Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Mini Vacation

How would you like to wake up to that view out your kitchen window while on vacation? We knew the peacock was in the area as we saw it while driving up the mountain and we heard it cry out several times in the days before he came to spend the morning with us. We think it's an Indian Blue Peacock. He stayed for about an hour while he preened on the deck railings, looked for grub in the lawn and checked us out through the windows.

Mr. L and I decided to take a mini-vacation and head up to The Boys house in the mountains. We pretty much stayed put once we got there. No trips out, no gourmet restaurants. Just us and the view. We sat on the deck, looked out at the mountains, the ocean, the river. We sat in the hot tub, napped, read some books, watched a DVD, went through a ton of magazines, listened to our ipods, napped, ate some junk food, drank some champagne (me), had some rum (Mr. L), napped and just disconnected from the rat race for a while.

I did think about food. I caught up on some of my food magazines and made one quick new meal (Shrimp Pad Thai). Mr. L barbequed some ribs on the 4th and we had some awesome tacos off a local taco truck on the way home. I'm looking forward to cooking some of the recipes I cut out of the mags and cooking from some of the new cookbooks I brought out of storage last week. I also think a little vacation to disconnect from the world every now and then is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Blog Stats

When I started this blog a year ago, I found out that if I looked up the "stats" section on the blog, I could find out how many people a day checked my posts.
This was fun for a few months but then it got kinda old. What I found more interesting is that I could find out what folks "searched" to get to my blog. If it was a Google search, I could click on the link and be taken to the search parameters. So say if someone typed in the search box "orange donuts", it would lead them to my Orange Drop Doughnuts recipe. I in turn could click the link and see that they had searched "orange donuts" which lead them to my page.

I kept an informal list of the most searched for items on my blog and the most interesting search parameters:

MORTADELLA SANDWICH - By far the most requested thing that brought people to my blog was my Mortadella Sandwich. I had seen it featured on an Anthony Bourdain No Reservations show and decided I had to make it. I get at least four or five people a week directed to my blog because they are looking for this sandwich. Should a replay of the No Reservations episode show up on TV, I get even more people checking out that sandwich. People search "Sao Paolo Mortadella", "Brazil Mortadella" many variations. I'm not surprised as I spent lots of time searching for a recipe for this sandwich myself. It's something Mr. L and I make quite often still. But I am surprised that I still get so many folks directed to my blog because of that sandwich.

PUERTO RICAN PORK ROAST - I had never even heard of Puerto Rican Pork Roast until I had a pork shoulder and tried to find a recipe. I get a couple of searches a week for the Roast which leads people to Roast Pork Shoulder, Puerto Rican Style. I have no idea why it is so popular that people keep searching for it. Maybe it's featured on a cooking show somewhere?

ELVIRA WITHOUT MAKE-UP - This one always makes me laugh. I had done 31 days of Halloween last October and did a post about Elvira. I gave a link to a photo of her without makeup. This was also around the same time that Elvira had her reality show on TV. I got a TON of searches around that time and I still get some every now and then. Seems Elvira never goes out of style and people want to know whats under all that make-up!

MRS. L - Oh my poor ego. When I first started seeing people coming to my blog by searching "Mrs. L" I just figured folks had found my blog and were looking to find out who I was. Alas it seems that there is a blog titled "Mrs. L" and it's done by Rosanne Cash. Her husbands name is John Leventhal.  There are actually quite a few bloggers that use the name Mrs. L. So I guess I'm in good company.

CHALUPA GIRLS - Oh man, just one little post about the new Bacon Chalupas at Taco Bell and whamo on the blog. Various requests for "sexy girls in Taco Bell commercial", "half naked chalupa girl"...yeah, it was pretty interesting and I doubt that most of the males looking for the Chalupa girls were happy they ended up on my food blog! Just as an FYI, the photo above is of one of the Bacon Chalupas. Not bad.

USES OF ONIONS IN REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM - This had to be the most interesting search that led to my blog. I have NO IDEA what was in one of my posts that lead them to me. I'm not sure if I should be concerned that they ended up on my blog or that they were searching for this in the first place.

