This version of Grandma’s wine cake does not use the traditional yellow cake mix, but it still uses the instant pudding mix. Someday I’ll work on removing that as well.

Mix in a food processor:

• 2 c. flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 4 t. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 3.4 oz. box of instant lemon pudding
• 6 oz. butter, cut into 12 pieces

Transfer to a stand mixer and add:

• 3/4 c. cream sherry
• 3/4 c. oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 t. vanilla

Beat for 5 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then unmold and pour on the following glaze while still warm:

• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 3 T. milk
• 3 T. cream sherry

Now the hard part: wait. The cake really is best the next day. You can eat it while it is still warm, but it will taste a bit boozy. The cake keeps very well for up to a week.

• 4 red bell peppers
• 1/2 c. quinoa
• 1 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 t. cumin
• 6 oz. baby spinach
• 3 T. dried currants
• 1 T. brandy
• zest of one lemon
• 3 T. mint, chopped
• 3 T. parsley, chopped
• 2 T. pine nuts
• 3/4 c. Greek feta
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 9″x13″ pan or casserole dish with olive oil. Soak the currants in brandy and a tablespoon of hot water.
2. Cut the bell peppers into third or quarters along the lobes to make little boats. Remove ribs and seeds, and finely dice two sections. Put the rest of the peppers into the dish and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked but not mushy.
3. In a small pot, cook the quinoa with the stock until cooked, about 30 minutes.
4. Saute the diced peppers and onions in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, pine nuts, lemon zest, and cumin and stir for 30 seconds. Add the spinach and currants (with liquid) and cook until the spinach is wilted. Take off the heat and stir in mint, parsley, quinoa, and a third of the feta. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Stuff the cooked peppers with the quinoa filling, and top with the remaining feta. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the feta browns. (You can also finish the peppers under the broiler to finish browning the cheese.)

Nothing like a three-alarm fire two doors down to get your heart going at 5:30AM in the morning. Sirens are pretty unusual on our quiet little Barcelona Avenue here in the  city, so when they stopped right in front of my bedroom window, I knew something serious was going on.

This is what three alarms looks like

I threw on my clothes and ran outside (sorry cats), and saw flames shooting out of the building just two buildings over. Embers billowed over my roof as more and more fire trucks showed up. After seeing my neighbor from the same building run out with his cats and his computers, Javier and I ran back inside and forced the cats from under the bed and into the carriers. By the time I got out, the flames were a little smaller and my nerves started to ease.

We watched as the firemen broke into our nieghbor’s house (left building in picture). They are on vacation and I am hoping that we can help somehow when they get home.

Javier and I, along with his parents who are staying with us, are back inside now drinking tea and watching the local news coverage of the events (I declined to be interviewed on camera, especially since my story isn’t that interesting). But I think Javier’s dad was one of the few to get pictures while the flames were in full force. So here you go…

They weren't on our roof, but they kept an eye on it.

For the first time in a long time, this blog could be used to consider me for a job, like a for-real job. This is why I never write anything that I wouldn’t want my mom to see.  But that got me thinking about my Web 2.0 claims to fame.  The Web 2.0 buzz has died down quite a bit, but let’s reminisce, shall we?

• Illegal use of my photo in the New York Magazine’s blog Grub Hub. I contacted the writer, explaining that you can’t steal photos from Flickr and how copyrighting and basic blog etiquette works. I never got my blog link that was promised.
• My brief moment of fame.
• The answer to why I do this and why you should too.
• Food writing.

Anyway, blogging seemed to be the first step towards making communicating via the interwebs accessible to more people, and now with things like Facebook and Twitter, it is becoming even easier to communicate. Although the shift seems to be going from telling the world about your grand thoughts and caring about links and hits, to talking directly to your friends and family and caring about their personal responses. That’s why I’ve found myself less and less here on WordPress and more on Facebook (sorry Twitter). There is also the move to mobile apps, which I am still not a part of thanks to my cheap little phone.

Totally unrelated, here’s why I don’t have an iPhone yet. It’s like herd immunity. When everyone you are around is immune to a disease, you aren’t going to catch it, even if you aren’t immune, because there is no one to catch the disease from. I don’t have an iPhone, but since everyone I know has one and there is always someone nearby with one, I have all of the benefits of them without owning one. Granted, now that I am running around more on my own during the days instead of being stuck at work, I sometimes wish I had one. I do want an iPhone, of course, but it just hasn’t been a pressing issue for me. One of these days I’ll get around to it.

