Arizona - Land of the DIYers

I'm a fairly self-sufficient person. No, seriously, I am. I can do my own laundry, cook, clean, take care of bills, hold a steady job, and even hang pictures. All these things taught to me by my loving and patient (for the most part) parents. They also taught me that if a pipe broke or the roof leaked that I was to call a handy dandy fix it guy and pay him to fix what was wrong and that was that. No attempting to read up on how to fix it myself. No getting up on the roof and attempting to replace shingles. No getting under a sink and taking apart the plumbing. Moving to Arizona I have since learned that uttering the phrase "handy man" is the equivalent of hurting someone's personal pride. Apparently here the handy man is only used in the event that the equipment to do to the job isn't cost effective to purchase or the job is just too big to finish by yourself. 

Here's a pretty good example. The dishwasher decided that it didn't want to handle the job of washing dishes anymore and that it wanted a life of luxury, a life of just sitting there and not freaking working. My first thought "great, now a new one will have to be bought :/". Never did it enter into my mind to take the damn thing apart and see what the problem was or that it could be fixable. Imagine my surprise when I came home to find my boyfriend on the kitchen floor with dishwasher parts splayed before him. He was taking apart stuff, checking it out, testing for leaks, swearing at it. 3 days later and two trips to the hardware store, the dishwasher was fixed and forced to clean my pots and pans. 

So what's the deal? All of my LA friends (I think) think along the same lines I do: Call The Handy Man! I don't believe I was ever in a situation where someone busted out their tool chest and fixed something right there on the spot. I don't even think most of my friends had tool chests (except you, Max) or owned a basic screwdriver set. How is that almost everyone in AZ that I meet is handy? Everyone has wrenches, screwdrivers, saws, and the general know how to fix and even remodel things like bathrooms and whole rooms. Did I just miss something growing up? Did my parents just decide that they would rather take the easy route and teach me that I need to make money in order to pay people to fix things vs actually teaching me how to fix things? 

I've now learned how to install, tape, and mud drywall and various other random house repair things. How about you? Were you raised in a do it yourself household?

 

I'm No Photographer.....

....but I'll keep trying. Yup, I got my Canon Powershot s90 and I'm loving it. As you can see from the pictures, I'm not the most spectacular photographer nor do I fully know what I'm doing yet, but I'm working on it. I can't believe we actually got Penny to stay still for one!

You can see more of my blunders on my Flickr photostream. :) 

One of My Brighter Ideas

Yes, that is the Sony Reader Pocket Edition that you are currently feasting your eyes on. This marvel of technology weighs 7.76 oz, holds up to 350 books at any given time, and is currently in my hot, little hands. Oh yes, I took the eReader plunge about a month and a half ago and haven't looked back. 

As an avid reader (understatement) I have acquired quite a few books over the years (also an understatement). Since I left home at the wise old age of 17 to go to college, I have probably moved an average of once every 1.5 years. That means that every year and a half, my lazy ass has to box metric ass tons of books and haul them to my new abode. For some of you this means packing up your 8 deep stack of Maxims into your laptop bag and chucking the laptop bag into the Uhaul without a care in the world. For me this means at least 4-5 boxes, LARGE boxes, devoted to the transportation of what turned out to be around 200ish books. This pretty much blew and I wised up when I was moving back to LA from San Francisco. I had the brilliant idea to SHIP my books back to my Mom in Oregon. Quite a few dollars later and some agonizing trips to the UPS store, I was a lot lighter but missing some of my favorite titles. What was a girl to do? Surely, she couldn't have it all. She couldn't have the American dream: all her books in one place with none of the heavy lifting (I'm sure that's your idea of the American dream, too. Stop laughing).

Then my fabulous friend, Mango (ValleyAdjacent), showed up one day with a Sony Reader (full sized). She's a ridiculous reader as well. This girl had to invest in some high quality bookcases just so she could support the weight of all her reading goodness. She gushed about her Sony Reader and how portable/light/easy it was. How she could keep a good chunk of her library in digital form and how she could actually check out books from public libraries online using tools like Overdrive and Shelfari. I was skeptical at first, thinking that this square thing could never take the place of a real book. There's no awesome book smell, no bending the spine back and really wearing it in. That couldn't really be great for the reading experience, could it? Well, I was totally right about the lack of awesome book smell and the inability to really wear a book in, but I was wrong about those things actually mattering. 

I love Woot. I'm pretty much addicted to discovering the deal of the day or possibly having a chance to grab that Random Bag 'O' Crap. It must have been fate because Woot had a Sony Reader Pocket Edition (refurb) on the site for $110. How could I say no? So I purchased it and waited like a little kid on Christmas Eve until that sucker arrived. I could not be happier with my purchase. Not only is the text on the Reader easy on the eyes, it's also a very intuitive gadget. Very easy for non-techie users to get used to. While the Sony software that comes with is a little clunky, you can easily bypass using it and acquire books more easily on other sites and through public libraries. The only downside I really encountered with the Reader is the fact that PDF books don't format correctly on it. Stick with ePub if you can. Oh, and get a library card to your local library! You'll need it to be able to "check out" electronic books on the websites.

