the placebo effect

my husband i argue about the benefits of the placebo effect all the time.  probably more than any other couple i know, at the very least.  i was thinking about it the other day, though, after we watched a movie called fat, sick and nearly dead.  the film was all about a guy who lost a lot of weight doing a 60 juice fast, and a guy that he inspired to do the same, and how they both radically changed their lives and appearances thanks to the power of juicing.  i cannot tell a lie, it was pretty inspiring to see the guy he helped get healthier and happier.  the guy who made the film, eh. he was a rich dude, travelling around, preaching the powers of juicing. of course he lost weight and was the epitome of new age healthiness. the other guy was a truck driver who started the film very sad and overweight, and by the end of it was smiling and happy.  you didn't know if he would be able to stick with the juice fast, or if he did, if it would make him any happier.  i always root for the underdog!

anyway, we have a juicer because my husband worked as a cook for a group that took juicing very, very seriously.  they were a new age health center that primarily helped cancer patients feel better.  (i'm not going to tell you who they were, because i don't want anyone thinking i endorse their methods.)  here is what D and i argue about: he thinks the the juicing, attention to nutrition, and holistic, alternative methods the place he worked for were honestly helping to cure cancer.  he believes that with the right nutrition, atmosphere and attention, you don't have to use all the chemo and radiation.  i think that the methods the place he worked at certainly don't harm the patients, and may make their treatments easier to handle and endure, but that ultimately no juice in the world is going to cure cancer.  i call it the "magic applesauce" approach to oncology and he calls me an "asshole."  which is fair.  i'm kind of a loud mouth when it comes to cancer, and love modern medicine.  this is where he cites the placebo effect, and i admit, while that might help some of the patients, if it were someone he cared about, would he be willing to put his faith in their survival in placebo only?

which leads me to my next point; drinking the juice.  i have been using the juicer lately, and like it.  the juice it makes is awesome, super fresh, delicious, and you may not believe this, but kale juiced is like the greatest thing ever.  it smells like a fresh cut lawn and tastes like springtime to me.  i add it to everything and love it.  i don't know if it makes me feel any better, because i don't feel that bad to start with.  however, i'm seriously curious about doing a short juice fast/cleanse and think i might try one sometime soon.  i like the idea of taking food out of the equation for a few days, getting a crazy amount of vitamins and nutrients in a few shakes/juices a day, and seeing what the big whoop is.  there aren't a lot of medical studies about the benefits of a juice fast, but there is a ridiculous amount of anecdotal evidence.  i'm wondering if the placebo effect will affect me, because like all good rational humanists, i'm not sure i believe in it.  i'm skeptical, but intrigued, and wonder if anyone i know has tried one of these.  if so, what kind of results did you have? do you think the idea is batshit crazy? will it make me poop like a madwoman?  questions, questions, questions.  leave your answers below!

thankful

we had thanksgiving in our new house today!  it was supposed to be a small event, with just the four of us and my mom and aunt.  then my cousin came, and my sister and her boyfriend, and the in-laws!  it was a fun day, to be honest, and i'm glad everyone got to come over.  our little house was full of people we love, wine, food, and the living room had been vacuumed.  success! 

anyone married to a cook knows this; even if you are not a doof in the kitchen, they will take over and have some prima donna moments, and you will get to cook one, maybe two things if you are lucky.  me, i made the cranberry relish, a few radish roses, and a kick ass cheese tray.  everything else was all D.  he made tiny cornish game hens, stuffed with dressing, a brussels sprout gratin with smoked gouda, mashed potatoes, two kinds of gravy (one plain, one with fancy chanterelle mushrooms, wine and cream), green beans almandine, sweet potatoes with pecans, a giant fruit salad, a ham, and a grape pie.  imagine how tired you are of reading all those words, then eat them, and go take a nap.  whew.  i got fat just thinking about dinner.  needless to say, it was delicious and i loved every bite.  we had champagne with dinner, spiked with a little cherry juice, and afterward ate pumpkin pie my mom brought over.  

i have to say, i have a lot to be grateful for this year.  a happy, healthy little family; a new house; a cat that likes to nap with me; kids who get my stupid jokes and make their own; a job that pays me like a grown up, and all my friends and family.  speaking of, we're going to get a little bigger next year; my sister is having another baby!  i just found out yesterday, and i will admit, i have a bit of a baby high going on right now.  (and maybe a buzz from all the good food and love and knowing i have another three days off to knit and lounge!)  i hope everyone had an equally boss day (boss is my new favorite word, which i guess means i'm a boy from 1972), and thanks for stopping by!  maybe next year you can come over and help us eat some of this food...

