Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Over Easy... easy reading for hardworking people






I have been writing an easy news piece off and on for the past 18 years for my job. I made up the name and letterhead, which sports the egg as shown above.

I got the idea actually off the back of Bon Appetit back in the early 1990's, though Vanity Fair would inspire me now, but i wasn't reading it back then.

Anyway, over the years the questions had to change. When i first started i asked the question: Who is your favorite Cartwright from Bonanza? then it became Who is your favorite character on The West Wing. And now I ask Who is your favorite Grey's Anatomy character? Or your favorite American Idol judge?

So here are some of the questions. I hope y'all are ready to play: (Note: because blogger gave me some error message at first & depending on the length of your answers, you might want to answer 1-8 on one comment post and then 8-16 on another.)

1. What is the best thing you ever brought to Show and Tell?

2. What is the best present someone ever bought you?

3. If you could change one thing about your appearance (besides your weight) what would you pick?

4. Who do you admire?

5. What three things can always be found in your refrigerator?

6. If you were going to have a dinner party for a few friends, what would you serve/cook?

7. What song makes you want to dance?

8. What song have you ever sang karaoke too?

9. Were you popular in school. Did you win any yearbook Hall of Fame kind of bullshit? What was it?

10. Who was your major celebrity crush when you were in high school?

11. Who is your celebrity crush now?

12. What would you like to have said in your eulogy?

13. What do you avoid?

14. What do you look forward to?

15. When you buy stuff, what do you find yourself buying the most? (Besides regular groceries).

16. What addiction/vice do you wish you could quit?

26 comments:

jojo cucina cucina said...

1. What is the best thing you ever brought to Show and Tell?

I have to skip this. I can't remember.

2. What is the best present someone ever bought you?

Brian bought me an iPod Christmas '04 before i even knew what an iPod was.

3. If you could change one thing about your appearance (besides your weight) what would you pick?

I always wanted flawless skin because mine has always been so bad.

4. Who do you admire?

In no particular order: Obama, single moms, Jon Stewart.

5. What three things can always be found in your refrigerator?

parmesan, a half empty Brita, and mostly old cubes of butter that i keep around because i keep thinking maybe they aren't old. But how do you know until you use it?

6. If you were going to have a dinner party for a few friends, what would you serve/cook?

I make this really good Marcella's Italian lasagne recipe with fresh pasta and basil and mozarella and special ham.

7. What song makes you want to dance?

I will have to come back to this one.


8. What song have you ever sang karaoke too?

Because i refused for years to do karaoke when we went out in the 90's my brothers once set me up by signing me up for "These boots are made for walking" while i was in the bathroom.

9. Were you popular in school? Did you win any yearbook Hall of Fame kind of bullshit? What was it?

No, i went to three high schools.

10. Who was your major celebrity crush when you were in high school?

Cat Stevens (I think i became a hardheaded woman because of his song.)

11. Who is your celebrity crush now?

Johnny Depp still turns me on.

12. What would you like to have said in your eulogy?

That i was the kind of person who says, "let's do lunch" and then actually follows up on it and goes out to lunch with you.

13. What do you avoid?

Passive aggressive people. Born again Christians.

14. What do you look forward to?

Unencumbered time!

15. When you buy stuff, what do you find yourself buying the most? (Besides regular groceries).

Books, wine, jeans.

16. What addiction/vice do you wish you could quit?

Biting my nails.

jojo cucina cucina said...

By the way:

1. my favorite Cartwright was Adam.

2. My favorite West Wing character was the most difficult. It was a toss up between Josh and Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe)

3. My favorite Grey's Anatomy character is Christine (Sandra Oh)

4. And of course, my favorite Idol judge was Simon.

amulbunny's random thoughts said...

