I MET BILL CLINTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I was going to blog this week about the epic birthday party I went to, or perhaps the obscene Christmas cookie making, or even the New Orleans trip chalk full of good food content.

No.  This waits for no man.  For yesterday the Universe smiled upon me.  Birds sang.  The sun was shining.  It was beautiful.

First, let's back up.  I have had a framed autographed picture of Bill since I was ten.  I voted for Hillary.  I am unabashedly pro Clinton.  My desire to be among them is second only to my desire to marry into the Kennedy family. 

My brother is back for the holidays and last week suggested that I take a day off work for us to road trip to Little Rock to see the Clinton Presidential Library.  From Kansas city it is approximately 7 hours each way.  That's 14 hours of driving (through some freezing rain no less) and only 2 hours in Little Rock.  It was crazy.  It was fun. 

Hey Arkansas, how You doin'?

Mad camera aiming skills (PS here we're still on the Missouri side and still freezing.. so ready to make it to sunny AR and their 54 degrees!)

At last!! We made it around 1 pm.  Pay no attention to the guy out front on foursquare and facebook telling the world his location.

Hooray for the Presidential Library!!! (steve holt)

In the exact replica of the cabinet meeting room. 

Sitting in the president's chair.  Those cost 20K each, so keep the swiveling to a minimum, will ya?

Signing up our friends and family for the email list.  You're welcome Dad!

In an exact replica of Clinton's oval office. Check out the Remington, just like yours Dad!

And best for last.  We only had 1.5-2 hours to spend there and then we HAD to get back on the road (as it was I got home at midnight).  We walked down the street to the Clinton bookstore to load up on memorabilia. There were secret service everywhere in the store so we wanted to loiter as long as possible to see if anything happened.  Our library tour guide had said Bill was in town for the library's Christmas Party that night  (if you're wondering if we considering applying to work there, you are correct). 

I was in the back of the shop, and the back door opens and BILL CLINTON and his entourage step through.  I was only two feet away and was the first thing that he saw.  I clearly looked as though I was going into cardiac arrest (an alarming sight to pass I would imagine), so he stopped and shook my hand and asked me my name.  I'm not entirely sure what I told him but I did ask to take a picture.  Unfortunately I COULD NOT find my camera or my phone anywhere in my purse.  This may have had something to do with the my speech and motor skills failing me at the time. (dear God Lauren find your camera say something funny/charming/hilarious/memorable).  The secret service told him they needed to keep moving. I yelled at Bret who was ten feet away to grab his camera.  Apparently he had been fumbling for it in his pocket anyway and then proceeded to drop it on the floor.  A secret service guy took the photo.  They walked out of the room.  Then Bret and I died with happiness.  We left the shop and went next door to celebrate with beer and call the family and put this baby on the internet PRONTO.

 Lack of playing-it-cool aside, this was one of the most exciting moments of my life, and the best Christmas present ever.  Hooray!!!

Mullet City

Hands down, the highlight of my week was when this beauty popped up on my car after running home for lunch one day.

I mean can you believe it? He used to text me all the time during the campaign (you know, telling me where to register, volunteer, reminding me when Joey B was coming into town for a rally, etc.), he's even still in my phone as 'Barack'...... *sigh* it was lovely. In totally unrelated news, after discovering this note I spied Emily's car 10 feet away from mine in the parking Garage. Hmmmmmm.....

It was a pretty political week for the parking garage, what with O'Reilly, Bob Dole, Ann Coulter and even Bill Clinton stopping by (dear emily, you're the hottest thing since my wife in a pantsuit) to leave sweet nothings on Emily and I's cars.

(dramatization below)

Much further down on the excitement-o-meter for the week was food I'd assembled. I was particularly impressed with this combo... Even if i did steal it from graduate meghann.

WW toast with ricotta on top and grilled eggplant and yellow squash (marinated in balsamic) YUM.

And this salad was pretty so I took a picture.

You know what else was pretty? the shoes I was wearing while I ate. Hello lovelies!

John and I also went to a free Blues Traveler concert a few blocks away. Too bad word was out. It was the MOST packed I have ever seen that place.

This was us unhappy we could not move.

It's okay, we burned out a bit early and I came home and BAKED! Since I was going to be living on the interstate all weekend, I decided to make my friend Kelly cupcakes in honor of her Bday I would miss. I WANTED to make a super healthy kind... but I realized a) it's her birthday give the lady what she wants and b) there was a pretty good chance they might not turn out anyway, so let's opt for the best tasting kind possible.

The result? Barefoot Contessa to the rescue! Pounds of sugar and butter later (the cupcakes were made with sour cream and the frosting with cream cheese!) ................................ I over baked the cakes. Mo**er F*****************!! I was WATCHING them the whole time and they were just in the oven a minute too long. They weren't burnt exactly, but they weren't close to being moist and delicious. AW SNAP.

It's okay, Kelly said she liked them anyway (i told her just to eat the tops like they were muffins)

After work Friday Emily and I VAMOOSED to get to the center of the state (world) to the STATE FAIR! We had some sweet concert tickets.

