Noelle's Comfort Food

A quick royal wedding watch update...

According to the British tabloid, News of the World:

For the News of the World can reveal Kate is at the heart of a new palace strategy for the royal family. We have been told the couple, both 27, have reached “an understanding” that their eight-year relationship WILL end in marriage. It is no longer a question of if but when.

The plan is that by the time the Queen celebrates her historic Diamond Jubilee in 2012 Kate will be on the palace balcony at her side as a fully-fledged princess.

Well-placed sources say that while marriage is a “done deal” it is not expected until 2011 at the earliest. And this explains why Kate is not bothered by teasing nicknames like “Waity Katie” and remains so cool.

She is secure in the knowledge that the secret pact has already been made and the palace blueprint for the future, creating our next Prince and Princess of Wales, is already firmly in place.

I promise to post soon with photos of the Northern Michigan restaurant that is lost in the 1960s!  This week is lower key than last week.

Urban Public Transportation

I've always loved the public bus and the subway. In DC the strangest and most interesting things happened on public transportation. I got dates, insider information and many, many laughs from it.  I also had nick names for all the regulars - the little old lady with the white gloves and pill box purse was "Queen Mum" (honestly, where did she go every day at 8:30am? Couldn't be a desk job...) and the stinky kid who recently moved to DC from Italy was "Shower Allergy".

Now that I'm in Pittsburgh the fun continues of course.  I take the same bus every morning and every night to and from work. Pittsburgh has the unique feature of having dedicated busways that are almost like trolly lines so you can hop on in your neighborhood and then the bus gets on the busway and BAM - you're downtown in 20 minutes.  I put gas in my car about once a month. 

Because I'm taking the "work and back" bus that's generally filled with normal people there aren't really any good specimines for me to name - apart from "80s Hair" and "The Librarian". The best stories usually come from the local busses that schlep the drunks and mentally ill around Oakland.

Today though, was different.  Today we had Urberchristian. Thankfully he said or sang nothing, which is rarely the case with these types, but he wore a giant, full body length wood cross made from two 2x4s around his neck. My friend Lisa managed to get this quick cell phone shot just before he got off the bus.  Than she said to me,

“Wouldn’t that hurt, having a 2 x 4 slamming into your junk every step?”  My answer was “perhaps that’s how he pays penance for his sins.”

Cross

Another Clue and See ya soon

 According to People Magazine UK:

Engage hint as Queen invites William's girl to a cosy lunch

Dean Rousewell

Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton has been invited for the first time to lunch ALONE with the Queen.

Her Majesty's request is seen as highly significant by royal observers who believe William and Kate, both 27, are getting closer to announcing an engagement.

Kate, who has been dating the prince since they met at university eight years ago, will lunch with the Queen at the Royal holiday home Balmoral in the Scottish Highlands next month.

I'm off to Bay View Michigan for a few days to do this:

LT bay 2

LOL

Billy

The Dress

So, I bought a classic, rather conservative, silky black sheeth dress with pink roses on it back in the early 90s. I can't remember why, maybe it was on super sale or maybe it was for some event. I must have worn it once (a tell tale sign being the dry cleaning number stapled to the tag). 

For years I forgot about it.  

About every 6 months I go through my closet and get rid of clothes and donate them in bags on my front porch to the Vietnam Vets of America.  I always pull that dress out and stare at it for awhile and think "I never wear this thing, I'm going to finally give it away". So I pull it of the hanger, fold it up and put it in the bag. And I ALWAYS pull it back out and hang it back up.  I must have done this a dozen times.  

A month ago I was cleaning out the closet again and John happened to walk by right when I was holding the dress up and contemplating ditching it once again.  

"That dress is adorable" he said, "I'd love to see you wear that". Huh.  really?  So I put it back in the closet.  Again I forgot about it.

Last night I was digging around for a dress to wear to work and came across it again.  "Why not?" I said and pulled it out and set it next to a cute pink fitted cardigan for work the next day.

Today I wore it and got maybe 58 compliments from both co-workers and random people on the streets of downtown Pittsburgh. A total winner.

What's wrong with me that I never saw the true potential of the old dress? Am I losing my touch?  

