Polish Post: OPI Banana Bandanna + Weekend Plans

Despite the fact that the weather is calling for thunderstorms for the next 2-3 days, I wanted my nails to be cheery and bright. I wound up choosing Banana Bandanna (which it turns out IS the correct spelling of that word. The more you know.) by OPI for my fingers and Ahoy! by China Glaze for my toes. While I'm fairly certain that no more than 3 people read this blog and they all have very healthy attitudes toward feet, I'm hesitant to post a picture of my toes on the internet, because, well, you know. The internet has probably led to an amazing boost in the quality of life for those who are a little too into feet. Anyway, here are my nails.


There are several indicators that this was an early polish purchase for me. First, it is an OPI polish. Because OPI polishes run $8-9 per bottle and are almost always lacking in the quality I would expect for that price (China Glaze is about $5 and is invariably much better quality), I tend to pass on OPIs unless the color is outstanding. Second, I have gotten much better at knowing which polishes will or won't be sheer just by looking at the bottle, and I avoid sheer polishes. Still, I chose this polish over the similarly colored China Glaze Lemon Fizz for two reasons:

1. Lemon Fizz reacts in a weird way with my top coat of choice. After a few days, the tips of my nails darken to a pale orange giving an undesired, though not altogether unappealing, ombré effect. Side note, why does spell check refuse to believe ombré is a real word?
2. I'm trying to work through all of my unworn polishes and I'm fairly certain I haven't done a full manicure with this.

I like that this shade is a little warmer than Lemon Fizz but the formula is horrible. It's runny, streaky and takes at least 4 coats to reach opacity. Three coats is pretty much my limit. Overall, I like the color for spring but I don't know how often I'll reach for this polish.

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In other news, the weekend is upon us and Steven and I have exciting plans. The River Run Film Festival is in town for the next week and tonight is the big kick off. Rather than attending that, Steven and I will likely go to Barnes and Noble for Tina Fey's new book and maybe stop at the grocery store. But! We are going to see two things on Saturday. First is a compilation of animated shorts and then later that evening we're seeing Meek's Cutoff. Look at me, immersing myself in local cultural activities.

Our other big plan for the weekend is making pickles. Do you like pickles? I sure do. It's hard not to like a tart, vinegar-y incarnation of one of my favorite vegetables. Steven and I made two jars of pickles last week and we have eaten all of them already. The brine is ridiculously simple to make and discounting the fresh cucumbers, you likely have all the necessary ingredients in your kitchen. The hardest part of the whole thing is the 2 day waiting period in which you are forced to look at your pickles every time you open the refrigerator, knowing you can't eat them yet. Here's how to make approximately 2 jars of pickles:

You will need:
3 cups water
8 tablespoons vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
2 tablespoons kosher salt
Garlic
Dill
Coriander seeds
Pickling cucumbers (I imagine you can also use regular cucumbers, but they will probably need to be cut in half)

Combine the water, vinegar, and salt in a pitcher or bowl, making sure to mix everything well. Slice the cucumbers according to preference. Spears, halves, chips. Do you, baby. Place the cucumbers in the jars with a good amount of garlic, dill and coriander seeds. No specific amount. That's why I like this recipe, it's so free form! Pour some brine into each jar until it is full. Put the lid on the jars (duh) and shake to combine everything. Refrigerate for 2 days before eating. Steven made sure to turn the jars from time to time to compensate for the seasoning falling to the bottom. This may or may not be necessary.

Voila! You have pickles that are tastier than the ones at the grocery store, and they only contain ingredients that you can pronounce.

Nice to meet you

ABCs

Stolen, with love, from Lindsay

A. Age: 24

B. Bed size: Full. Steven had a queen size bed, but my mattress is more comfortable. And I have a cuter bed frame, which counts.

C. Chore you dislike: While I don't particularly like chores, we tend to take care of them right away so they never wind up being too much work. I don't love doing the dishes, but Steven washes them after dinner, which I am appreciative of. We should probably start using our dishwasher. I don't particularly love vacuuming either.

D. Dogs: I've had one great dog, and one nightmarish dog which equals out to indifference. I like them fine, but cats are so much less work and are usually just as fun.

