10:52AM - Friends-Only

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

7:22PM - Golly Moses, Do I Love Odie

Golly Moses, do I love Odie!

The highlights look completely 100% natural. If you didn't know I'd had 'em done, you would just think I'd been able to go to the water park every Friday, instead of just that once.

He trimmed my bangs and took out some of the weight all around, and, well... It looks like we're back to the hair cut in this animated, silly icon of me. Just a couple more months of growth!

HAPPINESS IS!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Washington DC area: Go to Odie. He's at Saint-Germain, 202.824.0444. Tell him Wendy sent you. And she loves her hair.

5:09PM - Be a solid

Six degrees and whatnot...

heidi8's pink Kodak camera and blue Sidekick LX were taken at Disney's Splash Mountain at around 4:30 PM on Sautrday, June 7, and she's trying to get the SD cards that were in the camera and Sidekick back; they're the only copies she has of those photos. She's asking people to pass on this message via their LJ, blog, facebook, etc., in hopes of catching the eye of the person who took it - or someone who knows who did. If that person sees this post, they can go to her livejournal post at http://heidi8.livejournal.com/913939.html and post anonymously (it'll be screened) so she can coordinate with them about getting the cards - and, ideally, the rest of the contents of the bag - returned.

10:33AM - Arr! Beware The Encores!

Gilbert & Sullivan's
The Pirates of Penzance

April 16, 17, 18, and 19, 2008

Reserve tickets now, pay later
OR
Buy tickets now online

3:12PM - Legacy 32 Mark III : My Dad Blogs

My dad's blogging! Everyone, feel free to check him out on your LJ syndication at legacy32, or on his Blogspot page. Popeye is a Legacy 32' Mark III, and is a comical, lovely boat.

If you know anyone who has a double-ended trawler, or wants to talk about them, send 'em Dad's way.

1:25PM - Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots with Bacon

I've posted about my love for the sprouts from Brussels before, but here I go again, with the recipe I made last night at Supper Club.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots with Bacon

2 lbs Brussels sprouts
1 shallot
6 strips high-quality thick-cut bacon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Take a 9x13 pan and lay out the bacon; nothing should overlap (trim if you need to to make sure of this), and put it in the oven (center-ish rack) for 10-15 minutes. While the bacon renders its fat and starts to crisp up, prepare your sprouts. To do this, peel off the loose and dark outer leaves, cut off the stem, and cut each sprout into quarters. Then, chop up your shallot.

When the bacon has gotten crispy (or, as crispy as you want to let it...I went for "cooked but still pliable"), remove it to a paper towel-lined plate. Toss the sprouts and shallots in the rendered fat in the 9x13 pan, and choose which way you're going with your bacon. You have two options:

1. Reserve the bacon until right before serving, crumbling it on top of the dish at the last minute.
2. Cut the bacon into lardons, and toss it back into the dish with the sprouts and shallots before roasting.

I went with option #2.

Put the pan back in the oven, and let roast for 40-60 minutes, stirring once or twice during the process. They should be getting caramelized and yummy-smelling near the end, and a fork should go through them with little resistance.

Easy-peasy, and dirties very few dishes. A great go-to side dish for holiday meals.

2:37PM - Anything Goes!

The Georgetown Gilbert and Sullivan Society is proud to present

Anything Goes

November 7, 8, 9, and 10, 2007
8:00 PM
Hart Auditorium, Georgetown Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001

To reserve tickets, call 202-662-9270 or email ggss@law.georgetown.edu.
Please leave your name, phone number, date of performance(s), and number of tickets requested.

Plenty of LJers in the crew, pit, and behind the scenes! Fabulous music! Great show!

11:12AM - Butterbeer for Grownups

• Frost 1 beer mug per person.
  
• Add 1 jigger Butterscotch Schnapps to the bottom of your frosted mug.
  
• Top with high-quality cream soda.
  
• Drink.
  
• Enjoy.

For an added bit of fun, before you put the schnapps in the mug, put a scoop of vanilla, caramel, or butterscotch ice cream in the mug, and have a butterbeer float.

