Three weeks of fun in the sun

Without having to go anywhere tropical even. It was hot and humid at my sister's place. Not her house, just the area, but a good time was had by all. Or at least sis and me; drinking every night (not to excess mind you, since sis can't take too much alcohol), baking up a storm (as always) and eating tons of good, organic food. She made some wonderful sticky buns, and we made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, thumprint cookies with orange marmalade, and was it lemon cookies? I can't remember now, it's been a whole 3 days since I've been back. My dear b-i-l, a wonderful cook made some incredible congee, not once, but twice for us. I don't make it myself because I'd be eating it all by myself, but after having his, I'm thinking that might not be such a bad thing.

Hubby of course came back from Paris before I got back, and he came home with tons of chocolates. Absolutely to die for. His major binge: a 1kg Valhrona chocolate bar.

Hubby's also been making dinner while I'm taking my accounting (blech!) course, which is very sweet of him. We have very different styles, he and I, so it's best that we stay out of each other's way when the other person is cooking. Or maybe that's just me, I prefer to not cook with him.

He's also doing all the food shopping, which is also different from my style. He came home tonight with a big Costco size (I was being redundant, wasn't I?) container of ground black pepper. I asked him why and he said it was for when we needed large amounts. Me, I dont' believe in any pepper that's not freshly ground. It just doesn't taste the same, no matter what the bottle says about finest peppercorn and all that crap. He also brought home a box of grapes, which I would call table wine grapes. They're the type with seeds, and thick sour skins. And he thinks I can eat this at work?

I'll be happy when this course is over and I'm back to doing the kitchen things. It's more of a passion for me and I think I'll get some ethnic foods that way too.

Something deliciously fattening

Our friends had us over for a brunch on Sunday, and of course you have to bring something. I knew our friends would be making tons of meat (her hubby is a little carnivore) and I needed to clear out our fridge in anticipation of hubby and me taking trips. So after scouring the internet, I fell back on my favourite site, Epicurious.com for inspiration. Needless to say, they didn't disappoint. I followed the reviewer's suggestions in splitting the recipe in half, but made sure I followed the instructions of using a souffle dish to make the sundried tomato and pesto torta. Didnt' turn out quite as pretty as the picture shows, but hey, it tasted good and that's all that matters, right?

The rest of the food was fabulous too, but you can never go wrong, according to our Polish host, with sausages, pork, and potatoes. I have to agree with him on that one.

Cravings

I'm not liking anything I'm cooking these days. We had friends over last weekend, and they oohed and aahed over the food, but after they left, I was bored of it. I'm still fine with the cheeses and the spinach dip, but the roast pork, I wish I had given more away.

I'm craving what I'm not getting. A friend of mine told me about a chinese banquet she attended: cold plate, abalone, lots and lots of seafood, fried rice with two types of sauces. Made my mouth water just to hear about it. I guess it's cuz I don't make much ethnic foods; hubby's a white guy through and through, so I'd rather make something he'll eat than have him pick his way through dinner because I've made something I like.

I'm looking forward to visiting my sister and getting some good food. I've started a course again, so hubby said he'll cook. It's a scarier proposition for me than him. Not that I don't think he can cook, but my kitchen is my refuge, just like the wood workshop is his. I don't go into his sanctuary, but he's quite happy going into mine, and he feels like I'm saying he's inadequate in his culinary skills. It's more the fact that I know what's where in that jumbled mess of mine, which drives him crazy, because he can't find things. Course, being a typical male, he won't look past what's right in front of him, which is half the battle.

Like I said, I'm looking forward to time spent with my sister, where I don't have to cook. Not that I mind cooking, it's more the battles in the kitchen with hubby that I find wearing.

Double Whammy

I'm going to tax my poor little brain and see if I can do this. I got it off my friend Rosie's site:

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the questions. They must be real places, names, things . . . nothing made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Famous Singer: Madonna
Four letter word: mime (can you tell I hit my head?)
Color: Magenta
Gifts/Presents: Music box
Vehicle: Mercedes Benz
Things in a Souvenir Shop: map
Boy's Name: Merlin
Girl's Name: Minerva
Movie Title: Memoirs of a Geisha
Drink: Margarita (Cheers, Rosie)
Occupation: Magician
Celebrity: Madison Mason
Magazine: Marie Claire
U.S. City: Maryland
NCPro Sports:
Fruit: Mangoes
Reason for Being Late for Work: Missed the bus
Something You Throw Away: mismatched socks
Things You Shout: "Me, me, me!"
Cartoon Character: Marvin the Martian

Eech, ooch, ouch

As my sister noted, things change as you age. For instance, she said her clothes and how they fit has changed. For me, I'm getting clumsier and clumsier. I'd like to blame it on association, as a friend of mine is an absolute klutz (and fully admits it) but I have to say, it is just me.

