God Help Me!

Tomorrow morning (rather, later this morning since it is currently 12:45AM on Saturday) I am going to attempt to drive a large, 17 foot UHaul truck through northeast DC, load it up with all my belongings and drive it to my uncle's house in Germantown. The largest vehicle I have ever driven is my aunt's Toyota Sequoia for about 5 minutes before I determined I was a serious hazard behind the wheel of such a monstrous piece of machinery and gave up. This time, I have no choice. There is NO ONE to drive the truck but me. What's a girl to do?? I'm not going to lie - I'm terrified. I anticipate a lot of angry honking, perhaps some middle fingers raised in my direction, a few curbs that I miss and run completely over and maybe a minor "bump" when I try to park it. I'm just praying to God (Allah) that I won't have to reverse at any point in my journey.

Keep your fingers crossed - I'm hoping I'll live to tell the tale!

DVD Rant

Lately, a lot of folks have been talking about how new video formats will soon be replacing DVDs and I'm not too excited about it. Well, HD-DVDs are okay because according to Shivram (one of my tech gurus), we'll still be able to play old DVDs. But, I'm not enjoying the speculation that people will start downloading movies from programs like iTunes and be able to use a contraption that hooks up to your tv and your computer to watch a movie. That sounds like too much work for me. Yes, it means you don't have to wait to go to the store to purchase the DVD or wait for netflix to ship it to you, but downloading and connecting cords from a computer to a TV and then dealing with any complications that arise is just unnecessary. It's so simple to open up a DVD case and pop it in the DVD player and start the movie!!

It feels like we JUST got DVD technology! I got my first DVD player in 1999 and since then I've built up quite an impressive collection from almost every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the special edition of Pulp Fiction to the limited release (before it goes into the "Disney Vault") of The Little Mermaid. Some might argue that numerous DVDs take up space but I like my collection! Its displayed as proudly as my book collection! I like my DVD cases - they're nice and shiny and full of cool graphics! Well, I like all the cases except Season 6 of The Simpsons - that one's annoying since it doesn't line up on the shelf with the others. I'll admit, I was slow to jump on the DVD bangwagon for fear of letting go of my VHS tapes, and it took me a while to accept iPod and digital music, but enough is enough. I'm not going to blame the companies who come out with this technology - I'm going to blame the techno geeks who rush out to purchase the latest, most up-to-date technology. They're the ones who eat up the new stuff and make it popular and thus, force all of us to adapt. Well, not this chick - I'm sticking with my good old-fashioned DVDs. Humph!

Addendum to previous post

Ok, so according to Bryan, Matt's "fish guy" is actually Bryan's fish guy since he is the one who found him. However, Joe also claims credit for the fish guy. We're looking into the matter to find the truth.

Lets examine the facts:

The fish guy is in Georgetown
The fish guy sells sushi grade fish
Joe is the "sushi" maker in the apartment
Bryan works in Georgetown
Matt wears a lot of jewelry.

I'll keep you posted.

End on That.....

I am going to consider dinner a success! I wish I had taken photos of the completed meal, but as usual, I forgot! I put a lot of effort into the presentation and didn't document it! So, you're just going to have to take my word for it. I ended up buying the tuna steaks from Giant. I know, I know - why didn't I go to Whole Food's or Matt's fish guy in Georgetown? (Side note: My friend Matt seems to have a "guy" for everything. It seems like any time I mention using professional services - dry cleaning, auto, hair styling, Matt knows somebody and scolds me for not asking him first cause I could've gone to his "guy.")
So, why didn't I go to Whole Foods for the steaks? Simple - because I really didn't want to make a $50 meal into an $80 one.

I started off with golden potato and leek soup with cheddar toasts (pictured above). I added a bit more cream than it called for and a lot more seasoning. I added rosemary and lots of pepper. It turned out great! The main course consisted of pan seared tuna steaks with a ginger shitake cream sauce, roasted broccoli with fresh Parmesan and rice pilaf with sauteed onions. Everyone loved it - especially the cream sauce and Candice said she enjoyed it more than the fillets we had at Smith & Wollensky!

