The Most Amazing "Place" for Gifts!

I was just made privy to these amazing products on an innovative new site, Quirky.com. They use the internet to bring inventors together. A good idea can be collaborated on by many, and finally put into production after enough interest (pre-sale) is established. The site is genius in itself, and the inventions are a little bit of brilliant.

I am absolutely enthralled with the Wrapster earbud detangler! I swear I've been looking for a product like this for years. I've tried so many different approaches and none of them have worked in the long run. Currently my ear buds lay tangled in a pouch in my purse, somehow I think if the tangle is confined it's not as bad; but it is, it's bad. I can't fully attest to this product since I haven't tried it out, but I am so excited to!

I honestly don't know where to start (or end) with my gushing over these products. There are wonderful gift ideas for friends and family of all ages…I imagine this is how people felt when the first Sharper Image opened in 1977. And just in time for the Holidays!

Enjoy!

Pregnancy and Anti-Support (from other Pregnant Women!)

So this is my first child and I'm not really the kind to baby (pardon the pun) any personal challenges (ie pregnancy)...so I come on the boards and look out for threads/topics that I relate to, and chime in; but I've noticed something really weird (awful, b*tchy?) about the way pregnant women post: As much support as you get on a subject, you get equal amounts of anti-support. I mean, if a post is about feeling fat in the first trimesters (before you're really showing, but have lost your waistline) then why (oh why) would you go on there and say "i've lost weight and i feel great!". That is not supportive. Start a new thread called "i've lost weight and I feel great" and that way you and the others who share that sentiment can relish, and leave the ones who are feeling crap and want (/need) to moan about it do so on their own thread. The simplest way to look at it is; this thread is about something negative, don't go on and say 'I'm so glad I don't have what you have!'. It's just rude. This really seems so simple to me, but I keep seeing it on the Online Pregnancy Boards. Or the women who go on the 'name poll' boards and say 'I hate that name". Shut up. This isn't your Sister or your Cousin, or even a physical neighbors' 'name poll'; so just let it be. Sure, you can point out that maybe no one noticed the name could easily be mistaken for something awful; that is handy advice...but that's not what I'm referring to here. I guess I'm just one of those women who likes to support other women, rather than break them down. There are enough cultures, historical hang ups, and stereotypes that women have to endure and push through every day...why turn on each other? Why make Pregnancy harder than it already is?

Savory Meaty Mushroom and Bacon Bread Pudding

Perfect for the early coming of Fall, we made a savory Meaty Mushroom and Bacon Bread Pudding last night that had the nostalgia of Thanksgiving Stuffing with 1/10 of the work. Unfortunatley we didn't take pictures...sorry! Our version is adapted from a recipe found on Crumbly Icing who apparently originally grabbed it from Mainly Mushrooms.

I always try and use every last bit of every last thing (within reason) and that's how I first discovered the greatness of Bread Pudding. In this case we had people over three nights in a row, each night included fresh French Bread that was only half consumed. That left us with plenty of 'day(s) old' bread, that is perfect for Bread Pudding. Yay ;)

Our alterations from the original recipe account for the fact that we found the original recipe made too much filling for just four ramekins, and that one ramekin each was not sufficient for a main course.


Mushroom & Bacon Bread Pudding (Adaptation)

Serve with a protein, side salad and bold red wine to complement the rich features of this dish.

Makes 6 sides/ramekins.

2 T rosemary, minced
1/4 cup Asiago or Parmesan cheese, grated
2 oz. (250 g) guanciale or 2 slices thick-cut bacon, can be diced
1 cup chanterelles or other meaty mushroom, diced
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups white bread cubes (you can use whatever you have left over, but we recommend French Bread)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of 2% milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat; add guanciale or bacon and fry until meat is brown and cooked through. Remove meat and drain on paper towels – leave the rendered fat in the pan. Cut guanciale into small pieces and put in a small bowl. Leave skillet on medium heat.

Mix rosemary and Asiago cheese in a small bowl; set aside. Whisk eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl; set aside. Grease 6 6 oz. ramekins with some of the rendered fat.

Add chanterelles to the skillet and saute until tender. Combine with the guanciale pieces.

Fry the shallot and garlic until just brown; combine with mushrooms and guanciale mixture.
Combine Egg/Milk mixture with Shallot/Garlic/Mushroom/Guanciale mixture. Make sure the mixture is room temperature and finally mix with Rosemary/Cheese! Fill those ramekins!!

Bake ramekins on a foil-lined tray for 35 minutes or until set and golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Run a small paring knife around the edge of each ramekin, invert, and then re-invert onto a plate.

Enjoy!!

Love

I love it when countdowns break from days to hours <3

starting something new

as we near (careen?) closer to the due date (november 4th) i feel like the to-do list is growing as fast as my belly, yet there are several items on the list that we really cannot control. we're at a standstill with our house and i've zen-ed out on the waiting game; "worry" never got anyone anywhere, right?

so i thought i would take control of another part of life and a totally unrelated (long standing) to-do item, i'm finally going to (finally) put some (serious) time into learning the guitar. yee ha. maybe, eventually, i will learn 'yee ha' style guitar; but for now i'm focusing on the basics and will move from there to 'motown'. cool? yeah?

luckily i already have a beautiful guitar and a background in strings. i bought some books with audio components, but actually think i'm going to use the Garage Band tutorials to start. knowing Steve Jobs is such a huge music fan, i'm hoping he put some of magic in Garage Band...finger plucking, fingers crossed :)

we're having a baby!

so of course i spend way too much time on mommy blogs. and of course there are some amazing mom's out there. i'm going to be taking some tips and learning some tricks, it should be fun. it looks fun.

too bad that in real life i had a full on 'mother to be' freak out by spending a bit too long with real life children. the screaming. the smearing of foods on any and every surface. i've been on so many blogs and none of them have the rubber body suit i'm going to want to wear. i'm adding 20 pairs of rubber gloves to my baby registry. which i'm hoping i'll only want when encountering other people children...that's the hope ;)

Hoots n' Hollers

I do not like Hoots from a car
I do not like them in a bar

I do not like them on the street
I do not like them in the heat

I did not like them yesterday
I will not like them any way