junk drawer

what goes around, comes around

As I have mentioned before, I started a new gig for the food network about a month ago.  My new office is super tiny, about eight people are here each day.

Six of us work out of a small bright orange room filled cubicles.  I'm lucky to say that I knew about half of the people here before I started this contract, and the other half I really like.

With that being said, working in such a small space lends to knowing ALOT about one another.  Hell, I spend more time with these people than anyone else.

Several weeks ago, one of my co-workers Sara came in raving about the dinner she had made the night before:  Pork with onions and apples with a cider reduction. (being a food show we tend to talk about food ALOT)  Then a week later, another co-worker Addie made the recipe and got rave reviews.

Last night, I decided to joing the crowd and make it myself.

Here is this delicious recipe-

Pork Chops with Onion and Apples -courtesy of Sara Finne

Ingredients (serves 4) :

4 pork chops

1 red onion

1 crisp apple (any kind will do)

1 cup apple cider

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp Olive Oil

Warm Olive Oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Season pork chops with salt and pepper and add to pan. 

Sear the pork chops on each side until they are partially cooked (about 3-4 a side). Then remove pork and put aside on plate.

Reduce heat and add red onion (chopped or julienned).  Cook until they are softened (about 6-7 minutes)

Add chopped apple and allow to brown for about 2 minutes.  Increase heat to medium high and return pork chops to pan.  Cook through. (about another 2-3 minutes per side)

Remove pork chops once more and deglaze skillet with apple cider.  (up to one cup or so...) Stir and let cider reduce.  Add corn starch and water to cider, apples and onions, if desired.

Plate pork and top with apple/onion/cider reduction.

Enjoy!

trick or treat

My weekend certainly was filled with treats.  Being both a birthday girl and a material girl, I was busy!

Otis and I celebrated my b-day on Friday night with a delicious meal at one of our favorite places in South Philly.  It's not fancy or pretentious, in fact we walked in and sat right down without having to make a reservation.  It's simple and feels like our little secret.  We agree than whomever cooks in this tiny food haven must love to cook for cooking's sake.  They knock us over every time.

I also got some lovely presents from my main squeeze.  O tapped into the resources of a fellow blogger for some birthday gift guidelines and then took if from there...with adorable earrings, a magnet (I collect 'em) and SEW U by Wendy Mullin, my gift pile was a home run.

The next morning I was up early to sew my dress for my Halloween costume for the big Halloween party at my old neighborhood bar. Seven of us decided to be different stages of Madonna, and me being the sewer, was deemed to be the Material Girl.

I bought super cheap polyester and watched the video on You Tube.  Having never made a dress before, sewing this gown was a daunting task.  I decided to sew the pink nastiness onto an existing strapless dress for support.  It took about 6 hours, I made it up as I went along and the end result was good, not great,  But for a costume that I was going to wear just one night, it was perfect.

(from L to R) Vogue(Jeannie), Material Girl (me), Borderline (Kate), Like a Virgin (Kristin), Like a Prayer (Phoebe), and Papa Don't Preach (Megan)

We certainly turned some heads and some of the costumes were months in the making. Down at the bar we took over the jukebox and had a Madonna sing-along party.  It was great. Walking down the street we certainly turned some heads.  Some people even yelled: "Give the baby back!"  hilarious!

On a side note ...I never, ever, ever, want to wear, sew, buy pink shiny polyester again or work with tulle....they stink!

who can even see a needle in all that mess?! The Like a Virgin skirt doesn't sew itself.

Milestones

Today is my birthday. I'm 27.

This year my parents got me a kitchen aid mixer and I couldn't be more thrilled. (Thanks mom and dad, I love it!!) To me, that's the sign that I am getting older. An electric mixer with a dough hook gets me all fired up.

10 years ago today I was getting my drivers license. What I milestone. I felt so grown up that day.

If I remember correctly the first place I went when I got my license was to the 7-11 for a slurpee. Talk about excitement.

When I was 17 I idenitified myself as:

-A student
-A volleyball player
-single
-a violinist
-a future hoosier
-an aspiring tv producer
-a senior

Today I am:

-A girlfriend
-A tv producer
-A knitter
-A sewer
-A car owner
-A graduate
-A foodie
-A friend
-opinionated
-passionate

A slightly more narrowed list, eh?

I can drink, vote, buy booze, gamble, and rent a car. Life is good. My car insurance premium has gone down.

I feel slightly adult.

SLIGHTLY

Just 3 years till 30. 10 til 37. I wonder what my list will look like then?

