Busog!

Busog is Filipino for full. So very full...

Thanksgiving was great. We had so much food and for the first time EVER we finished all the cooking by the time our guests arrived. The turkey spent most of its time in a counter top roaster and was finished in the oven at the very end so there was plenty of time to cook everything else. In addition to the turkey we had porkloin stuffed with dried fruit, salmon en croute with spinach and gruyere, baked macaroni and cheese, yellow squash casserole, homemade parker house rolls and whole grain spelt rolls, candied yams, mashed potatoes, pancit malabon, no sugar added sweet potato pies and sweet potato/pumpkin pies, sweet potato/pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie with sugar, no sugar added gingerbread cake, brown sugar cookies, oatmeal chocolate pecan cranberry cookies. We also bought a pecan pie and guests brought a tray of pastries from Trader Joe's and also clementines and potato salad.

After that gut-buster of a weekend, Christmas is going to be much more low key. Mom is working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and I am working Christmas Day. So, no guests (yay!). My dad really likes the pizza I make so we're having Christmas pizza. And ham, cuz we haven't had ham yet! And since we're having just a family christmas, we'll also celebrate Jesus's birthday with a birthday cake. Probably yellow cake with chocolate icing. Pizza and cake - perfect birthday food! I'm looking forward to this.

I only learned the Filipino word for 'hungry' very recently. No wonder. I'm never hungry.

It's not even Thursday yet

Yesterday I celebrated Thanksgiving with my friends from work. It was potluck and I brought macaroni and cheese. Who doesn't love Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? It's the cheeziest!

Just kidding. It was the America's Test Kitchen (ATK) recipe. It turned out very well, except I thought it needed pepper. The recipe doesn't call for black pepper, but I like pepper on pretty much everything.

The hostess, who is Taiwanese, made spring rolls. I fried them while she finished wrapping. It's funny how I tend to be the eggroll fryer at parties.

We were so stuffed, but happy, by the end of the evening. Unfortunately, I was so full I had a hard time sleeping. It could have also been the gigantic amaretto sour that I had as well. Or my newly developed carpal tunnel in my left (to join my right) hand. This makes me very sad, I had to mention it.

Anyways, due to the fitful sleep, I woke a little later than I wanted to. I had lots to do today! I haven't been this productive in a long time.
Today I:

• Got a membership at the new Costco and bought a pecan pie
• Went to Safeway for normal sized foods
• Baked ATK's brown sugar cookies
• Baked ATK's oatmeal chocolate pecan cranberry cookies
• Baked whole grain spelt rolls
• Baked NY Times' parker house rolls (only not in muffin tins...so are they still parker house rolls?)
• Continued knitting a Christmas present scarf
  

I'm really getting a hang of this bread baking business. Although, it is a bit frustrating with the cold weather and the lack of rising. But that's nothing a warm oven can't fix. I must admit that I hate touching yeast right out the packet because I know they're alive. Kinda creepy in a germy kind of way.

Election Day

At 10am on Tuesday, I got into my car and drove to the Moose Lodge, about 1.5 miles from my house. Only, I didn't really get that far. I ended up parking on my street about halfway there. Cars were parked all along the nearby neighborhood streets and along the main road. It was a sight to see so many people eager to vote for the next president of the United States.

By the time I took my place in line, the que went all the way to the street along the Moose Lodge driveway and completely around the perimeter of the parking lot in the back.

But not a single complaint was heard. It was like a miracle. Everyone was actually happy to wait. Lots of chatting and and smiles and getting acquainted with people you never knew were your neighbors. Hundreds of people with patience! In the rain, even! (Ok, a light drizzle, but still...) I don't think I'll ever see so much patience ever again in my life.

I, myself, had a really nice time. I finished reading a book and started knitting a sock. My back hurt after a while, but I didn't mind too much. I had snacks and water in my purse. I didn't have an umbrella, which was dumb, but I can't hold an umbrella and knit at the same time.

Two hours and 50 minutes later, I cast my vote for Barack Obama. Less than 12 hours later he would be our new President-elect.

And I was so ready to stay up late to get the final word on all of the votes. I wasn't even home yet from work when McCain delivered his concession speech, which, I must admit, was excellent.

