I'm moving!

Ok, I think I'm doing it.  I think I'm switching over to WordPress.  I've been messing around with it for the past couple of days and I think I'm ready to give yall the link.  The new blog will be located at: www.catherineslife20.wordpress.com.  Don't worry, I've uploaded all of my blogspot posts to the new blog for your reading pleasure.  So all of you faithful readers update your favorites to direct you to the new blog.  Let me know what you think!  

Decisions, decisions...

So, I'm contemplating moving my blog to WordPress. I think their blogs look cleaner and I think their interface is easier to use. I am still reading up on everything so I can make the right decision and not loose all of my posts...and make it easiest for you to keep reading! I'll keep you posted on what I decide!

They tried to make me go to rehab and I said No, No, No...

No, don't be alarmed, it isn't that kind of detox!  

Yesterday, Chris and I started a 2-week detox.  We are using a complete body cleanse kit that we got at Whole Foods.  Coupled with a healthy diet and no alcohol...and a whole heck of a lot of water, we should be totally cleaned out in two weeks!  This particular cleanse is suppose to detoxify our digestive, liver, lymph and circulatory systems.  

With the NYC trip and the St. Patrick's Day party we had both been doing way too much eating and drinking so we thought it was time to restart and rejuvenate!  

I'm kind of anxious to see what happens.  After day two, all I have to report is a belly full of water and lots of pee breaks at work...which annoys me.  

I'll keep you posted on any new developments!

Coachella Countdown

I'm not quitting my day job...just yet!

As promised, my separate post about eating at Gordon Ramsay At The London.  

I had an amazing, amazing time.  It was defiantly up there on top life experiences.  I know, you are thinking, "Really?  It's just a restaurant, right?"  Yes, it is just a restaurant, but we didn't just go to the restaurant.  We went to the restaurant and sat at the chefs table which is in the heart of the kitchen.  The chefs table allows up to 8 guests to experience the pace and drama of the kitchen in full service, while enjoying an exclusive menu and wines selected by the sommelier.  

We started off the evening with pre-dinner drinks at The London Bar.  After drinks, we were escorted through Maze (the casual dining room), through the fine dining room and straight back to the kitchen...I felt so important!  Our table was tucked into an alcove directly across from the fine dining "pass."  The pass is where the executive sous-chef and executive chef put the final touches on every plate and "pass" them over to the waiters.  

The kitchen operation was a lot different than I thought it would be.  When you think of Gordon Ramsay, you think of him screaming at contestants on Hell's Kitchen or calling restaurant owners "stupid donkeys" on Kitchen Nightmares.  It was far from that, everyone seemed to know exactly what to do without even speaking to each other.  The kitchen was very calm and very quiet.  It was defiantly a well oiled machine, true professional chefs!  It really was amazing to watch.  

After we got seated, the executive chef, Josh Emett, greeted us and told us a little about the restaurant.  If you watch Chopped on The Food Network, you may recognize Josh's name...he won his episode a few weeks ago.  He explained how the kitchen stations are set up.  In order of importance, the chefs move from cold appetizers, to hot appetizers, to vegetables, to fish, to meat, to the pass.  The time that you spend at each station depends on how well you do...some stay for 2 weeks...some stay for 3 months.  He also shared a little insider secret with us, the low man on the totem pole is on cold appetizers which is in the corner of the kitchen.  They have affectionally nick-named this corner what rhymes with "runt" corner...I'll let you use your imagination on what runt rhymes with...we all got a good laugh out of that!

The most exciting part of the night, which I was totally not expecting, is when they let us cook! We got to put on aprons and cook in Chef Gordon Ramsay's kitchen.  I had died and gone to heaven!  It was so exciting, we were all grinning like little school girls!  We cooked...or help cook, our scallops appetizer.  We each got to do one part and I'll have to say that I think mine was the most exciting.  I got to put the finishing sauce over the scallops and yell "service" so the waiters would come get the plates.  It really was a surreal experience!

We had a nine course meal which took us about 5 hours to eat!  The food was amazing-the best stuff I have ever put in my mouth.  Not only was it so so good, it was also so so pretty!  They say that you eat with your eyes first and may I say that is was yummie looking!  This was our menu:

