Anouchka Talks

When asked to share her beauty secrets, Audrey Hepburn responded with the following: For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. Many of us can picture Audrey Hepburn saying these wonderful things, given her affinity for the simple life and showing charity.  However, the true author of this excerpt is often debated.  Regardless, it's a nice thought and I find it somewhat inspirational.  It's true, I am not the embodiment of beauty, grace and class like Audrey was.  In fact, a better description for me might be goofy-looking-socially-awkward-verbally-inarticulate-obsessive-compulsive-domineering-halfwoman.  Nevertheless, dear reader, I tho

This morning The Weather Channel app wasn't working on my iPad so I had to check the weather online like an old person from the 90s. (This is a true story that happened to me today.)

Here we are at the end of yet another year.  What have I accomplished?  Very little indeed!  Despite my best attempts at procrastination (I am physically incapable of putting things off until the last minute), I always find myself on circuit overload at this time of year.  Holiday preparations are underway; the semester is wrapping up (as if I didn't get enough schooling when I myself was in school, I now work at an institute of higher education); my workout routine is in transition from outdoor running to outdoor freezing ; the list continues.  However, in spite of all the chaos that the post Thanksgiving season brings, it still is, in fact, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." Although my mom and I both rival Buddy the Elf in Christmas cheer, there are a few things that I do hate about the season.  I dearly love it when the local radio stations switch from their regular programming to old Bing Crosby hits and enthusiastic renditions of "Sleigh Ride," but

Hello, little darlings! Since our relationship began in 2008, Habibi and I have had phases in our monogamous relationship where we allow one another to find love outside of the marriage. No, you freaks, I am not talking about cheating!  I am talking about television, of course!  We are very happily married, thank you very much!  (Be looking for our book to hit shelves at your local Borders.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!) Anyway, in 2009, I introduced Habibi to my all time favorite TV show:  Arrested Development.  We laughed ourselves silly with the Bluth family.  In 2010, we fell in love with agents Mulder and Sculley from The X-Files.  (The truth is out there.  Trust no one.)  As 2011 draws to a close and we all take a moment to reflect back on the year, I am compelled to mention one of our two most recent loves:  Boston Legal.  We are currently in the second season and are thoroughly enjoying our relationships with Alan Shore and DENNY CRANE (to be read aloud - with gusto !)

Canadian $100 bills are plastic now, so I have to use 20s to light my cigars. I'm cold but I don't like eating with a jacket on. My toilet paper does not contain aloe. Some poor person asked me for the time before I could put my headphones in. I put money in the Salvation Army bucket when the person wasn't looking. Ugh, I just watched a bunch of commercials because I forgot that the show I was watching was DVR'd. And, for the pièce de résistance… My keyless entry stopped working, so now I have to open my car with a key like some sort of grimy medieval dungeon master. (Taken from http://www.reddit.com/r/firstworldproblems/?count=25&after=t3_mfw0p.)

Every culture seems to have its own version of vegetable soup.  In America, we have vegetable (+/- beef); Italy has minestrone; Spain has gazpacho....  En France , on mange une bonne soupe qu'on appelle " pistou ."  (For those of you who don't speak French, the bold words are the ones to which you need to direct your attention.) So, here is another soup recipe for the season!  In my mind, the French pistou is more of a summer (perhaps into early fall) option, but it is certainly delicious all year round.  This vegetarian dish demands to be coupled with a dense, warm bread. Pistou  (Anouchka & Habibi's Version) Serves 4 Ingredients: ½ cup of baby carrots, diced 1 russet potato, diced 1 can of diced tomatoes (I prefer the No Salt Added varieties.) 1 container (4 cups) of Kitchen Basics Unsalted Vegetable Cooking Stock 1 ½ cups of sliced yellow squash (Pictsweet has a good frozen option.) Approx. 2/3 cup (86 g)

Look, everyone!  "Anouchka Talks" is all set for Thanksgiving fall colors!  (In reality, I'm monkeying with blog looks but haven't found anything yet that I'm super crazy about.) K.  Bye!

Greetings, everyone!  I’ve just realized that I have not yet posted a single recipe on my blog!  Well, by golly, if we’re going to talk about food this much, then I better get crackin’! Since fall is here, I feel that a soup recipe would perhaps be among the most fitting to share today.  Behold… Anouchka’s Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup Serves 8-10 Ingredients: 1 pound of lean, HUMANELY RAISED ground beef (I might suggest Laura’s Lean Beef, available at Target) Bell peppers strips (I like Archer Farms Frozen Bell Pepper Strips) - 1.5 Cup Frozen cut green beans - 1 Cup Frozen broccoli - 1 Cup Frozen sweet peas - 1 Cup Frozen cauliflower - 1 Cup Frozen sweet corn (cut off cob) - 1 Cup 2 medium tomatoes 1 large onion, diced (I prefer yellow, but white works just fine.) Kitchen Basic Unsalted Vegetable Cooking Stock - 1 container (4 cups) 1 can tomato paste Sea Salt - ½ tsp (I like Alessi 100% Natur

So, it looks like my sissy B has come to the rescue again and provided me with a whole list of suggestions for topics!   In fact, I am using one of her suggestions this very day!   (However, do NOT think you are off the hook for posting comments if you’re reading this…which you may not be.) Well, the holidays are upon us and Thanksgiving is drawing nearer every day!   (That is the nature of days, you see.)   I almost love Thanksgiving more than Christmas because it marks the beginning of the Christmas season .   The radio stations start playing that Snoopy and the Red Baron song, Hersheys and Coca Cola release their charming commercials, people put up Christmas lights and I don’t feel guilty for drinking up to eleven hot chocolates per day because swimsuit season is a million years away!   But I’m getting ahead of myself…   We are talking about Thanksgiving . To kick off the post-Halloween but too-early-for-Christmas (according to some people who are NOT ME) season, my sis

Greetings, my little chickadees!  I must apologize for having neglected both of my readers for quite some time now!  Sadly, I have been experiencing what those "in the biz" (a.k.a. the business of writing...a business of which I am clearly not a part) call writer's block.   You see, I am sans muse, without inspiration and just plain bored.  Quite frankly, I haven't written because I don't want to disappoint! Ideally, what I would do in this situation is ask all of you to come up with subjects for me to explore.  Unfortunately, I don't know if there are enough of you out there actually reading this to post your suggestions.  Nevertheless, when I scan my stats I do see that there are quite a few more hits on my page than posts!  (Still, not very many.)  That being said, this is what I propose... If you suggest it, I will write about it. I am making an effort to get more of a dialogue going on this blog; although mayhap I am only setting myself up for

I have to drive across town on my lunch break today to pick up a replacement DVD player because my current one keeps freezing and makes a weird buzzing sound, and waiting three days for a new one to be delivered takes too long when I want to get to the next DVD on my Netflix queue. (My sister, B.  www.baitedbreath.wordpress.com)

This past weekend, Habibi and I drove halfway across the state to spend a long weekend in his hometown with his family.   As we gazed in between bug corpses on my windshield out upon the open prairie and breathed in the smell of cow shit, we discussed some of the happenings of our lives.   I do love the heartland (no sarcasm intended…truly).   On long car rides, I frequently get restless and need what I like to call a good “Q&A” session.   Basically, this means that I think of random questions that we both have to answer:   “If you went back to school, what would you study?” or “What is your least favorite Thanksgiving food?” or “If you could have either gills or night vision, which one would you choose and why?” and so on.   If you were to ask me what led to the following revelation, I would likely not be able to recall.   However, we began fantasizing about what life might be like if we were perpetual students.   Of course, our finances would never allow this and betwee