Set ups

In my days of being super single, I was set up with dudes. A. Lot. And hot they were not. Well, except the one that worked out. But now, I have a guy I want to set up with a girl and I can't seem to make it happen. They are both vegan, they like the same kind of music, they seem like they'd get along great. Why can't I get them in the same room at the same time? It almost happened once - but she got sick. It almost happened again, but he met another friend of mine who is Totally Wrong For Him But Super Hot. She's so Super Hot that another kid I know decided to try to hit on her at my Personal Pornographer's going away party. Hiss method? Put his drinks on her tab and then ask for her email address. You can see that relationship is going to take off.

Soup Experiment! and extras (Music Monday)

Time for another edition of the Soup Project! I made the Delicious Cream of Broccoli and Parmesan Soup. Yum, yum, yum! I've never had broccoli soup before (there's a lot of stuff I haven't tried in my life). And I have no complaints about this soup. SOOOOO tasty and easy. I imagine I'll be making this again and again and again.

So, part of my project is resulting in massive leftovers. Which I love. But taking soup to work can be a little messy. This is my solution:

Soup in a jar? Kind of ghetto - works great!

I hope your holidays are truly turning out to be the happiest time of the year.

Happy Monday

Happy Holiday's, friends! I've mentioned a zillion times how much I love this time of year. And I don't see that changing anytime soon. Thanksgiving was a SMASHING success! We started off the morning bright and early with a drizzly Portland Turkey Trot with runners new and experienced.

I LOVED introducing the sport - at least the running with people aspect of the sport - to some dear friends. The lovely Gazelle hosted the Thanksgiving Feast. It truly was exactly the way Thanksgiving should be - cooking, laughing, fun filled times with loved ones. It was my first Thanksgiving with Michael, which was just super exciting for me.

Thanksgiving with Michael went like this - I went running, he slept in. I made food, he watched football and told me how good the food smelled (as well as the scores). I bought the wrong kind of cheese, he went to go get me the right stuff. I changed into a dress, he put on a sweater. I went to my friend's house, he came with and had a GREAT time! SUCCESS!! He'll love the holidays when I'm done with him.

Now, I'm super excited about holiday movies. My Netflix queue is full of them (except The Muppet Christmas Carol, for some reason they don't have it!) Starting with this classic from my childhood. Anyone else remember this little gem? I wanted to BE Annette Funicelli!



What are your favorite holiday movies?

Soup Experiment #3, and #4.

So, I made some progress on the soup front. I'm totally digging this project as it's helping me make stuff that I would never think of making, let alone trying.

#3 - Starting with French Onion Soup. I was apprehensive about this recipe. I've never in my life even tasted French Onion Soup, and Michael HATES onions. Hate is probably not even the word most accurate. He will not, does not eat them. So I asked, "How do you feel about French Onion Soup? It's next on the list." He says, "Sure! I actually like French Onion Soup, with the cheese and the bread. mmmm." Who is this guy?? So, like a blind person, I started the steps of making the soup.

At this step, Michael started getting all dramatic and walking around the apartment with his shirt over his nose. And my eyes were burning. And we both started getting scared about what we were getting into.

And at this point, we both decided it was going to be too much - so I got rid of 1/2 of the onions.

It looked pretty (you can't tell from the poor quality of my cell phone photos). And we both took maybe two bites of it. I don't know what it's supposed to taste like, but it was kind of sweet. And Michael couldn't get past the fact that he watched the onion cutting process. We ended up dumping it in the toilet and going out for wings and football. Oh well!

#4 - I took zero photos of soup number four. It was just way too quick and easy! Tortellini and spinach soup. Basically that's what it is! The recipe told me to make chicken stock from scratch, but since I was going from work to my house to get my dog to drive downtown to cook at Michael's, I decided the boxed kind was good enough. And it was. I LOVE SPINACH IN SOUP. It's a texture I really, really like. We both gobbled up this soup, barely leaving me any leftovers for work on Tuesday. I foresee this being one of my go tos in the future. MMMMMM.

It's Thanksgiving weekend! Headed downtown tomorrow for our Turkey Trot.
Then there will be dinner at the Gazelle's. Good times! I hope you all enjoy your weekend.