Record breaking voter turnout and no recounts or other shenanigans for a black man...it's like we're a civilized people.

Someone let me know when I can stop holding my breath for something bad to happen.

Oh, by the way...

...If you ever go to Oyamel, order the shrimp. One for each person. You won't want to share.

Farmers market, Crafts, Tea. Me, me, me.

Today I did stuff in cool parts of the city! And I took pictures! Crappy camera phone pictures, but still. It's been a long time since I put up pictures.

I only have one day off this weekend, so I wanted it to be a good one. Don't cry for me though. I'm only taking one day off because I leave for Las Vegas at the end of this week and I couldn't take more than 40hrs off in a row.

So the day began with a trip on the train. Choo! Choo! Ok, not that kind of train. More like a subway. So....Whoosh! Whoosh! I got off at Dupont Circle at about noon and caught the last hour of the Farmers Market. I was very excited because I'd never been there before. I was pleased to find LOTs of vendors and many with grass fed meat and chickens and eggs and milk in addition to produce. Pears are in season, by the way. This market often has special events and this week was Free Giant Paella Day! I don't think that's the official name, but it's as good as any. Three chefs from Jaleo were there to make free paella for everyone in a giant pan.
See? Giant Paella pan. And you can also see that there was none left when I got there. The last little plate went to the woman next to me. But that's OK, she was probably waiting and I had JUST gotten there. Plus, it looked kinda wet. I dont like wet paella. But I love sour grapes. haha.

Since I was going to be out and about I could only buy things that would survive a day in my canvas bag. Unfortunately, that meant no meat or milk. Fortunately that DID mean croissants and mushrooms! And since it was near the end of the selling day, I got the 2 croissants for the price of 1. That makes up for spending waaaay too much on porcini mushroom, right? That's ok, the porcinis were deeeelicious. When I got home, I sauteed them in some olive oil, garlic, and thyme and had them with bread, havarti cheese, and asparagus. There was more, but I ate some. Hm, I suppose I could have had them with croissants, but those were long gone.

After the Farmers Market, I walked to the big event of the day, Crafty Bastards in Adams Morgan. About 100 vendors selling handmade goods. It was like Etsy come to life. It was craft pleasure overload. It was awesome. The weather, not so much. It rained a bit on and off and it was hot. I did meet up briefly with my coworker who told me about the event. It was a really big event and there were tons of people so it's amazing that I did see her. There were lots of tshirts and plush toys and knit goods and jewelry. I got some great stuff, but since some are gifts, I can't post those. One booth caught my eye because she had a framed drawing of Sophia of the Golden Girls saying "picture it: sicilly..." Unfortunately, that drawing was out of my price range. Fortunately she also had this hilarious shirt:I present to you, Presidential Facial Hair Hall of Fame. The shirts she had were imperfect and were marked down from $18 to $10. Hilarious $10 tshirt? Of course I'll buy it! But I'm gonna have to get my tshirt paints to fix the pic on the back to properly say"honorable mention". Gotta respect the mutton chops.

I loved the Crafty Bastards show. There was stuff handmade and local. There was music and food. There were free tote bags. There was a lot. I was tired. And thirsty.

What to do, what to do? Ohhhh for the love of god, what?

Well, Whiny McWhinypants, I went to Teaism. It's a tea house that I've been wanting to go to for a long time. I think Rachel Ray went to it for $40 a day. I'm just sayin...

The branch of Teaism I visited was in Dupont Circle. They have tea (duh), tea accessories, sweets, and hot food and cold food. It's a tiny place and it was very busy. But I did manage to find a seat right next to a window. I had iced morrocan mint green tea and the handroll bento. The mint tea (not shown, you know what tea looks like) was not super minty but very refreshing on this hot and humid day. The handroll bento had tea cured salmon with miso mayo, tangy pickled cabbage, brown rice with sesame seeds and more sheets of nori than I knew what to do with. Custom maki or tiny asian burritos! I really can't go wrong with rice and smoked salmon. It was yummy. I also had a toffee/granola/chocolate chip cookie. It was good, but it would have been better if I couldn't hear the guy two seats away telling his life story. I hope he was being interviewed and not on a date, because there would not be a second date in my opinon. Anyway, I look forward to going back and trying more of their menu, including the Jasmine creme brulee and the veggie bento (tofu and roasted veggies, yum).

