H2O House

While on vacation, I painted my old bedroom and part of the foyer. Enjoy!



 

By the way . . .

We bought a house!

We signed the contract on Monday, but this coincided with me getting some sort of stomach/intestinal sickness. Three days later, I'm feeling somewhat functional. Sorry for the delay. Anyway.

Yes, we bought a townhome in Lakewood, just a few blocks from my office. It's been fixed and flipped so it has new carpet, wood panelling (trust me, it looks nice), new fixtures, and new appliances, but we still got a great deal compared to other units in the neighborhood and other homes in that price range elsewhere. It's going to need just a little more work to get it perfect: add more storage in the kitchen, put up window coverings, get a washer/dryer (Yes! My own washer and dryer! I've dreamed of this day for 6 years), but minor things really.

We close in mid October, giving us a cushy two and a half weeks to clear out of our old apartment before that lease is up. Unfortunately, I'll probably go crazy in anticipation waiting these two months.

Behold!

I'm glad to see you all are still checking my site, despite irregular posting. As a reward, may I present to you

Fritz and Franz: Fight the Future SPECIAL EDITION
(with special death-to-John Waters opening)

A little part of me died

The revival of Pirates of Penzance was a staple in my musical theater repertoire as a young girl. Not only a funny show and fun to pretend I could sing along with the soprano, but it had two handsome pirates in thigh-high leather boots with luscious perms.


Though Kevin Kline's charisma has a certain pull, my girlish crush fell on Frederic, played by Rex Smith. Those earnest eyes, the tiny ponytail, the way he over-enunciated each and every word with those pouty lips. I had forgotten about his capacity to make me swoon until we saw the play in Park City, prompting me to re-watch Amanda's copy of the Joseph Papp production.




But where is Rex now? I think I heard he was doing more shows on Broadway, maybe even a Tony nomination or two. Hmm, let's wander over to his official website . . .








Is there anything sadder than this?

Utah

After a great night performance of the Pirates of Penzance at the Deer Valley outdoor theater, we had a half day in Park City.

Lovely day for a zip down the mountain! It was a close race. . .

I shouldn't have breaked in anticipation of the red line, I could have won! But it's true, Andy crossed the finish first.

Going up the mountain a second time. Dad, Andy, and I rode a zipline down.

Mom felt cheated because a squirrel was on her track while racing Dad.

Amanda's neighborhood got pummelled with rain.

You gotta see the Baaabee. Addison sure is cute! It was great seeing an old friend (love you, Kris!).

Chair Lift

I love Andy's expression in this picture. (click to see in fully glory) More vacation pics coming soon . . .

Italian American Cuisine

Don't think I've been neglecting my kitchen! I'm just slow to post. I returned to some favorite dishes from the my earlier years of marriage.


Chicken fingers! Breaded with crumbs and parmesan, with baked sweet potato and sauteed zucchini with dill.

Pesto chicken with sundried tomatoes, green beans, and rosemary garlic potatoes.

Refreshing blueberry smoothies!

I've eaten so much of this lately. Blended cream cheese, parmesan, sundried tomatoes and their oil make a sweet and savory spread. Served here on black pepper flax seed crackers.

Mmm, homemade semolina fettucini, extra thick, how Ben likes it.

Served with turkey meatballs, chunky marinara and parmesan.

Speaking of meatballs, this is turkey meatloaf, baked in a muffin tin. Instead of a burnt exterior, raw interior loaf, each serving is perfectly cooked and portioned. The medley of roasted vegetables includes carrot, eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, potatoes, and (don't forget) garlic.

A heaping pot of marinara to last all week.

Italian white bean salad. Minced garlic and carrot sizzle in olive oil before adding cannellini beans. Let simmer for an hour, add salt, pepper, and plenty of fresh parsley.

I tried a recipe for lemon ginger muffins. Despite calling for a 1/2 cup of fresh ginger, the flavor wasn't pronounced. In half the muffins I added small bits of crystallized ginger. That boosted the flavour and made the texture more interesting (they turned soft like gummies!), but still, this recipe was disappointing.

Finally, classic lasagne with a green salad. Not pictured, I also made sloppy joes this week.

Music Videos on YouTube

In this article, YouTube founder says he is negotiating to get every music video ever created on youtube. It's too good to be true. Does anyone else get the feeling this website is going to crash and burn?

Recipe Copyrights

I was always curious about this. Accidental Hedonist clearly defines recipe copyright rules:

I see that recipes and copyrights have been brought up again, so I thought I would give my basic spiel which I hope explains it all. I think I've covered this before, but I'm too lazy to look it up in the archives.

Lists of ingredients are not protected by copyright. Explanation of techniques are not restricted either, as a rule. Literary license in the form of prose is, however, guarded by copyright. Let me give an example.

Part I:

I like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as they bring a bright smile to my face. They are especially good with a cold glass of milk.

Part II:

* 2 slices of white bread
* 3 Tablespoons peanut butter
* 2 Tablespoons strawberry Jelly

Part III:

With a knife, spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread. With the same knife, spread the jelly on the other side of bread. Press together the two slices of bread, with the peanut butter and jelly facing each other.

Here's the deal. Part I is under copyright. An entity cannot reproduce Part I (even as bad as it is) without attribution.

Part II is not able protected by copyright. Period. Underline three times.

Part III is where it gets a bit iffy. In the case of the above, Part III is most likely not sheltered by copyright. There's not much in the form of literary expression. Instead, it's essentially a formula that uses the list of ingredients. Such formulas are not covered by copyright.

However, if there was a fair amount of prose interspersed within the formula, then it can be protected by copyright. If Part III was dressed up with memories of making the sandwiches, and tied together with a personal anecdote or two then no one could use it without permission.

Chinese Dance: 1000 Hands

Another beautiful dance video courtesy of YouTube.

Power Up

I'm blishing on my juiced up laptop. Bruce and I got the same laptop the same year. He retired his this summer and sold me the parts at a super discount. Now I have a wireless card, double the memory, and working disk drive for the first time in 4 years (hey, that's as long as I've been married - today! Happy Anniversary, Ben). Now I can surf in the same room Ben plays video games. If only I could teach Molly to fetch me chocolate and refreshing beverages . . .

Ok Go music video

Brilliant idea.