smoosh

i could eat squash every day.  butternut, acron, blue kuri, kabocha, you name it.  i will begrudgingly add zucchini to that list, only because we got way too much of it this year from my in-laws and i am kind of sick of it.  although the one thing you can say about zucchini is that you can add it to just about anything, and very few people notice.  tonight i'm goofing off with the crockpot, like i did last saturday.  white beans, butternut squash, some rosemary and chicken stock, and in a few hours we'll see if it's any good.

i've also been really into quinoa lately, because of the way it pops and crunches when you eat it.  it's the weirdest grain.  i haven't yet been able to make it mushy either, which is a plus.

overall, now that we've lived at the house for this long i feel like i should be making more healthy dinners, and have been working at that.  using the crockpot more, making more veggie dinners, less eating out, that sort of thing.  i'm also not drinking this month, not for any good reason except i'm not.  well, until my birthday.  i want to be able to have a drinky on my big day!  i will admit i'm curious to see if not drinking will do anything to my weight.  i think the last time i stopped, i lost seven pounds in a month while doing literally nothing different.  eep.  i know i love beer, but i had no idea i loved it SEVEN pounds worth.  hee hee...

i accidentally made a vegan dinner

it wasn't anything extravagantly vegan; a simple squash curry with a mixed rice blend.  my in-laws keep giving us zucchini and while it's good, at this point i'm done trying "new" things with it and going back to what i do best, quick curries and various starchy sides.  i mix it up sometimes, with quinoa (ooh! exotic!), or brown basmati rice, but honestly, i just really like curry.  indian curry, thai curry, pidgin curry, it's all comforting to me.  i apologized to the kids for being so hippie tonight, but they didn't care.  i forget sometimes that the will just eat what i cook, with very little complaints.

a few weeks ago i bought D a book for the kindle, trying to get him interested in using it.  both he and the boychik are sometimes reticent to try new things (even though technically the kindle IS the boy's), so i thought if i bought a book i knew he wanted, he might try it out and see what he thought.  (he liked it. go figure.) the book i bought was wild fermentation, all about making various pickled things, breads, and beverages.  ooh, and cheese.  we're familiar with the concept because D grew up making kraut the old-fashioned way as a kid, and we've made many batches of kimchi.  this book is pretty fun, though, and has recipes for making kombucha, ethiopian honey wine, tempeh and other weirdo things.  the author is, as one would imagine, VERY into fermentation.  sometimes his writing made me giggle because he's just so darn earnest; he truly believes in all kinds of fermentation.  he's fervent about fermentation! my tastes do run toward the sour, though, so of course after reading about krauts all day, i had to come home and make some.

above are two simple krauts.  one made with cabbage, tart apples, and caraway seeds, and one made with only brussels sprouts.  making your own lactic acid pickles is seriously fun, and the juice the veggies produce is kind of fizzy on your tongue.  i love that so much.  it's hard to explain, but there's something about things that "pop" that do it for me.  i do think that fermented veggies are good for you, so it's fun to make and try them. (and relatively guilt free; you can't make a greasy pickle, after all. unless you fry it.) i like the experimentation aspect to it too, and seeing how a food can go from one flavor, to another, in a very radical way, with one or two added ingredients and some time.  i promise not to go too crazy and show you every pickle i make, but tonight i was a Super Hippie StepMom!

cheese freaks

sometimes i miss being the cheese girls at the grocery store.  i do really love cheese, and it was fun to work with a food so versatile and lovable.  i mean honestly, the people who dug cheese and came in for fancy varieties were super fun to work with.

this weekend during the festival of family farms we hit up a wonderful local diary that makes some spectacular cheeses, the golden glen creamery.  while we were there looking at baby cows and seeing the cheesemaker at work i bought a few containers of fresh curds.  some of you may know them as "squeaky cheese" because when you bit into them, they make a squeak against your teeth.  they are delicious right out of the package, thrown in a salad, deep fried, or used to make poutine.

