Moonlight and Marsala

I'm becoming increasingly less enthused about my career path towards becoming an old maid librarian. I've just lost my sense of urgency about finishing up this degree. This semester I decided to rejoin society and quit being a hermit, and my schooling has suffered as a result. I can't say that I have any regrets.

The Dessert Party was amazingly fun to prep for and host. It makes me think it would be oh so much fun to run a patisserie. I had a fun San Diego trip at the beginning of the semester. Going to Scott's Friday football games is often the highlight of my week, and unfortunately his senior season is already winding down. Staying up late to make a Fair cake also beats the heck out of doing homework. That goes for a three-day Godfather marathon as well. Also, I stopped saying no to my friends when invited out for dinner.

And so it was that a few weeks ago I ended up at newlyweds Sarah and John's house for a set-up of sorts. Not only is it amazing that I am still willing to go on blind dates after many bad experiences, but it is perhaps more amazing that I have friends willing to introduce me to menfolk. I'm such a geek. There's a reason some people are single. Great guy on the other end of that set-up. He was so funny that I choked on my taco at dinner. That's classy.

A short time and a few dates later it was time to pull out the big guns, namely my Chicken Marsala recipe that gets around and New York Cheesecake for dessert. I took the leftover cheesecake to him the next day. That night in the car, he made some joke about me poisoning the cheesecake. Then:

New Guy: Maybe you put some Love Potion No. 9 in it.
Kimberly: If I were going to poison it, that's what I would use.
New Guy: [chuckles] You don't need it.
Kimberly: [swoon]

I'll stop. He did send me this comic. It's too big to fit nicely, so follow the link.

The Fine Art of Conversation

I am babysitting a cheesecake that's in the oven. Mmmmm. I guess I could be finishing up homework or getting dressed for work, but that would just be ridiculous.



I have come to realize that it's important to me to have friends that can make good conversation. I realized this years ago after experiencing the all time worst date of my life. There was a couple that decided to set me up with their out-of-town nephew. He flew in right after New Year's for a few days. We met. I drove us around Lubbock, since he didn't have a car. I tried to think of interesting sites to point out, and it took all of two hours to wrap that up and go bowling. There was zero chemistry and no conversation. The awkward part of the situation was that this guy was stuck in Lubbock for a few days with the sole purpose of wooing me. Let's rephrase that and say that I was stuck in Lubbock. I was young and nice and didn't want to offend him or his family. I hope that these days I would have the assertiveness to just say, "See ya."

After day one, I decided the best way to avoid seeing this guy for the entire following day was to invite him to breakfast and then dinner, cooked by me. We went to breakfast at Golden Corral. He gave monosyllabic answers to every question I asked and never asked me a question in return, though somehow he did manage to insert something about an ex-girlfriend he was fond of into the conversation. When he came to dinner that night, my dad tried to make conversation with him as well:

Dad: So, I hear you built your own house?
Date: Yeah, yeah.

Dad asked a few more questions and gave up as I had. I believe I was saved by starting a movie, something romantic like The Birds. The next day was his last in town. I think I rated dinner with him and his family. The family sat down for dinner and had a prayer. Everyone held hands. My fabulous date was kind of putting the moves on Kimberly during the prayer. What a winner.

There was some more to the story, but time and therapy healed most of the scars. His aunt that originally set me up did invite me to have lunch with her soon after all this transpired. She said that her nephew liked me and that we should next go visit him. I tried to be as tactful as possible in declining the offer. She fairly insisted that I go visit this guy. Upon relating the story to my dad, he said, "Kimberly, you can't just say no. You've got to say 'Hell no!'"

I've since gone out with other guys who were not much better at making conversation. I get tired of carrying the conversation or being the only one asking questions. If you're worried about your date's ability to carry on a conversation, I suggest heading to a Japanese Hibachi grill for dinner. At least the chef can entertain you. Or head to a restaurant/bar with a loud band. Or just say "Hell no!" in the first place when he asks you out.

