#9 & #10 Shamelessly plugging food gifts on behalf of friends

Well, Christmas is upon us and I'm determined to make it to 10 gifts this year. I had greater aspirations, but I guess I'll have to give it a better try next year. To round off our list this year, I'm shamelessly plugging two food gifts from friends.

The first is Charles Chocolates, Adam's friend Adam invests in this company and their chocolates are delicious. I especially like the chocolates inside an edible chocolate box collection, very "green" and yummy.

The second is Providence Granola Project started by two friends of ours from back in the day. I must confess, I've never had their granola, but it does look pretty delicious. I figure I know Keith and Geoff personally so I know who to talk to. They just started this venture last month so want to support them and plus it's for a good cause, providing opportunities for refugees to learn work skills.

Office Clutter

Our home office is a perpetual work in progress and right now it's pretty cluttered. I guess most homes have some sort of junk room or table or area and our office serves that purpose. I'd created a pile of things for Adam to sort through on one of his days off a few weeks ago and the following reconstructed conversation is about that very pile:

plasticann: [pointing to the pile] Adam...what's this?
Adam: A pile of stuff.
plasticann: Isn't this the pile you said you'd go through two weeks ago?
Adam: No it's not the same pile...
plasticann: [confused]
Adam: ...it's a bigger pile now.
plasticann: [cracking up] Good one!
Adam: I thought you'd roll your eyes and be exasperated?
plasticann: I could have, but that's pretty funny.

8. Fake Felty Food

I love food, I love cookies, I love fake food and I sure do love fake cookies. These felty pretend cookies are super cute and make me hungry.

Third Annual Zakun Brunch

We successfully pulled off our third annual brunch this weekend. On Friday, we had 45 yeses and 11 maybes so we were wondering how we would be able to pull off feeding that many people. In the end, we had 33 which was still a full house, but we managed to make way too much food and there were no melt downs...yeah us! Our friend Zave provided a much needed ride for our giant things of coffee and Wheezy was kind enough to come early and help out. Wheezy executed and created this awesome Festive Donut Kabob centerpiece that was the talk of the party. I take some credit for the initial idea, but the flawless execution was all Wheezy. The donuts are from Verna's down the street, we had the Cinnamon Raisin, Buttercrunch and Chocolate cut into smaller pieces. Wheezy skewered a variety of donuts and stuck them into a pomelo to create the donut arrangement. It's kind of like the edible fruit arrangement, but somehow we've managed to subvert that idea of by making it super unhealthy and arranging donuts onto a piece of fruit.

Menu

French Toast Bread Pudding

Sour Cream Coffeecake

Donut Kabobs

Fruit Salad

Cheesy Tator Tot Casserole

Bagels and Lox

Scrambled Eggs with Avocado and Tomatoes

Sausages

Coffee & Orange Juice

"Four Sock Monkeys Snuggling"

8. My current obsession and Zames' too...Sock Monkey

Over the summer I got obsessed with these awesome sock monkeys I saw at a few local craft fairs. I first saw them at the Davis Square ArtBeat this summer so I decided to get all the kids sock monkeys for X-mas this year. After I bought them Zess, Zames and Zhor in August, I really wanted one of my own so I bought myself a very cool purple striped sock monkey in September. Over Thanksgiving, I made the mistake of bringing my sock monkey with me to CA. One day, Zames discovered the sock monkey when he went into our room potentially ruining his surprise X-mas gift. The following is several reconstructed conversations that occurred over the course of three days:

Day 1:

Zames: [Sitting on our bed and shaking my sock monkey] What's this?

plasticann: It's my sock monkey, it's made out of socks.

Zames: [tugging at the ears] Why does it have ears?

plasticann: Because it's a monkey and monkeys have ears.

Day 2:

Scene: Early in the morning, plasticann is still in bed when she hears...

Zames: Sock monkey, sock monkey, sock monkey in there, sock monkey in there.

Day 3: plasticann hides sock monkey each morning to thwart Zames

Zames: Where's sock monkey?

plasticann: [no reply]

The kid is very persistent and has a good memory. I was hoping he'd forget, but each day he asked about the sock monkey just once. I sure hope he likes his X-mas gift this year because guess what...it's gonna be a sock monkey. Fortunately he doesn' read my blog.

7. plasticmom's favorite most perfect bowl

plasticmom LOVES her Emile Henry gratinee bowl. She bought her first one while visiting me in Seattle at the Sur la Table in Pike's Place two years ago. I remember she was all excited about this bowl she'd seen in the window and really wanted to get it, but it was "$3" and she didn't really "need" anymore bowls. After much debate and discussion, she returned the next day to claim her bowl. The bowl rang up at $13, turns out she missed the extra "1" in the price tag when she first peered through the window, must have been the glare. Nonetheless, she went for the bowl and has since purchased a second bowl.

She tells me the bowls are so perfectly functional, they're the only bowls she uses. She loves the little nubbin handles and she uses them for her soups, her noodles and even her coffee/tea. I have my doubts about the coffee/tea, but I appreciate her enthusiasm. I wanted in on these bowls so so I purchased some last week on my Sur la Table shopping spree. I got two yellow ones for home and a red one for work. Yesterday, we tried out the new bowls in the microwave and we were delighted to discover for ourselves how wonderful the little nubbin handles are, they don't get hot in the microwave and I can actually carry the hot bowl without potholders. Amazing! I think I might be in love with these bowls myself.

6. Felty

Corinna took me to one the coolest stores I've ever been to in Baltimore. It's called Blue House and it's a coffeeshop/home goods store. They had these wonderful felt products by Parkhaus Berlin that I feel in love with. I ended up buying myself some colorful felt coasters and Corinna was kind enough to remember my felt obsession and bought me some a small tote and bag as a maid of honor gift. That said, I recently discovered a local Boston company Etcetera Media that makes similarly luxuriously cozy felt products.

"All You Can Buy" at Sur La Table

Adam and I are out in the Bay Area for Thanksgiving and we've had many adventures already this week, but one big priority was spending some quality time at Sur La Table, an awesome kitchen/home goods store. I woke up yesterday and thought of fond childhood memories of "All You Can Buy" trips to Toys R Us on my birthday so I declared yesterday a Sur La Table shopping spree bonanza. Adam gave me some grief over the entire thing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I bought this giant 18 inch diameter cake pan so I can bake really giant cookies, I hope it fits in my oven when I get home. I also bought a square removable tart pan to class up my lemon bars. I also got a couple of plasticmom's favorite bowls and some other treats like a cool new zester. Yipee yeah!

5. Rosie & Johnny

Trumpette socks are adorable...need I say more? Great baby gift since the socks are frivolously wonderful and unnecessary. I secretly wish they made them in my size, but I doubt it'd be as cute.

4. Fancy Schmancy Gloves

Wheezy got me these fancy dishwashing gloveables with a wide oilcloth cuff. Fortunately we have a dishwasher, but they're protect my hands and enable me to use super hot water for the pots and pans. plasticmom took a liking to my spiffy gloves and promptly purchased a half dozen as gifts for friends.

3. Affordable Letterpress

I absolutely love letterpress stationary, but it's wicked expensive so I was elated last year when I found affordable letterpress stationary from Paper Monkey Press. They use really cool old school wooden letter blocks to print and you can choose the ink color. They don't provide a lot of options, but the results are awesome and you can't beat the price at $25 for 25 cards and envelopes. I ordered an entire suite of stationary for myself and I was so pleased that I ordered it pretty much for everyone else last year.

