Why blogging is useful

So I’m sitting around my apartment this evening, wishing I could go out and do something, but there’s no one to do it with.  Friends have plans, another won’t call me back.  And I start to think “Everyone hates me, it figures, and I totally suck.  Also, I am unlovable.”

And then, as boredom catches up with me and I read my older posts on here, I see that I wrote the same thing.  About 29 days ago.  Which means that I’m perfectly fine and no one hates me!!  I’m just in the mad grip of hormones!  Yay!  I think.

Okay, so it’s not actually cause for celebration.  This just means that in 2-3 days I will wish I was dead.  Last month, or was it the month before, I called a friend and begged her to come over with an exacto knife, a leather strap, and a bottle of bourbon.  I was requesting an emergency hysterectomy.  The bourbon was going to be doubly beneficial as an antibacterial and a pain-killer.  She refused, the heartless bitch!

See, I told you they all hate me.

Part deux: Wherein Sharon is further spoiled

And this round was courtesy of G and K.  Now, I knew that anything cooked by K would be great.  But what I got was unexpected.  It was like a whirlwind of Sharon-tailored favorites.

Mini Beef Wellingtons with bernaise sauce.  A dish I had at their house in March and haven’t since stopped talking about.
Mini quiche.  I love these and they are also good dipped in bernaise sauce.
BLTs with the evil, sinful, delicious bacon that has been caramelized in brown sugar.  Oh my god.
Bananas sautéed in cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, and some other stuff.  Served with vanilla ice cream and peach syrup.

Also!  I had VERY offhandedly mentioned over 3 days ago that I should buy some of the little popsicle molds to put apple or orange juice in.  I loved these as a kid and always mean to get some.  They gave me the molds!  And a jar of peach jalepeno jelly.  And chocolate!

And M trekked up to NW Austin for the party and I love hanging out with her.  And for once, C was available and she came to the party as well.  We played out our murder mystery and it was great fun and both C and I guessed the murderer (my character did it, with a corkscrew to the neck, ewwww, and it was a case of mistaken identity.  He meant to kill his wife and he killed her nearly identical sister instead.)

Great fun!  One of the best parties ever and the fact that it occurred on my actual birthday was even cooler.  Great food, amazing friends the lot of them, and . . . wow.  Turning 29 doesn’t suck at all now.  Thanks everyone!!!

Evidence that I’m spoiled

Yesterday was great.  C had off work, so we did birthday stuff for me.  Went to see a movie, met M for some food.  And I got presents!  A gift card to Sephora (she knows I love me some makeup) and a really nice French press.  Observe the awesomeness—I have been drinking coffee all morning:

And then!  There’s a knock on the door, and a man is standing there.  He hands me this:

Which is completely delicious.  I can’t believe it: a bouquet of chocolate-dipped, HUGE strawberries, some covered with pecans and fresh coconut.

I’ve already eaten a couple.  They’re fantastic.  I can’t believe C did that.

And tonight, G and K are having a bday party for me.  K is cooking (which in itself is completely awesome because everything he cooks puts me into a very happy food coma), and it is a murder mystery dinner thing.  I don’t completely know what that means but I’m very excited!

I told you I was way spoiled.  And I haven’t even mentioned what my parents gave me.

Maybe it’s the time of year

I just woke up from the weirdest dream about my old cat, Koda. And while the details of the dream are quickly fading, I am really sad because I miss my damn cat.

Granted, it’s been six years. But I still feel so guilty.

Koda was born 7-8-99 (an easy date to remember, right?) in my parents’ living room. I had taken in his mother, a stray, who we felt bad for because it looked like something horrible had happened to her tail. We didn’t know she was pregnant. She was very sweet.

I went a little crazy

As I mentioned, I went shopping at Central Market yesterday. That is just so dangerous. I went there originally to see if they had seafood stock for sale, since I was silly and didn’t boil the crawfish heads while I was in Louisiana and make my own stock. You see, I’m making crawfish and corn bisque tonight, and it calls for seafood stock. I asked my Dad what to do instead of seafood stock and he said use weak chicken stock, but doesn’t that seem counterintuitive? I mean, yes, I could do it if I had to, but I figured I’d go see if I could find some seafood stock first.