Yes, I made a casserole. In fact, I was craving a casserole. Go figure. Anyway, finding a recipe that does not have condensed cream of mushroom soup is the key. I searched the interwebs and here is my recipe based on one that I found. It is surprisingly tasty, and I am really looking forward to the leftovers!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

1. Boil 8 oz. of fusilli pasta and drain.
2. Saute in 3 T. of butter 1/2 an onion, 2 cloves of garlic, and two stalks of celery till tender. Add salt and pepper.
3. To the veggies, add 3 T. of flour and cook for a few minutes. Add two cups of whole milk and cook until thick.
4. To the sauce, add the pasta, 1 cup thawed peas, and 1 can drained tuna. Pour into a greased baking dish.
5. On top of the casserole, sprinkle about 1/2 cup jack cheese, 3 T. panko mixed with 2 T. melted butter, and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for a half hour, and finish by browning under the broiler for a few minutes.

(Based off of Michael Chiarello’s recipe)

• 6 bottles Viognier wine
• 1 bottle brandy
• 2 cups triple sec
• 1/4 cup real grenadine
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 blood oranges, sliced thin
• 2 lemons, sliced thin
• Arils from one pomegranate
• 1 persimmon, sliced thin

Mix in a large pot overnight. Serve in a punch bowl with ice (such as an ice ring, see below). Add seltzer water to the bowl or have available separately.

To make an ice ring midwestern-style, pour water into a bundt pan a few inches deep. Add some fruit and freeze. To remove the ring, set the bundt pan in a pie pan with hot water to loosen.

For a non-alcoholic option, have some orange juice and the grenadine on the party table next to the sangria and seltzer water. Mix one part seltzer to one part OJ, and top off with the grenadine for a fun and easy virgin cocktail.

This is a good amount for a party with 25-35 people.

I was talking with a friend from high school the other day, debating the pros and cons of volunteering with children versus old people. I realized that she was pretty much the only person I know, around my age at least, who volunteers on a regular basis like I do. Why is that? Why isn’t volunteering just a regular part of our lives?

My friend’s father, a former priest, is amazing. Well into his 70s, he volunteers at schools, participates in Big Brothers, and has taken in foster babies. I assume that my friend grew up with this focus on service as just being a part of what you did in life. My mom and grandma are the same way. My mom has always participated on boards, volunteered, and helped raised money for many different organizations. My grandma, now in her 80s, still volunteers at the hospital and church, and helps out people in nursing homes. Growing up with them as my role models, volunteering is something that I enjoy now as an adult.

I am no fan of religion, but I really do think that this commitment to service in the community comes from my family’s and my friend’s family’s religious background. As many of us are living more secular lives, it seems that the emphasis on service is being lost. How do we incorporate volunteering and service as a regular part of our lives, if it isn’t coming from the church? How do we make it part of our culture?

I volunteer because my family did, and I hope that when I have kids, they will see volunteering as a normal part of life and want to do it themselves.

And back to the debate of old people versus kids: Working with kids can be fun, but they aren’t as appreciative as old people. Sick old people can be rather sad, but they are appreciative of you. I’ve worked with both and found both rewarding. What do you think?

Wondering how to get involved? I have found www.volunteermatch.org to be the best site to find something that fits my interests and schedule. There are lots of opportunities out there that are only a few hours a week, and I promise that after you get into the routine, you’ll wonder why you didn’t volunteer sooner.

My top 10 reasons to volunteer:

• Meet new people. Know people only in your industry? Volunteering is a great way to meet people who do completely different things and so have interesting new things to talk about.
• Learn new things about yourself. Think you aren’t good with kids or not patient? You’ll be surprised by aspects of yourself you never noticed.
• Get your foot in the door. Contemplating switching careers? Volunteering is a great way to test the waters, see if you like a different industry, and meet people who do that job you are considering.
• Get energized! A change of scene and doing something active and useful is a great boost.
• Learn a new skill. There will be something that you have never done before and have to learn, and chances are it is something that will come in useful down the road.
• Feel good. Helping others and being useful feels wonderful!
• Change your perspective. Working in the corporate world makes us so focused on money and competition that it is good to do something without those goals. It reminds you that there are other ways to see the world.
• Help a cause you believe in. Many organizations need your time and talents more than even money. Also, if you don’t have a lot of extra money to donate to a cause, volunteering is a way to contribute.
• Smiles. Want people to smile when you walk in the door and say thank you when you leave? Volunteering is the easiest way to get that every single time.
• Give back. Think of all the people who have helped you get where you are today. You can be that person for someone else.

Thought I would check in here since it has been a while. Things have been crazy, to sum it up.

About a month ago, Javier and I finally started looking for a new apartment in the city. We found one pretty easily, and we are finally getting settled in. The only thing left to do is, oh yeah, move me up to the city. The cats and the piano are already up here, as are other random things, but finally tomorrow the movers arrive to bring the rest!

