Flashback! Jessie's Baby Shower

Going to April's bridal shower yesterday reminded me of another shower for a special lady I know. In late April, about a week after I returned from Europe, Rachel and I threw a baby shower for my BFF, Jessie. We went for an afternoon tea theme, sophisticated and super-girly. It was a bit of a challenge because Jess was not only pregnant, but is also diabetic. So no alcohol, no caffeine, very little sugar; those things were obvious, but there were some other things I never would have dreamed of. Non-pasteurized cheeses, agave nectar, way more herbal teas than you'd think, even cold cuts and cured meat! The cake was a real puzzle. Turns out there's just no good way to substitute sugar for a pregnant diabetic. Artificial sweeteners are no good, and agave could hurt the baby. Palm sugar, coconut sugar, and their ilk are still sugar. What's a girl to do?

A little careful label-reading and a Google search or two sorted it all out. There's plenty of safe teas and pasteurized cheeses. We decided to forgo the charcuterie for plentyof veggies and fruit. Then there were the scones with clotted cream, lemon curd, strawberry jam, or marmalade. Those were not low sugar. Neither was the cake. Turns out just a little sugar is ok for special occasions :)

I love a chance to get out my dishes!

The tea station

A little champers for the un-pregnant!

Post-grazing

Cake!

We had a couple activities besides eating. Jake and Rachel made up a cute little "Guess the Baby Daddy" game. In case this sounds distasteful to you, understand that the choices were between the baby's actual father, Indiana Jones, Cookie Monster, and various other fictional characters. We each got a dossier of a potential daddy, and had to describe him, make him sound like the best choice, but not reveal his identity. Jessie had to pick the one that sounded like the most desirable candidate. She, of course, correctly identified Drew, and picked him, but for the sake of fun, we had her choose a runner up. I'm happy to say, she chose my candidate, Nathan Drake: video game hero and inspiration for the baby's middle name. Go me.

My favorite thing (besides eating) was decorating onesies. I bought a bunch of different onesies and some fabric paint, and had everyone personalize their own. I was so happy with the results!

Before

During. There's me!

After! My favorite one is Alyssa's at the top right. I did the two in the top left. I was going to write "Ahoy Motherf*#ker, but I decided maybe that was in bad taste.

Mommy-to-be

I did a really bad job at taking pictures, so thank goodness for Liz, who took some of these (the good ones!). 

We Skyped with Jessie's mom while she opened her presents, which was fun. It was a little buggy with my semi-dysfunctional laptop, but I was glad she got to be there for part of the festivities anyway. My mom was actually there in person, coincidentally. I was really happy with how it turned out. I'm ready to throw another one. Who's next?

7/15/12 - Cleaning up

The unfortunate thing about making a wonderful dinner is that eventually you have to clean up after yourself. Usually I wait til the next morning, although it's always a nasty shock to sleepily stroll into a filthy kitchen when all you want is a cup of tea.

Ugh!

Luckily, I have an Alex. I patiently waited for him to sleep off his hangover, then I put him to work.

He did a beautiful job on what was truly a herculean task. He's the best. I made coffee and pan con tomate. And I dried.

After finishing the best coffee ever made, he skipped off somewhere, and I got dolled up to go to my friend April's bridal shower. 

The shower was absolutely lovely. April's sister, Allie, sure knows how to throw a good party. She made up a couple little games: April trivia bingo and "What's in April's Purse." I thought that was so cute and clever. My favorite part was that April wasn't sure about some of the answers to the bingo questions about her...well that, and the Babycakes cupcakes :)

I would have loved to go to Family Dinner, especially because it was the observance of Drew's 30th birthday, but alas, I have a cold. The last thing I want to do is get the baby or either of his tired parents sick, so I had to sit it out. Alex isn't afraid of my cooties though, so I went to his place, and we ate leftover Spanish cheese and Cantimpalo and watched "La Mala Educacion." It was a good movie, but whew, it earned its NC-17. I love Almodovar though. I feel like watching his movies is helping me learn Spanish. La buena educacion!

7/14/12 - Preparo La Cena

I didn't do much of note for most of the day. I went to the Silverlake farmers' market and got some lovely heirloom tomatoes from Tutti Frutti Farms. I impulse-bought a head of elephant garlic. I had to! It was just so big!
Then I went home and cleaned the house. That's the trouble with having guests - you have to clean up before they come, and then again after they leave. I guess it's worth it in the end. It did feel pretty good to have the place looking so ship shape.

