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New Yorker cover drama

This statement from Gawker is the best concise summary of what happened this week with the cover.

"... The New Yorker got in trouble this week for printing a cover that everyone had to pretend not to understand in order to be outraged about how no one would get the joke."

Current complaints

-Teams of ROTC high school soldier people doing drills and counting their reps by SHOUTING at 6 am.
-The New Yorker fiction issues. I'm sorry, but I think they're boring, and I only read like 25% of the content.
-Every time I walk back to my car, there are seven new scratches and dings on the bumper.
-A hole in the lining of my purse (bag). I thought I had lost my phone or left it at work all weekend until I realized it fell into the hole and I had it the whole time.
-My hair. Boring, grown out, looks bad with bangs, which I really want, but think is not a good idea.
-Why does Mac make their laptops white? It just makes them look disgusting and dirty all the time. They should have chosen a more appropriate color like dingy, brown/gray/green.

June round up

Currently ...

Listening to:

Paul Simon & Velvet Underground. I only like music that is 20 years old at a minimum.

Eating:

Tomato and avocado salad with oil and vinegar, homemade pickles (!), these are the foods of the summer!

Drinking:

Sam Adams Summer Ale, port

Watching:

Season finale of LOST (HOT SAYID), and Northern Exposure (also amazing). Not SATC movie.

Traveling:

June brought me to Baltimore, San Diego, San Antonio, and Philly. I know, glamorous. I've got a nice OnePass mileage balance.

Cooking:

Grilling AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE: Meats, veggies, corn, potatoes, anything.

Reading:

Catching up on the New Yorker (always), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Yee haw

I'm in San Antonio. I had a sort of spongy, moist roll with a hole in the middle for breakfast and put cream cheese on it. It was weird, because they called it a bagel.

San Antonio is like Disney world with reeeeally good fajitas. People are also saying hi to me all over the place, and I'm like "excuse me, do I know you?"

Patricia makes COFFEE nervous.

One thing I really love doing is looking at what other people are purchasing and try to figure out what type of people they are/judge them based on that. I most often do this at the grocery store. Like if you're in front of me in the line, and you've got fruits and vegetables, cheeses, anything whole and raw to cook food with, I automatically really like you and start wondering what your plans are and wish you were my friend. And if all you have are frozen pizza, pepsi, and frozen garlic bread, I scoff a little bit because clearly we have nothing in common.

A little background: I somehow convinced Matt to watch a downloaded copy of You've Got Mail on Tuesday, and we had the BEST time. That is one of those movies you totally forget about and is wayyy better than you remember. I would always say I love Sleepless and Seattle and When Harry Met Sally best, but YGM is just as good, you just don't remember because the AOL lingo and dial-up modem sounds date it and make it look gimicky and cheesy, but it's such a comforting and funny story that makes New York look beautiful, and Meg Ryan's clothes and hair are soooo cute (this is just before she started looking like a crazy facelift, big lips lady). Matt LOVED it too (almost as much as he loved Enchanted), it was a great night.

Anyway, I went to Tunes on lunch to try and find a gift for my mom, and I browsed the used movie section, and they had it there for 5 bucks! So I decided to get it of course, along with Fever Pitch for $2, because that's another one you don't expect to be good but it's actually really sweet and Jimmy Fallon isn't that bad at all! I really don't like baseball at all, but I LOOOOVE baseball movies; they make me feel good about America and life.

So I check out, and I'm thinking, "please don't say anything, please don't say anything" to the guy, because how dumb do I look?? And as he's ringing up YGM, he says "So many of my friends have warned me about this movie." I was totally ready to defend my purchase, obviously, so I shot back "Noooo! You think it looks bad, but it's actually really funny and well done!" And then I proceeded to ramble on about the episode of Undeclared where Seth Rogan's character tries to convince another dude that it's actually an awesome movie (which is true), but I think he thought I was nuts. Tom Hanks is similar in the way that he's so universally known to be Great Actor that I think I tend to forget about him, and he is just so funny in this one. So, as I was leaving, I just kinda yelled, "GIVE IT A CHANCE!!!" which is really sort of desperate of me. He probably wouldn't even admit it if he actually liked it.

