Family in Town

It is so great having all these people I love so close together! My grandparents and Lesley and Scott and Ian are in town. It is so fun to see them all.
My grandparents are sooo funny (an example: my dear, sweet grandma, who likes--quote-- "shoot 'em up novels, spy novels, and books where people carry at least two guns and a knife." And my grandpa, who teases that the Crystal Light packets he's been putting in his drinks are "sex powder". There is no one like my grandparents.)
Also, it is fun to spend time with my nephew Ian, because he is so cute, and of course, I like Lesley and Scott because they brought Ian (okay, and I like them for other reasons too).
We all went to church together today because Dad and I are in a choir together that is touring the local wards (not like we're famous, we're just touring the wards of choir members). I got to see a few old friends today who were home visiting their parents. I saw Stephanie LeFevre, Joe Strickland, Tori and JJ Bell, and a few other friends who have moved back to the area and live here permanently.
After singing in my parents' ward, Jason and I went back to our ward to teach our Sunday School class of Sunbeams (the 4 year-olds). Our ward has a crazy tradition of combining the kids Sunday School classes with another ward the Sunday before Christmas. This meant we had 16 4-year-olds, to keep an eye on for 2 hours. Luckily we had another couple to help us this week. The kids were actually very good, all things considered. We taught a simple lesson about the birth of Jesus, using our little nativity set from Italy. The kids were so into it. And why not? It's a great story, with a baby, a mom, a bad king, some farm animals, and God. So cool. I love Christmas!

Also New: Allison's Recipes

Yes, it's true! Allison's Recipes, a creatively titled new blog, is available for your consumption! It's full of wittily titled recipes, like "3 Bean Salad". Hahaha, oh, that was a good one.
Okay, so it's not funny. But it is a site of all the recipes my friends and family ask me for frequently, as well as family recipes, and even some recipes I'd like to try, but haven't yet. You can find the link to the site in the sidebar, under "Blogs I Love".
If you have an Ogden, Buchmiller, Searles, Huff, Brown, or Avilla recipe you'd like to submit, e-mail me.
Also, I got my grades back for last semester--A's in Nutrition, Political Science, and Weightlifting, and a B in Math. I am very pleased.

New: A Slideshow!

Jason and I just added a slideshow of pictures from our Italy trip. (If you would like to see the pictures in a larger format, I think you can just click on them, and it will take you to Flickr.) We are planning an evening to remenisce about Italy while Scott and Lesley are here for Christmas, so we are thinking about our memories a lot. It is also almost the time of year that we took our trip. We are so excited--we have set out the tiny nativity set that we bought in Rome, and got out our two little Bufanas (Bufana is the Italian Christmas witch, for those of you who don't know).

Mmm...Indian Food

I wanted to write a review for a local Indian restaurant. It's an idea that's been kicking around in my head for a while now. But I just got an e-mail from my friend Joyce John that made me want to get around to reviewing it today.
That's because Joyce was the one who introduced me to my all-time favorite Indian/Pakistani restaurant: Naan'n'Curry in Berkeley. That is also where I got to know naan--a delicious bread that kind of looks like a gordito. (You know, those thick tortillas that Taco Bell made up?)
They have the best naan. But the closest Naan'n'Curry is about 20 minutes away in Berkeley, so it's not convenient for a quick fix.
Jason and I had been eyeing this new Indian restaurant about 3 miles from our house, called Monsoon Masala. We went there for date night about 3 weeks ago, and Oh my goodness! It was amazing. Even their naan was comparably pillowy. Also, the restaurant itself is a beautiful place (check the website for pictures, reviews, a menu, and lots of other fun stuff.)http://www.monsoonmasala.com/
I'm thinking that when the Larsons come up for Christmas (that's my sister Lelsey's married name, for those behind on their Ogden family trivia) I'd like to get them to go with us. I always think of Indian food when I think of the Larsons because I know Scott's family enjoys it. And actually, I think about Indian food whenever I can.

And another one bites the dust!

I have successfully completed a week at Clear Ink. I have already slipped back into a programmer's way of thinking.

Everyone has been extremely nice and it is going to take some adjustment. I am a member of the technologists' team. We reside in the back of the office, in a very dark area that I refer to fondly as "the cave".

