The state of my refrigerator

So, I have recently given up flour and sugar.  Recently as in about a month and a half ago.    And normally, when I tell people that I gave up sugar and flour, the first thing they say is either “How did you do that?” (see editorial note) or “So what do you eat?”  Which I totally understand because, in case you haven’t noticed, sugar and flour are in everything.  Like, everything.  So, I tell them the truth: essentially, I make all of my food.  I buy very little that is pre-made and, if it’s pre-made, I don’t eat it if sugar or flour is one of the top 4 ingredients.

And one of the coolest things I’ve noticed (aside from the fact that I am no longer crazy and that I feel amazing) is that my refrigerator has taken on a new level of Zen.  Like, I open it, and there’s real food in there.  And I want to eat the real food — I don’t want to grab the crackers in the cabinet or the ice cream in the freezer.  And I make up the craziest concoctions of food that I would have never thought to eat together before but that are so delicious now.  It’s like my eyes have been opened to this whole new world of real food.  Plants.  Animals.  Simplicity.  It’s amazing.  

And, so, I am so excited that my refrigerator has taken on a new level of organization and Zen.  Oh, and I now mostly eat all the vegetables that I buy at the store each week instead of just letting them turn to a nasty liquid science experiment in the crisper drawer.

And I feel free.  And it feels so good.

 

(Editorial note: People are so amazed when I tell them this, but it’s really less amazing when you take into consideration that I have a problem with sugar.  Like, a Prob.Lem.  Like, a they tried to make me go to rehab and I cried no, no, no type of problem.  So, yeah — sugar is no bueno for this chica.  And while I’m at it — sure — lump flour in with that, too.)

Where have you been all my life?

So, some of you may have noticed that I’ve been decidedly absent for the past – oh – 14 months or so.  And I’m sorry about that.  But let me give a little explanation.

I somehow managed to get pregnant, have an excessively stressful pregnancy where I literally could not talk about it with most anyone (even when I was obviously pregnant), and then have the most amazing baby ever.  He’s delicious.  Like, eat him with a spoon delicious.

OK, so let me back up a minute.  My pregnancy.  I got pregnant in mid-January 2011.  So, I knew during my last few posts that I was pregnant.  And at first it was like, OK, I can handle it.  And then it was like, ohmigod, I can’t write a blog and be pregnant.  Like, somehow in my crazy pregnant brain, I couldn’t fathom doing both.

And my pregnancy.  It was stressful.  After losing Wilson, I just had so much fear.  And anxiety.  And anger.  I couldn’t talk about it with anyone.  Like, even my closest friends.  I felt like no one understood, except for the few friends I’d met who had lost babies, too.  And it got to the point of ridiculous.  Like, I was clearly very pregnant and I would get pissed at people who asked me about it. Imagine the following scenario:

Me: paying for groceries, clearly very pregnant
Grocery store clerk: “When are you due?”
Me (in my head): What the fuck is wrong with people? That is sooo rude.
Me (out loud): “Soon”
Grocery store clerk: “Is this your first?”
Me (in my head): Oh no she DI-IDN’T.  How intrusive.  Clearly I don’t want to talk about this.
Me (out loud): “No.”
Grocery store clerk, smiling: “Oh.”
Me (in my head): People are soooo insensitive. Oh, and she’s putting my raw chicken in the same bag with my cereal.  F this store, I’m never coming back.

So, yeah.  It was nuts.  I was nuts.  And I’m not really sorry for it because it was just where I was at the time.  But I can recognize that it’s not where I am now, and I’m thankful for that.

But August 2010 – September 2011 was rough.  Like, impossibly rough.  Like, I don’t know how I made it through alive and I’m pretty sure I did not make it out unscathed rough.

But I learned a lot.  And I’m still learning a lot from that time.  And from losing Wilson.  And now I have an amazing and perfect baby boy.  And he’s got the best smile and he just warms my heart in a way I have never experienced before.  And I know that losing Wilson has made me a much better parent than I could have ever been if I hadn’t lost him.  And that doesn’t mean that I would’ve been a horrible parent and so I had to lose Wilson so that I wouldn’t suck.  And that doesn’t mean that parents who never had to lose a baby don’t know what they’re missing.  It just means that I recognize that I got a gift from Wilson.  That I still get gifts from Wilson.  And that now Wilson gets to be an older brother and a part of our family’s heritage forever.

