Still sick. Ugh.
I went in to work Monday and got through about 4 hours before I was sent home. Got some medicines and juice and gingerale and went right into bed. Jilly volunteered to cover my Tuesday night shift, so I just slept through almost the whole day yesterday. I did wake up long enough to watch the very end of an episode of Marcus Welby, MD with Sonny Bono as a guest star. And then later the tail end of an episode of The Incredible Hulk. RTN is the best thing that could ever happen to staying home sick. The two extra PBS stations help too...there is always some Rick Sebak documentary to be had now adays. It's pretty cool.
So, I went in this morning thinking I would just get the ball rolling and then take off, but I ended up staying until 2pm. That's the way it goes. I mostly did dishes to avoid coughing into people's food too much. By the time I left, ACTUAL SNOW was falling from the sky! Not little wet flurries, but big puffy flakes. It was kind of awesome, despite the fact that I was feeling all sickly. It's pretty much done for now, but it was nice to be out in the snowfall for a few minutes.
I can almost taste my coffee now....a marked improvement. Wish me luck that I can be fully recovered by Friday night for my friend's HALLOWEEN WEDDING!

I've got a nasty headcold. I am really pissed off about it. My whole Sunday was wasted laying in bed sniffling and feeling like shit. Boo.
However, the most wonderful thing just happened: we got our digital tuner box for the TV on Thursday, and one of the extra special channels we get now is RTN
In just a few minutes, The Hardy Boys are going to be on. It's like highschool all over again! I can't wait.

currently listening: http://nonserviamradio.podbean.com/2008/10/05/nsr-podcast-2/

just this side of too survivalist for my taste. some interesting information, and cool background music too.

currently eating: the most bizarre/awesome salad ever. Becky C brought it to the soup party and I fell totally in love with it. There are tons of variations on the recipe on the internets(most of them have bacon, which this one doesn't) and I think if you have the basic broccoli/raisins/sweet'n'sour mayo it would be good. Mine has tons of fresh raw broccoli, slivered almonds, red onion, raisins, cheddar cheese, salt and pepper, mayonaise, sugar and apple cider vinegar. It feels very virtuous to eat it.

currently thinking about: gothic bellydancing(as in I need to get back into it); vegan cookie bars; friends who are dealing with family crises. I'm sending out lots of love.

Man I just get sucked into the internets like a black hole. Not really even doing anything, just aimlessly wandering from page to page. It's a sickness.
What I need to do is get off my ass and take care of the enormous cauliflowers that are staring me down from the kitchen counter. They're huge! Before I do that, though, I need to finish the dishes from the soup party, which means I need to unload the dishwasher and drainer rack, and reload and wash and etc etc etc. Same thing, different day.
Anyhoo, so yeah, we had a soup party. I made pork and green chile stew, which I barely got a taste of. That one went lickity split. I'm always so conscious of the vegans and then when it comes right down to it most people are rampant carnivores. Oh well, there were some vegetarians too, and even a couple vegans late in the evening. So the Potato Leek and Roasted Butternut Squash were not total losses. People loved them. I loved the Beer Cheese Soup, which was almost exactly like the stuff that the Sharp Edge charges me $8 a bowl for. Now I can make it at home for much less and and also ORGANIC. Take that, overpriced beer pub. Seriously, I am in the restaurant biz so I know how things are but I feel like the Sharp Edge has really gone overboard with the price increases. The Hop Devil Soup was the last thing tying me to the place. And now I am free!
Ok, back to the partay. We cleaned the hell out of the (first floor of) the house. In addition to the soups I made some vegan bread sticks, which was fun but unnecessary. People brought hella bread which I am trying to eat up before it all goes moldy. Also: desserts. Coconut Marshmellow bars, Apple Shortbread with Caramel and Whipped Cream, Blueberry Apple Cobbler, Apple Cranberry Pie, Peach and Blackberry Cheesecake......Gawd. I busted out the Apple Cinnamon Ice Cream late in the night and it was a big hit too. Everything was so good! There was much beer, wine and cider consumed. Tons of friends came and my whole family came and no body but my nephew spent any time at all in the superclean house! The party was all outside. Cool. At night rebby lit a fire and we talked about movies and had a nice mellow time. I broke out the limoncello after ben noticed the recipe on the fridge. It was convivial. Late late Becky C showed up with a broccoli salad which was at that moment the most amazing thing a person could do after all the sugar. I ate a giant bowl ful. Yum.
Several folks tagged themselves for the next soup party...I hope it can become a regular thing. Sharing good food is the most important thing people can do to take care of each other, I think. Especially in the coming hard times.
So since the soup party I've been working long hours at the restaurant, and it feels good. I actually enjoy my time there more with less personalities around in my space, you know? Even if it means I have to wash a lot of dishes and make hummus on the fly. I like the quiet and the feeling that everyone there is concentrated on a task. I also got to spend some time with one of my favorite mommas and her two gorgeous kids. She is such a great mom and very respectful of her children's individuality without taking it to the extreme of letting the kids put themselves into dangerous situations, like the woman I had to yell at on Monday night. She was letting her kid open and close the door to the basement of the restaurant. Seriously? I mean, I know the QS is a comfortable homey environment, and I know she and her kid and her man spend a lot of time there, but how did she get the idea that it was okay for her to let her baby hang out at the top of the stairs to the baesment? Do I really have to put an employees only sign on the basement door? That's not freedom, that's poor judgement. End of story.
Otherwise, I am listening to the newest Nine Inch Nails album called "The Slip." I like it a lot so far. It's a nice cross between With Teeth style rockers and super ambient stuff like The Fraggle. Also, I got my personally signed by the Metal God copy of the Rock In Rio Halford DVD. I haven't watched it all the way through yet, but I have held it and petted it a bunch. I'm a huge dork.
And finally...debates. Huh. I am so looking forward to having a president who is smarter than me again. That will be nice. I think Bob Scheffer did a great job with the hardass questions and I think Barack did a great job being clear and not stooping to McCain's level. I think McCain did a great job showing that he is a rather desperate and slightly confused old man who is honestly intimidated by his opponent and knows in his heart of hearts that his opponent is better equipped for the job of running the country. As do most clear thinking Americans by this point, it seems. Yay us. Now we just gotta show it on Nov 4th.