if you have never heard of poutine, much less tasted it, i'd like to offer my deepest condolences. not to put too fine a point on it, poutine is fucking amazing. it's rich and creamy and involves gravy and potatoes, with a hefty dose of curds sprinkled on top.  it's stick-to-your-ribs, this-really-does-make-my-ass-look-fat, food.  certainly not an everyday indulgence, but if you can't splurge on occasion, then i see no reason for living.  poutine was invented in french canada, but there are a million different varieties and ways to make it and eat it.  my favorite is beef gravy, fries and curds.  simple, and to the point.

lucky for me i have a husband who excels at both making gravy and home-made french fries.  we made a platter of poutine for dinner and all sat around it with forks.  i can think of no better way to eat it, surrounded by people i love, with a big old couch to settle into when we're done.

also on the way this week: cheese making supplies so we can make our own curds.  i got to make some cheese while i was working as a cheese girl, but it's been too long.  plus, D has been into wild fermentation lately, and he wants to make not just pickles and krauts, but also cheeses.  yay!

hmmmm

guess what happens when you fall asleep on the couch at 7?  you wake up at midnight, and then wonder if you can go back to sleep! i always do this the night before work.  dork.

i made quite possibly the most amazing lima bean dish tonight, which i know for some of you might sound like cooking the impossible, but honestly; lima beans have to be my favorite bean to cook.  if done right they are creamy little pockets of yum. i kind of made up the recipe as i went along, so i need to write it all down because it was so good.  i cooked a whole pound of dried beans, and we had a little less than a serving left after dinner.  the kids especially loved it, and that totally made me feel like a rockstar.  they are such good eaters!  completely open to trying anything once, and they tend to love stuff you'd have a hard time selling other kids.  they can probably name more veggies than your average grocery store checkout clerk, and know the difference between a parsnip and a rutabaga.  in short, they are pretty much the perfect people to cook for.

i'm going to try to go back to sleep.  wish me luck!  

no awards for me tonight!

the kids are duking it out over whose turn it is to do dishes.  i told them they had to work out amongst themselves, i am not the dishes police.  honestly, i don't know whose night it is, but it's someone's!  if they don't get them done by the time dad comes home, he can deal with them.  amen.

although i did make both a nutritious and delicious dinner tonight.  baked pasta goodness, or as i like to refer to it "cheater lasagna."  boil noodles (i like the high fiber penne).  take one jar of sauce and add it to a mess of veggies you have lightly sauteed (tonight it was mushrooms, yellow squash, and one block frozen spinach).  add a can of tomato sauce (or another jar of sauce, depending on what you have!).  season the hell out of it.  spray a big square baking dish with cooking spray so stuff doesn't stick too bad.  put a thin layer of sauce down, then a layer of noodles.  add dollops of ricotta cheese.  fancy chefs call them "quenelle" but i call them "dollops."  this part is kind of fun; you run into these soft pillows of ricotta throughout the casserole, and they make a nice contrast with the sauce and noodles.  layer some more sauce, some more noodles, some more dollops of ricotta, and cover with another bit of sauce.  top with shredded mozzarella, or provolone, and bake in a 350 degree oven until it's warm all the way through.  ta dah!  the awesome thing about cheater lasagna is that you can use whatever pasta and veggies you have on hand, you can add meatballs or sausage if you have those, you don't have to worry about breaking long noodles, and it's crazy easy.  honestly, you can mush it all together and bake it and it's still delicious.  you don't even need the ricotta; i've added little cubes of mozzarella here and there and the kids loved that too.

overall, boring stuff going on over here.  working on wedding stuff, working at work, working out more often than usual.  i've done a small purge of stuff (books and clothes mainly) and that feels good.  i bought ridiculous wedding underwear (hoop skirt holla!) and have read way too many horror short stories for my own good.  any ladies out there have recommendations for strapless bras that actually make a woman's boobs look awesome?  i'm finding them all to have not enough support or to smoosh the girls beyond recognition.  i don't want to spend a million dollars but then again, i'm hoping this wedding will be all about my boobs, so i'll spend money to make them look awesome.  ha!  i joke.  we all know the wedding is about booty.  (no really, it is all about my boobs.)    

gearing up for the new year!

