Happy Birthday Madison

It is so hard to believe that an entire year has passed since I got my Madison piercing. In the beginning I didn't think I'd make it to a month, much less a year. I think my piercing is pretty much stable now, although it still requires a lot of maintenance. I tape it every night, and clean it every morning. I have been soaking it regularly too. The top of the piercing is very well healed, but I can't say the same for the bottom. The slightest little thing can piss it of and a cyst will form.

I want to thank Ross for all his help. When I remove the ends of the jewelry to clean them he puts them back on for me. I can manage the bottom one, but the top one is too difficult. I don't think I'll be free of the daily maintenance any time soon. I feel like if I want to keep the piercing I have to keep taping and soaking it.

I don't have any new piercings in mind--yet!

Finally!

After my phone got soaked on our bike ride to the dam, I bought a phone on ebay. After weeks of waiting all I got was excuses. I don't think the guy ever sent the dang phone (he eventually gave me a refund). I had to start looking all over again. My dad offered to buy me a brick phone, but I turned him down. Ross bought me a phone on ebay, and it finally arrived yesterday. Woohoo. Now I'm going to check out some new ring tones.

Indian Movies

Last night we watched Dil Chahta Hai. It was a modern Indian movie about three best friends. We enjoyed it. Like most Indian movies, it is long. The song and dance scenes cracked us up. There were some unnecessary scenes of one of the guys walking and walking and sitting here and sitting there, but it was a good story.

A while back we saw Parineeta. It was a great soap opera type story. Parineeta ran just over 2 hours.
The costumes were beautiful. I recommend both movies. I love me some foreign films, and both of these movies gave me a good fix.

Hair Cut

Check out my new haircut! Ay, no te crees! I haven't cut my hair, but this is the haircut that I really want. I had a lot of fun yesterday and today playing with virtual makeovers online. Today I found one on InStyle.com that I like more than the others I tried. Some of the other sites let you try on basic hair styles and change the hair colors. Some of the sites let you try on celebrity hair styles. I just happened to find the exact one I was looking for on In Style. Best of all, it let me save the makeover to my computer. Wow, I just realized that I you can change the hair colors on In Style. If you have free time and want some free fun, check it out. You just might find your next hairdo.

All Wrecks Relative

I sent some photos into Cake Wrecks today. I'm sure Jen is swamped with submissions, and I'm not sure mine will make the cut, so I'm posting them here.

One of the local supermarket bakeries makes really cute Elmo and Cookie Monster mini cakes and cookies. They aren't so good with Big Bird. I thought that the wacky-eyed Big Bird mini cakes were wrecks until I saw the saddest Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes at another store yesterday. I guess all wrecks are relative.

Special Surprise Pizza

I had some leftover home made pizza dough in the freezer from a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to surprise Ross with a Swiss chard and goat cheese pizza. I bought the chard at the farmer's market and the goat cheese at Trader Joe's. The pizzas were so tasty that we have no leftovers. We got this recipe from bon apetit ages ago.

Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Pizza

pizza dough

one bunch Swiss chard

olive oil

garlic

chili powder

pepper

comino

mozzarella cheese

goat cheese

1. Mix 3 tablespoons olive oil with some garlic (minced fresh or powder), chili powder, and pepper. Microwave for 30 seconds and allow to sit for at least half an hour.

2. Rinse chard and remove ribs.

3. Boil chard for 3 minutes.

4. Drain and rinse chard.

5. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from chard.

6. Coarsely chop chard.

7. Heat one tablespoon oil in large pan with some comino and chili powder.

8. Add chard to pan and cook for 3 minutes.

9. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

10. Roll out pizza dough--a little on the thin side.

11. Coat edges or entire crust with olive oil from step 1.

12. Sprinkle mozzarella onto pizza.

13. Add chard to pizza.

14. Crumble goat cheese onto pizza.

15. Drizzle any remaining chili oil over pizza.

16. Bake for 15 minutes.

Sun and Surf

Yesterday we got back from a 3 day trip to the beach. The sun, surf, and sand really wore us out! We played in the sand, swam in the ocean, tried to avoid the jelly fish, rode the waves on a boogie board, and walked on the beach. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the Lusters. I think my favorite part was riding the waves. Ross and I even rode the board in together once. I was the only one that didn't get a rash from being dragged through the sand, but I did get a new bruise from being slammed down into it. We got up early Monday to try and see some dolphins, but all we got was a walk on the beach. We did see a couple later on in the day. Ross flew his kite on the beach until he crashed it into the ocean. I think we'll be finding and cleaning up sand for weeks!

