband, being A MAN, reasoned that they really wouldn't swim because they would realize the water was cold!

Once again, he thought that they would "REALIZE"!!!! Seriously????? They are 6 and 4!!! Since when do 6 and 4 year old's have good powers of deductive reasoning?!?!?!?!

I ask you - would a MOTHER ever do this????

I could have stopped them - but then I would have been the bad guy. So I did the responsible thing - I ran to run a hot bath! The "swim" (the little monkey got in up to her butt, the big monkey actually got her whole body in) lasted for all of 120 seconds. We wrapped them in towels and carried them in to the bath.

The big monkey kept repeating, "I didn't think dad would REALLY let us swim".

Both sets of moms, and the nanny, have told ME (ummm, did anyone miss the part where it was MY HUSBAND, A MAN, who allowed this) that the monkeys are going to get sick from this, and that I am crazy to have allowed this! Oy Vey!

Truthfully, I got a kick out of the kids being able to do something that they normally wouldn't be allowed to do.

I am stupid

I am getting ready to go to Phantom of The Opera tonight and have been TRYING to relax today. I was also trying to eat light to fit in to a cute outfit.

So today I ate:

A Vanilla Latte
Sauteed beans with onions
An apple

Now my stomach hurts! Why did I think that eating so much fiber was good before going to the theater (LOL)?!

I hope I feel better in the next 2 hours or this is going to be a LONG night!

How can you tell she's a good mom?

The caption reads: Post-baby Jennifer Garner taking Violet to school



I saw this picture (on one of the blogs) a couple of days ago and was struck by how typically "mom" this is (in a good way). I can tell Jennifer Garner takes care of her daughter, and takes her to places, like school by herself (as opposed to her nanny, driver, etc...).

How can I tell? Well, Jennifer (I feel so close to her now) probably asked her daughter to wear regular, comfortable tennis shoes to school. Her daughter, like all toddlers, probably had a fit and yelled that she wanted to wear the "pretty, shiny" shoes. So, instead of letting it turn in to a full blown tantrum, Jenn (feeling closer to her by the second) decided to let her wear the shoes she wanted as they walked in to pre-school but brought the comfortable shoes for when it was time to run and play and for when the shiny shoes started to hurt her daughters feet.

At least that is the scenario I see when I look at this picture (probably because I have been known to hand off the the hard work of putting normal clothes, or warm jackets, on my child to the pre-school many a time (why can't the kids just listen to us in the first place!)).

Am I insane? What do you see when you look at this picture? Do you agree with me?

When I Feel I Look Good I AM A Better...

I think it happens to everyone. The days I think I look better are the days I am more confident, I do better, I am a more productive part of society (why yes, I am a bit of a drama queen, why do you ask?)

Anyways, I needed new sports tops. Since I have been doing Zumba (why yes, I am a bit obsessed, why do you ask?) I have realized that my old sports tops, except for one, were woefully under-supportive! Nothing like coming down from a jump up to have one part of your anatomy go up and hit you in the face!

On my way home I stopped by Lululemon to see if they had any cute tops on sale. The one top I have that is super supportive is from Lululemon. It is not a cheap store, but when you want good, sturdy, cute, supportive athletic wear, you can't beat it. Also, they have a sale section. I VERY RARELY pay retail.

Today was an exception. I tried on this amazing workout top! It made me feel pretty (which is hard to do in work out clothes) and passed the "jump" test. I even went online to find the picture to post. It's the same as mine except for the color - mine is a beautiful plum color:

This top is SEXY. Which is perfect for a class full of girls - LOL! But there are mirrors in the class and I'd rather look cute and not worry about "popping out" than look "schlubby". In fact, the teacher even mentioned that I was just going all out tonight. I credit the cute top.

It really is funny how sometimes clothes really do make the WOman.

I need to remember things like that for when I really just don't want to wear anything cute - my outlook does change for the better when I like how I look.

Time for a PSA - don't give up on a store just because it is known as "expensive". I was talking to a girlfriend about work out tops and when I mentioned Lululemon she immediately discounted it due to price. Tonight I was able to get some great, cute tops (aside from the one I pictured) for $20-$30. While that is not CHEAP, it is not expensive for what you get. The moral, it's OK to check out so called expensive stores. Just go to the sale section :)

I Got Tagged

DIZZBLND from Soggy-Doggy-Bloggy tagged me for more random things. Check out her blog - she's bring back the Mad Lib phenomenon single handed!

The rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

So, six random things about myself:

1. I am a TV junkie - if I could I would have 2 TIVO's next to each other so that I could tape 4 shows at once!
2. I staged managed, back stage managed and produced theater productions throughout high school and college.
3. My major was accounting (the antithesis of my extra-curricular theater activities).
4. My mom got me my first fake ID when I was 16 to go clubbing and I never used it to drink (until I was about 20).
5. When I was 17, I spent 2 months living and studying in Israel (without knowing a soul beforehand).
6. When I was 21, I spent 6 weeks back-packing around Europe by myself, and staying in hostels (if anyone knows me now, I am so not a back-pack, live out of a duffel bag, stay in hostels with random people, person).

Now I have to tag 6 people for this:

1. Michelle K. @ Culture Crack - she doesn't post often but her views on pop culture are hilarious!
2. Vodka Mom @ I Need a Martini Mom - her kindergarten stories crack me up (and make me wonder what my monkeys are saying)!
3. Lee @ Moms Without Blogs - her reviews are the most honest ones I've read (and I've actually met her)!
4. Tova Darling @ Secret Life of Tova Darling - her Totally Awkward Tuesday's are are a great form of schadenfreude!
5. Sass @ Are You Sassified - her "piece of fruit" posts were pretty damn funny (and true)!
6. Heinous @ IrregularlyPeriodic Ruminations - his stories about his family are some of my favorite blog redaing material!

I'm now off to let them know they've been tagged.

So Fun and Easy My Friends Daughter Can Do It

To be fair, this 12 year old LOVES to cook and is VERY good at it (I joke that she should be my daughter). The family was over at my house a couple of weeks ago and I lent her my FAVORITE cook book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.

The next time I came over she made us the most wonderful, tasty, Roasted Tomato Basil Soup! She even roasted her own tomatoes.

Since then she has made the soup a couple of more times, and has purchased an immersion blender to help with the blending of the soup.

Her mom took this picture of her making the soup last week with her new immersion blender (we got very lucky and she brought the soup to my impromptu dinner party).



Here is the recipe:

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All rights reserved

Ingredients
3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 quart chicken stock or water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.
In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade (my suggestion to her, which she followed, was to use an immersion blender). Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold.

I would definitely recommend this recipe.

I am submitting this recipe to the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap. If you found me through Gayle's Blog, welcome. I hope you enjoy my blog, the recipe and leave a comment.

Random Thoughts again

Here is my latest installment of random, sometime lucid thoughts from my brain.

1. It only took one week for the gym to go from being packed at 9pm to almost being empty at 9pm
2. When your wife reminds you that you were wrong to question her being upset, it is NOT OK to say, "I still think you over-reacted". Thankfully this conversation was over the phone where the only damage I could do was hang up on you.
3. Sometimes I go along feeling weak and then, BAM!, I feel strong enough to withstand anything.
4. I really LOVE the outfits on this weeks episode of Gossip Girl, the part where they are at the theatre.
5. I am finally starting to slow down while reading the 4th Twilight series book, Breaking Dawn, and it is because I DO NOT want the series to end.
6. Watching HD TV on an LCD TV is mind opening - like going from black-and-white to color.
7. This country is making history - I just wish it didn't cost $60+million to welcome in this historic occasion (I am making no judgements, HERE, about whether this is a positive or negative development in our choice of new president).
8. Some times I am REALLY on the ball with pictures, and some times I let my memory card get too full (I promise I will send you the pictures Lee).
9. I smile when I read or watch TV like it is really happening in front of me.
10. I can't think of a number 10 right now but am somehow, inexplicably, drawn to have 10 random thoughts ;)

If you're still with me, thank you :) Feel free to add your own random thoughts to either the comments or to your own blogs. If this gets popular maybe I will turn it in to a meme or a weekly feature.

Dumbass Customer Service!

I spent my morning swearing at DirecTV! And not just once - 4 different time with 4 different representatives.

My time frame was 8am PST - 12pm PST. By about 11am I was getting antsy.

This morning, I heard the following coming out of the mouths of different "customer service" individuals:

• "He's only late after 1pm PST because the original call was schedule for 8am-12pm EST." Ummm, DUMBASS, that makes him EVEN MORE LATE, not LESS LATE!!!
• "We can't get in touch with our technicians in field, only their supervisors." Ummm, DUMBASS, why can't you get the technicians phone number from the supervisor?!?!
• "We can't give you an on-time credit at 12:48 (even though he was supposed to be there by 1pm) but can at 1:01pm." Ummm, DUMBASS, are you going to make me spend my time calling you back again?????

