I Heart Kindle

This update is about 10 months overdue, but better late than never especially since I have collected some stats to report. Adam, kindly, graciously, generously bought me a Kindle earlier this year. YEAH! He tried really hard to convince me the Kindle wasn't worth it. He even did a cost benefit analysis and tried to negotiate with me, offering to pick up books for me from library or buy them from Amazon. In the end, Adam generously relented from his strong opinion about the Kindle and got me one.

I'm love my Kindle, it's so great and it makes me so happy. I'm reading a lot more books, I love sampling free chapters and the wireless technology is awesome. I'm getting my Wall Street Journal on it and my recycling pile has gone way down. I've read 16 books so far and I'm in the middle of five right now. I convinced my aunt to get one and I'm in the process of selling plasticmom on it. I highly recommend it, I dare so it's maybe changed my life for the better. At the very least it's dramatically improved my reading habits and I really enjoy reading more now that I'm not lugging around books in my bag.

Kindle - 9 thumbs up

Unfounded Outrage

I'm a mentor for a college prep program for high school juniors and seniors. Last night was a fun field trip to a Celtics game. The following is reconstructed from a conversation I struck up with a student:

plasticann: Hi, we haven't met, I'm [plasticann].
Student: Hi, I'm [student].
plasticann: Where do you go to high school?
Student: Rindge and Latin.
plasticann: Are you a junior?
Student: Why? Do I look like a junior?
plasticann: Umm...I don't know, you're either a junior or a senior so it's a guess.
Student: [not bothering to clarify] Are you in college?
Note: Some mentors are college students
plasticann: No...[clarifying that I'm not a college drop out] I'm no longer in college.
Student: [Incredulously] YOU'RE done with college???
plasticann: Yes, I'm a few years out of college. [huge understatement]

He was potentially all riled up because I thought he was a junior when he might have been a senior. Whereas he was way off pegging me as at least 10 years younger than my actual age. Harumph! I considered driving the point home that he had no cause to be outraged by telling him I was nearly 10 years out of college, but I decided to just let it go. Yeah, how big of me for not getting into it with a kid. I guess when one is 16, the idea of someone thinking you're a year younger or older is a really HUGE deal.

Losing My Interest In Eating

plasticmom has gotten super healthy in the last two years which has been wonderful for her health, but one unintended consequence is that food and eating food has become a lot less interesting to her since she avoids unhealthy foods. I'm experiencing some of the same only after 2.5 weeks on this vegan fast I'm kinda losing my interest in eating food and I'm not as excited to eat and I'm not as hungry. Eating sometimes feels like a chore and it is a lot of work chewing especially when I eat giant salads. I guess in the end, meat and dairy really are much more interesting to me than even the tastiest of vegetables and fruit which is the whole point of giving up something important for a fast.

Snappy Sushi

Adam and I are rounding week 2 of our vegan fast. Things are going well overall, but I'm feeling obsessed with eating desserts which is hard since dairy is off limits. However, today, we enjoyed a delightfully delicious meal at Snappy Sushi where they serve brown rice sushi. I'd been there once before when they first opened and I was not a big fan of the brown rice sushi, a bit too crunchy and dry for me so I've been reluctant to go back. Today, we decided to give it another try and we were surprised. We ordered a bunch of vegetarian rolls and they were all really good. I think they've perfected the brown rice preparation since it was really tasty.

Our order:

Gourd Strap (Kanpyo) Roll

Avocado Roll

Veggie Futomaki Big Roll

Italian Garden

Portabella Roll

Veggie Gyoza

Squiggle Scarf

I'm getting excited for Christmas shopping, but I can't blog about any of my fun finds so I'm reporting on my new scarf today. I got the Squiggle scarf from Anthropologie last month and I've received so many nice compliments about it. It's described as "festive" and I concur with the assessment. It's nice and soft and warm and fun to boot.

Mini Cone $1.59

The weather was gorgeous today so I walked to Harvard Square this afternoon. I popped into Lizzy's on Church Street to check out their Mini Cone. It's about 1/2 scoop for $1.59. Not a bad deal if you just want a small taste of ice cream. When we were in Montreal a few years ago, all the gelato places had these tiny mini cones for $1 which was great if you wanted to try something, but didn't want a whole scoop.

