more food

No pictures this time, but here's what I cooked today:

1. Stuffed baked potatoes (I put onions, basil, and parmesan in mine...)

2. Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies!

3. Kielbasa Stew with Kale and Cannelloni Beans

Definitely delicious. Oy.

Also made a run to the thrift store and got a preeeeetty necklace, two Halloween costume possiblities (Audrey Hepburn, or zombie Clara Schumann?), two glasses for my bathroom, and four new tumblers for whiskey escapades at home. Good good good good day.

how to cure a cold

With vegetable porn and pork stew, of course!

This pile of gorgeousness...

Became these two piles of deliciousness...

And now I'm cured! No more cold! Plus I've got delicious leftovers for a week or so.

Here's what I made (magic clicky things):

Pork Stew

Soba Noodle Salad

Spicy Chicken and Penne

Spinach Egg Salad

What a perfect little October afternoon.

first ten days list

Things I did during my first ten days in Cincinnati:

1. Pissed off my landlords. First, I asked them if I could paint the walls, and was adamantly told "NO". Then, I complained about the medicine chest in the bathroom (which really is quite hideous) and asked if I could replace it. Once again, "NO". Then, quite without thinking about it, I hung some shelves, which apparently is a huge breach of my lease agreement. Oops.

2. Bought a new computer!!! A beautiful 13-inch MacBook Pro. Came with a free ipod touch and everything. Fancy schmancy.

3. Met my neighbors. A recently divorced professor with two kids, two med students, both named Aaron, three female foreign exchange students from India, and me. Plus a dental hygienist next door. All really nice, so far.

4. Bought a piano! It's adorable, and it's really hard for me not to play it 24/7. I got it from the sweetest Baptist minister and his church-music-lady wife. They live across the river in Erlanger, KY, and we totally bonded. I'm going to ask them over for dinner soon.

5. Met a guy named Fatty. Okay actually his name is Fady, which is Egyptian, but still.

6. Gave my number to a 19-year-old thinking he was at least 23.

7. Rode my bike to a farmers market with a girl in tie-dye and a guy with dreads, followed by sitting around a campfire in an urban garden space with six hippies, splitting a six-pack, and passing around a doobie, all while talking about how it'll be great when mankind realizes that this is the end of human civilization as we know it and comes together as one. Also with said hippies, explored a seven-story abandoned warehouse. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

8. Walked and walked and walked, hanging advertisements for my piano studio (The Grand Piano Studio, http://thegrandpianostudio.weebly.com)

9. Discovered that they do, in fact, have an IKEA in Ohio. The same day I also saw Julie & Julia by myself and cried my little eyes out.

10. Bought fancy cheese at Findley Market. Manchego. It's a harder cheese made from goat's milk in the same Spanish region that Don Quixote was from, La Mancha. I highly recommend it, especially shredded on salads and/or pasta.

11. Drove to Ann Arbor and back for a lovely little 24-hour visit with my good friend Nick Susi.

combinations list

Sometimes, all you need are the basics. But every once in a while, you take two and put them together and POW it's like your whole world has been altered. For example...

1. Peanut butter and honey

2. Milk and Oreos

3. Steak and A1

4. Apples and cheese (preferably crisp apples and sharp cheese)

5. Beer and a burger

6. Bread and butter (best when toasty)

7. Cheez-Its and wine

8. Chocolate and... well pretty much anything, actually

9. Iced tea with lemon

10. Biscuits and gravy

11. Nuts and caramel

pre-school list

The wonderful things that happen to me at work (a pre-school/daycare for 2-6 years olds only):

1. Ava gets discouraged and says "Aw nuts!"
2. Ibrahim kicks the ball over the fence and says "Aw snaps!"
3. I catch Ethan staring at me and he blushes and grins at me before looking away.
4. Evan calls me "Breathe" except he can't say his th's right so it comes out "Breeve".
5. No matter when or where, everyone is overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the prospect of dancing.
6. Carter acts all fatherly to me just because he's the oldest kid there.
7. A fight ensues pretty much every day over the coveted pink hula hoop, usually ending with Maile winning, Lia crying, and Maile feeling bad and giving it to Lia anyway.
8. Ginger has this way of quietly observing and then wowing me with her thoughts about things later on, proving that wisdom has absolutely nothing to do with age.
9. Every time anyone finds a roly-poly on the patio, he is immediately either named Sam or deemed to be Sam's mommy, daddy, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, nephew, neice, or cousin -- "Hey! It's SAM!!!!"
10. The art projects are always incredbily beautiful and creative.
11. We're always glad to see you and sad to see you go. I love walking in every day. Really.

moving list

Silly little things I must do in Kansas before leaving it behind:

1. Real BBQ (done)
2. Camping and/or sailing on one of their fakey fake lakes
3. Royals game on buck night (done)
4. Go to a local show (done twice over!)
5. Night out on the Plaza in KC (done)
6. Go to the art museums (half done)
7. Worlds of Fun!
8. Oceans of Fun!
9. Buy some Jayhawk gear (done)
10. Go out and hear some really good jazz in the 18th and Vine district
11. I'm going to leave number eleven up for interpretation.

baked goods list

My all-time favorite baked goods:

1. Crusty hard rolls

2. Chewy chocolate chip cookies

3. Fudge brownies (no nuts, no frosting)

4. Plain old simple cheesecake

5. Buttermilk biscuits

6. Banana bread

7. Caramel rolls (NOT cinnamon rolls, the evil twin of my beloved sticky buns)

8. Apple crisp

9. Lemon annnnnyyyything

10. Oatmeal toffee cookies

11. Muffins. Or maybe pie. Or muffins. Or pie. Muffin pie?