Oh, don't I just feel so very adult. I just online shopped for CURTAINS. I was sort of lamenting the Bed Bath and Beyond gift card I got for xmas from dad---such a nice gesture, but I always just feel depressed in that store. Then, as I was sitting here listening to Dr Feelgood and playing around on the internet, I was struck with the brilliant notion that I could probably shop ONLINE at Bed Bath and Beyond and therefore would not have to step into the store! So I went right to the clearance section, where I found these for the den, and then to the extended length section where I found these for the front room. I had to put 49 cents on my visa card because with shipping and handling and tax it came to $100.49. Heh. But anyway, in 6 days or so I will have curtains, and I will feel much better about the new year.
In other news, we are sick like dogs around here. Its that kind of illness that comes and goes---mostly coming around 7pm and staying until around 9am. So you can go to work, you know, and then come home and collapse. Which is what I've been doing for the past week. We made some headway in cleaning the house for the new year today, and we got out to the co-op to get some stuff for our new year's day open house buffet. But mostly we sat around feeling crappy. While at the co-op I invested in various kick ass potions from my old witchy days to hopefully get this shit out of here. I think I'll go make some ginger lemon tea right now. With whiskey.
Did I mention that my only resolution for 2008 is to drink more jack daniels? I'll explain later.

Holiday Countdown

Friday evening rebby and I had our Christmas since she left for Ohio early yesterday morning. I made a HAM, with cranberry-mustard-jack daniels-brown sugar glaze. It turned out so good we were swooning (well, when we finally got to eat it---it took about 4 hours to get to the proper ham temperature) I am sure the fantasticness of the ham had more to do with it's happy pig origins than anything I did, but I still felt very proud. Of my ham. I was also proud of my brown sugar and butter roasted sweet potatoes, and the cinnamon apple rings. I was less proud of my spatzle because the white whole wheat flour turned very brown in cooking. They still fulfill the important function of spatzle though, which is to transport butter or gravy to the mouth. Yum. The roasted beets I talked about last time, and the brussels sprouts with chestnuts were good but I kinda wish I would have roasted them longer. Oh well. Definitely not complaining, they were just at the bottom of the deliciousness pyramid.
After dinner we opened presents. I got her a DVD of the Muppets Wizard of Oz, the existence of which we had somehow completely missed even though Pepe the King Prawn is a lead character (he plays Toto) It's really pretty funny, though it is also very adult oriented and I can see why all the parents who reviewed it on Amazon were upset. I also got her a semi-autobiography of Tori Amos and the Welcome to Sunny Florida DVD. She got me Mothership, and the Plant-Krauss Raising Sand, and also---the Zeppelin DVD set. I had just the other day been lamenting how stupid it was that I never got that thing, and she played it very coy. Ha. So last evening when I got home from work I made myself a little plate of leftovers and wrapped up in the afghan and watched the Knebworth concert. If there is ever a time when I am stranded on a desert island with only one DVD to watch for the rest of my life, I want it to be that one. Oh my. Jimmy looks a little dodgy and gets insanely sweaty (I blame the heroin) but man....he can still play. And Bobert is just at the height of his powers and is wearing INCREDIBLE black velvet pants. Holy moly. The bizarrely funky "Whole Lotta Love" is worth the price of admission, but I also seriously love "In The Evening." I haven't watched any of the other concerts all the way through yet, but I have a feeling none will come close to that tour de force.
So she also got me a DVD set of these two shows that were the precursors to Monty Python--Do Not Adjust Your Set and At Last Its the 1948 Show. I've watched almost all of DNAYS because Eric Idle is in that one, but also because it prominently features the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. Wow, so surreal. Jaded as I am, it's always nice to be able to see new comedy that makes me laugh out loud---even if it is "new" comedy from the year I was born. Ha.
Yesterday I worked breakfast, and it was pretty slow but then picked up around lunch time. Hopefully it got busy again at dinner, and hopefully today is a decent brunch. I am having my favorite day before the day before Christmas holiday where I lay around and do nothing, except at some point today I need to: wrap the rest of the presents; pack up cookies; address and stamp a couple other xmas cards; clean the kitchen; and make the scotch eggs. So not so much "do-nothing"---all that can wait a while longer. Later this evening I have a date to go to a gay bar with some of my co-workers---that should be interesting. I'll report back.
Hope you are having a lovely couple of days before Christmas. Today in Pittsburgh it's 54 degrees and raining. Grr.