And my heart didn’t magically stop hurting when our baby was born.  But it was able to start healing in a way that I didn’t think was possible before.

So, I introduce to the world (OK, to the blogosphere, because he’s already been introduced to the real world for about 6 months now):

Lawson Christopher Kennedy

Born: September 16, 2011

Lawson, on day two of life.

OK, so fast forward six months and you’ve got some really ridiculous cuteness.*

He has a duck bath. A duck bath. Come ON.

The quality on these photos may not be the best because they were all (yes, that’s right, all) taken with an iPhone.  Trashy, considering I made my husband purchase a Nikon D40 back when I was barely pregnant with Wilson.  But damn that iPhone takes good photos, huh?  Oh, no, wait — that’s just the subject.  Heehee.

Oh, and one last thing — his name is Lawson, but we call him Whams.  Because in our house, your given name is merely a suggestion.

Anyway, that’s all for now.  I hope it’s a fair enough explanation.  If not, that’s OK, too.  But that’s all I got.

Anyone else have anything exciting happen to them in the last -oh- year or so?

xoxo,

Flong

*I may be partial.  I get it.  I know.  It’s OK.

**Also, I was only going to do one current photo, but I mean, how am I supposed to limit his cuteness to one photo?  Clearly five is barely sufficient.

Simple Bachelor Observations

So, I love the Bachelor.  I watch it every season.  I love the Bachelorette, too.  I watch that every season as well.

If you’re a Bachelor watcher, you know that this season has brought back Brad — the hottest bachelor to date.  Oh, wait — I’m forgetting Jake Pavelka.  Oh, wait — no, I’m not.  (Don’t even get me started on Jake choosing Vienna — it became like a train wreck that was SO HARD to watch after mid-season, mostly because I read on Reality Steve ahead of time that he was choosing her, although that didn’t stop me from watching.)

Anyways, so we have Brad Womack.

Pretty hot, huh?  Yeah, I thought so.

This week’s episode was episode #5.  And I just have a few observations I want to share.  Some are more “shock and awe” observations and some are “should you ever find yourself doing this on national television, expect a lack of respect from the general public”observations.

1.  I’m starting to have feelings for Michelle.  And they’re not just physical.

I know — I’m just as surprised as you.  It’s shocking.  I hated that girl.  But, the farther along we get in the season, the more I’m realizing that he’s both not going to choose her (phew) and she’s really funny.  I don’t know that she means to be, but she is.  holla

2. These girls should know that talking poorly about the girl getting the most attention on the date is a career-limiting move.

C’mon, guys — Emily lost her fiance and then found out she was pregnant with his daughter, whom she is now raising on her own. Being jealous of her is really trashy.  REALLY trashy.

3.  And this is kinda related to #2 — I really dislike that Allie girl. Something about her “so the girl with the most problems gets the most attention” statement just hit me wrong.

Also, when Allie goes, “we’ve all been through things,” I thought she was maybe being a little dramatic.  Yes, Allie, we’ve all been through things, but not all of us have lost our fiance and then had to raise our child on our own. Really?  Like, are we really having this conversation?

It’s OK — I think Allie’s got one episode left.  Maybe two, if she plays her cards right.  Then it’s straight to trashy hook-up parties that are Bachelor/Bachelorette reunions.

4.  No matter what the producers try to get out of you, do not cry ugly tears on TV.

So, we’ve all done it.  We’ve all cried those big, ugly horse tears that make our eyes swell and our noses turn red.  And we’ve all done it over a guy that we thought was The One, despite the fact that it’s really obvious to everyone else in the world that he wasn’t really that into us.  So,  yeah — I feel your pain, ladies.  But STOP THE MADNESS.  You’ve gotta stop crying like this on TV. Sure, you’re sad.  Maybe you’re devastated.  But you’ve got to hold yourself together.  If not for you, for your next boyfriend.

So those are this week’s observations.  I’ll try to post more next week, but I may not have really good ones.  These were just my thoughts from this week, and I had to share.

PS — Ashley S, I really liked you.  REALLY.  But hint: maybe lose the HUGE stuffed bear before getting into a serious dating relationship — I’m thinking that could throw off your chances of seeming ready for an adult relationship in the future.  Just sayin.  And I’m only just sayin cause I love you.