1. What is the best thing you ever brought to Show and Tell? My German Bible

2. What is the best present someone ever bought you? A diamond necklace last Christmas...totally surprised me.

3. If you could change one thing about your appearance (besides your weight) what would you pick? Not have to wear glasses

4. Who do you admire? Can't pick just one... MLK, Mother Teresa, JFK

5. What three things can always be found in your refrigerator? Water, Firsch Gurken Pickles, Ranch Dressing

6. If you were going to have a dinner party for a few friends, what would you serve/cook? Seafood enchiladas with crab and lobster, saffron rice,asparagus and white wine

7. What song makes you want to dance? The Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling

8. What song have you ever sang karaoke too? White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

9. Were you popular in school. Did you win any yearbook Hall of Fame kind of bullshit? What was it? God no. I hid. I was a band geek.

10. Who was your major celebrity crush when you were in high school?
No one really. I was more into music. Now the 80's it was Tom Selleck

11. Who is your celebrity crush now? Johnny Depp

12. What would you like to have said in your eulogy? That I was fun, knew a lot of useless trivia and loved my family

13. What do you avoid? driving

14. What do you look forward to?

15. When you buy stuff, what do you find yourself buying the most? (Besides regular groceries). If they are on sale jeans, and if I had a lot more room, books and shoes.

16. What addiction/vice do you wish you could quit? my computer

Amanda Haines said...

Before I start, I just want to say that White Rabbit is in my top five of all-time favorite songs. I LOVE that song!!

1. What is the best thing you ever brought to Show and Tell? I don't remember ever having show and tell.

2. What is the best present someone ever bought you? A collection of Oscar Wilde short stories. My boss in college bought it for me. He was a trout fisherman and I was so in love with him. I once got really drunk and mumbled on and on about how I didn't like him and no one could say that I did.

3. If you could change one thing about your appearance (besides your weight) what would you pick? I'd have really thick, straight, dark, shiny hair. Super thick!

4. Who do you admire? My grandma. She is the greatest.

5. What three things can always be found in your refrigerator? Yeast packets, salad dressings I never eat, but refuse to throw out, and an assortment of vinegars--everything else is transitory

6. If you were going to have a dinner party for a few friends, what would you serve/cook? Chicken enchiladas

7. What song makes you want to dance? Kentucky Rain...I have a routine

8. What song have you ever sang karaoke too? Way too shy!

9. Were you popular in school. Did you win any yearbook Hall of Fame kind of bullshit? What was it? I had one friend, who two years after graduation told me she never really liked me and that telling me this was her way of helping me become a better person. What a snob!

10. Who was your major celebrity crush when you were in high school?
I was in love with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Yes, he was long dead, but it was romantic.

11. Who is your celebrity crush now? The lead singer from Mumford and Sons

12. What would you like to have said in your eulogy? Nothing. Those services are expensive!

13. What do you avoid? Paying bills

14. What do you look forward to? Vacations

15. When you buy stuff, what do you find yourself buying the most? (Besides regular groceries). Stuff for my dogs

16. What addiction/vice do you wish you could quit? binge eating

jojo cucina cucina said...

amulbunny, wearing glasses is all the rage. They are so many cool styles! ALSO i so want to come to your house for dinner. (I make a good saffron rice too.) But do you share your crab and lobster enchilada recipe?

Also i should have answered 'computer' or 'Facebook' for addiction i want to quit. Cause i do. I keep thinking i'm going to try going dark for a whole week and see what that feels like. (I bet i might get a better night's sleep.)

Hey Amanda!...okay two enchilada recipes in a row. LOL.

I'm not sure who anyone telling you they didn't like you would make you a better person EXCEPT i did think of this.

When someone i cannot stand, for example: a mean girl, or a passive-agressive little shitbird, or a victim type self pitying drama queen doesn't act much like they like me than i wear that as a badge of honor. I like people who are smart, confident, problem solvers, and walk their talk. Those are the ones i care about liking me. I pay no heed to the others.

I know someone has to have a good Show and Tell story!

And who is your favorite Cartwright/West Wing/Grey's Anatomy character?

