Potpourri

This is going to be another random grab-bag of a post.  I'm not quite ready to sit down and tell you all in excruciating detail why I loved The Fault in Our Stars and why you should all read it.  We just watched 50/50 last night (who knew that the theme of my cultural consumption for the week was going to be "cancer"?) so I'll probably review them both at the same time.

Today was my day off.  I had a massage and then grocery shopped and prepped dinner and cleaned the house in preparation for Chinese New Year, which we're not really allowed to observe this year - we're supposed to wait until 1 year after the anniversary of Kung Kung (and also, Poppa D's) passing(s).  We're not supposed to give out lucky money, because that would be like "giving out death."  We're having the Dotytron's family over for dinner on Monday - it's going to be a Chinese food dinner, but it's not going to be "Chinese New Year" dinner, per se, in order to get around the whole Chinese juju aspect.

I picked up the Big Yam from daycare early and we're hanging out.  I'm hoping we get a lot of snow soon because I want to take him sledding again.   I can't believe he's like, a semi-sentient being.  He has a favorite book.  It's a pretty hackneyed selection from his library, in my opinion, but he loves it.  When I say the word "story" he walks over on his cabbage roll feet and grabs it and then crawls all over me or the Dotytron trying to get into his "story" position.  I can't believe he's showing a preference for a cultural artifact.  It's kind of blowing my mind.  BTW, his favorite story of the moment is I Love You Through and Through.  On Tuesday night, when I got home from class, I asked the Dotytron for a debrief.  "Oh he was fine," he filled me in, "we were cracking up during dinner."  The idea of the two of them cracking each other up is so cute and mind-blowing at the same time.  Like, the fact that the Boobla is starting to have a sense of humour?!?  And he started off as a cell in my lady parts?!?  WTF?!?

So yeah, I'm guilty of being able to have my mind blown by the miracle of life.  That doesn't mean that I don't find Jay-Z going buck over Blue Ivy to be super-annoying.  He wrote this ghey song for her, featuring her, called Glory, and it's seriously the weakest, lamest, most hackneyed attempt at expressing the wonders of creation, like, ever.  I get it, I do.  But that doesn't mean that Beyoncé is like, special in any way for being able to squirt out a brat.  It also doesn't mean that you get to "dear diary" a rap tune.  Also in Jigga Man annoying news: he's said he's not going to use the word "b***h" anymore on account of his baby girl.  FRAB!  So weak!  I'm sure pro-lifers and pro-choicers are interested in knowing at precisely what point in Blue's gestation did she become a "girl" enough for him to lay off calling people b***hes?  As my FB friend said, why not swear off on account of his wife, mom, or any of the other remarkable women in his life?  It's just so...typical Jigga.  Thinking that he's so G-D special or something that anyone CARES that you've been "reformed."  Double FRAB.

In other news, we received our first gift subscription (from the Dotytron's Uncle Mert) issue of Reader's Digest this week.  I haven't cracked it open yet.  Am I wrong in thinking that Reader's Digest is a magazine with religious undertones?  Am I making this up?  I feel like I always see headlines like, "The Christian side of Islam" out of the corner of my eye at the grocery check out.  

Finally, to round out the "am I right or am I right?" observational stand-up comedy stylings of this post, it kind of infuriates me when I see recipes for "lightened up fettucini alfredo" in my food blogs.  I feel like if you want fettucini alfredo, you should just eat the G-D fettucini alfredo!  Lightening it up is like, the worst.  It does a disservice to the dish and to you, cuz you're not even going to get what you want.  It's just like, why you guys gotta lighten everything up?  Just let it BE!  If you want a chocolate chip cookie, eat it.  But if you're a chunky wunky who can't handle chocolate chip cookies with butter, rather than trying to "lighten up" a million 1000 calorie meals, just EAT SOMETHING ELSE THAT'S HEALTHY AND ALREADY DELICIOUS.  Lightened up fettucini alfredo isn't going to help you.  

That's actually a good segue into the non-cancer book I read recently.  Born Round is a memoir by Frank Bruni, former restaurant reviewer for the New York Times.  It chronicles his unlikely journey from the over-fed, well-loved, son of an Italian-American family (with the stereotypical, Italian Nonna, always pushing food on him), to the restaurant reviewing post at the Times, an unlikely position for someone who battled an eating-disorder and an unhealthy relationship with food and his own body, for much of his life.  Bruni is an excellent writer - funny, observant, capable of bringing his beloved mother and his nonna to life, all the while peppering the recollections with the kinds of salivation-inducing descriptions of food that only a true-blue eater can conjure.  Bruni is someone who loves food, who loves eating, who loves the whole gamut of tastes, textures, and memories that food can evoke.  He can rhapsodize equally over his Nonna's frits (fried dough, either dragged through sugar, or stuffed with mozzarella and tomato sauce) as his first experience eating cold sesame noodles.  Amidst all the eating, Born Round documents Bruni's struggle with his weight, his unhealthy tendency to gorge and overeat, and his failed attempts at achieving slenderness (and peace with himself) through shortcuts like occasional flirtations with bulimia, laxatives, and fad diets.  He also documents his journey through the world of journalism, which in itself is kind of fascinating - how he went from the Detroit Free Press to the Times, moving from section to section - covering Washington D.C. with no political reporting experience, then becoming the Rome correspondent, before finally landing as the Chief Restaurant Critic.  

I really enjoyed reading this book.  Bruni is a likeable person, and his writing is open and honest, drawing you in.  I don't usually love all memoirs, but either because the subject matter was near and dear to my heart, or through the strength of the writing and story alone, I really liked this.

On Wednesday night, we had whole wheat farfalle with broccoli pesto.  An oldie but a (healthy), goodie.  

Last night we had the roomie over for leftovers and bean salad (made by her - delicious).  Feeling bad about serving a guest (insofar as the roomie constitutes a guest in our home) leftovers, I whipped up a batch of the Milk bar chocolate-chocolate cookies.  The above video shows the Big Yam in action whenever the mixer gets whipped out.  He loves it more than anything.

Tonight we had shrimp and cheddar grits.  The grits were made in the slow cooker - simmered all day in a mixture of milk and water, with a touch of cream.  They were sooooo creamy and delicious.  

Fin.

Deep thoughts

Here are some deep thoughts from me:


1) Remember bruschetta?  Remember how bruschetta used to be like, a thing?  Like, any restaurant you would go to, regardless of type of cuisine would have bruschetta and people saying, "I loooove bruschetta" and getting all weirdly faux-Italian with the pronunciation was a regular occurrence ("BROOOOSCHKKKETTTA")  I don't know why this came up recently, but I've been weirdly fixated on it.  Like, it was SO ubiquitous, guys!  As if chopped tomatoes with some basil on garlic on bread was the be-all and end-all.  You couldn't show up to a graduation party without it appearing.  I love it as much as the next person (in season), but I feel that the benefit of distance allows me to say that bruschetta is a b***h to eat in public.  The tomatoes get everywhere!


