calling all guinness fans...

I'm looking for a new favorite slow cooker recipe involving Guinness...any suggestions?  Leave a comment!  I would love to hear from you!

fatal attraction

Alex Forrest: [to Dan] This is not gonna stop. It keeps going on and on.


Oh man...watched Fatal Attraction for the first time ever the other night. Could barely get to sleep afterwards. What a creepy movie!!!


In order to not get completely weirded out, I paused for a good laugh at the 80s-ness of it all. Take, for instance, the standard-issue fried out perm and shoulder pads larger than a linemans' uniform...


Glen Close as Alex Forrest - Fatal Attraction, 1987


Can you believe that was even SOLD in stores??? Thank goodness we're past that...right????

ahhh, springtime at home

The grass is finally starting to green after what felt like a really long, cold winter. And just the other day I saw the hyacinth trying to come up! Yea for spring!! I'm hoping things will continue to warm enough for bike rides to become comfortable. I desperately want 2009 to be the year I get my old figure back (or somewhere closer to it at least). The past three years of incredibly stressful & busy work, combined with much enjoyment of local culinary delights & becoming an oenophile-wannabe, have definitely taken their tolls. Time to get serious. :)

from the kitchen

I've adored the time I've had to spend in the kitchen over the past several months. Plus, having my folks' totally new kitchen to work out of hasn't been all that shabby either!

I'm trying to brush up on my baking skills (which are quite rusty). Unlike cooking (which I find is easier to 'shoot from the hip' with), baking involves much more chemistry and exactness. Beat something too long, get the flour off by just a touch, open the oven door too soon...and poof...a masterpiece is tainted. There have been a number of near disasters, but I guess that's part of the fun of it all. My favorites have definitely been anything sweet. ;)

I can't wait for summer to bring more local fruits for pies! Especially huckleberries...mmmmmmm....

meow update

It's been an interesting challenge, juggling three cats in the house (oh dear me, my poor folks).

Meow is the family tabby tom cat, who has first dibs on the domain. He appeared at the house several years ago (and my mom said "don't feed him, he'll stay!" and I replied "yes, I know!" as I handed him tuna). He takes care of the 'neighborhood' for us, though, with 'population control' being his speciality: squirrels, birds, rabbits, etc. But when he's not terrorizing the local wildlife, he's sleeping - and prefers to do this in the house. It's difficult for Bear to understand why he has to be locked in the basement when Meow is sleeping, an extra set of VERY long and VERY sharp claws, as well as considerable size difference, would quickly seperate the boy from the man in a fistacuffs. Something I'm very keen on avoiding.

So, Meow still reigns supreme.

But Bear has prime real estate: he sleeps on my shoulder every night. :)