Cooking Skillzzz

It's not a huge secret that I love to cook. There actually aren't many things I love to do, well, except shopping, sleeping in, drinking wine, watching Project Runway (which I am VERY upset about the outcome last night), etc. etc., etc....Those are all relatively lazy things.

I love to cook and I rarely use a recipe. Sometimes I'll have something at a restaurant and try to recreate it in my own way at home. Sometimes I'll see a recipe and then omit or add ingredients as I feel necessary. I actually can't remember the last time I used a recipe as is. Or the last time I consistently used measuring cups....This is why I am a terrible baker.

It was actually my darling husbands idea for me to blog about our dinner last night. I simply "threw it together" in 20 minutes and it turned out semi-decent (he thought better than that) :)

6 large tomatoes, chopped
1 Roasted Red Pepper, chopped
2 Chopped Shallots (I prefer red onion but this was all I had)
Garlic powder (fresh garlic is much better but I was out)
Salt and Pepper---Sea salt is a must! Always! No exceptions!
A few Basil leaves
A pint of Half & Half

All ingredients beside basil and half & half go into the pot on the stove for about 15 minutes, stirring and tasting regularly and adding salt and pepper as necessary. When the red pepper and tomatoes are soft, reduce the heat to very low and add cream and basil.

I cooked that for just a few minutes on low heat and then busted out the food processor. Oh yes, the best kitchen tool, EVER. Process all those yummy, fresh ingredients and voila! You have a thick, creamy, beautiful soup! MSG free, preservative free, and meat free!

We enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches (try using a white cheese and adding very thin green apple slices) with our hearty soup and it felt like a pretty fancy little meal. Rachel Ray does her 30 minute meals. Well, my yummy soup and semi-gourmet grilled cheese was 20 minutes. Take that, girlfriend! :)

Leavenworth Half Marathon- Check!

For the past, oh I don't know, 5 months or so I have been "training" for a 13.1 mile run through the festive town of Leavenworth. I got a big "F" in training while averaging about one run every 2-3 weeks and finishing with a painful 10-miler a few weeks before the run. I was not prepared to say the very, very least. The only thing I thought I had going for me was I weighed 10 pounds less than I did during my last half. I don't know why I thought that might make a difference, like I have less body weight to run around or something?! I don't know, I made that up, maybe it doesn't help at all.

S, my cousin and her boyfriend and I drove over the mountains and through the woods to the German inspired town to feast on spaghetti and beer and wake up early Saturday morning to run around the town. The weather couldn't have been better. Clear skies, high 60's, just lovely! We started the run and I felt winded immediately. S broke away from Cuzzy and I and the two of us felines (yes, I meant to call us cats) pushed our way up a 2-mile hill. I didn't realize how freaking steep this hill was until we were coasting down and watching all the poor runners struggle up. I thought, how the heck did I just run up that thing?!

We went on, I never achieved the "runners high", yearned for water stations throughout the whole run, went up some more hills, through the woods, down by the river and up some more hills. Hills, hills, hills=dying, dying, dying.

At about mile 12.5 I told Cuzzy to go on, I can't do it anymore. I started to switch from walking for a few seconds, running a few minutes, and repeating until I saw the finish line. Thank the Good, Good Lord! I finished in 2 hours, 13 minutes and 2 seconds. Beat my last time by 2 minutes and I trained like a mad woman for the last one! Cuzzy finished a few minutes before me and S- Warrior finished in under 2 hours! He's a maniac, crazy, fantastic runner! Good job, S!

As I mentioned before, I have had a bad back and it wasn't feeling too hot the week leading up to this silly run. I took 3 Advils the night before, 3 the morning of, and 1 right after. That, I found out, is a very bad idea. I got really sick for the rest of the day and could only minimally enjoy the Oktoberfest festivities. So sad. I'd have a bit of a drunk feeling and then my poor tummy would yell and scream at me and make me stop drinking. Maybe next year I will not overdose on Advil. Better idea, maybe next year I will drink instead of run! YES!

It's My Party and I'll Drink If I Want To!

I'm throwing myself a birthday party this weekend equiped with all the fixings for a great evening. Wine, pop music, friends and hotdogs (even though I don't eat them everyone else does). I have a feeling my 27th year of life is going to be a great one!

Minus The Bear- The Crocodile Seattle

I wasn't familiar with the Seattle band, Minus the Bear, until my husband brought their newest album, OMNI on a road trip and we listened to it on repeat. I was instantly hooked and 'Summer Angel' and 'My Time' were quick favorites although the whole album was addicting. Last Thursday they were playing at The Crocodile downtown so we decided to venture out on a school night and have some fun! They had an opening band who was forgettable (too harsh?), the skinny jeans, messy hair and drugged out persona's really don't do it for me anymore.



Minus the Bear came on and rocked it! I thought they were amazing, they obviously have a huge following in Seattle, they were great performers, sounded perfect live, and seemed like really awesome guys. I thought the blond guitarist made the show with his active stage presence, I loved watching him rock out to each song. The lead singer has a voice that's both hard and soft, I can't decide what it is when his lyrics are sensual yet, his voice is so strong. The whole band is just plain awesome.



You should check them out on iTunes. 'My Time' would be a good song to download to see if you're into their music or not, I think you'll like it though! I would definitely want to see them again and become more familiar with some of their older music. I honestly think Minus the Bear could become really, really big. They seem to have what it takes and they've acquired quite the following, The Crocodile was sold out!

I've been trying to figure out how they came up with their name and this is my best guess....

3 of them look like bears. Two grizzlies and one sloth. They other two do not look like bears. I think maybe they were sitting around one day commenting on how they all look very similar and the conversation might have gone something like this:

Bear Man: Hey, we kind of all look alike
Non Bear Man: Yeah, I look like you but minus the bear

Ta Da!