Lately I've been hooked on a song that I always hear on the radio coming home from work. Totally dig it. It stays in my head and plays on loop for the rest of the night, but I don't mind. The lyrics could use some tweaking... personally, I'm tired of this weather, but I can see its charm. Boston is nice. :)
1.29.2007
1.24.2007
All work and some play
Been busy - too much to blog about, too little time. Short trip to Erie, Feuerzangenbowle, more wine, virtual shopping in Australia, plans for the Jakarta trip, fleeting thoughts on various topics...
Jack is back - everyone's really psyched about the new season of 24, but personally I'm more excited about the mid-season return of Battlestar Galactica. Sunday's episode had a nasty cliffhanger - who are the final five?? Some speculate that Starbuck is one of them, despite it being highly implausible. My money is on Cally. Now that the D'Anna model series has been boxed, it'll be fun to see how Baltar will convince the others to rescue Xena, so the final five can be revealed. Ooh the suspense...
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Discovered this website lately. Cool beans! I was hooked on the Flash games, notably this one and this one. Very clever. Much like this series of games, though a lot more forgiving.
Time for bed... hope I'll be able to write more soon.
Jack is back - everyone's really psyched about the new season of 24, but personally I'm more excited about the mid-season return of Battlestar Galactica. Sunday's episode had a nasty cliffhanger - who are the final five?? Some speculate that Starbuck is one of them, despite it being highly implausible. My money is on Cally. Now that the D'Anna model series has been boxed, it'll be fun to see how Baltar will convince the others to rescue Xena, so the final five can be revealed. Ooh the suspense...
----------------------------------------------
Discovered this website lately. Cool beans! I was hooked on the Flash games, notably this one and this one. Very clever. Much like this series of games, though a lot more forgiving.
Time for bed... hope I'll be able to write more soon.
1.13.2007
Appetite for the World
It all started with our cotton anniversary.
E and I celebrated 2 years of not killing each other yet by going out to dinner. Last year we went to Casbah, a Mediterranean place with a stocked wine bar, which was pretty good. This year we decided to split one fancy dinner into 2 nice meals, for the heck of it.
First, we went to Abay, Ethiopian cuisine on S. Highland Ave. Very neat. There was regular seating, as well as tables that looked like oversized rattan tagines. We got a platter with kay wat, doro tibs, kay sir dinich, and tikil gomen, along with a steaming pot of yekemem shai (very much like chai tea). I was so proud of E, Mr. I-hate-eating-with-my-fingers, who dove in enthusiastically with the injera, Ethiopian flatbread. The stews were arranged neatly on the injera like paint on a palette. It was amazing; we're definitely going again.
The next evening, we went to our favorite sushi joint for the usual chirashi. Best sushi in town!
Then things got a little crazy. Two of E's associates from work flew in from Atlanta; we had to take them out to dinner every night they were here. First, we took them to Joe Mama's for hearty American-Italian - I had to get the giant tiramisu-in-a-mug. Then we had South/Southeast Asian fare at Spice Island Tea House, where I had to get the Belgian raspberry wheat beer. We took a break the next evening (phew), then picked up again with Greek/Lebanese/Middle Eastern food at Aladdin's (the grape leaves are to-die-for!).
From injera to nan to pita, from Africa to Japan to Italy to Burma to Lebanon, our tastebuds toured the world in 5 days. (We now have leftovers in the fridge to last us a week, and I can't bear the thought of walking into another restaurant for quite some time.)
---------------------------------------------------
Last night, after eating Rice Krispies for dinner (see above for why), I headed to Lauren's for my first book club meeting. It was a meeting of a dozen or so impeccably dressed young women, all from the glamorous world of marketing and publishing, to talk about this month's read, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, a movie in making and virgin novel by local writer Michael Chabon when he was 21.
I put my contribution of a Louis Jadot Chardonnay on the table, together with 16 other bottles already there. I wondered how much we would be drinking... (book club? wine club?) I was the only one who didn't know anyone else besides the hostess, and NOT being from either marketing or publishing, I felt pretty out of it. I wished there were "Hello, My Name Is" tags for everyone. I bonded with a writer at Whirl, whose office was a few blocks away from mine. It was a fun estrogen fest where we spent 10 minutes actually talking about the book, and the rest drinking and picking at hors d'oeuvres and gossiping.
The fiances and husbands started streaming in around 10pm, E included, to make fun of all the drunks and drive them home - not before a rowdy video game on the big screen in the basement. At the end of the night (12.30am), we kicked eleven bottles of wine (not counting the 4 or so bottles that went into the mulled wine) - damn. The next meeting will be in March, reviewing Shoot the Moon, a murder mystery by Billie Letts.