I was planning on using Windows as my work machine's OS, but everyone else on the team is using Linux, so I figured when in Rome... I have to admit, Linux has made huge strides in progression since I seriously played with it last. The interface is snappy, fairly intuitive, and pretty customizable. However, it still took me (and the help of three people) over two days to get the hardware up and running correctly.

But.... we have the coolest chairs. Aeron Chairs - they are extremely expensive chairs. I am pretty sure Clear Ink bought them off a failing dotcom. I think the base price is about $750 per chair. I am telling you, they are the best and absolutely customizable to make it the PERFECT fit for you. I need to save up for about a decade before I can bring myself to buy one - but they are oh so worth it.

I am learning an interface called Free Energy, written by my boss, Leon Atkinson. The very simple website is here. It is incredibly powerful - very similar to other PHP frameworks like Cake, Zend, etc. but extremely customized for the things that Clear Ink creates and maintains. There is a feature that I learned about on Friday that alone would of saved me about a month of real life programming time if I had it back when I was programming for Impression Design.

At work, I have Michelle who helps me with the hardware/user requests, and Eddie has been helping me with all the programming and server locations. Leon patches me in on what client does what. It is like trying to bottle a tornado with the amount of information that is tossed to me. I got a request in on Wednesday that needed an update done exactly at 11 AM. Eddie was at Autodesk, Michelle was out sick, and Leon was at Sun Microsystems. I got the request done, but let me tell you, it was a wee bit stressful.

On Friday, we also had Clear Ink's Christmas party. They basically rented out a restaurant in Berkeley named De La Paz - with an open bar, great food, and a very fun band. Unfortunately I caught a fairly serious cold and was so doped up on DayQuil that I didn't think I would be able to stay awake during the day while at work. I came home to pick up Allison and we had an enjoyable time. I felt like I was about 6 bottles of beer into a good buzz with all the decongestants but I was even able to dance I think a few times with my lovely wife.

Techie Help

For those of you who have experience with site meters, I signed up at site meter.com, but can't figure out how to get it actually onto my site. If that's what I'm supposed to be doing. A little help here?

Just Checking In

I like to post every couple of days, because I get so disappointed when I check other people's blogs, and they haven't updated recently (Lesley. Just a hint.)
So even though I'm busy studying for finals, I wanted to post and let you all know that I'm doing swimmingly. And a little bit tired. I procrastinated my two make-ups for my weightlifting class, and since today was my last day of class, I had to do them both within 12 hours of each other: one from 7-8 pm last night, and one at 8 am this morning. Then my actual class at 10 am. That is a LOT of weightlifting!
Studying isn't going too badly. I'm lucky enough to have an open-book Nutrition final, if you can believe that. I have no final in my PE class. But I have a lot to study for my math class (how soon I forget!) and I have to find out all about Nigeria and it's prospects for a Liberal or Leninist society by Tuesday for Political Science. It's one of those in-class essay finals, which I've done well at before. Assuming I know the least bit about my subject. Which I don't. Yet.
Wish me luck!

Allison Is the Most Glamourous Wife in the World

(Okay, this isn't from her haircut, but I like the picture of her striking a pose in Florence, Italy)

Here are some shots of her haircut.

Smoky Cheese Pizza With Artichokes and Mushrooms

(For you fortunate ones, all the ingredients can be found at Trader Joe's)
Ingredients

2 ounces of Oak-Smoked English Cheddar (it's $10/lb, but you don't need much, and the leftovers are great mixed with jack cheese to top casseroles)
2 packages refrigerated pizza dough
5 Tablespoons of bottled Artichoke Antipasto Spread
5 or 6 whole cremini mushrooms

Roll out each bag of pizza dough on a floured surface until ½ inch thick, to make two pizzas. Begin preheating the oven to 450 degrees.
Place on a cookie sheet.
Spread dough rounds with artichoke spread.
Slice the mushrooms and sprinkle them on top of the spread.
Slice the cheese into about 1/8 inch slices, and cover the pizza with them.
Bake in a 450 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese bubbles.

Makes 2 personal-size pizzas. Also can be baked on a barbeque grill for a truly sublime, crispy crust. I'm tellin' you, this is the best pizza I've ever had.

The New 'Do

Okay, these pictures aren't me. But you knew that, didn't you?

I considered a lot of hairstyles before hitting the salon yesterday. Some were very different from what I have now.
But I eventually settled on something a lot tamer, after deciding that I'd like to keep my long hair for a while.

I did take some pictures of my new hairstyle, but I will have to wait until Jason can put them on the computer--I don't know how.