Here is a list of some of the other searches that led folks to my blog:

• Resident Evil 4 Bread Meat
• The Smell of Cooking Breakfast
• Voodoo Head
• One Angry Grandpa (which led to the deviled eggs)
• Shelf Life Of Canned Bavarian Cream
• Girls In a Pantry Wear (this was before the Chalupa post!)
• Puck Cheeses
• Walmart Pantry Used

Pretty tame compared to some of the things that I hear led some to other food blogs. I rarely check the stats these days unless I find some strange spike in readership, but I'm hoping that some interesting searches bring people to my blog in the next year.

Answers to the Questions

Over the first year of doing this blog, I've gotten quite a few questions from family and friends. I thought I'd address them here.

Do you come up with the National Days for Small Plates?   No, these are actual real days. I don't make any of them up. Yes, there really is a "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day", a "Crab Meat Newburg Day" and a "Take Your Pants for a Walk Day".

Where do you find these days?   Just do an Internet search. There are a ton of places that have most of the food days and plenty of the off the wall days. Even places that send out e-cards list special or strange days.

Do you cook everything on the National Days?   I do see what days are coming up during the month and plan maybe four of five meals that correspond with special days. The problem is, life sometimes gets in the way and it may be several days after the National Day that I actually cook with that ingredient. Because of this I rarely post a National Days recipe until quite a while later.

Do you take your own photos?   Of the meals I cook yes. Usually I just plate the dish and take it with the lights on the stove if there is no natural light. I take most of the hockey photos and scrap photos. I don't have any special lights though I did get a nice light box from my mom to use once I have room to set it up. If the photo isn't mine, I try to give sources. I use Wikipedia a lot for generic photos. As for the photo above...yes, I took a ride in a B-17 a couple of years ago and this was from the top of the plane (no I wasn't riding up there, they had a hole in the roof you could take photos out of...I just reached up with my camera and took the shot). That photo was taken with my old Minolta SLR.  I like photography but honestly, I photograph in auto mode most of the time.

What kind of camera do you use?    Though I have a Canon Rebel XT, I use my little Canon PowerShotSD500 for most of the food photos (I am upgrading to a SD950 this coming week). I rarely photoshop my food photos.

Who does these taste tests you talk about?   Mostly Mr. L and my mom. I do take some things into work and every once in a while I get enough courage to take something I've made to a potluck. I think in the past year, other than my mom and husband, I've only had two people that I've actually cooked a meal for at the house.

How many cookbooks do you own?   Um. A Lot. Too many. More than I could ever use. Yeah, that answer is another post entirely. I can't tell you the count without trying to justify the answer!

Why haven't you learned to cook earlier?   See cookbook question. That will be answered when I get enough guts to post about my cookbook collection.

What cooking magazines do you subscribe to?   HAHAHAHA. Just a couple. Bon Appetit and Gourmet. And Food and Wine. Oh and Savour. Of course Cooks Illustrated. Should I include Sunset Magazine since I cut out the recipes? And I pretty much buy most of the Fine Cooking magazines...and...well, maybe the question should have been which cooking magazines I DON'T subscribe to!

Do you ever eat out at restaurants? You talk about them, why don't you review them?   Honestly we do eat out a fair amount, especially when we travel. I've felt a bit uneasy about restaurant reviews since I'm not an expert. That being said, since I enjoy reading others reviews, I think I might start posting my own. I would have given the review of Manresa earlier, except they never sent me the menu I was promised. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what we ate!

How do you chose the recipes you make from cookbooks?  There is no set way. Sometimes, if there is an interesting National Day, I may look through my books trying to find a recipe that has that ingredient. More often than not, I just pick up a cookbook and try to find something to cook. Sometimes this is easy as only a handful of recipes pop out at me. Other times it's a gargantuan task as I want to make everything in the book. Sometimes it's by default...I may be in an "orzo" phase so those are the recipes that stand out and scream to be cooked. Or maybe I've been cooking a lot of meat dishes and look for a fish dish. I may make a dish because it's something I know my mom can eat. Sometimes (most of the time) I'm really tired and busy and want to make something simple. Or maybe I just got off the scale and all those delicious fattening recipes just remind me of extra inches on my hips so I try to go low-cal. Currently I only have access to about one sixth of my cookbook collection so I try to find things in the books that are available.