From the previously mentioned episode of Undeclared:

Lloyd Haythe: What's your favorite film?
Ron Garner: I tell people Red Dawn, but it's really You've Got Mail. Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, a very likable Greg Kinnear ... you think you're better than it, like 'Ooh this movie's going to suck' but then you watch it and it becomes a part of you

Later, while they're watching it:

"It's just ... pleasant. It's like waves lapping against the shore or something. It's like, they're emailing each other, and they don't know, and everyone's reaching out and they're connecting. It's like us bonding. It's beautiful."

HRC driving me crazy

The PA race was the worst. I'm so happy to see that the NY Times is seeing the light and basically retracting it's Hillary endorsement from months ago! I'm on board for all of their criticism. Also CNN is the worst. No matter what happens, the best political news team on television is going to make it dramatic and critical and important! No one thought Obama was going to win PA!! It's not that big of a deal! (More here.)

Obama is campaigning with a strategy not just willy nilly roaming all over the country. That's because the person with the most delagates is supposed to win. That's how it works. It's not like, whoever wins Ohio or Pennsylvania automatically deserves to get the nomination.

Jon Stewart is so funny though. This is what he asked Obama in the interview:

"Do you have a concern that you could win the nomination at the Convention and defeat John McCain in the general and, you know, go to the inauguration and Hillary would still be running? Do you feel... Do you have any concern that Senator Clinton would continue the campaign?"

I learned a new word the other day. I was playing Text Twist on Matt's ipod, and one of the words I missed was "fracas." It didn't even look real to me, but it's totally a word, as I found out, and it means "a noisy quarrel." I think that's appropriate, the word sounds like it should mean some kind of scuffle. Like: "Matt caused a fracas at Jeff's apartment on Hoboken St. Patty's day and ended up with a messed up face."

Then yesterday, it was used in two totally different blogs I read on the internet. SO COOL!

Could it have been less obvious??

If you plan on seeing The Crying Game, stop reading because I'm going to talk about the plot, though I feel like spoiler alerts shouldn't be mandatory for films/shows from more than 5 years ago (I was not happy at all when npr told me who killed Laura Palmer two years ago when I was watching Twin Peaks for the first time, though looking back, I really didn't have the right to be too upset).

Am I the only person around today who didn't know what the "twist" was? Probably, as Matt told me (I wasn't allowed to see Ace Ventura when it came out and still haven't, whatever, don't freak out, but apparently it gives it all away). But seriously? In 1992, were audiences actually surprised that Dil was a man? That was just about the first thing that I noticed. Oh well.

Week of fiestas and siestas in the Iberian peninsula

Matt's deserted me for the past few weeks to do celebrities' biddings and let them touch his shoulders, so finally here's the recap of my trip last month to Portugal and Spain! As I already mentioned, we did very well for ourselves, covering 3 towns in Portugal, and 2 in Spain over 7 day, and averaging 4-5 meals per day. I also found some amazing hostels. And when I say "hostel," I mean hostels where you have a private room, private bathroom, towels, hairdryer, balcony, and daily maid service for 28 euro each.

Because our pilot chose the word "severe" to describe the turbulence expected for our overnight flight, I did not sleep a wink and spent the whole trip over squeezing Matt's hand and hoping I might be doing it hard enough that he would wake up and console me and feel bad for me. But that did not happen.

We started in Lisboa. When we got into the city at 7 am, we dropped our bags off at the Lisbon Lounge Hostel (2 major thumbs up!) and got on a train to Cascais (pronounced kahsh-kah-eesh). Portuguese has lots of 'sh's and 'gshh's.



Cascais is a ritzy suburb of Lisboa on the ocean where they have cute little shops and FREE BIKES. Just give them your passport number and hostel info. So we hopped on the bikes and bopped around the town, ate a picnic lunch by the ocean, and rode up the coast for an hour.




We spent the next day (Easter) in Lisboa, which was pretty empty because of the holiday. We roamed around, climbed to the castle where you pay to enter and explore and get 360 degrees of the area.



In the evenings, we decided to opt out of the clubbing because I don't think I could have kept my eyes open until 2 am when supposedly everything comes alive. Instead, we found the Irish pub (which the guy in the hostel told us was not really very cool to be), and watched the soccer games. Then we got a bottle of wine (average price, you know, like 3-4 euro) and played Rummy 500 and spit at the Lisbon Lounge.



Next we flew to Sevilla (1 hour), and met up with MARTHA!



We ate more menus del dia and explored and walked around. The Plaza de Espana was expansive and gorgeous. The semi-circular plaza contains monuments celebrating the main cities of spain.



