Sunday, July 27, 2008

I'm an Aunt times Two

Talked to my Mom yesterday afternoon. Lorri had her baby at 3:17pm, and Ted is a proud father. So now I have a nephew, who is as of this writing still unnamed as far as I'm aware. He was 7 lbs 14oz, and other than a scare of not breathing the first minute, is healthy and doing well. Lorri's birthday is today, I hope the proud parents are having a great day. Happy to now have a nephew and niece! Hope to hear more details soon.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Delayed Pictures

Finally got around to looking at the food pictures we've taken over the last couple weeks. So here they are.


Vegetable Korma with Paratha bread


Spicy Pasta with Artichokes, Tomatoes, and Spinach
This is a standby I make when we want a quick fresh meal. We usually don't use the pasta anymore. This has lots of garlic, crushed red pepper, and french basil. I top it with some chopped raw garlic too and kelp powder. So good.


Cauliflower Scampi on a bed of Millet


Aloo Methi (Pan Fried Red Potatoes with Turmeric & Fenugreek Leaf)



Monday I came home to the delicious smells of Dal and Chana Masala that Chris had made. We hadn't had indian in a long time and it was so satisfying. Yum.

Giardino
I veganized a favorite recipe for Chicken Giardino with coconut oil instead of butter, cauliflower instead of chicken, and coconut milk in place of the cream. I had been craving it and it was divine.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Some July events

I'm finally blogging for the first time! There are a few things I've been meaning to post including some food pictures. As far as news, though...

Two Saturdays ago, Chris and I went to Glow Salon downtown to have our hair cut and donated for Locks of Love. We took pictures before we left, and Kari also took before and after pictures of us, which may show up on their website eventually. She said she'd never had a couple come in before to donate. She put my hair in a loose ponytail, and we decided a little over 10 inches would meet the length requirement but leave me with a long enough 'do. I had been wanting to get rid of all the length for so long. She was really cool. We talked about her wanting to convert her turbo diesel Jetta that gets 48mpg to run on biodiesel, about living in Washington Heights/Wauwatosa, about the conspiracies of food/drug industries and the government in general, and natural healing and quality food (her parents are farmers). I was in love with my new haircut and how she styled it, I couldn't stop playing with it while I waited for Chris to have his done. I filled out our donation forms while his hair was evened out. He was able to give 10 inches of hair too, and she layered his hair a little in the back so it's now very fun and about chin length. She was impressed Chris has a job where his long hair didn't matter- her boyfriend has dreadlocks and he works at Outpost- the organic supermarket where we shop regularly- because a lot of employers wouldn't allow dreads. She said she hoped we'd come back if we want to donate again in a couple years or for a maintenance trim. I'm not sure if either of us would have the patience to grow out that much hair again, but it was something I'd always wanted to do.. at least once.

On the 7th, the Monday after the haircut, I had to go across town for New Employee Orientation at headquarters. It was mostly a review of general company things I already knew, but the tour was pretty interesting. The Mission Impossible-esque server rooms were definitely the highlight. Card access allows you to a rectangular temperature and humidity regulated room with a raised paneled floor. Our tour guide commented that the coded coordinates on each of the four walls corresponding to floor panels of data was like a lifesize Battleship game. The 3 double door curved glass entryways in this room each held different crucial information accessible to very few people. Fingerprint recognition is required to open the door, and after the door closes behind you, heat & weight sensors sense if a single person is entering. A second fingerprint is recognized, and the second door opens to allow access to the mainframe room. No one was going in or out to witness the process when we were in the paneled floor room, but it was nonetheless intriguing.

So I've been working as a permanent employee since June 23rd, including lots of overtime hours. This week I will be working more closely to my official 27 hour workweek. While the pay won't be as much, it will be nice to have time to maintain the house and accomplish some other things during the week, instead of cleaning like crazy on the weekend without achieving anything new.

But the even bigger and better news is that Chris got a permanent job offer this week with his summer internship at LS Research! He doesn't know the details yet, but since he has accepted the position, he'll be finding out more soon. We're hoping to move somewhere near Cedarburg where the company is located (about 30 minutes north of downtown) in the next few months. He currently has a 45 minute commute, and its such a waste of time and gas. It seems like we outgrow wherever we're renting after about 7 or 8 months anyway. We've been disenchanted with the lack of assistance of the maintenance people and the rudeness of some of our neighbors lately. I still can't believe our recycling dumpster was removed, too, so we've been having to set aside recycling and take it to the local drop off site every few weeks. Among other things I won't go into detail about here.

Pictures will be forthcoming, too tired to look at them now. Going to read a bit and subsequently sleep.