The State Of Things Around Here......

Oh, internets.
It's not pretty. Not pretty at all.

Where do I begin, huh?
Hmmmmm..........how about the kitchen?

I have a large obstacle in the finishing of the kitchen.

It's called, "bad walls".

Here, have a look:

When I took the wallpaper down? A bunch of old "patchwork" came with it. So what do I do, just skim-coat it and prime it? Or will I have this problem when I decide to change the wallpaper again?

This is not my area of expertise, people.

Here's another spot. Zuddy will need to patch this one up before I can do any tiling:

It's going to be a cold day in Hell before that happens, because Zuddy and I had a big argument last night.

The argument was basically about how he works 10 hours a day and I how I stay home and eat bon-bons. Which, quite honestly, happens sometimes (the bon-bon eating, that is). So I think I'm on my own with the patching of the walls and I'm at a total loss.

Then? I have a bunch of furniture to paint:

The multi-materialed hutch. It's made out of wood, laminate and plastic.

Good times, people. GOOD. TIMES:

I'm going to paint it an Oatmeal color. Maybe I'll age it, maybe I won't.

Then? We have the chair and desk for the Noodle's room:

I love that needlepoint seat on the chair. These will all be painted white.

Then, here's one of the drawers that go with the bookcase I got from my Mom. The bookcase and the drawers (heh.) are going to be white, too.

And my toes. See 'em? Totally neat and tidy.

At least part of me and my bon-bon-eating self is looking tidy.

Now.

All I want to do is vent about how hard being married and raising a little girl-person can be.

And about how much of yourself you "give up".

And about how I have dreams too, but I feel like I need to be here to raise my little girl-person.

And about how I can't follow my dreams from 9-3 during the school year and take the summers off from working on my dreams.

But I'm not going to do that right now. I'll wait until it's not so fresh. Heh.

Homemade Pizza....

Dudes.
You know I cook, right?


I mean, for a living, even. So you know I have access to some awesome recipes. Oh yes I do.


And I don't share things unless they are GOOD. Well, we've been on a pizza kick for the last couple of weeks over here. Wanna make some yummy homemade pizza??

Huh? Do ya?



Okay! Let's go!



First of all....you'll probably need to go to the store. Here's a shopping list for you:

Bread flour

yeast

olive oil

salt

dried oregano

pepper

1 (28-oz.) can Muir Glen crushed tomatoes (and just never-you-mind that I work for that company. They are the best tomatoes - Cook's Illustrated magazine says so.)

1 wedge Parmesiano-Reggiano (Get the good stuff, people. Look in the deli section of the grocery store. It's gonna run you about $12 and it's totally worth it.)

Kraft Italian 5 cheese blend shredded cheese

Fresh Basil

Fresh garlic

And.........Any other toppings you might like...we're big 'shroom and onion fans over here.

After you do the shopping you'll need to start on the crust. I know it may sound a bit daunting, but -trust me- it's not. It just takes 5 minutes to throw the ingredients together and about an hour for the dough to rise. I got this recipe out of my America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, but made a few minor changes and clarifications:

Basic Pizza Dough

makes 2 lbs dough - enough for 3 (12-inch) pizzas


4 1/4 cups bread flour, plus extra for the counter

1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 3/4 cups warm water (about 115-120 degrees Fahrenheit - just run your tap water until it's really hot - for us, that's about 120 degrees. If you're not sure, use an instant-read thermometer. Don't have an instant-read thermometer? Go buy one, dang it! They're only $10.)



In a large bowl, stir together 4 cups of the flour, yeast and salt together. Add the oil and water and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together and looks shaggy. Scrape the sides of the bowl with the rubber spatula and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter; knead to form a smooth round ball - about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the remaining 1/4 cup flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter.



Spray some Pam in or lightly oil the bowl used to mix the dough; transfer the dough ball to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size - about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. After the dough is done rising, divide the dough into 3 portions. The original recipe says to let it rest for 30 minutes, but I don't.

Because I want to eat it.

Amen.









I got this next recipe from a cooking school I used to work at. I've changed this one a bit, too.

Pizza Sauce

makes enough for about 6 pizzas

1 (28-oz.) can Muir Glen crushed tomatoes

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 tablespoons shredded Parmesiano-Reggiano cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon fresh basil

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 or 3 cloves garlic



Puree all ingredients in blender.







Okay.....now that you're done with the main ingredients, just heat your oven to about 500 degrees F. - preferably for about 30 minutes with a pizza stone in there.



Place a piece of the dough on a sheet of parchment paper. Stretch and roll out the dough and top with the desired amount of sauce and toppings. I finish it all off with some of that spendy Parmesiano-Reggiano. I finely shred it with a micro plane grater on top of the pizza right before it goes into the oven.



Slip the parchment paper and pizza onto a rimless baking sheet, then slide the the parchment with the pizza on the baking stone. If you don't have the stone, just use the baking sheet. Bake for about 8-12 minutes.

There you have it!

Things.............

1. Oh friends.....it's been a week, I tell ya! A rough week.

And that's all I'm gonna say.

2. No worries - nothing serious, but I'm glad I'm here at home, catching up on blogs today.

3. My sweet little Noodle is getting sassy. It's high time school starts. BUH-bye Noodle! Summer's over, sister.

4. My dear friend Kim had a healthy, beautiful baby girl. Wanna see her?

Boy. That sure makes me want another baby! Doesn't it make you feel the same way? Too bad I'm 38 and my eggs are most likely junk.








