Learning to Improvise

Be proud of me, dammit. This is directed at the people who laugh because I *need* to follow the Cream of Wheat directions. Yes, I really do.

Today I made mapo tofu from a box mix. Well, don't be proud of me for that part. I assumed that if House brand curry was okay, then House brand mapo tofu would also be okay. Wrong. It was watery and tasted like spicy and oily. I didn't eat it that often in Japan, but I knew it was wrong. I was actually impressed that I could tell how flat and boring it tasted.

So I checked some recipes online, and eyeballed from there. Yes. Be proud of me for improving a box (pouch) of mapo tofu sauce with a spoonful of miso paste, a couple glugs of hot water, sesame oil and mirin, a couple glops of oyster sauce, a spoonful of cornstarch, some grated ginger, and a few cloves of garlic. (Although, I think I put in too much mirin, because it tasted too sweet and I had to glop on more oyster sauce later.) And yes, I made that list so I'll remember for next time. I know, I'll make from scratch eventually, but I bought two boxes. Whoops.

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Band vs. Movie

Ran into this photo of the Parenthetical Girls, which is a recreation of the poster for A Tale of Two Sisters. (I like to think it was an homage, but I'm sure it was just a blatant ripoff.) It's such a striking photo that I still remember chatting with D in Tak about what the movie might be about. I even bought it the year I got back from Japan, although I still haven't watched it. (I mean, I'm looking at it right now. I've never been into horror movies, but it's been...almost three years. Whoops.)

I think it's interesting that the movie poster intrigued me enough to buy the movie, but the band photo just seems like someone's cool idea for a photo shoot, and I probably won't be checking out their music.

[Edited to add: Fine, so there was a clip just sitting there, on the page I snagged the photo from. And the band isn't bad. But the photo still rubs me the wrong way.]

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Concerning translations.

A post on boingboing concludes with the following quote from Madame Bovary:

Human language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, when all the time we are longing to move the stars to pity.

It's one of my favorite quotes; one that I picked up in high school. Not because I've read Flaubert's book, or watched the movie, but because Carl Sagan's book, Contact, opens a chapter with it. But it reads a little bit differently:

Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.

I don't care which is the proper translation, I just know which one I like better.

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Revelation

I once had heartburn so bad that I had to go to the car and lie down while my father went to the drug store to get me some antacids. I always blamed the pesto I had for lunch, and have avoided large quantities of it (in pasta, on pizza) ever since.

In reality, I was probably freaked the hell out because I was going to my college orientation.

I need to find a big bowl of pesto and test this on a stress-free day.

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My Brain Is Slow (Or Musicals Can Be Cheap!)

After watching Memphis (the musical) today, I finally looked into season tickets. Just for kicks, you know? And I'll tell you a secret something that most people probably already know:

Musicals can be cheap! I always equated season tickets to old stuffy people (or diehard sports fans) with plenty of money. Although most of my brain knows that buying in bulk is cheaper, I never thought to apply that to say, $80 theater tickets (or $115 main floor tickets for fricking Lion King!).

At the Paramount Theatre, I can get an orchestra seat for 7 shows on a Wednesday night for $274. That's 39.14 each!

At the 5th Avenue Theatre, you can get 4 shows during the previews for 258.50, or 64.63 each. But they have a deal for people under 30, where I can get tickets for 32.50 each!

If I saw a show once a month, or once every other month, I could totally justify that expense. Hmmm. Someday.

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Kind of Funny.

For Valentine's Day, I got G a Deathcake Royale, a chocolate cupcake from Cupcake Royale with a curly ganache frosting from Theo's Chocolate and an espresso chocolate truffle center from Stumptown Coffee. I also bought one for G's brother, and one for myself. (Well, I bought two for me: the deathcake, and a chocolate cupcake with salted caramel frosting.)

G's brother got him an XBox 360.

Sheeesh.

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Reuben Update: The Pike Pub and Brewery

We went to the Pike Pub and Brewery for Ra's birthday party. (Dammit, Shodoshima Ra has the same initials as G's brother.) The Reuben was good but the bottom bread was soggy, and it was served with chips. (The fries looked better.) Decent sized portion (I only ate half), and good enough that I ate the rest around midnight while watching Steve Martin host SNL. (Not that exciting.)

Current Favorite:
Three Girls Bakery - Pike Place Market
Giant sandwich, warm and consistent.

Great
Elysian Brewing Company - Tangletown
There's a caramelized sweetness that I couldn't identify after one bite. I need to try my own.

Good
The Pike Pub and Brewery
Soggy bottom bread (hee hee), nothing special but still delicious. Wish I had fries or a salad instead of a half plate of chips. $10 for the smaller Son of Reuben (1/31/09)

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TV is stupid.

I just finished season 2 of Ugly Betty (I stopped watching when the strike put everything on hiatus), and now I'm all excited about jumping into season 3, the current season. And then I do some googling, and it turns out that Ugly Betty is being shelved in late March and won't be back until June. Lame. Well, at least that gives me most of a season.

Now I know how it felt when you (aka, L) lost Firefly...and Pushing Daisies. Booo.

Edited to add: What the hell? Ugly Betty will be replaced by some show with Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, not interested) and a show with Megan Mullally, "where she will be acting out real-life stories submitted by mothers." WHAT. IS. GOING. ON. First the Homeland Security show (not kidding), now this. Boo.

I repeat, TV is stupid.

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Thwarted again! (Fooood fail.)

I was getting ready to start some bread dough for no-knead bread at the perfect time this afternoon. Unfortunately, I think I'm about a cup short on flour. Boo! I could've substituted some of it with whole wheat flour, but I was too annoyed, and that would require de-crystallizing the honey and bleh, nevermind.

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Twitter replaces rambling.

Twitter is perfect for all the little random thoughts I have. Usually I would try to throw them into a conversation, or flesh out a blog entry, but that would require a backstory, some good transitioning, so screw that. Especially for something simple like how much I miss well-ripened beefsteak tomatoes. That was twitter #100, by the way. Between my airport tweets and my inaugural tweets, I'm almost caught up with the tweet a day non-goal. And twitter makes it seem more casual, because 100 twitters is probably not a big milestone for normal people.

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Food Recap and Scheming

Today I was bored and I made kumquat-orange curd. I've never made it before, although I suspected it would resemble the lemon filling in my mom's lemon meringue pie. I was right.

Unfortunately, because I strongly associate that flavor and smell with meringue pie, the serving suggestions weird me out--on scones, biscuits, toast...It's good though, I think. We'll see how it tastes after it's chilled. And after I bake some biscuits.

After that, I made a pale omelet with the whites and some shredded chicken from dinner a few nights ago. Very oyako-esque, but mid-quality egg whites plus bland mid-quality chicken tasted kind of icky and metallic, so I drowned the sucker in salsa and parmesan and resolved to never try that combination again.

I've been wanting to make no-knead bread recently, but I always remember the day before I have to do something, and the timing's off. With an 18-hour resting period (I know, I need to just start making normal bread), it gets tricky. I've finally relaxed enough to realize that letting it rest for more than 18 hours is usually a good thing in my cold kitchen, but that doesn't help when I have to be somewhere in less than 18 hours. And it's worth waiting (for me, I think).

I've also decided that I want to make more Japanese food this year. Over the last year and a half, I conquered no-knead bread, buttermilk biscuits, scones, macaroni and cheese (baked and stove top), carnitas, pot roast (way too rich), a couple easy shredded salads, easy enchiladas (you're supposed to rub the tortillas individually with oil? damn, I didn't know that.), pasta e fagioli...I meant to make a list, and maybe I will someday, but you get the picture. I've been cooking from my America's Test Kitchen cookbook. So now it's time for Japanese food. I've got the time.

So far, I've made gyoza (pretty good), and I've finally figured out bacon fried rice. I know it's easy, but I could never figure out the timing, so the bacon ended up being limp and pale. And I bit the bullet and used the チャハン function on the rice cooker instead of using cold rice. Go me.

Next on deck: nikujaga, or maybe takoyaki. I've got the pan, it's just intimidating. And a bit decandent, considering I'm still not working full time (picking up odd jobs here and there, favors from friends).

Oh, and funny story. I had G's mom pick up some black vinegar from the store for me, just to try. Annnd, I accidentally asked for sweetened, because I didn't know better. Tell me if I'm wrong, but it looks like sweetened black vinegar is primarily used for pigs feet, which is mostly a confinement food. Whoa.