7:54AM - Dear President Bush (A Rare Public Post)

Dear President Bush,

In commuting Mr. Libby's sentence, you said you found the 30 month sentence he received for his crime "excessive." As you well know, the sentence was derived using calculations in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Your administration, especially Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, has robustly defended these guidelines. Indeed, your administration has put incredible pressure on judges to stick slavishly to the guidelines -- any departures based on judicial discretion are to be reported to the Department of Justice.

President Bush, I share your concern that sentences under the guidelines can be excessive when viewed in light of the facts of the cases before judges. Personally, I know a man serving fifteen years for crossing a state line while in possession of pot. Fifteen years, President Bush, not months.

If you want to have a lasting positive effect come out of this trying time for your administration, I'd strongly suggest you work with Congress and change the sentencing guidelines to encourage -- yes, encourage -- justices to fully consider the individual mitigating factors of each crime when considering punishment. Even without the aid of Congress, you can encourage this through a shift in DoJ policy.

A new Attorney General would be nice, too.

Our federal prison system is a nightmare, President Bush. I wouldn't wish an extra day in it on anyone. Don't let your concern with excessive sentencing stop with the people you know. The time for sentencing reform is now.

Sincerely,

Wendy Stengel

9:34AM - Lunch Off 2007

A few friendly office mates, a challenge, a LUNCH OFF!

Each participant brought a lunch today, and wrote a description of said lunch for your edification. Vote for your favorite below. Lunch descriptions are presented in alphabetic order of participants' first names. This entry is unlocked, so that anyone interested can vote.

• Mariana:
  Mediterranean Lentil Soup:
  
  This is a apricot lentil soup made with French lentils. It has roma tomatoes, garlic, onions, thyme and dash of cumin. The soup has been pureed and will be served with a sprinkle of sesame oil.
  
  
• Noemi:
  First to land in my belly is my "one-thousand-stirs" polenta infused and topped with parmesan shavings. Very rich. This is sided by my basic veggie staple, lentils cooked with carrots and onion.
  
  Next is eggplant sautéed in olive oil and cooked with fresh tomato, garlic, rosemary, quinoa, and rice.
  
  For desert, vegan chocolate cake, silky with applesauce and maple syrup, pregnant with chocolate chips and walnuts and surrounded by fresh strawberries. Yum.
  
  All of this is topped like a cherry, with beano, for my friends :-)
  Can you tell I'm veggie *and* Italian??
  
  
• Rahshia:
  Tropical Island Chicken salad.
  
  Marinated chunks of white meat chicken with Pineapples, grapes, celery and onion mixed in a peanut-curry sauce and served in a Pineapple-boat and topped with chopped nuts. Yummie.
  
  
• Wendy:
  First tier: raspberries, blackberries, and kiwi; ricotta with marionberry honey; filberts (you can call 'em hazelnuts, if you want).
  
  Second tier: two onigiri with umiboshi and nori (so, short grained sticky rice, molded around a salty preserved plum, with a seaweed strip to keep your fingers clean); two hard boiled eggs, one molded into the shape of a bunny head, one into the shape of a fish; heirloom cherry tomatoes.
  
  Third tier: salad consisting of: mache; fresh fava beans, shucked, blanched, and peeled; baby artichokes, trimmed, quartered, sauteed in avocado oil and deglazed with dry vermouth; freshly shaved fennel, and fennel fronds; matchsticks of yellow pepper; wedges of orange cherry tomatoes; curls of aged gouda.
  
  

Poll #980197 Lunch Off!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Whose lunch wins the first ever Lunch Off?

9:39AM - PATIENCE opens tonight!

Come one, come all to see PATIENCE -- opening tonight! Reserve your tickets online -- it saves you $2 on your ticket price! And, let me know what night(s) you're coming, so I can look for you after the show.

