A Little Bit of This and That

January 27th, 2010 No comments »

Well hello again neglected blog – how are you?

Here are just a few things I thought I would share:

My spoiled animals – who have become ESPECIALLY spoiled during the week while Dylan is working out of town (aka, the dog thinks the people bed is now a doggy bed)

Please note that there is very little room for me when all is said and done here.

It’s January in Portland which means it should be cold and rainy and miserable. Instead we’ve been having some almost spring-like weather lately. So it probably won’t stop raining until July this year. But one morning a few weeks ago I had to grab my camera and take a picture of the most amazing sky as the sun was coming up. This was my favorite.

I loved the bare wiry trees against the pink sky.

And lastly way back when I made my 30 by 30 list. I crossed a few things off in 2009:

  • Grew Dahlias (and some even bloomed)
  • Took a train from Bridgeport CT into NYC (Amtrak, the real thing)
  • Made a quilt for someone
  • Went to a NCAA tournament basketball game (Go Zags!
  • Have a well trained dog (minus the whole sleeping on the bed thing)

I’ve had a few nice bottles of wine here and there, but I’m not sure I’m ready to cross it off my list. But most importantly, here is what I plan on tackling in 2010.

  • Read the Bible
  • Learn to drive a car with a manual transmission
  • Grow a vegetable garden

I think that is a good start for the year. Plus I’ll be chipping away at things like my Pulitzer reading list. And I turn 25 this year, so only 5 years to go!

Conversations with an Engineer

January 14th, 2010 3 comments »

Sometimes the conversations Dylan and I have are just too absurd not to share. And now they get to be documented over Google Chat, so they are even easier to share!

me: How it going

Dylan Toomey: good

i need some help

me: ok…

Dylan Toomey: can i start another blog under our blog package?

me: sure

Dylan Toomey: how

me: its just $10 or whatever for the domain

what do you need another blog for?

Dylan Toomey: amusement

me: what do you want to do with it?

Find a domain and I’ll set it up for you

Dylan Toomey: promote a crazy idea I have

me: this isn’t your burning people for energy idea is it?

Dylan Toomey: maybe

me: What were you talking to my aunt about? She says you are funny…

Dylan Toomey: burning people for energy

If you would like to know the details about Dylan’s burning* people for energy plan, I’ll send you the link to his blog.

*Technically he’s discussing cremating people for energy. These are the ideas that you come up with when you work in the middle of nowhere apparently.

My Quilting Project

December 31st, 2009 No comments »

So I’ve secretly been working on a quilt since August that I didn’t want to share on here because it was a Christmas present for Dylan’s parents, and there is a slight chance they might read this once in a while.

But after countless hours scattered through several months of weekends (and a little help from my sew-tastic Momma) I got it done.

This is the third one I’ve done and I will say there were far fewer screw-ups along the way than previous attempts. And because I’m a total nutters, I can never start small with these things. In my head, quilts are only useful if you can surround yourself in all their snuggly glory. And there are no babies around in my life that my mom hasn’t already made a dozen quilts for, so I’ll continue to embark on these crazy huge projects.

Turkey Encounters of the Third Kind

November 25th, 2009 No comments »

So I think I mentioned this is my first Thanksgiving that I’m cooking. Which means my first attempt at Turkey. Now I’ve seen my family deal with Turkey each year, but it’s totally different when you have to deal with it on your own.

And I’m not one to do things half-heartedly when it comes to food, so I decided I should brine the turkey which NO ONE in my family has done before. We prefer the dried out version of Thanksgiving Turkey.

So tonight I unpacked my Turkey with Dylan’s help. There may have been some goofing around.

I don’t think there is much anyone can tell me that would convince me from serving Turkey neck in some fashion as opposed to feeding it to the dog. I really think it will make her Holiday (and celebrate her 1 year of life in our hands successfully)

Dylan preferred to be in charge of the brine and not touch raw turkey.

Hmmm, we really need to have a talk with him about the creepy mustache…

*Also, that is not enough brine to cover a 14lb turkey. I had to make a quick second batch. Lets keep our fingers crossed on this one.

Serendipity Pumpkin Pie

November 25th, 2009 No comments »

Sunday afternoon I began my pie baking adventure in preparation for Thanksgiving. Considering I haven’t actually eaten the pie yet, I think it turned out ok. It smells like pumpkin pie, and it looks edible – so I’ll call that a success.

I forgot to take pictures when I was making the crust, but it was pretty simple. Flour, butter, eggs, water mix up – pie crust. I’m sure the pie fanatics would have a cow about my lack of caring about the crust, but I’m sure it will be good enough for my family. I can tell you that if you have a dog that likes to stand directly underneath a cutting board that is covered in flour, and you have to roll out a pie crust and flour goes flying everywhere – this is what your dog will look like:

She likes to help out in the kitchen.

So besides the crust, pumpkin pie is pretty easy. You mix up some pumpkin filling, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, eggs, milk & molasses until it’s nice and liquidity.

I have a very well loved, hand-me-down KitchenAid Mixer. It’s not the prettiest thing out there, but it works. If you want to buy me a new one, I’ll make you a pumpkin pie, and maybe some cookies. But until then, I’ll keep trying to win one from the Pioneer Woman.

So it will look like this:

And if you’re lucky you will have your helper-dog underneath your feet for all of this.

Pour it into your pie crust – mine is not pretty. Thats what you get with homemade crust (at least mine)

Bake it for about 45 minutes and here’s what you’ll get:

It’s been very  difficult to not eat this.

