Weekend Wrap Up

John was in the studio with How I Became The Bomb all weekend, so I was flying solo. You can see pics of his 4-day session here.

Friday:

I got up early & did the Pancake Run with MK & Cara. Man, it's good to be back in the land of pancakes. That night, I watched The Town on DVD. I had no idea I was so attracted to Ben Affleck. Ladies, watch this movie, trust me. Ben, if you're reading (& why wouldn't you be?), call me. We can do push-ups together.

Saturday:

I got up early yet again & worked out with MK. We did 7am Spin followed by 8am Sculpt. Then I had to run home & get ready for a hair appointment. Post hair cut, I headed East to MHG's for January Book Swap, where I picked up two new books: The Hunger Games & Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home. I'll report back.

With both of our mens unaccounted for, Katie & I made plans to go on a lady date. We met at Woodlands Vegetarian Indian Cuisine for dinner & then went to see Blue Valentine. I really enjoyed the movie, but man, it's rough. I love Michelle Williams, but has she ever done a feel-good movie? I don't think she has. And Ryan Gosling. OMG. As MK would say, "H. O. T.!"

Sunday:

I got up & drove to Shelby Bottoms for my East Nasty half marathon training. Jessica & I ran 6 miles. Barely. Jessica's knee has been bothering her & honestly so has mine, so we took it easy, but we finished. Post run, we all went to Mitchell's Deli for brunch. God, I love their cheese grits so hard. It was so nice out, when I got back home I sat outside & read all afternoon (& chased Linda all over the neighborhood, but that's a story for another day).

Wanting more Michelle Williams, I watched Wendy & Lucy via Netflix Instant Streaming. Not a bad movie, but my god is it depressing. Michelle: please do a romantic comedy. Please!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup: FAIL

I've been really into making soup since I got an immersion blender for Christmas (thanks, Mom!). Tiffany emailed me one of her favorite recipes for roasted cauliflower soup. It had cheese in it, so I decided to make it. Here's a picture of what the soup is supposed to look like:

And here's what mine looks like:

One day John is going to go out for cigarettes & never come back based on this solitary fact: I refuse to read recipes in advance. I can't explain it. It's some bizarre quirk in my personality & it's completely contradictory to how I operate in EVERY OTHER aspect of my life.

So the first thing I missed in the recipe was that before making the soup, you have to roast the vegetables for 40 minutes. Oops. Whatever, it'll still be done before bedtime. Maybe... The second thing I missed is that I was supposed to 'roughly chop' the vegetables. Yeah, I totally finely chopped them. By finely chopping them, they basically instantly caught on fire in the oven, thus the non-white hue of my soup & the lingering smell in my house that's still here almost 24 hours later.....

The soup was awful (my fault, not the recipe's). It looked, smelled & tasted like gravy. Yeah sure, I like gravy, but not as a main course. John & I were laughing so hard, we could hardly eat it, which was a blessing honestly.

Oh well, c'est la vie. If I had a day job, I'd tell myself not to quit it.

Asian Rice & Vegetable Bowl

The new February issue of Real Simple has a section on "Your New Healthy-Eating Plan." It's a really good article. They show a diagram of what your plate should look like: half of your plate should contain vegetables & fruits; one-quarter should be lean protein, & the last quarter, whole grains. Then they list the 30 healthiest foods & give examples of how to eat/prepare them & they show 4 examples of a balanced meal. This dish is one of those 4 examples.

Asian Rice & Vegetable Bowl with Eggs & Chili Sauce

Adapted from Real Simple

Serves 4 skinny people. Serves 2 hungry Baldwins.

Ingredients:

2 cups long grain, instant brown rice

1/3 cup Thai sweet chili sauce

4 tsp Sriracha sauce

3/4 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets

2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled & cut into thin strips

2 tbsp plus 1 tbsp canola oil

4 large eggs

2 pork loin chops

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees & chop all of your veggies. Place the broccoli, bell peppers & carrots on a large rimmed baking sheet; toss with 2 tbsp of the canola oil. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the package directions. In a small bowl, combine the sweet chili sauce, Sriracha, sesame oil & vinegar. Set aside.

