I've got something better (maybe) for you soon. Here's my favorite comic in the mean time..
June 2009 Archives
Air conditioning is a gift from heaven that allows us to sleep at night without feeling hot and sticky and sweaty. That is all.
Ok, that's not all... Eddie Izzard at MSG in January!!! I just got my tickets, how about you?!
So yesterday I talked about water, today earth or soil... well sort of.
I gardened!! Our poor tomato plants are having some difficulties with mites and one helpful fix that Kevin read about online was to plant basil near the tomatoes. We were planning to plant some basil anyway, but hadn't gotten around to it (what with all the raining).
So since I'm just sitting around playing scramble and watching soaps, I went to the Home Depot and purchased some basil plants (two sweet and two spicy) and some mousetraps (ack! don't ask!!). When I got home with my purchases, I figured instead of making Kevin plant them after a long day of work, that I would do it. How hard could it be to dig a hole, right?
Now for some reason the tomato plants attract and foster a lot of mosquitoes (big, evil, thirsty ones) and with all the rain, it is even worse. I thought I planned well. I put on long pants, a long sleeved t-shirt, socks, and shoes. Not only was I protected from 'squitoes, but I wouldn't get any sunburn. I planted the basil and I even erected the cages around the tomatoes so they can grow big and wide.
As I was finishing up, I noticed that my ankle itched. I came inside and striped out of my protective layers and noticed that a damn mosquito bit me directly on my ankle bone, which is now huge and red and swollen (not too itchy thanks to a heap of cortisone 10). Then I go into the bathroom to wash the sweat off a little and look in the mirror, and I'll be damned. I have an enormous (about an inch long and quarter inch wide) swollen spot on my chin from another bite. I didn't even notice that one and it doesn't really itch (which I guess is good), just looks like some weird chin/skin disorder.
No more gardening for me. You'll just find me inside sitting in front of a fan watching the Golden Girls.
Hmmm... now I have to think up a post for tomorrow on air to keep this theme going....
As it seems we finally have a day (and maybe a string of days) without water falling from the sky, let's talk about water anyway. (Sorry, knitting is very slow right now.)
About six or so months ago, I found this product at Wegman's.
Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Chill Zingers to Go
Yummy, delicious, and refreshing. I was drinking them mixed into my water when teaching, mixed into my water with meals, and mixed into my water when working out. If you check out the website, you'll see that there are no calories, just yummy flavors (and a little stevia for a slight sweetness). What I really love about the Zingers is that the flavor was strong and not sickeningly sweet.
But then Wegman's didn't have them anymore (and I never saw them in the crappy, terrible grocery stores in Yonkers). I found them online, but after I ordered I got an email that they were out of stock. I did manage to get a few from online, but that source seems dried up. And while Celestial Seasonings still has them on their website, I just can't find them. And this is a big deal because I HATE DRINKING WATER. I can't drink plain water and water with some lemon or lime juice is ok, but I don't want to drink it. These Zingers got me to enjoy water.
With only 5 little packets left, I headed back to Wegman's Thursday to assess my options. There are various types that add vitamins to your water in addition to flavoring (Emergen-C and One Day Women's) and even ones that add fiber (Benefiber... their commercials are on constantly). And then there are the standard Kool-Aid, ice-tea, and lemonade types.
I wanted something without aspartame (for various reasons), something that was preferably calorie free, and something that came in little to-go packets in a berry type flavor. The no aspartame eliminated most of the possibilities (Crystal Light, Snapple, Wyler's, Ocean Spray).
I ended up getting Emergen-C in raspberry, 4C Totally Light 2 Go in Wild Berry-Pomegranate and a mixed box with strawberry-kiwi, dragon fruit-acai, and something-citrus. I've tried them all over the past couple of days (expect the something-citrus which is why I can't remember what it is).
- Emergen-C... weak flavor, kind of fizzy, horrid after taste. I forced myself to drink it while working out. And I mean forced. It was not pleasant tasting on the tongue or the back of the mouth after swallowing, and the fizziness was making it worse. It recommended about 4-6oz of water, I used 12-13oz. It didn't completely dissolve and there was a sludge at the bottom of the glass. Yuck! Plus it made me burpy while working out... not good. I don't know that I can force myself to drink the OTHER 35 of them.
