I have not been blogging much recently due to working more and cooking less, and the fact that I am having problemsgetting photos from my iphone.

I managed to do a wee bit of cooking and such yesterday and thought I'd share. Last night I decided to make the delicious grilled fish salad again. But I used a different type of fish this time (the ling cod) and it tasted gross, and too fishy. Then I realized it was full of bones but already broken up on my salad. I am scared of choking on fish bones (I even dreamed last night that I choked on a fish bone - my dreams are very interesting and mysterious).

I had very little other food in the house but managed to make myself a sharp cheddar apple toasted sandwich of deliciousness.

I just sauteed some apple slices and threw them on a mini baguette with a bit of sharp cheddar (and salt and pepper on top). It was awesome and I plan to make more fruit and cheese sandwich combos.


What else did I make?

Delicious cucumber infused vodka! I haven't actually tasted it yet, but I believe it will be delicious. To me summer means sweet fruit infused booze, am I right?

And in animal news, as Ula is in the motherland I am taking over Maude duties for a week and a half. Last night, all the pets were very sweet and charming.


Then I went to bed last night. Maude usually sleeps upstairs with Ula but sleeps in my room downstairs when Ula is gone (I have suggested that Maude sleep on the couch, but she seems uninterested). Because my room is downstairs, it is much closer to the street and the noises that brings. Last night that was a recipe for disaster. All f**king night long Maude whined, barked and growled. I have a memory of myself pleading with her at around 4 a.m. to please shut up. I put her out of my room but it only made her louder. Around 5 a.m. I fell asleep and at 6:45 she pounced on my chest to let me know she was ready for her morning walk. I don't remember the walk exactly except I was in my pajamas stumbling around the neighborhood (didn't even put on a bra or brush my hair). My plan was to take her on the world's shortest walk as I was going to take her home the second she peed. She of course didn't go to the bathroom and just walked around and snacked on grass. I was so tired and angry I started to lose it and screamed "just pee" at her, then she did.

The moral of the story is if you see a homeless looking zombie wandering around NE Killingsworth early in the morning simultaneously yelling and crying at a corgi, sadly it is me. Just avert your eyes.

Oh god, I'm so tired. Good night!

I don't know if I have time to work

I'm pretty busy taking pictures of my cat posing like Josh Lyman (former deputy chief of staff for President Bartlett and future chief of staff for President Santos) from The West Wing.



I'm not sure if I have the time for full time employment and to pursue my artistic endeavors. My life is hard.

Me and Fluffy Magee

OMG. I feel like I haven't blogged in forever. My phone has been having some technical issues which has made posting pictures difficult. However, today it only took me about 2 hours to email photos to myself...success! This post will be dedicated to animals, because animals are fucking cute. Ok?


Look at the way Torque's little paw is wrapped around Joe's little neck...cute, right?

Yesterday Ula and I volunteered with the Multnomah Bar at the Oregon Humane Society. Basically you play with dogs for a bit and then head to the cattery. We played with a couple of dogs, but they weren't interested in playing with balls or being pet as much as they were in smelling pee (not that i'm trying to judge anyone's hobby).

I personally preferred the cattery and will volunteer there again. Basically you sit in a room for a little bit and pet cats. My favorite one was Fluffy Magee a tiny long haired fellow, who was mostly shaven except his head, feet and the end of his tail.


If you or anyone you know is looking for a cat, let me highly recommend Mr. Fluffy Magee. He is made of love (although he was being a bit of a "see you next tuesday" to the other cats, so I might not recommend him if you have other animals).

At the Oregon Humane Society gift shop I purchased a cat toy which is a carrot filled with catnip. The cats love it.


In fact, Torque would like you to not fucking touch his carrot. Thank you very much.

Finally, I have a very important recommendation. If you like blogs, or culture, or movies, or hilarity you will love Kaori's new pop culture blog. Too many movie reviewers are obsessed with things like knowing the name of the film, or the actors in it, or something about the plot. Kaori is a real breath of fresh air. Please encourage her to keep on blogging.

Potato Leek Soup Recipe and a Movie Recommendation

For $1 I recently picked up 5 lbs of potatoes. I was speaking with brother who recommended that I use my excess potatoes to make some potato leek. So I did, and it was glorious.

