It's Cold in Here

...that's what Cosmo thinks, anyway.

He's been burrowing in with me at night, too, which is good since our upstairs heat is apparently busted. Again. Just like it was at this time last year. Hooray for new construction!

I've been reading voraciously the past few days. Mainly because PhillyGuy bought me this for my birfday:

NOOK COLOR!

Not going to lie...one of the best features about this as opposed to the original Nook or the Kindle? I can subscribe to US Weekly on it. I brought it to get my nails done this weekend. Spent half my pedicure reading this week's US Weekly, and the other half reading Stephen King's new book.

In my defense, I read "smart stuff" too - but since I'm not planning to re-buy anything I already have as a good old-fashioned PAPER book, you're probably not going to be seeing too many Virginia Woolf or Jeannette Winterson books on my Nook library.

Anyway. The Nook was a welcome addition this weekend as I was fighting a lousy cold. And, unsurprisingly, PhillyGuy inherited that cold just as I've been getting over it. He e-mailed me tonight to tell me he was freezing and tired. That gave me a great dinner idea:

homemade soup!

I don't really have a soup recipe. That's the beauty of this kind of thing. You can basically throw whatever you have in a pot and it'll taste delicious after simmering for a while. Unfortunately for us, "whatever you have" is a third of a pan of leftover stuffing, two turkey legs and about half a bunch of fresh rosemary...so a grocery store run on my way home was in order.

I went classic: chopped up a couple of celery ribs, two carrots, and half a Vidalia onion, and sauteed with garlic, olive oil, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.

Once it was soft, I dumped in a package of white mushrooms, chicken stock, a bay leaf and some random seasonings (which may or may not have been inspired by a certain Simon & Garfunkel song) and let it simmer for half an hour.

Next came the chicken.

Chopped up and seasoned with kosher salt, pepper and parsley.

I added the chicken and a package of whole wheat tortellini, brought the soup back to a boil, and let it simmer for another fifteen minutes. I meant to add in spinach at this point, too, but completely forgot about it.

BAM! Soup.

It takes a little while, but it totally hit the spot tonight. My grandmother - the Italian one - used to make an amazing chicken, rice and escarole soup. I never thought to ask her for the recipe, and unfortunately that chance has passed...but I think maybe one of my projects this winter will be to mess around and see how close I can come to replicating it.

Favorite soup recipes? Good books you've read lately? I have some David Sedaris cued up and then I'm going to need something new.

Fish and a Mac

Last night, PhillyGuy and I went to dinner at Fish.

I've been wanting to head here for a while, and was so glad when PhillyGuy told me he had randomly made us a reservation. It was a gorgeous night, so we sat outside on Lombard:

Started with some beverages - glass of red zin for me, Small Craft beer for PhillyGuy.

We split a plate of seared scallops to start, served with roasted beets, mustard seeds and Nueske bacon. I also had a couple of oysters. Unfortunately for YOU, I'm a bad blogger and completely spaced on taking a picture until after we had annihilated everything...

As you can see, they were obviously just terrible. :)

When we were ordering, I told the waitress that I wanted a couple of oysters, but that I knew very little about them, except that I liked them. She was patient and informative and described each of the six varieties to me, WITHOUT making me feel like an idiot. Huge points for that. And the oysters did not disappoint - the Wawenauks, in particular, left me feeling like I'd just gotten hit in the face by a wave. I can deal with that.

For an entree, I selected the wahoo, which was served with a roasted onion, mushroom and fava bean presentation, over a lobster puree.

PhillyGuy went with the grouper, which was served with a cream sauce, peas, thinly sliced ham, and a pierogie. It sounded random - but holy cow, it was unreal.

The portion sizes of everything were perfect -- we finished our dinner (punctuating with "OMG" and general moaning) satisfied, but looking forward to dessert. And thank god for that.

We went with the key lime tart:

and the chocolate torte:

OH. MY. GOD. Now, I'm a HUGE sweet-and-salty person. Once I saw the words "dark chocolate," "pretzel crust," and "salted caramel" in one dish, I knew it was for me. And yes, it was everything I'd dreamed of and more. I had a small taste of the key lime tart, and it was delicious -- but it didn't stand a chance next to the torte.

Annihilation:

I kept telling PhillyGuy on our way home that I could die happy. Seriously, if we were crushed by an errant meteor or something, I'd have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. Suffice to say that we'll be heading back to Fish for sure.

Our other big purchase of the day was a brand-new MacBookPro for me. I spent a bunch of time this morning setting it up before I headed out for my run...but unfortunately, I forgot about my camera cord. And sometime between when I left for my run and when I returned, sweaty and smiling? Little Miss Sophie had gotten bored and chewed up my cord. She was nice enough to leave the USB piece untouched, but she completely destroyed the piece that hooks into my camera. So, before I can share pictures of my new toy, I need to head out and pick up a new cord. Which I will remember to keep in a dog-safe place.

"What, mama? I'm just an innocent lil' puppy."

Happy holiday weekend all!

Technology Post

I've shamelessly been using an "extra" laptop that PhillyGuy got from work for a long time now. Like, at least 2.5 or 3 years. The battery is totally shot. Occasionally, the screen goes black for a couple seconds for no reason. To be honest, it still does the job JUUUUUST fine (at least as long as I'm near an outlet), but I'm starting to think it might be time for me to actually purchase my own.

So here's where I need you guys to come in. Do I buy a Mac or a PC?


(Photo credit)

I've always been a PC person -- not necessarily because it's a preference, but because that's what my dad always bought. I've been using a computer since before I could read, and I've been on teh internets since I was in about sixth grade (a lady never reveals her age and all that, but let's just say it was something like 1993). Despite this, I need my computer to do all of three things (in order of importance):

1. Access the internet. Wirelessly.
2. Communicate with and charge my Garmin.
3. iTunes.

I suppose if I was getting crazy, I'd include stuff like basic photo uploading and the occasional editing (meaning cropping, not fancy photoshop stuff), and I really, really like playing Spider Solitaire, but I only do that four to six months. Oh, and it needs to work with Citrix so I can work remotely if I need to, which I don't do that frequently.

Obviously, with such troglodytic needs, either a Mac or a PC is going to fit the bill. I can honestly say that the only reason I'm even considering a Mac is based on their marketing. My sister has one and I know a ton of bloggers have them, and they just look so cool and pretty! And I was in the Apple store yesterday picking up a new cord for my iPod, since PhillyGuy stole mine for his iPhone, and everything just looked so shiny and sleek and impressive. AND AND AND...if I buy a MacBook I get a free iPod touch. Not gonna lie, that's pretty convincing. Even though I already have an iPod Classic AND an iPod shuffle already.

But sweet jebus, they're expensive. That's where you guys come in. Tell me -- if you have a Mac, is it worth it? Should I buy a Mac and get the free (totally superfluous) iPod touch with it? Or should I spend the exact same amount of money and get a PC now, and possibly an iPhone in January, when my current cell contract is up?

Pretty please, weigh in. This is obviously an important decision and should not be based solely on my materialistic impulses. I would clearly prefer those impulses to be backed up by peer pressure and validation...OR to be shot down as pure foolishness.