Just When You Wondered if I was Coming Back

Here I am!

What's happened since the last time I posted? Well, I got engaged, then I got married, then Sam (the man in question) and I moved to Boston. And now we live here in a cute little hardwood-floored house with a new king-sized bed, and Sam's kitty.

Kitty is an enormous striped fellow who's obsessed with Sam, and not so impressed with me. Never has been. He's warming up to me, since I sneak him little pieces of cheese and fish skin to win his heart. But if I make a wrong move or pet him for an instant too long, he hisses and swats at me with an enormous paw. All in all, it's nice to have him around because his cat-feet make a lovely sound when they pad across the floor. But mostly I miss my kitties, who will arrive by plane with my mom and dad sometime in October. Which, yeah, they're gonna love that.

Anyway, so another thing that has happened since I last posted? I made this delish black bean/brown rice salad that was in a cookbook my mother gave me for my wedding. Easy, and so tasty. To make:

black bean and brown rice salad

combine, in big bowl:

3 cups cooked brown rice (I used those quick Uncle Ben's pouches.)

1 (16 oz) can black beans

1 (16 oz) can corn

1 (6 oz) jar of roasted red bell peppers, drained and chopped

2 scallions, minced (I used a bit of red onion. Worked great.)

then make dressing, in small bowl:

2 tbsp lime juice

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil (I used more like 1/8 cup. Didn't miss the rest of it.)

Add the dressing to the rest of it, add some chopped cilantro and top off each serving with half an avocado, sliced.

Anyway, try it out. It's a party in the mouth. We had ours last night with some vegetable samosas from Trader Joe's. (Bless me for living near a Traders. They make me such a happy camper.)

Another thing that happened? I got a lot of bowls for my wedding. Serving, mixing type bowls. I love all of them, but I'm wondering if I have too many. Take a look: The colorful set, I'm definitely keeping, because they cause great joy. The other set, I haven't un-packaged yet. I love it, but I think mostly I love it because Emily had it when I lived with her, and one of my goals in life is to be elegant like Emily. But my question is, even if I have pretty and colorful bowls, and even if I'm elegant like Emily, will I actually use these bowls? Or will they just crowd my cupboard. I'm new to this kitchen-y stuff. So, discuss.

That's all I can manage for now. I need to throw in some laundry and figure out what on earth I will teach when school starts in a very few days.