A Wednesday without any work is a reason to smile even when it is so damn cold

Back in the days before all these gigantic cumbersome bailouts, when you worked for a financial institution (such as myself) you used to get off holidays like MLK day. However, now that we are in this complete melt down of the financial markets and since all these bailouts have taken place I no longer get those "Bank/School Holidays" off -- which is exactly why I am thrilled to have today off instead.

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On a side note, I wanted to add that I did not get a chance to watch any of the inauguration ysterday because I was at work.

However, in 1985 (when I was in 1st grade) I actually had the opportunity to see the inauguration of Ronald Regan in person but unfortunately I did not end up going because it was so cold that they had to move the event inside. The reason I would have been lucky enough to see the inauguration was because that year we lived in D.C. while my dad was a White House Fellow (other White House Fellows of note are: General Colin Powell, Paul Gigot [Pulitzer Prize winner & editorial editor from the Wall Street Journal], General Wesley Clark, Dr. Sanjay Gupta [Surgeon General to be] among many others).
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Anyhow, as a result of having today off, I decided to cook Kelly lunch because I never have the chance to on a regular weekday. Once this decision was made I combed threw our cookbooks & the internet where I eventually selected the following two recipes (my finished results pictured below):

1. Crispy Asparagus Soliders with Soft Boiled Eggs from Chef Jamie Oliver's book Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to The Good Life which is chock full of great recipes and even shows you how to grow your own vegetables. This particular recipe was simple, healthy and soooo tasty

2. Halloumi Radicchio and Tomato Sandwich (aka an HRT) A recipe that is actually offered by Mick Cooke who plays the horn in Belle & Sebastian. This recipe came from I Like Food, Food Tastes Good By Zara Kuro which is an awesome cookbook filled with recipes from many of your favorite indie rock bands. We have made several recipes from this book -- the one we have made the most by far is a Pecan Pie Recipe (Kelly is pictured below with one we had made late on Thanksgiving Eve 2008) that Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear learned from his mom. It is very easy to make and simply delicious. Some of the other bands in the book sharing recipes are: Mates of State, My Morning Jacket, Ted Leo, Okkervil River, The Walkmen & The Hold Steady.

(mp3) Grizzly Bear - Little Brother (Electric)

(mp3) Belle & Sebastian - Your Cover's Blown ( this is one of our classic jamz)