Book Club is at our house this month, tomorrow night, so we're going to be busy cooking today so there's hopefully minimal chaos tomorrow. Only 9 people total, so not too bad. Hubby will help me today, and my neighbor is going to come over during the day tomorrow to help more. I feel kind of bad asking her to help since she's not staying for dinner, but I know her well enough to know she won't mind -- cooking and hanging out will be fun.
Thought I'd share the menu. Since our book club operates to let whoever hosts pick that month's book, it was my choice this month, and so I picked a WWII non-fiction book. From what I've heard, most people who read it liked it a lot. I thought it was pretty good. Anyway, I figured I'd go with a menu I found online -- it's what that funny woman who cooks on the Today show made for the former man of my dreams and his new wife (Wills and Kate) when they were in the US a couple weeks ago. Figured considering the Brits were our allies, it was logical.
To start, pea crostini (from her menu). And I'm also going to put out two kinds of cheese, crackers, and likely a cannellini-garlic dip that I love making.
Entree is going to be individual corn lasagna (I need to swing by Crate & Barrel in a couple hours to buy 4 more ramekins, I only have 6), accompanied by roasted tomatoes and asparagus (I hate tomatoes, so I won't be eating those!). All that was on her royalty menu.
Then salad. Not sure yet what I'm doing exactly -- mixed greens, red onion, pear, and cranberry I think. With balsalmic and oil.
For dessert, it's the tarragon and merlot truffles (from the menu) and lemon pie.
Still thinking of doing some kind of a signature drink, just need to think a little more and get some of the advance work done.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Treading Lightly Around the Big D
So marathon training is officially underway. And I thought my first day was mildly amusing. I had not one, not two, but three awkward conversations. Actually only two were with running, the other one was at dinner the same night.
First, I got to training early b/c the first day is always chaotic. I happened to see a guy that I used to run with -- maybe a year or two ago. We've always gotten along well and are facebook friends, so I feel like I was mildly in the loop on his life. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw him. I think we ran together a bit last fall, so it's been more than 6 months. When I first met him in maybe 08 he'd just gotten married and I was in wedding planning mode so I remember asking him a lot of questions about his wedding.
So I saw him this week before we started running and we chatted for a little while. He looked great. I could tell he looked more fit, toned up, maybe had lost a little weight, but he mostly looked just insanely smiley and happy. We're chatting, I asked him what's going on, he said not much, just happy to be getting geared up for another season. Just chatting. Then he asked me if I wanted to walk to his car with him to put something away. I said sure and aborted my other conversation and walked with him. As soon as we were away from the group, I asked what was up, what was really going on. He said nothing, life was good. I was like, "no man, really, you seem so happy, what's going on? baby?" He laughed and said "baby? no, divorce." Yikes! He was happy to chat about it, not at all a sensitive subject. He said they'd been having some problems and then he found out she was having an affair and that made it quite easy to end things. I guess it's not necessarily something you'd post on facebook, but wow, I felt completely out of the loop and so bad for raising what could have been such a sensitive subject.
Well, then I step in it again not 15 minutes later. I started running with my group, some people I knew and one new guy. After a few minutes, we're trying to get the basic story on the new guy. How many marathons, where he's from, what he does for work, where he lives, married, kids, etc. And as soon as I asked "married? kids?", there was enough of a pause that I knew I wanted to retract the question. He said he has two kids, both young, and that he and his wife were separated. Yes, I'm just apparently trying to raise all the painful thoughts possible... But maybe they'll work things out. When he talked about how they met and stuff, it seemed like the affection was still there, but I know it takes more than that. It just didn't sound like he was talking about an ex.
So then I go through my day as usual. At night, we had a fundraising dinner to go to. Hubby was going to meet me there. As it was close to time to head over, I was surprised to realize he hadn't called me yet to say he was leaving work, so I called him. Surprise. Crisis and he was going to be at least a couple hours late. So I figured I'd go to the dinner alone and there would probably be a few people I knew there.
