New Old Car

As many of you may know, Adam and I have never owned a car and our goal is to put off car ownership for as long as possible. Fortunately, we live in an area that enables living car free really easily. plasticmom, on the other hand, lives in LA where car ownership is a must. She hates driving and tries to walk or take public transportation as much as possible, but she still needs to maintain a car she rarely drives. As a result, she's owned her car for around 8 years and managed to finally crack 5 digits on her odometer in year 7. That's right folks, she drove less than 10,000 miles in the first 7 years. The following is a reconstructed conversation of her most recent car inspection:

Car dealer: [looking at the car befuddled] How old is this car?
plasticmom: Eight years old.
Car dealer: Ummm, why does it look so "new?"
plasticmom: I don't drive it very much.
Car dealer: Hold on, I'll be right back.

[minutes pass and they return with a gaggle of other car dealer employees.]

Car dealer: You guys have to see this, I've never seen anything like it. This car is eight years old and it looks brand new and it barely has 10,000 miles on it.
Everyone: Wow, I've never seen anything like it.

Sunshine Lucy's

Admittedly, this blog has jumped the shark as my good friend Steve would say, but I'm trying to be better about blogging mostly because I do really enjoy blogging and I've missed it.

Here goes. One of my favorite stores in Davis is a furniture store called Sunshine Lucy's on Holland. I always try to stop by and check out what's new which is easy for me since I live in the area. They have a lot of used furniture, but the really cool thing is they repaint and reupholster their furniture with fresh colors and modern prints. I think they do a really good job pairing the old and new so it's vintage, but not so old fashioned. It reminds me of the Anthropologie shabby chic look without the super high prices. They'll also make you whatever you want if you're into designing your own pieces, they seem really accommodating. I bought myself a great armchair last year with a great black and white dragonfly upholstery and a old school painted wooden stool with clawfeet. Actually, the aforementioned Steve drove me and my furniture home and saved me on delivery charges. Right now, I'm coveting the bookcases they're featuring in their window. They're kinda mod and cubist with each asymmetrical cubby painted in a different vibrant color. Check it out this weekend and let me know what you think of the bookcases.

Treats

I wasn't able to bake this weekend, but I wanted to make treat bags
for work so I put together mini wintry treat bags. Tiny Dolphin
chocolates like ginger, masala and pink peppercorn, my favorite
peppermint Stash tea and a mini candy cane. At least they look super
cute.

Day 2 - still Molten

I microwaved some left over cake for 30 seconds and it was still
delightfully molten.

Chocolate Molten Cake...surprisingly easy

I had a craving for chocolate molten cake last night so I decided to try out this recipe from Everyday Food. I'm pretty sure I tried this a few years ago with lackluster results, but this time I had great success. Adam even said, "one of your best desserts." Check it out, you won't have to trudge out for molten cake in the middle of winter, just make it yourself.

Cookie press initiation

I finally broke out the cookie press I got for Christmas a few years
ago. I was a little intimidated by the press, but my first pass turned
out alright. Not as easy as the box implies, but not too hard. Next
time I'll want to make tons of dough to knock out tons of cookies.

Pile of socks

I hit the sock jackpot at the gap tonight. Socks for sale so I cleared
out their inventory for Adam and hooked him up with enough socks to
last him at least a few years. $1.99 a pair plus 10% off on Tuesdays
so they were $1.79 a pair. Now Adam can start retiring his socks with
holes...oops did I say that out loud...how embarassing for Adam.

100% sugar

I might have taken things too far today with these brownies smothered
in marshmallow fluff and covered in peanut butter cap n crunch and
m&ms. I tried a square inch of it and it's tasty, but totally packed
with sugar. The kids at the church potluck will love it. The parents
won't like the wound up kids they'll have to deal with after the
potluck.

Ichigo (strawberry) Cream

I just tried a bite and it's awesome. Flakey pastry, custard and
strawberries. All for $2.95 from the Japanese bakery at porter exchange.

Chicago good eats 2

Breakfast this morning at Xocu. Awesome homemade churros, torta with
poached egg and a ham and cheese empanada. Super yummy, might go back
for lunch after the architecture boat tour.

