"Spouse"

Mission Accomplished! We finished our paperwork this morning and I mailed in our taxes after one final trip to HR Block. The following is a reconstructed conversation between plasticann and the Tax Lady.

plasticann: So, does it matter who signs under "Your signature" and who signs under "Spouse's signature?"
Tax Lady: Yes, it does matter. Adam signs first and then you sign under "spouse."
plasticann: Why do I have to be the "spouse." [Harumph!]
Tax Lady: [shrugs] In fact, the taxes get filed under Adam's social security number.

There you go, I'm now a "spouse." I think there used to be some benefits to being the "spouse." In the past, if Adam had hypothetically evaded taxes, they'd usually go easier on the "spouse," but these days I don't even think there's that consideration. I'm not complaining too much, Adam did go over our tax return with a fine tooth comb. plasticmom would have been proud of his persistance, but I do wish they would have Person 1 and 2, but then we'd have the same problem...who gets to be "1" and who gets to be "2." For the record, I wouldn't mind being "2."

Organizized

The following is a reconstructed conversation with Steve when he stopped by to study statistics last weekend. I insisted on giving him a tour of my organizized closets.

plasticann: Steve, you have to come see our closets, let me show you.
Steve: This is what you did over spring break?
plasticann: Yep...isn't it great? I even labeled Adam's drawers.
Steve: [Reading the drawers] "T-Shirts" "Socks"
plasticann: Yeah, Adam doesn't really like that I labeled his drawers. He says it makes him look retarded like he doesn't know where his socks are.
Steve: It's not like you wrote "L" and "R" on his hands.
plasticann: That's hilarious. Remember how Joey on Friends didn't know right from left?
Steve: It's sometimes confusing because you don't know which right someone's referring to. Their right or my right. Maybe I should label my hands one day as a joke.

Cheesy Potatoes

I'm being a bit lazy today watching Food Network while I study because I just had a midterm this morning. I have mixed feelings about Sandra Lee because it freaks me out that she's always "matchy match" on her show with her "tablescapes" and all. I noticed that the dishes displayed in her kitchen matched her outfit today which seems a bit excessive. Alas, I digress. She made these Cheesy Potatoes that were basically tator tots baked with cheese and bacon on top...they looked really good. I'm going to make them one of these days.

Makeover

nytimes.com recently got a new look and while it's much easier to navigate and read, I do have one complaint. I used to be able to claim that I read several sections of the nytimes.com: Home & Garden, Dining & Wine, Weddings & Celebrations and Fashion & Style. Now that all four categories are a subset of the overal "Style" section I can no longer claim to have a wider breadth than I have.

Seattle Bound

The following is a reconstructed conversation between me and my friend Kathleen on a busy downtown street.

Kathleen: So, do you know what you're going to be doing this summer?
plasticann: Actually, yes. I'm working for Amazon.com in Seattle.
Kathleen: [looking excited] Yeah! What are you doing there?
plasticann: Product management [Kathleen looks even more excited] in the home/kitchen group [Kathleen is bursting with joy].
Kathleen: That's so awesome, that's perfect.
plasticann: Yeah, I'm really excited.
[Kathleen and plasticann spontaneously high five in the middle of a busy sidewalk]

There you have it, the breaking news is Adam and I are heading out to Seattle for the summer, but we'll be back in good old New England just in time for the nonexistent fall.

Ranch Quakes

In the past, I've been allergic to the idea of "healthy snack alternatives." Your baked lays, your olestra and especially your chalky dry rice cakes. I finally tried rice cakes again because someone had these chedder Quaker Quake Rice Snacks. I was surprised, they were quite good. I would choose to eat them as my first choice, not just as an alternative to something unhealthy. I recently tried the Ranch Rice Snacks and I really like them. I even thought to myself one day, "Gosh, I hope Adam doesn't eat my rice snacks, I'm really looking forward to eating them."

Deicing

The following is a reconstructed conversation from my strategy team meeting about the salt industry.

plasticann: So, we're talking about salt, table salt, road salt, etc.
Friend: Yup, dont' forget about the environmental concerns about deicing.
plasticann: Right, let me write that down....De-icing...I get it.
Friend: Get what?
plasticann: I didn't know what "deicing" was. I thought it was pronounced "dicing" or "deecing" which seemed really weird. Now it get it, it's de-icing salt not deecing or dicing salt.