2) Last week we walked into Kernals to pick up some supplies for our planned Settlers of Cattan date with Dr. Rei and Hanbo.  While we were there, we met this guy who was basically the Kernals-version of Randal Graves.  Anyway, we were riffing with the guy about his job and then the Dotytron said something like, "yeah, and then 8 years later, you're still here" at which point I proceeded to die inside while the guy said, "8 years? Dude, I've only been here for 6 months."  When we left the store I was like, way to make that dude feel like he's doing a go-nowhere job for the rest of his life and he has no future.  LOL!  The Dotytron is all like, "what? Noooo...he got that it was a joke, right?" And then when the ramifications of what he had said sunk in, proceeded to feel really bad.  We realized that he picked a number that was all-too-feasible for a Kernals front-line employee.  It's really easy to meet the 8 year mark doing a gig like that.  The Dotytron should have picked like, 80 years or something to drive the joke point home.


3)  During what was a generally hilarious conversation later that same evening, the topic of the "2nd earth" (aka the Christmas Planet - worst name, EVER!  Why not just call it "unobtanium"?!?)   that had been dominating the news over the holidays came up.  Hanbo, ever the sensible one, asked, "How do they know the planet is so earth-like?" To which Dr. Rei and I, already on a spinning-each-other-up tear, responded at the same time (respectively): "They just do!" "They can see it........trails off uncomfortably"  LOL!!!  So typical us.


4) So, as some of you may know, the Dotytron and I availed ourselves of a 50% Porter seat sale to book ourselves a little 10th anniversary trip to NYC.  The big question mark was what to do with the Boobla.  My mum said no, it's a lot to ask of Momma D, and we weren't sure if we wanted to part with him anyway.  The interim solution (which allowed for maximum unfettered restauranting on my part) was going to be dropping him off with my sister so that she would take him into the daycare Little Big Cuz goes to and then picking him up.  Not bad all around (even if my heart did falter at the thought of him eating US institutional daycare food for 3 days).  Anyway, we were still up in the air about what we're going to do, until Momma D came up with the brilliant plan to come with us to NYC.  That way, she could watch the Big Yam at night while we did our own thing and all was right in the world.  So cute!  


...


Until I started getting the odd email with a food/restaurant suggestion (full disclosure: there have been 2 emails, and 1 of the restos was already on my spreadsheet).  I am such a control freak that it had never crossed my mind that in travelling with other people, THEY MIGHT NOT CEDE GASTRONOMIC CONTROL TO ME.  LOL!  Like, my family generally lets me do the meal planning, if something like that is available.  When I've traveled with other friends, it hasn't been an issue.  Either they're eaters like me that I trust implicitly, or, they're willing to cede control to me and eat weird random sandwiches on their own time (see: Dr. Rei and the Dotytron in Florence & Rome.  See: what a hard time they gave me when I refused to eat anything that wasn't on "the list").  Anyway, Momma D has been lovely about it and has as much as said that I can meal plan the entire trip but even the odd innocuous email suggestion stresses me out.  Because I'm a psycho.  LOL!  We're having to adjust our eating plans anyway to accommodate the presence of the Big Yam.   


It just goes to show you that in all things Lagerfeld, it's Lagerfeld's way or the highway.

  

Tonight for dinner we had braised squid and chickpeas with whole wheat couscous and light, simple, mixed green salad.  The braised squid was pretty terrible, I don't think I'll be making that again.


Fin.

The bitter sting of discrimination

I spent all yesterday in Elmira with Lolly et al. doing some wedding dress shopping at this bridal boutique in the middle of farm country. It was a fun outing, but I was also the recipient of a VERY frosty reception from some old skool Mennonites at the quilting store in town (and by "town," I mean the one commercial strip for miles.) The women in the store were kind of gawking and shying away from me and SMckay and the proprietor lady was quite curt and dour and refused all my effusive compliments on her store. I was like, WTF ladies - DON'T BE SO UNCHRISTIAN! So SMckay may or may not have nearly knocked over a display of religious greeting cards - no need to be such dicks about it. So I might have not been dressed appropriately for my age in a too-short H&M babydoll and a fierce side French braid that snaked around my head - them Mennonite b***hes shouldn't be so jelly of my acres of tanned, brown, not-so-toned skin. It's just flesh! Relax gurlz!

Tuesday night's outing with Dr. Rei and Montréal I and the roomie was fun - we had dinner at Gourmet Burger Co. and then went to our movie. I also picked up some new pants for work - high waisted trouser cut jeans (sshhhh...don't tell HR!) in an intense blue-black:

I really want to sharpen up my work wardrobe. I've been coasting since graduating from school and I want to get serious about my work style - since that's where I spend the majority of my time anyway. For the fall, I'm thinking sweater dresses with boots and a crisp white dress shirt underneath. Sleeveless, 60s looking dresses in black and grey with a brightly coloured turtleneck, tights, and open toed sandals with a chunky heel. Trouser cut pants with a tucked in shirt, a colourful cardigan and a contrasting skinny belt. Some new flats and a new purse that says grown-up.

Crazy, Stupid, Love was aight. I don't think it's deserving of the critical praise being heaped on it. It's being touted as a mature love story but it's not that mature. The story centres around Cal Weaver, who is 20-odd-years into a marriage with Julianne Moore's character and has gotten depressingly complacent - to the point where his wife has an affair and wants a divorce. Broken and lost, he ends up frequenting a bar where a slick lothario in the extremely-easy-on-the-eyes form of Ryan Gosling takes him under his wing for lessons in how to mack the ladies and get his groove back. There's also Emma Stone as Hannah - a lawyer who is awkward in all things relationship and who catches the eye of Ryan Gosling. An unnecessary subplot involves Cal's babysitter's immature lust for Cal and Cal's son's unrequited love for the babysitter. The interwoven plot reaches at times with the tidiness of the interrelationships and some stories are more compelling than others. The tone breaks between farce and more tender, realistic moments and I found the shifts for cheap laughs jarring. Overall, it was okay, but definitely felt over-long at certain moments and didn't deliver on the laughs.

We saw the movie in the Varsity VIP room which costs more (the timing was better for our respective schedules) and which has stupid benefits like: bigger seats, seats set up in pairs with crappy cheap plastic side tables separating the groups, and someone taking your order and delivering your snacks to you. For like, $20 a ticket on a regular night. LAME! They also only show 2 movie previews which is the

Tonight I'm going with Dr. Rei to the premiere of One Day which is based on a fairly meh novel by David Nicholls featuring 2 intensely irritating and unlikable protagonists that got an undeserved amount of good reviews/press and which my academic Book Club has chosen as their next title, alongside John Updike's Couples (the theme is monogamous pairings, apparently) which I haven't picked up from the bibliotheque yet but which I anticipate will be mad borzorz. We shall see what the night brings. This is after my friend P who is in town from Egypt comes over for the earliest dinner of all time, which makes him extremely accommodating considering I had originally totally bumped him to go to this movie with Dr. Rei until I realized that I COULD HAVE IT ALL by eating dinner at 4pm. Yay!