For instance, when said sister was here visiting, we were walking along, and next thing you know, she turns to me and I'm on the ground. It wasn't like the walkway was terribly steep, I just kinda misstepped and fell.

Today, I did one better. I was walking down the stairs when I caught my heel on the cuff of my pants and went ass over head down the stairs. Thank my lucky stars for landings. This time, instead of my pride being hurt (which happened when I fell 3 times this past winter in the snow and mud), and people seeing me fall, I managed to have absolutely no audience, instead, just hurting parts of my physical body instead.

So much for tai chi teaching you how to balance and compose yourself. I should ask my tai chi master (a.k.a my dad) for a refund. :-) And yes, I'm looking for sympathy...tons of it. ;-)

Salmonella, anyone?

I swear our parents are trying to kill themselves and anyone else who comes through those doors. If I'm a bad cook in terms of getting the food to the table all at once, I'm going to blame it on my parents from now on.

Mom had me get the fish fillets ready (her usual mayonnaise and onion soup mix), and it wasn't until that was sitting there on the kitchen table that she had dad prep the squash. Now, even an idiot knows that squash will take longer to cook than fish fillets, right? So what does that make mom? And then, because she is the queen of micromanaging, she tells me to keep the spoon I had globbed the mayonnias onto the fish with, instead of using it to spread the mayonniase, in case I needed more mayonnaise. I didn't tell her that I prefer to have a bit of seasoning with my fish, and not the other way around.

Meanwhile, she's preheated the oven for the last half an hour before the squash is ready to be cooked. And then they wonder why their hydro bill is so high. Sheesh! I put the squash in for a good 10 mins before the fish, and the squash still didn't turn out soft enough. I'd say the best part about dinner was the BBQ pork that our aunt had picked up. Sad state of affairs, tonight's dinner.

I'm baaack

Thanks for missing me Rosie. :-)

I wasn't really planning on taking a hiatus from blogging, but I started a new job this past week, and it didn't seem appropriate to blog at work while I'm still the newbie.

It's a great department to work in, they are so organized. Every new person walking through those doors gets a welcome package which includes an internal directory (and they update it regularly to reflect all the newbies), policies and procedures, and a pin of the department's logo. But the best part about this place is that week 1, they have a farewell party for a couple of people, and we all know what that means: food. They ordered in cookies and tea and coffee. I had already resisted the Rolosicles that had made its way around the office, but I couldn't pass on the chocolate dipped shortbread at the party. I had to be polite afterall, right? Next week is their monthly tea party to celebrate the birthdays for the month and I guess just overall have an excuse to socialize. Works for me.

Back to Basics...sort of

I was in a funk on the weekend, don't ask me why, it's not worth going into details. But having woken up early on Sunday (and not getting back to sleep cuz there was a freight train next to me) I decided to do some baking.

I checked out my yeast, which to my surprise, was still good. I've been using a book that shows how to use the microwave to proof bread, and their pictures always showed beautiful breads whereas my breads were always kinda blah. But I think I finally figured it out.

Their recipes use a food processor to make the dough, and for the longest time I only had a mixer. Albeit, it had a dough hook, but it didn't seem to do for the bread dough, what the processor managed for some reason. So lo and behold, by using the food processor, I managed to make bread as beautiful as what they showed on the cover of the book. Now if they'd only show how to make brioche using the food processor.

One way or another, hubby got to wake up to fresh baked bread, and even though it wasn't kneaded all by hand and set to proof for half a day, it still made him happy.

And now for something completely different

I think they got it wrong, it was my sister who caused this. ;-D

Turn on your speakers -Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash --Officials confirm that all online data has been lost after the Internet crashed and was forced to restart.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/63609

Last day full of fun, eating but no tears

Well, yesterday was my last day at my old job. We went for drinks after work on Thursday, but since it was me and the guys for a good portion of it to start, I stuck with just drinking cranberry and orange juice. I know I was leaving but you still have to be sort of on best behaviour. It was good though, mostly it was just the people I wanted there so it was much more relaxed than the sushi lunch.