Let me zoom in for you:

Come on now... everybody sing, "HOW DO I GET YOU ALONE....... ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!" you can bet your bottom dollar (the state fair always brings out the 'folksy' language a la Palin, no?) we were belting that out at the top of our lungs when it came on.... thank goodness for EVERYONE we were sitting near a loud speaker to drown ourselves out)

Emily and I went with John's sister, her fiance and his fam. We all had a little cowboy flair.

Including my SWEET Frye cowboy boots that I thrifted in San Francisco this Spring! (hello my lovelies)

We also saw my sister, made a visit to the beer garden, ran into college peeps (only at the fair, I tell you) and saw some pretty sweet tats and mullets.

Then it was once again time to hit the road!

We were en route to the STL to visit our friend Jessica for HER birthday celebration. Jessica, the lone adult-acting friend I have, had a baby in March and was SO ready for a rowdy night out (we were happy to oblige).

The road trip fun-level took a nose dive when we had to pull over (twice!) because there was a MONSOON on the interstate. BOO.In my still-in-PJs glory, sad face.

We got to the STL just in time to decorate the hotel room. Beauteous no?

We were staying in the Casino hotel, so OBVIOUSLY yummy restaurants, cheesy bars and losing money until the wee hours of the night were in order. How LUCKY were we when we found a funk band playing in one of the bars.... I'm not kidding you, not a single person there wasn't moving/grooving/being friendly and/or hilarious.

Look closely, you can see my third-favorite mullet from the weekend across the bar. My friend Amy got WAY better pictures once we were inside the casino itself (we're talking Kentucky waterfalls, folks)..... until she almost got kicked out for taking pictures there. What is this, Russia? Who knew you couldn't do that. Totally worth it though.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE being with my friends. Shenanigans ensued.

Five seconds before this picture, this guy was crouched on the floor sticking his head up this girl's skirt like he was going to put her on his shoulders (it's okay, they were together.... er.... we think) He did it like three times in a row. It was a sight to behold. We did a lot of clapping.

Then we got back to the hotel room and we learned that when you have a friend with a baby, they carry around Breathalyzers when they breastfeed. ......... = hilarious = a confusing phone call with John where he was NOT amused to be thinking I'd been arrested. Simmer donna.

Once the weekend came to a close (tear!) I decided to use my once again available weeknights (no grad school remember, how great is that?) to use a cookbook that had been neglecting. I made this recipe:

From this cookbook (Eating Well In Season w/ Kaiser Permanente) :

It was called Caramelized Onion Bean Dip Flat bread Pizza. (or something to that effect). Which was basically all of those ingredients. I got to use my rolling pin from outer space (Thanks Anne!!!!!)

Unfortunately the water I used for my dough was apparently WAY too hot and killed the yeast, which means the bread didn't rise. F*****. However mom said I could use it as a flat bread or something instead (BINGO!) which was actually what I WAS going to use it for. Whew, nice recovery.

Instead of sauce, there was a hummus-like paste (that I added WAY too much Oregano to, I might add) that was originally supposed to be brown but I think the red onions turned it a dirt-esque brown.... making it slightly less photogenic.

Jerry's thoughts (things I learned this week):

• The first time you bake your pizza dough (prior to baking with toppings), check the middle of the crust to make sure it's not too doughy..... so it won't be total mush when it comes out the second time ready to eat.


• Dough hot water isn't supposed to be hot, it's supposed to be sort of luke warm. Note to self.


• Under cook cakes/cupcakes. Everybody likes that dough anyway, who are we fooling.


• I'm not going to be able to wait until I get married in the year 2333 to get a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I'm going to put myself on a payment plan to get it long before then. And maybe a Juicer too, and an emulsion blender...... yeah, that too.


• The state fair has more ankle tattoos than the wal-mart by where I work. .... and that's saying something.


• If you 'love' push the person next to you at a bar in a casino (for making faces at her... yes Amy), and you don't know your own strength and push them out of the booth. Both by that act and the laughing about it *might* get you kicked out.... good thing we're such smooth talkers.

Anything I'm leaving out?...... All in all a productive week, I'd say. Happy Hump day friends :)

Hellooooooooooo 2009!

Sorry it's taken me so long to recap. The good pictures (of all the girls in their dresses, of me and the BF, of the swanky digs, of the unbelievable view, etc.) are on emily's camera. Because the 'now take one with mine' thing can be done to death I thought I would just steal hers... which I have yet to actually accomplish. Below is Myself, my brother, and a friend of ours from grade school.... who apparently wanted to ring in the new year with the best brother/sister duo since donnie & marie (or so we claim) I made three yummy appetizers for the party. In googling easy things that would keep overnight or that I could throw together at the last minute I found http://www.finedinings.com/ for all that you see below. There is some super creative stuff and more importantly.... there are pictures of everything (imperative for someone on my level... remedial). Anyway the first yummy, gooey, app was a grape covered in a mixture of goat cheese/cream cheese/port wine and sprinked with pistachios. On New Years Eve Eve I was so in heaven making things. Despite the fact they were sort of labor intensive (i probably spent 1-2 minutes on each of these little bastards trying to get them semi evenly coated and inadvertently covering myself with cheese and nuts and didn't go to bed until after midnight .... gasp!). The warm gooey cheese was SO RICH, the pistachios were bright green and had a crunch, and the fruit in the middle was unexpected and flavorful. I spent all the next morning e-mail bragging about these, literally the fruits of my labor. Too bad when I got home the nuts had softened in the cheese and the cheese (obvi) no longer warm, made them sort of a cold mush. They were dece.... but not amazing. Plus no one could really tell what they were. 100 times better when eaten immediately than kept overnight. Lesson learned.