Infact, I really look forward to going to Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan again and again. On my way to all those things today, I passed so many interesting looking restaurants and shops. So, next time you're in town, let's go there.

These are a few of my favorite things (right now)

1) Ominivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
2) Making my Bucket List
3) Homemade fast food style chicken nuggets that don't taste like styrofoam (hint: stick the chicken in a food processor and season to your heart's content)

What the hell is this post about?

What the hell? No post at all for August?

Yeah, August was boring.

I did remember my facebook password and had to respond to like 27 invites from people I know or knew. The whole facebook thing was entertaining for a week. Then it got boring. Maybe because I'm boring? Perhaps.

But you know what is exciting? Bean burgers. Yeahhh. A good bean burger. There are a lot of awful bean burgers out there that shouldn't even be an option during a cookout. But here's the secret: worchestershire sauce. Burgery deliciousness, I tell you whut. Vegan? No, but nobody said I was vegan or even vegetarian. I'm just eating more plants. And you should too. I don't have a recipe for you because I just throw stuff into a bowl, mush it up, and fry it in a pan. Just be careful no to throw too hapazardly because you'll end up with a tablespoon of cayenne in your two cups of beans and that's a spicy meatball. Er, beanball.

In general, details are inversely proportional to importance

I just got back from Yogaville. Here are some of the highlights:

1) I meditated for the first time in an interfaith temple

2) I learned the basics of the Integral Yoga style of yoga

3) The vegetarian fare was really good and a lot of the food is grown on the property. I bought their cookbook. (Of course I bought a cookbook).
Typical breakfast was oatmeal, stewed prunes, yogurt (whole, fat free, soy), granola, corn flakes, puffed rice cereal, rice cakes, rice milk, soy milk, orange juice, apple juice, grapefruit, apples, bananas. A salad bar was always available at lunch and dinner.
Hot lunch and dinner included such things as spaghetti, marinara sauce, breaded cauliflower, steamed kale, curried cauliflower, beans in tomato sauce, lentil or chickpea dal, split pea soup, rice (wild, brown, saffron, and white), aloo chat (spicy chick peas and potatoes), spelt bread, cabbage with coconut, and tofu - plain, curry roasted, soy sauced and seasoned.
Dessert was usually a fruit salad and fresh fruit was always available during all meals.
The condiment table was a bit of a mystery. Somebody needs a label maker. There were a number of things in syrup containers that had no label :( But there was garlic flavored olive oil that I kept wishing was honey. There was something that looked and tasted like thinned out peanut butter but I'm guessing was roasted tahini. Still good on a piece of bread. Then there was some sort of powder that I wasn't brave enough to taste. Maybe it was nutritional yeast. Apparently it tastes like cheese. Grated parmesan for vegans I suppose.

4) Speaking of food, on the way there, we stopped at Whole Foods in Fair Lakes, Va and saw this guy -
He was taping for his show Emeril Green which is on the new Planet Green network. Apparently he's there a lot. It's a really nice Whole Foods, so I don't blame him. He walked behind me while I was looking at a magazine at one of the registers. When I looked to see why there were camera men rushing by, I stared at Mr. BAM! himself with my mouth agape and I'm pretty sure he looked at me like I was strange. (When I stared at Pierce Brosnan outside the National Gallery of Art, he gave me a debonair nod of the head. In the battle of celebrities that I stare at, James Bond wins.)

5) Speaking of celebrities, when we were at the temple gift shop at Yogaville, this guy was at the information center across the walkway - "Do you know who that man holding the baby is?" asked the cashier at the gift shop. "That's Leiv Scheiber, an actor. His mom lives here at Yogaville. I knew him in New York when he was a kid, a kid with a broken leg." I didn't actually see him, just a man with a baby from 20 feet away. And nobody could tell me what movie/tv show he was in. Or that that kid's mom is Naomi Watts or if Naomi Watts was also there. If only Yogaville had more CSI fans or people who even remember he was Cotton in Scream or nerds who knew he's gonna be Sabertooth in the next X-men movie. Too much to ask from yogis at an ashram?