A co-worker was going to take me for lunch at Provence yesterday, but came down with something nasty. I'm assuming it was nasty because he's not one to not come into work. He swears it wasn't the two or three Guinesses the night before either. Oh well, I settled for a coffee and a lemon blueberry scone for coffee instead.

They also had cake for me at 2:30, and I thought it was going to be a quiet affair with just the staff, but it turned out my friend had gotten a chocolate cake, key lime pie, and lemon cheesecake for the occasion, and anyone who wanted to show up could show up essentially. It was touching to have people around, and they gave me some lovely gifts. I could tell it was my girlfriend who chose the gifts, because who else would've gotten a gift certificate for Miraj Hammam spa, her favourite spa; gift certificate to my favourite restaurant, and another gift certificate for The Bay? I guess being in the same place for 6 years must account for something. This was quite a show of support from the department considering it is summer and many people are away right now.

Another friend came by to give me Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer cookbook, and yet another friend gave me a couple of beautiful chocolates and a couple of mangoes (because she didn't have time to make me mango pudding).

It's nice to know you're appreciated, even if it only seems to show when you're leaving.

More eating today

The department had my good-bye lunch today; take out sushi brought in at my request. I was stupid enough to meet with a friend for coffee at 10:00am, having a coffee and scone at the time, and that screwed up my sushi fest. Oh well, I'm not that good at eating lots when I'm in a large crowd, so that was probably a good thing. One prof showed up late, so it was probably a good thing I didn't scarf down everything in sight.

The great thing about leaving...

is all the food. I was taken for lunch today by a couple of my co-workers to the ritziest spot on campus. Which doesn't say much, just that the price is steep. But I enjoyed my food, and the company. I went for the farfalle, because one of the guys ordered the halibut, and thes erver said that it was a smaller portion, and I was starving. I don't normally order pasta when I'm out, and even DH expressed surprised that I did, but it was the sort of day that I really wanted to eat something heavy. For dessert, the guys had a chocolate thyme pate, my girlfriend had the Snickers pie with butterscotch sauce, and I had the strawberry rhubarb crumble. I know, mine was the most boring, but I wanting some fruit.

Staff Gorge

They had a "staff appreciation" tea yesterday. It was nice in that there were tons of food, but not so good in that it was 2:30 in the afternoon and how much can you eat then?

The catering was good though, they had various types of sandwiches, with the crusts cut off of course. The one that was unusual and nice was the cucumber sandwiches, but it also had cream cheese and pesto. The curried chicken salad was also a nice one. Of course, since it was a tea, they had to have scones wtih marmalade and jam and cream there, along with a big bowl of strawberries. I tried not to think of how much pesticides I was ingesting. There were also several types of quiche and sausage rolls. Oh, and they had two cakes to celebrate whoever's birthday was this month; one was a chocolate mousse cake, no idea what the ther one was.

There was so much food in fact, that we had leftovers for lunch today. So is that a staff re-appreciation?

Too much eating!

DH and I took a long weekend down to Seattle for our anniversary. It was nice to get away for just a few days, and certainly cheaper than going somewhere exotic. It was a nice drive down too, sunny enough to be warm in the car, but not so hot that we were scorching in our long pants and shoes though.

We stopped off in Fairhaven, WA for lunch at the Colophon Cafe. DH had their bacon potato chowder while I had the African peanut soup. I'm glad I ordered a small as it was very filling and I was full all the way down to Seattle.

For our anniversary dinner, we went to some restaurant close to our hotel. Can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but it's some chain seafood restaurant for all the chi chi poo poo people. How else can you explain the fact that people were coming in for dinner at 8/9:00 at night? No one who has a family to go home to, or works normal hours would want to eat that late. Dinner was nice enough, DH's french onion soup was cheesier than a Disney movie, and my half a dozen oysters were divine. For dinner, he had the tilapia in a Jamaican rum butter sauce, while I had the marlin crusted with macadamian nuts and served with a mango salsa. The entrees themselves weren't badly priced at all, ($20ish per plate) but wouldn't you think that a more upscale restaurant like that could serve rice timbales that didn't have the stuff scraped from the bottom of the pan? I mean, I grew up with that stuff, so me is was more reminiscent of my childhood, but for a more typical client, don't you think they would've wanted their grains of rice all separated rather than a part of it clumped together?

