Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Fall I love fall! I love the sweaters, the scarves, the coats oh the coats! And then the traditional reasons...the crisp smell and sound of leaves in the air, butternut squash risotto, blah blah, blah blah. However my confession for this fall is that I am excited for something straying from my usual list.... I am excited for this -the secret I have always wanted to be a flight attendant, so sophisticated but with a little glimmer of risque -




Tuesday, August 30, 2011

hab·it/ˈhabit/

n. A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.


Yes it is true, I have a habit. One could almost go as far as to say bad? Not sure. but here it is....while food shopping one -meaning me/I- often becomes hungry. Why would one/I go through the whole store hungry when one/I is surrounded by food? So here is the "habit", I eat while I food shop. I will for instance, get a bag of carrots and while I shop I will eat them. (I should note I put that in there to sound healthy, lets get real when I shop I pound an entire package of Little Debbie Fancy Cakes not carrots). There is not a specific food, there is no rhyme or reason. I eat while I shop and I always pay for the food I have eaten which usually turns out to be an empty box/bag. I don't try to hide it either. Those accompanying me are often embarrassed and/or at times angered by this seemingly rash behavior!


Today I was at Costco and I grabbed and paid for a salad from the little Costco cafe up front. I ate my salad while I shopped. It was great. And during my balance-the-salad-in-the-front-baby-seat-part-of-the-cart-while-pushing-and-eating-without-spilling escapade I had brief "breaks" that included: lentils, crab dip, protein bar, mango salsa, frozen cream puff,zip fizz, apple turn over, David's Cookies pie, and ravioli all on a Tuesday. Costco, bless you! Not only can I buy food to eat before I even start shopping but you actually condone the idea of eating while shopping. At Safeway, Giant, Trader Joe's, and Shoppers (which scares me a little), people stare at me like I'm crazy cause I'm eating in a food store, but not chez Costco, here I am family.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Overly Personal: if you don't like person info and you just want surface "this is what I like, this is what I eat, this is what I want" then just check back in a few days when I have one of those....that is not today !
Have you ever cried* so hard you induced vomiting? Not saying I did ;) but if you did on George Washington Memorial Parkway in DC and you had to frantically find a small space to pull of on so you didn't ralph in your car and everyone was honking and slowing to watch you ralph....this may be your cure. B vitamins to combat the stress that sucked you dry and made you a disaster in the first place, and then chocolatey caramel stuff-reminder you don't even like chocolate- because it was just above the B Vitamins at CVS. Take lots and tomorrow will be better, or so I am hoping.


*it needs be noted that this is not a normal thing, I don't cry certainly not like that! and I don't normally binge on drug store candy but every "normal" has an exception.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Dear Irene,

let's get one thing straight, while you have a female name..you are NOT a nurturer. You were gentle but not very kind. You killed at least 10, left millions without power, dropped a tree on my friend's car, and knocked down my other friend's beach house! But that aside, your bark was worse then your bite and for that I am grateful. Well for that and the fact that they cancelled church preemtively because of you so it is 2:19p on Sunday and I am still in my pajamas eating Reese's Puffs cereal on my bed.

Sincerely,
Monica Kate

Saturday, August 27, 2011










in preparation
for hurricane Irene....
I had a well balanced breakfast

Friday, August 26, 2011

Lust, pure lust. I had a few hours with nothing to do and no where to be so I did something I have never done before tried on $20,000 in shoes in one day. I went to the Salon Shoes section in Nordstrom, it was a sinful experience. I hear women say, "oh I hate pointy shoes, oh those heels are too high, designer brands are worthless because you just pay for the name, I would never wear a shoe like that" well ladies you are lying! Unless you have tried them on all alone without a husband or a naggy friend on a day you felt good about yourself and can honestly say to yourself that you don't like $1,995+ shoes, you are lying. (and probably should repent) Yes the price might be *nuts* but set that aside and consider the wonder in designer shoes...(if you can't at least consider the wonder...consider an ovary transplant because yours are broken!) These do things to you that Payless can't even fathom. And on a side note they come with their own little shoe bags! Here are a few favorites that I slipped into Saturday...
Paten Leather Perfection ala Dior
-I would make these my "lunch at a Paris bistro" shoes-


Yes Jimmy Choo I choo choo choose you
-I would make these my "I need to feel hip and hardcore even though I am not" shoes-
Alexander McQueen enough said
-I would make these my, " white after labor day is F-I-N-E" shoes-

Cinderella would have gone back for this Valentino
-I would make these my "oh these old things" shoes-


*none of the above mentioned shoes found place in my home, due not to a lack of want but to a lack of ones, thousands of them to be specific.




Wednesday, August 24, 2011

out·growthNoun/ˈoutˌgrōTH/

1. Something that grows out of something else.
2. A natural development or result of something.

Thank you dictionary. Outgrowth...outgrowing is something usually reserved for conversations about children or homes: she outgrew her toddler bed, he outgrew his training wheels, we outgrew this space the moment we moved all our stuff in, you get the idea. It is not a new concept, as the dictionary describes it is simply something growing out of something else: a home, a bed, juvenile habits. What the dictionary lacks however is explaining that outgrowth is painful.

As a child I vividly remember these red patent t-strap shoes. I was 2 maybe 3 and when I outgrew them I would wake up everyday and try to squeeze my feet into them, everyday got worse. I was sad.

I got a dress from Broadbent's in Lehi when I was 8, it was a teal floral number with perfect little tulip sleeves. It was the first dress I remember getting for no reason. It was not easter, there wasn't a sale, I had just gone in with my mother and she let me have it all $23 of it. I wore it to my piano recital the day I broke my arm -for the second of five times-. I was in secret tears the day I slipped it on and not only was it above my knees by I couldn't zip it. It was the prettiest thing I'd owned in my 8 little years of life and outgrowing it was so hard.

