Blog Love: My Daguerreotype Boyfriend

Um, have you heard of this gloriousness yet??

It's a site made up of old timey lookers.

I've decided it's the Irish prisoners and dentists that are the hottest.

Yessir, you may extract that tooth.

;)

A Blog to Follow: Bangable Dudes in History

I stumbled across one of the funniest blogs I've seen in a while yesterday: Bangable Dudes in History.  It is a collection of men, be they historically "bad guys" or "good," but they all have their "hotness" broken down in pie chart form. 

 

You also get some interesting info about these dudes: like, Tesla was a total heartthrob!  He believed women would become the dominant sex in the future!  He also was a vegetarian, believed in E.T. before Spielberg was even an itch in his daddy's pants, and celibate...Like I said, TOTAL heartthrob!

You'll be surprised at some of the inclusions!  Look at this young kid, Stalin!  He was just a lil' puddin'!  Take a few seconds out of your day to visit these hotties in history!

Holiday Gift Guide 2010: For the Amazing Man (or Men) in Your Life

A Holgaroid would be a perfect addition to your shutterbug's collection.

If a camera isn't in your budget, how about some schmancy film for his Polaroid?

These old-school book covers make really cool t-shirts.

I'm sure your guy always has great ideas he needs to jot down!

These awesome PostalCo notebooks would make a great stocking stuffer.

 Speaking of stockings, why not a dope pair of socks for him?

These brass Japanese bottle openers are form and function perfected!

 

Give him a spin on a classic scent, this Tabac or Palo Santo Scent is intoxicating...!

Plus the packaging is pretty cool, too.

Aren't guys the most difficult peeps to buy presents for?

What are some of your favorite ideas for presents to give your men?

January 31

While everyone is settling back into their old or newly resolved routines, I'm still a wreck. I am in persistent fight-or-flight mode until January 31. After making it through the marathon of ThanksgivingChristmasNewYear's, I have one more hurdle to clear before normalcy can return to my life: Shug's Birthday.

Since he's the easiest person in the world to shop for, finding a present will be a piece of cake...right?

Improve your karma or help out a desperate wife by emailing present-to-end-all-presents suggestions to igotgoldteef@gmail.com.

Kisses and my first-born will be your handsome reward.

A year ago today...

...Shug asked me to marry him!

It was the biggest surprise of my life.

And the best.

He was so thoughtful and sneaky when planning on how he was going to pop the question...
This is one of the roses he gave me that day.

It's a good thing he asked, 'cause I'm pretty sweet on him.

Gift Guide for Him

All on Etsy.
I love the organic feel of these gifts.
Boys are so difficult to shop for!

Presents and Presence

Some people would say I'm obsessed with finding people the "perfect" gift. Shopping for the holidays begins on December 26th for me. All year long I keep a running list in my head about what would make the recipient sublimely happy. I don't want to just give something the person would get for themselves...I want to do better. I want to give a present that is so unexpected, yet somehow perfect EVERY TIME.

Perfectionist much?

Take Shug, for example. I want to give this crazy kid every bazillion dollar camera the world and Russia has to offer. But since we're in a recession, we've imposed a $50 limit for each other this holiday.

Do you know what you can get for $50?

Nuthin'.

I've discovered everything amazing-cool-awesome-jawdropping-beautiful-creative thing is usually well above the half-Benjamin mark and to make matters worse, Shug has gotten the "I'm just gonna buy myself a few things" bug...Doesn't SOUND so bad, but just wait.

Shug has a short-list of "Things Necessary for Supreme Happiness." Quite a few of these things actaully are under the fifty dollar limit, so like a resourseful wifey I went a picked up one of the things on the list. Because that's what wives do, I'm told.

Attempt #1 - Guitar from Costco. Every time for the past few months, after we've stocked our cart with month's worth supplies of sun-dried tomatoes and laundry detergent, we'd swing down the musical instrument aisle and Shug would crane his neck as we passed this acoustic guitar like he was watching a childhood friend left behind through a rear view window. After the twelfth time this happened I went and bought the damn guitar. TWO days later I come home to find Shug practicing "Stairway to Heaven" or whatever on a new guitar from Costco. "WTF, babe?!?!" I asked calmly. I had thought he'd found his present and opened it up, but NOOOOO, he just went to Costco and bought himself the guitar. Result - Guitar returned.