I’ll let you know if it tastes as good as it looks!

Thanksgiving Day Menu

November 22nd, 2009 No comments »

I put myself in the driver’s seat of Thanksgiving this year, even though I’ll be cooking at my mom’s house. It’s mostly a logistics thing – our house doesn’t do big dinners well in our tiny kitchen.

Here’s what the days events will include – I’ll try and document anything interesting that happens along the way!

Appetizers

Salami Crisps with Sour Cream and Basil from Best of the Best – thanks Janine! These are a very cool series of cookbooks, so much variety in one book!

Artichoke Dip – Care of the Brendyl family for a fabulous wedding present. What new bride doesn’t want a few of someone else’s best family recipes!

Rosemary walnuts – also from the Brendyl family

Assorted cheese and crackers

I figure since I’ll be cooking all day I’ll get snacks set up early to munch on myself.

Dinner

Turkey – fresh from New Seasons. I’m also going to be trying their apple cider brine recipe before hand. Wish me luck.

Stuffing – Gonna wing this part of the dinner thanks again to New Seasons.

Mashed Potatoes with Pancetta and Rosemary

Roasted Carrots – Recipe from another great wedding cookbook present

Mom’s Squash and Pear casserole

Cranberry Sauce – Another recipe they were handing out at New Seaons but I can’t find it online. Yummy cranberries with orange, agave syrup and port wine.

Gravy & Rolls – nothing exciting here.

Dessert

Pumpkin Pie – all from scratch from a recipe from the best dessert place in the world – Serendipity

Thoughts on College Basketball

November 7th, 2009 No comments »

Just wanted to share a typical Saturday morning conversation at the Toomey house…

Me: Hey! Guess what next Saturday is.

D: Uhhhh, Gonzaga basketball starts?

Me: YES! Well, we had an exhibition game last week…

D: How did you do?

(because I greatly influence a men’s basketball teams’s performance)

Me: Oh ya know, won by like 40 points.

D: Were you playing a high school girls team again?

Me: Yeah, they are called Oregon State.

Boo ya! Score 1 Kimmy.

Go Zags.

I know this is from last season. The thing is we have like 3 returning players and therefore no highlights…

Date Night Review & Halloween!

November 3rd, 2009 No comments »

So I never followed up with our cheap date. Here’s the deal:

Branch is awesome – go there and have the gnocchi, it will change your world.

The play: Was alright. But here is the deal. I don’t like Shakespeare. I want to like Shakespeare – I minored in English (without taking one Shakespeare class mind you) but I just don’t. We left at intermission.

Halloween has come and gone. My wonderful husband humiliated himself and dressed in drag to be Miss Piggy while I was an uber-adorable Kermit the frog. We had about three trick-or-treaters (up from 1 last year) which means we have about 5 pounds of candy to eat.

Consequently, I have joined a gym.

The dog also dressed up – she was a prisoner – K98URSHOOS – get it!

Cheap Portland Date Night

October 23rd, 2009 No comments »

I’m taking my hubby out on a date tonight. I think it is probably one of the cheapest dates in the history of dates, so I thought I would share! Because seriously, who doesn’t like a cheap date ;)

I’m signed up for Groupon, which is a daily deal service. It’s  pretty amazing. Basically because they guarantee the business a certain number of people will sign up for the offer, those businesses will give you a screaming good deal. Caveat – the deal doesn’t go through if more than 20 people don’t sign up, but usually hundreds do, for the good stuff at least.

I scored a coupon earlier this week for Branch Whiskey Bar not to far from our house. It was $10 for a $25 gift certificate. Plus Dylan has art hanging there this month, so we like to support the businesses that  throw some love Dylan’s way. Chances are we’ll spend more than $25, but it is still a good deal.

Portland also offers this program called Free Night of Theater. Tickets are released in October for shows throughout the month. There are still a few shows left but I recommend signing up for their email list for next year because tickets do go fast. I mean, they are free after all.  So we are seeing the Tempest at the Blue Monkey Theater. I had to not tell Dylan where we were going because it’s one of those things that if I told him before hand we were going to see a Shakespeare play he would have thrown a fit and I would have had to drag him out of the house kicking and screaming. But if I just make him go, chances are he’ll probably enjoy the show.

I’ll  try and post tomorrow my review of the show and what Dylan really thought!

How to Make Applesauce in a Crockpot

October 22nd, 2009 No comments »

So you really don’t need a post to explain how to make applesauce in a crockpot, but I feel like my cooking adventure last night reveals a lot about my cooking abilities in general.

1. I’m not a particularly good cook. I am an excellent recipe reader.

2. With all of Oregon’s fall goodness I’ve been completely apple obsessed. Last weekend I bought a bunch of apples with the intention of making applesauce, and finally got around to it last night.

So here is how it goes. And I didn’t take any pictures because it’s really that unimpressive.

  • Cut up about 6-7 apples. Don’t need to peel them, just slice thinly.
  • Throw them in a crockpot with 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, some lemon juice and some cinnamon.
  • Cook on high for about 3 1/2 hours.

Now, that was all I read in any other recipe I found online. And if you follow those directions you will come back 3 1/2 hours later and have a crockpot with what looks like cooked sliced apples and something that does not look like applesauce. In my mind, it would all just magically form in the crockpot.

And at 10:00 at night I’m staring at my crockpot saying, how the hell could I have possibly messed this up!!

And then I grabbed a spoon and mixed it up all up, and realized that then I had applesauce!

Crisis averted. And there are few things better than  a warm bowl of applesauce on a foggy fall morning.