To Souffle or Not Souffle

 Just read Friday, January 3, 2023 of the Julie/Julia Project. 

This blog describes how deceitful souffles can be. 

Lying bastards. 

Souffles are tricky on a diet.  They fool you.  You take a bite of a delicious salmon soufflé, perfectly browned, light and puffy, and you can’t help thinking, against all your experience and judgement, “oh, this couldn’t be bad.  This is like eating yummy, moist air.”

Then before you know it, you’ve eaten half a soufflé.

💯 #truth

Prior to preserving a record of #adventuresincooking with images and words, Danyale and I made JC's cheese souffle recipe. 🧀

I have fond memories of cheese souffles. My maternal grandmother had a recipe from the Orillia Junior League (or some other hoity toity group) for an easy peasy cheese souffle. 

It included:

• 4 eggs (or maybe 5, my memory is fuzzy)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (preferably Campbell's)
• Salt, pepper and some other spice (again, fuzzy memory)
• Some other ingredient that I'm sure I'm forgetting

With this recipe, I learned what stiff but not dry egg white peaks were suppose to look and act like. I learned that a souffle will fall some but not completely if you had gently folded the egg whites into the rest of the mixture. 

I think I started making this on my own around 13-14. I was an expert at cheese souffle! 

Quite an accomplishment for a teen girl (honestly, teen girls should take the wins whenever they can get them but I digress...). 

I made that sucker #allthetime. 

Now, I was making JCs souffle. 

It was more complicated than my grandmother's recipe and but not overly so. I will say there was a lot of warnings about not-doing-this and not-doing-that. I still felt confident.

I was still accomplished at making souffle (even though I hadn't made one in a couple decades).

It was delicious! (I was never worried, much)

 Light, puffy, crispy on the outside and cheesy. Just like eating yummy, moist air, as Julie states. 

And yes, Danyale and I COULD NOT STOP eating it!

We wiped that sucker out and started planning when the next one should be made. 

The moral of the story is: don't be afraid of souffles. Go make one and gorge yourself! 

And forget about a diet.

🦞 murder 🔪 Qu'est-ce que c'est?

 PSA Warning: This post contains links to graphic murder videos. IF you are squeamish, don't click the links.

 I just read Tuesday, December 17, 2002 of the Julie/Julia Project.

This scene is fabulous especially with the Talking Heads soundtrack. Love it! Julie steams lobsters.

However, the Tuesday, December 17th blog post wasn't this recipe. It was the last lobster recipe for Julie and was Homard a 'Americaine. If steaming a living creature isn't bad enough, this recipe requires murdering a LIVE 🦞. 

Yes, I said LIVE. 

I guess the steamed ones are live too but using a 🔪 to cut into it while it is still wiggling. Awwwww. And you can watch Julia do this on the YouTubes. Damn, that woman was truly fearless. I squealed out loud while sitting at my desk (yes, I watched it at work 😜) when she hack the claws off and dismembered a LIVE 🦞. And apparently the girl lobsters are tastier than the boy lobsters. The more you know...

While I was reading Julie's blog post, I was cringing and groaning. And feeling slightly nauseous. 

I love that Julie describes everything so graphically but perhaps I could've passed on this blog.

You know that's a lie because I want to read them ALL.

Then, after I read this, I make the bad decision to watch Julia murder more lobsters.  Apparently, she is THE 🦞 KILLER (que Talking Heads). 

I'm damn sure NEVER doing any of that 🦞 murder. 🔪

So just get over your disappointment. I won't be doing it. EVER. 

Just A Little Obsessed

 It all started with boeuf bourguignon.

As I've mentioned before, I participate in a neighborhood dinner group. It's loads of fun and I get to meet and know different neighbors each year. When it was my turn to host the group, I chose to go with a French theme. My bf is French so it felt like the thing to do. 

Enter Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. 

And then I decided to watch Julie & Julia again since I hadn't seen it in a few years. 

Then came the watching of YouTube videos. It started with just The French Chef, the original PBS shows. Now, I also subscribe to Jamie & Julia because, well, I cant seem to help myself. 

The dinner party came and went and yet, I wanted more. So I bought Julie Powell's book. 

Ok, so I truly expected this to be the blog with perhaps a little extra added in. Julie has great wit and I looked forward to reading more. Alas, the book fell flat for me (it did for many others too).

I still wanted more. So, I went down the interwebs 🐇-hole and found the OG blog on the WayBackMachine.com site. 

