Mi Piace

The following reconstructed conversation occurred after Adam had methodically perused the menu at Mi Piace last night.

Adam: It's down to two items. Would you be able to give me a recommendation?
Server: Sure, what are you thinking about?
Adam: Vegetarian Lasa...
Server: Get the Vegetarian Lasagna!
Adam: ...sagna and the Vegetarian Calzone.
Server: [emphatically] Get the Lasagna. My lack of hesitation should tell you something.
Adam: Alright, I'll get the Lasagna.

Later that evening

Adam: Thanks for that recommendation, the Lasagna was really good.
Server: My wife still asks me to bring it home for her after 15 years.

We enjoyed a delicious platter of thin cut fries to start, I had the sesame chicken, plasticmom stuck with one of her two favorites, the fra' diavolo with calamari and shrimp and Adam, of course, had the vegetarian lasagna. The prices are very reasonable and the food is consistently delicious. No wonder the place was completely packed by 6:15pm.

Old Pasadena

Adam, plasticmom and I took the train to Old Pasadena to check things out. We spotted the grandstands and porta-potties that were set up for the Rose Parade and the souvenir stands selling Rose Bowl t-shirts, hats and bumper stickers. We admired the tea service at Chado, a new teahouse and we discovered the movie theater had been demolished and replaced by a spanking new Tiffany's. The Goldstein's Bagel Bakery across the street has also been replaced which is a shame since it would have been nice to have "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

"La La Land"

After a week with Adam's family celebrating Christmas and all the surrounding holidays, we're heading down to see plasticmom for a few days. We hung out with Zess and Baby Zames daily and I think we're now buddies. Baby Zames is into crying, eating, burping and sleeping. Zess is a super verbal two year old. Here are some highlights:

1. "Angel says, 'don't eat baby Jesus."
2. "Boots [Dora the Explorer's Monkey Friend] gets a time out."
3. "Thumbs up."

One more to go!

One more exam tomorrow and we'll be off to California...dreamin' I am of the tasty foods already. Things I'm looking forward to:

1. Bloomin' Onion: Since we live in Cambridge without a car, we've never had access to an Outback Steakhouse. I've always wanted to try the Bloomin' Onion, it always looks so tasty on TV. We're staying right near an Outback in LA while we're visiting plasticmom so we're gonna just walk over to Outback one day for a Bloomin' Onion. Gosh, I love the strip malls and chains restaurants.

2. In & Out: "That's what a hamburger's all about."

3. Massage Lazy Boy Recliner: I'll be parking myself in front of the TV for hours in plasticmom's chair...it's the best seat in the house.

4. Family: I've gotta throw that in there so no one's offended and thinks I love hamburgers more than I love them.

Some Thoughts on...Sugar Cookies

I'm not really a fan of the sugar cookie, especially the drop cookie variety. In fact, I have strong opinions. The pale sugar cookie is like the sugar donut, it's just not sweet enough and not very tasty. As Adam might put it, "not my favorite," Give me that concentrated sugary goodness that gets into every nook and cranny of a lovely glazed donut. (I digress.) That said, I do like these rolled sugar cookies from Martha Stewart. For me, what elevates this cookie dough from blah to golden buttery deliciousness is the baking time. Martha suggests 8-10 minutes which yields an icky pale cookie, but I like to kick that baking time up to 18 minutes for lightly browned crisp cookie. The sugar caramelizes a bit and the cookies taste WAY better. I just made a batch for Adam's work party. Alton's got a pretty good method, but he's got nothing on me when it comes to efficiently rolling out cookie dough.

Kids these days...

Adam's dad reported on Little Zess' latest trip to the local library. They were wandering through the library after story hour when Zess climbed up in front of a computer. Zara says, "come on Zess, it's time to go." To which Zess replied, "I have to check my e-mail." I wonder if she checks out my blog and whether she's figured out that I call her "Zess."

