leftovers

Mom by our front door on Christmas Day. I may have mentioned this before, but technically the Twelve Days of Christmas begins on December 25th. In this day in age, most people are so relieved once Christmas is over, it's unfathomable that you would want to then celebrate the holiday for 11 more days! That's why I decided to end mine, rather than starting it, on Christmas Day. We woke up in the morning and immediately I had to start getting everything ready. Dylan had set his alarm to wake me at 7am so I could put the breakfast casserole on in the crockpot, and luckily I got to go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Once I woke up, I had stockings to stuff and cookies to bake! Mom, Dad, Adrienne, Brandon and Angie came over shortly thereafter and joined Dylan, Robbie and I. We all finished up our last minute stocking stuffing and gift wrapping and had brunch together. Then we all started our Secret Santa opening. Borrowing from the method we used at my work's Secr...

When the holiday season rolls around, my kitchen usually starts rocking. However, due to numerous blunders and flops in recent years, I've decided to minimize my pre-holiday treat making. I have no problem with the meals that I like to cook for the holidays, but it's the candies that have always given me trouble. My mom used to have a seemingly never-ending list of candies and treats that she would make each year for the holidays. Maybe she rotated them out and only did a few, but to me, it seemed like she would make all of these. Every year! My grandma Strecker had a few of her own that she always made too. Here are the candies of Christmas that I remember the most! Peppermint Bark - My mom now claims she had no "recipe" for this (much like other dishes and confections I ask her about) but I remember her making this once in awhile. The main reason I remember is because she would buy the big chunks of white chocolate - and I LOVE white chocolate! Cherry Mash - ...

There have been a lot of random things happening and unfortunately I haven't been good about blogging this year so let's play catch-up! These photos are not at all in the right order but I'm too lazy to rearrange them so I'll just discuss the events out-of-0rder. These first two pictures are from an afternoon at MEAT Clown Studios in North Hollywood. This is me as the "Meat Magician." This is Dylan as the British "Meat Clown." MEAT Clown is sort of the mascot for The Stranger Page , a website and "outsider art" studio ran by my friend Shawn, who directed my music video for "Alien Nation." He and his team have been making these YouTube videos that parody local television commercials, for "discount meat products" featuring their spokesperson, Meat Clown. Several different people have participated now, portraying different Meat Clowns. They film them in front of a green screen and are, for the most par...

At work I put the HED newsletter online and left a little early since it was really quiet in the office; only Joe and I were still around. Then I went shopping around Sunset & Vine to try and finish getting my gifts; while I was walking down Vine Street I saw that everyone was coming out of the stores with their camera phones so I looked and there was a double rainbow in the sky to the east! It was beautiful so I had to take a photo myself, but after I got over looking at the rainbow, I just smiled seeing all the people coming out to take photos on their cameras! 5 years ago that isn't something you would have seen. Now, everyone has a camera on their phone. It was such an odd reminder of the exact time that we live in. I went into Game Stop to get a Wii game for dad and the guy working was beyond helpful - he actually showed me exactly what to get based on what I told him that my dad liked, and it was a used game so it wasn't very expensive but he said it was the be...

I sent out the December HED Newsletter, which was a big relief. We've decided that starting next year, we're going to do a print edition, on newsprint, so it will be a newspaper which is really exciting to me. I haven't worked on a newspaper since I was editor of the Leader my last semester in college. It was Dylan and I's turn to host Dinner Club this month, which I was really happy about because I hadn't planned any other type of holiday party at our house, and it would be a shame to have all those decorations go unseen! So, in addition to the regular crew of Robin, Michele, Aaron, and Mark, I also invited Brandon, Angela, Elene, and Jim. I made a sausage chili with fresh jalapenos which ended up being very spicy but just this side of being too spicy - it was perfect! Aaron had brought homemade tamales, his grandma's recipe, and they went perfectly with the chili. We all ended up having a great time and it was fairly late when everyone left but I was stil...

