The Great Month of May

May turned out to be a wonderful month, mostly because I got to spend time with some of my bestest and oldest friends in celebration of Nikki's wedding.

It all started with the shower where we drank beer, wine and sangria and filled Nikki's kitchen with gadgets and gizmos a-plenty! 

We then proceeded to the bachelorette party where we kidnapped Nikki and swept her off to Las Vegas.  We partied it up at the Hard Rock hotel and the Wet Republic pool party (hosted by the one and only P-Diddy!)

And finally, we ended the wonderful month of May with a last minute invitation to watch Nikki get married to the wonderful Nate Butler.  It was the perfect ceremony, simple, beautiful, quick, and smothered in barbecue sauce! 

I couldn't be more happy for Nikki and Nate and the wonderful commitment they made to eachother, but what really made the month of May special for me was the chance to spend time with my wonderful friends.  With our busy lives it's hard for us to keep in touch and even harder for us to get together and see each other, but no matter how much time passes by we all know that when we finally get together, it'll always be like we just saw each other yesterday.    I'm so grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.  Love ya ladies! 

Cool wave pics

Some randoms from the bars

Try this recipe...it's amazing!

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• Pasta with Asparagus, Peas, Prosciutto, and Butter Lettuce
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• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
• 1/2 pound spring onions or green onions (dark green parts discarded); white parts cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices, pale green parts cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• Coarse kosher salt
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
• 1 1/2 pounds asparagus, cut crosswise into 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 cups shelled fresh peas (from about 2 pounds peas in pods) or 2 cups frozen petite peas, thawed
• 1 pound campanelle (trumpet-shaped pasta) or medium (about 1-inch) shell-shaped pasta
• 1 head of butter lettuce or Boston lettuce (about 6 ounces), cored, leaves cut into 3/4-inch-wide slices
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for sprinkling
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 4 oz thinly sliced prosciutto, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips

I've made this recipe twice now, the first time I would say was a complete failure, but tonight it was completely delicious!  I'm going to give you my own directions because the ones in Bon Appetit are a little confusing.

Directions:

• Begin by chopping everything in the beginning and setting it all aside (asparagus, parsley (use 2 tablespoons, not half a cup, too much), green onions (chop them all about 1/4 inch), shallots (2 tbsp is perfect), prosciutto, and parmesan.
• Boil a big pot of water and heat up a large pan on med/low hear.  
• In the pan put the butter, olive oil, green onions, shallots, and salt.  Saute for a couple minutes.
• Add pasta to water
• Add peas and asparagus into the pasta pot and cook for the last 2-3 minutes (add them at 5 minutes, the medium shells take about 8 minutes).
• Add white wine to the pan, turn up heat and cook down.
• Add chicken stock and cook down til it is thick, turn to low.
• Drain pasta and veggies and toss all together in the large pan.  Toss in the butter lettuce (I used the bagged butter lettuce from the store)
• Toss in parmesan
• Serve with prosciutto sprinkled on top and extra cheese

This dish is really good the next day as a cold pasta salad too. I love the saltiness of the parmesan and prosciutto with the sweetness of the peas.  The shell pasta catches the peas inside and they are a really fun shape.  The sauce is really light and delicious and could be a really great substitute to heavy red sauces during the spring and summer.  Hope you like it. 

NETFLIX

I would like to start this blog by saying that I LOVE NETFLIX! 

I'm not sure how I went this long without this wonderful, convenient, entertainment delivery system.  It's great.

I signed up for the 2 movies at a time plan, unlimited movies a month.  So far I have seen

• Milk
• Vicky, Christina, Barcelona
• Changeling
• Man on Wire

and I have about 30 more movies waiting in my queue that I can't wait to see! Woo hoo!  I'm afraid that I have fallen behind on my tivo'd shows, but they will be there when I have time to get to them.  

And I will close this blog by saying, I LOVE NETFLIX. haha.

BIG BEAR and VAMPIRE WEEKEND SHOW

So here is how this whole trip all began....

Monday morning was a typical morning, driving to work around 8:30am and listening to Kevin and Bean on KROQ like always. It just so happened that Ralph Garmin, who does the showbiz beat, mentioned something about a give-away for 4 free lift tickets to Big Bear and a free Vampire Weekend show.  All you have to do is listen for A-Punk by VW and call in and win.

So, my day proceeds without much excitement and around lunch time I headed over to my storage unit to pick up some boxes.  When I got back in the car, guess what came on the radio?  Yes, APUNK.  So I was like, what the heck, I'll call.  I picked up my phone and dialed 1800-820-1067.  I mis-dialed: the actual # is 1800-520-1067, so I tried again and it RANG! I stayed on the phone for what seemed like forever and just when I was about to hang up, a guy answered.

"Hello"

"Hi, Im calling for the lift tickets."

"Have you ever won anything on the radio?"

"No"

"Well you're caller 4!"

"Oh" I said in a really sad voice.  I thought I had to be caller 20.

"No, you won!"

"OH!!!" I said in a really excited voice!

So I gathered my girls and my gear and we headed up to Bear early Friday morning.  Lucky for us my friend Lindsay's family has an amazing cabin up there that we got to stay at.

It was a beautiful day, hot and sunny (just wore a thermal) and not too crowded.  We didn't actually start boarding until almost noon because we lagged a bit at the cabin drinking beers and filling up on snacks.  So we did a couple runs and took a break to watch Iglu and Hartley and Vampire Weekend and have a few drinks!

The band was great and there weren't even that many people there so we got pretty good seats.

By the time the band had finished and I had finished my beers and bloody mary it was close to 4 and the mountain was closing at 4:30, so we did one more run and called it a day.

The rest of the afternoon we napped, drank more beers, ate some snacks, and had a robe party.  Basically doing all of the above mentioned activities but in robes.  You should try it sometime.  It really makes the ordinary seem extraordinary! 

After a healthy dinner of Domino's Pizza we headed out to the bars (and by bars I mean plural, like only 2 in the whole town).  Our first stop is a bar called Chad's Place.  An interesting place.  Cover band on stage, biker dudes walking around in their "Demon's From Heaven" leather jackets, pool tables, bearded toothless men, darts, and other interesting mountain folk.  We played a couple rounds of pool then decided to head to Murray's where they have karaoke!

We posted up at the bar in Murray's, had a round of Casadores shots (thanks Julie) and a couple pitchers of beer.  I really like sitting at the bar as opposed to a table because everyone in the place has to come by at some point and order a drink.  And in Big Bear, the people are very interesting to talk to. 

We met some very interesting people, like the bartender (although I can't remember his name), sang some karaoke, and stumbled back to the cabin around 1am.

We headed home the next day, tired, hungover, and sore, but still happy from a great day trip to Big Bear that all started one typical mundane Monday.

My first and only follower!

I would like to give a shout out to my first and only follower, Miss Darcey May.  She rocks! 

Thanks Darcey.