- 4C Wild Berry-Pomegranate... strong flavor, quite sweet, very tasty. I liked this quite a lot. The pomegranate is the dominate flavor. The sweetness was a lot more than the Zingers, but part of that could be because I was using about 4-5 oz less water than recommended (who owns 17oz glasses?!) I might try splitting the packet between two glasses next time.
- 4C Strawberry-Kiwi... yum, yum, yum!! Same deal as the pomegranate with being a bit sweeter than I'd like. But otherwise, great flavor and highly drinkable.
- 4C Dragon Fruit-Acai... also a big yum and the same issues as above!!
While I'd ultimately still like to find more Zingers, I think the 4C brand will be a good substitute. If you can't stand plain water like me, what do you do to make it more tolerable?
Terby tagged me. Rainy day meme…
What Is Your Current Obsession?
Playing scramble on Facebook. I wish I could stop, but I just play obsessively.
What Are You Wearing Today?
At the moment, I’m wearing spandex shorts, sports bra, and tank top. I’m going to exercise soon. Later, I’ll probably be wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
What's for dinner?
I’m meeting up with my knitting gals tonight, so that means Panera for dinner. Yay!!
What Would You Eat for Your Last Meal?
Something involving French fries, strawberries, hamburgers, avocados, and cheesecake.
What's the Last Thing You Bought?
Two bottles of wine—one white, one red. Oh wait... I paid for the sushi after that... so sushi was the last thing I bought.
What Are You Listening To Right Now?
The Golden Girls and the toaster oven ticking with my breakfast.
If you could go anywhere in the world in the next hour, where would you go?
Somewhere that is warm and sunny. Why is mother nature attempting to drown everyone living in the Northeast?!
Which language do you want to learn?
French or Italian. I took both in school and didn’t get very far.
What do you love most about where you currently live?
It is close to the city, we have a garden, and it’s close to work.
What is your favourite colour?
Blue.
What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
I don’t know that I have a particular favorite piece. I love tank tops generally.
What were you doing ten years ago?
I was home from college for the summer. Was that the summer I worked as a telemarketer or as a one-on-one aid for a kid with Asperger’s?
Describe your personal style?
Casual, casual, casual.
If you had $300 right now what would you spend it on?
Clothes.
What are you going to do after this?
Exercise with Wii Active.
What inspires you?
Inspires me how?
What are your favourite films?
Dirty Dancing, Heathers, Clue, Secretary, Spaceballs
Whose work/designs are you inspired by?
I love Nora Gaughan.
Your favourite books?
Russo: Straight Man. (and all of his others).
Pike: A Season of Passage. (and many of his others).
Do You Collect Anything?
Dust? I really hate cleaning.
What makes you follow a blog?
Pretty projects, good writing, sometimes just feel some connection.
What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Hmmmm… considering I’ve only been out of bed a few hours, I’m hoping something better happens… but eating my homemade muffin was pretty enjoyable.
What's one thing you dream of doing?
Being interviewed by Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert or Keith Olbermann, or all three!!
Last week, I caught an episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown and he devoted the episode to parsnips. I didn't know much about parsnips except that Kevin made them for us once (roasted with several other root-type vegetables) and I couldn't remember if I liked them or not. Alton described them as sweet and they look like pale carrots, so why not try one of his recipes. Here is my attempt to make his Parsnip Muffins.
Step 1: Gather your ingredients. (Note: I forgot to gather the vegetable oil into this picture).
Step 2: Put almond slivers into the oven to toast. (Note: Alton suggests about 20 minutes.)
Step 3: Begin grating parsnips. (Note: Don't grate too fast or you might grate your thumb. Nobody wants bloody parsnips.)
Step 4: Admire 10 oz. of grated parsnips.
Step 5: Oh crap, the almonds!!!! (Note: Alton was wrong. 20 minutes in the oven burns almonds.)
