Now we're cooking!!

Do you know what this means?:

 

IT MEANS THE ZADGE IS COOKING AGAIN!!!!

Yes, the new Thermador stove was installed yesterday and I got to cook my first meal at home in three months!

After opening all of the windows and door to air out the smoke that filled the entire house.

You see, the instructions for the new stove say that you should run the oven at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes to burn off the machine oils used in manufacturing the stove.  So that's what The Zadge did, while she poured herself a glass of wine and sat admiring her 95% completed new kitchen.

Then she started to cough.  And saw a ton of smoke filling said new kitchen.  And heard a weird flapping noise coming from the oven.  Turns out, the guys who installed it forgot to remove plastic stickery-label things hidden underneath the stove top and on the ceiling of the oven.  And they were smoking and flapping.

Once that issue was resolved and Old Vicky was aired out, The Zadge got down to business and made her first meal in her new kitchen:

It's a healthier twist on the traditional Shrimp Scampi. And if I do say so myself, it was quite tasty!

Photos of the completed kitchen are coming soon. In the meantime, here's the recipe if you are feeling like a Scamp!

The Zadge's Shrimp Scampi

 (Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Orzo
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 pound of large uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 pint baby tomatoes
•  4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons of goat cheese crumbled
• baby spinach

1. Bring a pot of heavily salted water to boil and add the Orzo.  Cook for 7 - 9 minutes.
2. While the Orzo is cooking, melt half of the butter and the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Using a garlic press, add the garlic and stir to coat.  (Be very careful not to burn the garlic, as it will make the sauce bitter. I know - I've done it.)
3. Add the shrimp and baby tomatoes and saute for about 2 minutes, turning halfway.
4. Add the sliced green onions and toss until shrimp are almost cooked, about a minute.  (Warning!  Shrimp cook very fast (about 4 minutes) and will turn tough and rubbery if cooked too long)
5. Add wine and the rest of the butter.  Toss until wine boils, one minute more.
6. Cover the dinner plate with the baby spinach, as a bed for the Orzo.  Scoop the Orzo onto the baby spinach.
7. Top the Orzo with the Shrimp mixture. Pour any sauce left over the plate - the hot sauce will wilt the spinach.  Top with crumbled goat cheese and salt and pepper.
8. Dig in!!! Ok, so the cheese and butter make it not that healthy, but it's good!!!!

Colorado Baby!

Meet one of my favorite people in the world:

This is Blumie.  He's the man responsible for The Zadge's Big Move from D.C. to Denver.

Well, he and Jennifer Garner.

Really.

See, Blumie and The Zadge worked together in D.C. at their Top Secret Day Job back in the '90s. (Before anyone was calling the past 10 years the "Aughts."  The Zadge just doesn't get the "Aughts" thing.)  Blumie and The Zadge were great friends.  Blumie was The Zadge's "Work Husband."  At every job The Zadge has had, she ends up with a great male friend whom she hangs out with all the time, doing more laughing than working, who happens to be a married guy. And NO! - there is no weird flirtation or any of that other yucky stuff.  Just solid friendship.  In fact, The Zadge has ended up being really good friends with all of her Work Husband's Real Life Wives.

Come to think of it, The Kaiser and I originally met at work, so I guess he is really Husband Number 3 of this perpetually single girl!

Anyway, about six years ago, The Zadge was sitting in her office at her D.C. Top Secret Day Job, when Blumie called her and said, "Dude, guess what?  I'm moving to Denver!!"  Blumie had grown up in Boston and spent his adult life in D.C., so this announcement shocked The Zadge.  The Zadge was immediately depressed because her Work Husband was leaving her.  Without any alimony.

Ok, flash forward several years.  The Zadge is feeling restless, depressed, trapped, stuck in her life in D.C.   She is searching for solutions.  She watches a really bad movie set in Colorado called "Catch and Release" featuring Jennifer Garner.  Despite the dismal plot and acting, the movie sparks an idea in The Zadge's vodka-stained brain:  Let's move to Colorado!

