The Death of my iPhone 4S

I had recently broken up with my Droid in October 2011, and I was looking for a rebound phone, and it was love at first sight when I came across the iPhone 4S. I thought this relationship would last forever. My iPhone 4S seemed to be indestructible (just like the old Nokia phones): it had fallen down rocky mountains, been dropped in muddy puddles, flown off a moving vehicle, slipped from my hand and dropped on hard surfaces about a thousand times. How no one reported me to CPS (cell-phone protective services) for the abuse and neglect my phone had experienced is beyond surprising; probably because they knew my true love for my phone was genuine. I took it everywhere with me, and it experienced all the same memorable adventures that I did. My iPhone's final moments were spent down 4th Avenue in downtown Seattle. As I reflect on our time together, I cannot imagine sharing those experiences with any other phone device.

Thank you iPhone 4S for your almost four years of service:

• Asking Siri ridiculous questions and she never passed judgment on me.
• Giving directions from Omaha, NE to Seattle, WA and I didn't get lost once; thank you voice navigation, and the blue dot of Google Maps.
• Capturing photos from my first hike in Washington, and every other scenic photo I have taken since.
• Allowing me to remember every time I had an amazing cup of caffeine.
• Every shot of a delectable food dish that I made from scratch or enjoyed in a restaurant.
• Enabling me to keep lists (bucket list, reading lists) all in one place instead of millions of post it notes .
• Utilizing Instant Lab to discover my love and appreciation for polaroid photos without being separated from my iPhone.
• Entertaining me when I am waiting in a line at the store, at the same time, wearing headphones and making me instantly unapproachable to other people.
• Jamming to music as I was walk the streets of Seattle.
• Screenshot future hikes from Instagram.
• The moment I joined Instagram, and realized that Facebook was the social media of the past for me.
• Food-stalking on Yelp before I meet up for a meal with friends.
• Knowing when to leave to catch the sunset.
• Planning to watch only ONE video on YouTube and ended up viewing videos for two hours.
• When I lived without Wi-Fi in my apartment for two years, my iPhone was my connection to the virtual world when I didn't want to get out of my PJs and go to a coffee shop.
• Keeping contact information to friends and family since my brain seems incapable now of even remembering my parents' telephone numbers.
• Never missing appointments because of iCalendar app being sync to my MacBook.
• FaceTiming with fellow iPhone friends.
• Not needing to carry cash with me when I visit Starbucks; plus all the freebies accumulated with being a Starbucks Rewards member.
• Enabling my addiction to Groupon, and encouraging me to try things I would never consider, until they were 1/2 off in price.
• I never played Candy Crush or Angry Birds, but I think a person is never too old to play Bejeweled.
• Allowing me to continue not obtaining the skills to change a tire, because of the easy AAA app that instantly calls for roadside assistance.
• Foretelling the approximate time that raindrops will be falling from the skies with The Weather Channel app and it's new "real time rainfall alerts."

Although I have replaced my iPhone 4s, it is currently tucked away in the drawer of my desk, as I cannot let it go quite yet. I am sure I am not the only one enduring this struggle; therefore, here's some humorous link to help others through their grieving process.

http://www.dorkly.com/post/73164/cracked-phones
http://www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/corporatejokes/iphonejokes.html

It has been a tough year for me with Apple devices. My decade old MacBook finally kicked the bucket. Along with my iPod nano falling (because of the force of gravity and not at all my fault) and the screen cracking. My iPod still worked but currently has been kidnapped or lost.

Smitten Kitchen V

I hate grocery shopping; motivation to finally accomplish this errand occurs because I am out of toilet paper, cookie butter, or coffee. The exceptions to the rule, are ingredients needed to make a recipe out of the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I have the lofty goal of cooking every recipe out of this cookbook. My friends will not be surprised that I still haven't attempted a single salad recipe; but I am definitely attempting recipes in the sweets and party snacks sections; I know, shocking! Seattle's summer has been excruciating hot, and so I have limited my time using my oven for baking. I have been surviving on mostly cereal, ice cream, and fruit. However, on the few days that it rained or the sun was covered in clouds, I flipped through the pages of the cookbook to find my next food adventure.