Apparently, deicing salt is huge because everyone wants to drive real fast on the roads even in the winter, but the salt causes freshwater pollution. Who knew? That's why we should all move to California where the weather is nice and we can drive as fast as we want without the salt. Then, we can systematically kill off the environment of each state piecemeal starting with the warmest states. First, California, then Florida...you get the picture.

Kate Is Fun...ny

Adam and I went over to Keith and Kate's for a gourmet meal last weekend. Ginger lemon salmon, delicious salad, sweet potato slices and for dessert, cream puffs dipped in a homemade chocolate sauce. Kate agreed to share her recipe on her new blog, kateisfun.blogspot.com, and she even named the sauce in my honor. Yup...from now on, it'll be Queen Plasticann the First to you all.

Queen Ann's Sauce
(from kateisfun.blogspot.com)

1/2 bag chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1 c. 1/2 n 1/2
1 c. powdered sugar
dash vanilla
ts. salt (or more, to taste)
dash Frangelica liquor

melt butter and chocloate
add rest of stuff, go slow with the powdered sugar. Bring to a low boil for a minute or two, but be careful not to overdue it or else you may get candy. Not that I've done this or anything, I've just heard about OTHER people doing it...

Nocturnal Sandwiches

Adam and I were running a bit late last night as we headed to the movies so we split up, Adam went in to save us some good seats and I went to Chinatown to procure some Vietnamese sandwiches for dinner. Little did I know, Vietnamese sandwiches are hard to come by on a Friday evening. I checked out three different places hoping to grab some portable food. I considered buying a rice/meat dish, but I wisely rejected that idea...eating rice in a dark theater just seems like a messy proposition. We ended up with random hot dog buns and sticky rice rolls from the only bakery I could find. Needless to say, I was starving and cranky by the time the movie let out. Fortunately, Anna's is open until 11:30pm so I had my three tacos and a lovely pineapple soda. Lesson learned, Vietnamese sandwiches have an early bedtime.

GOOD

Spamalot=GOOD

Went and saw it last night. Almost bought Wheezy some souvenir coconuts so we could play "foley artist," but decided not to buy her more random useless crap.

The Inside Man=GOOD

Saw that tonight. Have to admit, I've never actually seen a spike lee movie...might have to have Wheezy curate a spike lee marathon for me.

Two nights out in a row. Even stayed out late enough to find almost nothing to eat. Thankfully Anna's was still open for fifteen minutes, just enough time to eat three tacos, even had time to chew thoroughly.

Blueprint

I'm such a sucker for pretty magazines. I signed up for the preview issue of Blueprint, the latest Martha Stewart publication. I was so excited, I almost forked over $18 for the entire year not having seen the magazine. From what I can glean from the advertising, it looks like a younger hipper version of Living. I wonder if I can trade in my Living subscription for Blueprint. I do love Living, but there are only so many gardening issues. I've only seen the cover of Blueprint, but I have a feeling it's cooler than Living.

Spring Cleaning at the Zakun's

MGDub would be so proud of us for thoroughly cleaning and methodically decluttering our apartment. I was in Seattle two weekends ago and when I got home, I was shocked and dismayed to see the contents of our entire office in our living room. The following is a reconstructed conversation:

plasticann: Hi Adam, I'm home...[looking around the living room]...wha' happened?
Adam: I decided to clean the office while you were away.
plasticann: Were you bored?
Adam: Yeah! I couldn't watch TV since I gave it up for lent. I thought about going out, but I didn't. I've been wanting to clean the office for a while, but you're always in there studying. [plasticann is very studious indeed]
plasticann: Wow, I can't believe you spent the whole weekend cleaning. Maybe next week I should clean the bedroom while you're away. Then I could get rid of all of your clothes.

Clean the bedroom I did this weekend and boy did I declutter Adam's wardrobe. Our closets have never looked this good. I even purchased closet organizational tools. That's borderline out of character.

