Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Our favorite house-guest came to visit the past week and a half. Her parents were in Italy so we got to watch Mattey, the insuppressible Boston Terrier. Mattey is filled with sass and attitude, she's super smart and she's sausage-like. What's not to like? In any case, we decided to chronicle Mattey's stay with us. I wish all humans were as cool as Mattey.

Bonjour! Mattey ready for her vacation at our house.


Mattey praying before bed.


She wasted no time in getting comfortable.


Every night Mattey would sleep under all the covers next to Brandon's legs. Somehow she didn't suffocate. And did find foreign hairs on our legs in the morning.


Mattey quickly claimed Brandon as her own leaving very little room for the rest of us.


Virgin Mattey


Maggie and Mattey are now better friends. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, but Mattey would run up to Maggie and put her little front arms around Maggie's neck. Maggie didn't really bite but it was really funny.

Come back anytime Mattey!

Project Runway

Love it. And Christian was my fave to watch even if I didn't want him to win.

Mastering the Art of Julia

As some of you know I love the Beatles. I HATE when a different singer thinks he can just pop in, modify a Beatles song, and then sing it and expect us to like it. Because let me tell you, I will not like. Some things were created in perfection (which is why I had a hard time with the latest American Idol, but I digress). I don't, however, feel the same way about recipes. I don't care how famous and revered a chef (say... Julia Child) is, I mean a line must be drawn. I love recipes because they spark ideas and experimentation and I believe that you should always follow your gut (pun intended) when it comes to what you put into a dish. No strict-recipe-following! I mean, what are we, fascists?
(Yes, I realize that the same argument could be made about Beatles and music and them being a jumping point for other things, blah, blah, blah, shut up. This is my blog.)

I'd always been intimidated by Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, I mean c'mon, Volumes 1 AND 2. But recently I found her show on DVD in the library, The French Chef, and she made her recipes so much more accessible. So I tried a famous one. Boeuf bourguignon. If you compare my recipe and hers they will look nothing alike, but in my defense, what she did on the show was what I wrote down, plus I was writing on a scrap of paper, so I was hindered by shoddy tools. And, I was too cheap to buy pearl onions...or pieces of beef.

Oh, and of course I didn't think to take a picture until it was all gone. But that's a good thing because now your imagination has no visual limitations.

Boeuf Bourguignon a la Nat - makes about 3 to 4
1 lb ground beef
4 large-ish potatoes, peeled, bite-size
1/2 lb mushrooms, quartered
1/2 lb green beans, cut in half
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
about 2-3 cups beef stock
salt
pepper
light oil
butter
flour

1. Cover bottom of oven-proof pot (if you want to use a crock pot, brown beef deglaze pan then stick beef, wine and other ingredients in crock pot and cook for about 45min) with oil and brown beef, but do it quickly so it doesn't cook all the way. Make sure you pat meat with paper towel so it's kinda dry. Put meat aside and deglaze pan with red wine. Put beef back into pot add stock just until all beef is covered. Add garlic, thyme, bay leaf, tomato paste, A LITTLE salt and pepper. Let it simmer for a few minutes.
2. Stick pot in 325 degree oven for about 30-45 min (or until you're done making the potatoes, green beans, mushrooms). Make sure it doesn't boil, just simmer.
3. Meanwhile boil potatoes until tender in lightly salted water, drain, sprinkle parsley on top and put aside as stew accompaniment.
4. Also sautee mushrooms in about 1 tbsp of butter and oil, just until tender and they reduce a bit.
5. Blanch green beans just to get the bright green color. Don't cook through.
6. Pull pot out of oven and set on burner. Keep at simmer. Notice about how much liquid you have (should be about 2 cups-ish). For every cup of liquid in the pot add a teaspoon of flour and butter in a dish and mash together to make a paste. (So two cups of liquid=2tbsp butter, 2tbsp flour).
7. Add butter/flour paste to stew and bring to a boil stirring constantly so as to dissolve paste. Once it has thickened a bit throw in mushrooms, green beans and let it simmer for a few minutes. Check for seasonings, make sure there isn't a raw flour taste.
8.Serve warm over boiled potatoes, thrown in a salad, bread and ta-dah! That was easy.

I'm It!

Someone has tagged me!!! I feel like the kid whose been wishing someone will ask her to play tag and someone has finally done it. Thanks Sarah, for thinking I'm cool enough to tag. I think. (I looked at your blog list and I was the only Natalie on it so I'm guessing it was me.)

What were you doing 5 years ago?
I was 17 so I was in high school, playing volleyball, dating an imbicile. Waiting to turn 18 so I could get my license without taking drivers ed.

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Do dishes
2. Figure out dinner menu for the rest of the week.
3. Walk Maggie
4. Get to know my new vegetarian cookbook from the library
5. Do some laundry

7 snacks I enjoy:
1. Original Lays with lime juice
2. Chocolate covered raisins
3. Bread with goat cheese
4. Ice Cream (I'm a big Neapolitan fan, that way you don't have to compromise anything)
5. Mango
6. Natural popcorn with lime juice
7. Happy Meal (now that I'm an adult Happy Meals only fill about 1/4 of my stomach)

3 Bad Habbits
1. Nail taring
2. Interrupting others
3. Cracking my elbows, shoulders, index finger, wrists

If I were suddenly a billionaire...
I would go back to the land. I would buy a lot of acres in central California by the sea and grow organic vegetables and humanely raise animals for food. I'd learn how to cure my own pork for pancetta and bacon, how to make cheese, and carpentry. I'd make it so Brandon could have the beach bum life he's always wanted and so our kids could have as many cultural experiences as possible. I would have lots of dogs. I would also do humanitarian work with animals, prostitutes, donate to PBS. I'd buy great art. Oh, and travel lots.