I started at the beginning. Sunday, August 25, 2022

It honestly blows my mind to think about this being over 20 years ago. 🤯

And so it started to get serious. I mean, aside from choosing new recipes to try in THE book, I had tracked this down. And I was well entertained. I think I may (or may not) have spent 4-5 hours that first day reading blogs. 

Then I decided I needed to pace myself. 

I had this conversation with myself:

You can't keep reading for a half day at a time.

I know.

You have two businesses to run.

I know. 

You'll get behind.

I know. 

You'll read it all in a week and have nothing to look forward to the following week. 

Alright, I'll pace myself with 1 or 2 a day.

Deal.

Deal. 

I know you have conversations like this with yourself too so don't try and shame a girl. 

Anyway, and so that's how it's been going for a hot second. 

I did have one hiccup when I tried to go to December on the WayBackMachine page. It wouldn't go. I panicked. 

😨 No really, I did. 

I was invested. I wanted to know how Christmas went. 

I wanted to read about the tongue recipe (ok, not really and I'm sure as hell not making that - my mom made me eat 🐄 tongue as a kid and that is disgusting 🤮). 

I had to search the interwebs again and found her site also on the WayBackMachine here. The links to specific months worked.

😅 Whew. Crisis averted. 

I just read Sunday, December 15, 2002 and all is well in the world. 

🐓 au Vin with 🔥

 I'm just little behind but I know you want to see how the Coq au Vin turned out.

Here we go. 

Again, Danyale went on the MtAoFC journey with me. 

We started by watching Julia

Promptly followed by Jamie 

Now fully armed with ALL the information (and perhaps a glass of wine), we dove in. 

First things first, we had to dismember a whole chicken. Let me say that I've NEVER, in my life, dismembered a chicken (or any other animal for that matter). And a more disgusting process I can't imagine. Yes, I've pulled a little bag of giblets (I got ripped off since there was no bag in this chicken) and cooked them for gravy (you know, the whole Thanksgiving thing). 

I'm not as fearless as Julia when it comes to taking apart a 🐓, 🐄, 🐑, 🦞 and so on. The sounds alone were enough to make me NOT want to eat this thing later. 

And this girl didn't finish shaving before arriving at my house. 

After fighting to get this chicken apart, it was time to blanche and saute the lardons. Instead of using bacon, I actually bought bacon ends from the local food coop. So much better. I could have ordered a whole pork belly but glad I didn't (see above about dismemberment). 

Then we browned the chicken (which didn't brown the way I wanted since I took the skin off and I probably crowded the pan - 🤦‍♀️!). While the chicken kinda, sorta browned, it was time to boil the onions to make peeling the skins easier. 

And now we got to play with 🔥. As much as I would like to say that we set things on fire in the most stunning and impressive way.  That didn't happen. The first two tries resulted in nothing. I didn't feel too bad because Jamie had a similar experience (see Jamie & Julia link above). After those failures, I resorted to pouring the booze on while the match was lit. Whoooosh! That worked. 

Now the chicken blushed. A whole bottle of wine into the pot with the chicken and the herb bouquet. 

While the chicken cooked, we finished off the onions and mushrooms (don't crowd the mushrooms). I will fully admit that I somehow read that they needed to be boiled for 10 minutes and forgot all about how I did it with the boeuf bourguignon. It should have been a minute at most. ONE MINUTE! Needless to say, we were puzzled why the onions basically self destructed when we tried peeling them. It was all me. I'll own my mistake. They still tasted good but I won't be forgetting that lesson anytime soon. 

The end result was amazing. Aside from the fact that I never want to dismember a chicken again, I would make this again and again. The sauce is the BEST! Make sure you have a baguette to sop it up because you are gonna wanna do that. You won't want to miss a single drop. 

While we were slightly comatose, I was already looking in the MtAofFC for the next project. 

Postscript: I took this to the bfs this past weekend and he said it was perfect. We had purée de pomme de terre (mashed potatoes) with it. I did invite the younger son to join us and he declined. When he discovered what it was in the morning (apparently his French just isn't), he was disappointed that he passed it up. I took the leftovers with me and Danyale and I polished them off that night. 

All In One

 I'm ALL the people.

No, I'm not schizophrenic. Nor do I have multiple personalities. 

Wait, maybe I do.

Not like Eve anyway. 

Ok, back to my multi-faceted personality. Sounds much better, doesn't it?