I got to the dinner late and everyone I knew who was going had already left except the guy who had organized it, and he was the center of attention so surrounded by people and not exactly someone I could sit with. I ended up just picking a random table of people and asking if I could join them. Turns out I picked the table of all lawyers, of course. They were all nice guys but most of them were getting ready to leave. After a while, the table pretty much cleared out except for me and one of the younger guys (he was 34; the others had been in their 50s or 60s, and there was one in his 20s). I knew he was wearing a wedding ring, so I assumed he was married. We were sitting there chatting, mostly about law schools, firms, the practice of law, etc. and then eventually the topic changed to kids (b/c we'd started talking about the fundraiser). I asked if he had kids and he said something like no, I'm not quite ready to say it's the end of my life yet and devote myself to that completely. I said something vague about how I agreed, when you have kids it seems like your life as you know it is basically over. He said that it was odd I'd say that as a woman b/c usually they're the ones who want the kids. I asked where his wife was on the subject. He said she's a contract attorney and had originally not wanted kids, but had started to change her mind not that long ago. They've been married just over 3 years and he said they started talking about having kids, then they went through some marital problems. I don't know if it was the beer or if I seemed sympathetic or what, but suddenly, out came the details. Keep in mind this is someone I've known less than 2 hours -- and Dallas is a big city, but attorney circles are actually much smaller than I think. He said his wife had started hitting on her boss. Apparently it never went beyond making out, but he didn't sound like he was wholly convinced that was true. She was ready to leave her husband and then apparently realized that she reallly didn't have anywhere to go, a job that's not steady and w/o benefits. So they're still together. He's not sure if she's there b/c she loves him and wants to work it out, or b/c he's the only economically viable alternative. Yikes! I asked if they'd gone to counseling, so I heard about that (sounds like it was not a good counselor). Wonder how it will all unfold. He gave me his card so it's conceivable I'll meet him again through work or at another fundraiser for this same cause, so maybe I'll find out.
But it just felt crazy that three times in one day I'd hear about very recently ended or likely ending marriages. Sad, especially for the second conversation since they have two young kids. But I do think it's better for kids to grow up with two happy divorced parents than two miserable parents who hate each other and just stay together for the kids. Hope it will work out for the best for all of them. And hope I don't put anyone else in the awkward position of having to answer a painful question anytime soon!
First, I got to training early b/c the first day is always chaotic. I happened to see a guy that I used to run with -- maybe a year or two ago. We've always gotten along well and are facebook friends, so I feel like I was mildly in the loop on his life. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw him. I think we ran together a bit last fall, so it's been more than 6 months. When I first met him in maybe 08 he'd just gotten married and I was in wedding planning mode so I remember asking him a lot of questions about his wedding.
So I saw him this week before we started running and we chatted for a little while. He looked great. I could tell he looked more fit, toned up, maybe had lost a little weight, but he mostly looked just insanely smiley and happy. We're chatting, I asked him what's going on, he said not much, just happy to be getting geared up for another season. Just chatting. Then he asked me if I wanted to walk to his car with him to put something away. I said sure and aborted my other conversation and walked with him. As soon as we were away from the group, I asked what was up, what was really going on. He said nothing, life was good. I was like, "no man, really, you seem so happy, what's going on? baby?" He laughed and said "baby? no, divorce." Yikes! He was happy to chat about it, not at all a sensitive subject. He said they'd been having some problems and then he found out she was having an affair and that made it quite easy to end things. I guess it's not necessarily something you'd post on facebook, but wow, I felt completely out of the loop and so bad for raising what could have been such a sensitive subject.