Salon Haircut

I am off to get a fabulous salon haircut (normally $60) for $25. Yep, I ferreted out a way to get a cheap (but nice) haircut after being frustrated by Supercuts' $15 failures. Wish me luck!

Gretchen

I ran into my friend Gretchen today at DVC. She and I went to school together for like 10 years, from grade school to high school. She had been living in Idaho, but moved back to Martinez this summer. This is also the Gretchen who surprised me by coming down from Idaho for my wedding reception. I have such great, sneaky friends! (This also refers to Scott, who came up from Southern California, just for the reception!)
In other news, I am almost done with my current event assignment for Political Science. This paper has been driving me nuts! I haven't written a lot of papers in MLA, so I am a little nervous. I had it checked out at the Writing Center today, and the tutor said it was great, with excellent transitions, and a clear theme. Now I just have to polish up my Works Cited page. The paper is due tomorrow morning, and it will be so nice to have it over with!

Running Into Things At Gottschalks

I got up this morning before 5 am. It was 4:30, in fact, when I rolled out of bed and got dressed. And I was probably the last person to get up. We were at Kohl's by 5:30, ready to shop. (This is an unusual state for me to be in.)
Jason and I scored an Aerobed for 55% off, to replace the guest bed that takes up so much room year-round. Jason stocked up on jeans for $11 a pair, and got some sweaters for the same price. (His new job is much more casual, so clothes like this will be very useful.) I bought a fabulous $250 leather jacket for $70 (Good timing, because my previous jacket broke on the way home from the store.) And I also got a set of velour lounge pants and a hoodie, my official self-reward for studying a few weeks ago when I wanted to do anything else.
We finished at Kohl's by 7, and then went to Target, Costco, Game Stop, and by 10:00, we were ready for lunch. We stopped at a Mexican place in Modesto called El Rosal, and I got this yummy layered quesadilla/chile rellenos thing.
Then we went to Rite Aid. And after that Gottschalks. By this time I was getting pretty tired--it was only 12:30, and I had already been up 8 hours. I was bumping into displays like a slowmoving zombie, and my reaction time was such that when I bounced off people, they were gone before I could get together an "excuse me". Pretty sad. Jason eventually started steering me around the tables stacked with merchandise for my own good.
After that we went home, where I spotted a newspaper article I was really interested in reading, so I lay down on the floor to read, but despite my interest, I could not even stay awake through a paragraph. I went and took a nap, and was out cold from 1:00-3:30. It's nice to feel human again.

A Late Thanksgiving Night

It is late in the evening on Thanksgiving. Late being after 9 pm, on a night when we will be leaving the house at 5 am. Yes, welcome to Black Friday preparations. While we were waiting for the turkey to cook, Jason's sisters, niece, mother and I ripped apart the ads section of the newspaper for deals. Mervyn's has men's sweaters Buy One, Get 2 Free! Amazing.There are also really good deals on things we were planning to buy eventually anyway, like an Aerobed for our guestroom. This is pretty fun, despite the vague feeling that we are involved in a military campaign.
After a yummy dinner at Jason's sister Jeanne's house, we introduced the Brown family to Apples to Apples. It's a really fun game that the Ogdens play whenever our family gets together. Although some people were reluctant at first, we eventually got everyone to join in.
I'll update you all later on how my 5 am shopping debut goes.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Jason and I will be heading to Turlock/Modesto to spend Thanksgiving with his family. I am excited to see a Brown family tradition for the first time: Black Friday. You know, when mobs of people go out shopping for insane deals. Really, with some of the prices, I'm surprised my family hasn't been all over it (Ogdens are so cheap). I've heard about this Brown tradition for quite a while, and am looking forward to seeing Jason's sisters elbowing people to get to the good stuff at Kohls.
This will also be my 3rd Thanksgiving with Jason. The first one was when we announced our engagement to our gathered families, and the second was last year with my family. It is awesome to think of the time we are racking up so easily--it has been over 2 and a half years since our first date. And it has been so smooth and easy. I'm not saying it hasn't involved work--it has, but that all the work we've put in has been well worth it.
I love you sweetie!