One More Day

Little Zim is turning four tomorrow. He's very aware that it's his birthday and I hear he's been counting down to the big day. Today he held up one finger. The following is a reconstructed conversation from last week between Little Zim and his dad:

Zim: [looking at a big box from Fisher Price in the doorway] Dad, what's that box for?

Dad: I don't know, looks like it might be a present.

Zim: [pensively pausing] I think we should put it away and best not think about it.

I should remind you that Little Zim can read, but I figured he's probably not reading this blog so there's little risk of ruining is birthday surprise. So for the boy who loves words, we ironically got him a book filled with pictures which brings us back to our holiday gift list....

#2 In the Town, All Year Round

2008 plasticann holiday gift list...

Five years ago, I attempted to and succeeded at blogging about 100 gifts. It was a bit exhausting and I didn't have 100 good ideas the next year so I lost a bit of momentum. The blog has been pretty quiet these days and I've missed it so I'm attempting to bring back the gift list. This year, I can't commit to 100 gifts, but I'm aiming for at least 50 so I'm going to start the count at 1 and keep going until Dec 25.

1. Snuggly Hat

I spotted this hat at a local outdoor store, Chinook, and I became a little obsessed with it. plasticmom may or may not have realized, but she bought me this snuggly hat as a gift. I wore it tonight and it kept my head toasty and the earflaps are just wonderful. Thanks plasticmom!

Lemon Bar Grudge Resolved

Overall, Adam has been a wonderful husband/boyfriend for the last [eek] nine years so I really have nothing to complain about, but I must confess that I've been holding a lemon bar grudge against him for a good part of the last eight years where I vowed never to make him lemon bars. It all started back in 2001...the following is a reconstructed conversation on that fateful night:

plasticann: Adam, I made you some lemon bars as a treat, but I left them at the office. I'm so sorry.
Adam: That's OK? Were they from scratch?
plasticann: No, they were from a mix, but it's a really good Sunkist mix and it's my favorite.
Adam: I only like lemon bars from scratch, you should call Zara and get her recipe so you can make them from scratch.
plasticann: Harumph! I don't make lemon bars from scratch, the box is very good. I can't believe you'd refuse to eat my lemon bars because they're from a mix. I'm NEVER making you lemon bars even from a box.

Thus for many many years, I refused to make Adam lemon bars even from a mix because I deemed Adam to be a lemon bar snob. I also refused to make them from scratch...in retrospect a dumb sticking point since I do love lemon bars, but I am a little shall I say lazy. Well, the other day, I had lemons so I flipped through a cookbook looking for lemon recipes when I found a lemon bar recipe that looked easy so I decided to bury the hachet and give it a whirl. The lemon bars turned out great and they passed the Adam lemon bar test so we've now resolved our lemon bar conflict and can now move toward enjoying the buttery goodness of these treats whenever we have lemons. This is good news since we both love lemon bars.

Bury the Hachet Lemon Bars

Crust:
7 tablespoons butter (nearly 1 stick)
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Filling:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
zest from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lemon (2 Tbs)
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Place butter in an 8 inch square pan, put pan in oven until butter melts
3. Sprinkle 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup powdered sugar over melted butter, mix to form dough in the pan, press dough evenly over bottom of pan, return pan to oven and bake 15 minutes
4. Beat eggs with sugar until blended, beat in 2 tablespoons flour, lemon zest, juice, baking powder and salt until well combined
5. When crust is baked (15 min) spread lemon mixture over hot crust, return to oven and bake until pale brown 20-25 minutes
6. Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar (optional)

SYTYCD

Adam got me tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance live show for my birthday. We went last last week and it was super fun. They did all the best dance numbers from the entire season and they did all my favorites. The crowd was a mix of young kids and older folks and everyone was really enthusiastic and clapping and hollering so we felt less geeky screaming for our favorite dancers. Can't wait for the next season to start.

Halloween

Last night was Halloween and we actually had trick-or-treaters. The neighborhood squirrels ate giant chuncks out of my little pumpkin so Adam lit some candles on our porch to make our place look more welcoming. My favorite costume was a kid dressed as a "Red Box" DVD vending machine. I wish I'd taken a picture, but it was very cool.

Curry Ginger Carrot Soup

It's amazing what I can accomplish in two hours if I don't watch TV. Anyhow, we had a ton of veggies in the fridge this weekend so I cooked up a storm to get through all of it. I made Adam some apple sauce and I made a delicious curry ginger carrot soup with a giant bag of carrots we had. The soup is bit on the hot side since I added a little too much spice so Adam wasn't a fan, but I've been loving the soup myself. I froze the soup in a bunch of sandwich bag servings which are perfect for lunch at work. I just ate a bowl as a "healthier" pre-dinner snack than a bag of sun chips.

Curried Carrot Soup

Ingredients
Serves 4 big bowls or 8 small cups
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ginger (optional)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth (about 3 1/2 cups)
2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Directions
Heat butter in a Dutch oven or large (4- to 5-quart) saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

Add broth, carrots, and 3 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover, and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

(Note: I used an immersion blender right in the pot of soup which was super easy.)
In a blender, puree soup in batches until smooth; transfer to a clean saucepan. Add more water to thin to desired consistency. Reheat, if necessary. Stir in lemon juice. Serve garnished with cilantro, if desired.Note: Hot liquids will expand when blended, so be careful not to fill the jar of the blender more than halfway. To prevent the liquid from spattering, allow the heat to escape:
Remove the cap from hole in lid, and cover lid with a dish towel when blending.

Happy Birthday To Me

Last Sunday was my 30th and plasticmom was out for a birthday visit to help celebrate. Adam, plasticmom and I went out for a fantastic meal at Oya and enjoyed the chef's tasting menu. I also had a birthday pie party which was super fun. Twenty-five guests, 14 pies from Petsi's and lots of candy favor bags filled with Zagnut bars and huge gummy alphabets. We had waaay too much pie and we're still working our way through it. My friend Dave took home an entire key lime and proceeded to eat his way through. He finished up Wednesday morning 7:45am. I received lots of thoughtful cards and gifts. The following is a reconstructed conversation at my party about one of my favorites.

Wheezy: [looking at the birthday cards displayed on the shelf] Oh no...someone got you the same card as me.
plasticann: Which one?
Wheezy: The one with the "30."
plasticann: [laughing] You know how got me that card?
Wheezy: No, who!
plasticann: Wheezymom, she mailed it to me.
Wheezy: [slightly flabbergasted] I know someone would buy the same card, it's the only "30" birthday card at the store.
plasticann: Where did you get it?
Wheezy: CVS!
plasticann: I wonder if Wheezymom also got hers at CVS.
Wheezy: She probably did.

Hilarious! I displayed the two twin cards together and they look awesome. I still laugh when I think about it. Great minds think alike.

Night Out on the [relative] Cheap

Adam and I had half priced tickets from Bostix for Chorus Line last night so we needed to grab dinner before the show downtown. We decided on Kingston Station for their Gruyere cheese frites with truffled mayo so we were pleasantly surprised to find out when we arrived that they have a happy hour with awesomely cheaper full sized appetizers at their bar Monday-Wednesday 5-7pm. Appetizer that are normally $8-13 go for $5-6 during this happy hour special. We tried the frites, chili rubbed chicken wings, mussels, hummus and pita. All were delicious and we also shared a beer.