Attempt #2 - Remote controlled helicopter from the pushy kiosk salesman at the mall. When holiday shopping with Shug's little sisters a week or so ago, we pass said kiosk and the light in Shug's eyes blinds us as he talks about how cool a remote controlled helicopter would be. We have to stop since we can no longer see where we are going. He grabs me and I squint from his bright stare. "You got one for me! Didn't you!" he posits, "I can just tell by the look on your face!" Result - Helicopter returned.

Attempt #3 - The best robe in the universe. Shug loves Twitter and apparently Twitter loves Shug, because three days ago he just won a DAMN ROBE in a Twitter contest. Result - I cried and robe was returned.

So nobody is getting anything for Christmas. Period.

Recipe of the Week: Shug's Polenta Salad

Those of you who have the pleasure of knowing Shug in person also know that he cooks about two things: leftovers and t.v. dinners. It's not for lack of ability or the excess dribbles of machismo, it's just he's never really learned how to cook. When there are days I know I won't be home until 8pm, I always ask Shug to "take care of dinner," which usually means delicious take-out of some kind and my favorite bottle of wine.

So last week, when I passed dinner responsibility over to Shug, I was expecting some styrofoam clam shell brimming with heaps of Pad Thai or Tibetan spicy potatoes, but Shug had actually PREPARED dinner for us. Yes, it's true, and no, it's not the apocalypse.

Shug made the most delicious and healthy meal in under 30 minutes! So today's recipe is all Shug's!

Shug's Polenta Salad
Serves 2 hungry folks or 4 appetizers
Ingredients:
One tube of prepped polenta, we like the sun-dried tomato and basil flavor, sliced into 1/2 inch discs
6 ounces of goat cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
White wine vinegar
Juice from half a lemon
1 clove of garlic, minced
Pinch of dried basil
Pinch of dried oregano
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
1/4 cup of sliced sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
Heaps of fresh spring greens

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. On a cookie sheet that has been prepped with extra virgin olive oil, plop down the polenta discs and give each one a little more love with the olive oil. Put cookie sheet in the oven and let bake for ten minutes.

While your polenta is crisping up, portion your spring greens into bowls. Add equal portions of the sun-dried tomatoes to each bed of greens. To make the dressing, add equal parts olive oil and white wine vinegar to a small container you can lid and shake. Add the lemon juice, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Shake it like a polaroid picture. Set aside.

Pull the polenta out of the oven and quickly add a dollop of goat cheese to each disk. Return to oven for 5-7 minutes or until the goat cheese is all melty and awesome. Remove polenta from the oven and portion the disks evenly onto the bowls of spring greens. Dress with the Italian dressing.

Kiss the cook.

90 Days

Well, it's been 90 days since our wedding.
And I couldn't be happier about our decision.
Here's to three month's of being hitched!

Recipe of the Week: Butternut Squash Risotto That's So Not Scary

Sunday turned out to be a "best" day. "Best" because Shug and I started the day with a cup of coffee with our friends from McCall, Idaho that had trekked to SLC for some sushi, a Schwinn, and haunted houses. After that we met up for brunch at Oasis Cafe with one of my bestests - 11, her lil' sis, and 11's most excellent BF. We had amazing food and even better conversation. I always forget how much I like my friends when I'm in school!

The day was lovely, so Shug and I took Punky Rubester on a walk and were famished when we got back home. I had a butternut squash lying around along with some white wine that needed drinking. This is the dinner we got out of it! We had the risotto with some fresh greens, steamed broccoli, and crusty french bread for dipping...

Butternut Squash Risotto
Serves 4
Ingredients:
One 2 lb. butternut squash, cut in half and cleaned out
3 T extra virgin olive oil
one yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 cup arborio rice
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock, warming in saucepan
1/2 white wine
1 t rubbed dry sage
1/2 t rubbed saffron threads
1/2 cup shredded parmesean or asiago cheese (we like the asiago!)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and plop the cleaned squash face down on a cookie sheet prepped with 1 T of the extra virgin olive oil. Let that bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, or when the skin is easily pierced with a knife. Remove from oven and let cool a little.

In a large skillet or saute pan, heat the remainder of the olive oil. Add the diced onion and saute until translucent. Add the rubbed sage and saffron, cook for one minute and then add your rice. Saute until the grains become translucent, as well. Then start scooping your butternut squash out and into the pan. Mush it around so it's well incorporated.

Deglaze the pan with the 1/2 cup white wine. Be sure to pour yourself a glass, too, because some serious stirring is about to go down. Add 1/2 cup of hot stock and stirstirstir until it's absorbed. Keep this up until all the stock is gonzo. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Add the shredded cheese. Stir some more!