Step 6: Weigh everything. (Note: Alton does all baking by weight.)
Step 7: Gather dry ingredients into one bowl. (Flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg.)
Step 8: Gather wet ingredients into a different bowl and whisk to combine. (Sugar, eggs, yogurt, oil.)
Step 9: Redo toasting of almonds for 5 minutes. (Yay! Perfect!!)
Step 10: Spray baking vessel.
Step 11: Add parsnips to the wet ingredients...
Step 12: And mix well.
Step 13: Add dry ingredients to wet...
Step 14: Fold briefly to combine, but don't overdo it!! (Note: Alton says never over mix; Alton says step away from the mixture, lumps are ok, clumps of flour are ok.)
Step 15: Spoon into muffin vessel.
Step 16: Sprinkle on the good almonds; bake in the oven until golden brown.
Step 17: Remove from oven and marvel at the poof-age and merger of muffins.
Step 18: Remove from pan. They may not be pretty, but they taste damn good!!!!
"Today is mah birfday. I haz cake."
How old do you think someone who "talks" like this is? 4? 8? 12 with braces and a lisp?
Best I can tell from the fact she's been knitting over 30 years is that she's probably in her 40s if not older. Why would you write like a child? Isn't it bad enough that young people today can't write in anything but text-speak, but now adults on the internet have to talk like morons?
Don't mean to sound curmudgeon, and I know the internet doesn't necessarily breed intelligence, but can we at least try????
Do I want some popcorn?
How about some cucumber?
Oh boy!! Strawberry!!!
Can I go back to my home to eat? I don't like being out in the open on this table.
Yum! This strawberry is delicious!!
This cucumber is tasty too.
Can I have some privacy?!
Peaches and blackberries.
I tried to make another one today. Apparently something went a little bit wrong and the crust is not holding together very well. It may have been the addition of some sugar to the crust or that the crust was too wet or that it didn't bake long enough or that I rolled it out too thin. I have no idea how I made it perfectly the first time and crappily the second time. Well, not really crappily because I bet it still tastes awesome, it is just ugly. Maybe third time will be the charm!
- I just bought some Mets colored yarn. Sock yarn to be exact, but it might end up a wavy scarf.
- The wavy scarf continues. Considering I add about a block (or wave) a day, it is slow going. I have no excuse for not knitting more other than I am addicted to playing Scramble on Facebook.
- Yesterday, as I was walking to the grocery store and some older guy asked me what time it was and he called me madame. Madame is weird, I don't like being called madame. Miss is ok, and I'll even take ma'am, but madame seems so... so... old. I know he was just being polite, but it still irked me.
- And so I guess the universe's way of balancing the madame comment was to have some 15 year olds (they were probably older, but looked 15) street harass me while I was sitting in my front yard reading and enjoying the only 30 minutes of sunshine we've had in a week. The one kid asked if he could read with me... I ignored him. But I really wanted to shout back something like... "It doesn't have any pictures, so I don't think you'll be able to understand it."
- I was reading this little interview with some teacher in New York magazine and the first question the interviewer asked was "What did you teach?" He replied, "Idiots." I thought that was awesome.
- The weather is predicted to be continuing rain indefinitely. That makes me sad.
- I made a rustic black berry and peach pie yesterday. Kevin's opinion was that it was "kick ass." The next thing I want to bake is almond parsnip muffins that Alton Brown made on Good Eats. I just need to figure out where I can find parsnips...
I just signed up to take a cooking class in July at the International Culinary Center's Recreational Division. It's a four hour baking class on doughnuts!!! I can't wait!!
It isn't all trips and concerts and meat around here. There is some knitting to be had. I just started this scarf on Friday after finding the pattern by chance on Ravelry.
I was looking at some pretty yarn and looking at what people had knit it into, and that's how I found the pattern.
It is a basic and simple multi-directional scarf, but the genius of it is that it is knit entirely in ribbing. Following the same exact pattern in garter stitch or seed stitch would yield a rectangular scarf. The ribbing causes the scarf to compress and stretch in a way that yields waves and curves.
