Home?

I'm about to visit an apartment that I'm hoping becomes my home back in St. Louis. Wish me luck that it's still available, that they won't totally freak because I'm unemployed (I have a co-signer) and that it is as adorable as I think it will be.

I will keep you posted...

I need a moment

To do some screaming.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The apartment I wanted in St. Louis was rented today before I got all my paperwork in for it. I'm soooo disappointed.

I'm an unwilling and unknowing participant in this argument a friend and I are having where I think she's jumping to assume the worst about me, which is no fun.

I'm finally getting temping work (and income) here and am planning a move back to St. Louis where I will have to start all over again.

I'm in the same place I was a year ago! How did that happen? I made so many changes this year and as my birthday approaches I realize I might be in exactly the same spot as I was a year ago.

And I can't eat ice cream to make me feel better because, once again, a doctor and a tarot card reader have told me to lose some weight.

Life in the Fast Lane

Life as a temp is crazy dull, but it is immensely satisfying to get up and contribute something to the world. Even if it processing fees for workers comp claims. The bonus part of this repetitive and tedious task is that I get to see what kind of workers comp claims have been filed and sometimes they are really funny. For example: Employee was injured when the "gut tub" fell on her at the catfish processing plant.

I'll post some other really great ones throughout the next couple weeks. I hate to give them all away. As I said, it's crazy dull, but not a bad life. I work in a big building downtown and love having some purpose and being among all the energy of the city during the day. My office is right along the river and I can sit there and have lunch. I haven't quite adjusted my sleeping schedule, but I'll manage.

At a birthday/engagement dinner for my friend Sarah B, I heard about a calligraphy class being offered at Paper Source here in Lincoln Park. She had signed up and I decided this sounded like a great idea. My mom took a calligraphy class and it looked pretty when she did it, kind of like a script font on your computer. Some of the newer, more modern calligraphies are sooo cool. My friend Kate got married a few months ago and the calligraphy on her invitations was amazing. In fact, I'll have to take a picture and post it here soon. Anyway, it's been on my mind and I signed up for the class with Sarah B.

::Photo from Paper Source website::

Let's talk about Top Chef for a moment also. If you have never watched the show, or have watched in the past but didn't catch the season premiere, now is the time to get hooked. I'm here to tell you this looks like the best season ever. If you did watch, I love Kevin, the chef you used the word "yuck" to describe someone else's dish. It was fun to hear a chef say, "That stuff is just yuck." The new season started last Wednesday, knowing Bravo they are replaying it plenty so you can catch up.

Let's Catch Up

I've been on blog hiatus for a little while. I went back to St. Louis for about 9 days and it led to some kind of heavy stuff. So, then I came back and when I'm dealing with heavy stuff I tend to become a major introvert.

Let's play some catch up.

* Parts of my trip to St. Louis were super great. I went to Uncle Bill's for breakfast - it's kind of a St. Louis institution and I can't believe I had never been before. I met my friend Renee there and had some awesome blueberry pancakes. Great. I did lots of eating while back - lunches with Jen from my old job and one of my favorite high school friends Matt, dinner with my sisters at Pi, which is where Barack Obama ate pizza when he was in St. Louis. My cousin Anna and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Modesto, for an amazing happy hour special. I also got one of my favorite fast food meals at a chain called Crazy Bowls and Wraps that they do not have here in Chicago. I love their chicken teriyaki bowl sooo much. I saw a great musical, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was so fun and had me laughing all night. I also saw 2 movies, Smart People and 500 Days of Summer. I did not care for Smart People and loved 500 Days of Summer.

* I made the decision to move back to St. Louis when my Chicago lease is over at the end of September. I came to Chicago for geographical and emotional space from the estranged husband. I needed actual space from everyone to figure out what I wanted next and I needed to come to a place that had great friends and lots to do. This was a great experience and a great city to be in, but it's not home. And being here won't fix anything. I have friends in St. Louis and I genuinely love the area. I want to be part of the city as it continues to improve and grow. I've started looking for places to live back there and have a few leads. I think I'm going to look to rent a small house. As I'm almost 30 I feel it would be nice to have a house to live in. Something a little more grown up than an apartment. I hope I can personalize a house a little.

* I finally got some temping work in Chicago! I have a three week gig lined up and look forward to having a reason to put on real clothes in the morning. I don't think it will be exciting or interesting work, but it will be work.