District 9

We went and saw District 9 today. It was a little different and a lot better than I expected. I'm glad I didn't know exactly what the movie was about. Wow. Awesome movie. It was shown partly as a mockumentary. I liked that. I recommend it. I'd say more, but I really don't want to give anything away.

NYC Here We Come...Eventually.

We've been here almost 6 months (I'm in complete denial about that), and I can't believe we haven't been up to New York yet. Tickets to the Statue of Liberty Crown were selling out fast, so I booked those about 3 weeks ago. Today I used Priceline to book our hotel. I was a little nervous, not knowing what I was going to get, but I got a 4 star hotel in the financial district for 165/night! I've been checking out bakeries and restaurants online. We are going for Ross's birthday, so I want to make it fun and special. As it turns out my parents will be here at the same time. They are going to stay at our place and visit DC while we are in NYC. It all works out because Bailey won't be alone and we'll have a ride to the bus stop. I'm getting excited, and the trip is over three months away!

Ralph's World at Longwood Gardens

Valerie, the girls, and I headed up to Longwood Gardens yesterday to see Ralph's World perform. I was a little leery about seeing a children's concert, but I really enjoyed it. Evelyn danced her little heart out in the kiddie mosh pit in front of the stage. The sound level was great. I didn't feel deafened. During a couple of numbers they turned on the fountains behind the stage. That looked really awesome. Julia was even dancing, clapping and singing, but after an hour or so she was done so we went for a walk in the gardens. I really want to get a membership to Longwood, it is that awesome!

Hummingbird Garden

We have a hummingbird feeder on our balcony that has been attracting lots of visitors lately. Recently Ross said he saw a bird with his beak open. I looked up and saw it too. The bird was nipping at a wasp that was trying to steal a meal from the feeder. Today I actually saw a hummingbird in my mini garden. I think he was going after the tiny flowers on my basil plants.

Speaking of my garden--that last eggplant didn't make it. The plant has another purple flower on it, so we will see what happens. I have a few jalapenos growing, and lots of flowers on the plants. My basil is doing amazingly well, and the oregano is still growing. I almost wish I had two mini gardens.

Chaice Cream

A few years ago Ross attempted to make chai ice cream. It didn't turn out so well. It was more like granita. He's been talking about chai ice cream since he saw a pint of it at the dairy (he didn't buy it, and we haven't seen it since).

I made Indian food last night and thought it would be good to finish it off with chai ice cream. It turned out great! It has the best texture of any ice cream I've ever made, and it tastes just like chai.

Chai Ice Cream

2 c. heavy cream

1 c. milk (I used 2 percent)

1/4 c. loose chai

3/4 c. sugar

6 egg yolks

1. Pour 1 c. cream and 1 c. milk into a heavy pot over medium heat.

2. Stir cream constantly until mixture is hot and steaming.

3. Remove pot from heat and pour in chai. Stir.

4. Cover pot and allow chai to steep for up to an hour--stirring it every twenty minutes and checking it for color and taste.

I only had about 3 tablespoons of Tea Embassy Masala Chai left, so that is what I used. It took almost an hour to get it the right color and taste.

5. Return pot to medium heat, pour in sugar and stir until dissolved (do not boil).

6. Strain out chai. Return mixture to pot.

7. Place remaining 1 c. cream in a bowl over an ice bath.

8. Whisk egg yolks and temper with cream mixture.

9. Pour egg yolks into pot with cream.

10. Whisk egg-cream mixture constantly over medium heat until it coats the back of a spoon.

11. Strain custard into remaining cold cream.

12. Stir cream and custard together.

13. Chill mixture in refrigerator until cold.

14. Freeze mixture in ice cream maker.

15. Ripen ice cream in air tight container in freezer at least 4 hours before serving.

Sitting on the Side of the Road

I have totally fallen off the wagon. I haven't exercised regularly in over a month. My eating habits are atrocious. I have been so bloated it hurts. My salt intake has skyrocketed and my water intake has bottomed out. I can't seem to get enough salt. I'm so salty that I dreamt I was a pickle. I can't get over that. I keep saying it. I'm a salty pickle. It makes me chuckle, but it really isn't funny. I need to get back with the program.

I'm being lazy, and I'm eating tons of crappy foods, but I haven't started drinking. Every time I go to H Mart I buy mint to make mojitos. Then it always ends up going bad. There is a package of mint in the fridge right now. Some of it might still be good. Maybe I'll have a drink tonight before I start detoxing tomorrow. I have to bite the bullet, weigh in, work out, eat right, and drink at least 120 ounces of water a day in an attempt to unpickle myself. Ha!