---------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to my best friend, my mentor and tormentor since we were 13, who recently got engaged to his gal of 8 years. It's about damn time! :) I wish the two of you nothing but the best for the future. Come visit us when you get the chance!!
E and I celebrated 2 years of not killing each other yet by going out to dinner. Last year we went to Casbah, a Mediterranean place with a stocked wine bar, which was pretty good. This year we decided to split one fancy dinner into 2 nice meals, for the heck of it.
First, we went to Abay, Ethiopian cuisine on S. Highland Ave. Very neat. There was regular seating, as well as tables that looked like oversized rattan tagines. We got a platter with kay wat, doro tibs, kay sir dinich, and tikil gomen, along with a steaming pot of yekemem shai (very much like chai tea). I was so proud of E, Mr. I-hate-eating-with-my-fingers, who dove in enthusiastically with the injera, Ethiopian flatbread. The stews were arranged neatly on the injera like paint on a palette. It was amazing; we're definitely going again.
The next evening, we went to our favorite sushi joint for the usual chirashi. Best sushi in town!
Then things got a little crazy. Two of E's associates from work flew in from Atlanta; we had to take them out to dinner every night they were here. First, we took them to Joe Mama's for hearty American-Italian - I had to get the giant tiramisu-in-a-mug. Then we had South/Southeast Asian fare at Spice Island Tea House, where I had to get the Belgian raspberry wheat beer. We took a break the next evening (phew), then picked up again with Greek/Lebanese/Middle Eastern food at Aladdin's (the grape leaves are to-die-for!).
From injera to nan to pita, from Africa to Japan to Italy to Burma to Lebanon, our tastebuds toured the world in 5 days. (We now have leftovers in the fridge to last us a week, and I can't bear the thought of walking into another restaurant for quite some time.)
---------------------------------------------------
Last night, after eating Rice Krispies for dinner (see above for why), I headed to Lauren's for my first book club meeting. It was a meeting of a dozen or so impeccably dressed young women, all from the glamorous world of marketing and publishing, to talk about this month's read, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, a movie in making and virgin novel by local writer Michael Chabon when he was 21.
I put my contribution of a Louis Jadot Chardonnay on the table, together with 16 other bottles already there. I wondered how much we would be drinking... (book club? wine club?) I was the only one who didn't know anyone else besides the hostess, and NOT being from either marketing or publishing, I felt pretty out of it. I wished there were "Hello, My Name Is" tags for everyone. I bonded with a writer at Whirl, whose office was a few blocks away from mine. It was a fun estrogen fest where we spent 10 minutes actually talking about the book, and the rest drinking and picking at hors d'oeuvres and gossiping.
The fiances and husbands started streaming in around 10pm, E included, to make fun of all the drunks and drive them home - not before a rowdy video game on the big screen in the basement. At the end of the night (12.30am), we kicked eleven bottles of wine (not counting the 4 or so bottles that went into the mulled wine) - damn. The next meeting will be in March, reviewing Shoot the Moon, a murder mystery by Billie Letts.
---------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to my best friend, my mentor and tormentor since we were 13, who recently got engaged to his gal of 8 years. It's about damn time! :) I wish the two of you nothing but the best for the future. Come visit us when you get the chance!!
1.07.2007
Christmas/New Years post
Feliz Ano Nuevo to one and all! First post of 2007. Feel like I should take a moment to revel in this moment. Mmm. Okay.
** I added "tagging" to this blog, awkwardly I think. The pesky thing about porting a Wordpress template to Blogger is that it looks like Wordpress, but is still confined by Blogger rules, meaning no category tagging. I resorted to a crass del.icio.us hack - not the most elegant solution, but it'll have to do for now. **
Spent the holidays in Connecticut again. We packed the minivan full of wrapped gifts, food, snacks, suitcases, and zipped down the Interstate eastwards. We heard our hosts got a dog, and were worried that Tweety, the family cockatiel, had kicked the bucket at the ripe old age of 22, but we arrived to hear barking and incessant screeching. Good to see the bird again.
Nothing terribly exciting (other than the Boston sidetrip - see previous post), it was another PG-13 family vacation with a few things of note:
And since I'm fond of lists, here's another one for my Christmas loot:
Hubby went all out this year. The first gift I opened was a Sigma bike computer - spot on. I rattled the next box, which was pretty light... After undoing the tangle of wrapping paper, the package revealed... an iPod Nano! Probably the most overrated and common gift this holiday, but whatevs. Back when MP3 players haven't become a mainstream must-have, I had gotten E the 4th generation iPod. Recently, I've been taking it with me to work, so I guess this was a clue that he wanted it back. :) Just as I was bubbling with joy, E pointed out the engraving he had ordered on the back, and I started bawling. (Okay, so I'm a girl.)
