No Blue Soup! aka Suck it, Bridget!

The Spread

This is my spread sans dessert (which was in the fridge).  Not too shabby, aye?  Best meal ever, some might say.  (They might...they happened not to say it, but they might have not been the "some" who would.  That's all I'm sayin'.)  Though I must credit Crystal with making the salad.  Still, I chopped the tomatoes and "planned" to make it...I just ran out of time. 

The crowd favorite appears to have been the Sweet Potato Gnocchi with comments like "why can't you just make that every night" and "please make this again for Thanksgiving!"  Done!

 All I know for sure is that Sandy didn't get any scraps...and some went back for seconds too!



Rachel, Nick, Crystal, Kelly, Sarah, and Heather.  (Not pictured:  Sandy)

Here is the urban family after cleaning their plates.  Look at the happy faces, satisfied with the fact that they didn't have to ingest blue soup, omelette, and marmalade after hours of careful cooking!

As we watched BJD the second time, we added a bit more context to the film by "having our colors done" a la Color Me Beautiful.  There were a lot of tips in there that were, well, dated let's say.



I'm not sure if this is when Crystal plotted buying "Color For Men" for Nick.  But that happened.

I thought I had a picture of the tiramisu cake, but oh well.  I guess I'll just have to tell the story without the photo.  I got a 4 and a 3 candle for it as this would have been Movie Bridget's 43rd birthday....but it was also just 5 days after urban family member Nick's 34th birthday.  So, I switched them for him - and the party became a surprise party.  I'm not sure sharing a birthday party with Bridget Jones was on his bucket list, but if so, check!

*Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver did not show.  I blame Sarah for that.  She was supposed to bring them.  And apparently much plotting was done by Crystal and Kelly to make it happen as well.

Summary:  I made the better meal but got none of the sweet rewards in the form of British men fighting over me to the tune of It's Raining Men.  Sigh.

Happy Birthday, Bridget!

November 9th.  Cigarettes 3.  Birthdays 33.

Tonight is the night I promised long ago - the urban family dinner party commemorating Bridget Jones's birthday.  While a friend told me I should not actually make blue soup, omelet, and marmalade (after 4 hours of careful cooking), it was quite tempting.

Instead, tonight's menu includes mainly things I've never made before that could become problematic and represent the "blue soup" phenomenon.

The Menu:
Heirloom Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella Salad
Pesto Cheese Manicotti
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter sauce
Roasted Green Beans
Tiramisu
And Wine of course.  Lots of wine.

I did a very un-Bridget like thing and did a lot of pre-planning and prepping.  I prepped for about 4 hours last night, so I can already report some disastrous results.

For instance, the tiramisu recipe I chose was based on it being much easier than actually making tiramisu from scratch.  My first recipe called for pre-made lady fingers, but having found none in stores, I opted for a recipe with a pre-made Angel Food cake instead.  Easy enough, no?  No indeed.  I was supposed to "whip" the whipping cream and marscapone cheese until it was "stiff."  That never happened.  I got to the point where I thought it was getting less stiff instead of more stiff and stopped.  In short, the tiramisu is a runny mess in my fridge, and it's the only completed item for the menu.  This bodes well for the meal.

But other prepping worked out much better.  I made the sweet potato gnocchi (I'm a big fan of both sweet potatoes and gnocchi) completely and totally from scratch, and I do think it's going to work out pretty well.  The only remaining obstacle will be when I make the sauce tonight and saute them.  Fingers crossed.

The cheese manicotti is the only thing I've successfully made before.  (I've roasted green beans, but they didn't turn out too well...I ended up throwing them away uneaten.)  To prove that this dinner would indeed fit the "blue soup" requirement, my manicotti shells split while boiling them, so they are pretty much a broken, folded pasta mess with cheese.  I happen to like a folded pasta mess with cheese.  I hope my urban family does as well.

Let me extend an open invitation for Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver to join the festivities tonight.  Please note you will be required to fight each other, preferably to the tune of It's Raining Men.  (Hallelujah!)  I have it on iTunes.  Not a problem.

In other news, Caperberries...apparently always a bad idea.

"Featuring someone called Aghani-Heaney"

"Or two people called Kafir Aghani and Eleanor Heaney."  "Right, that's the one."

I'm fairly a-political, but in saying that I have to add that I'm also staunchly liberal.  (Contradiction!)

Still, I really hate extremes, and that's what I mean by being a-political.  I don't like the Tea Party, I don't understand Occupy Wall Street.  I would like to give the world a hug.