I have to say, I feel really, really sorry for those unfortunate people who are convinced they don't like beets. I can thoroughly understand not wanting to eat canned beets (though I still like to throw them on salads sometimes...or I did up until last year when I stopped buying things in cans) but until you've tasted a roasted beet, you really shouldn't make a judgement.
The other day at work I had to make a vegetable side for the dinner service, and I decided to once again give the people the chance to experience delicious roasted beets. I cranked it up a notch by adding toasted anise seeds to the finished beets.
OMG. So delicious. It turns out that this is fairly common among the Germans (and beets with fennel is fairly common in other beet eating regions) but I felt like I had discovered something fabulous and earth shattering.
So I went around to the co-workers asking them to try this amazing decadent and yet virtuous concoction. Not a single one of them would touch it to their lips, claiming to hate either beets, anise, or both. I just shook my head.
I don't know if they have been featured at dinner yet or not, but it doesn't look like a single beet has been consumed (except for the ones I've pilfered whenever I see them) Shame.

COOKIETIME!
Wow, my dining table is looking very festive! I've got gingerbells and gingertrees, lemon basil cookies with both currants and dried blueberries, scotch-pecan butterballs, no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies, almond macaroons, rosemary pine nut shortbread stars, and cocoa brandy balls. In the oven now are some chocolate peppermint bars, and later I'll do the rosettes, and possibly/probably some haroset balls. Baking is so much more fun than shopping, but I have to do some of that later too. Hopefully it will mean I get to hang out with Donovan and his mom, provided he is not suffering too much from the agony of teething. Being a baby is hard work!
Today was a surprise day off (switched for tomorrow with Jilly) so I got to listen to Roxie on the Rocket. Somehow he got to go to the Zep reunion and sit in the third row---without a ticket. He never did actually tell the story of how that happened, but rest assured---my jealousy knows no bounds.
Grr. Besides the rock, and the baking, and the shopping, I need to start planning the "Christmas" feast for rebby and me. We're going to have our dinner on Friday, and we're having ham. The ham is giant and currently in the freezer, so I need to get it out and start it thawing. I also need to read up on cooking a ham, because all I've ever done before is heat up one that is pre-cooked. This will be an adventure. I'm not sure what to serve with ham, even...besides some sweet potatoes with apples. Any ideas? I'd like to see if I can figure out how to make those cinnamon spiced apple rings they serve in the German restaurants. Oh! Spaetzle! The perfect germanic holiday side dish.
Sunday I'll be making my first ever batch of scotch eggs to take to the family for Christmas eve. I'm really excited to do it, though I'm not looking forward to lots and lots of deep fat frying. Maybe I should dig out and clean up my fryer instead of doing it stovetop.....
Hope the days leading up to the holidays are bringing you lots of cheer. I'm feeling very Christmasy this year for the first time in ages. I like it.

Happy Birfday Keef!

Keep on truckin.
I'll take a little break from my obsessive zeppelin to listen to a bit o keef today.

Live Cookie Blogging

So, it's now 6pm and I'm packing in the cookie making for tonight. Since I last wrote I made the butterballs (with pecans and scotch!) and the lemon basil blueberry cookies (OMG! I am in love) and also some almond macaroons. I feel kinda bad about the macaroons, because they are fantastic despite the fact that I boldly laughed in the face of all received macaroon knowledge. I mixed an unmeasured amount of slivered almonds and an unmeasured amount of demararra sugar together and whizzed it in the food processor until it was pasty. Then I mixed in an unmeasured amount of powdered sugar, and three egg whites. I beat the hell out of it with the electric mixer, then I put little mounds on an ungreased, unparchmented cookie sheet. I threw them in the oven on the top rack for about 15 minutes at 350. And like I said---they are great. I feel like a macaroon idiot savant. I sprinkled them with some red edible glitter. There aren't many, so I will have to be selective with who gets them in their cookie box (provided rebby and I don't sample all of them before that point...)
The gingerbells will have to wait till tomorrow, as will the cocoa rum balls, the snickerdoodles, and the cowboy cookies. And the rosettes. We're going out to dinner and then to the show in larryville. Woo!
So, this internet christmas rock radio station continues to be awesome. It's called Rockin Christmas 181.Fm. check it out. Recently they played the OTHER Elton christmas song---the one no one ever plays. I got so excited I was jumping up and down in the kitchen. I also heard an amazing version of Silent Night by Faster Pussycat. Seek it out. They have also played a seriously mind boggling amount of crap. I think they've gotten through all of Billy Idol's unfortunate christmas album though so I should be out of the weeds. I've been listening for about 6 hours and not a single repeat(of the same version of the same song, at least) Brilliant!

