lately

reading:

we are renovating. it seems that paint fumes have gone to my head because i have the attention span of a gnat. needless to say i won't be reading war and peace this year. blog posts are more my speed these days. i read this one on health and diet (and life) last week and have been thinking about it ever since. i don't know if i agree with the thesis, but it is thought provoking and worth reading. in fact, all the posts are

listening: i'm not the one who is going to typically introduce you to new good songs. i don't know who is cool or hip or innovative. i do, however, know what i like; stuff that you want to sing along to, stuff that makes you feel happy, and stuff that makes you want to dance. i have been listening to firefly by owl city on repeat for about two weeks. so your self a favor and listen to it now and then write me back and tell me how you think this song sounds like love (because it totally does).

watching:if your idea of a good time is watching a masterpiece theater mini-series, you will love this new HBO mini-series about john adams. michael and i started watching it last night so far my opinion is: john adams is cool and thomas jefferson drools.

eating:romesco dip. lots of it. i've had garlic breath (etc) for two weeks. so does michael. it is worth it.

what are you reading, listening, watching and eating?

Tour du Plate

we had a lovely canadian thanksgiving and i thought i'd better post about it before american thanksgiving rolls around. i'm going to go out on a limb and say this was the best canadian thanksgiving dinner i have ever made (admittedly not saying much).

the menu included:

chicken
we cooked the whole bird in the crockpot as recommended by julie of dinner with julie fame. it was perfection.
sweet potato fries tossed in truffle oil and parmesan cheese
hazlenut mushroom stuffing
prepared by michaela, the carey family executive chef. if you want to try something new this year TRY THIS!
roasted beet salad with arugula, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and a red wine vinaigrette.
i am obsessed with beets.romesco dip prepared with roasted sweet red peppers, olive oil, and ground almonds
so easy and so good. we served it with fresh baked multigrain bread (the nutty chewy kind).
jarlesburg and gouda cheese, almond stuffed olives, fresh strawberries

cranberry blueberry sauce infused with lemon and nutmeg
if you use blueberries you need less sugar in the sauce

butter tarts and michael's special pumpkin cheesecake
made without a recipe but this dish is proof that when starting with cream and sugar, it it pretty hard to go wrong

now i am obsessing about what to have for american thanksgiving.

what do you usually have? what new recipe are you going to try? what do you consider your "best" thanksgiving dish? we need some inspiration here!!

New "Job"

i pretty much thought my life would be over when we moved to utah. to be honest, for the first few weeks we were here, i was kind of lost at sea. luckily, a few therapeutic shopping trips to nordstrom rack, some hiking in southern utah, and a new "job" seem to have revived my spirits.

so let me tell you about the "job"*

i am a research assistant at the center for documentary arts in slc. i do things like hunt down news stories on immigration, read up on minorities in utah, and chat (a lot) with the fascinating people i work with. currently the center is doing research for an exhibit for the leonardo on the civil rights movement in utah.

i'm so excited about this because for months i've wanted to do something that will help me with my long term goals. this opportunity exposes me to the documentary arts which will help me develop the skills, contacts, and technical know how to begin work on my own project (soon).

moving forward is so much fun (even if it is in utah).

and in honour of the new "job" i got bangs. wow. bangs. i'm a real wild woman.

yikes.

brows need HELP.

i better get off here before i pick my whole face apart and spend the rest of the night looking into botox/lasers/peels.

*i say "job" because i work for free. i am sure my boss thinks i am both insane and desperate. (not far off the mark actually).

this weekend:

katie did, so i did too:

(if anyone says these look like clown costumes i will jump out of the computer and give you a piece of my mind--which is that maybe they are a little clownish....and certainly as i child i would have flat out REFUSED to wear something like this, but they were fun to make! michael's poor nieces are the victims of my need for creative outlets.)

My Youtube Debut.

things you should know before watching:

1. i don't sing. at 12 i took voice lessons for 4 months. i quit after my teacher would not let me move on from a song called little lamb (worst song ever). here you will notice me laughing mid song, forgetting lyrics and going terribly off key.

2. my last name is "white" which pretty much sums up my rhythm. please enjoy my oafish attempts at choreography (in particular around 1:01).

3. michael is completely responsible for the lyrics, and he "made" me sing it. in retaliation i am composing a song about health care to the tune of little mermaid's part of their world (ie something along the lines of: up where they have free medication, health care for me, if i could be canadian). if the irony of michael singing a song about longing for socialized medicine is lost on you, check out his blog.

and now

presenting

"nucular!"

to the tune of popular from the musical Wicked.

A Reason to Shop at Gap

remember when the gap was cool? when we just couldn't seem to get enough? when khaki's swung? when even madonna was wearing gap jeans?

when the gap fell off the cool wagon, i can't say for sure, but what i do know is that circa 2000 you wouldn't catch me dead in the gap. the jeans looked like "mom" jeans. the shirts looked frumpy. the place was just blah.

around that time i jumped on the designer jean bandwagon. the fact that most styles didn't really fit, didn't look that great, and buying them meant i'd be eating kraft dinner for the rest of the month never seemed to phase me.

i 've needed new jeans for months and given my very strong feelings about the gap being the home of frump, it was with some skepticism that agreed to try some gap jeans on during a mother daughter shopping trip.
i knew before i even looked in the mirror that i'd found a winner in the gap's new 1969 sexy boot jean. i'm not exagerating when i say that these jeans look better than my seven for all mankind, rock and republic, or james jeans. at the fraction of the cost of premium denim, all of a sudden the gap is looking kind of cool again.

who knew.

go try them on now.....sexy boot. seriously. sexy.

Cafe Rio Abuse Problem

3 days in utah, 3 nights at cafe rio.


i crave the salad.
(which i can eat entirely on my own in one sitting)
i like the soup too.

after three days of eating the same thing at the same establishment i could probably stand for some variety, but cafe rio is too cheap and too good and still completely novel, so maybe i should just get something besides my usual.

what do you recommend?