and then there were two

this blog is going to now be officially "inactive", since i've joined forces with a good friend on a duoblog, now say nay.

why?
because two is always better than one.
and i was getting tired of hearing myself talk all the time.

classy

this here is my best friend since the age of 9. Thanks to one of her myspace friends who filmed it, it really answers the question as to why we had NO boyfriends in high school.

I think she even says, "i'm gonna fix that old train"

my dad's really cute

He wrote this poem and sent it to me.

Faith


that Sunday after Mass
a small boy went up to the statue
of the mother of God.
I asked her to please make my dad
stop spending his paycheck
in Zibbie's saloon
on third street and Bainbridge.
I lit two candles.
I put my entire
pay from my paper route
into the magic box
two quarters
my whole pay-check.
just like my dad did
in Zibbie's saloon
on Friday night.

our future is strong, America!

curves are in

I have been in a frenzied mode as of late, determined to get the Blackberry Curve before my boyfriend gets it. He always gets the cool phones before I do. So last week, on the day they launched, I went to Cingular (now AT&T), to ge the new Blackberry Curve. The girl was nice enough to mention that if I turned in my Blackberry 8700c (my microphone wasn't properly working), get a new one, then come into the store when the Curve comes, out, that she would upgrade me. So I got a sweet deal that let me get the Curve , and have an extra 8700c just in case.

So how do I like it? It's got great features, but obviously not all of the bugs are completely worked out yet. Yesterday I also ran into my friend Serge on the street, and he too was on his way to the AT&T store to get his Curve. From the same girl. At the same store. So we got there together, and he learned that there's no software to synch his new curve with his macbook. The software, apparently is only available for Windows. So he has 6,000 - yes that's THOUSAND, people in his contacts that he will have to have manually entered. Either that, or bring it to a store that transfers the numbers - because the SIM card won't. Are you thoroughly confused by now? I am. I have access to either my Macbook or Windows, so I'm not in such a predicament - but it's still a pain in the booty.

As for features, it's lighter and slimmer and just plain prettier. The Blackberry Messenger automatically comes with it, so you don't have to download the software, the Browser has more capabilities, there's a camera, mp3 player, XM radio, voice recording, and even a GPS feature. I spent about two hours fiddling with everything yesterday, until the boyfriend got annoyed with the trackball sound and told me to move over. Meanie. Well, it is kind of an annoying sound - and getting used to this little trackball in the middle of the phone is also weird. I predict some functioning problems in the future, but who knows - it might work perfectly. I still find myself reaching for the side trackwheel. The battery life, which is supposed to be good, is erratic. I didn't charge mine last night, and woke up with three bars. About two hours later it was in the red. There's nothing worse than having a phone that has a crappy battery life.

There you have it. If my opionions change, I'll be sure to bitch about it here. In the meantime, it's love.(almost)

By the way, I got the Curve before he did. Mission Accomplished

ooh lala

Okay, so I'm in love with this new band, The Oohlas on the indie Stolen Transmission label, headed by Sarah (aka Ultragrrl). I just bought their album One Stop Pop on iTunes. There's something reminiscent of Belly in her voice, while songs like TV Dinner get a little heavier and rhythmic ala early Stone Temple Pilots.The Rapid is a smart song; multi-faceted with a mysterious pentatonic sound and textured harmony. This whole album is fun, light, and when I listen to it I get the incredible urge to find a vintage VW bettle convertible and take a long drive to nowhere.

tsk tsk

Alas, I've been a naughty girl and I've not left an entry in quite some time. I DO have a very good excuse(s), however. For one, my animal conservation class ends this week. I have four quizzes, one writing assignment, and a six-hour exam to complete....before Friday morning. Friday morning, we leave for the Galapagos. Everyone is asking me if I'm excited and I shake my head, no...because frankly - until I finish this class and get my bills in order before I leave, I won't be able to enjoy anything. If anyone knows me, they know that I must recieve an A in a class, too - so a half-assed job just won't do. So here I am....saying hello and good-bye for at least 10 days. Then I will be back, for a week - then off to west coast for one week. Then I'll be so regular, you'll think Metamucil's my middle name.

xo

pack it in, folks..