Mind you, other than college and grad school, since she was 7 years old The Zadge had lived nowhere other than D.C.  And she only knew two people in Denver and had been there once in her entire life.  But Blumie kept calling The Zadge and saying, "Dude, you wouldn't believe how great life is here."

So, based only on a lukewarm performance by Jennifer Gardner and Blumie's great reviews, The Zadge took a deep breath and gave up her life of 37 years in the Nation's Capitol and just freakin' headed west.

And she is so glad that she did.

Today she lunched with Blumie at Elways, a "power restaurant" in Denver owned by that guy John.  Blumie has been traveling a ton and we hadn't caught up in a long time.  So I thanked him for giving me the balls to make the move.

And we both asked each other, "Do you think you'll go back?"  We both answered, "No way!"  And then Blumie kindly picked up the tab and we left to go back to work.

As we hugged goodbye, I looked down and realized that on this "casual Friday," we were both sporting cowboy boots.  I pointed to our feet and said, "Dude! Look!"

And he said, "Dude!! Colorado Baby!"

Yes, that's right.  Colorado Baby!!!

P.S. Who would have thought that there was ANYONE who could make Tiger Woods look good?  And then there was John Edwards.

A new good old sofa.

The Zadge's new couch finally was delivered yesterday.  The Zadge ordered it from Restoration Hardware last summer:

It was supposed to be delivered to Old Vicky the second week of October.  Uh, of 2009.  That's last year. 

Instead, every two weeks, Restoration Hardware would call The Zadge and say, "Oh, I'm sorry, we're a bit backed up. It will be delivered in two weeks."  The Zadge endured these calls for FOUR FREAKIN' months, until The Zadge lost it and ended up calling the CEO of Restoration Hardware.

Oh, yes she did. 

And wouldn't you know, the couch arrived two weeks later AND they took $500 off the price!  The squeaky wheel DOES get the 20% discount!!!

So here's what the couch looked like yesterday when it was delivered:


Do you like the cute faux "Old French Grain Sack" pillows?


And the movers were nice enough to move the ole' dog Chillaxin' Pad out to the curb, where The Zadge put a big "Free Couch" sign on it.  So Old Vicky was looking a bit ghetto for most of the day, what with the skanky old sofa sitting on the curb.  Until some nice girl responded to my "Free!! Couch!!" add on Craigslist and came over with a friend and hauled the sucker away.

Ghetto no more!!

That was yesterday.

Here's what the new couch looks like today:

So basically, five months, an irate call to Mr. CEO, and a couple thousand of dollars later, we are just back to exactly where we left off with the ghetto couch - the Boyz (Bigger) Chillaxin' Pad!

The Art is Up.

I hung my Christmas presents this weekend.

My brother and his wife gave me framed self portraits created by my adorable nephews when they were 9 and 11 years old.

I love the 9 year old's sketch, because it perfectly captures his totally deadpan sense of humor and his adorable ears that just slightly stick out:

(Oh, and Moomskers nursed The Zadge as a newborn in that rocking chair some 45 years ago!)

And the 11 year old loves music and plays the guitar - I'm just not sure what the brown, fuzzy thing on his head is:


In my office, I hung a gift from a friend - a bulletin board inside a beautiful gold frame:

I plan to use it as my idea board - sticking up photos, magazine articles, fabrics, etc. that inspire me to do something creative.

Finally, I hung The Sista's Christmas present, not a simple task because it involved drilling into Old Vicky's 114-year old brick walls.  Her present was two framed prints by the photographer Donna Geissler.  They are beautiful simple landscapes featuring two dogs and beautiful hues:

I encourage you to check out Donna's art HERE.

And take one long, last look at The Boyz' Main Chillaxin' Spot:

'Cuz this ancient sofa - which has seen more spills, stains, and slobber than you can imagine in its 13 years of life -- is HISTORY as of 9 a.m. tomorrow when The Zadge's brand new sofa is being delivered!!

Almost feeling like home...

The Zadge spent the weekend turning Old Vicky back into a home and not a construction site.