tonight i took D out for a grown-up dinner that involved none of the foods eaten over the holiday.  nothing with bacon, potato, chicken, cold cuts, turkey, or lasagna.  where did we go? we went out for sushi, of course.  awesome, awesome sushi.  there's a place in town that has one of those conveyor belts and jesus h. christ, i love those things.  watching little half-rolls of sushi goodness glide by, swooping in for the most delectable looking ones, watching the tiny plates stack up...it's pretty much my favorite thing ever.  the thing about sitting in front of the space-age conveyor is that you think you'll never get full of sushi.  it all slides by and it all looks great, and you think "oh those plates are so tiny...we can eat one more..." and then you get up to go pee and HOLY SHIT you are full of sushi.  it's like magic!  yummy magic.

tomorrow is new year's eve and you know that can mean only one thing: twilight zone marathon on syfy.  i'll pop out of the house at some point to buy some bubbly wine and crescent rolls for the pigs in a blanket (because champagne and hot dogs together are divine, duh), but i plan to spend the rest of the day on the couch, watching rod serling, and knitting.  does anything sound better than that?  um, no.  D will work part of the day, but he'll be home in time to kiss me at midnight and make a goofy hat to celebrate.  plus, as much as he loves me, no one loves that much twilight zone except for me.  he'll probably also get home in time to save me from the kids, who will want to beat me to death by then.  unless i can somehow convince them the twilight zone is awesome, and i don't see that happening.  kids these days don't dig anything in black and white, let me tell you.  too bad i pay for the cable!      

things we got for xmas

• three cookbooks, one all about making your own cheese.
• an ice cream maker.
• a deep fryer.

who wants to roll me down the aisle?  

the schedule for tonight

involves eating clam chowder for dinner and taste testing a variety of apple ciders.  that's why i love D; sometimes we'll see something interesting at the store (like hard apple ciders) and decide we need to buy a few and try them next to each other while taking goofy notes and saying ridiculous, foodie things that would get you kicked anywhere else.  plus, i like that he always makes his chowder, instead of buying it in a can.  he's so dreamy!

at the risk of sounding corny...

tonight i made homemade potstickers for dinner.  as you can see, i also made peanut noodles with stir-fry broccoli and porky goodness as well.  this was a huge platter of food. partly because we have a 16 year old boy, partly so we would have some leftovers.  by "some" i mean noodles; potstickers never stand a chance in this house.


after i took this photo, and watched everyone settle down to eat, i realized why i had spent way too much time today making this whole thing by hand.  the kids would eat a store-bought potsticker, i know it and you know it, the trouble is, the kids are little foodies just like D and me.  i make dinners like this because i absolutely love how everyone reacts.  i love watching dinner get decimated.  i love having kids come in for tastes while i cook.  i love it when the kids friends come over and swoon over homemade anything.  i like hearing them boast about how awesome dinner was.  i'm an absolute sucker for their praise.  what it boils down to is this: i like making them dinner because they like to eat it.  my favorite part of being some one's semi-step-mom is feeding them and watching them be happy.  i've always loved feeding people i love, but this? is awesome in a way i couldn't have explained before.  i'm sad sometimes when i see photos of my kids when they were younger and knowing i missed that, but it feels really awesome (super-ultra-mega-awesome) to know i'm making them dinners they enjoy and ask for again and again.

i'm really not much of an evil step-mother.  sure, i bitch when they don't do their chores and homework, but overall, i'm a softie who wants to make them dinner and hug them goodnight.  dammit.  there goes my indie cred...

screw you, calories

i mentioned the health bowl earlier this week, and how i'm keeping a food diary and all that jazz.  i kind of hate the food diary for a few reasons, one of them being; it's weird and uncomfortable to look at an entry and realize "holy shit, most of my calories today came from beer and cheetos."  i also feel weird about calculating my every calorie, and writing it all down; it feels way too self-absorbed to be good for you.  however, something about it must work because i've totally been a bit more mindful about what i've been eating.  i haven't cut much out all together, but i have been including a lot more veggies and fruit into my meals, and have cut down on the beer and sweets.  i don't want to think of this as a diet because i don't really want to be a woman on a diet.  i don't even want to talk about "diets" unless we're talking about paleo-people and seeds and nuts and bison meat. 

i made a deal with myself to do the health bowl thing honestly.  sure, the points are awesome and i want to win stuff, but i am honestly interested in how some of this might impact me.  the first day of this thing, last friday, i went over to the ER and used their old school scale to weigh myself as a starting point, and was kind of shocked.  i came home and said to D, "congratulations!  you are now dating the Fattest Amanda Ever!"  the numbers were a bit high, if you know what i mean.  it would be easy for me to lie and say i'm not doing this thing to see if i can lose some of that weight, that i want to be healthier only (and i do want to be healthier!), but the truth is, if becoming healthier makes me lose a little of this chub, then i'll be a happy girl.

