I realize that I am not a good blogger. I have not been posting as regularly as I should. I am sorry. The problem with a new job is that you want to impress people, and you can’t do that by goofing off at work. And I’m really quite tired. I haven’t made anything since the weekend. I’ve got about a third of that post written. I’ll finish it. Probably.

Okay, I’m over my annoyance.

Last night was Ryan’s birthday party. Jon and I made lots of food. Jon made guacamole, crepes, ham and cheese sandwiches, and pesto. I made blackberry-rosemary syrup, basil-lime syrup, onion dip, salsa, chicken liver pate, mini twice-baked potatoes, and goat cheese stuffed basil leaves. Ryan, even though she was the birthday girl, made mojitos and raspberry coulis.

Yes, all right, the onion dip was a package of soup mix and sour cream. I’m evil! The potatoes were a variation on the original recipe, using pesto and monterey jack cheese instead of cheddar and green onions. Jon thought the pesto ones were better. I’m not convinced yet, although I do agree that the pesto was magnificent. I would link to his recipe, if only I could remember where his neglected blog lives.

We had a recently-pregnant lass at the party, which is why I made the syrups, so she could have fun drinks in a non-alcoholic way. The new one, the blackberry-rosemary syrup, I think needs more sugar. It was very… subtle. The rosemary was much stronger in flavor than the blackberry, which was kind of an afterthought. I might try it with raspberry next time. Wow, was it a pretty color, though. Veryvery pretty.

We did kind of run out of food, although we made a TON. And I was exhausted. Seriously, I fell asleep on the couch as people were heading home. I had to stay over at Jon and Ryan’s that night because I wasn’t sure whether I could make the ten minute drive to my house. It was kind of nonstop cooking from after work Friday until the party Saturday night.

And then, on Sunday, I made stock and cookies. Why not? I’d like to try making fish stock next. Or beef stock.

Blackberry-Rosemary Syrup

2 cups blackberries (fresh or frozen)

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar (3/8 cup)

2/3 cup water

1 1/2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

To serve: club soda or sparkling white wine

Combine blackberries, sugar, water, and rosemary in a small, heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and then turn heat down. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture has thickened and reduced by about half.

Pour into a fine sieve set over a bowl or whatever container of holding you’re using. Let stand about five mintues- do not press on solids. Cover and store for up to a week.

To serve: Pour 1-2 Tbsp into the bottom of a glass, add ice, and fill with club soda. Or omit the ice, and fill with sparkling white wine. Stir and enjoy.

Rob’s character, Cooper, died tonight, felled by some big greatclubs. If I had rolled better on initiative, or had engaged my rage, I… would probably also be dead. Not raging kept my armor class high, and I was able to deflect most of the blows.

I need to wear a badge to D&D that says “Hi! My name is 20% MISSED CHANCE and DAMAGE -1.” Because, seriously? I keep forgetting about them. And that’s a bad thing to forget about.

Okay, I have to say, I don’t get the big love for Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale. It doesn’t taste like pumpkin. It tastes like beer overpowered by cloves, allspice, and nutmeg. I didn’t really like it. Rob and Jer didn’t seem to take to it, either. (I couldn’t directly link to Cynthia’s post about it- scroll down, it’s from September 21st.)

I do get the big love for Bruce Campbell. Ryan ditched us, but Rob, Jer, and I went to see Evil Dead II over the weekend. He’s so cute, with his dark eyes and chin of strength. Even with the blood on his forehead that gives him a quasi-unibrow. He still rocks it.

I’ve had a yen for trashy cheese these last few days. Not, like, American processed cheese food, but worse. I really wanted some of those cracker sandwiches with the not-cheese in the middle. Or Handi-Snaks. I ended up with Combos. And then I felt ill. You shouldn’t eat a lot of gross fake cheese.

On Saturday night, Jon and I pan-roasted a chicken. Well, Jon pan-roasted and I supervised. He wanted to learn how to properly take apart and cook quickly a chicken. And we did. I made green beans, and he made potato dauphinois to go along with it.

I brought my leftover chicken from last week to work today. This was the chicken I roasted with bacon under the skin. It wasn’t bad when we first made it (although butter is a better fat for under the skin), but the leftovers were kind of meh. I ended up dousing the whole thing in lots of mustard.

I haven’t watched last week’s Semi-Homemade yet. I’m thinking about giving up the Sandra Lee snark. It just isn’t as fun anymore. I dislike her, and I’m going to continue loathing her cooking and her show and the Vaseline-smeared lens and her freaky Cardassian neck, but I don’t know if I can remain as invested in her downfall. I mean, I’m going to continue making my own stock in defiance, but I don’t know if I’m going to take the time to watch and be aghast at her program anymore.

Sarah’s Green Beans



10-16 oz. haricot verde (I buy a package at Trader Joe’s- they’re so good)

8 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup sliced almonds

2 Tbsp butter, divided

2 Tbsp shallot, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup water

Salt, to taste

Toast the almonds in a heavy skillet over low to medium heat. Remove from skillet when golden and set aside.