1.  Selection of Canapes

2.  Loin of Pacific Yellow Fin Tuna, Battera Kombu, Jimica, Steamed Shitake, Yuzu Glaze

3.  Pressed Hudson Valley Foie Gras Quince and Black Pepper Sherbet, Crispy Amaranth, Marocan Almonds

4.  Sauteed Maine Diver Scallops with Braised Veal Cheeks, Tahitian Vanilla, Parsnip Cream

5.  Slow Cooked Sablefish with Butternut Squash Carpaccio, Preserved Cucumber and Red Wine Vinaigerette

6.  Carmalized Duck Breast with Spiced Anjou Pear Glaze, Beluga Lentils, Chicken Liver Rillette

7.  Selection of Cheeses from the trolly

8.  Olive Oil Gelato on Pistachio Sponge

9.  Earl Grey Souffle with Milk Ice Cream, Apple Tarte Tarin with Vanilla Ice Cream, Single-Origin Venezuelan Chocolate Mousse, Passion Fruit, Balsamic Reduction and Yogurt Sorbet

No, I'm not sure what everything is...but it was GOOD!  My favorite dish was #6 and my favorite dessert was the apple tarte tarin...just thinking about it makes me hungry!  If you ever get the chance to to visit NYC and you get the chance, go to Gordon Ramsay At The London, you won't be disappointed! Here are some pictures from our wonderful night:

Just giddy!

The boys getting their instructions from the chef

Chef Donnell and Chef Bellshaw in action

"Service!"

The whole gang!  

L-R Lauren, Craig, Ross, Gillian, Me, Chris

If You Can Make It There, You'll Make It Anywhere!

I'm back to work today after four days in New York City...I prefer be-bopping around NYC, but who wouldn't? I had an amazing time and can't wait to go back. Our traveling group consisted of Me and Chris, Ross and Gillian, Lauren and Craig.

Ross and Gillian are Chris' friends from Glasgow. Ross and Chris grew up together and just so happen to have birthdays that are 4 days apart so they decided to celebrate the BIG 3-0 together in NYC (BTW, that was the purpose for the trip.) I met Ross and Gillian a few months ago when they came to the Dallas for another visit (in the UK, you get like 20 vacation days..minimum...so jealous.) At that time, I had just met Chris and was still getting use to his accent and then you throw in Ross (Scottish accent) and Gillian (Northern Ireland accent), needless to say, I think I just smiled and nodded the whole weekend! This trip was far better on the communication front, I even translated for Lauren and Craig a couple of times. :)

Speaking of Lauren and Craig, they are my friends from The Metropolitan. They were my only neighbors on the lonely 20th floor and really took me under their wing when the whole break-up was going down. They are such a fun couple and I really don't know what I would have done without them...had many lonely weekends I suspect. We have grown into really great friends and I am so glad they could join us in NYC. It is always a little nerve racking when you are traveling with such a large group, but we all got along really well and traveled quite well together...they may have a different opinion! :)

Ok, now that you know the back-story, I'll get on to NYC.

We arrived at LaGuardia airport after about 1 1/2 hours of delays in Dallas and NYC, jumped in a cab and arrived at our hotel around 1:15 am. We were both exhausted from working and traveling all day so we decided just to go to bed.

Day 1 (Ross' actual birthday):

-Times Square

-Ground Zero

-St. Paul's Chapel

-Statue of Liberty

-Drinks at The Shoreham

-Dinner at Riki-Yakiniku Izakaya (really great Japanese BBQ place)

-More drinks at The Shoreham

Day 2:

-Macy's

-Wall Street

-New York Stock Exchange

-The Bull

-China Town

-Drinks and Dinner at Gordon Ramsey's (this will require a separate post!)

Day 3:

-Site where John Lennon was shot

-Strawberry Fields

-Central Park

-Museum of Natural History

-The Guggenheim

-Ice skating in Central Park

-M&M world

-Met Chet from this seasons The Real World

-Biggest McDonald's in the world

-Dinner at Becco (great little Italian restaurant)

-Drinks at Deacon Brodies (Chris and Ross' friend from home runs this bar)

Day 4:

-Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

-Rockefeller Center

-Top of The Rock

As you can tell, we were very very busy! I would write about everyday, but I think my post would be about 20 pages long! So, I will just leave it with...we had so so much fun. This was defiantly at the top of the top vacations ever. The food was great, the sights were great and the company was even better! Enjoy a little slide show of what we did:

A Dogs Life

Carpet: $15/yard

Sunlight: Free

Finding the perfect sunny spot for an afternoon nap: Priceless

Oh how I wish I had the carefree life of my dogs!

You know you live in Texas when....

...you see this at an intersection:

Now, I get a lot of flack about being from Arkansas, but I can say that I have never seen this...even in Arkadelphia!  Chris and I saw this on our way to Austin a few weeks ago and I just had to get a picture of it so I could share this spectacle with all of you!  It was at a pretty big intersection, as you can see...a four lane highway!  Hope this gave you a good chuckle!  Have a good rest of the week! :)

24 years and 7 months...