In a little stash busting to try this out, I've selected two skeins of Cascade 220. One is leftover from a sweater I made way back in March 2005 and the over is leftover from Loppem in August '08. The only problem is that I'm going to have many, many ends to weave in. While I don't love all of the ribbing, I am loving the effect and I'll likely knit at least one more (if not many) in some more interesting yarns. (Those of you on Ravelry can see what others have done: here.)
Extreme close-up!!!
Saturday evening Kevin and I enjoyed the yummiest dinner. Meat with a side of meat. More specifically, pork ribs with a side of hamburgers. Saturday was our first grill-ppurtunity and so we decided to go big! Ribs and burgers!! No need to tarnish such deliciousness with vegetables.
The ribs enjoyed a nice rub down in seasonings and spices before slowly cooking in the oven for many hours. Once they were tender and juicy, it was time to add the smokiness only a grill could provide.
When the ribs were ready to eat, we threw on a couple of burgers and prepared to eat.
BEFORE
AFTER
My mouth is watering and I feel hungry just thinking about how delicious that all was!!
**The title refers to the first picture, which is of our little garden. We've got tomatoes, hot peppers, zucchinis, and cucumber pickles. All are taking off, just no fruit yet!
The show was at the Beacon Theater and we were in the second row of the balcony. Most of my pictures are blurry because flash photography was prohibited, so I did the best I could.
I got some ok close-ups of each of the guys.
Michael McKean.
Christopher Guest.
Harry Shearer.
The show was amazing (even if the crowd was full of hipsters and the lady behind me at the most annoying laugh on earth). They sang songs from This is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind. They even did a few songs from Waiting for Guffman. Michael McKean's wife sang a few songs with the guys. And Elvis Costello did a guest song too (I thought the woman sitting behind me was having a heart attack when Costello came on stage). They covered Mick Jagger and Keith Richard's "Start Me Up" which was hilarious.
Between songs, they joked and laughed with the crowd. They read out loud the censor's comments about what needed to be bleeped and edited out of This is Spinal Tap before it could be aired on television. They even opened up the evening to audience questions, so long as there were none about "11." And of course the best announcement was that there is going to be a new Spinal Tap CD in a few more weeks!
Here's a clip from the YouTubes from the show we saw...
Saturday was our last fun day in San Francisco. Sunday was spent at the conference and Monday in the airport waiting to fly home.
On Saturday we hopped on a bus and headed to Haight Street and Golden Gate Park. We got off the bus at Haight and Divisadero Streets. We walked down Haight Street stopping in some fun shops. I got a labbit!! We continued into the park and then we walked the entire length of Golden Gate park. The best estimate of google maps after the fact was that we walked over 5 miles to see the Pacific Ocean.
The Pacific Ocean!! Unfortunately it was only 60 degrees and overcast, so we didn't attempt to go into the ocean.
After a well deserved rest at the hotel, we headed over to Oakland to catch a baseball game.
Since the Giants weren't in town, we went for the American League game, although it was actually an interleague game. But it is one more ball park we can check off our list. We were amazed at the super close seats we were able to get that were less (yes, less!) than what we paid to sit in the new Citi Field in the nose-bleeds.
San Francisco was a blast and it was great to get away. We ate a lot of food including another great breakfast at a swedish pancake place and another day when we ate cream puffs for breakfast from Papa Beard.
Back to the knitting next time....
Our second day in San Francisco was all about riding the cable cars and exploring Fisherman's Wharf.
We rode the cable car to Lombard Street and watched the cars navigate the curves.
We ate lunch at the In-and-Out Burger. Yum!
And then got cupcakes in Ghirardelli Square. Double yum!!!
We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and looked at the boats and the bay and the sites.
The Golden Gate Bridge from Fisherman's Wharf.
Alcatraz from Fisherman's Wharf.
After a long day by the bay, we cleaned up at the hotel and went out to dinner at a sushi restaurant not far from the hotel. We both decided to be adventurous and order the chef's specials and let the chef decide which pieces of fish were best that day. It was all very delicious. I learned that I don't like eel. I also learned that eating the roe sushi is like eating salt water and rice.