Dessert was very nice, a chocolate tower filled with mousse, topped with blueberries and rapsberries, surrounded by a raspberry mango coulis.

I don't normally have a 3 course meal, but I couldn't resist that night, pig that I am. Plus, it was our anniversary dinner afterall.

The next day, we were headed down to the Sci-Fi and Music Museum, but DH needed to stop for breakfast. We didn't know where to go, but stumbled on The Five Point Cafe, which was unique to say the least. I didn't realize a bar could be open 24 hours, let along people would want to be drinking at that time of morning. The server looked like Bettie Page with an attitude, no she didn't have an attitude, but she looked like she could. It's not the sort of place I'd want to visit more than once in a lifetime, especially not after reading some other reviews on it, but it was certainly an experience.

The Science Fiction museum was amazing. Okay, totally cool for geeks like me who enjoy that sort of thing and can recognize some of the authors they talked about. What was really cool though, was the travelling exhibit of costumes used in some of the movies and tv shows. Like all good museums, they had some interactive exhibits (not with the costumes) that kept kids interested. The museum is linked to the Music Museum, which was not nearly as interesting. Great for kids because there was lots of interactive stuff, but really, what's more interesting, George Clooney's Batman outfit (or Robert Patrick's T2 police costume for that matter) or a piece of Jimi Hedrix's smashed guitar?

Dinner that night was next to impossible to find. We didn't want to do another big dinner night, even though our hotel was supposedly in restaurant row. So we drove around, and we'll be darned if we can find a good little local Mexican restaurant around there. Ended up going to Azteca, yet another chain restaurant. Is there no such thing as an independent place anymore. The food was so middle America blah, we might as well have saved the running around and gone to Red Robin. No offense to anyone who likes that sort of thing, but our idea of a good meal is to go where the locals go, where the food is homey and the restaurant is family run.

Today, we ended up going to the Museum of Flight. Managed to get there early enough that we could go check out the Concorde and Air Force One without anyone else being on the plane, so DH could take some cool shots. The museum also has their Space museum area open now, and boy are there some neat exhibits there. Pictures to be posted at a later date. We ended up spending about 5 hours in there, because there was so much to see. Well worth the price of admission, and we only encountered one real bratty kid (blame it on the dad for not putting a rein on the kid, I should've hit the dad with my umbrella).

Something unfoody again

But this time, I won't piss anyone off, or at least not intentionally. For those who I haven't already screamed my news to, I got a new job! I'm very excited by the prospect since my brain was atrophying in my current position, and it shows that I'm still loved.

There are some drawbacks to the new job though, mainly that 1)I'm not in my own office anymore, and that means no cranking the radio 2) I work later hours than I would like 3) I wont' be able to carpool back and forth from work anymore. But I'm taking the position cuz it's going to be exciting learning new things and hopefully I can put some of the things I've learned to practice.

I will miss my friends on campus, and campus itself, which is so beautiful at this time of year. I'll also really miss being a cougar at the start of the fall term. What I won't miss are all those dangly worms hanging off the oak trees. Yuck!

Like a kid in a candy store

DH and I went to Ming Wo today, the idea he had was to buy me a martini shaker. I had seen one once, and should've bought it and just kept it for prosperity, even though at the time I didnt' drink maritinis. It was one where it didn't just list some mixed drinks, but you actually turned it to find the right drink. Okay, that doesn't make sense, but it looks like this. Too cool, huh?

Anyway, they didn't have any like that there, but who can come out of a cooking store empty handed? So, we bought two colanders, a towel holder, and a funky curvy long dish that holds olives. Well the olive dish is a start, isn't it?

You'd think I'd know better by now

Ended up taking mom & dad to Accent's on Broadway. It was safer than trying something new on them since they tend to be critical anyway. So the only real complaint they had was that the restaurant was too noisy. That's cuz it was almost all asians in there. That's when you know it's too much of a good thing, cuz Asians can't let a good deal pass them by.

I made the mistake of having a triple raspberry dacquiri with dinner. It was hard to pass up since it was only $8. The last time I recall being sick after drinking was our first visit to the Afghan Horsemen. But that was many moons ago, when I didn't know better. On the bright side, throwing up so soon after a meal means that you didn't really consume all those calories, right?

