the amazing adventures of jen14221

friday kid photo

This was a long week and the best part of it was when Peter and Will picked me up at the airport tonight.

I bought these lacrosse sticks for him last week in Philadelphia. 
 

185

I am back at 185. I have not been able to get below this weight for more than a week or two for a almost a year now.  I am feeling like I should just let my body be and rejoice in wearing 12's and 14's and not 20's and 22's.  Maybe 165 is just not something I should weigh.

But then I go out with Pretty Michelle and she buys an adorable shirt in a size Small and her ass is truly tiny and I feel a little like I should just work harder.  Try harder.  Think harder.

And then I remember that that is how I got myself into trouble in the first place, way back when I was just a stupid kid.

Deep thoughts suck!

friday kid photo

I know I live in Buffalo and all, but this picture is NOT from today.

I think I took it back in February.

how i got the screw on craigslist

I LOVE Craigslist.  I mean, usually.  I sold our condo in South Boston on Craigslit, for almost $400,000.00.  I saved over 20K in real estate fees by doing it myself.  Peter bought a car off Craigslist, and sold the same car on Craigslist a few years later.  Take a look at my previous post; I just bought Philles tickets off CL with no problem.  The truth is, I've bought and sold a bunch of stuff on CL and have never had a bad experience. 

Until yesterday!

Some fat fuck named Ken (fake name, probably) in a Silver Nissan Altima with New Jersey plates sold me tickets to the Flyers/Devils hockey game that he bought with a stolen credit card.  That's $240 wasted. When Will and Peter arrived at the game, they were turned away. 

So Peter bought MORE tickets, not quite as nice seats, but legitimate seats at least.  And $250!

$500 for a stupid hockey game.  SIgh.

sunday kid photo, aka freezing my ass off at a baseball game

It's Spring Break for all the school kiddos in Western New York (honestly, Will goes to Catholic school so he is really never in class) so the boys came to Philly for the week with me.

Peter drove us to Philadelphia on Saturday.  We're in an enormous suite at the Hyatt.  I should have requested a shoebox room, because my husband now knows why I never can work in Buffalo ever again, that my life as a fancypants traveling consultant is really the only way to live.

Today, Peter had the afternoon to himself because I got some Phillies tickets off Craigslist and took the boy to see some baseball.

Excitement, riding the subway.  P.S.  The subway is fucking gross.

Nosebleed seats, in the shade, with the wind whipping us around = kind of cold.  Not very pleasant.

Will did that geeky stat thing that people sometimes do and then at the top of the 6th he was all like, I'm cold mommy - let's get the hell out of here.

For once, I listened to him. 
 
 

more breakfast deliciousness

The XIX restaurant at the Hyatt has changed their breakfast menu. 

I can no longer order this, but I can order this:

That's a fried egg and ham panini with some sort of delicious melty cheese, served with a little side of dijon mustard.

It was fabulous, but I could only eat a little. 

And this morning I had the cinnamon-sugar french toast with a side of organic bacon and a cappuccino.

I ate almost the whole thing, and ordered a second cappuccino.

Oink!

By the way, what the hell is organic bacon and is that why it cost $5 for three strips of it? 

weekend kid photos

I flew home Friday and go back tomorrow.  In-between laundry, groceries and keeping house, I spent some time with the boy.

Will found this Nerf shit in the GARBAGE.  I was cleaning and I thought I was in the clear.  What was he doing poking around in the trashcan?

We saw "How to Train Your Dragon" in THREE-DEE.

We went to Target where I was a mean mom because I wouldn't buy him a $120 Star Wars Lego set.

I bought a multi-pack of those little boxes of crappy/sugary breakfast cereals.  Here, he helpfully listed the calorie counts of a serving of each cereal

• Apple Jacks -
• Lucky Charms
• Cheerios
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch
• Honey Nut Cheerios
• ?
• Cocoa Puffs
• ?
• Golden Grahams

Oy, a short weekend is never fun but Will always keeps me amused.

a party in your mouth

This Paella recipe is adapted from Saveur's April 2010 issue:

Ingredients:

• One-half teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
• One pound of boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2" pieces
• 10-20 large (uncooked) shrimp, peeled and deveined. I splurged on the $24.99/lb stuff at Wegman’s
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 oz. dry-cured Spanish chorizo (but I like to use more because who doesn’t like extra sausage?) cut into 1⁄4"-thick coins
• One tablespoon smoked paprika
• Three cloves garlic, minced
• Three dried bay leaves
• Three medium tomatoes, minced
• One half cup white onion, minced
• Seven cups chicken broth
• Two and one-half cups cups short-grain rice, preferably Valencia or Bomba brand. I got mine at Williams-Somona for TWELVE DOLLARS. Jeez.
• Eight ounces of fresh or frozen peas. I actually used half a can of the Goya pigeon peas I found on an endcap at Tops. They looked more "Spanish" to me, whatever the hell that means.
• Three jarred roasted red peppers, chopped into 1⁄2"-thick strips
• Twelve Littleneck clams, cleaned and debearded. The recipe calls for Mussels but Peter likes Littlenecks, so Littlenecks is what I bought.

Put saffron and 1⁄4 cup hot water in a small bowl; let sit for 15 minutes. Season chicken and shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 16"–18" paella pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, shrimp, and chorizo and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer shrimp to a plate, leaving meats in pan. Add paprika, garlic, bay leaves, tomatoes, and onions to pan and cook, stirring often, until onions soften, about 6 minutes. Add reserved saffron mixture and broth, season with salt, and bring to a boil over high heat.

Sprinkle in rice, distribute evenly with a spoon, and add peas, and peppers. Cook, without stirring, until rice has absorbed most of the liquid, 10–12 minutes. (If your pan is larger than the burner, rotate it every two minutes so different parts are over the heat and the rice cooks evenly.) Reduce heat to low, add reserved shrimp, and nestle in clams hinge side down; cook, without stirring, until clams have opened and rice has absorbed the liquid and is al dente, 5–10 minutes more. Remove pan from heat, cover with aluminum foil, and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

I found this paella pan that I registered for back in 2001 when we got married and never used.

 

I took a picture of the $12 Bomba rice because I am ridiculous.

 

The finished product:

 

It tasted delicious with Veuve.

fun weekend

I left work early on Wednesday and flew home to Buffalo.

On Thursday, I cooked and cleaned and solved problems long-distance via my laptop.  At 2:46pm, the Ratners pulled into the driveway.

We cracked open a few bottles at 3:00pm exactly.

It was an awesome weekend and my friends are the best. Will loved having so much kid-company, and I even got Lauren to hug me once.

And then on Sunday afternoon they left for their drive back to Knoxville.  Sob.

 

my mom looks pretty damn good for 60

Well, she's not 60 for another week or so, but my sissy was in town and it was easy to get everyone together at The Eagle House in the 14221 for a surprise birthday party.

I have been going to The Eagle House for a long time.  I remember an anniversary party for my grandparents there when I was in high school, and I felt badass as I ordered and was served wine coolers at the bar at only 16 years old. 

That's mom and dad pictured above.  Mom was surprised.

Anyway, they gave us a private room and the kids were able to run around like loons and have fun and we all ate and drank and it was fun. 

Until it was time to leave and I stepped outside and sllllllid in my new Kate Spade shoes down a little hill and busted my new Kate Spade shoe (the left one, I won't even go into the scrapes and bruises on my foot and leg).  It's hilarious how I can get all dressed up and do my makeup and hair and feel like an adult, a mom and a wife and I am still totally that clumbsy 16 year-old in so many ways.