Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Nasty "W" Sizes

For those of you do not know ladies clothing sizes, let me tell you there are different categories not just size numbers. Where men's clothes, as is my understanding, go by the number, waist by length, or chest size with a long, short or regular, or even as simple as small, medium, large ect.

Woman's clothing has complexities. We have small, medium, large, and extra large, 2X large and so on, but it depends on the manufacturer. One can wear a size medium in Walmart, and a size x-large in Aeropostle. Then, in the same store, we have, misses, junior, and women's. Now all these sizes pretty much goes by two's and the sizes overlap. Misses, is the regular clothing size, usually you can find sizes like 8-10, 10-12, 12-14, 16-18. Juniors, caters to the teens, goes my 2's like 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19. Womens, signified by a large 'W' at the end of the size number is for fat chicks. We sometimes start at 14W, but usually 16W and goes up by 2's for infinity. Strange thing, junior size 17 is bigger than a woman's 18W. I think closer to fitting like a 20w. A person in a woman's 14w can't necessarily fit into a 16 misses. Hips and proportions are too different so a 14W is still too big.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Creamy Scallop Soup


1 pound medium-size sea scallops (save money by buying sea scallop pieces instead of whole)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cup)
2 carrot, chopped (about 2/3 cup)
3 celery stalk, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 bottle (8 oz.) clam juice
2 cup heavy cream

Season scallops with salt and pepper.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the scallops and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes per side. (If using pieces, saute the scallops.) Remove from saucepan and set aside.
Melt remaining tablespoon of butter. Add onion, carrot and celery and sauté until softened, about 4 minutes. Add tomato paste and sauté 1 minute more.
Add clam juice, water and a pinch of cayenne (optional). Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook to heat through.
Add scallops, heat through.
Add cream, stir and remove from heat. purée soup in batches until very smooth. Return to saucepan and simmer to warm through. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.