Hooray!

So You Think You Can Dance is finally back on!!! I love this show. The people who make it on are really amazing dancers and you see such beautiful choreographer every week. The judges aren't cracked out like the ones on American Idol and overall it seems less like popularity competition and more like a skill competition. It's on on Thursdays. Watch it.

I do have to say that my faith in American Idol is restored a bit since David Cook won. Yay for the first alternative rock singer to win (I think)! Maybe he'll actually put out a good album.

My posts have been short and sweet because there's not much going on. On the wedding front, I've decided to enlist the help of my coworker friend Sophie and do our own floral decorations. I tried to enlist Maya's services as a violinist during the ceremony, but sadly she lost her violin (somehow) when she moved to San Francisco. I'd ask her to play the cello but she stopped taking lessons once she found out her teacher had the hots for her. Creepy. Sadly, the rest of our friends play instruments that are inappropriate for a wedding. We plan to send out a Save-The-Date email sometime this weekend.

Lastly, I've renewed my interest in yoga, which of course means my running suffers. I haven't run more than 4 miles since the half marathon. After all that running, I've suddenly gotten bored with it. My A.D.D. strikes again! Tonight I went to an ashtanga class at Four Seasons Yoga and it was great. I was sweating like a maniac and can definitely feel my yoga strength slowly coming back. Quite motivating. I swear, one day I will do a scorpion...

Most Efficient Couple Ever?

Within a week of getting engaged, Ryan and I have already booked a ceremony and reception venue, determined a guest list, bought our wedding bands, and even bought my wedding dress. What is wrong with us? Are we impatient by nature? Is my obsessive tendency a psychological issue? Maybe. Either way I'm glad we got the major tasks out of the way and can take our time with the rest. Whoo hoo!

Nausea Ensues

I swear, if David Archuleta wins American Idol I will throw myself from the roof. Enough said.

Mmm Pretty Ring Meets Scaly Skin

Man, my new camera is amazing. Check out the detail on that diamond! Too bad it's accompanied by every minute detail of my reptilian skin. I guess it's all or nothing.

So obviously, the subject of this post is I GOT ENGAGED. Yup, Ryan popped the question at 6am on Saturday morning while we were both tucked in bed. At the time, I was of course sleeping quite unattractively with my mouth agape. Groggily, I noticed a small Tiffany's box next to my head where Henry would otherwise occupy. The rest fell into place as you would imagine. There were many mushy words exchanged, possibly a tear here or there, lots of smiles and laughs. Unfortunately, I had to leave for my Six Sigma class at 8am and yes I was rather bitter that Ryan got to go back to sleep.

After I got back from class, Ryan and I drove out to Guitar Center in La Mesa to get ourselves an electric guitar as an engagement present hehe. After a couple of hours and some debating, we settled on a Gibson Les Paul studio. It was twice as much as we wanted to spend but it was soooo nice and hello we just got engaged!




That night, Ryan and I considered going somewhere fancy for dinner but decided on good ol' Cozymel's instead since it's within walking distance, i.e. no alcohol limit. We ate fajitas and drank margheritas to our heart's delight. It was a great ending to the day.

The rest of the weekend was spent calling our loved ones and sharing the good news. I even started looking at the plethora of wedding planning information available online and have begun making spreadsheets galore. This wedding may turn out to be my greatest obsession of all time *queue dramatic music*.

Fred Is My Fuzzy Friend

I eat a lot of junk. To avoid feeling guilty, I work out regularly. But because I work out regularly, I allow myself to eat more junk. It's really a vicious cycle. Case in point: I ran on Mon, came home and ate two brownies. To work off the brownies, I ran again today, but then came home and ate three brownies. I'll probably run again tomorrow, come home and eat more brownies. This typically continues until there is no junk food left to devour. I suppose there's nothing to complain about. I enjoy both exercise and junk food so I'm at a happy equilibrium.

Last night, I obtained some desperately needed new music. I felt obligated to check out the new Gnarls Barkley and The Whigs albums since I liked both their debut albums. I haven't listened much to either yet but I'll try to get around to it tomorrow. On recommendation of Pitchfork, I also got Frightened Rabbit which I'm enjoying thus far. It's reminiscent of Devin Davis, with its upbeat rhythmic strumming. Interestingly enough, Pitchfork reviewed Apes and Androids recently, of which Monkey's ex is one of the lead singer/guitarist! I was very excited that they got the exposure. Sounds like they're doing quite well for themselves. Anyway, these music fixes are really meant to last me until the new Wolf Parade album drops in June. Hopefully, it won't disappoint. I think I would fall into a deep dark depression if it isn't as obsession inspiring as their first album.

In addition to downloading other people's music, Ryan and I have actually been creating our own songs on the guitar. How disgustingly cute, right? To my surprise, Ryan is bizarrely creative. He's a talented drummer but is only recently learning the guitar. That's not usually a natural transition; although, I must say my piano training has not made it easy to pick up guitar either. Anyway, somehow Ryan is already pulling great chord progressions and riffs out of his ass and translating some of his old poetry into beautiful lyrics. He's already written four great songs and has new ideas by the day. Me, I've written two songs, one of which I deem a dud, and the second of which I really like but had to steal, I mean borrow, lyrics for from one of Ryan's poems. It was exciting to create something on my own but the process just doesn't come as naturally for me. Ryan flexes his music muscles like a circus strongman while I flex mine like a prepubescent boy bench pressing for the first time.