Gilbert & Sullivan's
"PATIENCE"
directed by *Allison Stockman*

*Hilarious characters, farce-like twists of plot, humorous lyrics and beautiful music make this a delightful show. "Patience" is Gilbert & Sullivan's satire of the aesthetic movement of the 1880s that celebrates art for arts' sake and beauty above all else and was spearheaded by the witty Oscar Wilde. The ideas in the play about the human willingness to change in pursuit of the fashion of the times, the fickleness of admirers, and the heartbreak that goes hand in hand with the joys of love are as relevant today as ever.*

April 11-14, 8:00 p.m.
Hart Auditorium, Georgetown Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001

*Reserve tickets*

9:36AM - Come See Gilbert & Sullivan's PATIENCE, April 11, 12, 13, and 14

The Georgetown Gilbert & Sullivan Society is proud to present
Gilbert & Sullivan's
"PATIENCE"
directed by Allison Stockman

Hilarious characters, farce-like twists of plot, humorous lyrics and beautiful music make this a delightful show. "Patience" is Gilbert & Sullivan's satire of the aesthetic movement of the 1880s that celebrates art for arts' sake and beauty above all else and was spearheaded by the witty Oscar Wilde. The ideas in the play about the human willingness to change in pursuit of the fashion of the times, the fickleness of admirers, and the heartbreak that goes hand in hand with the joys of love are as relevant today as ever.

April 11-14, 8:00 p.m.
Hart Auditorium, Georgetown Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001

Reserve your tickets online now!


Yes, I'm in it -- I'm playing Lady Jane, the matronly contralto pining away for an aesthetic poet who crushes her at every turn... it's a hillariously fun part. I hope you have a chance to come and see it!

If you have a business you'd like to advertise to lawyers, law students, theater-goers, or friends of lawyers and/or law students, book a cheap-as-chips program ad online now.

10:35AM - Champagne Dinner @ Willow

Willow
4301 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203
703.465.8800

Please join us
for our 1st Annual

Valentine's
Celebration Champagne
Tasting Dinner

Monday, Fabruary 12th, 6:45 PM

Celebrate with a
Five Course Tasting Menu
combining the talents of Chefs Tracy O'Grady and Kate Jansen,
with the Champagne making expertise of
Claude Thibaut of Janisson & Fils Champagne House.
We are all looking forward to an elegant affair in honor of
Valentine's Day, but without the crowds.

Cost is $125 per person, inclusive of Tax and Tip.

I'll post the menu when I get it, but at least one of the courses will involve oysters... I'm splitting a crate with the chef so that I can have oysters for Supper Club.

12:27PM - Willow: Fritters coming off the menu; Champagne dinner next week.

All you who love the fritters at Willow, know this: TODAY IS YOUR LAST DAY. They're coming off the menu as of Wednesday, so if you need a fix, get in there for lunch or dinner or bar food today. Seriously. I know *I'LL* be grabbing an order at the bar tonight.

Also: they're doing a champagne dinner next week. I don't recall off the top of my head if it's Monday or Tuesday (and will post here with the firm details as soon as I get confirmation -- I'm pretty darned sure it's Monday), but they're bringing in a hard-to-find, yummy-as-all-hell champagne producer, and pairing it with such yummy deliciousness as you can't even imagine, and you should totally go. There are still some slots left.

Reserve yer spot. How? Call (703) 465-8800.

8:36AM - A Gasp Of Wonder

Nick was exhausted after his shift last night. So much so that he couldn't hold up a conversation. I told him I knew he was tired, but I really wanted him to sit on the couch with me and have a glass of wine before going to bed. It helped him so much a few nights ago when he did SOMETHING to break up the work-bed-work-bed... loop. He agreed.

We got home. He busied himself with de-working, de-coating, de-shoeing, etc. I ran ahead, and plugged in the tree. When he came in to the living room, he was midsentence.

And then, he gasped.

It was thrilling, that gasp. He lost his train of thought completely.

When he spoke again, it was a whisper. "It's beautiful."

I smiled, and poured him some Penfolds St. Henri. We sat in tree light.

8:54AM - Go "Into The Woods"!