Customer Service, shmustimer service!

AND. MY. HUSBAND. HAD. THE. NERVE. TO. ASK. WHY. I. WAS. LETTING. THEM. GET. ME. UPSET. ALSO. HE. WENT. ON. TO. ASK. WHAT. GOOD. SWEARING. AT. THESE. PEOPLE. WOULD. DO???? ARGH, MEN!!!!

Of course, now I am watching a clear, beautiful HD picture!

Impromptu Dinner Party

I was supposed to go see Phantom of The Opera tonight. One little problem - the show is next week :)

I called friends of ours, the older monkey's good friends family, and invited them to dinner. Then I was talking to another family friend with sons my monkey's ages. And then finally I texted my single friend and told her to come over. At first she said no, but then decided to come.

My favorite quote all night was said by family friend number 1. She told my single friend, "When Julia calls you and invites you to dinner, why would you ever say no??"

It was really nice to hear.

I only had about 30 minutes to start making dinner before everyone came over so I didn't have time to take pictures. Also, every one finished every last morsel, so I couldn't take pictures of the food afterwords.

I hope you make the recipes, especially the potato one! Yum!!! Oh, and the chicken! The chicken was so un-believably moist!!!

Salt-Baked Chicken

Traditionally, this recipe uses a whole chicken, marinated, wrapped in lotus leaves, immersed in a bed of hot rock salt in a wok, and cooked on a stovetop. The modern convenience of an oven makes it much easier to control the cooking temperature. Allowing the chicken to stand at room temperature for an hour before cooking creates succulent results. The golden color of the roasted bird also represents wealth, and serving a whole chicken is thought to ensure good luck for the coming year. Garlic chives make a memorable garnish.

2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 (1 x 2–inch) strip dried tangerine peel
1 (4.5- to 5-pound) roasting chicken
5 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons Shaoxing (Chinese rice wine) or dry sherry
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
2 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
Cooking spray

1. Combine 2 1/2 cups boiling water and tangerine peel in a bowl; cover and let stand 30 minutes. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving liquid.
2. Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Trim excess fat. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat. Rub 1 tablespoon salt under skin; let stand 5 minutes. Rinse chicken under cold water; pat dry with paper towels. Place chicken on the rack of a roasting pan; let stand 1 hour at room temperature.
3. Preheat oven to 425°.
4. Transfer chicken to a work surface. Combine remaining 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, shallots, ginger, wine, soy sauce, oil, and honey in a small bowl. Rub 3 tablespoons shallot mixture inside cavity of chicken. Place onions and tangerine peel inside cavity. Rub remaining shallot mixture under loosened skin.
5. Place chicken, breast side up, on the rack of a roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Pour reserved tangerine soaking liquid into a shallow roasting pan; place rack in pan. Bake at 425° for 1 hour or until a meat thermometer registers 165° and skin has turned a dark golden brown color. Let stand 15 minutes. Discard skin, and slice.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 3 ounces)

CALORIES 171 ; FAT 4.4g (sat 1g,mono 1.4g,poly 1.2g); CHOLESTEROL 85mg; CALCIUM 21mg; CARBOHYDRATE 2.5g; SODIUM 885mg; PROTEIN 26.8g; FIBER 0.3g; IRON 1.6mg

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2009

Shoestring Fries with Garlicky Dijon Mayo

Cutting potatoes into thin strips, soaking them in hot water, and cooking at high heat makes for a crisp texture without much fat. Instead of ketchup, we enjoyed dipping the fries in this tangy sauce, a riff on aioli.

1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons canola mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons whole-grain Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1 1/4 pounds baking potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Cooking spray


1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Combine vinegar and garlic in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise, mustard, and parsley.
3. Cut potatoes lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices; stack slices and cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick strips. Place in a large bowl; cover with hot water. Let stand 10 minutes. Drain potatoes; pat dry with paper towels. Combine potatoes, oil, and salt in a large bowl; toss gently to coat. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 35 minutes; carefully turn over and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve with sauce.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup fries and about 1 tablespoon sauce)

CALORIES 180 ; FAT 7g (sat 0.5g,mono 4.3g,poly 1.5g); CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 21mg; CARBOHYDRATE 26.2g; SODIUM 233mg; PROTEIN 3.2g; FIBER 1.9g; IRON 1.3mg

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2009