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Keeping things straight: Kenny vs. Kenny

Kenny Loggins and Kenny Rogers

Kenny Loggins is famous for a bunch of songs, which include Footloose and Danger Zone. Man, the 80s sure were rockin'.

Kenny Rogers is famous for his song, The Gambler (You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...).

They both had beards at one point, so can you really blame me? I think it's funny that I know what Kenny Rogers looks like because he did commercials for a casino in So Cal, but had no idea what Kenny Loggins looks like, even though I'm more familiar with his work.

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What's-his-name

I often have problems remembering the names of supporting cast actors. This is probably because I don't watch many movies (and I'm trying to fix that). But they're good actors, and they keep popping up, so here's a few that I've seen lately:

William Sadler
He played Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption (along with a few other Frank Darabont movies), was in Deep Space 9, and best of all, played the Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.

William Fichtner
Remember that banker in the opening scene of Dark Knight who pulled out a shotgun and tried to be all badass? He was also in Contact, but I think he's more famous these days for Prison Break. Oh, and he was in The Longest Yard remake, along with Bob Sapp.

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I know I am hungry when...

I am reading a cookie recipe that calls for a boiled egg yolk. I get all excited because if I were making those cookies right now, I'd get to eat the cooked egg white. Maybe I'm just craving eggs right now. Mmmm.

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Reuben sandwiches!

I will keep track of my Reubens here.

Current Favorite:
Three Girls Bakery - Pike Place Market
Giant sandwich, warm and consistent.

Great
Elysian Brewing Company - Tangletown
There's a caramelized sweetness that I couldn't identify after one bite. I need to try my own.

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It's Crunch Time.

I have 3 and a half days to cook, eat, or freeze everything perishable in my fridge. Why? Yes, I'm leaving for 2 weeks, but it's also because I know no one will cook or eat leftovers while I'm gone. Depressing.

But on a better note: baking bacon, and then using the bacon grease to oil a roasted kabocha was the best idea EVER.

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First Snow Post of the Season!

It's snowing! Not that exciting, but I don't remember it snowing this hard last year, ever. So, I'm excited. Here's your creepy night shot photo:


I can't wait for tomorrow!

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Slow slow slow cooker.

I eat slowly, I cook slowly. Latest example: Lasagna.

3:45pm, start making sauce.

6:22pm, into the oven.

It's worth it because I know I'm not doing anything else tonight, and I don't like being rushed, but still. I need to speed things up a little.

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I like my neighbor.

He's stumbling through "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" on his piano. It's 11:45pm. I wonder if he needs to learn it by tomorrow? I don't really mind, because I like listening, and his mistakes aren't that bad. (He also plays the violin.)

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I am well prepared.

A few days ago, I was informed that for an upcoming get together, I was to provide 4-8 dozen cookies and a side dish. It's now been bumped up to 5-10 dozen cookies. (We're doing a cookie exchange, and 2 more people got invited.) At first I panicked, but then I realized that I had a quick broccoli dish I could make, and there are two cookie recipes I've been meaning to try. It's so nice having a (small) trusted recipe collection for situations like this. The recipes are below, just in case you're curious.

Garlicky Sesame-Cured Broccoli Salad (New York Times)
Brown Butter Brown Sugar Shorties (Smitten Kitchen)
Caramelized Matzoh Crunch with Chocolate (David Lebovitz)

Also, I've decided to follow David Lebovitz's twitter. Why? Because it contains gems like these:

I just found the other half of the banana I started eating for breakfast. It's now 2:34pm.
Peanut buttter, photographed with a Canon 430EX Speedlight, looks remarkably like dog food.
some bird took the hugest dump on my window last night & I'm procrastinating cleaning it up. can you blame me?

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Teaser

LOOK AT THIS AWESOME MEAT:

So. Awesome!

More later, like when I'm not supposed to be packing up to leave in a few hours. (Hey, there's actually stuff in the suitcase, which is better than usual!)

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Epic Food Making

This is probably a little bit less than half. Straight from the pot, it was fantastic.

6 lbs of carnitas took 6 hours. And I'm still not done yet. Damn.

This came about because pork butt was on sale for .99/lb and I'm a sucker for a good sale. The internet told me that carnitas or a similar pulled pork was the way to go, so after a few hours of recipe scrutinizing, I figured out how I wanted to do it. I used a hybrid of David Lebovitz's recipe and a Cook's Illustrated recipe (registration required). I'll email my notes if you're interested. It's definitely a weekend project, and unfortunately, this particular method requires an oven, so I'm not sure if you can replicate it in Japan without some adjusting.

I've got some notes below, but those are mostly for me. And here are your icky pictures.

See, this is why I didn't originally include pictures. Gross.

You really can't tell with the steam and the terrible flash, but there was easily a 1/2 inch of oil and liquid fat kicking it on top. Wow.

5:40pm
Started with all the prep work (spice measuring, etc.)

7:40pm
In the oven. I know I wasn't browning the meat right (temperature too low, pot too small), but still, 6 pounds takes a long time.

10:25pm
Meat finished. It was interesting how the smells changed every half hour or so. It went from sweet (the citrus?) to smoky (the chili), to a little bit spicy (the cinnamon?). Fun. Watching the Cook's Illustrated video, I think I cooked the meat too long, because it fell apart in juicy flakes instead of staying in chunk form. Delicious, but could make the last step (braising on a rack) impossible.

11:40pm
Ready to go for a couple rounds of broiling tomorrow. The stupid liquid took 46 minutes to reduce, when the recipe said it would be 8-12 min. I'm pretty sure I doubled the recipe, but 46 minutes of stirring and praying it wasn't burning or melting my spatula was LAME.

Poor G was probably looking forward to a nice, slightly late meal. Instead, he cooked us some carrots and had a sandwich. Aw. Looking at all that meat, part of me is panicking, and wants to invite lots of people over to help eat it. It's silly, because I'm used to dealing with 5 lb chickens. The other part of me wants to hoard enough so that maybe next week, if I'm not too comatose from Thanksgiving, I can try making tamales.

Tomorrow, we feast!

[11/25 Edited to add photos. Sheesh.]

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Hey look, I found myself a theme song.

Track 10. You can here it at ruembarrassed.com if you hurry.

Now I just need to learn to play the trumpet.

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I hate dreams like this.

I dreamed I was a shape-shifting Neil Patrick Harris, with an eye patch and big beefy arms. I robbed an ATM. I woke up in the dream, and I still had a paper bag of crisp $100 bills. (What ATM gives out $100 bills?) I spent the rest of the dream worrying about getting rid of the money and wondering if I could somehow launder it without being caught.

Practical dreams are so lame.

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Today was awesome!

List of awesome things that happened today, with links!

1. Some random stranger is going to send me an election day newspaper!
2. I made dinner without using a recipe! It was decent!
   
3. I saw John Hodgman!
4. I saw Jonathan Coulton!
5. I saw Sean Nelson!
6. I saw John Roderick!
7. My Obama shirt arrived! (Late, but I don't care!)

John Hodgman did a reading from his new book, More Information than You Require, but that's always more exciting because it includes Jonathan Coulton. Somehow this turned into a little skit that brought on a "replacement" singer, John Roderick (The Long Winters), and a "replacement" tweedy nerdy guy, Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger). It was like watching a cheesy high school skit, but with talented, clever people.

It was way awesome! There will be more photos elsewhere, but here's the one with Sean Nelson, because I love Harvey Danger and Sean Nelson is fantastic. I mean, look at that suit. It's teal a well-worn black suit (judging from other photos)!

John Roderick, Sean Nelson, and me!
(Yes, I am small, but they're seriously huge.)

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New Template!

This is the first time I've changed my template in...two years! I'm not completely satisfied (it's quite...large and wide, I think I want to put the archive column on the right, but that means switching to the right-side template...), but it's progress. It's really easy to customize (lots of font colors you can define yourself, columns are pretty easy to add), and I recommend the site I got it from. The photo is a sunrise in my backyard from about 2 years ago, right after I got back from Japan and my sleep schedule was super messed up.

What do you think?

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Goodbye terrible food laden with fond childhood memories.

Holy crap, two posts in one day! I haven't done that in years. And the original goal was to blog once a week!

Anyway, back to the title--I can't drink Nestle's Hot Chocolate anymore. Well, it doesn't make me ill like some other foods, and I'd drink it if you served it to me, but I'll probably stop buying it. Lately I've been drinking hot cocoa using this "cocochino" mix from Market Spice, a bulk spice shop in the market (behind the fish throwers) and it's pretty awesome. I think it's a mix of cocoa powder, cinnamon, and almond powder, which might also contain sugar. I would sprinkle it on cereal, if I were into sweet breakfasts. It's that good.