Chicago good eats 1

Landed last night. Checked out Portillo's after we checked in. Italian
roast beef sandwich was delicious. Kind of like a French Dip. Hot dog
was tasty too.

Wow! Anthroplogie Aug 20

I've been mourning the loss of c&b in harvard square, but look it's
now going to be an Anthropologie. Woohoo! Even better for me although
I think Adam still prefers the c&b. Made my night!

Bread

Getting back into no knead bread baking. Got a new 2.75 quart Dutch
oven. Successfully baked a taller loaf suitable for sandwiches.

New faucet, look mom no leaks

Thanks Paul the plumber!

Let's go red sox

Awesome seats at tonight's game. Beautiful night to boot.

Bacon maple doughnut

Waited 90 minutes to buy voodoo doughnuts in Portland, OR. They're
really inefficient.

Grandpa: Kids, you better go to sleep or your dad will come up here to
read the riot act.
Kids: The kayak! Yeah we want to hear all about kayaks.

Sent from my iPhone

Waiting in line at the clambix in Ipswich

Diamonds and Coals

Coals: I didn't make it to U Burger on Wed before the game. I had to eat yucky Papa Gino's pizza at the ball park.

Cubic Zirconium: I enjoyed a bowl of Legal Seafood Chowder at the ball park.

Diamonds: It's our 5th year anniversary, dinner at Upstairs.

U Burger

I just got a fun last minute offer to go to tomorrow's Red Sox game and I'm very excited for the following reasons precisely in this order:

1. A potential opportunity to go to U Burger for dinner or be in the vicinity of U Burger. YUM!
2. Good company
3. Snacks at Fenway like Kettle Corn
4. Baseball

I think U Burger is fast becoming one of my favorite burgers...it's just so good.

Spring day

On my walk home I encountered a troupe of costumed Russian dancers in
the square, a band of people practicing their sword fighting in the
park and a lone hula hooper with a boombox.

Sent from my iPhone

Cambridge - a little oasis in the midst of a water emergency

Those of you have haven't heard or aren't in the middle of it, the Boston area is experiencing a major water emergency this weekend because of a broken pipe that brings water in from Western Massachusetts. People have to boil the water before drinking, brushing your teeth, washing dishes or bathing babies. It's OK to shower, but you can't drink it. This meant that yesterday at dinner in Boston, they had no water to serve except bottled water, no soda from the soda fountain, only canned soda allowed. Beer is safe! Lexington just closed down all their restaurants as a precaution. Over 2 million folks are impacted, except for Cambridge.

Turns out, Cambridge is the only city in this area that has its own water supply, everyone else relies on the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Normally, economies of scale and banding together with local communities for water makes a ton of sense since this water from the Berkshires is pretty great and pristine. Cambridge is a little weird, under normal circumstances, in its desire to control its own water supply. However, this weekend I'm awfully glad I live in Cambridge since I live in this little oasis where the water is fine. My next door neighbors (literally next door) are in Somerville and I'm guessing they're boiling water as we speak. Our church is in Cambridge and folks filling up their water bottles with clean water to take home after service. Every so often, I really appreciate living in the crazy place called the People's Republic of Cambridge with its liberal water and all.

I think it just might be summer

The weather has been very warm and nice this weekend and it sure feels like summer. Adam and I took advantage of the weather by walking all over. I estimate almost 9 miles yesterday which sort of makes up partially for all the food we enjoyed.

Simon's Coffee (Porter Square) - Iced Coffee for me
Alive and Kicking (Central Square) - Lobster Sandwiches for all
Six Burner - Chicken Pot Pie Eggrolls, Meatballs, Nachos, Buffalo Tenders, Meatloaf and Veggie Mac & Cheese. Since there was a water emergency rendering all water undrinkable, we had to drink beer
PICCO - Ice Cream. Adam got the PB&J which was the best. I got the Banana PB Chip and Chocolate. Our friend Jason got the Caramel Swirl.

Cake + Mini + Zipcar

Smells delicious to boot!

Yummy

Panna Cotta

I successfully made panna cotta last night and it was super easy. I
found a recipe on allrecipes.com and made it last night. Adam and I
enjoyed it tonight with some black raspberry jam.