Kielbasa Polenta

I had a light lunch today so I started pestering Adam about dinner at 4pm. We debated whether to order chicken fingers or wings or a pasta dinner from our neighborhood pizza join across the street, but we ended up scrounging up some kielbasa so we made polenta topped with Kiebasa simmered in a tomato sauce. We've made the soft Polenta from FOOD magazine at least five times in the last few months and it's always tasty. Last week, we made if for Laurel who was in town, very briefly, for a conference. We ate the polenta with Bulgogi and that was good. Laurel reports that her polenta is not quite as good. I'm not sure if she's being overly modest or if she just didn't measure. It's possible she went light on the butter or cheese. She's a renowned baker, but she's not known for her measuring of ingredients.

Blizzard

I took the bus home to avoid the blizzarding conditions, which was nice. Unfortunately, I had to wait at least half an hour for the bus to come and then the trip from Harvard Square to my apartment took another hour with traffic creeping along unplowed roads at around 1 mile an hour, it usually takes about 10-15 minutes. It would have been faster to just walk, but then again it was really miserable out.

7. All about "YOU"

Send a signal to the entire family that you expect a bounty of gifts this year by hanging a half dozen of these babies on your fireplace. Remember to personalize all of these with your name: plasticann 1, plasticann 2...etc.

"LOVE"

Excerpted from an e-mail from Zara.

A few days ago, I put a wedding picture of you two in Zess's album
and said "This is Uncle Adam & Aunt plasticann". She said (and I quote) "I
love them!" !

How can we possibly feed hyperactivity inducing finger JELLO to Little Zess who loves us. I'm racked with guilt.

Totally NOT Loaded

The following is a reconstructed conversation between plasticann, Zhor and a classmate [Mr.Z] about one of our other classmates, let's call him Mr.Loaded, at BIT.

Mr.Z: Oh yeah, Mr.Loaded is totally loaded.
plasticann: ...How do you know?
Mr.Z: His clothes, the kind if car he drives....
plasticann: He has a car? I don't have a car. Do you have a car?
Zhor: Yeah, you have a T-pass.
plasticann: Gosh and I thought I was living the life by upgrading to a Combo pass. Now I can ride the bus, not just the subway.

6. Uglydoll



I think they're endearing, but Adam's not a fan of the uglydoll...he likes prettydolls.

Shaping up to be a bad influence

Mama and Papa Z were in town for Thanksgiving from sunny NoCal. We enjoyed lots of desserts [lemon cake, apple cake, cheesecake, Beard Papas], food [all the fixin's], games [Bohnanza] and even a movie [RENT]. We heard lots of cute stories about precocious "Little Zess," who is no longer "Baby Zess" now that she's been supplanted by "Baby Zames." Granted she's two, Zess, apparently, does not know about "candy." She had a ball trick-or-treating this year, but was none the wiser when her loot mysteriously disappeared. There's also something fishy going on about TV, but our main takaway was no gifts of candy for Zess this Christmas. We don't think there's a party line on "JELLO," but before I forget, booze or cigarettes are also offlimits, child endangerment or something.

5. Time Tags



Maker of some of my favorite cool finds, Vessel has created a wearable speck of a digital clock called the Time Tag. Reviewers on Amazon do warn users to remember to remove the time tag before laundry time. This reminds me of a recent "discussion" Adam and I had about our household laundry protocol. I was unaware that pockets of clothes in the basket should be checked before washing, I've always assumed pockets have already been emptied prior to clothes landing in the basket. This miscommunication about laundry procedures meant I found a squishy lump in a pocket post washing and was afraid the lump would be something gross like a banana peel [not that Adam leaves bananas in his pockets]. It was a close call, but the suspicious squishy lump turned out to be a packet of Kleenex. Whew!

Way Meta

Steve & Co. went to Magnolia's for Zang's b-day. The following is a reconstructed conversation by way of Steve at Magnolia's

George: You know that plasticann blogged about Magnolia's
Steve: Really, what did they order?
George: They ordered three dishes for four people.