Amanda Haines said...

Jo, I hear you're not coming to Josh's wedding tomorrow. My heart is broken! I was so hoping we could talk trash about all the other guests!

jojo cucina cucina said...

Hi Amanda! You crack me up!

YOU would be the only reason i would go - You Linda B.

But i am working tonight and tomorrow all day. And then i heard there will be no alcohol served at the wedding. How can a wedding be fun without wine? So we would have to make it fun by trash talking.

this is weird. When i post on my blog at work it pops up with my blurry dance photo and the orange masthead and then it turns to black and the photo goes away. Very odd.

amulbunny's random thoughts said...

here's the basic set up for the enchiladas


8 oz flaked crab (real or imitation) *****
8 oz cooked and flaked lobster meat
1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
1 C Shredded MOnterey Jack separated
1/2 onion, chopped
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1/4 cup skim milk
6 (8 inch) low-fat flour tortilla ( I like the whole wheat ones)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the seafood, sour cream,1/2 the cheese, onion, and 1/2 of the enchilada sauce; Mix well.

Microwave mixture on high for 2 to 3 minutes.

Pour milk into an 8 inch pie plate. Dip the tortillas, one at a time, in the milk. Fill each tortilla with 4 ounces of the crab/lobster mixture.
Roll tortilla and place in a greased 9x9 inch glass baking dish. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Pour the rest of the cheese over the mixture.
Bake uncovered in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

***** If you don't want the mix, use a pound of crab or lobster. They are good.

jojo cucina cucina said...

OK, amulbunny...thank you for posting this recipe, but i have to ask: there is such a thing as 'enchilada sauce'?

When you make it, do you actually use real crab and lobster?????

equeyaya said...

OK, I'll start, but I don't have time to do them all and read everyone's just yet. I have been sitting in front of the computer for four hours and I need to get up!

1. What is the best thing you ever brought to Show and Tell?

I don't remember. Maybe my doll collection (my grandparents would bring me dolls from each country they visited). I don't remember doing show and tell with that, but it seems likely that I would.

2. What is the best present someone ever bought you?

Well, she didn't buy it, but my daughter made me a mix CD for my last birthday that meant a lot to me.

3. If you could change one thing about your appearance (besides your weight) what would you pick?

I'd probably go with my skin, too. Or just to have a better sense of style.

4. Who do you admire?

jojo

5. What three things can always be found in your refrigerator?

skim milk, brita water, and a variety of cheeses.

6. If you were going to have a dinner party for a few friends, what would you serve/cook?

probably some kind of risotto

7. What song makes you want to dance?

I don't know. On the rare occasion I want to dance, it's usually pretty spontaneous.

8. What song have you ever sang karaoke too?

none!

jojo cucina cucina said...

Wow, equeyaya. That makes me feel really good. But honestly.... Thank you. ;)

LOL....I could have made it really funny and said "Besides jojo, who do you admire?"

ALSO. i totally forgot to remember to send you the risotto recipe again. I planned to send it next time i make a cd mix to send. I'll remember it soon!

I'm at work today with a Retirement workshop for our union members. It was last night and all day today. The financial guy who comes is a neat guy. I met last year when we did this for us and he and i talked alot about wine. And so he brought me a bottle of Two Hands Shiraz. I looked up this Austrailan wine and found the EXACT same year and region and label and the wine sells for $36.98 online. I'm going to drink some tonight.

but i wondered if when i send him a thank you i let him know that i know how much it cost.

When i give a good bottle of wine i want folks to know it's not a $7 bottle. (So usually i leave the price tag on! LOL) But that way they know not to serve it to folks who are happy drinking white zinfandel.

So what would be the protocol on letting someone know i know their gift was beyond what would be expected in wine?

equeyaya said...

You could say something like, "thank you so much for the wonderful bottle of Two Hands. I am familiar with this wine, and truly appreciate its value."