technically my weigh-in with myself isn't until tomorrow, but i was feeling itchy and the scale was right there...and DUDE.  i lost seven pounds.  in one week.  i know that most of that is water weight, and that when you've got a substantial amount to lose, it comes of quicker at the beginning, but DAMN.  seven pounds!  that's like a lot of weight.  especially considering i mainly just ate more veggies, and drank a lot less beer.  i didn't really walk a lot, and i don't think i did anything that would count as aerobic, so i'm stunned.  veggies!  shit.  i had no idea.  i feel pretty good about losing a few pounds, too.  i hope this doesn't mean i was drinking too much to start with, if just cutting back on beers and eating some carrots are any indication, but part of me doesn't even care because i am now longer The Fattest Amanda Ever.  i'm still Kind of Chubby But Cute Amanda, but my sideshow days might be numbered. 

herbal essences, take me away

it's official: i am now grey enough to feel the need to dye my hair.  at first i only had a few stray strands, close enough to my part that i would just pluck them out.  they've started to multiply, though, and i don't really want to pluck a bald patch in my hair.  i picked up some herbal essences dye the other day at the store, and am glad to say that i'm done with plucking.  plus, now my hair is extra shiny!  although it did feel weird to dye my hair a "normal" color.  the kids even seemed disappointed that i wasn't putting in weirdo stripes or going back to the ronald mcdonald red.  what can i say?  i need my job. 

oh god, this totally means i'm growing up or something.  ack.  someone call my mother, she'll be so pleased. 

D made sushi tonight, and now i have a belly full of rice and veggies.  it was delicious.  i'm also excited to have leftovers for lunches this week.  they're doing a health bowl at work, as part of the healthiest state competition.  part of what you do when you're involved in it is keep a food and activity diary.  they give you one free when you sign up and i have to say it's more illuminating than i would have thought.  you really do pay a bit more attention when you're writing it all down.  in any case, sushi was a bit of a stumper for me.  sure, there were veggies involved, but i bet dinner was mostly rice and nori.  i'll have to look up the calories on that. 

dude, calorie counting and dying out the grey.  shit!  sorry you had to read about that.  i promise next time for more exciting fare. 

good afternoon, my dears

this morning i found my boyfriend/fiancé asleep on the couch.  this was notable for a few reasons, one of them being that i am retarded enough in the morning to have not even noticed he wasn't in bed with me, and the only reason i discovered on the couch is because in my sightless state (i was sans glasses), i heard the cat meowing at me and i walked over to pet her.  needless to say, i was surprised to find D sprawled out, in his bathrobe and nothing else.  even stranger, there was a jar of mayonnaise on the side table next to him.  just D, the cat, his porn-tacular mustache and robe, and a giant, costco sized jar of mayo.  good morning, thursday.  evidently he'd gotten up in the middle of the night hungry, and had made himself a sandwich then passed out.  which is kind of funny on it's own, but i liked the vagueness of what was going on before i figured it out. 

i broke down and bought a martha stewart wedding magazine today.  not because i'm buying into any of that wedding-industrial-complex or completely-DIY-or-DIE shit, but because i like to see what's out there, and steal ideas and make them my own.  if we're going to have a wedding, it might be nice to know what kind.  maybe preparing for it in advance will also cut down on some of the stress.  or i could just end up getting tipsy on wine and rolling my eyes so far back in my head they freeze that way.  if you see me tomorrow and i look crazy, you'll know why. 

smashed cars, trivia and fish sandwiches

today i worked with my co worker's autistic daughter for a few hours this morning. i do it every saturday and monday, and it's actually been a lot of fun. while walking out of their house, though, i was greeted by a big guy in an even bigger truck, idling behind my car. the first words out of his mouth were "i guess this is your car." i thought he was irritated i was in the driveway, until i realized that my rear passenger-side lights were all over the fucking ground. there's also a great big smooshed part of my car on that side as well. it's ridiculous! it's broken! okay, it drives all right, but it is still crunched and i'm still not thrilled. this is going to be a huge pain in my ass, and to top it all off, i don't understand why this guy had to back into a space that was three spots away, and smash into my car on his way. there was so much room for him! is backing out of a spot later such a terrible ordeal that he had to back in? while he wasn't terribly apologetic, he did already file a claim with his insurance, and tomorrow i'll check in with them and see what i should do. i need to find a body shop, get an estimate, and all that jazz. because i have a car with a one piece bumper, i already know the whole thing will have to be replaced. it's a good thing his insurance pays for a rental!