Cut the pork loin chops in half & then cut into 1" square chunks. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat & cook the pork until done, about 5 to 8 minutes. Set aside.

Heat the remaining tsp of canola oil in the same cast iron skillet over medium heat. Crack the eggs into the skillet & cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve the vegetables & eggs over the rice & drizzle with the sauce.

Kim's Notes:

The original recipe calls for short grain (non-instant) brown rice. I couldn't find this, so I used long grain, instant brown rice. It tasted fine, I just had to adjust the timing of everything. Also, because John doesn't understand how it's dinner when there's no meat, I added 2 pork loin chops.

John & I both loved this dish & gobbled up all 4 servings. The sauce that you drizzle over the top is so good! The perfect mix of sweet & spicy, but not too spicy. And the egg... I've concluded that I'll eat anything served over rice & topped with a fried egg. We're definitely making this again. Highly recommend this recipe. Also, highly recommend picking up the February issue of Real Simple.

Weekend Wrap Up: John Turns 30 Edition

Friday:

I watched The Kids Are All Right. Annette Bening, OMG. I'm going to have a hard time now not thinking she's a lesbian. Great cast; great acting. Loved this movie!

Saturday:

I got up early & met MK & MHG at the Green Hills Y for 7am Spin & 8am Sculpt followed by breakfast & coffee at Whole Foods. The Spin class was a lot harder than what I'm used to & I'm wondering if maybe my body is used to the class I take every week at the Downtown Y & maybe I should change it up a little.....

Saturday night was John's 30th birthday party at our house. I think it's the most people we've ever had in our house. You know, typically with a party, you invite 100 people & 20-ish show up. Yeah, we totally had like 100 people in our house. It was insane, but it was awesome. All of John's friends came & he got a lot of ridiculous presents including a Bojangles gift card & a bag of squid jerky, which he promptly ate (of course he did).

Par for the course, the night ended with John ridiculously drunk, shout-singing downstairs while simultaneously playing the piano, the guitar & taking his shirt off. I'm starting to think we should build a stage & install a stripper's pole for the sole purpose of John's birthday parties. What can I say, the man is a performer. The last thing John said before he threw up & passed out at 3am was, "I feel like songs in D are going to keep me from getting sick." Bless him.

Party photostream here.

Sunday:

I slept through my Sunday morning half marathon training. It was a rough start, fo sho. I eased the pain with a piece of birthday cake & two cups of coffee. Spurred by caffeine & sugar, I cleaned the house. OMG, there was dried, spilled whiskey on every surface of our house. Even Linda was disgusted.

Feeling like I had burned some calories cleaning, I decided to turn the crock pot back on & finish off the rotel dip. I quickly slipped into a vegetative state & laid down on the couch. Luckily, the Roku remote was within reach, so I fired up the 'ole Netflix Instant Streaming & watched Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. OMG, I loved it (& coincidentally am now convinced I should have been a stand-up comedienne). Again, Sarah Allen, you were so right. I'm totally in your old lady fan club now.

Last night, still in what I slept in the night before & still on the couch, I begged John to get us Indian take-out for dinner. Yeah, because that's exactly what I needed after a day of not moving & eating nothing but birthday cake & rotel dip. So I wolfed that down, ate ANOTHER piece of birthday cake (of course I did) & went back to bed. At 9:00 pm. In related news, I probably developed diabetes (diabeetis) overnight.

Wasabi Party Mix

I realized after I took this picture of the ingredients that I left out one of the boxes of cereal: Honey Nut Cheerios.

In a roasting pan (or whatever you have if, like me, you forgot you don't own a roasting pan) combine pretzels, oat cereal, wheat cereal, rice cereal, & peas.