I am starting a third(!) glass of trapiche broquel malbec, from mendoza, argentina. Not a good thing when I'm counting calories.....

I just got a pizza stone and a george foreman grill, so i might need to amend my friends' dinner party menu to involve one of these items.

but i still want those risotto recipes, jo! i found one for sweet potato risotto that i might make for melanie for thanksgiving, since she is going vegetarian again.

9. Were you popular in school. Did you win any yearbook Hall of Fame kind of bullshit? What was it?

No. I was "cool" in high school (whatever that means), so I eschewed those things.

10. Who was your major celebrity crush when you were in high school?

gawd, i don't know. in junior high it absolutely was peter frampton. in HS i was more about the music than the personalities. although i did think sammy hagar was pretty hot.

11. Who is your celebrity crush now?

i have to go with johnny depp, too.

12. What would you like to have said in your eulogy?

didn't we just cover this recently? that i was kind, that i was a good mother, and that i made people laugh.

13. What do you avoid?

confrontation

14. What do you look forward to?

riding and traveling

15. When you buy stuff, what do you find yourself buying the most? (Besides regular groceries).

wine and stuff for my daughters

16. What addiction/vice do you wish you could quit?

i have to go with amanda and binge eating.

(amanda not being the vice, i'm just agreeing with her)

equeyaya said...

oh, and i never watched bonanza or grey's so i can't answer that.

i do like simon.

equeyaya said...

oh, and remember when I said your dance photo was missing? that was the same thing you're seeing where it flashes up and then goes black.

i don't like that.

i'm listening to joe walsh right now.

and will def not be having a fourth glass of malbec.....

jojo cucina cucina said...

eque i think you are getting better about avoiding confrontation!

Is it still doing that black thing and taking my photo away? On Mozilla it doesn't at all. On Explorer is does.

equeyaya said...

yes, it's doing it to me. and i'm on explorer. :(

jojo cucina cucina said...

OH, then i guess it's an Explorer thing. I'll have to go in and try and fix it when i get a new photo i want to put up there. I want Brian to take a new blurry dance photo of me cause i'm getting tired of this one. It's weird that it vanished on Exlorer, because on Mozilla it does not do that at all.

I forgot to ask the Over Easy Question:

Who is your favorite Lost character?

I am still watching all of Lost since the summer. I'm on Season 4. I have to say that my favorite character re-watching it is not the same the first time i watched.

First time: Sawyer.
Re-watching it: toss between Jack and Hurley.

equeyaya said...

SAYID JARRAH!

Hurley is a close second.

jojo cucina cucina said...

eque, the fact that you know Sayid's last name makes you a Lost Wonk!

louielouie said...

Ohh,

just signing on to say I can't post. I do not know Lost or Greys Anatomy. I clearly need to call in sick for a week or so to catch up on my TV watching and blogging.

I don't remember any show and tell items

I want to dance to Billy Joel's For the longest time - or whatever the name is because of my memorable aerobic dance class experience. Oh yeah and Y.M.C.A.

Don't think I ever sang Karaoke, sing everywhere else though

three things in the fridge:
butter
Sriracha the hot-rooster sauce
cheese, several varieties

I was class chatter box, but it wasn't even true. One of my best friends was yearbook editor and she rigged the voting. Her boyfriend was the guy-chatter box. At least I wasn't most likely to be a felon, old maid or other nerdish category.

I would change my eyesight

am posting without spell checking or editing

jojo cucina cucina said...

1. louie, you have to keep that sriracha sauce in the frig? REALLY???? I ask this, because i don't.

2. I have discovered a new show i like: "Parenthood". does anyone else watch this?

I love the one single mom with the dark hair. I forget her real name but she plays Sarah on the show (i think she was on Gilmore Girls or so I've been told). Anyway, eque, there is something about her when she smiles she reminds me of you in her looks.

What also eerie is i keep thinking that William Baldwin in the show is actually Alec Baldwin about 10 years ago. They look EXACTLY alike, only years apart.