Sent from my iPhone

Crabcakes, homefries, fruit at Ettas

Doughnuts also live at Top Pot Doughnuts

Zipcars live at Top Pot Doughnuts

Hungry Bakun is very Hungry

Adam was trying to keep track of how many different restaurants we'd eat at in 2010. He's a little behind, well way behind, but I've been keeping a list of places I've eaten at with or without Adam on my iPhone. As of today, I think it's at least 55 different places that serve food. Given that's it's only halfway through March, I'm not sure if I'm completely grossed out by myself or morbidly excited. How are we not fatter? I don't know.

Lip Balm - The Final Part

plasticann: Hey, you want some Lip Balm.
Adam: Sure....hey it's not tinted.
plasticann: It's for you! I got you the non-tinted one.
Adam: Thanks, but the tube looks lipstick.
plasticann: I guess you could use it at night and keep it at home.

Nothing I can do about the packaging, but Adam seems to be appreciating the untinted lip balm product

The statue at Davis acquired a few festive accessories.

Tinted Lip Balm Part 2

plasticann: [swiping on lip balm after lunch] Want some?
Adam: Isn't it pink?
plasticann: It won't show.
Adam: OK! [puts some on]
plasticann: Nevermind, looks a little pink.
Adam: [furiously wipes mouth with napkin and exclaims] It's pink, I can see it!
plasticann: Sorry!

A Young Man's Thoughts Turn to Love...[Posted by Zara]

We had some surprise out of town guests this past Saturday, and Zames was unable to attend his friend Zora's fourth birthday party. Never imagining that the two, though classmates, had ever interacted, Zara neglected to inform Zames he was missing the party. (Zames is pretty oblivious to girls as playmates at school; he's too busy shoveling sand or digging in the gravel pit or riding a tricycle around the bike path.)

Fast forward to today, when Zames asked about the party. Hearing he had missed it, he fell into full emotional devastation, sobbing hysterically. Mama Zara, quite confused and surprised by all these crocodile tears, comforts Zames and asks why he is so upset. Zames says, "Zyler is my friend and I play with him all of the time, but Zora is my girlfriend!"

Thus Mama Zara promises to invite Zora over for a playdate complete with birthday cupcakes to make up for the party Zames missed. Zora is a sweet and saucy dark haired little girl with ringlets, quite appealing. Zames's "type" noted at age 4 1/2.

Snacks-Work

There's not a lot at work in terms of snacks and I always get really
hungry so I've been building up my supply. I like a variety of healthy
and unhealthy treats, but I especially enjoy keeping an inventory list
on my iPhone organized by snack category.

Snacks-Work as of 3/8

Banana
Grapefruit
Oranges 3

Yogurt 1
Applesauce 3
Cheese 3

Lara bars 2
Pistachios
Almonds
Cashews
Dried fruit
Orange slices candied

Sunchips
Goldfish
Oreos
Animal crackers
Japanese crackers
Caramel corn smacks

Gummy candy
Orange chocolate
Dark chocolate

Sent from my iPhone

A room of my own

Woohoo! Adam moved his treadmill today and I am so excited to have a
room of my own. Time to decorate. Thanks Adam!

Adam: (in bed) My lips are chapped.
Plasticann: Mine aren't ever since I started using my fancy lip balm.
Want to try some?
Adam: It's ok, we're sleeping.
Plasticann: (leaps out of bed) No I'll get you some. Here!
Adam: (applies in the dark) Smells nice, lemony.
plasticann: You can only use it at night.
Adam: Huh? Why?
Plasticann: Hee hee, because it's tinted pink.

Sent from my iPhone

Snow Covered Trees

Mattie Grows a Garden

Adam and I were thrilled to receive Valentine's Day artwork from the kids. Particularly impressive was the book Zess wrote and illustrated called Mattie Grows a Garden. Zara reports that Zess wrote the entire thing herself, pecking at the keyboard and asking her parents how to spell words. Zess even had her dad take the illustrated book to his office to make color copies for everyone. That's right, we received a color copy. The copies were so good, we were under the impression that Zess wrote a book just for us. I know, pretty narcissistic of us to think so. Anyhow, the book's pretty engaging, there are plants, seeds, kites and a girl name Mattie. What more could you want?

