Gluten Free Asiago Pasta with a side of best friends

it has been a CRAZY couple of weeks.  crazy, i tell you.

ugly action with the dog.

my best friend lisa came to town and boy, we made an ugly of it.  because both of us are poor, we didnt do alot of things that cost money, though i did alot of driving.  we drove around the city, drove around oakland, drove to reno...drive drive drive.  ok, maybe it wasnt THAT crazy. but it was so fun, and chill, and relaxing.  and just....nice.  its so nice to have a friend who knows your history without having to relive your high water pants, brace face, and hair disasters just to get the point across.  

because my family moved alot, i dont have a place that i "grew up" but i do have childhood friends-lisa is one of the girl i met and befriended in 6th grade.  16 years later, we are still best friends.  and thats the only bit of having a "childhood place" that i have.  and i am grateful for friends like her, cuz i seem to have gotten the best part of the deal.  

the three musketeers, reunited!

in reno, we hung out with eileen, another childhood friend-and while we all have seen each other over the years, the three of us have never been together-until now!

but now lisa has left, and its back to every day life.  one of the things i have tried to do more often recently (now that, you know, i have time to do something other than stuff sugar into my mouth while i study for the bar) is cook dinner.  ambitious, i tell ya.  

i heart cooking.  i dunno when this happened.  i remember getting a childs cookbook when i was about 8 and my parents had me help them cook dinner one night.  i hated every second of it.  in between stirring the spaghetti sauce, i screamed at my parents about how stupid it was that i had to cook.  i could survive on wheat bread and bologna and oreos for the rest of my life, thankyouverymuch.  no cooking required.  the next 10 years didnt change anything; my mom told me, as she dropped me off at my dorm my first year of college (complete with a meal plan at the dorm cafeteria) , that if i had to cook for myself, id starve.  thanks for the vote of confidence, mom.  i ended up avoiding the cafeteria most days, and lived almost entirely on cheddar cheese, rolls with nutella, and dry lucky charms.  and i was happy.

so happy.

and then life blew up on me.

or, at least, my body decided it hated the food pyramid and would rather live a life confined to a food trapezoid instead.

i was diagnosed with celiac disease.  a difficult diagnosis for the average gluten consumer, but devastating for a girl with a pure italian great grandmother, raised on pasta, and who was known among her family as "the Bread Queen."

BUT I WILL HAVE MY PASTA!!!  

and i do!  some good gluten free pasta works wonders, and my favorite brand is Tinkyada.  almost imperceptibly different.  

now that spring/summer is definitely upon us, i wanted to make a lighter pasta dish.  this recipe was inspired by a good friend of mine who frequents farmers markets-lots of fresh veggies tossed with the pasta and sprinkled with asiago cheese.  MMMMMMM!  and between my high maintenance eating and me and lisa's minimal budgets, this dinner was amazing.  nomnomnomnom....

horrible picture, i know.  but soooo good.

Asiago Pasta 
(forgive the lack of pictures...i was busy stuffing my face)

8 oz pasta (i recommend penne or spirals [gluten free of otherwise])
1 zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 yellow squash, sliced and quartered
1 bell pepper, sliced and halved
1/2 carton sliced mushrooms
1/2 onion, sliced and halved
grape tomatoes, halved
fresh basil, chopped (optional)
1 cup grated asiago cheese (you can use any hard cheese like parmesan if you prefer)

cook the pasta in a pot of salted water.  drain and set aside.

slice up the veggies.  in a large pan (i mean LARGE, you are gonna have to dump the pasta into here too later), heat over medium high heat and drizzle with olive oil.  add the bell pepper onion and mushrooms to the pan.  let saute for a few minutes.  

add the tomatoes, zucchini and squash to the pan.  saute about 10-15 minutes. this part is really up to you though: the longer, the softer the veggies.  if you like them crunchier, then cut down the time.

season veggies with salt, pepper, and garlic while cooking.

add the pasta to the pan and toss together.  sprinkle the basil and cheese over the pasta, tossing as you go.  toss over heat until the cheese is melted, or continue until the cheese gets crunchy in spots.  

