Recent Activity

Hi there folks! Here are some photos of stuff from the past several days:

Rhubarb Upside-down cake.

Recipe from marthastewart.com It makes a sweet, dense cake with a salty-ish crumb crust. I reduced the sugar in the cake (not the crumb) part of the recipe or the cake would have been salty too. The results were fine for the effort I put in but I think I'll keep looking for a recipe I like better.

Even dead peonies smell amazing. The three sad examples behind the fresh one made my entire house smell divine despite their crispy appearance. 

A dusty bug I spotted on a windowsill yesterday. It is the nymph of a Masked Hunter bug. They eat bedbugs and earwigs, among other things.

Garlic scapes! So pretty and delicious. I like to douse them with olive oil and salt and grill them. I'm growing much more garlic next year if I can.

My pal, Fay. She's doing great these days. Hope I didn't just jinx it. She'll be fourteen in three months.

I'd like to tell you more but I'm extra stupid from a head cold and I don't trust myself to make sense. 

Muuuah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Last post today (most likely)

Pumpkin pedicure

 Skull manicure

Yes of course, I did them myself - don't look too close!

Credit Where It's Due

I can't believe that I didn't link to the store where you can get these (and many other) cool wigs.  Miss Violet Lace can now be found on ebay.

Should you take the plunge and get yourself (or somebody else) a wig from her, just know that when it arrives it will probably smell deliciously of cupcake or cotton candy. If that is something you appreciate then I suggest you go to her Etsy store and get yourself a bottle or two of her hair and wig perfume.

I have to say that walking around with pink, cupcake scented hair is doing wonders for my disposition.

THANK YOU MISS VIOLET LACE!!!!!!

I Declare

Under most conditions wigs are better than winter hats.

Why would I say something like that?  Well, for one thing, wigs are cute. Unless they're fun or DEADLY SERIOUS. They allow you to have any hair you want. You don't have to take them off once you get indoors and reveal your horrific hat-head. They are also plenty warm for most purposes. I probably wouldn't go for a day of downhill skiing wearing a wig rather than a hat. Mostly I wear hats around the house in the winter because we're cheap and refuse to heat our house properly (unless we're in Cambridge where we have a heat pump and it's impossible to heat the place properly) So why not have a little extra fun and wear a wig instead?

Pete and my mom gave me these wigs for my birthday. Thanks you guys!!!

More Coveting

Don't you think these boots would go GREAT with that red wig?

And while I'm at it, how about these boots?

All from John Fluevog.

P.S., the weather outside is frightful.  Just the way I like it.

Doc Martens

I am the proud owner of my first pair of Doc Martens.

I know, someone in my age bracket should have worn out at least three pairs by now.  The thing is, back in the late 80s, early 90s EVERYBODY had them.  I can be a bit contrary.  If everybody has something then I don't want it.

Now it's 2010 and most people aren't thinking much about them.  I wasn't either until I spotted this pair on one of my shoe trolling expeditions on endless.com this past spring.  I had to have them.

By now I've worn them enough to know how frigging comfortable they are.  I LOVE THEM!!!!  So naturally I bought myself another pair:

They fit a little differently than the pink ones but they're still comfortable.  I'm breaking them in.  Or else I'm breaking in my feet.

I feel lucky that I finally found these at my age.  Since we moved to Cambridge we've been walking much farther far more frequently.  My feet can't take the pounding they used to when I was younger.  If I wear flats with no padding or support my feet ache the next day.  (Heels are heels and don't seem to hurt more than they used to.  I love heels but you have to pay if you want to wear them.  Still, I don't wear heels to walk three miles to The Plough.  If I want to wear heels somewhere like that I'll carry them in a bag and put them on when I get there)  I'm way too vain to wear sneakers (ew)  These are perfect.

So now I'm hooked.  Look at all the cute ones they have now:

I'd love a pair of these.  Maybe the black with white dots?  I don't know...

Oooh, lacy heels!

Maybe I like the purple ones better?  I wonder if they're as comfy as the flat boots?

If they had had these in 1989 I would have got them.  Everybody else had black.

They have a Hello Kitty line.  I'm not biting though.

And then there are these:

Fortunately for my bank account (and complete lack of closet space) I can't decide.  So I'm going to be reasonable and not buy more.  For now.  Except that I did buy the blue metallic mary janes.  But really, I'm done now.  For now. Until I buy the pink mary janes.

Ladies' Undergarments, Mine Specifically

Maybe it's a bad idea to write about underwear in an otherwise unsexy blog.  Not that I intend to be sexy at all.  It's just that I think I'll be cursed with pornbot spam now just for using the word "underwear."