4. Noodle has been using the camera lately, so I find a lot of shots like this one when I download my photos:



5. I worked at the Minnesota Garlic Festival with MJ. We helped with cooking demonstrations from local chefs. My niece Allison worked with us and it was hot and muggy out.
I hate hot and muggy.
And there's one thing I hate more than hot and muggy: people who want a sample of the food we were giving out but don't feel compelled to STAND IN THE FREAKING LINE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE AND WAIT THEIR EVER LOVIN' TURN.

6. Here's something I love: When the very same people who won't wait in line for samples? When those people say something really stupid in front of a large crowd and MJ (who was the moderator during the cooking demonstrations) looks at them and gives them her "WTF blink". Let me explain: MJ listens intently to the dumb/insulting/ridiculous drivel that comes out of said person's pie-hole. She then:

• Pauses
• Quickly inhales
• Smiles
• Blinks rapidly several times in a row.

It's classic.

7. I also love my niece, Allison. She just turned 21 and she cracks me up. I've been spending some time with her lately and it's been great.

8. I just finished watching the 3rd season of Weeds on DVD. Oh, man. Does anyone out there watch this show???? That Nancy Botwin sure knows how to get herself in a pickle. Season 3 is the best so far. Rent it, people.

And don't watch it if there's a child within a 3 mile radius of your television.

And, no, I'm not a pot-head.

I've never even touched a drug in my life and I still like the show.

9. I love air conditioning. Sweet, sweet air conditioning.

10. I've been thinking about redecorating the office/playroom. If any of you out there in blogland are my friends? You will remind me about my unfinished kitchen, primed-but-not-painted-garage, 6 chairs in the basement in need of painting and/or reupholstering AND the desk, hutch and bookcase also waiting to be painted.

God help me.

Brownie the Bunny

Sunday Morning our neighbor Pam found a little somethin'-somethin'.........






Apparently, Pam wasn't the first one to find him.

Somebody else got to him first: The face of evil

He was a little shaken up, but we loved him up and fed him some formula:

Sadly, he didn't make it.

Rest In Peace, Brownie.

Oh Yes I DID, Girlfriends......

Yep.

Did a facelift.

You may wonder, in the last year and a half, why hasn't that girl spruced up her boring blog for GAWD'S SAKE??

Alright.....fine. FINE!
Maybe you do have other things to think about.

Like......what you're going to make for dinner tonight.
Or........how to raise your children to be productive members of society.
Or........WORLD PEACE?

But then you come over to visit with me here at Elizabeth Hill and you see this bitchin' new background, right?

Oh yes you do.

And you wonder: "Okay. That girl doesn't have an original or creative bone in her body. What's the story here?"

And you would be right. Because I went over to Mrs. Jones' blog for a visit and she outright tells us to go here and VERY EASILY download (or upload? Sheesh, I don't know.) a cute new background for your site. Mmmm-hmmm.

And I'm nothing if not a good listener. And obedient. Oh, yes I am.

You see, when Mrs. Jones tells you to do something?
You do it.
You don't question.
You don't ponder.
You just do it.

Now. You might cuss her out (in your head) for taking the cutest background? But then you suck it up and find another one you could use.

I'm baaaaa-aaaack!!!

Okay, I'm back! The technical difficulties are solved (for now)!

I have actual photos to share. And some of them are pretty cute.

Okay, so here's that bookcase I wanted to show you:

And, yes. You fabulous bloggers gave me the perfect advice: I'm going to paint the outside edge of the shelving black. There's just one more shelf for each bookcase.

My Mom got 3 of these babies from a friend and gave one to me...so I'm going to paint it a creamy color and put it in the Noodle's room. More on that later.

I'm going to paint the insides of the shelving a bluey-greeney color....the paint sample sitting on the far right of the shelf.

This room is in my Mom's apartment. It's her office/playroom/guest room. She's finally getting around to decorating it after living there for a year. She just ordered a sofa bed and got a different desk. I'm not too keen on the sofa or desk, but I'm trying to help her decorate around them. I just loved her old desk and I think it would've been perfect in there painted black, but she gave it to me for the Noodle's room, so I'm not going to complain :)

Okay, so here's the window treatment she made:

That chair GOTS to go.

Okay.

That's enough of that.

My friend Peg was here from Chicago with her two ADORABLE little girls!

Oh my gosh. They are the yummiest little things! Do you remember Peg? I talked about her here.

Here she is with her gorgeous girls:

Aren't they the CUTEST???? Look at little miss curly top up there!!

Here's the Noodle with them.

What else has been going on? Hmmm.....we've been going to the pool on most days and we keep seeing our pals every day! It's so much fun! One of my favorite Moms hasn't been there and I've been missing her big time, but she showed up on Thursday with the kids and it was like Christmas for us all. I talked about her last year here. Sadly, she hasn't been there because she's moved to the 'burbs, but she's really happy, so that's all that matters, right?

Wrong.

I mean, how could she??! Huh?

She just picks up and leaves like that? Wasn't she thinking about how we would feel?

Sheesh. Selfish.

Well, I'm going to catch up on my pal's blogs. I miss you maaaaaaan!

I've already started on Cutzi's. Cutz? Where do I start to comment? I've missed so much this summer! How about Adia getting all of that hair?? So. Cute. I want to eat her up!

See you soon!

Experiencing Technical Difficulties.....

Be back soon :)