It's nearly that time! "Into The Woods" opens tomorrow night. See Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack (of beanstalk fame), Little Red Riding Hood and others go from Once Upon A Time to Happy Ever After… and find out what happens *after* happy ever after. Will they face the consequences of their actions to get their wishes?

Stephen Sondheim's

"Into the Woods"

8:00 PM, November 1-4, 2006

Hart Auditorium, Georgetown University Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001

I play Jack's Mother, I wear not one but TWO fabulously silly hats, there's singing, laughing, dying, and various forms of megafauna. It's one of my favorite musicals, and I hope you come and enjoy it.

Reserve tickets in advance, get $2 off the price of admission!

8:02AM - Lame-Assed Halloween; "Into The Woods" Dress Rehearsal Recap

I am so not turned out for Halloween today. I'm wearing black jeans (who knew I had a pair stashed away... that fit?) rolled up, a black little cardigan, a pink tee (under said cardi), black Chucks, and pink wide-gauge fishnets. And my charm bracelet, which I've not worn since my tendonitis flared up so much that I switched my mousing hand from right to left. Bracelet is now on the right hand, which feels weird.

umbra_fish is going to run our scene w/ me nightly before the show starts. It's not a scene I have trouble with -- far from it. It is, however, a scene that gets me into the right frame of mind -- after that scene, I feel like I'm acing the role. Power of positive ya-yas, gravy!

Cinderella's quick changes are being radically changed. I don't mind asking someone to do something difficult, I really don't. But "difficult" is different than "impossible," and there's just no way to make those two changes the way they were originally blocked and costumed. So... we're not doing them. We're doing different things. It will work, and our lovely and talented Cinderella won't be crying tears of completely understandable frustration and worry. Now, to tell the director what we came up with...

greyathena's designs look GREAT on stage. Holy crap. I mean, yeah, I helped get all the costumes together. I assembled. But, I'd never seen the full look like I did last night, and... I know it's the tradition to go on and on about how good the girls look (and they do look good, don't get me wrong), but blackbuddha looks amazing. Like he walked out of an etching. It's... it's really cool.

heathercs is a fabulous sanity-keeper, and helped figure out all the new costume changes for her onstage daughter. And kept me sane. Mostly. :)

Tonight, I need to remember to bring another cape for minervaish as the Witch, and my set of hot rollers (also for the Witch). Evidently, the price for NOT having to set my hair for this show is ... setting someone else's hair. Hot rollers uncomfortably applied is something I can do.

Now, if only we can get clear and accurate cues to enter for the top of each act, we'll be set!

Final dress rehearsal is tonight. Opening night: tomorrow! Reserve your tickets now!

10:29AM - Into The Woods: November 1, 2, 3, 4

The Georgetown Gilbert and Sullivan Society is proud to present

Into the Woods

November 1, 2, 3, and 4, 2006
8:00 PM
Hart Auditorium, Georgetown Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001

To reserve tickets, call 202-662-9270 or email ggss@law.georgetown.edu.
Please leave your name, phone number, date of performance(s), and number of tickets requested.

Plenty of LJers in the crew, pit, and behind the scenes! Fabulous music! Great show!

7:32AM - A Wild Cheer Goes Out To taryns_mom

Hip, hip, hurray! It's taryns_mom birthday!

Have a spectacular time today, darlin'. Do something fun to celebrate, and tell us all about it!

5:19PM - Food Blogging Continues

Right now, in a 400°F oven, I have a dish full of cauliflower florets (a whole head's worth) which have been tossed with a tablespoon of olive oil, two minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper.

I would say that I resisted running a finger through the bowl I tossed it all together in, but I'd be lying. Mmmm, garlic and oil and salt and pepper.

Looking forward to dinner in 30 minutes, and how.

---

ETA:

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

So frickin' good. So simple. So hearty. So. Frickin'. Good.

Hrm, wonder if that dish would reheat well for lunches?

Hrm hrm, wonder if I could ever make that dish and not devour it immediately?