Well, I found it. Along with the happy goodness of their produce section. I love me some good, fresh produce. And they force you to walk all along it just to get to the other parts of the store. So I bought some haricot verts for tonight, along with Bing cherries, nectarines, and green apples. Check out my fruit bowls:

I also bought some lox, bagels, cream cheese, organic cherry tomatoes, paté, super crusty French bread, and some other good stuff. And so today I woke up, made an everything bagel with cream cheese, capers, tomato, and lox and a mini fruit salad with nectarine and cherry. And it was fantastic. Everyone should be jealous of me and my awesome breakfast. I might go eat some more cherries now. Or go eat some green apple slices with sharp cheddar cheese. Or do anything to avoid cleaning, which I MUST do because people are coming over tonight and I don’t want them to run away screaming.

I miss them

A– mentioned this to me last night, and I saw it as I was browsing GraphJam today. It’s just so goooooooood. I must go listen to this cd now.

more song chart memes

Poor kitty

Today I took my cat to the vet for her yearly checkup and shots. We found a new vet here in town and I really like the doctors. The cat is healthy and fine but she’s still a little miffed at me for putting her in a crate and taking her to a place where people poked and prodded her. On the way there she made these horrible noises from inside her carrier that sounded like a cat-seal hybrid. During the exam, she started shaking and I felt REALLY bad for her, poor thing. And then on the way home she started the seal cry again. But now she’s bouncing around and even playing with me for a few minutes before she remembers that she hates me for all eternity.

Also, I was given a bottle and told to collect a stool sample. Goody. And then, as if I would do this, the tech told me “If you can’t bring it until the next day, just store it in your fridge overnight.”

Yeah, because I really want a little vial of cat poo sitting next to the milk and butter and stuff. Ewwwww.

And, just because I feel like it, here’s a picture of the cat being all floppy and weird.  This isn’t me being cool and catching a moment in time . . . she actually just lies there like this.

Jam is now even more available

Jam it All now has a page on etsy!  Now you can order online and try their jams, thumbprint cookies, and English tea biscuits filled with jam.  I brought two jars to my parents’ house this past weekend and they loved it.

In fact, I’m about to wander downstairs and make some toast with the Spicy Kisses Triple Berry Chipotle jam.  Which I’m also wondering . . . that sounds like it would make a great glaze for chicken.  I might have to play around with this a bit!

What I ate when I went home

We returned to Austin last night and this time the weather during the drive was MUCH better. It had to be, barring an actual typhoon or something ramming into the car. Anyway, here is a photo-journal of my culinary experience at home. The people were great and all . . . but as I’ve mentioned before, we can talk to them on the phone. The food, not so much.

Anyway, Thursday C and I met Mom and went to Croaker’s, a seafood market/restaurant for lunch. And oh my god, we were happy. Just look at this . . .

Doesn’t that look good? Now, for the food-porn closeups:

This is what a roast beef poboy is supposed to look like. See that? Gravy mixing with mayonnaise to make a concoction that drips evilly down your wrists as you attempt to eat it. And this is dressed, which means that it comes with lettuce, tomato, and pickle. Basically, this is how the majority of South Louisiana eats their vegetables.

Incidentally, I also got extra gravy on the side for dipping the ends of the bread and my french fries into. Because fries in gravy are one step away from a french fry poboy. Moving on!

This is C’s shrimp poboy. She doesn’t get anything on it except mayonnaise, because she’s weird. I don’t always get my shrimp poboys dressed, but I at least put tartar sauce on it. Whatever. It was also very good and I stole some shrimp from her.

And, lastly, here is Mom’s shrimp platter which was astoundingly good. This not only came with french fries, but also hush puppies and toast. Because there just aren’t enough carbs in the world to make people happy.

Now, while I was sitting here taking pictures of the food and making Mom and C quite impatient, the cook strolled on out into the dining room. I had been having a good time chatting with the wait staff and was happy enough just to hear my home accent and bitching about the weather. But this boy walks out and starts laughing at me.