I'll never consider letting it go again. It clearly pays to listen to your intuition (and a husband with good taste), even if you don't catch the clue until 16 years later. 

Update June 25, 2009.  My most excellent friend Julie Ashby Mann (known as "Ashby") has a story about a dress to contribute.  Do you have a dress story to add?  Send it to me!:

Take it away Ash...

Some time ago at some discount department store I bought a lemon yellow suit - yes, that's right.  Can you guess why it was at the discount store?  I am sure I was with my mother.  Only a middle aged Church of Christ-er could appreciate a yellow suit.

 

Anyway, I never wore it.  How could I?

 

Years later, I started work at XXX College and the professor who taught the Professional Image class loaned me a book on dress.  Not because I was unprofessional in my dress, but because she was trying to prove a point to me about why people found me "so intimidating."

 

The basic premise is that people are ridiculously predictable and you need to dress for the reaction you want.  For example, school teachers dress so children find them approachable (Christmas sweaters), I dress so people do not (lots of monochrome in cool colors).  I thought the book over simplified things and so I ran an experiment, I pulled out the yellow suit.

 

The day I wore that yellow suit, I swear to you I was touched about every 15 minutes, people crossed rooms to talk to me and I got lots of compliments.  I was appalled, these people had no taste.

 

I returned the book, threw out the suit, and started wearing printed scarves and "discussion topic" jewelry with my monochrome. 

 

AZ

First we have a Royal wedding watch update:
According to Cindy Adams in the New York post:

"here's what one court-watcher replied: "He has to. Been seeing her too long not to. It would be another embarrassment for the Palace. The Queen's accepted her at events, which means she's got the royal approval. Understand, he's not all that easy and affable as he comes off. He's a bit of an arrogant young man who expects people to bow and scrape."

And Middleton herself? "Not smart. Hasn't picked up a book in her life. But very calculating. Her mother's been planning this her whole life. And she knew how to play hard to get.

"The wedding will probably be next year after he finishes military service. Face it, London is very depressed. The Crown could use a royal wedding at this point."

Vacation:
I was in Phoenix Arizona for a few days last month and then went to Tucson for the wedding of Beery and Luis. In Phoenix we stayed with John's friend from the Navy, a bloke called Brian who looks kinda like Daniel Craig, which is rather lucky. 

Brian is a highly trained factory worker for Intel microprocessors. He was going to give me a tour of the place but we ran out of time.  I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to title a blog post about it "Inside Intel".  Get it?  Damn, I'm clever.

Brian and John

Arizona always sort of confounds me. Instead of squirrels they have lizards. Instead of grass they have rocks. None of the plants look familiar and all the houses are exactly the same. EXACTLY the same. Do you ever forget which one is yours and stroll into the guys house next door? Here are some plants that I found to be rather Mars like...

  So after a few days of kicking around Phoenix, eating Mexican food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we drove to Tucson for the wedding of some friends. The wedding was lovely, the prickly pear cactus margaritas were a real highlight.

We stayed in the Hotel Congress. I will never forget this place.  Located in the deserted downtown of Tucson and the location of John Dillinger's capture, it was the strangest clash of the past and the present. When you walk into the room you are assigned (using an actual key in our door) you are instantly transported to 1936. The first thing I said to John was "honey, WWII is going to start in 4 years".

The furniture is original, right down to the tufted white stripe bedspread (you know what I'm talking about).

CIMG0259

 

The telephone was original and you would call the front desk and have them patch you into the original switchboard.

The faucets in the bathroom had one source for hot and one for cold. You had to combine the water in the sink if you wanted "warm" (incidentally, a combo hot and cold faucet was invented in Pittsburgh after the war).

CIMG0264

Aside from the wacky history lesson which of course I loved (the place was majorly haunted by they way, just as it should be), downstairs was a whole 'nother story. "Club Congress" was installed in 1985 and is one of the best alternative rock clubs in the world. So in this historic lobby was a constant mill of tatooed and pierced teenagers. Once 11pm hit, all the teens left the building and every hotel staff member grabbed a table from some hidden closet and set them up all over the lobby.  5 seconds later the place had become an after hours gay bar. Every table full. ODDEST thing ever. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Just some random additions:

This is the wedding cake. Made by the groom's mother in Mexico. She's not a professional cake maker. Isn't this extraordinary!?