I've gotten in a few arguments discussions about politics with members of the other side.  I tend to be polite and try to find middle ground, hoping that the conversation will end sooner that way.  I don't think that I associate with evil people, so therefore I don't believe that the people I'm arguing discussing politics with who happen to have opposing views are {Satan, Hitler, Osama bin Laden}.  I figure we all want what's good for the country, but we just don't agree on what that is or how to go about achieving it.  Fair enough, right?

However, being "reasonable" usually makes the people I argue discuss with think that I'm not "really" a liberal or that I could be swayed to the dark other side.  They find out that I can't by my responding with this simple fact.  I've made my peace with the extreme liberals who have sit-ins and throw red paint on fur coats.  I will never make my peace with extreme conservatives who bomb abortion clinics.  So, that's a deal breaker there.  Not switching teams.

However, someone appears to have called my bluff!  I don't for the life of me understand this "sit-in" called Occupy Wall Street.  I know one side says they are just lazy people blaming others for their laziness in not having a job or money.  The other side says that they are protesting corporate influence on government.  (My question back to them:  is this really the best idea you had to do that?)

I hate to say it, but I think I don't understand the movement because it's an unorganized mess of people who don't know what they want.  Each side is right about SOME of the participants, but not all.  I can't really get on board with it because of that ambivalence.

But you know what I'm going to say next, right?  I still like 'em a hell of a lot more than the Tea Party.  So, not switching teams.

PS - Weight:  x+16, ridiculous ridiculousness.

Things I Wish Weren't True

Weight: x+17.5 - scale anomaly.  Believe new scale is one of those personal trainers that just yells at you and makes you feel bad about yourself until you work harder or commit suicide.  Plan on beating scale by standing on one foot tomorrow.  That'll teach it!

They really and truly are making a third Bridget Jones movie, complete with Renee, Hugh and (drool) Colin, but they don't have a director and start shooting in January.  That inspires a lot of confidence. 

http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/paul-feig-exits-bridget-jones-3-looking-for-british-director-for-january-start/

Let me list a few reasons that this seems like a bad idea:
1) There's not a third book.  So what is this based on?
2) The second movie....not a classic (unless you count such Razzie winners like The Blue Lagoon and Snakes on a Plane as classics, which is arguably true).
3) As mentioned above, they start shooting in January and don't have a director.  Wowza.
4) Did I mention how bad the second movie was?  Because Bridget lover that I am, I must finally admit it was quite painful.
5) How will Bridget randomly be falling into bed with Daniel Cleaver this time?  Will he rufi her?  Will there be, gasp, some kind of misunderstanding? 

Let me list one reason this seems like a good idea:
1) There will be a scene in which Mark and Daniel fight, right?  We've had an alley, a fountain...what could be next?  Parliament under Big Ben?  The London Eye?  In front of Buckingham Palace?

In summary, I need script approval for this project.

Weight:  x+17.8 (Yes, that counts as losing weight...)

Random thoughts in my head right now...

I took my first gym class in years, and yes, I still hate them.  A lot.  I was feeling so "open to new things" and positive that I made a big mistake.  I told the instructor my real name.  Whoops!  So for the full hour, all I heard was "Kelley, tuck your seat, roll your shoulders back, hold your abs tight" - I wish I had told her my name was Sasha.  Being the New Girl in class sucks.  However, I think I was the only one to do "real" push-ups.  Yeah, that's right, all 40 of them!  4-0!  I'm considering that a WIN!  (PS - how is it that I ran 8 miles straight without stopping yesterday, and I put my freaking leg up on a bar, and it's shaking uncontrollably after an 8-count, argh!)

If the class was designed to make me want to come home and jam as many pretzels dipped in nutella in my mouth in a minute, then mission accomplished!  (Also, Selena Gomez blamed nutella for some health issues recently, and I just want to say:  Selena, if you lied and are really on drugs, you're going down!  Why would you give nutella a bad name?  Moms have ENOUGH trouble getting their kids to eat a healthy breakfast of chocolate flavored toast!  Wasn't sullying the Bieb's good name enough for you?)

In other news, I freaking love Fox's New Girl.  I couldn't love it more.  I could try, but it might take some kind of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind procedure where I was forced to forget all of the other awesome shows I've loved before.  I'm hugging it in my mind.

And since I work in TV and have strong opinions about shows, I thought I'd give you my synopsis of the 2nd episode of Playboy Club:
Bunny 1:  Hey, remember what happened last week?
Bunny 2:  Yeah.
Bunny 1:  Darn, I was hoping you forgot so I could remind you for an hour.
Bunny 2:  Go ahead and act like I said I didn't remember.  We don't have any better ideas after all.
Bunny 1:  OK!

Wow, guys.  That was painful.