Butterflies in January or Project #1

It is freezing. It is so cold outside that it is hard to walk from the car to the house. I feel like my bones are frozen. I want spring to come and honestly I would like it to come really soon (like tomorrow). Spring to me is all about happiness, flowers, bees, sunshine, butterflies, etc. etc. So, in honor of the spring that has yet to sprung and in honor of my sweet niece Jenna's birthday, I made Jenna butterfly cupcakes from my cupcake book. The end result was great but making the chocolate butterflies almost made me pull my hair out. I feel that now that I have had some practiced, I could make the next batch of butterflies with a lot less stress. I bought the flower cupcake papers from Joann's but I am sure you can find them other places. I thought the flowers made a nice touch. (One of my 36 New Year's resolutions is to complete 36 new or old projects or learn a new skill. Here is project #1.)

Dear spring, please come soon.

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp or Recipe #2

I am in love with the Pioneer Woman and her blog. She is amazing and her food is delicious. While I was in Texas last week, I tried her Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp. I had never cooked raw shrimp before and if I have to say so myself, the dish was pretty fantastic. My friend at work who is an amazing cook and grew up on the coast of Spain told me to soak my frozen shrimp in cold salt water to defrost them (he says the salt help get rid of that frozen in the bag taste and he was right!). So, I let them sit in the salty cold bath for about 10 minutes and then I rinsed them and put them in the refrigerator until I was ready for them. I bought a 1 lb. bag of frozen shrimp from Whole Foods and halved the recipe.

The shrimp were perfect after 8 minutes and the butter sauce was incredible. This is an easy, fast and delicious recipe.

Recipe: Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 25 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Raw Shrimp, Deveined, Shells On
• 2 sticks Cold Unsalted Butter Cut Into Pieces
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 4 cloves Garlic, Peeled
• ¼ cups Fresh Parsley
• ½ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper
• 1 whole Lemon, Juiced

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse frozen shrimp to separate, then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.

In the bowl of a food processor, add cold butter, garlic, lemon juice, salt, parsley, and red pepper. Pulse until combined. Sprinkle cold butter crumbles over the shrimp.

Bake until shrimp is opaque and butter is hot and bubbly.

Serve with hot crusty bread. Peel and eat the shrimp, then dip the bread into the butter in the bottom of the pan.

The Perfect Pot Roast or Recipe #1

As previously mentioned, I am turning 36 this year. To honor my 36th year, I wrote 36 New Year's Resolutions and many of them had something to do with 36. One of my resolutions is to make 36 new recipes. It seems like a lot of new recipes but I thought it would be a good goal.

So, for recipe #1, I found, The Perfect Pot Roast as found on the Pioneer Woman's blog. I love pot roast and the photos on the Pioneer Woman's blog looked so delicious, I had to try the recipe. I am telling you, she did not lie! It was the perfect pot roast. It was meaty and tender and the vegetables were delicious. Oh and the best part, it is easy. A little work in the beginning and the outcome is heavenly. I told my sister Michelle about the recipe (I made it the first time with Dan & Ellen in Dallas) so guess what I made on Sunday? You got it, another perfect pot roast. Don't believe me, try it for yourself.

Recipe: Pot Roast

Prep Time: 20 Minutes | Cook Time: 4 Hours | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 1 whole (4 To 5 Pounds) Chuck Roast
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 whole Onions
• 6 whole Carrots (Up To 8 Carrots)
• Salt To Taste
• Pepper To Taste
• 1 cup Red Wine (optional, You Can Use Beef Broth Instead) I skipped the wine.
  
• 2 cups To 3 Cups Beef Stock (Not beef broth, stock is richer and helps this recipe)
  
• 3 sprigs Fresh Thyme, or more to taste
• 3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary, or more to taste

Preparation Instructions

First and foremost, choose a nicely marbled piece of meat. This will enhance the flavor of your pot roast like nothing else. Generously salt and pepper your chuck roast.
Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or you can do a butter/olive oil split).
Cut two onions in half and cut 6 to 8 carrots into 2-inch slices (you can peel them, but you don’t have to). When the oil in the pot is very hot (but not smoking), add in the halved onions, browning them on one side and then the other. Remove the onions to a plate. (The first time I made this recipe, I cooked the onions too long. They really only need a few minutes at the most to get some color. The second time I made the roast, I didn't cook them long enough.)