Here goes though:  it would seem that Victoria's Secret has cornered the market on women's cotton underwear.

I prefer to wear cotton for air-flow purposes.  It just keeps everything in better condition.  Back when Filene's was still in business they used to carry a really cute women's underwear line called St. Eve.  Number one, they were cotton, number two, they had great colors and prints (yes, I like colors and prints on my underwear) number three, they were cut well and number one-half, they were comfortable (good sized leg holes and not instant-wedgie-machines)

It must have been about eleven years ago when I went on my last underwear buying binge.  I remember because I remember being at the dog park with my friend Jean and telling her about the great underwear I'd bought at Filene's.  There was some deal like three pairs for nine bucks or something.  They were all so cute I stocked up.

It's so exciting when you find great underwear that sometimes you just have to share.  Like now.

Anyway, the elastic on my eleven year old underwear has ceased to function.  At the end of the day I keep finding my underpants down around my ankles and I have to throw them out.  Goodbye pink leopard print pair!  Farewell cute one's with the beach picnic patterns like a smiling crab!  Adieu white pair with the appliquéd flower and bee!  Sniff!

All my go-to underwear in the wastebasket and me left with the scratchy nylon lace ones that are sexy looking, sure, but you can't wear them every day.

So I've been checking out all the places where I thought I'd find cute cotton underwear.  Costco has cotton but they're the giant old lady kind.  I'd rather not wear underwear than wear a dumpy pair that shows over the top of my pants.  The department stores had masses and masses of cute (ish) cheap-o nylon junk - the kind that catches on the dry skin on your hands when you touch them.

I even went to Bloomingdale's.  Our Bloomingdale's is all hoity-toity and expensive and the saleswomen have terrible attitudes and yet they never have anything I'd remotely want to own.  I go there maybe once a year to see if they still suck.  I went there as a last resort.  It too was a sea of nylon.  They did have cotton underwear but the cheapest was Hanro at $35 a pair!  NO FRIGGING WAY!

Thank heaven I remembered that there's a Victoria's Secret in that mall.  They had a huge table loaded with cute cotton underwear.  Something like six different non-thong styles (thong=instant-wedgie-machine for me. If thongs work for you they had cotton thongs too.) and dozens of colors and prints including glitter patterns, five pairs for $25.  Thank you.  I just looked at a few labels and some of them are made with 20% organic fibers from Burkina Faso.

Needless to say I stocked up.  Eleven years from now I will undoubtedly be facing the same problem again.  Maybe by then there will be an even better underwear.

Somnolence

Fay and I are very tired.  I, for one, am stupid.

I couldn't wake up today.  Again.  I'm starting to wonder if I have Lyme Disease or anemia or something.

A good thing I have right now is an excellent view of a juvenile robin.  It's sitting on a branch outside my window.  Its mom came and give it some lunch a couple of minutes ago.  Now it's taking a nap with its little beak tucked into its wing.

Oh - there - it woke up and did a little stretch.  And settled back in to nap position.  Now a motorcycle went by and woke it up again.  Oh - and here comes Mom with some  more lunch.  Yay Mom!

Wherein I Become A Shill

I knew 120 million people were not waking up every morning and making dashi fresh with kombu and fish flakes.  It's not like it's super hard to make - though it is hard to make well.  Even so, I knew there had to be an instant powder that comes in a jar somewhere.

Enter Amazon.com.

This "Amazon Associates" thing I'm doing now has definitely increased traffic to their site.  I'm going there daily now.

If you've been reading this blog for a while you will know I'm interested in Japanese cooking.  All of the cookbooks I have contain a recipe for tamago, the Japanese rolled omelette often sliced and made into sushi.  While I enjoy eating tamago it's the skill I'm after - I want to learn how to make it well!  So I searched Amazon (because you can find anything on Amazon and read the reviews before you buy) and I bought this pan:



I haven't used it yet but it's very well made and has a non-stick coating.  It's also tiny and cute as hell.  Kawaii!!!  A recipe for tamago came with it in the box.  The number two ingredient was "Hondashi (Japanese instant soup base)"!

There it was!  I knew it!  Instant dashi!  Thank you again, Amazon!  Well, thank you, House of Rice who included the recipe with the pan.  But I wouldn't have known about The House of Rice without Amazon.

So back to Amazon I went and ordered some:


I think this discovery will open up a whole, new world of Japanese culinary success for me.

Whoa Nellie!

How insane are these artificial nails? I'll tell ya: completely! And believe me, there are more. Many more. Considering the amount of work it looks like it takes to make them they are also very cheap. This set is $35 but some go for as little as $20.