Getting back to our half priced night on the town, I was able to buy our tickets from Bostix last week through their advance purchase website. You don't get to pick your seats, but the tickets are half off and you don't have to wait in line the day of. You know which section you'll be in, but not the exact seat until you show up. The musical had no intermission so the doors stayed close throughout the show. Since the show wasn't sold out, there were tons of empty seats in front of us so everyone started moving down and toward the center. We picked up and moved on down like everyone else and ended up with great seats in the center much closer to the stage. It's a great little perk for a weeknight show and now that I know about Kingston Station's Monday through Wednesday happy hour, weeknight theater tickets are even more enticing.

My Neighbor

Adam was enthusiastically greeted by our little neighbor last week when he was coming home one evening. Our two porches and front doors face each other and she likes to hang out right inside the screen door. The following is a reconstructed conversation between Adam and our little neighbor Zay (age 3), I was not present:

Zay: [standing inside of the screen door] Hi!
Adam: Hi Zay!
Zay: Hi Ann!
Adam: [not sure how to respond]
Zay: [turning around to someone inside the house] I said hi to my neighbor...I said hi to Ann.
Adam: [Still not sure how to respond, but waves hi]
Zay: [not getting the response or reaction she was hoping, so she yells] I SAID HI TO MY NEIGHBOR...I SAID HI TO ANN!

In other news, Zay also woke up in the middle of the night crying really hard and yelling "Mommy, mommy." We all had our windows open since it was a warm evening so I'm sure MGDub, who was staying with us, probably heard her as well.

As Far As I'm Concerned...

Our friends Marj and Jon got married this afternoon so MGDub came up for the weekend to celebrate with everyone including our friend Zayne, the British girl Zayne not the American boy Zayne. MGDub and Zayne had never met, but had heard a lot about each other for years since they were both at one point in the same small group, but not at the same time. Let me explain, Adam and MGDub once led a small group together and it was called appropriated the Adam and MGDub small group. Then MGDub left for the Big Apple so Adam kept leading the group which was when Zayne joined. Long story short, Zayne hilariously sassed MGDub at some point in the evening when she said, "Well, as far as I'm concerned, you were never a part of that small group." To which MGDub replied, "Hey! That small group used to meet in my apartment." Wow, I think sarcastic Zayne may have won that round, the fact that she has a British accent only makes it more hilarious.

Zimo & Zegan

Adam and I hosted an impromptu BBQ over Labor Day and among our guests were Zrica and her kids Zimo and Zegan. Zimo is a prococious almost four year old who reads and once agreed that he was a Communist. Zegan is his little sister who's almost two and looks up to her big bro and wants to do everything he does including reading. They were both really into playing with our Lego magnets on our fridge. I also let them play with a landline phone we had around. Zimo even "called" me on my cell phone and we had a lovely conversation. The following reconstructed conversation about the phone:

Zimo: Mommy, if they're not using their phone, maybe we can...borrow it.
Mom: We already have a phone at home.
Zimo: But, that phone is for Mommy and Daddy and we should have one for...the kids.
Mom: You already have a phone that you kids play with and drag around.
Zimo: But...it's always good to have an extra.

Good try Zimo! I could see him visibly straining to come up with more logical reasons for why they should take the phone home. Zimo may be pretty smart for a little kid, but Mom is afterall still much smarter.

How much does a batch of cookies cost...some plasticann stats

Adam asked that question on our way home from the store tonight. I had stocked up on six pounds of butter since Cabot's was on sale for $2.50 a pound. Six pounds may sound like alot, but I go through butter like nobody's business which motivated Adam to ask, how much does a batch of cookies cost? I estimated around $4.50 a batch for the chocolate chip and around $7 for Adam's favorite. (Adam's favorite is a premium cookie.)

Assuming I bake around twice a week, I probably spend $50 a month on baking which translates to $600 a year which is really quite an expense when I look at it annually. Two batches is pound of butter each week which translates into a mind boggling 52 pounds a year. Frankly, the six pounds I bought tonight will really only last me until mid October. The batches I make are big, they bake up around 75 small cookies or 40 medium cookies or 20 large cookies. So each time I hand out a large cookie to a coworker, it costs around 22.5 cents in ingredients. Granted I would probably have to pay $1.50 for that same cookie at a bakery which is over six times more expensive so therefore it still makes sense financially to bake my own cookies.

One Million Rows

I'm a geek, I work with geeks, I find them all hilarious and endearing.

Joe: I'm getting a new laptop from IT.
plasticann: That's great. If you need Office 2007, you can join the beta test group. You can get Excel 2007 installed.
Bob: What's different about Excel 2007?
Joe: More rows, a million rows.
Bob: [shouts] GET OUT!!!
plasticann: [laughing] Yeah, that's a lot more than the 63000 we currently have.
Joe: Well, it's 65536 rows to be exact!

A Sign

I was walking by my neighbors lovely flower garden when I noticed a lovely sign in calligraphy that read, "STOP, don't take my flowers...DAMIT!" I had to laugh, the sign was simultaneously genteel and aggressive all at the same time.

Flora

Adam and I checked out Flora in Arlington last night for dinner since we had a gift certificate we wanted to use. They had a Restaurant Week menu which was fun so we each ordered an appetizer, entree and dessert. Here's the wrapup on the various dish "battles"

Menu:

Calamari: fried calamari, watercress, pickled onions and peppers, basil
Chowder: sweet corn leek and bacon chowder

Chicken: pan-roasted Giannone chicken with whipped potatoes, roasted garlic, rosemary gravy
Scallops: George's Bank jumbo sea scallops with ratatouille, basil oil and lemon

Cobbler: blueberry cobbler with toasted almond ice cream
Bread Pudding: ginger peach bread pudding

Preliminary Round:

Chowder vs. Calamari....Chowder WINS!
Chicken vs. Scallops...Chicken WINS!
Bread Pudding vs. Cobbler...TIED!

Final Round:
Chowder vs. Chicken...TIED!

I voted for the Chowder, Adam voted for the Chicken. All in all a good meal and plus we got to spend down our gift certificate which always makes me happy.

Charlie Card Discounts

I was on the mbta website last weekend when I discovered a wonderful treasure, the Charlie Card discount. The Charlie Card is the plastic subway pass we use here in Boston. Not only will the card allow you to travel effortlessly on the subway and bus system, you can also flash it for discounts around town. I think my discount loving husband was a little proud of me for finding this. My favorite picks are places I actually do go to:

*2 free Samosa or Mango Lassi with an entree purchase at Diva in Davis
*Free cup of chowder with entree purchase at Legal Seafood
*Free appetizer at California Pizza Kitchen with Minimum $10 purchase
*10% off all Upper Crusts
*A whopping 20% off at Whittard of Chelsea tea shop on Newbury
*10% off at Ben & Jerry's

The discount book is available online so check out all the other great discounts.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Adam and I visited Zara, Zryce and the kids up at Chautauqua last weekend where they were vacationing with Zryce's parents. We had lots of fun times with the kids and we even made western themed ice cream sandwiches from brownies as a special treat one night. The kids were told they had to finish their dinner if they wanted special dessert. The black bean salad was the main hurdle between both kids and their dessert, but both persisted. The following is a reconstructed conversation featuring Zames and his "cowboy hat" ice cream sandwich.

plasticann: Zames, do you like your ice cream sandwich?
Zames: [intently eating ice cream with no visible sense of excitement]
plasticann: Is it yummy?
Zames: [continues to eat while ignoring plasticann, starts to dance up and down]
plasticann: Zames, do you need to go to the bathroom?
Zames: [more frantically eating, but nodding]
Zara: Zames, let's go to the bathroom.
Zames: [still eating, nodding and starts walking to the bathroom]
Zara: Zames, don't take the ice cream to the potty. We don't eat while we pee. It'll be here when you come back.