I cannot even believe I survived this day. It was hard and stressful and exhausting. Last night we went to a concert and I didn't get into bed until almost 2 am. That's hard for this old lady. But I survived, by the grace of a quick 3 mile run with my co-worker / friend Julie. She keeps me trucking!

I'm home now with a delicious beer open in front of me (birthday compliments of these guys). I have veggies roasting in the toaster oven, making my house smell so cozy. And I have laundry swirling around in the washer. Life is good.

(photo taken with cell phone not real camera)

So, I wanted to report back on week 2 of the Soup Experiment. This effort was Baked Potato Goodness Holla!! SO GOOD! It's not the healthiest soup in the list, but it was the next one in order. I'm a stickler for rules.** Anywhoo - I followed Pam's recipe exactly. Trust me, you'll want to. I can't find my camera (sorry, Amy!) so I'll refrain from stealing Pam's and posting them here. Suffice it to say, I highly recommend you going to her page and making this. Right. Now.

In case I don't get around to posting again this week - Major Props to our girl Jen who is going to do an amazing thing this weekend - Ironman. She is one of the sweetest, funniest, nicest girls on the planet. And I'll be thinking of her all weekend! GO JEN!!!!

and thanks Zach for the photo!

**Upon further research, I've discovered I'm a stickler for rules AND a dipshit. Somehow I missed an entire page of soup! So, I'm two soups in and out of order. What does this mean - it means Clam Chowder is REALLY far away, but I'm really really going to start at the beginning this weekend. Whew. I'm dumb, but you love me!

I also realized it was a double Pam day! One of my other favorite recipes of hers is a Mexican casserole. I've made it and ranted at work, so my friend Shauna made it and brought me enough to have for breakfast and lunch. Which I totally ate. YUMMY!

Music Monday

Whoo hoo! Another glorious weekend gone. I tried squeezing a little bit of exercise into my life - but my dog pretty much ruined it by using Lori's house as his personal bathroom. AWKWARD. So, I never really held a pose because I was worried about what he could possibly be doing to her house. Little punk.

However, I am really serious about getting back on the regular running wagon. I have plans on Tuesday and Thursday this week to run with Julie at work. A quick jaunt around the Nike campus (aka 3 miles), sure! Also, I'm taking Friday's off until I run out of vacation hours, which means 3 day weekends until January. If anyone wants to run on Friday's. . . I wish I could join the gym today (dang you, money!) Yeah, I'm blaming money. Or the fact that I have to pay a ridiculously over priced ticket for running a red light. I tried to go to court for it today, but after 90 minutes of standing in line, I decided I didn't need a parking ticket too, and bailed. So, that's my gym membership again. Grrr...

I bring you two tokens of goodness today. One just because it's funny -


The other because I'm going to the show on Wednesday (with ear plugs I think, not my pick!)

Peace!

It's always so sad for me when Birthday Week is over. I just love holidays (yes, birthdays count!). Luckily, I feel like we are moving straight into holiday season. Thanksgiving, check! Flair party, check! SanataCon, check! Plenty of opportunities to look for wigs and sparkly clothes. And I ended Birthday Week strongly!! A little VoiceBox action. I'm pretty sure I danced like a freaking moron in front of all my friends who hopefully still love me. There are 10,000 pictures on Facebook - check em! Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who came and grabbed the microphone and belted the tunes out. You are all rock stars! And to the peeps who couldn't make it, I still love you!

So, I'm doing what I call the Soup Experiment. It's a long story about how I came to this experiment, but it involves food blogs, TED talks, Michael, and the concept of choices. WHEW! Aren't you glad I didn't go into details? I love this blog! I feel like a stalker because I'm pretty sure she lives in Portland and I want to be friends with her. Instead I just cook a lot of her food! Bur for this we are starting at the oldest soup recipe and working our way to the newest one. At least one a week and we are one week in (chili). I didn't take pictures, but I'll remedy that next time. Her chili is totally different than the kind I normally make, but I'm sold. And by the way, Trader Joe's meat is AMAZING!! But if anyone wants to experiment with us, you have plenty of time to jump on board - major selling point for me, leftovers make EXCELLENT lunches!

Running? Um, I went three times last week. . . none this week yet. I need to join the gym. I miss spinning!