Your week: one word

Sorry for the delayed post! I had a different word for this week, but couldn’t find what I was looking for to photograph, so I went with a back-up.

This week was a difficult one to decide on just one word – but I eventually decided on kitchen. Boring, possibly, but it fits. This week, I’ve spent a hell of a lot of time in the kitchen, determined to cook. Last Sunday I made bread (awesome), I’ve baked, I’ve made breakfasts for the next week, dinners… all in all, I’m becoming a lot more comfortable in the kitchen. A few years ago, you wouldn’t have been able to get me to spend any time in there voluntarily. Hell, in my old place, I probably ate out more than I cooked in my kitchen (which is just a shame).

All this time in the kitchen has definitely been doing one thing: helping me spend less money, though I tend to go to the grocery store more often than I usually do. (Foursquare has a badge for everything else, they should have one for days in a grocery store. I probably hit one 6 out of the last 7 days – in some cases more than once in a day.) Well, maybe my spending has just evened out, because looking at my bank account yesterday was just a sad thing, but it feels like I’m spending less (at least it does when I’m not spending $24 on backfin crab meat, *sigh*).

So much more happened this week: I got to go to the last Caps home game of the season with one of my besties (courtesy of a very generous friend), I went on a mini-photowalk, took on more things at the shop (I’ll be doing finishing of handknit projects), knitting furiously to meet a deadline for sample knitting, and got to watch a thoroughly satisfying Caps game tonight – our last regulation game of the season. Playoffs start next week… while I’m excited, I’m cautious.

I made bread! Who knew?

I’m not quite sure when the trend to make things became the “in” thing to do, I mean, I’ve been trying things for years. More often than not, I get bored or impatient quickly and drop whatever it is I’m trying to do. Then there are things like knitting, which started off as away to keep busy and became a huge part of my life.

One area I’ve never been able to master to my satisfaction is the kitchen. As long as a recipe is involved, or I’ve made a dish before, I can cook – and I’m not bad at it. I’ve always baked, and have felt comfortable with that skill, except for two things that eluded me: pie crust and bread. Today, I can cross bread off of the list. I have made bread. Bread that is not only edible, but that tastes just as it should.

It seems so simple to just run to the store and grab a loaf – and don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m never going to do that again – but when one of my dearest friends started baking bread, I had to give it another shot. My first time making bread was from a mix and was like a rock, both in feel and taste. This time I decided to jump in with both feet and start from scratch. Everything about this was made by hand, as I don’t have a stand mixer anymore, and I was surprised at how it made me feel: calm, relaxed, resourceful, and powerful. It’s a simple wheat bread: dense, but not heavy. Ideal slathered with butter and eaten warm. I believe I’ll try and toast it and have a BLT.

So today I have made bread. It may not be a big deal to most people, but it is to me.

Hungry, anyone?

Heaven knows I haven’t actually blogged anything for real on here in forever… and today is no exception. I got this little meme off of Amanda‘s blog and it intrigued me…

The Omnivore’s Hundred

Here’s
a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there.
Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should
have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food,
strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food – but a good
omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind
you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if
you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The Stash’s Omnivore’s Hundred:

 
   
   
1. Venison (I recently got to try venison sausage… kinda maple-y, but quite tasty!)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros (not my favorite by any means)
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue (Ewww. Remember, I don’t like cheese.)
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho (I grew up on this stuff… my mom always called it something different.)
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi (I have totally wanted to try this since seeing "Bend it Like Beckham." I’m such a follower.)
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (never again.)
24. Rice and beans (oooh, black beans and rice sound yummy… so do authentic red beans and rice…)
25. Brawn, or head cheese (Ew. Period.)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (not a fan. I’m crazy, I know.)
29. Baklava (not a fan of this either. Craziness!)
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo (oh, how I miss the Gumbo Shop in New Orleans!)
40. Oxtail
41. Curried Goat
42. Whole insects (Ew. Ew. Ew. Fuck no.)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (hi, you don’t get the extra curves from saying no to fresh out of the oven Krispy Kremes… I’m just sayin’)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (I totally want to try this, though!)
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (see comments for Krispy Kremes, please)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail 
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

The good and the bad of November

For me, there are few things that signal the happiness (and the start) of the holiday season like the first Gingercrack – ummm, I mean, Gingerbread Latte of the season. There’s just something about the warmth of it (flavor-wise) that delights me. However, it’s an easy drink to screw up – not that it’s hard or anything, but if you let the shots sit just a few seconds too long, it’s really bitter and isn’t hidden by the syrup. I can always tell how a day will go from my Gingerbread Latte. (Yes, it sounds stupid. I know this.) If it’s a good drink (like yesterday’s) I know that the day will be a good one. If it sucks, it’s going to be crap.