Sevilla has lots of gorgeous hand painted ceramics, so I bought several dishes for my home.



We went to a sort of pathetic flamenco show. Not because the performers were bad, but it was a huge bar that contained probably 80% american students studying there (many with their parents, presumably giving them a cultural experience ...) and everyone was blathering and chatting and being so loud while they were performing, it was ridic. We had lots of sangria though, so that was great.

The next day, we went to the Arab baths. This is basically a spa where you spend 1 1/2 hours, splitting your time between 4 pools of differing temperatures (boiling hot to freezing cold), as well as jet pools, a sauna, and getting a massage and drinking tea. This experience cost us 30 euro (16 without the massage). It was serene and calm and relaxing and lovely. We had to wear protective footware to keep the floors clean.



We took a day trip to Tarifa (on the strait of Gibraltar, 35 min boat ride from Tangier). Tarifa is WINDY. It's a major kite surfing location, and it has a surf-town USA vibe. We had lots of fun seeing Africa and talking about how we could see Africa and trying unsuccessfully to fix our hairstyles. We also played with and hugged random dogs in the streets.





Roamed around at night, explored the streets, tasted the local ice cream, looked at Africa.



We had our nightly feast around 10 pm, and ordered tapas galore and local spanish cheeses as well as an extremely large pan of paella. By the time it came we were all stuffed. But it was so fresh and delicious that we all but licked the pan clean.



We had another day back in good ole Sevilla and then went back to Lisboa for a our last day. We decided to go to the SUPER ridiculously charming town of Sintra, in the mountains for the day. We did a hike through a park up to the fortress and had an amazing lunch and soaked in all of the quaint beauty and food and cobblestones and weaving.



Best last day ever. We came home, sadly, and I'm still adjusting.

Expelled: What is it??

Matt saw an ad for something called "Expelled" with Ben Stein, and clicked on it. We both assumed it was a new game show ("Expelled is written in the style of graffiti, and Ben is wearing a schoolboy uniform), as we watched the flash intro to the site, which had "Bad to the Bone" playing in the background and called Ben the "rebel of his generation," we realized it's actually a movie, and we both assumed it was a wacky comedy about Ben as the rebel teacher at a high school.

Next we watched the trailer. It's ACTUALLY a documentary (perhaps Michael Moore-style) about the scientists behind intelligent design and how they've been unfairly persecuted and ostracized in the scientific community for challenging Darwin's theories! What?!? This is BIZARRE.

So I want to read the original paper about Intelligent Design that caused all the stir, but I'm soo skeptical about this movie, and I never knew Ben Stein was so political. Just because you have a different opinion doesn't mean you deserve to be heard when it comes to science, I'm sorry, but not having your paper accepted to Nature isn't a denial of your free-speech rights. The trailer really frames the controversy this way, as if all these poor scientists have been discriminated against. I hope they actually tell us why!

Doing what I want

So this will probably be the only post of the year relating to sports.

Matt had to leave Monday night for an "M" shoot in London. Ooooh! So I have the place to myself for almost a week. This means I get to cook for myself--salads, seafood, pork! It's also practically 70 degrees today!

Sooo, I take the dog for an extra long walk, being especially assertive in the crosswalks (you MUST yield to me even if you're racing to the Turnpike/Holland Tunnel!!), and come home and start watching the real wives of New York City. This show is out of control. One of these women has two sons named Francois and Johann. Their dad just said that it is easier to get into Harvard than to get a 3-year-old into a private preschool in the city. I'm not so sure about that ...

Then I make myself a BIG salad w/ tomato, cucumber, chicken, red pepper, MOZZ, BACON, and AVOCADO. I always say that practically anything is better with melted cheese all over, but I'm also thinking of extending this to bacon and avocado. This is ridiculous. Matt doesn't appreciate big salads the same way I do for some reason.

Now I'm watching the big game. Rutgers is beating UConn 21-8 or whatever the lingo is. AHhh!

OK, I also just watched this video, which made me very very happy. I want everyone to watch it. Feel good. Love women. Love yourself. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. For some reason my previously 'eh' opinion of Larry David has just risen 5 million percent.

BACK!