Tonight I tried drinking hot cocoa using the Nestle's mix (must hoard last bits of cocochino), and it's really different. A little salty, and I can still feel the oil coating the insides of my mouth. I wasn't really surprised, considering the first ingredient is sugar, the second ingredient is corn syrup solids, and cocoa comes right before the "less than 2% of the following..." garbage. But it's still kind of a bummer. We always drank hot cocoa when we went camping, melting a giant handful of mini marshmallows was always thrilling, and my mother even packed me a small jar when I moved up here, just so I'd have something to put in my empty pantry. Yes I acknowledge it's silly to be attached to a processed drink mix that comes in 1.73 pound canisters, but it's still disappointing.

(Hey, can you tell I just finished reading The Omnivore's Dilemma? It's funny, ever since I came back from Japan, I've kept an eye on the ingredients. Some foods just make me feel gross, almost ill, after not eating them for three years. But after reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, not only do I feel ill after I eat severely processed foods, I feel guilty. Thanks Michael Pollan.)

And because I like lists, here are the things I can't eat anymore, but kind of miss in that foolish, nostalgic way:

• Fig Newtons
• Triscuits (and I miss triscuits!)
• Pop Tarts
• Kraft Mac n Cheese
• Nestle's Hot Cocoa

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Kitchen Antics: Steel Cut Oats in the Rice Cooker

Note to self: 3 cups of water is too much for 3/4c of steel cut oats when preparing it in a rice cooker. It turned out a little too creamy (goopy!), and it left a puddle of slime under the rice cooker that I didn't notice until much later. Like 12-14 hours later. Ew.

I give it a B, as it's still edible, and I'm very grateful nothing exploded or burned or gooped all over the carpeted kitchen floor.

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I had coffee with someone new! Kind of.

So I went out for cupcakes and coffee with this girl from high school (and middle school and elementary school) who ended up in Seattle. It was nice chatting with someone new. We talked about food and shopping and her desire to visit a farm in Oregon run by dwarfs. Seriously.

Amusingly, her boyfriend is friends with the guy who got me my first temp job. This cracks me up. It would be hilarious if I got to meet him in real life.

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My Seattle To Do List

1. Eat a corned beef sandwich from Market House.
2. Woodland Park Zoo
3. Seattle Aquarium
4. The Asian Museums (Wing Luke, Seattle Asian Art Museum)
5. Bainbridge Island
6. A meal at Pasta Freska, where the chef comes out and asks what you like. He then proceeds to serve you things you can't eat, if you've specified such things.
7. A cupcake taste-off: Cupcake Royale vs. Trophy Cupcakes
8. A doughnut taste-off: vegan, organic Mighty-O Donut vs. Top Pot Donuts
9. Actually go up the Space Needle
10. Spend more than 45 minutes in the Experience Music Project (I did that in 2001.)
    
11. Hike somewhere near Mt. Rainier
12. Take an expensive food tour of Pike Place Market
13. Do (go to?) dim sum. Try not to be intimidated.
14. Go ice skating somewhere, Fisher Pavilion maybe.
15. Buy a bike. Learn to ride in traffic. Bleh.
16. Visit that goat farm I got a business card from.
17. Maybe join a CSA. Maybe.

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Confession

I cannot look at photos of places I know in Japan for more than a few minutes. I think I've been like this since I got back. For awhile, I was homesick, sometimes jealous. Now, the memories are just too vivid, and I just miss things. I feel like I broke up with Japan, and that's kind of funny.

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Here is your post.

I just found out that the Disneyland monorail is longer than the Seattle monorail. That's just sad.

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Sad Food Day

The other day we went to Costco, intending to pick up a four pack of toothpaste and a 4 pound bag of trail mix. We left with a cart full of stuff. I almost bought a six pack of SPAM, but G was disgusted, and I knew it would take a long time to make six cans worth of spam musubi, so with a sigh I put it back. Next time I guess.

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Rain

I feel like Seattle people* take pride in their ability to ignore the rain. But somewhere after sporadic, moderate drizzle, the weather becomes terrible, and people start to comment on it.

Choice quote: "The current weather condition in the Pacific Northwest is unspeakable."

"Unspeakable" translates to a fairly heavy rain with a decent wind. Kind of like the foreboding rain right before the oh-shit-I-can't-bike-straight typhoon weather really kicks in. And while I stayed inside just like everyone else, I thought it was funny that some people have a breaking point when it comes to rain. Freaking out once it gets too cold, I understand. I guess it's supposed to be warmer and drier by now (It's June? Holy crap.), but I haven't gotten completely used to the weather up here, so I'm just grateful I can wear zori on most days again.

*And when I mean people, I mean bloggers, because things like this rarely come up in a normal conversations with the people I actually know.

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Confession

For the first time in my 27 years on this planet, I forgot to add water to the rice before I cooked it. For shit's sake. G opens the rice cooker and dry rice spills over the side. (No clue why he tipped it in the first place.) Embarrassing. In defense of my error, I was finishing a roast chicken and cooking asparagus, and was waiting for the water to finish filtering. But still. I'm so glad I didn't do that around family. My sister would've blogged it.

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My Awesome Day.

After taking houseguest #4 to the airport today, I went to Ikea. I bought two drawer bottoms for 3 frickin' dollars each because mine warped during the winter and now one doesn't fit in the little grooves anymore. I know I could've gone to Home Depot and gotten something sturdier, but knowing me, it was worth ponying up the 6 bucks.

I also bought a plant stand, and sawed the legs off because it was too tall. (We have a saw! My dad bought it for me last year, and I thought it was funny. Now, I'm just grateful we had it.) Well, G did most of the sawing because...well, he had better control. This replaces the box I've been using for the past 11 months. (I'd been waiting to find something small enough!)

I also made a little desk shelf out of cabinet legs and a shelf piece from the As Is section. I didn't gain that much space, but now things are a little more spread out and less cluttered.

While we were gone, the landlady had a new toilet installed (smaller tank! shiny and new!) and re-caulked our sink.

I had a hot dog and some canned baked beans for dinner, because I was trying to avoid eating cheese for dinner and just ended up being hungry and cranky. Now I feel kinda weird. Similar to the feeling I get when I eat poptarts or triscuits. Mmmm processed foods.

Now I'm catching up on blogs, but I'm really not in the mood to focus.

And that was my awesome day.

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Correlations

Someday, I'd like to make a graph of how many posts and words I've posted over the years, and compare that to a graph of my level of happiness over the years. When things are super shitty, I write a lot, but when I'm just drifting like I am now, there is very little worth saying. I guess I also post less when I'm super busy, but I'm usually not that focused on my happiness when I'm surging towards a deadline.

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Yes, it's spring.

It's 4am, and there's a robin somewhere outside, very happy to be alive. I guess it's better than a mockingbird or a blue jay (I really don't see either one up here). And no I did not get up to tell you this, but I was thinking about going to bed...

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Thank you BBC.

Great tits cope well with warming

Not worth clicking the link unless y'know, you like great tits.

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Confession

Today I bought The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Again. As I still do not have a job (some may say I am actively avoiding the search), this was an indulgence. Err, so was going out for Thai food and watching The Flight of the Red Balloon in an actual movie theater, but I've justified most of that already.

In January or February, I read a borrowed copy, and loved it. A few weeks ago, I actually went to a couple used book stores and bought a paperback version for myself.

Today I found the first edition second printing of the hardback sitting in the used section of the university book store, and decided that was much cooler than the paperback. (Okay fine, a second printing isn't nearly as cool, but having it in hardback is still kinda neat.) So now I have an extra copy. I'd offer to send it to you, but I'm really bad about going to the post office. Yep.

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On killing my own food. Oh, and Twitter.

I like to think that I have no problem killing fish. But I've never snapped the head off of a live fish. Or clubbed one. Hmm. What's the best way to kill a live fish? When we'd go fishing, we'd let them suffocate, sitting in a bucket while we caught our quota. After a few hours of fishing and a few hours driving from Monterey to San Jose, everything was usually dead. Passive killing. The gutting was no problem.

I'm not so sure about killing something bigger and furrier, like a cow or a pig, but I think the gutting part would be okay if I had someone to walk me through it. I'd probably have issues raising a cute baby something and then slaughtering it myself, but I doubt that'll be an issue, unless I go farm-hippie, or the world goes to crap or something like that.