Granted, my crappy day started at 12:30 this morning. Let us have a moment of silence to mourn my nameless iPhone. Yes, it is dead. Deader than a doornail. I will be taking it to Apple this afternoon and begging them to give me a new one. (I’m leaving out the part where it may have been my fault.) Then couple that with the insomnia that kept me up until 4am… you get the picture. Maybe I’ll get another Gingerbread Latte and it’ll get better. So, if you need to call me, hold off until tomorrow. If I can get the phone replaced.

Oh, and will someone tell me why people are convinced that we can sell yarn at a price lower than our wholesale and make a profit? It just doesn’t work that way. Cheap people suck.

I have discovered the meaning of life

… or at least someone who’s discovered the meaning of life. What could be better than a blog all about baking different types of cupcakes??? What? Haven’t heard of this wonderfully fabulous (that will probably  increase the size of my ass because of course I will have to try some of the recipes out) blog yet? Then, click here.

Adventures in dating

We all know that I don’t date all that much – especially since the fiasco of my last date – so when Poker and I were finally able to make plans, I was reasonably nervous. I know, y’all are like, "what? When did she and Poker start trying to make plans? When did they start talking?" LOL.

Shortly after that poker night I went to where I met Poker, we started emailing. Sort of. He’d email, I’d respond, he’d take his time getting back to me, then apologize for taking so long, I’d respond… and the cycle continues. When another poker night was brought up for this past Saturday, I knew I wouldn’t be able to go (I had plans to go celebrate my birthday with friends), but I emailed him telling him that while I wasn’t going, I’d love to meet up with him. Pretty forward of me, I thought. (Hey, I can be relatively old-fashioned at times…) He emailed back pretty quickly and asked for my phone number. (FINALLY!) A couple of weeks go by and just when I started to think that he’d forgotten, he calls. We decided that we’d try to meet up Friday when he got in, or Sunday before he left.

So, Friday. Didn’t so much happen. He ended up working late and missing his train… but he called to talk to me. We talked for almost an hour about tons of stuff. While I’m an extremely outgoing person, I’m not the most comfortable on the phone – and just a few minutes into the conversation, we were talking like we’d known each other for ages. A good sign, right? We discovered that we have a lot in common and more that we’d like to learn about each other. I even found out that he’s almost as much of a Harry Potter freak as I am… almost.

Fast forward to Sunday. (I don’t mean to skip over Saturday, but other than mentioning him at dinner with Ebony and Patrick, it has nothing to do with this story…) He called, woke me up, and we decided to try to plan out brunch. All we could agree on was we’d meet outside of the B&N in Georgetown at noon. We both ended up getting there early. (Which, as most of you know is a freakin’ miracle for me!!) While I browsed the magazines at B&N to kill time, Poker was scoping out the neighborhood to find the ideal place for brunch. He’s got some good taste. When we met up, he gave me a big hug and suggested Mie N Yu – the website’s main page has a quote from AOL that calls it the "Best First Date" spot… and they were right. Not that we labelled it a date. LOL. The food was fabulous, the wait staff was just attentive enough to not let our water glasses or coffee press go empty, but they left us to ourselves just to talk.

We shared stupid injury stories, books we love, poker (of course), friends, living in DC/suburbia and NYC, his job, my job… Basically, everything. (He was even a bit flattered that he was a topic of conversation at work – knows that I blog and isn’t bothered by it. He knows I’m blogging this. He’d like this address, he’s not getting it anytime soon. Hee!) We shared food – which is a big thing for me, I think that it says a lot about a person when they feel comfortable enough to do that… strange, I know. Discovered our mutual love of coffee… we probably went through 4 or 5 french presses! At one point, my neck started to bother me and he offered to give me a neck rub – of course I let him (hell-ooo, have we met? LOL) – and it was great. At one point, we looked at each other and he said that we’d have to end brunch soon since he had to catch a train back to NY – he had to go into work when he got back. I asked him when his train was and he said 3… it was 5 mins til. Yeah, he didn’t catch that one. We stayed there until 4 (another great thing about the restaurant – they seemed to genuinely enjoy our company and didn’t really want to see us leave), he offered to walk me to my car. When we got there, we talked for a while longer, then he made his move. Now, keep in mind that other than the neck rub, he hadn’t tried ANYTHING. For a second there after the neck rub, I thought he might try to kiss me, but I thought I’d read it wrong b/c he didn’t do it. (I wasn’t averse at all, hee!) So while we’re standing on a street in Georgetown, beside my car, he did it. It was nice. Very nice. Nice enough to do it a few more times. Nice enough to make my legs buckle a bit… I’m just sayin’. We both said over and over that we had to do this again – and this time not let 4 months pass first.