Who knows what goes through a 2.5 year old boy's mind, but we hypothesized that Zames was concerned that he would lose his ice cream sandwich if he went to the potty so he was trying to finish it quickly. Anecdotal evidence, but he did appear to enjoy his ice cream much more post potty than pre potty. Most importantly, we all learned that we don't eat while we pee...a worthy and sanitary refrain indeed.

Steak and S'mores

We bought a big steak from McKinnon's in Davis and grilled it up for dinner last night with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Adam did a great job grilling and the steak was delicious. I just ate some leftovers in yummy sandwich form. We also invented a delicious new S'more concept, the chocolate covered pretzel S'more. A dark chocolate covered pretzel from Trader Joe's with a toasted marshmallow. You get the chocolate, the salty pretzel as your graham cracker substitute and a deliciously gooey marshmallow. It's a bit tricky to make unfortunately since putting the pretzel over the fire causes the chocolate coating to melt. Adam's first attempt worked pretty well. He made a slit in the marshmallow, not quite all the way through, stuffed a pretzel in the slit and threaded a skewer through the marshmallow, the pretzel through the hole and through the other end of the marshmallow. This way, the pretzel stayed put partially wrapped in the marshmallow and the pretzel didn't swing around wildly as we tried to toast the concoction. YUMMY!

Formaggio Kitchen Saturday BBQ

Adam and I rode our bikes down to Huron Village yesterday to check out the Saturday summer BBQ at Formaggio Kitchen. Huron Village always seems psychologically far, but it really only took us about 10-15 minutes to bike there. Adam got the pulled chicken sandwich and some baked beans. I had to get the "Pearl in a Hole." For the Pearl in a Hole, they give you a hollowed out half baguette, you fill the "hole" with all your condiments, hand the bread back to the grillmaster who puts the bread on the grill to toast it and fills the "hole" with a giant 1/2 pound Pearl hot dot cooked to perfection with a nice snap. With quality ingredients like Pearl dogs and a fresh baguette, it couldn't help but be super yummy.

PA Adventures cont.

Our stint in the Lehigh Valley continued with trips to the Crayola Factory in Easton, I got to to check out a Wegmans, Longwood Gardens and the Asa Parker house in Jim Thorpe, PA. We continued on to the Poconos for a conference for Adam's work for a few days. Finally, it was on to Philly for our last stop. We'd gathered lots of culinary recommendations from friends and we ended checking out a few of them. Our big fancy meal was Alma de Cuba, a Cuban restauarant my friends Corinna and Ian raved about. It was very yummy. We also visited the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall where we discovered that the founding fathers all sat in Windsor Chairs, the very same chairs that Adam's dad handcrafts. We ate cheesesteaks twice and explored the Reading Terminal Market. On our final day in Philly, we went to a pirate exhibit at the Franklin Institute which was very piratey and awesome. All in all, our grand adventures through the Eastern portion of PA was super fun and relaxing. However, it's been good to be home.

PA and Back

It's been a while since I last posted, but Adam and I have had a number of fun adventures in July, namely visiting MGDub, GJDubya and family in Allentown, PA.

We took the train down to Philly July 3 and drove our rental out to Bethlhem, PA where we were staying. Bethlehem used to be a steel town and in fact, Wheezy and I once worked on a project involving Bethlehem Steel where we learned all about different types of steel products including cold rolled, hot rolled, H-Beams and I-Beams. Anyhow, Adam and I visited with MGDub's family for a few days where we got to go to not one, but two Iron Pigs baseball games and learned all the various chants and cheers. We also saw MGDub's childhood home and saw her wall of achievement which was quite impressive indeed. We always knew she was wicked smaaaht, but we had no idea just how many awards she'd received throughout her lifetime. We were excited to meet the whole family Babas, aunts, uncles and the boys.

To be continued...

Scrabulous

is Fabulous when you win! Adam and I have been playing Scrabulous online the past two weeks. I won the first game (313 to 293) and my victory was particularly sweet because Adam had scoffed that luck was the reason I was ahead for most of the game. Afterall, I didn't even know what the shaded spots meant, how could I be playing with skill. Even though it was all true, I was still offended by his comment and my annoyance fueled an uncharacteristic competitive streak in game 1. I never did bother to figure out exactly what the shaded spots meant, but I did know that they were a good thing. I thought that was going to be good enough, but boy oh boy was I wrong. I'm now trailing miserably in game 2. Adam is currently ahead by 125 points or he has 160% more points than I do. That's a whole lot of points, he's been maxing out on these fancy things he likes to call "triple word scores" and he's built a scrabble board so cluttered and dense we're now running out of room on the board and we have to cooperate in order to break out into the other half of the board. However, I do have to admit that those pesky shaded tiles have contributed to Adam's success, probably those red ones in the corners.

Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

Dave's Pasta in Somerville is one my favorites in Davis Square. They've been making fresh pasta for years, but in the last three years they've expanded their offerings to include a sandwich shop with wine/beer, a cheese case and some local fresh produce and products. All of their food is great and you can beat the location so I stop by at least once a week to pick up some bread or cheese or eggs, etc. Anyhow, Dave's Pasta now has a Saturday Sidewalk BBQ so Adam and I walked over today to check it out. I got the 1/4 pound Pearl dog with all the fixings including their homemade jalepeno relish and Adam enjoyed a delicious chicken sausage with peppers and onions.

After lunch, we walked over to Dunkin Donuts for some iced coffee since we were way undercaffeinated. I wanted to go to Bob Slate so we walked over to Porter where we come across the Obama for President Bake/Yard Sale. I must admit, I was intrigued even though we're [gasp] Republicans. The baked goods looked great and I wanted to compliment the organizers by telling them that their desserts looked so good that I wanted to buy them despite the Obama pitch, but I didn't know if they'd really appreciate it. I bought a decadent Obama brownie for a quarter [what a steal] and Adam bought a Whoopie Pie for two bucks. Yes, Adam did his parents proud by supporting Obama eight fold. Too bad his Whoopie Pie wasn't very chocolaty, but my Obama brownie was delicious until I found some tin foil inside my Obama brownie so I had to toss the rest which was a little sad since the Obama brownie was really good. I just love calling them Obama brownies for some reason.

Next we meandered over to the hardware store. I was at the checkout when the following reconstructed conversation happened between plasticann and the checkout lady:

checkout lady: Do you have Ace card or a student ID?
plasticann: Nope!
checkout lady: You should get one?
plasticann: A student ID?
checkout lady: No, the Ace card, you're here a lot.
plasticann: I'm here a lot?
checkout lady: Um, I'm pretty sure I see you in here a lot, you could really use the Ace card.
plasticann: You're right, I do come here a lot. How much is the card?
checkout lady: It's free!
plasticann: I'll get one then.