Cheesecake in a jar

Yum! Thanks Corinna.

Last of the Ice Cream

We're enjoying the last of our caramel apple ice cream tonight...until next October when it comes back to JPLicks.

Reform

Efforts to reform wayward ways, sweaters folded, jeans hung and dry cleaning picked up.

Punk! Moi?

I met up with some friends from b-school tonight at a very crowded pub downtown and I can now empathize a tiny bit with how the kids on Jersey Shore keep getting into trouble because it sure is easy to get into an argument a bar. To explain, I was shopping all day downtown so my rucksack was very full and I had it hanging from the back of my chair. The following is what happened:

Guy: Hey, excuse me, can you scoot in, there's not much room here.

plasticann: [scoots in] Sure, sorry about that.

Guy: Hey, can you scoot in?

plasticann: [turning around] I'm sorry, is there not enough room?

Guy: NO! Your backpack is in my lap, NO there's not enough room.

plasticann: [finally understands and removes bag from chair] I'll move it under the table, I'm sorry to inconvenience you.

Guy: Well, you don't have be a punk about it.

Wow, I got called a punk at a bar and it was only 7pm. That has got to be a plasticann first. Now I'm home and ready to enjoy my hot mint tea and some delicious peanut milk chocolate.

Chocolate with Caramelized Peanut & Sea Salt

I've been looking around town for this Green & Black's candy bar ever since I saw a write up last month in the Metro. Last night, we stopped by Pemberton Farms on the way home and I finally found it there, Pemberton has an overwhelmingly large fancy chocolate section. It's really delicious, the peanuts are caramelized with a hint of smokiness and the sea salt is a great complement to the sweet milk chocolate. It's like a fancy Mr. Goodbar which were always my favorite of the miniature Hersheys.

Cobbler

I just discovered the cobbler can put thin rubber soles on my leather soled boots...brilliant. My shoes will last so much longer. I'm going to bring in my other shoes and get them tricked out.

plasticann's clothing maintenance reminders to self

1. Fold and hang up clothes
2. Don't use pants as a napkin substitute to wipe off fingers sticky from eating donuts

Countdown...implications for lunch

I'm in the process of switching jobs. My new one starts next Tuesday back near Kendall Square and my last day in Downtown Crossing is Thursday. Therefore, I've been carefully planning my last few days of lunches as the end draws near. Today, I went to Sam LaGrassa's for my favorite pastrami sandwich. I forgot how delicious their pastrami is, I'm sure going to miss it. I also plan on enjoying one last Chacarero BBQ Beef sandwich and lastly, I have a Milk Street Cafe gift certificate I need to use.

Clothing Explosion

I just had a wardrobe planning session with a personal stylist/shopper this afternoon to update my look. Above is the aftermath from pulling out all my clothes. She was really nice and diplomatic and realistic, but one theme that kept coming up was, "if you take care of the things you own, they'll look better." Things like folding my sweaters neatly, hanging up my pants, ironing, dry cleaning, etc. She had lots of other great thoughts and ideas, but the following conversation will give you a good feel for my major weakness...clothing maintenance:

PS/S: This is a great jacket, I love it.

plasticann: Oh yeah, I haven't worn it yet, it's new.

PS/S: Ummm, why is it already wrinkled if you've never worn it?

plasticann: Hmmm, I think I left it in the bag for a while before I hung it up.

Total Immersion

plasticmom has been immersing herself in studying Japanese. She's somewhat conversational given that she went to college in Japan, but she's been brushing up on her language skills this quarter. So dedicated is plasticmom at immersing herself, she walked up to two strangers on the street in Los Angeles asking for directions...accidentally in Japanese. Only problem, the strangers weren't Japanese and plasticmom thought she was speaking English, thus everyone involved was baffled.

Jersey Shore - Final Verdict

We just finished watching the reunion on DVR this morning, Adam says, "Well, that's six hours of our lives we'll never get back." Ain't that the truth. I guess the Zakuns won't be watching the gang at the shore next season.