Anyone want to go see this Chiropractor?  I didn't think so.

CIMG0240

For the record, this was the best part of the visit. Hi Girls!  Good girls!

Lady and Sadie

Cheers!

Us in the Dessert

 

Royal Wedding Watch Update

Squeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Momentum is gaining my friends!  Bring IT ON.  (sorry, again I can't disable the hyperlinks)

William-and-kate

Britain’s Prince William is set to announce his engagement within the next few months, according to well-informed sources.

The future king - who made his first public appearance with girlfriend Kate Middleton for five months at a polo match over the weekend - is odds-on with bookmakers to propose to Kate by the end of this year after receiving a sudden rush of knowledgeable bets.

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: “Almost all the best suggest that the announcement will come in the next few months.” Bookmakers have now slashed their odds from 4/6 to 1/2.

William has previously said he doesn’t want to get married until he’s at least 28 - a birthday he will celebrate next June.

The news comes days after William and Kate were pictured looking smitten with each other after the prince had taken part in a polo match in Berkshire. (via AHN)

Lime-Jalapeno Chicken Tacos

Big winner!  Wonderful, moist, flavorful and healthy!  

ACTIVE TIME: 20 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 20 minutes (including 1 hour marinating time)

1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes)

2 tablespoons canola or veg oil

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 jalapeno, sliced

1-1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat, tenders removed (We are just 2, so I used just 2 breasts, and it was fine)

1. Whisk lime juice, oil, vinegar, cumin and salt in a small bowl. Stir in jalapeno. Place chicken in a shallow baking dish and pour the marinade over it, turning to coat both sides. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, turning once, or overnight.

2. Preheat grill to high heat. (I did mine in the broiler since it was raining, same effect) Grill the chicken until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Let cool slightly; thinly slice crosswise.

3. Fill chicken into soft taco shells with sour cream, salsa and shredded cheese.

NUTRITION INFORMATION (without the sour cream and cheese): Per serving: 71 calories; 2 g fat (0 g sat, 1 g mono); 31 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrate; 11 g protein; 0 g fiber; 46 mg sodium.

TIP: To oil a grill: Oil a folded paper towel, hold it with tongs and rub it over the rack. (Do not use cooking spray on a hot grill.) When grilling delicate foods like tofu and fish, it is helpful to spray the food with cooking spray.

MAKE AHEAD TIP: Marinate chicken in the refrigerator for up to 1 day and/or refrigerate cooked chicken for up to 1 day. Slice just before serving.

Bad breeding update

The "offender" from my last post has worn white shoes for 2 days in a row.  HELLO............  

The rules have not changed no matter how hard you try to work around them

I'm certainly no expert on class and style, Lord knows. But some things are so obvious that sometimes they get overlooked. And every early spring a theme emerges that I feel I must now address here once and for all.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Ignore what fashion magazines say. Ignore your geographical location. Ignore any fool telling you that the "rules have changed". If you wear sandals and/or white shoes before Memorial day or after Labor day you look clueless. NO exceptions.

Nothing highlights poor breeding more than inappropriate seasonal wear.

These faux pas are a close second:

1. Not wearing a full length dress coat with winter formal wear. I know they are expensive, buy one used if you have to. Borrow one. Or buy one and return it after the event. Just do what you have to.

2. Pointy toed stiletto pumps will always look like cheap hooker shoes unless they are manufactured by a premiere shoe maker (i.e. Prada) that we probably can't afford. It's likely best to skip it.

3. There is only one definition of "winter white" and that is pure wool pants, skirt, sweater or jacket. Period. No exceptions.

4. If you must wear high wedge espadrille backless sandals to the office in April please know that they look totally ridiculous with nylons. I realize nylons are a smart choice for conservative business attire, and necessary for some professions like say a lawyer or perhaps a university fundraiser. If you feel that the high wedge espadrille backless sandals are inappropriately worn withOUT nylons to your office setting then may I suggest rethinking your choice of footwear.

This has been a public service announcement. 

P.S. I'm not a monster. If it is unusually hot in May feel free to wear your flip flops to the Loews. I'm mainly referring to professional and social situations here.