Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
So Cal vibes
Yesterday was a momentous day. My mom arrived. For good. For ever. For permanent.
It feels weird, and not yet real, especially because she is staying in a hotel for a few days, until her house is vacated and termite tented. So, our first she-now-LIVES-in-San-Diego visit was at a hotel pool, with drinks, and a band playing.
It was very vacation-esque.
And very appropriately, it was the So Cal Vibes who were playing to welcome my mom to San Diego.
Of course these girls surrounded Nonnie with So Cal love as well.
But you'll never guess who ELSE was there to welcome Pat to San Diego.
Yep, Mr. Can!
It feels weird, and not yet real, especially because she is staying in a hotel for a few days, until her house is vacated and termite tented. So, our first she-now-LIVES-in-San-Diego visit was at a hotel pool, with drinks, and a band playing.
It was very vacation-esque.
And very appropriately, it was the So Cal Vibes who were playing to welcome my mom to San Diego.
Of course these girls surrounded Nonnie with So Cal love as well.
But you'll never guess who ELSE was there to welcome Pat to San Diego.
Friday, July 27, 2012
The Tiger and The Gator
When I go to the ballpark, I love to watch the baseball. It's my favorite thing to do at the ballpark.
But you know what I also love to do? I love to meet the mascot.
And then I love to try to teach the old mascot -- Tater the Gator -- how to do an old-fashioned low-five.
Tater the Gator has never *heard* of an old-fashioned low-five.
[Actually, I was hoping for something a little more, um, competitive. And bloody.]
And then I like to say to Tater, and I quote myself, "Are you male or female? Oh wait. Are you a-sexual? Wait, you're multi-sexual, aren't you?" . . .
And then I love to watch Tater quickly running in the other direction . . .
But wait! Then I love to bring a kid to save the day!
A Jellyroll! A Jellyroll who loves mascots! Oh, wait. A Jellyroll who hates mascots.
Oh, how I love the ballpark.
But you know what I also love to do? I love to meet the mascot.
Actually, at the Connecticut Tigers games, it's meet the mascots.
I love to meet the mascots.
And then I love to try to get C.T. the Tiger and Tater the Gator to face off . . .
. . . aw . . .
. . . noogies . . .
Thursday, July 26, 2012
watching
I recently spent a night in Hollywood with some of my very favorite peeps. My sister Julie and I had been piecing together the details of our visit in between all the distractions of our very busy lives. We knew what we needed from our two rooms, and we had a couple of locations in mind that would work, within certain parameters. We bid on priceline rooms and kept our eye on specials and incentives until we came up with a wicked awesome plan to include one night on the beach in Santa Monica and one night at Hollywood's famous Roosevelt hotel! We rock. I'll tell you all about Santa Monica later, you've probably seen 700 photos on facebook already. But in Hollywood I played like the real paparazzi and broke out my very fancy, expensive camera...
...which meant that I couldn't instagram the freakshow that we found ourselves in the midst of when we discovered that there was a premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater the night we happened to be staying literally across the street.
And lookie here:
It was a funny, weird time. Weirdly awesome, I think. And there's so much more to tell, but I've got a plane to catch!
Catch ya from the C.T.
...which meant that I couldn't instagram the freakshow that we found ourselves in the midst of when we discovered that there was a premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater the night we happened to be staying literally across the street.
If you think that I did not become one with those gawking dorks, you are mistaken.
It was such a weird scene even before that 8 foot tall cop showed up.
Not nearly soon enough to save my dignity, limos began pulling up to those orange cones, and we geeks would start to bustle.
According to Joe, the guy above was the least famous person in the movie.
People seemed pretty excited about this guy, my son tells me he is part of Lonely Planet, which means that he is in some way responsible for putting Justin Timerlake's dick in a box
 |
| I thought he was Harry Potter. |
The limos continued to arrive and deposit vaguely famous looking people onto Hollywood Boulevard.
 |
| Well hello there! Who are you? |
But then, look:
 |
| Jonah Hill! Always to be known as the fat guy. Even though he wasn't fat for a while. |
 |
| Ben Stiller! |
 |
| Vince Vaughn! (the pool hog) |
 |
| Hi Ben! Do you even know Marcia Brady? |
Catch ya from the C.T.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Scape it out
I learned something new about the food world while I was visiting my mom in gorgeous Aurora, New York. This may surprise you, knowing as you do, my culinary prowess. (Oh wait, that's someone else you know.) Admittedly, I'm not much of a cook. But, that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate good eats. I do. I love good food, and consider myself fairly well-schooled in eating. But I did not know what the peeps were talking about when they said that the pretty appetizer typically would have been garnished with scapes.