I tell you all this because contradictorily, the thought of steaming lobsters or clams alive weirds me out. I was reading an article about how to debeard a mussel (you pull on the beard and the mussel pulls back?), and that's creepy. Like hacking off an octopus leg. And I know, bivalves don't have brains, or if they do, they have wee tiny brains that would never be able to express pain like a delicious, gasping fishy; I just don't like the idea of interactive gutting.

In other news, the rest of the world is all about Twitter and twittering (140 character blogging), and while I kind of want to try the hep new thing (well, it's not that new), I rarely post as it is. But you might see a twitter mini-blog some day, because I often think of you guys--I just don't want to hammer out a good entry all the time. We'll see. What do you think? Will a steady stream of short blurbs replace the occasional long entry? Or will the twitters supplement the longer posts? Would you want to see some short thoughts? Do any of you twitter? Also, do any of you use RSS?

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Well, hello May.

It's getting to the point now where I am bored of the internet and want to do Things That Cost Money. It used to be easier to ignore those urges, like the first time I looked at my bank account and realized I didn't have enough money for rent. (Damn that was scary.) But now I've got a fat tax rebate, some yen exchanged (the bank clerk asked if we had just come back from a trip. Har har.), and a few other checks deposited, and it's becoming more difficult. Technically, all that money should go into a savings account, maybe my retirement fund (I am very proud that I took the steps to do that), and I still haven't fixed my camera, but I just stare at my account balance and think about concerts and movies.

The weather's also getting nicer, which means I'm starting to feel guilty about sitting at home all day. At least I have my windows open.

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Dreams after drinking

Last night I dreamed I was sitting in a brightly lit bar (what a coincidence) and Tony Danza, drunk as anything, is lying on the bench beside me. Apparently this is a common occurrence because I said hello, patted him on the head and went back to my conversation. A few tables over is Judith Light (Angela from Who's the Boss/Claire Meade from Ugly Betty), who is unaware that her former cast mate is wasted a few feet away.

Tony Danza gets up and has a microphone. Some blurry, hazy dream minutes later, Judith Light storms out, offended, with the bar owner following her with apologies.

A few minutes later, my high school choir choreographer pops in, reaches between the seat cushions and pulls out two jars of pickles. Apparently the bar used to be her home and she came back for her pickles. Because, of course the bar owner didn't replace any of the furniture.

----

In real life news, last night I went to dinner with G, his mom, and some of their fencing friends. They're planning a trip to Vancouver. (We also went last year.) Following dinner, we went to a pottery workshop, where G's dad was playing the drums with his band at a memorial/party. There were dogs wandering around.

After that, we went to a low-key neighborhood bar, where we talked about strange food, listened to "Don't Stop Believing" (Journey) and "Let's Stay Together" (Al Green) three or four times because those were the jukebox autoplay songs, and discussed the pope's new deadly sins. I had an Irish Coffee that was mostly whiskey, topped with whipped cream, green creme de menthe, and a cherry. (Ew.) Then I asked for an amaretto sour, but the bartender had never heard of it. Neither had a few people at the table. (What?)

All in all, I can decide which was more surreal, my dream, or last night's happenings.

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I cook because I'm bored.

Right now, I'm boiling pinto beans, because they were in the pantry. I have no idea what I'm going to do with one pound of pinto beans besides make refried beans, but it sure beats tossing a 70-cent bag of beans, right?

I need to get a job.

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Here is a chicken entry for you.

I'm baking a chicken, whee. Nothing special this time, although I don't think I rubbed enough butter on it, so it won't turn that pretty brown color.

It seems like every time I bake a chicken, I have to check the internet for liver recipes. I toss the neck into the freezer for that special day I finally make stock (I swear I'll do it eventually), but I'm always left with the liver (and sometimes the heart), puzzled. Sometimes I flour and fry it, sometimes I half-assedly saute it. But I always check the internet first, because maybe I'll find something clever I can try that won't take too much effort. Meh. I sautéed this time. I think I also sauteed a gizzard, which turned out unnaturally crunchy. I couldn't eat it, even though I kept trying to convince myself that it was just like nankotsu karaage (fried crunchy chicken cartilage! I miss you.), but it was just too stringy looking. Any tips on what to do next time?

Also, in my internet search, I came across this lovely description of gutting chickens, written by a woman who can't stand raw meat. Fascinating.

http://ephelba.blogspot.com/2007/07/chicken-guts.html

Hope you're doing well. Cl's staying with her family while they're in town, so it's just me and G in this unnaturally clean apartment for a few days. Keep an eye out for rogue facebook tagging.

PS: G just cut himself. Opening the pepper mill. With a fork. (Fine, fine, it has a lid that's difficult to take off. But still! Stabbed with a fork!)

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WTF, I don't live in the ghetto.

But on the street corner, there is a cheap-looking tall, black woman's boot with a broken heel lying in a pile of leaves. Someone either lost it on a drunken walk home, or chucked it out the window of their car. I like to pretend there wasn't a scuffle, because the heel's broken. And it doesn't look like it'd easily slip off.

I'll chuck it tomorrow, but I might take a picture and post it first. Gross.

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Houseguest and Butter

Cl is in town! It's nice mixing things up. It's Day 3, and things will probably be pretty smooth. She's the only one that has to get up for work (G is taking his last final of the quarter, old J-literature, as I type), so there's no bathroom jam.

Last night I decided to make buttermilk biscuits because there's a quart of buttermilk in the fridge. (Ahem, purchased with the intent to make biscuits.) Mmmm. They're always a crowd pleaser. We each ate two, and that was after dinner, and after ice cream. Haha.

And have you heard? This is mostly directed at L, but the March issue of Saveur is all about butter:

Isn't that an awesome picture? I wish they had actually put butter on the cover, but I guess caramel sauce is more photogenic.

I might have to buy it, even though I'm just a butter novice compared to L. They even include directions for making butter, which is made even more appealing because they included step by step pictures. Sure beats a picture of a mason jar. Let's compare:

The well-lit, enticing magazine photo. Yep, they want you to do it by hand.

The unpretentious, yet unappealing mason jar.

http://blog.mycreativecup.com/?m=200709 for the well photographed process.

So ever since I got back from dropping G off for his final, I've been reading about butter. This woman tried the Saveur recipe, and it looks good (unfortunately, her spelling is distracting):
http://cookingthehardway.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/churn-your-own/

Cooking for Engineers has his own process (using a stand mixer) with excellent explanations.

Apartment Therapy's TheKitchn (still hate the name) has a recipe using a food processor.

And somewhere along the way, I found some links to Dorie Greenspan's blog on butter tastings and The Five Commandments for Perfecting Your Butter Attitude from a French Elle magazine.

So it looks like my next project might be making butter. Fresh butter on fresh bread. Hmmm...

(Also, let me know if you'd like me to buy the magazine for either of you. I'll send it...eventually.)

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Product Review: Bigelow Vanilla Chai Tea

Smells like hotel potpourri (fake vanilla), all I can taste is 2% milk and sugar. Halfway through the cup, I can't smell the potpourri anymore, and there's this vague sensation of spiciness. And it's better that way. At the last job, they had tazo organic chai, which was vastly superior. Even if I put too much milk or sugar in, there was plenty of spice fighting its way through.

I know I should've seen this coming--it was a bonus addition to the earl grey I bought. (No objection to the earl grey.)

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Well, that was amusing.

The show was funny. It opened with this NotFunny guy who was part comedian, part singer. He changed costumes a lot and had some cardboard props. His last sketch/song was about spicy noodle soup. His name is not worth mentioning.

Then there was this electronica band called the United States of Electronica. Happy electronic music. I couldn't see much, but one woman was in sequins, and the other seemed to be wearing a corset made of metal. The only guy I had a clear view of was wearing a rainbow-striped suit and primarily sang using a vocoder (you know, the robot voice!). He was spazztastic and fun.

As for the Presidents of the United States of America, or PUSA as they seem to be shortening it these days, it was nice seeing a band that I was familiar with. They played most of the songs I knew, and they even played Video Killed the Radio Star (their famous cover). There was confetti and balloons, and the guitarist's little son came out and played a little. It was adorable and not pretentious at all, although at that point, I couldn't see crap.

Unfortunately I'm old and cantankerous, and was at first annoyed by the cloying smell of lipsmackers and pushy moms pushing their insecure sons closer to the stage. Then the show started and there was some half-hearted moshing (shoving). And then there were these slutty caricatures of groupies that smelled like department store perfume. And then there were these two women who tried to barge up front, failed, and then had a little dance party where they were stopped, crushing the poor high school girls that just wanted to have a good time.