Well, then I step in it again not 15 minutes later. I started running with my group, some people I knew and one new guy. After a few minutes, we're trying to get the basic story on the new guy. How many marathons, where he's from, what he does for work, where he lives, married, kids, etc. And as soon as I asked "married? kids?", there was enough of a pause that I knew I wanted to retract the question. He said he has two kids, both young, and that he and his wife were separated. Yes, I'm just apparently trying to raise all the painful thoughts possible... But maybe they'll work things out. When he talked about how they met and stuff, it seemed like the affection was still there, but I know it takes more than that. It just didn't sound like he was talking about an ex.
So then I go through my day as usual. At night, we had a fundraising dinner to go to. Hubby was going to meet me there. As it was close to time to head over, I was surprised to realize he hadn't called me yet to say he was leaving work, so I called him. Surprise. Crisis and he was going to be at least a couple hours late. So I figured I'd go to the dinner alone and there would probably be a few people I knew there.
I got to the dinner late and everyone I knew who was going had already left except the guy who had organized it, and he was the center of attention so surrounded by people and not exactly someone I could sit with. I ended up just picking a random table of people and asking if I could join them. Turns out I picked the table of all lawyers, of course. They were all nice guys but most of them were getting ready to leave. After a while, the table pretty much cleared out except for me and one of the younger guys (he was 34; the others had been in their 50s or 60s, and there was one in his 20s). I knew he was wearing a wedding ring, so I assumed he was married. We were sitting there chatting, mostly about law schools, firms, the practice of law, etc. and then eventually the topic changed to kids (b/c we'd started talking about the fundraiser). I asked if he had kids and he said something like no, I'm not quite ready to say it's the end of my life yet and devote myself to that completely. I said something vague about how I agreed, when you have kids it seems like your life as you know it is basically over. He said that it was odd I'd say that as a woman b/c usually they're the ones who want the kids. I asked where his wife was on the subject. He said she's a contract attorney and had originally not wanted kids, but had started to change her mind not that long ago. They've been married just over 3 years and he said they started talking about having kids, then they went through some marital problems. I don't know if it was the beer or if I seemed sympathetic or what, but suddenly, out came the details. Keep in mind this is someone I've known less than 2 hours -- and Dallas is a big city, but attorney circles are actually much smaller than I think. He said his wife had started hitting on her boss. Apparently it never went beyond making out, but he didn't sound like he was wholly convinced that was true. She was ready to leave her husband and then apparently realized that she reallly didn't have anywhere to go, a job that's not steady and w/o benefits. So they're still together. He's not sure if she's there b/c she loves him and wants to work it out, or b/c he's the only economically viable alternative. Yikes! I asked if they'd gone to counseling, so I heard about that (sounds like it was not a good counselor). Wonder how it will all unfold. He gave me his card so it's conceivable I'll meet him again through work or at another fundraiser for this same cause, so maybe I'll find out.
But it just felt crazy that three times in one day I'd hear about very recently ended or likely ending marriages. Sad, especially for the second conversation since they have two young kids. But I do think it's better for kids to grow up with two happy divorced parents than two miserable parents who hate each other and just stay together for the kids. Hope it will work out for the best for all of them. And hope I don't put anyone else in the awkward position of having to answer a painful question anytime soon!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
New chocolate
I’m not generally a big chocolate-eater. I don’t ever eat chocolate mixed with dairy (like chocolate shakes, chocolate ice cream, etc.). I don’t ever choose chocolate cake (though if that’s the only option, I usually will still eat it). I keep a container of hershey’s kisses on my desk at work to share, primarily because I know they’re safe from me. I eat maybe one of those kisses per month.
I’ll sometimes eat a chocolate dessert when I’m out (like a molten chocolate cake or something). And at home the only chocolate I eat is the occasional white chocolate chips on top of my greek yogurt dessert, and every once in a blue moon, a frozen caramel brownie. Last year I ate one brownie after each of my long runs if the run was over about 16 miles (don’t remember what my exact threshold was). This year, I made a pan of the brownies for the bachelorette party a few weeks ago, and there were a couple left at the end of the weekend that I brought home and froze. I ate one after a long run (but not 16 miles, maybe 12?) a week or so ago, and I have one left. I’m sure I’ll eventually eat and enjoy it.
