Little devil

So I hope everyone had a nice mothers day weekend. Grumpy and I have been social butterflies this weekend. Friday we went out with friends to this yummy Greek restaurant. Awesome food and yours truly managed to polish of an entire bottle of Gewuertztraminer by herself.

Saturday we were invited to one of my coworkers for a birthday party. The small get together that I was expecting turned out rather large and a bit uncomfortable since we really didn't know anyone there. But everyone loved my desserts - I had made the strawberry tortelets and this obviously I am not as good as our Ms Jin when it comes to making cakes looking scrumptious but I assure you it was demolished in no time despite its look.

Today we had invited Davids mom and her husband for lunch to our favorite Indian restaurant.
The food was great but the lunch was made uncomfortable since a certain former friend was sitting a table away. I was polite and greeted her and lunch buddy which I thought was still a friend of mine. At some point I noticed they had snuck out didn't even bother to say good bye. While I didn't expect the former to say bye the other one I would have expected too. But I guess that was to much to ask for - back to kindergarten behavior I assume. Oh well can't help those that don't want to be helped right?

After lunch Grumpy had to go to work and I took a nap. When I woke up I noticed the door to the garage was wide open. I knew Cleo was upstairs since the dogs were in but I couldn't find Misty anywhere. I looked in every room then checked the garage. I started to panic that she was out there - there is still poison from the mice and so many other dangers and we had taken her collar off so if she managed to get outside no one would know where she belonged. I searched and called for her for about 1/2h when I sat down to call Grumpy and tell him about it. After I hung up the phone wouldn't you know she came leisurely walking down the stairs, sat down in front of me yawning giving me this look as if she was saying "YOU CALLED?" That little devil nearly gave me a heart attack.

Remember those ...

evenings with your friends where you listen to CD's, sing along and have a good time just hanging out????? Well I had one of those tonight and it was awesome.

I was off today and had to stops on my schedule. First there was craft club where I went a little early so I could talk to the hosts - who are one have of the owners of the German Restaurant were I worked for 6 years until 2005. I wanted to see if I could get my old job back well be able to pick up some shifts anyway. They both seemed to think it should be no problem but there is a good chance I'll be getting more shifts as cook than waitress/bar tend which kind of sucks on two levels. First I wont have money every night and second I am allergic to some of the meats and my hands break out terrible if they get in touch with it. I love to cook but its just hard. But hey it would be extra cash so thats cool we'll see what happens.

I did get some scrap booking done before I headed of to my friend Paula's - her birthday was yesterday and her wish was to cook for us and have a girls night. Oh man the food was good and I did make sure to take plenty of pictures so you could enjoy it too.


Paula slaved over the stove all day -she even handground the spices --- so here is our menu

Appetizer : you'd fill the pastry with the mash of potatoes and chickpeas, spicey spinach and then dip it into the chutney.
Maincourse: She even ironed the napkins. Vegetable curry for me. Shrimp for them

Samosa Bombay potatoes

Chicken curry

Chrispies for me (vegetable Pakora)

Home made dips

Our host Paula

Bren and Paula

Goofing off - ever wonder how an English, Scot and German get along??? Just splendid with plenty of food and alcohol.

We had a great time and way to much food. We didn't even realize how late it got. Well its off to bed for me now. Hope you all have a nice weekend

Florida vacation Part 1

This year for my moms birthday I decided to surprise her and go down for a few days to see here. Sadly our finances didn't allow Grumpy to come along to :( but at least this way the doggies and kitties wont have to go into a kennel. Since my flight didn't leave until 3 something I decided to go into the office till noon to get some work done - big mistake. The doc had me run around like crazy and I barely made it out in time. Grumpy and I went for lunch at my fav indian restaurant - Nawab. Yummy check out my lunch, spicy potatoes, vegetable komora, peas with paneer and the best of all CRISPIES!!! So good. Here is Grumpy's he had some meat too no clue what.

My flight was uneventful - on time which was great. When I checked the board in Charlotte I noticed that an earlier flight was leaving right across from where I got off. They were finished boarding but had a seat open so I hoped on that one vs the one 3h later.

Check out the sunset I saw on the way to my moms place. My cell cam really didn't capture the colors all that well.

The next day my mom wanted to check out some cars, go shopping and then I was to be on vacation - well we ended up buying her a new car - a 2007 Ford Focus which she loves. But as you all know that took forever so no shopping it was after 9pm when we got back. I tried to go to sleep but was up till 4am partly because she keeps the house at 80.

We had to get up early so get her old car to the dealer and then we were to go shopping and then my vacation was to start. Okay so this is day 3 and I have yet to see the pool!!!!! Anyway after 4 hours of sleep I was even grouchier than normal so before hitting the pool I wanted to take a nap.
Missy really didn't care that I was tired and tried to get me to play with her.

Well tomorrow is a new day hopefully I can get some pool time and make it to the gym.

to tired to post

I had the good intentions to post last night but I was just to beat.

I had to work upfront yesterday - play nurse. I hate doing that it sucks if I wanted to be a nurse I would have done so. GRRRR Not only do I dislike playing nurse it also puts me more behind than normal and I never get to eat my food.