Scapes? What the?
Do you guys know what scapes are? If you do, look away, because I'm going to explain it for the rest of the ignorant folks, like my former self.
For me the hardest part about this exciting, new culinary discovery is remembering its name. I want to call them skypes and snopes (perhaps, just maybe, I spend too much time in front of a computer?). But they are not skypes, or snopes, or scopes, they're scapes.
Scapes are the seed that hardneck garlic grows for future propagation. The scape emerges from the garlic bulb, and is "more rigid than the other leaf growth." Scapes are harvested in June to increase the size of the blub and so that "nutrients go to the bulb instead of the seeds." But, low and behold, these scapes can be eaten and are furthermore a delicacy!
You can dice them up, kinda like scallions, and sprinkle them on almost anything. Unfortunately, scape season is over. You missed it. But here's where you can go next June to get your fix: Lakeview Garlic, LLC. And if you wait just a week or two you can order organic hardneck garlic by the pound from these guys as well.
We all know that garlic is good for us, right? And so tasty. But I did not know until this summer that there are two varieties of garlic, hardneck and softneck, and that I'd almost always been eating softneck garlic (grown as it is in California). But this hardneck garlic grows in colder climates, and supposedly has a more robust flavor. At least that's what Corrine and Andy say. And I believe them.
These two grew their personal garlic planting activities into a small business, Lakeview Garlic, and in the fall of 2010 successfully planted 5,000 sets of garlic. You can watch Corrine in action here.
And you'll definitely want to check out their garlic scape pesto, and other, recipes too.
Scape me away!
Scapes? What the?
Do you guys know what scapes are? If you do, look away, because I'm going to explain it for the rest of the ignorant folks, like my former self.
For me the hardest part about this exciting, new culinary discovery is remembering its name. I want to call them skypes and snopes (perhaps, just maybe, I spend too much time in front of a computer?). But they are not skypes, or snopes, or scopes, they're scapes.
Scapes are the seed that hardneck garlic grows for future propagation. The scape emerges from the garlic bulb, and is "more rigid than the other leaf growth." Scapes are harvested in June to increase the size of the blub and so that "nutrients go to the bulb instead of the seeds." But, low and behold, these scapes can be eaten and are furthermore a delicacy!
You can dice them up, kinda like scallions, and sprinkle them on almost anything. Unfortunately, scape season is over. You missed it. But here's where you can go next June to get your fix: Lakeview Garlic, LLC. And if you wait just a week or two you can order organic hardneck garlic by the pound from these guys as well.
We all know that garlic is good for us, right? And so tasty. But I did not know until this summer that there are two varieties of garlic, hardneck and softneck, and that I'd almost always been eating softneck garlic (grown as it is in California). But this hardneck garlic grows in colder climates, and supposedly has a more robust flavor. At least that's what Corrine and Andy say. And I believe them.
These two grew their personal garlic planting activities into a small business, Lakeview Garlic, and in the fall of 2010 successfully planted 5,000 sets of garlic. You can watch Corrine in action here.
And you'll definitely want to check out their garlic scape pesto, and other, recipes too.
Scape me away!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
So here's what we've been up to.
What we've been up to is a *lot*.
Just look at us, sitting by Mistah's spiral, solving all the problems of the world:
In the meantime, we've also broken almost all our wineglasses recently and have had to buy new ones . . .
Enter . . .
Hello Big Carl! All 9½ inch, 28 fluid ounces of you, you gorgeous creature. Welcome to the family.
And welcome Rose of Sharon to the family, too. We were given Rose of Sharon when Dad died, and she bloomed her flowers on Kidney Day. She's missing Dad these days too . . .
And two shout-outs:
My godson cuts cake like pie. Awesome job, Elliott . . .
. . . and Dorothy? Get better, Girl!
You got a problem?
You got something you need to discuss?
You got a Jonny Wonder on your hands?
Consider your problem solved.
Enter . . .
. . . Big Carl.
And two shout-outs:
