snowflakes and shooting stars

my life has been pretty busy this past week, and yes, 

that 

is 

an 

understatement. 

several snow storms have made the move rather difficult, and i'm officially exhausted.

 

outside with k dog tonight i saw a shooting star. 

everything's going to be just fine. 

night. 

sweet peas, prosciutto and fettucine, served with a side of procrastination

let's just say today was a bit less productive than i had planned...

see, i meant to do some laundry, get a LOT of packing out of the way, some baking i've been putting off, but well, not all of it happened for several reasons.

reason #1: it's sunday. sunday is my pour over the weekend edition paper with numerous cups (pots?) of coffee in bed, dog by my side, lounging, stress free day. 

reason #2: i'm a closet procrastinator, especially when it comes to packing. example- when i moved from fargo, nd, to colorado spring of 2006, i had well over 2 weeks to pack up my few belongings. this packing was delayed by farewell dinners, 'just one' drink dates turning into page long bar tabs, and work, work, work. 

reason #3: it was a beautiful morning. i awoke at 7:00 to a late fall sunshine daydream. i headed outside with k dog for his morning hike, ran into my incredibly attractive neighbor, talked for about a half hour, finished our hike... and promptly fell back into bed armed with paper and freshly brewed java. recipe for disaster. most of the day was spent like this: 

reason #4: broncos game. original plan was to half watch the game/half pack and bake. i was held captive by my 12 inch tv/vcr combo, watching in horror as the broncos lost 34-20 to the raiders. yes, the 3-8 raiders. 

with that being said, here's the brief list of things i actually did accomplish today:

1. filled up the gas tank, washer fluid, checked tire pressure and oil (weekly chore).

2. two loads of laundry. 

3. some minor carpet stain removal (the trick is ice cold water!). 

4. five boxes packed. 

5. mini grocery store run. 

6. budgeting and balancing finances. 

7. really good, comforting dinner. 

on days like today, when i'm feeling lazy i turn to pasta. there's nothing like a bit of prosciutto crisped in a skillet and combined with sauteed onions, garlic and sugary sweet peas. 

garlicky sweet peas and prosciutto bits tossed with fettucine

3 cloves garlic minced 

1/2 yellow onion finely diced

3 slices prosciutto rolled up and sliced thinly

8 0z fettucine, cooked to al dente perfection

container of sweet peas (i used frozen from this past summer)

brown prosciutto slices in large skillet with a tablespoon of good olive oil for a minute. 

add onions and garlic and allow to combine with prosciutto for several minutes until onions caramelize. 

add fettucine to the skillet with one ladle full of pasta water. toss pasta into mixture, making sure pasta fully coated with olive oil.

add peas by the handful. 

toss one more time and serve with shavings of parmesan. 

welcome salty sweet goodness. 

fingers crossed i'll finally crank out those scones, eek out one more load of laundry, and finish packing another box. night! 

packing up the boxes... or rubbermaid storage containers.

today i went up to the cabin and met pete, the owner of the land the cabin rests upon. 

he's a photog by day, biker inbetween gigs. he's great, and he'll make the best neighbor (next door, of course). 

pete and i discussed many different random topics, including mountain lions in the area, insulated window coverings, chimney upkeep, bear-proof garbage containers, etc. 

with cabin key and paperwork in hand, i set out to explore my new surroundings, in particular evergreen, the closest little town to my cabin. 

after a few hours of walking main street, poking my head into little shops and cafes, i headed back to loft city (my lovely apartment complex, grr...) to get things settled before the move. 

i've successfully used up the majority of food i had built up in the pantry and now am going to the market on an almost daily basis, making one meal at a time as to avoid the build up i've worked so hard to wipe out. 

in the meantime, i've got a lot of things to do. laundry, homework, packing, cleaning, an unexpected detour to the post office (property management 'accidentally provided the wrong apartment number' to the p.o., saying my place was vacant, jerks) to pick up a stack of mail have my hands full. 

my last move from a friend's couch to the loft was during a point in my life where i was obsessed, OBSESSED with doing whatever i could to reduce my consumption and reuse whatever i could. in the spirit of reuse, i purchased about six rubbermaid storage containers to move my belongings in, not realizing how heavy those suckers get when filled to the brim with books, dishes, etc. now i cannot simply get rid of them, i MUST reuse them, however inconvenient they may be, because that's precisely why i purchased them (after this move they're out, donating to the arc ASAP). 

go ahead, get a good laugh. i do now, looking back. 

in order to lighten the load (and use up a baguette sitting on my counter), i made a french toast bake topped with sweet peaches to tide me over and have for breakfast tomorrow morning. this is a great recipe, so easy to use, so delicious. 

french toast bake topped with crunchy sweet peaches

one baguette (i used wheat, but i bet it's pretty good with whatever, seriously)

4 whole eggs

4 egg whites

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups peaches (i had frozen some sliced peaches from the summer, frozen works just fine)

juice of 1/2 lemon

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

grease a 9x13 pan.

slice baguette and arrange in pan to cover in one layer.

whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk and vanila and pour mixture over baguette slices. 

toss the peaches with the lemon juice and evenly layer over baguette slices. 

mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over peaches. 

bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. 

i like to serve a generous slice of the peach french toast with some freshly whipped cream along with a slice (or two...) of really good, crisp turkey bacon. 

so wonderfully decadent!

happy weekend to you, back to packing for me.