Close Proximity

Living so close to my oral surgeon paid off again this morning when I needed to schedule a quick check up.

8:05 am - Wake and call the office from bed, finagle a last minute appointment for 8:20 am
8:18 am - Dressed, checked email and out the door to the oral surgeon's office one block away
8:25 am - Sitting in the chair
8:30 am - Getting checked out by the dentist
8:37 am - Left the office with a prescription in hand and stitches removed, headed to work

Total time = 32 minutes

I feel like Jack Bauer for getting a lot done in that 32 minutes. Of course the rest of my day is not quite so impressive.

Wisdom Teeth Out!

The rest of my pre-surgery feasting on Wednesday included a bowl of PB Captain Crunch and a burger+sweet potato fries from Joe Sent Me.

On early Thursday, Adam and I walked down the street to the oral surgeon and we walked home an hour later. I was expecting the worse and I'm doing pretty well. Not much swelling, not too painful, but I am taking the pain killers. I'm taking it easy, watching TV, reading, eating tepid porridge, ice cream, smoothies and jello. Not too shabby, I think I lucked out.

Fattening Up

I'm scheduled to get my wisdom teeth out tomorrow and I'll be on a liquid diet for a few days. On top of that, I'm also doing a fast for three weeks that's mostly a vegan diet for the next three weeks. Therefore, today is really the last day for a while where I can eat with reckless abandon. I had taco salad for lunch, crunchy chips, cheese, beef chili, the works. I'm going to eat a snack this afternoon, maybe a cupcake with bacon it. (Just Kidding!) I need to decide what to eat for dinner, but I better make it good and filling. Maybe a big Italian Sub. Oh the options!

It's Sometimes Sunny in Cambridge

It's been really gray this last week and I'm so happy to report that it is SUNNY today and warm.

Diva Lounge $1 Tapas

We checked out the $1 Tapas this afternoon and they were all pretty good and a very good deal. We tried eight different ones, we would go back for the lamb slider, Tangeri Kebab and the Mini Cheese Dosa. The others were good, but I liked these three better. The Naanwich was weird, I would recommend against that one. Overall, I can't wait to go back and check out the other 9 items we didn't try.

Sampling

We took our bikes out for the first time yesterday and rode up to Arlington Center. We went to dinner at Sweet Chili and for dessert, I had to have some frozen custard at Chilly Cow. The following is reconstructed conversation while waiting in line at Chilly Cow:

Adam: OK, when you ask for your sample, ask for Lemon. I don't want to ask for more than two samples.
plasticann: So what sample are you going to ask for?
Adam: Peppermint stick and smores.
plasticann: [confused] That's two samples. I thought you didn't want to ask for more than two?
Adam: I'm asking for two. You're asking for one. I feel bad asking for three samples so I need you to ask for the Lemon.
plasticann: So you want three samples total not two samples total.
Adam: You got it!

Of course we ended up buying a kiddie peppermint stick to share and we didn't have any change or small bills to leave a tip since Adam put the $2.35 purchase on his credit card. We felt kinda lame.

Maine Good Eats

Adam did an awesome job planning our meals for our trip this weekend and we enjoyed many good eats. We started off on Friday morning with a Gracie Bar donut at Donuts with a Difference in Medford. Then we drove up to York, ME to Stonewall Kitchen for lunch. I had some clam chowder and Adam had a fancy grilled cheese sandwich. We hopped back in the car and drove up to Portland stopping by a lighthouse on the way which was beautiful. We checked into our hotel in Portland, it was an old converted armory which was pretty cool. Suited up and went for a walk around the old part of town. Our first stop was an awesome kitchen store right on Commercial Street Leroux. This place is incredible. They have everything by every kitchen tool maker. They also had all these oils and vinegars you could taste and buy, all from Italy. For dinner, we were able to get a table at Fore Street and the food was really awesome. It's an open kitchen with a wood fire oven and we got a table where we could watch all the action. On Saturday it was cold, wet and windy all day, but we still did lots. We started with breakfast at the Standard Baking Company, just downstairs from Fore Street. I wanted to move into this bakery. We got croissants and sticky buns and bread to go. Then we drove up to Freeport, ME, home of LL Bean and the outlets. Adam had never been so it was pretty cool. We watched a beefy guy shoot arrows in the archery range. It was glass enclosed. For lunch, we shared a lobster roll at The Lobster Cooker for a first lunch. Then we drove back to Portland for second lunch at DuckFat where they fry their french fries in duck fat. Yeah you heard that right. The frites were amazing and the beignets we had for dessert were also delicious. A perfect culinary end to a very fun trip.