Telestial Kitchen

A friend of my sister's started a blog about cooking called Telestial Kitchen. I love looking at the recipes there--there are comments, reviews and pictures of the dishes people have tried. My contributions are under the name allison b. Check it out!
http://telestialkitchen.blogspot.com/

Busy With School

I have been so busy this week! A major test today, a major paper in a week, and in Math we are studying the chapter that strikes fear into the hearts of grown men--Word Problems! I'll try to post some more soon, but I just wanted y'all to know that I haven't abandoned you.

I found a new job!

Well, for the past few months, I have been putting off the inevitable of finding a new job. It is not that I do not enjoy new things, but the idea of job hunting is horrible - it's like dating without any fun.

Well, I landed a new job today - Technologist at Clear Ink. I had several interviews with them, including a grueling nearly two-hour session where I met with 3 different people. Only the LSAT was more tiring.

The job is wonderful - I am very excited. I have basically been at Credit Line for 4 1/2 years - full time as a non-1099 employee for 3 years. I have endured much and learned even more. But I am ready and willing to move on to something newer. I will basically be a code-monkey - writing code in PHP. The person I report to, Leon, wrote the first English book on PHP. Apparently a German book beat his to press by about a week he said to gain the distinction of being the first PHP book published.

Clear Ink is in Berkeley, CA. Commute is a bit longer, but Berkeley is just so cool!

Pesto With Michael

Here are some pictures of us at a restaurant called Chiak, on the coast of Italy, where we had amazing pesto. While at this restaurant, my dad waved around seafood parts while the rest of us pretended we didn't think it was funny.


Jason's friend Michael Griego is up here for a few days. Some of you may remember him from our wedding reception, he was one of Jason's groomsmen. He and Jason had lunch together today, and we're hoping to convince Michael to come over later this week for dinner. Jason and I consulted, and since it is a special occasion, we might just have homemade pesto served over gnocci. We made a batch of this pesto a while back, and it was sooo good. Almost as good as the pesto Jason and I had at Chiak when we were in Italy. It is heavy on the garlic.

The pesto recipe is now posted at allisonsrecipes.blogspot.com as Milanese Pesto

Czechoslovakia!

I found a page advertising travel in Prague, and it directed me to this page of hotels, with prices and pictures. I don't know what the exchange rate it (certainly worse than a year ago!) but the prices look pretty good! And even the cheapest hotels look beautiful. http://czechsite.phl.cz/

I also found a page that suggested touring Czechoslovakia by bicycle, and it looked like fun--I really enjoyed biking in Lucca, Italy last year, and wouldn't mind doing it again. But an even better way to taste the flavor of Czechoslovakia would be engaging in the traditional sport of....go-karting? It's number 6 on this site's list. Jason will be all over that. :)http://www.czechsite.com/outdoorform.html

European Dreams

This blog thing is really cool. I stayed up late one night just fooling around with templates to make it look pretty (in an un-girly way, of course. This blog is for Jason too.) The only problem now is what to post in it.
I am lobbying for our Europe group (Mom and Dad Ogden, Lesley and Scott, and Jason and I) to start saving up money to travel again. When Jason and I were over at Mom and Dad's for dinner the other night, we started talking about where to go. I hear that Prague is very cheap right now, with nice amenities, so that gets my vote. I loved the planning part of going to Italy, and it would be so exciting to do it again. :) Our only problem might be whether Lesley and Scott want to go with a small child, although Rick Steves says it's not too bad traveling with a kid, especially if you knock them out with Nyquil or something on the plane ride. Hey, Rick said it, not me! Quit giving your computer screen dirty looks. If you have any travel tips, post them in the comments.

French Apple Pie

I posted this recipe because a few people have asked for it. It makes a really great apple pie, and is fairly easy. Between Jason and I, we have probably made 10 of these pies in the last 4 months.

1 ready to bake pie crust
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
6 cups cored, peeled and thinly sliced tart baking apples (approx. 4-5 med. sized apples)
1 cup flour (we have found that King Arthur's White Whole Wheat is actually the best.)
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature

Bring the pie crust to room temperature, and prepare as directed on the box for a single crust filled pie. (Really, just unfold the crust in a pie pan. Easy.) Preheat the oven to 350* F. Mix sugar, starch, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt into a large bowl. Stir in sliced apples. Dump apple mixture into prepared crust. To prepare the crumb topping, mix together flour and brown sugar. Blend in the butter or margarine until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb topping over pie. Bake pie on a sheet pan for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

This is an especially great recipe if you happen to know someone with a surplus of apples, as we do. That makes it really cheap to make!