I think that I deserved a nice date after the last one. Ebony, I may need to take you up on that offer of going up to NYC when you do. We’ll see when he next calls… must remember the whole "boy-time" thing. He did mention calling on my birthday, though… but I think that’s b/c he wants to be the topic of conversation again. LOL.

The date, the band, and the party that isn’t

So with all the texting we’ve been doing in the last week, B and I were finally able to agree on a date for a… date. We met up last night – and for once I was early. (Those who know me well know that when it comes to work, I run early. Way early. Annoyingly early. When it comes to my personal life, I tend to run late. For me, early would be getting somewhere on time. lol. However, in this case, early actually meant early – a first!) B took me to Portner’s for dinner, which was fab! We split a bottle of wine – also fab… If you’re a fan of Shiraz, try the Rosemount Estates Diamond Label one. Yum. And I’m not a big fan of the red wines. We drove around for a bit afterwards, ended up getting some beer (because I’m just so classy like that) and heading back to the hotel he was staying in. (Yes C, there was both SMTH and SMPlus going on… Just thought you’d want to know. Hee!) Anyways… to backtrack to before the return to the hotel – B couldn’t have been more of a sweet, kind, thoughtful person all evening. From the simple gesture of opening doors for me (always a way to win points with me – gallantry goes far in my book) to making conversation with our waitress about how to say things in Quechua. It was nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out with a guy like that.

So how do I feel now that it’s the next day? I’m not sure. I like him, surely, but he’s leaving in a few days to go back to LA. We’ll have to see how it all goes. Until we decide what’s going on (if anything), I’m going to still consider myself a free agent. Which is good, as I’ve met another guy who interests me. (I sound so bad writing that.) I blame those Rita Rocks shows – as that’s where I’ve met this one… and he’s declared himself a groupie of the band. (Phyl, see what those shows do to me?? Hee!) D2 (as there is already a D) is cute, nice, not afraid to make an ass of himself on the dancefloor (not that he’s a bad dancer) – and best of all, called me "tiny"! Of course, he was talking about my height – I only come up to his nose in bare feet. But he still called me tiny and that wins major points. I ended up talking to and dancing with him for most of the night – he’s good to talk to. I basically got his entire story by the end of the night. lol. No digits were exchanged, but we will surely see each other at the next show.

Other stuff to update on? I can’t remember. Christmas was uneventful, which in my house is a good thing – so far my mother and I have gone two major holidays without a huge blowup… I believe that could be a record. Gifts were given, gifts were received… My boss ended up giving me the same pressie that I received from C a few weeks ago: a gift box from Aveda containing their Carribean Therapy set. It’s all good though. I love that scent. Apparently everyone I know seems to think I need some at-home pampering. New Years plans? None to speak of. I was going to try to hang out with my friend Chelsea, however, I was a bad friend and didn’t email her back. I finally did yesterday and proclaimed myself the loser friend of the universe and asked if she was still free… I totally understand if she found someone else to hang with – it did take me almost 2 weeks to respond… because I TOTALLY suck. So, right now, I’m probably going to hang at home. I know, exciting, no?

This one’s for the band!

While at South Austin Grill Wednesday night with Kel and Rossana, I looked at the drink menu and had to order one of these in honor of one of my fave bands… yes, that’s right, the margarita was named Rita Rocks. And oh, it so rocked. It was just what I needed after a day at work. Just strong enough to relax me, but not so strong as to make me loopy, lol.

Will someone please tell me what the connection is between alcohol and women talking about sex? The last couple of times I’ve been out for drinks with my girlfriends, the conversation always turns to sex… which is definitely to any guys’ benefits who have been within earshot of us. Hehe! (Apparently, I turn into a MUCH younger and cuter Dr. Ruth with the dispensation of the sex advice… Hmmm… maybe Kel was right – I just might be in the wrong business!)