Furniture was moved. Pictures were hung.  Bar stools were cut down to counter stools (by the nice Hardware Store down the street!).  Furniture was moved back whence it had just come.  ("Whence?" Perhaps living in a Victorian has made me speak like one?) Rugs were laid down, then rolled back up again.  More furniture was moved.  (The Zadge likes things to be just so).  The new dishwasher ran its virgin load, washing all of the construction dust off the dishes.  The house was starting to feel like my home, three months after I moved in. 

And, for the first time since early November, these were back in the house:

And these:


The Zadge cannot feel at home in a house until it is filled with animals, flowers and food.  With no stove for another week, The Zadge had to settle for unpacking her cookbooks to satisfy the "food" portion of this equation:

But I've collected so many cookbooks over the years, that I don't have enough space for them in Old Vicky:

So a bunch got left in the alley with a "free" sign on them (mainly those left over from The Zadge's two decades as a vegetarian).  But looking at all these cookbooks made The Zadge start fantasize about all the cooking and baking she will soon be able to do!

On that note, I thought I'd leave you with a great cookie recipe, made famous by my own Moomskers. I saw the recipe over the weekend and plan to bake up a batch of these as soon as I can. Trust me - people will love these suckers!!!

MOOMSKERS' CRAISIN COOKIES

(oatmeal white chocolate chunk cranberry cookies)

INGREDIENTS 

• 2/3 cup butter, softened (don't even think about using gross margarine) 
• 2/3 cup brown sugar (and sing the Rolling Stones song "Brown Sugar" while you do it)
  
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats  (none of those modern, slutty oats) 
• 1 1/2 cup flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 6 oz. package of Craisins (dried, sweetened cranberries) 
• 2/3 cup white chocolate chips or chunks from bar  (no, I did not say Hunks from The Bar) 
• (chopped pecans are optional)  (put them in only for your nutty friends)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Pour yourself a big ole glass of wine.  Julia C. always did. 

1. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 
2. Add eggs and mix well. 
3. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. (Oh, this is where Moomkers wrote a little note on my recipe card that she "uses a sheet of wax paper to save dirtying another bowl" - followed by a smiley face!) 
4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well with each addition. 
5. Stir in Craisins and white chocolate chunks.  If you happen to have some Hunks from The Bar there too, please send them my way.
6. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 10 -12 minutes until golden brown, like the color of George Hamilton's skin.
8. Cool on wire rack while you pour yourself another glass of wine.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen of the yummiest things ever!!

A night of Music and Gratitude

The Zadge loves seeing live music. So when my friend Monique asked me if I wanted to go to Swallow Hill, a folk music center in Denver, to see some singer named Antje Duvekot, I immediately said yes, even though I had no idea who she was or what kind of music she played. The Zadge is just a crazy, adventurous nut that way.

So last night I saw Antje play her guitar and sing. And wow, does this girl have a beautiful voice.(you can fast forward to 3:36 to skip her monologue)

The Zadge wouldn't want to listen to folk music all the time, because, frankly, it would turn her into a depressed mess. But it was lovely for 90 minutes last night (as were the two martinis and dinner at Izakaya Den that preceded it).

So when I got home, I turned on "Hope for Haiti" - The Cloonster's telethon to raise money for Haiti. As my BFF can attest to, The Zadge is a SUCKER for these types of things - I sat for two hours weeping while I watched the soulful performances and tragic clips of the devastation in Haiti. (Although Madonna's stringy, yellow, fried straw-posing-as-hair might have contributed to the weeping.)

Maybe it was the moody folk music. Maybe it was the Martinis. Whatever, The Zadge sat on her couch and got really deep in her head and realized, WOW, how grateful am I for my life? How grateful am I for my health, my family, my critters, my friends, my job, my house, MY LIFE!!

And how I so often forget to be grateful. And thankful. And present.

This song "Sweet Spot" by Antje sort of sums it up.

Waiting

The Zadge was all excited to tell you that tomorrow would be the LAST DAY OF THE GODDAMN CONSTRUCTION.  Notice the use of the verb "was."  See, the appliances were supposed to be installed tomorrow, and other than some minor paint touch up, The Zadge's new kitchen then would be finished!!