My latest favorite blog exerpt

From Little Yellow Different:

Pork, I have learned, is the sacred food of the Catholic people. And since pork is fucking delicious, I am okay with this.

Catch up

Stuff I've done and will do

Two weekends ago:

• Got an acupressure massage alongside my mom. Good massage, bad English from the Chinese practitioners.
• Went to Eastern Market for the first time and bought a gorgeous pendant from Andrea Haffner
• Rode bikes with my younger brother through Cedarville State Forest. Took the 7mile orange trail through the woods. My goal is to ride that trail without having to get off the bike for the steeper hills-up or down-by the end of the summer.

Last weekend:
Celebrated Danyel's birthday by picking strawberries at Butler's Orchard, followed by seeing the absolutely ridiculous Indiana Jones movie.

In the future!...

July 10 weekend:
Going to Cleveland with Goo to visit Cedar Point and ride every rollercoaster and eat at Iron Chef Michael Symon's restaurant Lolita for good food and the possibility to hear that man's crazy laugh in person.

July 25 weekend:
Going to Yogaville with Goo for yoga and meditation at an ashram located in the middle of Virginia.

Traffic jam is not so tasty

Since March, I have been going to work from 6am to 2:30pm. Since I work nearly an hour from work, I have had to get up at 4am. In all reality, that meant getting out of bed at 4:15am, choosing some clothes to wear, getting showered and dressed, and grabbing something to eat and drink for the car ride by 5:10am. The morning commute was never bad, except for that one time an 18-wheeler turned over and I didn't clock in until 7:30am.

The ride home however was atrocious.

Rush hour in D.C. starts at 3pm. If I managed to get to the Wilson bridge by 3, I'd be home in under an hour. If I had gotten to work late or if I had to stay a few minutes late, and left at say, 2:40, it would automatically be at least another 30mins in the car.

I know, I know. In this day and age where gas is commonly over $4/gal, what the hell am I doing driving an hour to work? And as I sit waiting in the 6miles of traffic to the Potomac, my car idly creeps along at 5 miles/hour emitting exhaust and blowing up the size of my carbon footprint to epic proportions and the dismal fate of the ice caps and those poor widdle polar bear cubs is ALL MY FAULT.... all because I work too damn far from home.

If only I could telecommute. But science is awfully hard to do from home. Though I do know you can get an old thermal cycler for $20 on ebay.

Anyways, I'm glad to say that at least I will no longer have to deal with afternoon bridge traffic because I'm going back to my beloved evening shift, 2:00pm to 10:30pm. Hooray! I no longer have to go to bed before the sun does! Yeah, I'm still commuting much too far, but at least I'm not wasting my time, health, money, or natural resources on traffic jams.

Here fishy , fishy

Wednesday night I took my family out to The Crossing at Casey Jones in La Plata, MD. It was the first time my parents had been there and I was anxious about how my mom would like it. She is notorious for being very unlucky at restaurants. For some reason she always ends up with ribs that have the taste and texture of firewood or something else that just makes her sick.

I'll tell you right now she really liked the meal and asked if we could go again the next night.

Uh...no, Ma.

As much as I love my family and love to treat them to nice meals, the real reason we went was totally selfish. I wanted salmon.

Not just any salmon, but what is arguably the best salmon in the whole wide world: Copper River Salmon. Ok, it may all just be marketing, but still, it was the freshest damn salmon I've ever had. I think what one ends up paying big bucks for (I read somewhere that this year's take was small and a pound costs nearly $50) is the opportunity to eat wild Alaskan salmon a mere day after it is caught. And I live in Maryland; that's a long plane ride.

Before last May I had never even heard of Copper River. I did know that wild salmon was supposed to be better than farmed. Wild salmon have to have large fat reserves to allow them to have the energy to fight the rushing currents of cold Alaskan rivers in order to spawn in the calmer waters upstream. That fat is supposed to make them rich and delicious. As a bonus, they are packed with omega-3s that don't make you crazy from eating older-aged, therefore containing more mercury, fish like tuna. So, eating wild salmon way over here on the east coast would have to happen during the salmon run, mid-May to mid-June. The earlier the better, because there is more fat on a fish that is just starting it's journey upstream than one that has been fighting the currant for a month.