ENJOY!

disclaimer: i do no pretend to be a food blogger.  i did not facetiously take pictures while i was cooking to make it appear as such.  i just love food.  alot.  alotalotalot. 

good news week

youve heard the saying "bad news comes in threes."  i would like to invent a new saying: "sometimes life goes super awesome and its like an avalanche of rad things just keep happening."  or the short version: "good news comes in threes."

at least, i like to think thats true.  

and this week, it has been.

1. my best friend/bad influence/fellow ugly/shes-known-me-for-too-long-for-me-to-let-her-get-very-far-away-with-my-secrets has spontaneously decided to come visit me next week!  she is a teacher so during spring break she is coming to hang out.  ive almost got her convinced that she should leave washington is come to california instead.  this is the first time in forever that she has come to me, and im really excited because:
a. i havent seen her since august
b. she is our first house guest since we moved to ca
c. im long overdo for some ugly pictures.

now, before you get upset that im calling my best friend ugly, you must understand-there are some faces only a mother and a best friend could love.  and a mother is iffy.  see?

this is an ugly.  no doubt.

2. i also got to see my dad on a last minute business trip this week!  he was only here for a few hours, but i got to talk to him and show him the new car (which i am supremely and probably unreasonably proud of, but hey can you blame me for being excited about the very first car thats every been bought just for me?!  see?  its overboard) and he reminisced about the area from his past business trips up this way.  

we were both concentrating on whether my finger was flexible enough to hit the camera button.

as a daddy's girl, im always excited to spend time with my dad.  we have alot in common-the same interests, passions, opinions, and world view.  sometimes, this leads to arguments and short tempers, but its all because we love each other.  

i think.

my teenage years were rough.

3.  and the one thing you all have been waiting for, and the one thing ive cruelly made you wait for, we found out the baby's gender! 

its a girl!!

backstory: on wednesday, we went to the dr and had the ultrasound.  we took an envelope for the tech to put the picture in so we could give it to my friends, who were making us a cake with either blue or pink filling.  

it was cool, watching the baby wiggle around, especially after a while it didnt seem to be super keen on the pressure around its head.  at one point the baby had hiccups, and at another, it started kicking its legs and bouncing its butt up in the air, which had all three of us laughing.

i think the best part was watching brian though-he hadnt seen the baby yet, and it was sweet to watch him glued to the screen, and the side smile that crept onto his face when the baby had its arms around its head in the exact same position brian often falls asleep in.  

so two of my friends took on the task of making a cake and we had a bunch of friends over last night for the party.  we called it a gender reveal party; we wanted to call it a "gentitalia unveiling," but thought some people might get offended.  but now you know.

i did some decorating.

we had people guess what it would be

wives tales and what it would be based on how they applied to me

yellow foods, the banner i made, and a buttload of streamers

mmm chocolate. the he's have nuts. HAHA.

the GORGEOUS cake (gluten free!)

after everyone got there, we cut the cake, and found the icing inside was pink...a girl!  both of us were shocked, we both thought it was going to be a boy.  

the moment of cake/gender/genitalia reveal

so yay, a mini alex!  but, true to mini alex form, there is a moratorium on pink. its not completely banned; weird pinks (like peach or melon or something) are ok, and things with pink on them are ok.  but completely pink things are out.  

should this result in a completely purple wardrobe, a purple ban might ensue as well...girls can wear blue and green too!

and if you should want to watch the video of the cake cutting, i will put it up soon.  then you can see my totally shocked face.

YAY GOOD NEWS!

glitter is the herpes of the craft world.

in the last year, i have had little time to do anything creative.  fine, in the last few years.  no wonder my house always looks frumpy.  but FINALLY i have had nothing better to do than make all sorts of crafty crafts.  laundry? dishes?  sweeping up dog hair?  psshh!  bottom of the priorities list.  

chartreuse and grey wreath

i know, i know, many of you are thinking "alex is one of THOSE??  a crappy crafter??" and others are thinking "yeah i totally had you pegged.  your closet-crafter act doesnt fool me."  you caught me.  i used to be uber artistic-i took art lessons, went to artsy summer camp things, and generally loved any arty medium.  i used to sketch all the time, and i think "creative" was one of the words my parents used most to describe me as a child.  after chatter-box and (whats a nice way to say annoying?).  