I'm impressed with George's memory of inane details and honored that he does read this blog afterall. Happy Birthday Zang!

Beard Papa Take 2

I was feeling footloose and fancy free on Wednesday so I went down to Government Center and snagged a box of Cream Puffs for Adam's office, 9 vanilla and 3 Belgian chocolate. The cream puffs went pretty fast, but not fast enough in my opinion. I tried the chocolate and I think the vanilla is still the best. The following is a reconstructed conversation/situation about a married couple, Andrew and Val:

Location: The office where the cream puffs are.
Adam: Hey Andrew, did you get one of these cream puffs?
Andrew: No, I'm glad I stopped in again before I left.
[few minutes later...Andrew comes dashing back into the office]
Andrew: I have to get another one of these for Val.
Adam: Oh, is this one for her?
Andrew: No, it's for me, she's eating my cream puff.

On the flip side, the following is a conversation recontructed using details from Andrew and Val.

Location: Andrew and Val are in their car pulling out of the parking lot heading home.
Andrew: Val, this cream puff is really good, you wan't a bite?
Val: [polishing off the cream puff] this is really good.
Andrew: [pulling out of the parking lot] I'm going to get another one.
Val: But, we're on our way home.
Andrew: Let's pull around the corner and I'll run in the front door.

Andrew drives around the corner and sprints in for yet another cream puff. See first conversation for details. The End!

The Zakuns Take Manhattan

Adam and I stayed with MGDub this weekend and we had a blast. I'm already missing MGDub, but it sounds like she's learning lots of cool stuff in film school. MGDub was a lovely host generously feeding us tea and english muffins, but Adam and I learned early on in our visit that some items were "off limits." These food items, mini cartons of orange juice, were "imported" from Allentown and supposed "unavailable" in NYC so they had to be "rationed." The following is a reconstructed conversation about MGDub's mini OJs.

plasticann: Have you checked if D'agostino's has the mini OJs? We've walked by two of them in the last few minutes.
MGDub: No! The mini OJs are no where to be found. They don't even have the plastic jugs of OJ, they only have cartons.
plasticann: Well, you've only been to two stores in your neighborhood, surely somewhere someone has mini OJs and OJ jugs. Hey, there's a D'agostino's across the street.
MGDub: Should we go in and check?
Adam: Yeah! Let's do it.
...wandering around inside the stores...
MGDub: See, no OJ anywhere.
Adam: Maybe over here. Look, they have jugs of OJ and mini OJs.
MGDub: I can't believe it.
plasticann: [laughing]
Adam: Let's see what else they have here, maybe we can get MGDub those breakfast bars she claims don't exist in NYC.
...in the breakfast bar aisle...
MGDub: See, they only have the Apple Cinnamon and I don't like those.
Adam: Well, this label says they carry strawberry, they just ran out so you should check back.
MGDub: It's too far from my apartment, it has to be 3 blocks away for me to check back.
...later in the evening...
MGDub: I still can't believe they actually sell mini OJs.

Note: Because I blogged about the mini OJs, I've been warned ahead of time that MGDub will be telling an embarrassing story about me.

Igloos

A reconstructed of an incredibly insightful class discussion debunking cultural misperceptions. The innocent are somewhat protected.

Zhor: Well, a cultural myth about Alaska is that we live in igloos. No one lives in an igloo.
Zheng: Don't penguins in cartoons live in igloos?
Zielo: Penguins can't build igloos, that's silly.
Zhor: No, penguins do not live in igloos. No one lives in igloos, it's just not true.
Zheng: Penguins don't live in igloos???

Thanks to Zhor, I'm aware of the cultural taboos of Alaska and I know never to mention igloos and penguins to an Alaskan.

4. What Zess won't be getting for X-mas



Since we already got her one of these cute retro tricycles for her birthday, I can put this tricycle on my list. Zara reports that Zess is a bit too small for her tricycle, her feet don't touch the pedals, but she enjoys sitting on the tricycle. Grandpop Zakun plans on modifying her tricycle with some blocks so she can pedal around the house.