But when it’s time to snack at work, I don’t go for chocolate. I’m far more tempted by sweet things like cookies or cakes or donuts, or, more likely, by something salty like crackers or popcorn.
But it may all be changing now after my brother’s wedding. There were about a million sweet touches to their weekend, but the relevant one right now is the gift bags that we got at the hotel upon check-in, which I think all out of town guests got.
It was in a reusable Detroit Tigers bag and included various Michigan consumable products. Things like Better Made potato chips and Kelloggs rice krispy treats, all of which I already ate w/o photographing.
Just turn your head sideways, I don't know how to rotate pictures.
Anyway, I haven't eaten the one pictured above, but the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels may well be my favorite kind of chocolate EVER.
I looked up the product description from their website:
My new favorite Michigan product. Aside from my sister-in-law of course!
I’ll sometimes eat a chocolate dessert when I’m out (like a molten chocolate cake or something). And at home the only chocolate I eat is the occasional white chocolate chips on top of my greek yogurt dessert, and every once in a blue moon, a frozen caramel brownie. Last year I ate one brownie after each of my long runs if the run was over about 16 miles (don’t remember what my exact threshold was). This year, I made a pan of the brownies for the bachelorette party a few weeks ago, and there were a couple left at the end of the weekend that I brought home and froze. I ate one after a long run (but not 16 miles, maybe 12?) a week or so ago, and I have one left. I’m sure I’ll eventually eat and enjoy it.
But when it’s time to snack at work, I don’t go for chocolate. I’m far more tempted by sweet things like cookies or cakes or donuts, or, more likely, by something salty like crackers or popcorn.
But it may all be changing now after my brother’s wedding. There were about a million sweet touches to their weekend, but the relevant one right now is the gift bags that we got at the hotel upon check-in, which I think all out of town guests got.
It was in a reusable Detroit Tigers bag and included various Michigan consumable products. Things like Better Made potato chips and Kelloggs rice krispy treats, all of which I already ate w/o photographing.
The picture above shows the Kelloggs cereal bars (both of which I enjoyed). And the two kinds of chocolate.
First, hubby and I each got a mini-Michigan.
Plain milk chocolate. Tasted okay. I just ate mine yesterday. I'd given the other one to a co-worker as a little treat. Incidentally, based on this, I can see why they call Michigan the mitten state, but it makes no sense -- what about the rest of Michigan you fools???!!! The ENTIRE state of Wisconsin looks like a mitten -- but only the bottom part of Michigan does. There is no way Michigan can claim to be the mitten state.
In my middle little brother's wedding toast, he was talking about my now sister-in-law and his history on this debate. He said they were both at a party once, and engaged in completely separate conversations. He was talking to someone about where someplace in Wisconsin was. He made a mitten-like shape with his hand and said, so you mean, near the thumb of the mitten? And he was shocked that his brother's girlfriend shrieked "what??!!!" across the room and came charging over, declaring that Michigan was the mitten state and asserting that the description could never be used for Wisconsin. He said they'd have to agree to disagree on that.
Anyway, that's all beside the point. Also in the bag was this (and a dark chocolate version, which I've eaten without photographing):
Just turn your head sideways, I don't know how to rotate pictures.
Anyway, I haven't eaten the one pictured above, but the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels may well be my favorite kind of chocolate EVER.
I looked up the product description from their website:
Product DescriptionAnd I'm going to hold off hopefully a few more days before I eat the milk chocolate one, but then most assuredly, I will be ordering a box of my choice to enjoy!
A NEW take on the smooth caramels you love! Enrobed in dark chocolate accented with sea salt, this elegant confection satisfies both sweet and salty cravings.
My new favorite Michigan product. Aside from my sister-in-law of course!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Wedding Party Gifts
Since I’m wearing part of my wedding party gift today, figured I’d post about that.