It was a really nice Thanksgiving! Brandon and Angela kindly volunteered to host the festivities at their place, and to cook the Turkey, so I got to do what I love the most - cooking the sides and deserts! I got up and started cooking while we had the Macy's Parade on in the background, just like when I was a kid. We were really excited because Kylie Minogue was in the parade, performing "Get Outta My Way," which is the song we cover in the Traitors. Thanks to DVR we could rewind it and watch it a couple times since it went by so quickly. I made an awesome Bacon Oyster Stuffing that I found the recipe for in Real Simple magazine (which I had a trial subscription to), green bean casserole of course, and a real pumpkin pie - not from a can! Dylan made the sweet potatoes and he did such a good job! It was a really fun group, we had Dylan's mom, and our uncle Ronnie, along with our friends Rick and Melodie. Adrienne P. and her boyfriend Quinn came a little later and...

Since Thanksgiving is this weekend, we only had a half-day at work. I had found a guy on Craigslist selling a Sabian ride cymbal for $60, which I have been desperately needing, so after work I drove down to our old neighborhood near Beverly and Vermont and picked it up. The guy was a very young Latino looking guy with long, straight hair, who looked like he was from the movie "Wassup Rockers" (fun movie to check out if you haven't seen it). Then I went back up to Hollywood to do my now-annual Thanksgiving run to Food-4-Less. I don't usually shop there but to get the mass quantities of food I need for my pies and everything I make, it really is worth it to save the money and go there. I got home and started cooking away. Invisible Material had rehearsal tonight at the studio on 6th St., but when we got there it was not as usual - the whole place was under construction, with the wall ripped out and the floor tiles all broken up in pieces. It seriously looked like w...

Sarah was having a field trip to the Wilshire Center BID for her Streetscape Committee and she asked me to join her. We weren’t sure if any of the committee members were even going to be able to make it, but at least one did. We were looking at the streetscape improvement that Wilshire Center had made, including medians and concrete planters that are planted with Birds of Paradise. Mike from the BID met us there to show us around and give us the story behind the improvements. It was the first time I had been down there since the new school had been built on the site of the Ambassador hotel. Unfortunately, by the time I moved to LA and became aware of the Ambassador, it was already doomed and condemned by the time I could have gone to see it, but Amy always had great stories about it as her friend used to work there when people used it for film shoots and the like. It was a grand old building with a storied history and famously was the location where Bobby Kennedy was...

We had a BID renewal meeting for Sunset & Vine at the YMCA and after that, Sarah and I went to Larchmont to get coffee at Peet’s. I also got a tin of tea leaves for my ice tea maker. I told Dylan that if anyone asked what I wanted to Yuletide this year, to just tell them I want good loose-leaf teas. If I could get enough tea to last me through 2011, I would be happy! Angela and I decided we would have a chili night, so I texted my mom to get her chili recipe. As a kid, my mom used to make chili often in the fall and winter, and it was usually one of the first signs of fall. Back in western Kansas, chili soup is traditionally accompanied by cinnamon rolls - even in the schools - but apparently people in LA have not heard of that, so we decided Angie would just be in charge of some type of bread to serve with it and I would make the soup. As I was leaving work, I told Kerry about my plans so she asked to look at the recipe and she suggested I add cumin to it, whi...

I made “Indian Summer Soup” for dinner, which was my own invention involving butternut squash soup with tomatoes, corn, and white beans. It was pretty good! Dylan and I were frantically trying to pack for our camping trip to Joshua Tree this weekend. We are leaving tomorrow directly after work so we had to get everything packed up tonight. I had hoped to go down to our neighbors, Dominic and Andrea’s, for their “Scary Movie Night” but I was so far behind on getting ready for the trip that I just couldn’t fit it in. In addition to packing, we also watched as many of our Thursday night shows as we could (the live 30 Rock was especially good!) and cleaned the apartment too, since Luther and Andy are house-sitting for us while we’re gone.