Then when I finally got to eat my breakfast at 2pm my cell rings and my Scottish friend (the one that worked new years eve for me) asked if I could take her shift tonight because she was sick. Mhhh I didn't have any plans (which I was kind of looking forward to) but then she did take my new years eve shift and we are best friends - so okay I'll do it. So after I got out of the office - late as usual - I ran home got changed and left for the restaurant.

It looked like it was going to be dead. 3 reservations - 2 of them for Vinnie - and there were 2 other waiters besides me. But I am happy to announce that it got steady and my people had nice big checks so I am pretty sure I hit the 3 digits.

After a nice dinner - Bruschetta with our garlic bread, and Penne with Parmesan cream sauce, carrots and peas - sorry forgot my phone so no pictures (my last dinner since that's not on the south beach) I went and put my paychecks in the bank and dropped of some medication at one of my patients apartments.

It was 10ish when I got home and I just fell on the couch. I had been on my feet from 8am on everything was hurting. Grumpy kept trying to nudge me to take a bath so I'd be good to go to do homework but I opted of a massage on our presentI tell you this sziatzu massage cushion is worth every penny of the $99 it costs at Walgreen's. I felt so much better after 15 min I hoped upstairs to do homework and to check my emails. I was to pooped to post so sorry.

Today is shaping up nicely. I got an email from one of the AP's that stayed with me for a while and is now in San Fransisco. I had told her I had a meeting in LA next week and to see if we could catch up. So she emailed me last night that she'd love to come hang out for the weekend. I love staying in touch with the girls - since you tend to become friends over the time that they are here. I have so far successfully avoided being sucked into the nurses game and I am to be off tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed. I may make Palak Paneer for dinner since I am back on my diet and that I can eat just without the rice. I found a recipe for it some time ago it tells you how to make the Paneer too - its so easy. I will post the recipe and picture of the dinner if it turns out well.

nothin much

puppy love


Been kinda busy but I really have nothing cool/fun to report. With the doc out of town things are pretty laid back around here. Friday I went to my favorite Indian restaurant to get lunch to go and was told by Mamta (waitress/manager) I could only have a to go box if I promised to come back this weekend to eat there. So here is my lunch - preview just for Jin who does not have an Indian restaurant nearby. All these dishes are strictly vegetarian. I love the peas and cheese in the milder curry sauce (right) and the veggies with potatoes in spicy curry. Yuummmm!!!! Friday night was uneventfull, we were not to busy but all my tables were nice. We had a rehearsal dinner out on the patio and they had orders Sangria. Since there was lots of it left we sat around and had a few glasses. I think I got home around midnight. Saturday I had to do a repeat family interview. The family picked that day so I would have to take the au pair with me to the meeting. They picked 11:30am as the time which would have been fine since the meeting was not until 1pm. So I am driving up the road near their house when my cell rang. The Host mom is like "where are you?" (it's 11:20am) I said right down the street from you. And she is like oh boy I forgot J. had his camp today we will be about 10 min late. I am thinking great now lets hope that is true. So there happens to be a Target right there and yours truly decides to go and get a magazine or something. Well to get to the magazines I had to walk past the shelves with the purses and since my b-day is almost here I decided to get myself a little present. Isn't it cute? It looks more adult like than my other one and I can still fit my book in it which is very important.

Anyhow I pulled up in front of the house and they came about 11:45am. Of course the kid is hungry and this and that so it is 12:30pm when I finally try to get out. Since the meeting was a good 30miles away I called ahead letting them know we'd be late. I flew down the interstate (thankfully no cops in sight) with 80 - 90 mph and got there only 5 min late. Most of the girls where there. The police officer told the girls about do's and don'ts and then went to let them pose in his car. I am pretty sure he had more fun in this than the girls. One of the host moms was there and she noticed several squad cars circling the area. She was sure that the dispatch alerted all the units to the presence of the au pairs. Most of the girls want to do the ride along where you accompany a officer for their shift. I have a feeling there will be no shortage of volunteers.
After the meeting I had just enough time to fix a quick lunch before heading to the restaurant. It was quiet and we finished early so we ended up once again on the patio trying to finish the Sangria. I am glad we don't have it all the time or I would be in serious trouble. Sunday morning was a bit more relaxed. I slept in (Grumpy had to be at work at 6am) watched my soaps, did some home work. When Grumpy called saying he was off it was noon and I asked if he wanted to do Nawab for lunch. It took us a good 2 h to get ready but off we went. It was sooo yummy.

Here is my lunch, vegetable Pakora - I call them crispies. Some cabbage dish with peas and curry and then mixed veggies with potatoes and cheese. I can actually make a meal out of the crispies. I miss the spinach I hope all that gets sorted out soon.

After lunch it was off home for some exercise :) (got to work of those crispies) and then Busch Gardens called. There I was bored out of my mind for 6hours.

Monday started on a sad note. One of my former patients died Sunday. So my first call of the day was to his partner to tell him how sorry I was for his loss. They both where quiet the pair with his partner being what you can only describe as a character. I told him I'd stop by the celebration of life on Wednesday. He was telling me that his partner inadvertently ended up catering his own funeral. They had a AIDS benefit a few days ago that he had made the spaghetti sauce for and there where left overs which will now be served at the celebration. His partner thought at least that way he knew it was prepared right.