11.29.2009

Just so you know, I don't know this person - I just read this on awkwardfamilyphotos.com and it is UNBELIEVABLE.


From: Marney

As you all know a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner does not make itself. I need to ask each of you to help by bringing something to complete the meal. I truly appreciate your offers to assist with the meal preparation.

Now, while I do have quite a sense of humor and joke around all the time, I COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS when I am providing you with your Thanksgiving instructions and orders. I am very particular, so please perform your task EXACTLY as I have requested and read your portion very carefully. If I ask you to bring your offering in a container that has a lid, bring your offering in a container WITH A LID, NOT ALUMINUM FOIL! If I ask you to bring a serving spoon for your dish, BRING A SERVING SPOON, NOT A SOUP SPOON! And please do not forget anything.

All food that is to be cooked should already be prepared, bring it hot and ready to serve, warm or room temp. These are your ONLY THREE options. Anything meant to be served cold should, of course, already be cold.

HJB—Dinner wine

The Mike Byron Family
1. Turnips in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. Please do not fill the casserole all the way up to the top, it gets too messy. I know this may come as a bit of a surprise to you, but most of us hate turnips so don’t feel like you a have to feed an army.
2. Two half gallons of ice cream, one must be VANILLA, I don’t care what the other one is. No store brands please. I did see an ad this morning for Hagan Daz Peppermint Bark Ice Cream, yum!! (no pressure here, though).
3. Toppings for the ice cream.
4. A case of bottled water, NOT gallons, any brand is ok.

The Bob Byron Family
1. Green beans or asparagus (not both) in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. If you are making the green beans, please prepare FOUR pounds, if you are making asparagus please prepare FIVE pounds. It is up to you how you wish to prepare them, no soupy sauces, no cheese (you know how Mike is), a light sprinkling of toasted nuts, or pancetta, or some EVOO would be a nice way to jazz them up.
2. A case of beer of your choice (I have Coors Light and Corona) or a bottle of clos du bois chardonnay (you will have to let me know which you will bring prior to 11/22).

The Lisa Byron Chesterford Family
1. Lisa as a married woman you are now required to contribute at the adult level. You can bring an hors d’ouvres. A few helpful hints/suggestions. Keep it very light, and non-filling, NO COCKTAIL SAUCE, no beans of any kind. I think your best bet would be a platter of fresh veggies and dip. Not a huge platter mind you (i.e., not the plastic platter from the supermarket).

The Michelle Bobble Family
1. Stuffing in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please make the stuffing sans meat.
2. 2.5-3 qts. of mashed squash in a casserole with a lid and serving spoon
3. Proscuitto pin wheel – please stick to the recipe, no need to bring a plate.
4. A pie knife

The June Davis Family
1. 15 LBS of mashed potatoes in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please do not use the over-size blue serving dish you used last year. Because you are making such a large batch you can do one of two things: put half the mash in a regulation size casserole with lid and put the other half in a plastic container and we can just replenish with that or use two regulation size casserole dishes with lids. Only one serving spoon is needed.
2. A bottle of clos du bois chardonnay

The Amy Misto Family (why do I even bother she will never read this)
1. A pumpkin pie in a pie dish (please use my silver palate recipe) no knife needed.
2. An apple pie in a pie dish, you can use your own recipe, no knife needed.

Looking forward to the 28th!!

Marney

11.19.2009

The air coming out of my heat vents smells exactly like popcorn. I'm not complaining.

Which reminds me of something random: I went through a phase (I'm thinking middle school) where I used to pour extra melted butter on top of my popcorn. How in the world did I dodge the morbid obesity bullet?

11.17.2009

Being in charge of the blog at work just sort of rips all of the fun out of doing it for fun.

But I will say...nothing makes you feel old like the office intern not knowing what a Choose Your Own Adventure book is. Really?!?! Come on. Either your school library was just more up to date than mine, or, let's face it, you were doing cooler things than reading books and acting out plays in your bedroom. And, of course, I'm talking about my sister here.

