Friday, December 31, 2010

the last day of 2010

it's 64 degrees outside and i've spent most of the day on the couch watching movies. i did just run out to the store for some beer. maybe we'll take a walk...and then go back to the couch for more movies (and a glass of beer). great way to end the year.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

home sweet home

we are finally home tonight after 14 1/2 hours of driving from new jersey. we had an extended stay at my parent's house because of the christmas blizzard. 18 inches of snow and a state of emergency, so we stayed an extra day and a half. we enjoyed the bonus time with family but my other set of parents were flying into columbia for a visit while we were still up in nj. so they were here a day without us, which was a shame.

the roads were still a bit icy up north when we left this morning, but we navigated fine. we did, however, get a flat tire when we were in delaware. they found a key (?!) and a nail in it, so a replacement was needed. but the people at the tire place were really nice. and they had free coffee and otis spunkmeyer cookies.

the snowy roads plus the hour-long tire fix made it an extra long drive. needless to say we're happy to be home, no matter how nice our visit was. (sorry, mom!) the kitties are happy to have us home too. they chose to cuddle with us instead of play outside (and that's saying much).

here's a really bad picture of me with a happy mokey purring away on my lap. (and a glass of wine:)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

annual party announcement




it's that time of year again! almost time for our annual post holiday, holiday party!

when: saturday, january 8, 2011, 7:00 PM until...
where: our house
what: good friends celebrating the end of the holiday season. plenty of snacks and dessert will be provided. BYOB. feel free to bring friends.

hope to see you there!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

prayers answered and a yummy winter soup

it may be odd that i'm putting these two things in the same blog post. but here goes...

after a few years (?) of fighting, chris's mom was finally awarded disability insurance today. this is huge, folks! she really is incapable of sustaining a job. and she's been living off of her ever-dwindling savings, which are not too far from drying up. we're not sure of the details or how much her new income will be, but we're just pleased that she'll finally have an income! prayers of praise! and big ups to my sister-in-law for heading down to MS to help with the hearings!

and, i made an amazing kimchi soup tonight, if i do say so myself. i love kimchi and i love kimchi soup. but i hadn't ventured to make it yet because i thought it would be hard to do. boy, was i wrong. here's what i did:

kimchi soup

heat a soup pan on medium heat and coat the bottom lightly with olive oil. add 1/2 onion sliced and saute until fragrant. add 4 chopped garlic cloves and a jar of kimchi (without it's liquid) (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups).

cook until fragrant (about 5 minutes). add whatever liquid came in the kimchi jar (about 1/2 cup), 2 cups of water, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1 TBS cooking wine (i use cooking sherry), 2 tsp chili paste (i used thai chili paste), and 2 tsp soy sauce. stir everything together and turn up heat to boil. (oh, i also added a little bit of vegetable broth because i had it in the fridge and felt like it needed a little more liquid. but the broth is not necessary.)

once boiling, add more spice as you see fit. i added a few pinches of red pepper flakes for a bit more zing. add a package of diced tofu (i like to squish out the water first by putting paper towels around it and putting something mildly heavy on it.) reduce heat to a simmer and cook about 20 minutes. once done cooking, add 2 chopped green onions and 1 TBS butter.

good served with rice.

**none of these things are exact. i adapted this recipe from here. and i pretty much used what i had in my cupboard. so if you have something different, i'm sure substitutions would work for you too.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

radish salad

i just made this tonight along with potato and jerusalem artichoke soup. both were really good but i found the radish salad to be great. very fresh tasting. i'm sure it helped that i used radishes from the local farmers market. here's the recipe in case anyone's interested. (and where it said cilantro or mint, i used mint because the hubby doesn't like cilantro.)

http://www.choosy-beggars.com/index.php/2010/05/14/quick-marinated-radish-salad/

Thursday, December 02, 2010

cuddle bug

i gave our cat, doozer, a bath tonight because he smelled a bit like rancid cat urine. ever since the bath he's been super snuggly. i think i should torture him like this more often if it'll increase his cuddliness. it's really cute.

we remember

3 years later

david waits in anticipation
March 23, 1954-December 2, 2007