Time for a career change

As opposed to a cool change as suggested by Little River Band? I was thinking, after that last rant, that maybe my true calling in life should be one of those annoying talk show hosts, you know, a combination of Dr. Laura and Jerry Springer. Lord knows I seem to intimidate my classmates and I've managed to piss off a good friend. If that doesnt' lead to a career in trash talk shows, I don't know what will.

Actually, I'm feeling kinda like that fellow in that joke. Y'know, the one about John the Greek saying, "you build a great city, but do they call you John the architect? No! You build the biggest, best yacht in the world, and do they call you John the Boat Builder? No! You screw one goat..." My notoriety precedes me I'm afraid.

But I think I'm going to go back to writing about food. It's a safer topic, and I shouldn't get into any trouble writing about that. So, to start, since it was a dark and cool night, we decided to have spaghetti for dinner. I had sauce in the freezer already, so it was just a matter of boiling up some pasta. But the thing that makes the pasta worth eating is the freshly grated Parmesan. I will never go back to the stuff that spills out of a container by Kraft anymore.

Gotta find a restaurant to take mom & dad to this weekend as well. Dad's birthday today, so we said we'd take them out on Sunday. Mom wants us to choose the restaurant. Should be interesting. Last time we took them to a place, mom felt she was too dressed up for it. I think mom's idea of dressing up is having the colours compliment each other rather than clash. So once I find the restaurant and we try it out, I'll write more.

Gripe Time!

Okay, this has absolutely nothing to do with food, except for the fact that there's no food involved. I feel I can gripe here because the only people who read this are: 1) my sister, 2) Rosie who wouldn't know me if we walked past each other and 3) my friends who don't fall into the realm of this gripe.

What is with people and their self-centred, non-thinkingness? My sister has a friend who won't RSVP to things until 2 mins prior to the event happening, which is totally inconsiderate if you don't take into account that her friend is a complete flake. But even flakes should have a brain, shouldn' t they?

In my case, well, actually it's my husband's friend, so in his case. Anyway, I digress, our friend is heading off on vacation, and DH had offered our new camera for his friend to borrow. They had talked about splitting the camera, but at the time of purchase, friend hadn't been sure if he wanted to partake since he didn't have a subject to photograph (nude girlfriend). So anyway, DH had offered it to him, but nothing had been solidified. Friday, DH talks to friend, and friend once again expressed interest, however, between his schedule and ours, we were unable to get the camera to him. Today, he calls from out of town (on his way home before heading out again) and suggests to DH that we can drop off the camera in friend's garage, and voila, here's the code to get into the garage. This is the same guy, who we have seen thru 2 partners, multiple dates and god knows what else. He gave codes not just to the garage, but to the house to a previous partner who he knew for less time than I've known some of the clothes in my closet. But us, no, we're not worthy of knowing how to get into his house.

As we're coming home from the hockey game tonight, friend calls again to say he's still at home and if we'd like to drop off the camera to him, we may do so. Now, if friend's house was en route home, we may've considered it, but it would've taken us out of our way and for what? As I said to DH, what's in it for us? Not that everything one does has to be for selfish reasons, but why the hell should we waste our time and gas (at $1.30/litre) to drop off something to him that he wants? Would a reasonable person not say, "Gee, if you're going to be home in the next little while, do you mind if I drop by and borrow that camera? It'd be much appreciated."

So if anyone has a response that tells us we should've dropped off the camera, I'd sure like to hear it.

6 Weird Things

Well Rosie has tagged me, so I'll try and answer with something interesting. The idea is to post 6 weird things about yourself, and tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged. I don't know anyone else who reads this site regularly except for Rosie and CountryGarbo, so that makes the second rule difficult. So if anyone else reads this, I hope you play this as well, and let me know where your answers are.

1) People think I'm taller than I actually am (I'm 5')

2) I love reading murder mysteries, but I can't watch movies based on the books.

3) I am the most passive aggressive person you'll ever meet.

4) I am learning tai chi, which is supposed to teach me balance, but I can't even walk without tripping.

5) Taking after our mother, I hardly have any body hair at all. (makes it easier in terms of personal hygiene).

6) I can sleep practically anytime, anywhere. How else can you explain my falling asleep on the train ride in from the airport in Rome?

Caffeine Extravaganza

We finally got out to the farm to get our eggs. Picked up 8 dozen for $20. Mind you, we only kept half of that, and I've used more than a dozen already. One of the things I really wanted to make were Black Gold Cookies, they sounded very decadent and I had to see for myself if the reviews were true. They were definitely decadent, even without the espresso powder, and with more flour than the recipe called for. I think where I made my mistake was measuring out the chocolate rather than weighing it.