at some point that changed.  

mostly, i think i ran out of time.  but i also liked (ok, i admit, loved) the image i had (do i still have it?) through college.  i was known for doing things my own way, pushing the limits a little bit, and letting my very expressive and hard to mask facial expressions do alot of the talking.  hmmm i guess i probably still have that image.  i was told once that a person, before meeting me, thought i might punch whoever pissed me off.  he was surprised when he first heard me laugh, which i guess gave away some of that bravado.  i was shocked to hear thats what people thought of me, but slightly...proud?  that i wasnt perceived as just another giggly, much-too-talkative girl.  i liked being different, and was glad others liked it too.

in law school, one of my friends out of the blue said "im glad we are friends. i know you have my back.  like, if i ever needed defending, youd rip that persons throat out."  im sure she meant figuratively.  i dont like blood much.  i think this is the part i loved most-that my passion for things-life, politics, law, friends-was plain, and i would go to bat for them no matter how hard that was.

and a hardened female lawyer with a quick tongue and lightning fists doesnt go home and scrapbook.  amiright?

but making things has always been therapudic for me.  maybe its the time spent figuring out how to do it, like a puzzle that suddenly opens up to me, or its the countless hours doing the repetitive tasks that allows my mind to wander, or the back that aches after sitting on the floor for far too long in one position, that somehow sucks the stress out of me.

ORRRRR i might just like the chaotic mess i make in the process.  which is entirely possible.

seriously though, its like Michaels barfed on my floor half the time, yarn and hot glue and paper scraps mixing with dog hair and unfolded laundry.  but man, i have cranked out some keepers.  i think. i have some self respect though-no glitter has or will ever be used in any craft i make.  ever.  i have also been cooking up a storm, but ill save that for later.

i made two wreaths, the one above, and this one:

light grey and varied blue flowers

i backed a bookcase with paper and arranged it:

i promise the paper isnt that obnoxious in real life. 

i made two banners (one for a church thing, and one for a party):

this one is for church. i dont like pink that much.

party banner.  love this one.

AND i arranged my photos on the wall:

the h and the white canvas arent done, but its all up.

and for the first time in a year, we live in a house with some personal touches.  i never want to see a hot glue gun again. ok, not for another couple weeks.

oh, and i need a table to sew at.  this sitting on the floor and pushing the foot petal with my knee thing is getting old, especially when my dog decides to stand on said knee before my fabric is all lined up.

but im done with this nonsense for a little bit, because i have a party to plan!  on friday, we are finding out the gender of our baby!  stay tuned!

im BAAAACCKKK! and its two for the price of one.

family picture from Sept 2012

as im sure you have noticed, ive taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging.  there are reasons for this.  i like to think good reasons.  like studying for the bar, working a temp job that turned into overtime for 3 straight months, then studying for the bar yet again.  blahhhhhhhh.  ok those probably ARE good reasons, but still, its not that hard to write a paragraph or two here or there...right?

welp, im back on the train!  since i was too busy to send out christmas cards, and therefore didnt do a yearly update (would i have done a yearly update anyways?  uh, this is me we are taking about.  crap no.), lemme summarize the last 12 months:

we both graduated. finally.

brian got a job.

we moved. out of utah!

i studied for the bar for 3 months straight.

i visited lisa in WA. twice.

we went to christians wedding, went on a lake vacation with brians family, and a newport coast vacation with mine.

we got a doggie. (he is alot bigger than that picture now)

we lost sleep while potty training doggie.

the giants won the world series.

i worked 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day for 3 months. yay elections.

i did not pass the bar. i cried.

i got pregnant. i cried again.

we visited utah for christimas.

i threw up. alot.

i studied for the bar.

i got a new [to me] car.

i think that covers it all.

now im hanging out, making my own schedule and contemplating getting a part time job.  and in the meantime, wasting as much time as possible.  which is LOVELY. and spending lots of time with this cute fella.

whats not so lovely is all the demands from people to see how fat im getting.  really guys?  i know my gaining weight is making you feel better and all, but seriously, do we have to rub it in?

im not posting the classic "see how fat im getting/big my baby is getting" pictures on facebook, for reasons i wont go into (trying not to be a stereotypical mormon girl who gets pregnant right out of school, too many friends who post exclusively about their pregnancy/child/children [which are adorable, dont get me wrong], trying to make sure i maintain balance of self and not go off the deep end forgetting that this obnoxious personality named alex exists independent of children [who am i kidding? im too obnoxious to forget] and being self conscious about getting uncontrollably bigger...i think thats most of the reasons....).