First off, I absolutely cannot believe it's already September! I feel kind of lucky because I made it through a whole LA Summer without it ever getting too hot. I never even got a sunburn. My boss is gone on vacation, taking her daughter back to the east coast for college, so the office is kind of quiet although we all have our projects that we're working on. Speaking of projects, I decided to finally commit to getting in better shape by starting the South Beach diet in earnest. Today was my first day and I was very good. I just had a salad for lunch and almonds to snack on. I was EXTREMELY excited about some news that came out online today: the titles of the songs on the new Human League record were announced! As you may know, Human League are my all-time favorite band since I was a kid and I have followed them for decades (scary!). I've seen them live many times, including seeing them play at Sheffield City Hall, their hometown, in 2003. Their last album was in 200...

Emmy day arrives! I set my alarm to wake up early with Adrienne to help her do some errands, but when I first got up, she said she was going to go have her nails done and get some coffee, so I went back to sleep until she returned. Then I drove her to the Grove because she wanted to get Dylan a gift for taking her, so we went to Nordstrom's and got him a real bow-tie - as in, not a clip on. The saleslady was super nice and helped us pick out a really cool purple and pink striped one. Then Adrienne got some makeup at the Mac counter and we went to Coffee Bean to get Dylan a Latte. Back home, Adrienne gave Dylan his gift, which he was thrilled with. We spent the next half hour or so watching You Tube videos trying to figure out how to tie the damned thing! As Adrienne and Dylan were getting ready, they realized they didn't need to leave as soon as they thought they did, which was great for them since it meant they had more time to get ready, but bad because I knew if I wait...

Kevin was gone by the time I woke up. He had left a note explaining that he would have woken us up to say goodbye, but that we look like "gay angels" when we sleep. Dylan and I went over to Brandon and Angie's and I made brunch, eggs and hashbrowns and bacon. The bacon was the beef bacon I had bought the other day; I definitely am not going to buy beef bacon again. It's weird. We got caught up watching True Blood so that was good. Otherwise it was a pretty lazy day.

I had my first Visit Hollywood meeting today at noon. The meeting was at the Hollywood Museum, which is in the old Max Factor makeup building near Hollywood and Highland. I only got to see a little of the museum, but it looked really cool. This meeting is a group of mainly PR people and people from various attractions in Hollywood and it's sort of all about brainstorming ways to market Hollywood together to get more tourists. We were having a staff lunch in the conference room, but they ended up serving lunch at the museum, so I ate a little there, and then on the walk home I stopped in Famima and got a couple little things to eat back in the office with everyone else. This guy Kerry used to work with, Joseph, came in to interview Kerry for an article he is writing online for the Hollywood Examiner; I had coordinate the interview so I also sat in on it. He is very enthusiastic about Hollywood and everything we are doing here at the BID so I think it will be a great article for ...

We got up and then Brandon, Angie and Tiger came over for brunch, like we had planned last night. Angie was making pumpkin pancakes, and I made eggs with parsley, cilantro, tomato, cheese and almonds. We had mimosas also (of course). After brunch, we watched this movie "Off the Charts: The Song Poem Story" that Brandon had gotten from Netflix. Several months ago, while exploring on Wikipedia, I had come across this phenomenon of 'song poems,' which is where people would respond to an ad in the back of a magazine that would say the company was looking for 'songwriters.' The person would send in their lyrics, and then for a fee, a company would set the words to music and make it a song. Usually the ad would make some claims that they would also distribute the song and try to make it a 'hit,' but in reality they were just churning out these songs non-stop and making money from the poor saps who thought they were going to be the next big songwriter. ...