Throw the carrots into the same very hot pan and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so.
If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pan. Place the meat in the pan and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate.
With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 cup) to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom with a whisk to get all of that wonderful flavor up.
When the bottom of the pan is sufficiently deglazed, place the roast back into the pan and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway (about 2 to 3 cups). Add in the onion and the carrots, as well as 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary and about 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.
Put the lid on, then roast in a 275F oven for 3 hours (for a 3-pound roast). For a 4 to 5-pound roast, plan on 4 hours.

My Lucky Number

I will be 36 years old in March of this year. Wow, I said it. The big 36! However I have felt 36 for the last year. You see I have this problem. When I turn a certain age, I start telling people that I am going to be the next age. For example, someone will ask me how old I am and I will say, “Well, I am 35 but I am almost 36.” I am not almost 36 (I wasn't when I first wrote this back in November) but it is just what I say.

I have been worried about turning 36 because it just seems old to be single and childless. I know that it isn’t old per se and I know that you all know people who have had children in their 40's but it just seems like the biological clock is letting me know that I am on the downhill, my window is closing, the sand is running out......you get the idea. I have had crazy thoughts about just having a child (adoption, etc.) but I just don't want a child to have a child. I want the whole family; the husband and the baby!

Anyway, after I wrote the post about my nephew Eric’s birthday and his lucky number, I have changed my attitude (for right now). My lucky number is 6 because like Eric I am the sixth child in my family and I was born on the 26^th. So, with my great logic and simple math (6 x 6 = 36)! 2011 and my 36^th year is actually going to be my best year yet! I am going to have great happiness and success when I am 36. (I should write fortune cookies, ha, ha.)

Please remind me of this fact come March.

“What did I tell ya? There's the whole world at your feet. And who gets to see it but the birds, the stars and the chimney sweeps.”-Burt

I finally moved into my new office (ok, I have been here for a few months). I am still in Georgetown and I am still in the same complex as my old space but I am now on the fourth floor. I am happy to be away from the rats in the ceiling (so smelly), the mosquitoes (so itchy) and the poisonous snake (so scary). However, I do miss my friends and I miss being in the hustle and bustle. Working in HR can be very isolating and I enjoyed the comradery.

So, now that I am on the 4^th floor. I have a huge window where I can benefit from the sunshine, observe the airplanes on their way to and from Reagan National Airport, listen and watch the military helicopters fly up and down the Potomac River and just enjoy my view. I tell people that it is my Mary Poppins’ view- a view of rooftops. Now, all I need a chimney sweep and some chalk.

Seriously drop what you are doing right now and watch this show! This is a new modern Sherlock (he texts and Dr. Watson has a blog). You can get the whole season (two disks) from Netflix and it is sooooo worth it! When I received my disks, I waited patiently for two days so I could watch the show with Dan & Ellen in Dallas (now that is love!).

I thought it would be good but I had no idea how amazing it would be! Just so you know, season two will be filmed in May and will air Fall 2011. I don't know how I will make it because it truly is the best thing I have seen in a long time! Did I mention it was pretty fantastic? (this is my new phrase of the week, pretty fantastic)! I love this show and you will have to let me know if you love it too!

According to Batman

I love clever, funny people and when I read the review of the new Green Hornet movie below, I laughed out loud. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. (Maybe you have to secretly love all superheros to think it is funny or again, maybe you just need my strange sense of humor.) Either way, enjoy.

Harnessing the power of humor
By Dan Kois
Friday, January 14, 2010

This morning, the unconscious bodies of three pickpockets were found on the front steps of The Washington Post's offices. Safety-pinned to one was an envelope containing the following movie review.

Yeah, I think you know who I am. Big guy. Wear a mask. I protect the innocent of Gotham from the garbage who pollute the streets with violence.

That's right. I'm Batman.