So, there you have it, I spend a lot of time at the hardware store. Truthfully, I probably go there at least once a week so it's a good think she hooked me up with the card. After the hardware store, we were walking home when we heard someone holler "Zakun" from a car. It was a our friend Zane in a car stopped at the light. I had to laugh, it was the perfect end to our lovely meandering stroll through our neighborhood.

Fluff Factory

Check out this clip on the Marshmallow Fluff factory just outside of Boston.

Q: What's is Marshmallow Fluff?
A: It's an artisanal batch produced marshmallow creme product.

Q: What is a Fluffernutter?
A: A delicious marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwich on white bread.

Q: What is plasticann's favorite way to enjoy fluff?
A: Smores - 2 graham crackers, 2 Andes mint, a smear of fluff, microwaved for 10 seconds.

Food Critic

The following is a reconstructed conversation between plasticann and someone at the dentist's office whom I will refer to as Lady. Note, Adam and I share the same dentist.

Lady: So I hear Adam is a food critic, that's really cool.
plasticann: Um, yeah, he does enjoy food.
Lady: I wish I could be a food critic.
plasticann: [pause] Um, you know, he's not actually a food critic.
Lady: He's not? What does he do?
plasticann: He likes food and he does critique food for fun, but he's an assistant pastor at our church.
Lady: Oh, I didn't know that.

I think she was somewhat disappointed.

Go Celtics!

Wow, I can't believe they won last night. We both stayed up way too late watching. Adam alerted me to this hilarious Onion article "Pau Gasol Googles 'Lakers + Celtics + Rivalry'." I love the bit about how the "eccentric local movie-theater owner who often hovers around the Lakers locker room..."

Five Guys Burgers

I was in DC this week for work and waiting for my flight out of Reagan when I noticed a Five Guys Burger stand in the terminal. The signage looked super basic and reminded me of In and Out so I had to try it. Delicious, reminds me of In and Out, it may be better than In and Out in some ways. The fries I had were very tasty and you can get a lot of great toppings for free on your burger.

Go Celtics

If you haven't heard, the Boston Celtics are playing the LA Lakers in the NBA finals. My two hometowns. We were at the Red Sox game on Thursday, the night of the first finals game, where the crowds were chanting "Beat LA Beat LA" during the Red Sox / Rays game. Adam even got our section going with a "Beat LA" chant at some point during the game. It reminds me of how some Red Sox fans start chanting "Yankees Suck" even when we're not playing them. Alas, I digress! As much as I want the Celtics to win and essentially "Beat LA," I have to draw the line at verbally wishing LA ill will. Adam was strongly advised to lay off smack talking about LA during last night's game 2, even in jest.

Heath Bar Chocolate Cake

We took the opportunity to break in Adam's brand new charcoal grill tonight for our friend Zayne's b-day. Our friends Zristen and Zave made a wonderfully refreshing watermelon gazpacho and greek salad. Adam grilled up some burgers, veggies and corn and I baked up a tasty Heath Bar inspired cake. Even I was surprised how yummy the cake was since I didn't really do anything special. It was once box of devil's food cake mix baked according to basic box directions, one tub of chocolate frosting from the store and half a bag of Heath Bar bits from the baking section. I baked the cake in 2 rounds, frosted it and generously sprinkled the Heath Bar bits over the cake and on the sides. I tried to use the entire bag, but the cake wouldn't take any more bits. Rave reviews from all and super easy to boot.

Hungry Hungry

Today is Adam’s birthday so we went out for a wonderful dinner last night with our friends Zayiri and Zames at Hungry Mother in Kendall Square. Adam and I discovered the tiny restaurant when we walked by Hungry Mother a few months ago when it had just opened. We were on one of our long meandering walks through Cambridge where we hit practically every square of note (Harvard, Central, Kendall, Inman, Porter, Davis).

The menu looked awesome so I made a reservation for Adam’s birthday. I was really looking forward to trying it out since we’ve been reading glowing review after glowing review of the place, the Globe being the most recent this week. The food is southern prepared using French techniques, the décor is hip, southern, country and refined all at the same time if that’s possible. The menu is very well edited and everything we ordered was delicious.

I loved that every other dish featured some sort of gourmet house cured pork product like homemade bacon. Since his great grand folks are from the south possibly from the hills, Zames kept making references to his “hillbilly” roots throughout the evening, how the “hillbilly” in him really liked this or that about the place. Eventually, his wife Zayiri said, “Let’s not forget he grew up in San Diego.”

Here’s the rundown of our meal:

Drinks:
Sweet Tea – Adam and I both ordered it, just sweet enough to be delicious, not too cloying sweet like Mickey Ds.

Dr. Pepper, Rye & Bitters – Zames insisted on ordering this drink because all three ingredients individually reminded him of the south so he figured all three together would be like a southern trifecta. Zayiri said it tasted like cough syrup, but Zames seemed to enjoy it greatly.

Pre Dinner Nibbles:
Deviled Eggs – Wonderfully creamy and yummy

Boiled Peanuts with grey sea salt – Reminded me of edamame

Appetizers:
Ribs – Adam’s favorite dish of the day, they were really tender, fell off the bone and flavorful

Fried Green Tomato BLT –

Fried Oysters – Looked good and Zames and Zayiri polished them off

Main:
Flank Steak with Yukon gold potatoes, caramelized onions and fried onions – Adam and I both ordered this and the meat was super tender and flavorful. The onions were nice too.

Cornmeal crusted Catfish – The crust was super crispy, the fish was perfectly cooked and it tasted pretty light.

French Style Gnocchi – Made from a pate choux dough that didn’t have potatoes. Light, buttery and delicious.

Sides:

Baked grits with cheese and bacon – One of my favorites of the evening. I didn’t even think I liked grits, but the corn flavor was delightful.

Cornbread – Always good

Collard Greens – I’m not into the bitter greens, but they were good.

Dessert:
Chocolate Cake – rich 4 layer slice

Buttermilk Pie – lemon zest flavor

P.S. The bathrooms were also Southern/French themed. They had wallpapered one with pages from Julia Child’s cookbook and the other with pages from a Southern cookbook…brilliant and super cool to boot. I’m considering something similar for our downstairs bathroom off our kitchen.

Yummy Oat Bran Muffins

Through chit-chatting with a friend at Zess's co-op preschool, the Zakins have discovered a new muffin recipe. They are only 12o calories each (less than a cookie!) and low in fat. My friend Zane says that she makes them once a week for her kids and they disappear almost instantly. I thought I should test this premise and try them out with my kiddies, as we're always looking for healthy new snacks that we can make together. 

So this week Zess and Zames fought over beating the eggs and stirring the dry ingredients for Oat Bran Muffins, courtesy of the red Quaker Oat Bran hot cereal box. Zhor true to form was enjoying his afternoon snooze at the time. We added 1/2 c chopped fresh cherries for some glamour. And abracadabra, six muffins went poof warm from the oven!

As I am writing this I have just enjoyed a muffin rewarmed for 10 seconds  in the microwave and eaten with honey and butter. Yum!