So anyway, last May I got an email from The Crossing informing me of a ticket sale for a special prix fixe Copper River salmon meal. Each ticket was over $100. I was much too poor last year to afford something like that, but now that I have a job, I've been looking forward to an email from The Crossing since April.


I didn't get one, so I emailed them on May 3rd.

Last Tuesday at 9:45pm, I got an email from them telling me that Copper River salmon would be arriving the next day. "Please call after 3pm tomorrow to check if they will be butchered in time for dinner, " read the email.

I love this restaurant.

As soon as I got home at 4pm I called the restaurant. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach, hoping the price of the meal wouldn't be $100. Under $50? Maybe? Hopefully.

Hot damn, $28 for Copper River salmon, your choice of King or Sockeye.

I made a reservation for four.

This was our meal:

Bread: sliced, slightly sweet soda bread with rye served room temp with softened butter

Appetizers:
1)Sauteed lump crab (not blue, had to be something bigger) with fry bread and a couple of really yummy plate scraper sauces - maybe something with balsamic and another one that was green. Haha, I'm a good fud riter.
2) A big wedge of camembert cheese with crackers, pickled artichoke hearts, meaty and not too sour kalamata? olives, and scrumptious caper berries. None of us had had caper berries before but we'd all like to have them again. Ma loved the cheese and stopped complaining about how hot it was. We were near the kitchen, which is open.

Entrees:
Me: Copper River King salmon filet (medium-rare to medium) atop sushi rice with diced cucumber and tomato and spinach with a citrus vinaigrette. Deconstructed sushi, if you will.
Mom: Chilean sea bass atop lobster mashed potatoes with salsify (a root veg) chips
Pop: Prosciutto wrapped diver scallops on black rice and spinach. (I was totally eyeing this dish. Next time.)
Bro: Espresso-encrusted duck breast, foie gras, polenta, with a blackberry coulis

Dessert:
1) Bread pudding made with sliced soda bread and various dried fruits
2) Tiramisu "split" - three scoops of mascarpone ice cream on lady fingers topped with a ribbon of Valrona chocolate

By the way, all of that cost just $150 with tax. Gotta love the fact that this place is in the middle of NOWHERE.

Could I tell the difference between wild Copper River King salmon and frozen farmed salmon that I get from Sam's club? Probably only in the fact that the wild salmon was really fresh and clean tasting. Would I go out of my way to pay $50 for a pound of Copper River Salmon? No way, but I would never pass up an excellent fresh fish meal at a really lovely restaurant for $28.

She likes it!

Yesterday we had raw oysters.

I ate one.

It was delicious!

I ate two more.

Does this mean I'm a big girl now?

Stimulus

I got my $600 via direct deposit on 5/3.

Did you get yours yet?

BUY STUFF!!!

Some of the money will go to my trip to Las Vegas in October.

Some of it will go towards a bureau from Ikea. (I spent my refund on an Ikea bed and desk.)

It's like sleeping on a park bench.

Yay capitalism!

Skype

Hey ladies and gentlemen, pencils and fountain pens!

I don't get to see my friends much. Boooo! So, I just downloaded Skype. Look me up and we can video call. The future is now!!!!!!!!!

Plus, it's handy when I want to talk to Goo, who is in the next room, and I don't want to get up.

Yay for laziness!

I heart you

"What is that?" you ask.

It's my heart-shaped scar.

I am so special. Short bus special, but still...special.

I had a 'papilloma' (aka skin tag) liquid nitrogen'd off (owie) three weeks ago. It blistered and now I'm left with a scar that looks like a heart. Pink and everything.

I'm like a Care Bear.

Wrestling the Cat

Butters doesn't mind.

Who needs the No Knead Bread? I doooo!

Here it is, my No Knead Bread. I ended up baking it in a large oblong dutch oven so it's not very high, but it is very tasty! The weird pattern on top is from the towel it was rising upon.
See? The towel kinda stuck to the dough when I was turning it out into the pot. That's the lid to the pot in the background. Unlike a Le Creuset pot, it does not have a plastic knob. Plus it was way cheaper at TJMaxx.
And here is the inside. It's very moist and tasty inside. The crust is super cripsy and fun to eat. And that's me in the background in the reflection of the KitchenAid mixer bowl. Hey, Goo is there, too.

