My Love

Do you love Adele?  Because I love Adele.  I first heard her when I downloaded “Chasing Pavements” as a free song on iTunes last June.  I loved the song and listened to it over and over.  But for some reason I never bought the full cd…until today.  And I am unconditionally obsessed.

So if you’re even later to the game than I am, listen to this.  I can’t imagine that you won’t be in awe.  And this isn’t even the best song on the cd; it’s just the one I can’t get out of my head.

So, enjoy.  And happy Friday.

New Year’s Eve’s Eve Birthday

Yesterday The Hubs turned another year older.  As usual, he refused any offers of celebration, going so far as to hope that no one at his new job realized it was his birthday (he was out of luck).  Silly Hubs!  I say live it up, but that’s not his style.

Instead, we continued what has become his usual birthday celebration – tacos, a gooey butter cake, and a quiet evening at home.

But, unable to ever leave well enough alone, I tried to take every opportunity to make the same ol’ same ol’ slightly more special.  My tasks began with the tacos.

Rather than use the typical store bought tacos, I used The Dish on Delish’s ungreasy taco recipe.  It’s really easy and I absolutely loved them.  You want the recipe?  Okay, in the spirit of celebration, I will share:

You start with regular corn tortillas.  Spray them with canola oil cooking spray [I sprayed them on both sides, so the spices would stick but the tortilla wouldn't].  Then sprinkle them with chili powder to taste and kosher salt.

Then drape the tortillas over a bar of your oven rack so that it creates a shell.

[Next time I'll drape the tacos over 2 bars each to make a wider shell base.]

Bake tortillas for 7-10 minutes at 375. So yummy!

[The Dish on Delish also has a yummy recipe for lean & spicy taco meat if you're interested - muy  delicioso.]

Once the homemade tacos were done, I set the table with all the fixins, another fancification.  The Hubs keeps it simple, adding only cheese to his tacos, so I usually don’t go to the trouble of worrying about other toppings for myself.  But for this fancy occasion, we had all the options.

After the even-tastier-then-usual meal, the celebration continued with gooey butter cake and presents. The gooey butter cake was too, well, gooey to put candles in, so instead The Hubs blew out the candles on the centerpiece:

Do you think the wishes will come true even if the candles weren’t on a cake?

And last but not least, the present:

If you ask me, this is The Hubs feigning surprise at his new replacement iPod [His old one broke a month or so ago and he has been "borrowing" mine ever since.  So really this was a gift to the both of us.].  He swears he didn’t know, but look at that face.  Doesn’t that look like a fake surprise to you?  Either way, he was definitely happy – even moreso that I did the dishes for him.

All-in-all it was a good New Year’s Eve’s Eve birthday, if I do say so myself. The nice thing is that, since today is New Year’s Eve, the festivities can continue – steak anyone?

Get This

With Christmas exactly one week away, I thought I would offer some recommendations as my gift to you. [I know.  I'm so generous!  It's quite amazing actually.]  These are all things that I either want or already love, and I think you will, too.

Books

Though pretty much anything by David Sedaris is hilarious and worth your time, I want to recommend Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim for one story in particular, “Six to Eight Black Men.”  The story primarily talks about Christmas traditions in the Netherlands and, specifically, their version of Santa Clause.  I listened to it on cd while driving home last weekend, and I almost had to pull the car over I was laughing so hard.  The story may become a Christmas tradition for me, and should for you, too.  If you don’t have time to, you know, read, you can listen to it (with some strange images as the video) for free thanks to YouTube.  You can find it in three parts starting here, followed by part two and part three.

Surprised I picked this one aren’t you?  Okay, maybe not.  I think this is just a cool addition to the Harry Potter series.  I love that it’s presented as having been edited by Hermoine with footnotes by Dumbledore – the metafictional aspects are too cool for a book geek like me.

 

This is Junot Díaz’s first novel, and I haven’t read it yet.  But I have read Drown, his short story collection. Drown is not full of feel-good stories.  Rather they are gritty, thought-provoking stories.  I expect Oscar Wao to be along the same lines, and I can’t wait to read it – especially since Díaz is coming to FSU in the spring and Dave and I will be there to listen to him.

 Another book I haven’t read yet is Toni Morrison’s new novel, A Mercy.  Set two hundred years before Beloved, the books are loosely connected, telling the story of Sethe’s ancestors.  I am intrigued by the possibilities and can’t wait to have time to read it.

 

The third in Gregory Maguire’s Wicked series, A Lion Among Men tells the story of the Cowardly Lion. This is on top of my to-read-after-prelims list, especially since I’m hoping to see Wicked in Jacksonville in April.  

 

 

Movies

These are two of my favorite Christmas movies, both of which I think are grossly underrated and overlooked.  Give them a try:

Prancer tells the story of a little girl who finds a wounded reindeer.  The girl is largely ignored by her family and finds purpose in helping Prancer.  Try not to think of Cloris Leachman’s Dancing with the Stars escapades while you watch it – or ever really. No good can come from it. Prancer, on the other hand, offers lots of good.