Minicards are IN

Got my minicards from Moo.com yesterday and they're pretty awesome. Now I just need to find someone to give them too. I have a feeling our 100 cards is going to last quite a while.

Giant Cookie

I baked a giant chocolate chip cookie for a coworker as a fun jokey birthday gift last weekend. It was ginormous, about 10 inches diameter or the equivalent of 10 normal giant cookies or about three dozen small cookies. I found a cake round and used it to support the cookie underneath so I could transport it. To mimic the look of a deli counter cookie, I saran wrapped my creation and even made a giant label reading "Chocolate Chip Cookie...$1.50...Serving Size=1." Basically, it was totally awesome. I kept bugging Adam all of Sunday night asking him to admire [repeatedly] my giant cookie which probably explains why Adam had giant cookies on his brain when we went to sleep that night. The following is a reconstructed conversation that happened in Adam's dream:

Scene: Adam is sitting in the office and his friend Zanny is hanging out in another part of the house.

Zanny: [walking into the office] Hey Adam, can I eat that giant saran wrapped cookie in the kitchen?
Adam: No!

a few minutes later

Zanny: [walks into the office holding the giant cookie with a big bite missing]
Adam: Wait, what's going on?
Zanny: Some woman in the other room said I could eat the cookie.
Adam: Noooooo! That's Ann's cookie.

I'm happy to hear that Adam is looking out for me even in his dreams.

Minicards

I found the really cool site, Moo.com, last week for personalized mini business cards, postcards, stickers, cards, etc. There's a high level of personalization and customization plus the products are really well thought out and cool. For example, they have these minicards which are smaller business cards that come in a pack of 100. You can customize 100 different cards or have 100 of the same card all for the same price. You can upload your own photos or you can choose from their design gallery filled with really awesome and cool designs. Adam and I ordered some minicards for ourselves and I'm looking forward to getting them. The site is highly addictive and potentially dangerous since I wanted to buy everything for myself and everyone around me.

Inanimate Objects

Adam tells me that it's not possible to "love" inanimate objects, but I disagree. It came up because I'm loving my new black patent leather peep toe shoes that are awesome because they look great, go with most of my wardrobe and they're super comfy since they have Nike Air technology. Ever time I wear them, I am tempted to tell someone how much I love my shoes. I find myself bouncing around on the heels of my shoes so I can feel the air cushioning. So if you're looking for some cute low heeled comfy peep toe shoes, I highly recommend the ones from Cole Haan. Did I mention that I love mine?

Corinna Got Hitched

We went down to NYC for Corinna's wedding to her new husband Zian last weekend. The wedding was super fun and everyone looked like they were having a great time. I got to sit with some friends from Zrown so it was fun to see everyone. I also got to be MOH for the first time when Corinna bumped me up two weeks ago from bridesmaid. I packed an emergancy kit which was actually handy and I got to make a toast mostly to Corinna. Adam and I ended up taking a late train home on Sunday so we spent the day walking around mid town and the upper east side. I got to check out American Girl, we ate hot dogs at Gray's Papaya, I ate a soft serve, checked out cool stores and had a grand old time.

Donut Kabobs

I had some friends over for brunch this morning and served a super simple menu of gourmet breakfast sandwiches, fruit salad, chai tea, OJ and donut kabobs. I dreamed the kabobs up last night while I was trying to fall asleep because I was trying to figure out how I could avoid waking up early to bake a sour cream coffee cake that I neither had the time nor the ingredients to make. I created my donut kabobs out of fresh donuts I purchased at the corner donut shop this morning and some skewers. I bought a honey dipped also known as a glazed donut, a buttercrunch and a cinnamon raisin cruller. I cut each donut into quarter and I used some wooden skewers to make donut kabobs. They were a hit since it's fun to try small portions of three different donuts and it was super easy and looked kinda cool and subversive all at the same time. Afterall, who needs a fruit or a beef kabob when you can eat donuts on a stick.

Hello Sigg

MGDub got me this adorable Hello Kitty Sigg water bottle for Valentine's Day in February and I've been getting so many nice compliments on my cool bottle. It's red with an old school Hello Kitty and hearts. I've been enjoying my Sigg water bottle especially after I keep reading up on how the Nalgene's are supposed to be bad for us. Come to think of it, didn't we all switch to the Nalgene a few years ago because the Nalgene's were supposed to be better for us? Have I been inadvertantly harming my loved ones with all the Nalgenes I've gifted to them over the years? Maybe we should all stop drinking water...that must be the solution. Anyhoo...the latest word on the street is go with the Sigg. I will incidentally be purchasing them for all my loved ones to replace their evil Nalgenes.

Sweet Treats

I had a sugar high after lunch because I consumed well way too much sugar thanks to some sweet treats. My coworker received a cookie gift basket from her boyfriend and we kind enough to share the bounty. I picked the mint brownie cookie sandwich and it was delicious. Then some other coworkers were going out for some McDonalds sweet tea. They're a bit obsessed with it and wanted to share the love so they generously picked one up for me to try. The sweet tea was really delicious, but a little sweet so I had to cut it with some water. Ironically, my friend Kristen who's my dentist had just filled a massive cavity this morning before I went gallivanting about washing down my sugary cookie with my sugary sweet tea.

Marathon

Monday was Patriot's Day also known as Boston Marathon day so I took the day off to hang out with Adam and check out the hoopla downtown. The whole Boston Marathon was pretty darned impressive. We had a pretty good view near the finish line, about a block from the end where we watched the Kenyans run effortlessly across the finish line. Then we watched all the other runner trickle and then stream in. Well, some people hobbled in. We saw a lady collapse a few hundred yards from the finish, a man go by on a gurney and there were apparently a couple of folks who had heart attacks. Two of my coworkers ran the marathon successfully and they mostly have sore muscles and some bad sunburns. We stood and watched at the finish line for about an hour or two which made us quite tired and hungry so we revived ourselves with ice cream, hot dogs and pizza.

Embarrassment

Adam and I were strolling through Coolidge Corner this weekend when we were reminded that parents can still embarrass children of all ages. Adam was wearing a "Wesleyan" t-shirt when the following reconstructed conversation occurred between Adam and a mom, dad, and their adult child.

Dad: Hey, Wesleyan, she [pointing to his daughter] went to Wesleyan too!
Adult Child: What class were you?
Adam: '98!
Adult Child: Oh, I was '95!
Mom: She has a PhD in psychology from Berkeley and she's doing her post doc at Harvard.
Adam: Oh, that's great. I'm from the Bay Area too.
Mom: Our son is still in San Francisco, but we're from New York so we're so happy she's moved back to the East Coast to do her post doc at Harvard.

We sensed that the Adult Child, who's really in her mid thirties, was mildly embarrassed by her mom who was obviously super proud of her daughter. It was all kind of endearing, but also pretty amusing to us at least. Ahh, parents...gotta love 'em!

Sweet Tofu Pudding

I was hankering for a sweet treat yesterday afternoon and ice cream would typically be my default option, but I ended up walking over to Chinatown in search for a fun afternoon snack. I picked up some sweet tofu pudding from the market and some freshly baked sweet buns from Eldo Cake House.