I used to read an average of 2 books a month. I could have read more but honestly I was too lazy to to myself down to Barnes & Noble or Borders to grab a book and even then I always thought about where I am going to store it after I am done or what organization would I eventually end up donating it to. Now it looks like I'll be averaging around 5 to 6 books a month. So easy to navigate to the site of my choice and just download a book I want. 

If you're someone who goes through books like water, get this thing. It'll save you time and money (FREE LIBRARY BOOKS, PEOPLE!). Here are some great sites that will help you get started on your eBook journey (thanks, Mango):

Overdrive 
Shelfari 
MobileRead
KoboBooks

 

Chairman Kaga Would Be Proud: Battle Rib Eye!!

My mother is a fantastic cook. True, you could say that I'm biased because she is blood, but seriously, she's a phenomenal cook. The woman could turn crap into a delicious 3 course meal. She's creative and she loves butter but she doesn't look like Paula Dean. Growing up I always thought that I'd have to make a lot of money to pay the maid (because I despised cleaning) and to pay the chef because I didn't have the drive to cook my own meals or care about what I ate because let's face it, I was a lazy ass pre-teen/young adolescent. But now that I'm supposedly a grown ass adult, I've gotten the cooking bug. More like I'm tired of eating all the crap that's out there that passes for feasible. I want tasty. I want healthy. I want my thighs to not be as big as an elephants'. So, now I cook and now my Mom is somewhat impressed with the fact that I don't burn water. So impressed that she challenged me to a Rib Eye Off. 

Now what is a Rib Eye Off you ask? Well, basically she picked the protein and we were to cook it this past weekend. The rib eye could be cooked anyway we liked but there had to be some presentation there because we can't exactly taste each others' dishes (she's in Oregon and I'm in the land of death and heat aka Arizona) but we could at least make fun of how ugly each others' dish was. Well, she could make fun of how ugly mine was. 

I chose to braise my rib eye in a tasty merlot. Here's what I did:

Ingredients
2 rib eyes about an inch thick
2 Cloves Garlic chopped finely
Butter (mmmm)
Red Wine
Feta

I salted the steaks on each side with some coarse kosher salt and then let them sit to get to room temperature. I think heated my cast iron skillet on high heat for about 3 - 5 minutes to get it nice and hot. I went ahead and put in about 1-2 teaspoons of butter to coat the bottom of the skillet and then began searing the steaks on each side. I typically let the steaks sear initially for 2 minutes on each side. I turned the heat a bit down to medium and then cooked them for additional 2 minutes on each side. Once that was done, I went ahead and poured the wine in the skillet (about enough to cover the steaks halfway), turned the heat down to let it simmer, and covered the skillet for about 10 minutes, flipping the steaks once during that time. I took the meat out and let it rest for 10 minutes. I reduced the remaining wine in the skillet to a semi-thick sauce to pour over the meat on the plate. Mmmmm.... So tasty

 I didn't think it was too shabby. My official taste tester even gave his grunting seal of approval as he tore into it, leaving the plate bare in a matter of minutes. 


Now for my Mom's. If my memory serves me correctly, she BBQ'd this bad boy, marinating the rib eye in a honey and soy sauce creation. She also busted out cheesy potatoes  made with shredded potatoes, Parmesan, garlic, lemon pepper salt, and Italian seasoning. Oh and she busted out some asparagus because she always has to out do me. Check out her awesomeness below:

 Yup, my Mom's a badass. She busted out some pro looking square plate and a place mat. I don't think I even own place mats.

Well, there you have it: the First Ever Mother/Daughter Rib Eye Off.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. They may be the last that I take with my crappy camera phone!

This is Penny: Space Invader

 

Say hello to my personal space invader, Penny. She also happens to be the 2010 National Sleep Champ of North America. 

I adopted Penny from a great organization called Lucky Dog Rescue  here in the Phoenix area. Lucky Dog does a lot of great stuff for the animals of the community and has some truly dedicated people who work extremely hard to find every animal a happy home. Definitely a thorough and very thoughtful organization.  Apparently Lucky Dog had rescued Penny (then stuck with the most awful name of Lassie) from the Maricopa County Animal Shelter just before they were about to put her down. How could you put down such a cute little pup? Anyway, she was rescued and I found her at a local adoption event. Very nervous about getting my first dog, but she was such a sweetheart and just really wanted to be loved.

Now here we are. She's pretty much decided that my place is no longer my place and that she has free reign to find the comfiest sleeping spot possible. As you can see from the pictures above, she's already taken half the couch plus a pillow.  I'm sure she's plotting how to kick me out of my bed so she can have it for herself. 

If you are thinking of getting a dog, I strongly urge you to adopt. There are tons of adorable, sweet, loving pups who just need a home. Yes, these dogs may come with some baggage, but they will also love you more fiercely than you could have ever imagined. If you live in the Phoenix area, here are some great organizations that put on local adoption events all over the valley:

Lucky Dog Rescue

AZ Humane Society 

HALO Animal Rescue 

Valley of the Sun Dog Rescue 

Maricopa County Animal Shelter 

Thanks, Guys!

