Mayor Tom

Mayor Tom Leppert...in my office...right now. lol

Maybe I'll get a pic to post later, they're holding a press conference in our multi-purpose room for Woodall Rodgers Park. It'll be on the news tonight, all networks are here.

Gawd, it's already MAY?

Before I flip my work calendar over at the end of today's work day, I took a hard look at it just now and contemplated..."Gawd, that's a lot of shit!"

If you know me, you KNOW I try to be super organized and I'm a 'list' person. If I don't write it down, there's a chance I'll forget about it, or forget to do it. So, I ordered this new At-A-Glance Outlink binder from Office Depot last month, b/c work was getting so hectic, I couldn't rely on all my Post-its stuck to my desk and monitor anymore.

I love it, and highly recommend it...unless it starts to look like mine above. lol What a mess.

Idol Top 5 & Lasagna

Sooo, last night was the top 5, and we saw Adam in the bottom 2 - *gasp*! Oh, whatever, he's such a showy queen, he'll do just fine. And here's a before pic of the lasagna...and sadly, I didn't remember to take an after when it came out of the oven, b/c we devoured it like pigs! :)

I made this with 93/7 lean ground beef, chicken/turkey/spinach sausage, ricotta w/ mozz and parm mixed in, and turkey peperoni (seen on top). I admit the red sauce was a few jars of what I had around, but I threw about a 1/3 bottle of cab-sav in it, and about a cup of milk to cut the acidity - make it more like a pomodoro sauce. It was a total experiement, and I think it was a success! :) Ben and David brought a nice big salad to go along w/ it, and I sliced up some potato-rosemary bread I grabbed at Albertson's, and topped with EVOO and grated parm, and broiled it in the oven. Rick and Steve brought a really yummy strawberry cake for dessert. We feasted like Kings (trust me, the pan weighed in at about 15lbs - I kid you not! Well, it is a Mario Batali enamel coated cast iron pan, but still!) lol

Steak Tacos

Monday night I was in the mood for MEAT...steak...flank steak to be exact. I had mini corn tortillas at home, so steak tacos came to mind. Now, I seasoned this flank steak with salt and curry before dropping into a searing hot skillet. Tasty? Yes. Does my house STILL smell like I live above an Indian take-out joint 3 days later? Unfortunately, YES! WHAT is THAT about? Now I see why people who eat curry all the time just ooze the "aroma". Jesus...not even my Cucina Coriander and Olive Tree kitchen spray could knock it out - WTF!?

At any rate, the tacos were delish, I finished them w/ shredded lettuce and an avocado pico I threw together of cubed tomato, avocado, diced onion, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic powder. I warmed the tortilla's thru in the same pan I cooked the steak. Simple and yummy peeps - make some.

Kitchen Re-org

(pic sux, sorry)
FINALLY, I reorganized my kitchen by taking all my pots and pans out of the cabinets and arranging them, SLT style, on my Metro shelves in my pantry off the kitchen. I don't know why I didn't think of this before! I mean, hello, it's how we have things arranged in the SLT store! I do it every Sunday during floorset! lol

So, I put all bakers on one shelf, all Le Creuset on another, all mixing bowls together, and then tri-ply pans (All-Clad and such) together, and serving trays on the bottom shelf, and serving bowls on the top. I LOVE IT. It makes so much sense to me now. Now I have all the 'uglies', like plastics and baking pans, etc., hidden away nicely in the pantry cabinets. And I left a lovely space in my long cabinet for my lovely Breville convection toaster oven I've been coveting. I've got a perfect shelf to put it on, and there's a plug-in inside my pantry - perfect! :)

Ensalada!

The lovely salad I whipped up for the boys at Idol night this past week - they said I should blog it. (Mixed greens w/ vine ripened tomatoes, avocado, honey-sesame coated almonds, and a zesty Italian dressing). :)

The New Toy

Well, down there at the Surly Table, we got this new lil' guy in - the Breville Healthsmart Steamer. And I had to have me one of them right thur. Tried it out last night, nifty lil' item. I did salmon in the first tray, followed by carrots, broc & cherry tomatoes, and tiny pearl pasta in the top. There are some awesome recipies in the book that came w/ it that I wanna' try (like vanilla risotto - yum!), so I will report back when I do. (PS - You can steam whole eggs, and poach egss in ramekins inside it - cool!)