But now there's another masked vigilante on the streets. Calls himself the Green Hornet. He's taking over Los Angeles. There's a movie out about him right now. It's called "The Green Hornet." Obviously.
It gets my bat wings all riled up. Let me tell you why.

There was a time when movies about superheroes were dark and full of angst. Like "The Dark Knight." You know just from the title what that movie's gonna be like. Broody. Angsty. I'll be doing a lot of thinking on rooftops, you know, about justice and whatever. Maybe the girl I love gets blown up.
Then this johnny-come-lately shows up. This punk, the Green Hornet. His movie's fun. It's light-hearted. It's full of jokes. Jokes! My enemies tell jokes. Riddles, whatnot. Heroes don't tell jokes. Heroes keep it grim. Saving people is serious business.

When they made a movie about me, they hired Christian Bale to play me. Serious guy. Serious actor. Intense. So who plays the Green Hornet? Seth Rogen. A jokester. A funnyman. A Canadian, for Pete's sake. Sure, they had him do some crunches, but still, it just points to a real lack of seriousness in this movie.

Just as an example, when I'm weaving the Batmobile through the streets of Gotham, with explosions and gunfire on every side, I keep my trap shut. Maybe I utter a single quip through gritted teeth after I capture the bad guys with my Batarang.

But this Green Hornet guy? "This is awesome!" he yells. "Oh man, now we're in a car chase!"
What is this, amateur hour?

I was prepared to like this Green Hornet kid. We have a lot in common. Take his secret identity. Britt Reid's a millionaire playboy, which struck a chord, although his tastes run less toward tuxedos and fine art and more toward parties drenched in beer and Silly String. Like a certain superhero I know, he loses a parent unexpectedly; when his father, played by Tom Wilkinson, dies, Britt inherits his mansion, his garage full of luxury cars, and the newspaper he edited for years. (Yeah, I thought newspaper editors drove Hondas, not Rolls-Royces, but that's Hollywood, I guess.)

But does Britt Reid seethe about the death of his father? Is he filled with rage? No! He resented the old man, so he saws the head off his dad's memorial statue. What kind of hero does that?

Look, I will grudgingly admit that much of the movie was really funny. Sure, I didn't laugh - in lieu of laughter, I emit a harsh sound like a dog's cough - but all around me, the crowd really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Rogen and Jay Chou, the charismatic Taiwanese pop star who plays Britt's partner, Kato, have real chemistry. The movie somehow manages not to marginalize or insult Kato, a character who in the early "Hornet" radio serials was something of an offensive Asian caricature. (What! I've been thinking about getting a sidekick, so I did some research.)

In fact, Kato's often the best part of the movie. Britt calls him a "human Swiss army knife," and he's right; Kato is not a sidekick, but a fully formed hero who's full of surprises. And the gadgets he develops for the Hornet's sweet ride (a souped-up '65 Chrysler Imperial, respect) are pretty sweet. I've been thinking the Batmobile could use a fax machine and a turntable.

But really, I just want to make it clear that I am personally offended that someone would make a silly superhero movie. That's unacceptable. They couldn't even get a dark and complicated director such as Christopher Nolan to direct it; instead, it's directed by Michel Gondry. Michel Gondry! The Frenchman who directed "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and those White Stripes videos! How is that appropriate?

True, some of the handmade effects in which Gondry specializes work well in "The Green Hornet," dramatizing how Kato, for instance, can beat five guys up at once. And I guess that maybe Gondry's easygoing comic spirit is a better match for a movie like this than Nolan, who proved triumphantly with "Inception" that you can make a gigantic hit movie that contains zero jokes. (I loved it! I saw it four times, and asked Lucius Fox to start developing that dream technology for Wayne Industries.)
And what about the villains? My most recent nemesis was a crazed murderer whose ruthless anti-philosophy shook me, and the city, to the very core. Chudnofsky, the villain in "The Green Hornet" - played by Christoph Waltz - is having a midlife crisis. That's not serious!

Sigh. You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Or, in this case, a joke. Well, let me employ sarcasm: Well done, Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry. You made a superhero movie for people who thought "The Dark Knight" needed to lighten up. That's so funny I forgot to laugh.

No, seriously, I forgot to laugh. I actually don't know how. Alfred?