Happy Monday

I have six waitressing shifts this week. Today 10-5, Wed 10-5 and 6-10:30, Thurs 11-5, Fri 10-5 and 6-10:30. I'm tired just looking at that, but on the other hand it's a good thing. Good $$ and a lot of walking. I took a week of when Junebug was here, stuffed my face and I need to get back to the healthy side.

One last thing about the Super Bowl before I get to your pictures for the day. We did squares at our Super Bowl party, $5 a square:



Guess what? The Man and I SWEPT each quarter and the final score. Can you stand it? Not shady at all when the house wins everything...! But no, it didn't take the sting out of the loss. It was only an interesting side show. (you have our friend Russ to thank for the 'penis' squares...)

You pictures of the day come via our deck. There was a beautiful sailboat in the 'neighborhood' and I snapped a couple of pictures, one far:




...and one close:

Each time we see a boat, or jet skier, or snorkeler off our deck we look at each other and say 'we need binoculars'. Do you think we own any yet? Nope.

Life's a Beach Baby

Two chairs, a rum drink (in a sippy cup of course...) and a beautiful beach day.

This particular beach is Trunk Bay on St. John.

In other news - Junebug left this morning, her flight is leaving as I type this. The funny thing? She was actually supposed to leave last Wednesday, but her new guy friend extended her trip. They're that much in 'like', and we all expect to see Junebug back down here very soon. For a week or forever is the only question ;)

The Man and I are staying home today. We're not going anywhere and no one is coming over. We're tired and bloated. And peopled-out at the moment. The past few weeks have been a blur of friends, restaurant dinners, booze, work, junk food, more friends, more booze, beer, late nights, early morning boat trips, work, ferry trips to St. John, booze, work, continuing to show Junebug our fun island, more late nights, beer, work, football parties, football depression, followed by more beer, more junk food, more rich restaurant dinners...

I think you get the picture.

A week ago the Man stubbed his toe wicked bad while walking outside and his toenail decided to create issues inside the swollen skin. He stubbed this same toe last year, and had part of the nail removed, but apparently it never healed correctly. He went in last Friday to have it taken care of again and they went in and around his big toe to get him to 100%. His foot is wrapped up and he's out of commission until the stiches come out. Which is another reason we're skipping the beach today. We don't need any sand getting in there.

Enjoy your Sunday~

The one good thing about Super Bowl Sunday

...was my sauce.

It was freakin' good.

And because I took the time to document it today's entry is about the making of.

You need fresh tomatoes; plum and the big ones (what are those called?):



Yes. I bought 5 boxes of lasagna noodles, only because you're usually guaranteed to lose some either from an impatient grocer tossing it in a bag (and cracking them) or if some break apart while boiling.

You need fresh garlic:



A pain to peel and chop for sure, but fresh is best, and our kitchen smelled magical for about four days.

You need fresh herbs; I like oregano, basil, parsley and rosemary (for the meatballs):



For the sauce base I use Hunts tomato sauce and tomato paste. Dump one #10 size can of the bare sauce into a pan. Add your chopped herbs and tomatoes. I also put in roughly 15 small packets of Splenda to kill the tomato acid.

Pause for a sip of your margarita:



Once the onions and garlic are chopped dump them into a frying pan:



Once they're sauteed in a generous amount of olive oil toss them into the sauce. Add a nice dollop of red wine, some salt and pepper, put the lid on and let it simmer for a few hours until it looks like this:



I prepared one batch of sauce on Thursday night. On Sunday morning I started the second and also put together the ricotta cheese for the lasagna (ricotta cheese, grated parmesan, mozzarella, fresh garlic, fresh basil, fresh parsley, eggs), and the ingredients for the meatballs (ground beef, fresh rosemary, fresh oregano, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, grated parmesan, parsley, eggs).

Junebug was in charge of boiling and laying out the lasagna noodles while I rolled the meatballs and prepared the meat sauce for the lasagnas. Here's a shot of 50 meatballs being quickly fried before landing in the sauce where they would sit and cook for about four hours (notice the margarita has now been swapped for a Corona):



After the meatballs were nestled in the pots with the lids closed Junebug and I set up an assembly line and put together four lasagnas (three meat, one cheese). Sauce goes on the bottom of the pan, then a layer of noodles, meat sauce, ricotta cheese, shredded mozzarella, grated parmesan, noodles, sauce etc.