Wish me luck.

socks and the city

Well I have finally visited the famous NYC knitting shop Purl.

It was not my intention to visit this little hotbed of New York knitting when Otis and I left for Long Island late Saturday morning.  However, after making considerable progress on the 2nd "sock from hell" (I've actually turned the heel and am currently working on the gusset.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel folks!) and seeing that I was running rather low on yarn, I knew that I was in dire need of another skein of Koigu.

There are a multitude of ways to get to Long Island from Philadelphia and on this journey we decided to take the Holland Tunnel in order to cross through Manhattan to the Manhattan Bridge.  I looked up from needles when we were on W. Broadway and said to myself:

"Wait a second, I know there is a good yarn shop right by here, and I know for sure that they carry tons of Koigu. If I get another skein right now, I might finish this sock this weekend!"

A quick 411 research call to the shop and I had an address.  Purl was just around the corner on Sullivan street!

Otis, being the love that he is, agreed to wait in the car at the top of the block while I went skipping/running down the street to the store.

I popped in, did a quick search and to my dismay they didn't have the color I needed.  BAH!

But it was worth it.  After spending a short 30 seconds in the shop I know I need to go back in there again soon just to look around.  The hype is valid. They do have a great selection (although not that great.)

Looks like I will be stopping in at Loop here in Philly at some point this week.  I need to capitalize on this resurgence in zeal for knitting my "socks from hell"...

going...going...

Gone

We've had to bid our pumpkins adieu.  Really, it was just too disgusting to bear.  Check out the science experiments after the jump.  The photo is just too gross to make anyone look at without careful preparation.

You've been warned!

using what you got...

Maybe I am the laziest lady in the land...it took months for me to get motivated enough to cover the NASTY ottoman that has been sitting in our living room since last spring.   It took me an hour and a half to do.  Geesh.

Here is how this little embarrassment looked before:

The chair that this dandy belongs to is sitting up in our master bedroom, looking equally as "special." 

One probably wonders why we are holding on to these guys.  The answer is simply because they are incredibly comfortable.

Actually this ottoman used to be upstairs with the chair, but I brought it downstairs after moving in with Otis and realizing that I CANNOT sit in a chair at night with out putting my feet up.  This seems to be a genetic trait as my mother and grandmother are the same way.

Behold the lovely new ottoman (that took all of 90 minutes to recover)

I used the same fabric (but in a different color) that I used on my sofa in my craft room which is another relic from O's bachelor pad.

My feet are happy....

trigger happy

I think I greeted fall a little too soon.  Maybe I should have waited...oh I don't know...two more weeks before I went chopping up poor little pumpkins.

Oh well.  This is what is left of the lovely creations from last weekend's pumpkin fest.  (I don't have the heart to tell the neighborhood kids yet)And probably I should have waited before making this yummy pie, but it's O's favorite and he was feeling crummy and laying on the couch and well....I couldn't help myself.  Again...

The pie better be gone by next weekend. The last thing I need is more sticky messes. For whatever reason, I'm sure it won't be a problem.

the answer must be somewhere

One of the best things about my job is finding out about different people, how they live, how they eat, what they do....It's amazing how a little curiousity can go a long way.  And while I really can't elaborate  (cause there is a strong element of secrecy in my current production) I've been amazed at the list of people I have reached out to in the past week and a half and what I have learned about them and their lives.

I'm also amazed at what other people are curious about.  For sure, one of the most engaging things about blogging (and typepad) is how people land on your site.  Typepad lists the google search query in their reference listing. What people google search is pretty funny.

In the past week I have come up on searches which included:

British tornado
Lifeguard stand
Trading Spaces
blue
cute
crocs
rug flop in bahrain
carter oosterhouse (this one comes up the most, oddly mostly from people in Canada)

I have a junkdrawer of information indeed!

pumpkin fest

We had Pumpkin Fest 2006 this weekend on the block.  We had a lot of fun carving and drawing on pumpkins.  Check out all these smiling faces...they seemed to love the little pumpkins that I picked out for them. horay!

These goofy guys are going to be hanging out on my back deck until their big debut on Halloween.  Spooky!!

Something Old

photo courtesy of Brandi B

One of my favorite building in Philadelphia is the Divine Lorraine, on the corner of Broad and Fairmount.  It has sat abandoned for as long as I've lived in town and it reminds most people who see it of a by gone era.

Yesterday, on Philebrity, there was some fabulous news that some artifacts in this amazing building are for sale. Here is a link to photos of the inside of this building....just some dilapidated eye candy for your Thursday.