Sweet tofu pudding is delicious and satisfying. It's made locally by Chang Shing Tofu over in Kendall Square. Wheezy and I once walked over to the Chang Shing Tofu factory when we worked in Kendall Square, it was quite the experience. Vats of soy, giant fridges, Chinese folks and a handwritten price list taped to a wall for random retail customers off the street like us. I digress! Tofu pudding is really a nice treat especially in the summer. It's pretty healthy, low in fat, sweet and refreshing. It also has protein to boot since it's tofu. I like the Chang Shing pudding because they put some vanilla into their recipe which gives it a nice flavor. With spring finally arriving in Boston, you should definitely give sweet tofu pudding a try.

The Un-Facebook

Wheezy, Dave, Adam and I were joking around on Sunday [at Dave's b-day party...happy b-day Dave] about how we should form our own Un-Facebook social network and send each other letters by mail.

Well, I defected from our theoretical Un-Facebook social network by joining Facebook this week. I think our little pact failed mainly due to the fact that our theoretical social network was theoretical and was also a network rooted in being anti-social network. I now have like 6 friends, all of them actual friends. This morning my brother-in-law Zryce asked to be a friend and I accepted which is how I got from 5 to 6 friends. He's almost 4 times more popular than me with 23 friends, but I'm most impressed that Zryce found me so quickly since I'd just signed up for Facebook two days ago on Monday. I also have to extend props to Zryce for saying a friendly and appropriately casual "Hello!" in his email as opposed to the odd and overly formal Linked In invitation Adam sent to me a few months ago.

Lobstah!

I recently treated myself to this super cute lobster tote from LL Bean. I love how the lobstah is so big and red and stretches across the entire tote. They also have a crab and trout version, but I don't think they're quite as adorable.

Fatties

The following is a reconstructed side conversation between plasticann and Adam while their friends Wheezy and Dave were discussing lifting weights and working out. Note, Adam and plasticann are not currently big on exercise.

plasticann: [leans over and says quietly] Are we fatties?
Adam: It's OK.
plasticann: [unsure, but tentatively eating mac & cheese] It's OK?
Adam: Well, it's not OK, but don't worry about it now....just eat your mac & cheese.

Then we all laughed, because it was funny.

Planet B-Boy

We saw Planet B-Boy at the Kendall last night, it's a documentary about a break dancing around the world and is themed around this annual break dancing competition Battle of the Year. We really enjoyed it and it reminded me a lot of Dogtown Z-boys and Riding Giants. I'm not a big skateboarding, surfing or break dancing fan, but they're still super fun documentaries to watch. My favorite team was the Japanese team from Osaka, Ichigeki while Adam liked the underdog South Koreans from the country Last for One. The two teams went to the final battle and the South Koreans took the prize. I would highly recommend seeing it, really energetic, fun and heart warming.

Bike

We went and got Adam a bike Wednesday night. The following are reconstructed conversations with Adam's bike enthusiast coworkers (BEC):

Adam: I'm getting a bike tonight.
BEC: How exciting. What kind of bike are you getting? We may have some recommendations.
Adam: plasticann said something about a hybrid. I don't know, a bike bike!
BEC: A bike bike?
Adam: You know, something with two wheels mostly so I can ride [to the cheese shop] with plasticann.
BEC: [clearly disappointed] Oh! we don't really have any advice for that.

later that evening at the bike shop

plasticann: Adam, do you want to put your [newly purchased] helmet in my bag?
Adam: No. I'm going to wear it?
plasticann: Why?
Adam: So we can bike home.
plasticann: What am I going to ride?
Adam: Oh, that's right, you don't have a bike. You mean I have to walk the bike home?
plasticann: Well, you can ride it, but I'll have to meet you back at home.
Adam: It's OK, I'll walk it home.

plasticmom=plasticann

plasticmom is in town for a visit and the similarities in taste are eerie, all purchases from REI:

p.ann: p.mom, I got you this [yellow] spork, I have one at work that I use all the time.
p.mom: [ha ha ha] I have one already.
p.ann: What do you mean you have one already. You asked me to buy you one last fall.
p.mom: I didn't know we were talking about the same thing. I bought it at the camping store.
p.ann: Well, you can have this one too if you want a different color
p.mom: I already have a yellow one.
p.ann: Geez!

p.mom: I wear my sandals everyday, they're very comfortable.
p.ann: Oh, your CROCs?
p.mom: No, the ones with the rubber front and the holes in it. I tried them on in Seattle.
p.ann: Oh, my Keen sport sandals.
p.mom: I wear them everyday.
p.ann: [confused] Did I give you my shoes?
p.mom: No, I went home and bought myself the same shoes
p.ann: Blue?
p.mom: How did you know?
p.ann: Because mine are blue.

So this week, p.mom bought a pair of the Keen trail shoes exactly like mine, but half a size smaller which is funny because I bought my Keen trail shoes because MGDub was wearing them when she came to visit last winter. All in all, MGDub, p.mom and p.ann all have the exact same pair of shoes in three different sizes.

Silvertones

Adam had the morning off from work on Monday so he met me for lunch downtown and we checked out Silvertones on near Park Street. I'd been once before with some coworkers and greatly enjoyed my grilled ham/cheese sandwich so I was looking forward to going with Adam. We ordered the Mac & Cheese and the Steak Tips and both were really delicious. We actually ordered the Steak Sandwich, but they brought us the Steak Tips by mistake, but we ended up keeping it because it looked good. Mac & Cheese was really cheese and gooey and the Steak Tips were nicely marinated and grilled. I even had leftovers for lunch during the week. It reminds me a little of Paramount on Charles Street. Comfort food, nice and consistent and reasonably priced. (Steak Tips were $12, Mac & Cheese was $8 and the Grilled Cheese w/ Fries is $6.)

Happenings

It's been a busy few weeks here, we were in Baltimore early February where we visited our friends Adam, Meredith and they baby Zmma. I hadn't been in a long while so it was fun hanging out. Highlights include delicious gelato at Pitango in Fells Point. We tried the vanilla, hazelnut and coffee...all amazing. We even checked out this tortilla factory store where we bought a big stack of fresh tortillas for less than $2. Then there were the delicious cupcakes at I think the Baltimore Cupcake Company. The blueberry cupcake was delcious as was the chocolate peanut butter. Then we mostly hung out around home the rest of February. I'm a little obsessed with BerryLine frozen yogurt in Harvard Square. It just tastes so refreshing. I've tried their original, orange and peach, orange is my favorite. I can't seem to get enough of this stuff and I've caught myself scheming to find opportunities ot go, I particularly enjoy it with cocoa puffs. Last week I went to Detroit for the day, real exciting. Looking ahead to next month, plasticmom is coming to visit which I'm very excited about. Then we're going to CA for our godson baby Zhor's baptism on Easter. After that, it's back to Baltimore for Corinna's bridal shower. I'm honestly looking forward to April when all the activity will hopefully die down. Time sure is flying, I guess that's a good thing, means we're having fun.

