Home again!

Aaron is home! I am excited! He is done with Bethel and we have all next week off together for when his parents come visit us.

He came home yesterday and we went out to dinner last night. What a change "coming home" has done for us, at least in the short term... We usually go out to dinner several times while he is home, but it seems that we just don't have anything to talk about. He usually pulls out his iPhone while we are waiting for the food. It's actually quite sad... But, last night, he didn't pull out his cell phone once in the almost 2 hours we were at the restaurant. He would tell me stories about his last few days at work. I would tell him about my new diet that the doctor put me on, why I'm on it, and what results we expect to see... We talked about the upcoming visit with his parents. We talked about the errands that we will do this weekend. We just talked... It was so nice!

I'm so glad to have him home again. :)

Changes lead to adjustments...

Shortly after Aaron came home this shift, he had an interview... with a local company... That starts at the end of February... We are both ecstatic! and at least a little bit scared (at least I am)

After 3 and half years of him being away half the month, every month, I have gotten used to spending time by myself, taking up as much of the bed and blankets as I want, and have my own schedule where I don't have to answer to anyone for anything... That will all change on February 16th (Feb 15th if I'm lucky)... Then, he will be home for good!

I need to remember back to a time when we were both here, both contributing to the household, both responsible for what goes on... It's hard to remember back that far...

Aaron's going to have to get used to a regular menu each month (or else I won't cook). When he's been home, I've overlooked his avoidance of planning for dinner. He usually doesn't even think of food until 8:00 PM or so... When I need to adhere to a specific grocery budget (and I will, starting this month), I NEED to plan what is for dinner so that I know what to buy and when, not to mention to relieve the stress of cooking meals after work and before school work...

I am looking forward to his help around the house more often. And the dogs will appreciate his presence as well... Lijha gets depressed when he leaves... She curls in a ball and mopes when she sees him pack his suitcase to leave...

Back to the crazy thing that I call life...

Back to work... back to school... said hello and goodbye to some friends... sent my husband to work... didn't burn down my kitchen... all in all, I'd say it was a successful break. I took some time to read a book (Water for Elephants... haven't seen the movie, but the book is great!) I cooked a bunch... Basically, Christmas was pretty nice.

I did make my apple/pear butter. It was AMAZING. So addicted to that crap... I now have to keep myself supplied in english muffins so that I can snack on the awesome goodness that is apple/pear butter... I'll post the recipe and experience on my new project/blog (yes, another one) that a friend and I started... It will be a place where we can post recipes and stories of those recipes... Since she lives across the country, it should be a way for us to stay connected through food.

I kept with tradition for Christmas... I usually make Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner... It hearkens back to a time when I didn't live near a Chinese restaurant so I was forced to make my own if I wanted it to be tasty... I did sacrifice the normal recipes for something quick and easy (still having flashbacks from Thanksgiving)... I bought some Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken (not a fan, but it was good in the moment). I also usually make fried wontons, but I wasn't feeling that ambitious (see my previous statement about Thanksgiving). Instead, I found a recipe for baked spring rolls... Another post for my food blog... They were AMAZING and simple... although, it probably wasn't the best idea to use lumpia wrappers instead of spring roll wrappers... But what can I say... I couldn't find spring roll wrappers to save my life and the lumpia wrappers were right there... They tasted good, I've just never worked with lumpia wrappers before and some of the wrappers were thicker than they needed to be, causing us to eat the spring rolls with a knife and fork...

For Christmas Dinner, I took a page from my husband's family. They are from the American Southwest (ABQ, to be specific) and always make Posole for Christmas... So, I had a pot of posole going on the stove, a tasty pork roast cooking away in the crock pot, and taco fixin's in the making (my addition to the family feast... I just love tacos)... Although, after our day at the firing range to play with my new toy (yeah, that's right, I am the proud new owner of a Smith & Wesson 22 Pistol), we were so wore out (and cold) that we kind of skipped dinner and fell asleep mid afternoon... Best thing about this kind of mexican food? It keeps really well and kept us fed for days :)



Aaron and Lijha, passed out on the couch... Noni is passed out on the floor behind the table... Christmas Comas all around!


Spent the days around New Year's experiencing copious amounts of liquor... I don't usually drink to that excess, but sometimes, it must be done. Side note? I'm apparently really fun when drinking margaritas :)

What to do... what to do...