Need a girl with “incredible intestinal fortitude”? I’m your girl!

So, it’s been a busy weekend around here. I got an early start on the weekend by starting it on Thursday night to see Rita Rocks play at Whitlow‘s. (Shameless plug here: If you’re in the area and see they’re playing somewhere, you HAVE GOT to check them out! They are some kinda good.) The atmosphere was great, even if the majority of the men there were just out of diapers. I met up with friends, had a few beers, ended up staying until the bar almost closed… and even talked to a few men. Actually, I was informed that my presence was requested by one particular man… Hehe. So, of course I had to show. We flirted for most of the night, did a little serious talking, and he went home with my number. Which is strange, b/c I just don’t give that out to anyone. LOL. That was followed up by phone calls from a friend at 1.30am, making sure that I went home alone. (Not that she would have minded if I didn’t. Hee hee. She’d probably applaud.) Apparently there was a bet that I didn’t… She knows me well. Maybe they all do. ::blush::

Friday night, my friend Mo guilted me into going out with him and visiting a couple bars. It was his last night in town before he moved to San Diego… so I can’t completely fault him in the guilt. But I did give (and am still giving) him a hard time about it. We went to Ragtime over by Arlington Courthouse first. The vibe was good, however, almost everyone there was about 21. Not a bad thing, but I hate feeling as if I’m one of the oldest people there. We ended up in the back room, chatted with one of his friends for a bit, then headed out to Front Page over by Ballston. That’s where the intestinal fortitude bit comes in. (See, the titles do make sense eventually!) A friend of ours bartends there, so I’m standing at the bar, chatting with him, when some drunk walks behind me and grabs my ass! So I turn around and am like, what the fuck? I see that in the ass grabbing process, he’s almost fallen down and is apologizing to me. I just tell him whatever and to not do that again. Apparently, in drunk-talk, that means "come on over and completely monopolize my time so no one else will talk to me." Grrrr… He introduced himself as Drew and kept saying "Happy New Year" and explaining that he’s a government contractor and it was the end of their fiscal year. All this I knew and told him. Then DrunkDrew continued to apologize for being so drunk and reintroduce himself about 5 more times all the while putting his hands all over me and trying to kiss me. He kept telling me that he really needed to talk to me outside… Ummm, no! Apparently the alcohol had completely killed some brain cells to think that I would do that. So I finally extract myself from him and join the group of people Mo is talking to. DrunkDrew just doesn’t get the hint… he keeps trying to come over and talk to me – I try everything, run and hide in the bathroom for a hew, ignoring, even being downright bitchy and nothing works. Then the guys around me (most of whom didn’t know me at all) started closing ranks and surrounding me to hide me from him. Even that didn’t work. DrunkDrew was certainly persistent, and that finally got him kicked out. When he left, I got a few people who were all amazed that I talked to him for as long as I did… Well, if you noticed that, why the fuck didn’t any of you help me?? On the way out to the car, Mo told me that he was impressed with my "incredible intestinal fortitude in dealing with a drunk with a major case of halitosis." LOL.

While we were there, we ran into people we went to high school with and one was throwing a party the next night and I got an invite. I’m promised that I’m going to know a ton of people there, but  I never go to things like that alone. It’s just not in my make up. I know that I’m an extrovert and all, however, I hate doing things alone. I know, I’m weird. So sue me. LOL. I decide to go, but I’m completely uncomfortable the whole time I’m there. I grab a drink, walk around the party, see one familiar face in the crowd, talk to him for a sec, then hang out down in the basement, watching a pretty good band jam for most of the night. So, the party’s a bust, but I was able to step out of my comfort zone for a bit, so that’s a good thing…

Sunday was just a day of rest – I knit, watched much TV, caught up on a few DVDs from Gilmore Girls season 4… I’ve been dying to get some time to watch this since I got the package on Tuesday. So, that’s the wrapup of the weekend. I caught up with a friend from Thursday night’s outing today, going over the finer details of Thursday and her weekend. It was pronounced that a good weekend was had by all.

Now if I can just figure out how to move up a post… things will be good. If I can’t, I’ll just keep editing the post about "The List" – I’ve gotten a couple of good suggestions from friends. (If there are any others, email me or leave a comment… I want to hear what you think! LOL)