Adam's Outrage

While watching the final episode of Jersey Shore, it finally dawns on Adam that Snooki, PaulyD, the "Situation", Ronnie, Vinnie, Sammie and JWoww may not be the most productive members of society. The following is Adam's reconstructed rant, all this after watching the ENTIRE season:

"What? The "Situation" is 27? What does he do for work? How old are these guys? Let's look it up on your DROID...don't they have jobs? How can they hang out for a summer at the Jersey Shore? Don't they have jobs? I don't understand what's going on with these guys?"

Looking Older

Adam: I think my beard makes me look older
Ann: ...maybe I should grow one

I'm so excited about my new grid it organizer, I have to tell everyone. (Please don't tell Zryce, his bday is coming up.) I got the small one from Amazon yesterday and it's pretty cool. I've securely strapped in my purple hi-tec-c pen, free sample hand sanitizer from Bath and Body, Fresh Rose Sugar lip balm, Levenger ear bud holder, Stash peppermint tea bags and CO Bigalow chapped hand lotion. No more stuff spilling out of my purse and I also highly recommend all these products. The elastic is super secure, even held my droid and survived the vigorous shake test.

Am I living in a crazy world...maybe I'm the crazy one

The unintended indignity continues, turns out one of the guys at work thinks I'm 22/23. I don't work with him directly, but I do chit chat with him.

Guy: Are you right out of college?
plasticann: No, umm, I'm ten years out of college
Guy: Really! You're older than me.
plasticann: [pause] How old did you think I was?
Guy: 22/23! You seem mature and now that I think about, it makes sense.

Verdict, I seem more mature than a 22/23 year old. Woopee! One day I'll be glad to be younger looking, but I think I'm going to morph into some sort of awkward baby faced gray haired old lady combo. I'm taking Friday and next Monday off, who wants to go shopping with me? Apparently I need a makeover.

Cheesecake for the Table

The desserts at Henrietta's Table are really yummy and I've been wanting to go back just for dessert ever since we enjoyed their dessert buffet at Thanksgiving. Adam, the Zoritys and I made a special dessert only trip last night where we enjoyed two "Henrietta's World Famous Chocolate Bread Pudding with Rum Caramelized Bananas, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream," two "Warm Gingerbread Cake, Mascarpone Ice Cream and Fresh Whipped Cream," and a "Cheesecake with Pear-Cranberry Compote" for the table. Yes, five desserts for four people, the server thought it was a mistake. My favorite was the bread pudding and the cheesecake is also really delicious. Their cheesecake isn't heavy, it's light and lemony and not at all dense.

Pretty Flowers

Adam got me six months of flowers at a fundraiser. First installment, pink roses + pink & white tulips. Check out the bunny ears...that would be Adam's fun idea.

Samplepolooza at the Burlington Mall

Our loot:

4 pocket hand sanitizers, kitchen lemon, Bath & Bodyworks
2 cheese samples, Cabot cheese
1 sample foundation with mini brush, Sephora
1 chicken nugget, Chik Fil A

Stone pot bibim bap at woo jeon in the food court

Hmart food court...first course...pork buns and fried dumplings at young chow loo

Lobster and Butternut Squash Bisque

I was at Cosi to grab a quick lunch so I tried the new featured soup, the Lobster and Butternut Squash Bisque and it was delicious. Because the soup also had butternut squash, it wasn't quite as heavy as a traditional lobster bisque. There was even shredded lobster in the soup. All in all, paired with a piece of their flatbread, a yummy and hearty lunch on a cold day.

ABC easy as 123 with Amazon

I was in charge of planning the Zority's baby shower today and the event was super fun and delicious as it was a Za pizza in Arlington. Tons of their friends came and we enjoyed good food, drink and delicious cake from Lyndells. The theme was the Alphabet which was fitting since they'd requested their friends bring books to build a library for their baby. I shopped for ideas and bought most of my baby shower items from Amazon and since I have prime...they arrived just a few days later. The only items not from Amazon were the Cake, Flowers and the Juice Glasses I used for vases. I forgot to take pictures, but here's the recap.