Tomorrow we're headed off for our last road trip of the summer - to R & R Acres. Big Yam at the Farm (the other farm - like, the real working farm, and not Lolls' farm)! Ehmdo is coming too! Fun!

In the meantime, imma leave you with this video of the Big Yam eating a piece of corn on the cob which is kind of hilarious, mostly because he does this awesome thing where he holds it in his mouth and then blows around it (the sound of him blowing is most obvious at the 1:18 mark):

Doubtful I'll have time to post before I head out - but when I come back, regular posting will resumeth!

Fin.

Unexplained phenomena

There was a photo from before I left for my vacation at the bottom of a post that I didn't describe and some of you astute readers might have finished reading that particularly scintillating (it wasn't) entry and gotten to the end and been like, "WTF?" This is the photo in question:

This was a gift to the Big Yam from his Great Nany. It's an obviously handmade, quite tall figure made out of the itchiest, most unsoft, most toxic-seeming foam this side of a Chinese infant formula manufacturing facility. She said she saw it in a store and wanted to get it for the Big Yam. We suspect it was an item used for display purposes, as it's not even finished. The top of his head is open so that you can see into it and there's a cheap ribbon looped through to hang him from something. It is simultaneously creepy, unsafe, and odd and we don't know what the crap to do with it in our house. I don't really want the Big Yam playing with it - it's really shoddily put together with like, wood glue. When I called Great Nany about another unrelated matter, she wondered if it was "Bud Lightyear" - oy. Right now he's been relegated to a dark corner of the basement. Any ideas?

Real life has been pretty good to us so far. I've been taking over mornings so that the Dotytron can do lesson planning and all the other borz0rz stuff that teachers have to do during their time off so that their lives aren't hell. LAME!

But we've been having fun hanging with the roomie and Montréal I, going to parks and for walks and just chilling.

Yesterday I attempted to get our lives back on track and made us whole wheat blueberry pancakes for breakfast. The key to a good pancake (IMO) is making sure you have enough fat in the pan so that you get that crispy ring around the outside (see above). That crispy ring MAKES a pancake, IMO.

Last night Montréal I made us a fish soup for dinner. I was admittedly skeptical. When we lived with her in university I wasn't prepared for her Russian peasant eating habits and would look askance at her dinners of smoked oysters on buttered crackers. Really, it was I who had the growing up to do, as I'm now the person happily scarfing pickled herring on buttered rye bread like I grew up on a gulag in the the Siberian Steppes. The fish soup was very simple - water, carrots, celery, potatoes, dill, salmon, and scallops, shrimp, and squid poached in a lemony marinade tossed in at the last second. I made us a salad of broiled figs stuffed with gorgonzola and wrapped in pancetta on arugala dressed with olive oil and balsamic.

I also made us Mona's Mother's Mother's favorite cookie recipe, which got bumped to the top of the baking queue when our friend N won a family oatmeal cookie baking contest with the recipe. As you well know, I loooooooove winning cooking/baking contests!

Finally, here is a photo of a giant slug that appeared on our back deck, with the Dotytron's hand for reference. HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!??? Giant slugs are GIANT!!! We saw oodles of nature while at the cottage(s) which I get big thrills from. We saw: a muskrat, baby loons, regular sized loons, a doe, a buck (I've never seen a male deer in the wild and this one was super up close), and wild turkeys. That's a pretty impressive tally.

Tonight I'm being reunited with my dove, Dr. Rei and we're going to dinner and seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love with Montréal I and the roomie.

Fin.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

...turn and face the strange, indeed! The Dotytron has accepted a new job as the band leader for a middle school (grades 7 & 8)! This school sounds like it has a lot more going for it in the music department - they have regular band AND a strings-only band and there's a separate parent council for music and they do a pretty good job fundraising. So this is a good step in the direction of the Dotytron's eventual goal of teaching high school music - the students will know what's what, the parents will be more demanding, etc.

The bad part is: it's still only a 0.5! This is why the TDSB is messed up. At this stage in the hiring process, the Dotytron CANNOT apply for another 0.5 to make a full-time gig. He can only QUIT his current 0.5 and go pick up a new one. So dumb. Which means that even though he LOVES the school that he's currently employed at and loves the admin and loves the ghetto Scarberian kids he teaches (new school is still in Scarborough, but a slightly better part, where when you show the kids an instrument or try to discipline them they're not like: *blank stare* "wha gwaaan?"), he can't pick up this new 0.5 to make a full day of teaching. So the only thing he can do is wait and see if he can apply (in the third round of postings) for his current job, which will be posted for the 2nd round, and if it doesn't get filled, apply and make up a full day that way. So arcane!!! Also, there's a weird seniority thing where a teacher who has been working X number of years has access to a SECRET round of postings and can just cherry pick their job without having to interview at all. Random! Right now, there's still some flexibility with his new job in terms of scheduling, so we're going to look at where the majority of postings want a half time person (either in the morning or afternoon) and decide his schedule based on that and we're crossing our fingers that his current school won't find someone suitable and will hire him back on a half-time basis and then he can FINALLY be working full time (albeit at 2 different schools, which will be stressful).

A random assortment of funny stories from our life:

1) The Dotytron was feeding the Big Yam the other day and picked him up out of the high chair to clean him up. "Ugh dude, your legs are all filthy!" Turning to me, noticing that I had a washcloth in my hand, the Dotytron says, "Can you do me a favor and whack this guy off for me?" *long beat* LOL! He meant scrape down the Boobla's legs with the washcloth - but hilariously inappropriate nonetheless.

2) Our dodgeball game got cancelled last night so we had a free night. The Dotytron went upstairs to practice his guitar and I was downstairs doing some computer work. After 2 hours of separateness, he comes downstairs and sees me sitting at my laptop. "What are you doing?" Me: "Looking at this picture of Bill Gates" *turns laptop around*

Dotytron: "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?"

3) Some of you may know that I've been actively campaigning for an e-reader for like, a whole year. I read A LOT. And it's nice to have a billion books on one thing that's small and portable for travel and whatnot. Anyway, I'd dropped mad hints (ie. overt statements) that I wanted an e-reader at Christmas to no avail. So I've been jokingly dropping mad hints about wanting one for Mother's Day on the Dotytron's Facebook wall. Then today I turned to him and said, "Don't buy me an e-reader, it probably makes more sense for us to buy each other a tablet at Christmas and then get an e-reader app for it" to which he looked me straight in the eye and said, "Okay. But what if I already got you an e-reader?" AWWWWWW! What a cute little muffin! He said it's from him and the Big Yam. I was like, "what money did you use?" "The only money I have right now: credit" LOL! So it looks like I'm getting a Kindle! Wahoo! I was torn at the last minute because I thought a Kobo might be better (it takes the epub format instead of Kindle's proprietary .azw) - but if we end up going with my tablet plan, we can always get a Kobo app for that and cover all our bases. I married a very sweet giraffe-with-the-head-of-the-squirrel-that-looks-like-Abraham-Lincoln-from-the-Simpson's indeed. Although now I've shot myself in the food because I don't know what to get him!

