Recipes!

You may be still slogging through a turkey-hangover and totally grossed out by majority-poultry recipes... but then you can just keep these in mind for 2011. I segued straight from turkey (and red wine) hangover to sick-as-dog holed up in bed. It's awesome. And I've watched some great chick-flicks, like Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Proposal. And I'm not getting better? So weird.

1. Chicken Enchiladas. I've made approximately this recipe a bunch of times now with great success. I sometimes use roasted green chiles instead of tomatillos (depends on what we get from the CSA). I have done it with cooking my own boneless or bone-in chicken (instead of using the deli roasted chicken) and it does just add this other level of complication and time committment. I would also recommend making a whole big tray since even with the deli chicken, its a bit of an ordeal and more satisfying if you can either feed a bunch of people with them or eat them for many meals. They're delicious.

2. Chicken Tagine. This one is courtesy of the Plaitkens. But I also made it and can vouch for its ultimate deliciousness. I just somewhat cooked the chicken in a pot before adding it to the other ingredients. The microwaving situation skeeved me out, the comments seem to agree.

3. Parmesan & Thyme Crackers. I haven't actually made these, but I have eaten them. Check out the recipe and see why they're sooo good.

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
4 oz grated parmesan (about 1 cup)
1 tsp minced thyme
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Cream all ingredients together, roll into a ball and then a log and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 min. but up to 4 days. When ready, cut into 3/8 inch rounds and bake for 22 minutes on parchment paper at 350 degrees.

Chappy Cholidays!

In the interest of full disclosure, that Gus ornament made it one day before its inspiration knocked over the tree and shattered it into a million pieces. We got some new ornaments, tougher ornaments, though. So don't cry.
Anyway, I am so in the holiday spirit already, you guys!! We have a tree up, I am drinking from red cups, I've gotten and shipped presents for both my and Charlie's moms, our sisters, for baby Jesus, I mean, preschool kid Johan and his mom, my wife. And for another birthday, not naming any names but she's totally turning 30 on Friday and it rhymes with Talison Menge.
I like it because I usually always have good intentions, I just forget. And then I have all this crap that is either totally outdated and useless or super late and it seems like I didn't really care enough. I've got some more elving to do but also have a ton of time to do it in. And maybe this future me will follow through since new me is setting such a good example for her.

In the meantime, it's almost time to go to Phoenix to go to Minneapolis tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving, please enjoy this joke my client told me this morning in the psych unit:

Him: Want to to hear a joke?
Me: Sure.
Him: What do you get when you fill out all your paperwork?
Me: MMMmmm... I don't know, what?
Him: A thousand paychecks!
Me: Wow, that's a good deal!



I hope you fill out all your paperwork so your Thanksgiving is better than a thousand paychecks!

Charlie Relented, We Have a Tree. Before Thanksgiving. We went from Scrooges to "those people" in the neighborhood.

Hopi Pot, Tinga tinga Sugar Bowl, Magnetic Fake Fish from a Walgreens Moment of Weakness

Happy 3rd Birthday to the Coolest, Kindest, Funniest, Most Dino-mite Kid I Know

More Important: Many Good Things Also Happening

1. Long hikes. Last one was Thursday with another lawyer from my office that involved almost 3 hours of hiking and about 3 hours of drinking mimosas after. Perfect ratio, as far as I am concerned.

2. FREE regular-sized Aveda shit (shampoo/conditioner) for referring Charlie to my haircutting place. It was offered literally right after I was browsing all the product and telling myself something like, "Sarah, when you pay off your credit card, you can only use Aveda products." So, look for me to smell great all the time in, like, 10 years.

3. It's almost Thanksgiving! Which means a) delicious and b) another trip to Minnesota, which is usually always fun. Also reminds me of the kid in my math class senior year who was kind of slow and sometime in the first couple weeks of school in September said, "I can't wait for Thanksgiving, I'm so hungry!"

4. I'm getting sent to a class in Phoenix on Friday for work, which I believe is my first business trip and involves staying over Thursday night in a hotel. Look for me to make a lot of references to my business trip and to specify I am there for business, not pleasure.

5. I want a gas fireplace insert for Christmakkah. It would so improve our quality of life but is non-essential and costs multiple thousand of dollars. Santa, you're on notice. Any concern about becoming domesticated and old and lame is obviously now moot. I am including this in "good things happening" to demonstrate the power of positive thinking.

6. I came into work today to a thank you card from a client's family. I did good for him and getting thanked... is great. Good start to a new week.

Framed!

I know this is weird, but I've always had this kind of dark secret... well, not really fear, but more like knowledge that someday I'll be convicted of a crime I didn't commit. Kind of like every time I get sick I wonder if this is going to be the terrible terminal exotic disease that means the end of me. I am not sure if other people think this way. Saying it out loud makes it sound super weird. But anyway, maybe connected is that I hate being blamed for things I didn't do. This is unfortunately sometimes a part of my job... but really, what is worse than being blamed for something you either weren't responsible for or affirmatively did the opposite of? Almost nothing, that's what.