Below are the latest scrumptious recipes from the cookbook:

Tomato Scallion Shortcakes with Whipped Goat Cheese

• Heirloom Tomatoes are in season and they were a great addition to this shortcake. I added a runny egg and smoked salmon to leftovers for the following days.

Avocado Tartine with Sesame Seeds

• This recipe originally had seedless English cucumbers, but I tend to only eat cucumbers when they are hidden in my sushi rolls, so that ingredient was left out. I first saw avocado toast recipes on Pinterest, but the rice vinegar, sesame oil, and black sesame seeds really made this dish addicting. Prior to this recipe, I did not have black sesame seeds in my spice cabinet. This was another dish that for the leftovers I put a runny egg on it for breakfast.  

Chicken and Egg Salad Toasts with Lemon Aioli and Fennel

• I am guilty of buying Trader Joe's White Chicken Salad and using it as chip dip; some of the salad does actually make it on bread to make a sandwich. Prior to this recipe, I had never utilized fresh fennel before; also, I admit if you shown me a fennel and asked me what it was, I most likely could not identify it. Therefore, thankfully Trader Joe's had them labeled in a plastic container so I didn't have to admit to others that I had only used dried fennel seeds before. I utilized the lemon aioli recipe again to make "hollandaise" sauce for some poached eggs for breakfast. I had a chicken salad recipe that I really enjoyed before trying the Smitten Kitchen one, and both are great substitutes if I am ever in a city without a Trader Joe's.

Jacob's Blintzes, or Sweet Potato Blintzes with Farmer's Cheese

• I made several alterations to this recipe; the main one being that I substituted farmer's cheese with goat cheese. Why, you ask....because Trader Joe's does not carry farmer's cheese. These blintzes were tasty; however, they were a lot of work and my kitchen was an absolute mess. In addition, I found them to be a little too heavy for breakfast; they might have made a better choice as a brunch item.

Sesame-Spiced Turkey Meatballs and Smashed Chickpea Salad

•  I rarely use ground turkey; I know, it's healthier for you, blah, blah, blah. HOWEVER, this recipe made me doubt that I used turkey because they were that delicious! They had a bit of a kick to them. It has been a while since I made them, and as I am writing this, I am reminded on how I devoured them, and I must make them again soon! The smashed chickpea salad I probably wouldn't make again. 

In the small skillet I am toasting the sesame seeds

 

The toasted sesame seeds have been added

 

Brownie Roll-out Cookies

• Whenever I am baking with chocolate, I make sure that I am attending a potluck or something, because a few bites of anything chocolate and I am done. These were really easy to bake and were a less severe level on the chocolate-o-meter.

White Chocolate Pudding with Blackberry Curd

• One thing that is really difficult for me to find is pudding that does not have a bad aftertaste. This white chocolate pudding...oh my goodness! I never thought I would rave about anything with the word chocolate in it, but this recipe must be the exception. However, I think I put too much fresh lemon juice in the blackberry curd, so it kind of overpowered the blackberry flavor, but was still delicious. When I make this again, I will most likely not put it in individual glasses, but rather just layer it in a bigger clear bowl.

Smoky Deviled Eggs with Pastrami Smoked Salmon

• This recipe in the cookbook is actually titled "Smoky Deviled Eggs with Crisp Jamon and Crushed Marconas." The alterations to this recipe are due because I do not eat pork, and I have a nut sensitivity, so I tend to only risk an allergic reaction with desserts that require nuts. The Pastrami Smoked Salmon I bought at Trader Joe's. I tend to put this smoked flavored salmon in my egg white omelets, so I thought it would make a nice substitute/garnish to the deviled eggs. I have made this recipe twice, and the second time I put crisp turkey bacon on it.

