Mar. 19th, 2003

gfrancie: (Default)
I am not so grumpy. I am merely at odds with the new ISP. It went from AT&T to Comcast. Frankly...comcast can suck my right toe.

Onto other things:
Yesterday was Andrew's (also known as the most super amazing man on earth) birthday. He turned twenty four. I think he enjoyed himself. I made him a card and envelope. It took me a few hours to design and execute the creation of this thing. I made him a pop up card. I did some collage art on the outside of the card and when you opened it up, a birthday cake with candles pops up. It said twenty fourth. I also embossed it, did a bit of orginal art and background design. For the envelope I did some more collage art with pictures of antique maps. I will have to take a picture. I also gave him a book, and some other neat things.
With the help of a friend (who is the most amazing party planner in the world. Elizabeth is one of the best) We put together a surprise dinner for him, with a bunch of friends.
Definitely good fun.
I believe he liked everything.

Saint Patty's day...hrm. I went and had lunch with my mother, looked at fun things and then came home to watch Mr. Bush on the television. I could say a number of things, but I am still trying to grasp the enormity of the situation. I shall simply say, "I am much more frightened now."

I attempted to go to a bar...it was no go. Long lines, just to have beer? My apologies to various people for not making it.
Instead Andrew and I went to the Icon and had some 'interesting' food. I had the guinness lamb stew. Which I did enjoy, except I felt they should have cut the lamb up into smaller pieces. It was a bit untidy trying to cut it up. The broth was thick, a bit salty, but still enjoyable. Andrew had the shepards pie. It wasn't like any shepards pie we have ever had before. It combined cottage pie/shepards pie into a stew with a dollop of mashed potatoes. It was alright, but it wasn't shepards pie. Not in the traditional sense.
We enjoyed the food, but my big objection was to their soda bread.
That was not soda bread. It was sweet and it had raisins, currents and nuts. I know the restaurant likes to take traditional comfort foods and give them a kick, but it seems they kicked this recipe out the door and gave it to a patisserie. Traditionally soda bread is quite acidic...partly because there is baking soda. It is a fairly simple and rough bread. The kind of bread that is meant to soak of stew and liquid. I think sometimes it is best to leave some recipes in their original form. I do admit prejudice upon my part.

After dinner we went for a short walk, came home and had some beer and watched some more episodes of Harry Enfield and a few episodes of Blackbooks.
I must say, Blackbooks is one of my new favorite things to watch.
If any Americans can hunt this show down, either downloading or buying from amazon. I highly reccomend it. It is a scream!
Harry Enfield's show is a sketch show, where all of the characters he plays are awful bastards. I love it when he plays David Beckham or Chris Evans. I nearly pee my pants with laughter.
Today, I shall do laundry, lounge about in my pajamas and watch Hill Street Blues reruns. (that is my new favorite vice)

Yesterday in the mail, an invitation came to go to a wedding. Yes folks, the beginning of the wedding season is upon us once again.
I do like weddings. But there is something kind of amusing about the fact that a good portion of saturdays in the spring and summer months are spent at a wedding. One begins to make a few bets on how long it will last.

Everyone at work is treating me quite carefully. I suspect they are curious if I will flip out as a form of delayed stress. I suspect they are a little weirded out by my generally calm and cheerful demeanor. I will admit a minor anxiety attack, when handling cash at work, but I got over that quickly. I don't have time to be having a breakdown over a minor event.
Tis life.

Hrm...there is tiramasu in the fridge.
gfrancie: (snoopy)
Let us take our mind off impending doom for a moment.
I have been in the kitchen putting together things for dinner.

Today I started off by roasting red bell peppers, skinning them and slicing them up. I let them sit for awhile.
Later on, I minced an onion and three cloves of garlic, sauteed them in olive oil (it is worth the money, to buy high quality olive oil)
I then added tomato paste and carmelized the onions and garlic. It creates a smokey flavor rich flavor. I first came across this neat little cooking technique when I was about fourteen and messing around with some old Graham Kerr recipes.
Back to the garlic/onion mixture...
Once that was a beautiful dark colour I added some wine (cabernet) and the roasted bell peppers. I am letting that sit. I shall add some sliced mushrooms and bacon in a bit and put it together with some pasta.
Simple and quite lovely to eat.

I am tempted by a recipe in Gourmet for braised prawns in a cream sauce with endive.


I do not think I have the quote correct but...

I am struck by the words of Benjamin Franklin,
"There never was a good war, nor a bad peace."

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