Last night's beef burrito bowl was deeelicious. Brown rice & black beans cooked in a guajillo chile-tomato sauce flavoured with cumin and coriander and Mexican oregano, topped with sliced sirloin steak and a tomato-scallion-avocado-lime salsa with sour cream dabbed on top. I'm loving my rice bowls lately.

I went for my first real run today - ran (the word is used loosely) for just under 3km and didn't stop to walk once. It's the new me! So breakfast this morning was healthytimes - a bowl of steel cut oatmeal with a blackberry and rhubarb compote:

Tonight I'm going to this resident information session for the park at the end of my street. There are some plans to revamp the skating rink and modernize the space that I'm soooo happy about. Right now, we have a hockey rink with boards and an open free skate rink that's roughly the same size right next to it. They're going to cover over the hockey rink (first covered outdoor rink in Toronto!) and scrap the free skate rink, instead turning the free skate area into a figure 8 skate path with trees and other greenery planted around it. They're also updating the change rooms - putting in a community use room, a family change room, and shrinking down the male and female change rooms a bit (right now they're ginormous and kind of gross). YAY! So pleased that this park is right at the bottom of our street and is getting so much love!

For dinner I'm making us asparagus and proscuitto tartines (French open-faced sandwiches of stuff on bread) topped with a poached egg and shaved parm. With a side salad.

Fin.

Why would you ask me?

I've been emailing back and forth recently with a friend from undergrad that I've only kept touch with on a once-a-year email exchange basis. He recently moved to Philadelphia to do a post-doc there and we had had plans to meet up for the first time in 3 years before he left, but things got hectic and post-poned. Anyway, he's headed back to finish up his research in Toronto and wanted to put the feelers out so that we could finally get together. This guy is a pretty anarchist-y type - in the squatter/bomb the suburbs/dabbles in hard drugs kind of way. We all went to see Baudrillard and Spivak together and it was one of the BEST experiences of my life and he was Trent University Cultural Studies crew back when Cultural Studies was a bit of a fringe discipline.

ANYWAY, he sent me an email letting me know he was coming back to town and asking what's been up with me, whereupon I had to confess that all my youthful, anti-establishment idealism had been forsaken and I was now a married (!) homeowner (!) with a kid (!) Ugh. The small part of 19 year old Karl Lagerfeld that still exists as some vestigial memory of when I wasn't a honky grandma still shudders at the Karl Lagerfeld of today - the diffidently political, mostly a-critical sellout who is hardly a contributing member of civil society and only reads the entertainment sections of the Huffington Post. (In my defense - I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate the headline page - with the stupid Arial font screaming OBAMA IN AFGHANISTAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (Hyperbole aside - fine, it doesn't have a million exclamation marks, but the thing that bugs me with the Huffington Post front page headline is that IT MIGHT AS WELL and it looks like it was made - by me - in my grade 11 social studies class when I had to make a webpage about my project on 1960s and I was like, "uh, okay, sure I'll make a 'webpage' - whatever THAT is.")

ANYWAY, I digress. In the email he asked me (me!) if I had any links to the "dom world" for a friend of his who was moving to Toronto and looking for work/video work in that field. I was like, "why would you ask meeee???" This is illustrative of a few things:

1) How far Karl Lagerfeld v. 2011 is from Karl Lagerfeld v.1996

2) How I must have TOTALLY misrepresented myself in undergrad for someone to think that I even have lingering connections or know-how of S&M culture

The past two mornings I've been dragging the Big Yam to drop-in centres in the neighbourhood (how's THAT for being indicative of my current subcultural affiliations?) There's a few run by the province in some schools (that follow the school calendar and are thus closed during the summer, holiday break, March break, etc.) and some that are year-round in community centres attached to schools or in church basements. The one in the school closest to us is pretty boss - bright, clean, scheduled activities (songs, physical activities), with a water table, sand table, toys, arts and crafts supplies, etc. They all seem to share a fridge, kitchenette, etc. and it's a great resource if you start to feel squirrely and want an outing for you and your kid. I can imagine it'd be a godsend if you had more than 1 at home. The Big Yam is a little small for most of the things but he got a kick sitting in the exersaucer (our house is too small for one) and seemed to enjoy the visual stimulation and staring at people other than me for a change. I've also increased my song repertoire, which is what inspired me to go in the first place. I can't believe these resources are FREE! So amazing! So much better than a "mommy club" - listening to "guest speakers" on "how to get along with your mother in law" and sipping lattes.

Yesterday we went to visit Ehmdo at her place at Queen and Bathurst. That corner steadfastly resists gentrification like no other. But oh! So many shops surrounding it! So many things to buy! I could hardly believe it - it's been a long time since I've ventured down that way.

Last night for dinner I made us freezer mac'n'cheese and a shredded brussels sprout salad with my new go-to usual add-ins of toasted pine nuts, dijon mustard, olive oil, and lemon, alongside some sautéed spinach with garlic.

Tonight we were supposed to take my mum to Woodlot for dinner but she canceled because work is insane for her right now and it's taking a lot out of her looking after my Poh Poh. So instead we tried 786 Halal Restaurant in little India. It was decent Pakistani cuisine, but not as good as our go-to, Makkah on the Danforth. We ordered ginger lamb kahari, beef chapli, biryani rice, naan, and a saag paneer. Call me finicky, but I really really really hate when they leave the cloves and stuff in the biryani rice. It's so annoying biting into a clove! So annoying! Also the chapli kabob (the ground beef patty) was littered with whole cardamom seeds. Also unpleasant. And that is why I will never travel to India. LOL!

