Juliejulezzzzz's Profile

Oh, and I should say I like when people do registries. Last summer some friends of my SO's got married, and we were a bit late in buying their gift (OK it was the night before the wedding). Most of the stuff on the list was already purchased, so we were left with a mish mash of small kitchen accessories. But, I was still able to look at the bigger things that they registered for to get an idea of their style, and I picked out a lovely wooden salad bowl that wasn't on their registry, but seemed like it would go. I tied all the accessories with a ribbon, put them in the bowl, then wrapped that.

I live with my boyfriend, in the house he owns. So, if we were to breakup, I'm out of a home. So, I have a line item in my budget for savings every month... that way if things didn't work out for whatever reason, I'm not stuck there because I can't afford to move.

I grew up in a small suburbanish town in central CA, only there was no big city nearby for it to be a suburb too. When I was 21 I moved to Chicago and lived there most of my 20s, and loved it. But, the lifestyle got old. I now live NE of Denver in I guess what would be considered the suburbs, although it's a subvidivision kind of in the middle of nowhere. The pros are it's quiet, we have a house with a yard (my BF bought it before we met), I have space to garden, plenty of storage, COVERED PARKING, etc. I have an amazing panoramic view of the entire Rocky Mountains from Longs Peak up north all the way down south to Pike's Peak. We are near the airport, which is vital for my SO's job as he travels weekly. If you've ever been to the Denver airport you would know it's out in the middle of nowhere and it would get really old having to drive an hour plus to get there every week. I also save a lot of money because of the biggest Con, which is there is nothing nearby. Nothing. The walkscore for my house is 0. I found myself getting excited because it looks like they're going to be building a 7-11 down on the corner. The supermarket is about 4 miles away, and that wasn't even here when I moved in, it just opened last summer. The other con is that nobody really wants to come visit too often because most of them live in the city or in more popular suburbs closer to the mountains on the opposite side of Denver from where we are.

If you had asked me 5 years ago if this is the life I would be living, I would have given a resounding HELL NO. I was a die hard city girl for a long time. But now that I'm living it, it's not so bad. I still miss the city sometimes though.

Eventually we want to build a house on a few acres even further out to raise a family... and the entire basement is going to be guest rooms so friends can come out and just stay the night :)

Another suggestion to get an Amazon Prime membership. And, the AWD car. I have a very fuel efficient Honda coupe, but I pretty much am screwed in the winter. I am planning on getting a small SUV before next winter.... it kills me because I get 32mpg right now, and I'll probably be dropping down to 25 at least, but being housebound every time it snows really sucks. Thankfully I have an understanding boss :)

The biggest disadvantage for me is that nobody wants to come visit. I finally have a home large enough to accommodate parties, and I love to entertain, but most of our friends that live in the city (Denver in this case) don't want to drive an hour to come see us. We don't have any plans to move back into town, so eventually we want to build a house with plenty of guest rooms so more than 2 or 3 people can stay overnight.

I made this on Saturday for some friends, served w/ lemon mustard chicken. It was so freaking good and it's a great dish for entertaining since it doesn't require too much hands on time... just throw it in the oven and do something else instead of standing and stirring. I like my risotto on the thicker side to begin with) not runny, and this turned out perfectly. You could add more liquid to it if you like risotto more runny.

I moved into my SO's house and it has a Whirlpool glass top. I agree w/ the others that they are overreacting... and this is coming from someone who used to cook on a Viking gas range.

Electric does take getting used to, but once you get a hang of it, it's fine. I would recommend getting lots of trivets.... because the biggest thing I had to learn was once I was done cooking, you have to take the pot off the burner since the burner does stay hot for awhile even after turning it off. I got a bunch of cheap cork trivets at Ikea. Also, just be aware that adjusting temperature doesn't happen that fast... so if you want to take something from a rolling boil to a simmer quickly, you have to switch burners. Lastly, if you can, wipe up spills right when they happen, because they're much harder to clean once they've burned onto the top.

In my next home, I will have gas, because, in the end, it is better than electric. But having an electric stove is definitely not the end of the world. It's funny though, the main thing I miss having a gas cooktop for is warming up tortillas right on the flame.

Mine is a variety of reasons. We live a bit out in the middle of nowhere and while we offer to let people stay overnight, we only have room for 2 couples to do that...so people tend to not want to drive all the way out. The expense is also an issue....which leads me to my next point...

I think people are flaky and after trying to unsuccessfully host a few sit down dinner parties, and have people who said they'd come not show up, I sort of gave up. I love doing it, but not when half the people don't come, especially when I spend a decent amount of money trying to put together something nice.

We do host sports watching parties a couple times a year. Those are easier as our living room has lots of seating (dining room is small), and people bring things in addition to what I prepare... helps keep costs down, and it doesn't matter as much if people don't show or show up at random times.

My SO's parents, especially his stepdad, are "down home" type folks (ie his stepdad didn't even know what wasabi was when we were out to eat)... so I never want to make anything too out there for them, but I also don't want to serve the lowest common denominator either. The first time I cooked for them I did a pork loan roast that had bacon on top and a lovely brown sugar glaze. Sides were Ina Garten's roasted parmesan broccoli, and a roasted herbed potato casserole kind of thing (which his stepdad promptly added ketchup to... but whatever makes him happy I guess). I also learned that night that they expect to have bread at every meal so whenever I cook for them from now on, I have bread on hand.

I've only managed a meal in 30 minutes or less if I can grill everything (like bbq chicken with grilled asparagus), or if most of the components are pre-made, like pasta with jarred sauce or a meal using a protein I've already cooked ahead of time and veggies that don't require a lot of prep (again, something like asparagus or green beans). If there's any sort of prep work involved, like chopping up veggies or making sauces, then it's at least 45, and I've got pretty decent knife skills.

By the way I successfully moved a plant into California from out of state. It rode with me in the passenger seat of my car from Illinois. At the border they checked it for bugs etc, but then gave it back to me. It was just a small houseplant, a spath/peace lily.