Some of the things I am:

• coworking owner
• marketing badass
• marketing teacher and speaker
• mom to one talented girl and two hoodlums 🐈 🐈‍⬛
• cancer survivor
• narcissistic abuse survivor
• community activist
• cymbal and drum player (in a community marching band) 🥁
• behavioral kinesiologist
• meditation teacher 
• mindfulness writer and author ✍️
• mindfulness coach

So many things. Like so many of us. Does any one of those things define me. Not a chance. 

So, who am I to say I'm a mindfulness coach?

Well, I'll tell ya. 

Many wellness teachers recommend practicing mindfulness for 45-60 minutes each day. This allows our brains to practice focusing completely on the present moment and helps us to become more aware of those patterns of the mind which often carry us away. 

Does this practice make us mindful in each moment?

Hell, no. 

Does this practice give us the tools to be more mindful more often?

Absolutely! 

As you practice more, mindfulness becomes easier and becomes an ability you carry with you always. Mindfulness is something you are, not something you do. 

How does this make me a mindfulness coach?

With over 25+ years of speaking experience combined with almost as much experience doing mindful journaling and 6 years of daily meditation, I feel that I have the ability to guide others on their journey. 

Now I feel like I'm writing a blog for my mindfulness page and I need to stop. Because this blog is an outlet for silliness and no-filters.

I'm headed out now.

P.S. Not gonna lie, that section above gave me another idea for a mindfulness blog. Coming soon. 

Sweet Relief

Can I just say how much this blog is giving me relief?

Just letting my stream-of-consciousness come out here makes writing fun. 

Never, ever, in my life would I have thought I would say writing was fun.

No joke.

I studied art. Majored in painting. Minored in art history.

Yes, I briefly toyed with the idea of being an art historian. Boy, would my life be different. 

Worked at a couple ad agencies. Designed all sorts of things before moving my focus to marketing. 

Honestly, I was a fair designer and artist. Not terrible. Not good. And it was a struggle so moving to marketing was the best choice. I found my happy place there too. 

I hired copywriters. I was NOT a copywriter. 

I have great respect for copywriters. 

I ain't one. 

Enter becoming an entrepreneur. 

With my background in marketing, I felt comfortable writing a marketing plan (hell, I've been teaching people how to do this for years) but I needed to do the writing for my business. Money is a thing, or lack thereof, when you are bootstrapping a business. 

Necessity is the mother of invention.

A couple years later, I decided that I needed to including blogging to improve my SEO. And hell yes, it did! I've been doing it for almost 6 years now and I OWN the coworking SEO in Atlanta. 

And was it easy. Nope. I still felt like a crappy writer.

Enter deciding to write a book. What the hell!?! I was crazy but driven. 

Full disclosure: I hired a ghostwriter to help me with the book and better money was never spent. 

Since my coworking biz benefited so much from blogging, I then added blogging to my mindfulness business. 

Because, you know, I never have enough to be keep me busy. 😜

I'm the queen of tweaking pages and posts to maximize the SEO (read above). And for YEARS whenever I'm writing I'm reading it 20-30-50 times before releasing it into the wild. All while making sure the SEO is maxed out. 

So, just writing what I want without giving a 🐀-ass if anyone reads it is a beautiful thing. 

P.S. I did warn you about the giphy addiction. 

Brilliant Things Happen in Calm Minds 😶‍🌫️

 I just realized I didn't give you an update on the meditation class last Sunday. Doh! 

And I know you are probably wondering how I can be a mindfulness and meditation coach when I was dropping all those f-bombs in previous posts. 

Well, I'll tell ya.

People are people. And we ALL are multi-faceted. And before I go down that rabbit hole, I'll get back to the class.

Soooo, I signed up at the local meditation center to expose myself to other meditation teachings. And improve my own meditations. This center is all about the buddhist outlook on life. 

I do realize how fortunate I am to have this resource just 3 blocks from my home. 

I've been stalking this place for years. I was just about to join when the pandemic hit. 🤦‍♀️

Well, I finally took the plunge and signed up for the Foundation Study Program. Did I know much about it? Nope, I just decided to commit.

I show up on Sunday ready for a 2 hour class. I wore comfortable leggings, brought my yoga mat and some water. I truly had no idea what to expect. I didn't know if we were expected to sit on the floor or what but I wanted to be prepared. 

I was greeted by a women named Nina who, I found out in short order, was a volunteer and another Foundation student. 

The resident teacher is Buddhist nun Nan Norden and a lovely person. She started the session with a short meditation session. Then we listened to a reading and she asked us to let what came up, come up for us. The reading spoke about the emptiness. This refers to the tenet that 'all things are empty of intrinsic existence and nature. 