Tofu Sandwich

One of my favorite cheap eats is the Vietnamese Sub Sandwich. Fresh crisp fresh bread, cold cuts, pickled radishes, onions, carrots, cucumber and cilantro. I always get the traditional cold cut sandwiches and I've learned never to ask or think about what exactly are in the cold cuts. However, the other day, I bought some Tofu sandwiches for the vegetarians in our Wednesday night bible study and I've discovered a new favorite. The tofu is truely delightful and much less dubious. Fried tofu marinated in a sauce with all the fixins. I'm going vegetarian next time I get a Vietnamese Sub.

Pooh Beer

My friends and I were working on a assignment on Coors beer this week when the following reconstructed conversation occured:

plasticann: [really striving to think of a beer she enjoyed] I'm not a huge beer drinker, but I did have this honey ale once at John Harvard's that I really enjoyed.
Zurt: [graciously] That's kind of a sophisticated beer.
Zeff: It's not exactly macho.
Zurt: Well, I didn't say honey ale was manly.
Zing Zing: It's like Pooh Beer!
plasticann: Pooh Beer?
Zing Zing: Honey ale, it's the kind of beer Pooh Bear would drink.

Zing Zing had a great point. I'll bet Pooh Bear, if he was of age and actually real, would enjoy the honey ale. It's less sticky than a honey pot, but a tasty treat.

PIE

We talk about PIE a lot in my strategy class. While PIE stands for "Potential Industry Earnings," everytime someone says PIE, I think of pie. When I'm hungry for something savory, it's pizza pie and when I have a sweet tooth, I'm thinking about dessert pie. Fortunately, the reverse association doesn't occur. I don't think of Potential Industry Earnings while I'm eating pie of any sort.

Commie Peasant Shoes

These shoes were featured in the nytimes and they just crack me up. I wouldn't be surprised if they became the new "Ugg." They're these wool/rubber peasant shoes. They're so utilitarian and low maintenance, there's no "right or left" shoe. All I can say to that is "chiral," a concept my buddy Corinna taught me. If you want a shorter boot, no problem, just cut it with an x-acto knife. It's extremely do it yourself, but oddly intriguing. Are the fashionistas going to soon be stomping around in peasant shoes? You never know!

Tiny Boxes

Adam and I were munching on som Girl Scout cookies last night when I was reminded of how plasticmom used to reconfigure cardboard cookie boxes into smaller reclosable boxes with a few snips of her scissors. She'd do the same with cereal boxes, but Girl Scout cookie boxes were special because they were more aesthetically pleasing and wicked cute. She used to pack my squishable lunch items in these little boxes to protect my lunch so Adam packed me some delicious grapes in my little box and I quite enjoyed them.

More "Burritos"

Adam made these amazing quesadillas last weekend, sausage, sauteed onions and spinich. With that in mind, I was super excited to see we were having quesadillas for dinner tonight. The following is a reconstructed conversation:

plasticann: Yeah, I love those quesadilla!
Adam: Well, they're not the ones I made last weekend. Try it!
plasticann: [Takes a bite and starts cracking up.]
Adam: What? Do you like them?
plasticann: They taste like curry, I can't believe you put the leftover curried chicken and rice in a quesadilla.
Adam: Isn't it good? I put the curried rice in with a little bit of cheese.
plasticann: It is actually pretty good, but I'm starving.

There you have it, a new creation "Curry Quesadillas."

Tutus

The following reconstructed conversation occurred this morning when I ran into Steve at school:

plasticann: Hey, you're all dressed up today. Where are you going?
Steve: [dressed up] I'm going to the Boston Ballet, I have to leave soon.
plasticann: What are you doing there? Are you dancing?
Steve: Yeah, I'm wearing a tutu underneath.

Contrary Advice

MGDub says that she would have advised me otherwise in the whole "to preserve or not to preserve" wedding dress debacle. She also mentioned that GJDubya would be appalled.