I was running a little behind getting dinner ready, so I laid out some aperitivos: tetilla and manchego cheese with dulce de membrillo (aka quince paste), sliced Cantimpalo sausage, and jamon Iberico with crostini. It was a nice little spread of goodies from La Espanola. I was particularly excited about the jamon Iberico, a cured ham made from acorn-fed Black Foot pigs. It's expensive, but I sprung for a small amount just to try it. It's pretty tasty, but I think next time I'll stick to the Serrano. It's not so different.

For dinner, I made tortilla de papa y chorizo with romesco sauce, Catalan-style spinach, and pan con tomate.

Turns out tortilla Espanola is pretty easy to make. I may have let it cook too long on one side, but other than that, it was a breeze. I followed this recipe (kind of), but I felt like their directions made it seem difficult, when it was actually anything but. http://spanishfood.about.com/od/tapas/r/tortilla.htm

The romesco sausce turned out awesome. That's another thing that kind of sounds complicated, but isn't. You basically just put all the ingredients in a food processor. Done. If you want to follow a procedure though, here's the recipe I used. http://spanishfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/romescosauce.htm  I will say that some other recipes call for smoked paprika and/or nora (I wish I could get the ~ over the n) pepper, and I heartily suggest adding both, to taste. Forget measurements. Some even say the nora pepper is the secret to perfect romesco. I used piquillo peppers to supplement the roasted red pepper, but that's probably not necessary. I just figured since I had aquired them, I might as well go for it.

Espinaca Catalana is spinach with apples, pine nuts, raisins, and shallots. http://spanishfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/romescosauce.htm It's pretty good, but I think next time it needs a little citrus or perhaps a more flavorful green to add some kind of contrast to the sweetness.

As for the pan con Tomate, it's hard to go wrong with bread browned in olive oil, spread with delicious ripe tomato.

Brice with the spread before him, soaking in the ambience.

So the meal was great and all, but the part I was really excited about was dessert. I think I may have mentioned yesterday how over-the-moon I was to find mato del Pirineu at La Espanola. I discovered this exotic little dairy wonder when I was in Barcelona at a diner called La Granja Viader. They serve mel i mato, Catalan for "mato and honey." 

That's me in Barcelona with a hefty slice of mel i mato for breakfast. I'm a little overwhelmed.

So here we go, the highlight of my evening, my very own mel i mato, with fresh fig.

Hot. Damn. 

We finished off the evening with some bourbon. Some of us more than others. In fact, Alex is still sleeping. A good time was had by all.

7/13/13 - Knocking it Out of the Park

It was a big day. I harassed Rickett into getting out of bed and going downtown with me to see Thao and the Get Down Stay Down play for free in California Plaza at noon.

We were going to grab lunch at Starry Kitchen, but they make all their noodle dishes with linguine noodles, so that kind of knocked out all the options for me. Seriously, what kind of Asian restaurant uses Italian pasta? Kind of disappointing, really. We got salads from Mixt instead. Their salads sound good, but boy are they stingy with the goodies. Lots of greens, not much of anything else. Thao was great though. I really enjoyed her and her band.

After that I kidnapped Rickett away to Harbor City, where I was finally to visit the Shangri-La of Spanish food in Los Angeles: La Espanola.

What? Doesn't that look like Shangri-La to you? Ok, so it looks like an industrial park. That's mostly because it is, but inside...

Inside is this charming little market with all manner of olive oils, wines, olives, almonds, and cheeses from Spain, as well as a huge selection of Spanish-style sausage made right there in the building under the label Dona Juana.  It almost brought tears to my eyes, I swear. I was greeted in Spanish, which tickled me pink. I'm such a sucker. 


I was sorely tempted to buy a lot of things, but I edited myself. I ended up with a modest haul of jamon iberico, crushed nora pepper, cantimpalo, queso de tetilla, and the thing I'm the most thrilled about: mato!

