We're Baaaaaaaaccck

Whew - are you as tired as I am? We are all moved in...kinda. I mean, physically we're here, but we are definitely still living out of boxes and wondering where the heck we're going to put everything. Weird how you can move to a bigger place and still not have enough room. (Although it probably doesn't help that the extra "room" has already been taken over by a small little thing who is quickly accumulating a lot of big things).

Long before we had a moving date, I noticed that my alltimefavoriteband was going to be in Southern California at the end of July. When we did have a moving date, I realized with disappointment that the Saturday night show about 40 minutes away just wouldn't work with our moving schedule. But when I went to double check the show dates/times I noticed a new date had been added - Sunday night, and it was just down the road from us! I asked Thatboy if he thought we'd be done moving enough to make a Sunday night show, and he said we should play it by ear. By Saturday I'd been given the go-ahead to get tickets.

Not only are the Gin Blossoms my favorite band to listen to, but even Thatboy will readily agree they are fantastic live. They really love their fans and play to their audience. They even started out with the song that originally hooked me!

How many bands do you know that put in a really healthy dose of their old stuff in addition to playing things off their new album? The newest Gin Blossoms' album came out last November, but they're still mixing in our 90s favorites. (And don't worry, they included my favorite song off the new album too!)

And crowd interaction is ever so much fun. Obviously we were fairly close, but Robin never fails to push right into the audience on all sides. He handed out tambourines to play along, sang into phones for adoring fans who couldn't be there, and even took hold of cameras and videos to give an up close and personal feel for the filmer. The encore including Thatboy's favorite song, and gives you a good idea of how much fun the band has with their audience.

Thatboy spent a lot of the night googling the effects of rock concerts on in utero babies, but I think it's important for the baby to get good music right from the start.

After the moving, and the concert, it's no surprise we were worn out. Unfortunately, we also had a really busy week at work, which meant the unpacking would have to wait. Which didn't make Thatboy so happy. I'm surprisingly more laid back about it, but I also made sure that everything we needed kitchenwise was within easy reach at all times. Which meant, after my long weekend, and long day at work, I could still throw together a dinner.

After all, we can always unpack this week, right?

Veal and Mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup mushrooms, minced
1/2 Tbsp minced shallots
1 cup cooked veal, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper
1 sprig tarragon, minced

1. Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the mushrooms and shallots for five minutes.
2. Add the veal, cream, salt, pepper, and tarragon and cook for another five minutes. The consistency should be almost stew like.