3. Where is Coco Going?



Unlike Bitter With Baggage Seeks Same [BWBSS], this one's actually appropriate for kids. For the sassy adults, stick with BWBSS, it's a classic.

2. Going For The Bronze



The Sequel to BWBSS...enough said.

That time of the year will quickly be upon us...

...holiday gift giving. I was all out of ideas last year because two years ago, I counted down 100 gift ideas on this blog. This year, I'm aiming low by counting up so we'll start with idea number 1 and see how far this goes. Now that I'm a MBA student "busy concocting ways to further contribute to society's ills and bolstering capitalism," I do not promise that gifts will make the list only after this year's recipients have received that particular gift. Simply put, I have purchased zero gifts and I don't have a solid plan of action this year. Gift cards to the grocery store may be a distinct possibility. I'm sure Little Zess and Baby Zames would love the a gift card to their local grocery store. Afterall, babies need to drink milk and organic is pretty pricey. On the upside, I'll post photos of gift ideas thanks to the technological improvements. [drumroll please]

1. The Cubes



Kinda like a "dollhouse," introduce your child to reality with their own cubicle.

Random Musings About Social Behavior

I was sitting on a bench at school yesterday when I spotted a plastic folding table across the way. I dragged it over to the bench and two of us used it as a desk. Soon, a third joined our official looking laptop row. As we tapped away at our respective computers, countless classmates started to stop by and ask, "Are you signing people up for an activity?" It reminded me of a chilly winter night when MGDub and I got locked out of her car in Harvard Square after seeing The Hours. We had to huddle in one of the parking lot attendant booths to avoid the frigid weather as we waited for the locksmith to come. Sure enough, people started stopping buy to pay us for their parking. Years ago, plasticmom and I were in Japan waiting in line for a afternoon tea buffet. We were early so we just stood around outside the entrance. Twenty minutes later, we noticed a neat line had formed right behind us, upt the stairs, around the corner and down the hall. The orderly behavior was very impressive.

Pumpkin Muffins

The following is a reconstructed conversation on Halloween.

Alarm Clock: [Brrrring!]
plasticann: Adam? You know what I want to make? Pumpkin Muffins!
Adam: Have you made pumpkin muffins before?
plasticann: Years ago. We have a can of pumpkin filling.
Adam: Okay!
plasticann: YEAH!!!! [leaps out of bed and runs to the kitchen]

Thus, chocolate chip pumpkin muffins in honor of Halloween. One of my teammates ate two in a row...now that's an endorsement. Then again, he might have been super hungry.

Odd Todd Strikes Again

Watching the Odd Todd segment from America's Test Kitchen reminded me of how MGDub and I often enjoyed affecting Odd Todd's peculiar speech by gratuitously referring to "fudge striped cook-ays" and "coff-ay." For a man who's "unemployed," Odd Todd has really built quite the empire. When he published his Odd Todd book a few years ago, I questioned just how unemployed Odd Todd really was. Now that he has a gig talking about food science in flash animation on America's Test Kitchen, I'm really beginning to doubt the authenticity of his job situation. He seems rather entrepreneurial and driven for a guy who walks around in a bathrobe eating "cook-ays" and drinking "coff-ay."

Making Do

When it comes to certain things, Adam and I fall in the "make do" category of people. For example, we kicked around the box containing our new lamp for two months before we got around to installing it. The box was too big for our closets so for months, we would move this lightweight, but cumbersome box from our bedroom to the living room and back again, several times a week. Next up, the lovely king sized comforter plasticmom graciously sent us. It's been sitting in the corner of our room for months. The problem was, we didn't have a comforter cover and we were paralyzed with indecision about what to buy. Motivated by the drop in temperature, I finally ordered something on Garnet Hill without consulting Adam. I felt my executive decision was justifiable since it was 70% off and wicked cheap. Adam may feel otherwise. Now that we finally have a lovely lamp in our living room and a nice flannel comforter, we'll be ready for winter.