This is how long I have gone without having a cavity...well, my friends, that streak has been broken.  I can no longer use the fact that I have never had a cavity as a "interesting fact about Catherine" and I can say that I'm a little disappointed about that.  And, to top it off, I don't just have 1...I have 3!  I'm getting them fixed on Monday and hopefully I can go another 24 years before I have another one!

Fun Little Thing

Again, a silly little thing that is floating around on Facebook that I thought would be fun to share with you non-facebookers.  

CREATE YOUR BAND NAME & ALBUM COVER:
To Do This
1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.
5 - Post it to FB with this text in the "caption" or "comment" and TAG the friends you want to join in.

Here is my album cover!

My Luck, or lack thereof

Lately, I've been feeling like I have pissed the karma gods off or something.  I feel like I have had the worst luck!  In the past two weeks, I have locked myself out of the house twice!  And, both times I have had the dogs with me.  Well, today topped it off.  Not only did I lock myself out of the house, but it was during my lunch break and I had the dogs with me.  I put the dogs in the backyard because I didn't have their leashes with me and I didn't want to have to keep an eagle eye on them until I could get back into the house.  When I went back to get them, they had both found the nastiest smelling poop they could find and rolled themselves in it.  So, before I could go back to work I had to give both dogs a bath.  And, earlier this week, I couldn't find my car keys so I had to call a cab to come take me to work.  What is up?!?!

Looking on the brighter side of things, today was gorgeous and I laid in the sun for 45 minutes instead of working and I was at the court house yesterday and didn't have any change so decided to chance it and didn't get a ticket!  I guess I should be thankful for those things, but the others are starting to make me a little crazy!  

This just made my day

New Gadget!

I got a new gadget for the blog!  I'm always trying to think of/find new things to entertain you faithful readers out there and I came across this fun little gadget while browsing blogs tonight.  See below.  It brings up old blogs that it thinks you might want to read!  Leave me a comment and tell me if you think it's cool or lame!

Medieval Times!

Yes that's right, we went to Medieval Times last night (you can be jealous, I would be)!  Craig, my old neighbor from The Metropolitan, had his birthday party at Medieval Times.  There was a group of 10 of us and I'm not ashamed to say that we had a pretty good time!  Our knight was the Green Knight...he was the evil one!  Even though, of course, he was defeated by the Prince in the end it was fun cheering on the villain!  We had an authentic 11th century meal complete with no utensils!  I think that the only other thing I can say about our time spent at Medieval Times is...best experience of my life, period. :)

We are so medieval!

Lauren and Craig (the birthday boy) Notice Craig's special birthday boy crown...I was jealous.

Our Knight!

Chris played the part well!

My plate!

Chris liked his crown so well he wore it all the way home!

25 Things

I'm sure those of you on Facebook have seen this floating around.  Well, I though yall would enjoy reading this more than my Facebook "friends."  So, here goes, 25 random things about me:

1.  I really like the idea of getting up early in the morning, having coffee, eating breakfast and leisurely getting ready for work although I can never seem to get up "that" early...I've done it once and it was really nice.

2.  I am envious of the day-time bar tender at Lee Harvey's.  She has really cool tattoos and seems like she enjoys her job/life.

3.  I have one tattoo and secretly want a whole sleeve, but I know I would never go through with it.

4.  I had an amazing childhood and sometimes wish I could go back and start all over.

5.  I think about changing careers at least once a week.

6.  I love cooking, especially for other people.

7.  I've become quite the "foodie" in the past six months and love trying new restaurants.  

8.  I went to Brazil in October and unlocked the need to travel.  I want and try to go to a new country every year.

9.  Small children make me uncomfortable and I'm not sure I ever want to have kids.

10. I am only comfortable hugging members of my family.  

11. I hate when people blow their nose in public...it makes me gag a little.

12. I miss the care-free days of living at the Kappa house.

13. I would love going to culinary school, but don't think I would enjoy working in a restaurant which kind of defeats the purpose.

14. I talk to at least 1 member of my family everyday...sometimes 3-4.

15. I can't stand having long fingernails, I keep them as short as possible.  I blame this on my Grandmother...she use to hold me down and cut my fingernails every Sunday on the way to church :)

16. I wish I kept in touch with my friends better.

17. My shoulder still hurts from the surgery I had in 11th grade and I still can't throw without it hurting and it pisses me off.