My gift for him was outdone by the wee music stick, but he still jumped for glee - 1GB of extra RAM for his new laptop. I got 4GB of memory, and he got some too. Fair's fair! (Though it was uncanny how we spontaneously got each other tech toys. A pair made in geek heaven.)
Boy's gift to me
My gift to boy
C'est ca, the Christmas line-up. On NYE, we toasted with the Spumante from our trip to the Finger Lakes and played with too many sparklers outside.
Phew. Mighty post, I'll say... so there you have it!
** I added "tagging" to this blog, awkwardly I think. The pesky thing about porting a Wordpress template to Blogger is that it looks like Wordpress, but is still confined by Blogger rules, meaning no category tagging. I resorted to a crass del.icio.us hack - not the most elegant solution, but it'll have to do for now. **
Spent the holidays in Connecticut again. We packed the minivan full of wrapped gifts, food, snacks, suitcases, and zipped down the Interstate eastwards. We heard our hosts got a dog, and were worried that Tweety, the family cockatiel, had kicked the bucket at the ripe old age of 22, but we arrived to hear barking and incessant screeching. Good to see the bird again.
Nothing terribly exciting (other than the Boston sidetrip - see previous post), it was another PG-13 family vacation with a few things of note:
- Every year we have a theme, and this year it was 'Down Under', complete with didgeridoos, aboriginal clapsticks, costumes, and a scavenger hunt, where we needed an Aussie slang dictionary to decipher the clues.
- Jess went to the Bahamas and brought back some local rum. Our eggnogs were noggin' real fine.
- We tried cranberry panettone for the first time, and it was incredible! Can't believe what we've been missing all this time.
- Made our own pizzas one night - a regular chicken and vege, and a Hawaiian. To my surprise (horror?), the in-laws have never tried the latter. Sacre bleu! Unfortunately, after trying a piece, they didn't care for it.
- Got a glimpse of how house-training a dog can be fun and a pain in the butt. Lulu, the new dog (Jack Russell/unknown breed mix), has only been there for 3 months; getting to know a dog can be tricky business (pun intended). One of E's aunt's Christmas gifts was the Dog Whisperer training DVD set with Cesar Millan. We watched the entire first disc (after showing the folks the South Park episode with Cartman - we just had to)... wow. Other than being unnecessarily dramatic and a little far-fetched, it was pretty entertaining. But I'm glad we don't have a dog.
- I tried my hand at pottery for the very first time! Very cool. I loved the feel of cold wet clay; making something out of a pile of mud is a lot harder than it looks. My first pot turned out kinda gimpy, it's definitely not symmetrical but my mentor generously said it's "got character".
First pot!
And since I'm fond of lists, here's another one for my Christmas loot:
- Sudoku puzzles and... a Sudoku Rubik's Cube! *evil*
- Silk Pashmina wrap
- Fresh Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans - just add rum/vodka to make my own extract (neato)
- Fuzzy socks!
- Barbara K toolbox
- Cool pieces of pottery
- Assortment of fancy tea
- Swarovski pendant
- Homemade honey from Jesse the beekeeper
- 2 Haruki Murakami novels in paperback
Hubby went all out this year. The first gift I opened was a Sigma bike computer - spot on. I rattled the next box, which was pretty light... After undoing the tangle of wrapping paper, the package revealed... an iPod Nano! Probably the most overrated and common gift this holiday, but whatevs. Back when MP3 players haven't become a mainstream must-have, I had gotten E the 4th generation iPod. Recently, I've been taking it with me to work, so I guess this was a clue that he wanted it back. :) Just as I was bubbling with joy, E pointed out the engraving he had ordered on the back, and I started bawling. (Okay, so I'm a girl.)
My gift for him was outdone by the wee music stick, but he still jumped for glee - 1GB of extra RAM for his new laptop. I got 4GB of memory, and he got some too. Fair's fair! (Though it was uncanny how we spontaneously got each other tech toys. A pair made in geek heaven.)
Boy's gift to me
My gift to boy
C'est ca, the Christmas line-up. On NYE, we toasted with the Spumante from our trip to the Finger Lakes and played with too many sparklers outside.
Phew. Mighty post, I'll say... so there you have it!
12.29.2006
Beantown for a Day
This oughtta be a Christmas post, but it'll have to wait.
Decided on a whim to make a day trip to Boston, which is only about a 2-hour drive from where we are in Connecticut. Haven't been there in over 7 years (holy cow!), but much was still the same.