I was so thrilled about mato, that I bought two. You may wonder what mato is. Hell, the guy at The Cheese Shoppe next to Trader Joe's didn't know what it was. It's not easy to find. Mato is a soft Catalan farmers cheese with no salt, no tanginess, just the natural creamy sweetness of the milk. In Cataluna, they put honey on it (mel i mato), and I'm telling you, it's to die for. I cannot wait. Tetilla cheese is kinda fun, mostly because its name means "little breast," referring to the shape. The top right of the above photo shows about an 1/8th of said breast. I am very very excited to make Saturday night's dinner.

To tide myself over/wallow in my Spain-o-filia, I watched "Volver." I still love that film. Alex doesn't like it, and I just don't understand. Have I mentioned how much I love the production design? I enjoyed trying to understand without reading the subtitles. I'm just going to have to watch more Spanish movies. Maybe it will improve my language skills.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Alex and I went to the Skirball Center for Into the Night: Playtime, a sort of grown-up game night. It was really fun. We met up with Franco and Helene. There was a craft area where we took silly photos, then decorated frames for them.

 There was a video game lounge with games created by UCLA students. There were also some people walking around with arcade game consoles on their backs. There was an over-sized board game area with big Jenga, Connect Four, Chinese and regular checkers, and Twister (which was actually regular sized). My favorite thing though was Sea Wolf. I love that band. They played a couple of new songs, and that made me a happy happy girl. Geographer was good too, but they can't beat Alex Brown Church. ABC, you're my FBD.

7/12/12 - A Game-changer

The day started out ordinary. I listened to the mix of "Are You Really Gonna Be Mine" on my computer, then through my headphones, then through an external speaker. It sounded good except for my vocal performance. I could definitely do better. That was kind of bumming me out, and I was already feeling a bit low. But no time to dwell on these things. I had to get on the road to Fullerton.

What on Earth would I go there for? Well, my cousin, Ben, is coaching a soccer camp there, and since he can't really get off campus, I decided I'd just come to him. The drive wasn't bad. It was smooth sailing right up until the exit before on the 57. I listened to the song on repeat in the car. Definitely not digging my vocals. My mood started to take a nose dive. Fortunately, as I was waiting for Ben's group to break for lunch, I got a call for work! Now these things are nevercfor sure until you sign a deal memo, but I have a start date, and that makes me very happy! Game-changer! With my outlook much improved, I went on an unusual culinary adventure: a college dining hall. Cal State Fullerton calls their's The Gastronome. It was pretty decent. The salad bar was solid. There was green and Earl Grey tea available. The dessert station had a very tasty coconut pudding and some fully ripe plums. I noticed an impressive waffle station, and felt nostalgia for my days at William Paterson when I ate waffles for almost every meal, because everything else at Wayne Hall was gross.

It was wonderful to see Ben, and get a chance to catch up. We talked soccer, politics, music, movies, and chatted about his wedding plans. His will make my 4th wedding in Wisconsin in about as many years! We went into the dorm, and I met a couple of the other coaches. Then we took my car off res to a convenience store for Vitamin Water, Gatorade, and various other specialty beverages. It was about time for Ben to get back to the kids, so I headed back to LA.

I picked up my basses at The Fretted Frog. The fiscal damage was mitigated somewhat by the discovery of a lone flatwound G string that meant I didn't have to buy a whole new set. Fixing the intonation on my Danelectro proved to be a bigger job, and the bridge had to be modified, but my new pal Colin didn't charge me extra for it, bless him.

I was right next to the Edendale Library, so I decided to pop in and check out a couple of DVDs. You'll never guess what I got: "Volver" and "La Mala Educacion," both Almodovar films, both in Spanish. I'm on a kick, what can I say?

My friend, Bowling, is moving and getting rid of some stuff, so I took his microwave off his hands. I've been assured this microwave's dedicated popcorn button is perfectly calibrated. I'm sure it's better than my current model, which has a knob...and that's it. The trip was made even more worthwhile by this photo opportunity.

David poses in front of the Decepticon Ambulance

That was about it for the night. I was going to go to the KCRW thing at the Hammer Museum, but everyone I know has a "job," aka "somewhere to be at 7pm on a Thursday." It was (strangely) raining anyway, so I just went to Alex's and watched him make an omelet. I promise the next day will be more interesting.