which is all stuff i should have done today, but instead i took a nice long drive with D. we had a delicious fish sandwich at the trainwreck, took a drive through la conner, played 80's trivia at the corner pub in bow, where i won a free chicken dinner. we'll take them up on that at a later date! then we came home, where we watched it's always sunny in philadelphia, and now i'm getting ready to call this monday done.

facsimile

if i still had my facebook account i would tell you the following about last night:

1. D made awesome bbq pork tacos last night. he thought they would be too sweet and not savory enough, but i disagree wholeheartedly.
2. the girlchild had a sleepover that for some reason involved a lot of classical music being played in her room, and the start of "let's go to the bathroom together" behavior. i was in college and drunk before i took anyone to the bathroom with me except my sister! she is so advanced.
3. i maybe had one too many home-made margaritas, but in my defense, they had no high fructose corn syrup and i had a glass of water too. don't hate!
4. while i miss the ridiculous little posts i made on facebook, for the most part, i am actually doing okay with our breakup. honestly, i'd like to make my blog funny and readable again; not just sad and weird. facebook was fun in a lot of ways, but as far as writing that isn't all about my bellybutton and lunch, it wasn't doing me any favors. plus, i got sick of being told i should be friends with D's ex. i know we have friends in common, but we shouldn't be facebook friends, trust me.
   

hey, i think summer is halfway over

how on earth did that happen? the good news is that we're that much closer to kids being back in school...which sounds awesome to me. not that i don't love the kids, but, i like a little more alone time and a little less time listening to them argue over what to watch next on the tv. just saying!

although if i did tell you i didn't love them and just wanted them out of my house, there wouldn't be much you could do about it, could you?! it's a good thing i'm not a monster.

we're making a piece of meat tonight on the grill/smoker that my pop and uncle would have loved. there were two men who were fond of barbequing big pieces of meat, and knew how to cook and eat it. it's nights like tonight when i miss them most. as an atheist, i don't subscribe in the belief of an afterlife, but i admit to sometimes wishing they were indeed someplace else, together and happy, still a bit twisted, like the dead from beetlejuice. if there is an afterlife (just because i don't believe doesn't mean i'm right!) i hope those two guys are enjoying some bourbon and bbq, and cracking up at earth-bound shenanigans. i also hope pop got to see spain kick some world cup ass, even i could give a shit about fútbol.

just because you love someone doesn't mean you have to love their sports. it's true that i've taken to the UFC thanks to my boyfriend, but i still hate it when he slows down on the golf channel. my god, how do you devote a whole channel to golf? i shudder to think of the men who watch it.

it's hot out, my boyfriend is hovering over the grill, and i think i might go lounge in the sun and cultivate some melanin. hopefully not a melanoma amount, but enough to get some of the pasty winter off me!

ugh

i was totally sleepy and tired and hungry, and lamenting how chubby i am, so of course i agreed to go to jack in the box and eat a meal that obviously didn't make me feel better about myself. i felt kind of crappy before i went, and now i feel kind of crappy in a different way. less hungry, more greasy.

it's come to my attention that i am one of those ridiculous emotional eaters. i can tell because ever since my uncle died i've gone on about two walks (one of which was seriously half-assed) and eaten three veggies. i feel bloaty and gross and part of my brain is all "get out of the house more and eat a carrot!" and part of my brain is all "no way, dude, the couch is where it's at." both have a time and a place, but to be honest, right now i am not feeling very good about myself. missing my uncle and pop isn't going to go away, no matter how many cookies i eat. true story.

i guess i just thought i'd share. i'm sure this is actually kind of normal, but i need to shake it off. maybe by saying it out loud i'll actually do something about it.

city love

as a kid growing up on whidbey island, going into the city of seattle was always a big deal. i remember being in the backseat of the car, looking out the window, straining to see the space needle the very second it came into view. i would get this big rush of a feeling, right in my chest, like i'd taken the deepest breath possible and was now ready to explode. seattle was interesting, it was different and new and had people and things and art like i'd never imagined. i always thought i would feel that way only about seattle, and for the most part that's true. however, i have another city that makes me feel much the same way, and that would be portland, or.