PPS — Ashley S, hope to see you on The Bachelor Pad 2 this summer.  (Oh yeah, I watch that, too.  HOLLA.)

To the 80s and Back

The Friday before last, I went to see The Legwarmers, an 80s tribute band, at The National, which is this AWESOME music venue in Richmond.  So, 80s tribute + great music venue = whopping good time.  But wait… there’s something missing…

Oh, this guy.

EVERYONE was dressed in 80s garb, but this guy was my fave.  I mean, he took it to a whole new level.  Mullet wig?  Hells yeah.  Yellow tee with ripped off sleeves?  You know it.  Leopard print leggings?  You talkin to me?  And the punk girl in the black tutu and bright pink dance tights isn’t doing too badly, either.

And then there was us…

I tried.  My friend Kate succeeded.  The camera flash really washed out my outrageous eye shadow.  Pink, purple and -of course- blue.

The Legwarmers were great.  The National was crowded.  And — if I’m honest — the floors were a bit sticky.  Mostly because everyone was drinking beer and spilling it all over the floor.  And occasionally leaving it in the bathroom:

Bathroom stall find -- free beer!

Who doesn’t want a cup of beer left for them by the previous stall user?  Holla!

But, the real adventure of the evening came after Kate and I left The National.  We had to head west about 8 blocks to where Kate’s car was parked and it was a FRIGID 20 degrees out.  So, we hopped on the 2BNB bus, which is a free bus service that carries party-ers about town to prevent them from driving drunk (or, in our case, walking cold).

This was our first time on the bus and, I gotta say, everyone on the bus is friendly.  Everyone on the bus is happy.  And, for the most part, everyone on the bus is drunk.  Single ladies, as a hint, if you are looking for a semi-attractive man to take an immediate interest in you and share way too many life details in a short period of time, the 2BNB bus is where it’s at.

It’s a whole lot safer than driving after you’ve been drinking.  And it’s free.  And it’s a great way to meet new friends (even if you wouldn’t be friends if you weren’t all leaving a super-packed 80s concert late at night).

So that was our Legwarmers adventure.  It was fantastic. My personal favorite part of the night was NKOTB — the Right Stuff.  Dance was included.  I swooned.  It was like 6th grade all over again, but without the social stigma of loving New Kids (I had to pretend not to like them in 6th grade because liking NKOTB was not the cool thing to do in my elementary school).  Classic.

Tooooor-tol-a

Jed and I never took a honeymoon.  We contributed a bit to our wedding celebration (in addition to our very generous parental contributions) and so essentially doubling our spend by planning a vacation right afterward didn’t seem like a great choice.

And now finally, almost 2 years into our marriage,we are taking our honeymoon.

Goals for our honeymoon:

1.  Be somewhere gorgeous — probably the Caribbean (for cost reasons, Tahiti is out, even though I would LOVE to go there)

2.  Be somewhere that doesn’t get super busy and/or have a ton of people.

3.  Don’t do a resort.  Nothing wrong with them — we’ve done them before — but it’s kinda hard to stick to #2 without #3.

So we are going to… Tortola.  What?  What’s Tortola?  Exactly. No one knows what it is.  We had no idea what/where it is before we started looking.  We basically started googling various Caribbean vacation ideas, then ended up looking at house rentals in the Caribbean, and eventually landed on a seemingly adorable little one bedroom villa on Tortola, which is a British Virgin Island.  It’s the busiest BVI, but none of the BVIs are really all that busy, apparently — in fact, they’re barely busy enough to have any books on the topic.  Supposedly, there’s enough to do (day trips to other islands, horseback riding, diving/snorkeling, along with plenty of shopping and restaurants, sans the high likelihood of a TGIFriday’s), without too many people.  Hopefully.  I’ll let you know.

Here are some pictures of the place we’re renting.  It’s a little greedy in terms of gorgeousness, but it’s kinda reasonably priced.

Our view

Our deck

Our hot tub -- enough jets to make The Bachelor jealous

Our living room

Our kitchen -- same living space as living room.

Side note: I am just now noticing that there’s no dishwasher.  Good thing I’m bringing Jed.  Of course, I just said to him, “uh oh — there’s no dishwasher” and he said, “well, we got a Flong.”  Perfect.  Glad we’re on the same page.