Thanks to all of you that decided to pick a random page in one of my cookbooks :). Here are the results:

Mango - 400 Sauces pg 84: Fiery Salsa

Nach - Bon Appetit (Appetizers) pg 25: Mini Crepes Stuffed with Asparagus

Corazon - Bon Appetit (Picnics and Barbecues) pg 55: Almond Gingersnaps

I'll be cooking one of these each weekend starting weekend after this one. Sorry, but you guys got bumped by my Mom. She decided to bitch slap me with a cooking challenge of her own creation. Apparently we'll be both preparing rib eyes this weekend (any way we want... I'm thinking I'm going to braise mine) and then take pictures and compare. We each have our own extremely biased judges, so we'll see how this works out. I'll post the results at the end of the weekend.

I swear that this entire blog won't be about cooking, it's just what I'm doing at the moment. Also, good news on the photography front. Looks like I may procure a digital SLR from someone on Craigslist so my pictures won't look as craptastic as they currently are. If any of you have any great recommendations on camera types, let me know. I'm REALLY motivated to take pretty pictures :)

Potato Salad That Will Make Your Friends Think You're Classy Because You Are, Right?

Right, so first of all, I need to figure out this whole 'taking better pictures of my food' thing. Experienced bloggers out there I implore you, teach me your awesomeness. I'm talking about that awesomeness where you take a picture and everything looks fabulous. Yes, that.

Now for the potato salad. This tastiness is pretty much born out of lack of time and love of potatoes. Sure, I want to be that girl that has the time to make gorgeous food that literally looks like I belong as a member of the Stepford Wive's Club, but do I really have the time? The patience? The answer to the first is no and to the second.... I'm learning. So, here is this lovely red potato salad tastiness. It's simple to make and pretty much requires little to no skill which is absolutely perfect for me. I start small, people.

Ingredients:

4 medium sized red potatoes

Low fat Sour Cream (if you're health conscious. If you're not, bring on the fat)

Chopped fresh Chives

Salt to Taste

What to do:

I'm assuming that you're a relatively functional human being and can dice potatoes into small, bite sized cubes. If you can't feel free to find the nearest responsible adult who loves to slice and dice. After you're done prepping, cook the potatoes. My preferred method (which I just discovered today) is in a rice cooker. It's so easy! You set it and forget it (thanks Ron Popeil)! Cook until tender.

Next, drain the potatoes and get rid of any excess water. Let them sit there just a bit so that they cool off and won't get all mushy when you toss them. Place them in a nice bowl (if you're classy, and I KNOW you are) and add the sour cream and chives. How much sour cream you ask? Well, enough to coat the potatoes as you toss them. Add salt to taste

And VOILA! You have a Red Potato Salad that probably took you 15 min total to put together (not including cooking time). How do you like them apples?

So Many Cookbooks, So Little Time

So, while I figure out what exactly I am doing with this blog, I decided to have a little fun with it first.

Sitting on my couch I have a great view of all my books. Granted, most of them are in boxes in Oregon, but I do have quite a few lurking in my bookshelf/tv stand. After taking stock I realized that a good chunk of them are cookbooks..... cookbooks I haven't even cracked open yet. Oh, don't get me wrong. I love cooking. More than love cooking. Which is pretty much why I'm frequenting the gym on a daily not weekly basis. It's just that I find it hard to read cookbooks. Everything in the book looks gorgeous. Everything looks perfect. Then I try to make it and it looks like someone threw up on a plate. Sure, it tastes great, but my presentation is obviously lacking. I also get a little intimidated by some of the complexity. More than once I've had to go to Wikipedia and ask what something is.

Now here I am: a girl with a lot of cookbooks and a sense of adventure. So take a look at the books above (ignore the Sci-Fi and the computer nerdiness) and pick one that seems interesting to you. Then pick a random page and post the name of the cookbook and the page in the comments section. I promise to go ahead and cook the recipe that's on that page and post the process here. Why not? I could end up something delicious like roasted duck breast and polenta or something completely rubbery like octopus sashimi. My fate is in your hands.

For those of you who might not be able to make out the titles, here they are:

Bon Appetit - Appetizers

Bon Appetit - Picnics and Barbecues

Bon Appetit- Buffets

American Cookbook

Homemade In A Hurry

400 Sauces

The Every Day Chinese

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (if you're really evil, you are going to torture me with this one)

Sushi

Be kind.

Well, hello there. I think I caught you staring.....

Hello, World.

You might be wondering what this blog is all about. I'm wondering the same thing. Started on a whim, I figured I could post about random things that happen, opinions I share, food I've cooked, or how my adorable dog, Penny, has decided to further take over my living space (she now has more than half of the couch).

If anyone ever reads this, enjoy. If no one does then I guess I'll have a digital record of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the hairy.