Probably the most interesting part of the show was watching security. At first I thought they were just being cautious--they were scanning the crowd like they were waiting for a fight to break out. And then they start pointing. A few seconds later, some sweaty bro is flashing the horns and shoving to get back into the crowd. Turns out security was managing the crowdsurfing. It was fascinating. Guy (or occasionally girl) goes up, security points him out, two more gloved security guys pull him over the rail once he gets to the front of the stage, and point him to the side of the stage. Where I was standing. At first it was annoying, having the potbellied security guy pointing his meaty finger in my face to guide the surfer back into the crowd. And then it was just funny. Some rubbed his belly, one guy started dancing with me. I wish I could've taken a picture of each one that shoved by.

So yeah, there's my show review. Glad I went, glad it was free.

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Wait, shit, what?

I think I just won a pair of tickets to a Presidents of the United States of America concert. (Please see my reaction above.) Live music is cool, I like the Paramount Theater, but uhm, whoops. I only signed up because, hey, free is cool. Guess I'll go then. Haha.

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Butcher's Twine

The pot roast went well. It fell apart and I'm all meat-and-potatoed out. Awesome. No pictures because I tore into that thing. Totally worth the 6 hours (including prep). Example: when I carefully peeled the butcher's twine off, flakes (flakes!) of meat came off with it.

Only slightly related: a few days ago, when I asked the woman at the grocery store meat counter if they had butcher's twine, I had hoped she would point me to the correct aisle. Instead, she reached under the counter and rhythmically looped a few yards, cut it, folded it into fourths, and deftly twisted it into a piece of saran wrap. That's the closest I've felt to being in Japan in a very long time.

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In real news...

My dad is coming on a business trip this Thursday and Friday, maybe staying until Sunday to hang out.

On Monday, Cl (the one that's dating Mr. 'Cock) is coming to town for two weeks to work with the traveling production of Cabaret. Exciting! She'll be here for two weeks.

Three days later, R and N, the infamous Shodoshima duo, will be here for about five days for a teachers' job fair and to explore the PNW. Hmm, come to think of it, I think they're flying in on the day I need to go to SJ for my grandfather's 90th birthday party. Sheesh.

Anyway, the point is, holy shit, do I need to start cleaning.

In food news, bread loaf #2 came out underdone--gummy and denser than the first. I used a different pot and took it out too early. Sad. I'll try again later, but the damn thing takes about 20 hours to rise! Maybe I should try making real bread. More effort, a quarter (half?) of the time. Or maybe I'll try that other no-knead recipe that only takes 5 hours to rise. Hmm.

Also, G made a double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies last night. A DOUBLE batch. I hope he intends to share some with people outside of this apartment.

We've also been on a massive carrot binge after I bought a five pound bag. Y'know, carrots taste really good. G thinks it's because we haven't had them in such a long time. Har har. So, lots of carrot sticks, and last night I made a carrot salad with my Japanese mandoline. You know what? It sucks. SO does G's. The little holder thing seems to be made for daikon, not small root vegetables that fall off after every slice. Grr. But the salad's good, so yay. And yay for eating more vegetables. (I also just found out that baby carrots are just ugly carrots pared down to pretty, uniform two inch segments. I don't know why this never occurred to me before.)

Tonight for dinner: pot roast. I need to start it right now (1:34pm), so it'll be done somewhat close to dinner time. Wish me luck!

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I shouldn't nap on the couch.

Crazy dreams ensued. I remember snapping a claw off of a large crawdad that was somehow still alive after living in the freezer. I cracked it open and ate the meat. (Can you eat crawdads raw? Ew?) Then I realized that the poor critter was still alive and I felt horrible. I still had to shell the rest of it, so I smashed its head with a jar because I couldn't handle its weak attempts to get away. After I had cleaned it all, there was a long tentacle stuck in the drain. I felt like I was going to be sick.

Oh, and I think I did all this while sitting in a bathtub.

Blech.

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Bread Update

About 24 hours after I baked it, it's almost gone. Tastes fantastic, has a pretty crust, and the insides are full of bready holes. If I were on any sort of diet, I'd be appalled at what I ate today:

Breakfast: bread and butter
Lunch: cereal bar, banana, bread and butter
Dinner: Greek chicken lemon rice soup, bread and butter, apple and cheese

Loaf #2 using the standard recipe with bread flour is sitting in the warm oven right now. I'll give it the full 18-hour rest, and make it tomorrow night. Mmmm bread. I've found myself a new recipe to obsess over.

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Unfortunate Title, Courtesy of the New York Times

From their health blog, called Well:

A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Hmm. They're actually talking about kids having TVs in their bedrooms. But still.


(PS: I'm currently trying to make a faster variation of the famous No-Knead Bread. Wish me luck.)

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Free Again.

Today was my last day of work. I didn't completely lose my shit like I did last time. (Although I will admit that I did completely lose my shit when I first found out.) Maybe it's because I didn't go out for long lunches with this team like I did the last, maybe it's because I didn't tell anyone I was leaving. (I think they all knew, but were told by the manager not to acknowledge it, like I requested.)

I'm super bummed, because if I had been hired full time at this place, the benefits would've rocked my world, and I would've learned tons of awesome stuff. (Annnd I would've been safely employed for a good long while.) But at the same time, I feel this guilty freedom, like sleeping through church on Sunday, y'know back when things like that mattered. I guess deep down I'm relieved I'm done. I know that my reading and writing skills went to utter crap because of the work I did. Every sentence I write now feels clunky and overcalculated.

I made my super awesome molasses cookies as a farewell. The woman who waters our plants once a week came back for another one and claimed that they were the best she'd ever had, and she's 60 years old! (She actually said this.) Some guy I barely knew but often forwarded mail to came back for thirds. I allowed myself to enjoy one, even though I'm usually sick of the smell after baking them. They came out perfectly. Soft with a well-defined chewiness, with a sneaky, spicy glow from the pepper and the fresh ginger. I analyzed the flavor the way some people concentrate on wine, and was completely satisfied with it.

Now that I'm not writing all the time for work, hopefully I can craft you guys some quality posts before I descend into the job search (again).

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A Long Article by Steve Martin in the Smithsonian Magazine

I'm not usually a link blogger, but there's something good in here. I can't tell you specifically, as my brain has rotten from too much reading at work, but it's good. Good people anecdotes, good explanations of his process. Catch it before it disappears.

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I am a pack rat.

And I save all those Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons. They come in the mail, and they're hard to miss--giant 20% off written on blue. Because I'm crazy, I had about 20 of them, and finally went to BBB today with my old receipts to get some discounts. I used a coupon for everything I bought, even the 1.99 crap. Guess how much I got back?

$51.00. Hell yes. I'm never going to stop being a pack rat.

Man, two posts in a row about saving money. Sorry about that.

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Mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I know I know i know. But I'm not in the mood to blog. Work is good, soon I get to bug my manager about hiring me. He said I can start bugging him beginning in February. I don't hate work yet, either. I know I've worked myself a little too hard on some days, but I bounce back the next day, unlike in Japan where you just don't seem to recover until the weekend starts.

I broke my camera; I need to take it in somewhere to see if it's worth repairing. I broke it on December 31, when it slipped off a chair and bounced *just right* so it won't even turn on.

I've been obsessing over setting up a retirement fund (Roth IRA, for the record) and starting a high-interest savings account with Wamu. Wamu is being a little bitch and won't let me sign up, probably because my mailing address doesn't match my ID. Analyzing my budget is a lot more exciting now that I actually have money and can easily drop by the bank to figure out my options.

We've been cooking and hanging out at home. Drinking lots of tea. I'll send (any of) you some orange spice tea from the Pike Place Market if you're interested.

We had Italian food (Buca di Beppo, for the record) for dinner, because we received $10 gift cards in the mail--advertising--and no one else in the house claimed theirs. So we ordered separately, did a pick up, and got $20 off a $50 meal (we ordered the big portions...). We invited G's brother over, and made a night of it. We watched Paprika, which was a jolly little mind trip. Pretty, and probably my first anime movie that wasn't a Miyazaki film.

My door is molding from the inside out. I'm sure my landlady loves hearing from me.

It's cold, but it doesn't feel as cold as Japan. Neener Neener. Although it's going to hit -4C tomorrow. Laaaame.

I have Monday off! Hooray for Martin Luther King Jr.!

And that is all. I'm trying to spend less time on my computer, but it's not really working.

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How Unfortunate.