So, yeah.  That’s our villa.  We’re SUPER excited.  And we’re leaving soon, but according to the Today Show (and my mother and mother-in-law — marriage brings twice the mothers, so twice the warnings/worry), if I tell you when we’re actually going, you’ll probably rob our house while we’re gone.  At least one of you will.  Don’t lie.

But, I do promise to post ACTUAL vacation photos and full deets when we get back.  Hopefully lots of both.

A side note about this week — we had some unexpected family stuff come up, so I haven’t had the chance to blog everything I promised I would, but I WILL blog about the Legwarmers sometime this coming week.

Also, I may share my Grandma Flong’s amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe.  They’re the best chocolate chip cookies you will EVER eat.  If you cook them right.

Until next time… mahalo!  (wait… wrong island)

This ain’t your Mamma’s lasagna

But we did try.

So, I’m not gonna lie.  Jed and I are good cooks.  We like to cook, we’re adventurous eaters (well, OK — Jed’s an adventurous eater, but I play one on TV), and — most importantly — we’re not afraid of the kitchen.  We like to take seemingly awesome recipes and do our own little twist on them.  We also like to try to reproduce our favorite restaurant recipes at home.

And that’s what we tried to do Sunday.  Inspired by the lasagna from our favorite restaurant in the world, Mamma Zu, we found a recipe of Giada deLaurentiis’s that uses bechamel sauce as a base.

And it turned out really yummy.  So, there are definitely things we will improve next time, but overall, it was delish.  But, as promised in Sunday’s blog, here are the deets.  Please note — I don’t really include amounts very much.  Check the recipe if you need better details:

Step One: Gather ingredients.

A fairly simple, but oft underrated step, this can be executed at virtually any local grocery store you may frequent.  I’d like to point out that assuming you have basic staples (such as all-purpose flour) is not always a smart way to go — it’s best to check first.  You basically don’t want to end up (while you’re  melting the butter for the bechamel sauce) realizing that your all-purpose flour canister is empty and -egads- the all purpose flour shelf only contains bread flour.  Oh, but wait, happily -phew-, someone put the remaining all-purpose flour in the wrong place, but your butter has all but burned at this point.

Just sayin.

Here’s a picture of the step:

(Note the lack of flour)

Step Two:  Make the tomato sauce

Great lasagna has to start with a great base.  Don’t start off with sauce from a can.  Or, if you do, don’t blame me if your lasagna sucks.

So, here’s how we make sauce at This Flong house.  We cut up a bunch of garlic (no, I’m not just using that term, I actually mean a full bunch) and about a half of an onion.

Then we put some Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a pan and heat it up (just a little — too long will burn the olive oil, which has a low smoke point).

And once it’s heated a bit, add all the onion and most of the garlic.  Reserve some of the garlic to add just before the sauce is done.

We're saving you for later, little guy.

Then add the tomatoes.  I used 2 (14 oz) cans of crushed and 2 (14 oz) cans of diced tomatoes, but I did put them all in a food processor for just a minute.  Normally for regular pasta sauce, we leave the tomatoes diced, but I didn’t want chunks of tomatoes throwing off the balance of the lasagna (and, frankly, making the layers too thick).

We add salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and hot pepper to taste (and Basil when we have fresh basil around, but we didn’t have it, so we didn’t add it).

So, after you’ve added everything, just let it simmer for a bit.  If it starts to get too thick, just add water and let the water boil out.  Note: I don’t use all the veggies Giada does.  You’re welcome to, but we make this sauce all the time, so I didn’t follow her recipe.

Finally, just before you’re ready to use the sauce, add the last bit of garlic.

Step Three: Brown the meat.

Giada uses all ground chuck, but I used half ground chuck, half mild Italian sausage because I thought just plain chuck might be boring, but I might stick to just chuck in the future.  Personally, I wouldn’t do either all sausage or just ground pork, but those are options as well.

See the sauce simmering in the background?

If you need more info on this step, then this recipe is probably too advanced.  Turn back now.  Or just make meat sauce.  Or call for help.  1-800-LAS-AGNA**.

Step Four: The Noodles

So, I debated when this should come.  I started making them early and then had to add a little olive oil to prevent them from getting too sticky.  This was my first time ever making lasagna noodles (not a stretch, considering this was my first attempt as lasagna) and I literally followed the package directions.  I did, however, drop the noodles one by one into the boiling water so that they didn’t break.  And I set the timer based on what the package said for al dente cause I didn’t want over-cooked noodles.

