I read biographies all the time.  I like to read biographies from all kinds of people, from criminals to artists to corporate moguls and political figures.   Today I picked up "It's So Easy," by Duff McKagen of Guns N' Roses.   This will be my second GNR autobiography as I have also read Slash's book.   Duff came from the Seattle punk scene and moved to LA with a few hundred bucks in his pocket when he was still a teenager.   He lived in his car, got a job at a restaurant, and taught himself to live on eating once a day, the free meal provided by the restaurant.   The Mexican prep chef made the same thing every day for the staff, and even though it was all Duff ate for months on end he continues to love it and cook it for his friends and family to this day.   So here it is:

Prep Chef Pollo
-skin/rinse chicken breasts, arrange on broiling pan
-depending on thickness grill 5 min per side under the broiler
-during the final 30 seconds of  broiling, brush on a thick layer of teriyaki sauce
-in a mixing bowl, toss together diced avocado, julienned jalapeno, and cubed fresh pineapple
-cook wild rice together with an ample amount of breadcrumbs if you are a starving artists who needs to increase caloric content and thicken rice
-place broiled chicken over rice and spoon salsa over the top

I think I probably would enjoy this so I'll file this away for later.

I picked up dinner from the hot bar at Rainbow Grocery tonight  They are a vegetarian place.   I have a strong aversion to hamburger so I was excited to see a shepherd's pie for me.   The underside was composed of mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, and broccoli, and the mashed potatoes on top had a nice layer of paprika on top.   It tasted better than it sounds and I wish I had the recipe. 

Speaking of recipes, I am thinking of cooking a few recipes from my Titanic cookbook to commemorate the upcoming 100th anniversary.   The assets auction soon so we'll know our fate one way or another by then.   I'll commemorate with spring pea soup.

I ran the half yesterday.   I burnt out early and was toast by the end of the race.  I looked down at the running watch Joel got me and noticed I was going about a minute faster pace than I probably should have been for about six miles, so I paid for it by mile 11.   Oh, well, my time wasn't terrible but I think I could have done better if I controlled my pace better.   I should plan to really work on my speed for next year.

I had a big short rib bone left over from Fox Brothers Barbeque, so I am making soup again.   I added a few vegetables like onion and celery, and will finish it off with some rice I have and either swiss chard or nappa cabbage.   I think it will be pretty good.

I was just microwaving my lunch, leftover butternut squash soup, when my awesomely dreadlocked Jamaican friend from accounting came with her leftovers and pointed out we made the same thing. Mine is onion, carrot, celery, broth, thyme, black pepper and butternut squash cooked together and half pureed with a hand blender so it's part smooth and part chunk.   Hers is a fish cooked down with onion, carrot, celery, thyme, scotch bonnet peppers, and pumpkin pureed with a hand blender.   Great minds think alike.

My gym arranged a special partner yoga class for Valentine's weekend, so I took Joel.   Most of partner yoga involves balancing off each other or one person pushing the other into a deeper pose.   It also involves trusting the other person's strength and balance ("just don't strangle on my neck, alright") as you dangle off each other.  Some of the class was really helpful and other parts we too advanced for us to pull off.  My favorite one involved facing each other while grasping wrists and very slowly squatting into a seated position and standing back up again.   Yoga isn't for me, but I should probably do more of it just for the flexibility.

Bananas can be frozen and pureed in a food processor to the taste and texture of ice cream!   Just one ingredient, all natural, no sugar, no nothing, just banana, pureed in a food processor or blender for a five minutes.   It gets creamy and sweet on its own.  I might try adding something like lime juice or ginger or frozen berries next time but just banana is pretty good. 

My favorite youtube phenomenon of the moment is that of Champis, the Swedish sheep herding farm rabbit.  After a few years of hanging around a sheep farm watching the dogs he picked up on how to run herd.   The farm owners say that he has a very big ego and he bosses the chickens, too.    I take this as proof that a rabbit is just as good  of a pet as a dog.

This year we used our long vacation from Christmas through New Years to go on a long road trip to see relatives in Texas, with several stops on the way.   We spent a few nights in New Orleans, where I saw my favorite new band, Rebirth Brass Band.  They were so good and I felt really inspired listening to them and seeing the audience dancing and having fun.   I love the New Orleans music scene.   We stopped in Houston, Comfort, Boerne, Austin, and San Antonio.   Joel's grandpa really lit up when we stopped by, he just couldn't get over how Joel grew up, and it was fun spending time with his aunt Mary and uncle Bob.   We hiked the rocks and falls at Pedernales near Austin and saw the Alamo and missions of San Antonio.  We saw a little of the Austin music scene, which is also fun because of the dancing.  On the way back we stopped in a little town my uncle Joe liked and hung around the bayou and the swamps.   I bought fresh satsuma oranges right off the tree of a farmer.  It was a great trip.   

My grandparents came to Georgia for Thanksgiving.  They spent a little time at our house, and since we both love Gone with the Wind I was excited grandma got to see Margaret Mitchell's house.  Sadly we didn't go on the full tour but it was still fun.   We went to Savannah, where my parents treated us to a meal at the famous Big Pink House.  I had a salad of roasted beets, pistachios and vanilla bean vinaigrette over greens and a filet mignon in a chestnut mushroom ragu for Thanksgiving.  My grandpa's favorite stop on the trip was touring civil war site Fort Pulaski, visited on a whim after taking them on a boat ride from Tybee to see some dolphins.  Savannah is a beautiful place to hang out with your family at. Being a musician's wife means being alone most of the time, especially since I'm far from friends and family, so it was really nice to have people who care about me to talk to and do things with every day.