Mini Lists

H. pylori

I can't solve other peoples' problems

I don't do very well with my own problems either

Fay's new nickname is "Crumbles"

Heat pumps north of Virginia

My new hat

Perfume

Good friends

Cute

Persistence

Exercise

Making

More Photos From Last Week And Cookies

My mom and I are reflected in the convex mirror in my aunt's apartment while enjoying our breakfasts.

Here are the ladies before lunch. My mom's the light-haired one.

Both my mom and my aunt changed their shoes before we went. Mom wore real shoes and my cousin made my aunt wear shoes with a bit of red in them. It was a good choice. None of us were bumpkins.

My cousin is a wonderful photographer of people because she says truly funny things just before taking the photo.

And here are my shoes.

Cue the harp music and imagine clouds of red hearts and rose petals flying around. I love these shoes. I'm going to have to think of other places to wear them. They put me over six feet too, which I love. I'd happily be taller if I could be.

Here I am towering over my cousin's adorable daughter, Ryan.

She is so awesome.

Today I made the Chocolate Snowstorms from the Food Network pull-out booklet (actually, I got the recipe here because the booklet is in Cambridge and I'm not) and I have to say that they are de-friggin-licious and easy to make. I think I've already eaten six of them. The recipe made me about 50 cookies.

I Am Obsessed With This

Other countries do T.V. So much better than we do. This thing's nuts.

The music and the visuals are out of control. <3

Happy Dogs

I missed Zoey last night.

It was stressful having her around because I knew her owners must have been really worried about her and because Fay was always trying to pick fights with her. I was pretty much carrying Fay with me everywhere to keep the peace.

But there were some really great things about Zoey. For example she was affectionate. She'd sidle up to me and demand patting. When I stopped she'd beat her tail on the floor and shove her head into me so I'd pat her again. Fay, although she's a pug, is not affectionate. She wants food, not patting. Ear rubs are okay but only to a certain point. Then it's "hand over the grub."

I took Zoey out for a walk yesterday. She tore gleefully through the woods. It was a beautiful thing to see. Because of her illness Fay can't do that anymore. She doesn't do gleeful displays anymore. She enjoys barking at and chasing cars but that produces satisfaction for her, not glee. Maybe it's that Fay can't caper anymore. Maybe she does feel glee (like when she's eating) but she just doesn't prance like she used to. Maybe it's age. I don't know.

Watching a happy dog lifts your heart. Fay is happy but in a more complex way. That's part of her charm. Simple dog glee is just so accessible though.

Zoey was also accommodating. She realized that Fay was not going to let her sleep in our room so she padded off to the guest room where I'd laid out a bed for her. When I got up in the middle of the night to dispose of a Fay turd Zoey looked up at me from her bed, wagged her tail then put her head contentedly back down.

There's no way I'm saying that I like Zoey better than Fay.

Fay is my girl. She's the one I spend most of my time with. She's got a huge personality and is very interactive. When she wants something (which is usually) she'll let you know. She's bossy and demanding and hilarious. I guess I don't really think of her as a dog most of the time. I don't know what that would make her. She's Fay - her own thing.

Zoey was just easy and pleasant to have around so I missed her.

Ghosties

Spooky Ghostie cupcakes!

They are Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World topped with seven-minute (more like twenty-minute) frosting from Epicurious.com. Seven-minute frosting contains egg whites so these are not vegan cupcakes.

The eyes are mini chocolate chips. It took me a minute to figure out that I should put the chips on point-side in.

Also, I was wearing my pumpkin-head wig for a time while making these. I don't have photographic proof. I ended up taking the wig off however because the hair would fall in my face and I couldn't see very well. I don't know how you people with hair can get anything done.

This was my first batch of seven-minute frosting. Like I said, it took more than seven minutes for the egg whites to whip to stiff peak stage. That's really not a deal-breaker for me though. This frosting is fun to play with - very fluffy. It's exactly what you want to use to fill a cupcake or layer cake. I definitely prefer it to buttercream. At our house the frosting hardened by the end of the night, the ghosts formed a crust of meringue but were still soft inside.

My Crush

Here it is, the Mustang I rented when I was visiting my parents earlier this month. I shouldn't say I fell in love with it. It was more of an infatuation. I was really sad to see it go when I dropped it back off at Hertz. I had a TON of fun driving that car.

Today's Cute Picture

Cute and a little sad.  The story has a happy ending though.  This fire-injured koala was rescued by firefighter David Tree.  Pretty good name for a firefighter.