Cook: That good? You gotta take a picture?
Me: I’ve been homesick, this will make me feel better later.
Cook: Where you been?
Mom: They’ve been living in Austin for the past year (pointing at me and C).
Cook: Ohh, Austin. Got a brother that lives there. At his wedding, someone threw a crawfish boil. God, that was somethin awful. I tried really hard not to laugh. But it’s pretty!
Me: Oh yeah, very pretty. Just can’t get good seafood there.
Cook: When did yall get in?
C: Last night, we’re leaving Sunday.
Cook: (all kinds of shocked) You’re going back?!?! Why?

I mentioned this to M over email that night and she said that most people think it’s really cool when they find out you’re living in Austin. But not people around Slidell and New Orleans. They just give you a blank stare and ask “What in the hell do you eat?”

Anyway, that night Dad cooked for us and used his recently purchased smoker. Dad is already brilliant with barbecue and he’s really branching out with the smoker. It rocked, completely and utterly. Observe the smoked chicken thighs:

He also made smoked pork tenderloin which was equally delicious:

And for sides we had baked beans and Grandma’s Brown Rice. The beans are so black because they have molasses and other stuff in them. They are amazing and decadent:

Again, you will notice no vegetables in this meal, unless you count the mushrooms. Coleslaw was offered, but we were too impatient for it and there was plenty of food. It was incredible.

The next morning we went for brunch at Court of Two Sisters, which I’ve already written about. That night, B and her family came over for Roast Beef, more brown rice, fresh green beans and . . . cake. The best cake. The ultimate cake . . . the Better Than Sex Cake. There are TONS of versions and ways to make this, but B makes it best. It was amazing.

Then it was Saturday and time for the crawfish boil. C and I ran up to Vincent’s Seafood to pick up 30 pounds of live crawfish (at only $1.19 a pound, take THAT Quality Seafood in Austin) and then we ran to the store to get things to dump in there with it. Upon getting back to the house, I started making my potato salad and C, um, watched tv. Then Heather and Casey showed up with their dogs and we got started. Casey did a wonderful job boiling the crawfish along with the corn, mushrooms, onions, and garlic cloves. Quite tasty, all of it. I mean, just check out my crawfish!!!

Normally, you just put a bunch of newspaper down and pour the crawfish from the pot onto the table, but my mother has weird rules about newspaper that she has and has not read yet, even if it’s from 3 years ago, there might be something REALLY important in there that she needs and if you touch her unread newspaper THE FIRE OF HADES WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU OH MY GOD I’M COMPLETELY SERIOUS. So we found these seafood trays instead.

I didn’t get any pictures of the corn, because by the time that and the mushrooms came out, my hands already looked like this:

This is not at all good for holding your digital camera. Or scratching your face. Or doing anything, really, besides peeling more crawfish. Which is what I did, with some help from Casey, Dad, and C. I also cut the rest of the corn off the cob and brought it all back to Austin with me so I can make some crawfish-corn bisque. And people everywhere around me will be jealous. I might also use some of the crab-boiled corn to make spicy cornbread. G and M have already been informed of my culinary plans and invited for the yum-yums when they happen.

So, now I’m back home and while it is nice to see the cats and be around my stuff again, I’m kind of craving another poboy. And frankly, looking at these pictures isn’t quite cutting it. Oh well.

I can’t hardly move

Today we woke up and headed out to brunch at The Court of Two Sisters on Royal (that’s in the French Quarter for you non-natives).  Well hot damn, that was fantastic.  I had eggs benedict, duck l’orange, grits and grillades, jambalaya, cajun pasta salad, chickory coffee, mimosas, bread pudding, and bananas foster.  And I’m sure there was some other stuff but I don’t remember it all.  And I’m glad we parked so close because I was stuffed and slightly buzzed from the mimosas. 

So then we came home.  I wanted a nap, but I had to go out and get a brake tag.  So I did that and then ran by my old job to say hello.  It was so nice seeing everybody, especially VJ, who was always my favorite person there.  The only problem is that one of my old bosses loves to talk, so an hour later I realized that it was, you know, an hour later and that C was still sitting in the car.  When I got down to her, she was asleep in the passenger seat.  Oh well, at least she got a nap. 

Now I’m getting ready for B and her family to come over for dinner.  I can smell my Daddy’s roast beef from the kitchen and my god, it is nice being home.