Got the Spirit

Ho ho ho!
I'm deep into the cookie scene today, listening to this wild internet rocking christmas radio station. Right now Jon Bon Jovi is singing about how he wishes every day could be like Christmas. Earlier, he was my back door santa. heh. I've heard my ultimate christmas jam by Billy Squier, and several awesome christmas songs by ringo starr that I hadn't heard before.
So far, I've done the first batch of lemon basil cookies, and pine nut rosemary shortbread. The shortbread is kinda a bitch cuz the dough is SO BUTTERY, but the finished product is so worth it. I've also got some gingerbread chillin in the fridge---I added tangerine juice and double all the spices cuz I can't leave well enough alone. Turns out I don't have a gingerbread man cutter anymore---not sure if I'll trace a pattern or just do ginger bells. Probably the latter---I've already got myself in pretty deep here and I don't need to add tracing paper to the mix.
Still on the boards is another batch of lemon basil cookies (this one with dried blueberries instead of currants--woo!) cowboy cookies(the amazing chocolate chip oatmeal things that colin and mikey brought for thanksgiving) possibly some butterballs, possibly some snickerdoodles, possibly some macaroons, and almost definitely some rosettes. I was digging in the drawer looking for my cookie cutters and found the rosette iron I got at a thrift store some time last summer. I'm thinking my grandmother must have made them, because I remember them always being around at Christmastime but I don't remember mom ever making them. Hmm. Anyway, I'm gonna try my hand. wish me luck.
It strikes me as strange that last year at this time I was making Velveeta Peanut Butter Fudge and Cocoa Rum Balls with corn syrup. Now I can't imagine buying those things.....though I certainly would not turn down some if I was offered.
It's suddenly very snowy---hope that it doesn't get too awful to go out to the big show tonight!

Zoinks! What a Week!
Rebby and I have both been sick on and off since Thanksgiving. She's got the worst of it right now...I'm just a little congested and lethargic. Anyway, the upshot of both of us being sick is that the house has fallen into utter disarray. I managed to partially clean the kitchen over the weekend so that I could roll the cocoa rum balls in less than squalor, but everything is piled up again. There are veggies in the fridge that need attention, and yesterday when I got home early (see below) I found a mysterious sticky puddle in front of the fridge. Turns out the apple cider I've been accidentally-on-purpose fermenting finally ate through the plastic bottle and was leaking all over the fridge and floor. I swiffered it as a stop gap measure last evening but today is going to require a serious scrubbing. Today is also going to require some serious laundry, and dish washing, and food prepping, and present shopping. It seems that lately I am busier on my "day off" than when I am actually working.
Speaking of working, Tuesday night was the City Paper Best of 2007 Party. We FINALLY got first place in the vegetarian category after hovering between 2nd and 3rd for years. I didn't realize just how excited I was about it until we got to the party and saw it projected wall sized behind the DJ. The party was a lot of fun--it was at Diesel, which used to be Nick's Fat City. Not the kind of place I would ever consider spending an evening of my own volition, but I had a good time. Our table was set up right next to Six Penn, and I got to chat a bit with Chef Chris who seemed to recognize me from a few local foodie type things we've both attended (and also last year's party) We set up our spread in about 10 minutes---apple cheddar quesadillas, red pepper basil pinwheels, scallion pancakes with pineapple chutney, blackeyed pea hummus, mockamole(made from peas!) and lentil pate. And the aforementioned cocoa rum balls, which I was serving with cocktail swords. I looked to my right and saw poor Chris slaving away with a pastry bag---he was serving about 8 different kinds of deviled eggs. They were all yummy, and precious, but the man was working himself TO DEATH over there while we danced and whooped it up and drank free vodka drinks. I also got to sample some Mineo's pizza, chorizo with spinach and raisins from Ibiza, and delightful tiny cupcakes from Dozen. And then there was the stuff that didn't turn me on so much---Big Burrito quesadillas and Muriel's quesadillas, and I never even got to the Indian food. (I'm sure it was great) By the end of the night I had a headache AND a tummy ache and I had to open in the morning. Ugh. I did it, and made a bunch of food, but as soon as the lunch crew got there I beat it home to nap on the couch. Whee!
Hopefully the wonderful article written by LUPEC lady Frivolous Filly will go online eventually so I can link to it. And hopefully some people who may have previously been a)afraid of vegetarian food or b) afraid of Garfield will finally give us a try. I'm really proud!

