Birfday Wrapup

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday. Wow.

It started out like any other day -- a four-hour opening shift with Felicia, then back to the house. Charlie took the day off so we could spend some time together, and so I could go to my surgical consult. Charlie and Austin drove me to my appointment, and we stopped at Michael's beforehand. I picked out some awesome bits and bobs to make a present for my friend Lauren (since the painting I was working on for her baby's room turned into a sucktastic mess).

And what did Doc have to say? My gall bladder has to come out. Wah wahhhh. My surgery is scheduled for Valentine's weekend. Because, you know, nothing says LOVE like a weekend at the hospital. He's also going to take a peek at my "mystery bulge" and fix whatever it is, if necessary.

Oh! I also met with a plastic surgeon on Tuesday, and he's going to take out my face bump (actually a sebaceous cyst) on Monday. Woo hoo!

Anyhow, after my appointment, we met up with one of my favorite peeps, the famous LINH! We ate lunch at Pho 79 and then hit up Four Seasons Oriental Grocery. If you've never been to an Oriental grocery, I highly recommend it. Not only do they have good produce (like delicious bok choi) but there's random meat products (CHICKEN FEET!), canned goods (PICKLED MANGO!), and Japanese candy (TINY CHOCOLATE MUSHROOM COOKIES THAT LOOK LIKE...well, you know!). And they have all the gear you need for Chinese New Year, which falls on Valentine's Day this year according to Linh.

Linh also convinced me to try aloe vera juice. The taste was okay, but the chunks...I was not prepared for a "chewable" beverage. Don't think I'll be drinking that again any time soon.

As if that weren't enough, I also got a can of my favorite thing ever: HELLO BOSS ICED COFFEE!

Now, I don't know why in the hell this stuff is called "Hello Boss," but it is HELLO DELICIOUS. It tastes like the iced coffee you get at a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant.

When we got back to the house, I was in dire need of a nap. So, I headed upstairs and promptly zonked out. A couple of hours later, I came downstairs and found Charlie and Austin on the couch, both fast asleep. (Apparently pho makes you sleepy, because Linh told me later that she took a post-lunch nap too!)

Charlie's mom came over to watch Austin for the evening, and Charlie took me to my favorite restaurant for dinner -- No Frill Grill! We had a great meal, and managed to make it home in time to get Austin to bed ourselves.

All in all, this was the BEST birthday I've ever had. I'm so glad that I got to spend time with all the people I love. I'm really loving my life right now!

Turkey Soup!

It's getting to be the time of year where we get a lot of "Soup Weather" here in Virginia. You know, the kind of weather that makes you want to put on an LL Bean sweater, listen to soft jazz, and eat some fantastic soup?

So this week, I dragged out a turtleneck and some Kenny G CDs (hahahahaha...no, really), and made some soup with a leftover turkey breast that I roasted on Saturday. And kids, this is a soup you must try for yourself!

I cut up some carrots, celery, onion, and garlic, into big chunks, and sauteed 'em in a large stock pot with a little olive oil. Then I tossed in the turkey breast carcass, and filled the pot up with enough water to cover the turkey. Brought it to a boil, and then let that sucker simmer until it reduced by at least half. At this point, I added some herbs - parsley, sage - and pepper, but only a TEENY bit of salt. If you add too much salt now, the broth will be extremely salty at the end (because you're going to boil off most of the water, which will concentrate the salt).

After that, I strained it, and put it back into a clean pot. (You can reduce it again if you want a super-concentrated turkey stock.) I was expecting to have to skim the fat off as well, but there wasn't much; I didn't leave a lot of skin or meat on the carcass.

The next steps turned that broth in to fo' reals soupy goodness. I added:

Chick peas (garbanzo beans)

Corn

Celery

Carrots

Diced tomatoes (canned, drained well)

It just occurred to me that rice would be a great addition, or some fresh spinach (it'll wilt as soon as it hits the hot broth). Might try that next time.

I also dumped in a container of chicken stock (LOW SODIUM!), just because there wasn't quite enough liquid for all those veggies.

Then, I added the leftover turkey meat - I had about 1/2 a pound. I grabbed a spoon and took a slurp. It tasted SO good, but needed a little seasoning, so I added some more parsley and sage, along with a little more salt.

Here's the end result:

Man-o-MAN, was this tasty! And it's pretty healthy, thanks to all the veggies. It really hit the spot on a cold, drizzly December day. Give it a try next time you have a leftover bird.

My Triumphant Return to Teh Intarwebs

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

EASY MAC.

I made Easy Mac as part of the kid's dinner the other night (yes, I feed my child uber-processed, microwavable crap from time to time -- so sue me!), and as happens every time I make it, I ended up staring at the bowl when it came out of the microwave. I love, and I do mean LOVE, how the noodles manage to stand themselves up on end. The picture above shows a pretty good arrangement, but I've had bowls in the past where all but one or two macaroni (macarono? I mean, if macaronI is plural...just sayin'.) are vertical.

I'm sure there's an explanation for it, probably something to do with the fiber in the pasta, steam, etc. But quite frankly, my dear fellow noodle-phile, I don't give a damn. It's a small, small thing that makes me smile. AND SO I SHARE IT WITH YOU, INTARWEBS!

Note: If you're looking for The Weekly Austin, it's been moved to Wednesday.

Dairy Love

Dear Greek Yogurt,

I love you. Please, don't ever leave me.

-Me