Up next, our 5 mile trek to the ocean!
I'm naming these socks 16A after the seat on the airplane in which I started the first sock. Both to and from San Francisco, we were in the same seats, which were actually in a perfect place on the plane. Second row of economy plus (apparently the plus meant 5 more inches of legroom, but that was difficult to discern) meant that there was a TV screen on the wall in front of the row in front of us so there was no need to stare at the ceiling. Also, I had 2 windows!
This was my view from my plane seat.
We flew out of JFK at 7am on Thursday morning (that meant a 4am wake up! ugh!!!). And arrived in San Francisco around 10:30am, so we were starving and looking for something good to eat. The concierge pointed us in the direction of Dottie's.
Without a doubt this was the best breakfast that I've ever eaten in my entire life. The french toast was simply amazing. I dream of this french toast. At some point I'll try to replicate it at home, but I doubt I'll ever achieve it.
This was the view from our hotel room on the 17th floor of the Marriot. This was a room that we could have never afforded without the conference rate.
Thursday we walked around the area of the hotel a bit and then walked down to the area of AT&T Park (home of the Giants) and met a friend at a bar for some drinks and food. (Garlic french fries are amazing and yield amazing heart burn.)
Details about the rest of the trip coming soon...
This game is much more interactive than Wii Fit, which I've basically given up on and use as an expensive scale. It is more fun than Fitness Coach, which I still really like and will probably still use. Each day with Active you complete a journal that asks some questions about how much you ate and drank the day before, how much sleep you got the night before, how much TV you watched, and how stressed you felt. Then you can do your workout--either preset in the 30 day challenge or customized by you. I decided to got with the 30 day challenge on the hardest level. After you exercise, you can also input other activities you do in the day (you can even add activities to the previous days, which you couldn't with Fit). Then you get a bronze, silver, or gold medal based on your healthfulness.
The 30 day challenge (after three days) has been pretty good. The first day I was sweating a lot and felt like it was a good workout. The second and third days were less sweating probably because they focused more on strength training than cardio. The one main comment (and complaint) that I've seen in reviews is that there are a lot of lunges. The lunges never end. Everyday there have been lunges, lots of lunges. My butt and thighs have never been so tired. I was also skeptical of the amount of upper body work that the resistance band would give compared to using weights. Well so far, my back and arms are sore, which is a good sign.
Active also has a lot of sports-type activities, which is mixes in to keep things fun. There are tennis, basketball, volleyball, and baseball drills. Everything from hitting (tennis and baseball) to passing and shooting (basketball) to bumping and setting (volleyball) to catching and throwing (baseball). It also has some rhythm dancing, boxing, and running.
One of my favorite aspects is that it has a calorie counter on the screen so you can see how hard you are working (the accuracy of said counter may not be 100%, but it is nice to see the calories burned increasing as you progress). One thing that annoys me is that it can be finicky about holding positions before moving on. For example, with lunges you need to lunge left, hold, then return to standing and hold. If you fidget during the hold, it scolds you and delays movement to the next rep, which can be frustrating because as you get more tired (or at least for me) it is harder to stand still. I also have a habit of anticipating the next move and so starting for it wants me to.
Overall, and only 3 days in, I've been very happy with Active. I'm hoping that completing the 30 day challenge can help burn off these couple of pounds that I gained while eating everything insight in San Francisco.
Upcoming bloggy topics because I promise to get back in the habit of blogging on a regular basis...
- A haircut (tomorrow)
- Mets bibs for a friend
- Baby Trekkings for a friend
- Shibui socks for me
- A trip to San Francisco
- Unplugged and Unwigged concert
- Wii Active!
I put all the entrants into an excel file and then randomized the list twice. Finally I used random.org to pick a random number to get the winner....
Kathryn
Thank you to everyone who participated. The survey is on going, so feel free to take it if you haven't or get your male friends to take it. My current sample has 24 men and nearly 200 women. That's not so good for gender comparisons. I need MALE PARTICIPANTS!!!!!
And now that it is summer... I promise more blogging!!