Jesse and hubs came with me, as we took the little Jetta through wind, snow, ice, and finally sun again. We stopped at Concord, MA, home of the American Revolution, to visit my alma mater. Bittersweet memories. I was 16, it was cold, I was on my own. I learned a lot pretty quickly.
Entrance to the campus; my old dorm, a little spiffed up but still the same
Chapel where we spent every other morning
We wanted to walk down Main Street for a bit, but our little butts were freezing, so we set off for the train station. The commuter rail ran less frequently than I remembered... we piled back in the car and drove to Alewife, the western end of the T's red line, and took the subway into Chinatown for lunch. No more little gold tokens; the MBTA now had CharlieCards, similar to DC's metro cards and named after the Kingston Trio tune. (Jess' second subway trip ever, so he was a little apprehensive. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?")
Chinatown was still filled with interesting smells, as I remembered. I recall many Saturdays wandering aimlessly in the Common and that section of town, and I knew Chinatown like the back of my hand. Naturally, I was embarrassed when we had a little trouble with directions, but we finally found China Pearl, the best dim sum I could find during my high school days. Hubs and I ate like wolves, while Jess poked his food around suspiciously with his chopsticks, awkwardly held, and the Southern conservative in him raised all kinds of alarms as he surveyed the banquet hall full of Asians. Poor boy was like a fish out of water. Still, gotta give him credit for trying my favorite dim sum dish ever, feng zao (chicken feet) - although, when he originally guessed the stringy meat could be testes, anything's gotta be better.
Satisfied, we hobbled out of the restaurant and walked around the park. There were kids skating on the Frog Pond, dog-walkers, peacoat-clad Bostonians with their iPods...
Boston Common
After we had enough of the cold, we sought out a bar for an afternoon drinkie drink. Nothing more appropriate than a Sam Adams - even better, at the Cheers pub. Between the actual bar the sitcom was based on, and the replica of the set, we arbitrarily decided to visit the replica at Faneuil Hall Marketplace (also by Quincy Market). Even though I had gone to school where the Minutemen were, a few minutes from Walden Pond and home of American legends like Emerson and Thoreau, I had never been to Faneuil Hall, the Cradle of Liberty. Similarly, I had never been to the Boston Market!
Sam Adams stands tall in front of Faneuil Hall; Quincy Market across from Faneuil Hall
Like a true Bostonian (or tourist) - Sam Adams in a Cheers mug
Quincy Market at dusk
We checked out the shops along the row before heading back on the subway to Porter Square in Cambridge. Porter Exchange was one of my old haunts, for the plethora of Japanese goods and the Japanese grocery store that has almost everything. Sushi at Blue Fin was a must, and it was easy on a student's budget. We browsed the stores briefly and reluctantly ruled out sushi for dinner, although I had already been looking forward to revisiting Elephant Walk, chic Cambodian/French cuisine on Mass Ave.
We were seated by the brick wall, and I promptly ordered a glass of the house Cab to warm up. The boys ordered from the prix fixe menu; I got a salad with beets, oranges, fresh Italian basil and blood orange vinaigrette, and a Cambodian Loc Lac. Very tasty.
The walk back to the train station was brisk (28 degrees!), and while the streets were still bustling with activity, the rush hour crowd had definitely dissipated. We rode to the end of the line and just like that, we concluded our little impromptu day trip.
If it hadn't been for the holidays and short notice, I would've liked to meet up with old pals from back in the day... well, next time!
Decided on a whim to make a day trip to Boston, which is only about a 2-hour drive from where we are in Connecticut. Haven't been there in over 7 years (holy cow!), but much was still the same.
Jesse and hubs came with me, as we took the little Jetta through wind, snow, ice, and finally sun again. We stopped at Concord, MA, home of the American Revolution, to visit my alma mater. Bittersweet memories. I was 16, it was cold, I was on my own. I learned a lot pretty quickly.
Entrance to the campus; my old dorm, a little spiffed up but still the same
Chapel where we spent every other morning
We wanted to walk down Main Street for a bit, but our little butts were freezing, so we set off for the train station. The commuter rail ran less frequently than I remembered... we piled back in the car and drove to Alewife, the western end of the T's red line, and took the subway into Chinatown for lunch. No more little gold tokens; the MBTA now had CharlieCards, similar to DC's metro cards and named after the Kingston Trio tune. (Jess' second subway trip ever, so he was a little apprehensive. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?")