Good lines to hear on a first date:

• "Me, too" as in "I like that movie, book, song, too."
• "We" as in "We should go to that new restaurant next weekend."

Bad lines to hear on a first date:

• "Me, too" as in "I need a lot of expensive dental work, too."
• "We" as in "We should never see each other again."

And I'm not sure what to think of this one: "You're the only girl I've ever heard of that likes Battlestar Galactica."

High Expectations

The other day at work I asked my co-workers if ignorance really is bliss. I wondered aloud if I would be happier if I weren't so particular about food, for example. I'm not saying I have to have expensive, gourmet food, either. It's just that I don't voluntarily eat at certain restaurants around town or consume frozen dinners unless it's an honest-to-goodness emergency. Obviously I've built my identity around being a food snob.

At church, a lady congratulated me on my prize-winning cake. I smiled graciously and thanked her. "Did you make it from scratch?," she asked. I hope I was as gracious in responding to that comment. I didn't take offense, but the hilariously horrifying thought of even bothering with a cake mix and canned frosting made me laugh for the rest of the Sabbath.


This has got to be the picture of the century. Glenna puts it well by pointing out the dichotomy here. That is a heavy-duty, expensive-looking kitchen, but there's not a cook to be found.

I'm more interested in lamenting what she's doing with that cake. Why depan a 9 x 13" cake? She should have baked it in a cute party foil pan. I could even look away from the canned frosting, but why bring out the canned icing? That's the worst-tasting stuff in the world, and she's making a garish mess worse. Should have stuck with candles. Does she get an 'A' for effort? Honestly, is this somehow better than going to a bakery?

I think it's worth having high food standards, but I hope my pretentiousness doesn't reach the level of this overrated menu. I'll continue to embrace my foodie hangups. Besides, if ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?

¡Viva Italia!

I reached a new level of homework avoidance this week by having a three-day Godfather marathon. Steve let me borrow the trilogy months ago, but I hadn't gotten around to watching it. It's hard to believe that I consider myself a classic movie buff but hadn't seen this one. It deserves the accolades it gets. I liked the slow, subtle storytelling, and I didn't feel like the screenplay beat me over the head with implausible dialogue and plot points. Good acting and amazing cast list, too. Beware of oranges and the color orange in that movie - there's definitely a death symbol there.

The bad thing was that I hadn't eaten dinner before starting this relatively long film. There are a few scenes that take place over the dinner table, and I thought I would probably die if I didn't get some pasta. I ate a Lean Cuisine frozen lasagna at about midnight when the movie was over, which wasn't enough to quell the craving.

So, I followed my own dinner and a movie suggestion on marathon night two. Steve and I ate Chicken Marsala while watching The Godfather: Part II. That Chicken Marsala is a tasty recipe despite being very quick and easy to make. The only problem was that I was running low on Marsala and didn't have time to buy a new bottle, so the sauce was a little oily. I whipped up a honey-dijon vinaigrette for the salad, heated some garlic bread, and I thought it was quite good. Steve was lucky to have a prize-winning cook making him dinner. Part II is good. It would stand up better for me if it weren't connected to the original. On its own, a good film, but it's very different stylistically from the first, and I favor the original.

The next night, after watching the season premiere of The Office (glad to see Pam and Jim dating), we ended up watching The Godfather: Part III. This one was accompanied by Tiramisu from the grocery store. I am determined to make some Tiramisu soon, but I haven't found a recipe I trust yet. There is a delicate balance to be achieved between all the ingredients in that dessert: lady fingers, espresso, mascarpone cheese, eggs, cream, sugar, Marsala wine, cocoa, and rum. I looked for some cannoli at the store, which would have been better. I want to try making those, too. My best quarter-Sicilian friend even has some of the tubes you need for frying the shells. I don't want to be hit by the Mafia, so I'll be sure to return those as soon as I'm finished. Seriously, I remember when we were little and she pointed to a relative in a very old family picture and said he had "connections."