BUT i am posting them here.  for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures.  revel in your own body, please, and be glad all you have is a tiny tummy roll unmutilated by an unknown life form.

12 weeks

14 weeks

16 weeks.  for the first time ever, my boobs are outdone.

as you can see, regular t-shirts arent gonna cut it for much longer.  oh boy, maternity clothes! im secretly excited cuz buying new clothes is always the best, amiright?

Parting question: anyone have any good ideas about what to do with clothes that arent-fitting-now-but-hopefully-will-later and maternity ones?  did you pack up your pre-pregnancy clothes or just leave them in the closet?   

(stress) ball of popcorn

it has been a really long time since i last posted.  Sorry about that, but im sure you didn’t miss me too much-my ranting about law school got lame after 2 years, i know.

i have a lot i could say about this last year of school, but ill leave that for another time.  if thats what you came here for, you probably need to see someone about that.

nope, right now all i can think about is the perfectly salted stove popped popcorn im stuffing into my mouth.  by the handful. im going to need to clean this keyboard in a minute. i love popcorn. its my coping mechanism.  what, lame you say?  i still love ice cream and chocolate, don’t get me wrong, and the sheer quantity of popcorn i consume is just as unhealthy.  but i know when im honing my finer skill of freaking out when i increase my weekly popcorn intake from 2 times a week to 5 or 6. especially when i consider popcorn lunch and dessert.  oops.

and freak out i am, considering the bar is only a few weeks away.  im hoping i die of a popcorn-induced coma by then. ill avoid the bar, and die happy. two birds, one kernel.

but besides my current stress level exceeding the medically recommended dosage, i had a chance a few weeks ago to unwind with some friends and reflect on where i am in life.  i once had this really ridiculous laugh.  seriously.  ridiculous. so ridiculous that people would record it and laugh at it. but i had forgotten what that laugh sounded like.  yes, i guffaw daily and am inclined to smile at everything, but this uncontrollable, glass shattering, bubbling giggle i have doesn’t appear often.  i have a couple of ideas why, and now im working on them.

in case you were wondering, bar study does not induce this kind of laughter. more like the signature eyeroll.

thanks to popcorn and a sore laugh box, im trying to get back to me.  trying to more authentic to alex. i worry too much now.  law school took all the nonchalant, lowend mediocrity, don’t give a shit that i acquired in college and turned it into an uptight, frayed ended, worry wart.  and i don’t like that.  be honest, you don’t either. im working on being me again.  being too loud sometimes, too talkative all the time, and maybe a tiny bit too carefree. ok, not too much. just a little. teensy bit. fine, ill be happy if i can just be carefree some times.

if you saw me in this stress ball state and you went to law school with me, i hope you don’t recognize me next time we meet. if you saw me like this and you didn’t go to law school with me, sorry. law school does horrible things.  

homeless adventure part hamsa: good thing we brought our camping gear

sorry this has been so long coming; the [lack of] internet that we had (via brians phone acting as a hotspot) made it virtually impossible for me to upload pictures so i waited until we got back to utah.  we have been here for almost 3 weeks now, and we still have no real internet.  and no pictures.

but i sally forth.  the last weeks of being in california were a little crazy.  there was so much that we wanted to do but just didnt have a chance to get to.  but we managed to see some friends who had moved out there (permanently, sooo jealous), brian got to ride his freeboard through the city (with a bunch of dudes who were high), we went to an A's game with our ward (i wanted to wear my giants shirt but opted to stay alive instead), we went on a double date (with my fabulous new friend Jac who i left in sf and miss!), got invited to dinner by a cool younger couple in our ward (make that TWO friends i made in the bay!), and even managed to go to a wedding the day before we left (one of brians childhood friends).  there probably is alot more, but law school has already scrambled my brains.