I am on break from school until January 3rd... Seriously... I have so much time to myself it's not funny. So, I'm left wondering what to do with all my "free" time... Sure, I COULD work on those projects that I NEVER have time for (like organizing my spare room/office) but where's the fun in that?

I have something on my agenda for the next few days at least... I am going to attempt to make some apple/pear butter. Why? Because I have a crap ton of apples and pears, some of which I've been receiving in my weekly produce box, and some of which were given to me for Christmas. I know, it is sacreligious to even think about cooking a Harry & David pear, but I don't care... I'd rather puree it into pear butter than watch it go to waste on my counter because I can't eat them fast enough.

I'm not sure if I'm going to start this project tonight or tomorrow, but sometime soon. Maybe I'll clean out my kitchen tonight and make it tomorrow. I'll have to document the process, though... You know, for posterity :)

Insomnia, my (unfortunately) constant friend...

When Aaron is home, I fall asleep early in the evening (usually between 10:00 and 11:00 PM). However, the last time he was home, he decided that he needed to wake me up because I was snoring (apparently, a lot). What he didn't know at the time is that it usually takes me a while to fall back to sleep, especially when I'm woken up in a way that is disorienting... He felt bad for disrupting my sleep pattern. I forgive him (now... I wanted to gouge his eyes out that last week he was home, but we'll just chalk that up to the sleep-deprived monster that lives in my skull and gets bitchy at times like this)...

When he is gone, I have insomnia... bad... I go HOURS and HOURS, tossing and turning in bed, trying to fall asleep. This is one aspect of life that I am looking forward to going away when he transfers back to Juneau for work in the spring (and will thus be home every night). I'm lucky if I get 5 straight hours of sleep at night...

Because of my disrupted sleep pattern at the end of his last shift home, my usual insomnia and the constant waking up at night several time pattern merged into one really bad night of sleep (over several nights, let's just be clear). I would fall asleep later, around midnight or 1:00 AM and then proceed to wake up again about every hour or two... sigh... I'm just now getting back into a pattern where I can sleep uninterrupted (and actually feel rested). Until yesterday...

I had a migraine brewing for most of yesterday and it got to a point where I had to close my eyes for the pain of it all. I ended up sleeping for about 4 hours straight, and when I woke up, I was EXTREMELY disoriented (thought it was 10:30 PM on Monday and that I missed work entirely, when it was actually 7:30 on Sunday), but my migraine had receded enough that Excedrin was able to chase the rest of it away. Relief... Until later that night when I couldn't sleep... Until about 4 AM... This morning... And I had to get up at 7:00 AM to go to work...

So, thanks to my insomnia, I HAD to go get a latte (and resist the urge to add multiple shots of espresso to the already spiked brew, in case it made me sick)... Pray that I make it through the day...

Contacts... Round 2

A couple of year ago, I tried contacts for the first time... Within a month (or maybe 2), I had stopped wearing them every day and only wore them when I felt like it. Primarily, because my eye doctor insisted (at the time) that extended wear contacts were not available for people with astigmatism and that my best option were the daily wears... Ok... Well, I tried. I really did. When you aren't used to wearing contacts, your eyes protest for a while, but after a few hours (sometimes, all day), you eyes seem to get used to the invasion and you are at peace again... Usually this would happen about the same time that I had to take them out every night... It got to where it was a "chore" to put in and take out my contacts every day, so I saved them for special occasions (like when we would fly the Apache to Washington and I needed sunglasses, and my transistion-lenses on my glasses don't change when I'm inside the plane - or car for that matter). I was also extremely afraid of falling asleep in the dailies, because the doctor said I couldn't sleep in them... A "rule-follower" such as myself gets anxious when given those kinds of instructions - What could happen? Would it permanently fuse to my eyeball and I'd never get it off? (in hindsight, I guess I could have ASKED these questions to aleviate my anxiety, but it was easier for me just to not wear them)

So, it's been a while since I've been back in to see the eye doctor. This time, there is a new doctor in the clinic and I happened to get her. I told her about my issues with the daily wear contacts and asked if there is an extended wear option available. There is! And they had my prescription on hand in the extended wears (well, they had my right eye on-hand, my left eye prescription is close to the one they gave me but not spot on, so they have to special order that one for me). The doctor promptly put the lenses on my eyeballs and told me to leave them in for 1-2 weeks, at which time she will re-evaluate my progress with the lenses. Awesome :)

This, however, left me with a few minor issues. (1) I hadn't planned on actually WEARING contacts today, so I didn't have my case for my glasses with me. Luckily, they gave me one of their spare cases so I wouldn't mangle my glasses in my purse. (2) My re-wetting drops that I left in my desk drawer expired in 2009... Luckily, the convenience store I walked to for lunch had some. Not the brand I'm used to (but, let's face it, I'm not used to the one in my desk anymore either).