It really happened.
I was following along on the internet in an obsessive manner. The setlist was incredible, and the snippets of film I've seen sound amazing.
Rebby said that if they come to America she will do everything she can to take me to see them, even though it could possibly mean she looses me to Jimmy Page. I told her she's probably safe as he seems really into his hot brazilian wife, but I appreciated her bravery.
And now, I got to roll some more cocoa rum balls while listening to that wail.

Correction: 1 million people--but only 20,000 seats. Also, some dude paid 83,000 pounds for a pair of tickets at a charity auction. Holy canoly, batman.

This morning I watched a little TV with my breakfast and saw numerous commercials for this.
This may be the most fucked up product I have seen to date. I quit technology.

A Very Pagey Weekend

So. somehow I had completely missed the boat on the whole Led Zeppelin reunion show until Thursday. Seriously, with as much time as I spend on the internet you would think that I would have heard about it somewhere. Not even a Yahoo news headline (actually, I think that is how I did eventually hear about it) So once I heard about it I became completely obsessed about it. Of course, I won't be there tomorrow in one of the 70,000 $250 seats (reportedly TWO MILLION people put in for the seat lottery. Zoinks!) But I have been enjoying a Pagey renaissance of sorts. First of all, when I went to get a birthday present for Jilly (I had one in mind, but it turned out to be way more expensive at Borders than Amazon. Like, $10 more. What gives, Borders?) I saw the big display of recently released Zep stuff. I ended up getting her the new DVD of Song Remains the Same with the extra tracks and surround sound. Woo. I also picked up a Mojo Magazine with several interviews with the Zep boys. I read the Pagey one all the way through. I still love him utterly. Bobert confounds me, especially now that he looks more like the Cowardly Lion than anything else (is it any surprise that he's a Leo?) I haven't read all of the interview with Jonesy yet. I have been listening to Zep while doing housework. I REALLY need to get another CD of Presence. Seem to have lost the one I had. How does this happen?
Anyhow, there were a few other elements to the weekend besides the Pageyness. Thursday was the Red Hot and Neon party, and I had a blast. Spat did a great job, people danced, Jilly and I drank tequila shots at midnight, and I stayed until almost the bitter end (thought I was leaving at a respectable hour, but it turned out to be 1:50 am. HA!) There were several moments where I almost cried, because I am a sap---especially when he played "Under Pressure." Sigh.
Friday I struggled through on 4 hours of sleep---had to make a ginormous pan of vegan paella for the catering, and lots of stuff for in house. It was a fast paced day. Friday night I made a papaya mango chutney and thought about grape leaves, but I was way too beat to get into them. So I went to bed.
Six am I was up and rolling grape leaves while watching Elizabeth. It's one of those quiet talking movies, and the furnace kept kicking on while my hands were covered in grape leaf stuffing, so I couldn't turn up the sound. I will have to watch it again from the begining when I am not distracted and able to operate the sound properly. Seems like a great story, and Geoffrey Rush is in it, and there is lots of intrigue. I was put off by the CGI at the begining though. There really was no reason for it except some duder thinking it would look cool.
So after rolling the leaves I headed to the strip for some last minute plates and forks and knives, then to the storm to help out and get things organized. It was beautiful chaos in the kitchen, and I jumped right in and made aioli and slaw and grated cheese and fetched things and helped organize and filled dressing bottles and sorted spinach....it's really a rush to be in that tiny space when it's super busy and everyone is on the same page. I'm so happy that the tension of the past few weeks seems to be melting away and we are getting to be a big happy family again. I've missed it. Eventually it was time to get stuff together for the catering job, which we did. I had my usual momentary panics but everything came together well.
We arrived at the UP and unloaded only to find that our prep table wasn't set up yet. So everything went on the floor and we started to organize as best we could. Eventually we got our table and the tables out front done and we went into expedite mode---it really was a simple job from a set up and present point of view. When you throw 75 or so kids under the age of 15 into the mix, it becomes another story entirely. Plus, it's the Union Project, so the floor is all slanty. And, it was really hot. And, they had the tables set up in a really weird grid so everything was choppy and then the very loud Jewish Pop Music soundtrack came on. It was all disorienting. People ate and drank ravenously, which I can only take as a compliment. The chocolate fountain was a disgusting mess, but not the nightmare I had feared. Basically, everything went much better than it could have, given the set of circumstances. I was really glad to be out of there though.
Slept hard, had a nice Sunday breakfast, and of course the rest of the day has been dedicated to various kitchen chores. We went to the co-op this evening to get supplies for the cocoa rum balls.....I made what I hope was a wise decision to make them with rice syrup instead of corn syrup. I just couldn't bring myself to buy a bottle of that cursed stuff. Between the cocoa and the powdered sugar and the orange flavored rum, I think they will be just dandy. I'll let you know how it goes.