as we were packing, we were faced with the dilemma of how we were going to get everything home again.  you see, we had accumulated a few things [ahem, brian bought 4 rims] and didnt know how it was all going to fit back into our two little cars.  i pointed out that the camping stuff that we had been determined to use hadnt been used at all.   great.  oh, nevermind, we had used the camping grill once before it broke and was now in the dumpster.  ha.  good thing we brought it huh?

the weekend before we were to move back to utah, we decided to justify the camping gear we toted across the barren wasteland that is nevada and was going to be hell to pack back.  so we went to yosemite.  it was only for one night, and we wish we had stayed longer, but it was tons of fun.  we went into the valley, went to the base of one of the falls, and the next morning went on a hike and swam in a mountain lake.  talk about a stellar ending to the summer.  brian just about peed his pants that night, thinking there was a bear near our tent, but i think he loved it too.

he apparently like it so much that he wanted to duplicate the experience on the way out of california.  instead of staying in a hotel (which he swears is a good thing because all the reviews on yelp indicated we were destined to get an STD, bed bugs, and some terminal disease from dirty sheets if we stayed in any hotels between Reno and Elko), we drove 30 miles off the freeway and camped in a remote [but free] campsite outside of battle mountain.  as we drove in at 1 am, i hoped noone was there to be woken up.  when we pulled in and noone was there, i wished there were other people around to make sure we emerged from our tent alive in the morning.

too bad, we were alive in the morning, and we did make it back to utah in one piece. well two pieces, since we were in two cars.  and i can tell you God hears prayers, because besides some minor overheating issues at the beginning of the trip which brian fixed, and some weather stripping that decided it would rather strip than weather the last 30 miles into SLC, we had no car problems during the drive like i asked.  but i tell you, sometimes be less specific, because the next day, both our cars fell apart.

justonemoreyear, justonemoreyear, justonemoreyear.....

homeless adventure part a'rbaa: the giant potty

ok so the title really doesnt mean an enormous toilet.  ill explain in a minute.

first of all, we have no internet, which is why i havent posted earlier.  i keep saying im going to go to the library and use the internet there, but i havent.  my schedule is this: go to work, come home, change and go to the gym, make dinner, watch part of a movie, then go to bed.  thats it.  it doesnt sound super busy, but it seriously is.  its nuts.  busiest summer ever.  BUT its been two months since i posted last so its time for an update photo-style.

my ghetto food processor 

brian is a goofball

We finally got settled by buying some things like a 5$ set of silverware and 5$ glasses from Ikea.  we also had the good fortune of having some members of our ward donate some furniture to us for the summer, like the chairs above.  still sparsely furnished, but its something!

this is our town, San Leandro

Downtown Oakland, where I work

Oyster Bay, the airport is in the distance

So thats the scene we live.  i bart into oakland everyday. we drive around town every day.  oyster bay is where san leandro meets the bay.  neato. 

Point Reyes

Point Reyes by the lighthouse

HOLY windy

 we like to go on adventures, like to point reyes and on pretty drives that always make we want to barf.  this day i was good. on the way there at least.  after this picture, i turned green.  

brian is scared of goats

brian is also scared of pictures

i love G-raff-eeeeeeeeeees!

driving into the city 

the golden gate from the bay bridge

the golden gate from the lookout point

the sweet tagging next to the golden gate lookout

on memorial day, we went to the zoo and to the golden gate bridge.  brian likes to take pictures.  he took pictures of the bridge. i did too. but mine are uglier.  

Lets go Giants!

we had great seats

so happy to see the giants play!

coach boch

sweet stadium

...street lights, people...

we LOVE the giants and were super stoked to be able to see them play. we have  gone twice now.  hence the "giant" in the post title...

classic.

BFFLFE

did i say classic already?

aw!

I also went to Everett for Danielle's wedding.  i stayed with lisa and laughed way too much.  but thats what you are supposed to do with best friends right?  thats what i thought.  brian stayed home and his bro came out to chill with him.

to finished the explanation of the post title, we went to see Harry Potter 7.2 last night at midnight.  AMAZING.  the audience sucked but the movie was good and it was way fun to do a midnight showing, since its been years since ive done one.  

anyways.  now you know, we are still alive.  though without the internet, you might question my definition of "living."