18. I have recently taken up golf and wish I was better at it.

19. My idea of a perfect day is 85 degrees and sunny, a bar with a great patio and a cold beer.

20. I never wished for brothers and sisters...I get that question a lot.

21. I no longer believe in the concept of marriage.

22. I love the way I feel just after a workout, but hate going to the gym.

23. I watch a lot of tv shows...especially really trashy reality shows...Rock of Love anyone?

24. I like drinking water, but the number of times I have to go to the bathroom afterwards deters me from it.

25. I'm a hippie stuck in the mind and body of a conservative.  

RIP Uggs 12.25.04-1.18.09

Washing my beloved Uggs "just to see what it would do" was probably not one of my best ideas.  My Uggs were really old, really dirty and really stinky so I decided to throw them in the washer to see what would happen...well, it wasn't good.  Now they are a weird tie-dye of dirty bits, bleached out looking bits and normal looking bits....not good at all and the outside is all crusty.  

Mmm Mmm Good!

When it is cold and rainy, the only thing I want is soup and corn bread.  I think it is half because it is warm and yummie and half because it reminds me of home....pure comfort food!  Last night I made Lentil Soup, a first.  It was really yummie!  I added chicken sausage and fresh spinach. It was just what the doctor ordered!  And now a little info on the Lentil:  

Lentils, a small but nutritionally mighty member of the legume family, are a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber. Not only do lentils help lower cholesterol, they are of special benefit in managing blood-sugar disorders since their high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising rapidly after a meal. But this is far from all lentils have to offer. Lentils also provide good to excellent amounts of six important minerals, two B-vitamins, and protein-all with virtually no fat. The calorie cost of all this nutrition? Just 230 calories for a whole cup of cooked lentils. This tiny nutritional giant fills you up--not out.

So, if you get the chance, try some Lentils! They are very yummie and very good for you!

(Pot-O-Lentil Soup)

(The finished product)

The Results Are In!

The Dachshund has made the AKC's Top 10 Dog Breeds of 2008!  Obviously my favorite breed came in at #7 for 2008.  Here is a blurb from about.com:

Whether you like them or not, many people agree that Dachshunds are funny-looking dogs. With their short little legs and long bodies, I suppose that is understandable. Tons of people find them irresistible! Have you ever watched a Dachshund run? Enough said. They are also quite affectionate dogs - just look at those sweet eyes!

Often called Doxies, wiener dogs, hot dogs, or weenies, these hound dogs originated in Germany as skilled hunters. Though the breed still possesses the skills to work and hunt, the Dachshunds are better know today as one of the world's most popular dog breeds. Most Dachshunds I have known have a bit of a rebellious streak, but I think that makes them even cuter - just remember the importance of proper training!

I thought this was a perfect description of Belle and Lucy...well, except for the skills to work and hunt part...as most of you know, Belle and Lucy definitely lack the necessary skills to survive in the wild!  They are most at home when they are on the couch with two blankets and a few pillows!

So Someone Hit My House...

This is what I came home to after work today:

Yeah, I was pretty shocked too.  I called my landlord and he said that the police had called him to let him know someone had hit his house this afternoon.  I guess they wouldn't give him any details until the full police report was done, but the driver did have insurance which is good.  There really wasn't much damage to my side which was kind of remarkable since it hit right outside my staircase.  Most of the damage was to the other side of the staircase...my landlord said it pretty much buckled her wall.  Anyway, that was the excitement for tonight!  Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be pretty low key!

Visions of My Desk

A mini-series of things found on my desk:

(MacBook w/ iTunes, a must)

(Just a little thing to remind me of home)

(yes, occasionally I do work)

(new business card)

(Scary Spice and a crane folded out of a gum wrapper)

Pictures!

An unofficial resolution of mine is to take more pictures.  I got a new camera a few months back and I hardly ever use it.  Since most of you only get to see me every few months, I want to start taking pictures of my everyday life to share with you.  I also thought this would make my blog more interesting than the usual updates.  So, to start off with I chose this series of pictures.  This series is entitled "The Recession Took All My Work."  Enjoy and check back often because I'm going to try to update on a regular basis!

Grillin and Chillin

When Mom and Don were down a couple of weeks ago, they got me a grill to go on my new porch.  I have been enjoying it so much and use it almost everyday!  I was particularly pleased with this meal and wanted to share it with all of you.  Grilled asparagus and brussels sprouts with Tequila Lime Mahi Mahi.  Are you so impressed?  I am!

Sushi Class

Chris (aka Scottish Boy) and I went to sushi making class last night and I wanted to share our creations with you!  Of course, it turned into a "who can make the best sushi" contest...I'm happy to announce that I won (hands down).

Roll #1 Cucumber Roll...not so pretty!

Roll #2: Philadelphia Roll...looking better!

Roll #3: Healthy Roll

Roll #4: California Roll

Roll #5: Heart Attack Roll...best one!

Me with my heart attack roll!

Chris with his cucumber "taco"...not so much of a roll!