In a small saucepan, combine butter & Worcestershire sauce.

Add garlic powder.

Stir to combine.

Heat & stir until butter melts.

Drizzle butter mixture over cereal mixture; stir gently to coat.

Bake in a 300 degree oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

I made this for John's party. It surprisingly wasn't that spicy. It honestly just tasted like regular Chex Mix. It was still good, it just wasn't as hot as I thought it would be with the wasabi peas. I may add Tabasco next time, but I'll definitely make it again.

Wasabi Party Mix

Makes 16-18 cups

Ingredients:

5 cups pretzel sticks

4 cups round toasted oat cereal

4 cups bite-size wheat or bran square cereal

4 cups bite-size rice or corn square cereal

3 cups wasabi-flavored dehydrated peas

1 cup butter

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

1. In a roasting pan combine pretzels, oat cereal, wheat cereal, rice cereal, & peas. Set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, heat & stir butter, Worcestershire sauce, & garlic powder until butter melts. Drizzle butter mixture over cereal mixture; stir gently to coat.

3. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on a large piece of foil to cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

**Note To Self: Buy a roasting pan.

Podcasts!

I'm all of a sudden really into podcasts. It started around Christmas when I loaded up my iPod so we'd have stuff to listen to en route to Maryland. I uploaded some Car Talk, This American Life & Fresh Air. Now I'm totally addicted. I didn't realize you could download this shit for free on iTunes. Where have I been?

So far, I'm almost exclusively listening to This American Life & Fresh Air, but I hope to start branching out. The problem is, I don't drive very much, so it takes me days to get through one 45 minute podcast. I know, white whine.

So here are my favorite podcasts thus far. Remember, I'm only a month into this.

This American Life

Comedians of Christmas Comedy Special

Fresh Air

Comedian Joan Rivers, Still A 'Piece of Work'

Jon Stewart: America's Ruling King Of Fake News

I subscribe to both This American Life & Fresh Air, so all I have to do is connect my iPod to my Macbook & all the new podcasts automatically download. I don't have to go search for them, etc. Anyway, you've all probably been doing this for years, but if you haven't, you should. They're fun; they're free; &, I swear, they're making me smarter.

P.S. Sarah Allen, if you're reading this, I'm totally obsessed with Joan Rivers now & regret making fun of you for wanting to see her movie when it was at The Belcourt.....

How To: Multipalette Eyeshadows

While I was getting my hair did this weekend, I stole some pages out of the November 2010 issue of Glamour. The article is The Easy Way To Amazing Eyes. I'd like to think I'm fairly educated about makeup, how to apply makeup, etc., but I learned things I didn't know in this article, so I thought I'd share.

How to Use an Eyeshadow SOLO
Bright colors make great singular statements.
Step #1: Create smoky eyes with one shade by blending it on the lid & along the lower lash line. For a softer effect, use a sheer neutral from lid to brow bone.
Step #2: To get vibrant liner instantly, just add water. Dampen a small angled brush, drag through color & trace along upper lashes. Wing it out for more drama.

How to Use an Eyeshadow DUO
Two shadows are twice as sexy! No matter what kind of pair you have, the same beauty math applies:
Step #1: Use the lighter of the two as the base; wash it over the lid, on inner corner & along the bottom lashes.
Step #2: Work the darker shade into the top lash line & crease. Blend it all together using tight circular motions with a contour brush. *Doing this creates the medium tone that's not in the palette.

*I didn't know this! Makes sense!

How to Use an Eyeshadow TRIPLE
Adding another color to the party doesn't have to be complicated, think of it as playing with beauty building blocks.
Step #1: Just like with the duo, apply the lightest shade all over from the brow bone down.
Step #2: Make the most of the medium shade. It's your safest color. Apply it in the crease using a back & forth windshield-wiper motion. Smudge the darkest shade around the lash line, or intensify the look by creating a sideways "V" on the outer corner.

