12-12-07

This is not a cheesy scene from a new screenplay. It didn't happen in a galaxy far, far away. It's real life.

Last night at the Century 16...where Patrick and I met by chance, in the middle of the night, in a floor level row of seats for Star Wars Episode III...

We saw The Holiday.

We cuddled under Patrick's big black coat.

And when the movie closed with tears and happy endings, Patrick pulled a little something out of his pocket, opened it and asked me, "Jennifer, will you marry me?"

Not seeing the box, I was so surprised, I just hugged him, laughed and said, "You know what?...Are you serious?"

"Didn't you see the ring?"

I looked down and saw what immediately and impulsively appeared to me to be the most beautiful ring I'd ever seen in my life. Then he got down on one knee, holding out the box, and said, again, "Jennifer will you marry me?"

And I cried and laughed, "Of course I will," and hugged and kissed him...for a long time. And he put the ring on my finger.

The other guests left the theater and we sat there, happy, laughing, crying, and very, very excited as the reality sunk in.

All the way home we smiled and laughed about the new moments , the first moments of the rest of our lives. And we screamed a chorus of, "Hey, you're my Fiancée!" "No, you're my Fiancé!"

And we're in love. And it's great.

Holiday Sweet Potato Salad

Holiday Sweet Potato Salad

I made this for a BBQ the other day and I thought it was great. It's not for those who don't like to be in the kitchen, but it is delicious and has very little fat (about 10 grams in the whole dish!).

• 2 good sized yams (about 4 cups cubed)
• 2 medium beets (about a cup diced)
• 1 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 small sweet yellow onion (like Vidalia), thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/3 C filberts
• 1/2 C canned pineapple chunks
• 1/4 C orange zest
• 1/4 C chopped crystallized ginger
• 1/4 C pineapple juice (from canned pineapple)
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp seasoned rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper oil (like MMongolian fire oil)
• 1/8 tsp ground clove

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Peel and cube the yams in 3/4 inch cubes.
3. Peel and dice the beets in 1/4 inch cubes.
4. Spread the yams and beets out on a cookie sheet and brush with melted butter.
5. place the cookie sheet in the oven and roast for 35-40 minutes, stirring once or twice toward the end. Make sure you do not roast too long or yams will be mushy.
6. While the yams and beets are roasting, caramelize the onion in a large oil-sprayed skillet by sauteing them over low heat for about 30 minutes. As the onions start to brown, add sugar. Continue to cook over low heat until the onions are brown and sweet.
7. Allow the yams, beets and onions to cool.
8. Toast the filberts in a heavy skillet over medium heat until they are browned and very fragrant. Chop and allow to cool.
9. Toss all ingredients in a bowl--the yams, beets, onions, filberts, and all remaining ingredients.
10. Serve cold or warm.

Morning Madness

Recurring Dreams:

This morning I had a dream much like one of the recurring stress dreams I have had since I was 19. I was in a restaurant, waitressing on my first day of work, and had been given no training. It was a small place in a highway side place, somewhere in the middle of nowhere--and I think it was oddly morphed with a hair salon. As I watched the guy on the motorcycle outside the restaurant, I noticed that he was Val Kilmer, in disguise. He had a group of people with him, one of whom turned out to be Angelina Jolie. She came in and ordered an odd breakfast:

Vegetables, vitamins, and chocolate pudding. As I milled around the kitchen looking for gourmet vitamin capsules, I woke up to NPR.

Capit*a*l Christmas Tree:

Unfortunately, the story I awoke to was not stranger than the one in my dream. It was about this year's US Capitol Christmas Tree, a gift from the State of Washington: a majestic 65 foot Silver Fur.

The story narrated the difficult process of cutting, catching and transporting the tree--even ventured into cosmetic surgery for the decoration...

And all for the bargain price of a quarter of a million dollars. Yes, that's right. $250,000. How ridiculous can we possibly be? Well, the NPR reporter assures us, this is actually a bargain seeing as last year's tree cost a cool million. That's $1,000,000 in case you didn't catch that.

Reminds me of an A.L. Webber song: "Try not to get worried, try not to turn onto problems that upset you, oh...everything's alright, yes, everything's fine." Only this time the oil is not for Christ; we are anointing ourselves. I mean, the poor will always be with us, so why not?

Let them eat cake.

Incidentally, I missed the press conference in which Laura Bush unveiled the artwork for the White House Christmas invitations this week.