My Top 20 of 2007

So, 89.3 The Current (best radio station out there) does an annual "Top 89" at the end of the year.  And I voted.  I saw more than half of them live in this past year, too! (Didn't see Lily Allen, The White Stripes, Feist, Prince, Mark Ronson, Pipettes, Rilo Kiley, Shins, and Albert Hammond Jr.)  You can put 20 albums on your ballot, and here are mine:

Lily Allen Alright, Still

Amy Winehouse Back to Black

JoAnna James Back of My Mind

The Fratellis Costello Music

The New Pornographers Challengers

Dan Wilson Free Life

The White Stripes Icky Thump

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Is Is

M.I.A. Kala

Arcade Fire Neon Bible

Prince Planet Earth

Feist The Reminder

Rilo Kiley Under the Blacklight

Brother Ali The Undisputed Truth

Mark Ronson Version

The Shins Wincing the Night Away

Peter Bjorn and John Writer's Block

The Pipettes We Are The Pipettes

Albert Hammond Jr. Yours to Keep

Kaiser Chiefs Yours Truly, Angry Mob

Okay, I'm kind of pissed at snow now.

Yes, it's pretty, but SERIOUSLY!  My normally 30-35 minute commute took (deep breath) TWO and a HALF HOURS yesterday!  It was all fine and dandy until I got to 280.  For those of you out of the TC metro, 280 is the detour for 35W since the bridge collapse.  Although I've never seen it too congested, this was the traffic jam to end all traffic jams.  Why can't I just take public transit like the rest of the tree huggers?  Why do I have to work in the middle of the god-forsaken suburbs?  This seriously is the only time I have ever thought that living in the suburbs might be nice.  How depressing.

In unrelated news, as a follow-up to my last post, the Bailey's truffles turned out awesome.  Everyone gobbled them up, and Brook keeps asking when I'm making more.  I have the ingredients ready to go, but with the s*@#^y traffic I've experienced in the last couple days, when I get home, the last thing I want to do is spend the evening in the kitchen covered in melted chocolate.  

Esposo and I have been invited to a holiday party at some General Mills bigwig's house next Friday.  General Mills is one of his clients, and the others in his company who work on these projects are going to be there, too.  The house is in Minnetonka or Minnetrista or something, so I'm sure it will be hella nice.  We're all supposed to bring an item of food, and--get this-- it's supposed to be made with Betty Crocker or other GM products.  I'm reminded of that episode of The Office when Michael and Jan go to the boss's house for a holiday party.  Of course, Michael brings potato salad, even though it is horribly out of place among the fancy catered food.  I miss that show.  Totally ready for some new episodes already.  Anyway, back to the Betty Crocker situation.  So I think I'll make this Bailey's bundt cake that I have made for St. Paddy's on occasion.  Now it's looking like I won't cook or bake anything unless it has booze in it!  I am such a cooking-lush.  The cake it totally yummy, though, with a Bailey's glaze and chopped pecans on top.  Yum.  Plus, this party will give me an excuse to wear the most adorable winter-white, sequin and bead-embellished pants that I only get to wear once a year around this time.

In needle news: I've begun and finished a couple knitting projects recently, too.  First was a cute hat with earflaps and kitty ears that one of my siblings will be finding in her stocking this Christmas.  I also bought some new variegated purple-blue-green wool that is going into some simple hats for various female in-laws...  I've had a soft pink Nashua wool-alpaca blend scarf on the needle for a while, and it's about time to get that finished, too.  I'm also super excited to try my first sweater.  Not for an adult, and not a difficult pattern.  I have a hard time rationalizing knitting an entire adult-sized sweater.  First of all, it would cost at least $70, which I could use to buy a perfectly adorable number at J. Crew.  (A green one? Argyle? Cardigan?  God, I need to go shopping soon.) Second, it would take me forever, and finally, I would probably eff it up so much that I would become teary and frustrated.

So the sweater I am making is a baby-sized ribbed shrug and matching cap in pale pink.  NO, it's not for any baby that I'm expecting, you nosy so-and-so's; it's for a friend.  The pattern and megasoft merino wool are from Cleckheaton.  I will post a picture soon.  

Snowflakes!

Hooray for the first flakes of winter!

Today is a total soup day.  If we weren't heading up north tonight to visit the in-laws, I'd be in the kitchen over a stockpot right now.  Although French onion is my favorite, I haven't had much luck lately getting it exactly right.  I don't follow a recipe, so it turns out a little different every time, mostly with great success, but my cooking karma must be out of whack or something.  I do have the most perfect and sublime recipe for chicken wild rice soup, though.  It is probably the best feeling knowing that I can cook it better than any restaurant I know, and that doesn't happen often.  

On the stove/in the fridge right now I have some partially completed truffles filled with boozy goodness.  My recipe is from Alton Brown with some modifications.  I don't use brandy, as he suggests; instead, I've made them with Grand Marnier.  Today is the first time I'm trying Bailey's--partially because my mother in law loves it and partially because Grand Marnier doesn't come in pints anymore and I didn't feel like shelling out $28 for a larger bottle.  My other modification to the recipe is that I add extra booze; who doesn't love that?  I'm hoping that my improvisation is successful and that I can break my string of poor luck in the kitchen!