How to Use an Eyeshadow QUAD
Most quads are essentially triples plus a metallic or bright accent shade.
Step #1: Do the triple process as described above.
Step #2: Add the accent shade to the inner corner, lid, brow bone or lower lashes.

Again, I found this article really useful, especially in regards to quads. I have a quad that I love & now I feel like I have a better understanding of how each of the four colors work. I hope some of you found this as helpful as I did.

XOXO,
Scary Kay

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday:

My friend Alexis got a Kinect for Christmas, so she had us girls over to play Dance Central. OMG! That game is AWESOME! We had so much fun. The two songs I "performed" were "Poker Face" & "C'mon Ride It (The Train)", which should surprise no one. My love for Quad City DJ's dates back to the late-90's when I would 'ride that train' all over every fraternity house & dance club in Murfreesboro.

Saturday:

I went to Trim to see Gio & get my highlights freshened up. We essentially spent two hours dissecting Black Swan & planning next year's Halloween costumes. I heart Gio so hard. I don't know what I'm going to do when he blows this one-horse town for NYC this summer. *Tear*

Freshly coiffed, John & I headed to Smyrna for my niece, Jessica's, second birthday. Anticipating her "special day", she got hold of her big sister's school scissors & cut one side of her hair off & scalped one of the twins. Needless to say, my sister didn't find it as funny as I did.

Sunday:

Yesterday was my third half marathon training session with East Nasty. We're still running based on time instead of miles. I ran for 60 minutes, which is roughly 6 miles. It felt great. My calves were tight because I was a little dehydrated, but the distance wasn't hard for me. Jessica pointed out that I ran half of a half. Definitely feeling more confident about being able to run 13.1 miles now, not that I'm registered to run a half marathon, but still.

Book Review: A Change In Altitude

This week I read A Change In Altitude by Anita Shreve. I picked it up at the last book swap & wanted to knock it out before I started in on all my new books. It's about a husband & wife who temporarily relocate to Africa, so the husband, a doctor, can participate in a year-long study. The wife, a photojournalist, flounders a little trying to find her way & acclimate herself with African culture.

The Good:

The book starts out with a climbing trip to Mt. Kenya, which I found really interesting. Shreve does a good job describing the climb in great detail. Something happens on the climb that you think you see coming, but not in the way it actually happens. I think I read the first half of the book in one afternoon. I couldn't put it down. Also, not that I've been to Africa, but I feel Shreve does a good job making you feel like you're in Africa. Apparently she spent 3 years in Kenya prior to writing this book, so there you go. Overall, I liked the main characters & liked reading about them.

The Bad:

The book is divided into 2 parts: the climb & after the climb. As I mentioned, the first part of the book is emotionally charged & hard to put down. The second part? Not so much. It's a little odd how anti-climatic the second part of the book is. The second part is still interesting in that you're learning more about their marriage & Africa, but it does take on a different feel. The reviewers & commenters on Amazon pretty much hated this book. Apparently it's a big let down to fans of Shreve. I've never read any of her other books, so I can't speak to this. I honestly didn't think the book was that bad.

I liked it & I think it's worth reading. It's not a long book, so it's not a big time investment. I'd recommend this book to someone who likes to read about marriage, marital issues, exotic travel, mountain climbing, &/or Africa. I'd give it 3 - 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

2011 Reading Challenge

Speaking of books, I joined the Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge. I know, a reading challenge is so Second Grade, but I'm almost through FNL & I need another way to fill my time. According to Goodreads, I read 23 books in 2010, so I "challenged" myself to read 30 books in 2011. I think 30 books is doable, especially since I'm not in school or in session this year.

It's a little daunting to know that out of the hundreds of books that I want to read, I'm only going to tackle 20-30 this year. It really makes me evaluate how much time I spend watching tv. Not that I'm ever going to get rid of my tv, I mean, who am I kidding? But being more conscious about how I spend my time is certainly a laudable goal.