What famous lesbian do you most closely resemble? Your Result: Melissa Ethridge   You're ambitious, extremely talented and you live for music. You have overcome some great obstacles in your life which have made you stronger than ever. You are extremely likeable.
K D Lang
Ellen Degeneres
Rosie O'Donnell
Portia Di Rossi
Tammy Lynn Michaels
Katherine Moennig
Jackie Warner
What famous lesbian do you most closely resemble? Make a Quiz

Vegan Leaning Foodie Survey

taken from Isa PPK's blog. Pass it on!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
I don't tend to drink non dairy milk (or really dairy milk much, unless it's raw and practically straight from the cow) but I like to use Almond Breeze Unsweetened Original in cooking, and I really like the Wildwood soy creamer from TJs.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
I've got some catering stuff to do: Vegan Stuffed Grape Leaves, Vegan Paella, and Papaya Mango Chutney. I'm also looking forward to making Lemon Basil Cookies and Coca Rum Balls for the holiday season.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?

nutritional yeast and butter, and a little seasoned salt if I'm feeling fancy

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Oh gawd.....I had to make this avocado, tomato and coconut milk soup for a catering job. I had made it very successfully for brunch one sunday and thought I knew what was up. So I gathered my very expensive fresh avocadoes and perfectly ripe tomatoes and cans of coconut milk and threw it together and.....it curdled like a mofo. the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. Luckily I had done it in the morning so I had time to go to whole foods and get more ripe avocadoes and tomatoes and cans of coconut milk. I think it ended up being a $70 tureen of soup.

5. Favorite pickled item?
I rarely eat them, but I love japanese pickled plums. capers too.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
I have a little personal recipe notebook, and a lot of cookbooks. and the internet.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
compost baby!

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?
rice cakes, peanut butter and honey. I could live on them for a long time.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
I think it was my 13th birthday---I got taken to Lyle Alzado's restaurant by my mother and uncle. I can still remember those stuffed potato skins.....

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
I really don't like vegan ice creams, but I do like a good coconut sorbet.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
I am in love with my new range hood, honestly.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
garlic if it counts, cinnamon if not.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
hmmmm... I think I have a couple of my mom's old Better Homes and Gardens spiral bound things.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
raspberry

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
deliciously seasoned roasted vegetables. if they are adventurous, I will hit them with the chicken fried tofu.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
definitely tofu

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
breakfast when I can make a production of it.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
giant aloe plant (that probably needs water) fondue set, baking pans, a bodum coffee press that needs an insert.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
coffee beans, butternut squash, corn tortillas

20. What’s on your grocery list?
I have to find kosher cheeses and mango puree today. wish me luck

21. Favorite grocery store?
east liberty cooperative farmer's market!

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.
the aforementioned lemon basil cookies. I would like to veganize them and also figure out a way to make them without having to buy a box of lemon cake mix.

23. Food blog you read the most ? Or maybe the top 3?
www.ethicurian.com, www.culinate.com, nowthatsgoodeatin.blogspot.com

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
I really only like dark chocolate, so it's pretty much vegan by default. I also really dig old skool candy canes, which I assume are vegan.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
I guess the local organic thanksgiving turkey counts---it was something like $40.