my mind is well and truly blown!

Fold A Fitted Sheet With Perfectly Squared Corners - The most amazing home videos are here

OOOOFF! My head.
Having a little hormonal nightmare here this morning. I'm gonna put it down largely to all the sugar I've been eating lately, but I'm not going to stop baking. Perhaps I'll try to get on the agave bandwagon instead.
I'm seriously all about baking these days. At work I've perfected the Deep Chocolate Pound Cake from Bon Appetit. It's seriously good, although the recipe is a little precious with having to mix things in four different bowls. I don't usually give in to that jazz, but I want to make sure I understand what all is going on with it before I try to cut out some steps. I'm still sorting through vegan pumpkin loaf recipes....this one from the PPK is my current favorite. And this week I also made a batch of my favorite banana carob chip monster muffins, which sold out in less than a day! woo. And some lemon bars. There's not much you can say about lemon bars, besides "delicious" and "sugar coma." I think perhaps if I eat up all the arugula in my fridge I can balance out the two lemon bars I sampled yesterday.
So yeah, I've been on the baking bandwagon for a while. It's kind of new--I'm usually more of a stovetop gal but once in a while the flour/sugar bug hits. I think it's the fall weather that makes me want to indulge and have the oven on for long periods of time.
Speaking of the fall weather, we are FINALLY going to have our inaugural Mayflower Manse Soup Party this Sunday. I've been looking forward to it for, well, about a year, and now the weekend is finally here. I think it took getting the media room into a shape we were both happy with to finally make the decision. Hopefully it can become a semi-regular thing. And hopefully it can lead to more and different dinner parties and maybe even my dream of a floating supper club. I think we have enough friends into cooking and sharing food that it could become a reality. I am determined to build community, dammit! Mark my words.
It's almost noon and I haven't been off the couch yet today. I better go make an effort. Happy Thursday to you!

hanging with Mr D

hanging with Mr D, originally uploaded by alienspice.

you talkin to me? cuz I don't see anybody else here....

I love how he looks like a super tough guy here. really he was just annoyed that I was trying to remove the binkston for a picture.

We had a mostly great time hanging out on Thursday. The only less great points were 1)when we were happily walking through East Liberty on the way to Whole Foods and Donny sneezed two enormous globes of snot. Since I am not an actual mom, I do not have kleenex grafted on to any of my appendages. Luckily a nice lady happened by who had just picked up some food for take out--she offered her napkin. Bless her.
The second dip in the funtime quotient was when we got to Whole Foods and saw Dad. At that point Aunt Shirley was NO LONGER GOOD ENOUGH. Not even cake would shift his attention away from the all attractive DAD. Finally I managed to carry him out of view and we settled down in the cafe and climbed the table for about 25 minutes. All in all, a good time.

A super happy good morning to you!
I am in the absolute best of moods this morning, because of the simple fact that I wore socks to bed. That means that it is no longer hot summer and is instead chilly fall, and we all know that fall is best, don't we? Sweaters! Pumpkins! Swirling leaves! Oh---the swirling leaves are actually a little bit of a downer at my house. The enormous maple that threatens our very existence has spent all summer producing thousands of leaf bombs that it will now drop in unwieldy piles all over the street. And even though the maple is not ACTUALLY on our property, as we are closest we are defacto in charge of the leaf mess. The Jamaicans are only too happy to help, of course. The Jamaicans are absolutely awesome.
So today is my day off, and as usual I have a ton of things to do. I've got brussels sprouts, collards, butternut squash, broccoli, onions, and peppers to blanch and freeze. I've got laundry. I've got dishes. I've got to switch the closet over to fall. I've got grape leaves to roll and samosas to fry for catering. I've got to shop for cheese. I've got to pick up my pal Donovan from daycare and take him to Whole Foods. Before that, I've got to shower. AND, at the end of it all, I've got to watch the VP debates. I still can't get over the fact that this is ACTUALLY HAPPENING. What do you think my VP debate drinking game word should be? Maverick? Pakistan? I've got at least a 6 pack in the fridge....
OK, better go get some things happening. Enjoy the FALL WEATHER!