The Maine Event

We're taking Friday off and going on an adventure with our zipcar to Maine this weekend. We're going to check out Portland, Freeport and Kittery and possibly buy lots of candy and eat french fries cooked in duck fat. I'm looking forward it.

Burren...thwarted by hunger

We tried to go the Burren on thursday night for dinner. I was all excited for fish and chips, but we a bit thwarted since we were super hungry and we hadn't seen our waitress for 15 minutes. We thought maybe the service would be super slow even after we ordered so we cut our losses and went to Anna's instead. We did discover that Diva Lounge is serving $1 Indian tapas. I'm not sure how big these tapas are, but I'm excited to check it out sometime really soon.

Julie and Julia

A group of us went and saw the movie last weekend and it was so much fun. The reviews warned not to go see the movie on an empty stomach so we chowed down on some Vietnamese sandwiches in Boston Common before the movie. I really enjoyed Meryl Streep as Julia and frankly what's not to love about Julia Childs and her enthusiasm for food. What struck me was Julia was middle aged when she embarked on her career in food which gives hope to the rest of us for finding our way in life.

66 out of 71 restaurants

Adam recently created a restaurant map/packet for a church gathering of 71 restaurants within a 1/2 mile radius of our church. Since we live really close to church, this 1/2 mile radius is pretty much our neighborhood.

I was initially surprised that there were so many places to eat in Porter, Davis, Alewife and on Mass Ave. It seemed like an excessive amount of restaurants, but turns out it's not quite enough restaurants for the Zakuns.

Super methodical Adam went through the list and checked every restaurant he'd been to on the list. He's been to 66 out 71 or 93%. Of course, I had to go through the list myself and I scored 65 our 71 or 92% at 6pm, but bumped up to 66 after dinner at Singabella Cafe tonight.

Adam is now determined to complete his list by going to the last 5 restaurants even the ones that we know are bad. We do agree that we need to go to the Burren sometime soon for some Guinness stew and fish and chips, neither of us shockingly have ever been.

Tupelo

Summer is finally here and we went very quickly from cool/rainy to hot/humid. We went on a long walk over to the Kendall Square Theatre this weekend to see "Away We Go." I liked it and it made me laugh when John Krasinski tries to scare pregnant Maya Rudolph to get their baby's heart rate up. After the movie, we checked out Tupelo, the new Southern restaurant by the makers of Petsi's Pies. Overall the food was pretty good, but we like Hungry Mother better. However, Tupelo has much better desserts, the Pecan Pie with Bourbon Ice Cream was really good.

Junk-Food-Palooza

Adam and I celebrated our anniversary in style last week. We even chanted a celebratory [with fists pumping] "Four Years...Four More Years." For dinner, Adam ordered lots of delivery from my favorite places. Since one major point of contention/negotiation in our marriage is the amount of food we order, I was super happy about the abundance of dinner options and the quantity of food.

On the menu:

Wings (Buffalo + BBQ) and Breaded Mushrooms from Wingworks

Pepperoni + Carmelized Onion Pizza from City Slickers

Tofu Yellow Curry and Chicken Pad Thai from Thai Hut

Strawberry Cake from Lyndells

What more could a girl want than an abundance of delicious food for dinner except maybe a sock monkey? Oh wait, I got a sock monkey to boot! Booyah!

Newtowne Grille

I've walked by this dive bar for years and I've never walked in, but we heard they actually had goo pizza so Adam and I checked it out for dinner tonight. It's right in Porter Square, definitely a dive bar with keno and the TVs and the quirky locals. We ordered the "bar" sized pepperoni pizza which was the size of a dinner plate and cost $4.50. It was tasty and hit the spot. The crust was crispy. The sleeper hit was the twin lobster roll special. Two lobster rolls with delicious cole slaw and crispy french fries all for $13.95. The lobster rolls were refreshing and featured big chunks of lobster lightly dressed in mayo with some celery, salt and pepper. There's even a take out counter so you could even pick up some lobster rolls for a fun summer picnic.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

The following is a reconstructed conversation with enthusiastic cookie lover:

Man: Did you bake those chocolate chip cookies?

plasticann: Yes, did you like them?

