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!