This is one of my all-time favorite Santa Clause movies, second only to Tim Allen in The Santa Clause. And though Santa Clause: the Movie is clearly a movie made in the early 80s, I love how it begins with a story of the historical background of Santa Clause – that of a man who delivers little wooden toys to the children in his village.  Couple that with the amazing Dudley Moore as an elf named Patch and John Lithgow as the evil capitalist and you’ve got a movie that should definitely be considered a Christmas classic.

For the Home

 I am in love with the Serafina Floral Duvet from Pottery Barn.  How bold and colorful!  I think this bedding set could liven up any bedroom!

 

 

I’m kind of obsessed with aprons these days, and I pretty much love any apron (or anything at all, really) that Anthropologie has to offer.  But I especially love this Stockholm Floral Apron. Doesn’t it just make you want to whip up some fresh baked bread? They also have equally adorable kids’ aprons, so everyone can get in on the fun.

 

 

So there are just a few suggestions from my home to yours.  As great as these things are, I can’t wait to tell you about the gifts that I’m giving – but that will have to wait…at least a week.

You Can Also Pimp My Dog

This blog is having a giveaway for some pretty awesome dog collars, and I want one.  Do you want one, too?  Go here:  http://www.fidosfashioncollars.com/.  If you happen to enter the drawing and win, you should give the free collar to Potter.  If not, he’ll come after you like this:

[Disclaimer: Potter is not trying to eat me in this picture.  We are playing one of his favorite games, creatively titled "Get Your Nose." Much like the human version of this game, it involves me trying to, you guessed it, get his nose.  This is the face he makes to discourage any such nose-getting.  Rest assured, however, that I do always get his nose and, when I do, he rewards me with a good hand-licking.]  

[Oh, but he will get you if you don't give him the collar.]

Bruschetta & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

I don’t have a lot going on in these last few days before classes start on Monday; I’m just finishing up lesson plans and continuing to read for my prelims. So, until I have something more interesting to offer, I thought I’d share what I made for dinner tonight.  This Bruschetta & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast is one of my favorite recipes.  It’s easy to prepare, though it takes about 45 minutes to bake.  But it’s good every time: colorful, moist, and flavorful.  I usually serve it with a small salad and some form of potatoes.  Enjoy!

This is the recipe:

1 can (14.5 oz.) Italian style diced tomatoes, undrained

1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella, divided

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 pkg. (6 oz.) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken

8 small boneless chicken breast halves

1/3 cup Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan Dressing

• Preheat over to 350 degrees.  To prepare stuffing, combine tomatoes and their liquid, 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, basil, and stuffing mix, stirring just until moistened.
• Put 2 chicken breast halves in a large, freezer weight re-sealable bag. Pound the chicken with meat mallet until chicken is 1/4 inch thick.  Repeat with remaining chicken breasts, 2 at a time.
• Place pounded chicken breasts, smooth-side down, starting at the narrow end, as tightly as possible around stuffing mix (I use toothpicks to keep the chicken closed).
• Place in 13×9 inch baking dish with seam-side down, as this allows the chicken to hold together.  Pour dressing evenly over chicken and bake for 40 minutes.
• Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese and bake 5 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted and chicken is cooked through.

Yum, yum!

Gold Medal Blogs

Need another way to obsess about the Olympics? (And believe me, no judgment here if you do.) My less-obsessed husband found this site where you can track the blogs of numerous Olympic athletes.  My personal favorite is the blog of Dave Durante, who is the only alternate on the US men’s gymnastics team not to get to compete in the team competition.  You might also know him as the man NBC would not get the freakin’ camera off of when he broke down in tears at the end of the team competition.

But maybe the coolest thing about this blog ring is the plethora of athletes found there.  One of the most common complaints I’ve heard about coverage of the ‘08 Olympics has been the focus on American athletes rather than the entire field.  Well, this site lets you get to know a little bit more about athletes from all over the world, in both major and minor sports. It’s pretty interesting to read the thoughts of so many athletes, rather than only hearing interviews (often given by horrible, annoying interviewers – I’m talking about you, Andrea Kremer) with the winners.

I will say, however, that I am less aggravated by Olympics coverage than so many other people.  I think a lot of the problems come from the 12-hour time delay.  They can’t start live coverage any earlier than 8pm because it’s 8am there.  Do you want the athletes to have to wake up at 4 in the morning or earlier?  I didn’t think so.  And while I agree that many times they have focused on American athletes, they are trying to squeeze a lot in, and their audience would be pissed if they didn’t focus enough on the Americans.  And, quite frankly, in the competitions that the Americans haven’t been competitive in, they have focused on the other countries.  For instance, in the men’s gymnastics team final, you barely saw Alexander Artemev, let alone Jonathan Horton.  So, give them a break – they can’t please everyone. But if you are pissed, go read the blog ring.