I am also working on the renting out the condo, and that’s the last major thing that I need to do for the move!

So if you are wondering where I have been, I have been packing, unpacking, cleaning, hauling, dumping, and just about any other boring thing you can think of.  I am also trying to take two online classes, so add homework to the list.

With all that going on, it is nice that I am not working right now, as of this week! I have been so busy that I don’t know how I had time to fit in work before. I am trying to cram as much work in to this little time I have off between jobs. I don’t have the next job lined up just yet, but I am not too worried…yet. Check back with me in a few weeks!

Since I have nine hours of my life back every day, I have been trying to do things that I always wish I had time for: going to the gym, practicing piano, reading, cooking, and catching up with friends. Nothing too exciting, but it is pretty nice, I must admit.

Oh, and since it is fall, it’s time to start thinking about skiing! Just this week we sent off the monies for a week-long ski trip in Colorado, and a cabin in Tahoe! So so so exciting!

I rarely write about work, but I am going to make an exception. I’ve had this problem with graphics in my PDFs at work for ages now. The paths are all screwed up, and to fix them, I’ve had to add these crazy relative paths like ../../../../../../../../../graphics/picture.png. And it would work for a while, until I did something like change which machine is building my docs.

I have tried to find a solution online somewhere, and it just doesn’t exist. So I am putting it here in case there is another poor soul out there who has the same problem.  It’s simple really, but it is annoying how long it took to figure out.

This is how I fixed it for Docbook 4.3 and the 1.73.1 XSL stylesheets:

1. Add the following parameter to your FO parameters file or your command line:
   keep.relative.image.uris
   On your command line it looks like this:
   -param keep.relative.image.uris 1
   In your FO parameter XSL file, it looks like this:
   <xsl:param name=”keep.relative.image.uris” select=”1″ /xsl:param>
2. Put your graphics in a directory relative to your FO file when you do your PDF build.
3. Edit your paths to your graphics so that they are relative to the FO output directory. For example, if all of your graphics are in a directory named /graphics, your graphics path would just be:
   <imagedata fileref=”graphics/my_picture.png” format=”PNG”/>

That’s it. I output my HTML and PDF output into the same directory, so I just put my FO file in there to so when I do the FO->PDF build, the graphics for the HTML file are right there (I use PNG files for both). And now I just feel silly that it took my so long to figure out.

Amazing what you find when you clean. I’ve been cleaning out my condo bit by bit most weekends lately, thanks to all of the help from Javier. There is hope that might life might get back into order with him around. (Or maybe start to be in order for the first time!) But first, the history…

So, as my many faithful readers know, I love to take pictures, and I loved my Sony T7 camera. I took it with me everywhere because it was just so so itty bitty and skinny and cute and adorable and like totally awesome. Until I got back from England last spring and thought, I’m not doing anything picture-worthy any time soon, so i don’t need to put it in my purse like usual. And that’s the last I saw it. It went missing, but I knew knew knew that it was in my condo somewhere.  I really did know it was there.

My place was, to put it nicely, trashed at the time. I was going through a phase. I had a rough time last year. So I figured it was somewhere in the chaos and it would turn up eventually. And I eventually did start cleaning things up and knew it would show up–eventually. I wasn’t too worried. In the mean time, people asked where my camera was. People wondered why Flickr went unupdated for so long. People snickered at my explanation that I lost it in the mess that is my condo. Then six months went by.

My birthday was coming up, and I was ready to, well, do something. I was starting to feel better and more normal. Except that I was missing my camera. So I bought a new one: not as tiny, not as thin, not as expensive. But it was red. And I love red. I was sold on my new cute Nokia, and it arrived just in time for my birthday party that I threw for myself.

I had my camera again and, not so coincidently if you ask me, I had my Javier. With his help, I started cleaning my place out more and more, and I’ve made lots of progress. (side note: I make it sound like I have tons of crap, but it really isn’t the case at all. I am really just trying to get rid of pretty much everything because I am very anti-stuff right now.)

Today, I was cleaning my bedroom, and I thought for the first time in ages to look in my nightstand drawer. I never use my nightstand drawer to the point where I forget that it even is a drawer. I opened it up and realized that at some point, I had decided to store all sorts of random electronics stuff in there, like that crappy iPod radio thing for the car that I never use. And there in the back, sitting there within a foot of my head when I sleep, was my…wait for it…my camera!

Yes yes, I finally found my camera. Mystery solved. I so told you it was somewhere in my condo and that it would turn up eventually. I have to admit that it is looking pretty beat up and not so new and swanky. But I bet it works if I charge the battery. Now I just have to find all the cords and cables, and I can hopefully pass it on to someone who can use it!