Ultimate Potato Soup

1 - 1 1/2 pounds of bacon, chopped 
2 - 3 stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 c chicken stock (or enough to cover potatoes)
2 T butter
1/4 c heavy cream
8 oz cream cheese
1 T dried tarragon
1 T dried dill
salt and pepper to taste


In a dutch oven or large stock pot, brown bacon over medium heat until crispy. Remove bacon and set aside. Drain off all but 1/4 c of bacon grease. 


Saute onion, garlic and celery in bacon grease until the unions are translucent.  Add the cubed potatoes, toss to coat and saute for 3-4 minutes. Return bacon to the pan and add chicken stock to just cover potatoes. Add tarragon and dill. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender. 


Add butter, cream cheese and heavy cream. Cook until the cream cheese melts and serve. 

Weekend In Reviews

It doesn't take much to make me happy. I like cold weather, warm clothes, yummy food, good books, and TV and movies of varying levels of quality.  This weekend made me very, very happy. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup - I make the best chicken tortilla soup in the world. You don't have to believe me but it's true.  And nothing tastes better on a cold, grey, rainy day than a big bowl of soup.  Thick with chicken, hominy, black beans, tomatoes, and corn.  Spicy and hearty, topped with sour cream, cheese and tortilla strips.  My mouth is watering just talking about it.

Mockingjay - If you haven't read the Hunger Games series of books by Suzanne Collins, you're missing out on something really special. I don't believe I've ever read anything that so captured my imagination and my heart. Collins' writing style is economically vivid and emotionally intense without being manipulative. Mockingjay, the third and final book in the series, was my favorite. It was a satisfying, if heartbreaking end to the story of Katniss Everdeen and the country of Panem as well as an exciting adventure in its own right. 

Every book in the series brought me to tears but none more than this. With happiness, with grief, with worry and with relief I wept for these characters whose fates I genuinely cared about. 

I read these books because the people who had read them before me seemed to love them so much.  Because the casting for the movie had people so vocal. Because I have heard from so many different people how fantastic they were.  That's the sort of buildup that can lead to disappointment.  When you go in expecting something truly amazing it is often impossible for the product to live up to the hype.  My every expectation was met and, in fact, exceeded. I will now recommend these books, above all others, to everyone I know.

Prom - I love me some high school-set romcoms. Actually, if you make a movie or a TV show that involves teenage romance in any way, I will watch it at least once. And the chances are solid that I'll end up loving it on some level no matter how bad it is. 

Prom is not bad. Prom is just...not good. The movie follows a handful of random people in the weeks leading up to their senior prom. Nothing special about it necessarily. The main focus of the narrative is Nova (Aimee Teegarden), the head of the prom committee, who's somewhat obsessed with throwing the "perfect" prom. When the boy she likes asks her to go "as a friend" and then bails, she ends up falling for misunderstood bad-boy Jesse (Thomas McDonell).

Other stories include the nerdy stoner kid and the girl who doesn't believe he's bringing the "Canadian" "girlfriend" he's told her about; the prom queen finds out her king is cheating on her with a gullible sophomore and dumps him, going to prom alone, looking gorgeous, and showing teenage girls everywhere that you do not need a boy to be awesome. Especially if he's a cheating dickhead; the kid who never bothered to make friends in school who's determined to take this last chance and asks nearly every girl to be his date before taking his step sister; the perfect couple who end up fighting when she acts weird rather than just tell him that she isn't going to college with him as they planned; and the sophomore boy with a crush on the king's strumpet-on-the-side. 

The movie had a metric ton of shit going on and it mostly did a fine job weaving it all together but it seemed to me like it all could have been more interesting if it weren't trying to squeeze it into the 2 hours a movie provides.  This would have made a much more interesting ABC Family series than a movie.

Take Me Home Tonight - I guess it's a post-college, transitioning-to-adulthood, coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the mid-'80s but mostly it was one '80s pop culture reference and pop hit after another that made a fine 90 minute soundtrack to doing laundry and dusting. 

Topher Grace is reliably cute and likable and Chris Pratt was funny, slightly douchey, and completely idiotic in that way that he has which is impossible not to enjoy. But Anna Faris was practically a non-entity, Teresa Palmer was blandly forgettable, and Dan Fogler was unappealing bordering on appalling.

The movie seemed to want to be a throwback to the Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Weird Science days but it only made me miss John Hughes, who didn't have to try this hard to be entertaining.  Like the story that Faris and Pratt repeat several times during the film, Take Me Home Tonight is intended to be funny but comes off redundant and tired. Skip it and watch the three I just mentioned instead. Maybe throw Can't Buy Me Love in for good measure because who doesn't enjoy the African Anteater Ritual, you guys? Come on.