* No post of mine would be really complete without talking about what I'm cooking - so... I made this potato bacon torte and it was amazing! I was a big fan of The Next Food Network Star on Food Network and Melissa was the winner and this is from her first show. I absolutely loved it. She had great tips - freezing the butter before cutting it into the flour really did make the pie crust much flakier. I didn't take any pictures, I wish I would have. I ate it for dinner and then for breakfast and dinner the next day also. I plan on making it for some friends when they come over for dinner later this week for the Project Runway premiere!

* I finally made it down to Hyde Park. This was Obama's neighborhood when he lived in Chicago and where he and his family still have a home. I kept meaning to get down there and see where he got pizza and his haircut. I came across a bike tour that left from downtown (near Navy Pier for those of you familiar) and biked the 8 miles down to Hyde Park, did 4 miles around the neighborhood to see the sights, and then back the 8 miles to the Pier. I signed up. The ride was great - it was a beautiful day, the path is all lakefront until you get to Hyde Park, and I was the only one on the extended version of the tour (2 other people met us just for the Hyde Park part). The tour guide was funny and I had a great time on the ride, enjoying the blue sky and blue lake and there are amazing views of downtown once you get a little south of the city.

* I got a tarot card reading. I know, strange. Please note before I go any further that I put no real stock in astrology and I wasn't asking big life altering questions. She read my "energy for the next six to twelve months". It was a $15 special in my favorite martini bar/restaurant in addition to $5 martini night. So, after 3 $5 martinis, a tarot card reading sounded like a good idea. She asked if I was a writer and said that was a good outlet for me. She told me she saw exercise for me - she like exercise for me she said. She liked the mini goals you can set during exercise and accomplish. She said she saw a recent drag on me and that I should be surrounded by fun people. We chatted for a bit - those are the big takeaways. I should keep writing in some way, work out and get some fun people.

* Speaking of working out, when I was in St. Louis I saw my doctor for a check up and he made fat jokes at me. I have gained some weight, and I did tell him to give me a stern talking to. The thing is my doctor is super sarcastic, which I love, and decided to give me some tough love through fat jokes. That coupled with a tarot card reader who told me she liked exercise for me has made me a little self conscious and ultra aware of the fact that I really need to start paying much better attention to my own health and nutrition.

So, there you have it. There's the hiatus.
Talk to you all again soon.

Apple Pie for one or two

Earlier this month I told you how excited I was to play along with Bake at 350's Flavor of the Month idea. I thought maybe I'd branch out to do an in season peach and raspberry pie, or perhaps finally make the S'mores pie I've been wanting to try - but alas, I stuck with my most favorite - apple pie. While I lived in Louisiana I decided that I wanted to be really good at making apple pies, so about every month I made a new one, trying new crusts, trying different fillings, etc. It was a lot of pie for my husband and I to eat. And not so figure friendly. So, my offering for this months pie showcase is Apple Pie for one (or two).

I grew up in an immediate family of 6 and a huge extended family that was always getting together for something or other. I learned how to cook in large quantities and Colin is always telling me how I need to learn to pare down my recipes so we don't end up with food for 80. It is a good idea, because when there's a whole pie, guess who eats it? Me. This is a pie for those who are cooking for one or two and it's also semi-homemade, which may defeat the purpose of the showcase, but I have struggled with cooking mini sized things and perhaps others out there have also.

Sarah's Apple Pie for one or two

I use this dish to make my apple pie in from Crate and Barrel. Any dish or ramekin that's about 5 inches in diameter would work.


3 apples (I use two Golden Delicious and 1 Braeburn)
1 T flour
3 T white sugar
1 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 pie crust for 9 inch pie (I've been using store bought, semi-homemade at it's finest!)
1 egg, beaten
extra sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 F. Put cookie sheet in the oven while it preheats so it gets hot

1. Peel, core and slice your apples. Sprinkle a little lemon juice on them if you'd like to prevent browning.
2. Toss apples with flour, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.
3. Cut the pie crust in half (if using made from scratch pie crust, divide into two and roll to fit your dish). Press half into bottom of dish, trimming extra from sides. Press foil into crust and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake 8 minutes in oven.
3. Remove pie weights from bottom crust, pour in apple filling, mound the apples high as they will cook down. Top with remaining crust, you may have to piece it together since the crust may be oddly shaped from cutting it. Just press seams together. Trim extra away from sides.
4. Press edge of the two crusts together with fork or crimping method. Create a way for steam to escape in the top crust - either a few slits or use a small cookie cutter to cut out a shape.
5. Brush the top with the beaten egg, just enough to coat. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 40 minutes.


I topped mine with cinnamon ice cream, which is almost impossible to find, so I made my own. I used soy ice cream, thawed it out til it's pretty soft, spoon it into a larger bowl, put a teaspoon and a half of cinnamon in it, mix it up an put it back in the original container and refreeze.