How often do you buy new cookbooks?  I never buy new cookbooks. Never. Really. They just show up on my doorstep. Yeah, that's the ticket, they just show up asking to come inside and be part of my collection. Yeah...be sure to tell Mr. L that if you ever run into him. Yeah, tell him you give me cookbooks, that's why new ones are in the house. Seriously, they are like rabbits, they just multiply.

Just how old are you anyway?   Like I'm going to tell you that.

Why don't you use real names or post photographs of yourself?   Because we are actually government spies...no wait, we are in the witness protection program...no wait, we are complete paranoid freaks...no wait...I honestly don't know. Mr. L and I talk about it. You may catch photos of us in the coming year, and most of you know our names anyway, but, we like the little air of mystery.

Do you go to all the Sharks games?   I used to. For many many years a group of us went to every pre-season game, every home game, the playoffs, various road trip games and yes, even to some practices. And I watched or listened to every road game on the TV or radio. There was no life outside of hockey. Then there was the lockout and I found Mr. L and other things in life started happening. I still have season tickets. Mr. L and I go to around ten games a year plus the playoffs.

Do you ever scrap?   Not as much as I'd like to. I'm hoping to get to a point where I can balance my life and get to do all the fun stuff I like to do such as scrapping. I do like to, ahem, collect a lot of scrap stuff though. Yes, I have an entire room devoted to scrapbooking. Yes, I hope to post more scrap pages and projects in the future.

Well, I think that's all the questions I remember people asking over the last year. If you can think of something else, just let me know.

And really, I never buy cookbooks....wait, why is everyone laughing????

Happy Blogiversary

  One year ago today, without a lot of fanfare, I started this blog. I've never really given a reason for starting the blog, even though I wrote that post shortly after I started (it still sits in a folder on my computer).  Maybe you'll get to read it in the next week or so as I celebrate the fact, that for the first time in my life, I'm actually cooking. Using my cookbooks. And enjoying cooking.

And if you know me, special days around here have entire seasons, so don't be surprised if the birthday party goes on for a bit. I plan on having a few give-aways (one for scrap readers, one for hockey readers and one for food readers), I've asked my Mom and Mr. L to comment on which recipes I've cooked that they've liked most. And yeah. At some point I'm going to have to come clean about all those cookbooks.

Thank you to those that have commented and those that have just read my posts and gone away. Thank you to those that have tried recipes I've posted, bought cookbooks I've highlighted or tasted recipes I've cooked. Thank you to those that have helped with Typepad problems, have mentored me on food blogging or sent articles for me to feature.

I told myself I'd give myself a year and then see if I still wanted to do this blog. I've come to realize that I really am doing this for me. I enjoy this. I'm COOKING fer crying out loud (and I have the expanding waste line to show for it). And in the meantime I get to take some family and friends along with me on this adventure. So for now I continue. And maybe next year, I'll have made a birthday cake that I could feature on my blogs birthday. For now, I leave you with a cupcake from Karas Kupcakes in SF (which I promise I will write about soon!).

In Which Mrs. L Gets Her Geek On

  This post is not about food. So if you are looking for something food related this is not the post you are looking for. You can go about your business. Move along.

I am not a geek. Not even close. I have my moments, but basically, I am geek clueless.

I barely know how to turn on my computer. I do not know HTML, Linux and Perl is something you do with knitting. Why did it take four days for me to do this post? Cuz Typepad changed how they do things and I'm completely confused.

I have owned very nice Nikon and Minolta SLR's. I own a digital Rebel. I never use anything but the  automatic settings.

If faced with more than one remote control for the TV, I break out in a cold sweat and call my husband for help.