Something Borrowed - Where to begin? I don't recall ever watching a movie with such loathsome characters. From the very start of the movie, when Kate Hudson's Darcy is throwing Ginnifer Goodwin's Rachel a birthday party, I was filled with rage. Darcy is repellently full of herself, obnoxious, rude, and not at all self-aware. She repeatedly mentions how attractive she is and why she "totally gets" people loving her.  When her best friend Rachel quickly falls into bed with Darcy's fiance, Dex (Colin Egglesfield), I didn't feel bad for Darcy at all but I also didn't think much of Dex for having dated and gotten engaged to Darcy in the first place.

In theory, I guess we're supposed to find Rachel the most likable because she's the self-deprecating, nice-girl heroine but...not so much. She has spent a lifetime humoring Darcy and letting her have everything she wants. Having horrible friends means you either don't think enough of yourself to believe you deserve better friends or that you're secretly horrible yourself. And she's been mooning over her best friend's boyfriend since before Darcy and Dex even met. That's not uncommon in romcoms but in this case, Dex was so obviously into Rachel (as we're repeatedly shown in flashbacks) but Rachel's non-existent self esteem made her believe that he could never like her over Darcy so when Darcy showed up and flirted, Rachel practically FORCED the two of them to date.  Dex gave her numerous opportunities to pick up the hints that he'd rather be with her but she willfully ignored them all.  It's hard to like someone who doesn't like herself at all.

Still, of the three of these people, Rachel might be the most affable because in addition to carrying on a years-long romance with a wretched beast of a woman he doesn't seem to even remotely like, Dex also doesn't have the balls to live his own life or make a single decision that his father doesn't dictate for him. I don't care what he looks like, I can't find a spineless man attractive. Especially not one who'd rather cheat on his fiance/wife forever than admit he doesn't love her, or want to marry her just to mollify his parents.

Once they've front-loaded the picture with the worst people you can imagine, you meet the secondary characters - Marcus (Steve Howey) is a douchey, frat-rat type who thinks "charming" and "vile" are the same thing. He's full of himself, too loud, and just plain too much.  How does he fit into the picture? He's a friend of Dex's. Ew. Claire (Ashley Williams) is Darcy's friend who can not take the hint that Ethan (John Krasinski) is not interested in her. She is up in his face, she's all over him, she's gross and clueless.  Ethan has been friends with Rachel and Darcy since they were all children though it's pretty clear that Darcy and Ethan merely tolerate each other the way you tolerate that awful cousin you are forced to see at family holiday gatherings.

Ethan is likable. He's funny and charming and normal when everyone around him is the worst kind of fake and put-on. He's the only person in the entire movie who deserves better. He deserves better friends, better love interests, a better life and a MUCH MUCH better movie.

It wasn't just that I didn't care what happened to these characters - whether or not Dex dumped Darcy for Rachel or married her and lived a miserable, loveless life; whether Rachel found happiness with Dex or continued believing that she didn't deserve love; whether Darcy ever learned how to love someone without making every bit of the relationship all about her - it was that I actively wanted terrible things to befall these characters.  I wanted Dex to be alone, miserable and loveless forever. I wanted Rachel to settle for someone awful that she would never love who would never love her because that's all she thought she deserved. I wanted Darcy to be hit by a bus.  I hated these people and even now, a day later, I am angry that this movie exists and that I've seen it.

And goddammit, if John Krasinski is cast in another movie wherein he does NOT get the girl, I'm going to fucking riot.

Party Down Season 1 - Like Veronica Mars minus the drama plus extra comedy and foul language, this show was a gem that's just different enough to be strange without being absurd.

The characters are sketches based in a darker reality than most comedies venture into and most of the humor comes from misery rather than levity. Adam Scott and Martin Star are outstanding straight-man comedic actors who can be in the middle of the most ridiculously humorous moment without ever cracking a smile, Ken Marino and Jane Lynch excel at being the wacky, insane butt of the joke, and Ryan Hanson is simply adorable as the well-meaning, good looking, semi-doofus. Lizzy Caplan, for my money, is perhaps the least compelling member of the cast but that might be because her character has the least to do. Sometimes being the love interest when everyone else gets to be funny is the worst job there is.

So far, nearly every episode has featured a Veronica Mars alumnus (or, rather, an additional alumnus besides the three that star in the show), giving me a burst of joy with every familiar face because Veronica Mars is a show that I love so much I literally want even the smallest bit players to be wildly successful.  I look forward to laughing my way through the second season before being disappointed in the state of television that yet another terrific show was gone too soon. Sigh.