I'm still writing my damn cover letter. I'm almost done, but I'm not very satisfied with it. I think the most frustrating part is looking at my polite little paragraphs and recognizing how soulless they are. No personality at all. Even though I know it's safer to be more conservative, especially since I'm already too confident about my chances, I despise it. Sigh. I need to get back to something more creative. Or at least colorful. Maybe I just need to get drunk.

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Snowing in Seattle

Everything stops! Time to stare out the windows for hours. Yay!

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Geoducks!

Can you eat them? I guess you can, there's recipes. But check out this picture. Hmm.

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Liveblogging a Roasting Chicken

This time, I am determined not to undercook it like last time. So far, it looks good. Don't know how much longer it should sit in there, but if it gets too dry, oh well. Smokes the kitchen up pretty bad, but whatever. Pictures someday, I swear.

As I was looking for suggested cooking times on the internet, I happened across this delightful gem:

"There's a BIG BLOODY SPOT ON MY CHICKEN!! IT'S NOT DONE! WHY ISN'T IT DONE??? THE THERMOMETER SAID IT WAS DONE BUT IT'S GOT A BIG BLOODY SPOT. A BIG. BLOODY. SPOT. RIGHT THERE. EEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!"

Here's hoping mine turns out pristine. (30 minutes of resting left)

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Beginning of Week Three

At home, my current food obsessions include chickpeas flavored with parmesan cheese, lemon, olive oil and salt. I just started my third can. It's my after work snack. G doesn't understand how sour cheese with beans could be appealing.

My other obsession is peas or corn with mint. G got me into it. So when he has a bowl of ice cream after dinner, I decide I need more vegetables. With mint.

There's a chicken in the fridge, covered in salt, waiting to be roasted tomorrow. I'm getting better about actually trying recipes, especially once I realized I needed a simple recipe with easy ingredients.

It's getting darker, but I only notice when I get home and feel the urge to get ready for bed. Like right now, it's 8pm, but it feels more like 10 or 11. Makes me go to bed earlier at least. I've been googling, and I think on the shortest day of the year, the sun will rise at 7:55 and set at 4:20. Damn. I think I'll be in SJ for that though, so it won't really matter for me.

Work's going well. Still not doing much of substance, but at least I did something different today. Data entry and some email-based training. I have my own cube now. It's weird having so much private space after working in a Japanese school staffroom.

I'm looking forward to my second Thanksgiving in America, and actually being awake for it. Last year, I think I came back from Japan the day before.

(I miss you nutcases in Japan though, for sure.)

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Internet, you disappoint me.

Did you know that googling "make a sandwich with my ass" returns no results at all? At all! I'm amazed.

[This phrase emerged from a conversation we just had, and I assure you (oh ho!) that you don't want details.]

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Minor thought.

My cubemate is from the East Coast and has never experienced an earthquake. Aww. It's like being on JET all over again! I can't wait until one hits. Well, kind of.

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Day 6

Free breakfast! And that's all that's worth mentioning.

Man, I'm just so tired all the time. I know my body is desperately trying to stay healthy, but going back to an eight hour work day is killing me. It's getting easier, sure, but I pretty much go home and just veg after work. Poor G. He's been putting up with me, and washing dishes and cleaning the bathroom, and I can barely talk.

I'm so going to bed now. At 10pm.

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I am...

1. More disturbed that my sister will turn 25 next year than I am by the fact that I will turn 27. Well, okay, seeing it in print, 27 is a little unsettling.

2. Hoping I can compost my pumpkin, if only because I feel a little sad taking a knife to it and unceremoniously dumping it in the trash.

3. Looking for a big, brassy, obnoxious version of Aquarela do Brasil, because it got stuck in my head after watching Wall-E trailers.

4. In love with Wall-E. I haven't even seen Ratatouille yet, but Wall-E is adorable. I suggest you go watch the trailer.

5. Secretly fiddling with the control panel options on my work computer instead of reading mission statements and blah blah blah, pardon me, my brain is seeping out of my ear.

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Day Five

Whoops, missed a day. Yesterday I felt like ass, so I lounged about. G's brother had tickets to see the Pipettes, so we were out late, and I passed out as soon as we got home. Good times though.

More work impressions: I've noticed I'm not as nervous as I was the last time I was sent on assignment. I think it's because I'm being thoroughly trained, and not just told to answer the phone. Also, I don't have to answer the phone! It's great. We all have our own phones, and we don't get general information calls. Training is going well, i just have to keep track of terminology and where to save things.

One small downer, it's harder to slip away and veg out. My last supervisor didn't seem to mind if I took a lonnng lunch, but paid attention to what time I showed up. This supervisor doesn't care at all about when I come in, but there's always someone around to notice if we're in or not. Eh, mostly I miss having interesting things to see on strolls. Like shops.

Ooh, and I had a small moment of pride this morning. It was stupid cold, with frost on my windshield that I had to scrape off, but I didn't find it unbearably cold. Kind of normal, actually. And how cold was it? 1 degree Celcius! (34F? 33F?) Thank you, Japan, for making me less of a weather weenie.

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Day Three: TMI

The catered lunches from the restaurant that I love so much gives me horrible gas. Oh well, at least that'll deter me from buying lunch. I also figured out that they save the fancy food (like perhaps their fancy health standards) for the real restaurant. Sigh.

More training today, nothing exciting. I realized that I'm glad I'm no longer someone's assistant. Don't have to route phone calls, order lunches, arrange meetings...I was looking at a job posting to see if I was missing out on anything, and I really wasn't.

I did a mail merge today and it made me think of my first office job where I did mail merges all the fricking time. (If you don't know what they are, trust me, it's trivial.) Aw, feeling affection for Microsoft Word functions. I really need to get out more.

It's stupid cold in the mornings, and I know it'll just get worse. My car barely warms up by the time I park, poor thing. I watch the bikers strain uphill on the way home, and I'm glad I don't have to put up with that crap anymore. Hooray for the health nuts, at least I'm warm and will be more protected when some crazy broadsides me.

Oh, whoops. Earthquake near my grandparents' home yesterday. I should email them. I always feel guilty when I find out about these things late.

Ah, and Happy Halloween. We celebrated tonight by making a baked mac n' cheese and lounging around. Three trick-or-treaters stopped by, and luckily I saw them as they were puzzling over the three doorbells. Kind of a letdown, but hey. My first American Halloween in four years!

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Day Two

Today I learned more stuff. Feels pretty good to be working, but it's a lot to process. I wish it weren't so cold outside, otherwise I'd take a walk around the block to break up the monotony. I miss being in the retail core, where I could go shoe browsing at Nordstrom's next door.

I read a list of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization notes written specifically for this business. It made me feel more at home. Sometimes I see a spelling error, and I want to correct it.

I do miss my last office though. Example: team meeting today, I sat in the cube and read the company website for an hour and a half. (It was suggested I do it, but it really is useful.) In the last office, on my second day, I was in the team meeting, even though I was only supposed to be there for two weeks. On the fourth day, I went to a luncheon as part of that office team. Oh well. I can't have it all. At least I'm not endlessly scanning crap or taking notes about leaks and blackouts.

G is currently burning through Harry Potter 6. Cuts into hanging out time, but it's better than Dice Wars. Or one of the six or seven other games he's playing.

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Serendipitous

My cubemate is going to get her wisdom teeth removed in the building I used to work in. I'm going to give her a note to drop off at my old office, to freak them out.

Impressions Day One: Everyone is great, lunch is catered by a restaurant I know and like, commute is surface streets, 20 minutes in the morning, 10 in the evening. I wish I could take the bus, but it's too much of a hassle--a transfer, or a long walk past the freeway on-ramps where the bums hang out. The manager doesn't care about me keeping super strict hours, and temps are usually hired after an interim period. My computer monitor is bigger than my TV at home. My photo ID doesn't look nearly as haggard as the last one I took (in Tokyo, hungover and shell-shocked). I'm excited about what I get to learn tomorrow, even though my brain has barely processed what I learned today. I signed an 11-page non-disclosure agreement, so I've probably said too much already Do Not Do Bad Things On Our Computers agreement, and I wanted to share the news.

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Tonight for dinner...

We had GwynWong's meatloaf. Didn't take pictures, sorry. It was great, and someday we'll have a more complete spice collection that will make the meatloaf even better. Mmm.

Two bits of trivia: G can't remember the last time he had ketchup, and the last time he had meatloaf was with GwynWong. While I can't remember the last time I had meatloaf (probably at home, maybe even high school), I almost felt ashamed that I had been craving something comforting--and dare I say it, trashy--like that. I like ketchup on my eggs, but I never thought that was weird.

