Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Apologies (again), Valentine's Day, Computer Issues, Sur La Table, Bunny Baskets, Iron Chef: BACON! and Relay For Life. Wheew!

Ok, So, first and foremost, I apologize. As my mother so kindly pointed out, I haven't been blogging. It's been almost 2 months, and while I had visions of grandeur about what this blog would be and how it would lead to some amazing opportunities, this can only happen if I put the time into it. So now, I'm here, apologizing, though I'm sure most people didn't miss me, or even wonder where I'd been. But If you were one of the few (my mother), I'm sorry.

Now we'll discuss. Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, or fortunately, which ever way you'd like to look at it, Valentine's Day came the very day after we moved into our 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. Affectionately referred to, as, The Mansion.  We we're stuck with no furniture, and the same rinky-dink triangle-turned-square table we had in The Box. But I had planned to make a little dinner and just hang out. We'd discussed, several times, I might add, that Valentine's Day was cancelled for us. We didn't have a lot of money because of the move, and we were pretty wiped out from all the packing and unpacking. So We weren't supposed to purchase gifts or anything.


Yeah, well, clearly that didn't happen. Frank is generally very matter-of-fact. Sooo, when he said there would be no Valentine's Day, I believed him. I was wrong. The receptionist in our office rounded the corner towards my office as I was standing in the hall way with a large box and said "this is for you." I said "are you sure?!" and she said yes. So I took it from her and opened it very slowly. Inside was a teddy bear, and  vase full of a dozen mixed roses. It was one of the best surprises I've had in a long time.

 Ugh, and now, onto computer issues. So, VERY unfortunately, my computer at work died about 3 weeks ago, and man oh man, I was NOT a happy camper! I couldn't work, I couldn't access my files, and I was having the wrath of nearly everyone in my office come down on me because it was my machine and files that EVERYONE needed weren't backed up anywhere. I've been working on my personal machine since it happened, and while that's all well and good, I still don't have a computer. Our amazing IT genius has ordered me a brand new machine, and I should have it fully loaded by next week.

Now I understand that's not an excuse, but that has been stressing me out, like to the max, and that's one of the main reasons I hadn't been blogging.


Sunday afternoon Frank and I ventured to Santana Row so I could spend a gift card for the amazing kitchen store, Sur La Table, only to be stopped by all the traffic on Stevens Creek. So I said forget it, but he said we could go to Palo Alto. I was a little surprised because he was driving, and we all know Frank doesn't really like to drive or run errands, or any of that. So we made our way to Palo Alto and even took the scenic route on 280. Once I walked in, I wanted EVERYTHING in site! I ended up purchasing a rolling pin, a pig-shaped cookie cutter, a Shake & Chop garlic chopper, a "prep taxi" (see photo) and a nice bottle for Olive Oil. 



I wasn't planning on the rolling pin or the pig-shaped cookie cutter, but my office has an "Iron Chef" competition each month, and this month's secret ingredient was Bacon, so on Sunday, I decided to participate. The event was so take place on Tuesday, and I had a meeting Monday night for the Women's Auxiliary Club. It wasn't a meeting I could have easily skipped, since we were making Easter baskets to give to the Children's Shelter for Child Protective Services. This charitable cause is so important to me that I put off making the cookies till Monday night. 
I planned to make roll out sugar cookies with bacon inside and a maple glaze on top. And while that's the type of cookie I made, the dough was very soft, and I didn't want to wait until midnight for it to harden. So i made drop cookies dipped in the maple glaze, and I thought they turned out pretty darn good. I didn't win, or even place, but I thought they were pretty creative. 

Our women's club does great things. I mean, really, we do some amazing things, and there are some amazing women involved. Monday night we made 53 Easter baskets and today they were taken to the Children's Shelter. That's amazing to me, given the idea that some of these children were taken from their parents and probably won't ever see them again. 

On another note, there are only 45 days left until The Relay For Life. Wow! I can't believe it's so close. My sister and I some-how decided we would take on this year's Silent Auction and become co-chairs. As if we both didn't have enough to do. But still, this cause is one that's very close to my heart, and I'm SO PROUD of my amazing team. To date, we've raised $2,010. That's just $490 short of our goal of $2,500! I'm so proud of our team this year. We'll be hosting a fundraising event at the Pasta Market in the San Jose MarketCenter on Coleman Ave Thursday April 14th! Print out the flyer to the left and please, PLEASE come out and support this amazing cause. I will be there, along with several other members of my team. If You'd like any information about the Relay For Life fundraiser at the Pasta Market, don't hesitate to email me at ldisalvi@empirebroadcasting.com.

I hope to become a regular blogger again, and post a video of our new apartment/The Mansion. I'm also going to try to be diligent about posting a new recipe each week. I printed one out from Yahoo! Shine for a chicken burger, so maybe I'll make that next week. At this point, though, I'm certain that this blog has been sufficiently long enough given my extended absence. 

Absolutely,
The Lady

P.S.
The Day Of My Birth is less than a week away! If you're racking your brain for a gift idea, I can always use some if this!