i had such a good time this weekend. when i cross the bridge and see the sign that says "entering portland" my chest gets that same feeling i used to have as a kid on my way into the "city," and i get excited about seeing my friends and doing new and different things. portland is in some ways more exciting to me, since i don't know it that well. getting to see my friends is also a huge part of why i love portland so much.

my first full day there, anne got her first tattoo, had her first shot of tequila, helped me try on wedding dresses, and organized a very surprising bachelorette party for me. if that's not the most awesome thing you've ever read, then you are dead inside. then later, after i'd had way more than my allotted share of tequila, i barfed in not one, but all three of the toilets in anne's house! puking makes me feel all shaky and panicy, so when it wouldn't stop (and it wouldn't!), i went upstairs thinking i'd drink some water and lay down on the couch. (my thinking at that point was, "if i'm going to die, i want to do it up there, where i'll be found sooner." i stay in the basement when i visit, because my friends are well aware of my mole-person tendencies.) the water didn't stay down, and i ventured up to the top floor of the house where i knew anne would pat me on the back and work her mom-magic. sometimes, when you're barfing, all you really need is a soothing voice telling you you're going to be fine, and here's a rubber band to pull your hair out of your face. we had a good chuckle too, in between my dry-heaves. evidently i am not as young or as much of a rock-star as i like to think.

and if you don't like to read about food after hearing about puking, then maybe you should stop now.

remember how i said i wanted to eat delicious things? well, that also happened. anne introduced me to bui natural tofu, which is epicly awesome. even if you don't think you like tofu, you will find something there to enjoy. we had the onion tofu, the lemongrass, the meatballs tucked into tofu pillows, and the salad rolls. there wasn't anything there that i didn't enjoy. the staff is also crazy nice and helpful. we had pie at bipartisan, then anne made a cherry and blueberry pie at home the next day. her crust really is the best. i shared my cheesey eggs one morning with henry, and then there was the Unfortunate Incident with The Burrito. the only one of us digested any part of it was aussie, the dog. aside from that, the portland eats were just as good as i hoped!

i came home tired, happy, and inspired to make and do new stuff. it was nice to get out of town for a bit, and it was nice to come home. i have photos of all this over on flickr, if you want to go check it out. there might be photos there of a certain blogger trying on wedding dresses...

adios, twinkie

it seems every time a person turns around there's some new apocalypse ready to take down humanity (like the year 2000, bird flu, solar eclipses, zombies rising), and right now people seemed freaked out by swine flu and the year 2012. granted, swine flu is about as bad as the "regular" flu, and even the mayans don't buy the year 2012 being the end of the world, but planning for disaster is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. we all know my love of sites that let you prepare for emergency by storing big barrels of raw red wheat and MRE's, and how i try to have a few cans of spam and bottles of water around just in case. with that in mind, i reveal to you the foods i will miss when society crumbles:

• crunchy cheetos. not the puffed ones, those suck. how can two foods supposedly be from the same family and be so different? the puffy cheeto is an abomination.
• snickers bars. i don't often eat a whole candy bar, but when i do, i like a snickers bar.
• marzipan chocolate bars, like the ritter sport. sure, i said i don't eat a lot of candy bars, then listed two back to back. it's just thinking about snickers bars made me think of those dark chocolate squares of almondy goodness that are ritters! so sue me.
• moons over my hammy, from denny's. anyone can put ham and scrambled egg and processed cheese on toast, sure, but no one does it like denny's.
• slushies. specifically red ones.
• red vines! oh my burned-out-shell-of-a-city/kingdom for a tub of red vines.
• microwave popcorn or jiffy pop. fake butter is somehow more buttery when it's on popcorn. how does that work?
• doritos. more artificial cheesey goodness. let's throw in frito's while we're here, specifically the chili cheese ones. they make your breath smell bad, but they are delightful.
• pretty much any kind of chicken strip or nugget you get from a fast-food joint or grocery store. if you have to eat white meat from a chicken, it should be deep fried, crunchy on the outside and dip-able.
• hot wings!!!! when the world runs out of frank's hot sauce, it will be a dark day for humanity.
• ranch dressing. i'm sure you can make it yourself, but it's not the same. you know it, i know it, hidden valley makes millions based on that fact alone.

what will you miss?