We just got in from Spain and Portugal, and because we decided it would be a better idea to stay up all night last night rather than get 2 hours of sleep before going to the airport at 5 am, we're exhausted. I'm also distressed because I'm trying to figure out how I will continue to incorporate getting up late, taking a daily 2-hour nap, and eating a minimum of 4 meals a day (includes Dinner I and Dinner II) into my drab life. Ohhhh and 1.50 euro glasses of wine and Super Bock (have you heard of it??) and good bread from the grocery store that doesn't cost $5 per loaf like Hoboken. And for some reason, I figured Spring would have thoughtfully begun by the time we got back, yet it's 30 degrees here.

It felt really good to be in Europe, and it feels really good to be home.

Pictures later! I'm still alive and I'm gonna go now and research turbulence and try to find assurance that it cannot knock a plane out of the sky because I think my blood pressure has shot up six million times after the past few flights this year ...

Take that, Claire!

I talked to my sister on my walk home from work yesterday about the issue of Obama's pastor's "controversial" viewpoints and remarks. She said it's worrisome to her that he would associate himself with such a person and that he wouldn't renounce him like John McCain apparently did in a similar situation. I disagreed. I think it's an entirely too-simplistic take on the issues. Race plays a big part here. Angry-sounding black men scare a lot of people in this country, they don't understand the origins or reasons for the anger. Obama is not appointing this man to his cabinet. This is a complicated issue that deserved an in-depth response.

When I made it home, I watched Obama's response on YouTube (transcript).

Just perfect. When in my life have we heard politicians speak to the American people like this? He took the issue so far and said some really brutally honest things that anyone else would not have touched with a ten-foot pole. I think it's really important that we have a leader who can address tough issues so diplomatically but not to alienate anyone.

Not that I want to compare the two issues directly, but Hillary has not addressed the sexism she faces in such a way that could truly lead to greater understanding on all sides (which, I think is equally deserving of such attention), nor do I think she is capable of doing that. She is playing a game, and that's fine, it works sometimes.

Sad day

One of the best things about living in New Jersey is that we have tons of options for amazing bagels. Like if you live more than 75 miles outside of the NY metro area, you most likely don't know what a bagel should taste like. The price of flour is on the rise! And with the $3 slice, also comes the 90 cent bagel! The place I get my bagels at previously charged $8/dozen, and now I'm paying close to $11! This is going to make a major difference in my nonexistent monthly budget! And I can forget about the baker's dozen they used to give me, which is still actually printed in the menu, but I never get, and I feel weird asking for, even though I'm a much more assertive person than I used to be. These people are dealing with the flour shortage, after all!

Because I frequently buy and eat bagels, another large part of my life is spent buying cream cheese. It's out of control! It seems like I'm seriously making special trips to the fancy Hoboken grocery stores for more cream cheese 2x a week (at $3 a brick!) because I'm about to run out, Katie can tell you that this is true.

I actually think I might need to start a BJs membership even if it's only for cream cheese and pickles. Does anyone go there who could tell me if they sell half-gallon tubs or anything like that? Or maybe I should just buy a cow so I can make it myself. That could definitely be cheaper, after all, Matt does have a backyard.

One time someone bought Matt a children's book for Christmas called "I Like Bagels," as a joke because he's Jewish, but little do they know that he actually LOVES bagels, and I look at the photos in the book all the time!

I'm trying to make an effort to cook with foods I haven't before. Hence the kale and chard adventures. I bought butternut squash yesterday, and I'm searching for a recipe now. Just from searching, it seems like you're supposed to make soup with it, which I'm not really feeling for this week. I'll probably make this since I have all the ingredients and I love roasted vegetables, and it will be simple and great.

An attempt to be relevant

My New Yorker cover this week made me laugh:



And I just read a great article about Hillary's latest ad and why she is not best suited for the nomination or presidency.

I get it if the fervor of the Obama campaign and his young, idealistic support base rub you the wrong way, but let's focus on real things, like fact that Hillary's campaign and erratic tactics are troubling and prove that she's willing to do and say anything to get what she wants. Seriously? You think it would be fair to count the votes in Michigan and Florida when everyone was told they wouldn't count. Obama's response was frank and appropriate as always.

"Obviously that would not be fair. I think even my 6-year-old would understand it would not be fair for Senator Clinton to be awarded delegates when there was no campaign."

Defeat

I was just looking back through my posts so far and what was supposed to be an exciting new project to motivate me to follow through with my hobbies and connect with strangers over the Web (heh), and it seems I've been a miserable failure at every turn.