I'm gonna eat some more now.

If only weekends lasted forever

I went to yoga Saturday morning and I did a headstand! I've been getting better at tripod headstands on my own and in class I was brave enough to do a regular headstand (supported on the wall, of course, but still!). Perhaps it only makes sense that I did so many headstands this week with my schedule getting turned all upside down like that.

I'm still afraid to stay upside-down. I get my legs up in the air and my brain starts to panic about breaking my neck. So I let my legs fall down but, as soon as I do, I want to kick my legs back up because it's FUN to do new stuff you never thought you could do at all.

I never thought I'd get back into reading for fun. But now, I have so many books to read, it's exciting. It's good to have so much to read because sometimes I have a short attention span and I can easily switch books. So, I have a book about food in history, a Greek mythology book, and another food book called the Art of Eating. And yesterday I got five more books, courtesy of Grace, for my birthday. And they're fiction collection - the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. I'm terrible about getting fiction for myself so I'm grateful for such a gift. I usually lean toward non-fiction because most of the fiction in the best sellers racks at the bookstore are usually too freaking relationshipy for me. I really just don't care about who these made-up people are having made-up sex with so I usually give up looking for something fiction and side-step over to non-fiction. Or food :)

Food is good and candy is dandy. The dandiest I had today was the Peep inside a hollow milk chocolate egg.
OMG, go find one. I first saw it on some food blog and I found one today at Target. Yes, ONE. It was the last on the shelf. The Peep chick went to my mom because I know she loves them. When I gave it to her she said, "You know what this is? A candy balut!" Gross, but so true! And the greatest thing is that if you split the egg in half carefully you're left with two egg-shaped chocolate cups ready to be filled with things like peanut butter! Or pudding! Or crack! Or more chocolate!

Today has really been a food adventure. Not only did I have candy balut, I ate beef tongue! I mentioned beef tongue to my parents a couple days ago after seeing a picture of some tender looking braised tongue on Tastespotting*. I asked my parents if they liked tongue and they said it's really good. On the weekly trip to Grand Mart (the international grocery store) yesterday my mom picked up a tongue. I admit, it was scary looking while it boiled in the pot. All white and bumpy in places. I didn't look at it too long so I wouldn't gross myself out. Today, Ma had sliced it and made a tomato based stew out of it with potatoes, carrots, and thyme. Goo and I each had some and concluded, yes! it is good. But you could totally tell it was tongue. It's muscle, but squinchy and soft as if it was a cross between fat and meat. Which is a little unsettling. But the flavor is good, unlike liver and glands and such, and really just like regular meat. I don't think I'd have her make it again, but at least I've tried it and I wouldn't refuse to eat it if someone offered.

This is the longest post I've had in a long while.

I end my lovely weekend day (1 of 2! yay! sad, no? when you celebrate the fact that you have a two-day weekend) with another new thing. I'm making bread! It's the No Knead recipe from the NY Times and all the food blogs. Just 3cups of APF, 1/4tsp instant yeast, 1 1/4tsp salt, and 1 5/8cups of water. All combined and mixed in under five minutes. Now it sits gassily in a bowl... in my room. Yeah, I know, weird, but I have an electric heater in my room and it's the warmest place in the house. Tomorrow I'll fold it over itself once or twice, let it hang out for 2 more hours and then I'll bake it for 45mins or so in a preheated dutch oven in a 450degF oven. And supposedly, hopefully, magically I'll have a loaf of crusty bread. Wish me luck.

*Note: When I saw the beef tongue link on Tastespotting, I didn't actually click on the link to the cook's blog. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the dish on Tastespotting is actually the same Filipino dish my mom made for me today (theirs has mushrooms and ours has carrots, but it's the same). Weeeeiiiirrd.

Complaints

I've completed my second day on the 6am to 2:30pm shift. It's hard. I'm sleepy. I miss my evening shift coworkers and their night owl sense of humor.

It's weird to eat lunch at 9:30am.

The days are long.

I avoid drinking coffee because I enjoy coffee's taste but not the way it makes me tense and jittery. Tea is nice but I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to tea. It has to be made correctly (whole leaf, lots of room to unfurl). So I drink a lot of water and whine about being sleepy.

