Well, Super Bowl Sunday turned out to be a lot more eventful then the actually Superbowl.  I’m sorry, but did anyone else think that game was a little boring?  For me the highlight of those four hours was The Who’s performance. Great light show!

Anyway. In the morning I made Irish Soda Bread.  Not exactly a healthy-as-can-be choice but what’s a little bit of bread now and again?  (Oh, I feel like I’m going to health-nut hell for that one)  If you dare, check out my recipe page for the recipe.  And if anyone out there has a gluten-free/vegan/healthy variation of your choice,  please share with the class.  Here’s what my baking mess looked like.

I am such a messy baker.  They even look messy baking in the oven.

This bread is so good though.  It’s worth the clean-up.

After the bread-making extravaganza, we were off to another museum.  This time it was the Bowers Museum in Orange.  The Art-Student, as I am now calling him, needed to go there for an assignment and I was happy to tag along.  I believe part of my path to wellness is being cultured and looking at art is a great way to do it. Bowers is a small museum exhibiting mostly early Californian art.  At present, however, they are exhibiting the ancient arts of China. Very cool.  They are also showcasing Chris Rainer who documented through photography the culture of New Guinea.  Very intense.

This was my favorite piece…I really love paintings of market places.

The Art-Student fancied this piece done in pastels…He tried to do his own pastel piece tonight but realized he had no fixer.  Anyway know what to use to fix pastels?

We both agreed that this chess set was amazing.  The carving detail was incredible…

So that was our culture for the day.  We then went on to watch the Colts give it up to the Saints, who deserved to win anyway, in my opinion.

And now it’s Monday.  I felt kinda sickly this morning and cruddy all day.  I feel better now and just completed another baking escapade.  I’ve been baking a lot lately and I’ll tell you why…I’m terrible at it and this bothers me greatly so I need the practice.  I like to think of myself as a pretty good cook but baking is just not my forte.  Those who are good at it, hats off to you.  Perhaps next time you can bestow on me some your magic touch or whatever it is.  Regardless, tonight I made vegetable muffins.  I know it sounds weird, but they are actually pretty good. Think of it more as bread with veggies in it.  I figure they will be good for an on-the-go breakfast.  Maybe with a hummus spread.  This recipe can also be found on the recipe page.

I’m excited for tomorrow.  I’m making a Chicken and Cauliflower Curry in the crock-pot, with a few of my own modifications, of course. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

This is a not-so-healthy recipe but they taste pretty good so I thought I’d share.  I wouldn’t mind a glass of milk to dip one in.  Or a cup of coffee!  Oh boy, breakfast tomorrow!  Here’s the recipe if you care to give it a try…

Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• optional additions: dark chocolate covered almonds, raisins

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350º.  Combine flour, baking power, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
• In another medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla and beat until creamy.  Mix in dry ingredients.  Add additional optional ingredients (chocolate, raisins, etc).   Spoon onto cookie sheet.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  Let cool and ENJOY!

Sorry about the lame picture.  My camera battery died and the charger is somewhere in a box in LB.  This was taken with my cell phone.

Other things in boxes at LB…my cookie sheet – so I had to use tin foil, and my mixer – so I had to cream the butter and sugar by hand, booooo.  I also used a whole can of canned pumpkin when I was supposed to use half.  Life is funny and I am not a good baker.  At least I have cookies!

Goodnight all!

Well, we’re almost all moved into the new place in LB (Long Beach, CA).  The All-Star and I spent all of yesterday’s day light hours moving furniture.  I did my best to follow the rules of lifting.  It went well.  I got the “Good girl, two thumbs up” from the boy.  That’s always nice coming from your heart’s desire.  I remember as a young girl trying to show off to the boys with my own feats of strength.  Little did I know that often intimidates them (sorry guys, it’s true).  But just between you and me, I would have happily delegated some manly arms yesterday, rather than pump up my own moving two couches, etc.  In the end all that squatting and lifting was a good workout!

Here’s my Uhaul plug.  They really know how to boost your moving day confidence with that “U can do it!”  Don’t be fooled by the price tag though.  It cost a heck of a lot more than $19.95.

The All-Star taking off table legs to make room for more crap stuff.

He’s so strong…and smart.  It’s a lot easier to carry tables when you take the legs off.

We finished just as it got dark…pretty good timing since we’re not paying for the electricity yet.

By the end of the day we were so happy with our job well done but totally pooped and very hungry.

This morning I woke up pretty sore but by lunchtime I was ready to head over and figure out the mess we made yesterday.

The All-Star drove up to San Fransisco late last night (he’s insane) to say good-bye to a friend who’s moving back to Poland (we’ll miss you Bogdan!) so I was left to my own devices in the apartment.  I didn’t mind.  Nesting alone further validated my strong woman-ly-ness!

I’m now back at the old place with not much more than an air mattress and a 15 inch TV (blah).  I’m going to attempt baking (which I never do) because I’m bored and all my “stuff” is at the new apartment.  Funny the things we can think of to do when there’s nothing to do and all your stuff is gone.

Wish I had some words of wisdom to share, but I can’t find my glasses and my brain is tired.  Not sure which came first in that senario.  Either way, measuring flour and sugar seems a little more my speed at the moment.  I’ll let you know how it goes and be sure to share the recipe if they are delicious.  Oh yeah, I’m making pumpkin cookies.  Wish me luck!