Serve in bowls with another grinding of pepper, a squidge of olive oil, and some cheese sprinkled on top. Your should be finished with your glass of wine, so get a refill and enjoy!

Autumn Walk

Ruby has been LOVING walks in the afternoon.
This was her last walk before the snow fell.
I hope she likes her walks as much in the winter!

Weekends are good, but...

Um, I'm talking to you, Shug...

Via t spoon of sunshine.

It's Friday!

We made it!
Are you doing anything fun?
I think I might go see Where the Wild Things Are with Shug!
Well, whatever you do, try to enjoy the beautiful fall colors!
xo



Photo of Ruby via Shug's Flickr.

Shug...

...it's so nerdy and true.
xo.

Via ffffound and teaspoon of sunshine.

Inglorious Basterds

Quentin, I really, really love you.

I know that whatever the genre or storyline you choose, I'm going to be supremely entertained from the opening scene to the final credits. You can make a dark subject pretty darn funny and fulfilling.

Inglorious Basterds was just such a movie. Really graphic violence that included scalping, skin carving, baseball bat beating, and swiss-cheese bullet-holing was actually really necessary for the ultimate Nazi-killing escapade. Entire families being likened to "rats" and being exterminated as such was crucial to the awesome payback at the end of the movie. Women were strong and vengeful, even if they had to show their painted toes...we all are quite aware of Quentin's foot fetish by now, right?

Now, this movie was not the oeuvre everyone was saying it would be...I mean, Pulp Fiction can only happen once. But this was a really fun, straightforward story about really sticking it to the bad guy...and sometimes, that's really all you need.

End of Summer Mixtape

Libación Fria - Bell Biv Devo End of Summer Mix
Here's a sampling of the jams we've been feeling this past summer.

01. F KENYA RIP - Highlife
02 Summertime Clothes - Animal Collective
03 Her Nectar - Inverness
04 Weed Demon - Wavves
05 Gypsy Home - Woods
06 Lovers' Carvings - Bibio
07 Something in the Way - Best Coast
08 Horse Steppin' - Sun Araw
09 The Air We Share - The Gerbils
10 Cheerleader - Grizzly Bear
11 Walkabout Feat. Panda Bear - Atlas Sound
12 Quicksand - Lotus Plaza
13 Radically Inept Candy Girl - Ganglians
14 To Connect - Floating Action
15 Covens - Cassowaries
16 Jonesy Boy - Cass McCombs

Shug has a new blog. Get this mixtape here.

Raw Recipe - Easy Peasy Cashew Cheese-Stuffed Anaheim Peppers

I know it's going to be difficult trying to avert your eyes from my ample bosom, but this iPhone shot was all we managed to take before we snarfed down our dinner! Before we embark on this cashew cheese journey together, I've got to tell you that eating raw has seriously improved my energy levels! My resolve to eat raw is only for the weekdays, so on the weekends I indulge in all the follies the Standard American Diet (SAD, haha) has to offer. I also had a tuneup on Monday and my blood work came back stellar, HDL, LDL, iron - the whole shebang was looking exemplary. Maybe I'm on to something with this partially raw insanity...

I will say Shug has NOT had the same effects from eating raw that I have enjoyed. Granted, he is eating only one meal a day raw, but he has complained of being tired and fatigued. He also pretty much hated the avocado bisque I made the other night, but the rest of the raw fare he thinks has been pretty tasty. So here's his fav so far...

Cashew Cheese-Stuffed Anaheim Peppers
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 Anaheim chile peppers
4 T extra virgin olive oil
2 cups raw cashews
Juice of 2 lemons
3 cloves garlic, with the green shoot removed from the inside of each clove
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t sea salt
1/4 cup water

Cut the chiles in half and clean out all the membrane and seeds. Coat the inside and the outside with the 4 T olive oil. In your blender or food processor, blend the cashews, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, salt, and water until smooth. You may have to scrape the sides often, but don't give up until it's smooth! It's worth it! Your mixture should be thick. Once blended, spoon into the halved chiles and set on a bed of greens, spinach, cabbage, whatever! I like a lemon and olive oil dressing on top with a little more salt and pepper, or you can chop up some onion, tomato, cilantro and lime for a raw pico de gallo! Devour.

Exactly.

Via etc.

Today Is...

...a charmed day!
Maybe it's just because it's fall,
or there's an edge to the morning air,
or my coffee tastes just right,
or I got to wake up next to Shug...

I dunno...
But today is special.


Via Flickr.

Tim Gunn...

I really love how you say dossier.