We're baaaaack!

Okay! Let's get this going again. We have some things cookin' with weekly recipe challenges around the house (Battle of the Spouses) and earning money for doing good things, kind of like earning allowance... except that this time, we're working out 3 times a week in exchange for "going out" money. Yum. First thing's first! Great dinner tonight thanks to good ol' Martha Stewart and her Fish Tacos with Cabbage and Lime recipe. Super easy, super yummy, do it now. We added extra lime to the sour cream and used Sriracha hot sauce instead of Tabasco, cuz that's what we have around the house. Okay?!? Okay. It could use some mango and avocado chutney. That's for another post! Gotta have something to write about. Here's the info...

Fish Tacos with Cabbage and Lime, courtesy of Martha Stewart (she gave us the recipe, she did not cook for us, although that would make a cool story)

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless tilapia fillets, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
1 lime, half finely zested and juiced, half cut into wedges
Hot sauce, such as Tabasco
12 corn tortillas
1/2 small head red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup fresh cilantro
1 small white onion, finely chopped

Directions

Heat broiler, with rack in highest position. Pat fish dry with paper towels and gently coat with oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Broil until fish is browned on top and flesh is opaque throughout, 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine sour cream, lime zest and juice, and a few dashes hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Toast corn tortillas over a kitchen burner using tongs or wrap in parchment-lined foil and heat in oven, 5 minutes. Divide fish evenly among tortillas and top with cabbage, cilantro, and onion. Serve with lime sour cream and lime wedges.

And they're off!

How amazing would this be if you were on this carousel?! Go, bunny, go!

{via Improv Everywhere}

Paris, please!

Great giveaway going on over at "Oh Happy Day!" Gotta enter!

http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris

iPad 2... shameless post!

I’m posting this to enter a contest offered by MeridaHome at Design For Mankind! I want to win the iPad 2! (and I love Erin’s shoes!)

http://www.designformankind.com/2011/05/insane-giveaway-ipad2/comment-page-12/#comment-74668

Acts of Kindness

I'd like to think that acts of kindness are not random, but innate; natural. It's becoming more and more important to me to recognize acts of kindness by other people and try to pay it forward. It seems easier to focus on the negative, but the feeling of witnessing or experiencing simple kindness is longer lasting and more... well... warm and fuzzy? Here's an example today:

I forced myself to take a walk. Anywhere else, this would not be so tough, but we live in the land where it seems as if you're living the senior saying, "walk uphill both ways." It's a workout and I needed it. I also needed to go to the bank, so all in all, multiple goals would be accomplished. Anyway! After stopping at the bank, I stepped into Kensington Fine Foods to snag some fish for dinner. The few times I've been in this market, it always seemed small-town in a very good way. Products are not overpriced despite the location and small selection and people are generally cheery. Today, the butcher weighed my salmon and gave me the total, waiting patiently for me to react. I've never purchased fish here before, so I didn't know I had to pay at the counter. I mentioned that I had to pick up a lemon from the store... "could I buy that here, too?" "No, sorry," he said, "we're separate." He rang up my fish, handed me my card, and asked if the lemon was all I needed. I told him "yes" and he told me to wait... after quickly stepping behind the kitchen door, he handed me a fresh lemon and told me to have a nice day.

It's a lemon. A small, yellow thing. Yet, he went out of his way to help me, to make me feel like my money, time, and self are valued. I left with some fish, a lemon, a smile and a warm feeling of gratitude. These are big things for just a little fruit!

{image found via The Brrds Nest, artist unknown}

GET UP OFFA THAT THING!

It's Spring Break for MP!!! Wahoooo!

To celebrate, I'm adopting a motto for the next seven days:

"GET UP OFFA THAT THING! And dance till you feel better! GET UP OFFA THAT THING! And try to release that pressure!"

Thank you, Mr. James Brown.

Music Nerd Alert!!

Mozart's Piano Sonata 16 shown with harmonic analysis and a stick figure! Gotta love the facial expressions during the development... **pushes glasses further up nose with pointer finger**

Put A Little Love In Your Heart!

I'm a proud mama of 40 first grade girls... but only for 2 hours each week. The live CD "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" is the result of months of practice for these little ladies! The first track is "Over The Rainbow," performed by Girls Beginning. The second is "The Sally Gardens," performed by the massed Training groups, ages 6-12, which I had the honor of conducting. Enjoy and try not to tear up. I tried to no avail.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

The Sally Gardens

Raisin Brahms Comedy PSA Arts Education starring Tom Konkle as Brahms

Girl Scout Cookies!

I was sabotaged by my incredibly adorable and wonderful choristers a couple weeks back. They came at me with a Girl Scout cookie ordering form!!! AHHHHH!!! I am so excited for them to arrive (and in anticipation, I can run just a liiiitle bit farther each time I exercise), but in the meantime, I think I'll try this recipe for Thin Mints I found via Cupcakes and Cashmere:

Homemade Thin Mints

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/3 cup milk (any kind)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp peppermint extract

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add in the milk and the extracts. Mixture will look curdled. Gradually, add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated.
Shape dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches (or about 4 cm) in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1-2 hours, until dough is very firm.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Slice dough into rounds not more than 1/4 inch thick – if they are too thick, they will not be as crisp – and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cookies will not spread very much, so you can put them quite close together.
Bake for 13-15 minutes, until cookies are firm at the edges. Cool cookies completely on a wire rack before dipping in chocolate.

Dark Chocolate Coating
10-oz dark or semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Melt on high power in the microwave, stirring every 45-60 seconds, until chocolate is smooth. Chocolate should have a consistency somewhere between chocolate syrup and fudge for a thin coating.
Dip each cookie in melted chocolate, turn with a fork to coat, then transfer to a piece of parchment paper or wax paper to set up for at least 30 minutes, or until chocolate is cool and firm.
Reheat chocolate as needed to keep it smooth and easy to dip into.

Makes 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.

Home.

A beautiful, amazing, happy cover of "Home" by the Magnetic Zeros.