In other crafty-related news, I've decided to make as many Christmas presents this year as possible.  Besides knitting a few items, which for me is a time-consuming endeavor, I plan to whip up some goodies.  If these truffles turn out alright, there may be more batches to come.  My coworker also gave me a recipe for Irish cream a few years ago.  It tastes almost exactly like what you would buy in the store, and isn't too expensive.  To bottle it, she suggested buying Grolsch (in the flip-top bottles), washing out the bottles, and then tying them up with red bows.  It is pretty slick and requires you to drink some beer (and sample the Irish cream) while you work, so that's my kind of gift-giving.  For phase three of Christmas gifting, I'm looking at this candle-making kit.  Seems like a fool-proof set, and I saw an episode of some show on HGTV recently where they showed how easy it is to make candles with soy wax. Gotta love the whole environmentally-friendly aspect, too.

I'll have to post later about whether my plans were fruitful!

A final shout-out goes to my alma mater, T-G for making it into the state championship football game AND to my place of employment's team for also making it to the big game this Saturday.  I'm stuck with a difficult decision: "Go Eagles," or "Go Zephyrs"?  My students keep giving me a hard time, and as much as I'd like to have a strong feeling one way or another, I have to say that I won't care much which team wins, as long as it's a good game.  But I would hate to have 90 cranky teenagers in my classroom on Monday...

Oh, well!

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Moved in!

After four days of hauling, unpacking, and organizing, I'm glad to say that we're completely moved in.  Everything went smoothly and nothing broke, so that is a relief.  Other than not being able to get our box spring up the stairs, there was nothing out of the ordinary.  I am also finding out how expensive it's going to be to fill this place with stuff.  We spent a cool grand at Ikea this weekend, and will be back this week to buy a new bed.  I am looking forward to making it feel more like our place now, and can't wait to start having people over.

But as the title of my blog would suggest, music is a passion of mine, so I had better give props to some good stuff I've been listening to while unpacking.  First of all, I can't get enough of the new Rilo Kiley album Under the Blacklight. 

 

I have a thing for bands with female lead singers (maybe because I can sing along), and Jenny Lewis has this sweet and girly, yet powerful voice.  Much of the album reminds me of some upbeat 70's disco tunes, and it's catchy and fun throughout.  "Silver Lining" will get stuck in your head for days, "The Moneymaker" makes me want to put on something sexy and dance around my living room, and "Breakin' Up" will instantly turn your commute into a rollicking romp in a gay bar.  I can't exactly explain that one, but the song seriously reminds me of being in a gay bar; maybe because they play the best dance music.

I have also been listening to The New Pornographers' latest, Challengers.  

Another group with a female singer (two, actually).  My friend Mike and I saw them a while back when they were in town at First Ave; we had also seen them in the summer of '06 at Lollapalooza in Chicago.  Both shows were phenomenal, but I kind of liked the MPLS show a bit better for two reasons: first, Neko Case was with the band, and not on her solo tour, and second, since it wasn't at a festival with another band starting exactly at the time TNP would end, the band was free to improvise a bit, joke around, and provide some non-musical entertainment for the crowd.  On this album, my faves are "All the Old Showstoppers," "Myriad Harbour" (another ear-worm), and "Adventures in Solitude."  I recommend listening to this album on a Saturday afternoon while the sun is shining.  This is a great soundtrack for cleaning your house, playing solitaire, or frolicking with kitties.

And it begins...

Am I the peer-pressure blogger?  Yes.  

I guess I have never been great at keeping track of everyone in my ever-widening social sphere, so this is my humble attempt at letting all y'all know what I've been up to.  Seeing as I am apparently the last member of the CSS Class of 2002 who has yet to pop out a kid or three, perhaps my blog will be a bit different...  I am thinking some news about me, but mostly entries about the food, music, books, events, shopping, and hobbies that make my life interesting.

So where to start... News?

I've been married for just over 2 years now to the same guy I've been with since 1999.  We are on the verge of moving into the most adorable (and way to big for the two of us) house in South MPLS.  It is right on the light rail, which hubby will be using to commute every day.  I only wish that the train ran all the way to the second or third-ring suburb where I work.  For those of you not in the know, I am in my sixth year of teaching high school English in a wonderful smallish-suburban district.  My better half is working as a graphic designer (mostly web) in downtown MPLS.  

Back to the house.  

It is a well-maintained nearly 100-year-old beauty with tons of character.  Four bedrooms, a sun room, three-season porch, a great back yard, and the rest of the typical details.  Some bonuses include all original, newly refinished hardwood floors throughout, central air (which NO house in the area has), and a brand new patio in the back.  I have been having constant nightmares about crumbling walls and flooded basements ever since our offer was accepted, but once we close and move, I'm sure everything will be great.  Moving from a 500-square-foot apartment into the house has its own set of challenges.  Right now, one can hardly walk in our box-filled living space.  Once we move, the new place will seem especially cavernous with its lack of furniture.  The big day is next Wednesday, and we've taken the next couple days off to move, paint, and get settled.

One thing I'm also looking forward to is my monthly dinner night with the girls.  Dining out is one of my true passions, and so I love being able to share my favorite places with friends.  This month, I have been given the honors of choosing the restaurant and I finally decided upon the Sample Room in Northeast.  It's a quaint, candle-lit bar/restaurant that specializes in 100% homemade comfort foods.  I'm not kidding about the 100% thing; even the ketchup is made in-house!  Half of the menu is "Sample Plates" which one could eat as appetizers or combine for an entire meal.  In the sampling vein, there are also several wine and liquor flights available, too. When B and I went a while ago, we both had entrees.  Me: the meatloaf (mmmm) Him: the sausage platter.  The bonus?  We get to use our MemberCard that comes with a membership to the best media out there: Minnesota Public Radio.

Well soon I'll be meeting up with my sisters for dinner, so I'd better get out of my dirty packing clothes and make myself presentable.

Ciao!