I mean, I at least pretend to remember what parachute pants were. And I had to do my homework on those old NKOTB lyrics since I wasn't allowed to listen to them in their prime. I vaguely remember reworking the lyrics and singing "You Got the Right Clothes". I was a kid with a heavy conscience and my own biggest tattletale. I'm not sure if it was genius (fewer punishments if you fess up) or just paranoia.

Anyway...I've been doing some writing. And with the help of Josh, Andrea, Robbie, Andy, Brian and more people I don't know about, I think it sounds purty good. (If I could figure out how to play it here without using a shady music site, I would.)

If you want to hear the live version, we'll be playing it before (almost all of) the Awaited shows.

9.21.2009

Dear Abby...

I'm being serious here and tossing aside the notion that people will think I'm a slob when I admit this, but...does anyone have any tips for keeping your place clean? I'm really not a fan of the "goodnight-this-place-needs-a-deep-clean" scene, but can't seem to get a good grasp on the "clean-a-little-every-day-so-it-doesn't-get-overwhelming" scene. I don't want to spend my weekends cleaning my apartment and it seems like there has to be a good middle ground somewhere that I'm just not picking up on.

Seriously, all you Helpful Heloises out there, consider this an invite. I won't be offended, I'll just be cleaner.

9.17.2009

Parton me, but...

...this is one bosomy tomato.



If you haven't gone (and you still have until Sunday to go), Cincinnati Restaurant Week is definitely something to check out. All the restaurants that are taking part are at gcindependent.com.

Last night I went to Hugo with a friend and it was great. A little bit of a splurge (probably the cost of two normal dinners out), but well worth it. The atmosphere, the service, the FOOD...I feel more sophisticated just thinking about it.

8.18.2009

This, paper, scissors

I'd like to do more of this...


And way more of this...


Makes me feel like this...

An experiment

So I'm trying this whole "by prayer and petition" thing. I'll let you know how it works out.

This was supposed to be longer.

8.12.2009

My favorite verb

Ru⋅by-sit

[roo-bee-sit] verb, -sat, -sitting.

1. To watch my niece, Ruby, while her parents are temporarily away.

Origin: 2009

7.26.2009

I can read 400 pages on John Wilkes Booth without getting bored.
This was probably more of a Facebook thought.
Too late now.

7.17.2009

This is what happens when Auntie Mae babysits...

Babysitting at Grace and Ben's means three things: family, laundry and cable - three things I was very excited about tonight. Here's a rough idea of what happened when Ben and Grace went on their date:

Emigre and I watched Top Chef together. What in the WORLD are they doing with that tomato?



I thought it looked delicious but Emigre was tired of all those fancy sauces.



Then SOMEBODY (I won't say who) woke up, so we had some snuggle time on the couch with her. Can't say I look too disappointed.



Then, feeling inspired by So You Think You Can Dance, I had a "moment". Yeah, that's what we'll call it...



I put myself on the hot tamale train.



Oh, how I love the smell of clean laundry...





On a final note, did anyone ever think they would see this little number in my hip sister and brother-in-law's house? I'm sure they'll CLAIM the old tenant left it here...

7.06.2009

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

Ben and Grace and Ruby and I went up to Granville for the Fourth of July weekend, a.k.a. Bunting Central. I never realized how big this holiday is in Granville. The whole town shuts down for this. And the parade features so many Princesses it's hard to keep them straight. There's the Pork Princess, the Poultry Princess, the Lamb Princess, the Strawberry Princess, Beef Princess - I'm sure I'm forgetting some kind of animal that Central Ohioans celebrate by crowning a local high school girl.

We saw old neighbors, teachers and friends. Ate our weight in frozen custard and I may have even gotten a nickname out of the weekend. (If it sticks, I'll tell it to the whole world, but we're going to have to wait until Ruby starts talking.)

Then my mom helped me make a new duvet for my bed:

Soft as a cloud, I'm tellin' ya.

All in all, a great Fourth. But I drove away from my sister's house after the ride back and lost it in the car a little bit. Turns out I miss them to tears after only about a hundred yards.