Laundry

After eight months, I finally dropped off my wedding dress for cleaning. I was intent on just getting the dress cleaned and not "preserved," so our nonexistent future offspring could play dress up with it. Fortunately, Wheezy was kind enough to accompany me downtown. The following is a reconstructed conversation:

plasticann: Hi, I'd like to get my dress cleaned. I just want to keep the dress for my kids to play dress up in. Can you tell me the difference between cleaning and preserving?
Saleslady: Well, dresses that aren't preserved turn yellow. By the time you have kids and they're old enough to play dress up, your dress might turn yellow. If you want to keep the dress ivory or white, you'll want to preserve it.
plasticann: Hmmm. Wheezy, what do you think?
Wheezy: Umm
plasticann: I don't know, it's not that much more to preserve it.
Wheezy: [Whispering] I think you should just get it cleaned, I don't think it really matters, but it's not that much more.
plasticann: ...I'm going to stick with cleaning.
Saleslady: OK, where's the dress?
plasticann: [pulling out the dress from a totebag] It's right here.
Saleslady: Wow, I can't believe you were able to fit the dress in that totebag.
plasticann: Well, I had to stuff it in. I figured it was getting cleaned and pressed so it wouldn't matter if I stuffed the dress in a bag.
Wheezy: [laughing]I don't think you care enough about the dress for preservation. You did cram it in a bag.
plasticann: I guess your right, cleaning is good enough.

As we were leaving, I realized how stuffing a dress in a bag might seem like blasphemy for the folks at the bridal salon, the house of wedding gown worship. Wheezy and I decided that the only thing worse was if we had brought the dress stuffed in a black trash bag with a bucket of fried chicken and jelly doughnuts mixed in. If only we had planned ahead, we really could have milked the situation and really mortified the salesladies.

Just Like Kramer

In addition to singing a made up song about bedtime to the tune of "Springtime For Hitler," we've taken to heating our pajamas in our dryer before sleeping. While I really do enjoy being surrounded by the warmth of my warm jammies, the warm effect lasts all of five seconds. Like Kramer on Seinfeld, now I'm a bit obsessed with wearing clothes right out of the dryer, perhaps some warm jeans on a cold winter's morn'.

Five Under Five

I spotted this tidbit in the latest issue of the Improper Bostonian, five appetizers/entrees for under five bucks at the bar in Bambara weekdays from 4-6pm. Bambara is located in the Hotel Marlowe over by the Cambridgeside Galleria. Particularly intriguing is their "b" burger: fresh baked brioche bun with caramelized onion baked right into the bread and truffled goat cheese. One of these days, I'm heading over there after class.

The Menu
Half-pound "b" burger $4.99
Mini steak frites $4.99
Reuben bites $4.99
Short rib nachos $4.99
Truffle frites $3.00
Onion rings $3.00

"Wha' Happened?"

I've been delinquent and thought I've never figure out what the phrase means, Steve would say that my blog has "jumped the shark." Wha' happened? School, that's wha' happened. Here's the update.

1. Adam and I checked out The Federalist for dinner on Friday to celebrate v-day. We enjoyed fancy mac & cheese, lobster bisque, beef wellington and brown butter dover sole. My favorite was the sole with fingerling potatoes/spinich and mushrooms. YUM! The melty chocolate cake was a nice end.

2. Last month, Wheezy was battling a bad cold and couldn't come out to Cambridge 1 for pizza with Jess and me when Jess was in town so Wheezy missed out on her fill off flatbread pizza. We enjoyed a tasty lunch on Saturday where we each had our usual...we're not big on "change." After lunch we meandered through Harvard Square on our usual "route." Black Ink, Urban Outfitters (where we simultaneously mock and covet the merchandise), Cross, Adidas, Bob Slate and Staples. We never miss Black Ink, Urban Outfitters, Cross and Bob Slate, but we did need binder clips (Staples) and Wheezy kindly educated me on sneakers (Adidas). She was wearing these cool old school sneakers, but of course I had no clue about the significance of her shoes.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

I made the Four Seasons Hotel lemon ricotta pancakes from this month's Boston magazine for breakfast this morning. The recipe called for one stick of butter, which didn't phase me since it served four. Halfway through cooking and after Adam had asked for seconds, I realized that Adam and I would be eating the entire batch which amounted to half a stick of butter each for breakfast and that was before we added in the ricotta cheese and eggs. I'm not usually shy about butter, but I had to stop eating the pancakes and instead, packed them up for Adam to take to work. They were delicious, but I don't think I'll be making those again. For a stick of butter, I might as well eat 40 Adam's favorite cookies for breakfast.