Weekend In Reviews

I don't have the usual types of things to "review" today but I did want to mention that I really enjoyed working with Habitat For Humanity this weekend.  It's a great organization that does amazing things for people and I feel honored to have had the chance to help them.  Plus I totally used a power saw without supervision and didn't even lose a finger. 

After a day of hard work on Saturday, I spent Sunday doing laundry and watching Friday Night Lights.  I watched the 3rd season and most of the 4th yesterday.  I know that the fourth season only happened a little more than a year ago but somehow it seems like forever since that messy chop-shop business.  I can't even tell you how much Becky made me cry last night during her second scene with Tami.  There is nothing better than this show.  Nothing. 

Gone Quiet

I'd like to be telling you all about the things I've watched on TV this week.  The excitement of watching Nathan and Haley floss, the insanity of a Hellcat toga party, how I sprained a muscle rolling my eyes at everything that happened on Glee, how I've decided I want Spencer and Toby to hook up, and how I totally needed a cigarette after watching Kalinda and Blake face off. 

Unfortunately I can't talk about any of that because the job that pays me is keeping me too busy this week.  Sorry to leave you all hanging like this.  Hopefully I'll be back to normal next week.  Until then, we'll always have Vampire Diaries recaps over the weekend. 

Weekend In Reviews

I really wanted to get another Canon entry up this weekend but, sadly, that didn't happen. 

What I did do this weekend was watch a lot of news that once again made me sad to live in Arizona.  It made me sad for the families of the 6 people who were killed and the 13 others that were wounded when a mentally unstable boy opened fire on a parking lot full of people who didn't know him and had never done anything to him.  It made me sad to live in a world where so many people saw this horrific incident as an opportunity to further their own political or ideological agenda.  It just made me sad. 

As an antidote to the depressing, emotionally-draining goings on on the news, I kept trying to counter-program with episodes of 30 Rock.  I finished the first and second seasons of the show and enjoyed it a lot.  It made for a lot of refreshing 20 minute respites from the tragic news unfolding in Tucson.  Alec Baldwin is a comic genius. 

And when I finally managed to turn the news off for the rest of the day and head into the kitchen to make up a pot of soul-comforting soup, I cut my thumb pretty badly. 

So I didn't get anything up here and I probably won't get another Canon entry posted until next weekend.  Sorry about that. 

Big Plans

I don't want to propel you all into jealous fits or anything but I have the best plans in the world for my extra long weekend which begins tomorrow.  I'm going to stay home for 4 days, laying either on the couch or in my bed, watching movies and eating take-out food.  

Frankly, I'm pretty excited to see how many movies I can watch in 4 days.  I'm also beginning to wonder if I'll suddenly feel movie'd out and switch to TV on DVD at some point.  God, the mystery of it all is so exciting! 

Anyway, there might be some blogging happening while I watch but there will very definitely be tweeting.  If you follow me on Twitter, you're either going to get really sick of me, or you're going to live my sloth vicariously.  It's gonna be awesome. 

Merry Christmas

It's that time of year when my family gathers together to eat way too much and drive each other crazy.  It's nearly Christmas and I still have a few last-minute gifts to buy, grocery shopping to do, presents to wrap and sedatives to take.  I'll be much to busy for the next few days to stop by here and ramble about television, movies, and celebrities who won't be doing anything worth talking about anyway. 

I'll try to watch a bunch of things over the weekend so that I have plenty to talk about next week.  Even if I don't manage that, I have some things I've been meaning to post here that I'll finally have time to put up.  Plus, I'll probably still say random things on Twitter throughout the weekend. 

In the mean time, Tibby and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas (or a happy Christmukkah, Kwanza, Festivus, agnostic chilly holiday, bonus Jewish vacation day, etc.). 

A Thousand Apologies

Posting has been sparse to say the least, I know, but in my own defense: I have three good excuses. 

1) I was on vacation.

2) I was really busy catching up with work after returning from vacation.

3) I'm sick. 

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Part 3

California, Day 2:

I took the girls and Tyler to Malibu where it was ridiculously cold and overcast. I thought for sure it would rain on us but it never did.

Anyway, the weather didn't deter us from hitting Zuma. Tyler played with his fancy camera and the girls actually played in the water because when you're from Michigan you take any opportunity to play in the ocean even if it's freezing.

I sat on the beach shivering and getting sun burnt (I hate my skin) and eventually the kids joined me in sitting on the beach and shivering and the girls attempted to get sun with me but apparently only pasty people can get color when it's cloudy.

At some point we could stand the cold no longer so we piled back into the car and stalked some star-homes while we waited for it to be dinner time.