Guest Book/Cards:
Each guest wrote a note on the back of an Alphabet Wall Cards featuring Animals for the Zoritys to keep as a memento for their baby shower

Favors:
I made little candy bags filled with Alphabet Gummi Candy.

Decor:

Hot pink Gerber Daisies in these adorable "Alphabet" juice glasses from C&B for centerpieces plus stacks of these lower case alphabet blocks from Uncle Goose. Check out how the animals on the blocks are all baby versions. As much as I wanted to keep the cute blocks, they too got passed to the Zoritys baby.

Games:

Adam and I created a multiple choice quiz about the Zoritys as kids with questions like, "Who was your childhood hero?" Although they weren't utilized much, I also put out baby themed mad libs on the tables.

Prizes:

Our two quiz winners received Hatched! The Big Push from Pregnancy to Motherhood [Zayne...boy Zayne] or the Wry Baby Mini Safe Baby Handling Kit.

Cake:

Our yummy cake was from Lyndells, a gold cake filled with custard and strawberry jam frosted with whipped cream. It was decorated with a big letter "D" in Red Sox font.

Cheesecake in a Jar - How Cool!

My friend Corinna sent me cheesecake in a jar. Who would have thunk it? I can't wait to try it and I love that it comes in these tiny single serve jelly jars.

Pink Epiphany

I was hanging out in Zess's very pretty [pink] bedroom when she had a epiphany about pink. The following is a reconstructed conversation:

Zess: I have a lot of pink in my room. My walls are pink. [pause] My dress is pink. My pillow is pink. [pause] My other pillow is pink and my third pillow is pink too. That painting is pink.
plasticann: I thought you liked pink.
Zess: I do, but I also like light blue and yellow and I don't have any blue.
plasticann: [looking around] What shade of blue do you like?
Zess: Baby blue.
plasticann: You have light blue stripes in your curtains.
Zess: I guess! I just think it's weird that everything is pink.

I wish I had three pillows...three pink pillows.

Sock Monkeys...

Over Christmas, Adam taught our nephew Zames all about the ways of the Sock Monkey. The following is a reconstructed conversation:

Adam: Zames, tell Aunt plasticann how many hours sock monkeys sleep.
Zames: 22 Hours!
plasticann: That's right, what do sock monkeys eat?
Zames: Socks!
plasticann: Socks??? I thought they ate striped bananas.
Adam: They do eat striped bananas.
plasticann: What do sock monkeys eat?
Zames: [Pause] They eat SOCKS!

Well, actually my two sock monkeys sleep for 20 hours a day and they're very active for 4 hours. I guess kid's sock monkeys sleep more for 22 hours which makes obviously makes sense because they're kids. Ha Ha! On another note, I just bought my 15th sock monkey today for a baby shower. The sock monkey lady commented, "Wow, you must know a lot of babies." Yes I do know a lot of babies and they just keep coming.

Machu Picchu charcoal chicken + fried plantains...very juicy chicken...yum.

It was cold out today, but sunny so we went on an all day walking tour across Somerville and Cambridge. We started with haircuts and breakfast in Ball Square, then we walked over to the main branch of the Somerville Library. Next we stopped by Machu Picchu in Union Square for a delicious lunch-snack. The chicken was awesome, the rub is delicious and the plantains were good too. The empanada was OK. We then walked over the Inman Square to check out East by Northeast on Cambridge Street. It was closed and we'd just had lunch, but we looked the menu and it looks interesting. Stopped by 1369 for some hot beverages and walked over to Harvard Square. Continued on to Porter Square for some errands and back home again. All in all a great day entirely on foot.

French toast with fruit. Treat after our haircuts.

Adorable Monkey Art at Work
I LOVE MY NEW PHONE!

Got a DROID

Quotes

Upon watching episodes four and five of The Jersey Shore, Adam said, "I don't think I'd fit in at the Jersey Shore." Thank God!

Jersey Shore

I had read about the show and all it's controversy. I had even watched part of episode 4, but when Adam and I watched the episode 1 on demand, I was slack jawed and convinced the show wasn't actually real. Obviously, we had to watch episodes 2 and 3 to gather more information. Verdict is still out, waiting for the rest of the season.