Rosemary Gruyere and Sea Salt Crisps

• I had ever intention of sharing these, allowing others to try them; but I ate ALL of them. They were so easy to make, because you put all ingredients in the food processor. In the directions, the author used a fluted pastry wheel to make the shapes of the crackers; I used a pizza cutter.

All the ingredients in the food processor

The dough that forms in the food processor

The best cheez-its you will ever taste!

 

French Onion Toasts

• The only substitute I made to this recipe is that I used low-sodium chicken broth instead of beef broth. The first time I made this recipe, I baked the bread in the oven. The second time, I put them in my toaster oven, and they still came out tasty.

Chocolate Chip Brioche Pretzels

• I used only 1/4 of the chocolate that was indicated in the recipe. Also, I do not have a standing electric mixer, so I "mixed" the dough with a wooden spoon. I think by kneading the dough with a wooden spoon, the dough ended up too airy. The cooked pretzels still tasted fine, and I liked dipping mine in warm honey while I drank my coffee.

As you can see, the chocolate is very limited, and no two pretzels look alike

Almond Date Breakfast Bars

• Due to my nut sensitivity, I did not use almond butter or thinly sliced almonds; however, I did use the almond flavoring. I used Trader Joe's Cookie Butter instead of almond butter. That's right, I made Cookie Butter Breakfast Bars, because Trader Joe's does not make them yet. The leftover breakfast bars I crumbled and added to my Activa Yogurt...the irony is not lost on me.

 

No-Obligation Book Club

Summer cleaning is what I am currently doing to avoid the sunshine and heat outside in Seattle. Part of this cleaning and organizing process has included recycling college notes and the many years of subscriptions of magazines, along with shredding old bills and paperwork. So far I have recycled 113 pounds of paper...yes 113 pounds; I finally used my bathroom scale to actually weigh something! I couldn't believe the magnitude of paper accumulation I have moved from apartment to apartment.

One of the magazine subscriptions that I had for four years was Real Simple. My three favorite topics in the magazine are The Simple List, Food, and No-Obligation Book Club. I kept all my magazine issues mainly for the information of these topics, so I thought I would share some of this information virtually, and then I can removed them from the prime real estate that are my bookshelves and into the recycling bin. Also, I love making lists and I know some of you are also addicted to list making; so you are welcomed!

Here are some of the book recommendations from the No-Obligation Book Club pages of my magazine subscriptions. The books I have read are highlighted yellow...happy reading!

What books will you pass down to your children:

1. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
2. A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Brandford
3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
4. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
5. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

What to read this spring:

1. Bark by Lorrie Moore
2. Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun
3. Cambridge by Susanna Kaysen
4. Cementville by Paulette Livers
5. October by Zoe Wicomb
6. The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver
7. Her by Christa Parravani
8. The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy
9. Mary Coin by Marisa Silver
10. Middle C by William H. Gass

What book taught you an important lesson about love:

1. Rascal by Sterling North
2. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
3. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
4. Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie
5. The Color of Water by James McBride

What to read this summer:

1. Fractures by Lamar Herrin
2. Death of the Black-Haired Girl by Robert Stone
3. We are Water by Wally Lamb
4. A Permanent Member of the Family by Russell Banks
5. My Mistake by Daniel Menaker
6. Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
7. The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
8. The Night Gwen Stacy Died by Sarah Bruni
9. The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
10. Gloria by Kerry Young
11. I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You by Courtney Maum
12. Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok
13. Stars Go Blue by Laura Pritchette
14. The Arsonist by Sue Miller
15. The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman

What book is unforgettably eerie:

1. Memoirs of an Invisible Man by Harry F. Saint
2. Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
3. Mrs. Penegrine's House for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
4. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
5. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

What book is a great Valentine's Day gift:

1. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
2. The Griffin & Sabine Trilogy by Nick Bantock
3. Desire: Women Write about Wanting by Lisa Solod Warren
4. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
5. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

What is your favorite short story:

1. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
2. Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Hills Like White Elephant by Ernest Hemingway
4. Neighbour Rosicky by Willa Cather
5. The Storm by Kate Chopin

What book helped you through a tough time:

1. Blue Jelly by Debby Bull
2. Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
3. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson's
4. What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci
5. When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner
6. Breeding in Captivity by Stacy Bolt
7. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
8. My Life in France by Julia Child
9. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
10. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

What is the most gripping true story you've ever read:

1. The Journals of Lewis and Clark
2. All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein
3. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
4. An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
5. To Sleep with the Angels by David Cowan and John Kuenster
6. Lost Moon by Commander Jim Lovell Jr.
7. The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli
8. Carly's Voice by Carly Fleischmann

What is your favorite fictional mother:

1. Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter
2. Mrs. Madrigal in Tales of Two Cities
3. Ma Joad in Grapes of Wrath

What book should be on the president's nightstand:

1. His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey
3. The Once and Future King by T.H. White
4. Redemption Falls by Joseph O'Connor
5. Stranger Things Happen, Magic for Beginners, and Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
6. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

What book should you read this autumn:

1. At the Bottom of Everything by Den Dolnick
2. After Her by Joyce Maynard
3. Nine Inches by Tom Perrotta
4. The Partner Track by Helen Wan
5. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
6. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
7. De Potter's Grand Tour by Joanna Scott
8. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
9. Bespotted by Linda Gray Sexton

What book reminds you of home:

1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. My Invented Country by Isabel Allende
3. A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
4. Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton
5. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

What contemporary book will stand the test of time:

1. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
2. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
3. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
4. Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver
5. The Giver by Lois Lowry

What is your favorite book to read on vacation:

1. Dave Barry's Greatest Hits
2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
3. A Room With a View by E.M. Forster
4. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
5. The Beach Book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Ronald Dahl

Could use a laugh:

1. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
2. What's Not to Love? The Adventures of a Mildly Perverted Young Writer by Jonathan Ames
3. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
4. Meaty by Samantha Irby
5. The Will to Whatevs: A Guide to Modern Life by Eugene Mirman

50 books that will change your life:

1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
2. Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips
3. The Best American Short Stories
4. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards
5. The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman
6. Cookwise by Shirley O.Corriher
7. The Benchley Roundup by Robert Benchley
8. The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis
9. Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War by Annia Ciezadlo
10. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
11. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell
12. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
13. The Education of a Gardener by Russell Page
14. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
15. Katherine by Anya Seton
16. Betsy in Spite of Herself by Maud Hart Lovelace
17. Colefax and Fowler: The Best in English Interior Decoration by Chester Jones
18. A Much Younger Man by Dianne Highbridge
19. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
20. Foster by Claire Keegan
21. Apartments for the Affluent: A Historical Survey of Buildings in New York by Andrew Alpern
22. Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker
23. Making Faces by Kevyn Aucoin
24. King of the Hill by A.E. Hothner
25. I Captured the Castle by Dodie Smith
26. The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
27. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
28. The Lover by Marguerite Duras
29. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
30. Being Peach by Thich Nhat Hanh
31. Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival and My Journey From Homeless to Harvard by Liz Murray
32. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
33. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
34. Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
35. Kitchen Literacy: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From and Why We Need to Get it Back by Ann Vileisis
36. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
37. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
38. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
39. Without Feathrs by Woody Allen
40. The Street by Ann Petry
41. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Suess
42. A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin
43. Common Sense on Mutual Funds by John C. Bogle
44. The Gay Place by Billy Lee Brammer
45. About Alice by Calvin Trillin
46. The Second Shift by Arlie Hochschild
47. Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
48. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
49. The Last Lion by William Manchester
50. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck