Sprizee :: A simple girl replete with complications

Good Day for a Picnic

I'm in a cookbook club. DId I mention that? It's awesome. We pick a book and get together every couple of months. It's basically a giant potluck guaranteed to happen 6 times a year. And we always end up with tons of leftovers.

It's great to know so many smart, creative people who enjoy food just as much as me.

Anyways, I'm blowing the dust off this space to share this recipe from our most recent meetup. Since I made it for our picnic a few weeks back I've already made it several more times. Quick, satisifying and great on a hot summer day.

Sesame Noodle Salad adapted from A Good Day for a Picnic

8 oz. asian wheat noodles (or thin spagetti)
1 Tablespoon raw sesame seeds (or just skip since most of these end up at the bottom of the bowl)
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil (when I doubled this recipe I cut the oil down to 1/2 cup)
1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger (mincing is for folks w/too much time, I just micro-grated mine)
3 Tablespoons teriyaki sauce
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons lime juice (or if you're like me the juice of a single lime w/out measuring)
2 teaspoons chill-garlic sauce
1 small cucumber peeled and seeded and cut into half circles
Salt to taste

Boil the noodles according to directions. Rinse and drain w/cold water to prevent from sticking together.

Toast the sesame seeds over a medium low heat until they have just started to brown. 5-10 minutes. Reserve the seeds.

In the same skillet, heat the sesame oli over medium heat. When the oil is hot add the ginger and garlic and saute for 15 seconds. Then add all the liquid ingredicents. Bring to simmer and simmer for 1 minute.

Toss the noodles w/the sauce. Add seeds and top with cucumbers.

Can be served at room temp or cold.

Keeps for 2 days.

P.S. We don't always get it right. Once we cooked from Cookin' with Coolio. Things happen.

Sunshine Sunday

I spent the morning spinning tunes and catching up on work. I know that sounds awful but it was actually a pretty good time.

Who's Lovin' You? - Jackson 5
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours - Stevie Wonder
Billy Jean - Michael Jackson
Respect - Aretha Franklin
I'll Be There - Jackson 5
Blame It On The Boogie - Michael Jackson
Got To Give It Up - Marvin Gaye
Want You Back - Jackson 5
Rockin Robin - Jackson 5
Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes
Let's Stay Together - Al Green
Chain of Fools - Aretha Franklin
I Got A Woman - Ray Charles

See? Not half bad.

9 Years Ago Today

9 years ago today I showed up to the church only to discover that all the decorations Misty, Stacy and the rest of my friends had help me put up during the rehearsal the night before were gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. I didn't care. After all, at the end of the day, I'd be going home with this guy.

If you've ever met him, I'm sure you can understand where I was coming from.

Neilson, you don't happen to have anything else up your sleeve do you? Just a little something that says 9 years of marriage is even more amazing than 5 years of marriage? What's that? I'm on my own for this one? Crap.

The Dude is the kindest, sweetest, most patient and loveable person I know. His curosity is inspiring. His concern for others is endearing. His knowledge is vast and impressive. His dance skills are commanding and he also happens to look damn fine in a slim cut suit. Ten years ago he proposed to me against the backdrop of the Seattle skyline and for once in my life I did not hesitate to make a decision. For once the anwser was obvious and easy.

Happy Anniversary Sweetpea. I love you. I love you. I love you.

This month being February I'm really into...

...traveling to Paris for two weeks with my mom, French butter and fresh baked goods, walking everywhere, The Louvre, Parisian architecture, rose wine, Pere Lachaise Cemetary, wool coats and knee high leather boots, being glad to be back home, showering at the office while the single bathroom at my house is completely gutted and remodeled, shiny new tiles that actually look old, getting over the fact that Twitter lost all my tweets only to realize they're suddenly back, baking a David Lebovitz recipe for cookbook club, missing kung fu, staying healthy and general exhaustion.

Last month and the month before that I was into the Ricky Gervais podcast, An Idiot Abroad, a new pie shop near my office (for sweet and savory bites), Las Vegas for a conference, the Bodies exhibit, artifacts from the Titanic, remembering Jason's (and before that Misty's) sweet cat Nixon, hosting some family on Boxing Day, seeing a preview of 127 Hours and then hearing the director Danny Boyle chat about it, baking sea salt brownies, hosting bookclub and baking a bunch of other baked goods for December's cookbook club.

Exploring Paris

I'm headed to Paris this weekend. I've been bookmarking advice for months, but just now realized I hadn't bothered to read much of it yet. So I'm placing it all here for future reference. Good thing they have the "wee fee" (wifi) over in France. Phew!

New York Times - 36 Hours in Paris If I'll be there much longer than 36 hours but this is a good place to start.

Not Martha - My Vacation Slides: Paris Day 1 Megan wrote a whole series of posts with great practical advice. Yes!

Nazila - Paris 2010 My Take Sorry this only works if you're Facebook friend's with her. And if you're not, that's too bad because she's AWESOME. I hope you two get the chance to meet someday. Your life will be better for it.

Food Nouveau - A Food Tour of Paris Montmarte I mostly plan to walk around and eat and then walk around some more.

David Lebovitz - My Paris As a slight aside, if you haven't already read his book, The Sweet Life in Paris, I highly recommend it.

I'm also having the one single bathroom in my house remodeled while I'm gone. I'm either insane or a genius. Cross your fingers all goes well.

2010 Looking Back

2010 Looking Back, originally uploaded by sprizee.

I drive to the ocean and discover that New Year's resolutions will write themselves if you let them. I learn Kung Fu. I take a roadtrip down to Portland with my mom and meet up with Misty and her sister to watch The English Department's wedding show. We ooh and ahh and then we drive home.

I help Heather and Altrooist with the 1st Annual Drunken Spelling Bee. Heather is brilliant (as always!) and talks Luke Burbank into hosting. I fly to New Orleans to celebrate the marriage of Rachel and Chris and my 8th wedding anniversary. I meet Naomi and Rocky for the first time. Misty and Chris are there too. I decide I want to take all of these people with me on all my future vacations.

I drive back down to Portland with Misty to help her pick out a wedding dress at the lovely English Department. I spend a long weekend in Astoria, Oregon. I sip coffee, chat with my mom, read a book about Richard Feynman, tour decaying museums, hike up a very tall column, visit Canon Beach and generally enjoy the drizzle.

I bike to Gas Works Park to picnic with 7 happily unemployed people and 1 adorable puppy. I attend a wedding where I dance outside in the grass in 90 degrees until my feet are so impossibly bistered that I have to kick off my shoes. I keep dancing.

Work is non-stop busy. Then Misty and Chris get married! I want to give a toast but I'm too blubbering and teary to even stand up.

I visit San Juan Island and fall in love with Washington all over again. I club a golf ball around at Smashputt! I fly to San Francisco for less than 24 hours. A week later I fly back to San Fransisco.

This time Rachel and Chris are also in town and we meet up to devour the Zuni Cafe chicken. Then they take me to this place in the Tenderloin with a secret entrance where you need a password to get in. The drinks are killer.

I give up on the summer and start looking forward to fall. I visit Coupeville on the way to the pumpkin patch with Neilson, Stacy and The Dude for our annual Farmoween trip.

My stupid inherited car finally dies. Luckily it dies in front of my house. I black out multiple teeth in the name of the dead. I go rock climbing with Misty. Indoors. With a padded floor.

I fly to Boston. I'm in love. Then I fly to New York. More city love. I have the most amazing meal at Sushi of Gari 46. I continue to have fantastic food everywhere I go, like The Spotted Pig and Russ & Daughters.

Rachel and Chris are in town too! I try to catch my flight back to Seattle and Delta refuses to let me on because I'm 5 minutes late. I cry and then I pull it together. I catch a cab back to NYC and crash with Rachel and Chris. We hit the Breslin. Life is good.

We wander around NYC some more. The weather is perfect. Blue skies and warmish. I look up and we're in Washington Square Park. It's so warm outside it feels like I'm getting sunburnt. It's the best feeling ever. Then I almost miss my flight back to Seattle again.

Back in Seattle I bake. It snows. I buy a new car.  I roast my first turkey for Thanksgiving. I obsess about what to bring to Cook Book Club. I sit by the fireplace and write Christmas cards, enjoy the little things and bake some more.

I remind myself that I don't need to be attached to the Internet every waking moment of the day and that done is better than perfect.

2009 Looking Back

Say something, say something, anything.

I had tickets to see James at the Showbox tonight. But the Husky football game got in the way. Can I go back in time, leave halfway through the game, catch a bus downtown and spend the rest of the evening soaking up their live performance? No? Fine. Then I'll just spin Laid on repeat indefinately. Damn, I forgot how much I love that album.

Your silence is deafening. Give me a sign.