As would her two-month diet of Indian and Chinese takeout.

Well, do you see this large space between the cabinets? 

That my friends is where the freakin' Thermador stove WILL NOT be installed tomorrow.  Because it is sitting in a warehouse in North Carolina.  You may remember from your geography class that North Carolina is NOWHERE NEAR COLORADO.  And it takes many days to drive said Thermador from said North Carolina to said Colorado.

Which means that The Zadge must continue without any home-cooked meals for yet another freakin' week.

Waiting...and waiting...and waiting. 

Weeks, now months of waiting for the ability to whip up a good meal.  Harry knows how I feel because the painters stuck him in the backyard all day on Monday while they painted and he just stood at the window for hours, waiting to be let back in:

Now, on a positive note, The Zadge's beautiful new Grange dining table arrived this week:

Those old blue chairs? Not so beautiful.  So while The Zadge is waiting, waiting, waiting to be able to cook in her new kitchen, she will be sanding, repainting and re-cushioning these suckers.

Free booze for anyone that wants to come over and help!!

In Search of a Moving Man

The Zadge is too tired to give good blog tonight because she spent all evening moving a couch by herself - a freaking couch!

And after she successfully single-handedly moved her couch from one end of Old Vicky all the way to the other, into the new kitchen, she then moved her new dining table all over the dining room, testing out various spots. 

And then she moved an armoire.  Filled with delicate hand painted Italian ceramics.

And then repositioned three different upholstered chairs.

This is all in anticipation of the Last Day of Old Vicky's Makeover, which should occur on Friday or next week at the latest.

2010 is supposed to be The Year of the Boyfriend.  Remember, I said I was gonna lasso me one this year?  Well, dagnamit, where is he???  Bag the wine and romance, I need some muscle to help me move furniture!!!

Boobs, Boufants and Babes - The Golden Globes 2010

So let's dish on last night's Golden Globes.  The Zadge does love her a good night of celebrity fashion!

First, let's talk about the boobs bombs of the night.  Our winner, Mariah Carey:

Class is her middle name.  Then there was some chick from the new 90210, sporting the hand prints of whatever guy grabbed her boobs and ran away with them:

Then there was this pale mess of boob from Mad Men:


Next, let's discuss some of the dress disasters.  Tina, you know I love you, what with us being alums from the same college and all, but girlfriend, Mary Poppins is not the look of the season:

Rita, my grandmother would like her couch back:


Patricia, an old Indian lady wants her sari back:


Drew apparently was snorkeling right before the Globes started and got caught on some coral:


Now, moving on to the "I couldn't afford a hair stylist" winners:

What, Sandy, did you wake up 5 minutes before the start of the show?  And were you in bed with Juliana too?


January just came from Spinning Class and left her sweatband on:

The California District Attorney should file criminal charges against James Cameron for this number:


And add Wes Anderson as a co-conspirator:

And this beard covering up such a handsome face makes me mad, man:

(and doesn't it look like he is sporting a little ponytail too!)

And there is our favorite Hot Mess, Mickey Rourke:

Oh Mickey, you were so hot before you had a psychological and facial meltdown.

But on a brighter note, let's move on to The Zadge's faves of the night.

When Halle walked out on stage, I literally had to reach for my inhaler.  Baby Jesus of Bethlehem, have you ever seen anyone so smoking hot in your entire life?! For the love of god, I'm a seriously straight woman and I want to sleep with her:


And I know people are divided on her, but The Zadge loves Jen and thinks she is much hotter than that freak Jolie (although she almost lost me during her John Mayer phase):


Of course, there was Penelope - I think she could wear Bjork's Swan outfit and still look stunning:


All I can say to you, Bradley Cooper, is "Thank youuuuu!"

Finally, I know I've waxed poetic (and just what the hell does that mean?) about my beloved Helen Mirren, but the woman rocks!

A good friend and a bad dog

I have a phenomenal friend named Lara.   She's my oldest friend in D.C. and we are more like family than friends, but without any old family baggage.  Not only is she supportive and loving and passionate and funny, she is also incredibly generous.