Fin.

zoinks!

i know, it's been a while. that's cuz sunday was such an epic whirlwind of a day that the thought of typing it out seemed a little daunting. on top of that, yesterday was dodgeball finals and work has been insane. i pulled TWO HOURS of overtime last night (waiting to go to dodgeball, but still, i actually WORKED instead of my usual futzing around on the intarwebs routine.) the good news is, i found out today that my earned day off (EDO) is being reinstated. i scarcely dare believe it. i've been on such an emotional roller coaster with this thing, but i met with hr, and they signed off on it, so my third fridays are back in my beloved arms. maybe we had to be separated to realize just how much we appreciated each other (this is a patent lie. i appreciated it plenty. do a search of past rhapsodic blurg posts to that effect.)

so. sunday. we slept in a little bit, having fobbed off our meeting with our agent (we just didn't feel like schlepping around looking at houses and being business on a sunday. worst house hunters EVER.) so i came up with a hair brained scheme to accomplish 10 billion things at once. the plan was thus: we would go for a run along the danny, stopping at the westernmost outpost of our grocery shopping ports of call, walk the groceries back, then job down to this place called 'okay okay' diner for breakfast, then walk back. nice and leisurely. the first part went swimmingly. we jogged briskly and amiably, got groceries, walked them back. the second part of our mission involved us leaving the house, carrying only our bank cards, and $30 (we were going to get more money at the bank machine to top up the $30 for breakkie.)

we jogged down to queen, the air was brisk, we worked up an appetite that could only be sated by eggs and carbs and fat. the dotytron went to our branch in leslieville while i nosed around a value village. i met up with him at the branch only to find him lacking cash and locked out of his card. apparently he had entered his pin, the machine told him it was wrong, he tried two more times and he got locked out. weird. so then i tried. i entered my pin in once and the machine gave me a "your card is disabled" line and wouldn't give me the time of day on subsequent tries. very strange. we warned the people waiting in line after us to use the machine that it might very well be possessed and stood aside to see how they fared. NO PROBLEMS AT ALL. okay. me and the dotytron's accounts with the bank aren't linked in ANY fashion. it's pretty freakin' odd that two separate cards would arbitrarily be subject to erroneous and false accusations of pin-entering-malfeasance, right?

so then we were kind of spooked because we (naturally) assumed that someone had stolen either my identity, his identity, or (worst yet) some monstrous amalgam of BOTH our identities. we were also FAMISHED. so we walked over to okay okay on queen east and peered at the menu and counted our monies and realized that we had *just* enough to cover what we wanted to order, tax, and a barebones tip. the place was small and there was a couple waiting ahead of us. there was also a lady who looked up at us and brusquely demanded, "you waiting for a table. how many." i said two, and she said, she'd take my name down for a table. so i gave her my given name, and she snarkily said, "how about your REAL name?" and i said, "uhhh, that IS my real name," and she said, "oh, i thought it would be something shorter, so i wouldn't have to write so much." at which point i was so blinded by rage at her crappy service and the fact that my bank card was all shambles that i didn't think to respond with the reply that came to me later, "how's about C**T? how's THAT for a short first name, lady?"

so we both walked out and were HOPPIN' mad and we mad-walked all the way home and called the bank and tried to get our cards sorted out. mystery of mysteries, the bank had the dotytron down as having entered his pin correctly, once (even though he tried 3 times) and had me down as entering my pin incorrectly SEVEN times (even though i only tried once.) so his was unlocked and mine was locked. then i called 'okay okay' and complained to that same terrible server who seemed kind of taken aback that her transferral of her own ambivalence and dissatisfaction with having made the exceedingly poor decision to work in the service industry, doing a brunch shift at an extremely busy restaurant with a clientele of mostly annoying young urbanites (i don't blame her, but you chose this path, lady) was commented upon by a dissatisfied customer. she assured me that i would be receiving a phone call from the actual proprietors (i haven't, to date.) anyway, we were both hungry and achey and tired and most of all, still deprived of that thing we wanted most of all: eggs and carbs and fat.

so i figured we should pilfer from the grocery jar (and repay later) and bike back down to queen and go to one of our tried and true brunch spots, joy bistro. we got our bikes out, still mad and testy enough to be peevish and snappish with each other, which necessitated me initiating a "let's start all over." a "let's start all over" means that i put the breaks on a rapidly deteriorating situation and "start over" in the persona of the dotytron, by sticking out my hand and saying, "hi, i'm ***" it's a good way of regrouping before things escalate too far and someone gets locked out of the house and has to smash the door in to get back in. errrrr...that may or may not have happened. lol!

anyway, we were still mad when we started biking and still a little flush from our previous physical exertions. however, as we started coasting downhill on our bikes in the brisk, sunday, sunny-but-only-really-10-degrees weather, we rapidly realized that we hadn't dressed appropriately and we were both FREEZING. freezing cold, miserable, hungry, and steadfastly fixated on a goal of eggs and carbs and fat.

at this point, we were so far gone the only thing we could do is laugh the maniacal, empty laugh of the damned. no sooner had we reached THAT state of being then we came upon the most MAGICAL HOUSE IN ALL OF TORONTO. on a wee side street winding up from queen east, was a little semi-detached house, pretty standard east side fare, except for the fact that the ENTIRE FACADE WAS COVERED WITH STUFFED ANIMALS AND DOLLS. seriously. the entire front of the house featured row upon row of stuffed animals and dolls, and the low fence encircling the property was similarly festooned.

naturally, we stopped and gawked. "this is the best thing ever" we announced. i noticed that an oldish lady was watching us appreciate the gong show that was this house. i kind of assumed it was a neighbour marveling along with us at the decrease in her property values. then she asked us if she liked it. she wasn't dressed super-odd. she was missing a few front teeth. she kind of looked like the kind of person you'd see shopping at knob hill farms a little too late on a saturday night (an elite group of oddities with whom i was aligned, thanks to big d.) anyway, we politely replied that it was "something else" and she said that it wasn't often seen by very many people because not many people walk down this particular street. then, she asked, in a faltering, wizened, old lady voice, "would you like to have tea in my garden?" at which point we decided to abort! i thanked her but told her that we had brunch plans and we biked off. THAT'S WEIRD, RIGHT?!? needless to say, the line of the week so far has been "would you like to have tea in my garden?" in old lady voice. lol!

then i biked to dodgeball and played like a maniac. so on sunday, i: ran, biked to dodgeball and back (about 20 km) and played dodgeball. i was so done by the time i came home.

i managed however, to throw together this tasty repast. it was kind of passover themed. i made roasted salmon with a tasty herbed mayonnaise sauce, pan fried rosemary "smashed" potatoes (little red potatoes boiled until tender, smashed roughly with a potato masher, and fried until crusty in a pan with oil and chopped rosemary) and roasted white asparagus with bagna cauda. the salmon was superb. i seared it skin side down first in a cast iron pan (season the salmon skin generously with salt and pepper, place skin side down in a medium-hot pan, cook slowly until the skin is crispy and then finish in a 400F oven, approx. 10 minutes for each 1" of thickness of salmon.) i'll post the recipe for the mayonnaise sauce after.

for dessert, we had orange creamsicle floats, inspired by something i saw that suzanne goin had done in one of her restaurants (except she subs tangerine juice for the blood oranges). it's so easy! you juice one or two blood oranges or tangerines into a glass, add a few scoops of vanilla ice cream, and top off with club soda. i think if i wanted to gussy it up a bit more, to add an herbaceous element i would stir it with a sprig of rosemary...i think those flavours would be lovely. it was DIVINE. so good we had one last night when i came home from monday night dodgeball.

tonight we had a simple, quick pasta of whole wheat penne tossed with T's chilies, chili oil, garlic, rapini, sliced salami, and some grated pecorino.

i still have book reviews to do...hopefully i can catch up tomorrow. but P is coming up to visit for easter weekend from new york and you know how much we love our pingy around here so we'll probably be occupied hanging with her before we head to chicago on friday.

fin.