Now I'm full and meat coma-ed (2 pounds of meat is a lot!) with not much to say. Oh, except that my family is okay and the friends that evacuated are pretty sure their house is okay.

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24 little hours

Sorry I haven't written. It got to the point where small life observations weren't interesting anymore, and I wanted to wait until something bigger happened. So here I am.

Yesterday I went in for an interview for a temp job. Well, more like a "temp with full intentions to hire but first we're going to cover our asses and make sure you fit here" job. (Actually, the guy who was interviewing me asked what the temp agency told me, because he didn't know. He just told them to put whatever they put last time. Hah.) I'm actually okay with temp-to-hire positions. In fact, I wish more jobs were like that, where you can try it out, see if you like it, and if you don't, you can leave after three months without it really blemishing your work history. Or maybe it does, I don't know.

Anyway.

So I went to the interview, and it was okay. I'm not that interested in the job, other than the fact that it paid more than the last one. (Hey, I'm a temp, I'll take what I can get.) It's got a crappy commute over a floating bridge, which *shuts down* if it gets too windy (which is a legitimate concern), and the traffic just sucks in general. Sucks almost to Angelino standards. For example, yesterday I left at 9:40am, in the rain, and it took me 45 minutes to drive 10 miles. On the way home at 10:30am, it took 17. Almost all of it was freeway driving.

The interview went okay. I know I slipped in a few places, but like I said, not that concerned. They seemed eager to hire someone, so I'd probably get the job. I went home feeling sorry for myself because I felt like I was settling, even though I don't have a clear idea of what I want. Eventually I gave in and decided to stop being lame about it. Maybe it'll be interesting. At least I'll learn something new. Paying rent and saving up until I know what I want is good, right?

Well, as I was getting ready for bed last night, I noticed I had a voice mail. Missed call at 4pm. Whoops. Turns out the voice mail is from a woman who works for the temp agency at a company that I applied for (through the temp agency) *six months ago*. (Companies have in-house temp agency workers? Crazy.)

I called her this morning, an hour ago. She's looking to fill a position, no interview necessary, am I interested? (Hell yes.) Well great. Call the temp agency's main office and work out the details.

Details worked out, I start Monday. It happened so quickly I kept stalling when I was talking to the temp agency, convinced that I had overlooked something, that maybe the job is terrible (doubtful) or there's a high turnover rate (nope, most people are hired after their contract is up).

So in a 24-hour period, I interviewed with one company, and got hired by another. Crazy, huh? I'm still overwhelmed, but mostly I'm just deeply relieved that I'm going back to work. And that I can pay my rent. ::good sigh::

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Volunteering is cool.

Hey D, get this: G and I met this guy while hanging a giant kimono at City Hall. Lived a few years in Japan, did some eikaiwa, did some other teaching job, and has done most of the 88 (temple pilgrimage in Shikoku). And he invited us over for a movie tonight. We watched After Life, which was pretty awesome. Makes me want to watch more movies. Too bad this guy is going to Japan for a month to buy tea or something. (That's his business, selling tea wholesale.)

Oh right, and why should D be interested? He did the Tokushima leg of the 88 in *ONE DAY*. ONE DAY! He never saw the porno shack, and probably didn't stop to take pictures, but he did it in a day, on foot. Wearing geta. (wooden sandals, or until they wore out and he went barefoot.) That's hardcore man.

He'll finish up someday, so if anyone over there is interested in meeting this guy, let me know. He's pretty decent.

ONE DAY! Man.

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Too late, it's gone.

Here I present the Safe Beige Couch. I intend to get some bright stuff...eventually. But for now, I can breathe easier, knowing that I won't clash horribly every time I sit on my couch. Good thing I rarely wear khaki.

The other pictures show the well-dressed Target bench, G's new desk, and our white TV on our white TV stand. Opinions, anyone?

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Color Shock. (Or, D would be proud.)

Hello goldfish! Hello kid with eye!

So we went to Ikea again. Went yesterday, went the week before. G now has a desk, some drawers, and he also bought the sofa. Man. The Sofa. I'm grateful he put the money down for it, but to be honest, I'm in shock. Yes, I chose the color (only after much agonizing), yes I was hopeful that it would work, but now...it's just so damn red. Everything else is neutral, because I hadn't committed to colors yet. (I have blue accessories because I was hoping to go for teals and browns.) Even G was nice and bought a lighter colored desk because I'm afraid that dark furniture will make the room feel smaller.

So, people who have been pestering me about posting, what do you think? Am I just freaking out, or is it really too dominating? It's not the most pleasant red. I took a lot of pictures to try and capture this. Leans just a bit towards orange. Or is it okay, and I just need more red friendly accessories? Here's the web page. I'm leaning towards something nice and safe like beige. That would play much nicer with my teal pillow cases that I love:

The big pillow is a zabuton and will live on the floor. The small pillow I just love.

Yep, the recliner's still there. Just might stay there too.

There's G's J-textbook in the corner. He's taking one class so far, from 11:30-12:20, every day.
How's that for inconvenient?

And if it really is a bad idea, no guilt about that. We can exchange the cover (the couch stays, dammit--I want that couch) because we have to return a tv stand. There are two sizes of that particular tv stand, and we got the larger one. 66". Bleh.

On a happier note, G splurged on some LEDs that pleasantly fade from color to color. He's thinking about pimping out the kitchen, or maybe the living room, or heck, both. They're like grown-up Christmas lights, and I love them.

So I'm imploring you, (all three or four of you), help me. Make me feel better or convince me to change it. Right now I'm just uncomfortable about it. Sad.

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Damn those friends not on Facebook.

This message is for GrBy. Email me your phone number at [my first initial][my middle initial][lastname]atgeemale.com, so I can call your damn ass. I'm down south, and we need to hang out.

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Point Loma, 4:30pm

And how was your Monday?

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I'm in San Diego!

With G! We're having a great time waking up late, lounging about, and sneaking in some sightseeing. Just wanted to let you know how things are going, and ask a small question: Who's The Coffee Whore? Is that you GrBy? You owe me massive updates if that is you. Email me.

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August was a busy month.

Hello blog-friends, sorry about neglecting y'alls.

I was temping, blue-eyed Adalew came to visit, Kr. and her boyf came to visit, life was busy. Currently I've been hanging out with JH and RL who are in town for the weekend. (That ups the total number of visiting JETs to 5! Gwyn, you're next.) Tomorrow will be troll and salmon day (Fremont and the Ballard fish ladders). I'm currently unemployed and will be heading down to SoCal next week with boyfriend in tow. High school friend's wedding. I can't wait to introduce him.

Ah yes, and August was busy because I have my koibito back. Sorry. He has stocked my fridge well (cheese and pesto), and encouraged me to clean up more often. He does my endless supply of dishes and brought over his PS2. We've been watching Azumanga Daioh, which is an anime about high school students. Kind of wacky, but highly natsukashii. It's comforting to see the classrooms again, even in cartoon form.

So far the apartment doesn't seem too small with him around, and I'm definitely adding more homey touches to the place (a few plants and more clutter). Pictures are an order, but while the weather is nice and I'm not employed, I won't be spending much time on the computer. Sorry folks.

Ah yes, and I also have a new hobby, geocaching. Think of it as scavenger hunting with a GPS device. Downright addictive for me. There will be a post about that too, someday.

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On the bus

This dude sits down next to me. He's wearing a leather jacket. It's not that cold out, but maybe he was planning for cooler weather. Fine.

And then he gets off the bus. I look up, and realize that he is complementing his leather jacket with a pair of plaid bermuda shorts. Ew.

After I got off the bus, I passed a Word of the Week. I've already forgotten what that word was (I took a picture, I'll upload it eventually...), but I'm glad I've got some quirky stuff in my neighborhood.

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Minor rage

"Low Rider" blasting out the windows of a shiny red SUV/jeep-ish thing.

::sigh::

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Japan, you are Stupid and Mean.

This morning on Facebook, I learned that G kind of has a successor at Shiun, his base school. It's a huge school on the western side of Tak. His successor's base school is IN TONOSHO. Probably RL's position. Holy cow. That poor girl will have to bike to the ferry, ferry from Tonosho and then bike to Shiun 80 times next year. I sincerely hope those days are Fridays, so she can just stick around town for the weekend, or that she makes a good friend in the city where she can crash. That is so lame. They should totally keep G's apartment for her to stay at every now and then.

So how much longer do you think the Program will last in home sweet Kag? Sheesh.