Man: I ate like 7 of them. I was trying to make chocolate chip cookie bars, but yours are so much better than mine. 

plasticann: Oh, well would you like the recipe?

Man: [slightly befuddled] No! Why? It's just a chocolate chip cookie recipe baked as bars

plasticann: [bemused] Yes, I guess that's true, they are just chocolate chip cookies baked as bars.

Hah! Just chocolate chip cookies...we'll see about that. Fortunes have been made and lost over just chocolate chip cookies.

Spaahhhcee!

We walked over to Tip Top Thai last night for dinner. We hadn't been there in years so we decided to check it out since I was in the mood for some soup. I ordered a small Tom Yum soup + Summer Rolls and Adam got the Pad Thai. Service was super slow and the dining room was empty. All was going along reasonably well until I started chewing on a "green bean" in my soup. Blistering heat started after a few seconds...it was a small super spicy pepper with seeds. I spent the next 10 minutes bathing my mouth in milk to control the burn. My lips were blistering hot so I had to pour milk in my plate and put my head into it to cool down my lips. When we tried explaining to the waitress that they should warn people about the peppers in the soup, she was pretty unsympathetic. She gestured that "Duh" you're not supposed to eat the peppers, they're for flavor. Point taken, but it was in the soup looking like a green vegetable mixed in with all the other ingredients. Not a great end to a meal, but now I know not to chew on "green beans" and be more careful.  

Bottega Fiorentina

Adam and I were out on Newbury Street a few weeks ago when we decided to check out Bottega Fiorentina for lunch. It was gorgeous out so we split a Italiano sandwich in the Public Garden. It was wonderful. They thinly sliced the "salame, Soppressata, Mortadella, Provolone, Onions, Lettuce, Tomatoes" fresh to order and added just the right amount of "Pickles, Hot Peppers, Vinegar, Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Seasoning." There aren't really many good places to grab a cheap meal in Back Bay and at $7.95 for a massive sandwich it's a really good and delicious deal. Seven Thumbs Up!

SOFRA

One of my favorite restaurants is Oleanas in Cambridge, it's really wonderful, but more of a special occasion place at least for us. The owners of Oleanas opened up Sofra, their bakery/cafe outpost last year and I've been super excited to check it ever since. The bakery is located toward Watertown and accessible by bus or car so we finally made it over there on Sunday with our friends, the Zoritys. All of it was great. We shared the mezze platter where you can pick up to 5 different spreads to enjoy. I loved the whipped feta and bean and walnut pate. I got the falafel flatbread wrap which is exactly like the falafel appetizer at Oleanas only cheaper and bigger. Adam enjoyed his sausage flatbread. Kris had the Turkish Breakfast which was very interesting. It had greek yogurt and a soft boiled egg wrapped in crispy fried phyllo. Even the bacon/egg breakfast sandwich was yummy, according to Dave. It was unexpectedly small, but that was the only quibble. Oh and the mezze platter could have had a much higher bread to spread ratio. We shared the baklava and the kunefe, both yummy. We also shared the croissant with zatar and the fennel tart. Adam got the sesame cashew bar as a little extra and I got the last bite of it yesterday...it was incredible yummy. The verdict, Sofra is awesome. I love it and if you'd like to drive me over there sometime, I'll buy you lunch.

Holy Moly

Adam and I went to Macy's last night and I was admiring this Martha Stewart drink dispenser until I looked at the price tag...$100. It was cute and I wanted one, but it was made of plastic. I couldn't believe it so I took it over to the cash register and inquired: 

plasticann: Excuse me, how much is this?

Saleslady: Oh, it should be on sale, let me check....It's $59.

plasticann: You mean the price tag of $100 regular price is real?

Saleslady: That's Martha Stewart.

plasticann: Are you sure? That seems outrageous.

Saleslady: That's what we thought when we put them out. We even had our manager call and double check and it's a real price.

Wow! Whoever made that pricing decision should be canned. My strategy is to wait until they discount it to twenty bucks. Afterall, who's actually crazy enough to pay $100.