O.M. GAW! Best Dinner and Halloween EVAR!

Last Saturday I watched Lidia's Italy while lounging in Tasha's recliner.  Lidia made this amazing dish, Pasta with Baked Cherry Tomatoes, that I had to have.  Tasha had just made me breakfast, but I couldn't get my mind off this dish.  Lidia really sold me.  Anyhoo, here are some pictures from my first attempt at the dish.  Mistakes were made, but no tears shed.  This dish was amazing and I'm glad for leftovers.

 Cherry tomatoes waiting to be breaded

 Cherry tomatoes following their bath in olive oil, breadcrumbs, etc

 Let me warn you....I made a mistake by using foil and not parchment paper.  Tomatoes should be crispier but no deliciousness was lost in the baking on foil

 At this point the smell in the kitchen is so ::singing:: AMAZING!! That there is some olive oil and sliced garlic

 Final dish, you can't see the parsley (last from the garden) and shredded basil

I finished it up with parmesan instead of the cheese recommended because I had it.  I can't imagine how much better it would be with all the recommended touches.  

Now I'll end with Monster.  She was Barbie Princess this year.  She wore her dress up shoes and was IN LOVE with her outfit.  Look at her stand there like a precious little angel and not a single sign of her monsterness.  She's really a little devil.  Do not be fooled by her!!  Also, don't let her hug you.  Her power is increased tenfold with a hug.

Warrior Dash 2011

I ran in the Warrior Dash this weekend. I was nervous as hell. I was originally going to run it with my friend Tina but her doctor ordered her to drive me there and wait in the sun for 3 and a half hours instead. I selected the 9 AM run because I thought it would better to just go first and not see anyone cut up and bleeding before I go. The guy below is the attitude I had before I arrived. Note how kick ass his attitude is:

This is my real attitude after picking up my packet. Meh. Can I, like, totally leave now?

Setting Up:

They line us all up and introduce our celebrity announce, Sione from The Biggest Loser. He was entertaining. Then it was time to run. Please note awesome bee guy. He was third! There were people running in all sorts of costumes. When they released us from the run there were about 3 dudes in full suits running past me. Show offs (please note the jealousy).

The race consisted of 12 different obstacles:

1. Over and Under: 4 walls about 3 feet high to go over and 4 walls of barbed wire to crawl under.

2. 3 dirt hills: Seems easy, right? The dirt was super loose and steep and with the crowds of people standing at the top scared to go down it was pretty tricky. I had to dodge them and keep the momentum so I didn't get skeered.

3. Junkyard: This consisted of tires and cars to run through and go over. 20 feet of tires then cars, 20 feet of tires then cars, 20 feet of tires then cars, phew. Getting off a car and stepping into tires was a little more difficult than I would have thought. The varying tire size barely held my size 11 feet.

Run some more through the farm fields.

4. Rappeling: This was a what it sounds like, rappel down a cliff (They put up some mdf). I want to thank my gardening gloves for saving my hand.

5. Hay Fever: Huge bales of hay. Wish I had a camera for this. Not too difficult but they were huge and went up about 20-25 feet. More scratchy than anything else.

6. Cargo Climb. Whoo boy. I had to tell myself to just climb and not look at anything else. That works until you get to the top. Then you have to get your leg over without kicking anyone in the face/get kicked in the face. On the way down I thought, "I'd rather give birth every day this week then do this again".

7. Single Track (?). This was a skinny board about a foot width and six feet long. that went up and down with a flat narrow part in the middle. Just balance and go. Just balance and go. That's all! Ignore the flailing and screaming from other participants.

8. Wall climb: A 12 foot wall with ropes on one side. Climb up and climb down. Woot! I was sick to my stomach thinking about this one. It was much easier after doing that damn Cargo Climb.

9. Chaotic Crossover: This was a complete surprise. This consisted of 12 feet of cargo net suspended about 6 feet off the ground. Ouch. Just ouch. Everyone tried a different tack to get across. They were all horrible and consisted of bruising.

10. Web: Easy, annoying. Bungee cable set up like a web. You had to use your inner spy to get through.

11. Fire! Whee! We get to jump over fire! It was hot and taller than I thought it would be. Onto the last.

12. Mud pit. The mud pit was deep and had barbed wire stretched across the top. I wasn't worried about this. This is where most of my injuries came from. There were tiny shards of rocks cutting up my knees the whole time (thanks again, gloves!).

I look good.


I made my way to the "showers". A fire hose to the face isn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be. I had to go back a couple of times because I didn't realize how much mud was stuck in my undergarments. Whoo boy.
This is what happiness looks like.

I finished 371/479 in my age group and 5361/6378 overall. Total Time: 58:34:05

Paella

I made paella for the second time ever this evening. The first time I made it didn't work out too well. The rice never fully cooked and the flavor was somewhere along the lines of "I guess this could be good???". I found a vegetarian paella recipe on epicurious. The only struggle I had was finding frozen artichoke hearts. In the end (read three stores later) I used artichokes hearts bottled in water.




I made Steve cut the onions up for me. I'm the perfect customer for the onion goggles.




Things went a little better this time, I don't know if it's because I actually followed the recipe. I usually like to do my own thing after getting a general idea from one. By this point the onions and red pepper smell amazing. I've still got about half an hour until dinner so I busted out the Triscuits.




Here's the final outcome. It was fantastic. After serving it up for everyone else I added some crab for myself (I picked up king crab legs at Costco). I enjoyed it with and without the crab-the flavor is great either way. I highly recommend this recipe. If you don't have a paella pan, you may also use a large frying pan.