Here are the four lasagnas in the fridge, waiting to be popped in the oven just before the first quarter ended:

The food came out to be devoured during halftime, and any drunk feeling you had was replaced by food coma. After everyone ate we pretty much all slumped around with full happy bellies.

Go me.

Did that really just happen?

Did my team just win 18 straight games and lose the Super Bowl?

Christ.

I took yesterday to try and swallow the bitter pill. I went in and around the internet trying to stomach the headlines of 'Giants Win!' 'Biggest Choke Ever!' 'Pats can't finish!' 'Cheaters got what they deserved!'.

Fuck.

When Grady Little overused Pedro in the 2003 Sox/Yankees series and we lost a Game 7 that we should have won I thought that was the most disgusting loss I would ever see. The entire city of Boston left bars that night shaking their heads and punching walls.

When we had 35 seconds on the clock and Brady had the ball on Sunday night I was 75% hopeful, and I based all of that on previous wins. The other 25%? I knew it wouldn't happen. Brady spent more time on his back on Sunday than a porn star. We looked flat. As the clock ticked down we all just sat there, beers motionless in our hands, just knowing what was going to happen and not wanting to believe it.

And then it was over. 18 and 1. And I learned something: Nothing kills a Super Bowl party more than your team losing a nailbiter. As the Man and I sat and shook our heads our buds, equally disgusted, all came down with sudden tiredness and shuttled out the door. Which was fine with us. Thirty minutes later we were in bed trying to find a channel that wasn't screaming about the game.

I'll be a big girl and not make excuses. We didn't lose the game. The Giants didn't get lucky. We got out-played. Out coached. Big time. And it was really hard to watch.

I was pissed yesterday. But today I can't wait. I can't wait for next season. I can't wait to see how we answer back to this loss. I can't wait for more great games against the Colts. I can't wait to see how the Giants deal with the pressure that comes from holding the Super Bowl trophy. I can't wait for Brady and Moss to show off their new moves.

I can't wait to get back to the Super Bowl.

But for now it's goodbye to my Pats:

And hello to my Red Sox:




In case you haven't heard pitchers and catchers report on Feb 14. Baseball is right around the corner kids.

GO SOX!!!

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!!

Did ya hear about the big game tonight? Didja?

Obviously I am PSYCHED!!! But there's a lot to do in the meantime...make four lasagnas, roll up some softball size meatballs, tend to my simmering sauce...and get ready to get my beer on.

Some highlights from the first few days of Junebug's visit:

DAY ONE
- went to Kmart to shop
- bag arrived, Kmart shop wasn't even necessary
- hit the beach on her first day, and sat in a small rainstorm while the sun played peek-a-boo
- left the beach
- helped me start sauce #1 while the Man made margaritas and started dinner
- met one of our guy friends that we invited for said dinner
- hit the hot tub, played Guitar Hero, and smooched our guy friend (as we suspected would happen)

DAY TWO
- woke up early nursing a hangover
- got in the car and we drove to the car ferry
- arrived in St. John
- had awesome breakfast at JJ's
- hit the beach and growled at the still-crappy weather
- put long sleeves on while keeping determined that sun would come out and rain would stop
- had first rum drink of day, while still glaring at the sky
- determination paid off! sky cleared, sun came out, we bobbed on noodles in the waves while drinking from our sippy cups
- had good food at Skinny Legs
- guy friend from previous night took ferry over and met us at Skinny Legs
- had more drinks
- drove to car ferry and went back to St. Thomas
- had dinner and yet more drinks
- drove guy friend home and came back to house to sleep

DAY THREE
- another early morning, another hangover
- met friends down at dock for big catamaran trip to Jost Van Dyke
- started drinking on boat, Junebug and guy friend at this point are all sorts of attracted to each other
- hit Jost, have lunch, hit beach, soak in sun and booze
- more sun
- more booze
- more canoodling
- dinner
- back on boat
- sleepytime for long ride back (we sailed, no motor)
- got back to house at midnight
- guy friend stayed over

DAY FOUR
- Superbowl Sunday!
- another hangover
- guy friend and Junebug are out buying rum for party and more ricotta for lasagna
- guy friend is taking her to Kmart to return the crap she no longer needs

...and now we're all caught up. There are many pictures from these days that I will bore you with once we slow down. It's safe to say we do it up when friend's come to visit. We're all weary with exhaustion. One more BIG night of drinking and then mama needs some rest.

I AM SO FUCKING EXCITED FOR FOOTBALL TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!