So basically this week was not only lousy for homework, but also for exercise and healthy eating. I expect to get kicked off my Get Fit Lubbock team on Monday when I turn in my points total for the week. I hope you don't lose points for gaining weight.

In other international cuisine news, it is Mid-Autumn Moon Festival time in Asia. They probably have a cooler name for it than that over there. Katie wrote "Zhong Qiu Jie Kuaile!" in her last e-mail. I can only assume that is a translation of "Happy Mid-Autumn Moon Festival", not "Send money and food, you lazy American sister." She also wrote:

There were so many families outside having BBQ and setting off fireworks. I love holidays. But I especially like Moon Festival because it was the first holiday I had in Taiwan. And they have moon cakes which are both strange and delicious. Most of them have a cooked egg yolk in the middle of them. The curry chicken moon cake is my favorite, but they also have red and green bean moon cakes. Everyone has a barbeque, but they don't have back yards here. So everyone sits out on the street and cooks their meat on hot coals on the ground.

Check out the link for a video on making Moon Cakes. It looks fun, but the recipes I've seen online look pretty complicated. I think I'll just hit the Asian stores instead.

Funnies

Tonight it's back to reality for me after shirking my homework for weeks. I'm combatting it by watching the Cowboys/Bears game, reading the BYU Police Beat, and surfing for college football news. That shows maturity. I'll share some funnies with you in case your team lost this weekend, too:

From the BYU Police Beat, July 11, 2007:

Tip of the Week: Make sure blinds and curtains are fully closed in the morning or at night when showering and getting dressed, as warmer weather tends to bring out exhibitionists.

Huh?

Criminal Mischief

July 4: A man was reported making a suspicious phone call to a female in Helaman Halls in which he claimed he was doing a psychology project and then proceeded to hypnotize the female student on the other end of the line. The roommate of the female came home to find her asleep on the floor. The female is reported of reacting strangely when certain words are spoken.

From the BYU Police Beat, September 20, 2007:

Roommate Conflict

Sept 12: A conflict, due to a failure to communicate and talk problems out, was reported between two 18-year-old female students living in M. Smith Hall in Heritage Halls. The roommates have been arguing over apartment chores and accusing one another of destroying each other's food. Profanity and some hair pulling was involved. This has been turned over to the housing office for a resolution.

I found a great Red Raider blog in Disco Tech. You probably have to be a pretty diehard fan to appreciate most of the site content, but I hope everyone can appreciate this Budweiser Real Men of Genius ad turned anti-Oklahoma State propaganda.



And of course the best way to unwind is with some ice cream. I tried another recipe from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet is extremely quick and easy to make, and this atypical combination just sounded good to me last night when I was perusing the book. I really liked it with the caramel sauce. The picture doesn't look great, because the sherbet was very soft and didn't form a nicely rounded scoop.

Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet
Recipe by David Lebovitz from The Perfect Scoop
Makes less than 1 quart

1/3 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
1 lemon
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a medium, nonreactive saucepan, mix the water and sugar. Grate the zest of the lemon directly into the saucepan. Heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let stand until the syrup reaches room temperature, then chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Whisk the buttermilk into the syrup, then whisk in the lemon juice. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Awards Acceptance

I finally decided to enter the German Chocolate Cake in the Fair competition. I love this cake. I remember one of the first German Chocolate Cakes I made. Funny story. A few years ago, I had a crush on this guy, and I was trying to win brownie points with his mom, and so I baked her a German Chocolate Cake for her birthday. I used the famous Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate recipe. Ended up just being friends with the guy. As usual, the mom liked me more than the son did.

A few years back, Auntie shared the German Chocolate Cake recipe from Cook's Illustrated with me. The folks at Cook's took the original Baker's recipe and experimented with a few changes until it was vastly improved. They used less sugar in the cake and filling, kicked up the chocolate flavor, and dispensed with whipping egg whites separately for the cake. We had it for Daddy's birthday in April, and it was an instant favorite with me.