Next up we had cucumber cups with a crab mixture (lime juice, zest, cucumbers, scallions, yogurt), in fancy asymmetrical cucumber cups cut out with a mellon baller. I decided to upgrade and not use crab from a can. Too bad I didn't realize that you couldn't buy crab (at this grocery store anyway) fresh that is out of the claw.My lovely friend and houseguest for the evening (she hails from kentucky) aaaaamy, was attempting to crack them open with a pair of pink pliers I had when I returned from work. Ruined nail polish, frustration, cuts on the knuckle (totally inappropriate tools) later we realized this should only be done with a giant bucket and a tub full of butter with a bib that says all-you-can-eat-seafood. Too much trouble for actually trying to use the crab in a recipe. However the finished product was REALLY good. The lime was strong, but it was a good compliment to all of the other fresh flavors. yummm.

By far the most popular item was the mini baked potato bites. I used red/new potatoes, cooked, halved and scooped with the mellon baller (man i love that thing). There was a mixture of NF sour cream, turkey bacon diced, and scallions that I topped it with. I sprinkled on some freshly grated wisconsin sharp cheddar cheese. REALLY good and the plate was missing several little bites every time I glanced over at the party. Total comfort food, in fun-sized portions.

Below is stephanie pointing to the display (square plates are my contributions) Emily made a dip and so did amy... .everyone else brought booze. YAY teamwork!

The rest of the night included dancing, laughing jokes, a few wardrobe malfunctions (YIKES!), and a lot of festive and noisy hats and horns. Happy New Year!!!

Is it just me or it is it getting dark in here?

... I thought to myself when the power went out last night at 11pm. The bathroom still had light, which means my eyeshadow this morning is even (priorities, friends)... however the other half of my apartment which includes the lights everywhere, the tv, the FRIDGE... and the HEATER were done (the weather outside was frightful... 7 degrees). When I woke up this morning the electricity had returned, however the heater and tv both weren't so much working (needing to be reset??)... it was cold and I was anxious about getting on the roads without the winter weather report from the local news (not that i could change the outcome or my route by watching these events, but you know, who doesn't want to have all the info??).. According to my mom because I only opened the fridge in one panicky moment to check to see if the fridge was off (it totally was, and lots of profanity ensued). That and in the wee hours of the night it shouldn't have spoiled anything as the cold air wasn't escaping, etc. etc. She said I would have to go through item by item to make determinations. I hope I don't have to toss my chili. It was really too good to toss. Do you toss chili? Does that sound dirty? John would probably think so. He's like the Todd.... dirty sounding food five.

Mom's healthified soupy chilli amazingness

• 1/2 lb ground lean turkey (browned separately and added to soupy mix)
• 12 ounces tomato juice
• can black beans
• 1/2 white onion
• 1 garlic clove (minced and sauteed with onion)
• corn, sweet peppers (okay they weren't in the first one but i would totally throw them in had i had them in the pantry for texture and extra veggie count)
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• a few slices of cheddar for garnish and/or melty cheesy delicousness

honestly i was kind of eyeballing all of this. my mom's actual recipe included her just listing these ingredients (ish) and just telling me to do whatever (no order or quantities). Apparently the rule for chili is no rules. What a rebellious soup. I love it.

You know what else I love? A holiday gift I received from one of our vendors today: a thermos!!! Soup city: here I come! AND it kind of looks like a missile/rocketship WOMD... no? It's the most dangerous looking food transporting container I own. Rebellious soup in a badass thermos? I think so.

oh no you di'int

yes. we. did.

i have drank the kool-aid, i am filled with euphoria and hope and all of that other wishy washy nonsense that has plagued the country for the past 20 months. I feel like for the first time in my adult voting life i have had a serious emotional connection with a candidate/movement/vote ---not to mention my candidate won, that never happens.

tonight is the first night in ages that i'll be able to add food-isms to the internet world, but probably every moment until then I will sit here at my desk and daydream for all of the things that we can be: restored image in the world; helping the poor/needy/helpless; again becoming the wonderful nation i know that we are; dare I say... simmering the crazy partisan atmosphere that makes me want to slap my conservative friends; has them threatening to disown me; and makes me fantasize about sucker punching Bill-O and Karl. Okay minus those regrettable semi-violent sentiments, I am filled with patriotism and am feeling only slightly guilty that I skipped class to go to the Obama watch party downtown (which was pure pandemonium when the results were announced). But an election of this magnitude--HISTORY--only happens once in a lifetime.... and this class happens every tuesday.