See, Lara has incredible taste and a killer sense of interior design.  Her home should be featured in a magazine, it's so beautiful and warm.  But she's a lot like The Zadge, in that she is always moving rooms around and undertaking various house projects.  And because she is so generous, she likes to give The Zadge her lovely pieces that she no longer is using.   

Like this beautiful, hand made, needlepoint Aubusson rug:

I visited Lara during my brief stay in D.C. over Christmas. She gave me this rug, having moved on to a different style rug in her home.  It's huge - 10 feet by 14 feet -- and beautifully crafted.  When I got it back to Denver, I took it to a fine Persian rug shop to get it cleaned.

I picked it up yesterday.  I put it in the dining room.  The Boyz really enjoy it:

I went to sleep last night happy to have such a beautiful reminder of my dear friend in my new home.

Then I woke up this morning.  And came downstairs to let The Boyz out. 

And discovered THIS:

Yes, that is a big wet stain of dog urine.

From Harry, of course.

Now, I know you know that he has had some, uh, excrement issues in the house before, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, the damn dog hasn't freakin' peed in the house in 18 months!!!

So he picks today.

On the new rug.

On the new rug that I JUST got cleaned YESTERDAY.

Oh, and did I mention that the rug cost SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS?!!

(Heavy sigh).  Harry.

It's Jackson's Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Shone!!!!

My beloved angel turns 12 today!! That's a mere 84 in human years!

But boy, can he still par-tay:

Should I give him the Green Light?

So you all know that The Zadge is hopelessly single.

And you've heard about her less-than-successful forays into on-line dating.

As well as her, ahem, less-than-successful trip to the past looking to get laid for love.  (Oh Moomskers, I'm sorry! Just skim over that sentence!)

Well, now Old Vicky's Big Makeover is almost done and The Zadge can start focusing on things other than the Money Pit that is her new home.  So I've made a decision. 

The Zadge will land a boyfriend this year.

Now The Zadge has had a fair number of boyfriends in the past, but it has been a while.  I've been preoccupied with a few other things, like picking up my life at 43 and moving 2000 miles away, starting a new job, establishing a network in a new city, buying a house, and, oh, dealing with that hell-on-wheels known as Harry.

But now I'm ready.  Although I'm not quite sure how to really make efforts to meet the goal.  So my interest was sparked today when a great friend sent me information about a new dating "tool" that is just being launched.  It's called GreenlightCard.com.  Here's the concept, in the words of one of the founders of the service:

The idea was inspired in part by hearing too many stories about people trying the online dating thing only to discover, when the "matches" finally met, that there was no chemistry between the two. That doesn't happen to members of GreenlightCard.com because the whole idea is to start with the chemistry and move on from there. You can think of Greenlight Cards as a modern incarnation of the Victorian calling card--a way to let someone know you're interested, without resorting to scribbling your number on a cocktail napkin.

Basically, you sign up and you get these "calling cards" with your member number on them.  You see/meet/desperately brush up against someone you think is cute/funny/not a serial killer and then you hand them the card.  They then go to the website on the card, put in your member number and they get whatever contact info you put on your account.  So if they are interested, they call/e-mail/text you.

What do you think?  I think the fatal flaw to the concept is that you (especially as a woman approaching a man) need some serious cahones to just walk up and give a guy your "GreenLight Card."    And if you have those cahones, couldn't you just give your real business card?

But, in light of The Zadge's new "boyfriend goal," maybe I should keep all options open!

Is it time to end the relationship?

I've been on the verge of breaking up with Facebook for months now. 

Facebook and I started out all fun and light, just like all relationships in the beginning.  My close friends and I would post clever status updates and comment on each other's walls.  We'd exchange photos.  We'd poke each other.

Then my relationship with Facebook started to "deepen" - I started to find, and get found by, long-lost friends.   Reconnecting with these old friends was great.  (Hi Pug!)

About a year into my relationship with Facebook,  I started to get bored.  This was about the point where all the friend requests rolled in from classmates that I wasn't even "friends" with back in the Paleolithic age when I was in high school.   By this point, the number of "friends" that I had in this relationship was so great that I did not feel comfortable sharing all my pithy status updates detailing my life.  Why did I want Sherri Brevenowich to know that I needed a Downward Dog to counter my Giardia Dog?

