Ode to Costco

I love Costco. I love their products, the way the stores are set up with nice wide aisles and high roof (I'm claustrophobic so a high roof is nice), their staff is always pleasant and helpful, and the prices are just right. I love their food court pizza, coffee that's roasted right in the store, rotisserie chicken, fruit and vegetable selection, increasing selection of organic items, wine and beer selection, and the nice surprises you can find in their book, dvd and clothing aisles. One such surprise was Karen Neuberger pajamas for $29 compared to the $69 I paid at Nordstroms.

I was in Costco yesterday to pick up a few things and I discovered that they're now carrying paper towels and toilet paper made of recycled paper, 80% post-consumer recycled paper to be exact. I was so pleased. And they also carry my new favorite laundry soap, Wintree, which doesn't contain any weird detergents or scents.

If they would just start carrying Barilla Plus pasta and Burts Bees bath products.

Oh Costco, how I love thee.

Best Wishes to Eduardo

Sam & I are huge Arsenal F.C. fans, in fact we're borderline obsessive fans. Yesterday morning one of our players, Eduardo da Silva, suffered a horrific injury resulting from a sloppy but dangerous tackle in Birmingham City. The tackle and resulting injury was so upsetting that Sky News and Setanta Sports, the two broadcasters, refused to replay it.

There's been speculation that Eduardo's injury could be career ending which would be an awful tragedy for someone so young, talented and passionate about soccer. I could hardly think of anything else most of yesterday. Yes, I know, obsessed.

There is some better news this morning. A Croatian news source (Eduardo was born in Brazil but has Croatian citizenship now and plays for the Croatian national soccer team) has said that initial reports of three fracture in his leg were exaggerated and that there was only one break. His prognosis is better than initially believed. I pray that he'll have a full recovery and will be back on the pitch much sooner than expected.

Good luck Eduardo. You're in our thoughts and prayers.

Whatcha Smilin' At?

rusty looking handsome, originally uploaded by EileenInAustin.

Rusty looks relaxed and happy in this photo. The bald spot on his front leg was from his IV for his oral surgery last spring.

Another Quick and Easy Dinner

We had a couple of friends over for dinner last week and I served one of my favorite quick suppers: mushroom ragout over polenta with a side of wilted spinach and tomatoes. One of our guests was not a fan of mushrooms but she enjoyed this dish; it's really quite good.

A few changes I made: instead of broiling the polenta I served it soft after stirring in a small amount of parmesan, I used 16 oz of button mushrooms and 8 oz of portobellos, and since I used a few extra ounces of mushrooms I made a little extra sauce by using a bit more tomato paste, water, rosemary and balsamic vinegar. The polenta is a bit labor intensive because it must be stirred constantly so if you don't fancy being stuck in front of the stove top you could buy a log of prepared polenta to slice up and broil.

These dishes' recipes are from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. I enjoy the magazine and the PBS show which is on Saturday mornings in Austin. They have a fantastic section every month called "All in One Bag" where a week's worth of menus with the shopping list is provided. The week's meals share ingredients which helps keep the food costs down. This is one example of the All in One Bag. Another bonus is that they try to use seasonal ingredients: good for your food's carbon footprint and your wallet.

interesting intersection in quebec city

interesting intersection, originally uploaded by EileenInAustin.

Let's give blogging from flickr a try. I took this photo when I was in Quebec City with my mom and sister in October 2006 and it's one of my favorite photos from our trip.

This intersection in Quebec City really appealed to me. I liked the monochromatic background and the pop of the red, yellow and green in the foreground.

Props to Austin

Wayne Slater of The Dallas Morning News is speaking with Chris Matthews on Hardball right now and they're talking about Obama's and Clinton's chances in Texas. Slater started speaking about the political leanings of the larger cities in Texas, Dallas and Houston, and went on to call Austin "the liberal capital of America."

Woo hoo. We're just a whole bunch of liberals here in Austin. Take that NYC. ;-)