----------------------------------------------------
herbed mayonnaise sauce for salmon
makes enough for 6-8 portions up to 2.5lbs of salmon fillets

2/3 c. of mayonnaise (i used that super raw-garlickly anchovy-less caesar dressing i had made a while ago)
1/4 c. of spicy brown mustard (or grainy, or dijon)
2 T. of brown sugar
1/4 c. chopped fresh tarragon
1/4 c. chopped fresh dill
1/4 c. chopped fresh chives
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
2 T. lemon juice

- mix all together in a bowl. season generously with pepper and carefully with salt. spread on top of salmon and roast as per directions above. extra sauce can be serve alongside.

sick!

not me, my computer! i think i have some kind of malware or spyware or even worse, some other virus i know less than nothing about because my computer is acting all funnies! all my web browsers crash a million times a second! it's very stressful. i've backed up all my shiz onto my spare harddrive but i'm composing this post on the dotytron's computer and well, it doesn't feel right. it's not the usual chinotto is my nemesis routine and i feel it keenly.

last night was fun. i got to call bwong out on talking about the tower of babel all the time. sometimes bwong will incongruously drop in a tower of babel reference that doesn't really fit the context of the conversation. it was funny. BUSTED! dr. rei also got owned when she said, "you mean king kong?" to the dotytron, when the dotytron had just been talking about hong kong. so no, he didn't mean king kong. lol!!!

dinner turned out so-so. the pork was really tasty and very jerky. i LOVES me some pork shoulder...one of my favorite cuts of meat. it tastes good at all stages. when the collagen is still all tight and the meat is a little chewy and tough and you get a thick bite of still resistant fat - sublime! when the pork has completely lost all form and shape and is a loose collection of shredded, tender meat - delectable! i wasn't happy with the rice. some of it was still crunchy and i called a last-minute audible and cooked the swiss chard in with it. i think it was a bit of a mistake.

for dessert i made that pecan caramel banana upside down cake. the caramel crystalized for whatever reason and was more of a hard, crunchy, sugar-mountain layer as opposed to the oozy, goopy, drippy mess it's supposed to be - but it was still delicious. hanbo took one bite and told me it was awesome. lol!

'i love you, man' was kind of disappointing. we didn't lol all that much. it was kind of lacklustre. to be honest, i kind of liked 'role models' a bit better, mostly for the kid painted up as the cat person in KISS. 'role models' was a bit more cohesive and showed a more judicious use of supporting players. 'i love you, man' wasn't very winning. the couple who bickered and then had hot sex weren't featured enough for you to get a handle on them, so they became these stock characters. also, their cutting remarks weren't that funny and the guy was a legitimate boor, so it didn't make sense or make you care.

it was a waste of andy samberg. he wasn't very funny at all. all the characters seemed to be playing stock roles that they didn't invest with enough personality or life to make them relatable, or funny beyond your standard, taking-cracks-at-gay-guys trope. i didn't really believe in the relationship between peter and sidney. i didn't see their connection. there wasn't enough of that improvisational humour that makes the work of the apatow gang so hilarious. paul rudd's character was a loser. unlike the '40 year old virgin,' which kind of makes the situation completely plausible and realistic, it didn't make sense why rudd's character didn't have male friends and he wasn't as endearing as steve carrell in '40 year old virgin.' i didn't get why rudd's character "broke up" with segel's character. you knew it was coming because that's the conventions of this genre, but i didn't know why.

overall, the whole thing didn't work for me. i love jason segel and i usually love paul rudd, but this wasn't the best showcase for their work. you know what i DID love, though? rashida jones' (who's gotten too skinny!!!) wardrobe. EVERY OUTFIT could have (should have) been mine! MINE!

there was this one yellow top in particular that she wore with 70s, trouser-y/flared jeans that made me instantly insane with jealousy at the fact that it wasn't currently hanging in my closet. totally gorgeous. it helps that she's such a looker!

so...i'm kind of racist. i'm pretty much in charge of planning the hawai'i vacation, so i'm doing all the research. the other night, i was reading a hawai'i guidebook in bed. frustrated, i shut the book and said, "it's SO HARD remembering all the names of stuff! it's all 'kamuelakaka poipoi lanaihela' this or "hanipele malakehueha' that!" i turned to the dotytron, looking for some commisseration with my plight only to find him staring at me with his mouth agape. heh. yeah, i can see how i'm being a dick.

lately i've been saying all kinds of wacky stuff. last week when i was all crankers, i was talking about how the tentants upstairs had given me a cheque for last month's bills that was short $0.02. maybe i AM overreacting. but i think it's weird that you would PURPOSELY choose a lower figure (the 2 cent difference makes the entire total different) when i give you a printed note with the full cost breakdown, but whatever. in a low, even voice, i told the dotytron, matter-of-factly, "you know, people are really trying to piss me off lately," only to look over to see him laughing at how ridiculous i sounded.

the other day as we were getting ready for work, the dotytron off-handedly said, "i killed a giant spider in the tub, i flushed him down with the spray from the shower-head." he then went on a bit to describe the spider, to which i responded, in hushed, anxious tones, "that's TERRIBLE!" he was all like, "what, the news about the spider? uhhh...i guess" lol! i don't know if i'm explaining it well. but suffice it to say that recent buzzwords around here have been "that's terrible!" and "people are really trying to piss me off lately" lol! it still makes me laugh!

tonight for dinner i made pizzas using a crust featuring sourdough starter. one had tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil leaves (margherita). the other one had sliced potato, rosemary, and roasted garlic. i think they turned out kind of pooey. the crust was kind of crackery. i don't know what i did wrong. i've been off on my cooking lately.

okay, i'm out of time at the dotytron internet café.

fin

newsflash!

the movie "notorious" is AWFUL! especially cam-versions you downloaded that feature the camera-wielder's heavy breathing (seriously, our bootlegger must have had the deviated septum to end all deviated septums), audience laughter, and action that happens OUTSIDE OF THE CAMERA'S FRAME. lol!

what we rapidly discovered is that we, or anyone who knew the FIVE facts that EVERYONE knows about biggie, could have made the movie. this is surprising because the movie was executive produced by someone who purportedly knew him quite well, puffy. the only good thing the movie does is make you hate puffy more than you already did. it presented LITERAL depictions of his lyrics (ie. numerous scenes with biggie making sure that everyone in the five boroughs know how much he loves it when you call him big poppa) strung together in a haphazard fashion with no struggle, adversity, character development, or anything that would you know, make a story compelling.