26. How did you get so pretty?
clean livin ;)

Boy Howdy!
It's a beautiful sunny snowy day. I need to get out in it soon to shop for rennetless cheeses and mango puree. I think Whole Foods might be my best bet.
I'm looking forward to the walk and also stopping in to Borders for some xmas shopping. It should be a good day!
Last night I made some chocolate chip cookies and rebby and I made Christmas. We had talked about getting a fresh tree this year, but decided that we'd settle for a wreath and a swag of evergreen this year and look forward to a fresh tree next year. you know, after we have curtains. Anyway, we played a tape my friend T made me years ago of songs from Rudolph, Frosty and Friends, with the entire story of the Grinch on the flipside. It was fun. The little tinsel tree looks great perched on top of the hi-fi cabinet in the culture room. It has it's usual collection of aliens, cocktail paraphrenalia, plastic lizards and sea creatures, ninjas, and a few actual Christmas ornaments. For some reason my oh so pagan santa moon decoration was not in the box---I don't remember it breaking last year. Hmm. The tree leans a little to the front but what do you expect from a silver tinsel tree? Especially one loaded down with ornaments in the shape of martini glasses. Hee. I broke with tradition a bit this year and put an angel on the top of the tree instead of my shiny purple star--mostly because it always takes a thousand hours to get the star affixed to the top and then it usually leans a bit. I thought it was time to try something different.
The cookies are very yummy, though I made them too big and too close together on the pan so that I had to cut the giant mass of cookie into rectangles instead of having nice little round shapes. The recipe I used called for SIXTEEN TABLESPOONS OF BUTTER and one and three quarters cups of flour. no kidding. The cookies are a nice combination of chewy and crunchy, and I even put walnuts in them for a little bit of-dare I say it?- healthy protein. Ha. The chocolate I chopped off the big block I got at TJs a while ago. It's a very nice melting chocolate.
So this weekend is going to involve catering and making cocoa rum balls for a party on Tuesday. Tonight, however, I am going to 80s Night (Neon) at Belvedere's. My friend DJ Hates You is donating all the proceeds from the door to the Pittsburgh Aids Task Force, and I want to support him in that. I also have a sacred mission to deliver a vinyl copy of "Total Eclipse" to him so that Klaus Nomi can be represented. This is going to involve trecking up the Hill to retrieve the Nomi and then down the hill to Larryville. Luckily rebby is in for the ride. I am so looking forward to a night out---dancing! Yes it's going to be smoky, and yes its going to be packed with drunken people who were not even born in the 80s, but I think I will still manage to have a great time. Especially if I get to dance to "Total Eclipse".
It's also going to be a little pre-birthday celebration for Jilly. Come on out if you can!

Good haul at the Exchange!
We headed out to McKnight Road this afternoon to do some teeshirt shopping for santa's little silkscreening factory. Since we were out there, we felt obligated to stop in to the Exchange. It's our duty. They've "upgraded" which is really a shame---gone is the industrial section I used to love so much, and they've gotten the really high and unweildy cabinets of all the other Exchanges. Still, the $1.00 section did not disappoint. I got Ritual De Lo Habitual by Jane's Addiction, Dr Feelgood by Motley Crue, Diamonds and Pearls by Prince and the NPG, Boss Hog's debut, Beaster by Sugar, and the gem I'm listening to now....KISS Unplugged. Paul is currently screaming about how he Still Love(s)(Me). Woowoawooooaaaahhhhh. I ventured out of the dollar section for a minute and immediately found Rubberneck by the Toadies, which contains Possum Kingdom---one of my top 3 radio songs of the 90s. (along with The Dolphin's Cry by Live and Santa Monica by Everclear)I've been hoping to find this CD for less than full retail price ever since I've been haunting the Exchanges of the world, and this is the first time I've seen it. For $5.00. I also got rebby a Tori Amos maxi single she didn't have.
Other than the big jaunt today, I've spent most of the weekend either in bed or laying on the couch. I'm desperately fighting some seasonal illness that is mostly centered in my head but also sending some distress southward into the intestinal area. It's just ugly. It's also weirdly sporadic---I feel perfectly fine for a while, and then I start doing something and 20 minutes later my head is full of snot and I'm woozy and have to lay down. Sucks. I didn't get much accomplished this weekend other than laundry and dishes, my constant nemesises. I did read a lot of my book (Full Moon Feasts) and watched a few movies (My Own Private Idaho, Henry and June, The Aqua Teen Movie) so I'll just put this one down to relaxation. The next few weekends (till the new year, really) are going to be non stop so I guess I need to take it while I can.
So, I took the pick your president quiz again and a couple of my answers changed enough that Dennis was my #1 this time. My #2 was Chris Dodd again, so I looked him up. Seems like a solid guy, and he was in the peace corps which scores a million points in my book. However, he is against gay marriage (though solidly for civil unions and non discrimination) and has kind of an annoying speaking voice (though not anywhere near as annoying as the current head honcho) and his hair reminds me of Newt Gingrich. Otherwise, I think I could vote for him, unless someone tells me a reason why I shouldn't. Feel free to comment in the comment section.
We've got Bambam and Celeste to watch tonight, and I really need to get myself organized for the week ahead. There's a big catering job on Saturday and it is going to involve a lot of special things, like grape leaves and vegan paella. I haven't made the vegan paella in long enough that I don't really remember what I put in it. time for long term planning....