E. Essential start to your day: Water. A big sip as soon as I wake up.

F. Favorite color: A very specific shade of pale turquoise. I'm also really drawn to purple and brown. Yes, brown.

G. Gold or silver: I don't have much of a preference, and it really depends on the piece of jewelry. I just don't like bright yellow gold.

H. Height: 5’4

I. Instruments you play(ed): Nothing, ever. My brother was the family musician and the rest of us never really tried.

J. Job title: Teacher, unemployed.

K. Kids: None. That would mean getting rid of the second bedroom/library/office/puzzle assembling room, which quite frankly, I am not prepared to do.

L. Live: Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Home of Krispy Kreme, Hanes, RJ Reynolds, BB&T and Wachovia. But let's focus on Krispy Kreme.

M. Mom’s name: Marilyn

N. Nicknames: I'm pretty much a first name only kind of person.

O. Overnight hospital stays: None, thankfully

P. Pet peeves: When anyone ends a sentence with "at," as in "Where did you get that at?" or "Where are you at?" Also, "supposably" "fustrating" and "exspecially"

Q. Quote from a movie: My favorite quotes tend to be the ones that feel like a punch to the stomach with how beautiful or true they are. My most repeated quotes tend to be silly and/or inane things that tickled my fancy when viewing the movie.

R. Righty or lefty: Righty.

S. Siblings: Two older brothers. One younger sister.

T. Time you wake up: One of the benefits of being jobless is waking up whenever! Though I almost always wake up when Steven gets up for work. Unless it's the weekend and then we both sleep in until one of us feels guilty for not having fed Josie yet (it's always me)

U. Underwear: Yes.

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Onions. A thousand times onions. Especially chunks of chewy onions. That is pretty much the only vegetable that I don't enjoy. And yet, onion rings are perfectly acceptable.

W. What makes you run late: Nothing. I am perpetually 5 minutes early.

X. X-rays you’ve had: I'm pretty sure I've only had dental x-rays. Oh! And when I went to the hospital Christmas Day 2004 with chest pains.

Y. Yummy food you make: Hopefully Steven would agree that all the food I make is yummy. I just asked Steven and he said his favorite was probably peppers stuffed with quinoa, corn, and feta cheese. I have to agree. I ate the rest of the filling the next day for lunch and it was still amazing cold.

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup quinoa, rinsed well several times
3 T olive oil
1 bunch scallions, including 2 inches of the greens, thinly sliced into rounds
1 jalapeno, finely diced, seeded (seeding and cleaning it makes it infinitely less spicy)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups, more or less, fresh or frozen corn kernels (from 3 ears of corn)
½ pound spinach leaves
½ cup chopped cilantro
¼ lb feta cheese
4 bell peppers

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add ½ teaspoon salt, then quinoa. Give it a stir, cover, and simmer over low until the grains are tender, about 15 minutes. Warm half of the oil in a wide skillet. Add the scallions and chiles, cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, then add the garlic, cumin, corn and spinach, along with 2 tablespoons of water. When the spinach is wilted, add the cilantro, quinoa, and feta. Toss everything together, taste for salt, and season with pepper. Slice the peppers in half lengthwise without removing the tops or stems, then cut out the membranes and seeds. Simmer them in salted water until tender to the touch of a knife but not overly soft, 4 to 5 minutes, and remove. Fill them with the quinoa and set them in a large baking dish. Preheat the oven to 400. Drizzle the rest of the oil over the peppers and bake the peppers until heated through, 20 to 30 minutes, then switch the heat to broil and brown the tops. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.


Z. Zoo animal favorites: Otters, owls, anything soft looking

New, but not really improved

We're only 4 days into April and this is already my third post! Will I keep writing here on a regular basis, or will I completely abandon this site for 5 weeks until something important happens and I am prodded into blogging about it? Who knows! That's half my charm: being completely erratic.

The purpose of this post was to brag about spiffing up the design of my blog. Of course, if you're looking at this now then you are already seeing the redesign and have promptly forgotten what it used to look like. This is all very anti climactic for you. I'm sorry. To console you, I have added Complimentary Blog Fish to the side bar. You can watch them, have them follow your mouse and even feed them imaginary fish food by clicking within their tank. Exciting stuff!

