What not to do in the kitchen + a PSA

Sorry for my absence yesterday but Sunday turned out to be a bit more exciting than I had planned which left no time for blogging. Don't believe me?

Sunday was not unlike many others before it. In fact, now that football has come to a close, Shaun and I were thrilled to have the day to catch up on food shopping, closet measuring, laundry and other fun adult Sunday things. In fact, I spent the morning planning our meals for the week, followed by food shopping, followed by cooking. I was planning to share all of that with you yesterday, however, when I get to the details of how Sunday went down, you'll understand why my measely meal planning got the bump.

While I was cooking away, Shaun had recently watched Giada at Home, where Giada made some potato chips and decided that he too had a hankering for some homemade chippies. After whipping up Rocco's blue cheese dip (our favorite of yore), Shaun broke out this guy to get his chip on (minus the protective guard). You can probably guess where this story is going.

 

And if you can't, well...

think about it for a moment...

There it is. I'll spare you the intimate details. Let's just say that there was blood. Some screaming (mostly from me). A lot of orange Gatorade. A lengthy amount of time passing before we made the decision that yes, it was pertinent to get to a hospital stat. It wasn't pretty. In fact, I'm still feeling a bit traumatized by the whole ordeal.

So we left the half sliced potatoes on the kitchen island and hopped in the Prius over to Jersey City Medical (a fine establishment, if you are in need of a hospital, by the by). A little while later, we were home, bandaged, medicated (painkillers for the man and a sedative for me...just kidding...sort of) and relieved that this bloody ordeal (er...pun not intended) was behind us.

Some of us were more relieved than others. At least the latter in this situation got some good painkillers out of it. That made him happy.

The finger in question is just a coincidence. I think. At this point, he did encourage me to tell this story on the blog, though in hindsight, it could have been the meds talking.

So the moral of the story, friends? Don't get a mandolin. We had ours for less than a month before this disastrous incident. While it produced some delectable goodies like this...

 

...it's probably the most dangerous kitchen tool you could own. And not worth the risk of chopping off the tip of your finger (and fingernail). And so not worth seeing your awesome husband (or awesome self) in so much pain. Take it from me, it's not pretty, it's not pleasant, and it's going to take a heck of a lot longer to heal than a simple bandage.

But if you do own one, or aren't deterred by the bird-flipping man in the photos above, please for the love of Jesus, use the guard it comes with or at least an oven mitt for protection. I'm pretty sure I won't be looking at a mandolin ever again. Of all of our kitchen mishaps, this has by far been the worst one and was a real wake up call to be SO super careful in the kitchen when handling any sort of tool, be it blades, knives, or electrical equipment. It's so easy to make a simple mistake and all it takes is one wrong move. My poor sweet husband has the severed finger to prove it. So please, be super super duper careful when handling this tool.

That will conclude today's PSA.

I'm traumatized.

What I've Been Watching

There's something you may not know about me.

I'm a TV addict. I love all kinds of TV, be it cheesy and poorly written, hysterically funny or extremely dramatic and brilliant. In fact, my perfect winter weekend would consist of being snowed in with a few seasons of TV on DVD in the queue and endless amounts of hot popcorn and other goodies. Take our New Year's Eve night, for example. We stayed in, made some grub and watched like 8 episodes of Boardwalk Empire. Now that's my kind of night.

I thought it would be fun to give you the rundown of what I'm watching now and hopefully you can give me some suggestions for new things to test out!

Shameless: It's the new show on Showtime featuring a fantastic William H. Macy as a drunken father of 6. Funny, heartbreaking and they aren't kidding with the title. While by the second episode I was on the fence, last Sunday's ep solidified its place in our TV repetoire.

 

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Lights Out: The new show on FX. I was lucky enough to attend the NYC premiere of the show and was immediately hooked, and not just by Holt McCallany's attractiveness either. Like any new show, it needed a couple of weeks to get going, but the third ep must be the charm since Tuesday night's outing left me on the edge of my seat for next week.

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Jersey Shore: Here's where the cheese comes in. I'm a Jersey girl and I find it brilliant that this subculture has made it to television. I'm no stranger to the Shore and some of the people who frequent certain parts, but examining it through a reality show is quite the ride. And for you non-Jerseyans, please note that most of the Jersey Shore is gorgeous and wonderful - not Snooki-laden.

30 Rock: I still love Liz and Jack, but it's not necessarily a must-watch. We catch it when we can!

Top Chef All-Stars: I love when they have all-star seasons because they are just so fun. I'm so happy to see Fabio back in action and the challenges this go 'round have stepped up the competition. Throw in some Tony Bourdain as a judge and I think we've got a winner on our hands.

 

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Modern Family: Love love love this show. The best comedy on TV since Arrested Development got the axe (though I'm hesitant to even put it in the same category as that piece of genius).

Castle: I've been watching since episode 1 and can never get enough. It's the most fun show on this list and I look forward to it each and every week. Fun mysteries, a budding romance and all the Nathan Fillion you can handle. What could be bad about that? Oh and did I mention that I even read the 2 novels written by Nathan's character, Richard Castle? Yup, I did.

The Office: I have a love/hate relationship with it. Sometimes its on the mark and sometimes not so much. Last night's David Brent appearance was so funny but so short-lived. I feel duped.

Of course, there are many more, depending on the time of year. For example, I'm already counting down to June when the 4th season of True Blood will premiere! So there you have it. A little round up of what I'm enjoying on the old telly these days. What are your favorite shows on TV right now?

The Diner's Deck

We got a whole lotta snow here last night and I woke up to this out on our terrace:

 

I don't mind the snow if it means I'm snowed in! Luckily, I'm working from home for the day so I can sit around in my sweatpants and Kevin Boss t-shirt, drinking endless amounts of coffee and tea while working away. It doesn't get much better than that. I kicked off the morning with a plate of eggs overeasy (my favorite kind), a sandwich thin for dippin' and a mug o'joe with Bailey's coffee creamer. How do you like your eggs?

So I had originally planned to share with you a veggie-packed pasta primavera that I made last night, however, I think it needs a little tweaking. But here's a sneak peek...

We also broke out a Christmas gift that we got from my sister Kimberly for Christmas. She got us a Diner's Deck:

 

It's a deck of 52 cards with an NYC restaurant on each one and they include a $10 gift certificate for each one! How fun is that? Shaun and I realized that we are already a couple of weeks behind in putting this deck to work, so last night we had some fun with it.

After laying out the cards, shuffling them (and getting some photographs in), we decided to just pick one at random. We landed on Crepes du Nord, a restaurant fusing French crepes with Scandinavian ingredients. Um, yes please! With both sweet (Nutella & banana, lingonberry & ricotta) and savory (smoked salmon w/dill creme) crepes on the menu, I think that our dinner date night tomorrow is going to be a delicious one! Not to mention, we'll save a few beans in the process. I think this is a fantastic gift for any food lover in your life!

So what do you think? Are you over the snow? Or still finding some enjoyment in it? And bonus question: do you ever use entertainment-type books or cards like the Diner's Deck?