actually, i'm wrong. the movie also does another good thing, which is make tupac prance around in silky, blouson shirts that make him look like gianni versace's kindred spirit (this is before tupac makes the sudden, capricious, and completely unexplained metamorphosis into the thug life tupac of california love - aka the video that features people inexplicably screaming and spraying spittle at the camera in some cirque-du-soleil meets mad max desert mardi gras setting, replete with people driving atvs across the dunes pumping their fists ad nauseum and locations typed across the screen in generic "computer font" accompanied by "computer noises.")

lil' kim was allegedly pissed off about how she was portrayed in the film and denounced it. i'd like to venture that lil' kim hasn't actually SEEN the film, because not only is the actress portraying lil' kim about 1000000000 hotter than lil' kim herself, it's actually a pretty sympathetic portrait. same with faith evans. poor angela bassett acts her HEART out as biggie's stern, set-upon mother - it's actually quite tragic that she's even in this movie and trying half as hard as she does. finally, none of the actors look anything remotely like the people they are supposed to be.

which isn't to say that last night wasn't the FUNNEST, but that's because the goosetang clan takes immeasurable joy in being together and can find laughter anywhere. i was a pretty cranky, sleep-deprived bastard, and it was still the funnest. we ate pounds and pounds of popeye's fried chicken and biscuits and sides, washed down with pop and beer, and finished with a classic goosetang clan viennese dessert table consisting of miami snack cakes, ah caramels, and my caramel cake which was DELICIOUS! i'll take a pic and post it tonight. it's quite the homely little thing - just a golden cake topped with a caramel icing, but when i say "just," instead picture a tender crumbed, lightly sweet, brown crusted delicious cake topped with a sweetly warm oozy sticky topping. i did the southern thing and used the a** end of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over the cake, so that the caramel could seep in. it was lovely! just the thing with a cold glass of milk and it's going to be my treat tonight when i get home from dodgeball.

i was glad my dodgeball team invitees bailed last night. i was too cranky to deal with them. i really do enjoy their company but there's vast differences between us. differences like: they prefer a soundtrack of death metal and don't get hype from hip hop (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) on mondays, when we're the "west coast rap ball stars" i'm responsible for providing the soundtrack, which is naturally, hip hop. people don't like it...they associate it with laying out, when i've had some of the crunkest times of my life to old skool hip hop. death metal to me seems like joke music. one time we walked into a gym and someone was playing prodigy and one of the girls sneered, "what IS this?" it kind of broke my heart a bit. prodigy > death metal.

they can also be kind of young sometimes. like, not knowing how to rsvp young.

here is a general rule i like to live by: if you're eating the hottest wings on the menu, have tattoos, or are drunk - I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT. really, i don't give a s**t. people who feel the need to announce when they are drunk and draw attention to it, are frequently the same people who like to make a big production out of eating the spicy wings or think that tattoos or piercings actually constitute some kind of cultural capital. as a general rule: these people are the boringest. you can totally take that to the bank.

tonight is take out night. the roomie is "cooking" (aka buying us vietnamese food) and i'm going to go to bed early and catch up on my shut eye. how happy am i that it's a 4 day work week? MUY!

oops, before i forget...CONGRATULATIONS A&C!!!!!!!!

all this levity is really a cover for my broken heart though. chris brown fans the world over were shocked and dismayed at the screaming headlines from the gossip blogs. i can only hope that it's a gross misunderstanding. poor ri-ri.

fin.

i never said i wasn't crass

you know what had me laughing to myself last night after dodgeball, spicy pho, and an epsom salt bath, spewing cookie crumbs all over my keyboard and into my mug of cold milk? me asking ian about a "va-POO-rizer" (vaporizer). i basically laughed (at my own) (terrible) joke for about an hour. the kind of laughter where you think you have it in check only to explode in a big pooffft as the laugh comes gurgling from inside your belly all the way up and out past your cheeks, puffy from attempts to suppress borne out of shame (at how weak the joke is/was.) the other "joke" (i use the term liberally) that i always find funny is when i get to ask if anyone has seen a C**Tainer for *insert leftover here* i basically lose my s**t, which has the dotytron shaking his head, incredulous that i can find such juvenile humour so endlessly entertaining.

having the dotytron accompany me to pho hung resulted in me getting tainted with his gweilo (chinese for white person - "ghost man")-ness. we got a fork and a western spoon with our pho instead of the chinese (vietnamese?) spoon and my bowl was suspiciously missing some of the gristle and tendon and fat that i had specifically ordered. bogus! i got the special satay add-in for 0.75, which means that my pho was festooned with an incendiary shower of dried chili flakes and chili oil, creating a near impenetrable spicy slick on top that made my lips burn for a couple of hours after. it was perfect for a cold, wintery night, especially coming on the heels of my team's crushing defeat in the finals.

our opponents kind of hated us...for reasons legitimate (we were unbeaten going into the finals) and imagined (they were of the d**k persuasion). they pulled the kind of stuff where they would call us on our outs, but would NEVER walk off the court unless it was the most OBVIOUS hit ever. so there were people getting grazed with balls and deflecting balls onto their own body and sometimes BLATANTLY getting hit with balls that would just stay on the court. it made everything sour because they wouldn't give an inch when we called them on it, but our team totally walked off in every case where there was a dispute, rather than get into an endless shouting match. they were also the kind of team that would call you on technical stuff (holding the ball for longer than 10 minutes), stuff that you usually let slide unless it becomes obscene, but then, would do the same thing, and when you called them on it, would act like giant babies and get all petulant and mock you for doing it. it was very frustrating and super annoying and it sucked to lose in the finals, but mostly it sucked to lose to that team. like, i'm fine if you're going to be a stickler and make us walk off all the time...but you have to give me SOMETHING sometimes and be willing to do the same when we call you on it.

in other news...financial blogs are running my life right now. entertainment, library, technology, miscellaneous, craft, design, home decor, celebrity, food, and knitting blogs are totally getting the shaft in my daily blogroll.

in other other news - i think the presentation went well today. it felt like it was over before i even started. people said i seemed poised and relaxed and not too nervous, which is the desired goal.

tonight, in a nod to nany dotytron, we had rigatoni with rose sauce, topped with the nany-preferred topping of a shower of scallions. we had this with a salad of romaine, nuts, and roasted caramelized pears and a red wine vinaigrette. i also made sugar cookies for the kids in the dotytron's after school program and for him to drop off at the school that he WAS on placement for, before YORK DECIDED TO GO ON THE LONGEST STRIKE OF ALL TIME. i don't even KNOW how this is effing things up for him. i don't know if he's going to be able to apply and qualify for the ontario teachers federation or whatever, i don't know how it's going to affect his job prospects in an increasingly dire job market, i don't know how the summer is going to shape up in light of the fact that this is week 5, they're heading into week 6, with no end in sight.

so i'm officially done all my xmas shopping. i have to get a few small things for the dotytron and that's it. i also have to wrap the presents and mail the holiday cards and then the rest of it is baking and putting together tins for gifts. the problem when you're making candies and stuff though, is figuring out how to time the more volatile ones (like the english toffee). humidity will do a number on it and you can't hold it for very long...maybe i'll just ax that one from the roster this year.