I've seen every episode of Star Trek, Star Trek: TNG, Star Trek Enterprise and Star Trek Voyager. Multiple times. In HD. Remastered. I've seen most of the DS9 episodes. I cannot though, tell you any of the episode titles, rattle off villain names, give plot descriptions and if push comes to shove, I may have a hard time remembering main characters names and general backgrounds (I can tell you I had a thing for Trip).

I stood in line four hours to see the original Star Wars movie...but back then everyone had to wait in line when it first came out. I called in sick to work to see a 10 AM first day showing of Star Wars VI (does that give me a tiny bit of geek cred?), but I cannot name every character, which movie they were in nor the names of their vehicles. And I liked Jar Jar Binks and Hayden as Darth so most geeks won't even talk to me.

Yes, I've been to a Star Trek convention, but it was recently, it was a very small one, we did not dress up and Mr. L will confirm that Leonard Nimoy was right next to me and I didn't even notice.

I read Neuromancer, didn't understand a thing and if asked all I can say about it is that it is about human computers.

I've never played a role playing game like D&D. I'm old enough to remember when Pong first came out. I played it all the time (we had a machine at work). But that was pretty much the only video game I ever got into. I've never played PacMan, Donkey Kong or really any other video game (except for that week my thumb went numb while house sitting playing Dr. Mario on their Nintendo) . We have a Wii. I've never made it past the demo disk that comes with the controls.

I did buy Fantastic Four comics when I was a kid but they were alongside Veronica, Archie and Richie Rich comics. I did buy the first six or seven issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when they originally came out because a boyfriend took me with him to the comic store and it was the only comic I found that looked interesting. I will take a bit of geek cred for convincing three of my girlfriends back then to dress up with me as Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael for a Halloween party. Since this was before TMNJ were popular no one had a clue who we were dressed as and we were known for years as "the four green girls". No, I can't remember which of the four turtles I was.

This past weekend though. I played geek. I went to Super-Con. I shook hands with Jorge Garcia from Lost, I was amazed at Jane Wiedlin's boobs (she's doing a new comic book and the girls were SOOOOO out there for viewing). I was blown away by amazing artwork by artists like Frank Cho, Greg Horn, Joe Jusko and Michael Golden. We met the most wonderful actor Don Pedro Colley who was the hologram in THX1138 and was in the Planet of the Apes. I was able to pick up the new three comic book set of Serenity.  But I went there for one reason and one reason only. Wil Wheaton. I have learned more about all things geek from following Wils blog. I can woot and pwn and grock (a word by the way, that our minister used during our rehearsal which had Mr. L and I almost busting out with laughter) . And he was there. And he shook my hand and talked nice to me. And I was able to (hopefully) get out a few coherent words in the presence of a celebrity who I greatly admire. So yeah. I may fail in many ways to be a true geek, but at least this past weekend, I was able to get my geek on.

Happy Mothers Day - and that other thing

I was born on Mothers Day ages, eons, many years ago. I always tease my Mom that I was her Mothers Day gift. Every four years since then, my birthday falls on Mothers Day, as it does again this year.

This is a photo of me with my mom when I was one month old. You can see I only have eyes for her.

Happy Mothers Day Mom.

Feed a Cold, Feed a Fever

Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever...or is is Feed a Fever, Starve a Cold? Doesn't matter. With me, I eat. Even with a fever (which you are supposed to starve) if I'm hungry, I don't really care what's correct, I just want to eat.

The two standards when I'm sick are 7-up and Saltine Crackers. Though I usually go for the Diet 7-up, with the crackers, none of this "unsalted tops" crap. I have to have the salted kind. The 7-up and the crackers sit next to me on the bedside table to help me feel better "between meals".

When I was younger, my "sick comfort food" was Cream of Potato Soup. In my twenties, it was Taco Bell Bean Burritos (add sour cream). Yeah, I know, how can I eat that crap when I'm sick? I can remember a boyfriend being horrified that this was my request, and I think he cringed when, with a fever of about 102, I devoured the burritos he had so lovingly brought me...and then went back to bed moaning and groaning with the flu. But if you think about it....the beans aren't really "fried", and with the tortilla, the whole thing is pretty bland. Don't ask about the sour cream. I'm all about the carbs when I'm sick.

