I'm too busy to do anything fun for Halloween this year but if you haven't carved a pumpkin yet, you really should... and use one of these stencils...

Cuz pumpkin carving is COOOL!*

(Oh, and watch the cartoons on the site so that you get how funny the image is that you're slashing into the poor gourd)

I'll post the ones I did as soon as I find the pics

*view the stencils in IE

Posted by: Princess Cat at 07:03 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Its a cold, rainy mess of a day here in my world. It is a perfect day for one of my new favorite stews. This used to be a Rachel Ray recipe but I didn't like it her way. I changed around a few things and now it is much yummier.

INGREDIENTS
Veal Dumplings:
1 pound ground veal (or meatloaf blend)
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs, a couple of handfuls
1/4 cup, a generous handful, grated Parmigiano or Romano
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, eyeball it
Coarse salt and black pepper

Stew:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, enough to cover the pot
2 carrots, peeled, diced
2 ribs celery and their greens, diced
1 medium yellow skinned onion, diced
Coarse salt and pepper
1 fresh or dried bay leaf
1/2 cup white wine
1 can green beans
1 (15- ounce) can crushed tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups beef stock
6 sheets of wanton wrapper, cut into 1 in squares

Crusty bread, to pass at table

DIRECTIONS
Combine the veal and the next 5 ingredients. Then form the mixture into small meatballs, set aside.

Heat a medium soup pot over medium to medium-high heat. Begin to chop veggies while pot heats up: dice carrots into 1/4 inch pieces, chop celery and onion. Add extra-virgin olive oil to warm pot. Once the oil is warm, add the carrots. Turn carrots to coat them in oil and add celery and onion.

Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and a bay leaf. Stir vegetables and cook 5 minutes to begin to soften. Do not let vegetables brown, reduce heat if necessary.

Add the wine and cook for 1 minute.

Next, add chicken and beef stock, crushed tomatoes to the pot. Put a lid on the pot and raise heat to high. When soup boils, about 3 minutes, add 1-inch balls of veal dumplings directly to the pot.

When you are done adding the veal, drop in the wanton squares. Simmer stoup for 6 minutes to cook wanton squares and meat dumplings.

Adjust seasonings and turn the heat off, then let stew stand a couple of minutes.

Enjoy with warm crusty bread and a glass of wine or a beer.

Note: If you make this a day ahead, refridgerate, and reheat the next day the stew will be thicker and the flavors will be much richer.

Posted by: Princess Cat at 12:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Dad was in town one more night so of course that meant another decadent and delicious dinner in a restaurant I couldn't dream of affording. Tonight it was all about the seafood though... lobster on fava bean pre-dinner, Lobster bisque to start, halibut on crushed potato for the entree, and mixed sorbet with berries and truffles for dessert.

I'm fat and happy so I'm crashin out!

Unfortunately that means that the updates to the blogroll will have to wait even longer. I think we're looking at a Thursday kind of timeline since school wants to get in my way ... Sorry guys, I'll get you on there soon... I PROMISE!

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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JAC v PIT
23-17, JAC - that's payback for beating my Chargers last week... I love you and all PIT but there is a price to pay...

WAS v KC
21-28, KC - Good for the Chiefs... they don't catch enough breaks in this game if you ask me

SAN v OAK
27-14, SAN - In the words of Cartman... Na na na-na na na, Ha ha ha-ha ha ha... How you like that game you ghetto ass punks?

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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For the second night in a row I've had a great dinner out. Tonight it was an incredible meal with Dad who flew in from LA on the early flight. It was hell on him getting to the airport that early but it was so nice to have him here mid-afternoon.

We went to Morton's Steakhouse for dinner (and ate way too much) and caught up on chit chat that we missed over the past few weeks with us both being so busy. The shrimp alexander appetizer was some of the most scrumptious shrimp I've ever tasted and the steak was rediculously delicious. Coming from someone who is a picky meat eater, that's saying a lot. Our wine was suprisingly inexpensive but I have not had a better pinot noir, hands down.

Dropping him off at the hotel was an adventure though - driving back we got a little geographically displaced... We found ourselves in a rather dark and sketchy and empty part of town at one point, and then accidentally driving into a secure parking lot at another... Eventually we got back to where we wanted to be though.

All around, it is good to have Dad in town... even if I will only really get to see him again for coffee before he leaves on Tuesday... damn business meetings keep getting in the way. It's not like the company paid for him to be here or anything... oh wait...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Last night was my first official blog-meet... It was fantastic.

Thanks go to John of TexasBestGrok for being the chief organizer. He was coming to town on business and with a few e-mails managed to round us all up for dinner. In attendance were Rob from Llama Butchers, Ted from Rocket Jones, The Maximum Leader from Naked Villainy, Goddess Dawn from Caterwauling, Lysander from Lysander of Alexandria, Buckethead from The Ministry of Perfidy, and Matt the Blog-less Wonder.

