LaFrittata

My LaFrittata was partly inspired by hunger, a surplus of egg and also a Pioneer Woman recipe.  

So here's what I used:

Cheese - 1.5 cups of mozzarella also a bit of feta for the top
Eggs - 12
Asparagus - 2 cups, cut up and frozen
Onions - 2 cups, cut up and frozen
Baked potatoes - 3 whole ones to be cut up
Hot Sauce - 1 tablespoon
Garlic Pepper - lots
Salt - lots and lots
Olive Oil - several drizzles
Butter - a small hunk

And here's what I did:

First I had Dad microwave-bake three potatoes (one at a time). Once nuked, I put them in the freezer to cool them down. Next, I sauteed the asparagus and onions with the olive oil and butter in a large stove top skillet. I seasoned these with garlic-pepper and salt. 

While letting that cook on a pretty high setting, I beat up a dozen eggs and stole their lunch money! To the egg stuffs I added the mozzarella and also some fiesta blend cheeses as well as the hot sauce. Then I set that shit aside. I grabbed the potatoes from the freezer (they were still hot!) and used a knife and potholder to manhandle the little fuckers until they were cut into smaller chunks. I added those to the asparagus and onions and added a little more seasoning. 

I poured the egg mixture slowly into the pan until it covered all the fixings. Using a giant ass lid, I covered the skillet and let it cook for... I think about 20 minutes. I'm a very exact chef as you can tell. When the egg stuff looked almost completely firm I sprinkled feta cheese all over the top, put the lid back on, and then moved the skillet off the hot burner and let it cook with its residual heat for another ten minutes. 

The result:

So. Fucking. Good. 

I'm a real grownup! Maybe?

This is going to be a sort of a list update. Firstly I want to say that I did get a new phone with new phone number. So if you don't hear from me, or you've texted me with no reply, that's most likely why. Send me a message or email me with your number and we'll get all square. In addition to a new phone I now use apps! Shocking. Scary. I know. I was even able to upload my Starbuck's gift cards to the Starbuck's app so that I can use my phone to get coffee. Mind. Blown.

Speaking of adulting, last week I went to the Pin for Goth Night. It was a bit dead. Which is funny because it was Goth Night, hurrhurr. But it was kind of neat. Hannah and I and one of our witchy friends went out to unleash our inner macabre. It was interesting. And it was free. That's the big key here, it was free and it was an excuse to go all out with black lipstick, dark eyes, frizzy hair, black clothes, and awkward swaying. I actually had a very good time. I had to work the next day so we ended the evening at 10:30PM. 

In other news, I finished the first book of the Seventh Tower series and am now working on number two. This weekend we are celebrating Hannah's birthday. The plan so far is for her and I to go on a writing date at Barnes and Noble starting as soon as we get our butts out the door. And then about 6 or so that night we'll meet people at Peking North for dinner. I'm excited for this as I've been yearning to get back to work on some Death Man. I've been a terrible person - or actually - you know what - I haven't been a terrible person. I've simply not been actively writing. Which doesn't make me terrible. Damn inner critics and mentor's echoes in my head have convinced me that I must be terrible if I went to school for writing and am not currently writing. But that's bullshit. I'm not terrible.

Last news: I'm playing DnD with some friends. I'm going to play a straight & narrow Paladin. He's the babysitter type who doesn't cuss, doesn't drink, doesn't do anything improper. He abides by a strict moral code and is generally not very fun at a party. This should be fun considering he's teaming up with a succubussy tiefling, a rogue, and a clumsy monk. And then another character who I don't know yet. Anyway, it's interesting. I think this is what he's going to look like - see below!

Back to the Books!

Hannah and I are picking out books for each other to read as a sort of "Wifey Book Club." The book I selected for Hannah is The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia and the book she selected for me was one that she read many times as a young adult (and it is the book that got her really excited about story-telling and becoming a writer): Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. I haven't read The Alchemy of Stone yet but I picked it for Hannah because it looked very much like something she would enjoy, but she picked Mara for me because she wanted to share a very important memory and piece of her past with me. I'm delighted she picked it. I had tried to read it once before and wasn't feeling it, however this time around I ate it up hungrily.

Last night I did something I haven't done in a very, very long time: I stayed up past my bedtime to read. Don't get me wrong I stay up later all the time (because I'm so responsible!) but it's usually to chit-chat with Hannah or to watch a show or something like that. It's been ages since a book has kept me up. It felt really exhilarating to get carried away by the written word again. So I didn't wait for Hannah to pick the next one. I chose one she had recommended to me a while ago: The Seventh Tower series by Garth Nix. 