In my thirties, my sick food of choice was Kentucky Fried Chickens Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. Of course this was also my comfort food for having my boss yell at me, getting dumped by a boyfriend, my car breaking down...everything could be fixed with those KFC potatoes. I would just order a large batch  of mashed with a side of gravy and any cold or flu (or broken heart) could be conquered.

In my forties (good lord, did I just admit my age?), my sick comfort food has changed to Macaroni and Cheese. But not the Kraft blue box kind, no, the red Stouffer's box kind. Easy to just throw in the microwave. Though if someone like Mr. L  is making it for me, I might ask that it be thrown briefly under the broiler to get a crunchy top before it hits my bedside table.

Recently though, I have found another item to toss into this sickbed food mix. Shedd's Country Crock Deluxe Loaded Mashed Potatoes. Microwave this (it has bacon already in it), add some butter and sour cream (my sickbed condiment of choice) and to me, it helps get rid of the aches and pains of being ill.

But the big thing is, that even if I'm not completely well, the "feed me food" gene kicks in and I want to eat. Everything. Lots of everything. Pizza with jalapenos. Jack in the Box tacos. Girl Scout cookies. Fajitas. A Cheeseburger with extra mayo and pickles. Country Fried Steak with Sausage Gravy. Shrimp in Garlic. Baby Back Ribs. Not to mention, real Coke in the red can. In the middle of fever, aches and pains and coughing up a lung, all I can think of is my next good meal. If left to my own devices, I'd probably  eat the worst foods for me in quantities that would make me even sicker. This is why it's probably a good thing that Mr. L is around to keep me on track.

Why all this talk of sickbed food? Because for the past ten days, I've had one nasty virus. I was out of work for seven days, thought I was going to cough up a lung (thank the Lord for cough syrup with codeine), had to buy a humidifier for the room and, something that is driving me crazy, haven't been able to sleep for ages without propping myself up into a sitting position. Per my doctor (who said he had this same virus by the way) I had the nastiest of the nasty version. I had to cancel my birthday celebration in Disneyland, miss a National Scrapbook Day function with my girls and I completely missed out on the end of the Sharks season (which, considering, might have been a good thing). Having a fever for eight days straight is a first for me and something I hope to never repeat again.

I was able to go through a stack of magazines, read several books and bond with my cat (who loved having me home and in bed all that time) during my down time. Several of the books I read dealt with Italian food so I'm not sure I'm going to rest until I've found a place that makes Deep Fried Zucchini Blossoms and Braised Pork to Taste Like Wild Boar.

I will admit, that with no idea that it was a former sickbed comfort food, Mr. L called this past Thursday on his way home from work and asked if I wanted Taco Bell for dinner. And he ordered pizza last night. Just another reminder of why I married this man.

I'm looking forward to (slowly) getting back into things...cooking, going to work, blogging, scrapping, catching up on TV shows and figuring out who to root for in hockey (most of my favs have been knocked out).  We've rescheduled our Disneyland trip to September, realized maybe "slowing down" a bit may help keep me well (and sane) and I hope to get together to scrap with my friends sometime soon .

Of course all that will have to wait until we find out if the fever and sore throat that Mr. L has had for the past couple of days is something small or the ten day version. It wasn't my fault, I'm not responsible.

The photo above comes from The Wireds Star Wars Fan Captures Secret Lives of Stormtroopers. I thought it only appropriate that the Stormtroopers were eating sickbed comfort food.

1st Wedding Anniversary

A year ago April 21st, before family and treasured friends, Mr. L and I were married in San Francisco. A first marriage for us both, it was an absolutely beautiful, wonderful day. Neither one of us can believe the first year of our marriage has gone by so fast.

We thought about going away to some tropical island to celebrate our first anniversary, but since our honeymoon was in Tahiti, we figured spending some time on some tourist filled island just wouldn't be the same. Many other vacation places were considered...Vancouver, Costa Rica, even Paris. But since we have another, ahem, monumental event coming up in a few weeks and we want to save our vacation time for, say, maybe a trip to Tuscany, we decided to spend our anniversary closer to home. So we decided to go back to San Francisco where our wedded bliss started!