Remember my herbs? Yea, they all got mold and died. What about my scarf (from the same post)? Remember that exciting and ambitious project? Well, I knitted about 1 more foot of length, and then realized I'd dropped a bunch of stitches a dozen rows back and had a big hole in it, and I would need to pull out a few hours of work to fix, so I haven't touched it for a month and a half. It's also March now, and I'm not really feeling the need for a scarf like I once did, so I'll probably forget about it. How sad is that??

Also, I'd love to share with you all the lovely tilapia I made last week, and my awesome recipes for basics like chili and a vodka sauce (two different things), but my camera is mysteriously not working, so I'm the kind of person now who makes her delicious food and gobbles it up, but never takes pictures of it or discusses in detail how/what I did (the original purpose of the blog, hence the ingenious name).

Anyway, I'm going to try to be better, I was just feeling kind of sorry for my lazy self and needed to share it with the world (or just my bf and maybe my sister).

Hah!

Project Runway finale post!

I think my favorite, Jillian, will not win (I love her monotone complaining!). I wouldn't be surprised if it was either of the other two, but I have a sneaking feeling that it's going to be Rami. Christian is FABULOUS, of course, but maybe he needs to learn how to edit. Tim is giving the group an inspirational talk right now, and I'm starting to choke up ... Oh my ... I can predict right now that Victoria Beckham will fall in love with Christian. I take it back now, he might win.

Soo, the bad part about having a blog is that when you don't post for 1 week+, people start bothering you about it. I guess it works though, because here I am!

The biggest/most exciting news is that I'm going to Spain and Portugal with Matt and Christa in two weeks. We bought the tickets two weeks ago, and as of Monday, I have our entire itinerary mapped out in Google spreadsheets (which, btw, is the answer to most problems in life).

We fly into Lisboa, and spend the first two nights there. We're doing a day trip to Cascais where we will rent bikes to ride up the coast to secluded beaches and have a picnic and go to the zoo! Then we're going to Sevilla for 2 nights where my cousin is studying abroad. We'll go to Tarifa (aka, the Hawaii of Spain) for an overnight where we will be able to see Africa from the coast (maybe take a ferry to Tangier???), take free salsa lessons (embarassing for me!), and have another picnic on the beach. One more night in Sevilla, one more in Lisboa, and we're home!.

Within that plan, I need to fit in a wine tour and a bullfight (my understanding is that they don't kill the bull in Portugal, but I'm still uncomfortable). I also have to stuff myself with tapas and cheap seafood, and try harder to like Port. Do you have any advice??? No soccer games, since it's Easter week.

I'm fully prepared for everything that's going to happen while I'm over there: I'm going to feel so awkward and oaf-ish and poorly dressed and extremely hungry, since you officially are not allowed to eat dinner before 11 pm. But I don't care! I'm going to eat a lot and go out in public wearing sneakers and jeans and a ponytail and ignore all the looks! I did go to forever 21 today to get some shirts that will make me look a little less sporty. That's what I always do when I realize all I own are t-shirts and dorky/conservative work clothes and have nothing appropriate for a party or ... Europe: panic and run to Forever21 and pick up something trendy I'll only wear once.

Aww! Rami's collection celebrates women! I love that!!

Oh, the other exciting thing that happened is that Matt got punched in the face a bunch of times on Hoboken St. Patty's day. So uncivilized! The story is sort of ridiculous though, and aside from that, it was a good time. I think next year, I'll throw a small brunch gathering for only a handful of people and serve bellinis.

I'm a hypocrite about words and definitely a dork for even thinking about this

I'm so weird and inconsistent about how I feel about using and pronouncing words we got from other languages. My overall philosophy is trying to be down to earth and unpretentious, and progressive and I definitely think language exists to enable communication, and that's it. Language constantly evolves, and I don't like the idea that there are definite ways to say things or that grammar/punctuation rules is set in stone. It's helpful to maintain some standards for clarity, and I loooove copyeditors, don't get me wrong, but people who call themselves "grammar-nazis" are really annoying and self-righteous. It's like, you're getting so hung up on these rules, and they're only there to facilitate you in conveying ideas. If people understand what you're saying/writing, then stop being annoying.