What came up for me was the idea of 'everything and nothing'. Something that came up in my Inner Affirmations journaling a couple weeks before. She said to focus on this. 

For me that meant just remembering that everything comes from nothing and nothing comes from everything. 

I know, it might not make sense to you and it does to me. 

More meditation then a review and lecture (by her) of the next section in The Eight Steps to Happiness, the book they are currently reading. This section is all about conventional and ultimate truths. 

Essentially, everything that exists is either a conventional truth or an ultimate truth, and, since ultimate truth refers just to emptiness, everything except emptiness is a conventional truth. 

Not gonna lie. I think this broke my brain. 🤯

After the lecture, we got into pairs to discuss. Since there were only four of us, that was easy. 

I got paired with Cynthia, the woman I met at the Inman Park Festival. I discovered that she was formerly in the Teaching Study Program and needed to take a break. The Teaching program is the Foundation program on steriods. 

Cynthia took the time to give me all the info and requirements to be in the Foundation Program. I learned that they typically have to approve someone before they can be in the program. Oops. What do I know? I just signed up. 

Well, turns out that there are a LOT of requirements. As in:

• volunteering once a week 
• not missing more than 3 Sundays in a year
• doing a presentation at the end of the quarter
• take an exam at the of the quarter
• some more stuff

I can manage most of this. I mentioned to Cynthia that I travel for work sometimes and frequently that occurs on a Sunday. I certainly don't travel like I used to but I guarantee I'm going to miss more than three Sundays. This is a non-starter. Cynthia tells me that I probably don't need to worry too much about it since she can see that I'm concerned about this. She tells me to think about it and that I have a couple weeks to try out the program before I have to commit. Whew. 

Cynthia and I then go to the topic at hand. I mention that it hurt my brain. AND that I had a different takeaway from the first part of the session. She said that this concept is one of the HARDEST of the buddhist philosophy and I just happen to join at this time.

 Yeah, well, story of my life. 

Then we came back to the main room. Nina and another woman shared their experience with the concept. The other woman seemed to get it initially and then started talking too much. Nun Nan said she needed to keep it simple. The simplier the better since the more you talk the more 💩 gets confusing. 

Then that was it. 

It was nice and I enjoyed it. However, as I sit here, perhaps the General Study Program would work better for me. At least for now. There are no requirements and I can go to any session at the center that I want. 

And now that I've made that decision, my brilliant mind is calm. 🧠

Son Of A Bitch

I'm using this and fuck a bunch today. 

Son of a bitch though is one of my more favorite cussing phrases. 

Not that I cuss much because, well, when you work in corporate America long enough (like I did for 30 years), you don't cuss much so those 4-letter words don't slip out by accident. Fuck most definitely doesn't come out of my mouth unless I'm really tweaked.

Not sure why son-of-a-bitch is my go-to but there you have it. 

*she goes down the internets 🐇-hole of the origins now*

Did you know that SOB first showed up in the written word in King Lear by Shakespeare?

I sure as 💩 didn't know that. 

If you want to read more about the origins (and I know you do), check it here. 

Modern uses include using it as an exclamation as in working on something and not making progress. 

Now we're back to WHY I was using the word.

I've signed up to be a part of a bundle program with my blogging coach. I signed up last month. I had to have a product that was at least $37. Ok, find, I created the Inner Affirmations Ultimate Bundle for this offer because the more books I get in peoples hands the better known I am.

So, today, I'm in the weekly group coaching session and I ask the question, 'can I charge for shipping?'. Why? How the fuck do I know why I asked today? And not, say, a fucking month ago. 

Ok, I remember how it came up now but I won't bore you. Fuck. I'm still pissed.

Someone said something that made me think about it and the coach, who is putting this together, said I wouldn't want to ship 100s of packages for free so I need to have something that is downloadable. 

Son-Of-A-Bitch.

I had ALL, and I mean ALL, the stuff done for this bundle thing. It's due TODAY. 

Son-Of-A-Bitch.

Now, as if I'm not already stupidly behind on so many other things, I have to go build a damn sales page and set up new coupon codes and build the upsell fucker and test it all to make sure it works.

Son-Of-A-Bitch.

The coach graciously said I could have another week. Thankfully.

I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend.

Son-Of-A-Bitch.

I'll Choose My Dream Interpretation

 I dreamt about scorpions last night. Very strange indeed. 