In the skillet, heat a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. When the foaming, subsides, add the mushrooms and brown. When they’re about halfway done, add the shallot, garlic, and some salt and continue to cook. When the mushrooms are done, remove everything from the pan and set aside with the almonds.

Add the beans and water to the pan. Keep the heat at medium and cover the skillet. Stir occasionally and let cook/steam for 10-15 minutes, or until the beans are almost cooked. Remove the lid, turn the heat up to high, and boil the water away. Take the skillet off the heat and stir in the other tablespoon of butter. Return the almonds, mushrooms, shallots, and garlic to the skillet and stir to combine. Yum.

I think my job is going to be ever so keen. The people are awesome, the product is very beneficial, and I’ve got access to all the Diet Coke I want. Yay!

We are continuing in the fun horror genre this week. Tomorrow night, I’m going with Rob, Ryan, and hopefully Jeremy (pesterpester) to the midnight showing of Evil Dead II. So, a few years back, Jeremy was at a special screening of Army of Darkness in a theater with a balcony. Oh, yeah, and Bruce Campbell was there, too. I think Jer was sitting at the front of the balcony area, and at some point in the movie, he yelled out, “Get that man an Oscar!” To which the reply from below was, “I can see you!” And it was Ash himself. That’s so cool. And I think I told that story in the worst way possible. Whatever, good story, Sarah.

I need to cook tomorrow or something.

And now I do have a job! How excellent. I start… tomorrow. Kind of sudden, I know. Their current receptionist’s last day is tomorrow, and they want her to give me some training before she leaves. It’s a temp-to-hire position, so we’ll see if I get a formal offer three or four months from now.

Now that I have a job, it’s time to start pruning my Tivo season passes. A lot of things are going to go to “first run only.” Goodbye, Good Eats reruns! I think I’ll miss you most. Well, you, Deep Space Nine, and Farscape.

So, there was this race, and it was pretty darn amazing. I really enjoyed watching The Amazing Race these past months, and I highly recommend it to you all when it comes back at midseason (or whenever).

D&D last night was fascinating, even though I didn’t get to beat on anything at all. We had the problem of our company being stuck 100 feet below the battle. Heh, “battle.” It was our cleric, Joanna, against four mindflayers and a construct. If any of us had actually made it up there, we would have gotten stunned and had our brains sucked out very quickly indeed. (I tried to go up, but the rope was cut, and I fell. Again. But only forty feet or so.) Joanna’s got a killer Will Save, so she was able to shrug all the stunnings off. Well, all except one. The only way she failed was to roll a one on a d20. Thankfully, we were able to get our wizard invisibled and up there to teleport her back out.

I know I have no qualifications to give out any music advice to people, except maybe about which recording of Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony is the best. (Conclusion? Save your money. I haven’t found a great recording yet. Almost every recording plays the second and third movement too fast. Or the piccolo uses far too much vibrato. Or the xylophone isn’t loud enough in the second movement. Or… I could go on.)

Anyway, after a long hiatus (seriously- ten years or so), I’ve started listening to the radio again. I turned it on in my car a few months ago when I was bored of my CDs. The first song I heard was from a group called Franz Ferdinand. I cracked up when I heard the band name. I don’t know if anyone else besides my family remembers this, but on a old episode of Saturday Night Live (Roseanne hosted, I believe), there was a sketch called “Comedy Killers,” or something along those lines. It was a Jeopardy-like game show, where the questions dealt with topics that are never, ever funny (I think Kevin Nealon played the host). The final question was, “What is the Ultimate Comedy Killer?” I can’t remember all the answers the constestants gave, but Roseanne’s was about making fun of the American flag. However, everyone was wrong. Why? Because the Ultimate Comedy Killer is the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (cut to a very solemn sepia-toned picture). Mom, Jon, and I laughed so very hard. It must have been something in the execution, because no one we ever told about it thought it was funny. But I guess that makes sense, Ultimate Comedy Killer and all.

Anyway, I’m listening to the Franz Ferdinand on the radio (yeah, it was “Take Me Out”), and they’re getting a crapload of airtime. Not that it’s a bad thing, I like the songs. I remember telling Jon that the stations seemed to play their music a lot, and that, “It’s fun music, but I imagine it’d be pretty difficult to arrange for an a cappella group.” (For those of you who don’t know, Jon’s an a cappella arranger and a damn good vocal percussionist. He got me into the genre when I was in high school, prompting many people to smack me when I said, “I’ve got a really great a cappella arrangement of that!” Because I didn’t listen to the radio, you see [the reception sucked where we lived], and so it happened a lot that the first time I would hear a song would be in an a cappella arrangement. And sometimes, when I heard the real version of a song, it would be disappointing [I’m looking at you, Evanescence].)

So I issue a challenge to the a cappella arrangers out there. I’d like to hear if “Take Me Out” can be done well.

This ended up a lot longer than I was planning.