After the 10 days is up (when my next appointment is), I will decide if I will just get the contacts or if I'll stay with my glasses (my insurance will only cover one or the other)... In the mean time, does anyone have any good remedies for dark undereye circles? My glasses camoflage mine pretty well, but I lost that camoflage today...

Amazing Pumple Pie Recipe

So, my mom's version of this pie is extremely easy... You take a deep dish pie pan and put a pie crust in it. Take a can of apple pie filling and layer it in the bottom. Top it off with pumpkin pie filling and bake like a pumpkin pie. Easy, right? I grew up on this recipe and it is quite good.

My version is a little more complicated, but the texture is much improved by making the filling from scratch. I say "make the filling from scratch" because I can't make pie crust to save my life, so I use Pillsbury's prepared pie crust, or Marie Calendar's pie crust (this one comes with the pie pan and is found in the freezer section). If you have a favorite pie crust recipe and have the talent for making it from scratch, feel free to do so. Another alteration I made to the recipe is to make it egg-free because of my egg allergy. I can eat some baked goods that include eggs (cakes, cookies, etc), but pretty much anything that is custard-based causes me to itch.

So, to make everything from scratch, it takes several hours (I won't lie to you). You must start with the pumpkin. I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Pumpkin Puree. The only deviation I made to it was to use my stick blender to puree the pumpkin after it was roasted (tried mashing it first, but the texture was too chunky). The good thing about this website is the exact step-by-step instructions that she gives (and the permission not to be thorough). It also comes with recipes for Roasted Pumpkins Seeds (Pepitas) and awesome Pumpkin Butter (another post for another time).

Once the pumpkin puree was prepared (and set aside to drain as it was rather moist), I started on the apples. The canned apples are rather slimy, but they are pre-cooked, which helps the texture of the pie. I found a recipe for a pre-cooked apple pie filling in my Joy of Cooking cookbook, but it needs some modifications before I can use it in the pie (primarily, a reduction in quantities). So, here's what I do for one pie:

• Peel, core, and chop 4 apples (Braeburn, Fuji, or a mix of the two)

• Saute the apples in 2 Tbsp. butter for about 4 minutes.

• Add about 1/4 cup of brown sugar and about 1/4 tsp. of Pumpkin Pie Spice, and a dash of salt.

• Continue cooking the apples until the sauce thickens, then remove from the heat and spread the apples in a thin layer on a baking sheet (or glass cake pan) to cool.

While the apples cool, the pumpkin pie filling can be prepared with the drained pumpkin puree. I found a recipe for an egg-less pumpkin pie filling Cooks.com.  The comments on this recipe claim that it makes a very liquidy filling batter, but I found that it was about the same as when I make pumpkin pie the old way. I followed this recipe pretty closely, but I did use lactose-free milk, pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon, and vanilla instead of lemon extract.

To make the pie, layer apples (without a lot of the sauce from the apples) in the bottom of the pie pan. Top off the pie with the pumpkin pie filling. IMPORTANT - Put the pie pan on a baking sheet before baking - the apples will bubble up and it will make a mess of your oven if you skip this step. Bake the pie according to the pumpkin pie recipe. When done, let cool.

I make the pie the day before I want to eat it, but this is primarily because I don't have time to make it on the day I make a big feast. It doesn't need to be refrigerated (at least, my family has never refrigerated the pie, we just let it sit on the counter with a clean cloth over top.. I've never gotten sick, but if you worry about it, feel free to refrigerate it)

Serve with your favorite whipped topping :) In my experience, those that do not like apple pie (like myself) and those that do not like pumpkin pie (like Aaron) enjoy the combo in this pie. And it does make a difference to make it from scratch. You can make a very good pie by using canned pumpkin and canned apple, but the texture and flavor of ingredients from scratch make the pie PHENOMENAL! Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the pie, but I will when I make it again for Christmas :)