Enjoy!

One word challenge - accepted

I got a nice tag from Kelli at Marks the Spot today. Seeing as I'm one chatty lady who over explains my answers in a manner similar to Alton Brown, this is a challenge.

Here goes - one word answers only:

1. Where is your cell phone? Ottoman
2. Your hair? Curly!
3. Your mother? Nuts
4. Your father? Missed
5. Your favorite food? crab
6. Your dream last night? noodles
7. Your favorite drink? Bubbly
8. Your dream/goal? University
9. What room are you in? Living
10. Your hobby? Cooking
11. Your fear? Guns
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Undecided
13. Where were you last night? Bed
14. Something that you aren't? mathematical
15. Muffins? Scones!
16. Wish list item? rugs
17. Where did you grow up? Lou
18. Last thing you did? Pie
19. What are you wearing? tee
20. Your tv? new
21. Your pets? Furry
22. Friends? Reliable
23. Your life? unexpected
24. Your mood? Calm
25. Missing someone? Babies
26. Vehicle? Molly
27. Something you're not wearing? necklace
28. Your favorite store? Crate&Barrel (it's kind of one word)
29. Your favorite color? sage
30. When was the lsat time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? ninth
32. Your best friend? many
33. One place that I go to over and over? Walgreens
34. One person who emails me regularly? Cyndi
35. Favorite place to eat? Chase

And instead of tagging some people, I'm going to just leave this as an open invite to play along. It goes fast with only one word!

Spaaaaaaah

This past weekend the girls and I headed to Davenport, IA to visit a friend and indulge in a spa day. The friend we were visiting used to live here in Chicago and my friends met her when two of them worked at a local salon when they were in college. Rebecca had cut and colored my hair a couple of times and she is really talented. To this day it was the best dye job I had ever had. She and her husband moved to Iowa to be closer to family.

Rebecca had said really wonderful things about the Spa she worked at in Iowa, Five Star Salon and Spa, and since it was in Davenport, IA, it was very affordable. I don't mind sharing - half a day, which was 3 services - was $160. That would have been about $500 here in Chicago. Each of us (six of us total) got a pedicure, facial and full body massage. I was last in the lineup, which was fine with me since the area the spa was in was full of super cute little boutiques and cafes and candy stores!

I won't bore you with all the details, I mean, it's a spa day and it was wonderful. The spa was really accommodating to us as a group also ordering us a cheese and fruit plate and having mimosas on hand for us. Really amazing service and great attitudes. I'm reminded why I love the midwest so much. I will share this detail, as it is relevant to the story. Our massuese was a teeny, tiny woman who in addition to traditional Sweedish message techniques used Ashiatsu techniques also - which means she literally walked all over us. She had these parallel bars along the ceiling to hold on to while she used her feet to apply more or deeper pressure on certain areas of our back. I've had a few massages in my life and this was a first.

That night we all went to an Italian restaurant where I ordered Rebecca's favorite - black linguini with lobster and cream sauce. Have you ever seen black linguini? I hadn't. I've heard of squid ink pasta which is black, but this description didn't indicate that's what it was. The dish was delicious. I loved it.

The next day we were driving back to Chicago. We had taken two cars for the five of us as one of the girls needed to be back pretty early. Katie and I met up with Rebecca again where she gave us both quick haircuts! (Super awesome extra bonus.) Katie and I chatted the three hours back and I dropped her off and headed back to my place to bring up my bag before I found a parking spot most likely many blocks away. I got out of my car and to my surprise I couldn't stand up. I had this huge pain in my lower back. I could barely carry my overnight bag back up to my apartment. No good. I thought, I guess the sitting just created a little soreness, no big deal. I'd take it easy Sunday night and everything would be fine by Monday. Not so much. I spent all day Monday and Tuesday in bed also. I was a mess. Can't stand all the way up, can't sit too long, so I've been in bed watching WAY too much Law and Order.

This morning, I said no matter what I was getting out of the apartment. I'm sad to say my back still really hurts, but walking isn't painful. Bending and turning and sitting still are, but I can walk.

For the record, I don't put this on the masseuse. I think my body doesn't respond well to certain kinds of pressure. I had a deep tissue massage in Hawaii on my honeymoon and was sore for several days after that too. This is a very different kind of sore, I feel a little bit like my organs are in places they shouldn't be, but I'm going to work through it. I would go to a doctor, but I'm not sure what they would do or how they would find out what exactly was wrong.

Anyway - there is the adventure of the spa weekend, which really was lovely, and this crazy pain that has come with it. Sorry to be a debbie downer.