Though Mr. L was raised in SF, and I've lived near the city all my life, we rarely go there just to hang out. The day after our wedding last year we played tourist by riding cable cars and visiting some standard tourist attractions, something neither one of us had done in years. We figured for our anniversary, we'd retrace the steps  of our first day as a married couple and also partake in some of the excellent restaurants the city had to offer.

It was a wonderful mini vacation to celebrate our first year of marriage. We stayed at the lovely Nob Hill Inn, walked up and down hills, road cable cars, shopped and had breakfast, lunch, dinner or cocktails at (in no particular order) Waterbar, CityScape, Epic Roasthouse, McCormick & Kuleto's, Buena Vista, Rue Lepic, Golden Gate Meat Company and Kara's Cupcakes. And maybe a few more, but I'm exhausted...reviews and photos will have to come later. We even found a bit of time to explore the Ferry Market building, though we weren't able to make the farmers market on Saturday.

Around here we don't celebrate events with just one day. Heck, Christmas has a whole season so why not wedding anniversary's?  I'm so full from all the incredible meals we had this vacation, but I'm sure I'll be able to find room to fit in some additional food...as our anniversary week continues with a trip to Manresa in a few days.

I am blessed with a wonderful husband who has embraced this culinary adventure I've taken on since we got married. He  patiently waits for me to take photos of his food (he's very good about not taking a bite until I have pulled out my camera and taken a photo or ten) and I heard him say quite frequently this past vacation "You are going to HAVE to blog this". I am so happy to have him on this journey with me.

Because of the nature of our wedding reception and not wanting to have our family and friends wait while we took professional photographs, Mr. L and I "met" before the actual ceremony took place. I was placed in a room by myself and then Mr. L was brought in. One of our friends snapped this photo of us through the door. This is moments after Mr. L was led into the room and was told he could open his eyes and see me for the first time that day.  I cherish the photo and the memory...a moment when we were the only two people in the universe...when looking into his eyes, I was filled with such wonderful emotion, and knew that though I had waited many many (many) years for the right man to come along...I had finally found him.

Scrapping, Hockey and Food

Well, April sure has had an interesting start. Last week I went to the dentist (for a crown), a Sharks game (pizza we get), a trip to the doctor (for tendinitis in my finger), a trip to the specialist the doctor sent me to for a cortisone shot (which didn't work) a classic migraine (complete with me on the floor in the bathroom at work with nausea) and a three day scrapbooking adventure in Sonora. Did I mention my full time job squeezed in there somewhere?

My Sharks are in the playoffs. Tomorrow starts the real season. 16 wins. That's all it takes. 16. I will be there. Bleeding teal.

Scrapping in Sonora was a blast. I was able to complete quite a few layouts, have a great time with my friends, and even cook something. It made the pre time of page planning worth it. You just might see a layout or two posted one of these days. The photo above was taken outside Cover's Apple Ranch. Several of us took a bit of a photo excursion. The ranch had some awesome old trucks in the back pasture.

Haven't had time to do much cooking. Doesn't mean I haven't been eating. The girls on the scrap trip made some tasty dishes over the weekend. I'll have to post about our pizza excursion as it was quite interesting. But I'm happy to be back and happy to have time to start to cook again. I'm finding that now, when I don't cook, I miss it. I miss planning and shopping. Figuring out which cookbook I'll cook from next. Reading the next food blog that will have me drooling. Keeping up on all those National
Food Days.  Yep, I'm obsessed with food...and there is nothing wrong with that...

The Cat and The Week Ahead

Ladies and Gentleman. Our cat. Toaster. And no she was not named after the appliance.

Sorry for the lack of posts and recipes recently. I'm  currently preparing for a three day scrap weekend. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who is doing all the cooking and a loving cat who keeps me company while I prep.

Who knows, maybe I'll post some scrap pages one of these days.

UPDATE: Photo taken by Mrs. L with Canon PowerShot SD500. Only photoshop done was to set soft light blending mode (the only thing I know how to do in photoshop!)