The only upside is that I come home when the sun is up and I have dinner with the family.

Everyone keeps saying that I'll have more time to do stuff. That's not really true. I spend the same amount of time at work or commuting to and from work. When going to work at 2pm I was able to go to the store and run errands before work and not worry at all about traffic. Sure it kinda sucked that everything was closed when I went home, but I'd already done what I had to do. Now I can't even think about stopping by some place in Virginia, like the really nice, big Whole Foods after work because I'd get stuck in horrific evening rush hour(s) traffic trying to cross the bridge into Maryland. And nothing is open before I get to work; it's nighttime for crying out loud.

Well I have to go to bed. I'm still having trouble falling asleep at a decent hour. I'm sure I'll crash this weekend...if I get a weekend.

Sad

I've been working a lot. No real weekends. Very stressful. Not terribly happy. My shift is about to change again, this time to 6am-2:30pm. We'll see.

I need to make goals. I think I'll start working on that. A Bucket List or 100 things to do before I die.

All I can think of right now is
1. I don't know
2. I don't know
3. I don't know

You get the picture.

What to do if your dog ate the Cadbury bar intended for S'mores

I don't know how Kane is still alive. He ate 2 bars of Cadbury Royal Dark. This is the second time he has stolen chocolate. The first was a 2.5lb bar of Ghiradelli melting chocolate.

The power went out yesterday. Perfect day for a fire. Perfect day for s'mores. Stupid dog!

Good thing I had some chocolate from Whole Foods. This is what I did to make some expensive-ass s'mores.

Step 1: Place mocha truffle on graham cracker.

Step 2: Roast homemade marshmallow over fire.

Step 3: Place molten hot mallow over truffle.

Step 4: Savor.

Step 5: Die happy.

(If you have not yet died, repeat with burnt caramel truffle topped with pink Hawaiian sea salt. )

My reaction to seeing my knee MRIs

I'm made of meat!

Happy Tuesday!

Once again Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Last day before Lent has sneaked up on me. Goo and I have decided to do the traditional thing and refrain from eating meat for Lent. We aren't going totally traditional and skipping out on milk and eggs, though. That's just crazy talk. But we'll try our best to be ovo-lacto-pesco vegetarians for 40days in a house that eats MEAT nearly everyday. It's true for the both of us that when we're away from the family home, we eat very little meat on a regular basis. But our parents, particularly our Pa, LOVE to eat meat. Plus Pa takes a med that makes him retain potassium, thereby making beans (including soy beans/tofu) off the menu for him. So sharing meals is gonna be a challenge.

Unfortunately, Super Bowl Sunday has left us a ton of meaty leftovers. It'll be chili for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until midnight tomorrow, I guess. With donuts and pancakes, just to be tradish, ya know.

Super! Thanks for asking!

For the past, oh I don't know, month? our basement big screen tv has been broken. Goo used it to play video games and big screen rear projection tv's don't like that. The colors split and it's like you need 3D glasses. But no, all you actually need is a repairman who will align your colors.

But repairman charges $100 just to look at yer problem.

So instead I bought a Samsung 50inch 720p flat panel plasma HDTV. Yay! It's so purty and thin and clear.

We got the tv just in time for the Super Bowl, but we don't have HDTV service yet. But still, yay for neat tv! And yay for the Giants!

Boooo! for eating too many fresh fried tortilla chips (both corn and flour) and fries and chili and guacamole and brownies. I'm Thanksgiving full. Only greasier.

the hills are aliiiiiiive

If you know me, you know I have a really hard time finding music that I enjoy. So I'm happy and excited to have found a cool music blog called 3hive (via MightyGirl). Start your hours of fun with this band, The Two Man Gentlemen Band, for a good laugh and then listen to everything else and stop listening to crap.

Stop watching crap t.v. while you're at it.

Stuffy nose kid

Finally! I am not sick. Well, I still have a bit of a stuffy nose and the dust asthma coughs but at least I feel perky again.

I have been sick the past two weekends in a row. I am allergic to work. I am. All week I slept about 7.5 to 8 hrs a night. I would get up every day and go to the gym with Goo (which is WAYYY more fun than going alone). I ate less junk and took my multivitamin and ultra omega-3 pills. But nooo, still got a terrible cold.