I took the cake to the fair on Thursday morning for the judging. You have to take a whole cake, then they cut it in half and return half to you. I took the leftovers to work. I didn't know the judging results until my boss spilled the beans on Friday. A few of the managers from work went to the fair for lunch. When they got back, Russell said, "Congratulations on first place." I must have looked surprised, because then he started going back and forth and changing the story to tease me. He talked about looking for the cake, since they knew I took one. He said they looked and looked and finally found it in the corner with the Culinary Best in Show.

This morning I went to the fair to see for myself. I talked to the lady that got Best in Show for her cloverleaf rolls. This lady was amazing. She does a lot of gardening, canning, and baking. She had more than thirty different entries and won fifteen first place ribbons and placed with some others. Her husband and grandson won ribbons for something they brought, too. Also, the husband worked for a decade and a half at the cotton gin where my Dad takes his cotton. Small world. I walked around and looked at all the cakes, cookies, candy, and bread. Reading some of the names, you know that the food was made by a little old lady when you see Doris, Ida, or Shirley. The youth division entries were fun to see, too. There was a chocolate cake that was already growing some fuzz.

Mom and I decided to compete against each other next year with our respective Peanut Butter Cookie recipes. I'm going to have to get Katie to send me some more peanut butter from Taiwan. I don't know what's different about the consistency of Skippy from Taiwan, but those PB cookies were just better.

Fun stuff. Thanks to Auntie for sharing the best recipe ever, and thanks to Granddaddy for sharing his wonderful homegrown pecans.

My Fun Job

I'm teaching 12 piano students a week now, and there's never a dull moment. I have a couple of new students this fall. I think it's fun to start a little one out on the piano, when they're still excited to play, before that "I hate piano!" phase kicks in. I've certainly heard enough of that. When a kid complains to me during the lesson, I say, "Take it up with your parents later. Right now, we're playing Ode to Joy."

I teach the lessons at the students' houses. One time I was at the piano, waiting for my pupil. She was upstairs throwing a full blown tantrum, complete with screaming, wailing, and crying. "I hate piano! I hate piano!" The happy ending is that she took a little hiatus from lessons, but now she's back and is one of my best students.

Last night I got to the cousins' house, where I teach Ty, Molly, and Abby. I saw Abby playing outside. "Are you ready for piano lessons?" I asked. No answer. I kept walking closer and closer to her and repeating myself. Finally, I was upon her and she couldn't avoid the question.

"Uh, let me go get Ty and Molly, so they can go first," she said. Such enthusiasm!

When it was Molly's turn to come in from playing outside, she walked in the back door and said loudly, "I don't want to do piano lessons."

"I'm in the room!" I retorted.

She really wanted to play outside with her friend. In protest, she would only play Christmas songs during the lesson. Not too shabby on Jingle Bells and Deck the Hall. When Abby's lesson time came, she wanted to talk about snakes. I learned that bull snakes are big, but rattlesnakes are bigger. They're nothing to be afraid of if you have a gun or a knife. Oh my.

I've had a couple of kids bring clocks and watches in for the lesson, so that they could make sure that the lesson doesn't go one second past thirty minutes. Today I had a student come and say he couldn't do his lesson, because he just got a wart removed today. He held up a bandaged finger proudly. I found out later that he then went outside to play football. He was forced to come back in and play some scales, left hand only. Hopefully all will be mended next week.

Support the Team

There is an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine is dating David Putty, who paints his face in Devils' colors for the NHL playoffs. "Gotta support the team!" In classic Seinfeld fashion, Putty's simple face painting has terrible consequences when he scares a foreign priest to near death. As unfunny as my description sounds, that episode is truly hilarious. Okay, I'm going to watch it now. Season 6, episode 23.


Hawaii QB Colt Brennan shaved off his dreadlocks, went platinum blonde, and then dyed the Hawaiian Islands in black on the side of his head. There is a rash of boys my age named Colt. I would have a kid just to name him Colt, but I'll need a better reason than that to embark on parenthood.

