"The Godfather" Bread Soup

Yesterday, Alex and I finally got around to watching The Godfather and The Godfather II. I know; it's shocking that we hadn't seen them before. And now having seen them, I'm even more appalled, because they are so very freaking good. I think I need to see III even though I heard it's not so great, because I want to see what happens next. In any case, what could make any experience watching The Godfather better than eating some amazing Italian Bread Soup? Now apparently, the soup I made might be Tuscan, not Sicilian, but I think it's close enough and whatever region it's from, it's amazing. So, for a rough facsimilie of what I had last night, you could just click this recipe for Pappa al Pomodoro. But for something even yummier, that you can have for two meals, do this. A few days before you want the bread soup, make this amazing Rustic Cabbage Soup from 101 Recipes. Accompany it with some baked French or white, country bread. Have that for a few meals until you get kind of sick of it and have a medium pot left, and about 1/3 loaf of the white bread. Then take the soup and put it in a big pot over low-medium heat. Add 1-16 oz. can of diced tomatoes. Add a 16 oz can of organic, low-sodium tomato soup. Stir gently. Toss in bite-sized chunks of the stale French or white bread. Do not stir -- the bread's too delicate for that. Gently push in the bread so it soaks up the liquid. Serve hot with grated parmesan cheese on top. Tocca a te...Buona fortuna!

Lawyer, Store Owner, Housewife?

"The Christmas Wife." No, it's not the title of a Lifetime Original Movie. It's me. It's what I was thinking I would call a TV show or movie based on what I've been doing lately. Now that I'm not a "lawyer," and the idea of saying I'm a "writer" just seems ridiculous given how much time I actually spend writing as compared to cooking, I'm not really sure what my identity is. But "wife" will do for now, I suppose. How about "baker"?

My 2009 resolution was to make a perfect cream-based pie. I have to find a new resolution because I did it. It wasn't that hard. Just follow the recipe in Joy of Cooking exactly. That means where it says whole milk, you use whole milk, not skim (who knew milk fats were so important?). Where it says bring to a bare simmer, you don't let that bad boy boil. And for God's sake, where it says to toast the shredded coconut at 300, don't just throw it in the oven at 400 because you already have a freaking lasagna in there and you just figure you can get away with it if you watch it really closely. Nope. Do it EXACTLY like Joy says.

Now, I wish some people actually read this freaking blog, for instance, people who make Red Velvet cakes. Or people who just really know their cake and want to contribute their favorite Red Velvet cake recipe. Because unfortunately, Joy doesn't have a recipe for Red Velvet cake, and I made the one posted by Sara Moulton on the Food Network site. What a terrible disappointment. The icing was great (how can you go wrong with an entire POUND of creamcheese, and the cake was indeed very, very red. It was unfortunately dry, not as tall as I would've liked, and flavorless. I don't think I overbeat the cake, but even if I did, that wouldn't explain the flavorlessness.... I think the recipe just isn't that great. Quantities seem off. You'd be better off buying a Betty Crocker white cake and adding 2 tbsps of red food coloring and a quarter cup of cocoa than making this recipe. But by all means, make the frosting! Just put it on a more worthy cake.

Other recent firsts: first pork chops, first lasagna, first many different types of cookies. Not lemon bars though. Those I've been making for years.

Advice for cooking holiday favorites: play Christmas music really loudly. It makes you feel like you're in this fabulous holiday musical. Wear a holiday apron. Sing along to the music, even the really cheesy songs you don't like. Talk to your pets! You'll feel like Snow White meets It's a Wonderful Life.

Holiday stuff I did lately: a seemingly endless pile of Christmas cards. It took hours; enough to watch the Woody Allen movie Love and Death (very funny send up of Russian lit), two episodes of Emeril Green's cooking show (Cajun cooking was the topic of one. Can't remember the other.), two episodes of Wife Swap (horrifically entertaining), and one episode of a show called the First 48 Hours (unrepentantly grim with major gleams of bleakness). So, like five hours. And I already worked on it a few hours in the preceeding days. Wow. If you didn't get a Christmas card from me, then here's your big "Merry Christmas, Love Heather & Alex." Hope that'll do, because I'm not doing any more.

Previously: Shopping. I'm almost 100% done. Luckily I did it almost all ahead of time. That really, really helps make Christmas more fun. However, I do still have to brave the stores for one last gift. For those of you who haven't begun your shopping yet, all I can say is that I've been there too, and may the Lord have mercy on your souls.

Tomorrow: I have to stamp and mail the freaking cards, wrap the Christmas presents for faraway family, and ship them off. I can't stand packing the presents in boxes... way too much spacial reasoning for my pleasure. Boringly enough, I also have to do some menial chores: laundry, dishes, cleaning. But then there's the thing I really want to do, which is to make a gingerbread house. Guess which one I'm prioritizing? Gingerbread house, I'm gonna make you. I don't care if you're difficult and not all that tasty. A house made out of candy just sounds too sweet not to make.

Tomorrow is pretty typical of my days these days. Is it wrong that I actually kind of like it? I wonder if I should feel guilty that I'm "just" a housewife. Truth is, if there was no money worry attached, it would be a pretty greaqt gig. However, money is an object, and I do wonder if eventually I'd feel unfulfilled or regret leaving the workforce (though never will I regret leaving the public defender office).

So what to do next: I'm thinking of opening a clothing shop. That might be more interesting than being a lawyer. My worries about that are that we might not stay in Tacoma. It wouldn't make sense to start a shop here if we're moving back to Seattle (or elsewhere). But I have a lot of experience with retail and I do love clothes, and I love business, and it would be a great thing to be my own boss. But then there's that worrying voice in my head that says, "What about the economy? Are you seriously considering starting a small business during this terrible economic downturn?" and "You could make so much more money being a lawyer!"

Oh, and in case you've been reading long enough to know that I have been considering starting a wedding planning business, I still think it's a great idea, but my location is not ideal for it. I don't have many contacts in Tacoma yet, and I'm just a leetel to far for it to make sense to commute to my clients and vendors up in Seattle. Plus the economy thing again... who is seriously going to pay to have their wedding planned if they're worried about losing their jobs? So that idea's on the backburner for now to dust off for later.

There are some interesting law job prospects that I'm seriously considering. I am definitely not completely tossing out that possibility. It will be fascinating for me to see what the new year brings.

Britney & Bush: Please Go Away in Peace!

Recently the January issue of Glamour arrived at my door. The cover features a noticeably cleaned up Britney Spears in a white shirt against a white backdrop. She's all brown eyes and tenuous smile, legs folded underneath her demurely. The headline reads: "Healthier at Last, She Finally Opens Up About Her 'Crazy Year.'" In the article, the interviewer notes that her manager is there, disallowing Britney to answer many of the questions. Furthermore, Glamour states "it's a recovery in progress," and that her energy levels fluxuated wildly from alert to lethargic.

I hope, for Britney's sake, that she's better. But more importantly, I hope for the purposes of branding "American culture," that she's done making an ass out of herself. I think the comeback attempt is sweet, but unlikely to succeed, and it would be better still if she would just go away.

I don't hate Britney. I'm not crazy about that kind of music, but honestly, I mostly feel sorry for her. I just wish she would knock it off because she's embarassing me.

Same thing with George W. You'll never see me with an "Impeach Bush" bumper sticker, because I actually feel sorry for the guy. He wasn't really capable of dealing with all the problems that came with running a nation. He's just kind of ... embarassing.

So we're wrapping up with George W., and that makes me feel incredibly relieved. Maybe it's time for Britney to "retire" as well? Wouldn't that be grand? Please, Britney, Bush -- just go away already?

The Officers' Spouses' Club

Sixteen military wives
Thirty-two softly focused brightly colored eyes
(The Decemberists, 16 Military Wives)

When I married Alex, I jokingly asked if I should join the Officers’ Spouses’ Club, but I never thought I would actually do that. However, when I first moved to Tacoma, I had only two friends down here besides Alex. (Now I have roughly four friends – the number has doubled! Not bad.) Anyway, I needed to find a new doctor very quickly, and I had no one to ask for a reference. I remembered that there was the Officers’ Spouses’ Club, and I contacted the club president to see if she had a recommendation of doctors in the area. She didn’t, but suggested I start getting involved so I could talk to the other wives and get their opinions. She was so friendly and welcoming that I thought it was worth looking into joining.