Anyway, I had a lovely veteran's day on Thursday which was capped by this really upsetting realization that over the past several months, someone in my life has been acting one way to my face and telling deluded lies behind my back about things I never did and motivations I don't have. I mean, like, totally bat-shit stuff. My point is not to drag this loser through the mud on the internet, my point is to mention how terrible it feels to be blamed for something you didn't do. I don't need to go into details, but it is truly pathological. Like acting as though this person was trying to be my friend while bad-talking me and making things up behind my back. Ahem. Not a very big loss in terms of a potential friend (wow, that is such a classy and healthy way to act) but nonetheless jarring to hear an account of your actions that not only is false, but also makes you look like this terrible person you are trying very hard not to be.

It's frustrating, too, because in the same ways I have to walk a line between correcting a judge's misstatement about what I did or said and saying "NUH-UH!" it's also apparently not acceptable to counter a rude person by, say, bringing up what I consider their physical flaws in every single conversation like this person has. Or try to exact revenge.

I guess my frustration also comes from being really too old for this. I used to get so upset in elementary school because I didn't have many friends and my friends were always disappointing me. I remember my mom telling me that I just had to wait, that other kids would catch up and then I would find friends who meet my standards. She was right, and I have. I have a lot, a lot of great friends. I try very hard (and I think I succeed) in being a great friend and it is reciprocated. I have a lot of very successful and meaningful friendships. So it's insane to run up against this terrible person (or remember that nutso from law school who made all this friend-drama for me 1L year?) It feels very unfair to be accused of not being something I've tried very hard to be-- a good friend. It's frustrating because as much as we can know, yes it's because someone else is insecure, yes it's a reflection of them, not me... turning the other cheek can be so terribly unsatisfying.

I also don't like it because it makes me mean. Because I start saying things like this person is ugly and pathetic and I want to kick in her teeth. All perhaps true, but that kind of anger and meanness is so not productive and is really toxic. And the world is mean and toxic enough and my job involves people being or being the victim of meanness and toxicity. So I want to spend my free time with people who want to be kind to each other and be generally positive and who don't gain self-esteem by putting others down like it's 1988 and we're on the playground of Anderson Open School. Let me clarify, I want to spend my free time to with people who are kind to each other both behind and in front of each others backs. If no such people are available, I'm cool with hanging out alone.

I am additionally frustrated (for some reason this is bothering me a lot- it has been making me huffy for days now and I wish it wasn't because it's stupid and waste of energy but I can't stop) because I didn't trust my instincts. I never liked this person. But I tried. I made an effort. Even after my dad was in Rwandan jail and she made sure to tell me she had contacts at the State department but was calling them for another reason. Um, ok. That's awesome. See, that's your prerogative, but don't tell me about it. Like I should understand. Of course, thanks for letting my know exactly where my crisis fits in terms of order of importance to you. So I should have known better, I shouldn't have made an effort, I shouldn't have overlooked assholey things in the past. But I did- and I got burned.

When I was feeling really mad, I was thinking things like, "oh you want to tell people I don't like you, wait to you see what me not liking you really feels like" and then probably something about the teeth-kicking again. But in reality, nothing dramatic will happen. I'll spend time with people I like, or alone, and get the slim satisfaction out of living well and being the bigger person. Bigger person save a facebook defriending... of course. And in terms of false convictions, one uncool person thinking I am a bad friend is way better than going down for a murder I didn't commit. I guess I'll take it.

I want all my stuffs to look like this stuff

It's Worth Something That I Willingly Share My Weaknesses, Right?

I Gotta Wear Shades (Future's So Bright)

Hey Sarah, how the hell are you? Busy. But good. Really good. At some time last winter, even before a good portion of the badness of AY2009-2010 happened, I was listening to This Year by the Mountain Goats. And thinking about how it was on a mix my friend Rachel made me for New Years 2006 and how many times since then it's been a kind of internal mantra. I have clearest memories of walking to the law school on exam days, listening to that song on repeat. At the time I incidentally walked north on Mills St. where I lived, which kind of fit with the song.



Anyway, last winter I was listening to it and thinking "Jesus Christ, when will 'this year' finally be over??" Well, of course, 'this year' never ends, there is a cycle of challenges, apparently until we die... But, in terms of the other side of the hardest year? Yeah, I'm there.

Work is good. Great. It feels wonderful to say it every time. It's also extremely challenging-- intellectually, emotionally but also exactly what I signed up for. I have a supportive boss, great and experienced co-workers, autonomy... Can I gush more? I am learning so much, so quickly. It's exhausting and exhilarating. It's made me realize that I've had a lot of bad jobs... (and some good ones).

It's been gratifying, too, because, it turns out not only is this what I want to be doing... but I'm not bad at it. I mean, considering I'm in week 7. Two highlights of Friday included a judge saying I must have practiced somewhere before here because I have a "great presence" in court and then, of course, the client who told me she liked me because of the register of my voice, because I was wearing a turquoise shirt and because I was white. Did I mention comic relief? That's a big part of the job, too.

I think I didn't realize how much my professional dissatisfaction was impacting my general world-view. Like, I have a job now that's frustrating in a lot of ways and emotionally draining in many as well, but I also feel like people think I'm smart and capable and I do feel like a total badass in it at least once a day. So that's awesome, right?

Also, despite what my mother says, I can paint my nails virtually any color I want and wear it to court (rainbow sparkles is probably more than I'd try, I'm talking like orange and red and dark purple). And then get people out of jail. Because I am a total badass and that's what I do.