This series has been on my mind for two reasons: 1)I'm excited to read this author and 2) it's called the Seventh Tower series but there are only six books. This bothers me greatly! I realize that the name is due to there being seven towers of interest in this fantasy setting. And I realize that Garth only needed six books to tell his tale. But damn. It would have felt so incredibly satisfying if there had been just one more book. That aside, I am excited to get back to reading. And then... back to writing. Gotta work my muscles, my mind, my imagination, my everything so I can start getting my brain back in the game. 

Life in the House so far

I'm learning every day...my knees and elbow ache and I've learned the value of Aleve. I've learned I don't really like shoveling snow but that once it starts melting it's good fun to chop up the ice blocks and throw them against the fence. I've learned that 75% of the shit we throw away can actually (and should actually) go into the recycle bin. I've learned the bigger the fire place the better - and that being said I will see about purchasing a cord of wood for next year because daddy and I like to burn things! I've learned that I don't really notice the noisy street. I don't even bat an eye at the fire truck sirens anymore. And the dog next door has realized we're supposed to be here and so he hardly barks at us. He does bark, but not even that bothers me. 

It's an energetic and strange atmosphere on Wellesley and I'm slowly adapting the oddity and comforts of it all. I have yet to see a utility bill and am sort of dreading when I learn how much it costs to run a house. 

The living room is painted black and is a fun mixture of Goth and Witch and as we get more and more organized it will become even more dramatic. The upstairs is going to be like an Asian Fusion of Indonesia, China, and Japan complete with teal and magenta for decor. The cats love the king sized bed. And so do we. We are still paying it off but I kind of think it's worth it. So large and comfy. And we did manage to get it up the narrow stairs to the master bedroom. There were people who doubted this could ever happen. 

The basement is where the troll lives. The troll is my father and my mother is called Sister Catherine. Someday I'll write a kid's story about Sister Catherine and the Troll who live in the basement and only come up to deliver freshly laundered clothing to their Witch overlords... or to burn shit. I had worried that with mom and dad living with us Hannah would be extremely unhappy and I would be very frustrated. So far at least my worries for nothing. We have enough space for all of us to live quite comfortably and for most of the day it feels like Hannah and I live alone in the upstairs. I don't want my parents to feel they can't come up, but I think they like feeling like they don't 'have' to come up. They have pretty much everything they need downstairs and we're working every day to make the house (all of it) more comfy and more like a home. 

There will be some fun before and after pictures once we get things a bit more organized. And this summer we are hosting a Black Moon Ball. It will sort of serve as a 'here's all the shit we wanted to do at our wedding but couldn't' and 'unofficial house warming' party.

Merry Yule and Christmas and Happy New Year

Friends and family, loved ones near and far, Hannah and I wanted to take a moment to extend some Holiday warmth and cheer to you and yours. As most of you know, our 2017 has been wrought with change. As if we jumped into the Tower card of the nearest Tarot deck, we have been faced with sudden and life altering situations that have made for one intense 2017. Early in the year Hannah underwent a surgery that brought with it a slow and painful recovery. Later in the year, on the first of October, in fact, our apartment complex gave us 30 days to vacate as they had become a tax credit property and we no longer qualified to live there. The good news was that they gave us a rehoming stipend to help; the bad news was that October happened to be the month of our wedding.  

It was only with the help of our amazing friends that we were able to accomplish a Friday the 13th Wedding, a honeymoon to Seattle, and a move-out in the span of a month. Sanity aside, we then began the very adult task of shopping for a house. No more renting for us. We were ready to put down some real roots. We stayed with friends and my parents while looking for a home and finally, two months to the day after our wedding, we closed on a house on Wellesley.

I cannot thank you enough, all of you, for helping Hannah and I make it through this turbulent time to find peace just in time for Yule, Christmas, and New Years. Making it through this year wouldn’t have been possible without your helping hands and encouragement.

Thank you so much to all those who listened to our woes and helped us ground our emotions, who walked backwards up a ramp hauling a handcart loaded with hundreds of books, who arrived early, who stayed late, who donated money to our honeymoon, who stunned us with generosity, who humbled us with kindness, who kept us going with positive energy and litanies of ‘good luck’ and ‘hang in there.’ Hannah and I have been so stressed that we may not have seemed as grateful as we actually felt. So I tell you now: dear friends and family, know that we love and appreciate you and wish you peace and joy during this magical time of year.