Recipe:
2 leeks, the white parts thinly sliced
1/2 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
2 lbs (ish) potatoes
1.5 C Buttermilk
1.5 C vegetable stock
3 TBL butter
salt and pepper

I threw in the leeks, onion and garlic with the butter and salt and pepper in my dutch oven and sauteed for about 15 minutes. While that was sauteeing I boiled the potatoes. When the potatoes were finished I put them in the dutch oven and added the buttermilk and vegetable stock. I used my immersion blender (which is magical) and suddenly there was soup! And it was super tasty. It is hearty and tangy and filling but light at the same time.

I made a pretty thick soup and if you wanted it lighter you could definitely add more of the liquids. I think the flavor was perfect using a 1:1 ratio of buttermilk and stock, but the amount you add is all personal preference.

I also had a spinach, cherry, turkey bacon and hazelnut salad which also rocked. I can't stop eating turkey bacon.

Film Recommendation: Angels in America

I came home the other day and Ula was watching the HBO miniseries based on Tony Kushner's Angels in America. I first saw the play when I was 16 in San Francisco. I saw both parts in the same day, which was about 7 hours of theater. It was absolutely amazing and remains the best play I have ever seen. It might actually be my favorite piece of writing. It is beyond brilliant and worth re-watching just to hear what Tony Kushner can do with words. It is fascinating, funny, sad, crazy and exuberant. Watch it now.

Easter Brunch

As an atheist, I can't really get behind the idea of the whole Jesus rising after being dead for 3 days. But I can get behind the idea of tasty breakfast foods, therefore I do like to celebrate Easter Brunch.

Easter morning I woke up around 9:30, had some coffee and stared at my cat for awhile.

After several hours of that, I got up, showered and got my brunch on.

The day before I made this strawberry tart.

I definitely prefer cooking to baking, as baking is a little exact and time consuming to me. That being said this was super tasty. The sweet, lemony crust is awesome. The only changes I made were using some heated jam instead of a port sauce (cause i'm lazy and poor) and throwing on some toasted slivered almonds for extra crunch on top (which works really well and I highly recommend it). If I make this again I think I would change the mascarpone filling as well. It is tasty but a little heavy. Next time I might use half mascarpone and half creme fraiche, which I think would make it lighter and tangy-er.

I also made some home fries with onion and peppers.

I also made some leftover veggie fritatta. I had some sweet leftover veggies, so my fritatta was asparagus, mushroom, green onion and sharp cheddar. I love fritattas because it is easy to cook the eggs perfectly and they look really nice. I also served some turkey bacon because I don't believe in a meal without meat products.

Kaori (pictured below) brought some delicious orange muffins. Ben (not pictured) brought smoked steelhead trout (but he was forgiven for bringing smoked fish when he did all of the brunch dishes...thanks Ben!).

Suji (pictured below with Ula and modeling my new colorful spring plates) brought some lovely pineapple.

And to solemnize the occasion Lifetime showed two cinematic masterpieces - Cyber Seduction and Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?

Good times.

Weekend Recipes

1. Trent's World Famous Old Fashioned Grilled Fish Salad

The following recipe was provided by my favorite brother and tried by me for the first time this weekend:

Salad:
Lettuce
Herbage (a little arugula, or parsley)
Grilled Onions and Grilled Peppers (in the spice mixture)
Tomatoes (I used cherry)
Homemade croutons (also in the spice mixture)
Cucumber

Fish:
White Fish (Brother used red snapper, I used the more modest tilapia)

Spice Mix: Paprika, chili, sea salt, pepper, cumin

Coat the fish and the croutons in the spice mix.
Bake the croutons in a toaster oven.
Grill the peppes/onions, put them in a bowl.
Finish the fish in the same pan.
Throw it all together with a vinagrette.

Lovely! (ok, so mine didn't look lovely, but it was so tasty, extremely flavorful and healthy and i'll be making it again this week).

2. Everything bagel with tofu cream cheese, onions, tomatoes, cucumber and mixed greens (with a little salt and pepper on top).

This less of a recipe and more an excuse to show a photo of my lovely lunch.

3. Spaghetti with a spicy italian sausage sauce

This was easy and used a lot of leftovers I already had.

The sauce:

2 vine ripened tomatoes
fresh rosemary (a teaspoon)
one clove diced garlic
tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
(cook down about 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes are totally broken up)

when the sauce is done throw in:
1 spicy grilled italian chicken sausage, a little pasta water and a little pasta, mix it about and throw on some parm.

My pasta is basically hiding underneath a delicious wall of parm.

4. Adorable cat


You just need one Joe.

Marital Problems

Sure they're staying together for the sake of the kids, but the passion is gone.

Also, how big is Torque? Christ, he looks bigger than Maude in this photo.