5 Places I've lived.
1. Mexico City, MX
2. Guadalajara, MX
3. Hacienda Heights, CA
4. Provo, UT
5. San Diego, CA

5 Jobs I've had:
1. Office assistant
2. House cleaner
3. Check-in student at library at BYU
4. Acct. Exec.
5. Sales clerk

5 things people might not know about me:
1. I'm an only child and I love it. When I was little my mom asked if I wanted a sibling and I said no, so it stayed that way.
2. I've never dyed my hair. There was a high-light attempt once but it didn't work.
3. I can play the recorder quite nicely, and the trombone. Ugh... I'm such a dork.
4. I can't even stand to hear the first chord of a Blink 182 song. I have serious loathing for them. I even wrote a paper about it in college.
5. I hate people touching my hair or head. That's probably why my hair always look messy and it's never been dyed.

Ok good I'm done. Let's see... I tag Joselyn, Tiffany, Kimmie, and Kristin... I'm looking forward to your answers!

Human Ingenuity

Foreword: I apologize to my male readers (if any) if this post makes you uncomfortable, but there it is.

So it's times like today at the ob/gyn where I wish I had a camera phone. My cheapness has finally failed me, I never thought this day would come.

I don't know about the rest of you but the gynecologist is kind of a weird place in this world. All sorts of strange things come together to make one (or a lifetime of) unforgettable experience. There's the giant paper towel you to wear around your waist. I'm not using hyperboles or poetic license to describe something - this is an actual paper towel on steroids. Then there's the vest that looks like five-year-old made it out of toilet paper. A man you've never met before touching your boobs amongst other things. And that suspicious duck bill contraption.

Luckily something joyous and unexpected happened today. As I was humming and waiting for the doctor I notice that the foot thingies had advertisements on them. The foot thingies are the those metal things sticking out out from in front of the examination table. Being an ad major, I couldn't help but smile. I mean, how ingenious - if I ever thought that working on a pharmaceutical account would be boring, today I was proved wrong. Very wrong. When I talked with my doctor about it he said that the foot thingies usually have ads for contraception on them so that the patients can ask about it, but today they had an ad for a UTI medicine, so doctors could remember to prescribe it over others.

Moral: When you think advertising can follow you no more places, it does. It's with you, always with you.

Micky D's

Every so often I forget my culinary adventures and convince Brandon to take me to McDonald's. You see when I was younger and we were poor McDonald's was a HUGE treat. Proving the old adage that "You can take the girl out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of the girl." Sigh.

In any case, you know that you're no longer in the 'hood when the McDonald's you're going to has the word "Bistro" attached to it's name. Oh, Del Mar.

When you walk in you immediately notice that you're not in Kansas anymore. There are chandeliers on the ceiling, padded (or seemingly padded) walls, and pleather chairs. There's even a fountain. They also have options like "freshly cut linguini with marinara sauce and meatballs." There are two counters, the bistro counter and the McDonald's counter. Brandon, hating the burgers there went straight for the pasta. Call me crazy, but when McDonald's can't even get a simple burger right (please don't question why I like it there so much. It's an emotional thing), then what makes us think that pasta would be any good? I had my doubts so I ordered a burger. And I was right. The pasta sucked.

Nonetheless we were treated to a uniquely cultural experience of rich people (with the exception of Brandon and I)eating crappy food, amidst nouvo-riche-like decorations. It was all very Gatsby. Final word: Don't eat at McDonald's Bistro.

Buongiorno!

Allow me to preface this post by saying that I had forgotten how much I miss living in California, not just because of the wonderful weather, normal people and great produce, but also because of the restaurants! Just the range and quality (if you know where to look) is fabulous.
Lately Brandon and I have been spending time in Little Italy. We have fallen in love with this cute San Diego treasure, it's dog friendly, so Maggie gets to come and they have some yummy food. The best part is that you hear jolly Italians speaking Italian as you walk down the street, so you know you've stumbled into Oz. Let us elaborate.

Pappalecco: Best gelato since we came back from Italy. I took my friend there that just came back from a mission in Italy and she agrees. Pappalecco is the real deal. If you are lucky enough to roll by during the day hours, eat lunch, then eat gelato. The lunch (paninis, and giant burschettas) is fresh, unpretentious and just plain yummy. Comfort food if you will. Then get some of the fragola or frutti di bosqo and be prepared to taste bliss.

Vincenzo: This place is more northern Italy, which means HEAVY. We took like two bites and were done, the leftovers made a great lunch the next day. Just like Pappalecco's this place is run by actual Italians (imagine that) so you get the sense that a Don is going to walk in at any time. Not exaggeration. Good pasta. And it's intimate, only about 17 tables, which means you know the food is fresh.

Mimmo's Italian Village: This is probably the most 'commercialized' but it's still good. The bread, caprese, and prusciutto pomodoro were great. Nice light pesto. Yummy tomato soup. And the prices are really reasonable, we were surprised. The only problem I had was that they gave me a cup with ice for my sparkling water. Negative brownie point. Other than that the service was quite nice. I would go there again on day when I didn't want to think about dinner or lunch.

Fillipi's Pizza Grotto: I take it back, this is the most commercialized as this is a chain. That being said it's still fun. Not necessarily authentic, despite the authentic owners but still good. You go here mostly for atmosphere and fun food. Go with friends as you're going to need someone to talk to when you're standing in line for 1.5 hours. My favorite part is the store where you can get real Italian groceries including mozzarella, pancetta, oils and vinegars. We took my parents there and my dad just about cleaned out their olives supply. Capers at great prices.