Pleasant Surprise

While at the Biltmore Estate last week, Steven and I were somewhat surprised when we were shuffled into a line to have our picture taken. I would expect to see these ambush photographers at theme parks or even someplace like an aquarium (where we had our picture taken in a similar fashion last year) but the Biltmore seemed a little upscale for that. We smiled, took the business card with our photo ID number on it, and forgot about the experience until about an hour ago. We tried to guess at how bad the picture would be, using half open eyes and gnarled lips to estimate our facial expressions, but it turned out to not be so bad. Now if only a digital picture didn't cost $35, maybe I wouldn't have had to steal this screen shot to share with you.

March Madness, or something like that

When it comes to blogging, Taylor has proven to be my greatest resource. It is she who gently nudges me to post when I have not done so in a while. It is also Taylor who will remind me of an event (her recent trip to North Carolina) that is blog worthy. Bless her heart. Unfortunately, I will probably never be known for blogging about things in a timely fashion, and the further I get from her visit, the less I have to write about.

We were fortunate to have really exceptional weather when Taylor was here. One of my favorite things about living in North Carolina is that we get a true spring. Spring and fall have always been my favorite seasons, as they both have lovely transitional temperatures and do beautiful things to the trees. For the last few years I have lamented about the disappearance of "nice" weather. Spring in the northeast consists of temperatures below 55° until mid to late April, followed by alternating 83° and 36° days until June. Fall functions in a similar fashion. Sweltering temperatures until the first freezing day in November. Needless to say, I was happy that the weather was nice enough to provide Taylor a bit of a respite from the unusually snowy and harsh winter.

We tried to provide Taylor with a taste of Winston-Salem, but wound up taking her to two "attractions" and then a bunch of somewhat local stores. But that counts, right? Her first stop after getting off the train in Greensboro was Cook Out, a small, regional fast food chain specializing in burgers that taste like they are fresh off the grill in your backyard. I think she enjoyed her meal, but what's not to like about a place that let's you order a corn dog in lieu of fries? Cook Out was the first of many new foods that Taylor tried. Here is a list of things we forced Taylor to eat while she was here:
1. A blackberry
2. Chicken sausage
3. Olives
4. Goat cheese
5. Pecans
6. Grits
7. A chalupa (not from Taco Bell)

The two legitimate places we took Taylor were the Reynolda House and Pilot Mountain. The Reynolda House is right down the road from our apartment which naturally makes us feel very ritzy and prosperous. We saw a photography exhibit, toured the house and walked about the gardens. It's a particularly pretty (and large) house on a grassy and tree filled property, perfect for relaxing and reading a book. Please note that these are not my pictures, as I did not have the good sense to take any.




The following day we went to Pilot Mountain. I was kind enough to suggest that we not hike to the pinnacle, but instead gaze upon it from one of the paths close to the parking lot. I can't be sure, but I think Taylor was grateful for this.




Taylor and I also made trips to Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Goodwill, Edward McKay (used books and more!), and World Market (more than once). She also enjoyed the culinary stylings of Krispy Kreme, Popcorn Fanatic, La Carreta (where Taylor graciously paid for lunch but then ungraciously forgot to tip), Simply Yummy and The New South Diner (not a diner at all, but a very nice restaurant). Oh, and Brew Nerds. Who can forget Brew Nerds? I think her visit was successful and Steven and I have decided that she is allowed to come back.

Now, if my readers will fast forward roughly 7 days they will find themselves on March 25, the day of my birth. I received some lovely gifts from my parents and sister. Steven gifted me with a Helmer from Ikea for nail polish storage. Its drawers are the perfect height and when completely full can hold roughly 400 polishes. I don't see myself outgrowing this storage solution any time soon. Steven also took me out to a fantastic restaurant. I had the sea bass, he had the rib-eye topped with lobster meat. Um, whose birthday was it? My larger gift was an overnight trip to Asheville with a trip to the Biltmore Estate.