I really need to get on with the life I want to have. Less work, more play that I get paid for.

With that in mind, I know or have come across 4 more people who are reading Eat, Pray, Love. It makes me smile. And it makes me want to run away to far off lands and eat and meditate and love life etc etc etc.

We'll see about that.

In the meantime, I hope to go to the YMCA (pronounced yeemka in our house) tomorrow. It really is much more fun with someone who you can joke around with. Goo and I do some cardio on the machines, followed by free weights, and finish up with yoga. It's cool because he teaches me weight lifting stuff and I teach him yoga stuff. A good time is had by all. Especially when we snicker at the dude wearing snowmen pajama pants instead of normal workout clothes. It's a recurring outfit, if you can believe that.

Update on the knee: might be a torn cartilage/meniscus. Gonna have an MRI on Monday.

Am I crazy?

You're alone in your room reading or cleaning or doing some other quiet activity.

The room starts buzzing. Your heart starts beating faster. Your mind is racing.

You feel like you're moving quickly and slowly at the same time. It's the freakiest thing. Are you moving fast or slow??

Your eyes dart back and forth across the page. You read faster. Or you rush around the room putting things in their place, your heart pounding loud in your ears, competing with the buzzing surrounding you.

You start to get a little panicky, a little scared.

What the hell is that???? Do any of you ever feel like that? I know some people do, but other people look at me crazy when I describe the sensation. It's hard to describe really. I don't know how it starts or how it stops.

Neglect

I don't even know if anybody checks my blog anymore but whatevs.

I am not really sure why the neglect, but I just didn't feel like blogging. I think I was tired. I didn't make jewelry either. It's like I died.

I was on a 4day, 10hr/day shift for a while. That was tiring. Days were long. When I did have my lovely 3 day weekend, I'd spend a lot of time sleeping. Though, to be honest, I sleep too much on weekends regardless of my schedule. I'm a terrible sleeper. Despite that, I liked having a mini vacation each week. I did feel I got more done, both at work and at home.

I went back to a 5 day, 8hr/day schedule because of "business need". Apparently 3 days away from the lab is too long for a validation specialist. Deadlines and contact with the sister lab R&D in Cali and such and such. But just as I was getting used to getting home at 9:30 or so again, my shift has been pushed later from noon to 8:30 to 2pm-10pm. "Business need".

Getting home so late wasn't so bad when I had an extra day to spend with the fam and friends, but now it just kinda sucks.

Where's my trillion dollars so I can quit work and make jewelry for fun and profit?

Here's other news:

• I went to a power yoga class that wasn't even all that hard. Some dude who couldn't sit crosslegged was amazed at my ability to sit half lotus. I decide to SHOW OFF and nudge myself into full lotus. BIG mistake. I heard a pop and now my right knee hurts. It's gotten better but it still hurts to sit with the bottoms of my feet together in butterfly and touch my nose to my toes. Either a lateral ligament or iliotibial band issue. I had an x-ray but didn't hear any bad news. Lesson learned, though. I HATE that I hurt myself showing off.
  
• Remodeling marches on and on and on. Three bathrooms at once. Four people sharing one bathroom sucks kinda hard. But at least we have two toilets working now. They look great so far though. Huge downside: I HAVE ASTHMA. I sound like Fatty McGee. Never had it as a kid, so it's scary sometimes. I have an inhaler and therefore am getting closer and closer to becoming Super Nerd.
  
• The holidays were great. I got my mom a Kitchen Aid stand mixer in Empire Red. Got it for $199 on Black Friday. In all reality, it's fun for me. Goo and I made marshmallows yesterday! If you have a mixer or someone who will stand with a mixer for 15mins, I HIGHLY recommend homemade marshmallows. It's a trip. Who the hell makes their own marshmallows??? But it's crazy easy and so luscious.
  
• New Years was great fun. Spent it in Richmond at Grace's and brought Goo along. Lots of food, drink, and lesbians. Neat. (check out Goo's facebook if you're a friend)

Yeah, yeah, I know. Words are boring. Where are the pics? Come on, give me a chance to ease back into this.

Talk to you all soon.