So I pulled the classic Guy Move - I withdrew from the relationship, yet didn't have the balls to break it off completely.  I stopped updating my status, I stopped posting photos, I stopped checking friends' pages.  I even deleted stuff from my page.  Call me passive-aggressive.

Then came The Old Boyfriend Charge.  And this, my friends, is what may cause The Zadge finally to have the balls to just end the damn relationship with Facebook. 

First was the friend request from the boyfriend formerly known as The Model - because he had, in fact, been a model and was tall, gorgeous and romantic, if a bit too fond of hair product.  The Model contacted me on the 'book and indicated that he was "miserable" in his marriage, thought about me "daily," and knew he made a mistake when he "let me go."  Hmmm, I thought (but just for a second), maybe this is my destiny - reconnect with The Model and live happily ever after, sharing hair product.  Then he sent a few photos (his profile picture was, wisely in hindsight, his two children) and his moniker was officially changed to The Blowfish.  For the love of god, the man was unrecognizable, he was so bloated! 
 
Then came the friend request last week from The Golf Pro, or The Load, as The Zadge's family referred to him.  And the friend request came with a "I'm so sorry what I did to you, I'm paying for it now, I'd really like to talk to you" message.

I dated The Load for three freakin' years in my late '20s.  I wanted to marry him then - because I was young, inexperienced and feeling the incredible pressure that comes when you are 28 and attend nine weddings a year.  That pressure, and age, and inexperience makes you overlook the fact that your boyfriend is an alcoholic, porn-addicted, self-absorbed golf pro loser, who will cheat on you throughout the relationship and then get some skank pregnant that he picked up in bar and marry her 5 months after you dump his ass.  Hellloooo - Can you say TIGER? 

So back in 1993, after a few weeks of tears and intense girlfriend-counseling sessions, The  Zadge moved on and hasn't used a single cell of gray matter in the intervening 16 years to give The Load a single thought.  And isn't interested in expending any of those cells now. 

But Facebook wants me -- and you -- to relive our past, even the part of it that we wisely have kicked to the curb.

And much of the past should stay way back in the past.

So it's probably time to kick the 'book to the curb.....or maybe I'll just hit the "unfriend" button!

Because you really can't have enough of The Fin

Or, as we started calling him on Christmas Eve, The Walking Dude.

He had started "walking" a week or two before Christmas...you know, the-drunk sailor seven steps and then you fall to your knees-type of "walk."  Maybe he could sense Santa's imminent arrival, maybe it was Moomsker's Twice Baked Potatoes, or maybe it was just time.  But suddenly, at about 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, in front of all his family fans, The Fin just started CRUISING!!! I'm talking, The Little Man just started WALKING all over Moomsker's house like it was NEW YORK and he was JAY-Z and HE OWNED IT!

Now, he seemed a little hesitant at first:

But his Mommy gave him encouragement.  Plus, he was wearing that sporty hat:

Oops! Briefly distracted by the light fixture.  The Fin loves his light fixtures:


About to hit the ground running when his seasoned 10-year old cousin distracted him from The Cruisin':


One more look at the light fixture, then it's game on:


Here we go!:


Yeah, baby!:


Oh, I love to cruise around Moomsker's kitchen holding on to all these knobs!:


Oh, but what's in here??

Oh, and what's this warm thing?


Oh, are those Moomsker's Twice Baked Potatoes up there?:


Wow.  All this cardio is kind of tiring.  I think I'll take a break and go back to my crawling:


Could someone call AAA?  Me and my truck are stuck in the table!;


The Zadge quickly rescued The Fin from his predicament - I mean, we all know how long it takes for AAA to arrive.  But The Fin insisted that he was ready to resume his Cruising:


So The Zadge gently deposited her beloved nephew on the floor and he hit the ground "running," as much as one could on your first real day of walking.  But he soon fell to his knees and just sat looking in awe at the Christmas Tree lights:


While all of his family sat looking at him and counting our blessings.