In the dream, I walked into my bathroom because I heard something. I looked in the tub behind the curtain and there were about 5-6 scorpions in the tub. 

Very coolly, I turned around, walked out and closed the door so the cats wouldn't get into trouble. 🐈 🐈‍⬛

I won't think about that now, I'll think about it tomorrow runs through my mind.

I pretty much don't remember anything else from the dream. 

Now, I don't typically look up what a dream might mean. Buuuuutttt, scorpions, that seemed VERY out of the norm and I was curious. 

Depending on the site, the Google will give you the following:

Or

What the ever-lovin'-fuck!?! Why are fucking scorpions in my dreams? Get the hell out! 

I find it amusing that I turned my back on them and closed the door to protect the kitties. 

I think I'll take this one.

Because, well, I would rather consider myself going through a rebirth of some kind. 

As I work towards shifting my energy towards my writing, books, meditations and mindfulness teaching, I leave behind my focus on my coworking business. Maybe it is a little scary because I earn a living with coworking and writing, well, not so much. 

Anyway, I'm going with the rebirthing thing.

Which somehow makes me think of this.

From scorpions to GWTW in two breaths.

I'm twisted. I know. 

More Fancy Pants Chicken

Yup, Danyale and I made some more fancy pants chicken last night.

It was Julia Child's poulet au porto (chicken in port) which required roasting a chicken ahead of time. Which I totally missed that part so had to start that process. Then the chicken that was defrosted in the fridge was stinko. Bleech! Then the question was, 'are we making something or running to the store?' I voted for store, Danyale thought I was nutz to go to the grocery store on a Saturday afternoon. She ain't wrong in that thinking. 

Anyway, we had a plan. I drove. Gave her my cc. She went in to purchase a 3-4lb bird while I readied the car for a quick getaway. 🏎️ It totally worked and we were only delayed about 20 minutes. 

Anyway, after getting the 🐓 in the oven, we watched Jamie cook this dish. 

Then I wondered, what wine should we drink with this and the Google gave me nonsense so I sent a text to Claude for guidance (he was in Miami at the Formula 1 races with the younger son so not joining us on the poulet au porto adventure).

That is the kind of specific answer I needed that Google did NOT provide. Not that I really had any idea what a Sancerre red was but I had plenty of pinot noir and Zinfandel. We busted open the pinot. 

There were then mushrooms and shallots to prep along with letting the chicken rest from the oven. 

Don't crowd the mushrooms!

Did I mention that I bought the port on the way back from a memorial service of one of our band mates yesterday? Well, that happened and I've decided that I shouldn't be trusted in a good liquor store that has many types of port. Or at least, don't let me walk in that section. Very often. 

I say all that because I didn't end up with ONE port but three. Ok, 2 ports and one Maderia. I NEEDED the Maderia since I know that Julia Child will require it in something I'm going to make soon. Guaranteed. And I NEEDED two ports because, well, one is for cooking and one is for drinking. The cooking one was $25 (NOT rotgut stuff) and then I just COULD NOT resist the 20 year Tawny. It was calling my name. So was the 30 year tawny but the $120 price tag stopped me dead in my tracks. So the 20 it was at only $65. 

Now, back to the sauce. With the reasonably priced port. 

The sauce looked and smelled good and got truly interesting when the port went in. Hurray. 

Then it was time for the fire marshall. LOL. No truly, I got to set the deconstructed chicken on 🔥. And if JC could seen the way I took that chicken apart, I know she would have turned in her grave. Oh well, it tasted just fine in that condition.

Now, back to the fire. 

Dump on cognac and get a match! Stand back. Then shake the pan until the flames go out. I think I was a tad impatient for the flames to die down and tried to shut that 💩 down too early. It wasn't done burning! Did I mention that I set the oven mitt on fire? You can watch all the hilarity below or on TikTok. 

After extinguishing the flames without any further mishap, we took the sauteed red potatoes and chicken and enjoyed. And yes, it did go quite nicely with the pinto noir. 

And if you thought I had forgotten about the 20 year tawny, you don't know me very well. Danyale had to bug out after that so I opened the bottle and proceeded to sip away. To say it was heavenly is an understatement and, after tasting that, I WANT to buy the 30 year next time. Maybe if I'm feeling flush that day. 

I'm off to my first class at the meditation center around the corner. I've signed up for the next level of training and looking forward to learning more. I'll spill the tea later.  