Happy Valentine's Day

Since Adam has class on thursday nights, we went on our fun Valentine's Day date last night, dinner at Teatro and a movie I really wanted to see, 27 dresses. We got to Teatro just in time for the prix fixe menu which is an excellent deal. Choice of Caesar salad, Tuscan soup or mushroom ravioli for appetizer, choice of steak or swordfish entree and a choice of any of their desserts. All this for $29 when the steak or swordfish would have set us back $26 alone. We shared one order of the prix fixe and a small spinach ravioli which was just enough food. The crusty bread came with a wonderful olive oil/garlic/bean spread. The food was awesome, homemade mushroom ravioli was a favorite and the steak was good too. We got the chocolate crema for dessert which was like a super nice and decadent chocolate pudding. Teatro just might be one of my favorite spots, they also have an awesome antipasto plate for two that's big enough for a light meal. Plus, it's 25 feet from the movie theater to boot. All in all, a fun night out.

Super Tuesday Joke

Adam: I tried asking my coworkers who they voted for in the primaries, but no one would tell me.
plasticann: I really don't think you should be talking politics at work...or religion for that matter.
Adam: [pause] Hah hah hah! [loud disingenuous laugh]

I retold the joke to several others who actually laughed appreciatively.

Key Fact: Adam works at a church so they kinda have to talk about religion at work.

LinkedIn

I just got an invitation from Adam to join his LinkedIn network. Hmmm, I wonder if he used the generic invitation template?

Ann,
Since you are a person I trust, I wanted to invite you to join my network on LinkedIn.
I'm using it to discover inside connections I didn't know I had. It's interesting to see the level of access you can have with only a few people in your network.
It's free to join and only takes a minute to sign up and join my network.
- Adam

Typically people will personalize the invitation with a generic, "Hope all is going well since graduation" so I started laughing when I read Adam's generic invite. I thought, hmmm, it's nice to know that I'm someone my husband trusts. I feel affirmed! Incidentally, I'm the 2nd person to join Adam's network, apparently Chi-Ray was quicker to accept than me.

Heel

The following two reconstructed conversations are about bread...specifically the heel:

plasticann: [looking in the fridge] What can I take for lunch today?
Adam: There's a turkey sandwich.
plasticann: I don't want it, it has the heel.
Adam: I thought you liked the chalupka.
plasticann: The what?
Adam: Chalupka is the heel. It's Polish.
plasticann: I like the heel if it's crusty bread, but not if it's soft sandwich bread.

Later that evening?

plasticann: I'm still kinda hungry.
Adam: You could eat that sandwich.
plasticann: I don't want the sandwich, it has the...chalupa.
Adam: [long pause] ha ha ha! The Taco Bell is gone, there's no chalupa. It's chalupka!
plasticann: You knew what I mean, chalupa chalupka.
Adam: Hey, this is my [Polish] heritage you're talking about.
plasticann: Admit it, it was kinda funny...you laughed.
Adam: Yeah, it was a little bit funny.

Like Netflix, but for books and slower

One of the many fantastic benefits of being married to Adam is that he's a very active "patron" of our library system. The public library is pretty fantastic. You can put books on hold online and get them transferred from other libraries in the system. Once a week or so, Adam picks up all the books that have come in for him at the library. I described it to MGDub as, "It's like Netflix, but for books and free, but slower." What's fabulous for me is the soup to nuts service Adam provides: he picks the books, gets the books and returns the books. Recently, he got me A.J. Jacobs' "The year of living biblically," a man's quest to follow the bible very literally for an entire year. It's utterly hilarious and I highly recommend it. He grows a giant beard, wears white, tries to kindly "stone" Sabbeth breakers, etc. He approaches his project with such sincerity that while the book is slightly irreverent, he doesn't mock the Bible. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that the author is a fellow Zrown alum. Go Zrown!

No Pants

It was a fairly mild and sunny day today and I was out shopping when I encountered hoards of people wearing no pants. I was riding the green line when a group of people wearing boxers got on. At first, I figured they were young kids out for a jog and exercising on a nice day since they were wearing sneakers and fleece jackets. When I got to Park Street, even more people were wearing no pants. These folks were definitely not cooling off from a jog, they were wearing blazers, button down shirts, peacoats, heels, etc, but no pants. They weren't obscene or anything, but I was too freaked out to ask one of the no pants people what was going on so I asked some other pant wearing people. Turns out it's some annual no pants day organized by some improv people in NYC. From what I can tell, there's no real social or charity purpose for wearing no pants other than some lofty goal of people not taking themselves too seriously and promoting humor. There you go, no pants day on the T today.

Convenient Oatmeal

I’ve been really into eating oatmeal for breakfast these days which surprises me since I usually get tired of eating something especially if it’s somewhat healthy. Instead of buying the flavored instant oatmeal packets, I’ve started making my own convenient single serve packets. I measure out quick oats, brown sugar, raisins and cinnamon into Ziploc sandwich bags assembly line style so I’ll make 10 at a time. On my way out in the morning, I grab a packet to take to work. Sometimes, I cut up a piece of fruit like a lovely persimmon and put it in the Ziploc. When I’m ready to eat, I add hot water to the oatmeal in a bowl and microwave for 90 seconds. It’s convenient, just the right level of sweetness and a delicious treat to boot.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup quick oats
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs raisins
Dash of cinnamon

Prepare:
Add about 1/3 cup hot water, microwave 90 seconds.

Home Sweet Home

We've had a busy few weeks traveling home to California for the holidays and hanging out with Adam's family. We spent Christmas in the Bay Area with Adam's parents, Zryce, Zara, Zess, Zames and Baby Zhor. Baby Zhor, who we met for the first time and will be our godson, is a pretty chill baby. Adam and I went out to dinner with Zryce and Zara one night and we brought Zhor along with us in his carrier. He slept then entire time, I almost forgot we had a baby with us. Day after Christmas, the whole family packed up and drove to Lake Tahoe for a week where Zara and Zryce had rented an awesome house.

The kids were learning how to ski and were generally fascinated about snow. Zess got pretty good at skiing, it was her second year. It was Zames' first time and he got really into going "fast." Zames is two and is really into trucks and things. He got all excited when his parents told him they were going to teach him how to "snowplow." Unfortunately his enthusiasm waned once he discovered that they weren't talking about an actual giant snowplow truck and that "snowplowing" would make him go slower which he wasn't into since he likes to go "fast" and likes to say "fast, fast fast."

We also got to watch the Patriots game that resulted in their undefeated season while we were in Lake Tahoe. Last year, Zryce had Zess calling the Patriots the "Patsies" while Adam was watching a playoff game. This year, Zess needed no such prompting to cause minor mayhem. The Patriots were wearing their white shirts so I told Zess that Uncle Adam and Aunt Ann wanted the white shirts to win. At first Zess said that she wanted the white shirts to win which pleased Uncle Adam and Aunt Ann. Then she decided that she wanted the opposing blue shirts to win. Then she asked wouldn't it be great if both the white shirts and the blue shirts won. No it would not be great, but we told her it would be very nice indeed if they both got to win. Next she asked who was winning, the blue shirts were winning unfortunately. Zess declared that she definitely thought the blue shirts were going to win in the end. Fortunately the Patriots in the white shirts prevailed in the end so I made it point to report to Zess the next morning that the white shirts won, but I think she'd forgotten all about the white and blue shirts by the next day.

I do miss hearing Zames say "Uncle Adam and Aunt Ann" to Adam and I individually. He knows which one is Uncle Adam and Aunt Ann, but he seems to enjoy saying both at the same time to what seems like only one of us. I also miss all of Zess' cheerful pink themed outfits and patterned tights, but it's nice to be home sleeping in our own bed enjoying the peace and quiet.