Time passes of course and the things we outgrow get more serious and at times more difficult to handle. Remaining is what is easy and safe, outgrowing is frightening and new. I outgrew my ugly stage (i hope), I outgrew cheating at monopoly, I outgrew a boyfriend or two, a fiance or two. As a baby chick grows eventually it will have to push through it's egg's shell. Once out, the chick will be so happy, so fluffy. However for those few minutes that chick is pushing out of it's shell I am sure it is not happy. It is work and it is hard and it sometimes doesn't really seem all that worth the struggle. That is me today...realizing my "shell" is no longer sufficient for me, and pushing through seems hard and I think I might be bit scared because I don't know what the world will look like on the other side.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Seduction....

Don't freak out! I haven't gone of the deep end, I am not going to tell you what you think!

From time to time I hear people say, "I hate America(ns) for : x,y,z" reasons. I do not. I have lived abroad a few times and while I love things about Europe and the U.K. and many other places, I love America. However, there are a few nice little adjustments that could stand to be made. Seduction, -in reference to food! hold on to your jaw!- is one of those. Let me explain. Last month I was in Utah and along with my trusty chef companion Leland, I set out in search of new culinary delights. Communal was the most referred spot to our snobby duo, so off we did trot for brunch. Biscuits and gravy, eggs benedict, and a chorizo/egg pot.

Biscuits: C+ beautiful, great size, great flaky texture, then you realize those suckers are pure crisco, no buttery notes! not so lovely at all. The after taste of baking soda slapped me so hard I swear I saw the arm and hammer.

Gravy: A- the sausage was divine, the pepper didn't over power the simple herb choice. The only reason it is not a + is because they committed the common gravy sin of over salting, if the sausage is already salted be careful how much salt you put in the gravy.

Eggs Benedict: B- cook the whites all the way please! Even though I realize they will not make me sick, even though I know they carry all the anti-microbials needed to protect the yolk from getting attacked, they still make me dry-heave when they are all gelatinousy/mucousy in my mouth. And gagging at brunch is such a faux-pas! And watch the lemon juice in the hollandaise. I prefer a light lemon kiss at the end, something that is so subtle it almost leaves me questioning its' very existence. I was once again slapped by an ingredient that should have wooed me.




Chorizo/egg pot: B flavor of the chorizo was superb! A+ for you. but the rest left me wanting. The concept was good but not carried out as successfully as it could have been. The flavor was sadly reminiscent of canned tomato sauce and the egg drop soup appearance of the egg was a little uncomfortable for my eyes. The charred crouton was genius and lent a spot on touch. Not enough to compensate for the rest of the dish.


And here is where seduction comes into play. In America we are a bit rushed, we are new, trying to "find" ourselves amid cultures that have been around for thousands of years. We try our hand everything and have made some truly remarkable successions. Food is not our strong point. When you look at food in its carnal form: on a vine, in the dirt, high in a tree, it is seductive. The color, the shape, the feel, the smell alone! what wonderful stuff. Some are easy to acquire, others not so much; they must be finessed (work with me here I mean pealed/shucked you get it now?). So miraculous and then we go and throw it on a plate and all of its' carnal beauty is lost. It is consumed so fast it is hardly a fleeting memory. "What did you have for breakfast" is so often followed by, "I don't know." You don't know because you weren't seduced! You used food as a means to an end versus a means to imagination. You added so much salt or pepper or whatever you add to "fix" things, you completely changed the identity. Other cultures use initial flavor as the central focal point and add just enough to peak your interest. I suppose it is like a woman (yes I went there), alone she is beautiful but add a hint of pink to her cheeks, a touch of red to her lips, and a bit of DiorShow mascara :) and some divine smell and she is remarkable, the same, but slightly more je ne sais quoi...
That is how I love my food. No mystery at the beginning but as time goes on I am intrigued and I question what exactly enhanced my dish so perfectly without changing the integral flavor structure that God provided. I love to have notes of citrus or rosemary, cardamon, or anise softly whisper as they grace my palate. I HATE being slapped by flavor. I love to be in question of what made something so simple, jump. I love to have my pupils dilate when a bite hits my tongue. I love leaving wanting more yet knowing what little I had was just enough.

As a "new" presence on this earth we want to be seen as strong, brave, bold. Those choices are ever evident in our food. Meat and potatoes, Manwhich, rare t-bones on the grill. We eat on the fly consuming our food from parchment sheets while listening to the daily news at 65 miles per hour. We do not have time to be seduced, we have places to be, people to see, things to conquer. I have only one quip today about America, I am tired of not being seduced!! One bite vs. 1 lb, plain vs. blackened, hint vs. slap in the face, simplistic beauty vs. halloween costume disguised food.



and if you are in Utah try Communal, I hear it has better days. and A few of my oldy but goody favorites are: Tuile Bakery in SLC, Bombay House in Provo,


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Whoops 2

never before has this happened to me...never before until tonight when I stopped by my friend Wendy's place and went to turn around and cracked my head on the light. Wendy so kindly stepped in to show that she has never before had this problem either, I just don't think it is in the cards for her.

Whoops

Yes these are my lips...and now for the whoops....
while at the post office mailing a package, I ran into the problem I run into every time: tape no scissors. So I did the same thing I always do, used my teeth as scissors (sorry mom), only this time some of the tape stuck to my lip. I yanked it off. Whoops. Blood in the post office, self inflicted, not cool.