Meanwhile, I’ve already found my own doctor, but I still wanted to see what the OSC was all about. I agreed to volunteer as a docent for today’s Tour of Homes. Once a year as a fundraiser, ten higher ranking officers open their homes and people tour through them to see what their homes are like and also for decorating ideas. This year it’s on Fort Lewis in the stately Broadmoor community. Since I’m pretty nosy, I knew I just had to get involved with that!

Last night, the OSC held a reception at the OSC president’s house for the volunteers who were opening their homes as well as the docents. Then we got a VIP tour of the houses ourselves; otherwise, we would only get to see the house that we were volunteering in.

I was surprisingly nervous getting ready. It felt like the first day of 7th grade all over again. Would they shun me? Maybe I don’t look officer-wifey enough (whatever that means)? Maybe the fact that my husband is full-time active duty National Guard, as opposed to regular Army stationed at Ft. Lewis, would be a barrier? And then I thought, so what if they don't like me? Will the world end?

Then I told my wussy butt that facing fear is the best way to make it go away, and I walked into a throng of about 30 beautifully dressed and coiffed ladies. A man in a red shirt and jeans slunk out quickly, sensing that this was not a place for men. Oh no. It was all about the ladies. It reminded me of my sorority from college except the women were for the most part nicer and much less drunk.

We ate amazing baklava and drank punch or wine and chatted.* I met a woman who worked in investments until she had her son, who is autistic and needs a lot of care. She was my age, pretty, smart, and hip. I also met a really nice lady who unfortunately tried to convince me to go to her church. She explained that even though I’m Catholic, God is God and it doesn’t matter which church you go to. While on one level I agree with her, I just simply couldn’t do that. Not just because her church is one of those Assembly of God things, but because I’m Catholic. I like my worship old school. Really old school. But I digress.

One of the most fun parts of the night was hopping in this lady Kathy’s SUV to go to the other houses with two other ladies. Kathy is a former military police officer (MP) who now works in public affairs. My favorite thing about her is that she had her satellite radio station tuned to Butt Rock and we were rocking out to Poison, Junkyard, Def Leppard, and other hair bands. That was hilarious.

So about the décor. Some of the homes were a little too robustly patriotic (think all-American red white and blue Christmas tree) for my taste. But most of these places served to make me feel deeply, irreparably inadequate in terms of how clean, organized, well decorated, and large my home is, for my homes is none of those things at present time. I gasp to think at the hours and hours of labor hanging all the greenery, putting up multiple Christmas trees, and installing a myriad of soft white lights must have taken. Not to mention the women who sew their own drapes, who hand make appliqués for the walls, who make adorable curtains out of ribbons and Christmas ornaments…. Wow.

But that feeling of inadequacy apparently is something we all share. Almost everyone said something about how they felt guilty at the state of their own homes. One of the women whose home was in the tour was fretting about how lame her house was compared to all the others. It wasn’t as big, she didn’t have as many Christmas decorations, she didn’t have handmade drapes. She only had one Christmas tree! Her home wasn’t nearly as clean, nearly as sophisticated, nearly as lovely as all the other homes, she lamented. I went there and it was full of beauty. She had the cabinet her grandfather made her that her husband refinished as a surprise. She had a painting her grandmother made. She had personal mementos all through her beautiful, clean, organized home. How dare she feel inadequate? She’s a freaking domestic goddess, and she works full time on top of that.

Maybe it’s too far to say these women are the real heroes of the Army, but really, it’s probably not that far from the truth. Rock on, officers’ wives. You all are pretty, you’re good moms, and your houses are great. And don’t let anybody, including yourselves, tell you any different.


*Diet tip: to avoid eating a lot, wear a skirt with a really tight waistband like I did. The discomfort literally prevents you from eating so much.

Goodbye, Myspace Blog

Dear Myspace Blog,
I really loved you at one time. Most of my friends were active on you in one form or fashion, and my blog got some readers because I had so many myspace friends. (Honestly, I think it might have helped that I was single. Marriage hasn't been kind to me in terms of blog readership). Plus myspace was so easy to format and just very user friendly.

Now it's feeling like I'm talking to myself out there. I'll still keep up the blog on myspace, but I can't help but think that this crosslinking my posts is really a waste of time.

So for now it's adios myspace blog, hello Blogspot!

p.s. If anyone knows secrets for making my blog look better, let me know. I am still basically a luddite at heart.