Another glam business trip to Los Angeles on Tuesday: barely made the 9.00 a.m. Southwest flight after oversleeping and needing to stop for gas (I was sick Sunday and Monday with a fever, headache, and cough). We were about 20 minutes into the hour-long flight when somebody about ten rows back let out a loud yell. Everybody turned to look, but we couldn't see much except the flight attendant running over. Nothing or a few minutes, then another shout followed by, "I invented crack!" Oh, really? There's a celebrity on this flight! Another few minutes before he declared "I can do anything!" followed by a somewhat mournful, "I need to be a dee jaaaaayyyyy..." Oddly enough, the flight attendants didn't seem especially concerned. A little tense, but they went about the service as normal and when the pilot got on the PA he did his usual spiel about the weather in LA, not congregating around the forward bathroom and keeping your seatbelt fastened in case of unexpected turbulence blah blah blah. When we got to LA, everything was totally routine as if nothing odd had transpired at all. We landed, they told us to stay seated 'til we got to the gate, and we all got off. No cops, nothing. I guess because the dude stayed in his seat they really couldn't do anything else. Bizarre, though. I wonder if he did invent crack.

On the flight back to Oakland that evening I was reminded that Southwest gave away beers for free on Tuesday in honor of St. Patrick's Day when the woman next to me got a free Heineken. Nevertheless I opted for a white wine with one of my frequent flier coupons. Never drink beer on a plane; the bubbles and altitude make for a bad abdominal situation and unhappy seatmates.

Last night I finally made a recipe from Rachael Ray that I've had on the short list for a while now, Mac-n-Smoked Gouda with Cauliflower. Though very tasty, it ended up being kind of a pain in the neck to make and I ended up with easily 12 servings of mac & cheese. The part where you thicken the sauce of milk, broth, roux and onions said nothing about how often to stir, which made me nervous so I stirred it pretty constantly for about ten minutes before adding the cheese. It turned out fine, but the entire recipe took an hour, not 30 minutes or less, and I'll be eating it for some time to come.

Jamie from Top Chef was just in a segment on Eye on the Bay, a local out-and-about show on the CBS affiliate. Today's topic was comfort food and Jamie's picks for hot dogs are the Happy Belly cart in Golden Gate Park (topped with kimchee...ew) and Costco's $1.50 meal deal. The hot dog she's currently experimenting with at Absinthe includes kobe beef, bacon, and pink salt, among a helluva lot of other ingredients.

I recently bought a digital Zen Alarm Clock which is supposed to wake you up gradually with the dulcet tones of a gradually increasing chime. I actually like the regular Zen clock better, but there's no room for it on my nightstand, so I got the digital version which also has a choice of high and low tones. The first night I set it for high, not knowing what to expect and trying to err on the side of caution. Because it's a progressive chime sequence, you have to set it for ten minutes before you actually want to get up. At 6.55 last Wednesday morning the first chime goes off, and Isis and I hit the ceiling. No need for the addition chimes 'cuz we were awake! I reset it to low for the rest of the week, and while it's still a little startling, I'm getting used to it and like it more than the shrill beepy alarm I had before. The main problem is that the digital display is hard to read when you're all bleary-eyed, and it takes up more space than I'd like on my nightstand.

Driving in San Ramon is becoming hazardous; we're overrun (overwaddled?) with Canada geese who frequently wander out into the streets, and gaggles of wild turkeys are beginning to show up as well, especially around the corner of Alcosta and Crow Canyon.

The mini quiches (mini omelet cups, really) turned out well, though Lucky didn't have a great selection of sausage and I wasn't thrilled with the patties I ended up getting (Banquet?) so will try a different type next time. I don't have a microwave but they reheat reasonably fast in the toaster oven.

For dinner last night I made a pot of super-simple avgolemono soup which will last through tomorrow. I made this week's batch of hummus with black beans instead of garbanzo and had that on naan with the soup. Nice and comforting on a chilly weekend.

Forgot to mention that I've been enjoying the Less Is Enough blog quite a bit. Love that she's been able to shop at Whole Foods and Target in addition to being clever about local markets.