Thanks to Union Street for giving us a nice room to to chill in and for serving up some good food and some tastey beer.

The conversation was great... and funnier than I ever would have imagined it could have been. I found 3 new blogs to read and got to know a little better those behind the ones I already did. If this is what a blog-meet is like, count me in for many more.

I'd love to have a beer with any one of these bloggers again, any day of the week...as long as they can explain to their wives why they are having a beer with a grad student....

Posted by: Princess Cat at 12:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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...and becoming more distinguished... At least that's the nice way to say some dude's getting older.

Today, it's none other than Blog-Dad, Eric.

Go wish him well, and send him some CDs... Fiona's been taking over the car again...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 05:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Just as Rob of Llama Butchers is advertising...we have finally got ourselves a DC blog-meet.

Other DC/NoVa/MD folk are welcome to join us

We're planning to meet at Union Street Public House in Alexandria on Saturday, October 15 at 6:30ish. If you're in the neighborhood, you're more than welcome to stop by. ... Stalkers and moonbats need not apply. But groupies are always encouraged.

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:59 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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My last apartment in San Diego had the perfect place for me to put my bed. It fit in the 'nook' under the window where I could gaze down to the courtyard on a sunny day or nap in a sweet breeze. It was a peaceful, safe, sanctuary that both calmed and inspired me. It also gave me a place to hide my magnetic poetry ... below is what one special afternoon inspired ...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 07:12 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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None of my teams won this week... And the Steelers winning doesn't count because they beat my precious Chargers. Apparently someone missed the memo on how that one was supposed to go ...

So, I can either cry in my beer about it or keep em coming until I forget this week's games ever happened.

Option two sounds nice...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 06:42 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It's raining out right now...

Well, actually... it's more of a downpour right now...

A persistant, unrelenting, ever flowing ... constant...

I know that there is noise as I click the keys and the TV rambles on in the other room, but I can't hear anything over the millions of drops hurling to the ground only to splash away and become part of something new.

Some of those drops will become a puddle for little feet to jump in ... some of them will become mud as they saturate the earth ... some will cling for hours to a window until they are knocked down by another wanting to take their place ...

The wind is playing too tonight...

It has broken umbrellas and teases the blinds ... patiently waiting to guide the rain through the skies as it falls...

Or is it just raining here tonight ... ?

Posted by: Princess Cat at 06:27 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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For a long while, Thursday was my favorite day of the week. It was always the day I was most tired, most burned out, and most ready for the week to end. I grew addicted to ER and made Thursdays my mandatory lazy night of the week. I refused to write papers, I refused to go out, I refused to do laundry, and sometimes I even refused to just plain cook. Thursday was MY time and Lord help anyone that got in my way.

During my "work?-wtf-is-work?" period I forgot about the simple joy of Thursday.

But first week of doing full time school and full time job, I remember Thursday. And tonight I jumped straight back into it like a fat kid in a pool full of pudding... no cooking, no cleaning, no laundry, no papers (although one is due tomorrow), no work, and no cell phone. Just some salad, some pizza, a stolen cookie, the Apprentice and ER. Life is good...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 11:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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SAN v NE
41-17, SAN - Happy dance? No, this calls for the booty dance... Awesome work, Chargers!

SEA v WAS
17-20, WAS - Good job local boys...

DAL v OAK
13-19, OAK - stupid Raiders...

PHI v KC
37-31, PHI - I'm sorry to have missed this game. It was on in the background while other things were getting done but truthfully, I missed it. Get some rest next week Chiefies... so you can come back in 2 and show the local boys how it's done.

No Steelers this week... and they play my babies next week... Sorry PIT, but I'll be hoping to see you go down in flames when you get back. Being a Charger fan just flat trumps being a Steelers fan in my house.

Posted by: Princess Cat at 12:42 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well, I don't actually know what my horoscope for this month says but from where I sit today, October stands to be a much better month than what September was.

After two consecutive weekends of trying on every pair of pants in each store I walk into and coming home in tears empty handed, I have found pants that fit my body, fit my personality, and fit in the workplace.

The second hurdle to overcome was shoes. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned before, my feet are massive. While I didn't come home with boots to wear with skirts, I did come home with a pair of cute black heels and some classy grey heels. Two pairs of shoes for these feet in one day? I can't argue with a day like that...

Oh, and I got a great new bag to take to work since my old messenger bag is showing its several years of wear.

In the end, my credit card is tired, my feet are sore, and my mind is mush, but I have had a rare happy shopping experience... and that is enough... for now...

Posted by: Princess Cat at 08:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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