Anyway, given what I just said, it really really bothers me when people doubly misuse pronouns. I don't care when people misuse them in the more common way of using the incorrect pronoun as the subject of a sentence (eg., "Bob and me went there yesterday."), but I just hate it when people overcompensate and decide that any time you talk about yourself and someone else, that you should always use the pronoun "I." As in "This is really important to Ralph and I." No no no no no. It's the overcompensation that gets to me, because people make a point of using the subject pronoun when there's actually a distinction on when you use each, and they're trying to sound intelligent and smart by using 'I' in all instances. They know some sort of rule exists concerning the use of different types of pronouns, but they don't actually know what they are. That's what that is.

It bothers me when people misuse other words, too, usually food. Especially bruschetta and panini. Panini means "sandwiches," soooo, when Matt says he's going to make himself a "panini sandwich," he's actually saying that he will have a "sandwiches sandwich." The mis-pronunciation of bruschetta doesn't bother me so much as the misuse. Bruschetta is the bread, NOT a tomato, olive oil, basil mixture. You can have bruschetta with any kind of topping you want, or you could even just eat the bread with no topping and no tomatoes at all, and you'd still be eating bruschetta!

Vahz, Vayse; enDIVE, ahn-deev, I don't actually care, I don't think we should be too hung up. Though, it makes sense to try to pronounce things in the way they originally were, but if you're American, and from the Northeast like me, you probably have a really obnoxious, harsh, nasal accent, and I sound stupid and obnoxious when I start pronouncing "croissant" as "kwasohhhhn." When I worked at the diner, I would pronounce "gyro" as "jai-ro," because when I said it correctly, no one understood what I was saying. Some people said it as "guy-ro," and anyone would have to admit, that's pretty bad, and we should look down on and shun those people.

What's my problem? I know that's how those words are used in America, and I know what I'm getting when I order bruschetta in a restaurant, but whatever. I also have no problem when someone says "axed" instead of "asked," because, you know what, in the year 3000, that's how it's going to be pronounced anyway. (Thanks to Futurama for that little peek into our destiny).

I still order drinks at Starbucks by their actual names. AKA "grahhn-day" for a Medium. My friend who worked there told me people often come in and order a "grand." We laughed a lot about that.

Basically, it's OK when I'm pretentious about certain words, but when other people do it, it's obnoxious and a huge turn-off. That's fair, right?

Super Tuesday!

I'm so excited to vote it's ridiculous. I wish someone invited me to a party tonight to watch the returns come in and celebrate. My plan is to vote on my way home from work, go home, walk the dog, etc., then make up some pulled pork sandwiches and cole slaw (along with some weird ale Matt got with like 9% alcohol, so it's THICK) and watch the the cnn coverage for the rest of the night. Did you know they have the best political team ever? I didn't until Wolf Blitzer told me every 5 seconds without stopping. Slate and I are on the same page. FUN NIGHT! I'M SO EXCITED!!

Today was also the parade for the Giants, and basically a billion people from Jersey had to come through the Hoboken station and take the PATH to get in the city. They stampeded me as soon as the train doors opened, and I was forced to dramatically fight my way through the crowd to get through the station. Giants fans apparently do not understand train etiquette! That's the logical conclusion, right?

Before I worked in an office, I would mainly purchase comfortable clothes such as jeans and cotton shirts when I shopped. Now that I'm not really supposed to wear jeans, I try to buy things I can wear to work. This usually means slacks, button down shirts and practical shoes (since I walk like a mile, I don't want to ALWAYS have to bring an extra pair). I just realize today that I dress like a MOM!!!! Ahh. I need someone to help me find cute work clothes that make me look like I don't have two kids and drive a van.

My only savior are these:



If I put these on with a skirt or jeans, I actually look like a city person who really knows where she's going and knows all about what's goin' on. But I can't wear them every day!!

Update

I stole this idea from Klosekraft, I love everything she does.

What I'm ...

...Reading: Perpetually catching up on my New Yorkers. Now that my commute is literally 7 min. on the train, I have no time in which my only option is to read, which is normally how I get it done. I've been forcing myself to sit down and do it, and the news is always about one month old. So right now, I'm reading all about how there's no way Hillary will ever win New Hampshire in the primaries, and other exciting things, etc.. I'm also in the middle of: Mere Christianity and The Poisonwood Bible (finally!). Mere Christianity is short, so I should be done soon, and the concept is really intriguing. I guess Lewis was a complete atheist at one point in his life, and converted to Christianity, and this book explains the truth in Christian beliefs based on moral law. So far, I'm on board with everything he's set up, so we'll see how it goes! I did recently read that it's Mike Huckabee's favorite book (puke).