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Today I accidentally spoke in Portuguese.

My supervisor is Portuguese. Her mom calls her at work, and I've taken a few of these calls. After a few experiences with awkward language barriers, today it finally occurred to me that Portuguese is pretty similar to Spanish. So when she called for the second time today, I somehow managed to eke out Uno momento...ahora no está aquí with my brain trying really hard not to sneak in some Japanese. And it worked! Later my supervisor said that her mom is convinced that I spoke in Portuguese to her. Har har. Turns out the Portuguese version is pretty close to the Spanish version, but either way, hooray! I remember something from high school!

Other than that, today was definitely a Monday at work, and everyone felt it. I like it when everyone feels the way I do. Less guilt that way. I mean, sure I could've gone to bed early last night, but staying out until 10pm geocaching is way more fun than, oh...say...cleaning and doing laundry and going to bed on time. Wouldn't you agree?

On the bus home today, I sat next to a girl with an armband tattoo. I think I called it cute. Graciously, she said thank you and went back to her own little world. Whoops. You're not supposed to call tattoos cute, are you? But I couldn't help it. She had Alice in Wonderland drawings wrapped around her arms. Both of them, I noticed when she got off the bus. Possibly engravings from an old book, and they were so cool. She was wearing a blue dress with a funky blue pattern, with scuffed black boots. She was very much a modern Seattle Alice.

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Sourdough Bread (and the typical tangents.)

I bought sourdough bread (should've been something sweeter like french, but oh well) and avacados. Guess what I'll be eating for the next few days? Yum Yum Yum. (Man, that was Tuesday I had avacado on bread? Damn, this week went by fast.)

Eating sourdough bread makes me think of this one friend of mine who only ate sourdough bread. Only. Didn't matter what kind, if it was bagged and sliced, or crusty in a paper bag, but it was always sourdough. I'd always sneak a slice when we hung out, because I knew it'd be gone in a day or two. (Who goes through a loaf of bread in two days??) Funny that I thought of that.

Today was a "buy stuff" day. Not exactly retail therapy--although I came home with some neat stuff--just picking up stuff here and there. Curtains for the closet (not sure if I like them), a fan (a nice fan!), food...all that plus G's box which arrived yesterday, and my apartment is trashed. Don't worry, I took pictures, and I'll post them later.

(Dude, he sent me my hair dryer. Uhm, I guess it'll be nice to have if my brand new one ever breaks. And to be fair, I might've asked him to send it to me ages and ages ago. He also sent me candy, D's spice shaker she bought for my birthday, oh, two years ago?, and a kimono. A kimono! I don't know how to dress myself in a kimono! And I don't have the right obi! Or tabi! Sigh. It's pretty though.)

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Things I ate today.

Today I had avocado on crusty bread drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. I've never thought of that before (because I'm not exactly a food experimenter, no surprise there), but it was really really good. I'm totally having that for dinner someday soon. This guy in the office brought it in because he had some avocados that needed to be eaten. Hooray!

And another office food story: In the office is a bowl of candy. I had some twizzlers, and I would like to report that I hate them even more now than before I went to Japan. Ugh. Give me raw fish organs any day over twizzlers. I guess I just wanted to know if they tasted the same...but they don't. They taste worse.

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No concept of time.

It's July? Almost mid-July? I had no idea. I mean, I could tell you the date if I had to--I date stuff at work--but it doesn't really sink in. The weather is foreign again, and all the indications of summer just aren't here. No humidity...

(here I walked away, found a couple of those summer bells that disappointingly don't have very nice chimes, and hung them in my bathroom, because there are unused hooks in the bathroom)

no summer icons (goldfish, tea commercials with clinky ice, suika bars...), zaru udon (although I tried today, I didn't try hard enough, and just had lukewarm udon), ice cold green tea (I should really just make my own...), no hellish classes to teach...wait what? Grr.

I keep fighting it, wishing I was meant for grander things, but I really think I need to be a teacher. I crave the school year patterns, the crapload of interaction, hell, the lesson plans too. Or maybe I just crave the familiarity of it, and I miss the intense buzz of students. Uhhuh.

I'm done with this entry. I keep getting up to do other things. Like right now, I'm trying to brew enough genmaicha (brown rice tea) for a thermos with only a small tea strainer.

G might be home in 12 days! That's insane!

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I did it!

When I told my friend that I was going to try and go to Gasworks Park to watch the fireworks, his comment was, "It's a clusterfuck."

One of the Seattle blogs describes it as "Fuck Wallingford Day," because 60,000 people (and I assume that's a guess) swarm Wallingford neighborhood. For the record though, that blogger was more than a bit miffed because some Wallingford residents didn't want summer concerts at Gasworks Park, blah blah, snipe snipe, NIMBY righteousness, etc.

Well, I did it, and it wasn't so bad. I sat on top of Kite Hill, which was nice and steep, so no one blocked my view. Some people weren't so fortunate and sat right behind the paved path, which became crowded with standing people. This obnoxious older woman tried to shame them into sitting down, but all she managed to do was annoy me.

There was an inflatable Statue of Liberty head. I thought it was silly.

Oh! And no good pictures, because I don't know where my camera is! Rarg! I was super prepared: bottle of water, couple extra layers, book, snacks...and I didn't take my camera! I think (hope) it's at work, and that it didn't get pinched from my bag. That would suck a lot. I'll find out tomorrow.

The show opened with a giant military helicopter flying an American flag around the lake. That was awesome. I'm not so into the military or flag flying, but it was unique.

There were some really awesome fireworks: the typical neat ones--the smiley faces, hearts, Saturns--but they also had some that I had never seen. Cubes! Well, round cubes. And these awesome ones that looked like a single strand of icicle lights that got launched into the air and slowly floated down. And these jellyfish rocket things, that slowly floated up. Those two were my favorites.

And the music was interesting too. They opened with "America" ("O beautiful..."), and I assume it was Ray Charles' version, but I don't know for sure. Then it was all non-patriotic music. U2's "Beautiful Day," "Also Sprach Zarathustra," "Tequila," that one Austin Powers instrumental (I don't feel like googling for it), Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon," (excellent excuse to use the Saturn and star fireworks) "Bohemian Rhapsody," for goodness sake! (They used the smiley faces for all the background voices. It was fun.) They closed with "When You Wish Upon a Star" (Disney? kind of strange), and "Stars and Stripes Forever." Or at least I'm pretty sure that's what it's called.

Notice a trend with the music? Two patriotic songs. Two! Not sure if that's the style these days, or if it's just this particular show, or if it's Seattle being liberal. I enjoyed being able to sing along.

The crowds were super crazy, but I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and I showed up around 7:45pm to get a seat for the 10pm show. I would probably try to get there at 7 or maybe earlier if I was going in a group. It was pretty easy doing it alone though. I didn't time my walk there, but it only took 42 minutes to walk (almost 2 miles) home. Further than I thought, but sure beats the parking and traffic mess.

I'm glad I went, and I would definitely go again next year. Come visit if you feel like braving the crowds and doing a two-mile walk home. Hehe. I'll probably still be here.

Yay, I'm happy now. And this Saturday I'm going to a wedding in California! Everything is great. Oh wait, except for the camera thing. Grarg-ate. Yes, that's it. Goodnight!

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10:23am

Happy 4th of July. I'm bored and I'm not ready yet to face the crowds to get a little sunshine. Holidays suck more when you're on your own and you have to go to work the next day. When I wasn't working, every day was a holiday, so I didn't really mind that I wasn't doing anything for Memorial Day weekend. Now I'm just bleh. bleh bleh bleh.

I'm not very patriotic, so that's all you're gonna get.

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Dare I?

Look at this insanity:


That's where I want to go watch fireworks tomorrow night, by myself. Shit. I knew it was going to be bad, but seeing a picture makes it worse. And I'm doing it alone--no one to watch my space, no one to keep me company. (Hey, my only other choice was to go to G's uncle's cabin in the woods? countryside? err, remoteness with G's parents, but not his brother. No thanks.) While I'm tempted to tough it out, it means no bathroom breaks from the time I find a place to sit (or trusting strangers...hmm) until around 11pm, when I walk home. I dunno man.

And I'm not sitting at home on the 4th. I had a really shitty 4th when I was 18, and since then, I've disliked the holiday because of the associations. Well, there was one quaint year in Wyoming, but overall, lame. I have memories of sitting in my college apartment, attempting to write a paper while the neighbors partied it up. So I'm not going to sit at home, even if it means jogging block to block trying to find a good view.

Wish me luck.

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