The blue one is Adam Sandler's.

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell's.

And of course, Matthew McConaughey's.

We also saw Courtney Cox and David Arquette's Malibu pad but it was harder than hell to get a picture of that while flying by on the PCH. There were others too but by now I've forgotten who the other garage doors belong to.

We then had dinner at Neptune's Net - delicious food but the very definition of a dive. The girls were wary to say the least. Especially after Meg went to use the restroom and reported back that it was a porta-potty with a spigot outside that you got water out of via an algae-covered foot pump to wash your hands. But then they saw that it was Zagat rated and that both Rachel Ray and Adam Sandler (wearing one of their shirts on the cover of Parade Magazine) had eaten there and they agreed to try it. Both were very impressed with the grub.

The girls had originally wanted to get sunset pictures at the beach so we were going to try and hang around Malibu until sunset but it because quite clear that the sunset would not be spectacular if the clouds were so thick we could never see the sun in the first place. So instead they requested we take the extra-long way home through Thousand Oaks and try to locate the home of Zac Efron. Turns out that Thousand Oaks is a gorgeous community and the drive up there from Malibu was spectacular. I don't think that condo is where Zac Efron really lives (I could be wrong though), but it was a really pleasant jaunt none-the-less.

California, Day 3:

We had big plans to pick Chase up from summer school and then head for Venice Beach and Hollywood. While we waited for summer school to let out, Lisa and Meg and I swung by Taylor Lautner's house where he was sadly NOT mowing the lawn with his shirt off. Oh well. We all decided that Chase should get a job as the Lautner family's house boy since they live a mere mile or so from him.

Once he got out of school we grabbed some food and headed toward the beach but no sooner were we clear of Santa Clarita than Lisa (who has epilepsy) had a seizure in the car. We pulled off the freeway for a bit until the seizure stopped then turned around and headed back to my Aunt's. Lisa was fine but her seizures take a lot out of her so she needed to rest. Chase and I ran to the store for some emergency staying-home supplies (my aunt doesn't keep any good snacks around, and we needed DVDs) then Meg and Chase hung by the pool for a while and I stayed with Lisa and eventually all 5 of us wound up on the couch enjoying a Big Bang Theory marathon.

We took a break after dinner to go get some Santa Clarita sunset pictures and some ice cream before resuming our marathon.

California, Day 4:

We were supposed to head home early on Saturday and stop at the outlet mall for some shopping on the way but Lisa, Meg and Chase were all way too excited for Venice Beach for me to deny them so we adjusted our plans and spent Saturday doing what we were going to do on Friday.

We drove down Hollywood Blvd. but nothing was open (at 9:30am on a Saturday...what the hell Hollywood?) and the kids said they'd rather star-stalk then do the walk of fame anyway so we busted out the map and hit the hills (Hollywood, Beverly and then Bell Air).

It probably sounds hopelessly dorky but it really is hilarious and fun to drive around neighborhoods looking for stars' homes with people who get crazy excited any time they see something like, say, a car in the driveway with it's door open (Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's house), someone in a suit behind the gate walking to the car (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' house), or even an open mailbox (Courtney Cox and David Arquette's house).

Anyway, Lisa wanted to see as many of the Friends' houses as we could so we hunted down Courtney's first. We were surprised to see someone had left the mailbox opened but we were careful to go no where near it ourselves. I don't mind stalking but I'm not breaking any federal laws. Then I agreed to go to the edge of the property and snatch a couple of pebbles from their front yard for Lisa. I'm hard-core.

Then we saw Jennifer Aniston's house.

And the building that Matthew Perry's condo is in. I briefly considered tweeting him to let him know we were downstairs and could he buzz us up. I didn't mention that to the girls because they would have stollen my phone and gone through with the plan and we'd all be in jail now.

There were tons more that we saw but the only one I can recall well enough to match the picture to it is Mark Wahlberg's house.

Oh, we also saw the house Michael Jackson died in again. Lisa was a huge fan of MJ so we parked down the block and walked over for her to get a picture in front of it. She also got a couple of pics through the gate of the courtyard (really pretty). She brushed the tree-debris off the security box, picked a fallen leaf up off the driveway as an souvenir and then we headed for the beach.

It's been YEARS since I went to the Venice boardwalk on a weekend and sweet Jesus in a feather boa was it packed! Even on a slow Wednesday I hate Venice Beach. The combination of too many visits, my advanced age and the corresponding drop in interest of people being strange to get attention, and my lack of interest in cheap tchotchkas combine to make it of exactly no interest to me whatsoever. But teenagers freaking love it and Meg, Chase and Lisa are no exception.

The three of them bought an ass-load of cheap crap, stared in wonder and amazement at the assorted dipshits, and generally enjoyed the hell out of the Venice Beach boardwalk.

We stayed down there a lot longer than I'd planned and didn't manage to get Chase home and get us on the road home until after 6:00 so we weren't home until nearly 2:00am. Lisa slept most of the car ride home but Meg and I kept each other entertained as usual. At least until around Quartzite when Meg succumbed to exhaustion and sacked out for a couple of hours. Then I used candy (sugar high!) and a particularly fun iPod playlist that the girls had vetoed previously on the grounds that they didn't know any of the songs to keep myself awake the rest of the way home.

Finally back in Arizona, Tibby and I smothered each other with smooches then tucked ourselves into bed and slept like babies.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Part 2

Road Trip

The girls LOVE a road trip so there was oodles of singing, laughing, goofing, and picture taking in the car on the way to California. A lot of the laughing was at my expense on account of my sudden stupidness. All of that was well deserved.

For some reason, Megan has always been fascinated by the windmills that you pass in the desert between Indio and Palm Springs. Lisa also found them pretty entertaining.

California, Day One

Our first California day was pretty much for me. I always wanted to take a studio tour and so that's just what we did. We went on the Warner Bros. VIP Studio tour and had maybe the most fun I've ever had on this continent.

For all of my fellow Pretty Little Liars fans, I got a good look at Spencer's house, Aria's house, the high school and City Hall.

Turns out a lot of the sets in PLL are recycled pieces of Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow. Luke's is now the Rosewood Grill (or whatever they call it). And Spencer totally lives in Rory and Lorelai's old house.

The town square no longer has the gazebo up, but I did stand it it with my eyes closed and picture the gazebo there. Because that's just the kind of huge dork I am. Oh, and Miss Patty's is still there and still just Miss Patty's. They have not re-appropriated that yet. Thank God.

Around the corner from Stars Hollow was Chicago and the El Station that everyone in the history of E.R. found themselves arriving at or departing from.

And down the street the New York subway...

Central Park...

The Big City...

China Town...

And suburbia.

From the back lot we headed over to the front lot where we got to go onto The Big Bang Theory's sound stage. That was a particular highlight for Megan and I. We saw the out of order elevator (the greatest inanimate object on television today, I think), the roof set from the final episode of the third season, the lobby set, and the take-out menus on Leonard and Sheldon's fridge, but pretty much everything else was all covered in plastic so as not to get dusty during the hiatus. The girls and I did manage to surreptitiously walk "into" the boys' apartment when our guide wasn't looking though. We're so bad-ass!

We weren't aloud to bring cameras into the sound stage with us so no pictures of any of this awesomeness. Or the awesomeness of the "museum" where we got to see clothes and props from many of our favorite shows and movies. You weren't supposed to touch but I'm a rebel so I managed to "brush up against" clothes worn by Simon Baker in The Mentalist, Zachary Levi on Chuck, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight and both Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles on Supernatural. I pretty much brushed up against anything that anyone hot ever purportedly had on their body. Don't judge me.

From there we headed to the garage where we looked at cars which totally all work - seriously, someone could actually drive that Batmobile to the store for some ice cream! I was mostly excited about the Nerd Herd car because, you know, Chuck!

Oh, that's also where we took a ridiculous green screen picture that was then superimposed with a background from Harry Potter. I don't watch (or read) Harry Potter so this one seemed extra silly to me.

Finally, we visited the Prop Department where they have a room that they have dedicated to keeping the set of Central Perk (Friends) preserved for posterity. Turns out that Friends is Lisa's all-time favorite television show so when we walked into that room she about fainted with joy.

Our tour guide was a total doll and he was particularly fond of the girls and I since we were the only ones in our group who appeared to be excited by the things we were seeing. Also I was the only one who could answer all of his trivia questions because I'm apparently the only person on that tour who watches obscene amounts of television. Whatever - paid off for us because he let us get a little more up-close and personal with the Central Perk set than he was technically supposed to, but I'm not going to post those pictures (he specifically asked me not to) or tell you his name because I wouldn't want him to get in trouble for being awesome. Instead, I'll just show you Lisa's second best moment in that room...

As our tour was ending and we were on our way back to the WB Gift Shop both girls told me that it was one of the best days of their lives. We all got souvenirs and then Lisa gave Bugs a big hug and we went in search of lunch.

Oh, we also went in search of a Star Map so that we'd be prepared for our star stalking in Malibu and Beverly Hills the rest of the week.

Map purchased and bellies full, we did a bit of shopping at Universal City Walk and then went back to Santa Clarita to rest up and regale the family with our tales of the day.