Asheville is one of my favorite cities. It's about 2 hours from Winston-Salem in a very mountainous part of Western North Carolina. Despite the distance to another major city, there is a lot to see and do in Asheville. It's something of a hipster mecca, with an emphasis on locally grown foods and micro brewed beers. There is a big arts scene and lots of cool shops downtown. And of course, the Biltmore House. Unfortunately my birthday was the last day of nice weather we would see for a while. The day after we were hit with nearly a week of rain and chilly temperatures. Fortunately the weather held out long enough for us not to get drenched seeing the house and gardens. There is little to say about the Biltmore House that can't be assumed from pictures. It is huge. Immense. And terribly grand. Picture taking within the house is prohibited so most of the pictures I took are of the gardens and green house. The picture of the Biltmore House under sunny skies is from Google Images. The picture of it looking rainy and ominous is mine.

Downtown, Saturday

My long awaited return to blogging

As numerous people (Steven and Taylor) have pointed out, I have not "taken to my blog" in quite some time. In general, I feel like there is very little to write about, as there is very little going on. I am still jobless, the apartment is pretty put together, all (well, all but one) of our boxes are unpacked. This problem is compounded by the fact that I began an entry several days ago, Firefox crashed, and I lost the post. How does one recover from such a profound loss? I feel like the only things I have to talk about are my cat and things that I've cooked. And while I enjoy them, I don't know that I really want to turn this into a cat or cooking or cat cooking blog. But I suppose if I'm going to write, it is going to have to be about one of those things.

So first up is Josie. I don't think we had her the last time I posted, or maybe we did but I refrained from mentioning her because we didn't know if we were going to keep her. Our relationship with Josie was a work in progress, which I am happy to report is now blossoming. When we adopted her from PetSmart on that fateful Saturday, we did so knowing that we would have two weeks to give her back should things not work out. We had been told that Josie was "shy" (a word that turned out to be a major understatement) and would need a little time to adjust. When we brought her home, we quickly learned that beyond being shy, she was completely unsocialized and pretty feral. As we are not small enough to wedge ourselves behind the couch, we didn't see her for the first two days she was here. The two week trial period loomed over us like a dark cloud. What if we kept her for two weeks and she still hated/was petrified of us? Did we really want to be the people who returned a fluffy, adorable kitten? There is something shameful about returning a pet, even if it is in the best interests of the animal and the owner. Suffice it to say, Josie was stressing us out.

I had heard that it sometimes takes parents a while to love and bond with a new baby. I can understand that. I don't find babies to be inherently lovable. Kittens, however? I have never met a kitten that I didn't instantly love. I was worried that even if we kept Josie, I would never REALLY love her because I couldn't even get near her. Everything changed when I approached the situation from a "tough love" perspective. She wouldn't eat unless she came out and ate in front of Steven or me. I spent numerous hours sitting in the room with her, so she would get used to me. Copious amounts of meat flavored baby food helped. Slowly, Josie came around.

Now as I type this, Josie is sprawled out on my lap, fast asleep. This is a daily routine for us. After she has tired herself out playing with her toys and doing laps in the dining room, she curls up in my lap or on my chest and sleeps for as long as I let her. She loves watching TV, stretching herself so that she lays across both Steven and I. Our feral beast has truly become a lap cat, and we really love her.

In Josie related news, a few weeks ago I decided that Josie needed some artwork to contemplate. I had the idea to hang three small paintings above her bowls at "cat level." It would be cute. It would be whimsical. It would be a quick, cheap project (which are my favorite kind). I had wanted to try silhouette painting for a while, so after a quick trip to AC Moore it was settled: Josie would get three cat silhouette paintings. The most difficult part of the whole process was finding a cat silhouette to use for reference. A quick Google search will produce a slew of "Halloween cats," their backs arched and faces menacing. I wanted something a bit more serene. The easiest way to paint a silhouette is probably printing a photo, cutting it out carefully, tracing it on your canvas and painting around it. My canvases were so tiny that cutting out an image to trace on them would be more trouble than it was worth. I just freehanded the silhouettes onto the canvases and hoped for the best. Here is the end result:

(The far right painting is plum, not murky brown)