tonight i made the sugar cookies and made a double batch of pie crust and baked off some sweet potatoes for a sweet potato pecan pie. we're having dinner at my former prof's house on friday and i offered to bring dessert...i hope the sweet potato pecan pie is a hit! it's either that or the hazelnut brown butter cake.

fin.

highly educational

yesterday was an amazing, highly educational day. the ROM with the kids was totally fun but also COMPLETELY EXHAUSTING. we spent about 2 1/2 hours there and the kids were beyond wiped near the end. little ze fell asleep on the subway on the way home which means i had to lug his dead weight in my arms and keep a hold of my niece on the walk home from the subway stop, when i myself was near the point of passing out (for some reason the ROM appears to have a soporific effect, as all parties had drooping eyelids by the time we were ready to go, and my nephew pretty much lay on the floor of one of the less traveled rooms in which we ended our day, face up and blinking at me and H sleepily). however, as soon as we walked in the door of my home and i had divested the kids of boots, socks, and extra layers, plopped them on the couch and given them blankets and pillows for some quiet time, my nephew suddenly became as alert and bright and buzzy as if it was the crack of dawn.


it was my first time seeing the new interior of the ROM since the something something chin crystal part had been slapped onto the building - it was spectacularly unimpressive. the interior looked much more stark now, and all the quirky angles and slopes on the outside translated to nothing more than miles of white drywall inside. it lacked a lot of personality and felt really sterile.

there was a surprising amount of stuff for kids to do - they could pet stuff and crawl through stuff, dress up in stuff, draw stuff, read stuff, and go on faux excavations (which were really fun for the "adults" because the kids have to wear really nerdy protective goggles):



my nephew was obsessively fixated on the dinosaurs and my niece kept wanting to see egypt stuff (a word she pronounced kind of like "ancient" - so it seemed like the two concepts were synonymous in her head) - but when we finally got the ancient egypt room, the paltriness of the the ROM's holdings left A LOT to be desired.

confession time: i did something totally shadesball yesterday. i had packed us some snacks and 3 whoopie pies. 1 for H, 1 for my niece, and 1 for my nephew because i knew that i was going to be eating mine later at the theatre. when we were resting for a bit before we went home, i pulled out the snacks and gave H hers, and unwrapped 1 for the two kids to share (but i took some bites out of it too). then, when the kids were at my house and watching tv on the couch, i walked into the kitchen, pulled the other whoopie pie out of my bag, and crouched down behind the counter and ate THE WHOLE THING to myself without alerting them that's pretty sick and twisted, right? probably a sign that i'm not ready the selflessness that's supposed to accompany parenthood. lol! i'm such a weas(el)!

then the goosetang clan with the addition of my friend D checked out smoke's. it was pretty decent. here's what we had:

clockwise from the top left we have: the montreal (smoked meat, dill pickle); curried chicken; the hogtown (weiners, sauteed onions and mushrooms and bacon); bacon; pulled pork, and the standard. overall the poutines were really good and generously proportioned (the standard one is $5.95 and the other ones range in price from $6.95-8.95). i'm not sure i need all the bells and whistles and we kind of felt like hell afterwards...there's nothing about any of the individual iterations that's spectacularly good or that seems necessary...i think i preferred the classic most of all. also, "smoke" the mascot is a total hipster douchebag. which is automatically irritating and he's totally made up (as i ascertained from my crack investigative journalism, consisting of firing rapid questions at the poor bewildered counter girl). i don't think the toppings approach anything as magical as the fries supreme combination at taco bell...like having bacon or curried chicken on fries is for sure a novelty...but from a taste standpoint - it doesn't become something more than the sum of its' parts. it's definitely worthwhile if you feel like going to town on your arteries and colon, but it's definitely more of a novelty thing for me and won't be a go-to destination.

then we saw "twilight" which was the WORST/the awesomest. seeing movies like that in the theatre with a bunch of funny people is always a sure-fire bet because you're all there to have a lark and it's guaranteed to be funny. when you have a movie as outstandingly ridiculous and AWFUL as "twilight" - the laughs are non-stop.

first of all, bella (the female protagonist, played by kristin stewart in a kind of somnabulating daze - all heavy of jaw, pouty of lip, and hooded eyes) is a total b***h, who's supposed to be kind of teenagery "awkward" and disaffected, i guess, which would make sense if SHE HAD A REASON TO BE, but she doesn't! the movie starts when she moves to a tiny town of 3000 people in washington (which, for a town of 3000 happens to be the most cosmopolitan small town you've ever seen, complete with more minorities than you'd find in columbus, ohio.) anyway, bella fits in IMMEDIATELY and meets tonnes of cute, nice, friendly kids (who aren't cliquish at all) who welcome her with open arms, but for some reason, she persists in acting like a total d**k and being totally inconsiderate and jerky to them, all in favor of mooning over edward, the clammy, creepy vamp love interest, who spends a good HALF of the movie staring at her in a totally strange and effed up way.

actually, most of the movie is people STARING at each other, in a way that's supposed to be intense and passion-filled but ends up being unintentionally hilarious because of how long the camera lingers on their "brooding" intensity. also, the vamp family who all attend high school are hinted at being incestuous (the "brothers" and "sisters" who aren't related by blood but have all been adopted by the coven's patriarch) go to school holding hands and being all lovey dovey with each other, which is totally gross and never really fully addressed. they also all look 35. AND all the vamps end up being totally waxen looking, because of the OBVIOUS and hackneyed makeup application. one of the only things that bella and edward share in common is their foundation and lipstick.

edward and bella's quick fall into unending, eternal love is completely implausible because it doesn't seem to be based on anything but the fact that edward is supposed to be kind of hot and entrancing (oh, and when he stands in the sun he's covered in diamond dust). and because the two leads declare it so. "so i guess we're in love" (actually, the line was, "so the lion fell in love with the lamb" - *insert vomitous gagging*) "yeah, i'd die for you!" also, vampires apparently don't laugh or appreciate contemporary culture but love playing baseball (!!!!!). there's one scene where bella, in edward's room says, "you have a lot of music...what are you listening to?" instead of the answer that makes sense given edward's overwrought emotionalism (ie. evanescence), OF COURSE he's listening to debussy! debussy!!!!! and the vamps don't joke or like, smile ever!!!!!!! anyway, we're OBVIOUSLY committed to seeing the sequels. special mention goes to the native kid jacob who seemed the most normal but whose tribe has obvious beef with the vamps.

for sunday breakkie i made us bacon and egg sarnies on my rosemary olive oil potato bread.


today i've got dodgeball and i'm going to work on my presentation and then come home and knit and watch wall*e.

for dinner tonight we're having dhal makhani (buttered dhal) with rice and samosas and sag from up the street.

fin.