OPPOSITE DAY: Losing my mind...

So...

My part in the whole ridiculously hellish internship process is pretty much over. I've done all my interviews, I've submitted my rankings. And I guess you could say I've been "recovering" from the 4-month+ process this past week, but I think it would be more accurate to say that I have been not so much recovering as I've been letting all of the repressed stress, anxiety, frustration, exhaustion and anger that comes with being forced by the psychology "man" to beg and plead and jump through flaming hoops in an attempt to be "awarded" the opportunity to be paid a pittance for doing a year of very hard, emotionally grueling work finally come out of me. And by "letting" I don't mean allowing so much as I mean that, by no choice of my own, I turned into a completely irrational, irritable, bat-shit crazy lunatic this week, and have barely been able to hide that fact from those unfortunate souls who've had to interact with me.

Yeah...

It hasn't been pretty.

How to describe...well, we could start with how I've been wanting to sleep for 10 hours every day, and then am still tired and cranky by the time I get home after a day of various meetings/errands/clients. And how I've had a maximum of about 5 seconds of patience for anything that doesn't just go the way I think it should go, right now. This lack of patience extends to all things: the gas station attendant, all traffic lights, the weather, pretty much any person, place, or thing that I've been in contact with. I've been clutzy, too. On the same day, I both banged my head getting out of my car, and managed to lean over the stair railing while vacuuming the stairs and hit my head on the corner of the ceiling. Now, that takes skill, people. I also managed to poke myself in the eye while fumbling around at a meeting that I was supposed to be in charge of, though I could barely wrap my mind around what the hell I was supposed to telling those poor, unsuspecting undergrads to be doing. And I've been late for absolutely everything, everything, all freakin' week. *sigh*

And then there is the pain that my poor husband and dog have had to endure, as I have been moved to yell and complain about something every day this week. The puppy has taken to burying his face in some dark crevice as I begin my freak-out, and the hubby has for the most part just been waiting for my insanity to pass. As am I. It's really no fun to be constantly annoyed with everything. Not enjoyable at all.

I'm strongly considering a solo vacation, something I have never, ever understood the appeal of before, but I'm starting to get it now. I think for the sake of us all I should remove myself for a few days and do some unwinding as soon as possible. Some friends have recommended an awesome spa getaway that I will start researching as soon as I hit publish.

Tranquility, here I come...

pink!

So, I've decided I'm going for the pink (!!!) If I don't do it know, then when the hell will I?? And I know that if I leave the salon on Thursday with red, I'll be annoyed that I didn't have the guts to do what I've been wanting to do for years, so--I'm doing it.

But, with that said, I'm still confused about how I should do it, and what kind of pink I should go for. Bright? Dark? Soft and light? Who knows!? Should I just do a few touches of pink on the ends, should I do one bold streak at the front? Should I have highlights everywhere? Gah! Here are some more pictures--opinions again, please!!

This first one is a dark pink that I think I like:
Here's the subtle pink again, because this is still a strong contender:

These are shots from an episode of Conan from last week that I was watching on Hulu this morning. I like her streak of color in the front! (please excuse Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog!)


This is a crazy bright pink that I think I'd only do if I did the tips only, but I like it:
This is Joss Stone with a more all-over pink thing going on. Too much, perhaps??
And finally, here's a very soft, bright pink that I like, but think would probably be too emo for me to pull off.

Okay! Cast your votes! What color, what kind of highlights (tips only, all over, bold streak at the front?) Thanks guys!!

Asking the Audience...(or, What Should I Do to My Hair!?)

I'm nearing the end of my 2nd grueling week of interviews (I drove to the Philly/Camden area twice this week, and have another interview tomorrow in Manhattan) and am feeling very, very brain-dead. So, when I got home today, after doing one thing on my to-do list (small victories!), I continued my most recent "I'm not doing anything else today!", zen-state activity: scouring Google images for hair pictures. And now, I am very confused, and need some other opinions.

My color appointment is scheduled for next Thursday, at which time I will have no more interviews and will finally stop letting my career choice restrict me from expressing myself a little more than I tend to/ever feel it's okay for me to. Yay! Down with the man! Or...whatever.