--

Postscript: I spoke with the bf last night and when he originally saw the text, he didn't REALLY think I would put port in the chicken. As if, 'Port in chicken? What was Julia thinking?' I said, yes I did and yes it was amazing. The plan now is to make Coq au Vin for him this weekend. 🤞

Wagner Was On Opium

I went to the last of my season tickets show at the Atlanta Opera tonight. 

It was Wagner's Das Rheingold and a more boring opera I haven't seen. The first scene was cool with the Rhine Maidens. The set design was amazing. My friend Karen watched the Behind the Scenes before the opera and said the moving screen in front of the maidens was made of video tape. Moving water and sea surf was projected onto this and it was truly magical.   

This was the best and more interesting scene I saw.

Ok, I'll admit it, I left after 90 minutes. Which was during the opera because Wagner didn't think anyone should need to use the facilities for 2 1/2 hours. Typical man. 

But seriously, could the action, if you can call it that, have been any damn slower. B-O-R-I-N-G. The man next to me was sleeping so I felt justified in calling it quits. 

And I'm glad I made the call NOT to renew my season tickets for next season. I mean, I WANT to support the Atlanta arts but damn, a girl expects to be entertained for her $1,300 bucks. 

And Wagner, what a piece of work. The man was a anti-semite (Hitler and the Nazis loved him), a deadbeat (running out of town to avoid paying creditors) and womanizer. 

He gets one pass from me though. He wrote the story of The Ring. A series of four operas that Tolkien outright stole for Lord of the Rings. Granted, The Ring was based on folklore so I guess I'm glad the story was preserved. 

God Forgive Me For No Captions

You know, I'[m always doing YouTube videos and, god-forgive-me for NOT taking the time to actually type the captions because sometimes I just need (aka want) to get the damn things posted so I can embed the videos on my blog, on Medium, create a new resource for y'all, etc. etc. etc. 

And when did YouTube take away the auto-captions? Who has time to type all that mess? And if I have to add Descript into the mix, then that is just another step taking me away from creating. Jeez. 

Well, I'm sitting here and realized that I NEVER finished the silly resource post yesterday. Nor did I remember to embed the other new video on the blog and Medium pages.

Sign. So much I want to do and so much to forget. 

Love ya! Mean it! 

P.S. I finally did get it posted. Doh!

Soup For You

For the next installment of Julia cooking, I choose something simple. Leek and potato soup. Nothing simpler. My friend Danyale has been going on these adventures with me. Here is how the text messages go. 

Ok, so I originally thought I would make garlic and potato soup and then changed my mind. 

And when going on these adventures, I watch either an original Julia video or Jamie and Julia. 

Yes, I do like watching these videos by Jamie.

My friend Kiri was driving through town so I invited her to join us. A bowl of soup and some French bread and we were stuffed. We wiped out the whole batch. No leftovers. 

I text a pic to the bf and his first question was, 'how much cream is in there?' LOL Ok, so yes, there was some but only 3 Tbsp. 

Gotta run! 

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Did I mention that I've been on a cooking adventure? Perhaps not and I am.  

In my neighborhood, we have a diner's club during the year. About 190 people show up in February, get put into groups of 10-12, and we have dinner every other month at someone's home. The host chooses the theme, makes the entree and suggests the rest of the courses. Well, I was the first host this year and since my bf is French and I decided that I would make boeuf bourguignon a la Julia Child. I bought Mastering the Art of French Cooking and went on that adventure. 

 

Don't crowd the mushrooms! 

I learned something new about cooking meat (all 6 lbs of it), mushrooms (don't crowd them!) and onions. I'll be honest, whenever I read about browning meat before roasting, I never did it. Wow, what a difference! It's magical! And I put a WHOLE bottle of wine in the dutch oven.

It was a lot of work. And worth every minute of the 5 hours it took to make. My bf, who is a real foodie, said that the dish was perfect. 

Now I want to make more recipes in the cookbook.  

Now, I'll admit that I'm one of those weird people that likes to read cookbooks. I can't be the only one. Tell me I'm not the only one. 

Oh hello!

 Here we go. A blog that is completely unfiltered. Well, mostly anyway.

Since I write about serious stuff all the time, I decided I needed a place to write where I could just, well, write. You know, stream of consciousness. Without checking all that SEO 💩. 

Don't get me wrong. I love that work. I love sharing knowledge. I just needed a place that was a little less structured. More flying-by-the-seat-of-my pants. 

I'm not saying that I won't be less than real or less vulnerable on my official blog. I'm just more la-te-da here. More silliness. More giphies (I love 'em). 

I need it. 

So here we go. Weeeeee!