7/11/12 - More rock'n'roll

I got up kind of early (for a bum), and went to yoga class - my last one in my Groupon. Serious sad face. I love going there so much. After yoga, I went by The Fretted Frog with both of my basses. You may recall a couple weeks ago that I broke brand new string on my brand new Hofner. Fortunately, I knew my local music store had the strings because a human being called and told me so. Unfortunately, for some reason they were closed for two weeks, so I couldn't get it taken care of until now. My Danelectro just needed some intonation adjustment. It's weird to have both instruments in the shop. It's not like I have a show in the next couple days, but it still makes me nervous. Like, what if there's some sort of bass emergency? I can't imagine what that would be, but you never know. You never know. Maybe it just feels weird to have that chair in my living room actually available for sitting in.

There she is! The bass, I mean.

I played some guitar and thought about vocal melodies for "Are You Really Gonna Be Mine," since we had studio time booked later. I looked into a couple of music licensing companies, then decided I better get a lawyer's opinion on the contract before agreeing, so I sent it to Anna. I'm still on a Spain kick, and I'm really in the mood to cook some Spanish food, so I looked around a bit for recipes. I think maybe I'll do a Spanish meal for my next cooking video.

I showered and did some vocal exercises (which I'm sure my neighbors really enjoyed). Then Rickett came over and we went to our recording session. We ended up doing a lot of mixing, comping my vocals, and figuring out the texture of the various guitar parts. Christian, who's studio we were using, was super nice and accommodating. And he has some really cool toys. Anyone ever play a Moog Taurus? Awesome!

After consuming about 1/2 a pound of almonds between us, we got down to recording back-up vocals. It didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked, but I think we ultimately got something good. We finally left around 12:30. Poor Rickett had to work early, but you know, that's rock'n'roll, baby. Sometimes you gotta go to work tired.

7/10/12 - Ups and Downs

It was a low-energy day. I was in the grips of some serious inertia, and then I got some kinda bad news, and it just really set me in a bad state of mind. I decided hiding in my apartment all day was the best way to handle it. I had my last piece of clafoutis for breakfast with a scoop of my apricot ice cream. Sometimes food therapy is a good thing.

I spent a long time looking at pictures from my trip to Spain and thinking about how wonderful it was, and how much I want to do more traveling. I was going to write one blog entry about my whole trip, but I realized that was crazy, and I narrowed it down. Check it out: http://rosehastimeonherhands.blogspot.com/2012/07/7912-flashback-culinary-adventures-in.html 
I was feeling so inspired by my little trip down memory lane, that I figured I'd just better write another for good measure. 
http://rosehastimeonherhands.blogspot.com/2012/07/flashback-fun-with-fashion-spain.html


I watched the finale of Season 9 of "Project Runway." It made me cry a little, I admit. I know this is old news, but my favorite designer won! I made some more flax crackers. This time I added pepitas, smoked paprika, and lime. They turned out really tasty!

I also took my second stab at plum butter. This time I used much sweeter pluots. I bought them ripe, but I've been ripening them even more in a paper bag on the counter. They are juicy!

Again, I blanched them, and removed their skins.

Again, I put them in a saucepan. This time I didn't need to use a knife. I just sort of squeezed them off the pit. I didn't even need to add water!

I ended up adding about a 1/4 cup of agave because it was still just a little too tart. Then I let it simmer and simmer and simmer.

This time it ended up a gorgeous deep burgundy. I had enough for two and a half small jars, so I canned 2 and kept the half to eat now.

Yummers!

Now I'm going to brag for a minute.  Not only did I make some kick-ass plum butter, but I have the best boyfriend in the world. I was watching "True Blood," waiting for my jam to finish cooking down, and feeling a little sorry for myself, when Alex called. "I'm home," he said. "How would you like to come over? I can draw you a bubble bath, pour you a glass of scotch, and read you poems while you relax." Truth be told, I had been in my pajamas all day, and was feeling a little attached to my sofa, but really, who can resist an offer like that? So when the plum butter business was all wrapped up, I put some real clothes on and drove my butt over to Alex's place. He greeted me with a glass of Ardbeg, neat, and had already drawn the bath, complete with lavender bubble bath. Then he said the sweetest words ever: "Want to order gluten-free pizza from Lucifer's?" My boyfriend read me the "Tao Te Ching" while I soaked in a bathtub and drank scotch by candlelight. Then we ate pizza. Life is good.