So I did a quick count of the books currently in my house that I'd like to read & it's only 15 books. That's good. I was afraid it was going to be a lot more. This means I can work in about 15 more books that I don't already own. Score!

In Which I Profess My Love For David Sedaris

Apparently not all of you share my love of David Sedaris. I had no idea. When I moved to NYC, Me Talk Pretty One Day had just come out & everyone, & I mean EVERYONE, was reading it. And they were laughing out loud while reading it. On the subway! In public! This was a book I had to read. I bought it; I read it; I loved it. It was the funniest book I had read up to that point.

In the years since, I've read all of Sedaris' books, most of his short stories, listened to him on NPR & seen him live twice. I've enjoyed all of his books, but so far, Me Talk Pretty One Day is still my favorite.

For graduation, Jessica got me his latest book, Squirrel Meets Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary. It's a collection of short morality stories enacted by animals. I read it the other day & loved it. The illustrations are great. They're done by Ian Falconer, who does the illustrations in the Olivia children's book series. I think my favorite story in the book is The Cow and the Turkey, possibly because I heard him read it on This American Life Holiday Spectacular. It's about a secret Santa gift exchange between barnyard animals. Here's an excerpt:

"The cow was notoriously cheap, so it surprised everyone when she voted yes for the secret Santa scheme. There were, of course, no shops in the barnyard, which was a shame, as all of the animals had money, coins mainly, dropped by the farmer and his plump, moody children as they went about their chores."

So funny! Definitely recommend this book, as well as Me Talk Pretty One Day. For you nonbelievers, maybe download some free podcasts on iTunes & listen to him read his stories. It may help to hear him actually tell the story, as opposed to just reading it yourself. Also, & lastly, this short story that appeared in The New Yorker is effing hilarious. To quote my good friend Michael Eades, if you don't think this is funny, "you're beyond my reach."

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday:

Friday morning we started our new running/breakfast route for 2011. The route was hard for me, I walked a lot of it & the breakfast kind of sucked. So not awesome. Friday night I watched more FNL, Season 4. I only have 2 or 3 episodes left & then I'm caught up, as Season 5 is the one currently airing on DirectTV. Hopefully I can figure out a way to watch it online.

Saturday:

I went to the free Lululemon yoga class at Yoga Sanctuary & then me, MK, MHG & Julie went to lunch at Whole Foods. I need to remember to eat there more often. Love, love, love their prepared food bars. That night we went to Korea House with Mike & Amanda. John & I ventured from our standard order of dolsot bibimbap & shared the kimchi fried rice & another kimchi/rice dish with pork belly. It was so good! The kimchi/pork belly dish may be my new standard.

Sunday:

I got up & drove to Shelby Bottoms for my 2nd East Nasty half marathon training session. It was so cold! I actually had frost on my shirt when I got into the car & apparently one of the guys had icicles in his beard! That's cold, people. But Jessica & I ran for 50 minutes & then we ran up Mount Nasty. Post-run, I made salted brown butter crispy treats, drove them out to Mike & Chrissi & hung out with them for awhile. Last night we met our friends Keith, Nicole, Aaron & Ashley at Las Maracas for Keith's birthday. Good times, good weekend.

Books!

In addition to all the books I'm constantly acquiring through both Book Swap & McKay, I have also received these books as gifts recently. I just finished I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee (from The Daily Show). It's a collection of witty, autobiographical short stories. There were definitely parts of it where I laughed out loud, but there were many parts I think would be funnier to someone 4 years older and with more knowledge of Canada, or Canadian humor. Definitely worth picking up for a quick, light read, but if you're looking for something really funny, I would recommend either Jen Lancaster or Sloane Crosley.

