Shopping

I worked all night last night and today decided to go shopping instead of napping. Here is what I learned:
- go to the mall on Monday afternoon. Easy parking, and no people
- then realize that there is no reason to be at the mall, because they don't have any of the things you want anyway
- go home, put on your pj's, turn on the tv and shop online

Ah Christmas. Such a wonderful time of the year.

Doctoring

I'm working today, on call, covering for one of my colleagues. And
it's a beautiful day outside, so I'm a bit disappointed to be here. I
would so much rather be at the beach, reading a book and absorbing the
sunshine. But what can you do...

I almost turned on the heat last night, it has been getting chilly
here once the sun goes down. Instead I put on 2 sweaters and my
slippers. Hopefully that's as far as it will go. Once I have to put on
a hat or mittens while in-doors, the heat must go on.

That's all I've got. Do not fear, NaBloPoMo is almost over. Then it
will be back to my occasional, rather than daily posting. Not that I
can promise that will be any more interesting.

Adam-Free Dining

I do miss Adam when he is out of town, but I love the freedom I have when it comes to dinner.

Tonight's meal would never have happened if Adam had been here, for so many reasons:

1. it involved pumpkin (and cinnamon)

2. breakfast for dinner (and yet he has no trouble eating dinner for breakfast...)

3. blurs the line between wholesome meal and dessert

But for me, all three make the most perfect meal. I give you pumpkin waffles with fresh whipped cream and maple syrup. Yum.

The Limits of Blogging

I only wish I could blog smells. Right now I am making onion soup and baking homemade rolls. It smells fabulously wonderful in here. And the pictures just don't do it justice, given the horrible job my camera does with indoor lighting.

Another lazy day. In addition to doing my part to ensure that the middle cushion on our couch has a permanent impression of my butt, I cleaned the downstairs of our house thoroughly. It sparkles. I went running. And I made things!

The aforementioned onion soup and rolls, which I enjoyed making so much, I am now inspired to make Christmas dinner for my family this year (make is an exageration--I'll likely order a ham from Whole Foods, but given my family's various dietary restrictions, I'm guessing I'll be the only one eating it). While dinner was tasty, I do have to say, vegetarian French onion soup is lacking a bit. I miss that beef stock-y goodness. I also missed the cheese, but I don't have any oven-proof bowls so wouldn't be able to broil the cheese anyway (this, Adam, is why oven-proof everyday dishes are important!):And I started a new baby blanket to repalce the disasterous one:Tomorrow and Sunday I have to work. Tomorrow should be a short day, but I have to take overnight call on Sunday. Ah well, the "vacation" was good while it lasted.

Happy Turkey Day!

I didn't get called into work today (yay!), so I'll be spending the day with friends. This morning I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and my new favorite Thanksgiving Day tradition--the National Dog Show! It's like a menu of dogs, you look at the various breeds, and figure out which ones you would like. I had decided I want a flat-coated retriever. It's a lovely dog.

In addition to my extensive television watching this morning, I'm going to make some sort of vegetable for today's Thanksgiving dinner. I was going to make the traditional Tylee Family corn souffle (pronounced soo-full) but I didn't motivate to get the jiffy corn muffin mix and there is no way I'm braving the grocery store now, so we'll have to save it for Christmas. I'm also experimenting with bread making. I was intrigued by this recipe for rolls, no kneading!, so I'm giving it a shot. I think they will go nicely with the onion soup I'm going to try to make tomorrow. I love lazy weekends.

Thanksgiving, the prelude

Tonight Adam heads off to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving with the family. I am stuck in San Diego, not working, but I'm on-call if anyone gets sick. So I must be able to get to the hospital within an hour. I will hopefully not get called in and get to spend the day with friends, but you never know what illness is lurking (or which of my fellow residents will decide they don't want to work on Thanksgiving and feign illness). I will miss having Adam around for the next few days, but I view this as an opportunity to eat the things I truly love that he can't stand. Like anything with olives. Or bleu cheese. Or pumpkin. Mmmm... I'm already dreaming of the pumpkin waffles I'm going to make myself for breakfast this weekend. And I have a whole list of recipes to try out during this long weekend. Should be a lovely time.

Cooking

I cooked dinner tonight, a recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. This one was great, a one pot meal, that didn't require much in the way of grocery shopping, tasted fabulous, will make excellent leftovers, and both Adam and his brother liked it. I love cooking. I wish I had more time for it. There are times when I wish I didn't have to work. I would spend each morning drinking my coffee, doing a crossword puzzle (I do miss my New York Times crossword puzzle), go for a jog. Then come home and plan menus for the week. I would do my grocery shopping in the middle of the day, when the stores are less crowded. I could then spend all the time in the world preparing some fabulous meal. Complete with vegetables and side dishes. Of course, in this fantasy world I would have every kitchen appliance and gadget imaginable and tons of counter-space. I would also have a maid who came once a week, so I never had to worry about cleaning the bathroom or folding laundry, my two most hated chores. I could just cook. And we'd have a dog. In my fantasy world we have a black lab named Millie.