Kitty Deschanel | Food, Wine, and Travel Adventures Across the USA

Jack Russell Terriers are known for their intelligence, and when Sexy Nerd left the house last week for a business trip, Pica knew exactly what his suitcase meant. She laid by the front door, whining, until I shooed her away. Even offering her a cookie did nothing to console the poor dog. I thought if I kept her away from the front door, she'd get distracted by something (a noise outside? a moth? a piece of dust?!) soon enough. Instead, she went straight to the garage door. Now, for my fellow South Park fans, you'll want to read this next part in the voice of Sexual Harassment Panda. I'm a saaaad Pica.

This is one of our favorite dinners. How convenient that it also happens to be quick and easy! It's not the prettiest waffle around, though my blue Noritake Colorwave plate tried to fool you into thinking otherwise. This is a recipe you should bookmark. These chili-covered cornmeal waffles seem like the kind of meal you worked really hard on, even though they take no effort at all. Sexy Nerd is certainly impressed whenever he comes home to this dinner. *Snicker* The superstar of this meal is the cornmeal waffle, so feel free to use canned chili if you're crunched for time lazy. (No judgement!) If you're feelin' fancy though, I have a great chili recipe for you: LambAround's Easy Peasy Chili (serves 3) 1 can tomatoes with green chile 1 can white beans 3 Tbsp creamed corn 1/2 - 1 lb cooked ground beef (the amount depends on how carnivorous you're feeling) 1 diced bell pepper 1 diced white onion 1 diced garlic clove 1 dried red chili pepper...

My plan for today was to share a long, detailed Seattle story with you. However, I'm still sick (aaaargh!) so that post has been switched out with one that's shorter and faster to write so that I can get back to bed. A few days ago, I had a fever of almost 103F. Now, I have vertigo. It's worse than that though. It feels like I'm seasick (!!!) even though I haven't been anywhere near the ocean since last Sunday. The water wasn't even rough on our cruise. This is getting ridiculous. Anyway, Sexy Nerd and I love Seattle. Despite its rainy reputation, we're always fortunate to have the sun shining when we visit. We walk everywhere in Seattle and enjoy the unique shopping, museums, and restaurants. Albuquerque just doesn't measure up. One thing we do not love about Seattle, however, is the overwhelming number of homeless people. That's a very hard thing to write without seeming mean, but hear me out. There's someone passed out or panhandl...

Sexy Nerd and I spent last week as guests on the Holland America Oosterdam, sailing roundtrip from Seattle with stops in Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria. By the way, the name of the cruise ship is pronounced like 'Oh-sterdam', not 'Awst-erdam', like we'd been telling everyone. Whoops! We're cruiseaholics. This was our 8th cruise in the 5 years since we got married. The first thing I did when we got back home? Kiss Pica and Biscuit and look online for new cruise deals. The best part of taking a cruise? The food!! Here is how each day typically went: 8:30am - 9:30am : Breakfast in the main dining room My everyday order was juice, coffee, a chocolate croissant or two, an English muffin, a greek yogurt fruit parfait, a sliced banana with blueberries and, depending on how hungry I was, an omelet with all the fixings, french toast with strawberries, and/or a breakfast sandwich. The waiter would usually suggest I get some ham, bacon, and hash browns ...