classic caesar salad

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Caesar salad and movie about the life of Jane Austen -- an excellent way to escape what has been a constant stream of work: board meetings, press releases, an out-of-state conference -- scarcely a spare moment in the past two weeks to think of something other than my job (which I love -- probably too much). Jane and I are rather alike, I think. Fiercely independent, remarkably restrained and concerned with propriety, and stubborn in our desire for both personal and professional success. Jane didn't get both in real life; I suppose it remains to be seen if I will. The plight of the modern woman, no?

simple marinara sauce

I'm a glass-half-full kind of person. Most days it isn't terribly difficult for me to drum up an anecdote or thoughtful commentary to share. However, even people with the brightest, sunniest dispositions (not that I would necessarily categorize myself as such) have some of those days -- the ones where they feel bitter, jaded, or downright antisocial. Today is one of those days for me, so in keeping with the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" mantra, which was drilled into my head as a child, I'll keep the preface to my recipe today short. Tomorrow is another day -- for another recipe and another mood.

fried goat cheese salad with maple-mustard vinaigrette

My brain is made up of multiple parts. I'm not referring to the standard anatomical parts, but instead to some other "special" parts. For example, there is a part that blindly believes I can never own too many vintage Shiny Brite ornaments, and a part that has secretly been a little afraid of semis and ice cream trucks (I know...) ever since I saw Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive as a child. Among these many special parts of my brain is a part that, thankfully, only rears its self-righteous, indignant, listen-to-me-right-now head every once in a while, when it unreasonably thinks the rest of my brain has taken total leave of its senses. And the other day as I was driving home, it started to talk to me...just whispering at first, but it quickly escalated into a full-blown scream:

fire-roasted tomato sauce

I thought for sure I would do something this weekend worth posting about, but it turns out that I didn't. I bought a fedora -- and it's smokin' hot -- but who wants to read a whole post about that? I bought some Christmas presents, too...along with 8 zillion other shoppers this weekend. Not interesting. I did finally get around to renting Transformers, and holy smokes, it was good! I can't remember the last time I was so utterly thrilled by a movie. It was like I was only 6 years old again, anxiously watching Optimus Prime and his team battle against the evil Decepticons. (Perhaps I've just made this obvious, but I wasn't a very "girly" child.) Transformers was my absolute favorite cartoon, and last night I was reminded of just how ridiculously cool it was. Even the theme song is great. (And is it just me, or does Optimus Prime have a completely sexy voice? Oh, please make a sequel....)