Prior to reading I Know I Am, But What Are You?, I read Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovksy. I've wanted to read this book for awhile now, not really knowing what it was about, so when Libby brought it to Book Swap, I snatched it up. I assumed by the cover that it was some kind of French love story. Yeah, it's totally not. It's about WWII. It's fiction, but the author, Irene Nemirovsky, died in Auschwitz, so it's clearly historical fiction. I'm sure I'm smarter for having read this, but man, it was hard to get through. It took me forever to read & it's not a long book. I'm glad I finally read it, but I didn't love it as much as I expected to. I'm interested in what other people who've read it thought. Libby?

Yesterday I started reading David Sedaris' new book, Squirrel Meets Chipmunk. It's hilarious & it's really short, so I'll probably finish it today. I'll report back. LOVE David Sedaris!

P.S. The Cooking Light book is getting returned. Apparently "2010" actually means "2009" in Cooking Light speak, so I've got to exchange it for the 2011 version, which is sold out everywhere. Grrrr....

P.P.S. I don't know if I've ever taken a picture that so accurately represents who I am as a person as the one above. That picture is SCREAMING, "Thirty-something white woman, somewhat intellectual, with a penchant for healthy living, laughing & just the right amount of street cred."

Kill Your Husband Taco Soup Recipe

Ask & you shall receive. Don't say I didn't warn you....

Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 pkg dry Ranch dressing

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can Rotel

1 can pork & beans (or refried beans)

1 can Texas style/ranch style beans

1 can yellow corn

Directions:

Cook meat with onion & garlic in large skillet on medium high heat until browned. Drain. Add 1 pkg taco seasoning & 1 pkg Ranch dressing. Stir.

Combine meat with all other ingredients.

Cook in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

Kim's Notes:

I recommend using no salt added diced tomatoes, as opposed to, oh say, zesty chili style. I also recommend not using Trader Joe's taco seasoning, or at least not using the whole packet. Lastly, leave out the Tabasco. Trust me....

No More Taco Soup, Please

On Sunday night I made a big pot of taco soup, which is essentially chili with corn. John has an unusual love of corn, so I assumed it would be well received. Spicy meat & corn, what's not to love, right? Well, I accidentally made it too spicy. The jury is still out on which ingredient put it over the edge: Del Monte diced tomatoes, zesty chili style, or the entire package of Trader Joe's taco seasoning that I was apparently only supposed to use half of & dilute with water. Oops. Oh, plus I added Tabasco. Yeah, it was hot. Like Prince's Hot Chicken hot.

As we were eating it on Sunday night, & I use the term "eating" loosely, we were dying. Our eyes were watering & John was rubbing his knees like he does when he's in pain. It was ridiculous, especially considering how high both of our tolerances are for spicy food. So John immediately goes into the bathroom for half an hour & I do some internet research on how to de-spice this god-awful soup so that we can eat the rest of it on Monday night.

I find this article & deduce that adding more ingredients, combined with letting it sit overnight, is the way to go. So last night I added a can of refried beans & a can of regular, no salt added diced tomatoes. It was still spicy, but it was tolerable. I ate two bowls, watched The Craigslist Killer & went to bed. Apparently John had a different reaction, as I awoke this morning to this email:

PS

---

John Baldwin	Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 1:51 AM
To: Kim Baldwin
no more taco soup please it is a digestive odyssey

2010 Wrap Up

2010 was a weird year. On one hand, I became a runner, lost a shit-ton of weight & earned an MPA. On the other hand, Nashville was underwater for a week, my friend got cancer & I lost my job. I will say this, 2010 was the year of friends. I both made new (awesome) friends & became closer to old friends this year. Also, John closed his studio on Music Row & built a mastering studio in our house, which has definitely turned out to be the right thing to do.

More often than not, this year has been pretty rough, but I'm hopeful for a better 2011. I'm hopeful for a new job; I'm hopeful to keep running; & I'm hopeful for some of my friends who've been dealt a bad hand this year to get all they deserve & more in the coming year. I'm also really excited to watch two of my close friends welcome new babies into their families this year.

2010, it's been real.

2010 from Kim Baldwin on Vimeo.