Fred is sitting next to me on my new bag which I plan to return since I ordered the same bag again on Monday when shopbop was having a 20% discount promo. Time to give her the boot, but in a loving way.

Brownies

It seems like these days we can't end dinner without having a little dessert. Or maybe a lot. Tonight, Ryan made tasty brownies with chocolate chips. They were a smidge overbaked but who cares, it's CHOCOLATE and by default DELICIOUS!

On a slightly related note, we went to LA this weekend for mother's day. My mom has been wanting a new laptop so I went to Circuit City with her on Sat and got her a new Compaq with 250GB. Hopefully, it'll take her a while to use up all that disk space. Somehow, she is just as capable of digital clutter on her computer as she is of physical clutter in her home. In addition to the laptop, I bought a new camera that I've been eyeing for a while. It's a Canon PowerShot SX100IS, which has many more manual features than your standard point-and-shoot, while still being small enough to be practical. And of course it's much more affordable than SLRs. I've been having a lot of fun so far setting up food shots and fiddling with settings. Unfortunately, after all these purchases, including a recent lapse into buying a new bag, I am feeling rather poor and will probably be forced to eat fried rice for a while. So sad... but at least my food pictures will look nice!



Bombshell Brownies
Courtesy of AllRecipes.com

1 cup butter, melted
3 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish. Combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.

Chili and Cornbread

San Diego weather can be so random. A couple of weeks ago, the temperature was in the high 80's. Now, it's in the low 60's. It's all been quite confusing. Should I be wearing sweaters or t-shirts? Should I be eating winter melons or watermelons?

Today was cold so I decided to make chili and cornbread. I used my go-to chili recipe from the Best of Cooking Light and a cornbread recipe from AllRecipes.com, which Monkey originally shared with me. This chili never disappoints. It is thick and hearty with a subtle heat from the chili powder and jalapeno. The cornbread is also delicious but i'd forgotten how sweet it is. Next time I would probably reduce the sugar by half. Still, the meal was delicious. Like all chilis, it's even better the next day.

All-American Chili
Courtesy of Cooking Light
Serves 8

6 ounces hot turkey Italian sausage
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground sirloin
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
1 ¼ cups Merlot or other fruity red wine
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, undrained and coarsely chopped
2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
½ cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

Heat large Dutch oven over med-high heat. Remove casings from sausage. Add sausage, onion, and next 4 ingredients (onion through jalapeno) to pan; cook 8 min or until sausage and beef are browned, stirring to crumble.

Add chili powder and next 7 ingredients (chili powder through bay leaves), and cook for 1 min, stirring constantly. Stir in wine, tomatoes, and kidney beans; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard the bay leaves. Sprinkle each serving with cheddar cheese.



Corn Bread
Courtesy of AllRecipes.com

1 1/2 cups cornmeal
2 1/2 cups milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup white sugar (can prob reduce by half)
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, combine corn meal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs and oil until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.

Fish with Agrodolce Sauce

I'm always looking for new ways to cook fish, so my eyes lit up when I came across a recipe for Salmon with Agrodolce Sauce in this month's Gourmet. I've never heard of agrodolce sauce but the recipe was simple, quick, and required few ingredients - everything I liked in a recipe. Sadly, TJ's was all out of salmon, so I had to settle for sea bass. As promised, the dish was easy and quick to make. The balsamic vinegar based sauce was definitely strong - carefully not to inhale the fumes while cooking - but I found the bold sour flavor absolutely delicious. This sauce would go well with most meaty fishes and probably chicken and even beef, I think. I can't wait to make this again!

Salmon with Agrodolce Sauce
Courtesy of Gourmet magazine
Serves 4

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 (6-oz) salmon fillets (1 inch thick) with skin
2 medium red onions, each cut into 8 wedges
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Pat salmon dry and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then cook, skin side up, until undersides form a golden crust, 12 to 15 minutes. Turn fish over and cook until just cooked through, about 3 minutes more.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until it shimmers, then saute onions until golden brown and crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in vinegar, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until sauce is syrupy, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter.

Spoon onions with sauce onto plates and top wit salmon,skin side down.



To accompany the fish, I made this side dish from the same Gourmet issue:

Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus with Parmesan
Courtesy of Gourmet magazine
Serves 4

1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat oven to 450F with rack in upper third. Toss together asparagus, potatoes, oil, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a large shallow baking pan, spreading evenly. Roast, stirring once, 20 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and roast until cheese is melted and golden in spots, about 3 minutes more.

Polenta Cakes

The quickest meals are sometimes the tastiest. For dinner tonight, we had polenta cakes with sauteed vegetables and chutney. The polenta cakes, bought from TJ, were pan-fried in a skillet until crispy. The chopped zucchini, green bell pepper, and red onion were sauteed in butter and olive oil and were seasoned with salt, pepper, a bit of cumin and a dash of lemon juice. The Stonewell's Farmhouse Chutney was bought from Whole Foods. Assembled in layers and topped with grated parmesan cheese, this made a delicious and healthy meal.

Note: Ryan did his part by picking up a bottle of Chianti from Long's. Go Ry!

Mmmmm Chocolate

Ryan's mom gave us a little fondue set a couple of months ago and we finally got around to using it. Armed with strawberries and milk chocolate chips, we set about consuming a delicious and decadent dessert. After stuffing ourselves, we watched We Own the Night which turned out to be a pretty darn good action/drama flick.