...Watching: Just finished the second season of Dexter. AHH! If you watched the first season and wasn't too impressed, don't give up!! The second season was wonderful! The characters all get rounder and realer, including Dexter, which makes everyone more interesting, and it gets so suspenseful and scary! Only bad part: Lila, a really annoying new character who has the obnoxious Kiera Knightly thing going on with her jaw/lips and whose British accent sounds so forced that I had to look her up to see if it was even real. My private life will be consumed by Lost and Project Runway for the next couple weeks. Seinfeld is also another project.

...Cooking: Winter foods. I've been using the slow cooker a LOT. I'm trying to make us sick of all the slow roasts and stews and chilies before the weather gets hot and I don't want have the oven on. Winter greens have been great, which you already know all about. Once spring arrives, I'll be ready to GRILL and eat guac exclusively. Come on people! I don't always cook roasts and beef and mutton and comfort food! That's just what wintertime warrants!! Pretty soon I'll be totally spicin' it up, just wait!

...Planning: To help Matt get and prepare for a show at LITM (aka home of Cheesy Wednesday). This would be in late summer, and we really want this to happen! I'm also supposed to go to Spain in mid March with my sister, and I need to get down to business. Our cousin is studying in Sevilla, and the idea is that we'll stay there with her for a few days, visit another southern Spanish town (or do a couple day trips), and then go somewhere to Portugal, which I know nothing about. Does that mean we go to Lisbon? I need help. I'll probably just go to Rick Steve's. I think I have a free plane ticket, so this should be totally doable.

I'm also going to vote in the primary tomorrow. I'm so excited for this election, and since the Democratic race looks close in NJ, I'm definitely voting. I think I'm unafiliated right now, but NJ lets you declare at the polling place. So, I'll declare, vote for Obama, and then mail in a new registration form to unaffiliate myself. I don't want any more ridiculous propaganda than I already have.

...Knitting: I'm such a baby. I never do ambitious projects, and I whine about how long my dinky scarf is taking. It's about 1/3 done. I'll post a pic when it's half done. I'm really eager to start doing something fancier, so I'm going to have my sister come up and assist me in beginning a new project. I've been thinking of doing this. Wouldn't that be cool of me? I think I could def wear that sweater if I was a mom, so it should last a while. I'd even call it 'timeless,' wouldn't you? Claire says she thinks it's not too hard for me to tackle. We'll see!

super bowl = who cares

I am the best girlfriend ever. Thursday and yesterday I made shepherd's pie and then pulled pork sandwiches upon requests. If I was your girlfriend, you could just be like, "Anna, I feel like eating meaty casserole topped with crispy mashed potatoes tonight," and I'd be like "Coming right up, you!" The shepherds pie was meaty and juicy.





I cooked the pork in cider vinegar for 8 hours and then mixed in BBQ sauce, honey, mustard, and soy sauce, and it was the best thing I've made in my entire life. I also made delicious mustardy, non mayo cole slaw and collard greens.





I heard Wet Hot American Summer the musical might be coming out!

That's all, I have to watch 3 more episodes of Seinfeld now, (the real love of my life)!

Major food update

This week was all about cheese for me. On Wednesday, I attended my favorite event of the week, "Cheesy Wednesday"! So, you order a beer and it comes paired with a plate of cheese, bread and grapes. Amazing -- I know, right!? I'll blog more on that later because I enjoyed myself too much and cannot write intelligently on this matter.

I love cooking seasonally, and I really wanted to try using some different greens for dinner than regular, boring ole' spinach. So I picked up some kale, swiss chard, and bok choy to use this week. Friday I made the kale. So easy, so cheap, so delicious!! All you need is: One bunch of kale, two cloves of garlic, one red onion, red wine vinegar, and olive oil.

Exhibit A:


I chopped the kale into strips and let it cook in boiling water for 10 min. Then I sauteed some red onion in the olive oil until it was soft, after which I added the garlic. Once it was smelling delicious and I could barely stand it, I added the kale to the pan to warm it back up. After a couple more minutes, it was done! I splashed on some red wine vinegar, and served it with herb-crusted chicken and wild rice (no big deal):



On to further, more important matters!

