The Week in Pop Culture

• The "new" Office this week was a clip show.  It actually wasn't so bad, and I admire their restraint in waiting so long to do one.  Friends did a clip show in, like, season two.
• Painful: Julianne Moore's wicked bad, bad Boston accent in 30 Rock.  Oh, just BAD.  Didn't someone have the heart to take her aside and tell her?
• Madonna in the Dolce & Gabbana print ads: Yikes.  Her lips are puffed out beyond recognition, and her face has that plastic filled-in look.  This kind of work is just so obvious.
  
• I don't care, I'm still not planning to see Avatar.
• Last season was the most boring Project Runway ever, but I'm giving it another chance.  It's back in New York, which helps a lot, and Michael (salute) and Nina (wave) appear to be back on as regulars.  Tim just seems to be getting crankier and crankier with every passing season, though.
• Flight of the Conchords Season Two, Disc One has now been in my home for 30 days and I have yet to watch it. 

Bad.

Meal # 2: American Meatloaf

I didn't cook last week, but I was determined to get back on track this week.  Today's meatloaf recipe came from Marion Cunningham's Learning to Cook.  I got this book years ago in my RH days, but gave it away at some point.  Then I hooked up with Sweets and he had his own well-worn copy.  What goes around comes around!

These are things I learned/could have done better:

• Timing.  The steamed broccoli was done first, followed by the baked sweet potatoes ten minutes later.  The meatloaf took about twenty minutes longer than I thought it would.  This could have been better planned out.
• I steamed the broccoli too long and it was limp.  No more than ten minutes next time!
• I liked this recipe, especially the addition of the spinach.  And I think that the beef-pork combo tastes better than turkey.  But it would have been better with ketchup, which is found in many other meatloaf recipes.  Noted for next time.

Overall, not bad.  And I have leftovers for lunch!

Speaking of cooking, this is the latest item I am threatening to use my employee discount on:

Heart-shaped melamine bowls.  So cute!

It was my birthday.

Another January 16 came and went.  At least I didn't have to spend it at the office:

Pretty flowers!  Thanks, Sweets.

It's That Time of Year: Wedding Fair Season

I found this in my secondary e-mail account:

Here's your Complimentary Ticket to the Bridal Event of the Year!

We'd like you to be our guest at the Modern Luxury Weddings Bridal Event at the San Francisco Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Sunday, January 10th. It's an unforgettable afternoon filled with decadent hors d'oeuvres and gourmet tastings from renowned chefs, champagne and martini bars, the glamour of the Vera Wang and Monique Lhuiller High Fashion Runway Show and over 80 magnificent exhibits filling the ballrooms of San Francisco's only Five-Star, Five Diamond hotel...

Um...can I still go?

Meal #1: Spaghetti Bolognese

Another New Year's resolution: cook more. Or more accurately, just cook at all. My goal is to make one meal a week for Sweetie and myself. I have to somehow justify all the cookware and tools and all the other kitchen stuff that I've been buying or want to buy.

Tonight I started with something easy: Spaghetti Bolognese, a recipe I clipped from Shape magazine. You saute a minced clove of garlic in a saucepan in a teaspoon of olive oil, then add four ounces of ground turkey breast and cook for five minutes until it's browned (I think I should have browned it more - it remained quite pale). You then add a cup of canned diced tomatos, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, bring to a boil, and then simmer for ten minutes. Serve over spaghetti (I bought the multigrain kind - it wasn't bad).


Eh, it was OK. Not at all like the bolognese that I've gotten at, say, Oliveto, but at least it was maybe not so bad for us. I doubt I'll be making it again. But at least I spent some time in the kitchen and gave Dave a break. And the bar is set pretty low for my next meal!

What Do You Do All Day, Kitty?

Wool blanket on top of laundry basket + hissing radiator = kitty's found a new happy place.

Hike #2 : Phoenix Lake

Hike #2! We've gone hiking twice this year and it's only January 3!

This was hike #8 in the book, another easy one: Phoenix Lake, Tucker and Bill Williams Trails. It was supposed to be only 3.5 miles but we did a compete loop around the lake which put us at at least 4 miles. We're planning to get in shape for longer hikes this Spring.


Winter hiking is so different from any other season. The much shorter days, the nip in the air, the trails muddy from recent rains. Still, I'm glad to live in a place where we can do this year round. I had never heard of Phoenix Lake before seeing it in this book, and indeed, it seems like a place that mostly Ross locals go. No entrance fee, but a teeny tiny parking lot with barely any street parking allowed. There were a lot of people there - I'm not sure if people are fired up from resolutions, or if that's always the case. And they're so nice! Two men stopped and asked us if we needed help as we consulted the book for directions at trail junctions - one of them a runner who came to a total stop. I coined a new phrase for Dave: Marin Nice!

The trail was wide and open for most of the part around the reservoir, but the Tucker/Williams part of the trail was very woodsy, taking us around super steep ravines and winding creeks. It was great to be out and about outdoors. I'm so out of shape right now but I felt really energized. Yay, 2010 hiking!