Pasta Pepperonata Kinda

It was a cold, rainy day in Portland, but still nice to be back in my hometown. Since it was a federal holiday, I took the opportunity to spend the day, guess?........ Househunting, as I spend every waking moment that I am not at work since I arrived here. Well, that might be slight exageration, but not much. We do go out to eat occassionally. In Portland, it's hard not to. There are so many great places here and it's a fun way to explore the neighborhoods. It's been 6 months since me and the Husband moved back and we still don't have a house!!! We may have found it today and in celebration I am going to try to make the pasta pepperonata recipe that we enjoyed last weekend at our favorite local restaurant that we could have not lived without over the six months that we have been back and staying at my dad's house, Cafe Mingo.

I didn't have a perfect fit recipe because Mingo's was made with lamb sausage and the grocery store I went to didn't have any, so I substituted raw bulk italian pork sausage and goat cheese instead of the marscarpone, which Jamie Oliver prefers. Mingo made it with goat cheese and I swear they threw some tomatoes, so I did too before I realized that darling Husband handed me the tomatoes with chiles instead of the tomatoes with basil. Oh, and I used a jar of fire roasted red pepper instead of the fresh peppers, no fresh herbs.

Still, I think it's going to be good. A carbo load for tomorrow when we will make the offer on the next possible house. Built in 1928, it's totally retro kitsch, not what we were looking for but it's a killer neighborhood. I will keep you posted. Here is a pic from the 1960s kitchen--matching peanut butter colored oven and fridge!!!

BF Bride

This weekend is my best friend's wedding. Sounds like the first line of a movie script, no?

No wedding party made picking out the dress a bit more difficult. I had to do it for myself and I didn't plan well. My idea of finding out if my dress or outfit was suitable consisted of the salesman taking pictures of me in my different looks with my iPhone and texting it to her. Needless to say, fiber optics adds at least five pounds but that was before I got my spray tan, haircut, and nails polished. The only things I wasn't able to squeeze in in the 24-hours before we get on the plane to head to the destination were a good push-up bra to make the girls a tad more perky and a bikini wax. Oh well, I think she will like the outfit if I can just find a push-up bra between here and Pebble Beach.


I was able to find a cool pair of shoes for the rehearsal dinner that she'll be thrilled with. My shoes for the wedding lack a certain je ne se pas but Mom came through with some cool vintage gold shoes she picked up years ago at a garage sale for $2.95. Take that everyone else who spent $500 on Manolo's. I should be able to make it through the ceremony at least before my feet pop out of them. The things we do for fashion.

Anyhow, husband is also very excited. Since all of our real stuff is in the moving trucks still our efforts to meet the black tie dress code have to be a little understated. We got him a new black suit and he is wearing it with an orange and white checked shirt , black tie, and black Converse Chuck Taylors. If he stands out we'll just say he's in the band.

My dress is cocktail length so I think I technically will be underdressed but does she really think I would wear a gown? We'll assume that she meant it when she said that gowns were not necessary.

Should be a good time. I can't believe my little BF is getting married. She managed to hire some wedding helpers that essentially took care of everything. My only tasks were picking up her shoes tonight that she left behind after she flew off to the destination, collecting pictures of cakes in the shape of nested boxes and long beachy wedding hair. Boy did I get off easy.

Cheers to BF and her FH.

Bicoastal, again

Married seven months and we are now on separate coasts. I had 7 nights with my spouse in the last week and boy was it nice!? Soon we will actually be in the same place for.....ever? We will be back in the "promised land" starting the end of June. We can't wait. It was 3 years in the making. I am so excited to be married. The last few days have been very hectic and included missing a flight, a flat tire, a red-eye flight, a big work meeting, and..... I guess that was it. Anyhow, having a wonderful co-pilot made it easier and better.

A month is too long to be separated. If you plan to live apart during your engagement or marriage, do not wait a month to see each other. 3 weeks max, really.

Better Late Than Never: The Obama's RSVP

More than six months after my wedding and eight months since I sent my invitations, the POTUS and FLOTUS (President and First Lady of the United States) have sent me a response to my wedding invitation. The could not attend but wish us many good wishes.

I admit after reading that I could send an invitation to my almost neighors, Mr. and Mrs. President, I was pretty excited to think that someone in the White House might open my carefully designed and executed wedding invitation, afterall it was a silk-screened bandana map of Oregon and a letter press info card. I couldn't actually imagine them going to my wedding website and filling out the electronic RSVP, but I held out hope until my wedding that they might send at least a form letter that I could relish and paste into my wedding guestbook.

Time passed by. I revisited Emily Post to see if this really was protocol. I waited some more. And then after I had changed my address at least two times and moved from the West Coast to the East Coast and back again, my mom called me and told me she had picked up some old mail at the house I lived in leading up to the wedding and ............ there it was.

I received a hand addressed envelope from the White House. Enclosed was a third sheet sized notecard with the White House seal and an stamped signature of Barack and Michelle wishing us a happy marriage. So small and conventional and yet still very symbolic and pleasing--but I do work for the man after all.

For now it's going on the mantle for all to see.

Identity Crisis

I just got a new job and they wanted to know my full legal name so I told them, the one that is on my passport, which is the same one that I was given at birth. I prefer to use a shorter name on my business cards, taxes, and driver's license because I have a long name, but in this case they were insistent that I use my full legal name. So I figure this means the name on my passport, but they tell me to call the county where I got married and ask them what is on my marriage certificate. Turns out that I put my shorter name on it. Well I guess I inadvertantly changed my name and the ironic thing is, I didn't change it to my husband's name, I just changed it to a different version of my own.

Wonder if I will be able to go on my honeymoon with my passport? Ugh.

The Registry that keeps on giving

It's been five months since the big day and H and I are still getting a few wedding gifts here and there. We have had to make several returns and exchanges because we ended up with duplicates and things that we didn't prefer, not that we are complaining--the stores we registered at have been very nice to work with and we finally put all of the gift cards for William Sonoma together and purchased the big All-Clad cookware set. It's very pretty and if we had enough room for it in our kitchen, I would create a meal that used all seven pieces today. Unfortunately, most are going back in the big box which I am going to try to find a place for in our stairwell or someting. (I wish we had a house, or at least a one-bedroom.) Anyhow, in looking back at W S website, we realized that we could get all of this cool booty by registering for a bunch of Wusthof and Le Creuset, and just for registering and sending in a copy of your registry, you can get some cool free gifts. So soon we will have some more stuff and no room for it, but perhaps by then we will have a new home.