Step Five: Check on your husband.

OK, phew.  Got that one covered.

Step Six: Make Bechamel sauce.

Until Saturday, I didn’t even know what bechamel sauce is.  Now I know.  It’s like deliciousness (with some fat added) in a sauce.

So, you start by melting butter and adding flour.  After the aforementioned flour fiasco, I was able to find this:

I was concerned with the recipe because it says something like “mix flour into melted butter until smooth, about 2 minutes” and this is what I ended up with:

But, that’s apparently what it’s supposed to look like.  I added the milk slowly, mixing constantly to avoid clumps, and I ended up with the right result:

Step Seven: Combine Bechamel and pasta sauce

Or, as I like to refer to it, the meeting of the deliciousness.

Mix it all up.  Your sauce will be a light red/dark pink concoction.  Oh, and it will taste delicious (if you’ve made it correctly — if it’s not delicious, might want to call it a day and call for take-out).

Step 8: Mix the Ricotta

Giada’s recipe calls for Spinach, but Mamma Zu’s uses peas, so we decided we’d use peas and mix them in with the Ricotta.

Two things: 1.  We used frozen peas.  Next time we’ll probably use canned.  2.  If you use frozen peas, make sure you have defrosted them and patted them dry.  We think our frozen peas inadvertently added a lot of moisture to our lasagna.

Ricotta cheese, peas, and eggs pre-mixing.

Ricotta, cheese, and eggs post mixing.  Two things:  1.  I might add salt & pepper next time, which I didn’t do this time.  2.  I might try 1 – 2 less eggs next time.  The Ricotta was really fluffy and I think I want it more melty, so I’m thinking removing an egg or two might help with that.

Step Nine: Assemble

HOLLA.  We made it!

We’re ready to assemble:

Here’s the order we used (and that Giada uses)

Starting on the bottom, layer 1/3 of sauce.  Add a layer of noodles.  Add all of the Ricotta mixture.  Add another layer of noodles.  Add all of the meat.  Add 1/2 of the mozzarella.  Add another 1/3 of the sauce.  Add one more layer of noodles.  Add remaining 1/3 of sauce.  Add remaining 1/2 of mozzarella.  Add Parmesan.  Add butter (super gluttonous, but it tastes SOOO good).

Step Ten: Bake and EAT.

So, I didn’t take a picture of the lasagna all assembled pre-cooking.  Big fail.  But I followed Giada’s cooking instructions (including placing the pan on an aluminum foil-covered baking sheet, which turned out to save the bottom of our oven, which already needs to be cleaned).

And here’s the result:

Soooo yummy.

This is what it looks like from the side.

And, finally, my piece:

It was super yummy.  A great meal.  And we have LOTS of leftovers.  I can’t wait to keep perfecting this recipe!

Oh, and after all that, I burnt the cookies I made for dessert.  That’s right.  The break and bake from your grocer’s refrigerated section.

Oh well.  At least dinner rocked.

So, it maybe wasn’t Mamma Zu’s lasagna, but it was definitely real yummy.  Especially for a first stab at it.

Next time: HONEYMOON PLANS

**This is a made-up number.  If you call it, let me know what happens.  Oh, and you’re gullible.

Coming this week

So, I’m super excited about this week and thought I’d give you all a preview of what’s to come.

First, Jed and I are making lasagna with bechamel sauce tonight, a la Giada De Laurentiis.  We’re taking her basic recipe and making a few Flong House modifications.  Should be amazing (fingers crossed).  I will share pics.  And maybe instructions, depending on how whether instructions are share-worthy (for instance, if it turns out to be a big fat failure, I don’t think you’ll want to know).

Second, Jed and I are FINALLY going on our honeymoon.  It’s coming soon.  And I am going to share pics of where we’re going (hint: most people say “where’s that again?” when I mention it).  I cannot WAIT – both for the honeymoon and to share deets.

Third, I went to go see the Legwarmers, an 80s tribute band, this past Friday night.  And I am going to share a pic or two from the experience.  Two things I will say: 1. People in Richmond love their 80s music.  2. People in Richmond love their 2BNB bus.  If you don’t know what the 2BNB bus is, you’re going to have to tune in to check it out.

So, that’s what’s on tap for this Flong house.  It’s gonna be a great week.