We had a joint security committee meeting for both BIDs this morning, it was my first committee meeting. It went really well, and because it's for both BIDs there were quite a few people, so it was a lot different from the Media District security meetings, which were more low-key and a smaller group. In the afternoon, we had been invited to an ice cream social on Sunset Blvd. by one of the stakeholders, so Joe and I met there (he had been out doing errands); Stacy and Gigi from LaBonge's office were there also. The ice cream was delicious! It was from a place called Dandy Don's. After work, I borrowed some chairs from the office and then I had to rush and pick up the ingredients for my dish at the dinner party tonight. I decided to make the Florentine Casserole which has been a hit on other occasions. Dylan wanted to make a fruit salad, so I picked up the fruit for that after consulting a webpage titled ' how to make the perfect fruit salad and get laid .' Our ...

Today I downloaded Pandora Radio for the iPad so I could listen to music in my office and would have to be limited to my own iTunes, which is what I've been listening to lately. I made a CSS station, so it played artists that it thinks are similar to CSS. I picked them because they're one of my favorite current bands, and I really wanted to hear current stuff since my iTunes is so heavy on the 80's and 90's. After work, I listened to the Kylie record and cleaned house. I told Dylan I would to the rest of the cleaning since we're having a dinner party tomorrow and once again he had been busting his hump trying to clean the apartment for company. For dinner, I made Scallops and Bacon with Fennel, and Cauliflower with Homemade Garlic Bread Crumbs (from the bread I baked on Sunday). It was an amazing meal! After that, however, I got sidetracked from the white wine we had, and got on Facebook when I should have been cleaning, and all of a sudden I saw that R from Wi...

If I was still working for the Media District, I'd be at work today. Just one of the perks of my new jobs is that we get holidays off, even if it's the day after, so for the first time I got to stay home with Dylan one such holiday. It was a really non-eventful day, we just lazied around the house and I played with my iPad for a long while (downloaded SimCity and Clue). Then I finally got around and went grocery shopping. I had found a few simple recipes I wanted to try this week, and I also needed to get food for today. I ended up spending over $80 - way more than I had meant to. I just got sandwiches to eat right when I got home so we ate those and then I put all the groceries away. Later for dinner, I made a mandarin chicken stir fry with quinoa, and then I started some bread. We watched "Speed Racer" which Dylan had DVR'ed from our free weekend of HBO last weekend, and I baked the bread while we watched it. Dylan had seen it in the theatre but he wanted ...

After work today, I went grocery shopping at Fresh & Easy for Brandon and Angie to come over and have dinner since it's been awhile since we really got to hang out. I ended up making some white fish with tomatoes and onions, a salad, some vegetables and I got the ahi tuna poke that you just put the sauce on. It ended up being really good; everyone seemed to love it. We visited a lot and then decided to watch the Episode of Modern Family where they go to Hawaii. Sometime before that though, Dylan and I got in a really stupid fight about the record player, which we realized much later was a huge misunderstanding. Anyway I felt really stupid about it. Hello 2010, goodbye junk! NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 158 QX International Magazine, Dec. 2003. I picked this British gay rag up when I was on my first trip to the UK but it's not really something I need to continue to keep with all the countless other magazines I've saved through the years.

It was a very hot memorial day in Kansas! Sam and Jake came over from Lawrence for brunch although we didn't all get up and around until it was pretty much already just lunch time. Mom made a french bread casserole that was SO yummy. Dylan made sweet potato hashbrowns and dad grilled sausages and then we had a make-your-own omelet bar set up on the back patio. Mom also steamed some handmade tamales that she had gotten from one of her students at school, and someone had chopped up a whole bowl of fruit. It was actually a ridiculous amount of food for 8 people, plus it was so hot out on the patio and the grill being on didn't help. We set up a fan which was nice but we were still sweating, but that didn't stop us from playing a round of croquet with Sam and Jake. We also set up the cornhole game (where you throw bean bags into a sloped wooden ramp with a hole in the middle of it) and played that a little. Jake had to get back to Lawrence but before he left, we moved ind...