It's sad that we live in a country where even bank robbers are disguising asNicole Richie for their highly ambitious and well-planned bank heist.
It's horrifying to realize that there are three year olds who know all of the words to the opening credit jingle of E's "The Girls Next Door".
It's baffling to hear that most twenty-somethings have no idea who Yeats, Winston Churchill or Miles Davis is.( I recently met a 23 year-old who had no idea who Mick Jagger is...but that's probably because someone dropped him on his head during his toddler years).
Nary is there ever an interesting conversation heard across dinner tables country-wide; save for the last few remnants of the culturally blessed households - those being few and far between.

However, even though I grow weary of this fast-growing epidemic of stupidmania, I have always held on to a bit of hope that Star Magazine hasn't stolen our souls completely.

..and then, I find an article talking about this new invention by Duke University student...

Be proud, America - this is our future! Never question why the rest of the world hates us...the answer is glaringly obvious.

stop clowning around, anna

I'm not one to get into celeb news - lord knows there are enough people out there who waste...er...spend their time obsessing about that. But it's always fun to witnes a trainwreck or two.

Thanks to superficial for this one, as utterly sad as it is...

lazy sundays

One of my absolute favorite things to do, is cook. Put me in a kitchen with a working oven and dozens upon dozens of culinary accoutrements and a load of grocery items, and I am in miye-heaven. Whilst I love to look through cookbooks and try out recipes, I generally make something up on my own, originally adapted from a recipe I thought interesting.

This Sunday was a particularly lazy one. Brunch, grocery store, dinner, and the all-star game. Which reminds me. What in God's name is Wayne Newton doing? The man looks worse than Liberace did on his worst days. He looks as though he should be stuck at the end of the arm of a really bad ventriliquist. He has been dipped in formaldehyde, sewn up in various odd places of his body and face, wrapped and painted, poked and lazered and shorn. The hair was bizarre and dark, the makeup orange and thick - reminiscent of Gene Wilder's Oompa Loompa's from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. His teeth were glowing white and fake. I think he's only in his 60's, but he looks as though he is hanging on by a string. Poor man.



I darenot post an up-close photo of Wayne. It's too terrifying - if you want to see him up close, then do a google on your own. I'm not going to be responsible. Whatever happened to growing old gracefully?

I SO digress...

Back to the food. So on evening's menu was such:
*roasted beet and watercress and field greens salad with crunchy herbed goat cheese
*truffled mashed potato and turnip
*roasted flounder with parsley garlic oil
Everything was really good, and the portion size was perfect for two. Nothing wasted, and just full enough.
I've posted recipes after each photo.

Beet Salad

4-5 small or medium red and yellow eets, scrubbed but not peeled
2 TB extra virgin olive oil (or O-V-O-O, as Rachel Ray likes to say...which annoys me to the ends of the earth)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 cups of mixed greens, frisee or radicchio
1 cup fresh watercress
1.5 oz of goat cheeze
3 TB panko
balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and minced garlic to taste

*Heat the oven to 450 F. Cover bakig sheets with parchment, slice off the tops and bottoms of the beets and toss with olive oil, salt and thyme. Roast for 20 minutes or until they are tender. Let them cool, and then take off skins by scrubbing with a paper towel. Slice thinly and arrange around plate.

Toss the torn greens with the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper and minced garlic to taste

Mix (with a fork) the herbed goat cheese with the panko crumbs, but only right before serving - so the cheese still retains that crunchy flavor, top salad with the cheese

For the potatoes -
use
3 small potatoes and one small turnip
1 bay leaf
truffle salt (you can get this in specialty shops like Dean & Deluca)
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter

*Boil the potatoes and turnips until tender, along with bay leaf. Drain the water, leaving 1 TB of water for mashing; throw out bay leaf. (unless you want something really gross to crunch on in your creamy potatoes). Add the milk & butter, mashing until the lumps are out, and then use a hand mixer, if you like creamier potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste

...and the fish...

2 flounder fillets (about 3 oz each)
butter
2 TB olive oil
crushed red pepper
1 cup fresh parslely
2 cloves garlic
3 TB olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Lay the flounder fillets out on parchment paper in an oven-proof pan, with a 425F heated oven. Melt butter with the olive oil in a small saucepan and drizzle over fish. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper. Roast on the bottom layer of the oven about 20 minutes or until flakey when tested with a fork.

In the meantime, process the parsley, garlic and olive oil until it forms a rough paste. Drizzle this over the fish before serving. Season with salt & pepper to taste

There you have it. My lazy Sunday dinner. It's all very easy to make and even more fun to eat... but as in all cooking - cleanup is a bitch.