And suddenly I have three Crissy dolls. The one on the far left is my original Growing Hair Crissy, the one I've had since age 3 or 4. Don't ask me why I still have her. Usually she lives under my bed and when Amanda came to sleep over a few weeks ago, I pulled her out and Amanda was smitten, hinting several times that she'd just looooove it if Crissy could come live at her house. Since I hadn't come up with a good birthday gift yet, I went on eBay and eventually found a still-working Crissy for under $15 (the one in the middle). When she arrived she smelled strongly of cigarette smoke so I put her out in the patio storage closet in a bag with baking soda for several days and managed to get most of the smell out. But after washing and brushing her hair it became apparent that some kid (or maybe a weird adult) cut off far too much of it, and then the growing hair mechanism stopped working. Back to eBay, where I found another working Crissy for about $10. She arrived two days ago and thankfully is in fabulous condition.

My Crissy is wearing pants she's had had since 1973 and a top graciously donated by Amanda from one of the dolls she brought with her to the sleepover. Middle Crissy arrived in a baggy dress that I suspect was made to fit an American Girl doll (same height, thicker 'round the torso) that I washed and plan to fix so it will fit better. In the meantime she is wrapped in a little crocheted jacket that I think Grandma Hedstrom made for a baby doll. Last Crissy arrived naked and is now wearing an aftermarket outfit I also got from eBay after unsuccessfully bidding on a few lots of original clothing. It's very cute and very Amanda-ish.

This photo also shows the strips of clear packing tape on the edges of my living room chair which have been applied in a futile effort to keep Koosh from ripping up my furniture. Oh, well. The two chairs cost me $50 each so it could be a lot worse.

The Contra Costa Times ran an interview with Jamie today.

Chopped has done it again! They let one of the chefs get away with not using the cheese packet from the boxed mac & cheese, even after he was snotty about it. Isn't the fact they gave them instant mac & cheese the whole point? Guess not.

Made a fairly easy curried cauliflower soup with a halved recipe from Veggie Times to use up the half head of cauliflower I had leftover from the kitchuri. It was kinda "meh" the first night but quite good the next.

Breakfast this week has been hot bulgur, which I make ahead of time by pouring boiling water (1 1/2 C) into a bowl of coarse bulgur (1 C) and raisins or dried cranberries (1/4 C) and then letting it sit in the fridge overnight. Makes enough for 3 or 4 days. Easily reheated on the stove with a splash of milk, brown sugar and some chopped walnuts--or whatever's on hand. This is great when I get sick of oatmeal or protein bars. Right now I have a batch of mini mushroom & sausage quiches from Eating Well in the oven, so we'll see how those turn out.

Work is insanely busy as we get ready for the Game Developer's Conference. Cathy is a good friend, but as one of my clients I'd cheerfully slit her throat about now. Everyone in the office is on edge and we pretty much hate all our clients and each other. Can't wait 'til this is over.

I freely admit to watching a lot of trashy tv, but can't understand why anyone continues to watch The Bachelor, even before the latest kerfuffle. The show has resulted in exactly zero marriages and only two reported engagements to date, giving them a batting average of .167 which is bad even in baseball. (If you add in stats from The Bachelorette with its one marriage, the franchise's slugging percentage does actually go up to .625 because you have to also figure in the two engagements which I equate to triples for the purposes of this calculation. But still.)

In real life, if some guy decided to go out with 25 women over the course of three months (I'm not sure how long they film each series) and whittle them down to the one to whom he'll propose, his friends and family--and certainly the friends and family of the chosen woman--would all raise holy hell over the idiocy of it all. Yet because it's on tv, we expect it to work?

Apparently I'm the only person watching Running in Heels on Style. It's another bitchy-interns-at-the-fashion-mag show, but this one actually spends a lot of time with the editors of Marie Claire so it's way more interesting. Editor-in-chief Joanna Coles is quite funny and has an endearing lack of confidence that makes her seem more human.

This week I'm still working on eating out of the pantry and freezer, but did make up a big pot of kitchuri from a Veggie Times recipe since I'm really bored with Cathy's version. Comforting, filling, low cal, low sodium, and cheap.