DH and his best friend had 3-4 cookies apiece after dinner on Sunday night, and then they wondered why they couldn't sleep that night. Just goes to show that you shouldn't get greedy.

Just a happy thing to share

Since we're having a dreary wet Monday, I thought I'd share a link that will take you to a more pleasant realm.

Gourmet foods

Another one bites the dust

Friday the 13th wasn't a bad day for me, I was just happy it was Friday. It was also a hockey night in Vancouver, which meant alot of cars everywhere. It didn't help that it was rainy out as well, so more people were driving for that reason too. Hubby picked me up and we went to Accent's for dinner. I behaved myself, and just had the prawn and scallop tornao over seafood risotto and leek tempura for dinner. DH went for the full deal, starting with the chicken bliny crepes with wild mushroom sauce, panko prawns over grilled romaine(?) with goat's cheese and a triple chocolate cake for dessert.

The game we went to was good, the Giants wrapped up the second series 4 games to 1. Meanwhile, at the other end of town, the Canucks lost to Minnesota. And people paid how much to see them lose?

Tartans, tartans everywhere

We went with a friend to Doolin's Irish pub for Tartan Night. Since our friend was in a kilt, DH got a free Guiness. Not bad for just having a guy show up in a skirt. Lots of men there in kilts, including the guy who runs the Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a mix of Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day.
Food there was good, and the fashion show of kilts was interesting. I guess the night would've been perfect for most people if the Canucks had actually won.

Pineapple Orange Muffins

For Rosie:

1 cup crushed pineapple (8.5 oz can)
3/4 cup milk, approximately
1 large egg, beaten
2 tsp. orange peel, grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. double acting baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (optional)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine, melted

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Place juice into a measuring cup, adding milk to equal one cup. Combined with orange peel and beaten egg. Sift together in large bowl, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Blend juice-milk mixture into dry ingredients, alternating with melted margarine. Mix until just blended; do not overmix. Stir in drained pineapple. Pour into lightly greased muffin tins. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 18-22 minutes, or until golden brown. Yield: 12 muffins.

Eggs, eggs, everywhere

The farm I usually go to for eggs is only opened regularly in the summer, so I've been without eggs for a while since I don't want to buy conventional eggs. I'll buy organic when I can. Anyway, I got a hold of the owner and he was there on Saturday, so we went to get eggs.

And boy, did he have eggs, he's got enough eggs there to feed the entire area. So I bought 6 dozen eggs, 2 dozen went to mom, and I plan on doing a lot more baking and eating eggs. I did do some baking this weekend; made pineapple coconut muffins, bumblebee cookies, and butterhorns. That only used up less than a dozen eggs. But at $2.50 a dozen, how could I refuse getting so many? And they've still got dirt and poop on them!

Cat Stevens needs an update

Cat Stevens once sang about a wild world. Well it's changed since then, it's now just a selfish world. Case in point: I saw a breadmaker on sale on craigslist, and emailed the seller. We corresponded a few times, and I had every intention of purchasing it, but either he gave me the wrong phone number, or I wrote it down wrong. In any case, I didnt' get it on the day I wanted to, and emailed him the next day to apologize for not getting there that day. He emailed back and told me to contact him when I wanted to come out again. I did email him again after that, and he never responded. So eventually I checked out craigslist again, and his breadmaker is now off the site. I don't mind that he sold it to someone else, but could he not have the courtesy to email me back and tell me not to waste my time trying to figure out when I could come and see it?

It's the same in everything, people on the road are too busy talking on their cell phones to care that they're tying up traffic, or they just change lanes without looking to see if there's a car coming. What happened to common courtesy and respect for others? If I was religious, I'd say the end was coming, but being that I'm not, I'll just say, phooey to you Alvin, for being rude.

A new fave

I'm thinking of changing the name of my blog to something a little less food related, since most of my brain farts aren't actually related to food, but in the meantime, I'd like to say that 101 Cookbooks is a most wonderful site. I stumbled upon it by accident; it showed up as a google ad on my gmail account one day, so being a cookbook addict, I checked it out.

The pictures are fabulous and her writeups are neat and easy to read. And of course, there's always the recipes which are enough to make anyone drool.

Thought for the day: Never put a square of chocolate into your pant pocket and then sit with a laptop computer on your lap.

Happy eating.