We ended the meal with Whole Food's Strawberries & Cream cake, with 5 candles and an off key rendition of "Happy Birthday!"

As my friend, Matt says when you accomplish something great, end on that! That was the meal of the month for me and nothing else I do (this month) is going to top it.

Pan Seared Tuna?

So, in my attempt to be something I am not (a gourmet chef) I am going to make pan seared tuna steaks tonight. I wish I could've been satisfied making chicken breasts or some sort of pasta dish, but I think I'm ready for the next step in my quest for culinary excellence. I've been pouring over websites (Food Network and Epicurious) as well as old issues of Cooking Light magazine and both of my copies of The Joy of Cooking. And, as usual, I'm driving myself crazy with all of the choices that I have.

I want to start off with golden potato-leek soup and cheddar toasts and then move onto the main course. The only problem is trying to figure out if any of the Asian inspired tuna recipes I've found will be complimented by the soup.

As of right now (and I say that because this menu has changed several times in my mind over the course of the last 12 hours), I'm planning on serving:

-Golden Potato-Leek Soup with Cheddar Toasts
-BLANK (Herb or sesame) crusted, pan seared tuna with
BLANK sauce or BLANK relish or BLANK salsa
-Wild Rice and Mushroom Pilaf

Knowing me, I'll back out and just make a staple, boring old pasta dish, as usual. Cooking on weekday nights is so much harder than when I've got the whole day to do it. Hopefully, I'll actually use my digital camera and take some photos of my culinary achievement (or defeat). Luckily, there's a frozen pizza in the freezer, just in case.....

Quote of the Day

Who can guess what 1992 film this quote is from?

"Attention Rex Manning fans, to your left you will notice a shoplifter being chased by night manager, Lucas. This young man will be caught, deep fried in a vat of hot oil and served to our first hundred customers. Just another tasty treat from the gang....."

Moving and Marathons

Ok, so I have a little less than 2 weeks to go before I move home and before I start marathon training. Both endeavors have raised puzzling looks from some of my friends and family who don't understand why on Earth I would voluntarily leave a fun house with an amazing room that is a 15 minute drive to work and a short metro ride from everything else (ie: bars) to move into my uncle and aunt's basement in Germantown, MD. Simple: FREE RENT! This means that I'll be able to pay off bills, save money and most importantly - buy stuff! I'll be able to eat sushi whenever I want without worrying! Well - I might have to worry about mercury intake but I'll have to research that - not sure if it effects sushi =/ I can buy a new, expensive jacket without worrying about how I'm going to feed myself for the next 2 months. I'll be able to complete my Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends and West Wing DVD collections! I'm sure there's other stuff I want to buy but these were the first things that came to mind. I know there'll be a few pairs of shoes thrown into the mix, as well.

Secondly - the one that puzzles my mom the most - why I would volunteer to run 26.2 miles! My mom remembers what I was like in elementary school! I HATED running! I was the kid who faked stomach aches and head aches to get out of going to school on the day of our PT Tests -running a mile to me was a worse fate than eating cafeteria food (unless it was pizza Friday). I could never finish on time, let alone run the whole mile! In high school, when I played field hockey, I would complain over and over again about running with the rest of the team and whine to my coach about how it was much more important for me to practice my goal keeping skills. The once-a-week 20 minute run they made me participate in made my stomach turn in fear all day. I wasn't able to concentrate in Geometry because I was too worried about field hockey practice later that day! And now, 15 years later, I'm trying to run a marathon! I really don't know what got into me when I signed up - I'm just hoping to make it to the finish line without dying. I'm scared as all hell because the most I can go right now is 3 miles and that's tough. We start officially training at the end of this month so I've got 2 weeks to pre-train so I don't embarrass myself in front of the other Team-In-Training members! I'll keep everyone updated on my progress!