We hosted a fondue extravaganza/feast for the people I knew would appreciate it most. Melting Pot has nothing on me! Seriously, you couldn't pay me to waste 5 more hours of my life at that place for the pathetic excuse for fondue for which they have the audacity to charge you like $90/person.

Matt's not into the classic emmenthaler/greyeur combo because it's too "tangy," so I did gouda/smoked gouda with garlic, Amstel Light. Soooooooooo good. I also had like three times the amount of dippers, that were 100x better than what the ridiculous Melting Pot offers, and it took me 700x less time to make.

We dipped pumpernickel and semolina bread, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, pretzels, green apples, grapes, and salami. I blanched the veggies for a couple minutes (key. Someone report this to MP). I bought the meat ends at Shoprite for the salami and was only charged like 2 dollars for a pound of salami (normally like $12/pound if you want to have the packaged sticks).

So, FIRST, I chopped everything up with a huuuge knife:



Then I melted the cheese and we ate for like 2 hours:



It was amazing. We're going to do a Guinness/aged cheddar fondue next!!!

One last thing. I would pay double or maybe triple to see any of the movies featured in Seinfeld (except for The English Patient). Prognosis Negative? Sack Lunch? Count me in!!!

Race and other non-important issues

When discussing the authenticity of someone's black identity or the evils of promoting solidarity among women, I reeeeally want to hear the opinion of an old white guy. Yeah, he's definitely the one to go to for advice.

(He's the same brilliant man who enlightened us as to why women are incapable of being funny.)

New hair

Hey guys! Guess what. I just got a celebrity-inspired haircut. It looks like this:



Yeah, it's great. I love it.

More later.

Lovely night to myself

I'm home for the night with a great big bowl of edamame, a glass of wine, and a puppy to snuggle with. This is the life!

I'm researching hairstyle photos to bring to my appointment tomorrow. What I really want is something funky and drastically different (because that's what I'm all about), but I'm a wimp. I'll bring a few photos and ask for the guy's honest opinion. Right now I'm considering thick bangs with layered length or a long bob with side bangs. Judging from my history with haircuts, I'll most likely be wearing a hat for the next 3 months.

At Whoorl, this lovely lady gives awesome solicited hair advice, and I WISH I knew about this earlier!

The Dunkin' Donuts ads playing lately are brilliant, and I can't stop thinking about them. It warms my heart to hear They Might be Giants used so appropriately. 'Doin' things is what I like to do' Is the most fitting inner soundtrack for daily life ever, especially because it complements my usual jingle for my life, "Sayin' things and doin' stuff," which also has a million possibilities!



OK, I'm going, because there's edamame to eat, wine to drink, Seinfeld to watch, and snuggling to be done!!

(Sorry for the crappy photo again, but I couldn't resist!!!)

Starting my garden

First off, I'm so thrilled bring you my first post with photos. Because of camera troubles, the photos were taken via Photobooth on my Macbook, so they're not as lovely as they could be. Next time, when I have an expert to assist, they'll be even better!

About 6 weeks ago, Matt and I were taking advantage of the savings and quality goods at Target, when I came across a Chia Herb Garden set that includes everything you need to grow four different varieties of herbs! It only cost $20! Matt made fun of me for wanting it and might have even said that it was "ridiculous" and "stupid," but I don't really remember.

Anyway, he's gone for work for a while, so of course I went back to Target this weekend (twice). It was half price, and Matt was nowhere to be seen, soooo:



(Notice the fact that this is not an average, normal Chia set for everyday schlubs but a GOURMET Chia kit for fancy people like myself.)



I couldn't be happier! My future little herblings are currently are now sitting on top of the range with plastic bags over them to create a greenhouse-like environment.

Let's see how Matt feels when my dinner is flavored with delicious home-grown herbs and his is flavorless and bland.

The other exciting thing I'm working on is a new fancy scarf. My sister Claire helped me out with reading the pattern, since I usually figure things out without a pattern, and I'm really excited about it, even though it's slow in coming. It's an entrelac pattern, and it's really interesting to work on, because there's so much flipping back and forth instead of knitting all the way across, flipping, and knitting allll the way back (boooring!). I noticed last night that I was completing one section of blocks across for each episode of Seinfeld I was watching, so I'll probably have to watch all the seasons before this thing is done.

Also, I'm using variegated yarn, which I usually just hate, but because of the way it's made, the colors pool together and it looks kind of funky.

Let's hope it's all done before the weather gets warm so I actually have a chance to wear it this winter!