The point is, I'm getting either red or pink highlights, and am trying to figure out which I'd like to go for. So, what do you think?

I could go for your basic, bold red, with highlights everywhere, like this (note: I'm not cutting it that short, this is just for the color):



I also like the style of these highlights, wide and kind of chunky, though I'd get them in red, not blonde:



Or, I could do something like this. More subtle. (btw, I am aware of the absurdity of this picture!):

So, those are my options for red. And until today, I had decided that I just couldn't pull of pink. I'm too old, it's too...emo. But then, I found this picture, of someone who was apparently on American Idol at some point:

OMG! Adorable, right!? So now I'm thinking that maybe I want some pink, like that. And with my natural color as the base, obvs. I'm loving it! Just some hints, fun, but not crazy looking, AND, it can still look totally classy. Observe:



So cute! So this is what I'm leaning toward, which I think is a good combo of the craziness that's clearly trying to get out of me and the responsible side of me that knows I can't see my clients looking like I just left my punk band waiting for me to come back to rehearsal.

So, what do you think? I can haz emo hair? Please cast your vote for how my transformation should commence in the comments!

Merci!

Thai Pumpkin and Seafood Curry recipe...

There's some interest in the specifics of the recipe I used to make my (Nigella's) delectable curry, so here's a link to the recipe on foodnetwork.com.

Nigella Lawson's Thai Yellow Pumpkin and Seafood Curry

Enjoy! And please let me know if you try it yourself, I'd love to know that I've successfully passed on a delicious meal to friends and readers!

emo hair...

I have no clue who this girl is, but I freakin' love her hair.

I'm gearing up to get bright red streaks in my hair after my last interview in two weeks, and i've been scouring the internet looking at various shades and cuts and styles of doing the highlights. I keep coming across this picture, and even though I'd never have the guts to go that far with color, I wish I did! I think it's fantastic. Apparently, I have an inner desire to wear a lot of eyeliner, and be kind of fringe and, well...emotional. Go figure.

So, the way that I've found the best examples of the kind of hair cut and color I want have been by searching "emo hairstyles for girls." I guess I'm entering my quarter-life crisis. Bring it. :o)

Nigella's Curry!

The topic of this post is a few weeks old, but I wanted to make sure to give Nigella Lawson credit where it's due, and I have time to blog today, so...I backtrack.

Alright, so a few weeks ago, by dearest best-est friend Po came to visit!! It was very unexpected, and due to very sad circumstances, but I got to see her, for 1.5 whole days, and it was great. I miss her so much, but hopefully she'll be back on the east coast soon!

Anyway, I wanted to cook for her since now I, you know, can, when in the early years of our friendship, I was completely clueless in the kitchen and hated to cook--meanwhile, Po can whip up something suberb out of random stuff she finds in her (or my) kitchen in about 30 minutes (black beans stuffed with french fries, anyone?) <--- this is a very inside joke, which, if anyone cares, I will totally explain, but I won't waste space on it here!

Anyway, Po is a vegetarian who also eats seafood, so I flipped through Nigella's book and found her "Thai Seafood Curry" and gave it a whirl. I had to make some substitutions (the recipe calls for lemongrass stalks and fish buillon, which, believe me when I tell you, are not find-able in this next of the woods), but, OMG, my curry was bangin'. Mmmmmmm, soooooooooo good. So good in fact, that the next morning, I ate a way-too-large portion of it, and kept eating even though I was full, and couldn't put the spoon down until it was gone. And then felt sick for the rest of the day. But it was totally worth it. That's how freakin' good this curry is.

In case you're curious, the curry has a butternut squash base, with bok choy, salmon and shrimp. Hea-ven-ly! (Note: please sing that word as you read it, b/c that's how I'm thinking it as I write this...Kind of like how Oprah scream/sings people's names when they come on her show? Like that. Except about curry.)

Picture:


Conclusion:
We can all relax, Nigella's alright after all! (I know, you were worried...)

I also used our breadmaker for the first time to make a Cottage Cheese and Chives bread to accompany the curry, and it went great with it. Yay, yummy food!