Check out the studly #33. Going to Scott's games makes me wish that I had more school spirit in high school. I know it will surprise you, but I had quite a superiority complex in high school. I thought I was too smart for that school, and I let everyone know it. I was in band, so I had to go to all the football games, and I hated it. I thought my school was too small town, and I begged my parents to let me go to a bigger school with harder classes. I ended up dropping out. It's too bad that I had such a bad attitude. It's been fun to watch my siblings make Ms. CHS, valedictorian, football team co-captain... Then again, I still make fun of that school when I go to the games, so nothing's changed.

How do you support the team? Face painting? Throwing tortillas? Releasing wild hogs on your opponent?

Guide to College Football Picks

Wes Welker of the Patriots is having a great game against the Chargers. He's doing the alma mater proud. I can actually say that I went to some of the games that would show up on his Tech highlight reels.

I'm not doing too fabulously with my NFL picks this season. Cleveland and Houston won today. I did not see that coming! I enjoy watching the pros, but I still prefer college ball. Here are my rules for picking college favorites:

1) Texas Tech first. Always.
2) Texas teams over non-Texas teams.
3) Big 12 teams over non-conference teams.
4) Non-California and non-Florida teams over California and Florida teams.
5) All bets are off with religious schools.

And I can pretty much override any of those rules at any time if I feel like it. It's my prerogative as a woman. Rivalry teams are a whole other monster. I keep hoping UT will lose to one of these second-class teams on their early schedule, even though that clearly goes against rules 2-5, in the cases of Arkansas State, Texas Christian, and Central Florida. There's no logic to any of it. It certainly forces me to root for the underdog on a regular basis.

I picked San Diego to win tonight because they're my favorite NFL team, even though New England was more likely to win. It's all emotion and gut instincts with me, and San Diego is losing 24-0. I miss San Diego. My tan is fading and I miss Balboa Park. We had yummy fish tacos in Old Town San Diego. Tonight for dinner we tried to recreate them. Not really anything like what I had in SD, but they're a star in their own right.

We Shoot Straight with You

Okay, I thought the wild hogs story was quite funny, so I had to call in to the Williams and Hyatt Show to find out more details. That coach is the high school football coach from Gun Barrel City, TX, and he's a regular on the show. I was wrong in assuming that he was an area coach. Gun Barrel City is just southeast of Dallas.

And if there's anything as funny as West Texas hicks, it's East Texas hicks. Rednecks are really the only group left that it's socially acceptable to make fun of. It's my heritage, anyway, so I have a pass. I went through grade school with a girl who swore that her dad was the inspiration for Dale on King of the Hill. I didn't know who Dale was until she told me he was the chain smoking guy in a cap and sunglasses. I have to agree that her dad was just like that guy.

Gun Barrel City is a town of 5,100. The population was only 60 in 1970, when the people voted on incorporation so that the town could legally sell beer and wine, and the population has just been growing exponentially ever since. Their motto is "We shoot straight with you." Gun Barrel has won second place twice in the Governor's Community Achievement Awards, and they have a water tower and everything.

Too bad to hear about their loss to West Mobeetie last week. I bet the coach can't hold up his head at the Dairy Queen. He probably has to get his steak finger basket to go. Maybe there are some beatable teams coming up on the schedule:

2007 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

SEPT. 7	AT WEST MOBEETIE
SEPT. 14	ADOBE WALLS
SEPT. 21	AT BARWISE
SEPT. 28	HI-LO BRAHMAS
OCT. 5	VS. NICEVILLE, FLA. AT THE JERRY CLOWER CLASSIC IN LIBERTY, MISS.
OCT. 12	MCNAREY COUNTY BRICKBATS
OCT. 19	INDIANOLA CONSOLIDATED
OCT. 26	AT SPOETZL CENTRAL
NOV. 2	CALHOUN COUNTY HIGHBALLERS
NOV. 9	MATLER RATLERS

Before you go thinking I'm a completely evil person for laughing at humble Texas towns, I'll have you know that I donated blood on Thursday and participated in an American Association Heart Walk this morning. I'm hoping things will even out on Judgment Day.