3. I bought a book today, "Lit" by Mary Karr. She wrote "The Liar's Club". It's about family alcoholism but it's supposed to be sort of funny too. I'm curious how she pulls that off.

4. I have a good scale that is calibrated like my doctor's. I gained weighed myself after eating Chinese food last night and weighed the most i've weighed since i started weighing myself every two weeks or so a couple of years ago . I woke up exactly three pounds lighter. How can that be? Can salt really be that bad for retaining water? Night sweats? Maybe a combination.

5. I am phone banking tomorrow night for House Dem Troy K. who is running against a lawyer for a right wing think tank. I am going to reward myself this weekend with a special bottle of wine i would not normally buy. I told myself for every person who is mean to me (or hangs up) on the phone I am going to add $5 to the cost of the bottle.

If nobody is mean to me i am still going to spend at least $25 and get myself a L'ecole merlot.

6. I will be very glad when Nov. 2nd gets here. But i tell you what. We get NO MORE CALLS and haven't for days...because we voted our absentees and mailed them out the very next day. (Though we still get the mail. But i don't care about that because i get a kick out of some of the negative ads.)

jojo cucina cucina said...

i wish we had an edit button.

equeyaya said...

I am SOOOO sick of the ads. We have a nasty senate race going on with Sestak, who is perceived as very liberal and a freakishly conservative scary geek that I won't even name. We had a senator like that about 8 years ago, and he was just nasty. I really hope Sestak wins.

We also have a governor's race going on, so that will be interesting to see play out as well.

I had my nearest experience to a near death experience on Monday. The funny thing is, I wasn't afraid at all. I was just like, whoa, what if I died right now? I'm glad I didn't, because I have a whole new life in front of me, and my kids still need me. But it was kind of surreal.

Tonight, I made a pork tenderloin with apple curry sauce, mashed potatoes and peas. I finished off my bottle of syrah from the weekend while I was cooking, but that ended up being just half a glass, so then I made a margarita.

I'll have to check out that Parenthood show, jo. I have the hardest time watching TV. I flipped through the whole comcast guide tonight and finally settled on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I was too distracted by cooking, though, so I ended up turning it off and putting music on. That's usually what I end up doing. I just love having music on.

Is anybody going out for Halloween? I might be going to a party on Saturday as a cowgirl, but I need a new cowgirl hat......

jojo cucina cucina said...

eque, i'm glad you're getting checked for whatever weird allergy you have to your recent anaphalaxis.

we have a nasty Senate race too between Patty Murray and Dino Rossi, who ran for Governor and lost after weeks of waiting for a recount. Even my moderate Republican friend Chuck says for starters he cannot stand even looking at the guy and he will vote Patty Murray. I couldn't talk Chuck into voting for Tami G. who i'm working for, but i did get him to agree to not vote for her uber religious, anti-choice, opponent. So he said he is writing in my name and will tell his Friday night beer buddies to do the same. So i may have 3 write-ins! LOL.

I am not going out for Halloween but i do stay home and give out gobs of candy. The 12 kids who come to our door are always happy.

I watched Obama on Jon Stewart online today. Obama controlled the whole interview. It was actually pretty cool! Much like how he came across in the Rolling Stone article.

Except for trick or treaters, I have a free unencumbered weekend! I am SOOOO looking forward to it. I should be doing some campaign work but really wanted/needed a break.

amulbunny's random thoughts said...

JoJo you can buy red enchilada sauce in the hispanic section of your market. Safeway or krogers should have them. They also have a green sauce. I use real crab...canned or fresh if i get off my butt to get down to the pier. Lobster has to be real. I can get a 6 oz tail at the market frozen and that works well.

jojo cucina cucina said...

Thanks amulbunny. I sometimes get the Dungeness crab from Costco packed in containers but it's so salty that i like the canned crab better. This sounds like a great recipe!