My brother’s rehearsal dinner was a little bigger than planned, which is solely my mom’s fault. My new sister-in-law gave my mom the entire wedding guest list for the rehearsal dinner and marked in red the names that were close family, wedding party, or out-of-town guests, and my mom was supposed to invite the names in red. I bet you can see where this is going.
When I got to Michigan for the bachelorette party, the mother-of-the-bride had been hearing from several unexpected people about how lovely and unexpected the invite was – of course they were RSVPing to my folks, but she was quite aware that many of these people were locals, like her husband’s colleagues, and wouldn’t be expected to be invited.
As it turned out, my mom had forgotten about the color coding and invited all the wedding guests. Fortunately I suppose for my parents’ sake (they hosted the rehearsal dinner), many local guests politely declined – which I can see. If your colleague’s daughter’s getting married, you’d go to the wedding, but you wouldn’t be keen to give up both nights of the weekend for the festivities.
So the rehearsal ended up being larger than planned, but still not too huge. I already shared some details of the night, including the keg stands, but I didn’t post about when my bro and his bride-to-be brought the wedding party into the main room and gave us each a sweet card with a gift.
I can’t remember exactly what the guys got – a tie to wear for the wedding, a Detroit Athletic Club t-shirt, an engraved bottle opener, and monogrammed cuff-links. I think that’s it (which is a lot).
Those of us standing up on the bride’s side got a monogrammed tote bag, a Detroit Athletic Club t-shirt, cute flip-flops (which I forgot to photograph) to wear when our wedding shoes got to be too much (little shimmery flower kind of thing on them), earrings to wear in the wedding, and a cute little Coach wristlet to use for lipstick, phone, etc. at the reception.
That last pic isn’t very good, but I was trying to show the detail on the wristlet.
I’ll have to try to remember to take a pic of the flip-flops and supplement this post later.
Quite sweet of the bride and I'm going to have to email her today to tell her I'm wearing the earrings!
My brother’s rehearsal dinner was a little bigger than planned, which is solely my mom’s fault. My new sister-in-law gave my mom the entire wedding guest list for the rehearsal dinner and marked in red the names that were close family, wedding party, or out-of-town guests, and my mom was supposed to invite the names in red. I bet you can see where this is going.
When I got to Michigan for the bachelorette party, the mother-of-the-bride had been hearing from several unexpected people about how lovely and unexpected the invite was – of course they were RSVPing to my folks, but she was quite aware that many of these people were locals, like her husband’s colleagues, and wouldn’t be expected to be invited.
As it turned out, my mom had forgotten about the color coding and invited all the wedding guests. Fortunately I suppose for my parents’ sake (they hosted the rehearsal dinner), many local guests politely declined – which I can see. If your colleague’s daughter’s getting married, you’d go to the wedding, but you wouldn’t be keen to give up both nights of the weekend for the festivities.
So the rehearsal ended up being larger than planned, but still not too huge. I already shared some details of the night, including the keg stands, but I didn’t post about when my bro and his bride-to-be brought the wedding party into the main room and gave us each a sweet card with a gift.
I can’t remember exactly what the guys got – a tie to wear for the wedding, a Detroit Athletic Club t-shirt, an engraved bottle opener, and monogrammed cuff-links. I think that’s it (which is a lot).
Those of us standing up on the bride’s side got a monogrammed tote bag, a Detroit Athletic Club t-shirt, cute flip-flops (which I forgot to photograph) to wear when our wedding shoes got to be too much (little shimmery flower kind of thing on them), earrings to wear in the wedding, and a cute little Coach wristlet to use for lipstick, phone, etc. at the reception.
That last pic isn’t very good, but I was trying to show the detail on the wristlet.
I’ll have to try to remember to take a pic of the flip-flops and supplement this post later.
Quite sweet of the bride and I'm going to have to email her today to tell her I'm wearing the earrings!
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