MIXED FEELINGS DAY: Lemon Risotto and Salmon Cakes...

So, I did what I set out to do today: went to the gym and cooked 2 new recipes. Of course, I didn't actually make it to the gym until around 4, and then it took me forever to find everything I needed at the Pathmark (I swear, that store is organized in a perfectly non-sensical way. No matter how many times I shop there, I still can't figure out where anything is...*sigh*). So, quelle surprise, dinner wasn't ready until 8, though I started cooking around 6...oh, how I've missed you, complex recipes!

I was really excited to try out some things out of Nigella Bites, which I poured through last night before bed, and I picked 'Lemon Risotto' and 'Salmon Fish Cakes' as my first forays. They both turned out...okay.

I should have known what I was getting into with the risotto, as Nigella includes the recipe in the "Comfort Food" chapter, partly because preparing it involves a "mindless repetitive activity" that she feels helps her to relax when she's stressed out. Now, according to Nigella, this repetitive activity (i.e. constantly stirring arborio while slowly adding hot broth) is only necessary for 20 minutes to make nice, creamy, al dente risotto. Lies!! I stood at the stove for 40 minutes, willing that rock hard rice to throw me a freakin' bone. It took foreeeeeeeeeeever. Not relaxing, especially when you're hungry, and have salmon cakes to fry. I also dearly missed my Julia as I was making this risotto, as Nigella is very sparing with her instructions. This is a big shock, and completely confusing, after the obsessively precise directions of MAFC, which I apparently had gotten much more used to then I realized. For example, Nigella never specifies the level of the flame under the saucepan as you stir the rice and add the broth. Should it be low, medium, high? Who knows!? This bothered me for the whole 40 minutes I was stirring. But, I can also understand how Nigella wrote her book. It's very casual, full of pretty pictures and funny little stories about why she included the recipes that she did. She often says that the way she cooks something at home, in real life, is actually different than the recipe in the book, and she encourages us all to use her recipes as guidelines, and to tweak things where we want to tweak them. Great, Nigella, thanks for the freedom, but can I learn how to do it the "right" way first? Please?
Alright, enough of my ranting...the risotto turned out pretty well in the end, not uber lemony, though cheesier than I thought it would be (Parmesan is added at the end, in a cream/lemon juice mixture). All in all, very tasty, but NOT worth the time. I won't be making lemon risotto again for a while.



I also made Nigella's Salmon Fish Cakes, which did not go well at all, and there are many potential reasons why. 1) I was supposed to use cold (i.e. left over) mashed potatoes, made of real potatoes. I didn't. I made 2 cups of instant potatoes in the microwave, then stuck them in the freezer for 20 minutes to make them cold. As evidenced by my ridiculously squishy fish cakes, I doubt that this is what Nigella had in mind. 2) Nigella says to make the patties, then chill them for 20 minutes or "considerably longer if that helps." Now, I thought she meant that they can stay in the fridge for however you need them to stay in there before you're ready to fry them, but what I think she really means is that they need to stay in the fridge for several hours if you don't want them to fall apart when you try to bread and fry them. Oh, now you tell me! I had poor hubby dealing with the mushy fish cakes while I labored over my slow-cooking arborio, and the experience left him...miffed, to say the least. Here's what the cakes looked like before frying (please note the mess they made all over the table!):

Very noticeably different than my beloved Julia, Nigella does not tell you when it's best to put something into a pan of hot butter and oil, nor does she tell you how long to cook something in a frying pan, not even an estimate! How rude. So, the fish cakes took a long time, and I didn't know if the inside was supposed to be firm or if just the outside needed to be crunchy, and the things kept falling apart while I flipped them anyway, so it really didn't matter. Blerg. But, ultimately, they were fried, and we ate, and this is what the plate looked like.



Whatevs, right? I know. All that work for rice that looks like macaroni and a fish cake. *sigh*

...I think this post is being tainted by the fact that I'm completely exhausted at this point, so let me be clear that the food did actually taste good, but the road there was vague and soggy. :o)

Tomorrow I'm making Cottage Cheese and Chive bread with our new bread maker, stay tuned!