My Brain Today: Haphazard

Am I supposed to be impressed by this guy?  What the hell is that expression on his face?  Fake what?  Fake with energy.  Lots of energy there.  "This really sucks!  Yeah!  Awesome.  Heh heh heh."

Ryan Seacrest.  I've heard of him but I don't know what he does.  I could wikipedia him but I don't really care.  Some T.V. thing.

He turned up on the Washington Post homepage a second ago when I started up safari to check the weather.  I will give him that his expression is arresting.  I blogged about it after all.

Moving on, Fay has a stomach ulcer.  Her general condition has also declined a bit and she's had a UTI for two months that her antibiotics haven't seemed to help.  We've changed the antibiotics and we're hoping that that and treating her ulcer will make her feel better.  If she feels better she might move better.  We're hoping because we can't up her prednisone dose due to the ulcer.  So she's on six different pills now but I don't think I'll be giving her any shots this month.  Maybe?

Here is the new website I'm not allowed to go to anymore because I can't go there without buying something:  Momiji!  So cute!  Cheaper than shoes too.  Here's a prettier picture (than R.S., above) from the Momiji site:

Someone there gets paid to make these adorable Flash animations.  I'm jealous!

In other news I read Bono's Op Ed piece in the New York Times today.  He was reminiscing about Frank Sinatra.  He quoted Sinatra as saying, "Being modern’s not about the future, it’s about the present.”  I thought that was really interesting and true.  As I've said before, my present is usually really great but for some reason I often try to avoid it.  I seem to prefer some crazyland that my head's dreamed up.  Like one of those Momiji flash animations.

According to Bono, Sinatra had the guts to live in the present and constantly confront reality.  I guess he might have done that as much as any famous person can.  I can admire that.  I wish I was better at it myself.  However I'm glad I'm not as hard as Sinatra appeared to be.  

I also read the article on Calvinist hipster preacher (huh?) Mark Driscoll, entitled "Who Would Jesus Smack Down?"  Calvinism.  Lots to think about there.  If you want to bother.  Maybe you'd rather wikipedia Ryan Seacrest?  Maybe you already know who he is and don't need to.  Anyway, The Driscoll article was pretty interesting.  People are...weird.  "God says I'm better than you and nothing that you or I can do will change that.  You're going to Hell and I'm going to Heaven.  No matter what!  HA HA HA HA!  SUCKER!!!!!"  It made me think about some of the jerks from high school who I know to still be jerky.  Come to think of it maybe you don't want to read that article.  Why think about jerks if you don't have to?  

My present contains no jerks.  I'm going to be like Frank and enjoy my present.  At least for the next few minutes while I can keep myself from drifting off into some candy-crammed fantasy land.

Holiday Gear - A Big Pile Of Shiny Things

I am LOVING looking at all the shiny things people are selling right now. For example the Cusp website. Everything shiny! I love those Dogeared necklaces. The sweaters, the scarves, the makeup, the clutches - it's all shiny and fun. (I'm not so psyched about the Tory Burch humongo logo stuff though - just in case someone's looking for birthday gift ideas here. I'm not a logo kind of gal. It would make me really uncomfortable to be a walking billboard for someone else)

However, I already have a lot of stuff just like that. I should get it all out and play with it.

AND, all that stuff is giving me ideas for fun things to make!

Do I Know You?

I've been running into good people in the world lately.

Today on the T two alterna-teenagers got on at the Hynes stop. Watching them through the window I could tell that they didn't know each other but I thought they'd make a good couple. One was a tall, very slim girl with stick-straight white blonde hair and cool purple velcro high tops (much like a pair I had in the '80s) The other was a tall guy with dyed red hair. The girl got on first and headed past one open seat for the seat next to me. When she got there she noticed that someone had spilled a diet Coke on the seat (they left the can there too) In the mean time the boy got on and started to go for the seat the girl had passed by. She backed up, not seeing him, to take the first seat. He noticed her backing up and with a sincerely gallant hand gesture, offered her the seat. It took two seconds but it was really sweet. They didn't ever speak to each other.

Lately I've been thinking about the really great people that I know there are in the world who I haven't met yet. I have great friends, old and new, but due to all of our travels I don't see them as much as I'd like to. My life is really fun and interesting. Sometimes I get to do really cool things. Sometimes though I wish I had an active social circle. I don't think I'm in one place long enough or at regular enough intervals to make that happen right now. Who knows what the future will bring?

With all the ugliness and with all of the horrible things that are going on in the world right now it's nice to feel optimistic about something. I am optimistic that I will be able to interact with interesting people who I like more frequently soon.