Chinatown was still filled with interesting smells, as I remembered. I recall many Saturdays wandering aimlessly in the Common and that section of town, and I knew Chinatown like the back of my hand. Naturally, I was embarrassed when we had a little trouble with directions, but we finally found China Pearl, the best dim sum I could find during my high school days. Hubs and I ate like wolves, while Jess poked his food around suspiciously with his chopsticks, awkwardly held, and the Southern conservative in him raised all kinds of alarms as he surveyed the banquet hall full of Asians. Poor boy was like a fish out of water. Still, gotta give him credit for trying my favorite dim sum dish ever, feng zao (chicken feet) - although, when he originally guessed the stringy meat could be testes, anything's gotta be better.
Satisfied, we hobbled out of the restaurant and walked around the park. There were kids skating on the Frog Pond, dog-walkers, peacoat-clad Bostonians with their iPods...
Boston Common
After we had enough of the cold, we sought out a bar for an afternoon drinkie drink. Nothing more appropriate than a Sam Adams - even better, at the Cheers pub. Between the actual bar the sitcom was based on, and the replica of the set, we arbitrarily decided to visit the replica at Faneuil Hall Marketplace (also by Quincy Market). Even though I had gone to school where the Minutemen were, a few minutes from Walden Pond and home of American legends like Emerson and Thoreau, I had never been to Faneuil Hall, the Cradle of Liberty. Similarly, I had never been to the Boston Market!
Sam Adams stands tall in front of Faneuil Hall; Quincy Market across from Faneuil Hall
Like a true Bostonian (or tourist) - Sam Adams in a Cheers mug
Quincy Market at dusk
We checked out the shops along the row before heading back on the subway to Porter Square in Cambridge. Porter Exchange was one of my old haunts, for the plethora of Japanese goods and the Japanese grocery store that has almost everything. Sushi at Blue Fin was a must, and it was easy on a student's budget. We browsed the stores briefly and reluctantly ruled out sushi for dinner, although I had already been looking forward to revisiting Elephant Walk, chic Cambodian/French cuisine on Mass Ave.
We were seated by the brick wall, and I promptly ordered a glass of the house Cab to warm up. The boys ordered from the prix fixe menu; I got a salad with beets, oranges, fresh Italian basil and blood orange vinaigrette, and a Cambodian Loc Lac. Very tasty.
The walk back to the train station was brisk (28 degrees!), and while the streets were still bustling with activity, the rush hour crowd had definitely dissipated. We rode to the end of the line and just like that, we concluded our little impromptu day trip.
If it hadn't been for the holidays and short notice, I would've liked to meet up with old pals from back in the day... well, next time!
12.10.2006
Pilots
Paper mosaic of an airline cabin
I have a little thing for men in uniform - it's largely why I enjoy my layovers in Frankfurt, because the boys in green are such a pleasant pick-me-up. Spotting one is good; seeing them in droves is better. (It actually wasn't until those German boys that I realized I even had a thing for uniforms at all.) Still, as uniform-fetish neophytes are, I'm picky about what kind of men in what type of uniform. Pilots and bookish doctors in lab coats, hot. Donut-munchin' power-tripping rent-a-cops, not so much. Men in camo, studs and duds alike, don't really do it for me. There are a myriad of reasons for loving those dress blues on a guy, and most don't require explanation. *wink*
So anyway - a few days ago, through the wondrous magic of a popular social networking site, I reconnected with my first crush (let's call him K), and found out he's a pilot. Saw a picture of him, in his uniform, standing proudly next to a Learjet. 10 years ago, I would've melted into a puddle of mush. I waited to become smitten all over again, but nothing happened. If it was possible, he became less attractive. (Oh, the follies of youth...)
Yesterday, we went to a party themed "Snakes on a Plane". (Woot!) Leis for guests, costumes encouraged. I was an air stewardess, complete with black stockings and scarf, and - funny coincidence - E was a pilot. I told E about K and his flying career, and didn't get much of a reaction, as he taped black paper epaulets on his white dress shirt. Who knew... E made a really hot pilot. If I had to choose between E and K, purely on looks, I'd pick E a million times over (though I won't trust him in a cockpit).
With the cap'n, and with Jim
The party was kickin'; I got groped and licked, though what really took the cake was getting hit on by a 20 yr old. (Poor fella!) Girls were eyeing my pilot, and he got his butt grabbed a couple of times. I threw in the towel at 2.30am, and E didn't come home till 5am. (We spent most of today recovering.)
So, I guess the clothes do make a man. Or not? One's just a costume, one's worn everyday to work, but they transform the man who dons it to different degrees, in opposite ways from what I'd imagine. Does that even make sense? I don't know.
Captain's back to being a dorky student again as he scrambles to prepare for his semesterly evaluation on Monday for his doctorate. No more parties to look forward to for a little while...
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